New Foods and Recipes!

Over the past few weeks I have been trying some new foods and new recipes.  New foods for this week include banana and coconut flavored flax oil, brown basmati rice, and purple asparagus! 

Banana and Coconut Flax Oil

This flax oil is SO good.  I have tried the standard flax oil in the past, but I didn't really like how it tasted in my oatmeal and in my smoothies.  A few weeks ago, I found this flax oil on sale at Whole Foods for $5.99 each (now it's back up to $9.99--still worth it though).  I grabbed these two flavors and opened the coconut right away.  I LOVE the coconut flavor.  It tastes so good in quinoa porridge, smoothies, oatmeal, anything really!  I recently opened the banana flavor and I really like this one too.  Coconut is my favorite, but the banana will definitely hold me over until it's time to buy another bottle!



Brown Basmati Rice


Source



Make this rice!  Not only is the flavor great, but the nutty smell it gives off when cooking is worth it alone!   Basmati is gluten free, contains fiber, b-vitamins and tastes great either sweet or savory.  It's in my Sweet Potato Mash-Up recipe below :)






Purple Asparagus

I found these gems at Whole Foods.  They were the only purple bunch left among the green guys, so I grabbed them!  I have heard of green and white asparagus, but never purple.  Purple asparagus has a higher sugar content than green so it tastes a little bit sweeter.  When cooked, it loses it's purple color and turns green. I cooked these up with just some salt and pepper in a pan and added them to my Summer Time Salad below!



Here are my two new recipes for this week!  They are both vegetarian, but you could easily add chicken or turkey to either one for some extra protein!


Sweet Potato Mash-Up
4 medium sized sweet potatoes
1 vidalia onion
1 cup Brown Basmati Rice
1 15 oz can of tomatoes
1 15 oz can of black beans
Salt, Pepper, Red Pepper Flakes (to taste)

1.  Poke holes in your potatoes and roast them in the oven at 350 for 45-60 minutes or until soft
2.  Cook rice according to directions on the label
3.  Chop the onion into small pieces and add to a large skillet over medium-high heat
4.  When potatoes are done,  peel off the skin and discard, then add the insides to the skillet
5.  Rinse black beans and add them to the skillet along with the tomatoes and rice
6.  Add some salt, pepper, or whatever seasonings you'd like...

Not the best picture, but you get the idea!



I guess this isn't really a recipe, you don't really need a recipe for a salad, but here it is anyway!  This salad is SO good.  I love it and plan on living off of it for a while!

Summer Time Salad
Grab a huge handful of fresh kale
1/2 cup sliced strawberries
1 cup baby carrots
1/2 cup purple asparagus (or green or white!)
1/2 cup of almonds or walnuts (I used both!)
1/4 cup goat cheese
1 T toasted sesame oil

This is easy!  Throw is all into a bowl and eat!

Enjoy!