What to do with the pulp from your juicer: Pulpy Chocolate Chip Bread!

All the cool kids are doing it. Yeah that’s right, it, and you know what it is, juicing. Everybody’s on the juicing bandwagon, and with benefits like increased nutrient absorption and mental clarity, why wouldn’t you be? Ok, I can think of a few reasons…I hate to say it, but juicing does have a dark side, not like a Dexter Morgan “I’m secretly a serial killer” kind of dark side, just a “I’m a pretty expensive way for you to consume more sugar than you really need” kind of dark side. That’s right, juicing is great, but it’s still juice – that thing you probably shouldn’t give to babies or they’ll end up obese, it’s not just about apple juice, it’s about juice, the sugary nectar from fruits and vegetables.

Juice, when done correctly, is also very expensive. For a long time, I would get frustrated by the prices when I walked in to New Moon, our local health food store in Truckee. But truth be told, the prices are fantastic. New Moon is getting their organic vegetables at a wholesale cost, and you will find quickly that purchasing the amount of organic vegetables that you need to squeeze and grind in to one juice is rather pricey, even if you do it on your own at home. You could likely take that same amount of vegetables and divide them about into your meals throughout a day or two, just as if not more healthy (you’re eating the skin and fibers), and far more economical.

Now that I’ve adequately played Devil’s Advocate (you’re welcome, Mama), I feel better about making the following statement: Juice makes me feel AWESOME. I don’t know what it is, but when I finish drinking a juice, I want to rebuild the scene from Almost Famous when the rock star, Russel, screams “I am A Golden GOD” and subsequently “I am on drugs!” and jumps into the pool.  Because that’s how I feel after drinking juice. But…I am not a wasteful lady. In fact, I hate food waste, it is my pet peeve, it is what makes me go into other people’s refrigerators and shamelessly judge them, I just won’t stand for it. So this week, I experimented with making bread (could easily be muffins as well) out of the extracted pulp from the vegetables in your juicer. These will be very fibrous muffins. I made mine with chocolate chips, because YES, the bread does have an “earthy” taste, but based on the three slices I ate in one day; it was pretty dang good. If you like this post and want to see others like it, feel free to fund it by checking out my campaign at Indiegogo. Now here’s the recipe:

Pulpy Chocolate Chip Bread

Bowl 1:

• 2 cups extracted pulp from your juicer (I had juiced carrots, an apple, beets, cucumbers, parsley and kale – be sure to sift through the pulp to get out any large pieces of skin or fiber out)
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1 very ripe banana
• 1 cup melted coconut oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup agave nectar or honey (it will be slightly sweeter with agave, which I liked 🙂 )

Bowl 2:

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose gluten free flour (or feel free to use whole wheat flour if you’re not GF)
• 1 tspn Xanthum Gum (only necessary for GF Flour)
• 1 tbs baking powder
• 2 tbs cinnamon
• 1 tspn nutmeg

Mix bowl 1 together with a hand mixer, then add Bowl 2 to Bowl 1, mix the bowls together until well incorporated. If the conglomeration seems too soupy, add flour. Once the bowls are well mixed, add 1 cup of dark chocolate chips, and walnuts if you please! Bake at 350 for about forty minutes.  Enjoy!

Larb: When good food gets a bad name

Between June of 2012 and August of 2013, I spent approximately 11 months living outside. No electricity, no flushing toilets, no wordpress blogging. It was at the beginning of this stint, in June of 2012 in the woods of Southern Oregon that I first hesitantly tasted larb.

Initial thoughts:

A) Sounds like lard.

2) Described as “meat salad”

&) words I don’t like together = meat + salad

D) Fish sauce sounds gnarly.

Fast forward 7 months and I am in Laos, the homeland of Larb. I know what you’re thinking, and no, I did not travel to Laos on a soul searching quest for the real deal Larb, it was just a bonus born from a quest for climbing limestone.

While I truly believe in engaging the traveling spirit and playing things by ear, I am by nature, a planner. After six weeks in Tonsai I was ready for a change of scene, and after hearing about the ever-popular Green Climbers Home I made reservations for a bamboo bungalow for the week after New Year’s. The Green Climbers Home is essentially what it sounds like,  a young German couple and many of their friends have set tons of incredible routes on limestone and have maintained a restaurant, dorm style rooms, bungalows and tent sites  for climbers to rent while they stay at the crag.

It was New Year’s day when I overheard a man in the Boathouse Restaurant in Tonsai, Thailand state “Oh my god, The Green Climbers Home burned down last night!”

I don’t do so well with changes in plans. Um, what? It was true. Quite tragically, a firework went off into one of the bungalows, quickly burning that bungalow and those surrounding it, the dormitories, the restaurant, all but three bungalows (as seen above). Many people in Tonsai had the Green Climbers Home on their list, but now everyone seemed unsure of what to do. Tanja, co-owner of GCH and total crusher assured us that while the climbing camp had burned down, the rocks had not. The mission continued.

The Green Climbers Home was indeed burned. As promised, the rocks were not. The one week “plan” quickly extended itself to ten days, We were amazed by the incredible limestone roof, home to truly world classic climbs like Saugeburt (which takes you into a cave, births you out of a tunnel, and then traverses you to a final committing crimp pull below the anchors, arguably the most dramatic crescendo of awesome I have ever experienced on a climb). We were equally amazed by the community that had formed after the tragic fire. People were still climbing, the owners, Tanja and Uli, were clearly distraught, but seemed as strong mentally as they appeared physically (which is very strong). Rebuilding was the only option, but in a “sabai sabai” environment like Laos (Sabai Sabai quite literally translates in English to “Obla-di, Obla-da”) construction can take quite some time.

Now, a year later, I have heard that the climbers home is ALMOST entirely rebuilt. If you like climbing, or larb, or maybe you’re nervous about larb because it sounds like lard but you think you might want to give it a shot, or maybe you’re nervous about climbing but you think you might want to give that a shot too, I would suggest the Green Climbers Home in Laos. My theory is that if you do two things that scare you at the same time, then you don’t have the bandwidth to fully fear both at the maximum fear potential. So maybe if you started rock climbing in conjunction with trying larb, neither would seem so scary. I can assure you that both larb (depending on how you make it) and rock climbing (depending on how you do it) are really, really good for your health.

In the event that you are not going to Laos this week, I will give you an extremely modified recipe for Larb. This recipe is paleo friendly, gluten free, and can easily be made vegan.

If you like this post or recipe and want to help fund it or others like it, check out the campaign at Indiegogo: http://igg.me/at/summitsustenance/x/2565171

Larb:

• 1 pound ground turkey (I fried this up in a pan with toasted sesame oil) – for vegetarian option you can sautee Tofu or mushrooms instead
• 1 chopped and sauteed baby bok choy
• 1/2 diced and sauteed red onion
• 1/4 cup minced lemongrass
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1/2 cup fresh mint roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro roughly chopped
• 1/3 cup fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce (or if you really can’t stand it or want vegan option, use Tamari)
• 1 tablespoon honey (or agave)
• *I added 1/2 cup chopped cashews for texture and flavor, not traditional at all, or necessary, but really good!

Directions: Add ground turkey (or diced tofu, or minced mushrooms) into a frying pan with toasted sesame oil, once mostly cooked add red onion and bok choy, continue to sautee. Add lemongrass, and then finally garlic, sautee for another minute and then remove from heat. Add chopped mint and cilantro and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine lime juice, fish sauce (or tamari) and honey. Dress the “meat salad” with the lime juice conglomeration, and then add cashews if you so please. Climb on!

Coconut Wasabi Egg Salad

hold the mayo

Coconut Cashew Butter Cookies (GF)

Anyone whose known me for a long time, or gone on a multiday river trip with me may know that my diet consists of three major food groups; vegetables, nut butters, and things that can go in, under, or around nut butters. Nuts are a great casein-free way to obtain protein and healthy fats, not to mention they make me ridiculously happy. Last night, mid nut butter flavoring experimentation session, I decided to make these.

Cashew Butter Cookies

Bowl 1

• 1 cup cashew butter
• 2/3 cup coconut oil (melted)
• 1/2 cup coconut palm sugar
• 1 tspn vanilla
• 2 eggs (be sure to add the eggs once the mixture has cooled from the melted coconut oil)

Bowl 2

• 2 cups gluten free flour mix (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
• 1/2 tspn xanthum gum
• 2 tspn cinnamon
• 1/2 tspn baking soda
• 1 tspn baking powder

Mix Bowls 1 and 2 well, then add Bowl 2 to add 1. Once the dough is well incorporated, add the perfect amount of cashews, and the perfect amount of chocolate or carob chips (this amount is clearly subjective and I trust your ability to make the right choice for yourself. I went aggressive on both)

Roasted Root Vegetable Frittata (and why making banana bread leads to two breakfasts and no dinners…)

You may recall that my last post was about a pretty awesome coconut oil very banana-ey not so sugary (yet still quite sweet) banana bread. What I neglected to mention is that I made this banana bread at about four o’clock and proceeded to eat one of the two loaf pans shortly thereafter.

Despite being a firm believer in varying diets and dieting patterns, I recognize that I am subconsciously married to the concept of dinner…and meals in general, I like meals. Lunch- not so much, but breakfast and dinner; rather committed.

After eating an entire loaf pan of banana bread (smothered in coconut almond butter) I felt morally compelled to prepare dinner.

…and so I roasted beets, brussel sprouts, turnips, carrots and onions in olive oil, cracked pepper, rosemary, truffle salt, garlic and dill for an hour at 375 degrees. A light, vegetable filled dinner.

Hours passed. I may or may not have delved into second loaf pan of banana bread (everything in moderation, including but not limited to moderation).

Despite a fervent effort, my attempt proved futile. No dinner did I eat.

..and so I awoke to a large tray of roasted root vegetables (which I did remember to put in the refrigerator in my state of food comatose).

I sprayed the loaf pan that I had conveniently emptied the night before with my olive oil mister (if you don’t have one, get one).

Roasted Root Vegetable Frittata

• 9 organic eggs
• 1 cup coconut milk (I used light)
• 2 cups roasted root vegetables
• 1/2 cup of crumbled feta cheese (optional)
• extra garlic powder, cracked pepper and truffle salt on top to taste

Bake at 350 for approximately 30 minutes, beat the coconut milk into the eggs and add them to loaf pan, make sure the pan is well greased. Add the roasted root vegetables and distribute them evenly, then the feta, top it off with spices.

Missing dinner is no fun, but two breakfasts is a fantastic consolation prize.

Very Banana-ey banana bread smothered with coconut almond butter

Ok guys, I’m doing it, I’m posting a recipe, for an extremely delicious banana bread that only requires a 1/2 cup of sugar. I’m going out of my zone here and giving you measurements and precision (for the most part) – but feel free to play around and see what happens! Coconut oil can be substituted for butter, and peanut butter chips can replace chocolate chips…the list goes on, get creative.

VERY banana-ey banana bread

Bowl 1

• 2 2/3 cup banana, (about 6-8 very ripe bananas)
• 1/2 cup of coconut oil (melted)
• 1/2 cup coconut palm sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tspns vanilla

Bowl 2

• 2 1/2 cups gluten free all purpose baking flour (Bob’s Red Mill’s works well)
• 1 tspn Xanthum Gum (this helps gluten free recipes stick together)
• 1 tablespoon (at least) of cinnamon…call me crazy. Do it.
• 1 tspn nutmeg
• 1 tspon baking soda

Joy factor:

Add walnuts and chocolate chips (to your liking) for protein and awesome.

Instructions: Beat all of the ingredients in bowl 1, making sure to add eggs once the mixture has cooled down a bit so they don’t cook. Then, mix together bowl 2, and add it to bowl 1 gradually. Once the ingredients are well mixed, add chocolate chips and walnuts to taste. Then, pour the batter into two loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees (F) for 35-40 minutes. I suggest covering the top of the loaf pans with aluminum foil for the first 20 minutes so it does not get too browned. Because there is a LOT of banana in this recipe, it takes a bit longer to bake than your average banana bread, perhaps even longer than 40 minutes. Be patient and eat spoonfuls of almond butter shamelessly while you wait for it to bake. If there is any of this almond butter left over, pour it on top of said baked good.