Tag Archives: get it ripe

They Punctured My Yolk

I haven’t been feeling very smurfy lately. I won’t bring you down with the details but I have decided that it is time to go on an extreme health kick. So for the month of September I am going to be cooking a lot out of Jae Steele’s “Get it Ripe” and focusing on unprocessed foods. My plan is to make big pots of dried beans, a pot of whole grains and then eat them with vegetables throughout the week since I haven’t really felt up to cooking.

The first thing I made was the Cannellini and Kale Soup. Basically, you puree 3 cups of beans and sage and mix the pureed beans with whole beans cooked in garlic and then add some Kale. It was really good and we both liked it. The weird thing about cooking Ms. Steele’s recipes is that I read on her blog that she can be serious about people following recipes exactly. Measuring out 5 cups of chopped Kale is kind a time suck (especially since it turned out I had chopped exactly 5 cups anyway because I have gotten really good at that). Nonetheless I feel compelled to follow the directions specifically because that is what she wants me to do. Isn’t that silly? I felt like I didn’t even deserve a compliment for the soup since I hadn’t really made it any differently than a robot would have. God I wish I had a robot. I could just hand the recipe to it and it would make whatever I wanted. Today I think I would make it cook me this tofu ceviche from Top Chef. And I would have it speak with a cockney accent. And it would sing “Can I Borrow a Feeling” when I am feeling low.

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Asparagus with Peanut Sauce

I was not really able to stick to my menu plan starting almost immediately after I got home from the store. I was scheduled to make a tofu dish but I was really feeling noodles and I also didn’t feel like following a recipe so this is what I came up with. It was so delicious! I used the peanut sauce from Get it Ripe which was delicious, maybe the best creamy peanut sauce recipe that I have tried. Unfortunately, it used coconut milk and a lot of peanut butter so it was probably very fattening.

All I did was stir fry some onions, garlic, and asparagus while I cooked the udon noodles. When the noodles were done I mixed them with the peanut sauce, topped with the asparagus stir fry, cilantro, lime, and spring onions. It was a great fast meal.

Reason 337 that I have the best boyfriend

He came up with that title after I took a picture of this meal he made for me last night.

I have had a tough week, all of my staff has suffered major tragedies, baker smurf got hit by a truck on his bike on his way to work and broke his clavicle, sleepy smurf had a hit and run, acupuncturist smurf has been really sick for about a month with symptoms of pneumonia but no access to Western Medicine, and chatterbox smurf”s house burned down. I spent the entire rush hour driving and running errands, when I got home I was so stressed out that Mr. Smurf made me dinner while I drank delicious beer and cuddled with puppies.

I have wanted to make this meal since I got the book. It is chipotle spiced black-eyed peas that are cooked with some other aromatics and spices, served on top of maple mashed sweet potatoes, and steamed collard greens. This is one of the greatest super healthy meals I have ever had! It tasted decadent and flavorful and comforting. I love sweet mixed with spicy which is kind of the theme of a lot of recipes in Get It Ripe. Collard greens, black-eyed peas, and sweet potatoes are some of my favorite foods as well and they are all very nutritious. I also liked that everything was a whole food and lots of greens were involved. Another thing that I appreciate about this book is that the serving sizes are very accurate for us. In the Veganomicon and other books usually things that say four servings aren’t true since Mr. Smurf will easily eat 2+ servings. Get it Ripe is accurate for us, though, which is great because that way the recipes yield leftovers for lunch the next day, which I love. So thank you Jae for writing the cookbook and Dan for making the meal! If you have the book you should try it, or better yet, get someone who loves you to make it for you.

Triple Chocolate Chipotle Brownies

I got the book Get it Ripe by jae steele so that I would eat healthier. So of course, the first dessert I try from the book is the extremely decadent coconut butter, dark chocolate, cocoa powder, sweetened chocolate, and sugar brownie. But hey it had spelt flour so it is better than some coffee shop brownie… right?

Anyway these are the best brownies I have ever made fudgey, chocolaty, a tiny bit coconutty with a hit of spice at the end. I adore these brownies. I would eat ten of them. I don’t want to eat ten of them though! I could probably sell these for 20 bucks a piece they are so good.Here is the recipe