Looking for a hearty, tasty, plant-based whole-food dish that’ll fill you up and maybe also spice up whatever is in your usual rotation? This was thrown together with items we had on hand, it tastes like an Ethiopian variant of jambalaya, and it is now a family fave.

We bought some organic, pink lady apples (our personal favorite) from Aldi’s 2 weeks ago and they were starting to lose their crispness; so yesterday morning we set to making them into some apple sauce.

If you’re in a similar position and looking to make use out of (not waste) slightly mealy apples, or if you just like apple sauce and have never made your own, here is a quick and easy way to use them up. ‘Twas also a fun way for Q and I to work in the kitchen together. He’s always looking for ways to practice knife skills and to generally be of help, and I’m always looking for ways to soak up that sweet soul’s light.

When you can: If you have an Ethiopian or Eritrean restaurant near you, treat yourself to some authentic mastery. If your budgets are like ours and you want Ethiopian food, but can’t afford to be eating out, this is my super inexpensive way to get some of those flavors on the cheap, with items I usually have on hand. (Because at this point, there has been berbere seasoning in this house.)

Aside from the berbere, the rest of the ingredients are pretty standard: water, red lentils, lemon juice, salt, garlic, and a medium sized onion. You don’t even need oil, because this is the whole-foods version: completely heart-healthy.

We all want robust immune systems (ESPECIALLY AMIDST A PANDEMIC!), eyes that see clearly, and well-grown babies, eh? If so, read on and see how you can use up a whole squash (seeds and all) and feast kindly.

Did you know that there is startling evidence that our CHILDREN show signs of streaky fats clogging up their arteries? It’s increasing their blood pressure, setting them up for heart disease, and giving them high risk of diabetes, cancer, autoimmune disease, etc.

Have you or someone you know suffered from: diabetes, cardiovascular disease, thyroid diseases (hyper and hypo), MS, breast cancer, fibroids, PCOS, infertility, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, Sjogren’s Disease, eczema, depression, gastrointestinal distress, or debilitating menstrual cramps? Have a stent? On a statin?

These three podcasts, the book by Dr. Neal Barnard, and the documentary “What the Health” will illuminate how the foods you eat are causing all of the above and how a shift to plant-based whole-foods can heal your body and the only planet we have.

It’s all about forward movement around here, so this is a good oatbar to end on for awhile. It is created with the most frequency, takes the tiniest amount of time to whip up, has the smallest environmental footprint, and is the product of streamlining my first two oatbar variants.

2020 is the year of moving beyond comfort zones and illuminating as many souls as possible; so I accepted an invite from our dearly loved Kathy Haendle, and this morning I summoned up the spine to give a speech at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Auburn.

It was titled “Environmental Kindness: How to Care for the Earth and Yourself”, and I came bearing a laundry basket of zero-waste examples, and a promise to post the text soon thereafter so they could see the links…and read sentences likely lost in the whirl and blur of my trademark rapid-fire-breathless-way of relaying info.

Afterward was a swirl of great questions, open discourse, a request to do more talks in the future, and sweet Q whispering how proud he was that I did my “first TED talk!” (<—Someday, kid)

There is so much to say, and I’ll be learning how to say it better and slower. 💚

This salad base is a boon on all fronts: it is zero-waste; it preps up quickly (there’s no need to “massage” the kale” because the warm quinoa and acids will do that for you: leaving you more time, which is the most precious resource on this earth); and it is packed with nutritional power that will fuel you through a day with health and environmental-kindness.

Ten years ago, I thought that quinoa was a bitter pearl of lesser-than-rice, and here I am propped in front of a computer at 6AM with the intent of mapping out how we buy it, cook it zero-waste, and why it is the perfect fuel to propel us through busy weeks.

Life is a dang wonder of growth and movement.

Oatmilk works in all binding (ie sauces, dredging things before coating them in a crispy coating, the inside of a potato pancake I’ll post soon!) and baking applications. You can buy a carton of it at the store, but if you also happen to have a lot of oats on hand this is a super quick, cheap alternative. We get our oats in bulk, and find this is a great way to get a lot of protein for super cheap.)

“Furthermore, oats also use 80% less land to grow than dairy milk. In fact, a glass of oat milk is responsible for less greenhouse gas emissions than soy milk or dairy milk.”

If you use this in your baking and cooking, you won’t miss the milk, but you’ll be helping the earth and being kind to your body!

Lentils live the dramatic life of being despised for their chalky, mealy mouth-feel, yet praised for their glorious nutritional profile.

While they are Ian’s dearest, I’ll admit that lentils are my least favorite of the legumes (Anasazi Beans own my heart): but I make sure to cook them often and find ways to sneak them into meals through the week. There are ways to eat lentils that range from pleasant-enough to downright-delicious, and I’ll be working through the week with this batch of lentils to show you some.

You know those delicious butterscotch-and-peanut-buttery rice Krispie treats sometimes slathered in chocolate? These are the energy bite version.

Avocados are high in Vitamin C, Vitamin K , Potassium, are good for your heart, and have 4g of plant-based protein. We add them to stir-fry bowls, bean bowls, soups, hummus, and just about anything we can.

These oatbars are bursting with Vitamin C, Potassium (from the bananas and the strawberries), and a feast of other macro and micronutrients between the strawberries, bananas, oats, chia seeds, and almonds. They are great for heart health, packed with protein (12g in a slice), and full of minerals and vitamins.

Best part? There are absolutely no added or lurking sugars.

Radishes come from the same nutritious brassica family as broccoli, cabbage, and kale. They are: full of vitamin C and minerals, are good for your heart, contain sulforaphane ("a natural compound with anticancer and chemoprotective properties. This substance may induce breast cancer cell death even at relatively low concentrations”), and they are even anti-fungal!

Cranberry Dark Chocolate Chip Oatbars: packed with protein and flavonoids that’ll fill you up and fight inflammation.

We are steadily working through perpetual pillars of the Cappello household, and this one is a treasure loved by all.

What the heck is anthocyanin? It is a purple flavonoid (part of your food rainbow) found in the hull of this rice, and it helps to prevent neuronal diseases, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, and inflammation!