healthy

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Cardamon Curry in a Hurry

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The other day, I found the most divine recipe that was absolutely perfect for a dinner party I was having.  It was a gorgeous cardamom curried eggplant stew that even got the attention of my husband. I studied the recipe, then looked at all 1,432 steps involved in making it. 

Kudos to those people who can labor for hours to produce a meal.  I am not one of them.  I prefer to prepare my food fast, tasty and healthy.  So needless to say, this 2 hour labor intense stew was just not going to happen.  (Sorry hubs.) 

I took out my secret weapon, the electric pressure cooker (If you don't have one, seriously consider saving your life with one) and created a very FastBeets Approved version.  It took all of ten minutes to prep and another 10 minutes to cook. Leaving me with ample time to do the much harder work, like set a gorgeous table.  

The best part is that if you didn't know any better you would have seriously thought I was in the kitchen forever. 

 

 

Ingredients:

  • 1 -2 teaspoons cardamom powder 
  • 2 teaspoons curry powder of choice
  • 1 onion 
  • 1-2 tablespoons coconut oil
  • 1 tablespoon liquid aminos (can substitute salt to taste)
  • 1-2 eggplants chopped into squares
  • 1/5 a butternut squash chopped into squares
  • Any other veggie of choice (optional)
  • 2 15oz cans of organic, bpa-free chickpeas
  • 1 can of organic, bpa-free, coconut milk
  • 1 can of organic, bpa-free of diced tomatoes

Method

  1. Set a pressure cooker to the sear/sautè setting.  Add coconut oil and spices, toast for 10 second. Then drop in diced onions and liquid aminos. Sautè until onions are done.
  2. Add chopped eggplant and mix with seasonings for 2-3 minutes.  
  3. Add the rest of the ingredients and close pressure cooker. 
  4. Cook on pressure cooker setting for 10 minutes. 
  5. Open, taste, add any additional salt or seasoning if necessary. 
  6. Serve with quinoa, brown rice, or as is. 

Thanks for making this! I would love it see how it turns out. Snap a pic and tag me on Instagram @fastbeets so I can see! Any questions on it? Message me on Snapchat.  

Xx, SS

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3 Min Clean Green Salad

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This is how all fast food should be: Fast, easy, healthy, cleansing, energy providing & nourishing. You can literally make this in 3 minutes.  Its incredibly satisfying and rich in nutrients.

I love when I bite into a salad and every bite is uniform in taste, texture and nutrition. This salad does just that.  

By using beans and hummus with no added oil or fat, I can then use my favorite oil, flax-seed.  Flax seed oil is one of the best sources of clean Omega 3 fatty acid.  Plus this is a very hearty combination.  So your tastebuds and waistline will agree. 

This is a fast recipe.  That means, the individual amount of each ingredient is not important.  You don't need exact measurements.  You can eye everything.  More or less of any ingredients makes no difference.

 

Ingredients: 

  • 2 cups Kale, washed and cut up
  • 1/3 cup Fat-free, low soduium, organic refried (black or pinto) beans in a bpa-free can.
  • 1/3 cup Oil-free hummus (homemade or store bought)
  • 2 tablespoons Flax seed oil
  • Sprinkling of Hemp seeds
  • Spinkling of Himalayan Salt
  • (Optional: touch of hot sauce)

Method:

  1. Mix everything together in a bowl. 
  2. Plate it and eat it. 
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Leek me Shitake that Virus

This is so incredibly yummy served on its own, or as a sauce for garlic noodle pasta or brown rice.  

It just so happens to be super simple and quick to prepare. Plus, its incredible good for your immunity.  So cut, heat, stir, then eat, and let the shitakes tackle the oncoming virus and cold.  

Total time from cutting board to fork: 11 minutes 

 

INGREDIENTS: 

  • One organic leek, chopped 
  • 10 organic shitake mushrooms, washed 
  • 2 tablespoons chopped garlic, fresh or dried
  • 1 tablespoon organic, first cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 heaping tablespoon organic miso paste (alternatively may use non-soy based)
  • teaspoon himalayan salt, to taste (alternatively can use soy, tamari, or bragg's amino acids)

METHOD: 

  1. Cut leek and wash throughly 
  2. Add olive oil to a fry pan on medium low heat
  3. Saute garlic for a few minutes
  4. Move heat to medium. Add leeks and salt.  Saute for a few minutes until leeks are well sauteed. 
  5. Chop or use your hands to rip up the shikates. I rip them up, it saves soooo much time. 
  6. The mushrooms will release water, don't mind the water, it is nutritious and will become a sauce soon. 
  7. When mushrooms are finished cooking, move heat to low and add miso paste. Stir the miso in throughout the dish and allow it to be totally absorbed.  
  8. Remove from heat and eat!

THE LOW DOWN:

  • For starters, garlic, leeks, and shitake mushrooms all have immune boosting, virus killing, cold destroying, properties. Eat them plentifully all year round to ward away colds and when you are feeling cold coming on.  
  • Miso paste, a probiotic rich food, has beneficial bacteria for really important gut health. Your gut health is key to not only proper digestion but for your overall immune health. Miso paste also wards away seasonal allergies.

Do note, there are living beneficial bacteria in miso paste.  Although heating it kills the beneficial bacteria, even when dead (as in miso soup), it has shown to provide benefits.  In this recipe, were heating the miso on low, keeping the bacteria killing to a minimum and benefits to a maximum. 

  • Since were using olive oil, lets not cook the oil at high heat, it will denature the oil and make it bad for you.  When the mushrooms release some water, you can switch to medium high for a couple minutes to speed up the cooking time.  Just watch the dish and make sure it doesn't smoke. 
  • Tip: rip the mushroom with your hands.  Seriously, do you really want to pull out your cutting board if you dont gotta?
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