Tag: health

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Cocktail

Fire Cider

one and a half slices immunity recipe healthy flu season gut health
one and a half slices local simple recipes food

Immunity Fire Cider

one and a half slices immunity recipe healthy flu season gut health

I would like to say Happy Holidays this year with a little immunity boost🎄Germs abound in flu season and you can have this simple witch’s brew on hand to combat viruses, bacteria, parasites, and inflammation 🌶️This tonic has got all the goods, so head to the store, grab your ingredients of choice, and whip this up 30 days before deep winter ❄️

In good health,

OneandahalfSlices

what you need

1-2 heads of fresh garlic

1 cup raw honey

2-3 fresh red chili peppers

1 large knob of fresh turmeric

2-3 knobs of fresh ginger

2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper

6-8 whole cloves

3-4 star anise

Several peppercorns worth of crushed black pepper

5-6 whole cardamom pods

1-2 lemons, washed, cut into quarters 

16oz raw apple cider vinegar

1 small red onion, peeled and cut into quarters 

(optional) 1 orange, washed, cut into quarters 

(optional) any fresh herbs (like rosemary) or flowers (like calendula or lemon balm)

how to make it

**note: fire cider takes about 30 days, so start your winter batch early!

Place all ingredients into an extra large mason jar. Pour in the cup of honey and then add the apple cider vinegar so the liquid covers the top of the ingredients in the jar.

Shake several times lightly and let sit on the counter at room temperature for 30-60 days. 

Give the jar a nice shake when you’re ready to prepare and then strain the liquid into a large jar. 

Take the fire cider 1-2 tablespoons at a time at the first signs of a cold or flu. Or you can take daily if you can stand the extra spicy, extra garlick-y flavor. 

*Note: both honey and apple cider vinegar are astringents. They work to pull the beneficial properties of all the jar’s contents (e.g., fresh turmeric root and ginger), into the liquid. So the remaining liquid basically functions as an anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-parasitic immunity shot for general holistic health and wellness. 

If you are looking for such a concoction in a tastier form, you can just make my immunity soup 🙂 

eat like this and you'll live forever
Categories
Omni Veggie

Pad Thai

OneandahalfSlices food blog recipes One and a half Slices Virginia eat local

Healthy Pad Thai

Most of us know Pad Thai as a delicious, peanut-y warm dish that is comforting and about 1K calories per bite. Not this pad thai. Make way for delicious, healthy, easy, weeknight pad thai. You’ll never order take out again after you acclimate to this super flexible, vegan, vegetarian, chicken, pork, or tofu pad thai, made with peanut sauce.

what you need

2 chicken thighs or 1 large chicken breast, cut into slices or chunks (alternatively, pork, tofu, or tempeh)

1 small zucchini

2 medium carrots

1/2 yellow onion

1/2 package Organic Forbidden Rice black rice noodles (or Pad Thai noodles of your choosing) 

1 tablespoon Ghee (butter or sesame oil will work in the absence of Ghee)

1 batch of homemade peanut pad thai sauce

2 tablespoons butter or desired cooking oil

(optional additions) 1/2 small head of cabbage cut into ribbons, 1 Portobello mushroom, 1 head of broccoli, 2 eggs, 1/2 an avocado cut into slices, etc. See notes below.

Get the sauce recipe here. 

how to make it

Make the base. If using brown rice, pour two cups of water into a pot with 1 tablespoon of salted butter and bring to a boil. Add 1 cup of rice and cook, covered on the lowest simmer for 45 minutes until all water has disappeared. Do not stir at any point during the process. Leave covered and remove from heat.

If using noodles, cook noodles according to instructions on package, strain, and set aside.

Make the sauce.

Make the stir fry. Cut zucchini, carrots, and onion into long, thin strips and set aside. Place ghee in large frying pan and melt over medium heat.  Add chicken slices/chunks and sauté until pink has just disappeared from the centers. Starting with the carrots, then the onions, and finally the zucchini, add vegetables to pan in 2 minute increments, then cook for an additional 4 minutes until vegetables (especially carrots) are softened but still retain a bit of crunch. 

Pour 3/4 of the sauce over the vegetables and stir for 30-60 seconds, just to warm and thicken the sauce ever so slightly. Remove from heat. If topping with fried egg, heat 1 tablespoon butter in pan and quickly fry 2 eggs to desired consistency.

Serve. Place a helping of rice or noodles in the bottom of a bowl and drizzle lightly with remaining sauce. Spoon a hearty helping of the vegetable mixture over the base. Top with desired garnish (see notes below).

With Egg
With Peanut
Without Egg

This recipe, its sauce, and its sister dish Weeknight Stir Fry are literally the most versatile recipes I have ever tried. They are excellent for having a CSA, when many times I end up at the beginning of a week with several misfit vegetables and no one dish to unite them. This is that dish. Check out the Weeknight Stir Fry and Peanut Sauce posts for customization instructions.

One way to take this one bowl wonder up a notch is to augment it with garnish. Actually, this recipe is the reason I pay attention to garnish at all. Not only does it make the dish more presentable (say, for Instagram posts…), but it also adds considerably to the flavor and substantial-ness (totally a word) of the meal.

The Fundamental Laws of Garnish

1. Always add something fresh. This recipe is filled with cooked vegetables that can benefit from the added freshness and crunch of an uncooked vegetable. Some of my favorites: halved cherry tomatoes, sliced radishes, fresh lime wedge, a couple raw carrot wheels (or, if you’re feeling adventurous, perhaps a carrot flower), cucumber slices.

2. Always add something tiny. This gives the dish a daintily haphazard ‘sprinkled’ air. That may sound ridiculous but it looks great in pictures. Suggestions: halved peanuts or cashews toasted under the broiler, sesame seeds (!), minced chives or green onion, fresh parsley flakes.

3. Consider amplifying the meal with a side. If the one bowl concept isn’t popular with family members (or your significant other simply wants something a bit more “substantial”), consider adding a side dish or two to the bowl. Some of my favorites: long slices of Portobello mushroom pan fried in marsala or sherry and garlic, fried egg, steamed broccoli florets, salted and shelled edamame beans, fresh avocado slices. 

On a completely separate topic, I am definitely noting “The Absence of Ghee” as a potential mid-life crisis rock band name. 

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Categories
Veggie

Guacamole

one and a half slices guacamole recipe mexican food
one and a half slices recipes local delicious food

Guacamole

one and a half slices guacamole recipe mexican food
mexico-icon-png-picture-697490-mexico-country-png-mexico-map-icon-png-512_512

The avocado is native to… Mexico! The growing season peaks in the summer but avocados are prevalent year-round (PSA: this post is NOT local). Then there is the less-desirable, much larger Florida avocado, which is less preferable for guacamole due to its high water content.

The avocado has an extremely high fat content with about 20g of fat per cup. But it’s  the good kind of fat (yes, there is a good kind). We actually really need healthy fats in our diet which is why I am not high on low-fat or non-fat things. When you eat fat, eat real fat (e.g., avocados, nuts, coconut, yogurt, cheese) and when you’re going to eat sugar, eat real sugar (e.g., fruit, honey, maple syrup).

High in fiber, potassium, and vitamins, avocados are super nutritious. Honestly, most of the fat in a snack of chips and guac is in the chips… Which is why I recommend serving guacamole with carrot sticks and cucumbers. You’ve probably all heard my healthy living rule of thumb by now: if you do nothing else, don’t eat anything that comes in a package. Easy rule to follow, right? I’m convinced it’s the single best thing someone can do for themselves, followed closely by eliminating soda, juices, and flavored waters.

Now let’s talk about avocado skin and… skin. Avocado is a skin food. It is the single best moisturizer and face mask money can buy. It probably sounds crazy but… you’ve got to try this, if for no other reason than to turn your face green and provide some entertainment value to your cohabitant. Turn the leftover avocado skins inside out and smear the remaining pulp onto a clean, dry face. Massage the pulp into your skin until your face adopts a green-ish hue. Let sit for 10 minutes, gently remove with warm water, and pat your face dry. And just like that… baby face. Another solution to face or body moisturizer is to buy straight cold-pressed avocado oil in the grocery store and use it similar to coconut oil. Avocado oil can be a bit heavy, so use it sparingly. 

Finally, it is no secret I am a fan of bowls. Bowl diets. Weeknight bowls. Themed bowls. Guacamole (or just plain avocado) is the perfect and necessary addition to a Mexican-themed bowl. Simply put, avocado is one of those hearty fruits that can stand on its own as a main course… like a sweet potato, a russet potato, or a Portobello mushroom. It is incredible how little the body actually needs to sustain itself (especially when we consider the portions restaurants deliver). It is also incredible how much protein we actually consume. To avoid giving an unsolicited lecture, I’ll simply head nod to Michael Pollan. Depending on your level of interest and amount of free time, here are three resources that make the case for altering the Western notion that a large piece of meat has to appear as the centerpiece of every plate:

  1. For those with 15 seconds: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” – Michael Pollan
  2. For those with 15 minutes: Unhappy Meals, Michael Pollan for NY Times
  3. For those with 15 hours: In Defense of Food (also, The Omnivore’s Dilemma and The Botany of Desire).’

what you need

1 ripe avocado

Juice from 1/2 lime

1 small tomato, finely diced

1/4 sweet onion, finely diced

1/2 jalapeño pepper, finely diced

Fresh cilantro leaves

(optional) 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard

(optional) 2-3 tablespoons crumbled goat cheese (I use about 1/4 of a half goat cheese brick)

Salt, pepper, and cumin to taste

For serving: corn chips (I like salted blue corn chips), carrot sticks, and cucumber slices

how to make it

Cut avocado in half and remove pit. In a ripe avocado, the pit should come out easily when tapped with the blade of a sharp knife and twisted. Spoon avocado pulp into small mixing bowl and mash with a fork to desired consistency (I like to leave mine a little chunky). (Save the skins!)

Add lime juice, chopped cilantro leaves, salt, pepper, cumin, and mustard, and stir until just combined. 

Add goat cheese, mashing it gently with a fork and combining with avocado mixture until little white pieces are still visible. 

Finally, mix in tomato, onion, and jalapeño pepper.

Top with: pomegranate seeds or bacon pieces or more cilantro leaves.

Serve with: blue corn chips, carrot sticks, and cucumber slices. 
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