Rainbow Bean Dip

Yesterday I made this lovely rainbow bean dip for an evening of appetizers and some friends from high school. It was delightful, the colorful salad and the company.
Into the salad went:

• 1/2 cup dry black beans, properly soaked and cooked
• 1/2 cup dry garbanzo beans, properly soaked and cooked
• 1 large yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 1 large avocado, sliced into chunks
• 1/4 cup dried tomatoes, I rehydrated them in the following vinegar for about an hour before adding
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/4 cup red onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup green onion, chopped
• 2 Tablespoons chopped roasted chili peppers, these I had in the freezer
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• juice of one lime
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

I was following somewhat of recipe that I found in a magazine but then altered it drastically to reflect the ingredients that I had on hand. If I was making this during the summer I would obviously use fresh tomatoes, but in the wintertime I refuse to purchase disgusting hothouse tomatoes from the store so instead I used some dried tomatoes that I dehydrated this summer. They added a nice flavor when they re-hydrated a bit in the vinegar. If you don't have roasted chili peppers, a nice fresh jalepeno would be good as well during the growing season.

Make sure to put this salad or dip to eat with tortilla chips together at least 3 hours before you plan to enjoy it. At it sits the flavors meld and create a very tasty salad or dip. It's even better the next day!

Money In My Blender

Praise the Lord; we got about half an inch of rain last night! Now 1/2 an inch will really not do much for the 10 inches of rain that we are lacking for the year but it still makes for a beautiful morning. Last evening I rode my bike across town to a political forum and during this forum I could hear something stirring outside. Sure enough when I exited the building to get on my bike, it was raining with lighting and thunder still going on. My ride home was a little treacherous considering I still haven't gotten my flashing light fixed, I was wearing a skirt and sandals, and the possibility of me hitting something or being hit by something was probably pretty likely in the dark. However, I made it home safely, got wet, and loved it! Seriously, now if only we could blessed with about a week of steady slow rainfall we could possibly do something about this drought. But today I'm thankful for what we did receive.

To celebrate the rain this morning I went all out and made a smoothie which I haven't done in quite some time. This mornings creation is definitely money in a blender and money in my body. It is soooo tasty!

• 1 small frozen banana
• 1/2 avocado
• 1 large spoonful of cocoa powder
• 1 small spoon of raw, local honey
• 1 spoonful of almond butter
• 1 cup raw whole milk
• 5 ice cubes

This is seriously money folks. I might add that using raw whole milk makes this thing amazingly creamy and frothy. The awesome fat in there has this amazing power to really froth up in a blender. I purchase my raw whole milk from a grass-fed dairy so it is of exceptional quality and I love it. If you don't have your own source of raw dairy products, I encourage you to purchase as close to home as possible. Now go get it!

Quality Breakfast

I've been trying to be intentional lately about eating an adequate amount of protein daily and staying away from gluten and excess grains in my diet. Most of this has stemmed from my reading a lot about the Paleo lifestyle. I've been reading a ton from this site, Wellness Mama. The more I read and the success stories that are told are simply blowing my mind. Although I feel like a giant Grain Science traitor contemplating giving up most grains, I've already found that decreasing my consumption of them has already contributed to my overall health. More of this discussion in the future.

Here's a beautiful picture of what I have been dining on for breakfast this week. It contains a great amount of protein and good fats to fuel my day!

Local, natural eggs with bright colored yolks

Quinoa

Garlic

Avocado

Spinach

Homemade salsa