Steamed Carrots with Garlic-Ginger Butter

March 11, 2014 by Shari Eckstrom 8 Comments

Spring is nature’s way of saying, ‘Let’s party!’ – Robin Williams

An easy spring recipe worthy of any spring dinner.

Spring is in the air! As the polar vortex slowly but surely loosens its grip on the U.S. the country joins the rest of the Western world in celebrating spring. What better way to celebrate the season than with a meal of fresh, organic vegetables?

This recipe is one of the simplest you’ll ever cook, but the taste is sublime! It’s also incredibly healthy, and it would be a great way to sneak some more veg into your children’s meals. A study quoted by World’s Healthiest Foods revealed that carrots and other beta-carotene-rich food helps protect the body from cardio-vascular diseases. Carrots are also an excellent source of polyacetylenes, which reduce the risk of colon cancer!

You might be used to boiling carrots in hot water to cook them off, but Enjoy-How-To-Cook reveals that steaming is the healthier alternative. This preserves most of the carrots’ flavor and nutrients, making for a healthy, sweet snack. In this dish, the carrots are served with a garlic-ginger butter — the perfect complement to the sharp, sweet texture of the vegetable.

If you are thinking of serving this with a nice glass of wine, make sure that your wine is also organic and sustainable! A box of light, fruity white wine goes very well with steamed carrots and butter. And yes, please remember to get wine sold in tetra packs or PET bottles, as these are the more environmentally friendly option!Paul Sapin, who packages French red and white wines for M&S, has spent the past few years developing wine bottles made of “organic glass” — recyclable plastic that keeps just as well as glass does. Try to get these bottles whenever possible.

As for the carrots and the rest of the ingredients, Pure Grace Farms can help you grow the best organic carrots, garlic and ginger in your own backyard, and of course, use only organic butter, and not some cheap substitute!

Steamed Carrots with Ginger-Garlic Sauce

2014-03-11 12:33:42

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Ingredients

· 2 minced garlic cloves
· 1 pound of peeled baby carrots
· 1 tbsp of butter for the sauce
· 1 tsp of minced, peeled, fresh ginger
· 1 tbsp of chopped cilantro
· ½ tsp of lime rind
· 1 tbsp of lime juice
· Salt to taste

Instructions

First off, take your butter out of the fridge and set it aside so it can melt to room temperature.
Steam up your baby carrots for ten minutes. This should leave them tender, but still with a little bite to them.
In a nonstick skillet, heat up your butter over medium heat, and add the garlic and ginger to the pan. Sautee for 1 minute, or until the garlic is starting to turn golden brown. Remove from the heat, and add the remaining ingredients.
Pour over the baby carrots, and serve steaming hot.

Pure Grace Farms https://puregracefarms.com/

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored post.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value to publish it. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

To Everything There Is A Season

March 7, 2014 by Shari Eckstrom 12 Comments

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance – Alan Watts

Change is never easy, even when one has earnestly desired it. For many years I dreamed of quitting my job, staying home and having the freedom to putter in the garden. I desired more free time as opportunities presented themselves to get involved with my church and in community service.

All these opportunities were impossible with the physically and emotionally draining job I had as an operating room nurse. The hours were gruelling and on most days, it was all I could do to get home, make dinner and crawl into bed. I had no energy for anything else.

During this past year, I could feel in my bones that change was on its way. Work was becoming intolerable and my body was insisting that I listen to it by way of a herniated disc in my lower back. Believe me, I was listening. Having a bit of an impetuous nature I did what some would call rash after a particularly trying day with management. I made the decision that enough was enough and quickly wrote out a letter of resignation (after a quick consultation with the hubs).

There were moments of terror in those next few weeks. Questions of what would I do and how would we manage were always in the back of my mind. At the same time there was a prevailing sense of peace. I felt strongly that God was leading me down this new path and I knew that if this was so, He would make all things come together the way they should. I needn’t worry about anything else.

A few months have passed and I am only beginning to understand the ramifications of all the changes that have come about. With freedom has come a sense of responsibility to make good on my dreams of being of service to help others. I have been blessed with opportunities already and am grateful for them. I don’t exactly know what tomorrow has in store for me or what that looks like, but I am determined to take these changes one day at a time, live in today and let tomorrow unfold as it may.

A walk of faith on this road of life is filled with all sorts of possibilities.

I love the color and flavor that Blue Corn Tortillas bring to my pure food dishes. They have a unique hearty texture, more protein than regular corn tortillas and are naturally gluten free. Delicious for enchiladas, tacos or just as they are hot off the grill. Be sure to come back next Saturday for the recipe for my Carne Asada Street Tacos where I will put these Blue Corn Tortillas to good use.

Blue Corn Tortillas

There’s a party going on. Be sure to head on over and check out the deliciously easy recipes being cooked up . This post was added to Easy to Cook Meals blog. Please join us Cunning Ladies’ Friday Party.

Me, Self-Absorbed?

January 31, 2014 by Shari Eckstrom 8 Comments

“We don’t forgive people because they deserve it. We forgive them because they need it–because we need it.”
― Bree Despain, The Dark Divine

I can be so self-absorbed at times, ” my life, my rules, my importance,” and tend to forget that the world doesn’t and shouldn’t revolve around me.

The problem lies mostly in my desire to be right and in making no allowances or room for the opinions and beliefs of others. Some would call this narrow-mindedness or stubbornness but I don’t think that’s accurate. All of us can tend to be bit narrow-minded and stubborn in the belief systems that we have formed over our lifetime. No, I think it is more about not being willing to love and forgive, regardless of the differences we all at times may share. It is becoming clearer to me, that my responsibility lies not in forcing another to believe what I believe, but to love them in spite of those differences and in being willing to forgive when those differences bring us pain. A tough lesson to learn and as usual brought about in the crucible. I continually ask myself “why must I always learn these lessons the hard way? ” but at the same time, very grateful I am still open to learning them.

Gluten Free Carrot Cake. When I first came upon this recipe, I was determined to change it up a bit, but after preparing it as the recipe dictated I realized it was almost perfect just as it was. So I made a few changes and will say I very loosely adapted this recipe because the bones of it was already established. The original recipe came from My Natural Family. A great blog site that focuses on taking charge of your family’s health with an emphasis on Healthy recipes with real ingredients.

Gluten Free Carrot Cake

Transforming Gratitude

January 25, 2014 by Shari Eckstrom Leave a Comment

Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings. ― William Arthur Ward

Have you ever had a day, week, or even a year, that is just flat out difficult? Maybe it’s a relationship that is tenaciously unstable, an illness or injury that continues on and on despite your best efforts at creating health, or financial circumstances that continue to spiral downward with no relief in sight. In a word, life is not behaving in a way you expected it to. The question is actually meant to be rhetorical. It is no surprise that everyone of us have faced difficult circumstances at numerous times in our lives, and I would bet that we will continue doing so until the day we die. No matter what anyone might tell you, this is life in all of its glorious imperfections. Right now I am struggling with a back injury that stubbornly refuses to heal. I have found that I can rail against life, be miserable to everyone around me or wallow in self pity. I am no saint, and I have done every one of those things in turn. But, in the midst of this difficulty I realize I have a choice to make. Maybe I have little say in whether or not I will get better, but I do have a choice in how I will respond to this difficult challenge in my life. More and more these days, I am choosing gratitude and thankfulness. It has been transforming. Gratitude and thankfulness has helped to take the focus off what I don’t have and put it squarely on the many blessings I do, and they are many.

No matter the difficulty you face today, count your blessings and see for yourself if those difficulties begin to lose a bit of prominence. No, the problem might not necessarily go away, but your capability to deal with it will be greatly enhanced. Today’s recipe, Warm Spinach, Caramelized Red Onion and Gorgonzola Salad is one I could eat every night of the week and be heartily satisfied. I love the sweet, tangy, crunchy mixture that lingers on my tastebuds and am always a bit sad when that last bite is taken. This is a dish, you will have a hard time sharing, so double the recipe. Or do as I do, and make it when no one else is home, so you get to savor every morsel all to yourself.