Thursday, September 27, 2012

Caught with my hand in the SunButter® Jar: My First Product Review

I used a long handled beverage spoon to retrieve the last remnants from the bottom of the jar. A little part of me sighed at the realization that there was no more to be had. It's gone? I thought, slightly frowning. Already?

SunButter® (source)

For over a month I had been making my own nut/seed butters. 2 1/2 cups of any nut or seed in the pantry will last me about a week once transformed into a creamy spread. After my sun butter recipe was such a hit, I received this email from SunButter®:
Good morning!
Thanks for your note on your blog. You're wonderful. You know..... in the spirit of blogginess (is that a word), I'm wondering if you'd ever consider authoring a guest post for the SunButter® blog? I'd love to share your story/perspective, and of course a few recipes if you're so inclined...

Let me know?

And take care. Happy weekending!
SunButter® is an amazing product developed by SunGold Foods, Inc., whose parent company Red River Commodities looked for innovative ways to use the sunflower seed after a lower quality (and thus cheaper) kernel was popularized in the market during the 90’s and early 2000s. With help from the USDA, RRC took two years to create the perfect peanut butter substitute in a peanut-free and tree nut-free environment. 

Today this alternative to nut butter can be found in a wide selection of grocery chains and health food stores, as well as being used in school lunch programs that have decided to go peanut/tree nut-free.

And wouldn’t you know it, there was a flavor that I could thoroughly enjoy.

Leftover Smoothie Oatmeal with SunButter® & additional toppings

Elizabeth, the lovely person who sent me the email above, and I messaged back and forth for a couple of days until this shining moment came in my inbox:
Oh I'd love to have you review ours. What's your mailing address and I'll send you a jar!
It took me a couple of seconds to comprehend that this was going to be my first official product review on Meals with Morri, but once I did I was beyond ecstatic to do it. Upon receiving the jar (and the nice note that came with it) in the mail, I relished in knowing there was sun butter on the market that was organic and unsweetened.  

Two of my favorite things in one 16-ounce jar, and perfect for those weeks I'm at the health store and don't have a batch I made at home waiting for me.

Once you open the lid and remove the foil casing, it doesn’t take much effort to fold back in the oil that occurs from natural separation. It is beautifully smooth and silky, like a softer creamy peanut butter that – wait for it – tastes like roasted sunflower seeds.

It’s one of those products that you can literally eat from the jar, one that doesn’t need anything but its sole ingredient to be delicious and nutritious. I put it on my daily apple. I stirred it in my oatmeal. I played around with using it as an ingredient in my vegan cheese sauce (a recipe still in the works). I ate it with raw buckwheat granola and banana and hemp seeds.

I even made salad dressing.*


My only hope for SunButter® is they incorporate more unsweetened and organic products in their line. I’d really like a crunchy version… or a honey/maple syrup sweetened version… or a seasonal flavor version…

It was such a delight to review this product, but if you have any questions regarding anything about the company, where you can buy it, or additional flavors, feel free to contact them. They also have a page with a variety of yummy recipes to try (warning: some recipes contain gluten, soy, and cane sugar). And if you happen to find yourself simply using your fingers when there isn’t a spoon or knife in sight to get a taste, don’t worry about it.

I did it too.

Ginger Lime SunButter® Salad Dressing

96 g Organic Unsweetened SunButter®
Juice of 2 Limes
120 ml Filtered water
1 tsp. Ground ginger
1/4 tsp. Garlic powder
1/4 tsp. Sea salt

Place all of the ingredients into the blender and mix until thoroughly combined.**

Makes around a cup of dressing, or 9 – 12 servings.

*This dressing is also amazing sauce on chicken.
**I used a blender stick and mixed the ingredients in a 2-cup measuring cup, though your commercial blender (or whisk) should work just as well.

Friday, September 21, 2012

The Last Days of Summer

Summer is slowly fading into fall, a time where hoodies and leggings become a common occurrence in northern Virginia. Change. That’s that word that comes to mind with a season’s birth from its predecessor's death. The wind is crisper. The air is cleaner. The sky is temperamental and absolutely beautiful in contrast with the leaves turning color. With such amazing feats of nature, why focus on the stressful things in life?


So much is going on behind the scenes of Meals with Morri, things I am timid with sharing and bringing out into the open. The majority of it has nothing to do with food or cooking, but everything to do with moving on, wellness and healing, and personal empowerment. Luckily, I have a plethora of posts I’m really excited to share with you, such as:

  • A product review (click here)
  • A new page on the MWM site
  • Food inspirations from friends and family
  • Fermenting (which I have been doing, I swear)
  • Foodie adventures
  • Getting back into the GFRR groove
  • Health and fitness updates
  • … and so much more!

As this is the last official week of summer (when did that happen?), I thought to share a recipe or two of something I view to be the epitome of the summer months.

The smoothie.

Oh, there’s a smoothie or two on this blog already, but I feel that next summer will be the smoothie season on this blog. Blended into a drink of nutritious goodness, you can put anything in it as meal on the go. Fruits and veggies, dairy and non dairy components, powders and spices… it is so versatile and takes maybe a minute or two to go from blender to cup.

Smoothie making, what a beautiful concept indeed.

In my vigilance to lowering my coffee intake (it’s between 30 – 60 ml now), my adrenals have been grateful and my mornings are not so chaotic and manic. There are some days, though, where a pick-me-up is desired and I came up with this recipe.

Good morning, Sunshine! Smoothie

1 Frozen banana
140 g Frozen mango chunks
10 g Chia seeds
10 g Bee pollen
240 ml Filtered water*
11 g Coconut electrolytes*

Place all of the ingredients into the blender and mix until thoroughly combined.

Makes 2 servings.

* You can use anything in place of the water, such as coconut water (in which case the electrolytes wouldn’t be needed), dairy or non-dairy milk, or juice.

The following recipe was my most recent smoothie attempt. It has fresh fig in it, a fruit that I adore dried and baked but really want to learn to like them fresh. It also has açaí puree, an interesting find in my local Harris Teeter’s frozen food section. Both fruits are not overtly sweet as far a fruits go, and most certainly not tart at all. The resulting smoothie, as it was pointed out to me, tasted like a simple bowl of oatmeal made right.

I’m still figuring that statement out.

Açaí and Fig Smoothie

100 g Frozen açaí puree
4 Fresh figs *
1 Banana *
360 – 480 ml Unsweetened almond milk, depending on preference to thickness

Place all of the ingredients into the blender and mix until thoroughly combined.

Makes 2 servings.

* I would recommend freezing the figs and banana for a creamy, ice cream-like consistency, though blending them from room temperature is fine.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Being Full

It seemed to come out of nowhere. Little by little, bit by bit, I felt it after every experience that I have mentioned (and not mentioned) on this site. For the first time, what seems to have been years, I am full. Contentedly, ecstatically full. I haven't been this happy or this grounded in such a long time.

From the breakup to meeting people that have become chosen family to farmers markets to fermentation and soaking to the death my family experienced last week, it has led me here: I am satiated, absolutely and wholly, because I know where I am going. I know who I am for me, and I know what I’m going to do to make the world a better place.

My sleeping better has quite a few variables, though I’m not sure which one is the main reason for my SMI going away: it could be I’m living life for myself, that I’m taking my second dose of Armour Thyroid earlier in the day, or, most likely, because I’m eating.


I’ve officially moved from “eating to live” to the “living to eat” category, and that doesn’t necessarily mean gluttony. It means that I’m able to pick up my body’s elusive cues, and trusting those cues, knowing that I’m hungry and why. I’ve started eating more, and as a result, my body is filling out. I’m still the around the same weight, less even, but my curves are more defined and for the first time ever I am accepting of my body.

Then of course there are those days I do wake up before 6 a.m., and I think to myself: “I have the choice of eating more and sleeping longer, and thus weighing “more”, or the choice of eating the amount I think I should, and thus waking up earlier and ‘weighing less’.” It’s that old voice of what I should be doing and what I should look like that gets me still, because it thinks of food, eating, and body image as “right or wrong”. It’s that old voice’s logic that I have to choose between sleep health and nutritional health, when my health as a collective is what I feel to be the most important. Finally, it’s that old voice that tries to rain on my parade that my body is filling out, because I had worked on controlling my body to be what I viewed as Beauty By Thinness for so long.

From this I learned that I’m surprisingly okay with this change (much to that old voice’s surprise and disdain), because I am still Morri: the girl who cooks, is progressively getting better at both yoga and rock climbing, is applying for grad school, and yes, is definitely going places.

So if that means I have the curves my body has tried for years to show what health looks like for me, I accept those terms unequivocally and entirely to their fullest extent. Now comes the challenge of eating when hungry over eating because of habit (as in, not eating at 9 a.m. because I’m no longer up at 3:30), and thankfully I have the tools and support to know the difference.

Swiss & Fig Grits Cake Squares

200 g CGF White grits
45 ml Whey
Filtered water
1 tsp. Sea salt
8 Large eggs
120 g Swiss cheese, sliced or grated
8 Fresh Black Mission figs, sliced vertically into fourths

In a bowl (preferably glass), combine the grits, whey, and water and let it sit covered at room temperature overnight to twenty-four hours.
Pour the contents of the grit mixture into a medium-sized saucepan, and pour additional filtered water so that it tops the grits halfway between the joints.
Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Cook at medium-low heat until thickened, and then turn it off to cool slightly for thirty minutes.
In another bowl (possibly the bowl you used for soaking the grits), beat the eggs thoroughly, and while stirring the grits, slowly pour and integrate the ingredients to avoid curdling.
In a greased 12 x 12” baking pan*, layer with half the eggy grits mixture, cheese, fig, and top with the remaining grits. (If you half leftover fig slices, simply place it on top.)
Bake for 1 hour, until golden brown on the top and cooked through.
Turn off the oven and let it sit for fifteen minutes or so before cutting and serving.

Makes 16 servings.

* I have a preference for "tall" foods, ones with layers and stacked high rather than spread out. This recipe would also work with a larger pan, with one layer of the eggy grits topped with the fig and cheese (or whatever other ingredients you want to add).

Thursday, September 6, 2012

A Little Bit of Philosophy in Sun Butter

Before you read any further, I must ask that you pay no attention to the background of the photos. The blurred, artistically cropped things of food surrounding the sun butter are not important right now. What is important is that little glob of sunshine smeared on the still-warm dish. The littlest things in life, at least for me this week, are the most significant.

Thus, sun butter.


Sun butter is that holy grail of spread that took me so long to find and create to my liking. I didn’t want sun butter (or sunflower seed butter, but I like its abbreviation better) that had additional oils or sweeteners, and I didn’t particularly care if it wasn’t raw. I wanted something that stuck to the roof of my mouth just like any nut butter and taste what it really was: sunflower seeds.

There are a lot of great recipes out there for sun butter, though I find in my search through cyber space a twisted hope that I don’t find it. If you go on an adventure to find something and come back empty-handed, that is where your creativity, ambition, and strength to make do come out to the light. So what if you don’t get exactly what you wanted? Sometimes getting what you want is the last thing you need. Sometimes you do get what you want and realize it wasn’t what you were hoping for. Sometimes it just takes a little more effort to get there, perhaps with more twists and turns along the way.

Sun butter has become the focus of my philosophical “aha!” moment this morning. Here is this dollop of brown gloop just sitting there at the center of whatever I happen to put it on, and I get lost in its significance. 


I’m learning to break things down into manageable blocs of focus throughout the day. There’s time reserved for meditation, for studying, for classes, and for my part-time job. There’s time reserved for blogging, for eating, for exercising, and other things. From my week enjoying a spoonful of the sunny stuff I learned to not stress over being perfect the first time around (case in point, the delicious “flop” food the sun butter is so delicately placed on), and to not micro-manage everything. Just because I’m managing my time is no reason to become too time oriented and rigid. There’s stuff going on between the studying and the classes, the blogging and the meditating, little stuff that cements those blocs into the collective whole that is my life in a day. Life happens and there will be bumps and bruises and tears amidst the smiles and smooth sailing. That’s just a small part, the majority of which being rather amazing and awe-inspiring.

In conclusion, my dear readers, the little dollops of sun butter are just the minute experiences that make the whole dish of life that much better. So go ahead and take a spoonful. Just remember that there are other meals to taste along the road.

A Little Bit of Sunshine Roasted Sun Butter

330 g Raw sunflower seeds
1/2 tsp. Sea salt

Preheat the oven to 300ºF.
Spread the sunflower seeds flatly on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Roast for 30 - 35 minutes*, until golden brown and aromatic, stirring 1 to 2 times.
Remove and add to your food processor, scraping down the sides as necessary.
Process for 10 - 12 minutes, continuing to scrape as needed.** 
Once it is smooth, add the sea salt and process for another minute or so until it is at the desired consistency.

Makes 10 servings.

* Sunflower seeds take a little longer to brown, but I assure you the “roasted” taste in the sun butter is worth it.
** Okay, sun butter takes quite a while to become, well, sun butter. For a time it will seem like all it’s becoming a sunflower seed flower, but then it will ball up and have the consistency of sticky dough. The ball will twirl around the processor and then it will flatten out and finally liquefy. (But is it worth it, Morri? you ask. Yes, yes it is.)

Monday, September 3, 2012

A September Monday Brunch

Autumn has begun to show its colors as we firmly settle into September. Certain fruits and vegetables are no longer in season, and more and more vendors at the farmers markets have signs that say, “This is the last week we are selling ___. Buy now for canning and freezing in the winter.”


Never before has my heart clenched over such an announcement. I feel that my first year of blogging was experimenting with how to make food; but as I am a quarter into my second year writing Meals with Morri posts, it has transformed into food activism, health, and gardening. I have more than recipes swirling around my head. I have plans on changing the way we look at food and where it comes from.

Farmers markets have really shifted my priorities on the food budget. Buying local, sustainable, and organic food, both from the weekend markets and stores like Trader Joe’s, are really not that much different in price when I bought solely from international markets and other stores (cheaper, even). Even more disturbing is how the quality differs, how the farmers market’s garlic is crisp and strong while the ones we used to by at the international market trekked from far lands and severely lacked in texture and flavor. You can say the same thing for just about any fruit, vegetable, dairy/meat product: the celery is greener, the mozzarella is soft and stretchy, the apples are beautifully imperfect and significantly more filling, the tomatoes are sweet and wonderfully varied in color and texture, and the herbs taste like they came from the garden that morning (which, coincidentally, they probably had).

I have my compost pile underway, and I have plans for gardening for the following year. I have graduate school to officially apply for, and I have much to study. So what better way to start a Monday morning with all of these plans and adventures in the making than a brunch to celebrate a new month and season?


When my good friend CB and I went to Toledo for the weekend, the drive was starting to get to us. By hour eight, we were tired, hungry, and the highway started to look like it would never end. Then he mentioned having a friend living a Cleveland and asked if we could make a stop to visit. I was determined to get to Toledo, but I did need to get out of the car and nap, so I agreed.

Whatever misconceptions I had about Cleveland were completely turned upside down when we entered the city. Our friend took us on tour to visit the nooks and crannies that left me in awe. Truthfully, had I eaten and slept throughout the trip, I would have been more excited to walk around and take photos. But the fact that I could walk on hour ten of our journey was a miracle in itself. Ah, well. I guess that means another trip to Ohio is in order…

He took us to this plot of land by the projects, where acres of beautiful fruits and vegetables grew in rows of outstanding abundance. I saw hops, hanging high overhead, and Brussels sprout stems bare from harvest. Carrot greens shyly rose above the soil, and kale in its confidence was lush and green.

(source)

And then there was The West Side Market and his own little garden (with chickens!), two places I really wished I had been well rested and with a camera to share their marvels with you. He took us back to his cozy apartment where I napped in the guest bedroom while the two men made breakfast for lunch. When I awoke, I came out to see them sitting on the porch with a buffet of delightful foods: fruits and cheeses, banana nut pancakes (alas, the gluteny kind), and omelets.

Now, I must mention that my appetite is wonky on long travels. I prefer to not eat, at least not too much, because I figure my lack of motion would balance it out. We had been on the road since two-thirty that morning, and having eaten at odd times, I wasn’t sure how hungry I was. And though I kept saying I wasn’t hungry, I grabbed cubes of succulent mango he purchased from the West Side Market, as well as various slices of cheese and berries. My new friend wouldn’t take no for an answer: I was eating.

He made me this amazing omelet (did I mention he was a professionally trained cook?): eggs with half and half, rainbow chard, fennel sprigs, and Havarti with dill (my absolute favorite cheese). It tasted amazing, warmed my empty stomach and tired body, and I was a brand new Morri for the remainder of our drive.

When we came back to Virginia, I was determined to recreate that delectable omelet and share it with you. Today was the perfect day to make it for the household. Where it was made for us to ease our travels, I made it for the same reasons: warmth, love, and intentions of well-being wherever my family was going.

Thank you, dear David from Ohio. I dedicate this recipe to people such as yourself and the food movement Cleveland has embraced.  

The Baked Cleveland Omelet

8 Large eggs
340 ml Whole milk*
100 g Rainbow chard, stems removed and sliced into long strips
1 Garlic clove, finely chopped
120 g Havarti with dill, divided in half and thinly sliced or grated
1 – 2 tbsp. Fennel sprigs, finely chopped
Sea salt, to taste

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
In a medium-sized bowl, thoroughly blend the eggs and milk and set aside.
Grease a deep dish 8 x 8” pan with coconut oil and layer the ingredients in the following order: chard, garlic, 60 g of the Havarti, the egg mixture, the fennel sprigs, and the remaining 60 g of Havarti (or more if you want a cheesier top).
Bake for thirty minutes, until bubbling and firm when pierced in the center with a knife.
Turn off the oven and let it sit there for an additional five minutes.
Slice to the serving sizes of your preference and serve warm over rice.

Makes 4 – 8 servings, depending on meal.

* As I said, you can also use half and half or whatever "milk" you happen to have on hand. The raw milk we purchased from the Amish was starting to sour, so I used it for this recipe.