Another Great Weekend and a Few Recipes

Saturday was for sailing:

Time has been flying by recently. We have been getting a lot accomplished but very little of it has been at home. I have gotten pretty good at making food that is portable or taking the ingredients with me and whipping things up on the boat. I will need to write a post about that soon so I can share what I have learned with all of you. There are definitely some tricks that I have picked up.

Saturday we had good wind and took advantage of it to figure out what the boat would do. Did we have a good time? No doubt about it! When we left the dock the wind was about 5 knots but it reached 13.6 knots so we had a great day to try things out. We got rid of the prior boat over a decade ago so we really needed to “get our feet wet” and it was the perfect day for it. We had the boat moving at 7.6 knots which wasn’t bad for our first trip out. I was pleased with how she handled which was a little bit of surprise. Since the last boat was a racer I assumed she would have been much easier to handle but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Here is Dan behind the wheel.

This is me trying my best to see over the cabin. The world is just not made for short people. ;-)

I loved this picture of the Inner Harbor as we were coming back to the marina.

Here are a few more shots I took while we were out.  Sailing out of the inner harbor is definitely different from having the boat on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

We go right by Fort McHenry on our way to the bay. It is great be surrounded by history. It isn’t like being in Italy but we have our share of American history at least. ;-)

While we were underway I made us a salad of: tatsoi (an Asian green), quinoa (which I cooked at home), marinated mushrooms (also made a home), tomatoes and pine nuts. I was able to toss this together while Dan took the wheel.

We sailed for about 4 hours and it was getting cold (temps in the mid 60’s and a lot of wind), and we weren’t really dressed for it, so we headed back for the marina.

I couldn’t get warm so I made us some hot green tea. When that didn’t do it I decided a mostly raw dinner was out of the question. Thank goodness I had stashed some of the Tasty Bites packaged vegan food on board. See even we eat “packaged” food sometimes. ;-) I am sure you know me well enough to realize that I didn’t eat it as it came out of the package though. It wouldn’t be me if I didn’t tinker with it now would it?

Sunday:

We started our morning at the farmers’ market like always. Fall is definitely fast approaching as the winter squash is plentiful now. *boo hoo* It is always sad to see summer end. However I am consoling myself with the good wind we always have in the fall. On the Chesapeake sailing is better spring and fall than it is during the summer. Additionally the powerboats don’t seem to come out as much and that makes for less dodging them since many of them don’t seem to understand the “rules of the road”.

Here are some of the fun hummus flavors I picked up at the market on Sunday.

After the market we came home and lounged around for a while since neither of us got much sleep last night. There was a new episode of Dr. Who on so you know Dan couldn’t go to sleep. I am not sure what my excuse was for getting into bed so late, but I am going to blame it on Dr. Who keeping Dan up. ;-)

Dan ran out to the hardware store to pick up some materials to make a device to hold the spring line up at the marina so that it will be easier to dock. Good thing one of us is handy isn’t it? As you probably guessed I am not the handy one in our family. ;-)

While he was gone I made another batch of curried split pea soup because it travels really well. I measured this time so that I can share the recipe which you will find at the end of this post.

Since it was so cold last night I thought some hot chocolate would be nice to have on the boat and whipped up a batch of almond milk and part of that became hot chocolate. This recipe will also be at the end of this post.

I also wanted to make a sweet and spicy pickled salad of sorts. I had something similar at Jesse Wong’s a few months ago and knew I could make it my own, and dare I say improve on it from both a nutrition and taste perspective. I have also shared that at the bottom of this post.

When we got to the marina it was much later than we had intended it to be. I got busy stowing everything on board so that we could go out if we decided to. Dan took care of installing his new device on the dock. While he was busy with power tools I took a little time to write this post and get some veggie chili with mushrooms in the crock pot. The boat came with a crock pot on board so I wanted to test that out and see how it would work on board since that was a new idea for me. For some reason I never used a Crockpot on the prior boat. Since it seemed to work fairly well on high I may start making more meals in the Crockpot on the boat.

Before I forget Dr. Greger is looking for unpaid interns for his site nutritionafacts.org to help spread the word about the health benefits of a whole food vegan diet. As you have probably guessed I don’t have a huge amount of free time but helping Dr. Greger is a fantastic cause so I am thrilled to be able to lend a hand. If you can spare 10 hours a week for 10 weeks please join me in volunteering for Dr. Greger. I am sure you will find it very rewarding. I hope to see you there soon. :-)

Recipes from this weekend:

Curried Split Pea Soup
Serves 8

Ingredients:

2 cups Bob’s Red Mill “Vegi Soup Mix” (green and yellow split peas, barley, lentils, and whole wheat alphabet pasta)
8 cups water
2 bay leaves
1 onion, peeled and minced
32 ounces homemade canned tomatoes (or 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes no or low salt)
2 tablespoons garam masala
½ - 1 tablespoon turmeric (this can be bitter so start with less how much you need will depend on how much is the garam masala you used)
½ tablespoons fresh ground black pepper (to make the curcumin in the turmeric more bioavailable)
2 tablespoons black mustard seeds
fresh lime wedges to finish

Directions:

Combine the water, bean mix, and bay leaves in your pressure cook and cook on high pressure for 10 minutes. Use the quick release method, remove the bay leaves and add the remaining ingredients, except the lime and cook until the onion is tender. Serve the soup with wedges of lime to bright the flavor.

Almond Milk Hot Chocolate
Serves 2 – greedy vegans ;-)

Ingredients:

3 cups homemade almond milk, with the oats to thicken it
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
a pinch of mace
stevia to taste, depending on how much of a sweet tooth you have

Directions:

I combine this in Mason jar and shake well to combine. By doing that you can shake the jar and pour out the amount you want to heat and store the remainder in the refrigerator. Also it travels well this way.

Spicy Sweet and Sour Salad of Bok Choy and Carrot
Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 cup white vinegar
1 cup water
1 cinnamon stick
approximately 10 whole cloves
whole dried chilis (like you see in Asian stir fry), add these to taste depending on how much you like heat (I used 15 or so but I love heat)
2 carrots, cut into sticks
4 cups shredded bok choy
¼ cup golden raisins
sesame seeds for garnish
spicy greens to be a bed for the salad (I used tatsoi)

Directions:

Combine the water, vinegar, spices, and heat on high until the liquid is just beginning to bubble. Now add the carrots so that they will begin to soften. Once the vinegar has cooled add the bok choy and raisins and store the salad in a jar in the refrigerator. Periodically turn the jar over to distribute the marinade. To serve place the salad on top of the greens and dust the salad with sesame seeds. Don’t forget to tell your family not to eat the hot peppers as they are very hot.

Happy Thoughts:

• It was another fantastic weekend for us. Dan didn’t spend any time at work so we had lots of face time and you know we loved that. ;-) We had a great sail on Saturday and a very relaxing dinner on board on Sunday.

• I have a new little feathered friend at the marina. The most adorable mallard has decided that she needs to greet me every time I come down the boat. I am sure it has nothing to do with my feeding her the leftover pancakes that the delivery crew left in the refrigerator. ;-) Thank goodness Michelle can to the rescue to tell me what I should be feeding the duck. My little friend (who I now need to name), hung around with me for an hour under Sunday after I gave her the end of the pancakes on board. I swear one day I am going to arrive at the marina and she will be waiting for me on the boat.

• I have a new human friend at the marina as well. Chris, two slips away, and I are really hitting it off. We both love to cook, and talk and have been spending a lot of time together. It is very nice to make new friends.

• The wind has really started to pick up on the Chesapeake which is fantastic. After all sailing is no fun when you don’t have wind. ;-)

Signing out:

I have been spending so much time at the boat that things at home are now out of control. Time for me to get busy and get some things done at home so that I can relax at the boat. Talk with you again soon.

Cold but Spicy Indian Soup

I am having another one of those “uber busy” weeks that have become my new normal. Whatever happened to retirement was supposed to be boring? ;-)

Monday is already a blur though I know I spent a lot of time on the book club blog. If you haven’t read “The China Study” and want to join us please do.

This morning (Tuesday) Dan and I started our morning with a nice trek through the neighborhood which was a little less than 3.5 miles. The weather was gorgeous with temps in the low 70’s and a reasonable amount of humidity. We covered most of the distance walking but there was some jogging too. I will cut back the jogging if my knee starts acting up again. I have to accept the fact that I am not young any longer.

When time came for dinner I had no idea what I was going to make, like usual. However I remembered a soup that Dennis had talked about last week at cooking class. I saw the recipe which he brought for the teacher and used that for inspiration for tonight’s dinner. Here is what I did:

Cold Spicy Indian Soup
Approximately 8 servings

Soup Ingredients:

2 cups split mung beans
4 carrots, roughly chopped
12 cups water, you may need more or less depending on evaporation
1 cup peeled, diced white onion
8 large cloves garlic, peeled and minced (approximately ½ head)
1 tablespoon garam masala
2 cups almond milk
1 – 3 diced jalapenos (depending on how much you like heat)
freshly ground black pepper to taste
½ teaspoon coconut extract
1 -3 inches fresh ginger (add to your taste)

Soup Toppings:

cashew crème fraiche
fresh herbs - cilantro/parsley/mint/green onions
sliced almonds or curried squash seeds
lime wedges

Directions:

Combine the dried beans and 8 cups of water, onions, garlic, carrots, and garam masala and cook until the beans are tender. Now puree the soup in your blender until completely smooth and return to the pot. Add the almond milk and coconut extract and stir to blend. Cook until you like the flavor of the soup, in other words until the flavors have blended. Add water necessary to achieve a consistency of cream. Remember that the soup will thicken as it chills.

Now place a cup or two of the soup in your blender and process the ginger and jalapenos until the soup is smooth. Add this to the other soup and stir to combine and taste for flavor. I like a fresh ginger taste so I added this mixture off the heat. If you find that the soup is too hot or sharp in flavor you can add a little stevia to round out the flavor.

Move the soup to a large container and chill it in your refrigerator until it is completely cold. It is meant to be served like gazpacho as a thoroughly cold soup.

To serve top the soup with any or all of the suggested toppings listed above.

Happy thoughts:

Some days it is easier to come up with the things I am happy with than other days. However I also realize that the days when it is tough to focus on what is right is precisely the day when I need be still and write down as many as I can think of. Here goes:

• The weather was remarkable today. We had a gorgeous walk this morning before Dan went to work. Later I was able to open the windows at home and let the fresh air in. As I am typing this I am watching the sunset and listening to the locusts chirp (assuming that is the right word). The sound of the locusts is always comforting to me because they remind me of my grandmother we used to tell me they were the “hot bugs” when I was little.

• The fur children have been adorable today. They really enjoy lounging in the window and breathing the fresh air. It is so easy to make the cats happy. An open window and my little ones are as happy as they can be. We could learn a lot from cats couldn’t we?

• The boat was refueling at Turtle Cove today and is next headed for the Bahamas. It has been a long time coming but she is finally headed home. You have no idea how much we are both looking forward to her arrival.

• I finally figured out how to forward my new website to the domain I purchased. I was determined to make it work without calling anyone for help and a number of days later it is finally working. Now I need to refine the content and I will be ready to share the link with you.

• Having purchased a large basket of peaches (about 100) this weekend at the farmers’ market means I am in bit of peach overload. Good thing I love peaches huh? Every day I find myself eating peaches breakfast, lunch and dinner. As much as I love peaches I may not buy another basket next week. I think I could use a peach break for a week. However it was great to get a big basket for $20 and I am sure that I will miss ripe local peaches when they are gone. ;-)

• I almost have all the laundry done. I know that doesn’t sound like a big deal but I rarely see the bottom of our laundry basket. Dan and I make a lot of dirty laundry so I am enjoying having it completely under control for a change.

• This morning I had time to take part in a good webinar about marketing. I love being able to learn online. It is nice to sit in my own family room with a cup of tea and take part in a webinar. It is good to be alive in this age of technology even though I am a bit of technology dinosaur. ;-)

Signing out:

I just fed my hubby and now I need to clean up the kitchen and turn in. Tomorrow will start early with a little exercise if weather permits. *fingers crossed*

Talk with you again soon. Enjoy the remainder of your evening.

Tandoori Tofu and Corey's Last Day

Here is the preview of the Tandoori tofu that I will be detailing below. It turned out extremely well so I think hope you will like it as much as we did.

Friday was a beautiful day weather wise. We had a gentle breeze and temperatures in the upper 70’s. I really enjoyed that we also got a break from the rain that we have had so much of this spring. There has been so much rain that it also feels like you can see the grass growing now. ;-)

Breakfast for me was a simple bowl of local strawberries with a little soy yogurt (organic soy and no soy protein isolates) a touch of granola and a few sliced almonds. When we have local berries I love to have this for breakfast. It is a bit of splurge for me since I don’t typically buy soy yogurt and I really enjoyed it.

After breakfast I took time to enjoy the garden and went for a quick walk to see how my toe was going to do in my running shoes. My broken toe still isn’t 100% but it held up nicely so happy to say that I am back in business. *woo hoo*

For some reason (and I have no idea why) I was thinking of lobster tandoori today. Given that tofu has a very mild character I decided to use that as a stand in for the lobster. The biggest problem wasn’t the meat substitute but the sauce. The omni sauce that I have used in the past contained cream, egg and butter which meant I knew it was going to be a challenge to veganize. I had no idea how my healthy vegan version would turn out but since I had nothing to lose I decided to give it a go and here is what I did:

Tandoori Tofu
Enough for 2 – 14 ounce packages of tofu

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons freshly ground golden flaxseeds
2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled (mince if you aren’t using a high powdered blender)
½ teaspoon sweet paprika (not smoked)
1 pinch stevia
½ cup raw cashews
1/8 teaspoon ajowan seeds (you can substitute thyme)
4 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons dry oatmeal (ground into flour)
2 teaspoon garam masala
½ teaspoon turmeric
¼ teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
¼ teaspoon cardamom powder (optional but recommended)
1 cup water
2 – 14 ounce packages of organic extra firm tofu (be sure to read the ingredient label to make certain that it doesn’t contain soy protein isolates)

Directions:

Combine everything but the tofu in your blender (I used my Vitamix) and process until smooth and well blended. If you aren’t using a high powered blender you may want to soak the cashews a few hours first.

Cut each block of tofu into six slabs and cover it with the sauce and refrigerate for a few hours. Now place the tofu (excess sauce removed) in your oven to bake. I used my convection/infra red/halogen oven set on 350 degrees but it would also work in a regular oven though I would use a parchment or silpat covered baking sheet. Turn the tofu when the sauce begins to brown. Smear a little more sauce on top and bake until the second side is brown. I am guessing that this will take 20 minutes on the first side and 15 on the second side.

Nutritional Information:

Sorry I ran out of time to run the numbers again. Are you starting to see a pattern here?

Comments:

I just love this recipe! It is definitely one of my better experiments in a while. If you like Indian food and tofu please give this a try.

It was a gorgeous evening for dinner outside.

Friday was Corey’s last day managing the restaurant so you know we had to go out to dinner? There was no way we were going to miss his last day. I have to say I am still shocked that he is leaving after 14 years but I also understand. However it is really going to take a while before I get used to him not being there when we walk in but I am determined not to cry. Yes, I am that girl. ;-)

Both Ian and Will were working on Friday so I didn’t need to walk into the kitchen to see if I was making stuff up or if they had things planned. Since Will was working he was taking care of us today. Given the beautiful weather and a full patio I was expected the kitchen to be swamped and it was. I have no idea how they make food as fast as they do. That will always amaze me I must say. While I love to cook there is no way I could do it as quickly as they do.

We started with a pot of green and hibiscus tea and chatted with Corey, David, Mike, Jonathan, Jennifer, Emily, Janine, Stephanie and Ahmed. Everyone was a little bummed to see Corey leave but they hid it well while they were working which is better than I think I could have done.

Our first course was a very nice but simple salad of port soaked dried cherries, cucumber, radish, spinach, red onion, sliced almonds and semolina flat bread shards. The salad was dressed with tarragon vinegar. This salad was clean and delicious. I am fairly sure the port soaked cherries were what made this pop.

Next we had our favorite, Ian’s version of a samosa. Both Dan and I love this dish. The filling is potatoes, lentils, golden raisins and Indian seasonings. Like much of Ian’s food the dipping sauce is fabulous. I know it contains cilantro, citrus (which I think is lime) as well as heat (probably serrano). Sorry that I haven’t asked about the details on the sauce. I will try to remember to ask the next time we see Ian.

Dan loves to eat bread or pizza when we go out since I don’t keep any in the house. With that in mind the last course was bruschetta with tomatoes and basil. You know that Dan really liked this right?

For some crazy reason I decided to take some of this with me to the restaurant to get Ian’s take on it. Who takes their home cooking to a classically trained chef? *shakes head* Ian thought the spice blend was well balanced and he liked the texture of the coating and the tofu. His only suggest was that it needed more salt which makes sense since I don’t use any salt. That was something that Ian didn’t realize and he appeared completely confused by the concept. ;-) I do like to keep people guessing LOL. If you still use salt I would suggest that you add some. I took enough for others to try and everyone seemed to like it. Needless to say once Ian gave this his blessing I felt like my experiment was a complete success.

When everyone else left the restaurant everyone started getting ready for the first part of the send out. First there was a shirt that everyone who worked at the restaurant signed (and us) which I thought was adorable. I haven’t seen this tradition before but I really liked the idea of it.

Next there were balloons which I think I blew up most of. That isn’t as easy as it was when I was younger. LOL

I said goodbye to Corey (who they had sequestered in the office during preparations) and left before the first part of the party got started. Dan and I are just a little too old to hang with “the kids” all night. Not to mention I didn’t want to intrude on their time to say good bye to Corey. However they clearly had a good time Friday night. Here are a few pictures:

(Corey (L), Elly (C) and Taylor (R) earlier in the day)

(Corey (L) and Ian (C) toasting with Jenn, Will and Mike in the background) 

(Emily (L) and Steph (R) having a good time)  ;-) 

(Jenn (front) and Mike aka shorty (back) yes he is 6'7" and Jenn is not) 

(Janine (front), Elly (back left) and Jenn (back right) - what is Janine doning?)  LOL

Clearly they were having a good time before heading out for round two of the send off.  :-)

Blog Direction:

I still have no idea what I am going to do with the blog, but I appreciate the suggestions. The “greatest hits” idea is very appealing and I will try to do that soon. I think I will separate that into a number of posts with categories like: basics, soups, entrees, smoothies, that sort of thing.

The idea about “so I have cancer now what” I will also write about soon. The crazy thing about that comment is that was what I had originally wanted to write about but my friends weren’t sure that there was a market for it.

If you are an Facebook check out my fan page here. I am using this to share the interesting health and food related articles as I come across them. Additionally I am posting pictures here and some random stuff.  Be sure to use the link above as there are two vegan epicurean pages and one has no activity.  Long story, but to make it simple I set it up and then couldn't get log in again.  Only me right?  LOL

Other than that I have no idea what I will be doing. I hate being without direction like this. There is no doubt that I am more focused when I have a “mission statement” in mind. If you have any additional thoughts or ideas please feel free to share. I am open to any ideas.

Happy thoughts:

• Friday was a gorgeous day and I was very happy that we were there to say good bye to Corey. As often as we go out to eat I spend more time with Corey than most anyone I know other than Dan. It just won’t be the same going out to dinner without Corey at the restaurant. If you are reading this Corey I hope you know how much we will both miss you. Don’t forget to let me know when you want to get together. Hugs!

• I was very happy about how my tandoori tofu turned out. Sometimes it is very easy to make me happy.

• Being able to wearing my running shoes was a huge accomplishment. You have no idea how happy this made me. I have really missed my daily walks.

• I love that winter is far behind us now. Spring is my favorite season. It is fantastic to go outside and have the foliage be that lovely spring green. It is also great to not have seasonal allergies any longer. If I had known eating this was would eliminate my allergies I might had done it long ago. Just imagine all the sinus medication I could have skipped. :-/

Signing out:

I need to clean up the kitchen and start to wind down. The farmers’ market will be starting before I know it. Talk to you all again tomorrow.

Frenetic Wednesday

My day completely got away from me today and I ran out of time to write a proper post. On the bright side I did have a few things go really well which I wanted to tell you about briefly, but will go into detail about tomorrow.

My morning started with fresh vegetable and fruit juice. As you can tell this one contained beet.  ;-)

I made the coconut soymilk today and was very pleased with how that turned out. Talk about easy and delicious and many options for enhancing it. This is a real winner and one I think you will enjoy.

Seaweed snacks are back at our house for the iodine. I will explain why in my next post.

Lunch was Egyptian flavored fava beans over quinoa (not very Egyptian but a good source of protein). 

Dan came home early from work today since he had an upset stomach. It is nothing serious he just wasn’t feeling right and it worried me since he never complains. However after being home for a while and relaxing was just what he needed. He is doing much better now. *whew* Now I can relax.

I had a great call this evening with Janet who is helping me to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. Who knows maybe I will figure it out before I am too old to put my ideas into action. *fingers crossed* Only time will tell.

Dinner was a fast curried "cream" of carrot soup made in the Vitamix. In case you hadn't noticed I love that machine.

After I get this posted I am making homemade chocolate dipped marshmallows for a friend. I won’t be blogging that since the recipe isn’t vegan. If any of you want the recipe please email me at veganepicurean@gmail.com and I will be happy to share it with you. Homemade marshmallows are very easy to make and delicious though neither good for you nor vegan.  When we were omnivores I made marshmallows every Christmas instead of cookies.  No sugar fiends in my circle of friends.  The chocolate dipped espresso marshmallows were always very popular. Sugar, caffeine and chocolate no wonder they were addictive.  LOL, see I am not kidding when I tell you that I haven't always been so health conscious.  ;-)

Happy thoughts:

• Overall I had a great day today. I got a number of things crossed off my to-do list which always makes me happy. It feels good to be productive.

• I enjoyed chatting with my friend Joy today about food that travels well without refrigeration. That conversation gave me some ideas of things to experiment with for Dan to take with him when he has to go somewhere for work. I will be detailing that in a future post.  I needed food ideas for when Dan has to go out of town for work but somehow when Joy asked the question I was able to come up with ideas more easily. I think talking to another woman was the secret.  ;-)

• I am thankful that my schedule is returning to normal. It is nice to have a little time to myself again.  Today I had a few minutes to kick back during the afternoon and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

• Today I started listening to “Veganist” the book on CD. I finished the first and second CDs today while doing other things around the house. I didn’t know what to expect but so far it is better than I thought it would be. When I get finished listening to it I will write a proper review.  I still have 6 CDs to go so it may be a few days before I am done.

• We are more than half way to the weekend. *happy dance* I love my weekends and hope we have good weather again this weekend so that we can take our bikes out for a long ride and maybe a picnic. Doesn’t that sound like fun?

Signing Out:

It is time to make the marshmallows, literally. They need to cure overnight before I can cut them and dip them in chocolate. After that it is time for us to start winding down.

I hope you had a great Wednesday. Talk to you again tomorrow. Good night!

Curried Tomato and Peanut Butter Sauce

This a quick recipe you can toss together after work. It has a unique flavor and richness from the reduced-fat peanut butter. I will explain how I made it later in the post.

The weather continues to be almost 20 degrees below average here. Needless to say I am totally ready for the temperature to increase a little. Thankfully there hasn’t been any snow yet, and that is a very good thing. *fingers crossed* Let’s hope it stays that way.

Dan had his usual oatmeal with: wheat germ, freshly ground flaxseed, cinnamon, powdered ginger, wild blueberries, walnuts, and stevia.

Once I got Dan’s breakfast made and lunch packed I was ready to leave the house when Dan headed to work. I have a number of “typical routes” through the neighborhood all mapped out depending on my mood and the weather. There is a 1 mile, 1 ½ mile, 3 and 3 ½ mile that I take depending on how I am feeling in the morning and what temperature it is outside. There are many days I start out going a mile and do that two or even three times. I have the other paths mapped out for variety, and because I like to know how far and how fast I have gone. Something tells me you aren’t surprised to hear that I have this all recorded so I can chart my activity. ;-) I think all numbers geeks like to record things, food, exericse, to-do lists, etc.  LOL

After I got home I did some strength training knowing that Tuesday I would be far too rushed in the morning to work out.  Then it was time for my breakfast. It was cold outside which meant my breakfast on Monday was savory oatmeal. This batch was made with: oats, water, wheat germ, freshly ground flaxseeds, nutritional yeast, cumin, oregano, no salt seasoning and chili powder. I topped the oats with wilted baby spinach, artichokes and a sauce of sun-dried tomatoes, smoked paprika, cumin and sherry vinegar.

For some reason Monday is rarely a good day at my house. However some Monday’s are worse than others and this one was particularly annoying. I have been very spoiled by having a hubby who is great with computer which means I just expect technology to work when I need it. Sadly I don’t really care how technology works, just that it does. Getting my first computer virus was eye opening to say the least. Once it was infected my computer locked up and that was it. All I could do was wait for Dan to come home and fix the problem. Since Dan knew he was taking off on Tuesday he worked very late on Monday which meant my laptop was down until Tuesday morning. My friend Louis tells me I need a technology free day and Monday was it. Even though I had my smart phone it wasn’t the same. ;-) Thankfully things are back to normal here now from a technology perspective but it wasn’t pretty for about 24 hours. I have no idea how I ever managed without technology now.

My lunch was leftover mushroom ragu over polenta. Yay for intentional leftovers. At least that went well on Monday right? LOL

Wow it is quiet here without technology. How did we live without my laptop to carry from room to room? I could have used the computers in Dan’s home office but I like to use my laptop in the family room. Not to mention all my blog “stuff” is only saved on my laptop which meant that Dan’s computer wasn’t really much help. I really need to start backing up my laptop on the server like Dan always suggests. LOL

Without a computer to distract me I spent a couple of hours doing things at home (it sorely needed it), and then did some reading. It was a relaxing day, but I didn’t things done that I had planned which is always a little frustrating. The worst part of not getting things done is that they just wait for tomorrow. Only tomorrow (Tuesday) we will be out all day so that means they wait until Wednesday. But on Wednesday I have two appointments, a run to Costco and then cooking class. Are you getting the idea what the week has in store for me? ;-)

Dinner was a simple curried tomato and peanut butter sauce with carrot, peas, corn green beans and broccoli. Dan had his over quinoa (for the extra calories) and I had mine over broccoli. The sauce is similar to this recipe only I didn’t add the coconut milk and substituted Indian seasonings (turmeric, black mustard seeds, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cardamom, hot peppers, and black pepper). This sauce gets its richness from the peanut butter and lots of flavor from the spices and aromatics. You can use this flavor combination to make soup, or a sauce over vegetables or to top whole grains. I think it is as useful as marinara.

Happy Thoughts:

• I am very happy to have a handy husband. Dan and I have very different talents in spite of the fact that our formal education is almost identical. I have learned to rely on Dan’s technical abilities and am thankful that he has them.

• Normally I would have gotten upset about the computer problem but instead I went about my day and found other things to do. It is days like this that I am thankful for growing old gracefully. At least some things get better with age. ;-) Now if I could just learn to love my grey hair. LOL, that isn’t likely to happen.

• It was great to have such a wide selection of books to choose from when I was looking for something to keep myself busy instead of the work I needed to do on my computer.   I guess that I  could have cleaned the house.  Who said that?  LOL

• Also I am thankful to my friend Amy for convincing me to use the library again which is something I hadn’t done since grad school. I love being able to read books or preview exercise DVDs before committing to purchasing them. Given my book and video library I need to be more selective of the things I bring into the house now.

• I love that this is a four day work week for my sweetie. As you all know we love to spend time together which means we were both looking forward to Tuesday in DC. We haven’t been to the Cherry Blossom Festival since 1997 which means it was definitely time to go again. Since most of the week was forecast to be gray and rainy it is great that Dan’s schedule is flexible enough that he can take time off to coincide with nice weather.

• As I walked around the neighborhood this morning I couldn’t help but notice all the beauty around me. Most mornings I will pass others out walking their dog or just getting in some exercise and everyone says hello. People in our neighborhood are generally very friendly which I really appreciate. We are very fortunate to love where we live since not everyone can say the same thing.

Signing Out:

I can’t believe it is already Thursday and that I am just now posting Monday. How did I get this far behind? *shakes head* Wish me luck that I can get a little more accomplished tomorrow. Friday is supposed to be another rainy day and I ran to Costco on Wednesday so ….. hopefully I will be able to focus on things at home tomorrow once I have checked on my parents.

I hope you are having a great week. Talk to you again tomorrow.

Grapefruit and Kale Juice and Other Monday Eats

For some reason neither Dan nor I slept well Sunday night. No surprise that meant that we slept in rather than going to the gym. I exercised after Dan left for work and he exercised at the office before coming home. We both worked out just not together or before dawn.

Breakfast:

Dan was happy to have his favorite green smoothie for breakfast which included: kale, frozen bananas, wheat germ, freshly ground flaxseeds, cinnamon, powdered ginger, walnuts, water, and stevia.

Breakfast was inspired by Laura’s comment on yesterday’s post. I loved this so much I also had it Tuesday for breakfast. Here is what I did:

Grapefruit and Kale Juice
Serves 1

Ingredients:

1 ruby red grapefruit, peeled and seeded
4 organic kale leaves and stems
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
small piece of fresh ginger (peel if not organic and young otherwise just clean well)
¼ teaspoon powdered ginger
2 ½ cups water
2 tablespoons wheat germ
1 tablespoon golden flaxseeds, freshly ground

Directions:

Place everything in your blender and process until smooth. Serve in a frozen glass or over ice.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 321.9
Calories From Fat (20%) - 62.89

Total Fat - 7.33g
Saturated Fat - 0.89g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 112.61mg
Potassium - 1404.86mg
Total Carbohydrates - 59.5g
Fiber - 13.4g
Sugar - 17.01g
Protein - 14.13g

Comments:

This tastes predominantly like grapefruit juice but with the added nutrition of raw kale.  Woo Hoo! What a winner this combination is! Thank you Laura for the inspiration as you can tell I loved your citrus suggestion!

Lunch:

Since Monday was a grey and rainy day I decided to have 2 medium bowls leftover split pea soup from the weekend for my lunch. I needed something to warm up a little given the weather. Instead of taking another picture I used the one from the weekend. ;-)

Snack:

No surprise I had my usual snack of an orange and two Brazil nuts. What am I going to do when it is no longer prime citrus season? ;-)

Dinner:

For dinner I made a quick pot of curried tomato sauce which I added mushrooms and broccoli to and served that over quinoa and topped with cashews. I like to combine broccoli with tomatoes since learning that when they are combined the phytonutrients in both are more bioavailable. Since Dan was very late coming home I had a small serving before bed so it didn’t keep my up.  Dan's serving was about three times this size.  I made extra to put in Dan's lunch on Tuesday.

Happy Thoughts:

Tuesday was a good day, a little busy but still good. Here are my happy thoughts:

• It was nice to wake up to blue skies this morning after our day of rain on Monday. It is a shame that was a little on the cool side by the sunshine was very welcome and brightened my mood.

• Today I spent a little time organizing and now have an excel spreadsheet of all my exercise and health DVDs as well as my Wii health games. I knew I had too many DVDs when I brought home an exercise DVD that I already own but hadn’t used lately. LOL *shakes head* Sometimes I need a wrap on the side of the head to do things like cataloging my DVDs.

• Our friend Phil is going to be in town next week which means dinner out. ;-) I found out today that Walid, and possibly his lovely wife Jackie, will also be joining the group. Sounds like a party to me. It is fun to get together with friends for dinner. There really is nothing like a gathering on a work night to put a smile on my face. Somehow things like this make weekdays seem less daunting.

• I had a chance to chat on the phone with a blogger friend today. It is really nice to be able to put a voice with the face. I love making new friends don’t you? It is even better when those friends are as concerned about health and nutrition as you are. I think having health conscious friends helps me to stay on the appropriate nutritional path.

• Isn’t this a great picture of the sunrise?  I took it a few weeks ago and forgot to share it with you.  As you may have noticed I love to take pictures particularly of nature. Mother Nature really can put on a show can’t she?

Signing Out:

I am running a bit late today getting my post written and making dinner. Sorry this post was a little short I ran out of time but didn’t want to skip a day like I did far too many times this year. I hope Tuesday was a good one for you. Enjoy what is left of your evening. Talk to you again tomorrow.