Green Banana and Peanut Butter Smoothie and Lower Fat Guacamole Wrap

This morning was far more rushed that I prefer. I had a number of errands to run and with the temperatures predicted to reach 100 I wanted to get out and back as early as possible. Right after Dan left for work I straighten up the kitchen made a smoothie and ran out the door. Here is my on the go smoothie from this morning:

Green Banana and Peanut Butter Smoothie
Serves 1

Ingredients:

1/3 cup oats, ground into flour
1 frozen banana
2 tablespoons reduced fat peanut butter
2 collard leaves, shredded
¼ teaspoon powdered ginger (for the anti inflammatory properties)
¼ teaspoon cinnamon (to help the body digest the fruit sugar and provide antioxidants)
1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds
water and ice (to make the smoothie liquid and cold)
stevia, to taste (if necessary)

Directions:

Process the oats into flour in your blender first. Now add the other ingredients and process until smooth. Add as much water and ice as you like. I used about 1 cup water and 6 ice cubes.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 415.59
Calories From Fat (31%) - 130.11

Total Fat - 15.37g
Saturated Fat - 2.4g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 177.37mg
Potassium - 772.18mg
Total Carbohydrates - 62.97g
Fiber - 11.86g
Sugar - 17.46g
Protein - 14.49g

Comments:

This is one of my favorite smoothies. I don’t have them often but when I do this seems to be the one I make. The collards do add a little “grassy undertone” but the smoothie is sweet from the banana and rich from the peanut butter so it works, IMO. ;-)

I add collards for their nutrition. They are a good source of vitamin A, and K and a decent source of calcium. Since they are in the same botanical family as broccoli they are more nutritious when lightly cooked or raw. I like that the blender does the work of breaking down the cell walls to make the nutrients more absorbable.

Health food store:

I poured my smoothie into a quart jar and ran out the door with coolers to do a little quick shopping. We needed some medicinal mushrooms, astragalus and turmeric (with piperine) from the health food store. While I was there I bought a big bag of tulsi tea.  I also bought brown lentils, garbanzo beans and some organic bay leaves.

Library:

Next I ran to the library and hit the jackpot on healthy books. It was a productive stop. I grabbed the following:

“The All-Pro Diet” by Tony Gonzalez. I bought this to read what his nutritionist has to say about protein but I also wanted to see his workout routine. ;-) Tony is a fan of T. Colin Campbell and was mentioned during the lectures for my Cornell certificate program. I am curious to see how he eats.

“Sports Nutrition: From Lab to Kitchen” by Asker Jeukendrup. I grabbed this one for the title alone; they had me at from lab to kitchen. ;-)

“The Eat-Clean Diet Recharged” by Tosca Reno. I am a huge fan of Tosca Reno and own her other books. I am hoping this one has more vegan options, but only time will tell.

“Easy Green Living” by Renee Loux. I enjoyed Renee’s earlier book, “The Balanced Plate” so I wanted to see what this book was about. The titled sounded promising.

“The Complete Book of Raw Food” by Julie Rodwell. I was looking for vegan books at the library that I didn’t own and there weren’t any that I wanted to read. I supposed that means I own to many cookbooks. I picked up this raw book because I am always looked for more raw recipes. While I am not and probably will never been a raw foodist I do like raw food especially in the summer.

Wegman’s:

After the library I stopped at Wegman’s. The nearby DSW was calling my name. But I resisted, somehow. ;-) I convinced myself that summer was almost over and that I didn’t really need more sandals. Who said that? LOL

I only needed a few items for Wegman’s so I was in an out in well under 15 minutes. We needed some ascorbate C powder for our green and white tea to keep the EGCG bioavailable longer.  Remember vitamin C is heat senstive so add at the end of brewing or to cold tea. I also was out of barley, bulgur and macadamia nuts.

Home for Lunch:

Running around from place to place in the heat was not my idea of fun so I was very happy to get home to the A/C. The problem was that I left so early this morning that I didn’t have time to exercise before I left. While I needed to exercise I was also hungry. Hunger won out and I made a quick collard wrap with lower fat guacamole. Here is what I did:

Lower Fat Guacamole filled Collard Wrap
Serves 1

Ingredients:

½ Haas avocado, peeled and pitted
½ cup green peas, if frozen defrost
2 tablespoons salsa
1 teaspoon lime zest
¼ teaspoon cumin seed, ground
1 pinch cayenne
1 collard leaf, stem end removed and stem vein shaved flat with your knife
½ cup romaine, for extra crunch
5 slices cucumber, for more crunch

Directions:

Mash the avocado, peas and salsa together with a fork. Add the salsa, lime zest, cumin and cayenne.

Lay the collard leaf on your cutting board light green side up. Fill with the guacamole. Top with cucumber and romaine and roll up like a burrito.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories 219.96
Calories From Fat (53%) - 115.72

Total Fat - 13.8g
Saturated Fat - 1.92g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 284.15mg
Potassium - 764.45mg
Total Carbohydrates - 21.74g
Fiber - 10.47g
Sugar - 5.93g
Protein - 6.68g

Comments:

This is good but definitely messy. It would not be good to take to work but if you are eating at home go for it. I happen to be a huge avocado fan so this is great to me. If you don’t have any green peas you can make this dish with cold cooked yellow spit peas or white beans. It also works with edamame.

Dried tomatoes:

Last night I turned the dehydrator down to 115 and the tomatoes remained in the dehydrator an additional 12 hours. When I got home from my errands the tomatoes were dry.

Here they are before

and after drying.

I store them in a jar until I need them.

This weekend I will buy twice the amount of tomatoes to dry. I am hoping to use them in place of some of the canned tomatoes I would typically use. I am not overly concerned about BPA since I am not of child bearing age, nor do I have young children at home. However anytime I can reduce a processed food (in this case canned tomatoes) from our diet I think it is a good thing.

Exercise:

I have been putting it off long enough. I need to knock out my cardio and abdominal routine before I change my mind. I will be back later with whatever we end up having for dinner.

“Guacamole” Soup

Last night we went to a molecular gastronomy restaurant for dinner. It was a 28-course affair of small bites. The meal was simply amazing and something that we needed since we have had a rough year. One of the dishes we had was “guacamole” but that version was nothing like any guacamole I have ever thought of. It was a spicy tomato sorbet wrapped in paper-thin slices of avocado and shaped like a cigar. Needless to say the entire meal fueled my creative juices.

After a late night we also got moving late this morning. We had a quick green salad and this soup for brunch. Here is what I made.

“Guacamole” Soup
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 Haas avocado, peeled and pitted
1 seedless cucumber, cut into chunks (1/8 or cucumber cut into dice for garnish)
1 Persian lime, zested and juiced
1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed
1 cup water
2 pinches salt
1 pinch black pepper
1 dash cayenne
1 pinch chili powder
6 grape tomatoes, cut into fine dice
1 teaspoon tofu sour cream for garnish (optional, but nice)
2 tablespoons broccoli sprouts

Directions:

Combine the avocado, cucumber chunks, lime zest. lime juice, garlic, water, salt, black pepper, cayenne, and chili powder in your blender. Puree until smooth. Taste for seasonings and adjust to your taste.

To serve pour the soup into a bowl and top with diced tomato, diced cucumber, tofu sour cream and broccoli sprouts. Serve cold.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 197.73
Calories From Fat (59%) - 116.26

Total Fat - 13.87g
Saturated Fat - 1.92g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 314.43mg
Potassium - 829.32mg
Total Carbohydrates - 20.45g
Fiber - 8.89g
Sugar - 3.39g
Protein - 3.92g

Comments:

This soup tastes like guacamole but the texture is completely different. At our house that is a good thing since my hubby doesn’t like the texture of avocado chunks. I added the cucumber to this soup because I also add it to guacamole, to reduce the calories and fat. Today I choose to top it with fresh tomatoes, but a nice salsa would also be fabulous on top this soup. A little finely diced red onion and cilantro would also be good on top this soup.

Each serving of this soup contains approximately over 800mg of potassium, 700IU of vitamin A, 35mg of vitamin C, 100mcg of folate, 44mcg of vitamin K, and 95mg of phosphorus. This soup does contain more fat than most of recipes, but it is mostly healthy monounsaturated fat.

Overall it is a nice soup with a light flavor and a little heat in the background. This is definitely something that I will be making again.

Unrelated note:

Since this is New Years Day we will be having a traditional southern lucky meal of black-eyed peas.

I hope you are all enjoying the holiday. I will be back later today with the black-eyed recipe.

Coffee Rubbed Seitan with Zucchini Salad and Sprouted Flat Bread

Dinner tonight was my vegan take on a traditional protein, vegetable and starch meal. I decided to make a coffee spice rub today and use it on my pressure-cooked seitan cutlets. The spice rub worked well on seitan and imparted a faint coffee taste that no one could identify even after I told them what was in the rub. The spice rub imparted a complex flavor that we enjoyed.

The zucchini salad is a cold counterpoint to the hot seitan cutlets. If you don’t have zucchini, you could use cucumbers instead. Red bell peppers would also be good in this salad if you had them on hand. The flat bread was included to scoop up the salad/salsa.

Coffee Spice Rubbed Seitan Cutlets
Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon of espresso powder (or cocoa powder if you prefer)
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
½ teaspoon oregano, dried
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon of paprika
4 pressure-cooked seitan cutlets
pan spray

Directions:

Combine the espresso, salt, oregano, garlic, and paprika and mix to combine. Dust the cutlets with the spice rub on both sides. There will be very little if any spice rub leftover when you are finished.

Heat a heavy skillet and spray it with canola oil (pan spray). Sear the cutlets on both sides. If you find the cutlets are sticking you can add a little water to the pan to encourage them to release. Serve hot.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 188.77
Calories From Fat (12%) - 21.91

Total Fat - 2.48g
Saturated Fat - 0.24g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 860.67mg
Potassium - 351.26mg
Total Carbohydrates - 12.22g
Fiber - 0.93g
Sugar - 0.79g
Protein - 29.92g

Grilled Zucchini Salad with Corn, Tomatoes and Avocado
Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 zucchinis, thinly sliced
2 tomatoes, cut into small dice
1 cup of corn kernels
½ cup of cilantro, minced
½ teaspoon of oregano, dried
1 avocado, cut into small dice
kosher salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Grill the zucchini slices and cool. Cut the zucchini into bite size pieces. Add the tomatoes, corn, cilantro, and oregano to the zucchini and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Add the avocado just before you are ready to serve. Stir to incorporate the avocado. Taste for salt and pepper and season as you desire and serve cold.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 134.55
Calories From Fat (45%) - 61.12

Total Fat - 7.29g
Saturated Fat - 1.01g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 189.69mg
Potassium - 763.02mg
Total Carbohydrates - 17.76g
Fiber - 6.03g
Sugar - 4.96g
Protein - 3.81g

Sprouted Wheat Flat Bread
Serves 8

Ingredients:

2 cups of sprouted wheat flour
1 tablespoon of canola oil
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
¾ cup of water

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients and knead. All the water should be incorporated into the dough. If all your flour does not incorporate add a little water, 1 tablespoon at a time and continue to knead until the flour is fully incorporated.

Wrap the dough completely with plastic wrap and set aside for 30 minutes.

Heat a cast iron pan or griddle with a little oil over medium high heat.

Cut the dough into 8 pieces and roll each piece into a ball the size of a golf ball. Take the ball and flatten it with your fingers to form a disk. Flour your board and rolling pin and roll the dough into a flat disk approximately 8 inches round.

Place the flat bread on the lightly oiled grill and cook until it begins to puff up (this should happen in 3 minutes). If you bread doesn’t puff flip it over and check to see if it is beginning to brown. Cook on the other side and move to a wire rack.

You can hold this bread in a 200-degree oven for an hour if necessary.

To serve cut the bread into triangles like tortilla chips.

If you have any leftover bread it can be sprayed lightly with water and reheated in a foil pouch in a 350-degree oven.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 105.47
Calories From Fat (40%) - 42.65

Total Fat - 6.75g
Saturated Fat - 0.13g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 240.67mg
Potassium - 0.22mg
Total Carbohydrates - 22g
Fiber - 6g
Sugar - 1g
Protein - 4g

Comments:

Tonight’s dinner was more mild and traditional than most I make. The coffee rubbed seitan idea came from a coffee rubbed pork we did in cooking class a few weeks ago. The zucchini salad was something that I tossed together based on what I had in the refrigerator and it turned out really well. The sprouted wheat flat bread is best eaten warm. The bread becomes harder as it cools and is not as good so be sure to serve it straight from the griddle or oven warm.

Middle Eastern Inspired Wheat Berry Salad

This salad is easy to put together and improves as it sits in the refrigerator. It makes a great cold lunch or picnic item. The great thing about using wheat berries is that they are minimally processed and therefore retain more of their nutrition.

The wheat berries and sunflower seeds retain their chewy texture, which is a nice counterpoint texturally to the softer vegetables. The sumac helps to enhance the lemon flavor and adds an additional sour note to the salad that is unusual.

If you are unfamiliar with sumac it is a common Middle Eastern spice that grows wild in both the Middle East and Italy and comes from the dark purple berries that are dried and ground. The taste of sumac is fruity and sour. Sumac can be purchased online or is found at well stocked Middle Eastern markets. If you can’t find it, add more lemon juice and zest to the recipe for a similar flavor.

This salad is very healthy with the inclusion of the garlic, onion and tomatoes, which are all reported to help protect you from cancer. A serving of this salad contains more than 15 grams of fiber, which is half of what you need for the entire day, and more than the 12 grams of fiber the average American consumes in a day.

I serve this salad as an entrée when the weather is warm and I want something refreshing for dinner. Since the entire dish has less than 400 calories and 15 grams of protein. I think it makes a great light, yet substantial dinner packed with a lot of nutrition.

Middle Eastern Inspired Wheat Berry Salad
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 cup of wheat berries, which will be cooked and cooled
4 cups of water to cook wheat berries
zest and juice from one lemon
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, grated or finely minced
1 tablespoon of sumac powder
2 fresh tomatoes, diced
1 pound of snow peas, sliced into ¼ to ½ inch lengths
½ red onion, finely diced
½ cup of raw sunflower seeds
1 hass avocado, sliced
8 cups of lettuce
salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

Cook wheat berries in at least four cups of water until tender. The wheat berries will take at least an hour to cook. Be certain to check them periodically to make certain the water has not evaporated. When the wheat is tender to the tooth, but still a little firm, pour the wheat berries into a colander and drain. Rinse them in cold water if you are in a hurry.

Combine the lemon zest and juice, extra virgin olive oil, garlic and sumac. Move cooled wheat berries to a dish with a lid. Pour the dressing over the wheat berries and toss to coat evenly. Add the tomatoes, snow peas and red onion and refrigerate covered, until ready to serve.

Before serving the salad taste for salt and pepper and adjust accordingly. To serve place two cups of lettuce on each chilled plate. Top with one quarter of the wheat berry salad and fan a quarter of the avocado on top of each serving.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 396.17
Calories From Fat (34%) - 135.61

Total Fat - 16g
Saturated Fat - 1.99g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 29.5mg
Potassium - 1031.35mg
Total Carbohydrates - 54.79g
Fiber - 15.34g
Sugar - 7.3g
Protein - 15.28g

Comments:

This is a good salad when you want something cold that is still substantial. The salad would make a nice lunch or light dinner. This salad would also be good with cucumber or fresh parsley. If you have any almond feta on hand that would make nice addition to the salad.

If you haven’t tried making wheat berry salads before this may have you making many variations. We enjoy the chewy texture of the wheat berries in all types of cold salads. You can use the wheat berries in place of brown rice or pasta in any cold salad.

Be careful when eating as sumac will stain your clothing. If you rinse the sumac out immediately with cold water the stain won't set.

Cold Avocado Bisque

This soup is my variation of something we made in cooking class a few weeks ago. Avocado is a very healthy fat that I like to incorporate into our diet when I can. The soup has a very distinct Mexican flavor from the lime, ancho chili powder and hot peppers.

It is best to serve small portions of this soup since it is calorie dense. I think this soup makes a nice appetizer.

Cold Avocado Bisque
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 hass avocado
juice of two limes
¾ cup of cold water
¼ teaspoon of ancho chili powder
¼ teaspoon of kosher salt
½ teaspoon of hot crushed peppers (wet hots)
kosher salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Place everything in the food processor except the hot crushed peppers. Puree until completely smooth.

Serve in chilled bowls and top each serving with ¼ teaspoon of hot crushed peppers, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Be certain to tell everyone to stir the hot crushed peppers into the soup before eating. The peppers are a little hot if you get a spoonful of them.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 165.73
Calories From Fat (68%) - 113.38

Total Fat - 13.52g
Saturated Fat - 1.86g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 249.23mg
Potassium - 515.37mg
Total Carbohydrates - 14.75g
Fiber - 7.88g
Sugar - 1.43g
Protein - 2.21g

Comments:

This soup has a texture that reminds me of bisque. The soup has a spicy background while being cold and creamy on the tongue. This is definitely a soup for avocado lovers. If you are a fan of avocado give this soup a try.

If you like a little texture in your soup I would add finely diced red bell pepper or cucumber. Cilantro would make a lovely garnish that would be a nice flavor combination. This soup would also be good with a little tofu sour cream on top.

Gazpacho with Avocado

Everything in this soup is good for you. It is full of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals as well as being anti-inflammatory. I am not going to detail the health benefits of every ingredient this time since it will take up too much space and I want to post the recipe tonight. I will cover the benefits of a few of the ingredients that I have not discussed previously.

Avocado is high in monounsaturated fat, like olives, and has been shown to reduce total cholesterol if eaten regularly. The specific monounsaturated fat that avocados contain (oleic acid) was recently been shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer. Avocados are also a good source of potassium that helps to reduce blood pressure. It also appears that eating as little as 2 ounces of avocado with your vegetables increases the bodies absorption of the carotenoids that vegetables contain.

Tomatoes are rich in lycopene (a carotenoid) that has been widely studied for its cancer preventing properties. It has been theorized that lycopene reduces most types of cancer. According to studies, the body is better able to absorb the lycopene when the tomatoes are cooked (as is the case for canned tomatoes) and are consumed with fat.

This soup is cool and refreshing as well as very good for you. I make this soup often when the weather turns warm. I think of it as a liquid salad.

Gazpacho with Avocado
makes 2 dinner sized servings or 4 - 6 appetizer servings

Ingredients:

28 ounce cans of diced tomatoes
1 english cucumber
½ red onion
2 cloves of raw garlic
1 raw red bell pepper
1 ripe avocado
1 roasted red pepper
1 tablespoon of sherry vinegar
½ teaspoon of harissa
1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
½ teaspoon of kosher salt
½ teaspoon of dried oregano
Extra virgin olive oil for garnish
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine canned tomatoes, 1/2 of the cucumber, red onion, garlic, roasted red pepper, avocado, vinegar, harissa, paprika, salt and oregano in a blender. Process to thoroughly combine and continue until the mixture is completely smooth. Finely dice the remaining English cucumber and raw red bell pepper. Refrigerate the soup and diced vegetables separately to thoroughly chill. To serve, pour the cold soup into a cold bowl and top with the finely diced vegetables. If you wish you can drizzle the top of the soup with a little extra virgin olive oil and a grind of fresh black pepper. It is also good topped with tofu sour cream and/or a little fresh parsley or cilantro.

Nutritional Information (assumes 2 servings):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 323.09
Calories From Fat (42%) - 136.28

Total Fat - 16.28g
Saturated Fat - 3.1g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 528.87mg
Potassium - 1935.89mg
Total Carbohydrates - 43.89g
Fiber - 14.82g
Sugar - 23.15g
Protein - 9.14g

Comments:

We like our gazpacho to be light and cooling since we normally eat this when it is hot and humid. This gazpacho has the lightest touch of heat in the background from the harissa, raw garlic and onion.