31 Days to Better Health - Day 5

Good afternoon, I hope you are all having a fantastic day I know I am. The skies are blue and I just came back from three miles in the crisp cold air and I feel rejuvenated and full of energy. Exercising in the cold air has a wonderful way of reminding me that I am alive.

Before we jump into day 5 let’s review what we have accomplished during of the first 4 days:

Day 1 – Defined Success and What is/was Holding Us Back

Day 2 – Determined our Purpose and Looked at Passion

Day 3 – Listed Our Goals for January

Day 4 – Listed the Things We Have Needed to Work on for a While

Are you an Optimist or a Pessimist:

Today’s exercise has two parts which are both related to attitude. The first part is about optimism and pessimism and the second part is fear and intuition. On first blush they don’t seem related but I will try to show you how they are by taking you through a few of my life experiences to show you how they manifested themselves for me.

I would say that am a natural pessimist which probably surprises many of you. In fact it surprises me that so many of you think that I am an optimist because my gut reaction is to see myself as a pessimist. It is amazing how long we can hold on to the old mental images of ourselves, like thinking we are heavy long after we have lost weight. Apparently attitude is the same as weight and I still see myself as more pessimist than optimist.

My parents are both extremely pessimistic. My father never met a situation that he didn’t see as a potential calamity. He has always been a professional at turning a mole hill into a mountain. He plans for every possibly “disaster” before the problem has occurred. Talk about bringing a room down, my father can do it faster than anyone I know. My mother is no ray of sunshine either. She complains about everything and things that go wrong are always things that happen to her never anything that she had any control over. Imagine being raised by two people who never saw the bright side of life? Yep, welcome to my world. I grew up expecting the worst to happen, and when you expect it that is what your reality becomes because it is what you are focused on.

The low point of my young adult life was being raped at knife point just after turning 18, getting pregnant as a result of that rape, having an abortion that I kept quiet and trying to go on as though nothing ever happened. This happened during a time in America when women were blamed for somehow enticing men to rape them. Needless to say I did not report the rape or even tell anyone about it for years, nor did I get any professional help to deal with it. As a result this event dominated both my conscious and my subconscious for much longer than it should have. The event caused me not to trust people particularly men, I was also afraid to be out at night (that was when it happened) and generally just expected the worst from people. My life was being run by fear and I was always worried about my safety.

As a result of the rape I didn’t want to be “alone” and married while I was an undergrad. Let me go on the record that this is not a wise thing to do. My first marriage was thankfully short lived as it was a mistake on my part. My husband cheated on me and then tried to blame the marriage not working out on me. Clearly the demise of that marriage was my fault as I am sure you see (heavy sarcasm). *rolls eyes* In addition to this marriage ending in divorce (thank goodness) my ex-husband thought I owed him something financially since we were married most of the time I was in college. Never mind that I paid for my education by working three jobs and using the inheritance from my grandmother. Are you started to see how I might have been a bit of a pessimist?

However cancer has a way of cutting through the "crap" and getting you to focus on what really matters. No one would consider cancer something frivolous, clearly this was serious. I had two ways to deal with it, I could attack it head on or I could let it crush me. The other things that happened in my life had taken their toll on my mental and physical health but I was determined that this problem wasn’t going to define how I lived my life. A funny thing happened when I started doing research, I became less fearful of the disease. Something inside me (my intuition I assume) told me that I was on the right path (with the shift to a plant-based diet) right from the start in spite of what everyone we knew were saying.

I read a number of books and studies that attitude had a big impact on survival from serious illness. Being the fighter that I am I immediately started to institute not just dietary changes but attitudinal changes at our house. I don’t have to tell you life at our house did a 180 flip do I?

In addition to going from omnivore to vegan we also changed our outlook on life. Each day we both take time to appreciate the things that go well in life of which there are many. My husband and I tell each other “I love you” many times during the day every day. We spend time together each day talking, sharing our day without whining or complaining, and just hanging out enjoying our time together. We are that couple who still holds hands and enjoys being together even after a quarter of a century of togetherness. When either of us are out and sees something the other one would love we snap a picture and text it. Every day I know how much my husband loves me and I am certain that he knows how much I love him.

Additionally I love to take pictures of the beauty I see around me. Taking those pictures brightens my mood and reminds me that the world is beautiful place and all we have to do is stop to appreciate it. Somehow I just know (there is that intuition again) that stopping to appreciate beauty is a good thing for my soul. Now when you see pictures that I took out and about during my day you will know why. That is my way of sharing the beauty of life with all of you. *smiles*

So what does any of this have to do with being an optimist or a pessimist? What I hope you have learned from reading my story is that while there is a “cultural” component attitude really does come down to a choice. What type of person do you want to be? You can chose to focus on what went wrong or you can chose to focus on what went right. I find that when I focus on what goes right, the things that didn’t go quite “as right” just aren’t all that important. Being an optimist or a pessimist comes down to a decision. Since you can choose to be either one, wouldn’t you really rather be happy? Deciding to be happy was one of the smartest things I ever did.

Fear versus Intuition:

The other thing I want you to think about is how often your life is run by fear because this also relates to optimism and pessimism. In the past most of my decisions were fear based and those didn’t often turn out well. I can tell I am acting out of fear when I feel anxiety around a decision, or some sense of urgency. There are few things in life that require immediate action (a heart attack is one, but most things simple aren’t like that including cancer). In the last year or so I have been trying to cultivate my intuition and use that to make decisions instead of fear.

Fear is easy to spot if you take the time to look at what is going on in your decision making process. Do you feel a sense of urgency or immediacy? If you do try to figure out what is causing you to be scared. Are you trying to be safe? Fear is also something that we use to keep ourselves safe, so that could also be a sign that you are operating out of fear. Another sign that you are operating out of fear when you feel the need to be right, or that someone has to win. Looking at this from the other perspective you aren’t operating out of fear if you are willing to feel silly or be rejected. I struggle with this one too, but I am working on letting go of fear. Now when there is a little voice in my head I try to assess if it is fear or intuition talking. Sadly 95% of the time my little voice is fear, but at least now I see it so that I also disregard it knowing that it will hold me back. One of my favorite sayings is that you only fail when you don’t try! Fear has the way of keeping all of us stuck because doing nothing is safer than taking a risk.

I am sure that some of you are thinking that fear-based decisions are good, but I assure you that frequently are not. I can list a number of decisions that I made in life which I made based on intuition that turned out very well. That is the exercise for you today, what decisions have you made based on intuition that either turned out well or that you learned from? Here are the ones that popped into my mind:

1. Marrying Dan – this was not logical when I did it but is one of the smartest things that I ever did.

2. Starting the blog – this I did totally on faith though I certainly didn’t think it would become anything but I have enjoyed it and sharing what I am learning keeps me motivated

3. Bidding on a sailboat in Caribbean – again this didn’t seem logical at the time but it felt right and we went for it and it worked out well

4. Changing our diet – this was something we did after I read one book, it just felt right and the later research and results proved that we did the right thing

5. Selecting our oncologist – Dan and I “interviewed” a few doctors and went with the one we felt comfortable with, in the end we both know that we made the right choice even though many of our friends expressed concern that we should have gone with the “world renowned expert”. Our results have been fantastic so we are comfortable that we made the right decision.

Now it is is your turn.  What decisions did you make following your intuition that turned out well, or that taught you something about yourself. I know some of my biggest lessons were from things that didn't go the way I wanted.

I also want to share with you observations from my 3 miles today since they relate to what I wrote today. I have to cross a number of intersections on my regular route through the neighborhood. Each time I meet a car at an intersection I stop because the car is clearly bigger than I am. Three times today I met a car at an intersection and the driver waved me through. I smiled, waved and went through the intersection. I see this as proof that there really are nice people in the world. People aren’t all bad nor are they out to get us. Just so you know I only met three cars at intersections so I wasn’t cherry picking those situations. I thought some of the pessimists out there might think that. ;-)

Also while I was out I passed 6 large men running the other way on my route. Again each time I nodded and smiled and they nodded and smiled in return and we both kept our pace and direction. The old me would have been concerned meeting these men on the path since they were: men, in good shape and much bigger than me (I am 5’2 ½” and yes that ½ inch matters at my height). In the past I would have immediately felt concerned about my safety and might have crossed the street before we got close to each other. However after years of telling myself that not every man is like the one who raped me I can finally relax around most men.

I hope that this post helps you to realize that how your view the world is completely under your control.  I hope that your intuition can be good and that you try to follow it more than listening to your fears. Trust me when I tell you that deciding to see the good in people and the world results in a much happier existence.

Progress on my goals:

1. Newsletters – spent 45 minutes on this Wednesday

2. Body Bugg – three days in a row and going strong

3. Date with Dan – Dan came home early on Wednesday *woo hoo* and we are going to have another date either Friday or Saturday, maybe both! ;-)

4. Measuring my calorie dense food – I am doing this and was surprised to find that I was overestimating and probably need to add a few more seeds

5. Working on my business – the meditation DVD cut into my time and this didn’t happen on Wednesday but did on Thursday at least

How about you doing are you keeping your goals in mind and are you making progress? Remember it isn’t enough to have goals you have to work on them. I start every morning rereading mine to remind me what I need to do and that seems to help.

Wednesday:

Dan had his favorite fruity oatmeal with nuts and seeds for breakfast. This time I added raisins, dried cherries, cinnamon, a little stevia and frozen wild blueberries and topped his oatmeal with chopped walnuts and raw sunflower seeds.

Since I greatly enjoyed my breakfast yesterday I went with the same thing today, broccoli and hummus. This time I measured the pine nuts and realized that instead of underestimating them I overestimate them. I was intending to add 1 tablespoon of seeds but have only been adding about ½ tablespoon and I would never have known that had I not measured. Darn I hate it when things I don’t want to do turn out to the be the thing that I should be doing! ;-)

While I eat my breakfast, and drank my green tea I decided to pop the meditation course into the DVD player. Let’s just say that was a big mistake. The Practicing Mindfulness course was really good and ended up taking over 5 hours of my day. I talked to Dan about it and he is going to do it with me, but only one class (30 minutes) at a time. Dan isn’t as prone to dive right into things as I am, in case you missed that. LOL

When I finished exercising I had a mid-day snack of a banana and almond butter. I put this in a little dessert glass, grabbed a pretty beaded spoon and I was ready to eat. It isn’t everyday that I use some of my favorite dishes, but it does make a difference in how it “feels” to eat. I will be covering conscious eating tomorrow for those of you who aren’t familiar with the concept.

My lunch was the end of the bean, mushroom and kale soup from a few days ago. Those intentional leftovers sure do make my life a lot easier as did reusing a photo.  ;-)

Dinner at our place was a baked veggie casserole (artichokes, mushrooms, onions, garlic, tomatoes, homemade whole wheat breadcrumbs, Italian seasoning and freshly ground black pepper) which was served over cooked quinoa and topped with a few pine nuts. When I put this together I made 4 servings so that there was enough for us to have lunch on Thursday.

Overall today was not as productive as it could have been because I got carried away with the mindful meditation DVDs. However I did enjoy the DVDs and feel like I learned a lot so it wasn’t a total loss.

Happy thoughts:

• I was very happy to have the weather warm up enough that I could get outside to exercise today. Spending time outside in the cold crisp air is something that I really enjoy.

• The sunset Thursday evening was spectacular. I love when the sky is painted with orange, red and various shades of blue. It is almost as if Mother Nature is putting on a show some evenings and tonight was one of her better ones. Binky and I sat in the bay window and watched the sunset. He didn’t seem terribly impressed but I enjoy it.

• Today’s post was one of my most personal but I am hopeful that it will shake a few of you up and cause you to see that bad things happen to all of us but that doesn’t mean that we need to let those events bring us down. It is easy for all of us to see people who we don’t know and think that their lives are so much easier than ours. However generally when you get to know people they have had their share of bad experiences too. Please don’t let those experiences cause you to live a life in fear.

• I only spent one hour with the meditation DVD today, so it was less of a time drain. However I am really enjoying the course so I can see watching at least one segment every day. There is a lot of information packed into 30 minutes and I feel like I will pick up tid-bits from multiple viewings. Also the course relies heavily on Buddhism and now I want to learn more about that. I never thought I would be drawn to Buddhism but that is what I am finding now. Who said that? ;-)

• I am very happy to report that the views on the 31 Days to Better Health posts continue to grow. This makes me very happy! We have also added 7 new followers in the past 5 days which is also a fantastic sign. Since one of my main goals is to get more people thinking about their health both of these things are huge for me. You guys really do keep me going, thank you!

• We have kale in the house again. *woo hoo* I walked to the grocery store today for kale and came home with kale, parsley, lemons, romaine and tofu.  You can't have too much produce in the house in my opinion.  ;-) Dan will be very happy to have a green smoothie option tomorrow for breakfast. I know he loves his oatmeal but I am sure he misses his green smoothies too. I love that my husband enjoys the green smoothies this much. I never expected him to be a health convert. It hasn’t been that long ago that he told me he would eat tofu as long as it didn’t taste like tofu. See how much progress I have made with him?

Signing Out:

I have another webinar tonight and I still need to make dinner so I need to run. Sorry this post went up a bit later than I intended. Better late than never right?

For those of you who want to know what is coming up for tomorrow that post will be about conscious eating. I think it will be a good one and may not be what you are expecting.

I hope you are having a great week and have some fun planned for your weekend. Talk with you again tomorrow.

31 Days to Better Health - Day 4

Before we get to the exercise for today let’s review what we have done so far.

Day 1 – we defined success as well as what was holding us back
Day 2 – we determined our purpose and whether we have passion or not
Day 3 – we set specific and achievable goals for this month

I don’t know about you but I think we have made a lot of progress in just a few days. Go us! I really hope you are feeling as good about your progress as I am about mine.

In terms of the goals I set yesterday here is what I have done so far:

1) Monthly Newsletters – I spent about two hours Tuesday working on this and at this rate I should have this crossed off my list in no time. *woo hoo*

2) Wearing my Body Bugg daily - I charged my Body Bugg Monday night and I put it on first thing both Tuesday and Wednesday morning and I have learned that I am definitely less active now than I was during the summer which I needed to know. As I like to say, we can’t change what we don’t know and now I know I need to step it up in the exercise department.

3) Scheduling at least one weekly date with my hubby - Dan and I made a date for Wednesday night which means he should be home by 7:30 this evening at which time I will have finished everything that I need to get done so that we can spend time together.

How about you, have you set things in motion to start making progress on your January goals? I hope so. If you haven’t gotten started yet please do. There is no time like the present to get moving. I can tell you from personal experience that it feels good to be making progress on my goals.

What Should You be Doing that You Have Been Avoiding?:

Today I am going to ask you to spend some time thinking about the things that you know you should be doing. Please do not let this upset you because there is something you aren’t doing. The purpose of this is to get you to acknowledge those things which you know you should be doing and then to get you to commit to do at least one of them this week. These items could be anything but should relate in some way to your idea of success and your purpose.

Please go back and reread what you wrote to the first three days exercises if necessary to remind you of your areas of interest. (Have you put your responses in a notebook or separate Word doc yet? I have mine in a notebook and it makes this easier.) The items that you know you should be doing could be as simple as drinking more water or as complex as overhauling your entire diet. I want you to think of the things that you have been meaning to do but haven’t. These could also be spending more time your family or friends, eating more greens are getting more exercise. What is important in this part of the exercise is to list as many things as you can that you have meaning do though they haven’t made it to the top of your priority list yet. For me the things that I think about often, but don’t do, are the ones that I really need to work on. I imagine the same is true for you. Sometimes the act of writing these things down also makes them more real or at the very least brings them to the forefront of your mind.

When you are writing your list think about how long you have been intending to do these things. Those items which have been on your list the longest are probably most important. The reason I ask you to think of what you know you should be doing is:

1. We all know ourselves better than other people know us. In other words each of us knows what we need to do better than anyone else knows what we need. Typically it isn’t that we are unaware of what we need but that we just need to move from interested in these actions to being committed. Make sense?

2. Tasks that we think are important are more likely to happen. To put that differently if you think you need to exercise more that feels completely different than if your spouse thinks you need to do it. Does that make sense? By determining your own “to-do” items you are increasing your probability of success.

Let me show you an example of something that most people should be doing, which is getting more sleep. Almost everyone that I know is chronically sleep deprived. Most of my friends work long hours, try to cram as much time in with their family as they can into their “free time” and what tends to suffer is their sleep. Since inadequate sleep is linked to weight gain, increased risk of heart disease, trouble concentrating and difficulty remembering things it is important to get enough rest every night not just on weekends. If you think that you might not be getting enough sleep this could be a good goal for you work on this week. Start by going to bed 15-30 minutes earlier than usual (to gradually change your bed time) and move up your bed time until you are getting a full 8 hours of sleep. You will know that you are getting enough rest if you wake up refreshed. I would suggest that you use how you feel in the morning, whether you “need” coffee, and how alert you are during the day, to tell you if you are getting adequate rest. Your body is sending your messages all the time all you need to do is listen to them.

Here is my list of things that I know I should be doing (in the order that they popped into my head) as well as why I think I am not doing them and how they relate to my purpose and idea of success:

1) spend at least an hour a day working on ideas for my business – I guess that I am avoiding this is probably due to perfectionism rearing its ugly head again, this clearly relates to health both mine and others

2) measuring my calorie dense food like nuts and seeds - while I realize that all of us tend to have portions that grow over time I really dislike measuring even though I also know that it's a good thing to do periodically therefore I avoid it, this is also tied to health

3) organize and purge my clothes closet – I have been avoiding this because I hate to get rid of clothes that are too big but are still good so now the mess makes me unhappy and that is not good for my emotional health

4) make an inventory of my pantry - so that I don’t run out of staples as frequently which would be good both my physical and emotional health

5) start going to the gym at least twice a week rather than working at home all the time – exercise variety is a good thing and would be positive for my physical health

6) wearing my Body Bugg daily – which I started today (Tuesday) when I was writing this post and it is
clearly good for my physical health

7) eat more salad – this is one I have been avoiding for a while and I don’t know why but it would
definitely be beneficial for my physical health

8) eat fewer whole grains and more cooked beans – this is another one that has been on my list but that I have been dodging though it would be good for my physical health

9) get into bed earlier so that 5:30am doesn’t feel so early -  this would help me get back into the early
morning gym routine which would be good for my health

10) vary my exercise routine - again this is something that I know is important yet I like what I like and I really need to push myself to make regular changes to my workout routine for my physical health

Okay now you have an idea of what I know I should be doing that I'm have been avoiding. I decided to stop my list at 10 things but if you wish keep going I think that's great, please do! Once you are satisfied that your list is long enough please choose one item in your list to work on this week. You can either choose an easy one so that you know you will be successful or you could choose the item that you think will have the biggest impact. Remember you can always add to this list at any time. We will come back to this list next week so that we can tackle another item.

Now it is your turn, what are the things that you know you should be doing, yet you aren’t getting them done? When you are making your list think about how these items relate to your idea of success and to your purpose. Start working on items which relate to your purpose and will make you feel successful.

You probably noticed from my list that there are some recurring themes. Clearly exercise variety is on my mind as it appears in item 5 and 10. Also it is obvious that I want to make a few more tweaks to my food intake. The item I have been considering doing for a while in terms of food that I've been avoiding is measuring calorie dense items. I can't tell you how much I dislike measuring food. It feels so restrictive and unnatural to me. Currently I sprinkle nuts and seeds on things with no serious attempt to measure. Since I know this is an issue I'm definitely going to work on it this week so that I can better eyeball quantities in the near future.

While I only asked you to work on one item I am I am also going to commit to working on my business an hour a day. This is something that I've had in mind to do since the summer that I haven't gotten it done. Six months is enough time to procrastinate and now it is time for action. I will set aside an hour every day when I work on my business plans without interruption. I am confident that I know enough, in fact more than enough, to make a career out of health and wellness. Now I need to stop talking about it and just do it. In order to hold myself accountable I will tell you each day what I did. If you don't see me mention that in each post for the remainder of the month please ask me about it. Like I have been saying accountability is a good thing.  :-)

For those of you that want to get a head start on tomorrow that topic will be assessing whether you are an optimist or a pessimist. Since all of us know which one we are the next question is which one do you want to be? I will have some suggestions for how to change your attitude since I used to be a pessimist which I imagine surprises many of you but it is true. Believe me if I can become an optimist anyone can do it. ;-) I will explain this tomorrow.

Tuesday:

The morning started like usual by my reading and meditating before Dan got up. Then I made Dan breakfast, while he made us double strength mugs of tea. While his fruit and nut oatmeal was simmering I packed his lunch and we chatted about the plans for our respective days.

My breakfast ended up being some broccoli and hummus that I had originally packed for Dan’s lunch but he thought that I was sending him too much food so it became my meal instead. I love broccoli and hummus so this was a fantastic breakfast in my mind. I sprinkle some paprika on top for a few reasons, flavor, extra vitamin C and the red color is pretty. ;-) I also added pine nuts for flavor, texture, protein and fat (to help me absorb the fat soluble vitamins in the broccoli).

Once Dan left for work it was time for me to do some work on the computer. I spent a couple of hours finishing up the post for Day 3 and then it was time to start this post. It sometimes shocks me how much time I can be on the computer.

I did take time to enjoy my hot tea with grapefruit and cinnamon, watching Masi being mesmerized by the snow flurries, and then I did some cleaning and cooking and it was noon. How does the day go by so quickly?

Since my morning had been relatively inactive I opted are of very light lunch most of you proud because snack of a banana and some almond butter. I had planned to get outside new quickly 3 miles this morning. With a temperature of 31 and a wind chill of 21 the idea of getting outside for exercise was not terribly appealing to me. Gee, I wonder why? Given the weather it made much more sense to work out inside today. Thank goodness for exercise equipment at home is all I have to say. On days like this I appreciate they have will stay warm inside.

Once I had finished exercising I had a bowl of leftover bean, mushroom and kale soup over quinoa. I hope you are noticing that we eat a lot of leftovers. Having intentional leftovers available is the biggest reason that we are able to eat this way. If it weren’t for those leftovers I would not have time to do anything other than cook which would make this lifestyle all but impossible.

After lunch I spent more time working on the blog, gathering items for future exercises this month, as well as cleaning and planning meals. When I got a few free minutes I took the time to do a little reading in the public health book which I just bought. Who knew textbooks could be so interesting? LOL

I also found two hours to work on my newsletter project. I should be telling you more about that very soon. However I can tell you it feels good to be making progress on something that has been on my to-do list for entire too long. In addition to the newsletter project I also spent some time working on my business plan today. Productivity was in full swing at my house on Tuesday. *woo hoo*

Dan was a little late coming home because he stopped at the boat on the way home since our overnight temperatures were supposed to dip into the mid-teens. Even though the boat has been winterized he wanted to increase the temperature inside the boat overnight just to be safe overnight.

Dinner at our house was another huge salad which I am sure shocks you…..LOL. The salad had a base of baby spinach, I used salsa in place of dressing, added some broccoli, raw sunflower seeds and hummus. Dan’s salad also had cold cooked quinoa for a few extra calories and protein.

Wendy sent me an email yesterday asking about how I eat salads without dressing and any suggestions that I had for her since she can’t imagine enjoying undressed salad. Since I am sure she isn’t the only thinking this I wanted to share my thoughts on this with you too.

In terms of salad without dressing I think that is something that becomes your new normal in time. Back in the “bad old days” there was nothing that I loved more than blue cheese dressing which was my favorite. Hard to imagine isn’t it? Then I went through a long period of olive oil and vinegar. Now when I have salad, evenly lightly dressed, it just takes greasy to me. Again this is something that I NEVER thought would happen.

My favorite salad dressing currently is salsa and hummus. I just toss the greens with a little salsa and top it with hummus. I find that if salad has enough “juicy” foods in it (like artichokes, tomatoes, or fruit) that I don’t even need the salsa or hummus. However I wasn’t always like this. In the past I would place either raw sesame seeds or raw cashews in my Vitamix and add flavors like: raw garlic, lemon juice or vinegar, roasted red peppers, sun-dried tomatoes and herbs and spices and then blend until the dressing was creamy. There are lots of these recipes on my blog just search for “salad dressings” and many of them will come up.

I hope the salad tips helped a few you. Thanks again for the question Wendy. :-)  Keep them coming!

Happy Thoughts:

• Today it was very good to have exercise equipment at home. It was so cold and windy outside there was no way I could face 3 miles outside. Thank goodness I was able to stay warm inside yet still get my exercise in for the day.

• Making progress on goals which have been languishing on my to-do list feels great. I hope you are finding the same thing at your house.

• I realized that my daily activity is lower now than it was in the summer and fall. Now that I know this I plan to step it up starting tomorrow. This is exactly why I bought the Body Bugg and how I think it is best used. I admit that I don’t wear mine all the time, which probably makes more sense, but even wearing it periodically is enough to point out trends that require action.

• The meditation course (Practicing Mindfulness) that I ordered from The Great Courses arrived yesterday and I have already watched 3 hours of it because it is that good. If you are interested in meditation I think you will enjoy these DVDs. When I finish the entire series I will tell you more about it.  BTW, the courses go on sale often, if one you want is full price just keep checking back, it will go on sale.  I have many of these and haven't paid the list price for any of them.

• I checked on my parents today and they are doing well. My mom was feeling good enough to go out and that was nice to see. For those of you who do not have elderly parents having them up are around is a big deal.

• Dan checked on the boat this morning before work and everything seems fine. Given that it was colder here this morning (17) than it was in Minneapolis (25) we are both grateful that everything with the boat was good.

• I realized today that I haven’t watched the news for many months. In the past I used to start my morning watching the news and then would turn it on during the day and again in the evening. While I didn’t intentionally put myself on a news fast, that is what happened by accident. I have found that by not watching the news I am much more at ease and less worked up. Apparently there is something to what people say about 24 hours news being overly stimulating. Since I just realized this I wanted to mention it to you. BTW I also discovered that when something happens that I need to know I still get the information usually by talking to others. It is nice to be able to spend my free time focusing on things that are much more positive in nature than the news which is almost always bad news.

Signing Out:

It is time for me to start working on the next post. I got so carried away watching the DVDs on practicing mindfulness that I haven’t started the next post yet. *eek* I better get my tush in gear.

I hope you are having a wonderful week and that you are enjoying my January posts. Again, if you have any suggestions or feedback please feel free to share either here on send me an email. You can reach me at veganepicurean@gmail.com. Talk with you again tomorrow.

2011 Comes to a Close

The Happiness Project:

At the end of each year I try to reflect on what happened and focus on what went right in our lives. All of us have crummy things that happen but we also have good things in our lives too. It is very easy to go through life crossing items off our respective to-do lists, dealing with the inevitable problems and that crop up, and forgetting to notice what went well. However I believe we would all be much happier if we took a few minutes to remember all the good stuff. Here are the big things that happened this year in our life that put on a smile on my face:

• The biggest change in our life this year was the addition of the new family member, Dolce Far Niente (our sailboat which we named:  the sweetness of doing nothing - in Italian). Both of us love our new girl and plan to spend as much time on the water relaxing as we can. There really is nothing like boat time to take your mind off the cares of the world. We are also both really looking forward to teaching more of our friends to sail and sharing the joy with them. Good fortune is definitely sweeter when you can share it with people you care about.

• Dan and I are ending 2011 at least and healthy and possibly more healthy than we entered the year. Given our health challenges I would say this is a major accomplish to be celebrated! As I often say we have plants to thank in part for our good health. Go plants! Are eating your 10 servings of produce a day? I hope so!

• Our fur children had a few minor health challenges this year as well but they are all now doing well at the ripe old age of 10. We are so lucky to have such precious little fur babies in our lives. They all add immeasurably to the love in our home.

• My parents had their own health challenges this year as well. However considering that they are in their 80’s they are also doing well. I know that there will come a time when I won’t have them around so I am grateful to have them in reasonable health as long as possible.

• I learned a lot about myself this year and what I am capable of doing and learning, even at my age. It feels wonderful to know that my health and physical fitness have improved more than I thought possible for someone so close to 50.

• Speaking of 50 I have finally learned to accept that age is just a number. I was always one of those women who didn’t want to age. Being able to tell people how old I am not worry about it was a huge victory for me. Allowing my grey hair to exist was also big for me and goes along with accepting my age. I feel much better now that I am not using toxic chemicals to cover my grey. Each time another woman tells me how much they like my hair I just beam, literally. It is very freeing to accept your age for what it is just the passing of time.

• It is fantastic to finally know what my purpose is in life. For years I went through the motions of daily life doing what I needed to but didn’t really have that spark that makes you want to get up every morning and contribute to the world. I am so grateful that I now know that health is where I need to focus my attention. As I have said many times on this blog is only a handful of people read and “get it” then I feel as though the time that I put in is more than worth it.

Friday:

The last week of the year has been very busy for me. There have been lots of tasks, appointments and fun things too. Friday was another one of those characteristic busy days that I have been having a lot of recently. The up side of busy it that it doesn’t leave time to mope around or over think things which I have a tendency to do, specifically the over thinking part. LOL

Once Dan had his smoothie and was out the door to work I made myself one of my favorite breakfasts, savory oatmeal. Even though this isn’t Dan’s cup of tea I adore this stuff.  Courtney, I think of you every time I make this.  :-)  Usually I made Mexican flavored savory oatmeal but this time I decided to make Southern Italian flavored oatmeal. I cooked the oats with nutritional yeast, Italian seasoning, fennel seeds, diced tomato, garlic and red pepper flakes. When it was finished I topped it with artichokes (which I am sure you have realized by now I am obsessed with) and a few pine nuts. Delicious! If I had been thinking I would have made myself a smoothie since going out typically means more starch than usual.  However I wasn't thinking and that was okay too.  It was a cold morning and a hot bowl of oatmeal was what I wanted.

After breakfast I spent a few hours working on my upcoming January posts. I am  trying to get a little ahead so that I don’t miss any days. This is definitely the farthest ahead I have written things for the blog and it is a good feeling to be ahead of schedule. I think I may do more of this in the future.

Knowing that we were going out to dinner to meet our buddy Louis I decided lunch should be on the light side. I opted for nibbles instead of a meal to save room for dinner. I had some pizza almonds, a few prunes (which are a new obsession), my usual two Brazil nuts, an individual package of roasted seaweed and copious mugs of hot green and white tea with fresh grapefruit juice and cinnamon. Since my breakfast was so substantial this morning this was more than enough food for lunch today.

We met Louis at our usual place for dinner. After we chatted with everyone at the restaurant and got caught up with Louis it was time to figure out what to have for dinner. As always we started with a pot of green tea. This one included pineapple and papaya and we added fresh lemon juice to it to improve the absorption of EGCG. Our first course was a pizza with balsamic soaked figs, roasted portabellas, caramelized onions and tofu. While I am sure this looked unorthodox to most of the other dinners it was tasty and filling as it was piled high with toppings. We just love Ian.

For the next course we decided to concentrate on getting more veggies into us so we went with two vegetable side dishes. We had broccoli with garlic and a plate of roasted veggies. The broccoli was very garlicky which we loved. Can you ever have too much garlic in a dish? Okay maybe some people think that there is a garlic upper limit, but I am not one of them…it must be an Italian thing. ;-) Overall it was a great dinner, delicious and with plenty of produce. Love that!

31 Days to Better Health:

I wanted to explain more about why I have decided to add the section on health to the blog in the month of January and give you an idea of what you can expect to see. Most of us know that getting healthy requires us to eat more fruits and vegetables, eat fewer (and preferable no) unhealthy items and get more exercise. Those things are obvious and we all know them on some level. However people just don’t seem to be able to do what they know is required. I have spent countless hours trying to figure this out for myself. Why was it so difficult to change? What was holding me back from making the changes that I knew that I needed to make? Everything kept coming back to some emotion, habit or addiction. This was when I realized that getting healthy was more mental than it was physical. I personally had to completely understand the health impact of my decisions before I was going to be able to make different ones. However I am not sure that everyone has that same “need to know” that is ingrained in me.

Using what I learned battling my own demons I designed a series of exercises so that we could all work through things and figure out what we should be doing. I have purposely not made this a vegan plan because I want to be inclusive. Given the number of emails that I receive from vegetarians and omnivores I am very aware that many of you are not and never will be vegan. However what you all have in common is that you want to improve your health which is wonderful! If you aren’t vegan please don’t let that stop you from following along and/or doing the exercises and commenting. I promise you that there will be no snarky comments directed at the non-vegans since I have to approve all the comments. It is very important to me that everyone (vegans and non-vegans) feel welcome and at home on my blog.

As you all know I believe that a whole food plant-based diet makes the most sense for us. The science that I have read leads me to agree more closely with the current recommendations of Dr. Joel Fuhrman. As much as I would love the science to point to a more starchy carbohydrate based diet as the most healthful that isn’t what the science has shown me. *darn it* The Italian in me really loves things like pasta and bread but those are now treats and not everyday items for us. You may be drawn to a completely different plan and that will also work with what I have planned for January. The only thing that you need to know for my plan is what you want your life to look like. I will be asking you to think of things like “what your intention is for the New Year, what are 5 things you know you should be doing, and how are your relationships?” Questions like those apply to any lifestyle that you may have in mind.

It is my intention that by the end of January we will all know more about ourselves, what changes we want to make and more importantly that we will have made progress toward our respective goals. Gee, nothing like putting pressure on myself huh? I have always been a person who tended to set lofty goals for myself, like defeating cancer. ;-) I hope you are sufficiently intrigued by my description of the upcoming month to join me and do the work that I have laid out for all of us for January.

You will need a few materials to keep up with the exercises in the coming month. So that none of us is scrambling I have outlined them below so we can all get a head start on gathering them. However I believe that most of these are things that you will have at home currently.

• A notebook and paper or a computer to record your answers to the exercises. Being old school I will probably keep mine in a notebook so I can flip through it whenever I need an inspiration refresher. Yes, I too occasionally need inspiration. You didn’t think I was super human did you? ;-)

• Supplies to make a vision board which include: poster board, a cork board or a vision board program and some old magazines that you can cut up if you are making your vision board the old fashioned way. I will investigate the electronic versions and will have links to them for those of you who like technology. Again I tend to be more old school so I will be doing this with a board and images from magazines. I like to do things that are tactile for some reason. ;-) I wonder if it is because I loved kindergarten? LOL

• You will also need a small journal that you can carry with you or a smart phone you can use to record things when you are on the go.

• Food storage containers and a cooler or lunch bag so that you can have your own healthy homemade food available when you aren’t at home. This is important as planning plays a big role in achieving any goal and that it includes knowing what you can/will eat when you are on the go.

• Portable camera which fits easily in your bag or pocket. I use my cell phone for this but if you have a small camera that is easy to carry that works too. When I look at the world through the camera lens I tend to see more beauty.

I have written all the exercises yet for the month but these items should cover everything that we will need. The most important thing is that you are willing to do the exercises and really dig deep when you are answering the questions. Remember the goal is to understand who you are, what you want, and how you are going to get to where you want to be.

Happy thoughts:

• It was great to see our friend Louis for dinner. Since he moved to the Delaware 7 years ago we don’t see him as often as we used to but on the bright side that does make us appreciate the time we do spend together that much more.

• Ian was in rare form last night and I mean that in the nicest way. He really had me giggling when he came to the table to chat on his way home. Ian can be very animated, in a good way. We both really enjoy Ian and were surprised by his “tree hugging” tendencies last night. I am sure those of you who know him are as shocked by that statement as we were when he was talking. ;-)

• Both Dan and I are looking forward to spending New Year’s Eve with “the kids” (Aimee and Michael). It has become a tradition that we go out to dinner on New Year’s Eve. I think this is the 5th year in a row we have done this. We are all anxious to see the fireworks from the boat as we have heard we have a “front-row seat” which will be great. *woo hoo*

• The weather today (Saturday) and tomorrow (Sunday) is supposed to be uncharacteristically warm and should be 62 today and 61 tomorrow. Our boat next-door neighbor Rubin said that he usually goes sailing on New Year’s Day because it is almost always over 50. Looks like this year is holding true for warm weather again. Dan and I will definitely be out and about today and tomorrow to soak up the nice weather.

Signing out:

It is time for me to sign out and get outside and enjoy the unseasonably warm weather. I hope you have some fun planned for the evening. Talk with you again tomorrow. Happy New Year!

Vegan Mofo 1.1: Veggies in Curried Tomato & Peanut Butter Sauce over Brown Basmati

Happy first day of Vegan Mofo everyone! I hadn’t intended to sign up this year because my November is crazy but then I realized there was no reason not to. I am going to try my best to post at least once a day. With a little luck that will happen. My plan is to number my posts by day and then post within the day. For example 1.1 would be the first post of the first day. If there is a second post that day it would be 1.2, etc. I am going to do that for my long time readers that have gotten used to one post per day so they don’t miss anything. I expect my posts will be shorter this month due to my schedule.

For those of you that don’t know me I a foodie who became vegan a few years ago due to cancer. My husband (Dan) and I both love good food with a lot of flavor. The recipes I post are full of flavor. However I also try to make them as healthy as I can. I always cook with health as well as flavor in mind.

Some of our favorite cuisines are Italian, Indian, Japanese, and Thai. I am of Italian heritage so Italian is hands down my favorite. Indian food is something that I have cooked for almost 3 decades since college when my best friend had come to the US for school from Madras, India. Tonight I made an Indian inspired dish because we had not had any in a few days.

Since the post of our Sunday activities is going to be huge (and probably require more than a few separate entries) I decided to start Vegan Mofo with our dinner tonight which was a simple affair. I made quick and easy curried veggies over brown rice. Here is what I did:

Veggies in a Curried Tomato and Peanut Butter Sauce over Brown Basmati
Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 yellow onion, peeled and diced (allow to stand 10 minutes before heating)
6 cloves garlic, peeled and minced (allow to stand 10 minutes before heating)
½ tablespoon fresh ginger, minced or grated (if it is organic you can leave the skin just be sure to clean it well)
4 cups fresh or 28 ounces canned peeled diced tomatoes (fresh has much less sodium)
4 cups water
½ tablespoon turmeric powder
1 tablespoon black mustard seeds
½ tablespoon coriander seed
½ tablespoon cumin seeds
¼ teaspoon fenugreek seeds
¼ teaspoon ajowan seeds
freshly ground black pepper, to taste (be generous since the piperine in the black pepper makes the turmeric more bioavailable)
crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
3 tablespoons reduced-fat peanut butter, or to taste
2 carrots, cut into bite-size chunks
2 parsnips, cut into bite-size chunks
2 Japanese eggplants, cut into bite-sized chunks
2 crowns broccoli, cut into bite-sized chunks
1 lime, zested and juiced
1 ½ cups brown basmati rice
3 cups water

Directions:

Combine the onions, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, water, spices, carrots and parsnips. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender and the sauce has begun to thick, about 30 minutes.

Combine the rice and water and cook. Depending on the type of pan you are using the rice will take anywhere from 35 (using enameled cast iron) to 50 (using stainless steel) minutes to cook including the time to bring the liquid to a simmer. Start the rice at the time appropriate for the material of the pot. Having the rice finished a little early isn’t as much of a problem as too late since the rice will hold better than the veggies.

Add the peanut butter (to taste) to the sauce and mix to combine. Next add the eggplants and cook for 10 – 15 minutes. The broccoli gets incorporated the last 15 minutes of cooking so it doesn’t get overcooked. To finish add lime zest and lime juice and stir to combine. Serve over rice.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 375.32
Calories From Fat (14%) - 53.25

Total Fat - 6.37g
Saturated Fat - 1.15g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 61.13mg
Potassium - 1325.55mg
Total Carbohydra tes -73.74g
Fiber - 13.7g
Sugar - 13.49g
Protein - 11.05g

Comments:

This dish has a lot of flavor. It is certainly not traditional. I used reduced fat peanut butter for the fat component rather than coconut milk (or even light coconut milk) to reduce the saturated fat. The broccoli was added at the end to retain the maximum amount of nutrition. If you are okay with adding more fat this dish would be great finished with a sprinkle of chopped peanuts, slivered almonds or roasted cashews for texture. The cilantro and spinach rice I made a few days ago would also be great with this dish and would add extra vitamins and minerals.

Signing out:

Tomorrow will start out early here since it is Election Day which means it is time for me to sign out. Talk to you again tomorrow.  I hope everyone had the best Monday possible.

Raw Broccoli Soup with a hint of Cumin

To accompany dinner last night we had a raw broccoli soup that I flavored with a touch of cumin. I like raw broccoli recipes since they are more nutritious than cooked dishes. This soup was born from that notion. I added cumin since broccoli and cumin work so well together. When you are making raw soup with onion and garlic they can quickly overpower the flavors of any dish. Some onions and garlic have a more powerful taste than others. I always start with less than I think I need and add more if necessary. Here is what I did.

Raw Broccoli Soup with a hint of Cumin
Makes 3 servings

Ingredients:

1/8 – ¼ peeled raw yellow onion
1 small or ½ large clove garlic, peeled
½ cup walnuts
3 cups water
6 cups broccoli florets
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon wine vinegar (or substitute fresh lemon juice)
Lemon wedges, for garnish and finishing - optional
Flaked smoked sea salt, for garnish and finishing - optional

Directions:

Combine the smaller amount of onion, garlic, with walnut and water in your blender and process until smooth. Add the broccoli, salt, pepper, cumin and wine vinegar and process again, until completely smooth. Taste the soup to see if it needs more onion, garlic and seasoning and adjust as necessary. Blend the soup until it begins to warm slightly (about body temperature).

To serve garnish with a sprinkle of flaked smoked sea salt for color and texture and include a lemon wedge to squeeze over the top of the soup. Both of these are optional but I think they add to the dish.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 214.13
Calories From Fat (54%) - 114.59

Total Fat - 13.71g
Saturated Fat - 1.34g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 397.06mg
Potassium - 769.65mg
Total Carbohydrates - 18.51g
Fiber - 10.85g
Sugar - 4.95g
Protein - 11.91g

Comments:

This is another one of my quick and ridiculously nutritious dishes. I enjoy this quite a bit and could it eat it every week. My hubby is not a big fan of cool or cold soups other than gazpacho. He will eat this, but has to fuss about it a little. I always remind him of the healthfulness of this soup and that is usually enough to get it to disappear. Something tells me he enjoys fussing, not that I pretend to actually understand men (or man in this case).

Each serving of this soup is packed with nutrition and contains approximately 3,200IU of vitamin A, 175mg of vitamin C, 205mg of calcium, 230mcg of folate, 250mcg of vitamin K, 230mg of phosphorus, and 90mg of magnesium. Aren't these amazing nutritional stats for a small bowl of soup?

Unrelated note:

Last night we had another later dinner, which seems to be our normal. I am still experimenting with veggie loaf recipes so last night we had a quinoa and black bean loaf. My veggie loaves are definitely improving but the texture is not quite right yet. As soon as I perfect the proportions to get the appropriate texture I will post the recipe. We had the veggie loaf topped with sun-dried tomato marinara and served with a baby spinach, grape tomato, cilantro and macadamia and pine nut ricotta that I dressed with wine vinegar, salt and pepper.

Today I have more research to do and errands to run. I will be back later today with at least one more recipe, possibly more since I still have a backlog to post. I also need to replenish the refrigerator with more vegan cheese (for salads), sun dried tomato marinara (for raw pizza) and nut ricotta (also for raw pizza). If there is time I will be making seitan sausages for the freezer as well, flavor to be determined. It is definitely going to be a busy day at my house. I had better get my behind in gear or I will never get through my list.

I hope you all have a great day and I will talk to you later.

Boca Burger, Spinach, Hummus and Broccoli Sprout Wrap

Boca burgers are somewhat of a freezer staple in our house. I don’t always have time to make my own veggie burgers. When I am short on time I turn to the Boca burgers. We have eaten these for so many years they taste like a hamburger to me now. It is strange how your taste buds change over time.

The hummus was included to add additional protein and to replace mayonnaise. The spinach and broccoli sprouts were added for nutrition. Dark leafy greens and broccoli sprouts are packed with nutrition and are help to keep the body nourished so that it can most effectively fight cancer. I always add both spinach and broccoli sprouts to my sandwiches and salads unless we have run out.

Boca Burger, Spinach, Hummus and Broccoli Sprout Wrap
Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 Original Boca Burgers
2 whole wheat roll ups
4 tablespoons of hummus with roasted red pepper, garlic and paprika
½ cup of broccoli sprouts
3 cups of baby spinach
2/3 cup of edamame, in the pods

Directions:

Microwave the Boca burgers according to the directions on the package. Spread each roll up with half the hummus. Top with spinach, the cooked burgers and sprouts. Serve with the edamame on the side.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 433.31
Calories From Fat (23%) - 98.6

Total Fat - 13.57g
Saturated Fat - 3.09g
Cholesterol - 18mg
Sodium - 1181.73mg
Potassium - 1264.08mg
Total Carbohydrates - 61.59g
Fiber - 22.7g
Sugar - 9.41g
Protein - 41.84g

Comments:

If you need a quick lunch this one is packed with protein, fiber and nutrition for a few calories. In addition to being good for you, it is also a very tasty lunch. Add a cup of green tea and you have covered most of your cancer fighting bases.

Seitan Lunchmeat, BBQ Sauce, Spinach, Tomato and Broccoli Sprouts on a Whole Wheat Wrap

Today was spent running to multiple grocery stores to pick up provisions for the homestead. We went to Whole Foods, the health food store and Wegman’s. The combination of things we bought was unusual to say the least. You will be seeing these appear on the blog in the coming weeks.

By the time we got back from the multiple grocery stores we were starving. The tiny 1-ounce bar of 70% organic dark chocolate we split from store number two didn’t really stop the hunger.

Since we had the seitan lunchmeat in the refrigerator I knew we were going to have a sandwich. Sandwiches are the fastest meal to put together when you are starving, like today. I included extra seitan on this sandwich (probably because I was hungry) because two servings didn’t look like enough. We had BBQ sauce because my husband is not fond of mustard, and mayonnaise has a little too much fat if we are going to come close to the 12% target. The spinach, tomato and broccoli sprouts were added for nutrition.

I love broccoli sprouts and put them on most of our sandwiches. After reading that broccoli sprouts contain 100 times the level of sulforaphane of adult broccoli, eating the sprouts made total sense to me. If you aren’t a fan of broccoli, the sprouts have a much milder flavor that doesn’t remind me of broccoli. I think the taste is closer to other sprouts (clover or alfalfa) than it is to broccoli. The sprouts, like the broccoli, are reported to help the body fight cancer and that is why I buy them.

This sandwich is filling and contains a huge amount of protein. Something tells me we won’t be hungry for hours. In retrospect 2 servings of the seitan lunchmeat would have probably been plenty. Oh well, that is what happens when you let yourself get too hungry before a meal. At least the calorie count wasn't out of control.

Seitan Lunchmeat, BBQ Sauce, Spinach, Tomato and Broccoli Sprouts on a Whole Wheat Wrap
Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 whole wheat roll ups
2 tablespoons of BBQ sauce, sweetened with Agave
3 servings of pressure cooked seitan lunchmeat, shaved thin
3 cups of baby spinach, cleaned and dried
1 large tomato, thinly sliced
½ cup of broccoli sprouts

Directions:

Smear one tablespoon of BBQ sauce on each roll up. Top with remaining ingredients and roll up the sandwich. Serve whole or sliced.

Nutrition Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 408.98
Calories From Fat (17%) - 67.83

Total Fat - 8.48g
Saturated Fat - 3.14g
Cholesterol - 18mg
Sodium - 661.61mg
Potassium - 883.68mg
Total Carbohydrates - 49.56g
Fiber - 15g
Sugar - 14.16g
Protein - 46.73g

Comments:

My husband and I both liked this sandwich. He thought it could use a little more BBQ. I purposefully kept the BBQ to a minimum due to the sugar content and the fact that sugar feeds cancer. You will be seeing more recipes with stevia in the coming months.

If you wanted to add a little more flavor to this sandwich you could include a little hot crushed peppers (wet hots), or Dijon mustard. I would have added some shredded carrot if I had it preshredded in the refrigerator. I was too hungry to wait that long for a sandwich.

Broccoli Bisque

This soup is a follow up on the blended soup I made yesterday. After reading part of “Eating for Health” yesterday I plan to experiment with many more blended soups this year.

My cooking tends to be low in fat. This broccoli soup, like the asparagus soup yesterday, is higher in fat than most of my recipes. There is a richness from the nuts that makes this soup very satisfying and higher in fat. Additionally, the fat in the nuts makes it easier for the body to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins. You can cut down on the total fat in the soup by reducing the raw cashews in the soup, but it will affect the texture and mouth feel of the final product.

By pureeing the broccoli while still frozen the nutrition present in the vegetable is not destroyed by heat. Many books and articles have indicated that lightly cooked or raw broccoli is more nutritious than cooked broccoli. Since I am very focused on minimizing disease (particularly cancer), I plan to eat my soup cold but it is also good hot. Also, I included two cloves of raw garlic for the cancer protection in the batch of soup I made. You may want to start with one clove of garlic and taste the soup to see if you want to add the second clove.

Broccoli Bisque
Makes 2 large entrée size portions (approximately 4 cups each)

Ingredients:

½ cup raw cashews
3 cups of water
1 - 2 cloves garlic, peeled (depending on your taste)
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
6 cups of frozen broccoli florets

Directions:

Put everything except the broccoli in the blender and puree until the mixture is completely smooth. Add the broccoli one cup at a time and puree until smooth. Continue until the broccoli has been thoroughly incorporated. The soup should be completely smooth when you are finished. I made this soup in a Vitamix blender. If you are using a lower power blender you may need to defrost the broccoli before adding it to the blender. This soup can be served hot or cold.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 258.52
Calories From Fat (38%) - 98.6

Total Fat - 11.8g
Saturated Fat - 2.06g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 1066.52mg
Potassium - 1169.54mg
Total Carbohydrates - 30.79g
Fiber - 14.99g
Sugar - 7.75g
Protein - 17.71g

Comments:

When the weather is hot pureed soups are quick to make and eat. Gazpacho has always been a favorite at our house. This year I am going to be experimenting with additional pureed soups that can be served hot or cold. I like that this soup has as its base a healthy cruciferous vegetable that is reported to help the body fight cancer.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Tomato Sauce, Broccoli and Bean and Bulgur Balls

(pictured: whole wheat spaghetti with basic tomato sauce, lightly cooked broccoli and bean and bulgur balls)

Pasta with tomato sauce was on our dinner table tonight. I love a big steaming bowl of pasta. When I want comfort food, pasta is my dinner of choice. I try to always have tomato sauce in my freezer for nights when pasta is the only thing that I want. I find it works well to freeze the sauce in four serving bags so I can make dinner and lunch quickly when I don’t have a lot of time.

I combined broccoli and tomatoes tonight since they are more powerful (nutritionally) together than they are apart, particularly in terms of fighting prostate cancer. I find that broccoli and tomato sauce has become one of my favorite flavor combinations.

Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce, Broccoli and Bean and Bulgur Balls
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups of basic tomato sauce
8 bean and bulgur balls
4 cups of frozen broccoli
8 ounces of whole wheat spaghetti
5 quarts of salted water

Directions:

Cook the broccoli in the microwave, so you retain the maximum amount of nutrition. Cook your whole wheat spaghetti until al dente. Warm the tomato sauce and put that in a large serving bowl. Add the cooked broccoli. Toss the cooked spaghetti with the tomato sauce and broccoli. Top the dressed pasta with the bean and bulgur balls.

Nutritional Information per serving:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 653.34
Calories From Fat (8%) - 50.15

Total Fat - 5.84g
Saturated Fat - 0.79g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 902.05mg
Potassium - 1358.73mg
Total Carbohydrates - 124.07g
Fiber - 7.77g
Sugar - 5.74g
Protein - 31.87g

Comments:

This pasta has a nice amount of heat in the background. I like the tender crispness of the broccoli with the relative softness of the whole wheat pasta. If you have any almond feta in your refrigerator a nice dollop of that on top of this pasta would be perfect.

Broccoli and Potato “Cream” Soup

(this soup is not a beauty contestant but tastes delicious)

Last week at cooking class our topic was soup. This class got my mind swirling thinking of different soups I could make that would be healthy.

Broccoli is a very popular vegetable at my house. We always have a minimum of one five pound bag of broccoli from Costco in our freezer at all times. I love the taste of broccoli and I love that this little cruciferous vegetable is a potent cancer fighter. I try to include broccoli in our meals whenever I can. Broccoli was the starting point for my soup tonight.

I added the cauliflower to the soup for additional cruciferous punch and to reduce the overall amount of potato in the soup. When the cauliflower is pureed it behaves like potato. I add cauliflower to most potato dishes I make for this reason.

I roasted the potatoes to give them a little texture. I didn’t want the potatoes to disintegrate into the soup.

The garlic oil was used to give the soup a little background garlic flavor.

I added the lemon so that the acid would lift the flavor in the dish without adding more salt. I try to keep our daily sodium level below the recommended 2200 mg’s a day.

Broccoli and Potato “Cream” Soup
Serves 5

Ingredients:

3 pounds of frozen broccoli florets
1 pound of frozen cauliflower florets
1 ½ pounds of red potatoes, cut into bite size pieces
1 tablespoon of garlic flavored olive oil
one red onion, finely diced
1 tablespoon of garlic flavored olive oil
3 cups of water
2 cups of plain unsweetened soymilk
2 teaspoons of kosher salt
juice of one lemon
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Roast cauliflower and broccoli on a half sheet pan for approximately 20 minutes, until cooked through and slightly tinged on the edges. On a separate sheet pan toss potatoes with one tablespoon of garlic flavored olive oil and a pinch of salt and roast until they are done (the exact time will depend on the pieces of the potato and your oven) mine took 5 minutes longer than the broccoli and cauliflower.

While the veggies roast cook the diced onion with the remaining tablespoon of garlic oil until it is translucent.

When the cauliflower and broccoli are cooked, put them in your blender (reserving a few broccoli tops for texture) along with the water and puree until smooth. Add the pureed vegetables and reserved broccoli tops to the pan containing the onions and turn the heat to low. Add the soymilk and salt and heat soup to desired temperature. Just before serving add the lemon juice and taste the soup for salt and pepper, and adjust as desired.

Serve hot.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 309.17
Calories From Fat (24%) - 75.69

Total Fat - 8.54g
Saturated Fat - 1.13g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 914.61mg
Potassium - 2051.51mg
Total Carbohydrates - 49.8g
Fiber - 5.27g
Sugar - 4.92g
Protein - 15.87g

Comments:

This is a very thick soup, almost more of stew. It has a nice gentle broccoli flavor with a hint of lemon and garlic in the background. I liked the texture the potatoes gave the soup. If you wanted to add more textural variation you could finish the soup with a few toasted whole wheat croutons. The only thing I didn’t like was the color of the soup. I would have preferred the soup to be a more vibrant green. Next time I will add a little pureed raw spinach at the very end to brighten the green color. If you didn't mind the extra calories a little drizzle of a beautiful emerald green parsley oil would be a nice addition before serving.