Baked Veggies in Red Sauce topped with “Melted Mozzarella Topping”

Don’t you just love Saturday? I think it is my favorite day of the week. It is wonderful to sleep in until your body wants to get up. Saturday is my only day to sleep in which makes me appreciate it all the more. A girl could get used to this but someone needs to feed my hubby. Even though Dan knew how to cook when we met has forgotten how to do anything in the kitchen. I guess that should be expected since I have done all the cooking for the last 20+ years. Dan will tell anyone that there are two types of people in the world cooks and eaters and we all know which one he is. ;-)

When I asked Dan what he wanted for breakfast he choose a green smoothie again. Like always this one contained: kale, frozen banana, cinnamon, powdered ginger, freshly ground flaxseed, walnuts, a pinch of stevia and fresh soymilk. I processed it in the Vitamix until it was completely smooth. Since the machine was already green I made myself the same thing only with less banana and walnuts and I used water instead of soymilk.

Every weekend not long after breakfast we start to discuss what I am going to make for the 3pm meal with my parents. We both decided I have been making soup and beans too often lately and that I needed to do something different. We talked about a few options but decided that I would bake veggies in red sauce and top it with “cheeze”. I thought about adding beans to the dish which meant I also needed to make some of those since the freezer inventory of home cooked beans was empty.

First I made a pound of pressure cooked garbanzo beans. To 1 pound of dried beans I added 9 cups of water, 2 bay leaves, 4 cloves of peeled cloves of garlic and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes. I cooked them on high pressure for 32 minutes and allowed the pressure to reduce naturally. In the end I didn’t use them in the meal so they went straight into the refrigerator. If I don’t use them Sunday or Monday they will be frozen in 2 cup containers for future meals. Beans freeze well and are great to have on hand since I don’t like canned beans. It seems to me that canned beans taste metallic plus I don’t like the sodium and other additives they typically include.

Next I knew I needed some red sauce for the next meal. Instead of making a small amount I made a large pot so I would have more intentional leftovers. Why make a little when I can always freeze the extras? This is part of my philosophy of cooking once and eating many times. Every time you do this you are saving yourself a step later. Having items like this in the freezer is a huge help when you are short on time or cooking ambition.

Next I steamed veggies to add to the sauce. In this case I used crimini mushrooms which I cut in quarters, carrots cut into bite-sized chunks and broccoli florets. I stored them in the refrigerator until I was read to put together the dishes to be baked and broiled quickly before dinner.

The last step was making the “mozzarella” to go on top. This literally comes together in 5 minutes. I got the basic recipe from my friend Courtney who always has tasty and healthy recipes to share.  Thanks again for sharing this Courtney.  I made very minimal changes to the recipe, here is what I did:

Melty Mozzarella Cheeze
Serves 8

Ingredients:

2 cups water
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1/3 cup oats
1/4 cup raw sesame seeds or tahini if not using a high powered blender
4 tablespoons arrowroot (you could use cornstarch too)
3 or 4 tablespoons lemon juice (I used 1 Meyer lemon)
1 tablespoon dried onion granules
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1/8 teaspoon mustard powder
white pepper, to taste
salt, to taste

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients in your blender and process until completely smooth. The mixture will be very thin when you pour it out of the blender. Don’t worry it gets much thicker when it cooks.

Pour into a sauce pan and cook over medium heat stirring constantly until very thick and smooth (it will get very very thick--just keep whisking/stirring).

I made it right before using it and poured it warm over the prepared dishes.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 91.01
Calories From Fat (35%) - 31.82

Total Fat - 2.34g
Saturated Fat - 0.33g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 2.77mg
Potassium - 56.25mg
Total Carbohydrates - 8.3g
Fiber - 1.16g
Sugar - 0.41g
Protein - 1.32g

Comments:

Much to my surprise my parents cleaned their plates. No one asked what the white topping was, though I am sure they know it wasn’t cheese. They did however eat it all which I thought was great. I guess you can say this recipe is omni approved. 

To make the entire veggie dish place the par cooked veggies in small casserole dishes, top with red sauce and then the melty mozzarella. I baked them until they began to bubble and finished them with dehydrated leeks when they came out of the oven.

I tried to keep the 3pm meal with my parents light because we were thinking of going out to dinner on Saturday. Even though we hadn’t decided I had a feeling we would end up going out. Dan and I both like to relax and chat with everyone at the restaurant so it was a good bet we would end up going which we did. Not to mention when we went tea shopping last weekend we picked up a couple of bags for “the kids” so we had to drop that off. Since we were going to be at the restaurant we might as well go to eat right? ;-)

To accompany the veggie dish I made a side salad of shredded romaine, pineapple, strawberry, dried apricots and sliced almonds. I made a quick dressing of white miso, reduced-fat almond butter and apple cider.

At 5pm we called the restaurant and made a 6:30 reservation. Since we didn’t give them any notice we told them we would make something up from what they had and not to go to any trouble. Did they listen? Of course they didn’t. I felt very guilty because the restaurant was packed and there were people waiting when we got there. Much to our surprise they had our dinner all planned so we went with it. We both love not knowing what is coming to the table other than it is vegan. Are we the only people that like to eat that way? ;-)

When we walked in Jeannine was behind the bar and had to give me a kiss. On the way to the table I got a hug from Corey. I guess you can see why Dan and both feel like part of the family every time we are there. Of course we sat in Aimee’s section where else would we go when she is working? She had our pot of tea waiting for us. Can you tell we are spoiled? I guess you are all starting to understand why we almost always end up at the same place for dinner when we go out to eat.

Our first course was a tofu Caprese salad. Will had skinned the little tomatoes which I thought was a great touch. The tofu was either baked or broiled I didn’t ask which and it had a touch of sesame oil and I think I could detect rice wine. The dish was finished with fresh basil. It was definitely a twist on a Caprese salad but we both really liked it.

The second course was a curried chickpea and spinach dish. The dish was flavored with curried powder, habanero and a touch of red sauce. It had really nice flavor and I appreciated that the spinach was just lightly wilted. This was an extremely filling dish.

The last course was an Asian veggie dish with broccoli, shitakes, edamame, red bell pepper, carrot, snow peas and onions. The sauce included sriracha, rice wine vinegar, agave, habanero, ginger, garlic, and I thought I could detect a hint of five spice. Dan liked the sauce so much he was dipping whole wheat pita into it long after he said he was full.

We like to take our time and talk while we eat so we prefer to have our courses come to the table very spread out which everyone knows. We also have to talk to everyone and find out how they are doing while we are there. I imagine other customers wondered who we are since we hug and chat with everyone at the restaurant all evening long.

Like usual we were still there talking when everyone was cleaning and setting up for brunch. By then we had moved to the bar and were catching up with Jonathan, Will, Jeannine and Jen. We always have to chat and find out how things are going with them and what they have going on. Will has some fun stuff going on with his Master’s thesis that I can’t wait to hear more about, Jen’s boyfriend has almost finished his first month as a commercial flight instructor, Jeannine has her other job as a realtor moving along and we just learned that Jonathan is almost finished with his finance degree. I love talking to people and getting to know them since they are all so unique and interesting.

On the Aimee and Michael front things are going very well. They are both enjoying their classes this semester and Michael is doing extremely well in his MCAT prep class but we knew he would. He is taking it near us at Hopkins and has developed a good relationship with the instructor. He is going to make a wonderful doctor.

We ended up talking to everyone until Michael arrived to pick Aimee up a little after 11 and then walked out with her to say hello to Michael. We are trying to plan our trip to DC with them over spring break since he is very busy with school and MCAT prep.

When we got home we were both wide awake and needed time to wind down before bed. Somehow we were still up at 1:30 in the morning. It will be hard to get up Monday morning at 5am for the gym since we have gotten back to our old night owl ways. I hope we can make that happen since I would like to get back into the routine. I like having my workout finished earlier in the day.

Happy thoughts:

As you have probably guessed we had a good Saturday so I have many things to be thankful for. Here are my happy thoughts today:

• I am very thankful to have such a great neighborhood restaurant where we can go to get a great vegan meal even though it isn’t a vegan restaurant. As you must have noticed by now we always have a great evening when we go there. Both Dan and I are looking forward to the weather change which means we can start enjoying dinner under the trees on the patio again. When the weather is nice we are there quite often relaxing, talking to everyone and enjoying the weather. ;-) We both love having dinner al fresco. There is just something incredibly relaxing about a leisurely dinner outside.

• It was great that my parents ate dinner this weekend both days without complaint. Who knows maybe eventually I will get through to them. Nah, what was I thinking? *shakes head* LOL

• Dan didn’t work at all on Saturday or Sunday which was wonderful. It was nice to spend an entire weekend with Dan where both of us had a chance to relax.

• It was also nice to have our temperatures get over 40 on Sunday. We needed some of this snow to melt. It is time to start warming up now. ;-) I am looking forward to the return of spring.

• I am also grateful that we are both happy and healthy today. That is something that we both used to take for granted. When you are at risk of losing your health it becomes much more precious to you, at least that is what happened to us.

Signing out:

We had a great weekend but it is coming to an end. We spent a relaxing day at home on Sunday we had my parents over for dinner and then we went back to catching up on season 6 of Criminal Minds. It looks like we aren’t going to be finished for a few more days. I am not sure why but I love this show. As my girlfriend Deirdre says it may have something to do with "that fine piece of man candy" on the show. LOL, she does have a way with words doesn’t she? I wonder which actor she could be referring to. ;-)

I hope you had a great weekend and found time to recharge your batteries for the week. Talk to you again tomorrow.

Slightly Spicy Macadamia Nut Cheeze and Healthy Sun Dried Tomato Pesto

Where did the week go? I have no idea how the weekend got here so fast. I guess time flies when you are busy wallowing. However it happened I am very happy to be starting the weekend. As you all know I love my weekends with Dan even when we stay home and hang out together.

I finally got back into the kitchen today and enjoyed relaxing and cooking. Maybe all I needed to get back to myself was time in the kitchen. ;-) I will have to try that next time and see if it works.

Friday:

For some reason I didn’t sleep well last night. I am not sure why but I got up this morning and was moving more slowly than usual if that is possible.

Breakfast for Dan was his favorite green smoothie: frozen banana, raw kale, cinnamon, powdered ginger, ground flaxseeds, water to process. You can add a little stevia to taste if you think it needs to be sweeter.

I wasn’t particularly hungry when I got up so I decided to make a cup of green tea with ginger and peach and work on the last post. Somehow working on that post was a 2 hour project and part of it I had written the prior day. Wow, I had no idea I spent that much time preparing a post. No wonder I always seem to run out of time to get things done, LOL. Any suggestions?

After I got the post up I had a quick orange with two Brazil nuts (for the selenium) and ran out the door to check on my folks so that I could get home and exercise.

Once I was home and ready to do things for us it was noon. Hard to believe that I got up before 7 and still had almost nothing accomplished 5 hours later. *sigh*

For my lunch I had a smallish bowl of the curried lentil soup from Wednesday. This time I topped it with cilantro that I stirred into the soup once I had taken this picture. I love to add fresh herbs to everything. They seem to add a nice brightness to any dish as well as fresh pops of flavor.

After lunch I was back to reading about nutrition. This textbook I am reading is quite good. Though I suspect not all of you would find textbook reading interesting I always have when I enjoyed the subject matter. Back in the day, when the dinosaurs roamed the earth, I loved school. I would have been a professional student if I could have. ;-)

For my afternoon snack I had few cucumber rounds that I spread with macadamia nut cheeze and sun dried tomato spread. These are the two condiments that I made yesterday. Here are the recipes:

Slightly Spicy Macadamia Nut Cheeze
Serves 12

Ingredients:

1 cup of macadamia nuts, soaked in water for at least 4 hours, then drain well
½ lemon zested and juiced
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 teaspoon hot crushed peppers (wet hots), optional but adds a little background zip
¼ teaspoon dry mustard
½ teaspoon miso

Directions:

Combine everything in your food processor and let it run into the “cheeze” is homogenous and smooth. It will be thick like spreadable goat cheese.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 81.58
Calories From Fat (87%) - 71.04

Total Fat - 8.49g
Saturated Fat - 1.35g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 9.5mg
Potassium - 45.8mg
Total Carbohydrates - 1.88g
Fiber - 1.02g
Sugar - 0.6g
Protein - 0.94g

Comments:

If you are still eating dairy this may feel a little “clean”. Also if you are still using oil this might feel clean. When I first transitioned to vegan food I added olive oil to my nuts cheeses to make them more similar to dairy. However as I have gotten away from oil I have found that nut cheese without oil is not only perfectly fine but feels rich and decadent with just nuts.

This spread has a light spiciness in the background and a hint of complexity from the mustard, garlic and miso. You could also add fresh herbs (rosemary, parsley, cilantro or thyme would be good) if you want to change the taste.

Dan loves the “red stuff” Ian makes at the restaurant. Ian’s version has fabulous flavor but a lot of olive oil and white wine. I finally decided to make a version that I could feel good about Dan eating whenever he wants. Here is my healthy version of Ian’s red stuff:

Sun Dried Tomato Pesto with Golden Raisins
aka: Ian’s Red Stuff Made Healthy
Serves 12

Ingredients:

1 cup dried tomatoes
½ cup golden raisins
1 cup water
½ red onion, peeled and well cooked in some of the soaking water
2 cloves garlic, peeled
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Drain the tomatoes and raisins well and move them to your food processor. Use a few tablespoons of the soaking liquid to water sauté the onions until very soft. Move the drained onions to the food processor. Add raw garlic to the processor and process until all the big chunks are gone. Add freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 32.45
Calories From Fat (4%) - 1.45

Total Fat - 0.17g
Saturated Fat-  0.03g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 95.24mg
Potassium - 201.84mg
Total Carbohydrates - 7.9g
Fiber - 0.9g
Sugar - 5.27g
Protein - 0.93g

Comments:

This worked out much better than I expected. I used the onions to add creaminess in place of the oil and it worked. This spread is a little sweet but still with a pronounced tomato flavor. Even Dan was happy with how this turned out and he loves Ian’s original version. *pats self on the back*

Dan went out for lunch today with some of the young guys from work and sent me pictures and descriptions of his lunch. They went out for Vietnamese food. Dan ordered spring rolls with peanut butter to which he added sriracha.

He also ordered a pan fried tofu with the same peanut sauce. Of course I would rather he not order pan fried anything but he enjoys hanging out with the kids at work and since he doesn’t get out often I should not be too concerned. ;-)

After I had my afternoon snack I made a batch of soy milk from the beans I soaked overnight. I don’t normally make soy milk now because almond milk is much quicker. However I decided that I want to add soy milk to Dan’s oatmeal and smoothies for additional calories. I will continue to use water in mine since I don’t need the extra calories to burn off.

While I was hulling the soy beans today I stumbled across a trick to speed up the process. When you are rubbing the beans together to release the skin do it in an 8 cup measuring cup. Then add extra water and the skins will float so that you can pour them off. That is much faster than picking them out. I had the beans hulled and in the soy milk maker in less than 20 minutes which is a record for me.

Word of warning on the soy bean hulls and okara if you have cats …. Mr. Binky thinks soy is the bomb and was a serious pest while I was trying to make the soy milk. He tried to eat the soy hulls/skins and tried to eat the okara as the soy milk was draining. Who knew cats liked soy? Since I am not certain if it is bad for them I wouldn’t let him have it. In case you have cats I wanted to you know about the potential problem.

Once I made the soy milk I decided to make okara pate. I didn’t measure the ingredients but I will next time I make it because it turned out really well. I used okara, reduced fat almond butter, raw garlic, raw ginger, and red miso. It is a bit like Asian flavored hummus. I really liked it but was surprised that Dan also thought it was very good. That definitely means I need to come up with exact measures so I can share it with you.

I also finally used the reduced-fat peanut butter idea on almond butter and it works fine. Once again I didn’t measure but just follow the directions for making reduced fat peanut butter. The next time I make it I will measure so that I can figure out what the revised nutritionals are.

Dinner tonight was a very simple affair. Dan started his meal with a bowl of the curried red lentil soup. Then we both had a big salad that consisted of: mesclun greens, salsa, marinated mushrooms, avocado, chickpeas, grape tomatoes and raw pumpkin seeds.

After dinner we relaxed in front of the TV and sipped more green tea. Dan was a little disappointed that there were no frozen bananas in the house since he wanted strawberry banana soft serve for dessert. I guess he will just need to tough it out while the bananas ripen so I can get them into the freezer.

Making Dietary Changes:

Yesterday I received a message from someone who isn’t currently vegan but wants to live a healthier life. I get a message like this at least 5 days a week which always brightens my day. Normally they start by saying that they aren’t vegan and neither are any of their friends but that they want to make some changes. Each time I get a similar message once I finish my happy dance I think about how I can help. Typically I end up regularly emailing with these folks about changes they can make to improve their diet. Since I know many of you read but never comment or email I wanted to add a new section to the blog to give you ideas for little changes you can make. This section will appear periodically, maybe once a week, so it doesn’t become overwhelming.

For the first change I would strongly suggest that you learn to start your day with a healthy breakfast. I have not always been a breakfast eater. This is a habit I started about 20 years ago though it was also the first thing I dropped when I was frantic at work. Needless to say I know that was wrong but at the time I didn’t have the quick ideas that I do now. Giving up breakfast would not happen again in my life. Here are some ideas for a quick and healthy breakfast:

• Oatmeal with frozen berries and nuts
• Savory Oatmeal with veggies, ground flaxseeds and nutritional yeast
• Green Smoothie or actually any smoothie
• Hummus and raw veggies to dip
• Okara pate and veggie dippers
• Nut based dipping sauce and raw veggies
• Banana and nut butter
• Fruit and nuts of any sort
• Flax crackers topped with nut cheese and sun dried marinara
• Dinner leftovers
• Big green salad with cold cooked beans, salsa and chopped veggies

Some of these are not traditional breakfast foods but they are all very quick if you keep intentional leftovers in the refrigerator. One thing I hope you noticed is that all the items contain a little healthy fat as that helps you to stay satiated longer in addition to helping you process the fat soluble vitamins you are ingesting. I prefer the dishes that have veggies because I love to get veggies in every chance I get. However dark berries are also healthy so that works well too. We always keep frozen berries in the freezer to add to smoothies, oatmeal or healthy desserts. The quickest item on the list is the banana and nut butter (or fruit and nut) which makes a fast grab and go item when you are extremely short on time

Why eat a healthy breakfast? First your body has been fasting since dinner and it is hungry. You blood sugar is low and you need food before you get famished. When I start my day with a healthy breakfast it sets me up to make good choices all day. Eating breakfast helps to keep me from eating something that I shouldn’t for lunch. I don’t know what happens to you but when I don’t eat until lunch time sometimes I am tempted to eat things that aren’t the best for me. Having a healthy breakfast helps me to stay on track and make good choices all day long.

If you are new to eating breakfast start with something small like the banana and nut and move up to more substantial meals. I would also suggest that you experiment with different dishes to see what you like better. I was surprised to find that I really like savory oatmeal for breakfast though Dan prefers fruit and nut in his oats. Also you may find that you feel better when breakfast is the largest meal of the day. Try lots of options and see what works best for you.

Happy thoughts:

Friday was a good day but far too busy to actually be as productive as I wanted to be. Here are my happy thoughts today:

• I loved the okara pate I came up with today. Thankfully it was simple so I know I can recreate it even though I didn’t measure today. It is so much fun to come up with recipes from the stuff most people throw away. I have learned to enjoy the okara more than fresh soy milk. To think I used to throw the okara away. Shameful! That won’t be happening ever again. ;-)

• Dan had a good day at work and I am thankful for that. He had a nice lunch out with the boys and doesn’t need to go into the office this weekend. You know having my hubby home all weekend, even if part of it is in his home office, makes me very happy.

• I was also pleased that I was able to reduce the fat in almond butter exactly the same way I do with natural peanut butter. It may be because my tastes have changed but I actually think it tastes better with less oil.

• Dan really likes my version of the healthy red stuff which also makes me happy. I really enjoy taking recipes that I know Dan likes and making them good for him. I suspect this may turn up as often as the strawberry banana soft serve and that is saying something

• I am also happy that Dan worked out with the guys at work before he came home. It makes me so happy that he has gotten on board with regular exercise. *happy dance*

• Friday was a good day because I was able to read more of the nutrition textbook I am trying to finish. I have read almost the entire book in a few days I am enjoying it that much.

• Every day or so I get a message from someone that isn’t vegan but is trying to clean up their diet and add more healthy foods like quinoa, mushrooms or bean dishes. Each time this happens I am thrilled and very grateful that I am making a difference no matter how small. Any time any of you want to ask me any questions feel free to ask. Use email if you would rather not comment.

• I am also thankful for all the very kind words from all of you. Sorry I needed to take most of this last week off to get myself together. I am not normally off my game that long. I think I am definitely improving and should be back to posting daily for the foreseeable future.

Signing out:

It is time to get my Saturday started. As usual we are planning to have my parents over for a late lunch and do a few things around the house.

It was a Green Leafy kind of Day ... and More Bean Cheeze

Monday started with almost a heat way. It was 29 before we left for the gym but oddly it was only supposed to reach 33 for a high. There must be something going on since we normally go up a lot more than that when the sun comes up. However the best news is that the weather people are predicting snow for Christmas. Woo hoo! I can’t ever remember snow falling on Christmas since I have lived in Maryland. It would be wonderful to have snow falling. I have my fingers crossed for that.

We had a good workout Monday morning at the gym. I was happy to be back to morning workouts if only for a few days before the gym closes for winter break for the students. My knee held up pretty well and I was pushing it harder than I had been. It hurt a little but not much so it is definitely improving. I was thrilled to burn over 500 calories this morning in an hour but I am looking to getting back to where I was before my knee started hurting.

When we got back from the gym we had our usual green smoothies with frozen banana, kale, cinnamon, powdered ginger, walnuts and a little stevia. I really love having green smoothies for breakfast. It was nice to have slightly warmer temperatures this morning.

Dan was back to the dentist this morning to meet with a different specialist. They are still working on his changing bite. To think I was under the impression that one you were in your 20’s these dental things were a distant memory. Goes to show you how little I know about dentistry. LOL

My mid morning snack today was an orange and two Brazil nuts (for the selenium). While I am not a huge fan of cold weather, which I am sure you have noticed,I love having nice juicy citrus be so plentiful at the grocery store this time of year.

For some reason I was craving popcorn today. Typically popcorn is something that we have when we watch movies but we have been forgoing the popcorn lately. I guess I just needed something crunchy. I decided to try an experiment to see if I could pop corn in a dry pan on the stove. Guess what? It actually worked fine. I was a little surprised. What didn’t work fine however was putting the nutritional yeast in the pot with the corn while it popped. The nutritional yeast turned black and burned. For the second batch I popped the corn in a dry pan and add the nutritional yeast (just a little maybe a tablespoon) after the corn was popped but while it was still hot.

For my lunch I made myself a very simple salad with mesclun greens, salsa, cucumber and baked falafel from the freezer. I really love my baked falafel but used the end of them in this salad. Time for me to get more chickpeas soaking so I can replenish my freezer falafel supply. By the way, Dan prefers the falafel once they have been frozen and defrosted. He likes the texture softer where they are crisper straight from the oven.

Dinner was another salad. I eat more salads when I am trying to dropping a few pounds. This salad contained mesclun, cooked sweet potato, salsa, cucumber, and white bean cheeze. I made a variation of this cheeze recipe. Thank goodness for leftover white beans in the refrigerator. Since Dan isn’t terribly fond of nutritional yeast I added less to this batch and then included cumin, paprika and chili powder to increase the flavor.

Since Dan had soup, salad and frozen grapes for lunch and salad for dinner he needed more calories today. You all know what that means by now strawberry banana soft serve was Dan’s dessert. Like always I have a few spoons from what we left in the blender after I served Dan. This stuff is really tasty but has too many calories for me to eat much of it especially since I am trying to drop weight.

I had to include this picture of Binky. You can’t see me well but I am under Binky. He was lying on my chest. At our house we refer to this as “wearing cats”. Each time someone tells me cats are standoffish I wonder whose cats they are talking about. Ours are very cuddly and you will frequently find them on us or within a couple of feet. It is hard not to love little furries that so clearly love us so much. I really love my little fur babies. ;-)

Happy Thoughts:

Monday was a fairly good day for me. I got a few accomplished on my to do list and feel a little more “in control” in terms of Christmas. Here are my happy thoughts today:

• Monday was a good day at the gym. I was very happy that my knee held up and I got a decent calorie burn.

• I have finally started to think about Christmas dinner. Having a few ideas has relieved the anxiety I was feeling.

• I was fairly happy with myself that I ate so many greens yesterday (a green smoothie and two salads).

• One of the presents I ordered or Ian showed up on the mail yesterday. This was another relief. Now there is just one to go and Ian is finished. Good thing since it is almost Christmas.

• I loved all your comments and emails to yesterday’s post. You have no idea how much I appreciate all your ideas. I also love that there are so many people who want to live a healthier life. Reading about you changes always puts a huge smile on my face. Thank you very much for that!

• Darn I initially forgot to include this in the post. When we were leaving the gym there was the most glorious sunrise yesterday.

Signing out:

Today cleaning and reorganizing the kitchen is on my agenda. I have been putting this off for months and I just need to do. I know it will be a mess while it is in process but that I will be thrilled when it is finished. I will be thrilled right? ;-)

I hope everyone is staying warm is this unseasonable cold (for those of you on the east coast). Have a wonderful day and I will talk to you again tomorrow.

Simple Roasted Veggies with Vegan Queso just another Monday

It was nice to head back to the gym bright and early this morning. I never get tired of this place. Who said that? LOL

Since my knee is still not 100%, though it did improve after a weekend without cardio, we opted to cut the workout short and call it quits after 45 minutes today. I didn’t want to push my knee too far a risk a relapse since it has improved so much over the weekend.

This morning we were back to oatmeal with mixed frozen berries, cinnamon, powdered ginger, ground flaxseed, and sliced almonds.

Lunch was a bowl of ribolitta leftover from yesterday.

Then it was off to the dentist for me. With all the other doctor appointments lately I have been remiss in getting to the dentist which means extra deep cleaning and scraping for me. Yay! Not really. Good thing I like Regan so much or this would be much more painful. Regan did a great job (without any needles woo hoo) on keeping the discomfort to a minimum. This is coming from someone with a dentist phobia too. I go back to the dentist again Wednesday and then I am finished. Gotta love that right?

After my dental appointment I ran out the library to pick up an exercise DVD I had put on hold and came out with 3 more books and another DVD. Seriously when do I think I am going to find time to read and watch this stuff. *shakes head* Given that I have been too busy to finish all the Christmas decorations up yet I need to have my head examined LOL. I did pick up Ani Phyo’s newest book “Ani’s Raw food Essentials” that I hope to read in the next few days. As soon as I do I will let you know what I think.

When I got home I had a quick snack of an orange and two Brazil nuts. I try to eat two Brazil nuts everyday for the selenium. Most days I remember to eat them though I am better at giving them to Dan than I am eating them myself. I should worry a little more about me. I know that would make Dan happy since he fusses at me about this particular issue often.

By the time I was ready to start dinner it was after 6pm and like usual I had no idea what I was going to make. I had a couple of acorn squash that I could use and today seemed like a good day to get one into the oven given that the cold weather is back again. I decided to roast everything in the oven and make a quick 5 minute sauce to top the veggies. This is one of those dinners that take 10 minutes of work, and some oven time and dinner is on the table. This is more of a method than a recipe but here is what I did:

Simple Roasted Veggies with Vegan Queso
Serves 3 (dinner for both of us last night and leftovers for Dan’s lunch)

Ingredients:

1 acorn squash, cut in half, seeds removed then cut into bite-sized chunks
3 parsnips, sliced reasonably thinly
2 sweet potatoes, cut into bites-sized chunks
2 poblano peppers, cut into bite-sized chunks
1 onion, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks
I batch of vegan queso (my numbers assume you used 1/3 of it)
1 green onion, thinly sliced
6 sprigs of fresh cilantro, minced

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees convection. Place the veggies on a half sheet pan keeping them in quadrants by veggie to make it easier to remove any that are cooked sooner than others. Bake for 30 minutes and check to make certain the harder veggies (the squash and potatoes) are tender. Mine cooked for approximately 40 minutes.

When the veggies are almost ready, probably at the 30 minute mark, start the vegan queso. I roughly followed the recipe I linked to above except I added nutrition yeast, chili powder and cumin to taste. I wanted this version to be more flavorful since the veggies were plain.

To serve top the roasted veggies with a little sauce and sprinkle with the green onion and cilantro.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 417.56
Calories From Fat (7%) - 30.74

Total Fat - 3.67g
Saturated Fat - 0.66g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 88.54mg
Potassium - 2150.79mg
Total Carbohydrates - 94.78g
Fiber - 20.56g
Sugar - 21.49g
Protein - 8.85g

Comments:

What I like about meals like this is that they take very little work from the chef. I was literally in the kitchen less than 10 minutes and most of that was watching the sauce to make sure it didn’t stick. This is one of those incredibly easy meals that I turn to often when it is cold outside and I am not much in a mood to cook. This is also good over a bed of whole grains (quinoa, brown rice, or millet).

Typically this is the type of meal that I wouldn’t bother to post in detail because it is so easy. But then I realized that there are many nights other people don’t to fuss in the kitchen either. I think you will find yourself turning to this method often this winter when you just need healthy food fast.

You can vary this dish with any veggies you have on hand. That is how this type of dinner comes together for me. Mushrooms are good in this, so is cauliflower and cherry tomatoes.

Why are the holidays for indulgence?

I am going to start this by saying that I realize what I wrote on this topic goes against the vast majority of Americans. However I think it is important to point out the deleterious health impact of holiday baking.

Staying away from cookies, candy and cake this time of year takes an almost herculean effort. Why do most Americans think the holidays are reason to indulge or worse over indulge? Don’t they understand the impact that sugar has on the immune system? Gee I wonder why there are so many colds during the winter. Between the lack of sunshine (vitamin D) and the sugar coma it isn’t really surprising. Throw in that people aren’t as active when it is cold outside reducing the immune system even more and I think the increase in the incidence in colds makes complete sense.

Don’t get me wrong we used to do the same thing here. I would make a half dozen different flavors of homemade marshmallows frequently chocolate covered to give to friends. But that was before I completely understood the impact of sugar on health. Now that I know better I can’t get on board with the idea of holiday baking. Just because something is a tradition doesn’t make it a good idea. Vegans would be the first one to say Turkey though traditional isn’t necessary for Thanksgiving. Somehow women (vegan or not) have equated the holidays with baked goods. It is as though they think that if they “deprive” their family of baked goods they are being mean. I see it exactly the other way. Most baked goods are nasty unhealthy concoctions to me and I wouldn’t have them in my house.

Which brings me to a question …. What is your opinion of baked good (cookies, cakes, etc.)? Do you feel that you have to make them for your family? If yes I would love to hear why. Is it that you need more information on the detrimental health impact or is it something else?

Happy Thoughts:

It is hard to believe that today is only Tuesday. I feels much later in the week to me than that. I guess it was because our weekend wasn’t as restful as normal. Here are my happy thoughts:

• My dental appointment went well (no needles or pain) and I will be finished with this phase by Wednesday. Yay!

• Tuesday afternoon watched the PBS documentary “Anti Cancer” by the doctor that wrote the book. It was good and follows the book fairly closely. If you are someone that remembers things that they watch and hear better than something you read this would be for you. I picked this up from the library yesterday.  I will include my review soon. I want to watch it twice first.

• I very briefly considered making some vegan cookies to give away during the holidays. Thankfully I came to my senses first. I would feel bad afterwards knowing that something I did for the people that mean the most to me was unhealthy.

Signing out:

That is going to be it for me today. I need to get ready to run to the gym. Since the gym didn’t open until 11am today we decided to go after work rather than work out at home. I hope all of you are having a happy and healthy Tuesday. Talk to you again tomorrow.

Garbanzo Cheeze, Marinated Kale Salad and Indian Spiced Soup

Thank you all for your kind words, they meant a lot to me. I am very lucky to have many thoughtful readers. If I haven’t said this recently you guys are the best. Thank you so much for taking the time to comment and making me smile. Today started better than the last few days. I think it was getting moving early and shopping for local organic produce that helped my mood. There really is nothing like have two refrigerators packed with local produce to put a big smile on my face.

This morning started like every other Sunday with an early morning trip to the farmers’ market. Yes it was pitch black when we left the house. Leaving the house in the dark always feels wrong but turns out well in the end. As usual we headed for Rudy (Cat’s Paw Organic) first just in case he needed help unpacking the truck, and he did. Rudy was in the truck when we arrived so Dan and I carried the baskets and boxes to the table for Rudy to move around later. Once the truck was unloaded (which only took a few minutes) we had time to chat about my favorite subject …. nutrition. Since Rudy has a master’s degree in biochemistry he is great to talk to about this stuff. The topics we discussed today: the U and J curves and vitamin D, the impact sugar has on the immune system, the danger of the notion of “everything in moderation”, eliminating saturated fat to the extent possible, and epigenetics. As you can imagine I was in nutrition/health heaven. It is nice to have people to talk to about this stuff.

Next we headed over to our CSA (Calvert Farm) to pick up our weekly share. Pam and Paul weren’t around this morning; I hope they were somewhere relaxing. However the other guys were very talkative this morning. I always enjoy chatting to people and sharing experiences. One of the guys is having elderly parent struggles which I can relate to. We shared stories for a few minutes and it was nice to know neither of us was alone in that particular dilemma.

Our haul from the market today seemed bigger than usual and included: 6 cucumbers, 3 bell peppers, 1 head cauliflower, 2 heads broccoli, 1 butternut squash, 3 beets, 2 bags baby spinach, 1 head cabbage, 1 bunch radishes, 1 pound shitakes, ½ pound fresh ginger, 2 bunches kale, 2 leeks, 1 bunch cilantro, 1 bunch dill, 1 bunch broccoli rabe, 4 small yellow zucchini, 5 small eggplant, 5 pounds sweet potatoes, 1 big bag of apples for juice (probably 25). I suspect I missed some things but you get the idea. Both my refrigerators are packed top to bottom and front to back. I will be concentrating on eating produce today to make space since air flow in the refrigerator is a good thing. I am always in heaven when my house is packed with food particularly when it is fresh produce. Weird right? ;-)

Breakfast this morning was designed to make room in the refrigerators. Gee, I wonder why, LOL. We had a pot of green tea (using the new cast iron pot I bought for home) and a big salad. This salad included: tatsoi (a dark green leafy in the cruciferous family), shaved beets, shaved carrots, shaved cucumber, dried blueberries, sliced almonds and a dressing made of Dijon, red wine vinegar and stevia. Yes there was a lot of chewing but we covered all the colors of the rainbow with a little fat (from the nuts) to help with the absorption of the fat-soluble vitamins. This is my favorite type of healthy breakfast. Dan doesn’t love salad for breakfast as much but he understands that they are good for him and therefore he doesn’t fuss … well not much anyway. ;-)

After breakfast I started a batch of dehydrated leeks because we are running low. This time I made them plain (no liquid aminos and no balsamic). Since they always get used on salad or on top of dishes I don’t know that they need added flavor. I will let you know how they turn out once they are finished which probably won’t be until tomorrow.

Dan left earlier for work today than yesterday since he has projects to ship out on both Monday and Tuesday. I wish he had more free time since I feel certain stress is not good for anyone’s health. However at least I know he eats well, gets plenty of rest and love. I am going to work on that relaxing issue just as soon as the last package goes out on Tuesday.

Last night I felt a sore throat coming on which is very rare for me. I think my mood caused a dip in my immune system, but that is only a guess. I always try to get ahead of a sore throat or cold when they happen. I gargled with salt water with a few drops of tea tree oil. When I woke up this morning my sore throat was gone. If I had still had the sore throat this morning I would have added the “raw garlic cure” which is what we call it at my house. When I don’t feel well I finely mince a raw garlic clove and let it stand for 10 minutes so the allicin can develop. Then I swallow the garlic with water (no chewing) and I do this with every meal. I have read many articles about garlic being used by the Russians as an antibiotic during World War II and it seems to help. I tried chewing the garlic the first time, wow that makes it much more potent than I can take. Don’t try this without food as it can upset the stomach. But other than those two issues the garlic “cure” has worked very well for both me and Dan.

Exercise Endorphins:

The plan today was to use cardio to get my endorphins pumping. Since this has worked in the past I decided to try it today. No surprise I felt a nice nigh once I finished exercising. This is going to be my new plan when I need to boost my mood.

Post exercise snack:

When I finished exercising I had a banana, 2 Brazil nuts (for selenium) and a few hazelnuts.

Kitchen experiment:

I mentioned in a prior post that I wanted to use garbanzo beans as a base for “cheeze”. I had been in such a funk I didn’t get around to that until this morning. This was a successful experiment in my opinion and I will be using garbanzo beans for other “cheezes” in the future. Here is what I did:

Garbanzo Bean Cheeze Experiment
Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 ¾ cups cooked garbanzo beans (the equivalent of 1 – 15 ounce can)
1 – 2 cloves of garlic peeled, depending on how much you like garlic
½ lemon, zested and juiced
¼ teaspoon dill weed, dried
½ teaspoon dry mustard
nutritional yeast to taste (I used about 3 tablespoon since Dan isn’t a huge fan but more would be great too)
add as much bean cooking liquid (or water) as you need to make a smooth paste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

This is more of a method than a recipe. I placed the garbanzo beans, lemon zest and juice and ¼ teaspoon of the dill and dry mustard in the food processor (a blender would work too) and processed. I added the maximum amount of nutritional yeast (1 tablespoon at a time) I thought Dan would find palatable. Then I added bean cooking liquid until I liked the texture. I added more mustard and the second garlic clove because I wanted to make certain it wasn’t bland. I think one garlic clove is more than enough for most people. Next I added freshly ground black pepper to taste. That is all there is to it. If you want something that has a more rich taste and texture you can add soaked raw cashews, tahini or reduced fat peanut butter. I thought it was fine without those but my palate has become accustomed to cooking and eating this way.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 149.36
Calories From Fat (13%) - 19.57

Total Fat - 1.92g
Saturated Fat-  0.19g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 6.42mg
Potassium - 229.3mg
Total Carbohydrates - 21g
Fiber - 5.61g
Sugar - 3.67g
Protein - 6.56g

Comments:

Dan and I differ on our love of nutritional yeast. Had this been just for me there would have been much more nutritional yeast but since I wanted him to enjoy this I kept the level lower than I would like. I increased the flavor in this by adding the dry mustard (you could use Dijon) and two cloves of garlic. The dill added a nice background flavor. If you aren’t a fan or dill tarragon would also be great in here. Overall I was very happy with how this worked out.

What would I do with this? It would be great on a sandwich (collard wrap around here) like hummus, on a pizza to hold the toppings, on top of a salad, or with veggie dippers. I think this has many uses. It is a nice change from hummus and I am always looking for a new way to use garbanzos.

Lunch:

In keeping with my idea of eating fresh produce to reduce my refrigerator stash I had a salad for lunch. Today’s salad included baby spinach, ½ of an avocado, a few tablespoons of salsa and a dollop the garbanzo bean cheese. Given the post exercise snack this was more than enough to hold me until my next meal.

Being Productive:

I wanted to work on my to-do list today. Since Dan was at work being productive I wanted to do the same thing at home. For some reason there are always things that I can do at home. How is it that tasks always seem to pile up? My plan is that being productive will enhance my mood. Also I made good progress yesterday and I wanted to keep going before I lost the momentum.

It turned out that while I didn’t get as much accomplished as I had planned (nothing new) I still made a nice dent in my to-do list and that feels great. I love crossing things off my to-do list. ;-)

Mid afternoon lunch snack:

I had another salad at about 4:30. This one contained a head of romaine, ½ of avocado (the remaining half from earlier), more salsa and garbanzo bean cheese. One of the things I love about having salad is that they are filling. I also love the coldness and crunch.

Marinated Kale no oil or salt:

Today I decided to try an experiment to see what I thought of a kale salad with apple cider vinegar. If you look at most recipes for marinated kale they use a lot of oil and salt. I don’t use either one and my kale was still tender. In the past I have used lemon juice but thought apple cider would be nice since it is fall and I wanted to use apples in the salad.

I thinly shredded 1 bunch of kale (leaves and stems) and tossed that into a zip top bag with two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. I squished it around in the bag and tossed it into the refrigerator to marinate. I left the kale marinate for an hour and it got nice and tender. I tossed it with shredded apple, shredded carrot, sliced almonds and dried blueberries and a little stevia. This salad actually exceeded my expectations. I am not a lover of raw kale in salad but this was really good. You will be seeing variations of this coming up in the future.

Indian spiced vegetable and red lentil soup:

In an attempt to reduce the amount of produce in the refrigerator I ended up making a quick pot of soup for us to eat for a couple of days. This soup was simple and contained the following: 1 red onion, 12 cloves of garlic, 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, 4 cups of peeled diced tomatoes, approximately 6 cups water, 1 cup red lentils, 2 carrots finely diced, 2 stalks celery finely diced, 1 pound mushrooms (any mushrooms will work but I used shitake), ½ tablespoon turmeric, ½ tablespoon cumin, ½ tablespoon coriander, ½ tablespoon black mustard seed, freshly ground black pepper to taste, crushed red pepper flakes to taste, 4 cups cauliflower finely diced, 1 red bell pepper. This made a lot of soup, probably 6 big portions.  I had two small bowls with my kale salad tonight for dinner.

Signing out:

That is going to be it for me tonight. I hope everyone had a great weekend. My weekend ended much better than it started. With a little luck this coming week will be a good one and I will be back to posting every day.

Cheeze Dip made from White Beans

I wanted to start this post with a recipe because I enjoyed this so much. This idea came from a recipe that arrived in my email from AICR a few days ago. My version is different but kept the overall vibe of the recipe. I was very surprised how well this worked. Something tells me this will be a regular recipe at my house. Here is what I did:


Cheeze Dip made from White Beans
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

2 cups white beans, cooked and well drained
2 tablespoons raw sesame seeds (use tahini if aren’t using a high speed blender to make certain the seeds get completely pulverized)
6 tablespoons of nutritional yeast, or to taste
1 clove garlic, peeled
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon turmeric
4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoons water (to process)
black pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine the ingredients in your blender and process until smooth. The mixture will be thick so that you can use it to fill a tortilla for a quesadilla or mixed with roasted veggies and stuffed in a pepper. I think this will have a lot of uses.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories-  153.19
Calories From Fat (21%) - 32.19

Total Fat - 2.97g
Saturated Fat - 0.45g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium-  47.05mg
Potassium - 314.07mg
Total Carbohydrates-  17.34g
Fiber - 6.88g
Sugar - 0.04g
Protein - 6.47g

Comments:

This turned out much better than I expected it to. I did not expect beans to make such a nice cheese substitute. This is a concept I will be playing around with more in the future. White beans are nice mild canvas to flavor.

Monday Means Lots of Life Administration at Our Place

As I mentioned earlier I was on the road first thing Monday morning with a run to the library. Other than taking a little while to start reading “Engine 2 Diet” I was moving since early morning. However it has been good because I was able to accomplish a few things that have been on my to-do list last week. It always makes me feel better to cross things off my list. I wonder what that says about me. Hmmmm. ;-)

Dehydrated Leeks:

Since I had a little time I prepped a big batch of balsamic glazed leeks to have on hand for topping salad and soup. After reading an article about how effective raw leeks are at stopping cancer growth I first tried making the crispy leeks. They work well to top cooked food just before serving. I try to keep these on hand in my pantry.

Vegetarian Restaurants in the DC area:

For those of you that are local I wanted to share this dining out guide from the Washington Post for Vegetarians. There are a few restaurants I will be checking out from this list when I am near DC.

Snack Yesterday Afternoon:

Late yesterday I got a little hungry so I grabbed a few baked falafel from the freezer and popped those into the microwave. I had them with a little bit of salsa. If it weren’t for falafel and salsa I swear I wouldn’t know what to eat sometimes.

Dinner:

At about 7pm Dan called and said don’t wait for me for dinner. He has meetings out of the office all day today (Tuesday), Wednesday and Thursday which means he doesn’t have much time to actually get work done. This meant he worked late last night and grabbed Chinese (steamed veggies and cashews) with sauce on the side for dinner. Thankfully the Chinese place near his office is open fairly late so he can always find something to eat in a pinch.

Since I was on my own for dinner I really didn’t feel much like cooking. If I had not had 2 collard wraps already I would have grabbed one of those for dinner but the novelty had worn off my dinner time. The only food that was appealing to me was frozen grapes. I tossed a cup of those into a bowl and had 6 walnut halves to go with them. The nuts always seem to make the fruit more satisfying to me.

Tuesday:

Holy moly it was downright cold this morning! I didn’t check the weather channel but it felt like it was in the 50s. When Dan left for work I thought I would hit the pavement and get my cardio in. Three houses from my front door I turned around to grab my fleece. It was not warm enough this morning for running pants and a long T shirt. I was happy to get finished so that I could get home and warm up a bit. Brrrr, it was cold. This was the first morning I was actually cold not just cool.

Breakfast this morning was a smoothie like yesterday containing: 1 frozen banana, 3 kale leaves and stems, ½ avocado, 1 ½ cups green tea, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon powdered ginger, and ½ inch fresh ginger. It was a good smoothie and very creamy.

I made something similar for Dan this morning before he left. His had twice as much kale and banana and I added ¼ cup of oatmeal to his as well. He said it was good, not like banana soft serve good, but good nonetheless. ;-)

To warm myself up I made a couple of mugs of hot water with lemon slices. I love hot water with lemon slices on cold mornings because it is warming but still refreshing.

Exercise Ball Review:

I have had the chance to play around with the 8 pound exercise ball that I bought a couple of weeks ago. It has been very useful in terms of abdominal work. I was a little concerned that sharp cat toes may be the end of this, like an exercise ball that my youngest popped before I could use it once. However either this is tougher rubber or it hasn’t interested the cats.

Benefits over using a dumbbell or a plate: 1) more quiet and less destructive when dropped, 2) more comfortable to use for weighted bridges 3) more comfortable to hold on my chest for weighted crunches 4) can also be used as a medicine ball in partner exercises which wouldn’t work with a dumbbell or plate. Overall I like the ball and find it to be a nice addition to my equipment. Not to mention I couldn’t beat the price at Marshall’s. For $12.99 I knew I had to bring it home when I saw it.

Lunch:

Today for lunch I made myself an enormous salad because I was really hungry, or at least I thought I was. My salad included 1 pound of spicy greens (mizuna, tatsoi and arugula) 4 Roma tomatoes, ¼ cucumber thinly sliced, ½ carrot thinly sliced, 1 cup cold cooked cannellini beans, ½ cup of salsa and 1 tablespoon of raw pumpkin seeds. I thought I could eat all this but I was no longer hungry after I finished ¾ of the salad. I saved the remaining ¼ of the salad to eat as my afternoon snack.

Book Review: Engine 2 Diet

I picked up this book from the library for obvious reasons. It is written by a healthy vegan athlete so I expected it to be right up my alley, and it was. The book is segmented as follows:

The E2 Diet

1. Engine 2
2. My Story
3. The Engine 2 Diet
4. Crazy Myths About Food
5. The Medical Proof Behind the Engine 2 Diet
6. The E2 Exercise Program

Making it Work

7. The E2 Attitude
8. E2 Vital Signs
9. Label Reading
10. Making it Work for Life

Recipes and Meal Plans

11. GettingE2 Shape
12. E2 Easy Weekly Planner
13. E2 Recipes

I enjoyed this book more than I expected. I liked that there was a lot of decision about the interconnectedness of health and nutrition. The author does a nice job explaining why a whole food plant based diet without oil is the best choice in terms of overall health.

The exercise section of the book provides body weight only strength training that would be very handy for those just getting back into exercise.

The recipe section is much more extensive than most “diet” books. I was a little surprised to see TVP listed given the soy protein isolate issue. There are also baked goods included with use flour and sugar so you know I won’t be making any of those. However these are my only substantial complaints about the recipes. For the most part the recipes are whole food plant based with little or no oil and sugar.

Overall I think this is great book for someone that wants to either clean up their vegan diet, or wants to jump start their health in a dramatic way.

Signing out:

That is going to be it for me today. I will be back tomorrow with another update. I hope everyone is enjoying their Tuesday.

Ratatouille with Mushroom and Improved Walnut Parmesan

For the mid-day meal with the omnis I decided a cooked dish would be better received. Since we bought groceries yesterday and went to the farmers’ market today our refrigerator is jammed with produce. Every week after the farmers’ market I think we will never eat all the produce, and yet we always do. Go figure how that happens. In order to make some space in the refrigerator I decided to make ratatouille but with a few dried mushrooms for their antiproliferative effects.

One of the tricks to making ratatouille is to stir it as little as possible. When you do stir be careful not to break up the vegetables. You also want to cook the veggies low and slow. I use a heavy enamel cast iron pan and simmer the dish for about an hour and a half. Here is what I did:

Ratatouille with Mushroom
Serves 6 as a meal

Ratatouille Ingredients:

1 cup dried mushrooms soaked in 2 cups hot water until softened then cut into bite-sized pieces, strain the soaking liquid to add to the pot (about 30 minutes)
4 large tomatoes, peeled and diced or 2 – 14 ounce cans of diced tomatoes, no salt added
1 large red onion, finely diced
10 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 eggplant, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 bell peppers, flesh only, cut into bite-sized pieces
3 zucchini, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 teaspoon dulse granules (found in your health food store, tastes salty and provided iodine)
1 teaspoon oregano, dried
½ teaspoon fennel seeds
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/4 cup parsley, minced,  for garnish
24 fresh basil leaves, julienned, for garnish
walnut parmesan, for garnish

Rice Ingredients:

2 cups brown basmati rice
4 cups water
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (adds a buttery flavor to the rice)

Directions:

Combine everything, except the parsley, basil and walnut parmesan in a large pot with a lid. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook for about an hour and half, gently stirring occasionally just to make certain nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pan.

After the ratatouille has cooked for 45 minutes start the rice cooking.

Serve the ratatouille warm or room temperature for the best flavor. Tonight we had the ratatouille over brown rice but you could also use quinoa, millet, polenta or garlic toast. I added a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt to my parents servings. However, Dan and I had ours as written and though it had plenty of flavor.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 350.8
Calories From Fat (7%) - 23.81

Total Fat - 2.74g
Saturated Fat - 0.51g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 38.65mg
Potassium - 1164.84mg
Total Carbohydrates - 72.52g
Fiber - 10.28g
Sugar - 9.86g
Protein - 9.87g

Comments:

The verdict: shockingly, even the omnis enjoyed this. They didn’t even ask what the walnut parmesan was. Will miracles never cease?

If Dan and I were eating this without my parents I would have added red pepper flakes, but we like heat. More garlic would not have been a bad thing but it doesn’t “need it”. The garlic suggestion is just my Italian DNA talking. Overall I thought it was good and that I should have made more since it will be gone by lunch tomorrow. Bummer. ;-)

Next recipe:

We ran out of walnut parmesan because I have been putting it on just about anything savory. It is really good on salad. Today I needed to make another batch so I wanted to tweak the recipe a bit and see if I could make the flavor a little bit more complex. Here is what I did:

Walnut Parmesan – improved
Makes 24 servings of about a fat ½ tablespoon each

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup walnuts
6 tablespoons nutritional yeast
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon dulse granules (for saltiness and iodine)

Directions:

Combine the ingredients in your food processor and pulse until you have a fine meal. Taste for seasonings and adjust to your taste.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 56.86
Calories From Fat (83%) - 47.17

Total Fat - 4.77g
Saturated Fat - 0.45g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 0.87mg
Potassium - 35.81mg
Total Carbohydrates - 1.08g
Fiber - 0.5g
Sugar - 0.2g
Protein - 1.12g

Comments:

This version has more depth of flavor. The first version is good but I think I prefer this one. The only other item I thought I might add was a pinch of dry mustard. However since that can be overwhelming (and Dan isn’t a huge fan) I left that out this time. It may make it into the next batch though. ;-)

Unrelated notes:

For dessert I whipped up a batch of strawberry banana soft serve (similar to what I made here) and they both enjoyed it and suggested that I make it again soon. What, who are this people and what have they done with my unhealthy parents? I was absolutely speechless and that does not happen often I can assure you. ;-)

As you guys know I don’t really measure the soft serve since I make it almost every night for Dan. If you have a Vitamix it is really easy. Add about an inch of walnuts to the base of the blender container, then two frozen bananas, about 4 cups of frozen strawberries, enough water to come up the sides of the container about 1 ½ inches (with the other items in the blender), about ¼ teaspoon of powdered ginger and cinnamon and stevia to taste. Blend until thick and creamy. That is all there is to it. Everyone that has tried it so far has loved it and it couldn’t be easier. If you want to make this a full meal (my hubby will have this for breakfast) add ½ cup of dry oats you processed into flour before you add the nuts. The oatmeal adds protein and calories, if you are light on either. ;-)

A lovely little storm just rolled through here. Please note the heavy sarcasm in my prior statement. ;-) I heard we had tornado warnings but thankfully I don’t see any damage out our windows and the power is still on. Apparently we dodged a bullet. ;-) I thought I left tornadoes in my rear view mirror when I left Indiana, but NO. *shakes head*

I need to clean up my kitchen and decide what I am going to make Dan and me for dinner. Since we eat lunch/supper with my parents at 3pm on the weekend dinner for us will be late. I will try to post it tonight but no promises. You may not see that until tomorrow. I hope everyone is having a great weekend.