Thursday and Eating Out Again

By some miracle we made it to the gym very early in the morning. I think I see a pattern developing …. maybe. *fingers crossed* ;-) The picture above was the sun coming up when we left the gym.

I look this picture of the moon when we were heading to the car because it made me smile. Looking at things bigger than humanity, like nature, always has a way of putting things into perspective for me.

When we came home from the gym I made Dan a big bowl of his favorite fruit and nut oatmeal which contained: oats, water, wheat germ, freshly ground flaxseed, cinnamon, powdered ginger, stevia, wild blueberries and walnuts.

Dan decided to wash this down with a cup of hot tea. This time I combined: sencha green, tulsi, dandelion root, chamomile and orange peel. Since it contained green tea I brewed it for 10 minutes (to extract the maximum EGCG) and finished by adding a little powdered ascorbate C (to enhance the absorption of the EGCG in the tea).

Once Dan was off to work I made myself a bowl of savory oatmeal for breakfast. This time I omitted the nutritional yeast to see how that would change the flavor. After my experiment I can safely say savory oatmeal is much better with the cheezy flavor of nutritional yeast than it is without out. This time my oatmeal contained: oats, water, cumin, no salt seasoning, wheat germ, freshly ground golden flaxseeds, frozen broccoli that I chopped, salsa, marinated sliced mushroom, roasted red peppers, and raw pumpkin seeds.

One of the things I like about savory oatmeal for breakfast is how filling it is. This bowl of oatmeal kept me satiated for hours. I love that it is low in calories, high in vegetables, and packed with nutrition. What more could you really want in a winter breakfast? What is your favorite healthy breakfast?

Knowing that we were going to go out dinner I had a simple snack for lunch of an orange and 2 Brazil nuts. I didn’t photograph it today because you have seen this many times. It looked like the photo above. ;-)

Our friend Phil is in town from Missouri for work. We had not seen him since September so I was really looking forward to dinner. Dan picked Phil up from the airport and then stopped for me and we dropped Phil at the hotel and went to the restaurant to chat with everyone while Phil checked his email and called the office.

Since it was Thursday it was wine tasting at the restaurant where we used to be regulars until we gave up drinking for health reasons. *sigh* While Dan was parking the car I said hello and talked for a few minutes and needed to hug a few people. Next I had to check in with Corey and hear all about his trip to San Francisco. He didn’t make it to Millennium but did have a great time. I loved hearing about his trip especially the food. He told me about a vegan flourless cake he had with cayenne and candied ginger that he thought was amazing. Needless to say I will be finding a way to make something with the same flavors that is also healthy. Corey kindly volunteered to be a taste tester. ;-)

When Dan arrived we chatted with Jen and got her caught on everything that had happened since we saw her last Saturday, LOL. Then we got to down to the business of food. Dan and I ordered a pot of green tea mixed with a strawberry, pear and hibiscus herbal blend. Phil had his usual Dewar’s on the rocks. Clearly there is consistency in the universe.

The guys had planned a few dishes for us so we started with the appetizer which included: roasted red peppers, orange and fennel salad, spicy chickpea salad, olives, marinated artichokes and cucumber slices. We had this with whole wheat flat bread and it was quite a treat since olive oil is verboten at our house. Phil had a similar appetizer plate but his also included house-made pickles, buffalo mozzarella and prosciutto di Parma.

Our next plate was another one of those dishes I would not have thought of on my own. This one was sautéed shitakes, criminis and leeks dressed with soy, mirin, rice wine, ginger and garlic. It was served on top of crispy flat bread and topped with baby arugula, red pepper and granny smith apple. The mushroom dish was very good; Phil had a taste and also enjoyed it. The mushrooms were chewy and meaty and the sauce wasn’t over powering. The green apple was a nice touch and added just the right amount of tartness to the dish.

Both Dan and I were full after sharing those two plates. We talked about getting a third one but decided that we would be stuffed if we did so we stopped eating. Besides we need to get up early Friday morning for the gym which meant we didn’t need to be overfull if you know what I mean.

Ian stopped by to chat before heading out for the evening. He is taking the weekend off to head to Philadelphia for a gymnastics meet with his little girl. Wasn’t it sweet of him to let us know he wouldn’t be around this weekend? Are we spoiled or what? LOL

Phil was slowing down fast and decided headed to the hotel before we were ready to leave which is to be expected given our restaurant staying power. Phil left Portland, Oregon this morning and stopped in Dallas before landing in Maryland. I am sure I would have been tired with that schedule too.

Here is a picture from our table as the evening was winding down. Ian had a good crowd tonight with the majority of the tables filled most of the night.

Making Dietary Changes Part 3:

I thought it was time to get back to the Dietary Changes section of the blog particularly since this one is about a week overdue. It was my intention to suggest two changes per month and I am a little behind schedule. Oops. ;-)

The first dietary change I proposed was eating breakfast. The second one was to reduce your intake of processed foods. Today I want to talk about drinking more water. I can almost hear the collective groans as I type this. I know what you are thinking water is bland, it is boring and you would rather have a diet soda right? The problem with diet soda is that it is nothing but a chemical concoction of nastiness. Have you ever read the ingredients in soda? Talk about nasty, bleh! :-P

Here is the ingredient panel from one brand of popular diet soda:

Carbonated water, caramel color, aspartame, phosphoric acid, potassium benzoate, natural flavors, citric acid and caffeine.

Doesn’t that just sound delicious? Obviously I am being sarcastic. Please ask yourself do you know what most of that even is or what it is doing in your body. At the very least I am confident you will agree that this doesn’t sound like food. Right?

When you put unnatural things full of chemicals into your body your liver and kidneys have to eliminate it before it causes trouble. My approach to health is to not put things like this into my body so that it has more time to focus on taking care of things that I can’t control like air pollution and free radicals. To me it makes no sense to ingest things like this that are nothing but nasty chemicals.

The reason that I recommend water is that most Americans are chronically dehydrated and this included me until not long ago. When I started adding more water to my diet I found many things improved for me. My skin was less dry, my eliminations were more predictable, my hunger seemed depressed, and I had more energy. It is amazing that something this simple and inexpensive can make a big difference but it did.

Why is water important? Your body is mostly water and your cells need water to function properly. Your cells use water to dissolve and transport vitamins, minerals, sugar and other phytochemicals. The average person loses 2% of their body weight every day through respiration, perspiration, urine, etc. If you are larger person, are physically active, are sick, over 55, drink a lot of caffeinated beverages or alcohol then you need more water than others. Additionally you can’t rely on your body to tell you it is thirsty because that mechanism doesn’t work as well as we age. Not drinking enough water can lead to kidney stones, constipation and fatigue. Water is critical for survival.

How much water do you need? That is an interesting question and one that there are many different opinions on. Some people say you need 64 ounces. Others say you should take you body weight divide it by 2 and drink that many ounces of water. The calculation would go like this: if you weight 150 pounds that divided by 2 is 75 which would be the number of ounces of water you should drink per day. I think how much water you need is much easier to determine. If the color of your urine is a very pale yellow almost clear then you have enough water. I use that gauge since it is easy to determine and you have constant reminders of how you are doing if you know what I mean. ;-)

If you don’t like the taste of plain water I have a few suggestions. Try adding slices of citrus or cucumber. Alternately you can add a splash of fruit juice (pomegranate would be my choice for health reasons). Another idea is make herbal tea since that isn’t a diuretic but does have more taste than plain water. I also like adding a few frozen blueberries that I muddle and a little fresh lemon juice. Fresh mint and lemon is also good in water. Once you start thinking about it there are many options for items you can add to make your water more flavorful. Do you have any favorite additions to make water more palatable for you? I would love to hear your suggestions as I am sure everyone else would as well.

Happy Thoughts:

It was been a hectic week but a good one. Here are my happy thoughts:

• Dan and I made it to the gym together Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning before he left for work. I have really enjoyed getting my exercise knocked out early in the morning. I hope we are back on track for making it to the gym every weekday morning. *fingers crossed*

• I have had a very busy week but I also got a lot accomplished and that is always something to be thankful for. All those years when I did nothing but work, eat and sleep are still very fresh in my mind. I realize how fortunate I am to have time to do things that most people can only do on the weekend.

• It was wonderful to see our friend Phil Thursday night for dinner. It is such a shame that he lives so far away. I always love talking to Phil. We spend some time last night talking about health, cancer, and nutrition. He has a cousin that he is going to get me into contact with that works in holistic nutrition. Sounds right up my alley does it? ;-)

• I loved hearing about the restaurant experiences Corey had in San Francisco. It is fascinating how he views things differently that I would since he has a background in the industry. I did get a few recipe ideas from Corey that I will be working on soon. I am such a food geek I love talking about food, can you tell?

• As crazy as this will sound I am thankful for my night guard that I picked up at the dentist earlier this week. The dentist told me I needed it because I was grinding my teeth at night and had worn them down a lot doing that. Since I don’t have TMJ I wasn’t sure I was grinding my teeth currently but if they were worn down I thought I would go ahead and get the night guard. Much to my surprise it wasn’t uncomfortable to wear and my jaw as very relaxed in the first two mornings after wearing it. I guess I have to say the dentist was right about the night guard. Since I was prepared to hate it I am very happy that things worked out better than I expected.

• Friday I had a chance to stop at my parents for my usual check in. It is nice to have time to look in on them and to make sure that they eat at least two healthy meals a week (Saturday and Sunday with us). I would love to convince them to eat more veggies and less meat but that isn’t going to happen. I have learned to be grateful for the small victories.

Signing out:

Friday has been a busy one for me but it was good. I found time to make a pot of marinara to have on hand for more pizza veggies. I also took time to pressure cook a pound of pinto beans to use of the never few days. While I was in the kitchen I made more walnut parmesan to use this week. I need to make a pot of soup but I haven’t decided what I am in the mood for yet. I would like to have that finished before Dan gets home so that we can relax this evening. Am I the only one that likes to spend the weekend relaxing and recharging my battery?

It is time for me to get a few more things done around here before my sweetie gets home from work. I am looking forward to spending the weekend with my hubby. Talk to you again tomorrow. Who knows I might even get inspired to make something interesting in the kitchen later today. I hope you are having a great Friday.

Vegan MoFo 11.1: What Happened Wednesday ;-)

Dan took Wednesday (yesterday) off which meant we did nothing but goof off. It was the perfect day for it too. The day turned out to be your typical cool crisp fall day.

We started our day with a green smoothie, which Dan requested. I am still surprised that he enjoys them so much. I use two bananas and a handful of walnuts in his but he loves them even with the kale and that is all that is important to me.

Next we had leftover over unfried rice from Tuesday night.  That is the pic from last night I didn't take a pic of lunch.

Dan thought it would be fun to do a little shopping so we headed out to get a few things crossed off our respective to do lists. First we stopped at our local library and I picked up two books on cancer. I am sure you are shocked since I seem to always be reading something. ;-)

Next we stopped at REI to look for a jacket for Dan since he has also lost weight since my cooking has taken a turn to the uber healthy side. Pictured above is the one he liked from Marmot but he wants to look around to see if he can find one from Patagonia that he might like more. Do any of you have an opinion on Marmot versus Patagonia outerwear? If you do please share we would love to hear your thoughts.

Since we were in the neighborhood we stopped at the health food store for a fresh juice of romaine, beet and carrot.  I also found black bean pasta which I can't wait to try.

The library in Cockeysville was next on the agenda since it was only ½ a mile up the road. I picked up “Look Great Naked” while we were there. If it is any good I will let you know.

Since I am also shrinking out of my clothes we stopped at Burlington Coat Factory to see if I could find a winter jacket I liked. I did find one short black quilted jacket that didn’t make me look like a tick. Why are so many winter coats big and thick? I definitely prefer thinner fabric in my outwear. Why does everyone want to look like the little kid in “A Christmas Story” with so much thick clothes that they can’t move? *rolls eyes*

Dan thought a trip to Jesse Wong’s would be good since we were in Hunt Valley. We took a few pictures of the open kitchen and sushi station since we think the modern look is interesting. I am one of those people that like to be able to look into the kitchen. I guess that comes from being a server when I was grad school. ;-) If you never were it was an eye opening experience for me.

Both Dan and I love the Hunan Faux Duck they have at Jesse Wong’s as well as their vegetarian sushi. Since I did not cook today and we had no leftovers we intentionally ordered too much food so Dan had something to take for lunch on Thursday.

Here is the vegetarian sushi list.

First we ordered shitake and tempura sweet potato sushi and edamame.  Next time we will definitely have them hold the flaked salt. The edamame were a salt rush since we don't use it at home.

Next we had the tempura zucchini and asparagus sushi. We both preferred the shitake and tempura sweet potato rolls but they were all good.

Jesse Wong’s carries a number of different faux meats. Here is that list. You know the chicken is off our list because of the soy protein but since we love the faux duck it really doesn't matter.

Dinner for us was the faux Hunan Duck with broccoli, mushroom and baby corn which comes in brown sauce and we ordered the brown rice. We ate maybe a ¼ of it and the rest went into Dan’s lunch today. The faux duck is so amazing I wish you could all try it. Hands down it is the best faux meat I have ever had.

We sliced a piece and took a close up so you can see that it even looks like meat. How do they do that with layers of tofu? (I omitted the word skin earlier after tofu in the prior sentence in my haste to post this evening.) If any of you know the secret please share. The faux duck is one of those things that if I ever figure out how to make I know Dan would want it weekly. Yes it really is that good. I hope it isn’t bad for us. But as much as we enjoy the taste, I suspect it probably is less healthy than we would like it to be.  I tried making faux meat with dried tofu skin and that was nothing like this.

In between courses I noticed that Dan and I were both playing with our phones rather than talking so I mentioned that we were behaving like some of our younger friends. Dan’s retort, “should I send you a text?” Only my husband could come up with that answer. LOL

Here is a pic I took of Dan at dinner being his usual silly self looking over his reading glasses at me.

He took this picture of me that I am including because while I don’t love the pic I also don’t hate it. ;-) Now you all know what it we looked like yesterday at 56 and 48 years old respectively. Since Heather has mentioned many times she would like to see more people pictures I wanted to include these of us.

Our next stop was Greetings and Readings but they were ready to close so we were in and out quickly. Dan spotted adorable window clings that had a “jelly” type consistency. I may have to stop back out and pick those up. The Christmas ones were particularly precious. I have my eye on the Christmas ornament and light motifs although the reindeer version, which reminded me of Rudolf, was pretty darn cute too LOL. I swear I am 48 going on 8 most of the time. ;-)

Since we were in the neighborhood we stopped at Wegman’s. It is impossible for me to be that close and not stop and pick up a few things. This trip was small, more dried beans, broccoli sprouts, organic farro (woo hoo), and mellow yellow miso.

On the way to the check out I spotted this adorable Christmas stocking. I almost bought it but at $69.99 I decided that was a bit steep since I would need 5 (for the 2 humans and 3 felines). I wanted to share a picture in case any of you are handy with a sewing machine. There is a good chance I will be trying my hand at making a version of them either this year or next.

Here is the close up of the beading if you are interested. It looks to me like faux pearls and a thin sparkly cord around each half pearl. ;-)

Once we got home it was time to take up the cat food for the next dental procedure for Massimo which was scheduled for Thursday. I will fill you in the detail of that in the next post.

Happy thoughts to end this post:

• Massimo only needed teeth cleaning, no extractions and was waking from anesthesia as I typed this. *enormous sigh of relief* Dan even headed home early to go with me to pick Masi up from the vet.
• I am also very grateful that we can afford all this feline health care. Cat dental work costs much more than dental work does for Dan and me. 
• How many people get to marry their soul mate? I am one very lucky lady.
• Dan and I were able to spend two days together this week in addition to the weekend. We even have fun running errands so it was a great week for us.
• Today is Thursday which means it is almost time for the weekend again and two more days with my Dan.

Signing out:

I need to run and take care of a little grey furry angel. Masi is still wobbly and not quite himself. We have in a dog crate now to keep him from jumping as well as safe from his siblings who think he smells funny.

I hope everyone’s week is going as well as mine. I also hope your week was a little less hectic. Talk to you all tomorrow when I hope my life is a bit more relaxed. I hope everyone has a great evening. Good night.

Dinner Out 29 July 2010 and Fun Facts Friday

Last night we had dinner out with friends. My buddy Phil was in town from Missouri so we “had to” go out to eat. Troy and Alexandra also joined us. Of course Ian made dinner, but you probably guessed that by now. ;-) Since the five of us eat differently it always makes sense to go out to eat so that those that want meat don’t have to eat vegan food with Dan and me. Going out just seems to work better for everyone. Luckily Phil was in town on a night Aimee was working. We all love seeing Aimee and will be getting together with her soon for a little outlet shopping before she heads back to college. As you probably guessed the restaurant is a bit like Cheers for us. We are very fortunate to have such a great place right in the neighborhood.

Fortunately Ian was back from his trip to South America. We always enjoy spending a little time with Ian. I always stop in the kitchen when I arrive before it gets busy to say hello and get a hug. Poor Ian, I know we are so difficult for him to cook for us these days. He now has me tell him what I want and then he makes it happen. I think our style of eating is so foreign to Ian he has trouble thinking of things to make for us that he considers “good enough”. Being a classically trained chef and relying on things like demi glace and beurre blanc I can imagine how hard it is for him to think outside the box. I understand since it wasn’t easy for me to cook for us at the beginning either. ;-) We are very fortunate that he is willing to make whatever I can dream up.

I decide what we are eating by looking at the menu and specials and then combine ingredients I know are in the kitchen based on those menus. Last night for our entrée we had a whole wheat pizza with red onion marmalade topped with roasted veggies (eggplant, onions, roasted red pepper, carrots, portobello, sweet potato and artichokes) and topped with pine nuts. Alexandra was shocked that we were having “flour”. She is the most familiar with how we eat. However when we go out it is tough to avoid flour products unless we are willing to just have salad for dinner. While Dan and I don’t mind that it seems to make other people uneasy. Having whole wheat pizza makes it easier to “fit in”. Also since we don’t eat flour often we think it is fine to have occasionally.

We also ordered a salad with orange, avocado, cucumber, mesclun and red onion topped with a little black olive vinaigrette.

For the table we ordered the Middle Eastern plate with hummus, caponata, pickled peppers, house-made pickles, and olives.

The entire evening was full of conversation. There were one or two conversations going on all evening. Alexandra brought her laptop and shared pictures from Peru. Being the foodie that she is there were plenty of pictures of food which I loved seeing and hearing about. On a side note Alex has not had eaten any meat or dairy in two weeks, until last night. Additionally her fiancé Andrew is eating more mushrooms and much less meat. We were very happy to hear about their progress. Yay Alex and Andrew keep up the great work!

Overall it was wonderful evening and just what I needed. Spending a pleasant evening with friends is always great for my mood. We are planning to get together for dinner with Alex when she gets back from Alabama as well as outlet shopping with Aimee when she comes back from Florida. I think having close young friends helps to keep us young, if only at heart. ;-)

Fun Facts Friday:

Since today is Friday and that means I have errands to run I wanted to get the fun facts into this post just to be certain I don’t run out of time later.

1. When you are having a meal with people that aren’t vegan how do you tend to handle it? As you make have guessed we go out to eat. We have trying having people over but it seems to work better in general to go out to eat. Luckily we have Ian and everyone can get what they want. How do you handle these situations?

2. Would you ever feel comfortable foraging for food? When I picked the purslane yesterday it was literally the first time I have foraged for food and it wasn’t planned. I don’t think I would have done it had I not been so familiar with purslane having purchased it from the farmers’ market for the last few years. The idea of foraging for mushrooms scares me, though our chef friend Ian does it for his family. I don’t feel comfortable with doing that. I guess I don’t feel like I know enough about mushrooms. Would you ever feel comfortable foraging for wild food?

3. Are you friends like you or are they different? This question came about after dinner last night. I realized how different everyone was at the table last night. Alex is in her 20’s, Troy his 30’s, me in my 40’s, Dan his 50’s and Phil his 60’s. Additionally our education and work backgrounds and not very similar. Troy and Dan work together in lending and Phil is a consulting architect. Alex has a background in polymer and fiber engineering. My background is in hospital finance. Somehow we all manage to find plenty to talk about and there was not one quiet moment all evening. Are you friends all of similar ages and backgrounds or are they more like ours?

Okay your turn. I can’t wait to read your answers.

Unrelated note:

Today is Friday so that means I have my normal errands to run. I will be back later after I check on my folks and run to the grocery store. Talk to you all again soon.

Dinner Update and New Weights

I will start with the food since this is a food blog. But honestly I want to start with the weights, LOL. Can you tell I am really a big kid? I love my new toys!

Dinner:

Last night for dinner we had a big salad (shocked right). This one was shredded romaine, curried sesame dressing, avocado, dehydrated leeks, sun-dried tomatoes (we were out of fresh), peas, and red lentil and millet balls. It was a tasty dinner.

If you had told me a few years ago that we would be eating salad twice a day I would have thought you were crazy. However slowly over time we have added more and more salad to our meals. Now I find that a meal without raw veggies doesn’t seem right to me. Also I used to think salad was greens with dressing and probably tomato and cucumber. Our salads now may include anything and everything. I always try to incorporate some type of fat either avocado, nuts or seeds and sometimes both like last night. If you change the ingredients to add to your salad they don’t get boring. Well that works for us anyway.

Of course Dan thought he “needed” banana and strawberry soft serve after the salad. He was convinced that he hadn’t had enough calories yesterday. Seriously I know he just wanted dessert but if he wants to play the calorie game I can go along with him. ;-)

New Adjustable Dumbbells (Bowflex Select Tech 552):

Now, let's talk about the weights, LOL. If it is possible to be in love with dumbbells I think I am. Bowflex did a great job with the design of these babies. You spin the dial on each end of the dumbbell to the same weight and it somehow changes what you pick up. The dials are very easy to spin and you can feel them click into place. I don’t pretend to know how it works but it does work. It takes a few seconds to change the dial and the weight is different. Wow! I love it when things work they way they are designed.

The weights we bought go from 5 pounds to 52.5 pounds. Bowflex does make an adjustable set which goes to 90 pounds if anyone is interested. I don’t think we will outgrow these for a while, LOL.

Unrelated Note:

Happy TGIF! Don’t you just love Fridays? This is my favorite day of the week. Yay Friday! Since it is Friday I have my usual errands to take care of. It is also Fun Facts Friday so I will be posting those questions again today.

Easter Dinner 2010

First I wanted to say that I hope you all had a lovely holiday weekend. The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous. It has been mostly sunny with temperatures in the mid to upper 70’s (Fahrenheit). Not the type of weather where anyone would like to be cooped up inside. The plants have all started to bud and the cherry blossoms are in bloom. Mother Nature is magnificent this time of year. I love this time of year when we are greeted by the rebirth of nature. There is something very comforting about the return of spring.

Sometimes even I don’t really feel like making a fuss over a holiday dinner. Today was one of those days. I made something quick from things in the refrigerator and freezer and dinner was just as good but so much easier on the cook. Luckily I had seitan cutlets in the freezer which became the center of the plate. I topped those with the red pepper pesto that I made yesterday. To accompany the cutlets I made a quick salad. Here is what I did:

Garbanzo, Cucumber and Tomato Salad with Tofu Tahini Sauce and Fresh Dill
Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 English cucumber, cut in quarters and then thinly sliced
1 pint grape tomatoes, cut into quarters
1 cup cooked garbanzo beans
4 tablespoons tofu tahini sauce
1 splash red wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
2 tablespoons fresh dill
Salt and pepper, to taste
4 cups baby spinach
Red wine vinegar to season the spinach

Directions:

Combine the tofu tahini sauce, vinegar, dill and salt and pepper. Add the veggies and beans and stir to combine. Toss the spinach with a little red wine vinegar for flavor and top with the dressed salad.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 163.64
Calories From Fat (28%) - 45.95

Total Fat - 5.39g
Saturated Fat - 0.72g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 188.22mg
Potassium - 697.48mg
Total Carbohydrates-  21.38g
Fiber - 5.65g
Sugar - 4.05g
Protein - 10.01g

Comments:

The dill made a big difference in the flavor of this salad. I don’t use dill often because I find it to be overpowering in many cases. But it worked well here and will use it this way again. This salad is light and refreshing but includes a little fiber and protein, which are both always good. Each serving of this salad included approximately 3,400IU of vitamin A, 27mg of vitamin C, 130mg of calcium, 150mcg of folate, 160mcg of vitamin K, 180mg of phosphorus, and 85mg of magnesium. Not too shabby for a little side salad.

Unrelated note:

This upcoming week should be crazy again for us. I will try to post something everyday but since my life is still a little up in the air I don’t know for certain that I will be successful. Things should calm down soon.

This is going to be it for tonight. I hope you are having a relaxing evening before returning to the weekly grind. Talk to you all again soon. Good Night.

7pm and No Idea What to Have for Dinner

Okay so this actually happens much more often than it should. At 7pm I had no clue what I was going to make for dinner. Since dinner normally has some sort of grain I started some bulgur cooking while I decided what to serve with it. Then I remembered the walnut dressing that Laloofah recommended that was so good. I decided to make another version, this time with sriracha. Here is how I made the dressing/sauce, whatever you want to call it.

Spicy Walnut Sauce/Dressing
Makes approximtely 2 cups

Ingredients:

1 cup walnuts
1 cup water
1 large clove garlic, smashed and peeled
Sriracha to taste (I used about a tablespoon but I like heat)

Directions:

Combine in your blender and puree until smooth.  Keep this in a covered container in the refrigerator until needed.  It will thicken as it chills.

Nutritional Information (does not include the sriracha) given per tablespoon:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 29.6
Calories From Fat (83%) - 24.55

Total Fat - 2.94g
Saturated Fat - 0.28g
Cholesterol -0mg
Sodium - 37.31mg
Potassium - 20.4mg
Total Carbohydrates-  0.66g
Fiber - 0.3g
Sugar - 0.12g
Protein - 0.69g

Comments:

This is a nice sauce to use on cooked or raw veggies. It worked well tonight on steamed broccoli and bulgur. To be specific I used bulgur as the base and topped it with steamed broccoli and then a little of the walnut sauce. I added julienned carrot for some extra crunch and color. I finished the dish with a sprinkling of sesame seeds (black would have been prettier but I only had white). It was a quick, filling and nutritious meal. This dish is good, hot, warm, room temperature or cold. I prefer it at room temperature and Dan prefers it hot.

Unrelated notes:

Today was a gorgeous day with temperatures near 70. I have had ever window in the house open since early afternoon. With all the sunshine the ground is starting to dry out a little. The spring bulbs have peaked out from their long cold nap. The azaleas have buds and the red bud tree and dogwood should be blooming soon. All in all it has been a very good day. Tomorrow is a supposed to be a repeat weather wise. I may have to spend a little more time outside soaking up the rays, and getting a little exercise.

I hope you all have a good evening.

Quick Stir Fry with Black Bean Sauce and Cashews

This post is about a method rather than a recipe. I received an email yesterday from a new vegan asking me what type of things we eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I thought I would make certain to include those details for a week to be helpful. Last night’s dinner was so fast and simple it wasn’t something that requires a recipe. I used the veggies I had on hand which included: onion, garlic, ginger, celery, carrot, snow peas, asparagus, red bell pepper, maitake mushrooms and cilantro.

Stir fry is something I make often because it is quick and easy, except for the brown rice. If you have a pressure cooker it can be used to make quick work of the brown rice. I find 16 – 17 minutes seems to be perfect for rice in my cooker on high. Otherwise you need 45 minutes for the brown rice.

I call this dish a stir fry but it isn’t really since I don’t use oil in the dish. I quickly sauté the veggies in water, rice wine vinegar or mirin until they are hot. The cooking process is finished in less than 5 minutes since I want the veggies to be as lightly cooked as possible. Start with the harder (or stronger) veggies like onions and carrot and add the more tender ones at the end. I stir a little black bean and garlic sauce into the veggies and maybe a little liquid aminos (if it needs it) and top with cashews. Dinner in 20 minutes (assuming you have a pressure cooker). If you don’t own a pressure cooker you can always cook a large batch of brown rice and store it in the refrigerator or freezer and reheat it in a steamer or your microwave.

My hubby took the leftover for lunch today with a baby spinach and chickpea salad like I had yesterday for breakfast. I also packed him a small bag of trail mix with walnuts, raw pumpkin seeds, dried blueberries and slivered almonds.

Unrelated note:

I need to run for now. However, I will be back later.  I hope you are all having a wonderful day.

Weekend Update

That title sounds like Saturday Night Live to me. Wasn’t that the name of the news bit on Saturday Night Live in the 70’s? Anyway, I wanted to give you a quick update on the weekend.

Friday night we met our friend Louis for dinner at Jesse Wong’s in Hunt Valley, because my husband and I are both obsessed with the faux duck. How do they make it tear like poultry? I am definitely going to play around with this idea and see if I can make faux duck at home, just as soon as I have a little bit more time.

We had our usual miso soup, veggie sushi and Hunan faux duck. It was great, as always

Louis got shitake mushrooms and green beans, which has become his usual. Isn’t it nice of him to get a vegetarian entrée when having dinner with us? So thoughtful.

After dinner we stopped as Wegman’s since we were right there. While we were there we bought hemp protein powder for our smoothies. We also bought a small mountain of fresh produce, light coconut milk and tofu. All the essentials.

While at Wegman’s we were looking at the raw granola but it had so many sugar grams we didn’t buy it. So when we got home we ordered some raw buckwheat from Amazon. This led to also buying raw black sunflower seeds, and a wheat grass kit. For those of you that know me well the wheat grass is a big step for me. I have been trying to add more raw food to our diet but wheat grass is not one of my favorite flavors. However I keep reading how good it is for us so I have decided to dive in (head first so I hope the water is deep). We will see how this goes. (fingers crossed).

Saturday was very low keyed but ended with a funny movie that most of you have probably seen. The hubby and I tend to pick up movies and then never take them out of the cellophane. His little brother refers to this as our collectible movie collection. It really is ridiculous that we do that, but it is just something that seems to happen. I was laughing out loud at parts of the movie so I wanted to share. This movie is probably funnier for those of us that are over 40. It is about an older man who only dates young women but falls for a woman his own age. If you haven’t seen Something’s Gotta Give you really should. The scene where they are in the theatre and staging her play had me laughing so hard tears were rolling down my cheeks. I have read many times that laughter is great medicine, and if that is true this movie is good for your health.

I need to get back into the kitchen now. The hubby and I decided to have Seitan Cacciatore tonight for dinner and I am out of seitan in the freezer so I need to make that first. I will be back later with the Cacciatore recipe. I hope you are all having a wonderful day.

Dinner Out

Yesterday was hectic in our lives, but it was all good. We had so many things to do outside the house that we ended up stopping for dinner before Wegman’s. Since we loved the Faux Hunan Duck from Jesse Wong’s in Hunt Valley (a local chain) we decided to stop there again tonight.

We had our favorite soup, Miso. The soup contained fresh shitakes, which we both love. There really is nothing like a nice light miso soup to start a meal. I think it is my favorite soup.



Then we had cucumber and avocado sushi rolls. If only they had been made with brown rice, they would have been perfect. I always marvel and how tight sushi chefs can wrap the rolls. Apparently I need more sushi rolling practice.



Once again we ordered the Hunan Duck with Faux Duck. The texture of the duck is tender, but very “meaty”. The menu says it is layers of tofu skin but I haven’t figured out how they make this. However, I do plan to play around with the idea. Making the tofu skin should be easy. All I need to do is figure out how they form the layers of skin into the faux meat. This is definitely a project I will be working on for a while. I love experimenting in the kitchen.



Unrelated Note:

I will be back later today with a recipe or two. I still have a few backlogged recipes to post. For now I am off to exercise. Have a great day and I will talk to you all later.

Dinner in Less than 20 Minutes

After running errands late yesterday I wasn’t back to start dinner until after 9pm. Needless to say both the hubby and I were starving. I knew I had to make dinner fast. When this happens I like to use things I have in the freezer in combination with fresh veggies and that is what I did last night. The key to getting things ready quickly is knowing which dishes to start first so that they are cooking while you are prepping the other ideas.

I started by getting the seitan cutlets out of the freezer into the microwave to defrost. I preheated the broiler and started slicing an onion thinly. By slicing the onion thin it will cook quickly. I started the onion water sautéing while I sliced the fresh broccoli into thin spears (thinner spears cook more quickly). I toss the broccoli on a baking sheet and threw the pan under the broiler. Next I put the couscous, water and lemon zest into a covered pan and brought it to a boil and turned off the heat. As soon as the onion is soft I added the tomato and cooked that to make the lycopene more bioavailable. While the tomato is cooking sear the defrosted cutlets in a heavy bottomed skilled coated with a little oil. Slice two thin rings of lemon and sear those at the same time to top the cutlets. When the tomato is hot add the lightly cooked broccoli from the broiler. Finish the vegetables with fresh lemon juice and capers and dinner is ready.

As those of you that have been reading my antics for a while know I like to combine tomato with broccoli because when they are combined they have a synergistic effect that makes them both more bioavailable. I added lemon and briny capers in place of salt to keep our sodium down. I used the whole-wheat couscous because it is ready in 5 minutes and that was perfect for tonight. Here are the specifics.

Seitan Cutlets with Whole Wheat Couscous topped to Lemony Broccoli and Tomatoes
Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 seitan cutlets, from the freezer
2 thin slices of lemon
½ cup whole-wheat couscous
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons water
1 lemon zested
1 red onion, thinly sliced
¼ cup water to sauté the onion
1 pound of broccoli, cut into thin spears
1 large tomato, cut into bite size pieces
1 lemon, juiced
1 teaspoon capers, or to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Defrost the cutlets and sear in a heavy pan with a little oil and top with seared lemon slices.

Combine the whole-wheat couscous, water and lemon zest bring to a boil and then let stand 5 minutes so the pasta can absorb the water. Fluff with a fork before serving.

Water sauté the onion until soft. Meanwhile put the broccoli under the broiler. Cook the tomato until hot. Add the broccoli, lemon juice and capers.

To serve, place the couscous down first and top with the seitan cutlets. Serve the broccoli and tomatoes on the side. Season the top of the food with salt and pepper and serve hot.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 477.8
Calories From Fat (7%) - 34.78

Total Fat - 4.13g
Saturated Fat - 0.49g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 513.46mg
Potassium - 1651.25mg
Total Carbohydrates - 75.11g
Fiber - 8.93g
Sugar - 5.51g
Protein - 45.02g

Comments:

This is a variation of many of the fast dinners I make when I am short of time or inspiration. I like that it is heavy on the veggies and my hubby likes that he gets seitan cutlets. When I asked him what he wanted to eat last night he immediately replied "seitan cutlets". For a man that used to love his meat he has really embraced seitan and it makes me very happy.

Nutritionally this dinner, while fast, was no slouch. Each serving of this meal contained over 8,300IU of vitamin A, 280mg of vitamin C, 250mg of calcium, 300mcg of folate, 380mg of phosphorus, 130mg of magnesium, and 23mcg of selenium. Not bad for such a quick no stress meal.

Now I need to get a few things started in the kitchen, make a mug of green tea with ginger and then I need to write a post about the flaxseed crackers. I will be back soon.

Dinner Tonight - 08.03.09

I am posting tonight’s dinner so that you can see the thickness of the salad dressing and to discuss a few items that I think are worth sharing.

For dinner this evening we had a mushroom and white bean burger, with turnips braised in sherry vinegar and a salad with red and green tomatoes, purple Italian bell pepper, broccoli sprouts, cashew and chia seed dressing and a few vegan bacon bits. The turnips and broccoli sprouts were included because they are part of the cruciferous vegetable family. On Sunday we found green tomatoes grown by one of the organic farmers. The variety was called Granny Smith, and the name does a good job describing both the color and crispness of the tomato. I purchased them because of the article that discussed the cancer fighting potential of green tomatoes. I added the purple Italian bell pepper because I like to have a vegetable from each color in our meals if possible. The burgers contained fiber, phytosterols, protein, and healthy fat. They also added cancer fighting mushrooms and wheat germ. In the end this meal was very filling (almost too filling) and packed with nutrition.

The entire meal came in (for my portion) at 528 calories, with 24 grams of fiber, 32 grams of protein and 18% calories from fat. Additionally, there was 2800 mg of potassium, 5400 IU of vitamin A, and 250 mcg of folate to identify a few items. I am pointing out the numbers because I have had so many people ask me how vegans get all the nutrition that they need. My husband and I don’t have any difficulty getting our nutrition. The most common question I get is about protein. Since this dinner contained 32 grams of protein, that is half of what I need for the day in one meal. When you look at the specifics it is clear that a vegan diet can be extremely healthy. It does take a little planning, and knowledge of nutrition, but very little of either is actually required.

Vegan Junk Food Friday

I wanted to have a burger and fries for dinner tonight so that is what I made. We had a black bean burger, with sweet potato fries and a little mustard, dill and caper mayonnaise for the fries and the burger. Even though this was not our normal "healthy" dinner, the nutritionals were surprisingly good.

Nutritional Information:

Calories - 357.92
Calories From Fat (37%) - 133.23

Total Fat - 15.11g
Saturated Fat - 1.9g
Cholesterol - 0g
Sodium - 340.09mg
Potassium - 764.81mg
Total Carbohydrates - 42.12g
Fiber - 11.44g
Sugar - 3.83g
Protein - 14.91g

Not at all bad for my "vegan junk food dinner".