Back to the Weekday Grind and an Oldie But a Goodie

(I love to see the Dogwoods in bloom)

Monday is my least favorite day of the week. I am not fond of Monday because this is the day that Dan goes back to the office. *ugh* However I try to remind myself that I have much to be thankful for and one of those things is that time flies and it will be the weekend again before I know it.

Like usual I made Dan’s breakfast and lunch this morning not long after I woke up. He had his usual oatmeal with wild berries and walnuts today. Of course it also contained wheat germ, freshly ground flaxseeds, cinnamon, ginger and little bit of stevia.

While Dan was getting ready for work I quickly checked my calendar, email and caught up on my health and nutrition reading. I am finding that it is much easier to share articles on Facebook as I read them. If you want to follow me there here is the link.

After Dan left for work I chatted with Sofia for a little while and then headed outside for some fresh air and a little moderate exercise. I decided to wind my way through the neighborhood as I walked to Loyola University. This was a good walk since it was up and down hills the entire time. I have been trying to take pictures of the things I see every day to help me to notice the beauty that is all around me.

(Clearly little ones live in this house.  I thought this was adorable and it made me smile.) 

(I love the little crocked streets around here.  Also it is nice that everything is starting to get a little green and beginning to sprout.) 

(This house always reminds me of Hansel and Gretel.) 

(I love old stone houses and this one of my favorites. Don't you just wonder what is beyond the iron gate in the stone fence?) 

(Hard to believe this is a yard in the city isn't it?  A major road, two lanes each way, is in the valley just beyond the yard.)

It is interesting to me how things looks different through the camera probably because I am taking time to actually see them versus rushing through my day to get to the next task.

Then I came home and did some Pilates and used my TRX and then it was time to get some things accomplished.

Breakfast for me was a huge bowl of savory oatmeal. This time I included: oatmeal, water, wheat germ, freshly ground flaxseeds, cumin, nutritional yeast, oregano, no-salt seasoning, broccoli, salsa, marinated mushrooms and cucumber (for crunch). I bet you have noticed that I never seem to get tired of this, and that is because I don’t. ;-)

We were out of non-dairy milk so I made a batch of soymilk since we last had almond milk. I have been trying to switch between the two milks since they have different nutritional profiles. This time I added 3 tablespoons of oats to the recipe and it does make the milk much thicker and richer than when I add my usual 2 tablespoons of oats.

Since I was in the kitchen I also decided to pressure cook a cup of white beans. We hadn’t had the white bean cheese substitute for months so I turned those beans into that. I decided to toss the leftover okara from the soymilk into the bean cheeze and that worked out well. The okara adds an underlying richness to the bean cheese. The more I use okara the more convinced I am that it will work in just about any recipe.

My lunch was leftover lentil salad, cucumbers, and tomatoes. I also had an orange and Brazil nuts (for the selenium) and an apple.

While I was doing laundry I decided to get back to listening “Veganist” on CD. If you haven’t tried books on CD you should give it a try. I find they make it easy to multi-task. Also the library has a much better selection of health on CD than I would have expected them to carry.

Dan ended up working extremely late so at 10pm we had a light dinner that consisted of a salad of: baby spinach, salsa, artichokes, red bell pepper, mushrooms, cucumbers and the bean cheeze that I made earlier today.

No surprise that Dan had a big bowl of strawberry banana soft serve for dessert.

Happy thoughts:

• It was a beautiful spring day and I thoroughly enjoyed my walk to Loyola University and back this morning. I don’t typically walk in that direction so I got to see some unfamiliar sites which was nice and kept the walk from being boring. Okay so my IPod helped too but you get the idea. I saw an adorable group of older people (aged 70+) out walking this morning. There must have been 15 of them or more. It made me smile to see them out for a little exercise. I hope I am that spry when I am their age.  *fingers crossed*

• I spent some time today doing things around the house that I have been neglecting for the last month. It is good to get a few items crossed off my to-do list. With a little luck tomorrow will also be as productive and maybe more so. That is a nice thought isn't it? ;-)

• My oldest fur baby is responding well to the change in meds. It appears that her asthma is under control now. I am apprehensive about scheduling her dental surgery but I know it is for the best. Needless to say I am trying to concentrate on the positives at the moment.

• I seem to be getting the hang of Facebook and am surprised at how quickly I appear to be picking it up. It is more intuitive than Twitter which has a bit has more jargon to learn before you know exactly what is going on. I suppose this proves that you are never too old to learn something new.

Signing out:

Sorry that I didn’t get this up last night. When Dan worked late it threw me off schedule. My pattern is to finish writing the post after dinner, and after cleaning up the kitchen. By the time that all of that was finished it was 11pm and past when we should have been winding down. However being a day behind will make it easier for me to spend more time writing and refining future posts which will be a good thing.

I hope you had a good Monday and that Tuesday is starting off well for you. Talk to you again tomorrow, unless you are following me on Facebook that is. I am going to catch up on my nutrition and health reading now and will be posting links to the articles I thought were interesting on Facebook next.

Happy Tuesday!

Review: From Oil to Nuts

Today started off rainy and it ended rainy and then there was rain in between. It was one of those days in the Mid-Atlantic that made you wonder if you need to go into the back yard and start building a boat. On the bright side Sunday is reported to warm and sunny and that will be great after our cold rainy Saturday. Not to mention tomorrow is farmers’ market day. Woo hoo!

Dan and I decided early today to run a few errands and then go out to lunch. Knowing we were lunching out I skipped breakfast and had a few large glasses of water instead. Dan had his usual big bowl of oatmeal with berries and walnuts. There is some consistency in the universe.

I know that all of you have already guessed who was in charge of lunch. Yes it was Ian was there any doubt at all in your mind? We had not warned anyone at the restaurant that we were coming it meant that we needed to make up our own food. After all it isn’t a vegan place so it is the least we can do. ;-)

We asked that the antipasti platter be made vegan since it normally comes with meat and cheese. We love this platter it comes with chickpeas, artichokes, roasted red peppers, olives (my favorite …. shhh), house-made pickles, hot pickled peppers and garlic flat bread. Delicious and no one would miss the meat and cheese. Luckily for me Dan isn’t crazy about the peppers and olives which I love. We do have a symbiotic relationship as you can see!

Next we ordered the lentil mushroom soup since it was naturally vegan. Way to go Dani, thanks for vegan soup on the menu today!

Our last course was a whole wheat pizza topped with marinara, roasted veggies, more olives, and finished with fresh arugula. It was very good and I thoroughly enjoyed my slice and Dan had trouble finishing off the rest since we had a lot of food for lunch.

We washed the meal down with our usual tea blend of hibiscus, strawberry and green tea.

We took the second half of the marshmallows into the restaurant with us today. Since not everyone works weekdays and weekends we thought that by splitting up the marshmallow shipment more people would get some. I made sure Ian got some to take home to his kids. 

When we came home there were more mugs of green tea this time combined with rooibos and orange. While we sipped tea we listened to jazz and the rain. I decided to do a little on-line shopping and ended up buying concert tickets to: Ottmar Liebert, Peter White, Gerald Albright and Euge Groove. Can you tell we like instrumental jazz? We have been fans of Ottmar since the 80’s so that I very jazzed (pardon the bad pun) about that concert.

Dinner tonight was a big salad since we had a heavier than usual lunch. This salad included: mesclun, cucumbers, tomatoes, red pepper pepper, artichokes, marinated mushrooms and a lentil salad.

The lentil salad is one that I made variations of all the time. I don’t measure everything but I can give you a good idea of what I do. Start with 1 cup of green lentils and cook them until tender, then drain and dress with the zest and juice from 1 lemon and 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard. Add finely diced red onion (about ½ cup), finely minced walnuts (about ½ cup), 3 grated carrots, finely diced fresh parsley (about 1 cup) and black pepper to taste. This gets better as it sits in the refrigerator and the flavors marry.

Review: From Oil to Nuts

I finally got around to watching this DVD the second time so that I could review it for it. Before I tell you much about it I should say that I thought it was well done and definitely worth what it cost to purchase. I tried to find it on Netflix and at the library and it wasn’t available.

The DVD covers the following topics:

• Basics of Fat: Discussion of various forms of fat in organic chemistry terms. Jeff does a nice job of explaining hydrogenation and cis versus trans fats. There is also a nice chart showing the saturated, poly and mono composition of various oils. It still boggles my mind that coconut oil, palm kernel oil and palm oil all contain more saturated fat than lard.

• Interesterified Fat: This was the first time I had heard this term which is sad since these fats are already in the food supply. Ever wonder what modified palm oil, modified soybean oil or fully hydrogenated coconut oil was?  Well now we all know. *ugh*

• Essential Fatty Acids: the reason why we need Omega-6 and Omega-3 fatty acids and the quantities of each that is required. According to the National Academy of Science we need much less than you expect. There is also a nice chart about the amount of omega-3 in various beans, nuts, veg and fruit. I also liked the chart of the ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 in nuts and seeds. The bottom line is that walnuts are still your friend.

• Mediterranean Diet: The reason why this was originally found to be healthy and how the diet tested is very different from what we have been told.

• Longest Lived People: A comparison of the standard diets of the US and Okinawa is given.  When you see them compared side by side is become very obvious why the average American is taking so many meds.

Overall it was a good DVD and one that I think most of you would learn from. The speaker goes into a good bit of detail but does it in an entertaining way that doesn’t make it feel like you have gone back to school. Even if you are like me and have spent a lot of time studying nutrition I think you will like this DVD. If nothing else it may help you to convince your loved ones to consume a healthier diet.  I am going to try to encourage my father to watch this DVD.  I will keep you posted on how that goes.  Wish me luck, I think I am going to need it.  LOL

Happy thoughts:

• In spite of the cold rain Saturday was a good day. Dan and I had a nice day together. We enjoyed spending time together and hanging out. We both enjoyed running errands and having lunch out with the gang at the restaurant.

• Seeing this beautiful tree in bloom reminded me that the cold April rain brings May flowers. I love how beautiful, lush and green this part of the country is in the spring.  Isn't the grass a beautiful vibrant green?

• Spending the late afternoon and early evening at home was the reason we are going to a few jazz concerts soon. Everything happens for a reason is my motto.  ;-)

• I picked up some good stuff at the library today that I am looking forward to getting into next week. As you all know I love to read and learn new things.

• The last few weeks have been very hectic and that made me appreciate our laid back Saturday even more.

• I am looking forward to the farmers’ market tomorrow. It is great to be back in market season. Personally I can’t wait to see what local produce awaits us tomorrow morning. ;-)

Signing out:

It is getting very late here and we need to get up early tomorrow for the farmers’ market. I hope you had a good Saturday. The weather here is supposed to be lovely tomorrow. Who knows we might even find time to get out in the garden if the ground isn’t too wet. Have a great evening; I will talk to you again tomorrow.

Tomato Sauce with Lentils and Dried Porcinis

Emotionally things have been a little rough for me recently. Initially I wasn’t going to mention it but I thought the tenor of my posts may have changed and I wanted you to know why. Every time someone else I know is diagnosed with cancer I take it hard. I hate this damn disease and it feels like it is all around us. This recent diagnosis has me rethinking the approach we are taking and researching if there is anything else we can do. Maybe I am over thinking things (like I have the tendency to do) but I don’t want to look back and realize there was something else we could have or should have done. *sigh*

Well, that is about all the doom and gloom I can stand so let’s get back to more pleasant things. Thanks Brandi for offering to help, I wish there was something you could do. I just need to work through the funk on my own but I appreciate your concern more than you know.

Thursday:

The gym won’t be open again at 6am until next Monday (January 10) which means we feel back into sleeping in because as you can see we really our both naturally night owls. ;-) I have been working out at home and Dan has been using the gym at work instead of going to our gym around the corner in the evenings.

For breakfast Dan had oatmeal with wild blueberries, cinnamon, ginger, ground flaxseeds, a pinch of stevia and walnuts.

Once Dan left for work I grabbed a quick bite mid-morning. I wasn’t hungry but I was craving something sweet and fatty which I assume means fluctuating hormones (or cancer stress) were involved. I grabbed a few frozen chocolate chips and walnuts to have with a mug of black Christmas tea with cinnamon, clove and orange. Certainly not the most nutritious thing I could eat but it is what I had. We can all cheat sometime right?  ;-)

While I was reading another nutrition textbook for fun (yes I actually consider that fun as odd as it sounds) I made a pound of black beans in the pressure cooker. This was very similar to the large limas the other day but used only 1 tablespoon of oil since the books I read indicated limas and soy beans foam the most. However three people commented on the last post that they don’t use oil when they pressure cook beans and that hasn’t been a problem. I will be trying that with my next pot of beans to see if it works for me too. *fingers crossed*

I also decided to make a pot of tomato sauce with lentils and dried porcini mushrooms to use for the next few days and to possibly freeze if I have any leftovers. Given my Italian DNA there is something comforting to me about the smell of red sauce on the stove and I needed that. I will post the details of that recipe below.

My lunch was two small bowls of the butternut squash soup from last night.

For a snack I had my usual orange and two Brazil nuts. Can you tell I am in a snack rut? LOL

The tomato sauce is a simple one with lentils added for protein and texture. Dried porcinis were added to give the sauce a “meaty” flavor. I kept the spices simple so I could use the sauce in different dishes if any of it makes it to the freezer. Here is what I did:

Tomato Sauce with Lentils and Dried Porcinis
Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:

1 large red onion, peeled and finely diced
1 head of garlic, smashed, peeled and minced or left whole (I left the cloves whole)
2 quarts of canned tomatoes (no salt) or 3-15 ounce cans of diced tomatoes and 1-15 ounce can of tomato sauce (no or low salt)
3 cups water
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 cup green lentils, sorted and rinsed
½ ounce dried porcinis
2 cups water
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons traditional balsamic vinegar (I use Napa Valley Naturals 18 year old balsamic aged in cherry which we buy by the case)

Directions:

Allow the onions and garlic to stand 10 minutes before cooking. I set a timer for 10 minutes once I get them chopped or smashed and continue to add things to the pot. If you are using home canned tomatoes puree 2 cups in your blender before adding to the pot. Add the tomatoes, water and Italian seasoning and simmer for at least 30 minutes to cook the onions and garlic and get the flavor out of the dried herbs.

While the sauce is simmering combine the dried mushrooms and water and bring to a boil then remove from the heat and allow them to soak for at least 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes remove the mushrooms and chop them reasonably finely and add them to the tomato sauce pot. Use cheesecloth or a damp paper towel in a strainer to remove the sediment from the soaking liquid and add that to the sauce pot. Now add the lentils and cook until they are tender, about another 30 minutes. Taste for seasoning and add freshly ground black pepper and balsamic vinegar to taste.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 192.49
Calories From Fat (4%) - 7.13

Total Fat - 0.84g
Saturated Fat - 0.1g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 19.94mg
Potassium - 847.02mg
Total Carbohydrates - 37.59g
Fiber - 13.25g
Sugar - 5.5g
Protein - 11.24g

Comments:

This is a subtly flavored sauce that would work in many different days. For dinner tonight we had the sauce over farro with some fresh minced parsley on top and it was good. For breakfast on Friday I used the cold sauce as more of a salad dressing over greens and that worked too.

Dietary Guidelines We Follow:

I promised yesterday that I would share what I try to keep in mind for our food. The way we eat is a hybrid of “Eat to Live” and “The China Study” with a few ideas from my research thrown in. I would describe our diet as being a whole food plant-based diet that is moderate in fat. Here are things I try to keep in mind when making our meals:

• Obviously no meat or dairy because of the impact of IGF-1 and tumor promotion.

• Absolutely no soy protein isolates because of their impact on IGF-1 and tumor promotion. This eliminates most vegan meat and dairy substitutes. When you start reading labels you realize this garbage is everywhere in the food supply. :-p

• No sugar (this includes refined sugar, raw sugar, agave, and honey) on a regular basis. I will very occasionally use maple syrup, brown rice syrup or molasses but this is not often and not much. We will have dessert once or twice a year when we are out for special occasions like New Years Eve with friends.

• No oil in my cooking. I will make an exception for truffle oil a few times a year for flavor. I also recognize that our no oil rule is not likely to happen when we are out which means we ask for as little as possible be used and move on. We eliminated oil because it is a processed food which has been stripped of everything but fat. I would prefer that we get our fat in a whole natural form with fiber and other nutrients.

• We do eat healthy fats but consume those in the form of nuts, seeds and avocado. I try to make certain we have a small amount of fat with each meal to increase the absorption of fat soluble vitamins. Our overall fat percentage on average is between 15-20% of our total calories though I try to keep it closer to 15% when I can. Some days that is easier than others.

• As little processed food as possible. This means I don’t buy it and cook with it but if we are away from home and have no other option I will make an exception. However if it contains soy protein isolates we will not consume it. This also means no soda which is just a chemical concoction in my opinion.

• We try to eat half our produce raw and half cooked. This ends up meaning we eat mostly raw in the warm months and mostly cooked in the cold months. I need to work on that at get more raw produce into our diet when it is cold outside.

• Speaking of produce I always wash all of our produce very well, include fruit with peels that will be removed and salad greens. Raw food can contain pathogens which are very important to remove particularly if anyone in your house has a depressed immune system (young children, the elderly or those with cancer).

• Beans are something we eat nearly every day. I think we consume a minimum of a cup of beans per day. I cook them a pound at a time and keep them in the refrigerator to add to salads and other dishes.

• One tablespoon of ground flaxseed is included at breakfast in our smoothies or oatmeal. When I don’t have either of those for breakfast I add the ground flaxseeds to my salad or soup.

• White and green tea is something we drink every day. I always add approximately 1/8 teaspoon of powdered ascorbate C to the tea to enhance the absorption of the EGCG in the tea. In the summer I cold brew the tea and the winter we drink it hot. Overall we try to consume at least 6 cups of tea per day.

• Two Brazil nuts are included in our snack or smoothies everyday for the selenium.

• Raw kale is added to our green smoothies or strawberry banana soft serve at least 5 days a week, usually more often. I prefer to add the kale raw since it is more nutritious when raw or lightly cooked.

• Salad is something else we try to eat every day. This is much easier for us in the summer for some reason. I need to work on that one at our house.

• I try to make Indian food once a week for the opportunity to add turmeric to our diet because it has been shown to kill cancer. Whenever I used turmeric I always add a generous serving of black pepper since the piperine in the black pepper makes the curcumin in the turmeric more bioavailable.

• Speaking of spices I add cinnamon, powdered ginger, fresh ginger, and other herbs and spices liberally because of their antioxidant content. Not only do they make food interesting but they add nutrition.

• Since broccoli and tomatoes when consumed together increase the absorption of the antioxidants in each other I try to have those in the same meal if not the same dish.

• Now that I know mushrooms boost the immune system they are something we try to eat every day. It is much easier to add a few to a dish than I have expected. They seem to go with almost everything so far. ;-)

• We don’t drink fruit juice as a beverage since it an unnecessary addition of sugar for us. I will cook with a small amount of fruit juice or will use an apple in our green juice but that is it. If we are thirsty we have white tea, green tea, barley tea or water.

• I try to minimize our exposure to BPA. I do this by getting rid of all our plastic containers, no letting food come into direct contact with plastic wrap, not buying bottled water unless absolutely necessary, and minimizing our use of canned food. I also use waxed paper to top the food in Dan’s glass lunch containers which have a plastic snap lid to keep the food away from the lid (this is a just in case notion). I am not militant about this one since the risk factors are higher for women of child bearing age and young children but I wanted to mention it for those that are.

I am sure I have left a few things out but this is what has come to mind at the moment.   Sorry I was a little distracted today.

Happy Thoughts:

Given our recent bad news it is probably more important to come up with happy thoughts than usual. I had a little difficulty coming up with them today but here are my happy thoughts now:

• My knee still seems to be improving. I have no pain and feel like I could probably push it but I know that rest is important so I am trying to behave myself and so far it is working. It has been helpful to distract myself with nutrition textbook. At least I am learning while I am somewhat sidelined. ;-)

• With all the “cancer” around me I am very thankful that my husband is open minded and willing to try approaches that most Americans consider unthinkable. I completely believe that a well nourished, maintained and rested body must be better able to fight all disease including cancer.

• I am very thankful that it is the weekend which means more quality time with my hubby. I love my weekends with Dan. :-)

• Dan had jury duty today and was dismissed before he was called for a trial. This is a very good thing since he has gotten busy at work again and jury duty would have resulted in more hours at the office to make up for the lost time at jury duty.

• Additionally I am very thankful for the kindness of people on the internet. Specifically I am thinking of the comments I got that you don’t need to use oil when pressure cooking beans. That was great to hear since I don’t cook with oil and I hadn’t seen it anywhere until your comments.

• The snow we got overnight (Thursday into Friday) was nothing but a dusting which meant no traffic snarls today which is always welcome when you leave in an area where people panic when it snows.

Signing out:

Woo hoo; it is time to start the weekend. There is nothing like two days with Dan to make me happy. I have no idea what we will be doing this weekend but whatever it is I am sure I will enjoy it. I hope you have a wonderful weekend too. I will talk to you again tomorrow.

Lentil, Barley and Mushroom Soup & New Year’s Resolutions or Not?

This picture of the Nati Boh guy from the "Miracle on 34th Street" is for the locals. Dan took this and we both thought is was cute. Only in Baltimore Hon.  ;-)

Monday things were back to usual with Dan returning to work and me returning to my usual getting caught up around the house day after a long weekend of doing nothing at home. We started our morning with smoothies. These smoothies contained: frozen banana, kale, Costco frozen mixed berries (raspberries, blueberries and Marion berries), a little dried oatmeal, a few walnuts, ground flaxseed, cinnamon, ginger and stevia.

I thought the smoothie was good but Dan wasn’t as thrilled since the texture was less creamy. In his I substituted the berries for one of the bananas which made the smoothie less thick and creamy. Maybe next time I will add berries (for nutrition) but keep both of the bananas. I guess I will need to think about how to change the smoothie next. *scratches head* It is important to me that Dan enjoys his food so I need to come up with something else. I will keep you posted on what that is.

My mid-morning snack was my usual fruit and nut and this time it was banana and Brazil nuts (for selenium).

I was busy at lunch time and didn’t want to take time to make myself something so I tossed a few things together and called it a meal. This time it was the extra garbanzo beans that I cooked on Sunday with a little marinara stirred in. When it came of the microwave I stirred in some nutritional yeast. It would have been more nutritious if I had also wilted in a little spinach but I wanted to get back to what I was doing.

For some odd reason I have been craving beans the last few days. While I have no idea where that came from since it is a healthy craving I decided to just go with and make bean soup for dinner. Dan loves lentil soup and since that is quick (no soaking or long cooking required) I thought I would make it for dinner. As you know I have been trying to add mushrooms to our daily diet (for the immune boosting impact) which is why I added those to the soup. The barley was added to give the soup a little “chew” in addition to that from the dried mushrooms. The smoked paprika and cumin were included to add a little smokiness to the background. Here is what I did:

Lentil, Barley and Mushroom Soup
Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 pound green lentils (you can substitute red lentils for green but they are not as substantial and will fall apart more in the soup)
½ cup barley
water to cover the lentils and barley by an inch
1 large red onion, peeled and finely diced (approximately 4 cups)
10 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
2 bay leaves
1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes
½ tablespoon dried thyme leaves
½ teaspoon smoked paprika (to give a smoky background you can also use liquid smoke)
½ teaspoon cumin seed (also added for their smoky taste)
1 cup dried mushrooms rehydrated and chopped into pieces that will fit easily on a spoon (I used dried shitake caps)
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard, or to taste (enough to give the soup a spark of flavor in the background but not enough that you can tell it has mustard)
1 lemon, zested and juiced
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

After allowing the onions and garlic to stand 10 minutes after you mince them combine everything but the lemon juice and simmer until the beans and barley are tender. Be certain to stir at least every 15 minutes to keep the soup from sticking to the bottom. I cooked my soup in a cast iron enameled pan which helps to distribute the heat and slow the sticking. You may also need to add water depending on how much water evaporates and how thick or thin you want the soup in the end.

When you are ready to serve add the lemon zest and lemon juice and stir to combine. Taste the soup for seasoning and adjust to your taste.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 396.16
Calories From Fat (3%) - 13.53

Total Fat - 1.56g
Saturated Fat - 0.23g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 83.32mg
Potassium - 914.58mg
Total Carbohydrates - 74.58g
Fiber - 28.67g
Sugar - 2.16g
Protein - 23.53g

Comments:

I liked the taste of this soup it had good flavor but wasn’t overpowering. The Dijon was something that I added at the last minute but I think it was necessary. You can’t taste the Dijon but it does provide a little something in the background.

I am continually amazed at how our taste buds have adapted to food without salt and oil. Those were the last two big changes I made to our diet and while they were the most difficult our taste buds have adapted beautifully. Each time I think of how our diet has changed for the better this year I smile. Making changes for the better is immensely rewarding, well at least it is for me. ;-)

New Year’s Resolutions or Not:

Immediately after Christmas I instinctively think about what I want to change about my life. I don’t believe in resolutions per se but I do believe in making permanent changes for the better which I think go beyond resolutions. Temporary changes never seem to get me anywhere.

Each year end I reflect on what went well or not so well that year and try to come up with reasonable goals for the coming year. I tend to make too many goals for myself but over the years I have learned to back off a little. *rolls eyes* My brother-in-law an ex-marine has told me many times that I am gung ho enough to be a marine. LOL, sadly that is a fairly decent description of my personality. Once I have something in my head that I want to do I am full steam ahead. My husband calls this “all guts no brains” and describes how I got my knee injury. I have no idea where this personality trait comes from but it is definitely both good and bad. ;-)

Back to the things I want to work on this year. Overall my goals are always health related. You are shocked by this I know, LOL. This year is no different. I want to make a few changes which I separated by category:

• Food: Last year my goal was to clean up my diet and eliminate the unhealthy things that had become a habit. I am happy to say that goal was met. I was hesitant to give up my beloved unfiltered extra virgin olive oil but it was much easier than I thought. This year my food goal is to continue to read about nutrition weekly and make changes as I learn new things. Of course I will share these things with you as I learn them.

• Exercise: Since I conquered my food goal this year I want to clean up my exercise routine so it is as healthy and well researched as my food intake. I expect this one to take longer to pull together but I know I will have things in place long before the end of 2011. :-)

• Emotions: This year my goal is to be more forgiving and understanding when things happen that hurt my feelings. I tend to be overly sensitive which means I take everything to heart and I want to change that about myself. I am going to work to understand that when someone hurts me it probably has nothing to do with me even though it doesn’t feel like that at the time. Wish me luck this one is going to be tough for me since I am very sensitive.

• Relationships: While I think I am a good wife I also know I could be a better wife and that is my goal this year. I know that sometimes my husband feels like he is a bit of a blog widower and that makes me feel terrible. I have been trying to work on the blog when he isn’t home so that when he is I can give him my undivided attention. I haven’t figured out how to work things out on the weekend other than to write posts before the weekend to post later or to post abbreviated entries maybe mostly pictures. If anyone has any other ideas on that I would love to hear them. ;-)

To remind myself of my goals I post them prominently where I will see them every day. I write them on mirrors with dry erase pens and also post them on the refrigerator. Seeing them everyday helps me to stay focused. In the past I have made them the screen saver on my computer or made them my wallpaper. I also try to read them every morning to remind myself what I want. It also helps to break the goals into smaller definable items like: read an exercise book each month, or change my workout routine every 6 weeks, that sort of thing.

Now that I have shared my annual goals with you I would love to hear what you would like to change? If your goals are food related and you think I can help in some way please feel free to ask. I would be happy to help if I can. In my perfect world everyone will want to make changes and live a more healthful life and if I can help with that I would be thrilled. ;-)

How do you resist cookies, cupcakes, and chocolate?:

This is a question that I get so often by email that I decided I should write about it on the blog. From the many emails I have received that ask this question I am going to assume that many of you are struggling to eliminate or at least reduce sweets from your diet and can’t imagine how we did. I think the main reason we were able to do it is that we understand the impact that these things have on health and that makes change much easier. Here are my thoughts on baked goods and sweets.

First, baked goods even vegan version can hardly be considered healthy. They are typically full of flour (usually refined white flour), oil (or worse vegan margarine), and sugar. This is a combination of foods we have eliminated for health reasons. The flour and sugar will have a negative impact on blood sugar and the fat a similar impact on our arteries. Knowing this makes these items much less appealing.

Second, consuming sugar depresses the immune system. Since we are focused on improving our health we don’t want to do anything that will result in more sickness not less.

Third, sugar and fat are addictive making it difficult to eat a small amount. I have found this to be true myself. If there is something around, like homemade cookies or cupcakes it is difficult to eat just one or part of one. If I were going to eat these things I would buy them when we were out so that there wasn’t a large supply in the house. ;-)

Fourth, baked goods are devoid of nutrition. I work hard to maximize our nutrition which means the idea of empty calories in the form of baked goods or sweets is completely unappealing to me. But this is coming from the woman who adds kale to her smoothies so consider the source.

Fifth and finally, baked goods are high in calories. If you are trying to keep your weight under control baked goods are not your friend. I picked up a name brand individually wrapped vegan cookie at the health food store the other day and it had 500 calories for one cookie. I have made entire meals that don’t have that many calories. That label was an eye opener for me. *shakes head*

I hope that helps some of you view baked goods in a different way. Sure you can make vegan baked goods and it isn’t difficult but don’t kid yourself that they are not good for you. Empty calories are empty calories whether they are vegan or not.

This is another example of what I mean when I say vegan is the starting point for me not the end point. Most vegan food that I see isn’t something that I would eat. It is so easy to make healthy vegan food that also tastes good that I find it difficult to understand why others don’t do it. I have come to the conclusion that it is because they don’t understand nutrition. I still when remember when I didn’t understand nutrition either, so I am hopeful that others will become interested and want to improve their health before something goes terribly wrong for them. I can’t help but think about the statistics that half of all Americans will die of heart disease and 40% will get cancer. With odds like those it doesn’t make any sense to me to tempt fate by eating unhealthy food.

Happy Thoughts:

Monday was a good day for me and it was fairly productive which is always a good thing. Here are my happy thoughts today.

• I had a day with no knee pain, not one single twinge. It felt so great to have my knee back to normal. I am happy for the lack of pain and that I didn’t do anything silly to reinjure my knee which is very unlike me.

• I had a chance to play around with my TRX yesterday, only upper body and ab work no lower body exercises. I can already tell you that I am going to love this thing. However I still need to put it through its paces before I review it but I can’t imagine changing my mind. So far I love my new exercise toy. ;-)

• My friend Louis was able to get home safely after his 24+ hours at work in the storm. I was grateful that he called to let me know he made it home. He lives so close (on the Delaware shore) that is amazes me that he got a foot of snow and we got possibly 2 inches.

• Speaking of storms I am grateful that the weekend storm missed us. I know I was excited about getting snow but not a foot of it. Can’t say I was actually looking forward to shoveling the snow off the mostly flat roof on our first floor addition like I did last year. That was not a fun job. I am thankful to have been able to skip that this past weekend.

• I am thankful to be ending 2010 more healthy that it started. I feel so much better now than I did this same time last year. How often do we actually improve physically as we age? I know it isn’t typical but it can happen to you too if you want it too.

Signing out:

Today has been another busy one for me. Sorry it took me so long to get this post up. I have been very busy at home since Dan left for work and just had a chance to get on the computer. However I am happy to report it has been a productive day at our house.

I have black bean chili simmering on the stove now and it smells so good. I made this to eat as chili, to make taco salad and to top baked potatoes for the next few days and maybe to stash a little in the freezer. At the moment I have no idea what dinner is going to be at our house but chili may play a role. ;-)

I hope everyone is staying warm and having a great week. I will talk to you again tomorrow.

Tuesday a Lentil Loaf Experiment and Xmas Menu

I must not slept have well Monday night because when the alarm went off at 5 I turned it off then crawled back into bed and feel fast asleep. Typically I turn the alarm off and get back in bed but get up 5 – 10 minutes later after I have started waking up. That plan didn’t work for me this Tuesday morning. Dan woke up after 7 and got me up. So much for our morning trip to the gym. *rolls eyes* I get annoyed with myself when I oversleep. However being realistic we both must have needed the rest or we would have woken up sooner rather than later. I had to remind myself that getting adequate rest is just as important as a healthy diet and exercise.

I made our usual green smoothies this morning for breakfast (frozen banana, kale, walnuts, ground flaxseeds, cinnamon, powdered ginger, and stevia to taste). Dan had his smoothie to go and I had mine at home.

I spent the morning exercising, catching up on my email and cleaning and organizing the kitchen.

For my mid morning snack I had my usual orange and two Brazil nuts (for selenium).

Lunch was another snack this time cucumber slices with salsa and white bean cheeze. I used the cucumbers as a stand in for crackers and spread the cheeze on top and finished with salsa.

My afternoon snack was a banana and reduced fat peanut butter.

Dinner was a lentil loaf, and spinach salad with sweet potato and grapes topped with a quick dressing of Dijon, red wine vinegar and stevia. The lentil loaf was a recipe I found here. I decided to make this because our friends that went to “Forks Over Knives” with us borrowed my book from Dr. Esselstyn and made the loaf over the weekend and liked it. I thought I should give it a try and looked for the recipe on line. The flavor was good but the loaf would not come out of the pan in one piece or even in two pieces. It actually didn’t stick together at all. I have tried so many lentil loaf recipes and they almost always do this. Clearly I need to make one up myself. Oh well at least it tasted good. I plan to use the leftovers in collard wraps to make “sandwiches”.

Black Rice:

My friend Sheila sent me a link to this article about black rice. If you haven’t tried black (or forbidden) rice I like it. I have seen the Lotus brand at Whole Foods and Wegman’s. However check your local Asian market as I have purchased a large (3 lb I think) bag of organic black rice there for much less.

Black rice, which is more purple hued when cooked, also contains anthocyanins like other purple/blue foods. If you are having difficulty consuming those every day maybe black rice would be good for you.

Removing Tea Stains from your Ceramics:

As you all know we drink a lot of tea in this house usually white or green. All that tea means ugly stains in my favorite mugs. Tuesday I decided to try something unorthodox to remove them since making a paste of baking soda didn’t work. Remember I mentioned buying denture tablets to clean my juicer? I thought they are supposed to remove stains from false teeth they should remove stains from my ceramics. The verdict? Much to my surprise it worked beautifully. The mugs are not sparkling white but in one application that are “almost” back to new. I added warm water from the tap and one tablet to each mug and allowed them to sit undisturbed for about 6 hours. I put them in a cabinet with a closed door to keep the cats out of them.

Christmas Menu:

I have finally had a little time to think about our Christmas menu. It is not finalized yet although I need to get that done today or tomorrow since I am running out of time. However at the moment here is what I am thinking of making, subject to change of course:

• lasagna (Italians love lasagna and it shows up for many national holidays)
• acorn squash stuffed with fruit (I am thinking apples, dried fruit and nuts or mostarda)
• cauliflower and millet mashed potatoes (maybe with a few white beans this time)
• sauerkraut with apples and onions
• spicy cranberry relish
• green salad possibly with roasted vegetables
• marinated veggie tray
• cranberry orange granita

The funny thing is when I looked at this typed out my thought was it wasn’t enough veggies. However when I looked again I realized that was ridiculous since it is nothing but veggies and fruit with a little tofu and pasta.

What are you making for the Christmas or are you going to be a guest and not a cook? Will your meal be 100% vegan or are you also serving omnivores?

Happy thoughts:

Tuesday was a little stressful but that was completely self-induced. I probably should stay focused on Christmas rather than adding other things to my to do list now. ;-) Here are my happy thoughts today:

• I am looking forward to another holiday season with Dan. We always have such wonderful holidays together. I am very thankful to be married to my best friend and to know how much I am loved.

• I am very thankful for my friend Louis. He has always been there when I needed him frequently before I even asked him for help. Thank you for being calm and putting things into perspective when I get too emotional. There have been many times you were the only reason I remained “somewhat” calm. Hugs!

• It is wonderful to know that I am ending 2010 more healthy than it started. I love being able to see positive change in my life year to year.

• My knee was acting up a bit again yesterday and this morning so today my cardio was on the exercise bike at home. I am thankful to have an option for elevating my heart rate at home that isn’t hard on my knee.

• I made good progress yesterday on my to do list and hope to get more crossed off today. I am thankful to have time to do the things that need to be done. Life isn’t perfect and I am always behind schedule lately it seems but it could always be worse. At least I have time to do things that many have to cram into their weekend.

• Luca Belle (our female feline) seems to be responding well to the prednisone that was prescribed for her asthma. We worry about our little fur babies when they aren’t 100%. I am very thankful to have a wonderful carrying veterinarian that treats my animals as though they are his own. I have known our vet longer than I have known Dan and can’t imagine anyone else taking care of my babies.

• It is very exciting that it still looks like we will have snow falling on Christmas this year. I am looking forward to my first White Christmas in probably 30 years. I love to sip hot chocolate and watch the snow fall. Seriously I am just a big kid.

Signing out:

I have many things on my to do list that I need to take care of today. Christmas is always a little hectic around here but it is worth it in the end.

I hope all of you are having a wonderful week and are looking forward to the holiday. Talk to you again tomorrow.

Lentil Experiment and Eat Your Produce

Thursday:

We started our morning the same way we have been for the last couple of weeks at the gym.

Here is a pic of Dan heading into the gym in the dark. I guess he was cold or I was walking slowly because I was taking pictures (or sleep walking) LOL. Since I stayed up late Wednesday night watching TV meaning I was tired in the morning and felt a little bit like I was sleep walking through my workout but I got it done. However it wasn’t at the intensity I would have liked but life it hardly perfect so I am okay with it. ;-)

While we were at the gym there was a beautiful red sunrise which I had to photograph. Even though I am still not a morning person (and may never be) I can appreciate the beauty of the sunrise.  ;-)

Once we got home I made smoothies with frozen banana, frozen wild blueberries, kale, cinnamon, ginger, ground flaxseed, and walnuts.

Dan got dinner leftovers (eggplant "meatballs") for lunch, an orange, 2 Brazil nuts and I made him a quick soup. The soup was cheating but I needed to add more calories to his lunch. I took a 15 oz can of Amy’s organic lentil soup and poured that into quart jar. I added a 15 oz can of organic tomatoes (no salt) to the jar and stirred to combine. Then I added Indian seasonings (turmeric, black pepper, black mustard seed, coriander, powdered ginger, cumin seed and crushed red pepper). While this isn’t the best answer since it is higher in sodium than I would like it works in a pinch (otherwise known as Alicia didn’t plan well). ;-)

For my lunch I just ate a little of this and that. I had an orange, 2 bananas, a large baked sweet potato topped with frozen spinach in vegan white sauce. I also had a few walnuts, 2 Brazil nuts and numerous mugs of hot green tea. Nothing too exciting ... just healthy food.

I read in Cucina Ebraica that soaked lentils cook in 15 minutes and had to try it before I forgot about it. I started by soaking one pound of lentils in 8 cups of water for 8 hours. Then I added all the remaining soup ingredients, including acidic tomatoes which could have been a problem but I wanted to know. From the time I turned on the stove it only took 25 minutes to have soup. I would say this was a successful experiment. I am not including the recipe because there are more than enough lentil soups out there. For those who are curious this one included onion, garlic, parsnip, celery, diced tomato, Italian seasoning and fennel seeds. Since the soup cooks such a short period of time I do recommend that you chop your veggies fairly small.

Fruits and Veg and Breast Cancer Recurrence:

I read this blurb and wanted to share it with all of you. I don’t think it is earth shattering news but it is yet another reason to eat your fruit and veggies. If produce reduces the risk of breast cancer recurrence I imagine the same applies to other hormonally linked cancers (prostate, ovarian, endometrial, and cervical, etc.). I don’t know about you but reading this made me feel better about concentrating on consuming as much produce as possible. ;-)

Vegan Mofo and my Reflections:

Now that Vegan Mofo has been over a few days I have had time to reflect on it. In retrospect I should have gone with my gut and not participated. The month of November was hectic here with too many appointments/obligations before Thanksgiving and the prepping for Christmas. I felt as though I wasn’t able to give Mofo proper attention. Whether I participate next year is up in the air.

As my blog has become more health conscious many long time vegan readers no longer comment which is fine. It is a little sad to me that more people don’t focus on their health but I also recognize we are all in the different place in that regard. I write the blog to share healthy recipes and articles about health with those that are interested. Clearly my food is still and will remain vegan but now it also has to be healthy not just vegan. I am bringing this up to explain where my head is now. If someone would ask me to describe my food philosophy I would say it is health conscious whole food plant-based and vegan.

Part of the reason I am writing this is because of the blogosphere uproar over a vegan blogger returning to meat for her health. Personally I think the entire idea is BS based on everything I have read about health and nutrition. It is just as easy to be an unhealthy vegan as it is to be an unhealthy omnivore. If you eat a lot of processed food, or food full of white flour, sugar and vegan margarine don’t be surprised if your health suffers. Processed food isn’t good for anyone’s health even if it is vegan.  Sad but true.

Friday:

Dan and I both like to shop, as you have probably guessed by now. However we also both like to purchase things on sale when possible.  Today ended up being a day of shopping. We found some great stuff at good prices.  :-)   I will fill you in tomorrow after we get back from the art show. There was also a little eating out. This has been the week of going out to eat for us. We need to focus more on eating at home. I think the eating out thing is getting a bit out of control.

Happy Thoughts:

Thursday and Friday were fairly productive which means I have a lot to be thankful for today. Here are my happy thoughts at the moment:

• We got to the gym a little after 6am Friday morning and I had burned over 600 calories before we left. It feels good to know I got my cardio in for the day well before 8am. Woo hoo!  Now I need to get my calorie burn up to 700 in the morning. Something tells me that will be a bit tougher. ;-)

• We are going to an art show on Saturday which we are both looking forward to. Dan and I like to buy art from local artists and the show we are going to tomorrow is one of our favorite artists. We have five of her works currently and I suspect by tomorrow we will have more. Italy is a favorite subject of hers so you can see why we would be drawn to her work.

• The two boys (Masi and Nicco) ran through the house a few minutes ago side by side. They are so adorable and still behave like kittens even though they are 9 years old. Those little fuzz balls have me wrapped around their little furry toes.  *swoon*

• Here is a picture of Masi last night on top of one of the bookcases. He had gotten a snowflake ornament from the staircase garland stuck in his tail. Only at my house, LOL.  Masi is fine, just annoyed at us because the ornament in his tail is clearly all our fault.  It can't be his fault he is a cat and they are never wrong.  ;-)

• I was very happy to spend the day with Dan and it isn’t even a weekend. Nothing like a long weekend with my baby to put a smile on my face.  I love you precious!  *smooch*

• Today at Marshall's I found three great men’s T-shirts to wear to the gym for $4, $5and $7. I also picked up another pair of workout pants for $10. I love a bargain. LOL

• A few more Christmas items managed to jump into my shopping cart. You know I need more right? LOL

Signing out:

I hope you are having a happy and healthy Friday. Talk to you again soon, most likely tomorrow evening after the art show.

Red Lentil and Walnut Pate in the Style of French Mousseline Forcemeat

We ran out of beans so I wanted to make a different version of the lentil pate I made recently. This time I decided to stick with more traditional pate seasonings to see how that worked since the texture on the last batch was so close to forcemeat. I don’t always want to recreate omni food closely but that was the mood I was in yesterday. The flavors I used were classic to pate and resulted in something that is similar to braunschweiger in terms of taste.

There are four basic styles of pate with country pate and mousseline being the ones I see most often. Country pate has a more coarse somewhat grainy texture and is easier to make at home. The meat for country pate is ground but not pureed. Country pate is a humble dish that is typically served with a crusty baguette and Dijon mustard. Mousseline forcemeat is a very smooth silky pate that is very similar to the texture of this lentil pate due to being pureed after it has been ground. Traditionally pate will include heavy cream and brandy for which I substituted walnuts (for richness) and apple cider vinegar for acidity.  Here is what I did:

Red Lentil and Walnut Pate in the Style of French Mousseline Forcemeat
Makes 12 servings

Ingredients:

1 cup red lentils
2 – 2 ½ cups water
1 bay leaf
¼ cup red onion, finely minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup walnuts
¼ teaspoons nutmeg
3 whole cloves, pregrind in a spice grinder if not using a Vitamix
2 whole allspice berries, pregrind in a spice grinder if not using a Vitamix
6 whole tellicherry peppercorns, pregrind in a spice grinder if not using a Vitamix
¾ tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Directions:

Combine the lentils, 2 cups of water and bay leaf and simmer on low for 30 minutes stirring occasionally to make certain they aren’t sticking to the bottom of the pan. You may or may not need the extra ½ cup of water. After 30 minutes add the onion and garlic and cook for another 10 minutes. The lentils should be thick and the water mostly evaporated. The texture will be similar to mashed potatoes only a bit thinner. Remove the bay leaf.

Place the lentils in your blender. Add the walnuts, spices and apple cider vinegar and process until smooth. Taste for seasoning and adjust as you desire. The consistency will resemble thin mashed potatoes but will thicken in the refrigerator as it cools.  The seasonings will become more pronouced as the pate sits in the refrigerator.

Store the pate in the refrigerator in a covered container until needed. Best served cold with Dijon mustard or pickles. I normally spread this on cucumber rounds or place it in hollowed out cherry tomatoes.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 121.88
Calories From Fat (46%) - 56.51

Total Fat - 6.76g
Saturated Fat - 0.68g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 3.04mg
Potassium - 140.99mg
Total Carbohydrates - 11.39g
Fiber - 2.52g
Sugar - 0.28g
Protein - 5.56g

Comments:

This turned out much more like traditional pate than I expected. Both the taste and texture are eerily similar. I think this recipe was quite the success. It will definitely be turning up at our house again.

Unrelated notes:

Somehow we managed to consume all five pounds of carrots I purchased earlier this week. This meant I was back to the store again this morning. Although I did walk it wasn’t the most pleasant trip this morning since the humidity is up as well as the temperature. On the way to the store I happened to notice purslane growing almost everywhere. Why isn’t it in my yard? Since the farmer that has it at the market charges $9 a pound, for what my husband calls “sidewalk weeds”, I decided to pick some on the way home. When I got home and got it into my big measuring cup to soak I realized I have picked 8 cups worth in probably less than a minute. Not bad for just a few moments of work.

For those of you that don’t know purslane it is a plant source of omega 3. You can add it to salad or sauté it with other greens. It has a very mild flavor and a fleshy leaf. I enjoy the taste and the texture. Dan likes to joke about eating weeds but he doesn’t complain about the taste. If you make spanakopita add purslane to the spinach it works well there too.

I am going to go make myself some lunch. I think a big salad with some purslane is in my future. I hope everyone is having a great Thursday.

Lentil Stew of Umbria

Sometime the weather is cool and you just want an easy stew for dinner. It was one of those days around here today so that is what we had for dinner tonight an easy lentil stew and salad.

This lentil stew is something that is made in Umbria using green-brown lentils that are grown in the fields of Castelluccio. The most similar lentil we have in the US is the French Lentil De Puy. Traditional green lentils will also work, but the texture will be less toothsome. Some Italian markets carry the Castelluccio lentils. Here is a link if you are interested in learning more about them on Mario’s site.

When I made the omni version of this dish I typically used sweet Italian sausage, but I have used hot Italian sausage as well. To mimic the combination I added a little hot crushed pepper and a tiny bit of fennel seeds. This stew does not need to be made with wine, but it does add to the aroma of the final dish.

This is a good winter stew. It is thick and comforting, like a big warm hug in a bowl. Here is the lentil stew recipe.

Lentil Stew of Umbria
Serves 6

Ingredients:

5 stalks of celery, finely diced (approximately 2 cups), 1/4th reserved
1 red onion, peeled and finely diced
6 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced (allow to stand 10 minutes so allicin can develop)
½ cup water
2 bay leaves
14 ounce can of petite diced tomatoes, solids and liquids separated
4 cups water
1 cup dry white wine or water (I used pinto grigio)
1 pound of green or brown lentils
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon fennel seeds
2 sweet Italian seitan sausages, sliced thinly
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar to finish the dish (1 teaspoon per serving)
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely minced

Directions:

Water sauté ¾ of the diced celery (remainder reserved for later in the recipe), red onion, and garlic until tender. Add the bay leaves, canned tomato liquid, water, wine, lentils, crushed red pepper flakes and fennel seeds. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce to a simmer and cook covered (checking occasionally to make certain the pan is not getting to dry). You want to final dish to be fairly dry, but not so dry it sticks to the bottom of the pot. Taste the beans for tenderness after 30 minutes. You may need to add liquid at this time. When the lentils are beginning to get tender but still need 15 minutes of cooking time add the reserved diced tomato solids, celery and seitan sausages. Cook until the lentils are tender. Taste the dish for seasoning and add salt and pepper as desired.

To serve this stew finish the dish with a little white wine vinegar drizzled over the top. The acid from the vinegar will brighten and lift the flavors. You can also top with freshly minced parsley but this is optional

Nutritional Information (including optional parsley):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 399.92
Calories From Fat (3%) - 13.26

Total Fat - 1.5g
Saturated Fat - 0.2g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 265.05mg
Potassium - 997.69mg
Total Carbohydrates - 59.86g
Fiber - 25.86g
Sugar - 4.06g
Protein - 30.77g

Comments:

This stew has the comfort of a long cooking dish but the freshness of lightly cooked diced tomato, celery and parsley garnish. Pinot grigio adds a nice aroma to the stew. Wine vinegar adds a nice tang. My husband and I both enjoyed this lentil dish with its nice depth of flavor. It tastes as though it was more work than is involved.

Each serving of this stew contains 540IU of vitamin A, 120mg of calcium, 7.5mg of iron, 380mcg of folate, 40mcg of vitamin K, 400mg of phosphorus, 110mg of magnesium, 3.9mg of zinc, and 11.5mcg of selenium. This stew also contains 30grams of protein and over 25 grams of fiber.

Unrelated note:

Next I will be posting the quick and easy salad dressing I made tonight. It was something that I tossed together that we both loved. We will definitely be making this dressing again so I want to share it with all of you.

Lentil Carrot and Walnut Salad

This is a salad I have made a few times but never documented. Both my husband and I like lentils and carrots so it was natural that we would like this salad. It is a great winter salad when the vegetable choices are bleak. I have made this dish without the fresh parsley and while it is still good, it is much better with the parsley if you have it.

Lentil Carrot and Walnut Salad
Serves 8

Ingredients:

1 ¼ cup of lentils
5 cups of water to cook the lentils
4 tablespoons of sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon of walnut oil (or canola)
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
6 large carrots, grated
½ of walnuts, toasted and chopped
½ cup of fresh parsley leaves, finely chopped

Directions:

Pick through and rinse lentils. Cover the lentils with the water and cook until tender. Over high heat this took 20 minutes for me. Drain the lentils and move to a large bowl with a lid.

Add the sherry vinegar, walnut oil and kosher salt to the hot lentils so that they absorb the dressing more readily. Allow the lentils to come to room temperature before adding the carrots. Once the carrots have been added the salad can be refrigerated until ready to serve.

Stir the walnuts and parsley into the salad at the last minute so the parsley remains fresh and the walnuts remain crunchy.

Serve this salad at room temperature or cold.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 196.02
Calories From Fat (30%) - 59.01

Total Fat - 6.96g
Saturated Fat - 0.68g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 282.75mg
Potassium - 541.71mg
Total Carbohydrates - 25.52g
Fiber - 11.46g
Sugar - 3.71g
Protein - 9.53g

Comments:

This may have been my favorite dish from dinner tonight. The lentils are acidic from the sherry vinegar but not too acidic. Grated carrot adds a nice sweet crunch. The walnut flavor is subtle but adds a little omega three as well as fatty mouth feel that all dishes need. Chopped parsley adds a nice freshness to the dish. If you are looking for a different salad this one is a good option.