Potato and Veg Salad with Chermoula Spiced Potatoes

Monday was another one of those busy days for me. It started early with some strength training at home and then went for a hot and sweaty walk. With the heat and humidity I cut my walk short and stopped after 2 miles. It was one of those days where you came home dripping in sweat. *ugh*  At the moment I am really missing winter.

After I had a quick shower and felt more human I made myself a kale smoothie with wild blueberries. It always surprises me how draining our hot and humid weather can be. I should do my cardio inside but I find being outside to be more mentally stimulating so I typically opt to brave the humidity. ;-)

I met our friend Will for lunch on Monday. Will has been swamped working at Woodberry Kitchen so we haven’t had much time to catch up. We decided to go to Jesse Wong’s in Hunt Valley since they cater to vegetarians and vegans as well as omnivores. I ordered our usual Hunan “faux duck” and Will had sushi. I ask Will to try the “duck” and he was surprised by the texture too. Hopefully between the two of us we can figure out how to make the “duck” at home.

To throw my “cyber stalker” off the track I checked into Jesse Wong’s on Foursquare as we were walking out of the restaurant. It is such a shame that people need to behave inappropriately. We will see if checking in when we leave places works. *fingers crossed*

Will and I ended up chatted for about 2 and ½ hours and then it was time for me to get home and try to get caught up on my never ending to-do list. Did I make much progress on my list? Not really, LOL. *shakes head* For a retired woman I sure do have a busy schedule. ;-)

When it was time to make dinner I had no idea what I was going to prepare. I ended up making a batch of chermoula which I used to season roast potatoes and this became the basis for dinner. In addition to the potatoes I also roasted zucchini and add that to the potatoes. Both of these went in the refrigerator to cool. I also added artichoke hearts, shaved raw carrots (for texture and color), cilantro, and sliced almonds (for crunch) to the dish. I served the salad cold with tomato wedges.

This is how most of my meals develop. I typically have no idea what I am going to cook and just start winging things together. Usually I am inspired by something that I have eaten or cooked in the past but not always. One of the nice things about cooking now is that I have been doing it so long I don’t need to use cookbooks for recipes.

If you are new to cooking and thinking this will never happen to you, I disagree. I wasn’t always a good cook either. In fact I grew up in a home with a mother who hated to cook and consequently she didn’t. I learned to cook out of necessity because it was cook, buy carry out or go hungry. Believe me if I can become a good cook anyone can do it.

Happy thoughts:

Monday was a good day even though it was busy. Here is what I am grateful for today.

• It was very nice to see Will Monday for lunch. It is hard to believe that we hadn’t seen him since the end of May. Time really has been flying this summer.

• While it has been hot and humid this week at least we were no longer in the 100’s and that was something to be thankful for. We also got a little rain over the weekend which we desperately needed.

• My fur children are mostly back to normal which is very nice. The boys are running and playing together every day. Luca Belle has resumed her position as alpha cat and has the boys under her thumb toe like normal. ;-)

• Both Dan and I enjoyed the chermoula potato salad yesterday. It is great when I come up with new ideas for old recipes.

Signing Out:

It was another day which wasn’t terribly productive. Tomorrow I need to keep my mom company while my father goes to the oral surgeon so I don’t expect to get a lot done at home. Hopefully I am wrong about that and tomorrow will be a productive day.

Talk eith you again soon. I hope you enjoy what is left of your evening.  I am going to finish watch an episode of "Criminal Minds" which we recorded but haven't had time to watch yet.

Farmers’ Market Sunday and the Food

It is beyond me why we stayed up until 1am knowing that we would be waking up at 6am to go to the farmers’ market Sunday morning. Some people (and by that I do mean me) never learn.

This morning we were both moving more than a little slowly and the first thing Rudy said to us (after hello) was, "you look like you need coffee". Doesn’t that just say it all? LOL, we were at the market early but neither one of us was exactly 100%. Being tired didn’t get in the way of shopping however. We came home with a nice haul of fresh, local organic produce today. *woo hoo* Today we brought home: mesclun, tomatoes (green house grown *yay Rudy*), green onions, Swiss chard, wheat grass (for juicing), kale, cilantro, fresh ginger, asparagus, shitake mushrooms, beets, strawberries, parsley and dill. Our refrigerators are stuffed, but that is a very good thing in my opinion.

After we got home from the market we had green smoothies with the usual ingredients: kale, frozen bananas, wheat germ, freshly ground flaxseeds, walnuts, cinnamon, powdered ginger, water and stevia for Dan.

Dan got caught up on the sci fi that he had DVR’d while I finished reading a book. Today since I wasn’t firing on all cylinders I decided to make a very simple meal for lunch with my parents.

I used my little halogen/convection/infra red onion to roast onions, beets, and tomatoes. That little oven is very versatile. I can’t remember the last time that I actually turned on my big oven that is how much I use the new one. If you don’t have one I highly recommend them. While the little oven was working I also had red lentils cooking to use in a salad. Overall I spend very little time actually in the kitchen but we still had a home cooked meal.

The first dish was roasted beets, oranges, roasted red onion, granny smith apple, and cilantro. I dressed this with sherry vinegar and finished it with sliced almonds. Nothing fancy but both my parents enjoyed it and even asked me what was in it. Go figure!

The second dish was a green lentil salad tossed with Dijon mustard, lemon juice and lemon zest. I also added grated carrots, the roasted tomatoes (which were roasted to concentrate the flavor), celery and cucumber. You could easily make this dish with sherry vinegar if you didn’t have a fresh lemon. I finished it was cilantro but parsley would work too.  Additionally I sprinkled a few chopped walnuts on top for crunch and healthy fat.

Our dinner was a simple dried mushroom with freeman (green roasted wheat).

Followed by a big green salad with fruit (strawberries, blackberries and granny smith apple) dressed with balsamic vinegar and finished with sliced almonds for crunch.

Happy Thoughts:

• Sunday was a nice day and I enjoyed having my husband home so we got to spend a little time together. We had a relaxing day together which is always a good thing. I think everyone should have at least one day a week to goof off.

• The beet salad that I made up on the fly was extremely well received. Both my parents volunteered that they enjoyed it and even asked me what was in it. Huh? Seriously, that shocked me but in a good way. ;-)

• I am looking forward to Tuesday (my 49th birthday *sigh*) since Dan is taking the day off. At the moment I have no idea what we are going to do since it will depend partly on the weather. We may try a new place for lunch and check to see if Ian is working tomorrow evening. You don’t expect me to cook on my birthday do you? I know I haven’t been cooking much lately but I want the “day off” on my birthday too and Dan isn't going to venture into the kitchen.

• It was great to get back to the farmers’ market on Sunday. We learned that Rudy finished his book during the off season and he is saving a copy for me and I can’t wait to read it. How often do you get to read a book on health and nutrition (and gardening) written by a friend with a PhD in chemistry?

• Our CSA started on Sunday and that was great. Knowing that we have produce to pick on each Sunday should be enough to get us out of bed early on the weekend.

• Dan and I have both decided that we need to get back on our early morning schedule and get back to the gym before work. Sunday night we actually did turn in early so maybe we have turned over a new leaf. *fingers crossed*

Signing out:

Sorry for getting this post up so late. Monday was busy again, like most of my days have been recently. We ended up running errands, going out to dinner (no Ian can you imagine) and doing a little shopping. It was another good day but a busy one. Tomorrow will also be busy since Dan is taking the day off but I am going to take my lap top with me when we go out so that I can write the post while he is driving. With a little luck writing the post while I am out will work fine and will get it up earlier in the evening.


I hope your week has started off well. Talk to you again soon.

Frenetic Wednesday

My day completely got away from me today and I ran out of time to write a proper post. On the bright side I did have a few things go really well which I wanted to tell you about briefly, but will go into detail about tomorrow.

My morning started with fresh vegetable and fruit juice. As you can tell this one contained beet.  ;-)

I made the coconut soymilk today and was very pleased with how that turned out. Talk about easy and delicious and many options for enhancing it. This is a real winner and one I think you will enjoy.

Seaweed snacks are back at our house for the iodine. I will explain why in my next post.

Lunch was Egyptian flavored fava beans over quinoa (not very Egyptian but a good source of protein). 

Dan came home early from work today since he had an upset stomach. It is nothing serious he just wasn’t feeling right and it worried me since he never complains. However after being home for a while and relaxing was just what he needed. He is doing much better now. *whew* Now I can relax.

I had a great call this evening with Janet who is helping me to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. Who knows maybe I will figure it out before I am too old to put my ideas into action. *fingers crossed* Only time will tell.

Dinner was a fast curried "cream" of carrot soup made in the Vitamix. In case you hadn't noticed I love that machine.

After I get this posted I am making homemade chocolate dipped marshmallows for a friend. I won’t be blogging that since the recipe isn’t vegan. If any of you want the recipe please email me at veganepicurean@gmail.com and I will be happy to share it with you. Homemade marshmallows are very easy to make and delicious though neither good for you nor vegan.  When we were omnivores I made marshmallows every Christmas instead of cookies.  No sugar fiends in my circle of friends.  The chocolate dipped espresso marshmallows were always very popular. Sugar, caffeine and chocolate no wonder they were addictive.  LOL, see I am not kidding when I tell you that I haven't always been so health conscious.  ;-)

Happy thoughts:

• Overall I had a great day today. I got a number of things crossed off my to-do list which always makes me happy. It feels good to be productive.

• I enjoyed chatting with my friend Joy today about food that travels well without refrigeration. That conversation gave me some ideas of things to experiment with for Dan to take with him when he has to go somewhere for work. I will be detailing that in a future post.  I needed food ideas for when Dan has to go out of town for work but somehow when Joy asked the question I was able to come up with ideas more easily. I think talking to another woman was the secret.  ;-)

• I am thankful that my schedule is returning to normal. It is nice to have a little time to myself again.  Today I had a few minutes to kick back during the afternoon and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

• Today I started listening to “Veganist” the book on CD. I finished the first and second CDs today while doing other things around the house. I didn’t know what to expect but so far it is better than I thought it would be. When I get finished listening to it I will write a proper review.  I still have 6 CDs to go so it may be a few days before I am done.

• We are more than half way to the weekend. *happy dance* I love my weekends and hope we have good weather again this weekend so that we can take our bikes out for a long ride and maybe a picnic. Doesn’t that sound like fun?

Signing Out:

It is time to make the marshmallows, literally. They need to cure overnight before I can cut them and dip them in chocolate. After that it is time for us to start winding down.

I hope you had a great Wednesday. Talk to you again tomorrow. Good night!

Saturday Means Plumbing Issues … and Antipasti

Doesn’t it just seem like all our plumbing issues happen over the weekend. I promise that we really do use water other days of the week. ;-) I will get to the details on this situation later in the post. *rolls eyes* Needless to say the timing on the running water was not conducive to getting things accomplished around here.

Our morning started out like any other Saturday. We slept in like always throwing us off of schedule. So much for us getting up early. Oh well, there is always tomorrow to try get back on schedule. I suppose that would require us to get into bed before 1:30am. LOL

Breakfast was one of our usual meals. Dan had oats with: wild blueberries (from the freezer), wheat germ, freshly ground flax seeds, cinnamon, ginger, stevia and topped with walnuts.

Since it was oatmeal day I opted for savory oatmeal which I made with: nutritional yeast, cumin, paprika, no-salt seasoning, broccoli, salsa and raw pumpkin seeds. I really do love savory oatmeal in case you hadn’t noticed. ;-)

We both started drinking green tea so that we reached our goal of 6 mugs per day. After reading that you need 5-7 mugs per day for health reasons we set a goal of 6 mugs which we also have with a little ascorbate C (powdered vitamin C) to enhance the EGCG we absorb.

Next it was time to start thinking about the mid-afternoon meal with my parents. For some reason I was being extremely indecisive today so I opted for antipasti/mezze/tapas whatever you would like to call it. Here is the list of dishes I decided to make:

Chickpea Salad (made with lemon zest, lemon juice, raw onion, rehydrated dried tomatoes, cumin, coriander and fresh cilantro)
Artichokes and Dill
Green Bean and Potato Salad with Basil Cashew Crème (the cashew crème was raw cashews, nutritional yeast, Dijon, water and basil from the freezer) and topped with walnuts

Cucumber slices (for dipping)
Raw Pepper strips (for dipping)
Carrot sticks (for dipping)

Hummus (made with sesame seeds, lemon zest, lemon juice, the water used to rehydrate the tomatoes, garlic, cumin and paprika)

Spinach Salad with Lemon Juice and Lemon Zest

When I was mostly finished prepping the meal I heard an odd whooshing sound as the sink drained. It turned  out that the nut on the drain pipe broke and the water drained into my lower cabinet and through the floor to the ceiling below. Happy, happy, joy, joy! *ugh* Once we got the water cleaned up which took much longer than you would expect Dan was off to the hardware store for an inexpensive part to fix the problem. We both have our fingers crossed that the ceiling below is fine. *sigh*

Don’t you just love old houses? LOL, yeah me too ... sometimes I love them and other times I am wondering why I love them. Oh well I suppose if I were 115 years old I would be showing my age too. ;-)

As you can imagine the meal with my parents was quite delayed by this fiasco. I got in touch with my parents right after the whoosh and expected them to say they would see us tomorrow instead but they opted to wait and eat with us later. Huh? Could they actually be starting to enjoy my food? That can’t be it … there must be some other motivation. LOL

Everyone liked the antipasti meal, it must be an Italian thing we all seem to like to nibble. The dish that was the most popular seemed to be the green bean and potato with basil cashew crème and walnuts.

After the mess in the kitchen today all I wanted to do was get out of the house. Gee I wonder why? We talked about going back to the restaurant to have a pot of green tea at the bar and talk to everyone but couldn’t get moving early.

Since we ate lunch so late we weren’t exactly hungry later in the day. After going out to eat yesterday I was content to skip a meal but Dan needed the calories and I know you have already guessed what that means. … yep, we went back to the restaurant for the second night in a row. David was working this evening for the first time in at least 2 years (long story) so we thought it would be nice to see him which it was. David is vegan so we had a lot to chat about. Not to mention we wanted to hear what he had been up to. Yes it really is like one big family at the restaurant and we are part of the clan which yoy probably assumed.

We didn’t walk in the door of the restaurant until 9pm but we know the kitchen is open until 10 on the weekend so we thought we were okay, and we were. Ian had already left when we got there but Will was working and greeted us with “why didn’t you let me know you were coming I would have made something.” Of course everything we had for dinner was great even though the kitchen had no warning.

Will wanted to know what we were in the mood for and Dan asked for a small pizza with a few toppings. This one contained red bell pepper, garlic, onion, fresh basil, and balsamic glaze. Dan ate the entire pizza because I didn’t the need the calories, but he enjoyed it.

Next Will brought us out a dish he was working on for tomorrow to get our thoughts on it since it was vegan. He told us he tried garbanzos and snow together earlier in the day and liked the combination which was the start of the dish. In his first incarnation the dish was: garbanzos, snow peas, baby arugula, roasted red pepper, raw red onion with a dressing of sriracha, lime and toasted sesame oil. I suggested fresh cilantro and black sesame seeds but otherwise thought it was spot on. I will admit I ate most of this and thoroughly enjoyed it. So much for I didn’t need the calories. What happened to that idea? LOL

When we looked at the special’s menu we noticed that Ian had taken my suggestion and added lentils to the crispy potato and pea dish. We had to try the revised version and I will say I liked the addition of the lentil and was very excited that Ian had taken my suggestion. ;-) The cilantro dipping sauce on this was fabulous.  Ian makes the best sauce and that always makes a dish.

Like always we ordered a couple of pots of green tea to accompany our meal.

Since Will is meeting with Jose Andres next week I brought my copy of El Bulli 2003, 2004 for him to get familiar with before the meeting. Will is the only person I know that gets into the foams and spherifications like I do so I had to share. He had that same look on his face I did when Dan gave me the books for Christmas. All food geeks are the same I suppose.  If you are interested in molecular gastronomy you will really enjoy these books I know I did.

It was another late night for us but like always we had a good day plumbing fiasco aside.

Happy thoughts:

Well, this will be fun today since it hasn’t been the best day around here, but let’s see what I can come up with:

• Dinner last night was delicious, the company was wonderful which includes Dan and everyone at the restaurant many of who stopped to sit and chat. We are extremely fortunate to have some place where we can go and get vegan meals that is within walking distance.

• Dan and I had a nice relaxing Saturday morning together. We talked, sipped tea and enjoyed each other’s company until it was time for me to begin prepping the meal with my parents.

• I am very thankful that my husband is extremely handy and had the plumbing issue resolved in less than 10 minutes after returning from the hardware store. Now we just need things to dry out and we will be back to normal. Things could have been much worse than they were.

• Everyone enjoyed the meal of antipasti/mezze today. This seems to be a great way to serve a group of people with different tastes in food. I need to do this more often now that I have realized how well it works for my parents. It makes me happy when my omnivore parents eat multiple plates of food.

• It was extremely nice to put our feet up and relax after my parents left. There was a little too much excitement this afternoon but that made relaxing that much better.

• I am also grateful to have the entire weekend with my sweetie, unlike last weekend. I love spending time with my baby.

• As strange as this will sound I am also grateful to Dr. Fuhrman. When I noticed that the pollen count is high here I was surprised since I don’t have a running nose, itchy eyes or sinus pressure. Before reading “Eat to Live” and embarking on a healthy vegan diet I always had horrible allergies. I took Sudafed from March to November most of my life. After a few months as a healthy vegan my seasonal allergies disappeared and they never came back. Every year when I realize that the pollen is high and I am not reacting to it I am still surprised. Woo hoo for Dr. Fuhrman; I feel so much better eating this way it is hard to describe. Thank you for writing the book that literally changed my life. I am so thankful to be on no medications (including over the counter) and feeling better than I did in my 20’s. I think you are a miracle worker.

• It was great to see David tonight. He is such a great guy and always great to talk to. Hopefully he can help us nudge Ian into a few more vegan dishes on the menu. Slowly but surely we may make headway with the chef. *fingers crossed*

• The look on Will’s face was priceless when he was looking through the first El Bulli. I loved watching him with the first book. Not to mention I can’t wait to see what he comes up with after going through the books. It is wonderful to share my love of cooking and food with others.

Signing out:

As you have probably guessed it was another hectic day for us. I am hoping for a boring Sunday. I hope your Saturday was good.

My plan for Sunday is to have time to thoroughly document how to make tofu. I intend to make another batch on Sunday and photograph the steps to make thing very clear. Talk to you again very soon.

Lime, Miso and Vanilla Dressing & Eat to Defeat Cancer

I really should know better than to let so many days go between postings. That or I need to learn to cover less in the update posts. It actually took me over 4 hours on Friday to get the post up with all the photos and that was after I had written most of it the prior day. Yikes! That is why I haven’t been able to fit posts into my schedule recently. Even on a good day I spend an average of 2-3 hours writing a post, working up the nutrition information for recipes, taking then selecting and reducing photos and getting everything onto BlogSpot. When you wonder why I skip posting some days now you know why. It can sometimes be tough to work that much time into my schedule. I could always post something shorter and without as many pictures, recipe details and/or health info but how much fun would that be? ;-)

On a related note I have been toying with the idea of changing what I include in my posts every day. If any of you have any suggestions regarding things/topics you would like me to cover I would love to know what is on your mind. Before I make any drastic changes I will post what I am thinking about and ask you for feedback. I want to the blog to continue to be something that is useful for all of you that take the time to read.

Our food Friday, Saturday and Sunday was not terribly exciting. We had our usual oatmeal and green smoothies for breakfast. Dan had to go downtown to his office on Saturday making food that day a bit dull. However I did make one salad dressing on Sunday that everyone enjoyed so I wanted to share that with you.

Dan remembered the lime and vanilla dressing that I had made before and asked me to make that again. When I looked it up it contained olive oil. You know that I wasn’t going to use oil now so I had to decide what to include to emulsify the dressing. I decided to try white miso and that worked well. Here is what I did:

Lime, Vanilla and Miso Salad Dressing
Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 organic lime, zested and juiced
1 teaspoon white miso
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract (not the imitation stuff)

Directions:

Combine everything and whisk until the miso is broken up. No one wants to bite down on a big chunk of miso. ;-) Refrigerate the dressing in a closed container until needed.

I used this dressing on a salad of mesclun, Asian pear, blackberries and slivered almonds and the salad disappeared.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 10.36
Calories From Fat (10%) - 1.02

Total Fat - 0.12g
Saturated Fat - 0.02g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 53.85mg
Potassium - 23.27mg
Total Carbohydrates-  2.45g
Fiber - 0.7g
Sugar-  0.44g
Protein - 0.31g

Comments:

This is a great dressing to use on a salad with fruit. You will be seeing this turn on the blog again since everyone enjoyed it so much.

The other dish that I made for lunch on Sunday was roasted veggies (carrots, onion, mushrooms) that I tossed in lemon juice and zest immediately after roasting. Then I added zatar (a Middle Eastern spice blend of thyme and sesame seeds) and sumac (another Middle Eastern spice). I placed the veggies on top of quinoa.

Sunday night we needed to have dinner but I didn’t have any leftovers in the refrigerator. For dinner I made a batch of queso (this time with nutritional yeast, cumin and chili powder added) and used that to top quinoa and a lot of mixed veggies. I wanted to mention that because the sauce is very useful and one of my go to items when I need something quick. Without the nutritional yeast this sauce has also been popular with omnivores.

Golden Raisins:

Jenny asked me what brand of golden raisins I buy and that is pictured above front and back. I like theses because they are organic and only contain raisins no preservatives or other chemicals.

TEDx Manhattan:

Since Dan was downtown working on Saturday I had a chance to watch most of the TEDx program that was streaming live. Dr. William Li who I tuned in to see was a two part program. The first part was a repeat of this talk. The second part was a brief follow up to his talk. He mentioned his website “Eat to Defeat” Cancer and talked about some of the new science. You can join his site for free, I did, and get access to the list of foods that result in anti-angiogenesis (stopping the blood supply to cancer).

Dr. William Li was on the Dr. Oz show a few weeks ago and talked about eating hard cheese for the vitamin K2 it contains. You will not be surprised to know I did a little research and found out that there is a vegan item with more K2 than hard cheese. The only problem is that item is natto. I happen to have natto in the refrigerator but have not been brave enough to eat it yet. If any of you have any tips on how to make it less “gooey and gelatinous” I would love to hear your suggestions. ;-)

Happy thoughts:

I have many things to be happy about today. Here are my happy thoughts now:

• Woo hoo! The 8 nights of the Great Health Debate have ended. It was interesting to hear numerous people discuss health and I took a lot of notes and have many things to research. However it is also nice to have all that time back. I am looking forward to a more leisurely schedule this week.

• Sunday was the 24th anniversary of the day Dan and I met. I realized that we have now been together more than half my life. In one respective it feels like we couldn’t have together that long and in another it seems like we have been together forever. It is so nice to be married to my best friend.  :-)

• Our weather today (Monday) was glorious! It was wonderful to reach 65 early in the afternoon. Too bad it was crazy windy but the temperature was great. I loved having the windows open for a while today to air out the house. Nothing smells better than fresh air. ;-)

• I am really looking forward to spring now after the heat wave we had today. Spring is my favorite season! I can’t wait for my azaleas to bloom again. I am also looking forward to getting outside everyday to get fresh air, play in the garden, and ride my bike. Ahhhh spring is great I can’t wait for it to arrive.

Signing out:

It is time for me to log out so I can unwind. Tomorrow I have an appointment but hope that won’t keep me from getting a post up. I hope Valentine’s Day was good for you. Talk to you soon, hopefully tomorrow.

Simple Supper Saturday and Intentional Leftovers

Saturday is always my favorite day of the week. Like usual we slept in until our bodies thought it was time to wake up. I love getting extra sleep on Saturday.

For breakfast we had oatmeal with mixed wild berries, cinnamon, powdered ginger, freshly ground flaxseed, sliced banana and walnuts. Like usual my oatmeal was made with water and to Dan’s I added stevia.

After breakfast we started talking about what I would make for the meal with my parents. This becomes more difficult each week. Since my parents are omnivores and eat processed food their diet is very different from ours. I could easily make unhealthy vegan food and they would love that but I don’t want to feed that to Dan and me. In the end I went with very simple food.

We started the meal with a simple lunch salad of red wine marinated thinly sliced cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, grape tomatoes, artichokes, hearts of palm, yellow bell pepper, seasoned with zatar and sumac over mesclun greens. Since my father loves marinated veggies he enjoyed this and I didn’t even need to add oil to his. ;-)

The lunch entrée was a quick dish of quinoa topped with mixed veggies, southern Italian tomato sauce with golden raisins added and topped with sliced almonds. I was in a Sicilian mood and this is what I made. By adding raisins to the sauce it took the sauce in a Sicilian direction.

After the meal with my parents we decided to run to the health food store in Towson (The Health Concern) to pick up a few things. I wanted to get herbs to add to my tea collection since I have started making different tea blends on the fly.

Here is a small sample of the bulk herbs they carry at the store. I picked up: lemon balm, licorice root, dandelion root, calendula, astragalus, bilberry, and echinacea. Dan got some sencha and gunpowder green tea to add to his office tea collection. I will be writing a tea post soon and will outline the benefits of the ingredients I picked up on Saturday.

They also have a nice bulk food area at the health food store. The prices on the bulk food are excellent in general particularly the organic beans.

However the item that stood out to me as a super bargain were the organic raw cashew pieces at $4.99 per pound. The organic raw whole cashews were $7.99 here and $8.99 at Whole Foods today. If you have a local health food store and use raw cashews for a cream substitute you should see if your store carries raw cashew pieces. This is the best price I have seen on these. As soon as I am low I will be buying my cashews here from now on.

I also bought organic kamut and millet to add to my grain stash. My pantry is like a little grocery store. I need to share that with you sometime. I probably have 30+ pounds of beans on hand at all time and another 20+ pounds of whole grains. Dan teases me that if “the shit goes down” we will have food for months. He may have a point, LOL. I guess I need to find a local chapter of “food hoarders anonymous”. ;-)

Next we headed to Whole Foods because we were out of kale and I prefer organic which is why we shop here. Can you imagine running out of kale? Dan was seriously missing his green smoothie option for breakfast meaning we needed to rectify the kale shortage by purchasing four bunches. ;-) We should have enough kale to last us the week now.

A few other items jumped into the cart like 4 pounds of tofu, unsulfured organic Turkish apricots and macadamia nuts (for nut cheese).

I stopped at the prepared food area to see what they had interesting. I noticed these lentil veggie burgers. However at $7.99 a pound I will be making a version of my own instead. Since I know Sheila and Troy like these I am going to use the ingredients as a starting off point for the next batch of veggie burgers I make. The ingredients are simple enough that I should be able to come up with something similar.

Once we got home I wasn’t really in the mood to cook. Dinner ended up being leftover soup Mexican flavored soup topped with quinoa, cilantro and raw pumpkin seeds. Are you starting to notice how much I rely on my intentional leftovers? We would not be able to eat only home cooked food without the intentional leftovers.

We had an orange and Brazil nuts (for the selenium) for our evening snack.

Like usual Dan had strawberry banana soft serve for dessert.

Intentional Leftovers:

I wanted to cover this again for those of you that are new to the blog. My definition of intentional leftovers is that I cook once and we eat two or three times. Whenever I cook I intentionally make enough food for multiple meals.

Examples of this are that I always cook a pound of beans even if I only need two cups, or I make a gallon of tomato sauce though I need 4 cups, or that I cook a cup and half of brown rice when we only need a half cup for a meal. By doing things like this I can cook once but we eat more than once. I do the same thing when I make veggie burgers or seitan for the freezer. Additionally when I make soup I always make 6 or 8 servings so we have more for later.

If I didn’t cook extra food it would be difficult to avoid packaged and processed food. While I like to cook I also don’t want to spend hours every day in the kitchen. By making intentional leftovers I give myself some time out of the kitchen but we still eat homemade food.

Also I try to make food that can be used in many different ways so that while the food is leftover it isn’t the same every time we consume it. I assume most of you have noticed how I change things by adding different condiments, fresh herbs, nuts, or grains to dishes. That is one of the secrets to making leftovers work. I hope that helps you to understand how and why I cook what I do.

I do this so we can avoid eating processed food. Food that has been treated with chemicals and preservatives is not something I want my family consuming. I am convinced that chemically treated food is at the very least not as nutritious as fresh or frozen whole food and at worst is harmful. That is the reason you don’t see any commercial products like commercial faux dairy or meat analogs on my blog.

Happy Thoughts:

I just love the weekend and have many happy things to share today. Here are my happy thoughts:

• Dan spent most of the weekend with me, only taking a little time to work in his office from home. We had a good weekend together doing a whole lot of nothing special other than spending time together.

• We both enjoyed watching “The Future of Food” on Saturday. If you haven’t seen it I recommend it. We watched it on Netflix streaming. It is all about genetic engineering of food. If you don’t currently try to buy organic you will after seeing this.

• My cute little Binky boy woke me up this morning by crawling up on my back and gently licking my ear. He can be such a little angel when he wants to be. We are very lucky to have such sweet little babies in our family.

• Our weather this weekend was nicer than it has been. With temperatures back to our normal mid 40’s the snow is starting to melt which is nice.

• The scale has been friendly to me this weekend. The mystery pounds disappeared and took an additional 1.5 pounds with them. *happy dance* LOL, I know I get too happy about these things.

• I did something absolutely shocking on Saturday. I went to the health food store and Whole Foods without makeup. I know this may not sound like a big deal to most of you but I used to wear makeup to the gym so for me this is huge. If you haven’t tried it you should it felt very liberating in a weird way. ;-)

Signing out:

Time for me to wind down before turning in. I hope you had a great weekend. Talk to you again tomorrow.

Monday back to the gym & Favas with ‘Shrooms

Back to the gym….my goodness 5am comes early in the morning. I did a little time on the elliptical, spin bike and finished with the track. Not the best calorie burn day but my knee feels okay. Dan did say I was limping a little on the track so maybe I still need to take it easy for a few weeks. Darn it! On the bright side there was no serious pain though my knee felt a bit unstable, so I shouldn’t complain. ;-) I bought an adjustable sport knee wrap Sunday night but it felt weird so I didn’t wear it. Do any of you have a knee wrap you like? If you do I would love to know the brand.

Since Sunday Dan’s voice has been a little froggy sounding. He said his throat doesn’t hurt and he doesn’t have a fever or any aches but I still wanted to get some raw garlic into him since it is anti-bacterial and anti-viral. Of course I crushed the garlic and let it sit 10 minutes before we consumed it so the allicin had time to develop. I made us some quick tomato juice in the Vitamix by combining: 32 ounces canned tomatoes (no salt), ½ raw red pepper, ½ cucumber, 2 cloves garlic, ¼ teaspoon dill, ½ teaspoon celery seed and a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes. Blend until smooth and serve. You can add ice to this or drink it room temperature. I think it has been flavor when it is room temperature.

Dan’s breakfast this morning was oats with wild blueberries (frozen), cinnamon, ginger, ground flaxseeds, walnuts and a little stevia.

We also had a mug of Youthberry white tea from Teavana which has become our latest obsession. If you haven’t tried it this stuff is really good. Pricey, but good!

My breakfast was the end of the miso veg soup with okara. Having soup for breakfast lately suits me well. I will need to make more soup soon so I have that option in the morning. I have come to the conclusion that I am much more a savory than sweet person though Dan likes his sugar. I need to work on cutting that back for him though he still has good fasting blood glucose so I might be getting too hyper about this. OCD, me? I bet you can’t imagine that can you? ;-)

My lunch was Indian leftover from last night without the rice.

My afternoon snack was cucumber slices which I dipped into cashew and sundried tomato dressing that I made last week.

I also had an orange and two Brazil nuts.

Since we ate the end of the cooked beans in the Indian food I knew that was on my agenda today. We hadn’t had fava beans in a while so I grabbed some of those from my pantry.

Egyptian flavored Fava Beans and Shitakes
Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 cup dried fava beans (cook 10 minutes and peel)
6 cups water
16 ounces diced tomatoes (no salt) or 15 ounce can of low or no salt tomatoes
freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 red onion, finely diced
8 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 cup dried shitake mushrooms
2 cups water for rehydrating mushrooms
2 meyer lemons, zested and juiced (or substitute 1 lemon and ½ orange)
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Combine the beans and water and boil for 10 minutes then let them cool enough so you can pick them up. Remove the dark outer skin and throw that away. Return the peeled beans to the pot and cook until tender.

While the beans are cooking combine the dried mushrooms and water and heat for a few minutes then allow the mushrooms to sit in the liquid for at least 30 minutes until they are tender enough to cut into thin slices (6 or 8 slices per cap).

When the beans are tender add the remaining ingredients except the lemon and cook until the veggies are tender.

When you are ready to serve, top the beans with lemon zest and juice. I served this over baked sweet potatoes for dinner with two servings leftover for lunch tomorrow.

Nutritional information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 205.41
Calories From Fat (4%) - 9.2

Total Fat - 1.1g
Saturated Fat - 0.17g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 29.19mg
Potassium - 886.36mg
Total Carbohydrates - 40.79g
Fiber - 12.91g
Sugar - 6.23g
Protein - 12.62g

Comments:

This dish requires more work than most bean dishes due to peeling the beans. That step is a little tedious and time consuming but results in a very tender creamy bean so it is worth it occasionally, IMO. The flavor of this dish is mild until you add the lemon. I used meyer lemons because it was what I had in the house but regular lemons would also work but then use less since the flavor is more intense.

I had this on Tuesday for lunch and had it over white potato instead of sweet potato and used red wine vinegar in place of citrus and added parsley. Those changes were enough to make it taste like a second dish which is something I like to do with leftovers.

Dan needed the calories so I made him strawberry and banana soft serve with kale because there wasn’t any kale in breakfast. Yes we do try to eat dark leafy greens everyday for nutrition. As always I had a few spoons and gave most of the dessert to Dan.

Happy thoughts:

Monday was another good day for me. I was productive and had a good day making a dent in my to-do list. I have much to be thankful for and here are my happy thoughts today:

• I am always thankful when I can get items crossed off my to-do list. There is nothing like being productive to put a big smile on my face.

• It was great to get back to the gym and to no overdo it and harm my knee further. I feel good about learning to moderate my activity.

• We had a good food day in terms of health. Whenever we have a healthy food day I realize how fortunate we are that I have the both the time to research nutrition and make our food from scratch. I love knowing that what we eat nourishes us.

• My little fur kids were so precious today. I love them so much and I am very thankful to have them in our lives. They help to make our house a home. Who wouldn’t be smitten by a cat that gives wants to give you a bath? Our babies can be adorable.

• I am very fortunate to have many caring people in my life. How did I get so lucky? I am not sure but I am grateful to have them in my life. Thank you guys!

Signing out:

Time for me to spend time with my hubby and fur babies. I will talk to you again tomorrow with the results of pulling my pressure cooker out of storage. I tried one experiment and made a nice sweet and sour cabbage dish in the style of caponata today.

Enjoy the remainder of your evening.

Middle Eastern Flavored Rice Salad and Asian Inspired Mushroom Soup

Sometimes I crave grains and that was what was happening today. I just wanted something “carby”. Well you know me well enough to realize it wasn’t going to be unhealthy carbs right? Yes even I have carb cravings.

While brown rice isn’t the most healthy grain out there I do like the texture and size of the grain. I wanted to make something Middle Eastern inspired to have with our baked falafel. Here is what I came up with:

Middle Eastern Flavored Rice Salad
Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup brown basmati rice
3 cups water
½ tablespoon tomato paste (to add a bit of background flavor)
6 whole allspice berries, ground into a powder
1 cinnamon stick
1 lemon, zested and juiced
¼ cup golden raisins (or any finely diced dried fruit about the size of raisins)
¼ cup pine nuts
¼ cup fresh mint, finely minced
¼ cup fresh dill, finely minced
1 cucumber, finely diced
½ carrot, finely diced

Directions:

Combine the rice, water, tomato paste, allspice, and cinnamon and bring to a boil. Make certain to dissolve the tomato paste in the water so you don’t end up with a lump of tomato paste in the cooked rice.

When the rice has cooked completely add the lemon zest and juice and fluff the rice with a fork. Allow the rice to cool to room temperature. Add the remaining ingredients and distribute the ingredients evenly into the rice. Refrigerate until needed.

I like this in a lettuce cup topped with a falafel and a bit of cashew creme fraiche.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 186
Calories From Fat (18%) - 34.12

Total Fat - 4.11g
Saturated Fat - 0.44g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 19.4mg
Potassium - 243.46mg
Total Carbohydrates - 35.45g
Fiber - 3.65g
Sugar - 4.03g
Protein - 4.08g

Comments:

This dish has much more flavor that you would expect it to have without oil or salt. The fresh herbs add a lot of flavor to the dish. I like the pops of sweetness from the raisins. I added finely diced carrot for color and a bit of texture since they are harder than the cucumber. The pine nuts add a nice richness to the dish. Overall I think this is light but very nice.

Book Review: Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease (by Caldwell Esselstyn, MD)

I should start by saying that I tried to read this some time ago and it seems so strict that I didn’t finish it. However now that my diet has become so “clean” it seems much more reasonable. Hmmmm, I wonder what that says about me? Yes this book is strict in terms of fat, very strict. However if someone has heart disease I think that makes the most sense.

From the title it is obvious what this book is about. I find it fascinating how much success this MD has had with not only stopping but reversing existing heart disease. If you or someone you love have heart disease this books outlines a plan that is much more palatable than surgery, or at least it would be for me. I would much rather change my diet that have someone cut me open.

You may be wondering why I am reading a book about heart disease when neither Dan nor I have any signs of heart disease. I have learned from my reading about nutrition that the same diet that is helpful for preventing and/or slowing cancer also prevents and/or reverses diabetes and heart disease. There is very little difference in good nutrition in terms of preventing all chronic disease. This came together for me after I read “The China Study” when the author discussed the diseases of affluence. Also I like to read what various clinicians have to say about nutrition since everyone has their own way of explaining things as well as their own biases. I find it helps to understand all the different theories. I have even read books by Sally Fallon trying to understand all the various nutritional theories. Let’s just say some of the theories are backed by more scholarly studies than others.;-)

The book is outlined as follows:

Part One: The Heart of the Matter

1. Eating to Live
2. “Someday We’ll Have to Get Smarter”
3. Seeking the Cure
4. A Primer on Heart Disease
5. Moderation Kills
6. Living, Breathing Proof
7. Why Didn’t Anyone Tell Me?
8. Simple Steps
9. Frequently Asked Questions
10. Why Can’t I Have “Heart Healthy” Oils?
11. Kindred Spirits
12. Brave New World
13. You Are in Control

Part Two: The Joy of Eating

14. Simple Strategies
15. Advice from Ann Crile Esselstyn
16. Breaking the Fast
17. Feasting on Salads
18. Sauces, Dips, Dressings and Gravies
19. Vegetables, Plain and Fancy
20. Soups, Thick and Delicious
21. Sandwiches for All Occasions
22. The Main Course
23. Wonderful, Easy Desserts

Since my focus has been on cancer I have a much better understanding of heart disease after reading this book. The doctor does a good job of taking a complicated subject and making it easy to understand. I particularly liked his chapter “Moderation Kills” as well as “Why Can’t I Have “Heart Healthy” Oils?”. I feel as though I now know the damage that oil has on the endothelium’s ability to produce nitric oxide and why this is something we should all care about.

If you are trying to follow Dr. Fuhrman or Dr. McDougall the recipes alone are worth the cost of the book. Dr. Esselstyn’s plan is more like Dr. McDougall’s in terms of total grain consumption but the recipes would be easy to modify to reduce the grain.

Overall I enjoyed this book and it enhanced my understanding of how the body works and the impact that food has on the functioning of the book. If you are concerned about heart disease (and who isn’t since it impacts 1 out of every 2 of us) this book is a good read.

Today:

Somehow we have run out of soup and cooked beans again. I swear I don’t know where all the food goes around here. ;-) Of course I needed to rectify this situation today so we had quick food to eat for lunch. I made some roasted red pepper fat free hummus similar to this.

Next I worked on making a pot of soup. Dan and I both like mushrooms so I decided use them as the focus of the soup. While the dried mushrooms were soaking I was thinking what to do with them. I considered making a cream of mushroom soup but decided I wanted something a little lighter and ended up with an Asian style soup. Here is what I made:

Asian inspired Mushroom, Vegetable and Soba Noodle Soup
Serves 6

Ingredients:

3 cups dried mushrooms
10 cups of water to rehydrate the mushrooms
½ yellow onion, peeled and finely diced (allow to stand 10 minutes before heating so the thiopropanal sulfoxide can develop)
6 cloves garlic, peeled and finely diced (allow to stand 10 minutes before heating so the allicin can develop)
½ inch fresh ginger, finely minced
2 carrots, very thinly sliced on a mandoline or thinly julienned
1 bundle soba noodles (check the noodles for sodium content the amounts vary from 110 - 1,080mg’s per bundle from what I have seen)
6 collard leaves, thinly julienned into bite sized strips (or sub 2 cups of thinly sliced Napa cabbage or green cabbage)
3 green onions
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (to add a little background buttery flavor)
Asian sauce of your choice to taste (I used vegetarian oyster sauce that is mushroom based)

Directions:

Combine the mushrooms and water and heat until hot. Allow the mushrooms to soak for at least 30 minutes before straining then from the soaking liquid, to remove any grit. Chop the mushrooms into pieces that will fit on a soup spoon.

Combine the strained mushroom soaking liquid, diced mushrooms, onions, garlic, and ginger and cook until the onions are tender. To the simmer liquid add the carrot and noodles and cook according to the noodle package directions. Two minutes before the noodles are expected to be finished add the carrots and collards.

Add the nutritional yeast at the end and then add Asian sauce to taste.

Nutritional Information (does not include the Asian sauce component which will mostly impact the sodium):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 264.32
Calories From Fat (4%) - 11.15

Total Fat - 1.25g
Saturated Fat - 0.1g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 110.5mg
Potassium - 656.43mg
Total Carbohydrates - 58.26g
Fiber - 6.44g
Sugar - 3.59g
Protein - 8.51g

Food since my last post:

Dan worked ridiculously late last night so dinner wasn’t really dinner. I had a few baked falafel on a small green salad and Dan had a bowl of strawberry banana soft serve (no oats).

Breakfast this morning was oatmeal with raspberries, blueberries, cinnamon, ginger, ground flax and walnuts for Dan, like usual.

I made myself a small salad of ½ head of shredded romaine, ½ heirloom tomato, a little salsa, ½ cucumber, ½ shredded carrot, a sprinkle of raw sesame seeds, a drizzle of cashew crème fraiche and some dehydrated leeks.

To accompany the salad I had 1/6 of a large cantaloupe, a peach, a few blackberries and a sprinkling of white chia seeds. This was washed down my hot lemon water which has become my new morning ritual as the mornings grow colder.

At lunch time I wasn’t particularly hungry but I knew needed some beans so I grabbed about a cup of stove top baked beans to give me a little extra protein.  If you think the scale looks wrong it is because I tend to eat off salad plates with appetizer forks unless I am having a green salad.

My afternoon snack was a cup of frozen grapes. My freezer always contains frozen grapes. I never put them in smoothies they always go into a bowl and I eat them like little bon bons. They are so good this way I never eat grapes that aren’t frozen.

Dinner was a bowl of the soup (from above) and a lettuce wraps with rice salad (from above), baked falafel topped with cashew crème fraiche. I put red pepper hummus in the middle of the plate because I thought the plate needed color. Didn’t see that coming did you? ;-) Sometimes I add things for appearance it isn’t always just taste. A little of the eggplant tomato salad would have been great in the middle of the plate but we ate it all.

That is going to be it for me tonight it is getting late and a Jimmy Buffet concert for the Gulf Coast is playing that Dan and I want to see. We haven’t seen him in concert in 10 years but so far it is the same as always, less the smoldering hair that is. ;-)

I hope you are all having a good evening. Talk to you tomorrow.

Baked Falafel and Soy Protein Isolate?

Falafel is a staple food at our house. I always have them in the freezer to toss on our salad for a fast bean component to a meal. It wasn’t until I had a friend from the Middle East that I learned that falafel are traditionally made with uncooked beans. I still remember when I heard this thinking the idea was nuts to use only soaked beans but it works and results in a lovely light textured falafel. My friend is a bit of a falafel snob so I have picked up a few pointers just by going to dinner with him often. According to him falafel should have a green tint or they aren’t authentic. You can use all cilantro or a combination of cilantro, parsley and mint. I love cilantro so I use it exclusively.

Some of the other things I have added to the falafel are not traditional. Specifically I am referring to the raw sesame seeds, lemon zest and hot crushed peppers (wet hots). These are how I make the falafel my own. Here is what I did:

Baked Falafel
Makes 36 balls that are approximately 2 small bites each

Ingredients:

1 cup garbanzo beans, soaked at least 24 hours
1 cup mini fava beans, soaked at least 24 hours (or substitute garbanzo beans)
4 cloves garlic, peeled
¼ large yellow onion, peeled (about ½ cup)
1 lemon, zested and 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
½ cup raw sesame seeds
1 - 2 cups fresh cilantro (depending on how much you like cilantro) the “dough” should be green
2 teaspoons coriander, ground
2 teaspoons cumin, ground
1 tablespoons hot crushed peppers (wet hots) – optional but adds nice flavor
1 teaspoon baking soda
black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (convection) and line a half sheet pan with silpat or parchment paper. If you don’t have a parchment or silpat you can lightly mist the sheet pan with oil to make certain the falafel don’t stick. I have not tried to bake them without lining the pan first or using oil however it may work fine like baking tofu, but I am not certain.

Drain the beans well and grind them thoroughly in your food processor. I have a 14 cup Cuisinart food processor which allowed me to grind all the beans at once but you may want to divide them into two batches if you are using a smaller machine. When the beans are thoroughly ground move them to a mixing bowl. Make certain the beans are completely ground. If you have any big pieces of bean in the mixture it will be unpleasant to eat.

Place the remaining ingredients (using the smaller amount of cilantro) except the baking soda and pepper, into you blender. Process until you have a smooth mixture. I had to use the plunger on my Vitamix to get the items to blender thoroughly. Pour the mixture into the beans and mix well. Taste the mixture for seasoning and add more pureed cilantro is desired. To the falafel mixture add the baking soda and mix very well. Next add black pepper, to taste. It is important to thoroughly mix the baking soda into the dish so you don’t end up with any particularly salty individual falafel.

Use a cookie disher (one that is 1 ½ tablespoon size) to form the balls. Form a round ball in your hands then flatten slightly so that they don’t roll on the sheet pan. Refrigerate the formed balls on the sheet tray until the oven comes to temperature. This will help the balls to stay together. In the past I have sprayed the balls with olive oil in a mister but I now omit that step and they are still brown and crispy. Go figure. ;-)

Bake the balls for 20-30 minutes or until lightly browned. Allow them to cool a few minutes so they are easier to flip then gently flip and bake until the bottom is lightly browned. The second baking takes less time maybe 10-15 minutes. You don’t want to overcook them or they can get dry.

If you are going to freeze them (like I do) place them on baking sheet in a single layer and freeze until solid. Then place them in a zipper bag of vacuum bag and freeze in your typical portion size (one serving, two servings, etc.).

Nutrition information per ball:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 49.86
Calories From Fat (25%) - 12.53

Total Fat - 1.5g
Saturated Fat - 0.19g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 38.56mg
Potassium - 123.13mg
Total Carbohydrates - 7.03g
Fiber - 2.43g
Sugar - 0.97g
Protein - 2.69g

Comments:

I posted this recipe more for the method and general ingredients so that you can make the recipe your own. The flavor of this version is my favorite but I do vary it also. If you like a lighter flavor falafel you may want to eliminate the hot crushed peppers, reduce the onion and garlic and add a grated zucchini instead for moisture. Also you can add a little mint in place of some of the cilantro if you are a fan of mint. There are many ways to change this dish.

What’s the Matter with: Soy Protein Isolates?

I mentioned a few weeks ago that after talking to a few of my friends about the health concerns with specific foods I decided that I should work on a series of posts about some of these foods. I decided to start with soy protein isolates because these seem to show up on other blogs daily which I find very disturbing from a health perspective which is my primary focus when it comes to food.

What is Soy Protein Isolate?

I should start with what is soy protein isolate. Soy beans are mashed into slurry which is mixed with an alkaline solution to remove the fiber. The fiber is separated using an acid wash which is neutralized in an alkaline solution. Worse yet the acid washing typically happens in aluminum tanks leaching aluminum into the resulting “high protein” soy product. This was not easy to find and harder to confirm. Apparently no one wants to actually discuss the process of making soy protein isolate.  I wonder why! What does soy protein isolate become? It turns up in fast fast food hamburgers, veggie burgers, soy protein powder, textured vegetable protein, soy dairy substitutes, and it is also added to some brands of tofu.

The first thing I noticed when I was reading about how soy protein isolate is made is that it isn’t something that I can make at home. I am not a fan of processed food but this one sounded particularly bad to me. About a year ago I read in “Life Over Cancer” that TVP should be on the rarely consumed list. The doctor didn’t discuss any specifics but it made me wary of TVP. I did a little more research and discovered that soy protein isolates (found in TVP) increase IGF-1 (just like dairy). If you know anything about IGF-1 you know that it is not something you want to elevate since it is linked to an increase in the incidence of cancer.

What is IGF-1?

IGF-1 stands for insulin-like growth factor 1 and stimulates the growth of both normal cells and malignant ones (cancer). It is particularly dangerous for people with hormonally sensitive cancers but also promotes lung cancer, colon and pancreatic cancers. Exercise can reduce the levels of IGF-1 by lowering the production and increasing blood proteins that bind to it so it is less available to promote tumor growth. It has also been suggested that some carotenoids (those antioxidants found in red, yellow and orange vegetables) inhibit IGF-1. Increased levels of IGF-1 are associated consumption of meat, dairy, and soy protein isolates.

Where is Soy Protein Isolate in the food supply?

What are some typical foods that contain soy protein isolates? Generally anything vegan and processed is probably suspect. I have seen it listed in many veggie burgers and even in organic silken tofu. If you buy vegan dairy substitutes they contain not only soy protein isolates but frequently trans fat. This is another reason to avoid processed foods in my opinion.

I was going to list products which contain these items but decided that it would be best to avoid any unnecessary contact with lawyers. I have also seen soy protein isolated listed on labels as “soy protein”, “processed soy flour”, “textured vegetable protein” and even just “soy flour”. The problem is that soy flour or soy beans are used at the front end of the process so it I not always listed as soy protein isolate. My approach is to avoid any food that contains some form of soy and has been processed into an unnatural form. This avoid list includes the following commercial processed food: veggie burgers, vegan meat substitutes, vegan hot dogs, vegan dairy substitutes, TVP, tofu with soy protein isolates (including one popular organic brand). There are a few brands that don’t include soy protein isolates but they are the exception and still contain other nasty chemicals so I don’t buy those for other reasons.

What can you use in place of food with soy protein isolate?

I use beans or organic soy protein free tofu, and tempeh when I need an easy source of protein. Frozen edamame is something I also keep in the freezer to add to salads and soups. If I have more time I will make seitan sausages or seitan cutlets but those we eat more rarely because I prefer food that is less processed even when homemade. Most of the time I rely on beans for protein for a few reasons: beans a cheap even when they are organic, I can make a bunch and freeze them, beans have a mild flavor and can be seasoned in many different ways.

Conclusion:

It is not difficult to avoid soy protein isolates but it does require you to cook. If you are consuming commercial processed food you are most likely ingesting soy protein isolates. Now that I have learned about them you couldn’t force me to eat anything that contains them. Additionally most ingredients that contain them are not organic which means you have gotten a nice dose of pesticides along with your food. *shivers*

I hope this helps some of you to understand the problems with soy protein isolates. I am not a nutritionist so I encourage you to do your own research. But I can assure you this product is not something that anyone or anything should eat. Yes I did check our cat food and it isn’t in there, but I would suggest your check your animal food too.

If new science comes out to suggest soy protein isolate isn’t as dangerous as I now think it is I will let you know. For now it is on my “do not consume” list and I expect it will stay there.

My Food Today:

Breakfast this morning was a simple salad of ½ head of shredded romaine, ½ heirloom tomato, ¼ cup cucumber, ½ cup of stove top baked beans, a tiny bit of cashew crème fraiche and dehydrated leeks. I added beans for protein and flavor they are serving as the “dressing” for the salad. The cashew crème fraiche was added to provide a little fat to help me absorb the fat soluble vitamins. Dehydrated leeks were included for crunch and there antiproliferative effects.

To accompany this salad I made myself a small bowl of peaches with a few blackberries and white chia seeds. I like to add blue foods to our diet whenever I can. I try to always eat the rainbow everyday because different antioxidant families are concentrated in similarly colored foods. The blue food group is the toughest for most of us to consume. In order to consume blue foods every day I try to keep the following on hand: frozen wild blueberries, frozen black raspberries, red cabbage and dried wild blueberries. By having those items available I can add blue foods to our oatmeal, smoothies, fruit salad, green salads or trail mix.

At the moment I have no idea what I am making for dinner. But I will try to come back tonight and let you know what I end up making.  I hope everyone is having a good Wednesday. Talk to you all later.