Tuesday & Wednesday and Mexican Flavors

Wednesday was busier than usual for me which interfered with my online time. Sorry about disappearing on your yesterday. I had intended to post but time got away from me. Fortunately even though I was super busy it was all good. I don’t mind busy days when they are productive. Here is what has been going Tuesday and Wednesday:

Tuesday:

Today started with a snow and freezing rain mix all over the roads and sidewalks. Fortunately the snow came down first making a little cushion so that the ice was easier to remove. However it was still a mess though pretty the way it coated the red bud tree. I was a little bummed that we had to cancel going to DC with “the kids” but it is always better to be safe.

Since Monday’s breakfast was oatmeal Tuesday was a green smoothie for Dan which turned out nice and creamy. This smoothie contained: banana, raw kale, homemade sprouted soymilk, cinnamon, powdered ginger, freshly ground flaxseed, a pinch of stevia and ice to make it cold. Dan said it was good and possibly a little better than the version I make with frozen banana, water and no ice. I froze a sheet tray of bananas Tuesday morning which means the next smoothie will have frozen banana and soy milk. With a little luck he will like that version even better.

Dan took his time leaving for work Tuesday morning to be safe. I was happy that he has that option because I worry about other Marylanders on the road since they panic when there is precipitation of any sort let alone one the frozen varieties.

After Dan left for work I used my exercise bike for cardio and the TRX for strength training and then wrote my post. My breakfast was a quick bowl of items I had in the refrigerator. Tuesday I had brown rice, pinto beans, salsa and fresh cilantro. Sometimes I just need food and NOW and this was one of those mornings. That is one reason I always have intentional leftovers in the refrigerator.

I used the end of the sprouted soymilk in Dan’s smoothie this morning which means I will be making soymilk again today. Thankfully I figured out that the hulls are easier to pour off the top which makes it much quicker to make soymilk at home. Since it appears I am going to be making soymilk and almond milk regularly again I am going to start beans soaking and sprouting every other day now so that I have a supply ready to go.

My morning was completely uneventful but in a good way. Once I finished exercising, breakfast and making soymilk there was a little cleaning and then I curled up in my favorite chair with a faux fur throw and a few cups of green and white tea and went back to reading the book I started yesterday. It might have been grey outside but I had a good morning.

Here is my newest tea pot that I got from “the kids”. It is an adorable Japanese pot with crackle finish that holds about 16 ounces. The fine mesh strainer basket inside is perfect for fine teas like rooibos. This is the latest tea pot in my collection. I didn’t realize how many tea pots I had until I was trying to find a place for this one. For someone who is a reformed espresso addict it is surprising that the tea pots are taking over now. I will share some of my favorites with you as I use them.

I was only a little hungry at lunch time and decided to have a snack rather than a mean. This time I had a banana with the almond butter okara that I made on Friday.

Later I had a second snack of a tangerine and Brazil nuts (for the selenium).

Next I decided to make a pot of red kidney beans in the pressure cooker. These cooked for 25 minutes on high pressure and I let the pressure reduce naturally. The beans were tender but still held there shape.

I had no idea what I was going to do with the beans when I cooked them but decided to use some of them in a soup. When I made this soup I wasn’t measuring which means I will give you the method rather than a recipe. I strained most of the beans, except a cup, and moved them to the refrigerator for later this week.

I left about one cup of the red kidney beans in the cooker along with the bean cooking liquid. To the pot I add one quart of diced tomatoes half of which I processed in my blender. I also added 1 large onion which I finely diced, 8 cloves of minced garlic and 14 ounce of extra firm tofu cut into small cubes. I also added 1 pound of shitake mushroom caps that I sliced thinly. For seasoning I added 1 chipotle in adobo, cumin, oregano, chili powder, cinnamon and cocoa to taste. I simmered this until the veggies were tender and the flavors blended. Tuesday we had this over quinoa and topped with a fast salsa of avocado, tomato, lime juice, lime zest and cilantro.

Dan liked the flavor of the soup but wasn’t too sure about the tofu component. I thought it was good but I am more open about fusion cuisine. ;-)

In case you want to make your own Mexican inspired dish here are the flavors that are common to that cuisine:

• avocado
• beans
• chilies
• chocolate
• cilantro
• cinnamon
• corn and/or hominy
• cumin
• garlic
• garlic
• lime
• rice
• scallions
• tomatoes

After dinner Dan had to have two bowls of strawberry banana soft serve. This time I made with a splash of soymilk instead of water and that is now Dan’s new favorite. He thinks it is more like ice cream with the soy milk and I agree.

Wednesday:

For breakfast this morning Dan had a kale and banana smoothie but this time I used frozen bananas and soymilk. Dan has declared the soymilk makes it a much richer and creamier smoothie. *happy dance* I love it when I can tweak a family favorite and make it better. I will continue to make my smoothies with water but Dan’s will now be made with either homemade soy or almond milk. If you are having difficulty keeping weight on you may want to try this too.

My breakfast was salad with quinoa, mushroom ragu and nut cheese. For some reason I was craving greens so I tossed together a quick salad. I love it that my body has begun to crave things that are good for me. I added the nut cheese for flavor and texture but also for healthy fat so that the fat-soluble vitamins were more effectively absorbed.

I was busy at home and wanted something fast for lunch. This meant I turned to my intentional leftovers of course. Lunch was leftover Mexican-flavored soup over quinoa topped with salsa. As you may expect the salsa adds flavor but also adds a little fat again to help with the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins. In this case the avocado wasn’t “technically” necessary since tofu also contains fat but it looks pretty and I like the contrast of hot and cold and the brightness from the lime. ;-)

My afternoon snack was a banana and the almond butter okara spread I made a few days ago. The okara spread is a little addictive. I need to make another batch of that and measure it so I can share the recipe with all of you.

Dinner was late this evening since Dan didn’t get home until after 8pm. *sigh* I don’t like eating late since it can disrupt my sleep. I decided to make something very quick and simple for dinner. You know that I like to have mushrooms in at least one meal a day since they boost the immune system and dinner was a mushroom meal for us. I didn’t measure but I can describe the method. I used my cast iron skillet to increase the iron in this dish.

This dish contained 1 red onion, 4 cloves of garlic, 2 cups diced tomatoes in their juice, 14 ounce box of frozen artichokes defrosted, 1 pound of oyster mushrooms (any mushrooms will do). Next I added oregano, fennel seeds and black pepper to taste. I simmered this until the harshness cooked out of the onions and garlic and added two handfuls of roughly chopped arugula and turned off the heat. Arugula is part of the cruciferous family which means it is more nutritious raw or lightly cooked. I served this on top of quinoa and finished with a tablespoon of nut cheese.

The entire meal was ready in less than 20 minutes, including cooking the quinoa and allowing the onions and garlic to sit for 10 minutes after they were chopped to give the chemical reactions time to take place.

Increasing My Water Intake:

I have mentioned a few times that I need to drink more water since most of my fluid intake comes from white or green tea. On Wednesday I decided to stop talking about it and do it. Knowing that I should drink more water wasn’t enough to get it done. I have decided to have a mug of water after every mug of hot tea. Additionally I have started tracking my water and tea intake to keep myself on track.

There are many theories regarding how much water we should be drinking. Some say you should have 64 ounces. Others say you should take your weight in pounds and divide that in half and drink that many ounces. For example if you weigh 150 pounds you should drink 75 ounces. Yet other “experts” say that if you eat a lot of water rich food like fresh produce and soup you need less water. Other experts say that since coffee and tea are both diuretics those don’t count in your daily fluid intake. Is your head spinning yet? Me too, LOL. I decided to take a very simple approach to have I had enough water. I read once that you know you aren’t dehydrated if you urine is a pale yellow and that is going to be my guide.

Happy Thoughts:

I have had a good week so far, busy, but still good. As always I am listing my happy thoughts to remind myself and you that there are always things in all of our lives for which we should be grateful. Here are my happy thoughts today:

• Adding soymilk to Dan’s favorite strawberry banana soft serve and green smoothie were both extremely well received. *pats self on back* I guess you know what you will be seeing on the blog going forward. ;-)

• Dan is finally starting to like quinoa. In the past he has tolerated it be it wasn’t his favorite but now he asks for it. *happy dance* I get so excited when he likes something that is healthy. I started using quinoa years ago because it is a complete protein and it has now become my go to grain. If you haven’t tried it you should. Even my 80-year-old omnivore father likes quinoa. It has a very mild flavor most similar to rice so I imagine most of you would enjoy it.

• I am also happy that this week we have had mushrooms at least once every day. It is fascinating to me that something that tastes so good and is so versatile can also boost your immune system.

• My quest to increase my water intake went well on day one. I had 5 mugs of tea and an equal amount of water and “things” were lighter in color as expected. The only down side is I felt like I was in bathroom all day. LOL, the things I will do for health. ;-)

• My parents both had dentist appointments on Tuesday with the slick roads. I was holding my breath that my mother wouldn’t fall and hurt herself. Fortunately she had the good sense to reschedule her appointment. *huge sigh of relief* Having elderly parents is much harder than having children since you feel responsible but have not actual control.

• This has been a good week in terms of taking care of me. I took time to listen to body and rest when I needed rest and to slow down and be kind to myself. Sometimes everyone needs to recharge. It seems that this has been my week recharge my batteries.

Signing Out:

I have been goofing off this morning. Other than getting Dan fed, his lunch packed so he could go to work I have not been very productive. It is grey and overcast this morning which typically has an impact on my activity level and this morning was no exception. I have been sipping Christmas tea while writing this post. Now I need to get moving and knock out my exercise so that I can have breakfast and start my day. Looks like today will be a long one. ;-)

I hope everyone is having a great week. Talk to you all again soon. Happy Thursday!

Dreary Monday = Day to Relax and Regenerate

For some reason neither Dan nor I slept well Sunday night. We decided it was best to sleep in rather than head early to the gym. Instead I would exercise at home and Dan would exercise before leaving work.

For breakfast Monday morning Dan had oatmeal (finally made with soy milk), frozen wild blueberries, cinnamon, powdered ginger, ground flaxseeds, a pinch of stevia and walnuts. When I asked Dan what he thought of the oatmeal with the soy milk he said “it was different but neither better nor worse” compared to the oatmeal made with water.

Since I had breakfast after exercising I decided to make myself savory oatmeal that contained: oats, water, nutritional yeast, cumin, chopped broccoli, ground flaxseed, salsa and raw pumpkin seeds. This really is one of my favorite breakfasts. I should make it for myself more often.

After breakfast I decided to treat myself with a book. It was nice to spend some time relaxing and doing something just for me. I think that most of us spend too much time rushing from place to place or task to task that we don’t take time to do things for ourselves. I am trying to work on being more kind to myself. I think that will help me to be more at peace with life in general. I will let you know how that seems to work out for me. ;-)

For lunch I had the remainder of the Moroccan chickpea stew from the weekend over brown rice.

Once I finished with lunch I decided to pressure cook a pot of pinto beans. I combined 1 pound dried pinto beans, 9 cups water, 2 bay leaves, and 4 garlic cloves. Once the pressure cooker reached high pressure I cooked the beans for 19 minutes. Then I let the cooker pressure reduce naturally. This amount of time resulted in beans that were tender but still held their shape.

I decided to make pinto beans to mix things up a little. Typically I make garbanzo beans or white beans but I like to change up the beans we eat since they all contain a different mix of micronutrients.

I went back to my book after lunch and spent the afternoon sipping tea and reading. Since I usually spend my Monday crossing things off my to-do list I thoroughly enjoyed taking a break. It was so nice in fact that it made me wonder why I don’t do things like this more often.

My afternoon snack was a tangerine and Brazil Nuts (for selenium).

Dinner was a very simple meal of brown rice, pinto beans and salsa. Nothing exotic just fast food from the refrigerator that is filling and healthy. It is funny the longer I eat a clean healthy diet the less I crave fancy food. That is still so odd to me since it is counter to everything I thought I knew about myself. It is as though my body only wants to be nourished. Has anything similar happened to any of you or is it just me?

When Dan came home he had a bowl of brown rice, pinto beans and mushroom ragu. Since he worked late the snow and freezing rain had started and the roads were getting slick. Thankfully he made it home without incident.

New Kitchen Toy:

I ordered this interesting oven from Tuesday Morning that uses halogen, infrared and convection to “bake”. I have been considering one of these for a couple of years and at $75 I thought why not. I don’t know anyone that has one but it looked like something I wanted to try out. I am most interested in being about to bake without turning on the oven.

When we replaced our stove about 5 years ago we did so with a gas model like the prior one. I have always preferred the heat control of a gas stove top. Then when I put VOC detectors in the house I realized that every time I used the gas oven the detectors would tell me to open the windows. Great! *rolls eyes* It never occurred to me that using the oven could be that dangerous. Now I use the oven less often just to be safe. Thankfully using the gas cook top doesn’t cause the same high level on the VOC detectors. Did any of you ever give this a thought? I know I didn’t until I bought the detectors.

I will be using this new toy as soon as it arrives and will let you know what I think. If it gives the same result as an oven in less time I will consider the purchase a success. *fingers crossed*

Happy Thoughts:

Monday was a good day for me. Here are my happy thoughts:

• It was great to spend Monday in relaxing mode. The weather was grey and dreary making it perfect day to be kind to myself. I had 5 different types of white and green tea while I read a nutrition book. Seriously this must be what heaven is like. It was great to spend the day relaxing since that was what my body seemed to want. I think we should all take more time for ourselves.

• I am very grateful to have my husband and fur children and the time to take care of them. Not everyone is as happily married as I am or has the ability to be a “stay at home cat mommy” (as Dan refers to me). I realize that I am very fortunate in that regard. Other than cancer my life really couldn’t be much better. However if it weren’t for the cancer I don’t know that I would be as grateful for everything that I have. It is shame that most of us don’t appreciate what we have until we are at risk of losing it.

• My GI system has returned to normal after the heavy meal on Saturday. I have to say I prefer how I feel after I eat my food. ;-)

• I am relearning to love my pressure cooker. I think I may use it to make dinner tonight. Having meals ready in a flash can be addictive.

• While I didn’t like it that Dan worked extremely late I was glad he made it home safely since the weather wasn’t very nice when he headed home.

• Since we were up late last night we slept in again this morning. It is nice to be able to do when you feel it is necessary. Dan headed to work a little late this morning which also gave the road crews time to clear the overnight frozen precipitation.

• Tuesday was going to be our day to go to DC with “the kids” which we had to cancel due to the weather. We received snow and freezing rain overnight which caused all the schools to close around DC. It was sad to have to cancel but it was best to be safe. If nothing else we will get together for a day when they are both off for spring break. I am thankful to have good friends in my life to make plans with even if they get messed up periodically.

Signing out:

Our weather today is cold, wet, grey and generally not so nice. This morning our sidewalks were covered with a thin layer of snow covered with ice. Not the type of day where I want to go outside so I may have a repeat of Monday. That will give me time to finish the latest book so that I can get back to the nutrition textbook.

Given our weather I think I am in the mood for soup today. We haven’t had any soup in a few days and that is always good when it is cold and wet.

I hope your Tuesday has started off well. Talk to you again tomorrow.

Mushroom Ragu – The Wine Free Version

No huge surprise the scale was not my friend this morning. However given the amount of fat I had last night I am lucky it only went up 0.7 pounds. ;-)

Even though we were up later than normal last night we headed to Whole Foods this morning not long after they opened. We couldn’t let ourselves run out of kale now could we?

While we were at Whole Foods I also picked up some arugula, fresh parsley, powdered ginger, aged sherry vinegar and coconut extract. I have been looking for the coconut extract for a while so I have take non dairy milk and add the extract to make it “coconut milk” without the saturated fat. I will use more “coconut milk” if this trick works. I will keep you posted.

Once we got home we had green smoothies (kale and banana, et al). I had Dan taste mine since it didn’t have any walnuts to see what he thought. He fussed a little (for sport I think) and when he put the glass to his nose he declared, “It smells like the lawnmower”. Only my husband would come up with things like that, at least that is how it feels to me. After he tasted it he decided it was palatable but that he prefers the version I make for him with double the bananas and a handful of walnuts.

Since I like to use dried mushrooms in my mushroom ragu to give it a meaty chew I got those soaking right after breakfast. I like the ragu to simmer as long as possible. Today I decided to change the ragu recipe and didn’t tell Dan since I knew he would not approve. When he likes things he doesn’t want them to change. He will be fine don’t worry, LOL. This time I wanted to find out how the ragu would work out without wine. What? Shocking I know. Since many people can’t have alcohol due to prescription drug interactions I thought I should see what I could do to make an alcohol free version. Here is what I did:

Mushroom Ragu – The Wine Free Version
Serves 8

Ingredients:

10 cups dried mixed mushrooms (I use the ones they sell at Costco)
water to rehydrate those mushrooms
1 quart diced tomatoes, preferably no salt (or 2 – 15 ounce cans)
1 pint tomato sauce (or 15 ounce can)
2 large yellow onions, peeled and roughly chopped
10 cloves garlic, peeled and mince
1 teaspoon thyme, dried
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon vegan Worcestershire sauce (the regular stuff has anchovies)
freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
8 olives, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast (not enough to be cheezy just to add a little background flavor)

Directions:

Combine the dried mushrooms and water and heat to boil. Then cover the container/pot and allow the mushrooms to soak for at least 30 minutes.

Once the onions and garlic have been sliced/minced and sat for 10 minutes you can start the sauce. Combine all the ingredients except the mushrooms and simmer the sauce in a partially covered pot.

Strain the mushrooms soaking liquid thru cheese cloth or damp paper towel in a sieve and add that to the sauce. Also add the mushrooms and simmer the sauce until you like the consistency. This cooked for 2 hours at my house. When you are ready to serve taste the sauce for seasoning and adjust the flavors to your palate. If the sauce isn’t thick enough you can thicken it with a slurry of cornstarch or arrowroot.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 202.67
Calories From Fat (5%) - 10.48

Total Fat - 1.16g
Saturated Fat - 0.21g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 395.17mg
Potassium - 1156.25mg
Total Carbohydrates - 45.79g
Fiber - 7.81g
Sugar - 7.7g
Protein - 6.43g
Comments:

This ragu has nice flavor and complexity but it doesn’t have the jammy quality of my version with the entire bottle of Amarone wine. However the prior version is much more expensive because of the wine. Not to mention not everyone likes the flavor wine which is still a mystery to me. ;-) While I know it isn’t good for me I still the love the taste and aroma.

Overall this worked out well and I will make it again. You could change this by varying the grain you serve it on. You can also add fresh parsley to this at the end which would be nice. It would be nice with a drizzle of balsamic glaze. I would like this with pine nuts but walnut parmesan would also be good.

While the mushroom ragu was simmering away we had a snack of a tangerine, two Brazil nuts and a few dried plums.

When lunch time came around we had a bowl of the mushroom ragu over brown rice. We choose brown rice because we thought a larger grain would be called for and weren’t in the mood for the traditional polenta. You could also put this over al dente whole wheat pasta. We don’t eat much pasta but that would be good.

To accompany the mushroom ragu we had a small side salad which contained: mesclun, red bell peppers, marinated mushrooms, cucumber and a few sliced almonds. I dressed the greens with a quick dressing of Dijon, red wine vinegar and stevia which is my healthy version of honey mustard dressing.

Our afternoon snack was cucumber slices with the okara spread I made on Friday. I dressed the okara with white and black sesames seeds, and pulverized dried ginger.

We both had a good sized salad of: mesclun, grapes, mango and strawberries which I topped with sliced almonds. I didn’t add any dressing since the fruit was juicy and ripe. Dan also had a bowl of Moroccan chickpea stew over rice for the calories.

All day Sunday I was feeling a little lethargic which I attributed to the fat in the tempura veggies on Saturday. They were good going down but I could tell my body wasn’t too happy with the fact that I had consumed them. This caused me to think about fat and the fatty acid composition of commonly used oils. I thought you might be interested in this too. If you are read on, otherwise skip to the next section.

Saturated Fat in Non-Animal Products:

One of the reasons I am not such a fan of oils besides that they are processed it that using them makes it easy to overeat saturated fat. Now I can imagine what you are thinking about now is “what is she talking about oils aren’t animal products they don’t have much saturated fat?” I used to think that too but it isn’t true. Here are a few common oils and their percentages of saturated fat:

Canola – 6%
Coconut – 92%
Corn – 13%
Flaxseed – 9%
Extra Virgin Olive – 14%
Palm – 51%
Safflower – 10%
Sesame – 13%
Soy – 15%
Sunflower – 11%
Walnut – 16%

Other than coconut oil and palm oil the saturated fat percentages aren’t tremendously high but they also aren’t negligible either. One of the issues with consuming oil is that fiber and most of the trace elements are removed when the oil is created. The next issue is given how quickly nuts spoil are you sure your oil hasn’t gone bad? I store my nuts in the freezer so they don’t turn but how long do you keep oil in the house? If you are like I was it is probably longer than you should. Since our goal is to keep our fat percentage fairly low if I cook with oil then I would need to give up most of the nuts, seeds and avocado to make the numbers work. For me it doesn’t make sense to keep a product of inferior quality in our diet and remove something that is superior.

One interesting thing to think about is that many people tell you to keep your overall saturated fat consumption to 10 percent of total calories. Now you know that saturated fat isn’t just in animal products. Why doesn’t anyone in the mainstream ever mention the saturated fat in oils?

As you all know by now I am not a no-added-fat girl who believes 100% what doctors McDougall, Esselstyn or Campbell espouse. I believe that you need a little healthy fat in your meals to help your body absorb the fat soluble vitamins you are consuming. After all it doesn’t matter as much what you eat as what you can absorb. However I don’t think any of us should be eating an excess amount of fat either. I suppose in this respect my dietary theory is more like Dr. Fuhrman though I think I eat a bit more fat than he recommends.

The bottom line for us is that we try to keep our fat consumption low and have our fat come from the most nutritious sources. I guess I need to remind Ian about the low fat part of our diet the next time we see him. ;-) I will add though that if one of us had cardiac issues I would be reducing our fat consumption further. Thankfully that is one problem I don’t need to worry about now.

Happy Thoughts:

We had a great weekend which was wonderful. There was a lot of time of home being productive and a little time out surrounded by people we like and enjoy. Here are my happy thoughts today:

• It was wonderful to spend the entire weekend with Dan. Every weekend that he doesn’t need to work (either in his home office or downtown) is wonderful in my book. We had a nice time together even when we were being productive at home.

• I feel as though I am getting a better handle on how I spend my time after tracking it for a few days. I have learned that I am spending far too much time online and I am trying to back off on that where I can. Now I know why my friend Louis suggested that I needed a technology free day. LOL

• Today I took time to read a book which was great and a nice change from being online. I seem to need a little more downtime at the moment. I am not sure why this is but I am trying to listen to my body which isn’t how I always operate. ;-)

• I had an epiphany regarding fat consumption this weekend. I never realized how easy it was to listen to what your body was telling you until this weekend. I may try to experiment with other food to see if I can feel any impact after the fact. I am curious if I can feel anything after fruit or nut consumption/over consumption now. I love to use myself to experiment.

• It was wonderful to sleep in on Monday. We were planning to get up at 5am to go to the gym but neither of us slept well so we changed the alarm and went back to bed. Rest is just as important as exercise. I exercised after Dan went to work and he used the gym at work. Sometimes you need to be flexible and listen to your body.

• I am thrilled to be using my pressure cooker for beans. I was eye-opening to me that you don’t have to use oil to keep the foaming down. It would be nice it pressure cooking books written now made that clear. *rolls eyes* It is wonderful to have beans ready from start to finish in under an hour.

Signing out:

It is getting late and I need to start winding down so that we can make it to the gym tomorrow morning. While I will exercise at home I like knocking out my cardio before breakfast. That one simple thing helps me to start my day more quickly so that I can get more done during the day.

I hope Monday has treated everyone well. Talk to you again tomorrow.

Simple Moroccan Stew and Ian Made Dinner

It is so wonderful to sleep in on Saturday too bad every day of the week can’t be this way. I feel much better when I wake up when my body thinks it has had enough sleep.

I let Dan sleep in while I worked on my last post. He got extra rest and I got to finish my post while not taking any time away from him. It worked out well for both of us.

For breakfast Dan has his usual oatmeal with frozen wild blueberries, cinnamon, powdered ginger, ground flaxseeds, and walnuts. When Dan was half way through eating his oatmeal I realized that I forgot to use the soy milk in his oatmeal in place of water. Clearly I wasn’t thinking this morning. ;-) Sometimes I think I will never be a morning person.

After writing the post about eating a healthy breakfast earlier I was craving savory oatmeal. Normally I make myself the same thing I give Dan just because it is easier. Saturday I decided to make something just for me. If you like savory foods you should try savory oatmeal. I prefer it to sweet though Dan thinks the sweet is much better. My oatmeal this morning contained: oats and water, nutritional yeast, cumin, oregano, grated garlic, chopped broccoli (I used frozen), ground flaxseeds, salsa and raw pumpkin seeds.

For the late lunch with my parents I decided to use the garbanzos that I cooked on Thursday as the base for a stew. Since Dan and my parents both love my Moroccan chickpea stew I made a variation of that today. In the version I made on Saturday I omitted the olive oil and substituted a regular lemon for the preserved lemon to cut back on the salt in the dish. I also added sweet paprika, saffron and fresh ginger to taste. Then I finished the dish with fresh cilantro.

If you want to make a Moroccan style dish of your own here is a list of the flavors that are traditional to the cooking of that country:

• Almonds
• Chickpeas
• Cilantro
• Cinnamon
• Coriander
• Couscous
• Cumin
• Eggplant
• Fruit
• Ginger
• Harissa
• Lemon
• Mint
• Olive
• Onions
• Saffron
• Tomato

We decided to serve this over brown rice in place of couscous for a couple reasons. First we haven’t made brown rice in a while and we try to vary our grains and beans. Second though couscous is traditional brown rice is healthier. Couscous is tiny pasta which means it is flour and water and sometimes oil. Also since it is so tiny is difficult to cook al dente, and al dente pasta has a lower GI than more thoroughly cooked pasta. Today since I decided to make rice and hour and half before the meal I did take the time to soak the rice for an hour to reduce the phytic acid before I cooked it. Soaking the rice also makes it cook more quickly so be sure to check it ten minutes before you normally would expect it to be ready.

To accompany the stew at lunch I made side salads with:  mesclun, salsa, carrot, cucumber and red bell peppers.  I topped the salad with a little of the cheeze I made on Friday. For my parents I also added a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil since that is a texture they would be expecting.

Since we hadn’t been out for dinner in a few days it was time to visit Ian and the gang. Knowing that Ian prefers advance notice that we would be in for dinner on Saturday I made reservations on Thursday.  That gave Ian and Will time to think of something just for us. They really are too sweet to us and we love them for it. As usual when we give Ian notice he had no idea what we were eating. I love the suspense of eating that way and since we have never been picky eaters it works well for us.

Our course we had a table set up in Aimee’s section (one half of “the kids”). She had our white tea waiting for us when we got there. This time she made a blend of herbal and white tea that had a nice floral and fruity background.

We started our meal with a deconstructed guacamole. There was shaved avocado, the tomato seeds (I love that part), cilantro, and red onion.

The guacamole was served with jalapeno chips which were really good. Dan and I wiped out the guacamole and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Need there was a course of roasted green onions that cooked on very high heat and were then covered so they would steam. They were dressed with a roasted pepper, hazelnut, smoked paprika, garlic and habanero sauce and a drizzle of balsamic glaze. Since this dish contained all things I loved I was in heaven.

The last dish was veggies in a tempura batter with a soy dipping sauce. The veggies were: sliced portabella mushroom caps, broccoli, sweet potato rounds and avocado wedges. The avocado was shockingly good, creamy on the inside and crunchy on the outside and they held there shape which really surprised me.  The dipping sauce was very nice and the vinegar it contained help to cut through the fat in your mouth. This was definitely something I wouldn't make at home but that is what is fun about out to eat.  It takes us out of our comfort zone which is almost always a good thing.

Overall dinner was really good but far more fat than we are accustomed to ingesting. However, it was very easy going down. I was surprised that my stomach didn’t bother me afterwards. Other than being a little a gurgly my stomach held up much better than I expected. I liked the deconstructed guac the best. Shaving the avocado made it easy to put a thin slice on each chip as you layered on the toppings. I should have taken a picture of a chip with all the toppings but I was too busy talking and eating.   Sorry. ;-)

Ian left early Saturday since it was a slow night due to the big football game so we didn’t get a chance to see him. However Will did a great job making everything for us and even came out and chatted for a while like Ian usually does. We found out that we are both big Jose Andres fans. He is planning to make a trek to the MiniBar soon so we talked about that for a while. Dan and I loved going to the MiniBar. Forgoing regular trips to the MiniBar may just be the toughest part of being vegan for us. Yes it really is that amazing and they can adapt the menu to make it vegetarian if that is something you are interested in.

When we go to dinner we like to take our time and not be rushed. Those of you who know us know that I am not exaggerating. We arrived at the restaurant at 6:45 and were leaving which Aimee around 11. Dan and I go out to eat as much to see everyone at the restaurant as we do for the food.

We were talking to Aimee at the end of the night and made plans to take a day and go to DC and hit the museums next week before her and Michael head back to school later this month. That will be a lot of fun and I am looking forward to it.

As we were leaving I was standing next to “Shorty” who I swear is getting taller every day I see him, I don’t even come up to his chest. I asked him how tall he was as I was looking up at him and he told me 6’7” which sounds right to me. I started calling him “Shorty” to distinguish him for another Michael that worked at the restaurant and it stuck. Michael and Dan both love technology and have been swapping things on thumb drives lately. I assume it was guy stuff that I wouldn't understand.

While we were at dinner I got a text from our friend Deirdre that she was at the ER. Thankfully they gave her meds and an inhaler and cut her loose. She seems to have some sort of infection in her lungs. She is the second person we know that this has happened to this winter. Is there something going around, have you heard about anything?

Happy Thoughts:

Saturday was a good day but a bit stressful. However I have lots of things to be grateful for, here is my list today:

• I was thrilled to hear that Deirdre was being released so quickly from the ER. Since she is the type of girl that doesn’t go to the doctor unless she has a dangling appendage her being at the ER scared the shit out of me. We were texting this morning and she sounds a bit better than I expected.

• I am thankful to have Ian and the gang so close by. As I have said many times before this is our version of “Cheers” and we love to go and hang out and chat with everyone. We also are very grateful that they are kind enough to not only cater to our dietary needs but that they go out of their way to make things for us that are not on the menu.

• It was great that the predicted snow Saturday evening didn’t materialize. Sometimes you just aren’t in the mood for frozen precipitation.

• I was also pleased that my parents ate another vegan meal and even remarked that they liked the stew. It is too bad I can’t get them to eat more healthy meals but I am happy for the small amount of progress that I have made.

• It is also great to have leftovers for Dan’s lunch tomorrow since he loves my Moroccan flavored food.

• Dan and I had a nice day together and I am always thankful for those. I love spending time with him we always enjoy each other’s company.

• The felines were little love muffins yesterday, very cuddly and adorable. I am grateful to have three precious little fur children in the family. Both Dan and I adore all three of the cats even our mischievous little man Binky.

Signing out:

We started our morning with a Whole Foods run for kale. As you may have imagined a few other things happened to leap into our cart but they always do that.  That store has the most gorgeous produce it is hard to resist piling it into the cart.

Today I am making mushroom ragu for the late lunch with my folks. This is another one of Dan’s favorite meals so he is looking forward to it. I have dried mushrooms soaking now to give the ragu a little chewiness.

I will chat with you guys again tomorrow. I hope everyone is having a great weekend and that you are staying warm. It was cold and a little breezy this morning when we left for Whole Foods.

Slightly Spicy Macadamia Nut Cheeze and Healthy Sun Dried Tomato Pesto

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

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

Friday:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Slightly Spicy Macadamia Nut Cheeze
Serves 12

Ingredients:

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

Directions:

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

Nutritional Information:

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

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

Comments:

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

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

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

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

Ingredients:

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

Directions:

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

Nutritional Information:

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

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

Comments:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Making Dietary Changes:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy thoughts:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Signing out:

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

Curried Red Lentil Soup with Tomato and Coconut

If I haven’t said recently how much I appreciate all of you please know that I do. Your kind comments, emails, texts and phone calls have been extremely thoughtful and very helpful. I am feeling much better this morning. Our doctor appointment Wednesday morning was completely uneventful which is precisely what I needed. I feel as though one huge weight was lifted off my shoulders.

The problem now is that my blue mood is coming and going. To try not to think about things I have been trying to keep myself busy so that I don’t have time to think. Thinking is how I get myself into trouble. Dan teases me that I can dark faster than anyone he knows and he is probably right. I have been doing a lot of nutrition reading, listening to instrumental jazz and sipping green and white tea while curled up in my favorite chair.

On the positive front I am now more up than down which feels like progress. My plan at the moment is to continue to stay as busy as possible and focus on the positives in my life. I will keep you informed how this works for me. Wish me luck; I think I still need it. ;-)

Yesterday I decided to get my schedule under control. To do this I starting tracking how I am currently spending my time. This is something I used to do at work for cost accounting purposes or time and motions studies but never tried it at home. I plan to keep track of my time for a week so I can create a realistic plan for myself to make certain that I get everything done. Something tells me I am going to be surprised how I spend my time. At the very least it will be eye opening.

I am also trying to increase my water intake which some days is zero, shameful I know. When you drink as much green and white tea as I do water seems to get left behind. As you may have guessed I am also tracking my water consumption. This may turn into a food journal but I haven’t done one of those in years because all the measuring is annoying. ;-)

Here is what we have been up to since I last talked to you:

Wednesday:

Here is a picture I took as we were leaving the house Wednesday morning. We got just enough snow to leave a beautiful light blanket of white snow but not enough to cause any real traffic problems. There is something so pretty about a light coating of snow.

Since we had to leave the house early for the appointment it meant skipping the gym. I am one of those ladies that take a while to get ready. I hate blow drying my hair and it takes hours to dry by itself because of the length. This all meant no gym and while I wasn’t happy about it that is just the way it had to be this morning.

For breakfast we had our usual green smoothies: kale, frozen banana, cinnamon, powdered ginger, freshly ground flaxseeds, walnuts and water. The big news this morning …. No stevia in Dan’s smoothie. I have been making mine without stevia but not Dan’s. I had him try his smoothie without stevia this morning and he was good with it. Mind you he did say it is better with stevia but thought it was fine without it too. I imagine you are wondering why I am trying to reduce our stevia use right?

From what I have read thus far stevia is safe but I am trying to reduce our use of anything processed. Also given how the digestion system works it would make sense that the taste of sweet may be enough to get the digestion system to start releasing hormones and enzymes. I read something that an MD wrote about this possibly being why consuming diet soda isn’t linked to weight loss. If diet soda may raise insulin I thought stevia may be similar. I will continue to use stevia where it is necessary but want to get our overall intake down.

After the appointment we stopped at Costco since the car needed gas. While Dan got gas I ran through the store to pick up produce, walnuts, and a few exercise DVDs. How is that we are always short on fresh veggies? I swear our refrigerators always look like a family of rabbits live here. LOL

Once we got home I made us a quick salad of: mesclun, salsa, grape tomatoes, red bell pepper, cucumber, and raw pumpkin seeds.

To go with that there was a quick bowl of soup. I combined a canned of Amy’s lentil soup, with 1 pint (2 cups) of diced canned tomatoes, ¼ teaspoon turmeric, ¼ teaspoon coriander, ½ teaspoon cumin seeds, ¼ teaspoon ginger and a generous grinding of black pepper (to increase the bioavailability of the curcumin in the turmeric).

Once Dan left for work I changed clothes put away the non-perishable groceries and did my strength training. The TRX is working out quite nicely for me so far. Dan is planning to workout before he leaves his office tonight. He has been hitting the gym at work with one of the young guys (20 somethings) on days when we don’t make it to the gym in the morning. I am so proud of him for making a commitment to exercise regularly since he doesn’t actually enjoy exercise. As Dan always says he prefers being a couch potato but knows that exercise is better for him. Exercise is great at reducing your blood sugar if that is a problem for you. Even for us, who have normal fasting blood glucose numbers, we can see a drop as the result of exercise.

My mid-day snack was my usual orange and 2 Brazil nuts.

I wanted to share a cooking problem from Tuesday night before I forget. I tried to make a fast pot of split pea soup but that didn’t work out. Even though I knew that acid can interfere with the ability of beans to soften I thought that 2 cups of tomatoes to 10 cups of liquid wouldn’t be a problem. Wrong! I cooked the beans for almost 2 hours and the exterior remained crunchy. This was an epic fail, LOL, but humbling. It actually made me laugh since I knew better but did it anyway. I wanted to tell you about it before I forgot so that you don’t make the same mistake.

I had some things that I wanted to get finished while Dan was at work so I made a big pot of soup for us to eat for a few days starting with dinner Wednesday night. To make the soup a little different I added the ½ can reduced fat coconut soup that I had frozen last week (or the week before now I don’t remember when it was). I always pour the extra coconut milk into a mason jar large enough to leave at least a one inch air space and freeze the milk. It will stay fresh in a freezer a month that way. It may be good for longer than that but I have typically used it before it has been stored much longer than that. Here is the soup I made for dinner on Wednesday:

Curried Red Lentil and Coconut Soup
Serves 8

Ingredients:

1 pound dried red lentils, picked through and rinsed
½ cup barley
1 large red or yellow onion, peeled and finely diced (the onion was approx the size of a grapefruit and was about 4 cups)
8 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced
½ tablespoon of freshly minced/grated ginger
10 cups water
2 teaspoons turmeric
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons coriander seed
4 teaspoons black mustard seed
freshly ground black pepper, to taste (I used about a teaspoon)
½ - 14 ounce can reduced fat coconut milk (this is the what I had frozen from the last time I used coconut milk)
2 quarts (or 4-15 ounce cans) canned diced tomatoes preferably no or low salt
1 lime zested and juiced

Directions:

Combine the beans, water, aromatics and spices and cook until the beans are soft. Stir occasionally to keep the soup from sticking to the bottom of the pot. You may also have to add water depending on how much evaporates during cooking. I tend to cook soups mostly covered. I do this by placing a wooden spoon on the edge of the pot and then putting the lid on. This closes the lid, mostly but still allows some evaporation.

Once the beans are tender (in about 20 minutes) add the remaining ingredients (but not the lime). When you are ready to serve add the lime zest and lime juice and stir it into the soup.

Nutritional Information (assumes no salt tomatoes):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 311.22
Calories From Fat (12%) - 36.96

Total Fat - 4.13g
Saturated Fat - 1.61g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 25.7mg
Potassium - 803.11mg
Total Carbohydrates - 54.35g
Fiber - 11.26g
Sugar - 4.36g
Protein - 17.93g

Comments:

This was a simple soup with a subtle Indian flavor. I also liked that it was filling and simple to prepare. That is one of the great things about soup it practically cooks itself.

After dinner Dan thought he “needed” calories so you all know what that means. Of course he had two bowls of strawberry banana soft serve. My hubby loves cold creamy desserts and always has. In the bad old days he used to eat ice cream from serving bowls and would sometimes go back for seconds. He has been a dessert boy for as long as I can remember.

Thursday:

The weather has turned extremely cold again. It was a balmy 19 degrees this morning (heavy sarcasm). Brrrr! Have I said recently that I am not a huge fan of the cold? Seriously we need to move south for the winter. The older I get the more I understand the “snow birds” that move south for the winter. I used to laugh at those old folks and I am slowly turning into one of them. LOL

Breakfast was a simple bowl to oatmeal made with: ½ cup oats, 1 cup water, ¾ cup wild frozen blueberries, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon powdered ginger, and 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed. I would have added a tablespoon or two of chopped walnuts to the oats but they were all in my overflow pantry and I didn’t feel like hiking the stairs to get them. I am not kidding when I say that I am not a morning person. ;-)

While I was relaxing with a little jazz and some hot tea I decided to pressure cook some garbanzo beans. Like I promised this time I made them without oil and they were fine. To one pound of beans, I added 9 cups of water, 2 bay leaves, 6 cloves of garlic and cooked them under high pressure for 32 minutes and let the pressure release naturally. They were soft but not mushy if that makes sense. Overall my no oil pressure cooked bean test went off without a hitch. Thanks again for tipping me off that it would work.

I also made a batch of macadamia nut cheese and sun dried tomato spread on Thursday. I will include those recipes in my next post.

Lunch was a simple bowl of leftover curried red lentil soup.

To accompany the soup I had a navel orange cut into 8 wedges and two Brazil nuts. For those of you that don’t like to peel oranges cut those into wedges makes them much quicker and easier to eat.

Not knowing when Dan was going to get home from work I made myself a fairly big salad as a late afternoon snack. I was craving fresh veggies so my salad included: mesclun, salsa, chickpeas, marinated mushrooms, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, and raw pumpkin seeds.

Dan went to the dentist today to have two old fillings removed and replaced. He came home saying that this hurt worse than the wisdom tooth removal. Apparently his mouth was sore from being held open with instruments while they worked on two back teeth. He was doing much better Friday morning though.

Dan ended up coming home from work and relaxing instead of working. Sometimes you just need to relax and listen to jazz. We are both big fans of instrumental jazz which you probably guessed after we went to see the Rippingtons. ;-)

Dinner for us was salad. This time I made myself a salad with fruit and nut. My salad last night contained: mesclun, tangerine, grapes, strawberries and sliced almonds. Since the fruit was so juicy I didn’t add any dressing and the salad was still great.

After dinner Dan had two bowls of his favorite strawberry banana soft serve.

As usual after dinner there was more jazz and I got back to reading the nutritional textbook I started about a week ago.

Happy thoughts:

I have to say I don’t actually feel like writing this section at the moment. However I also assume that is because I really need to if you know what I mean. Here are my happy thoughts today:

• I am most happy that the dark cloud seems to be lifting. Apparently it just took a while for the latest cancer to sink in for me. I suppose the worse part for me is that it is the same type of cancer so it felt even close to home and caused me to personalize things.

• We had a pretty little snow fall this week that made the neighborhood look a little like a story book. Too bad I didn’t have my camera with me (or time to stop and use it) since it would have made beautiful pictures for Christmas cards. If we get another snow fall this year I will take my camera out so that I can memorialize it.

• Thursday night we had a gorgeous cloudless sunset. The sky went from orange, to yellow to light blue to dark blue. The colors were surreal in their gradation. I took the time to enjoy the colors while sipping tea. Massimo also enjoyed the sunset from my shoulders. ;-) I am always “wearing” cats.

• I am happy to have the time to do things I enjoy like read nutrition textbooks. The latest book I have been reading has been an excellent read. As soon as I am finished the book I will review it for you.

• I am very thankful to now be craving healthy food. Who does that? When I crave things like salad I know that means that my body has gotten accustomed to eating a high nutrient diet and it makes me feel good about my progress.

• Since today is Friday I am reminded how fortunate I am to have the time to look after the people I care about (my parents and my husband). I am certain I couldn’t do the things that I do if I were still working the crazy hours that I used to.

• I am very thankful for all your wonderful comments, emails, texts, direct messages and words. You guys are the best and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Thank you very much for trying to help my mood. Sometimes I just need to ride it out and I appreciate your understanding.

Signing out:

Today is Friday which means I have my usual errands. I need to check on my folks, do a little light cleaning at their house. If my folks need anything from the grocery store I need to take care of that as well. Then I want to get back into my nutrition textbook which I hope to finish reading in the next week.

My plan is to get back to my daily posting schedule. This weekend is up in the air but I am sure it will be good provided Dan doesn’t need to go into the office.

I will talk to you again tomorrow. Have a great weekend and stay warm!