Super Flavorful No Fat Added Hummus

Hummus is something both my hubby and I love. We use it on salads, to dip veggies and on sandwiches and pizza. Since we are trying to keep our fat intake (even from healthy sources) as low as possible I generally make our hummus without fat. Our rare occasions I will add a tablespoon or two of tahini to my hummus, but that is not what I did today. Here is what I made:

Spicy Roasted Garlic Hummus – no fat added
Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:

1 cup garbanzo beans, picked through and rinsed, either soaked overnight or quick soaked
Water to cook beans
3 bay leaves

Seasonings:

2 heads steam roasted garlic, no fat added
1 lemon zested and juiced
2 teaspoons cumin seeds, or to taste
1 teaspoon paprika, or to taste
2 tablespoons wet hots (aka hot crushed peppers, or pickled hot peppers)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Cook the garbanzos in water with bay leaves until the beans are very soft. Drain the beans (reserve the cooking liquid), remove the bay leaves and place the beans in your food processor or blender while still warm. Add the roasted garlic, lemon and as much bean cooking liquid as is necessary to get a soft creamy hummus. Add seasonings according to your tastes. Refrigerate until needed. The hummus will thicken as it cools so you may want to add a little more liquid than you think is necessary. At our house Dan likes it thick and I like it thin so the added liquid is very subjective for us.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 116.96
Calories From Fat (14%) - 16.26

Total Fat - 1.95g
Saturated Fat - 0.2g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 13.44mg
Potassium - 312.42mg
Total Carbohydrates - 20.59g
Fiber - 5g
Sugar - 3.11g
Protein - 5.91g

Comments:

If you are looking for a flavorful no added fat hummus we think this is a good one. It has so much flavor you won’t miss the olive oil or tahini. I whipped this together Sunday night so that we had it for our trip to Richmond yesterday. Both Dan and I think this is my best fat free hummus yet. It is lightly spicy and tangy from the peppers. It also has a sweet background form the caramelized garlic. I don’t know if I can make a version that we will like more. This one is that good. It has much more flavor than your standard hummus, but we think it is great.

We used the hummus as the “glue” to hold our wrap together last night which included veggie burger (from Sunday) and fresh baby spinach in whole wheat flat bread. While we try to not make a habit of eating things with flour as you saw from the post of yesterday there was much flour in our diet. That seems to frequently be what is available when we are out which is why we try to minimize our consumption of flour at home.

Unrelated Notes:

It is so nice to be back home after my day in the car yesterday. I loved spending the day with Dan but all that time in the car was physically numbing. I think it made me enjoy exercising today much more than I usually do. I often mention needing to exercise but don’t say much else about it. Unlike my friend Heather I don’t love exercise it is more of a necessary evil. In fact, I really don’t like most forms of exercise. There are a few notable exceptions. Yoga and pilates are very enjoyable. I also like kickboxing, but this is a new love. What forms of exercise do you like? Do you have a favorite form of exercise, or favorite DVD? I am always looking for things to add so I don’t get bored. I would really like to hear what types of exercise you enjoy.

I forgot mention I did pick up a couple of books yesterday while we were out. There is a new discount bookstore in the Leesburg outlet mall. I picked up a copy of the "Imus Ranch Cookbook" since Brandi recommended it. I also grabbed a few books on macrobiotics, a new Raw book and an exercise book and Dan got a book.  I find it impossible to pass by a bookstore and not go it.  But when I can buy 8 books for $40 it is a no brainer in my mind.

Tonight for dinner I am thinking raw zucchini spaghetti with sun-dried marinara and little nut cheese and basil. I also need to get some beans on the stove. Somehow we are out of beans again. It seems like all I ever do is cook beans. I will be back later this evening with my version of raw pasta. This is one of those really simple recipes that best better than the effect that goes into making it. Aren’t those the best recipes?

Monday Update: Richmond and Back

Good Morning everyone, are you having a great day? Sorry I was MIA yesterday it wasn’t intentional. Let me explain. Yesterday my husband had a quick meeting (2 hours) in Richmond. Since he was driving down alone I decided to join him so he had company for the 6 plus hours in the car. Our day started at 5am, very early by my standards. We were packed up and out the door a little before 6:30am (still extremely early in my world). Driving around DC at rush hour is not pleasant but once that was behind us it was an easy trip.

We made it to Richmond a little after 10 for Dan’s 10:30am meeting. I was glad that I went because I got a chance to see Richard and catch up with him before the meeting. He hasn’t been in Baltimore since last spring so it was nice to catch up and see some pictures of his little one. They grow up so fast. Richard and the guys came in one car for the meeting and wanted to head back to their office so Dan and I were on our own for lunch.

Before we left I researched restaurants in the area to see what veg friendly restaurants there were. I was surprised by the number of options. But one restaurant stood out so after Dan’s meeting we stopped for lunch at a cute place near Virginia Commonwealth University called the Ipanema Café. We were old enough to be the parents of everyone in the place, but we had a great time. It is a funky little place on the ground floor/basement of an old brownstone. Dan couldn’t get over the tattoo parlor on the floor above it. Here is the entrance to the restaurant.

They have a great tea list, which always makes me happy. Here is the tea menu.

We ordered the Fukujyu because it was sencha which is high in EGCG. It was a very mild tea, but we liked it.  When they say a pot of tea they aren't kidding. Here is how it comes.  I loved the pot and cups.

As usual we ordered things to share. Dan and I haven’t eaten an entire meal in the last 20+ years. We like to order things that we both want to eat and then both take some from the others plate.

I ordered the Tempeh Ruben. It came with sautéed cabbage instead of sauerkraut, but that was a nice change that my hubby particularly enjoyed since he isn’t a kraut lover. I appreciated that the sandwich wasn’t covered in dressing. It is nice when condiments are applied with a light hand.

Dan ordered the Vegan Chorizo Wrap. This thing was a monster of a sandwich. It had vegan chorizo sausage, potatoes, corn, spinach, tomatoes and lots of nice spice. The entire sandwich was heated in the oven and we both thought it was really good.

We were still hungry so then we ordered the Vegan Caesar Salad with Grilled Marinated Tofu. The tofu was some of the best I have ever had. It was packed with flavor and had wonderful texture. You know we had to compliment the tofu and see if we could find out how it was made. The server did give us some information. I will be working on making my own variation of this as soon as I get more tofu. This tofu was amazing and I want to be able to come up with something similar and share it with all of you.

After our lunch we started for home because it was already 2:45pm. As we got closer to DC the traffic was jamming up again. We thought if we went out Route 7 we could avoid the beltway and stop at Leesburg Outlet Mall. Big, big mistake which we would quickly realize. The traffic was going under 20 miles an hour and that 15+ mile trip took an eternity.

We did stop at the mall quickly before heading for home. I picked up a few things: a pair of shorts at Under Armour, a couple of T-shirts at Nautica. Dan also bought shorts, but his were dress shorts where mine were for exercise. Polo has nice men’s flat front khaki shorts if you are looking for them. I mention this since the pleated front shorts are easy to find but the flat front shorts are not. I also bought a few more tasting spoons. Seriously, can you ever have enough of these? I don’t think so.

By the time we were leaving Leesburg it was after 8:30pm. We decided to have some of the munchies I have brought for dinner instead of stopping at a restaurant. We snacked on whole wheat wraps which we stuffed with leftover veggie burgers from last night, roasted garlic hummus and fresh spinach. I will be posting the hummus later today. Both Dan and I thought it was my best fat free hummus so far. It is very flavorful.

When we are going to be out of the house a long time I always pack snacks so I know we have access to healthy food when we are hungry. In the car we had a cooler with water, hummus, veggie sticks, and the sandwich fixings. We also took a bag of dried apples and trail mix which I made with dry roasted edamame, dried blueberries and walnuts. We didn’t eat all the food, but we did snack quite a few times in the car. Do you take food with you when you travel? What sort of things do you carry; I would love to hear what you bring.

When we finally arrived at home it was 10pm and I was exhausted, probably due to inadequate sleep the night before. I took a quick shower and dove into bed. Sorry I didn’t have time to post this last night. Since I didn’t take my netbook with me the post wasn’t written and I didn’t feel like I could stay up to write it. Sleep was definitely more important for me last night.

That is the update for yesterday. For now I need to exercise since most of my yesterday was spent with my butt firmly planted in a car seat. I will be back later with that hummus recipe. I hope you are having a great Tuesday!  Talk to you soon.

BTW, If you get a chance check out the website above for the restaurant.  They had some interesting dishes you many want to make at home.  I couldn't take a picture of the menu since it was written on a chalk board as you come in the door and the lighting was too dark.

Lentil and Brown Rice Burgers

After stopping at The Natural Market earlier this week and having the lentil and hummus wrap I have not been able to get that off my mind. I decided that we needed to have something similar at home. Since I had no idea what I was going to cook today I thought why not lentil burgers. I intentionally made extra so we had some for the freezer. Here is what I did:

Lentil and Brown Rice Burgers
Makes 11 burgers

Ingredients:

2 cups red lentils, sorted and rinsed
Water to cook lentils
3 bay leaves
1 cup glutinous short grain brown rice (any rice will work)
2 cups water
I red onion, finely minced
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
¼ cup water, to sauté aromatics (onion and garlic)
3 tablespoons no salt seasoning, or to taste
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon nigella seed
Salt and pepper, to taste
6 tablespoons vital wheat gluten (for structure and protein)
½ cup brown rice flour, or what is necessary to give the mixture a cohesive feel

Directions:

Cook lentils in water with bay leaves until soft (about 40 minutes). Drain the lentils of extra liquid and set aside. Keep in the refrigerator if you are making the burgers later.

Combine the brown rice and water and cook until tender (about 40 minutes) and set aside. Keep in the refrigerator if you aren’t making the burgers immediately.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Water sauté the onions and garlic until tender, about 5 minutes. You want the water to evaporate. If there is water remaining, do not add it to the burger mixture.

Combine the lentils, rice, aromatics and seasonings. Taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary. Add the vital wheat gluten 2 tablespoons at a time and mix thoroughly. You want the gluten to be evenly distributed within the mixture. Add the brown rice flour a couple of tablespoons at a time until the burger mixture will be easy to form into patties.  The burgers will be easier to form if you refrigerate the mixture until it is cold, but that isn't absolutely necessary.

Form the burger mixture into 11 patties. Place the patties on a half sheet pan and bake for 30-40 minutes, or as long as is necessary for them to form a crusty exterior.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 232.81
Calories From Fat (6%) - 14.39

Total Fat - 1.71g
Saturated Fat - 0.3g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 10.13mg
Potassium - 289.53mg
Total Carbohydrates - 41.48g
Fiber - 5.34g
Sugar - 0.28g
Protein - 14.08g

Comments:

If you are looking for a quick all-purpose veggie burger this may fit the bill. The taste is mild and can be used with many different toppings. Tonight we had ours with slices of avocado and a little salsa. Tomorrow we will have them in a wrap with roasted garlic hummus and greens. Surprisingly even my parents liked these; of course it could have been the avocado on top they really enjoyed. ;-)

To accompany the veggie burgers we also had a quinoa salad with raw asparagus and red bell pepper. I will try to get that post written this evening but suspect I may run out of time.

Unrelated note:

Tomorrow is going to be a very long day. I probably won’t be on-line much until the evening. I hope you have a great Monday. I will chat with you tomorrow evening.

Bibimbap Inspired Rice Bowl Dinner

Dan and I are both big fans of bibimbap. It was one of our favorite Korean dishes. Once we went vegan we would order it without the steak and over easy egg on top. But the traditional restaurant version still came with white rice so it wasn’t the healthiest thing to order. Because I have some leftover pickles in the refrigerator I knew they would make a nice topping on the rice. Today I decided to make a vegan version of bibimbap with some flavorful baked tofu in place of the steak. I have modeled this version after the one we used to order at Suzie’s Soba where we often went for lunch downtown. Here is what I did:

Bibimbap Inspired Rice Bowl
Serves 4

Tofu Ingredients:

14 ounces extra firm tofu, drained and cut into bite sized cubes
1 lime, zested and juiced
1 teaspoon chili powder
½ tablespoon liquid aminos

Rice Ingredients:

1 ½ cup brown basmati rice
3 cups water

Topping Ingredients:

Baby spinach or mesclun, thinly sliced (assumed 4 cups spinach)
Quick pickled cucumbers, or thinly sliced cucumbers (assumed 1/2 cup pickles)
Julienned carrots (assumed 1/2 cup carrot)
Julienned red bell peppers (assumed 1/2 cup pepper strips)
Pickled or fresh cabbage, julienned (Kimchi is traditional) (assumed 2 cups savoy shredded)

Sauce Ingredients:

Use either Korean hot pepper paste (kochujang) or make your own sauce using the ingredients below
2 tablespoons white miso
Sriracha, to taste (used about 1 teaspoon)
Lime or lemon juice and water to thin sauce (used 1 lime, zest and juice)
Liquid aminos if desired

Optional Ingredients:

White sesame seeds, for garnish

Directions:

Marinate the tofu at least 8 hours, but overnight is fine.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Drain the tofu of the marinade and place on a half sheet pan in a single layer. Bake until it is slightly crispy, about 45 minutes depending on your oven.

While the tofu is baking combine the rice ingredients and simmer, covered until tender. About 45 minutes depending on the type of cookware you use. Enameled cast iron seems to cook the rice more quickly.

For the sauce use the premade sauce or make a facsimile by combining the ingredients above until you like the flavor.

To serve place the rice in the bottom of a deep bowl. Top with veggies, sauce, tofu and sesame seeds. Pass the sriracha for those that like more heat. Be certain to tell everyone to stir the components together before eating to distribute the sauce and veggies.

Nutritional Information: (assumes you make your own sauce and does not include sesame seeds)

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 398.09
Calories From Fat (18%) - 72.55

Total Fat - 8.68g
Saturated Fat - 1.1g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 509.34mg
Potassium - 674.74mg
Total Carbohydrates - 65.35g
Fiber - 6.16g
Sugar - 4.13g
Protein - 18.37g

Comments:

This is one of my favorite quick dinners. I love that it comes together in under an hour, most of which is waiting for the rice and tofu. Even my omni parents liked this dish. They both seem to have embraced tofu. I don’t think they are going to make it for themselves but they are fine when I make it. My father has learned that he likes sriracha. I gave him some to use at home with ideas of what to do with it. If you like rice this make a quick and low maintenance meal. It is only reminiscent of the traditional version, but it is close enough for this Italian American.

Each serving of this dish contains approximately 6,000IU of vitamin A, 40mg of vitamin C, 250mg of calcium, 130mcg of folate, 180mcg of vitamin K, 420mg of phosphorus, 200mg of magnesium, and 30mcg of selenium. Pretty decent nutritional numbers for something that is so easy to make. I always have the ingredients on hand to make this meal.

Unrelated note:

Both the conference DVDs and books I ordered a few days ago have arrived. I quickly glanced at the books and they look as though they are going to be a good read. I like the footnotes at the bottom of the page since I am one of those people that want to read the source material. Both books contain many recipes so they would be useful from that perspective alone. I will try to get through the books in the next few days so I can tell you what I think. If my hubby is up for it we may watch one of the DVDs from the conference tonight instead of a movie. We will see what he wants to do.

Other than the books and DVDs there isn’t much new here. We got a slow start this morning since we were up late last night. Tomorrow Dan has to run to the office to get ready for a meeting in Richmonon Monday. I plan to do a few things around the house while he is gone tomorrow.

I hope you are all having a good weekend. I will check in tomorrow to let you know what I have going on in the kitchen. Talk to you later!

Dinner Out 04.16.10

We did end up going out for dinner but staying in the neighborhood. You all know by now that means Ian was involved. The restaurant was booming tonight which is odd for a bad weather evening. Another quick storm rolled through while we were at dinner. Fortunately we were under the roof and were able to get the best of both worlds dry but yet still outside.

As usual we started with our personal favorite the Middle Eastern Plate for an appetizer. It comes with hummus, caponata, house-made pickles, olives, pepperoncini and whole wheat pitas. Seriously what is not to love here? This has been one of our favorites for years. It is just a vegan plate of deliciousness, in our opinion that is.

To wash this down there were many pots of green tea. We have to have those antioxidants to go with our meal.

Next we ordered the gazpacho which normally comes with crab or shrimp on top, so it is easy to make vegan without any difficulty. Next time we need to remember to ask if Ian has any habanero in the kitchen since we are big fans of heat. We think finely diced habanero would be great in this.

To go with the gazpacho we also had Ian’s version of fattoush. He makes his with cucumber, tomato, garlic, romaine, and mint which he tops with sumac and serves with warm whole wheat pitas crisps. If you haven’t had sumac it is a ground dark red berry that has lemony flavor. It can be hard to find locally I order mine on-line from Zamouri.

For our last course we had a special order which included gnocchi with thinly sliced fennel, julienned carrot, thinly sliced onions, garlic, fresh tomato, portabella mushrooms, shitakes, and fresh baby spinach. The mushrooms gave the dish a very meaty flavor without meat. Ian was worried this dish didn’t have enough flavor but we thought it was wonderful like all his food.

Here is a shot of the specials from this evening. The specials always give me inspiration of things I want to veganize so I wanted to share in case they do the same for any of you.

We were chatting with Ian this evening as he was leaving for the evening. He is going to be adding whole wheat pizza to the options and wanted to know if that was something that we would be interested in. While we don’t eat much flour at home, we will certainly be interested in having that occasionally. There are so many veggie options I can think of for vegan pizza from what he has in the kitchen for other dishes. Whole wheat pizza crust will open up the veggie options for us.

This is going to be my last post for tonight. I will chat with you all tomorrow. I will probably make bibimbap (vegan of course) for dinner tomorrow. It was my back up plan for dinner this evening. My tofu should be very tasty by tomorrow since I started marinating it this morning.

I hope you are all having a great evening.

Quick Pickles

Part of our dinner last night was a very quick sweet and sour pickle. My hubby is not fond of vinegar so I dilute it with water to make it more palatable for him. I would use straight vinegar if there were just for me. This is so simple it really doesn’t require a recipe but here goes anyway:

Quick Cucumber Pickles
Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 small cucumbers, cut in half and thinly sliced
½ cup vinegar (any type of light colored vinegar, I used champagne)
½ cup water
Stevia, to taste (I used 6-1gram scoops)
Fresh cilantro, minced, to taste (I used about ¼ cup)

Directions:

Heat the water, vinegar and stevia until about body temperature. Place the cucumbers and pickling solution in a jar. You are heating the vinegar so the flavor will penetrate the vegetable more quickly. Refrigerate until needed. If the liquid doesn’t cover all the cucumbers turn the jar over periodically so all the cucumbers are submerged for part of the time. I made these about 30 minutes before dinner but sooner would not be a bad thing.  When you are ready to serve drain the pickles and toss with cilantro.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 20.49
Calories From Fat (4%) - 0.9

Total Fat - 0.13g
Saturated Fat - 0.04g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 4.82mg
Potassium - 197.84mg
Total Carbohydrates - 5.67g
Fiber - 0.6g
Sugar - 1.74g
Protein - 0.73g

Comments:

You can jazz this one up many ways. It is really good with some rough chopped peanuts on top. I also like to infuse the pickling liquid with other spices depending on what I am serving them with. These are not too sharp or too sweet. I like to use them on top of sandwiches, or flax crackers with nut cheese. They are also good in salads or on an appetizer tray.

Unrelated notes:

Today was a typically Friday at our house. Checking on my elderly parents and running a few errands to get ready for the weekend.

The weather was glorious most of the day in the mid 80’s with a nice breeze and low humidity. I decided it would be a great idea to go out to dinner tonight and dine al fresco since the weather was so nice. I have been researching new restaurants for the last couple of hours. So what happened do you imagine? Well about 5 minutes ago it started raining. There is front coming through. So much for dining al fresco.

Now our dinner plans are completely up in the air. I may be posting something later from a restaurant or something from here. At the moment our dinner plans are a big question mark. I hope you evening plans aren’t being messed up by the weather. I will be back later with a dinner update, or some sort. Talk to you all soon.

Thai Thursday

Normally if there is vegan Thai food happening it is taking place over at Rose’s blog. She is the queen of Thai food, in my opinion. But when Heather and I were joking around about Mexican Monday earlier this week she mentioned Thai Thursday and I thought why not, I need to come out of my comfort zone a little. Heather made Thai pizza tonight and it looks great. Please stop by her blog and check it out. I decided to make something more on the order of munchies for dinner. We had fresh spring rolls with spicy walnut dipping sauce, quick cucumber pickles and mushroom and veggie stir fry with yellow curry paste.

For the fresh spring rolls (or summer rolls) I used the same method I posted here, but I used slightly different veggies. These are always a function of what I have on hand. I like to include savoy cabbage and green onions when I have them since they were both shown to inhibit all forms of cancer cell growth in this study. To go with this we had a spicy walnut dipping sauce. It would have been more traditional to use peanut sauce but walnuts have a better lipid profile so I made that substitution for health reasons. With the flavorings you can’t tell that I used walnuts versus peanuts.

To accompany the spring rolls we had quick sweet and sour pickles with cilantro. I considered adding a few chopped peanuts but decided we had enough fat in the dipping sauce. I made these without sugar or salt and they are surprisingly good. They may be my favorite item from dinner tonight.

The stir fry is a quick dish with fresh onions, garlic, ginger, lime zest and juice, maitake mushrooms, cilantro and cucumber slices. I choose the maitake mushrooms because they are reported to help fight cancer. Cloud ear mushrooms would be a much more traditional choice. Overall this had a big flavor punch and good texture from the freshness of the cucumber that I added at the end.

I want to spend a little time with my hubby tonight since he came home early for a change. I will post the individual recipes tomorrow morning. This post was just to let you know what will be coming. I hope you are all having a great evening. Talk to you tomorrow.

High GI Foods Linked to Female Heart Disease

We started seriously cutting back on all forms of sugar and refined carbohydrate about a year ago. Now we have progressed to the point that even whole wheat flour is a treat. This was done to reduce blood glucose since that is beneficial in regard to cancer. According to this study it is also a good idea for women that are concerned about heart disease.

The more I read about nutrition the more I realize that there really is only one diet that is optimal no matter what health condition you are focused on. That is a whole food plant based diet. We struggled at the beginning to eat this way 100% of the time. Initially we followed the 90/10 rule that Dr. Fuhrman talks about in "Eat to Live". However we found that including the 10% was harder than going 100%. By allowing ourselves those little treats we weren’t weaning our bodies off of the toxic substances. Now when we occasionally eat out the food seems oily (even when it isn’t by American standards) and we don’t enjoy eating out like we used to.  It is amazing how much our tastes have changed in a relatively brief period of time.

If any of you are thinking of trying to change your diet to a whole food plant based diet and want some tips please feel free to ask me. I am happy to share what I have learned on this journey. It was tough at first, but now it is an easy lifestyle to follow.

Mexican Topped Millet

Those of you that know me will not be surprised to hear I had to listen to all the lectures for course two of the e-Cornell certification today. I just can’t help myself. Apparently my type-A personality traits run very deep. I got a slow start this morning because I wasn’t able to focus. However once I got a little exercise I was able to get through the lectures. Needless to say this meant that I didn’t start dinner until Dan was on his way home from work. Thankfully it takes him about 20 minutes from door to door. On those days when I am short on time I rely on millet or quinoa since they cook quickly. Here is what I made tonight:

Mexican Topped Millet
Serves 4

Millet Ingredients:

1 ½ cups millet
2 cups water
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Salt, as desired (I didn’t use any)

Topping Ingredients:

1 yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely minced (allow to stand 10 minutes before heating so allicin can develop)
¼ cup water to sauté the aromatics
10 ounces Rotel tomatoes
1 ½ cups white beans, cooked without salt and drained
10 black olives, pitted and chopped
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon oregano, dried
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 pinch red pepper flakes
8 spears fresh asparagus, woody ends removed then thinly sliced
6 cups raw baby spinach, roughly cut
2 green onions, thinly sliced

Directions:

Combine the ingredients for the millet in a heavy saucepan with a lid and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.

To make the sauce water sauté the onions and garlic until soft. Add the remaining ingredients except the asparagus, spinach and onions and cook over low heat will the millet is cooking. When the millet is done turn the heat off on the sauce and add the remaining ingredients and stir them into the sauce.

To serve top the millet with the sauce.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 473
Calories From Fat (13%) - 59.51

Total Fat - 6.67g
Saturated Fat - 0.76g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 490.33mg
Potassium - 969.57mg
Total Carbohydrates - 83.1g
Fiber - 16.38g
Sugar - 2.52g
Protein - 17.73g

Comments:

You may be asking why I added nutrition yeast and vinegar to the millet. I was trying to add a little background flavor without sodium. It did add some flavor but next time I will include an extra tablespoon of vinegar.

This is another dish that came together quickly because I keep cooked beans in the refrigerator and freezer. If you haven’t tried that “trick” yet I highly recommend it. It comes in very handy for me.

I think Heather and her love of Mexican food is rubbing off on me. I don’t normally make Mexican twice a week for dinner. However this was good and a nice change from the Italian, Asian or Middle Eastern food I normally make.

I added the spinach, asparagus and green onions at the very end of cooking so that they would retain as much nutrition as possible. Olive provided the fat so that we were able to absorb the fat soluble vitamins as well as adding salt.

Each serving of this contains approximately 5,100IU of vitamin A, 25mg of vitamin C, 155mg of calcium, 7mg of iron, 280mcg of folate, 250mcg of vitamin K, 400mg of phosphorus, and 190mg of magnesium. The stats for this are similar to most of my meals, which is a good thing.

To go with this we had a glass of fresh veggie and fruit juice like normal.

Unrelated note:

The second course in the e-Cornell program is much better than the first one. I was happy to hear new information presented by individuals that have not read before. I was also happy that the lectures were going into more detail. If anyone has any questions about course two feel free to send me an email or post a comment.

It will be nice to have things get back to normal tomorrow (no running around or school). I am considering spending half the day in the kitchen. Cooking is my therapy and I feel like I can use a little right now. Unless something comes up to ruin my plans you can expect to see a few recipes tomorrow. I have no idea what that means yet but there may be a new seitan sausage. I haven’t made a new one in while so that could be fun.

For now I am going to go and take care of a few things before it is time to turn in. I hope you all had a great day. I will chat with you tomorrow.

Dinner Tonight: Soup, Salad and Baked Sweet Potato

Dinner tonight was one of those easy dinners I make when I am short on time. After being out of the house most of the day and then spending quite a while on the phone this evening I ran out of time for making dinner.

When the weather is cool and rainy soup seems like the appropriate dinner. When we were at the health food store today they had a lentil soup that Dan thought about ordering. Then when I was talking to Jackie this evening she mentioned lentil soup. Clearly the universe was sending me signs to make lentil soup, so I did. What we had tonight is a variation of the soup I posted here.

To go with the soup I microwaved a sweet potato and topped it with tofu tahini sauce and a little fresh parsley. We also had a small side salad make with baby spinach, white beans and salsa. After dinner we had a veggie and fruit juice similar to this one.

Sorry for the lack of recipes tonight it has been a busy day and I am very behind schedule. Tomorrow I start my second course at e-Cornell. This will take up a good bit of my day as I try to get through the first week of assignments tomorrow. However, I hope to have a little time to spend in the kitchen.  I really need some time in the kitchen.  It is my preferred form of therapy.  I will talk to you all tomorrow. Have a great evening.

A Busy Morning turns into a Busy Afternoon

We had an appointment with our internist at 11am that we thought would be quick, but they never are. After running from office to office and stopping at the pharmacy we were finally heading for home at 2:30pm.

Since we were out we decided a brief stop at the health food store was in order. For those of you in the area we go to The Natural Market in Timonium. While we were there we bought a California wrap with lentil burger, hummus, alfalfa sprouts, greens, onion and roasted bell pepper which we split. It was good and very filling.  Here s the link to the menu in case it gives you any ideas. 

To go with that we had a large juice that included carrots, spinach, romaine, parsley and beet they call the blood regenerator. I know it was heavy on the carrot because that was the primary flavor with beet coming in second.  It was a nice combination. I am going to try to make something similar at home as soon as I pick up some beets.

We also found out we could order trays of wheat grass. Since the growing didn’t go so well we decided to order a tray. For those of you that aren’t gardeners but want the juice you may want to see if your health food store offers this. Ours gets theirs from the grocery supplier.

As we were heading for home we passed a new restaurant named “Basta Pasta.” For those of you that know Italian you know this must be the worst name for an Italian restaurant ever. Basta is a contraction of the word abbastanza, which means enough. When you are in Italy you will hear mothers telling their children basta quite regularly.  It is also a phrase my hubby hears often when he is acting up. Why anyone would name an Italian restaurant enough pasta is beyond me. But it was so ridiculous I wanted to share.

Time for me to run and try to get a few things accomplished around here. I will chat with you again soon. I hope you are all having a great day.

Dinner Tonight: Taco Salad and Raw Falafel

We fell back on a family favorite for dinner tonight. Since we always have cooked beans in the refrigerator I used those to make a quick taco salad. I make these types of salads often because they are easy and very high in nutrition. For the greens I use baby spinach. Salsa is the salad dressing of choice for these salads. I toss the beans, bell pepper, dice celery, green onions and parsley with the salsa and place that on the spinach. A little more salsa is placed on the top of the salad for color. Halved cherry tomatoes are placed along the edges of the salad with a few tortilla chips on top. I omitted olives and avocado since our next dish had plenty of fat.

To go with the salad we had a few raw falafel with a cucumber, tahini and lemon sauce. Dan and I both think the falafel were okay, but it is not my best recipe. So …. I will be posting that recipe once I am happy with it. Sorry guys I don’t want to post a recipe I am thrilled with.

However to go with the falafel I made a quick cucumber sauce in the blender that we did like. It was very fast and here is what I did:

Cucumber, Tahini and Lemon Sauce
Makes approximately 18 tablespoons

Ingredients:

5 inches English cucumber, cut into chunks
4 tablespoons sesame seeds (or tahini if you aren’t using a high powered blender)
¼ to ½ fresh lemon juiced and zested
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Combine in your blender and process until smooth. This is nice creamy sauce with the unmistakable flavor of sesame.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 20.95
Calories From Fat (64%) - 13.5

Total Fat - 1.61g
Saturated Fat-  0.23g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 12.2mg
Potassium - 30.87mg
Total Carbohydrates - 1.37g
Fiber - 0.39g
Sugar-  0.2g
Protein - 0.67g

Comments:

This was an easy dinner from things we had in the refrigerator. There are days when that is the best way to go. I like the new cucumber sauce. It will also make a good veggie dip or salad dressing.

Unrelated notes:

I am going to sign off soon to relax before bed. I hope you all had a great Monday. I will chat with you tomorrow. Have a good evening.

Quick Update 04.12.10

My husband and I have been talking about trying to step up our nutrition to the next level. While I don’t know exactly what that means at the moment I will be doing a lot of reading in the next few weeks while I try to figure out what changes we can make to our diet to make it even more healthy. In order to accomplish this goal I ordered a few things today.

First I ordered the DVDs from “The Nutrition and Health Conference in 2009”. I had considered attending the 2010 conference next month until I realized I could purchase the DVDs from last year and this year (when they are available) for less than half the cost of attending the conference this year. I thought it was a great solution.

Next I ordered “The Rave Diet” and “Healing Cancer From the Inside Out” and accompanying DVDs. This is another plant based program similar to those by Doctors Fuhrman, McDougall and Esselstyn. I am curious to read these books to see how it is different. From what I read they are well sourced, which is something that is important to me.

Have any of you read either of the books or seen the videos from the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine? If you have I would love to hear what you think.

Unrelated note:

The picture above is a completely gratuitous photo of our oldest male feline Massimo. He is taking a nap in the sun with his teddy bear. I thought this picture of him was so cute I had to share it.  Sometimes they are so human it is almost scary.

I need to get back to my to-do list. I will back later today with a recipe, or two. I hope you are all having a great day.

Egyptian Inspired Dinner

As you may remember yesterday we were having dinner with our friends Walid and Jackie at their new house. We spent the day talking and catching up. As with most of our gatherings there was a bunch of talking and carrying on. We all had a great time.

Walid and Jackie used to live a block down the street from us but moved to the suburbs. Suburbia is a serious departure from where we live. My husband would love to move back to suburbia but we have gotten used to being able to walk to the grocery store. Our friend Walid is still getting used to living in the burbs, but we think he will learn to love it. The burbs are a bit departure from the hustle and bustle of living in Cairo and then in the city here.  Not to mention 5 foot long snakes take a little getting used to.

Since our friend Walid is from Egypt I wanted to make something to take with me that had a familiar flavor and aroma for him. He only goes “home” once a year so anything that I can do to bring a little Egypt to him is a bonus. I combined three different Egyptian recipes to make this dish my own. Here is what I did:

Egyptian Inspired Fava Beans – my way
serves 6

Ingredients:

2 cups mini fava beans, picked through and soaked overnight
2 bay leaves
Water to cover beans by double
½ red onions, quartered and thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic
¼ cup water to sauté onions and garlic
28 ounces diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon cumin
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
3 small pieces mastic gum (aka mastica), or somewhere between ¼ and ½ teaspoon
½ teaspoon gray salt (or to taste)
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 limes, zested and juiced
¼ cup parsley, finely minced

Directions:

Simmer the beans until they are tender, then drain and reserve two cups of the cooking liquid.

Water sauté the onions and garlic until soft. Add the remaining ingredients, except the lime and parsley. Add as much of the reserved bean liquid as is necessary to cook the beans so that they don’t get dry. Simmer for at least 15 minutes to blend the flavors.

I refrigerated the mixture at this point for service the next day. If you want to eat it right away add the lime juice, lime zest and parsley just before serving. I think this would be great with crispy flat bread but we had it with brown rice and a dollop of tofu tahini sauce. Even Walid liked the tofu tahini sauce, and he isn't a fan of tofu.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories -213.37
Calories From Fat (5%) - 11.4

Total Fat - 1.36g
Saturated Fat - 0.19g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 138.36mg
Potassium - 911.97mg
Total Carbohydrates - 39.03g
Fiber - 15.35g
Sugar - 6.77g
Protein - 14.88g

Comments:

Since I am certainly not an expert on Egyptian food I am going to tell you what Walid thought first. He said the dish was very close to what he would get back home. His only suggestions were a little more garlic (I am going to try double the amount next time) and a slightly thicker tomato base (I am going to add a tablespoon of tomato paste to the next batch). Overall he said it was very good. Since he had seconds I think this assessment was honest.

Dan and I enjoyed this quite a bit. The aroma is so different from what we are used to, but very pleasant and inviting. The aroma from the mastic grains is intoxicating. I had read they were used for their aroma and now I know why. Then add a fragrance that is very distinct but difficult to describe. I think it is lovely. I found mine at “The Mediterranean Bakery” in Alexandria, Virginia. They do a big Middle Eastern business so I thought they would carry them and they did. For those of that are in the area you have to ask the cashier for them. They are kept behind the counter.

This will definitely be something that I make again. Everyone really enjoyed this, included Dan and me.

Next Recipe: Brown Rice with Pine Nuts

To go with the fava beans I made a brown rice. I scoured my Egyptian cookbook and most of the rice dishes used either meat or meat broth. Since that I was out I got creative with some of the ingredients to mimic a meaty flavor. One interesting thing I noticed was that they used vinegar in the rice which I decided to use. Additionally a couple of the recipes used pine nuts so that sounds like a good idea too. Here is what I did:

Brown Rice with Pine Nuts
Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 clove garlic, very thinly sliced
2 tablespoons water to sauté garlic
1 ½ cups brown basmati rice
3 cups water
2 tablespoons date vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (to mimic bitterness since many of the authentic recipes used ghee)
1 large pinch saffron threads, crumbled (to mimic a meaty color)
2 pinches grey salt (any sea salt)
¼ cup pine nuts

Directions:

Water sauté the thinly sliced garlic until it softens. Add the remaining ingredients and bring the water to a boil. Cook on low covered, for 35 to 45 minutes. The exact time will depend on the cookware and power of your stove you use. When I use my enamel coated cast iron on my high heat burner the rice cooks in 35 minutes.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 216.64
Calories From Fat (21%) - 44.73

Total Fat - 5.2g
Saturated Fat - 0.55g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 101.4mg
Potassium - 143.78mg
Total Carbohydrates - 36.68g
Fiber - 1.84g
Sugar - 0.62g
Protein - 4.48g

Comments:

The date vinegar adds a wonderful background to the rice. Both Dan and I immediately liked the vinegar addition. Overall the rice has a mild flavor. Next time I may add a little more saffron and nutritional yeast (maybe 50% more). This is definitely a recipe I will be playing around with to be used with other dishes. The vinegar addition will be showing up in future rice recipes.

Even Jackie liked this and she isn’t a fan of brown rice. I definitely think this is a winner and I will be making variations of this in the future.

Jackie's Dishes:

To go with the beans and rice Jackie made a few items these were:

Zucchini and Yellow Squash with Spicy Tomatoes and Onions

Wilted Spinach with Garlic

Steamed Asparagus

Big Green Salad with Tomato, Radish, Green Onion, Carrot and Celery

We definitely got our veggies yesterday.

Unrelated Notes:

After we got the tour of the house I had to take pictures of the wee ones at the house. In this case they are four footed wee ones. Here is a picture of Buddy relaxing on the guest bed.

This is little brother Skipper lounging on the rug in the family room.

They are the sweetest boys. Jackie is the only person I know that treats her animals the way we do. She and I got along instantly from the first time we met.

Today is going to be a bit of mixed bag at our house. There are some errands to run and things to accomplish at home. We have run out of seitan in the freezer so that is a situation I need to correct. I will be back later with a post. I hope you guys are having a good Monday. Talk to you soon.

Brown Rice Stir Fry with Seitan and Pineapple

Tonight for dinner we had a quick stir fry since both the vegans and omnis agree on stir fry. My elderly parents have even come around to the idea of brown rice, but only when I am cooking that is. ;-) I don’t often measure when I make stir fry (sorry). But I can tell you what I included tonight in general terms. This stir fry included: minced fresh ginger, minced garlic, green onions, red bell pepper, finely diced celery, thinly sliced savoy cabbage, seitan cutlets cut into small cubes (from the freezer), cold cooked brown basmati rice, grated carrot, thinly sliced asparagus, fresh pineapple chunks and thinly sliced baby spinach. I water sauté the ingredients starting in the order I have the listed and continue to add them until I get to the rice. Once the rice is hot I turn off the heat and add the remaining ingredients and let the hot rice warm them. Then I season the rice with liquid aminos, mirin and sriracha. I served this with Asian walnut dressing for those that wanted it. It would also be good with cashews if you prefer.

The beauty of stir fry for me is that it is best made with cold leftover rice. Also you can cut the veggies hours ahead of time so it is a quick, toss in the pan dinner. Exactly the sort of thing I like to make when I don’t want to be cooped up in the kitchen. Stir fry makes a great plan ahead meal for those that are more organized than I am. ;-)

Unrelated:

As soon as I clean up the kitchen from dinner I am going to get started on the fava bean dish I am taking to Walid and Jackie’s tomorrow. I am still not completely certain which one I am making, but will make that decision while the beans are cooking. I think bean dishes always taste better the next day, after the flavors have had a chance to marry so that is why I am making it tonight.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day. Our plans are to hang out with Walid and Jackie and run some errands. I also hope to get some pictures outside. It is gorgeous here now with the spring trees and bushes in bloom. Since the beautiful colors and flowers always cheer me up I want to get some good shots to share with all of you. It is so nice to finally be done with the snow and have spring here. :-)

I hope to have time for another post tonight but don’t know if that will pan out. If not, I hope you are all having a great Saturday and I will talk to you soon!

Nicoise Salad with White Beans

Good Evening everyone. Sorry I have been gone most of the day. I have been having another one of those days, but it is Friday so that is okay. Friday is always my favorite day of the week because it means two whole days with my husband. Yes we are still that “icky” 24 years later.  I am very lucky to be married to my best friend.

I talked to Jackie (Walid’s wife) about dinner on Sunday and she is a little worried about what we can or should eat. I hate being such a problem for our friends. We have decided that I will make the bean dish and bring some brown rice and they are in charge of veggies and white rice. We may end up grilling veggies, but nothing is set in stone yet. Since I am making the bean dish I want to make something Middle Eastern.  Therefore I have been pouring through my Middle Eastern cookbooks this afternoon. I may make a fava bean dish, but I have not decided yet. If anyone has a suggestion please feel free to share.  I am still very open to suggestions.

Both Dan and Walid worked very late tonight. They both left the office after 9pm. Needless to say I wanted to make a light dinner since I hate going to bed with a full stomach. Once again I turned to salad for dinner relying on the cooked cannellini beans. Here is what we had:

Nicoise Salad with White Beans
serves 2

Salad Ingredients:

6 ounces russet potato
Fresh juice of ¼ lemon
4 cups baby spinach
1/2 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced into halves or quarters
1 cup cannellini beans, cooked without salt
6 nicoise or kalamata olives, pitted and sliced into slivers
1 cup green beans, lightly steamed
½ orange pepper, thinly sliced

Salad Dressing Ingredients:

½ lemon zested and juiced
1 tablespoon capers, rough chopped
2 tablespoons parsley, finely minced
1 tablespoon fat free oil replacer – version 1 (recipe below)

Directions:

Microwave the potato until just tender. Cut into bite size chunks and squeeze fresh lemon juice over the potato and refrigerate.

To make the dressing whisk together the lemon zest, lemon juice, capers, parsley and oil replacer.

To serve place the spinach on the base of the plate. Top the spinach with the vegetables and drizzle with dressing. Add salt and pepper as desired.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 288.04
Calories From Fat (12%) - 35.42

Total Fat - 4.01g
Saturated Fat-  0.14g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 370.96mg
Potassium - 1611.87mg
Total Carbohydrates - 54.1g
Fiber - 11.95g
Sugar - 3.48g
Protein - 13.49g

Comments:

This was a nice light salad. It was perfect for dinner at 9:30 at night. Next time I may make some baked tofu to add to this salad to serve as the tuna replacement. But beans make a good stand in if you aren’t in the mood to marinate and bake tofu.

Each serving of this salad contains approximately 7,700IU of vitamin A, 120mg of vitamin C, 130mg of calcium, 4.9mg of iron, 295mcg of folate, 370mcg of vitamin K, 235mg of phosphorus, and 130mg of magnesium.

Related Recipe:

The oil replacer is my variation of the a Bryanna recipe found here. Her recipe calls for low sodium vegetarian broth powder, but I don’t keep anything like that on hand. I decided to add black peppercorns to mimic the peppery bite in some Tuscan olive oils. The lemon zest was added for the citrus notes that some olive oils have. This does not taste like olive oil but it does add the correct viscosity to the dressing that you would typically get from oil. I am going to continue to play around with this concept until I get it right. Here is what I did:

Fat Free Oil Replacer – version 1
Makes 13 tablespoons

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon cornstarch
¾ cup water
Zest of ¼ lemon, or to taste
20 whole tellichery peppercorns that have been cracked

Directions:

Whisk together the water and cornstarch. Add the lemon zest and peppercorns and heat the mixture, whisking occasionally, until it is thick, mostly clear and smooth. Refrigerate until needed. If desired remove the peppercorns before using.

Nutritional information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 2.56
Calories From Fat (1%) - 0.02

Total Fat - 0g
Saturated Fat - 0g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 0.5mg
Potassium - 1.11mg
Total Carbohydrates - 0.62g
Fiber - 0.03g
Sugar - 0.01g
Protein - 0.01g

Comments:

Next time I am going to try using arrowroot instead of cornstarch I think that might result in a better texture and more gloss. Also, I will be using more peppercorns to up that flavor.

Unrelated notes:

Since it is almost midnight this will definitely be my last post of the evening. I hope you are all having a great Friday evening. Talk to you tomorrow. Good night!

Quick Update 04.09.10

Yesterday was just one of those days where nothing seemed to go right. The day ended with a hard cold blowing rain. This morning we woke up and it was still gray and cold (49 degrees). On the bright side the thick light green coating of pollen was washed away by the rain. I am determined to have a better day today, no matter what! We will see if the universe agrees. What do you do to shake a down mood? I would love to hear some suggestions.

Since it is Friday it is my day to check on the parents and make certain they have what they need and then run my errands. After that I will be back with a post of two. I wanted share a photo of the raw falafel, still not done in the middle. But I am hopeful that they will cook through, eventually. They have only been in the dehydrator for about 9 hours so far.

TGIF! Talk to you all again soon.

Dinner Tonight: Soup and Salad

Today has not gone at all as I had planned. Don’t you just hate those days? First, technology was problematic. My friend emailed that her little one was sick but I didn’t get the email. So late this afternoon when I sent her an email saying I guess life got hectic I found out that I had not gotten her earlier email. We are going to try to get together next week for healthy cooking instead.

Next I decided that I wanted to make raw falafel with zucchini instead of beans for dinner tonight. They look great, they smell great and ... they were still raw inside one hour before dinner. Well normally this wouldn’t be a big deal but the cupboards are bare, relatively speaking. Thankfully Dan Jr. called his father and wanted to stop at Costco this evening so Dan Sr. is picking provisions on his way home. He is such a good hubby.

What do I do in times like this? Easy, I make a quick soup and salad dinner. Thankfully those cannellini beans are waiting in the refrigerator to top a quick taco salad (no chips, unless Dan whines for some that is). To go with the salad I decided to make a mushroom and rice soup. Dried mushrooms to the rescue again. Here is what I did:

Cream of Mushroom and Rice Soup
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 cup dried mushrooms
6 cups water
½ cup oatmeal, turned into flour
½ cup walnuts
2 cloves garlic
Dry mustard, to taste (I probably added ¼ teaspoon)
Paprika, to taste (I probably added ¼ teaspoon)
Thyme, to taste (I probably added 1 teaspoon)
No salt seasoning (I used about 1 teaspoon)
Salt or liquid aminos, to taste
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
½ pound fresh maitake mushrooms, torn into bite size pieces (any fresh mushroom would work)
1 cup of cooked brown rice
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced

Directions:

Combine the dried mushrooms and water and microwave until hot (about 3 minutes). Allow the mushrooms to steep for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile puree the oats into flour and add the walnuts and process quickly.

Strain the mushroom broth through a cheesecloth into the blender. Process the mixture until it is smooth. Pour the soup base into a pot and simmer until it is thick. Add the seasonings to your taste. The maitake mushrooms get added for the last 5 minutes of cooking.

To serve place a little brown rice in the bottom of the bowl, top with soup then finish with fresh minced parsley (if desired).

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 234.89
Calories From Fat (37%) - 87.59

Total Fat - 10.46g
Saturated Fat - 1.07g
Cholesterol-  0mg
Sodium - 14.85mg
Potassium - 421.89mg
Total Carbohydrates - 32.16g
Fiber  5.77g
Sugar - 1.86g
Protein - 6.65g

Comments:

As my husband said, this is a “very mushroomy soup”. If you are a fan of shrooms you will like this. With the cold rain we started getting this evening this was nice to have. This soup would also be good with a few diced or sun-dried tomatoes. It would also be good with caramelized garlic or a little Worcestershire sauce.

To go with this soup we had very simple salad made with baby spinach, cannellini beans, cucumber, grape tomatoes and salsa. Just a simple salad to provide raw veggies and a little protein from the beans. This is another one of my easy meals that I rely on often during the week for lunch. Heather I were chatting today and she told that she would like to know what my simple meals (the ones I don’t post) because they may give her ideas to bounce off of. I will be posting those easy meals for a while to share what I do when I need something fast and I haven’t planned. I think you will be surprised how often that actually happens at our house. ;-)

Unrelated note:

This has been one of those days where nothing actually went as planned. Many years ago that would have thrown off my entire day. But now I just go with the flow and regroup. It is amazing how much more mellow I have become in my “old age”. I have been thinking a lot about age lately. Not a pleasant subject for me. I am not handling aging all that well. Hopefully I can make peace with 50 before it actually arrives. I still have a little over 2 years so if I start now I may be ready. Sigh ……

On that dark note I am going to sign off. I hope you all had a more scheduled and peaceful day than I did. Talk to you tomorrow.

Asian Inspired Raw Kale Salad with Lime Juice

Raw kale is something that I really want to enjoy eating because it is so good for you, from a nutritional perspective. But the bitterness makes consuming it raw taste more like medicine than food to me. We enjoy it dehydrated, as in kale chips but not really any other raw way. I bought this kale on Saturday telling my husband it was going to be a raw salad. The look I got was priceless followed by a “really, will I like it?” To which I quickly replied, “of course you will, I promise.” I immediately wondered if I had just lied to my husband since I am not crazy about the taste of raw kale either.

Most of the recipes for massaged kale salads that I have seen use ridiculous amounts oil and typically salt and I didn’t want to use either of those. My plan was to use only an acid of some type to soften the greens. I was chatting with my friend Heather today and asked what she thought of raw kale and her response was also a little lukewarm. No surprise really I think everyone has that reaction to raw kale. But she suggested adding apples and that started my mind spinning with ideas which turned into this:

Asian Inspired Raw Kale Salad with Lime Juice
Makes 2 servings

Ingredients:

1 bunch kale, stems removed, torn into bite sized pieces (about 10 cups loosely packed)
2 limes, zested and juiced
1 apple, cored and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon white miso
1 tablespoon mirin (Japanese rice wine vinegar)
¼ cup hazelnuts, roughly chopped

Directions:

Combine the kale, lime zest and lime juice and rub the juice into the kale to help it soften the kale. Place the kale, with the excess lime juice in a zip top bag. Remove as much air from the bag as possible and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Periodically smash (sorry it isn’t more technical) the kale through the bag and turn it over and place it back in the refrigerator. You are doing this to work as much acid (lime juice) into the kale as possible.

When you are ready to serve slice the apple as thinly as possible. Whisk the miso and mirin together and toss the apple in the dressing to coat. If there is any lime juice left in the kale container add that to the dressing.

To serve top the salad with the apples and sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts. If you have any extra miso dressing drizzle it over the salad.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 335.79
Calories From Fat (29%) - 96.01

Total Fat - 11.85g
Saturated Fat - 1.08g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 467.25mg
Potassium - 1818.57mg
Total Carbohydrates - 58.92g
Fiber - 12.72g
Sugar - 9.46g
Protein - 14.95g

Comments:

So the moment of truth ….. was it edible? Surprisingly it was. I say surprisingly because I had some doubt as to whether this would work or not. The lime juice softened the kale so that it was more like a sturdy lettuce than it was kale. I even think the lime acid tamed the bitterness of the green. Of course we liked the miso and mirin dressing with apple because that is one of our favorite combinations. Will I make this again? Absolutely I will and often. I think the salad is going to improve as it sits overnight in the refrigerator. But I don’t know this since we ate it all tonight for dinner. Next time I am going to make this the day before and see how that impacts the taste and texture. I was very surprised by how much more tender the kale was after about 5 hours in the lime juice. Huge difference!

This salad is so packed with nutrition there is no way I can’t make it at least once or twice a week now. Each serving of this salad contains approximately 51,600IU of vitamin A (that is not a typo), 430mg of vitamin C, 510mg of calcium, 7mg of iron, 125mcg of folate, 2,740mcg of vitamin K, 260mg of phosphorus, and 150mg magnesium. Can you believe the nutrition in this? I am blown away by these numbers. Seriously guys, some version of this salad needs to be on my dinner table at least once a week from now on.

Unrelated note:

We had a great day today. The weather was gorgeous, upper 80’s and sunny. We could not have asked for nicer weather. We had a nice relaxing lazy day although that means we didn’t get as much accomplished as we would like, but that is okay. Tomorrow is another day.

Speaking of tomorrow I will be teaching a friend to make nut cheese and nut milk tomorrow (and maybe other things) so I will be on and off the computer during the day. You can expect an update on how the “cooking lessons” go. Either way I know we will have fun. It is nice to have a friend that is interested in nutrition since they are so few and far between. Sigh…..

On the Egyptian dinner front that has been moved to Sunday. Let us just say Walid didn’t check with his boss (the wife) or he would have known they had a birthday party to attend. I will give you a full report after dinner and will get recipes (or methods) for everything we have on Sunday.

For now I need to get going so I can clean up the kitchen and relax before bed. I hope you all had great day and I will talk to you tomorrow.

Another Reason to Eat Garlic

While the article says the study was small, and a week isn’t very long, the preliminary results are certainly encouraging. In this brief study scientists were able to measure the marker for a carcinogenic process in urine tests. Those individuals that consumed 5 grams of garlic had the lowest level of this marker. The article indicates that a clove of garlic ranges between 1 and 5 grams.

This study is similar to the research done on raw foods that showed that garlic inhibited the growth of all the cancer cell lines it was tested on. I don’t know about any of you, but this study encourages me to continue to eat my garlic at least twice add in addition to using it in our food.

More Fruits and Veggies Don’t Protect Against Cancer?

An 8 year study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute shows no reduction in cancer risk for those eating more fruits and veggies. I can see the headlines now. What we don’t know, but I will be finding out, is what other foods were these people consuming. Specifically I am wondering about meat and animal products. The China Study proved to me that the consumption on animal products is correlated to all forms of cancer. This latest study seems like the Nurses’ Health Study which is only looking at the Standard American Diet. When we will we ever learn? Ugh.....

Quick Update:

If you look at his chart of supplementary data for the study you will see the following:

1) the participants ate a high fat diet (at the upper and lower end)
2)  were mostly sedentary (more at the low end but the upper end was close to 50% and then the question is was this self reported activity)
3) most smoked, or are former smokers (more at the lower end, but the upper end had a large number too)
4) and most drank alcohol. (well over 50% assuming <6 doesn't also include 0)

Really, and we wonder why the fruit and veggies didn't help.  Hmmmmm.  Gee, I wonder. Duh!

Saag Paneer made with Tofu

Saag Paneer has always been a favorite of mine. I used to order it when we went out and made it at home. Back in the day I also used to make my own paneer. I have not made this dish since we became vegan. Today I decided it was time to make tofu version of my dish. For those of you that are Indian obviously my dish isn’t authentic. But I like the addition of the chewy sun dried tomatoes. I call this my Italian American version of saag and here is what I did:

Saag Paneer made with Tofu
Serves 3

Tofu Ingredients:

1 ½ tablespoons fresh ginger, finely ground
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced
1 jalapeno, stem removed and minced (remove the seeds and ribs if you don’t like heat)
1 lime, zested and juiced
¼ teaspoon turmeric
14 ounces extra firm tofu, cut into ½ to ¾ inch cubes

Cashew cream:

¼ cup raw cashews
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
water necessary to make a thick cream-like consistency

Brown Rice:

1 cup brown basmati rice
2 cups water
1 cinnamon stick
2 green cardamom pods, smacked with the side
½ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon oil
¼ teaspoon black pepper

Sauce ingredients:

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced (allow to stand 10 minutes before heating so allicin can develop)
¼ cup water
1 ½ teaspoons garam masala or curry powder, or to taste
10 ounces frozen spinach (chopped not leaf)
6 sun-dried tomatoes, julienned (you can use peeled chopped tomatoes which would be more authentic)

Optional Garnish Ingredients:

A few fresh chopped cherry tomatoes (approx ¼ cup)
Lime wedges

Directions:

Combine the tofu ingredients (except the tofu) in your blender or food processor and process until it makes a paste. Combine the paste and tofu cubes in a well sealed container and toss to coat. Place tofu in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours but longer would be fine. Periodically turn the container over so all the tofu can absorb the flavors of the paste.

To make the cashew cream combine the raw cashews and lemon juice in your blender and process. Add as much water as is necessary to make a thick “cream-like” sauce. Refrigerate until needed.

To make the brown rice dissolve the turmeric in the oil with the pepper. The oil is used to dissolve the turmeric and make it more bioavailable. Piperine in the black pepper also increases the absorption of the turmeric. Add the remaining ingredients to the pot and cook covered until the rice is done, approximately 45 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a ¼ or ½ sheet plan with parchment and place the drained tofu in a single layer and bake for 20 minutes. Allow the tofu to cool until it releases easily from the pan and turn the cubes over and bake for another 10 – 15 minutes until it reaches a texture you like.  My husband likes a very firm tofu so that is reflected in my cooking time you can cook it less to more closely mimick paneer.

In a saucepan water sauté the onion and garlic until tender. Move the aromatics, garam masala to your blender and puree. Return the mixture to the saucepan and add the defrosted box of spinach and sun dried tomatoes and cook over low heat for 15 minutes to blend the flavors. You may need to add a little water to thin the sauce.

When you are ready to serve place the baked tofu in the sauce and stir to combine. I serve this in bowl with the rice on the bottom, topped with the sauce. I like to place the cashew cream in the top of the spinach sauce so that you can still see it prominently in the dish. Sometimes I will add a few chopped raw tomatoes to the top of the dish for color and a lime wedge for those that want it.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 481.58
Calories From Fat (26%) - 125.92

Total Fat 15.06g
Saturated Fat - 1.9g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium-  331.39mg
Potassium - 826.24mg
Total Carbohydrates - 69.67g
Fiber - 10.78g
Sugar - 4.37g
Protein - 24.58g

Comments:

This really hit the spot tonight. Definitely different from what we get at the restaurants around here. But that is loaded with fat we don’t want. For those that haven’t had saag before it is a mild spinach dish and this version is also mild. I think it would also be good with red pepper flakes but that isn’t how I have seen it made in the past.

Each serving of this dish contains approximately 11,500IU of vitamin A, 480mg of calcium, 8mg of iron, 170mcg of folate, 520mcg of vitamin K, 505mg of phosphorus, 270mg of magnesium, and 30mcg of selenium. A nice nutrition punch if I do say so myself. I also like that it has more than 10g or fiber and 24g of protein.

As those of you know that have been reading a long time my best friend in college was from Madras. I learned a lot about Indian food from her family. It was the first cuisine I learned to cook after Italian. It has remained a favorite of mine for 30 years. Wow, it is hard to believe it has been that long. Time sure flies when you are having fun. ;-)

Unrelated note:

Tomorrow my hubby is taking the day off so I will be busy with him most of the day. Of course I will make dinner and will get that posted. But I will be mobile most of day so I may not be as chatty in my responses.

I hope all are all having a great week so far. I will talk to you tomorrow.