Soup Tips and Breakfast

Yesterday Dan spent about 8 hours downtown at his office. *sniff sniff* Today he is working from home, which somehow makes it better. I like knowing he is at least in the house even if he is in his home office.

Soup Tips:

Dinner last night was nothing spectacular. I made a quick pot of red lentil and vegetable soup since it was rainy and gray. Plus the soup could cook while I did a little reading, an added bonus. If you have a slow cooker they are also great to use to make summer soup. I think we all sometimes overbuy veggies; soup is great for those times.

If you are trying to reduce your salt and fat consumption like we are I have a few tips. Add a little acid (lemon juice or vinegar) to your soup after you ladle it into your bowl. If you still think you need salt sprinkle a little sea salt on your portion. I also find that adding hot peppers seems to help reduce the need for salt. Adding a tablespoon of tomato paste also adds richness to soup that you can’t get from whole tomatoes and also seems to reduce the need for salt.

Farmers’ Market:

As usual we started our Sunday morning at the farmers’ market. I wanted to highlight what we bought and how much we spent since some of you are finding E2L to be cost prohibitive. Today we bought:

2 bunches kale
1 bunch collards
2 pounds beets
½ pound fresh ginger
1 pint nectarines
1 quart fava beans
2 pints blackberries
1 large watermelon
6 tomatoes
6 cucumbers
4 big zucchini
2 yellow squash
1 cabbage
1 quart Italian beans
1 bag mixed salad greens
1 bunch cilantro
2 large beets (for raw ravioli)

Part of that was our CSA share ($20 a week) and the remainder was purchased for $32. This $52 dollars of produce will last the two of us most of the week.  To give you an idea of volume it filled 4 reusable grocery bags. If you are having difficulty finding reasonably priced organic produce I highly recommend your local farmers’ market. Costco also carries quite a bit of organic produce which we make great use of in the winter.

Breakfast today:

After our early morning trip to the market we both wanted blackberries. We had a very simple fruit salad as follows:

Fruit Salad
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 cantaloupe
2 cups black berries
½ cup blueberries

Directions:

Toss together and enjoy.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 176.42
Calories From Fat (6%) - 11.27

Total Fat - 1.35g
Saturated Fat - 0.17g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 45.96mg
Potassium - 998.11mg
Total Carbohydrates - 41.61g
Fiber - 10.99g
Sugar - 32.33g
Protein - 4.59g

Comments:

Sometimes you just want a fresh bowl of fruit and that was the mood we were in today. If you want to make this more “gourmet” you could add some fresh mint or a little cashew crème fraiche that you have sweetened with stevia. I also like my fruit salad with hulled hempseeds if you enjoy those.

Each serving of this fruit salad contains approximately 9,600IU of vitamin A, 135mg of vitamin C, 70mg of calcium, 1.5mg of iron, 2mg of vitamin E, 95mcg of folate, 40mcg of vitamin K, 75mg of phosphorus, and 65mg of magnesium.

Next recipe:

Surprise, surprise to go with the fruit salad we had another variation of fresh juice. This is the version that I seem to make most often. I suppose you could call it Dan’s favorite juice. Here is what we include:

Dan’s Favorite Juice with Beet
Serves 3

Ingredients:

½ pound of baby organic spinach
2 kale leaves
10 carrots
2 apples
1 lemon
2 inches fresh ginger
3 stalks celery
2 medium beets

Directions:

Run everything through your juicer and pour into a cold glass. As usual I used glasses that I store in the freezer just for our morning juice.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 214.27
Calories From Fat (6%) - 12.08

Total Fat - 1.51g
Saturated Fat - 0.24g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 311.54mg
Potassium - 1742.25mg
Total Carbohydrates - 51.58g
Fiber 0.00g**
Sugar - 25.08g
Protein - 6.83g
**manually zeroed out

Comments:

We both really like this juice. It is slightly sweet but not in an overwhelming way. I would say it tastes fresh and is very refreshing. It has a little kick from the fresh ginger and tartness from the lemon. We think it is good mix of flavors.

Each serving of this juice contains approximately 55,800IU of vitamin A, 100mg of vitamin C, 240mg of calcium, 3.9mg of iron, 3.6mg of vitamin E, 0.7mg of vitamin B6, 250mcg of folate, 600mcg of vitamin K, 180mg of phosphorus, and 120mg of magnesium. This is why I love fresh juice. You really can’t beat the nutritional value.

Unrelated notes:

It was wonderful yesterday to get a temporary break from the heat and we really needed the rain. The farmers this morning the farmers were all talking about how much we needed the rain. However, today the temperatures are supposed to go back to the mid 90’s. This means I want cold food today. The soup I made yesterday may end up the freezer.

Today I will be making something with spiralized zucchini for the meal with my parents. I don’t know what that means yet, but that is what I am thinking now. At the moment I am torn better pesto, Mexican and Asian. I suppose I need to figure it out soon. *rolls eyes*

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. Talk to you again soon.

Saag Inspired Raw Spinach Sauce topped Zucchini Pasta and Breakfast

Last night for dinner I decided to make something inspired by one of my favorite Indian dishes saag. I do make a cooked version which you will find here. However last night it was warm and sticky so I opted for a raw dish. I used many of the flavors of the cooked dish and made a very quick raw spinach sauce that I used to top zucchini noodles. Instead of cashews I used raw sesame seeds in the sauce to add fat and mouth feel as well as calcium. Here is what I did:

Saag Inspired Raw Spinach Sauce topped Zucchini Pasta
Serves 2

Ingredients:

8 cups zucchini, spiralized (2 medium or 1 huge zucchini)
½ pound raw organic baby spinach
1/3 cup raw sesame seeds (1/2 teaspoon reserved for garnish)
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, finely minced
¼ - ½ teaspoon turmeric
¼ - ½ teaspoon black mustard seeds
¼ - ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
¼ - ½ teaspoon coriander seeds
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 splash vinegar (I used about a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar)
sea salt to taste
1 tomato, finely diced

Directions:

In your blender combine the spinach, bulk of the sesame seeds (use tahini if you aren’t using a high powered blender), garlic, ginger, and ¼ teaspoon of each of the spices. I would pregrind the seeds if you aren’t using a high powdered blender. Add a splash of vinegar to brighten the flavor. Process until you have a completely smooth sauce. Taste the sauce for flavor and add more seasonings to your taste. I used a ½ teaspoon of each spice but I like a lot of flavor you may prefer less. Add salt if you think it needs it.

To serve, toss the zucchini pasta with the sauce so that the “pasta” is thoroughly coated. Add tomato to the top of the dish and sprinkle with the reserved sesame seeds.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 277.22
Calories From Fat (44%) - 120.96

Total Fat - 14.47g
Saturated Fat - 2.02g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 147.09mg
Potassium - 2266.28mg
Total Carbohydrates - 31.67g
Fiber - 12.49g
Sugar - 11.16g
Protein - 15.13g

Comments:

This was a good and quick dinner. From start to finish I had to ready in 15 minutes and did not need to turn on the stove. I love meals like this in the summer time.

Each serving of this dish contained approximately 12,200IU of vitamin A, 125mg of vitamin C, 450mg of calcium, 9mg of iron, 3.4mg of vitamin E, 1.6mg of B6, 400mcg of folate, 575mcg of vitamin K, 440mg of phosphorus, and 280mg of magnesium. I also love the potassium, protein and fiber it contains for less than 300 calories. It was a big plate of filling food.

Breakfast this morning:

I get a lot of questions about what we eat of breakfast since I don’t typically post that. Today I thought I would share breakfast since it is one of our usual meals. We started with a veggie and fruit juice right after we got up. Here is what I made:

Fresh veggie and fruit juice
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 head romaine
5 carrots
1 apple
½ lemon
1 inch fresh ginger
3 collard leaves
3 stalks of celery

Directions:

Run everything through the juicer and serve in a cold glass (I store our juice glasses in the freezer so they are always cold) with a few ice cubes.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 205.09
Calories From Fat (8%) - 15.71

Total Fat - 1.93g
Saturated Fat - 0.29g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium  -226.88mg
Potassium - 1799.87mg
Total Carbohydrates 47.58g
Fiber - 0.00g **
Sugar - 22.02g
Protein - 7.56g
** zeroed out manually

Comments:

We have variations of this juice every day. What changes are the greens we use. Sometimes I include baby spinach in place of romaine. Other times I use kale in place of collards. We also include a beet and beet greens when we have them. We also add a wheat grass shot or two when we have those in the freezer. The constants are the carrot, apple, ginger, lemon and celery. We think the taste is good and very fresh. But what we like most is the nutrition it provides. I make fresh juice every morning that we have before breakfast. In the past we had coffee or tea first thing in the morning and now we have fresh juice instead.

Each serving of this juice contains approximately 54,000IU of vitamin A, 120mg of vitamin C, 260mg of calcium, 4mg of iron, 2.7mg of vitamin E, 0.7mg of vitamin B6, 535mg of folate, 505mg of vitamin K, 200mg of phosphorus, and 90mg of magnesium.

Next recipe:

After we have our juice I make us either a smoothie or oatmeal. This morning it is gray and rainy so we had oatmeal. Here is the serving size I made for myself; Dan’s was 50% larger:

Wild Blueberry Oatmeal
Serves 1

Ingredients:

½ cup rolled oats (if you really want to make this more healthy use oat bran instead)
1 cup water
1 sprinkle cinnamon (to help the body process the natural sugar in the berries)
1 sprinkle ginger, powder (because powdered ginger is anti-inflammatory)
1 cup frozen wild blueberries (for their ellagic acid and antioxidants)
1 tablespoon flaxseed ground (for omega 3)
2 tablespoons walnuts, roughly chopped (for omega 3 and crunch)

Directions:

Combine the water, oats, cinnamon, and ginger and cook until done. I use the microwave because it is easier. When the oats have absorbed the water I top them with the frozen blueberries and put the bowl back into the microwave so the berries with thaw but not get hot. I top the blueberries with the ground flax and walnuts. If you have a sweet tooth you may want to add a sprinkle of stevia, we did at the beginning. Serve hot.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 394.73
Calories From Fat (36%) - 143.78

Total Fat - 17.02g
Saturated Fat - 1.81g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 15.39mg
Potassium - 331.02mg
Total Carbohydrates - 54.87g
Fiber - 11.75g
Sugar - 15.25g
Protein - 10.72g

Comments:

After the fresh juice and oatmeal we are satisfied and full for hours. It may be the 18 grams of protein that keeps us satisfied. I find it fascinating that we had no soy, tofu, beans or protein powder and get so much protein for breakfast. It seems to put an end to the “where do you get your protein” question doesn’t it?

This serving of oatmeal contains less nutrition than our dinner or juice but this because it is more grain (oats) and less veggies and fruit. From using the cookbook program to check nutrition for over a year now I can tell you that grains add bulk and calories but not a lot of vitamins and minerals. That is one of the reasons we try to keep our grain consumption (even whole grains) to a dull roar. This breakfast contains approximately 80IU of vitamin A, 14mg of vitamin C, 55mg of calcium, 2.6mg of iron, 1.1mg of vitamin E, 0.2mg of vitamin B6, 36mg of folate, 29mcg of vitamin K, 235mg of phosphorus, 91mg of magnesium and 12.7mcg of selenium. Quite a difference between this and the juice isn’t it? That is actually why we have both.

One thing I hope you noticed is that breakfast is a calorie dense meal at our house. Neither Dan nor I started out as breakfast eaters. However over the last 12 years we have worked to make breakfast part of every morning. At the beginning it was a tough habit to stick with. Now I can’t imagine starting my day without a big filling breakfast.

Unrelated note:

Today is much cooler but also gray and rainy. Since Dan needed to go into the office sometime this weekend he decided to go downtown today. He did spend the morning at home and just left for the office. I decided to forgo my exercising this morning to spend time with Dan before he left. We will see how afternoon exercising goes. I prefer to get exercise out of the way early in the day.

After exercising I am going to spend a little time in the kitchen. I want to see what I can come up with for dinner based on what I have in the refrigerator. This is something I try to do which has become sort of a game for me. What I can make from what I have. It is always a big question mark when I start.

Other than exercising and cooking I may spend time with a book or movie this afternoon. The rain is making me want to stay inside and curl up on the sofa.

I hope everyone is having a great Saturday. Talk to you all later when I come back with dinner.

Fun Facts Friday and Lunch at Teavolve

I have to say it becoming more difficult to come up with fun facts and questions. If anyone has question suggestions for next week please feel free to share. Now on to today’s questions:

1. What is your favorite form of exercise if you could only pick one form? This changes for me with time. Recently my favorite has been strength training. I suppose this has become more important as I get older since “they” say we lose a pound of muscle mass every year after 40. Comforting thought no? I believe strength training keeps that from happening. Not to mention strength training makes me feel strong and more able to do everyday things.

2. Would you ever consider plastic surgery and if so do you know what you would have done? This is one that I have gone back and forth on. I used to dye my hair (to cover the grey) but gave that up about a year and half ago because of the toxic nature of dye. However when I was coloring my hair I thought maybe a face lift would be in my future. Now that I have a few “distinguished” strands of grey I think I am more likely to just age gracefully. Fortunately my face has not “gone south” yet. When it does the vanity may just kick in and cause me to run to the plastic surgeon. I hope I can resist the urge but I don’t know that I am that centered, LOL.

3. Where do you want to be and what do you want to be doing in 10 years? I hope that Dan will be retired in 10 years and we will be able to enjoy being together 24/7. If that is the case we may be living part time somewhere in Italy. In my perfect world we would go between our current home and Italy (most likely Tuscany). The universe has a way of throwing curve balls though so we will see what it brings between now and then. But that is the plan at the moment.

Okay how about you? What do you think, I would love to know. ;-)

Lunch at Teavolve:

Dan Sr. met Dan Jr. for lunch today on the way back from a meeting in Rockville (around DC for those that aren’t local). They ended up meeting in Canton (an old but now trendy neighborhood in Baltimore on the water). This is the second time they have met at Teavolve for lunch. It is an acceptable place for a vegan and omnivore to get together. For those of you that haven’t been to Teavolve here is the menu.

Dan (my hubby) chose the Asian salad with tofu, edamame, and carrot (pictured above). While there weren’t an abundance of vegan selections tofu and edamame always works. Dan does such a great job of staying reasonably healthy even when I am not there.  ;-)  Dan is a tougher critic than I am and he enjoyed his salad.

Blog Administration:

FYI I have reorganized the links on the left side of the blog. The original list has been split into three smaller lists as follows: health and nutrition, food and other “stuff”. Some of you were more difficult to categorize than others. Those blogs that are heavy on exercise are in the health category. However I can imagine exercise needing its own category at some point soon. If you are looking for any blogs and can’t find them let me know and I will tell you where I have categorized them.

Today:

Since it is Friday I spent my day doing my usual errands. It was a busy day and thankfully a bit cooler than it has been though the humidity was up.

I have been feeling the lure of the weights today much more than normal. I think the new dumbbells are going to be great for my workouts. They seemed to have sparked a renewed love of strength training. Sometimes it seems all I need it a new piece of exercise equipment to get my blood pumping again. Now hopefully I can get Dan interested too. Wish me luck; this may be a harder sell. ;-)

I need to check with Dan but he may not have to work this weekend. That is my guess based on his hours this week. If I am right and the weather holds up I may try to convince him to have a little fun this weekend. Do you have anything fun planned for the weekend?

Talk to you later when I come back with a dinner update. Happy Friday! I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Dinner Update and New Weights

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

Dinner:

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

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

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

New Adjustable Dumbbells (Bowflex Select Tech 552):

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

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

Unrelated Note:

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

Red Lentil and Millet Bites

Today I wanted to make some small bean and grain balls, or bites as I am calling them, to add to the salads we seem to eat constantly. Since many of you ask about making my veggie burgers gluten free I decided to make this version without vital wheat gluten. Here is what I did:

Red Lentil and Millet Bites
Makes 56 bites

Ingredients:

1 cup red lentils, dry
1 cup millet, dry
6 cups water
1 carrot, finely grated
1 green onion, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons nigella seeds
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
sea salt, to taste

Directions:

Combine the red lentils, millet and water and simmer until the water is almost completely absorbed. Then turn off the pan and cover the pan with a lid. Allow to stand for at least 15 minutes so the remaining water will be absorbed.

Move the millet and red lentils to a mixing bowl and add the remaining ingredients. Thoroughly combine the ingredients. Taste the mixture to see if you need any additional seasonings.

Line a half sheet pan (11 ½ by 17) with silpat or parchment paper. Use a 1 1/2 tablespoon disher to portion out the balls and place them on the pan. You should get approximately 56 balls. There will be enough to substantially cover the pan with little room left over.

Once the bites have cooled place the pan in the refrigerator so the mixture can “set”. I refrigerated mine unit they were completely cold.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees with the convection fan on if you have one. Bake the balls until they are firm on the exterior but still a little soft on the interior. This took 30 minutes in my oven.

Allow the balls to cool before removing from the pan. They will be a little soft on the bottom if you used a silpat. Using parchment instead of silpat should allow the bottom to become crisper from more direct contact with the metal pan.

To freeze the leftovers, after they are cold slide the silpat lined pan into the freezer uncovered. When the balls are hard place them into a sealed freezer safe container.

Nutritional Information per bite (or 1/56th of the recipe):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 31.68
Calories From Fat (18%) - 5.81

Total Fat - 0.69g
Saturated Fat - 0.08g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 2.39mg
Potassium - 41.57mg
Total Carbohydrates - 5.11g
Fiber - 0.88g
Sugar - 0.1g
Protein - 1.47g

Comments:

These are mild in flavor so they will work with any type of salad dressing. The interior texture is soft, like a bean burger. The exact interior texture will depend on how long you cook them and the heat of your oven. Mine had a slightly crunchy exterior and a somewhat soft interior. I found them to be a little addictive straight from the oven. I think they will make a great addition to salad. I plan to reheat them in the microwave to make dinner or lunch prep quicker.

For those of you that aren’t avoiding gluten I think a ¼ cup or so of vital wheat gluten would improve the texture of the bites by making them a little more firm. However I will be using this version again when I want the softer texture. Alternately you could add a little dry oatmeal to the mixture to help the texture dry a little. That should also make them firmer.

I like that these are lower in fat than most falafel. I included sunflower seeds for the anticancer effects of the phytosterols they contain. Nigella seeds have been shown to reduce the release of inflammatory mediators in pancreatic cancer cells. Turmeric also has been shown to cause cancer to commit suicide (apoptosis). Like usual I try to cook with items and methods that are health promoting. ;-)

One of my favorite things about these is how low in calories they are. That means the four I just consumed straight out the oven aren’t going to end up directly on my hips.

Unrelated note:

The dumbbells just arrived. Yay! I am so not right about some things, LOL. It is a little late to try them out today but you know what I will be doing tomorrow morning. ;-)

The weather today was much better than it has been. We were only in the mid 90s which felt like a cold front had come through compared to what we have been experiencing. It was nice to be able to spend a little time outside this morning without immediately wilting in the heat.

Today has been a rather lazy one at my place. I was in the mood to lounge about read and drink iced green tea. It was a pleasant day just not particularly productive. Tomorrow will need to be more productive to make up for my slacking today. ;-)

Talk to you all again soon.  I hope everyone has great evening.

Vitamin E and Alzheimer’s Disease

As you may have guessed I am catching up on my nutrition reading today. Since I know at least three of you are concerned about Alzheimer’s I wanted to highlight this abstract. A population based study conducted in Perugia, Italy (great chocolate town) wanted to “evaluate whether higher plasma levels of vitamin E could be protective against Alzheimer’s in advanced age and whether the protective activity could be due to more than just the tocopherol form of the vitamin.”

According to the abstract “The study found that subjects with higher blood levels of all the vitamin E family forms had a reduced risk of developing AD, compared to subjects with lower levels. After adjusting for various confounders, the risk was reduced by 45-54 percent, depending on the vitamin E component,” said the researchers.

Additionally the abstract adds “These findings support the hypothesis that vitamin E’s protective activity seems to be related to the combination of different forms, rather than α-tocopherol alone, they concluded. This, they said, justifies the “protective effect of dietary intake observed in epidemiological studies and the disappointing results observed in clinical trials.”

If I were taking vitamin E for Alzheimer’s prevention I think I would be concentrating instead of foods that are high in the vitamin (almonds, sunflower seeds, peanuts, and hazelnuts to mention a few). You can find a list of those foods here at the NIH (National Institute of Health) site.

Cargill Debuts a Flax and Canola Oil Blend?

This article got my attention this morning and I wanted to share. Apparently Cargill thinks they have developed a flax and canola oil blend that is shelf stable for 9 months. From what I have read about flax oil I can’t imagine how this can be.

I wanted to warn everyone since it if hits the market all types of processed foods will probably be sporting the “Good Source of Omega 3” label. *ugh*

Curried Sesame Seed Dressing

Dinner last night was a very simple meal. I lightly steamed some broccoli (about 7 minutes to retain as much nutrition as possible), tossed it with the curried tomato sauce and served that over brown basmati rice. I topped the dish with cashew crème fraiche. Pictured above is Dan’s serving which included a extra large dollop of the crème fraiche. ;-) We had this is some shredded romaine topped with a curried sesame seed dressing. Here is how I made it:

Curried Sesame Seed Dressing
Makes approximately 10 tablespoons

Ingredients:

½ cup raw sesame seeds (or use tahini if you aren’t using a high powered blender)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 clove garlic, smashed and peeled, or to taste (start with ½ clove)
¼ - ½ cup water (drizzled in until you get the texture you want)
¼ teaspoon turmeric
¼ teaspoon cumin seed (pre ground if not using a high powered blender)
¼ teaspoon ginger powder
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (be generous the black pepper makes the turmeric more bioavailable)
sea salt, to taste
Next time: I am going to add a Medjool date or a little stevia for a bit of sweetness

Directions:

Combine the sesame seeds, ½ garlic clove, apple cider vinegar, ¼ cup water, turmeric, cumin, ginger, and black pepper in your blender. Blend until the mixture is smooth. If the dressing is too thick drizzle more water into the running blender until you get the texture you like. Taste for seasoning and adjust. I used the entire garlic clove in this dressing but you may find it to be too much. We like a lot of garlic here.

Nutritional Information (assumes 1/10th of the recipe and does not include the proposed date):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 42.58
Calories From Fat (71%) - 30.12

Total Fat - 3.6g
Saturated Fat - 0.5g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 29.43mg
Potassium - 39.24mg
Total Carbohydrates - 1.9g
Fiber - 0.89g
Sugar - 0.03g
Protein - 1.32g

Nutritional Information (1/10th of the recipe and includes the proposed date):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 49.23
Calories From Fat (61%) - 30.15

Total Fat - 3.6g
Saturated Fat - 0.5g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 29.46mg
Potassium - 55.95mg
Total Carbohydrates - 3.7g
Fiber - 1.05g
Sugar - 1.63g
Protein - 1.36g

Comments:

I included both nutritional breakdowns in case any of you wanted to try adding a date to the dressing. I thought it was fine without the date, but that the little bit of sweetness would round out the flavor nicely.

One tenth of this recipe contains approximately 73mg of calcium, 1mg of iron, 48mg of phosphorus, and 27mg of magnesium. Most vinaigrette based dressing provide calories and not nutrition.

Many of my omni friends are under the impression that nuts are fattening and should be avoided. While this dressing does contain 3.6 grams of fat per 1/10th of the recipe that is not much compared to oil. A tablespoon of olive oil contains 13.5 grams of fat. Additionally the oil contains very few other nutrients it is predominantly fat. Comparing a tablespoon of olive oil to tablespoon of sesame seeds we see that the oil is 120 calories and the seeds are 51. But the sesames also contain 87mg of calcium, 55mg of phosphorus and 30mg of magnesium to name a few. I am not trying to remove the fat from our diet as much as I am removing the fat that adds no nutritional benefit.

Unrelated note:

Because making dinner earlier in the day worked so well I am going to try to do it again. Planning two days in the row? Who am I? LOL!

Since we like to have salad with falafel on top I will be making something similar today. I am working on a red lentil and millet ball/mini burger to top our salads. The idea is a make a big batch of them to keep in the freezer to top salads later on. I will come back later and share the recipe with you later today.

I hope everyone is having a great Thursday. I love these short weeks. It seems like the weekend is coming so much more quickly than usual.

Basic Curried Tomato Sauce – no fat added

This is the basic curried tomato sauce that I made often. You can add low fat coconut milk or cashew cream if your fat budget allows. ;-) I like it just as well without the fat and whether I add fat is a function of what we had to eat earlier in the day. You can make this sauce a day or two in advance and reheat it on top of the stove with some fresh veggies tossed in. If you keep cooked brown rice in the refrigerator you can have dinner on the table in 15 minutes or less. Here is what I did today:

Basic Curried Tomato Sauce – no fat added
Makes 4 servings approximately 8 ounces each

Ingredients:

1 cup yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced
6 cloves garlic, smashed, peeled and finely minced (approximately 1 tablespoon)
1 tablespoons fresh ginger, grated or finely minced (if organic I don’t bother to peel just thoroughly scrub)
½ cup water to sauté aromatics
14 ounces tomato sauce
2 cups tomatoes, peeled and diced
½ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon coriander seed, toasted
½ teaspoon cumin seed, toasted
½ teaspoon black mustard seed, toasted
1 dash asafoetida (aka hing)
1 dash cardamom, ground
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (increases the absorption of the turmeric so be generous)
1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
sea salt to taste

Directions:

Water sauté the onions, garlic and ginger until just beginning to soften, approximately 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer for thirty minutes stirring occasionally. Taste the sauce for flavor and adjust to your taste. Remember that the overall flavor of the dish will be diluted by the plain veggies and rice you add. I tend to make my sauce on the spicy side knowing that it will be tamed by the other ingredients.

Allow the sauce to cool and store in a tightly sealed container until needed.

To serve add fresh veggies (carrots, potatoes, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, shredded kale, shredded cabbage, mushrooms or anything really) and until they are warmed through. We like this over brown rice, quinoa, millet or even pasta. Sometimes I finish it with sliced almonds, other times I add a few roasted cashews. You can also top with a dollop of cashew crème fraiche. I also like to sprinkle it with parsley or cilantro just before serving.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 66.45
Calories From Fat (9%) - 5.79

Total Fat - 0.69g
Saturated Fat - 0.1g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 527.5mg
Potassium - 637.63mg
Total Carbohydrates - 14.45g
Fiber - 3.63g
Sugar - 8.38g
Protein - 2.97g

Comments:

I have loved Indian food since college. My best friend was from Madras and she introduced me to spicy southern Indian food. As a teenager that grew up in Indiana I was not too familiar with Indian food but it grew on me very quickly. As much as I love Indian food when you order it out it frequently contains a lot of fat, frightening amounts actually. However when you make it at home you have control over the amount of fat in the dish. This sauce has great flavor and no added fat. I think it is wonderful example that healthy no oil added food can have big voluptuous flavor and be good for you. Veggies enrobed in this sauce are always tasty.

Unrelated note:

It is a very odd feeling to have dinner almost finished and I haven’t had lunch yet. Dan is going to get home tonight wondering who I am and what I have done with his wife. ;-) We have been having huge salads for dinner almost everything night for the last week. It really felt like we needed a little cooked food for change. Of course we will be having a green salad on the side to go with our cooked food. In the old days I used to make a curried vinaigrette that we both liked. I will need to come up with an Indian flavored salad dressing for our dinner tonight. As soon as I figure out what this means I will be back to share the recipe.

Dan’s Favorite Trail Mix

Good Morning. I hope you are all having a great morning. Today is going to be another scorcher here. They are expecting us to tie the record high temperature of 102 degrees today. Yay? When it is 94 degrees at 9:30 in the morning you know you are in for a hot day.

Exercise happened inside again this morning at our house. Tomorrow we are expecting the delivery of our new adjustable dumbbells. I am really looking forward to them. As Heather said, “It is like Christmas is July”. That is a great description of how I feel. I will be trying them out as soon as they arrive, LOL. But I want to use them in a proper workout before I let you know what I think of them. I love getting new exercise stuff, LOL. Yes I know I am not right. ;-)

Today I have decided to try something different and make dinner in the morning to have in the refrigerator for when Dan gets home. Indian food sounded appealing to me this morning. We are going to have curried veggies over brown rice and a salad tonight. Well, that is the plan now we will see if I change my mind like I normally do. ;-)  I may have to work on a curried salad dressing to keep with the Indian theme.

This morning I wanted to tell you about Dan’s favorite trail mix. As I have mentioned before both Dan and I like to snack. This is something I made for Dan to take to work so that he gets a little healthy fat (from the nuts) that he can nibble on when he is drinking his fresh veggie and fruit juice that I send with him to work. Here is what I do:

Dan’s Favorite Trail Mix
Makes 10 servings

Ingredients:

1 cup almonds, soaked for 8 hours and dehydrated until they are dry (about 8 hours)
1 cup walnuts, soaked for 2 hours and dehydrated until they are dry (about 8 hours)
¼ cup dried wild blueberries (I used the Kirkland brand which is sweetened)
¼ cup dried goji berries (unsweetened)
2 tablespoons raw pumpkin seeds
¼ cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Combine and mix thoroughly. I store them in the refrigerator until I pack them for Dan’s lunch. He keeps them on his desk all day to nibble on. I only keep them in the refrigerator to keep the chocolate from getting soft.

I know some of you are wondering why I soak the almonds and walnuts. We have all read that they are more “nutritious” when they are sprouted. Honestly I have not seen any hard science on this so I can’t say for certain that soaking makes a difference in nutrition. But it does make the nuts more tender and easier to eat. The texture is the reason that I soak them. If any of you have seen a scientific study on the nutrition of soaked versus unsoaked nuts please send me the citation. I would really appreciate it.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 207.1
Calories From Fat (68%) - 141.47

Total Fat - 16.97g
Saturated Fat - 2.17g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium -1.89mg
Potassium - 168.46mg
Total Carbohydrates - 11.96g
Fiber - 3.28g
Sugar - 4.3g
Protein - 5.9g

Comments:

This is one of Dan’s favorite things. Adding a few chocolate chips was what took this over the top for him. But he is a chocaholic so that may explain it. ;-) If you are looking for something to include with your lunch this is quite tasty. I haven’t tried it but I imagine a little bit of this on top of plain oatmeal would be really good.

Unrelated note:

With today being another hot one I am going to stay inside as much as possible. I think I will take this opportunity to watch a flick or two on Netflix today. I have a few things on my list I wanted to check out. I will let you know if they are worth viewing later today.  They will be health or nutrition related of course, LOL.

For now I need to go and water my garden and get dinner made and into the refrigerator for tonight. Talk to you all later today. I hope everyone is having a great day.

Carrot Pulp Flax Cracker Bread and Walnut Spread

Today is another hot one in the Mid-Atlantic. The weather forecasters are predicted a hot and humid 104 degree day. The only thing I have been outside to do today is water my garden and that happened early before the heat got too bad. I am not a fan of heat so on hot humid days like this I find things to do inside in the air conditioning. I expect to spend a little extra time in the kitchen today given the weather. ;-)

Yesterday I made another batch of flax cracker bread. We like ours drier than bread, but still a little soft. I never quite know what to call them but have decided that cracker bread is the most descriptive. Here is what I made:

Carrot Pulp Flax Cracker Bread
Makes 20 crackers approximately 2 by 3 inches

Ingredients:

pulp from juicing 8 carrots
1 1/3 cups ground flaxseeds
¼ cup yellow onion (raw)
1 cup water (added slowly until the “dough” forms)
1 ½ teaspoons cumin seed
¾ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Place everything in your food processor (except the water) and process until the onion is ground. Slowly add water until the mixture comes together. It will begin to form dough that is similar to pasta but won’t form a ball.

Spread the mixture on a teflex lined dehydrator tray. You want the mixture approximately 1/8 inch thick. I find it easiest to use my hands that I wet with water. The thickness of the mixture and the length of time you dehydrate it will change the final texture. We like ours to a little soft (not quite either bread or cracker). When I think the flax crackers/bread are ready I break off a piece to try to make certain they have dried throughout. If you stop them too soon the interior can have a rare texture. This can be avoided by drying them to the cracker stage.

Nutritional Information (for 1/20th of the recipe):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 64.77
Calories From Fat (59%) - 38.54

Total Fat - 4.42g
Saturated Fat - 0.43g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 5.02mg
Potassium - 8.6mg
Total Carbohydrates - 4.61g
Fiber - 4.19g
Sugar - 0.09g
Protein - 2.2g

Comments:

This flax cracker bread has a mild taste that will work with many different toppings. I like to keep the individual base recipes as light as possible to increase the way I can use them. I like to keep things like this one hand for Dan to have with a nut spread or to eat with a salad.

Next Recipe:

To go with the flax cracker bread I made a walnut spread with sun-dried tomatoes. I selected walnuts due to their omega 3 to omega 6 ratio that is better than other nuts. Since our goal is to maximize our omega 3 and reduce our omega 6 fatty acid consumption walnuts are the obvious nut choice for us.

This is the spread I made this morning to be served on the carrot pulp flax cracker bread. Here is what I did:
 
Walnut and Sun Dried Tomato Spread
Makes 16 servings approximately 1 tablespoon each

Ingredients:

1 cup walnuts, soaked for at least two hours and drained
1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed, or to taste
6 sun-dried tomatoes
water (sufficient to achieve a spreadable consistency approximately 2 tablespoons)
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Place the walnuts, garlic, and sun-dried tomatoes in your food processor and process until the tomatoes and nuts are finely ground. Add water slowly, while processing, until you get a spreadable consistency. You will need to stop the machine and scrape the side at least once. Store in an air container in the refrigerator until you need it. In my experience it will keep for at least a week but we tend it eat it faster than that most of the time. ;-)

Nutritional Information (for 1/16th of the recipe):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 50.04
Calories From Fat (80%) - 40.08

Total Fat - 4.79g
Saturated Fat - 0.45g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 16mg
Potassium - 58.74mg
Total Carbohydrates - 1.48g
Fiber - 0.59g
Sugar - 0.47g
Protein - 1.23g

Comment:

This spread is almost sweet from the sun dried tomato. The garlic flavor is very mild, definitely a slight background note. This would also be good with a little Italian seasoning added in if you like. It makes s a nice spread for on the flax cracker bread. I served it with a few cucumber slices for crunchy texture.

How do we eat this way every day? Warning soapbox moment coming:

I get many emails from people telling me that they applaud our efforts to eat a healthy diet but that they could never eat this way. Normally this is followed by the question, “How do you eat this way day after day?” Since I get this same question so often I thought I should write a little bit about this to give you our thoughts on a healthy vegan diet.

Some of you know that Dan and I were omni the vast majority of our lives. We weren’t just omni we were devout foodies. We both loved really good (translation unhealthy) gourmet food. Going out to eat was something we did 3 or 4 times a week and we loved going to DC to have dinner at Café Atlantico and/or the MiniBar. From a food perspective nothing was off limits for either of us. I will spare you the gory details.

However when cancer enters your life you can do one of two things, bury your head in the sand and ignore it, or try to change the situation that contributed to it. After reading everything (and I really do mean everything) I could get my hands on regarding nutrition and health we settled on a healthy vegan diet. Initially the transition was difficult. But the more I read the more convinced I was that we had made the right decision. Now when I look at meat, dairy, flour, sugar and processed food I only see toxins. Neither Dan nor I have any desire to eat anything that isn’t good for us.

To answer the question how do we eat this way, it is very simple we just do it. Food has become something we use to fuel ourselves with. We don’t look at food as an indulgence, or a treat, it is just fuel. When I make a meal I am thinking of what I can incorporate to increase the nutrition first with taste and texture being secondary issues.  While I want it to taste good our food has to be nutritous first.  Our meals have changed dramatically over the last year as I read more about nutrition I can’t help but incorporate those ideas into our diet.

After a while your taste buds will change and adapt,  We find that natural food has a different taste now compared to the past. Raw vegetables which I used to find bland and unappealing have much more flavor now. What I didn’t realize previously is that I had covered up the taste of the vegetables with salt and olive oil. Now when we have vegetables they tend to be plain and we prefer it that way. In fact when Dan was on his last business trip he ended up at a steak house for dinner. Thankfully they had a huge salad bar so he found plenty of things to eat. However one of the first things he noticed was that the vegetables were roasted with a light film of oil and he didn’t enjoy it. What makes this odd is that I used to come home from the farmers’ market and roast trays of veggies with a spray of olive oil. I did this every week for years. We ate our veggies that way for more years than I can count and now when they are prepared that way they just aren’t the same as they used to be. The ability of your taste buds to change and adapt is remarkable.

I hope this gives some of you hope that you can change your diet and your taste buds will adapt. Also you will enjoy your food again. It just takes a while for the taste buds to adjust to the changes. The improvement in your nutrition will repay you with better health and that will happen quickly. I have not had a cold in well over a year. In fact I can’t remember the last cold I had. I believe this is due to my improved nutrition. In the end I feel very fortunate to have had the time to do the research to figure out what we should be eating for maximum nutrition. I wouldn’t have things any other way now.

Unrelated note:

Lunch today was another salad. You are shocked right? LOL. This one had romaine, wheat berries, salsa, broccoli sprouts, red bell pepper, tomatoes, cucumber topped with cashew crème fraiche and paprika. Nothing special just a nutrition and fiber packed salad.

I have a few things I need to do today before Dan gets home. I hope to be back later today with another recipe but that may have to wait until tomorrow. Having a holiday on Monday means I need to clear both my Monday and Tuesday to-do list today. I hope everyone is having a great Tuesday.

Cashew Creme Fraiche

Those of you that have been reading for a while may have noticed that I don’t use as much silken tofu as I used it. It is difficult to find organic silken tofu that is free of soy protein isolates and those are on my “to be minimized list” (along with 1,000 other things). However I have been missing having a little vegan sour cream/creme fraiche to top dishes with lately. Today I wanted to see if I could make a suitable substitute for creme fraiche, or sour cream. Many years ago I used to make dairy creme fraiche before you could buy it locally. It is a simple process and the homemade version is much better than the store bought. I think this homemade cashew based sour cream/creme fraiche alternative is the same. Once you try this I don't think you will buy the commercial version which is full of mystery ingredients (aka chemicals) again. Here is what I did:

Cashew Creme Fraiche
Makes approximately 20 tablespoons

Ingredients:

1 cup raw cashews, soaked for at least two hours and drained
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (start with half)
1 pinch of salt (optional)
approximately ½ cup of water to process

Directions:

Place the soaked cashews, half the apple cider vinegar and salt in your blender and turn the machine in. Add water slowly until the cashews have just been liquefied. Stop the machine and taste the mixture and adjust the flavors to your taste. Refrigerate until needed.

Nutritional information (for 1/20th of the recipe):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 26.43
Calories From Fat (66%) - 17.43

Total Fat-  2.08g
Saturated Fat - 0.37g
Cholesterol-  0mg
Sodium - 15.41mg
Potassium - 31.99mg
Total Carbohydrates - 1.44g
Fiber - 0.16g
Sugar - 0.28g
Protein - 0.87g

Comments:

This is so simple it is more of a method than an actual recipe. You could also use lemon juice, or white vinegar for the acid. I used apple cider because it was the first acid that came to mind. However in the past I have used lemon juice to make tofu sour cream and it works great. Experiment with different acids to see which one you prefer. You use so little it only makes a subtle change in the overall taste. I hope you enjoy this basic recipe as much as I do. This will be showing up as garnish on many recipes in the future. ;-)

Unrelated note:

Dan and I have had a great day today chatting and catching up. We seem to have so little time to spend together that it seems as though we have talked all day long. It is so wonderful to be married to my best friend. We never run out of things to talk about and do together.

Our food today has been easy and rather plebian. For breakfast we had the lemony chickpea mash leftovers. Lunch was a taco salad (romaine, tomato, cucumber, broccoli sprouts, salsa, and avocado) followed by strawberry and banana soft serve with goji berries.

I did have time to experiment with a new recipe for of flax crackers. I will let you know later if those turned out. I used some of the carrot pulp from our marathon juicing sessions that we do each day. I also have walnuts soaking for another variation of a nut spread. Don’t know exactly what the nuts will turn into yet, only that it will be something to spread on the flax crackers for in Dan’s lunch.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful long weekend.

Mango, Apple and Walnut Salad dressed with Lemon Tahini Dressing

We ended up having a late dinner last night. I wasn’t in the mood for hot food again so instead we had a quick salad. The lemon tahini dressing worked just as well with fruit as it does with vegetables. I am going to be playing around with the concept of this dressing this week. I think it has a lot of potential for variation. Here is what we had for dinner last night:

Mango, Apple and Walnut Salad dressed with Lemon Tahini Dressing
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 head romaine, shredded
4 tablespoons lemon tahini dressing
1 mango, peeled, pitted and cut into small chunks
1 apple, cut into bite sized pieces
12 walnut halves

Directions:

Toss the romaine with the dressing and place on the base of the plate. Top with mango, apple and walnuts. Serve cold.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 290.39
Calories From Fat (40%) - 114.8

Total Fat - 13.74g
Saturated Fat - 1.57g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 29.66mg
Potassium - 1118.14mg
Total Carbohydrates - 42.13g
Fiber - 12.11g
Sugar - 26.79g
Protein - 8.09g

Comment:

This was a nice light dinner after our heavier lunch. Both Dan and I liked the combination of fruit with the lemon tahini dressing. This was a good dinner for a hot summer evening.

Each serving of this salad contains approximately 19,000IU of vitamin A, 110mg of vitamin C, 220mg of calcium, 5mg of iron (which is better absorbed when consumed with vitamin C), 450mcg of folate, 330mcg folate, 210mg of phosphorus, and 100mg of magnesium. I am happy with those stats given this took me under 5 minutes to make. ;-)

Unrelated note:

When we got this morning it was 85 degrees on its way to 100. *ugh* Needless to say exercise was not happening outside this morning. Dan and I are still talking about what to do today. The projected heat has us both thinking AC sounds far more appealing than anything outside. If we put off deciding what to do long enough we will end up staying in the AC by default. *hmmmmm* I wonder if that is what we are both thinking subconsciously, LOL.

For some reason I woke up this morning thinking about artichoke ravioli. As my friend Louis would say “my Italian is showing”. It sounds great though doesn’t it? While ravioli isn’t my usual uber healthy food I may have to whip up a batch of ravioli tomorrow for a little treat. We will see if my “inner nutrition nazi” takes over and changes my mind. ;-) What do you think make the ravioli tomorrow or behave myself? Clearly I am looking for encouragement to go left. ;-)

I need to go make some fresh veggie and fruit juice. I will chat with later. I hope everyone is having a wonderful long weekend.

Lemony Chickpea Mash topped with Cumin Dusted Carrots and Cauliflower

The weather today is hot (95 when I last looked) and not exactly conducive to hot food. However my mother is one of those people that has no concern about nutrition and prefers to eat only for taste. Where did I come from again? ;-) My raw meal yesterday for lunch was met with the comment, “Prime rib would be better.” Sadly this comment was made seriously. It ended with her saying “I have to die of something.” You can see the uphill battle I have in terms of nutrition with her. Oddly she has no idea why she has high blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes. Go figure because I know why! I guess you could say this situation has played a role in my focus on nutrition.

Making meals for my parents once or twice a week started as a way to show my mother that healthy food could taste good. The only one that seems to have gotten that message is my father who always enjoys my food as well as not having to cook a few meals a week. In spite of the grief I get from my mother over my food I know my father appreciates it so I keep doing it. Being the only child of elderly parents can be a little overwhelming at times. *shakes head*

Why am I telling you all this? I am trying to explain why we are having a hot a meal on a day when I would much prefer to have raw food. Even in the air conditioning raw food seems more appropriate in the summer heat to me. This meal is designed to appeal more to my mother who seems to prefer cooked and calorie dense meals. If this makes for a more pleasant “family gathering” it is worth it. Here is what I made today:

Lemony Chickpea Mash topped with Cumin Dusted Carrots and Cauliflower
Serves 6

Chickpea Mash Ingredients:

2 cups dried chickpeas, cooked until soft (yield is approximately the same as 3 – 15 ounce cans)
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1 ½ teaspoons cumin seed, whole (or to taste)
1 teaspoon coriander seed, whole (or to taste)
4 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
water necessary to achieve the texture you desire (I used approximately 1 cup)
salt and pepper to taste

Vegetable Topping Ingredients:

8 carrots, cut into coins approximately ¼ inch thick
1 small head cauliflower, cut into bite sized florets
1 leek, white and tender green portions thinly sliced (or you can use salty dehydrated leeks for added texture)
water to steam the veggies and sauté the leek (if not using dehydrated)
1/2 teaspoon cumin seed, toasted and ground
1/2 teaspoon coriander seed. toasted and ground
3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
3 tablespoons pine nuts
salt and pepper to taste
fresh parsley for garnish - optional

Directions:

Place the hot cooked chickpeas in your food processor. Add the lemon zest, juice, cumin, coriander, and garlic and process. You will need to add bean cooking liquid (or water) slowly until you reach a consistency similar to mashed potatoes. Add salt and pepper to your taste and keep warm until your vegetables are ready.

Steam the cauliflower until tender (about 7 minutes), then set aside. Steam the carrots until tender (about 15 minutes) then add to the cauliflower. The exact time you will need to steam the veggies depends on the size of the vegetable pieces. Water sauté the leek until tender and add to the carrots and cauliflower. I used the dehydrated leeks I had one hand instead for the color and textural contrast. Dust the vegetables with the ground cumin and coriander and toss to coat. Add salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, top the hot chick pea mash with the hot vegetables and drizzle with pomegranate molasses and pine nuts (and dehydrated leeks if using). You can add fresh parsley color and a little fresh flavor if you desire.

If desired you can make all of this ahead of time and store in your refrigerator, in separate containers (chickpea mash in one veggies in another) and reheat in the microwave before serving.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 395.12
Calories From Fat (16%) - 62.78

Total Fat - 7.51g
Saturated Fat - 0.69g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 112.32mg
Potassium - 1100.04mg
Total Carbohydrates - 70.67g
Fiber - 16.1g
Sugar - 22.79
Protein - 15.5g

Comments:

I have no idea where the idea of this came from but Dan and I enjoyed the combination. I may have to play around with more variations of chickpea mash with veggie toppings since this one was so successful. ;-) Miracle of all miracles even the anti-nutritionist (aka my mother) liked this dish. Score one for the healthy vegan. LOL

Each serving of this dish contains approximately 18,300IU of vitamin A, 140mg of calcium, 5.6mg of iron, 420mcg of folate, 330mg of phosphorus, and 115mg of magnesium. I love the fiber and protein content of this dish from the beans.

I served this tonight with a green salad on the side topped with the lemon tahini dressing I made last night. Apparently I am in a Middle Eastern food mood at the moment.

Unrelated Notes:

Today has been far too hot to do much outside today and it is only supposed to get hotter. Yay? According the weather channel temperatures are supposed to rise to the low 100’s for the foreseeable future. This girl will be in the air conditioning until we at least get back into the 90’s. I do not like heat at this level. *ugh* Expect to see quite a few raw meals over the coming days. Cold raw food is all that appeals to me when it is this hot outside.

What we are having for dinner is still a mystery. I was thinking about veggie burgers earlier today but they aren’t appealing to me at the moment. Whatever dinner turns out to be I will share the recipe.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful 4th and is staying cool.

Fresh Green Juice

This morning started early for us with our usual trip to the farmers’ market. It seemed as though half the city is on their sailboat or at their beach house. We were a little later than normal this morning and there were fewer people at the market. That just meant more stuff for us literally. Today we brought home the following: collards, kale, oyster mushrooms, ginger, beets, cucumbers, zucchini (regular, yellow and Italian), cantaloupe, tomatoes, blueberries and corn. Sometimes I just don’t know when to stop. ;-)

When we got home I wanted to make an all green juice. Normally I add carrot and apple to provide sweetness for Dan but today I wanted something different. I really enjoyed this juice, but Dan thought it was perhaps a bit “too healthy”, though he did drink his portion. This may become my new juice, I liked it that much. Here is what I made:

Fresh Green Juice
Makes 3 servings

Ingredients:

4 cups cucumber (1 enormous cucumber)
4 leaves kale stems included (I used red kale)
1/3 pound raw spinach
1 lemon
2 stalks celery

Directions:

Run all the items through the juicer and serve with ice.

Nutrition Information (for 1/3 of the recipe):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 67.21
Calories From Fat (11%) - 7.57

Total Fat-  0.95g
Saturated Fat - 0.12g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 87.65mg
Potassium - 852.27mg
Total Carbohydrates - 14.87g
Fiber - 0.00g **
Sugar - 3.21g
Protein - 4.6g

** I manually changed this to zero

Comments:

To me this tastes mostly of lemon with a little “grassy” undertone from the greens. I found this to be refreshing, but as I said earlier Dan was less enthusiastic. He definitely prefers his fresh vegetable juice when I add carrot and apple. However if you like lemon you may want to give this a try. It would probably be good with a little stevia if you prefer sweet things.

The nutrition for this was quite good, especially given the few calories it has. Each serving contains approximately 11,850IU of vitamin A, 100mg of vitamin C, 170mg of calcium, 2.8mg of iron, 145mcg of folate, 630mcg of vitamin K, 100mg of phosphorus, and 80mg of magnesium. I chatted with my nutritionist friend about the nutrition value of juice compared to the whole vegetable. Apparently other than fiber the nutrition remains basically intact which I thought was great to know.

Unrelated note:

Today for lunch with my parents I have decided to make something that may appeal more to my less than healthy mother. Only time will tell if my attempt will be successful, LOL. I am making a lemony chick pea mash with cumin carrots. We will have a green salad with the lemon tahini dressing. I have not decided what else yet. I will be back later to share what I end up making.

I hope everyone is having a great 4th of July.

Lemon Tahini Dressing

This recipe is for my friend Alexandra who had lemon tahini dressing the other day and wanted a recipe she could make at home. When Dan wanted falafel tonight on a salad I knew a lemon tahini dressing would be a great addition. Here is what I made tonight:

Lemon Tahini Dressing
Makes approximately 16 tablespoons

Ingredients:

½ cup raw sesame seeds, or tahini
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1 tablespoon green onion, finely minced
1 clove garlic, smashed and peeled
6 tablespoons water (approximately)
Optional: cayenne or sriracha

Directions:

Combine the ingredients (except the water) in your high speed blender and process until smooth. Add water a tablespoon at a time until the dressing is the texture you desire. The dressing will have a big lemon flavor. I did this intentionally so that two tablespoons of dressing would be enough to flavor a large salad.

Nutritional Information (1/16th of the recipe):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 27.28
Calories From Fat (69%) - 18.74

Total Fat - 2.24g
Saturated Fat - 0.31g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 0.81mg
Potassium - 28.08mg
Total Carbohydrates - 1.52g
Fiber - 0.6g
Sugar - 0.13g
Protein - 0.84g

Comment:

This experiment turned out well. I am very happy to have leftovers of this in the refrigerator. To say I enjoyed this would be an understatement. The sauce is thick and rich and very, very lemony. I could eat it straight off a spoon. However, if you aren’t a huge lemon fan don’t worry. You only need a little of this dressing to flavor your salad. If you omit the zest you will reduce the lemon flavor considerably. This is another dressing that will be turning up at our house again. If you want to add a little heat this would be good with a little cayenne or sriracha in it. It would also be good with a hint of sweetness from a date or two if you want to round out the flavor. I can think of a few ways to modify this recipe. When I make the modifications I will post those as well.

Unrelated note:

Since 6am happens early I need to go. We still need to have dessert (frozen fruit soft serve, of course) and relax before turning in.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. Talk to again tomorrow.

Slightly Sweet and Salty Asian Sauce

Lately I have been using a lot of spiralized zucchini. It makes such a filling and low calorie substitute for pasta I can’t seem to get enough of it. I was chatting with Courtney about different spaghetti recipes to make raw and when she mentioned lo mein I knew that needed to be the first recipe I worked on. Here is the sauce I made today for lunch:

Slightly Sweet and Salty Asian Sauce
Makes enough for 4 big salads

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons liquid aminos
3 tablespoons raw sesame seeds
¼ cup golden raisins
1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon mirin
water to thin the marinade (I probably used about 1 ½ tablespoons)

Directions:

Combine the marinade ingredients in your blender and process until smooth. Add as much water as you need to obtain the consistency you desire.

Nutritional information (for the entire recipe):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 272.36
Calories From Fat (39%) - 105.02

Total Fat - 13.61g
Saturated Fat - 1.94g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium - 2890.02mg
Potassium - 524.48mg
Total Carbohydrates - 42.83g
Fiber - 4.74g
Sugar - 21.6g
Protein - 6.24g

Comment:

This sauce has a little something for everyone; it is salty, sweet and a bit spicy from the ginger. This recipe makes enough for 4 servings of salad today for us. Our salad included spiralized zucchini as a base, red bell pepper strips, julienned radish, sliced sugar snap peas, cucumber cut into thin half moos, julienned carrot, shredded romaine, avocado, marinated oyster mushrooms and pine nuts. It was a very tasty and filling salad. Even my father enjoyed this one. This sauce is good enough that you may see a repeat of it soon. I liked this quite a bit.

Unrelated note:

Since Dan is not going to the office this weekend (minor miracle), I have no idea what we are going to do. I didn’t make plans expecting him to need to work. However it is very nice to have him home.

Sometime this weekend he wants to check out the health food store and café that Ian mentioned. We will also go to the farmers’ market tomorrow.

However, the weather is supposed to return to the usual Baltimore summer tomorrow, hot and humid. With temperatures in the upper 90s and/or low 100s I don’t see us spending much time outside this weekend. Whatever we decide to get into I will let you all know.

For now I need to run. I will be back later to let you know what we have for dinner.

Reasonably Healthy Dinner Out

Good morning everyone. I hope everyone had a great Friday night.

We had planned to have dinner our friend (aka adopted daughter) Alexandra last night. However her mom had a car accident and Alex had to go to Frederick just before we were supposed to meet. We still need to catch up with her and see the pics from her trip to Machu Pichu. Since we were planning to go out to eat we decided to go without Alex. I know you all know where we went. Yes, of course we ended up having Ian make dinner. As you all know we adore Ian and his food. Last night he out did himself. Ian must really enjoy Asian food. I am basing this on the great job he always does with Asian food.

Last night one of the specials was what he called a “rice bowl”. This came out looking nothing like my rice bowls. Though I will be using some of the ideas I learned last night in the future. ;-) The recipe as designed had fish but he made a tofu version for us. Ours also included snow peas, carrot, marinated mushrooms, sweet potato salad, radish, cucumber, avocado and caramelized onions. In the center of the dish was a mound of white rice surrounded by an Asian sauce made with soy, mirin, sweet soy, and garlic. He garnished the dish with pine nuts and triangular nori flags. The dish was finished with dots of sriracha on the rim. Not only was this a gorgeous dish but was so flavorful. We split this dish, but it was so good we both thought about getting a second plate.

To go with the rice bowl we had a salad of arugula, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, hazelnuts and walnuts. This was finished with balsamic glaze.

Our final dish last night was a plate of roasted veggies (eggplant, portabella, cauliflower, red pepper, onion, sweet potato, white potato, and carrot. This was finished with balsamic glaze and pine nuts.

Dan and I both thought Ian did a wonderful job making vegan food tonight. While he isn’t comfortable cooking this way we think he does a great job considering vegan food is very different from his usual cooking style.

Here are the specials he was making last night in case it gives anyone inspiration. I have long said that eating Ian’s food has done wonders for my cooking.

The restaurant was packed but Ian had a little time to sit down and chat. He also told us about a health food store and restaurant near him that we will be checking out, maybe this weekend. According to Ian we will enjoy it. With a name like the Flying Avocado it has to be good. ;-)

After dinner we ran to Wegman’s for organic cat food. You know it would be a disaster if we ran out of that at our house. Since we were there I replenished our dried bean supply, picked up a few Indian herbs (fenugreek and cardamom), more tofu, and wine and apple cider vinegar. I also bought a little produce. The watercress was gorgeous so that may turn up in dinner tonight. I love the spicy bite you get from watercress.

According to the felines the best thing we came home with was Orkakat Wiggle Worms. These are cat nip infused gum massagers. They were so popular with our three last night that we had to take out the away so the felines didn’t play with them all night. If you have felines you may want to pick these up. Mine babies are really enjoying the new toys.

I need to get a few things done. I will be back later to let you know what I make for our meal today with my omni parents.

Beetroot Juice Reduces Blood Pressure and Increases Exercise Performance and Fun Facts Friday

For the last month of so we have been adding a beet to our daily fresh veggie and fruit juice. I liked the color it provides to the juice as well as the nutrition. According to a recent study the nitrate rich beetroot juice also reduces blood pressure as much as nitrate pills. Now I don’t know about you but given the choice of fresh vegetable juice or a pill I am going with the veggie every time. Previous studies have shown that beets enhance exercise performance. I think adding beets to your diet is a win/win.

Beets add a beautiful purple color to fresh juice. So far it has hasn’t mattered what else I put in the juicer if there is a beet in there the final juice comes out magenta. If you haven’t tried adding beet to your fresh juice I highly recommend it.

Fun Facts Friday:

Today I have a few things to do so I wanted to post the fun facts questions earlier than normal. I am going to stick with Laura Jill’s idea of positivity in the questions today because I think it is such a wonderful idea to look on the bright side. I know we all have things in our lives that would rather change but focusing in the negative things doesn’t help and I think it only makes things worse.

1. What was the best moment of your life? Is there something that stands out to you as just being perfect? For me it was the look on my husband’s face when Venice first came to view as we took the boat from the airport to the city. Venice was where we started our honeymoon. I had been to Venice before but the look on Dan’s face made it all new for me. I only wish I had a picture of that moment. He reminded me of a child at Christmas, it was the perfect moment. ;-)

2. What do you do to give back? I always think I should do more but give back as much as I have time for. We donate money and items to charity. I also see my blog as a way to give back. Fighting cancer is such a time consuming process. I hope that my recipes and links to articles helps other people in terms of requiring less time to research and experiment in the kitchen.

3. If you could make one change in the world what would it be? This is one of the questions that I ponder off and on. There are so many things that are broken in this world. Given our situation I have to choose the notion that all people would completely understand the impact of eating an unhealthy diet and leading a sedentary life. I would love to see cancer and heart disease on the decline in my life time.  I hope my blog helps people to realize that diet and lifestyle do have an enormous impact on health.

Unrelated note:

Today is going to be a little busy for me. I will try to come back tonight with an update but that may not be possible. If the day gets away from me I will fill you in on our food today tomorrow.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend. I love long weekends. Talk to you again soon.

Vegan Fondue

The weather has been absolutely amazing for the last two days. I have found it very hard to resist and haven’t spent much time cooking so I didn’t want to bother you with my boring “single lady” meals. However Dan got home very late last night. This meant I needed to make a proper dinner tonight. I considered quite a few things and finally decided fondue would be fun. This is something I haven’t made since we became vegan, but surprisingly it was very easy and tasty. I have no idea why I didn’t do this sooner. Here is what I made:

Vegan Fondue
Makes 6 generous servings (approximately ½ cup each)

Ingredients:

½ cup dry oats, processed into oat flour in your blender
½ cup raw cashews (soaked for 2 hours and drained if not using a high powered blender)
2 ½ cups of water (1 cup reserved to “clean out the blender”)
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast, or to taste
¼ cup onion, peeled and minced
½ tablespoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper, to taste (use truffle salt if you have it)

Directions:

Combine everything but the 1 cup of reserved water in your blender and process until smooth. Pour into a pan and simmer. Place the reserved cup of water in your blender and use it to clean out the blender jar. Add that to the pot as well. Cook until the sauce is the thickness you desire and the raw onion and garlic flavor has been cooked out.

Serve with any veggies you like. I steamed some small new potatoes to dip into the fondue. We also had chunks of raw red bell pepper, snow peas, broccoli and cherry tomatoes tonight.

Potato cooking note: I cook my potatoes whole, either in the microwave or by steaming since reading that they lose more nutrition when cooked cut or in water.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 82.74
Calories From Fat (44%) - 36.11

Total Fat - 3.71g
Saturated Fat - 0.66g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 20.2mg
Potassium - 96.01mg
Total Carbohydrates - 8.32g
Fiber - 1.23g
Sugar - 0.8g
Protein - 2.39g

Comments:

This is very similar to my queso dip only without the Mexican seasonings. You can use this for a mild white cheese sauce over veggies and rice and it would great that way. I use the base as a replacement for Mornay sauce.  The overall flavor is mild, no distinctive mustard or nutritional yeast taste. I was going for an overall mild cheese flavor like a Gruyere.

Quick Product Review: Crunch Bar by Mareblu Naturals:

For Dan’s trip I picked up granola bars from Mareblu Naturals at Costco. The ingredient list was what tempted me. Each bar only has 6 grams of sugar. Dan took a few blueberry bars on this trip and liked them. Today I had a strawberry and pomegranate bar and that was good too. Assuming Costco continues to carry this they will be a regular part of our pantry for times when we are out of the house. As usual, this is something we purchased it was not sent to me to review. ;-)

Where have I been recently?:

The weather has been unseasonably gorgeous. It was been very hard for me to focus on my typical activities. ;-) The cooler than normal temperatures and light breezes make it feel like spring at our place. I have been taking advantage of the lovely weather to get a little natural vitamin D. I know that summer and air conditioning will be returning soon and wanted to enjoy this weather while it lasted.

Additionally I have been playing with the new sewing machine and may have reawakened my fondness for sewing. I have been shocked by how much of a difference a new sewing machine made to the process. Sewing has been something that I have always done for the house. I have made curtains, roman blinds, pillow covers, gift bags, that sort of thing. Over the last few days I made an eye mask (to increase our melatonin production) and cotton flannel baby wipes. I am on a campaign to get rid of as many disposables and things that have been bleached at our house as possible. Next on my list is getting rid of plastic bags. That will take a lot more work, but I am determined. I will let you know what I come up with. There are a few ideas swirling around my head now. ;-)

After watching the 2010 Dr. Greger DVD melatonin was fresh on my mind. Then reading about it again in “Integrative Oncology” I felt as though that was a sign. Instead of trying to blackout the windows in the bedroom and covering the alarm clocks I decided an eye mask was a much easier and quicker solution. We will see if it works as well in practice and it does in my head. ;-)

Since my foray back into sewing has been going so well I may make a summer blanket next week. I have some red and white toile that I bought not knowing what to make with it. Now I think I have a use for it. We will see what happens since I have a tendency to change my mind a few times before I commit to things.

Talk to you again tomorrow.