Cheeze Dip made from White Beans

I wanted to start this post with a recipe because I enjoyed this so much. This idea came from a recipe that arrived in my email from AICR a few days ago. My version is different but kept the overall vibe of the recipe. I was very surprised how well this worked. Something tells me this will be a regular recipe at my house. Here is what I did:


Cheeze Dip made from White Beans
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

2 cups white beans, cooked and well drained
2 tablespoons raw sesame seeds (use tahini if aren’t using a high speed blender to make certain the seeds get completely pulverized)
6 tablespoons of nutritional yeast, or to taste
1 clove garlic, peeled
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon turmeric
4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoons water (to process)
black pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine the ingredients in your blender and process until smooth. The mixture will be thick so that you can use it to fill a tortilla for a quesadilla or mixed with roasted veggies and stuffed in a pepper. I think this will have a lot of uses.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories-  153.19
Calories From Fat (21%) - 32.19

Total Fat - 2.97g
Saturated Fat - 0.45g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium-  47.05mg
Potassium - 314.07mg
Total Carbohydrates-  17.34g
Fiber - 6.88g
Sugar - 0.04g
Protein - 6.47g

Comments:

This turned out much better than I expected it to. I did not expect beans to make such a nice cheese substitute. This is a concept I will be playing around with more in the future. White beans are nice mild canvas to flavor.

Monday Means Lots of Life Administration at Our Place

As I mentioned earlier I was on the road first thing Monday morning with a run to the library. Other than taking a little while to start reading “Engine 2 Diet” I was moving since early morning. However it has been good because I was able to accomplish a few things that have been on my to-do list last week. It always makes me feel better to cross things off my list. I wonder what that says about me. Hmmmm. ;-)

Dehydrated Leeks:

Since I had a little time I prepped a big batch of balsamic glazed leeks to have on hand for topping salad and soup. After reading an article about how effective raw leeks are at stopping cancer growth I first tried making the crispy leeks. They work well to top cooked food just before serving. I try to keep these on hand in my pantry.

Vegetarian Restaurants in the DC area:

For those of you that are local I wanted to share this dining out guide from the Washington Post for Vegetarians. There are a few restaurants I will be checking out from this list when I am near DC.

Snack Yesterday Afternoon:

Late yesterday I got a little hungry so I grabbed a few baked falafel from the freezer and popped those into the microwave. I had them with a little bit of salsa. If it weren’t for falafel and salsa I swear I wouldn’t know what to eat sometimes.

Dinner:

At about 7pm Dan called and said don’t wait for me for dinner. He has meetings out of the office all day today (Tuesday), Wednesday and Thursday which means he doesn’t have much time to actually get work done. This meant he worked late last night and grabbed Chinese (steamed veggies and cashews) with sauce on the side for dinner. Thankfully the Chinese place near his office is open fairly late so he can always find something to eat in a pinch.

Since I was on my own for dinner I really didn’t feel much like cooking. If I had not had 2 collard wraps already I would have grabbed one of those for dinner but the novelty had worn off my dinner time. The only food that was appealing to me was frozen grapes. I tossed a cup of those into a bowl and had 6 walnut halves to go with them. The nuts always seem to make the fruit more satisfying to me.

Tuesday:

Holy moly it was downright cold this morning! I didn’t check the weather channel but it felt like it was in the 50s. When Dan left for work I thought I would hit the pavement and get my cardio in. Three houses from my front door I turned around to grab my fleece. It was not warm enough this morning for running pants and a long T shirt. I was happy to get finished so that I could get home and warm up a bit. Brrrr, it was cold. This was the first morning I was actually cold not just cool.

Breakfast this morning was a smoothie like yesterday containing: 1 frozen banana, 3 kale leaves and stems, ½ avocado, 1 ½ cups green tea, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon powdered ginger, and ½ inch fresh ginger. It was a good smoothie and very creamy.

I made something similar for Dan this morning before he left. His had twice as much kale and banana and I added ¼ cup of oatmeal to his as well. He said it was good, not like banana soft serve good, but good nonetheless. ;-)

To warm myself up I made a couple of mugs of hot water with lemon slices. I love hot water with lemon slices on cold mornings because it is warming but still refreshing.

Exercise Ball Review:

I have had the chance to play around with the 8 pound exercise ball that I bought a couple of weeks ago. It has been very useful in terms of abdominal work. I was a little concerned that sharp cat toes may be the end of this, like an exercise ball that my youngest popped before I could use it once. However either this is tougher rubber or it hasn’t interested the cats.

Benefits over using a dumbbell or a plate: 1) more quiet and less destructive when dropped, 2) more comfortable to use for weighted bridges 3) more comfortable to hold on my chest for weighted crunches 4) can also be used as a medicine ball in partner exercises which wouldn’t work with a dumbbell or plate. Overall I like the ball and find it to be a nice addition to my equipment. Not to mention I couldn’t beat the price at Marshall’s. For $12.99 I knew I had to bring it home when I saw it.

Lunch:

Today for lunch I made myself an enormous salad because I was really hungry, or at least I thought I was. My salad included 1 pound of spicy greens (mizuna, tatsoi and arugula) 4 Roma tomatoes, ¼ cucumber thinly sliced, ½ carrot thinly sliced, 1 cup cold cooked cannellini beans, ½ cup of salsa and 1 tablespoon of raw pumpkin seeds. I thought I could eat all this but I was no longer hungry after I finished ¾ of the salad. I saved the remaining ¼ of the salad to eat as my afternoon snack.

Book Review: Engine 2 Diet

I picked up this book from the library for obvious reasons. It is written by a healthy vegan athlete so I expected it to be right up my alley, and it was. The book is segmented as follows:

The E2 Diet

1. Engine 2
2. My Story
3. The Engine 2 Diet
4. Crazy Myths About Food
5. The Medical Proof Behind the Engine 2 Diet
6. The E2 Exercise Program

Making it Work

7. The E2 Attitude
8. E2 Vital Signs
9. Label Reading
10. Making it Work for Life

Recipes and Meal Plans

11. GettingE2 Shape
12. E2 Easy Weekly Planner
13. E2 Recipes

I enjoyed this book more than I expected. I liked that there was a lot of decision about the interconnectedness of health and nutrition. The author does a nice job explaining why a whole food plant based diet without oil is the best choice in terms of overall health.

The exercise section of the book provides body weight only strength training that would be very handy for those just getting back into exercise.

The recipe section is much more extensive than most “diet” books. I was a little surprised to see TVP listed given the soy protein isolate issue. There are also baked goods included with use flour and sugar so you know I won’t be making any of those. However these are my only substantial complaints about the recipes. For the most part the recipes are whole food plant based with little or no oil and sugar.

Overall I think this is great book for someone that wants to either clean up their vegan diet, or wants to jump start their health in a dramatic way.

Signing out:

That is going to be it for me today. I will be back tomorrow with another update. I hope everyone is enjoying their Tuesday.

Sunday and Monday Update

What a beautiful morning we had Sunday. I love a cool crisp fall morning and that is exactly what I got. With temperatures in the upper 50’s and a wonderful light breeze it was a quintessential fall start to the day. Apparently it was too cool for many shoppers as the market wasn’t crowded when we left at 7:45am.

We started the morning by helping Rudy (one of the organic farmers) unload his truck. He had picked some lovely green beans for us for helping. Rudy is such a nice man and we would happily help him for nothing but it so thoughtful of him to bring things just for us.

Our haul from the market today was out of control. When we left the house I knew I didn’t have much room in either of our two refrigerators and still I bought a mountain of produce. Somehow we stuffed it all in but I know things will be rolling out when I open either of the refrigerators, LOL. Today we can home with: 3 bunches kale, 1 bunch collards, 1 pound shitakes, 3 cucumbers, 6 large beets, 1 quart green beans, 1 quart white potatoes, small basket (about 10) of sweet potatoes, a huge basket of gala apples, a small basket of peaches, a bunch of watermelon radishes and probably other things that I have now forgotten.

On our way home I snapped a few pics of downtown on our way home. I love city life particularly early Sunday morning when the city feels as though it is still asleep.

This pic is looking up Charles Street that is the Walters Art Gallery on the left and the Washington Monument at the top of the hill.

Here is a shot down a side street near the Peabody Institute.

Also in that same area is a church that is so unusual. I love the colors on the building exterior.

Breakfast:

Once we got home it was time to get on the scale and find out the damage from eating out and then grab some breakfast. I always dread the scale after eating out but I really shouldn’t since it very rarely goes up any more. Breakfast this morning was oatmeal for Dan and a smoothie for me.

My smoothie this morning consisted of: 3 stalks/leaves kale, 1 frozen banana, 1 cup frozen wild blueberries, 1 carrot, 1 tablespoon chia seeds, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon ginger, ¼ cup fresh mint, juice of 1 lime, and water to process. It was almost a little too sweet initially which is why I added the lime juice to tame the overall sweetness. Here are the stats on the smoothie:

Calories - 353.17
Calories From Fat (9%) - 32.63

Total Fat - 3.89g
Saturated Fat - 0.54g
Cholesterol -0mg
Sodium - 112.25mg
Potassium - 1254.98mg
Total Carbohydrates - 80.42g
Fiber - 13.03g
Sugar - 19.42g
Protein - 8.91g

While we were enjoying our breakfast I had cannellini beans cooking for the mid day meal with my parents. I normally don’t plan what I am going to do with beans I just cook then and figure it out later. Making extra beans is never a problem at our house since they store so well in the freezer.

Mid Morning Snack:

While I was working on rearranging the stuffed refrigerator I realized that I needed a little bit of a snack to tide me over until lunch at 3pm. I grabbed a Gala apple and 3 walnut halves. I forgot to take a picture, but then again we all know what an apple and walnuts looks like. ;-)

Eating small meals often like I do it seems to make a big difference in terms of keeping me satisfied. I am convinced that one of the reasons I don’t eat much is that I never get too hungry. I personally seem to make bad food choices if I get too hungry or if I have eaten something with a high GI value (sugar, bread, those sorts of things). For whatever reason eating veggies and beans seems to keep my satisfied without food cravings and that is a good thing.

Lunch: Cold White Beans and Rice over Salad Veggies

I had no idea what I was going to make for lunch so I decided to go with an enormous salad. Turning lunch into salad had the added benefit of reducing the volume in the refrigerator. It was so stuffed that it could not have had good air flow in there. *rolls eyes are self for not planning better*

This salad for 4 contained: 2 cups white beans cooked and cooled, ½ cup short grain brown rice cooked and cooled, ¼ cup red wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, 1 scallion finely minced, ¼ cup parsley minced, ½ teaspoon dried Italian season, 1 pound mesclun greens, 7 finely diced Roma tomatoes, 1 cucumber thinly sliced, 2 carrot thinly sliced, and 1 bell pepper thinly sliced. This was surprisingly filling for the few calories it had. I also sprinkled a few raw pumpkin seeds on top (maybe 1 tablespoon total). The nutritional stats for 1/4 of the total are as follows:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 310.99
Calories From Fat (9%) - 27.9

Total Fat - 3.34g
Saturated Fat - 0.37g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 106.92mg
Potassium - 1469.74mg
Total Carbohydrates - 60.73g
Fiber - 14.43g
Sugar - 11.16g
Protein - 14.48g

Surprisingly even my parents liked this salad. Now I did add a little drizzle of good olive oil to their plates but they seemed to enjoy it as evidenced by the empty plates.

Interesting articles:

I was trying to catch up on my health reading and came across two interesting articles. The first one is a about a poll that surveyed people regarding their exercise habits. Only 5% perform so type of vigorous exercise per day. My initial reaction was that number could not be right. But the more I thought about it the more reasonable it seemed. I know from experience that spending too much time sitting and not enough exercising can result in feeling lousy. If you aren’t exercising now I high recommend that you start. It can be as simple as walking every day at first, though that will only get you so far. But once you get into the habit exercise can be a very enjoyable part of your daily life.

The next article discusses the impact of diet on cancer. They even go as far as to discuss reducing the consumption of bread and pasta to increase the health benefit. The article also discusses the risk factors of being obese and inactive and having high insulin levels. My take from the article is that there is quite a bit of control all of us have in terms of staying healthy.

Afternoon Snack: Leftovers

Dan ended up having a veggie and tofu enchilada with mole sauce for his afternoon snack. I had the last little bit of oven roasted butternut squash, broccoli and red pepper soup topped with roasted squash seeds. I am making a concerted effort to get things out of the refrigerator at the moment so I can move things around and see what I have to work with.

Dinner: Fresh Juice and Walnuts

Since I really need to reduce the bulk in the refrigerator Dan and I decided that making a bunch of fresh veggie and fruit juice would be nutritious and use up quite a bit of fresh produce. We both liked that this didn’t include any grain.

Here is what I used this time: 3 Gala apples, 4 stems/leaves kale, 8 carrots, 4 collard leaves, 1 enormous beet (about the equivalent of 3 regular sized beets), 1 lemon, and 1 inch fresh ginger. We split this 1/3 for me and 2/3’s for Dan. Here is the nutrition info on 1/3 of the recipe:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 234.44
Calories From Fat (5%) - 11.34

Total Fat - 1.42g
Saturated Fat - 0.22g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 237.79mg
Potassium - 1406.87mg
Total Carbohydrates - 57.87g
Fiber 0.00g
Sugar - 30.28g
Protein - 6.02g

To accompany the juice I had 6 walnut halves and Dan had 12. I add nuts to make certain we absorb the fat soluble vitamins in the juice.

It felt good to have a nutritious dinner that didn’t have any flour. After our enchilada lunch and pizza dinner last night my GI system was certainly not its usual happy self. I never realized how sensitive my body is to what I feed it. However within an hour or so I can tell when I have eaten something that is less than optimally nutritious and it isn’t a good feeling. Sunday was much better with a produce filled day.

Sunday evening snack:

A certain man whose name I will not mention felt certain that he “needed” strawberry banana soft serve (without oats) because he was certain he had not had enough calories today. That is code for someone wants dessert. I had a few spoons but the hubby had 95% of the recipe. *rolls eyes* He has just a sweet tooth is it unbelievable.

Monday morning:

Why are Monday mornings always so rough? Today we went through our usual routine of making fresh veggie and fruit juice for Dan to take to work with trail mix in addition to his lunch.

When Dan left the house this morning so did I. We had taken 5 DVDs out at the library that needed to be dropped off. While I was there I picked up “The Kind Diet”. As soon as I read that I will let you know if I am buying a copy or if the library read was enough.

Breakfast:

Breakfast for me this morning was another smoothie. This one contained: 1 frozen banana, ½ avocado, 4 collard leaves, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon powdered ginger, ½ inch fresh ginger, green tea so the mixture will process. I really liked the taste of this smoothie. It was mostly banana flavored with a rich creamy texture that undoubtedly came from the avocado. I even think Dan would enjoy this and he isn’t an avocado fan. You know I will be giving him a smoothie tomorrow for breakfast to see what he thinks.

Calories - 274.61
Calories From Fat (43%) - 117.32

Total Fat - 13.99g
Saturated Fat - 2.03g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 24.05mg
Potassium - 1064.02mg
Total Carbohydrates - 39.98g
Fiber - 10.87g
Sugar - 15.07g
Protein - 4.13g

After breakfast I started reading “Engine 2 Diet” that I got from the library last week. My reading list just seems to keep growing. ;-) I hope to have this read by tomorrow so I can let you know what I think of it. So far I think it is pretty good.

Lunch and Afternoon Snack:

Lunch was a collard wrap stuffed with ½ cup fat free Spanish flavored hummus, 6 walnut halves, spicy greens (mizuna, tatsoi and arugula) and a few julienned cucumbers. I topped this with a little no salt seasoning and had a nice healthy few bites for lunch. The walnuts add nice texture to this wrap. The spicy no salt seasoning (Costco brand) adds a lot of flavor to the wrap. This was so good I had a second one about 2 hours later.

Signing out for now:

Since I got behind I wanted to get caught up with this post. I have no idea what dinner is going to be at our house tonight. However I have made enough of the dent in the veggies in the frig I may make something other than salad or juice tonight. ;-) I hope everyone is having a good Monday. Talk to you all again soon.

Roasted Vegetable and Tofu Enchiladas with Mole Sauce – Omni approved

I wanted to start the post with a tease of the recipe to follow later. Nothing like a little creamy Mexican food for lunch especially when it is also reasonably healthy. ;-)


Yom Kippur:

For those of you that observe Yom Kippur, I hope you had an easy fast.

Saturday Morning:

Happy Saturday …… well it is Sunday now since I didn’t post this yesterday.  I hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Saturday morning started slowly at our house like always. It is our only day to sleep in so we take advantage of it by turning off the alarm and allowing our bodies to sleep until they naturally wake up. We lounged around until 9 am. It was great, LOL.

Breakfast was oatmeal for Dan. I made myself another uber healthy smoothie. The color was really atrocious. It was so bad I almost didn’t post the picture but I wanted you all to see what it will look like. Thankfully it tastes much better than it looks. ;-)

Saturday’s smoothie contained: 2 stalks of shredded kale, 1 ½ carrots cut into slices, ¼ cup uncooked oatmeal, 1 frozen banana, 6 large frozen strawberries, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon powdered ginger, and water to process the mixture (probably 1 ½ cups). Add stevia to taste if you think it needs the sweetness. Here are the stats on this smoothie:

Calories 372.05
Calories From Fat (22%) - 83.15

Total Fat - 9.95g
Saturated Fat - 1.11g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 126.49mg
Potassium - 1423.55mg
Total Carbohydrates - 70.77g
Fiber - 13.58g
Sugar - 25.93g
Protein - 9.53g

Additionally this smoothie contains: 30,600IU of vitamin A, 160mg of vitamin C, 190mg of calcium, 109mcg of folate, 567mcg of vitamin K, 244mg of phosphorus and 130mg of magnesium. Not too shabby for a few minutes of work. This is why I love having smoothies for breakfast. They are a simple and easy way to pack a lot of nutrition into a glass.

Do any of you like to have smoothies for breakfast? If you have a favorite recipe I would love to know what it is. I am always looking for new smoothie ideas. ;-)

Lunch: Roasted Vegetable and Tofu Enchiladas with Mole Sauce

As always we had my parents over for lunch. With the weather turning cooler Dan wanted me to make some sort of enchilada type dish this weekend. We discussed possible options for the interior and this is the one he selected. I decided to top it with a mole sauce to give the dish some sophistication. When we out to dinner last week with our friend Louis Ian had a slow cooked duck mole on the menu that Louis ordered. Since Louis loved it I have had mole in the back of my mind. I thought it would be good on enchiladas too and it was. Here is what I did:

Roasted Vegetable and Tofu Enchiladas with Mole Sauce
Serves 6

Enchilada Ingredients:

1 eggplant, diced
1 large zucchini, diced
14 ounces of firm or extra firm organic tofu, squeezed dry (check the label for soy protein isolates)
2 tablespoons flour (I used brown rice because that bag was open but any type would work)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and grated
½ teaspoon oregano
½ teaspoon chili powder
¼ teaspoon cumin seed
6 large whole wheat tortillas or whole wheat flat bread (if you don’t make you own check the label for soy protein isolates)
3 Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced to line the baking pan

Mole Sauce Ingredients:

2 cups tomato sauce
½ red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and grated
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon anise seed
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
2 teaspoons raw pumpkin seeds
¼ teaspoon whole cloves
1 teaspoon cocoa powder

Garnish Ingredients

2 Roma tomatoes, peeled, finely diced
2 tablespoon of roasted seeds (pumpkin or squash)
¼ cup fresh parsley, minced

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a half sheet pan with parchment, silpat, or easy release aluminum foil.

Place the dice veggies on the sheet pan and roast until they begin to brown. My oven was set on convection and the veggies were brown in 25 minutes. The reason you are roasting the veggies is to dry them out a little so that they don’t make your filling too wet.

To make the sauce place the cumin, anise, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, and cloves in a spice grinder (or a coffee grinder you reserved for spices). Grind the mixture until it is smooth.

In a small pot combine all the mole ingredients. Cook on low, stirring occasionally, until the sauce starts to brown and the flavors married. I cooked mine for about an hour on the lowest setting.

Combine the tofu, flour, garlic, oregano, chili powder and cumin in your food processor and process until smooth. Place the tofu and roasted veggies in a large mixing bowl and combine well.

Line the bottom of the baking dish with sliced tomato.

Place 1/6 of the filling onto the end of the tortilla or flat bread and roll up. Place the filling wrap in the baking dish on top of the sliced tomatoes. Continue until you have filled 6 wraps. Top with the mole sauce and bake until hot (about 30 minutes).

To serve top with diced tomato, toasted squash or pumpkin seeds and parsley.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 292.27
Calories From Fat (30%) - 86.5

Total Fat - 10.72g
Saturated Fat - 1.56g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 820.47mg
Potassium - 995.36mg
Total Carbohydrates - 38.77g
Fiber - 13.95g
Sugar - 10.32g
Protein - 22.09g

Comments:

This dish was very popular yesterday. Not only did Dan and I like it but so did my omni parents. I would say this is omni approved. I have not had enchiladas with mole sauce before but I will be making this again.

To accompany the enchilada I made 4 small side salads which consisted of: 1 pound mesclun greens, 2 carrots thinly sliced on a mandoline, 1 cucumber and 2 radishes also sliced on the mandoline. I tossed this with salsa.

Dinner Out:

Since we didn’t go out for our anniversary last week we opted to go out last night. As you probably guessed we ended up visiting Ian. It was a gorgeous evening so we had dinner on the patio.

We started with an appetizer or beet carpaccio with baby arugula, thinly sliced red onion, pistaschios and oranges. It was not only stunning to look at but it tasted delicious. I will be making my own version of this at home as soon as I pick up some oranges.

Next Dan had to have the Szechuan tofu appetizer with broccoli, carrot, mushroom and pine nuts. I had a few bites of this but let Dan have most of it.

Dan was craving crispy whole wheat pizza for dinner tonight so that is what he ordered. Ian suggested a putanesca pizza which contained marinara, fresh sliced tomatoes, black and green olives, red onions, and capers. It was absolutely delicious. Definitely something else I will be making at home. I only had one piece of the little pizza but I really enjoyed it. Dan was happy to eat the other three slices. Isn’t he thoughtful to suffer for me?;-)

Sorry I didn’t get this posted last night. We didn’t make it home until 10:30 and since we get up for the market at 6am I didn’t have much time to write.

The farmers’ market was lovely this morning. We brought home a huge haul which I will tell you all about in my next post. Talk to you all again soon.

One Crazy Smoothie and Salad....Weird Food Day at my House, LOL

Happy Friday! My day started with a glorious weather morning. There is nothing like waking up to temperatures in the mid 60s. Talk about a perfect crisp morning. Ahhhh, I could really get used to this. ;-)

Dan had appointments that had him out of the office all afternoon so there was no fresh juice made at our house this morning. I felt as though my morning was so restful, LOL. Making breakfast and lunch is a breeze without the juice component. It was like a weekend morning since I wasn’t rushed. ;-)

Today I opted to do something I don’t normally do. I decided to use an exercise DVD. My knees have been begging me to take it easy so I begrudgingly decided to listen for a change. Earlier this week I picked up a Wii Fitness game from the library. Today I decided to try it out. Today’s test was “My Fitness Coach 2”. I have the original so I wanted to try the new version. I am going to play it a few more times before I formally review it. I did need to spend some time on the exercise bike after the game as I didn’t get enough cardio but that may be how I set up the game. That is why I want to spend more time with it before I make a decision about whether this gets a buy or rent rating. ;-)

Breakfast smoothie:

Breakfast this morning was a healthy smoothie containing: 2 kale stalks (leaves and stems about 1 cup packed once it was shredded), 1 carrot cut into thin slices, 1 frozen banana, 1 tablespoon chia seeds, ¼ cup oats (grind first if not using a high powered blender) ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon powdered ginger, ½ inch fresh ginger, ½ cup frozen wild blueberries, 1 lime zested and juiced, about 1 ½ cups cold processed green tea. Add stevia if you want it sweeter.

I used two different types of ginger because one is said to be good for cardiovascular health and the other reduces inflammation. Cinnamon is a constant in my smoothies since it reported to help the body process sugar more effectively. Chia was included for omega 3 fatty acids and to make certain I was properly fueled to process the fat soluble vitamins in the smoothie. Carrot was added for sweetness as well as beta carotene. The oats provide a little body to the smoothie as well as a bit of protein. Green tea is my new favorite smoothie addition. It is so nice to get my EGCG in my smoothie and cut down on the total amount of liquid I consume in a day. ;-) This smoothie contained:

Calories - 338.46
Calories From Fat (10%) - 34.19

Total Fat - 4.09g
Saturated Fat - 0.61g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 100.18mg
Potassium - 1133.48mg
Total Carbohydrates - 74.12g
Fiber - 12.64g
Sugar - 18.6g
Protein - 8.79g

Additionally it contained 24,000IU of vitamin A, 98mg of vitamin C, 215mg of calcium, 560mcg of vitamin k, 240mg of phosphorus and 96mg of magnesium. Not too bad for something that only took a few minutes to prepare.

Dietary News?:

Okay so this is somewhat off the topic but I wanted to share because I think it gives you some insight into my brain (scary as that may be). I was talking to an omni friend last night and he told me that he had a taco salad for lunch (no chips, no dressing and only a little cheese) and was going to have a homemade smoothie for dinner followed by frozen grapes. I was so excited to hear this. It may not sound like a big deal to you but any time someone eats more fruits and vegetables I think it is wonderful news. I had to immediately email my vegan dietitian friend who was equally happy about the news. As I said yesterday (in the post or a comment I don’t remember where) I think that all of our diets are a work in process. All of us (me included) can do things to make our diets more healthful. However every little decision that each of us makes adds up. If you make enough good decisions before you know it you have overhauled your diet for the better.

I am telling you this because I suspect many of you think I am much more of a dietary zealot than I think I am. Yes I eat a very clean diet. But I am also a realist and know that most people don’t want to eat the way that we do. If it weren’t the cancer I can’t say for certain that we would eat this healthfully either. ;-) All you need to do is go back and look at my recipes from one year ago and you will see that my diet has changed quite a bit in just a year. There used to be frequent recipes with whole wheat pizza, whole wheat pasta, seitan and oil just a year ago.

I hope this encourages you that you can change your diet and it really doesn’t take long for your taste buds to adapt. If you had told me a year ago our diet would be this clean I would have thought you were crazy. But now I am looking for ways to make it even cleaner. I have not completely decided what that means yet. When I do I will let you know. ;-)

Lunch:

Today I wasn’t really feeling like anything in particular so I just combined things that were leftover in the refrigerator. As you know if it weren’t for my intentional leftovers we would starve (or be forced to eat unhealthy food). We had a bit of the green bean dish from last night left which I strained so it was not too juicy on the plate. Then I tossed a ¼ of a roasted acorn squash in the dressing from the green beans to give it a hint of flavor. I also strained that. I added a dollop of Spanish flavored hummus and a few sliced almonds for the green beans and that was lunch. Nothing fancy but full of many colors which means a variety or vitamins and nutrients which you know makes me happy.

Hate and Love:

Have you ever noticed how casually people will toss around the word hate? I hate this, or I hate it when someone says this or does that? Really? I have a visceral reaction when I read anything that uses the word hate. I didn’t realize that until earlier today. I think hate should be reserved for the most heinous things we might encounter not little every day things. Additionally since I was thinking about this topic I realized that there are actually very things that I personally hate. Sure there are things I don’t like but hate is a word I reserve for atrocities. Since I had my little epiphany regarding hate today I am going to be very mindful of my casual use of the word going forward.

Are there any words that you have an immediate negative reaction to? I have many other words that bug me but those are typically words used to describe an entire group of people (like queer…*ugh*… that word makes my skin crawl). There seems to be a pattern to what bugs me which is when people try to draw a line between people. I just don’t think that is necessary personally.

Since I started on hate I thought we should end with love. There are so many things that I love I thought I would list a few. I hope that causes you to think of things you love too. Here is my list:

I love my husband, our felines, my friends, and our life. There are so many things I could list like cool crisp fall weather or newly fallen pine cones (a current favorite). I could have said the first snow of the season or the first flowers in spring. There are so many things to be grateful for everyday if you just look for them. Today I am loving the wonderful cool weather and nice breeze we are having. I am also enjoying having the windows open and airing out my house. It was wonderful to not have any back pain today. Seriously isn’t always better to focus on the positives rather than what we don’t like? ;-)

Butterfly:

Isn’t this little guy or girl pretty? I have no idea what type this little beauty is but when he attached himself to the outside screen I wanted to take a picture and this was the best I could get. Anybody know what type of butterfly this is?

Afternoon Snack:

For my afternoon snack I five of my baked falafel from the freezer with 2 tablespoons of salsa. I like to eat my snacks on a appetizer plate and use an appetizer fork because it always makes them seem more substantial. Yes I am a little nutty that way.

One thing I have noticed is that it takes me a while for food to seem to register with my brain, or maybe I should say to register with my stomach. I have found that if I have a small snack when I get hungry and then wait 20 minutes before going back for more at least half the time when the timer signals time is up I am not hungry.  Yes I actually set a time for 20 minutes and wait until it rings to get more food.  No OCD here, LOL. I think most of us were conditioned to eat huge portions of food from eating in restaurants. Those gigantic portions have led most of us to over eat.

Another trick I have is to split things with my hubby. When we go out to eat we normally order an appetizer, which we share. Then we order an entrée and share that too. If we are still hungry we will get a veggie side dish to split. In the past we would have ordered and eaten much more food. However since we started to focus more on eating until we were 80% full we have difficulty eating a large volume of food unless it is salad. For some reason those go down easy. ;-)

When I am out without Dan I order a big salad for myself and let that be my meal. I usually have some nuts or dried fruit with me that I can add to the salad if I think it needs something. Most restaurants have a green salad on the menu with fruit and nut now. By having them hold the cheese and adding some nuts and dried fruit from my bag a salad can be very filling.

Bill Clinton Eats Mostly Vegan? What?:

Did you see this? I was shocked. Looks like Dr. Esselstyn, Fuhrman or McDougall has gotten through to either Chelsea or Bill Clinton. Given his love of McDonalds I have to say this blew me away. I hope this gets some mainstream press.

Dinner: An unusual salad

I was missing salad so that is what we had for dinner tonight. This version is another one of those crazy versions that comes from somewhere deep in my brain where many wild ideas originate. ;-) Here is what I made tonight:

Sweet and Savory Asian Inspired Salad
Serves 2

Ingredients:

¼ cup walnuts
¼ cup water
1 lime, juiced
liquid aminos, to taste ( I used about a ¼ teaspoon)
sriracha, to taste (I used about ½ teaspoon)
6 cups spring mix
1 ½ cups grapes, sliced in half
½ carrot, thinly sliced on a mandoline
1 radish, thinly sliced on a mandoline
¼ cup mint leaves, julienned
1 tablespoon sliced toasted almonds

Directions:

Combine the walnuts, water, and lime juice and process until smooth. Add liquid aminos and sriracha to taste. You want the dressing to be a little thick and spicy with just enough sodium to round out the flavor.

Place the greens on two plates and top each with ½ the dressing. Top the greens with the grapes, carrot and radish. Finish the salad with mint and almonds.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 237.7
Calories From Fat (43%) - 102.9

Total Fat - 12.3g
Saturated Fat - 1.15g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 100.75mg
Potassium - 697.84mg
Total Carbohydrates - 31.36g
Fiber - 5.8g
Sugar - 19.79g
Protein - 6.11g

Comments:

This salad is crunchy, bitter, sweet, and savory. I love the hit of mint from the salad. I firmly believe that salads do not need to boring and this is the perfect example of that fact. Mango would bout a good substitute for the grapes or an addition to them. Radish was added for bitterness. Carrot and almonds provided the crunch. Lime juice was added to the dressing to cut through the fat of the walnuts and brighten the flavor. Sriracha was included because I like a bit of background heat. Mint is a huge flavor element in this salad and one that I think is essential. As you can tell I really liked this salad. ;-)

Signing out:

That is going to be all for me today.  I loved the look of these clouds.  Beauty is every where if you are open to it.  I hope you al lhave a good evening. Talk to again tomorrow.

Update:

Thank you all for the anniversary wishes!  It was very kind of you and greatly appreciated. Good night. :-)

Happy Anniversary and Dijon and Nut Crusted Tofu

(pictured: Dinner tonight)

Thank all of you so much!

I was so happy to read all your feedback about why you read my blog. That will help me to know what type of things to focus on when I am writing. As you may have guessed I tend to type the thoughts as the dance through my head. Many of them get edited because I assume some of the ideas are not interesting to anyone but me.

I love that we have such a wide cross-section of readers all interested in health. When I started the blog I expected most of my readers would be a similar vintage to myself. I love that many of you are focusing on health at a much younger age. I find that to be so encouraging! Thanks again for your feedback and please feel free to continue to share. I love getting to know you all more.

This morning

I am sure you are not surprised to find out that our morning started as always with me making fresh veggie and fruit juice, Dan’s oatmeal and packing his lunch. This would all be so much easier to do if I were a morning person. It is a bit of a miracle that I can chop the produce for the juice without cutting myself. I really am no good in the morning. It seems to take me 2 hours to be fully wake in the morning. If any of you have a secret for waking up and getting moving first thing in the morning please let me know. I would love to be more functional in the morning.

Once Dan leaves for work I go through my morning ritual of catching up on email, posting and responding to comments and generally waking it. My exercise time varies depending on how long it takes me to wake up in the morning. I prefer to knock out my exercise early but that doesn’t always happen, like today. This is a bit of problem since I don’t like to exercise after I have eaten. Today I opted to have breakfast and exercise later.

Breakfast: Leftover Soup

Breakfast today was a bowl of leftover roasted butternut squash, broccoli and red pepper soup topped with toasted squash seeds. I washed this down with a cold pressed double green tea with ascorbic acid.

Lunch: Leftover Roasted Acorn Squash and Popcorn

Lunch was one of the acorn squash halves that I baked yesterday. I cut it into chunks, added strips from one raw red bell pepper, topped that with the a half serving of the dressing that I also made last night, added some parsley and toasted squash seeds. I liked this just as well as the salad I last night. I wanted to make the salad from last night, but have it just a little different and this worked. I washed this down with another cold pressed double green tea with ascorbic acid.

When I finished with the squash salad I was still hungry. I decided popcorn was in order but I didn’t want much. I popped 1 tablespoon of popcorn in my air popper. As the corn was coming out I sprayed it with a mixture of 1 part liquid aminos and 3 parts water that I put in a small atomizer. Then I added nutrition yeast to the damp popcorn. This was better than the straight liquid aminos, undoubtedly because it was less salty. But I am not completely thrilled with the texture though I did eat all the popcorn, LOL. It isn’t bad just not perfect.

What is wrong with people?

Today in Baltimore we had a little too much excitement. Someone got into Johns Hopkins Hospital with a gun and shot a doctor in the stomach, killed their family member then turned the gun onto themselves. What is wrong with people? Why would you go into an institution dedicated to healing with a gun? Working in healthcare for so long this really unnerved me. I have such a hard time trying to imagine why violence is ever necessary. It is amazing to me that the human race hasn’t annihilated itself already.

Fall is here

This morning we had weather that was nothing short of glorious. We had temperatures in the mid 60’s and little wind. It was perfect weather for getting outside and burning a few calories. Fall and spring are my favorite seasons though we seem to get little of either in this part of the world. I am hoping fall sticks around a little while this year.

Late this afternoon our predicted rain started to fall. It was a gentle sort of the rain the type that will soak into the ground rather than running off. I love the smell of the air while it is raining. If they could bottle that smell I would buy it. We tried the Oreck air cleaners because they were advertised as giving your room the just rained smell. Well, let’s just say they didn’t work out they way I had hoped which was very disappointing.

Afternoon snack: Hummus and Cucumber Dippers

Today I was hungry for a snack probably because of all the news about the shooting. I have always been a stress eater. I realized I could use a little protein so I went with the Spanish flavored hummus I made late last week. I topped that with a few pine nuts because I made it fat free and wanted to be certain to absorb any fat soluble vitamins in my snack. To dip into the hummus I used a cucumber sliced on a diagonal in place of crackers or pita chips. The cucumber provides crunch and makes a nice cracker substitute in my opinion.

Our anniversary

This is one of my favorite pictures of my hubby and was taken in one of my favorite cities in the world, Venice. Today is our wedding anniversary and my hubby said happy anniversary first a little after midnight. Dan has been working late again so we won’t officially celebrate our anniversary until this weekend.

I am very lucky to be married to my best friend who just happens to be the most perfect husband in the world for me. I adore you sweetie. Happy Anniversary baby!

Kitchen time

Given our gentle rain I decided it would be fun to spend a little time in the kitchen this afternoon. I also thought a nice anniversary dinner was in order. I decided to veganize a dish that I used to make with chicken. Of course I also altered most of the recipe beyond just swapping the protein. Here is what I made:

Nut topped Tofu with a Sweet and Savory Mustard Glaze
Serves 2

Ingredients:

14 ounces organic extra firm tofu cut into six slabs and pressed dry
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
stevia to taste, you want a light sweetness to the mixture (I used one little scoop which equals one serving)
¼ cup walnuts, very finely chopped
1 tablespoon whole wheat bread crumbs
½ tablespoon of nutritional yeast
¼ teaspoon dried thyme

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with silpat, parchment or easy release aluminum foil (the silicone coated variety). Place the tofu slabs on the prepared pan.

Whisk together the mustard, vinegar and then add stevia to taste. Spread 1/6 of the mixture onto the top of each tofu slab so that the entire top is coated.

Mix the walnuts, bread crumbs, nutritional yeast and thyme. Place 1/6 of the nut topping on each tofu slab. Bake the tofu until the mixture on top is beginning to brown. Everyone’s oven with vary but this took 45 minutes in my oven set on convection.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 306.47
Calories From Fat (61%) - 186.89

Total Fat - 21.89g
Saturated Fat - 2.03g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 220.58mg
Potassium - 358.65mg
Total Carbohydrates - 8.96g
Fiber - 2.47g
Sugar - 1.56g
Protein - 23.01g

Comments:

This is not your traditional oriental tofu that most of us consume, it has a French flavor to me. I like the savory, sweet and crunchy thing that the tofu had going on. I decided to make this dish when it occurred to me that what I liked about the original omni dish was the glaze and the crunchy topping not the chicken breast which is bland. Sure enough those same flavors worked well on tofu. The original dish used a lot more bread crumb and butter instead of nutritional yeast. However I think this version works just as well and is certainly a more healthful and humane choice.

One of the great things about this dish is that it will hold for a while in a warming drawer (or a 150 degree oven) if you dinner gets delayed, or you need to make it ahead of time. I know this because I had it ready quite a while before my sweetie got home tonight.  I think the being in a low overn for a while actually helped firm the texture of the tofu and made it more chewy.  You can do the same thing by freezing and thawing your tofu.

To go with this dish I made lightly cooked green beans with raw red onions and diced tomatoes that I dressed with a Dijon and wine vinegar dressing. This dish included: 4 cups green beans, ½ red onion, 6 Roma tomatoes, 1 tablespoon Dijon and ½ tablespoon red wine vinegar. The beauty of this dish is that it is better if you make it ahead of time because that gives the veggies time to absorb the flavor of the dressing. If you want you can add diced cooked red potatoes or wheat berries to this dish.

Watercress may turn off breast cancer

I thought was an interesting abstract that some of you may want to check out. This makes intutitive sense to me since watercress is part of the cruciferous veggie family. While I prefer to focus on a variety of whole foods the cruciferous veggie family is one that I think we should all eat more often. This is actually why I try to eat collards often. Remember that cruciferous veggies are more nutritious raw or very lightly cooked. I try to go with raw when possible to maximize the nutrients you absorb.

Too Fat for 15

This show started with a big question mark for me but it has won me over. The young lady that started over 500 pounds is below 400 and I find myself routing for her more than the others. She is so determined and giving the program her all. I can’t wait to see her reach her goal weight.   What an inspiratioin she is. :-)

Watching these kids fight to get their health back is very uplifting. There are a few kids that don’t seem to get the big picture but the same can be said for adults so we can’t expect young people to be smarter about this problem. If you haven’t seen this show on the Style network you may want to check it out. I love a good underdog story and that is what this has turned into with diet and exercise thrown in.

Signing out

That is going to be it for me tonight. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thursday. It is so great that tomorrow is Friday. I look forward to Friday evening every week.

Lemon and Cumin Dressed Roasted Acorn Squash and Avocado over Greens

Check out the salad at the bottom of this post. It is one of the best I have made in a while. It has a ton of flavor and not many calories.

I am not sure what was happening here yesterday in terms of my diet. It wasn’t until I was writing the post late last night that I realized that almost everything I ate yesterday was soup. Clearly the weather is changing. ;-) Soup is one of my favorite things to make when the weather is cool or cold. You will probably be seeing a lot more soup on my blog soon.

Today started like always with me making fresh juice for Dan to take to work. For those of you that are old enough to remember I feel a little like the man in the Dunkin Donuts commercial the one that started with “time to make the donuts” where he was doing it practically in his sleep. The only difference at our house is that it is “time to the make the juice” and yes I am half awake while I am doing it.

Dan had his usual breakfast of oatmeal with cinnamon, powdered ginger, wild blueberries and walnuts. For lunch I packed him a big salad with shredded romaine, tomatoes, cucumber, salsa, roasted red pepper hummus and raw sunflower seeds. To go with that he is having the lentil soup from last night because he liked it so much. I think the fresh salsa on top is what took the soup over the top.

For some reason I was not too hungry this morning again. I suppose it was the protein content in the soup last night which we had reasonably late. Dan has two more deadlines coming up in addition to three days out of the office next week. Also I really don’t like to eat before I exercise. I prefer to wait until afterwards and then grab something to eat.

Breakfast: Tropical Smoothie with Kale, Mango, Lime, Ginger and Cardamom

Today I made myself a smoothie late morning which contained: ¼ cup oatmeal (uncooked), 1 mango seeded peeled and diced, 2 cups shredded kale, 1 lime zested and juice, ½ inch piece of ginger root, 1 tablespoon of chia seeds, and green tea and ice. I also added cardamom to taste. Instead of water I used green tea in my smoothie today and I have to say I have no idea why I haven’t done that before. That is going to be a regular part of my smoothies from now on. The stats were good on this smoothie too. I made two large glasses (all for me) and the numbers were:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 339.22
Calories From Fat (11%) - 38.84

Total Fat - 4.64g
Saturated Fat - 0.65g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 66.97mg
Potassium - 1140.19mg
Total Carbohydrates - 76.69g
Fiber - 14.48g
Sugar - 32.08g
Protein - 9.72g

Additionally the smoothie contained 22,225IU of vitamin A, 245mg of vitamin C, 289mg of calcium (mostly from the kale), 1,104mcg of vitamin K. This is why I love to add greens to my smoothies.

If was such a gorgeous day outside I decided to go for a nice walk to clear my head and enjoy the weather. I like to take every opportunity I can to get in extra activity in addition to my planned exercise. In my mind humans were built to move so anytime you can you should. I try to run as many errands as possible by foot to keep my activity level high. Being a bit of numbers geek I also keep a spreadsheet that tells me how many steps I am getting on a daily basis. Do any of you track these things and try to exceed your prior results? I am very competitive with myself so keeping records and charts work for me.

Lunch/snack: Falafel, salsa and salsa

Lunch today was more of a snack than I meal. I was feeling like I needed a bit of protein so I grabbed 5 falafel out of the freezer and popped them into the microwave. The falafel are softer when they are microwaved but I like them just as much crunchy or softer. To accompany the falafel I had a dollop of salsa in the center topped with the fresh salsa from last night’s soup. Are you starting to notice that I would starve without salsa?

Tonight is the finale of Top Chef DC which means Bravo is running a marathon today. You don’t have to wonder what has been on the background at my house today. I like to watch chefs work and see the combinations they come up with. While it is almost never vegan I do get ideas watching the show for things I can make both vegan and healthy. I think inspiration can come from anywhere. In fact most of my recipes come from things I ate or made that were omni. How many of you watch Top Chef? Did anyone else expect a different person to win?

Afternoon snack: Trail mix

For some reason (probably hormonal) I was craving chocolate this afternoon. Since I know this happens every month and that the craving demands to be satisfied I just went with it. I grabbed a small amount of Dan’s trail mix with some dry roasted edamame added in. Just those few chocolate chips (maybe 5 or 6) were enough to satisfy my craving. I washed the trail mix down with some cold brewed green tea.

I did something to my lower back yesterday. Have I mentioned lately how much fun it is getting older? Since my back is not quite right I have spend quite a bit of time stretching and trying to work the kinks out. I feel much better now but earlier today it was bad enough I actually took a Tylenol and I hate taking meds. The idea of putting something toxic into my body doesn’t sit well to me.

About our food philosophy:

I wanted to spend a few minutes discussing my food philosophy today to answer a lot of questions that I get by email. The reason my food is “so clean” as many of you have mentioned is that we are eating to keep cancer under control. That requires not only a vegan diet but a very healthy one. It is easy to make vegan food that tastes good if you aren’t concerned about health. I see examples of that type of vegan food every day on other blogs. If you throw enough fat, sugar and salt into/onto anything it is probably going to taste good. The problem is that won’t be good for you. It may help the animals but the humans will still suffer. My approach is a vegan diet that tastes as good as it is good for you. To accomplish those goals I have imposed the following restrictions on our diet:

• maximize our consumption of vegetables, fruit and beans
• our fats come from a variety of seeds and nuts with a concentration on those sources that are rich in omega 3 fatty acids.
• minimize our consumption of flour (even whole wheat)
• don’t eat too many whole grains since that results in less room for veggies, fruits and beans
• no sweeteners unless absolutely necessary to make a dish work
• no coffee or espresso unless I can’t function (this is harder for me than you know since I am a recovering Italian espresso addict)
• minimize our sodium consumption (another very hard one for this oil cured olive lover)

Our diet didn’t start this clean in fact it was far from it. Dan and I were both consummate foodies prior to our life changing event (that is how I refer to the cancer). This uber clean diet came about after I read “Eat for Life” which made so much nutritional sense to. If you feed your body the most nutritious food possible it has to have an impact on your overall health. Do all doctors agree with me? Heck no. But then again doctors aren’t trained in nutrition so I can’t worry about what they think on this topic. We do have one oncologist that did a stint at National Cancer Institute that told us to keep doing what we are doing because it has to be making a difference. Is it a coincidence that he is the youngest doc? Probably not. The younger docs seem to be much more open to the idea that nutrition plays a role. Maybe one day all docs will be there but they aren’t now so you need to do your own research and decide what changes you are willing to make.

I hope that gives some of new reader’s insight into why my food is “so clean” as someone so eloquently put it in an email to me today. Both Dan and I truly believe that our diet has had a big health impact. If nothing else we both feel great and all the blood tests show we have achieved excellent results. If any of you are facing a serious health challenge I think diet and lifestyle (by that I mean the ugly e work, exercise) can have a significant impact on your health. It would help me to know what to mention in my posts if I know why you are reading the blog. Are you interested in health, weight loss, vegan food or all three?

Dinner: Salad with Acorn Squash and Avocado

Not having any salad today or yesterday I am craving a big green salad. As you probably expect it isn’t going to be a standard salad since mine usually aren’t. All I knew today was that I wanted to roast acorn squash. So that they had more possible leftover uses I cooked 3 acorn squash of them cut into halves so they could be stuffed tomorrow if the mood strikes me. To do this I roasted the acorn squash halves (which were cleaned) and the seeds in a 400 degree oven until the squash halves were tender and the seeds crispy. Here is what I made for dinner:

Lemon and Cumin Dressed Roasted Acorn Squash and Avocado over Greens
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 acorn squash, roasted, cooled and cut into bite sized pieces
1 lemon, zested and juiced
¼ teaspoon cumin seed, toasted and ground
1 clove garlic, peeled and finely minced
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 head of romaine shredded
¼ cup parsley leaves
1 avocado, peeled, seeded and diced
1 tablespoon roasted squash seeds

Directions:

Whisk the lemon juice, lemon zest, cumin, garlic, and Dijon together. Taste for seasoning and add black pepper as desired.

Place the greens on the base on the plate. Top the greens with roasted squash and avocado. Drizzle half of the dressing over each salad and finish with roasted squash seeds and parsley.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 329.53
Calories From Fat (43%) - 142.14

Total Fat - 17.08g
Saturated Fat - 2.43g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 139.62mg
Potassium - 2134.55mg
Total Carbohydrates - 48.34g
Fiber - 18.9g
Sugar - 4.11g
Protein - 9.69g

Comments:

We loved this salad. In fact both Dan and I think this might be the best salad I have made in a long time. If you like big bold flavors you should give this a try. It is sweet from the roasted squash, crunchy from the squash seeds, fatty from the avocado and fresh from the parsley. If there is a way to make this better I can’t think of it. You may see this again tomorrow since we both enjoyed it that much.

It is getting late now so I need to turn in soon. I hope everyone had a great Wednesday. Talk to you again tomorrow.

Simple and Easy Pantry Lentil Soup, Another Book Review and the Food

Our morning started like always with my prepping veggies and fruit for Dan’s fresh juice. Then I made his favorite oatmeal with wild blueberries, cinnamon, powdered ginger and walnuts. Also in his lunch he got leftover bean soup, salad and trail mix.

Once Dan left for work I had a chance to do a few things for me. I got in some exercise time and then made myself a breakfast snack. This morning I had 3 carrots, 12 almonds and a dollop of cilantro hummus (probably ½ cup). I wasn’t feeling particularly hungry this morning and hummus was what appealed to me so I went with my gut.

Today was primary day in Maryland so I knew getting up I had to find time to make it to the poll. Politics is serious business to me so I don’t miss my chance to vote. I hope you all made it to the poll if today was a primary day for you too. Many people in other countries don’t have the opportunity to have a voice in politics I think it is important to exercise our rights. I will say being able to go to the polling place any time during the day is quite nice. I walked in and no one was at the poll but the election judges. When we used to vote before work we would be in line for an hour or more. It is much nicer to walk in, vote and walk right out. I am not much for waiting in line.

Since our polling place is close to the grocery store I stopped for another 5 pound bag of organic carrots, as well as celery and lemons. It feels like we consume more carrots than any people I know. *shakes head* With a little luck all the vitamins and minerals we consume are doing us some good. ;-)

Lunch was the end of the roasted veggie soup that I stirred a little salsa into and finished with a few pine nuts.

To accompany the soup I had a bunch of grapes.

Book Review: “The All-Pro Diet" by Tony Gonzalez

I am getting behind in reading my library books so I knocked another one out today. This time it was “The All-Pro Diet” by Tony Gonzalez. I choose this book because Tony Gonzalez was mentioned in the Cornell plant based nutrition program so I wanted to read what he has to say. He is not vegan but does advocate a diet very high in plant-based whole food with minimal meat. This book contains a lot more nutrition information than I expected so I actually read it twice to make certain I didn’t miss anything. I liked that he collaborated with his dietician to write the book.

Tony focuses on eating for athletes (since he is a professional football player) but there is also tons of information for the rest of us. He also includes a basic fitness program and guidance for how to get your mind in your right place. The book is categorized as follows:

Part 1: The Ultimate Nutrition Package

1. My Plan of Action
2. See the Goals
3. The 17 All-Pro Diet Principles
4. Prepare for the Hike
5. The All-Pro Diet Plan
6. Getting Started with the All-Pro Diet Meal Plan
7. All-Pro Recipes

Part 2: The Ultimate Fitness Program: Tony G’s All-Pro Workout

8. Eating for Performance
9. Primed for Peak Performance

Part 3: The All-Pro Mindset for Success

10. Introduction to the 8-Point Plan of Attack

What I liked about this book was the emphasis on whole foods. I also appreciated the emphasis on nutrition which is not typical of books like this. There is also a week of sample menus if you like that sort of thing. The author gives quite a few smoothie recipes which you know I love.

However you know I am not a huge fan of protein powder and certainly don’t think it should be a part of your daily food consumption as his diet seems to be. Protein powder doesn’t seem natural enough for me to be a regular food in our diet. In a pinch I am fine with protein powder but it isn’t going to be an everyday thing here. I would probably change my mind if I had any trouble maintaining muscle mass but since I don’t I find protein powder unnecessary. My only other criticism is that I would have liked to see more recipes which didn’t contain meat.

Overall I think Tony did a great job with the book. If your man wants to get in shape and doesn’t want to give up meat I think this is a reasonably sensible alternative. I will be recommending it to my omni male friends.

For an afternoon snack I had a small bowl of leftover roasted butternut squash, broccoli and red pepper stew. This is exactly why I always make intentional leftovers; I would be lost without them. Thank goodness for quick leftovers.

Speaking of intentional leftovers I needed to make more of those today to have something ready to pack for Dan’s lunch. Since he loves lentil soup I decided to make a pot of that today. Here is how I made the soup:

Simple and Easy Pantry Lentil Soup
Serves 8

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups brown lentils
4 cups vegetable stock (preferably homemade without salt)
4 cups water (you may need another cup of water depending on how thick you like your soup)
6 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced (allow to stand 10 minutes before heating)
1 red onion, peeled and finely minced (allow to stand 10 minutes before heating)
10 ounces frozen spinach, defrosted and chopped
½ teaspoon dried thyme
¼ cup red wine or sherry vinegar
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
½ cup fresh parsley minced, for garnish
1 cup fresh chopped tomatoes, for garnish
¼ cup thinly sliced green onions
2 radishes, finely julienned, for garnish
red wine vinegar to finish the salsa (about 1 tablespoon)

Directions:

Combine the lentils, veggie stock, water, onions and garlic and cook until the lentils are soft. Then add the spinach, thyme, vinegar and black pepper to taste. Cook until the spinach is warmed through.

Combine the diced parsley, tomato, green onions and radish and toss to evenly distribute the ingredients. Flavor the salsa with a little wine vinegar to taste.

To serve top the soup with some of the fresh veggie garnish.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories 305.64
Calories From Fat (8%) - 23.42

Total Fat - 2.81g
Saturated Fat - 0.47g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 297.8mg
Potassium - 2430.68mg
Total Carbohydrates - 51.81g
Fiber - 15.13g
Sugar -2.25g
Protein - 25.82g

Comments:

If you like lentil soup and you are looking for something just a little different this is a nice option. We happen to love lentil soup so I am always looking for variations. This one is based on what I had in the pantry since I am trying to work my way through the pantry to bring more in line with what two people need to keep on hand. Of course the items I used are things I knew would go together, I didn’t just toss it together without any thought. ;-) I like to add fresh food to top our soup. The contrast of cooked and raw is very pleasing to me. I am also fond of the temperature contrast of cold on hot. I added vinegar to the soup in place of salt to lift the flavors. You could also use lemon juice if you have that on hand.

In addition to being a pantry friendly meal I also like that this bean soup is reasonably quick. Lentils are something that you can cook for a little over 30 minutes and they are tender. That makes lentil soup a go to item for me quite often.

Hasn’t the weather been beautiful the last week or so? We actually seem to be experiencing fall this year which is very unusual for this part of the country. We seem to go straight from summer to winter and back most years. It is very nice to be enjoying such mild temperatures now. Hopefully it will stick around for a while.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Tuesday. I will talk to you again soon.

Monday a Book Review and a Different Sort of Salad

Like most Mondays I have more to do today than I can possibly get finished in one day. Since I try to spend as little time on tedious things on the weekend so that I can spend more time with Dan that means Mondays are hectic.

As usual this morning started making fresh veggie and fruit juice for Dan to take to work. Recently I have been prepping the veggies and fruit and he runs them through the juicer while I make his breakfast and pack his lunch. We make a good morning team.  By making the juice together the process moves much faster.

Once Dan left for work I exercised and then got myself some breakfast. I like to listen to my body and give it what it wants (within reason of course). This morning I wanted grapes. I grabbed a bunch of fresh grapes from the refrigerator and that was my first meal.

I did also have 6 walnut halves to go with the grapes to make this more satisfying as well as to make certain I absorb the fat soluble vitamins in the fruit. As I mentioned before I don’t to try to memorize what vitamin or mineral is in what food. Instead I just eat a little healthy fat with all my meals which I find to be much easier to manage.

After my snack/breakfast I decided to do a little cleaning since I haven’t done much since Thursday due to having Dan home. I still marvel at how I managed to get things done at home when I worked 80+ hours a week. However I do know I had very different standards of what was acceptable back then. I think we all have to make allowances when time is short.

Later while I was taking a cleaning break and trying to make my way through my email boxes (which are entirely out of control at the moment) I stumbled on a women’s health conference being held in Baltimore on November 20th. There are some interesting sessions so I immediately signed up and they have already contacted me regarding having vegan food available for me. So far I am impressed, now if the speakers are as good I will be a regular at this annual conference. Here is the link to the conference in case any of you that are local are interested in attending. They are also holding the conference in Naples and Palm Beach.

Lunch today was in two parts. First I had a small tureen of leftover roasted butternut squash, broccoli and red pepper soup.

A few hours later I made myself a huge salad that consisted of: 1 head f romaine, 3 Roma tomatoes, ½ cucumber, ½ cup salsa, ½ cup cilantro hummus and a few raw pumpkin seeds. The size of this salad was enough to keep my satisfied for hours.

Review: "The Complete Book of Raw Food” editor Julie Rodwell

I also found time to finish reading “The Complete Book of Raw Food” this afternoon. While it was fresh on my mind I wanted to review if for all of you.

The book is certainly comprehensive in regard to raw food. If that is something you are interested you I would suggest you see if you library has this book. One of the things I liked most about this book is that it is a compilation of many raw food chefs/cookbook offers. Additionally it contains over 375 recipes. The book is categorized as follows:

Part 1: The Raw Kitchen

1. The Right Ingredients
2. Essential Tools
3. Juicers and Juicing
4. Sprouting and Greening
5. Dehydrating
6. Advice from the Pros

Part 2: Recipes

7. Salads and Dressings
8. Soups
9. Snacks & Sides
10. Smoothies, Shakes & Juices
11. Bread, Crackers & Chips
12. Raw Milk & Cheese Substitutes
13. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Entrees
14. Spreads, Sauces & Dips
15. Cookies & Other Sweets
16. Pies & Cakes
17. Ice Cream & Puddings

I particularly liked the soaking and sprouting chart in the book that covers anything I could think of that you would like to sprout. Each topical area in the recipe section has many items to choose from.

What I don’t like is that many of the recipes use copious amounts of oil, sodium and even healthy fats like nuts and seeds. While I do use healthy fats I try to keep our intake at healthy levels which is not how I would describe many of the recipes in the book. Also one thing that confused me is that many of the recipes tell you to start at 145 degrees for the first hour or so and then reduce the heat. *shakes head* This left me a little confused about the actual definition of raw food since the various raw authors I have read don’t seem to agree.

Overall it was a good read and would be useful it you want to eat more raw food. I think this is a book that is better to get from the library if you have that option.

Later in the afternoon I had a big handful of edamame from the freezer. I knew I was hungry and protein seemed to be what I was craving. As I have said before I try to listen to my body but that idea has its limits. If my body says cake, cookies or frozen dessert I disregard it. Those things provide little if any nutrition so I know it isn’t that my body needs it but more that it just wants it. I don’t listen to the “evil little voice” as I call it. In the past when I wanted a cookie I would get one, or five. That never served me well so I don’t do that anymore. Once I was able to focus on eating healthful food I find it reasonably easy to avoid foods that aren’t in my best interest. I try to view each meal as an opportunity to provide my body with as much nutrition as possible. Keeping that idea in mind seems to work well for me.

Dinner tonight was a simple salad but this one is topped with cooked veggies and seitan sausage. Here is what I made tonight:

Marinated Potatoes and Tomatoes with Seitan
Serves 2

Ingredients:

4 cups new potatoes, microwaved until just cooked, then cut into bite sized chunks
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard (I used the grainy country variety)
4 large Roma tomatoes, cut into bite sized chunks
1 Sweet Italian seitan sausage, cut into thin slices
black pepper to taste
2 heads of romaine, shredded
¼ cup fresh tarragon (optional but adds a lot of flavor so I highly recommend you use it or another fresh herb like parsley, thyme, basil or a combination)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

While the potatoes are still hot dress them with the lemon zest, lemon juice and Dijon. Add the tomatoes, seitan sausage and black pepper to taste.

Spread the potatoes, tomatoes and sausage on a silpat or parchment lined baking sheet. You want the food in a single layer so it heats evenly. Bake until everything is hot and the tomatoes are lightly cooked. This took 12 minutes in my oven.

Top the shredded romaine with the baked veggies. Top the salad with the fresh tarragon.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 420.57
Calories From Fat (5%) - 22.21

Total Fat - 2.73g
Saturated Fat - 0.27g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 248.29mg
Potassium - 2790.27mg
Total Carbohydrates - 86.76g
Fiber - 15.33g
Sugar - 10.25g
Protein - 22.23g

Comments:

This dish was full of flavor and much more filling than I expected. It was so filling I ended up giving Dan part of my salad I couldn’t finish it. I have the tarragon listed as optional but I highly recommend that you include it since it adds tons of flavor to the dish. Even Dan, who isn’t a mustard fan, liked this salad and the flavors of the potatoes.

After dinner we watched “Thintervention” for the first time. I am not sure how to react to this show. Do any of you watch it? Is there always a lot of whining and excuse making or does it change as the season progresses?

I saw this sign and had to take a picture of it. I may have to make one for my kitchen to remind me of this simple but very powerful idea.

That is going to be it for me tonight. I need to get a few things accomplished before I turn in. I hope everyone had a great Monday.