Creme of Tomato and Brown Rice Soup

I have been fascinated recently with the stats section of the dashboard. Do any of you monitor which posts are most popular on your blog and how many page views you get? I just started paying attention to this and it is rather fascinating. I am a little sad to say the most popular post overall, by far in the one for my homemade vegan mayo. While this is a great recipe and very much like that refrigerated product that costs a lot it is not very healthy. It makes me just a little sad that this is the post that is most popular. However the second most popular is the baked falafel post that also talks about soy protein isolates so that is great news since it is a relatively new post. Let’s hear it for a big group of healthy readers. Woo hoo! ;-)

Okay enough nonsense back to the regularly scheduled blog. Can you tell I am in a goofball mood today? I am in a very weird mood for some unknown reason. Do you ever find yourself in those odd moods and don’t know why?

Sunday Lunch:

Cream of tomato soup with brown basmati rice was what I made for the mid day meal with my parents. I was still cold from our morning trip to the market four hours after we got home so the only thing I was in the mood for was hot food. Dan suggested tomato soup with rice and I thought that was a great idea since would be a very low involvement meal. When I make a soup like this I prefer to cook the rice separately from the soup. By cooking the rice separately you ensure the rice doesn’t end up overcooked. I started the rice so it would be done 30 minutes before my parents were expecting to eat.

Next I made the soup base using the Vitamix. If the soup was just for Dan and I could have made the base entirely in the Vitamix but I needed more than the container would hold so I started it in the blender and finished it on the stove. Here is what I did:

Crème of Tomato Soup with Brown Basmati Rice
Serves 5

Ingredients:

1 cup brown basmati rice, raw
2 cups water
1 red onion, peeled and diced (allow to stand 10 minutes before adding to the blender)
6 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced (allow to stand 10 minutes before adding to the blender)
10 cups tomatoes, peeled
1 cup raw cashews
nutritional yeast to taste to mimic butter (I used approximately 3 tablespoons)
Italian seasoning to taste (I used about 1 ½ tablespoons)
black pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine the rice and water and cook until tender. You want the rice to have time to cool and then sit undisturbed for 10 or 15 minutes before you are ready to serve. The final 10 minutes off the heat makes a difference in the final texture of the rice.

To make the soup combine some of the tomatoes and the onion and garlic in your blender and process until smooth. Pour this into a soup pot. Combine add tomatoes and the cashews and process until completely smooth and add that to the soup pot. Heat the soup until it begins to bubble then simmer on low until you have cooked out the raw onion and garlic flavor. Add the nutritional yeast, Italian seasoning and black pepper to taste.

To serve place the cooked brown rice in the pot and stir to combine or place the rice in the base of the bowl and top with soup. You can garnish the soup with fresh minced parsley, walnut parmesan, dehydrated leeks, a dollop of cashew crème fraiche or keep it simple and add only freshly ground black pepper.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 344.66
Calories From Fat (27%) - 91.52

Total Fat - 10.28g
Saturated Fat - 1.81g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 27.49mg
Potassium - 1078.56mg
Total Carbohydrates - 52.25g
Fiber - 6.93g
Sugar - 10.94g
Protein - 10.15g

Comments:

This is a version of my standard crème of tomato soup. You can flavor it many different ways. I tend to stick with Italian seasonings since that is my favorite cuisine. Gee I wonder why, LOL. This soup is very simple to make but it was enjoyed by both the vegans and omnivores in this family. If you need a quick hot meal this makes a good one.

Snack:

Eating with my parents at 3 pm typically means we often skip dinner on the weekends. This was one of those days. Dan and I decided to have green smoothies like I typically make for breakfast. They included: frozen banana, kale, cinnamon, ginger, water, chia or ground flax and walnuts for Dan.

Dessert:

No big surprise Dan thought he “needed” to have strawberry banana soft serve before he went to bed. I keep telling you guys he could eat this every night and that is not an exaggeration. I had two spoons that I scraped out of the container once I made his serving of soft serve. Then I made myself a double green tea with powdered ascorbate C.

Monday:

Even though we were still awake long after midnight last night the alarm still went off early this morning. I really am not a morning person. *sigh* No doubt my lack of loving morning has to do with the fact that I don’t go bed early enough. In most cases we are all our own worst enemies.

Breakfast:

I did make a huge batch of fresh veggie and fruit juice so that Dan had a liter of juice for in his lunch and I had two cups for my breakfast with a handful of walnuts. I used the same basic combination as I outlined here.

Dan had his usual oatmeal with wild blueberries, walnuts, flaxseeds, cinnamon, and ginger. I tried to encourage him to try the savory oatmeal but he wanted to stick with fruit. Courtney I said you would be disappointed but that didn’t work though he did suggest I was pulling out all the stops to get him to try it. I haven’t given up yet.

Mid morning:

My dad has some appointments today which meant I needed to be available in case my mom needed anything. Thankfully everything was quiet but this did mean I had to stay very close to home in case I was needed. For some reason my parents are only capable of calling my landline though I have had the same cell number for a decade. *shakes head*

It was a shame to be stuck inside today since the weather was absolutely amazing today. Our temperatures were in the upper 80’s today which is completely crazy given that it is the second week in October. I did take the opportunity to open up the house and get it aired out.

Lunch:

Since I am still trying to reduce my freezer inventory I defrosted a piece of eggplant parmesan/lasagna for my lunch. Freezing this didn’t seem to alter the taste or the texture so that was a good experiment. It was not as “pretty” though so I used the original photograph. I wouldn’t serve it to company (because of the look) but it was fine for lunch. I use a Foodsaver bag to get the air out when freezing food. Freezing things is a little bit of the process since I also don’t want the food to be in contact with the plastic. I accomplish this by freezing individual portions until they are solid. Then I wrap the serving with parchment or waxed paper and slide that into a Foodsaver bag and vacuum seal it. My technique is a bit of pain but it works.

Snack:

I ended up having a bowl of leftover red lentil and barley soup in a big mug for my afternoon nosh. The flavor of this soup has really improved while sitting. I love it when soup does that. Too bad it is almost gone now.

Rearranging:

I am not really sure what got into me today but I ended up rearranging the furniture in the family room. Rearranging furniture always feels like a government make work project. Why do I do this to myself? I was chatting with a friend today who said she does the same thing so maybe it is a girl thing. Hopefully tomorrow I will actually tackle something on my to-do rather than finding new things to add to the list.

Here is Mr. Binky giving me a dirty look because I had just moved the chair across the room that he was sleeping on. He didn’t even pick up his head but he did open his eyes and shoot me a look. Who spoiled these cats? It must be Dan it couldn’t possibly be my fault, LOL. Okay so maybe I played a small part in it. Good thing I love these little fur balls.

Dinner:

Since I spent (wasted) so much time rearranging furniture I didn’t do any cooking today. Shocking to hear that I know. That actually worked out fine today since my refrigerator is stuffed. There was a bit of room after using so much produce to make fresh juice this morning but that only made enough room to get a little air circulation. I actually rather like knowing we will be eating fresh produce this evening in the form of a salad instead of cooked food. My body seems to operate best when I am eating at least 50% raw. Having a cooked lunch and snack left me feeling a little full and sluggish if that makes sense.

Our salad tonight consisted of: romaine, avocado, salsa, thinly sliced cucumber, Roma tomatoes, dehydrated leeks and raw sunflower seeds. It was a nice light salad perfect for two people who would be spending the time before bed relaxing.

Signing out:

Dan is busy catching up on sci fi he DVR’d while I put the post together. I have a few things I would like to get to before it is time to turn in meaning it is time to stop writing now. ;-)

There should be cooking taking place at our house tomorrow since I need to make food to include in Dan’s lunch on Wednesday. I will be back soon to let you know what I dream up. I hope everyone had a good start to the week. Talk to you again soon.

Beet Carpaccio and Savory Oatmeal

Saturday:

We woke up to the most beautiful fall morning. The air was crisp, and there was a gentle breeze and not a cloud to be seen. I love a cloudless blue sky day. There is just something about waking up to the perfect weather to put me in a great mood.

Since it was Saturday (our only day to sleep in) we didn’t get up until 8 which is what happens when you are completely involved in a conversation at midnight. It seems like my husband and I could talk for hours. Whoever said men don’t have much to say should see us in action. ;-)

We started the morning with a nice mug of hot green tea with a little ascorbate C powder to keep the EGCG bioavailable longer. While we sipped tea I preheated the oven and started beets roasting for a salad with my parents at mid-day. I thought today would be a good day to make my version of Ian’s beet carpaccio. I am going to add a few things and take others away. Hopefully I don’t change the entire feel of the dish because we both enjoyed the original but I want to make a version that is my own.

Food thoughts:

Last night I was doing little research on a product I have not had before. Any guesses what this is? The only hint I will give you is that it is sold for human consumption and it is vegan.

INGREDIENTS:  Soy protein concentrate, dehydrated onion, soy sauce granules (soy sauce [water, wheat, soybeans, salt], maltodextrin, salt), yellow cornmeal, spices, dehydrated garlic, tomato powder, masa harina (ground corn treated with lime), sea salt, less than 2% of brown rice syrup solids, non-GMO expeller pressed canola oil, onion powder, maltodextrin, caramel color, salt, yeast extract, natural flavors, torula yeast, modified food starch, vinegar solids, celery powder, jalapeno powder, hydolized soy protein, lactic acid, silicon dioxide (anticaking). Contains wheat, soy.

Would I eat this? Not if I knew what I was eating. I wanted to highlight the ingredient list because when I read it to my husband last night (the less health concerned half of this family) even he said it sounded like a science project. This is why it is so important to read labels. Just because something is vegan doesn’t mean it is fit for human (or animal) consumption.

When I first became vegan I foolish thought that vegan food was healthier than omni food. That is so far from true it is sad. It is just as easy to be an unhealthy vegan in America as it is an unhealthy omnivore.

So what is wrong with this product? The first problem is the main ingredient is soy protein concentrate. First we know it isn’t organic which means it is undoubtedly “Roundup ready technology soy”. Nothing like knowing which pesticide is in your food. *rolls eyes* Additionally it is processed soy protein which elevates IGF-1 and you don't want that. The third ingredient listed is sodium. It contains two forms of sugar, brown rice syrup and maltodextrin. I am always suspicious of products that use more than one type of sugar.

I am not naming the product because I don’t want to hear from any corporate lawyers and I don’t think the specific product is important. The reason I listed the ingredients was to show you what is actually in a product that claims to be “natural”. This product doesn’t sound overly natural to me.

This is why the vast majority (probably over 95%) of what we eat is whole food in the form of produce, whole unprocessed grains, beans, nuts or seeds. When you eat a diet like that you don’t need to read the fine print on a box or bag.

I hope looking at the ingredient list of the “natural” vegan product above resonates with some of you. Just because a food is vegan doesn’t mean it is good for you. As you can guess this is a serious hot button issue for me. A vegan diet can be the healthiest diet on the planet, or it can be garbage and only you can decide what happens at your house.

Breakfast:

Dan was busy logged into to work from home because there is a computer upgrade is going on. Our phone rang early (it was the office) and a 20 minute task turned in to multiple hours. How my husband gets stuck with miscellaneous computer tasks since he isn’t IT is beyond me. It isn’t like he has all the free time in the world. *rolls eyes*

Dan had planned to run to the plumbing supply house this morning for an unusual part he needed for our old (okay over 100 year old) house. Of course it closed at noon so by the time he was finished with work he needed a smoothie to go and had to run out the door.

For breakfast I made Dan a green smoothie of: 4 kale leaves/stems roughly chopped, 2 frozen bananas, 1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon powdered ginger, 1 handful of walnuts, water to process and a little stevia. I poured this into a mason jar and he ran out the door to the plumbing supply house. Thankfully he made to the store on time and all the plumbing is now functioning as intended. It is so nice to have a handy husband.

For my breakfast I had something similar but with a twist. Friday on Twitter Ricki (Diet, Dessert and Dogs) mentioned adding cranberries to smoothies and that sounded interesting to me. I always find banana smoothies to be a little too sweet so I wanted to try it. My smoothie this morning contained: 4 kales leaves/stems roughly chopped, 1 frozen banana, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon powdered ginger, 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseeds and water to process. Once this was completely smooth I added two small handfuls (somewhere between ¼ and ½ cup) and processed until they were just broken up because I didn’t want the smoothie to be the color of mud. ;-) I really liked the tartness they added to the smoothie.

Lunch:

We had my parents over for lunch and I served the lentil and barley soup from the other day and both of my parents liked it. The fact that they liked the soup was a minor miracle considering their typical unhealthy omni diet.

To accompany the soup I made my version of Ian’s beet carpaccio. Since I wasn’t certain if he cooked the beets or not I roasted mine just to be safe. Looking at color difference I am fairly certain Ian’s were raw. Next time I will change that. This is going to be a method rather than a recipe.

You can either roast the beets or slice them thinly raw (use a mandoline). Lay the very sliced beets on the base of a plate by slightly overlapping so the entire plate is covered. To dress the beets I combined the juice of ½ half and orange with a fat tablespoon of pomegranate molasses and whisked until it was smooth. Next I thinly sliced a fennel bulb (also on the mandoline) and added that and baby arugula to the dressing and tossed to coat. I placed this salad on top of the beets. Now zest the orange and set that aside. Peel the orange and cut it into bit sized pieces. I stopped supreming oranges after reading of the health benefits of the orange membrane in the oncologist’s office. Finish the salad with the orange pieces, sliced almonds, a few slivers of olive and the orange zest. I also sprinkled a little sumac on top the salad but that is optional.

Everyone enjoyed this salad and unlike usual I didn’t add any olive oil to my parent’s servings and they still liked it. I guess that means this is an omni approved dish. ;-)

Snack:

Our snack today was a simple appetizer plate of cucumber slices, carrot sticks, fat free hummus and a few walnuts. This is the picture of my plate Dan had more walnuts since he seems to need extra calories to keep weight on.

Dinner:

What a shock this will be, we had a big salad for dinner. This one contained: shredded romaine, thinly sliced cucumber, thinly sliced carrot, avocado, fat free hummus, salsa, walnut parmesan and dehydrated leeks. We both loved this salad though I don’t really know what made this salad so special, but it was a good flavor and texture combination.

Sunday morning:

Brrrr, it was cold this morning. It was another one of those days where I thought I dressed warmly enough but no go. Jeans, one of Dan’s heavy cotton oxford shirts and flats without socks was not warm enough this morning. I found myself holding the empty canvas bags in front of me to keep me warm. Since it was 51 degrees when we got home it was no surprise this outfit was not enough to keep my warm. Fall is here without a doubt.

We left for the farmers’ market at 6:17 this morning and were there long before the official start time of 7 am. When we arrived Rudy (Cat’s Paw Organic) hadn’t unloaded the truck yet. He was delayed by road construction this morning. Dan jumped into the truck and we had things unloaded in well under 5 minutes.

From Rudy this morning we picked up acorn squash, cucumbers, kale, red bell peppers, beets and cauliflower. I was so happy to see the cauliflower, I love that stuff. ;-)

Next we went over to Calvert Farm to see Pam and Paul and get our Fall CSA goodies. There we picked up: carrots, shitakes, more kale, eggplants, the most gorgeous green celery with beautiful dark leaves, and green onions.

Then we needed to pick up another 25 pound box of tomatoes to dehydrate. Hard to imagine I am still doing that isn’t it? I have 8 quarts (started as 100 pounds) of them so far but that won’t last all winter. We talked to the farmer and they will have boxes of Romas until the first frost which I hope is still a few weeks away. *fingers crossed*

Breakfast:

About a month ago my vegan dietitian buddy Courtney mentioned savory oatmeal. Since it was hot and I was having smoothies most mornings I didn’t get around to trying it until this morning. Savory oatmeal is absolute genius! Thank you so much for sharing that Courtney, I LOVE IT! I tried to talk Dan into the savory oatmeal this morning but he wanted his usual wild blueberry and walnut oatmeal. Can you tell Dan is not the most culinary adventurous half of this marriage? LOL

My oatmeal this morning contained: ½ cup oats, 1 cup water, about a cup chopped broccoli (I used frozen that I defrosted), nutritional yeast to taste, and 1 clove garlic finely minced. I cooked this until the oats were soft. Next I stirred in 1 tablespoons of ground flaxseed and topped the dish with salsa and walnut parmesan. This was so good there were no words to describe it. I absolutely loved it! I hope some of you give this a try.

Signing out:

I need to get moving and figure how what I am making for the 3pm meal with my parents. I will be back soon to let you know what I came up with.

Mustard Glazed Roasted Veggies ... So Good

This is a tease for the roasted veggies I improvised tonight. These use no oil and are bursting with flavor.  I love it when an experiment exceeds my expectations.

Friday:

What a glorious morning we had here in the Mid-Atlantic today. It was a bit warmer than it has been with temps in the mid to upper 50’s early today. We quickly shot up to 70 by 11 am. I don’t think we could be having a more perfect day weather wise.

Breakfast:

My day starting making fresh veggie and fruit juice (see yesterday) but today the liter of juice actually made it to Dan’s lunch bag. ;-)

For breakfast I had 2 cups of the fresh juice and a few walnuts halves to assist my body in processing the fat soluble vitamins. I like the taste of the fresh juice. Hopefully I can continue to make the juice in the mornings. It is a lot of work to make fresh juice and takes 30 minutes or more, but I think the nutritional profile makes it worth the trouble on most days anyway. ;-)

Dan decided he would have a green smoothie this morning for breakfast. What? Shocked right? I know I was. ;-) I made his smoothie with: 4 kale leaves/stems roughly chopped, 2 frozen bananas, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon powdered ginger, 1 tablespoon flaxseeds, a handful of walnuts and water to process.

Exercise:

Once Dan was off to work it was time to exercise. I don’t normally talk much about exercise since this is primarily a food blog but exercise has become an important part of my life. There is something about weight lifting that makes me feel strong and capable that I enjoy. Exercise also seems to help me feel more alive. Getting your blood pumping can be a good “high” and it becomes addictive.

Thoughts on food:

Dan and I were talking about food this morning and I had an epiphany. Sometime over the last year I have come to view food as a way to nourish myself and not a way to indulge. I don’t know exactly when that happened but it did and it makes staying healthy SO much easier. In the past I would decide what to cook based primarily on flavor but now I am very content to have green smoothies, a huge salad or bowl of bean soup. Of course you will still see things like the sweet potato torta from a few days ago but I wanted you to know what was going through my head now. I feel like this was a huge step for me so I wanted to share what was happening.

Thinking about my prior diet I can say health used to take a back seat to flavor but no longer. The longer I eat a whole food plant-based diet the less I have any desire to eat things like cake, pie, cookies or pasta. Even pizza doesn’t appeal to me the way it used to. I think that I feel so good eating this way that the idea of putting unhealthy or less healthy things into my body just feels wrong.

The biggest obstacle I had to achieving an uber healthy diet was my friends and family. Only having Dan on board with the dietary changes make it tough to eat healthy when we were with others. Thankfully we have Ian and he can accommodate us and our friends but even then we still frequently default to whole wheat pizza too often. :- / It is tough to be healthy in an unhealthy world but it isn’t impossible.

I have a very good friend (who I know would prefer to remain nameless) that I have been nudging in the vegan direction for some time. I spend a great bit of time trying to think of how to get my friend to try eating like we do for a month and see how that changes things. So far I have had no luck. I think my friend believes it is too time consuming to eat like we do. Since I don’t agree I wanted to outline how I make it happen.

Breakfast is typically a green smoothie, fresh veggie and fruit juice, or oatmeal. The smoothie and oatmeal are both very quick to make and eat. The smoothie can go into a travel mug to drink on the way to work and it is tasty way to consume veggies in the morning. Woo hoo! I know I am not right. LOL

Lunch is almost always intentional leftovers from the prior night or a huge salad. The leftovers are quicker, but a salad doesn’t really take that long to make.

Dinner is where I spend a little time cooking. If you make a big batch of soup, hummus, or whole grain early in the week you can get a head start on dinner. I love to quickly cook a few veggies and place them on top of a grain for dinner. Add a bowl of soup and a small salad and you have a quick and nutritious meal on the table.

Some of my favorite tips for getting a healthy meal on the table are to keep any of the following on hand to mix and match to make a meal:

• roasted veggies (you can used these on top of grain or salad) …see dinner tonight
• hummus (great with veggies dippers or on salad)
• beans (these can be combined with grains and veggies or used on a salad)
• whole grains (make 3 or 4 days worth to used in veggie and grain salads, or as base for cooked veggies)
• marinated veggies (these are great in collard wraps, or on salads)
• nut cheese (this one can get out of hand and is calorie dense but can be great in a collard wrap or on a salad)
• keeping a variety of nuts in the freezer to adding to dishes or making nut based sauces
• trying to eat at least one big salad a day (preferably more)
• keeping falafel, bean burgers or seitan in the freezer helps to get a quick meal on the table too

I hope some of that helped one or two of you. I struggled regarding what to eat and how to make it quickly when we first changed our diet. The first 6 months I did a lot more cooking than I do now and it made it hard to stick with this lifestyle. Since I have started to plan for intentional leftovers life has been much easier in terms of cooking.

Lunch:

Today for lunch I decided to make myself a couple of collard wraps. I filled them with fat free hummus, the vegan mozzarella and partially dehydrated tomatoes and they were delicious.

Vegan Mozzarella:

The flavor on this was great, the texture was not quite right for using on a sandwich, though I think it would be great on top a pizza or baked dish. I want to play around with the recipe a little bit before I post it. I think I can get the texture right soon, which may have to happen this weekend because I loved the flavor so I want to share this but my OCD thinks it needs to be perfect, LOL.

Snack:

For a snack this afternoon I had the end of the red cabbage and apple dish with seitan. This time I ate it cold like slaw (no quinoa) and I think I may prefer it cold.

Dinner:

When Dan came home tonight (earlier than usual) I had not started anything for dinner. Having an afternoon snack a little over two hours earlier meant I wasn’t very hungry. We both opted for a salad tonight for dinner. I haven’t made roasted veggies in a while and thought I would try something new.

This is more of a method than a recipe so I will describe what I did. I combined 3 tablespoons of both Dijon and red wine vinegar and whisked until it was creamy. Next I added a little stevia, to taste. I cut up four carrots, 2 purple Peruvian potatoes and grabbed a handful of green beans. I tossed the veggies in the marinade and placed them on a silpat covered baking sheet and roasted them at 400 degrees until they were the texture we prefer.  Some veggies cooke faster than others.  This technique will work with most veggies.

Here are the veggies before they were roasted.  The final salad was pictured at the top of the post.

This worked surprisingly well. I loved the flavor it added to the veggies. All I had to do was put the veggies on top of shredded romaine and top with chopped walnuts and we had dinner. This was so quick and easy it will be showing up on my dinner table again soon. I can’t wait to make variations of this.

Signing out:

That is going to be it for me tonight. I hope everyone is having a great start to their weekend. Talk to you all again soon.

Cabbage and Seitan Dish and Indian-spiced Lentil, Barley Soup

Vegan Mofo:

How many of you are taking part in Vegan Mofo in November? I participated last year but I don’t know that I can post every day this year so I was considering bailing out this year. However if many of you are doing it too I may give it a go again this year. I want to hear your thoughts on this.

Wednesday:

The sun finally peaked out for the first time in days. It was great to see blue sky peaking from behind the clouds for a while today. I am definitely a girl that needs her sunlight. Do you have any tricks for surviving long bouts of gray weather?

Lunch:

As you know by now I try to eat greens every day either in my smoothies or in salad, and sometimes both. I was craving salad so that is what I made myself for lunch. This one contained a head of romaine, 3 Roma tomatoes, ½ shaved cucumber, 1 shaved carrot, a tablespoon’ish of dried cranberries and a sprinkle of slivered almonds. I used my current favorite dressing of Dijon, red wine vinegar and stevia. There is just something about eating a big salad that feels right.

Snack:

Like usual I got hungry mid afternoon and had a snack. I feel as though if I get a little something to eat when I am hungry I end up eating less dinner which is always a good thing. Since most of us are doing nothing more than lounging on the sofa after dinner I feel like dinner should be a small meal. There is no science behind that I know of, it is just what I try to do and it seems to work.

My afternoon snack today was about a cup of frozen grapes and a few walnut halves.

Dinner:

I was in the mood to cook but had no idea what I wanted to make. Doesn’t that always seem to happen? Since it is apple season I decided that a dish that included them would be a good call. Here is what I made:

Sweet and Savory Red Cabbage, Apple and Onion over Quinoa
Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa
2 cups water to cook quinoa
1 red onion, peeled and thinly sliced (allow to stand 10 minutes before cooking)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced (allow to stand 10 minutes before cooking)
2 apples, cored and cut into bite sized chunks
2 vegan sausages, but into bite sized pieces (I used seitan sausage with quatre epices)
¼ cup water
½ cup apple cider
1 tablespoon apricot preserves
¼ teaspoon powdered ginger
6 cups red cabbage, thinly sliced
black pepper to taste

Directions:

Begin by starting the quinoa since it takes a few minutes more than the topping

Cook the onion, garlic, apples and sausage in water, apple cider, apricot preserves and ginger in a covered pan. Cook until the onions are beginning to get tender about 5 minutes. Give the ingredients and stir and place the cabbage on top and recover the pan. The cabbage will be cooked in less than 5 minutes. Remember to cook cabbage as quickly as possible to retain the most nutrition.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 429.69
Calories From Fat (9%) - 38.27

Total Fat - 4.3g
Saturated Fat - 0.48g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 81.55mg
Potassium - 1266.26mg
Total Carbohydrates - 73.36g
Fiber - 13.9g
Sugar - 9.36g
Protein - 29.46g

Comments:

This was a nice autumn dish more sweet than I anticipated but still good. I think it would have been enhanced by a touch or Dijon in the sauce or few nuts on top for crunch and I would make one or both of those changes the next time.

Twitter and Foursquare:

Those of you who have been reading for a while know that I have been resisting Twitter for some reason. I can say that I finally understand the appeal. It is not intuitive, or at least it wasn’t for this technology dinosaur but it can be a lot of fun. You can follow me @VeganEpicurean.

While on Twitter I also found a few local suggestions from someone on Foursquare. Since Twitter worked out so well I also signed up for Foursquare about a week ago. If you want to follow me on Foursquare I am Vegan Epicurean there too. In only a few days I have already gotten some great tips from Foursquare you may want to check it out.

Thursday:

This morning was much nicer than it has been. It was windy overnight but by morning that had died down and temps were in the mid 50’s. By 9am we were up to 62 and it was beginning to feel like a nice fall morning.

Breakfast:

Dan opted to have a green smoothie this morning for breakfast since it was a bit warmer today. His smoothie contained: 2 frozen bananas, 4 kale leaves/stems, 1 tablespoon chia seeds, 1 handful walnuts, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon powdered ginger and water to process.

I asked him if he was learning to tolerate the green smoothies yet and he said, “They have always been good, but they aren’t strawberry banana soft serve.” I have to say this was a better reaction than I had expected. I am not sure why but I didn’t think he liked it I guess that was because of the fussing that I mistook for actual dislike. *rolls eyes* I will never understand men or guy humor.

Guess who actually made fresh veggie and fruit juice again this morning? Yes it was me. However the funny thing was that I forget to put it in Dan’s lunch. Can I be any less functional in the morning? LOL, I am SO not a morning person. I store his juice in the freezer after I make it and until he is ready to leave for work and completely forgot to pack it this morning. *sigh*

I even made a huge batch of juice so that Dan could have it in his lunch and I could have a couple of cups for my breakfast. For some reason I have really come to enjoy the taste of the fresh juice. I like the acidity from the lemon, the zip from the fresh ginger and the sweetness from the apple, carrot and beet.

The picture above is the prepped veggies and fruit on an 11 by 17 inch pan before being run through the juicer. This amount becomes approximately 7 ½ cups of juice. Today’s juice contained: 1 head romaine, 6 leaves kale, 5 apples, 2 lemons, 2 inches fresh ginger, 8 carrots, and one huge beet.

I try to include juice in our diet to provided additional nutrition. Fresh juice is not a substitute for whole fruits and veggies but in addition to them. It is important to also eat your veggies and fruit whole to ensure you are getting enough fiber. Since we almost always exceed 40 grams of fiber per day that isn’t an issue for us but the average American gets 12 of less grams of fiber and for those people juice may not be the best solution.

Soup for the week:

After breakfast I decided it was time to make an enormous pot of soup for Dan and I to eat for a few days. I love making soup because it gets better as it sits in the refrigerator. Today I decided to do something different and I broke out the crock pot. Here is the soup I made today:

Indian-spiced Red Lentil, Barley and Shitake Soup
Serves 8

Ingredients:

2 red onions
10 cloves garlic
2 inches fresh ginger
3 carrots, finely diced
3 stalks celery, finely diced
½ pound shitake mushrooms, but into bite sized pieces (I used shitake but any variety will work including dried)
1 cup red lentils
1 cup hulled barley
1 tablespoon turmeric
½ tablespoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon black mustard seeds
½ tablespoon paprika
¼ teaspoon ajowan seeds (or substitute thyme)
1 dash asafetida (not too much as this has a funky smell)
1 dash cardamom powder
1 dash cinnamon
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste (add generously since the piperine has a synergistic effect with the turmeric)
¼ teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
¼ teaspoon saffron threads
water to cover everything by 2 inches

Directions:

Place everything in your crock pot (I used a 6.5 quart model) and set on low. Cook for at least 8 hours. Taste for seasoning and adjust to your taste. Something happens when you cook in a crock pot that seems to mute the seasonings which typically has been tweaking then at the end of cooking.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 229.93
Calories From Fat (7%) - 15.33

Total Fat - 1.83g
Saturated Fat-  0.27g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 53.61mg
Potassium - 507.38mg
Total Carbohydrates - 45.07g
Fiber - 10.02g
Sugar - 2.88g
Protein - 10.71g

Comments:

This is a lightly spiced soup that is very healthy. The lentils and barley provided fiber to help keep cholesterol down and your GI system working properly. The mushrooms and turmeric have antiproliferative properties. In addition to being healthy it is a tasty soup. Both Dan and I enjoyed this, and it is a good thing because we have plenty of leftovers.

Dinner tonight was soup for both of us followed up with strawberry banana soft serve for Dan. Just another typical day at our house. ;-)

Lunch:

It will be no surprise that lunch was leftovers from dinner from the night. I find that making intentional leftovers works very well for me in terms of total time spent cooking. As much as I enjoy cooking I just don’t have time to spend hours in it each day. Since we eat a whole food plant-based diet if we didn’t have leftovers for lunch I would spend a lot more time in the kitchen.

Dehydrated food:

Today I spent more time drying Roma tomatoes and leeks for the pantry. I feel a bit like a squirrel putting away nuts for the winter. ;-)

Mozzarella cheese:

Today I made my version of a mozzarella recipe that my friend Courtney gave me. It is still cooling so I can’t share it yet since I haven't tasted it. However you can expect that tomorrow.

Signing out:

That is going to be it for me today. It was a busy day here getting prepped for the seasonal change. I must say I am going to miss my sandals and I am not looking forward to wearing a coat. However I do like the change of seasons so I am trying to focus on that aspect of things.

Talk to you all again tomorrow after I get finished with my Friday errands. I have high hopes for the mozzarella in the refrigerator now, and this version doesn’t require agar. ;-)

Sweet Potato Torta with Dijon Creme

Here is a tease for the recipe to be found later in the post.  It was a pure comfort food dish and we both liked it . :-)

Tuesday afternoon:

For some reason when the humidity is high and it is cold the damp chill seems to go right through me. Just like yesterday there doesn’t seem to enough hot green tea in the house to keep me warm today.

Mid afternoon snack:

After I made another batch of fat free hummus this afternoon I was craving it. I grabbed a good amount of hummus and sliced half a cucumber for my afternoon snack.

Dinner:

This idea started out as lasagna and ended up as a torta. Since we had flour the last two weeks when going out to eat I wasn’t too keen on the idea of using it tonight in lasagna. I decided to thinly slice sweet potatoes on the mandoline and use those to separate the layers instead. Here is what I made for dinner:

Sweet Potato Torta with a light Dijon Creme  (pictured above)
Serves 4

Ingredients:

½ cup raw cashews (soak for two hours and drain if not using a high powered blender)
¼ cup oats (pregrind into flour first if not using a high powered blender)
1 ½ cup water
3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed (allow to stand 10 minutes so allicin can develop)
1 ½ tablespoons Dijon (or to taste, I added it ½ tablespoon at a time)
2 small or 1 large sweet potato, thinly sliced on a mandoline
14 ounces extra firm tofu, drained and squeezed dry
1 clove garlic, peeled
¼ teaspoon dry mustard
2 tablespoons brown rice flour (any flour will work)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

To make the creme sauce combine the cashews, oats, water and garlic in your blender and process until smooth. Pour this into a sauce pan and cook on low whisking until it begins to thicken. Add Dijon to taste and then keep the sauce warm until it is time to assemble the lasagna.

Combine the drained tofu, garlic, dry mustard and flour in your food processor and process until smooth.

Slice the sweet potato very thinly on your mandoline.
 
Place a little of the creme sauce into the bottom of a loaf pan. Top with sliced sweet potatoes, tofu and then more cream sauce. Continue layering ending with cream sauce. Cover the top with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour. Test to see if the sweet potatoes are tender by piercing the lasagna with a paring knife. If you get not resistance the sweet potatoes are tender.

I baked the dish uncovered for 15 minutes to help the dish set. Ideally you will wait 20 minutes before slicing this and plating (so that it has a chance to firm up a bit).

I served this with walnut parmesan on top.

Nutritional Information (without the walnut parmesan):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 227.6
Calories From Fat (42%) - 96.57

Total Fat - 11.56g
Saturated Fat - 1.54g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 101.39mg
Potassium - 374.81mg
Total Carbohydrates - 20.93g
Fiber - 2.81g
Sugar - 2.66g
Protein - 13.89g

Comments:

This dish has a subtle flavor, which was intentional. I wanted to make something that was pure comfort food. It needed the walnut parmesan to bump up the flavor but I think this was quite good. We both enjoyed it and could have eaten double this amount but decided to show a bit of restraint.

You could also make this with whole wheat pasta in addition to the sweet potatoes but you will need a larger pan as any more in my loaf pan would have gone over the side while baking since tofu expands when it cooks.

To accompany the torta I made a simple salad of romaine, Roma tomato, avocado and red wine vinegar.

Breakfast this morning:

We woke up this morning to a 48 degree day. Brrrr. Needless to say Dan wanted oatmeal this morning rather than a smoothie and I can’t say I blamed him.

While Dan got ready to leave for work I packed his lunch of leftover chili topped quinoa, a simple salad of shaved cucumber, shaved carrot, diced tomato, and minced parsley topped with the Dijon, red wine vinegar and stevia, frozen grapes and trail mix. No I didn’t make fresh veggie and fruit juice this morning. *rolls eyes*. I really need to get back to doing that everyday. *shakes head*

After exercising I decided to make myself a small bowl of quinoa topped with the end of the chili. I wanted something warm this morning and not oatmeal. This was accompanied with a double green tea with ascorbate C.

I am feeling the urge to cook returning.  Hopefully I will have time to post a new recipe later today.  I hope everyone is having a great Wednesday.

Another Book Review and a Quick Cream of Carrot Soup with Lime

Monday:

We woke up to a cold and rainy morning with temperatures in the low 50’s with a predicted high of 54, it is safe to say fall is definitely here. With a steady rain forecast throughout the evening I decided to be a wimp and stay inside. I have errands to run Tuesday so hopefully the rain will stop around midnight as predicted.

Breakfast:

Even though it was bone chilling cold I decided we need green smoothies for the nutrition. My smoothie contained 3 kale leaves/stems which I chopped roughly, 1 frozen banana, 1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon ginger, water to process and stevia to taste. Dan’s smoothie was the same except it contained 2 bananas and a handful of walnuts for extra calories.

With it being so cold and wet outside I was certainly not heading out to exercise so today was an all indoor exercise day. This isn’t my favorite but it is better than nothing and with the cold weather quickly approaching it will become the normal around here. Speaking of exercise I have a book on sports nutrition to review for you.

Book Review: "Sports Nutrition from Lab to Kitchen" by Asker Jeukendrup (Editor)

I want to start off by saying I enjoyed this book from the library so much it will be in my next Amazon order. If you exercise and are interested in nutrition you should see if your library has it. The book is a little technical and goes into detail but if you read it slowly I think it will make sense even without a science background at least that worked for me.

The book is outlined as follows:

1. The history of sports nutrition
2. What is the optimal composition of an athlete’s diet?
3. The optimal pre-competition meal
4. Carbohydrate intake during exercise
5. Hydration: what is new?
6. Fat burning
7. Nutrition for recovery
8. Nutrition, Sleep and recovery
9. Building muscle
10. Train low – compete high
11. Optimizing training adaptations by manipulating protein
12. Alternative fuels
13. Dietary supplements
14. Risk associated with dietary supplement use
15. Nutrition and immune function
16. Supplements to boost immune function
17. Sports nutrition for women
18. Nutrition, the brain and prolonged exercise
19. Weight management
20. Protein and weight loss
21. Nutrition and exercise associated gastrointestinal problems
22. Marathon running
23. Nutrition for middle distance running
24. Swimming
25. Triathlon
26. Adventure racing and ultra marathons
27. Team sports
28. The future: Individualizing nutrition & hydration

One of the interesting things I picked up reading this book related to green tea and fat metabolism. That concept has been in “the news” lately but those types of articles tend to be more hype than anything else so I tend to disregard them. According to this book there is promising animal studies to suggest that consuming green tea both the evening before and an hour before exercising may increase fat metabolism by 20%. The does studied was a liter of green tea, but they are currently studying smaller doses.

A good point the book made was about staying healthy and injury free. They remind us that the downside of training hard is that it puts the immune system and bones under stress. The immune system is most depressed immediately following strenuous exercise and to reduce this effect consume a snack that provides 50g of carbohydrate and 10g of protein. Strenuous exercise lasting more than 90 minutes has been shown to decrease immune function (monocytes, neutrophils, natural killer cells and T and B lymphocytes). To keep immunity high consume adequate protein, vitamins A, E, folate, B6, B12 and C.

Beta glucan (found in oats, barley, and mushrooms) and quercitin (found in onions, apples, blueberries, curly kale, hot pepper, tea and broccoli) may stimulate the immune system and antitumor responses. Studies have shown conflicting results with supplements of these items so consuming the whole food may be the way to go.

Overall I think this is a good book with a lot of information. I think it will be a good nutrition reference. It is not for everyone but if you are serious about exercise or nutrition I think you will enjoy it. If you are into both I think it is a must have.

Lunch:

With the cold weather we are having I decided a hot lunch was in order. I topped ½ cup of cooked brown rice with some of the chili from yesterday. Chili was exactly what I needed to cut through the cold. I have also been drinking hot green tea and hot water with lemon most of day to help keep me warm from the inside out.

Cholesterol:

Consuming dietary cholesterol isn’t a problem for vegans but it is a problem for many of those we love who are omnivores. I have a good friend with a very scary cholesterol level that is still consuming meat only focusing more on chicken and fish and he thinks that is all he needs to do. I happen to know that this friend reads my blog so I wanted to share some things about the cholesterol levels found in specific foods. Many people think that chicken and fish are better to consume if they are trying to lower cholesterol. Sadly this is not the case. Here are the cholesterol levels in a 3 ounce portion (note this is less than most people eat at one time) of a few different meat products:

Beef, Sirloin steak, all visible fat removed, broiled – 76mg of cholesterol
Chicken breast, all visible fat and skin removed, broiled – 72mg of cholesterol
Flounder, baked, broiled or grilled – 58mg of cholesterol
Lamb loin, trimmed of all visible fat, broiled – 76mg of cholesterol
Salmon, Chinook, grilled, baked or broiled – 72mg of cholesterol
Shrimp, boiled, poached or steamed – 166mg of cholesterol
Squid (Calamari), raw no added fat – 198mg of cholesterol

I hope this is something you will share with those you love who are trying to lower their cholesterol. Consuming meat in any form (beef, chicken, or fish) will increase your cholesterol. Before you say what about eggs, one hard-boiled egg contains 212mg of cholesterol. Yes cheese is high in cholesterol too but I had to cut this off somewhere. This has to explain why going vegan dropped Dan’s cholesterol from 280 to 155 in a few weeks.

Snack:

Knowing that dinner would probably be late I made myself a salad. This one contained shredded romaine, diced tomatoes, shaved cucumber, shaved carrots, cold roasted butternut squash, ¼ of an avocado, a sprinkle of red wine vinegar. I topped the salad with dried cherries, dried cranberries and slivered almonds.

Dinner:

For some reason I have not been in the mood to cook lately. Today I have no excuse other than being a little cold. When it is rainy and cold I seem to feel it to the bone. Being that cold doesn’t make me want to get off the couch and out from under the fuzzy blanket that I wrangled away from the felines.

This was the perfect night for soup in the Vitamix. I love using the Vitamix for soup because it is easy and fast. Here is what I made tonight:

Curried Crème of Carrot Soup with Lime
Serves 2

Ingredients:

3 carrots, cut into chunks
½ cup raw cashews
1 ½ cups water
¼ cup oatmeal, dry
3 cloves garlic, peeled and smash (allow to stand 10 minute so allicin can develop)
¼ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon ginger powder
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
1 lime, juiced
1 lime, zested (for garnish)
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Combine everything but the lime zest and pepper in your Vitamix and process until completely smooth and hot. It will take about 5 minutes to cook the raw garlic. Once the harshness of the garlic has been cooked out add black pepper to taste. Top the soup with lime zest.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 237.59
Calories From Fat (40%) - 93.92

Total Fat - 11.23g
Saturated Fat - 1.98g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 94.93mg
Potassium - 667.23mg
Total Carbohydrates - 32.36g
Fiber - 6.9g
Sugar - 7.86g
Protein - 7.31g

Comments:

This is rich creamy soup that tastes much more decadent than it is. You can make the same soup with any number of vegetables. I also like to make it with bell peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, broccoli, or cauliflower.

This specific soup would also be good garnished with cilantro but I didn’t think of it until after we had eaten.

Dessert:

For dessert Dan had his usual strawberry banana soft serve and I had a few spoons of it.

Breakfast:

Since Dan had a green smoothie yesterday this morning he wanted oatmeal with wild blueberries which I thought made sense in terms of mixing up food to maximize nutrition.

I also got back to making fresh veggie and fruit juice in the morning for Dan to take to work. I got out of the habit and needed to get back to it because it is healthy. Dan and I had a talk about the fresh juice and he expressed the opinion that I should be making some for myself too, and of course he was right. I haven’t been doing it for me because it so time consuming and a bit of a pain. Every morning I would say I would make more for me later and never did. This morning we did something a little different I made enough for Dan to take a liter of juice to work and for me to have two cups of breakfast. This batch of juice contained: 8 carrots, 1 huge beet, 1 head romaine, 6 kale leaves and stems, 5 apples, 2 inch chunk of ginger root and 2 lemons. There was juice to make about ½ cup of Dan to have with his oatmeal. This is something we are going to try to do in the mornings now going forward. We will see how long it happens. ;-)

I put off running errands yesterday because of the rain but I knew I needed to knock them out today. Not long after Dan left for work I headed out (in the dreaded car). My first stop was the health food store in Cockeysville where I found:

nigari (for making tofu) *woo hoo* and whole oat groats. I love this little health food store they always have things I can’t seem to find anywhere else.

My next stop was the library in Cockeysville. I picked up two books and a few DVDs. The books look promising. As soon as I have read them I will post a review.

The last stop was Wegman’s in Hunt Valley. We needed to load up on beans, Indian spices, organic tofu and vinegar. The latest issue of "Oxygen" happened to jump into my chart too. I have no idea how that happened. ;-)

Lunch:

I got home a little after 1 pm and all I wanted was a green smoothie. This one I made with 1 frozen banana, 3 roughly chopped kale leaves/stems, 1 tablespoon white chia seeds, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon powdered ginger and cold slippery elm tea to process. I was a little too hungry when I got home to take time to make myself a salad. But one of those will be on the menu for my mid day snack since I haven’t had anything that requires chewing today which I just realized.

The last week or so I have not felt like cooking but the urge seems to be returning. I have chickpeas soaking now for fat free hummus. I am also very anxious to make my own tofu so that will hopefully be happening this week. I think I have organic soy beans in the pantry that I can start sprouting today, at least I hope I do otherwise it is back to the store for me.

Signing out:

I need to get a few more things accomplished before Dan gets home. I told Dan I would make him lasagna tonight for dinner so I need to make that happen. I am thinking sweet potato and mushroom lasagna would be interesting. Talk to you all again soon.

Chili and a Book Review

Not to anyone’s surprise Dan got in late last night. He had a bowl of chili before bed and I had hot green tea. How that man can eat and go straight to bed is completely beyond me. But it never seems to bother his stomach or keep him up. Go figure. If I did that I would be up half the night.

For dessert Dan had to try the chocolate covered banana pops. His sweet tooth wouldn’t let him ignore them. He enjoyed the banana pops but said that the strawberry banana soft serve is just a little better in his opinion. He also recommends that you allow the pops to thaw just a little before you eat them.

When Dan came in last night he told me that he offered to go downtown Sunday and help Troy and Jason put the final touches on a loan package which needs to go out Monday. I think it is really nice that most of the guys pitch in to help each other.

Sunday:

No surprise to anyone we started our morning at the farmers’ market bright and early this morning. Here is a shot to show you that it was still mostly dark when we were taking the exit from the expressway to the market just before 7 am.

Our first stop is always to see Rudy (Cat’s Paw Organic) in case he needs a helping hand. Rudy had his baked goods out but the organic produce was still in the truck so we jumped in to help. He does a big business in the baked goods so those come out of the truck first. The young lady that helps him doesn’t arrive until 7 which is why he can normally use a hand unloading in the morning.

It was amazing how much more produce there was at all the farmers this week. I guess the fall crops are just starting to come in. From Rudy we got two acorn squash, two quarts of sweet potatoes, 6 beets, 3 cucumbers and a head of red cabbage.

Rudy is currently rereading “Our Stolen Future” now and commented at how accurate and ahead of its time that book was. If you haven’t read it, it is a good read. I may have to see if the library has it and reread it myself. The book is old (about 13 years) but was very eye opening for me when I read it years ago.

We also had time to talk about the book Rudy is writing about organic gardening and health. He is hoping to have the book finished in the next 12 months. I can’t wait to read it with his background in biochemistry and the focus on health and nutrition. We talked a little about our approach to health and Rudy was surprised to find out we were vegan. :-/ He told us we are the healthiest vegans he had ever met which caught us off guard. I guess it is because we focus on eating whole organic food. While this was surprising it was nice to hear. It makes me feel like I am doing something right when it comes to our health.

Next we stopped to see Pam and Paul (Calvert Farm) and pick up our first fall organic CSA share. They were also overflowing with produce this morning. We had a good conversation with Paul about fungicides and berries that was enlightening. He told us about a woman who thought she was allergic to strawberries but he convinced her to try his organic berries and she had no reaction. Apparently the fungicides that are commonly used on berries are a frequent allergen which I didn’t know. We were also surprised to hear that you can’t water certified organic produce with chlorinated water, which made sense but was news to us. It is amazing what you learn when you talk to the farmers that grow your food. That is one of the great things about belonging to a CSA and getting to know the farmers and the weekly market.

From Pam and Paul we picked up 1 pound of shitakes, 1 big leek (more dehydrated leeks), apple cider, 2 bunches kale, and ½ pound of fresh ginger.

We also stopped at Martin Family Farms for a bunch of fresh dill and cilantro and produce for my parents. Martins always has a nice selection of fresh herbs that last all week, unlike the stuff you get at the grocery store. I find they keep best if you wrap them loosely in paper towel and store them in a partially closed bag.

We didn’t buy as much produce this week because both of our refrigerators were fairly full this morning before we left for the market. There is no sense buying more than we can eat. We can always load up on more produce next week if we get through what we have now.

As we were leaving the market we noticed that the car behind us had a front tire that was almost flat and left a note on their windshield in case they didn’t know. That was our good deed for the morning along with picking up local produce for my parents.

On the way home I took a few pictures of downtown to give you an idea of city life in Baltimore.

Wonder what it is like to grocery shop when you live downtown? Here is the SuperFresh near Dan’s office. They have a pretty decent salad bar which Dan’s coworkers stop at some days for lunch. I hear the sushi they sell is very fresh, not that Dan or I have had it. But one of the guys picks that up often.

Here are a few church shots. I never noticed before how many churches we have in the city but it is a lot.

Next I took a couple pictures of houses that are typical of downtown.

Here is Johns Hopkins University which is close to our house.

Breakfast:

It was a little bit chilly this morning when we left for the market. I was not fully functional (mentally that is) when we left the house. I threw on running pants, a short sleeved T and sandals and ran out the door for the market. Let’s just say I was not dressed appropriated for a 55 degree morning. I soon regretted my clothing choice this morning. There did not seem to be enough hot green tea in the house when we got home to warm me up. I even ended up closing the windows to warm things up, which you all know I hate to do.

Breakfast this morning needed to be hot since my fingers and toes were half numb. Both Dan and I had wild blueberry topped oatmeal this morning. We both had a tablespoon of ground flaxseeds (for omega 3 fatty acids and lignans) and Dan also had a handful of walnuts for extra calories.

After breakfast I made myself a mug of hot water with lemon to try to warm up. It helped a little but it feels like I am going to be cold all day at the moment.

Dan went back downtown to work but I packed him chili (recipe below), a romaine salad with roasted acorn squash, shaved carrot, and diced tomatoes that was dressed with red wine vinegar. I also packed some dried cranberries, cherries and slivered almonds to add to the salad. He also got frozen grapes and trail mix.

If you are wondering Dan eats throughout the day at work which is how he can consume that much food at work. He claims he has to eat in shifts in order to get it all in. ;-) Since he seems to enjoy fussing I am never quite sure which of his comments are sport of serious. However I think this one may be serious.

Lunch:

For lunch today we both had the chili I made yesterday. I love the complex flavor of this chili. Strictly from a flavor perspective this is my best chili yet. We both liked the texture that TVP brings to chili but since we have eliminated soy protein isolates (because they elevate IGF-1 and promote tumor growth) there will be no TVP in my food any longer. However I do have an idea to mimic the chewiness in the next batch of chili. Here is the recipe for the chili we had today:

Red Kidney and Pinto Bean Chili
Serves 8

Ingredients:

2 cups pinto beans, picked through, rinsed and cooked until soft, cooking liquid retained
2 cups red kidney beans, picked through, rinsed and cooked until soft, cooking liquid retained
water and 2 bay leaves to cook the beans
8 cups diced peeled tomatoes
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon dried oregano
½ tablespoon cocoa powder
2 chipotles in adobo, finely minced (this will result in a mild chili)
2 red onions, peeled and minced (allow to stand 10 minutes before cooking)
1 head garlic, peeled and minced (allow to stand 10 minutes before cooking)
1 shot espresso (or 1 cup coffee or equivalent in instant espresso/coffee)
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

I like to cook beans in water to cover, plus an inch and add water as necessary. That way the bean liquid is minimized resulting in a thicker chili in the end. I also add one bay leaf for each two cups of beans while they are cooking.

Once the beans are tender add the remaining ingredients and cook until the veggies are tender and the flavors have married. Ideally you will make this the day before you plan to serve it as the flavor seems to be more complex the next day.

I like to serve it over a cooked grain (brown rice or bulgur and top the chili with a fresh salsa and/or cashew crème fraiche. It would also be good with a little cashew queso on top. Chili also makes a quick taco salad. If you prefer it would be good on nachos again with the cashew queso. This is one of the things I love about chili it is so versatile.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 385.44
Calories From Fat (5%) - 17.73

Total Fat - 2.07g
Saturated Fat - 0.35g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 42.4mg
Potassium - 1841.64mg
Total Carbohydrates - 71.8g
Fiber - 18.39g
Sugar - 7.06g
Protein - 23.49g

Comments:

I am not sure why I decided to add a little espresso to this but that makes a difference in the final flavor of the chili. Both Dan and liked the flavor complexity. You can’t taste the cocoa or the espresso but it makes the overall flavor richer somehow. The only change I would make is to add bulgur to the dish the next time to add a little chewiness to the dish. But other than that I can’t think of any other changes.

I am glad I made some extra chili this time so we have leftovers for a few days. With the cold rainy weather they are forecasting for the next 5 days chili will be very welcome. I can almost taste the taco salad I am going to make with these leftovers.

Book Review: "Easy Green Living" by Renee Loux

I picked up this book from the library because I enjoyed her prior book “The Balanced Plate” and I having been working on making our home as close to chemical free as possible over the last 7 years.

The book is outlined as follows:

1. Green Living is Easy
2. Green Cleaning Basics
3. 5 Steps to a Green Kitchen
4. 4 Steps to a Spic-and-Span Green Bathrooms
5. Natural Beauty: The Simple 7
6. 6 Steps to Eco-Fresh Laundry
7. 4 Corners of a Green Bedroom
8. Energy-Efficient Lightbulbs: Save Energy and Money
9. Sustainable, Ecological Home Furnishings and Materials.

What I liked about this book:

It is full of information without being preachy or overwhelming.  I like the overall tone of the writing in the book. The author makes the point that being green is not all or nothing and that everything you do makes a difference. She encourages people to start small and reminds them that green living is a process.

I also appreciate all the “recipes” for cleaning products that are sprinkled through the book. I am definitely going to be trying one of the 4 different produce wash recipes that are in the book. Additionally I also like that she produces a list of green commercial products for those that are not included to make everything themselves. I was very happy to see my shampoo listed since I agonized over which brand to buy.

The author does a nice job of explaining which plastics are hazardous or safer. She even covers the brand so plastic cling wrap and plastic bags which are safer. She did provide one tip that I wanted to share since I also do this. Never let plastic wrap touch your food directly especially fatty foods. I would also add acidic foods to the list. I have switched to glass storage containers with locking lids that are some form of plastic. Since you never know exactly what those plastics are made of I have been placing a square of waxed paper on top of the food to keep it from coming into direct contact with the plastic. This is probably unnecessary but since it only takes a minute why not do it.

Her tips on safer hair coloring were also interesting. I stopped coloring my hair about a year and a half ago. I decided it was ridiculous to buy organic produce and then put poison on my head. *rolls eyes* The author provides a list of safer coloring alternatives. I may have to check those out since my hair is a bit more gray than I would like. ;-) If I find a product that I am happy with I will let you know.

Finally the author goes into great detail about the problems with chlorine bleach. After I finished reading what she wrote I was happy I got rid of this produce in our house a few years ago. Nasty stuff that chlorine and it is accumulated in our bodies in fat. Once there is a known carcinogen (cancer causing substance). Since it is absorbed through the skin and nasal passages I think it is better to avoid chlorine.

Overall this is a really good book. I am considering putting it on my Amazon list. I have quite a few books on this subject but it is a comprehensive volume so I may have to pick this up to use a reference manual of sorts.

Later today:

Since Dan is downtown I may have to spend some time in the kitchen today. I am feeling the need to fill the house with the smell of something braising or roasting. There is just something about having a home filled with the smell of food that makes me feel cozy and comforted.  If I have time I will be back later today with another recipe or two.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend and is staying warm. Now that I have my winter socks and fuzzy slippers on I am starting to feel like I might be able to warm up today. ;- ) Talk to you all again soon.

Chocolate and Walnut Covered Banana Pops ........

This is a tease for chocolate and walnut covered banana pops that I made tonight. ;-) They are incredibly easy and you may have all the ingredients on hand.

Where did Friday go? Sorry I didn’t have a chance to get a post up yesterday. I was busy running from place to place and by the time I got home all I wanted to do was kick back and relax. October should be a little more laid back for me which I hope means I will be back to blogging daily.

Dinner Thursday:

As expected Dan worked late so by the time he came home I wasn’t in the mood for a heavy meal. I ended up defrosting some veggie soup from my freezer inventory and topping that with walnut parmesan. We both had a big bowl of soup and called it a night. It is nice to have things like this in the freezer for nights when I am not in the mood to cook. I am also enjoying reducing my freezer inventory to make room for new things.

Friday:

Thankfully the rain finally stopped during the morning. I was ready to see a little blue sky, which was all we got. However a little blue sky was better than the torrential downpour we had been experiencing so it was fine with me.

Breakfast:

Dan had a big bowl of oatmeal with frozen wild blueberries, cinnamon, powdered ginger, and walnuts for his breakfast today.

Since I was going to be running errands I made a smoothie to go. This smoothie contained 1 frozen banana, 3 kale leaves/stems chopped, 1 tablespoon chia seeds, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon powdered ginger, cold processed green tea sufficient to process. I poured this into a mason jar and stored it in the freezer while I got ready to leave.

I drank my smoothie at traffic lights while I was driving from place to place. I wish I had photographed some of the priceless looks I got from people who saw me drinking something bright green out of a jar. The first person caught me off guard so I didn’t have time to react. However I was ready for the second person and winked at them when they stared. I did this every time someone was looking at me strangely. It turned out to be quite a giggle for me. I am sure they thought I was nuts but it amused the heck out of me. LOL

Since Jackie, Nadia and I didn’t make it to Marshall’s in Towson on Thursday due to the rain I decided to start my errands there this morning which was a bad plan. When I got there they were pumping water out of the store and had a sign up that said temporarily closed. Talk about a bummer. That is the closest Marshall’s to me so I was not happy. I hope they reopen soon.

Next I had to stop at the pharmacy and pick up a couple of scripts. Then I needed to drop papers off at two doctors. When you have more than one doctor it is easier to deliver reports and lab results yourself than relay on front office staff to do it for you. Since the offices are on the way to Costco it wasn’t a problem just a diversion.

Since there was also another Marshall’s on the way I stopped there to see what I could find. I ended up with a few nice long sleeved T’s in various solid colors (Talbot’s, Jones of NY, and Liz Claiborne). I also found a pair of black slacks (Dockers) and a funky jacket by Carole Little that is an off-white black ground with black designs. It is wilder than I usually buy but I thought why not. Worn with black pants and a black turtleneck it should be a cute outfit.

Then it was on to Costco. I went in for 6 things on my list and somehow spent $200. Clearly I bought a cart full, far more than I had actually planned to buy. How does that always happen? I also completely forgot that I had the annual rebate check in my purse. *shakes head* Sometimes I think I would forget my head if it weren’t attached. Costco is again carrying organic canned tomatoes if anyone is interested. I also noticed they had pocket hand warmers which I may need to buy on my next trip. There is nothing worse than cold hands in the winter in my opinion.

Lunch:

Since I got home so late from shopping I wasn’t exactly in the mood for anything time consuming for lunch. I ended up having a giant bowl of grapes instead because it was very easy and that was my top criteria once I got home and had everything put away. I am not sure why but 5+ hours of running errands is exhausting. All I really wanted to do when I got home was put my feet up and relax.

After the grapes I had few walnuts, a banana and some leftover soup from last night. I was so tired I didn’t even think about taking any pictures. That was went I knew I was exhausted from all the running around. I think driving is the problem. Why people feel the need to drive so recklessly is a complete mystery to me.

More thoughts on weight:

First I want to say you guys send very insightful comments by email. One of you mentioned gaining weight even though you were eating better and exercising more. This comment made the light bulb go off in my head. Muscle weighs more than fat and if you have stepped up your exercise any weight increase you see is most likely due to adding more muscle than fat lost. Muscle is denser than fat so even though the scale goes up you will lose inches which you will see if you keep track of your measurements. Alternately you could buy a scale that calculates body fat. The body fat scales are much cheaper now than they were 10 years ago when they first hit the market.

Speaking of measurements have you heard that your waist measurement should be no more than ½ your height? In other words, if you are 5’4” (or 64) inches your waist should be 32 inches or less. When I heard this I thought it made a lot of sense since it equates your circumference with your height. This article gets a little more complicated but the math is the same in the end.

I find it interesting that weight is a subject that all women seem to have thoughts on. I suppose this is because we have been ingrained to think we have to be model thin to be beautiful. It is so easy to forget that most pictures we see have been airbrushed and stretched and that the women in those pictures don’t look like that way either.

Dinner:

Since you know who didn’t get home from work until 10pm a heavy dinner was not going to happen. It was so late I wasn’t actually hungry. I made Dan a batch of strawberry banana soft serve since he needs the calories. I had a couple of spoons but that was enough. Going to bed with a full stomach seems to disrupt my sleep so I try not to do it anymore. Do any of you find that eating before bed disrupts your sleep? I seem to need 3 hours to digest before bed in order to sleep well.

Saturday:

Since it is Saturday you all know by now that means no alarm clock today. Woo hoo! This is our one day to sleep in and we take full advantage of it. I woke up around 7:30 to a brisk fall morning. The sky was a beautiful cloudless blue and the temperature was 55 degrees. It was the perfect morning for a nice long walk if you were dressed warmly. Not knowing when Dan was getting up I stayed home so I didn’t miss anytime with him since I knew he needed to work this weekend.

When he got up he told me he really needed to go to the office today since he is more productive there. I wish he could get more done at home but I understand that it is easier to work at the office with all his documents readily at hand. As soon as I know he was going downtown I preheated the oven and cut up a large acorn squash into bite sized cubes and started that roasting in a 350 degree. In the past I would have coated the squash in olive oil but it isn’t necessary. My squash roasted without anything on it and the flavor still concentrated and the squash got tender.

Breakfast:

While the squash was roasting I made us both a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. Dan gets 3/4 cup oats, 1 ½ cups water, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon powdered ginger, 1 ½ cup wild blueberries, a pinch of stevia and ¼ cup of walnuts. This is Dan’s favorite oatmeal combination. I like that it contains a blue food (blueberries) and omega 3 fatty acids (walnuts). It also seems to have enough calories to keep him satisfied until lunch.

My oatmeal serving is smaller. For myself I prepare: ½ cup oats, 1 cup water, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon powdered ginger, 1 cup wild blueberries, and 6 walnut halves. This is more than enough to get me going in the morning. I prefer to have smoothies in the morning (for nutritional reasons) but on some cold mornings oatmeal is just more appealing.

Lunch:

Since I had not planned on Dan going downtown today I also defrosted another batch of soup from my freezer inventory. This one was corn, mushroom and potato soup. If you haven’t tried making large batches of soup and freezing them for later I would suggest you give it a try. They are very handy when you don’t feel like cooking and have much less sodium than most canned soup. The soup in the picture above is my lunch serving.

To go with the soup I made a quick salad of edamame (from the freezer), thinly sliced radish, thinly sliced carrot, shredded romaine and chopped walnuts. I tossed the veggies (not the lettuce) this with a quick dressing of Dijon, mirin and red miso and packed the lettuce and nuts separately. I made myself the same thing for lunch which is what is pictured above.

Before Dan left for work we talked about what we were going to do tomorrow. Specifically whether he was going to the office or would be working from his home office. The plan is for him to work from home tomorrow which is always nice. With the cool weather we are having I thought a huge pot of chili was in order. Chili makes great leftovers because you can eat it as chili or use it to make taco salad. I am hoping to have enough chili to be able to freeze some, but we will see if that actually happens since we both like chili so much. ;-) This batch is particularly good. I will post the recipe tomorrow since I think this may be my best chili recipe yet.

Today I have been busy reorganizing my closet and cleaning. Not exactly fun stuff but it needs to be done so it makes sense to do it when Dan is busy working.

Dinner tonight is completely up in the air. I have no idea what we will have since Dan will undoubtedly be late since he didn’t leave for the office until after noon. I suspect salad may be what is for dinner tonight.

Dessert:

I wanted to make Dan a treat for this evening. This is more of method than a recipe. I cut bananas in half and slid the halves onto sticks. I froze them until they were solid. Then I melted dark chocolate (which I flavored with coffee extract) and coated the bananas in chocolate and sprinkled them with chopped nuts when the chocolate was still wet and slid the banana pops back into the freezer so the chocolate would harden.

This is not an original idea. I first saw the basic idea in “Eat Clean Recharged” and knew Dan would love it so I needed to make them sometime when he needed a little something special. I think they will be best when slightly defrosted. I was chatting with Courtney and she gave me a suggestion on how to make them a little differently. Once I have a chance to try her technique I will post that method as well. I suspect this first batch will disappear rapidly so I will be making more soon. ;-)

Signing out:

Sorry I got so far behind again. My week has been a bit hectic with too many errands and time in the car (not my favorite). But it has been a very productive week which is a good thing.

I finished reading two more books from the library that were both very good. I will try to get those reviews posting in the next few days while the books are fresh in my mind.

I hope everyone had a great Saturday. Tomorrow we will be back to the farmers market to load up on my produce. I am hoping we find more fall veggies, like Brussels sprouts on the stalk. Talk to you again soon.