Creamy Mushroom Soup with Peas and a Hint of Dijon and an Update

Sunday started out slowly after staying up too late again on Saturday. Both Dan and I seem to be genetically programmed to stay up until at least midnight each night. It is amazing that we ever make it to the gym at 6:00am, LOL, Our day was very laid back, exactly the way I like my weekends.

Since we had picked up grapefruit on Saturday I decided that was what I wanted for breakfast with a small handful of walnuts. Dan had his favorite kale and banana smoothie with the end of the organic kale.

After breakfast we both had a few mugs of green tea that I stirred a little powdered ascorbate C into after it steeped for 10 minutes. I haven’t said this recently but I buy Japanese green tea because it is higher in EGCG. When I am making hot green tea I steep it for 10 minutes to get the maximum amount of EGCG from the tea. Finally I add a little bit (maybe 1/8 teaspoon) of powdered ascorbate C to the tea to increase the bioavailability of the EGCG. Be sure to add the powdered C at the end since C is degraded by heat.

As always Dan and I discussed what I was going to make for the mid-day meal with my folks. While we were talking I realized that we had not had many mushrooms this week so we went with mushroom soup. I wanted something creamy but not thick like cream soup if that makes any sense. If you want something more like cream soup add more raw cashews and oats to yours. Here is what I did:

Creamy Mushroom Soup with Peas and a Hint of Dijon
Serves 6

Ingredients:

4 cups mixed dried mushrooms (I used the brand they sell at Costco)
4 cups water, to soak mushrooms
1 large yellow onion, peeled and diced (about 3 cups)
8 cloves garlic, smashed, peeled and minced
1 cup water
4 cups water
6 cups fresh mushrooms, roughly chopped (I used crimini)
¾ teaspoon dried thyme
¼ teaspoon cumin seeds
½ cup raw cashews
¼ cup oats (dry)
1 - 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard, to taste
cayenne pepper, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 cups frozen peas
½ cup fresh parsley, finely minced

optional: truffle oil or truffle salt to finish the soup – not necessary but will take the soup over the top though I used neither and it was still good.

Directions:

Combine the water and mushrooms and bring to a simmer then turn off the heat and let them sit until the mushrooms have softened. This should take about 30 minutes.

Slice the onions and garlic and allow to stand 10 minutes while the mushrooms are soaking. Then add the one cup of water and water sauté the aromatics until just tender, about 5 minutes.

Strain the water from the mushrooms to remove any sediment. Chop the mushrooms and place them and the strained soaking liquid in the soup pot with the aromatics. Add the remaining water, fresh mushrooms, thyme and cumin and simmer until the fresh mushrooms are cooked and the flavor of the seasonings have blended.

Place the cashews and oats in your blender along with a couple of cups of the soup broth. Process until smooth and add the liquid to the soup and cook until it thickens and the raw oat taste has cooked off, about 5 minutes.

Now add mustard and black pepper to taste. Just before you are ready to serve add the peas and cook them for just until hot, about 3-4 minutes. Stir the parsley in at the very end so that it retains it bright green color and fresh taste. Serve steaming hot.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 200.95
Calories From Fat (19%) - 38.03

Total Fat - 4.56g
Saturated Fat - 0.79g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 139.47mg
Potassium - 823.37mg
Total Carbohydrates - 36.33g
Fiber - 7.05g
Sugar - 5.91g
Protein - 9.74g

Comments:

If you are a fan of mushrooms give this a try. It is simple, no fuss and yummy. It feels much more decadent than it actually is. I love recipes like that. ;-) With the plethora of mushrooms it is also healthy providing a nice boost to the immune system. Who wouldn’t like that, other than those that don’t like mushrooms that is?

This dish was omnivore approved for those that are wondering. I could eat this for days, too bad we didn’t have any leftovers. We made this 4 rather than 6 servings but 6 would be a far more civilized amount. LOL

To accompany the soup I made an extremely quick salad. I tossed together some cold cooked quinoa and the leftover marinated vegetable salad. Believe it or not even my parents cleaned their bowls of the salad. Don’t you love things that take under a minute to make? You have to love intentional leftovers, at least I do.

Our afternoon snack was an orange, a few prunes and a two Brazil nuts. Nothing terribly exciting just healthy food.

Dinner was a very simple veggie stir fry. I use a frozen Asian veg mix and added red onion, garlic and fresh ginger and a little soy sauce (liquid aminos). I served this over a little brown basmati rice and topped it with cashews. I made extra so that I had some to pack in Dan’s lunch on Monday. Whenever I cook I am always thinking of intentional leftovers. Once you start doing that you will be hooked too. Intentional leftovers make my life SO much easier. ;-)

Monday:

This was one of those days that started out well and ended in a flurry of activity. I had expected to have a nice relaxing day and things started out that way but didn’t stay that way. The morning weather forecast called for a light little snow fall or 1-3 inches overnight on Monday. I should have known that was going to change. How often are the weather people actually right?

For some reason I wasn’t particularly hungry at breakfast time. I decided to have a breakfast snack instead of breakfast. This consisted of celery stuffed with homemade reduced fat peanut butter, a few prunes and two Brazil nuts.

By mid-morning the weather people had changed the snow forecast to 2-4 inches of snow. Still not much so I went back to reading and doing things around the house. Since we were out of beans I made a pound of cannellini beans in the pressure cooker. I had no idea what I was going to do with them but beans are so versatile I can always think of something.

Lunch was more of afternoon snack and consisted of an orange with a few walnuts. Is there anything better than fresh oranges in the winter?

When I checked the weather after lunch the forecast had changed to 5-8 inches. Great! Why do I ever check the weather? By the time I checked to see if my parents needed anything the snow forecast was up to 6-9 inches of snow. How did we go from 75 on Thursday and Friday to this much snow on Monday? *rolls eyes*

Dinner this evening was a simple soup. I used half of the cannellini beans and added canned tomatoes, onions, garlic, golden raisins, fennel, oregano, artichokes, hot crushed peppers (wet hots), orange bell peppers and fresh parsley. I used the flavors of Sicily in this soup and added what sounded good to me. it was definitely not traditional but I liked the overall flavor.

Tuesday:

We woke up to about 6 inches of snow. It was just enough to make a mess of things but not enough to cause much in the way of problems. However being true to form Maryland had to practically close down on Tuesday. When we turned on the news many places were opening late or not opening all. Things are so different here from how they were where I grew up in Northern Indiana. I only remember school closing once when I was a child and that was when the heating system wasn’t working.

Once I had finished exercising it was time for breakfast but I wasn’t terribly hungry. I decided to have an apple with homemade reduced fat peanut butter instead of a full meal. This was more than enough to hold me over until lunch.

Here is a picture of my most camera shy feline. This is our only girl cat, we fondly refer to her as “her highness the princess Luca Belle”. That name describes her very well, she has a very aristocratic don’t bother me attitude. This was her reclining on our bed, and yes the electric blanket was on. No spoiled cats at our house. LOL

Lunch was leftover soup from Monday. I always find it interesting how much soup and stew changes when it is reheated. This one was much more mellow the when it was reheated.

Dan and I had an appointment in the afternoon and then ran a few errands. We stopped at Costco and stocked up on fresh produce and nuts, in other words an entire cart full.

Next we stopped at the library since I had reserved a book and somehow came out with 5 books, 4 DVDs and 1 book on tape. Is there any wonder why I am always reading something? LOL

Our final stop was Target to pick up notebook paper, highlighters, and hair things. A strange combination I know. No one ever said I always make sense. ;-)

Dinner was a giant salad (in a serving bowl) that contained: mesclun, cucumbers, salsa, white beans, grape tomatoes, bell pepper, marinated mushrooms and roasted peppers.

Happy Thoughts:

Sometimes there are so many things to be happy for I am not sure where to start, but here goes:

• I was thankful that our snow as much more manageable than what fell in Minneapolis. I hope things are melting a little for you Courtney. Stay warm!

• It was good to have the time and close proximity to take care of things for my parents when there is inclement weather in the area.

• Everyone loved the mushroom soup on Sunday and that makes me very happy. I get such pleasure from developing new healthy recipes. Can you say nutrition geek? LOL

• As always I am very fortunate to be married to my best friend. How many women have a husband that adores them and thinks they are interesting even when they are babbling about something he isn’t passionate about? I am very lucky to have the world’s best husband for me. I love you baby and appreciate that you take such good care of me. I love you more than anything in the world. *smooch*

• We made it to the gym Wednesday morning. Woo hoo! With a little luck we are back on our morning schedule. As much as I hate getting up early I like having my working out of the way by 7am. It seems to open up my morning so that I can be more productive. *fingers crossed* I hope we can make it to bed early again tonight.

• I had a wonderful lunch with Dan downtown on Wednesday. The night guard had come in from the lab so I needed to stop at the dentist Wednesday morning. Since I was downtown we had lunch together which is a rare treat. I also took time to stop at the Barnes and Noble downtown and picked up another 8 books. Are you starting to see why I am always reading something?

• A stranger told me how much she loved my hair. I had to respond “with all this grey” and she said that was the part she liked the most. She went on to say that my hair looked so good that she may grow out her gray. *sits tall* Wow, I was actually blown away by this. It was very difficult for me to stop dying my hair. I haven’t dyed it now for over 2 years so it was great to hear it looked good. In case you are wondering I did give up the dye for health reasons. It seemed a little ridiculous to avoid chemicals in my food and put them on my scalp every 6 weeks. Plus I had a friend who dyed her hair dark as often as I did and she died of brain cancer in her late 30’s. That was enough to make he think twice about dying my hair. I don’t know that there is a connection but why risk it was my thought.

• The remainder of my week should be laid back and I am looking forward to that. I have had a good week so far but I need time to recharge now. Thursday will be a nice lazy day for me and I am looking forward to that.

Signing out:

It is time for me to log out. I have to come up with something for dinner and turn it early. Both Dan and I are planning to hit the gym tomorrow morning at 6am. Wish us luck, we are going to need it.

Saturday Out for Dinner ... What a Great Meal

The picture of our youngest (Nicco aka Binky) is completely unrelated to my post. However being the proud cat mommy that I am I "needed" to share this cute photo with you.  I think my fur babies are just precious.  No bias here, LOL.

Our beautiful 75 degrees are gone. *boo hoo* Saturday morning the wind was blowing with gusts to 60mph. We were both watching the big oak trees blowing waiting for a limp to take out the power which thankfully didn’t happen.

Like usual we took our time getting moving in the morning. It is always nice to sleep in on Saturday. Too bad we can’t do this every day. There is something rejuvenating about sleeping until your body is ready to wake up.

Breakfast was oatmeal for us on Saturday. My oatmeal was savory and included: nutritional yeast, freshly ground flaxseed, wheat germ, cumin, no salt seasoning, baby spinach and raw pumpkin seeds. Dan had his usual oatmeal with frozen wild blueberries, freshly ground flaxseed, cinnamon, ginger, stevia, and walnuts. I also added wheat germ to Dan’s breakfast for the vitamin E.

Lunch was a very simple meal of black bean soup that was leftover from Thursday’s dinner. This time I topped the soup with avocado, lime zest, lime juice, cilantro and tomato. The reason I top soups and stews with something fresh is to provide a pop of flavor to contrast the mellow flavor of a long cooked dish.

We also had a marinated veggie salad of: roasted broccoli, carrot, corn, green beans, peas, red onion, red cabbage, and celery. I dressed this with red wine vinegar, course Dijon, stevia, celery seeds and no salt seasoning. I made the salad about 4 hours before the meal and that was plenty of time for the veggies to absorb the flavor of the dressing. This dish was very popular and even my parents liked it. I am always shocked when they like food without added oil. ;-)

For dinner we decided to go out to eat. Like usual we went to see Ian and the gang. Ian was still at the restaurant when we arrived. I don’t think I was there 2 minutes when he came out to hug and chat. It is so nice to have a place to go out to dinner where you are greeted with a smile and a hug or two. We did miss Corey who is having a great time in San Francisco. I am hoping he has time to go to the Millennium restaurant since I really want a firsthand report of the food. Alan (one of the owners) was also there this evening so we got a chance to catch up with him which was great since we haven’t seen him since Christmas Eve.

Alan thought I needed to start dinner with a short glass of champagne. Who was I to say no? Okay so I am not going to tell you this was healthy or even a good idea but I hadn’t had any alcohol since Christmas Eve so I don’t think this little bit of champagne was going to kill me. ;-) Sometimes it is nice to indulge but I try not to make a habit of it.

Once I stopped talking and actually sat at the table Aimee had our pot of green tea waiting for us. LOL, we are so spoiled when we go out to dinner. It is wonderful to have a neighborhood restaurant that feels like home.

Speaking of tea, since Aimee likes tea almost as much as we do we brought her some white and tulsi teas to have in your dorm room.  I will be curious to hear what Michael (her fiance) thinks of the tulsi tea. Both Aimee and I are happy that he is drinking less soda and more tea these days.

Since I had texted Aimee Friday night to let her that we might be coming in for dinner she warned the kitchen and they made a few things just for us. It is incredibly sweet of them to cater to us but I always feel guilty when they do. I hate being a bother but I try to remind myself that they like doing it and just go with it.

Tonight we started dinner with roasted pears with a sweet miso glaze that was served over greens. The pears were crispy on the exterior but tender (but not too tender) on the inside. The sauce was sweet and a little hint of salt from the miso. It was a very nice combination of sweet and salty without being overwhelming. We both appreciated the texture contrast of the crispy and tender over the mixed greens.

The next dish that came out of the kitchen was a Thai salad that contained: radish, cucumber, carrot, red bell pepper, cilantro, green onions, and jalapeno with a spicy dressing. This dish had a ton of flavor that we both enjoyed. You will be seeing my variation on this at home when I have all the ingredients.  ;-)

Before he left for the evening Ian stopped by to sit down and chat with us. We both adore Ian and love having time to chat with him during dinner. He always stops by to see us before he leaves for home. Like usual he wanted to know when we would be back. We are planning to go back when Phil (our friend from Missouri) is back in town in a few weeks. Dan and I don’t usually plan when we will be going out to dinner. It is usually more a function of what the weather is like and if Dan wants to go out.   I know this makes Ian crazy since he likes to plan our vegan meals since that is outside his comfort zone.  Could he be any nicer to us?  I hope you are starting to understand why we usually end up at our regular place for dinner.

Our entrée was a very unusual and tasty dish that consisted of a sauce of avocado and miso on the plate. On top of the sauce was sautéed mushroom and broccoli rapini that was finished with crispy leeks. The plate was also dotted with sriracha. This is not something that I would have come up with and it was very good. This is precisely why I love to go out to dinner I get recipe ideas and flavor combinations that I would not come up with on my own.

Alan thought this last dish looked fabulous, and I have to agree. He thinks they need to put more things like this on the specials menu to see how it will sell. We both think people who are trying to eat healthy will also order things like this. I hope we are right.  *fingers crossed*

Dan was still hungry after our first three courses so he ordered an appetizer sized pizza. Both of us like our pizza very thin and crispy and they know that so this pizza was nice and crunchy just like I would make at home if I were still making pizza that is. This one contained: caramelized onions, sliced tomatoes, capers, and sage.

Like usual we were at the restaurant for 4 hours. We arrived at 6:30 and left after 10:30. Is it any wonder we know everyone there? As always we appreciated all the trouble Ian and Will went to for us. Thank you guys! I hope you know how much we appreciate all you do for us.

Vitamin K information:

Sorry it took me a few days to get back to this. Vitamin K is not written about widely so I wanted to run my thoughts by my vegan RD friend (Thank you Courtney!) to confirm that I was giving you complete and accurate information. Here is what we know:

• There are multiple types of vitamin K but the most important are K1 and K2
• K1 comes predominantly from green plants but is not well absorbed typically less than 5%
• K2 comes predominantly from fermented foods (natto and cheese) but also from meat and poultry in much smaller amounts
• K2 is also created by good bacteria in the human large intestine but not in a sufficient amount for good health
• increased consumption of K2 is associated with a reduction in hip fracture
• increased consumption of K2 is also associated with a reduction in cancer mortality (with a stronger association for men and also with lung and prostate cancer)
• dietary deficiency is rare because vitamin K is recycled in the body, but it can occur after long term usage of antibiotics
• according to my RD friend our bodies produce K2 from K1 in the amount that we need for good health.

I will say that was not what I expected to find after the article at eat to defeat website pushing the consumption of hard cheese for its vitamin K2 content. This just proves that when you look into the details there is almost always more to know.

BTW if you still want to increase your consumption K2 the content in 3.5 ounces of natto is 1,000 mcg compared to 70 in the same quantity of hard cheese. Not that isn’t a typo it is 1,000 compared to 70. It does make you wonder why anyone would suggest cheese and not mention natto doesn’t it?

Happy Thoughts:

It was a good Saturday and here are my happy thoughts:

• Since I opted to go with leftover black bean soup and a quick salad that made for a very relaxing Saturday. Sometimes it is nice to take it easy and not spend much time in the kitchen. The funny thing is that how much everyone enjoys the food seems unrelated to the time it took to make it. :-)

• Dinner out was lovely Saturday night. There are times when I don’t feel like getting dressed up to go out but I always have a great time when we do. I also loved getting more ideas for things to make at home. Eating out is always a source of culinary inspiration for me. Of course it is always great to see everyone and get caught up. However there were a few people working last night that we didn’t know by name. Clearly we have not been getting there as often as we should. ;-) With spring approaching I am sure we will be correcting that problem soon. I love having dinner on the patio under the trees and that time will be here before you know it.

• It was fabulous to sleep in and get extra rest Friday night/Saturday morning. Sleeping in that one day a week is our weekly treat and we both enjoy it.

• My friend Brandi suggested that I pick up Falsies mascara from Maybelline and she knew what she was talking about. My lashes were fuller than when I use my regular Borghese mascara and the cost was significantly less. If you are getting older like I am and your lashes are starting to thin (hate that) you may want to give this stuff a try.

• I have been spending a good amount of time lately reading and learning more about nutrition and health. As you probably know this is something that I love doing. I am thankful to have the time to devote to my passion.

Signing out:

Thank you to all of you that took the time to let me know why you read the blog and what appeals to you.  Since it seems that most of you like reading about what we eat I will keep posting that.  Sometime this week I will be sharing the other items that I am considering adding and look forward to hearing your thoughts on them.  Pleast don't be shy with your opinions.   ;-)

Sunday has been a good day so far. It is always nice to spend time at home with my sweetie and the fur babies. It has been a restful weekend. Exactly the sort of thing you need to get recharged for the week ahead.  I made a very nice creamy mushroom and green pea soup that I will be sharing with you tomorrow. It is the perfect soup for a cool day.  Enjoy what is left of your weekend.  Talk to you again tomorrow.

Going to the Doctor and Other Miscellaneous Stuff. ;-)

This week went by like a flash. We had errands to run and things to do and then the weather on Thursday and Friday was nothing short of stupendous and I thoroughly enjoyed it I might add. Both days we reached 75 and I could not have been happier. I am SO ready for spring to arrive.

I am going to summarize this week and try to get back into the daily blogging habit. Something has changed for me regarding blogging and I am not sure what it is. I have been finding excuses this month not to blog and I don’t know why. Maybe I am running out of things to say but I am not exactly certain what changed?

However I do have an idea of something that might be interesting for me to write. What would you think of me researching specific consumables and writing about that? I could share the good and bad about specific foods/herbs/spices etc. Does that have any appeal for you? If you have different ideas I would love to hear them? I am still hashing around ideas in my head so this is a great time to let me know what you are interested in reading. I am also curious if hearing about each of our meals is useful? I have to admit it is boring for me to write but if a lot of you find it useful I will keep doing it.

Tuesday:

Dan worked from home in Tuesday morning since we both had appointments with the internist and noon and 12:20 we drove to the appointments together. Our appointments were generally uneventful. Dan and I had our usual friendly competition to see who did better on “the tests”. I will let you decide what you think here are the stats:

Blood pressure: 122/80 (Dan), 118/76 (Alicia)

Blood Glucose: 87 (Dan), 75 (Alicia)

Cholesterol: 141 (Dan), 189 (Alicia)

Vitamin D: 39.7 (Dan), 57.4 (Alicia)

B12: 442 (Alicia), Dan’s was in the same range 6 months ago so it wasn’t retested.

I think I was “winner” on three tests and Dan took cholesterol by a mile. You know that losing the cholesterol “battle” means that I need to step up my game right? Our internist believes my cholesterol issue is probably genetic. Can you imagine how bad it would be if I ate the standard American Diet? I think my cholesterol level is probably exacerbated by perimenopause. However I also think there are things that I can do to improve it. As soon I have my plan in place I will let you know what I will be changing. It is always something isn’t it? *shakes head*

Being a girl of course I skipped breakfast before going to the doctor and getting on the scale. After all it was bad enough that I was wearing a big sweater and thick pants so was adding breakfast on top of that was out of the question. No vanity here, LOL. I felt so good when I finally got home that I considered fasting on Tuesday but opted to eat a salad instead.

My lunch which was very late (around 4pm) was a huge salad (yes that is a serving bowl it is in) and included: mesclun, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, red bell pepper, wine vinegar, nutritional yeast and chia seeds. Chia seeds are healthy but the texture is a bit odd when they are soaked, like tomatoes seeds. I guess I have completely not warmed up to the texture yet. But I am trying to add them to food when I think of it for the health benefits.

After eating my salad I made a pound of black-eyed peas in the pressure cooker. The beans cook very quickly in the pressure cooker. I combined 1 pound of dried (unsoaked) black-eyed peas, 8 cups of water, 2 bay leaves, no-salt seasoning, crushed red pepper and peeled smashed garlic. Cook the beans for 5 minutes under high pressure then let the pressure reduce naturally. Once the beans were cooked I added a quart of canned tomatoes (you can use 2 – 15 ounce cans), minced garlic, diced red onion, finely diced celery, no salt seasoning, cumin and oregano and simmered until the veggies were tender. I ate this as soup and added quinoa to Dan’s for more calories and protein. This lasted a few days for us so we will be seeing it turn up later in the post.

Later I had a banana and walnuts that I forgot to photograph.

During the evening I was doing a little nutrition reading and came across this article about fermented vegetables. I had read something similar by Dr. David Katz in our internist’s waiting room early today. Coming across this article made me think the universe was trying to tell me something. Until reading these two articles I was considering adding some kimchi or homemade sauerkraut to our diet. I am going to rethink that now. Do any of you have any articles on the nutrition of fermented vegetables? If you do I would love to know the reference. Thanks!

Dinner for me was another salad this one contained: mesclun, grape tomatoes, artichoke hearts, balsamic vinegar, freshly ground flaxseed and nutritional yeast. Dan had a bowl of the black-eyed pea soup and salad and finished dinner with a giant serving of strawberry banana soft serve.

Wednesday:

Where did the day go? I know I started it with a big marinated broccoli salad. I started by lightly roasting some frozen broccoli in the halogen oven. Have I said recently how much I love that little oven? While the broccoli was cooling enough for me to handle I used my hand held julienning mandoline to break down a carrot. I also sliced a red bell pepper and added that to the salad. To the veggies I added a little dressing of red wine vinegar with a touch of stevia and tossed everything to coat it with put in the refrigerator to cool. When I put the salad in a bowl I added some raw pumpkin seeds. I really liked the way this turned out and decided to experiment with more versions of this salad which you will see later in this post.

About mid-day the weather started to warm up to 65 so I opened all the windows to let in the fresh air. There is nothing better than airing out the house after it has been closed up for months. It was a little chilly but I had to do it. I actually left the windows open all day and night. That is how much of a fresh air fiend I am.

Lunch for me was a bowl of the black-eyed pea soup that I made yesterday. I put the same thing in Dan’s lunch but he has a bowl about twice this size and quinoa to put under his bean soup.

I also had my usual orange and Brazil nut snack. I pack the same thing in Dan’s lunch every day so that he gets sufficient selenium too. Dan isn’t wild about the taste of Brazil nuts but since they are the best source of selenium which he knows is important for the immune system he eats them without much complaint. He has to complain a little because that is just how things are in our relationship. Thankfully I know he enjoys complaining and that it isn’t serious. I swear I don’t understand how men think. LOL

Dinner for me was another salad. With the weather warming up I am starting to crave salad again. This one contained: mesclun, grape tomatoes, artichokes, thinly sliced cucumber, and was tossed with nutritional yeast and red wine vinegar. I topped the salad with a few white chia seeds.

Dan worked late on Wednesday and had another bowl of black-eyed pea soup with quinoa; a big salad and strawberry banana soft serve for his dinner.

Thursday:

This was the first day of truly glorious weather. The felines and I enjoyed having the windows open. You would think none of us had every smelled fresh air before.

Breakfast for me was savory oatmeal which this time included: oats, water, nutritional yeast, cumin, no salt seasoning, finely minced garlic, fresh baby spinach, wheat germ, freshly ground flaxseed, grape tomatoes and raw pumpkin seeds. I was not happy about how the oatmeal looked with wheat germ on top and decided to start adding it to the oatmeal before the spinach.

After breakfast Masi was snuggled up on our bed. Yes the electric blanket was on because I am totally wrapped around fuzzy cat toes. ;-) I took my big camera into the bedroom and managed to get another picture of him with his eyes open and wanted to share it with you. I think he is such a pretty boy.

Lunch for me was a bowl of the black-eyed pea soup. I sent the same thing in Dan’s lunch only much more of it and with quinoa to put under it to make it a complete protein and add calories. I also send a salad in Dan’s lunch to make certain that he gets his fresh veggies. I need to learn to worry as much about my nutrition as I do about what goes into Dan.

Both of us had an orange and Brazil nut snack.

For my dinner I wanted more veggies. This time I made a big bowl of marinated veggies which included: lightly roasted broccoli, red bell pepper, red onion, red cabbage, and defrosted frozen mixed veggies (carrots, peas, corn and green beans). I dressed this with red wine vinegar, course country Dijon and stevia and added a few raw pumpkin seeds to the top for healthy fat. This really turned out well so you should expect to see it show up very often. With summer approaching we will be eating a lot more cold veggie dishes soon.

Since I had the end of the black-eyed pea soup for lunch I needed to make another pot of soup for dinner tonight. This time I made a pound of black beans in the pressure cooker. I combined the dry unsoaked but rinsed pound of black beans with 8 cups of water, 2 bay leaves, 6 cloves smashed and peeled garlic and cooked it on high pressure for 22 minutes. I let the pressure reduce naturally and added a red onion, 1 quart of canned tomatoes (no salt), 2 minced chipotles in adobo, 6 cloves garlic, cumin, oregano, no salt seasoning, cinnamon, cocoa powder, chili powder and paprika and simmered until the veggies were tender. Voila bean soup in well under an hour. That is one of the best things about a pressure cooker. I love that you don’t need to soak the beans and they cook so quickly. If you are like me and you don’t plan a pressure cooker can be a life saver at dinner time.

Dan worked late so he ate after I had finished. His dinner was a big bowl of black bean soup with quinoa and a bowl of the marinated veggie salad that I made earlier today.

Friday:

Today was another absolutely fantastic weather day. It was 59 when we woke up. I loved having the windows open all night to let in fresh air. Come on spring! LOL

Breakfast for me was a bowl of the marinated veggie salad that I made yesterday on top of a little quinoa for the refrigerator and a few sliced almonds for healthy fat. I know I say this all the time but this is exactly why I always make intentional leftovers. Sometimes you are busy and the idea of cooking just isn’t appealing. That pretty much explains the entire month of February so far. However even though I didn’t want to cook I still had homemade food in just a few minutes and that was great.

Dan had his usual green smoothie with kale and banana for breakfast. I have started adding wheat germ to his smoothies and oatmeal too. I wanted to increase the amount of vitamin E we are both getting. It doesn’t seem to impact the taste of texture but it does increase the nutrition.

Lunch for me was a simple salad of baby spinach, artichokes and grape tomatoes. I made a quick “dressing” of nutritional yeast, red wine vinegar, freshly ground flaxseed and no salt seasoning. If you like nutritional yeast you should give that combination a try.

The lunch that I packed for Dan was the marinated veggies and black bean soup of quinoa, an orange, 2 Brazil nuts, walnuts and marinated veggies.

I knew dinner would be late since we were going to run errands after work so I made myself a small bowl (less than 2 cups) of the black bean soup.

We needed a few things from the grocery store (mostly kale) so after Dan left work we made a quick trip to Whole Foods (no kale!) and picked up some fresh organic herbs (cilantro and parsley), organic tofu, organic braeburn apples, and organic pink grapefruit.

While we were in Whole Foods we grabbed a 15 whole grain veggie sushi with avocado and cucumber to include in dinner. For those that are interested the 15 grains were: 1) sushi rice, 2) black rice, 3) glutinous rice, 4) germinated brown rice, 5) glutinous millet, 6) adzuki bean, 7) black soybean , 8) glutinous foxtail millet, 9) corn, 10) jobe’s tears, 11) amaranth, 12) black sesame seed, 13) white sesame seed, 14) barely, 15) buckwheat and 16) white sorghum. Well, the label said 15 but clearly it is 16. No OCD here! LOL ;-)

Then we decided to make a quick run to Wegman’s for a few things. I was hoping they were would organic kale, but it wasn’t to be. We picked up organic sweet potatoes, shitake mushrooms (for the immune system impact), brazil nuts (for selenium), macadamia nuts (for making nut cheese), raw pumpkin seeds (for salad and Mexican dishes), wheat germ (for vitamin E), more organic beans (about 12 pounds) of various varieties and a bag of raw super food granola. Are you shocked that I bought granola? Me too actually, but here is why I bought it.

The granola contained: maca, reishi, and astragalus….talk about immunity boosting granola. I had to buy it just to see what it tastes like. The bag I bought has entirely too much sugar in the form of (agave, dates, and palm sugar *rolls eyes* I am more interested in how the flavors come together than anything else. My plan is to use the granola like a crunchy topping for sweet oatmeal. If we like it you know I will be making my own healthier version soon. Some things around here just never change. LOL

When we were heading for the checkout we ran into our friend Louis. Now running into your friends at the grocery store isn’t strange typically but Louis lives in Delaware about 2 ½ hours from here so we were surprised to see him. It was great to see him even if it was only for 15 minutes.

Once we got home and had everything put away I made a very quick dinner. We had the multigrain sushi from Whole Foods. Since we don’t need to sodium I tossed the soy sauce which didn’t make Dan happy but he knows why I did it at least. We also had the end of the marinated veggies that I made yesterday. Those were such a big hit I made another batch on Saturday to try them out on my parents.

We both liked the multigrain sushi so you know what that means….yes I will be making some at home. Luckily I just happen to have a bag of organic multigrain that I picked up at the Asian store which will come in very handy.

True to form we ended up staying up very late last night, well after midnight in fact. So much for getting back on our early morning schedule. We really need to work on that again tonight. It is much more difficult to turn night owls into morning people than I anticipated.

Happy Thoughts:

There are so many things to be happy about this week that I need to keep my list short so that I don’t bore you to tears:

• Dan and I were both generally happy with the outcome at the internist. I have some cholesterol work to do but overall it was a good visit.

• The weather this week has been magnificent. I can’t say enough how much I have enjoyed this early taste of spring. I am looking forward to getting my bike out of storage for some outdoor exercise that isn’t hard on my knee. It will also be fun to use the TRX outside. Woo hoo! I am such a geek sometimes. LOL

• I have been reading another new health book and am really enjoying that. Learning new things always puts a big smile on my face.

• Speaking of new things, have any of you heard of “The Great Courses” before? I ordered a set on health they have on sale that covers nutrition and disease. Once it arrives I will let you know what I/we think of it. I said we since I know I will be getting Dan to watch the parts that I think are interesting. One of the reasons he is completely on board with my healthy lifestyle is that I make certain he learns along with me. Knowing why we are doing different things has lead to greater compliance if you know what I mean.

• It was wonderful to see our friend Louis briefly Friday evening. I wish he lived close like he used to because I miss not having him around the corner. But on the bright side I talk to him at least twice a week and frequently more often. It is always great when a friendship stands the test of time and mileage.

Signing out:

That is the update on what you missed last week. I need to clean up my kitchen from the meal with my folks and get a few other things done around here. Talk to again soon, hopefully tomorrow. I am very interested to hear what you would like to read in my coming posts.

Tofu Spice Rub & Thoughts on Which Studies to Put into Practice

Monday wasn’t bad in terms of getting things accomplished but I was a little more rushed than I prefer. I listened to the last day of “The Great Health Debate” which lasted longer than any of the prior days. However it was nice to hear Dr. T. Colin Campbell talk about health. I am going to summarize my thoughts on the debate and get those posted as soon as I can. Much to my surprise the “experts” agreed on more points than I expected.

It was almost 2pm before I was finished listening to the audio and then it was time to write the post I put up on Monday. I didn’t actually start dinner until about 5pm. Nothing like planning right? I was craving tofu and decided to make it with a spice rub I used with pork loin in the past. This rub is good but unusual spice rub that I think you will like. It can be altered and will outline that in the comments. Here is what I did:

Spice Rub for Tofu
Enough for two 14 ounce blocks of tofu

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon cumin seeds
½ teaspoon coriander seeds
½ teaspoon fennel seeds
½ teaspoon cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (this amount is approximate)

Directions:

Combine the cumin, coriander and fennel seeds in a pan and heat over medium, shaking the pan periodically to toast all seeds. Heat the seeds until the coriander begins to turn a light brown and you can smell the spices. Next place the toasted seeds into a spice grinder and add the cocoa powder. Grind the seeds until they are a powder.

Use half of the spice rub to coat a 14 ounce block of tofu that you have cut into 6 pieces. Bake the tofu until it is the texture you like.

Nutritional information for ½ the spice rub:

Amount Per Serving
Calories 8.7
Calories From Fat (44%) - 3.85

Total Fat - 0.46g
Saturated Fat - 0.06g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 2.57mg
Potassium - 43.07mg
Total Carbohydrates - 1.39g
Fiber - 0.72g
Sugar-  0.03g
Protein-  0.44g

Comments:

This spice rub worked really well with tofu, better than I expected actually. If you want to change it up a little you can add ½ tablespoon freshly grated ginger or ½ tablespoon of espresso powder. I have added both of those in the past and they work well with these spices. If you eat sugar a little brown sugar in the mix is also good. If you add the sugar you need to be careful that the sugar doesn’t scorch while the tofu is baking.

Valentine’s dinner was tofu with the spice rub and roasted fingerling potatoes, broccoli and raw grape tomatoes. When the potatoes and broccoli were cooked I tossed them in fresh lemon juice and then added Italian seasoning and freshly ground black pepper. The tomatoes were added for temperature contrast and nutrition. There is a nutritional synergy that takes place when you combine broccoli and tomatoes which I try to keep in mind when planning meals.

Thoughts on “Scientific Research”:

Laura asked a great question that I wanted to share with everyone and then discuss my thoughts on the topic. Her question was: “You already share quite a lot of research-type info, but being a science person I always want to know more...for example, why you will or won't incorporate certain results/recommendations into your diet.” I thought this was a great starting off point for a conversation about “science”.

This question came up on the last post where I talked about the vitamin K2 in hard cheese being reported to have anti-angiogenesis properties. However there is also science that shows that dairy is tumor and metastases promoting. For me it comes down to what or who to believe.

If T. Colin Campbell had been the only one to discuss the tumor promoting effects of casein I wouldn’t know what to do since there appears to be science on both sides of this argument. However in the book “Life Over Cancer” there is also a discussion about the impact of casein on tumor growth (it starts on page 68). The doctor explains that dairy is bad for a number of reasons, these are:

• Dairy is high in cholesterol which is a problem in terms of cancer. High cholesterol is associated with metastases as well as making tumors more resistant to chemotherapy.

• Additionally dairy boosts estradiol which stimulates tumor growth particularly of hormonal cancers like breast, ovarian, uterine, and cervical. I should mention that eating a high-fiber, vegetable-rich diet lowers estradiol.

• Dairy contains calcium which binds with your vitamin D stores which you don’t want. Vitamin D appears to be crucial for controlling cancer cell division (growth).

• The saturated fat in dairy increases the likelihood of blood clots which is a problem for many with cancer.

• Milk/dairy contains lactose (milk sugar) which can raise blood sugar.

• The casein in dairy accelerates the growth of tumors and metastases by fueling IGF-1.

When I compare this to the idea that vitamin K2 may be good I decided to avoid the cheese and get my K2 elsewhere. I can’t say that either Dan or I are looking forward to consuming natto. The idea of a slimy gelatinous product doesn’t appeal to either of us but if it helps our health then we are going to find a way to consume it. I will keep you posted on what works and doesn’t work in regard to getting natto into our diet.

Since Doctor Block (who wrote “Life Over Cancer”) has been treating cancer patients in his facility for 30 years I tend to put more stock in his findings versus a research scientist like Dr. Li. I am not saying Dr. Li is wrong but Dr. Block being in the trenches with 1,000’s of patients gives me the feeling he has more experience with what works on people as compared to in the lab.

This was rather a long winded answer on why I am not jumping to add cheese to our diet. However I hope it gives you some insight. One thing that used to confuse me was all the apparently conflicting “science” around nutrition. I think part of this is the fact that we tend to look at food in a reductionist manner. What I mean by that is hard cheese is recommended for the vitamin K2 it contains however that isn’t all that is in cheese. When you look at cheese in its entirety I think there is more bad than good. I hope that makes some sense.

I will try to write a review of “Life Over Cancer” this week. This book is one of the best, if not the best, that I have read regarding cancer. If you are worried about cancer I would recommend you see if your library has a copy. I think you will find it is worth owning. I use it as a resource quite often.

Happy Thoughts:

The week is starting off well so far. Here are my happy thoughts at the moment:

• Tuesday has been much more relaxed than the prior 8 days. Both Dan and I had appointments with the internist today. The lab results were excellent except one thing I want to work on. I will share details with you very soon, maybe tomorrow if I have my new plan in place that quickly. I was thrilled that our blood glucose levels were 75 and 87. Nutrition really makes a huge difference. ;-)

• Dan worked from home Tuesday morning since appointments were at noon and 12:20. It was nice to have him in the house even if he was upstairs in his home office. I also loved spending time riding with Dan riding to the appointment and in the exam room. We always have a friendly battle or how has better numbers. Yes we are that geeky. LOL

• Since we had quite a bit of time together today I had a chance to discuss getting to the gym in the morning again. I am happy to say Dan has agreed that we need to get back on our morning schedule and that he plans to be home early enough that we can go tomorrow before work. I am looking forward to starting my day early at the gym tomorrow. Who said that? *looks around* ;-)

• I am also thankful for this sweet little angel. This is one of the rare pictures of Binky’s big brother Massimo (aka Masi) with his eyes open. Masi was very happy when we came home from the doctor and turned on the electric blanket as you can see from the look on his face. He is such a precious baby and I am very thankful to have him in my life.

• The weather service is predicting temperatures to reach 70 on Friday. Woo hoo! I may have to change my schedule so that I can enjoy my Friday rather than running errands. I can’t wait for spring to get here. Dan and I were discussing putting in a garden bed in the backyard this spring if we can find a spot with enough sun. I am definitely getting spring fever. LOL

Signing out:

Being out of the house for hours today means I am behind at home. I need to log off and get some laundry done and make something for dinner. Talk to you again tomorrow.

Lime, Miso and Vanilla Dressing & Eat to Defeat Cancer

I really should know better than to let so many days go between postings. That or I need to learn to cover less in the update posts. It actually took me over 4 hours on Friday to get the post up with all the photos and that was after I had written most of it the prior day. Yikes! That is why I haven’t been able to fit posts into my schedule recently. Even on a good day I spend an average of 2-3 hours writing a post, working up the nutrition information for recipes, taking then selecting and reducing photos and getting everything onto BlogSpot. When you wonder why I skip posting some days now you know why. It can sometimes be tough to work that much time into my schedule. I could always post something shorter and without as many pictures, recipe details and/or health info but how much fun would that be? ;-)

On a related note I have been toying with the idea of changing what I include in my posts every day. If any of you have any suggestions regarding things/topics you would like me to cover I would love to know what is on your mind. Before I make any drastic changes I will post what I am thinking about and ask you for feedback. I want to the blog to continue to be something that is useful for all of you that take the time to read.

Our food Friday, Saturday and Sunday was not terribly exciting. We had our usual oatmeal and green smoothies for breakfast. Dan had to go downtown to his office on Saturday making food that day a bit dull. However I did make one salad dressing on Sunday that everyone enjoyed so I wanted to share that with you.

Dan remembered the lime and vanilla dressing that I had made before and asked me to make that again. When I looked it up it contained olive oil. You know that I wasn’t going to use oil now so I had to decide what to include to emulsify the dressing. I decided to try white miso and that worked well. Here is what I did:

Lime, Vanilla and Miso Salad Dressing
Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 organic lime, zested and juiced
1 teaspoon white miso
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract (not the imitation stuff)

Directions:

Combine everything and whisk until the miso is broken up. No one wants to bite down on a big chunk of miso. ;-) Refrigerate the dressing in a closed container until needed.

I used this dressing on a salad of mesclun, Asian pear, blackberries and slivered almonds and the salad disappeared.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 10.36
Calories From Fat (10%) - 1.02

Total Fat - 0.12g
Saturated Fat - 0.02g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 53.85mg
Potassium - 23.27mg
Total Carbohydrates-  2.45g
Fiber - 0.7g
Sugar-  0.44g
Protein - 0.31g

Comments:

This is a great dressing to use on a salad with fruit. You will be seeing this turn on the blog again since everyone enjoyed it so much.

The other dish that I made for lunch on Sunday was roasted veggies (carrots, onion, mushrooms) that I tossed in lemon juice and zest immediately after roasting. Then I added zatar (a Middle Eastern spice blend of thyme and sesame seeds) and sumac (another Middle Eastern spice). I placed the veggies on top of quinoa.

Sunday night we needed to have dinner but I didn’t have any leftovers in the refrigerator. For dinner I made a batch of queso (this time with nutritional yeast, cumin and chili powder added) and used that to top quinoa and a lot of mixed veggies. I wanted to mention that because the sauce is very useful and one of my go to items when I need something quick. Without the nutritional yeast this sauce has also been popular with omnivores.

Golden Raisins:

Jenny asked me what brand of golden raisins I buy and that is pictured above front and back. I like theses because they are organic and only contain raisins no preservatives or other chemicals.

TEDx Manhattan:

Since Dan was downtown working on Saturday I had a chance to watch most of the TEDx program that was streaming live. Dr. William Li who I tuned in to see was a two part program. The first part was a repeat of this talk. The second part was a brief follow up to his talk. He mentioned his website “Eat to Defeat” Cancer and talked about some of the new science. You can join his site for free, I did, and get access to the list of foods that result in anti-angiogenesis (stopping the blood supply to cancer).

Dr. William Li was on the Dr. Oz show a few weeks ago and talked about eating hard cheese for the vitamin K2 it contains. You will not be surprised to know I did a little research and found out that there is a vegan item with more K2 than hard cheese. The only problem is that item is natto. I happen to have natto in the refrigerator but have not been brave enough to eat it yet. If any of you have any tips on how to make it less “gooey and gelatinous” I would love to hear your suggestions. ;-)

Happy thoughts:

I have many things to be happy about today. Here are my happy thoughts now:

• Woo hoo! The 8 nights of the Great Health Debate have ended. It was interesting to hear numerous people discuss health and I took a lot of notes and have many things to research. However it is also nice to have all that time back. I am looking forward to a more leisurely schedule this week.

• Sunday was the 24th anniversary of the day Dan and I met. I realized that we have now been together more than half my life. In one respective it feels like we couldn’t have together that long and in another it seems like we have been together forever. It is so nice to be married to my best friend.  :-)

• Our weather today (Monday) was glorious! It was wonderful to reach 65 early in the afternoon. Too bad it was crazy windy but the temperature was great. I loved having the windows open for a while today to air out the house. Nothing smells better than fresh air. ;-)

• I am really looking forward to spring now after the heat wave we had today. Spring is my favorite season! I can’t wait for my azaleas to bloom again. I am also looking forward to getting outside everyday to get fresh air, play in the garden, and ride my bike. Ahhhh spring is great I can’t wait for it to arrive.

Signing out:

It is time for me to log out so I can unwind. Tomorrow I have an appointment but hope that won’t keep me from getting a post up. I hope Valentine’s Day was good for you. Talk to you soon, hopefully tomorrow.

Update and Dinner at Jaleo

Talk about swamped ….. Where has the week gone? I can’t believe that I haven’t posted since Sunday. This is definitely the longest that I have gone without posting. Now I am going to try to get you caught up on everything that has been happening and is worth mentioning. ;-)

On Thursday of this week Dan had a meeting in DC and I went with him so that we could have dinner at one of Jose Andres’ restaurants as a treat. I also took the opportunity while he was in his meeting to write a post and let you know what we have been up to since my last post this past Sunday.

I decided to listen to “The Great Health Debate” which started on Sunday. Since the audio recordings for the debate ranged from 2 to 3 hours that has been taking up a huge amount of my time. Of course I have been taking notes while listening which made the recordings last even longer since I was pausing them often. Between the recordings, exercising, and life administration I have had zero time online which I am sure you noticed if you sent me an email. I will reply I promise but it may take me a few more days as my schedule is packed through Tuesday of next week. *rolls eyes* I am ridiculously busy at the moment and looking forward to getting back to my typical “woman of leisure” schedule. ;-)

Regarding “The Great Health Debate” I have found it rather interesting though I wouldn’t actually call it a debate since one speaker talks for an hour or so and then another speaker talks with no interaction between the two of them. However it has been interesting from the perspective that each call so far has had an omnivore and the vegan. There has been some interesting information that has come out that I will be researching further. If I decide to order the recordings and transcripts I will let you know. I am on the fence about that now but may decide to order them.

For the most part the speakers have all agreed on a few things. All of them are very down on processed food and junk food. None of them are keen on conventional food not meat, dairy nor produce. They all seem to approve of raw produce either and many approve of cooked produce. Grains have taken a bashing though some of the speakers think they are fine in moderate amounts. Beyond those few things the speakers are all over the map. Since the event was put together by Renegade Health you would expect many of the speakers to be raw foodists and they are. I have been surprised by how much even they disagree with each other. Overall it is has been very interesting and worth listening too. I only wish it was a little shorter each night as this is taking up a big block of my time. However I assume that is partly the point and will encourage many people to buy the audios and transcripts. ;-)

Before I forget there is also a TEDx talk coming up this weekend that you might want to check out. This one is called “Changing the Way We Eat”. I am most interested to hear Dr. William Li (President, Angiogenesis Foundation) speak but will be checking out the other speakers too to the extent that I can fit them in. The TEDx talk starts at 10:30 and goes until 6 so I may not watch the entire thing. ;-)

I have not been cooking much either lately since I have been ridiculously busy. We have been existing on things like beans (which I pressure cooked) on salad, spring rolls, soup, collard wraps, baked tofu, roasted sweet potatoes and other fast meals. You know I am busy when I can’t find time to cook and write about it. LOL

Here are some random pictures of what we have been eating:

Our usual green smoothies made with kale, frozen banana, freshly ground flaxseeds, cinnamon, powdered ginger, homemade soymilk or water, and stevia for Dan.

A few times the pizza veggies showed up using frozen organic veggies and mushrooms which I topped with red sauce sand walnut parmesan.

You will not be surprised to see that we have been having our recent favorite snack of an orange with two Brazil nuts (for the selenium of course). ;-)

I also made a pot of yellow split pea and sweet potato soup that even my parents liked. Go figure! I will try to get that recipe posted soon. I did write things down but didn’t put the information in the cookbook program yet so I don’t have the nutritional statistics at this time.

A few days we had summer rolls (raw spring rolls) with a quick sauce I made from homemade reduced fat peanut butter, lime zest, lime juice, chili garlic sauce, and water to get the right consistency. The sauce was very good and will be showing up again with the specifics because I liked it that much. It was also a good sauce to dip baked sweet potato fries into.

Speaking of sweet potatoes those turned up a few times in the last few days because they are easy. Once they were baked and dipped into salsa. A different time I used the peanut sauce to dip the fries into.

Another time I there was a baked sweet potato filled with garbanzo beans and topped with salsa.

I also managed to sneak in a few collard wraps these were filled with avocado, black beans, tomatoes, cucumber and salsa.

You will not be surprised to hear that Dan has been having his favorite dessert almost every night.  Yes he could practically eat his weight in strawberry banana soft serve.  ;-)

As you can see there really hasn’t been any creative cooking going on at our place just fast healthy food. You really haven’t missed much in terms of food from me over the last few days.

Knowing that we were driving to DC this afternoon Dan caught a ride into work with Troy and I was supposed to pick him up downtown. I started my morning by listening to “The Great Health Debate” that was released last night. After that I had errands to run. Yippee skippee you all know how much I like to drive, NOT. Since I was out and about I stopped and Marshall’s to see if any bargains were to be had and there were, LOL. I grabbed three shirts and a pair of black slacks for myself.

I also found these adorable tea cups with saucers for $1. Can you believe two cups and saucers for $1 and they were not made in China.  That is what I love about Marshall’s. You never know what you are going to find but sometimes you can get great bargains. I do love a good bargain. ;-)

Then it was time to head downtown to pick Dan up from work. When I was at traffic lights I took a few random pictures of Baltimore to share with one of my out of town friends. Here they are in case you are curious.

This is a shot from downtown (little Italy to be specific) looking toward the Inner Harbor.

Old red brick buildings are common in downtown Baltimore like this one.

Here is another old building which I think is part of the department of education but I am not certain. It looks like it should be a court house of something equally official to me.

This is a picture of Oriole Park at Camden Yards which I took as we headed for DC.

Here we are arriving in DC at yet another ball park. This is where the Washington Capitals play and coincidentally was around the corner from Dan’s meeting. It feels like a baseball sort of day. Maybe that is because I am SO looking forward to the arrival of spring. ;-)

We came into DC on Capitol Street and you can see the US Capitol over the roof of the blue car in front of us.

DC is also full of these new shiny buildings with zero character. *rolls eyes* I know some people like this type of architecture but I find it rather flat and boring.

After Dan’s meeting we were off to Jaleo. *happy dance* Both Dan and I have loved everything we have ever had at Café Atlantico and The MiniBar so we couldn’t wait to try this restaurant. When I checked the menu I was thrilled to find that they have more naturally vegan dishes than I had anticipated. Let the feasting begin. LOL

Phiet (who works with Dan) was also in the DC meeting and he joined us for dinner. We warned them ahead of time that we are very slow eaters and like to savor the experience and he will still showed up for dinner with us. Brave of him wasn’t it. LOL

Dan and I started with the tomato bread which was delicious. I have no idea how they make something so simple SO good.

Then we ordered the garlic mushrooms which were wonderful.

Next we had the vegetable paella which was huge so over half of the pan ended up going home with us.

The next dish was the potatoes with cilantro, cumin, garlic dipping sauce. I loved the sauce which means I need to make a healthy version of that very soon.

We ended the meal with the spinach with pine nuts, raisins and apples. I expected this to be very much like the Sicilian dish I make with pine nuts, raisins, garlic and hot peppers but it wasn’t which surprised me. I will be making this at home soon too.

We walked back to the car which we parked near Café Atlántico (another Jose Andres restaurant and still my favorite). I thought the lights of the front of the building were cute.

Leaving DC we drove around a little and took pictures for a friend. She wanted to see some of the usual sites like the monuments and the exterior of the museums. Here are those pictures.

Thursday was a long day but a good one.

Happy Thoughts:

I have had a very busy week but it hasn’t been bad just hectic. Here are my happy thoughts:

• While I was busy I was also able to take care of the basics, like preparing healthy home cooked food, cleaning, etc. Overall it has been a good week.

• Thursday was a lot of fun and we enjoyed Jaleo with Phiet. The food was delicious and we had a good time chatting.

• It was fun to see DC through the eyes of a tourist. Since DC is very close to Baltimore (about an hour away) I tend to take it for granted. It was fun to take pictures for someone else and it caused me to look at DC differently.

• I found a few really cute shirts at Marshall’s on Thursday which I really like. Who doesn’t love a bargain?  Those always make me happy.

• Today is Friday! *happy dance* I love Friday’s and that is always something to be happy about. ;-)

• If the weather people are right we will be back to normal temperatures tomorrow and then into the 50’s next week. Could spring actually be around the corner? I hope so. *fingers crossed.

• As I am writing this post I have Binky lying on me supervising what I am doing. We are very blessed to have sweet loving felines to share our home. They greeted us at the door last night when we came home like we had been gone for days. They are such precious little babies, not that I am biased of course.

Signing out:

I need to get a few things done here including listening to the installment of “The Great Health Debate” released last night. I also need to get things caught up around here so the weekend can be more laid back.

I hope to have time to write a post tonight for tomorrow morning. Enjoy your Pre-Valentine’s Day weekend. Talk to you again soon.