Pig Business, Pics of DC and the Food

I woke up in a tremendously good mood on Wednesday. I imagine it has something to do with Dan taking a half day off work and going to DC to see the screening of Pig Business. I must confess that I am very much looking forward to hearing Dr. Greger speak tonight after the film. With a little luck I will have an opportunity to talk to him after the event and get my picture taken with him. Hopefully he won’t think I am some crazy stalker, LOL. When I told Dan that if I get to talk to Dr. Greger he was to take pictures his response was “who are you and what have you done with my wife?” I think that was his way of telling me that I am out of control. ;-) There is never a dull moment around here.

With temperatures in the upper 30’s in the morning we opted for oatmeal for breakfast. Dan had his usual with fruit and nut (wild blueberries, wheat germ, ground flaxseeds, cinnamon, powdered ginger, stevia and walnuts). I keep suggesting savory oatmeal to him but he has such a sweet tooth that he always goes with the fruit option. *sigh*  Oh well, he eats more healthy than most men so I should focus on that right?

I opted for savory oatmeal this morning and had an enormous bowl. There is a little oatmeal in the bottom that I flavored with nutritional yeast, cumin, no-salt seasoning and paprika. Then I added wheat germ, ground flaxseeds, some black beans that I made on Sunday, artichoke hearts, broccoli salsa and a few raw pumpkin seeds. I was stuffed after I finished this breakfast. Knowing that we were going to be on the road at lunch time I wanted to make sure that I had enough food for breakfast to keep me fueled for a while.

We both washed our oatmeal down with a double matcha green tea. As I have said many times I have to start my day with green tea or I don’t feel healthy. I am sure it is all in my head but that is okay with me. ;-)

Next I needed to figure out what I was going to wear to DC. With the seasons being in flux it is not easy to pick an outfit this time of year. Not to mention heels are out since I have no idea how much walking I will need to do and as all women know wearing flats impacts which pants you can wear. Decisions, decisions, LOL. In the end I went with jeans, flat scrunched boots and a big bulky sweater but it took me a while to decide. Even though our weather was grey and rainy at least it was reasonably warm (50) which is only a littler cooler than usual. However it did get colder later in the day which means that I should have taken a coat and gloves. Have you noticed that I don’t like coats and normally pay the price for leaving them at home? *rolls eyes* Maybe one day I will learn from my mistakes. LOL

I drove downtown to pick up Dan since he got a ride to work with Troy in the morning so we weren’t leaving a vehicle in the garage overnight. Since Phil was heading back to Missouri this afternoon after the conference we picked up him and Jeff and dropped them at the airport (BWI) which was on our way south to DC.

I packed a few snacks to take with us. What? You didn’t think we would go somewhere without food in the car did you? I like to make sure we are prepared. There is nothing worse than a hungry and grumpy wife is there? I didn’t have time to photograph everything before leaving the house. The photograph above is from the car. I packed the following which became our lunch snack: fat free hummus (made yesterday), salsa, carrots, cucumbers, red bell pepper, walnuts, Brazil nuts and more matcha green tea.

I also brought us some raw vegetable tempura that I picked up at Whole Foods. I really wanted to like this but the texture is weird and neither of us wanted more than a bite. Needless to say I am sad that I can’t recommend it. Too bad, it seemed like a good idea.

Overall our lunch snack was not a lot of calories but this was only intended to hold us over until dinner. After all the only thing we were doing was riding in the car to DC we weren’t calorie burning machines in the afternoon, LOL.

We made a quick stop in DC at the Gallery Mall before heading to the Capitol. I thought you might find this interesting. Old buildings are something that I love. Isn’t this a beautiful adaptive use of old buildings in downtown DC?

Too bad the weather was dreary and rainy. I was hoping to get a lot of nice pictures of DC before it got dark. However I took my camera any way since I have friends that live far away from DC and wanted them to see more of the city. Here are a few of the pictures that I thought came out reasonably well. The first one at the top of the post is of the Capitol Dome as we came out of the visitor center (where the screening was shown) is by far my favorite.  I was a little wary of taking my camera to the Capitol since I didn’t know if they allowed it. However I was in luck they let me take it in. *huge sigh of relief*

Here is the lobby in the visitor center at the Capitol. The large statute is the one that was used for the bronze cast on top of the Capitol which was much larger than it appears from the ground.

I liked this picture looking up at the statute from the base.

The screening was well attended which made me very happy. There were a few empty seats but not many. It was good to see so many people that were interested in the topic. Two congressmen were also in attendance (sorry I didn’t write down their names but one from Virginia).

Here is Congressmen Dennis Kucinich.

Then there is my personal favorite Dr. Greger. Can you be a health groupie? LOL

Here is Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

I need to do a little research to confirm some of the things I heard in the film and then in the panel discussion after the film before I share that with you. But what I can tell you is I can’t imagine ever allowing anyone that I love to eat conventional pork again. The health consequences are too disturbing to make that an option for us. *sigh*

After the panel discussion the crowd swarmed the panelist so that I didn’t get a chance to talk to Dr. Greger. Boo hoo! Oh well, I will just need to attend his next event I assume.

By the time we left the capitol it was 9:30pm and we were both STARVING. Thank goodness Jaleo in DC was open until 11pm on Wednesday. We headed straight there for tapas (small plates).  The pictures above are the view as we walked to the car.  Gloriousisn't it?  It was a beautiful walk to the car I think.

I liked this shot of the Jaleo sign in the window over Dan's shoulder.

Since I was a human popsicle (due to no coat or gloves) I started the meal with a pot of blood orange and hibiscus tea which is quickly becoming my new favorite tea. Dan liked it enough the last time that he got one as well.

We also got a bottle of sparkling water because tap water worries me since I never know if it has been filtered or not. I know the same can be said for many bottled waters but I feel like they are typically filtered.  Don't you love the detail of the rose on the glass and how it matches the mural on the wall?

We started with the roasted eggplant, onions and red bell peppers.

We ordered a “potato salad” which was unlike anything I had ever had before. This one was cold and without mayo. Instead it was flavored with cooked white or yellow onions, sherry vinegar and olive oil. I am not positive if the green was cilantro or parsley because it was so subtle but suspect it was cilantro.

Our next dish was my favorite of the night. It was cauliflower with smoked paprika, dates and green olives. I am fairly sure it also contained garlic. What I liked about this was that it had a different flavor depending on whether you got a date or olive with your cauliflower. The “juice” in the bottom of the bowl was so good we used the plain bread to mop it up. I will be making something like this at home it was that good.

Since we were still hungry we ordered the tomato bread which is always good.

We also got some of the mushrooms with garlic and lemon.

That was finally enough to fill us up. Of course it was late and we needed to head for home since Dan had to work the next day. It was after midnight by the time we got home and all I wanted to do was crash.  I think I was asleep 15  minutes after we walked in the front door.

Happy thoughts:

Wednesday was such a good day that I am not sure where to start but here goes:

• I loved being able to spend so much time with Dan yesterday. We talked all day yesterday about everything and nothing. There is nothing I love more than spending time with my hubby.  xoxo

• I also had a chance to chat with Phil on the way to the airport. Phil is one of those people that I immediately clicked with years ago. I always enjoy seeing him even if it was only for 30 minutes.

• It was incredibility encouraging that “Pig Business” was very well attended on Wednesday. I love it that so many people are interested in the topic. I can honestly say I will never look at pork the same way again. I knew the factory farming conditions would be bad but didn’t realize the health implications of living near the operations let alone consuming pork. I am also thankful that my husband is willing to attend events like this with me. I think his willingness to be open to information is why we are able to eat the same diet. Many of you ladies constantly remind me how fortunate I am that my husband doesn’t demand unhealthy meals full of meat.

• Dinner at Jaleo was wonderful. It is wonderful to have somewhere we can go in DC and get a great vegan meal and have lots of little dishes.

• It was great fun yesterday to go spend some time in DC being tourists. I need to spend more time doing the same thing in my own city. When you are open to seeing beauty around you suddenly it is everywhere.

• Thursday has been a rainy day and I am thankful that I didn’t have any errands to run. It was great to stay home all day and watch the rain from the comfort of my warm house. I also like knowing that all the rain we are having will result in beautiful spring flowers soon.

Signing Out:

Sorry it took me much longer to get this posted than I anticipated. I took hundreds of pictures yesterday and it was difficult to decide which ones to use and then get them edited. I hope you enjoyed the trip to DC with us. Talk to you again tomorrow after I get my errands knocked out, attend a webinar and get finished with an appointment. However it is Friday which means I will definitely be looking forward to the weekend.

Tuesday is for Life Administration and a Book Review

Happy Tuesday! I woke up on the right side of the bed for some reason this morning. I think it was because we had such fun last night with our friend Phil. He is always a ton of fun to be around.

This morning it was another one with temperatures in the 30’s. Brrrr! I am seriously looking forward to spring. Come on Mother Nature have pity on us will you please?

For breakfast this morning Dan had a big bowl of oatmeal that I cooked with water and to that I added: wild blueberries (previously frozen and more nutritious than cultivated blueberries), wheat germ (for the vitamin E and fiber), freshly ground flaxseeds (for the omega 3s and fiber), cinnamon (to help the body process the sugar), powdered ginger (for the antioxidants), walnuts (for the omega 3s and calories) and a touch of stevia to sweeten it a little since Dan has a voracious sweet tooth.

After I exercised and answered my email I made myself breakfast late in the morning. I opted for a giant bowl of salad that I made in a serving bowl. This salad contained: baby spinach, cold cooked quinoa (a complete protein), cold cooked black beans, salsa, orange bell pepper, grape tomatoes, cucumber fresh cilantro and white chia seeds (for omega 3s and to provide fat to enhance the absorption of the fat soluble vitamins in the salad). I know that salad for breakfast seems a little unconventional but you can’t deny that it is nutritious and healthy. This salad was filling enough that the only other meal I had today was dinner which was good after the big meal at the restaurant last night.

I washed the salad down with a big mug (a double) of matcha green tea which I added a little ascorbate C powder to after the tea had steeped for 10 minutes (to extract the most EGCG). This also gives the tea time to cool down so the kill doesn’t destroy all the vitamin C. I had two more of these throughout the day since I have read that you need to have 5-7 cups of green tea per day to realize the health benefits from green tea.

While I sipped my matcha tea I read another chapter of the book “Healing Through Exercise”. Well that was the plan when I started reading but I ended up finishing the book because I enjoyed it that much. My review is found at the end of this post.

Speaking of books here is the stack that arrived today. The top two are additional courses from “The Great Courses” this time on anatomy & physiology and stress. I am looking forward to getting into all of these but I need to plow through the library books first since they have a time frame to be returned.

Since our refrigerator was bare, well not bare but not well stocked either, I knew I needed to do a little cooking today, darn it. ;-) Our weather is still a little cool so I though soup would make a nice dinner to warm us up. Tomorrow we are going to DC for the screening of “Pig Business” so that means dinner out again poor me, LOL. It doesn’t look like there will be a lot of cooking happening this week at our house does it?

During the afternoon I made a pound of chickpeas in the pressure cooker. Half of those turned it fat free hummus and the other half went into a pot of soup that became dinner. The soup was very simple it has a tomato base, dried mushrooms (to boost our immune systems), onions, garlic, no-salt seasoning, mixed whole grains (from the Asian market the other day), frozen organic veggies (corn peas, carrots and green beans), paprika, lemon juice and lemon zest. Like normal I made a vat of soup so you will be seeing this turn up for a while in my meals.

Book Review: “Healing Through Exercise”

I picked this book up on a whim at the library and thoroughly enjoyed it. I read the entire book in two sittings. If you are looking for a reason to start or continue exercising you need to read this book. It is very motivational.

The book is categorized as follows:

1. The Healing Power of Exercise
2. The Dangers of Going to Bed
3. Unemployed Bodies, New Diseases
4. Walking Off Diabetes
5. Muscles and Metabolism
6. What the Heart Desires
7. Growing Bones
8. A Sporting Cure for Back Pain
9. Exercise and Brain Power
10. Lifting the Spirit
11. A Foundation of Youth in the Brain
12. Cancer: A Growing Case for Exercise
13. Longevity, Potency, and Resilience
14. Panacea for Every Day

You will not be surprised to hear that the first chapter I read was number 12. I had to go right to the issue that concerns me. Then I went back and read the book start to finish, rereading chapter 12. I found this book to be both motivatal and empowering and recommend you read it for that reason if no other. If you are familiar with Miriam Nelson “Strong Women Stay Young” and the studies at Tufts you will not be surprised to read that even people in their 80’s show tremendous physical improvement when they start exercising.

The author does a nice job of explaining the difference between different types of muscles (type-II-b and type-1) and the influence they have on our health as well as how to change your muscle composition.

Additionally the author discusses the impact exercise has on the following biomarkers:

• Basal Metabolic Rate
• Relative Body Fat
• Aerobic Capacity
• Blood Sugar Tolerance
• Bone Density
• Internal Temperature
• Cholesterol: Amount and Type
• Blood Pressure
• Biological Age

Regarding exercise and cancer there are a number so studies now that show that exercise not only improves the quality of life of those with cancer, extends life (by slowing progression), and reduces all cause mortality (death). I don’t know about you but that sounds like a wonderful reason to be active most days to me.

For those of you that are concerned about Alzheimer’s there is also research that suggests that exercise reduces cognitive decline (chapter 11). By combining cognitive and physical exercise you can delay or prevent the degenerative process in the brain.

There is similar research reference in the book that shows similar things for diabetes, those with heart disease, depression, back pain and osteoporosis. No surprise, exercise seems to be effective in preventing, reversing or delaying many of the chronic diseases of the Western World. This should not be surprising since those of us living in the Western World generally don’t get much exercise.

I enjoyed this book very much and I have added to my next Amazon list. I liked that there are 23 pages of endnotes most of them from scholarly journals. I love looking up the articles that sound interesting. Can you say health nut? LOL, yes that is a good description of me.

Overall this book is a good read and one that I think will encourage you to get up off the couch if you are sedentary or motivate those that already exercise to maybe do a little more moderate activity.

Happy thoughts:

I had another good day which mean I have many things to be happy about today:

• As crazy as this sounds I am grateful that I lost my desire to the standard American fare. I love that I can make myself a huge salad for breakfast and am completely content and well nourished. Sounds like a win-win to me.

• Today I am also grateful for a well stocked library. A girlfriend recommended the library to me a few years ago and I have been going regularly ever since. I have no idea why I stopped going to the library after grad school that was very foolish on my part. I love reading and the library saves me from buying as many books as I used to (shocking right). It is also wonderful to be able to check out exercise DVDs to preview before buying. We also like to check out movies and TV series.

• Our local PBS station MPT is having a pledge drive and just aired Dr. Barnard’s “Kick start Your Health” program; the same book I picked up at the library this past weekend. I was thrilled to see a “healthy” vegan diet gets mainstream exposure. Woo hoo!

• This evening I had a chance to talk to another blogger and thoroughly enjoyed myself. It is very nice to be able to put a voice to a face and a blog. There are lots of incredible people in the world if you look for them.

• I just adore my fur babies. Here is a picture of Masi today warming himself on the bed. I don’t have to tell you that the electric blanket was on meaning he was nice and toasty. All cats seem to like sleeping in a warm place.

Signing out:

My day has been a bit of a blur and tomorrow will be more hectic since our trip to DC that will turn into a late night. I may not have a post up tomorrow evening but I will try. I hope you had a great Tuesday. I will talk to you again either very late tomorrow or Thursday morning.

Monday Back to the Grind and Eating Out Again ;-)

Isn't this the cutest picture of our little baby boy Nicco (aka Binky)?  I know I am a proud cat mommy but I think my fur children are the most adorable babies particularly when they are being good.  ;-)

Monday started with a bit of whimper since neither of us slept well last night. When that happens we both decide to sleep in rather than head to the gym before work. Whenever we drink tea (or any liquid) too late, we are up once or twice in the night which doesn’t help either of us get good rest. I do know better and didn’t think I had made tea that late in the evening but apparently I did since the same thing happened to both of us. *shakes head* No matter how well you think you are doing there is always something that you can tweak. ;-) I wanted to mention this in case the same thing is happening to any of you. I find that if I stop consuming beverages two hours before bedtime that seems to be enough so that my sleep isn’t interrupted.

Temperatures were in the 30’s this morning which meant breakfast for Dan was a big bowl of hot oatmeal with wild blueberries (previously frozen), wheat germ, freshly ground flaxseed, cinnamon, powdered ginger, stevia and walnuts. When it is cold outside it is difficult to get enthused about something cold for breakfast. Not to mention that when I tried drinking smoothies or juice when it was cold I seemed to stay cold all day unless I had a mug of hot tea in my hands almost constantly. I think we all need to figure out what works for us. Personally I prefer to have most of my raw veg mid-day during the winter after my body has warmed up and the day is as warm as it is going to get. This is something that I found works for me after much trial and error. However I wanted to mention this in case you are struggling with eating more raw food but live in a cold climate.

I did some simple strength training at home this morning and a little gentle cardio to get my blood pumping without stressing my knee. Exercising alone works better for me when I need to take it easy. My competitiveness comes out when I exercise with others. Does this happen to anyone else?

My breakfast was leftover soup from last night topped with leftover salsa. I know not everyone eats soup for breakfast and I never did when I was an omni. However since giving up meat, dairy, and other standard American fare now I seem to be able to enjoy eating anything without regard to what time of day it is. When I get up in the morning I make myself what appeals to me at that time. ;-) Once I let go of my need to have breakfast food in the morning there were many more options that opened up for me. It may be unconventional but it works for me. ;-)

Knowing that we were going out to dinner tonight with Phil and Jeff I decided to take it easy today on the food and skipped lunch since I wasn’t hungry.

My father called mid-day and asked if I could make him some chutney. Do anyone else’s elderly parents have chutney emergencies? As much as they rail against my healthy vegan food when they need something it is nice that they acknowledge that I am a good cook. LOL, they are too funny aren’t they? Since this is vegan, though not the least bit healthy, I will tell you what I did. I used ½ a pineapple with its juice, about 2 cups dark raisins, ½ cup sugar, the juice and zest of one orange, I onion peeled and roughly chopped, cinnamon, cardamom, about an inch of fresh ginger that I grated and a dash of vanilla. I cooked this until the onions were tender and the syrup was thick.

During the afternoon I stumbled on a show on PBS called “The Amen Solution” by Daniel Amen, MD. Since it was diet related I watched for a little while. I was a little surprised that the diet was very similar to what I believe with the exception that it includes fish. There may be more things that are different but that was all I picked up in the half hour that I was watched. The thing that resonated with me was that he talked about how different diets work better for different people. While a vegan diet works well for both Dan and me I don’t think it will work for everyone. Don’t get me wrong I think that a whole food plant diet is extremely healthy but some people may be so unhappy eating the way we do that it would be detrimental for them in the end. Once I get through the current stack of books from the library I will pick this one up and let you know what I think of it.

Here in a short video and article about the chemistry of cooking. If you are like me and like Shirley Corriher you will enjoy this 2 minute video. Also Shirley has a few cookbooks you might want to check out. They aren’t vegan but she does explain the science behind cooking which is very useful information no matter how you cook.

As if we don’t need another reason to stay away from processed foods check out this article. It is not good news but I think it is better to know these things than to be uniformed. This is another example of why I am happy that I don’t eat processed food for any longer. Bleh :-P This particular article addresses omni processed foods but it also explains the negative impact of IGF-1 that I mention often. I hope you take a few minutes to read the article and pass it along to your omni friends and family.

Next it was time to go out for dinner. Dan picked up the guys, then me and we were off the restaurant. You all know where we went right? Yes of course Ian was cooking, LOL. This was why he was worrying about food on Saturday we had warned him that we were coming back on Monday. While he likes to have advance notice that we are coming in I sometimes think it isn’t good since he seems to over think things when he as too much time to think. I wish he would relax and just wing things for us but he doesn’t work that way since he is a perfectionist. Are you starting to see why I always feel like we put him out when we come in? It is so sweet that he caters to us but since it isn’t a vegan restaurant and he isn’t tremendously comfortable with cooking that way I feel like we are causing problems. I know I am as bad as Ian only over thinking things only in a different way. ;-)

Fortunately Jen is working tonight which is great since she knows how we operate. It is always nice to have someone that “gets us” since we aren’t typical customers. When I made reservations I checked on the availability of Phil’s beverage of choice (Dewar’s). Do any of you check on things like that when you make reservation or is it just me?

Dan and I started the evening with a pot of tea (green with hibiscus, pear and strawberry). I love the color of hibiscus tea and just recently read that hibiscus helps to lower blood pressure. 

Like usual Dan and I didn’t order instead the kitchen sent out things they had prepared for us.

The first course that came out was an antipasti plate of caponata, hummus, dill marinated artichokes, olives, roasted peppers and a chickpea salad with house made whole wheat flat bread. It was very tasty and filling

Our entrée was Szechuan tofu which we both love and haven’t had in many months.

Phil and Jeff had omni dishes and thoroughly enjoyed them as well. This is one of the reasons that we always end up at the same place is because all of us are happy, vegans and omnis alike.

True to form we had a good evening at the restaurant the food and company were both great. On days like today I have to pinch myself to see if this is really my life. Overall things are pretty darn good here and we are working on that one pesky health problem. ;-) If determination makes a difference we will get that under control too, at least that is our plan.

Happy Thoughts:

• It was very nice to wake up this morning and have no pain anywhere. Thank goodness the back and knee issues seem to be behind me for now. With a little luck I won’t don’t anything silly and reinjure myself. *fingers crossed*

• I attended a webinar this morning that started my week on the right note. Since Mondays are not my favorite day it is nice to have a giggle in the morning to start the week. It is good to have friends that look after you. Thank you LJ for making me smile!

• I loved seeing a doctor talk about nutrition today on PBS. It was comforting to me to hear a physician focus on whole food as a way to improve not just your weight but for brain health and mood. When the doctor was talking about the impact each of us have on the diet habits of others I could not help but smile. Seeing things like this in the mainstream is very encouraging.

• It also made me smile that my father realizes that I am good cook even though we don’t eat like he and my mom do. My father is not one to show emotion so this is about as close as I will get to approval. ;-)

• Dinner tonight with Phil and Jeff was very nice. It is such a shame that they live so far away. Both Dan and I enjoy spending time with them. I don’t think there was a 15 second gap in conversation all evening. That is truly the sign of good dinner conversation.

Signing Out:

Since we went out for dinner and stayed out too late I need to zip this up and turn in. I hope you had a good Monday too. Talk to you again tomorrow.

Happy, Happy Sunday!

Why would I be so happy on a dreary and rainy Sunday? Easy, I woke up with no back or knee pain this morning. I briefly considered a run to the gym then common sense kicked in and I knew I needed to take it easy for a few days to allow my knee to recover completely. Old age is good for something, sometimes it even results in an abundance of common sense. LOL

While Dan slept in this morning I skimmed the Crazy Sexy Cancer Survivor and Cancer Tips books that I took out of the library yesterday. I suspect that I may be adding these to my library too. I will keep you posted when I actually read them properly.

At one point this morning it was pouring rain, like we were going to be washed away by a flood. Good thing we live at the high point of the city so floods are not a problem here. However rain did put a damper on my plans. I was considering a trip to Alexandria, Virginia to stop at the Mediterranean Bakery for some hard to find provisions and maybe a little tourist activity down by the water. Being a girly girl had no desire to spend a lot of time in the rain all wet and messed up. Yes, I am a wimpy girl.

Breakfast this morning was a green smoothie for Dan: frozen banana, kale, wheat germ, freshly ground flaxseeds, cinnamon, powdered ginger, stevia, water and a touch of vanilla. When I asked Dan what he thought of the smoothie he said he liked it and asked what I had done differently... was there less kale. Why had he asked that? He said that the flavor was mellower and well rounded and I tend to agree with him. Clearly vanilla was a winner in Dan’s smoothie.

This morning when I made myself grapefruit and kale juice I also added vanilla extract to mine. Dan is right the flavor is more rounded and the aroma is nice if you like vanilla like we do. ;-)

Lunch was a huge salad, one of the ones that I make in a serving bowl. Can you ever have too many greens or vegetables? Seriously there is no such thing as too many veggies in my world. This salad contained: baby spinach, salsa, artichokes, orange bell pepper, cucumber, avocado, white chia seed and raw pumpkin seeds. It was delicious. Hard to imagine that I ever hated veggies isn’t it? LOL

Given that there is a huge rain system over most of the east coast of the US today our weather was not stupendous. We woke up to rain and it has been grey and rainy all day long. I have no problem admitting that I am a complete weather wimp. When it is rainy and dreary outside all I want to do is stay home drink hot tea, watch movies (or read) snuggled up in my favorite chair with a throw. Of course the felines had other plans namely they wanted the throws but two out of three isn’t bad right?

The latest book I have been reading from the library is “Healing Through Exercise” and is full of scholarly references which you know I love. I have not finished it yet but should be ready to write a review by Tuesday. So far I am really enjoying it and this may go on my next Amazon list. My poor husband it is no wonder he told me today that I need a book intervention. LOL

Since it was cold I thought a pot of soup might be nice to warm us up a little. This afternoon I pressure cooked a pound of black beans. Half I saved of the cooked beans for salad and to top sweet potatoes and the other half turned into soup. Here is what I did:

Spicy Black Bean Soup and Barley with Beer (I decided to go a little crazy)
Serves 4 hungry adults

Ingredients:

½ pound of black beans cooked until tender, and the cooking liquid (or 2 – 15 ounce cans of no salt added beans)
1 large yellow onion, peeled and finely diced (allow to stand 10 minutes before cooking)
8 cloves garlic, peeled and minced (allow to stand 10 minutes before cooking)
½ cup hulled barley (hulled is more nutritious than pearled)
12 ounce bottle of your favorite beer
2 cups peeled diced tomatoes (or 14 ounce can)
2 chipotles in adobo, minced
1 teaspoon oregano, dried
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine everything and simmer until the veggies are soft and the barley is the texture you like. This should take about 45 minutes. Stir it occasionally since it will try to stick. You may need to add a little water if it gets too thick while it is cooking.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 360.04
Calories From Fat (3%) - 10.72

Total Fat - 1.28g
Saturated Fat-  0.3g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 28.96mg
Potassium - 1295.34mg
Total Carbohydrates - 67.85g
Fiber - 20.32g
Sugar - 5.45g
Protein - 16.72g

Comments:

The flavor of this was very good but honestly the beer was unnecessary since it didn’t come through at all in the final flavor. I finished this soup with a simple fresh salsa of cucumber, grape tomatoes, lime zest, lime juice and fresh cilantro. This soup is a little spicy however it was fine for Dan and me; it would have been out of the question for anyone that doesn’t like heat.

Dinner was a bowl and a half of soup leaving one bowl leftover for lunch tomorrow.

Cancer Survivors and Lifestyle:

This is the sort of article that simultaneously makes me happy and frustrates me. It says that better nutrition and exercise habits will help cancer survivors and yet they are not doing either. *sigh* I wish more doctors understood the power of nutrition. If there were one thing I could change about allopathic medicine in the US it would be that. When a cancer patient asks you what they can do to help their chances please stop saying “nothing”. Maybe if doctors gave patients something to do, like focusing on their lifestyle habits (diet and exercise), we would have better outcomes….Just my two cents.

Happy thoughts:

In spite of the rainy Sunday it was a good day at our house. Here are my happy thoughts today:

• It was lovely to spend the entire weekend with Dan. We had a good time both on Saturday and Sunday though they were very different types of days. Saturday was a lot of running around and Sunday was spent at home taking it easy.

• How nice it was to be able to stay home on Sunday and stay out of the rain. I am not fond of rainy weather and anytime I can avoid going out in it I am a happy girl.

• Since we were “stuck at home” that left time for frivolous activities like watching episodes of “Top Gear” that Dan had recorded. If anyone had tried to tell me that I would be laughing out loud watching this I would have thought them crazy. However it is so stupid that is funny if that makes any sense. Sometimes nonsense is all you are in the mood for and this show fits the bill.

• Most important look what I found on Saturday, the first crocus of the season. It is starting to look a lot like spring to me. Woo hoo!

Signing out:

I hope you had as nice a weekend as we did. With a little luck both Dan and I will be back to the gym early tomorrow morning. Talk to you all again tomorrow.

Funniest Bumper Sticker I Have Seen and Eating Out

I hated being a bummer on my blog yesterday I was not feeling the love if you know what I mean. Sometimes it is difficult to have a blog when you aren’t feeling particularly chipper.

Saturday I got up much earlier than Dan and my knee was still hurting. *ugh* My answer was to take a long hot soak and read for a while since the heat yesterday helped my knee. The heat seemed to help a little but the ibuprofen was much more helpful as much as I dislike taking pills I was popping them early in the morning. But this story ends much better than it started.

Breakfast today was Dan’s favorite green smoothie which contained: kale, frozen bananas, walnuts, wheat germ, freshly ground flaxseeds, cinnamon, powdered ginger, stevia and water. He really does love his green smoothie and it still shocks me that he does. LOL

I had my new favorite grapefruit and kale juice that I detailed here. If you like grapefruit juice this tastes basically the same only with a heck of a lot more nutrition. I can see me having a lot of these as long as grapefruit is in season. I know this doesn’t look like much of a breakfast but I had 4 glasses like the one pictured. ;-)

After breakfast we decided that this weekend we were going to take a break from my parents. Dan didn’t want me to spend a lot of time rushing around or standing in the kitchen cooking since my knee was bothering me. Instead we decided to have a nice leisurely weekend with a few errands that weren’t essential but are more fun. Of course some of these errands were food related because we all know I get such pleasure out of anything that involves food. I realize most people don’t enjoy food shopping but I love it.

Before we headed out to run errands I made us both a huge salad. This one contained: baby spinach, cold leftover multi-whole grain from yesterdays dinner, salsa, artichokes, tomato, yellow pepper, avocado and white chia seeds. Nothing fancy just healthy food but it still tasted great, IMO.

We started at the library because as you all know I am pretty much always reading. Pictured above is the stack I brought home today. How I find time to read all this stuff is beyond me but somehow I manage to make it happen.

As I left the library I saw this fabulous bumper sticker and could not stop laughing. After we took the books to the car I went back to take a photograph and the driver was in the car. I walked up to the driver’s window to ask where they got the bumper sticker and was shocked to see a mid 50 to 60 year old man with short hair in a sweater and khakis driving the car. He was very pleasant and told me where he bought it. You could have knocked me over with a feather. This interaction absolutely made my day. Isn’t it funny how some things are just nothing like you expected? I was certain the car belonged to someone in their 20’s and I wasn’t even close. ;-)

Next we stopped at Baltimore Coffee and Tea to pick up provisions. The coffee smelled so it was calling my name. However I only bought 4 bags of different teas (herbal and green) took those to the register and headed out. There really is nothing like the smell of freshly brewed coffee though. If we had been in there much longer I might have broken down and purchased a cup of coffee.

Next we went to the Asian market across town (HMart). Driving the parking lot is practically taking your life into your hands. The store isn’t much better as you get run into often. *shakes head* However it is worth it since I find things that I can’t get anywhere else. I picked up some great stuff like always.

Organic multi whole grains which I love. This is the same stuff I used in our salad today.

Organic mixed beans which I also like a lot.

I even found some organic buckwheat noodles with green tea and my favorite dried black fungus mushrooms which I love but Dan isn’t as thrilled with.

Doesn’t Dan look like he is ready to get out of the store? I had to take his picture to capture that look on his face.   See why I say it is no fun to live with me and my cell phone camera?  LOL

We decided it was best to have Ian make dinner tonight since I wasn’t home to prep anything.

The guys (Ian and Will) came up with a few things for us tonight like they always do. We are getting too accustomed to showing up and eating whatever they decide to send out for us. What would we do if we actually had to select something from the menu? LOL

We started the evening with our usual pot of tea. This time it was green tea mixed with hibiscus, pear and strawberry.

The first plate that came out was a Middle Eastern flavored chickpeas with arugula, whole wheat croutons and crispy flatbread (for texture). This was very filling and tasty. The cumin gave it a heady aroma that I adore.

Here is a picture of Dan playing with his phone during dinner. Who says kids are the only ones that fool around with technology during dinner? LOL

Dan had requested pizza tonight which is what we had next. This is an appetizer pizza with wilted spinach, apple, almond, raisin and olives. I loved the sweet and salty combination it was a very nice pizza.

The next dish was a super thin crispy pizza with red onion marmalade, roasted red peppers, olives and garlic. Since I love crispy bread this was perfect. It was so thin it was almost a cracker which I thought was fabulous.

We got full before we could get to plate number four. :-(

Ian was in rare from tonight. He was lamenting that we aren’t eating cheese since he had homemade ravioli today. He really is too cute sometimes. You would think he would be used to us eating this way by now but I think he always hopes we are going to go back to our evil ways. I don’t see that every happening but I guess he can dream.

It was a good day and a very nice dinner.

Happy thoughts:

Wow, where to I start today? I have so many things to be happy for that I am just going to hit the highlights:

• I have not had an ibuprofen in over 10 hours and my knee is almost 100%. If I weren’t worrying about reinjuring it I would be doing the happy dance. I am very lucky that my knee was nothing serious.

• It was great to spend time with Dan even it was running errands. We always have a good time no matter what we are doing. The bumper sticker had me giggling most of the day.

• I picked up some great stuff at the library today that I can’t wait to read. There are some many books and so little time. However that is a great problem to have in my opinion.

• Our trip to the Asian market was very productive. I will share more the fun things that I found when I use. I love going to ethnic markets since they always have things that you don’t see at your regular grocery store.

• Dinner out was wonderful as usual. I never get tired of seeing everyone, getting hugs, spending time in the kitchen and talking. We are so fortunate to have somewhere that we can go where they cater to us for some unknown reason. ;-)

Signing out:

Time for me to start winding down for the evening. We may head to northern Virginia tomorrow for more ethnic food shopping if we get moving early enough. I hope all of you are having a wonderful weekend. Talk to you again soon.

Spicy Lemon Marinated Mushrooms and Asian Walnut Sauce

Sorry I bailed on you yesterday. I pulled a muscle in my back Wednesday night and now my knee is bothering me again.  Something tells me this just hasn't been my week.  I am happy to see it end because I know next week must be better. ;-)

Needless to say I am cranky and not exactly up beat at the moment and decided to keep my grouchiness to myself yesterday. I expected to feel much better today and while my back is better my knee is worse. What I wouldn’t give to be in my 30’s again rather than getting dangerously close to the big 50. *shudders* I finally gave in and called my pharmacist buddy late this afternoon and started taking ibuprofen for my knee which means I feel better though not 100%. *shakes head*

Given my fussiness I have not been doing much exciting in the kitchen. There has been lots of stuff in the Vitamix, savory and sweet oatmeal, salads and other very quick meals. Sorry I didn’t even feel up to photographing many of them but I assure you that you didn’t miss anything. I was eating to fuel myself without thinking of anything more.

The last two evenings I did make something that resembled a meal since I felt sorry for Dan. The first meal was a BBQ baked tofu, roasted sweet potato fries with black pepper and Eden Shake, and spicy lemon marinated mushrooms. The mushrooms were very simple and I didn’t measure but can describe what I did. I roasted the mushrooms briefly to allow them to absorb the marinade. The marinade was lemon zest, lemon zest, chili garlic sauce, grated garlic and water to taste. I tossed the mushrooms in the liquid and allowed them to sit in it in the refrigerator for a few hours. To serve, drain the mushrooms of the excess liquid.

The other dinner I made was brown rice topped with veggies and walnut, ginger miso sauce. The veggies were quickly cooked onion, garlic, broccoli, carrot and shitake mushrooms. I cooked the onions and garlic first in a little water then added the remaining veggies and cooked until the broccoli was just tender. Remember the broccoli is most nutritious if cooked briefly. The walnut sauce was very simple and made entirely in the Vitamix. I combined walnuts, water, fresh ginger, fresh garlic and a small amount of white miso. Start with a little water since you can always add more if necessary. Blend until the mixture is completely smooth and the consistency you like, which may require you to add a little more water. To serve top the rice with the veggies then sauce and end with few black and white sesame seeds with dried ginger on the top.

Happy Thoughts:

This is a tough section to write today but I am sure that means it is more important for me to write than usual so here goes:

• I laughed my way through “The Hip Chick’s Guide to Macrobiotics”. I swear the author must also be a comedienne. Not only did a get a lot of giggles but I also learned quite a bit at the same time. If you are looking for something to entertain you on your commute to work I highly recommend looking for this at your local library. I thought it was very entertaining.

• Is it possible to hear or read anything on macrobiotics and not come away thinking that you don’t chew enough? I don’t think it is. But I have known I long time that I eat too quickly and now I am inspired to work on that. It is good to have these little reminders in life that there is always more that can be done to live a more healthy life.

• Since I had a lot of time on my butt the last two days *sigh* I used my time constructively. I spent quite a bit of time on Amazon which means ….. there are five more books coming. ;-) You all know I never have enough to read right? Two of the books I ordered were on macrobiotics since I was so inspired by the book on CD. I don’t expect to convert to macrobiotics but if there is anything that I can learn from that philosophy I am open to it. I will keep you in the loop on this one.

• I also found time to search the library website and now I have 24 additional books in my queue to be requested. As much as I read you would think I would run out of things to check out but somehow that never happens. Reading and learning makes me very happy. ;-)

• I am very fortunate to have a number of very good friends. Not only can I call my pharmacist friend and ask questions but he checks up on me to see how I am doing. It is a nice feeling to have such wonderful friends. Thank you Louis!

• Today I have been listening to “The Shadow Effect” and it is enlightening. It has given me a lot of things to think about. If you enjoyed philosophy class in college as I did I think you will enjoy this book on CD. It is always good to have time to contemplate life and how our actions shape our relationships.

• I am very happy that Dan has gone to the gym in the morning last few days without me. It is nice one of us feels up to it.  ;-)

• There was a lovely sunset tonight with varying shades of blue and grey. I love to watch the sun rise and set and the beautiful colors and shapes that nature paints across the sky.

Signing out:

I am going to sign off and get soak in a hot tub to help my knee feel better. I hope you had a much better last few days than I have. With a little luck I will be back tomorrow with another post. Wish me luck!

Tuesday’s Food and Film Screening News

I have been really busy this week and I am not sure why, LOL. Of course we are still eating healthy. You didn’t think that I let that slide did you? No matter how busy I am we still NEED our healthy food and exercise.

Breakfast:

Breakfast for Dan was another green smoothie and contained the usual suspects: kale, frozen bananas, walnuts, wheat germ, freshly ground flaxseeds, cinnamon, powdered ginger, stevia and water. It makes me so happy that my hubby has embraced our new healthy lifestyle. I am thankful that my husband goes along with what I want to do in terms of nutrition.

After I exercised I made myself another grapefruit and kale juice like yesterday. That juice tastes great and is good for you. At the moment it is my favorite breakfast. Being fickle I will change my mind again but right now I can’t get enough of it.

Lunch:

Needless to say you will not be surprised to find out that I had my usual orange and two Brazil nuts, LOL. I need to make certain that I get my selenium. ;-) Later in the day I also grabbed myself a banana with homemade reduced fat peanut butter, two prunes, an apple and walnuts which I did not photograph.  I seemed to be in a fruit and nut mode mid-day.  What is up with that I wonder?

Dinner:

Since I had not planned dinner (nothing new there right?) we had an enormous salad for our evening meal. This one contained baby spinach, pinto beans, salsa, cucumber, red cabbage, cabbage, carrot, cilantro, avocado and chia seeds. This doesn’t look like a big salad but actually it was huge, in a serving bowl in fact. I don’t think it is really possible to have too much salad in your life. ;-)

Happy Thoughts:

While I had a busy day I also had a good one. Here are my happy thoughts:

• Two days in a row I had chance to talk with other bloggers on the phone. I am grateful for the good friends that I have made in the blogging world. It is wonderful to have friends that are healthy vegans. You ladies keep me inspired and focused on making good choices every day.

• I spent some time today cleaning and organizing. Two tasks that are not my favorite but is always good to make progress on my to-do list. I am most thankful that I have a few items crossed off my list. LOL

• Today I started listening to “The Hip Chick's Guide to Macrobiotics” on CD. So far it is cute, funny and informative. I like to listen to audio books while I do other things like cook or clean. I get the books from the library and find them to be a nice change to playing music in the background.

• The sun was out today and our temperatures reached the mid 60s. It is great knowing the winter is mostly behind us now.  Woo hoo!

• Dan and I are planning to attend the DC screening of “Pig Business” on March 9. Dr. Greger is going to be taking part in the panel discussion after the film and I am looking forward to that. It is so sweet of Dan to take a half day off to go with me. He knows I am not fond of driving particularly in DC.

Signing out:

Time for us to wind down for the day in order to be awake at 5am. I hope you had a great Wednesday. We are over half way to the weekend. Woo hoo! Talk to you again tomorrow.

Grapefruit and Kale Juice and Other Monday Eats

For some reason neither Dan nor I slept well Sunday night. No surprise that meant that we slept in rather than going to the gym. I exercised after Dan left for work and he exercised at the office before coming home. We both worked out just not together or before dawn.

Breakfast:

Dan was happy to have his favorite green smoothie for breakfast which included: kale, frozen bananas, wheat germ, freshly ground flaxseeds, cinnamon, powdered ginger, walnuts, water, and stevia.

Breakfast was inspired by Laura’s comment on yesterday’s post. I loved this so much I also had it Tuesday for breakfast. Here is what I did:

Grapefruit and Kale Juice
Serves 1

Ingredients:

1 ruby red grapefruit, peeled and seeded
4 organic kale leaves and stems
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
small piece of fresh ginger (peel if not organic and young otherwise just clean well)
¼ teaspoon powdered ginger
2 ½ cups water
2 tablespoons wheat germ
1 tablespoon golden flaxseeds, freshly ground

Directions:

Place everything in your blender and process until smooth. Serve in a frozen glass or over ice.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 321.9
Calories From Fat (20%) - 62.89

Total Fat - 7.33g
Saturated Fat - 0.89g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 112.61mg
Potassium - 1404.86mg
Total Carbohydrates - 59.5g
Fiber - 13.4g
Sugar - 17.01g
Protein - 14.13g

Comments:

This tastes predominantly like grapefruit juice but with the added nutrition of raw kale.  Woo Hoo! What a winner this combination is! Thank you Laura for the inspiration as you can tell I loved your citrus suggestion!

Lunch:

Since Monday was a grey and rainy day I decided to have 2 medium bowls leftover split pea soup from the weekend for my lunch. I needed something to warm up a little given the weather. Instead of taking another picture I used the one from the weekend. ;-)

Snack:

No surprise I had my usual snack of an orange and two Brazil nuts. What am I going to do when it is no longer prime citrus season? ;-)

Dinner:

For dinner I made a quick pot of curried tomato sauce which I added mushrooms and broccoli to and served that over quinoa and topped with cashews. I like to combine broccoli with tomatoes since learning that when they are combined the phytonutrients in both are more bioavailable. Since Dan was very late coming home I had a small serving before bed so it didn’t keep my up.  Dan's serving was about three times this size.  I made extra to put in Dan's lunch on Tuesday.

Happy Thoughts:

Tuesday was a good day, a little busy but still good. Here are my happy thoughts:

• It was nice to wake up to blue skies this morning after our day of rain on Monday. It is a shame that was a little on the cool side by the sunshine was very welcome and brightened my mood.

• Today I spent a little time organizing and now have an excel spreadsheet of all my exercise and health DVDs as well as my Wii health games. I knew I had too many DVDs when I brought home an exercise DVD that I already own but hadn’t used lately. LOL *shakes head* Sometimes I need a wrap on the side of the head to do things like cataloging my DVDs.

• Our friend Phil is going to be in town next week which means dinner out. ;-) I found out today that Walid, and possibly his lovely wife Jackie, will also be joining the group. Sounds like a party to me. It is fun to get together with friends for dinner. There really is nothing like a gathering on a work night to put a smile on my face. Somehow things like this make weekdays seem less daunting.

• I had a chance to chat on the phone with a blogger friend today. It is really nice to be able to put a voice with the face. I love making new friends don’t you? It is even better when those friends are as concerned about health and nutrition as you are. I think having health conscious friends helps me to stay on the appropriate nutritional path.

• Isn’t this a great picture of the sunrise?  I took it a few weeks ago and forgot to share it with you.  As you may have noticed I love to take pictures particularly of nature. Mother Nature really can put on a show can’t she?

Signing Out:

I am running a bit late today getting my post written and making dinner. Sorry this post was a little short I ran out of time but didn’t want to skip a day like I did far too many times this year. I hope Tuesday was a good one for you. Enjoy what is left of your evening. Talk to you again tomorrow.