Gorgeous Spring Flowers and Veggie Stir "UnFry"

I took pictures of the pretty spring flowers while we were outside today staying active. I love spring and particularly when the bulbs start to bloom. There is something very comforting about the rebirth of nature. It makes it feel like all is right with the world.

There was a little bad news on the scale this morning, it was up 2 pounds for me. *ugh* I am fairly certain this is due to water retention from having more sodium than normal but I decided to take it easy on the food today just in case.

Dan had a kale and banana smoothie for breakfast this morning. I opted to skip breakfast given the unfriendly scale and the fact that I really wasn’t hungry in the morning. ;-)

We decided to go for a walk around through the neighborhood before we did much else. It was a gorgeous morning but a little cold (45 degrees). However there were a lot of people out doing the same thing we were, getting their blood pumping. I took a few pictures to give you more of a flavor of the things I see every day.

The neighborhood is old, the houses are generally very different from each other and the streets aren’t straight. However it does have old world charm which I love, when we aren’t having plumbing issues that is. ;-)  I know many of you live in the middle of the country where the land is very flat. It isn't like that here at all. One of the things I love about this part of town is the 100+ year old oak trees that are every where.

While we were out we took time to talk, about everything and nothing like we always do. There is something very special about being married to someone that knows all your secrets and the things you would never anyone else. My husband even knows exactly what I weigh. We really have no secrets. Do any of you share things like your weight with your husband?

My mother dropped a bomb on me regarding food. She didn’t want me to make beans since they are hard for her to digest. I tried to explain that they are difficult to digest because her diet is otherwise low in fiber and that was the problem. I got that look, you know the one it said very clearly that she thought I had no idea what I was talking about. When I tried to explain that we eat beans every day and very frequently twice a day she got annoyed. I agreed to use beans as a condiment but not to eliminate them from all the meals they have with us. I suspect she may have been trying to get me to add meat to your food but that isn’t going to happen. Needless to say I found it difficult to come up with ideas for lunch today with beans basically off the table. *sigh* Can my mother throw any more roadblocks up to improving her health? That was a rhetorical question, I do know the answer. *argh*

I ended up making a simple veggie stir fry (no oil) with very little soy sauce since she is also suppose to be on a low sodium diet. Not that she actually eats a low sodium diet but she thinks she does because she doesn’t read labels. How anyone can think saltine crackers and canned soup are low sodium is completely beyond me. *rolls eyes* Okay enough whining from me on that topic. Let’s get back to something much more pleasant.

After lunch Dan and I went back outside for a little more exercise. Our neighborhood has a lot of walkers and joggers so you run into someone you know very often. Today we saw Sheila and Kyle coming back from the train museum. They live up the street and saw us on the sidewalk and stopped for a few minutes. Since Sheila and I normally communicate by email or phone it was good to see her. It is amazing how fast little ones grow. Every time I see Kyle he looks so much older.

Once Dan and I got back home we watched the last two episodes of “Criminal Minds” during which time Dan had a snack, leftovers from yesterday’s late lunch with my parents. Are you starting to see the patterns? ;-)

I had no idea what to make for dinner so we decided to have a huge salad, like usual in serving bowls. These salads contained: baby spinach, cilantro, salsa, chickpeas salad (from yesterday), artichoke hearts, bell peppers, cucumber, avocado and raw pumpkin seeds. Nothing fancy just healthy whole food.

We are planning to get into bed early tonight so that we can be up at 5am tomorrow to head for the gym. Otherwise we have decided to exercise together before and after work for at least 20 minutes morning and evening to keep everything moving and limber. Of course more would be better but we thought an easy minimum was a good place to start so that even when Dan is swamped we can reach our minimum together.

Happy thoughts:

Other than the plumbing issue it was a good weekend. Here are my happy thoughts:

• Sunday was nice since we got to spend it together. We both enjoyed having time outside and being able to chat while also being active.

• I am happy that we have a backup exercise/activity plan for those days when we aren’t up at 5am. It is definitely better to have a plan than to wing it.

• It was very nice to go out to dinner on Friday and Saturday though I paid the price today on the scale. At least I know it is temporary and those 2 pounds will be gone by Tuesday of this week. Sometimes growing older, and wiser, has its advantages.

• Also I am happy that as I have gotten older I can see why people behave badly and not take it personally. In the past I would wonder what I had done but now I realize what is actually happening. Many people find it easier to criticize or put down someone else than to acknowledge their own shortcomings. I can only hope that everyone will one day be at peace with themselves and others. That would be a nice world wouldn’t it? ;-)

• I picked up a few good books from the library this weekend that I am looking forward to reading. I will share the specifics with you tomorrow. I love reading which means having more books in the house always makes me happy.

• Emily (from the restaurant) put a big smile on my face Friday night which I forgot to mention previously. She wants to improve her health and is looking for suggestions. Of course I am happy to help and even more happy that she felt comfortable enough to talk to me about it. I think there is nothing better than to be an inspiration to others.  :-)

• I am also thankful for my precious little fur babies. I might be biased but I think they are adorable. ;-)

Signing out:

Time for me to wind down for the day. Given that we have been up past 1am the last two nights getting to bed early enough to be up a 5am will be tough tonight. I hope you had a wonderful weekend. With a little luck I will have time for the tutorial on how to make your own tofu tomorrow. Enjoy what is left of your weekend.

Saturday Means Plumbing Issues … and Antipasti

Doesn’t it just seem like all our plumbing issues happen over the weekend. I promise that we really do use water other days of the week. ;-) I will get to the details on this situation later in the post. *rolls eyes* Needless to say the timing on the running water was not conducive to getting things accomplished around here.

Our morning started out like any other Saturday. We slept in like always throwing us off of schedule. So much for us getting up early. Oh well, there is always tomorrow to try get back on schedule. I suppose that would require us to get into bed before 1:30am. LOL

Breakfast was one of our usual meals. Dan had oats with: wild blueberries (from the freezer), wheat germ, freshly ground flax seeds, cinnamon, ginger, stevia and topped with walnuts.

Since it was oatmeal day I opted for savory oatmeal which I made with: nutritional yeast, cumin, paprika, no-salt seasoning, broccoli, salsa and raw pumpkin seeds. I really do love savory oatmeal in case you hadn’t noticed. ;-)

We both started drinking green tea so that we reached our goal of 6 mugs per day. After reading that you need 5-7 mugs per day for health reasons we set a goal of 6 mugs which we also have with a little ascorbate C (powdered vitamin C) to enhance the EGCG we absorb.

Next it was time to start thinking about the mid-afternoon meal with my parents. For some reason I was being extremely indecisive today so I opted for antipasti/mezze/tapas whatever you would like to call it. Here is the list of dishes I decided to make:

Chickpea Salad (made with lemon zest, lemon juice, raw onion, rehydrated dried tomatoes, cumin, coriander and fresh cilantro)
Artichokes and Dill
Green Bean and Potato Salad with Basil Cashew Crème (the cashew crème was raw cashews, nutritional yeast, Dijon, water and basil from the freezer) and topped with walnuts

Cucumber slices (for dipping)
Raw Pepper strips (for dipping)
Carrot sticks (for dipping)

Hummus (made with sesame seeds, lemon zest, lemon juice, the water used to rehydrate the tomatoes, garlic, cumin and paprika)

Spinach Salad with Lemon Juice and Lemon Zest

When I was mostly finished prepping the meal I heard an odd whooshing sound as the sink drained. It turned  out that the nut on the drain pipe broke and the water drained into my lower cabinet and through the floor to the ceiling below. Happy, happy, joy, joy! *ugh* Once we got the water cleaned up which took much longer than you would expect Dan was off to the hardware store for an inexpensive part to fix the problem. We both have our fingers crossed that the ceiling below is fine. *sigh*

Don’t you just love old houses? LOL, yeah me too ... sometimes I love them and other times I am wondering why I love them. Oh well I suppose if I were 115 years old I would be showing my age too. ;-)

As you can imagine the meal with my parents was quite delayed by this fiasco. I got in touch with my parents right after the whoosh and expected them to say they would see us tomorrow instead but they opted to wait and eat with us later. Huh? Could they actually be starting to enjoy my food? That can’t be it … there must be some other motivation. LOL

Everyone liked the antipasti meal, it must be an Italian thing we all seem to like to nibble. The dish that was the most popular seemed to be the green bean and potato with basil cashew crème and walnuts.

After the mess in the kitchen today all I wanted to do was get out of the house. Gee I wonder why? We talked about going back to the restaurant to have a pot of green tea at the bar and talk to everyone but couldn’t get moving early.

Since we ate lunch so late we weren’t exactly hungry later in the day. After going out to eat yesterday I was content to skip a meal but Dan needed the calories and I know you have already guessed what that means. … yep, we went back to the restaurant for the second night in a row. David was working this evening for the first time in at least 2 years (long story) so we thought it would be nice to see him which it was. David is vegan so we had a lot to chat about. Not to mention we wanted to hear what he had been up to. Yes it really is like one big family at the restaurant and we are part of the clan which yoy probably assumed.

We didn’t walk in the door of the restaurant until 9pm but we know the kitchen is open until 10 on the weekend so we thought we were okay, and we were. Ian had already left when we got there but Will was working and greeted us with “why didn’t you let me know you were coming I would have made something.” Of course everything we had for dinner was great even though the kitchen had no warning.

Will wanted to know what we were in the mood for and Dan asked for a small pizza with a few toppings. This one contained red bell pepper, garlic, onion, fresh basil, and balsamic glaze. Dan ate the entire pizza because I didn’t the need the calories, but he enjoyed it.

Next Will brought us out a dish he was working on for tomorrow to get our thoughts on it since it was vegan. He told us he tried garbanzos and snow together earlier in the day and liked the combination which was the start of the dish. In his first incarnation the dish was: garbanzos, snow peas, baby arugula, roasted red pepper, raw red onion with a dressing of sriracha, lime and toasted sesame oil. I suggested fresh cilantro and black sesame seeds but otherwise thought it was spot on. I will admit I ate most of this and thoroughly enjoyed it. So much for I didn’t need the calories. What happened to that idea? LOL

When we looked at the special’s menu we noticed that Ian had taken my suggestion and added lentils to the crispy potato and pea dish. We had to try the revised version and I will say I liked the addition of the lentil and was very excited that Ian had taken my suggestion. ;-) The cilantro dipping sauce on this was fabulous.  Ian makes the best sauce and that always makes a dish.

Like always we ordered a couple of pots of green tea to accompany our meal.

Since Will is meeting with Jose Andres next week I brought my copy of El Bulli 2003, 2004 for him to get familiar with before the meeting. Will is the only person I know that gets into the foams and spherifications like I do so I had to share. He had that same look on his face I did when Dan gave me the books for Christmas. All food geeks are the same I suppose.  If you are interested in molecular gastronomy you will really enjoy these books I know I did.

It was another late night for us but like always we had a good day plumbing fiasco aside.

Happy thoughts:

Well, this will be fun today since it hasn’t been the best day around here, but let’s see what I can come up with:

• Dinner last night was delicious, the company was wonderful which includes Dan and everyone at the restaurant many of who stopped to sit and chat. We are extremely fortunate to have some place where we can go and get vegan meals that is within walking distance.

• Dan and I had a nice relaxing Saturday morning together. We talked, sipped tea and enjoyed each other’s company until it was time for me to begin prepping the meal with my parents.

• I am very thankful that my husband is extremely handy and had the plumbing issue resolved in less than 10 minutes after returning from the hardware store. Now we just need things to dry out and we will be back to normal. Things could have been much worse than they were.

• Everyone enjoyed the meal of antipasti/mezze today. This seems to be a great way to serve a group of people with different tastes in food. I need to do this more often now that I have realized how well it works for my parents. It makes me happy when my omnivore parents eat multiple plates of food.

• It was extremely nice to put our feet up and relax after my parents left. There was a little too much excitement this afternoon but that made relaxing that much better.

• I am also grateful to have the entire weekend with my sweetie, unlike last weekend. I love spending time with my baby.

• As strange as this will sound I am also grateful to Dr. Fuhrman. When I noticed that the pollen count is high here I was surprised since I don’t have a running nose, itchy eyes or sinus pressure. Before reading “Eat to Live” and embarking on a healthy vegan diet I always had horrible allergies. I took Sudafed from March to November most of my life. After a few months as a healthy vegan my seasonal allergies disappeared and they never came back. Every year when I realize that the pollen is high and I am not reacting to it I am still surprised. Woo hoo for Dr. Fuhrman; I feel so much better eating this way it is hard to describe. Thank you for writing the book that literally changed my life. I am so thankful to be on no medications (including over the counter) and feeling better than I did in my 20’s. I think you are a miracle worker.

• It was great to see David tonight. He is such a great guy and always great to talk to. Hopefully he can help us nudge Ian into a few more vegan dishes on the menu. Slowly but surely we may make headway with the chef. *fingers crossed*

• The look on Will’s face was priceless when he was looking through the first El Bulli. I loved watching him with the first book. Not to mention I can’t wait to see what he comes up with after going through the books. It is wonderful to share my love of cooking and food with others.

Signing out:

As you have probably guessed it was another hectic day for us. I am hoping for a boring Sunday. I hope your Saturday was good.

My plan for Sunday is to have time to thoroughly document how to make tofu. I intend to make another batch on Sunday and photograph the steps to make thing very clear. Talk to you again very soon.

Beautiful Evening for Dinner Alfresco

Sorry for the mostly picture post. It was a hectic day, like all Fridays. However unlike most days this one had the most amazing weather with temperatures in the upper 70’s. Since "our restaurant" had the patio open you know where we went for dinner right?

Here is our evening.

It started with this bottle of Brunello since we were celebrating the opening of the patio. ;-) Come on, opening the patio is a sure sign of spring and something to be celebrated.  Not to mention it was the first day of sandals and that is very important. We shared the Brunello with everyone, like always. ;-)

There were many others on the patio tonight but none of the regulars.

Like usual the guys had made things for us so that we didn’t have to order from the menu.

We started with a salad of baby spinach, Asian pear, cucumber, red onion and tarragon infused vinegar.

Then there was a crispy potato and pea pastry.

This was followed by the most beautiful sesame crusted tofu over jasmine rice and a salad of scallions, carrots, cucumbers, shitake mushrooms, wakame and a spicy Thai dressing. Ian is good too good to us.

We were still hungry and asked for a pizza.

Stephanie (our server) made us a whole pizza with arugula and tomato dressed with lemon and truffle oil.

Ian made us a roasted veggie pizza with pesto.

After all this food we were full. Gee, I wonder why? LOL

Here is the restaurant which we clearly had closed down like we often do. Good thing they like us here since when we come in we stay a long time.

Sorry for the short post. I should be able to get caught up tomorrow. I hope you had as nice a Friday as we did. Talk to you tomorrow, or I should say later today. ;-)

Creamy Mushroom and Tomato Soup

Wednesday was another slow morning at our house though not nearly as slow as Tuesday thankfully. I think the change of seasons is having an impact on our sleeping patterns but I am not sure what is causing the problem.

Breakfast for both of us was kale today. Dan had his favorite kale and banana smoothie.

I had grapefruit juice with kale one of my new favorite breakfast foods.

Lunch was a bowl or anasazi beans from the prior day over quinoa.

Once it was time to make dinner I realized that we hadn’t had mushrooms in a few days. I knew I needed to rectify this situation immediately and decided to make soup with a lot of mushrooms. Before I realized we needed mushrooms I was thinking of cream of tomato soup and decided to combine the two into one soup. When I cook I always start with the base and then flavor the soup depending on what mood I am in. This soup seemed as though it needed a little Dijon to add a spark of flavor to the background. Additionally I also added thyme since that plays well with mushroom and tomato. If you don’t have raw cashews on hand you can use walnuts instead. Also if you want a more creamy soup you can add more nuts and oats. Here is what I did:

Creamy Mushroom and Tomato Soup
Serves 4 or 2 really hungry adults

Ingredients:

4 cups dried shitake mushrooms that have been rinsed
6 cups water to soak the mushrooms
2 medium yellow onions, peeled and thinly sliced (about 4 cups)
8 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced
1 quart (32 ounces) peeled, diced tomatoes (I used no salt)
½ cup raw cashews (combine with the dry oats in your blender and process into “flour”)
¼ cup oats
Dijon mustard, to taste (I used approximately one heaping tablespoon)
dried thyme, to taste (I used approximately one teaspoon)
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Combine the dried mushrooms and water and bring to boil. Allow the mushrooms to steep (soak) in the hot liquid until they are tender (at least 30 minutes). Removed the mushrooms from the soaking liquid and give them a rough chop if the brand you purchased is too large for your taste. Some people like the mushrooms to be in perfect whole slices (Alicia) others (Dan) prefer them cut small. ;-) Either way it will still taste the same.

Place the mushrooms in a large soup pot. Strain the mushroom soaking liquid through a fine wine strainer (chinois) or a regular strainer lined with a few layers of damp cheese cloth or one layer of damp natural (no chlorine) paper towel.

In your blender combine the raw cashews and dry oatmeal and process until they resemble flour. Add 2/3 to ¾ of the mushroom soaking liquid and process until everything is combined. Pour this into the soup. Use the remaining mushroom liquid to clean the blender and add that to soup pot. Now add the remaining ingredients except the mustard, thyme and pepper. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the soup begins to thicken (this will happen when it comes to a low bubble). Now add the mustard, thyme and black pepper to your taste. I started with the mustard, got that right then added the thyme and finally the black pepper.

Nutritional Information (assumes 4 servings):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 299.83
Calories From Fat (26%) - 76.66

Total Fat - 9.16g
Saturated Fat - 1.79g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 80.24mg
Potassium - 1333.3mg
Total Carbohydrates - 53.54g
Fiber - 9.4g
Sugar - 10.31g
Protein - 9.91g

If you are looking for a nutritious soup for a cool night this is a good one assuming you like mushrooms and tomatoes. This would be good with fresh parsley on top (as we had it) or sprinkled with walnut parmesan. It would also be good with some baby spinach wilted in just be serving.

Happy thoughts:

Wednesday was another good day but a busy one. Here are my happy thoughts today:

• While my day was busy I did take time to listen to a webinar put on by Health Coaching U. It was interesting and gave me some things to think about. I try to remain open to new ideas and things that take me outside my comfort zone which I think keeps me young at least at heart. ;-) Thank you Teresa for sending me the link.

• I had time to finish reading Dr. Barnard’s latest book “21-Day Weight Loss Kickstart”. I hope to have time to write the review of that next week. As much as I try I seem to keep falling behind on things. *rolls eyes*

• It was good to get better rest Wednesday night than earlier than in the week. When you don’t sleep well it doesn’t tend to result in the best day.

• I liked the soup we had for dinner. It was tasty, filling and immunity boosting. Not a bad combination if I do say so myself.

• Thursday I made soymilk without my soymilk maker so that I could explain it to you. Since I had fresh soymilk I also made my own tofu today. Much to my surprise tofu is as easier to make as ricotta cheese and the flavor is more subtle and fresher. I will be making tofu a lot more often know that I know how easy it is. While I know I am a food geek I thought this experiment was very exciting. I will give you all the details tomorrow.

Signing out:

It is much later than it should be so I need sign out. My day got away from me today but it was very productive. I think you will enjoy hearing about it tomorrow.

Anasazi Beans … Good Stuff!

Tuesday started off very slowly for both of us. Neither Dan nor I slept well Monday night which meant we were both dragging all day. For some reason we both had difficulty falling and staying asleep. I found it very odd that this happened to both of us since we have nothing new going on that should be causing this. Apparently we have become almost one person after being together so long. ;-)  Do things like this happen to any of you?

Dan’s breakfast was a green smoothie that contained 2 frozen bananas, 4 kale leaves, 2 tablespoons wheat germ, 1 tablespoon freshly ground flaxseed, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon powdered ginger, a handful of walnuts, 2 cups homemade soymilk and a little stevia. This makes two big glasses that I serve in frozen glasses which I store in the freezer so they are always ready.

My breakfast was also a kale smoothie but mine included 1 frozen banana, 4 kale leaves, 1 cup soymilk and 1 cup water, 2 tablespoons wheat germ, 1 tablespoon freshly ground flaxseeds, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, and ¼ teaspoon powdered ginger. You may want to add stevia to yours I find the banana adds enough sweetness for me but Dan doesn’t think that it does.

Lunch was a big bowl of savory oatmeal. The oatmeal was flavored with nutritional yeast (to make it cheezy), cumin, paprika, and no-salt seasoning. I also added 2 tablespoons of wheat germ to the oats. I topped the oatmeal with broccoli, salsa and raw pumpkin seeds. The seeds were added because I like the texture.

I always have my two Brazil nut snack (for the selenium) with a piece of fruit (another orange) which I forgot to photograph. It looked exactly like the photograph above. How long have I been doing this? ;-)  You would think I would remember to photograph things by now but I don't always.  *rolls eyes*

I decided to make some anasazi beans today since they have been in my pantry for a while and I have continued to ignore them. Since I had never made this specific bean before I didn’t use the pressure cooker to prepare them. If any of you know how long they should be pressure cooked I would love to know. They seem to be a fairly quick cooking bean from what I saw. The texture is creamy and the flavor very mild yet pleasant. I ended up flavoring them with diced tomato, onion, garlic, cumin, oregano and cayenne. They became lunch for Wednesday. Now that I have overcome my new bean phobia I will be making these more often.

I also spent some time in the evening listening to a public webinar that was put on by Hawthorn University that I found interesting. There next webinar is April 5th but you can listen to the webinar archives. When I reviewed the topics they covered a few stood out to me. I will be listening to more of these when I have time. I wanted to mention it and provide the link since I know many of you will be interested and want to check out at least of the archived webinars.

After the webinar dinner was a huge salad (in a serving bowl). I sprinkled the mesclun greens with a little apple cider vinegar and then nutritional yeast for flavor. The salad also included artichoke quarters, grape tomatoes, yellow bell pepper and was finished with white chia seeds (for omega 3). This is one of my favorite salads. I like the cheeziness the nutritional yeast adds to the salad and the tang from the vinegar.

Happy thoughts:

The longer I write my happy thoughts the easier they become for me to appreciate in the moment. Here are my happy thoughts right now:

• I am very fortunate to be married to my best friend. How often do any of us find a person that we adore, that loves us back no matter what? Every day I am thankful to have Dan in my life. I love you sweetie!

• Thank goodness for the TRX Dan bought me for Christmas. It is getting much more use these days than I expected it too. If you have a friend with one you should see if they will demonstrate a workout for you so you can see what it is all about. I can’t wait to use mine outside which will be happening very soon with our gorgeous weather.

• There is no doubt in my mind that I have the best group of people reading my blog. You all give me a lot of motivation to continue to learn and share things with you. I am very fortunate to be in the company of somany other health and nutrition junkies. Thank you all for being there to provide me with inspiration when I am feeling less than healthy.

• I love having the time to read books, what DVDs and listen to webinars on health and nutrition. Learning is something that keeps me pumped.

• I am making a new soup today that is turning out really well and is healthy of course. I thought you might find it interesting to learn how I make up new recipes and what the process looks like. I love sharing things like that since my hope is that my blog makes eating healthy whole food seem possible.

• Who doesn’t love a glorious orange sunset? I almost missed it on Wednesday since I was in the kitchen making soup for dinner. However I came out of the kitchen just in time to see the beautiful blaze of orange and yellow in the sky.

Signing out:

Today has been another long one. I talked on the phone with two different friends, listened to another webinar (which I will tell you about tomorrow) and had things to do here. Sometimes I wonder how I manage to be this busy. Now it is time for me to unwind for the evening. I hope you had a fabulous Wednesday. Talk to you again tomorrow.

Monday and Almond Okara Dip

Is there such a thing as a good Monday morning? At our house the week always starts with a flurry of activity which never seems to set a good tone for the day. I am sure this is because we stay up too late on the weekend. I guess you know what that means right? Yes we are going to try to get into bed early on the weekends to see if that helps Mondays go a little more smoothly.

Breakfast for Dan was his favorite oatmeal with wild blueberries, wheat germ, freshly ground flaxseed, cinnamon, powdered ginger, walnuts and stevia.

Breakfast for me was my favorite cold weather dish, savory oatmeal. Like usual I made the oats “cheezy” using nutritional yeast and flavored them with cumin, oregano and paprika. Additionally I stirred in 2 tablespoons of wheat germ and 1 tablespoon of freshly ground flaxseeds for added nutrition. I topped the oats with broccoli, salsa, tomato and raw pumpkin seeds. What I like about having savory oatmeal for breakfast is that it is: 1) very filling and satisfying and keeps me full well into the afternoon 2) nutritionally dense and 3) it reminds me of a broccoli and cheese stuffed potato with none of the guilt. I think savory oatmeal is a wonderful cold weather breakfast. Thank you Courtney for introducing me to the concept of savory oatmeal.

After the huge bowl of oatmeal and the multiple mugs of green and white tea I had today I wasn’t terribly hungry at lunch time. However I know myself and if I didn’t eat something I would have been starving at dinner time so I made myself a snack of carrots and okara and almond butter dip.

Yesterday when I made soymilk which meant I had okara leftover from the process. This time I turned into a dip by adding fresh ginger and homemade reduced fat almond butter. I didn’t measure any of this but I will tell you what I did. I strained the okara well as part of the process of making soymilk and placed the okara into the food processor. Then I added about two inches of fresh grated ginger to the processor and about ½ cup reduced fat almond butter. I processed this until smooth and tasted it for flavor. The almond butter makes the spread creamy and rich. The ginger flavor came through but not in an intense way. I also added a little powdered ginger (because fresh and dried ginger have different health benefits), and some white pepper. This makes a huge volume of okara dip. I froze some of it to see how that works and will let you know what I defrost it. Dan thinks this is a nice alternative to fat free hummus.

Dinner was late (don’t ask) so I made something light that I hoped wouldn’t keep up away. This time it a huge salad (in a serving bowl like usual) of: mesclun, strawberries, blackberries, oranges and topped with balsamic vinegar and a few chopped walnuts. Since this wasn’t enough food for Dan he also had some carrots and okara and almond butter dip.

Happy Thoughts:

As much as I adore my husband I also like having a little time during the week to myself. I use this time to learn, grow and do things just for me. With that in mind here are my happy thoughts today:

• Is there anything better than having the scale give you good news? *happy dance* Don’t you just love getting on the scale and getting news?  ;-)
• I spent a lot of Monday watching the DVD from The Great Courses on pathophysiology and thoroughly enjoyed myself. It is wonderful to have time to do things like this.

• Monday I had the opportunity to talk to a friend on the phone which was great. I can always use more healthy friends to keep me focused.

• It was great to take time on Monday to go for a long walk in the neighborhood. I loved that the weather is definitely starting to feel like spring and that I have time that available to spend outside other than in a car like in my not too distant past.

Signing out:

Tuesday has been a little busy but good. I listened to an interesting webinar today that I will tell you about tomorrow. What did I do before there was an internet? *shakes head* It is hard to imagine life without technology now isn’t it? Talk to you again tomorrow. I hope you had a great Tuesday.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

I have to start this post with a picture of Nicco (Binky) because I think he is adorable, not good or well behaved but adorable.

When Dan got home from work on Friday he told me that he needed to go to the office one day over the weekend which was a serious let down for me. Since I was only getting one day with my sweetie I decided to not blog that day and then Sunday got away from me. Monday we were planning to go back to the gym before work which meant I needed to get off the computer early. I was so engrossed in the book I was reading combined with the time change meant no time to post. Sorry about that I had planned to have something up on Sunday but it wasn’t in the cards.

Friday:

My breakfast was a salad with walnut dressing (walnuts, water, fresh ginger and a little white miso), oranges and black berries.

After breakfast I ran my errands, checked on my parents and headed home. Here is the latest group of items from the library. I know you are wondering how I get through all the books that I read and listen to and sometimes I wonder the same thing. ;-)

Then I had signed up for a webinar which I listened to. I also chatted with my friend Joy on the phone and it was finally time for lunch.

Today I made myself a bowl of the soup leftover from earlier in the week. Soup is one of those things that always works extremely well as a leftover which is why I like to have it on hand.

I had leftover quinoa and Sicilian artichokes for dinner. It was definitely a no cooking day for me. There are definitely times when I am not in the mood to cook and I seem to be in one of those now.

Saturday:

This was my day to spend with Dan this weekend. We had a good time hanging out together like always. One of the things we did today was watch the DVD which arrived on Friday “From Oil to Nuts”. Both Dan and I thought it was well done. I will be writing a review of this very soon.

Breakfast for me was savory oatmeal which contained: oats, water, wheat germ freshly ground flaxseeds, cumin, oregano, no-salt seasoning, nutritional yeast, artichokes, broccoli, salsa and raw pumpkin seeds. Dan had his usual wild blueberry oatmeal with walnuts.

For lunch with my parents I made tapas inspired by our recent trip to Jaleo. I didn’t measure but will describe what I did. I made oven roasted fingerling potatoes (white and purple) that we dipped into a dried tomato sauce. The sauce included tomatoes, sherry vinegar, garlic, smoked paprika, cumin and water. The mushrooms were cooked in lemon juice and water and flavored with lemon zest, smoked paprika, garlic and parsley. The green beans were lightly steamed. To the beans I added roasted onion, golden raisins, a little lemon and smoked paprika and sliced almonds. For the artichoke dish I added dill to artichokes and let them marinate in the refrigerator which was inspired by Ian. I served everything at room temperature to maximize the flavor.

To accompany the tapas I made a simple salad of: mesclun, thinly shaved raw beet, orange segments and dressed that with balsamic vinegar and walnuts.

Dinner was leftover soup from earlier in the week this time with fresh lemon juice and parsley. Are you starting to notice how much mileage I get out of my leftovers? That is the reason I like to make large portions of soup, it comes in very handy later.

Sunday:

Our morning started with a trip to Whole Foods. I always marvel at how beautiful the produce is at that store. We needed kale (4 bunches), cilantro, wheat germ, apples, and green onions, all organic of course. ;-)

Breakfast was a green smoothie since we had kale again. My smoothie included: kale, frozen banana, wheat germ, freshly ground flaxseeds, cinnamon, powdered ginger, water and stevia. Dan’s smoothie also had walnuts and an additional banana for extra calories.

Dan and I talked, drank green and white tea and caught up before he headed downtown. Fortunately he got into his office before the St. Patty’s Day parade started. Above is the picture he emailed me from work. How did we ever stay in touch before cell phones with cameras and texting? Hard to imagine how we survived back in the old days.

Lunch was the end of the soup I made earlier in the week topped with the mushrooms from Saturday and parsley. Adding the mushrooms made the soup just different enough to be interesting.

Since I had time to burn I made some sprouted soymilk, got more soybeans soaking for more milk, and pressure cooked some chickpeas and made Moroccan chickpea stew which is a Dan favorite. I didn’t measure the stew ingredients but it was approximately this recipe only no oil or salt (which also means no preserved lemon I substituted fresh)

Later I took some time to watch the DVD from the Great Courses on “The Human Body: How We Fail, How We Heal”. I have been very impressed with the quality of this course on DVD. If you are an information junkie like me you may want to buy a course and see what you think.

Dinner was two small bowls of the Moroccan chickpea stew that I made earlier in the day. Dan had a large bowl that also included quinoa.

Happy Thoughts:

• I am thankful to Lea for recommending the DVD “From Oil to Nuts”. It is always good to hear or read different views on nutrition. While I don’t agree with everything on the DVD yet, it does give me additional information to research and consider since I am always open to new ideas.

• It was nice to spend some time getting to know my new friend Joy. I can always use more healthy friends in my life.

• Dan and I had a good Saturday and a nice Sunday morning. I would have liked more time with Dan but am thankful for the time I had.

• My felines are so precious. It goes without saying that I am thankful for their existence in our lives. They are an integral part of our family. Dan and I both adore the fur babies in case you hadn't noticed.  ;-)

• The weather this morning is seriously looking like spring and I could not be happier about that. Temperatures on Friday are predicted to get into the 70’s. Wow!

Signing Out:

Today I have been ridiculously unproductive. While I have been enjoying the health DVD from The Great Courses it has taken up a lot of my time today. I need to get moving and get productive before Dan gets home. I hope you had a great weekend and that Monday has treated you well. Talk to you again soon which should mean tomorrow unless something unexpected comes up.