Dr. Barnard Speaking at Hopkins and a Give Away

Sunday started very slowly at our house because we were up well past midnight last night. It is going to take a lot for us to get back into our 5 am routine to hit the gym before work if we keep staying up this late. I swear it was easier for these two former omnivores to go vegan than it was for us to go from night owls to morning people.

For breakfast Sunday morning we both had oatmeal. I made myself savory oatmeal with nutrition yeast and no-salt seasoning that I topped with peas, carrots and corn, a little of the leftover Indian spiced soup and a few raw sunflower seeds. As you can see from the picture above my little angel Massimo was trying to eat my breakfast. I had trouble getting a decent picture since I was trying to snap a photo and keep Masi out of my food. Eventually I just gave up and said good enough. My cats tend to be very determined and typically it is easier to give them their way.

Dan also had a few healthy cookies that I made him on Saturday. This recipe really is healthy, no oil, no sugar, no flour and still tastes like a cookie. The recipe should be ready to publish later this week.

Dan had his usual oatmeal with wild blueberries, cinnamon, ginger, wheat germ, ground flaxseeds and walnuts.

Next we ran out to drop off books at the library and then head to the talk at Johns Hopkins University (technically just off campus). I had been looking forward to listening to Dr. Barnard speak at Hopkins since I found about it weeks ago.

While Dan was checking the parking meter he ran into Jonathan (from the restaurant) and we walked with him for a little while and chatted after the obligatory hugs of course. Yes I am one of those people that likes to hug in case you hadn't noticed that by now. ;-)

We arrived early to the talk so that we could get good seats, which we did. I was very happy to have front row seats. I used to do the same thing in school. Some things never change I guess. LOL

Here is Dr. Barnard setting up the projector for the slide show during his talk.

This slide showing the prevalence of overweight in US children was extremely disturbing. How in the world did it go from 4% in 1963 to 35% in 2007? An increase like that is almost too much to imagine.

Another slide that I didn’t get a picture of showed that 1909 the average American consumed 3 pounds of cheese per year and the last time it was measured (2009 I believe) it was 35 pounds. Dr. Barnard thinks the increase is due to more fast food (cheeseburgers) and a dramatic increase in pizza consumption. I would have to agree with him that it makes sense. It is hard for me to imagine 35 pounds of cheese per person per year. No wonder our collective health in this country is so out of control. He also pointed out that Americans are eating 75 pounds more meat now compared to 1909 and mostly in the form of chicken. Clearly eating more chicken has not helped improve our health in this country.

Dr. Barnard’s talk was excellent. When I asked Dan what he thought he responded, “I live this stuff and you give me cliff notes so it wasn’t anything new to me”.  Only husbands right?  However we did both feel that Dr. Barnard was engaging, entertaining, funny, and informative. He is a wonderful ambassador for a healthy vegan diet.

After the talk was over Dr. Barnard took questions. Like always people wanted to ask about B12 and he responded that all most people need is a multi-vitamin that contains B12. He did elaborate that a small percentage of people can’t absorb oral B12 and those people will need injections but that sublingual is not necessary. I have also read that oral B12 is absorbed well though most physicians don’t know that. You can read that article here.

Another person asked about omega-3 fatty acids and flaxseeds and he said that is also not necessary since plant based foods contain trace amounts of omega-3s so that as long as you eat a whole food plant-based diet (translation you aren’t a processed food vegan) you get enough. I like adding a little flaxseed/hemp and chia seeds to function as an insurance policy. But it was nice to hear that flax/chia and hemp isn’t technically necessary for most people. Still we do get our B12 levels checked annually at our physicals.

A physician in the audience asked about educating patients and Dr. Barnard pointed out that they have educational posters that are available for the waiting and exam rooms. He also talked about a program they have in DC where they offer nutrition educators to hold talks about nutrition and diabetes after hours in other doctor’s offices. This way the doctors can recommend the talks to his to patients because don’t have to be there. He said that was working well for all concerned. I thought it sounded very encouraging and it is something I am going to mention to our internist to see if he is interested.

Also he mentioned that the American Diabetes Association is now advocating the efficacy of a low fat vegan diet which I thought was fantastic. For those of you that don’t know Dr. Barnard also has a book on diabetes that I thought was well researched and well written...not that I could get my mother to read it which was my original reason for buying it.

Overall it was very nice event and one that I am glad we had a chance to attend. If Dr. Barnard to coming to speak near you I highly recommend this talk. It was a great way to spend time this afternoon particularly if you are as interested in health and nutrition as I am.

Unlike when I met Jose Andres last month this time I had no trouble speaking to Dr. Barnard. I guess that says something about how in awe I am of Jose. My hubby had to point out to me that he was happy to hear me talk this time. Husbands! *huff*

After the talk we purchased a number of books and waited for Dr. Barnard sign them. I picked up an extra copy of “The 21-Day Weight Loss Kickstart” and had that signed to give away on the blog. I did this because I really enjoyed his new book when I read the one I got out of the library and wanted to share it with you. If you would like a signed copy of the book there are six different ways to enter:

1) comment on this post
2) become a follower of the blog
3) post a link to this post on Facebook
4) become a follower on Facebook
5) post a link to this post on Twitter
6) become a follower on Twitter (@veganepicurean)

If you are currently a follower of the blog here, on Facebook or Twitter please post a separate comment for each of those on this post. When or if you post a link on Facebook or Twitter please also leave a separate comment here. I will be using each comment to this post as an entry to win a signed copy of the book and will use a random number generator to pick the winner. To give everyone time to see this and comment or link to this I will wait until Friday May 6th to select the winner. Good luck to all of you!  :-)

After the talk we decided to make a quick run to Tuesday morning. I can always find things to buy at that store so it really can be dangerous for me to go there.

I loved these letters that spell out the word “BELIEVE”. Seriously, could there have been a more perfect phrase for me? No, I didn’t think so either.

There were also more odds and ends but the big purchase was a giant rooster cookie jar that I had to have. It was made in Italy and hand painted and I fell in love with it. I have a thing for chickens which is odd since I have never seen a “real” chicken walking around but I love them.

While we were out we decided to swing by Whole Foods for a kale run. You know you are kale obsessed when to stop to pick it up in the pouring rain and you don’t have an umbrella. We picked up 4 bunches of organic kale, 2 bunches of collards (hello collard wraps), cilantro, Brussels sprouts and a magazine that happened to leap into the cart. Darn those magazines they always dive into my cart.

By the time we got home it was after 4pm and both of us were definitely hungry. Thank goodness for leftover soup in the refrigerator. We both had a bowl of the tomato based barley and mushroom soup leftover from dinner Saturday evening.

Dan caught up on his sci-fi that he DVR’d while I started writing this post and got caught up on Facebook. Thank goodness we both have our “respective things” that we do to relax and that we can also them in the same room. During this time we were also drinking tea, this time hot because it has been raining and cool all afternoon. At the moment I am making a blend of white tea, tulsi and roses which I really like.

We were both busy, doing our respective stuff and at about 8pm we decided that it would be easier to go out to dinner than to make something. As always we went to our place for a quick bite.

Emily made us some of her signature green iced tea with orange which is terrific.

Then we had a bowl of the red potato soup with spicy chili topping. This stuff was absolutely delicious! Since it was vegan I am guessing Dani or Will made it. When I see them I will check to see if there is a secret ingredient. The spicy topping really took this soup over the top. *ummmm*

Next we ordered the samosa since we love that but rarely have it now since the guys typically make something especially for us.

Vaz sent us out some chipotle rubbed tofu with black bean salad and tomato salsa. Delicious! They don’t always have tofu since it isn’t on the menu now and he thought we would like it. Needless to say he was right. Everyone is so sweet to us we are extremely lucky to have “our place” so close to home.

We chatted with everyone, like always. I know the other customers must wonder who in the heck we are since employees will stop, talk and frequently sit down. That is one of the benefits of having a regular place. ;-) If you don’t have a regular place I highly recommend that you find one.

Emily’s aunt was generous enough to give her a Vitamix last week. You know that meant we needed to talk recipes right? She mentioned a film about that is coming up at MICA that I might like soon. I will definitely check that out tomorrow. I love chatting to Emily since she is a fabulous photographer and I love photography. She is also interested in nutrition and food which means we can talk for hours.

Donna, one of the owners, stopped to talk for a little while before she left. She thinks I should be writing a book and I am warming up the idea. She has only been mentioning this to me for over two years. This evening she gave me some great ideas about getting my feet wet in terms of writing that I am going to explore. Since her background was in writing and food styling before getting into the food business her perspective is very different from mine and I love to hear her ideas on things. It always makes sense to keep your options open right? As you can tell we had a nice evening like we always do. Is there any wonder that we always end up at our place?

Happy thoughts:

What a good day we had on Sunday. The rain didn’t dampen our spirits in the least. Here are my happy thoughts today:

• It was great to sleep in later than normal so that we could get our 8 hours. I know I always feel better when I have plenty of rest. It was a little sad not going to the farmers’ market but sleep came out on top this time. We will get back to the market next week since we are going to try to make it back to the gym by the end of the week when it opens at 6am. Wish us luck, I think we are going to need it. ;-)

• I have a great time listening to Dr. Barnard talk. I have seen him on PBS a number of times and enjoyed his talked but he is even better in person. He is very engaging and his presentation is informative. If you get a chance to see him speak live please do, I think you will enjoy it as much as we did.

• I am very happy to be having my first give away and for it to be something meaningful to me. I couldn’t not think of anything that fits me better than this book and having it be a signed copy makes to more special in my opinion.

• Spending Sunday with my hubby is always the best. We have a great time whenever we are together and today was no exception. I would not have purchased that chicken unless he was with me (too much money for a cookie jar) but I do love it. There is just something about it that makes me smile. Now I just need to keep my precious little fur babies from breaking it. *fingers crossed*

• I also love the positive message “BELIEVE” that we bought. That is going to brighten my day every time I look it. Can you have too many happy, upbeat and positive messages in your day? Not really! ;-)

• As silly as this sounds I am grateful to have organic kale and collards in the house again. I was starting to have dark green leafy withdrawal. I feel better knowing that we have greens in the refrigerator. No doubt there will be a green smoothie or two in my day tomorrow.

• Dinner was wonderful as usual. The potato soup was excellent, the samosa terrific and we loved the unexpected chipotle rubbed tofu that Vaz sent out. Not to mention it was great to see Donna, Corey, Emily, Jonathan (for the second time today), Janine, Kristin, Doug, and Vaz to name a few. Too bad we didn’t see Ian, Will and Dani but we did get there much later than usual. We will see them soon I am sure.

Signing out:

That is going to be it for me tonight. We still need to give “her highness” Luca Belle her medicine and start to wind down for the evening. I hope that your Sunday was as good as ours way. Talk to you again tomorrow.

Don’t forget t enter the contest to win the signed book by Dr. Barnard “The 21-Day Weight Loss Kickstart”. It is a great book; I know you will enjoy it.  :-)

Saturday Update and Artichoke Facts

Artichoke Facts:

As many of you have noticed I love my artichokes and have long said it is an Italian thing which makes sense since they are Mediterranean in origin. ;-) This was a vegetable that I wasn’t crazy about as a child (just because it was a vegetable I am sure) but now I can’t seem to get enough of them.

Artichokes have long been considered a delicacy and are actually the unopened edible flower bud of a thistle plant. If you have ever cleaned a mature artichoke you have seen the purple flower starting to form inside the plant. Did you know that the globe artichokes are one of the world’s oldest cultivated vegetables?

Globe artichokes are an excellent source of fiber, magnesium, chromium (a trace mineral), folic acid, niacin, and Vitamin A to name a few. It provides these and many other micronutrients for approximately 60 calories each. The calories in artichokes are so low because much of the carbohydrate is inulin which has been shown to improve blood sugar control in those with diabetes.

Ancient healers have long used artichokes for liver problems. Science now also supports this folk history as artichokes contain caffeoylquinic acids (like cynarin). Some studies have shown that artichoke leaf extracts helps to protect the liver and lower cholesterol and triglycerides.

If you have pollen allergies you should be aware that artichokes are related to daisies and could cause reactions. Please be cautious with artichokes if you react to daisies, yarrow, calendula, chamomile or dandelion.

The food:

Dan had to go to his office downtown to work today. *boo hiss* I was less than thrilled about having Saturday to myself but decided to make the best of it.

Breakfast for was a bowl of savory oatmeal with the usual suspects: oats, water, wheat germ, freshly ground flaxseeds, nutrition yeast, cumin, oregano, no-salt seasoning, broccoli, salsa and raw sunflower seeds. Dan had his usual oatmeal with wild blueberries and walnuts, etc.

My lunch was a giant salad with hummus, salsa, artichokes, mushrooms, cucumbers, tomatoes.

After lunch I decided to make a batch of flax crackers/bread. This time I added dry oats to the crackers to see what that would do to the texture. As soon as the crackers are ready to eat I will let you know how that worked out but suspect it will be fine.

Since the dehydrator was on I also decided to make a small batch of cookies. These cookies contained banana, reduced-fat peanut butter, dry oatmeal, cinnamon, stevia and chia seeds. They came out pretty darn good for my first batch which really surprised me given that I used so little peanut butter in them. I am going to tweak the next batch just a little and then I think it will be ready to share.

I had a snack of banana, prunes and reduced-fat peanut butter.

Dinner for both of us was a bowl of vegetable barley soup with mushrooms that I seasoned with traditional southern Italian flavors of: fennel, oregano, hot peppers and saffron.

After dinner we went for a walk around the neighborhood before bed. I am sure the neighbors were wondering who was crazy enough to be walking after 11pm and I can’t say I blame them. I intentionally didn’t go out for my walk earlier in the day so that we “had” to go together. Obviously I didn’t expect Dan to work so late but that is still okay. I want him to get back into the habit of daily exercise and if that means at 11pm than that is what is going to be.

Happy thoughts:

• We had beautiful blue skies today and temperatures in the low 70’s. It was a lovely spring day. The irises are starting to bloom and they are always so pretty.

• I was happy with my cookie experiment today and Dan really seemed to enjoy them too. It just goes to show you that fat and sugar aren’t as necessary as you think they are once you get over the addition.

• It was good to get Dan outside for a little activity before bed. I would like him to get home earlier from work but I also know that he has deadlines that aren’t negotiable so I am trying to be supportive which I assure you isn’t easy for me. ;-)

• Sunday we have a nice day planned and I am looking forward to that. It will be good spend some time with my sweetie this weekend since Saturday was mostly a bust.

• Today I was able to read another library book which was a good thing. I am flying through my book backlog now and that makes me happy. One of the things I love about the library is that I get to read more books than I do not have room to own. Even books that aren’t worth buying still typically contain something that I am happy to be introduced to or reminded of. I rarely feel like I have wasted my time after I finish reading a book on health or nutrition.

• I am also grateful for the nice comment to yesterday’s post here and on the Facebook page. Please know that your kind words mean a lot to me.

Signing out:

It is very late here now, but that is because we didn’t get back in from our walk until almost 11:45 pm and I still needed to finish writing this post. I have definitely been in a procrastination mode today.

I hope you had a good Saturday and were able to enjoy a little time outside today. I will talk to you again tomorrow. Good night, or should I say good morning given how late it is? ;-)

Two Year Blog Anniversary

We interrupt the regularly scheduled blog post to bring you the two year anniversary…

Where has the time gone? It is hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that it has been two years and 2 days since I started blogging. As you can tell I lost track of time hence the two years plus two days. ;-) In a way it seems like a couple of months ago that I began blogging though clearly that isn’t the case. When I started blogging the only idea I had in my head was to share healthy recipes to make it easier for others to enjoy vegan food that wasn’t full of processed junk, sugar, salt or oil since there weren’t many people that were blogging about that particular type of vegan food. Due to requests from readers my blog morphed into more of a vegan lifestyle blog with food. In many ways I am still uncomfortable with sharing my “daily diary” (as Dan calls it) with the world but it has gotten easier over time though I don’t find it terribly interesting to write, probably because I live it. However I do understand that people who are new vegans have no idea what to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner so I am happy to share anything I can that is helpful.

Information about us:

Given that this is the two year anniversary of the blog I thought it would be fitting to share more about myself so that you get a better picture of where I am coming from. Many of you seem to think that I have always been healthy and that is simply not true.

I was born in Baltimore but spent the majority of my childhood in northwest Indiana in a little town in Porter County, Indiana. It was not the rural existence that you are picturing since we lived in a planned community (not on a farm) and spent a lot of time in Chicago eating fantastic food, shopping and going to shows. Much of my childhood was idyllic and I loved growing up in the mid-west. However my diet was full of standard American fare like: pizza (made with white flour and cheese), pop-tarts, Triscuits with cheese, hot dogs, hamburgers, Ho Ho’s, Ding Dongs, Lucky Charms, Cap’n Crunch, German bologna, steak, macaroni and cheese, and many other equally unhealthy things I would never consume now. Notice the distinct lack of vegetables? When I was growing up I hated most vegetables and didn’t eat them if I could get away with it.

I returned to Baltimore to attend college and got a Bachelor’s in Finance from Loyola, and a Master’s in Finance and Public Policy from the University of Maryland at College Park. When it was time to get a job I had no idea what I was going to do so I temped to get some experience and ended up in hospital Finance where I quickly (under two years) became a Director of Finance (hospital speak for finance department head). I worked extremely long hours in Finance and did that until I burned out and retired. Working ridiculous hours meant I started the day with coffee and possibly a Danish during a meeting. Lunch was normally from the hospital cafeteria and dinner was carry out probably Indian, Chinese of fast food *gasp*. Clearly my diet was absolutely atrocious.

During my working career I was completely stressed out, spend too much time at work, ate all the wrong things, drank wine on the weekends, didn’t get enough exercise or enough sleep. In short my lifestyle was a complete and utter disaster, I felt lousy and I looked worse. To make matters even worse I smoked cigarettes on and off before quitting in my early 30’s. As you can see I was a mess. When you wonder if I know what you are going through when you ask a question now you have a better picture of my life. This is why I understand when you say you are omni or vegetarian and are looking to improve your health. Since most of my life was spent being less than healthy I can relate to you no matter where ever you are in your journey toward health.

Fast forward a few years and the “cancer fairy” visited our home and I went into full on attack cancer mode. There was no way that I was going to give up or give in. Cancer was not going to take away the most important person in my world (Dan) without me giving it the fight of my life. We did a 180 in terms of health and I poured myself into every book, article, or paper written about health or nutrition in relation to cancer. Fortunately Dan is a sport about my OCD ways and agreed to do whatever I thought was best. In turn I told him I would not ask him to do anything that I was not willing to do myself. Eventually our diet morphed into what you see today. It was a slow process and we didn’t go from Chinese takeout to super healthy vegan overnight but we did get here.

Today we both feel better than we have since we were in our 20’s and that is saying something since I will be 49 in a few weeks and Dan is going to be 57 in September. We talk about food and nutrition often and neither of us can imagine going back to the way we used to eat. Most of our friends think we have lost our minds but they also understand that this is matter of life or death for us and I think that is why they give us a break. Now you know why I take nutrition so seriously and don’t feel like there is much room for moderation. Dan is lucky I let him get pizza when we go out because if it were only up to me that would be gone too. There is a reason he lovingly refers to me as “The Nutrition Nazi” … I have earned that title. ;-)

I hope this helps you to understand us better and why we are as serious about health as we are. Many times before I have said that eating this way is very serious for us and now you understand why. It isn’t something that we did on a whim. It isn’t something that we went into without a lot of thought. I did make the move to veganism quickly which I credit to Dr. Joel Fuhrman. His book “Eat to Live” was the turning point for us. He explained nutrition in a way that just clicked for me. Suddenly eating vegetables made so much sense. Why should we waste time or calories eating food that was less nutrient dense when we could be eating more salad, soup, etc.?

One thing I have learned reading about health and nutrition is that there seems to be only one diet that helps no matter what your health concern (cancer, heart disease, diabetes, auto immune disease, etc.). As you probably have guessed that diet is one we are following. I spend a lot of time reading about health and nutrition and the science always points back to the same basic diet. It can sometimes be confusing to read about health since everyone seems to have a natural bias toward or against some particular diet. The funny thing about me is that when my research started my diet was the antithesis of what it is today. I wanted to point that out for anyone that might be thinking I looked for data to support a particular diet which could not be farther from the truth.

Now you know why I am always reading about nutrition and looking for the latest research in regard to diet and lifestyle. Health is something that I am beyond passionate about now. If anything that I write here or link to on Facebook or Twitter gives you pause to think about what you are putting in your body than I am happy. I don’t want to see anyone else have to deal with cancer since it is largely preventable.

Happy thoughts:

• I am happy have so many people following me on the blog, twitter and Facebook. I can’t begin to tell me how encouraging it is to me that we are not alone in our search for the most healthful lifestyle possible.

• Since it is Friday I am happy that we are that start of another weekend. I love my weekends and Dan and I have another fun outing planned on Sunday that I am looking forward to.

• This afternoon I have pleasure of talking to my buddy Laura Jill for quite a while. She is always a breath of fresh air. I love her positivity and perspective on the whole. Every time we talk I can’t help but smile. Thank you LJ for being you.

• Today I am also grateful that I have the time to spend teaching myself about health and nutrition. I believe that the changes we have put into place have made a big difference in our health contrary to what most of medical science would say.

• It was nice to have a little blue sky today after our torrential downpour yesterday. It was a little cool here today but it was nice to have the rain behind us. When I checked out the garden today it seemed as though the plants had all grown inches in the last couple of days.

• Today’s lesson in the 21-Day Consciousness Cleanse was a good one. The more I read that book the more I enjoy it. I am looking forward to reviewing it for you but I wanted to wait until I have finished all 21 days so that I can tell you how it worked for me.

Signing out:

It is getting late here and is about time for us to start winding down. We are both looking forward to the weekend and the chance to relax a little. Tomorrow I will get back to my regular blog posts but today I felt like I needed to share more about us and how we came to be who we are today. With a little luck our story will resonate with one or two of you and will result in some positive change in your lives or health.

Happy Friday and I will talk to you again tomorrow. We both hope you are having a good start to your weekend. Ciao! ;-)

Planeat: The Movie

Wednesday we went to the Baltimore showing of the movie “Planeat” at The Charles Theater (pictured above). The movie was sponsored by Whole Foods and was part of a multi-film series.

This movie covered both the health and environmental impact of dietary choices. Like the movie “Forks Over Knives” it focused on Doctors T. Colin Campbell and Caldwell B. Esselstyn. However one of the big differences (in my mind) between the two movies was the time spent talking to vegan chefs and showing them preparing food. Now I will be the first to admit that when they were using agave and oil I was cringing because that isn’t healthy, but we all have to start someone. It was nice that they showed that vegan food can be delicious, complex and flavorful.

Dan and I talked about the film after it was over and both decided that we thought “Forks Over Knives” was more compelling in terms of demonstrating to omnivores that there is huge health upside to them personally from making the shift. However “Planeat” does a better job of making vegan food look delicious. Additionally the environment impact of switching to a vegan diet is a big part of "Planeat" and that is a bonus. We both thought the film work was better in “Forks ...”. In the end I think we thought it was basically a draw in terms of which film we liked better with a slight nod to “Forks...”. Either way I would encourage you to see both films. When they are available on DVD I will be buying them both to have in my lending library.

I linked to the movie above and at that site you will find a trailer of the film as well as other clips and recipes that you might want to check out. I watched and enjoyed them.

Sandal Road Test:

Knowing that we were going out on Wednesday I was a bit worried about what shoes I was going to wear given the whole toe situation. I tried on many different sandals and found 4 pair that didn’t bother my foot much. Sadly the most comfortable pair was also the ugliest which meant that I didn’t wear them (crocs sandals). I decided to go for a walk around the neighborhood to see how my toe was holding up. Fortunately it was fine, a little tender but not too bad.

This was also my first walk in a long time without my IPod. I decided that I didn’t want my mind cluttered with noise but instead wanted to listen to the birds and try to clear my mind. My goal was to have a sort of walking meditation and it seemed to work. I was able to notice things that I had not seen previously and I think it was because I wasn’t distracted by the noise of my IPod.
I took these pictures while I was out for my walk. I enjoyed the blooms and thought you might too. Here is the neighborhood now that things are starting to bud and to bloom.

(It is really starting to look much more green here now..must be all the rain.) 

(I love stairs and gates leading into gardens.) 

(Are you starting to notice that I like gates?) 

(This little urban garden made me smile.) 

Dinner Out:

The movie was over about 8:20pm which gave us time to get to the restaurant for dinner before the kitchen was cleaning up at 9:00. Without Ian, Will or Dani working I was on my own in terms of what we were eating. As I have said before the restaurant isn’t vegan but they will make things that I make up, or will come up with things for us if we give them notice.  Jenn helped me come up with ideas for dinner since I haven't had to do this much lately because the guys have us very spoiled.  ;-)

We started with iced green tea with fresh orange juice that Emily made for us. Knowing how much I like fruit in my tea this was perfect. Thanks Emily!

Next we had gazpacho which was on the menu last night topped with crab. It was simple to ask them to leave off the crab making the soup vegan.

We next had the antipasti that is on the menu but had them leave off the meat and cheese and add additional veggies. This was another easy vegan modification but also a filling and tasty dish that is one of my favorites.

Knowing how much Dan loves to get pizza when we are out I am sure you aren’t surprised to hear the last dish was a small whole wheat pizza topped with marinara and roasted veggies. After it came out of the oven it was topped with baby arugula, balsamic glaze and an artichoke “rose”. I think the artichoke was my favorite part because it was unexpected.  We never get tired of pizza variations.  Funny we have eaten them without cheese for so long now that I can't imagine why I ever thought I needed fake vegan cheese.  Who said that? LOL

After dinner I had a few minutes to chat to Emily and told her about “The 21-Day Consciousness Cleanse”. Since she is interested I will be lending her my copy once I get through all 21 days. By the way, I liked this book from the library enoughthat I ordered my own copy from Amazon and it arrived today.  Once I get through all 21 days I will post a review for you.
Happy thoughts:

• It was nice to have my hubby home from work early enough Wednesday to make a 7pm movie. I like have a date during the week.  Having plans mid-week also made the week go by a little more quickly I think.

• I was fortunate to find 4 pairs of sandals that I can wear even with my toe still messed up. I am very happy to be getting out and about again. Thursday night when Dan got home from work we went for a walk before dinner. It is good to be mobile once again as I was getting very antsy without my favorite morning walk through the neighborhood.

• Everything is green, lush and blooming here now and is extremely pretty. I love spring since it is a time of renewal. With my dramatic change in diet came the unexpected benefit of the disappearance of my seasonal allergies. Now I am able to enjoy the blooms with sniffling or sneezing which makes spring much more pleasant.

• I also enjoyed my “walking meditation” in the neighborhood. In fact it was so nice that I am going to leave my IPod at home for a while and see if I can use my time outside every morning to appreciate nature and clear my mind of thoughts. Wish me luck, I am going to need it since I am always thinking ... much to my own detriment. ;-)

• The upside of being stuck in the house (because of the toe) is that I am a reading machine lately. I have had time to read four books this week which I have enjoyed. I read both “Crazy Sexy Cancer Survivor” and “Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips”. Given the subject matter I did not expect to laugh through the books but they were very funny in parts. I can’t say that I agree with everything contained within them but overall I thought they were both good reads.

• I am grateful that the nasty weather system that spawned all the tornadoes in the south didn’t cause any real damage here. We had some hard driving rain and high winds but nothing compared to what happened in the south yesterday. When we had the first tornado warning Thursday morning I got out the cat's travel bags so that they wouldn’t run when they saw them. I was getting prepared to grab felines and get them into their carriers so I could take them to the basement. You never can be too prepared when it comes to things like this.  NO OCD here, LOL.

Signing Out:

Wednesday time got away from me. I had expected to have time to write a post after the movie but since we went out to dinner time just disappeared. However we had a nice mid-week date and that is always a good thing right?

Tomorrow I plan to discuss a book that I read recently. I have started something new and am taking notes when I read each book and keeping them in a binder by topic and book. On the books that I get out of the library I am doing this to record the source of nutrition information that I gather since I won’t have the actual book as reference. Not to mention I am hoping this will make writing reviews a little easier. We will see how that goes.

I am very happy that tomorrow is Friday. *woo hoo* We are supposed to have nice weather which may mean a nice bike ride with my sweetie. At least that is what I have in mind so hopefully Dan doesn’t need to work this weekend. *fingers crossed*

Talk to you tomorrow. I hope your week has been good.

Easter Update and Malloreddus Tutorial

Knowing lunch would be heavier than normal we opted for smoothies for breakfast on Sunday.  Dan’s breakfast was a green smoothie with the usual ingredients: 2 frozen bananas, 1 handful of walnuts, 3 large stalks kale (at least 3 cups), 2 tablespoons wheat germ, 1 tablespoon chia seeds, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon powdered ginger, water and pinch of stevia.  My breakfast was also a smoothie which consisted of: 3 large stalks kale, 1 cup frozen wild blueberries, 1 tablespoon cocoa powder, 2 tablespoons wheat germ, 1 tablespoon chia seeds, 2 tablespoon macadamia nuts (to add body and creaminess) ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon powdered ginger, water, ice and pinch of stevia (which it needed).

The mid-day meal with my parents consisted of whole wheat and semolina malloreddus with thinly sliced asparagus, peas, tarragon, lemon and walnuts.

We started the meal with a simple salad of mesclun, orange, pickled red onion, raisins and sherry vinegar.

I also made my favorite artichokes with dill (thank you Ian for the inspiration) that I added red onion to for color.

Since I like to include mushrooms whenever I can, for their immune system boosting impact, I also made marinated mushrooms. I roasted the mushrooms briefly to help them absorb the flavor and to deactivate the low level toxin found in raw mushrooms. While the mushrooms were still hot I tossed them in a simple marinate of vegan Worcestershire sauce, nutritional yeast, paprika and garlic powder. The earlier in the day you prepare this dish the more flavor the mushrooms will absorb.

Additionally I made a dish of agro dolce carrots that is similar to Ian’s Tuscan carrot dish. I sliced my carrots on the diagonal (which is quicker than batons), and cooked them in a little red wine vinegar, finely minced garlic, fennel seeds, hot crushed peppers (wet hots), water and touch of stevia. Next I added some roasted red onion which I cooked earlier in the day, golden and Thompson raisins and finished the dish with a little finely minced fresh herb for color.

Directions for making malloreddus:

I started with Mario Batali’s dough recipe (cut in half) and I used ½ sprouted whole wheat flour and ½ semolina. I omitted the salt and used saffron threads rather than powder. The dough was a little on the sticky side before I wrapped it in plastic cling wrap and allowed it to sit on the counter to rest.

After the dough has rested at least 30 minutes pinch off a piece of dough about the size of a ping pong ball and roll it into a snake. Be sure to keep your board floured or the dough will stick. The snake should be approximately the diameter of your thumb.  That is the handle of paring knife next to the dough to give you an idea of scale.

Cut the dough into little pillows and toss with more flour.

Take your gnocchi board (or a fork) and flour it so the dough won’t stick to it. Place the pillow of dough on the board and press to make an indentation.

Now roll the dough so the indentation is on the inside and the exterior has ridges. Both the indentation and ridges will help the pasta to grab hold of the sauce. I make the pasta directly over a floured surface (either a platter or baking sheet) where I hold them until I am ready to cook.

To cook your malloreddus bring water to a boil and submerge the pasta. When it starts to float taste it to see if it is done. I found that I needed to cook mine for about 2 minutes after it started to float which was approximately 8 minutes total cooking time.

That is all there is to making fresh pasta and you don’t need a pasta machine.  You can use a floured fork in place of the gnocchi board and that works just as well.

Recent Topics on my Facebook page:

For those of you that aren’t yet fans of my Facebook page I wanted to give you an idea of the most recent things there. Currently I am mostly using my Facebook page to share links to interesting articles that I read. I think of it as a summary of the clipping services I subscribe too. Most of these articles are health related since that is very important to me but some are links to recipes. Also please use the link I provided above since there are two pages (one that I can’t delete which has no activity). Over the last 24 hours or so I have linked to the following:

• Cucumbers being recalled for Salmonella
• Eating adequate macronutrients can still result in vitamin deficiency
• National Cancer Institute Trends in Fruit and Vegetable Consumption
• Satiety claims on food are misleading
• Coca-cola being urged by shareholders to address BPA
• Another food safety scare in China leads to more regulation
• Consumers are fooled by healthy sounding food names
• Adding geraniol to food will make the consumer smell like roses – no I didn’t make that up
• Consumers gravitate toward vitamin fortified sport and energy drinks
• Three different links to healthy recipes that with a little tweaking can be a delicious and healthy addition to your recipe file
• Omega 3 fatty acids may be linked to an increase in prostate cancer
• People get their health information from unexpected sources: friends, family and celebrities ?
• Newer birth control pills increase the risk of blood clots more than the older formulations
• Scar creams don’t work but keeping wounds moist while they heal does
• How to make shitake tea

Happy thoughts:

Monday was a good day for me even though I did bump my toe again and I swear that I saw stars. If anyone knows how long a broken toe takes to heal I would love to hear. Here are my happy thoughts today:

• Who isn’t thankful for a great night of sleep? I didn’t wake up once last night and felt completely refreshed this morning. It was a wonderful way to start my day particularly since I am not a morning person.

• Monday and Tuesday were both good days for me. The weather was absolutely phenomenal both days. The only thing that could have been better was if my toe would stop hurting when I tried to put on shoes. I know I tend to be a bit impatient but this is getting old … I have things to do. Looking on the bright side I was able to read two books in the last two days with time left over to start a third book. ;-) It is nice to be plowing through my backlog of library books. I guess injuries are good for something. :-/

• I am enjoying the warm weather and the return of blueberry green tea. I will share the details of that tomorrow or you can see it on the Facebook page where I posted it recently.

• Jackie and Walid are joining us for Ottmar Liebert in Annapolis next month. *woo hoo* I had no idea Jackie was also an Ottmar fan until today. We will have a great time with them as always.  :-)

• Dan and I have a date planned for Wednesday (tomorrow) which I am excited about. Keep your fingers crossed that I don’t have to walk far otherwise that may put a damper on the evening. I will tell you all about it very soon. I will give you a hint it is health related but in a fun way. *woo hoo*  I can't wait. 

• I can’t believe how much I am enjoying working through the “21-Day Consciousness Cleanse”. This is not the sort of thing that typically appealed to me but as much as I had been dreading some of the daily exercises they have been remarkably healing. I may have to rethink my position on all this “woo-woo” stuff as I have referred to it in the past. ;-)

Signing out:

It is a late evening here for some reason. I suppose that is mostly because Dan ran errands for me tonight (the library and Wegman’s) since I am still not fully functional. He is so sweet to do that after working late. My husband is a prince in case you hadn’t noticed. ;-)

I hope you week is going well and that you weather is as gorgeous as ours has been. Please get out and enjoy it for me too. Talk to you tomorrow….good night!

Pasta Testing and Dinner on the Patio

After a rather late dinner we got a slow start Saturday morning. Dan’s breakfast was his usual green smoothie: kale, frozen banana, wheat germ, freshly ground flaxseeds, cinnamon, powdered ginger and stevia.  My breakfast fresh juice that consisted of: 1 beet, 4 carrots, 1 small apple, ½ lemon, 2 handfuls of baby collards.

Dan had to go downtown to work so I packed him lunch and got busy doing things here. I knew I wanted a pasta test run today since it has been so long since I was making it regularly. Additionally I wanted to use whole wheat flour as part of the recipe so I needed to play around with the proportions. I used this recipe from Mario Batali as the starting point.

I made the pasta with ½ whole wheat and ½ semolina and then again as ¾ whole wheat and ¼ semolina. I decided that the first version would be better for my parents though I preferred the one with more whole wheat.

Once Dan got home from the office we went out to dinner. We had warned the guys that we were coming in so they had a menu planned for us. It was a gorgeous night on the patio, the weather was darn near perfect all evening. If only my toe didn’t hurt in shoes that night it would have been a perfect evening.  I love to look up through the trees in the evening and that is what is pictured above. You can see the trees just beginning to bud...definitely a sign of spring.

We had some time to chat with Ian before he left for the evening which is always pleasant. He was leaving early because there were 130 reservations for Easter brunch which meant we was coming in to work on Sunday at 5 am. Something to think about for those of you considering a life in food. ;-)

Like always we started with a pot of tea but this time we poured it over ice. I loved the look of the light coming through the tea in the glass.

Our first course was a salad of romaine, thinly sliced red onion, olives and oranges and dressed with a tarragon vinaigrette.

Our next course was red and white grilled onions and roasted red peppers topped with a chunky tomato sauce perfumed with cinnamon. This was not something that I would have thought of on my own but now that I have had it you can expect to see my version of it in the future.

The pizza course was a small whole wheat pizza topped with artichokes, roasted red pepper sauce, olives, onions and arugula. Dan never gets tired of pizza and Will has figured that out so pizza shows up often for us these days and my hubby is always happy to see it arrive.

The last course was a red wine syrup spiced with cinnamon, cloves, all spice and cardamom that was the base for supremed oranges and mint. This was my favorite of the evening and I am not a dessert person. The aroma on this was nothing short of intoxicating.

Since we always eat a leisurely dinner we had time to chat with most people on and off all night. It was good to catch up with Ian, Corey, Jenn, Will, Michael and Jonathan.

Happy thoughts:

Things have been good since I last posted although I have been very busy.

• Easter went well, but Dan did have to work a little which in this case meant driving about an hour north to look at a construction site. Since most of this time was riding in the car I went with him so we could chat there and back. It was nice to have a couple hours to chat. Dan and I always enjoy spending time together even if it is doing something mundane like driving somewhere.

• The Easter meal with my family was universally enjoyed which was very nice. It is tough to find things that are healthy enough for us but that my parents also enjoy. It makes me happy when I can get it right for all concerned.

• Additionally my mother didn’t once mention meat or dairy during the Easter meal. This was a very welcome holiday first. Hopefully it won’t be the last time something miraculous like this happens on a holiday. LOL

• We have clearly finally entered spring here and have been enjoying some beautiful weather. Being spring we have been getting our share of rain but overall the weather has been fantastic. With all the rain things are sprouting and turning green. Everything is starting to look very lush and I love that. The farmers must be enjoying all the rain we have been getting.

• My toe is still messed up, but I think it is starting to heal. I anticipate it is going to be a while before I am comfortably wearing shoes. For now I am happy that I don’t have anywhere that I have to go so that I can continue to go barefoot for as long as necessary. 

• Dan ordered me a new electronic toy today that should be here soon. Once I have a chance to play with it I will let you know what I think of it. As you all know I am not the most technologically savvy so if I can work the new device that means anyone can. ;-)

• My little precious Masi woke me up this morning with cat cuddles. Who doesn’t love a little feline love first thing in the morning. We are so lucky to have three little fury babies to share our life with. I just love our fur kids.

Signing out:

Sorry that it took me so long to get a post up today. I was having technology problems and had to wait for Dan to get home to resolve them. I know I should learn to take care of these things myself but since Dan is so good at it I just never get around to it rather like he never learns to cook. We are the perfect pair when it comes to things like this.  ;-)

The next post be a step-by-step tutorial for making malloreddus (the pasta pictured above). Dan was kind enough to photograph the steps for me as I was making them on Sunday. It is time for me to go and spend some time with my sweetie.  I hope you had a great Monday and that your weather was as wonderful as ours. Talk to you tomorrow.

Friday Means Dinner Out

Things are still not back to normal here due to my toe. That meant that I am not as productive as usual. I am looking forward to being able to wear shoes soon without pain. It looks like I am stuck at home for a while (except for the occasional dinner out) for at least a few more days and maybe longer. I hope I don’t get stir crazy before this darn toe heals. Okay enough whining back to the food. ;-)

Breakfast for Dan was his usual oatmeal with wild blueberries and walnuts and all the other healthy stuff I always add (wheat germ, freshly ground flaxseeds, cinnamon, and powdered ginger).

I started my morning with a huge glass of cold brewed green tea and nothing else because I wasn’t particularly hungry.

Since it was Friday I should have run errands but my foot wasn’t particularly up to it. I checked on my folks and that was it. Once I got home I still wasn’t hungry but knew I needed to eat something so I had an orange and Brazil nuts plus a few unpictured prunes.

We met our friend Louis Friday for dinner. All our favorite servers were working last night which meant that I didn’t want to pick one. Michael (aka 6’7” Shorty) was hosting and I had him pick a table for us. I am bad I know. Then I went immediately into the kitchen to give Ian a hug and talk about dinner since I didn’t make reservations until after lunch. As luck would have it Will was working and had already come up with a menu for us. When he asked if I wanted to know what was for dinner I said “no, surprise me”. Of course I wouldn’t do that everywhere but since I knew it would be vegan and something that I wouldn’t think of which means everything would be great…and it was.

We started dinner with an appetizer of watermelon and tomato gelée (which my hubby affectionately refers to as tomato guts) skews with a cilantro and lime sauce. I loved this presentation and the flavor combination was quite nice. Once I thought about it I remembered that I used to make a watermelon salad with cilantro, red onion and olives so I realized that I knew watermelon and cilantro worked together, though I had forgotten. Sometimes we all need to be reminded of flavor combinations.

The next course was a deconstructed grilled onion and Romesco salad. The dish included roasted peppers, grilled onions, grilled and steamed green onions, sliced almonds and a touch of balsamic glaze.

The final course was a small whole wheat pizza topped with roasted broccoli, mushrooms and green onions. It also included a ginger sauce and was finished with sriracha and was quite delicious. Who needs cheese on pizza? Not us! ;-)

Since Louis had to hit the road early in the morning he left earlier than we did. You know we had to stay and chat and sip our tea…that sort of thing. We wanted to hang around to talk to Will after things slowed down a bit since we haven’t seen him in weeks. The restaurant is going to be packed for Easter brunch given the reservations in the system I think they are going to be turning away walk-ins. However being full is a good thing for all concerned.

Happy thoughts:

• Friday was a great day, other than needing to wear shoes to dinner. We always enjoy spending time with Louis and everyone at the restaurant. It was also nice to see Will since he had been off for about three weeks working on his thesis. Not only did we have great food but the company wasn’t too shabby either. ;-)

• Saturday was a good day. I made two test runs of homemade whole wheat malloreddus (this is the pasta recipe I started with) to see which one would work best for Easter supper at our house. That was a fun project to work on today though it did impact my appetite for dinner which was a little sad. Poor Dan had to eat more of our dinner than usual. He was so sweet to sacrifice like that for me wasn't he?  LOL

• Dan and I had a nice dinner out again Saturday evening. I think it was Dan’s way of saying sorry that he had to work this weekend. Will made us four very nice dishes that I will tell you all about in my next post. The aroma on the fruit dessert was unbelievable (in a good way). I think a lot of you will love that dish I know we did. We had a nice dinner on the patio chatting to each other, playing with technology, and talking to almost everyone that works at the restaurant. Both Dan and I really like everyone there in case you hadn’t noticed by now. LOL

• The rainy weather skirted north of us so we were able to open up the house mid-day on Saturday which I loved. One of my favorite things about spring is getting fresh air into the house after being closed up all winter. It is also great that we will be in the 80’s the next few days. *happy dance* Since walking it out do to my toe I will need to spend time barefoot in the garden instead. Doesn’t that just sound awful? (kidding)

• The herbs in my garden are growing like weeds so far. I love that I will be able to use fresh herbs from my garden for the meal I am making tomorrow. *woo hoo* I know I am a goofball. LOL

• As much as it surprises me I am enjoying the book “The 21-Day Consciousness Cleanse” enough that I ordered it from Amazon. Who knew it would feel good to write down everything that I regretted doing in my life but it was very freeing in a strange way. Not to mention it was a longer list that I realized but I suppose that is to be expected since I am almost 50 (well in a little over a year I will be 50).  ;-)

Signing out:

Like always we got home from the restaurant later than we planned. You would think we would know better by now. ;-) We were having too much fun chatting to everyone to leave. However once the other tables left and the guys could start setting up for brunch we took off so we weren't in the way.

Tomorrow is going to be a good day. I am not going to overcook for Easter. Okay… I should probably say that I am going to try not to overcook tomorrow. I will let you know if I succeed or not. Either way I have decided it is going to be a good day and that I am not going to let my mother’s comments about prime rib, turkey, ham, cream or cheese get to me. We are going to have a nice holiday. *fingers crossed* LOL

Dan and I have errands after the mid-afternoon meal with my folks. He has to do something for work and since it involves photographs, and a long drive, I am going to go with him (shoeless of course). We will make it a fun time like we always do. However it will probably mean that my post will be late on Sunday or possibly even Monday depending on traffic.

Happy Easter! I hope you have a wonderful holiday. I will talk to you again as soon as I can.