Birthday Fun

I had a great birthday on Tuesday and enjoyed spending it with my sweetie. We had a fantastic day together running around and goofing off.

We slept in a little and took our time getting ready to leave the house. To hold us over until lunch we started with a small green smoothie (kale, frozen banana, walnuts, wheat germ, freshly ground flaxseeds, cinnamon, powdered ginger, water and a little stevia for Dan’s sweet tooth).

Before we headed out for some fun Dan gave me a few presents from him (not from the felines). Dan bought me some jewelry for my birthday and other things which included: 2 pair of earrings (period and citrine), a sapphire and blue topaz pendant, a necklace and my 7” Android tablet that he gave me last week. My friend Louis bought the latest generation of the Kindle because I don’t have enough electronic devices in my life. I made out like a bandit this year in case you didn't notice.

For lunch we headed downtown to the Milk and Honey Market for lunch. Doesn’t sound the least bit vegan does it? Don’t let the name fool you they had vegan options. We had no difficultly ordering vegan sandwiches. Steph had suggested the spicy tofu sandwich so we knew they had a least one vegan item on the menu and decided to give it a try.

Here is the interior of the place. The website shows the exterior if you are interested it is on Maryland Avenue at Read Street across from Kyro.

We had a couple of bottles of Pellegrino. Like usual we were splitting our food and ordered two sandwiches to try.

The first one had black bean hummus, guacamole, roasted peppers, and arugula on multigrain bread.

The second sandwich was spicy tofu, with arugula. I liked the flavor on the Mexican sandwich but preferred the texture on the tofu one. I think I would probably choose the tofu sandwich the next time but they were both good.

After we finished our quick bite we headed to pick up my birthday present from the fur children who bought me a Penguin. *happy dance* I have been giving hints about this left and right and thought for sure I wasn’t getting one because that Dan is quite the trickster. He kept telling me that I didn’t need one and I was convinced that I would have to buy it myself. However since I now have one you should expect to be seeing a lot of healthy fizzy drinks on the blog for a while, they will all be handmade, natural and low or no sugar of course. I am sure you know me well enough to realize that I am not buying sugary or artificially flavored syrups. ;-)

Next we stopped at our restaurant to find out who was working the dinner shift. Since Ian was there I headed into the kitchen to warn him that we were coming in because he likes advance notice. He didn’t seem to think that 3 hours was enough notice but he did forgive me.  Whew, dodged that bullet.  ;-)   However Ian didn’t have any tofu on hand so I offered to marinate some and bring it in to him to use in our dinner. When I got home I cut the tofu into 6 slabs and made a simple marinade of: juice from ½ lemon, 1 clove grated garlic, a little nutrition yeast, some oregano, black pepper, cayenne and powdered ginger plus a little water. Ian asked me to use a reasonably neutral marinade since he hadn’t decided what he was going to make. Give the short time the tofu was soaking I knew this combination will be fine.

When we got to the restaurant everyone seemed to know it was birthday. I usually get a lot of hugs but on Tuesday there were more than usual. It is nice to be so warmly received each time we come in especially since they see us so often.   I think they like having us around.  LOL

Fortunately Emily was working since I had my copy of “The 21-Day Consciousness Cleanse” in my purse for her. Emily and I are similar so I know she will enjoy the book. I can’t wait to chat with her about it after she gets a chance to read it. Do you like to talk to friends about books that you read? Maybe we should do an on-line book club? Does anyone know if that sort of thing has been done and if it has did it work? If you have any suggestions on that I would love to hear them. BTW, I know I still owe you my review of that book and hope to have it up in a few days.

Since it is only one birthday once a year I thought I would start my dinner with little cocktail and asked Steph to surprise me with something. Are you starting to see the trend? ;-) She made me a prosecco cocktail that was infused with sage, had a splash of vodka and a touch of simple syrup. The aroma on that drink was excellent. I really liked the sage in this. You know that means there will be some sage showing up in things that I make with the Penguin right?

Ian made a nice vegan soup that was curried carrot with coconut milk. It was topped with cilantro and green onion and was very rich. I had a small cup and Dan had a bowl.

Our next dish was salad of grilled veggies that included the following: corn, tomato, asparagus, green onion, zucchini and baby arugula topped with crispy tortilla strips for crunch. Delicious! Honestly once I had the salad and soup I was pretty full but there was yet another dish.

The tofu was dressed with a ginger soy sauce and also contained snow peas, shitakes, onions and garlic. This was delicious but we were got full before we could finish it since Ian made us two plates. He always thinks we can eat more than we can. Dan was happy to have the leftovers for lunch on Wednesday. The tofu dish had the best flavor and the table next to us was ogling our tofu so we had to say we got the end of it since I knew Ian wouldn’t want everyone to BYOT (bringing their own tofu) to the restaurant.

Steph had made me a “special” dessert since it was my birthday. She marinated oranges in a tiny bit of simple syrup with cayenne and added a dash of HUM (a floral liquor). It isn’t in the picture but she brought us some apple bits and chocolate biscotti crumbs for texture. Slice almonds would have also been good but there weren’t any.

Since I was still in celebration mode I decided to end the meal with a double shot of decaf espresso with soy foam. Man did that taste good. I love the taste and smell of coffee but one of two a year is enough to satisfy my craving.  Can you tell I was in indulgence mode on Tuesday?

Overall it was a great birthday. We never got more than 4 miles from home, probably less, but that didn’t matter. I really can’t think of anything else I would have added to my day. Dan had a good time too and that always makes me happy.

Happy thoughts:

• What a good day I had! I am a very spoiled lady but I am not complaining. ;-) Dan and Louis both always go overboard for holidays and this one was no exception. I can’t decide what I am going to use the Penguin for first…maybe a healthy version of Orangina. So many options to choose from I don’t know where to start.

• I have been enjoying my 7” tablet (think small IPad) which Dan bought me to make it easier for me to stay connected around the house. It is in essence a big smart phone without the calling capability. It will be very useful when I get in the habit of carrying it around.

• It was fun to try out a new restaurant. We are lucky that everyone at the restaurant looks out for us and gives us suggestions for other places we might want to try for lunch. I would have never gone into that restaurant because the name wasn’t vegan friendly. The best part is that Dan can walk there from his office for lunch when he has time for a leisurely mid-day meal.

• Ian made us a delicious dinner on very short notice. We are very lucky to have him just around the corner. There are many days that having Ian has saved me when I haven’t planned. I guess this is another example of how spoiled I am…again I am not complaining. ;-)

• The day was predicted to rain all day and we only had a little intermittent rain which was a very nice surprise. Since the weather was mostly okay we took the opportunity to get in a little walk before and after lunch. We took some time to check out Mt. Vernon to see what other new businesses had cropped up. While we were there we also were looking at the architecture which both of us enjoy.

Signing Out:

It was much easier to have all day to write this post rather than to be rushing at the end of the day. I am definitely going to stay a day behind writing my blog posts. My intention is that having more time will result in better content at least that is my hope.

Do any of you have any experience with webinars? I want to look into what is involved in holding them and if you have any suggestions regarding which vendors to use (or to avoid) I would love to hear your thoughts.

I am very behind on everything in my life at the moment. If you have sent an email that I haven’t yet answered I apologize. I am hoping to have time tomorrow morning to respond to all my email. Please wish me luck as I am going to need it.

Talk to you again tomorrow. I hope you are having a fantastic week.

Birthday Pictures

It will be no surprise to anyone that we were out most of the day and just arrived at home. Tonight I am posting pictures only so that I can log off soon.   I will give you details tomorrow but tonight I need to turn in so that Dan and I can exercise in the morning bright and early (6 am to be exact).

Needless to say it was a great day and there was more than is included here, but I have to save something for the next post!  Dan bought me some very pretty jewelry for my birthday.  He knows me well.  LOL

Talk to you tomorrow! ;-)  I hope you had a good Tuesday too.

Farmers’ Market Sunday and the Food

It is beyond me why we stayed up until 1am knowing that we would be waking up at 6am to go to the farmers’ market Sunday morning. Some people (and by that I do mean me) never learn.

This morning we were both moving more than a little slowly and the first thing Rudy said to us (after hello) was, "you look like you need coffee". Doesn’t that just say it all? LOL, we were at the market early but neither one of us was exactly 100%. Being tired didn’t get in the way of shopping however. We came home with a nice haul of fresh, local organic produce today. *woo hoo* Today we brought home: mesclun, tomatoes (green house grown *yay Rudy*), green onions, Swiss chard, wheat grass (for juicing), kale, cilantro, fresh ginger, asparagus, shitake mushrooms, beets, strawberries, parsley and dill. Our refrigerators are stuffed, but that is a very good thing in my opinion.

After we got home from the market we had green smoothies with the usual ingredients: kale, frozen bananas, wheat germ, freshly ground flaxseeds, walnuts, cinnamon, powdered ginger, water and stevia for Dan.

Dan got caught up on the sci fi that he had DVR’d while I finished reading a book. Today since I wasn’t firing on all cylinders I decided to make a very simple meal for lunch with my parents.

I used my little halogen/convection/infra red onion to roast onions, beets, and tomatoes. That little oven is very versatile. I can’t remember the last time that I actually turned on my big oven that is how much I use the new one. If you don’t have one I highly recommend them. While the little oven was working I also had red lentils cooking to use in a salad. Overall I spend very little time actually in the kitchen but we still had a home cooked meal.

The first dish was roasted beets, oranges, roasted red onion, granny smith apple, and cilantro. I dressed this with sherry vinegar and finished it with sliced almonds. Nothing fancy but both my parents enjoyed it and even asked me what was in it. Go figure!

The second dish was a green lentil salad tossed with Dijon mustard, lemon juice and lemon zest. I also added grated carrots, the roasted tomatoes (which were roasted to concentrate the flavor), celery and cucumber. You could easily make this dish with sherry vinegar if you didn’t have a fresh lemon. I finished it was cilantro but parsley would work too.  Additionally I sprinkled a few chopped walnuts on top for crunch and healthy fat.

Our dinner was a simple dried mushroom with freeman (green roasted wheat).

Followed by a big green salad with fruit (strawberries, blackberries and granny smith apple) dressed with balsamic vinegar and finished with sliced almonds for crunch.

Happy Thoughts:

• Sunday was a nice day and I enjoyed having my husband home so we got to spend a little time together. We had a relaxing day together which is always a good thing. I think everyone should have at least one day a week to goof off.

• The beet salad that I made up on the fly was extremely well received. Both my parents volunteered that they enjoyed it and even asked me what was in it. Huh? Seriously, that shocked me but in a good way. ;-)

• I am looking forward to Tuesday (my 49th birthday *sigh*) since Dan is taking the day off. At the moment I have no idea what we are going to do since it will depend partly on the weather. We may try a new place for lunch and check to see if Ian is working tomorrow evening. You don’t expect me to cook on my birthday do you? I know I haven’t been cooking much lately but I want the “day off” on my birthday too and Dan isn't going to venture into the kitchen.

• It was great to get back to the farmers’ market on Sunday. We learned that Rudy finished his book during the off season and he is saving a copy for me and I can’t wait to read it. How often do you get to read a book on health and nutrition (and gardening) written by a friend with a PhD in chemistry?

• Our CSA started on Sunday and that was great. Knowing that we have produce to pick on each Sunday should be enough to get us out of bed early on the weekend.

• Dan and I have both decided that we need to get back on our early morning schedule and get back to the gym before work. Sunday night we actually did turn in early so maybe we have turned over a new leaf. *fingers crossed*

Signing out:

Sorry for getting this post up so late. Monday was busy again, like most of my days have been recently. We ended up running errands, going out to dinner (no Ian can you imagine) and doing a little shopping. It was another good day but a busy one. Tomorrow will also be busy since Dan is taking the day off but I am going to take my lap top with me when we go out so that I can write the post while he is driving. With a little luck writing the post while I am out will work fine and will get it up earlier in the evening.


I hope your week has started off well. Talk to you again soon.

Flavored Green Tea, Dinner Out and Self-Esteem

Today I had a different variation of green tea. This one was inspired by Emily and here is what I did. In a one quart jar I placed 5 matcha green tea bags, about 5 dried hibiscus flowers and approximately 28 ounces of cold filtered water and put this in the refrigerator overnight, but two hours is long enough. This morning I added the juice on one fresh orange and strained the tea and served it over ice. By making this tea using a cold brewing method I am maximizing the amount of vitamin C that remains from the hibiscus. The tea was a beautiful pink color and a nice flavor and also had the health benefits from the green tea. I really enjoyed this and hope you will give it a try when you are looking for something other than plain green tea.

Dan is swamped at work and needed to go downtown today to work. *boo hiss* However to soften the blow a little he suggested we go out to dinner. I know you might be thinking, dinner out again? Yep, I am definitely one soiled wife that is for certain.

Dinner out for us is more than just the food or my not needing to cook. Of course we love the food but we also love everyone at the restaurant both in the front and back of the house. Going out to dinner for us is relaxing and a chance to chat with everyone. We are very fortunate to have a wonderful neighborhood place to hang out and relax.

When we walked in Amy told us that our table was ready and that she had a surprise waiting for us and had to go into the kitchen to get it. The surprise was that our Aimee was working tonight. We were surprised but were also very happy to see her. Aimee has finals coming up next week so we didn’t expect her to be working this evening. However Corey was short staffed so she worked a double. Don’t you love nice surprises like this?

I started the evening in the kitchen like always chatting with Ian. Will was making a sauce and had a flaming pan which it turned out was our first dish. He was burning the alcohol off the tequila and infusing it with heat from fresh Thai chilies (with the seeds). As you probably know but now since Will was working tonight it meant that I didn’t have to think about what to order since he had things planned out for us.

The first dish was a tequila and Thai chilie flamed watermelon salad with radishes, cucumbers and red onions. This salad was spicy and delicious. I loved the aroma of tequila that this salad had as well as the heat from the chilies.

The second course was a whole wheat noodle sauce with red bell peppers, snow peas, shitakes, and green onions with a spicy tahini sauce on the side that was so good Dan asked Will what was in it and he never does that.

Our third course was a warm black bean and corn salad with crispy tortilla chips.

The fourth and final course was an arugula salad topped with fruit, balsamic glaze and sliced almonds. This was something we asked for to end the meal on a sweet note.

Other than the hard rain that had started before we left the restaurant it was a fabulous evening. I had a slight problem with Facebook thinking that I wasn’t me and locking me out of my account. At least that was partially resolved when I got home. Facebook is still a little wonky but hopefully I will figure it tomorrow once I have gotten some sleep. *fingers crossed*

Self-Esteem:

Today I was thinking about one of my dear friends and their self-deprecating sense of humor and that led me to contemplate self-esteem. I get very upset when this friend says unkind things about themselves but I also know that my friend isn’t the only person that does this. When any of us are self-critical I believe that we are poisoning ourselves. How you value and treat yourself is telling the world how you want to be treated in my opinion. Conversely when you love and respect yourself others will treat you better as well.

Women seem to have more difficulty being kind to themselves than men. I think that is because we all tend to put everyone ahead of ourselves. Why do we all do that? Also why do so many of us have difficulty thinking positive things about ourselves? Most of the people I know have a tough time finding nice things about themselves. I will be the first to admit that I am a perfectionist and find it easier to identify my flaws than my strengths. However I also know that focusing on what we like about ourselves is always better.

I thought it would be good for all of us to think of (and list) the things we love about ourselves. Most of the people I know find it very difficult to say anything nice about themselves so I thought it would help for me to go first. Here is what I love about myself:

• I love my courage
• I love that I am a survivor
• I love that I am determined
• I love my generosity
• I love that I am compassionate and caring
• I love my long hair and my cheekbones ;-)
• I love that I have time to share my healthy journey which I feel might be making a small difference in the world.

Okay so now it is your turn. Please try to think of at least three things that you love about yourself. If you are inclined to share what you love about yourself please let us all know in a comment to this post. Better yet can you find one thing each day to like/love about yourself?  When I am having a particularly tough week I feel better when I focus on what I like about myself.  I hope the same things works for you.

Happy Thoughts:

• We had a lovely evening out this tonight. Dinner was delicious and the company was excellent as always. It was great to see Aimee this evening which we didn’t expect.  It as also nice to see Amy back at work and looking fabulous after her major surgery. When we talked to Will this evening we heard his presentation earleir this week got an A. It is always nice to get good news isn’t it?

• I had a nice day today catching up on a few things at home. I wasn’t thrilled that Dan had to work today but it was good to have time get a few things accomplished here.  I am enjoying working on my vision board, and it is long overdue.

• I am very excited to be picking up a tray of organic wheat grass from Pam at our CSA Sunday morning. It is going to be fantastic to juice fresh wheat grass tomorrow.  *woo hoo*

• Tomorrow is the first day of our CSA pickup and that is going to be great. I am looking forward to getting back to the market in the morning. Being up so late Saturday night may mean a nap will be in order by that is a small price to pay for fresh local organic produce. *happy dance*

• I finished “The 21-Day Conscious Cleanse” today and really enjoyed that book. With a little luck I will get the review up tomorrow.

• Guess who will be taking off work next week for my birthday? Isn’t my husband sweet to do that for me? I don’t think the weather is supposed to be good but that doesn’t matter since we will be spending my birthday together.

Signing Out:

Since 6am is going to come early tomorrow morning we should have been asleep a while ago. Sorry for such a quick post but I need to turn in soon so that we can make it to the farmers’ market early tomorrow morning. I am looking forward to picking up a tray of wheat grass juice tomorrow morning. *woo hoo*

Talk to you again tomorrow. I hope you are having a great weekend too.

Eating Out and Making Changes

Technology is wonderful until it doesn’t work and then it isn’t so great. Blogger has been acting up since Thursday. For those of you whose comments got lost I apologize. I did see them by email but can’t post them now since they have somehow disappeared. Like I said I love technology, when it works. It seems to be back up now and that is good thing. Let’s hope it stays that way for a while. I shouldn’t complain since Blogger is fairly stable.  Since it has been a little while since I could get a post up I am abbreviating this one to leave out the dull stuff. ;-)

Thursday we ended up going out to dinner, and you all know who cooked by now. Yes, of course it was Ian. We made it to the restaurant late, after 8pm, and even had to wait for a table. The weather was gorgeous so everyone was out on the patio. Since Will wasn’t working I did my usual routine of scanning the menu and then heading into the kitchen for a hug from Ian and to chat about what he could make vegan for us.

As soon as I walked into the kitchen he handed me a package of “feuille de brick” which is the pastry he uses to make his version of samosas. Apparently he and Dan were talking about it Wednesday night (while I was in cooking class Dan was hanging out with Ian and the gang) so Ian thought I would want to play with some at home. Seriously isn’t Ian just the nicest guy? He is always doing things like that for us. Is it any wonder that we adore him so? ;-)

After we talked about the items Ian had on the special’s menu we settled on the following options:

We started with the tomato, chickpea and spinach soup which was vegan and very nice. I love that there is almost always a vegan soup on the menu these days. Go Ian!

Next we had the sesame noodle appetizer that was simple to modify to make vegan for us. This version was served cold and was spicy (undoubtedly from sriracha), had pickled watermelon rind, shitakes, and chunks of avocado. Seriously, this stuff was delicious. How did he think of pickled watermelon rind in here? I love to see the combinations that he comes up with.

Our entrée was tofu in romesco sauce with couscous and wilted spinach. The sauce on this was amazing because Ian makes the best sauces. They are always complex and flavorful. I would happily eat his sauces with a spoon like soup. ;-) I have said for years that eating Ian’s food has made me a better cook and I hope my describing his dishes is helping you to think of new ways to combine foods.

There was an interesting table sitting next to us that was a group of men, between my age and Dan’s that seemed like they were either FBI or CIA. They had very big personalities and voices and you couldn’t help but overhear their conversations. There weren’t enough details that you could figure out specifics but let’s just say the world is not a pretty place from what little I could make out. *shivers* Over hearing atrocities does have a way of making me appreciate the relative calm of my life.  It is very sad that the world is such a scary place.

Changing Your Perspective:

While reading a book today it asked me to list the three situations that were the most difficult in my life and then to see them from various perspectives: mine, the perpetrator and what lesson it taught me. There are times in life when situations seem all bad until you step back and reflect on them. I wanted to share the details with you so that you can think of these things for yourself. This isn’t easy for me but I think it might help someone else so I wanted to put myself out there.

Many years ago, over 30 to be specific, I was the victim of a violent rape at knife point. It was a very difficult time in my life because I was young (just turned 18) and had never experienced violence. This situation forced me to grow up quickly and deal with something that I never thought would happen to me. However it did prove to me that I was stronger than I thought and capable of handling things that I never imagined. Additionally it had the impact of making me more cautious of other human beings going forward which may have saved me from a more serious situation later on.

If you had asked me what good came out of this before today I would have thought that question was irrational. However when I sat back and thought about it I realized there actually was a silver lining. Before the attack I was a very trusting person to a fault. This situation made me much more cautious but in a protective way.

I can say the same thing about cancer being a learning experience. If it hadn’t been for the cancer we would still be abusing our bodies with unhealthy lifestyles and indulging ourselves. However after the cancer I feel like I was put here to share my lifestyle with anyone that wants to get healthy so that they can possibly avoid chronic disease. You have no idea how much it means to me that I get so many hits here on the blog, Twitter and Facebook. As I have said many times if only one of you modifies your lifestyle I feel that I have made a difference in the world.

So why am I telling you this and what do I hope you will take out of it. I think most of us get into a rut and tend to see ourselves in various roles. Some of the roles I tend to see are: victim, martyr, hero, dumb pretty one, smart ugly one, the fat friend, the nice one who never gets a guy/girl, etc. Why do we tell ourselves stories like this? If I had taken the rape and cancer and turned myself into “a victim” how do you think I would behave now? Would I go out alone for long walks or would I stay safely at home? Would I be reading everything on cancer to try to try to help the situation or would we just be letting medical science take control? Do you see where this is going?

The problem with putting yourself into a role is that you get stuck. Victims can’t help themselves since they are powerless, martyrs can’t be happy since they have to suffer for others, fat friends will never lose weight, the nice one will never find love, etc. When we tell ourselves stories we are shutting ourselves off to possibilities. Many people let their histories dictate who they are now and more importantly what they can/will become in the future. However if you see each new moment as a chance to do something differently, see the world differently, then you can change.

I will give you another example that may make more sense. Let’s say you want to lose weight or get healthier but you tell yourself that you can’t give up your favorite foods. When you do that you are putting up a roadblock to making real change. If you know you want to be healthier then ask yourself how you can expect to continue your old habits but still somehow change your health. Does that actually make sense?

If your whole life you ate meat, dairy, sugar and flour and you want to be healthier why do you think that if you continue to eat those things your health will improve? I can imagine what many of you are thinking now. But if I change the quantity of what I consume that will make a change. Really? Haven’t you tried that in the past? Did it work long term? Before you say yes if it did work then you wouldn’t still need to make a change now would you? Could it be that you are telling yourself a story? We have all heard that phrase about the definition of insanity being doing the same thing and expecting different results. At the very least it is something to think about. For any of you that want to be healthier I would only suggest that you ask yourself some tough questions to see if there are any changes you are willing to make. You can always return to your old habits if it doesn’t work. However if you never try, you will never know what could happen if you did change.

In summation if you want to change your life, or your outcome you can do it but you have to be willing to change how you see yourself. You also have to be willing to change how you do things. If you stay stuck in the vision or yourself, and/or your habits, things are not going to change. Please give this concept some thought before you dismiss it as new age psycho babble.

Happy thoughts:

• This week has been extremely busy but also fairly good. Dan and I had a nice dinner out on Thursday. Whenever we go out to eat I am reminded how fortunate we are to have Ian around the corner. We are very spoiled to have somewhere that is a short drive or walk away where we can get gourmet vegan food. Not to mention that Ian always gives me ideas just from looking at the menu.

• Our weather has been fantastic this week. There really is nothing like spring weather. Fortunately there has been little rain this week which has allowed me to air out the house and I love that.

• Today I was able to actually put on my running shoes on and get in a little walk. My toe still hurts however it has vastly improved. Tomorrow I have a long walk planned if the weather holds up. *happy dance* I am very much looking forward to hitting the pavement again.

• Friday I ran some errands and checked on my parents who are both holding up well. It is nice to be able to help them out in their advancing years. I am fortunate to have the time and ability to be able to do that.

• With my birthday coming up next week I have been reflecting on what I want to be when I grow up. Since it is time that I figure this out I decided to work on a vision board for myself. To get that moving today I started painting a cork board to hang in the family room. I hope to have my vision board finished by the end of next week and when I do I will share it with you. After all if you don’t know where you are going then you probably aren’t going to end up where you want to be right?

• Big news today from Pam at our CSA. We got an email that she will be bringing us a tray of wheat grass to the market on Sunday. *yay* I am very excited that we will be juicing wheat grass on Sunday. *happy dance*

Signing out:

I hope that you had a great week. Mine was good even though it was busy. It is wonderful that today is Friday *woo hoo* as you all know I love the weekends. I have a few fun things planned for the weekend that I will tell you about soon.

Ottmar Liebert and Cooking Class

My week has been one big blur. I am not complaining though because it has also been a good week, just a crazy busy one.

Ottmar Liebert at Ram’s Head On Stage:

Tuesday night Dan and I went to Annapolis with Walid and Jackie to hear Ottmar Liebert and Luna Negra play at Ram’s Head On Stage. It was a good show and I still loved the music as much as ever. I can’t believe Ottmar recorded his first album in 1990. Darn I am getting old.

Fortunately for us they had a veggie sandwich (no cheese) on the menu as well as roasted red pepper hummus. They only had black tea (no green or white) but still the food options were better than I expected. The last time we were at Ram’s Head I don’t remember a veggie sandwich. Next time I would have them hold the aioli which was too much. They also had a black bean soup but with the weather getting warmer I wasn’t really in a soup mood.

It won’t surprise you to hear that I had packed some homemade trail mix in my purse just in case we needed a little something more to eat. Dan had a little bit of the trail mix but only because it was there I think.

Wednesday:

How is it Wednesday already? This week has just been flying by. The good part is that means that the weekend will be here sooner that I expect to.

Breakfast for me this morning was savory oatmeal. I haven’t had that in at least a week so it was definitely time to for a little oatmeal this morning. This version included: oats, water, nutritional yeast, no-salt seasoning, cumin, black pepper, freshly ground flaxseeds, wheat germ, broccoli, salsa and marinated mushrooms. I omitted the raw pumpkin seeds this morning because I know that the dinner we had last night contained far more fat than I am accustomed to eating.

After breakfast I had a few things to get finished at home. My week has been so busy that I am not as organized as usual which makes me a little nervous. I also needed to get some prepared food in the refrigerator to make my quick grab and go meals. That meant pressure cooking beans and making a few veggie sides that can be used on salads or to top whole grains.

I also had to spend a little time cleaning (the bane of my existence). Have I said recently that I don’t like to clean? Really I don’t enjoy it and rather view it is as a necessary evil. There are many other things that I would prefer to be doing other than cleaning. As I said to my friend Jackie last night, “Martha Stewart does not live at my house”.

The weather is absolutely incredible now in Baltimore. All day the skies were blue, there was a very gentle breeze and the temperatures reached the mid 70’s. I don’t think the weather could be more perfect now.

My lunch today was a huge salad (in a serving bowl like usual) of: organic baby spinach, white bean cheeze (made thinner with extra liquid), salsa, marinated mushrooms and a small white potato (for extra calories because I was hungry at lunch time). As you can see in the picture above my fur children love the smell of nutrition yeast. I need to remember to ask the vet if they can have that because they are all attracted to it.

Next it was time for me to run to Home Goods before cooking class. I have been buying items to set up a little meditation space at home and have been looking for additional things to add to that area. As soon as I get it set up I will post pictures and explain more about what I am doing.

Cooking Class:

Since class tonight was seafood pasta I was curious to see how the teacher was going to change the recipes for me (which I still feel bad about since I don't like to be a bother).  Here is what was made tonight, the omni and vegan versions. I hope this gives those of you with omni family members some ideas on how to make one meal that can be easily tweaked to add animal products for those that aren’t ready to change their diet yet. ;-)

The first seafood pasta was whole wheat pasta with clams. It also contained garlic, fennel, wine, lemon, capers, and fresh diced tomato.

My pasta was just the veg and a little bread crumbs and was delicious. I thought my vegan version of this was fine without the clams and did not require any additional modifications. Since the clams were cooked in the veg and wine broth the vegan version had to be made separately. However since the veg was all the same you only need to use a second pan for the vegan version.

The second seafood pasta was shrimp, feta and pasta with pesto. The pesto was made with arugula and the pasta also included broccoli, red bell pepper, olives and whole pine nuts for texture.

My version was only pasta and veg and had plenty of flavor from the arugula pesto and lemon. You could have topped this dish with nut cheese and added either cooked beans or chunks of tofu. This was another dish that needed a separate pan and to pull out some of the pesto before adding the cheese.

The final seafood pasta dish was a roasted salmon with lemon and herbs on top of spring vegetable orzo with tarragon and lemon.

My pasta was the veggies and pasta only. The vegan version had plenty of flavor from the vegetables, Dijon, and fresh herbs. This dish was the easiest to modify since the salmon was baked. Alternately you could have baked a piece of lemon marinated tofu that you topped with herbed bread crumbs.  The braised baby artichokes in white wine and lemon really made this dish.

I think this is a great example of how you can take one set of raw materials and make two different meals, one omni and one vegan. After you have been doing this for a while it becomes second nature. In fact many of you ask where my recipe ideas come from and in the beginning they were omni dishes that I made vegan because the vast majority of my cooking experience is still omni. Now I don’t really think about the missing elements it is more a matter of combining food/flavor combinations that I know will work based on my experience. I hope that gives you some ideas of how to take your favorite flavors and make them into vegan dishes.

Happy thoughts:

• Our weather is nothing short of amazing right now. I love it when the temperatures are in the mid-70’s and there is little humidity. Too bad Baltimore weather can’t be like this more often. We have had the windows open for days and both the humas and felines have been soaking up the fresh air.

• All of us had a great time at Ottmar last night. It is always nice to spend time with Walid and Jackie.

• I found more items for my altar/meditation space which made me happy. With a little luck I will only need a couple more shopping trips and that will ready to go.

• My friend Louis sent me a birthday present which arrived a little early. He will be out of town for my birthday so I am sure he didn’t want his present to be late. I will tell you more about that on my birthday. Thank you Louis, you are best! Hugs!

• It was very nice to spend some time today with the regulars at cooking class. Dennis was entertaining as always. He is quite the character, in a good way. You have to be there to understand.  He is a joy to be around because he always makes me laugh and we all known that laughter is good medicine.

Signing out:

That is going to be it for me tonight. Tomorrow my schedule is fairly light and I am really looking forward to that. I need a day to hang out at home and recharge. Sadly I think there will also be cleaning on my schedule but that is nothing compared to the running around I have been doing lately. I am sure you all know how much I dislike driving so I am thrilled to not be in the car tomorrow.

I hope your week is going well and I will talk to you tomorrow.

Tips for Making Healthy Fast Food

As you have probably already guessed Monday is a complete blur to me by now. Sadly Tuesday feels very similar but at least it is in a good way.

Healthy Food Fast:

My week is a tad overscheduled which means I have been rushing from place to place and just trying to keep my head above water. When my schedule is out of control like this I rely on very fast food for our sustenance. Since many of you say you don’t have time I wanted to tell you what I do when I only have a few minutes to devote to any particular meal.
First, smoothies are always an option. You can toss any number of things into your blender and come up with something that this both delicious and nutritious. Never underestimate the power of your blender.

Second, dinner leftovers are great on salad. This one was baby spinach dressed with a little sherry vinegar and then the fruited quinoa, Brussels sprouts and bell peppers from Sunday. I have been known to put almost any leftover sauté on top of salad and they always work for me.

Third, fruit and nuts always work. Bananas make great portable food since you don’t even need a bag. Little snack containers are great to hold nuts. I also like to keep washed oranges and apples in bags in the refrigerator along with a few nuts. That way I can grab the bag and toss it in my purse and run out the door.

Fourth, soup in the Vitamix is also a great quick meal. If you want something creamy add a few raw cashews to the soup. This is one of my favorite uses for the Vitamix. A simple “cream” soup has come to my rescue many times. All you need to add is salad and you have a meal. If you have leftover cooked whole grains in the refrigerator they are great to stir into the soup for texture.

Fifth, use your refrigerator as part of your pantry. Leftover soup came in very handy the last two days for me. The same thing applies to keeping cooked beans on hand in your refrigerator. You can turn them into a salad, use them to top a green salad, add them to soups or sautés. The options for beans are almost endless. I also like to keep cooked whole grains on hand like: barley, farro, and brown rice.

Sixth, the microwave is great for cooking a fast white or sweet potato that you can top with salsa, marinated mushrooms, or leftover beans. You could also add the potato to your salad or soup if you like.

Seventh, quinoa only takes 15 minutes to cook. While the quinoa is cooking you can make a quick vegetable sauté for on top of the quinoa. Add a few nuts and you have a healthy and nutritious meal.

Eight, black-eyed peas only need to cook 6 minutes under high pressure in the pressure cooker. I can turn them into soup in well under 30 minutes even allowing 10 minutes for the onions to sit after I have chopped them.

Ninth, if you have stashed some leftovers in the freezer days when you have not time is the perfect time to pull those out. Tofu lasagna, mushroom ragu, all soups and stews and seitan all freezer extremely well.

Tenth, savory oatmeal is very quick and probably feels more like dinner than breakfast to most of you. Add any veggies you have in the refrigerator or freezer and you have a complete meal in well under 10 minutes.

Eleventh, keep your freezer stocked with vegetables. I use this often to make simple salads, add to grains, put in soups or on top of savory oatmeal.

Twelfth, if you have nut butter in the house you can make sandwiches or fill in into celery. I like to have celery and nut butter with my salad. This was celery stuffed with homemade cashew and macadamia nut butter that I had in the refrigerator. The nice thing about homemade nut butter is that it keeps a long time under refrigeration.

Thirteenth, when you really don’t feel like cooking anything you can always hit the salad bar at your local grocery store. This isn’t terribly cost effective but it is better a lot of options.

Fourteenth, if you don’t even feel like going to the store find a local Asian carry out place that has brown rice. You can order the steamed veggies with the sauce on the side. Dan likes to have them add cashews rather than tofu (he claims to only like my tofu) to his meals. Seriously, steamed veggies over brown rice with a little drizzle of sauce and you are good to go. If you are really lucky they may also have some veggie sushi or a vegetarian miso soup that you can pick up. Just a quick note on miso soup, traditionally it is made with dashi (that included dried fish) but many of our local Asian restaurants also have vegetarian versions (which are actually vegan though they call them vegetarian).

I hope that gives you some ideas of how to make food quickly when you don’t have a lot of time. Since many of you ask me that quick I wanted to share a few tips that have been relevant for me the last couple of days.

Did you notice that my felines have not gotten the memo that they are carnivores? I didn’t have time to scoot them out of the photos the last few days. But as you can tell my babies like their mommy’s cooking a bit too much. LOL

Monday:

I spend most of my Monday sleep deprived because a certain little fuzzy angel didn’t want his mommy to sleep Sunday night/Monday morning. All I can say is it a good thing that I love my little children otherwise somebody would have been in a lot of trouble yesterday for keeping me up for hours.  However it is hard to get upset with them when they are being cute and wanting to cuddle. I do wish they would not require two hours of cuddling though.  *rolls eyes*

Tuesday:

I went to see Will give his presentation on theatre and food in the afternoon. Knowing nothing about theatre I had no idea what to expect. The food part I understood but the theatre aspect when over my head. Even so I thought he did a nice job and the professor seemed to agree from what I saw and heard.

Dan, Walid, Jackie and I are going to see Ottmar Liebert tonight in Annapolis. After I bought two tickets I also won two and you have guessed the rest. As luck would have it Jackie actually was also a fan of Ottmar so I am sure we will have blast. I have my camera in my purse and will try to get a few shots for you tonight.

Happy thoughts:

• It has been a beautiful few days weather wise here in Baltimore. We have had sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 70’s. I love that spring is finally here.

• I am really looking forward to the concert tonight. Being a fan of Ottmar for over 20 years I am sure this is going to be great. I will tell you all about it tomorrow.

• I really enjoyed watching Will give his presentation this afternoon. It was very nice of him to let me tag along. Although I am sure the other students were wondering if I was him mom. *sigh* Nothing like spending time on a college campus to remind you that you aren’t a kid anymore. ;-)

• Monday I had a little time to do some weeding in my herb garden. Seriously I really needed to spend more time out in the garden but I had too much to do to lose more than an hour out there. How did I ever get things accomplished at home when I also had a job? That still boggles my mind. All I can say is that my standards had to have been lower then.

• My toe is finally starting to show noticeable improvement. Though it still hurts at least I can touch it now. I think tomorrow I am going to try putting on my running shoes to see how that works.

Signing out:

I need to start getting ready for the concert tonight. I have no idea where my Tuesday went. Tomorrow will be another busy one for me but Thursday should bring a little down time. *fingers crossed*

I will talk to you again tomorrow with the concert update. Here is hoping that you are having good week too.