Cold but Spicy Indian Soup

I am having another one of those “uber busy” weeks that have become my new normal. Whatever happened to retirement was supposed to be boring? ;-)

Monday is already a blur though I know I spent a lot of time on the book club blog. If you haven’t read “The China Study” and want to join us please do.

This morning (Tuesday) Dan and I started our morning with a nice trek through the neighborhood which was a little less than 3.5 miles. The weather was gorgeous with temps in the low 70’s and a reasonable amount of humidity. We covered most of the distance walking but there was some jogging too. I will cut back the jogging if my knee starts acting up again. I have to accept the fact that I am not young any longer.

When time came for dinner I had no idea what I was going to make, like usual. However I remembered a soup that Dennis had talked about last week at cooking class. I saw the recipe which he brought for the teacher and used that for inspiration for tonight’s dinner. Here is what I did:

Cold Spicy Indian Soup
Approximately 8 servings

Soup Ingredients:

2 cups split mung beans
4 carrots, roughly chopped
12 cups water, you may need more or less depending on evaporation
1 cup peeled, diced white onion
8 large cloves garlic, peeled and minced (approximately ½ head)
1 tablespoon garam masala
2 cups almond milk
1 – 3 diced jalapenos (depending on how much you like heat)
freshly ground black pepper to taste
½ teaspoon coconut extract
1 -3 inches fresh ginger (add to your taste)

Soup Toppings:

cashew crème fraiche
fresh herbs - cilantro/parsley/mint/green onions
sliced almonds or curried squash seeds
lime wedges

Directions:

Combine the dried beans and 8 cups of water, onions, garlic, carrots, and garam masala and cook until the beans are tender. Now puree the soup in your blender until completely smooth and return to the pot. Add the almond milk and coconut extract and stir to blend. Cook until you like the flavor of the soup, in other words until the flavors have blended. Add water necessary to achieve a consistency of cream. Remember that the soup will thicken as it chills.

Now place a cup or two of the soup in your blender and process the ginger and jalapenos until the soup is smooth. Add this to the other soup and stir to combine and taste for flavor. I like a fresh ginger taste so I added this mixture off the heat. If you find that the soup is too hot or sharp in flavor you can add a little stevia to round out the flavor.

Move the soup to a large container and chill it in your refrigerator until it is completely cold. It is meant to be served like gazpacho as a thoroughly cold soup.

To serve top the soup with any or all of the suggested toppings listed above.

Happy thoughts:

Some days it is easier to come up with the things I am happy with than other days. However I also realize that the days when it is tough to focus on what is right is precisely the day when I need be still and write down as many as I can think of. Here goes:

• The weather was remarkable today. We had a gorgeous walk this morning before Dan went to work. Later I was able to open the windows at home and let the fresh air in. As I am typing this I am watching the sunset and listening to the locusts chirp (assuming that is the right word). The sound of the locusts is always comforting to me because they remind me of my grandmother we used to tell me they were the “hot bugs” when I was little.

• The fur children have been adorable today. They really enjoy lounging in the window and breathing the fresh air. It is so easy to make the cats happy. An open window and my little ones are as happy as they can be. We could learn a lot from cats couldn’t we?

• The boat was refueling at Turtle Cove today and is next headed for the Bahamas. It has been a long time coming but she is finally headed home. You have no idea how much we are both looking forward to her arrival.

• I finally figured out how to forward my new website to the domain I purchased. I was determined to make it work without calling anyone for help and a number of days later it is finally working. Now I need to refine the content and I will be ready to share the link with you.

• Having purchased a large basket of peaches (about 100) this weekend at the farmers’ market means I am in bit of peach overload. Good thing I love peaches huh? Every day I find myself eating peaches breakfast, lunch and dinner. As much as I love peaches I may not buy another basket next week. I think I could use a peach break for a week. However it was great to get a big basket for $20 and I am sure that I will miss ripe local peaches when they are gone. ;-)

• I almost have all the laundry done. I know that doesn’t sound like a big deal but I rarely see the bottom of our laundry basket. Dan and I make a lot of dirty laundry so I am enjoying having it completely under control for a change.

• This morning I had time to take part in a good webinar about marketing. I love being able to learn online. It is nice to sit in my own family room with a cup of tea and take part in a webinar. It is good to be alive in this age of technology even though I am a bit of technology dinosaur. ;-)

Signing out:

I just fed my hubby and now I need to clean up the kitchen and turn in. Tomorrow will start early with a little exercise if weather permits. *fingers crossed*

Talk with you again soon. Enjoy the remainder of your evening.

Another Crazy Weekend and Pecan Taco Meat

I have been having one of those summers where we are home very little. Not being near my computer does make it tough to stay current with the blog.

Thursday:

We went to Ram’s Head On Stage to see Euge Groove who gave a great performance. He was the first artist who came out to sign CDs and chat after the show. Personally I thought that was a very nice touch on his part.

The picture above is one I took under very low light and I was extremely pleased with it. Apparently I can take pictures that don’t involve food. LOL

For those of you who may be going to Ram’s Head order the veggie sandwich (hold the mayo) and the red pepper hummus with all veggies (hold the pita) and you are good to go. Not only is this combination vegan but fairly healthy vegan if you avoid the potato chips which come with the sandwich. ;-)

Friday:

Like all Friday’s mine was particularly jam packed. However this particular Friday I also had an appointment and we ran some errands after that. We did a little clothes shopping and then ran to West Marine for a few things that grew once we were inside. Both Dan and I got sandals with non-marking soles, sailing gloves and hats. We also picked up some extra sailing gloves while we were there since we know none of our friends are likely to have their own since all of them but Dennis don’t sail.

We were shopping longer than we expected so the evening turned into dinner out which we didn’t decide to do until the last minute. You know that meant that Ian didn’t get any advanced notice and fortunately he forgave us for that. ;-) I love having Open Table on my phone. It is very convenient to make reservations using my phone while Dan drives.

The weather was so gorgeous we had dinner on the patio. When we arrived it looked like all the tables outside were taken but no, there was one set up for us. It definitely pays to be a restaurant regular. Not only did we get a table on the patio but it was in Jenn and Janine’s section which was very nice. Since Jenn was working Dan grabbed the extra sailing gloves to make sure they fit her as I was worried that small might have been too big but fortunately that wasn’t an issue. :-)

I was in a vino mood and asked about a sparkling red that I had tasted a few weeks ago and it was only available by the bottle. Since it was 5% alcohol we decided that one bottle wouldn’t be that bad since we rarely ever drink now. The trick will be to not order this ever time we come in but I think we can do it because it is a perfect summer wine and we don’t typically enjoy sweet wine but will make an exception for this. It must be good because it is Italian … all the good stuff is you know. ;-)

We also had a pot of tea which was half green and half hibiscus.

We started with the vegetarian plate of the day which also happened to be vegan (Gee...I wonder why LOL). This dish included saffron rice, ratatouille, a corn salad over avocado and snow peas.

Then we ordered a dish that is one the regular menu but asked them to remove the smoked mozzarella and replace it with cubes of tofu. It certainly does come in handy knowing that Ian has tofu in the kitchen now. ;-) This pasta dish included tomato, fennel, green onions and I am fairly sure there is white wine in the sauce. It was a good summer pasta.

Saturday:

It rained overnight which meant it was muggy and humid when we got up. Thank goodness for air conditioning was all I could think. Since Dan promised to start exercising again he did go with in the morning for a nice little 3.5 mile walk to start the day.

While we were out for our walk we saw this cute little Mini with a red mustache like Snidely Whiplash from Dudley Doright. I could not help but see the humor in this. After our walk we had small bowls of oatmeal and then a small green smoothie (kale and banana).

Dan went downtown to the office to get some work done and I stayed home and worked on my new website. Have I said recently that I am good with technology? Well, I am not good with technology so it was a frustrating Saturday for me.

Dinner was a simple stew of mixed beans (13 to be specific) which I pressure cooked and then added canned tomatoes, Italian seasoning, fresh shitake mushrooms, wine vinegar and zucchini. Nothing too complicated just simple healthy food. To Dan’s stew I added some cooked pasta and pine nuts for extra calories.

Sunday:

We started our day at the farmers’ market like usual. We picked up two containers of hummus, the version with Old Bay (the traditional Maryland seafood seasoning) and a super hot version called XXX. I loved the heat in the XXX hummus but I do love heat. I found out today that the “hummus dude” also has a restaurant. When I look up his menu online if he has vegan options I will be checking it out and will let you know what I think.

While we were at the market Rudy and I had a quick talk about the causes of autism, He is going to bring me an article next week to read.  I love that one of our organic farmers has a PhD is biochemistry. He and I have the best conversations.  :-)

This is a cute bumper sticker I saw when leaving the farmers' market. I love unusual bumper stickes in case you hadn't noticed.

We came from the market with our usual ridiculous amount of produce with included: red leaf lettuce, kale, collards, oyster mushrooms, baby carrots, tomatoes, bell peppers and a basket of peaches (about 100). Yes I really do love peaches that much. Plus I will freeze some of them for smoothies. :-)

Breakfast was leftover soup from Saturday night because it was quick and easy.

Lunch was corn on the cob, fresh tomatoes, and roasted red potatoes with a spicy red pepper dipping sauce. The sauce was something that I whipped together in the Vitamix. Combine roasted red peppers, raw cashews and chili garlic sauce to taste.

Dinner was a taco salad which included: red leaf lettuce, cilantro, salsa, roasted sweet potato, tomatoes and was topped with pecan taco meat. The pecan taco meat was loosely based on the raw dinner we went to at Great Sage earlier this year. Soak pecans in water for a few hours and then drain thoroughly. Place the drained pecans in your food processor and pulse until they resemble ground meat. Now stir in finely diced red onion, grated garlic, a finely diced jalapeno, a little lime juice (or you could substitute wet hots for the jalapeno and lime), ground cumin, chili powder and no-salt seasoning. Stir well to combine all the flavors.

Happy Thoughts:

We had another great weekend though it was more busy than relaxing. However there is always plenty to be thankful for such as:

• We had a lot of fun at the Euge Groove concert Thursday evening in Annapolis. We both love live jazz and Euge did not disappoint. I was also thrilled to get some great pictures at the concert.

• Friday was another busy day but a productive one as well. We stopped at Marshalls before dinner and I found a cute Calvin Klein sweater, a Jones of NY sweater and a red floral maxi skirt. Dan found a great pair of Calvin Klein shorts for the boat. We also picked up some white organic tea and no-salt lemon pepper. Four bags later we were off to the boat store where we able to find more items that were on our boat to-do list. It was definitely a productive shopping trip.  ;-)

• Friday we had a very nice relaxing dinner on the patio. It was definitely the perfect way to wind down the week.

• I was very happy that I didn’t need to twist Dan’s arm to get him to do a little exercise this weekend. Dan claims he will be exercising more often now. Let’s hope work doesn’t continue to get in the way.

• Sunday we were fortunate to get more rain, in fact it rained most of the day. I don’t typically enjoy rain on the weekend but things have been so dry here that a rainy weekend was actually a very welcome sight. Not to mention it was nice to get it out of the way before the boat arrives. ;-)

• Even though Dan had to work again on Sunday we spent the morning together and he worked from his home office rather than going downtown. It was nice to have him at home for lunch and dinner and periodic green tea breaks.

Signing out:

Like always I am up later than I should be. Given what time it is now it looks like we won’t be getting up at 5:30 tomorrow morning. *rolls eyes* Oh well, you can’t win them all. We will at least focus on getting earlier than normal.

Looking at my schedule Monday doesn’t appear to be too hectic. I hope to have time to write another post tomorrow. Don’t forget to join us that the bookclub blog where we start discussing chapter one of “The China Study”. Talk to you again soon. :-)

Cooking Class: Vegetables Dishes of Rome

Wednesday was another busy day for me. It started meeting my girlfriend Deirdre in the morning for a long walk. We ended up going 4.5 miles which was great. It was great to have time to catch up with Deirdre. Not to mention the fact that Deirdre is 15 years younger than I am and that was good to push me a little. ;-)

After our “girl time” I came home to do a few things around the house and then needed to be available in case my mother needed anything while my father was at the oral surgeon. Once my father was back home from his appointment I took off for cooking class.

Class this evening was “Vegetable Dishes of Rome” so I knew I had to make it. I love Rome and vegetables so this was not to be missed. As always there were the regular dishes and then the vegan option for me. It is nice to be able to attend class again. I really missed seeing the regulars every week.

Dennis got to class a little early and we chatted about food and sailing. We were hoping that he had blue water (ocean) sailing experience but he doesn’t. Darn it! ;-)

The first dish in class was an appetizer of two types of artichokes. One variety was Roman braised in wine, lemon and the other was Jewish style except it was oven fried. There was even an eggless aioli, which wasn’t necessary since I don’t need the oil. However it was nice to show other people that aioli could be made without egg. Though I am sure all of you knew that already from this recipe.

The next dish was a salad of greens and polenta. The omni version had anchovies and mine had capers instead. If you haven’t tried substituting capers from anchovies you should it works well, IMO.

The last dish was zucchini risotto topped with roasted tomatoes. The stock for the risotto was unlike anything I had seen before. Zucchini and fresh herbs were used to make the broth and they were pureed in a blender. That is something you can expect to see me doing in the future. It added a thickness to the stock and a nice flavor.

While I was in class Dan sent me a text that he was on his way home. When it came in I texted back and asked him what he was doing for dinner but of course he wasn’t looking at his phone. When Dan got home he realized I was at cooking class so he opted to have dinner with Ian and the gang.

When I texted Dan to find out what he was having for dinner he wrote back “Summer Vegetable Celebration”. Really? What the heck is that I thought? So I asked and he sent me the picture that is above.  It is a bit of mess because Dan started eating before he took the picture.  *shakes head*

From my phone I was trying to guess what it was. When I asked what was in the black bean dish he writes back, and I quote “black beans, corn avocado and stuff”. No lie he literally wrote stuff. All of us at cooking class were giggling because we all know Dan but that was funny even for him. As Dan likes to say every relationship needs a cook and an eater and I think we all know which one he is. LOL

After class our teacher found out that she needed something taken to Ian so I volunteered to deliver it since it is so close to my house. I knew while I was there I would have time to see how Ian’s hip was doing and I was curious which meant I didn’t mind stopping by the restaurant on my way home.

I am happy to report that Ian is using the foam roller and it seems to be helping. *woo hoo* :-) That made me very happy to hear. I chatted with everyone for a few minutes and finally got home to see my hubby who was in his home office working. You have no idea how much I wish that man would relax a little.

Before we turned in for the evening Dan confessed that he had black tea tonight since I wasn’t there. He had Shorty wait on him since he knew he would give him the black tea. The girls (bless them) always give him green tea since they know that is better for him. Here is best part … he told me that he really didn’t enjoy the black tea like he expected since he has become so accustomed to green tea. *woo hoo* I love to hear the healthy stuff has become his new normal. LOL

It was a later evening than it should have been since we needed to be at the lab at 7am when they opened in order to make it downtown by 9am for the dentist.  I guess night owls don't change their spots.  LOL, I know I twisted that but it made me giggle so I kept it. ;-)

Happy thoughts:

• I had a great time Wednesday morning with Deirdre. It was wonderful to have time to catch up with her before my day really got started.

• Cooking class was a lot of fun. I really love Italian food. :-)

• I was thrilled to hear that Ian’s hip is going better. It was nice to be able to help.

• Dan had a nice dinner out on his own which made me happy. I was glad you took a break from work long enough to eat dinner.

• My blood draw this morning was practically painless which was very nice since I am usually a tough stick.

• I also had a nice appointment downtown with Regan to get my teeth cleaned. Regan and I had a nice chat about the bay, sailing and jazz. I really like going to my dentist and that is very new for me since I have always had a dental phobia.

• We are going to a jazz concert tonight which I am also happy about. Live jazz is the best.

Signing out:

I need to figure out what I am going to wear and get downtown to pick Dan up for the jazz concert. It should be a lot of fun and I will try to get some better pictures tonight with my big camera.

I will talk to you again soon. I hope you are having a great week!

Potato and Veg Salad with Chermoula Spiced Potatoes

Monday was another one of those busy days for me. It started early with some strength training at home and then went for a hot and sweaty walk. With the heat and humidity I cut my walk short and stopped after 2 miles. It was one of those days where you came home dripping in sweat. *ugh*  At the moment I am really missing winter.

After I had a quick shower and felt more human I made myself a kale smoothie with wild blueberries. It always surprises me how draining our hot and humid weather can be. I should do my cardio inside but I find being outside to be more mentally stimulating so I typically opt to brave the humidity. ;-)

I met our friend Will for lunch on Monday. Will has been swamped working at Woodberry Kitchen so we haven’t had much time to catch up. We decided to go to Jesse Wong’s in Hunt Valley since they cater to vegetarians and vegans as well as omnivores. I ordered our usual Hunan “faux duck” and Will had sushi. I ask Will to try the “duck” and he was surprised by the texture too. Hopefully between the two of us we can figure out how to make the “duck” at home.

To throw my “cyber stalker” off the track I checked into Jesse Wong’s on Foursquare as we were walking out of the restaurant. It is such a shame that people need to behave inappropriately. We will see if checking in when we leave places works. *fingers crossed*

Will and I ended up chatted for about 2 and ½ hours and then it was time for me to get home and try to get caught up on my never ending to-do list. Did I make much progress on my list? Not really, LOL. *shakes head* For a retired woman I sure do have a busy schedule. ;-)

When it was time to make dinner I had no idea what I was going to prepare. I ended up making a batch of chermoula which I used to season roast potatoes and this became the basis for dinner. In addition to the potatoes I also roasted zucchini and add that to the potatoes. Both of these went in the refrigerator to cool. I also added artichoke hearts, shaved raw carrots (for texture and color), cilantro, and sliced almonds (for crunch) to the dish. I served the salad cold with tomato wedges.

This is how most of my meals develop. I typically have no idea what I am going to cook and just start winging things together. Usually I am inspired by something that I have eaten or cooked in the past but not always. One of the nice things about cooking now is that I have been doing it so long I don’t need to use cookbooks for recipes.

If you are new to cooking and thinking this will never happen to you, I disagree. I wasn’t always a good cook either. In fact I grew up in a home with a mother who hated to cook and consequently she didn’t. I learned to cook out of necessity because it was cook, buy carry out or go hungry. Believe me if I can become a good cook anyone can do it.

Happy thoughts:

Monday was a good day even though it was busy. Here is what I am grateful for today.

• It was very nice to see Will Monday for lunch. It is hard to believe that we hadn’t seen him since the end of May. Time really has been flying this summer.

• While it has been hot and humid this week at least we were no longer in the 100’s and that was something to be thankful for. We also got a little rain over the weekend which we desperately needed.

• My fur children are mostly back to normal which is very nice. The boys are running and playing together every day. Luca Belle has resumed her position as alpha cat and has the boys under her thumb toe like normal. ;-)

• Both Dan and I enjoyed the chermoula potato salad yesterday. It is great when I come up with new ideas for old recipes.

Signing Out:

It was another day which wasn’t terribly productive. Tomorrow I need to keep my mom company while my father goes to the oral surgeon so I don’t expect to get a lot done at home. Hopefully I am wrong about that and tomorrow will be a productive day.

Talk eith you again soon. I hope you enjoy what is left of your evening.  I am going to finish watch an episode of "Criminal Minds" which we recorded but haven't had time to watch yet.

Very Busy Weekend

We had a whirlwind of a weekend. There was so much going on though I am not complaining since most of it was very good. :-)

Friday:

Dan called me late morning and said that he would like to have dinner on the patio since the weather was nice. NO, you aren’t going to make me eat Ian’s food again? LOL, you believe that right? ;-) Of course I wanted to go out to dinner. I send Jenn a message online and asked her to save us a seat in her section. What, you don’t ask for specific servers when you go to dinner?

We got to the restaurant early and the weather was gorgeous. It wasn’t too hot or too cold it was literally perfect. I left Dan at the table with Jenn and Janine and went to the kitchen to hug Ian and let him know we were there since I had not warned him that we were coming in for dinner. After the hug the first question he asked was “when are you coming in for dinner?” To which I replied “now”. He reminded me that I hadn’t told him we were coming in but I said it wasn’t a problem because we would wing it together which we did.

While I was chatting with Ian Dan was ordering a pot of tea and catching up with the ladies. My husband loves pretty ladies. ;-) When I got to the table they were having a great time. *shakes head* Good thing I am not the jealous type.

Dan decided to start with his favorite appetizer on the menu which is Ian’s version of a samosa. We both really enjoy this but Dan loves it.

I did manage to get one bite of the samosa before it vanished before my eyes. LOL

Here is Dan goofing off when I tried to take his picture.

For our next dish we talked to Jenn about what was being served under the fish special that night. I know from experience that what is under the fish is frequently interesting and easy to make vegan for us. Since Ian also has tofu in the kitchen now I knew we could replace the fish with tofu and that is what we did.

This dish includes: corn, snow peas, cabbage, green apple, red peppers, and herbs in a charred tomato vinaigrette. The vegetables were phenomenal under the crispy tofu. I love the way Ian includes savory and sweet together. The green apple was the perfect addition to this dish.

Needless to say Dan was still hungry so I made up a pizza for our final meal. This one included a base of the cilantro-lime sauce (that Ian serves with the samosa), glazed pineapple, pomegranate roasted tomatoes, snow peas, jalapenos, cubed sweet potatoes, and red onion. After the pizza came out of the oven it was topped with fresh spinach and sliced almonds. Also I asked for fresh lime wedges so we could squeeze the fresh juice over the top. Did we miss the cheese or meat? With all that flavor how could anyone possibly miss the cheese?

We hung out for a while and chatted with Jenn, Janine and Jonathan. Jenn grew up on the water like I did so she is looking forward to the boat and I am looking forward to teaching her how to sail. Janine and I are trying to coordinate lunch this week. Like I always tell you we are customers here, but not. ;-)

The one down side of the evening is that I seem to have a cyber stalker which freaked me out a little. At least I was “on my own turf” so I felt reasonably safe. Thank goodness I knew that everyone there would make sure I was safe. But still people need to learn that physically following people is not cool. If this continues I will be dropping out of Foursquare for safety reasons. Have any of you had problems like this on Foursquare?

Saturday:

We spent time at home doing a lot of what I call “life administration” which just means the things that need to happen at home. We had a somewhat productive day and then met our friend Louis for dinner at our usual place.

Dan and I intentionally got to the restaurant a little early so we had time to chat with Aimee before Louis got there. Aimee has been so busy this summer that we haven’t had as much time to see her as we would like. We still need to coordinate going to the DC before her last semester of college before the pharmacy program.

Like always I went immediately into the kitchen to hug Ian and Aimee. While I chatted with Ian Aimee and Michael were outside talking to Dan. Ian told me about the vegetarian special he had made with us in mind. He designed a vegan and vegetarian option because he knew we were coming in. Isn’t he sweet? :-)

I asked him about courses besides the entrée and he asked about saffron potatoes and veggies and I said that sounded delicious. He said he would do something with saffron potatoes for us as an appetizer.

Not long after I came out of the kitchen Louis showed up with a bag from Disney for me and announced he had “Disney crap” for me. LOL, only a guy would say that. Louis knows how much I like Italy so he picked me up a cute little stuffed Mickey in a gondoliers outfit. It is adorable, isn’t it?

Needless to say our friend Louis is not vegan, though he is eating a lot less meat these days which makes me very happy. I am going to show his dishes as well since I know many of you aren’t vegan either.

Here is our appetizer of saffron potatoes, green beans, Swiss chard, golden raisins, carrots, hot pepper flakes and green onions. Did you notice the sweet component in this dish, the golden raisins? Ian does this all the time and it really makes a difference in the overall composition of the dish. I always thought that savory and sweet foods should be separate until Ian taught me how much combining them added to a dish.

Louis ordered the special rockfish and salmon ceviche. Ian makes wonderful ceviche though I haven’t had it in a long time I still remember it very fondly. I always loved the acidity of the ceviche against the butteriness of the avocado and the crunch of the chips. Ian’s ceviche is one of the dishes that I miss the most about being vegan.

This is our dish of wine braised beets with lentils, shitakes, and finished with green apples, parsley and truffle oil. No exaggeration this may have been the best beets I ever ate. I know that I say this all the time but it amazing that I ever cook at home when I have food like this just a quick walk away. Ian really is extremely talented.

Louis ordered the watermelon and feta salad for his dinner. If you wanted to do something similar that was vegan you can add almond feta, or olives for the salty punch instead.

We also ordered a samosa, which Dan ate so quickly I didn’t even get a bite. He really loves them that much.

There were also some truffle and soy marinated mushrooms.

It was definitely a lovely dinner on the patio Saturday night.

Ian joined us at the table for a while before he headed out for the evening. I was glad that he took time to sit down since he was limping earlier in the evening. I suspect his IT band is too tight and asked if he had tried a foam roller which he had not. Needless to say I offered to drop one off for him to try which he said he would. Since Ian is all guy I knew he wasn’t likely to buy a foam roller on his own which is why I offered to bring him one.

Sunday:

We got up early for our usual trip to the farmers’ market and brought home a lot of food like always. I was really missing fresh peaches so we bought an entire basket of those along with eggplant, cucumbers, zucchini, kale, ginger, oyster mushrooms, bell peppers, watermelon, corn and a new flavor of hummus.

On a sour note my cyber stalker also turned up at the farmers’ market. Seriously this is quickly becoming extremely annoying. What is wrong with people?

The version of hummus we brought home this time was Asian fire which is nice and spicy. If you are local and have time to get to the farmers’ market under the JFX please do and check out the hummus stand. This guy has a wonderful imagination. We have enjoyed each of the flavors which we have tried so far.

Next we stopped at the restaurant to drop off a foam roller for Ian. I hope he will give it a try since I think it might help him. *fingers crossed*

After the market and restaurant we went home and had smoothies for breakfast. My smoothie included: kale, frozen banana, homemade reduce-fat peanut butter, chia seeds, water/ice and a tiny bit of stevia.

Lunch was a very simple dish of cooked quinoa which I tossed with cilantro, dried cherries, diced zucchini and sliced almonds. I topped this with roasted portabellas which I marinated with balsamic and grainy Dijon mustard.

Dinner has completely slipped my mind already. Since I didn’t take a picture I have no idea what I made. Wow, getting old stinks. LOL

Happy thoughts:

There are days when I write this section of the blog and realize how fortunate I am. However I am not talking about my life so much as my attitude about my life. Sure I could whine and complain about life but that really doesn’t do anyone any good now does it? Here is what I am grateful for today:

• We had a very nice leisurely dinner out Friday night. It seems that Friday night is becoming date night for us. Perfect weather, good company and wonderful food. What more could you ask for?

• Saturday it was wonderful to see Louis for dinner. It is always great when you can spend time with a good friend isn’t it?

• We also got a few more things crossed off our to-do list this weekend which was very nice.

• Later this week we have another jazz concert coming up. *woo hoo* This is the summer of jazz for us in case you hadn’t noticed. There really is nothing like live jazz.

• Monday I had lunch with our friend Will. We went to Jesse Wong’s in Hunt Valley where I got Hunan “faux duck” and Will got sushi. Since Will hadn’t been to Jesse Wong’s I thought it would be a good idea and he seemed to enjoy it. We hadn’t seen Will since he left the restaurant so it was very nice to catch up with him.

Signing Out:

I hope you had a great weekend. I will talk to you again soon. :-)

Italian Rice and Why I Blog

Yesterday for some reason I was busy all day long, not that I can remember doing what mind you. Sometimes life just gets away from me and I busy all day doing who knows what. Do you ever had days like that?

When Dan texted me and said that he was going to be home earlier than normal I knew that I needed to scramble to make something for dinner. Fortunately Sofia had sent me a message asking what I was making for dinner and of course I hadn’t thought about it. She mentioned that she was making risotto and apparently rice was stuck in my head. At first I was going to make Mexican rice and then I thought of paella. In the end I made what can is best described as Italian paella with raw veggies. Here is what I did:

Italian Rice
8 good sized servings – but will depend on how many raw veggies you add to the dish

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups short grain brown rice
2 cups homemade canned diced tomatoes (no salt) or 14. 5 ounce can
2 ½ cups water
10 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
1 large red onion, peeled and finely diced
2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Combine the rice, tomatoes, water, garlic, onion and Italian seasoning and cook until all the water has been absorbed. Allow the rice to stand for 10 minutes (covered) so that it can finish steaming. Fluff the rice with a fork.

Now add any thinly sliced veggies that you want to add (I added raw shaved carrot, raw shaved zucchini, and marinated mushrooms). Artichoke quarters or shaved fennel would also be good in this. You could also add a few thinly olives or capers if you choose. This would also be a good place for freshly minced herbs like parsley, oregano, or thyme. You could finish this with pine nuts or walnut parmesan; either would be good to finish this dish.

I added the raw veggies at the end for a few reasons. First I wanted the preserve some of the heat soluble vitamins in the veggies and adding them after cooking was a good way to do that. Also I like the textural contrast of raw and cooked foods. Finally I was hoping that this would also be good cold as a leftover, making it good boat food.  :-)

Why I blog:

I had to share this comment  with you because it brought tears to my eyes. This is why I spend the time that I do blogging for moments when I get to read things like this:

I love your blog! I read it every day and there is always something new to inspire me. I am on a long journey of healing from chronic illness and the conventional treatments that were supposed to help me, but instead left me worse off. I used to eat the Standard American Diet and it shows. Now, thanks to your blog I'm a vegan and I can't believe I filled myself with poison for most of my life. Thanks for all you do.

I cannot imagine a comment that would have touched me more than this one. Since this came through Survey Monkey I have no idea who wrote it. I apologize for not getting your permission before posting it here but I had no idea how to get in touch with you. If you would like to chat please send me an email at veganepicurean@gmail.com. I would love to hear what about my blog inspired you to change your lifestyle. Also I would love to hear about your journey and to be available to assist you any way that I can. Thank you again for such a lovely comment. I was humbled by your comment and am still in shock.

Happy thoughts:

After reading that comment above as you can imagine I am in a fantastic mood. How could I be anything but happy after reading that?

• The boys (Massimo and Nicco) were wrestling in the bed last night. Since this is the first time that I have seen them do this in weeks I was thrilled. It is wonderful to have my fur children back to normal. If I had to choose between sleep and happy, healthy fur babies the sleep has to go. However I may change my mind if they start waking me up every night. We all want what we don’t have afterall. ;-)

• Thank you to everyone who has answered the survey so far. If you haven’t taken a look yet please consider doing so. I would love to know what you think about what you like about the blog and what you would like to see more of. It will help me to know what topics to focus on when I am writing. Thanks again!

• I finally made time to get the online book club started and I am very glad that I did. With all the activities going on around here I should have done this sooner but didn’t have time. I am looking for to this, particularly the first book. It should be a lot of fun. If you have any desire to read “The China Study” please consider joining us. Since I finished the e-Cornell certificate program on plant based nutrition last year I think this first book should be a great book for me to moderate. *fingers crossed*

• The weather was glorious on Friday so Dan decided that we should go out to dinner and I wasn’t going to argue with that. It seems like weeks since we saw everyone at the restaurant though I am sure that is mostly in my head. We had a wonderful dinner outside on the patio and loved catching up with everyone. I think everyone who works at the restaurant is looking forward to the boat arriving as much as we are. I can’t wait to teach them all how to sail. Clearly I am going to be busy while Dan is at work. Poor Dan I hope he gets to take a little time off to enjoy the boat once she arrives.

• I am also looking forward to dinner with Louis this weekend. It is too bad Louis doesn’t live around the corner like he used it. I was surprised when he mentioned that he has been in Delaware for 7 years already. Where did that time go? Oh well, I am just happy that we still talk every few days and see each other as frequently as we do.  You know someone is a good friend when distance isn't a problem in your relationship.

Signing out:

It is getting late here and it is time for me to wind down. It has been a long week but it definitely ended on a high note. Who wouldn’t like to spend Friday evening relaxing on the patio and dining al fresco surrounded by people they like?

Talk to you again soon. I hope you have something fun planned for the weekend.

Online Book Club – The China Study

I wanted to talk a little about the book club and what is next on that front which I think is very exciting. First there are more than 20 of you who have expressed the desire to take part in our first online book club discussing T. Colin Campbell’s landmark study and subsequent book “The China Study”. *woo hoo* Way to go guys! I am thrilled that so many of you want to discuss this book first because I think it is the pivotal book on nutrition of our time.

Since this book is a somewhat tough read I want to discuss it one chapter at a time so that everyone comes away with a complete understanding. Any of you who are interested in taking part in this book club please buy the book and be prepared to discuss chapter one beginning on Monday August 15. I will be sharing more about this as we get closer to the start date.

Here is the link to the book club blog. In order to take part in the online book club please become a member of the book club blog. Being a member of that blog is required in order to post comments. I have the comments set up to post automatically since I think that will facilitate discussion. Hopefully we don’t start getting spam on that blog like we do here. If that happens I may have to make the book club blog private which I am trying to avoid so that everyone can benefit from the conversation not just those who want to  actively take part.

I will be posting a few questions about chapter one prior to August 15 to help to get the conversation started. Let’s try to keep all the comments regarding each chapter to the post for that chapter. I think this will help us to all be on the same page. Hope to see you there.  :-)

Thank Goodness it is Thursday... or, How to Handle Stress:

I am so happy that this week is almost over. Typically I am a happy person but this week happiness has been a bit of a struggle though I did persevere. Do you have weeks where for some reason things don’t fall into place the way you are expecting? Seriously this would have been a good week to stay in bed curled in the fetal position and that might have been what I would have done in years past. However this week I pushed through and didn’t focus on what was going wrong.

Since I have been talking a lot about attitude recently I wanted to let you know what I do when life is giving me lemons and I just can't force myself to make lemonade. Here goes:

• In all honesty there were a few minutes of a pity party but I didn’t dwell on what was going wrong. I set a timer for 15 minutes and told myself that when the buzzer went off I had to get on with lifeand stop feeling sorry for myself, which I did.

• I allowed myself to do something that I knew would sooth me even though it wasn’t the healthiest thing that I could do. It was probably the endorphin rush but the Green and Black dark chocolate made me feel much better. ;-)

• I did not let myself dwell on what was not going well. In my case that meant no long phone calls complaining to friends. In fact I only fussed to my friend Louis and that lasted less than 5 minutes. We all need those friends we can tell our problems too don’t we? But don’t let yourself talk the your problems to death ... if you know what I mean. Too much negativity results in more negativity which is never good to anyone.

• When I was having a bad moment I listened to some upbeat music and watched an uplifting movie. I find that when I am not feeling the best a comedy always helps me to feel better. Personally “When Harry Met Sally” never gets old for me. ;-)  It should tell you something that I know every line by heart.

• I also took time to get in extra exercise to help work out my aggressions. It is tough for me to feel agitated when I am exhausted.

Does any of this make sense to you? I hope that you find one or two of these tips helpful.

Now I want to hear from you. What things do you do when you are having a tough week? Let’s all share so that we can learn from each other and make the world a healthier place.  :-)

Online Survey:

Recently I have been thinking a lot about what to focus on when writing the blog. Lately when I sit down to write a post I literally just wing it. That is why the posts have been all over the board recently in terms of topics.   It bothers me a little that I lack focus so I thought I would ask for your help.

In order to have some idea of what you are interested in reading I set up a short 5 question survey on Survey Monkey. Please take a few minutes to set up a free Survey Monkey account and respond to the questions. That would be a huge help to me in terms of guidance when I am writing future posts. Thank you in advance for your time.

Happy Thoughts:

Those days and weeks when life is not going the best are precisely the times when I think it is particularly important to find the silver lining to the dark cloud. Here are the things that I am grateful for today:

• The scale was my friend this morning and that made me very happy. I love to start the day with good news. I know that an inanimate object shouldn’t have an impact on my mood but today I will take any good news I can get.

• “Our ship has sailed” as my friend Louis so eloquently put it. *happy dance* Thanks for the good line Louis; I loved it and had to use it.

• I am excited about the online book club and am very much looking forward to discussing “The China Study” with you.

• We are having dinner this weekend with our friend Louis and that makes me very happy. There is nothing better than a good meal with a good friend to lift my spirits. :-)

• Dan is coming home early this. Okay it is only early for Dan but still that makes me happy. I love spending time with my sweetie.

• I took some time today to nurture myself and tried a different exercise DVD. When things aren’t making me happy I try to break out of my norm and shake things up to keep my mind busy.

• Today I listened to a new jazz DVD that I got out of the library this past weekend. I love having a library with a nice selection of music and books on CD to choose from.

• Massimo was running and playin today which made me extremely happy. Having happy and healthy fur children is a very good thing in deed.

Signing out:

It is time for me to log out and spend some time with my sweetie. He has been very busy at work this week and we haven’t had much time to spend together. Talk to you again soon.  I hope you have a great evening.

Kitchen Experiments and Recipe Thoughts

Yesterday was a day of experimenting in the kitchen. I decided to play around with making a “zucchini ball. That name really doesn’t sound right to me so I will need to come up with another one before I finalize the recipe. The zucchini ball (or dumpling) recipe isn’t ready to be published just yet but it is close. I will be making another batch this week and hope to have it finalized with that attempt so that I can publish it for you.

Vegetable and Potato Salad:

Today when I was in the kitchen I made a vegetable and potato salad. Instead of giving you the recipe I decided to explain it step by step and explain why I included certain items and methods. After all it is better that you know how to create recipes rather than just being able to follow them.

The salad today was inspired by standard all-American potato salad that we have all had. However I knew that I needed to add more veggies to make it a healthier dish. Also I wasn’t going to add mayonnaise because all that oil isn’t healthy. Here is what I did:

I used my stove-top halogen/convection/infra red oven to roast the potatoes. I cut the potatoes into bite-sized chunks and doused them with wine vinegar, dried Italian seasoning, freshly ground black pepper and powdered garlic. The vinegar was added for two reasons. First the vinegar coated the potatoes so the seasonings would stick. Second the vinegar adds flavor to the potatoes. Use the tip of a paring knife to make certain they are thoroughly cooked. If you have any doubts eat one to be certain. Once the potatoes are cooked I spread them out on a sheet pan in the single layer so they would cool more quickly.

Next I cut zucchini into bite-sized chunks and roasted those in the stove-top oven. I coated the zucchini chunks with the same ingredients that I used for the potatoes (wine vinegar, Italian seasonings, black pepper and powdered garlic). The reason I roasted the zucchini was to reduce the water content of the squash and thereby concentrate the flavor. When the zucchini are tender crisp move them to a sheet pan to cool as well.

While the zucchini are cooking defrost some frozen artichokes thoroughly. You want to remove as much water as possible. If in doubt pat the artichokes dry with a clean lint free kitchen towel though a thorough draining should be enough.

Now make the dressing. I use cashew crème as a mayo stand it most of the time. To make the dressing combine raw cashews with a splash of water in your blender and process until completely smooth. I add a little wine vinegar to brighten the flavor. If you want you can add raw or caramelized garlic clove as well. Additionally you could add a touch of Dijon if you like.

Combine the cooled roasted potatoes, zucchini and artichokes with the dressing. You should have approximately equal parts potato and other veggies (zucchini and artichokes).

When I got this far I knew that I needed to add something to this salad for crunch. If I hadn’t used cashew crème for a dressing I would have used nuts. However with the fat in the cashews I knew that nuts weren’t a good choice. Instead I added some diced celery for crunch.

Now taste the salad and see what it needs. In this case I thought it was a little bland and added more freshly ground black pepper, some minced fresh parsley and just a little finely minced fresh rosemary. The fresh herbs add a punch of flavor, freshness and nutrition.

If you like potato salad this is a healthier version of an American classic. I hope this helps inspire you to make some of your favorite recipes healthier. If you have a recipe that needs a makeover and you don’t know where to start feel free to ask me. Either you can post your questions here or you can email me the recipe at veganepicurean@email.com and I will help you rework your recipe.

Happy thoughts:

• Massimo is feeling so much better today he was playing “mouse fetch” this evening with Dan. It is so good to see Masi playing again. You have no idea how much I love that sweet little fuzz ball.

• I was chatting with my girlfriend Deirdre today and she asked how often I go out for walks. The answer is every day. Deirdre wants to go with me some mornings now. I am really looking forward to a little girl time in the morning. It is very nice to have Deirdre close enough to see more often than when she lived in Annapolis.

• The gluten-free zucchini ball (dumpling) experiment went very well yesterday. I was stretching myself by making them gluten-free since I thought that would be more of a challenge. It is always nice when things work out better than you expect. The texture on the balls worked out well, now I just need to get the seasonings right and that recipe will be ready for sharing.

• Dan told me this evening that he is going to try to work a half day on Friday so we can spend more time together. Isn’t he just the sweetest husband? I am a very lucky lady to be married to someone who loves me as much as I love him.

Signing out:

It is time for me to start winding down and call it a night. I hope Wednesday treated you well. Talk to you again very soon.

Cinnamon Raisin Hummus with Peanut Butter

Sunday I made more hummus because I am totally on a hummus kick thanks entirely to the hummus stand at the farmers’ market. When I tried the “hummus guy’s” cinnamon raisin hummus I immediately thought it would be better with peanut butter in place of the tahini. When Dan tried it and said the same thing I knew it was a sign.

Like always cook the chickpeas until they are very soft, in other words too soft to be used whole. While the beans are still hot drain them and place them in the food processor and add a little of the bean cooking liquid and process until they are completely pulverized and smooth. Add additional bean cooking liquid until you like the texture (thickness) of the hummus. Now add some homemade reduced-fat peanut butter, cinnamon and a touch of stevia to make it lightly sweet. Once you like the hummus flavor and texture stir in some golden raisins and refrigerate. Remember the hummus will get thicker as it chills so it should be a little softer than you like when it goes into the refrigerator.

Errands and Dinner Out:

Dan decided we would run errands last night after he got home from work. I had a few things to return to the library and other things waiting for me that I had reserved on-line so we headed north to Baltimore County.

Since we knew that we didn’t have time to get back to the restaurant and see the gang we decided to have dinner at Jesse Wong’s in Hunt Valley and then stop at Wegman’s.

We started with the sweet and sour cabbage with sweet red peppers, dried hot peppers, and sesame seeds. This is a very nice salad. I think it is cooked briefly and then cooled. I will try to make something similar soon at home so that I can share it with you in more detail.

Next Dan wanted vegetable dumplings so we ordered those.

Our entrée was faux “shrimp” (made with white yam) and King Oyster mushrooms in a brown sauce. The shrimp are so real in both taste and texture that it is a bit creepy.

While we were there we order Hunan “faux” duck for Dan’s lunch tomorrow.   Dan loves this dish in case you hadn't noticed.  ;-)

After dinner we went to Wegman’s which is also in the same shopping center in Hunt Valley. I needed a variety of beans (garbanzo, great northern, black, and red lentil). Additionally I was also running low on golden raisins, organic cat nip and wanted some chopped peanuts for garnish. A few packages of bean thread noodles jumped into my cart as well. Don’t they do that with you? LOL

Since I am always raving about the great selection at Wegman’s and I was in the ethnic food area I took a few pictures of the variety to give you an idea of the fabulous selection. Please note these weren’t things I bought (thought the Muesli was tempting) just a random selection of items that I don’t typically see in other grocery stores.

This is just a tiny sample of the variety of products that you can find at Wegman’s. It really is a great store. If you have one near you and haven’t checked it out please do. I think you will be glad that you did.

How to Identify Guy Humor…I think:

We got to the restaurant late, after 8:30 and knew that we should order quickly so that we weren’t keeping the kitchen busy when they would rather be cleaning up and going home. Since we often forget to order brown rice and that means the servers ends up going back to the kitchen Dan mentioned it to the server right away in case we didn’t remember once we had decided on our entrée.

There was another couple, about our age, at the table next to us. After we ordered our salad and dumplings and said we would decide on our entrée in a few minutes the man next to us piped up and said “Don’t forget my friend’s brown rice.” Huh? Do I know you I thought? I looked again and realized I had no idea who this guy was. However since his comment annoyed me I figured it must have been guy humor. I asked Dan after we left and he said, yes that was guy humor. Now I know how to identify it. If something comes out a guy’s mouth that irritates me it must be guy humor. Got it. ;-) Men! *rolls eyes*

Happy thoughts:

• As Monday’s go it was a very good day. I wasn’t very productive but I enjoyed myself and we all need those days sometimes. Dan and I had a nice dinner out though it was much more rushed than we typically prefer. We had tasty Chinese food and talked all through dinner. Heck we talked all through our errands. It was a nice evening.

• Massimo continues to improve. He was popping around here earlier today and he even went for a ride on my shoulders around lunch time.

• The fur children are finally adjusting to being back on crunchy cat food (kibble as we call it). My youngest (Binky) may just be growing up …finally. LOL, too bad he had to be 10 years old before he started to mature.

• We got a little rain last night was we desperately needed because the ground is extremely dry. The storm put on a beautiful light show before the rain started falling. Since we did get caught in the rain going between the car and the restaurant it was a good day to be wearing jeans and T-shirt last night.

• Speaking of growing up Binky may not be the only one who can say that. I went out last night in jeans, my gray Hopkins Lacrosse T-shirt, hair in a pony tail and no makeup (yikes!). Who knows maybe I am growing up too. Nah! LOL

• Yesterday our temperatures were again over 100 and that made it a day to be very grateful for air conditioning and I was.

Signing out:

The day if flying by and I have a lot of things to do before Dan gets home from work. I hope your Tuesday is going well. Talk to you again soon. :-)