Monday's Mumblings

Hi there!  Thanks for visiting my blog.  I hope you had a great weekend.  I'd like to invite you to visit my new blog at wordpress.  My wonderful son set me up with a new website that I think you'll find is easier to use & navigate.  For one, all the recipes are listed under a "tab" so you'll be able to find them quickly.  I plan to keep the same schedule of Monday, Wednesday, Friday posts.  Please be patient with me while I work out the bugs and learn a new website.  You'll notice that the name of my blog is the same, just ends with "wordpress.com" now.  I hope that's not too confusing.

So, I'll "see" you over there!

These are a few of my favorite things ...

Happy Friday to you!  We've made it through another week, one that was incredibly busy for me, workwise & a little more relaxing on the homefront.  Work obviously takes up most of my day and I get home pretty wiped out.  I get up early to hit the gym before work -- thank goodness, because if I left it for after work I would never make it there.  By the time I make dinner, clean up the kitchen and get my things ready for the next day, it's all I can do to roll into bed.  Because I get up early, I do tend to go to bed early so there's not too many hours for me to do all of my evening things before bed & sleep so I can get up the next day and do it all over again.  Boy, I can't wait for retirement... oh, wait.  That's a few years off!

Somebody asked me the other day what the most valuable piece of equipment in my kitchen is.  At first I was puzzled, and then she followed up with "what would you recommend as a necessity to eat the way you do?" Ahhh, I get it.  I would have to say that besides a good set of knives (we have a gorgeous Cutco set) I don't think I could get by without my VitaMix.

 

I make salad dressings, frozen desserts, smoothies, soups and all kinds of other things in there.  Some days I don't use it at all, but then other days I feel like I could use about five more canisters so I don't have to wash in between uses!  Cleanup is easy as the blades are contained within the canister, so you just add a little soap to a few cups of water and turn it on high speed.  Voila! it's clean. 

There are two other honorable mention appliances that I would be silly to forget.  The pressure cooker was the second major appliance I bought and it is very helpful with cooking dry beans in a jiffy.  No soaking needed.  Sometimes on a Saturday that puppy gets a workout as I make one batch of beans after the other so I can stock my freezer with a variety.  I should mention here, that the model cooker I have is about eight things in one.  It makes brown rice quicker than anything I've used (15 minutes).  It is also a slow cooker.  There's buttons on there that I've never even used before! 

The bummer thing with kitchen appliances is that they take up a lot of room.  Since most things in my kitchen don't get used every day (minus the VitaMix) I try to keep them tucked away in a cupboard.  I do have to say, it's fairly easy to stow away the pressure cooker on a shelf because there's not too many parts to it.  The food processor, on the other hand, stays on the counter.  I don't use it as often as the VitaMix, but there are a lot of pieces to it and it's just, well, not convenient a pain in the butt to haul all the stuff in & out of the cupboard when I want to use it.  So there it stays.  I probably don't use it as often as I could because I despise washing dishes and I figure why wash the blade, the bowl, the lid, when I can accomplish the same thing with ONE KNIFE?  Never mind the time it saves me!  Duh!  I could wash the thing three times with all the extra time I'd save at the cutting board.  Anyway, I love the thing.  It can shred a carrot in less than 5 seconds, chop up peppers quicker than a teppanyaki chef, and mix up quinoa brownie "dough" faster than you can make the frosting! 

Plus, this Cuisinart model has a 14-cup bowl so I can make huge microsalads to last me all week long.  Oh, that reminds me... "Honey, don't eat that icky salad in the back of the fridge.  I forgot it was there and it might not be so good anymore." <wink>

Here's a couple more of my favorite things!

All this talk about my kitchen helpers has made me realize I have some cookin' to do this weekend!  I can't wait to share with you my experiments that come from the Glaze Test Kitchen.  Check back here on Monday to see what I made.

Have a happy, healthy weekend!

A Comfort Soup Recipe and Dessert Too!

Sorry I was MIA on Monday.  The last couple of weeks at work have kicked my behind and there wasn't really much to post about from the weekend.  I definitely didn't go all out in the kitchen, though I did make a soup that I've been munching on all week.  I'm also still trying to grasp the concept that in just a little over a month, we will send our son off.  He will no longer be "ours."  He will belong to the United States Army!  I have come to the terms of what it all means and eventually he has to fly the coop -- I really don't want a 40-year-old son living in my basement.  Oh, I don't have a basement! Ha Ha!  But you know what I mean.  Right?

So today is hump day and I hope your week is going well for you.  I'm a week and a half into the Healthy Vegan Challenge and so far so good.  We won't talk about my peanut binge that I had last night, though.  I was craving something sweet and went straight for the peanuts.  A few are okay, but a lot is too many.  Wait... didn't I say we weren't going to talk about it?!  If you still want to join the Challenge, you can.  I am in a group on Facebook, and you can join that by clicking here.  I have become much more mindful of my cravings and rather than giving into them, am working through them with the help of a buddy who is on the same page as I am.  It's amazing when you're in tune with your body what you can learn.

Anyway, today I have a yummy Mexican Chowder recipe for you.  We love the flavor of Tex-Mex food in our house and much to the chagrin of our son, Alex, we eat something in that flavor category at least two times a week -- whether it's tacos, fajita salads, enchiladas, or our rendition of a Buddha bowl.  I guess we should have warned him from the time he was a baby.  Back many, many years when my husband and I were dating, our first date was dinner at a Mexican restaurant (as were many dates after that).  I think we really enjoy our versions of many popular dishes because I can make them without onions for the allergic one in the house.  Going to a restaurant has become too risky for him and we aren't willing to live that close to the edge.  Of course, the recipe calls for onion, so feel free to put it in.  I found it to be quite satisfying without it.  For the tortilla strips, I used my pizza cutter to slice up a tortilla into thin strips and then spritzed them with a mixture of olive oil and water that I keep in a sprayer just for things like this (and popcorn).  The ratio is 1:4.  It gives you just enough olive oil to turn things crispy in the oven, but not so much that they're greasy.  Bake the strips at 350 degrees until crisp, about 20 minutes, checking often.

 RECIPE:

Mexican Chowder

1 small onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 red bell pepper, seeded & chopped
1 green pepper, seeded and chopped
1 tsp. chili powder (or more to suit your taste)
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 c. nutritional yeast
1 c. unsweetened non-dairy milk   
4 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp yellow miso
2 c water
1 can tomatoes
1 can roasted chilis
1 c. corn
1 c. canned black beans
Juice of one lime
ground black pepper to taste

Garnish: corn chips, chopped cilantro, green onion, avocado

Water saute the onion, garlic & peppers until soft (about 2 minutes).  Whisk together nutritional yeast, non-dairy milk, tomato paste, vinegar and miso.  Add to pan and stir.  Stir in water, tomatoes, chilis, corn, and beans.  Squeeze the juice out of the lime and stir in.  Simmer until flavors combine.  For a stronger cheese flavor, add more nutritional yeast.  If your chowder is too thick, add more water or tomato sauce.  Top with garnish & enjoy!

Here's what the tortilla strips looked like when they were done

Yummy HEALTHY comfort food!

Our dessert last night was a chocolate fondue of sorts.  I declare this worthy of guests.  I'm sure that if people had their windows open, they could hear my exclamation of joy when the cinnamon-y chocolate hit my tongue.  Coupled with bananas and strawberries, I was in heaven.

Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Fondue:

6 dates soaked in HOT water for 15 minutes (save the soaking liquid)
1 cup almond butter
1/2 cup natural cocoa powder
1/2 cup water or coconut water
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of cayenne (or to taste)

Blend all ingredients, including the soaking water from the dates, in a high-speed blender.  Add more water for thinner fondue.  Serve warm or cold with a variety of cut up fruit.

Well, there you have a couple of new recipes.  Let me know if you try a recipe by posting a comment at the bottom.  If you change something to make it better, please let me know that too.  I can always use help.  I'm not a trained chef, by any means, and so I am not an expert at pairing flavors.  I cannot always discern what spice a dish needs just by a taste test.

As I said, the last couple of weeks have been crazy at work.  I hope I can keep up with the Challenge & not stray too far.  (There are no longer peanuts in the house!)  I think that with the two commitments I've made -- to the challenge and my Lenten journey -- I will stay on track.  I do appreciate the importance of following through.

Check back on Friday when I will share with you my favorite kitchen appliance.  Can you guess?

Hey, Alex... I wonder if they serve vegan food in the Army?!

Quinoa Patty Recipe For Friday

It truly is TGIF!  It's been a challenging week, what with all my work at my real J-O-B and stuff to do at home and then my sweet, adorable pain-in-you-know-what cats that seem to insist on waking me up somewhere between 2 and 4 a.m.! 

Don't they look so sweet and angelic?  Well, in the middle of the night they have paws of steel that sound like tree branches scraping on a metal roof in a strong storm and meowing cries that could send the neighborhood dogs into fits.  If it weren't for the fact that I'm eating such nutritious foods, I think I'd find myself in a mental slump every day after lunch.  The kale salads, fresh fruit and fantastic lentils have kept me alert and buzzing all day long.  Who needs caffeine to stay awake when you can supercharge your body with nutrients?!


I'm really looking forward to some good sleep this weekend.  As long as I don't take too much work home with me, I think I'll find time for a nap one day.  I'm also eager to spend some time with a long-time friend who I haven't seen for a while.  I still need to give her the Christmas gift I bought for her.  We're planning a walk around the little neighborhood lake nearby, weather dependent.  Also, I think a pedicure is in order.  So I'll try to squeeze that in there too.  Wow!  When will I prep and cook my week's foods?  I guess I do have Sunday to do some things.

Speaking of prep & cooking...  Last weekend I made some quinoa patties that I told you I'd share the recipe for later.  Well, Thursday night we were at a loss as to what to eat and I remembered I'd made those little hockey pucks over the weekend, so I pulled them from the freezer and, including the time to saute veggies that accompanied them & warming the patties in a pan, dinner was on the table in less than ten minutes!  It was delish!  I have to admit I overate, just a tad.

 

I've been dealing with some sweets cravings and so have been fulfilling my cravings with eating more than I should at mealtime.  I think it's getting easier though to push the thoughts of sugar out of my head.  Fruit is a good substitute for processed sugar things and I'm finding it to be pretty satisfying too. 

So here the RECIPE for my quinoa patties:

1 1/2 cup cooked quinoa
1 sweet potato, baked & mashed
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 red pepper, minced
1/4 c. chia gel (1 Tbsp chia seeds mixed w/ 3 Tbsp water)
2 Tbsp cheese alternative
1/8 tsp chipotle chili powder
black pepper to taste
1 handful spinach finely chopped

Moosh all the ingredients together and form into patties.  Place on a lightly greased baking sheet.  Bake at 325 for 40 minutes, turning once after 20 minutes.

I froze the patties wrapped in waxed paper and then placed in a Ziplock bag.  When it was time to re-heat them, I just placed them in a dry hot skillet and warmed through.  I served them with a giant serving of sauteed cabbage, mushrooms and asparagus.  Hubby liked patty with a little dallop of mustard on top.  It was a nice addition.

Last summer I had a green smoothie more mornings that I didn't have one.  Because the weather is cool now, a chilly smoothie just doesn't jump into my mind when I'm thinking of breakfast, plus I don't want to run the VitaMix at 5 a.m. and wake up the house.  I learned something yesterday though.  As long as you consume the smoothie within 24 hours of it's creation, you're still getting the vital nutrients.  BINGO!  Guess what I had for breakfast this morning?!  Yep.  I was so excited to have this giant glass of green goodness waiting for me in the car after my workout this morning!  It was the perfect breakfast for me.

Having a smoothie will also free up the ability to have a serving of grains later in the day, say, for lunch or dinner.  I had been having raw oats almost every morning, so I think I'll save those for rare occasions and get back to my smoothie making.  I just can't tell you how excited I am to be back in the smoothie saddle!  I will try to contain my excitement  and come back here on Monday with a new creation from my time in the kitchen over the weekend.

I hope your weekend is healthy and happy!

A Healthy Challenge & Soup Recipe

Hi ya!  It's Wednesday so you know what that means.  Yes! A new soup recipe. I'll get to that in a minute, but I must share with you that today is Day 3 of the Healthy Vegan Challenge which is the brainchild of fellow blogger, Carrie.  I know I have mentioned her name many, many times in previous posts, but she is an amazing woman and is such an inspiration.  So what does Day 3 bring?  First I should start with what this challenge started out to be for me.  I want to decrease my grain consumption, exercise harder & work on my studies for the NET program.

It seems that when I'm in a craving mood or really, really hungry I want something baked, whether it be toast, a pita or a tortilla, I want something bread-y.  I do find that, though this dietstyle allows one to two servings a day (1 cup or so max), I tend to stretch that a little far.  How do you measure toast in cups?  Ha ha!  I can roll up a slice of bread (or two) quite nicely and fit it in a measuring cup.  Obviously measuring oatmeal, etc is easier.  So last night when I got home from work and was "starrrrrving" I really wanted to stick a pita in the toaster to warm it up and dive into some hummus, but I didn't.  I threw out my life line to my "buddy" and waited for the soup to cook.  Knowing my support person would eventually get back to me and I would have to tell her I went nuts and ate every slice of bread in the house, I refrained.  Instead, I set the soup to simmer and, head down, got my gym bag and work clothes ready for the next day!  That took about as much time as the soup did to cook, so it was a perfect distraction.  I paired the soup with a huge salad and for dessert it was an apple with almond butter.  After dinner I even had time for some studying.  Reading about water soluble vitamins can be sooooo very interesting -- either that or works just like a sleeping aide.  I call Day 2 a success!  Let's see how Day 3 and the next 53 go.

So what is the soup, you say?  This week I tried out Dr. Fuhrman's Broccoli Mushroom Bisque.  It was pretty good.  I have to say that I didn't have some of the ingredients, as is typical, and so subbed in potatoes and left out the onion, obviously, for the allergic in the house.  It really does keep harmony in a marriage to leave out those nasty things.

Here's the recipe & a picture or two.  It made more than four servings and, like usual, there is plenty left over for lunches!

Serves: 4

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

 

Ingredients:

1 head broccoli, cut into florets

8 ounces mushrooms, sliced

3 carrots, coarsely chopped

1 cup coarsely chopped celery

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons Dr. Fuhrman's VegiZest* (or 2 teaspoons Mrs. Dash no-salt seasoning blend)

2 cups carrot juice (2 pounds of carrots, juiced)

4 cups water

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 cup raw cashews

1/2 cup raw Mediterranean pine nuts

Instructions: Place all the ingredients except the cashews and pine nuts in a soup pot. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are just tender.

In a food processor or high powered blender, blend two-thirds of the soup liquid and vegetables with the cashews and pine nuts until smooth and creamy. Return to the pot and reheat before serving.

lots of goodness in the pot

After a trip thru the Vitamix, we're ready to go!

I did this one on the stovetop, as the ingredients are all fairly quick cooking, so no need for a pressure cooker this time.  

I have started using an online food journal program called My Fitness Pal.  I have journaled my food the old-fashioned way previously and knew that food was a huge focus of my day, but using the online version brings it clearer to me that I do EAT A LOT!  Most of the things I eat aren't in the database, so right now I'm at the stage of entering recipes, etc.  I'm not really doing this to count calories, as calorie counting is sort of frowned upon by Dr. Fuhrman and others who eat a plant-based, whole-foods diet because some of the foods we consume are admittedly high in calories.  Take avocados and beans, for example. But we know that with beans, not all of the calories are available to our bodies due to the fact that they are so high in fiber and no digestion takes place, so the calories just slide on out.  Don't you love that?  I wish the same thing were true with chocolate!  I'm excited to see over the next few months how my appetite will change if I  eat only when truly hungry.  Maybe the quantity of food I eat will decrease.  With the Healthy Vegan Challenge taking us up to the end of April, that will leave two months before I head off to Dr. Fuhrman's Health Getaway in San Diego.  I think I'll be in perfect eating condition to spend a week learning more & eating even healthier than I do at home.  I've been looking forward to going to this getaway since last year's in Florida.  I did not attend that event and promised myself I would make it to this year's.  It is so easy since it's on the West Coast this time & happens to fall during my pre-arranged vacation time.  Speaking of the getaway, tomorrow is the last day for early-bird pricing.  If you'd like to go, click the link above to save $100 through the end of February.  I would love it if just one of my readers went.  How fun would that be?! 

I'm gonna call it a wrap for today.  Speaking of wraps, that sounds kind of tasty. 
See you all on Friday!