Crisp Kale and Tomato Salad

You might imagine quitting a full time job would give me some more time to play and really dig into new recipes, alas, that time gets filled with trying to figure out the timing for applying for health coverage, drafting statements of purpose and figuring out how to order transcripts from 3 different schools and doing a job-hunt like search weekly to find places to volunteer under a registered therapist!

So what I meant by all that is that I feel it's time to get reenergized and I'd like to have company doing it.  I'm curious to know what makes food fun for you? Might it be seeing the reactions of your family or friends trying your meal? It is a certain texture? Ambiance? Other things?

This week to get a whoopie and smile out of food, I went to making kale extra crispy and wanted to keep up the energizing, light feeling after a spin class, so I kept this recipe vegan. The roasting takes time but the amount of frenzy/work the chef needs to do is small.

I made the roasted veggies and tomato sauce ahead of time  (40 minutes roasting) so I was only waiting the 20 minutes for the kale to bake. The best taste is if you make the kale right before you want to eat.

You'll need:

a toaster or regular oven
bowl or tupperware with lid to toss about 2-3 cups of rinse or chopped kale
small sauce pan
soup sized bowl to serve in
and the bullet-ed ingredients (makes 1 serving)


A. To roast-Start here since it takes the longest

• Olive oil, *avocado oil or some oil that can withstand roasting temperatures
• 1 cup finely diced roasting veggies (Fresh and Easy now carries a mix of sweet potato, squash and beets pre chopped a 1/4" or smaller)-roast in a single layer for 40 minutes at 400F, until the beets can be pierced with a fork
• 2-3 cups of the kale tossed in one tsp of the oil-roast in a single layer for 20 minutes at 300F, check to see the temperature is ok such that your kale isn't burning black. 

*If you're from San Diego, get thee to a farmer's market (Little Italy or La Jolla has carried it) to try avocado oil with key lime, it's made in Vista, CA. My friend Tony introduced me to this stuff and it is addicting.

B. To cook on stove in the small sauce pan

• 1 tomato cut into 1/2" pieces
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 tsp of the olive or avocado oil

Heat the oil in the sauce pan for a few minutes over medium. Add the chopped garlic for 30 seconds. Then add tomatoes to cook 1 minute. 

C. Putting it all together now:
Mix the roast veggies and crispy kale in a large soup bowl with

• 2/3 cup of cooked chickpeas-make ahead or use canned
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp coconut aminos (or soy sauce if your diet allows)
• 1 tsp rice wine vinegar
• optional crushed red pepper flakes

D. Munch, munch, munch your colorful vibrant meal.

E. Find an activity you can smile about today-perhaps catch up with a friend in person/by phone or teach each other something new, getting your sweat on in a favorite exercise activity, or checking off something that has been sitting on your to do list. 

What signature dish are you making for your holiday gatherings?

Coming next: I bought a gigantic pumpkin, now what?

Vegan Quinoa "risotto" with Zuchini (or a Roasted Veggie of your choice!)

Appreciation: Let's remember to breathe, stretch and find gratitude this month.

I am thankful I have been able disciplined to survive six weeks of full time work and part time school [successfully awarding two contracts and keeping passing grades...though wrecking havoc on my neck and back. Yay for chiropractor and PT], having gym/yoga to keep me sane, having co-workers and a boss who have been encouraging and supportive of my decision to try to go back to school full time. And a thousand thanks to my friends, family and Dave for letting me talk through  my life-decision panic/worries for cathartic relief. While I continued to cook for myself the last seven weeks, it has been old stand-bys that you've already seen! 

I felt this would be an ideal recipe to share for folks who are on the go and may not be able to keep the meal refrigerated, if you make this the vegan way, no worries about dairy/meat spoiling. The quinoa gives you a boost of protein to help feel full.

This post comes from an adapted roasted mushroom and dairy-delighted recipe from my awesome co-worker, Betty. She's good at finding me healthy recipes, I need to do more than the breakfast chia seeds with hemp seeds!

4 servings

• 2 cups zucchini cut into 1/2 inch pieces (bite-sized, also I peeled the outer skin off mine because it was bitter)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
•  2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 tbsp shallots chopped (optional)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
•  1 cup quinoa
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1/4 cup cheese of choice or for dairy free nutritional yeast
• 1/4 cup cream or for dairy free, canned coconut milk (save the rest for Vietnamese Crepes, coconut macaroons or another favorite recipe)
• Salt
• Pepper

1. Toss the veggies (the original called for mushroom, I had squash on hand. Any veggie or combo of veggies would probably be excellent!) with 1 tbsp olive oil. Place dem veggies on a baking sheet.

3. In a small saucepan, bring the vegetable broth to a mild simmer.

4. In a separate pot, toast the dry quinoa over medium heat, stirring constantly, until you can smell a nutty aroma, about 3 minutes. Remove quinoa from the pot. Reserve.

5. Add the coconut oil to the pot and melt over medium heat. Add the shallots if using and cook until tender but not brown. Add the garlic and cook for about 20 seconds. Stir in the toasted quinoa, stirring until it is completely coated with the oil, about 2 minutes. Do not brown. Add the wine and cook until the pot starts to get dry, stirring frequently, about 4 minutes.

6. Add about 1/3 of the broth into the quinoa mixture. Stir frequently until the pot is almost dry. Repeat until the quinoa is cooked through. This process should take about 15-20 minutes. Don't leave the risotto unattended as the quinoa on the bottom of the pot burns easily. If you run out of broth before the quinoa is cooked through, use hot water.

7. Once your risotto is cooked through, turn heat to low and add the nutritional yeast and coconut milk (or cheese and cream.) Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Stir in the roasted vegetables just before serving.

What kind of healthy body and mind activities do you have planned for yourself this week?

Sauce & Snack from the Filipino American cookbook: Tomato-curry Refrito and Adobo Pecans

Looking for a hero to add depth and zip to your meal? Enter a good sauce that compliments just about anything and is wonderful to use throughout the week. Jennifer Arana's gorgeous and inspiring cookbook contains a tomato curry refrito recipe to spoon over fish or chicken. That's just a start, let your heart decide how you want to use it! Mine said to try pairing this with some brown lentils to make a vegetarian dish-I added that to some quinoa-corn pasta for a filling lunch this week and also tried eating it with corn tortillas and avocado for breakfast.

I love when I decide to cook two or more dishes in one go and the oven temperature is the same so I can save time!

While there is the thrill of a treasure hunt going to an ethnic market for new ingredients, we all have weeks that spending a leisurely trip to the market isn't an option. Jennifer's tomato refrito and adobo pecan recipes are such that you might not need to even hit an Asian market for as they call for fairly common pantry items!

Tomato-curry Refrito

2 pints of cherry tomato (575 g), rinsed and stems removed
1/2 cup olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp yellow curry
1 green onion, finely diced
1 tsp minced fresh ginger (I didn't bother peeling off the outer skin)

Roast in a covered pan in the oven at 325 F for 1 hour until the tomatoes collapse and release their juices. Let cool before storing in the fridge.

To do a single serving of my suggested meal, I found 1/2 cup cooked lentils and 2 oz (Uncooked weight) pasta to be just right, with 2-3 spoonfuls of the refrito. Enjoy with a vegetable side of your choosing! (I went with my Ecuadorian cookbook boiled beet, potato, green beans salad with lime juice, olive oil salt and pepper).

Adobo Pecans

A little sweet and savory snack to liven up your mid-morning or afternoon slump.

Only made minor modifications made to make it soy free, avoid using refined sugar

2 cups pecans
4 tsp coconut aminos (or soy sauce)
coconut sugar
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp granulated garlic
1 tsp of lime juice (in place of calamansi juice)

Mix ingredients in a bowl until pecans are coated evenly.

Spread out in a single layer on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Try not to have any touching each other.

Bake 20 minutes at 325 F. Remove from oven and let cool 20 minutes before storing in an airtight container.

The Cookbook-Inspiring and Substitutions

The cookbook does offer recipes for all courses, explains the traditional dish and any changes the chef made (to call it her own or because of traditional ingredient sourcing), and happily some vegetarian options (a couple examples are, a mushroom-tofu dish and instead of chicken porridge it can be mushroom), but many dishes call for shrimp paste. Vegan Livejournal forum notes that shrimp paste often isn't meant to impart a seafood flavor to a dish but to add savory depth. One of the posters said that veggie bouillon, water and kelp made them a fine substitute (that suggestion would likely be soy and gluten free if you check the veggie bouillon ingredients!) If I give this a shot, I will report back.

The corn and coconut soup is calling my name despite 80 degree weather and 78% humidity. Just need to go find canned strips of coconut (buko) and pick up cilantro. I would certainly consider owning this cookbook, considering how much I wanted to just rush out to the market to find ingredients.

Food question: What is your go to sauce or seasoning blend? Non-food question: What has peaked your interest this week?

Gluten-free in NYC and Travel Tips

Without fail if you tell others you are going to New York, they will a) Tell you to call it the City (New York, New York that is) because that’s how the locals refer to it and b) tell you that you must go eat at Lombardi’s for the pizza and Steak N’ Shake for those special brioche buns.

Those restaurants don’t hold the same glow for someone looking for gluten-free treasures though. 

Not to fret, NYC holds plenty of options that I’ll share with you below! I’ll end the post sharing some non-food notes from our five day trip.

FOOD and associated area-In case you happen to do some of the same activities, here’s food that was near by!

 

 La Cabana Salvadorena-Washington Heights

Our local friends wide eyed commented “You went there? You want to get shot???” To be fair we went to that area looking for lunch on Yelp after the Cloisters museum. No warnings that I saw by Yelpers. We wouldn’t want to be in that neighborhood at night. The subway was a long, somewhat dark and very dingy. Bring your picky meat eater here for steak and peppers with bean soup. The vegetarian gets to savor lorocco papusas, a crisp-chewy masa (corn flour) dough that ensconces gooey-cheese and squash blossoms. Eat those babies up with the cabbage and salsa (?) topping. Another plus was a TV to catch some of the World Cup.

Zabar Market-Upper West Side location

My friend attended classes at Columbia University and mentioned she still had not checked out this local/specialty food and kitchen store. So off we went in the rain. A magnificent panoply of cheeses and olives! House roasted coffee beans and tea blends. My favorite find was a gluten-free rugelach cookie. Looked like a fabulous place to pick up the fixings for a picnic to pack for Central Park.

Bare Burger-Hell’s Kitchen

Can I call it a tradition if this is the third time we’ve HAD to hit a burger place while being out of town (Nashville and Long Beach)? After scouting out discounted tickets at the TKTS booth in Times Square, we were hankering for lunch. Café Terratin (French, gluten free, sustainable) in Hell’s Kitchen was closed on Saturdays so we just took our chances walking to the area to find something suitable. Dave eyed this restaurant and I actually had perused the menu online before the trip-most pleasingly they had gluten free buns, free range meats and even a veggie burger option. You must try the fries with dipping sauces (two of them may have dairy, but I think the curried-ketchup is safe).

Dellarocca’s-Brooklyn

What is a NYC trip without pizza? We did the walk from NYC Centennial Park to Brooklyn crossing the bridge on foot. We continued on to a few parks that Bash ran wild in, skipped the long line at the Ice Cream Factory, watched boats along the waterfront and came across a gathering of food vendors (maybe just there for father’s day). As the humidity and warmth was relentless, we Yelped to find AC at a sit-down restaurant that carried a non-salad gluten-free option. I was tickled to see that the gluten-free crust was handmade (no machine cut perfect circle) and that the sauce tasted of fresh tomato.

Amber’s-West Village

This is a NY friend’s favorite sushi-Thai food bar. We met her and her boyfriend after work there to enjoy a roasted eggplant appetizer, and then some raw sushi. I tried escolar for the first time-a creamy white tuna! For the sports fans, they had World Cup playing on the bar’s tv.

Risotteria-West Village

We were in the neighborhood to do the Empire State Building. Dennis had looked up this restaurant for me since it was a gluten-free Italian food. Don’t expect to see pasta here though, they specialize in the arborio rice dish risotto. The chefs can accommodate dairy free to leave out the butter and cheese. I tried the squid-lemon risotto which would have been wonderful with the cheese to balance the citrus but my stomach had protested. The best goodie was refills on the gluten-free breadsticks. If I had more time or a larger suitcase, I would have bought some of the gluten-free bread loaves or baking mixes there.

David’s Tea-West Village

This is a shop & not sit down place, but had to mention it since it’s just across the street from Risotteria. Bonus that they were open until 10pm (it is the only shopping I was able to do with our busy schedule!) In addition to the more traditional teas, they have many creative blends of tea (just check the ingredients if you have sensitivities, I noticed some have dairy because they add chocolate or soy lechitin) such as blueberry pancake or sparkling cream soda. They will weigh you out any amount of tea you would like. They originally started in Canada and have expanded to NYC and LA.

If you are hoping for a sit-down place, I can’t speak to the service or drinks but in China Town across from the Relax Foot Spa on Hester (great place to treat your tired feet and back-pack weary shoulders…ask for Mike or Jacky if you can), I spied a Japanese tea café, I think it was one where the servers had cute maid and animal ears!

Candle79-Upper East Side

Doing a whirlwind tour of the MoMa, I did a fist pump for being able to check an entire ONE place off my list since this place was just down the street. It’s a popular place so luckily we got in without reservations at lunch time. They had a separate gluten free menu and you can avoid soy here if you do a mushroom dish instead of tempeh. The flavorful mushrooms and asparagus crepe made me sigh happily and left me with room to eat an entire Mexican chocolate brownie (yeah, you heard right, a gluten free brownie!) with non-dairy ice cream (I did not ask if this was soy or coconut based…you may need to ask about this). Vegan-phobes can rest easy by ordering Angel’s nachos. The other non-gluten free desserts our table seemed to have no trouble disappearing were the cannoli and strawberry-rhubarb pie.Thank you, Clarisse for the recommendation.

Coney’s Cones-Coney Island

I had read on Gluten is My Bitch blog (love this lady’s cheeky logo for the banner) that Coney Island is a desert for gluten-free choices. Nathan’s wasn’t a draw for us but we paused at the clock that counts down until the next annual hot dog eating contest (read Think Like a Freak if you want to learn how the Japanese Man experimented on himself and approached the problem from a different angle to find successful training methods).  We were going out on the 45 minute train ride to rest our feet, soak in the beach rays and grab an ice cream (no dairy free, no special gluten free cones). I indulged with a Pink Gorilla (strawberry banana with fudge) and Dave had a bi-polar bear (white chocolate and oreo…not gluten free, darn!) The board walk for Brighton Beach there stretches on quite a while-so we did at least 20 minutes of walking. We were a weekend shy of the official open season for Coney Island so hardly any rides were running and no fireworks would fly that night. When the Aquarium opens the Shark exhibit it should be fantastic (doing construction when we went, but looks enormous). Coney Island is another area where you should just stick to the boardwalk at night, the surrounding area isn’t so nice.

LODGING

Even the hostels are fairly pricey ($100/night) in the popular areas on Manhattan, at least when I looked for summer. Of course it’s awesome if you have a friend or relative who can house you for free, but if that’s not an option…read on. Would advise if you stay in NJ to save money, try a city that is served by PATH train. We did Union City and it was reachable by bus-could not buy a weekly pass, carrying change was a pain. My NY friend said if she had thought about it she would have told us to stay in Queens instead to save money.

ACTIVITIES

I mentioned many activities during the food section, but this is what else I would share with others:

• Be ready to wait an hour or more after you sign up for a time for the Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Center)-the bottom floor is a mall so plenty to do, unless you’re there at 9pm like we were. Hurray for sipping Starbucks.

• Many of the museums are by donation. We bought the City Pass online (using Dave's corporate discount) to help speed up waiting in lines though. If you pick up the City Pass at Natural History Museum, just ask staff where Will Call is (we were told wrong several times).

• Central Park has free summer concerts (thanks, Ann) and Shakespeare in the Park (there is an online ticket lottery and regular lottery)

• ·For Statue of Liberty trips to the Crown and Base may sell out, even if you look two weeks ahead online. Instead, we opted to see the Lady from afar by doing the Circle Line cruise to get oriented with Manhattan (and of course to have sit down time). However, my friend reports you may be able to go first thing in the morning to the ticket counter and get inside the monument.

So many places I didn't get to eat or see, but there can be a next time! Although the next trip out to NY, I'd like to explore Rochester and the northern areas. 

Coming up next: The library surprised me with a Filipino-American cookbook full of inviting pictures and explanations of “mysterious” types of coconut, calamansi juice and variations on traditional ingredients for a US cook. 

Do you have any summer or travel traditions? Have you recreated anything from your travels this summer?

Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup, Juicing cleanse

Are you feeling a bit chilly because you are doing a juicing detox for the summer? Try making this as a preparatory meal as I did before you start juicing or following your juicing. I was following the same format as last year 3 days of eating whole foods (trying to avoid dairy, meats, refined sugars, processed items), then going into juicing 3 days and coming off for 2 days with citrus juice and veggie soup (salad ok at the end of the second "off" day...sooner might cause discomfort in your intestines/stomach)

I was first introduced to split peas while traveling from Indiana to California at Split Pea Andersons as a kid. My mom says when they went this earlier this year, the restaurant does carry vegetarian (ham served separately on the side).

A split pea is nutritionally rich and you just spend 5 minutes throwing the ingredients in, then leave it sitting all day? Three cheers for split pea soup that I found on Chow.com!  Self Nutrition data website says 1 cup of cooked peas gives about 16 g of protein (that's half a scoop of my rice protein Sun Warrior and tastes much better!) and 14% of the daily iron needed.

A random factoid courtesy of Professor K for a class I took last semester, you can try this iron related experiment. Find a significant other or someone your are tight with of the opposite sex. Wash your hands, and pull your lower eye lid down. See the reddish color of the membrane underneath your eyeball? Remember it. Go to your partner/friend and check out the color of theirs.

This is a recipe that your mouth appreciates but your eyes may avert (think swampy lagoon). No pic today then.

Chow's Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup (or other 'mushy' legume)

Modifications: no meat, halved recipe-4 servings

Seasonings:Used 1/2 tsp garlic powder or 2 fresh garlic cloves, 2-3 shakes smoked paprika, 1 tbsp sundried tomato flakes
2 oz mung beans + 6 oz split peas (or other beans that get mushy when cooked, last time tried 2 oz split peas and 6 oz of red lentils)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 tsp celery salt
1 bay leaf
2 cups broth
1 cup water

Favorite 2014 Juicing Recipes

My thoughtful girl friend (pictured above) had sent me an extensive list of juicing recipes when she and her husband were on a health kick a couple years ago. I've tried two of them this time around and have to say my favorite is the "Liver Cleanse". Sorry I did not take pictures, they weren't super beautiful-the beet color dominated this one.

2 Apple

¼ Grapefruit (W/O peel)

1 Small Bunch Grapes

¼ Lemon (W/O peel)

½ Beet

For a savory juice, the 6 tomatoes (I did 4 large round tomatoes) + 1/2 peeled lemon + 1 cup beet greens is a welcome break from sweet liquids. It made about 12 oz of juice. Drinking it the second day isn't as tasty-tomato starts to taste odd to me. Tried adding the spice that the unknown author suggests, with cumin or another no salt seasoning blend (Healthy Heart from Seattle's public market), gives some nice variety but wasn't a award winner. Fresh cilantro might be best to try next time like a salsa smoothie! It came out an ugly mud color since mixing red and green.

Tips if you're doing a multi-day juicing cleanse:
1. If you can start on a day where you don't need to work, it is somewhat easier.
2.  Dial it down-don't have to avoid working out, but listen to your body. I like to pick one activity per day (yoga, hiking, running or light to medium weights) during the detox. 
3. Reiterated from last time, if you have health concerns, recommend talking with a professional before doing a juicing cleanse. 
4. There's probably never a "good" time to do it, always people want to go out to eat, celebrations. Just see what you could afford to miss, unless you feel steely enough to be around people eating.
5. If you can wash and cut up some of your produce the night before you want to juice, it can save time (making the beets drink it still took me a good 10-15 minutes to complete the recipe-need to wash out the juicer before the pulp sticks)
 6. Separate the fruit dominated sweet juicing pulp from the savory in ziplock bags in the freezer or in silicon muffin tins for portions. You can save the pulp to use in soups, meatloafs, baked goods. Do a search online.

Last year's juicing recipes and coming off: 
Juicing Days 4-6 Sample Meals
Days 7-8: Meal Planning, candied orange (non detox) and no bake protein powder truffles


Report: For whatever reason, my body was not up for doing the full three days of juicing. I cut it to 2 days and a breakfast juice on the 3rd. I was tired and not even feeling like doing scrapbooking or reading a book for fun. This was abnormal. I could have just spent the day sleeping and juicing, but really wanted to get some crafting or reading done so...made the switch over to light, clean meals. Key take away-don't be too hard on yourself, listen to your body as far as when to push a little past comfort and when to ease off...well, I get that reminder every time I do yoga-and I got to apply it in another part of life.

Weird Stare Food: No exact proportions Snap Pea/Chickpea/Pickle salad + Healthier Muffin Lemon-Blueberry-Oat Recipe

You ever had those days where you bring your own lunch and your friends/classmates/co-workers give you an odd look? I'd pack myself tofu and shoyu for lunch sometimes in high school and get that wrinkled up nose reaction--we had very few Asians at our school and in our community in general.

I hadn't gotten that reaction in awhile. Sadly as a person in the full time work force, many of my lunches are taken solo. The other week I brought my dinner a la brown bag to the racquetball club where I take/teach yoga since I didn't have time to go home or pick up food. I got that disbelieving stare of "you're eating that?" 

It was steamed snap peas, chickpeas, and cut up pickles with their juice. Really easy, really quick. I liked the sweetness of the snap pea, the savory chickpea and crunch/tang of the pickles. Call me weird. Or give it a try first (If you like sour). I am curious to see if you rate it "tasty" or "nasty."

Ok, as an adult I am a fan of sour things as evidenced by a few of my posts
Pickled Rice, Salmon and Summer Veggies
Tomatillo Mac N' Cheese and Salsa
Lemon-coconut Cookies
and twice in posts I referenced
101 Cookbook's Lemon Chutney

If you're not into sour savory or strongly sour lemon recipes as those given above, maybe give this sweet story a listen!

One of my upper management bosses is leaving this month. He was a really good sport in doing flash mob style dances and being the lead lip-synch-er to Gangnam Style and What Does the Fox Say? with our team. He helped boost morale by giving as a rotating prize, his parking spot (big deal, saves us 15 minutes of walking in the morning!) monthly through silly contests (limericks, March Madness, holiday cards, cookie decorating among other things). He would help us push projects that were in danger of getting stuck if we could justify them.  I'm going to miss having him around. One of the send-offs is a dessert party (our officer joked our new name would not be Desert team but Dessert team) and I made:

LEMON BLUE BERRY OATMEAL MUFFINS 

For the most part exactly as the recipe calls for from Quaker...just very minor preference/food sensitivity changes. I use Coach's Oats from Costco (chewy texture), use coconut sugar and don't do a streusal topping.

I always like a new way to try to eat my oats and this one is portable.

Slight detour before we get to the recipe, speaking of oats, I just tried an oatmeal recipe from a blog that shares predominantly oats recipes (Oatgasm)---LEMON CHEESE CAKE OATS: use 1/3 cup oats, 1 tsp cream cheese, vanilla extract to taste, 1-2 tbsp fresh lemon juice and sweetener of choice with 1/2 to 1 cup of milk alternative (making 1.5 total cups of liquid, the rest water). I like to add half a scoop of Sun Warrior Protein powder (unflavored) for extra staying power to all my oatmeals.

Makes 12 muffins

1.5 cups oats
1 cup flour (I used a hand-mixed gluten-free blend-the Land O'Lakes go to one-refer to bottom of this pancake recipe page)
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup Silk coconut milk (sweetened or unsweetened)-play around with variety and amount of coconut sugar if you feel it needs more/less sweetening when you make a second batch!
1 egg
2 tsp oil
1 tsp grated lemon zest (I use my fine cheese grater)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup of frozen berries (don't thaw) -blueberries did go nicely with lemon!

1. Heat oven to 400F. Either line the muffin tins or use oil/butter to grease.

2. Combine and mix up dry ingredients in a large bowl

3. Combine and mix up wet ingredients in a smaller bowl. Wait to add the blueberries until after you mix dry and wet ingredients.

4. Mix the wet and dry ingredients, adding the berries, stirring until just evenly moistened.

5. Fill the muffin cups nearly full. Bake for 20-22  minutes until golden. Remove and test with a toothpick or other small skewer to see if it comes out clean. If it's clean you can move them to a cooling rack, letting them rest for 5 minutes before digging in-otherwise pop them in a few more minutes and retest.



QUESTION:Which of your foods get questions from by-standers? Or what do you like that you or others share at your workplace?

A non-dessert Rhubarb recipe: Orange Salad

Been awhile since a piece of produced appeared in my box that totally stumped me. This week I had rhurbarb. A plant that comes to us April through June.  A plant that you're not to eat the toxic leaves of. A plant with crunch and a bit of tartness that we normally think of paired with fruit pie or cobbler. An internet search yielded some savory ideas too! I tried one of them and liked it so much I ran out of rhubarb to try the Rhu-bar-b-q  Sauce. Oh well, another time. 

How is spring going? My January planted potted from seed pea plant finally yielded a single sweet pod. The watercress has two plants a few inches high. My porch just doesn't get much sun, maybe two hours in the morning. Lots of milestones happening to be proud of.

•  I was able to attend a good friend's graduation from her MBA program from USC. Now we just need to find out where she will work so we can plan a trip to see her NEW city! As part of that day, I highly recommend checking out Cafe Hue in Montebello area of east LA. Fresh and large and lots of gluten free! Try the Fattoush salad-the sumac is something wonderful! My friend explained it to me as lemon flavored spice. 
• Survived another semester of taking a class after work.
• Got a summer vacation booked (managed to convince Dave he should come)-many other attempts but the location or timing didn't work for others.
• A document made it to public review stage for work after 9 months of waiting and another is a month away from finishing. 
• Had a great month of catching up with friends local and not! Over free coffee, over the fattoush, over browsing a Japanese market and over a concert in the park. Thankful for Monica, Lillian, Lisa and Liz to make time for me. Finally had the ladies tea party--Vietca, Amy and Allie made it a fab afternoon. Perhaps will share the lemon-rosemary gluten free adapted bread I made and other recommendations based on that next time.

Orange Rhubarb Salad:

 Ingredients for two servings

2 rhurbarb stalks-match stick sliced
1 orange
handful of leafy (such as watercress) or mung bean sprouts rinsed

 In a medium bowl combine sliced rhubarb + 1 orange peeled and segments cut up into bite sized pieces (saving juice for salad). Let sit at least 15 minutes after tossing.

Serving suggestion: with pictured Salmon (peppercorn and juniper berries) 
[Note: did not follow the recipe in terms of cooking in a pan, maybe that would have brought out the juniper berry flavor more, I put in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes. Would recommend testing out the pan but overall it seems like a LOT of oil for the recipe with the salmon already having plenty of healthy fats]

Or with chopped up shrimp

Or if in the vegetarian mode, with quinoa and avocado

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Bonus Five or Less Ingredient Vegetarian Recipe: Bean, potato and fennel  (3 servings)- 

About 30 minutes (10 minutes prep and 20 minutes roasting) if you use canned or if you already have cooked beans on hand. Otherwise add cooking time for the beans. I have liked using the crock pot lately for beans, for whatever reason I can't make beans on the stove anymore. I soak them overnight and cook for 2-2.5 hours but still chewy!  Sorry for a lack of picture I was so hungry before each time I ate it or was at work where I didn't have a good enough camera

1 cup dried beans (or 1 can)-try chickpea or kidney
1 fennel bulb and fronds
9 small golden potatoes (fingerling size)-cut into two bites-sized pieces if needed
1-2 tsp olive oil
1.5 cups vegetable stock if desired 

1. For dried beans if you have a slow cooker, make them over night for making this breezy. I usually triple the amount of water for the amount of beans. Generally 8 hours on low or 6 hours on high is good...your cooker may vary.


2. Preheat the oven to 400 and grab a glass/metal pan for roasting. May want to lightly oil or PAM it, or use one of those silicon mat (anyone have one? how do you like it?)

3. Rinse and slice the fennel bulb to 1/4" and chop the fronds into bite sized pieces. Rinse and slice the potatoes.

Put fennel and potato in a tupperware that you can later use for storage. Add the 1-2 tsp of oil, snap on the lid and shake-a-shake-a-it to coat oil.

Get the veggies in the oven to roast for 20 minutes or until desired done-ness. A golden brown color means sweetness.

4. Enjoy chowing on the veggies together with warmed beans and 1/2 cup soup stock per serving.



What spring inspiration have you had?

Caesar Inspired Fennel, Apple and Lentil Salad (gluten free and vegan) + Bonus Easy Vegan tacos

It's been hectic in March, I wish I had more time to share food info, try and share recipes out. But finally, here we are. Top 5 neat-o things learned in March:

1.  Rishi brand tea- iced tea, adopted one of mint and one of peach when helping a friend move. Highly recommend! Great flavor and quick to make (5 minutes steeping, mix with water and refrigerate.) The box says they source their ingredients using fair trade too. Find your nearest store. Order directly from Rishi or it looks like Amazon carries some flavors.

2. Plumeria Thai-on Park Blvd (San Diego), generous portions with a reasonable amount of protein. All "meats" here are vegetarian and some of them (chicken) are even gluten-free. Not sure about soy free though. I can't report on the taste of the "meats", since Cindy and I stuck with tofu. We had the spicy pumpkin basil at a Level 4 (to which we added our own spice) and Pad See Ew. There were a couple antique/vintage stores that I'm sure my sis would have been able to put together an awesome outfit...I have no knack for such things.

3. Chamorro (Guam) food appears to be similar to Hawaiian. I looked into it as there was a Guam festival this past weekend that I considered attending. Seems like fried and lots of meat mainly, not inherently so great for vegetarian + gluten free combo. If you don't have these restrictions, my coworker shared with me her favorite place for Guam food is Tio Chino's in Point Loma. I am inquiring with them about options that are gluten free-they do have a more Mexican based part of the menu that looks promising.

4.  Ariana Produce-small market in Mira Mesa on Camino Ruiz (toward Calle Cristobal). Sells Halal meats and other goodies  from various countries, India, Afghanistan just to name a few. I wouldn't say the produce looked the best, despite the name of the store, but I'd try checking it out a second time to make sure. The owner seemed very personable and recommended to me a snack of the dried organic mulberries to be paired with nuts.

5. Not food related but watched my first RiffTrax with Dave for Captain America. Put a nice spin on movie night to hear tongue-in-cheek commentary or voicing over.

It has been distressing to my body sitting for long periods to study on top of sitting a lot of work (even with the ability to stand up at the work station). Constantly having to do something/be somewhere has put my mind in stress mode too and I have been stress eating or eating too much and later than I should.

What kind of stress busting things do you do that are healthy options? I've thought about busting out some push ups but haven't done it so far. Just replacing some desserts after meals with soothing Chai, mint or the Rishi teas that I mentioned above. If I reach back to yoga teacher training, perhaps I should go with some alternate nostril breathing. (Reegan of Yoga80 explains how it's done and the benefits).

It really did calm me down when I was feeling stressed at work last year. I got out of practice.

Being crazy with having Mon and Weds class for the last 8 weeks, I did find an easy weekday meal to enjoy that you might like as a bonus to the salad recipe. Serves 1

Easy Bean and Avocado Tacos 

1/2 small avocado diced
few tbsp salsa of your choice (we had leftover green salsa from Fresh and Easy)
2-3 corn tortillas (optional) or Leafy green
1/2 to 3/4 cup cooked canelli beans (or beans of choice)--if using dried soak overnight and cook 1.5-2 hours...or use canned (rinse first)

1. heat the tortillas on the stove (30 sec-1 min each side) or microwave
2. heat up the beans if you pre-made them or rinse/drain and heat if they are from a can.
3. mix the beans, diced avocado and salsa in a small bowl. Spoon mixture over tortillas and eat. Or try eating them without a tortilla. I bet having it wrapped in something leafy-like lettuce or chard would be good.

Because it's that season where my coworker brings in buckets of lemons, got a salad recipe for you today. The dressing recipe comes adapted from Bon Appetit and the other ingredients inspired by what was in my pantry/fridge. 

Caesar Inspired Fennel, Apple and Lentil Salad

Makes 3-4 servings

Salad
1 apple-cored and chopped into half inch pieces
1-2 fennel bulbs (about 2 cups, thinly sliced)-can save the fronds for something else(I roasted mine with lemon juice and veg broth)
1 cup sprouted red lentils make your own or purchase (yes you with the keen eyes, my lentils failed to sprout, maybe they got too dry, but they were soft enough to eat raw)


Dressing
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 garlic glove, pressed
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
*optional 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (if not Vegan)

1. If making your own sprouted lentils, get started 1-2 days in advance of when you want to make the salad.

2. Do the chopping on the apple and fennel.

3. Add the dressing ingredients to a small bowl and use a whisk

4. Toss your apple, fennel and lentils together with the dressing.


Have you seen any new foods to try? AND/OR  What is your stress busting technique?