Start of Vegetarian Summer Series: Mongo Soup and Pesto Pasta & Recap of H-mart Goodies!

The 200-hour yoga teacher training to expand my practice started last weekend. Now I'm not sure if I'll enjoy teaching or even if I'll be any good but I'm excited to learn other aspects of yoga! Part of the experience includes designating at least one day a week to eat vegetarian. This week I made a Filipino soup and pesto with pasta. 

I've been vegetarian before so it won't be a huge stretch but just hoping to inspire/show some of you that vegetarian can be easy and tasty whether you want to try it for yourself to feel light and make a lighter eco-footprint or even if you have a vegetarian guest to impress. So, you can look forward to the blog testing out some (hopefully) quick to make vegetarian dishes over the next 8 weeks. :)

Being gone in AZ/UT during my CSA box pick up last weekend forced me to venture out to the grocery store to get my produce last Friday. And so I finally made it out to the Korean market, H-Mart that opened up in Mira Mesa in Fall 2012. First, if you like Costco "buffet" (aka samples) on the weekends, you will LUUUUURVE H-mart. I went on Friday and almost every row had an apron clad, plastic mouth shield wearing employee offering a sample of something tasty. Vietca told me they had a bee-ute-a-full seafood section and it was indeed clean and fresh smelling. Many of the frozen packages also list the country of origin for the fish and if it's farmed/wild-caught so that was also helpful if you're pulling out your moral compass.

Second scored a bounty for $27 : 

• 2 canary melons (Tweety yellow outside, very sweet, white flesh)
• 1 other yellow melon
• 1 pkg bunapi mushroom
  
  
  
  

• 1 pkg king trumpet mushrooms
• 3.5 lbs of fish (a white fish, listed as a good alternative on Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch)
•  a Red Pepper Paste that does not appear to have wheat 

Uhhhhh what is seed koji? Read below, I'm still not sure.

• Internet research says koji is a mold grown for the fermentation process and can be grown on grains (homegrown.org, soy info center  usually rice or soybeans)---sooooo, you may want to make your own substitute paste (I've googled recipes before but not tested) if you need to be strictly gluten free or soy free. I emailed H mart to see if they can tell me what this brand's koji is grown on, I will update if they respond.
•  a package of soft tofu
• a bag of bok choy and
•  another greens that I didn't write the name of-anyone know what this is?
  

Note to self: they have a big 3lb bag for about $4 of brown rice "powder" which looks like flour to me that's cheaper than buying the 1 lb bags at normal grocery stores. 

 Filipino Mung Bean Soup (mongo)-Veggie Style (makes enough for 4-5 servings)

adapted from Lisa's Kitchen and a video I saw on YouTube (idea for some ingredient variations)

Seems like mongo recipes really vary by what veggies you throw in-get creative!

• 1 cup dried whole mung beans-soaked over night
• 1 tsp Coconut Oil for the onions and Chinese greens and 1 tsp for the bunapi mushroom and fresh garlic cloves
•  1 tbsp garlic powder, and also 2 cloves of fresh garlic (or 6 cloves fresh)
• I added 2 shallots for 1/2 cups chopped
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes or 2 fresh red chiles
• 1 can of tomato sauce (or 2 medium fresh tomatoes)
• juice of 2 limes (4 tablespoons)-used lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
• 4 cups water or veggie stock
• 3 bok choys, very bottom part cut off so leaves separate for washing out dirt (or another leafy green, Lisa called for1/2 lb (225 g) baby spinach leaves)
• stems of 6 Chinese greens (that I didn't get the name of)
• 1 pkg bunapi mushroom, cut apart and washed

1. To a larger soup pot, add the water or veggie stock. Add the soaked mung beans and cover with a lid. Heat on high until boiling, then reduce to medium with the cover on to cook at least 25-35 minutes or until mung beans are soft enough to eat.

2. While the mung beans cook, in a small sauce pan heat on medium 1 tsp of coconut oil for the mushrooms and garlic cloves. Cook them until tender. Remove these into a bowl to stop cooking.

3. Add 1 tsp coconut oil to cook over medium heat the chopped shallots and Chinese greens. Cook until browned. Then add to mung bean pot.

4. Add  the tomato sauce, garlic powder, lime juice, salt and stir into the mung bean pot. Add your bok choy and cover again for 3-5 minutes until the bok choy is crisp tender.Add the mushrooms and ladle into bowls for serving. Add red pepper flakes to taste.

 Dairy free Pesto-using mystery Chinese green leaves and walnuts- 2 servings

 

Sorry for the ugly plastic bowl, it's my lunch at work!

adapted from "The 15 Minute Single Gourmet by Paulette Mitchell"

 4 tbsp walnut pieces

2 tsp olive oil

1/2 tsp minced garlic

1 cup of chopped greens

2 t bsp nutritional yeast

4 tsp fresh minced basil or 1 tsp dried

1/4 tsp ground pepper

1/2 box of quinoa/corn pasta

1/2 cup dried (not oil packed) sundried tomato pieces

1. Prepare pasta as the package directs.

2.  While waiting for the pasta to cook, if you like, toast the walnut pieces (200 degrees in toaster oven for 2-3 minutes or can try doing in a frying pan).

3. Add first 7 ingredients to a blender or food processor. Add water by tbsp if mixture is too thick.

4. Serve pasta with pesto and top with sundried tomato.

What is the biggest thing you would like to ask for right now?

New set up for the blog? + Refreshing Southwestern Vegan Salad Recipe from the Road

CH-CH-CH-CH-CHAAAANGES! 

I just learned on May 31st that it's time to pack up and move to another rental in July! That means purging, start saving money to pay for overlapping rent/the new deposit/first and/or last month's rent (GOOD GRAVY Dave reminded me we could be paying up to 3 months worth of rent. Ouch, this hurts with the furloughs coming), and stop buying so much foodstuff (less to move). Here I was feeling a little bored with life the last few months, but excited/nervous to start the time-intensive yoga teacher training this month and an eager beaver to start planning my annual reunion with the Glasses Girls. But now those aren't the only things that will occupy my summer. So, I will apologize in advance if I don't end up meeting my goal to go to the Indian market this month. I will plan to go once I settle in-I do have my grocery list made up. Maybe Indian food theme dinner party with a few friends could be my motivation!

It also makes me think I should try to work through more recipes in my paper cookbooks (and that's not any books from bloggers)-I tend to rely on the internet since blogs and cooking/homemaking websites are so plentiful. With the anniversary of the blog coming up in August, it may just be my new theme for the 12 months of year 2 to do a certain # of recipes from each book each month. (another dinner theme party, make a dish from a paper cookbook!) 

I recently returned from a 6 day Southwest National Parks vacation with my high school chum, Lisa. We started in LA and drove to AZ and UT. We were wondering what defines a road trip, is it # of places you stop or # of days? Merriam Webster says an extended vacation using a vehicle...while Urban Dictionary expands with the most popular definition includes going cross country in a van using drugs and alcohol. Hm, so is extended just mean longer than a long (3 day weekend?)...not sure what we should call it (Scenic vacation?) but we had a blast soaking in the beauty and still learning new things about each other after 14 years of friendship.

Most days we ate out (happily the parks and surrounding businesses must get enough people requiring/preferring gluten free), but one night at Lake Powell Motel (formerly Bashful Bob's) in Page, AZ included a kitchenette.  They even have a BBQ grill (which we did not use.)

We were just warned not to cook curry or fish indoors. The owner worried I might have felt picked on with my last name and those food exclusions...but I know how much those smell. I told him he should add "stinky tofu" to that list as that would linger also, but then inquired "are there Asian markets around here?" His reply was no.

Decided that we were up for cooking something simple that could double for dinner and would be portable for lunch when we were out and about. We needed to use ingredients that we wouldn't have to necessarily keep ice cold since the cooler would just sit in the car all day while we were exploring Lake Powell and then Bryce Canyon until we could get to the next lodging (which might not have a fridge). I did bring some versatile supplies from home (indicated below) knowing we had a kitchenette.

Packing/Shopping list for Summer Southwest Vegan Salad (4 servings-2 servings of pasta version and 2 servings of quinoa version):

1 small can of chopped olives (one that looks like it is 1/4 cup big)
1/2 cup of quinoa (I brought from home) and half a box of quinoa/corn pasta (Ancient Harvest brand is good)
1/2 cup of sundried tomato (brought from home, if you buy they should keep without refrigeration though)
1/4 cup of nutritional yeast (brought from home, keeps without refrigeration)
2/3 package of fajita mix (used Fresh and Easy brand)
2 ears of fresh corn (one cereal bowl piled high, we didn't have measuring cups)
3 small squash (was one cereal bowl piled high)
1 can of cannelini beans

 

Making the salads-we had two small pots and two mixing bowls. We used the lid and slotted spoon to drain since we had no colanders. Used a can opener (important to make sure you have!)

1. Get at least two small pots of water boiling. One for the veggies and one for the quinoa or pasta (whichever you want to eat first)

2. Shuck the corn and cut off the kernels. A serrated steak knife worked for us.

3. Rinse and cut the squash into bite-sized circles or half-circles if the squash is larger.

4. When water is boiling add the corn-cook about 5-6 minutes for crisp tender. And add your pasta to the other pot-cook according to directions (pasta was 7-10 minutes).  Drain when cooked to desired doneness and put half the corn and all your pasta in a large mixing bowl. Reserve other half of corn for the quinoa salad in another mixing bowl.

5. Start boiling water in  your now empty pots. Add the squash and cook 4-5 minutes for crisp tender. To your other pot, add the quinoa. Again drain when they are cooked to desired level (quinoa is normally 10 minutes). Add the half squash to the first mixing bowl and half to the second. Reserve the rest for your quinoa salad.

6. Mix in 1/3 package of the fajita mix and half of the nutritional yeast, olives, beans and sundried tomatoes to the pasta mixture. Toss in the bowl. Then serve warm or cooled (gluten free pastas usually have the best texture warm)

7. After you're nice and full from that, mix the remaining half of the ingredients with the quinoa to make your meal for tomorrow.

Sorry, hope that's not too convoluted.

Being out in National Parks meant a hike each day!

1st Hike at Grand Canyon: 6 miles Bright Angel to the 3 Mi. Rest house

2nd Hike at Grand Canyon: 3.6 miles of South Kaibab to Cedar Breaks

3rd Hike at Bryce: 3.5 miles of Queen's Garden + Navajo Loop

4th Hike at Zion: 3 hours of The Narrows

 Sometimes we didn't have time to eat with all the hours logged driving or it was just too dang roasting (between 85-107F during our hikes). We kept it light and ate these snacks throughout the day and one big meal each day.

Favorite Trail Snacks:

• Tuna pouches to avoid carrying a can opener (bring a disposable/re-usable plastic spoon from Yogurtland to scoop...or get messy)
• For you vegetarians, Sunwarrior Protein powder (pre-measured in baggies) to mix with juice or gatorade.
• Crunch Master brand-multi-seed gluten free rice based crackers (does contain soy and will break if not on top of your pack or in a rigid container). They have a $1 coupon right now on their website. Very tasty.
• Apples
• Fruit "leathers" (found a 48 pack of strawberry, cherry, raspberry and apricot at Costco
• Popcorn made with coconut oil (and using Nordic Brand microwavable popper from Amazon, fit perfectly in tiny motel microwaves..another snack to keep on top of your pack to avoid excessive crumbs...but watch out for the squirrels-one reached in my bag when I turned to apply sunscreen and started to drag the snack away)
• Sprouts grocery: bulk bin trail mix with coconut, papaya, figs and other fruits
• Baby carrots
• Candied Ginger in case of stomach irritation
• powdered Gatorade to mix in with the water bottles
• Avocado halves and a spoon to scoop it out with (put in a plastic container so it won't get smushed)
• Gu or other gel energy to get you up out of the canyon-we had strawberry banana flavor

Anything you want to see regularly if I change how I do this blog? Has a vacation given you inspiration for a meal?   (we also watched an episode of Diners and Drive-ins and one place featured this stuffed pepper with chicken cooked in red wine with apples, pears, shallots, cranberries and served with a cream-nut sauce---looked fab and unique...and fit with the southwest theme of our trip).

Detox Days 7-8: Fruits, Vegetables and vegetarian protein (+ What to do with leftover Orange Peels and No Bake sweet)

The best part is feeling warm again with solid foods!

Below is my menu to help give ideas. Just waiting until after the detox to add back in grains, nuts and lean meats/fish. Just a scant amount of legumes...trying not to give the body too much fiber after 3 days of relaxing!

Day 7:
Breakfast: 4 oz of Naked Juice

Snack: 2 Hard-boiled egg whites and 1/4 avocado slices

Lunch: CSA Box Veggie Detox Soup

• 3 cups homemade broth, 0.5 cup shiitake mushroom water from Days 1-3.
•  two round green squash (were about lacrosse ball sized), 3 swiss chard leaves, 3 shiitake mushrooms sliced
• 1/4 cup dried lentils

Begin your lentils first in the boiling stock since they take at least 20 minutes (don't make my mistake adding it with only 10 minutes to cook with your added veggies), add tougher stalks, and last 4-6 minutes add leaves, squash and mushroom so they don't get too mushy. Looks like enough for 3-4 small soup bowl servings.

Palm full of strawberries for dessert.

Snack: 4 oz Naked juice blenderized with brown rice protein powder.

Dinner: Salad with roast beets/celery mix, avocado, clover sprouts. Vinegar, oil, salt and pepper.
Note: this was too much fiber for the first day, my stomach was knotty later in the night. So I recommend you have another serving of soup or make a juice/smoothie instead.

Delicious but I paid for it.

Day 8:
Breakfast-2 Hard Boiled Egg whites and 1 cup cantalope

Snack-4 oz naked juice

Post-work out-4 oz naked juice with brown rice protein powder

Snack-1 large carrot cut into sticks and 1/4 avocado mashed

Lunch-bowl of soup (leftover from yesterday)
5 pieces candied orange (not detox material, waaaaagh! but recipe below) and no-bake protein-powder "cookies" modified from this recipe at Purely Twins. I'm embarrassed to say how many I ate. My mind has been feeling really irritated this week, like I need to do something (or eat something..maybe both). So started doing some housekeeping on my inbox and around the house. But now back to what you care about, my modifications to both sweet recipes are included below the happy picture.

Snack-1 cup cantalope & two protein-powder cookies

Dinner-Salad take 2. No problems this time!

Kind of look like mini-spicy fries.

WHAT TO DO WITH LEFTOVER ORANGE PEELS? TWO GREAT PRODUCTS!

After all that juicing, I had a good 3-4 cups (or more since I accidentally threw some away) of orange peels with the pith still on. I had been trying to cut the peel and leave some pith on my Valencias, but the skin was not very thick and it was difficult for me to leave pith, let alone cut even strips with our best paring knife. I followed a Foodnetwork.com recipe since it said you could have pith on the peel (didn't want to try scraping them off the hundred assorted size pieces).  I probably spent half an hour draining the oranges and making the sugar water (making the veggie soup while waiting for water to boil)

Ingredients: 3-4 cups of orange peel; 2.5 cups regular sugar;  about 0.5 cup coconut sugar for coating

You'll also need: small saucepan, small tongs to grab sticky oranges, drying racks/newspaper (to catch crumbs/small orange pieces), spatula

1. After cutting the orange peels into 1/4" strips, bring them to boil 3x (with cold water each time) 
2. Put oranges into a heat-tolerating (non-plastic) bowl and use your saucepan for heating the white sugar (I reduced to 2.5 cups) and water (1.5 cups).
3. Stir and dissolve sugar. Bring the white sugar and water to a simmer for 8-9 minutes.
4. Add orange peels. Allow mixture to come to simmer again. Leave it alone for 45 minutes. Don't stir or else the crystals invade!
5. Drain off the liquid sugar into a jar or other heat-tolerating vessel...save for mixing in tea, oatmeal, or whatever else you want to sweeten with a little orange splash. 
6. Put some sugar in a bowl, I probably ended up using 1/2 cup coconut sugar. Pull out 1/2 cup of orange slices at a time and turn to coat in the coconut sugar. Work quickly as the oranges start to harden and stick together. Put onto the drying rack.
7. Let the pieces dry for 4-5 hours

shape and lump-both taste the same.

CRAVING PROTEIN & NON-FRUIT SWEETNESS?  No bake Cocoa-Coconut Oil Protein Truffles (that's what the texture reminds me of, kind of airy and a soft velvety crumble in your mouth)

Notes: If using dates, you should have a blender/food processor to make date paste. I looked on Vegan Yack Attack to find substitutions for agave since I didn't have liquid stevia. I had not heard of caramelizing sucanat nor do I know what that is. I have heard of brown rice syrup. There's some controversy about agave, that the over-proccessing is harmful to our health, but I haven't looked into it. Another day.

 If your coconut oil is solid, I measured out 4 tbsp and it yielded about 6 tbsp after being melted. The authors suggested additional coconut oil if you want thinner cookies/rounds.

The dough will be somewhat crumbly, just press firmly into your tablespoon and remove from the side with a spoon or your finger and reshape/pack if needed. If you happen to have an ice cream scooper that can push or wipe the dough out it will help (my mom has one that comes in a TBSP size but I have yet to find one) The dough will hold up better once it's chilled.

Ingredients: (changes after strike out)

• 1/4 cup hemp protein powder Sunwarrior brand "Blend" protein (cranberry, hemp, pea)
• 1/2 cup Sunwarrior brand Brown Rice Protein Powder
• 1/4 cup lucuma  cocoa powder (the authors have even more substitutions listed)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla (omitted as I didn't want to add alcohol to my detox menu)
• 1/2 teaspoons stevia, liquid 5 dates (made about 5.5 tbsp of paste)
• 8 6 tablespoons coconut oil, liquid
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1. In a mug or small bowl soak your dates in hot water for at least 1/2 an hour. Then use same water with dates in blender to make a paste.

2. Mix the other ingredients in a small mixing bowl.

3. Melt your coconut oil if necessary. Then add to mixing bowl.

4. Add date paste to mixture and stir to have an even dough.

5. Press into the tablespoon or scoop and make the truffles.

6. Put them into the fridge for 15 minutes. Authors say you can freeze them, I know mine won't last long enough to do that!

What's your favorite snack to bring on an outdoor trip?

Detox Days 4-6: Juicing-just liquids (Recipes included)

It softens the blow to my mind if I can have more than one kind of drink. I drink as I'm hungry (or it's been four hours max), making sure to have plenty of water and herbal tea in between to help flush out the toxins. I think it's about 4-12 oz that I drink in a serving depending how much tummy growled. I didn't remember how full a juice can make you feel!

Recommend if you have somewhere to be in the morning to rinse and cut your produce the night before to help save time. Before you start the detox or at least before getting to the juicing part, research places that have juice drinks in case you run late/are out and need something. I have been told Starbucks carries a bottled juice product by my co-worker. If you're near certain San Diego farmer's market, Green Fix Smoothie has a lot of fans. I have one of these Robek's store (chain) by my house and most people probably would already think of Jamba Juice. Another friend recommends San Diego Blenders in El Cajon or Mission Valley area.

 Here's a sample plan, to help give you ideas. For just juicing for me I overbought! I'm going to end up with 5 oranges, 1 entire celery bunch, 1/2 bundle of kale and 2 cucumbers left. I guess it can't hurt to have juicing for a snack or meal the next few days when I reincorporate solid foods. I just have so much pulp now in my freezer I don't know what to do with it all. Dave thinks toss it. Normally I put 1/4 cup in my protein pancakes. Any ideas? No, don't have a worm bin yet. I will add buying these supplies to my Indian grocery mart and Indian meal trip for mid-June! Making deadlines can help and telling other people your plans for accountability can put a plan to action. Bug me about it, readers!



<------The BEFORE  picture of Juice #2

AFTER: Drink #2 Swampy

Day 4
#1 Carrot-orange-ginger-kale (1 carrot, 2 oranges, sliver of ginger, 2 kale leave/stems) : I took it with me on a five mile hike with an ice pack. For some reason got really bitter. Sometimes my fresh squeezed OJ gets bitter if left alone for a few hours. Maybe it was the ginger. Not my favorite b/c of the bitter. Made enough for one serving.

#2 Carrot-orange-kale-beet greens: (did 2 large carrots, 5 small oranges, 1 bundle each of beet greens and kale) Non-bitter for unknown reasons! The greens were very strong the first day, but taste better to me the next day. Made enough to fill one cariff (about 5 servings) and 1 serving.

Plain OJ


Day 5:

Drink #3-My favorite"-Canta" wait to sip on this. n'yuck, n'yuck,

#3 Carrot-cantalope-cucumber (2 large carrots, 1/2 cantalope, 2 cucumber): my favorite juice so far. The melon almost tastes creamy! This made enough to fill one cariff..

leftover of #2

plain OJ

#4: Natural (sugar) high-beets have a high sugar content, antioxidants and folic acid.

Day 6:
Leftovers of #2 and #3

#4 Beet-kale-orange (4 small oranges, 1 beet, 4 kale leaves) for two servings: Overall very sweet and easy to drink. Thanks to my friend Ann's advice, add a little beet at a time as it can have a strong flavor. I was quite happy with just having the beet as an aftertaste. Every now and then I pick up the book "How Carrots Won the Trojan War" by Rebecca Rupp for some interesting history/facts about various fruits and veggies. In regards to beets, most notable to me that it was once believed beets could be reddened by watering with leftover sediment from making red wine. In actuality, red comes from betacyanin. Ability to metabolize betacyanin in some people doesn't work as it should and can lead to pink piddle. So don't be alarmed in the bathroom. 


Plain OJ


One last tip, carry a travel toothbrush with you if you're going to be at work all day. The juices made a film on my teeth.




Have any favorite funny food facts?

Detox Days 1-3: Fruits, Veggies, Grains & Oils

Have you tried a juicing detox/cleanse/fast before? Maybe you're feeling sluggy or the stomach is off. Maybe the beautiful weather is just reminding you that you want to work towards showing off some skin. There can be weight loss, but for long term-health I would count on the detox just being a diving off point to help make eating cleaner a habit. I've seen detoxes range from 3 days (even saw a business based on this at the La Jolla Farmer's market this past weekend and on Groupon) to 30 days (online paleo challenges, juicing). From my experience, consistency in a mostly healthy (occasional treats ok!), varied diet and exercise is really the best, most sustainable way to be the best you.

In the past I have tried 14 day detoxes, the Master Cleanse (cayenne-lemon-maple syrup) and a juicing/Master Cleanse (juice for breakfast, dinner and lemonade the rest of the time), both times using senna tea for...ahem... moving the junk out. After it was all said and done, I did come out feeling like I was more alert, a light/happy feeling and my hip joints seemed to loosen up a bit when practicing yoga. Yes, usually the first 3-4 days blow as far as feeling crabby and deprived...after that the body/mind adapt mostly. Have to say drinking the exact same sweet and cold for that many days was boooooring.

I wanted to try something a little different this year. Not following a particular plan-just making something that fits my calendar (promised to go out for a graduation dinner Saturday). Start off just eating very light and clean for three days, then go three days of juicing only and two days to come off with juice, veg soup and raw salads. I was a bit hesitant to start a detox this year given I wasn't hitting the gym when I did detoxes before, but a friend sent me an article from Bodybuilding.com about benefits for weight lifters.

I would just caution if you have health conditions, you want to check with a doctor or registered dietician before you try.

After setting my mind to it (probably the hardest part) and making sure my perishable food was eaten already, I was ready to go buy my food supplies (already had a Jack Lalanne Juicer and have some plastic cariffs for storing juice, ideally you make it and drink it fresh but we can't always carry a juicer with us or take 3 days off work to be at home...also cleaning the juicer that many times a day would be a drag).

So here's my progress so far on cleaning up my solid foods in phase 1. Those with recipes**

Day 1: 
 Breakfast: Oatmeal = 1/3 cup coach's oats + 4 chopped dates + 2 tbsp unsweetened coconut flakes toasted (250F for 3 minutes in my toaster oven...otherwise unpleasant blackening!) + 1 cup water + 1 scoop brown rice protein powder + cinnamon
Snack: 1/4 cup toasted walnuts and 1 apple
Lunch:  No-name #1 = 2 cups cabbage steamed in veggie broth with shichimi togarashi (Japanese chili-spice mix for udon), 4 dried shiitake mushrooms (soaked overnight, save the broth for a soup or okonomiyaki) sliced, 3/4 cup cooked brown rice , eaten with Korean seaweed.
Snack : **Curry-spiced shredded carrot patties & popcorn made with coconut oil and salt
Dinner: Salad. Topped with 1/2 cup roasted carrots,3/4 cup home-sprouted mung beans (really easy and cheap to do yourself, but you need 3 days prep time! I followed Padhu's Kitchen with great success.) with a grapefruit-garlic-vinegar dressing. Similar to previous post but no Sriracha, mustard or honey. Note to self: do not eat if going out to any social events or if having meetings at work. Keeps the vampires away though.

Day 2:
Breakfast : Oatmeal again
Snack: Walnuts, Grapefruit
Lunch: Vietnamese Spring rolls with leftover roast carrots, leftover curry-spiced carrot patties, shiitake mushrooms, lettuce, mung bean and leftover salad dressing.
Snack: dried dates, baked sweet potato fries
Dinner: 3/4 cup brown rice, carrot top/pea sprout saag with 2 hard boiled egg whites (bring eggs to boil in water, turn off heat and let sit 18 minutes with lid on)

Day 3:
Breakfast: same as last night's dinner
Snack: 1 scoop brown rice protein with water, 1/2 cup frozen strawberries and 2 pitted dates shake.
Lunch: Same dinner as Day 1
Snack: 1/2 cup fresh strawberries;** Toasted celery leaf-Navy bean soup with togarashi, shiitake mushrooms; baked sweet potato fries
Dinner: mung bean and brown rice "okonomiyaki" with shredded zucchini and minced garlic filling eaten with lettuce. Ate 1/4 cup brown rice with the small amount of saag while waiting, cuz okonomiyaki is not a quick dish to cook.And I was impatient so it came out quite ugly and not set in the middle.
 
I feel ok, but only felt happily full after noshing on the sweet potato fries and the saag. (At least for working out/yoga I don't have to worry about feeling too weighed down.) The other times I was just made to feel no longer on empty. Having the mint tea after meals helps. The next phase (three days) will be tough with just juicing, two of the days I need to make enough to take with me to work. I stocked up at farmer's market today...will see if it's enough to make it through (plenty o' grocery stores in my hood if I need to re-supply).  I got 2 bunches of kale, 1 heart (?) celery, 6 cucumbers, 5 lb bag of valencia oranges, 1 small cantalope, 1 bundle swiss chard and a bundle of carrots. Have good variety of herbal tea: jasmine and mint! and of course senna leaf (those don't taste so good to me but I'd rather do this than the salt water flush-that made me want to hurl).

CURRY-SPICED GRATED CARROT PATTIES-makes 5 small (golf ball) patties (light lunch/two snacks)

Ingredients
3 tsp sesame seeds
3.6 oz grated carrot
1 tbsp flax seed ground and mixed with 3 tbsp hot water (allow to sit 10 minutes)
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp thinly sliced ginger
4 tsp chickpea flour

Heat pan on medium-high with a tsp of sesame oil (or other oil of choice)

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl. Form patties.

Fry about 4 minutes on each side until crispy and warmed through.

TOASTED CELERY LEAF-NAVY BEAN SOUP (1 serving)

Ingredients
1/3 of celery heart's leaves-rinsed and dried, and baked ~350F about 5-10 minutes until crispy
1.5 cups veg stock
3/4 cup cooked Navy bean
3 soaked overnight and sliced shiitake mushrooms (also tastes good using nutritional yeast, probably a couple tablespoons is enough for one bowl)

Stick all ingredients except the mushrooms in a blender if you like a smoother texture.

Heat it up in the microwave or on the stove.

*Stay tuned for progress/recipes on the 3 days of juicing. On day 2 of 3 today!

Juicing means less dishes and time spent cooking, what's the first thing you would do with your spare time?

Spunky Grapefruit Dressing for a Savory Salad (Veganizable, No Dairy, No soy)

As much as I had wanted a support group to do detoxing with, the yoga studio has the juicing cleanse right in the midst of my National Parks Trip. No practical way to do juicing staying in hotels and out hiking all day. So I'm going to try out a shorter, different detox from past years (Master cleanse, master cleanse + 2 juicing meals) starting tomorrow.  But first, I had to start by eating my way through items that won't keep for 8 days.

I had some defrosted shrimp to use up (checked country/method of harvesting for sustainability at store using the Monterey Bay Aquarium App-finally there are some "good alternative" options beside Oregon Pink shrimp!) and swapped that for the smoked tofu called for in Post-punk Kitchen's Vietnamese inspired Rice Noodle Salad with Grapefruit Vinegrette. It may seem an odd combination garlic, grapefruit, Sriracha (that bright red sauce at Vietnamese joints, usually with a rooster on the bottle), but give it a taste before dismissing it. Wakes me up at lunch time with it's bright, bold taste. The color chirps cheerily as well, like a sherbert! Tip for those not big on ginger: Personally felt the flavors of the dressing were 10x better the next day (ginger had time to mellow out). If you liked konnyaku from my chicken soup post, I used it again as part of the salad ingredients to give me more textures since I was omitting noodles. The Post Punk Kitchen gives even more substitution ideas for the salad ingredients.

Dressing Ingredients (for about 4-5 servings; I used about 3 tbsp each time)-barely any tweaks from me here

1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon fresh ginger
3/4 cup fresh red yellow grapefruit juice (this was about 1.5 fruits for me)
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil  olive oil
2 tablespoons Sriracha
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon agave nectar  honey
1/4 teaspoon salt

Put all ingredients in a blender and whirl until smooth. Best served chilled.

 Salad Ingredients (one serving)-endless possibilities to use what veggies or protein forms you have on hand...if you want more of the Vietnamese influence, add some chopped mint or the purple basil, cucumbers (not in season here in SD yet), thinly sliced carrots strips, the mung bean spouts.

(this is the serving portion, but save time by cooking all your shrimp and panfried stuff at once)

-9  cooked shrimp 41/50 count (about 3-4 oz cooked weight)
-1/3 block sliced  konnyaku and 1/2 cup sliced squash strips (pan fried with coconut aminos, sesame oil and coconut sugar)
-1/4 cup or small handful sundried tomato strips
-1/2 grapefruit-cut into segments
-1.5 cups rinsed/chopped lettuce
-2 tbsp chopped fresh herb (basil was delish)
-1 tbsp "sawdust" (bonito flakes)



1. If using shrimp, you need to peel and deveine your shrimp do so first.

2. Get a pot of water boiling for the shrimp. The 41/50 count size I left in for about 3 minutes once the water boiled so it cooked but not to the point of becoming tough.  Shrimp will turn pink almost immediately, watch for it go from translucent to opaque.

3. Heat a frying pan with 1 tsp sesame oil. Rinse off and slice your konnyaku block into strips (see picture) and slice up your squash. Add strips to the pan. Add a few shakes of coconut aminos (or soy sauce if you wheat and soy) and sprinkle 1-2 tsp coconut sugar. Cook until squash is tender.

4. Mix your cooked ingredients with the grapefruit, lettuce and tomato. Top with the dressing and serve warm.


What perks you up at a mid-day slump at work? Is it food related?

Keep it Light with Sesame: Konnyaku-chicken Soup and single serving salad dressing

As the temperature rises, the appetite seems to go down. And maybe you've popped your t-shirt in the freezer before putting it on for bed? No? I saw it in a magazine. Well, it's a very temporary relief only. There are some old stand-by food remedies: refreshing trip to the ice cream store (TCBY's cookie dough blast), an Otter Pop from your freezer (was your favorite Alexander the Grape as well?),  or even the opposite, a spicy bowl of Korean soup (instant soup powder from the market,add your own veggies, clear noodles and tofu) to sweat it out.

Sweet interpretation by Rich Werner  I found thru Google...his recent stuff looks really fun. I did a little poking around, looks like he's made a book and he illustrated Plants vs. Zombies.

 In terms of new solutions, the other week I had a great ginger-lemonade on vacation made by the Guest Chef at Wilbur Hot Springs. Just subtly sweet and slightly fizzy, it quenched my thirst as good as Gatorade without the fake coloring!

With the heat (or something else), my appetite for meat based protein is dwindling. I've been feeling like I need to do a detox soon but I keep going on these vacations. I'm not quite ready having bought items that need to be used. So these last two weeks I've kept it light using low or no meat sesame based recipes. The first uses a jiggly-low calorie, vegan gluten free "noodle" made from a block of konnyaku. What is konnyaku? Luckily many other people have written about it, this one was my favorite and provides tips for preparing it (rinse it off thoroughly and blanch to get rid of the funky smell). I didn't blanch mine and it came out ok. You buy it at Japanese markets. Marukai in San Diego has been having it on sale once a month for about 70-90 cents per package. Nice filler if you're looking to cut down on carbs for the later in the day meals and also get a fun texture in your soups, stews or stir fries.

Apparently there are some desserts you can make if you buy powdered konnyaku-it's like a jello! I have yet to find the powder so I haven't tried it yet.

The second recipe is just something nice and quick to throw together. Once you make it you won't really need to see the recipe for it-for it's so few ingredients and mostly to taste.

Konnyaku Chicken Soup (adapted from the konnyaku package)

2 cups of broth
2 tsp sesame oil
1.5 tbsp coconut aminos (if you do soy can use Braggs Amino or soy sauce if you do gluten)
3 slices of ginger
1.2 lbs chicken breast cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 package of bunapi mushrooms
3 ounces of pea shoots (about 2 cups chopped)
1/2 cup green tops of onions, chopped
1 package of konnyaku (white or gray), rinsed and sliced into fat noodles (see picture)
1 tbsp honey

1. Heat 2 tsp of sesame oil in a wok pan on high. When oil shimmers add in the mushrooms and onion. Saute 3-5 minutes or until some browning has occured

2. Add in the chicken and 1 cup of broth. Cook 17 minutes. Add more broth during cooking as needed.

3. Add the sprouts and konnyaku. Add the honey. Stir and cook 3 minutes.

4. Check to make sure the chicken is no longer pink when cut into. Enjoy your soup!

Sesame-Vinegar Dressing for single serving

1/2 tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp sesame oil
freshly ground pepper to taste
salt to taste
1/4 tsp honey

Stir ingredients together in a teeny bowl and then toss over your favorite salad fixings.

I put mine over a lettuce mix, hard-boiled egg whites, sun-dried tomato pieces and raw pepitas (pumpkin seeds). I liked these textures/flavors together the best out of other combinations I tried this week. If you eat fish, you can add some bonito flakes (aka "sawdust" as Dad calls it, made from tuna) for a nice smoky flavor on the salad. I guess just like canned or fresh tuna, something not to consume in excess because of mercury. If you want to know more about how it's made and get an egg-rice breakfast dish recipe, them check out this What's this Food episode! And I just learned you're supposed to use the package a week after opening the bonito flakes.


What kind of food do you turn to in hot weather?