So I started back veg this week. I've just been feeling so weighed down and sluggish lately and I'm trying to find something to lessen that. I know I have been eating too many fatty carbs, chips, cheddar popcorn etc. so I'm holding off on all carbs but whole grains and veggies like potatoes in moderation. My fridge is stocked with vegetables and fruits in all the colors of the rainbow so I have no excuses.

For my lunch today I decided to do a yogurt dip with fresh, raw vegetables. Kroger had some fresh dill on markdown for 50 cents so I used that. Here is the easy peasy dip:

1 cup of low fat yogurt
1 clove of garlic (or if you are like me, a big ol' spoonful of the pre-chopped stuff)
2 Tbsp chopped fresh dill
1 Tbsp lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Mix it up and dig in with whatever veggies strike your fancy. I'm having 1 zucchini, 1 yellow squash and a giant orange sweet pepper. You can cut them in fingers or coins but I prefer fingers. You will be surprised how much this will fill you up!

Mockamole

This is a great recipe for people who love guacamole but are trying to trim back on fat. I kind of came up with the idea after looking at hummus recipes using different kind of beans instead of just chick peas and someone mentioned edamame. They were still calling it hummus but with a few things added it makes a much better Mockamole than the ones I have seen that are just green peas (yuck!). I was telling my mom about it the other day and said I would post the it here.

Cook a 16 oz package of frozen, shelled edamame according to package directions.
Place it in a food processor or blender and puree it. It wont be completely smooth but that's ok.
Add some lime juice, I use about 1/2 a lime, some low fat yogurt (about 1/3-1/2 cup depending on how creamy you want it) and process to mix. Put into a bowl. I usually just add some homemade salsa but you can add a little chopped onion, tomato and cilantro. Salt and pepper to taste.

You can use half an avocado if the idea of just edamame seems weird. It's great with tortilla chips, raw veggies, pita chips etc.

Carrot Banana Bread

I had some squishy bananas so I decided to make banana bread to have for breakfast on Sunday. I had some carrots that needed used up too so I looked around online for a recipe. I found several that looked good but ended up using my tried and true Fannie Farmer banana bread recipe because it has no oil in it and just added my own extras.
It turned out super good!

3 ripe bananas, well mashed
2 eggs
1 cup shredded carrots
2 cups flour
3/4 sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or cinnamon and nutmeg)

Mix bananas, eggs and carrots well. Mix dry ingredients and add to banana mixture. Stir in vanilla, spices and walnuts. Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake at 350 for about one hour or until it tests done.

I like the fact that it has no oil in it because then I can put butter on my slice!

White beans, Zuppa Toscana style

I cooked a two pound bag of white beans yesterday (I think they were navy beans) and was trying to figure out what to do with them for dinner. Then I remembered that when Mom and I went to Olive Garden and had the Zuppa Toscana I mentioned how I would like to try it with beans instead of potatoes. David was getting ready to go to the store so I gave him a list and this is what I came up with.

I set aside 4 cups of the beans for another meal and added about 4 cups of water and some chicken "Better than Bullion" to the beans in the pot.

In a little bacon grease in a skillet I sauteed a diced onion and 3 cloves of minced garlic and then added that to the beans. Salt, pepper and little garlic powder and I let that simmer for about 20 minutes.

I took three Italian sausage links and cut them up into chunks and browned them in the skillet. While they were cooking I added several handfuls of kale to the bean pot and then added the sausage when it was done. We just had bread and butter on the side.

The kids loved it which is usually how I gauge things since David and I like just about anything!

Today I am making polenta and chilling it then I will cut it into squares and heat them in a skillet to go with the leftover soup.

Veggie Pasta and salad

I made this for dinner last night and everyone really liked it. I just made the sauce as I went along and the salad dressing is from a Taste of Home magazine. Remember, I cook for 6 people and even we had a little left over. (just enough for my lunch!)

Sauce:

1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, diced or 1 can of carrots diced
1 tomato, chopped
1 can of chick peas
1 14 oz. can of tomato sauce (I used some leftover spaghetti sauce I had in the freezer)
Italian seasoning, salt and pepper to taste

Cook the onion in a little oil until it become translucent. Add the garlic, carrot, tomato and chick peas and cook until the tomato starts to break down. Add the sauce and seasonings and cook for about 15 minutes. I just let it simmer while the noodles cooked.

Cook 1 box of whole wheat macaroni. If you don't like chick peas you could leave them out and use a pasta like Barilla Plus which is made with lentils and other protein rich ingredients.

Mix sauce with pasta and serve with Parmesan cheese.

Lemon Salad dressing:

4 Tbsp. lemon juice
3 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
!/2 c. oil (it called for olive oil but I can't stand it on salad so I used canola)
1/4 c. water (I added this because I cut the oil)

Mix all ingredients well, toss with salad greens and serve immediately or refrigerate dressing until ready to serve. This makes enough for two dinners or one if you have 6 people who really like salad.

We had some hard rolls to round out the meal.

Resolutions, smesolutions

This has nothing to do with it being a new year. I have seriously got to clean out my pantry and get back on track. During the fall when I was (more) depressed I really let things slide. I lost weight when I started my antidepressant but we still need to get back to eating healthier.

Goals for this month:
Main course salads for dinner at least once a week
Protein from a non meat source for dinner at least twice a week
Less wine (boo-hoo)
Healthier daytime snacking for me and the kids

Granola Bars ll

I made them today without the bananas and added the butter and they were superb. Of course they cost more to make than el cheapo store brand ones are to buy but they taste better than even Kashi bars, plus I know exactly what went into them! I got fourteen nice sized bars and they are very filling. Make sure you toast the cereal mixture because it really ups the flavor.

Kale

If you buy a lot of kale and then end up being in a spinach smoothie mood all week try this:

Sauteed Kale

1 big bag of Kale, washed, big stems removed
1 sweet onion chopped
oil to coat pan, 3 Tbls?

Heat oil in a very large pan over medium high heat. Add onions and cook until they barely start to turn golden. Add kale in about thirds so it can wilt a little and fit in the pan. Cook for about five minutes until it is wilted but still has a nice bite. Salt and pepper to taste, a little red wine vinegar is also good.

You could also add garlic but the kids sometimes complain so I left it out. You can chop the kale but I just tore mine into pieces when I took off the big stems.

We had this last night with Mayacoba beans and cornbread, healthy southern cooking at it's best.

Granola Bars

Here is my recipe for granola bars, I modified a recipe by Food Network's Alton Brown to use stuff we have on hand including bananas. We always seem to have a couple sitting around getting spotty. You can add a couple of tablespoons of butter to the sugar mixture like he does but I leave it out to trim fat.

4 cups 5 Grain Rolled Whole Grain Hot Cereal (I use Bob's Red Mill)
1 1/3 cups walnuts
1/4 cups Flaxseed, Ground
1/2 cups Wheatgerm
1/2 cups Honey
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
2/3 cups Brown Sugar
1 cups Chopped Dates
2 Bananas
1 cups dried cranberries


Heat oven to 350. In a shallow pan toast cereal, nuts, flax and wheatgerm for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a small pan mix honey and sugar and heat until the sugar is dissolved. (you can also substitute agave nectar to taste for the sugar) Add vanilla and remove from heat.

Mash bananas and mix with sugar mixture. Stir in cereal and dried fruit and press into a greased 9x13 pan using waxed paper or plastic wrap to pack it firmly. Bake for 25 minutes and let cool before cutting into 12 bars.

Muesli

Yesterday for lunch I had Bob's Red Mill Muesli. My weird kids asked for oatmeal for lunch so while I cooked their regular kind I mixed mine uncooked with some yogurt and stuck it in the fridge for about 15 minutes. It is really delicious, it has oats, wheat, rye, triticale, barley, raisins, dates, sunflower seeds and flax and tastes just as good raw as it does cooked. I sprinkled it with a little pumpkin pie spice and about a teaspoon of honey before I ate it.
Some people make it with juice or milk and the Swedish let it sit all night but I like it best with a little yogurt and a shorter sitting time.

Salad Dressing

I have been gone from home for 3 weeks but I am back now! My eating didn't go so well while I was visiting my parents but I was able to get in some good exercise in their pool and on the stationary bike.

So I thought I would mention salad dressing. I have a hard time finding ones that I like and ones that aren't loaded in sugar and stuff that is unpronounceable. I like to use just lemon and salt and pepper but sometimes you want something a little more.

One of my favourites is salsa, especially homemade!
For an Asian style salad with snap peas and broccoli and maybe some tuna I love Annie's Naturals Gingerly Vinaigrette.
Seeds of Change makes a Greek Feta Vinaigrette that is great with greens, tomatoes and artichoke hearts! It is very flavorful and low fat.
I normally do not like Ranch Dressing but I tasted some of Annie's Cowgirl Ranch that I had bought for the kids and it's not bad. I used it in their tuna salad for sandwhiches today and they loved it!

Raw Veggie Salad

I found this recipe over at VegWeb and thought it looked pretty good. I made it for lunch yesterday and it turned out great. Miranda loved it too but David thought the leftovers looked gross. :p

I modified the original recipe a little, here is how I made it:

1 head of broccoli, washed and big stalks removed
2 carrots, washed or scraped
1 tomato (I actually forgot to add the tomato and it was still good, will add it for lunch today)
1 avocado
2 Tblsp. hummus (the original called for tahini but I didn't have any but the hummus had some in it)
lemon juice
salt

Chop the veggies, except the avocado, in a food processor until they are in small pieces, not mush though. Remove the veggie mixture to a bowl and put the avocado, hummus and about 2 Tblsp. of lemon juice in the processor and blend well. (the original recipe called for using half the avocado for the dressing and chopping the rest but I wanted it creamier so I put the whole thing in the dressing) Add salt to taste. You can add more lemon juice too if you want.

This makes enough for two people for a light meal or more for a side dish.
Yum yummy!

More Green Smoothies

This morning was mango, peach and spinach. Well, it was actually a prepackaged spinach/red leaf lettuce blend but it was mostly all spinach. Very good combination.

Spinach makes a very smooth almost creamy mixture, especially mixed with creamy fruits like mango and banana. Kale is more of a bright, sunshiney greenness, good with nectarines and oranges.

An Alternative to Taco Salad

Last night for dinner the rest of the family had taco salad made with leftover meat from earlier in the week and chili beans. We had all the usually toppings: tomato, lettuce, onion, cheese, sour cream.
Miranda doesn't eat ground beef unless it is the form of a hamburger (weird since she is meatoholic) so I opened a can of chick peas for her and used them in my salad which was basically a big bowl of mixed greens with chick peas, tomato, onion, fresh salsa and guacamole and I crunched up a handful of baked Tostitos on top. I think it was just as good as regular taco salad.

I'm running low on fruits and veggies today, it would be nice to get to the grocery store more than once a week! I'm not sure what I'm going to have for lunch, a salad of some sort...

Oh, for a snack yesterday I cut a zucchini into to chips and dipped them in humus, it was really good. I prefer my own humus but this was prepackaged stuff I bought to eat in the car last Sunday.

Best.Smoothie.Ever.

I wish I could post a picture of this one...it is so lovely and green and the creaminess!! The flavor!!
If you decide to make any green smoothies, make this one. I wanted to keep it simple after my itchy episode yesterday.

1 mango
1/2 avocado*
2-3 big handfuls of baby spinach
1 cup of crushed ice
water to make it the consistency you want, I used less so it really thick like a pudding almost

YUM!


*Avocados are rich in (good) fat so if you are eating a normal diet you might want to keep avocado consumption minimal. But you could always have this for breakfast and just a salad for lunch!

Lunch=Salad: numero dos

Today's salad was one I found at Happy Foody.
The green leafy is kale and it also has tomato and avocado and I added some cucumber because I needed to get rid of it. Lemon, salt and dash of cayenne are the only dressing. Oh, it called for oil but all I had was canola so I left it out. Try it! There are specific directions at the above link. It was very filling and I just love, love, love kale. It tastes like springtime. :)

Oops

So I suppose you can just develop a food allergy overnight?! I just ate kiwi's a couple of weeks ago, skin and all...no problems. Made a strawberry/kiwi/orange/spinach smoothie this morning and within a few minutes I started itching. My mouth itched, my throat...then my nose...and the top of my head...and my arms, between my fingers, my stomach....after an hour or so (I usually just sip on my smoothie all morning) I realized it was not just normal itching and stopped with the smoothie. It's a little better now, still a random itch here and there. So weird! I know it had to have been the kiwi because I eat strawberries all the time. Also, I have sometimes had really mild itchy/tingly feeling on my lips after eating kiwi's, I thought it was just from the skin. So David and kids to eat the rest of my kiwi's. :(

Lunch=Salad

In keeping with my "raw food until dinner" plan I had a salad for lunch today. I tried to think of something beyond lettuce and tomato with basic dressing without adding beans or grains like I usually do and this is what I came up with:

Filled my big bowl with butter lettuce mix
Added:
1/2 red tomato
1/2 orange tomato
1/2 zucchini, chopped small
1/2 yellow squash, chopped small
about 1/4 chopped cilantro
S&P to taste

Tossed it really well and drizzled it with Annie's Naturals low-fat Gingerly Vinaigrette.
Very yummy and filling.

Green Smoothies: Part One

I had read about green smoothies online some time ago but didn't have any way to try them so I bought a blender last weekend. It's not a super fancy model that cost as much as car payment but it works pretty well for I need it for.
When most people hear "smoothie" they think of some thick, overly sweet fruit based drink usually with some sort of dairy thrown in. Most of them have enough calories and sugar to count as dessert. A green smoothie however are a mixture of fruit and green leafies with maybe another vegetable. The basic proportion I believe is 60% greens to 40% fruit. Green choices include spinach, chard, lettuce, kale, parsley...basically anything that's green and leafy! Fruit is only limited by what you like. Most people like to add banana, frozen or not, to give creaminess but I haven't tried it yet because I have to really be in a banana mood to like them.

I'm trying to use different varieties of fruits and vegetables each morning for my breakfast smoothie. The first one I tried was pretty basic:
1 orange
2 mangos
1 lemon
three big handfuls of kale
water to blend

I made more because I wanted the kids to try it. It was very green and bright tasting. Katie loved it and thought it tasted like the sourgrass (oxalis) she eats in the yard, lol.

This morning I wanted to try adding avocado plus I had bought more mangos that were a little more ripe than the last ones. I love a really ripe mango, they have so much flavor!
So, into the blender went:

1/2 avocado
1 mango
the juice of 1 lime
two handfuls of kale
1 cup of water
1 cup of crushed ice from the fridge

Oh my goodness! It was soooo yummy! The avocado and ripe mango made it so creamy and tasty.

Kale is packed full of vitamins, just two cups has more than 300% of your DV of vit.A and over 200% DV of vit.C. It has some protein too. I plan on trying spinach too, I just have this huge bag of kale to use.

Let's try this again...

So, I revamped this blog for a new purpose: to share all the yummy food I've been enjoying.

I'm trying something a little different, trying to eat mostly raw "live" foods during the day and then having a normal (but still healthy) dinner. This means lots and lots of fruits and veggies so I'm trying to get creative with what I eat. I'm also trying to drink more water, sometimes I used to go almost all day without a single glass of water and I wasn't drinking anything else either besides a cup of coffee. I just don't like drinking much I guess.

Anyway, hopefully I will be posting some really tasty (and super healthy) stuff on here so check back often!