Today I’m going to push the rewind button and go back to the end of July. With the change of season and the temperature of the air… July seems so far away.
I came to Richmond bearing gifts and matching the Chinatown bus. On my visit I found a handy dandy travel case, and had a Barbie pool day… along with other adventures.
Let’s do the time warp!
Hi everyone!
Today I have something special in mind. I’ve been feeling like I’ve been all over the place, mostly in mind… a lot has been going on which is why I haven’t written a post in awhile. I had actually been wanting to write something around the time when I was traveling around, and had finally settled back into New York. Now that I’ve been back, and being the introvert that I am… along with the start of the fall season I’ve been giving myself some extra TLC. Whether it’s an aromatic foot soak for ten minutes, lighting a candle, or swinging my hair around to some music.
This time of year always reminds me of how we pull out vegetables, and that this is also the time we go back to our roots. During these transition times I like to simplify things so I can hear my body better. What’s it trying to say?
Honey is my candy?
Now let’s hop back to Florida… early August.
Remember back when I was instructing a workshop called “Beauty On A Plate”?
That particular afternoon started off with a lovely bouquet of flowers.
And in the spirit of antioxidants we opened a couple bottles of pomegranate wine… made from pomegranates!
A bit of prep work…
For some of them it was their first time cutting asparagus, and as an instructor it always helps when people share things like that. I love helping people learn how to do things, and have them leave feeling more confident. Now what was on this three-course menu?
My mom was in town last weekend, on a last minute trip to spend Mother’s Day with each other. It was more motivation to clean the apartment, and get all domestic making sure she’d have everything she wants. I made sure she brought her walking shoes! I was so excited to have her visit, and to share my life up here with her. Plus, she always leaves such positive energy behind. It must be all that love she has inside.
A baked sweet berry omelette topped with dried orange slices, strawberries, and Greek yogurt. I think I whipped the egg white too much though, since it didn’t come out quite as fluffy as the original recipe.
We walked to the market together, since I wanted to show her the wonderful fish selection at Citarella. Also, I’m not sure if it varies by location but the one in the Upper West Side has very knowledgable and friendly fishmongers. I made grilled chili-lime salmon, which is a little spicy, sweet, and citrusy. I also tried lime juice with balsamic vinegar and it was so delicious… I’ll have to make a dressing including those two ingredients.
I also found caperberries at the store, and added them to the accompanying salad.
It was so awesome to finally see it come to life!
Recently, I paid a first (of many) visit to Foragers City Grocer. I found out about it when I asked a good friend of mine–and fellow conscious eater–where to buy fish around the city. The farmer’s markets weren’t happening for me that day since rain was in the air, but I did go to one of her recommendations: Foragers City Market. There are two locations actually. One in DUMBO and the other in Chelsea. I went to the Chelsea location, which is apparently smaller (note to self: check out other location when I find myself in Brooklyn). Despite the small size, I found what I was looking for.
Here’s a little foreword about them from their site:
Foragers City Grocer was born of the idea that our neighborhood in DUMBO lacked quality food options. Over the years we have built a unique, independently owned neighborhood grocery whose sole focus is on the pleasure that food should bring to the lives of our customers and to the producers that grow and make what we sell. Our goal is to always strive to shorten the distance both emotionally and physically between farm to fork.
They also have a restaurant in the store where you can enjoy a meal or a snack, and a wine store as well–Foragers City Wine.
Whether it’s the funky shapes, the brilliant and surprising colors, and sunspots. I love it all.
I perused through their selection of artisanal and quality goods, quaint varyingly colored eggs, and their fish selection (my main reason for going there). This is a small location, but that didn’t bother me. Sometimes I love going to places that have a seemingly endless selection, but this felt more like a gallery than a museum. A selection of curated goods, and a place where quality makes the idea of quantity fade to the background. Being “new” to fish I didn’t feel overwhelmed with selection since it was quite small. I ended up taking the Alaskan Wild Coho salmon home with me, along with some other produce goodies.
Here’s an interesting article about the Chelsea location, and some features: Foragers City Market Coming To Chelsea.
Things like this encourage me to seek out produce from local family farms or my own garden because the organic produce from the big farms just isn’t as inspiring. With that in mind, what else can one expect when something is mass produced? But there are days when I “need” something, there’s little time, and perhaps the market isn’t even running–that’s when I make a quick run to one of the corner stores (luckily there’s one that has a good selection). Those quick runs can be exciting though, and I appreciate how convenient it is to live in this setting. Then there are times when I go to the market and see questionable items and prices that make me think, “seriously?” Oh boy, I’m a picky produce shopper aren’t I? Let me get back on track…
Now the question was, “what to make with these?”
Thank you all for sharing your insight on hormones, and how some of you are also becoming more attuned to them. It’s funny how in the Western world many just pay attention to the symptoms rather than the root–the foundation. In the end, I believe that everything is connected anyhow, so it’s important to be good to yourself overall. For instance, when I was in New York there were some nights I was falling asleep as the sun was rising. I usually wake up at a certain time no matter how late I fall asleep. That was the case some nights and I’d get a couple hours of sleep. Then one day I slept till noon, which is very rare for me. About as rare as finding a wedding band over by the shopping carts at a grocery store (happened to me once when I was little). Anyway, I’ve been trying to get the rest my body needs. Surprisingly, if you’re body is functioning efficiently it won’t need that many hours of rest. Maybe rest isn’t a good word because our minds are very active while we sleep. How else can we come up with those crazy dreams?!
These were so delicious! I normally don’t like Kit Kat bars, but my friend brought these back from Japan and offered a pack for me to try. These were creamy and reminded me of white chocolate.
The next day I went out for a run and got to know Brooklyn a little better. One thing that I love about running is that I discover a lot of neat spots, and helps me orient myself when I’m traveling. My sense of direction no matter where I go is something I am thankful for. The Katharina-model comes with a GPS built inside!
Maya decided to take an impromptu whirlwind trip to New York City, and luckily we were both in town at the same time! I also got to meet her good friend Max! I was definitely in great company that night.
These were “hand-rolled phyllo filled with porcini mushrooms, almonds, and ground tempeh, served over a cashew pesto, finished with pomegranate seeds.” I don’t think I saw pomegranate seeds, but they did have sliced almonds. Maybe they were out of the seeds? The filling for the phyllo rolls reminded me of sausages, but I thought the dish was a tad too salty for my taste. Although I did enjoy biting into the flaky phyllo crust and spooning on as much of the cashew pesto as I could into one bite.
This was a salad of “greens tossed with candied walnuts, tofu croutons, and grilled pears in a shallot vinaigrette.” I did like how the salad was dressed and the tofu croutons were a nice addition. I don’t know where the candied walnuts were though. Maya ordered the same salad and she also noted something about the missing candied walnuts.
Later on I went bar hopping and ended up at a place where they do karaoke. The list was full by the time we got there. Alas, I couldn’t relive my last karaoke moment all the way back in high school. For the record I sang “Fat Bottomed Girls”.
There was always a supply of kabocha at the nearby market, which is open 24-hours! Actually, my first night in New York I went grocery shopping at 4 am.
It is possible to make it tasty, and there’s no denying its convenience.
Remember the ricotta cream pillows I’d top my oatmeal with? That morning I just toasted some bread and topped each slice with ricotta cheese, almonds, cinnamon, and honey.
Reunited with a childhood favorite (these were on sale for 99 cents!)!
I love seeing how each city in America has their own way of celebrating the Fourth of July. I’ve seen fireworks over beaches, parks, fields, lakes, and now skylines.
That night was also when I met fellow food blogger, Mike! It was so awesome talking to him and hearing his thoughts on things. It’s not often that you can talk about things you think about with blogging with someone in real life that actually knows what you’re talking about. You guys should check out his blog! He had so many food adventures in New York. Not to mention he’s a blader. How awesome is that?
Let’s take a breather, shall we? I could keep going, but I’ll give your eyes a rest. So stay tuned for the next recap of my stay in New York!
Do you think dreams have a deeper meaning?
Hi everyone! So I said that I’d be sharing my recap of my trip to New York City, but that is going to have to wait because something very very exciting happened earlier this week that I just can’t wait to share! But before I jump right into it I’m excited to announce the four lucky winners of a $25-gift certificate from Restaurant.com for the restaurant of their choice. Congratulations to Ivanna, Claire, Janelle, Jim!!! I will be e-mailing you with an official congratulations and further information. I’d love to hear about your dining experiences in the D.C. area! Bon appétit my lucky friends.
Earlier this week I flew in from New York, and I was anticipating the next day back in Florida already! Want to know why? I’ve mentioned Brendan Brazier and his book “Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life” on my blog a few times. He’s someone that I look up to, and am amazed by how he’s informed himself of not only the science of nutrition, but how it impacts things from our bodies to the environment. Somehow he manages to bring all of this information to the table in a way that just makes sense. No nonsense. Anyway, I saw that he’s been on tour giving lectures and lucky for me he was stopping by my town! Not just that, but at the local health food store… of all places! As soon as I found out I signed me and my mom up right away.
He actually brought up a topic that I’ve recently discussed on here: hormones. As I’ve noted I’ve recently gone off birth-control, and I really just want to rebalance myself naturally. So far I’ve found that my skin has cleared up tremendously. Funny because that’s one of the reasons why I went on the pill anyways. Birth control for breakouts? What was I thinking? When I initially came off the pill I felt moody, but I reminded myself that it may have just been a symptom of stopping the pill. Anyway, Brendan mentioned something else that may be contributing to my off-kilter hormones. I’m an avid long-distance runner, but I honestly can’t remember the last time I really gave my body a break. Running helps me relieve mental stress, but that doesn’t mean that my body doesn’t feel the physical stress it endures from pounding out the miles. Running is something that I’d like to be able to do for the rest of my life, but my overall well-being is what will allow me to do that in the end. So after hearing Brendan’s own story about how over physical exertion affected his health, I came to the decision to lay low from running for a little bit. I’m hoping that my body will have time to really recover and get a break from the physical stress. This morning I went on a brisk walk with a book in hand. T’was a nice change. It’s hard not to break out into a leap and stride though because sometimes that’s exactly what I want to do. I just love running! But it’ll be back in my life soon, and I’ll be feeling better than ever.
The surprising mixture was the chocolate flavored Vega formula with coconut water, but it tasted good! Have any of you tried these products before? I saw them all over Canada. Not just in regular grocery stores, but even at restaurants as a smoothie add-in.
It’s not everyday that you get to meet someone you look up to. I think he’s making great advancements in the fields of health, sports, and the environment. He’s even dubbed as an inventor, and has been nominated for the Manning Innovation Awards.
On the topic of “thriving”, I made some things that could have a life of their own!
Chocolate and Coconut Hazelnut Medallions
These no-bake treats are simple to make, and add a flavorful note to your day or night!
Makes around 24
Ingredients
20 Medjool Dates
1/4 cup Old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup Hazelnuts
1/4 cup Shredded coconut
1 tsp cinnamon
3 tbl Chocolate chips
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
Pinch of Sea salt
Coconut butter (optional)
1. Pulse the oats and hazelnuts in a food processor, but not too much because you still want them to add texture to this treat.
2. Mix in the dates, vanilla extract, cinnamon, sea salt and pulse again. Then throw in the shredded coconut and chocolate chips into the paste and chop for a few seconds.
3. To make a medallion take about a tablespoon size of the batter and roll into a ball, then flatten down to desired thickness. This part is optional but you can imprint your thumb in the middle of the medallions and drizzle a pool of coconut butter in the imprint.
4. You can enjoy them right away or leave them in the fridge to set.
The Mango-Coconut Energy Bars called my attention as I was browsing through the recipe section of his book.
These are dense and full of electrolytes, which are great for recovering from a workout. Or even if you’re just feeling low on energy. Last summer I almost fainted from being overheated, but I believe that my mind-power and bottle of coconut water kept me from being a damsel in distress. So this would probably be a good thing to have during these months where the heat can get intense!
Awhile ago Lauren reminded me of one of the yummiest salad pairings I’ve had to date: avocado, mango, and beans. I’ll share my “recipe” with you guys, but it’s very loose. I’m just estimating how much I used since I prepare mostly by eye and on how hungry I am at the time.
Mango, Avocado, and Bean Kale Salad
Serves 1
Ingredients
4-5 Kale leaves, chopped
4 grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 pearl onion, sliced
1/4 mango, cubed
1/2 avocado, diced
1/2 cup pinto beans, cooked
1/2 cup quinoa, cooked
Dressing
1 tbl Extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
Splash of lemon juice
Sea salt to taste (*tip: mix the salt and balsamic together before you mix in the oil)
1. Massage the kale leaves with the dressing.
2. Throw in the rest of the ingredients, toss, and enjoy!
Who is someone you admire for the contributions they’ve made?
Hey everyone! I’m currently in New York, and finally finished up this post recapping the rest of my time in Toronto. So keep an eye out for my New York recap as well.
Along with the most delicious yogurt ever Liberte’s Plain Organic, multigrain cereal, cinnamon, and almond butter. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find that specific yogurt since I’ve been in the states. I’ll try my luck once I get back down to Florida.
The bread was dry, but nothing unexpected since that is how that bread typically is.
I had never tried a macaron before, but have heard lots about them. The reviews for these were comparing them to the likes of Ladurée and Hermes, which I’ve heard are the best.
I actually enjoyed this one! When I bought the boxed pair I wasn’t too sure about the lemon and my heart was set on trying the salted caramel. Since they didn’t have any of the salted caramel macarons left to buy individually I decided to take a chance and get the last one that was paired with the lemon flavor. The lemon one had a much better consistency than the salted caramel, and had just the right amount of sweetness. Not to mention it brightened up my taste buds with it’s zesty flavor!
I wasn’t a big fan of it however. It was very pungent, but atleast it was creamy! Did you know that because of it’s molecular composition it is easier to digest, and can even be used as baby formula!
I find that local produce always tastes better.
I was able to make a few outings to the downtown area during my trip, and came across a lot of interesting things.
I followed the recommendation from a few of you, and I’m glad I did. Sadly, I couldn’t sit down and eat because I was with my pup, Matilda. But it’s alright because they didn’t make a fuss about having to take my order at the door. In fact, the man who helped me held Matilda for me while I went in to snap some pictures!
I’m rarely in the mood for take-out, and I usually don’t find the motivation to order take-out. Wait. What? Since when does take-out involve motivation? Well, for me it does. I just have a lot of things that I can put together in a cinch and voila! And if I’m getting food from elsewhere I’d rather just go to the restaurant. So that’s why I rarely order take-out.
Oh my word! These were incredible and I didn’t have to try the other onion rings in Toronto to know that these deserve to be dubbed “one of the best”. You get more than the usual satisfying crunch with the quinoa. Then you bite into it you get to the soft onion ring in the middle. The BBQ sauce was the perfect dipping sauce for these, thanks to the waiter’s recommendation! Seriously, I could go on and on about how great these were. If you’re in the area you should definitely stop by and try these.
The ginger dressing was another welcomed recommendation from the waiter. Let’s see… it had all sorts of sprouts, sweet potato rounds, tofu, all sorts of colorful kale, pumpkin seeds, quinoa, goji berries, broccoli… ohhh so many things to remember!
The only options I could have were the salads, aside from this creamy mushroom dish with tomato sauce that didn’t sound appetizing to me. I ordered the spinach salad with fresh fruits and an orange-yogurt dressing. It was actually quite tasty! Not very filling, but what did I expect? I had another restaurant picked out for me and my mom to enjoy, but she wanted to meet up with her co-workers who were already at this place. To be honest, I was upset about not being able to enjoy an actual dinner together, especially on our last night. Oh well. Atleast the company was fun!
So that was my trip to Toronto! It was very low key, but it was nice to atleast be introduced to Canada. If I go there again I’d like to do things a little different so it’d be easier for me to get to places, so I can experience it more. Ever have a vacation that you’d just want to do over?
I’m extending the Restaurant.com giveaway till next Wednesday. Who in the D.C. area wouldn’t like to get a $25 gift-certificate to any of the restaurants on the D.C. guide list?! What’s better? I’m giving away four. So I’ll repeat the rules:
1. Browse through the Washington D.C. restaurant guide, and let me know which restaurant you’d like to go to.
2. If you have a blog you can mention this giveaway in a post.
3. Share this give away on Twitter: “Win a Restaurant.com $25 Gift Certificate for the D.C. area from @mixoparthenos over at http://wp.me/puETn-1ze!”
Each of these counts as an entry so please make sure to notify if me if you share this on Twitter. Good luck! The giveaway officially ends next Wednesday 13 July, 2011 at midnight.
You know what I’ve noticed lately? I haven’t been posting about the foods that have tickled my sweet tooth. To be honest, for the most part they haven’t been worth mentioning from the usual “oats-in-a-jar” for morning classes, bowls of cereals, or date-balls. But there is one thing that is extra-special to me and makes me antsy whenever I run out, and that’s homemade granola! I munch on granola all day: with meals, between meals, before meals, after meals. You get the point. Most of the time I end up finishing a batch before I think to snap a picture.
Clumpy & Crisp Applesauce Granola
Clumpy and crisp are two things that I love about granola. I was perusing through Kickpleat’s blog, and as soon as I saw this recipe I clicked on it to see what it entailed. Hmm.. I could check off the entire ingredient list! That was a nod from the heavens to make it happen! However, I did make a few changes. Rather than using olive oil I used almond oil, used half oats/half cornflakes, and I also threw in some cashews to the nut mix.
Delicious and addictive
Much like these chewy coconut flapjacks.
What a fun name for these! If you are oat-obsessed like the title of the recipe’s post says, then these are for you. Well, if you love sweet, chewy, and sticky delicious things in general then these are for you too; they are also what the British call “flapjacks”. I know some of you may be thinking, “but those don’t look like pancakes.” That is correct. These are definitely not pancakes. No offense to them because I love those kinds of flapjacks too!
For serious oat lovers!
I snuck in some cornflakes to these as well. I swear ever since I tried the Bakery on Main granolas, I’ve been adding cornflakes even to recipes that sort-of resemble the tree-hugging snack. But who doesn’t want to eat tree-hugging snacks when they taste like baklava?! When my roommate pointed that out, my eyes lit up and suddenly I could taste it. She was right!
Don't believe me?
You need to make these as soon as possible, and try for yourself.
Now moving on to more sweet things, shall we?
I spy poppy seeds...
But not just poppy seeds! When I had spied Katie’s recipe for these Lil’ Lemon Muffins, off to the kitchen I went. These scrumptious little treats didn’t stick around for very long. With this warm weather it was nice to have something baked that tasted light and uplifting.
This was a recipe I had been seeing in a lot of posts recently.
Heather’s famous Cookie Dough Smoothie recipe caught my eye because of two words: cookie and dough. I usually am not in the mood for smoothies for breakfast unless I had a long night or if that just happens to float my boat that day. When I saw this recipe, my boat decided to come in the next day.
It was surprisingly filling for a smoothie...
but it didn’t quite taste like cookie dough to me. Maybe something was off in how I made it? I didn’t use coconut milk, but I mixed in some coconut shreds to try and make up for it. Oh well, who knows.
More cookies!
These were inspired by a lovely lady I mentioned earlier and a delicious cookie–samoas! I saw Katie’s recipe for Samoas Larabars and next thing I knew I was wiping drool off my chin. There’s only one Girl Scout cookie that I love and I think it’s pretty obvious which one it is. I pretty much followed her recipe, but I crushed up some Three Sisters Cereal Graham Crackerz and mixed it in with the batch after the other ingredients went in the food processor. So that was supposed to be the “cookie” part in a samoa.Then I rolled them in shredded coconut, and took a most delicious bite into one of these. Me oh my, my obsessions list just keeps getting longer!
And now, since I always eat my vegetables...
This was a very simple recipe that I threw together, wanting to use the newly purchased jar of herbes de provence.
Provençal Potato Salad
Ingredients
-1.5 lb. bag of assorted fingerling potatoes, diced
-2-2 1/2 cups cooked cannellini beans
-cooking oil of choice
-1 yellow onion, sliced
-2 garlic cloves, minced
-10 oz. mushrooms, sliced
-1 zucchini squash, sliced
-2 tbl white cooking wine
-1-2 tsp herbes de provence
-sea salt and pepper, to taste
1. Boil the potatoes till tender, but make sure not to overcook them! The last thing we want are overcooked veggies… or overcooked anything for that matter.
2. Heat the pan, and then heat the oil. Cook the onions and garlic till the onions are translucent. Once they are cooked you can add the potatoes and cooking wine. Cook for about two minutes.
3. Add the sliced zucchini, and cook for a few minutes until the squash starts to get tender. That’s when you throw in the mushrooms, beans, and the herbes de provence. Let everything cook together for a couple more minutes–mushrooms don’t take that long to cook.
4. Now ask yourself how salty and peppery would you like your dish, and then enjoy!
Note: on second thought I decided to throw in some avocado and French green beans, and served it cold as a salad.
Much better.
Do you ever have that recipe in a cookbook that you keep meaning to try, and the page is permanently creased because you still haven’t gotten around to it?
Well, I finally made this one: chickpea and sweet potato curry.
My mom’s friend gave me William Sonoma’s vegetarian cookbook a couple years ago for my birthday, and I’ve slowly been checking off the recipes I wanted to try. This particular recipe always stuck out to me, but I never seemed to have all of the ingredients on hand. Okay so I have something to tell you. I love to cook, bake, follow recipes, make my own… the whole shebang! But I usually don’t go out of my way to get all the ingredients I need for a certain recipe. The recipes I gravitate towards are based off of things I already have, not things that I need to go out and buy. There is the rare occasion though when there’s a recipe that I’m just dying to make and I will go out and buy the 3 tubs of mascarpone for it! This may come to a surprise to some of you, but I’m actually a very practical person (who knows how to have fun). I like to keep things simple. I’m a one block of cheese at a time kind of person. Definitely not a hoarder, and I rarely have the impulse to buy something on a whim. However, when I do get something on a whim I don’t feel bad about it–hello balance! Anyway, I think that kind of practicality has led me to get creative with the things I do have on hand, or maybe that childlike sense of wonder just never left. What kinds of sandwiches can I make with this cheese? How can I prepare something in a new way? With a new flavor? In an unexpected cuisine? I do have a lot of ingredients on hand though, but they’re all things that I use–not to be left in the cupboards to collect dust. You’d find all sorts of spices, dried herbs, legumes, oils from almond to avocado to truffle, a 10 lb. bag of basmati, nuts, a 2 lb. tub of dates… those are just a few of my kitchen staples. Perhaps, I will do a post on my kitchen staples. I know Holly has expressed interest in that a few times.
My taste buds were happy that I finally had all of the ingredients on hand.
Speaking of new ways to eat things...a new way to eat red lentils!
I usually eat red lentils as a dhal, a soup, or curry. I’ve been wanting to venture out though so last week I made a hummus, and this week I prepared them as part of a salad… an Indian inspired Rice Red Lentil Salad. I don’t have peanuts so I used pistachios instead, and it turned out wonderfully! Refreshing, slightly sweet, full of flavor, and just what I’ve been in the mood for. When you make this recipe you can’t forget to make the dressing! That would be like yin with no yang, which is impossible.
I know I always share recipes with you all, but this one is an order!
Come to think of it, this post is full of “orders”. I’ve been quite the queen when it comes to cooking up delicious recipes and coming up with some of my own if I do say so myself. I hope you’ve all enjoyed feasting with your eyes, and will soon head to the kitchen to create something tasty to eat! Who knows… maybe you’ll follow one of my “orders”? Or maybe you have one that you’d love to share.
First things first! A few lovely ladies bestowed me with the Stylish Blogger Award. From one stylish lady to another, thank you so much LB, Fi, and Kate for passing this honor on to me.
In order to accept this award, I must perform these four duties:
1. Make a post and link back to the person who awarded this to me.
2. Share 7 things about myself.
3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers.
4. Contact these bloggers to tell them they’ve won!
1. Lately I have been running while listening to the Amélie soundtrack (my favorite movie of all time). It makes for a very pleasant run actually.
2. I’ll be graduating with my BFA this spring!
3. There was a brief period in my life where I didn’t talk much because I was afraid of socializing. The thought of me interacting with other people made me really anxious, so I’d just avoid it all together.
4. I talk to strangers… unless they give off a creepy vibe. I’ve met some of the most interesting people that way, and it’s just nice to know I’ve got friends wherever I go.
5. When I was 15 my parents drove me to New York so I could take pictures at Warped Tour for ELLEgirl magazine.
6. I use to dream that I was Nala from “The Lion King”, meaning that Simba was my boyfriend. I also use to have a crush on Macaulay Culkin, and I’d imagine that he was in my ballet class.
7. We moved up to Virginia when I was in 9th grade for two reasons: my step-dad’s job, and our house in Florida was haunted. We ended up moving back to that same house a year later, then back up to Virginia for my senior year. As soon as I graduated and went back to Germany, my parents moved back down to Florida. No wonder people ask me where I am!
There are really so many great people that I’d like to pass this award on to, so here are some off the top of my head! I look up to these people for their cool attitude, impeccable food tastes, wonderful charm, and of course because they’ve got it goin’ on!
Liz, Neela, Jess, Gill, Angharad, Katie, Maggie, Mel, Lauren, Kelsey, Megan, Lynn, Maya, Laury, and Megan D!
Vegan Yellow Split Pea Soup
1 Tbl ghee or extra virgin olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp fine-grain sea salt
2 med. carrots, chopped
1 tsp dried thyme
2 cups dried split yellow peas, picked over and rinsed
1 tsp vegetable bouillon
5-7 cups water
2 bay leaves
juice of 1/2 lemon
smoked paprika
1. Add the ghee or oil to a big pot over med-high heat. Stir in onions, garlic, and salt. Cook until the onions soften, about a minute or two. Then throw in the carrots and sauté for a few minutes. The salt keeps things from sticking to the pot.
2. Add the split peas, bay leaves, thyme, bouillon, and water. Bring to a boil, and bring down the heat. Simmer for 20 minutes, or until the peas are cooked through. The soup should have a thick texture; half pureed and half chunky.
3. Stir in the lemon juice and taste.
4. Serve the soup in bowls. Drizzle the soup with oil (I used coconut) and top with a good pinch of smoked paprika. You can also garnish with fresh herbs, cheese, what have you.
The mastermind behind this dish? My dear friend, Erica, of course! She takes beautiful pictures of food that I can imagine tastes just as wonderful.
Butternut Squash “Mac and Cheese”
Serves one hungry lady!
8-9 oz raw butternut squash, peeled, cubed, and steamed until very soft
2 T (or more to taste) of nutritional yeast
1 T tomato paste
1 tsp dijon mustard
lots of spices to taste (cumin, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, italian herb seasoning, cayenne, chili powder)
1/3 cup unsweetened milk (almond or so delicious coconut)
1 T soy-free earth balance (or olive oil might work, too)
fresh parsley, rosemary, sage to taste
sea salt and pepper to taste
2.5 oz gluten free pasta of choice (quinoa pasta or brown rice)
6 oz raw broccoli, steamed
1. Steam the peeled butternut squash until extremely tender. Once finished, toss in a bowl and mash with a fork. Add the nutritional yeast, tomato paste, dijon, and spices to the mashed squash. Set aside.
2. Meanwhile, cook your pasta of choice according to package directions. Once cooked, run under cold water and set aside. Also, steam your broccoli and set aside once cooked.
3. While your pasta is cooking, place the squash mixture in a small saucepan on medium-low heat, and stir frequently. Add the milk and incorporate it with the squash. Taste the sauce, add some more spices, including the sea salt and pepper, to taste. Now, add the earth balance and stir it in until incorporated.
4. In a vitamix, carefully process the sauce so it’s nice and silky smooth. Add it back to the saucepan, and toss in the pasta and broccoli. Stir it all up, and then add your fresh herbs into the mix.
5. Warm it up gently until heated, plate it up, and enjoy!
I suggest you walk to your kitchen to see if you have all of the ingredients to make this because you’ve got to try it.
Since I’ve been buying split mung beans I’ve only made one recipe with them… over and over and over again. I love my split mung bean soup, but I wanted to try something different! That’s when these Spicy Thai Mung Bean Burgers called my name. Oddly enough, I’ve been wanting fresher things to eat. Perhaps spring is just around the corner? I wish.
I love how wonderful and compact these are. No messy loose grains! Instead the quinoa is mixed in with the burgers. This tasted so fresh, and the texture was great as well; crispy on the outside and dense on the inside. Silly me forgot the onions and cilantro, so I just topped the burgers with the “missing” ingredients. I also topped the burgers with avocado slices, a curried coconut cream sauce or tamarind date sauce (this was my favorite of the two sauces).
I stumbled upon this warm spinach salad with smoky pecans and sweet potato on CHOW. This had just enough heat and smokiness over a bed of fresh spinach. Next time I make this I want to add dried cranberries and goat cheese. That’ll take all of the flavors to new heights, I’m sure!
Now here's a bit of breakfast pleasure with a walnut on top!
Melted deliciousness.
And I stacked them this time.
I'm pretty sure I've got your attention now... I can see you drooling!
One fine morning I woke up and I knew I wanted something very special for breakfast that day. I looked through my recipes and spotted one I had bookmarked not too long ago. Behold, carrot cake pancakes with cinnamon honey butter! Yes, you read that correctly. Check out Picky Cook’s blog for more mouth-watering recipes.
Remember I told you about my dear friend that is also going to be in Richmond’s Fashion Week? Well this is him!
So we headed to LuLu’s right down the street!
I always have the best conversations with him! He’s very insightful, and so full of passion for life. We talked about so many things. One of the things I’ve been thinking about a lot is how people are complex by nature. Things can complicated, that’s for sure. But one thing that I really want to strive for is to not be a… conscious hypocrite. I want to mean what I say. When I say that I’m going to do something, I will do it. I will live life with grace and sincerity. After a couple of hours of being around him, I felt recharged. Do any of you have people like that in your lives? They’re really something special!
It’s Friday over here, so I hope everyone enjoys their weekends!!! Much love to you all.
It was so interesting reading about some of your doshas! Laury had mentioned that one of her clients sees an Ayurvedic doctor who can tell what their patient ate simply by touching them. Wow! Imagine being that in-tune! I thought I’d share a link that you may find interesting, and who knows… it may help fill in some blanks: Ayurveda Info-center.
“The whole person-and the whole field of interpersonal behavior-can be spontaneously enhanced by the process of self-referral, or looking within to experience the Self. This is analogous to the natural process by which all the branches, leaves, flowers, and fruit of a tree can be simultaneously nourished and enlivened by watering the root.“
I had some prepping to do last Friday, as we were having guests all the way from Germany. I didn’t want to stress out about it because first off, I didn’t have to! As I was cooking I made sure to have a clear mind, and good intentions. I just wanted everyone to be able to relax and enjoy when they ate. Not to mention, the whole house smelled divine!
A deliciously sweet and aromatic bread–a bit burned around the edges but tasty nonetheless. I don’t think that many of you know that I’m quite the honey afficianado. I have honeys ranging in flavors from lavender to almond, as dark as molasses, local variations, and even artisanal raw honeycomb squares from Savannah Bee Company. It’s funny because most of these were gifts from friends.
The guests would be arriving soon!
This meal was so flavorful! My mom also made a coconut chicken curry with pineapple. The rice was my favorite though. I cooked some basmati rice with ghee and salt. Afterwards I fried the dried coconut and sesame seeds in more ghee. Once that was golden I mixed it in with the cooked rice. Wow! The ghee did so much for this dish. One of the guests said it was one of the best meals he’s ever had. Perhaps my good intentions really did work!
Spinach Salad with Avocado, Blueberries, Feta and Lemon-Balsamic Vinaigrette (I omitted the feta since I’m avoiding cheese for the time being)
The bread reminded me of one of the Christmas cakes in Germany. Deliciously nostalgic.
Our guests fully enjoyed the breakfast! Actually, everyone did.
“Soaking reduces excess dryness, calming the air element in foods and enhancing the water element. The added moisture supports the action of agni, digestive fire, on food, making foods easier for the body to break down. This beneficial Ayurvedic practice of soaking is used with beans, peas, nuts, some seeds, and dried fruits. Soaking is most often done overnight by simply covering the food with pure water and letting it sit, covered, until the morning.”
After soaking the beans for many hours, I cooked them with bay leaves. Once they were cooked I fried some onions, garlic, ginger, cumin, and turmeric. Then added the beans and some sea salt. Simple, delicious, and very helpful for my liver.
I steamed some edamame, then sprinkled on some sea salt. I love eating them out of their shells.
This was a mix of kale and mustard greens. I massaged the greens with flaxseed oil, as Neela had suggested. This was very tasty and helped lessen the bitterness of raw kale. Speaking of kale, I found a really great recipe for kale and chard salad with blue cheese. Check it out!
“Kale contains sulphorane…which only becomes apparent when cruciferous veggies such as kale, cabbage and broccoli are chewed or chopped. But it’s what sulphorane does that’s important. It encourages the liver to produce enzymes that detoxify cancer causing chemicals, especially those connected to chemically-induced breast cancer and colon cancer.“
Watercress is in the same family as kale and mustard greens, so they have similar health benefits.
“Watercress juice is so concentrated with so much cleansing goodness that it activates the detoxifying enzymes in the liver for detoxifying a hangover.”
Watercress juice could be a party girl’s best friend!
Another interesting tid-bit I found from an article I read by Brendan Brazier about stress-reducing foods:
“Alkaline forming – leafy green vegetables, chlorella
Enzyme rich – raw fruits and vegetables
Hormone balancing – maca (Peruvian root vegetable)
High quality, complementary protein – hemp, yellow pea, brown rice
Rich in essential fatty acids – flax seeds”
Check, check, and check! I’ve actually been adding maca powder to my oats once they cool down due to my hormone imbalance; I struggle with too much testosterone. Right now, for me, I’m trying to eat most of my vegetables steamed or lightly (3-5 minutes) pan-fried with ghee to keep the nutrients. If I eat them raw, however, I massage them in oil so it’s easier for my dosha to handle. And it looks like I’ll be enjoying more yellow split pea dhal in my future!
Without further ado, here’s my video!