Pumpkin & Pomegranate

I made my own coconut butter last night! Long gone at my days of wishing I could just pay for a $9 jar of white glory! Here’s the thing though. 2 cups of flaked coconut turns into about 3/4 cup coconut butter so honestly $9 isn’t all that bad of a price. I didn’t take a photo, but it took me about 12-15 minutes of constant processing to get from flakes to butter. I did have to scrape down the bowl a few times too. When resulted was a slightly sweet (who knew?) rich jar of amazing. Like the ghost of a coconut. I am in heaven.

Thank you again to Heather for reminding me that I needed to make it!

Next Thursday is my 30th birthday and I admit to being both excited and intimidated. I do love a celebration, and I am trying to look at this as a positive milestone! The current plan is to go to my favorite vegan and gluten free cafe for a cupcake, and perhaps have dinner as well. then on the 19th (officially an UNbirthday) I will celebrate my 30th with friends by going to dinner at my favorite Vietnamese restaurant and then off to see Alice in Wonderland. I have been a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland since seeing the original Disney cartoon as a child, and now to see Johnny Depp & Helena Bonham Carter in the Tim Burton version as me mad with excitement. It is definitely a very important date!

Really Really excited!

That Saturday I also plan on heading over to my favorite little health cafe and having a Birthday smoothie. plus I want to get some amazing coffee, and perhaps even sneak in a mani-pedi :-) There is a place in town that is doing a chocolate pedi and OH MY that sounds decadent. Mainly I just want to do some things that make me happy. i tend to try to plan things so that everyone else is happy, and I am working on better self care. Some friends might not be able to make the movie or may not like my restaurant choices, but that’s ok! No pressure! I just want to enjoy myself and enjoy rounding the corner on this 3rd decade in my life.

Something I have been trying:

The past month and a half I have been testing out E3 Live. It is sold at Healeo, and after reading a pamphlet on it I wanted to test it out. I am not sure about it yet, but I DO believe I can tell a marked change in my energy. I do believe it is doing *something* positive, I am just not quite sure yet. I plan on continuing to take it while I can afford it (it is pricey). I also think that my skin has looked better lately as well. I will definitely keep you updated though.

I mentioned in a previous post that I am supposed to eat seaweed everyday. I love seaweed salad, but they usually have sugar in them. So do many of the roasted nori snacks, and I don’t find just plain seaweed to be all that palatable. I was at Whole Foods last Saturday and came across these:

I got a few packs to test and now I wish I bought more! these things are DELICIOUS. They only have nori, sesame oil, and a little sea salt. no sugar at all which of course you know I love. My Korean friends say they have been eating snacks like these all their lives and love them. I did a little search on Amazon and they have them for their subscribe and save program. The Amazon price is already much less than the WF price, and with “subscribe and save” they take 15% off as well. I might also chec out a few local Asian grocery stores to see their pricing, but I am not sure they can beat Amazon. Especially with my time and gas prices. I do try to be thrifty you know.

Ok, so the taste. You have to like seaweed as it does taste like seaweed. luckily I do. After that there is just a little sesame flavor and a week touch of salt. Luckily these come in single serving packs because I could eat a bag like potato chips. On the other hand I don’t like that they use to much packaging, so that is definitely a downside.

Tonight I’ll be making this. I knew I could make it myself! I just couldn’t even bring myself to pay that much for it.

I have mentioned before that I often don’t post because I eat a lot of the same stuff over and over again and that gets repetitive for everyone. But I thought I’d just post what I made for dinner the other night. I was eating alone and so I tend to make a lot of random combos of nutrient filled foods for my belly on the average night. This night was all about nutrient density and trying to get in some things to help kick start my thyroid. I don’t have a serious issue, but apparently I have some issues that would get better if my T3 got a little kick start. I am supposed to include more foods with zinc, selenium, and iodine into my diet. I keep forgetting to eat my seaweed, but tonight I did remember. I incorporated dulse into my dinner bowl, and it was pretty tasty. It didn’t seem out of place at all.

Ok started out by roasting some broccoli and red bell pepper (I always use organic red bell pepper as it is one of the dirtiest items when it comes to pesticides). I roasted them with a little olive oil and some Caribbean blend I recently purchased (delicious). I did this in a 425° oven for about 12 minutes, stirring once.  I then topped that with some Himalayan pink salt (Trader Joe’s carries it now!) and some dulse pieces (the pretty purple things).

Next up I picked 3 eggs from my stash of farm fresh eggies. I visited the ladies last weekend and they are upping production! You cannot tell but a couple of these are a gorgeous pale blue. I forget which kind of chickens lay them, but I do appreciate the variety when it comes to color! If you are interested in getting pastured or back yard eggs I HIGHLY recommend it. Not only are they more nutritious, but the animals are happier, healthier, and are not tortured like they are when you buy eggs from grocery stores. I will never ever recommend buying eggs from a grocery store again. Frankly the animals are tortured and to me that is worse than eating chicken if the chicken is truly free range (and no egg company that sells to grocery stores is truly free range and truly humane). If you want to find a place to buy eggs do what I did. Go on craigslist and search for eggs. Then ask the people who sell them a few questions.

1. Do you beak trim or beak cut?

2. What happens to the chickens when they stop producing eggs?

3. Do you hatch any of the chicks? If so, what happens to the male chicks?

4. How much space do the chickens have to run free?

“Certified humane” places allow beak trimming which is TORTURE. I personally am not comfortable buying eggs from a place that sells the older hens off to be food because I do not eat chicken, and that would mean my money was going to the support of eating chickens. I prefer pastured eggs, but I do buy eggs from a friend who has very happy backyard chickens. They do have less space than the other person who lets the chickens run free, but their chickens still do have space to be chickens, and they get plenty of time to pick through compost and garden areas finding worms and bugs. Neither place I buy from destroys any animals. One place does not hatch any of the eggs, and the other place only hatches eggs when the hens hide the eggs from them. They allow both male and female chickens to continue living because to them they are pets and are not there for profit. I have no problem driving a ways to get these eggs because I can see the chickens for myself and I know they are very well cared for.

next up I fried 3 eggs in some virgin coconut oil. See those yolks? If your yolks are yellow then they are missing nutrition. Pastured eggs also have 20 times more omega 3 fatty acids than factory eggs. It is worth the money.

I broke a yolk :-( Oh well! Still tasted wonderful

I prefer them a little less cooked, but I was distracted as I was trying to clean up as I went.

So that is a somewhat typical dinner for me, takes all of 15 minutes to prepare. I would also eat this for breakfast. I have a lot of go-to throw together things I make. They are really easy and usually based on roasted, steamed, or sautéed veggies. That is the basis of a healthy meal!

After dinner I had a grapefruit, and right before bed I had a bag of frozen blueberries (left out to thaw) with a sprinkle of cinnamon and a couple of tablespoons of my new nut/seed butter. Perfect dessert. The nut-seed butter had the selenium I needed, and while there isn’t much zinc in broccoli, there is some. It was all pretty delicious though ;-)

I am so happy to have my eggs back!

I have been experimenting again. I loved my last batch of nut butter so much I had to add even more goodness. For those of you who aren’t into twitter (or who don’t follow me) I made a batch of Brazil nut- cashed butter last week and it was divine. I used 8oz of each (the Brazil nuts were raw, and the cashews were roasted and lightly salted). Just blended them in Dolce (my Vita-Mix) and deliciousness poured out. I have found that raw cashews are difficult to blend in the Vita, but somehow the oils are released during roasted and so they are much easier to blend when roasted. Maybe I can work on raw in the future as I do know that raw is better for you (even though most “raw” nuts here aren’t completely raw. I cannot afford the truly raw nuts because they are SUPER expensive.)

So this particular batch is a mixture of nuts and seeds. I like it but might add even more next time! It tastes quite good, but I wouldn’t call it a “gourmet” nut butter per se, it is more of a health kick nut butter than something you would want to use in a dish you feed your gourmet friends. i do know that my friends who are into healthy food will LOVE it though. I think next time I might try adding some almonds and hemp seeds as well, but for this batch here is the recipe, if you can even call it that.

Nut and Seed Butter #1

Ingredients:

• 1 C. Raw Brazil Nuts
• 1 C. Lightly Salted Roasted Cashews
• 1 C. Raw Walnuts
• 1/2 C. Raw Sunflower Seeds
• 1/4 C. Golden Flax Seeds
• 1/2 tsp. Himalayan Pink Salt

Method:

Combine all your nuts in a high speed blender (I used the Vita-Mix), or food processor and blend until smooth. Store in the refrigerator in air tight containers.

I am not a huge proponent of flax seeds. Mainly because I think most people are getting ripped off. If you do use flax here are some things you need to know:

1. Flax seeds MUST be stored in the fridge at ALL times. Don’t buy any that are not in the refrigerated section of the store, they are pretty much useless at that point as flax seeds are very sensitive to heat and light and are extremely perishable.
2. you have to either chew up each seed completely, or grind them before eating them to get any health benefit from the oil. Otherwise they just pass right through you.
3. You cannot cook with them. They will again become useless to you.

So, this is why I actually prefer chia seeds over flax. The only reason I used flax in this blend is because I happen to have a refrigerated bag of golden flax seeds, and flaxseeds are easier to grind up in my nut/seed butter than chia. Plus they don’t get stuck in your teeth! I wouldn’t buy any nut butters with flax seeds in them though because chances are they have been heated and therefore have lost any health benefit when it comes to healthy oils. Plus, they sit on the shelf, and again, lost that health benefit. I think ultimately the addition of flax in a lot of ready made foods is purely for marketing as flax is trendy.

I do admit to buying flax crackers from time to time, but that is just because sometimes I want a cracker. I am actually planning on trying to make my own chia chips soon. I want to try to mimic these BBQ flax chips, and I think a chia-flax mix might work out well.

I put this on my breakfast buckwheat this morning. I have cut out the date sugar, so the banana was the only sweetener. The nut butter was divine!And if you are wondering why I cut the date sugar it is because I feel like I have been adding sweetness to everything, and while I don’t think dates are inherently bad for me, it is not a good plan to make everything sweet as then our taste buds crave it. I am trying to use it less, and prefer to use whole fruits. This doesn’t mean that I will stop completely, just that I am going to stop relying on dates unless I am really feeling a craving! We can be strong people, and we can also change our taste buds. I used to hate mustard and recently it sounds appealing to me (like in the BBQ flax chips!)

I think I am going to do my first giveaway soon! Do you all prefer food related items? or would something else also be appreciated?

And finally, a big thank you to Averie for suggesting this mat for me:

My cheap little mat was not doing me any favors. I asked my yoga instructor what I was doing wrong because I kept slipping, and she felt my mat and said that I need a better one. I splurged on the package deal as it is less expensive than buying both separately, and now I am the proud owner of a yoga mat that will last me a long time. Don’t get me wrong, it was pricey even as a package, but my 30th birthday is in 2 weeks and well I just felt that it would be my birthday present to myself! I also ordered a couple of pairs of yoga toe-socks because I don’t like walking barefoot where others walk barefoot (it is one of my lovely quirks that is ever so charming). next up, I am going to buy my own bolster! No more face where stranger crotch has been! (Then again I have been bringing a towel to class to use as a “bolster condom”). I am going to test drive the new mat tonight. I haven’t been to yoga in 2 weeks due to life getting in the way, and well last night traffic got in the way.No matter, just get back on that horse, er mat!

So i mentioned that I am going to have another blog for non-foodey things. I am just going to use my old tumblr account for this because…well because it is already there. So, for those of you who are interested, direct yourselves to:

ChocolateandChile

Be warned, I cannot guarantee that I will never offend you here. I do try to keep my foodie posts somewhat unoffensive, but I can be a bit of a sailor, and I am no prude. I also may or may not make snarky remarks about politics,  fashion, reality TV, you name it.

I don’t plan on this being completely ridiculous, but you never know.

Nothing new in my food world this week. Matt is out of town and I have been eating a lot of roasted and steamed veggies. Truly uninspired. Just haven’t felt up for a big meal. Possibly just PMS laziness.

Have a fantastic week!

Yes it’s a little late for Fat Tuesday, but those who do not fast for Lent don’t really care. Then again it is MEATLESS jambalaya, so I be the Pope would approve anyway! Meatless doesn’t mean flavorless. Grain free doesn’t mean you are giving something up. This stuff was mighty tasty. The only thing I would change about it would be to add more spices, but since I was not cooking for just me I had to tone the cayenne down a bit. I’d also remember to bring home some Louisiana style hot sauce (Tabasco works) as Jambalaya isn’t truly complete without it.

Secondly, I am thinking about changing my blog design. I had a comment from someone who said it is hard to read, and while that has been the only comment of the sort, I assume that she isn’t the only one with this difficulty. I want this blog to be a reflection of myself, but I also want people to be able to read it! Since I don’t have a great camera I am also on the lookout for art or photos to display on the top of my blog. I have an idea in my mind of what I want, but I know that with my current equipment I cannot make it look the way it looks in my head. I have looked at some stock photography, and that might be the way to go, BUT if any of you would like to donate a photo to showcase as this blog’s main photo please let me know and I can look over your work to see if it fits my idea. I am thinking about pomegranate, bright juicy ruby jeweled poms! I think it would be quite pretty. If I had some gorgeous photo of fairytale pumpkins (my favorite) and pomegranates, that would be perfect, but I would be overjoyed with an amazing pomegranate spread too. I would of course give full credit, and add a link to any site showcasing your work. I would much rather help out a reader than buy stock photography, but ultimately I will want to make sure the photo is what I want. I am sure you understand! Not sure if this is something anyone is interested in, but let me know if you are!

Also, I am going to add a little section on my sidebar dedicated to local to Seattle blogs that I follow and read, and also will be adding a section with my favorite restaurants and places to buy groceries in town. Not sure if any of you check out the Amazon astore on the side, but I have a lot of my favotite things in there if you want to know what I use in my own kitchen. I also will put up a section with links to things not found at Amazon if you think that it would be helpful!

I am also very interested in hearing about things that you all enjoy. Do you want product reviews? Explanations of things I eat on a daily basis? I am not going to be photographing ALL my daily eats because I personally see this as being a gateway into obsessing about food in a way that is unhealthy, but I am definitely up for telling you all about what I make day in and day out. I have had quite a few people ask me what my “staple” recipes are, and that is also part of the reason why I am writing the cookbook (or trying to!).  I don’t do big recipes everyday. I wish I could but I work full time and still try to make time for exercise and socialization. That’s why I don’t have a new recipe on here every day. I do wish I didn’t have to work a day job and that this could be my day job! Anyway, so yes please do give me feedback! I cannot promise that I will cater to every need, but I definitely take it all into consideration.

I am also considering a side blog that isn’t about food. It would be more about fashion, art, decorating, personal ramblings, and the like…anyone interested in that sort of stuff? It would definitely be a mismash.

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend! TGIF baby!

Vegan Jambalaya
Ingredients:

• 5 C. Mushroom or Vegetable Stock
• 1/4 Olive Oil
• 1 Large Onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 Red Bell pepper, finely chopped
• 1/2 Yellow Bell Pepper, finely chopped
• 1/2 Green Bell Pepper, finely chopped
• 1/2 C. Finely Chopped Celery Stalks
• 3 Cloves Garlic, minced
• 2 C. Untoasted Buckwheat, rinsed and picked over
• 26 Oz. Box Pomi Chopped Tomatoes*
• 2-3 Large Portobello Mushroom Caps, chopped into chunks
• 1/4 lb. Baby Carrots
• 1 Small Zucchini, cut unto thirds and then sliced lengthwise into quarters
• 2 Sunburst Squash, Cut into wedges (substitute yellow squash if you cannot get sunburst)
• 2 Bay Leaves
• 1.5 tsp. Oregano
• 1 T. Thyme
• 1 tsp. Basil
• 1.5 tsp Sea Salt
• 1 tsp. Black Pepper
• 1/3 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
• 1/4 C. Chopped Fresh Parsley Leaves

Method:

1. Heat up the broth in a medium sized pan and keep warm on the stove.
2. In a heavy bottomed pot, sautée the chopped onion, bell peppers, and celery on a medium heat until soft, add the garlic and continue to sautée for another 2 minutes.
3. Add the buckwheat and stir to coat with oil. Sautée the buckwheat for another 2 minutes, stirring often.
4. Add the Tomatoes, mushrooms, carrots, zucchini, squash, bay leaves, oregano, thyme, and basil. Let cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Stir in the salt, black pepper, and cayenne.
6. Add 2 cups of the warm broth and bring to a boil. Once the broth has been absorbed add another 2 cups and continue to do this until the buckwheat is tender and cooked through. You might have a little broth leftover.
7. Remove from the heat and stir in the freshly chopped parsley. Drizzle with Louisiana style hot sauce and enjoy!

*After finding out that all canned foods (save the Eden brand organic beans) contain BPA I stopped buying canned food (aside from Eden Brand beans). The biggest issue for me here has been the tomatoes. I LOVE canned tomatoes when they aren’t in season, and they were a staple in my food. Luckily I remembered that growing up my Italian neighbor used Pomi boxed tomatoes for ALL her sauces. For that I trust them when it comes for flavor. I just did some research and found out that the Pomi boxed tomatoes do NOT contain BPA. Hooray! So this is now my new staple. Yes, a little more pricey, but very worth it in my book. Trying to limit my exposure to BPA as much as I can and I can actually control this aspect, so I will. They have a strained tomato variety, a chopped tomato variety, and marinara sauce (all found on amazon). I wouldn’t suggest the marinara though because it has sugar in it.

I apologize for the photo you are about to see, but only sort of. You see it doesn’t look nearly as good as it tastes, and the recipe for one of the ingredients makes up for the not so photogenic food. This was my breakfast:

The fact that the photo was taken with my phone only makes it worse. I had no time for any presentation, nor the time to take the memory card out of my computer to take a proper photo. So you get that mess up there. I promise you though it was DELICIOUS. On Sunday after our fabulous breakfast we drove out to the country to get fresh pastured eggs from chickens who have the run of the property. We were saddened to hear that the flock of 40 has dwindled down to 16 because of predators, and that very morning one of their roosters had been saved from the mouth of a coyote. I am not talking early morning either, the chickens are protected at night. This coyote was gutsy enough to come out at 11 a.m. and try to feast on the poor rooster. Luckily he was spared that day, but it was so sad to hear about the others. I know this is the circle of life, but it is still upsetting to me. We did manage to load up on eggs, Matt and I each got 2 dozen, and I brought 2 dozen home to my mother as well. So that scramble was made with 3 fresh eggs with the most amazing orange yolks. I scrambled them with some purple kale Matt got for me at the Ballard Farmer’s Market, and a little virgin coconut oil. I then put them in a bowl with some refritos. Those beans right there are made from reconstituted beans ;-) I know it sounds gross but I LOVE them. And I can get them on Amazon now! No more loading up when I visit Texas! then (and here comes the magic) I topped it all off with a couple of tablespoons of my HOMEMADE Pistachio-Hazelnut nut butter with cumin and black pepper! I got the idea from Marilyn’s Nut Butter that I tasted at the Ballard Farmer’s Market. I absolutely loved it, but at $14.50 a jar I unfortunately cannot afford the luxury.

So what is a chef to do but whip some up herself!

So…I bought some organic roasted Hazelnuts, some salted roasted pistachios (they didn’t have organic or shelled at my co-op), and went home to work on the project. Next time I am definitely going to seek out the shelled pistachios. I know I am a whiner, but I like my nails.

Here are the specs:

• 1 C. Shelled Pistachios
• 1/2 C. Roasted Hazelnuts
• 3/8 tsp. Ground Gumin
• 3/8 tsp. Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 1.5 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil

I put all of that into the Vita-Mix (let’s call her Dolce) and blended. I didn’t go to the highest speed, and I am not really sure what others do when they make nut butter in there, but I find that lower speeds work a little better but you have to stop it fairly often to stir. If you have any tips I would LOVE to hear them. I’d also love to make this without any extra oil, but pistachios aren’t all that oily. I could probably try more hazelnuts next time. I’ll keep you posted. I might even add a little garlic powder to the mix just to shake things up a bit.

So, this was delicious on my breakfast. I am also going to try it on a savory quinoa or buckwheat, and this would be tremendous in place of the pumpkin seed butter from yesterday’s sweet potato fry recipe.Also great on roasted or sautéed veggies, crackers, etc. I am totally in love with it! I had also forgotten how good pistachios are! Might have to load up on those next time I am at the store.

And now I am completely into different nut butter combos. I think a Thai cashew nut butter might be next but I am undecided. Maybe it will be peanut.

This is not a blog to boast about what a wonderful Valentine’s Day I had (though it was the best I have ever had), it is more a reminder to me of why I eat the way I do, and hey if you want to feel better yourself you might just test it out for a month and see if you feel any better. Not saying it will work for everyone, but it might work for you.

This was my second Valentine’s Day ever to have a Valentine, and this was also our second Valentine’s Day together. Please forgive me for gushing a bit, I just have waited so long to meet someone so wonderful, and I am making up for years of lackluster dating, and never having someone to fawn over (or to fawn over me) on this day of romance.

Matt is really really sweet and wonderful to me, and so our weekend of romance started out on Friday when he picked me up for lunch. We went to this little Greek place near where I work. I absolutely adore their hummus and keep trying to make it myself (without success). I ALMOST have it, but there is still something missing. There is a little secret here, hummus isn’t traditionally served in Greece. It is a Middle Eastern dish that is popular in Greek restaurants in the USA (an perhaps other countries too), but not in Greece. In Greece they serve a dish called “Fava”, which has nothing to do with fava beans. It is made from yellow split peas and it also quite good. I made some 2 weeks ago just to test it out and I love it. I think that the hummus at my favorite little Greek place might be making their hummus as if it were fava. The big difference? No tahini and no lemon juice in fava. Plus, add some spices.  I am going to keep working on that hummus recipe. Anyway, so I had a Greek salad topped with hummus, and Matt had their falafel (which is the best I have EVER had).

On Saturday evening we went out to get sushi at Village Sushi. This was our “Valentine’s” dinner even though it was the day before. Like I have said before, on occasion I will have some grains, but it is only as a treat and not something I do often. I also allowed for some tofu (something I limit due to the phyto-estrogens).

We had the Agedashi Tofu:

Next up we had the Seaweed Salad:

And then we completely filled up on Veggie sushi:

I used to eat more fish on my sushi, but since Matt is a vegetarian I feel bad with him paying for it, and I don’t want him to have to watch me eat it either. Plus I try to stick with wild and sustainable fish, and the cleanest seafood as possible. There is only 1 sushi place in Seattle that is completely sustainable (and only 2 in the Country) and so I don’t feel comfortable eating fish at any other sushi place anymore.

So as you can see that is a lot of rice. Not my usual, but it is a rare event, and a special occasion.

We woke up earlier than usual on Sunday and went off to this fabulous little vegan and gluten free bakery that is in Fremont. Flying Apron offers a WIDE selection of baked goods, they are all vegan, all gluten free, and many use “alternative” sweeteners as well. Granted, my diet is even more restricted than what they offer on a daily basis, but again, as a treat, this is where I will be heading. Plus it is very close to my yoga studio so that is an added bonus. I am definitely going to purchase their quinoa bread next time they make it as it only uses quinoa flour. Anyway, we got a feast!

My selection was the Pumpkin cake square, Matt ordered the Berry Scone, and the Pecan Cinnamon Roll, and we shared the Indian Lentil Salad. Oh holy Heaven it was good! Absolutely delicious. My cake was sweet, doughy, and fabulous. I had a bite of Matt’s scone and cinnamon roll and I loved them both as well. The lentil salad was fabulous (might have to recreate that one at home).  The atmosphere here is also really cozy. The dark wood furniture and old style really makes for a nice experience. We even met up with a former co-worker of Matt’s, and it turns out she is good friends with another blogger I follow Hi Kristy! So that was a fun little reminder of how small Seattle really is (I run into people I know ALL the time, which never happened when I lived in Texas).  Anyway, I was sitting there thinking “you know, maybe I CAN eat some grains and not feel bad, these are all gluten free, and people who are gluten free still eat “normal” food, maybe I don’t need to be SO restrictive.”

Cut to an hour and a half later when I could barely keep my eyes open and I was telling Matt I couldn’t wait to get home so I could take a nap. My stomach also felt like it had a brick in it, and yes I did eat quite a bit, but I NEVER feel that way when I stick to my normal diet. I can probably blame the sleepiness square on the sugars in the baked goods (even though compared to the average American person these would be considered “health” food and not nearly as sugary), but that brick feeling was totally grains. Granted, I ate a lot. I probably could have shared the pumpkin cake with Matt and had half the lentil salad and would have felt full, but again it was a special treat. It just reminded me why I eat the way I do for 95% of the time, and why I save these little splurges for special occasions. It isn’t that I will gain 20lbs in one meal, it is that I feel sick after eating this stuff.

If food makes you lethargic, or if you feel tired a lot in general I really really recommend giving up the grains and sugar ( even fruit & sweet veggie juices) for a month. Just to see how you feel. Sometimes all I need is a wee reminder.

Oh and just for comparison sake, this morning I had about 2 cups of cooked buckwheat, with about 2 tsp. of date sugar, a banana, some raisins, and cashew butter and it is now about 3.5 hours since I ate that and 1. I am not hungry, 2. I am not the least bit sleepy,  and 3. no bricks in my belly.

Last night I wasn’t in the mood to hit up the grocery store so I just threw together some leftovers, and a sauce inspired by Mae (who I found through Heather). Basically Mae’s sauce is made with hummus and nutritional yeast. Well I had some hummus leftover from when I tried to make my own “Greek” hummus and so I mixed it up with nutritional yeast, roasted bell peppers, Kalamata olives, a clove of garlic, and some sea salt. Then I vita-mixed it and heated it up on the stove. Poured that baby on some roasted broccolini and had myself some dinner.

I liked the sauce, but felt it needed something extra. I am going to use the rest of it tonight on roasted broccoli and so I might doctor it up a bit more. The fry looking things next to it are leftovers from my Sunday night dinner of roasted broccolini and sweet potato and yam fries, recipe inspired by the Thrive diet. Let me take the time right now to mention something I may have mentioned before. You cannot copyright a recipe. You can only copyright what is written in the directions. In other words, anyone can take “your” recipe, re-write it, and publish it, blog it, whatever. They don’t have to give you a lick of credit as a list of ingredients isn’t copyrightable. Which is why many recipes will list ingredients and then say “spices” because for some reason they can get away with that and not have to disclose which spices they use. I am of the opinion that recipes (or ingredient lists) have for the most part been done before. We just switch things up a bit, add something here or take something away, and then write things in our own words. Recently I came up with a recipe that I never shared, and then saw almost the exact same recipe on another site. Cracked me up as it shows that everything has been done before, and just because you think you have come up with some new amazing wonder, someone else probably already did it, or is doing it as we speak. Anyway, so these fries are divine. I mixed together 3 T. of pumpkin seed butter with 3 cloves of garlic (minced or pressed), some olive oil, and a about 2 tsp. of Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb Seasoning. Then I chopped up 1 sweet potato and 2 yams into fry shapes and coated them with the yummy mixture. I then roasted them in a 425° oven until one side was browned, flipped them, and did the same with the other. Sprinkle with a little sea salt if you like, and delicious! Last night I re-roasted them so they were crispy again (did not add more oil) and then I used a little ketchup for dipping (Westbrae unsweetened ketchup is good but takes some getting used to).

Highly recommend the fries.

That was a long post! Yeesh I really have been tapping away here for a while. For those of you who made it through, I applaud you! For those of you who didn’t, well you won’t be reading this anyway will you?

I need to start off this post with a little edit of the previous posting. I was over hasty when I said I quit my part time gig. I spoke with the owner of Healeo this weekend (he hadn’t gotten my message about not being able to make it work) and we discussed it. We are now going to be doing things a little differently, but it will work out now!

I grew up with a mother who was a health nut. Healthy food was of the utmost importance, and so even the sweets were made with a healthy tweak. Her Toll House cookies were made using half whole wheat flour, and she preferred brown sugar over white. I grew up having my food sprinkled with wheat germ, and wasn’t allowed cereal with BHT in it. Looking back I don’t really consider any of her baked goods to be actually healthy, but she was definitely doing better than most others I knew, and she was trying! One of the cookbooks I remember her using was The Taming of the C.A.N.D.Y. Monster which brought carob into my life. Somehow carob brownies never tasted like chocolate brownies, but honestly I liked the taste of carob itself.  Last week I was in Madison Market, one of the Co-Ops in Seattle, and I picked up some carob-goji energy bars from the bulk bins. I hadn’t had a carob energy bar in years and looking at the ingredients I saw that they were completely me-friendly.These tasted a little different than the ones I had before, I think due to the goji, but the brought me back to my childhood when my mother would be the little tar colored bars in the bulk bin at our hippy-dippy Whole Foods in the early 80’s. I know it seems like an odd thing to have nostalgia for, but I have some for carob bars. Luckily I found out they aren’t all that difficult to make at home. The hardest part was getting all the whole seeds into the “dough”, but I found that kneading it all on a piece of waxed paper worked out very very well. All very worth it as they are much more cost effective when made at home! Plus I got to add whatever I wanted.

Carob Energy Bars

Ingredients:

• 2 C. Dates*
• 1/2 C. Carob Powder, sifted
• 1/4 C. Chia Seeds
• 1/4 C. Sesame Seeds
• 1/4 C. Hemp Seeds
• 2 T. Dried Coconut Flakes
• 1/4 C. Goji Berries
• 1/2 C. Pumpkin Seeds
• 1 C. Sunflower Seeds

Method:

1. Process your dates in the food processor until you get a paste, add carob powder and continue to process until combined.
2. Scrape mixture into a large bowl and add the chia seeds, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, and flaked coconut. Mix to combine.
3. Lay a couple of pieces of waxed paper on the counter and turn the “dough” out on top of it. Mash it down a bit and sprinkle with the rest of the ingredients. Slowly fold the rest of the ingredients into the dough, kneading it a bit to get them evenly distributed.
4. Once everything is combined, press the mixture into a loaf pan. Cover with another sheet of waxed or parchment paper and press down to smooth the top. Refrigerate until set.
5. Once set, slice into cubes with a sharp knife.

*I prefer dates that are un-pitted as they are much more moist. If using pitted dates you might need to add some liquid or use prunes as well. My date of preference is the medjool.

I swear to you that I have not fallen off the face of the Earth. I have just had a bit of a jumble of things. Not much new cooking has gone on, so no need to bore you with the daily routine that is my food. There are only so many jars of buckwheat I can post before I am certain I will lose you all. I also haven’t had a whole lot to write about and I don’t want to make up blogs about nothing as that also isn’t remotely interesting. I am not here to hear my own fingers tap away on the keyboard after all. So that is about it. But hey, I’ll catch you up on a couple of things and then also a few things that are in the works (and hopefully will be out next week).

1. I quit my job at Healeo.

My decision to to this was based entirely on the fact that I wasn’t able to work enough to make it worthwhile to me. I still am a huge fan of it and will continue to go over there whenever I am in the neighborhood, but I just live too far away and I couldn’t work long enough hours to justify it. I did the numbers last week and I was basically paying to work there. It wasn’t a happy realization for me at all.

2. I did make something I haven’t made in a while…omelette! It is like Spring here in Seattle (or was before the gloom hit is again yesterday), and the chickens have started to lay eggs again. It is SO exciting! I have mentioned this before but I get my eggs from a couple of places. One being my friends who are a mile from me and have 6 chickens and a rooster. They also have 3 ducks and we are hoping that a couple of those ducks are female and will be laying eggs this Spring as well. I also get eggs from a couple out in the country who have a whole flock of pastured chickens. These ladies run free and do whatever they want. They have a house but they only go in there at night for protection and for warmth. It is really interesting to see, but sometimes the hens will get broody and will move eggs and hide them to hatch them. They won’t even be all their own eggs, but might be from other hens so there will be a little flock of chicks that look like different mothers. I keep trying to picture how the hens move those eggs and it is quite an amusing picture in my mind. The vast majority of the eggs are picked up everyday and brought inside to be refrigerated, and that is how I get my eggs. I will never again purchase eggs from a grocery store. “Cage Free” and “Free Range” labels are completely unregulated labels, and the chickens are NOT well cared for. Do not delude yourself into thinking they are. “Certified Humane” is another label that is untrustworthy. Under that label people are able to beak trim or beak cut. This process is done so that chickens won’t peck each other to death. But in a place where the animals are allowed to truly run free and do what is natural the practice is completely unnecessary. Beak trimming and beak cutting is absolute torture. It is painful and again, completely unnecessary when animals are living truly like they were meant to.  I found my egg suppliers through friends and also on Craigslist. I highly highly recommend doing this. Not only are the eggs better tasting and more nutritious, but you can also know you aren’t giving money to people who torture animals.

3. I made some Carob energy bars and the recipe will definitely be up soon. I had a craving for carob which is sort of weird. They bring me back to my childhood when my mother used to buy them for me in the bulk section of whole foods. My mom has always been a crunchy granola health nut, and I love her for it! Carob might be an acquired taste, and I don’t really know how to explain it. It is often used as a substitute for chocolate but the only similarity between the two that I can see is that they look similar.

4. I am working on a vegan Jambalaya recipe! It’s Mardi Gras time, and since my mother’s mother was from Louisiana, and I grew up in East Texas I definitely have a taste for Creole and Cajun food. I probably won’t get this done before Fat Tuesday, but that’s OK. I won’t be doing anything for Lent this year since I am no longer a practicing Catholic. Bring on the fat! Laissez les bon temps rouler!

5. I am still working on the proposal for my book. I haven’t even begun to work on recipes yet, I am just a little stuck on how to really “sell it”. I have always had trouble selling myself, and while I know that I am writing a book that people will want to buy, I am just not certain how to explain why they will want to buy it.  I’ll keep you all updated though.

6. I have been keeping up with my yoga and I love it! I did injure my shoulder on Monday so I have to take it easy, but I can work around it. Tonight I am going to a hatha flow class with Angela at Maya Whole Health Studio, and I even got Matt to take a class with me on Wednesday. He enjoyed it but wants to take the intro series so he can get a better handle on the proper way to do the poses. Yay yoga!

I hope you all have a good weekend and a Happy Valentine’s Day!