UPDATE : So, how does food affect your life?

So, I've been playing around with adding raw veggies and more nuts and fruits to my life... and I have to say, those days where that is primarily what I eat, I feel amazing. if I stop eating veggies, I start feeling like crap:  like I'm running a marathon with my legs tied together; it's just miserable. The easiest way I've found to ingest large amounts of veggies is in juicing and smoothies.

The key to any eating habit (aka diet - but here without the connotation of fads and restrictions for the sake of losing weight) is diversity. It's important to not get settled into only a handful of dishes at the beginning; boredom always sets in and one strays to a diversified pallet after a short while. Once a week at least, experiment with something new, something never tasted before, something that stretches the limits of what 'food' means (for our society, this often means something that is less processed and packaged, and more actual, living, fresh food).

There will always be those things one clings to for comfort food - the best thing to do is to modify those things to meet a new standard. My two are mac 'n cheese and chips and salsa:

1. For me, even though I'm not vegan or vegetarian, I do refrain from eating high starch and boxed products. In more recent years I've also stopped ingesting milk because it started causing me to have cystic acne (I know this because if I refrain from eating dairy I stop getting acne). But, cheese is another matter... I love cheese, and I love kefir. So, the two part to this is that I've had to find a pasta base (rice or whole wheat) that doesn't affect me as much as semolina, AND I've had to find properly cultured cheeses that have broken down the casein protein and fats in dairy that causes my acne (for instance, Cabot's white cheddar). So, to fully enjoy mac 'n cheese without adverse effects, I make my alternative pasta, make a béchamelle from scratch using irish butter, coconut milk and Cabot's or other aged cheddar. which is neither difficult or time consuming.
2. Though there are usually no additives in canned salsa from the store, the veggies have all been cooked, and therefore will cause the stomach to react to it as though it were a foreign substance. Additionally, all tortilla chips are made out of corn, at least until recently. And based on my previous experiences with corn, the hindrance to the digestive system is not limited to whole corn kernels, but also translates into corn meal and flour. So, the easy part was to transition to bean/rice-based tortilla chips that are now available, which are very tasty and don't leave you with that feeling of bloaty fullness. The slightly more involved step was making fresh, home-made salsa -- my first batch was a failure, then I remembered that putting tomatoes in a food processor in general is a no-no because it releases all the water and loses its flavor. Subsequent batches (thanks to my friend making some from an old-style recipe) turned out absolutely flavorful and awesome. The key was to not give up. Another part of my chips 'n salsa binging was the use of sour cream and it's creamy sweet goodness... This I've amended in using avocados splashed with lime juice to top my fresh salsa instead.

Almond or Hazelnut Milk

to make home-made almond/hazelnut milk:

1. soak nuts 5-8 hours, reserve liquid for plant fertilizer
2. blend almonds in 4 cups of water for 2 min
3. add extract (vanilla) and dates, agave, or cane juice to sweeten
4. strain through milk nut bag or cheese cloth - reserve nut pulp, and dehydrate to make nut meal
5. keep milk refrigerated up to 4 days

Smoothie I gotta try

neon-pink-smoothie-juice

• ½ cucumber, peel and chop
• ½ small raw beet, scrub and chop
• 1 apple, core and chop
• ¼ fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice
• 4 ice cubes

- in high-speed blender or bullet blender, add cucumber and blend on low.
- add the beet and apple and blend, increasing speed until smooth
- add grapefruit juice and ice cubes, blend on high until smooth

Green 'n' Creamy Pasta

1 ripe avocado
1/2 lemon, juiced
lemon zest
3 cloves garlic
½ tsp salt
fresh basil
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
6 oz of spinach or gluten-free pasta
fresh cracked black pepper

Fill medium pot with water 3/4 full, bring to boil. Add pasta, and cook to package specifications, or al dente
Pit avocado and scoop out the soft flesh from the skin. Add avocado, lemon juice, garlic, salt and a hand full of basil leaves to food processor and pulse until smooth
Place cooked pasta in a large bowl, add the avocado mixture and toss until pasta is evenly coated
Garnish with lemon zest and black pepper

Vegan Cool Cucumber Soup

1 small cucumber
1 litre plain coconut milk or soy yogurt (for non-vegans, I find plain Kefir the best to use)
¼ c. dates (finely chopped)
¼ c. golden raisins
¼ c. walnuts (chopped)
fresh mint
ice cubes

Slice cucumber in half short and long ways - take each quarter and with a spoon, gently remove watery middle where seeds are
Over medium mixing bowl, grate cucumber with small-gauge grater down to the skin
Mix in yogurt, chopped dates, and raisins
Stir and then chill to let flavors combine for ~ 1 hour
When serving, drop in 1-2 icecubes, and garnish with mint leaves, whole or chopped, and chopped walnuts

Stuffed Figs Dessert

8 fresh mission figs
¼ c. black currant juice (cherry juice as a substitute)
½ tsp coriander
¼ c. walnuts or almonds (raw, unsalted)
1 Tbsp raw sugar

Preheat oven to 300°F
Remove stems and cut X's across tops of figs - to make a tulip-like cup
Gently use a spoon to scrape out seeds and pulp and place in small mixing bowl, keeping cups intact
Combine pulp with currant juice and corriander
In separate bowl, toss raw nuts with sugar - add a drop of safflower or sunflower oil if necessary to get sugar to stick
Place fig cups in ramekins (1-3 depending on size), place 1-2 nuts in each fig and then fill each with pulp mixture
Bake until just tender

Vegan Raspberry Fool

Raspberry Fool
1 lb of raspberries (fresh)
2 Tbsp + sugar
vegan whipped cream (see below)

Wash and put ½ lb of raspberries in a bowl, mash and mix in sugar, add more sugar to taste if necessary. Set aside and allow to macerate for several minutes
Meanwhile, make whipped cream (below)
Then gently and sparingly fold macerated and fresh raspberries into whipped cream, DO NOT over mix

Vegan Whipped Cream
2 cans coconut milk
1/3 cup powdered sugar

Put coconut milk in fridge for up to 12 hours. Chill whisk in freezer for a few minutes before mixing.
Remove cans from fridge and open -- being careful not to shake. Skimming thick coconut milk solids from the top, leaving liquid/water. Mix coconut cream in medium mixing bowl with sugar
Whip just until it thickens, ~ 20 seconds. DO NOT over mix
Can refrigerate up to 4 hours

Atop the Naan, recipe II

Home-made pico atop extra-sharp cheddar cheesy naan

3 tomatoes diced
1 onion diced
1 jalapeño diced
1 bunch of fresh cilantro, chopped
2 tsp vinegar
salt/pepper
extra-sharp Cabot white cheddar
some pieces of naan

Mix diced veggies, cilantro, and vinegar in a bowl, toss, and allow to sit for 1 day to marinate. When ready to eat, slice sharp cheddar atop naan and toast until cheese is just softened. Top the toasted cheesy naan with the pico and enjoy!



If you're unfamiliar with Cabot: they are a cooperative of Vermont dairy farmers which produce an amazing variety of cheese available at almost every grocery store across the country, even Costco. It's a high-end cheese without the high-end price, found with the specialty cheeses in the deli.
http://www.cabotcheese.coop/

Atop the Naan, recipe I

1 lb sunflower seeds (no salt, no shells)
¼ c cucumber, diced
½ c eggplant, diced
¼ c bell pepper, diced
¼ c onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp olive oil
1-2 Tbsp Bragg's
½ lb sharp cheddar cheese (or any cheese)
several naan bread

Soak sunflower seeds for 6 hours, then strain. Combine seeds, cucumber, eggplant, bell pepper, onion, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, and Bragg's in food processor and pulse until well ground. Heat skillet to medium heat, add ground seed mixture to pan and lightly brown. Meanwhile in (toaster) oven, toast naan covered with sliced cheese. Once cheese is just softened, remove and top with seed mix. Serve hot

Importance of Vegetables

I would generally consider myself the last person on earth to advocate eating a large percentage of vegetables... I don't subscribe to vegan or vegetarian lifestyles -- bacon doesn't grow on trees -- but from what I've learned on my own about food, my own personal trial and error, and the basics of how food affects your mental and physical state that I was taught growing up, I have a lot to say when it comes to the eating of vegetables.
There are a few things that need to be said first about 'Vegetables'

1. corn is not a vegetable - it is a grain, a grass, and from what I've seen in myself and animals, causes a whole lot of avoidable digestive problems (if you've noticed it often comes out whole... this is not a good thing) because as a seed it contains toxins that are designed to keep you from digesting it
2. Tomatoes, zucchini, squash, eggplant, avocados, etc are also not vegetables. They are very good fruits, but are not to be confused with what vegetables really are
3. Legumes and lentils are additionally not really vegetables, but I'll have a separate blog on them later, cuz they're complicated in the guise of the types of toxins they produce (seeds). For my purpose here, I will concede that the pod is veggie, and unquestionable if ingested before the seeds develop (I have a life-long hatred of legumes, as well as the filthy dirt-legumes known as peanuts)
4. Vegetables are the leaves, roots, stems, and maybe even buds of plants - the following are only a few of oh, so many
• spinach, chard, arugula, cabbage, lettuce, dandelion, water cress, sprouts, herbs
• yams, tubers, carrots, beets, radishes, parsnips, potatoes, onions, garlic, shallots
• rhubarb, celery, asparagus, bamboo
• broccoli, cauliflower, artichokes, capers, brussels sprouts

Veggie need-to-knows:

• 50-80% of a human daily diet should be a RAW form of fruit and vegetable -- these contain micro-nutrients that a human body needs in order to repair and defend itself, and generally be healthy

• the more ripe the fruit/vegetable the higher the glycemic index (more sugars) and the lower the nutrient and enzyme content

• simply adding dark green vegetables to any diet (eating habit) can go a long way to improving health, metabolism and weight loss - and i don't mean a little... i mean like a cup of broccoli every meal...

• pasteurizing, though a saver of many lives in the pre-refrigeration age, kills necessary enzymes and breaks down nutrients

• most grocery store (aka non-organic, commercial farm-grown) vegetables are grown with fertilizers containing mostly only potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen... at the very least you should be getting calcium, magnesium, sulfur, chlorine, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum and zinc - not to mention the 30+ other nutrients a human body needs

• any vegetable is better than none - if you have to cook it, steam it, bake it, frappé it, juice it, and all you have is the corner grocery: take it and run with it. Getting used to eating veggies is the first hurdle, experimentation is the second

• if you can keep the temp under 120°F or better yet 105°F, that's generally considered to be raw enough to not break down vital nutrients... but it's enough to warm up a raw veggie-frappé soup

• heat destroys vitamin C -- C is one of the vitamins that do so many things to support health in the body, but is also on of the most easily deficient... IT IS READILY AVAILABLE IN RAW FRUITS & VEGGIES... GET IT IN YOU! they say too much causes kidney stones, but there is not a single medical study that proves it does; it was used extensively in studies in the early 1900's to cure viral illnesses, and is currently being used outside of English-speaking countries as a part of nutritional therapy to let the body heal itself of cancer and other ailments -- with no side-effects

 ** I am not a medical doctor, nor am I stating that vitamin C cures cancer**
*** image above obtained from wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:L%C3%A9gumes_01.jpg***

Raw Veggies II : Zucchini

1-2 of your favorite kind of zucchini, sliced
1 lemon, juiced
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp olive oil

Throw it all in a bowl and toss
stays fresh in the fridge, covered, for a week


Zucchini Rolls

1 zucchini
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic (or other aromatic)
fresh basil
fresh arrugula

Slice zucc lengthwise into strips, soak in lemon juice/oil/garlic.... [they say dehydrate, I think it's overrated]... just roll with basil and arugula and serve al fresco

Simple Naan

2.5- 3 cups flour (use gluten free if you like, and I like to add flax seed or flax seed meal)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
tumeric or herbs of choice (optional)
1 cup plain yogurt
1 Tbsp safflower oil

Sift together dry ingredients. Add yogurt and mix until doughy. Add more flour by Tbsp until dough just stops being sticky-wet, and knead, knead and knead. Form into round ball, place in a bowl, drizzle oil on top, cover with a towel and rest for 1 hour. Remove dough from bowl, separate into 8 sections. Roll each section flat (can stack using parchment or wax paper to separate). Heat 10" non-stick skillet to med, and turn oven to broiler setting, or heat broiler to 500°F. Gently place one piece into skillet - cook until bottom has brown spots, remove from pan, place on foil in broiler and brown for ~2 min (make sure rack is low and away from heat source). Once you see spots (as above) remove from broiler - repeat for each piece.

The thinner the dough is rolled, the crispier it will be (I like it crispy; it's easier to eat like a pizza)

Now that you've got naan... what do you do with it?
- substitute for tortillas or pita
- used for chips
- covered in homemade minced raw veggie mixes and cheese (recipes posted soon)
- Rachael Ray has an awesome Naan-cho recipe

Stuffed Squash

1 acorn squash
spinach
Gorgonzola - or sharp cheese of your choice

- cut squash half on the equator - cut off point at the bottom so the bottom half will sit flat
- roast in oven at 400°F until just tender (20-40 min depending on size)
- fill with spinach and cheese
- return to oven until spinach is tender and cheese is melted
- add bacon ;)

Veggie Pizza

large tortilla
favorite spaghetti sauce (I prefer Classico)
mozzarella
spinach
kalamata olives, halved
1 clove garlic, minced
artichoke (canned and quartered)

- lay tortilla on baking sheet lined with parchment paper
- smear tomato sauce over surface to coat
- add olives, garlic, and artichoke
- roll spinach up like a cigar and chop, scatter over pizza
- evenly coat mozz on top
- bake at 400°F until edge of tortilla is browned

Portabello Sammich

1 large portabello mushroom
olive oil
1/2 fire-roasted red bell pepper - enough to cover slice of bread (see below for roasting instructions, or buy canned fire-roasted red peppers - just as good)
spinach - enough to layer on sammich
2 oz goat cheese
1/2 Tbsp minced garlic
tsp lemon juice
2 slices of hardy bread

- slice portabello
- in med non-stick pan - lightly coat with olive oil, bring to med heat - add sliced portabello
- 2 minutes and flip
- 2 min and flip
- remove from pan and dab dry with paper towel
(cooked mushrooms can be refridgerated for sammiches for a few days - taste just as good cold)
- in small bowl combine goat cheese, minced garlic and lemon juice - mix thoroughly
- toast bread if desired
- slather on goat cheese mixture
- lay on spinach
- lay on pepper
- lay on portabellos

broiler roasting peppers
- remove top of pepper by cutting downward at the crown and cutting around the stem (like a pumpkin) - pop the top out and the placenta and seeds should follow (slice long-ways down the side of the pepper if it doesn't come out easily)
- cut pepper in half, place open side down in the broiler set to 500°F or oven broiler setting
- broil for up to 15 min, keep an eye and remove when most of the pepper is blackened
- remove and let cool under a paper towel
- remove skin, pat dry

gas stove-top roasting
- turn on burner to med-low
- place whole pepper on burner's grate
- turn with grilling tongs until most of the pepper's skin is blackened
- remove and let cool under a paper towel
- remove skin, pat dry

Stuffed Eggplant

stuffed eggplant:
1 eggplant
1 lb fresh mozzarella
3 tomatoes
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes
Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic, diced
fresh basil bunch
salt/pepper

2 methods:
1.    slice eggplant long-ways in strips ~2" wide and the full length (mandolin works, or mad knife fileting skills)
       - warm in oven (300°F) just until soft and flimsy
       - slice mozz and 2 of the tomatoes, tear off several large basil leaves
       - lay warmed eggplant strips in 2s in a cross, lay 1 slice tomato, mozz and large basil leaf in the middle
       -  fold over bottom-most strip, then fold over the other strip to make a square packet
       - flip upside down, put back in oven for 5 min (optional)

2.     slice eggplant in medallions, leave raw
        - slice 2 tomatoes, mozz and tear off several large basil leaves
        - stack slices: eggplant-tomato-mozz-basil-eggplant
        - leave raw or heat in 300°F oven just until cheese starts to warm (fresh mozz gets watery if melted)

top with Relish:
(i don't recommend a food processor, it breakes down the tomatoes too much and waters down the flavor)
- dice 1 tomato, garlic, and mince sun-dried tomatoes and 3 large basil leaves
- put in medium bowl, add balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper
- mash with wooden spoon or tenderizer

Veggie Tomato Soup

24oz creamy tomato soup
12oz roasted red pepper soup
1/2 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1 chopped zucchini
1/2 pint chopped mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic
1 chopped tomato
1/4 cup slivered sun-dried tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 lb raw shrimp - skinned/deveined
Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp chili powder
stale baguette/ stale sourdough bread

Rinse and chop all veggies and set aside. Heat large pot and add soups and stock. Once simmering, add chopped veggies and olive oil. Heat sauté pan, add enough oil to coat pan - once hot, add shrimp : pink shrimp on both sides, then add to soup pot. Simmer just until all ingredients are hot ~15 min. Salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat, cut stale bread into 1" cubes. Dish soup and add bread cubes on top to serve.

Raw Veggies I

raw veggie dip

3 raw Brussels sprouts

3 green onions

1/2 avocado

2 garlic cloves

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 Tbsp grape seed oil

1/2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

salt

steak seasoning



put all ingredients into food processor

[to prep avocado: slice in half around pit, twist the two halves, use spoon to remove flesh from skin]

season to taste

eat with naan, rice crackers, or celery

or leave corsely processed and serve as a slaw

Preparing Veggies I

simple salads: dark leaf base, 2+ tasty veggies, protein / starch, acid, and oil

here:
baby spinach
1/2 bell pepper-julienne
1/2 onion- sliced
toss with 1/2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar and 1Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, pinch sea salt/cracked pepper
topped with roasted red potato and white cheddar wafer

to make cheddar wafers: heat small non-stick pan to low-med, lay single layer of shredded white cheddar. allow to melt, use paper towel to soak up extra oil. once it can be moved with a spatchula, flip for 10 seconds, remove from pan to paper towel, and shape quickly while warm

Preparing Veggies II

easy tasty veggies... if they were this good when i was a kid, i woulda eaten 'em

Green Beans

4 Red Potatoes

1 lemon cut in wedges

1 TBSP butter

Blanch a hand full of whole green beans :

- use beans at room temp

- bring pot of water to a boil

- add green beans and boil until they are neon green ~5 min, quickly strain

- cut red potatoes in ~1" cubes
- heat non-stick pan med-heat, melt 1 TBSP butter
- add lemon wedges and potatoes - once potatoes start to brown, add blanched green beans
- toss in the pan until potatoes are just browned ~3-5min - don't need to be cooked through, the raw crunch adds to the texture
- pinch salt/pepper