Foodcation - Portland, OR

So I went on a foodcation - to vegetarian food heaven, also known as Portland, Oregon. Never has it been so easy to be a soy free vegan (well mostly vegan). Everywhere you they have vegan options, gluten free options, etc. Even my four travel companions, all meat eaters, were happy with the vegan options that I purchased and the few vegan restaurants that we went to.

Voodoo Doughnuts - Although I was underwhelmed by their regular chocolate and maple, the vegan peanut butter oreo doughnut was freaking AMAZING!

Prasad - This is a vegan, raw, restaurants that is next to a yoga studio. They have cooked and raw food all of which was amazing.

Cocotte - So if you want a fancy restaurant this is the one. They have a couple of vegetarian options. The vegan option, a stuffed squash was just okay, but the prices were not too bad and the meat eaters in the group were obsessed with their food.

Petunia's Pies - Vegan cakes and pies, lots of gluten free options and they all taste amazing!

Everywhere you go in Portland there are food carts, so we ate at a ton of those. The above are essentially the only sit down restaurants that we tried. The food carts pretty much all had vegan options as well. It has never been so easy eating green!

Olive Oils

I don't venture into expensive shops very often. However in both Sacramento and San Diego, I found myself being walked into Olive Oil boutiques by the husband; forced to taste quite a few of them. As weird as drinking olive oil and balsamic vinegar still is to me, we did find a few diamonds.

Mix up your regular meals by adding flavored olive oils --> jalapeno olive oil adds a zing to a quesadilla or grilled cheese sandwich. You can also use it in stir fry. Be careful not to add too much -- it is a very thin line.

Create a salad dressing with raspberry balsamic vinegar, or use a lemon balsamic in your fajitas.

These little things give old dishes a fresh spin.

Yellow Dal

It is a tie between whether red or yellow lentils are my favorite. Therefore everytime I order dal, I specifically ask for the yellow lentils. Here is my version cooked to order

1 cup yellow lentils

1 can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 bunch green onions
2 tbspns minced garlic
1 teaspoon coriander
3/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 cup cilantro
1 tablespoon vegan butter (or regular if you prefer)
1 teaspoon salt

2 cups water

Add butter and onion into pot - saute. Then add balance of the ingredients (other than cilantro) and cook until the lentils are tender and they have a creamy constancy... about 25 min. Add cilantro and cook for about 5 min-10 min. 

Say Yum!  

Another Lentil Soup....

With my new found lifestyle (reference diet blog below), I am trying to make more and more recipes that are both grain free and dairy free. After 2 weeks I had my first starchy veggie and added a sweet potato to the mix. Here is the recipe that I made so that I could still enjoy my Indian food...

Add 2 cups chopped leeks, 1 peeled and chopped sweet potato, olive oil, and pepper to pot. Sautee about 10 min. Add 2 small tomatoes diced, 1 tspn ginger, 1 tspn tumeric, 1 tspn cumin, 1 tspn coriander, 1/2 tspn cinnamon, 1/4 tspn cayenne and saute for 5 min.
Add 4 cups (1 box) of veggie broth and 4 cups water. Heat on high for 5 min.
Then add 2 cups of red lentils - cook until tender (about 20 min).

Say Yum!

Craving Something Sweet?

I had my first craving after 10 days of being on the cleanse. I wanted something sweet, but didnt want to eat processed sugar. So I took a banana, took 1 serving of organic peanut butter (made with just peanuts and salt) and microwaved it for 1 min, mixed it all up = YUM!! totally hit the spot.

7 Food Cleanse and Recipes

I have not posted in awhile because I have been in a food rut. However, I started a 7 food cleanse that I saw in a magazine, gave it my own Pamela twist, and have come up with recipes based on it. 

The cleanse focuses on eating 7 foods :  broccoli (which also includes kale and Brussels sprouts so really is 3 foods in 1), lentils, spinach, avocado, almonds, beets, and blueberries. All of these have various nutrients that allow your body to cleanse toxins. You are allowed to add spices (including onions, garlic and the regular ones you think of) and olive oil. You should eat only these foods for at least 3 days (7 if you can do it) and then for the rest of the month only eat really clean foods - nonstarchy veggies (no potatoes including sweet potatoes, no corn, etc), fruit (not dried though as those are highly concentrated in sugar), and add in quinoa and brown rice as your good carbs. Under no circumstances are you to eat: sugar, processed foods, alcohol, caffeine, dairy, eggs or other meat products, or gluten during this time. After 30 days you can slowly introduce those back into your diet - but pay attention to how they make you feel. You do not want to eat anything that makes your body feel terrible, so remember to stay away from junk food for the most part even after the cleanse. Your body should feel good by the third day. I am on day 4 and it has been easy so far. 

So Recipes:

Very Berry Smoothie - 

1 cup almond milk

1 cup water

1 cup frozen kale

2 cups frozen blueberries

(I also added an Emergen-C vitamin packet) 

Blend and Enjoy! 

Kale Lemon Salad- amounts depend on how much salad you want to eat. 

Kale, green onions, avocado, 1 tbspn olive oil, and juice of 1 lemon 

Veggie Curry 

Either make or buy vegan daal (I prefer the yellow lentils. They typically use some butter in Daal so if you do not buy a vegan one, then it will likely have some butter, which is not on the cleanse, but up to you how strict you want to do it) .

Saute broccoli, kale, and brussel sprouts for 5 min, add 1 cup daal for flavoring, and then saute for 2-5 more mins until veggies are ready to eat. 

Broccoli Mustard Salad - again amounts vary by how much you want to eat/make

Blanche broccoli for about 5 min. Then add green onions (I used 3 white and green), avocado, and then for the dressing mix dijon mustard and olive oil. 

SAY YUM -- I have not been hungry at all and I have had no cravings since the 2nd day (dont know how long that will last though lol). I ate a bunch of junk on mother's day and my daughter's birthday and decided I needed a nice cleanse. I always do one for a month during the summer anyways, and this one sounded right up my alley since I already eat all of the allowed foods in bulk (except for beets - I hate beets). 

Vegan mac n cheese

So the great part about having local and organic produce from a co-op is that it makes you think outside the box when you cook because you get random ingredients. The down side is when it gets to a season where you are literally getting the same food every week. That has been my problem for the past few months, which is why I have not been too excited to post. I feel like I have been making the same food over and over again. However, I did play a truck on the hubby and make a vegan mac n cheese- nope, not with vegan cheese, but with nutritional yeast. He was fooled and told me to make it again (of course until I disclosed to him how I made it). Here is the recipe.

1 box of your favorite noodles - I prefer macaroni
1/3 cup of flour
3 cups almond milk
1/2 cup of nutritional yeast (yellow powder you can find in the Whole Foods bulk bin aisle)
2 tbspns of tomato sauce
1 tbspn lemon juice

Say yum!

I dont want to cook.,,

I've been in a food funk lately. I do not want to cook, and when I do cook I have been making the same few items. Part of this is because I have been super busy with work, and part of this is also because my family was hit by a plague. The flu, followed immediately by a cold, which for the baby was followed by an ear infection.

Well it is time to try to get out of my funk. So a quick look at what I actually have in the fridge led to salad... but hey I tried to mix it up a bit.

Spinach
White Mushrooms
Newman's light honey mustard dressing
pine nuts

It may be an easy salad, but it made me say yum!

Lumpia

So I dont know how traditional my lumpia recipe is, but it sure tastes great!

1 cup chopped onion
1 can of french cut green beans unsalted, drained, and pat as dry as possible
1 cup carrots
1 cup cabbage
3 cloves garlic
pepper to taste
1 tbpsn soy sauce
1 cup water

Sautee the onions and pepper with the soy sauce. Once tender, drain the oil and add water to boil. Then add the carrots, and cover for 5 min. Add green beans and cabbage and simmer for 5 min,
Let cool...
Once cool take egg roll wrappers (usually sold in batches of 12) and load with the veggies, being sure not to overfill - usually leave about an inch at each end. Tuck in the ends, moisten with water to seal the edges.

Add 1/2 inch depth of veggie oil to your pan and heat for about 5 min. Then place in rolls and fry until brown - rotate so each side is browned. Drain all the oil. Pat off oil with paper towels and let cool. Then say Yum!