5 year old approved Corn Soup

While on my Unprocessed journey, I discovered that gluten inflames my psoriasis (skin condition) and so that makes me a soy/eggplant/pine nut/gluten free mostly vegan (always vegetarian). This means I have been eating a lot of the same dishes over and over again (Stir fried quinoa, butternut squash soup, and the paella (kinda) recipes have been on repeat for about a year. My goal for 2017 is to try new recipes though, the first of which is a recipe that my 5 year old and I put together recently. We call it corn stew.

10 Brussels sprouts
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
4 red potatoes
1 can organic black beans
1/2 box of veggie broth
1 small can corn
green onions to taste (I use about 1/2 a bunch)
to taste - oregano, basil, thyme, and rosemary (I am very liberal with the spices)

My 5 year old loved it so much she at it for lunch AND dinner all week!

Craving Cookies during Passover? I've got you covered

Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies....

1 cup of peanut butter (I use the just peanuts and salt ones, no sugar. You can "make" your own at Whole Foods or Safeway, or buy Trader Joe's or some other brands) 

1/3 cup of raw agave nectar dark
1 tablespoon flax seed mill (I just used the scoop that comes with my flax seed protein powder).

Mix all ingredients together until there is no flax seed mill powder lumps and it all looks like wet peanut butter. Use a tablespoon measuring aid to scoop out 1 tablespoon cookies (should make about a dozen) onto a cookie sheet (I use olive oil to make them not stick), and then flatten the cookies with a fork and bake on 300 for about 10 minutes (check them at 8, as these burn very easily so keep an eye on them). Let them cool for about 20 minutes and you should be able to scoop them off and eat them like a regular cookie without them falling apart.

Almost Raw Salad

This week on the unprocessed journey is a recipe for a summer salad. My co-op box came with red cabbage, corn, and cherry tomatoes so I mixed them all together for a light and tasty dish.

1 pint of cherry tomatoes
1 piece of corn
1 cup of black beans
1 cup of diced red cabbage
balsamic vinegar, pepper,and olive oil to taste
squeeze 1/2 a lemon

This is a light and delicious salad. Some hot peppers, green onions, and/or cilantro would also be great additions (none ready in my garden at the moment unfortunately).

I ate pretty much the entire dish in one sitting!

Apple Plum Bread- Unprocessed

Last weeks muffins were loved by all of the adults in the house but still did not impress the 4 year old, so this week I thought I would attempt something a little less dense. 

3 cups Bob's organic 10 grain flour

1 cup diced carrots 

1 cup diced plums (I used dried plums) 

4 packets of Organic applesauce (a only apples applesauce will due) - probably about 1 1/2 cups

2 tspn cinnamon

1 tspn salt 

1/2 cup vegetable oil 

1/2 cup almond milk 

1/2 cup agave

1 large spoonful of honey 

1 egg 

1 tspn baking powder

I scooped it into muffins so that it would cook faster and be travel friendly, but this definitely tastes more like a bread than a muffin. They came out incredibly fluffy, not dense at all (at least fresh out of the oven). 

Lentil Soup

This is a recipe I have been making for years, but honestly I am not sure if I have posted on this blog before. I havent made it in at least a year, but thought this unprocessed challenge was the perfect time to resurrect it.

Saute 1 large potato and 3 green onions with olive oil for about 10 minutes.
Add in 1 box of veggie broth
Add 1 cup of red lentils (uncooked)
Add in herbs - I use basil, oregano, thyme, and rosemary from my garden - dont be shy with them.
Add in assorted veggies (I used zucchini, heirloom tomatoes, stewed tomatoes, kale, cauliflower, carrots, and bell peppers).
If you use a leafy green (collard greens, kale, spinach, etc.) add those in the last 5 min rotation.

Stir every 5 minutes for 20 minutes and saw YUM!

I've outdone myself with these Unprocesed muffins!

2 1/2 cups of Bob's Red mill 10 grain stone ground flours (100% wheat, rye, soy, flaxseed, millet, triticale, oat, corn, barley, and brown rice)

1/2 cup agave nectar (I like the fair trade organic type)
1 large dollup of honey (I love the Trader Joe's organic raw honey)
1 tspn baking soda
1 tspn baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 tspn salt
3/4 cup almond milk
1 cup shredded carrot
1 cup raisins (O organic has great ones)
2 eggs

All items were organic or non-gmo (except for the baking soda and baking powder not sure about those)

Mix all ingredients together, bake at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.

So for those new to 100% whole grains, they still may feel the bite that grains have, but for those of us that eat pretty pure already - these will definitely surpass all expectations!

Unprocessed challenge

There is a book by Megan Kimble, called Unprocessed. She deems that she can eat anything with ingredients that she could feasibly (even if time consuming) make herself at home. That means that she considers whole grains that are milled, cooked veggies, etc all to be unprocessed because with the right amount of time, she could make these items. Other items like white flour or processed sugar she could not make at home, she would need to make in a lab. (White flour strips out the nutrients and then adds them back in and even bleaches the flour by adding chlorine!). 100% Honey or agave nectar can be used in the place of sugar.

Only on Chapter 3 of the book, I am attempting the challenge. I am pulling out the handy juice maker, bread maker, steamer, and rice cooker (for quinoa and brown rice) and will be baking /making new dishes weekly that fit these requirements.

The hardest part is that you have to check the ingredients very closely. My go-to corn tortillas (Mission thin tortillas because thinner = less calories and carbs) have more than corn, water, and acid. Apparently they also have benzoic acid and amylase, both suspect ingredients not only for someone eating unprocessed, but for all people who don't like odd food additives. Benzoic acid is "harmless" in small quantities but poisonous if overexposed. Supposedly humans would need a lot of it to be poisoned, but even in lower doses it is known to cause rashes and asthma. 

So off to the store I go to get whole food ingredients and start making recipes. This week I will be trying out a few bread recipes. 

Aloo Gobi.. kind of

I am a busy lady, and like all busy ladies, I often find myself cooking without having shopped. I just open my cupboard and fridge and come up with an idea. The other day, I felt like indian food. I looked in the fridge  -- I had both cauliflower and potatoes and thought - Aloo gobi!

1 head of cauliflower
6 fingerling potatoes
Dash of dried ginger
1 tablespoon coriander
1/2 tspn tumeric
2 cups water
1 can rotel
1/2 tspn cumin

Chop and roast potatoes in oven for 20 minutes.
Saute with olive oil the cauliflower for about 5 min.
Add potatoes after being roasted, to saute pan
add other ingredients except water. Toss so spices cover everything
Saute for 5 mins.
Add water - cover, mixing every 5 min. Do this for about 20 mins

Say Yum!

Lentil Pasta

So personally I thought it tasted good, but some in my family felt that the texture was a little weird.

1 Shallot
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 zucchini
1 can of diced tomato
fresh oregano, rosemary, sage, and basil to taste (we like it herbie so we used a ton)

Sautee veggies...
Separately cook lentils (I used 1/2 cup of red lentils)
Drain and then add to the veggies
Toss in with cooked pasta..


say yum

Why Yes I did put a butternut squash in my smoothie!

I tend to do juice cleanses two times a year. I was looking through various juices and saw one that had butternut squash in it. Having some cooked and left over butternut squash in my fridge at the moment and it being almost October, I immediately thought of PUMPKIN.. and so the following smoothie was born:

1/4 of a small to medium butternut squash. I would equate this to about 1 cup cooked (packed down to measure).
1 complete apple (peeled)
2 ounces of almond milk
1 cup water
two shakes of the cinnamon
I also added one serving of my unflavored protein/vegan nutrition powder. (I use naturade soy free vegan protein powder)
If you have pumpkin pie spice, I would suggest also adding a pinch of that to it.

Tasted like pumpkin pie = D
Feel free to add frozen bananas to give it a more frozen texture.

If you like pumpkin season as much as I do, then be prepared to say yum!

Quick Spicy Veggie Soup

Last night I made a new twist on an old favorite. I took a can of diced tomatoes, a can of rotel, and added assorted veggies (zucchini, bell peppers, potatoes, cilantro, and beans). Squeezed in half a lemon and bam 15 min later I had soup.

Saute potatoes and garlic for about 5 min.
add veggies and cans (do not drain).  - Cook 10 more minutes.

Now I like to serve this with a cheese quesadilla --one tortilla with 1/3 cup of cheese. (I use the Trader Joe's brown rice tortilla) and grill stove top. Each side grill for about 2-3mins.

Say Yum!

Banana Ice Cream

I am one of those, "I'll believe it when I see it," (or in this case taste it) type people. There seems to be a craze right now of banana ice cream. So I froze about 5 bananas (pre chopped), put them in my vitamix (do small amounts at a time because the banana gets stuck under the blades), scooped it out and mixed it with some caramel (Coldstone style), and bam - banana ice cream that totally hit the ice cream spot without a bunch of fat and calories. I will totally make this again. I will say that the bananas that I used were super soft/ripe. I would think you need them to be for a natural sweetness.

Mixed Veggies - Indian inspired

So I am a fan of the whatever is in the fridge type recipe. You come home tired, you open the fridge, and you see what veggies you have and magically turn that into a quick meal.

What I used: Turnips (I didnt have potatoes and this is a lower carb alternative anyways), carrots, swiss chard, and cauliflower.

Take garlic to taste, and sautee the turnips and carrots with olive oil (I used a jalepeno pepper olive oil. You can just add the pepper instead).

After they soften add the cauliflower, sautee about 2 min,
In a bowl mix - 1/4 tspn turmeric, 1 tspn cumin, 1 tspn coriander, 1/2 cup water
Then add to the sizzling veggies. Also add the swiss chard - mix, and steam about another 5 min.

Indian inspired, healthy, all veggie, satisfying mixed veggie meal. Say Yum!

Vegan Paella (kinda)

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I saw a vegetarian recipe for paella and decided to give it my own twist. It was wonderful! 

Take olive oil, green onions (I used two, including the green and white parts), 1 red bell pepper, 1 green bell pepper, a tblspn of garlic, and one box of veggie broth. Bring to boil then add 2/3 a cup of lentils and 2/3 a cup of quinoa. At same time add 1 tsp of saffron threads. Cook for about 10 min then bring down to a simmer. Add broccoli (I used two large heads), and 1 bunch of kale. Cook until the lentils and quinoa are tender (about another 10-15 min). 

Say yum! 

Vegan Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

I tried about four different versions of this, which all tasted great, but fell apart. Finally I found an egg replacement that worked!

1 cup of peanut butter (I use the organic, no sugar - just peanuts stuff. Trader Joe's has a great one)
1/3 cup of raw agave nectar dark
1 tablespoon flax seed mill (I just used the scoop that comes with my flax seed protein powder).

Mix all ingredients together until there is no flax seed mill powder lumps and it all looks like wet peanut butter. Use a tablespoon measuring aid to scoop out 1 tablespoon cookies (should make about a dozen) onto a cookie sheet (I use olive oil to make them not stick), and then flatten the cookies with a fork and bake on 300 for about 10 minutes (I started with 5, then checked them at 8, then checked them and took them out at 10). Let them cool for about 20 minutes and you should be able to scoop them off and eat them like a regular cookie without them falling apart.

Tacos

So I am back to doing the grain free (although it is debatable that corn is a fruit, a veggie, or a grain), dairy free, vegan, sugar free diet (actual sugar not stuff like agave and honey). It is way easier than you would think. I do this for a few months a couple times a year. It makes me feel great and helps me lose a few after the holiday pounds.

Today for lunch: veggie tacos. These are some of the purest ingredients and some of the best tacos you'll find.

1 zucchini, 1/4 of a bell pepper, 1 handful of spinach, 2 carrots
to taste: garlic, pepper, olive oil, and jalapeno pepper (if you have a jalapeno flavored olive oil a drop of that will work best).
1/2 cup cooked of pinto beans.
3 corn tortillas (I used the Mission tortilla thins so I get a better calorie bang for my buck).

Saute the veggies, beans, and to-taste items for about 7 min.
Cook your tortillas separately. I get them almost burnt
Add a slice of avocado or guacamole to each taco ... and say yum!

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!