Splendid Sustenance
June 30, 2008 at 7:21 am · Filed under Random
Since I am posting so little recently I figured it was only fair to join in with Swistles Pay It Forward contest. Here’s what you do, just leave a comment about the last book you read and how you liked it. Easy huh? In return you will win a fabulous prize, once I figure it out. Come back here Friday to see who won. Oh and you sort of have to have a blog to enter seeing as the idea is to “Pay it Forward”. As Swistle states: 3) Each winner will get a gift in the mail. Each winner will then continue on the grand tradition, holding his or her own Pay it Forward contest. Typically such a contest starts with a photo of the received loot, so we can all snoop nosily.
And for complete randomness have a picture of a Fajita!
June 20, 2008 at 9:32 pm · Filed under Condiments, Easy Peasy, Irritation
It has been exactly one week since I weaned my youngest and I have been taking a wild emotional roller coaster, wilder than when I was knocked up. I now realize just how important that calming breastfeeding hormones is….”Paging patience, has anyone seen patience?” Cough.Sputter.Spit. Or something. Everything is grating on me, not a peach of a situation. So when life gives you sour tomatillas make Salsa Verde! I adapted this from Veganomicon, it turned out fantastic. I made a slightly different version of the polenta casserole to pair with it.
10 Tomatillos - husked, cleaned, diced
1 tsp olive oil
3 garlic cloves minced
1 hot pepper, seeded and minced (I used an Anaheim only because there were no hot peppers)
1 1/2cups vegetable broth
juice of 1 lime
1 cup loosely packed cilantro
salt to taste
In a small pan over low heat, saute garlic and pepper in oil until fragrant, about 3 minutes.
Add the tomatillos, saute until the tomatillos begin to soften and release moisture, about 5 minutes. Add the broth, bring to a slow boil, and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat, let cool until it is not steaming, then add the cilantro, lime juice and salt to taste. Pour in a blender or use an immersion blender and blend.
Mmmm…
This would be good on so many things, I’m not even sure where to start. So I won’t, I’m irritatted just thinking about it.
…..
I wanted to tell you quickly that I am reading a really interesting book on nutriton “Breaking the Food Seduction” by Neal D. Bernard, M.D. You might remember him from Super Size Me if you saw it. Anyway, it really is changing the way I see food. I am looking at food as fuel instead of something that fills the hole and tastes good. Interesting stuff, definately worth seeing if you library has it.
June 13, 2008 at 9:15 am · Filed under Photos
This is what I am reduced to, my favorite pans. There are so many changes going on here at home for me personally. I am on a new food/weight loss journey, I am weaning my youngest son, I am actually not getting out of bed at night for said son. I’m sure there is more. My brain feels a bit funny, sort of fuzzy and grasp-y. I feel like I need to find and fill a little niche somewhere, but I have no idea where/what that is. I told Pete last weekend I needed a project. I just can’t figure out if that project is building a chair, cleaning the baseboards, reading War and Peace, doing an oil painting, or solving the mystery of Amy Whinehouse. I am scattered to say the least. For now you can feast your eyes on what’s going on in my yard via my macro lens…
Tada!
June 10, 2008 at 12:44 pm · Filed under Easy Peasy
Things might be a bit sporadic around here, I am trying to find a balance with my new diet, I am having to come up with new ideas and I just haven’t made anything worth blogging yet. I am re-thinking my homemade bread, I need to get the sugar out and increase the whole wheat flour. This is proving to be tricky, rest assured I’m on it. In the meantime I thought I would share this quick and easy quesadilla I made trying to satiate a craving for something fattening.
Thinly slice a sweet potato and throw them in a hot skillet sprayed with oil. Cook them until brown and sprinkle them with a little garlic salt.
Take a tortilla and spread a little bit of cream cheese then beans of your choice and top with the cooked sweet potatoes…
Fold over and cook until warm.
This can obviously be easily veganized by nixing the cream cheese. After eating it I realized I would not have missed the cream cheese at all. It was rich and satisfying and I actually felt a little too full after eating it which is a major plus.
So if you don’t hear from me for a bit, not to worry, I am resetting my brain.
June 4, 2008 at 8:31 pm · Filed under Easy Peasy
Make it into polenta casserole.
Drats! there should be cheese in that picture. All you do is layer all the ingredients in a greased 13X9 casserole dish and bake it at 375˚F until it’s done, as in bubbly and melty.
I layered like so:
1. Sliced then broken up polenta log
2. Leftover Mexican Millet, you can add the leftover of choice here
3. One can drained Muir Glen Fire Roasted tomato, or any can of diced or fresh tomato will do
4. One can green chili
5. Juice of half a lime drizzled over everything
6. Two cans refried beans
7. Grated cheddar cheese
It should resemble this to some degree
(Forgive my pictures, the batteries in my camera were dying which makes everything wonky)
And see it all melty and yummy…
…………..
For those of you interested in weight loss, dieting, etc. I joined the on-line WeightWatchers Flex Plan program. I don’t have the time needed to see real results from working out so I knew I needed to instill some sort of diet plan (shudder). I am incredibly anti-diet, so very much so it makes me want to smash my head on a rock thinking about it. I absolutely love food, it is such a simple pleasure why on earth would I want to give up any foods I love? I researched a bunch of different weight loss meal planning programs and this one seemed to fit me best. I love that you can still eat everything you love as long as you keep it in check. Total plus for me. What I have learned these last few days is that I have been grossly over eating, oh my god. I imagine I will be hungry for a couple weeks while my body adjusts, but worth it to lose this 15 extra pounds I am carrying around and just eat healthier in general. I still manage to get a few fitness DVDs in here and there so hopefully I will see some muscle definition in this lifetime. If you have done any of the WeightWatcher plans I would love to hear your experience, and I will definately take any suggestions on good DVD workouts.
May 23, 2008 at 8:53 pm · Filed under Cookies, Easy Peasy, Sweets, Veganomicon
It refuses to warm up here in the northwest but that isn’t stopping me from making ice tea and pasta salad, I sure as shit am not sharing with mother nature however, she gets NOTHING. I cracked open about 20 cookbooks today to see the different ideas for macaroni salad. Most of them I wouldn’t touch with a 40 foot fork, but I was able to piece meal one together that turned out really yummy. This is close to the one in Veganomicon but I nixed the radishes and sugar, plus they use way more vinegar and I am just not down with that.
10oz bag macaroni
few tablespoons white vinegar
1/4 cup Veganaise or regular Mayonnaise
1-3 tsp Agave nectar (go easy here to start, I only used 1 tsp because I don’t like things sweet) you can also use sugar but you will need more, maybe a tablespoon to start
2 carrots, shredded
1/2-1 cup fresh or thawed frozen peas
salt and pepper to taste
Start some water boiling. Meanwhile in a large bowl mix the vinegar, Veganaise, agave nectar. Add the carrots, peas and 1/4 tsp salt or to taste. Boil the macaroni until it’s tender and then drain and rinse until cool. Mix the macaroni in, cover and put in the refrigerator to chill. Mix it a few times while it’s in there so the dressing saturates everything evenly.
This is VERY light, not heavy like many macaroni salads. The flavors are subtle and I noticed I could even taste the pasta which is unlike most dressing dominated pasta salads, that was a huge plus for me. I could see this being good with some sort of simple dried fruit, like currants, in it too.
Now for dessert. I made these amazing cookies the other day, they are sin. I tried to veganize them by using apple sauce in place of the eggs, they tasted amazing but they spread a bit more than I would like so I need to adjust something. I am pretty sure it’s the fat (I used shortening) that makes cookies spread, so that might be the problem and not the apple sauce. I’ll try again and get back to you. Feel free to throw me any advice.
I felt that my thighs were not big enough tonight and sandwiched some Rice Dream in between two of these bad boys and ATE.IT.ALL. Yes I did thank you very much.
May 22, 2008 at 8:53 pm · Filed under Books, Random
Having two new books by two of your favorite authors lined up next.
I am currently reading The Book Thief. Have any of you read this book? It is supposedly for young adults which I don’t understand why at all, it definitely does not read like young adult fiction. I am half way through it and with each page turned I find myself more in awe.
I can’t believe I have 2 books I am dying to read lined up, that so rarely happens. What’s even stranger is having had such incredible luck with all the books I have been reading lately, I can’t remember the last book that wasn’t a page turner. I imagine I have just jinxed myself, crap.
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