frozen sweet corn

Wow, is this ever good! This weekend, a friend of mine offered some of her frozen corn as a snack and it was good. Since we only have 1 week left of sweet corn at my local corn stand, I decided to freeze some of my own. I blanched the ears of corn (cooked in boiling water for a minute), then scraped off the kernels, and froze--super easy.

A knife would work, but I happen to have a corn scraper, shown at left in the picture (got it at Williams-Sonoma). At right is my bag of corn. This was about 6 cobs. It made about 2.5-3 lbs of corn. When you eat this straight from the bag out of the freezer, it is like candy! Wow. I hope the genetic engineering of this corn hasn't made it so sweet as to be unhealthy.

aug. 31

brekky: veggie juice. this time I tried the one with the cucumber in it (from Chef AJ). It was good but not quite as good as the other one. I also had a small pear.

lunch: a few carrots and celery, some of the weekend's beans, greens & veggie bowl, 2 corn on the cob + avocado butter. snacked on corn that I was prepping for freezing.

dinner: rest of the beans, greens & veggie bowl to which I added fresh-frozen corn. small musk melon, raw carrot, some sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. okay, I thought I was done with dinner at this point, but then someone I was corresponding to gave me the idea to have peas and corn, and I couldn't resist, so had a bowl of my fresh-frozen corn and frozen peas--heated in the microwave. It was yummy.

aug 30

I was afraid to eat at first.

I brought one of my frozen veggie juices with me as I was gone from 8 am - 5 pm. I started drinking it at about 1 pm. finished it about 4 pm. It was the perfect thing. And it tasted really good too. Now I'm not sure which one it was, as I made two different kinds yesterday. I don't think it had the cucumber in it. So I think it was the lettuce, kale, collards, orange, and apple one. I was surprised at how good it was. I thought I was going to have to force down anything with juiced kale and collards. of course, the apple and orange juice helped.

When I got home I was hungry and ate a normal meal. That was 2 corn on the cob (only 8 days left of fresh corn), avocado butter, a small bowl of yesterday's veggies, beans & greens dish, and half an orange. It was all delicious, a further reminder that there is no reason to stray from this. I am not deprived of anything with this diet!

yesterday's splurge

Well, I did get sick from yesterday's splurge. ugh. I really thought I wasn't overdoing it. I had 4 treats, which is a lot, but I didn't eat a lot of other food. Well, it was awful, and I hope I never touch that stuff again. Today's church service was pretty relevant to this. The title was "Positive Thinking. How to be the person your dog thinks you are." I love that title. Here are two useful points I remember: There are no mistakes, only lessons. and A lesson is repeated until it is learned. I do not want to repeat this lesson. Also when I was in the midst of my sickness, I was thinking, I've poisoned my body. I don't want to do this to my body anymore. Yesterday I said I didn't really regret my splurge. But that was before I got sick. Okay, onwards. I am so grateful to have found this healthy way of eating, and I hope I have finally gotten beyond the social influences even if they are ubiquitous. Our service ended with a quote from Muhammad Ali: "I wish people would love everybody else the way they love me. It would be a better world." I love that quote too. It was a very fun day. and I'm moving on...

weekend cooking

I had fun in the kitchen this evening, spent about 3 hours picking greens, washing, chopping, juicing, and cooking. First I made some vegetable juices that I froze. I got these from the Fuhrman forums:

The first was from Chef AJ, modified slightly based on what I had and wanted: 4 oz kale, 4 oz collard greens, 2 cucumbers, 3 small apples, and juice of one lime and orange. Everything but the lime and orange came from my garden or a local farm.

Next was from another member of the forums (I don't recall but I'll try to look it up). This is called green lemonade, only I didn't have a lemon. So I used juice of an orange, 3 small apples, some salad greens (2-3 oz was all I had), some kale and collard greens.

Between these, I made 5 bottles filled to 10 oz with juice, that I froze.

Next I made a giant vegetables, beans, and greens dish. This dish was along the lines of this one. I must have had a couple of lbs of kale and collard greens still left after the juicing. I chopped these in the food processor. Then there was eggplant, 2 zucchini (green and yellow), mushroom, 2 onions, 2 cans of tomatoes (from the garden, yum). I cooked these up together in the pressure cooker for 3 minutes. I added lots of chopped parsley, basil and swiss chard and let that cook in the hot pan--plenty of heat to cook as it cooled. I cooked cauliflower separately for 2 minutes, and then blended that with 1/2 cup almonds and 1/3 cup hemp and some juice from the canned tomatoes. This made a creamy sauce which I added. Oh, yeah, and then there were the beans. Earlier today I cooked up red and white kidney beans (2 cups dry, so probably 5 cups after cooking). So this is your classic Fuhrman dish with tons of greens, beans, veggies, nuts and seeds. I offered housemate a bite even though she doesn't like zucchini. But you can hardly taste that with all the other flavors, and she had a couple of small bowls. Here's what it looks like. You do tend to get greens all over your teeth while eating it.

I poured 2 generous cups into each of 8 bowls. I left 2 out and froze the others. So there will be plenty to eat over the next week!

aug. 29

Well, I finally gave into my baked goods cravings. I'm not sure that I regret it because of the lessons learned. It wasn't so good and I don't feel so good either. I'm bound to learn my lesson sometime, if not this time. The last time I strayed from healthy foods was May 10, I think. So that's pretty good, 3.5 months. Hopefully I'll last longer next time. So I wanted a taste of the 4 things I usually give in to: a semi-healthy muffin and cookie (whole grains), a totally unhealthy chocolate cupcake and chocolate chip cookie. Here's my analysis:

healthy cookie: bland, stale

muffin: bland, but fresh

cupcake, cake part, bla, frosting, sickeningly sweet

chocolate chip cookie, overly greasy and kind of gross, and too sweet.

Here was a valuable lesson learned: I thought the desserts we had at the Health Getaway were better than these! So maybe next time I want to splurge, I should just plan to make a Fuhrman dessert to take to a potluck and have some for my own treat. Also, plain old fruit is better too.

Effect on my body: the sugar went straight to my brain. I was hyper most of the day after that. I see why kids get hyperactive. I still feel kind of yucky.

Anyway, besides that I ate 2 corns on the cob and sliced tomato at lunch. And I did a lot of cooking this evening. I snacked a bit while cooking, and sampled the final results, but didn't eat too much. I'm a little worried I'm going to get sick. I'm feeling bloated and gassy. My stomach is gurgling a lot. I haven't had any oil since the last time I splurged (May 10 I guess) so my stomach is probably going, what the heck is this stuff?

aug. 28

late brekky: veggie juice, ripe colorado peach (good).

lunch: 2 corn on the cob + avocado butter, cherry tomatoes from the garden (yum), some blueberries & bananas, some beans. oh, and then I had to have the watermelon. I overate but I can't resist delicious fruit.

dinner: I was a bit rushed and went for the fruit again. 1/2 musk melon. another peach. a delicious ripe local pear. more watermelon (local, too good to resist). a bowl of beans. and snacked on the goodies while preparing housemate's smoothies (bananas, spinach, nuts & seeds, frozen fruit). and a couple of carrots. overate to the point of feeling really bloated. I'm bad. the fresh local ripe fruit is just soooo gooood. I will have to just buy less.

good beans

These are beans a visitor would love, at least the one who at my house today. that's because they have carrot juice in them.

Ingredients:

1-3 cups dried beans, soak over night.

1-2 onions

1-5 cups veggie juice, I used carrot, beets, and celery, but carrot is sufficient

water as needed

fresh or dried herbs (optional), e.g., cilantro, parsley, chives

juice of (small or 1/2 large) lemon or lime (0ptional)

Cook the beans, onions, and juice for a few hours. Add some dried herbs if you want. When the beans are done, if you have some fresh herbs, add them and some lemon/lime juice or flavored vinegar at the end, if you want. It's pretty easy except for the prep involved in juicing. actually the juicing is easy too, but cleaning my juicer is a bit of a pain but I'm having fun with it right now. My favorite variation of this is red kidney beans, carrot juice and onion. It's a great combination.

aug. 26 & 27

yesterday's and today's food was pretty similar. I'll just post today's.

brekky: veggie juice and 1 oz sunflower/pumpkin seeds. small apple. 1 cup beans. bigger than usual because I was out and knew lunch would be late.

lunch: 2 corn on the cobs + avocado butter, salad. smaller than usual because it was late and I had a massage in the afternoon.

dinner: 1 cup beans, salad, peach. some figs and grapes at a party. then I some carrots and pumpkin seeds and an apple when I got home. I wasn't hungry, was just being a pig. I often do this after social events. It's a psychological thing of feeling I deserve a splurge if everyone else did. It's dumb and I'll get over it.

I have a friend visiting and working with me for a year and he comes over for lunch a lot. He's loving the food I cook. He loved the beans! along with everything else. This healthy food really does appeal to most people. It tastes great. It's fun to influence people. Today my massage therapist told me she's mostly vegetarian now, after reading Fuhrman's books! and a friend at church with some autoimmune issues is very enthusiast about it too! cool.

aug. 25 food

brekky after exercise class (9:30 am): 1 oz sunflower seeds, 9 oz veggie juice (frozen in separate servings and then thawed overnight) I liked this! I felt satisfied but not full. my breakfast is close enough to lunch that I don't want to eat too much.

lunch: 2 corn on the cob with avocado butter, easy lazy salad (greens, tomato, zucchini, orange vinegar), 2/3 cup easy lentils. and a couple of small carrots to start off. This time of year, it's so easy to make salad, because all the ingredients are local and so good, you don't need to bother with dressing--vinegar is good enough! especially the tomatoes. yummmmmm. I wasn't overfull.

dinner: repeat of lunch. I made lunch for my visitor but he wasn't hungry so I just ate his lunch for dinner. yum! those tomatoes.... oh, and I finished that off with a peach. oh, and a couple of carrots to start. I might have been a tad overfull from all of this. I normally wouldn't have had the corn at dinner.

collard veggie juice

My first attempt at a veggie juice worked pretty well. I had no idea how much of everything to add but it seemed pretty good. Here's approximately what I combined (based on a faulty memory):

about 12 collard leaves

4 lbs carrots

8 small beets

2 small apples

a bunch of parsley

It made about 50 oz of juice. I poured it into 5 bottles, each filled to about 8-10 oz. There was about 5 oz left which I drank. I froze the bottles for drinking throughout the week.

super easy lentil soup

2-3 cups lentils (any kind, or mix them up)

1 onion

1-2 cups carrot and/or beet juice

several cups water

some cilantro, chopped (optional)

1-2 Tbsp flavored vinegar (optional, today I tried riesling raisin)

rinse the lentils. add everything together, cook it all up for an hour or so. at the end, turn off the heat, add the cilantro and vinegar if desired.

aug. 24

brekky: 1/2 musk melon + 1 oz brazil nuts. I ate this at the co-op with some friends after yoga. They ate "nothing muffins." I was tempted but I did prefer my breakfast.

lunch: 3 ears of corn, avocado butter and a small lazy salad: salad greens, chopped tomato (fresh from the garden),1/2 chopped yellow zucchini, and 1 Tbsp blood-orange vinegar---easy and good. Everything except the avocado and vinegar were local and fresh. so it was yummy. the 3 ears of corn was too much though. I should have just had 2. I got three because corn season is going to end in 2 weeks, and I haven't had it in 5 days. but still, 3 ears was too much.

Dinner: made some lentil soup to last a few days. this was super easy: lentils, an onion, some carrot and beet juice, and water. oh, and I added cilantro and vinegar at the end. It was good. I also made vegetable juice to last several days. It had: carrots, beets, collard greens (a lot), a bunch of parsley, and 2 small apples. Needless to say, I used some of the carrot/beet juice in the soup, and some in the juice. I froze the juice into 5 bottles, each with 8-10 oz in it. I'm planning to have it for breakfast, along with 2 Tbsp sunflower seeds after exercising. I nibbled while juicing and nibbled on the soup and then ate a big bowl of the soup. I got quite full.

three topics: allergies, temptations, juicing

Today was a high-allergy day where I live, from pollen of some sort--I don't pay much attention anymore but I still get an email telling me if it's a medium or high-allergy day. Several people in my yoga class were sniffling and sneezing. People usually say to me this eating style is too radical for them. My favorite saying lately is, it's a radical diet that produces radical results. I no longer suffer from allergies and I love it. I enjoy what I eat. I no longer care if it's completely different from what everyone else eats and if I'm a big pain for not joining in.

I still have my temptations. I had breakfast at the co-op with some friends and they got my favorite muffins. I was tempted by them and the freshly baked cowgirl cookies. I know I won't enjoy how I feel after eating them so that seems to be enough to keep me from eating them. But I wonder how long the temptations will last. It's still seems to be about nostalgia. I actually don't really enjoy them as much as my own food now, but I used to. Oh well, I think it will wear off. I still enjoy the smell of meat sometimes and I'm not tempted by it. Maybe the same thing will happen with baked goods. It's all about forming new habits. The longer I resist, the easier it will get.

Dr. Fuhrman recommends for optimal health juicing a few times a week and/or eating vegetable smoothies (leafy green vegetables mixed with fruit) a few times a week. So I decided to give juicing a try. I've resisted until now because it seems wasteful to only eat the juice and not the whole vegetable. But I'm not in the mood for collard green smoothies right now so I thought I'd try collard green juice (plus other stuff to make it palatable). And I was thinking I wanted a nutritious but small breakfast after exercising in the morning--small because my breakfast is only 1-3 hours before lunch. So I juiced today and froze a bunch of 8 oz servings. I'll try it out tomorrow.

aug. 23

Today's food was a repeat of  yesterday.  I had an extra apple so threw that in my lunch salad.  So that was lettuce, fresh garden tomato, and apple--weird but good.  If I'd had some raw walnuts, that would have been good to add, but my veggie pot had plenty of seeds and walnuts.  I didn't get tired of the veggie pot, twice a day for 5 days.  It was good, I was hungry, and compared to hotdogs and burgers, it was much preferable.  A friend got me into the clubhouse for a bit this afternoon and I ate some fruit salad.   It was good.   I just got home.  I'm looking forward to shopping at my wonderful co-op tomorrow.  Good night!

aug. 22

still at the golf tournament.

brekky at the hotel:  1/2 box strawberries, 1/2 box blackberries, 1/2 box blueberries.  1/2 small watermelon.  some salad greens.  the produce was pretty good but not nearly as good as my co-op.  I am so lucky to have a great co-op located only a nice 4 mile bike ride from my home.  I look forward to returning home and shopping there!

lunch:  salad greens + fresh garden tomato + green bell pepper (made at hotel, put in cooler with everything else, left in car, visited car to eat lunch and dinner, and to rest).  veggie pot.

snack (shouldn't have snacked!):  banana

dinner:  veggie pot, orange.

tomorrow' meals will be a repeat.   then I'll  be home late.

g'night!

aug 21

brekky:  after grocery shopping, I had some strawberries, and  a salad with fresh garden tomatoes.  As described in my previous post, I struck out on the produce today.  Oh well, you win some and lose some.  I also ate part of a peach and then decided it wasn't very good.  The salad was decent after I rinsed it--the romaine pieces were getting old so rinsing got rid of some of the old taste.  The tomatoes made the salad taste great.  nothing like fresh garden tomatoes.  oh, and half of a garden bell pepper.   I'm so glad I brought the garden veggies!   

lunch:   veggie pot, old orange.  

snack at the golf course: banana I bought.  it was good.  I didn't need it, but I think I just wanted to make up for the orange.  

dinner at the car after the tournament:  veggie pot, old apple.  then I went grocery shopping to get new produce!

I'm really glad to have the veggie pot.  It's got lots of beets and beans and nuts and seeds so is filling, which I need.   

travel lesson

One thing I learned today is that if you are at a mediocre grocery store, you're probably better off buying conventional produce than organic.  I thought I was at a decent grocery store this morning, but the organic produce was awful.  I wasted my money and should have just gotten the conventional.  I assume they sell more conventional and so it's likely more fresh.  The organic apple, orange, and strawberries I got were not good, and I could tell in the store they looked old and sad.  Even the peaches, which were supposedly local, and conventional, were awful.  The salad was also too old.  This evening I found a Trader Joe's, which turned out to be right on the way home, and got some new produce.  I'll know tomorrow if it's decent.

aug 20 food

I'm still out of town for the next few days.  We're at the LPGA Solheim competition between US and Europe (women's golf).  It's pretty fun.  Today for brekky I had my other smoothie.  It was raining this morning so we had an early lunch at the hotel before leaving for the golf course.   I had the veggie pot, carrots and a tomato.   Companions had their leftover pizza and crackers and cookies.   Then I knew it'd be a late evening so I brought my dinner in a small ice chest.  I didn't need to keep it that cool with ice or anything, since the veggie pot is still partially frozen.   The opening ceremony was from 5-7 pm, so I had a snack beforehand:  carrots and a can of tomatoes (we aren't allowed to take food into the course but it was a short walk to the car and I needed a break anyway).  why a can of tomatoes?  because housemate was canning tomatoes a few days ago, and this one didn't seal so it had to be eaten.  Well, it was really good!   Sometimes the simple things are really good.   Then after the opening ceremony, I had my veggie pot while waiting for the parking lot to clear out a bit.  Companions were still hanging around looking for celebrities to talk to.  The women golfers tend to be pretty accessible and friendly.   I'm not tired of the veggie pot yet.  It's very good and way better than anything I could get at the golf course.  Companions had cheeseburgers on the golf course.  I finished off my fruit and the carrots, so will go grocery shopping tomorrow morning for some fruit and salad greens. 

my new favorite smoothie

I've been eating this smoothie for a few months now so it must be my favorite.

Ingredients for two 16-20 oz servings:

2-4 Tbsp seeds (hemp, flax, pumpkin, sunflower) or nuts (walnuts, cashews)

Add in your supplements if you want (1 ml DHA,4 gentle care vitamins, 6 Osteo-Sun (for 2 servings)

8 oz fresh squeezed orange juice and/or pomegranate juice

1/2-1 cup grapes (optional)

2 dates (optional)

4 oz fresh spinach or baby romaine salad greens, or chard (spinach is least bitter)

1 bag (8-10 oz) frozen berries/fruit (pomegranate kernels, strawberry, raspberry, cherries, mango...)

Another bag frozen berries/fruit or a banana

1 tsp blueberry vinegar (optional, if using salad greens which can be bitter)

Pour the frozen berries in a big bowl, microwave for 30-60 seconds (optional). Put the seeds, nuts, supplements, dates and some liquid (juice/water, say 8 oz) in the blender. Add the greens on top. Blend. After the seeds and supplements get blended, start smashing down the greens to blend that in too. Add in the fruit and liquids and blend. Add in liquid to reach desired consistency. You can also add 1 tsp blueberry vinegar, especially if using salad greens which are more bitter than spinach.

Some of my favorite combinations are blueberries and another berry; pineapple and mango (my all-time favorite); and banana & blueberries or banana & strawberries or banana and cherry (really sweet, like dessert).

aug. 19

I'm on travel for the next 4 days, left yesterday, just didn't have time to post about it.  I have this electric cooler, shown here in the picture.  It is an ice chest that you can plug in to an electrical outlet in your car or hotel room, and it will cool or heat what's inside.  This was filled with 10 containers of frozen veggie-pot that I made on the weekend, and 2 smoothies that I made on Monday and didn't eat before leaving town.  Today, I ate one of the smoothies and two of the containers, so this is what's left:

Last time I did something like this, the containers stayed frozen for several days, so I think there won't be a problem with them getting old.  Even if they thaw by the last day or two, they are still kept at a cool temperature.  There is a concern that I will get tired of these meals, but today I enjoyed them.  The smoothie was wonderful, and the veggie pot was great too.  I also had brought what was left from the fridge at home:  some carrots, and tomatoes and bell peppers from the garden.  So I also had some carrots, tomatoes and a bell pepper today.  Once I finish off the smoothie and more of the carrots and tomatoes, I'll go to the grocery store and get some fruit and salad greens.  But no need right now.  This is an easy way to get my meals while I'm in a hotel.  It helps that I travelled by car so I could bring the cooler and frozen food.  I also made sure to get a hotel with a fridge and microwave.   My travel companions had the free hotel breakfast (cereal and egg sandwich), hotdogs for lunch, and dinner will be leftover pizza, crackers and cookies.   To each his own!

aug. 17 & 18

Not much time to post lately.  let me try to remember.

yesterday's brekky:  it was late after my yoga class and grocery shopping: I had 1/2 pint blueberries and some pistachio nuts.   Then I started preparing lunch.   That was 2 ears of corn and avocado spread, hummus and steamed veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots).   I made the hummus just like I do the black bean hummus, only with chickpeas, and it doesn't taste as good to me.  The black bean hummus tastes really good.  The chickpea is a wee bit on the bland side.  Interesting.  Oh I also made salsa from 2 freshly canned tomatoes that didn't seal, cilantro and small amount of onion.  It's yummy.  We had celery and green pepper to dip in it.  I got tortilla chips for housemate and collaborator to eat.

Dinner was a quick snack while working with my collaborator:   1/2 small fantastic musk melon, a giant ripe Colorado peach,  rest of the blueberries, leftover veggies and hummus.  I got really bloated from the hummus.  I must have eaten a lot more than I thought while preparing.  Perhaps I should stop eating so much while preparing meals...

Today's brekky:  the other half of the fantastic musk melon, 2 more peaches (oops),  too many pistachio nuts.  oops.  

Lunch:  Same as yesterday's lunch only I ate about 4 ears of corn.  We had guests over and too much corn and we were leaving town and they had to be eaten (I know, lousy excuse).    

Dinner:  rest of the hummus and veggies, and veggies and salsa.  orange, apple.  

I overate at every single meal today.  Well, I didn't eat too much at dinner but since I wasn't hungry, I still overate.  

aug 16

it was a busy but fun day. this will probably be a quick post so I can go to bed.

brekky: wasn't hungry after eating too much last night! Just had some sips from housemate's delicious smoothie. I should post this recipe.

first lunch: grabbed some grapes and brazil nuts from the co-op on the way to a parade. yum.

second lunch: after grocery shopping, piece of watermelon from the co-op. yum.

before dinner snack: sipped on smoothies I was making for housemate and myself.  These are the best smoothies I have ever made! the secret is fresh squeezed orange juice. I updated the recipe. I probably ate at least 8 oz from all the smoothies I made (5 servings total, which I froze).

dinner: 3 ears of corn + avocado butter, lazy salad without the edamame. some frozen peas, a couple of raw carrots. I was full because of the snacking on smoothies.

g'night!

aug 15 food

brekky: collard green smoothie. I am fickle. A few days ago I said I love these, now I don't. Now I think those delicious frozen blueberries and pomegranates are being wasted on collard greens. so I think I'd rather eat the delicious blueberries and pomegranates alone and find some other way to get the collard greens. It's funny, the more I experiment, the more I find that Dr. Fuhrman's advice is the best. He recommends juicing vegetables a few times a week. I'm thinking, yeah, maybe that's a good way to eat some of my collards and kale, with some carrots to make it palatable (or maybe an apple?). , I made a single-serving collard green smoothie after splattering the first batch all over the kitchen. And then I still wanted to eat something delicious so I made a blueberry-pomegranate sorbet with the leftovers from the smoothie.

lunch: peach, 3 ears of corn and avocado butter, lazy salad. some carrots.

dinner: last serving of last week's pot 'o veggies. This was a mistake because I also cooked next week's pot 'o veggies, and I tend to snack while I cook, because I like to taste it as I go, and I enjoy that. So I ended up eating too much. I shouldn't have had dinner first and all would have been well. I'll try to remember that next time. Anyway, I served up the giant pot 'o veggies into 10 small plastic bowls and put them in the freezer. I'm going out of town next week and will bring them with me to have for lunch and dinner. Kind of repititious but easy. I suspect I'll be tired of this entree by the end of the week. But I'll also have salads and fruit to vary. I edited my recipe for the pot 'o veggies because I improved it. But I know how to improve it even better next time. Once again, I end up going back to Dr. Fuhrman's advice: he likes to juice his carrots and beets in his soup. Too much makes it too sweet but I think juicing some would improve the flavor. next time. Here are the garden greens that went into it:

a sinkful of kale:

about 4 chard leaves and about 10 collard leaves (these are 8-12 inches long):

some herbs: in the end I just used the parsley and dill. The tomatoes didn't go in this recipe. They will be canned tomorrow. yippee!

I cooked a huge batch of beans for the veggie pot, 3 cups dry of various ones left in my jars (small red, adzuki, and pinto), so I should have at least 1 cup a day from the 2 meals on my trip. I also included local broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, eggplant, carrots and beets. yum!

blender incident

This morning I made a big mistake with the blender. I was making a collard green smoothie and decided I didn't need the lid on because the greens covered the liquid below and it was easier to add the greens with the lid off while it was going (next time I will just do it in steps with the blender off!). The problem occurred when I started using the plunger and I went down too far and it hit the spinning blades. kablam! it was like on the old batman tv show episodes where the words pop on the screen. Green stuff went everywhere. I snapped this picture after I'd started cleaning up. The plastic container at top right is full of tea bags and they got hit too (not just on the outside).

The ceiling got hit:

My computer was on a chair nearby to remind me what the ingredients are:

Fortunately, the green stuff wipes right off. Apparently I did swear but it wasn't out of anger, more out of shock and fascination. I also said "oh my god" a lot. That got housemate out of bed to come see what the excitement was. Then we just started laughing. But it did make my breakfast rushed because I had a 9 am appointment to get to and had to clean up this mess and make another smoothie!

lazy salad

This is especially good in summer when the produce is fresh and local. I call it a lazy salad because I was too lazy to add more ingredients or make salad dressing.

Ingredients:

salad greens

tomato from the garden, chopped

1/3 cup edamame (optional; if you need to get some beans in)

any other fresh veggie you have on hand (zucchini, bell pepper)

1-3 tsp blood orange vinegar

This is fantastic if you happen to have fresh ripe tomatoes from your garden. No need to bother with fancy salad dressing!

aug 14

late brekky: 2 Tbsp sunflower seeds, 1 pint delicious blueberries

lunch: 4 (!) ears of corn and avocado butter. I was hungry at the corn stand so got irrational with my purchase. my lazy salad (decided to turn it into a recipe). some carrots and celery.

dinner: 1 small musk melon. This was the best melon I've ever eaten! so sweet. I will get another soon! This was followed by my pot o' veggies. And then the lazy salad. I tend to prefer eating dessert first and salad last. Sweets make me want to eat more so I'd rather not have them last. salad is a good finisher for me. I'm a strange one. I'm sure I had some carrots too since I always have them with a meal.

aug 13

I'm exhausted after a very long day of editing a complicated document. ugh. okay,

brekky: I wasn't hungry at first, then had 2 Tbsp sunflower seeds, after a hard but fun workout.

Then for lunch I was hungry so that was good. I definitely need to eat small breakfasts in order to be hungry for lunch. I had 3 ears of corn + avocado butter, a couple of raw carrots, and some salad greens with fresh sliced tomato from the garden. YUM.

For dinner, I had a big bowl of the pot'o veggies. Then my lazy salad: salad greens, sliced tomato and some blood orange vinegar. It was really good! I don't feel like making salads these days, but you really don't have to work at it when you have fresh garden tomatoes. I also had a fresh peach and some raw carrots. Summer produce is so fabulous.

aug 12

late brekky at the co-op after exercise and grocery shopping: 1/2 small yellow (doll) watermelon, 1.5 oz brazil nuts, some cherries, and some date-walnut essene bread. yummy

lunch: a peach, 3 ears of corn and avocado butter, some raw carrots and peas, some more essene bread, a box of blueberries (oops, that was supposed to be tomorrow's breakfast).

dinner: salad greens, raw carrots and celery, the rest of the essene bread---oops! then I wasn't hungry enough to eat my pot 'o veggies, which is much more nutritious, and better tasting for that matter! I have no self-control when it comes to the "allowed foods." sigh...

aug 11

today I was gone from 7 am - 5:30 pm, and 6 - 9:30 pm. No meals were leisurely. So I was happy to have a smoothie at brekky (prepared last night); another smoothie at lunch (the same), and some carrots and celery; and for dinner during my half hour at home, veggie pot from Sunday, salad greens, a couple of small garden tomatoes, a couple of carrots, and half an orange. whew. and a few blueberries at a meeting tonight. good blueberries.

aug. 10

brekky: 1/2 yellow (doll) watermelon, 1-2 oz brazil nuts, some cherries and blackberries.

lunch: a peach, 3 ears of corn and avocado butter. some raw carrots. a few peas. brekky was late so I wasn't super hungry at lunch.

dinner: a bowl from the pot 'o veggies I made yesterday. This was good. Then I ate the rest of the blackberries and a box of blueberries and a box of strawberries. oops. that filled me up. the blueberries were really good! The strawberries were better than usual. The blackberries weren't as good as usual. I'm going to start buying blueberries more because they are good and are sort of local (from the midwest anyway, today they were from Indiana). oh, I also ate half an orange. I made smoothies for tomorrow.

another collard green smoothie

Sometimes I like these and other times I don't.  When I like them, I'm liking the flavor and nutrition.  When I'm not liking them, I am thinking the delicious flavor of the fruit are gone because they are trying to offset the bitter flavor of the collards.  At those times, I'd rather get my collards another way and enjoy the fruit by itself.  

This serves 2.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp flaxseeds

1 Tbsp sunflower seeds

2 Tbsp hemp seeds (use any combo of the seeds you prefer)

2/3 cup edamame, thawed in microwave in a little water (if frozen)

10 oz fresh squeeze orange juice

8 oz collard greens

1 bag frozen blueberries

1 bag frozen pomegranate kernels (yum!)

1 Tbsp blueberry vinegar (makes the greens less bitter tasting)

Blend the seeds, edamame, and OJ in the blender. Add the collard greens and blend some more. Add the berries and vinegar and blend until smooth. This makes about 36-40 oz. I split it into 2 servings and freeze one or both for later. After it's frozen, it takes about 12 hours to thaw in the fridge. The microwave can help it along.

Nutritional info per serving: total calories: 460. carbs 75 g (60%), protein 16 g (12%), fat 14 g (28%).

Huge pot o' veggies

This is along the theme of the veggie pot I made last weekend. I just throw in whatever veggies I have, and add greens, beans, and seeds to make it have optimum nutrition, following Dr. Furhman's advice. We've been getting these giant broccoli and cauliflowers at the co-op. We had them twice this week with a guest, i.e., 6 servings, and still had a lot left. Here's what I had in the fridge from the co-op, all fresh and local:

broccoli

cauliflower

zucchini

beets (sweet!)

onion

eggplant

carrots

And from the garden:

kale

chard

1 collard green (decided I'd leave the rest for other meals this week)

tomatoes,

dill

basil

parsley (italian and curly)

I forgot to check for green peppers in the garden.

Here's a picture of the garden haul. There's a lot of kale under there:

I also had cooked up some white kidney (cannellini) beans. As I assembled the ingredients I realized I didn't have enough beans, but luckily found a can of adzuki beans in the cupboard.

I cooked this all in the pressure cooker. Some veggies take longer than others so I did it in two stages. The first stage was the eggplant, carrots, onion, beets, and kale, all cut up of course. I washed and then chopped the kale in the food processor. I cooked these up for 1 minute. It's such a big pot, it takes a few minutes to reach full pressure so it actually cooks longer, and it continues to cook while it's cooling and I'm preparing the other ingredients. Then I added the other ingredients except the beans, cauliflower and herbs. I cooked the cauliflower separately and then blended it in the blender with a bunch of hemp seeds and walnuts (portioned into however much you want per serving.) This made a nice creamy sauce. raw cashews would be even tastier than the walnuts, and a little sweeter. I added this to the final result, along with the beans and chopped herbs. pretty good! Next time I will juice the carrots and beets and it will be even tastier. This made 5 large servings (over 2 cups each), which I can then have each day this week. This will be a side dish to the corn at lunch and maybe at dinner too. Here's the result. It's more purple in real life from the beets. I froze 3 of the containers so they'll be fresher later in the week. Plus my plans might change.

This took about 1.5 hours to prepare because of all the chopping. But it was a fun thing to do on a Sunday afternoon when it was raining outside. And now food prep will be very quick the rest of the week.

One lesson learned from the pressure cooker: I'm finding if I use bean juice as my liquid, it's easy to burn the bottom. So I need to make sure to use plenty of water as my liquid, at least 1 cup for this big batch.

last few days

Let's see, on Friday, I had a peach and some sunflower seeds for a late brekky after yoga. Then bought a watermelon because I thought I was going to meet some friends at Michael's frozen custard for lunch. I thought I'd eat half a watermelon (small, yellow, really good) while they ate their treats. Well, that plan got canceled so I had my usual lunch, corn, leftover veggies dipped in black bean hummus, and then had watermelon for dessert. Dinner was a repeat and the rest of the watermelon. I recall overeating at dinner. oh yeah, I had a small musk melon too; an orange; and sipped on smoothies that I was making for myself and housemate.

Yesterday I had a collard green smoothie for brekky. Lunch was at a board retreat I went to. A friend of mine who knows of my eating habits supplied part of the lunch: a nice salad with green beans and toasted walnuts and cashew orange dressing; a fruit salad with strawberries, blueberries and grapes; and celery, carrots and fresh-ground peanut butter. It was fantastic. I definitely overindulged in the peanut butter. Well, I did on everything else too, but I still feel the peanut butter. Dinner was 3 corns on the cob with avocado butter, and a peach. I was still full from lunch but I can't resist corn.

Today's brekky was a the rest of my collard green smoothie (I split it into 2 portions when I made it and froze them). Lunch was 2 small mangos, 1 bag of frozen blueberries, and 1 Tbsp hemp seed blended up into a creamy sorbet. It was yummy. The mangos were ripe and needed eating. And it was great after a bike ride home on a hot day. I had an early dinner of corn on the cob (what else?) + avocado butter, and a small sweet potato and peas, quickly cooked in the pressure cooker. The sweet potato looked good in the store, like a fresh new batch, but it was from California, and it wasn't as good as the local ones. Oh well, those will be coming soon. Then I cooked a huge pot o' veggies. I snacked while cooking, on raw carrots, the beans, the food after it was cooked. but I finished up at 4:30 pm and hopefully that will be it for the day. I am plenty full.

aug. 6

brekky: leftover dinner from last night: cherries, grapes, blackberries, and brazil nuts. yummy. also ate a bowl of salad greens.

lunch: 3 ears of corn (accidentally bought too much, perhaps intentionally accidentally miscounted?) and avocado butter, steamed veggies (carrots, beats, cauliflower & broccoli) and black bean hummus. I love this black bean hummus! We had a guest over for lunch who eats SSD (standard Scottish diet) and he loved the hummus and veggies. So that's a good one to serve guests. He also loved the avocado butter.

dinner: quick dinner before going to visit friends: some leftover veggies and raw carrots and hummus; salad greens in a bowl; grapefruit; peach from Michigan (I wonder why they can grow peaches and we can't in Wisconsin).

For some reason I am behaving myself and not overeating and not eating between meals. I'm plenty full from the beans and not going hungry. I wonder why I sometimes behave and sometimes don't. I think I need a lot of positive reinforcement to eat this way, to balance the social forces. I've been listening to Fuhrman's "Eat for Health" audio book. I'm doing it for studying purposes for the Nutritional Excellence Counselor certificate I want to get. But I also think I need that reinforcement to remind me that it's okay to be different from everyone else. Maybe over time I'll need less.

funny post

Here's a funny post by "The Crazy Woman Inside Me", about a 1966 weight watcher's cookbook she found. As she said, it makes you appreciate whatever healthy eating/diet plan you are on now! Update: here's another post from a 1970 cookbook. I think these are even more gross! It's hilarious, as long as you don't think about those poor people who followed this program.

aug. 5

brekky: on the road so ate a large collard green smoothie. I'm tweaking this recipe. I think I have a good one now. But I must be weird to like this!

Lunch: back home so corn on the cob again (with avocado butter). I had 3 ears today. I'm not tired of it yet. I also had leftover lentil stuff from yesterday. I'm glad that's all gone now since I slightly burned it. I also had a few carrots and frozen peas while making housemate's potato,carrots,pea dish.

Dinner: I was grocery shopping so ate at the co-op: 1/2 small yellow watermelon (the best!), some cherries, grapes, blackberries, and brazil nuts. I meant to get just enough for one meal so I wouldn't overeat on these treats which are just the sort of things I tend to overeat. But I guess I got too much, and miracle of miracles, I stopped eating when I was full and plan to have the rest for brekky tomorrow. When I got home I did eat some salad greens too and a small carrot. and maybe 3 grapes and then I thought, you know you won't stop wanting those if you keep eating, you will always want more, so you may as well stop now since you are full. so I did. wow. I'm behaved rationally. So maybe I am learning from experience and improving. knock on wood. anyway, it was a great meal for me, as these are things I consider treats.

One thing I was thinking today is that it really does feel good and powerful to take control of your health. There's so much in the world we feel we have no control over. I like having control over this aspect of my life. It is very empowering. I'm not paying much attention to the health care debate because I don't have a lot of faith that our politicians do will do something sensible. But at least I can make sure I will be healthy and avoid doctors as much as possible.

aug. 4

brekky: 1/2 musk melon, 2 carrots, a grapefruit, 2 Tbsp sunflower seeds

Lunch: corn on the cob + avocado butter, and a dish of veggies+greens+beans. This would have been really good but I burnt the lentils. I didn't follow the instructions for my pressure cooker--didn't add enough water to the lentils. I didn't realize they were burnt at the bottom until I had mixed everything in and cooked some more and was dishing it out. oops! So the sweet flavor of the beets and carrots got lost in the slightly burnt flavor. It would have been a great meal, and instead it was just okay. It was all local food except the lentils: eggplant, zucchini, kale from the garden, beets, carrots, onions, lentils, and basil, chives and dill from the garden. Here's the garden haul before cooking:

Our first tomato! We sliced it and ate it as is. That's the herbs on the left and kale in the middle. The lentil veggie mixture wasn't too bad so I went ahead and ate it for lunch and dinner. I'll probably have the rest at lunch tomorrow.

Dinner: 1/2 musk melon, 1/2 small orange, 3 carrots, some salad greens, and leftover veggie-lentils. oh, and I figured I needed more seeds so I had 2 Tbsp hemp seeds.

on being a nutritarian

Here is something Darryl from the Fuhrman forums wrote.  I liked it so got his permission to post it here:

I like to think of being a nutritarian as simply choosing to live in a better food universe than most people. SAD foods taste good, but they do not taste better than nutritarian food. SAD foods are preferred by our society at large because people are habituated to them. They are habituated to them because those are the foods that are marketed.  Those are the foods that are marketed because they are very cheap (in price per calorie, not price per nutrient) and easy to ship, store, and prepare. To ensure that people remain habituated, food companies load them up with taste triggers like salt, sugar, and fat. When you change your food universe to nutrient-dense, health-promoting foods, it will probably take a long time to truly recalibrate your tastes until you truly enjoy them just as much, or more. But it will happen. I love my nutritarian food. My SAD-eating friends love their SAD food. The difference is that I get to eat three times more food than they do. And I don't get sick. So why in the world would I eat SAD foods now?

changing the world

I was talking to a friend about healthy eating, and in that conversation it got reinforced to me how of all the things you can do to change the world for the better, changing your eating habits probably has the biggest impact. What can most of us do to change the world? vote? go to church, help your neighbors and your church; volunteer in the community. All great things. bash politicians? no, that's not doing a darn thing. But adopting a healthy plant-strong lifestyle, that can change the world if enough people do it. First there is your health---for the vast majority of us, all our ailments would be cured with this eating style, no exaggeration; read the books, try it for 3 weeks and you will be convinced. Medical costs would be so much lower, the government could cover the cost for a small amount. Doctors would be out of business but they are smart, they can adapt. Then there is your happiness. When you are healthy, and your close friends and relatives aren't suffering either, you might be a little happier. Then wouldn't it be nice if 10 billion animals in this country alone weren't killed every year? Then there is the environmental impact of all those animals, both from feeding them, and their waste. You contribute much more to global warming by eating meat than by commuting in your car. So, by adopting a healthy lifestyle, you can cure your health, become happier, save the economy, save the animals, and save the environment. Wow! That's something to aim for, isn't it?

aug. 3

Today I enjoyed my meals and I think they were well-balanced and highly nutritious. I think this would be a "black-belt" day in Dr. Furhman's book because it satisfies his recommendation of beans, greens, nuts and seeds and fruit.

Late brekky after yoga: small musk melon. 2 Tbsp sunflower seeds. It was close enough to lunch I decided to stop there.

Lunch: Our standard late summer fare: fresh corn on the cob with avocado butter (2 ears). fresh veggies: today was green beans and carrots and green pepper; and some pinto beans flavored with herbs from the garden and a little black fig vinegar. fresh Michigan peach at the corn stand. This is definitely our favorite time of year and our favorite foods.

Dinner: 3 carrots, some salad greens, 1 peach, a collard green smoothie, and 2/3 cup pinto beans (fair amount of liquid so I made it 2/3 cup instead of 1/2).

I forgot to mention one more thing about the splurge urges. Sleep deprivation really contributes to this because I don't feel as good as normal so I'm looking for something to make me feel better. I've had two good nights' sleep in a row and today I didn't have any cravings. So that's something to keep in mind.

aug 2

I had a good weekend, and ate as planned. Yesterday I had veggie pot and baked potato with avocado butter, orange for dessert; then had the same for dinner and early lunch today (my hosts eat lunch at 11 am and dinner at 4:30 pm). So I just had 2 meals a day. They were sufficiently filling but not too much. Then this evening when we got home, we went grocery shopping and ate dinner at the co-op. Mine was fabulous. I had half a small yellow watermelon (it has a different name but I forgot). They are locally grown and are much better than watermelon. I also had some rainier cherries and about 10 brazil nuts. It was a nice treat---way better than cupcakes. more on that in a bit. When I got home I ate some salad greens and 3 smallish carrots. We're getting fresh local carrots again. We get Wisconsin carrots about 10 months of the year. They are great.

okay, about those cupcake cravings I was having (see several posts from the last week). I think they are over. I think there were a couple of issues going on. One is that I have reached my weight and health goals. So I sort of had that notion of "now what"? nothing to aim for anymore? Plus Dr. Fuhrman says you can be 90% compliant and still be healthy. So I thought maybe it was time for an off-plan treat. Oh, and I was working with old friends I don't see often and they are used to my drinking alcohol and eating their kind of food. So I was susceptible to nostalgia, but at the same time I actually didn't really want the treats because I don't like how I feel when I eat them. So instead I splurged with the healthy stuff but that didn't solve the desires for the SAD (Standard American Diet) food because that was based on nostalgia. I still wanted them but I also didn't want them. I finally decided I think I just prefer being 100% on the plan. People say you shouldn't be a perfectionist because that will set you up for failure (you go off plan, splurge, decide you will go on-plan tomorrow, and then overeat crappy food until midnight, or longer). So I'm not supposed to try to be perfect. But I think I will try to stay on plan for some time longer. Also this weekend we were at some events and I was people watching and it definitely reinforces the idea that you are what you eat. Most people have no clue how your food affects your health. I sure didn't 4 years ago. But now that I know, I prefer not to eat unhealthy food. The healthy food tastes great. Eventually my nostalgia will be associated with the healthy food and not the old stuff I used to eat.