today's food

It was more of a nibbling all day than a 3 square meals kind of day.

before exercise:  small bowl of frozen banana, mango, grapes

exercise:  swim 30 minutes, walk 30 minutes

after exercise:  boiled chestnuts, lots of raw carrots.  

then it was lunchtime:  big salad from that hydroponic lettuce (which tastes great, I wonder, is it less nutritious than lettuce grown in soil?), chopped concord pear (my favorite pear nowadays), ground flax seed, and balsamic vinegar.  and a bowl of cooked collards and tomatoes.

entertained some kids this afternoon and gave them some chips, homemade salsa, apple slices and frozen grapes.  I enjoyed some apple slices, frozen grapes and celery and salsa with them.

light dinner:   bowl of beans and chopped grapes and curry powder!   how's that for a crazy dish that tastes good?  a little rice would have been good too, will make some tomorrow.

then inspired by that I had a snack of grapes and curry powder!   it was also good.   crazy huh?  and a few carrots.  that was my new year's celebration, ha.

my new year's eve activity was watching a video on backpacking in the grand canyon.  that's what I'm training for.  I plan to spend a lot of time on the stair climbing machine at the YMCA!

Happy new year!

Instant banana bread

I didn't snap a picture.  This was just fun to do and tasted good.

Ingredients:

1 piece of manna bread

a few slices of a ripe banana

That's the minimum amount of ingredients.  If you want it more rich-tasting, you can add one or all of these things:

small amount of chopped date or date syrup

small amount of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, chopped walnuts, pecans, or some other nut/seed

Mash everything together.  Reshape into a piece of bread.  Enjoy.  You might have to eat it with a spoon.  I just thought of something--you could toast it in the oven for a few minutes.  It tastes like banana bread to me!  

munchies

This was kind of pretty actually.  I cut off the end of a head of Romaine, put it in a bowl and sprinkled on some cherry balsamic vinegar.  Then just munched on it.

Corn, walnuts, and coconut

This is a nice little dessert for me. It might sound odd, but it's good. The trick is to get high quality sweet corn; otherwise, it's not dessert.

Ingredients:

High quality sweet corn, fresh or frozen

chopped walnuts

spoonful of unsweetened coconut shavings

Combine in a bowl, heat in the microwave until warm. This follows a similar theme as my sweet pea snack and berry dessert.

warm berry snack

This is a little snack or dessert to finish off a meal. I like it warm in winter. Shown in this picture is blueberries.

Ingredients:

3-4 walnut halves (or any nut or seed), chopped (about 0.5 oz), (OPTIONAL)

1/2-1 cup fresh or frozen berries

1 Tsp shaved coconut (unsweetened), or more if you prefer

Combine in a bowl, microwave until warm.

sweet pea snack

Ingredients:

2/3 cup frozen sweet peas

1 Tbsp sunflower, pumpkin, or hemp seeds (optional)

1 tsp unsweetened coconut shavings (optional)

1/2 tsp D'Angou Pear vinegar or other favorite flavored vinegar

Put in a bowl and heat in microwave until thawed or warm. yummy.

nut/fig/coconut snack

1 oz brazil nuts

2 white turkish figs

2 Tbsp (or to taste) dried coconut shavings

cut the brazil nuts in half. chop up the figs, at the coconut. good snack after exercise. Or make a big batch for guests. Then use 1 cup nuts, and several figs (to taste), and coconut to taste.

nachos

Ingredients:

2 cups Cooked pinto (or black, or whatever!) beans, cook down the water

or

A can of pinto or black (or whatever!) beans.   cook up an onion in some water, and add some cumin and oregano, then add that to the beans.  can add some cilantro and lime too.

or

A can of no-fat refried beans

A ripe avocado

some cilantro or your favorite herb

Salsa which you can buy or make by cutting up a fresh tomato (or use ones from a can) and a little onion, little hot pepper if you like, little cilantro, little lime

Soft corn tortillas

A lime

It's basically, beans, guacamole, and salsa on corn tortillas.  blend the beans in the blender to make the bean dip.  For the guacamole, mash the avocado with a little garlic, lime, and cilantro.  Cut up the tortillas into chip-size wedges.  Add the bean spread, top with salsa and guacamole.  Put in the oven on 350 degrees for 6 minutes.  Not too long or the chips get overdone and hard to chew.   Housemate really liked it.  I thought it was good.

popcorn with chocolate maple syrup flavor

Ingredients:

popcorn

maple syrup

cocoa powder

air-pop some popcorn.  pour some maple syrup (say, 1 Tbsp), some cocoa powder (say, 1/4 tsp), and some water (say, 1-2 Tbsp) in a small spray bottle.    shake well.  spray on popcorn and mix it around.  

really good!

mojito iced tea

I had my first mojito when I was visiting my cousin in Tucson.  It was good!  It had rum, club soda, lime juice, (ginger?) and mint leaves, and sweetener.  I think that was all the ingredients.  So I decided to make a non-alcoholic version for a summer drink, I mean, for during the day when you are quenching your thirst, not drinking alcohol.  Then I got to thinking that club soda isn't so good for the environment.  I mean, it's okay in a mojito since that's rare, but maybe not so good for quenching your thirst on a regular basis.  So I made it with water.  I looked up some mojito recipes on the web and came up with this:

Ingredients:

minced ginger (1-2 Tbsp)

few sprigs of mint leaves

juice of 1 lime (or half lemon but lime is better)

few Tbsps maple syrup (okay, probably not the healthiest thing in the world...)

Instructions:

boil a few cups of water.  Put the minced ginger in a, ummm, one of those metal containers with holes in it for loose tea, and put it in a teapot. Add the boiling water.  Let it sit for a while.  Then take it out when you think it flavored the water enough.  Add the maple syrup, lime, several ice cubes and the mint leaves.  Let it sit a little longer so the mint leaves flavor the water.  Add water or ice cubes to taste.  refrigerate, and drink it for a few days.  I think it tastes great.