mango dressing

easy and good:

1 large ripe mango or 2 small (or a bag of frozen I think)

1 oz walnuts (or 1/2 oz, if you prefer)

1/3 cup soy milk (guessing, I didn't measure)

1 Tbsp orange vinegar

peel the mango, cut off everything but the seed and put in blender with everything else.  blend until smooth.  It's a bit bland without the vinegar, but then the vinegar makes it taste very good.  If you don't have vinegar, maybe substitute pomegranate juice for the soy milk.

sweet potato & chickpea hummus

I really have a thing for baked sweet potatoes even though Mr. curious has informed me of the health hazards of acrylamides. Sweet potatoes and peanut butter are my acrylamide weaknesses. Anyway, this was good!

Ingredients

1 baked sweet potato (350 F for one hour, let cool) (or steam it and no worries about acrylamides)

1 cup chickpeas soaked overnight, then cooked in water for about 4 hours. or 1 can.

1 clove garlic (or a bunch of ramps like I had today)

1 tsp ground cumin

juice of 1 lemon

3 Tbsp sesame seeds (or tahini)

Today I used ramps instead of garlic. I like to cook them (either one) slightly. I added the onion part of the ramps (or garlic) to the hot beans. or you can heat them in water for a few minutes. I chopped the ramp greens and heated them in water for a few minutes---otherwise they have a very strong peppery garlicy flavor (which is good but strong).

Okay, put the garlic, sesame seeds, lemon, and some bean water and chickpeas in your powerful blender. Put in enough stuff so that it can blend nicely. Let it blend up for a while so the seeds get nicely ground up. It thickens up when this happens. Then throw everything else but the ramp greens in and blend. Add bean liquid to reach your desired consistency. Then throw in the ramp greens and blend just enough to chop them a bit (I chop before adding too).

We only have ramps a few weeks a year, so I will use garlic the rest of the time. but you could throw in chives or cilantro or basil at the end. or parsley.

may 7

brekky:  smoothy

lunch:  sweet potato & chickpea hummus, with steamed and raw veggies (broccoli, cauliflower carrots were steamed, celery and red bell pepper raw).  It was super yummy.  We only at half the hummus and yet I was still very full.  I will still full 4 hours later at my exercise class.  beans definitely fill you up and bloat you out. I also had a kiwi.  and some sweet peas while making housemates dinner salad.

dinner:  salad (lettuce, orange bell pepper) with mango dressing.  snacked on carrots and celery a some sweet peas while preparing.  had an apple and orange for dessert.  I ate all the dressing on a very big salad.   Again, I was very full when finished.  I definitely ate too much.  But it sure was good.

may 6

7 am brekky:  smoothie 

11 am snack (I know, not supposed to):  celery and carrot.  (wasn't much)

noon lunch:  asparugus (a lot) and ramps (yum) in rutabaga-sesame sauce.  yumbo gumbo.   and house-mate's potato skin.  She had baked potato with pretty purple cauliflower, carrots, peas and corn.  

7 pm dinner:  snacked on apple and carrots while preparing steamed artichoke and mango-beet sauce.  the artichoke wasn't as good as last time.  Maybe I didn't cook it long enough.  however, the mango-beet sauce will make anything taste good.  I had the leftover sauce on arugula.

allergies?

Today as I rode my bike home from exercise class, the maple trees were raining seeds or whatever they are on me, the magnolias were flowering, flowers were blooming, trees were sprouting leaves.  It was spring at its peak.  See my biking blog for pictures.  It occurred to me that I can't remember the last time I sneezed!   I get a daily allergy forecast on email which tells me allergy levels and what it's due to.  I started subscribing a few years ago when I had seasonal allergies, before I became a crazy healthy vegan.  Right now, the pollen levels are high every day.  I have had not a symptom.  I guess I can unsubscribe to this allergy alert email!

An argument people put forth about why they don't want to eat healthy is that they want to enjoy life.  Well, maybe they should try eating healthy.   I'm totally enjoying not having allergies!

may 5

Today after a good workout at the gym and bike ride to and from, I had a smoothie for breakfast.  

Lunch was steamed kale with sweet potato sauce.  Oh, I added chopped ramps and leek to the kale, which was good.  This sauce is like pudding, yum.  I had carrots and celery while fixing.  fruit salad for dessert (strawberries, raspberries, bananas), plus a 6 oz container of blackberries.  next time I will just have the blackberries.  The fresh strawberries are usually not super good (picked not ripe for their shipment to Wisconsin?) and they are expensive.   The frozen berries in my smoothies are cheaper and usually more fresh (before freezing) so I think I'll cut back on these fresh berries.  

Dinner:  salad with lettuce, arugula, edamame (microwaved for 60 seconds to thaw), topped with mango-beet dressing.  This is soooo goood.  some carrots and celery while preparing.  I should have stopped here but I had an orange and 2 apples.  at least I should have stopped after the first apple.

I'm probably eating too much fruit.  At least I ate lots of greens today.  

black bean hummus

This is the best hummus I have ever had. My house guests are in agreement. This is very similar to the recipe on Dr. Fuhrman's member's only website, so I feel guilty about posting here but I want to remind myself of my technique for making it because I use sesame seeds instead of tahini, to name one difference.

Ingredients:

1 cup dried black beans, soaked overnight, cook for a couple of hours (or 1 15-oz can)

juice of one lemon (or orange juice!)

1 cup water or cooking liquid from the beans

1 Tbsp VegiZest (optional)

1/4 cup sesame seeds (raw, unhulled)

1-2 tsp low sodium tamari or soy sauce

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1-3 garlic cloves or 1/4 tsp garlic granules

paprika for garnish

pinch cayenne (optional)

If using garlic cloves, I like to cook them a little to mellow the flavor. I put them in a little metal measuring cup, in some of the bean water or lemon juice, put that in the oven for about 10-20 minutes at 350 F, until you can smell the garlic a bit.

I made this in the blender so I could get the sesame seeds grinded up into a tahini sauce. So first I put the sesame seeds, lemon juice, tamari, garlic, some juice from the beans (say 1/3 cup to start), some of the beans, and blend that up. You need enough volume and thickness (with help from a few beans) to get the sesame seeds to blend. It seems to be about 1 cup total in my blender that's required. You can tell when they are getting ground up because the liquid thickens, and it steams from the heat. Then add everything else except the paprika and blend some more. Add bean liquid for desired consistency--you may not need a whole cup, just whatever you like. The makes a nice very smooth hummus.