tomato-walnut dressing

Ingredients:

1 large tomato or 2 medium

a handful walnuts (0.5-1 oz depending on how much you want to consume)

some green onion or chopped onion or leek or onion powder. small amount. I prefer the mild taste of green onions

herbs of your choice (optional but may include chives or cilantro or basil etc)

blend everything in the blender until smooth.

berry-sesame-sunflower dressing

Ingredients:

1 bag frozen blueberries or mixed berries, or raspberries, or strawberries, or cherries (or fresh if you have it)

1 Tbsp raw sunflower seeds or flaxseeds (or sesame seeds)

1 Tbsp raw sesame seeds, rinsed

1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice or pomegranate juice or water

1 Tbsp blueberry vinegar or other mild flavored vinegar or maybe some lemon juice

Blend the seeds and juice and vinegar in the blender until smooth. If you need more volume to blend, thaw some of the blueberries in the microwave for 30 seconds and throw them in and blend until the seeds are nicely ground up. Then add the rest of the blueberries and blend some more. Then pour over your salad. yummmmmmmm.

may 30 & 31

It was a busy but fun weekend.    Let's see if I can remember the food:

brekky:  yesterday, oatmeal & spinach.  I'm weird, I like it.  but now I'm already tired of oatmeal. 

lunch:   was gone all morning and early afternoon, snacked on apple, banana and carrots that I brought with me at 1 pm.

Then went grocery shopping, and made a salad for a picnic.  snacked on that while making it.  made pretty much this one--black bean and corn.  a double recipe, used 2 cans of beans.  let's see what I forgot (didn't look at the recipe):  forgot the lime, and the store didn't have kumquats.  but it did have a ripe mango.  It is really good in this salad.  added red bell pepper, garlic chives, some cumin powder.   I ate a bunch of this salad both while preparing and at the picnic.  In fact I ate so much I got overfull.  Those beans really expand in the tummy.  I also ate some fruit salad at the picnic and celery and strawberries and watermelon.    Food that I chose not to partake in included toasted marshmallows, spaghetti, s'mores, birthday cake, cookies, etc etc.  Some would say I deprived myself, but I really just didn't want it, plus I don't think any of it except the spaghetti was vegan.  I like veggies and fruit.

This morning I wasn't hungry, just sipped on housemate's smoothies while making them.  and had half a cantaloupe.  and some handfuls of spinach--local and really tasty.

Lunch was hurried, had some berries (strawberries and blueberries), a carrot, some fresh, local salad greens, yum!  and some walnuts and sunflowers to give me some calories.  like I said, in a hurry, no time to prepare much.

dinner was a salad.  I've been looking forward to this since I went grocery shopping yesterday.  the co-op is full of fresh local greens now.   so had a giant plate of lettuce with red bell pepper and blueberry dressing.   The dressing was really good so I ate all of it.  I figured I needed the calories anyway.  It was a great dinner.  Then I had to make more dressing for housemate so I made a tomato one.   It's similar to the russian fig but easier and less garlicy.  In fact it is super duper easy.   It was good--the flavor is dependent on how flavorful your tomato is, and we know how that can vary.  I had fresh local green onions and that made it delicious.  The tomato was local but not organic and not the most flavorful.  

My tastes seem to change with the seasons.  I'm now in the mood for fresh greens and berries and fresh fruit, and I'll definitely need the nuts and seeds and beans for calories.   I'm not really in the mood for the root veggies and soups anymore.  at least not at the moment.  It all seems too heavy.  funny how that works.

busy days at work

I'm back.   Was busy with work.  now I'm worn out because the adrenaline has gone away.  It was interesting to do this big push without caffeine.   On Tuesday night I had to get a draft of my 15-page proposal to my administrator by Wed.  So I expected to stay up all night.  I got to bed at 4:45 am.  I was pretty tired without caffeine to prop me up.  I ate an orange and banana at 2 am and that perked me up.  Here's the funny thing though:  Then the adrenaline kicked in.  I woke up at 6:45 am and couldn't get back to sleep.  So I got to work, still had a bunch of other work to do on the proposal.   I worked all day--from 6:30 am until 10 pm.  ugh.  I took a short nap but couldn't sleep much, maybe 15 minutes.  then I  only slept 6 hours that night.   I had a break in the action Thursday morning (yesterday), waiting for input from team members, so went to my morning exercise class and got some needed groceries.   got the proposal in last night.  then I still only got 6 hours of sleep!  because of the adrenaline I guess.  So I went to my morning exercise class this morning.  It was hard but enjoyable.  I ate breakfast and then hit the wall.  I was so tired.  I went to run a long errand with housemate and I just wanted to collapse.  I took an hour nap when I got home.  I hope I can get a good night's sleep tonight. 

So how did I do eating-wise?  This is also the first time I didn't use food to get me through a deadline---sweets and chocolate.  oh, except for the banana-walnut ice cream!  that was good!  I had that wed. and thurs night.  I didn't cook much, just ate stuff from the fridge.  Did you know a red bell pepper tastes great all by itself, just eating it like an apple?   I don't recall much what I ate on Wed.  Yesterday I ate a bag of fresh cherries (really good), raw carrots, frozen peas from the bag (really good).   Ate lots of spinach from the bag--fresh and local, really good ate an entire 8 oz bag.  had spinach and oatmeal for brekky.  oranges and apples.  

Today was more normal:  I had spinach and oatmeal again for breakfast.  I like that because I really like spinach.  At lunch I used the pressure cooker to make eggplant, kale, (cooked that first for 2 minutes, then added), cauliflower, mushrooms, tomatoes (cooked for another 2 minutes), then added herbs from the garden--cilantro and chives.  It was good, and I totally overate (and by the way, it was a bit overcooked, still learning to use the pressure cooker).   Then I ate a bag of frozen peas for dinner.  I wasn't going to but I just got going on them.  I was going to have a salad.  oh well.  I wasn't that hungry because lunch was big and late.  and I ate two oranges.

Oh, I did find that in my tiredness and stress, I did want to pig out more on sweets like fruit.  When I'm tired I want to use food to perk me up.  Today I did that at lunch, and I overate and it made me more tired.  I didn't overeat on calories, just ate too much at one sitting.  

Well, anyway, I'm just happy I didn't go off and buy cookies and muffins and cupcakes.  I didn't have any desire to.   Now I just hope I can get a good night's sleep and enjoy high energy levels tomorrow.  so much to look forward to in getting back to my enjoyable activities.

may 26

brekky:  smoothie

lunch:  collard greens, tomatoes, mushrooms cooked in pressure cooker.  cooked collard greens first for 4 minutes, then added the others and cooked for another minute.  ate a red bell pepper and some peas while prepared.  I love raw red and orange bell peppers.

dinner:  finished off the cabbage salad.  banana.  orange.  some edamame and corn.

ugh, I think I have to pull an all-nighter tonight for work.  oh well.  I am well-fed and well-rested, and just took a shower to perk me up.  s'okay.  

may 25

brekky:  smoothie and apple

lunch:  lots of cabbage salad.  oops I forgot to add the vinegar.  tasted good anyway.

dinner:  banana, lots of cabbage salad, some frozen peas.

it doesn't sound like much but I put a lot of walnuts in the cabbage salad and ate a lot of it so I think I had plenty of calories.  I'm busy with work so not much time for anything except my 2 hour escape to exercise class.  Work involves sitting in front of a computer all day so it's quite sedentary.   

my menus might be boring this week...work deadline on friday.

may 23 & 24

I've been having fun making quick and easy meals this weekend.   had smoothies for brekky, that's easy.  

Lunch yesterday was kale and sweet potato sauce.  Made it in the pressure cooker so it went fast.  there wasn't enough kale so I added arugula.  it was locally grown and had long stems.  they were chewy.  housemate did not like them!  I did.  I also threw in a beet because it was getting a bit old.  We also had a delicious berry salad.  Sometimes the berries at the co-op are really good, sometimes not so good.  Yesterday they were really good--strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and a ripe mango.  had that for dessert after lunch and dinner and then some more today.

Dinner last night was corn and bean salad over lettuce.  I'm not sure I like the texture or feel of bean salad over lettuce.  I think I'd rather have the bean salad in a separate bowl and the lettuce  in a separate salad.  Also my bean salad was a bit bland until today when I added 1/2  chopped ripe cantaloupe.  Then it was really good.  The other half cantaloupe I had at brekky with my smoothie.

Lunch today was more bean salad over lettuce, a whopping plate.  and some carrots while preparing.

Dinner today was pea and avocado guacamole with lots of steamed veggies--broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots.  They took 1 minute to cook in the pressure cooker!  orange for dessert.   very satisfying meal.