This banana slicer may or may not be useful to you but the reviews are hilarious.
http://www.amazon.com/Hutzler-5717-571-Banana-Slicer/dp/B0047E0EII/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Friday, December 14, 2012
Hello!
It's been a festive fall/early winter. I'm having a great start to winter, enjoying my job and my impending job transition, enjoying getting back to exercise and rebuilding strength and flexibility in my arm/wrist (broke it Sept. 26), enjoying my meditation classes and yoga classes and socializing and pretty much everything--except today's horrible news about the shootings in Connecticut.
But moving on, I have three food-related things to share.
1) I took Colin Campbell's online Plant-Based Nutrition course this fall--that's why I stopped blogging, to make more time for the class. It was outstanding! It was the most scientific presentation of nutrition (with a plant-based emphasis) I've ever seen. And I love that, being a scientist myself. I thought I knew this stuff pretty well, having read every popular book on the subject I could get my hands on. But I didn't, because popular books don't go into that much detail. I'm so glad I took this course. I have definitely modified my eating habits as a result.
2) I saw some TEDx Fremont videos by some of our favorite plant-strong promoters. The ones that stood out for me were Dr. Neal Barnard's and Rip Esselstyn's talks. Barnard gave the most compelling arguments in 20 minutes I've seen for going plant-based. and Rip is entertaining and motivating. Dr. Lisle also talked about the pleasure trap, which is great if you haven't seen it already. I haven't seen most of the other videos, maybe I'll check them out sometime.
3) A few days ago I started a new blog with friend Hojo, logging food, exercise and recipes. Why a new one? for the fun of it. and to include Hojo. and because my eating program has changed somewhat so my recipes are different and this will be less confusing to me. Here is the blog:
http://sawltydawgmuses.blogspot.com
Have a good weekend!
But moving on, I have three food-related things to share.
1) I took Colin Campbell's online Plant-Based Nutrition course this fall--that's why I stopped blogging, to make more time for the class. It was outstanding! It was the most scientific presentation of nutrition (with a plant-based emphasis) I've ever seen. And I love that, being a scientist myself. I thought I knew this stuff pretty well, having read every popular book on the subject I could get my hands on. But I didn't, because popular books don't go into that much detail. I'm so glad I took this course. I have definitely modified my eating habits as a result.
2) I saw some TEDx Fremont videos by some of our favorite plant-strong promoters. The ones that stood out for me were Dr. Neal Barnard's and Rip Esselstyn's talks. Barnard gave the most compelling arguments in 20 minutes I've seen for going plant-based. and Rip is entertaining and motivating. Dr. Lisle also talked about the pleasure trap, which is great if you haven't seen it already. I haven't seen most of the other videos, maybe I'll check them out sometime.
3) A few days ago I started a new blog with friend Hojo, logging food, exercise and recipes. Why a new one? for the fun of it. and to include Hojo. and because my eating program has changed somewhat so my recipes are different and this will be less confusing to me. Here is the blog:
http://sawltydawgmuses.blogspot.com
Have a good weekend!
Monday, October 15, 2012
Squash
Here is a fun website describing all the types of winter squash. So far I've tried acorn, buttercup, butternut, festival (=carnival?), delicata, kabocha, and red kuri. The only one I didn't especially like was red kuri. I think my favorite was kabocha, with buttercup a close second and acorn third. Actually I haven't tried delicate yet, just prepared it for tomorrow. And I will be giving festival a couple of more tries this week. Butternut is nice but not as complex in texture and flavor as my top 3.
this week's food
This week my lunches are even simpler than last week's! (I broke my wrist and I'm still doing one-handed, or as easy as possible, food prep).
Breakfast continues to be a large bowl of oatmeal. That is also getting more spartan. Sometimes I add a banana but usually just some cinnamon, ground flaxseed, and a splash of plain soymilk. I may stop using the soymilk soon because I don't use up the 1-qt container before it goes bad. I'm going to try some ideas from this post, especially the idea of infusing the water with an herbal teabag before adding the oats. Interesting, eh? and nutritional yeast. I gotta try that once. I'm not so interested in the sweet concoctions but I'm also not interested to add greens to my oats. I pretty much just want oats. I also eat several handfuls os spinach while preparing housemate's smoothie.
We are now getting local sweet potatoes so I changed up my lunch a bit. On Saturday, the sweet potato was so large I just had that with collards:
I ate the sweet potato like a burrito: :)
Dinner is still baked squash with a veggie. Last night the veggie was frozen okra cooked in tomatoes from a can. That was great and super simple.
Tonight was acorn squash with cabbage. Tomorrow will be brussels sprouts on delicata squash. I'm trying out all varieties of squash. Sometime I'll post on my ratings of them. I should try them more than once to account for individual variations. Ripeness is a factor and I don't know how you pick out a ripe one.
Snacks are carrots, celery, a small apple, and salad fixings eaten with my fingers: lettuce and red bell pepper.
Have a good week!
Breakfast continues to be a large bowl of oatmeal. That is also getting more spartan. Sometimes I add a banana but usually just some cinnamon, ground flaxseed, and a splash of plain soymilk. I may stop using the soymilk soon because I don't use up the 1-qt container before it goes bad. I'm going to try some ideas from this post, especially the idea of infusing the water with an herbal teabag before adding the oats. Interesting, eh? and nutritional yeast. I gotta try that once. I'm not so interested in the sweet concoctions but I'm also not interested to add greens to my oats. I pretty much just want oats. I also eat several handfuls os spinach while preparing housemate's smoothie.
We are now getting local sweet potatoes so I changed up my lunch a bit. On Saturday, the sweet potato was so large I just had that with collards:
I ate the sweet potato like a burrito: :)
Today I had I smaller one, a baked potato, some broccoli, and beans. The rest of the week will be the same except substitute collards for broccoli. I prepare them every week as described here.
Dinner is still baked squash with a veggie. Last night the veggie was frozen okra cooked in tomatoes from a can. That was great and super simple.
Tonight was acorn squash with cabbage. Tomorrow will be brussels sprouts on delicata squash. I'm trying out all varieties of squash. Sometime I'll post on my ratings of them. I should try them more than once to account for individual variations. Ripeness is a factor and I don't know how you pick out a ripe one.
Snacks are carrots, celery, a small apple, and salad fixings eaten with my fingers: lettuce and red bell pepper.
Have a good week!
some good links
1) For diet I think this is website has useful tips:
http://dietcoachcafeblog.com
If you sign up for the free 100 days or one-year challenge, you can get some free materials including monthly calendars. I like this--print out this month's calendar, then mark each day with a green, yellow, or red mark, depending on if you lose, maintain, or gain weight. This can be modified for healthy choices or exercise, you get the picture, right? I think it's fun. Try to get as much green as possible. Try to get better each month.
2) this 3-page document explains how to do a plant-strong healthy diet--concise and simple!
http://plantbasedadventures.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/pbwf.pdf
3) For info on how to live your life, this free online series of interviews looks pretty good:
http://live.soundstrue.com/compassionatebrain/event.php
http://dietcoachcafeblog.com
If you sign up for the free 100 days or one-year challenge, you can get some free materials including monthly calendars. I like this--print out this month's calendar, then mark each day with a green, yellow, or red mark, depending on if you lose, maintain, or gain weight. This can be modified for healthy choices or exercise, you get the picture, right? I think it's fun. Try to get as much green as possible. Try to get better each month.
2) this 3-page document explains how to do a plant-strong healthy diet--concise and simple!
http://plantbasedadventures.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/pbwf.pdf
3) For info on how to live your life, this free online series of interviews looks pretty good:
http://live.soundstrue.com/compassionatebrain/event.php
Saturday, October 6, 2012
this week's food prep
Today I made a big batch of collards, onion and mushroom for the week--see last week's post on the method. This time I chopped the onion and mushroom myself. That was enough for me and that's all the chopping I plan to do until next time I make this. I made 8 1-cup servings which I froze.
I made a double batch of burgers. I really like the sausage seasoning in these (Jeff Novick describes how to mix this seasoning on his DVD). I also added onion and garlic powder and arizona seasoning (sort of a Mexican mix). it's good! and will be even better with my ketchup which I also made up today. I made 8 balls and froze them too (will smash into patties after thawing)
I ground up some flaxseed, added some chia, and put that in the freezer.
I made yogurt last week, should have enough to last another week. If not, it is really easy to make any day.
That was tiring enough for me. It's work to do things with just one arm and hand, and even more so when it's not the dominant hand---though I think my hand is really enjoying getting to do everything.
My daily chores will be to bake my squash and potatoes and prepare my oatmeal each night for the next day; then assemble my meals in the morning (will probably eat lunch and dinner at work). Should be easy.
I made a double batch of burgers. I really like the sausage seasoning in these (Jeff Novick describes how to mix this seasoning on his DVD). I also added onion and garlic powder and arizona seasoning (sort of a Mexican mix). it's good! and will be even better with my ketchup which I also made up today. I made 8 balls and froze them too (will smash into patties after thawing)
I ground up some flaxseed, added some chia, and put that in the freezer.
I made yogurt last week, should have enough to last another week. If not, it is really easy to make any day.
That was tiring enough for me. It's work to do things with just one arm and hand, and even more so when it's not the dominant hand---though I think my hand is really enjoying getting to do everything.
My daily chores will be to bake my squash and potatoes and prepare my oatmeal each night for the next day; then assemble my meals in the morning (will probably eat lunch and dinner at work). Should be easy.
barb's ketchup
This is inspired by cathy's ketchup but that is too thick and apple-y for my tastes. so here's my version.
Ingredients:
1 6-oz can tomato paste
1/2 16-oz can tomatoes, drained mostly (I use the rest of the can to make burgers with)
1 Tbsp high-quality balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup apple cider or juice
blend in high-speed blender until smooth. I pour into 4 bowls to freeze. one bowl lasts two meals for me, allowing for a generous sugar-free, salt-free portion in each.
Ingredients:
1 6-oz can tomato paste
1/2 16-oz can tomatoes, drained mostly (I use the rest of the can to make burgers with)
1 Tbsp high-quality balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup apple cider or juice
blend in high-speed blender until smooth. I pour into 4 bowls to freeze. one bowl lasts two meals for me, allowing for a generous sugar-free, salt-free portion in each.
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