Saturday, April 25, 2009

Saturday Cook & Bake Fest

Day 13.

Today was a fabulous Saturday! I woke up, had my Steel Cut Oats breakfast and then went to the gym for an hour and a half workout. I had amazing energy! I felt so wonderful before, during and after working out!

My stomach was only twisted and gassy after lunch for a couple of hours. My mouth was some annoyed in the morning and then again at night around 8pm. Alternated between a 2/3 and 6/7 today.

After my workout, I went grocery shopping (again!). I went to a Health Food Store, then an Indian Food Store and finally to the local Safeway. I was on a mission to get the rest of my ingredients to make the things I've wanted to make for a long time now!

So, I got home around 1:30 pm and proceeded to spend the next 5 hours in the kitchen...cooking and baking! It was so wonderful! I think I might be addicted to cooking/baking and new fun, fabulous and healthy recipes now!

I want to explain what and how I made the things I did today.

1. Mung Dal Kitcheree
Who knew that something with a name I've never even imagined to hear would be something I absolutely love?! You can find the entire recipe here from Leah's website.

My modifications: NO Ginger!

I am so excited to have this to eat for the week. Ryan and I had it as part of our dinner tonight. He even liked it!

"The kitcheree is especially beneficial for building strength when ill or aiding in detoxification."

I typically don't even like "spicy" things, as there is a "kick" to this. But this is amazing!

2. Magic Mineral Broth
I got very creative with this one today, going beyond the actual broth!

Make note: This one takes about 2.5 hours to make; you'll need to have plenty of time.

This is truly "magic." I thought the broth would taste "flat," but turns out to be anything but flat! It's full of flavor, low in calories and extremely high in nutritional benefits/therapy.

As a matter of fact it was stated, "This broth alone can keep people going, especially when they don't particularly want to eat. It's not just a regular vegetable. This pot of yum is high in potassium and numerous trace minerals that are often depleted by cancer therapy. Sipping this nutrient-rich stock is like giving your body an internal spa treatment. Drink it like a tea, or use it as a base for all your favorite soups and rice dishes. Don't be daunted by the ingredient list. Simply chop the ingredients in chunks and throw them in the pot, roots, skins and all."

You can find the recipe here.

My modifications: I did not have a 12-quart pot. I only had a 7-quart pot, so I halved the recipe. Also, NO celery.

So I made the broth. Turned out fabulous. Delicious.

I then proceeded to make use of every single vegetable in that pot! We don't waste anything and especially since everything in that pot is so good for us to eat!

So what did I do? I did two things. First, I took the carrots, onions, leek, garlic, parsley, kombu and bay leaves and set them in a container. I will eat them this week. I love vegetables to much. I always tell people, "I want to be a vegetable." I get "the look" from people who don't know me, usually, as they think I'm talking about some sort of death. But anyone who knows me, knows that I love vegetables so much. I don't think there is a vegetable I won't eat! I eat so many of them daily. The problem is that I eat many of the same ones everyday out of convenience. This was perfect for me because I got to put a heap of new vegetables in one container to enjoy for the upcoming week!

And second, I took the red potatoes, sweet potatoes and yams and made a side dish. My husband and I love sweet potatoes. We recently got into baked sweet potato fries. We slice them up, then lightly sprinkle with olive oil and cinnamon and bake them! Wonderful! So, since these potatoes were already so tender, I put them in a bowl and mashed them up, added just 1 Tbsp of olive oil and sprinkled a little sea salt and cinnamon on them. We had them as another side dish for dinner tonight. They were, again, wonderful! We even have enough left over for another meal or two!

And that is the end of the Magic Mineral Broth! Magical indeed!

3. Coconut Chocolate Pudding Recipe
I love vegetables. I really do love them. BUT, I really love chocolate. I know I have said it somewhere on a previous blog, but when I found out that conventional chocolate was going to be out for me, I was frustrated.

Milk chocolate is so great! Who doesn't love milk chocolate, right? And then we move into dark chocolate. We all know the "health benefits" of dark chocolate - the darker the better. Women everywhere are reading how this can prevent and help almost anything! So, we started eating the dark chocolate. I really began to love the dark chocolate. I started buying the 100-calorie dark chocolate bars at Trader Joes. Well, then I found out that I couldn't have Soy - the 100-calorie bars have soy lecithin in them. That was "good-bye" to the "oh-so-good-for-me 100-calorie-Trader-Joe bars!" So, I started looking for a new way to satisfy this chocolate urge. The problem - almost every single chocolate bar I found had either cocoa butter OR soy lecithin in it.

Then, I asked Leah about chocolate. Here is what she told me: "You can definitely find chocolate without it (soy lecithin). In fact, most organic, free trade dark chocolates will have no soy lecithin. The cheaper lesser quality chocolates use soy lecithin as an emulsifier so they can process the chocolate at higher temperatures (which is faster and saves money).Enjoy some good chocolate without soy lecithin!"

And then I asked her, "I need a recipe for a dessert. I'm lacking that in my diet!" She replied with a few options and mentioned, "Remember, dessert is a treat, treat it that way and enjoy! I like the philosophy 80/20. 80% of your diet is healthy for your body, 20% is healthy for your soul, like chocolate and wine!"

So the recipe I made today was the Coconut Chocolate Pudding Recipe which you can find here.

My modifications/brands I used: NO salt! No raz el hanout spice blend or curry powder. For the Alkalized dutch-cocoa poder I used Terr Amazon Organic Cacao Powder. For the 3.5-ounce bar semi-sweet chocolate, I used Ghirardelli's 100% cacao unsweetened Chocolate Bar. (And yes, a perfect chocolate for me. That is the only ingredient. Nothing else added to it!)

Ryan and I had this for our dessert tonight, with a Red Wine of course! But let me explain something about this dessert. For starters, I would not classify it as a pudding! This is nothing like any kind of pudding I have ever had! This is more like a mousse. It is so rich, so thick and unexplainably phenomenal! We have these tiny dishes for a dessert like this and we didn't even fill them half way. And that was OK because it was so rich, so filling and hit the spot with a little wine! As Leah said, "Dessert is a treat. Treat it that way!"

This is something I would bring to a dinner party. And at the end of the day, I would be so proud that my dessert, although rich and packed with calories, was super satisfying and yet relatively low in sugar with no chemicals added!

Here was my day:

Breakfast

  • 1/4 c. Steel Cut Oats, Nutribiotic Vanilla Rice Protein Powder with Unsweetened Rice Milk, Spirulina, Aloe Vera, Fish Oil and Stevia
  • 1/2 Fruit Fusion Bar
Post-Workout Snack
  • Organic Apple
  • 1/2 Fruit Fusion Bar
Lunch
  • Organic Spring Mix + Organic Spinach topped with Organic Arugula + Lemon + Garlic + Sea Salt
  • Olive Oil + ACV + Cinnamon
  • 1/2 c. Grilled Chicken
Snack
  • "Taste-test" all 3 recipes I made today!
Dinner
  • Sweet/Red Potatoes + Olive Oil + Cinnamon + Sea Salt
  • Salmon
  • Mung Dal Kitcheree
  • Artichokes + Sea Salt + Whole Pieces Garlic
  • Coconut Chocolate Pudding
  • Red Wine
It was such a beautful day in California today -about 70 and sunny. And even though it was so sunny out, I am so glad I stayed in this afternoon for a Saturday Cook & Bake Fest!

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