Thai Coconut Curry & Honeymoon

Friends, it's been awhile! Too long. Since our last encounter I've changed my last name and went on a honeymoon to Costa Rica. It was thirteen days and it was lovely. Waterfalls, Howler Monkeys, and Coatis, or "nose bears," were the highlights and a wicked sunburn was the low. 

I couldn't fit the whole waterfall in this shot but there's the hubs  swimming next to it! 

Arenal Volcano... yes, volcano.

Being the longest vacation either of us had ever taken, on day eleven we each confessed that we were ready to go home. Ready to get back to our own bed, anxious to get those thank you cards out, and excited to finally get the house in order . Maybe the last two were just me. I was also ready to get back to cooking. We both were burnt out on too-busy/wedding-prep/vacation food- simple carbs, refined sugars, even pop! gasp!

I've been dreaming of these, my lentil burgers, and maybe another round of cold buckwheat soba noodles. Alas, this past week did not allowed for much cooking. Our tasks to straighten up after the wedding (getting the many something-borrowed items back to the right people, cleaning a very messy home, writing many thank you cards, making a giant goodwill pile out of old muffin pans and the like, taking all the cardboard shipped presents came in to the homeless shelter, etc.) took for-ev-er. All very wonderful problems to have, no?! The hubs had to leave Wednesday morning for work and wasn't back until Monday night, plus I was traveling over the weekend- so it just didn't make sense to go stock the fridge with crisp fruits and veggies that would inevitably wilt before we had a chance to enjoy them.

Thus, we did a lot of take-out. The house is finally starting to look like a home and not a war zone, however, recently there's been much more resturanting than preferred.  The upside is that one of these meals out inspired me to find an at-home-version.

If you haven't been fortunate to become acquainted with much Thai food, please allow me to introduce Panang curry. The true-blue recipe is complex if you don't typically use thai ingredients like dehydrated shrimp, but produces an incredibly delicious result. My version of the recipe will be simplified for us beginner home cooks and give you some whole food benefits.

whole cumin

Turmeric and fresh chillies have immune-boosting power. The brown rice instead of white gives the dish a high fiber count and is rich in selenium, which studies claim reduces the risk for developing cancer, heart disease and arthritis. Additionally, one cup of brown rice provides 80% of our daily manganese requirements, which helps the body synthesize fats and benefits our nervous and reproductive systems. Coconut milk will give the dish a wonderful cream, without leaving out your lactose intolerant or paleo friends. Further, while coconut oil/milk does have a lot of saturated fats, it is debatable whether that is a bad thing. The saturated fat in coconut oil/milk is plant-based and breaks down in the body somewhat differently than saturated fat from animals. Many researchers claim that this fat may actually lead to an increase of HDL - or good - cholesterol levels. Coconut oil and milk also contain Lauric acid, which may work as an anti-bacterial agent, helping your body fight off unwanted bacteria, such as staph. That being said, some of the research out there causes me to go at coconut oils and milks in moderation. But really, isn't that always the key?

I always order Panang with chicken though it is traditionally made with beef and can be prepared with pork too. It usually comes with a side of white rice and a vegetable. The first time I had it the curry was made with some chicken and tons of green beans. Other times it has been served with steamed broccoli but I much prefer the green beans. Of course the green veggies are going to serve up a good source of dietary fiber, vitamins, and minerals. If you have the beans on the side they stay crisp until making it to table, where, if it's my plate, it will end up mixed into a big bowl of deliciousness. I went ahead and threw mine into the curry sauce to save dirtying up another pot. It's spicy enough that you'll stop eating when you run out of water, but not painful. (Unlike the hub's experience with "authentic thai heat" at noodlehead in Pittsburgh the first night of our honeymoon. A restaurant I highly recommend, btw. I had the Chiang Mai Curry which was some sort of heaven, but a much more complicated dish that I will leave for the professionals at this time... humm when's the next time I'll be in Pittsburgh?)

Not-so-traditional Panang Curry

Adapted from http://thaifood.about.com/od/thairecipes/r/penangcurry.htm
Note: Takes about an hour and a half to prepare and cook. There is a good bit of prep work but then it just simmers on the kitchen stove for a long time. I served mine with brown rice. This makes a pretty big recipe, so use a big pan for the curry!

• 3 chicken breasts cut into bite-sized pieces or small slices. Can substitute other meats, even shirmp.
• Every recipe I researched called for kaffir lime leaves, but they aren't available where I'm from so I substituted bay leaves during the simmer and some lime zest.
• 1 red bell pepper or sweet red pepper, slice.
• 1/2 loose cup fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped or tore up.

Curry Sauce: 

• 4 Tbsp. tomato paste

• 1 small white or yellow onion, chopped

• 1 thumb-size piece ginger, finely minced

• 3 cloves garlic, finely minced 

• 1 Tbsp. soy sauce

• 1/2 tsp. soy sauce

• 2 Tbsp. fish sauce (If you don't want to experiment with fish sauce, or if you're allergic, you could try using a few drops of Worcestershire or more soy sauce with an extra squeeze of lime juice.)

• 1 tsp. shrimp paste  I just substituted 2 Tbsps more of fish sauce to save $ and on the ew factor. Additionally some sites recommend avoiding shrimp paste if you are preggo, get heartburn, or are on a reduced salt diet. Shrimp paste is not a health food.

• 1 Tbsp. paprika

• 1 Tbsp. chili powder (I used what I had, smoked paprika and smoked chili powder. If you have regular, use it- the smoked flavor made it taste a little more southwest and less thai.)

• 1/2 tsp. ground coriander

• 1/2 tsp. whole cumin

• 1-2 red chili, minced, OR 1/2 to 1 tsp. cayenne pepper or chili flakes to taste

• 1/2 tsp. turmeric

• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

• 1/8 tsp. nutmeg (Fresh nutmeg is stronger, more aromatic than the pre-ground stuff- so use less if you wield a trusty micrograter like moi'.)

• 1/8 tsp. ground cloves

• 1 can good-quality coconut milk

• juice of 1/2 lime

1. Blend all curry sauce ingredients - except the whole cumin seeds - in a vita-mix or food processor. (I forgot to hold my cumin seeds- darn!)
2. Start browning chicken (or your meat of choice) and add in cumin seeds and cook until fragrant  Pour curry sauce into pan before meat is cooked through. 
3. Add in the lime (or lime leaves) mix well 
4. Cover and stir occasionally until chicken is cooked through. In last 3 minutes add peppers to top of curry and cover, do not stir in. Steam green beans (or broccoli or whatever) on the side(or throw into curry 10 minutes before cooking time is finished)
5. Season to taste: add more fish sauce if not salty enough; add more coconut milk or a little yogurt if too spicy; add more lime juice if too salty.
6. Sprinkle with fresh basil leaves and serve with your veggie and brown, whole-grain rice.

Orange Pan-Glazed Tempah

Last week my friend Catie came over to help me with mundane wedding project tasks, God bless her. While cutting burlap and twisting birdseed into tulle wrappers, we started talking about food. She has been trying to avoid overly processed foods too. We started swapping what ingredients we had been experimenting with. I mentioned that the dinner I had prepared I had made a few days earlier, but with tofu and that it was surprisingly better than that night's chicken version.  I also passed on a tip I had learned from a food blog, but had yet to try- freezing tofu before preparing it as that will give it a more meaty texture. My friend stated that she hadn't cooked with tofu much but rather had some success with tempeh."Tempeh!! Oh tell me more!" 

Tempeh was an ingredient I had only heard of and didn't know anything about. My pal explained that Tempeh appealed to her because it was less processed than tofu. Holy crap. Even tofu is 'processed'. I hadn't even thought of that. I figured if it was in the hippie section of the grocery it was not processed. And really, it's not that tofu is all that processed, just more so than tempeh. If my understanding is correct (feel free to correct me in the comments section), tofu is made from soy milk, whereas tempeh skips that step of making soy milk and is pretty much straight up fermented soy beans. Once I got my mitts on some at the local natural foods grocery I discovered that indeed, it is pretty unprocessed. check it. Yes, those grey and black spots are fine and don't indicate any spoilage.  

I found a recipe online and decided I would pair it with some red peppers I had on hand and some quinoa although the inspiration recipe paired it with wheat berries- another ingredient I need to try! (Can I add that to my wedding registry?) The recipe isn't a marinade as I expected, but rather a glaze. The flavors are kind of a mild version of that Chinese dish, orange chicken, which I loooovvveee but haven't had in a long time because it's so processed and sugary. But I wanted to run with that, so I tweaked the recipe to make the flavors a bit stronger. I also sprinkled on some chopped up peanuts for texture and cilantro and red onion for color and to give a stronger flavor. 

    



ginger and mircograter



Orange Pan-Glazed Tempeh

Serve with your choice of veggies and/or whole grain. Slightly adapted from 101 cookbooks. 

1 cup OJ. If you squeeze your own takes about 3-4 large oranges.

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

2 teaspoons tamari or soy sauce

1 1/2 tablespoons dry white wine. The original recipe calls for mirin, but I didn't want to buy a jar of something I may never use again.

2 teaspoons molasses (or maple syrup)

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

2 small garlic cloves

some olive oil

a lime or lemon if you've got it. I cheated and used some of that stuff in the bottle- don't you judge me.

a handful of fresh cilantro (optional)

package of tempeh. The original recipe remarks you can also use extra-firm tofu, though I haven't tried it. 

Juice your oranges into a small bowl and remove any seeds. I won't tell if you use reg. OJ. 

Grate your ginger into bowl and add the soy sauce (or tamari), white wine (or mirin), and your sweetener of choice (maple syrup or molasses). Set aside. You are not marinating anything. 

Cut up your tempeh. I cut mine into small triangles. Fry it in large pan with olive oil for about 5 minutes on each side. 

Pour your OJ mix into the pan and simmer for about 10 minutes until sauce reduces to a glaze. (I added red peppers to mine at this point and threw in some red onion slivers in the last minute of cooking. You don't want to really cook red onions or they loose that beautiful color.)You can squeeze some lime on top, sprinkle on some cilantro and peanuts on top for a real ta-da and to make it a little more Thai-like. 

Serves 4, or two with one small leftover side dish for lunch if you have a boy to feed.

Whole Wheat Waffles

When the future hub's roomate recently moved out and I started moving in, there were items left behind. Some of the items were abandoned by roomates of long ago. So when a waffle iron, among other things was found, picture texts were exchanged with a "is this yours?" to the last rommie.  

Joyfully, the waffle iron was one of these items abandoned. Now that I've taken a whack at this dish, I can invite said last inhabitant and let him enjoy the fruits of the newly rediscoved waffle iron too.

I modified this king arthur recipe a good bit as the batter was intially too wet and the waffles too thin. I added wheat germ to the mix which gives it the added benefit of a kick-butt protein. Unfortunately, wheat germ is removed during the refining of whole wheat grains to white flour because otherwise the flour would go rancid quickly. But you can keep wheat germ in your fridge and add it to things like your yogurt, cereal, and waffles. However, I must warn you, perhaps I should have called these "Fart Waffles." Wheat germ definitely gives you gas.

I also substituted molassas for the refined sugar. The fresh orange juice was part of the original recipe and really played off the other ingredients nicely.

Whole Wheat Waffles

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour *

1/2 cup wheat germ

2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons molasses **

1/3 cup unsalted butter, gently melted

(That's nearly 5 tablespoons if you're like me and just use the little tablespoon ruler on the butter wrapper)

1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk

1 large egg

2 tablespoons orange juice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

notes:

*I used whole wheat pastry flour, but I'm sure you could get away with regular, and certainly white whole wheat flour as that's what the original recipe called for.

** or honey, or maple syrup, but molasses gives the most complex flavor.

1. all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. melt yo butter. Add in milk and continue to cook for another minute.  (here's a little tip: when you microwave butter, put another cup of water in the microwave with it and it will allow you butter to melt more slowly and avoid splattering.)
3. Whisk in egg, orange juice, and vanilla extract until combined.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Don't get too over zealous. Some lumps are okay, don't over mix.
5. Heat up yo waffle iron. Preheat da oven to 200 degrees.
6. Let your batter sit for at least 5 minutes to firm up a bit.
7. Add batter to heated waffle iron. (give your iron time to heat up inbetween rounds.) Remove cooked waffle and place on a baking sheet in the oven. I read that stacking causes waffles to become limp due to the steam so I'll do that next time.)
8. Top with berries if you've got it and 100% pure maple syrup. (Or whatever you damn well feel like.)
9. Save leftovers in the fridge and reheat in the toaster.

Leftover Lentil Meatballs

npr

I have a ton of leftover lentils. Last night I made lentils with roasted sweet potatoes and onions, and because the future hubs was one of the dinner guests, I made extra. I have learned over the past couple of months that "serves 4-6" really means "serves 2 plus the future hubs," especially if he just got back from playing basketball.  Lentils take some time and I wanted leftovers, so I doubled the recipe. The problem is that I didn't love the outcome. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't one I want to rave over and beg you to try. It’s one of those meals where you realize you’re eating healthy.  I prefer to be a little more sneaky.

So knowing that my lentil burgers were a big hit, I decided to try and morph part of the leftovers into lentil meatballs. I have been itching to try the Cookie and Kate version but given my surplus of Maple Baked Lentils with Sweet Potatoes and hating food waste like a depression era housewife, I decided to take a wack at a recipe re-haul.

They turned out pretty darn good! Even my pup was convinced that they trumped a milk-bone when one dropped to the floor. Last night (and today for lunch) I enjoyed them al la' hoagie. Whole wheat bread with ricotta, spaghetti sauce, lots of meatballs, mozzarella, and parmesan, under the broiler. Pretty darn good. So good I forgot to take a picture before I dug in. Sorry!

I gotta think these would be great in Italian wedding soup, as a pizza topper, with curly pasta and pesto, and of course, on top of good ol' fashioned spaghetti. (All of these suggestions are whole wheat of course!)

And so, if you have some lowly lentils leftover, might I suggest a way to make them more lovely...

Leftover Lentil Meatballs 

adapted from Cookie + Kate, serves 4 as a topping, 2 as the whole meal.

Ingredients

Extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper

2 1/2 cups of leftover lentils
You can add in some mushrooms if you have some leftovers (probably no more than 3/4 cup)
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme and 1/2 teaspoon dried terragon if you've got it. I made mine without, but they'd probably be better with.
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1 tablespoon soy sauce (you can exclude this if you are on a cleanse

1 medium white onion or a bunch of green onions chopped.
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
1 or 2 eggs (you can exclude this if you want it to be vegan, but if your lentils are kind of dry (mine were not) they may not bind together very well. I suggest making the meatballs small so they have less chance to break apart)

Instructions

1. In a vita-mix or food processor combine the lentils, (mushrooms), spices, parsley until well combined. If you can prevent them from getting too mashed up, you'll have better texture, but don't stress. It won't affect the taste.

2. If you want to add to the flavor take a few minutes to put your mixture into a skillet on some olive oil. Add in the soy sauce and keep cooking until all your liquid has been absorbed. If you are adding in the eggs for binder, then you'll definitely want to do this and get rid of some excess moisture. 

3. season with salt and pepper and once cool enough to touch, thoroughly mix in whisked eggs. 

4. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat oven to 400. 

5. I find a cookie scoop works the best to have uniform (even cooking) meatballs, but if you don't have one, use your hands to make little balls, leaving some space around each one. Bake until golden brown. Mine were a little smaller than a golf ball and 30 minutes was perfect for some crunch on the outside and to make sure they weren't mushy on the inside. I knew I was using sauce, so I wasn't worried about them drying out. Bake them for less time, or make bigger meatballs if you want them to retain some moisture. 

natural cookies

I'm getting hitched here in a few weeks and one of the things I'm looking forward to is a homemade cookie bar... that and marrying someone awesome is good too, but you know, cookies.

My future mother-in-law has a gluten intolerance, I have a pal who's paleo, a few vegetarians, and a lactose intolerant. I want everyone to have a little something sweet at the reception but without forcing them to lie crumpled in bed beyond a legitimate hangover. Enter the search for the do-all cookie.

And I've found it. It's refined sugar free, processed oil free, gluten free, and lactose intolerant friendly. It comes by way of the Cookie + Kate blogs and I nearly pee'd my pants when Kate answered my comment. She used my name!  

However, consider yourself warned, it does not stand up well to substitutions.

Do not bother making them if you don't have honest-to-God coconut flour. Do not bother making them if you found coconut flour but ran out of baking soda and seek to substitute the appropriate amount of sub'd leavener by way of baking powder. Maple Syrup seems to do better than honey and if you use coconut oil like me, you'll need to refrigerate the dough for 20 minutes before baking.

Vegan, Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Slightly adapted from Cookie + Kate, makes about 40 small cookies.

These naturally sweetened, vegan, gluten-free cookies taste like a cross between the traditional toll-house chocolate chip cookie and girl scout samoas.  While they are not low-cal, they are healthy in that they contain no isolates. Which I think is a better deal. However, they are seriously delicious and you may need to temper yourself! 

I also like that they come together so quickly and that they don't contain any butter or egg to go bad. In Claire-world, that means you can leave the bowl in the fridge for a couple of days and make yourself a fresh cookie or two as you are baking your dinner... and of course there's no need to worry about salmonella, so lick that beater! 

Ingredients

• 1  1/2 cup almond flour (aka almond meal) firmly packed
• 1/2 cup coconut flour, firmly packed
• 1/4 cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut flakes (optional) 
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt (Kate suggests fine grain sea)
• dash cinnamon (optional)
• 1 cup coconut oil, melted (you can use the same amount of butter if you don't need these to be vegan)
• 1 cup real maple syrup (or honey)
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups vegan chocolate chips* 

*This is a huge amount of chocolate for the cookies. You can dial this back if you want and they would still be delicious. I used enjoy life brand and was very satisfied. I don't have any other experience with other brands. The small chips did a great job though. I think if they were more like regular size chocolate chips it would be a good idea to run em through a quick chop- otherwise they are going to be too melty and messy. 

Instructions

1. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Mix the flours, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Mix in the melted coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Stir in the chocolate.
3. Let the dough rest for at least 15 minutes in the fridge so the coconut flour can absorb some of the excess moisture and firm up so they won't spread too much in the oven. While resting, preheat oven to 350.
4. Scoop dough, one tablespoon at a time, in mounds onto the baking sheet, leaving a couple inches around each cookie.
5. Bake for about 9 minutes, until golden brown. Allow to cool on the sheet for a bit so they don't fall apart.

Valentine noms

Some Valentine's related recipes (and a reason I need a nut-milk bag!)

For those on a cleanse:
Reboot Blush Juice

For those avoiding processed sugar, but still chocolate lovers:
Double Chocolate Torte

For those in deserve of an after-work cocktail:
Blood-Orange and Bourbon 

P.S. The Lentil Burgers were delicious!
My veggie stock was past its prime so I just used water to cook the lentils. I was tempted to use beef broth. That probably would have been pretty tasty, but yesterday was for meat-abstinence so water worked just fine.

I paired my patty with Ezekiel bread, hummus, avocado, alfalfa sprouts, tomato, and roasted red pepper. Perhaps all the toppings were what made it so delicious. I have a good bit of burger leftover so I'm going to experiment with different kinds of burgers. I'm thinking a greek burger with balsamic vinegar, feta, and olives mixed into the burger, paired with hummus, red pepper, red onion, cucumber, and cilantro.

kale chips

I saw a post the other day about annoying things food blogger do. The author begged bloggers to stop posting about kale chips.... What's a kale chip? Well I found out and am now going to do exactly what the aforementioned author plead against. 


Kale Chips are apparently a good way to force some veggies down your throat. Kale boasts an impressive resume of nutrients. Besides being high in fiber, it is a powerhouse of iron, calcium, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K, Antioxidants, such as carotenoids and flavonoids that help protect against various cancers, omega-3 fatty acids, which help, fight against arthritis, asthma and autoimmune disorders. If Kale was someone at the bar, you'd buy em' a drink. So I was pretty excited to put this veggie in my shopping cart. (this veggie is on the dirty dozen, so buy organic if you can find it and afford it.)


So I gave kale chips a try, and while they weren't all the rage I was reading on the blog-sphere, they were a pretty tasty way to replace a potato chip. I experimented with Old Bay seasoning and another round with garlic salt, which upped the taste-o-meter. I'd definitely recommend giving kale chips a shot if you're a salt craver like my mom. My down fall is sweets, hers is salt, so maybe to her, this recipe would be all that and a bag of chips. ... pun intended. 

Here's a video on how to prepare kale chips. 

http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/02/crunchy-salty-kale-chips/


or if you prefer, here's a text version of a slightly different recipe (with a bonus recipe on butternut squash):

http://www.doorsixteen.com/2011/01/16/butternut-squash-kale-chips/

I used curley green kale, but I'd like to give it another shot with Purple Russian Kale if I ever come across it! Sounds pretty!

shame on you, BA.

I thought Bon Appetit was supposed to be this high-falutin foodie magazine where if you took the time to buy these high class ingredients and followed their instruction you would be presented with a mouth-watering cornucopia of new tastes.... okay, I realize that's a high bill, but seriously, the food blogs by home cooks I read on my lunch break kick these recipes' butt.

The marinade is good, but don't waste your time on the chutney. bleack.
http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2013/01/yogurt-chicken-with-ginger-coriander-chutney

Gross:
http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2013/01/white-bean-chili-with-winter-vegetables

oh my gosh, you guys.

I highly recommend the chocolate chip cookie dough balls although I wasn't wild about the frozen banana "ice cream." I keep the little cookie dough balls in the fridge or freezer and pop one (or two, or five) as my evening treat. Oh and I used the honey sweetened chocolate from "what's been getting me through" instead of chocolate chips. If you're still consuming a bunch of sugar, these won't taste all that great, but if you've retrained your taste buds to pick up on the softer notes of sugar, holy cow these are delicious.  

oh she glows

http://ohsheglows.com/2011/03/18/chocolate-chip-cooke-dough-blizzard/

Another 9 days for your pleasure

So I'll be adding in a small amount of processed foods to this week's meal plan, but for the most part it is free of most isolates, added hormones, and preventative antibiotics. Caution on the bacon. I'll be consuming it in small quantities.

day 1
B- Soft Boiled Egg and Cheese
L- Salad with Guacamole and Black Beans
S- Honey Chocolate with Almonds and Coconut
D- Chicken with Chipolte Orange Glaze and side of Quinoa
*cook extra chicken for day 2's lunch and dinner and day 3's dinner
** substitute red peppers for the chipotle chilies in adobo sauce if the ingredients list has stuff you can't pronounce in it... or if your grocery doesn't carry it.

prep: dry ingredients for morning oatmeal

day 2
B- pumpkin oatmeal
L- salad w/ leftover chicken
S- Bananas
D- Bulgar Salad with Chicken and Feta Cheese served in a pita

prep: make roasted vegetable tomato soup (recipe previously posted) and divide into deli containers. After cooled, put some in freezer.

day 3   (I'm having company over, so meals will be a little more indulgent today and tomorrow)
B- Banana sliced in half longways with homemade peanut butter
L- Roasted tomato soup
S- Granola
D- Chipolte Chicken, Jalapeno, Mushroom, Bacon, Gouda whole wheat Pizza.
*freeze extra pizza dough.

prep: put ingredients in bread machine, set timer.

day 4
B- eggs and bacon with homemade bread
prep: marinade chicken
L- tomato soup with mozzarella grilled cheese
S- Apples with homemade Peanut Butter and Honey
D- Leftover bulgar salad with marinated chicken and side of broccoli dressed in garlic butter

day 5 (A Monday holiday! So my lunch and snack can be more time consuming and less portable.)
B- yogurt and blueberries
L- tomato soup with mozzarella grilled cheese
S- baked apple with oats, raisins, cinnamon, and honey 
D- Salmon with Quinoa
*cook extra salmon for day 6's lunch

day 6
B- bacon and eggs
*cook an extra slice of bacon for tonight's dinner and day 8's lunch. make 2 hard boiled eggs for day 7's and day 8's lunches.

L- Chilled Salmon on a Salad
S- yogurt with Blueberries and Almonds drizzled with honey
D- Naked Burritto: lettuce, chicken, black beans, corn, avocado, salsa, organic cheddar, bacon
*cook extra chicken for day 7's lunch

day 7
B- chia seeds in oatmeal
L- Salad with chicken and a hard boiled egg
S- granola
D- lemon garlic shrimp with veggies and side of quinoa
*cook and chill extra shrimp for day 8's lunch

day 8
B- yogurt and blueberries
L- chilled shrimp on spinach salad with tomatoes, hard boiled egg, mushrooms, bacon.
S- apple and peanuts
D- warming sweet potato and lentil salad
Dessert- vanilla roasted pears with granola sprinkled on top

prep: make day 9's meatballs

day 9-
B-soft boiled egg and cheese
L- tuna salad on greens
S- honey chocolate with almonds and coconut
D- lamb meatballs with lemon cumin yogurt sauce in a pita with feta
*make extra meatballs and freeze in accordance with recipe


P.S. I didn't list assembling the next day's lunch as prep, because I do that every night.
P.S.S. When I have a protein on my salad I'm perfectly content to skip salad dressing, but when I do make a salad dressing I use my friend Amanda's recipe for balsamic vinegar. But I'll save that for another day.           :)

What's been getting me through

As part of this sorta-detox we've kicked out all refined sugars of our diets. We have still allowed ourselves non-isolate sweeteners like honey, agave nectar, and maple syrup- but none of the white stuff, other refined sugars, and God-forbid, artificial sugars. So with checking every label, and with cooking almost everything we've stuffed our faces with, we've been pretty successful. {To be a better label detective, read this for the hidden names for sugar and this for the hidden names of MSG.}

However, I am a sugar addict and it wasn't very long into the sorta-detox that I was searching for a healthish treat to get me through. Even the super organic hippie dark chocolate bars contained sugar, so those were out. So instead I started playing with the sweetener I knew I was allowed. I'll post a picture later, but here's the recipe. It's simple, it takes a minimum of three ingredients, and it fits within my nutritional guidelines.

Honey Chocolate

• 2 tablespoons organic butter (or other fat) gentled melted
• 2 teaspoons honey whisked in with a fork
• 6 tablespoons cocoa powder stirred in

The result is somewhere between ganache and frosting. If you're having a bad day, you can stop right there and have a spoonful. However you can also refrigerate to harden and use as chocolate chips in cookies, or use as a base for making your own candy bar. My favorite was to make it with half organic butter, half coconut oil and then once it becomes chocolate, mix it with a generous amount of almonds and unsweetened flaked coconut, spread it out on parchment paper, sprinkle some more coconut on top and gently press it into the bar. Then you can roll up the parchment paper, place in a ziploc, and refrigerate. When you come home from a long day at work you can break off a piece and savor the dark chocolate crunch. This stuff was so dark and crunchy that just a little bit satisfied my sweet tooth. What would you put in your candy bar?

sorta-detox: days 2 & 3

So I'm not sticking to the meal plan super strict, it's more to give me options so I don't have to think about it throughout the week.

Monday Dinner: Mediterranean tomatoes over chicken and green beans.
dessert: apple slices dipped in homemade peanut butter and honey.

For some reason my blog account isn't wanting to upload pictures anymore, so you'll have to use your imagination for awhile.

We baked the tomatoes over chicken, but now I think it would be tastier if you grilled the chicken and then had the tomatoes as a side.

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2012/08/mediterranean-baked-feta-with-tomatoes/

Tuesday breakfast:  stoneyfield yogurt, almonds, blueberries, and a drizzle of honey. 10x better than cold cereal and only took about 30 seconds to prepare. 
green tea with jasmine at work.

lunch: steak salad

gobble up snack as soon as you get home to avoid eating cauldron-sized bowl of cereal : pear and handful of peanuts

dinner: Holy Moley Amazing Curry Chicken. Actually, it was supposed to be red beans instead of chicken, but the red beans didn't turn out. Holy fortuitous mishap. We threw in some chicken and it was this beautiful, turmeric golden thing whose smell nearly made the four of us dance in my tiney tiny kitchen.

But the best was sitting around my little dining room table and applauding the cooks as we tried to slow ourselves from eating the curry too quickly. We recounted the day, then pulled ourselves back from talking too much about work, and instead listened to an entertaining story about one of the sorta-detoxers nearly being labeled a felon in a foreign country. This sorta-detox is turning out to be as much a social exercise as a diet.

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2009/02/red-kidney-bean-curry/ 

Wednesday breakfast: two medium boiled eggs and half a serving of cheddar cheese. It was so sharp that I had to put half of it back!
darjeeling tea at work

lunch: salad with chicken, red onions, cranberries, and feta cheese.

I have to confess, if it weren't for the three other people doing this with me, I'd be tapping out about now. We're all so busy that we don't get to cooking until 7 and by the time we're done cleaning, we're not finished until after 9. I have to think that the longer you do this, the faster you get at it. You know some meals without having to look at a recipe. You have whole food staples in your kitchen. And when you have multiple cooks working in a small space, you are inevitably going to have a bigger mess than if you were cooking in your own kitchen. I clean as I work when I cook solo and am able to coordinate the recipe so that I only have to use one cutting board, one knife, one mixing bowl, that sort of thing. But when you start delegating chopping over here, and peeling over there, you can't avoid a mess... a mess which takes less time to create, i.e. to get dinner on the table, but longer to clean. Fortunately, the sorta-detox clan has been staying around to help with that task too. I'm grateful that they are sticking with it and encouraging me to do the same, lest I would probably be eating a mound of chocolate about now.

sorta-detox day one

Yesterday's dinner was the first meal on the "sorta-detox" - After a busy Sunday, the four of us went to Sam's Club to look for what we could (fruits and veggies not on the dirty dozen and some organic greens) and then to Martin's (our local grocery) for the rest. It was somewhat expensive, (especially organic cheese!) but not as bad as we expected. Looking at every label did make the shopping experience a long one, even with dividing and conquering . okay boys, you go get chicken and steak. We're going to go get seeds, cheese, and beans!

Then we got to my place and started making dinner and lunches for the next day. One of our sorta-detox cronnies had a bible study the next evening so we assembled the prep for her dinner too. Actually cooking, even a simple meal of a london broil, microwaved sweet potato, and sauteed green beans, takes a long time on a school night! I knew that already, I mean I cook more complicated menus than that for guests, but I guess it just seemed super long because I realized we'd be doing that every night for 10 days. I was pooped after we finally got my kitchen clean.

But the fruit of our labor was something that reminded me of home. I had a colorful plate that had been made with the food groups in mind and was meant to nourish us, not just fill us. It was great, and it made me appreciate my mom. Years and years she had worked full time and came home to cook me a balanced dinner. She rarely picked something up from a fast food resturant and always made sure that there was a meat, a fruit, and a veggie on my plate. That took time, that took sacrifice, and that took love. And it made me want to read this.

Alas, I forgot my prepared steak salad and delicious homemade balsamic vinaigrette in my fridge this morning! Grumble grumble. I guess I have my lunch for tomorrow on deck. So I had to track down a meal in this city an hour from my apartment. It was harder than I thought. I ended up going to a restaurant that toted itself online as being organic, but once I got in there, I didn't see any mention of organics. I tried to get something safe, I asked for the veggie veggie sandwich but on a salad. I suspect the pepper jack cheese in it was not organic, but I made the best out of what I had available and didn't veer too far off of the diet plan. It was just frustrating to have to go off the plan before 24 hours had past.

Anywhosal, below I've posted my shopping list and menu plan. (Which we've already adjusted because the grocery store ran out of broccoli- have you ever heard of such a thing?) The main idea of planning it out was to have a grocery list with minimal waste, limited amounts of sugar, and the other food groups balanced. I highlighted things like wheat, dairy, meat, and sugar to keep a visual of what each day looked like. I wanted to be sure that I didn't fall into my usual ruts of eating too many carbs, etc. I'll post some of the recipes as we go.  :)

P.S. Did you know how delicious a baked sweet potato is?! I didn't! I'd only ever tried to make them as fries and this was wayyyy better! They just came out of the microwave and we sprinkled cinnamon on them and boom. Freakin' like candy.

PROTEIN

ÿ        Eggs

ÿ        Chickpeas

ÿ        Red Kidney Beans

ÿ        Ground Turkey

ÿ        Chicken

ÿ        3 steaks

VEGGIES

ÿ        Onion

ÿ        Red Onion

ÿ        Carrots

ÿ        Peppers (Red)

ÿ        Tomatoes

ÿ        Avocado

ÿ        Green Beans

ÿ        Salad

ÿ        Garlic

ÿ        Mushrooms

FRUITS

ÿ        Apples

ÿ        Pears

ÿ        Oranges

ÿ        Lemon

DAIRY

ÿ        Feta

ÿ        Parmesan

ÿ        Cheddar

ÿ        Plain yogurt

OTHER FOOD

ÿ        Cilantro

ÿ        Flat leaf parsley

ÿ        Beef broth

ÿ        salsa

OTHER OTHER

ÿ        Disposable dressing containers

ÿ        nut milk bag

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks or Dessert
Sunday	X	X	Salad, Sweet Potato, Broccoli, Steak
Monday	Yogurt, granola, almond, fruit parfait	Roasted Veggies Tomato Soup w mozz and a side salad with cucumbers, broccoli, red onion, chick peas	Mediterranean veggies and chicken w side of steamed broccoli	Oatmeal and raisin stuffed apples
Tuesday	Oatmeal with nuts, cranberries, and maple syrup	Salad w Grilled Chicken, black beans,  avocado	Red Kidney Bean and Curry over brown rice
Wednesday	2 Soft boiled eggs and a piece of cheese	Brown rice, chicken, black bean, avocado, salsa bowl	Warming lentil and sweet potato salad	Pumpkin granola
Thursday	Green smoothie with protein powder	Peanut butter on  apple slices, Tomato Soup	Salad, 100% Whole wheat bread (from my 5 minute a day book) Panini’s  (caramelized onion, roasted red peppers, cheese, Chicken)	Vanilla roasted pears
Friday	Pumpkin spiced oatmeal	Greek chicken salad	Bulgur Salad w Chickpeas, Roasted Red Peppers ,Spiced Cumin Dressing	Almonds and dried cranberries
Saturday	2 Soft boiled eggs and a piece of cheese	Pesto Salad Tomatoes and Mozzarella Some protein?	Quinoa and lemon chicken
Sunday	Yogurt, granola, almond, cranberry parfait	Curried apple chicken salad over salad	Roasted veggies and turkey meatballs	Peanut butter on whole wheat English muffin
Monday	1 orange 1 egg	Pear, cranberry, feta, balsamic salad w leftover Quinoa	Turkey Chili	Cherry, walnut, cocoa cookie
Tuesday	Apple Chia seeds and yogurt	Curried apple chicken salad over salad	Salad with Pears and Gorz and bals. Mushroom Bourguignon Sautéed Green beans
Wednesday!	2 Soft boiled eggs and a piece of cheese	Turkey Chili	Chicken m’room marsala  with Green beans