quinoa corn kale cakes review

Suzy's test kitchen. (Accompanying music selection "I'm in Love with the CoCo" by Carson. Hmmm.)

I'm melting ...

If only her melting were true, that wicked witch may have had a happier life. Think about it. An aging woman gone green, seeking shoes that don't fit, riding on a broom and managing a flock of flying monkeys. That gal needed to work on a few things, right?

I know the typical January resolution intention sends folks to the gyms in droves. Sweating, building muscle, losing lbs, and so on - and that's just dandy. Set your goals, get on the program, and inch your way to success.

But this year my goals are more about looking into the crystal ball of late middle- and old-age and really envisioning a graceful and happy way to embrace all that lies ahead. Is there a marathon, weight-lifting, - triathlon sort of adventure in my future? Nope. A commitment to the "no-pain-no-gain" philosophy? Uh-uh. Shall I try Zumba and bounce around on a gymnasium floor? Been there - did not like it. No buns or abs of steel classes either. Maybe - if they develop a class called buns/abs of hardcore Styrofoam, but not steel.

Here's what my meditated-upon laundry list of Boomerish physical/movement goals looks like:

• I would like to walk or hike for an hour without my hips hurting
• I want to feel less bloated and less puffy and less inflamed
• I would like a better relationship with my body overall (I know that's vague, but you know what I mean, right?)
• I want my head/shoulders/neck to like me again instead of constantly giving me the finger
• A bit more muscle definition in the arms and legs would be okay, but it's actually not at the top of the list.

Also, and this is important, I would like a sense of calm to be my pervading emotion. For instance, next time someone jumps the queue at a 4-way, I would like to let it go rather than psychically picture myself T-boning the ass... wait, I'm getting worked up. See?

In prelude to all this, a few months ago I investigated TRE - which is an acronym for Trauma Releasing Exercises. The idea is you do a series of movements that lightly tax key muscle groups, and then you end the session by shaking somewhat involuntarily. At the end of the deal you feel buzzed in a calm way. Excellent practice to release stress and soothe the nervous system, but you do need to make a quiet space for it.

Today I attended a session in another type of all-the-rage-with-the-middle-age boomer wellness camp. Its acronym is MELT - which stands for - well, I have no idea. Maybe it's not an acronym at all, just a good visual. The main focus of the Melt Method is rehydrating connective tissue, and its claim is that the exercises work on "stuck stress" easing it out of joints, fascia, connective tissue and so on.

I had an introductory private lesson today, and (as I am wont to do, always) purchased some of the "stuff." There are balls and rollers involved, and a lot of rolling on pressure points, and I will say this, the sort of self-massage component felt great, targeted and smart, and I came away feeling energized and straighter. Also, less locked up. Placebo? Well, I'll let you know. I'm holding off on more rigorous exercising (ellipticals, weight-training, even Pilates) for a good month or so. When and if I adopt a more strenuous regime, I want to feel calm, centered, flexible, and smartly nourished as a baseline. More like ruby-red-slippered Dorothy. (Who, if I'm remembering correctly, had a bit of a methamphetamine issue. Or maybe I'm thinking about the opiates in the poppies?). Yep, I'd like to skip off to see the Wizard myself. Why not?

So. Food. I'm working on a bunch of recipes today - I had an amazing lunch that figuratively exploded in my mouth! I'll post a food update later - maybe tomorrow. But first, I must ask you: what gets your nervous system fired up the most?

lunchtime blues

There's a lot written about packing a healthy lunch for work to avoid the deli/cafe trips. But what if you work at home? One of the hardest parts of this whole mindful/healthy eating thing for me concerns the very question of preparing and consuming a lunch a few feet away from my "office."

In the myriad hours I spend alone each weekday, figuring out the balance of work/eat/dog/exercise/housework/chores/relaxation, the question of lunch both excites and irritates me.

All things being equal, my perfect day is this:

Get up around 7, read the news over coffee. Have breakfast with son (hub leaves the house around 6:30 - and I can't seem to get out of bed that early), get son to bus. 8:00 - feed animals, clean kitchen, read emails. 8:30 -10:00 work (writing/editing/posting/business-related work). 10:00 walk dog. 10:45 - noon work on novel. Noon - eat something that needs minimal prep/clean up and that is wholly satisfying. 12:30 - 1:00 meditate/rest.

1:00 - 2:00 some sort of exercise. 2:00 - 3:00 review writing/edit. After 3:00, I'm toast when it comes to cranking out work or editing. It's a good time to do chores.

The problem with achieving my perfect day is that lunch thing. I really don't want to spend more than a half hour with the whole business. Sometimes the very thought of the steps involved in creating a mindful, wholesome meal makes me want to get back into bed. Truth: I hate prepping and assembling the quotidian midday meal. I don't mind making a huge project out of food, but somehow tedious tasks like measuring mayo into my tuna salad and tearing lettuce off a head, washing and drying it to get the grit out, chopping, peeling, and mixing in service to, say, a tuna sandwich and orange slice lunch, fills me with boredom and dread. It's then that I most want to do the counter-intuitive, time-wasting and expensive alternative: get in my car and go somewhere for lunch.

My promise to myself this month is to look at unhealthy and/or unwise practices and come up with alternatives, so here's something I'm trying:

In the morning, after my first cup of coffee, when I'm typically cleaning the kitchen, I've been pre-prepping the tuna salad/lettuce cleaning/chopping veggies thing. I've found that if I do this before engaging with work I feel less disrupted. I'm actually behaving as if I work at an office away from home and have to pack a lunch. Somehow prepping stuff for assemblage in the morning feels less punitive than it does at noon. Maybe because I'm usually really hungry at noon and I'm dealing with blood sugar crabbiness? Hmmm.

Oh - and the lettuce thing. The husband came up with this cool idea for boxed lettuce. A sheet of paper towel on the top, then flip it over for storage. Our lettuce lasted all week. As for the heads of lettuce - I saved the container and washed/tore/dried the lettuce and stored it in the recycled paper towel-lined lettuce box.

Looks like we're about done with week one! I have some new ideas for week two, so stay tuned for tomorrow's episode when we'll talk beans and I'll put together a potential shopping list.

Meanwhile:
BREAKFAST

• Fruit smoothie
• One egg
• One slice whole grain toast

LUNCH

• The dreaded one-slice, open faced tuna sandwich
• Navel orange or other fruit
• Almond (or cashew) milk

DINNER

• Major stirfry with whatever excess of veggies you have - for protein, get out those Applegate Farms chicken pieces. Or maybe tofu? Add nuts and golden raisins if you want. And rice. Eat with chopsticks to help with slower eating
• Sliced green apples and almond butter for dessert

fast food and fast healthcare

Friends, there comes a time in every January resolution where you decide to stretch the limits of that wagon. Maybe you don’t completely fall off of it. Maybe you hang your feet off the side, grazing the surrounding weeds with your toe. Maybe you jump off for a second to make sure the horse is okay, then jump back on. Maybe you spend the day hobbling from one ZoomCare to the next, hoping to get to the bottom of your injured and still very painful toe.

After three distinct visits to various Doc-In-The-Boxes over the past 24 hours, this is what I know:

1. My toe has no broken bones or dislocated joints (hurray!)
2. Buddy-toe wrapping is helpful when walking, but not so helpful while sleeping. Flat shoes are a must, but I walked around in slippers. Yup, I did. Good thing it wasn’t raining.
3. Starbucks new “Flat White” is a rip off. You’re better off getting a doppio espresso macchiato (less milk, less calories, better taste, less $, much more authentic)

So, despite eating most of my meals out yesterday, I managed to stay on the 300/400/500 plan. Perhaps you’d like to know what I consumed? Okay. Full disclosure.

BREAKFAST

• ·       Sbux: black coffee
• ·       lo fat turkey/egg/sandwich

LUNCH

Whole Foods Hot Bar:

• ·       ½ c basmati rice
• ·       3 oz stewed chicken verde w/ extra verde sauce
• ·       2 scoops baked tofu
• ·       2 scoops raw kale

Another trip to Sbux for a doppio espresso macchiato

SNACK

• ·       8 oz homemade almond milk

DINNER

• ·       6 oz red wine (I know! – workshop met in a bar)
• ·       Mixed bar nuts (about 20)
• ·       Came home and made a 2 ounce deli turkey/small whole grain bread/lots of greens/mustard sandwich

So, how about that wine? How about all that commercially prepared food? Well, truthfully, it all tasted fairly meh– plus, I was really in pain due to toe. I came home, lingered in some Lorrie Moore stories, popped a pain pill, and zonked out. (Only to wake up at 2:00 am, my toe on fire! Got up, bumped shin and head, unwrapped toe, applied Arnica, did some TRE exercises and slept like a log.)

What's your favorite place to test the limits of the wagon?

embracing the nut sac

And you thought this post was going to be a lexicon on how to prepare the perfect mt. oysters, right? Tricked you!

I'm about to launch into a smallish tirade on Big Food (cousin to Big Pharma). And I say smallish because, try as I might, I can never muster the true spirit of zealotry. I mean, part of my livelihood comes from writing copy and managing the social media needs of a reasonably large food company. So, no, I don't want to turn back the hands of time and go back to the days of butcher, baker, candlestick-maker completely. I just want to be more mindful of options when it comes to nourishing myself and the fam, and stay on top of those big words that you find on food labels.

Okay, so tirade.

In an effort to cut down on dairy (because fat, and because lactose intolerance), the husband and I use soy and/or almond milk (we still buy cow's milk for the boy, and his bones are mighty strong). But after poring over the label of almond milk we purchase by the case from the daddy of oppressive Big Food, Costco, I was surprised to see all the stuff in the product.

Upon further research on the most controversial ingredient, carrageenan, and noting that both Kirk and I are prone to stomach aches that mystify us, I bought us a nut sac. (Okay, they're really called nut milk bags. For obvious reasons.)

And then, of course, you have to buy the organic almonds rather than the regular almonds. Yes, they're twice as expensive, but you don't want to titrate herbicides into your homemade almond milk, right?

It really isn't that big a deal to make your own almond milk. Swear. It's just one of those "thinking ahead" things. Like soaking dried beans overnight. Because that's what you have to do. Soak the almonds in water for eight or so hours.

Next step is, rinse them and then blend them up with water and a half tsp or so of vanilla, maybe a few dates if you want to sweeten it a little. 4-1 water/nuts. Then, get out your giant mason jar, fit the nut sac inside of it. Fasten a rubber band around the rim, and pour your concoction in the bag.

In a few minutes you'll have pretty damn delicious almond milk. (Especially if you live in the Portland area and get fantastic, pure water out of the tap.)

So. What to do with the almond nut meal that's leftover? Well, if you have backyard chickens, they love it! But I also made this cake with it, and it seems to have passed the "potluck" test - just this little piece was left over! Here's the recipe for it (caveat - I'm a bit clumsy with recipes: never truly measuring anything, but I think this is pretty accurate.)

NUTMEAL BANANA CAKE

• 2 cups almond meal pulp
• 1/2 cup rice flour
• 1/2 tsp Xantham gum (I use Bob's Red Mill)
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon
• pinch of salt

• 2 eggs
• 2 ripe bananas
• 1 Tbsp Canola oil
• (dark chocolate for topping, if desired)

_____________________________

• preheat oven to 350
• Mix dry ingredients in small bowl
• Mash up banana in big bowl, add eggs and oil and mix well
• Combine dry with wet

Pour into nonstick bunt cake pan and bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
After it cools, remove cake from pan. Just before serving, double-boil some dark chocolate to drizzle over the top. You can get 12 servings from this, at 120 calories a serving.

Okay, so here is a menu for tomorrow's clean eating, in case you want one:

BREAKFAST
granola/almond milk/berries

LUNCH
salad greens with feta and tuna
piece of almond meal cake

DINNER
pasta (try the quinoa pasta, for kicks!)
tomato meat (ground boar, perhaps? or turkey?) sauce (add sautéed onions and peppers to jarred tomato sauce)
green salad

granola

I've confessed already my hatred for oatmeal - but I do not mind baked oats. And I adore golden raisins. But here's the thing about store-bought granola - I always get a stomach ache after eating it - with or without the milk.

Two weeks ago, if you'd have told me I'd be making my own granola, I'd have laughed in your face. A big, fat hahahahaha! I hate the kitchen. I only go in there to pop another Ghirardelli Dark & Sea Salt Caramel in my pie hole.

My husband nearly had a heart attack when he saw me spreading the oats on a cookie sheet. "This calls for a toast," he said. "Where's the Scotch?" That husband is a funny guy.

So. I made the granola and I ate the granola. With homemade almond milk. Yup. That's tomorrow's recipe.

And guess what? I don't have a stomach ache. Furthermore, I'm sitting here like a trained dog with the bag of Ghirardelli right next to me, and I'm not reaching for one. Plus, I didn't have the Scotch. #SmallVictories.

BREAKFAST
homemade granola (see below)
almond milk
1/4 cup mixed berries

LUNCH
Salad with leftover salmon and feta
balsamic vinegar

DINNER
Taco night!
Almond meal cake! (I will reveal the recipe for this once I actually taste it and declare it worthy. Or not)

HOMEMADE GRANOLA
4 cups rolled oats
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1 Tbsp canola oil
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup golden raisins (soak in water, then drain the water)
1 tsp cinnamon

• Preheat oven to 300
• Measure oats and almonds into a large bowl 
• Mix the wet ingredients in small bowl
• Coat the oats and almonds with mixture
• Spread the coated oats and almonds on a cookie sheet (tip: parchment paper makes it less messy and easier to pour into jars.)
• sprinkle cinnamon over the oats
• Bake for about 20 minutes. Watch closely, and occasionally stir the outer oats into the center (outer oats will brown faster)
• Take out, let cool, mix in the drained raisins 
• Once cool, pour into fancy jars that look nice on your shelf! (Or any container, really, I'm just getting a little Martha on y'all.)

So, tell me dear ones, fans of granola or not? What about coconut and carob? Have any recipes to share?

baby, it's cold outside

Can you get it up for salad when it's 28 degrees? (Or in Drea's case, minus 100 up there in the Canadian frostbite belt?) 

Winter in the Northern Hemisphere is a huge deterrent to snacking on crudités. I want hot toddies. Steaming lasagna dripping in melted cheese. Stew! Garlic bread! Pot pie.

What to do? Well, for starters, eat hot, white plant-based food. That's right! Hot. White. Food.

Apparently, there's lots of inflammation-fighting flavonoids in nuts,  and vitamins C, B and quercetin in white veggies. (Can you hear the tune in my head? Bowie's Wedding Song?) As far as the hot part, there's the psychological satiety factor with a hot meal. It has the illusion of sticking to your ribs more than say, radishes dipped in nonfat yogurt.

COOK ONCE, EAT TWICE!

The other thing about cooking a big old hot meal is: leftovers. Cook big, then put leftovers in small, reheatable containers for the days to come. Less work - and it gives you the opportunity to reimagine the food in different settings. Just like writing! Same character, new scene. For instance, I always cook a whopping big salmon when it's on the menu for dinner. (I broil mine, with minimal marinade.) Next day, I put it on my toast at breakfast, then fling it into my salad or warmed veggies for lunch.

I made this omelette for the fam yesterday, and it mostly got eaten up (there's still a sliver left - I may sneak it into something later). Actually, it was a frittata, not an omelette, because it was puffier and broiled at the end. Here's the recipe - try it tomorrow with breakfast:

HOT WHITE FOOD FRITTATA:

ingredients:

half an onion, chopped

1/2 cup sliced mushrooms

1/2 cup diced cauliflower

3 ounces feta cheese

6 eggs

1 Tbsp curry spice (good for blood pressure)

1 Tbsp olive oil

• Preheat broiler
• Heat oil in cast iron skillet and sauté onions and mushrooms. 
• Add cauliflower and sauté until almost brown
• add in the beaten eggs and cook until almost done
• sprinkle in feta and spice, then transfer the entire skillet to oven
• Keep an eye on the sucker (I left mine in about 30 seconds too long because I'm a multi-tasker)

4 servings

Combine with fresh fruit and a dollop of yogurt (I'm a little embarrassed by the presentation of the food in the above photo. I'll work on styling my shoots better in the future.)

LUNCH

Yesterday's dinner tofu reheated and mixed with a handful of chopped peppers, cashews, garlic and tomato. Serve over leftover rice or roasted potatoes

DINNER

Roast salmon (make a whole fillet if you can, then save some for breakfast/lunch tomorrow)

rice
steamed spinach or a hearty dinner salad

Did you box up your Christmas cookies and green-foiled Hershey's Kisses yet? Tell me some stories!

willkommen

I don't know why this image jumped into my head in prelude to writing a post about eating clean at parties, but, hey, I'm going with it. 

Got any potlucks coming up? Bowl games, perhaps? Today - two hours from now, in fact - we'll be gathering in the basement on the not-quite-off-gassed sectional I recently purchased to root-root-root for the home team. I just said "no" to joining any of the Rose Bowl viewing parties to which we were invited. Main reason being, I'm off the sauce for the month, and temptation abounds.

Kirk and I did, however, attend a lovely New Years Eve dinner party last night - and let me tell you, if Jesus ate as good as I did last night at his famous last supper, he died a happy dude. Our hosts prepared a roast duck smothered in a huckleberry reduction sauce, roasted root vegetables, and crème brûlée for dessert. Oh, and as far as alcohol? A "Sideways" worthy bottle of red, the vintage of which dating to before I met my husband.

We brought a side dish that was almost up to par with the foodie delights served at the table, and I am sharing the recipe with you now because I imagine you have a bowl game gathering or two in your future, and this is a great dish to make/bring so while everyone else is stuffing their faces with pork sliders you can nosh with impunity. You can also make it tomorrow, for dinner - it's on the menu!

As I'm continually freaked out inspired by the above photo as I type this, let's call the dish:

JOEL GREY MEDLEY OF GOODNESS

Ingredients:

2 white onions

1 bunch baby asparagus

8 grape (or small) tomatoes cut in half

1 lemon

greens of choice for foundation

1 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar

2 + 2 Tbsp olive oil

herbs of choice

Directions:

• Caramelize onions for an hour in olive oil according to these directions. (Sorry, but it does take time).
• Meanwhile, drizzle herbed tomatoes in 2 Tbsp olive oil and roast in 375 oven until brown (about 15 minutes)
• Steam baby asparagus for 2 minutes, then cool
• Squeeze lemon over asparagus
• Arrange greens on serving platter and drizzle with half the balsamic vinegar 
• Assemble the project attractively, add the rest of the vinegar, but keep the caramelized onions separate until ready to serve. Heat the onions once more before placing on top of prepared dish and serve.

Yum!

Okay, Jan. 2 clean eating plan:

BREAKFAST

Amy’s burrito (breakfast, bean, whatever type you bought) with hot sauce

Cup of berries with 2 Tbsp yogurt

LUNCH

Tuna fish sandwich

tangerine

DINNER

Sauteed tofu 

Joel Grey Medley of Goodness

Toasted sprouted grain muffin/bread w/ hummus

So, ever-faithful foodies, tell me, what was the first thing you put in your mouth upon waking today?