Tomato Millet Salad

I went to lunch with a friend of mine recently. We went to a new restaurant in town that is vegetarian/vegan and a little hippie. Which was perfect for us!

As we sat and chatted, my friend remarked that she is working on going completely vegetarian. I was surprised by the comment. Not because she is a meat-and-potatoes kind of girl, but because she isn't. I figured she was close enough to vegetarian that she wouldn't be making a shift to completely vegetarian. But of course, I was completely supportive.

And she mentioned that she found a new blog that had some really good recipes that she was trying and loving. Of course I had to check it out. Emily Malone is a vegetarian chef who writes Daily Garnish and focuses on recipes and healthy living.

I surfed through the site for a little while and came across this post for Roasted Tomato Millet Salad. It sounded perfect, so I made it myself.



My changes:
1. No sugar. Obviously, I don't know what sugar would have added to the dish, but I didn't need it.

2. I didn't roast the tomatoes! I know, it's in the title. But it is 105 degrees here (and based on the news... it's probably 105 where you are). And I have a programmable thermostat that the electric company can override if there is too much power being used... and they chose to override my thermostat the day that I was making this dish. I'm sure that roasting the tomatoes would add delicious flavor to this dish, but I thought it was good anyway. And I added a few sundried tomatoes to substitute for the roasted flavor.

3. I soaked the millet. This is another change that my nutritionist advised. Soaking grains makes them more digestible. I soak the grain in a bowl of water with a tablespoon of lemon juice (apple cider vinegar will work too) for at least eight hours. Then I cook the grain in my rice cooker. I discovered (after a bit of trial-and-error) that if I measure two cups of grain, I just need to fill the rice cooker to the two cups water mark. The grain expands with soaking, but doesn't need extra water.

My verdict:
Delicious. I will definitely make this again. It also would be very good served over greens (lettuce, spinach, etc).

Juicy Monday -- Salsa Juice

I've decided that Mondays should be Juice days. Wouldn't it be cute if I came up with some kind of name for it the way everyone has a "Meatless Monday" or "Taco Tuesday"? Well, it's not alliterative, but let's call it Juicy Monday. Juicy Monday sounds so much more exciting than a Manic Monday.

And this is the perfect kind of juice to make it a Juicy Monday. This juice has all the flavors of salsa and is so bright and lively that it's a big wake up.



I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture, but this is a thick juice and it will settle fairly quickly. Just give it a quick stir.

Salsa Juice
5 Roma tomatoes
1 big handful cilantro
1 lime (peel the lime before you put it in the juicer. I use a paring knife and just cut off the peel)
1 cucumber

Just make sure everything is well washed and run it through the juicer.



It was delicious!

Mug Muffins -- Update

For this summer semester, I am not teaching classes on Fridays (because there aren't any classes offered on Fridays at all). And I like to have a little treat for the weekends. But don't worry, these are so easy that you can make them on any busy day. 

I've posted about Mug Muffins before. I still love them.

I mentioned in that post that Ashley at the Edible Perspective was the amazing creator of the Buckwheat Bakes. She mentioned (a while ago) that she had stopped using the flax egg, so I decided to try the Mug Muffin that way. 

The Ingredients:

1/2 banana, mashed

1 Tbs ground flax seed

1 tsp chia seed

1/4 cup buckwheat flour

1 Tbs carob powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 Tbs water (or slightly more)

I use the huge mug you can see on the left in the picture above. First I mash the banana in the mug, then I add in all the dry ingredients and start to stir. Then I add the water and stir. The batter should be thick, but not dry. If it is too dry, I add a little more water. 

Then I put the mug in the microwave, cover it with a paper towel, and microwave it for 1 min 45 sec. When it is cooked, I dump it out of the mug and let it cool. 

Optional Add-ins:

Raisins

Nuts

You could trade the spices for other spices

For breakfast, I cut it into slices and topped it with almond butter. 

Edamame and Bean Salad

It is full-on summer now, and from what I hear, it is hot everywhere. I love summer, but I don't really want to heat up the whole oven and bake stuff. So with my menu plan this week, I focused on salads and light and refreshing meals. 

Including this Edamame and Bean Salad that I found at Cooking Light. Ok, they gave it the longest name ever, but it really isn't as pretentious as they made it sound. And it is pretty perfect for a summer meal. 

My changes:

I cooked my own cannellini beans. This is another of the dietary changes I am making. If I cook my own beans, I can use organic and still afford it. 

I left out the jalapeno. 

For next time, I will steam the edamame a little longer. I was worried about cooking them too long, but they are still a little crunchy. 

And for lunch today, I served this Bean Salad on a bed of dandelion greens. Just a note on that, dandelion greens are pretty bitter, so if you aren't used to things like that, eat this salad plain, or serve it on a bed of spinach or romaine lettuce. 

Sorry about the photo quality there. 

Breakfast -- Fail and Success

One of the things that is hardest for me is breakfast. Honestly, it doesn't matter how big my glasses are, green juice just does not fuel me for an entire morning -- or even 20 minutes.

I don't know if I ever mentioned it in the past, but I used to eat lima beans for breakfast. Every single morning. Weird, I know. My nutritionist pointed out to me that it isn't really a good idea to eat the exact same thing every day for years. I am now trying to have a variety of breakfast things to eat.

This is difficult because I have a large number of restrictions that basically eliminate all "normal" breakfast foods. And I know that my body works best when it gets some protein and fat in the morning. Here I am, sharing my quest for breakfast with you.

I love Ashley over at Edible Perspective and she loves breakfast. No better place to start the quest for breakfast.

She writes about popped (or puffed) amaranth. I am trying different grains (see above comment about all the same goods), so I thought that would be great.

 

Fail.

Seriously, follow the link and look at her picture of how this is supposed to look. Mine popped a few ... kernels? Grains? Seeds? But burned everything else in the pan. I tried twice, and then decided that this was not for me.


I decided to have this beautiful bowl for breakfast instead.



This is Buckwheat Creamy Hot Cereal with lots of toppings.



I found this brand at Wal-mart (forever ago) and bought it on a whim. But I've been a little scared to try it. So I finally took the plunge.

Buckwheat Cereal with Toppings
1/4 Buckwheat Hot Cereal
1 cup Water
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Carob
1/4 cup Hemp Milk (or soy, almond, whatever you like)
1 tsp Almond Butter
1 Banana, sliced
Pinch of Salt

Cook the buckwheat cereal according to package instructions. Add the cinnamon, carob, and salt and stir to combine. Add the hemp milk and stir. Top with the almond butter and banana.

A Return -- And Some Juice

I've taken a really long time away from this blog. Not really intentional, but I let other things happen instead. If you've been checking for updates, I'm sorry there haven't been any. The biggest reason for the time away is I have been in a total food rut. I believe that through the second half of the Fall semester and the entire Spring semester, I ate exactly the same thing for breakfast and lunch. And I all too often felt like frozen peas and a can of tuna fish were perfectly acceptable for dinner. Acceptable, but not blog-worthy.

I've been thinking for the past two weeks that I should get back to blogging here. I am once again changing up how I eat, and I am spending a lot of time on food. I'm searching for recipes and inspiration, I'm menu planning, I'm shopping, I'm preparing, and I'm cooking. And then my sister Carla commented that I should blog my food, and it seemed like a sign.

As I said, I am changing up how I eat. I've lived for an entire year and seven months on my "green diet." I recently saw a nutritionist and she made some suggestions for upping my nutrient intake and making sure my body can absorb everything it needs. Which leads to the question I am frequently asked when I eat with other people: What can you eat?

It's easiest to tackle big categories first: I'm gluten-free and have been for 7 years. I'm mostly vegan -- meaning no meat, no eggs, and no dairy, but every once in a while (when I'm eating out) I will eat fish. I eat any vegetable I want, any fruit I want, any bean I want, and any nut I want.

***

One of the big changes for me that my nutritionist recommended was to begin juicing -- at least three times a week. She gave me seven different recipes to start off with. 

There are a lot of reasons to juice. The biggest one is that people say you can get a whole bunch of vegetables in your system that you wouldn't eat otherwise. As I prepared this morning's juice, and shoved an entire romaine lettuce heart into my juicer, I thought, "Yeah, because really, who eats a whole head of romaine? ... Uh, wait. I do. I totally did last night." But I gamely pressed on with my juicing. 

There is also a huge debate about whether juicing or green smoothies are better. Medically-speaking, I have no idea. I'm just doing what was recommended for me. 

I have a Breville Juice Fountain. It works really well and has a lot of parts that you have to clean -- but that is how all juicers are. I got it a couple years ago, at Bed Bath and Beyond, because I always have a coupon for that store. 

Romaine Green Juice

1 Romaine Lettuce Heart

3 leaves Kale

2 giant leaves Red Chard

1 Cucumber

2 Celery Stalks

1/2 Green Apple

I use all-organic produce, especially for juice. Just wash everything and run it through the juicer, then drink up. 

All done! Yum. 

Cookie Dough Dip

This weekend I had a girls' night. We gathered at a friend's house and played games. We've gotten together a couple of times and everyone brings a snack. Last time I just took a bag of pistachios. They were popular, but I was on facebook the other day and saw a link to "Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip."

The "friends" on facebook said that it was healthy, so I took a minute to click over. There was also a sugar-free version. 

So I made it for my friends. 

I took the dip with a bunch of sliced apples. It was a hit. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. 

Here is the original:

http://www.chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2011/05/23/want-to-eat-an-entire-bowl-of-cookie-dough/

Here is the sugar-free version:

http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2011/09/27/new-recipe-sugar-free-cookie-dough-dip/

My changes:

I used slightly less than 1 Tbs vanilla. Because that was all I had. It was plenty vanilla-y.

I omitted the chocolate chips. No chocolate for me. 

I used certified gluten-free oats. 

I omitted the non-dairy milk. It was runny enough. 

For next time, I will actually mix everything without the liquid from soaking the dates, and then add the date liquid as needed. I thought that with all the date liquid it was a little runnier than it needed to be. I was looking for a creamy hummus-like texture. 

Despite the slightly more liquid-y than I wanted, it was delicious. Definitely worth doing again.