Beet Down!

During my Sprout's shopping spree on day one I bought these beautiful organic beets because they just looked so seasonal and fresh. I had every intention of roasting them but they sat in my fridge for over a week until today when I decided it was time to use them. I didn't really feel like roasting anything today so I dusted off my juicer and made some beet juice! I added ginger and I think I added too much ginger because the concoction wasn't so great. I choked down about a cup and a half to get the antioxidant benefits and energy boost but bleh! Kenzie was really excited by a) the noise the juicer made and b) the bright crimson color of the juice. She was like "I want some! I want some!" and I was all "Kenz, you aren't gonna like it." But at age two one needs first hand experience of what you are or aren't going to like. She took one sip and spit it out all over the floor! Not much of a surprise there. I do consider myself lucky however, that she has the desire to try new things. There is a boy at the daycare where I work and I kid you not, he eats a diet of Doritos and fruit and that is it! We try, Lord do we try to get this child to eat something, anything else but every single day he will only eat Doritos for lunch. His mom endorses this behavior and as horrifying as it seems it's either Doritos or be hungry so we are in a position as caregivers where we just have to go with it or remove him from the school. 

When I first started this plant based diet, I had no idea where it was going to lead but at the moment I think I have been led to juicing as a way of dealing with the detox period because in addition to drinking lots of water and exercise, juicing provides my body with relief. While I have some work to do in finding palatable options of phytochemical rich juice I am looking forward to finding a combination Kenzie might actually enjoy too! 

Easy Veggie Fajitas

Back to school set me back on the cash flow, so for the next few weeks I need to find ways to be frugal. The grocery bill is an obvious place to start. There is this huge misconception that eating healthy is more expensive. This is just simply not true. It may take a little more effort than driving to a window and grabbing a bag of grease, but you can eat fresh, healthy meals every night of the week and save money, meatless or not.

This delicious meal is effortless, low cost and super nutritious.
I doubled this recipe so I could have leftovers for lunch tomorrow

Easy Vegan Fajitas.

1 clove garlic minced
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
3 big jalapenos or 1 big jalapeno with 1 green bell pepper (depending on spice desired)
1 large yellow or white onion or 2 medium sized
10 baby carrots sliced in little thick strips (for texture, they work really well!)
1 TBS coconut oil, or cooking oil of your choice
1-2 TBS fajita/taco seasoning ( I use the salt free blend Sunflower blend and love the flavor)
The juice of one small lemon or two key limes

For serving:
Avocado sliced
Tapatio Mexican hot sauce
Blue corn and flax seed Mission artisian tortillas

Tip: The most important thing when cooking fajitas at home is the pan. Don't use a pan that is too small and pile the veggies on top of each other so they cook by steam. The yummy restaurant flavor of fajitas only happens if the veggies get to caramelize. This magic can only be done if the veggies are in a single layer. Caramelizing is not going to happen if the veggies are steaming on top of each other.  If you don't have a pan big enough you can do this in two batches or in two different saute pans.

Cut the veggies into strips and add to oil heated over medium heat saute for about 10-15 minutes until vegetables are tender, then add the fajita seasoning. Saute for about 5-10 more minutes until veggies have a nice caramelization on them. Add juice from citrus and serve immediately on heated tortillas with sliced avocado and tapatio sauce.

These are so satisfying!!

Here comes the detox...

I've been at this plant based diet for a week now and today I've actually felt pretty shitty. The feeling is like a come down. Similar to what it feels like to be hungover with a slightly cloudy head and an all over tired, lack of energy feeling. Almost a year ago, I attempted a juice fast. It was supposed to be for seven days but I lasted about three, failing miserably because my lifestyle demanded more calories than what a fast would allow. I was hungry all.the.time. Prior to and during the fast I did a lot of research and one of the things I remember reading was a fast puts the body into detox mode, which is great, but one of the side effects of any detox, is feeling worse before you feel better. I never completely understood this because I had no motivation to stick with the juice fast and I broke it when I started to feel bad, in turn, my body remained stagnant.
Lurking in fat the body stores a lot of toxins from the bad foods enjoyed. And lord knows my layers of fat were not created enjoying spinach and tofu... bacon wrapped chicken wings anyone? with a side of french fries and ranch?? How about brownie batter covered oreos and cookie dough?
Eating a plant based diet excites me. Unlike with the juice fast I actually want to continue eating this way. I feel so passionate about it, I'm considering an extension beyond the initial two weeks because it feels like I am just getting started.
However, based on how I've been feeling today I think it is safe to say I have succeeded in throwing my body into detox mode. When detox happens the fat starts to melt away toxins. The toxins then enter your bloodstream causing this sick, drained, slightly edgy feeling. The antidotes for feeling this include drinking lots of water, sweating it out with exercise and eating sauerkraut... what??? I did drink TONS of water today like 4+ liters.  My Rx tonight included school supply shopping at Target and dinner at Zona 78 with a glass or two of polyphenol laced wine! :)

Cheeze

David is an amazing cook. One of the things we share is a similar palate, we both love spicy foods! I think the moment we fell in love was while in Key West, Florida we went to a hot sauce shop and they set us up as if we were at a wine tasting, lining up tastes of amazing hot sauce from gourmet to fire out your ears hot.The shop owners encouraged us to go next door to a convenience store and buy a bucket of bud light and we spent the next hour trying tons of different varieties of unique capsaicin packed goods, we left that place more intoxicated on endorphins than the beer!

David makes these amazing spicy vegetarian re-fried style beans with lots of veggies: onion, tomato and garlic. He always separates some for Kenize before adding tons of  jalapenos and seranos to ours to kick up the heat! In his support of my new way of eating he made a huge batch of this versatile fare, for use on tostadas, burritos or as a side dish. I love me a bean and cheese burrito so to keep with the diet I bought some vegan pepper jack cheese today at Sprouts for dinner tonight and was able to enjoy one of my favorite foods, with some hot sauce of course! The vegan "cheeze" is definitely not as tasty as good old cow's milk cheese but it was a great alternative because it did have a nice melty texture . If I were to continue to eat this way the "cheeze" would certainly be an occasional treat because at $5.59 for 8 oz it's pretty pricey.

David and Alicia at Peppers of KeyWest 2008

Kale soup!

She was excited about the vegetables and kept eating the carrots! 

I love to cook with kale. The health benefits of this vegetable are astounding. Kale is a great raw vegetable to add to juice blends. I like kale as a side dish sauteed with a little garlic and olive oil. But my favorite use for the vegetable is in soups. Prior to the plant based diet I would make a chicken soup with white beans and kale and it was delicious! This time however to honor this magnificent leafy green I decided to create a soup with kale as the star. The vegetable stock I made on day one makes about 10 cups so I reserved 5 cups for this soup and froze the other 5 for what I'm thinking is going to be a lentil soup.

Kale Soup with Fresh Spinach

4 cloves garlic
1 medium onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 cup shredded/chopped savory cabbage
1 tbs olive oil
2 cups chopped dino kale
2 tbs tomato paste
5 cups vegetable stock
2 potatoes cubed
2 cups chopped carrots
1 cup broccoli
1 cup fresh green beans cut in half
1 bay leaf
2 tsp paprika
dash cayenne
dash cumin
1 tsp herbs de province or italian seasoning

For serving:
1 bunch fresh spinach chopped
1 bunch fresh green onion chopped

1) Saute 4 cloves of garlic and medium onion in 1 tbs olive oil over medium heat for a few minutes add celery and shredded/chopped cabbage. Season with a dash of salt and fresh ground pepper and then add 2 tbs red wine vinegar. Continue to cook for another few minutes 2) add 2 cups chopped kale and fold in 2 tbs tomato paste, go ahead and add 5 cups vegetable stock and as that is heating up add the rest of the vegetables and seasonings add about 3 cups of water. 3) Cover, reduce heat to low and cook for a couple hours.  If you wanted to make this in the crock pot you could do step 1 in a saute pan and then transfer all the ingredients to the crock pot.
When you are ready to serve the soup add some fresh spinach and fresh chopped green onion on top.
Enjoy!

Being "that" customer

It's monsoon season here in Tucson, my absolute favorite time of year! I love this season that is so unique to the desert. Maybe it is the unpredictability of these storms or the absolute power they release, whatever the reason, when the rains come to Tucson, it's truly a magical time of the year.
We woke up to overcast skies with high humidity, promising conditions for a day filled with pop up storms. After I spent most of the morning making soup, David and I wanted to take Mackenzie to the splash pad. The thing with monsoons is, while they do cause heavy torential downpours and crazy lightening they don't last very long so we decided to make the most of the day and head out. I took my camera to get video of Kenzie splish splashin around, and I lucked out in getting some shots of the breathtaking monsoon clouds around town.
The splash pad is more in the valley and the majority of the storms were happening in and around the mountain so after Kenzie had her fill of the water and it was time for lunch we decided to skip the soup and head to a place with a patio for an optimal view of the beautiful weather. The idea of going out to eat during this 2 week vegan diet, sorta gave me anxiety. Working in the industry I know it's extra work dealing with dietary restrictions.  I don't wanna be "that" customer with all their specifications, staring mis-trustingly down their nose at the waiter as if they know their food is going to come out wrong before even giving it a chance. I planned on enjoying meals cooked at home to avoid this and the possibility of cheating. However, anybody that knows me, knows that I'm really not much of a planner I just don't like to be tied down to any one thing. I find happiness in living in the moment, having the freedom to change plans because circumstances are always changing making life unpredictable and it just ads stress when I feel I'm tied down or locked in. We ended up at Blanco Tacos & Tequila the waiter was very accommadating, I ordered the guacamole tostada minus the cheese with vegetarian black beans and their flavor of the month "cherry tart" margarita, everything was delicious! As we were hoping a huge downpour came through while were we eating rounding out a wonderful experience. If I learned anything from today it's that while changing your diet can certainly change many aspects of your lifestyle, it doesn't have take away from the things that make you happy ask long as those things aren't meat, cheese, or butter! :)

Taste Plate

Today was a really busy day. I went to work at the daycare, then I had to go straight to a doctors apt. I was able to come home for a couple hrs and then it was off to work at Sullivan's, which I might add is a steak house.  99.7% of the menu has meat, is butter drenched or drowning in cream and cheese. When I arrive for my shift everyday we have this thing called "taste plate" where the cooks prepare and set forth every single appetizer, salad, soup, side dish and dessert on the menu. This is sort of a fun approach to QC/QA so that the chef may maintain the highest quality, best tasting dishes. The staff is encouraged to participate, to make a plate and enjoy.  This is great for the starving artist/waiters, restaurant staff who spend all their money on hookers and blow or the insanely busy who don't have the time to eat before coming in to work. Today however, taste plate proved to be a test of my will power. While the banana foster bread pudding a la mode often calls my name upon my arrival, I passed the whole thing by... not even thinking twice!

Before heading in to work today I filled up on these chia seed Go Raw cookies dipped in almond butter, I can honestly say I was satisfied all night and really wasn't tempted! As with any diet, hunger is the greatest enemy, yet with this way of eating I really have yet to experience that "on a diet" hungry feeling.  I feel great. While I know it's only day three and I haven't really changed all that much in my body, I'm definitely feeling revitalized, which is something I must say, I haven't felt in a really, really long time!