Food for Mind = You Cannot Be Serious by John McEnroe

You Cannot Be Serious by John McEnroe

3 out of 5

Check out my Food for Mind page for my quick review!

An old family favorite made-over!

I’m sure almost everyone who grew up in the 70’s had a version of this meal: ground beef with cream of mushroom soup served over pasta or rice.
My family called it “Casserole”. After I married, it was one of my “go to” meals because it was very simple to make, and my daughter loved it (and she was a picky eater so meals that she liked were made often).
This is still ground meat (although I am using the leaner, less fatty, ground turkey) and cream of mushroom soup. BUT, I added some uncooked sliced cremini mushrooms and served it over raw zucchini and raw yellow (or summer) squash, sliced thin to be like noodles. It is high veggie and very delicious.
I added sliced olives and a can of white corn to the sauce, just to add another element to it.
I originally was going to cook the mushrooms in the sauce, thinking it would enhance the flavor of the cream of mushroom soup. But, I forgot about them until right before I served it. The sauce had already simmered and everything else was ready. So, I thought, “Well, mushrooms can be eaten raw. They don’t have to be cooked. I’ll just add them to the sauce now raw, and then the next time I make it, I’ll simmer the mushrooms as it warms up.” After having the raw mushrooms, cooking them was nixed! The mushrooms – even raw – enhanced the flavor of the sauce. It was so extra delicious that I fell in love with mushrooms again.
If you are trying to limit your carb intake, or are cutting out pasta, I highly recommend this dish. It is so satisfying and yummy, you won’t miss the pasta noodles or rice.
Love yourself and be fulfilled!

Food for Mind = Open by Andre Agassi

Open by Andre Agassi

4 out of 5

This was a fast read. Agassi writes like he is having a conversation with you. I found myself intrigued and flipping pages to find out what happens next. As a tennis fan, I loved the behind-the-scense glimpses at the major tournaments. I loved when Agassi describes what was going through his mind and how he was feeling at certain times in certain matches. Some of those matches I remember watching and being on the edge of my seat because of the great drama that was produced. The romances in his life were also extremely interesting. The life of a tennis pro has never seemed easy to me, with all the traveling and constant training and odd schedules from day matches to night matches, losing first round or making it far in the tournament. Maintaining a relationship has seemed difficult unless the other person was also a tennis pro. Agassi's insight into that side of life was enlightening. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It was entertaining and insightful. And, you don't have to be a tennis fan to enjoy it.

Super Bowl burgers

That right there is a burger I could not fit into my mouth. And, it also is entirely homemade. Yep, even the bun. Well, okay, I didn't grow the tomatoes or lettuce, but you know what I mean.

We decided to go simple with our Super Bowl burgers, and that really just applied to the toppings. It is simply topped with mustard, red leaf lettuce and a few slices of Roma tomatoes.

The burger patty was made with ground sirloin, so we went a little fancy there. Seasoned with Montreal Steak seasoning, and topped with a good helping of cheddar cheese, the patties were delicious, very flavorful.

We would have grilled them up, but, if I remember right, the barbeque was out of gas.

The homemade buns were my brilliant idea. (Can you sense the sarcasm?)





I have been doing pretty well at baking bread, using the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day recipes. So, I thought to try my hand at baking buns. I had the right idea on the size. But, what makes a hamburger bun super is not only the subtle flavor, so as not to take away from the burger ingredients, but the softness which allows a good bite without having all the ingredients slide right out the back of the burger.

Um, yeah, that's what happened with these buns. They were really good as artisan loaves that you would rip apart and dip into olive oil and seasoning, or just slather with butter. They were *not* good for burger buns. They just weren't soft enough. On the outside! The inside was wonderfully soft. But, the crust was too hard for us to actually bite through with any ease. So, all my ingredients squeezed right out the back when I bit down into my delicious and yummy looking burger.

That top bun is huge! If I would have just cut off the top crust, it probably would have worked just fine.

So, I still need to find a good recipe for burger buns. But, I'm not too worried about it. We enjoyed the food, felt good about it since it was all homemade, no preservatives, and we enjoyed the game. We had no real interest in the outcome. We just wanted to see a good game. And, if I remember right, it was a pretty good game.

The hiatus is done, I think, well, for now.

Life. My life presents challenges to me everyday. Some days I feel up to the challenge and face it head on. Other days, well, I just want to roll over in bed and pull the covers over my head. But, I can't. I'm a grown up now. So, I press on. I may not do it with the most enthusiasm on those rough days, but I do it. And, that in itself is something about which I can feel really positive.

I had lost enthusiasm for writing about food. And, my husband and I were not sticking with the raw food diet much anymore. So, I stayed away from this blog. I wasn't sure which direction I wanted to take it. Plus, like most everyone else, I started looking for another job, which is like a full-time job. I do already have a job, but it's in real estate, which is exceedingly difficult. But, it's a job, and, in addition to spending time applying for jobs, I needed to spend time focused on my current job in order to keep paying the bills. Sound familiar? Probably, if you are like me and the thousands of people trying to make ends meet or trying to build back the savings they have used up. (If not, well, good for you.)

That focus, plus the turn in the Chinese New Year (you may laugh, but I'm a believer), has made things a little better. We have a little breathing room. And, a little less stress. And, therefore, I can think about doing fun things again. Like this blog. I don't know if it will stay food focused. But, it will continue to be about things that fulfill me. But, that's the fun of it, right? Life's a journey, not a destination. Ahh, Life.

Blood Orange Fruit Salad

Spring has arrived - well, for the rest of the country. It has been here in Phoenix for a while, and we're just about ready to welcome - dare I say it - Summer.

I can hope that the triple digit temperatures will stay away for a few months more. We always have hope, right? At any rate, warmer temps are coming and that makes me less inclined to cook, to turn on the stove or, even worse, to turn on the oven. Just as cold days bring cravings of warm soups and stews, hot days bring cravings of  - well, let's be honest, popsicles and ice cream.

Since living on popsicles and ice cream is not nutritionally ideal (although could be extraordinarily yummy), fruit salad often fills the bill for us during Phoenix's outrageous summer months. Fruit salad is light and delicious, easy to make, and best of all, requires no heating.

Another thing I love about fruit salad is its versatility. Any fruit combination will do - as long as you like the fruit, various combinations can come together to create a yummy, satisfying dish. And, it can be a side salad or a meal on its own.

For our most recent incarnation of fruit salad (shown above), we picked blood oranges from our neighbor's tree, paired it with apples, raisins and green bell pepper. The sauce is simply plain yogurt. (I absolutely love plain yogurt for its versatility, too. Add sweetener or spices like salt and pepper and it becomes something completely different.) The fruit in our fruit salad was plenty sweet, so we didn't add any sweetener to the yogurt, but feel free to experiment, and sweeten to your tastes. And enjoy! Enjoy the warmer temps, make an easy, light, carefree dinner and go outside and play! Be Fulfilled!

Super Bowl Sunday Food

What are you eating today?

We are going with burgers! It'll be homemade all the way, too: homemade buns from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, homemade all-beef burger patties, homemade guacamole and homemade bean dip.

The burgers will be simply topped with red leaf lettuce leaves and sliced Roma tomatoes and mustard and ketchup. And, of course, the guacamole and bean dip will be enjoyed with corn tortilla chips, which we are not making homemade, but which seem fresh-made from our grocery store. They are like the chips you get in a really good Mexican restaurant. Seriously yum.

A lot of people are cooking good food today. It's almost like Thanksgiving - cooking that special food you eat just once a year. And, a lot of people are going with traditional football fare in pizza and wings. Personally, I don't think you can go wrong with good pizza and wings. It is one of my all-time favorites, but I always pay for it later. Maybe that's why it's only once in a while that we go wild with junk food?

So, in honor of Super Bowl Sunday, may your preparations for the game go smoothly and stress-free and may the game be a nail-biter. Let's all hope for a good game! Enjoy!

Lovely lemons

Behold the bounty from our lemon tree! We were fortunate to pick about 10 dozen lemons this year, and they were juicy and fragrant. We shared as much as people wanted and still had plenty.

With all of these lemons, I began to rack my brain for different recipes for which I needed a lot of lemons. I thought of the usual - lemon meringue pie, but that has never gone over so well (see this post), plus I am trying to cut down on sweets with the new year and all (isn't everyone?), lemon bars (again with the sweet!), and hot lemonade. A friend suggested a lemon artichoke caper pasta with chicken, which my husband executed with great success! It was much like the chicken scaloppine from Macaroni Grill.

My daughter took some lemons and said she'd be making lemonade. I'll have to call the others who received lemons and ask them what they decided to make!

Chocolate Turtles

I love how shiny the chocolate is!
(I set it on top of my organizer, so ignore the sorry background!)

Here is another recipe from Stephanie Tourles’ book, Raw Energy. This is a reworking of a classic chocolate treat, turtles, which combines chocolate, caramel and nuts. People have reworked turtles, but never like this! I have successfully enjoyed this treat and didn’t feel guilty one bit. Now that’s what I’m talking about! Have a sweet treat, don’t deprive yourself, and don’t feel bad about it either!


To demonstrate how much better this recipe is in terms of ingredients, I thought I’d compare it to a recipe for regular chocolate turtles. I went to http://www.cooks.com/ because it had an actual recipe for chocolate turtles. Other places had recipes for chocolate turtle pie, cheesecake, brownies. Not exactly what I was looking for. (Did I mention people had reworked the turtle recipe? Wow!) Anyway, I found a recipe that seemed simple and was the classic chocolate turtle treat with nuts, caramel and chocolate. You can click here to go to the recipe I found, but the ingredient list includes caramels, evaporated milk, pecans, butter, chocolate chips and vegetable oil.

The caramels are cooked butter and sugar, the evaporated milk is processed, cooked and canned, the pecans are, well, pecans, the butter is probably pasteurized, and the chocolate chips are full of sugar and processed chocolate. And, most likely the vegetable oil is probably soy, which I choose to avoid. (To find out why, see this post.)

Now, compare all those processed, sugary ingredients with the ingredients for Ms. Tourles’ turtles: raw almond butter, raw cocoa (cacao) powder, raw agave nectar, raw pecan halves. Four ingredients with no butter and no extra sugar. Granted, there’s no caramel substitute. But, believe me, once you try it, you won’t care that there’s no caramel. If you like chocolate and nuts, you’ll love this version. And, it is so easy!

Basically, the recipe is equal parts almond butter and cocoa powder, with half the amount of agave nectar. For example, if you use ½ cup almond butter, you’ll use ½ cup cocoa powder and ¼ cup agave nectar. Put these three ingredients in a bowl and slowly stir together. You have to go slow because the cocoa powder is so loose and light. Eventually, you’ll see it mixing and becoming a dark chocolate mass. Once it is all incorporated, pinch off small pieces and roll them into balls, placing the balls on wax paper. Gently press your chosen nut, whether that is classic pecans or what-I-have-on-hand almonds, onto the top of each ball. Cover and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

Ms. Tourles recommends an 8-inch pan, but I just lined a large rectangular tupperware with wax paper. This was very convenient for covering, chilling and storing. Ms. Tourles also says she likes to store them in the freezer (for up to 3 months), where they “become quite firm but still chewy”. Mine were a little too hard when coming out of the freezer, so I prefer to keep them in the fridge, where they can be stored in a tightly sealed container for up to 3 weeks.

So, I’ve included a picture of my almond-topped turtles. I love how easy this recipe is, and they really are delicious. The almond butter gives you good fats, and if you make it yourself, you know there are no preservatives or additives. The agave nectar is a wonderful sweetener that won’t give you a sugar rush or crash later. And, of course, the almonds are full of fiber, good fats, protein and all kinds of good stuff. The cacao powder – well, that’s up for some debate. I suppose chocolate is still chocolate. But, I for one am happy to have a yummy alternative to a chocolate treat loaded with sugar and butter.

Cashew Oat Squares

Based on the "Cashew Maple Oatmeal Squares" recipe from Raw Energy: 124 Raw Food Recipes for Energy Bars, Smoothies, and Other Snacks to Supercharge Your Body by Stephanie Tourles

I decided to try this recipe because my hubby loves cookie dough, and in the recipe description, Ms. Tourles says, "These sticky and chewy treats will remind you of chilled oatmeal cookie dough." Oh, and the recipe does not require a dehydrator, which I still do not have, but am seriously considering.

These squares were delicious. It was hard to stop – we could have finished off the first batch entirely before dinner. I did alter her recipe, mostly because I had to substitute ingredients for what is available and cost effective for me. What follows is her recipe from the book, with my alterations in parentheses.

Cashew Maple Oatmeal Squares, by Stephanie Tourles

10 Medjool dates, pitted and chopped, about 1 cup (I used Deglet dates)
1 cup raw cashews (I germinated the cashews although she doesn’t say to do so)
½ cup raw oats
¼ cup maple syrup (I used agave syrup)
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of sea salt
coconut oil, raw and unrefined, for greasing pan (I just used wax paper instead)

1. Put the dates, cashews, oats, syrup, cinnamon and salt in a food processor. Blend until a cohesive, sticky cookie dough forms, about 30 seconds. It will look and taste similar to oatmeal cookie dough.

2. Coat the bottom of an 8-inch square pan with coconut oil or line with waxed paper. Spread the mixture in the pan to an approximate thickness of ½ inch. If your fingers get too sticky, dampen them to help pat the dough into the pan.

3. Cover and freeze for 4 hours, until the dough is relatively firm. Remove from the freezer and cut into 1-½ inch squares.

4. Store the squares in a tightly sealed container in the freezer for up to 2 months. They will have a nice, stiff “chew” when eaten directly from the freezer, so don’t worry about breaking your teeth. If allowed to thaw, they will become too soft and sticky.

Yield: About 24 squares

I will definitely be making these again and again. They were a delicious snack or dessert, and are full of good stuff. No flour or white sugar and no empty calories to give you a false energy rush then crash. And they were so easy to prepare! It’s almost sinful how easy they are and how delicious! Enjoy!

Pei Wei Asian Diner

7th Avenue & McDowell location

http://www.peiwei.com/

various locations

“Eat in Five Languages: Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese”

Pei Wei is casual dining mixed with fast food, the type of restaurant where you seat yourself (unless it’s really crowded), order at the counter and get your own drink. But, they will bring your delicious food to you, and the interior is decorated nicely. So, it’s a step above fast food joints. A small, nicely decorated step, but a step above nonetheless.

The menu is varied, obviously, if you can "eat in five languages". They offer many menu items as vegetarian, and even offer a Gluten-Free menu. There are only 3 salads on their Salad menu, but I’ve never thought of Asian food as having a lot of salads anyway. The stars of the show are the Noodle/Rice Bowls and Signature Dishes, which have many options. You pick your base dish and choose your protein source (chicken, beef, pork or shrimp, or veggies).

I’ve been to Pei Wei several times, to several different locations here in Phoenix, and only had a few dishes. I found a dish I love (Pad Thai) and tend to order that each time. Call me boring - I know what I like! My hubby is a little more adventurous and has tried several dishes, one of which (Dan Dan Noodles) we started making at home – well, his own version – since he liked it so much and it seemed really simple to do a semi-raw version. The last few times I’ve been to Pei Wei, the atmosphere was loud and annoying. It would be less annoying if we weren’t there at the same time as everyone else. We were attempting to beat the lunch crowd by meeting at 11:30, but it seems we were not the only ones with that idea, and we found ourselves right smack dab in the middle of the lunch crowd. Line out the door, music and chatting noises increasing in volume with each minute. Not my idea of a pleasant, relaxing lunch.

Some people love Pei Wei and others think it’s nothing to write home about. It probably depends largely on what you have. I would say Pei Wei is good Asian food, and it is kind of cool to go to one restaurant and be able to try a Japanese dish, or a Thai dish. If you have limited lunch time, it can also be very fast. But, if you, like me, want to enjoy your lunch break, I would not recommend going to Pei Wei between 11:30 and 1pm. It is too loud to enjoy any conversation with your lunch companions. And, I don’t know about you, but I can’t sit and enjoy my meal when there’s a line of people staring at our table to see how soon we might be leaving so that they might grab it. Of course, you could always call ahead or even order online now and just pick it up and go. Go to a nice, quiet place away from work where you can really enjoy the taste of the food. Soon it will be such nice weather here in Phoenix that I would love to eat lunch outside, maybe at a park with some water so I can watch the birds!

Mostly Raw milkshakes

My dad is a huge ice cream fan, and he passed that love to me. Recently, when Dairy Queen was celebrating the 25^th Anniversary of the Blizzard, I recalled the first time I had one, just after they came out. At that time, the commercials showed the Blizzard being held upside down without spilling a drop. This - I suppose - was to demonstrate how thick and chock-full of yummy stuff it was, as opposed to those runny regular ice cream shakes. My dad and I went to the Dairy Queen drive-through, and when we got to the pick-up window, we asked the employee if they could really hold it upside down without anything falling out. The employee did so, and we were supremely impressed! The Blizzard was also very delicious, thick and chock-full of yummy stuff, much cooler than those runny regular ice cream shakes.

And, my love of milkshakes that are so thick with ice cream that I have to eat them with a spoon was born!

There is raw ice cream in the world. Check out Sweetly Raw for some tantalizing raw ice cream cakes. Since I am just at baby-steps with eating raw (less than a year now), I have not attempted to make raw ice cream. Luckily for me, I can have a mostly raw milkshake. It is easy and delicious, and has been a regular treat during this warm summer. Sometimes, it has even been dinner!
 

Banana shake - thick and creamy

The key is the frozen bananas. They absolutely make the consistency very much like ice cream. And, it is different than a smoothie, although more so in consistency than in ingredients. The ingredients are very simple: 1 frozen banana, 1 fresh banana, ¼ teaspoon vanilla, and about ¼ cup of milk. Blend it all up and you have a delicious treat. If the bananas are too ripe, the banana taste can be strong.

It is very helpful to break the banana into small pieces before freezing. At least, our blender can handle it better!
 

Adding ingredients

Strawberry-banana milkshakes are the same, just add about 3 frozen strawberries to the mix.

Keep in mind that although this is mostly raw, that does not mean it is mostly calorie-free. One medium sized banana is about 100 calories, and I use 2 in this recipe. But, you are getting about 2 to 3 servings of the recommended 3 to 4 fruit servings per day.



Pouring it to serve - how yummy!


Of course, I could add nut milk or fresh, unpasteurized dairy milk to make it 100% raw. I checked out Almond Milk sold in a carton at the grocery stores, and there were additives in them – all the brands – that I did not want. And, I am not close to a dairy farm where I reside, and don’t even know if it’s legal to sell unpasteurized milk here in AZ. My best bet is to make my own nut milk, which sounds rather simple. Right now, I do not have a nut milk bag to begin making my own nut milks. But, I would like to try it sometime.

Any suggestions on making my own nut milk without a proper nut milk bag?

Pugzie’s Restaurant

4700 N. 16th Street (Northwest corner of 16th Street and Highland)
Phoenix, AZ 85016
http://www.pugzies.com/index.html
602-277-6017

Open only for lunch (10-4 Monday through Friday), Pugzie’s makes sandwiches like I’d make at home, only better! Everything seems to be extra fresh. The bread is soft, the tomatoes tasty, and the lettuce leaves whole. The dill pickle, chips and cookie served alongside give me a feeling reminiscent of when my mom packed a lunch for me in elementary school. Pugzie’s is like that, like a Working Mom: supremely busy all the time, but they still try to make you feel like you’re at home. Two sisters own it, Lynn Pugliano and Lisa Pugliano-Wright, and, according to their website, their goal “was to provide fresh, healthy lunches with friendly, fast service.”

The restaurant is hard to miss, painted turquoise, with a yellow toucan up high. What the apparent loudness of the exterior hides is a quiet interior grassy courtyard. There are chairs and tables with umbrellas out on a concrete patio area to sit out and enjoy the weather (when it’s nice here in Phoenix, that is). If it’s too hot (or cold, I suppose), there are chairs inside that face the wall of windows which look out to the courtyard. It’s all very pleasant, and a nice change of pace from the bustle of the Camelback Corridor and the movers and shakers that do business there.

Other than being a nice little escape in the middle of a workday, Pugzie’s food is great, too. They offer classic sandwiches, like Oven-Roasted Turkey (my personal fave), Roast Beef, and Chicken Salad that they proclaim is a “Favorite on the menu!” They also offer the always wonderful combo of a half-sandwich with a choice of soup, chili, or a salad. The salads are varied, ranging from pasta salad to potato salad and even fruit salad. All are served in good portions that are surprisingly filling. And, the soup is really delicious, too, with offerings like Cheese Broccoli (my other personal fave), Tomato Basil and Clam Chowder.
Pugzie’s has vegetarian options and gluten-free menu items as well. And, the prices are very reasonable, given the quality of food and the location.

I would say the Pugliano sisters have succeeded in reaching their goal!

Eating out

I’ll just come right out and say it: We’ve been eating out a lot lately. A LOT. So, I have quite a few restaurants to write about.

There are a lot of different restaurants here in the greater Phoenix Metropolitan area, and I always enjoy eating out and trying new dishes and foods. I am happy to say that there are only two chain restaurants out of the ten I will be writing about. (Told ya it was a lot!) I like to eat at non-chain restaurants because I feel like I’m helping a fellow small business owner out in their fight against the big guys, with all their advertising dollars behind them.

So, how can I keep my diet mostly raw if I’m eating out all the time? We try and eat at least two raw meals every day, leaving one cooked meal a day. And, to be honest, if I had a huge cooked lunch, for dinner I may just have some fruit, a few veggies thrown together in a salad or nothing at all. Every morning we have the “Best Breakfast Ever” and tea or coffee. Lunch and dinner are more free form, depending on our schedule for that day. If we were out and about at lunchtime, we have eaten out and made that our cooked meal for the day. If we were home at lunchtime, then we’d eat a raw lunch, like a salad or a veggie sandwich on Ezekiel bread. Dinner depends on what we feel like eating. If it’s been two raw meals that day, dinner could be raw veggies and a cooked portion, like pasta or potatoes, or black beans.

Basically, we do feel much better eating mostly raw. But, we still like cooked food. And, we give ourselves permission to eat what sounds good to us. Of course, I keep in mind things that I don’t want to eat, like soy and artificial sweeteners, and try to avoid that as much as possible.

I have never believed in deprivation as a good strategy for eating. Depriving myself of something I want just makes me feel resentful and angry. I do strongly believe in moderation however. My food vice is chips and dip. Now, I do not buy chips and dip and have them in my house. That’s just too much temptation. However, if I am at a party and there’s chips and dip, why should I torture myself and avoid having any? I should not and I do not. But, I do not sit at the table and finish the whole bag of chips! I grab a handful of chips and enjoy it – really enjoy it – with the dip. Then, I grab some fruit or veggies to enjoy. If I am done with the fruit or veggies and I still want chips, I grab another handful. And, I pay attention to when I feel full. When I am full, I stop eating. Then, I am happy because I have not deprived myself, and I have eaten in moderation.

Life is too short. Enjoy it, I say!

Mexican Bowl

We do enjoy Mexican food, and have enjoyed this dish on many nights. For lack of a better name, we called it "corn bowl". That is not fitting at all since there is so much more than corn in it! But, alas, I could not come up with anything better than "Mexican Bowl". It is kind of like the burrito bowls at Chipotle, but I think it could be the base or insides of tacos, tostadas, fajitas and burritos, too, if your heart so desired.

It's very simple, and a lot of it is raw.

1/2 cup corn (we used uncooked, fresh white corn cut from the cob)
3/4 cup black beans*
1 Roma tomato, chopped
1/4 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 avocado, sliced
1/4 cup plain yogurt, optional
garlic salt, optional
onion salt, optional
hot sauce, optional
shredded cheese, optional

Put all veggies in the bowl, layering as you go. If using the optional ingredients, top with yogurt, then sprinkle the garlic and onion salt lightly over the yogurt, to taste. Add hot sauce to taste, and top with desired amount of shredded cheese.

*Note the black beans are canned although not heated. We have tried to eat black beans that we purchased dried and from the bulk section. We soaked them for a really long time, I think 24 hours, maybe 36 hours. Although they were still slightly hard, which made them slightly crunchy, we ate them and thought they were okay. Unfortunately, we both were sick to our stomachs the next day. Until I become more educated about beans, I am going to stick with canned for now. I noticed after that unpleasant experience that most of the raw food blogs I read do not use beans often. Maybe there's a reason, huh?

Using the veggie ingredients only would yield a 100% raw dish, although I'm not sure it would be very tasty. I have come to find that seasonings are quite important to eating mostly raw. They definitely help add flavor and interest to the dishes. So I strongly suggest adding your favorite seasonings. Also, the black beans provide good amounts of dietary fiber and protein. And, the yogurt has beneficial bacteria. All good stuff!

Enjoy!

Best Breakfast Ever!

Boxed cereals are convenient, quick and easy. Just open the box, pour some cereal in a bowl, add some milk, grab a spoon and you are ready to eat. They are also usually filled with preservatives and additives and other chemicals that I probably cannot pronounce. And, they are processed and cooked. I want none of those things for my first, most important meal of the day.

I want a morning cereal routine that is almost as quick and easy, and much more nutritious! And, with this breakfast, I have all that and more. It only takes a few minutes to prepare. It fills me up without making me feel heavy, and holds me over for hours – well into the lunchtime hour. So I have a very productive morning because I’m not stopping every two hours to have a snack or get more coffee or tea.

(Seriously, before I started eating more raw, I would have hot tea or coffee at 8am, stop to eat breakfast at 9 or 9:30, at 10:30 or 11am I was thinking about lunch and what to do, where to go. Then, at about 2:30 or 3pm, I would be hungry for a snack unless I ate a gi-normous amount at lunch, then I would be tired and wanting an afternoon nap. Either way, I would probably snack, then want dinner at 6pm. I was always hungry and always thinking about food.)

This breakfast is simple: about 10 germinated* almonds, a handful of raisins, another handful or so of whole oats, and about 4 tablespoons yogurt and/or milk. Each morning, I add a different fruit, one half each for Hubby and me. Sometimes, we go with an apple or banana (always a good standard), but lately, the nectarines and mangoes have been excellent at our grocery store. Part of the reason we have not become tired of having the same thing every morning is because of the different fruit we add to it. The other part is because we feel great after eating it!

All stirred up with nectarine

Adding Mango on another morning

Obviously with the addition of the yogurt and milk, this is not a 100% raw breakfast (or afternoon snack, or lunch – we’ve had it as both). But, my blog is not a 100% raw blog. If you were to purchase unpasteurized milk or yogurt made from unpasteurized milk, this may be 100% raw. I have to research whole oats. I have eaten oats labeled as “raw” before, and I don’t notice any difference between those and the whole oats I use. But, Carol Alt says in her books, “If it doesn’t say raw, it’s not raw.” The oats I buy do not say raw so I’m not sure if they are or not. But, whole oats do provide fiber and complex carbohydrates, which are both great for our systems.

*A note about germinating: It is very easy! Germinating nuts and seeds releases the nutrients inside those awesome nuts and seeds so they are more biologically available to us. Each specific nut and seed has a different germinating time, so I would direct you to Carol Alt’s books for more info on that. This is what I do for almonds:

(Two cups of almonds lasts me for this breakfast for about two weeks, for the two of us.) Rinse the 2 cups of almonds twice or so

Pour them into a glass bowl or other glass container

Pour purified water over them enough to cover all the almonds and have about a ½ inch of water above them

(Note I use filtered water, but others use distilled water – do what works for you)

Let the almonds soak for 8 to 12 hours on the counter, just at room temperature

(Note that I have set them to soak before work in the morning – then when I’m done with my workday, they are ready to put away – and also before going to bed at night – then when I wake up the next morning, they are ready to use)

Pour the water out and rinse them a few times again

The almonds are germinated and ready to use! I store mine in a container in the fridge and they last for the whole 2 weeks. They may last longer, but I usually run out by then.

You’ll find the almonds are sweeter and more flavorful after germinating, and of course, a little softer. Hubby says they taste reminiscent of coconut.

So, that’s how we do breakfast. We’ve given up the boxed cereals and cooked oatmeal and feel so much better for it!

Enjoy!

Raw Red Pepper Soup

Cold soups are nothing new, really. I mean, there's gazpacho, right? I can't think of any other cold soups but that does not mean they're not out there.

This dish was made in the spirit of "Let's try it and see". My hubby had been reminiscing about a roasted red pepper soup that we had at Haus Murphy's. It was so delicious. Rich and creamy and so flavorful. Well, roasted red peppers are not raw. So, we decided to try and find a raw soup recipe that might come close. I came across a recipe from Heather Pace of the Sweetly Raw blog (which is awesome for people with enormous sweet tooths - or teeth? - anyway, it's great), and thought, "Let's try it and see." We completely changed her recipe, mostly because we don't have all the ingredients (such as nutritional yeast and miso), and we never include onions if we can help it.

I'd say it was 3.5 out of 5. Maybe nutritional yeast and miso and onions are really key to obtaining that roasted red pepper flavor? As you can see from the picture, we topped it with some avocado slices. It was good, but it didn't meet our expectations. However, our expectations were of a cooked dish, so I don't know how close we really could have come.

One thing I am loving about eating mostly raw is the fact that we don't heat up the house by turning on the stove or oven. This is probably particular to where I live: Phoenix. It is hot here in the summer (and spring and early fall - who am I kidding!) and to not turn the stove or oven on is a blessing! And who wants a hot steaming bowl of soup when it's 110 outside?

Red Pepper Soup (based off "Southern Belles in London Soup" by Philip McCluskey through Heather Pace's blog)

4 red peppers, seeded and chopped
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil (cold-pressed if you have it)
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon oregano

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Heather states if you want warm soup, use hot water.

Enjoy!

Sorry I've been away . . .

It's been several months since I've shared anything on this blog! I just haven't had the energy or desire to write about the lovely food I've been eating. But, that's about to change! I have a plan, and have some wonderful meals to share, including an all-raw Fake Fettucine Alfredo

and an all-raw dessert with an almond-date crust, vanilla creme filling and topped with strawberries!

Oops - thought I had a picture of that one. Darn, I guess I'll have to make it again and be sure to take a picture of it before I gobble it up!

So, again, my apologies for being away. My blog is somewhat revamped to have a more raw diet/raw meal focus, which reflects my life currently. It's being revamped. How cool is that?

Meat-Free Monday - Raw Spaghetti

This is actually a recipe called "Pasta alla Marinara", from Carol Alt's book, Eating in the Raw. She got this recipe from Quintessence, a raw restaurant in NYC.

In my effort to eat more naturally and vegetarian, I have decided to try eating raw more often than not. This recipe seemed simple enough, and I thought, if I like this raw dish, I am well on my way to eating raw more and more.

Well, I liked it. My husband really liked it, too. . . the first night. I kept suggesting it as dinner, and even as lunch, and he just wasn't all that jazzed about it. He couldn't explain why. He said it was good and tasty, but his desire for it just wasn't there.

Maybe an andouille sausage would have made it more appetizing? Not exactly raw or vegetarian!

I could eat this every other day for a whole week and probably then, just start to get tired of it. The sauce is outrageously tasty. Of course, I love green olives and bell peppers, so this had all my favorite spaghetti ingredients. And, with Phoenix summers being insanely hot, this raw dish will be cool and refreshing and filling at the same time.

Pasta Alla Marinara, from Carol Alt's Eating in the Raw

Serves 5

5 pounds yellow summer squash

Marinara Sauce
6 large tomatoes
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
1/2 bunch fresh basil
1/4 cup (loosely packed) fresh oregano
2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
2 tablespoons choped fresh sage
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup red onion, chopped
1/2 cup cold-pressed olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
5 dates, pitted
1 tablespoon evaporated sea salt

Topping
1/4 cup olives, chopped
1/4 cup tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup red bell peppers, chopped
1/4 cup red onions, chopped

For the "pasta", thinly slice the yellow squash with a sharp knife, or, better yet, use a turning (spiralizing) slicer to cut squash into curly strands. Set aside. For the Marinara sauce, put all the sauce ingredients in a blender and puree until creamy. Pour sauce on spiralized yellow squash pasta and top with olives, tomatoes, bell peppers and onions.

OK - now for our version. We are two empty nesters, so we certainly did not need to make enough to serve 5! So I sliced one small to medium sized squash for one full plate serving of "pasta". When I made this for lunch, I sliced one squash, and did 1/2 per plate and that was plenty. Also, the only fresh herb we have is rosemary (growing in our garden!), so substituting dried herbs was fine. We didn't have tarragon or sage, so those were left out. We also don't like onions, so those were left out. And, I did not have dates, so we went without. Regular salt worked fine in place of the expensive sounding evaporated sea salt.

This dish is interesting for so many reasons. First, I didn't know yellow summer squash could be eaten raw. I thought it HAD to be cooked. Wrong! It tastes very mild raw, and there is no bitterness at all. (I thought it had to be cooked to get rid of the bitterness, but I think cooking it may make it bitter.) Second, the raw tomato sauce was exactly like cooked spaghetti sauce, it just wasn't steaming hot, leaving all the nutrients intact. And, third, the toppings added to the sauce made it exactly like the chunky spaghetti sauce I enjoy cooking for my family.

Delicious! Now, I just need to figure out how to get the hubby to eat it more than just once. . . . . :-)

Thai Elephant

Thai Elephant
20 W. Adams Street
Phoenix, AZ 85003
(602) 252-3873
http://www.thaielephantaz.com/

:-):-):-):-)
(4 smiles out of 5)

3.5 stars out of 5 from yelp.com.

When a small place is jam-packed, you know it's good. Thai Elephant in Downtown Phoenix was jam-packed, and it was good.

We were lucky to snag the last available table, and it was early by lunch time standards - 11:45! If you are looking for a nice, quiet place to have a leisurely lunch and hang out for a while, this is not the place. It was crowded and loud and just buzzing constantly. The tables are so close you may end up bumping elbows, apologizing and then becoming friends with the people at the next table. But, I think that's part of the charm of this restaurant! Be friendly and open, and you never know what you may find, or who you might meet.

Of course, the food was excellent, so you may find you'll put up with the noise and close quarters to enjoy a tasty dish. Thai Elephant serves lunch and dinner every day except Sunday, and prides itself on serving freshly prepared food made from scratch with quality ingredients. The dishes are customizable, too, allowing patrons their choices of meat and spice level, and they don't mind substitutions. I had one of my favorite Thai dishes, Pad Se Ew, and I loved the large noodles they used. Their Thai iced tea was delicious, too. All in all, good food and an interesting atmosphere. We'll go there again!