New kitchen appliance plus veggie wraps!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend! Happy belated 4th of July to my American friends:) I know there are lots of gatherings, dinners, and fireworks taking place in honor of Independence Day. Maybe you set off your own fireworks?? My weekend was lovely and included shopping with my mom, some yard work, a wonderful dinner out, and some more Grouse Grind action.

After my workout on Friday I quickly made a juice. This one was a little hard to drink as I made it with mostly beet greens and not enough cucumber or something sweet to balance it out. But I chugged it anyways and said "cells, you better enjoy"..haha!

Almost there! Had to take a breather..powerful stuff!


Green goodness all the way!

Later on that night we went out to the Vault for dinner with my MIL and her hubby. It was a lovely dinner which featured a Flamenco guitar player. Loved his music! I had a beet salad with spring rolls as I wasn't feeling the pasta. They all went for DQ after dinner but I sat patiently knowing I would get my dessert on the way home:) I picked up a Cocoa Camino dark chocolate with coconut bar. It was pretty good but I prefer their mint chocolate or just plain chocolate bars better. I had this stage where I ate everything sweet with mint..then it got to much and I left the mint alone...but now I'm back on the wagon. Maybe its because my mint plant is just growing like crazy and the smell is sucking me in!! Mmmm.

On Saturday I did some grocery shopping at my fave grocery market . I LOVE going here because each week there is a new veggie that is ready in the garden. I get so excited to wander around and see what goodies I can try this week. It's like a farmers market really because they grow a ton of the food themselves and most if not all is grown organically. Here are a couple of my finds :

Peas, glorious peas! Have I told you that I have a slight obsession when it comes to eating shelling peas? Yep, it's true! As a kid my aunt wouldn't let me out in here garden if the peas were ready because she knew she would never get any for herself..lol! I love them so much and the season is just too short so I eat as many as I can get my hands on. That bag above was gone in about an hour..seriously, I have a problem:)

All those greens are for which veggie? Do you know? Take a guess!

While you ponder over those greens, here's a broad bean. MASSIVE, hey? I have never had them before so I thought I would try them out. Will keep you posted.

Ta da!!! It's daikon! Were you right? Look at all those greens. I kept some and so I'm going to see if I can use them in a salad or smoothie. They look too amazing to throw out:)

My Mom came over later on (she left on Monday:( and we went for lunch where I got the salad sans the chicken. It actually was pretty good and they gave me lots of veggies...no skimping..which I liked! Then we went shopping for a new house plant. Mom wanted to get me a snake plant for our house warming gift because I love the one that she has.

Mine is a bit smaller than this but with some TLC she should grow big! These are very good for cleaning the air in your home..so big bonus. I found mine for $5 so they are very reasonable too!

Plus she bought me a new aloe plant! Mine just wasn't doing too well so hopefully this beauty will thrive. I feel a deep connection to aloe. I think its an amazing plant and am constantly in awe as to what it can be used for. Check out my post on aloe for a more in depth discussion.

Then we headed out to check out food processors because mine officially died the other day. I mean I liked beating those chickpeas..but I don't have that much frustration to be beating food with a pan everyday..ha! We did a little compare shopping but then we found this....

A 14 cupper wahoo!! Seriously, I was using a 3 cup processor for nearly two years. This is heaven:) Plus it was very reasonable.


Plus its got a timer on it which I think is pretty cool! I like the stainless steel design too. It's got this sweet chopping blade and immediately when I saw it I thought...KRAUT!!! Soon people, soon!

Thank mom for the amazing house warming gifts!!! You know they will be put to good use! Even if the plants only job is to not die lol!

Saturday night I was alone for dinner (boo!!) as the hubs was out watching modern day gladiator fights, also known as the UFC. I actually don't mind the fights if there is a guy in there who I value. Some people may think that it's just a macho man kind of sport but its highly disciplined with tons of training, goal setting, healthy competition (for the most part), and mindset work. There are a few who are a walking ego but then there are the guys who came from nothing and literally fought their way to the spotlight. My favorite guy is George St. Pierre. He is from Montreal and I believe he is the champion right now in his weight class. He supported himself through his job as a garbage man. I mean talk about humble beginnings. He works so hard and the ego doesn't show itself which I really like.

Not bad, hey? Ya, he's quite the looker..especially when he wears his tighty fight shorts:)

Don't worry Ry already knows about my crush LOL!!

Moving on...or should I give you a few minutes to stare?? Te he! Anywho, I made a lovely solo dinner that I ate outside in the cold..haha! It was sunny but the wind but chilly. Raw veggie wraps are quickly becoming a top favorite of mine. They are quick, healthy, easy, and you can make whatever dipping sauce you desire.

Love all the color!! I had yellow bell peppers, carrots, cucumber, avocado, daikon which were wrapped in collard greens and kale. I dipped the wraps in honey-dijon sauce (simply some dijon with whatever amount of sweetener you like added in) and salsa. The salsa was a trial to see how it would go but I didn't really like it that much. Next time I'm going to make a spicy doritos cheesy dip or remake this dip from another veggie wrap day. How do you like your veggie wraps?

I also had some fennel that was part of my work open house stash. I remember Averie cooking some up in one of her posts so I decided to follow here recommendations. I couldn't find my ginger anywhere so I left that out and I ran out of black pepper so I used a small amount of cayenne for bite! Then I added some cumin, nutmeg, and garlic.

Mmmm! I've never cooked fennel before and I'm not sure why...it's so delish! Soft and caramelized..you have to try it.

I devoured these..oh so good!

And this handsome fella decided to join me after patrolling the yard. He loves it back there even though he thinks the neighbor's yard is a much hipper place to be:)

On Sunday we hit up the Grouse Grind with some friends and my SIL. It was a lot tougher this time around because there was a low lying cloud and so it was quite humid in there. Still not bad 1 hour 1 minute, 4 minutes slower than last time. Still I loved it, its such a mental push for me! We then hit up The Naam for lunch except they were only serving brunch so I opted for a breakfast bowl with potatoes, tofu, some other veggies, and miso gravy. Definite must try..oh so yummy!

Once we got home I was feeling pretty mellow so I decided to just do some laundry and blog..but then a friend came over so the blogging was put to the wayside..but that's okay because that's life and I want to enjoy whatever comes my way:)

Tomorrow I'm going to share with you what came in the mail!!! It's awesome:)

Amaranth failure = recipe success + article published

Happy Wednesday everyone,

How is everyone doing this humpday? Well, depending on your job, it might only be one more day until the weekend. To be honest I don't even know which day I get off LOL, I guess I should ask hey? That's what happens when you work from home...you are out of the loop!

Moving on to more exciting things....my article on aloe vera got published in Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo's newsletter! Wahoo, I'm so excited that I could contribute to her newsletter. I'm very passionate about health issues and so sharing my article with her and her audience really is an honor. I hope to write more for her newsletter in the future..so stay tuned. I talked about the article in an earlier post. Have your ever had an article or recipe published on a site? Congrats if you have:)

Now onto some food stuffs! I have been receiving videos and articles from Vega for their Thrive in 30 program. All of the 12 segments were awesome and I learned a lot. Especially about what to eat before and after working out to maximize results. This was always a blurry area for me so I'm glad I have some ideas to work with. I highly suggest you check it out..no matter if you eat a plant-based diet or not. I bet you will learn something:) Anywho, during one of the episodes (episode 6 in fact) Brendan talked about pseudograins. Pseudograins are actually not grains, they are seeds and therefore gluten free. These alkaline-forming superfoods include buckwheat, quinoa, wild rice, and amaranth. I had tried all of these seeds except for amaranth. So on my grocery trip this week I picked up some and the coop even had a little blurb about it on a card that I could take home. Why I was interested in trying amaranth was due to its micronutrient content and because it has 3 times the calcium of milk. Also it is very rich in the amino acid lysine which is often hard to get on a plant-based diet. Lysine helps calcium absorption in the gut. Isn't it cool that it contains all the necessary components for it to be highly absorbed? Cool stuff I must say.

So off I go to the kitchen to get this amaranth a cookin' and I'm ready at the stove and without even thinking I poured the amaranth into the cold water. Mistake #1- you are supposed to add it to boiling water and then simmer it for 20 minutes. I'm so used to making quinoa that my brain took over and thought it was doing me a favor! I didn't think to strain it out so I basically cooked it like you would do quinoa (brain taking over again). Mistake #2- I cooked it for way too long and as my little handy dandy info card said it will turn to mush. Yes, yes it did. I really wanted to try it and so I was no happy that I had to throw it away. Or would I? I hate wasting food so I hunkered down and searched the net to see if I could salvage some of my mistake into a recipe. I had quite a bit of the amaranth so I decided to use two recipes that sounded yummy. You know I love my lentil loaf ! So when I found a recipe for amaranth load that used lentils AND amaranth, I knew I had to try it! The recipe is really simple and easy to whip up. I used onions, zucch, celery, and carrots in my version but this recipe is versatile and would be great for a pantry dinner, wouldn't you say? I found that it wasn't as solid as my other lentil loaf go-to recipe so it was shockingly similar to regular meat loaf. I think when I make this again I will add in a bit more almond meal. All in all, an awesome, flavorful recipe that used up 1 cup of my 2.5 cup mistake. Give it a try if you want an easy meal even your meat-lover family members will love:) Take a look at my dinner that featured a big, dirty salad and a piece of the amaranth loaf. Yum!



I used a very basic Olive-oil balsamic vinaigrette for the salad which contained zucch, romaine lettuce, collards, parsley, sunflower seed sprouts, and lentil sprouts.

Here's a little cross section of the amaranth loaf. See all the celery in there?...so good!

After I made the amaranth loaf I opted for a muffin recipe that sounded soo good. I know that regular flour and sugar is just awful stuff and it literally puts me to sleep after I eat it. Who wants that? Not me, sister! So, I went to the co-op and picked up some quinoa flour. I love cooked quinoa and it is a staple in our house. As it is one of the most nutritious and least allergenic pseudograins, I thought I would try it for my baked goodies. I learned after the fact that the flour has a higher fat content than wheat flours so it will make your baked goodies moister. Just remember that if you go ahead and use it in a recipe:) I went with a blueberry-amaranth muffin recipe that I veganized. I used an egg replacer for the eggs from Kingsmill Foods and for the first time I used coconut oil for the fat. On the Omega Nutrition website they suggested that you use 3/4 of whatever the amount of fat is in the recipe. I also used frozen blueberries from my mix-berry stash even though they asked for fresh berries. They turned out AWESOME! The flour and the coconut oil worked out perfectly. I was a little scared because sometimes when you start subbing ingredients the end product suffers. I even love the slight crunch that all that amaranth adds...yumm!

Here's the mix ready to be put in muffin tins! Blueberries, walnuts, amaranth, oh my!

Here they are right out of the oven! mmmm..Love the big pieces of blueberry!

So that used up all but a couple of tablespoons of the amaranth, not bad hey? So, my mistake was actually awesome because I got to try out a few new recipes!

PS Marisa is having a chia seed giveaway! So head on over to her great blog and enter before April 2nd at Midnight!

Have a great rest of your Wednesday and stay tuned to hear about my foraging adventures!

Aloe vera

The ancient Aloe vera (A. barbadensis) plant with its spear-like, succulent leaves has made its way from native Africa, to your favorite health food store, and even your own home. There are more than 300 types of aloe, but it is Aloe vera that is used most commonly. The Liliaceae family in which Aloe belongs is also home to garlic, asparagus, and onion. What a powerful Family! Aloe has been traditionally used to help treat burns and other wounds, and as a purgative (constipation aid). Yet, over the years, more and more uses for aloe have been discovered. With more active research taking place, the list of incredible healing powers of this herb is sure to lengthen.

Aloe vera contains 75 potentially active constituents who all work synergistically. These include anthraquinones, saccharides, vitamins, non-essential amino acids, essential amino acids, inorganic compounds, and enzymes. It is this powerful combination of molecules that allows the plant to repair itself if the skin becomes damaged. This is visible when you break off a piece of the leaf to use, the next day there is a seal and the plant is protected again.

The anthraquinones are part of the aloe latex, the bundle of sheath cells from its skin. These cells stimulate the walls of the digestive system to contract, essentially aiding in the relief of constipation. This practice should be guided by a health practitioner as it may cause severe cramping. Other plants (cascara and senna) from the same family as aloe are considered to be gentler laxatives. Some of the enzymes found in Aloe vera include carboxypeptidase and bradykininase. These enzymes, along with the amino acids tryptophane and phenylalanine, are involved in relief of pain and reduction of inflammation and swelling. The mineral zinc in the aloe gel also aids in the anti-inflammatory properties of this plant. The polysaccharides, especially glucomannan, in the gel are thought to greatly increase the health of the skin.

Aloe vera has been proclaimed as a strong preventative agent for ulcers and other digestive problems. A research article on the International Aloe Science Council’s website noted an interesting study whereby an individual was given aloe gel before an ulcer-inducing stressor. This group resulted in a 80% reduction in the number of ulcers compared to a control group that was given saline. If the aloe was given after the ulcer had formed, the participant healed three times faster than the control group.

The health benefits of Aloe extend to heart related diseases as well. A study on Albino rats that were fed a high cholesterol diet along with aloe polysaccharides had decreased total cholesterol levels, decreased phospholipids levels, and increased HDL (the “good”cholesterol) compared to the control group. According to a Natural News article, aloe can reverse blood that is clumpy and sludge-like in appearance. This would allow the blood to carry greater amounts of oxygen, reducing the chances of a heart attack or stroke.

Cancer is a terrible disease that will affect 40% or more of us in our lifetime. There are many herbs and plants that contain anti-cancer compounds, including Aloe vera. Aloe’s effects are twofold; it builds up the immune system and destroys tumors. An experiment using mice with Sarcoma-180 tumors that were fed aloe exhibited reduced tumor growth. Another study using a molecule from aloe called Aloctin-A showed anti-tumor capabilities via increased immunity.

Burns, cuts, and wounds are commonly treated with aloe. Its antifungal and antibacterial capabilities make it Mother Nature’s band aid. The gel actually creates a physical barrier to prevent bacteria from entering the wound while simultaneously drawing blood to the needed area. This allows for faster healing.

These are just a few examples of the amazing capabilities of Aloe vera. New research is exploring aloe’s immune boosting abilities and how it can be used to treat HIV/AIDS, its anti-cancer molecules, and its ability to save soldiers who have lost extreme amounts of blood. I hope that you go pick up an aloe plant (or two) and start using it right away! Your body will thank you.

I add aloe to my smoothies, use it to keep my summer tan, and apply the gel directly to my face for firm, smooth skin. It really is an awesome herb to have available in your home. If you can't find a plant, then head to your local health food store as they have 100% aloe vera gel to purchase.


References

Foster, Steven & Johnson, Rebecca L .(2006). Desk Reference to Nature's Medicine. Washington,D.C. : The National Geographic Society.

Hutchens, Alma R.(1973). Indian Herbology of North America. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications , Inc.

Duke, James A, ph.D. (1997). The Green Pharmacy. Emmaus, PA:Rodale Press