ringing in the new year with chickpeas and dark leafy greens

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If you guys are anything at all like me, you probably tend to start out the new year with all sorts of healthy eating resolutions. For me, it's not even really about the idea that it's a "NEW YEAR" and thus I must resolve to renew myself and become somehow better. Mostly, it's that I've just come through an orgy of unhealthy (yet oh so delicious) food and celebration and that I think it's time for a little more restraint.

Also, it doesn't hurt that I'm six months pregnant and would prefer not to gain 10 zillion pounds. Not that I did that last time or anything *cough.*

Veggies are good for me.

Hubs is less than thrilled. In fact, he pronounced that tonight's creation tasted like "New Year's resolution food." Not sure that's the most ringing endorsement. At any rate, I thought it was tasty, and if you crave something a little more indulgent, these wraps are easily doctored to include such toppings as cheese, salsa, sour cream, etc. Really, they can be as indulgent as you want them to be. For all I know or care, you could douse them in gobs of butter and a few slabs of bacon.

But you won't do that, right?

Because it's ALL about the healthy...2012 means more swiss chard and kale.....

I doctored this recipe pretty substantially in terms of flavourings. I could tell from reading the original in the Jan/Feb issue of Clean Eating that some flavour was going to be needed.

I started with these guys and went from there (hence adding curry powder, etc.).

I'm all for eating healthy, but food still needs to have a certain amount of flavour and taste to be yummy. I simplified the instructions as well, because I'm all about keeping things as easy as possible. :)

Chickpea-swiss chard veggie wraps

(adapted from Jan/Feb 2012 issue of Clean Eating)

1 t olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (or 1.5 cups cooked chickpeas)

1 zucchini, chopped

2 c frozen corn

1 bell pepper, chopped (red or green.....your choice)

1 large carrot, peeled and chopped (use 2 if they are small)

1 bunch swiss chard, chopped (smaller bunch is probably best)

***Note - spice measurements are approximate. Taste and adjust as necessary.

1 t turmeric

1 t garlic powder (or use fresh if you are feeling less lazy)

1 t cumin

1/4 t cinnamon

2 t curry powder

1/2 t salt

pepper to taste

1 T vinegar

tortillas

cilantro, chopped

tomatoes, chopped

sri racha hot sauce, because it is awesome.

1. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, pepper, zucchini and carrot.

Once they have sautéed for a couple of minutes, add in the corn. It's okay if it's still frozen (you can see Lil Z likes to steal it while it's still frozen....)

Cook until veggies are softened, about 5 minutes.

2. Add in dry spices (turmeric, garlic powder, cinnamon, cumin, curry powder). Combine well. Throw swiss chard over top.

Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5-7 minutes, until the greens have wilted down. Add salt and pepper and vinegar. Taste - adjust as needed.

I found this mix could take a lot of spice and I may have even used more than I call for above. Since this forms the bulk of your filling, you will want this to be pretty flavourful.

3. While chard is cooking, chop your tomatoes and cilantro. Combine if you want. I think fresh lettuce (or something else with crunch) would be a great addition to this.

4. Top each tortilla with about 1/2 cup of filling (I had huge tortillas, so I used about 3/4 c) and a good sprinkling of tomato/cilantro. Top with a nice amount of sri racha....as much as you can handle. :)

I think it's a great way to start off the year. The spice of the sri racha really gives the bite that this dish needs. I think the filling would also be a great side dish with fish or chicken. Hubs is really not as thrilled about it, but has promised me that he will in fact eat his leftovers tomorrow for lunch...

Perfect to start the new year with a meatless Monday.

pork and muffins. not at the same time.

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In terms of food budgeting, today was medium.

It was GOOD because I brought and English muffin and toasted it at work (and topped with some peanut butter, which I keep in a jar at my desk. And which I do not ever eat with a spoon.)

Okay, that last sentence was a lie. :p I don't do it often though. And I don't double dip.

It was also good, because I brought my lunch and ate all of it. But then I was staaaaaarving partway through the afternoon. And when I reached into my lunch bag to grab the apple I totally thought I had brought....I came up empty-handed.

So of course I ended up at the caf and bought a boiled egg (0.55), a piece of cheese (1.00) and a medium coffee (1.50). Meh. It wasn't the craziest of snacks, but when I think that I can buy a DOZEN eggs for $3 (and water is almost free), I feel like a bit of a heel.

To be fair though, there was a strong possibility of going out for lunch, and I didn't go for it.

But Hubs is rubbing in the fact that not only did he not spend any extra $$ on food today, but he didn't really do so last week either. Meh. :p

In terms of cooking, the planned meal for tonight was pulled pork on multi-grain toast with provolone, accompanied with a quick coleslaw. I really did a lot of mods to the pulled-pork recipe, so I can't fairly evaluate the Clean Eating version. But my version was good. And super easy.

Slow-cooker pulled pork with toast and coleslaw

***NEW - PRINTABLE RECIPE HERE: https://sites.google.com/site/definitelynotmartha/home/pulled-pork-sandwiches-with-coleslaw

1.5 pounds pork (I used a centre-cut roast - you could use tenderloin, chops, or a more traditional cut like shoulder or butt)

1 cup broth

sea salt, black pepper and thyme

1. In the morning, put the pork in the slow cooker on low. Put it fat side up, to keep it moist. The fat will render slightly during cooking and keep the pork from drying out. Pour broth around the pork, and sprinkle with salt, black pepper and a good bit of thyme.

(sorry, no pics...was too crazy with Monday morning madness to take photos)

2. When you get home, take the pork out of the slow cooker (I used a 2.5 qt cooker. This recipe is best suited to a small slow cooker. If you don't have a slow cooker, you could braise the meat in the oven - at about 275F - for 4ish hours). Don't try to quick cook your pork, or it won't shred.

My pork cooked from 8 am to 6 pm. This worked for me. The fat had rendered a little bit, but when I took the pork out, I was actually able to scrape most of the fat off. It's win-win, because, as mentioned, the fat keeps the meat moist, but then you can scrape it off, so you aren't stuck eating it.

3. Shred the pork with two forks. If it doesn't shred, you've probably either a) cooked it not long enough, or b) cooked it at too high a temperature. DO NOT COOK ON HIGH.

4. Strain the juices from the slow cooker. If there is fat, skim it off the top. You can see here that there was very little fat in mine. ***I'm assuming that if you read my blog, you're probably trying to eat healthy. If I am mistaken, leave the fat in. It will only make things better. ;)

5. Pour the juices in a pan, and boil to reduce by half. I added about 3 T cider vinegar, 1/4 c of sherry (it was hanging out in the cupboard...nobody here drinks that crap). I also added about 1/2 t chipotle powder, to add spice and smoke.

6. Mix the juices with the shredded pork. Taste. This is a pretty 'clean' version --> in order to be to your taste, you may need to add some sweetness (ketchup, bbq sauce, honey), some acidity (vinegar), some salt (worcestershire sauce, salt), or some heat (sri racha, cayenne). I added a little bbq sauce, and then drizzled some over top of our sammies.

Coleslaw

1/4 head of cabbage, chopped

1 large carrot, grated

1 tiny onion, chopped

1/2 t mustard seeds

1/2 t celery seeds

2 T cider vinegar

1 T dijon mustard

1 T olive oil

1. Mix cabbage, carrot and onion.

2. Make dressing from mustard seeds, celery seeds (you can omit these if you don't have 'em), cider vinegar, dijon mustard and olive oil.

3. Toss dressing with veggies. Taste and adjust accordingly (again, this is a clean recipe; you may be used to something sweeter and/or saltier).

Sammiches

multi-grain bread

reduced-fat provolone cheese slices

pulled pork

coleslaw

1. Toast bread. Top with cheese slice while still hot. Top with approximately 3 oz of pulled pork. Serve with coleslaw. I drizzled mine with bbq sauce.

Voila. This was awesome. Hubs devoured his (and then ate a plate of just pork, mixed with bbq sauce and sri racha). Lil Z thought it rocked and pounded it back.

After dinner, I cleaned up (unplanned visitors coming tomorrow) and then had to re-jig the week's menu. We're going to have company tomorrow, so rather than serve the ginger chicken soup (which only serves four and would be tight, leaving us with no lunches for Wednesday), I'm going to make a shrimp pasta carbonara dish. I have loads of frozen shrimp, a pound of bacon and some pasta. I think I"ll do a creamy sauce using shallots, garlic, evaporated skim milk and fresh-grated parmesan. It may end up short on veggies, but I think it will be good. And it will keep me on budget. :)

Last, I mixed up a batch of muffins. YES, in case you were wondering I did spend my entire evening physically in the kitchen tonight. I don't mind....it's one of my favourite places. Plus, hubs is monopolizing the TV (playoff hockey, *sigh*) so it's not like I have anything better to do anyway. :p

These muffins are from the April/May 2011 issue of Clean Eating. Pretty straightforward to make. I made a couple of modifications (shown in brackets).

Mango Spice Muffins

***NEW - printable recipe available here: https://sites.google.com/site/definitelynotmartha/mango-spice-muffins

from April/May 2011 issue of Clean Eating

2 c whole wheat flour

1/2 c evaporated cane juice (or sugar...they are essentially the same)

2 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

1 t ground ginger

1/4 t ground cloves

1/2 t sea salt

(2 T ground chia seeds (optional - they have fibre and omega 3s. I decided to add some))

(2 T ground flax seeds)

1 egg

1/4 c oil (I used canola, CE recommends safflower)

1 c nonfat greek yogourt (I used non-fat regular yogourt that was 1 week past its due date. It smelled fine...)

1/3 c milk (1/2 c milk if using the flax and/or chia as they soak up liquid)

1 t vanilla

1 large mango, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch dice. Mine actually made about 1 1/4 c, just like the recipe said it would. (For anyone who does not know how to wrangle a mango, I've posted a how-to for you)

1/4 c raisins (I used walnuts instead. Lil Z gobbled all of my raisins)

2 T unsweetened flaked/shredded coconut

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Line a muffin tin with papers (or spray if you are a masochist, and enjoy scouring muffin tins). In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cane juice, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, cloves and salt (and chia/flax). In a separate large bowl, beat egg. Add oil, yogourt, milk and vanilla. Whisk to combine.

Dry ingredients:

2. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir gently until flour is moist.

Fold in mango and raisins walnuts.

Spoon batter evenly into prepared muffin cups and sprinkle each muffin with 1/2 t coconut.

3. Bake until edges are light golden brown and a tester comes out clean when inserted into the centre of a muffin...about 16-18 minutes. Let cool in pan for five minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.

Voila! Brekkie for the next couple of days. The rubber duckies are a bonus. ;)

Last, I wanted to leave you with a cheap night-time snack idea. Hubs is pretty much the king of night-time snacking...and going out to pick up a $3 bag of chips at the local convenience store/pharmacy can really add up. One thing that we've found awesome for those late night cravings (besides willpower....) is popcorn. Not the scary orange microwaved sludge, but simple air-popped popcorn with a bit of butter and salt. I have also been known to mist my popcorn with a bit of canola in a pinch. This is super tasty because it's all natural (no weird chemicals) and you can control how much salt and butter you end up putting on your popcorn. Popped corn is also a good source of fibre, and you can get kernels for dirt-cheap at bulk stores. Here is hubs in action.....

So that's my day. And now it's really late, so I'm out. Thanks for reading!

okay, so blogging seems to be a bit of a struggle...

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...but I'm still cooking and have tons of yummy things.

If you can deal with a little less commentary (and come to think of it, I'm probably the only person who reads it anyway), then I can provide more culinary amusement for you.

Meal planning last time was a complete and utter bust - I don't know what I was thinking, trying to do a meal planning post the week before thanksgiving. Holidays screw everything up - simply because there ends up being so much to do around the holiday that regular dinner plans go out the window!

Even better, I had an amazing dinner party menu all ready to do (and the food half made) when I came down with a rotten cold and had to cancel.

Oh well, at least hubs and I enjoyed the two pounds of parsnip fries and three dozen stuffed mushrooms I'd already prepared for the occasion, hehe.

I hosted a lovely group of ladies and babes last week for tea and sandwiches. There was also cake, but I'll tell you more about the cake later. I had a couple of requests for my tuna salad recipe, so here goes:



3 cans tuna (I use flaked light tuna as I am cheap and don't like mercury)
1/3 c. olive oil
1 T balsamic vinegar
2 T red wine vinegar
pinch fleur de sel
fresh black pepper
3 T dijon mustard
1/4 c. each of finely chopped: celery, roasted red pepper, sundried tomato
2 T finely chopped capers
1 finely chopped shallot

Mix it all together, and you have awesome tuna salad. I served on fresh homemade whole wheat baguette with cheese and tomato. The other sandwich I made was even simpler - bottom of the baguette spread with (purchased) hummus. Top of the baguette spread with (purchased tzatziki). Then chopped red pepper, green pepper, tomato and cucumber.

The other trick is to hollow out the baguettes a bit so the sandwiches stay together nicely. I made up four baguettes worth (24 sandwiches). The ladies didn't eat too too many, but hubs and I did a pretty good number on 'em.

I have two more quick little recipes coming tonight...stay tuned...

cast iron is the way to go

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Despite owning several teflon pans, I will freely admit that this material kinda scares me. It flakes off after a short-ish amount of time and I can't imagine that ingesting those little bits is in any way, shape or form, good for me.

I finally bought myself a cast iron pan a couple of months ago (broke it in on my tarte tatin!) and it seemed the logical choice to bring on our camping expedition.

Not having had our fill of red meat the night before, we opted for a second steak meal - not filet mignon this time though.....just a sirloin medallion, which hubs grilled.

I used the handy cast iron pan to grill peppers, onion and garlic to add to provolone and make a sort of cheese steak sandwich, which we feasted on out in the snow.

There isn't really much of a recipe for this - it's just as a simple as peppers, butter, onion, garlic and pepper, and steak seasoning for the steak. Yummy!



Yum. Clearly, we don't like out steak to be well done.

Breakfast was equally yummy.........back bacon (or Canadian bacon, as it's known in the states), free range eggs, leftover potatoes as hashbrowns, fresh melon and blackberries, orange juice and yummy, yummy coffee. Making coffee while camping can be a little bit of a challenge for those of us accustomed to an electric coffee maker.....I used to depend on a melitta drip filter for camp coffee......but a couple of unfortunate clumsy incidents led me to believe that really wasn't the best idea....so now I've brought my melitta to work (because that's clearly a better idea...hahahaha). Anyway, for Christmas, we got a bodum-esque coffee maker and it's great for camping. Love it.



The morning light did very strange things to the steam coming off the coffee.....you could actually see all the little particles. I was transfixed, so hubs started snapping away.....



Coffee is very important for camping.

scovillian sacrilege

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So I ate something so hot last night I almost couldn't breathe. I've never had anything burn quite like that before....

I'm actually quite peeved, because the cause of my pain, misery and wretched burning was not actually even a hot pepper, as far as peppers go.

It wasn't the mighty habanero that seared my entire mouth and esophagus, but the lowly jalapeno. The heat of a chili pepper is measured in the amount of capsaicin it has (in parts per million), in Scoville units. I like a nice pepper, and often fill curries with Serrano peppers (technically, like 5 times hotter than jalapenos). I have no problems with amounts of Serrano peppers in my food.

But the blasted jalapeno is the most inconsistent beast. It drives me NUTS. Sometimes I buy a jalapeno and it's so mild, it's more like a bell pepper than anything else. No spice whatsoever. And other times, it's SO spicy it actually makes the food have an almost 'chemical' taste to it. It's not a tasty pepper. (Case in point: last night).

So......as a sauce to go on my wraps (which were awesome, eventually), I thought it would be tasty to mix together fat-free plain yogourt and minced jalapeno pepper, thinking that the yogourt would cut a lot of the heat. Maybe it does, but not enough.

I actually even attempted to bbq - the shrimp for our wraps was marinated in a yummy yogourt chipotle marinade, and then skewered and grilled. Hubs wasn't really up to grilling outside, so I decided to give it a whirl. I don't seem to have great luck when it comes to outdoor grilling (usually end up charring something beyond all recognition because I forget to go check it), and this incident did nothing to improve my track record.

After what seemed like an eternity out in the arctic blast, I thought the shrimp were done (though it was FREEZING and snowing, so it was hard to see, so I brought them back inside. I made a very pretty looking wrap with them, but when I cut it, I could see that the little guys were not cooked enough....decided lack of opacity the whole way through. So I took the remaining shrimp and shuttled them back out onto the grill.

But I didn't want to waste my yummy wrap that I'd already put together, so I decided to eat a bit of it (undercooked shrimp and all). The first bite was wonderful - tangy shrimp, sweet mango, the distinctive taste of coriander, and a pleasant, creamy bit of heat from the jalapeno yogourt. Delightful. Eagerly, I scarfed down the rest of that half of the sandwich.

And that's when things started to go wrong. What started as a pleasant level of heat just escalated and escalated until I actually had trouble breathing. My whole throat felt like it was swelling shut, my eyes were streaming and on top of this, the stupid shrimp were still out on the bbq. So I'm wildly grabbing the first creamy thing I see in the fridge (a large tub of vanilla yogourt) and forcing it down my throat, while grunting and gesturing to hubs to go save the rest of the shrimp.

It took two pounds of yogourt and nearly 30 minutes for me to be able to talk again. All from a STUPID jalapeno. Hubs was laughing at me, and I couldn't even yell at him, because even a five second break from yogourt scarfing caused my throat and mouth to absolutely burn. It was the worst thing ever.

Needless to say, my second wrap had NO jalapeno.....just plain yogourt. Hubs didn't have a single problem with scarfing down the hot peppers.....I'm not really sure why I did, as normally, I quite enjoy reasonable amounts of heat in my food.....this just wasn't pleasant though. I don't mind a burn where I sweat a little, but the whole "I think my throat is closing" feeling just sucked the big one.

But the wraps are AWESOME. This really is a yummy combination. And winter bbq'ing is always such a lovely treat. I LOVE the taste of grilled food, so this wrap was almost like a little touch of summer to liven up the cold. If you don't eat shrimp, you could easily use chicken, or even marinated roasted veggies for this. Highly recommended. Just maybe not the evil jalapeno......

Tandoori Shrimp Wraps with Chipotle and Mango!

1 pound shelled shrimp
1 cup plain yogourt
2 T fresh garlic, minced
2 T ginger, minced
3 chipotle peppers, minced
2 t adobo sauce (from chipotles)
2 T fresh lemon juice
1 T fresh lime juice
1/2 t cumin
1 t curry powder
1/2 t salt

1. Combine yogourt, garlic, ginger, chipotles, adobo sauce, lemon and lime juices, cumin, curry powder and salt. Let marinate for 1 hour (prepare your toppings in the meantime).



2. To cook, skewer the shrimp (unless you find it fun to have them all slip through the grill and burn!) and cook for 3-4 minutes per side, until shrimp are done.

Here are my mostly-cooked shrimp....not quite cooked....back on the grill they went!


Toppings:
1 cup diced mango
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/3 cup chopped coriander
1/2 cup yogourt (mixed with 1/2 jalapeno, at your discretion)
1 cup baby greens
8 flatbreads

In this picture, if you look carefully, you can see the little green pieces of jalapeno that led to my demise....my throat itches just thinking about it...gah.


To make tasty sandwiches......
1. Warm up your flatbread. Top with baby greens.
2. Add one skewer of shrimp (about 6-7), some mango, red onion, coriander and a bit of yogourt sauce. Again, hot peppers at your own risk.
3. Wrap up and enjoy!



Loved this. Will make again, but sans jalapenos.....burn, baby burn.........

Vegan Week 1, Me 0

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Welcome to Vegan Week! In the interest of adopting a more healthy lifestyle, hubs and I (okay, mostly just me) are kickstarting the new year (ummm....wait.....we had to hold off until all our company left...) with a one-week attempt at eating healthy vegan food only. I've also signed myself up for the Veggie Challenge for this week. This is done through the Toronto Vegetarian Association (www.veg.ca) and is something that anyone can sign up for (you guys should try it out! just one week - see how you do. :) You don't have to go vegan either - you can just try to avoid meat for a week. :)

Today is day one, and I'm happy to report that neither of us seems the worse for wear. Despite assurances from family that we would most definitely starve....we're not starving (in fact, hubs discovered that corn chips, bean dip and salsa are all vegan, so he barely had room for dinner).

I started off the day with whole wheat toast, peanut butter and vegetable cocktail. Hubs had eggs (yeah, I know, NOT vegan).

At lunchtime, I whipped up some very yummy bean wraps. We hadn't yet had time to grocery shop, so I was restricted to what I could find around my house...I came up with the following recipe for bean sandwich/wrap filling:

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 small onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T balsamic vinegar
2 T evoo
juice of 1/4 lime
1 t chili powder
1/2 t cumin

I mashed all of this up together, and then put it in a wrap with lettuce, tomato, peppers and salsa....whilst looking longingly at the sour cream and cheddar sitting in my fridge (sadly, dairy is absolutely NOT vegan). These sandwiches were very yummy and I would recommend them to pretty much anyone.

I only wish I could say the same about dinner....I had a great day shopping today - we visited Rainbow Foods for all kinds of veggie delights, and topped our visit off with a trip to the fresh fruit company. I wanted to make sure that our menu for the week would be both varied and interesting, incorporating lots of veggies and protein sources.

One yummy protein source I picked up (and snacked on) today was Yves Cajun Chicken Deli Slices - these are actually great, and stuffed in a sandwich would likely be even better. Two thumbs up from this omnivore.

But yes....back to dinner.....

One of my favourite blogs to peruse is the Fatfree Vegan Kitchen blogs - amazing pictures and super yummy looking recipes. I thought I would kick off my vegan week with the recipe of the week, Shitake, Sweet Potato and Zucchini Foo Yung.

I made a couple of very minor alterations to the recipe, the first being dried porcini mushrooms for the shitake (couldn't get any) and the second being the addition of a bit of maple syrup to the sauce.

The recipe was a teeny bit complicated, but nothing crazy....so I cooked up the sweet potato, and attempted to mash the tofu. Not sure whether I messed up or not, but my extra firm tofu would NOT mash. It staunchly resisted my most valiant attempts with the potato masher, not even showing a little dent. Yes, ladies and gents....I had my ass kicked by extra-firm tofu. All the more motivation for my weightlifting video tonight...

I gave up and used my food processor to attempt to mash the stubborn tofu. It still ended up with a more cous-cous like texture than I would have imagined.....wondering if maybe firm tofu (or even medium) would end up more mashed and creamy. Anyway, it's what I had so I went with it.

So here's my "batter":


The other aspect of the recipe that I found a little odd was the addition of cornstarch to the tofu/sweet potato cakes themselves......it doesn't end up cooked, so you have that lovely gritty crap-i-undercooked-the-sauce texture that really just didn't do it for me.

I will admit that it looked pretty, and the sauce was very enjoyable.....and I gobbled up the spinach/sauce combination.



Though I admire the crafty use of zucchini (it was pretty much undetectable), I'm not sure if we'll be making this dish again. The texture and flavour just did not appeal to me....I'm not sure if I thought it would be crispy on the outside or what (perhaps using oil to fry instead of cooking spray would alleviate this?), but it just wasn't my cup of tea.

To his credit, hubs actually liked this quite a bit more than I did...and insists that I include here that *he* managed to eat it without saying "I don't know if I can choke the rest of this down." Of course, the man also eats sardines straight out of the can, so keep that in mind when you listen to him.

Ummmmm.....but it looks like I"ll be eating it for a while....

Here are the leftovers:


So hubs and I now have that to contend with....I kinda wish I'd saved my sweet potato and made our fave sweet potato and kidney bean burritos....

Anyway, I'm looking forward to tomorrow's dinner - red lentil dal, as well as brekkie (almost-vegan cheese (ah yes, the importance of label reading!!!!!!!), vegan 'sausage' patty on a whole wheat english muffin).

The more I read about animal products in food, the more I'm surprised at the seemingly innocuous items that really aren't so innocent (sugar, wine, beer, etc.). Veganism is a lot of work - so much so that only about 5% of all vegetarians consider themselves to be vegans (and even then, there are different levels of veganism). Crazy. I'll be trying a couple more recipes from the Fatfree Vegan blog later this week (both in the crockpot) and I"m sure they will be awesome.

Thank you for reading the first installment of Vegan Week! :) Please feel free to share any tips, encouragement, or general feedback you'd like to offer.....I'm all ears!

Now....off to get buff.....

Healthy cuisine: the dark, fibrous side....

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You know how they say that every cloud has a silver lining? Methinks the reverse might also be true...inside every bright and shiny penny, there lies a dark core that no one ever talks about.

I wish I could say that four days of healthy eating has done wonders for my energy levels, physique and overall feelings of health. I wish I could say that all of my newfound energy led me to briskly skip my way around the house, cleaning as I go.

But it would be an utter lie.

Imagine you take a body that has subsisted entirely on refined carbs, sugar, fat and alcohol. Imagine that you take all this of this indulgent goodness away, only to replace it with fibre, veggies, water and tea.

Guess what happens to this poor beleaguered body....you guessed it....

And if you didn't, just google "effects of eating beans" and you'll have a pretty good idea.

That said, I'm still on track, still sitting next to bags of smarties and hershey kisses that I have yet to touch. Tonight's dinner was so healthy, nutritious and actually yummy that the suffering might just be worth it.

I didn't actually have a plan in mind when I set out to make dinner tonight, but I did have a fridge full of random food....so this is what ensued.

One of my favourite healthy comfort foods is homemade blended soup. It's SUPER easy to make - you just chop up an onion, and saute in a pan in olive oil. Then you add whatever veggies you have on hand, brown for a little while and add stock to cover. Simmer away, then blend with an immersion blender. You can add fresh herbs or dried herbs (add the dry ones at the same time at the stock) and add water if you want a thinner soup. To dress it up, you can squiggle some low fat sour cream (or fat free sour cream) over top and grind some pepper too.

Here's my version in progress (I used onion, 5 carrots, 2 small potatoes and about 1.5 cups of mushrooms, along with some fresh ginger and coriander)



Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.......veggies......the longer you saute them, the richer the flavour - sometimes the veggies will caramelize a bit on the bottom to deepen the flavour (if you have more time and are less lazy than I am, roast your veggies in the oven first - it will be even better). Parsnips are especially good. :)

As I mentioned above, I drizzled fat-free sour cream over top to make it look pretty, and just added a sprig of coriander. Carrots are also awesome with orange juice or even a dash of pomegranate with saffron and cinnamon to make a more exotic soup. Yummy.



Veggie soup is so forgiving - you really can't make a bad one. It's something everyone should master and feel comfortable to play with...remember, recipes are only guidelines and while baking might be a science, cooking certainly isn't (thank goodness.....can't say that science was every my strong suit in school).

After all the adventures in soup-itude, I didn't really feel like making the salad I had initially planned on (also, I used up all my veggies in the soup....oops!).

I had high-fibre pitas in my cupboard (mmmmmmm.....6 grams of fibre apiece, more gastrointestinal joy), as well as tuna and chickpeas. So I started out with this rather unlikely combination, and this is what I ended up with. It was a little odd, but tasty, slightly exotic and very filling....

Tuna Chickpea Curry Pitas
1 can tuna
3/4 can of chickpeas
1/3 c fat free sour cream
1/2 t curry powder
1/2 c cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 t cumin
dash cardamom
1 T red wine vinegar
2 T chopped fresh coriander
lettuce
grated cheddar

1. Combine tuna, chickpeas, sour cream, curry powder, cherry tomatoes, garlic, cumin, cardamom, red wine vinegarn and coriander (salt and pepper to taste).
2. Stuff pita and top with lettuce and grated cheddar. :) Hubs loved it, I enjoyed it, and I'm already looking forward to polishing off the leftover in my lunch tomorrow. :)



I love it when my food is colourful. Anyway, here's to hoping my tummy troubles ease off, and that I make the three foot trek from the couch (where I am right now) to the elliptical trainer (that I'm looking at). I'm sure I'm not the only one who's trying to shape up the wobbly bits (of which there are far too many)...how's everyone else doing? Eating amazing healthy food? Off the wagon? Inquiring minds (okay, just my mind) want to know....

Thanks for reading!