Salt & Humor

During my cleanse I am realizing some things that I will be changing.  While I can’t see myself completely giving up coffee, sugar and bread (gluten).  I will most certainly be reducing my intake of these food.  While I am giving it my best effort to stick to these dietary exclusions during my cleanse I realize just how darn hard that is.  I made veggie sushi one night and only afterwards did I think to check some labels! Wheat in the soy sauce and sugar in the Sriratcha!!

SERIOUSLY!

Some meals I think I pulled off pretty good.  I wasn’t too into taking photos because salads get a little boring after a while.  I made lentil, bean and sunflower sprouts.  They were great in salads and wraps. 

Salad with avocado, lentil sprouts and tahini dressing with

brown rice wrap of hummus, sweet potato and marinated tempeh

Each day I had 1-2 servings of green juice. Mine usually consisted of cucumber, celery, romaine, kale/collards or dandelion greens, green apple and ginger.

Also, daily exercise, about 8 hours of sleep, meditating, dry brushing and journaling have been daily tasks.  While this has been what I have been up to, I realized how little time left I have had to read, draw, paint, sew, talk on the phone, clean, play or BLOG.  I have been getting up at 5:30 to have ensure enough time to meditate, dry brush, make lunch and juice before work.  It has been quite the project and adventure.  I realized that it isn’t all that bad to get up at that time and if I can make it a habbit I want to start exercising at that time rather than after work.  The chances of getting it done after work are about 50/50.  This is a stretch but I would LOVE if I would make it happen.  So this is my goal.  I also realized that my heart just isn’t into blogging like it used to be.  I have so many other things that I need to be focussing on right now.  So as I am not sure what this might mean for Salt & Humor, I do think it is time for a BREAK.

I wanted to leave you with a happy accident recipe for a salad I made last night and the recommendation of Kris Carr’s book; Crazy Sexy Diet. I am really glad that I came upon this book.

WILD SALAD

sliced red cabbage

sliced fennel bulb

chopped celery

chopped green onion

very lightly steamed broccoli, chopped

sliced almonds

raisins

chopped cilantro

toasted sesame seeds

poppy seeds

Dressing: tahini, apple cider vinegar, salt, garlic, and stevia

As you know, when it comes to providing recipes I am a bit vague.  Those are the ingredients I used, as for the measurements, uh, I just go with it.  I can say this though, please try this salad! It was fabulous!!

XOXO

I have too much to blog about and I think I have officially fallen behind.  I randomly took some fun photos over the last three weeks but certainly never got around to blogging about it.  I have no idea where time goes.  No, honestly, I really don’t.  It seemed I was anxious for the Holidays and family to visit and now as I type this, it has come and gone. Gal! I will try to get some of these photos organized and get to posting.  For now I just want to share a bit.  Have a lot to get done tonight, so I’m making it quick.

It is safe to say that my dinner tonight was EPIC! I love the way something simple can end up being amazing!

My favorite masaged kale salad with avocado and tahini, steamed tempeh with dijon mustard sauce and chayote squash. Why on earth have I never tried chayote squash before!?! I prepared it with this recipe and am hooked!!

I had a great Christmas with my brother and his fiance. <3 I miss them already!!

A while ago I cooked a buttercup squash and discovered that two out of the three kitties liked it.  I wasn’t actually planning to give them some because if you know one thing about cats, it is that they are finicky eaters.  Well, when I took it out of the oven and was scraping away thee skin, Yoshi and Choopey were at my feet just staring up at me, begging.  So, I put some in their dishes and was amazed at what I saw…

Little Yoch actually had seconds!

I know I have talked about how much I like massaged kale but I must tell you at least one more time.  I made this one with avocado, lemon and salt.  I promise you, it is fabulous

The combination of this dinner is one I might just have to duplicate the exact same way.  Yup, it was that good.  Avocado-massaged kale salad+ buttercup squash with tahini+ tempeh= perfect.

You know how I talked about kitties always wanting to get in the photos, well it didn’t fail this morning.

I almost forgot to mention the tasty zucchini muffins I made from ED&BV.  This morning I toasted them under the broiler in the oven. Let me just tell you about a really rad memories real quick.  My mom used to make the most fabulous sourdough biscuits (one of the best foods I have had in my whole life) and we would toast them in the oven this way.  Told you it would be real quick.  Have a great night

I planted arugula, kale and lettuce for our Fall garden last month.  It seems that the arugula is ready and I feel like I have almost been forgetting to get out there and well, EAT from our own garden.

Lacinato Kale

Roquette Arugula

Flashy Troutback Lettuce

I have honestly never heard of such a fancy named lettuce.  That is the surprise of growing it yourself I guess.  I also didn’t even realize that I would be able to plant and grow these this late in the season here in the North West.  I’m still learning, that’s for sure. I am very excited about the fancy Mr. Flashy Troutback though. (just seems like a guy’s name, right)

I think the lettuce and kale have a few more days to go so I picked the arugula for a salad this afternoon.

I had a simple salad with leftover beans and rice.  I am finding that I really like nutritional yeast.  I tried it last summer and wasn’t so sure.  I have been using it in sauces and dressings.  The other night I stirred about 1/3 cup in with brown rice, kidney beans and salsa. Let me just say, I was not expecting it to be as tasty as it was!

I must say, warm toppings for salads are my FAVORITE!

(topped with hemp seeds)

So, roquette arugula is very SPICY! I was definitely not expecting that.  Let’s just say I will be mixing it in with other greens from now on.

I almost couldn’t grab my camera fast enough to catch this little bit of amazement…

Nature is simply amazing! That’s all I have to say.

Well, two wonderful food discoveries for me over the last year would be tempeh and massaged kale.  Yes, I have heard of kale but it’s not like I was really eating it.  When I did, I think I only put it into smoothies.  Well, one day I discovered massaged kale.  Crazy right?

Massaged Kale

I start with a bowl of rinsed kale pieces

Next, add salt. (hopefully sea salt)

Then add lemon or lime juice. (I used 1/2 of a lime.)

Lastly, massage the kale.  I mean use your hands and mix and squeeze. If you let it sit for a few minutes it breaks down even more.

Then add your topping and dressing.  I recommend using less dressing than usual because of the tangy juice.

This salad was topped with tempeh, marinated in dijon mustard, olive oil and basalmic vinegar, purple bell peppers and tomatoes.  Which brings me to my next favorite discovery, TEMPEH!  If you have followed this crazy blog for a while, you may have noticed it pop up from time to time.  I LOVE the stuff.

I added some tahini sauce for my dressing.  I was at Trader Joe’s the other day looking for tahini, which I discovered they DO NOT have.  Will have to make a seperate trip, gal! However, they do have tahini sauce.

Well, this stuff is WONDERFUL! The ingredients are tahini, lemon and garlic.  It is like whipped tahini goodness!  Is it too late to mention that another favorite food would be tahini.?  Anyways, do get to your nearest Trader Joes and get some of this stuff.  I could practically eat it by the spoonful.

How about you, any new foods lately?  What is a favorite food discovery you have had?

Wow! I must say, I really love salsa!  Lucky for me, Jason enjoys making it.  Lately, he has been using red onion, which just so happened one night when that was all we had.  Now, I think I might like it better with red onion.

Yesterday, the weather was very mild.  I went for a bike ride earlier in the day and I don’t even think it got up to 70.  
I packed my bike to the Spring Water Corridor trail.  The weather was really nice for the ride.  I am very lucky to live near such a nice bike path.

These wild sweet peas are one of my favorites.  They really get your attention.

Leave it to me to spy a sweet kitty off in the grass.  I stopped to take a closer look and it immediately came to say hi.  It was a very friendly kitty.  Silly thing tried to follow after me when I started to pedal away.

Of course I was crazy hungry for lunch when I got home.  I quickly made some miso and lime tempeh and topped it over a salad with quinoa.  For a salad dressing, I used Jason’s salsa.

Our garden this year seems to be a little behind as far as the “season” might go.  We had a very cool and wet Spring here.  The tomatoes and peppers are looking pretty sad.  So, imagine my excitement when I saw this yesterday!

Yahoo!

We were going to make fish tacos for dinner last night and so I made a black bean and couscous salad to go with it.  Jason worked later than I realized so we will make the tacos tonight.  So, I had some of the salad with corn tortillas for dinner. The salad was: Israeli couscous, black beans, raw corn, green bell pepper, green onion, tomato, cilantro, jalapeno and avocado.  The dressing was lime juice, avocado oil and honey.

kjjjjjjjjjjjj ( kitty on keyboard) “GALL!!”

Have a great Sunday night.  I shall be back with fish taco details and a guest post from Jason about rhubarb soon.

I love making mix and match salad creations. Earlier this week, I made one that is a keeper.

I cut up whatever sounded good at the time: sweet-mini peppers, pickle, green onion, cheese, tomato and a few green olives.

Cooked some adzuki beans and Israeli couscous.

Mix all together with mayo, mustard and salt/pepper. Just a little side note; I used real mayonnaise.  Oh yes, I did.  Here is the thing, when it really comes down to it, there is no comparison.  I have tried many, many light, vegan, olive oil and natural kinds out there.  Results were always a waste of my money.  So, I say, enjoy the real stuff.  Just use it in moderation.

The salad has lasted for several meals since I made it.  I have been mixing it on top of lettuce and rolling in wraps.  Uh, mixing and rolling… whatever, it sure tasted good.

The weather has really warmed up here in Portland.  It has been wonderful.  Even though, the heat is a little tough to bear at times with no air conditioning it still is such a wonderful time of year

The kitties are even fans of the warm weather.  They love to lay around outside and soak up the sun.  You would think kitties were solar powered, well, either that or sleep powered.  In our back yard, we have left a patch of lawn to grow without getting mowed.  We call it the “grazing area.”  The reason for such madness, is that the cats LOVE it!! So when I show you the photos of Choopey posing during is modeling shoot this morning, just know that he was in the grazing area.  Really, we do mow the rest of our lawn, I swear.

Enjoy the summer!  I’m thinking a bbq tonight sounds good.

I haven’t met a hummus I didn’t love. Last weekend I made avocado-hummus.

Those were baby avocados that I got at the local produce store near my house.  They were 4/$1, how cute is that!

I let the hummus blend in the food processor for longer than usual.  It resulted in creamier hummus.  Or maybe that was due to the avocados. Either way, I recommend blending for about 3-5 minutes.

I am a huge fan of making random salads  with all different kinds of combinations and making enough to last a few meals.  I think I started this when I read Tosca Reno’s, Eat-Clean Diet Cook Book.  Which by the way, it is my favorite cook book!  I have picked up a lot of my ideas from this book.  I have made many of the recipes as they are written and changed them as well.  Mostly, I go by the guidelines but then use what I have at the time.  For example, I made her tofu salad Monday night.  Only it was completely different than the one shown.

This salad had brown rice, grilled tofu, kidney beans, corn, red onion, red bell pepper, and steamed brussel sprouts.  For the dressing, I mixed lime juice, dijon mustard, honey, olive oil and non-fat yogurt.  It was tasty! Plus it made enough for dinner and lunch twice.  The second day having it for lunch, I had it in a whole wheat tortilla with the last of the avocado hummus.  Left overs are wonderful, I tell you!

I have a confession to make.  I have been reading the Twilight series.  Normally, I would not be interested.  In fact, I have thought it all seemed silly and could not grasp why so many of you bloggers wouldn’t stop talking about it!  Well, my best friend told me I was crazy for not giving the books a try and that they were amazing stories.  So, I finally gave in.  I am half way through New Moon and ………………………….I LOVE IT!  I think I will sit out back and read for a bit. It is June and still rainy, cloudy and dark in Portland!! only up side to that, is it makes for the perfect surrounding to read the books, if ya know what I mean.

My new love for tempeh has got me wanting it weekly.  I made a favorite recipe and subbed the chicken for tempeh.  My husband is not yet on board with the tempeh though. I do ask him to at least try a tiny bite each time I fix it differently.  Is that wrong of me?  I guess I just want him to enjoy it as much as I do.  It’s the same thing with avocados.  How can one’s poor soul not appreciate the love that an avocado has to give?

Into the salad went:

Napa Cabbage

Peas

Water Chesnuts

Carrots

Dressing:

Yogurt

Juice of one lime

Grated ginger

Sriracha hot sauce

Stevia to taste

Tempeh: grilled and then coated with TJ’s teriyaki sauce