fruits & veg soak

Lets be realistic here, as much as I would love to buy all our produce organic, it would cost a lot as we buy the following on a weekly basis just for juicing plus more for actual meals

5 pounds of carrots
1 or 2 bags of apples
Package of Asian pears
Bag of oranges
2 lbs strawberries

And that's just for breakfast, if we do lunch juices, we also get spinach, parsley, kale, cabbage, beets, etc

As you can imagine, it would be a whopping grocery bill at an organic store. Instead, we go to Costco, buy what they do have in organic and the rest, soak the heck out of them when we get home to hopefully get rid of whatever gunk is on them.

First start with a clean sink, plug it and turn on the cold water. The mixture is about ten parts water for one part vinegar. I don't bother measuring and just add what I estimate is on part of vinegar.

I soak all the fruits except oranges and bananas. And most veggies unless they are pre washed.

veggie burgers with salad

This is what we call a "we have veggies in the fridge we need to use up" kind of meal. Enough to make a salad - check. Nothing thawed - whoops. Veggie burgers are cooked frozen - check. Something to go with it, umm no bun; oh, mushrooms and spinach - check.

Assemble everything so the end result is:

Salad consisting of mixed greens, pecans, dried cherries, cherry tomatoes, bacon bits, Brie, left over maple dressing

Burger topped with brie and a medley of cooked spinach and mushrooms topped with sliced cherry tomatoes, pea shots and chopped pecans.

Surprisingly, it was quite delicious and we'll likely have it again, maybe mix things up and have the veggie burger with rice or couscous..

sweet & sour stir fry with tofu

I absolutely live properly fried tofu in a good stir fry. I still haven't gotten the process down path but am getting there as I experiment with different oils and tofu firmness. At suggestions would be greatly appreciated as would a decent sweet and sour sauce that is more Thai than the stuff from the bottle. As I keep trying and improving this, I'll keep updating this post.

fried Thai tofu

Organic tofu (I'm leaning more towards medium firm or softer)
7 tablespoons of sesame seeds
6 tablespoons of cornstarch
6 tablespoons of flour (or rice flour)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of sugar (optional, said to help eliminate bitterness)

Heat canola oil on medium heat in a frying pan or pot (i use a pot as it's a bit sturdier), you'll need about an inch deep of oil. Prepare a plate with paper towel and take out a slotted spoon. Press and drunk the tofu. Cut into cubes, slightly smaller than an inch. Mix the dry ingredients in a pie plate. Toss the tofu until well covered, I do this in small batches, about 1/8 to 1/4 of the tofu at a time. Test if oil is hot enough, using the slotted spoon, gently place a covered cube of tofu in the oil, if it sizzles and starts cooking, it's ready.

Turn the heat down slightly and slowly place some of the covered cubes in the oil. When they are light golden brown on all sides, remove from oil and place on the paper towel to drain and cool.

Repeat until all the tofu is cooked.

sweet & sour stir fry

This stir fry is super simple and you can put in whatever you like. Here's what I use:

1 onion
2 peppers (usually to different colours)
Mushrooms
Pineapple chunk (save the juice)

Occasionally, I also use
Zucchini
Tomatoes
Or whatever is in the fridge

(While doing this, start your rice, I personally like basmati or jasmine). Heat olive oil, chopped garlic and a bit of ginger in a wok. Add in onions, when translucent, add in mushrooms. After 2-3 minutes, add in remaining veggies other than the pineapple. Sautée for about 10-15 minutes. When almost done, add in the pineapple chunks along with 3-4 tablespoons of e pineapple juice. Add in your sauce (I use the bottle stuff usually but next time I will try one from scratch). Sautée for about five minutes. When done, gently incorporate the tofu and mix well.

wild mushroom risotto

We love this risotto! We have been making it since I received the Jamie Oliver Meals in Minutes cookbook for Christmas in 2011. I don't make it with the salad as suggested, I simply add two slices of prosciutto as garnish on top as it provides a nice salty contrast.

wild mushroom risotto

Olive oil
Salt & pepper
1 large white onion
2-3 celery stalks
1 cup dried porcini mushrooms (or wild mixture)
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
1/2 glass of white wine
1 organic vegetable or chicken bouillon cube
1.5 pounds mixed mushroom (I usually use bellas and white)
1 clove of garlic
Small bunch of thyme
Large pat of butter
2 oz chunk or Parmesan cheese
1/2 lemon

Fill and boil the kettle. Put the standard blade in the food processor, halve and peel e onion, then put into the food processor with the celery and dried mushrooms and pulse until finely chopped. Drizzle olive oil into the Dutch oven and scrape in the veggies, stirring regularly.

Pick and finely chop the rosemary leaves and add to the Dutch oven with the rice. Stir well for 1 minute, then pour in the white wine and crumble in the bouillon cube, stirring until the wine is absorbed. Season with salt and pepper then add a cup of boiling water and stir well.

Te trick now is to keep coming back to the risotto and adding good slugs of boiling water (or broth, I use water, about a quart is suggested but I use likely closer to 1.5 quarts), every mine or so of around 20 minutes. To make it oozy and lovely, you're going to message the starch out of the rice and stop it from sticking. If, for some reason, some did stick, pour a good slug of boiling water and gently unstick it.

While doing that, put a large oven proof frying pan on medium heat and turn the broiler on high. Tear half of the mushrooms into the risotto and half into the frying pan with a good lug of olive oil and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Add in a clove of chopped garlic. Pick the leaves from a few sprigs of thyme into the pan, stir them in, then take off the heat. Put the frying pan under the broiler on the top shelf to crisp up.

Keep stirring the risotto.

Check on the mushrooms and remove when crispy.

At is point, the risotto should be oatmeal like. Stir in the butter, finely grate most of the Parmesan cheese and add in a good squeeze of lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper and add a splash ore of water or broth if needed to make oozy and delicious.

Serve topped with the crispy mushrooms and a slice or two of prosciutto.

Hint - I like my risotto super ooey gooey and add in more water than suggested.

Delicious salad topped with mushroom pecan chicken and maple dressing

This is a phenomenal salad that both A and I love, I've also made it for other people who loved it as well. The combination of ingredient and the mushroom and pecan crusted chicken really get pulled together by the maple dressing. Though the dressing isn't exactly low cal, it is delicious and homemade which more than makes up for it.

salad

1 small boneless skinless chicken breast per plate
Dried wild mushroom (either use the dried porcini found in any supermarket or wild mushrooms from Costco)
Pecans
Salt & pepper
Basil
Lettuce (I used spring mix)
Dried cherries
Brie
Bacon bits (real stuff)
Apple
Olive oil

In the food processor (or chop by hand, it will take forever..), toss a handful of dried mushrooms and pecans, chop until into very small pieces. Cut a large piece of wax paper and put it on the counter. Spread out as much of the mushroom and pecan pieces as needed (hint - a handful of each covers about 4 to 5 chicken breast, if you only need half that, put the rest in the fridge prior to pouring it on the counter), sprinkle basil, salt and pepper. Cover the chicken breast well and put on one side of the wax paper, take the other side and fold it over the chicken. Take a rolling pin and slightly but firmly pound the chicken until its about half an inch thick. Unfold the wax paper and roll the chicken once again on the mixture. Put a large non stick pan on medium and add two tablespoons of olive oil and spread it around. Add the chicken breast (if they don't all fit, you'll need to cook them in batches or use two pans). Cook until dark brown on either side. When done, transfer to cutting board and slice.

Meanwhile, arrange the salad on the plate(s). I use the order (per person) - lettuce (loads the plate), dried cherries (two tablespoons), pecans (about 8, crumbled), bacon (heaping tablespoon), Brie (about an 1/8 of a wheel), apple (1/4, julienned).

When chicken is cooked and sliced, carefully transfer onto salad in one or two go to maintain the "shape".

Drizzle with maple dressing.















maple dressing
200 ml maple syrup
200 ml olive oil
100 ml white wine vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon salt

Add all ingredients into a tall measuring cup (I use the one that came with the hand blender), and mix well using a hand blender.

tray baked chicken with spinach and couscous

This is one of my favourite recipe from Jamie Oliver's "Meals in Minutes", it is super easy and super good. It's one of those stand by recipes that I keep in mind for whenever we want to have chicken but aren't sure what kind of chicken to have.

Tray baked chicken
Page 104

Dried oregano
Sweet paprika
Salt & pepper
Pat of butter
Olive oil
4 x 6 ounce skinless chicken breasts
1 lemon
2 ounces cherry tomatoes
4 slices smoked bacon
A couple of sprigs of fresh rosemary

Turn the broiler on high heat. Heat a bit of olive oil and butter in frying pan turned on medium-high heat. Get out a large sheet of parchment paper (I use wax paper). Sprinkle over a good pinch of oregano, paprika and salt and pepper, then drizzle over some olive oil. Lay the chicken breast on top of the parchment paper and roll them in the flavour. Add to the hot pan and fry for 4 to 5 minutes, or until golden on both sides. While this is happening clear away the parchment paper.

In a roasting pan, quarter the lemon and chuck in the pan along with the tomatoes. Tip the chicken breast and any juice from the pan. Use tongs to arrange everything nicely, then lay the bacon on top of the breast. Put the frying pan back on a medium heat, add the sprigs of fresh rosemary to the pan, and move them around so that they get coated in the juice. Pop them into the roasting pan, then put the pan under the broiler for at least 15-20 minutes.

Served with couscous and spinach.

Excuse the enormous amount of spinach, they were on the verge of going bad.

creamy mushroom & spinach pasta

Tonight's meal is based on "creamy spinach & mushroom pasta" recipe in "Vegetarian, 100 everyday recipes". A few tweaks later and:

creamy mushroom & spinach pasta

12 oz gluten free penne
2 tablespoons olive oil
500 g mushrooms, sliced
3-4 cloves of garlic (heaping teaspoon of already chopped stuff if you're lazy like me)
1 teaspoon ginger
White wine
12 oz vegetable stock
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tsp dried oregano
250 g light cream cheese
12 oz frozen spinach leaves
1/2 cup fresh Parmesan
Salt & pepper

Cook the pasta in a large pan of lightly salted boiling water (I boil the water in a kettle to save a bit of time). When al dente, reserve a cup of cooking liquid, drain the remainder.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add garlic, ginger and mushrooms, cook while stirring frequently for about 8 minutes. Add in two small slugs of wine. Cook and stir for about two minutes. Stir in oregano, stock, lemon juice and cook for 10-12 minutes or until sauce is reduced by half.

Stir in cream cheese and spinach and cook over medium-low heat for 5-10 minutes. Add cooked pasta, mix well. Add in reserved water a bit at a time, mixing well, only add as much as you need or want. Add in Parmesan and remove from heat.

Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with pea shots.

leek & potato soup with tofu

I love soup, always have.  If I'm feeling up to making soup, I'll typically make minestrone (confession: I've never made one from scratch, I always use the slow cooker started package), Italian wedding soup, chicken or tomato base beef and veggie soup.  When planning this weeks meal, I decided to try a different soup, one that's pureed.  Now A hates soup, he believes that you eat your food, not drink it, so getting him to agree to have soup one night is a feat.

I found a leek and potato soup in the Meatless Mondays cookbook and added a spin to it.

leek & potato soup with tofu

3 red potatoes (not peeled), diced into small cubes (less than 1 inch)
2 small sweet potatoes, diced into small cubes (less than 1 inch)
2 leeks,
1 large shallot
4 tablespoons olive oil
salt & pepper
5 cups of vegetable broth (organic and low/reduced sodium)
2/3 of a package of organic extra firm tofu
1 1/2 cup of milk

Diced in small cubes (less than 1 inch). Cut the root off the leeks,  sliced in half lengthwise, thoroughly wash each half by gently opening the leaves all the way, chop off and put aside the leafy dark green sections, thinly slice the white and light green section. Dice the shallot.  Add the potatoes, leeks and shallot to a Dutch oven with the olive oil, heat on medium for 2-3 minutes.  Add a bit of water in the bottom of the pan so that there is about 1 cm.  Season lightly with salt and pepper, add the large pieces of the leeks on top.  Simmer for another 5 minutes.  Add the vegetable broth and let it start simmering; let simmer for 20 minutes.

After the 20 minutes, remove the soup from the heat and carefully remove the large leek pieces.  With a small measuring cup or ladle  carefully transfer 2 cups of soup to the blender, add a few pieces of tofu and blend for 10-15 seconds.  Transfer blended soup into a large bowl.  Repeat this until all the soup was blended along with the tofu.  Transfer the soup back into the Dutch oven.  Add milk and lightly season with salt and pepper.  Gently reheat.

Serve with sour cream or greek yogurt and garnish with chives (I used parsley)



*I need to remember to take photos through the process, I made crunchy cauliflower macaroni and completely forgot.

soy ginger chicken and cauliflower fried "rice"

I planned on making a massive meal that would last me several days since A is gone for the week. I decided on cauliflower fried rice which is from Pinterest. It's fried rice made from shredded cauliflower rather than rice. Since it was close enough to Chinese Food for me, I decided to stick to the theme and found soy ginger chicken in one of my cookbooks.

I was pleasantly surprised that the fried "rice" actually tasted like fried rice. The chicken was very good as well and I'm glad that I went with boneless thighs rather than thighs and drumsticks.

Both recipes are keepers, they are relatively healthy and full of vegetables as well as being something both A and I would enjoy. I'll be making this again in the near future when A returns.

soy ginger chicken recipe
From Everyday Food Light, from the "kitchens of Martha Stewart Living", page 59.

1/3 cup soy sauce (reduced sodium)
2 tablespoons dark-brown sugar
5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2/3 cup fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped, plus whole leaves for garnish
1 piece fresh ginger ( about 2 inches), peeled and cut into thin strips
2-3 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced on the diagonal (1/2 cup packed)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
4 chicken drumsticks and 4 thighs (2 1/2 pounds total)' skin removed ( I used boneless thighs, no drumsticks)
2 medium carrots, thinly sliced crosswise
1 cup water

Thickening Sauce
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Preheat oven to 350*F. In a 5-quart Dutch oven or other heavy pot, stir together the soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, cilantro, ginger, scallions, vinegar, coriander and pepper. Add chicken and carrots, toss to coat, then stir in the cup of water. Cover pot and transfer to oven. Cook until chicken is tender, about 1 1/2 hour. Using a large spoon, skim off any fat from surface of cooking liquid.

In a 2-cup glass measuring cup or small bowl, whisk cornstarch with the tablespoon of water. Ladle 1 cup of cooking liquid into measuring cup; whisk to combine. Pour into a small saucepan and bring to a boil; cook until thickened, about 1 minute. Sir mixture into Dutch oven to combine.

Serve with rice (or "rice"), if desired, garnish with cilantro leaves.

cauliflower fried "rice" - original recipe found here

- 3 cups of grated raw cauliflower (about 3/4 of a head) 

- 1/2 cup frozen peas

- 1/2 cup carrots, thinly sliced 

- 4-6 sticks of celery

- 1 red pepper

- about 1/8 of a head of red cabbage

- 3-4 garlic cloves, minced

- 1/2 cup shallots, diced

- 1/2 tbsp olive oil

- 3 eggs scrambled (seperately)

- 6 tbsp soy sauce

In a large pan, saute garlic and shallots in olive oil on a medium/high heat (about 2-3 minutes). While doing this, toss the cauliflower thought the food processor on "shred". Empty the "rice" in a bowl.  Turn the blade around to "slice", slice the carrots, red pepper, celery and cabbage  (I prefer my red pepper chopped smaller so I chopped it after slicing it in the food processor.) Empty all three into another bowl.

Next add in peas, carrots, celery, red pepper, and cabbage and cook until veggies begin to soften and peas are heated through, about 4-5 minutes

Next stir in scrambled eggs , cauliflower and soy sauce. Cook stirring frequently for about 5-7 more minutes. 

This recipe is super versatile and you can toss in just about any veggies you have on hand, such as broccoli, water chestnuts, baby corn, green onions. You can also add proteins such as tofu, chicken, beef or seafood. 

our favourite breakfast juice

This is the juice we have every morning of the work week and sometimes on the weekend.

It's sweet and less veggie intense than other juices so it's a lot easier to drink.

2 apples
2 Asian pears
2 oranges
2 to 4 carrots
Ginger (optional)
Spirulina

We juice everything and mix in 2 teaspoons of spirulina with the help of a frother.

Makes two good servings.

naan pizza

One thing that I miss and have not had much of for about two years, is pizza, my all time favourite was the Canadian Classic from Xtreme pizza in Halifax. The crust was was brushed with garlic butter, there was bacon, sausages, onions and mushrooms - my favourites! The pizza choices in south east Calgary are slim and we haven't found anything just right - from my picky-ness over the cheese (it can't have too much) and my partner's sensitivity to greasy food (lack of gall-bladder) - we have started just making our own.

We call it naan pizza, for obvious reasons. It's ridiculously easy when you don't bother making your own dough, and with full time jobs, we don't have time to bother nor do we want to.

Topping selections are much healthier than those chosen when in university:
Ham (I ask the deli counter to cut it about half a centimetre thick)
Shallot
Spinach
Cherry tomatoes
Artichokes
Bacon (for reminiscing)
Nice mozzarella

Others toppings that we use but didn't have on hand
Avocado
Mushrooms
Peppers
Etc, the sky is the limit

It always turns out really nice and only needs maybe five to ten minutes in the oven to melt the cheese and warm everything up.

a pick me up

After yesterday, which included junk food and I cannot confirm or deny whether I also had burger, onion rings and a diet coke, my stomach is thinking "what are you doing to me?"  Sluggish, tired and blah, I woke up and decided to start the day with an energizing juice.

4 Oranges

2 Apples

4 Carrots

1 small Beet (I used half of the one below)

2 small handfulls of Parsley

Juice everything - add in two teaspoons of Spirulina powder with the help of the frother.

This made two servings such as the one below.

Caprese eggs bennie

It's Saturday morning and I actually have time to make breakfast. I've been meaning to try this Caprese eggs benedict recipe that I saw on Pinterest for weeks.

Mind you this recipe isn't as low cal as I'd like but I simply love eggs Bennie. I only did 2/3 of the hollondaise sauce, 1/3 would have done for two eggs.

Turned out quite nice

prequel

Here is how this all started.

Rewind a few months into fall 2012, in Canada, specifically in Alberta, there was an enormous beef recall, said to be the most expensive recall in Canadian history, over the course of several months, at least 16 were confirmed to have been ill with E. coli 0157:H7. Over the course of these few months, more and more was made public as to how meat is processed and how it gets from the field to our plates essentially.  Most if not all of this information was already publicly available information however, seeing as I like meat and really enjoy a good medium rare steak, I never had any interest in seek this information out and learning more about it.  By about November, I had learnt enough through only reading headlines that I was interested in reducing the amount of meat that I consume.  I had and still have no interest in becoming vegetarian or vegan but made the conscious decision to try to decrease our meat consumption about 50%. 

After the holidays, - because who wants to make major changes in their diet prior to a holiday that revolves so intensely around food, or is that just my family? - we started incorporating more vegetarian meals into our weekly menus, from veggie chilli to sweet and sour tofu stir fry, we made the switch.  Surprisingly, it was quite effortless, non meat meals tend to take less time to prepare and are cheaper - win win.  We bought the Meatless Mondays cookbook and started adding a bit more diversity.  Over the course of a few months, we've tried some good recipes (Spinach Tart from Meatless Mondays is a favourite of my partner - who was a strict meat and veg English lad) and some bad ones  (Happy Cow Burgers from Jamie Oliver's 15 Minute Cookbook, edible but the consistency was just off), but most importantly, we've learnt that we don't miss have meat at every supper.  

At the end of February, after wondering what to watch on Netflix for over ten minutes we stumbled on a food documentary, Hungry for Change and decided what the heck. I won't go in into details regarding the movie however it is quite eye opening, not in the sense that the information is new and mind boggling but in the sense that although the information was already out there, they wrapped it up into one nice package that was quite well explained though sometimes too simply explain.  Most individuals on the film had quite compelling stories, one individual stood out the most, Joe Cross.  He was actually the subject of another documentary, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead that we watched right after Hungry for Change. Joe Cross' story is not unlike many stories out there, like the title suggests, he was fat, sick and nearly dead.  Joe Cross decided to do a medical juice fast for 60 days and as you do, make a documentary out of it. 

The next day, we decided that juicing one or two meals per day would likely benefit it us greatly so we picked up a new fancy juicer and bought about $80 worth of fruits and veggies.

The point of the blog is essentially to chronicle the trials and tribulations that are occurring on our quest to gain health and lose weight by living fresh, healthy and active lives.