Food(less) Journey

Why do I forget how much I love cooking and how much it relaxes me? One of the major stressors in many of our lives is that we don't have complete control over situations affecting us How can you cook away the pounds? Well, the act of chopping and cooking is a calorie burning activity. And if you are like me and store things in tha basement pantry you add stair climbing to the act of prepping and cooking a meal. And if you are cooking on the fly like I usually do you will have to climb the stairs multiple times to get more ingredients from said pantry. So, what did i make? I know you are simply dying to know... I made a stir fry of fresh napa cabbage, fresh mushrooms, quinoa, and frozen onions. The cabbage and mushrooms i purchased at Soergels....I a m officially in love with Napa cabbage! Its smell is a lot more subtle but the flavor just as delicious as regular cabage. Very delicious! Also, cannelini beans with sundried tomatoes, mushrooms and spinach..summery delicious with a co...

An important thing to keep in mind when you are trying to eat healthfully or lose weight is that stress plays a major role in how quickly you can acheive your goal. When under stress the body creates this gnarly substance called cortisol, which does all kinds of terrible things to your body like suppresing your immune system and trapping fat cells. (Ask Mr. Google if you dare!) To counteract the effects of Cortisol on your immune system you can adjust your diet to include antioxidant rich fruits and veggies (think brightly colored ones in the orange red and citrus families like oranges and pomegranates). Stress tends to make us want to rush through things, so slow down if you feel yourself rushing and take a few deep breaths. Especially when eating! Chew your food fully! Your stomach will thank you. Chewing your food until its mush aids in the digestive process. Do you ever feel excessively sluggish after eating? If you didnt fully chew your food your digestive system is stealing your ...

I've been wanting to try this for ages, but I was waiting for it to go on sale. Well, guess what! Currently on sale at Whole Foods. Woo hoo! After a long hard day in the office the day before yesterday (Wednesday) I decided to stop delaying a trip to get some groceries. Knowing I would have to wait a few minutes for the bus home (and already feeling hunger sneaking up on me) I decided to get a cool treat to temporarily satiate, cool me off and not ruin a day of healthful eating. For under a dollar, chock full of real ingredients, under 100 calories this tiny heavy weight really hit the spot. It comes with an adorable spoon hidden under the lid. It's small, which definitely helps with pacing yourself while eating thus preventing brain freeze and gluttonous scarfing. As with many sorbets it starts as a solid looking block of sorbet, but as it melts and you mix it with the spoon (or just scrape it) it gets wonderfully creamy. Thurs June 23 B:*Quinoa with agave and cinnamon *Champa...

Remember the other day when I said in my food journal that I had potato chips? I was at a graduation party when I had said potato chips. Also, I helped to set up for the party (it was for a close friends daughter). I thought of them as a small treat for all the hard work I was putting in. Bottom line: they made my stomach hurt. I have been off bad fats and junky junk food for a while now and my body is really rejecting them now. Yay! I consider this a real milestone. But I realized that you might not be to that point yet. And a case of "social junk eating" could really stumble you on your path to healthful eating or even worse cause a relapse into bad eating habits. So, here are a few tips for avoiding un-healthful foods at social gatherings: - Bring a dish that follows the hosts theme (the host will love you and you will have a great and healthful option) - Bring a healthful snack food (tortilla chips and salsa or guac instead of potato chips) - Bring a dessert that is devo...

Have you ever been obsesssed with a particular food? Remember the kale and golden beet salad I had yesterday? It was so delicious! It had a very light creaminess to it that came from the addition of TAHINI to the recipe. I started eating it and noticed the creaminess and half expected to find something gnarly (dairy and my stomach have been enemies ever since I stopped eating red meat) when i checked the ingredients, but lo and behold it was my old friend Tahini. I have always had an unnatural affection for sesame seeds. Like eating them out of the jar, asking people for a few off of their bagel, eating a sesame bagel almost every morning for a year, buying a jar of sesame oil and then hoarding it until it expired type of affection. And don't get me started on sesame bars, which are basically just honey, sesame seeds and corn syrup cooked down into a taffy of delicious tooth killing yumminess! Whew! I need a cold shower! Well, fast forward a little over a decade to when I was intro...

Friday June 17 repetitively B: Quinoa with 21 seasoning blend L: Quinoa, zucchini, tomato D: Lentils and zucchini, tofu with balsamic, marinated zucchini Saturday June 18 B: Quinoa, zucchini with olive oil and sea salt L: Tofu with marinated zucchini L2: Salad of lettuce tomato and red pepper, cauliflower and celery, side of potato chips (ick!I'm really over my potato chip obsession. Not eating them really takes away your enjoyment of them....and ...i think they gave me a tummy ache...) D Tofu with marinated zucchini, almonds with agave, cinnamon and sea salt unsweetened almond milk with cinnamon and agave Sunday June 19 B:Lentils and Asian vegetables Quinoa with unsweetened vanilla almond milk, cinnamon and agave L: Lentils D: (from Chili's) Lame house Salad and 2 bowls of chips and house salsa DD: Dark chocolate with cherry and almonds + Dark chocolate with coffee chunks Monday June 20 B:Quinoa unsweetened almond milk with Cinnamon and agave a peeled raw apple L: chickpeas wi...

Pretty much any photograph you take while you are in Hawaii ends up being a postcard. It's just that type of place. It was raining so the above pic is a little dark. And yes I could have lightened it, but isn't it beautiful as is? Three seconds after this pic it was sunny again, but I'll show you those pictures later. This is the Pipeline on the North Coast of Oahu. I was there in the winter so the waves were dangerously strong. Beautiful! We stopped at the Pipeline after we went to Matsumoto Shaved Ice and before we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center. Did I go swimming there? Well check this out: I really only need one warning. Whenever I think about Hawaii and what food I would use to represent my trip fresh fruit, especially pineapple, invariably comes to mind. If someone asked me to make them Hawaii to eat it would have to have fruit in it. With the heavy Asian influence to the Island (and the fact that I ate at PF Chang's almost 5 times while there) this "...

Monday, June 13 B: 3 raw Larabars (blueberry muffin, coconut cream pie and peanut butter cookie) L: tvp tuna salad, raw tomato sprinkled with herbs and sea salt D: tofu loaf (walnuts, tofu, secret seasonings) sauteed with spinach served in lettuce leafs, raw tomato with herbs and sea salt Tuesday, June 14 B: Tomato and lettuce, apricot date bar drizzled with agave (see pic at top) L: tomato and lettuce, dried apricots D: Spinach and salsa verde, tofu loaf, kalamata olives, apricot bar drizzled with agave (see pic above) Wednesday, June 15 B: Apricot bar L: beet salad(beet carrot onion) raw sumi salad (cabbage almonds honey sesame seeds) tofu salad (tof tomato garlic oo lemon juice basil) raw banana, coconut water with pulp S: Pumpkin seeds D: watermelon, cucumber cherry tomatoes mushrooms and hummus, pumkin seeds

What do you do to beat the heat? While some people have the privilege of turning on the air conditioning as the thermometer rises, I'm not one of those people. But I have my wits about me and love a challenge, so I just determine the best course of action for staying nourished and cool. Go hide at an air conditioned location that allows noshing. When it's so hot I can't concentrate or even fathom the idea of cooking I go hide at Whole Foods. The have a great selection of fresh and prepared foods as well as a hot bar and salad bar. Pictured above is a $1.50 cool down snack. Although Whole Foods is often blamed for emptying bank accounts, it is a great place for a bargain. You just have to look for it. My go to meals are quick stove-top meals. Below is pictured a delicious meal that incorporates canned, frozen and fresh whole foods, which makes this meal quick, filling and nourishing. It's a blend of sauteed fresh zucchini and baby Bella's with canned cannelloni bea...

That is probably the most common question I hear when people find out I don't eat meat. And Im pretty tired of hearing it since the most obvious answer is "food". But I don't blame those who ask. The American culture dictates that meat is the only source of protein and if you dont eat meat you will shrivel up and die. So Im going to start posting what I eat everyday. Even if I dont have a super awesome post and loads of pictures to go with it I will let you all know what Im noshing. When someone asks what I eat I can just hand them my business card with this url and tell them to check it out. And of course I don't want to be embaressed, so this also means I will have to eat regularly and everyday so that no one thinks Im slipping into an ED (does anyone else just not feel like eating sometimes?). Slight caveat: I may not post my journal everday. I might have to do a catch up day every once in a while (like today: see below) And most importantly: Food journaling is...

What is that? Some strangely patterned drips of water? Not quite.... That's what your footprint looks like when you have hole in both of your shoes and its pouring rain and you accidentally step in a puddle. See: Yeah I need some new shoes. Maybe next week.

Yes I realize I've been excessively M.I.A. but Ive been excessively swamped with surgeries and fatigue. But isn't the above picture worth the wait? It is one of the many beautiful views we were privy to on our trip to help the Saxton Congregation with their territory. We headed out at 6am so that we would arrive in time for their meeting for service at 9am. Before going to the meeting we stopped at McDonald's for breakfast. I brought a long a batch of strawberry muffins and a batch of blueberry muffins. That was my breakfast along with a free cup of coffee from Mr. McDonald's. At lunch time we stopped at a park near the (man-made) lake. I brought a big salad and had some trail mix and i ate another muffin (tsk tsk tsk). Below is a picture of the balancing rock. It was on of the features of our hike after our day of preaching. It was a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the wonders of Jehovah's creation and get some physical activity in.