Yes, it has been a while since I've posted regarding food. It just isn't occupying as much of my attention as it used to. There are a few more priorities in life I need to address before I can resort back to one of my luxurious hobbies of cooking/baking.

SAUTEED GREEN BEANS OVER A BED OF BASMATI RICE

Just like the title suggests -- simple and satisfying.

First sautee the onions until they are translucent. Then add sliced garlic, mini bell peppers, and mushroom. Finally, add the green beans and sautee for a couple minutes. You can serve it at this point if you like your veggies on the crisper side. However, if you like them " well done" allocate 1 part white wine to 2 parts broth.  ( ie: 1/8 cup white wine and a 1/4 cup broth). Add the wine and let it sizzle and dance for a moment, then add the broth and cover the pan. Allow it to simmer for another 10 minutes on low heat.

Serve over a bed of white rice. I think it would work great on top of a baked potato as well!

How do you like your greens?

Do you indulge in your favorite foods then compensate by taking a 2 oz shot of pure kale juice like this??

or do you prefer to cook your veggies and eat them as a meal??

Recently, I went to a japanese BBQ restaurant. What did I order? An order of spinach and the mushroom medley?

How do you "BBQ" these veggies you may ask? In foil, just as shown below ...

Using foil, create a pocket. Make sure to secure all ends by folded multiple times. Next, stuff the foil pocket with as much spinach as possible

Now add salt, pepper, 2 cloves of freshly sliced garlic and a pat of butter

Seal well

Now you can either place the above packet on a BBQ and grill on both sides for about 5 minutes each (Depending on the heat of your BBQ) or you can do as I did and set your toaster oven to 450F for 10 minutes.

The result? Fresh fragrant juicy spinach will all the vitamins and liquids retained. Sadly my copious spinach turned into barely a 1/4 cup of cooked spinach.  Next time = larger pocket, bigger oven, more spinach :)

Served along side : fries made of russet, and purple sweet potato; scrambled eggs with swiss and gruyere ( I ended up giving away all my fries to my youngest sister-- I enjoyed the eggs and spinach too much as is)

Tonight I'm spending the rest of the evening googling past Foodbuzz Festival blog posts by fellow bloggers because that's where I will be this weekend!

Pizza Please

Homemade pizza is a staple home made go to meal when you are in a rush but you still want to control what is going into your food, am I right?

I chose to make a 1/2 vegan, 1/2 vegetarian pizza.

I used Trader Joe's Pizza sauce but added fresh garlic and fresh basil maybe a little too much....; Trader Joe's whole wheat dough; mozzarella; red onion; mushrooms

Make sure you let the dough sit out for at least 1 hour to reach room temperature, if the dough is too cold it will be too elastic and wont spread out into the shape you want.

 This time around I put the basil inside the sauce instead of on top because it tends to dry up and lose flavor when it's just sitting on the cheese. But, the basil was too pungent this time around. Solution?? Leave the basil under the cheese, but sparingly used and placed on top of the sauce instead of spread all throughout it.

Preheat the oven to 450F and bake for about 15 minutes

Food Journaling 101

Bear with me the next few weeks or so as I use my blog to journal my daily food intake. Accountability always helps one grow and this is how I choose to be accountable.

The morning started off with a quick trip to Costco. We had to be there as the doors opened -- but of course. So, a quick simple banana was enough of a breakfast for me.

Later in the day I chose this pinto bean salad for lunch and added half an avocado

Dinner came around early today, 3:30 pm to be exact. But some days I just get hungry and might as well eat then: a whole what pasta with a very light tomato sauce and sauteed veggies  -- topped with a sprinkle of mozzarella. 

While I know dinner was a healthy choice, I left the table unsatisfied. The concept of intuitive eating not only advocates eating  when you're hungry, but eating what your body is craving. Case in point: I did not feel like pasta at all today, so though I should have been full after the meal, I was dissatisfied.

This led to poor choices later in the day. Ie: I may have had a few salt and black pepper chips when my sister and father began indulging in said snack and I had a sliver of a Costco pumpkin muffin with my Armenian Coffee. Yes, they were poor choices but I am here admitting them and realizing that perhaps tomorrow I  can evade such choices if I practice intuitive eating. 

Tomazella Salad

Juicy succulent home grown tomatoes layered in between layers of sliced creamy fresh mozzarella and I call it Tomazella. That's right, I've named it!

This past weekend we were attending the "last pre-labor day" BBQ at a friends house. Their garden is blessed with an abundance of fresh tomatoes throughout the summer and we had to make it a part of the dinner course ( though it made an appearance as an appetizer and at breakfast too....)  Luckily, our hostess K happened to have fresh mozzarella in the fridge. Eagerly I asked for basil, hoping it was a member of their herb garden. But alas, the Caprese Salad was not meant to be.

But, when one door closes a window opens, right??

Determined to be resourceful, I found same incredibly fresh green onion and garlic at my disposal and the Tomazella salad was born.

Dressing


2 cloves of garlic, diced
1 stalk of green onion, diced
4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
Fresh sea salt
Fresh cracked pepper

Wild Mushroom Bulgur

This may sound odd, but the fact that I'm finally using wild mushrooms in a recipe is a great sign that life is slowly settling into place.

Typically, when faced with life's obstacles and curve balls I run to the kitchen and begin frantically baking and cooking to calm my nerves -- using ingredients as a creative outlet.

At some point last year, even the kitchen failed to provide a safe haven for me. That is when I knew something was seriously wrong.  At around this time, Justin from Marx Foods generously sent me a sample of his dried wild mushrooms. Though a part of me was extremely excited about participating in this mushroom challenge, everything else was holding me back.

Well Justin, I am finally posting a recipe using your delicious mushrooms. Thank you for being so patient.

Ingredients:


A few pieces each of the following mushrooms: Lobster, Porcini, Black Trumpet, and Chanterelle
1 cup organic bulgur
1 cup chicken  or vegetable stock
1 cup water
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
3/4 tsp turmeric 
1 medium onion
3 cloves of garlic
salt
pepper
3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil


Directions:

The night before, place the dried mushroom in a cup of water, and let it sit overnight in the fridge.

Preparation:  Dice the onion and garlic, set aside; Pick out the mushrooms from the water and dice them to your desired size, save the "water" which has now become a broth ( hereafter "mushroom broth")

The day of: Dice the onion and garlic and sauté it in the olive oil until they become translucent. Next, add salt and pepper to taste along with the turmeric and smoked paprika. Sauté for another minute. Now add the bulgur, diced mushrooms, and butter. Sauté for about 5 minutes, stirring often. Finally add the mushroom broth and chicken/vegetable broth ( totaling two cups of liquid). Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes or until the liquid has been absorbed.

Serve:  Either fluff with a fork and serve in a bowl topped with vegetables or along side some chicken or do as I did and pack the bulgur into a mold, according to your desired serving size.

This is how we do it

I LOVE, absolutely Love having friends over for to eat at the same table with me. I have a slight obsession with filling peoples bellies with simple delights.

So, when Superbowl weekend came around I took the opportunity to invite people over. I'm not particularly a fan of football, but I was eager for an excuse to gather people around. This time, most of the inspiration was from my youth. Typical Persian/Armenian appetizers covered the dining table and side console....

The above consisted of four distinct items:

1.  Armenian String Cheese. I used the "Karoun" brand, found at my local Costco of all places!  If you havnt tried this before, you MUST try it soon. It has much more flavor than  you typical school lunch brand. As an extra bonus, its actually stringy.
2. Valbreso French Feta cheese - A very light, simple sheeps milk Feta. 
3. Bulgarian Feta Cheese - Lower in fat, and a slightly more "organic" or "gamey" flavor.
4. Soujuk - You can call it "Armenian Salami" if you'd like. That's how I grew up thinking about it. Flavored with Paprkia,  Cumin and lots and lots of Sodium. 

This particular display pleased a few people at least... those of us who grow up on it call it comfort food. 

Yes, its simply a big tray of herbs. Basil, Cilantro and Parsley in particular . Oh, and radishes, don't forget the radishes. They are a must before the dinner entree, a perfect apertif. You fill a pita with the herbs, some raw onion and some butter of Feta and you are set. 

 

Of course to balance out the Kettle Potato Chips and the platter of cheese, I needed to offer some vegetables. Other than the basic tray of crudites I tossed together a simple salad of english cucumber (though I would have preferred persian), Cherry tomatoes, olive oil, fresh lemon juice, chopped green onion and a pinch of diced cilantro and parsley.

Can you guess what the above consisted of?  Hummus I think is the most obvious. I chose to buy it from Trader Joes and everyone loved it. I topped it off with some smoked paprika. Then the duplicates, diagonally from eachother is something similar to Raita, but the Persian version. It consists of yogurt, cumbers, a pinch of dried mint and dried basil ( more mint than basil), fresh chopped green onions, cilantro and dill. Its the perfect dip for chips, or just to eat alone -- i promise. Lastly, closest to you is a simple dip made from a yogurt product called Lebne, if you can't find it at a local store you can make it by placing whole milk plain yogurt in a cheese cloth and hanging it from something like the faucet over the sink, allowing the liquids to drip out. What you are left with is a thick yogurt product. Once you have this Lebne, simply add a bit of sea salt and freshly chopped shallots. Let it marinade over night. Think of it like onion dip, but better :)

Simple potato salad, the recipe can be found here.

Speaks for itself.....

Something has gotta give

I've been away for much to long. Havn't I?  But I need to improve a bit on the blog. I don't think I will necessarily be able to have daily posts, but regular posts will return.

Yes, time is most definitely short these days, but cooking and baking are clearly big passions of mine. I think if you ask my co-workers they will agree!

Even though I've been sporadic in my blogging lately, I've been taking pictures, experimenting, and taking time for myself.

See... I went to visit Hoorig at Stanford and we took a day trip to San Francisco. I'm ready to go back again! I believe that is Alcatraz in the background.

There were some particularly bright breakfasts along the way. I have to admit I do admit the strawberries. Oatmeal isn't as appetizing as it used to be. Actually, its more likely that nothing is appetizing when I wake up at 5:30. How early do you eat breakfast?

Green vegetables.... actually as I put this post together I'm realizing I need to go back here. Fruits and vegetables disappeared over the holidays -- not completely, but enough. With a wedding coming up I can't keep making excuses. Speaking of the wedding -- we are going to our menu tasting this weekend. Hopefully they will let me make a blog post about it :)

                              

Hoorig's mom's "Sawrma" -- also known as vegetarian stuffed grape leaves. They are simply amazing, melt in your mouth, you've never had anything like this before delicious.

I'm off to sleep. Wills and Trust tomorrow morning -- besides being completely practical, its actually interesting. ( A good motivator for waking up early, eh?)

Settling in

Change takes time. Change takes focus. Patient + Focus = Rewards

I am happily settled into a workout routine, in fact I look for opportunities now to get an extra activity in our extended my planned workout for the day because it just feels that good to sweat and move your body. I toyed around with veganism for the last week, and though I dont mind it personally, it presents a challenge when I add in the rest of my world to the equation ( friends, family etc). I think , for the moment I will be "mostly vegan" but a tad of Parmesan here, or a couple organic eggs there will be ok.

I'm proud to say that in the last 5 weeks or so, I have lost a total of 10 lbs. While that isnt as much as I was hoping for, it certainly isnt anything to complain about either.

I've begun exploring alternative " minimally processed" snacks like the larabar. So far, I have only tried a couple of flavors including cashew cookie and gingerbread I think it was? It was alright -- its basically a combination of nuts, dates and spices. But when it comes down to it I think I prefer the original product. Good old medjool dates and walnuts soaked in water for about a day. Doesn't it just look beautiful ??

Simple seems to be the way to go lately.  Nevertheless, I think the Larabar is perfect for a school day when you want a snack on hand for emergencies. I may experiment in making my own in the near future. Stay tuned for that...

Other eats have been full of fruits, veggies and legumes. Tofu is an ingredient I have yet to master and if I make it into the second round of the Food Blog Project Challenge where we have to tackle and conquer a new ingredient/classic dish, I just may pick Tofu.

The green monster has become a staple in my diet . Thank you Costco for your deals on spinach: 1 lb of organic spinach for $3 -- its a steal, no?

Dishes like homemade guacamole and pico de gallo are stored away in the convenient Tupperware for the "go-to-snack"

I made a traditional persian stew with yellow split beans that I have blogged about in the past, but vegetarian style of course :)

It includes yellow split peas, tomato sauce, saffron, dried persian lemons ( those brown round things at the front of the picture) Cinnamon and turmeric. I think I ate the leftovers everyday for lunch and never tired. It is definitely a comfort food for me.

Served in a bowl on a cold winters night.... yummmmm ( yes, I know winter is not here yet, but those random freezing nights in the middle of August/September could have you second guessing mother nature)

( Picture of the stew below....)


There was also an attempt at making a vegan apple custard pie. There is a reason no pictures will be posted, even if it looked pretty as I was assembling it... the result tasted good, but looked very very unappealing. If I were to make it again, there would mostly definitely be changes in technique and even ingredients.

"Healthy" and "dessert" don't seem to marry well together, unless its a fruit salad and i'm not sure that counts.

Yoga, you suprised me

Wow, Lea was right.  I went to the 1 hr yoga class and I was " sweating buckets" just as she predicted. It was so bizarre, you are moving in a space no bigger than 8-10 sq ft per person, your heart may or may not be racing, but you are sweating like crazy -- i might have well been in a spinning class I was sweating so much.  Admittedly, there were a few flops, falling out of poses, inability to hold certain positions as long as others -- but considering it was my first class ever, it was great.

On the way home, I stopped by at the grocery store. I was craving a hummus cucumber sandwich. But, alas, while I found bread I was happy with I did not find cucumbers or hummus at a reasonable price. Sabra was $6  -- really???  Made me miss Trader Joes....

So, my next thought was to make a traditional cold cut sandwich, substituting cheese/mayo with avocado. So, I headed over to the deli section, and sampled at least three or four cold cuts, putting each aside after only one bite. A while ago, I cut out cold cuts from my diet, and now it seems I wont be able to include them ever again... taste buds rejected them.

I knew I wanted some sort of protein in the sandwich, but veggie patties were on the expensive side this week  ( I try to only buy items on sale -- the economy ya know). Finally, it struck me, egg sandhich :)

Simple, affordable and packed with protein. I picked up some red leaf lettuce and tomatoes and went home to construct the meal. Speaking of meal... the lady at the deli counter said she never eats sandwiches or anything cold because she prefers " real meals that must be hot".  Ok I guess? But its over 100 degrees out  -- no thank you.

Once home, I began assembling the " non meal" sandwich. Two pieces of fiber bread put me at 40% on my daily fiber requirements, a fresh tomato off the vine, two organic cage free eggs, and light string cheese from trader joes.
Once piece of bread was topped with ketchup. the other with horseradish mustard.


Some sliced tomatoes and "stringed cheese " made the next layer of the sandwich.

Two fried eggs came next, topped with red leaf lettuce...

Et, voila!

I think Daisy would like this one, vegetarian friendly and colorful.

Served with some baked Ruffles Chips and Trader Joes Fat Free European Organic Yogurt  = perfectly satisfying lunch.

I ate half the sandwich and felt full beyond capacity... the other half is sitting in the fridge in saran wrap. Hopefully, it will last till tomorrow??   I think next time I will just make the half sandwich to start with :)

Yoga was great, I'm not craving much for dinner, maybe just fruit. Its either the heat, or yoga.  Dunno which.
Contemplating another workout tonight... Is 1 hour of yoga enough of a workout for someone trying to lose weight?

No pain, no gain?

As I mentioned in earlier posts, I've finally adopted the habit of nearly daily workouts.  Its great, I love the feeling of sweating like crazy ( does that sound weird?)

Well, yesterday I decided to mix it up a little bit. I started off with 15 min on the elliptical machine to warm up then took a class at 24-fitness called  "24Cycle Shift n' Lift ". Basically its 30 minutes of intense spinning, followed by 30 minutes of guided weightlifting with barbells, and free weights. To top it off, she finished with a set of ab exercises and plank/pushups.  I then followed this with 30 more minutes on the elliptical. It felt great.


 Well, this morning .... actually at about 4 am this morning, the soreness set in  -- back, triceps, biceps, gluteus, quads... you get the picture.


  

I don't know whether to be happy or sad that there is soreness. Does it mean it was a really good workout? Do I tough it out and workout again through the pain? Does it mean (gasp) I'm getting old???

I had another one of these for breakfast this morning : Fat free milk, frozen bananas, flax seed, honey, vanilla, and a tiny piece of frozen mango.

I'm contemplating yoga today -- what is the payoff exactly though? I know it helps with flexibility and stress, but how does it fare when it comes to weight loss?

Right now I have the luxury of working out mid morning or mid afternoon, for one hour or three hours... but starting next week my third year of law school officially begins. Its a little hard to believe. What does this mean for my new workout regime? Its going to have to move to the morning... VERY EARLY in the morning. Fun times. It'll be ok as long as I dont fall asleep in class.


Dinner last night was on a whim. I picked up a few items from Whole Foods and combined them with other items I had in my pantry and came up with this group of ingredients:

Bella Terra Organic  8 whole grain pasta with milled flax seed, button mushrooms, fresh asparagus, sun dried tomatoes and basil pesto. I later chose to add the following ingredients: 1/2 cup of chicken broth, 3 cloves garlic,  1 tbsp butter, 2 tbsp grated Gruyere cheese.

While the fusili was boiling away in one pot, I sliced, the veggies and cooked them up in another, using the broth as a heating medium instead of oil. I added the pesto and Gruyere last. It tasted fine, though I would have loved to add fresh diced tomatoes and fresh Parmesan as well, but I was making due with what I had.

The picture is off, I know. I wasn't patient enough to wait for the pasta to cool down before taking a picture. So, the steam got in the way - I'm sorry.  I'm still adjusting to using my droid for pictures... at least until i find that darn camera cable.

.... to be continued.