Quinoa Bean Salad

This is the quinoa bean salad.  Picture props go out to my wonderful and talented sister-in-law Esther Battisti.  She is participating on this journey with me and is a SUPER talented photographer.  She's an awesome mom as well to two beautiful daughters :) By the way,  I had a lot of fun making this. It was super yummy too!  It tastes almost like pasta salad.  Enjoy!

Quinoa Bean Salad Serves: 6  Preparation Time: 25 minutes Ingredients: 2 cups cooked quinoa 1 1/2 cups cooked white beans or 1 (15 ounce) can no salt added or low sodium white beans, drained 1 cup grated carrots 1 cup currants 1/2 cup raw walnuts, chopped 2 plum tomatoes, chopped 1 small red onion, thinly sliced 1/2 green bell pepper, chopped 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped 1/2 orange or yellow bell pepper, chopped 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 tablespoon chili powder 2 teaspoons Bragg Liquid Aminos or low sodium soy sauce

Instructions: Cook quinoa according to package directions. Place all other ingredients in a large bowl and mix. Add cooked quinoa and toss. This is even better when refrigerated overnight to blend flavors.

My FAVORITE vegan dinner!

 This is my favorite dinner!  Simplicity is where it is at!  We steam up various fresh vegetables (tonight it was broccoli and brusell sprouts).  Then we have 1/2 cup baked sweet potato, 1/2 cup brown rice, a cup of black beans, 1/4 avocado, some fresh fruit (tonight it was fresh peaches and cherries), and some garden tomatoes.  WOW!  PERFECT! Steve had the brilliant idea of spicing it up with chili powder, garlic powder and some garden salsa.  That is the picture that you see below.  Talk about AMAZING.  I could eat that again and again and again. 

Collard Greens with black-eyed peas

This was a dinner I made a few nights ago and it was quite delicious.  I had been waiting to make this dish because I couldn't find currants anywhere.  I even scoured our local health food store Basic Foods.  But, to no avail.  I finally bought some from www.nuts.com They were a little pricey, but this place knows what they are doing.  WONDERFUL service!  By the way, you can use raisins instead of currants, but I'm a real stickler for the proper ingredients.  My sister-in-law Esther made this with raisins and said it was great.  Here is the recipe: 

Collard Greens with Black-eyed Peas and Currants Serves: 6  Preparation Time: 30 minutes Ingredients: 1 large onion, sliced 1 cup low sodium or no-salt-added vegetable broth 1/2 pound chopped, washed collard greens 1/4 cup currants or raisins 1 1/2 cups cooked black eyed peas  1/8 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
Instructions: Heat 2-3 tablespoons of the vegetable broth in a large skillet, add onion slices and saute until tender. Add collards, remaining vegetable broth and currants, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and cook for 5 minutes or until collards are tender. Stir in black eyed peas and hot pepper flakes and heat through. Any white bean may be substituted for black eyed peas. YUM YUMMMMMM

Exercise......Here we GO!!

Well, I made the plunge.  16 days into the new lifestyle change, and I'm beginning my exercise regimen.  I have been dreading this part, although I don't know why.  I have always loved exercising.  I became a member of the Health and Wellness Center last July and began with water aerobics.  Oh, I LOVED that class.  It was just hard finding the right time to fit with the class.  So, I quit going after the new year came (2012).  I decided that I've been into this health kick long enough, that it HAD to include exercise.  Back in the day, I was a BIG time exerciser and did all sorts of exercising.  Slowly, as the weight packed on, it became harder and harder to do the things I used to do.  So, I quit.  I TOTALLY forgot the endorphin rush that comes with exercising.  All I remembered was the pain.  Plus, I'm a bit older now and the body just feels things a bit harder than it used to.  Amber has been begging me and begging me to get started... to do something...anything.  I would always find an excuse.  It's even hard for me to walk to my mailbox and back (granted... the mailbox is a good 1/10 of a mile out there... but still!).  So, today is the day.  I promised Amber, and myself, that I would somehow exercise.  I had to get Dallin to tutorials in Beaumont at 10:00 and the water aerobic class is over at 9:00 so that wouldn't work.  I decided that since I was in Beaumont already, I would work out on the elliptical machine at the Wellness Center.  Okay, I haven't done those is FOREVER.  Amber said.... 20 minutes or it doesn't count.  So I decided to give it a shot.  Oh my goodness, I thought I was going to die!  The first few minutes I kept thinking... maybe I will only go 5 minutes today. I  began breathing HARD and sweating.  But, I decided to keep on keepin on.  I actually MADE it the whole 20 minutes.  And you know what?  It felt absolutely marvelous.  Endorphin rush and all!  I think I can keep this up.  I am going to try and go on a walk with Steve tonight (if it ever stops raining!) and maybe this time we will walk all the way down WestLake and back.    Oh, and here is picture of my lunch.  I am REALLY enjoying all of the fresh fruits and vegetables!  WOW!! 

Salad Dressing

Today I'm going to talk about my salad dressing.  Every day for the past 15 days, I've been having a salad like this for lunch with a bowl of fruit.  The little bowl on the left contains my salad dressing.  Now on the Fuhrman plan, you can't have any oil, so it's kind of a trick to get your dressing to your liking.  This is what was on my salad dressing today and it was DELICIOUS!!

• salt (I'm trying to cut this out but for today, Steve had made this for me)
• fresh ground pepper
• garlic powder
• basil
• oregano
• thyme powder
• majoram
• crushed red pepper flakes
• white wine vinegar

It helps a lot that the the tomatoes and cucumbers are from my garden!  I also love to put some chopped up green onion on my salad.  The lettuce is the Spring Lettuce Mix from Sam's.  We go through about 2 of these huge cartons a week.  The fruit today was fresh cut pineapple (so cheap from Sam's) and fresh blueberries.  Isn't Summer time lovely??

Dr. Fuhrman's Famous Anti-Cancer Soup

This is what I've been working on ALL DAY LONG!  All of these things went into the soup that we are planning on eating tonight.  I pulled out my juicer that I bought some time ago, but never used.  I put it to good use today.  Here is the recipe:

• 1/2 cup dried split peas
• 1/2 cup dried beans (you can use any variety)
• 4 cups water
• 4 medium onions, chopped
• 6-8 medium zucchini, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 3 leek stalks, coarsely chopped
• 2 bunches kale, collard greens, or other greens, tough stems and center ribs removed and leaves chopped
• 5 pound carrots, juiced (5-6 cups)
• 2 bunches celery, juiced (2 cups)
• 2 Tablespoons Dr, Fuhrman's VegiZest of Mrs. Dash
• 1 cup raw cashews
• 8 ounces fresh mushrooms (shiitake, cremini, and /or oyster), chopped

     Place the split peas, beans, and water in a very large pot over low heat.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes.  Add the onions, zucchini, leeks, and kale to the pot.  Add the carrot juice, celery juice and VegiZest.  Simmer until the onions, zucchini, and leeks are soft (about 40 minutes).

     Remove 2 cups of the soup liquid, being careful to leave the beans and at least half of the kale, in the pot. Using a high-powered blender or food processor, blend the soup liquid with the cashews.  Return the creamy mixture to the pot.  Add the mushrooms and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the beans are soft.  

Note: Freshly juiced organic carrots and celery will maximize the flavor of this soup.  

So this is going to be ready shortly.  I will try to take pictures and post and let you know how it is!  Oh this serves 10 people!  

A HUGE salad!!

This is my typical lunch. I have been having this every day for lunch since July 1, 2012.  What makes it soooo wonderful, are the fresh-from-my-garden cucumbers and tomatoes.  I LOVE green onion slices on my salad as well.  I will sprinkle some Mrs. Dash (or Bragg, or other no-salt seasoning).  Then give it a generous spray down with Bragg liquid aminos.  SOOOOO YUMMY!!  My fruit salad consists of fresh pineapple, mango, kiwi, blueberries, cherries, and honeydew melons.  I've been pretty picky about my produce since starting this plan.  I buy huge quantities at Sam's Club and ohhh..... it's SOOOOOO GOOD!!!  Hopefully for tonight, we will have Dr. Fuhrman's famous anti-cancer soup.  I'm gearing up to make that right now.