My girl’s bday is tomorrow so I’ve been a mad baker woman because the best gifts are edible and come from the heart (and tummy!) I played around in the kitchen and whipped up several concoctions.
Chris’ favorite dessert: clafoutis anything. This one has blueberries. Lots of them.
Blueberry coconut muffins for the bday gal.
Peanut butter choco-chip cookies pre-bake.
Had to display them on the counter!
Chris and I ate light and healthy together to give our tummies a bit of a rest.
His and hers gazpacho, whipped to perfection in the K-Tec and topped with a chiffonade of cilantro.
Nori rolls made with chopped parsnip, sprouts and an almond “cream”…more for me, less for Chris. He was a great sport and tried one though.
Salad with a thai peanut dressing that’s really made with almond butter (better for my tummy)
Chris was so good he got some of my yummy fried rice with egg and shoyu. He manned the bbq and grilled some chicken to go with the rice. Bueno!
I like re-using marinara jars for everything from my daily juices to dressings that I make. Seen here is a thai peanut dressing, now housed in my old marinara sauce bottle. All I need now is a label maker so I remember what bottle holds what sauce 
If you didn’t catch Gran Torino starring Clint Eastwood in theaters, I urge you to rent the DVD. We watched it on Friday night after tucking into sushi and it was AWESOME. I am a huge fan of Clint’s directorial efforts like Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby and this movie did not disappoint. I laughed, I cried, and I highly recommend it. If you enjoy dry grumpy old man humor and don’t get offended easily by racial terms, go get it.
Last night we had pizza night and watched part of Along Came Polly. We’re meaning to make a point of watching more movies – it’s gotten a little mundane scrolling through our usual pre-recorded lineup of shows. I mean, there’s only so much “Pitchmen” with Billy Mays we can watch haha. We got our favorite pizza dough from Whole Foods because at $2.50 a pop, it’s SO worth it than to make your own from scratch. There are some things I like to make from scratch like my own salad dressings or marinara sauce or ice cream but not pizza dough. I didn’t take a picture of mine (basil pesto topped with chunky veggies and goat cheese) but Chris was good and remembered to snap a photo of his razor-thin pizza (marinara on one side, pesto on the other half. Salami, shallots, herbs and a sprinkling of cheese.) YUM!
Thanks to a lovely 40% off member discount at Borders, I picked up a new un-cookbook by Ani Phyo: Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen. So far, I’ve only tried one recipe (the chilled corn chowder) but it was absolutely delicious and took me under a minute to make (simply blend and enjoy!) That’s one of the great things about raw recipes – it’s perfect for the busy impatient cook who doesn’t like to wait around for something to boil, simmer and cook for hours on end. Sometimes I like my meals quick, easy and convenient and there’s no doubt Ani’s book is going to deliver just that.
The book
The chilled corn chowder served alongside some rolls made with avocado and bell pepper.
We got a compost bin from Smith & Hawken over the weekend. It’s going to be our new project and now I’ll have a purpose for all that leftover pulp I get from juicing. YAY!
I LOVE avocados. I have always loved avocados ever since I was little but as a calorie-counting freak in my pre-cleanse days, I dare not eat more than 1/4 of this fruit per meal. Oh, the agony. But now that I’m learning that avocados are one of the most easily digested foods, I’m enjoying them in abundance in salads, blended soups and on their own with a sprinkle of fleur de sel. Here is a fantastic article I found all about the avocado and I’ve broken it down to some great bits below:
Avocados are bursting with nutrients–vitamins, A, B-complex, C, E, H, K, and folic acid, plus the minerals magnesium, copper, iron, calcium, potassium and many other trace elements. Avocados provide all of the essential amino acids (those that must be provided by our diet), with 18 amino acids in all, plus 7 fatty acids, including Omega 3 and 6. Avocados contain more protein than cow’s milk, about 2% per edible portion. Since rapidly growing nursing infants obtain no more than 2% protein from mother’s milk, we can safely assume that children and adults do not regularly require foods richer in protein than avocado. Our bodies recycle approximately 80% of our protein; cooked protein is denatured and largely unusable, thus our protein need is far lower than what is taught by conventional dietetics. A small avocado will provide more usable protein then a huge steak because cooked protein in meat is deranged and mostly unavailable to our liver, the organ which makes all of our body’s protein.
The water content of avocado by weight averages 74%. Because avocado is a ripe, watery, enzymatically-alive fruit, it ranks as the most easily digested rich source of fats and proteins in whole food form. The ripening action of the sun “predigests” complex proteins into simple, easily digested amino acids.
Avocado is an alkalinizing food, i.e., the mineral end products of metabolism have an alkalinizing effect in the blood and other bodily fluids. Because the human body works to maintain a slightly alkaline pH, an alkalinizing diet is the most healthful way of eating.
Avocado eaters who eat a healthful vegan diet typically experience more lustrous hair, softer, smoother skin, more pliable nails, fewer joint problems, slimmer belly, less body odor, improved mental function and enhanced libido. Upon giving up animal meat and dairy, switching to a diet of 75% to 100% raw vegan foods with enzymatically-alive “plant meat,” and adopting a healthful lifestyle, a multitude of people have reaped amazing health benefits and joyous vitality.
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Some avocado myths & facts
1. It’s a vegetable.
Fact: It’s actually an oily berry–a fruit.
2. It’s high in cholesterol.
Fact: It has no cholesterol. Only animal foods have cholesterol.
3. It’s high in fat.
Fact: By weight, avocados average 30% easily digestible oily fatty acids and approximately 70% water.
4. Its saturated fat content is dangerous.
Fact: Only about 2.5% of the edible portion of avocado is saturated fat, and unheated saturated fat from live plant foods is non-toxic.
5. It’s fattening.
Fact: It is the cooked starches, meat, dairy and processed sugar in people’s diets that feed their fat cells. Most active people who consume avocados as part high raw food vegan diet have no problem losing excess fat and staying lean.
A good friend of mine discovered she was allergic to wine awhile back – although it wasn’t something that showed up on her allergy test results, she always suffered from a runny nose, itchy eyes and a wheezy chest after drinking a glass of vino. Although the medical charts said she was OK, her body obviously stated otherwise. About a couple months ago, I began having the same reaction everytime I had a glass of wine: my eyes got very small and itchy, my throat became scratchy and uncomfortable, I began sneezing nonstop and my lungs fell short of breath. I, too, have had allergy testing before which indicated I was only allergic to cats, dust and egg whites. But your body knows best and I believe you should follow what your body tells you. Tonight at dinner I had a glass of white wine. Same reaction. I am unsure if it’s the vino I’m allergic to but for now, I’ll steer clear of it just to be safe.
I love Lara bars but I don’t love the price tag that comes attached to these dates/nuts morsels of yummy goodness. So I did a little research and found a painless recipe to make my own, which I am going to try out tonight. This recipe is courtesy of Clean Eating Online:
Lay two pieces of plastic wrap on counter. Place fruit in food processor and pulse until it has a paste-like texture. Transfer to a medium bowl. Add nuts to food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add nuts to bowl with the fruit. Add all other ingredients. Use fingers to knead into a paste.
Divide mixture in half. Place each half on plastic wrap. Wrap plastic around mixture and form into a bar shape. Wrap tightly in plastic and store in the refrigerator. Makes 2 bars.
Here are a few different recipes:
Chris spent the last two days painting the outside of the house. We’ve got the flagstones lining the backyard, the vines are growing, the bouganvillas are blooming, the lemon tree is popping…it’s all finally coming together – just in time for summer in LA! Woohoo! We moved the outdoor glass table to the backyard where the new flagstones are and I can’t tell you what a joy it is to read, listen to music and sip fresh coconut water in the sun.
Chris thought it would be fun to take pictures with Guido on Photo Booth :/
Now check out our vegetable garden along the side of the house! We have little tomatoes growing and a full-fledged hot pepper just got picked off its vine today 
It is such a delight to cultivate veggies and see them grow.
Before
AFTER!
Lunch was an avocado salad with corn, bell pepper, cilantro and mesclun greens. Topped it off with lemon juice, chopped garlic and Celtic sea salt.
Dinner was another salad – this time no avocado but topped with a yummy Dijon dressing I made.
Followed by a main course of maple-glazed Ling Cod (that I bought fresh from Santa Monica Seafood) and had marinating in the sauce for hours and hours. Served it atop a bed of rice with a side of lightly sauteed eggplant and asparagus. This is Chris’ version – I skipped the starch and had it sans rice.
Awww…
I am SO SO SO SO excited that my older sister is coming to town from Colorado for 4th of July Weekend!! I haven’t seen her in about two years and she hasn’t been back to Los Angeles for something like six years! I’m already planning our itinerary, which is going to include a trip to Disneyland, picking up In & Out burgers (more for her, less for me but I still love going there and smelling the fries and burgers haha) and a fantastic bbq on Saturday. Here’s me and her a long time ago in Colorado – I love her!
It’s confirmed. After many food diaries and keeping track of what I eat and how it affects my body, I have finally come to grips with the truth: this girl does not fare well with nuts. As delicious as they are (I could munch on cashews and macadamia nuts for days), they are just too dense for my already congested body 
I’ll just have to learn to eat a few every now and then but for now, they’re a trigger food and I’m keeping them out of the kitchen.
I bought a practically NWT (that’s Ebay lingo for “New With Tags”) Needak rebounder this week from a lady on Craigslist. Considering these go for about $250, I got it at half the price AND had it delivered to my office It’s been so much fun and I still get a great workout. I’ll wake up, bounce out of bed and onto my new mini-trampoline. It’s so much fun being a little kid again.
Well, yesterday was just about perfect weather in Los Angeles. The sun was beaming happily down at us, the birds were chirping a little song, and Guido was chasing squirrels up and down the backyard. Ah, so much fun. Lunch consisted of cabbage tacos stuffed with fresh corn, cilantro, diced tomato, garlic and cheese. I made two huge ones for myself because I can never get enough of these.
Yum!
Chris made himself a toasted sandwich with chips. I salivated over the sight of toasted bread but reminded myself a sandwich would do nothing but wreak havoc on my digestive system.
Guido was chillin’.
We spent the day running errands and hitting up the health foods store, Rainbow Acres. It’s the closest thing to Mrs. Gooch’s as you’ll get – this was all pre-Whole Foods days when the food really was organic and fresh and things weren’t mass produced. As the afternoon wore on, I started making dinner as we watched the Lakers/Orlando game.
I decided to make a lasagna recipe from the Pure Food & Wine restaurant in NY. Instead of pine nuts for the “ricotta”, I used cashews. I’m never following recipes to a tee, which is why I think half of them don’t turn out the way I expect them to haha. But it sure looked good! I roasted thin sheets of eggplant and zucchini and topped each layer with a dollop of my cashew cream, tomato sauce and cashew pesto.
I used the cashew cream and tomato sauce as a dipping sauce for some Italian Crackers from Lydia’s Organic.
Hold on – quick snapshot of what’s now housing all the avocados, lemons, onions and pineapple. I’ve been shopping at the Farmers Market so the house is filled with fresh produce. Just lovely.
OK so back to dinner. I made a carrot, curry, cashew blended soup in the K-Tec. It came out real thick but tasty. Kind of like mashed po po’s. I sprinkled celtic sea salt and fresh ground black pepper on top.
Dessert was a “rice pudding”, also made in the K-Tec: dates, coconut meat, ice cubes, maple syrup and vanilla extract.
Check out my matching sweatsuit and velcro sneaks. How cool was I back in the day? Oh, and check out that bloated beer belly.
A trip to the One & Only Resort in the Maldives
Haha. I’m really into salads right now, especially this one that has chunks of baked sweet potato with avocado and my homemade dijon dressing. Had this yesterday and it was filling, hearty and light on my tummy.
My mom is truly special – she’s been visiting me here in Los Angeles but will return back home this weekend to Vancouver, BC before embarking on a three week trip to Italy in the fall. So I won’t see her again until November. All the reason for me to cook a special weekend dinner for her. I busted out my new cookbooks and made a starter of cashew cream sushi rolls, which tasted like tuna in a salty good way. The next course was a carrot cashew curry soup, perfectly blended and spiced. Then came a pad thai dish using seaweed noodles and almond butter sauce. Last but not least, raw coconut ice cream I made in the blender and drizzled with my own homemade chocolate sauce using cocoa powder and agave syrup. YUM YUM! Needless to say, we were both stuffed before settling in to watch Twilight for the very first time.
The nori rolls with sprouts, cashew “cream”, bell pepper and carrots.
The curry cashew carrot soup topped off with a little chopped basil from the backyard.
The pad thai which tasted ridiculously delicious. I added chicken to my mom’s since she requested more “substance”.
The raw coconut ice cream I made sans ice cream maker: the meat of a young coconut, agave, and ice cubes.
The old Melissa would have said “Current obsession? O-M-G. Of course a pair of Christian Louboutin pumps! Helloooo!” but the new Melissa says “My current obsession? Coconut water hellloooo!” I’ve proudly mastered the art of chopping open that young coconut and now I’ve been sticking straws in and sippin’ away and it is oh-so-yummy in my tummy. Now that doesn’t mean I’m still not drooling over a pair of Phi motorcycle boots with buckles….
Am I lucky or what? Turns out my dad purchased a restaurant-grade K-Tec Blender a year ago and never used it…it just sat in its box at his house. Little did he know I had been lusting for one only I couldn’t bring myself to spend the $399 that it cost – even though it’s worth every penny. I just saw my dad tonight and he had a “little gift” for me…the blender! Hurray hurray. Now I can blend everything from soups to ice cream to juices to sauces…the K-Tec is the Rolls Royce of blenders and I’m so thrilled to have one now
Made fresh beet juice with a blend of fuji apple, carrot and ginger. It’s scary what happens to your pee when you drink beet juice.
Tried to copy what I had at Huckleberry the other morning, poached eggs over market greens with a hint of toasted bread crumbs sprinkled on top. I used fresh corn, diced bell pepper and potato for the base.
Inspired by the out-of-this-world raw ice cream I had at Inn of the Seventh Ray, I made my own sans ice cream maker. I cracked open two young coconuts (I’m getting better and better at the knife whacking), ice cubes, vanilla extract and agave. It came out just as good but more like a slush rather than cream, which is just fine with me. Less heavy but still filling.
That night was girl’s night out + continued festivities of my bday (my friends sure like to spoil me!) Jenn and Nicole picked me up and to make a long story short, they had me go on a fun scavenger hunt that included clues and all sorts of delightful gifts at each stop: certificate to my favorite restaurant, a cooking class, etc.
Our final destination was Dominick’s in Beverly Hills, home of THE best risotto balls!!! They had our table all set up with a darling vase of flowers and a card for me – I apologize for the dark pictures, my camera wasn’t doing so well in the outdoor setting.
We got seated right next to the outdoor fireplace.
Me and Nicole with the risotto balls and lemon garlic artichoke appetizer. BOMB!
For dinner I had their spaghetti with pasta sauce and a side or roasted asparagus. Jenn got the breaded chicken and Nicole opted for their signature gnocchi. For dessert, we couldn’t resist and got the decadent cheesecake and ricotta fritters.
The night ended with us grabbing a drink with our dear friend, Linz, at Chloe in Santa Monica. Cheers!
