Lunchtime Sushi

I made some rice-less sushi for lunch the other day and a side salad of avocado, diced tomato, sesame oil, rice vinegar and light soy sauce.

A Gift From Hawaii!!

Hurray hurray! Amanda from The Grains of Paradise is such a sweetheart and sent me two packages of the rice paper wraps she uses for her Asian Burritos recipe that you can see here. I just got them in the mail yesterday and cannot wait to make stuff with them. Thanks so much, Mandy! xoxoxo!

Key Lime Pie Shake

AGAIN. I had my awesome key lime pie shake for breakfast this morning. OK, it’s not really MY recipe but I’ve been making it from the Raw Food, Real World cookbook. OMG. Way too yummy. This time, though, I made enough for two servings and only used half an avocado instead of one whole one. The difference? None, taste wise but a good 180 calories I love a good save.

Fun Friday Night

Ahhhh talk about a fun Friday night. It started with light dinners for Chris and I.

I made a fresh salad with spinach, yellow cherry tomatoes from our garden, baby carrots and goat cheese.

Chris made his “awesome sandwich”. If we had a menu, he would put this concoction on there and call it the “Awesome Sandwich” – the bread was toasted to perfection and had tomato, turkey, salami, some spinach, and cheese in it.

We had way too many yellow cherry tomatoes from the garden so we decided to slow roast them in the oven with chunks of garlic and sea salt.

We ended the night playing Wii Sports Resort!! It was a gift from Chris’ friend, Luke, who also gave birth to the name “Pastries and Bacon”! Woohoo. Chris and I had waaaay too much fun playing golf, wakeboarding, canoeing, and jousting each other with giant swords. And what a workout, too! No joke. My arms started getting tired because you definitely use your arm muscles when you’re holding that Wii remote.

What To Do With Pizza Dough

1) Make a pizza. I got inspired (again!) by Amanda from The Grains of Paradise because all her pizzas look so delicious so I had to make one myself. Rectangular pizzas are fun! I bought whole wheat pizza dough from Whole Foods because I was feeling lazy and wanted something quick and instant. I really have to work on my instant gratification problem. This was a spinach, mushroom, tomato, goat cheese pizza. It would have been real good if I didn’t leave it in the oven 20 minutes too long haha. I had to eat around the burnt edges. That is why I’m only showing you the BEFORE shot and not the AFTER

2) Make bruschetta! I had a bruschetta bite when I was in Vegas and got inspired to just bake some pizza dough into “bread” and top it with diced tomato, salt and herbs. Oh, I added truffle oil to this. Mmmmm out of this world!

Vegas, Baby

I’m definitely not a Vegas type of person (ie: I don’t drink a TON, I don’t gamble and I’m not a clubber) but this weekend I managed to stay up til 3am each night and gamble THREE WHOLE DOLLARS on the one cent slot machines hehe. I went to Rain at The Palms on Friday night and saw DJ AM and had fun dancing all those alcohol calories off. Saturday night was much more mellow. I only had ONE margarita by the water at The Wynn and spent the night walking around the strip. Oddly enough, I took VERY FEW pictures during this trip so here they are:

The pool at the Hard Rock, where we stayed Friday night

Me and my friends

The suite

STOP! Below is the most beautiful thing to have happened to me in Vegas. Jam-filled doughnuts and shortbread cookies from Bouchon in the Venetian. If you haven’t been there and love sweets, PLEASE GO THERE!

Fruity Fruity

I’m baaaaack and haven’t posted in quite awhile (shame on me!!) Anyway, let’s jump right into things, shall we? This morning I made a “Key Lime Pie Shake” from a recipe in the Raw Food, Real World cookbook by Matthew Kenney and Sarma Melngailis and holy cow it was sooooooooooo good!!! I gave some to Chris who slurped away while saying, “This can’t be good for you, right?” because it tasted so darn delicious. WRONG! It is 100% good for you and here’s the recipe (modified for 1 person instead of 2). I mean seriously, what better way to start your day?? Enjoy!

- 1.5 apples, juiced

- juice of 1.5 limes

- 1/2 avocado

- 1 banana (the riper the better)

- handful of ice cubes (my addition – makes it smoother and MORE!)

- squeeze of agave

Whirl it up and sip til your socks come off. PS: check out the passionfruit from our backyard below! I will be making passionfruit smoothies FO SHO this weekend

Bye For The Weekend

All, I’m leaving for Las Vegas in less than an hour to celebrate someone’s 21st birthday and pretend it’s my own as well haha! I won’t be posting this weekend but I promise to take many pictures and I HAVE to stop at Bouchon to get their fried doughnuts if I can. In the meantime, I’m leaving you with some contributing editor pics from lovely Colorado

My sister’s goat cheese omelet with turkey sausage (notice the glistening butter on the english muffin!)

And from last night….her mini gnocchi!

Messy But Goody

OK these pictures are really really bad. I’ll be the first to admit it. But the results were so freakin good! And that’s all that matters, right? I promise my next batch of pictures with my potsticker experiment will turn out much better. Ever inspired by my dear friend and fellow blogger, Amanda at The Grains of Paradise (whose lifestyle has inspired me to indulge in the tastiest Asian foods – thanks, lady!), I decided to try and make my own potsticker wrappers last night at home. It’s actually very easy – white flour + boiling water! After a few failed and sticky attempts, I finally got into the groove and made a teeny tiny batch. I was out of any sort of filling so I just processed some carrots and used that instead (I need some beta carotene, anyway). I pan fried them in some macadamia oil and oooooh they came out perfectly crispy on the outside, chewy and doughy on the inside. DOUBLE MY YUM! Here’s a rather messy and dark/blurry sequence. Sorry!

Blueberry Overload

Our blueberry inventory doesn’t seem to be dwindling anytime soon. What else was there to do but bake a blueberry cake for Chris to take to work? Eh, who am I kidding? This was no cake – more like an oversized muffin! I ran out of muffin tin liners so I threw the batter into my cake tin instead lol. Non-stick is very important to me, you know.

Italiano!!

My sister’s boyfriend, Nick, is a true Italian cook. My favorite dish is his linguini and clams – sooooo good! Both he and my sis are huge Italian cuisine fans (I mean, who isn’t??) so it was no surprise to me that I got these two pictures in the email.

catasta caprese (stacked caprese) and tuscan pomodoro capellini (basil, tomatoes, garlic)

Hummus, My Dear?

I love hummus. I love it so much but I never go near it because the chickpeas that it usually calls for makes my stomach not too happy. So to my delight, I found a great recipe in Ani Phyo’s cookbook for a non-bean hummus using one of my favorite ingredients: sun-dried tomatoes. WOO HOO! Below is the recipe but I only made half the batch and added and subtracted a few things. It came out so creamy and perfectly seasoned and DELICIOSO!! Chris and I shared it (he had it with tortilla chips and I had it with crisp raw veggies) and there were plenty of leftovers, which I will be happily toting to work tomorrow.

Ani Phyo’s Sun-Dried Tomato Hummus

2 cups zucchini, chopped

2 cloves of garlic

Juice of 1 lemon, about 2 TBL

1/4 cup plus 1 TBL extra virgin olive oil (*I used less olive oil because I didn’t feel it was necessary)

1/2 cup tahini

1 tsp sea salt

2 TBL parsley leaves, chopped (*I didn’t add any of this but threw in some olives instead)

1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

Pinch of paprika

Whip it all up in the food processor and enjoy!

Soba Noodles

What to do with leftovers is a big question at the house. There’s always something left over from something else, which was left over from something else. I swear, they should have a cooking show based on just working leftovers into a whole new dish. I had some leftover veggie broth in the fridge, leftover soba noodles from Saturday night and a chunk of broccoli sitting sadly by itself in the fridge. So what did I do? I made a super tasty lunch for work today: soba noodle soup with enoki mushroom (69 cents/packet at Mitsua Japanese Market) and broccoli. It was the easiest thing, too. I simply boiled the veggie broth, threw in the enoki mushroom to cook, added the soba noodle, broccoli and a dash of soy sauce and voila! I felt like I got takeout from a Japanese restauarant!

Contributing Editor Post: The Colorado Edition

Back to back items from my sister’s in Colorado.

First up, broiled salmon on orzo pasta with a side of healthy broccoli.

Next item – Cheese ravioli with marinara sauce and broccoli

Pizza, Pizza

All I wanted was pizza tonight for dinner. I try to follow food combining rules for digestive purposes but I eat so clean 80% of the week that I can afford to bend the other 20%. Still, I wanted my pizza to be healthy so I went to Whole Foods and purchased this delicious cornmeal/spelt pizza crust from Vicolo brand. The ingredients include: Organic Spelt Flour, Organic Corn Meal, Water, Canola Oil, Soybean Oil, Olive Oil, Yeast, Salt.  They also have other healthy frozen pizzas but I wanted this done my way. So for me, I made a grilled veggie (purchased at the salad bar so I wouldn’t have to cook them) + cherry/grape tomato (from our garden) + Bulgarian sheep’s milk feta pizza with truffle oil drizzled on top. I did the same for Chris except his had string cheese and no truffle oil. I didn’t use a marinara sauce so I was quite surprised that my veggies stayed on the crust instead of falling off.

I served my slice alongside a salad of raw corn, bell pepper, cucumber and shredded carrot and some feta.

Asian Persuasion

I was craving asian foods all day yesterday (PMS maybe??) Sorry, I am a girl who craves specific things when it’s that time of month So for lunch, I made a “Thai Green Papaya Salad” which I got hooked on after reading about it on The Grains of Paradise. Only I didn’t have green papaya so I used cucumber, shredded zucchini and mung bean sprouts instead. Spicy, spicy, spicy (thanks to the Thai chile I used) but oh so good! I added a sprinkling of peanuts on top, too.

For a mid-day snack (because I couldn’t stop eating – ugh!) I made these light yet yummy avocado cucumber rolls sans rice. I dipped them in soy sauce mixed with agave, one of my favorite dipping sauces to whip up last minute.

Oh, and while I was munching away on Asian flavors, Chris made ribs in his slow cooker and OMG it smelled soooooo good. He threw it in there for 4 hours after massaging it with a special rub and made a sauce consisting of BBQ sauce, beer and garlic. I even tasted a little itty bitty bite and it was really really delicious. I know, I know. I’m vegetarian and don’t touch meet but unlike many vegetarians, I do it for health purposes not animal rights reasons and I know a tiny little bite isn’t going to kill me. Besides, I appreciate good cooking and am a foodie of all things. I don’t like meat anymore and am much happier without it because in some ways it grosses me out, but this girl can appreciate some good ribs! So tender and juicy. The pic doesn’t do it justice – sorry I couldn’t capture a better one.

My Blueberry Clafoutis

As promised, I made a blueberry clafoutis this weekend, which was requested by my boyfriend. His parents always give us a giant box of blueberries from Costco and one of the best things to do with an abundance of this fruit is to bake them into desserts! This time, I pretty much eyeballed the amount of blueberries used but the goal is to layer them on the bottom of a baking dish to the point where there are no gaps. The custard is created by whisking egg, butter, sugar, milk, flour and a hint of sea salt to bring out the sweetness. Vanilla extract is recommended but I was out of it this time – no biggie.

Served alongside a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream – mmmmm.

Best Feta Salad Recipe

…so far, at least. While shopping at Whole Foods last night, I picked up five ears of sweet white corn for $3, which is a pretty good price in my eyes. Then I wandered over to their olive bar, because I wanted to get some of their yummy Bulgarian sheep’s feta cheese, which is so creamy and tangy and out of this world. I had in mind exactly what I wanted for dinner, which was a corn and feta salad. Here’s the recipe of what turned out to be one of THE tastiest salads I have ever made. I had plenty of leftovers so you might want to make a little less

• Corn from two ears of sweet white corn
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped (you can use 1 clove – I just love garlic!)
• 1 roma tomato
• juice of half a lemon
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 2 oz of Bulgarian sheep’s feta (or any type of feta or goat cheese)
• celtic sea salt and pepper, to taste

Mix it all up, let the tomato juices mix in the with garlic for 5 minutes, and enjoy!

Roasted Tomatoes A La Robin Miller

Between 8am and 9am, when Chris and I are getting ready for work, we’ll have the Food Network on in the background. Luckily, his house has an open kitchen that looks out into the living room, so while I’m juicing or making breakfast, I get to also watch the telly. The other day, Robin Miller came on and started making roasted tomatoes for her recipe of green beans with roasted tomatoes and mustard seeds. While roasted tomatoes aren’t anything extraordinary or new, the episode came at a perfect time because earlier that AM, we had just been discussing what the heck to do with all the cherry and grape tomatoes that were ripening out in the veggie garden. One of the things we thought of was making homemade bloody mary juice (brilliant) but we wanted to do something else, too. Below is Chris’ version of the roasted tomatoes (from the grape and cherry tomatoes we grow), which he sliced in halfsies and sprinkled with salt, basil and chopped garlic. He then tossed the roasted tomatoes with some cheese and made a sandwich out of it (sorry I don’t have a pic of that!)

Light & Just Right

I was going for a pretty light day yesterday with my meals so I started off with a breakfast fresh fruit plate for Chris and I: sliced pluots from the farmers market, yellow raspberries and blueberries. Pluots are by far my favorite fruit right now and I really have to stock up on them while they’re in season. There are so many varieties to choose from. My favorite is the green one you see in the picture – it’s perfectly crisp and crunchy and tart with a hint of sweetness. We decided that blueberries on their own are a little too bland for our liking…much better in my blueberry clafoutis, which I plan on baking later this weekend

Lunch was light and healthy and friggin’ delicious!! I don’t know what it was but it was soooo good…and simple, too! A blend of fresh mixed greens from the farmers market topped with sliced cucumber, a handful of raisins and pine nuts and macadamia oil, lemon juice and sea salt. Oh my. Not sure if it was the mix of the raisins and the sea salt and the macadamia oil but something got my senses all perked up and I was savoring every bite. I am DEFINITELY making this again.

Exhausted

I apologize in advance for what may be a lack of posting today – our office launched a new project and we were up til 3am last night/this morning working on our computers. I slept for about 4 hours before waking again at 7am to conference with a web developer overseas. Needless to say, I am EXHAUSTED. Sleep is so important in healing the body…and I’m definitely behind on it. I can’t wait for the weekend so I can just relax and sleep in. Anyway, enough grumbling and onto the food!

Didn’t have breakfast since I was slammed with work this AM. Headed to Whole Foods for lunch and put together a mixed salad of raw and cooked veggies and picked up a LARA bar because they’re a nice alternative to an unhealthy dessert. I really like the way the orange of my shredded carrots match up nice with the orange from the LARA bar packaging

Simple Salad

Last night, I was so busy working from home (until I passed out from my computer at 11:30pm!) that all I could make was another salad topped with that raw feta milk cheese. I love how the yellow bell pepper looks against the reddish purple hue of the lettuce.

Two Days, Two Lunches

Talk about different flavors for my previous lunches!

Yesterday: Thai Green Papaya Salad with a side of avocado for extra creaminess….yum. It looks like a mess but I promise you it was very tasty.

Today: Salad composed of bell pepper, radish and greens from the farmers market with raw feta cheese from Whole Foods. Filling…very filling.

Thai…Continued!

I was craving thai food last night so we ordered takeout at a fantastic little thai restaurant called Ayara – close to the LAX airport. It’s gotten great reviews because their food is always excellent and service is wonderful. Here’s my thai green papaya salad with a side of sticky rice that I am head over heels for. I ordered extra so I could bring some to work – woo hoo! Chris got the chicken curry, which he polished off fairly quick. While waiting at home to go pick up the order (30 minutes) I decided to get my “one workout for the day” over with and go for a run around the neighborhood. I only ran for about 20 minutes but it felt good.

Greenie

So I kind of indulged over the weekend and my stomach paid for it – BIG TIME! I have such a hard time with regular dairy but could not resist Ben & Jerry’s “peanut butter cup” ice cream when I dined at Chris’ parents’ house. OMG. Soooo delicious but it wreaked havoc on my stomach – oh well, it was worth it What do I do after I indulge and experience gastro distress? Green juice! Sans banana. Yesterday, I polished off a mason jar full of “Green Lemonade” from Natalia Rose’s Raw Food Detox Diet book but mine used spinach instead of kale. It was light, refreshing, and a perfect start to a new day.

Cookie Monster

Over the weekend, I made a patch of cookies for the house: Reese’s peanut butter chip cookies with raw cacao powder from One Lucky Duck. Soooo friggin’ delicious! The old me would have inhaled the entire batch but I just had two this weekend – not bad! PS: the silpat? Baker’s best friend.

Contributing Editor Post: Here, Chicky Chicky

I present to you my sister’s dinner from this evening: rotisserie chicken atop a bed of mashed potatoes and corn off the cob

Thai Green Papaya Salad

Just like Gena’s famous banana soft serve recipe (which I have mentioned repeatedly on this site), I am obsessed with the Thai green papaya salad that Amanda frequently talks about on her blog, The Grains of Paradise. I’m really into thai food lately so I was determined to make a thai green papaya salad today at home – thanks, Mandy! To my delight, Whole Foods actually carries fish sauce and palm sugar (two key ingredients in making thai green papaya salad) but sadly, the farmers market that usually sells green papaya was OUT of it Darn! So I substituted julienned carrot, zucchini and mung bean sprouts instead. I found a fantastic recipe for the salad here although you can google it and they are all pretty much the same. I have to say, it was a delicious combo and I crushed some pistachios on top since I didn’t have peanuts and threw in some roughly chopped cilantro. Soooo good and perfectly spicy. I will be making this much more often from now on. Oooh, I also purchased a juilenne peeler by Zyliss from Whole Foods today. It’s different from a regular peeler in that it peels your vegetable in paper thin skinny slices (kind of like a spiralizer but without the bulk of the equipment!) It was $7.99 but worth every penny. I have a feeling it’s going to be my new best friend in the kitchen.

Contributing Editor Post: Asian Flavors

Apparently, I’ve got my sister obsessed with dinnerware now so she can take cool pictures for the blog. Here is her dinner from this evening: egg noodles tossed in sesame oil and oyster sauce. Bok choy with oyster sauce, pan fried shrimp marinated in chili oil, ginger, garlic and grey salt.

Crush Me Some Cashews

I had a HUGE batch of leftovers of that raw veggie salad and thai almond dressing so naturally, I had it for lunch again only this time I added a ton more crushed cashews on top. Yum. I think my new favorite thing is fresh raw corn mixed with this thai almond butter dressing and crushed cashews. It’s a rich flavor with a delicious texture.