Tag: cooking

Lettuce Be Friends

Knock knock.

Who’s there?

Lettuce.

Lettuce who?

Lettuce be friends.

I think I read that on a Valentine’s Day card… probably in grade school.

Anyway, friends, I wanted to share this awesome organic lettuce we’ve been buying from Aldi.

The box is crammed with organic lettuce varieties like red and green leaf lettuce, red and green oak, red and green chard, Lolla Rosa, tango, spinach, arugula, beet greens, frisee, radicchio, mizuna, kale, red mustard greens, tatsoi, and collards. I’ve never even heard of some of these.

It’s prewashed, and its a full pound.

It’s a good deal, though I can’t tell you the exact price I paid. #worthit

Daughter Days

Our daughter is with us this summer and I couldn’t be happier. 🙂😍

Tonight, she’s the chef. She made an amazing kale salad that is really healthy and nutritious.

We added a little grilled chicken on top.

Here’s the recipe if you want to give it a try:

Warm Kale and Quinoa Salad

Cold Plates

It’s really hot this week.

I lived most of my life in Florida, where it’s like this all the time: WAY too hot to use the oven for at least 10 months of the year.

There was a cute little diner at the Tahitian Inn on Dale Mabry where we used to meet friends on groggy Sunday mornings. They had an amazing cold plate there… salad greens and three hollowed bell peppers filled with your choice of chicken, tuna, egg, ham, or potato salad.

We made it part of our routine. Summer dinners (and by that, I mean March thru November) were often homemade cold plates, starting with a green salad and adding a bunch of cold sides.

For example:

  • Chicken salad/cold chicken
  • Potato salad
  • Tuna salad
  • Egg salad
  • Pasta salad
  • Carrot & celery sticks with hummus
  • Pickles
  • Sweet peppers
  • Olives
  • Sliced cheese
  • Good bread or crackers
  • Fruits
  • Cole slaw / quick slaw

Last weekend, I made a batch of my yummy purple yams with coconut. Yes, I had the oven on for an hour, but I make enough to snack on all week. It makes a great cold lunch or side dish.

I made lentils, too, which is also great served cold.

My husband made a potato salad and an egg salad, and chopped another pineapple into bite sized pieces.

Anyway, if you’re looking for healthy dishes to throw together for hot summer nights, I suggest you try a cold plate night.

Quick Slaw

Another quick, cold, plant-based recipe for you. I’m sorry, I don’t have a more exacting recipe. You’re gonna have to use the force on this one.

Enjoy!

  • Red cabbage
  • Carrots
  • Sunflower seeds or pistachios
  • Raisins or another similar-sized dried fruit
  • Honey
  • Salt
  • Red wine vinegar

Find a bowl you’d like to serve this dish in.

Slice the cabbage very thin. You want enough to fill the bowl approximately 60% full of the shredded cabbage.

Wash the carrots and then either use a hand peeler OR a cheese grater to shred them. Add them to the bowl. These 2 ingredients will take up most of the space in the bowl, so keep adding until it is about 90% full.

Add at least a cup each of sunflower seeds and raisins. Mix well. Salt liberally, unless the sunflower seeds have already done that for you.

Add honey and red wine vinegar in equal amounts to coat the ingredients. Mix well.

It’s crunchy, sweet, salty, and healthy. It doesn’t need to be refrigerated, which makes it perfect for summer, camping, etc.

Once you get the hang of it, swap out white cabbage for red, different nuts or seeds, different dried fruit, fancy vinegars… just make sure you include something crunchy, something sweet, something salty, and something vinegarrey. 😋

Use the force!

Lentils

Not gonna lie, I cut this recipe off the back of the lentil bag. It’s delicious.

  • 1 cup organic green lentils
  • 3 cups chicken broth or water
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 large or 2 small carrots, finely chopped
  • 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
  • 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 ounces Feta or goat cheese

Combine lentils, chicken broth (or water), and bay leaf in medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, until lentils are tender.

Remove bay leaf and strain. Let cool.

In a large bowl, combine all remaining ingredients except the cheese.

When lentils are cooled (pop them in the freezer for a few minutes), add lentils to the mixture and stir it all together.

Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Crumble goat cheese on top when serving.

30 for 30

I used to struggle to get 30 different types of plant foods in my diet each week. As I’ve been doing this for a while now — and enjoying the benefits of a much healthier tummy — I thought I’d share a few secrets.

Coffee Klatch ☕️

Every morning, I begin with coffee and add to it about 1 tablespoon of chaga, which is a mushroom product.

Two down, 28 to go!

Tea for Two 🫖

Teas count! I usually have a cup of herbal tea after my morning coffee. My favorite is ginger turmeric, but of course, I mix it up… each day is different. 

I’m going to estimate that you’ll get at least 3 plant foods and their wonderful micronutrients in one cup of tea.

Add a lemon, lime, or orange slice? You’ve got 4.

What’s the tally now? Six plant foods! 24 to go!

Nuts to You 🌰🥜🐿

We like to keep a couple of jars of nuts in the den… easy access to healthy snacks when movie time rolls around. We keep a big one just for cashews, a small one for pistachios, and a medium-sized one for mixed nuts from Aldi, which includes peanuts, pecans, almonds and hazelnuts.

Ok, so a handful here and there throughout the week equals 6 of your 30 plant-based foods. And just having them around will help curb your desire for the unhealthy stuff.

Ok, add 6 to the tally. 18 to go!

Shoot Some Salad, Salad Shooter 🥗🔫

I’m making a big salad for tonight, and marinating some chicken for Jimmy to grill.

Here’s the salad ingredients in tonight’s mix: romaine lettuce, baby spinach, baby chard, baby kale, broccoli sprouts, tomatoes, cucumber slices, celery, sweet pepper slices, avocado, olives, and green onion. 

There’s enough for 4 of us to eat, and I’m pretty sure there will be leftovers for tomorrow. I’m not too proud to eat yesterday’s dressed salad. It takes on a giardiniera vibe.

Ok, that’s 12 more plant foods to add to the tally.

If you count the red wine vinegar I use in the dressing, it makes 13! I’m not going to count the dried herbs, though…

18 – 13 = 5 more to go!

Fruit Salad, Yummy Yummy 🍉🍒🫐🍓🍍

It’s summer, and there’s a ton of ripe fruit available, so take advantage while you can.

This morning, we finished a pineapple at breakfast.

My lunch was apple chunks with peanut butter drizzle.

On the dinner table, I set out blueberries, watermelon, and cherries. So there’s 5 more plant foods for today!

5 – 5 = 0! I got 30 in one day! Now, any new veggie to cross my path is just a bonus!

Easy, healthy, and delicious!

Salt & Pepper

Was using my salt and pepper grinders today and realized that they BOTH have plastic grinding gears … yet another way for microplastics (or not-so-micro-plastics) to break off, get into our food, and then be consumed.

I’m throwing them out!!

Ughghghghghghg!

Granite Pans

A few years ago, my son wanted to get me a Mother’s Day gift I would use… so he asked what I wanted, and I said an egg pan that was not Teflon coated but didn’t take all day to clean.

Tall order, I thought.

He got me two non-stick granite pans made by Michaelangelo. They looked good and worked great and I was really pleased.

Time has passed, and the surfaces have gotten fuzzy from repeated cleaning… and they’ve been pushed to the back of the cabinet as we have used the cast irons more and more.

But I wonder… what are granite pans made of anyway?

I Googled around and found that they are “not actually made of granite stone, but named for its resemblance to the texture.”

Okay, but what are the pans made of?

Seems there are 2 kinds: Teflon (PTFE) and vitreous enamel.

  • Teflon (PTFE) cookware can release toxic fumes when used at high temperatures. PTFE stands for polytetraflouroethylene.
  • Vitreous enamel cookware is considered safer than Teflon, but chips or cracks in the enamel can allow metal (aluminum) in the pan to leach into food.

For both types, it is recommended that you use soft utensils when cooking and wash them carefully to avoid scratches or pitting.

The Michaelangelo website sells these pans labelled as “100% Toxic-Free — Free of PFAS, PFOA, lead and cadmium.” I sure hope that is true!

Anyway, these are too scratched up. Throwing them away!

Yummy Yams

A bowl of these yummy yams is a delicious treat! Better than most desserts! And very, very good for you. Thanking my sister Gabi for this simple recipe.

● Peel and chop 3 purple yams into bite-sized pieces.

● Mix in a scoop of coconut oil and as much shredded coconut as you’d like.

● Preheat oven to 350°.

● Spread the chunks out on a cookie sheet.

● Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or a full hour. The edges will carmelize a bit.

Nutrition and Mental Health

I’ve learned a lot about diet and nutrition since being diagnosed, but I hadn’t looked at the brain health/mental health aspect until recently.

Side note: A few weeks ago, I came across a mention, from a researcher I very much admire, that the ketogenic diet didn’t seem to have much of an effect on cancers of the immune system. So, briefly, I have “normalized my relationship with carbs,” and while it sure tastes good, I can feel a sluggishness taking over. Gotta get back on track.

The almighty algorithm put this video in my path today, and I am glad to see it. I’m amazed to find so much overlap with what I have learned about eating for cancer management and physical health.

Georgia Ede has a book and a website if you want to learn more: https://www.diagnosisdiet.com/