Cupcakes Friday! That's Quinoa Cupcakes for you...

Went on a long run this morning and started feeling hot and tired all at once. This week Reno is having yet another heat wave and as we train for our first half marathon, we agreed to wake up early enough to run while its cool and nice out.....well we slept in - I'm smiling because when I say slept in I mean we were up and about at 8am not too bad - and off we went on our run. I felt hot and tired half way through.. a good technique to get back in to the groove and into running stronger is take your mind off from what it is that's bothering you. Easier said then done, but really, we feel that running is a mental challenge as much as it is a physical one. And once your mind quits on you, running past that point is almost impossible.

So back to our run, it is much easier to run with a partner and much easier when you have a goal in front of you - like an up coming race - but sometimes that is not enough and you need to take your mind off the heat and the time that's left to your run - I think about food. planning meals, inventing now recipes, trying new way to dress up a salad, usually healthy breakfast (we are morning runners) so eggs play a good part in my running motivation.
Today we were in a pickle - we had only two eggs at home - two eggs, two of us, not so promising... the reason for this debacle is the more we learn about animal farming and the more we study about the effect of animal products on humans we choose to not eat them. When we do buy eggs, we buy it from a girl that started a chicken farm and she treats the chickens almost as pets, the chickens are free and happy and the eggs taste beautiful. I didn't buy new ones last week, and so we had only two.

No problem! We can make Quinoa cupcakes with 2 eggs! Ok - running just made easier - starting to change an old recipe to things we have in the fridge. This is what I got:

Quinoa Cupcakes:

2/3 cup of dry quinoa - cooked with 1 1/2 cups of water. (boil and reduce heat for about 20 min)
1 1/2 cups of zucchini squash
2 eggs
2 celery stalks chopped
1 cup cilantro chopped
1/2 hot pepper chopped
1 tbsp. Rogan Josh (seasoning mix we got from Ali and Andrew :) - it's paprika, garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, and some hot peppers. Next time I would use 2 tbsp. of Rogan Josh - it is so good you can't go wrong.

Mix it all, fill your lightly oiled cupcake molds and put in the over. 350F for 20 - 25 min. If you wait for them to slightly cool down they will come out perfectly!

Sprinkle cores salt when they are ready and serve with a nice salad, this is a good brunch or potluck item. If you have leftovers - they are good cold or warm the next day.

 This is our herb and flower garden - can you think of a better way to start your day?! Well this is all for now - Have a wonderful 4th of July weekend and be kind to one another.

Bob & Yifat

Veggie Burger Delight!

 

Every once in awhile, we will get in the mode of eating a burger. Is it only me?! or do you get happy memories of having one, and you get excited when you know eating a burger is in your near future!?
For me it works even as my significant other is cooking one of his special veggie burgers, I think I get even happier because they are so good and they are healthy - keeping my conscience clean!

last night he informed me "we are having a burger" and as I grew happy and worried free, he started to get irritated, "we don't have half of the things the recipe calls for" and "how can you find anything in this mess?!?!?" that would directed to my pantry - which I have to admit got a bit out of control. my glass jar collection of nuts, seeds, dried beans, teas and other goodies gave birth to some more jars - otherwise I cant really explain what is going on there...  but that's a side note, back to our burger dilemma - trying this recipe or not, for me there was no going back, my stomach was thinking about this yummy burger and so helped switching flax meal with a mix of chia seeds and hemp seeds (hey - they are all super foods and get sticky with water - how can we go wrong?!) and Bob was ready to do the best he could with what we had. 20 min later we ate a delicious burger and no, no fries, but a wonderful summer salad in front of the T.V - hey we are humans after all ;)

Bob's burger is based on this veggie burger recipe, but we replace the following: Dulse for Mushrooms, Flax meal with a mix of Chia and Hemp seeds horseradish-flavored mustard with horseradish and surprisingly we had TVP (textured vegetable protein)! While he was working on that I found 2 (lucky for us) frozen sprouted whole wheat buns and had time to experiment with left over beet salad and an avocado. It was a short experiment - you chop and mix all the ingredients (I used our vita-mix) plus a lemon and a bit of salt and the results are an amazing spread to use on your bun or as a dip for your veggies. The color ,rich purple, makes it so much more fun and special.

I think last night's burger had an all together different taste from the original - but now that we actually bought Dulse and Flex meal I'm ready to give this receipt another try!

Have a wonderful worth sharing testing in your kitchen,
Bob and Yifat

Do you love your farmers market?

Here's to being in-love!
I'm in-love with the city we live in, with my husband, with the weather and with the farmer's market. 

Reno is such a cool place. Around town we have so many farmer's markets and our community embraces them. Every Saturday morning we are going to the closest one, within 2 miles, usually with some vague plan that is ready to be changed based on what is available, looks, tastes and smells good to us.  Many times I will see something new and unfamiliar and I will ask the farmer what it is and how to cook/eat it. Bob will shake his head and look at the watch. Saturdays are not to be spent in conversation with strangers :)

We try to eat fresh ,local grown, sometimes organic vegetables and fruit throughout the year and fresh fruit is something I really miss during the winter! Now I'm finding myself waiting for the weekend to see what else we can find.


Last week we bought 3 lemon cucumbers to try in a salad, and a herb name Lovage to grow in my herb garden.


Lemon Cucumber and Dill

What is really cool is how the veggies themselves change. Garlic is the best example, several weeks ago green garlic was really green, we used it all the time in salads and egg dishes. It was really mellow. Each week the green garlic has gotten closer to its mature state with distinct cloves. Until then it is tender with very little of the parchment type skin it gets when more mature.
  

On a typical Saturday we'll get home and start planning our lunch which will usually involve one or two salads, a veggie dish and maybe some fruit.
 

This weekend we had great finds, and we BBQ'd; corn on the cob, turnips, interesting looking squash and fresh garlic - all turned out wonderful and we made a soy-garlic sauce to sprinkle on top.



Corn, Garlic and Squash BBQ!

 

Our Table

My plate half way

To pair with it, from with last week craziness (we bought this silly amount of beets), I chopped all of them and made a fresh beet salad with a third and bagged the rest for a quick add-in to salads and shakes. 

you can see a similar beet salad we have done before here.

It turned out to be the perfect Saturday with friends dropping by and having a watermelon on our newly cleaned deck.

Have a wonderful week and eat veggies!
Bob and Yifat
 

 

 

 

First BBQ, parties and other reflections

 Spring is here. Time to start dragging out porch furniture, cleaning our deck and dusting off the BBQ. This is exactly what we did with warmer than normal temperatures over the last few weekends. And when I say BBQ - I mean BBQ and dinner parties (too many parties -one of the reasons we are late on posting)

One BBQ menu was eggplant and corn on the grill while smoky veggie chili was cooking on the stove, and a side of spring green salad with apple. The weather was so beautiful I forgot to take pictures of our meal, except maybe the best part of the day - the dessert! after our meal we played Mexican train - which if you are not familiar is a domino game that is a blast. A few rounds later we served espresso in some glasses we bought during our last trip to Israel and a raw carrot cake. The recipe for this cake comes from a raw food blog that I'm enjoying reading and was totally fantastic. The cashew butter was to die for and I had to remind my self how much this cake is rich in calories to get me to stop from eating the whole thing in 3 min.
 

 Since we are trying to cover here the three weeks we didn't write I'm going to share more dinners with you - ahi tuna salad and baked cauliflower. Both really simple to cook, but requires some tricks. The first one is for your ahi tuna, we prefer rare which means warm in the center. This is harder for tuna than for meat. My technique is a very hot pan to sear the tuna than remove from heat and cover. This allows the tuna to continue cooking but makes it easier to prevent over cooking. The times vary based on how thick the fillet is. for up to 2" searing should be only a few minutes and covered cooking another 4 or 5. You can check with a sharp knife before slicing.  The second tip is your cauliflower - this is from my mom - to save time in the oven first put it in boiling water for about 10-15 min, until it's half done, then remove it and place on cooking sheet with some oil and seasoning and bake if at 400F for 25 min or until it's done. (soft and sweet)

 

 

 That's it for now - Remember - It's not what you have in life, It's who you are sharing it with!

Yifat and Bob.

Bright Eggs and Beets

We went shopping at the local Food Co-op this week, we were nearby and had read an article in the newspaper about local eggs. The article talked about organic, pastured eggs. A little more research piqued our interest as these eggs are supposedly more nutritious and tasty. A little more creativity and we had a very delicious breakfast; a combination of kale salad, eggs and fresh mushrooms from our Co-op, a perfect combination.

If you are interested here is what we learned:

The typical grocery story egg ("conventional" in the egg business jargon)- chickens are caged and do not have access to grass, bugs and sunshine. Pastured eggs are the most expensive and the birds get sunshine and bugs if they can find them (that's a good thing!).

A visit to the American Egg Board’s website turned up nothing about pastured eggs but did have definitions of cage free, free range etc. They did have a nice jingle Press here for Jingle website.
A visit to the American Pastured Poultry Association (APPA) didn’t turn up anything controversial. The most interesting thing we found was in the local Co-op’s newsletter which quoted from a 2007 Mother Earth News article about egg testing that stated that pastured eggs can have:

• 1/3 less cholesterol;
• 1/4 less saturated fat;
• 2/3 more vitamin A;
• 5 times more vitamin D;
• 3 times more omega-3 fatty acids;
• 7 times more beta carotene;

than a conventional egg (http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/2007-10-01/Tests-Reveal-Healthier-Eggs.aspx#ixzz2IGhoQ0HM).

We would also like to mention two tasty salads we ate this week, the first is a beet salad - low in calories and highly nutritious: rich source of B-complex vitamins, minerals such as iron, manganese, copper, and magnesium. Beets are also known as “cardiovascular health friendly" root vegetables -certain unique pigment antioxidants in the root as well as in its top greens have found to offer protection against coronary artery disease and stroke, to lower cholesterol levels within the body, and to have anti-aging effects. With all that said beets also have a wonderful sweet taste when cooked. The red juice can and will be messy and will paint everything in a beautiful red color including your insides ;)
This wonderful salad can be made in advance as the flavor strengthens with time (hours to one day).
For this salad combine 4-8 small beets, fresh cilantro and parsley leaves, one stalk of celery chopped, 2- 3 green onions and 1/2 hot green pepper or to individual taste, lemon juice, olive oil and salt.

Our second salad is fresh colorful garden salad with sauerkraut and olive oil for dressing!



That is all worth sharing now, off we go to enjoy the rest of this beautiful spring sunny Sunday. We would love to hear back from you - so leave a comment if you like.
Bob and Yifat

Cravings

Winter Sky

The winter is dragging on and we are hoping that spring is around the corner, at least we have convinced ourselves that it is. It is the time that a little bit of laziness creeps in, not enough sunshine, too much cold and dark. It is the perfect time for comfort food. At least this is what you tell yourself. My all-time favorite comfort food is potato chips, I think Yifat's is chocolate, but it isn't fair since chocolate is good for you. I can't say the same for potato chips. I think next to potato chips it is a hamburger and I know this is high on Yifat's list. Cravings are centered somewhere deep in our DNA telling us to eat more fat and protein. There are better people than me that probably can ignore them, I can't all the time; but there is hope. This difficulty we have staying away from fats is backed up of course in scientific studies and general knowledge of ourselves.

There was a study released in February entitled Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease with a Mediterranean Diet http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1200303#t=abstract. The study finds an inverse relationship between a Mediterranean Diet and the cardiovascular risk. The Mediterranean diet is defined by Wikipedia as” inspired by the traditional dietary patterns of southern Italy, Greece, and Spain The principal aspects of this diet include proportionally high consumption of olive oil, legumes, unrefined cereals, fruits and vegetables, moderate to high consumption of fish, moderate consumption of dairy products (mostly as cheese and yogurt), moderate wine consumption, and low consumption of meat and meat products.” The study has been criticized because (read the comments) lack of control on the “low fat group”, funding by “food companies” and general weak statistical significance.
We think a more interesting take is that it is difficult to stay on a low fat diet for a long time and there is a growing body of evidence that consumption of fats are important to overall health. For example a good summary article about Omega 3 fatty acids (http://www.ecmaj.ca/content/178/2/177.full) explains that “Consumption of recommended intakes of omega-3 fatty acids may lead to a general increase in the overall health and well-being of the population.” Ok why all the science? In the end it is about making decisions everyday about what to eat and knowing that in a world in which you are surrounded by bad choices you will occasionally make a bad choice. I have found a substitute for my beloved hamburgers, which is so good I barely miss the real thing. The Portobello burger which I have been eating for years and generally curbs my desire for a meat burger.

 

The way to cook this burger is simple - heat a pan with olive oil until hot- add Portobello and sear on both sides. Reduce heat and cover. In the meantime tart toasting the bun with olive oil. The Portobello should be done in 5 minutes after searing. We chose goat cheese, sundried tomatoes and red onion for our toppings.

That's all for today! Bob and Yifat  

What's for Dinner? Whole Fish in a Salt shell



Easy Meal 

"..I feel like whole fish for dinner, but I don't feel like cooking or doing anything to the fish... oh man, we should just go out..." Does this sound familiar? Does cooking whole fish sound too challenging? Well, we have news for you! This is actually how we started our week craving a nice whole fish (like we had in Jaffa, Israel by the sea) and we did not feel like spending a huge amount of time on it. We decided on a simple technique that resulted in a great meal.

All you need is a fresh fish or two, depending on your hunger level (or how big your eyes are..), sea salt - one pound for every pound of fish and egg white (I used an egg substitute and it worked fine). make a mixture from salt and egg white, place  1/3 in a baking pan, place the fish in center, if you have more then one fish you should create good spacing between them, than cover the fish with the rest of salt mixture and bake at 420 F for 25 min for a 2-3 lb fish. If you have a large dinner party a bigger fish would do the trick, just remember to think in advance if you have that much salt and a good size baking pan. Remember a bigger fish would require a longer time, a general role would be to add ~ 10 min for every pound. For example a 5 lb fish would require 45 -50 min in the oven.
After the oven let the fish rest for about 5 min, than use a knife to break the crust. The fish will be moist, creamy and just absolutely wonderful! Enjoy and watch for bones.

 

Break the hard salt shell and dig in while it's hot!

 

We selected Brazini (AKA European Seabass) and had it descaled and gutted at the market.If you are into sustainability then you should review the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch when shopping for fish or selecting fish in a restaurant. They even have an app for a smart phone. http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/sfw_recommendations.aspx?c=ln. We got the Brazini at Whole Foods which does well by another guide or better described as a scorecard http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/oceans/seafood/. Whole Foods does ok forget about Trader Joes.

Leave you with these beautiful flowers we enjoy around the house.
Happy Purim and have a great rest of your weekend, Bob and Yifat.

Travel, travel, travel

Tel Aviv Beach

I think that all those that travel somewhat frequently know that it can be challenging to maintain a healthy diet and exercise regimen. You are knocked out of your routine, your normal surroundings and your normal schedule. Add jet lag and visiting relatives to the mix for those further travel destinations and it is a recipe for a serious setback for your goals. We travel a lot (a title that was in the running for the blog was "14 months on companion pass") so a few tips we follow...... 

• Include food as a carry-on - nuts, fruits and dark chocolate are our favorites
• Drink lots of Water
• Set a goal to exercise while on travel..... and plan for it and if you don't do a good job planning- take a walk once a day, use the steps and keep on moving
• As for Jet Lag - exercise, hydrate, be disciplined about staying in bed when your body wants to get up and we take Melatonin supplements (in a all natural sleeping aid) it really works! I got this tip from a long distance traveling pro.

We spent some time thinking about the Blog and what we are writing about these last few weeks. In the end we are excited about sharing things from our life that we find interesting about living in the moment and being happy. For us eating healthy and staying active is a life style, not a diet, and is important for our happiness, simple as that. Don’t get me wrong- we love good food, a nice drink and to travel, more often than not it is the company at the seat next to you rather than the destination that makes all the difference and this is what we write about.

We sampled a lot of Israeli cuisine which I would describe as a potpourri of the Middle East, Europe and America with a good bit of all fusion. What about Thai ribs with curry coconut vegetables?

 

A classic Tel Aviv meal looks like this- we were treated to this by friends of ours on a Saturday Brunch looking out over Tel Aviv, a city close to our hearts and stomach.

 

Tel Aviv Brunch with Friends - Gorgeous table!

Tahini is ubiquitous in Israel, it is as Ranch Dressing seems to be in the US. When we got back our first meal was eggplant with Tahini. We realized we were out of Tahini paste after the eggplant was in the oven, no problem - I knew of a bag of sesame seeds hiding in the pantry and so we made our own paste (pretty much toasting and grinding here is the recipe) after tasting and congratulating ourselves we continued on to make Tahini dressing. The difference being converting the "peanut butter" like paste to a smooth flowing dressing with water, lemon, garlic and salt. Just remember that there are as many ways to make it as there are home cooks in the Middle East. Also I was a little lazy and jet lagged and I don't have a good yield on this recipe which means I don't have a good serving size so if you try it or have better information, please share. An interesting website that has another version plus a lot of cool facts is http://mideats.com/. I gathered a lot of tips and recipes about making Tahini sauce from those who make it often. They include making humus and tahini together and using the water that the chickpeas were cooked in to add to the Tahini, using parsley, using cilantro etc. Sesame has one of the highest oil contents of any seed and is made of Omega-6 fatty acids.

We will end this post with some pictures from meals we had while in Israel for your enjoyment.
Kiss your Valentine’s and have a happy healthy weekend!
Bob and Yifat 

Hummus plate for breakfast with tahini and egg! yummy

Two of my favorite salads: Root salad and "Israeli" salad - tomatoes and cucumbers chopped finely.



Breakfest Feast
 

Home made Salmon and Couscous salad!

On the other side of our planet

Not quite, since China is on the other side, but we are far from Reno for that matter any way!

We had a busy couple of days (weeks) and finally had a moment to catch up and write about things that are worth sharing.

 

Zen Breakfast - The Mission

We started our trip in San Diego where it is always sunny (except the two days we were there when it rained all the time, no complaints here, the company was fantastic and compensated for the lack of good weather).
We were in San Diego to watch Bob's niece compete at a gymnastic meet over the weekend and we were so impressed! Way to go Ali!! During this family vacation time we ate out a bunch and we have two restaurants that we are so happy to share with our family we are happy to share here, on the blog: The Mission and True Food.

The first is a breakfast place - which we all know is the most important meal of the day! It was Maimonides (Rambam) or sometimes Adelle Davis is given credit for saying: "At breakfast eat as a King, Lunch as a Prince and Dinner as a Pauper". I also know that in order to lose weight a small dinner well before bed time can work it's magic. It is both intuitive and supported by growing body of evidence. Your body is more prone to burn fat at certain times of day and store fat at other times," said Satchin Panda, associate professor in the Regulatory Biology Laboratory at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California.
For a big breakfast we chose The Mission with 3 locations in San Diego and it was a great choice, The 8 of us got a table and ordered a good variety of food - from big fluffy pancakes to Mexican items, smoothies and rosemary potato everything is fresh and made in house! On their menu you can find healthy and healthier items such as the Zen breakfast - Scrambled egg whites, braised tofu, brown rice, grilled zucchini & squash with tomato & onion garnish, and their own toasted granola & fresh fruit - a house made grain cereal with almonds, raisins, honey and an assortment of seasonal fresh fruit and berries you can add plain low fat yogurt if you like.



True Kitchen - Drinks getting as much attention as the food!

The second restaurants called True Food Kitchen - The brain child of Dr. Andrew Weil. From the website: The basis for Dr. Andrew Weil’s anti-inflammatory diet isn’t meant to deprive a healthy body of great flavors, it’s meant to take popular trends in cuisine and pair them with healthy living. Try the kale and quinoa, you’ll live longer. Drink the seabuckthorn and acai, you’ll feel better. At True Food Kitchen, we want you to feel better, live longer, and make your mouth happy in the process. 

And the food doesn't lie. We ended up in here late at night as a second choice for the crowd we were with (I counted 11), the menu raised some eyebrows and lots of questions. Check out the menu here for some ideas http://www.foxrc.com/frcwp/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/True_Food_Kitchen_San_Diego_Dinner_Menu4.pdf. When the food came,  beautifully prepared, after some tasting the smiles started to appear on everyone's face.  It was a good meal. hopefully one that will create an appetite for new food - for true food.

Speaking of Kale and Quinoa- we have it for breakfast often, it is simple: cook the quinoa with chopped tomatoes, chopped Kale and whatever else sounds good and in your fridge. A bowl of this goes is a great healthy start to the day.

The reactions around the table at True Food reminded me about an interesting study I read recently. It was released earlier this in month in Science. To get a copy from the Journal it costs $20. I found it online at http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~dtg/Quoidbach%20et%20al%202013.pdf... for free. The title is “End of History Illusion”. A good summary of the Science study can be found at the New York Times at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/04/science/study-in-science-shows-end-of-history-illusion.html?smid=pl-share. The basic premise is that we, humans, consistently discount the amount our personalities, habits and likes/dislikes will change in the future, hence the clever title. At the most basic level I think we find this instinctually correct. Grow older get wiser summed up eloquently by Emerson --“The years teach much which the days never knew”. It strikes me that another way to state the study’s findings is that people tend to think that their current personal development, wisdom, philosophy and view of the world cannot be improved upon or simply change. This knowledge gives me some comfort when thinking about the intransigence you come across in people as well as reminding me that my opinions may and likely will change moving forward in time. Heck, only a short time ago I couldn't have imagined that I would be focused on a whole food plant based diet. or publish a blog in such matter.

Baby it's cold outside!

Winter is here. And this year, so far, it's a cold one. You might want to listen to our favorite version of "baby it's cold outside" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjYUzpdKMZs (no advertisement).

The holidays are over, resolutions have been made and now it is time to put some plans together. We talk to many people who like to plan athletic events in the future to keep motivation for training and good eating. Today, especially since it is so cold outside, we sat inside and we put together some targets throughout the year that involve a triathlon, half a marathon, a 10k and a weekend hiking trip. They're spread out through the year in order to always have something to "get ready" for. Intersperse that with a beach vacation or two and you should have plenty of motivation for your year.

The plans don't have to be big and complex to stay healthy. Yesterday we went Snowshoeing. This is a great way to get yourself out in the snow and enjoying amazing views and a good workout, even when it's cold. And when we say cold we are talking about 25F - with no wind and sunny clear sky it is the optimal day to go and play in the snow.

Snowshoe trail at Tahoe Donner.

Snowshoeing is a good moderate exercise which seems important based on a few health studies that have hit the news in the last few months. The news reports, which typically attempt to condense a scientific study to a 20 second summary of the most scintillating material seemed to imply that running was bad and running hard and long worse. One study "Cardiovascular Damage Resulting from Chronic Excessive Endurance Exercise" concluded among other things that a sweet spot for health was running less than 20 miles per week, in runs of 30 to 45 minutes over three or four days, at about an 8:30 to 10:00 pace. I read a summary of an editorial in the British journal Heart that summarizes it well including the nuances that are important to understand before you hang up your running shoes and hit the couch. The basic theme here is that the study finds the situation with excessive intense running analogous to increasing wear and tear on the heart instead of making it stronger. The link to the summary is http://todayhealth.today.com/_news/2012/12/03/15625246-running-farther-faster-and-longer-can-kill-you?lite.



Sunday brunch over Sunday newspaper of course...

Sunday's breakfast, after waking up to another sub 10 degree morning in Reno, was warm, filling and Sunday worthy! This one is my take on an oatmeal casserole I make when we have company for breakfast. Quinoa and almonds pack this casserole with protein and the fruit adds fiber and sweetness. the recipe is here.

We did a lot of "test kitchen" experimentation through the week. Lots of interesting things, but not worthsharing. One meal did stick out because it is a vegetable that is often overlooked for anything but salads. The radish develops an amazing nutty flavor after cooking. We broiled them after slicing so thin you could see through on a mandolin. Broiled in olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and it was a great accompaniment to a green salad.

















Stay warm out there, Yifat and Bob.

A New Year is here

Two big events this last week got the creative juices flowing for food. First to have something not allowed on Detox and the second to keep the food interesting during Detox. I (Bob) am still not sold on Detox and we posted a paper last week that explains that science isn't sold on it as well. But if it helps being more focused on the food you eat and general healthiness then more power to it.
A Note from Yifat: Our Body is naturally detoxing every second we breath. by cutting out foods that over load our detoxification systems we are allowing it to take a breather, catch up, and do its work more efficiently. This process might not be proven; but, it is working out for most of us, leaving us feeling more energized, more focused and it can restart weight loss :)
Processed food is a very big no no on Detox so when thinking of what you want to eat, simple comforting processed food comes to mind.......think frozen food section of the supermarket....... lasagnas, casseroles, perogies, burritos and potstickers. We have a winner, potstickers! so we actually went to the supermarket to buy a big bag of frozen potstickers. I am not putting on airs or trying to act superior, but we just couldn't do it. The list of ingredients went on for several inches and we love each other more then to put some crap in our bodies (most of the time). So now we had a project- homemade healthy potstickers.

They were great!!! and definitely worth sharing. Chinese potstickers have been around since the Song dynasty (960 – 1280 A.D.). According to quick research "The exact origins of potstickers are lost to history", but it doesn't take a genius to understand how they came to be, an accident in the kitchen and overcooked dumplings and walla you have a culinary masterpiece. We did take one shortcut and that was to buy pre-made wonton wrappers.... next time wholewheat from scratch! Look below for a dipping sauce recipe worth trying with your potstickers, we used the same sauce as a salad dressing and drizzled it over our grilled veggies. Yummy.



Preparing potstickers

 

 

potstickers in the Pan 

Come and eat them while they are hot!

New Year's eve was a fondue party that was fun and had a lot of healthy choices. unfortunately we didn't take any pictures during, only unpublishable pictures of the after party (and they are not worth sharing ;) ) Everyone knows about the health studies that promote red wine. I personally subscribe to the "a drink a day keeps the doctor away" study. Either way we had it covered several times over on New Year's Eve.
A couple of champagne factoids:

• Experts put the ideal temperature at between 39 and 48 degrees.
• The industry standard is that it should take six counterclockwise twists to pop a cork.

A cocktail recipe that comes with St. Germaine, probably our favorite liqueur, is "The St-Germain Cocktail". You can skip the soda.

The second part of the food creativity was keeping the detox interesting. As we write this we are on day 4.

So what did we eat for detox week you are asking?

You can pretty much eat anything you want except: Sugar, Dairy, Meat (any animal product really), processed food, peanuts, corn, wheat and alcohol… Don’t roll your eyes, you can still eat a lot of good delicious foods – whole food plant based – what more do you need?!

We are starting every morning with a different kind of shake - one thing they all have in common is dark leafy greens! Except protein they are full with fiber to help kick your digestive system into gear and all that fiber will keep your hunger at bay. Adding a scoop of protein powder makes it a complete meal (there is plant based protein powder available).

For lunch we had a big salad and left over soup from the previous night - choosing soup at night was a good way to keep warm and to keep our meals light and easy to digest.

If a detox sounds like something you would like to try but you feel like it is too hard to start it cold turkey - you can always think about adding a green shake in the morning, a big salad at lunch and a nice veggie side dish to your regular menu. think about crowding out foods with veggies, fruits, nuts and seeds instead of eliminating food that you like. Cook at home as much as you can and drink lots of water.

Here is an example for a veggie side dish you can easily make - Grilled veggies with Asian Ginger Dressing.

Grilled veggies with Asian Ginger Dressing.

Close up shot!

 

Have a happy healthy worth sharing year!
Bob and Yifat