Munggo Soup

For a healthier punch, I added brussel sprouts and yukon gold potatoes to this humble Filipino dish. Munggo is a Filipino term which means mung beans. 

Adobong Dilaw Chickpea Salad

Mixed greens, adobong dilaw chickpeas, kale, carrots, shaved brussel sprouts, grape tomatoes, pomegranate seeds, brown rice with tahini lemon garlic dressing.

Spaghetti Squash with Basil Pesto, White Beans and Kale

Basil pesto made with walnuts, cashews, nutritional yeast and salt. Tossed with roasted spaghetti squash, cannellini beans and kale. Sprinkled some red chili pepper flakes to add a slight heat to the dish.

Recipe from Dr. Greger’s “How Not to Diet Cookbook”

I discovered Sheba Ethiopian Injera bread from Whole Foods last year but wasn’t crazy about it at first until I had the idea of baking them to a crisp (cut into quarters then bake. 400 degrees, about 11-12 minutes). Wow! I love them now and I usually eat it with salads, soups and spreads. It serves as a bread substitute for me. Injera bread is made of only two ingredients: teff flour and water, The batter is fermented for 24 hours then poured in a pan, cooked in high flame and it turns into a crepe. The best way I can describe its taste is like a crispy thin sour dough bread.  Here is a recipe from Yum Universe if you are curious to make it on your own.

Grapefruit was one of the things we ordered from this week’s Imperfect Produce box. We had no idea how to make a dish out of this fruit aside from eating it raw so I did some digging in the internet and found that people added them to their salads. So for lunch today, I concocted this combination: Assorted greens, slices of grapefruit, toasted pumpkins seeds, chickpeas, red cabbage, turnips, red onion, avocado, a dash of garlic powder and salt/pepper to taste. I made a 3-2-1 dressing using apple cider vinegar. However, I found it a tad bit tart especially with the grapefruit that was already in the salad. In hindsight, I would’ve opted for a sweeter vinaigrette. Nonetheless, we both enjoyed it!

Jane Esselyn’s 3-2-1 No-oil Salad Dressing

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 2 tablespoons mustard of choice 1 tablespoon coconut nectar (maple syrup or your choice of sweetener)

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until smooth.

Here is a comprehensive list of No-Oil Salad Dressings recipes.

Our Sunday batch cooking: Thai red curry with butternut squash, roasted bell pepper, romanesco broccoli, crimini mushrooms and chickpeas.  I used a red curry paste from Maesri which my good friend Lek introduced me to since the company is based in her hometown of Nakhom Pathom in Thailand. The product is available at Whole Foods, Berkeley Bowl and Amazon.com. 

Vegetable Thai Curry

Ingredients 2 cans reduced fat coconut milk 2 tbsp Maesri red curry paste 1 red bell pepper, roasted and sliced 2 cups chickpeas, cooked 2 cups butternut squash 2 cups romanesco broccoli 2 cups crimini mushrooms, sliced 1/2 cup basil leaves, packed 1 tbsp coconut nectar (or 1/2 tsp brown sugar) 1 tsp himalayan salt 1 small lime 

Roast the red bell pepper at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until skin is loose and charred. Let cool. Remove skin. Take our the core together with the seeds and drain the liquid in a small container. Slice in strips and add to container. Set aside. Slice crimini mushrooms, set aside. Peel and cut butternut squash into cubes. Slice the romanesco broccoli and remove the florets. Using a pressure cooker, add the butternut squash and cook for 2 minutes at high then quick release. Add the romanesco broccoli florets and cook for another 2 minutes at high and then quick release.  After the pressure has gone down, remove the squash and romanesco broccoli florets and set aside. Turn on the stove top to medium heat. On a casserole pan, add 2 tbsp of Maesri red curry paste. Sauté for about 5 minutes until it sizzles (careful not to burn the paste- you may wish to use a 1/4 tsp of the coconut milk to avoid sticking). Add the 2 cans of coconut milk and mix thoroughly together with the coconut nectar and himalayan salt.  Add the sliced crimini mushrooms, chickpeas, red bell pepper (including the liquid), butternut squash, romanesco broccoli and basil leaves. Turn down the heat and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes. Adjust salt to taste. Turn off the stove top and let it cool. Enjoy the dish with brown rice and a few squeezes of lime.

Lunch today: Steamed baby bokchoy, grated carrots, zucchini, red cabbage, shiitake mushrooms and romanesco broccoli with Asian almond sauce. We normally use either rice noodles or rice/quinoa fusilli pasta with this dish but substituting them with the romanesco broccoli made it less calorie dense but still quite filling. An added bonus: we didn’t feel sleepy in the afternoon.

Asian Almond Sauce

3 tbsp no-salt almond butter 1/2 cup coconut aminos (tamari or soy sauce as substitute) 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds 3 cloves garlic, minced 2 tsp ginger, minced juice of 1 small lime 1 tbsp coconut nectar (honey or brown sugar as substitute) 1/2 tsp himalayan salt

Mix all ingredients together until a sauce consistency is reached. If the mixture is too thick, add more coconut aminos to thin it out. To thicken, add more almond butter.

Quick lunch last Saturday: Baked brown rice tortillas, steamed kale and romanesco broccoli with Haig’s Spicy Hummus mixed with marinara sauce, garlic powder and nutritional yeast.  After I took this photograph, I chopped the kale down so I could place it on top of the tortilla after spreading the hummus. 

It was our first time to try the romanesco broccoli which we purchased from Imperfect Produce together with the Lacinato kale. We loved it! We were also thrilled that we picked up our organic produce just four blocks away from home. 

Marinara Hummus dip

1/3 cup Engine 2 Pasta sauce or your favorite marinara sauce 1 tbsp Haig’s Spicy hummus 1 tbsp nutritional yeast 1/2 tsp garlic powder

Mix all ingredients together.

I had a sudden burst of inspiration for my lunch today and was really pleased at how it turned out. It was only after I finished eating that I found out via the internet that my experiment had a name for it. It’s called gomashio-a dry condiment originating from Japan that mixes sesame seeds and salt. The only difference was that I added mine with garlic powder. In a separate saucepan, I also sautéed some grape tomatoes and red onions in water until their juices poured out before adding a small bowl of left over cooked black/brown rice combination with the sesame seed concoction. I steamed the vegetables I had on hand: purple cabbage, grated carrots and zucchini and topped it on my rice bowl. I loved it! I think I will look into experimenting with different ingredients and see how it turns out. 

T & I were at Whole Foods Market this afternoon shopping for tortillas for the burritos we'll be packing for tomorrow's hike. We were perusing the refrigerated items across the produce section when we came across a selection of nut cheeses. I've read some great reviews about Miyoko's Kitchen that I convinced T to buy it for us as a Valentine's treat. When we got home, I cut a small wedge for this photograph and we were both blown away with its taste and texture. It was just like how we remembered it. Miyoko's Kitchen was even better than the Tofu Misozuke we tried two years ago from a local store in Oakland. I think I will be incorporating slices of this nut cheese for tomorrow's packed lunch. As I am writing this blog entry, T is eating it already with toasted sprouted bread. 

This is a GREAT breakfast dish I discovered from Yum Universe's cookbook: the buckwheat breakfast scramble. Although buckwheat is considered an alternative grain, it is actually a seed belonging to the rhubarb and sorrel plant family. I've never eaten it before so it piqued my curiosity. I tried both the raw and the toasted kind (referred to as kasha) and found that I like combining them together. This dish has a cheesy, sweet flavor and is very easy to prepare. I totally love it! To expedite cooking, I use a pressure cooker for the buckwheat. Together with the time to let the pressure naturally come down,  the process takes between 10-15 minutes. I can make a big batch and reheat portions of it in the morning. I usually eat it with steamed greens (usually curly kale or spinach), sliced tomatoes and a few squeezes of lemon. 

Buckwheat Breakfast Scramble (Adapted from Yum Universe)

Sauce

1/2 cup walnuts 3 tbsp. nutritional yeast 1/2 tsp. himalayan salt 1/2 tsp. turmeric

Scramble

1 1/2 cups toasted buckwheat (kasha), cooked 1 1/2 cups raw buckwheat, cooked 1/2 yellow onion, chopped 1/4 cup water 1/4 cup chopped roasted sweet red & yellow bell peppers (regular red peppers can be used as well)

Put all the sauce ingredients together in a Vitamix and blend until powdery. Put in a small bowl and set aside. In a separate pan, saute yellow onions and roasted sweet bell peppers for about  5-7 minutes. Add a tablespoon or two of water to prevent it from sticking to the pan. Add the cooked buckwheat and mix well. Pour the dry sauce in increments and continue to stir until it is well incorporated in the dish. Add water to moisten if necessary. Serve warm.

We like this Sweet Potato soup for its simple ingredients: garlic, onion, garam masala, red lentils, turmeric and chili pepper together with our favorite starch: the Japanese Satsuma sweet potatoes. It is perfect comfort food especially on rainy or cold days. The recipe calls for kale but we decided to try it with rainbow chard instead. We equally love it with these greens but next time we would chop them all down so that the flavor is evenly distributed throughout the soup. 

Here’s my second attempt at making a Hummus pizza. I enjoyed it just like I did the first time around. The toppings I used were crimini mushrooms, zucchini, tomatoes, spinach, pumpkin seeds and a leftover shiitake mushroom patty from Sunshine burger which I crumbled and sprinkled on top of the pizza. Loved it!

Adapted from Hummus Veggie Pizza recipe by Whole Foods Market.

“Why don’t we try this recipe?” T asked and handed me YumUniverse’s cookbook. The ingredient list was short, it was gluten free and did not include oats so I agreed. We had enough almond butter left for the recipe so we were able to make a batch this morning. Surprisingly, I had success with my initial try. My first pancake usually ends up as a disaster but this particular one did not stick to the ceramic pan without using any oil and it browned quite nicely.  After cooling it for a few minutes, T took a bite and she was very pleased with it. “It’s cooked all the way through.” she reported. We had some dark chocolate chips in the pantry so I sprinkled bits of them to every pancake. The only adjustment I made was to add about 1/2 cup of nut milk to thin the batter.  T grated apples and we topped the pancakes when we sat down to eat them. They are so good that it has become our Saturday morning ritual to make them. We look forward to the start of our weekend because of this!

After our camping trip last summer, my skin broke out into a terrible rash. I had eaten copious amounts of oats which finally confirmed what I long suspected-I had a sensitivity to it. Although oats are classified as gluten free, a protein called avenin has similar properties to wheat gluten. Believe me, I was very sad after learning this from my research. That meant oatmeal bowls were out of my breakfast repertoire. That was how I came across this healthy casserole by Cathy Fisher made of non-dairy milk, crimini mushrooms, chickpeas, onions, peas and pasta. It piqued my interest because it was convenient to prepare one big batch on the weekend and eat portions of it everyday. When I reheat this delicious creamy dish, I add a handful of steamed kale and broccolini then mix chopped roasted bell peppers. A nice final touch to give it some saltiness is to sprinkle roasted shredded nori which gives a similar taste to a tuna casserole.

Recipe courtesy of Cathy Fisher of Straightupfood.com

By the end of the week, I usually scour the fridge for leftovers and put them together for a quick meal. Tina calls it KAA (kung ano ano) which means mish mash in english. So lunch today was organic, black rice, chickpeas, red cabbage, scallions, grape tomatoes, salsa and avocado. 

We had leftover Red Lentil Chili from last week and decided that we'll transform it into a pasta dish for lunch. We had two separate pots going-one to boil the vegetables (red cabbage, grated carrots, zucchini, baby kale) and the other for the pasta. Once the vegetables were done, I added the chili. When the pasta was cooked and drained, I mixed it with the vegetable/chili sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste.