Showing posts with label cleanse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cleanse. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

What’s for lunch?

“Not everything that is more difficult is more meritorious.”—St. Thomas Aquinas

I believe that this particular philosophy applies nicely to lunch. A lunchtime meal should be simple to prepare, but just as delicious and satisfying as a more complex dinner.
Sometimes it is dinner, re-heated the next day. Those are my favourite lunches—a nice warm meal with almost no effort at all.

On those days when leftovers are not available, I sometimes turn to my panini press. Whether you prepare a sandwich using bread, a bun, a pita or whatever else you have around, the panini press makes any kind of sandwich feel a little fancier.

Yesterday, I decided to make my lunchtime sandwich using a wheat-free tortilla, as I am still keeping up the cleanse (except for one delicious encounter with maki sushi made with tempura veggies inside). My stomach is feeling good, so I am sticking to lots of fruit, veggies, legumes and rice, along with dairy-free chocolate and spelt flour goodies for treats.

My sandwich was a whatever-is-in-the-fridge kind of a deal. It happened to be mushrooms, peppers, tomato, avocado, spinach and some Daiya vegan cheddar cheese. I am not a big fan of vegan cheese, but I decided to give this a second chance, and I found that it was pretty good. It did actually melt, and acted as the “glue” to keep the ingredients together.
I topped it off with a little fine sea salt and some pepper and it was good to go.
Next time, I would like to add some hummus or maybe some pureed black beans.
What are you having for lunch? 
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Sunday, January 29, 2012

Chocolate chip cookie wedges

I have just added the Recipage feature to my blog. I really hope you’ll like it. I first saw it on another blog, and I liked the way that it produces a printable page for each recipe that also includes a photo of the end result. I don’t know about you, but I like to see what I’m trying to make.

I am launching the feature with one recipe—delicious vegan chocolate chip “cookie” wedges. I am still doing my cleanse, but, as I said, I haven’t given up sugar, and who doesn’t need a little treat now and then? And, these little treats are made with spelt flour rather than traditional white flour. Feel free to use white flour if you like. 

These wedges are chewy, with a dense oat-y texture and a yummy chocolate chip cookie taste. I love the combination of oats and chocolate, almost as much as I love chocolate and peanut butter.

Try serving them warm with a little chocolate drizzle and some vanilla ice cream.

Let me know what you think of the new feature and of the recipe!
Chocolate Chip Cookie Wedges

by Joann MacDonald
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 to 40 minutes
Keywords: bake dessert vegan vegetarian nut-free chocolate chips cake cookie

Ingredients
  • 1 cup light spelt flour
  • 3 cups quick oats
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3/4 cup vegan margarine
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup organic cane sugar
  • 1 tsp egg replacer in 2 tbsp water
  • 1/4 cup soy milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 3/4 cup non-dairy chocolate chips

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, oats, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, beat margarine, sugars, egg replacer, soy milk and vanilla with an electric mixer on medium speed until well mixed. Add the flour mixture gradually, mixing on low speed until blended. Stir in chocolate chips.
Press dough firmly into greased or sprayed 10 inch springform pan.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until golden on top. Cool before cutting into wedges.
Powered by Recipage
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Friday, January 27, 2012

Insta-Friday in real life

Once again, I am posting a Friday look at our week in cell phone photos.

The weather has been completely erratic and mostly miserable, and I know us “northern” types are starting to feel the pain. Some sun once in a while would be lovely.

Hang in there friends. Spring is around the corner…sort of.

In the meantime, enjoy some simple pleasures, like great friends, good books, a warm fire, maybe some nice wine and some delicious food (of course).





All my life I have lived within about an hour’s drive of the CN Tower in Toronto. But, I never actually visited the thing. Last Sunday, teachers and their families got in free—a perfect way to save yourself about $100. See that first pic? Time to get my car cleaned.

At 553.33 m (1,815 ft, 5 inches), it is the world’s tallest tower. I had some trouble standing on the glass floor, I’ll tell you. It’s darn windy and cold on that outdoor observation level—ten degrees colder than ground level, my son reported.

In terms of food this week, I have been cleansing. I had this great smoothie while I was shopping at the local health food store—veggies and fruit and dates…yum. I made a favourite veggie and rice soup, using a recipe from Robin Robertson’s One-Dish Vegetarian Meals. I added some beans for protein. My daughter made a special “cupcake” of her own creation the other day—applesauce, cut up apples and red sprinkles. She said that if I put it on my blog I would be sure to win the Top 25 Vegan & Vegetarian Mom Blogs contest…so vote for me and make my little girl happy. J


This was the view from my back door on Sunday—unfortunately, the next day it rained and melted the rink. At least they had the good sense to take the nets home. Today? Freezing rain. You never know what you're going to get around here.
Linking up with:
life rearranged
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

The cleanse continues

In search of better health and wellness, I continue with my gentle cleansing routine.

I am starting each day with a mix of water, 2 tsp powdered psyllium husks, 2 tsp bentonite clay and a little bit of cranberry juice. I’m finding that I am very thirsty, so I think you need to drink (much) more water than the psyllium package recommends.
My breakfast is still mainly quick quinoa flakes or quick cooking steel cut oats with fresh blueberries, sliced banana, 1 tbsp ground flax and vanilla almond milk.

Because, as we know, one of life’s essential pleasures is food, I am still enjoying little treats along the way:

·         EnviroKidz peanut butter rice crispy bars

·         a dairy-free, gluten-free chocolate peanut butter bar from the health food store (so yummy)

·         a smoothie made with spinach, kale, banana, dates and strawberries (also from the health food store)

·         a spelt flour banana muffin from a local bakery

·         clementines, bananas

·         my favourite oatmeal berry bars (made with spelt flour)

Recent lunches:

1.       Sesame rice crackers with dairy-free baba ganoush; green salad with carrots, walnuts and craisins; dried apricots

2.       Riceworks rice crisps with hummus

3.       Leftovers of the following dinners—don’t you love a hot lunch?

Recent dinners:

1.       Extra-firm tofu sliced, marinated with Premier Japan’s gluten-free teriyaki sauce, olive oil and garlic powder, and baked; VitaSpelt pasta elbows with chickpea and tomato sauce (recipe was on the pasta box); salad

2.       Minestrone soup

3.       Brown rice topped with sweet potato and lentil stew (using a recipe from The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone)
By the way, I did throw in a couple of rum and ginger ales on Sunday. Apparently that’s a gluten-free combo!
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Monday, January 23, 2012

A kick-starting cleanse

Okay, I admit it. Christmas is over.

I started making all kinds of sweets before Christmas and I have kept it up into the new year. My body has been protesting, so I have decided to kick my sluggish system into gear by doing a little bit of a cleanse. Yes, I am jumping on that bandwagon.
I am not totally giving up sugar—don’t get crazy now. And, I am not doing any fasting—what joy is there in a life without food? I am simply staying away from wheat and dairy. I am not going totally gluten-free—I am still enjoying spelt and kamut flours and pastas. I, like many people, find they are easier to tolerate than regular wheat products.
I am also cleansing my system with twice-daily “shakes” (they are really too disgusting to be called that) made from water, 2 tsp powdered psyllium husks, 2 tsp bentonite clay and a little bit of cranberry juice.
Here’s a look at the menu I enjoyed on the first day of my cleanse. It was really easy and didn’t require more work than usual.

Breakfast
My breakfast is basically the same every day, either oats or quick quinoa flakes (pictured).

Quick cooking steel cut oats with fresh blueberries, sliced banana, 1 tbsp ground flax and vanilla almond milk
1 tsp Natural Calm magnesium supplement dissolved in warm water

Lunch
1 tsp apple cider vinegar (to calm my stomach)

Buckwheat sweet potato noodles with gluten-free teriyaki sauce
Sol Original veggie burger with organic ketchup (no bun)
Corn

½ package Emergen-C vitamin C supplement in water
Dinner

My daughter wasn’t feeling well, and had a craving for pancakes, so:
Spelt flour banana blueberry flax pancakes with Earth Balance margarine and maple syrup
Scrambled eggs

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Evening
Lundberg Farms Sante Fe Barbecue rice chips
Traditional Medicinals Eater’s Digest tea (the best tea ever for digestive issues)

Add to that lots of water and some vitamin D (because we aren’t getting any sun right about now)
Anybody else cleansing? I’d love to hear your plan.

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