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Raw Cheese? In a salad it’s all good…

When Bobby and I went over to our cousins’ new place on Saturday, I brought a raw salad:

41 cousin salad

  • base: red leaf lettuce
  • toppings: raw corn, red bell pepper, small pieces of grapefruit, yellow heirloom tomato, shredded carrot
  • dressing: liquid gold elixir (olive oil, bragg’s liquid aminos, lemon juice, rice vinegar, garlic, stevia)

There was some leftover dressing that I brought (I didn’t put the dressing on until it was time to eat so it wouldn’t get soggy) and I left it for them. I think they really liked it; Bobby said it was especially good. They also served delicious salmon with olive oil and dill which I had a lot of (must make this) and roasted asparagus. It was a great night. Their new place is beautiful.

I have to add red pepper to the list of veggies that go in my favorite salad.

I should also add this…

42 raw blue cheese

Raw blue cheese. Amazing. I thought I didn’t even like cheese (aside from parmesan). I crumbled this over a salad and mixed it up so the flavor dissolved throughout the whole salad. I will have to go back and get more soon; I ended up having more and it was a smallish piece that I bought to begin with. I made this nice big raw salad last night:

43 raw cheese salad

  • base: red leaf and iceberg lettuce
  • toppings: raw blue cheese, red pepper, heirloom tomato, raw corn, beets (another new favorite!), red cabbage
  • dressing: liquid gold elixir (see above)

Liquid Gold Elixir (LGE) is amazing and it’s my favorite dressing. I made Natalia Rose’s dijon dressing the other day… and it’s bad. I love her LGE (with a few changes), but nothing could salvage the dijon dressing. I tried a bunch of things to fix it and I think I should just throw it away; the only reason I haven’t pitched it is because I’m too cheap. The main problem with the dijon dressing was the apple cider vinegar. I think I have an aversion to it after taking shots of it daily a few months ago (an attempt to get rid of bloating… it did help somewhat but it was too gross to keep up).

Clare asked about the etymology (word history) of the word knob yesterday, since I keep on using knobs of ginger in my green juices. Here you go…

  • knob – originally recorded in 1373 as knobe. It probably came from a Germanic or Scandinavian language (either from knobbe = knob or from knyfill = short horn). It might be related to the word knot. Knob has had various meanings – a small rounded lump or mass; a knoll; a small lump of coal; a head; a bump, protuberance. It’s also been connected to a verb meaning “to thump, beat” (probably since a beating could produce a bump… or a knob).

Etymology is a rather imprecise science; it’s a lot of guessing! Any other word requests? I just wrote a post that has to do with word formation over at A Love of Words if you want more 🙂

Oh! I’m almost done with The Hot Zone. I really like this guy’s books.

And I’m still on my yoga kick (see workouts) – I did Sadie Nardini on Saturday and I did another Dave Farmar (6/24/09) yesterday. He’s getting way too chatty for me. I think I might do a Wade Zinter today. He’s nice and quiet but all of his sessions are 90 minutes and I prefer 60-75 minute sessions when I’m doing a podcast. I guess I could just skip the end since I don’t like the supine crap anyway (bad yogi Maggie).

Happy Monday!

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The juice IS worth the squeeze

Some favorites…

Pimp my juice:

30 juice veggies

  • greens: romaine lettuce, napa cabbage, celery
  • bling: 1/2 cucumber, 1/2 granny smith apple, 1/2 lemon, ginger knob, mint

Smooth Jazz Juice (dessert):

34 dessert juice veggies

  • rhythm: celery, 1/2 cucumber
  • melody: 1 asian pear, 1/2 fuji apple, mint, 1/2 lime

Another morning, another Pimp My Juice…

35 morning juice veggies

36 morning juice

I’m really loving juice. I’ve also discovered that not only am I a juice addict, but I’m also an avocado addict. I had a craving for one on Friday night (midnight snack) and I ate it straight with a spoon and a little bit of coconut butter. It was a smallish avocado and it totally hit the spot.

I have been having frozen fruit (typically grapes or cantaloupe) at night. Chocolate just doesn’t cut it for me for dessert (::gasp::) – I’ve never really been a chocolate person. Fruit is my dessert of choice, but I try to let dinner digest for several hours before digging in.

When I make my juices, the one thing that I have to add is citrus – whether it’s lemon or lime, that zest eliminates the green taste. The ginger is also zesty; Bobby is not as much of a ginger fan as I am so I have to add it at the end if I’m making a juice for both of us. Mint is also a fun addition. These green juices with mint, lime, and cucumber make me think I’m drinking a mojito in the morning… eek! And I don’t ever ever drink.

Gena raised an interesting point today about favorite foods. What are your top 5 favorite foods? I’ll recap later with my thoughts and my own favorites.

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I’m a juice addict

I made Bobby a treat for lunch today. It’s based on some Cuban sandwich that he used to have in Miami a lot.

38 bobby bagel

  • 1 sesame seed bagel, buttered
  • marinated beef (thin thin slices) from Han Kook
  • heirloom tomato slices
  • crunchy pita chips and a crumbled veggie cracker

I made myself a huge juice, which I think tasted just as good. Or better!

39 morning juice cuke

  • 1 large cucumber
  • celery (a little more than pictured)
  • 1/2 granny smith apple
  • 1/2 lemon
  • large knob of ginger

40 big juice

This was my biggest juice yet – it almost overflowed towards the end.

Tonight we’re going over to our cousins’ new place for dinner. They just bought a new place and they’re cooking (salmon). We’re bringing a big raw salad. I think I’ll make one of my favorite raw salads with liquid gold elixir.

This morning we went to the farmers’ market towards the end – and got 5 pounds of heirloom tomatoes for $1/pound. We also got some grapes ($1/pound). The farmers’ market is really beautiful, but in general it’s overpriced. In general, it’s more expensive than Whole Foods. I only buy things when I can get a deal towards the closing of the market. It’s frustrating; I want to support local farmers directly, but it’s easier and cheaper to just go to Whole Foods if I want to go oraganic/local.

I also did some yoga this morning – Sadie Nardini’s power half hour. I’m a little sore from all the yoga I’ve been doing this week. It’s a good kind of sore though; it’s almost refreshing.

Word time…

  • salmon – first recorded around 1205. this word comes from Old French (salmun), which was from Latin (salmonem). it might have originally meant “leaper” – the word for “to leap” was salire in Latin. it replaced the Old English word læx – which actually kind of stayed around… as lox!

I’m off to read some more. I did just get The Hot Zone (a terrifying true story about ebola, by Richard Preston – I read his other book the other week) from the library and I kind of want to break into that… but I’m already in the middle of about 5 other books so I should probably finish them first. Or not 🙂

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Lotus root, cheesy grits, yoga, & juice!

Have you ever tried lotus root?

32 lotus root

It’s a veggie that I like to get in Asian markets. It comes precut, in a bag, with water. I just drain off the water, rinse them, and chop them for salads like this one.

33 raw salad lotus root

This was one of my favorite salads (red leaf & iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, cabbage, raw corn, mushrooms, seaweed, salsa liquid gold elixir, and this one – PARMESAN) topped off with slices of lotus root. Along with this salad I had more steamed broccoli stems with more parm.

Lotus root is a water plant, like the water lily. It has beautiful flowers above the water; underneath grows the delicious root. It’s kind of crunchy and tastes like a hybrid of a water chestnut and a potato. It’s low in calories, has lots of fiber, and provides Vitamin C, Potassium, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Phosphorus, Copper, and Manganese.

Since Bobby has been home the last 2 days, I’ve been making him a yummy breakfast: cheesy grits!

29 grits

I cook 1/3 cup grits in 1 cup of water with a dash of salt, then towards the end I add maybe 1/3 cup of shredded cheddar. After it’s in the bowl I top it with a little more cheddar and some sesame seeds. He enjoys it with orange juice (Tropicana).

This morning I did another 75-minute Dave Farmar power yoga class – 06/05/09. It was pretty challenging; I would definitely recommend it. I was thinking about rebounding for a few minutes now but Bobby passed out on my trampoline – he woke up early and he’s very tired. I think I’m going to help him get to the bed.

I just finished sipping on this green juice (celery, granny smith apple, lemon, ginger, mint, cucumber, romaine)…

36 morning juice

What’s your favorite vegetable? I’m pretty sure mine is broccoli. I can’t decide though – recently I’ve been snacking on raw snap peas and they’re pretty delicious. And then there’s raw corn… it’s too hard to choose!

P.S. Did you know that Shakespeare gave the English language almost 2,000 new words??

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Salad Queen Favorites

I am so backlogged with salads! Here are some of my favorites from the last week or so…

First up – Enoki & Kelp Medley.

16 raw salad

  • base: weird lettuce from Han Kook (labeled as kale, but not)
  • toppings: kelp noodles, sprouts, watercress, cilantro, onions, cluster tomatoes, enoki mushrooms
  • dressings: liquid gold elixir (olive oil, bragg’s liquid aminos, rice vinegar, lemon juice, stevia, tons of garlic) & salsa (post-pic)

Next – Shout for Sprouts.

19 raw salad

  • base: red leaf and iceberg lettuce
  • toppings: avocado (massaged in), tomatoes, cilantro, sprouts, enoki mushrooms, kelp noodles, raw corn
  • dressings: liquid gold elixir (see above) & salsa (post-pic)

And then – Charming Parm.

01 parm salad

  • base: iceberg lettuce
  • toppings: chopped purple cabbage, tomatoes, raw corn, scallions, chopped seaweed, PARMESAN
  • dressings: liquid gold elixir (see above) & salsa

Along with Charming Parm I had some more parm – on top of steamed broccoli stalks (I ate the heads raw). So good. I also added some olive oil.

02 parm broccoli

Lastly – Simply Scrumptious.

18 raw salad

  • base: red leaf & iceberg lettuce
  • toppings: chopped mushrooms, tomatoes, seaweed, purple cabbage, raw corn
  • dressings: liquid gold elixir (see above) & salsa

I think I’ve figured out the perfect combination. It has a base of red leaf and iceberg lettuce. The toppings are raw corn, tomatoes, seaweed, and cabbage. All salads must be topped with liquid gold elixir and salsa.

Do you have a favorite salad combo?