Archive for the ‘nut butter’ Category

Kombucha My Kabocha

11.18.09

I’m eating lots of yums at my parents’. My mom made this wonderful amazing stir-fry tonight for dinner.

I don’t know the recipe, but I know it had lots of peanut butter. It was delicious. Maybe I’ll ask her how she made it sometime soon. It had all of my favorite veggies – broccoli, mushrooms, carrots (which I actually avoided because I’m trying not to turn orange), and red peppers. She’s not scared to use enough oil to make it taste good either.

This morning (and yesterday I think) for breakfast I made a really good bowl of hot cereal. I mix together…

  • ~1/2 cup of quick cooking oats
  • a few tablespoons of farina
  • cook it in water & almond milk
  • cinnamon, almond or orange extract (or both!), dash of salt

I like to top it with milk (whole cow’s milk or more almond milk) and maple syrup or honey. My facial lady told me to avoid sugar and see what happens (I know what will happen – my face will be clear), so today I had it with no syrup (but extra milk).

Uh oh. I think I have a new addiction. It sounds like kabocha, but it’s more expensive – kombucha.

The one I tried was $3.39 (yikes) and it was "GT’s Organic Botanic No. 7 Kombucha". I specifically got the one with probiotics to help with my digestion. This one was raw.

Kombucha is a fermented Chinese tea. It takes about 30 days to make; during the process various nutrients are formed (enzymes, probiotics, amino acids, antioxidants, and polyphenols). It’s basically the healthiest thing you could possibly drink.

Some people say it tastes like vinegar; I thought it tasted a little bit like wine, only fizzy and better (I don’t really like wine). I’ll definitely be buying this again as soon as I can wrap my head around the price. It’s so darn pricey. I will absolutely try to make this in the future. Tips?

Speaking of yummy things, I did these 5 videos yesterday for exercise. They are each 10 minutes. Try them out! My sister loves Polly’s videos too.

Do you like kombucha? Have you tried it? Have you tried Polly’s videos yet? (It’s her birthday week by the way!)

P.S. Check out Clare’s Positivity Giveaway. She’s so sweet :)

Recipe: Raw Zucchini Hummus

10.30.09

This is the other recipe that Jill and I got to try at the raw foods demo at Whole Foods. It was served with raw flax crackers (yum). You just need a good blender to make it (which I don’t have, but I will try with my food processor). The recipe is raw, vegan, and vegetarian.

Raw Zucchini Hummus

31 raw hummus

Ingredients

  • 2 zucchini
  • 3/4 cup tahini (raw)
  • 1/2 cup lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup olive oil (cold pressed, if you want it to be truly raw)
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 2.5 teaspoons salt (I would cut down on this)
  • 1/2 tablespoon cumin

Directions

Chop the zucchini and blend everything in the blender. Add the lemon juice and garlic (and salt) a little bit at a time to get the flavor that you want.

I thought this was really yummy. I might use a little less garlic and salt. I few other substitution ideas might be…

  • nut butter instead of tahini (like a yummy Thai peanut sauce)
  • experiment with other oils – sesame oil would give it a nice Asian flavor
  • other spices instead (or in addition to) cumin – chili powder, Asian 5-spice, cinnamon
  • add in some herbs – oregano, basil, dill, etc…
  • vinegar in place of lemon juice
  • add some Bragg’s liquid aminos (cut out salt, cut down on lemon juice)

Of course you could do beans instead of the tahini, but then it would be a more standard hummus.

What’s your favorite hummus? I really like Tribe’s Olive Hummus. So good. I know Sabra is a popular one as well. I love putting hummus on crispy fruit like apples. I don’t know if that’s common or not…

HERE is my recipe for simple homemade hummus.

Recipe: Goji Nut Biscotti

10.13.09

I made these on Saturday night, right before Bobby and I went out to dinner with the cousins. They are perfect for breakfast, dessert, or even a snack. They’re fairly healthy, but they are really flavorful and delicious. I had them for breakfast 2 days in a row. You could veganize them by using an egg substitute.

I say this about a lot of things, but you *must* make these. You will not be disappointed!

Goji Nut Biscotti

04 biscotti

Ingredients (makes ~12 small biscotti)

  • 1 cup oat bran
  • 1/3 cup quick cooking oats (instant) (can sub with flour or oat bran)
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 dashes of salt
  • 1 teaspoon spice (cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice)
  • 1 egg + 1 egg white
  • 1/3 cup sweetener (I used Trader Joe’s stevia)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/3 cup goji berries
  • 1/4 chopped nuts of choice (see notes below)

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
  2. Soak the goji berries in hot water.
  3. Mix together the oat bran, oats, baking soda, salt, and spices.
  4. In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Beat this pretty well.
  5. Slowly add the wet mixture into the dry mixture. Drain the berries and add them, and then add the nuts. The dough should be dry enough so that you can work with it. If it’s not, add a bit more oat bran (or don’t add all of the egg mixture).
  6. Spray a cooking pan with non-stick spray and shape the dough into a long log shape, about 1/2 – 3/4 of an inch high. You can top with extra nuts or oats. Bake this for 20 minutes.
  7. Remove the log from the oven and reduce heat to 300F. Cut the log into pieces and bake them on one side for 15 minutes. Take them out, turn them over, and bake them for another 15 minutes. If they are still not hard, turn them again and cook for 10 more minutes.
  8. Enjoy dipped in coffee, tea, peanut butter, or plain.

05 biscotti

For the nuts I used these things I found in the Asian grocery store called “olive kernels” (seen above). I recognize the flavor, but I have no idea what they really are, or if maybe they have another name. The nut is definitely used in a Christmas cookie that I have every year, but I cannot remember which cookie and I have been unable to find out anything online.

Help! Do you know what these nuts might be?

Day of Eats & TOMATOES. TWSS.

10.12.09

Why not? I haven’t done a day of normal food in a while. I was looking at my post from last year on October 11 when Bobby and I went strawberry picking. It was so fun and I remember the day well. It’s cool to have a record of exactly what I did last year at this time.

But back to yesterday. Not everything is pictured, so I hope I remembered to mention everything. Disclaimer: everything pictured was eaten; not everything eaten is pictured. I like to think that this day is a good example of intuitive, varied eating. Let me know what you think.

I started the morning off with fresh goji-nutty-biscotti (recipe to come) that I baked last night. They are semi-healthy, but not overly so. I had 5 of these guys dipped in some cookie tea and a little bit of chocolate peanut butter. A little while after I did some yoga on my own (30 minutes).

03 biscotti

Bobby and I trekked out to Borders early in the afternoon; I snagged an unpictured apple with almond butter on the way out the door. We stopped in to the fruit stand next to Borders where I had a few nibbles of cookie samples. Peanut Butter was the best (duh). After Borders we made a grocery stop at Trader Joe’s where we got (unpictured) samples of the Organic Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper Soup. In a 1 cup serving: 100 calories, 2 grams fat, 16 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 5 grams protein. They added creme fraiche and crispy bread; it was tasty.

Came home, made a lunchy snack. Arame (seaweed) from Heather, some sweet tomatoes, and leftover gingery chickpeas. Topped with Newman’s Own Lowfat Sesame Ginger dressing. Had 2 bowls of this. Lunch dessert: 2 tablespoons dark chocolate dreams peanut butter (unpictured).

01 arame chickpea tomato salad

We ended up buying that soup we sampled, so I heated that up for dinner along with salads. My salad was spinach, parmesan, pickles, olives, tomatoes, arame, sprouts, sunflower seeds, and the rest of the chickpeas. I topped my soup with kefir (my idea), sprouts (Bobby’s idea), and some Morningstar veggie bacon (my idea).

02 tomato soup salad dinner

Dessert was faux cheesecake (cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, mashed banana) and 3 large handpicked apples spaced throughout the night… and the rest of those yummy tomatoes.

Do you like tomatoes? I love them in just about everything: unsweetened organic ketchup (Biz and Holly!), plain, stir-fried, in sandwiches, in salads, etc… Bobby likes tomatoes sometimes but he doesn’t like when they squirt in your mouth (that’s what she said) so he avoids the little bite-sized ones that I love.

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