Mixed Lentil Stew

White Rabbit!
It's November!
For me, November starts the baking season - so get ready for recipes!
I picked up the Halloween decor this morning, but left the pumpkins - they will stay until after Turkey Day!

To be super honest, I made this recipe up as I was going along so please feel free to enjoy as is or change it  as you see fit! And please let me know if you do something different that turns out yummy!

Ingredients:
1 bag of red lentils
1 bag of white lentils
1 box chopped frozen spinach
1/3 bag of long grain brown rice
1 steamfresh bag of soy beans
1 box low sodium chicken broth
1 box low sodium vegetable broth
6 cups water as needed - the rice and lentils will soak up the broth - good for flavor!

I threw everything into the crock pot on low and checked on it every few hours at first so I could add water as everything soaked up the good broth. I then left it overnight on keep warm and in the morning I added black pepper, a touch of curry powder and then split it into 2 pots. It was a big batch and I had two separate thoughts on how I could finish off the stew, so I figured, why not try both?

The first pot got chunks of ham and 2 cans of corn while the second pot got chunked tofu and 2 cans of diced tomatoes. Both are Super Yum!

Gluten Free (for a month)

and feeling so much better!!!
So, I know I updated you all on my allergy list earlier in the summer (Allergic to Carrots???), but my allergist has had me playing a bit with my allergies to test out how bad they are (some don't bother me at all in small doses, and others are pretty bad) as well as trying gluten free.

But, I really wanted to share with you some gluten free products I've tried that I enjoy:

Annie's Gluten Free Mac & Cheese! It's made with rice pasta and while I tried it out as the recipe tells you too, I would add some spices or pesto (YUM!) as it is a bit bland.  

NOTE! I did try the left-overs with a spoon of pesto and totally DELISH!

So this is more like fudge than a brownie.
Messy but delish when you truly need a heavy-duty chocolate FIX.

These are wonderful, but as my entire family decided, the taste is more like that of a brownie than a cupcake.
I don't think it's really bad to have a cupcake that takes like a brownie,
but if you're looking for a basic chocolate cupcake, this isn't really it 

Van's Natural Foods has some wonderful frozen waffles! You can find more info on their website: www.vansfoods.com

And lastly, we have found a local pizza place that has gluten free pizza crust! Portland Pie Co. also a delish basil gluten free pizza crust, but we can't really drive to Manchester, NH or Portland, ME whenever we want pizza.... so Weeksie's in Dover, NH has quickly become a favorite! :-)

I have not found a bread and I'm thinking that may be something that cannot be replaced. I do have some rice wraps, but I'm holding off sharing them because I haven't really gotten the hang of them yet (they keep breaking apart)...... I feel like there are some things that just can't be replaced, so you find other different things that are tasty :-) I did the same thing when I was a vegetarian.... my 1 gripe about that is my delish spicy black bean burgers have gluten so I can't eat them anymore! :-(

The adventure continues! I will let you know more as I continue to experiment and find out more!

Allergic to Carrots???

Our dishwasher has died. Really died. Even Reese knows it and told me so when I came home to him standing in a puddle of soapy water in the kitchen with the look 'I didn't do it, but there's stuff all over the floor!'........So, we waited until a Memorial Day sized sale and bit the bullet. Please meet our new, and ever-so-SUPER-quiet dishwasher!

I didn't even take pictures of the old dishwasher.... it wasn't worth it. Bosch? Thank you for making it possible to wash dishes and watch TV without having to lip read!

In other news, my beloved CR-V has now surpassed 200,000 miles. I freakin' love my Honda.

oh! so the title of the post? Yes, I went and had my allergy tests today. They covered both my arms with 32 skin prick tests. Yep, and then I had to sit there for 20 minutes - which felt like an eternity - because my arms were swelling up and turning red and they itched like crazy! I felt like I had chicken pox again. Or poison ivy. Or really bad bug bites. bottom line - not fun and very itchy!
But, when it was over, before the blood test, I found out I'm allergic to Reese - kinda knew that, but love him anyway! I'm allergic to grass, pollen, mixed trees, ragweed - mostly spring, but I already knew that too. What I didn't know? garlic, shellfish, oats, sunflower (seeds, oil, flowers) and yep, carrots. Random, right?
The blood test will deal with milk, wheat, nuts and whatever else they want with the 4 vials they took. ick.

What's new in your world lately? :-)

Blender Heaven!

When Matt and I got married, we asked for a few fun kitchen appliances, like a waffle iron, food processor a hand blender (LOVE IT!) and regular blender. The latter has always been a disappointment. It mixes liquids but doesn't do much else - it tries, but gets stuck - and since I wanted it to make smoothies and frappes (my Mum makes the most AWESOME chocolate frappes!!) .................. Well, my handsome hubby was listening the last time I was ranting about not being able to make smoothies, and he found me this:

It's literally the best blender/smoothie maker ever! It crushes ice! It blends it in a to-go cup so you don't even get the big mixer parts dirty (he was CLEARLY thinking ahead on this one since he does the dishes!) and then have to transfer it to another cup!

I know I said my vacuum was my new fav toy - but this is the BEST thing in my kitchen right now!

Is it SPRING yet? :)

Breakfast!

My skills in the kitchen have been coming back a bit as I have more time to cook and revisit trusty recipies! Friends of ours, Dave & Jenny, were able to taste my French Toast over the summer and Dave's enthusiastic claim that it rivaled the best he's ever had thrilled me beyond belief! And thus, having conquered French Toast, I have moved on to perfecting waffles. Below is a shot of my second and lastest try - better than the first, but I still say there's room for improvement!


Bless my husband, who continues to eat whatever I put on his plate!!

Easter Dinner

My husband and I hosted our little celebration this year. (Like a dope I forgot to take pics, but my Dad did so I'll post his when I get them). The menu was delish and everyone enjoyed the simple meal so I thought I would share what I served!

Apps and munchies:
carrots, red, orange and yellow peppers, celery, pita chips
4 types of hummus including garlic, original and red pepper along with a ranch veggie dip
cocktails:
everything was offered but what really sold were my husbands Gin & Tonics with a slice of lime! :-)
Dinner:
Miso soup
followed by......
mashed sweet potatoes, steamed asparagus and baked white fish. (I had tempeh instead of fish) The main course was served with a wonderful white wine.

The sweet potatoes I did very simply, baking them in the oven until the skin started to separate from the innards :-) then i cut them and ditched the skins, mashing the potatoes with (a smidgen of) butter, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.

The white fish I baked in white wine with a bit of honey mustard and parsley. Everyone said it was tasty!

Dessert, I can tell you about but I cannot share the recipe as its my mother famous lumpy chocolate mousse. It was soooooo yummy!!

Thank you to all who came and enjoyed the afternoon! And thank you to my husband who helped me clean up and do all the dishes!!!!!

Sweet Sticky Brown Rice

I'm currently trying out a sweet sticky brown rice recipe - I will be sure to share it once I've figured it out. I enjoyed it for the first time at my Yoga Retreat (see earlier post) earlier this year and decided I had to try and make it. I mean how hard can it be? (lol)

Ok. So my first attempt, I figured go exactly by the recipe. And not even 20 minutes in I had burned (black) rice stuck to the pot as it ran out of water. The next attempt kinda worked. Well, I'm eating it. It didn't burn. But I tried to exchange a few ingredients which made it tasty, but not the same or 'right' in my opinion.

So I have some ingredients on order from Amazon (brown rice syrup) and once it arrives and I try again I will be sure to let you know and share the (succesful version) recipe!

Friday Night Surprise was....

The Lion King!!!!

First we had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants on Moody St - Asian Grille. It was delish! (here's a small note for you: if you aren't sure about being veggie, try out veggie Asian food as its easy to have in restaurants and the flavors will never disappoint you!)


Then, off the the theatre district to the Boston Opera House to see The Lion King.


I was shocked! Not at all was I was thinking (Blue Man Group.....) and was thrilled. Our balcony seats lined up straight with the aisle all the way down to the front of the theatre which meant...... when late people weren't being seated (grr!) we had a PERFECT shot of the stage!

The costumes were African inspired and blended with the masks and puppets. Above are the lionesses.
The use of puppets were amazing! Sometimes they were pushes, other times worn on actors heads and sometimes the people were inside! See above giraffes and elephant!

(All photos found with Google and the Boston Opera House)

Update on Miso Soup

I made this again last night only this time I toasted the tofu first, I added baby spinach leaves, I added more miso paste, more garlic and more ginger.

I have to say all in all - everything was good aside from the more miso. It made the color a little dark and the water wouldn't hold all the miso making it cloudy and a bit clumpy at times. I have leftovers, so I will be adding a bit more water before reheating it.

Good Eatin'!

16 Bean Soup

So while in the grocery store a few days ago, I went down the international aisle and picked up some lentils, barley, green and yellow split peas, and a mixed bag called 16 bean soup. The back of the bag has a non-vegetarian recipe which included sausage, chicken bouillon, etc. But I googled 16 bean soup veggie and got a whole page of hits. I ended up using the below recipe which I found on a cool blog called Tofu and Cupcakes.

1 bag of dry 16 bean soup
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 vegetable bullion cubes
1 onion, small dice
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
1-2 carrots, thinly sliced
1 can diced tomatoes
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
salt and pepper to taste
water

1. Pick through and rinse dry beans. In a large pot cover with water ad let soak overnight or at least 8 hours. Drain in a colander and rinse (now is when you’ll see a lot of air bubbles coming off the beans, keep rinsing because you don’t want those air bubbles in your tummy, if you know what I’m sayin’).
2. Put the Beans in a large pot and cover with 4 quarts of water. Break “sausage” into bite-size pieces with your hands and add to pot. Add all other ingredients, and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium and allow to simmer stirring occasionally for 2 hours or until beans are tender. Remove bay leaves before serving.

This was delish! I have to say, I didn't put enough spices in the soup. I seem to be a bit hesitant on that side of things. Matt keeps telling me to just go for it, but I keep hearing this voice in my head say "you can always add more, but you can't take it back out" so I only put in a bit at a time.

I think I might split the recipe next time and add some turkey meatballs or sausage to half for Matt and Oliver and keep the other side veggie for me.

Warning! This soup is yummy, but beware how much you eat as it will fill you up faster and better than oatmeal!

Miso Soup

So, I want to say first off that I made this from scratch before any other big veggie soup because I figured this one would be the easier thing to do. And it was. REALLY easy. And SUPER delicious!!!
I found this particular recipe on allrecipies.com and just plugged in miso soup.

Cure-all Miso Soup

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups water
1 scallion, chopped
2-3 oz baked tofu, cubed
1/4 teaspoon fresh ginger root, minced
1/4 teaspoon fresh garlic, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons of white or yellow miso paste
1 lemon wedge

Directions:
Heat water as for tea. Put all ingredients except lemon into a bowl and stir until miso paste is dissolved. Squeeze lemon into soup and eat.
I use Wildwood Organics baked tofu, but you can certainly bake your own...but who wants to when sick? Also, if I don't have fresh garlic or ginger, I used powdered. Just a sprinkle of each.
Makes: 1 serving, Preparation time: 5 minutes

Now, I have to say that Matt and I tried it both with the lemon and without and we felt it was better without. Matt did mention that he missed the kale or spinach that is usually in it so next time I will add that.

Try the soup and try to tell me you don't feel happy and full and satisfied afterwards!! :-)
I want to say its my new favorite, but I'm trying so many new things right now!

Yoga Retreat: Sewall House

I took a mini holiday just for me, by myself, back in February. It came about completely by chance. I was Googling yoga places near the condo as I've been wanting to get back into it. I miss having class a few times a week!
Anyway, wonderful Google has adds that run down the side of their lovely search engine and one of them was an add for a YOGA RETREAT in ME. Maine, one of my favorite states in the whole USA! So I clicked on the link and was totally entranced by the old house, the VERY northern Maine locale, homemade food and more importantly, close to 4 hours of yoga a day.
Well! Since I was out of practice, I figured this would be a really cool way to jump start me back into it. So, I hit contact and emailed the hosts about their winter schedule and cost. I had almost an immediate response back from Donna who is the Yoga teacher and one of the hosts of the retreats. She and her husband run the house: she teaches class, he cooks and everyone takes care of the house.
Donna and I continued to email back and forth for a few days just tacking down price (they work with your budget) and when I would be there, classes to take, etc. Turns out the food is completely vegetarian too! I was pumped! And a good thing too, because the weekend kicked my butt. Literally! Turns out I was there on a teacher weekend which meant I learned a TON as the discussions were all over the place with yoga, technique, lifestyle, teaching students, etc. however, it also meant that the classes were HARD! Donna prefers the word challenging, but either way, I....was....sore....very.....sore. (Please note! Normally classes are tailored to the skills of the people in them. This was done for me too on some level but I was stubborn and until my body really complained I tried to keep going.) I ending up taking a lot of naps between classes and did restful things, like reading and I went for a walk around the little town on Sunday.

http://sewallhouse.com/

I drove home Monday and managed to squeeze in a visit with family in Topsham on the way back south, which was wonderful!

It was relaxing to get away for a few days by myself - something I don't think I've ever done! - and this was a wonderful way to do it! I hope to get back up there sometime this year for another long weekend, but they do run full week long retreats during the summer months.

Yoga is for people of all levels and strengths. There are so many types of Yoga too! Google "Yoga" and see for yourself!

Veggie/ Vegan Person ?

So I've become accustomed to having granola and soy in the morning for breakfast with tea or coffee. It's sooo yummy! You can have it hot or cold, with extra fruit (dried or fresh) or without. It's very flexible and I have found always tastes delish! And some day soon I hope to have the courage to make my own granola - I hear its fairly easy.
Lunch, I have gone with different things like leftovers or soup. This week I decided to try salads. Wrong choice in cold weather. You end up hungry and wanting to eat something but a cold salad? Even with yummy dressing, it just doesn't cut it.
Please keep in mind that I have only been a veggie/ vegan person since January of this year. I don't have a specific date because I weaned myself into it over the course of a few weeks. I am slowly finding new things I like and new things to try. I tried it for 30 days for health reasons and found myself feeling so much better, that I have continued.
So I am having a bit of a lunch dilemma. But I'm sure I will think of something! I have a few recipe books coming from Amazon. I can't wait to see what their pages hold for me!
I maybe should mention that while I have gone veggie/ vegan, my husband and brother have not. So when it comes time to make dinner, my first thought it what to feed them and then how can I change it to feed me? It's been really cool as I figure out how to take fav dinner menu's and turn them into a veggie/vegan meal for me!
I have to say that I am sooo looking forward to my dinner tonight: I have no current idea what it will be but after today's fail of a lunch I know it will be warm and tasty!

PS - I'm sick of weather guys declaring snow 'stuff' and then? getting nothing. It's really irritating. I should also mention that it's irritating to my friends who live in Baltimore and DC who have gotten snowed in multiple times this year, sometimes with only 2 days in between to dig out. Send it to Vancouver!

PPS - just thought of my dinner...... wild rice with mushrooms, boca burger and veggies. YUM! Now all I have to do is get myself through today and home to eat dinner!!! :)