Food, Glorious Food

Back again, almost within my goal of posting weekly! I left you hanging a bit last time, as it was dinner time and that wins over everything else when I’m hungry…

The other thing that has helped me get unstuck is cooking. As you may have noticed if you have perused this blog, I love to cook. I’ve been focused on plant-based eating for more than 13 years now. Having studied this area of nutrition extensively, I have taught vegan cooking classes and written an as yet unpublished cookbook (although you will find many of my finest recipes right here in my past blog posts). Here’s what happened:

Our little town has lots of restaurants, most with minimal options for folks like me who want to eat out and have delicious menu choices that are plant-based. Honestly, when I see a veggie burger on the menu at a restaurant, I’m certain it’s from the freezer, purchased weeks ago and sitting waiting for the likes of me to stroll in and order one, as it’s the only choice. Sometimes those veggie burgers have eggs in them, and while I’m not morally opposed to eating eggs if they come from birds that have good lives, I’m allergic to eggs. So none of those veggie burgers, please! Also, why not create something fantastic AND plant-based for the menu? I might know what you are thinking. Seaside fishing village. It’s what all of the tourists want. Fish and chips. Baked haddock. Mashed potatoes with butter. Fried shrimp. Scallops. And of course, burgers. Cheeseburgers. More fries. Who cares about the vegetables? (Way too much to say about this topic, but I’ll move on.)

One day, I decided to try a new little place called the Whale’s Jaw Cafe. It’s a cool place that has live music every day during lunch, as well as live music on Friday nights. I strolled in and discovered there were several delicious, house-made items on the menu that met my criteria. The owner was open to working to add more of the same to their menu and I made a few suggestions.

I also booked myself to play a two hour set on a Friday night. I wrote a ton of songs—well, not exactly a ton—but about 15 or so during the pandemic and was excited to invite my family and friends to come hear my set. I gave some of my own recipes to the owner and she prepared a fabulous vegan feast for everyone who came. And…it was the first time the cafe sold out on a Friday night. Exciting, right?

Soon after that magical evening, the owners asked if I’d like to work Friday nights helping out with whatever they needed me to do. I spent some time in the front, taking orders and serving beverages. I spent some time in the kitchen, helping out in any way needed. I emptied the dishwasher, cleared tables and danced like crazy when it slowed down and there was a good band. I was happy! Then the best opportunity popped up.

Kristin, one of the owners, asked if I would like to work on a new menu and be the lead chef. I jumped up and down with excitement, right in front of her. This is my other dream—to prepare delicious, nutritious food for our community. Of course I said yes. There is no way I can open a restaurant, be there all day long and some evenings too, and still teach my fitness classes, take care of my life partner and my rapidly aging mother. This was the perfect in-between—to have the opportunity to create a new menu with lots and lots of plant-based options, to cook in there several days each week, to bring another dream to reality.

I hustle in there, zooming from the kitchen to the back’s stocked refrigerators, carrying armloads of vegetables and ingredients to open the hearts (and arteries) of our customers. Chopping, chopping, roasting, grinding, kneading, I make soup, hummus, vegetables, Joyful Bowls, and scones. I prepare every sauce we use from scratch using my own recipes. I get to listen to talented local musicians, and sometimes I take a tiny break and hop on the mic myself for a couple of tunes.

It’s a big change for some of our customers, although we still have some meat and dairy choices. And there are lots of folks coming in and raving about the new items on the menu. We are working to use as much local product as we can find. Kristin is contacting local farmers, procuring the freshest of greens and microgreens, amazing whole wheat flour, milled right on Cape Ann, local jams and honey, bread made right here in our town. It’s a process. It’s a process that has my mind scheming and humming all the time. I can’t wait to see what we find next and decide how to incorporate more local produce and products into our menu. That menu will change with the seasons, and I will have the chance to continue to create new recipes to serve up with a big smile.

Talk about passion!

Tonight’s dinner. Beans and greens with mushrooms.

I’ll share the recipe next time.

Vegan Twice-Baked Potatoes

My husband and I attended the Boston Vegetarian Society’s Food Festival a few weeks ago. We had the opportunity to sample dozens of delicious vegan foods and to pick up a wide assortment of vegan propaganda—one of my favorite parts—like stickers that said “Praise Seitan” with a little pentagram graphic and t shirts with the slogan “Only Kale Can Save Us Now!”.   We were fortunate to have the chance to listen to lectures by world famous chefs, physicians, and film makers.  One lecture in particular, given by Dr. Pam Popper, motivated me to revisit our nutritional standards once more.  Her philosophies and advice are based on cause-and-effect studies, rather than correlation studies.  This makes the most sense to me.

Cause and effect studies are studies that show direct relationships between an event and a result.  An example is that if you stand under water, you get wet.  Simple.  I am not saying you cannot prevent the water from touching you, either by using an umbrella or a waterproof jacket with a hood; but it is obvious that when water touches you, it causes you get wet.

My friend Charlene shared a perfect example of a correlation study:  If you eat ice cream, you are more likely to drown.  Sounds crazy, right?  The reason those two events are lumped together in that way is that people eat more ice cream during the summer months, which is also when more people are likely to go swimming.  And drownings are most likely to occur from swimming accidents.  The only connection is that both activities take place during summer.  The lack of connection between eating ice cream and drowning ends there.  Eating ice cream does not cause anyone to drown.  So why would we draw a solid conclusion from that correlation?

Many of the studies we see on the news or read about in health magazines are based on correlation rather than on cause-and-effect.  Many studies are also funded by those involved in making money from the sales of certain agribusiness products, and by drug companies who are far more interested in selling their drugs to mask or relieve symptoms of our lifestyles and diets rather than finding and eliminating the actual causes of our health problems.  No one makes money by taking away or solving the problem, and yet, if we eliminate the causes or solve the problems, we improve our health.  We don’t need to take medications.  We don’t need to give our money to conglomerate agribusiness, or to drug manufacturers.

So, back to Dr. Popper.  She talked about altering biomarkers with medications, and how taking a cholesterol drug changes the reading of your blood cholesterol.  It changes the number.  It does not necessarily change the way your arteries respond to eating foods that contribute to clogging your arteries.  Or how taking medication for type 2 diabetes does not necessarily change the way your organs manage the glucose in your system, or the breakdown of body functions over a long period of time that occur as a result of type 2 diabetes.  The diabetes still affects the whole body, even though the drugs change the numbers.  This doctor addressed how diet—what you eat every single day—is what creates the actual change in the body.  Diet alters biomarkers, and also alters every single physiological aspect of the body, its organs, and its functions.

The aspect of her lecture that hit me the most was about fat consumption.  She discussed how fat consumption negatively affects our health.  She suggests, after studying cause-and-effect studies for many years, that we should consume far less fat.  The actual numbers?  10-15% of our daily calorie intake.  If you eat 2000 calories each day to maintain your weight, only 200-300 of those calories should come from fat.  It sounds like a lot of calories when you look at the numbers, 200-300 calories.  That’s a whole breakfast.  But 1 tablespoon of oil, any kind, is about 120 calories.  I can eat that in a few minutes, just with a can of smoked almonds beside me while I watch a movie!  She suggests that if we need extra calories, we eat them in the form of starchy vegetables and legumes.

What about the good oils?  Dr. Oz says olive oil is good for us.  And coconut oil?  Isn’t that supposed to be the new wonder oil?  And walnut oil?  Avocados?  Oil is fat.  Period.  Eat some fat, but make sure it comes from the foods we eat.  There is no need to add oil to get fat into our bodies.  We require such a small amount that there is plenty in 1/4 of an avocado, a tablespoonful of nuts, or a handful of seeds.  10-15 % is enough.

So I bought her book, Solving America’s Healthcare Crisis.  I started reading into her research.  I’m sold.  And now, I am attempting to cut back our fat intake.  The easiest way to start is to STOP ADDING OILS TO OUR FOODS.  There is plenty of fat in what we eat without adding more fat.  So, more roasting, more steaming.  Less sauteing.  And if I do saute, I try to use only a teaspoon of oil, then add a tiny bit of water at a time to keep the food from sticking or burning.  So far, it’s working out well.  I’m not sure we have reached the optimum low levels at every meal, and I cannot obsess on this all day long, but I can definitely be more aware, and prepare our meals with more emphasis on vegetables and less emphasis on added fat.

Potatoes, which are loaded with nutrients and filling starch, are not my favorite vegetable.  I do like french fries, and although delicious, they are loaded with oil.  To work on my new goal of not adding oil, I have been trying to come up with a way to eat them that excites my taste buds while also giving me enough calories to meet my dietary needs.  I had a beautiful stock of organic potatoes from my CSA share from Alprilla Farm and an empty belly.  I foraged around in my refrigerator and pantry, filled my steamer basket with water, scrubbed nine organic golden potatoes, and an hour later, served this delicious dinner to my family.  I made extra, so we could have them for dinner a couple of times, and lunches for the week.

Vegan Twice-Baked Potatoes

Ingredients

8-10 potatoes, scrubbed and pricked all over with a fork

2 c broccoli florets

1 c mushrooms, diced

4 c kale, washed, leaves pulled from stems and cut into bite-sized pieces or 4 c baby spinach, washed

1 can rinsed black-eyed peas

1 c plain almond milk, maybe a little more or less

1/2 c nutritional yeast

1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, minced

1/2 c minced scallions, green ends only

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Method

Heat oven to 400 ° F.

Place potatoes directly on oven rack and bake for about 40-45 minutes, or until tender.

While potatoes are baking, steam broccoli and kale  for about 5-7 minutes, or until just tender.  Set aside.  If using baby spinach, add the spinach for the last minute only.

Spray a non-stick skillet with cooking spray.  Heat skillet and add mushrooms.  Saute until mushrooms release their liquid, about  5 minutes.  Set aside.

Pour black-eyed peas into a large bowl and mash them well with a fork.  Add 1/2 c of the almond milk and the nutritional yeast.  Stir to combine.

When potatoes are tender, carefully remove them from the oven and transfer them to a cutting board.  Turn oven temperature down to 350 ° F.  When just cool enough to handle, slice each potato open length-wise, scoop out the flesh, and add to the black-eyed peas and almond milk mixture.  Set aside the skins.

Using an electric mixer or a potato masher, combine the potatoes  with the black-eyed peas and almond milk, adding more almond milk until the mixture is thick, as for mashed potatoes.

Add the chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, scallions,  salt, and  black pepper.  Mix well.  Fold in the broccoli, kale and mushrooms.

Use a large spoon to generously stuff each potato skin.  Place the stuffed potatoes on a cookie sheet and bake again, this time for about 20 minutes, or until hot through.

Serve two halves for a meal, with a green salad dressed with lemon juice or your favorite balsamic vinegar.

White Bean Hummus

“Let’s go to the beach!”

“Okay, great!  Should we pack a picnic?”

This is our regular summer conversation every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning after my run.  It’s too hot to cook and I’m always hungry, especially so at the beach.  We scramble to find red bell peppers, cucumbers, broccoli, and carrots in the fridge.  I cut everything into sticks, and blanch the broccoli until it is a brilliant green.  We take turns tripping over the cooler and suddenly I realize there’s nothing to dip the veggies into.

“Uh oh.  You finish packing the cooler and grab the towels.  I’m gonna make us some of that hummus!”

Out comes the food processor and while the hubby scurries around to find seltzer, fruit, crackers, and tiny containers for cashews and peanuts, I whip up a batch of my new favorite bean dip.  Sometimes, if I’m thinking clearly, I double or even triple the recipe so we can have enough for the entire weekend and lunches the following week.  The whole family is crazy about this recipe.  It’s creamier than chick pea hummus, and the cilantro gives it an extra summery flavor.  Canned small white beans are available at the regular grocery store.  If you plan ahead, you can buy a large bag of dry small white beans and soak them the night before, boil them while you drink your morning coffee, then triple the batch without ever touching the can opener.  The beans are loaded with protein and fiber, and are low in fat, which make them a great choice to dip into all afternoon without guilt!

White Bean Hummus

Ingredients:

1 can (15 oz.) small white beans, drained and rinsed

2 cloves peeled garlic

1 generous tbsp sesame tahini

½ tsp sea salt

juice of 2 limes

large handful of rinsed cilantro leaves

¼ c pinenuts

¼ cup water at the ready

Method:

Process garlic in food processor (or blender) until minced.  Add beans, sesame tahini, salt, lime juice, and pinenuts.  Process until smooth, adding water, 1 Tbsp at a time, until desired consistency is reached.  The hummus should be thick but spreadable.  Transfer to container and refrigerate.  Keeps about 4-5 days, I think, but it never lasts that long in our house.

Also wonderful on crisp crackers or toast for breakfast… in a veggie roll-up for lunch… with carrot sticks for 3 o’clock snack… with pretzels while watching an after-supper movie…

Vegan Chocolate and Fruit Power Bars

This recipe comes from experimenting to make my own home-made power bars.  I love the sweet, chewy-crispy texture of the store bought ones, but I find the ingredient lists and prices of those unbearable.  I decided to make my own, based on a bar I used to love called Bodhi.

The Bodhi bar was fruit-based, organic, boldly expensive, and severely lacking in chocolate.  I have not seen one in a store for several years, and although I have tried various other bars, most of them list sugar within the first three ingredients.  The manufacturers’ lame attempts to disguise sugar by calling it organic cane syrup, brown rice syrup, honey, and evaporated cane juice don’t fool me at all.  I eat enough sugar.  If I’m going to consume it, let it be by way of fiber and nutrient- rich dried fruit.

Most of the ingredients in my vegan power bars are there because they not only taste good, but have strong nutritional value.  There’s peanut butter for protein, chia seeds for healthy omega 3 oils, rolled oats for cholesterol-lowering whole grain, cocoa nibs and cocoa powder for their high antioxidant values, and a mixture of dried fruits and nuts for vitamins, minerals, fiber, and more antioxidants.  And, of course chocolate chips because what good is a healthful snack without chocolate?

I try to use organic ingredients whenever I can.  I rely strongly on my local health food store, The Common Crow in Gloucester, for bulk organic items, and otherwise do the best I can in my regular grocery store.  Anything in these bars can be replaced with a similar substitute.  Chocolate can be omitted (although I can’t imagine wanting to do that).  Try different nuts, cereals, dried fruit, seeds, etc to customize these bars.  Make sure the ratio of wet to dry stays the same so the bars maintain their form when cut.

My vegan power bars are easy to make and keep very well in the refrigerator for a month or so, as long as they are wrapped well.  I use wax paper and wrap the bars in groups of four, securing each little treasure packet with an elastic band.  You could use foil or plastic if you prefer.  It’s not likely they will last long anyway— they taste great and are perfect for a quick breakfast, after-work out boost, or beach picnic dessert after a yummy, veggie-packed salad.  Even picky eaters like them, and it’s a great way to show off  a bit of deliciously decadent vegan cooking.

Thanks to Savannah, my mathematically-minded daughter who was kind enough to type the recipe for me and make it easy to follow!   Thanks also to my hubby for photographing these power bars and helping me post them.

Yield: 24 bars

15 figs, stems removed 15 pitted whole dates 15 dried apple rings	1. Cover with water in a large pot 2. Bring the water to a boil; turn it off, and let the fruits sit in the hot water for 10 minutes. 3. Drain the pot and process the fruits until they are a paste
1 cup peanut butter	4. Add peanut butter to the mixture and process until it is well-incorporated.
4 tbs cocoa powder ½ cup almonds, chopped (dry roasted, no salt) ½ cup dried tart cherries 3 tbs toasted sesame seeds ¼ cup unsweetened coconut, shredded or flaked ½ cup cocoa nibs 1-1/2 cups rolled oats* 1-1/2 cups crispy high fiber cereal* 3 tbs chia seeds	5. Add all ingredients listed in the adjacent box in a large mixing bowl. 6. Mix well with a large spoon. 7. With clean hands, add the wet to the dry, kneading in the bowl until completed merged. 8. Add the mixture to a greased 9 x 13 pan and spread evenly.
1 c Vegan chocolate chips	9. Press chocolate chips into the top of the bar block. 10. Chill for 2 hours, and cut into 24 bars (4 x 6)

*Oats and crispy high fiber cereal: together, the amount of these grains should be 3 cups total. Even amounts are fine, but they may also be varying quantities

(think x + y = 3 cups; x > 0; y > 0)

Food, Glorious Food: Vegan Recipes

Summer eating can be a challenge for cooks.  It’s hot, humid, and no one is interested in spending time in the kitchen slaving over the stove or teetering in front of the oven for long.  Eating out can be expensive, and can add a crazy amount of calories and fat to undermine fitness and weight loss goals.  I have been spending time in my kitchen, though, because I love to cook and I love to eat.  I willingly and happily sacrifice time each day to prepare lunches and dinners that meet my own tough standards:  lots of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and fiber, and also my family’s standards:  tasty meals that beat the heat.

The next few blogs will be devoted to easy summer recipes.  All the recipes are vegan, meaning without animals or animal products.  Don’t be scared!  Eating vegan does not mean only eating salad and a bunch of weird vegetables.  My family and dinner guests have never mentioned missing burgers, ribs, or chicken salad, nor have they left the table hungry.  As long as the food tastes good, everyone is happily full.  So get ready for a few days of recipes that beat the heat and are good to eat!

Lilacs, Swans, and Chocolate Chia

I cannot breathe deeply enough to satisfy my sense of smell.  The lilacs are out in full bloom, and the sidewalks on South Street are lined with the purple and white-tipped branches.  I run by bush after bush, my lung capacity inadequate to perform what my desire demands.  I close my eyes for as long as I dare, checking the sidewalk ahead of me for pitfalls before I inhale again.  I push the air back out fast, draw the next breath through my nose and remember my grandmother’s house and the lilacs she cut, the vases she loaded with the flowers so that the whole house smelled like heaven.  I look ahead for more.  I picture myself like a puppy, nose to the ground, pressing into the scent, then completely succumbing to it, rolling in it, pressing my entire body into a carpet of the tiny, fragrant blossoms.

The early morning invites me to run and run as far as I can go.  I am light today in body and spirit.  The thin shorts and tank top are just right after I am warmed up; my cell phone is at home.  No one can call to interrupt this morning’s pleasure.  I left all my worries behind my front door when I pulled it closed.

The magnolias have gone by, only to be replaced by cherry, sand cherry, and apple blossoms and their scents mingle with the lilacs and the smell of the sea at low tide.  Some of the sand has returned to Pebble Beach; the shoulders of the boulders exposed during the heavy spring storms are half-buried in the fine brown and mica-sprinkled sand.  On Cambourne Pond, the swans are nesting.

I  seek out the bright white shapes of the swans deep among the reeds.  There she is, the swan mother, all curled and curved around her nest.  I feel a smile spread across my face and a rush of love for nature as I remember last year— the nesting, the loss, and the nesting again—and yet here they are once more, these two beautiful white birds, having weathered the heavy winds and storms of this past winter, ready to try again.  The male paddles nearby, keeping a watchful eye on his nest and its precious contents, warding off the ducks, geese, and gulls that share the small pond all year.  I continue on, and I promise myself I will keep an eye on the nest each time I run by.

I make sure to look at Richard’s tulips as I pass his house on Eden Road.  At the overlook, I slow down enough to watch the water sparkle and lap the rocky shore.  I see the new spring green growth on Thatcher Island, and the Twin Lights, back-lit by the bright morning sun.

I return to South Street, then turn onto Marmion Way.  More lilacs, more deep breathing to take in my favorite spring smell.  I will run home and cut all of our lilacs, and maybe some of the neighbors’ too, and fill clear glass vases for the bedrooms and kitchen.  After breakfast.

Post-Run Chocolate Chia Shake

Ingredients:

12 oz unsweetened almond milk

2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

2 small frozen bananas

2 Tbsp peanut butter

dash of vanilla extract

2 scoops chia seeds

Method:

Put all ingredients in blender and process until smooth.

Serves 2.

Per serving:  290 cal; 15.5 g fat; 13 g fiber; 13 g sugar, 9 g protein.

Measuring Up

I love to know how far I run every day.  I also enjoy discovering that I have increased my speed.  It’s not really something I am able to guess, though.  Before my sister bought me the Nike+iPod last Christmas, I used  to burst into my house at the end of a run and head right to the computer to Google Maps and trace my route that day.  I had to remember every turn I took, and to find my pace, I had to keep track of the  minutes on my watch.  Not really a big deal, probably not all that accurate, but I always felt a certain satisfaction in knowing how my progress was coming along.  There were plenty of days when I spaced out on my run and could not remember what time I left my house.  There were even a few times,  (I hate to admit this) that I forgot the exact roads I chose and could only guess my distance.

I do know, because I wrote it down in a fitness journal, that my first run was about 2.5 miles, and that it took me about 32 minutes.  Because I measured and kept track, I have been able to see my progress. I now know that my time and speed have increased considerably.  I am now running at a speed of about 8 mph and have been able to run more than 13 miles in one run.  I also know that I have lost about 20 pounds since I began to run.  I wrote that down, too.   I fell in love with running and the calories burned one day at a time.

I didn’t start running to lose weight.  I did it to exhaust myself so that I could fall asleep at night— to keep the nightmares associated with my father-in-law’s death at bay.  It seemed important to write it all down— the running, the distance, the time, my weight— and so I was able to really see what happened.  After a few weeks, I decided to measure my hips and waist, and since then, my waist is only about an inch smaller, but I lost seven inches from my hips.  Although exercise was only about stress relief and trying to sleep better, it became a big enough focus in my life that I went back to school to become a personal trainer.  I feel better than I ever have before in my life!  I wanted to learn how to share that with other people.

Fitness rule for today:  measure and keep track.

This is another one of those double-meaning fitness rules.  The first aspect is about taking measurements at the start of a fitness and/or weight loss program.  Without taking specific measurements, like body weight, waist, hip, arm, calf, and thigh circumferences, body mass index, or any combination of these, it is impossible to measure and assess progress.  Sure, there might be a little bit more room in your pants after you have been watching what you eat and exercising, but knowing exactly how far you have come is an intrinsic reward that cannot be either matched or assumed without having a starting point to go by.  Saying “I lost 10 pounds!” or “My waist measure two inches less than it did a month ago!” feels much more concrete than “I think I may have lost some weight” or “I think I might need to wear a belt with these jeans.”

The other meaning is about measuring food to get a general idea of calorie consumption.  I attempted to explain measuring to one of my clients the other day.  She is pretty resistant to measuring anything.  I made an analogy to money.  When in a store,  let’s say what you want to buy an item that costs $15. You hand the clerk a hundred dollar bill.  The clerk gives you your change.  You count your change.  You want the right amount back.  $85 is a lot of money!  You also have more shopping to do, and you need to plan how you are going to spend what is left.  You need to make sure you have enough to get what you need.  (No, there are no credit cards in this analogy!)  Maybe if you had a couple of pennies coming back you might not be so careful, but when it comes to dollars, knowing what you have spent and what you have left to spend makes or breaks your shopping trip.

That’s how I think about calories.  I don’t believe in measuring everything consumed— in fact, I think of vegetables and fruits as pennies.  But unless you know whether you ate a serving of rice— that’s a 1/2 cup cooked— you just remember that you ate rice.  You could easily consume a double portion.  “So what”, says my client, who wants to lose twenty pounds.  “It’s whole grain.  It’s good for me.  I like it.”   It’s just like counting your change.   1 lb. is equal to 3500 calories.  If you want to lose that pound, you must create a deficit of 3500 calories.  Easily done— eat less or burn them.  A combination of each is most efficient.  But, you will never know how many calories you have “spent” unless you pay attention to them and figure out how many you have left over for later.

I don’t think anyone should go around every day of their life measuring each morsel they are going to pop into their mouth.   I do believe, though, that measuring cereal, rice, pasta, oils, and meat, fish or nuts for a few days will give a good general idea of what a serving actually looks like.  Seeing one cup of cereal in a bowl for a few days lets your eye get the idea.  Soon, pouring the right amount becomes second nature.  Everything we buy at the grocery store has a portion size and calorie count.  It’s a simple step.  Look at the package.  Pay attention to how much you eat.

There are all kinds of little tips for assessing amounts.  A palmful of nuts is a serving.  A piece of meat or fish the size of your palm is about one serving.  (3-4 ounces.)  A cup is about the size of a tennis ball.  2 tablespoons of peanut butter is about the size of a ping-pong ball.  After just a few days, you will be able to eyeball a serving and know how many calories are in that portion.  When you add up your calories and deduct the number you have burned during exercise, you can closely estimate how long it will take to lose a couple of pounds, or twenty.

Intense and Flavorful

Heavy rains motivate me to stay indoors and try a new workout this morning.  This month’s issue of Health Magazine features a P90-X high-intensity jumping workout, promising to torch 350 calories in just 25 minutes.  There are five jumps, each with 15-25 reps, in one sequence.  The pretty young model demonstrating the moves makes it look manageable and it seems like a nice change from the bike and videos.

I don’t know about the calorie burn, but this workout is intense!  By the time I reach the second sequence, my heart is pounding and my shorts and tank are drenched with sweat.  After finishing the second set, I recharge with a chia fresca.  I decide to add double drop sets and some core work to the end of my workout.  That way, if the rest of the week turns out to be perfect for running, I won’t feel guilty about getting enough cross-training!

The rain continues.  It’s chilly and damp here on Cape Ann— a good day for soup.  My daughter and I love traditional Portuguese kale soup, but not the chorizo sausage that goes into it.  I made up my own version, substituting Indian seasonings for the meat to liven it up a bit.  My husband has not seemed to notice the absence of the chorizo; he only flatters me by telling me how delicious this soup tastes.  It’s not spicy, just very flavorful, and loaded with nutrients and protein.  It’s also gluten-free.   Curry and turmeric have natural anti-inflammatory properties, so my muscles and joints (and yours!) will be thankful for a big bowl of this yummy treat!

Vegan Curried Kale Soup

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp. olive oil

1 sweet onion, chopped

6 carrots, chopped

2 Tbsp. curry powder (Madras curry powder is perfect for this)

2 Tbsp. fresh ginger, minced

1 tsp. mustard seeds

1 Tbsp. ground turmeric

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper, or more to taste

6 c vegetable broth

1 bag green split peas, rinsed

1 bunch fresh kale, washed and chopped fine

2-3 red potatoes, scrubbed and chopped into bite-sized pieces

water

Method:

In soup pot, combine oil, onion and carrots.  Saute over medium heat until the vegetables begin to simmer and soften.  Add curry powder, ginger, mustard seeds, turmeric, and continue to cook about 2 more minutes, until ginger becomes fragrant.  Add the broth.  Turn heat to high and bring to a boil.  Add the peas, return to boil, lower heat, and simmer until peas are soft, about 45 minutes.

Add potatoes and kale, stirring well until kale is incorporated into soup.  Cook 10-15 minutes more, until kale is tender.

Add water, ¼ cup at a time until desired consistency is reached.  Soup should be thick.

Serves 6-8.

As a dinner, serve with hearty multi-grain bread, and a side salad if you wish.

Rant and Rule

Grocery shopping is becoming more and more of a challenge.  Just trying to find a box of cereal can take me up to ten minutes.  Why?  Because the shelves are crammed with a zillion different brands and types.  I need to read each box I might buy for the ingredient list.  The criteria:  I have to be able to pronounce the list, the list has to be short, preferably less than five items long, and the first ingredient has to be a whole grain.  I don’t want it to be fortified or “enriched” because that means all the natural nutrition has been stripped and removed in the processing of the actual food used.  Our family has managed to find a handful of cereals we like; our favorites have just one ingredient on the label, be it wheat or oats.  There are days when it still takes ten minutes to find cereal because I cannot see the ones we like in the deep, deep forest of brightly labeled boxes of sugar disguised as healthful food.

I duck in and out of the center aisles for the paper goods we use, and the pet food, but mostly I stick to the perimeter of the store.  Dairy, fish, meat and produce— the groceries that spoil if I don’t use them pretty quickly— the foods I have to actually cook— that’s my list.  It can be tempting to buy a “cheater chicken”, as I call them.  Those are the chickens the store has cooked and wrapped in thick layers of plastic wrap, keeping warm under red lights in a heated case.  When I am feeling busy or just plain old lazy, I stand there looking at those chickens, considering buying one.  But then I start to wonder how long it’s been sitting there under those lights, and if those chickens were at their expiration date and had to be cooked.  I think about all that hot plastic leaching chemicals into food I will serve my family and wind up walking right on by.

I am stunned every week by the variety of juices and bottled water drinks that each take up a complete aisle (which I skip entirely) and at this point find myself amused by the crazy entrees in the freezer section.  I do buy some frozen fruit and vegetables, especially raspberries, blueberries, mangoes, spinach, and peas.  They are so much less expensive when fresh ones are out of season, and frozen fruits and vegetables retain their nutrients better than the fresh ones, when factoring in the shipping time and shelf time before they reach my kitchen.  We love frozen fruit in smoothies, muffins, and cereal.  The vegetables work well in soups and stews, and there’s no need to wash them or cut them up.  They save money and time.  I love that!

The rest of the frozen aisle is mind boggling.  Entire boxes and bags of meals stand icy and waiting in bright packages in their cases, ready to be heated and eaten .  Many do not contain vegetables, and few are made with whole grains.  That leaves fat, mystery meat, sugar, and stripped carbohydrates, which our mouths crave and our bodies aren’t sure what to do with.  Even the vegetarian foods are highly processed.   Preservatives and additives, many derived from processed corn and corn by-products, are listed on the labels.  How can I tell what they are?  What is hydrolyzed corn protein, anyway?  I’m certain I cannot grow it in my garden!

Eating real food might seem silly, or at least like a lot of work, when there are all those foods prepared and waiting for us.  We work hard all day as it is.  Why buy whole wheat flour, sugar, baking powder,vegetables, fruits, etc., and figure out how to cook with them when Mrs. Paul, Stouffer’s, Tyson, Jim Perdue, and Aunt Jemima have done it all for us?  What could be bad about a frozen lasagna, or a box of waffles?  What’s wrong with chicken nuggets?

Have you eaten a chicken nugget lately?  What does the chicken look like under that beige coating?  Does it look like the chicken your mom used to roast on Sundays when you were a kid?  Is the meat tender and juicy?  The last time I examined one, a friend was feeding them to her little kids.  I did  not recognize chicken in there anywhere.

Fitness tip:  Eat real food.

This is not new information.  It’s a hot topic right now in the news, and in books and magazines.   Even the president’s wife is getting in on it, making it her “cause”, although she is focused on feeding children healthful food.  I wonder why she is so intent on children.  When is the last time your child did the grocery shopping, or decided what the school cafeteria serves for lunch?  Perhaps she is using our children as a catalyst to trigger our guilt response, in case we forgot that we make the decisions about what our children eat.  We feed them.  We set the table for dinner.  We shop, stock the fridge and pantry, and set the menu.  If we aren’t eating real food, why would our kids?

I have been told that children won’t eat real food, and maybe some of them won’t, at least not while you are watching them, and certainly not if they don’t see you and I eating it.  If they get hungry enough, they will.  If they see real food— vegetables, grains, fruits, whatever we cook for them— often enough, they will, because it becomes familiar.  Remember how your child cried on the first day of school, or the first time with a new babysitter?  And then, most likely, that child couldn’t wait to get to school quick enough after the first week, or cried when the sitter left?  New foods, experiences, and people are strange, and only become familiar in time.  (My kids didn’t cry going to school— they were glad to get out of the house for a while, but also glad to come home at the end of the day… but I’ve witnessed other kids…)

Dr. Oz and Michael Pollan,  a couple of famous experts in the areas of food and health, speak and write about eating real food.  They cover the benefits of a nutritionally sound diet.  They both address the effects of a Western diet and processed foods in regard to childhood and adult obesity, Type II Diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, and overall health.  Although I respect both of these men and listen to and read what they teach, none of the information is new to me.  I am a vegetables, fruits, and whole grains-eating-person.  It’s how my Nana and Grandma fed me, how Mom fed me, and how I feed my family.  I think I like what Dr. Oz and Michael Pollan preach because they both confirm what I have always known.  Eating real food tastes good and makes me feel good.  It helps me stay healthy.  My energy is high; my body feels best when I eat real food.

There are exceptions, of course.  Few of us have the time to turn out a perfectly nutritionally balanced three-meal-a-day plan every day for ourselves and our families.  We expect an occasional treat.  Maybe we go out to a restaurant once in a while, or bring in a pizza on Friday nights.  I’m not looking to eliminate the exception.  When I say eat real food, I mean buy and prepare the foods that provide vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein, and all the anti-oxidants in the rainbow of foods available at the regular old grocery store.  The brighter and fresher, the better.  Steam them, roast them, blanch them, or eat them raw (except for the eggs and meat)  if you like.  Know what you are eating.  Eat real food.

Keeping up with the Burn (Nuts!)

Running burns approximately 100 calories per mile, based on a 150 pound runner.  I weigh less than that, and figure I burn around 90 calories per mile.  On a day I run 10 miles, that’s 900 calories.  Some days I have a hard time putting those calories back— especially because on the days I run long, I’m not that hungry.

I like what goes into my body to have solid nutritional value.  I’m a believer in eating whole foods, and preparing most of what my family and I eat from scratch.  So many prepared foods have weird ingredients I don’t recognize!  I tend to choose vegetables and fruits most often, and I like nuts, avocados, and extra-dark chocolate for extra calories.  Last night, after eating a yummy stir-fry with tofu and pan-seared noodles, I wound up eating 1/2 cup of peanuts and 2 ounces of chocolate just to break even for the day.  This is not complaining, really, but it’s challenging to get those extra calories in me.  That’s a lot of nuts!

Asian-inspired Stir Fry

Ingredients:

6-8 cups washed vegetables, chopped into bite-sized pieces  (I used onion, celery, carrots, broccoli, cabbage, mushrooms, and scallions)

2 tbsp. safflower oil, divided

4 cloves garlic, minced

3 tbsp. each low sodium tamari and rice vinegar

1 tbsp. minced fresh ginger

1 tsp. toasted sesame oil

1 block extra-firm tofu, drained and cut into bite-sized cubes

1/2 cup washed, chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 cup chopped peanuts

juice of 2-3 limes

2 cups whole grain long noodles, cooked according to package directions, rinsed in cold water, and drained

Method:

For the vegetables: Heat a large wok or skillet over high heat.  Add 1 tbsp. of the safflower oil and swirl it around to coat the pan.  Add the chopped vegetables and toss quickly.  Cook for about 3 minutes.  Add garlic, tamari, rice vinegar and sesame oil.  Toss again.  Cook for another minute.  Add the tofu, ginger, and scallions.  Toss again and cook until tofu is warm, about 2 minutes.  Set aside.

For the noodles: Heat a separate, smaller non-stick skillet over high heat until very hot. (I use two skillets at the same time, but you can cook the noodles in two batches if you wish.)  Add 1 1/2 tsp. safflower oil and swirl to coat pan.  Add 1 cup of the noodles.  Flip the noodles to coat with the oil.  Let the noodles sit in the pan to brown.  Shake the pan every few seconds so they don’t stick.  Using tongs, turn some of the noodles over to check for crispness.  When noodles look nice and brown, flip them over and brown the other side.  Remove noodles from pan and divide between 2 bowls.

Repeat with second cup of noodles.

Spoon vegetables over noodles.  Sprinkle with lime juice, cilantro, and chopped peanuts.  Serve as is, or garnish further with Asian hot chili sauce or red pepper flakes.

Serves 4.