Confessions of a Blog-Geek & Chef A.J. Spinach Dip with Pasta

Ok, so here's the thing.....I'm a geek.  A blog geek.  Not convinced?  Let me show you this picture:

You know what that is?  That's a map I pulled out of Nat. Geo.  I stuck it on some pressboard, hung it on the wall of my workout room and those little pins???  Those are all the countries that I have had hits from on my blog.  Well, all the ones since I decided it would be really cool to have a map...of the world....on my wall....with pins in it.  I think of it like a kind of one-way pen-pal system in the blogosphere.  (And occasionally a two-way system when I get comments, which are wonderful things).

For those of you non-bloggers, there is a 'stats' tab on the dashboard of blogger and you can track the audience that views your blog, by country.  I remember the first country outside the USA that I got a hit from.  Canada.  Maybe not so far away, but native home to my favorite band, Rush, so also cool in that regard.  Australia soon followed.  My grandfather was born outside of Sidney....another cool thing.  From there it was Russia here and France there and I felt like a kid at Xmas checking my stats over morning tea.....I had to text my husband when I got Romania......and Albania (which I had to google to even know where it was).  Venezula was super cool too.  Viet Nam???  Seriously, someone in Vietnam read my blog???  It boggles the blogging mind.

I wish blogger would track the hits from the states in the U.S. ---it would be cool to try to get all 50....and daydream about someone in Utah reading my blog....or Montana, my favorite state.

When I first started this blog, I had no idea that ANYone would read it, or have an interest in following it.  The fact that I have a few followers is so special to me.  I guess we all want to make a difference in the world, and it gives me endless joy to think that I may be making a small one....and besides that, I can now pick out Croatia on a map.

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Chef A.J.'s Spinach Dip Lasagna

Chef A.J. knows a few things about food, vegan whole food, in an unprocessed format.  I am back to cooking my way through her book, although I long ago took the pressure off myself to do this in an orderly manner.  Let's face it....I am too easily distracted to do something that systematic.  So, I've been making a few things from her book "Unprocessed" which I highly recommend.  It is a no frills book (which as I have noted before) I think is actually pretty cool...it's like the book itself is unprocessed, but for people who want color glossy pictures, they should know going into it that this book does not have those things.  What it does have is some damn good recipes....like her spinach dip that is also the filling in her famous Disappearing Lasagna.  I decided to use it with pasta shells in simple layers and let me tell you, this stuff is just awesome.

More about A.J. here:  http://www.eatunprocessed.com/

Link to A.J.'s book on Amazon here: 
http://www.amazon.com/Unprocessed-achieve-vibrant-health-weight/dp/1456576097/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335635120&sr=8-1

I've been so fortunate this year to have been harvesting DAILY from my garden, fresh spinach and kale for my daily smoothies.  I can barely keep up with the spinach, so thought it would be a perfect time to whip up this dip.

Put down a layer of this green goodness, toss cooked pasta on top, and cover with pasta sauce.  (Note:  I think you could skip the step of pre-cooking the pasta as long as you cover it completely with sauce; pasta will cook in the oven).

I added a layer of mushrooms and onions to my husband's batch.

Peppers and onions for mine...not a big mushroom fan.

A mismash of pasta on top of veggies---I keep a big glass jar in the cabinet and save up remnants of pasta---casseroles put them to good use.

 I sprinkled on top a mix of grated raw cashews and nutritional yeast.  Oh yes....yummy in any country.

Husband said "very good, Honey" as he went back for seconds.  Ok, it doesn't get any better than that.  Thanks, A.J.

Sue, embracing-my-inner-blog-geek, in Ohio

The "Anti-Vegan", Dates, and the Winner of Heart Healthy Pizza by Mark Sutton

I had an interesting experience recently; I believe I came face-to-face with 'the Anti-Vegan'.  I was really blind-sided by who this person is, as she is normally a very loving person.  I've come to understand over the last day or two that I've had to process my experience, that the negativity exuding from this person is really a factor of ignorance or lack of information more than anything else.  I guess the algebraic formula would look something like this:

Upbringing + Societal Indoctrination *(Mass Marketing Campaigns * 50 years) + Resistance to Change=Anti-Vegan

The back story on this is that I was having a light lunch at my house for a few people and I got wind that there might be an issue when this person expressed concern to my husband over what would be served at my house.  I mean, A LOT of concern.  I really believe she expected to show up and see a chunk of mud with sticks, stems and weeds poking out of it on her dinner plate! 

I made some home-made bread, a salad with about 10 different kinds of lettuce in it plus a bit of fresh spinach from my garden, a fruit salad with mango, blueberries, kiwi and Christy Morgan's (Blissful Bites) Macro Mac 'n Cheese.  My bread did not come out as well as it normally does, nor did Christy's casserole, but both were edible.  The Anti-Vegan was clearly SUFFERING from this meal and it was obvious to me that it didn't really have anything to do with the actual food that was in front of her, but rather her IDEA of what the food would be. 

She didn't want the salad at all, because 'she doesn't like spinach'.  I did talk her into eating some of it
when I explained what a small amount of spinach was in there. 

Even with that, she said, 'and you don't have any cheese???'  With a whining noise made after I said no.

I had all other veggies chopped up and in separate containers so people could choose and add as they wished:  mushrooms, 3 different kinds of peppers, cucumbers, celery and carrots combined in the same bowl....so, she wants to know what is in with the carrots and complains about the lighting in my kitchen!  <sigh>

She didn't want the fruit salad, because she doesn't eat fruit....except apples.

She didn't want to try the mac not cheese because it was made with squash and tofu, but another person (bless her) insisted she try tofu.

We didn't have real butter.  (I served Earth Balance which is itself a compromise for me). Another whining noise.

The bread was 'missing something'...actually she asked if the bread was the macaroni because it was in a cast iron pan, so she thought it was a casserole....that should have been a big clue to me that she wasn't looking at what was actually in front of her, but rather some weird picture she had conjured up in her mind.

"Don't you eat ice cream" came up in conversation....'no', I replied.  A tsk-ing noise, followed by "I eat that every night".  (Inward sigh to myself as I noted her waist size that has expanded since the last time I saw her and wondered what the inside of her body would have to say about it all!---a quiet muttering from another person at the table '....whether you need it or not'....another sigh to myself).

It went on, but to her credit, she did try the food, and I think that was a huge leap for vegan-kind.

I learned a lot from this experience.  I am so fortunate to be surrounded by supportive people, two extremely good friends that back me up daily, my husband who now proudly tells others of the changes I've made and two sons that are frankly inspirational, that I have forgotten what the 'real world' is like.

I've forgotten that the food I eat can actually be scary to some people and that the responsibility rests on me to bridge the gap between us.

I've forgotten that it is considered NORMAL, my guest even used that word in the form of a question about what my grand-daughter eats...'does she eat normal when she's not here?'....it's considered NORMAL to eat ice cream every night, slather butter, cheese, fat-laden dressings on everything.....to eat food that is fresh, clean and unadulterated with these things is the oddity.  To eat for health is ABnormal. 

I was very upset that people couldn't come to my house and enjoy a meal...I felt disappointed and extremely hurt.  I told my son later that it was a character flaw in me that I let this stuff upset me so much.  He said "being who you are is not a character flaw".  I swear if I ever get a tattoo, that'll be it. 

It's true---I am who I am and I do care and want people to leave my house sated in every way.  Hearing those words from him, took the sting out of everything and made it ok to be me.  Lessons.  Life is full of them.  Philosophers.  They are everywhere.
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Dates

Part of tweaking my diet has been to remove the processed foods that have squirmed their way back into my diet.  Mostly they are agave and maple syrup.  I will likely still use them, but on a very limited basis.  I'm going with Chef A.J.'s (check her out here:  http://www.eatunprocessed.com/) approach, and using dates predominately as a sweetener.  I was thrilled to see a link to this short video, in a comment on Wendy's Healthy Girl's Kitchen blog ( find Wendy here: www.healthygirlskitchen.blogspot.com).


http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/are-dates-good-for-you/

I was aware of many of the nutrients contained in dates, but there is a lot going on in this power food.  Check it out.

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Heart Healthy Pizza Cookbook Giveaway Winner

The winner of Mark Sutton's Heart Healthy Pizza Cookbook is.......


ANN

Congratulations, Ann.  Be sure to e-mail me:  sunnyhawklane@gmail.com and I'll get your shipping address, etc.  Thank you to everyone who entered and a special thanks again to Mark Sutton for taking the time to answer my questions and for donating the book for this give-away.  I hope interested readers will visit Mark's web-site at: www.hearthealthypizza.com where you can order a copy of the book, check out some great resources, see some recipes and more coming soon.

Thanks!

Sue, being myself, in Ohio

Vegan Mafia, Manners, "Unprocessed" Adventure-Part 2

I was watching one of my favorite shows, The Amazing Race, last night and saw something odd....one of the contestants had a shirt on that said "Vegan Mafia".  Now, I get really excited whenever I see ANYthing vegan, or ANYone vegan, or ANY inkling of anything even remotely related to anyone who knew anyone who's cousin USED to be vegan.  (Just ask my poor long-suffering husband....everytime a Bryan Adams song comes on..."Honey, did you know Bryan Adams is vegan?"..."Yes, dear...I believe you have mentioned that before".  Natalie Portman comes on...in Star Wars, the Oscars, anywhere...."Honey, did you know Natalie Portman is vegan?".  "Yes, dear....I think you mentioned that about 150 times before"....you get the drift).  So natch, when I saw the t-shirt I sat up with a start...oh COOL....a vega.....wait...a...minute....mafia, what?

So today when I had a chance, I looked it up:  Vegan Mafia is defined in the Urban Dictionary as "militant vegans who will ostracize their vegan friends who stray from the fold".  Oh, I get it now.  Yep, I won't be ordering that t-shirt.

Speaking of dictionaries, I had a very interesting experience over the weekend.  My husband and I went to a party at his boss' house; I, of course, wanted to make a good impression this being my first meeting of these folks.  I brought a large platter of fresh veggies and also some black bean hummus thusly insuring I would have something to eat, as I never expect to be catered to at these sorts of things.  We were the first to arrive and soon upon getting there the hosts expressed their concern about what I was going to eat.  They made a very cute confession and told me that they didn't know what vegan was and had to look it up in the dictionary.  I was so touched by this....they went on to ask if I followed the true definition of vegan and didn't consume dairy...I said that's correct, no I don't eat dairy.  It just impressed me so much how the biggest concern these people had was not even remotely similar to the reactions I have gotten from so many others which border on an attack of my choices.  No, there was none of that here; only a concern that they would not be able to properly feed me.  (More on this evening in a later post when I talk about meeting their longhorn cattle....quite a wonderful experience too).

The evening made me think of manners and how startling it was to see GOOD manners in place.  What does this say about others in my life and where have our good manners gone?  I wonder how much better the world could be if we would take the care to put in our simple 'please' and 'thank you's and endeavor to show each other a bit of mannerly respect.  I suppose I can refine my manners as well and I've made a mental note to do just that....more of the 'be the change you wish to see' at work.
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"Unprocessed" Adventure - Part 2

I had some leftover spinach dip from my first endeavor into Chef A.J.'s book "Unprocessed" (I am cooking my way through her book, Julie/Julia style), so it only made sense to make her Disappearing Lasagna since she uses the dip as the filling.

Chef A.J.'s Disappearing Lasagna

2 boxes of no boil rice lasagna noodles (I used whole wheat)
6 C oil-free marinara sauce (I did a simple blend of tomatoes, tomato paste and oregano)

Filling:
1 box extra firm tofu OR 2 C cannellini beans, drained and rinsed  (I used both)
2 oz. fresh basil leaves
1 C pine nuts, raw cashews or hemp seeds
2 cloves garlic
1/4 C miso (I subb'ed Liquid Aminos)
1/4 C nutritional yeast
1/4 C fresh lemon juice
1/8 t red pepper flakes
2 pounds frozen chopped spinach or 1 pound kale (I used fresh)

4 oz can sliced olives, rinsed and drained (optional)
2 pounds sliced mushrooms
1 garlic clove (I think there is an omission in the recipe due to instructions, so inserted this here)
1/4 C tamari
1 large red onion (I used large yellow)

Faux Parmesan:
Grind raw cashews or almonds to nutritional yeast in a 2:1 ratio (i.e. 1 C nuts to 1/2 C nut. yeast) and 1 T of salt-free seasoning

Make the filling in a food processor adding tofu, basil, garlic, lemon juice, miso, nutritional yeast, nuts and red pepper flakes.  Puree til smooth.  Add drained spinach or kale and process again.

Saute chopped onion in 2 T water until translucent, about 8 mins, adding more water if needed.  Add garlic, mushrooms and tamari and saute until browned.  Taste mixture, adding more garlic/tamari as desired.  Cook until mushrooms appear to be glazed and no liquid left in pan.

Pour 3 C of sauce in lasagna pan. Place one layer of noodles (A.J. specifies no-cook noodles, but I find that all pasta will cook in the over as long as it is covered in the sauce) on top.  Cover noodles with half of tofu/spinach mix, then with half of mushroom mix.  Place another layer of noodles on top and add remaining halves of tofu and mush.  Place one more layer of noodles on top and smother evenly with remaining sauce.  Sprinkle olives on top of sauce and sprinkle with faux parmesan.  (I put black olives on top of half of the casserole for my husband and put thinly sliced red peppers on my half).

Bake uncovered 375 degrees for one hour.  Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Oh-My-Gawd.  This is superbly yummie.  Even my husband (non-vegan) said:  "Delicious".  Are you kidding me?  That is beyond amazing.  Now, I LOVE Rip Esselstyn's Raise the Roof Lasagna, but this is a serious contender.  Very uniquely flavored and my only complaint was that I had prepared too large of a salad and so was only able to eat one piece.  Yum.

(Note:  I have another idea for this filling.  I'll be adding chopped onions, peppers and mushrooms and using it to fill pasta shells, then have the tomato sauce over top.  It should make a nice vegan stuffed shell or manicotti dish).

Speaking of salad, I have FINALLY, FINALLY, FINALLY found a ranch dressing I can enjoy.  Thank you, thank you, thank you, Jennifer Cornbleet.  I picked up her book "Raw Food Made Easy" at Half-Priced Books. I 've only made a few things in there, but was so beyond thrilled to find something I could use to replace my beloved (and unhealthy) ranch.    Here is her recipe.

Mock Sour Cream and Chive Dip

1 C soaked raw cashews

1/2 C water

1 T fresh lemon juice

1/2 t garlic powder

1/2 t onion powder

1/4 t salt

2 T minced fresh chives or green onions

1 T basil (I subbed parsley)

1 T dill

Place nuts through salt in blender and process til smooth.  Add chives, basil and dill and pulse briefly to mix.  Chill at least 30 mins in frig. 

I wanted this to be a bit creamier so I added about half a block of silken tofu.  I did tweak the seasonings a bit and added a lot more dill----I love dill.  My husband doesn't like dill, so I made some for him without the dill and increased the garlic and onion powder.  He said 'I can live with it', so I'm going to play with the spices some more and see if I can ramp the flavor up a bit.  Still, it was yummy and I devoured it both as a dip for fresh veggies and straight on the salad.  It's been a long nearly 8 months with no ranch.

Sue, not in the mafia, vegan or otherwise, in Ohio



Rainy Days, Stress and My New "Unprocessed" Adventure

It's raining here in Ohio.  I mean serious, creeks flooding, roads closing, Canada Geese-swimming-in-the-driveway rain.  In my attempts to be a 'glass-half-full' kind of gal, I remind myself that just a couple of weeks ago I literally had to skate out to the barn to do my chores with so many layers of outerwear that I felt (and looked) like the Michellin man.  So I am trying to remain in a state of gratitude for the rain, realizing that it is serving its purpose too, to fill the water tables that will nourish the earth. 

Still....it's damn dreary.
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I've been giving thought of late to the concept of stress.  It's become such a buzz word, that I think we've become somewhat desensitized to just how powerful stress is.  We get stress from work, stress if we don't have work, stress from family drama, stress over if we are stressing....it's endless.  I know it affects our bodies and certainly our ability to cope in life, but I had no idea just how much until a trip to the E.R. last weekend gave me an 'in-your-face' moment of clarity.  I had been working one of our horses and began having visual disturbances--really bizarre patterns of flashing lights---my husband and I opted to go to the E.R.  The nurse practitioner there and the E.R. doc weren't totally willing to rule out a torn retina, but suspected ocular migraine, and so put me on some physical restrictions with strict orders to go see the ophthalmologist first thing Monday.  (Which I did--turned out to be an ocular migraine). 

While in the E.R., they kept taking my blood pressure.  Normally I run around 110/75 yet I was putting out numbers like 155/105, 150/95, crazy high for me.  Now, I didn't FEEL like I was under that much stress....I mean I was sitting there in the E.R., but my husband was there, and my son and his girlfriend had even come to offer their support, which touched me deeply, and I felt like I was pretty relaxed all things considered, yet here was my body clearly showing the measurable signs of what was really going on. 

I guess you can't fool your body.

I am putting 'stress reduction practice' as a priority on my list of things to do for self-improvement.  Yoga has to go back in (and as a serious main course, not the garnish status that it currently has in my fitness program), and time spent doing the beautiful soothing moves of my Tai Chi, as well as the simple act of consciously taking some deep breaths throughout the day.  Stress deserves its due.

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The Great "Unprocessed" Adventure

I just got Chef A.J.'s book "Unprocessed". http://tinyurl.com/5vrbscw .  I've been an admirer of Chef A.J. and her partner-in-kale, Julieanna Hever for quite some time and she is definitely one of my heros.  After reading the story of her life, I am now even more in awe; she has had much to overcome. 

While doing a quick scan of the recipes in her book, I decided I would do a "Julie/Julia" approach to the book.  (Julie-Julia refers to the book and movie (http://www.julieandjulia.com/) wherein Julie Powell undertook the monumental task of cooking her way through Julia Child's first cookbook.  It's a really fun movie if you haven't seen it (however, recipes are definitely NOT vegan...yikes, so much butter!).  Anyway, I follow A.J. on her FaceBook page and mentioned this idea and she said we might be able to do giveaways of her book here on the blog at some point, so watch for news of that.

I am going to skip around in the book as I make my way through the recipes and started with her Kale or Spinach Dip and her Fennel Salad.

Kale or Spinach Dip

(A.J. notes this is also the filling that is used in her lasagna)

1 box of extra firm water packed tofu OR 2 cans (15 oz) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 oz fresh basil leaves
1 C pine nuts, raw cashews or hemp seeds
2 cloves garlic (or more to taste)
1/4 C low sodium miso
1/4 C of nutritional yeast
1/4 C fresh lemon juice
1/8 t red pepper flakes (or more to taste)
2 lbs. frozen, chopped spinach (defrosted, drained with all liquid squeezed out) OR 1 pound frozen kale (defrosted, drained, with liquid squeezed out)

Place all ingredients except spinach or kale in a food processor fitted with the S blade and process until smooth and creamy.  Add spinach or kale and process again until combined.  Place in hollowed out loaf of round sourdough bread for a spectacular presentation.

I tried a couple of different things with this recipe.  I was out of basil (who DOES have pine nuts in their kitchen but DOESN'T have basil???....that would be me.)  So, I subbed some parsley.  I am sure the basil would make a difference.  Also, I had a silken tofu slab that was nearing the expiration date, so I used that instead of the extra firm.  As, predicted, I knew this dip would come out more liquidy than with the firm tofu, so when I remake, will use the extra firm.  Also, I don't like miso at all; have tried a couple of different types and I just don't like it, so I subbed Bragg's aminos for that.  Again, I am sure it had an effect on the recipe.

This makes quite a bit of dip and I even halved the recipe.  I enjoyed it with some fresh veggies and was happily munching away and then decided to try adding the cannellini beans for kicks even though the recipe calls for either or, tofu or beans.  That gave it a different texture and flavor and was quite good on some 'flaxers' (http://sunnyhawklane.blogspot.com/2011/02/usda-part-2-bullies-and-flaxers.html) I had on hand.  (Note:  this would be a really fun dish to include for a St. Patrick's Day dinner; the green is gorgeous).

Since I have so much of this left-over and since I just happen to have some whole-wheat lasagna noodles on hand, I'm going to make a small pan of A.J.'s lasagna tonight, so will have a post on that soon.

Next up:

Fennel Salad

(Raw) - A.J. credits Ellen Greek with this recipe

2 bulbs of fennel

1 lemon

20 dates

Slice the fennel very thin into a bowl.  Keep the green top to decorate the salad.  Slice the dates and mix them with the fennel.  Pour the lemon juice over this and mix it well.  Serve cold or room temp.

I just used a portion of one fennel bulb and adjusted the other ingredient amounts accordingly.

I was amazed at this salad.  There are so many flavor variations in this between the anise flavor of the fennel, the tartness of the lemon and the sweetness of the dates that it is like a taste kaleidoscope in the mouth. While this is not something I would want to eat a huge serving of, it was light, lovely and very unique.  I definitely will be preparing it again.

Sue, de-stressing in Ohio