Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Easy-to-Chew Meals

For breakfast today I had quinoa flakes made with banana. I've never tried them with banana before because when I tried making oatmeal with banana a couple months ago, I really didn't like the taste.

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But oh what I have been missing! Quinoa flakes with banana tastes so good! And it smells divine while cooking. I'll have to try oatmeal with banana again sometime to see if I like it now.

For lunch I made a thick veggie omelet and had a piece of toast (GF) on the side. (After the pic I prettied the toast with raspberry jam.)

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My omelet made with Eggbeaters included shredded rice cheeze, cut up zucchini, green bell pepper (from our garden!), tomato, and spinach. Not bad!

Tomorrow I go back to the dentist to have my stitches taken out.

Amy's Indian Mattar Tofu

Last night I had my first real meal - something soft and easy to chew: Amy's Indian Mattar Tofu (pardon the picture - this meal is not photogenic. )

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I've had this frozen meal once before. It's not spicy, which is just how my tummy likes it. Last night it took me thirty minutes to get it down. My jaw was sore for at least two hours after I ate, but it was so nice to be able to eat vegetables again!!

I really like the Amy's products for their healthy, organic ingredients. I appreciate all the dairy-free and gluten-free variations they sell. I've tried Amy's DF & GF pizzas (so good!), tamale pies, tofu scramble, mac & cheeze, and tamale verde. My favorite so far is probably the Rice Crust Spinach Pizza (DF & GF).

If I had one complaint about the meals it would be that many of them have a watery taste after microwaving. But I doubt that can be helped, since they're frozen meals after all. The pizzas and mac & cheeze don't have this problem. I wonder if cooking the others in the oven would make a difference. Most of the time I'm not that patient. :-)

Later on in the evening I made smoothies for my parents and I. Yum. There's no picture though because I didn't feel like going upstairs to get my camera. Still low on energy. I'm working on that.

Monday, July 28, 2008

A Liquid Diet

Here's what I've been eating on my liquid diet:

My mom went back to Fraiche and got me a pint of their soy frozen yogurt! I love my mommy.

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Jello

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Soy chocolate pudding - surprisingly delicious. I've tried this brand of soy pudding in their vanilla flavor and found it too sickly sweet. But the chocolate flavor masks the sweetness, so I like it much better.

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LOTS and LOTS of smoothies. I love smoothies.

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Sweet corn soup

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The good news is I have a big bruise on my face now, which means my mouth is almost healed. I took my last antibiotic last night, and the swelling has almost gone down.

All the groceries we got at Whole Foods last week are calling my name. Only a few more days...

Friday, July 25, 2008

Vanilla Coconut Shake

This morning my mommy made a smoothie for me out of my new cookbook, Ani's Raw Food Kitchen.

This is the vanilla coconut shake on page 50.

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She halved the recipe for me, since it says it makes 4 servings, and I wasn't sure if I would like it or not.

The verdict? I liked the flavor of it that the pecans added, but the texture was a tad gritty. Possibly because we don't have a super powerful blender? I'm not sure. I think if I was able to chew then it would've been okay, but since I can't, it was a little hard to get it down just by swallowing.

It definitely needed the extra ice that we added to it. The mixture wasn't very thick, so next time we might also add a frozen banana to help it out.

P.S. See my green blankie? Smoothies always make me cold! Even though it's summer, we've been having an awful lot of cold foggy mornings lately.

Oatmeal with Granola Plank = Yum

This was the last real breakfast I had before going to the dentist:

Oatmeal made with oats, soymilk, and ground flaxseed topped with a banana and part of a maple almond crunch granola plank

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It was dee-licious! Since these granola planks are becoming so popular with food bloggers lately, I decided I just had to try them.

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They pleasantly surprised me. They weren't too crunchy as in hard-crunchy. Instead they were more chewy-crunchy. Definitely a keeper. Once my mouth heals I want to try them with yogurt, and maybe even on soy ice cream.

Whole Foods Loot

The day before I had my wisdom tooth taken out, my mom and I went on a fun shopping trip to Whole Foods. That just figures, doesn't it? We got a whole bunch of yummy things, and now I have to wait at least a week before having them!

Well, here's some of what we got:

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This includes tapioca hamburger buns (GF), dried shredded coconut, raw carob cookies, a cupcake from the bakery, quinoa flakes, maple almond crunch granola planks, Power Flax bars (w/ cranberries & currants), blueberry oat bran muffins, tofu veggie burgers, oat groats, buckwheat groats, dates, soymilk, a vegan almond jam thumbprint cookie from the bakery, a thai wrap, 4 Clif Kids Z Bars (2 peanut butter, 2 honey graham), a Clif Nectar bar, a Kookie Karma bar (banana bread flavored), and 3 Amy's frozen meals (All American Veggie Burgers, Indian Mattar Tofu, and Asian Noodle Stir Fry).

Here's a picture of the cupcake I got:

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The sign in the bakery counter said that this was a vegan cupcake, but when we got home I realized that the sticker on the box said it was something different. Great. So I tried a few bites, and the cupcake part was extremely dry and the frosting bothered my tummy, so I concluded it probably had dairy in it. We tossed it out. We don't usually get disappointments like that from Whole Foods. Surprising.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Not Again

[This is a cross post from my other blog.]

On Wednesday this week I had to have yet ANOTHER wisdom tooth removed. Owww! Did we not just do this?? (I would have said “didnt” at the beginning of that sentence but apparently the apostrophe key is not working on my keyboard. Great. Time to upgrade to Mac.)

Anyway, at the end of May my bottom left wisdom tooth became badly infected. Now here it is exactly two months later and the bottom right one got infected. Sigh. This time it took longer for the doctor to take it out because the tooth had 3 roots. Owww. Instead of pulling out the whole tooth like she did the other one, she had to break this one in pieces. My. Poor. Jaw. I kept repeating Psalm 139 in my head while it was happening and that really did help keep my mind off the pain.

So here I am again - recovering on the couch in the family room slurping soy yogurt, pudding, and Jamba Juice. Oiy. I cant (sorry no apostrophe!) open my mouth wide enough yet to get a spoon in there. Maybe tomorrow.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Happy Monday

Good morning and happy Monday! It's an especially happy Monday for me, because I don't have to work today! My schedule got switched around this week, so I don't have to go in till Thursday. Woohoo. I love starting a new week out this way.

This morning I got up at 6:15. My poor mommy has to go in for jury duty today, so she was up early too.

Yesterday we had some really cold, windy, yucky weather, and last night big dark clouds started rolling in, so it's back to wearing long sleeve shirts, lots of layers and sweatshirts for me. Boo. For breakfast I made a hot bowl of oat bran with brain fuel - aka ground flaxseed.

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After I did my dishes, I decided to make a cup of tea and work on my Balancing the Sword Bible study downstairs on the couch. What a sweet time it was to sit at the feet of Jesus this morning and receive spiritual food from Him to strengthen me for the coming day. 

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Later on in the morning I made a smoothie. We have a lot of fresh fruit in our house right now. All the peaches on our peach tree are ripe, and we filled up at the farmer's market yesterday.

Today's concoction included peaches, strawberries, banana, a plum, and soymilk. It turned out a lovely shade of pink:

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Ta-ta for now. I'm off to get some writing done.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Raw Food Cooking

I bought a new cookbook at Borders this past week: Ani's Raw Food Kitchen by Ani Phyo. I have to say, I'm intrigued by the idea of eating more raw foods for health, energy, and mental clarity. I've noticed that I feel most inspired with writing ideas after I've eaten healthy foods. So I'm excited to try some of the recipes in my new book.

This morning I made her almond cinnamon oatmeal. The only thing is, we don't have oat groats, so I used regular rolled oats instead. Yes, that means the recipe wasn't completely raw (because rolled oats are cooked while processed), but oh well. At least I got the taste! And never fear - I plan on making a grocery list soon. :-)

Here's how it turned out:

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The taste of it was very sweet. I substituted agave nectar for dates (because of course, we don't have any dates - I'll put them on the list!), and next time I don't think I'll use as much.

At first, I tried adding some soymilk to tone down the sweetness:

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Then I tried it with a bit of almond butter (sorry, no pic). That worked better.

One thing I liked about this recipe was the cinnamon. I loooove lots of cinnamon in my oatmeal, and this definitely had an intense cinnamony flavor. Yum. I'll be making this again - hopefully next time with completely raw ingredients!

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Horseback Riding Day

This morning my alarm went off at 5:45, and I think I turned it off in my sleep. I've been prone to do that once or twice in my life. At 6:09 my eyes opened again, and I realized what day it was. Horseback riding day!

My sister takes horseback riding lessons every Saturday, and usually I don't get to go watch because I have to work. But today the lesson was an hour earlier due to the heat, so I got to go! We had to leave at 6:50.

For breakfast I had a warmed up gluten-free bun with some raspberry jam on top. I was going to have it with apple butter, but found some disgusting mold in the jar, so jam it was. Sorry, no pic.

While my parents and I watched the lesson, I ate a Clif Nectar bar. I've never had one of these before, but saw them at the grocery store and decided to give them a try.


The verdict? I don't think I'll try this flavor again. For me the taste of the dates was too sweet. Normally I like a lot of cinnamon, but mixed with the dates it was just too overpowering. I will say that the bar definitely kept me full until we got home.

This is the horse my sister rides: Terra (short for Terracotta). She's so pretty!


We got back home from the equestrian academy at 9:30. I barely had time to whip up a bowl of oatmeal before heading to work.

Today's bowl featured: oats, soymilk, cinnamon, ground flaxseed, a cut up nectarine, blueberries, Bear Naked granola with freeze dried berries, and agave nectar. After I made it, I realized I forgot to add the pinch of salt that everyone says makes such a difference in flavor. There is always something I forget. Tomorrow.


All mixed up

Friday, July 11, 2008

Fraiche Yogurt!

Guess where I got to go last night! To the famous Fraiche frozen yogurt place in Palo Alto!


For those of you who haven't heard of it, Fraiche makes and sells their own homemade, organic yogurt and frozen yogurt. They also have a soy, lactose-free frozen yogurt, which is what I had last night. It was sooooo goood.

They offer a variety of toppings including fresh fruit, graham crackers, coconut, and shaved chocolate. I decided to get fresh mango and blueberries. Talk about to-die-for. The mango was so juicy. It was the perfect combo.


My mom and I went there around 8 PM, and the little place was jam-packed full of people. A bunch of college kids were working behind the counter, so things moved pretty quickly.

Because of the line, we did feel a bit rushed when it came to be our turn. Only after we ordered did we notice that they have an ollalie berry puree as a topping choice. I just might have to get that next time. My grandparents used to grow ollalie berries on their property, and I *love* them.

We also got two chocolate ones to take home to my dad and sister - one with coconut and one with graham crackers. They were pretty melted by the time we got home, especially since it was so hot outside, but the eaters thought they still tasted good. :-)


I can't wait to go back! Hopefully next time we'll be able to go at a less busy time.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Thursday Love

[Note: This is a cross-post from my main blog.]

It’s Thursday. *Hearts* Thursday is my favorite day of the week because that means I have two whole glorious free days at home before I have to go to work again. On Fridays I have the thought looming over my head that the next day will be a long day in the office, but Thursdays I feel free.

I woke up this morning in the middle of a dream when my alarm clock went off at 6. Ugh. My stack of books next to my bed reminded me that I am WAY behind in reading for book club, which is TONIGHT, so I guess I had better get up and get a move on. Devotions this morning was very convicting, and I’ll leave it at that.

After taking a shower I decided to turn on my computer and start writing next week’s post for my column on the HSB Front Porch. I did a little bit of work on it, and then went downstairs to have a nectarine. I ate it outside in the garden. There is just something about fresh, early morning air that makes me feel at peace. I watched the sun rise up over our house, then I went back in.

Next I did some more computer stuff. When I felt hungry again, I made oatmeal which included: oats, oat bran, soymilk, ground flaxseed, lots of cinnamon, 1 tsp. maple flavoring (smells just like old fashioned maple donughnuts, which I used to love, but can’t have anymore), and agave nectar. I heated up some Bing cherries and had those on top.



As I assembled breakfast, I thought about the long list of things on my to-do list for today. What to do first? I don’t know! I need to go dump my brain. Be back later.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

A Not-Hungry Kind of Morning

This morning I woke up around 6ish and kept opening and closing my eyes, trying to rest, but not fall back asleep. Last night I stayed up later than usual reading in bed. Not good, but I knew I had to get up, so I did and did devotions.

I finally got out of bed at 6:25 to take a shower. But instead of going downstairs afterwards, I stayed in my room getting ready for the day and listening to a sermon mp3. I didn't feel hungry for breakfast.

See, if I eat too late at night after dinner, I'll wake up in the middle of the night with a tummy ache. That's what happened last night. Sigh. In the morning my stomach will still be bothering me, hence the not hungry feeling.

At 7:30 I finally went downstairs and had something easy on digestion: a peeled nectarine. (I peeled it after the photo.)

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By about 8:45 I knew I should have a real breakfast, even though I still didn't feel hungry, so I made quinoa flakes. Only as it turned out, we were completely out of bowls. They were all in the dishwasher. After searching the cupboards, I finally found our Bunnykins bowls! My sisters and I used these china bowls when we were toddlers! Such memories...

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I just might have to use it every morning from now on.

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Here are some more food pics from yesterday that I just uploaded this morning:

Soy mint marble fudge ice cream with vegan chocolate pound cake (from Whole Foods)

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Soy yogurt with fruit (bananas, blackberries, and grapes) and honey:

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That's all for now!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Another Hot One

[Note: This is a cross-post from my main blog.]

This morning my eyes opened at 5:20 exactly. Ugh. Too early. I shut them again, and they reopened at 6:15. Okay, that's better. I sat up and did devotions with Chambers. Today's verse was Joshua 24:15. Coincidentally, I've been studying Joshua in Balancing the Sword for the past few weeks.

I got up and got ready for the day. When I walked past the thermostat in the hallway, I noticed it said 75 degrees. It's going to be another hot one today.

For breakfast I had oat bran again. After washing my dishes I went back upstairs, cleaned the bathroom counter, and got on my computer.



When I checked my email, I was delighted to find a message saying my new Ebook had officially been listed for sale in The Old Schoolhouse store! That made me happy. :-)

Since the air was warm already, I decided to go out and sit in the garden to work on more of my Balancing the Sword study. It was so peaceful. I think a cricket is living in our strawberry patch, because I heard him chirping away, as usual.

Around 10 AM I left to go do some errands - to the bank and library. A week or so ago I received my jury duty check in the mail that I needed to deposit. I also had a few library books due. My usual time for going to the library is after lunch, but I figured I'd go in the morning today before it got too hot. Good decision.

When I returned home I had a cold, juicy peach to hold me over till lunch. Then I worked on updating my 2008 reading list. I had gotten behind in recording the books I've read this year, so it's good to be mostly caught up again. One more thing checked off my to-do list.

For lunch I made a big salad with Romaine lettuce, carrots, cucumber, grapes, and raisins. Ack! I just realized I forgot the tomato! My last one from the Farmer's Market is sitting on the kitchen counter. Boo. How disappointing.



This afternoon the girls my sister babysits will be coming over for awhile. It feels like we haven't seen them in so long.

Well, I will leave you with a picture of the corn in our garden. It's time for me to go brave the heat to water!

Monday, July 7, 2008

Corn Tamales - Sweet!

When my mom and I went to Whole Foods last week, I found these gluten free corn tamales. The only veggie inside them is corn, so they taste sweet, instead of spicy. That's perfect for me! The package suggests having them with salsa... or with maple syrup for breakfast. Yum.

I had one for lunch today.

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Yogurt and Fruit

A mid-morning snack:

Leftover fruit from dinner last night - canteloupe and blueberries - plus part of a freshly cut banana topped with plain soy yogurt and raw wildflower honey from the Farmer's Market. Soooo good. Sweet and cold - the perfect treat on a hot summer morning!


And half a wild blueberry flax muffin from Whole Foods (gluten-free) - good source of fiber and omega 3's.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

An Energizing Lunch

Here's what I had for lunch at work today:


Shrimp from the prepared foods section of Whole Foods, cut up carrots and cucumber, and leftover fruit salad from last night's Fourth of July dinner. I also brought a juicy peach and a blueberry flax muffin for snacks before and after.

Oat Bran

This morning I tried oat bran for breakfast for the first time. Mom and I got it on our last Whole Foods shopping trip. What did I think of it? Yum! I like anything smooth and creamy.


It ranks right up there with quinoa flakes...

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

2nd Breakfast

I already posted this on my other blog, but I'll post it here too. For breakfast yesterday I made a hot, bubbling pot of quinoa flakes and enjoyed that by myself on the couch before anyone else in my house was up. Yes, it's July 1st, but we're still having foggy cold mornings, so hot cereal works. It's cozy, and it reminds me of winter, which reminds me of Christmas!

By about 9:30, it was time for "2nd Breakfast!" (you have to say that phrase with an English accent just like Pippin - or was it Merry?) On Sunday I bought cherries at the farmers market, and I wanted to have them with oatmeal. So I made oatmeal with plain soymilk, ground flaxseed, cinnamon, and topped it with a cherry compote and a drizzle of agave nectar.

On the side of my plate in the pic below are some extra cherries that are kind of hidden by the bowl. I also have more compote in a bowl that's not pictured. I like being able to put it on when I want, so that not every bite is overloaded with fruit. Sometimes I like spoonfuls of plain oats in between bites of oats with fruit. It cleanses the palate!


Mmm, cherry goodness.