Tag Archives: vegetables

Vegetable Nori Rolls

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Rain rain go away, come back in February when I’m far away {in the sun} :-) . Kidding. A little rain is kind of nice. Plus, I haven’t had a car wash since I don’t remember in a long time, so my baby is getting a bath too.

I had an amazing lecture the other day by David Wolfe who I am absolutely obsessed with I think is so amazing. He is such a great leader in the raw foods movement.  It has been one of my favorite lectures so far.  He spoke of many good things about raw foods, how to add more into our lives, and specific supplements, nutrients, and vitamins we need.  When he got to sea vegetables, I knew some veggie nori rolls were in order!

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These are so easy to make and you can stuff almost anything into them!  I chose vegetables that weren’t too overpowering and added more flavor with hummus and some seasoning.  This is also a great meal idea for kids since they can fill their own with their favorite vegetables (assuming they have favorites?!).

Vegetable Nori Rolls:

  • Nori sheets – Organic strongly recommended { I use these }
  • 1 – 2 tablespoons hummus per roll
  • vegetables of choice!  - I used broccoli sprouts, carrot, cucumber, bell pepper, tomato, avocado, sauerkraut , and jalapeño.
  • Seasoning – Like the veggies, get creative!  - I used a sprinkle of nutritional yeast and some tapatio { gotta get my spicy }

To assemble:

  1. Spoon a row of hummus from top to bottom, almost in the middle, but closer to one side.

  2. Top with vegetables and seasoning.

  3. Wet your fingers slightly and moisten the edge of the side furthest from the filling.

  4. Take edge of side closest to filling and start rolling.  Use a couple of fingers to tighten filling in roll.  If you need to moisten the edges once rolled to secure it, do so.  Cut into several pieces, or eat more as a hand-roll.

  5. Enjoy!

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So on top of getting a ton of vitamins and nutrients from all the vegetables, what else are we getting??  Nori nutrients!  Nori is a GREAT source of iodine (great for hypothyroidism).  It also has good amounts of calcium, fiber, some protein, and vitamins A,B,and C.  So fill up those rolls kids!

Seasonal Eating – Fall/Winter

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Aaaaand I am back from Mexico!  Tan and relaxed!

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{ view from the house }

Erik and I had  such a great time down south.  We were out in the middle of nowhere, seriously, with hardly anything but the casitas (houses), our friends, beach, and plenty of Pacifico ;-)   It was a quick 5 day vacation but so glorious!

 

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{ sunrise }

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Now that I’m back, I’m getting caught up on work, studying, cleaning, finishing decorating (!!) and getting ready for Erik’s big work holiday party tomorrow night.  I am beyond excited, I love getting dolled up!  And his work goes all out, it’s a fabulous event.  Oh, and getting to party at the Montage Beverly Hills, doesn’t hurt either.  I’ll hopefully have some pretty pics of the place to post Monday :-)

OK, so back to business.  I normally keep things pretty clean in the kitchen when cooking and preparing foods.  Just lots of whole grains, vegetables, and fruits.  It’s even more important to try to keep the diet clean in this season.  Not only will your body and immune system stay stronger (fight off sickness, boom!), you will feel less guilty for occasionally indulging.

3d rendered illustration of some funny food characters  

Let’s face it, we all like to enjoy the good times during the holidays, and there is never a shortage of good foods, treats, and drinks around!

Christmas gingerbread.

There is enough stress during the holidays without the need to worry about your waistline.  So load up on the goods, and allow yourself to enjoy some indulgences without guilt ;-)

Which brings me to seasonal eating: Fall/Winter:

Part of staying natural with foods is to eat seasonal.  I posted a while back about why buying seasonal vegetables and fruits is beneficial.  On top of those reasons, the earth is telling us what we should be eating in the current season to keep us healthy and strong.  We grow lots a hydrating and cooling foods in summer months, correct?  Our bodies need those foods in the hot months, but you don’t want you body cooling down lots in the winter months.  You would be more susceptible to illness if you stayed eating mostly just the fruits and veggies you eat in summer.  During the colder winter months, your body wants denser, heavier foods.  It’s important to incorporate plenty of high protein, high good fat, and oils during these months.  Root vegetables (potatoes, carrots, beets, yams) are very satisfying in winter.  They are more dense, and because of how they are grown (root), will keep us feeling more grounded, warm, cozy…just what our body is craving!!

Harvest time, pumpkins

Here is a good list of fall and winter foods.  Try adding these to your grocery list and keep an eye out for these at the market:

  • Squash

  • Apples

  • Beets

  • Brussel sprouts

  • Cranberries

  • Mushrooms

  • Figs

  • Sweet potatoes

  • Swiss chard

  • Figs

  • Grapefruit

  • Kale

  • Leeks

  • Lemons

  • Radishes

  • Turnips

I’m aiming to have some delicious recipes posted next week incorporating these foods!  Until then, have a wonderful weekend!

Particular benefits from Juicing

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Well hello Friday, so nice to see you again.  Feel free to stop by whenever you want ;-)

I think today is a good day for a Health Pumped Post!  Kick off the weekend right, right?  Yes.

I have mentioned before the Benefits of Juicing and doing Juice Cleanses.  So today’s post is more about how the Fruits and Vegetables we juice with actually benefit us.  You can literally juice almost any vegetable or fruit, like even potatoes, crazy right?!  Instead of talking about anything and everything under the sun (or in the dirt) to juice with, I’m highlighting what I use most frequently.  Sometimes I include all of the following, but usually it is some variation of lots of greens and a little fruit and/or citrus.  

So here we go!  Hope this helps you understand how all these wonderful fruits and veggies help our lovely bodies stay healthy and happy!

  • Apple:  Helps cleanse the liver and kidneys, also helps them function properly.  Energy booster with the natural sugar.  Also helps the taste ;-)
  • Carrot:  Contain lots of Vitamin A and beta-carotene which helps eyes.  Supports the liver and digestion.  Cancer fighter.  Revitalizes skin
  • Cucumber:  Contains antioxidants and promotes healthy skin (hello glow!!).  The high water content aids in cleansing and weight loss
  • Lemon: Cut off peel. High in Vitamin C.  Helps eliminate free radicals (cancer and body damage causers).  Helps cleanse the body and clean the urinary tract.  Promotes clear skin.
  • Ginger:  Huge immune booster.  Kicks up the digestive tract.
  • Beet:  Huge blood cleanser and liver cleanser.  Rich in anti-oxidants.
  • Dandelion Root:  Big body detoxifier and cleanser.  Liver and gallbladder helper (helps produce and remove bile). dandelion is very bitter so use sparingly
  • Parsley: High in iron and B12.  Natural diuretic (cleanser) and a good immune booster.  strong in taste, so again, use sparingly
  • Kale:  High in iron, calcium, and Vitamins A,K, and C.

Hope this gives a little more help and information for why to include certain fruits and vegetables.  Also, here are some combinations I like to use are:

  1. A few carrots, half a beet, an apple, and a nub of ginger
  2. Kale, lettuce, dandelion, a little parsley, half a cucumber, a lemon, and an apple
  3. A few carrots, a lemon, a nub of ginger

What are your favorite things to juice with?

Now go enjoy some fresh juice!!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Check out these sites for more information:  Worlds healthiest foods and LiveStrong

Rosemary Flatbread

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Hi Hi!!

How is everyone’s Hump Day treating them?!  Good I hope :-)

I totally scored some super juicy, flavorful sungold and cherry tomatoes the other day at the farmers market.  We munched on a bunch over the weekend, but still had a good amount come the new week.  Since the majority of my cooking is based around using up whatever produce I have lying around from the garden or farmers market (I sometimes go a little nutzzzz at the farmers market), I decided to top a flatbread with excess veggies.

I can say it was easy to make since i kind of cheated by using a Trader Joe’s pre-made dough.  Seriously though, sometimes I just don’t have the time/energy to do it all from scratch.  Sue me ;-) (but not really, that wouldn’t be fun). However, if you feel so inclined, a couple of from scratch dough recipes are HERE and HERE. 

{Fresh Veggies}

Back to the flatbread making.  I used the following, but really, use whatever veggies you want:

  • a few tablespoons of olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons  fresh, chopped rosemary
  • 1/2 cup onion, cut in long pieces
  • 1 cup largely chopped white mushrooms
  • 1 cup halved sungold and cherry tomatoes
  • 1 cup spinach
  • salt
  1. Pre-heat over to 450
  2. Chop/cut all veggies
  3. On a floured surface, roll/gently pull dough out to a rectangle.  Mine came out to about 12×6
  4. On a greased baking sheet, cook bread for 12 minutes, until dough is pretty cooked through, and crisp.
  5. While dough is cooking, heat olive oil in a saucepan on medium heat.  Add rosemary; stirring occasionally for about 4-5 minutes.  Remove from heat.
  6. In another pan, heat a little oil (I used Coconut) on medium.  Add onions and allow to cook for about 10 minutes.  Until tender.   About 3/4 of the way through, add the mushrooms.  Add a little salt at the end.
  7. After dough is removed, rosemary oil heated, and onions/mushrooms cooked, coat flatbread with rosemary infused oil.  Make sure to spread the rosemary evenly.  Sprinkle top with a little sea salt. Top with spinach, onions, mushrooms, and tomatoes.
  8. Place back in oven and cook for another 10 minutes.  (plus or minus a few minutes depending on oven)

 

Enjoy!!

Serve as a starter, alone, or along side a fresh arugula salad.

What veggies would you put on top?

Juicy Juicing Recipes

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Juice Juice Juice, how many posts can I write about juicing?  I thought they might get a little boring buuuut in the past few weeks alone I have had several friends and family mention their latest obsession:  JUICING!!!!  It is part of my daily routine and I am so happy to see people starting to incorporate it into their lives as well.  That being said, I’ll be posting some of my juice recipes more often, thankyouverymuch!

Blood and Liver Helper – 4 carrots, 1/2 cucumber, 1 small beet, 2 small apples, 1 small garlic clove

Green Mixer – 2 large kale leaves, a handful of broccoli, several parsley sprigs, 1 cucumber, 2 carrots, 1 apple, 1 lemon

3 large kale leaves, 2 apples, several parsley sprigs, 3 celery sticks, 1 cucumber

Blood cleanser – 4 carrots, 2 apples, 4 celery, small ginger nug, 1/2 cucumber

Taco Tuesday Vegan Fiesta!

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Taco Tuesday, original post huh?  But seriously, who doesn’t LOVE Mexican food?  And here in Southern California, there’s about 1 good restaurant on each block, each claiming it has the best Mexi food in town.  And it is all goooooood,  only problem?  It’s mostly burritos the size of your head.  Or taco plates the size of your torso filled with greasy rice, beans, cheeses, and more.  Add a couple cervezas or a margarita, ay dios mio….

Here’s a healthier, easy Taco Tuesday meal.  Just heat up some CORN, not flour, tortillas, add some beans, and load on the veggies.  Easy peasy and delicious!  Now you deserve a beer or marg with your meal!

What you’ll need:

  • Corn tortillas – make sure the only ingredients are corn and water, maybe lime or lemon too
  • Beans – see below for my homemade “re-fried” bean recipe
  • Chopped lettuce
  • diced tomato
  • sliced avocado
  • shredded “vegan” cheese – I used an almond based mozzarella
  • fresh chopped cilantro
  • any other veggies you choose – I sautéed mushrooms

Fixings for the tacos & tostadas

For the beans, I would either use low sodium black beans, or get creative and re-fry them, in a healthier way.  I had some left over black beans from my last batch of homemade beans and decided to try it…

Cooking down the water

You will need:

  • 1 1/2 cup of beans ( which will be enough for 3 tostadas or about 6 tacos) or 1 can
  • 1 cup chopped onion
  • 3 minced garlic cloves
  • 1/2 tsp salt – more if needed
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • pinch of cayenne pepper

In a small bowl, mash-up beans with fork or spoon until beans are pretty well mashed.  In a medium skillet on medium heat, heat a tablespoon of vegan buttery spread, I use Earth Balance.  Add onion and garlic, stirring for about 5 minutes.  Add mashed beans and 2 tablespoons of water.  Mix with onion.  Add spices and combine.  Stir for a couple of minutes.  Reduce heat to low.  Beans should become paste like.  

In another pan on medium heat, heat up a tiny bit of oil.  One at a time, heat up tortillas, cooking for about 2 minutes on each side; or you can simply warm in oven or microwave.  Remove beans from heat.  Spread beans on taco shell and fill with veggies.  Top with fresh cilantro, salsa, hot sauces…and ENJOY!!

Fixin’ up the tacos

Tostada base

Tostada Fiesta!

What is your favorite Mexican food?

Spring Shrimp Salad

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Shrimp in my salad?  Yep.  But aren’t you vegan.  Ummmm yes.

Well most of the time.  About 95% of my diet is vegan.  However, occasionally I do eat fish.  I try to make sure it is high quality.  I guess I am more of a Pescatarian?

I became vegan to feel healthier (dairy and meat did NOT work well with my digestive system most of the time) and to create mental clarity with wholesome food from the Earth.  However I am not crazy strict with it.  I feel good the way I eat, way better than I felt having dairy and meat.  I know dairy sneaks its way in occasionally when eating out, which to me is NOT the end of the world.  I can handle it.  I also LOVE fish, always have.  Again, not the end of the world to me.  It offers tons of benefits to my health.  So I guess I’m just kind of Vegan, meh, I feel good.  That’s what matters, right?  I think so :-)

So let me introduce you to this shrimp salad.

Packed full of veggies (pretty standard for my meals) and mixed with a good deal of shrimpies!

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Here’s what you need:

  • 1 lb jumbo cooked shrimp, peeled and deveined, chopped
  • 2 small tomatoes diced
  • 1 bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped shrimp
  • 1 small onion (red or yellow), chopped, OR 1/2 medium onion
  • 1 avocado, diced
  • 1 jalapeno, seeds removed finely chopped
  • 2 limes
  • 2 tbsp chopped cilantro
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 clove of garlic, minced
  • salt and fresh pepper to taste

In a small bowl mix lime juice, olive oil, cilantro, garlic, and a pinch of salt and pepper to taste.

In large bowl, mix tomato, bell pepper, shrimp, onion, jalapeno, and avocado (if not serving immediately, wait on the avocado…add when serving)

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Toss with dressing, serve and enjoy!!

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Seasonal Eating…Spring Style

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No matter what, getting LOTS of fruits and veggies in year round, any kind is in your bodies best interest.  Buuuut, if you want to kick it UP a notch, seasonal eating will really help nourish the bod!

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Basically, some of the key reasons to try to eat seasonally are as follows:

  • It’s cheaper!!! Save some cash $$ and buy what local farmers are currently producing.  Your local farmers markets and/or CSA’s are going to be able to provide you with some of the freshest foods available.  The further from the source you go, the more $$ you are going to pay, and the more likely it is that your food get treated to help preserve freshness (no bueno).  If you buy from the market, try to find a local section and stay organic :-)
  • Buying in season helps provide the highest amount of minerals and nutrients your body needs for those months.  The fruits and veggies are growing in the conditions and environment that will best support their growth.  Think about summer fruits for example, melons.  high water content, helps keep you hydrated!

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Farmers Markets are also great ways to discover new fruits and vegetables and learn more about where your food sources are coming from.  Try making it into a fun little weekend outing.  Grab some coffee and stroll the fun-filled isles!

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An important thing to remember at farmers markets is just that just like a grocery store, you want to buy organic.  HOWEVER, these are usually small farmers.  Becoming certified is an extremely expensive and time-consuming endeavor.  Talk to the seller about their farming methods.  Get a feel for what they do…growing organically is great!!!  So get out there!! Get to the local FM or look into joining a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).  Enjoy getting to learn and know who and where your food source is coming from!!

Here are some of my favorite spring veggies and fruits:

  • artichokes
  • Arugula
  • Asparagus
  • Avocados
  • Broccoli
  • Carrots
  • Cauliflower
  • Dandelion Root
  • Garlic
  • Kale
  • Sprouts
  • Strawberries
  • Greens!! Spinach, lettuce…
  • Potatoes
  • Cherries start being harvested
  • Certain mushrooms

In the next couple weeks I will be posting some yummy recipes incorporating these foods too!!  Stay tuned!