Posts by admin:
- 5 Broccoli stems
- 1/2 beet
- 1/2 cup Daikon (Oriental radish)
- 3 kale stems (leftover from salad)
- 2 celery stalks
- 1 inch ginger root
- 1 gala apple
- 2 cups papaya
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1 cup packed spinach
- 1 cup mango
- protein powder
- 1 Tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1 Tbsp cacao nibs
- 1/3 cup water
- Chayote
- Asparagus
- Artichokes
- Zucchini
- Broccoli
- Carrots
Kidney Bean Hummus and Kale Wrap
April 15th, 2010I am on day three of keeping a log of everything I am eating and counting calories. Someone asked me today if it was possible to gain weight as a vegan, even though I think the question was rhetorical, I wanted to shed major light on this fact.
One can CONTINUE GAINING WEIGHT even after choosing a vegan lifestyle. Yes folks. I know that many choose vegan lifestyles for a cause but there are many that do it for weight loss. I have noticed that after several months of trying to substitute foods for the “forbidden” foods, like cheese, also contain as much fat.
Alicia’s explains in her book, The Kind Diet, that in order to have a healthy lifestyle, most foods are centered on an a perfect balance of fruits, vegetables, grains, and clean foods. My problem has been replacing foods with almost the same fat and calorie count and letting er rip.
I know that this has been a process, but my desire to have self-discipline does not lie in my OWN self but in surrendering the will to have whatever I want to eat, even if it is “healthy.” Whether you believe it or not, my strength lies in God’s hand and not my own.I realize that when I rely on MY own will and strength, I fail, and I continue to choose food over health and balance. Not good.
My husband encouraged me to log in everything I was eating when I initially started back in November, but little by little I started to cheat. Someone told me if I craved cheese, that it was ok to indulge with a little bit and get the craving over. LIES. If I had a problem with cheese consumption (even paying the consequence of my lactose intolerance) before, having a little was not going to solve the problem. It was controlling how much I wanted to eat. Am I preaching to a choir here? I know someone has been in this same boat.
So I initially lost 16 pounds since I started but pretty much plateaued immediately when I started focusing on foods and my wants and desires as opposed to what was right for me and this time in my life. This is the reason for healthier posts and more veggies. I do not think I am sacrificing flavor, but finding an EVEN MORE creative way to enjoy natural foods. For example:
Lunch consisted on a wrap, filled with kale salad, kidney bean hummus, daikon radish, regular radish and tomatoes. DELICIOUS I tell you!
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Kidney Bean Hummus and Kale Wrap
makes 2 wraps
2 whole wheat pita
Hummus
1 can red kidney beans
1/2 cup sliced green olives
1/2 cup packed cilantro
1 garlic clove
Add-ins
1/2 tomato, sliced
1 cup shredded daikon
5 red radishes, sliced
2 cups kale leaves, stems removed
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp umeboshi vinegar
In a food processor, blend hummus ingredients until well blended.
Chop kales leaves and massage 1 Tbsp olive oil for 3 minutes. Add vinegar.
Assemble wrap: Take one pita and add 1/2 cup hummus and fill with add-ins and kale salad. Wrap and slice in half. 500 calories per each serving.
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Corn Tortilla and Veggie Stacks with Red Pepper Coulis
April 14th, 2010 |
| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Another day, another dollar right? I forgot to post my Meatless Monday entree yesterday and then I remembered, “Oh, I am always meatless,” ha ha ha.
My exercise routine has been out of this world and even despite some gloomy weather. Yesterday I rode my bicycle to the campus gym and worked on the elliptical machine for 30 minutes. I then stretched, did a few weights and worked on the treadmill. I finished that routine by riding back home after stopping at my local health store to stock up on some veggies. Needless to say, I forgot to buy a bag of carrots. Oh well.
After a great workout yesterday and today, I rejuvenated with a glass of delicious juiced-up veggies. Here was my miracle juice of the day.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
This glass of goodness was an experiment based on many other raw foodists out in the Twitter world. I was told that broccoli stalks could be juiced so I tried it. If you have a power juicer, try this. It is midnight now and I still have energy, but I am going to sleep now.
Trust me people. This might not sound delicious but the apple and ginger even out the flavors to make out such a great combination. I decided to do this since I did not have my carrots, ;(
As a dinner post, I would like to share a recipe I created last week. It actually was an inspiration based on a whim but those are the best, I hear. It consists of layering and grilling vegetables, but overall it is a quick weekday meal.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Corn Tortilla and Veggie Stacks with Red Pepper Coulis
serves 2
3 corn tortillas
1 cup asparagus stalks
1/2 cup mushrooms
1 Japanese eggplant, sliced and peeled
Peel and slice the eggplant with 1 inch thick slices. Lightly oil a grill and cook the eggplant for 5 to 7 minutes. Do not overcook. Add salt and pepper to taste. Saute’ asparagus and mushrooms for 5 to 7 minutes and set aside for assembly.
Red Pepper Coulis
3/4 cup red peppers (from a jar)
1/2 cup Veganaise
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup packed parsley
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne
Place all ingredient in a bowl and blend with an immersion blender.
Assembly
Heat 3 tortillas. Place 1 1/2 Tbsp of the coulis on a plate.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Lay one tortilla on top of the sauce. Add 1/2 Tbsp of coulis onto tortilla and top with some veggies.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Repeat with second layer.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Add top tortilla and top with 1/2 Tbsp of coulis and decorate with veggies. Eat with knife and fork!
Since there is no meat or fat, your fat comes from the veganaise. You will have 1/2 cup of coulis left for another use. This was suprisingly scrumptious and I hope to make it again!
Corn Tortilla and Veggie Stacks With Red Pepper Coulis
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Tropical Smoothie, Rawlicious Kale Salad with Garbanzo Mash, and Blogger Exchange
April 13th, 2010I have been back drinking my Green Monster smoothies since somehow I have been getting pretty hungry in the mornings and it has been a great excuse to get my greens in while I can. I recently started calorie counting and realized that I am really close to in adding way too many fruits. You know what that means? I am going over my sugar intake even if it means natural sugars. My fruit servings are being “wasted” on the morning smoothie, when I should save some for the evening when I actually crave them. I was good though today. I realized I was way over so tomorrow I start a new day with a more balanced day. Right? Right!
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
One of my smoothie recipes that I enjoyed recently came after creating the Tropical Steel Cut Oatmeal from last week. I mentioned that I had a papaya that was not so tasty as I had hoped, so I included it in my Green Monster smoothie of the day. Did you know that papaya has awesome enzymes that help your digestive system? I know this because since I do not have a gallbladder, I was told that I would need to take enzymes for the rest of my life. Why get a prescription for them if I can get them through natural foods? If you find a papaya, make sure to include it once in a while for a morning detox. Here are the following ingredients:
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Place all items in a blender and liquefy. Imagine yourself at a nice beach while you are at it.
After a long morning looking at reports, I decided that I wanted more greens for the day. I had heard of many recipes for raw kale salad but I had never eaten or tried to make it myself. I had only had steamed or mutilated, if you know what I mean. I have yet to try to make Kale Chips, which apparently is the new craze.
I took Monster Kale leaves and removed the stem and washed the leaves well and them chopped them. I made sure that the water was drained from the leaves. I placed the leaves in a bowl along with 1/2 cup of sun-dried tomatoes and added 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil and massaged the kale leaves and tomatoes for about 3 minutes. It softened the leaves. I then added sesame seeds and umeboshi plum vinegar and made a garbanzo mash as my protein.
WOWZERS! Y’all gotta try this recipe. It was so delicious and healthy. It was probably the best salad that included kale that I have ever had. It is a complete meal and even can be enjoyed for dinner.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Rawlicious Kale Salad with Garbanzo Mash
serves 1 big portion or 2 small portions
2 cups kale leaves, stemmed removed
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes in natural form (not packed in oil)
1 Tbsp sesame seeds
2 tsp Eden Foods umeboshi plum vinegar
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Garbanzo Mash
3/4 cup cooked garbanzo beans
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Using a potato masher, mash beans leaving a few beans, somewhat in whole form.
Assembly
Place salad on plate and top with garbanzo mash. Enjoy!!
This past week I also enjoyed a lovely surprise in the mail. I did a foodie exchange with a Jessica from Dairy Free Betty. She lives in a very cool spot in Canada where there are some great hiking trails. She sent me lots of great goodies for me to try. The funny thing is that she received my package the SAME day I received hers! It was fun.
There was lots of different vegan chocolates, Indian sauces, fruity snacks, teas and so much more! Even though these exchanges can get expensive it makes it worth it doing it once in a while.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
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Vietnamese Meatball Bahn Mi and Mai Tai
April 11th, 2010 |
| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
I hope everyone has enjoyed their weekend as much as a I have. After a very gloomy and rainy week, God has been so merciful as to bestow on us a gorgeous weekend full of sunshine! I love those surprises for sure. Yesterday Ryan and I had a nice drive to Holland to have our voice lessons. My teacher is the most inspirational person I have had.
I do not know if I have mentioned it here, but I have had 5 voice teachers since my undergraduate degree and I have to say that that has shocked many. Somehow it happened, but I thank God for having learned so many things from these teachers. I took a hiatus of 5 years before starting voice lessons again. Someone asked me, “Why does a great opera singer have to take voice lessons if you know how to sing so well already?” Very nice, but not so true. Technique is terribly important and at one point I fooled myself into believing that I no longer needed teaching. WHAT a silly person I was!
After I started lessons with Nicholas Loren in Holland, my whole confidence level has boosted up tremendously. He is not negative at all and is super supportive of ones vocal needs. I cannot believe that after 10 years of singing, I have reached a point where I know I have hit my best singing, and there is EVEN more to come!
After our lessons, Ryan and I were terribly hungry, since we had not had breakfast, so we trekked over to Deboer’s Bakery in Holland. This place makes the best Dutch treats and breads that we have tasted and it comes well recommended too! On Saturdays, though, they only serve breakfast so I was limited in my vegan choices. I went mentally prepared. Ryan, on the other hand, wanted to order everything on the menu, LOL. I persuaded him to order the Hippy Hash, which was roasted potatoes, grilled onions, chorizo, eggs, tomatoes and a hollandaise sauce. I chose the same thing, but I had them change the entire thing. Here is the final product:
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
I had them keep the roasted potatoes and grilled onions, but then had them add a variety of vegetables! Super delicious with some muesli toast on the side too!
Later in the afternoon we headed back home and relaxed before playing racquetball. I then walked home and hiked for an hour before heading home. I worked that brunch for sure! On my way home I visited an Asian market I frequent often and bought a few items I needed for dinner. I actually left the place with a bunch of veggies I cannot normally find at a reasonable price at the store.
A few weeks ago, after a voice lesson, I eyed my voice teacher’s January issue of Bon Appetit Magazine. I found a whole section on meatballs. I know, I know. What is a vegan looking at meatballs for? Well, I do have vegan meats that I had in the freezer sent to me by MATCH vegan meats. This is why this magazine intrigued me, besides it being great on its own as well. I took a look at several recipes and decided to try my hand at making a Vietnamese sandwich.
A traditional Vietnamese sandwich has always been something I always wanted to to try. I even had a chance to just try it in Toronto last month.The funny thing is that they use mystery meat that is not quite exciting to me but I know that they use tons of veggies and they stuff a big sub sandwich and it only costs like 2 bucks. I know! Anyway, Bon Appetit had a great recipe I tried and that I veganized. The recipe called for ground pork for the meatballs, which was perfect since I had vegan gound “pork” to use.
The steps to prepare this sandwich were super easy and it made enough for one casual dinner and one delicious lunch. Today we enjoyed this sandwich with my own quick version of a Mai Tai that sealed the whole deal! Enjoy both recipes!
Vietnamese Meatball Bahn Mi
slightly adapted from Bon Appetit magazine
makes 4 sandwiches
Hot Chili Mayo
2/3 cup Veganaise
3 green onions, finely chopped (leave out dark green tops)
2 tablespoon hot chili sauce (such as sriracha)
Meatballs
1 pound Match vegan ground “pork”
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 green onions, finely chopped
1 tablespoon hot chili sauce (such as sriracha)
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
Sandwiches
2 cups coarsely grated carrots
2 cups coarsely grated peeled daikon (Japanese white radish)
1/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1 tablespoon Asian sesame oil
Four 10-inch-long individual baguettes or four 10-inch-long pieces French-bread baguette (cut from 2 baguettes)
Thinly sliced jalapeño chiles
16 large fresh cilantro sprigs
Hot chili mayo
Stir all ingredients in small bowl. Season with salt. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Meatballs
Gently mix all ingredients in large bowl. Using moistened hands and scant tablespoonful for each, roll meat mixture into 1-inch meatballs. Arrange on baking sheet. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.
Sandwiches
Toss first 5 ingredients in medium bowl. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour, tossing occasionally.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Preheat oven to 300°F. Heat sesame oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add half of meatballs. Sauté until brown and cooked through, turning meatballs often and lowering heat if browning too quickly, about 15 minutes.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Transfer meatballs to another rimmed baking sheet. Place in oven. Repeat with remaining meatballs.
Cut each baguette or baguette piece horizontally in half. Pull out enough bread from each bread half to leave 1/2-inch-thick shell. Spread hot chili mayo over each bread shell. Arrange jalapeños, then cilantro, in bottom halves.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Fill each with 1/4 of meatballs. Drain pickled vegetables; place atop meatballs. Press on baguette tops.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Quick Mai Tai drink
for each glass
1.5 ounce pineapple juice
1.5 ounce orange juice
1 ounce triple sec
1 ounce light rum
1/2 ounce lime juice
Add all ingredients to an 8 ounce tumbler and add ice.
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Various Spring Vegetable Recipes
April 9th, 2010I have been light on my food postings because the husband and I have been taking care of leftovers! No worries though because I have many a plan in my head on upcoming dishes!
I took a poll several weeks ago on my Facebook page asking what vegetables should be featured on my blog. I then forgot that I never posted it on my blog. Here is a list of vegetables:
I featured a Warm Carrot Salad several weeks ago and then several days ago I mentioned the In-Season Vegetable Pasta which included asparagus. Last week I made a broccoli recipe that is super simple and VERY delicious.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Roasted Garlic Broccoli
serves 4
1 Head of Broccoli, stalk cut, peeled and chopped and florets cut small
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp coarse sea salt
1 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
Preheat oven to 450F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Place ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Line baking sheet with broccoli.
Mix and bake / broil for 10 to 15 minutes until it gets slightly brown.
This week I made a Zucchini and Mushroom Stir Fry that I accompanied with some roasted potatoes and garden salad.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Savory Zucchini and Mushroom Stir Fry
serves 4
2 medium zucchini, sliced in half-inch slices
1 small onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup sliced baby portabella mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped spinach
1 1/2 tsp Herbes de Provence
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
In a medium saucepan, heat olive oil on medium heat.
Add mrushrooms, onions, and garlic and saute’ for 5 minutes. Add spinach,zucchini, and spices and continue cooking for 5 more minutes.
Do not let the zucchini get soggy. Turn heat off and serve immediately. Serve with protein and salad
Another favorite of mine is Chayote. What is Chayote you ask? It is a type of squash that is high in Vitamin C and is usually consumed raw or cooked (lightly steamed), sometimes with a little lime or lemon juice. It looks like this:
It has a a lot of water content and is very tasty.I like preparing as a salad and usually accompany it with something spicy like enchiladas or flautas.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Chayote Salad
serves 2
1 large chayote, sliced and julienned (1/2-inch slices)
1/2 cup red onion, diced
1/4 cup packed cilantro, chopped
2 Tbsp Lime juice
1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
IN a medium pot and 1 inch water and place a steamer in the pot. Heat on medium heat and place chayote slices on steamer. Once the water begin to steam, let it stem for 5 to 7 minutes.
Remove chayote and place in a small salad bowl. Let cool for 10 minutes. Add cilantro and onions and toss.
Add lime juice, olive oil, and salt and continue tossing until well mixed.
What other vegetables have you never prepared or would you like for me to feature?
