Good Foods - The beginning

Just getting started with our new diet and healthier outlook....

Saturday Family breakfast: Steel cut oatmeal with a variety of toppings:
fresh blueberries, strawberries, apples, bananas, almonds and pecans, flax seed, brown sugar or honey, raisins, cinnamon, and almond or coconut milk.


Scrambled eggs with caramelized onions and baby bella mushrooms with avocado and a sprinkle of feta.


Rice cakes with almond butter, apples and topping of whipped honey and mashed banana. 


Wish I had time to fix and eat that every morning!


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 Sunday dinner:
Roasted vegetables: carrots, red potatoes, yellow and zucchini squash, sweet potatoes, red bell pepper, asparagus, mushrooms, artichokes, and onions.  Mix a little olive oil with mashed garlic, salt, pepper and Italian Seasoning and bake for and hour on 375 (til red potatoes are done).


If I had sliced the vegetables thin, I could have used these in the lasagna for a vegetarian version!


(Sorry about the ugly white outline, I cant make it go away!)


Lasagna with Tofu instead of Ricotta

• 1 lb tofu
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions:

1. 1
   Blend all ingredients well.
2. 2
   Use in lasagna recipe in place of ricotta.
   
   
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Monday dinner with Jill and David and their kids:
Make em yourself Thai Spring Rolls


Rice Spring Roll Wrappers (found in the Asian section or at an Asian market)

dip them for about 15 seconds in a pie plate filled with warm water.
Lay on your plate and fill with any combination of the following:
Green or red leaf or butter lettuce
Fresh cilantro, basil, and /or mint leaves
thinly cut carrots
thinly cut green onion
thinly cut cucumbers
bean sprouts
Firm tofu, sliced thin and then gently tossed with a little hoisin sauce and/or soy sauce, and a few drops of sesame oil
(or if you do the meat thing: little bits thinly sliced pork or little bits of shrimp or imitation crab)
Rice noodles (thin) soaked in hot water for a few minutes

Roll it up and tuck in the sides like a burrito

and then dip in either of these two sauces:


Peanut Sauce:

• 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 3 tablespoons water
• 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice or rice vinegar
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon hot (rooster) sauce
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root or 1 tsp ginger powder
• 3 cloves garlic, minced or 1 tsp garlic powder

Mix until creamy and serve

OR 

Sweet Chili Sauce

• 1/2 cup rice vinegar (or substitute white vinegar)

• 1/2 cup white sugar or other sweetener

• 1/4 cup water or pineapple or orange juice

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 1/2 to 1 Tbsp. dried crushed chili (1 Tbsp. makes spicy-hot sauce)

• 1+1/2 Tbsp. cornstarch dissolved in 3-4 Tbsp. cool water

Bring to a boil and stir until thick. Cool and serve.

(add more chili or sugar as desired, perhaps a squeeze of lime)

For dessert, we had Thai Sticky Rice with Mango

• 1 cup coconut milk
• 2 pinches salt
• 1 cup Sticky Rice
• 2 tablespoons sugar (or substitue sweetener of your choice)

I soaked the rice in warm water for about 20 minutes, drained and then added the other ingredients and cooked like normal rice.

However here are some interesting directions I'll try next time: 

The Microwave Method: 

Soak the sticky rice for 10 minutes in warm water in a bowl. Soaking the rice is very important. I have tried this method without soaking the rice first and it was disastrous. The rice was undercooked and inedible. The water level should be just above the rice, which comes out to be 1 cup of rice and a little over 1 cup of water (about 10% more). I recommend using a non-plastic container because you may melt the plastic in the microwave. Cover the bowl with a dish and cook in microwave for at full power 3 minutes. Stir the rice around to move the rice from the top to the bottom. You will notice that some of the rice is translucent or cooked and some still has white center or the uncooked portion.

Heat it up again for another 3 minutes. Check and see if it is done. When cooked, all the rice should be translucent. If it needs more cooking, I recommend heating up and checking every 3 minutes or so. How long it takes to cook really depends on your microwave.

Putting it together: Heat the coconut milk in a pot over medium heat. Stir constantly and let the coconut milk simmer. Hard boiled coconut milk will curdle. Add sugar and salt. Remove from heat. Pour 3/4 of the hot coconut milk over the hot sticky rice. Let it sit for 5 minutes. The hot sticky rice will absorb all the coconut milk. The rice should be a little mushy. Spoon the rest of the coconut milk on top of the rice at serving time.

Sauce on top: is just the remainder of your coconut milk, a little sweetener and 3T. cool water mixed with 2 T. corn starch to thicken, stir almost to boiling and until thick enough to coat a spoon.

Drizzle over fresh sliced mangoes and coconut rice and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds if desired.

HAPPY EATING!

:)

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