Keeping Up With The Condiments

Sometimes, when I think I am craving something, I've discovered it's not really the item I am wanting, but the taste of the condiments. For example, let's say I think I'm craving a hot dog ... is it really the yucky, disgusting, cruelty conceived, animal innards throw-aways all ground up with fat and spices that I desire?! OMGoodness ... no! It's the taste of the mustard and relish and onion and ketchup on top of a smoky tasting long cylindrical item, all nestled in a bun. I can accomplish this with a carrot dog. Here's my favorite carrot dog recipe. 

Now I know the ketchup comment may cause some controversy. Do you use ketchup on a hot dog? Or just mustard? To each his own, but I like both. I have been trying to go totally sugar and salt free, but ketchup has been one of my last hold outs ... along with salsa. But today, I am glad to say, I have finally come up with a no salt added, no processed sugar, ketchup. It does contain date sugar, but that's just dried, ground up dates. I still consider that a whole food. If I wasn't out of fresh dates, I would have used as couple of those instead. If you're wanting a healthy salt and sugar free ketchup, click here to give this recipe a go and let me know what you think.

Health and Blessings! 

Surviving Pizza Night -- Part 2

 

So here’s the outcome of pizza night. After spending a little time prepping other ingredients … the Italian veggie mélange, the tofu ricotta, and the no oil marinara, I ended up using, of all things, bread for my pizza crust. Why not? I’ve used pita bread and flat bread ... granted, by using a loaf of Ezekiel’s Food for Life Sesame Bread, this could, potentially, be considered pizza toast. But call it what you will, it was what I had to work with and it worked out wonderfully well ... little single size serving pizzas that satisfied, with all the flavor you want and no compromise to my health. Maybe I will call it pizza toast ... then I can have it again for breakfast!

So I ended up toasting the bread first thinking that would help keep it from getting soggy from the sauce and toppings. Then I layered it with marinara, veggies and ended with the tofu ricotta on top. I preheated the oven to 400 degrees and baked them for about 7 minutes. When the tofu ricotta started browning, I decided it was done. 

Building my pizzas

I should mention that I was concerned about possible sticking on the baking sheet, so I sprinkled about a tablespoon of corn meal over the sheet before laying the toasted bread down on it. Worked like a charm, and I think it helped the bread to not get soggy as well. 

So, all around, this was a success, if a little out of the norm, crust-wise. While my husband was chowing down on his "It's not delivery ..." pizza, this was all I needed to satisfy me. And yes, I ate all four of them ... with a side salad! I love eating plant based!

Fresh out of the oven

Co-Existing with a Carnivore (Surviving Pizza Night)

My husband has been wanting pizza. I put him off last week due to our a/c being temperamental and outside temperatures that got up to 110 degrees here in Northern California. There was no way I was going to have him turn the oven on in those circumstances. And the microwave would not accommodate the frozen pizza he had stashed in the back of the garage freezer. 

Well, the a/c got fixed Tuesday and temperatures have been lower this week, so I know he’s not going to be put off much longer. The problem now is that pizza is a trigger food for me. After all, I didn’t stop eating melty, stretch, gooey, cheese-laden pizza (and other animal/dairy products) because they suddenly tasted horrible. It doesn’t matter than I know, and have experienced, the detrimental effects of dairy. The fact that processed meats, such as the pepperoni and sausage toppings, are class one carcinogens, as reported by the World Health Organization, has no effect on my body’s physical reaction when I smell pizza. My response, when faced with that assault on my senses is … I WANT PIZZA!!! While knowing how unhealthy it is does keep me from eating it these days, it doesn’t help with the cravings that start within me when I'm triggered. 

So what’s a gal to do?! In this instance, I intentioned to make a health-promoting, whole food plant based pizza that would satisfy body and mind. Sure, I could have gone to the store and grabbed a vegan pizza, but I like to stay as close to whole foods as possible. Which is why I spent some time prepping ingredients. For this endeavor I prepped three items that should serve double duty for pizza and lasagna or other pasta dishes if I decide not to do lasagna. 

I sautéed some veggies, slightly different from the normal, weekly sauté that I do. I used onions, mushrooms, bell peppers, zucchini and summer squash and tomatoes. I water sautéed them and added little Trader Joe's Italian Style Soffrito seasoning. For the “cheese” factor I decided to put together a tofu ricotta. I could have made a melty, stretch, gooey vegan cheese. I have made one in the past that’s awesome, but I chose the tofu ricotta, knowing it could do double duty with some other dishes. And I’m all about prepping ingredients that can be used for multiple dishes. So, along with a super simple marinara, I now have the fixings for pizza that will satisfy me when he’s munching on his fat and cholesterol-laden, cancer-causing “it’s not delivery” pizza tonight for dinner. 

In the meantime my prepping paid off with this yummy bowl (I'm calling it a lasagna bowl.) that I had for lunch today. To put it together I cooked some whole wheat rotini and added a serving to a bowl along with some of the veggie mixture, tofu ricotta, cannellini beans and spinach, then topped it with some marinara. Yum! I’m looking forward to doing this again. Next up … pizza. Now I’ve just got to come up with a crust. (To be Continued)

Recipe Links:

Tofu Ricotta

Simple No Oil Marinara

Hiccup ... smickup! (Claiming the Victory!)

So, if you are in my Facebook group, you will know that I hit a milestone last week ... 150 pounds gone! I'm not going to say gone forever, as I have in the past, because that's come back to bite me. And it's not that I am ever going to go back to eating the standard American diet or not actively working on a healthy lifestyle. It's just that weight is a thing that fluctuates. And I've already fluctuated back up a couple of pounds. Not exactly sure why... could be water weight or the fact that I haven't exercised in over a week, or maybe my scale just had an off day. (That's what I'm hoping!) 

I think I'm not gonna worry about it too much and I'm still gonna claim my 150 pound victory. I put the work in and I deserve it! Truth is, I have lost well over 150 pounds ...  probably more like 300 pounds if you count up all the times I have dieted and lost, and gained back. This isn't one of those times, so I'm not gonna let a little hiccup phase me. But I am definitely making a plan to get back to exercising because I do that for my heart health, not just my weight. And that, my friends, is something I can do for myself right now, so I am off to walk a couple miles ... as soon as I finish this.

If you haven't visited my Day One Facebook group yet you can do so by clicking here. I will still be blogging from time to time, but I usually post every day in the group. Would love to see you there! Below you'll find a screen shot of part of the post that you can see in its entirety in the group. If you're not into the "group thing" I also have a Day One Facebook page. You can find it by clicking here.

Health and Blessings!

40 miles ... 14 days ... go!

I got four miles out of the way first thing this morning! Yay me! I have set a goal of walking 40 miles in the next two weeks. So, I am now 10% of the way there. It may seem strange … especially for a … um … “mature” woman of my years, but I have never really set any goals. (New Year’s resolutions are not goals!) And the flip side of that, unfortunately, is that I’ve never really attained any … that I can think of. Goal setting is not something I learned growing up. 


Physical activity is also not something I learned growing up, nor was I encouraged in any physical activity as a child or teenager, not at home anyway. There was the … um … really can’t call it encouragement, but the expectation of a certain amount of physical activity during school years, in that class that was my least favorite … PE. Ugh! Oh how I hated PE, especially when it was time for the President’s Physical Fitness Test. Talk about pressure  … and the embarrassment that came along with not being able to do as many sit ups, or push ups or (any) pull ups as the other kids. But I had a way of coping with pressure and embarrassment and the ridicule I received back then … eating. I have memories of hiding food in my room as a young child, just 6 or 7.  And it only continued as I got older. Food was a friend who never judged me and was always there for me.

Is it any wonder that by age nine I was already overweight? I remember with vivid clarity the experience that brought this knowledge to me, and the shame I felt that day … that continued for years.   I was at my friend’s house next door with her and another friend from across the street. For some reason we were weighing ourselves. I don’t recall ever having weighed myself before then.   I was in the fourth grade … maybe that’s what fourth grade girls did back then, I don’t know.  I’m pretty sure fourth grade boys weren’t doing that … anyway …  I weighed 90 pounds. I don’t remember how much the other two girls weighed, only the reaction of my best friend’s mother, and, subsequently, my two friends as they took their cue from mom, that told me that number was too high … way higher than it should have been … shame on me. Whoa … I didn’t really mean to delve into my childhood. This really was going to be about goal setting, so let’s get back there and leave the childhood stuff for my therapist.

Currently I am participating in a 20 week Kaiser program called HALT. That stands for: Health Achievement Through Lifestyle Transformation. In addition to following a plant-based diet for the reversal of disease, some of the subjects of our bi-weekly online meetings have included tools to help us such as: mindfulness, exercise and goal setting, among other things. Last night we were encouraged to set a goal and mine was to walk 40 miles in the next two weeks. A few weeks ago that would not have been something I would have ever considered. A few weeks ago I could barely walk one mile … but I did … barely … I remember my hips screaming after only half a mile. But then after a week or so I was able to walk two miles.  And then  … after some more days … three miles. And now I can do four miles. In fact a couple days ago I did four miles in the morning and another two in the afternoon.

And now I have a goal … 40 miles in 14 days. And when I meet that goal, I will set another … and meet it … at least that's the goal. Look at me … I got this goal setting thing!

Stir Fry on Greens?! [The crowd goes wild!]

What's that you ask? OK, so you didn't ask ... just go with it, alright?! Is it a salad? Is it a stir fry? Is it … could it possibly be ... Is it both a salad and a stir fry co-existing ... nay … living together with abandon in the same bowl? Why yes … yes it is!!! [Insert sound effect of roaring, cheering crowd.]

OK, that may be a bit dramatic, but I was pretty darn excited about my lunch today and the deal that I got on some veggies on my way home for lunch. The produce gods were good to me.* I was thrilled to find a better than usual selection of marked down items. [Cue crazy coupon lady happy dance. (former crazy coupon lady!)]

I got two 12 oz. packages of stir fry veggies for

$.89 each, two Mediterranean salad packages for $1 each (note: I just use the greens and toss the non WFPB compliant dressing and toppings), a 16 oz. container of organic spring mix for $1.99 and some organic apples for $.99 per lb. Everything for about $7.

So for lunch I used one of the stir fry packages and added some onion, red pepper, celery and black rice that I had on hand. When it was finished, my plant-powered brain said, “Let's add some more greens and make this dish even healthier. Why not serve it on a bed of the spring mix and top it with my Thai peanut sauce.” And so I did. Winner … winner … yummy, healthy dinner!!! OK, it wasn’t dinner  … it was lunch. Again, just go with it.

Perhaps stir fried veggies on top of greens is nothing new for you, or maybe you're saying "ew," but it was totally freaking awesome. I will definitely be doing this again … tomorrow, in fact, for lunch.  I just need to make more of my peanut sauce.

For dinner I used a package of the Mediterranean salad, one apple and more spring mix for a big, beautiful chopped salad topped with air fried Japanese sweet potatoes. I dressed it with a homemade no oil, no sugar, lemon Dijon salad dressing. Looking forward to a re-run of this one as well. 

If you’re interested in any of the recipes I used, here’s a couple links:

Thai peanut sauce (Scroll to the bottom of the page)

Lemon Dijon salad dressing (I omitted the poppy seeds, added a couple more dates, and increased the mustard.)

*Disclaimer: For the record, I do not subscribe to a polytheistic view, as may be inferred by this statement, and do not believe in actual produce gods, or any other gods other than the one, true God  … the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.