"How do you think up this stuff?"

At dinner with my family yesterday, I showed my aunt my recent (raw) blog posts.  Especially the raw beet and citrus salad.  She looked at me quizzically and said, "How do you think up this stuff?"

She could have meant any number of things, from... "that is too weird for me"   OR  "I like my oatmeal for breakfast, thank you very much"     OR  "hmm - my neice is a creative genius".

Probably somewhere between the first and the second.

But it begs the question - where ideas come from.  I have wanted to teach regular people to cook for some time now - with lessons.  The way a piano teacher teaches music, or a hockey coach runs drills.  People have much more capacity for cooking and feeding themselves than they credit for.  But it does take some mental flexibility...

Instead of "weird", I prefer to consider myself "experimental".

Instead of traditional, I prefer "unconfined by convention".

Instead of genius, I prefer "opportunistic".

This morning's coleslaw is a combination of shredded napa cabbage, segmented grapefruit, macadamia / almond / pecans, and dressed with a puree of agave, grapefruit pulp, grapefruit juice and fresh mint from the garden.  Topped with hemp and chia seeds.

All of these ingredients are not just one big "idea", but many different influences and lessons.

Why breakfast coleslaw?  Because of too much wine watching the New Jersey / LA Game.  I need some detox from both wine and adrenaline!!!!!  AND there was napa cabbage in the fridge - with little else.

I never would have added chia to my salad unless I read a book called "Thrive Diet" by Brendan Brazier, recommended to me by one of my students AND saw Chia seeds in the bulk food section (without the clay pottery!).

I never would have added hemp seeds unless I browsed the natural section of my grocery store with some extra time on my hands AND been influenced by the chefs on "Chopped" who always say that textures add pleasure to food.

And I never would have added fresh mint unless I had some growing in the garden AND saw a chef on some other show add fresh mint to a grapefruit granita.

What I mean is that every dish is so layered with our experiences and influences that the best way to become a better cook is to increase experiences and influences.  To buy things you might not be familiar with and just play.

The expression "to find a prince, sometimes you have to kiss a few frogs" comes to mind.  For everything that I have tried and loved, there have been things that I tried and thought - this is never going in my mouth again - but if I only stuck to what I liked without trying new things?

I would have had my fave treat from when I was 8 for breakfast today!

A mustard sandwich.

Maybe weird is the right word after all !!

:D

Burst of Breakfast

Just got back from a run.  Didn't have as much muscle power as I would have liked - probably because I was running on coffee and zero breakfast.  It should be a grocery day, although I don't know where I'll fit that in.

In any event, I was running hard just to get to my fridge!  The one thing I know I had there were two different kinds of beets - red and orange - and one orange, several grapefruits and some soaked walnuts.  Apparently soaking nuts increases their nutritional availability - and boy did I need it.

Conscripted Bill into my sous-chef for two minutes, and we peeled and grated the beets, I segmented the orange and grapefruit, and blended the middle fibrous leftovers with vanilla coconut milk in the magic bullet.

Tossed the whole vibrant rainbursting contents in a bowl with the dressing.  Needed a bit of sweetness, so reached for some raw agave, and it was just delicious.  Crunchy - sweet - an absolute light show of nutrients.

Even though this soounds weird, I'm sure - it is a must try.  Now I know I have the energy my day is going to demand of me.

Cold Heat : Raw Indian Cauliflower and Bean Salad

I am totally getting into this raw thing.  Last night, I chopped up a head of cauliflower into bite sized pieces, and added a can of rinsed chickpeas and another can of black beans to a bowl.

To make a sauce or dressing, I used my magic bullet to blend a can of san marzano tomatoes until they were smooth.  Added garam masala spice, cumin, coriander, cayenne, curry powder and fenugreek to a pot and was careful to just warm the sauce, so as not to destroy the raw enzymes in the tomatoes.  I also added a quarter cup of raw coconut butter, and mixed until smooth, and then seasoned it with sea salt.

When I poured over the cauliflower / bean mixture and stirred until combined, it became a nice marinated salad!

After a taste check, the raw cauliflower required more salt, and more spices - raw veggies don't have the subtlety of cooked ones, and need more seasoning.

Garnished with celery leaves.

Harrison ate the whole thing, and was surprised that he did!  Bill and I negotiated over the leftovers.

p.s.  they are delicious for lunch!  ;)  The "heat" in the dish is surprising, even though it's a cold salad, and it seems to be even better today than it was last night.

Raw Power

Last Saturday, I had just about had it with my overboard non-vegan week.  I was feeling like my veins had slow moving oatmeal running through them, my energy was low and my skin was dull and breaking out.  It's like a big scarlet letter on my forehead when I eat dairy now - a telltale sign that I've been off my veggies.

So - recalibration time.

Breakfast was two peeled and seeded grapefruits, and two cups of spinach in the blender, with some ice cubes and filtered water.  Yielded two full glasses of green juice, which tasted better than I thought it would.  It actually felt quite detoxifying - like it was going through my system as if it were cleaning up after a wild party.

I booked a facial at 4:00, a gift-certificate from Bill for Valentine's Day.  I could get clean on the inside and out!  Since most of the yard work was done (except for actually PLANTING), I could just sit, drink an herbal tea and read.  My choice?  A raw vegan cookbook that I got for Christmas.

Lunch was another cup and a half of spinach blended with vanilla coconut milk and green apple.

The recipies lept off the page, my facial was great, and Bill got home around the same time.  We went out for dinner, had a nice bruschetta with lots of tomato, garlic and basil, a fresh asparagus soup and two loaded fresh salads - mine with cranberries and walnuts, and his with beets and pecans.

Couldn't believe that I felt satisfied, full and really balanced.

Sunday through tonight have led to some really RAW choices, and I have never felt more stable.  Animal food makes me more anxious than plants, and I sleep better too.

Sunday lunch was raw asparagus spears tossed in umeboshi vinegar, lime zest and a bit of soy sauce, sprinkled with sesame seeds and chia, and another bruschetta with local tomatoes and my yet, unplanted sweet basil.

Dinner was a raw "asian stir-fry".  One of my favourite kid tricks is instead of mixing everything together already, I will put out about 8 veggies, some chopped two different ways and hand Harrison a pan.  When you give a child choice - even over simple items - it empowers them, and broadens their taste buds.  Amazing how he chooses the carrots, the finely diced celery (but avoided the larger ones), the mushrooms (I avoided those) took a few peppers for colour, no asparagus.  Tossed in some Blue Menu teriyaki tofu from president's choice, and dinner was raw, colourful, flavourful and fresh.

Lunch was a napa cabbage, with avocado, orange segments and julienned green apple.  Dressing was orange juice, umeboshi vinegar, agave and a bit of salt.

Yesterday's dinner, following a 3.5 mile run, was broccoli, cashews, more thin cabbage, and more organic green apples in a dressing of sweet chili sauce, soy and my own hot sauce.  Another raw winner, that doubled as a great lunch today.

Smoothie this morning was apple, banana, and napa cabbage, and was surprisingly delicious!  Banana for snack, raw hummus with hot sauce and Ryvita crackers, for another snack, and a raw salad with celery, red and yellow carrots, cucumber, and balsamic yellow tomatoes with Italian dressing spiked with Jerk Seasoning.  Our new fave.

Since I was not even remotely sore from my run the day before, I went for another 3.5 mile run again today. I attribute the complete muscle recovery to the raw veggies.

Ravenous at 8 PM, instead of a cereal alone, I cut up another green apple and added 1/3 cup of soaked walnuts to 1/4 cup of cereal with coconut milk.

This raw thing is really amazing.  Maybe I'll go for a month 90% raw, and see whether it makes any difference?
I

Asparagus Ribbons and Coconut Hollandaise

Three more hours this morning did it.  The garden beds are finished, as are my arms and lower back. 

While cutting the grass this morning, I kept pondering last evening's question - why animal food, when vegan makes me feel so amazing?  Is it just the label?

I really don't think that I'm lacking in discipline, but the truth is that familiar animal-based cuisine is delicious to me still.  One of the things I continually seek out are vegan versions of my favourites and today was all about the hollandaise.

One of the best things about blogspot.ca is that when you double-click a picture, it expands to show beautiful detail in my food photography.  Do it right now....

That is some lightly sauteed asparagus ribbons (a vegetable peeler does it beautifully), some de-seeded orange tomato bits and some lemon juice.  Over the top is.....

A stunning coconut hollandaise. 

Coconuts are exceptional substitutes for butter and cream.  The thick cream in a can of coconut milk has made my tastebuds swoon more times than I can count.  I have added it to curries, of course, thai cuisine, of course and ventured into the more challenging world of caramels and creamed soups - all to massive acclaim.

So - on the quest for an even better hollandaise than the original I added a few tablespoonfulls to a warm pan, with a scant teaspoon of spicy dijon mustard, some cayenne pepper, a pinch of salt and the zest of an organic lemon.

When it whisked smooth, and a spoon coated beautifully with a creamy, luscious pale yellow liquid, I could only anticipate whether this would work.

The asparagus deserved a beautiful accompaniment.  Did you know that the centre of asparagus are literally luminous?  LUMINOUS!  Shimmering, opalescent and reflective.  It is very surprising.

But most surprising of all was the hollandaise.  It was, in a word, magnificent.

And  I scraped the bowl clean...dove into my asparagus for the start of the Top Chef Canada marathon on right now, and remembered that these food questions in life make me curious enough to keep pushing the envelope as a cook.

Coconut hollandaise.  What a real surprise.

What do you eat when no one's watching?

One of the real tests of what a person is really made of goes something like this...

"what do you decide when no one's watching?"

There are various versions in Zen, in religion, in pop culture - but the essence is the same.

With the guys away, I have had nothing but a really busy two days of hard gardening.  

Our property is massive.  We have almost a full acre of stunning mature trees, lots of perennials courtesy of the previous owners, and much more grass than last year thanks to some landscaping decisions which cut the responsibility for everything in half.  The thing is though, half of TOO MUCH is still - in my books - too much.

Not one to dwell on what's overwhelming for too long, my usual solution is to just dive in and get things done.  And with all the physical labour, I chose to focus on a great core workout and really intense arm exercise.  And daydreamed about what it would look like when I am finished.

Very few things go better together than tomato and basil, and my first garden (about 6 feet in diameter) will contain both.  One gorgeous full tomato plant, and six surrounding basil plants.  Harrison would eat cardboard if it had pesto on it, so this should be a good option.

I also intend to populate the second garden (about 15 feet in diameter) with squash plants and selfishly harvest them purely for the blossoms.  Something about eating flowers that just seems elegant!  And I can't buy them anywhere, so must do it myself.

Herb garden of course, must go in the best soil... AND the one closest to the kitchen!  My chives and rosemary came up beautifully all on their own, but I must get at least three variations of thyme.  Will grow some lavender again, even though I  haven't for three years.  Heirloom carrots are also on the agenda, just for the flexibility.  Another thing I can rarely get in stores, and few things make me feel as good as pulling a beautiful carrot from the soil...especially in a light rain when they yield to me much more easily.  Green onions, garlic, and shallots are also other must-haves.  And finally, the colourful nod to my heritage - some beets.

Of course our main entranceway will hopefully be flocked by rows and rows of cayenne peppers and jalapenos!

So with aching fingers barely able to hold a shovel any more today, I will seek out something in the kitchen to take away the hunger pains slightly.

When no one's watching I am constantly surprised how much I crave eggs...  Yesterday I did a beautiful souffle yesterday when my mom came for lunch, and made some rich hollandaise to go with mounds of local asparagus and the New Jersey / Rangers game.  Since I went to law school with the head coach of the New Jersey Devils AND he's a law school alum, I am very obviously rooting for a Devils victory...  It would make a great alumni story for my magazine.

Eggs always seem to be the one thing I consistently cheat the vegan diet with, whether Bill's gone or not.  Let's face it - on a fishing trip with the guys, I doubt he's eating legumes and fiddleheads, so turnabout is fair play.

And that's what I mean about what one eats when no one's watching.  Even though I feel a zillion times better on a plant based diet, I really struggle with the cravings.  Why the need for eggs (OK... and even some cheese) the minute he's out of the house?  Where is it coming from?  Am I vegan only when someone's watching?  Or am I just vegan most of the time?  It's like saying "I'm loyal to my husband" - "except for those times that I'm not".

And while animal based food isn't adultery, it does make me question why I can be so passionately committed to a plant based diet when someone's around, finding massive amounts of delicious, healthy choices everywhere and resisting temptation, and then yielding to temptations occasionally when no one's around.

No answers tonight.

Breakfast

This morning's eggs... with chives, blossoms and avocado.

Inspiration from yesterday's lunch.  Avocado, sliced thinly, and fanned.  I want to perfect this over the weekend with my alone time.