Mixing it up

It's a yoga weekend! I made Sloppy Josephines to take for lunch on Saturday, they're like Sloppys Joes, but vegetarian:

1 cup green lentils, boiled in veggie stock until soft

In a large pan, fry 1 chopped onion until soft and starting to brown. Then add:

3 cloves chopped garlic
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin powder
1 tbsp oregano

Let it all cook for a couple more minutes, then stir in:

1/4 cup (there abouts!) barbecue sauce
1 tbsp worstershire sauce
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
a little over half of a large can of crushed tomatoes

If you're participating in Tupperware Life, pack in a plastic container, with a big ol' bun on the side to take with you so that it doesn't get soggy. Devour after the most intense two hour power practice of your life. Or after a morning of financial analysis. Or data entry. Or putting out fires. It's probably delicious at home, on a plate as well.


If you've read any of my smoothie posts, you know there is always a spoonful of delicious peanut butter in there. If you read my dog blog, you know that the subtle sound of the peanut butter jar is what gets Oslo out of bed in the morning. Well, I ran out of peanut butter the other day [gasp!]. So I'm getting all creative this weekend.

Standard ingredients of one of my smoothies:

1 banana
frozen blueberries, as much as seems appropriate/the max that won't jam the Magic Bullet
1 tsp chia seeds (ch-ch-ch-chia!)
a bunch of spinach
almond milk to the top

It's a pretty solid combination. This morning, I added tofutti, it's a non-dairy cream cheese. And here I defended my non-vegetarianism on Friday. I was imagining a cheesecake like smoothie, yum! It came out pretty dang creamy and delicious, but wasn't sweet enough to compare to cheesecake - that's a good thing. Try it. Here's a picture of the amazingness along side the Nectar of the Gods in my current favourite mug:


Yesterday's smoothie. If you're a friend of mine, you'll know I'm not crazy about chocolate. For those of you who didn't know, and have surprised me with some sort of chocolate gift, that super excited face was a lie. I apologize. Why don't I like chocolate? Because it makes me thirsty. The smell also bothers me, especially when it's melted. Don't get me wrong, I'll eat the stuff, I don't hate it. I just won't be ordering the raved about chocolate dessert at any restaurant, buying a chocolate bar because I'm craving it, or getting a chocolate sundae.

Despite all that, I realize that chocolate is loved by many, and I make the occasional attempt to enjoy it. Without peanut butter on hand, I tried added cacao power:

Chocolate lovers, beware, these little nibs are not the melt in your mouth delicious that you know and love. They're almost refreshing. They have a *zip* to them. It added a bit of *zip* and *crunch* to my smoothie which was fun, but not anything significant that made it seem worth adding these cacao power nibs to my smoothies again. Have any of you used these nibs before? Suggestions would be appreciated!

It's yoga time!

Tupperware Life

Our office recently moved deeper into the Dark Side. If you aren't familiar with the Dark Side, it gets darker the deeper you get. There is no Starbucks on the Dark Side, make sure you get two cups of the Nectar of the Gods into your system before you get into your carpool to head over there. There is also a very limited option for food where we are now. That's right, option. Ham and cheese sandwiches, chicken noodle soup. Right. Enter Tupperware Life.

I love the convenience of plastic containers, only the ones that promise not to leak and live up to that promise though. I hate cleaning those same plastic containers though. Especially if there is a bit of oil in whatever food is in there, impossible to get those microscopic beads out. Ew. My dish detergent use has gone up since moving further into the Dark Side.

It's fun to take tasty stuff to work though, like quinoa stuffed squash (don't knock it cos it's not photogenic):


There is a world of delicious possibilities to take to work, especially when you get a veggie box delivered to your home:



Even Oslo gets excited. He wishes red peppers came in the box though. This weeks box came stuffed with lettuce, rainbow chard, spinach, pears, apples, grapefruit, bananas, zucchini, broccoli and onions.

Today broccoli soup was on the menu. Here is tomorrows selection:



My favourite quick and easy pasta, this is what I make for dinner when I want something delicious in a hurry. I use garlic, some fresh tomatoes, red pepper and oregano. Today I added a zucchini as well since I had some on hand. Cook that in some olive oil, letting it simmer for about 20 minutes. Don't add salt! Add some parmesan at the end. The pasta that I use is veggie corkscrew pasta. Nom nom nom.

The hummus was another experiment. Don't worry F, there is no almonds in it this time. I was low on garlic and was thinking about what I could add to give it flavour. Spicy eggplant. Yes.

In a food processor:
1 can chick peas, rinsed
a splash of lemon juice
olive oil
water
spicy eggplant
salt

Blend until smooth. Try not to eat the whole thing in one sitting. Tell yourself it's good fat and protein if you do.

Chilled? Make this.

The temperatures have been going up and down like a yo-yo lately. It almost felt like Spring this morning while Os and I were out on a walk. Tonight? -18. bbRRrrrrr!

We came in from a decent walk and I wanted something warm. Something hearty. Cue white bean & roasted garlic soup. It came from the Soup cookbook that C & J got for me a few years ago with a few modifications.

Ingredients:
1 bulb garlic (go ahead, use the whole bulb, there are colds and the flu around every corner)
1 can white kidney beans
5 sundried tomatoes (chopped)
3 cups stock
a pinch of rosemary

Peel your cloves of garlic, but don't chop. Put them in a small pot with some olive oil and partially cover, letting roast on low heat for half an hour.

Once the garlic is roasted, add it to a food processor or blender with 3/4 of the can of white kidney beans, and blend. I used a blender, so I added about a cup of the stock so that it would puree easier. Add your puree to a pot with your stock, your sundried tomatoes,rosemary and the rest of the white kidney beans. Let simmer for half an hour.

The recipe called for diced tomatoes, I only had sundried on hand though, so I added them and enjoyed the punch of flavour that they added. The recipe also called for prociutto. I'm sure that prociutto or it's cousin jamon serrano would've been very tasty, but it would've blown the salt levels off of the charts. I rinsed my white kidney beans thoroughly before adding them to the mixture, but I still found this soup to be quite salty.

This soup totally satisfied the hearty food craving that was happening in my belly. I added half of a toasted thin bagel with parmesan cheese. Way to add to the salt factor, me!


[A big thanks to the 4 grapefruits that provided their support in a kitchen with a lack of counter space]