Healthier Taco Salad

Tonight I threw together some quick taco salads. This take on a taco salad is something I fell in love with when I worked at Macheeezmo Mouse in the early 90s. It's a lightened up version of the usual taco salad (which is typically served in a deep fried bowl), and yet for me, it still satisfies the itch. It's an old favorite of mine- comfort food from my early twenties that still fits into the way I want to eat today. At Macheezmo, we used to make the "sour cream" with 1/2 sour cream and 1/2 yogurt. I use plain low-fat yogurt now, but you could try the 1/2&1/2 version if you like a richer topping, or you could also try low or non-fat greek yogurt for a more traditional sour cream consistency.

Healthier Taco Salad
serves 2 generously
Lettuce (Romaine or green leaf, red leaf gets too cooked by the hot beans)
1 cup cooked brown rice or quinoa (optional but really good)
1 can black beans
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
grated pepper-jack
1 red pepper, finely diced
1 avocado, cubed and scooped from the shell
a handful of chips for each salad
salsa
plain yogurt
cilantro or green onions (optional)

First, empty your can of beans into a small pot. Add the spices. Stir and heat until very hot. Cover 2 large salad plates with lettuce. Layer toppings in this order: rice, beans, cheese, red peppers, avocados. Crush a handful of chips and sprinkle on each salad. Top with yogurt and salsa and sprinkle with cilantro and/or green onions. Serve immediately.

Underwater Fun

When I was in Hawaii, I was shocked to discover how much I love snorkeling.  I have never been a fan of putting my head under water, so I thought I would be really uncomfortable. Imagine my surprise when I found that swimming is really fun when you can open your eyes and breathe under water. After I tried snorkeling once, I was hooked, and I wanted to do it as much as possible. Now, being back at home, I'd love to recapture some of the fun I had in the ocean, and enjoy some of the awesome exercise that swimming provides.  Despite the fact that I live near the sound, the water is far too cold here to swim or snorkel without a wetsuit except during the very warmest times of the year, and even then, it's pretty cold! I think I'm going to give swimming in the pool at the YMCA another chance. I wish I could wear a snorkel mask during lap swim, but I think maybe I'll just stick with goggles and maybe even be a total nerd and get a nose clip. Goal#38: Swim at the YMCA at least once before the year is over. I hope I really love it and decide to make swimming a part of my regular gym workouts.

Vitamin D

As I have mentioned previously, I am not a big fan of supplementation and I try to get the nutrients I need from the food I eat. One vitamin that I have been reading a lot about lately, however, is vitamin D. Studies have linked vitamin D deficiency to a host of physical problems, and although the research isn't conclusive, it does seem likely that vitamin D plays a role in improving immune functioning and in strengthening bone and muscle in the body. Unfortunately, unless you live in a really sunny climate, eat a lot of fatty fish, or consume a lot of vitamin fortified foods like cereal, it is hard to get enough vitamin D without supplementation. Since I always wear sunblock, only occasionally eat fatty fish, and rarely eat fortified cereal, I've decided to make Goal# 37 to take a daily vitamin D supplement. Since vitamin D is fat-soluble, it is important not to take too much. Unlike high doses of vitamins like B&C, which you will pee out if you take too much, vitamin D gets stored in your body and can cause problems if taken at really high doses (the current upper limit recommended by the Institute of Medicine is 4,000 IU a day for adults but toxicity is generally observed at much higher doses). Still, I'm going to play it safe and stick with 2,000 IU/day.

Last Night's Dinner

Last night Zach and I made a spectacularly garlicky dinner with recipes from the website ohsheglows. I didn't alter them at all, so I'm just reposting one of them below. The pasta sauce is really incredible. It tastes like a cream based sauce, and it's really hard to believe it doesn't contain any dairy and only has good fats in it. I used a garlic we just got in at the Co-op- Korean Red- it's really spicy, and it definitely warmed the pasta sauce up. I served it over brown rice pasta and garnished with lemon zest and pepper. Yowza! So good! The cabbage salad was also fantastic, and we added a little tofu for protein. I'll post that recipe another time so this post doesn't get out of hand. Overall, a very fancy, tasty, and healthy meal. Kind of a lot of garlicity on one plate, but we enjoyed it.

15 Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta
from ohsheglows.com

Yield: Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 medium sized ripe Avocado, pitted

1/2 lemon, juiced + lemon zest to garnish

1-3 garlic cloves, to taste (I used 3 and it was super garlicky, but if you are not a big fan of garlic use 1 clove)

1/2 tsp kosher salt, or to taste

~1/4 cup Fresh Basil, 

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 servings/6 oz of your choice of pasta 

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Bring several cups of water to a boil in a medium sized pot. Add in your pasta, reduce heat to medium, and cook until Al Dente.

2. Meanwhile, make the sauce by placing the garlic cloves, lemon juice, and olive oil into a food processor. Process until smooth. Now add in the pitted avocado, basil, and salt. Process until smooth and creamy.

3. When pasta is done cooking, drain and rinse in a strainer and place pasta into a large bowl. Pour on sauce and toss until fully combined. Garnish with lemon zest and black pepper. Serve immediately. Please Note, this dish does not reheat well due to the avocado in the sauce. Makes 2 servings.

Amazing Kitchen Gadget

When I was in Hilo, I stumbled upon a totally cool restaurant supply store. It was tucked unassumingly in a storefront along the main drag, which seemed to mostly house gift shops. I was kind of surprised (and delighted) to find it there. I have been looking for a julienne peeler ever since I saw this blog post on the site Oh She Glows, a site that is dedicated to healthy vegan cooking. Even if you aren't vegan, there are some great plant-based recipes there, so I highly suggest giving it a look. At any rate, in her post, she was raving about making "noodles" out of vegetables using a julienne peeler. I often use my food processor to shred vegetables (especially carrots which take forever to grate), but I was intrigued by the idea of having such a small, simple kitchen tool to use for this purpose. The restaurant supple store totally came through, and I acquired a fantastically sharp julienne peeler (so sharp it even comes with a cover for the blade). This tool is going to be great for making shredded salads in no time with minimal mess and for prepping veggies for sushi and sandwich wraps.

Trying Less Coffee For a Month

Since I've gotten back from my vacation, I've been looking for ways to maintain my feelings of relaxation and well-being. Specifically, I'm trying to pay attention to the habits I have that contribute to stress and undermine my ability to feel like my best self. One of the habits I've gotten into over the past couple of years is to have a second cup of coffee around nine or ten in the morning on days when I am at work. Often, about an hour after I have this second cup of coffee I start to feel tense, and I notice myself becoming impatient and irritable. Last week, I tried not having this second cup of coffee, and I was surprised to find that even when stressful things happened at work, I didn't feel as keyed-up as I often do. Now, that may just be because I'm freshly back from vacation, but it seems like a good opportunity to conduct an experiment. Goal #36: to not have a mid-morning coffee on the days I'm at work for a month. I'll see if this continues to make a difference in my ability to maintain my cool in stressful situations, and if so, I'll plan to cut my mid-morning coffee from my daily routine.

Cumin-Lime Veggie and Rice Salad

Last night, Zach and I were trying to decide what to make for dinner. We knew we had some leftover vegetables to use up, and I wanted to try out a sprouted three rice/quinoa blend that I received as a birthday gift, so we decided to make an easy grain/bean/vegetable salad. I borrowed the dressing from another recipe I like to make, just adding a little garlic for variation. This salad turned out really well, and made plenty to take for lunch too.

Cumin-Lime Veggie and Rice Salad
1 cup rice blend (or any other grain, just adjust cooking times as appropriate)
1 25oz can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
1 1/2 cups shredded red cabbage
1/2 cup finely chopped zucchini
1/2 cup finely chopped cauliflower florets
10 cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup cilantro
feta (optional)
Dressing
2 limes, juiced
a pinch of salt
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
olive oil
Cook the grain as you normally would or according to package directions. In the meantime, make dressing in a large bowl. Start with the lime juice, then add salt and spices, finely adding oil in a fine stream until you have a desired consistency. You want this dressing to taste light and slightly sour, so don't go overboard on the oil, but do make sure you add enough so it tastes balanced. When the rice is finished cooking, add it and the garbanzo beans to the bowl with the dressing and stir well. Mix in all the chopped vegetables and the cilantro. Serve, sprinkling with feta if desired.

An Apple A Day

Alright, as cheesy as it is, I'm making Goal #34 to eat an apple every day at least through the end of this year (in Washington, due to amazing storage technology, apple season can go almost into the spring, but I will probably stop eating one every day once they start getting mealy and old-tasting). Research has shown apples to be beneficial for lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol, improving overall cardiovascular health, regulating blood sugar, and providing anti-cancer benefits. Some links about apple nutrition and health benefits, here, here, and here. They are also tasty, filling, easy to transport, and inexpensive (at least where I live). I feel really fortunate to live in the apple capital of the world, as we have so many varieties to choose from. This morning I had a Honeycrisp apple with some quinoa, walnuts, cinnamon, and a little agave syrup. It also looks as though you get pretty much the same benefits from eating apples raw or cooked, as long as you keep the peel on, as that is where many of the nutritional benefits are found.

Quinoa Cakes

As you may recall, one of my goals is to eat quinoa twice a week. That's been pretty easy, as I love quinoa, and I have a few standard dishes that I make with it regularly. Of course, I am always looking for new ways to enjoy it, and I recently found a terrific recipe for Quinoa Cakes in a magazine that I was reading in an office somewhere. I took a picture of the recipe so I could make it at home, but unfortunately, I didn't get the name of the magazine in my picture so I can't give proper credit. The magazine was the type that pretends to be about health but is mostly ads and reviews of products (Shape, Health, Self, Organic Style, etc.). If anyone knows which magazine this recipe is from, let me know and I'll add a link to it here. Anyhow, they are really delicious, and if you have a pot of cooked quinoa on hand you can make them up pretty quickly. They do need a little time to set-up in the refrigerator, and even still they are a little crumbly. If I make them again, I might add a little flour to hold them together better.

Savory Quinoa Cakes
1 cup quinoa
1 2/3 cups cauliflower florets
1 large handful of kale, stems removed, leaves washed and finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups crumbled feta cheese
3/4 cup rolled oats
salt and pepper
oil for frying

Cook the quinoa. Combine 2 cups of water and the quinoa in a medium-sized saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and gently simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the water is absorbed. Set aside to cool.
Place the cauliflower florets in a food processor and pulse until it is a rice-like texture. Transfer to a bowl and add the cooked quinoa, chopped kale, garlic, eggs, oats, feta, and a little salt and pepper. Stir until well combined and then place in the fridge to set for 30 minutes. Form the mixture into patties with your hands and fry in a well-oiled pan with the heat on medium-high for about six minutes on each side.

Welcome Back and Happy Birthday Self

Wow, it's been a long time since I posted on this blog-just about 3 weeks. Happily, the reason I wasn't posting is that I was enjoying myself in Hawaii! One of the goals I made before I left for my trip was to try at least one new activity before the end of the year. In Hawaii, it was easy to meet this goal, as I tried a lot of new things. Snorkeling was my favorite new thing I tried, and since I did it without fins, it was great exercise too! I saw many beautiful fish, tons of coral, a few eels, and even some sea turtles! I also tried some new foods: Ono (a delicious type of fish that I had grilled on a salad), green papaya slaw, lilikoi (also known as passionfruit), ahi poke (raw tuna salad with yummy marinade), rambutan (a fruit that looks scary but tastes good), and laulau (in this case they were little bundles of root veggie wrapped in taro leaves). I also ate lots of fresh ripe papaya and pineapple. Lastly, I officiated a wedding, which was a very exciting and fun experience. Getting away was so refreshing and relaxing, and even though I didn't maintain some of my usual goals (going to the gym, riding my bike, eating blueberries, etc.), I feel like the mental health benefits were so great that it far outweighs any physical health benefits that I may have missed out on for a few weeks. Now I'm back and ready to start working on my health and blogging about it again, and right in time for my 39th birthday!