Citrus season in Florida

This is one of my favorites.  It is a salad made with Fennel, avocado, grapefruit and oranges, and sprouts.

Golden beets

I recently heard for the winter you should have beets and in the spring you should have cherries and berries.

My husband talked me into these babies.

They looked kind of orange on the outside.  Bright yellow on the inside

I boiled them....

Peeled and sliced them and put a little white balsamic vinegar on them and served them chilled.

My horn of plenty/ cornucopia

Happy thanksgiving everyone!

Here's my fruity delight.

Pomegranates, mangos (you can't see them) and a rogue persimmon.

Delicious Farro recipe

I got this recipe from the back of a package of Farro.  It says it's traditional italian.  It reminds me in a strange way of risotto.

It is ground beef, onion (I used shallot), carrot, celery (I skipped this), tomato sauce (All I had was paste so I used that instead), white wine, vegetable or beef broth (I used veggie).

I shredded the carrot and the shallot in the cuisinart.  Browned a quarter pound of beef; added the carrot and shallot.

Separately boil the farro.

It looks starchy when boiling.  It only boils for 10 mins.

Then the parboiled farro is added to the meat mixture.

vegetable or beef stock is added each time it dries out (this is what reminds me of risotto).

It cooks for an additional 20 minutes.

It is turned constantly for that 20 minutes.

Then it is plated and shredded parmesan is added.

It was delicious!

Went to Ikea -- crabby delight!

I tried out their crab paste (comes in a tube in the refrigerated section).  I bought some shells (looked like little pastry shells) also from Ikea.

a squirt of crab into the pastry shell and top with a little dill and viola hors doeurves.

mango cocktail sauce

I saw this on a cruise with peach...

I looked for a recipe and found one.

It was with peach.  I found a mango one, but I didn't like the cilantro, etc in it.

I made enough for 12 guests.  I used 3 large mangos, a lime, horseradish, maple syrup, sugar, vinegar, salt.

It was delicious!

I grated the mango (in the cuisinart), just combined the other ingredients.

I put about 2 tablespoons in martini glasses and put 2 colossal shrimp on each glass.

It had texture but was soft/mangoey

It made a nice presentation.

Cake time!

This was a modified recipe.  It was supposed to be pear and walnut upside down cake.

I used apples.  Then I substituted coconut oil for the butter, coconut flour for the white flour, almond milk for milk.

The only thing is -- it was a bit crumbly.  -- More like apple crumble.

It smelled and tasted delicious.

It is a terrible picture as it is on a glass plate and you can see the counter (which happens to be brown through it).

Who says no meatloaf???

This meatloaf starts off with grassfed organic beef 90% lean.  Ground walnuts, flax seed, whole grain bread, garlic, shallots, peppers, organic oats, bbq sauce and some organic sugar....

It is delicious.  I make it in single serve ramekins... It is cooked covered with foil.

A pound of beef makes 4.

Present for me!

This came in the mail.  It's a birthday gift from my daughter.

I'm pretty excited to try out the recipes!  I may wait for her to come (in December) -- Looks really interesting!  I'll post anything I try.

Pretty excited....  Gwyneth Paltrow -- "It's All Good"  -- what a wonderful gift!

Thinking about an herb garden.... Indoor -- Nothing fancy, just a couple things

I buy fresh herbs every week.  Usually cilantro, rosemary, sage, parsley, dill, chives --- many times I only use a small bit -- it seems like a waste.

I went on line and found this source, not sure....

http://www.mypatriotsupply.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=CULINARY%5FGARDEN

I bought a little "green house" at Marshalls.

It can probably hold 6 or 8 small pots.

The top is hinged and the front has swinging doors.

I put two of my old mugs in there to get an idea of size -- I may plant in them...

So, I went ahead and ordered the seeds.  I figured Why not?  I want organic herbs and when I buy a tiny package not only does it cost a fortune but it goes bad in about 3 days.  I'm not knocking the producers of the herbs, they have to make it worth their while.

Fish with papaya and pomegranate

Experimenting with what's in my fridge.  Had some papaya....  For dinner I made fish (similar to what I did with a chicken dish).

It's Fish sauted with ginger and garlic.  Papaya, pomegranate, cilantro, tomato, scallion and white balsamic vinegar.

Delicious.

broccoli sprouts

I LOVE these!  I could eat them all day.  Got them at Got Sprouts.

Very delicate, (remind me of alfalfa sprouts) -- but PACKED with flavor

Got a new reamer!

Love that name reamer.  Citrus/ lemon reamer.

My husband threw out the packaging, so I don't remember the brand.  It is amazing.

I don't know if you can tell the scale -- by looking at the water bottle.  The "lemon" I'm using  -- is gigantic compared to the traditional lemon.

This comparison to a traditional reamer gives you some appreciation.

Quinoa -- sprouted

This is plain old organic quinoa purchased from whole foods (in the bulk section) --

Just sprouted in a jar on my kitchen counter....   It just takes a glass jar, some water, the quinoa (a paper towel to prevent the quinoa from being poured down the drain when I rinse it) and a dish rag to cover it.  A closer look.....

You can see the sprouting -- I then store in the fridge for up to 3 days....

I find organic/fresh foods don't last too long -- best just to sprout what you'll need for a day or two.  This was about 2 tablespoons.  It was enough to add to maybe 2 or 3 salads -- depending what other sprouts you may be using.

Now I want ceramic scissors....

I feel ceramic scissors would be easier than the knife for harvesting my sprouts.  I can't decide which one to get as yet.... so I'm paralyzed.  I'm torn between one on diapers.com http://www.diapers.com/p/zoli-baby-snip-ceramic-6-scissor-green-799390

and one that is cheaper on amazon....

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009EAPA20/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A25DVOZOPBFMAN


There's something about not harvesting sprouts with metal....

Trying sprouting with just water

Here are my soil based "crops" -- sunflower sprouts and wheatgrass -- still yellow -- not yet "greened up"

I got some organic garbanzo beans (at whole foods).  They get soaked in water over night -- rinsed and drained

It was dark in the house, had to bring them outside to get a photo!

They are sprouted on the kitchen counter (covered by a dishrag)

Here's a close up

You can see the little white "tails" they are beginning to sprout.  They are ready for eating with tonight's dinner salad!  Yah!

greening up of the grass

the outer rows were greener (yellower in the center)

The wheatgrass is nearly ready (for harvesting)

Love these little marvels

So tiny and delicate -- but packed with flavor and delicious!

Broccoli sprouts.  I got some from Got Sprouts!  -- Love them

My only thing is the size of the container -- it is small -- as micro greens should be -- imagine the small container from raspberries (only not as tall).

Farrow anyone?

So, before going on "the Overnight Diet", I hadn't really eaten a lot of things.  I never liked grapefruit, or yogurt or cottage cheese-- making most diets almost impossible.  But I have to say there were other things like jimaca, fennel, swiss chard or this little gem, farrow.

Farrow is an ancient grain.  Don't know what to say about it other than it's a rice alternative.  (better for you than stripped out white rice) --

Coconut Brownies

I searched the web for a recipe made with coconut flour...  I found one -- but I didn't really like the ingredients.  One of the things were 5 --yes 5-- eggs.....

So, I decided to "hack out" some brownies.

I gathered my stuff and started to add and subtract where I thought necessary.  Here is my very own recipe which hardly even resembles the one I looked at.

1 cup coconut flour
1 cup cocoa (powder)
1/2 cup of shredded unsweetened coconut
2/3 cup of organic sugar

3 eggs
2 containers of coconut yogurt (6 oz.) -- I used Chobani
1/3 cup coconut oil
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 cup almond milk

I combined all the dry ingredients first and set aside.  Then I combined all the wet ingredients in a separate bowl.  I combined by putting wet into dry.  It should look pretty stiff, but not dry.  You can add a little more almond milk -- but the batter shouldn't be runny.

I lined a 7 x 11 pyrex brownie pan with parchment paper.  I then poured in the batter.
I pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees and baked them for 30 minutes.  A tooth pick stuck in came out without being wet.

They are super moist, the consistency is a little different than "ordinary wheat flour" brownies.  These seemed denser to me -- maybe more fudgy.

The left (first row) is just about gone ;)

Here's a close up of the parchment.  So you can see the moist/ delicate nature of these brownies.

So much energy

The sprouts are sprouting.  (It is yellow as it is deprived of light while growing) -- it will be allowed to "green up" before harvest.  Love sprout.  Love Got Sprouts in Riviera Beach.

somehow this is sideways???  I don't know why...

(Sorry).

My out of focus sunflower sprouts....

Pomegranate Salsa

I was watching a show (about food -- how it is grown) -- anyway at some point a woman who owns a restaurant in California comes on and talks about one of the menu items for that day.  It is wilted spinach with chicken and a pomegranate salsa.  She mentioned some ingredients (but I didn't catch them) -- I figured I'd google pomegranate salsa and find what I needed.  Well, yes and no.  I found 3 or 4 recipes (none of them seemed like the one she made).

So, I hit the kitchen and started "hacking" -- I released my pomegranate kernels, chopped a shallot, chopped some cilantro, juiced a lime ..... needed something else -- threw in a cubed mango.  Perfect -- only thing missing was a tad bit of a jalapeno. Also threw in tablespoon of white balsamic vinegar.

Colorful and very tasty.

The wilted spinach is not visible (under the chicken breast) -- but it made a very attractive presentation!

Growing....

My own grass!!!

Well,  I'm settling into my day to day and finding ways to carve out more time.

Enter wheat grass....

These are seeds after being soaked in a glass container.

Terrible shot, I know...

Then after 8 hours, you can see the white -- those are the roots.  They are sprouting...  Healthy little buggers.

Then they go to be planted....

This is them on top of the organic soil

These are the growing trays....

Loving fish....

I've eaten fish since being a kid -- I'll admit though I wasn't that big a fan.  First, the smell -- I've been told fresh fish should never smell fishy -- perhaps I've gotten less than fresh.

Enter my latest encounter.  I see the fish, the whole fish, the nice man behind the fish counter fillets it for me.

I'm loving this fish.  Taste light and fresh.

Simple --- ginger, scallions and wine and viola dinner...

Some times I do lemon and fresh tomato....

I went to the doctor today.  The doctor's assistant said should could hardly recognize me -- I had lost quite a bit of weight....  Hmmm, I guess it has been since last year that I was in -- I suppose the same way a pound or two just slips on and you notice your clothes are snug, when I lose weight I can only notice that my clothes are loose.

Mediterranean Salad

From none other than Whole Foods.  On their site, I got this recipe -- I've seen the salad for sale in their deli case.  Weird how we are attracted to the same things -- I had forgotten that I made this salad about a year or so ago.  When I went to save the recipe -- it said replace??  Yep.

It is chick peas, kale, tomato, broccoli, onion, olives, wine vinegar, garlic

I added sprouts, avocado and pumpkin seeds to mine.

wild rice salad

What to make with leftover wild rice?  Rice salad of course.  Yummy.  I used the same recipe basically as the kamut berry one.  I do add sunflower seeds, pomegranate kernels, feta cheese, white balsamic vinegar...

It's in a glass bowl on a granite counter.  Probably not the best photo.  Yummy though.

Tuna wrap

A simple and satisfying lunch.  I use a whole grain lavash bread -- I got the concept from the Overnight Diet book, but I made it "my own"

I put down the lavash, I layer some organic greens and sprouts on it.

On top, I put a tuna mixture.  1 can of tuna, 1 boiled egg, cranberries or pomegranate kernels, cherry or grape tomatoes, lemon juice, white balsamic vinegar, dill (fresh preferred), olive oil.

I'll even throw on some homemade salad dressing.  Looks and tastes delicious

Avocado,  and pumpkin seeds added.

Delicious passion fruit "soda"

I filled a glass 2/3 full with passion fruit juice (and ice).  Added about 1/3 cup of sparkling water -- I had Perrier.  Usually I have San Pellegrino on hand as I buy it by the case at Costco.

By the time I decided to take a picture, it was mostly gone!  Really good though.  I like that it's fizzy and refreshing without any added sugar.

Salad dressings....

I'll be honest, I never loved salad.  I eat it -- but not one of my favorites.  Now, I do love it.  The change -- the dressing.  I've tried almost every one imaginable.  What I've found -- nothing beats home made.  It is not always fresh (when I say that, I make it and store it in the fridge) -- It never lasts more than a couple days as I eat a lot of it.

My favorite is a concoction of apple, wine, mustard, white balsamic vinegar -- I got the recipe on line.  Here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pear-vinaigrette/   It calls for pear -- I didn't have pear, so I threw in an apple.  (Vitamix blender -- probably one of my favorite appliances. )  I throw in the ingredients and in about 2 minutes -- viola -- dressing.

Today, I tried something new Mango.  It is very good.  I poured it into an old vinegar bottle and it's ready.  It looks almost too yellow in the photo.  My pictures are terrible.  It doesn't seem that yellow in actuality.

It is just mango chunks, white wine, white balsamic vinegar, garlic, mustard, olive oil