Reboot #1 2013 - Day 2

Today is rough for me. I'm feeling really tired and sapped of energy, my skin feels like it's staging a coup, and I am just in general feeling achy. Logician seems to be having a better time with this, but he always does. Juicing seems to make his body happier more than anything else.

Lucky bugger.

So last night for dinner I got to have my solid meal for the day. I did 'cheat' a bit as I had white rice, but it was left over and didn't want to waste it. He invented himself a juice out of what we had available, since we try to leave room in our meal planner to use up our fresh veggies and fruits.

He created a concoction using cranberries, two carrots, papaya, sweet potato, butternut squash, and a variety of choy. He said it was too sweet (likely because of my addition of the potato) but it made just about 20 oz of juice so it was perfectly sized for his dinner. He was having a wonderful time and really enjoying having only liquid food yesterday. Meanwhile just about dinner time I started to slump. My body was confused and wondering just what in the heck I was doing to it.

Reboot #1 of 2013 - Day 1

It's 2013 - time to get healthy and back on track (I know we all say that every year don't we). We have now reached a point where our schedules are stable enough to allow us to launch into our first Reboot of the year. We have really gotten away from our focused healthy eating habits as this last year drew to a close and we want to make sure this year is different.

We've been cutting out things over the last two weeks to prepare for this fast, including red meat, dairy, and grains as much as we were able to. We had some social engagements so some of that got lost in translation but we did our best. This morning we woke up ready to get juicing!

We inventoried the contents of our refrigerator went through what we had left from the CSA this weekend. That way we would have an idea of what we had and what we needed. We then sat down last night and looked over a collection of recipes from juices we like and picked the ones we wanted to make for the next few days.

For breakfast we decided to make a juice we'd tried a few weeks ago called Cranberry Citrus. It comes from the Reboot with Joe website (formerly JointheReboot.com), and we modified it slightly. The recipe calls for:

1 cup diced butternut squash
1 orange
1 cup cranberries
4-6 Collard Green Leaves (aprox 1 cup)

We opted to use kale instead as the stuff we receive from our CSA is some of the most delicious we've ever eaten. We also didn't have any oranges in the house as we don't normally keep citrus on hand - so we opted to use from fresh squeezed juice we also purchased at our local farmer's market. We drank our morning lemon and ginger "tea" as we prepped the juice and then enjoyed it for a few minutes before juicing our breakfast.

 See the picture of the glass after the jump -

Howdy Y'all

It's been a while since I posted last for many reasons. We've been really bad about our eating lately (well up until about three days ago) and were going out to eat far more than we should have been. We have since realized our folly (putting back on all the weight we lost was a good indication) and have gone back to a more mindful, local, and organic way of eating again.

It's such a battle to maintain your way of eating in today's world (especially here in America). Fast food signs light up the night, quick and easy options that are neither prepared with love or attention are around every bend, and it's easy to get lost in the hustle and bustle of life.

So today we made the decision to stop! (Or at least try to)

Today we went to the farmer's market as we always do but due to the time of year the pickings are growing more limited. Last week we didn't buy much of anything, and this week we only bought eggs and onions. We then went to the local organic market and were surprised to see that they didn't have much in stock either! It seems we have finally stumbled into Florida's less productive growing season (not sure though, have one more store to try tomorrow). We initially had plans to meet friends at CYM Coffee Co for a coffee morning, but had to rain check those plans for now. So we were left trying to figure out what to do about breakfast.

Now the more we look at it, the more it is truly impossible for us to go out to eat at most places in town. Either they are great dairy free options for me, or there are wheat free options for him, but hardly anywhere in between for standard breakfast fare. Plus as we've discovered, those two ingredients hide in an array of things you might not expect them to be in. So what should we do?

Well the easiest answer was eat breakfast at home! Take time to lovingly prepare the food we already had purchased or were going to purchase and to enjoy them at our own pace. So we went to our local market and picked up a few things. One of which was Udi's Cinnamon Raisin Bagels. These are GF, DF, and SF and they are delicious! In fact they are better than the local ones we had previously, and slightly cheaper.

We also found Teechino - an herbal coffee replacement with no caffeine. So we came home, cracked open the can of Bay Harbor Maple Syrup Flavored Smoked Boneless Sardine Fillets, toasted the bagels in the oven (we are currently sans toaster), and I cooked myself some of the delicious farmer's market eggs. Add a touch of EarthBalance spread and the Dreamin' Berry Strawberry Lavender jelly and it was a breakfast in heaven!

It was so nice to be able to sit at the table, eat mindfully, and enjoy each others company. This is a new treat as until two weeks ago Logician worked Saturday mornings. What a great start to the day!

I am still trying to get back to Super Secret Tuesdays and will even have an extra person to cook for this week (maybe). So that should be fun!

Be mindful, enjoy life, and bring gratitude to all you do!

Lessons Learned: Juicing/Rebooting Guide Pt 2 Tips and Tricks

Without further ado - the second of my Juicing/Rebooting posts to share the lessons we've learned:

Alright so you sat down, did some calculating and planning and now you're all set and ready to juice; right? Wrong!

The first and most crucial of all next steps is: To buy a juicer!

There are so many on the market and I will be the first to admit I did no research on the one we bought. I left that to my technophile Logician. We ended up getting one similar to the one Joe Cross used in Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. I know this documentary and website are mentioned eighty four billion times on this blog, I promise one day that will all stop.

So we got a Breville Juicer and ended up getting the Juice Fountain Plus from a department store near us and were able to start juicing right away. The only thing we're sad about with our juicer is it's lack of ability to juice grasses (Wheat, Barley, etc).

I won't go into a long post about the types of juicer but keep in mind that you will be using soft fruits and veggies as well as tough ones. Keeping the pulp or using puree is up to you, but even our juicer lets us collect the pulp should we wish to keep it.

So I've got a juicer, now what?

Good question. So now you have to decide what fruits and vegetables you are going to juice. There are many websites online with recipes, boards on pinterest, books from the library, and recipes on the Reboot site. But even those can get a little tedious at time.

So here are some tips/tricks we found on our juicing journey:

• Organic vs Conventional - I will be the first to admit that even a few months ago I really didn't see the difference. I worked in two different grocery stores, both of which sold many Organic varieties but did not yet understand just how much better Organic and/or Locally grown items are. When we began our first Reboot we bought bags of pre-sliced, conventional Kale and found that it barely provided any juice at all. We switched to actual Kale leaves, but did not get the best juicing results until we switched to Locally or Organically grown (usually our Local is also Organic). Then came cucumbers. Our farmer's nearby are some sort of magicians - we used one medium sized cucumber and got almost 16 ounces of juice! That's almost a whole serving!! Sadly cucumber season is over for us for now, so if we have to buy them at the grocery we choose organically grown. We have found that really all Organically/Locally grown items seem to be better than conventional but especially: Cucumbers, Carrots, Greens, Mushrooms, Apples, Pears, Lemons, Limes, really any citrus, tomatoes, and ginger.

• Strong Flavors - I cannot stress this enough to people new to juicing. This was the very first lesson we learned the hard way. Beets, Garlic, Ginger, and Onion are super strong! A little goes a long, long way! The only time that isn't entirely true is with Ginger. Depending on your other flavors it can get overpowered, but the others will stand up and and dominate if you are not careful. We found that for two sixteen to twenty ounce servings of juice (which we made at one time) a ping pong ball sized beet was just small enough to not overpower. Logician says no small amount of onion is tolerable, same with garlic - but I have found one small clove of garlic for two juices, or about 1/8th or less of a small (tennis ball sized) onion seems to be okay.

• Peeling - ALWAYS PEEL CITRUS! Another lesson I cannot stress enough. You do not have to peel all of the pith off, but do peel the rinds. Logician loves to put citrus rinds down the garbage disposal to freshen up the kitchen (make sure you see the bit about flies for more on this). You could also save them to make zest for cooking or garnishing.

• Variety - During our first Reboot we tried to expand our recipes by creating some of our own. However we got too focused on making enough juice that we didn't put in enough nutrients. This time we did two things to help combat this problem. The first was that whenever we invented a juice we tried to have at least four different colored items and at least one type of leafy green. Most lettuces, spinach, and kale do not seem to have very strong flavors but provide a lot of nutrient value. The second way we did this was to use a green "Super Foods" powder. We tried to do this sparingly, but when we were in a hurry it was a good way to give ourselves some nutrients.

• What Speed do I use? This is a very good question, most juicers come with a manual that explains most of that. We have found the ginger is best juiced wrapped in leafy greens; soft skinned cucumbers (or peeled), tomatoes, grapes, greens, etc are best juiced on low; you can juice a banana with some success if you place it with a harder veggie (Logician used carrots); and lastly do the greens in between other veggies for maximum juicing.

• Go slow! Putting too much in the juicer at once tends to flick bits all over.

• Flies - we have had an overwhelming influx of little flies that seem to enjoy annoying us when we juice. There is nothing like having a clean house that suddenly seems overwhelmed by the little buggers. We tend to use a varied approach that still doesn't seem to eliminate the entire problem but helps keep it down.

1. Pour boiling water down the drain at least once a day
2. Keep fruit fresh, covered if needed, and away from the sink.
3. Place fly traps such as fly paper near the drain.
4. If you have a garbage disposal: once a month (or more frequently) place a large quantity of ice into the disposal side of the sink. Turn the water on to a steady, but light stream. Add a small amount of dish soap and push the ice into the disposal. Likely some greyish muck will eventually rise into the sink, let the disposal continue to run until all the water clears.
5. Bag up all pulp and trimmings that you're not keeping or place it in an airtight composting container.
6. Promptly remove the garbage when it is full.

• Above all else have fun with your recipes. See what's in season and local. Our bodied do best when we are eating in line with the area we're living in. If you tend to live in a colder region, tropical fruits might not be best for your body. Especially in the dead of winter. By following the seasons and doing what you can to support your local agricultural community you can help bring your body back in line with nature.

• Stay hydrated! This is a very, very, very important step. The Reboot site recommends a certain amount of water, but find what keeps you feeling your best. For me it's at least 1.5 L of water a day, but I am best when I have 3L or more. Logician tends to drink AT LEAST 3L on a good day. Water is good for you - that's not just a myth!

This is what our fridge looked like after our first Rebooting shopping trip. As you can see it has some of the bad things we've now cut out (soda), and things we have now changed (conventional store bought eggs).

• It's a good idea shop ahead but don't shop too far in advance or else you'll end up tossing out far more than you use. It seems to work for us if we shop for about 2.5 to 3 days at a time. Especially when Rebooting. We sit down, drink our morning juice and plot out several days worth of juices/meals. Then we leave room for one or two "Make it up" juices to use up whatever we have left. This seems to keep our fridge full of goodness without causing waste.

So now you've got some tricks, tips, and lessons to use! The only thing left to do is starting adding delicious fresh juices to your diet and enjoy!

Baked Zucchini

As mentioned in yesterday's post we had intentions of turning that forearm sized zucchini (courgette) into a delicious contraption, which happened today with awesome results! But first I must begin with breakfast.

So we have decided (I think I mentioned it before) that there is nothing quite like farmer's market eggs. I will never buy store bought eggs again unless I absolutely have to... The picture isn't so good but this is four eggs (they were the smaller variety, so four is equivalent to two large eggs), a GFDF Sourdough bagel with EarthBalance spread and two of the other types of jellies. One side has Strawberry Lavender, the other has a Strawberry Basil. I rounded that all off with my delicious Tetley British Tea blend with some coconut creamer and honey. It was really delicious and gave us more ideas on how to use some of the other jellies we purchased. Though in the long run we have decided the Strawberry Lavender is the best "toast" jelly of the ones we got. But we still love them all!

The picture isn't so good this go round, my camera seems to have ate the one I edited better.

So then came preparations for dinner. When we began planning this endeavor we had two things to start with - an awesome zucchini and several delicious jams and jellies (The Root Cellar Jonesville made the jellies, as mentioned yesterday). So Logician put his thinking cap on and decided we needed Crab Meat. 

In the end we ended up using the following:

**** This Recipe Includes Mussels and Crab! Otherwise it is GF, DF, and Egg Free ****

Which includes:

1) Left over Paprika Gluten Free Bread Crumbs (which were mixed and used sans egg or other wet ingredients on the Potato Cakes I made for SST #1)

2) A Red Bell Pepper

3) One can lumped crab meat

4) One can sustainably harvested Bay Harbor mussels

5) Vegan Gourmet Cheddar style non-dairy cheese (we ended up using just over 1/3 of the block)

6) The Root Cellar's "Smart Tart" Hibiscus Jelly

7) One small can mushrooms (as we have these on hand, use fresh if you prefer)

8) An one inch piece of organically grown ginger

9) One very large Zucchini/Courgette purchased at the farmers market.

That's it, that's all we put in this delicious meal aside from the spices. Which we used: Course Sea Salt, Black Pepper, Cumin, Ground Gloves, Smoked Paprika, Savory Leaves, Ginger Powder, Minced Garlic in water, Tumeric, and One Black Cardamom Pod (which was removed prior to baking).

To make: 

1) Carefully trim the ends off the zucchini and slice in half. Remove seeds and discard, then using a melon baller or ice cream scoop gently scrape out the innards until a small layer remains. They should resemble boats. 

2) Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F, put skillet on over medium heat and warm about a 1/2 tablespoon of vegetable oil in the pan. Slice the onion into strips and sautee with the garlic and ginger until caramelized. Add the smashed zucchini innards and salt, pepper, tumeric, the cardamom pod, savory, and cumin. 

3) Cook for several minutes until warmed through (we added three to five tablespoons of the strained mussel juice from the can). Add the red pepper cut into one inch long strips. Cook till warmed.

4) Add the crab meat (strained), mussels (strained), and canned mushrooms (strained). Then add the liquid from the crab meat. Cook until warmed through and add the remaining spices and any additional amounts of the others as needed. 

5) Put into a heat safe bowl and mix in about 1/4 a cup GF bread crumbs and 1/4 cup shredded non-dairy cheese. Add just enough bread crumbs and cheese for the mixture to bind together well. 

** You can stop here and turn this into delicious crab cakes. We had that thought but already had the zucchini prepared. Next time - crab cakes! **

6) Place the two halves of the zucchini on aluminum foil (which we didn't do, would have been smarter to do first), and fill with the stuffing. Slightly overfill one side and under fill the other. 

7) Make small indentations in the stuffing in the under filled half and alternate with 1 teaspoon of jelly and a pinch of cheese. On the other half add a line of jelly and a line of cheese (both of these are optional but tasty).

8) Gently place the two halves back together (the stuffing was very compact for us so we didn't have any spillage). Then roll in aluminum foil and try to have it sit so the seam is horizontal. 

9) Bake in the oven at 325 degrees for 25 minutes, then  flip the zucchini and increase the temperature to 350 degrees. Bake for another 20 minutes. 

10) Remove from oven, using tongs remove the aluminum foil and slice with a sharp knife. Plate and enjoy!

This is what it looked like when we plated it. We ended up splashing some Tabasco Sauce on it at the table but it was quite delicious! We did decide however that it would be better with less cheese and a sharper flavored variety. But all in all it was very good. The jelly gave it a nice hint of tartness that really made the crab and mussel flavors pop. 

We ended up only eating about half of the zucchini and look forward to having it as left overs for lunches tomorrow. But I couldn't let the evening go without trying out another one of our jelly ideas. Using the jelly as a tea concentrate. I used about a 1/2 tablespoon of the Smart Tart Jelly and 1 teaspoon locally produced honey, added boiling water and voila!

It was quite tasty, though in the long run the honey over powered the jelly a bit. What was neat was the hibiscus sank to the bottom and would swish up whenever I took a sip. It was a nice compliment to the dinner. We are really excited about continuing our use of these awesome jellies in the next few days. Here's what's to come:

Super Secret Tuesday #2 (for real) - I plan on using the Strawberry Basil jelly for some highjinks, we'll see how it turns out!

July 4th BBQ - We are going to grill some white fish (cod, tilapia, or mahi mahi haven't selected yet) with the Jalapeno jelly, add in some delicious bicolored corn, and finish off with some GFDF crepes with an augmented version of the Vegan Coconut Creme using the blueberry jelly (oh yea, my mind is drooling over this one!). 

What's on Hand Thursday #2 - I'm not entirely sure what's going to happen here, it will likely amount to what leftovers we have going from the other two days and what sort of mood I am in. But I am thinking this will be another night for the Jalapeno to feature. We'll see how the week progresses!

Thanks for stopping by and here's to another delicious adventure in eating! I am really glad that we are sticking to our weekly Farmer's Market trips. They really have made a huge difference in how and what we eat, and it's really interesting as we learn the ebb and flow of the growing season around us!

Juicing/Rebooting Post #2 should be up tomorrow! Then look forward to Super Secret Tuesday #2 - because I am!

Namaste!

Deliciousness at Every Turn

Hello there! Sorry I've been gone for a few days, this week was just a bit crazy. As I said in my last update Logician's family was briefly affected by the storm, though for the moment things seem to be okay. Things have calmed down a bit this morning and we are returning to our regular schedule.

This post is going to be a bit long as I have several things I want to post. The first thing I must remind you of is that though I often link to a lot of things (I like to show the love) I am in no way compensated for my opinion and that it is just that - MY opinion. I can't even be entirely sure that Logician agrees with me on most things, so please take what you like and leave the rest.

One of the first things I want to do in this post is let anyone who is anyone who wants to eat something tasty in Gainesville know about Falafel King. This is a tiny restaurant/Middle Eastern Grocer that we must have passed every day for the entire time we've lived in Gainesville. We'd often discuss going in and then just drive on by to some other less delicious place before finally giving in just before we began our second Reboot. We were very sad we had waited so long. The couple that seem to run the restaurant are really friendly and seem to flow seamlessly around each other as they work. The food is always delicious, handmade, and even though it varies because it is handmade we have yet to be disappointed. They sell their own tahinni, tabbouleh, and hummus - as well as kosher meats, domestic and imported feta, olives, etc. It's an amazing little place and we love to eat there. Though we also like to watch what they do as they work and I worry we're starting to creep them out a bit! But seriously if you're looking for homemade authentic Middle Eastern food - go there. It's good.

Now to get to the main part of today's post - today is Saturday which means Farmer's Market! Currently due to our schedules we can go to only one of the in town market's a week, so we choose the Haile Plantation Farmer's Market. This is our first time going every week, so we don't have as much experience with the ebb and flow. But we have resolved to go each day and take time to walk the length before we purchase anything. We have come to know several of the families that bring their items and are always intrigued when a new stand pops up.

Today was one of those days. Today we met the family behind The Root Cellar. What initially intrigued us was their banner which spoke of jams with flowers involved. We see the words flowers, herbs, jams, jellies, or honey and immediately must investigate. We were astonished to be provided an excellent tour through the five offerings - A hibiscus with orange/raspberry flavors, Strawberry Basil, Strawberry Lavender, a blueberry with an anise back flavor, and a jalapeno (which I let Logician try). We ended up buying one of each and the promptly delegated two of them to breakfast duty.

We went to our local Earth Origin's market where we picked up some Gluten (and Dairy) Free Sourdough Bagels made by a relatively local company, Sami's Bakery, and some Vegan Cream Cheese Alternative (this was after a suggestion of eating some of these tasty jams on Sourdough bread). We then stopped by Gainesville's newest coffee shop (which - thank goodness - is on our side of town. FINALLY!) CYM Coffee Co. The name is from the Sister Hazel Song Change Your Mind. Sister Hazel is a Gainesville, Fl band and this coffee shop ties right into the idea of Cymplfy. Seriously - I am very much in love with this place right now.

In fact, with no offense meant to our other wonderful coffee establishments, this one is definitely becoming my favorite. It's got a nice cozy, curl up and read with a cup of coffee feel. The first day we went Tropical Storm Debby was drenching us and I could have sworn we some how teleported to the Pacific Northwest. It was amazing. So far I have tried their Mint Mocha Latte, an iced White Chocolate Mocha, and an iced Caramel Mocha. Logician has tried their Chai (which I just found out today is the powder form of my most favorite Chai ever) as an iced Latte, their Chemex blend, and really likes the way that the owner (Brad) and their awesome Barista (Tom) make their espresso.

They have so many great things going on that if I don't get to my point here I'll bore you to death. One of the cool things that we've found pulls us in each morning is that they sell travel mugs ($2.49 plus tax, their really decent mugs for being plastic) and a refill for the mug only costs $1.00. Logician likes to get a straight up espresso and add it to his mix. The coffee's have been really tasty and enjoyable.

So we stopped there and refilled our mugs. Then took our haul of jams, bagels, not cream cheese, and coffee and went to Logician's work where we had a breakfast picnic - and now for the best part, pictures.

So here's the spread. Each of us put each type of jam on one half of our bagel over the vegan cream cheese and then drank our coffee.

The names of everything aren't as clear as I would like them to be here but oh well. The Vegan cream cheese was not very good in my opinion as I didn't really like the heaviness from the oil. But it worked enough to provide a contrast in flavor and make the jams pop out more.

So after devouring all this tastiness we came to several conclusions:

1) The Hibiscus Jam could double as a tea concentrate - seriously. A cup of hot water, a dash more honey, and a spoon full of that deliciousness would make one heck of a cup of tea. An idea I got from the numerous Asian inspired tea concentrates we've seen at our local Asian markets.

2) The Hibiscus Jam is going to go into a tasty dinner I am making for tomorrow night (that Logician came up with on the spot as we drove from the market to the grocery). It is going to be a stuffed Zuccini/Courgette that is about as big as my forearm (we got it for $3.00!!! at the Farmer's Market, seriously... Insane). More on that when I post it's delicious pictures tomorrow!

3) We cannot wait to feature the Jalapeno Jelly on some delicious fish for our 4th of July dinner. Seriously - the very thought of it's deliciousness makes me want to just stay home a cook today.

4) Gluten Free and Dairy Free Sourdough bagels might just be one of the best inventions ever. I can't wait to learn to make them on my own.

5) Breakfast Picnics rock.

6) Our kitchen is about to see more cooking than it has in awhile.

And lastly we live in such an awesomely inspired local culture here. I am so glad we're exploring so many different things these days. I think that by sticking to the Farmer's Market each week we're going to find new and exciting things that will lead to all sorts of awesome adventures.

I promise the Reboot/Juicing Post has been started, and it will eventually make it up. I have a little more free time this week due to the holiday so I am hoping to get it up in the next few days. Tomorrow I will make myself take pictures of the process as we make the Stuffed Zucchini, and I will try to get it up ASAP. Until then, eat well!