Kawartha Ecological Growers CSA Love July 24, 2009

So before getting on with the food of the day, I have to give a major shout-out to Kat of Kat eats local in Toronto. You see, last Friday I was in a hurry to get to the registrar’s office before they closed, but on the way I passed by a table set up behind Hart House, full of veggies, with a crowd of people around it, and a big price list posted. I heard snippets of conversations that included “you can get either a large share of a small share”, “I have some extras of those you can buy”, “those are reserved for members”, etc.   It sounded like a CSA to me, and I was very intrigued, but like I said, in a hurry so I didn’t stop to investigate, though I had every intention of going back to check it out this week.

Meanwhile, I had left a comment to Kat that I was jealous of her Plan B CSA deliveries (deliveries are virtually impossible in my apartment building and their depots are not at all conveniently located or timed for me). Saturday morning she suggested I check our Kawartha Ecological Growers since they had different pick-up locations. Imagine my delight when I discovered they were the ones at Hart House! So this afternoon I very happily headed back to Hart House to hand over a check and pickup my very first share of goodies. I filled up my bag with beets, spinach, mixed basil, red leaf lettuce, cucumber, broccoli, peas, and raspberries. All organic (or close to organic but not certified), local, and BEAUTIFUL!

Anyways, on the the food. For breakfast I dug in the fridge for the last of the greens and produced a fabulous chocolate milkshake concoction In the mix is Chocolate Spirutein (candy, again), kale, collards, spinach, wheatgrass ice cubes, chia seeds, and a banana. And once again and brought most to work, but enjoyed a little at home with blueberries (chocolate covered blueberries = yum).

For lunch I fixed up a fabulous salad with romaine, zucchini, yellow pepper, carrot, dulse, pineapple salsa, avocado, and Marti cheese.

After work I headed to Simply Bulk to stock up on a few items, and saw they had Peanut Butter Cookie Larabars, so I pounced. I got to Hart House early for the CSA, so I enjoyed a bar and a book in the courtyard of University College while I waited. OMG, this flavour is so GOOD! It seriously tasted just like a PB cookie.

I also stopped to enjoy the flowers outside of Trinity College.

And finally, for a very late dinner I did some space clearing in the fridge for my CSA goodies. I fixed up a salad of romaine, zuke, orange pepper, and snow peas tossed with sesame oil and lemon juice. And alongside that I steamed (definitely steamed…) the last of my kabocha, with tomato paste and a peach for dessert. I think the kabocha monster is in need of a dentist, but that’s just my opinion.

It Started Out Raw July 23, 2009

Breakfast this morning was a funny little green monster.  I’m not entirely sure I liked it.  I split it into two parts because I wasn’t very hungry when I woke up, and the second part had a really weird texture when I pulled it out.  It contained kale, frozen grapes, wheat grass ice cubes, chia seeds, and a handful of dates and almonds.  I think the lesson is almond milk > whole almonds and banana > dates.

My lunch was a wonderful salad, that I luckily packed into a container with a domed lid, because I definitely needed to extra room to fit everything in.  It contained zucchini, carrot, yellow pepper, snow peas, avocado, and Marti cheese.

And later I snacked on a bunch if super ripe and delicious plums and blueberries.

Then dinner is what started out raw.  I blended up a very tasty soup using king oyster mushrooms, a hunk of leek, kabocha, a Kallo no salt veggie stock cube, salt, and pepper.  Garnished with some delightful Live Food Bar Nacho Chips.  The soup tasted good, but then I quickly learned something.  If you eat kabocha raw, it kinda feels like the back of your thoat is swelling up and gets really scratchy.  So I quickly stopped, and poured the soup in a pan to cook for a bit.  At this point I was paranoid, so I left it on the stove for longer than it probably needed and ended up with a very tasty kabocha mash due to the amount of water that had boiled off.  But I happy ate it without feeling like I was going to suffocate   I also enjoyed a few more nachos (and lots of water to get rid of the icky throat feeling) while waiting for the soup to cook.

All For Show July 22, 2009

When I got up this morning I fixed myself some quick brunch before heading back to work.  S&M salad.  I think this is becoming my lazy salad, I don’t have to pull everything out of the fridge and think to decide what I want, I just follow the ingredients list.  Today I even had the dulse, hemp seeds, and rosemary crackers already broken up and sitting in a baggie leftover from when I brought the salad to work a couple of days ago.

I took along a snacky, blueberries and apricots.

And dinner was a chips and dip plate.  Zucchini and carrot chips with mole.

And dessert was going to be a simple peach, but since the mandoline was already dirty from slicing the zucchini, I fancied it up for the blog.  I sliced the peach thinly and drizzled it with a mixture of tahini, honey and water (tasty!) and a few sesame seeds, just for show.  And I’m going to enjoy it with some SYTYCD.  I can’t believe Wednesday’s already over!

Non-yogurt Dressing Love July 13, 2009

For breakfast this morning I was happy to blend up a green monster. This morning’s incarnation included a nectarine, a few frozen grapes, chia seeds, and kale.

For lunch I discovered the most fabulous salad dressing. Remeber when I was loving the yogurt/mustard/chives salad topping? This tastes like that (except without the chives, because I didn’t think to add them this morning). It was a mix of hemp nut butter, lemon jice, and mustard. I used it to dress a pile of broccoli, red pepper, and zucchini.

Lunch dessert was blueberries and few brazil nuts.

Later in the afternoon I enjoyed a Coconut Cream Pie Larabar before heading home.

For dinner I mixed up sprouted amaranth with a little lemon and tahini, then stuffed it into delicious collard wraps with a tomato. Not the cleanest thing to eat with tomato juice squirting everywhere despite my best containment efforts, but delicious none the less Along side were some cherries. The rest of my blueberries disappeared to, but they were too sneaky for the camera.

Tasty, Semi Healthy Fast Food? July 9, 2009

I apologize for the lack-luster photos, but today has just been one of those days.

It all started when I got up super early in the morning to get to work to leave on a field trip (FUN!).  I was out of greens so I blended up some unusal ingredients and ended up with a surprisingly good smoothie.  In the mix is banana, avocado, lime, mint, cacao nibs, wheatgrass icecubes, and chocolate brown rice protein.

Later in the morning I snacked on a super sweet and juicy apple.

We had planned on getting back to the office around 1ish, so I had left my food there (except for the apple), but we ended up hanging around longer than planned to watch a girder being erected (on barges in the middle of a river, twas pretty cool), so on the way back, with options being limited in somewhat northern Ontario, we stopped at A&W for lunch.  I considered getting a side salad (or 2) to hold me over until we got back, but I was HUNGRY, so I ordered a Swiss Veggie Delight.  And I was quite pleased to discover it was good, like REALLY good!  My veggie patty experience is quite limited, but this one was very tasty, and very mushroomy, which went well with the cheese on the burger.  It was even served on a whole wheat bun.  I looked it up on the site afterwards, and the nutritional stats aren’t even that horrible, and the first (but definitely not the only) ingredient  in the patty is even portobello mushrooms.  If you’re ever end up at A&W, and want something more than a sad looking side salad, I definitely recommend their veggie burger.

When we finally did get back to work, I happily dug into this bowl of blueberries.

And when I finally got home, I at what I had made of lunch (and did not rephotograph despite better lighting conditions, due to the fact that everything was tossed around and messy in the container).  Julienned orange pepper and zucchini with raw mole.

And for dessert, to match the burger, my last Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich.

Pika, Pika, July 4, 2009

PikaCHU!  I made the most fantastic Emily inspired concoction today, but it comes last!

The morning started off with a fantastic creamy, and refreshing green monster. In the mix is kale, watermelon, lime, and brazil nut milk. And I drank it out of a bowl japanese style, because it was too big for a glass

For lunch I whipped up a cheesy sort of sauce, melting some agar in boiling water first, then blending it with more brazil nut milk, garlic powder, nutritional yeast, chives, green onion, fresh thyme, salt and pepper. That tasty sauce was poured over a bead of shredded brussel sprouts and chopped carrot, and topped with a few shavings of L’Allegretto cheese. It made one delicious, peppery (the sprouts!) salad.

Then later in the afternoon some snacking happened. First was raspberries.

Then one (or three) giant, flattened figs.

And a handful or two of craisins.

Then after a long nap I woke myself up with wheatgrass juice and blueberries.

And now I’m about to enjoy a bowl of chia oatgurt with CHU. CHU (sounds so much better than CHBU) being a wonderful 1:1 combination of chocolate hazelnut butter (I food processer-ized hazelnuts with a few cacao nibs) and brazil nut milk (sweetened with stevia and vanilla). It’s SO GOOD!

And I’m planning on bringing a Ginger Snap Larabar to work with me tonight.

Where has the week gone? July 3, 2009

This week felt like it flew by!  First I had Wednesday off, then Thursday I left the office to do some quick work at a subway station, which meant I got home really early, then today was the normal summer hours half day!  I guess I’ll make up for it by working Saturday night (Boo!).  It’s actually not that bad, kinda fun, but it does feel like it destroys the weekend a little bit.  But then Monday is a field trip to see a bridge in Huntsville!  Aside from the freeway up to Montreal a couple of times, and one road trip to Sault St. Marie via Tobermory 10 years ago (then back via Michigan), I’ve never been to any part of Ontario north of Toronto, so to me, Algonquin Park is considered WAY up north (keep in mind that Toronto is already ~100km north of where I grew up).  You know, as opposed to WAY WAY up north by Hudson Bay where nobody lives (apparently there’s a Polar Bear Provincial Park?) or even just Thunder Bay.

Anyway, on the the eats (I just spent forever being distracted by Google Maps!)  Breakfast this morning, I used another one of those super dark plums, along with blueberries, half a banana, chia seeds, and a big handful of kale in a tasty little green monster (I brought the rest to drink at work)

I also brought part one of lunch to work with me, broccoli, cucumber and baked kabocha drizzled with Ted Reader Peach Bourbon BBQ sauce.  Delicious.

When I got home I was hungry for lunch part 2, chia oatgurt with a spoonful of PB2.

Then lunch dessert/snacks, the last two Pumpkin Pie Bites.

And a sweet, juicy, super-ripe peach

For dinner I cleaned out the fridge with a GIANT salad containing the last of the lettuce and aspargus my parents brought me, cucumber, red pepper, chives, and the leftover tomato/avocado suace from yesterday.  And I’m pleased to report the mandoline was playing nicely today.

And to really clean out the fridge, I also finished the kabocha and broccoli, with a bit more BBQ sauce.

Peachy Keen For Non-Fried Green Tomatoes June 30, 2009

This morning’s green monster was pretty fantastic after yesterday’s disappointment. In the mix was kale, chia seeds, peach, and banana. So sweet and delicious.

For lunch I had another big salad, the same mix of lettuce, carrot, red pepper, red tomato, asparagus, green onion, and Avocado Dill dressing. And I finished the avocado dressing, so I can make up something else now (not that it wasn’t delicious).

Then for snackies I dug into raspberries, blueberries, and a Kumato. The kumato is an hierloom variety of tomato, and it seems to be pretty widely available. I give it two thumbs up, though it doesn’t taste much different for any other decent tomato. It does taste a lot better than you’re typical green (unripe) tomato, ie. the ones my sister was briefly obsessed with dousing in bread crumbs and pan frying the summer she watched the movie.

When I got home I discovered that good old Matt and Sarma really know what they’re talking about. Brazil nuts make AWESOME milk! It might also have something to do with the 3 inch piece of vanilla bean I threw in the mix instead of extract. I’ve had a few vanilla beans sitting in the freezer for 3 years now, and that after I nabbed them out of my mom’s freezer where they had been since we bought them in Mexico Christmas of 2001, so I figured it was high time I used it in something. I didn’t really follow the RFRW recipe exactly, fiddling with it to make it a bit less calorie laden, I used 1 cup brazil nuts (pre-soaking), 6 cups water, 1/4 teaspoon stevia, and the vanilla bean, soaked while I was at work (at least 2 hours), then blended and strained in my milk-bag/old T-shirt. Creamy and delicious. I used Organic Traditions stevia, which is just the powdered leaf, and it tastes so good, no funky aftertaste like the Krisda stuff my roomie (mostly him) and I finally used up that’s bulked up with isomalt.

I used some of the wonderful brazil nut milk to make dessert tonight, blending it with the last of my farmer’s market strawberries, ice, and a bit of honey for a creamy strawberry milkshake.

But before dessert I happily dug into a salad of 1 small zucchini, 1 carrot, 5-6 stalks asparagus, ~1/3 c finely chopped pineapple, 1 T stone ground mustard, 1 T apple cider vinegar, 1/2 T honey, and a sprinkling of chopped roasted salted macademia nuts. So, so good.

And a little extra dessert, dark chocolate goodness.

Frans-tastic Day June 23, 2009

Breakfast this morning was once again RFRW inspired for the fruit choices.  My monster included dino kale, chia seeds, banana, papaya, and pineapple, tasty indeed and THICK because all the fruit was frozen.

Lunch time saw a giant, delicious salad of spring mix, asparagus, carrot, red pepper, cucumber, green onion and mole for dressing. Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s got nothing on me (I didn’t even notice the face until up loading the pics, I even took the picture on its side).

And raspberries and blueberries for dessert.

And afternoon snacking featured a wonderful Crunchy Peanut Butter Clif bar.

Then for dinner my parents came to the city to see a show (Soiree Quebec, but couldn’t take me because it was sold out too quickly ;.;), so we went out for a quick dinner before hand at Fran’s, again.  For someone who rarely eats out I’ve practically become a regular there this week.  This time I got the Warm Chicken Salad with an enormous, but pathetic pile of lettuce topped with carrot, cabbage, sad tomato slices, cucumber, and a tasty mound of grilled chicken, onion and bell peppers with teriyaki sauce on the side.  The raw veggies were disappointing, I left most behind, but the cooked were great.

No picture of dinner, but check out the garden gifts they brought me!  A big bag of lettuce, asparagus, and a ton of various herbs.

And for dessert I had some delicious dried fruit salad.

Holy Mole de Tofu! June 22, 2009

Breakfast started the day simply with a pile of blueberries, raspberries, cherries, and strawberries.

As well as a big glass of Chocolate Mint Vitasoy.

For lunch I brought along left over Tropical Kale salad with an amazing side of tofu.  Sandwiched in the tofu slices is raw mole made from the recipe in Raw Food, Real World, and it is amazing!  It doesn’t taste quite like the mole I’ve had in Mexico, but it’s still really good.  And the recipe was so simple compared to some other that I’ve seen with about a billion ingredients in them.  It’s more chocolatey and bit sweeter than regular mole, but I kinda like it that way.  The only complaint I have about the recipe is the fact that I now have almost 1 litre of sauce hanging out in the fridge!  I definitely need to package some up for the freezer, so it will be nice to have this tasty sauce on hand for a long time to come.

Snacking was accomplished with a carrot and a handful of super sweet strawberry tomatoes.

For dinner I had all the ingredients handy to make some more almost raw sushi rolls, but then I did a rather horrible job of slicing them up.  My knife was just not cooperating.  The tasty nuggets are stuffed with jicama rice, green onion, red pepper, asparagus and avocado.  With a splash of soy sauce.

And for dessert, a pile of perfectly RIPE papaya.