Day 16

The menu for the day is:

Breakfast:
Green Glamour Breakfast Smoothie (recipe)
Apricot Oatmeal (recipe)

Lunch:
Lentil Soup
Green Salad with Creamy Chipotle Dressing (recipe)

Dinner:
Fettuccine with Grilled Asparagus, Peas, and Lemon (recipe)
Fresh blueberries

As I'm posting this later in the day, I've actually completed today's menu plan already.

I ended up pressing the snooze button one time too many this morning and was in a bit of a rush to get to my 8 am class. The other day I found a coupon for Dole's new frozen smoothie cup (just take out of the freezer, add juice, shake, and go) and I picked on up at Krogers. I decided to take that with me this morning instead of making the odd kale smoothie on the menu, but I didn't realize when I got it that it had yogurt in it. I didn't have time for anything else and I knew I'd be hungry if I didn't take it, so I ended up drinking it anyways. We'll chalk that up to a little slip up that can be easily avoided next time. Besides, the smoothie was pretty nasty so I'd never want to get one again anyways.

I tried out Amy's brand canned soup for lunch, and it was pretty good. I didn't get to make the salad yesterday, so I tacked it onto today's menu. The can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce smelled so wonderful that I got a dollop on my finger to taste--bad idea, it was insanely spicy! One of these chipotles went into the blender with some pepper, coriander seeds, Pace mild salsa, and vegan mayo. The dressing wasn't as hot as I was fearing it would be (I scraped out the seeds before I put the pepper in the blender), but the vegan mayo did give it a rather odd flavor. I can't really describe it. Once I got used to it, the dressing really didn't make a half bad salad.

Remember that fiasco with this pasta recipe last time? No way, no how was I making that again. Instead I decided it was time to pay Chipotle a visit.

Why yes, that IS guacamole.

Quinoa and Red Bean Salad

This was my lunch for day seven, and man was it refreshing and delicious.

Pita Bread, Spinach & Garlic Hummus, and Quinoa & Red Bean Salad

This is pretty much the perfect meal for a warm summer's day, and required minimal cooking. All I had to do was simmer some quinoa on low heat for 25 minutes, chop the veggies, and stir everything together.

The salad contained:

1 diced tomato
1 diced yellow squash
4 green onions
2 napa cabbage leaves, finely sliced
1/2 cup of rinsed red beans
1/2 cup corn

Combine all of these ingredients with one cup of cooked quinoa and then toss with 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar and half a cup of Salsa Verde. I'm really glad I decided not to toss out that salsa the other day--a hint of those tangy flavors worked really well with this salad. You could always buy a jar of salsa if you don't have any tomatillos (or patience) to make it yourself.

One of the most beautiful dishes thus far!

Rustic Tomato Soup

This is dinner for day two of the 21-Day Weight Loss Kickstart. The menu called for Rustic Tomato Soup, mixed salad greens with Red Pepper Vinaigrette, and a piece of sourdough toast.



Rustic Tomato Soup, mixed salad greens with Red Pepper Vinaigrette, and toast.

Surprisingly, the store had to sourdough so I had a slice of 12 grain bread. This was a loaf that I had had, and when I looked at the ingredients I saw milk on the list. Technically this is non-vegan bread, but I just couldn't in good conscience throw away a perfectly good full loaf of bread. Besides, in the study where Dr. Campbell fed rats a diet of 20% casein (milk protein) and 5% casein, those who ate only 5% in their diet saw their cancerous tumors begin to receed. I don't think a tablespoon of milk is going to kill me.

Tonight's dinner was fabulous, and much less of a hassel than day one. The tomato soup consisted of onion, garlic, diced Roma tomato, water, fresh thyme, freshly ground cumin, salt, and pepper simmered together until the tomatoes broke down. At that point I added half a cup of rice and let it simmer on low for 25 minutes. Super easy, right? The only problem I had was that there wasn't any liquid left when the rice was finished cooking, so I had to stir some water back in. I had to be quite heavy on the salt as well. I would definitely make this again, maybe with a little more tomato and a little less rice.

Rustic Tomato Soup

The vinaigrette was also very simple. I tried out the food processor again, and thankfully it only leaked a tiny bit. I think we may need a new one... Anyways, I put one roasted red pepper, one clove of garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, and two tablespoons of red wine vinegar in the food processor and let it go until it was as fine as I thought it would get. The dressing was still a little pulpy--I think it would have been better as a puree. I'm not a huge fan of red bell peppers, so I don't think I would make this too often, but it was pretty good.

Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette

I went ahead and made the full batch (two servings) of soup because I knew I would eat the leftovers at some point. This turned out to be so filling that I couldn't even finish my salad either. Another winner!

Dinner

This is dinner for day one. Talk about a three course meal--this was a huge amount of food! I made a Balsamic Pear Salad, Caldo Verde, and Fettuccine with Asparagus, Peas, & Lemon.

Day One Dinner

I almost didn't make everything that the book had listed, but decided to stick to the plan as closely as possible. Whereas my earlier meals were fairly simply, I basically destroyed the kitchen while making all this. Flipping through the upcoming menus, I notice that everything is quite a bit simpler than this, and it makes me wonder if they tried to be impressive on the very first day and took it a little over the top. Either way, I'm glad there are no more "feasts" in my immediate future.

Admittedly, I didn't really like any of theses three dishes. I started off making the Caldo Verde, which I believe is supposed to be a Portuguese version of Zuppa Toscana. This is not what it turned out like...

Looks pretty good so far...

I think a lot of the reason for this was human error. The recipe said to blend the potatoes to get a puree. All I had was Carla's little food processor, and the bottom came unscrewed while I was blending. All of the boiling hot liquid pour out (all over my book). So after this point, it wasn't really soup anymore. It was more like mushed onion and potato baby food. Yuck.

Caldo Verde

The recipe called for half a bunch of kale, which I think ended up being a little too much. Also, it called for soy chorizo or another vegetable-based sausage. The only kind I could find in Krogers that was vegan was a brand called Gimme Lean, which was basically chunky refried beans in a chub. Following the instructions carefully (and against my better judgement), I just plopped some of that in at the end and tried to break it up with the spoon. Bad idea. I would make this again, but with some serious alterations. I would have sauteed the onions and garlic first, used vegetable stock, diced the kale finer, made sure there was a lot more liquid, and IF I decided to use the veggie sausage again, I would cook it and crumble it in a separate pan first. This recipe was edible, but just barely.

Next was the fettuccine. This one sounded promising to me, though I was confused about what I was supposed to dress the noodles with. As it turns out, nothing. Also a bad (and very sticky) idea.

Fettuccine with Asparagus, Peas, & Lemon

The asparagus was to be tossed in a garlic lemon sauce before grilling, but once they were on the grill that sauce evaporated and the asparagus got very dry. The pasta also had a bunch of chopped parsley in it. The only variety of parsley I could find at Krogers looked very odd to me, but it was that or nothing so I bought it. It was a flat-leaf variety, and it turned out to be bitter and spicy and overly aromatic. It pretty much ruined whatever goodness would have been in the dish to begin with. The noodles were sticky and flavorless so I squeezed the juice of one lemon over them, which was actually quite nice. I ended up eating these with my fingers and picking bits of parsley off of the noodles and my tongue as I went along. Less than an awesome experience, to say the least. If I were to make this again I would have steamed the asparagus and peas in the oven in aluminum foil with the garlic lemon mixture. I would have poured the entire packet on top of the freshly drained noodles, and then used some normal parsley to top it off. This recipe has potential, but it needs some major changes.

Lastly but not least (well, actually yes, least) is the salad. It is comprised of arugula, Bartlett pear, radish, and a red wine vinegar reduction.

 

Balsamic Pear Salad

 

I really like fruit on my salads so I thought for sure this one would be a winner. I was wrong. Have you ever had raw arugula? It is awful. It was so bitter that it actually induced an involuntary gag reflex when it got to the back of my throat. There was only one brand at the store, which looked less than stellar, so maybe the quality was the problem. Either way, I took only one bite before pushing it away. I ended up picking the pears and radishes off the top and eating those. The dressing was lovely though, I must say. The recipe called for balsamic vinegar, but all I had was red wine vinegar. I put some in a pan and let it reduce until it was a little thicker, and then drizzled that over the salad. I will definitely be using the vinaigrette recipe again.

 

 

Three strikes, your out. It was a little disappointing, especially after all the effort it took to cook it, but it is okay really. Dr. Barnard says that if you don't get the occasional dud then you are not experimenting enough. We'll just chalk this up to a valuable culinary learning experience.

Seven Layer Garden Nachos

Okay, so maybe this isn't what they're really called, but I couldn't find blue chips and it seemed more to me like nachos than a salad. This was my lunch for day one.

"Blue Corn Chip Salad", A.K.A. Seven Layer Garden Nachos

I thought for sure that I was going to miss my normal fixin's such as cheese and sour cream, but let me tell you--I was wrong. Very wrong. This just might be some of the best nachos I've ever had, and that is without and meat, cheese, or dairy! Mom, you'd go nuts over these.

The first layer of the nachos is the chips themselves. Since one of the rules of the 21-Day Weight Loss Kickstart is to reduce oils, I had to get baked chips. There was only one type of baked tortilla chip that Krogers carried (and this is an incredibly large and diverse store), and it was not blue. I ended up getting Baked! Tostitos Scoops.

Layer One: Chips

The second layer is composed of lettuce. I got red leaf lettuce, which is simultaneously beautiful and tasty. The recipe said to tear it into bit size pieces, but instead I removed the thicker stem pieces and then did a chiffonade cut. We eat with our eyes first, and just looking at those purple little swirls was making me hungry!

Layer Two: Lettuce

The third layer is black beans. I just got a cheap can of the store brand packed in water. I used half of a 15 oz can on my nachos.

Layer Three: Beans

Layer four is a fresh diced Roma tomato. The recipe called for half of one, but mine was so tiny I decided to use the whole thing.

Layer Four: Tomato

The fifth layer is a half cup of any type of salsa. I went with a jar of ChiChi's mild salsa, and that was quite nice. Obviously if you like it hot, go nuts. One option for the future is to skip the fourth layer of tomato and just make this layer a nice heap of fresh pico de gallo. Yum!

Layer Five: Salsa

Layer six is roast red pepper. The recipe called for one and a half peppers, and that sounded like an awful lot to me. I ended up opting for only one pepper, which still seemed like too much but ended up being just perfect. Make sure that these are packed in water with no added oils. I julienned them, but you can dice them however you like.

Layer Six: Roasted Red Pepper

The last layer is comprised of any toppings you might want. I used unprocessed pepitas, which the book suggested. I also decided to put a little fresh cilantro and a squeeze of lime. I'm glad I did, because I feel like it really elevated all of those already delicious flavors to another level. And, ta-da! Observe your masterpiece.

Layer Seven: Toppings (Cilantro, Pepitas, Lime Juice)

The menu for today also included a watermelon salad tossed with lime juice. I got the cutest little melon from the farmers' market, which is the perfect size for just me. I also got a bunch of fresh mint at the market, and decided to chop a few leaves up very finely and add that to the watermelon salad as well. Remember about eating with your eyes? Here's a close-up:

Watermelon Salad with Mint and Lime

This was actually so much food that I couldn't finish it. I had about half a cup of random veggies left on my plate and had to put most of my half cup of watermelon back into the container as well. That's okay though, the watermelon will be a good snack between classes tomorrow. The only hard part about this diet thus far has been eating the recommended amounts of food! They weren't kidding when they talked about "real" portions. Perhaps dinner will have to be rather later tonight... Also, if any of you readers happen to be in my neck of the woods, please stop by--there is more than plenty of deliciousness to go around. I feel bad that I keep shoving it at Helen when she's not much of an eater to being with.