Month: May 2008

Wheat free vegetarian lasagna recipe

offwhiteliving2 Comments

Hello all,

I am making a lasagna for a class I teach (titled “off white”, naturally….) and feel the recipe is just too good not to share.

BUT, before I do…a word about the cost of veggies.

You’ve probably noticed an increase in the cost of veggies this year so far.  For instance, I paid nearly $7 for 3 large zucchini for the lasagna.  I feel that the committment to eating “off white” and creating that base of fruits and veggies is going to be more at risk as the cost of “healthy” food rises while junk food stays cheap.  Just today I saw Kellog’s cereals, like Trix, on sale for $1.88/box.  That is quite cheap.  Even in my hayday of eating those items it was difficult to get them for under $2.  It may be that the overlords of processed foods will take advantage of the economic times and tempt us to make choices for economical reasons.

I get it that paying $7/lb for bell peppers (which I heard of today) is not sustainable.  And this blog is all about sustainable, so what can we do to keep our options open?  Here are some ideas.  The recipe is next, I promise 🙂

  • Plant a garden.  Invest in a few  good organic plants (which are inexpensive when they are  small).  Two or three good plants may yield ample amounts to get you through the season
  • Share your garden bounty with friends and trade for what you do/don’t have
  • Buy what is on sale (especially local stuff) and freeze excess.  Frozen veggies and fruits are almost as good as fresh
  • Don’t let those veggies go to waste.  raise your hand if you sometimes throw away produce that goes bad?  At $5-7/lb that won’t happen, right?
  • Shop local farmer’s markets, roadside stands, etc
  • Buy organic frozen veggies when you can and it makes sense for what you are cooking
  • Buy bulk at Costco – share with a friend if its too much

Okay, here’s what you’ve been waiting for:

Sneaky Spelt Lasagna (wheat free, vegetarian)

7 Vitaspelt Spelt lasagna noodle
1 bag frozen organic chopped spinach
1 15-oz container ricotta cheese
8 oz real mozzarella
8 oz mozzarella almond or rice cheese
3/4 cup chopped mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 large jar organic marinara sauce, flavored as you like it
1/2 cup cream of tomato organic soup (optional for added flavor)
3 tbsp fresh basil, finely chopped
2 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
3 large zucchini, thinly sliced using a Mandolin or with a knife

Boil noodles to al dente.  Place 3 noodles + 1/2 in the bottom of a lasagna dish.  Mix the marinara with the chopped onion, mushrooms and soup.  Set aside.  Defrost spinach and then add with basil, thyme and ricotta.  Blend until fully mixed.  Shred the cheeses.

Add approx 1/3 of marinara mix to 1st layer of spelt noodles.  Next add similar amount of ricotta mix.  Now add a similar amount of shredded cheese. Add a layer of Zucchini, fully covering the dish (this acts like a pasta layer).  Repeat with the marinara, ricotta and cheese.  Add the last of the noodles.  Add marinara and ricotta layer and THEN ADD 1 MORE ZUCCHINI LAYER.

Finally, coat the top with leftover cheese.

Cook at 375 for 30-40 minutes, with at least 10 of those with the dish uncovered.  It makes A LOT of lasagna 🙂

Other options:

1. use cottage cheese in place of ricotta, or silken tofu, flavored with Italian spices

2. Add 1/2 cup chopped walnuts into cheese mix for added texture and fat

3. Use only almond or rice cheese for a low/non-dairy option

4. Add about 3/4 lb ground turkey to marinara mix for a carnivorous delight

“Good Earth” gives good stuff….

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Sometimes one has to go vintage to get a good reminder that the basics have been around for a while.

What I’m talking about is my recent ‘re-discovery’ of a product that kills the sweet craving because its so yummy and naturally sweet, but is just a tea made of herbs.

I’m talking about Good Earth Original Herbal blend tea.  SOOO delicious.  Here I am sipping a cup on (another) rainy day in Oregon, so happy that I don’t even want to add anything like Agave or stevia.  Its the cinnamon and chicory root, I think, that makes it so good and gives it that earthy sweetness.

When shopping, look for this label:

I chose the non-caffeinated option because I don’t do caffeine well, and I save up my caffeine for chocolate.

Happily I discovered a new tea blend on the website: Cocoa chai tea – I know what my next purchase will be.

Check them out -they have some awesome blends, the company has been around for over 30 yrs, and they do good things for the environment, like make their boxes out of recycled paper and have partnered with American Forests to plant trees.

Enjoy,

Rebecca

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Eating well on an outdoor adventure

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This past weekend my husband and I spent some time with the Chemeketans in Smith Rock, OR for a little R&R on the rock.  It was amazing – such a display of nature’s beauty.  Check it out at Sunset

Historically, climbing trips are an excuse to binge out on whatever one would want because, hey – we’re exercising so much, right.  I love climbers but man, do we love our junk food….. look here, I almost feel victim to the deadliest climbing food of all: Cheddar stuffed sausages on big fat white buns.  Whew….near miss!

Good thing I was saved by all the healthy stuff I brought, like bison burgers and veggies.  I actually learned a lot about my commitment to wellness this weekend, because I had tons of tempting foods around me and i simply did not want to eat them.  The greatest part was that I did not want them simply because I don’t feel well when I eat them.  This was a huge shift for me, as usually I’m driven by the calories or “good” vs “bad” mindset and that usually leaves me stressed.  However, over the past couple of years, I’ve been able to let that go and see my relationship with food from a place of personal serenity and simplictity.  It just happens to be that for me this means no refined carbs, no “joining in” with the crowd to eat simply because I want to fit in.

So, I’m pretty excited about the meal I made (no pics, sorry), because it was pretty resourceful for the circumstances and the supplies I had available.

Smith Rock Sautee

  • 1 tbsp butter, as “taken” from the Smith Rock cafe at your breakfast meal earlier (Plan A was to bring some butter or oil, but I forgot it!)
  • Two colored bell peppers, chopped into 1″ pieces
  • 1 lb asparagus, trimmed and chopped into 1″ pieces
  • 1 tbsp all purpose seasoning or Spike, or something of the like
  • 1 lb buffalo burger patties

1 sauce pan and 1 coleman stove are all you need to make what turned out to be a fabulous meal that served 3 hungry climbers, with augmentations of hummus/veggies/salsa/chips/watermelon.  I’m telling you – climbing makes you pretty hungry.

Fire up the coleman and put the saucepan on med heat.  Add the butter and the veggies.  Cover with a lid or whatever you have around.  Stir and saute for about 5 minutes.  Add the spices.  Cook another 2 minutes and then remove.  Set in a plastic camping bowl on the table. In the same saucepan, crumble up the 3 buffalo patties and pseudo-stir fry them.  because they are lean, you are going to have to stir a lot.  Cook for about  7 minutes.

Serve the buffalo and veggies with some watermelon wedges and an ice cold drink of your choice (beer was the choice for most this evening.  I stuck with water because it was seriously 101 degrees all day and I was pretty toasted).  Enjoy under the setting sun with good friends and good stories.

And who ever said that living off-white had to be painful?  our meal was the envy of the table 🙂

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living posh on low-sugar nosh……

offwhiteliving2 Comments

I love it when I find a good blog that share my bizarre love of food, health, and culture.

Today when I was bumming around looking for low sugar websites I came across this one:

http://becksposhnosh.blogspot.com/2006/01/low-sugar-desserts-and-sweet-treats.html

Pretty sweet!   I like the idea of a low sugar recipe contest, so to speak….so, if anybody wants to share a favorite low or no sugar recipe that we can post, please do!  It can be dessert, a bread or baked good, or some way that you’ve creatively used low sugar foods to make yummy foods.  If you have a picture of it, even better.

One of these days I’ll put all the recipes in a file, but that would require me to have free time before 9;30pm every night 🙂

Ciao,

Rebecca

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If these foods could talk……

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what would they be saying?

A call to live “off white” is a call to live more closely (and eat more closely) with nature. Its a call to “listen” to the quiet wisdom of our planet. So, what is nature saying when we feel compelled to, say, whip up some  guacamole and lime on a sunny day in Mexico to go with our eggs (like in this pic)……let us listen in.

There is a concept I learned in school, called the “Doctrine of Signatures”. It is when things in nature resemble the aspects of health that they help. For instance, a Walnut looks like a little brain – and the fats in walnuts are good for brain function. We simply have to look for these subtleties.
Today a client of mine sent me an email with all kinds of interesting “facts” about fruits/veggies, so I’m passing it along :0 All I can say, is that the I’m going to see if my boobs get bigger and my cycle gets easier if I enjoy more of the meals indicated in the picture. Perhaps nature is not only wise, but grants us these selfish gifts if we keep eating of her bounty…… Joking, of course!

What your food is saying:

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye The pupil, iris and
> >radiating lines look just like the human eye…
> >and YES science now shows that carrots greatly enhance blood flow to
> >and function of the eyes.
> > A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart is red and has four
> >chambers. All of the research
> >shows tomatoes are indeed pure heart and blood food.
> >
> >Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape
> >looks like a blood cell and all
> >of the research today shows that grapes are also profound heart and
> >blood vitalizing food.
> >
> >A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere,
> >upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums.
> >Even the wrinkles or folds are on the nut just like the neo-cortex.
> >We now know that walnuts help
> >develop over 3 dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.
> > Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and
> >yes, they look
> >exactly like the human kidneys.
> > Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and more look just like bones. These foods
> >specifically target bone
> >strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you
> >don’t have enough
> >sodium in your diet the body pulls it from the bones, making them
> >weak.
> >These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.
> >.
> >Eggplant, Avocadoes and Pears target the health and function of the
> >womb and cervix of the female –
> > they look just like these organs. Today’s research shows that when a
> >woman eats 1 avocado a week,
> >it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight and prevents
> >cervical cancers. And how profound
> >is this? …. It takes exactly 9 months to grow an avocado from
> >blossom to ripened fruit. There are over
> >14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of
> >these foods (modern science has
> >only studied and named about 141 of them).
> >
> >Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase
> >the motility of male sperm and
> >increase the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility.
> > Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the
> >glycemic index of diabetics.
> > Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries.
> >
> >Grapefruits, Oranges, and other Citrus fruits look just like the
> >mammary glands of the female and
> >actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph
> >in and out of the breasts.
> > Onions look like body cells. Today’s research shows that onions help
> >clear waste materials from
> >all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the
> >epithelial layers of the eyes.
> >

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Life, on 60g of sugar per day

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The World Health World health organization suggests a diet of less than 60 g of sugar per day or less.    Generally speaking, us humans can consume approx 200g of total carbs per day, so about 25% of them could be sugars, according to this model.

Some folks, especially sugar junkies trying to recover, ought to consider 100 – 150g of carbs per day or less, and make sure those carbs are from fiber containing sources.

So, how can we do it?  I ask myself this question everyday.  While I don’t go about my day counting carbs or sugar, I certainly keep these numbers in mind, mainly in the form of the concept of low sugar eating.

Through the years, here is what I have learned.  I have to make my sugar grams count, otherwise I’m going to be upset that I have nothing sweet and special to look forward to.  Here’s how I live on 60g of sugar per day (including the sugars in fruits):

  • Focus on lower sugar fruits like green apples, berries, cantaloupe, plums, peaches.
  • Avoid juice, flavored water or using sweetener in my tea at home.
  • Have Stevia in my purse to use for sweetening beverages when I go out.
  • Use unsweetened applesauce.  The difference here is 5g sugar/serving
  • Mix oats with fruit and spices, like cinnamon, for flavor.  I typically don’t add sweetener.
  • Use only plain yogurt.   I don’t do much yogurt, due to the dairy thing, but I will go plain when I do!
  • Watch the sugar in pasta sauces.  On average, a serving of jarred sauce has 10-12g of sugar.  I look for something with about 8g.
  • I avoid boxed cereals altogether.  They are high in total carbs, usually wheat or corn based, and don’t do a good job of watching portions.  For me, its just best NOT to go there.
  • Unsweetened almond milk ROCKS!  We are talking 3-5g of sugar as compared with 12-15g for even rice milk.  Add some stevia if you need more sweet.
  • Skip the ketchup and bbq sauce, unless it “really” goes with the meal (like a BBQ house, which I do like once every 3 yrs)
  • Tell the important people in my life I’m not eating a lot of sugar.  It helps keep me accountable.  I’m a sugar junkie, always looking for her fix, so I’m gonna take a mile when I’m presented with an inch!
  • Lay off of the dried fruit.  I found myself over-indulging in raisins, dates, and dried apples a lot when I started to avoid traditional sugar.  The challenge for me is that 1/4 cup of raisins is about 25g of sugar, and I can shovel in 2-3 handfuls mighty fast…..  I still eat dried fruit, but I try and add them to salads or eat them in front of someone where I’m less likely to pig out.
  • Be very, very humble.  My sugar desires are monsterous at times.  I must be honest with myself about them, and respect the food I am eating as having an effect on me.    Every time I make a good choice for my body, I feel sooooo grateful.

These same guidelines apply to white flour, which is not too much different from white sugar.  I tend to avoid wheat in general, which makes that one an easy choice.  I always skip the crackers, cereals, muffins (unless I know they are wheat-free, but even then quite often I just pass – they set me up for cravings), pastas, and a lot of breads.  Ezekiel bread is a treat in our house, and I choose to enjoy 1 slice per day when its around.  I use a lot of lettuce leaves as bread and whole grains in place of pastas, which helps avoid the interference of white or wheat flour.

Sometimes it gets me down to have to think so much about sugar….and then sometimes I just don’t think about it.  Unforutunately for me, however, not being conscious of it typically makes me end up eating a lot more of it that I’d prefer, as the sugar addict in me will always find a way to get her fix unless she’s kept in check.

Rebecca

Food, frugality and fortitude

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So, I’m kind of a cheapskate.  In general I hate paying for things.    I especially hate it when things I used to pay X for now cost X + 1 (or whatever)…..Its a joke amongst friends/family that my purse squeaks a bit when I open it.  Yes, you self-helpers out there, I AM working on it.

Lately the cost of food has increased dramatically.  Let’s take a look at some common examples

Just last week I stood in the grocery store, making some choices about what to put in, based on price. The items in question were:

Good Earth tea ($3.99/box of 18 bags
Beef (grass fed, $5.99/lb)
Avocados ($1.25/each)
Brown Rice Tortillas ($3.50/pack)

There were a few others, but these stood out in my mind.    I felt these items were rather expensive for what I could get from them, when considering volume and serving size.  I aim to spend $100/week on groceries for my husband and I to eat together.  We eat out approximately 1x/week WHEN WE HAVE THE FOOD WE LIKE IN THE HOUSE!  When we don’t have easy to prepare, wholesome and tasty food, we eat out.  A typical eating out experiences is $10-$15/person, depending upon where we go.  If I purchase a hot tea away from home, it is minimum $1.50 per serving whereas my Good Earth tea was only about $.25/tea bag.

Therefore, my question became clear: Would purchasing the whole food based items at the grocery, for more $$ per item than in the past, save me money at the end of the week based on frequency of eating out, etc.

Yes, yes, yes!!!!  Despite the fact that groceries are more expensive than before, if we can limit out dining out by even once per week, we are still saving money.  Even purchasing all those items on the list, which yield more than 1 serving, would save over 1 meal out.  Factor in the nutritional benefits of eating in, and its a slam dunk deal.

Now, I do believe we need to have some fortitude during these economic times.  It makes sense to use the grocery $$ we have sensible.  It also means schlepping home when my tired body wants to simply find a cozy spot to sit and have somebody else make the meal.

Here’s what I’ve come up with for ideas on how to save some $$ at the store and still eat well, the off-white way.

  • Puchase whole fryer chickens and carve them yourself.  You can get nitrate-free lunchmeats this way too!
  • Purchase only what you will eat that week in fruits/veggies.  Uneaten produce that goes bad is simply a was to $$.  If you can only cook 2-3x in  week, it doesn’t make sense to buy elaborate veggies that would need to be used everday.
  • Bring groceries to work as a way to avoid buying snacks or eating out at work.  Baby carrots, bags of spinach, a bottle of salad dressing, a supply of teas and beverages…all ways to make eating well convenient and cheap.
  • Buy raw ingredients and make your own…whatever.  Instead of pre-made trail mixes (spendy and full of sugar), buy bulk items and make your own.  Use whole oats instead of quick and buy them in the bulk section.  No need to pay Mr. Quaker for his fancy can.  You can even find agave nectar, flax meal, most grains/rices, and dried fruits in bulk these days.
  • Buy enough for at least 4-5 days so you don’t go to the store daily.  This is a total waste of time, gas, money and energy.
  • Make your own soups, deli salads and pasta dishes for work.  Spending $7 on ingredients for a nice home-made dish that you can eat for 3 days will save $$, as these things typically run $3-7/lb at the deli or grocery.
  • make your own cookies, breads, etc.  Don’t give Starbuck’s $2 for a muffin you can make for $.50 that has better nutrition.  Bob’s Redmill flax meal has an awesome recipe.
  • Buy a water filter and stop buying water bottles.
  • The more packaging, the more it costs.  Buy in large quantity and make up your own mini-bags of ‘whatever’. The whole snackpack thing is a gimmick – you can do it at home.
  • Purchase yogurts, applesauce, cottage cheese, etc in larger containers and take a smaller container with you to work each day.  Reuse the smaller container
  • Give the generics another chance. Some generic stuff actually has better nutrition than the “fancy” stuff.  Example: WinCo’s Cascade Pride english muffins. They cost $1 less than Thomas and have no HFCS, more fiber, and I hear they taste pretty good.

Okay folks, off to bed for me.  I like this topic, but I need some sleep :0

Wishing you all an off-white day tomorrow!

PS: The cost of corn, wheat, and sugar are also on the rise – even better reason to stop eating these things!

Self love

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When I awoke this morning I had an amazing sensation: the feeling of gratitude and love for my body and being…what a concept!  I can certainly say that a major reason why I can connect with these feelings is because I am continuing to create distance between me and those toxic foods that skew my mind (the white stuff).

I actually enjoyed breakfast so much that I took a little picture.  This sort of creativity is always a sign in me that I am healing, feeling good, and going with the “flow” of life.

This pic also denotes something more left-brained than just a reflection of self love thru food: it represents 1 standard serving of Almonds.  For me, part of self-care is staying conscious of how much of a food I am eating, even if it is healthy.

Just 2 days ago I was chatting with a gal who struggled with kidney stones due to too much protein.  She had switched to a ‘healthy’ diet, which included 2 CUPS of nuts, day….yowza…..and got kidney stones as a result.  Perfect example of good intentions gone awry or the law of diminishing return.

Slowly my stubborn mind is seeing the grace and benefit of being moderate, gentle and peaceful in my approach.  How nice to have space left in my belly after a meal because I’m not as attached to eating the fullest servings I can.  There is much power in declining the need for “more”.

So much of what I see happens in myself and others when our body-minds are skewed with junk food is the inability to listen to the subtleties of life and our physical/emotional/spiritual needs.  The white stuff puts the sensory system on over-drive and whammy!  All intuitive responses are gone….at least for me because I have a serious inability to handle the white stuff.  Its all or nothing, so I’ll choose nothing – there is more freedom in every other aspect of my life without it 🙂

Oh, for those who are curious, here is what I did with the almonds:

“Fill you for a few hours” oatmeal:

1 oz whole oats

1/2 – 3/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla + cinnamon
1 banana
1 serving almonds (about 22)
2 tsp dried cranberries

Cook oats on med heat.  Half-way through add the fruit, vanilla and cinnamon.  When fully cooked, add the nuts (I like the crunch of keeping the nuts raw).  This meal packs about 15g protein, 8-10 g of fiber, 15g of fat and approx 25 g of carbs…and about 320 kcal.    A great way to to add a little TLC to your morning.  Can’t do gluten?  NO problem: use Bob Red Mill’s Gluten free cereal or rice cereal instead.  Can’t do nuts?  No problem.  Bob’s flaxmeal adds the fat/fiber of the nuts, and a little pat of butter would do the same.