Fabulous fiber-filled diet

My mantra this month has been "recover."  Adjust back into early wake-up calls, loud classroom moments, and remember what it's like to teach, plan, cook, clean, repeat each week.  While I miss my family and wish winter vacation could go on forever, I enjoy my little routine and one of my favorite parts of each week is trying new recipes.  I love to pack exciting goodies in my school lunches and fill up my apartment with new aromas that my roommate can come home


 
One of the largest parts of my holiday-hangover is reminding my body that chocolate, heavy creams, and carb-on-carb-on-carb are NOT the norm.  This week I went for some higher-fiber foods in my grocery cart and did a little research to find out how to get my fill of lentils, brussel sprouts, and quinoa. :)



 
Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad
(inspired by Epicurious and shutterbean)
1) I chop up/shave eight whole brussels sprouts into a salad tupper-ware to make one serving for school lunch...just eyeball it. :) I don't have a mandolin so I just chop with a big chef's knife.
**Don't forget to clean your veggies**



 
2) Toast walnuts on the stove for about 5 minutes (flip them over, move around in pan, keep eye out).  After they cool I crunch up about a handful of them into brussels.



3) Chop up one small apple (or half of a large apple) into cubes to toss into salad as well.  I like apples in the pink families (pink lady, rainier, etc).  I leave the peel on.  FIBER!
4) Instead of making my own dressing (which is hard to transport between work and home) - I mixed together 1/2 and 1/2 of my two favorite flavors of Annie's Organic dressing to get a good mixture of garlic, lemon juice, honey, mustard, and olive oil. 
5) DISCLAIMER: I am trying not to eat unnecessary cheese, but shaved parmesan would be amazing.
6) Toss and eat! So satisfying and crunchy! Delicious addition to any lunch or dinner.



101 Cookbooks Lentil Soup - adapted
Heidi Swanson's version of tomato and lentil soup was so satisfying this week while we were having another ridiculously cold evening.  It packs great as leftovers and makes enough to serve about eight people.  I will say that she makes the recipe OVERLY simple and plain so that you can season it how you want to.  I had to 911-call my sister Kiki (the gourmet chef of the family) and have her walk me through the best way to enhance the flavors of the tomatoes and kale.
Again, with the no-dairy, my roommate and I decided to skip her saffron yogurt topping and just to eat it plain, though we vowed next time to add some sliced avocado on top since the cumin made it taste so hispanic. :)

Here are the steps.  I have added below my "finishing touches." --
2 cups black beluga lentils (or green French lentils), picked over and rinsed
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
2 cups water
3 cups of a big leafy green (chard, kale, etc), rinsed well, deveined, finely chopped

Saffron Yogurt
a pinch of saffron (30-40 threads)
1 tablespoon boiling water
two pinches of salt
1/2 cup 2% Greek Yogurt

Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a large saucepan, add the lentils,
and cook for about 20 minutes, or until tender. Drain and set aside.

While the lentils are cooking, make the saffron yogurt by combining
the saffron threads and boiling water in a tiny cup. Let the saffron
steep for a few minutes. Now stir the saffron along with the liquid into
the yogurt. Mix in the salt and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a heavy soup pot over medium heat, then
add the onion and salt and saute until tender, a couple minutes. Stir in
the tomatoes, lentils, and water and continue cooking for a few more
minutes, letting the soup come back up to a simmer. Stir in the chopped
greens, and wait another minute. Taste and adjust the seasoning if need
be. Ladle into bowls, and serve with a dollop of the saffron yogurt.

Serves 6 to 8.

To finish I heated up several cloves of roughly chopped garlic (I like big chunks) in a pan of olive oil with a little salt and pepper. Then I dumped that in and stirred it into the soup while it was simmering at the end.  Then I salted the soup (almost to death because it is so tomato-heavy!) and added lots of pepper and cumin to taste.  To finish I crushed dried oregano and stirred it in as well.

Can you tell that I was winging it? :)

Quinoa Breakfast Porridge with Almond Milk
Last weekend in Austin, my bff Vanessa turned me onto this "new and improved" way to get your oatmeal-fix.  I found this online this week and woke up to make it this morning! Add any fresh fruit or "oatmeal topping" you normally would.  I had my first bite this morning for breakfast! (I doubled the recipe because apparently it reheats and saves well - so I can enjoy it during these next few cold mornings.  It made about six cups DOUBLED.  The ratio is 2 cups of almond milk to every 3/4 cup of quinoa.)

**I used quinoa from Whole Foods and my favorite brand of Almond Milk that I've tried.  It's "vanilla flavored" so I will skipped the step where you add "vanilla extract" in the recipe.**



 
1)  Brown 3/4 cups of quinoa over medium heat.  It takes about 5-7 minutes and you need to constantly stir it or the little pieces will burn quick!  This will make it taste toasted and nutty!
2) Add spices that you like.  I added 1/4 tsp of cinnamon and a few dashes of nutmeg.  You can use pumpkin spice too! It smells SO good.



3) Add 2 cups of unsweetened almond milk to the pan. It will seem like there's WAY too much liquid but the quinoa will expand and soak it all up.
4) Add 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract (if you don't have vanilla-flavored almond milk).
5) Add 2 tablespoons of brown sugar.  Or maple syrup.
6) Bring mixture to a boil.  When it starts to boil you are going to reduce heat to low.  You will cover the mixture but it helps to open the lid and stir it every once in a while because it will get sticky on the bottom.
7) When it is done, and looks like porridge (liquid is mostly gone but it has similar consistency to oatmeal), serve yourself.  You can enjoy it by itself or top how you like it.  YUM!



I would suggest any combination of the following:
-raisins
-bananas
-honey
-apples
-berries
-nuts (chopped almonds even!)

If it is not moist enough, add a little bit more milk to it if you like yours a bit soupier.

 HAPPY SATURDAY!

The perfect Saturday at home.  First time in a month!

Speaking of perfect mornings, I have also discovered this fabulous App SONGZA. Much like Pandora radio, it streams music for you.  The beautiful difference?  It picks music based on where you are, what time it is, what activity you might be doing, or what you are in the mood for.  I played some fun, upbeat wake-up music this a.m. while I cleaned my apartment.  You can use it to set the mood for any occasion!  It's free!