The Best Ever!

Indian Spiced Ratatouille

Wow... this was probably the best thing I've eaten in months. Or at least the most satisfying.

I am finding a really good balance in my cooked/raw world. I've decided that I am not going to eat anything unless I really love it and I'm going to eat what my body craves.
Not what my mind craves or the addictive nature of my wheat cravings.. but the true food that I want. Ever since Urban Vegan blogged about it, I have been thinking about it.
Waking up early this morning, I decided to get a pot on for lunch.. and to have on hand for the week... and being a person who likes one pot meals, soups and stews, I added some red lentils for protein.
I have been craving spice and a lot of ginger, so I made this on the hot side, but I'll post how I did it. It will probably be too spicy for your average folks, but this is what my body needs right now..

I couldn't wait til lunch, so I had a big bowl for breakfast.

Indian Spiced Ratatouille Stew
1 T coconut oil
1 T cumin Seeds
1 T coriander
2 T curry powder
1 large onion
10 cloves garlic (save 1 to press in just before serving)
1 T cayenne
1/4 c ginger, minced (I really like biting into a piece of ginger sometimes)
1 large eggplant, diced
2 zucchini sliced into half moons
1/2 c red lentils
1 c sun dried tomatoes (I have a bunch, so I used them but you can use fresh or canned tomato)
Veggie bouillon cube
water to cover
salt/pepper
juice of 2 limes
1 bunch cilantro
siracha

In a heavy bottomed pan heat the oil and spices until fragrant then add the onions and garlic and a pinch of salt. Saute for several minutes then add the ginger, lentils and the rest of the veggies along with the bouillon cube and water. Bring to a simmer, cover and turn heat down to low and cook for several hours. Just before serving, add a fresh garlic cloves (pressed or grated), cilantro and lime juice. Taste an adjust seasoning and pass the siracha if you dare!

If you want less spice, add around 1/2 t of cayenne and 2 T of fresh ginger

Figuring it out...

I am finding that the more I allow myself the freedom to eat what I want to eat, the more I am drawn back to eating raw foods. I would consider myself 60-70% raw and it is an easy and satisfying way to eat for now. The above pic was zucchini noodles with a walnut/balsamic topping. So delicious. The walnuts were ground with garlic, shallots, miso, nutritional yeast and umeboshi vinegar... then tossed with the zucchini noodles and balsamic vinegar... the above walnut mixture is my replacement for parmesan. I let the noodles sit for around 30 minutes and the vinegar and salt really helped soften them up... Local, organic tomatoes complimented this perfectly.

I ordered Chia seeds and look forward to experimenting with them.

On the other hand, I am enjoying tofu salad, hummus and other cooked foods with my salads...
What a huge difference it makes being able to use these foods... I'm also still struggling with wheat... finding myself eating whole wheat pasta or sandwiches several times a week.

I firmly believe I am gluten intolerant... I break out in hives when I eat too much wheat and when I make seitan.... also, I have struggled with insomnia my entire life and realized during my raw challenge it pretty much went away...and I think it was because of the lack of wheat in my diet.

Been a while!

It's been ages since I blogged! Wow. The light in my apartment is REALLY bad and it's hard to be inspired when I'm dealing with bad light. Also, my food has been pretty boring. I am still trying hard to do the high raw. For the most part, I'm doing OK, but have not stuck with my NO wheat policy. I aim to do that and I'm sure I will one of these days. The above is my Good Stir Fry... lol (written about on many occasions, not really a stir fry!) I made a huge batch for my kids and actually planned on allowing myself some for lunch, but realized I didn't really want it. I made this with the light coconut milk.

So, as I said, I'm still attempting to be high raw. I notice such a huge change in how I feel when I eat wheat and bread... wow. I blow up like a balloon. My allergies are back in full force and while I was doing my 30 day challenge I barely had a stuffy nose. I'm not sure why I can't just follow through with the no wheat thing? I wish I could be locked in a spa for 2 months or something and not have access to any wheat or foods that I don't want to be eating! Oh well, since that is not an option, then I must develop more self control.
Fortunately, I am still eating at least one HUGE salad for a meal daily.. and drinking my green smoothies. This salad with delicious and simple with lots of daikon, avocado, romaine and just some soy sauce, ginger, garlic, lime and a tiny bit of sesame oil (toasted) as the dressing and siracha of course.
Blueberry-banana ice cream topped with coconut. I used stevia, lemon juice and cinnamon along with frozen blueberries and frozen bananas in my vitamix. Delicious.
On Wednesday, I purchased my very own first new car! It's a Toyota Yarus and gets amazing gas mileage. It felt so good to do this on my own!

I really hope I can motivate myself to do more photography... I miss being creative. Part of it is that I cook all day long and am burnt out when it comes to cooking at home, so throwing together salads and smoothies is simple and not really that blogworthy when there's not even good light to photograph them in! Maybe one of these days I'll bring my camera to work with me again to photograph the good stuff!

Weigh In and Raw News...

Sooooo.... I'm sure you all can tell from the picture that the salad is not raw! It is mostly raw, but has delicious roasted tempeh. Teriyaki tempeh to be exact. (this is actually an old pic.. I haven't picked up my camera in a week or so..)..

I am not doing the super high raw challenge anymore. I did 30 days and had enough. Honestly, it was never easy for me. I never felt great. It was a struggle. My weigh in was very disappointing at only 5 lbs for the month. I understand why though, given the amount of nuts and dried fruits I was eating. Also, I ended up having a lupus flare this last week and that just made me realize that it was NOT helping me. (I am in NO way blaming the raw diet for the flare, just saying that my body didn't seem that much different eating that way..).

Soooo.. I am modifying to aim for 70-75% raw, staying away from wheat (although allowing myself sprouted bread once a day if I want it).. It think this will be sooo much easier. I love my green smoothies and am going to have one sweet smoothie and one savory smoothie a day.

I already feel much more satisfied.

I'm thrilled I did the 30 days... but if I went another the same way I think I would just be totally miserable and angry and obsessive... which is NOT why I was doing this!

Soooo.... there it is.

I am thrilled I am doing the 70-75% raw.... and I can't wait to see how I feel a month from now. I am doing this for the next 100 days.