String Beanz

Met the challenge again, with the help of the large green salad. Dinner brought some lightly-steamed string beans, steamed enough so that it clearly ain't raw, but still have a healthy snap to it. Tossed with some onions and garlic sauteed in a little peanut oil and salt, and it just tasted like something I should be making on a regular basis. Maybe with less peanut oil, maybe butter instead?

BREAKFAST pt 1: 7:30am, homemade granola with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

BREAKFAST pt 2: 10:30am, bagel with cream cheese, tomato and onion, water, .75 bowl, hunger 3/5

LUNCH: 4pm, large green salad, onion-flavored veggie booty, small quantity of cherry lime ice cream, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6pm, pancake, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:30pm, cheese tortellini with homemade tomato sauce, steamed string beans tossed with sauteed onion and garlic, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Crunking

After crunking out at 7pm last night, woke up at 4. By 5 my stomach starting bothering me -- am I full? Am I hungry? After 15 minutes, I determined something needed to go in.

BREAKFAST pt 1: 5am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
What better way to start off a challenge day than a tall glass o' fruit. Best smoothie yet! Overripe banana, enough whole milk, to come half way up the blender blades, 1 heaping tablespoon of the good yogurt, handful of fresh grapes, frozen blueberries, mango & cherries, a tablespoon of fresh ground flax, a pinch of salt, a large pinch of vanilla sugar and one new ingredient: a 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon. The subtle spiciness just set it off, giving a 4th dimension to the flavor profile. I try not to toot my own horn in this space, but if I was served this smoothie in a breakfast joint, I'd make a point of becoming a loyal customer.

BREAKFAST pt 2: 8:15am, 4 homemade cinnamon pancakes, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Did laundry, did the Edie thing, and watched some TV after breakfast pt 1. Watched an episode of "Cooks Country", where they did a recipe for "ultimate" pancakes, involving dry malted milk and a few other things most people, even cooks, don't keep in their cupboards. It did occur to me that I DID have all the staples for pancakes on hand.

So I revisited the c-school recipe, very simple, very good results. Light, fluffy, very ungreasy but tender. Based on what cinnamon did for me with the smoothie, I hit the dry ingredients with a big tablespoon. I forgot to kick it up with vanilla, so I served myself the pancakes with a bit of maple syrup -- it gave a nice vanilla-smoke note to the proceedings. I also added an extra egg to the batter, and this were some of the best pancakes yet. Two for two!

LUNCH: 3pm, extra-large green salad with sauteed shrimp, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:45pm, beef & broccoli with pork fried rice, egg roll, water, small amount of cherry lime ice cream, 2 bowl, hunger 4/5
Well, it had broccoli in it!

Challenge Fail

Oy. Woke up too early and my day kind of stayed off balance for the rest of the day. Finished up the first batch of granola, then spent the morning with Edie -- she is getting more confident in exploring the house, crawling commando-style room to room. Yomomma came over around 12:30, we ate a few potatoes together, then I took off to the high school I've taught at for a meeting to figure out the next semester. As I left the house, I realized I was still hungry and grabbed a local slice. After the meeting, I swung by Ikea then took the ferry home. Getting off the boat, realized I was hungry again and grabbed some street food in Chinatown.

I was thinking of steaming the string beans for dinner, but B suggested ordering in with Yomomma, and as I said, I was feeling a bit off. When I went to lay down after eating to digest, I blinked out. Tomorrow, I aim to double up on my veg intake!

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, homemade granola with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30am, a small amount of roasted potatoes, slice of streetza, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4:15pm, 2 lotus leaf wraps, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Like a tiny Chinese burrito. The lotus leaf is inedible, but gives the most fragrant flavor to the sticky rice. The chopped pork and mushroom in the middle is redolent of soy and sesame.

DINNER: 6:15pm, shrimp burrito, 1 glass of beer, small amount of cherry-lime ice cream, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
I think perhaps the beer put me over the edge into early sleepytime. I am no drinker.

Hips

Edie & rolled out to the restaurant in the morning, then met up with the HVS and some old compatriots in midtown. A walk down to Union Square made me aware the weight on my hips from strapping on Edie, and after getting Edie to bed, knocked out a big salad and cherry-lime ice cream. The ice cream was surprisingly not that great, it was good, but kinda like very good frozen yogurt.

BREAKFAST: 8am, toasted pumpernickel bagel with homemade babaganoush and sable, apple cider, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH pt 1: noon, wedge of a smoked turkey sandwich, Manhattan Special, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH pt 2: 1:45pm, seaweed salad, piece of bread, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3:45pm, 3 hazelnut waffle cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6:45pm, a few spoonfuls of cherry lime ice cream

DINNER pt 1: 7:30pm, large green salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER pt 2: 9pm, lamb with rice & potatoes, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Still rising

Made a second batch of granola today -- 1 cup instead of 1.5 cups of mixed sweeteners, axed the dried apple, doubled up on the vanilla, cinnamon and cardamon. Came out pretty good, better sweetness level, though a slight bit more spicy in a non-heat kind of way.

The HVS said fruit smoothies would not apply to this challenge, but in the morning I had not gone shopping yet and upon thinking about it, it seemed like the next best thing to NOT eating a fruit smoothie, he he. The actual smoothie is not a "fruit flavored" concoction, it's about 75% whole, raw fruit. Sure it's blended, it's a legitimate processing that even raw-food places use. Applying mechanical processing to a food does a lot less damage to the nutritional value than applying heat or chemical process. No fats were used in processing, and the 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar were more for balancing than for sweetening or hiding off flavors. So there!

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Banana, frozen cherries, frozen blueberries, frozen mango, freshly ground flax seed, milk, good yogurt, dash of salt and sugar. Tasted good, but a little flat. Maybe a hint of cinnamon or cayenne would give a nice tickle to the nose?

LUNCH: 12:30pm, bucatini with homemade tomato sauce and sauteed spinach, pint of apple cider, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
In honor of the challenge, I quickly sauteed the frozen spinach in olive oil, not a slathering of chicken fat, though I was tempted. Measured out one cup. Sauteed with one clove of crushed garlic and a dash of salt, was a nice earthy match to the deep tomato sauce.

PM SNACK: 2pm, oatmeal chocochip cookie

DINNER: 7pm, garlic & herb pork sausage, roasted broccoli, roasted potatoes, a single Reese's peanut butter cup, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
I think roasting was a no-no in the challenge, but all roasting is not equal. The Long Island fingerlings had to be baked for a full hour (and potatoes are low on the nutritional scale), but my broccoli got hit for just 10 minutes, came out nice n' crisp n' bright green, not overcooked. A dash of olive oil, a little salt & pepper, some toasted panko breadcrumbs, a little fresh garlic, and finished with a dusting of Parmesan. It was pretty kick ass n' healthy, if not 100% challenge-proof. But hark, I got some string beans looking to get totally steamed soon....

Rising slowly to the challenge

So this week I have bee challenged by my friend the HVS & my wife to eat a minimum of 2 cups minimally processed plant material (including fruit) every day this week. It's nice that it's not a reductive challenge, but a challenge never the less. I could relatively easily eat a vegetarian diet all week, and with a little more effort be strictly vegan; it's the minimally processed part that is the kicker. It is my training, no, it is my instinct to cook and alter and reorganize the raw basic bits into combinations that are more than the sum of their parts. To simply mix the basic raw stuff together with out really doing much to it (like in a salad) is a challenge indeed. But I guess I should start small.

I had to -- the weather was miserable today in NYC, with high winds and sheeting rain, nothing an apple-cheeked 7 month old should be exposed to if she doesn't have to. Tomorrow evening I'll start playing with the challenge, but today I just made due with what was on hand.

BREAKFAST pt 1: 9:30am, banana, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

BREAKFAST pt 2: 10:15am, toasted garlic bagel with homemade babaganoush & sable, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
I wanted to start off this week's challenge right, but it just wasn't enough, and I need to go food shopping to fruit it up a bit.

LUNCH: 2:30pm, edemame, spring roll, pork dumplings, sushi, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ordered in during this bad weather.

DINNER pt 1: 6pm, large green salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Well, for today, this has to complete the challenge. So, how big is a "large" green salad? I scooped it out in a 1-cup cup and it came to a little over 3 cups.

DINNER pt 2: 6:45pm, hald a large pizza with pepperoni & sausage, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Merciful

Woke up mercifully late to the Double Es having a nice morning together, ate some homemade granola for breakfast finally. Definitely sweeter than the farmer's market stuff, definitely chewier, too. Gonna cut back on the sweeteners and dried apples in the next batch.

Spent the day out with the Es and yomomma in Brooklyn, went to annoying restaurant for lunch with B likes. A menu with 95% egg dishes just doesn't work for a non-egg eater. Ordered in dinner and skipped salad in anticipation of this coming week's challenge: 2 cups of minimally processed fruit and vegetable matter every day. Oy. I kinda achieve that every time I eat the big green salad, but it won't hurt to try to get out of the standard repertoire, either.

BREAKFAST: 10:30am, homemade granola with organic dead milk, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2pm, moz & pesto panini, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, 2 potato samosas, shrimp saag, rice, garlic naan, water, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5