Day 9: Daniel’s Fast 2018

Oh the cranky.

Today was hard. I’m pretty sure that today was hard because I went H.A.M. yesterday.  You’d think it would have the opposite effect? Anyway, today I just couldn’t feel full, I ate so much but nothing could satisfy me.  Statements like nothing satisfies me, only Jesus.. seem out of reach and cliché … Blah blah blah….

Today, I was getting real real cranky.  The sky opened the holy slurpee machine and just poured this snowy feathery junk everywhere.  This is the worst kind of snow.. it sticks but annoyingly…

Anyway, the temperature dropped a bit and on the way home.  And the snow started freezing and in more defined shapes.  It seemed magical, it was a strangely quiet evening with slow dusty snow flakes gently catching the streetlights.  It reminded me of gold dust.  In the signs and wonder movement, I’ve heard of churches seeing gold dust – out of nowhere people would see flecks of gold in their hair, hands, and falling from the sky.  I used to pray that God would show me gold dust. I know I’m a brat, I have so much and I still want to see tricks but I mean he’s my father and I can ask… I mean, he can still say no. With that said, while I was going home cranky.. Holy Spirit nudged me, isn’t it cool? Isn’t it cool that water can fall so gently from the sky and fall with such beauty? I honestly think that this phenomenon is as cool as gold dust… And it’s so accessible for people to experience if we’d just look.

Anyway… this cranky day ends in romance. God you are so cool.  AND I got an awesome parking spot.  Revelation AND my favorite parking spot was still open, that is truly a provision from God alone! I’m not sure, but I’m really thankful that He’s so good to me.

 

 

Day 3, 4, 5…….7

Well, I’ll have you know that blogging on the daily is a lot of work.

Day 3: Fruit, spinach and dinner out at a vegan restaurant.
Day 4: Fruit Spinach, avocado aaaannndddd mushroom tofu soup!

Rough guide to mushroom tofu soup

This soup is actually just a favorite of mine…
Cook the onions slow till they are the color of  honey
Then add cut peeled potatoes
Cover with water
Add some miso, a few pieces of Kombu seaweed
Next chop up all the mushrooms you can find, I got 6 different kinds from my local Asian Store… dump them all in when the water comes to a rolling boil
A little Daniel Friendly soy, a little more salt, toss in some tofu…some fresh garlic… AND THEN so much goodness in a bowl! serve with “rice” or rice..

Day 5: leftovers and random veggies.. I think I just slept early

Day 6: cheated at dinner…
Day 7: FREEEEEEEE went H.A.M. on some wine and KBBQ…
Day 8: That’s today, today has been hard.  And I’ve just been more moody and hungry… I keep eating and not feeling full… I eyed someone’s sandwich REAL hard.

 

 

Daniel’s Fast Day 2 2018

Day 2 and I went to CostCo and went crazy!!

I was surprised that I could purchase a lot of things that I could eat straight away. I bought some Annie’s soups, lots of nuts, dates, celery, carrots, colorful peppers and toothbrush heads.  WHY ARE THEY SO EXPENSIVE!

Oh – you want to know what tasty meal I’m having today?!? well ladies and gents it’s leftovers.  I ate a bunch of KBBQ with friends this past weekend and I am having the remaining scallion salad and what I would like to call “rice”.

Why do I feel like every night will be lazy? Tomorrow I’m going out.  Eating at a vegan restaurant.  Oh yea buddy~

Today I leave you with the recipe for “rice”.  I will provide the recipe in parts so you can decrease or increase the volume as you choose.

“Rice”
1 part yellow millet
1 part pearl barley
1 part steal cut Irish style oats
1 part quinoa
2 part beans

Soak overnight in cold water
Then place in fancy rice cooker on mixed rice function.
TADA I’m sorry for those who don’t have a rice cooker. Alternatively you can put it in a pressure cooker like a fancy Instapot. Honestly I don’t know how to function in my kitchen without my rice cooker, vitamix and coffee maker.  Main reason being my favorite way to prepare my sweet potatoes is in the rice cooker and I love green smoothies and then there is coffee…

What I like about this rice is that it’s a little sticky like rice, has protein to keep me full and it’s pretty.  I like pretty food. I bought the rainbow carrots instead of the baby ones because they were marginally cheaper but really it’s because I’ll get to eat pretty things.  Now I’ll have to wash, peel, and cut them.  Oh vanity, why do you haunt me!

What did you eat today?
3 persimmons
3 clementines
mixed greens with dressing + hummus
this mixed rice thing with scallions

I have so many ideas for things to make and things I want to try… but this slight over achiever is a firm believer in preparation.  Preparation is KEY.  So 2 weeks ago I made some vegan kimchi and that junk has been fermenting and is all nice and flavorful.. ohhh yea… buddy the recipe is coming.  I had to add a lot of fruit so it would ferment.  Thank you Jesus for sweet fruits like pears and red bell peppers.. thats right that nightshade is a fruit (I think all night shades would be fruits….)

 

Daniel’s Fast 2018 Day 1

Oh dear, I never finished the Whole 30, it was more like Wholy 5 day and then lots of unwholliness.  Oh welps, apparently I’m not motivated to look like the Whole 30 people.  Also I believe in science, wine, social activities and most things in moderation.  With that said I’ll be headed to another partial fast.  Before you shake that head of yours this time its for a better reason than pure vanity.  It’s to get my mind, body and spirit in check.  My church community and I will deprive ourselves from all things that enter our bodies.. (ahem… mind out of gutter people…) I’m talking about limiting media, limiting the types of food we eat, and introducing more spiritual discipline in our lives.  The thought is that if you deprive yourselves of the clutter of everyday living you will be able to think more clearly and understand God’s intent more clearly… I mean more Jesus time sounds GREAT to me.

Here are the dietary guidelines for the partial fast (called the Daniel’s Fast).  Since I’m not bound by the law and because we’re just all making this up anyway.. I made a few modifications because well I LOVE brown rice it’s a no and I’m keeping coffee.

yes!
fruits
vegetables
legumes
nuts
whole oils like olive and sesame
vinegar
spices
whole grains

no!
meat
fried foods
dairy
alcohol
rice
flours
highly processed things

It sounds pretty easy but from past fasts I know there will be a day when I will eat a lot of potatoes and feel full but completely unsatisfied…

Also to stop myself from obsessing over food I can only have one tasty meal a day.. the other meals are like oatmeal with nothing added or a salad or a potato or just fruit…

Anyway, today is day one and I was traveling in Texas.  My colleague wanted to get Tex-Mex.  As the cheesy goodness passed me by I happily ate a big pile of grilled veggies.

Oh! Let me leave you with the recipe of the day. Salad.  Get a load of spring mix and put it in a bowl.  Now eat it. <insert shrug emoji>

 

Whole 30 – Green Curry + Meatball

I’m becoming one of “those” people.

I brew my own kombucha, enjoy thinking I can afford whole foods, buy grassfed beef online from indie farmers (yay, crowdcow), eat local/seasonal veg…

This will be my last insult to this Whole30 thing, I still don’t get it…  I don’t think it’s logical… Asian societies eat soy, countries in Latin America/Africa pretty much sustain themselves on beans/rice… rice in Asia is a staple…

Anyway, I’m always up for a challenge.

I don’t like wasting food so I force fit a lot of veggies into a few items… this week it’s all Whole30 + soy friendly and it’s SUPER ugly because well… I had nothing to stop it from turning grey and mushy.  I will not take pictures of my mush…  but it was tasty.

I made a quick green curry – green curry paste, a can of coconut milk, some lime leaves, fish sauce, random veggies broccoli, cauliflower, bell peppers (assorted colors), onion, garlic, and I serve them over meat balls and potatoes.

For the meatballs I was using 1/2 tofu 1/2 beef, with all the extra meat I’ve been eating I have to be careful with red meat take in… I want my liver to happy.

Next week will be more planned – less mush.

Today, I’m thankful for dried fruit/nut ball things I got from Costco, Figgy Pops

 

Also, my eyebrow lady, she fixed my face good.  sisters not clones.IMG_1259

Speaking of – good night!

Day 3: Cheap Date – 3 glasses

It takes three small glasses of Kombucha to get me buzzed in the morning.
Eek, I was kidding previously, but now I need to shake this off… Whoops.

The question I have been asking myself… why now? why have I returned to blogging now? I have a kitchen I can call my own.  That’s probably the main reason.  Also, there were a  lot of sad times these past few years and I wasn’t really in the mood to blog.  Well, I’m not going to write you a sad song if you ask for one.. .how does it go again? sad song over.  New Season is here.

CUT OFF, you are cut off lady no more fermented tea… today.

Day 1: Thank you Jesus, Coffee is OK!

Take my smoothies but don’t touch the coffee.

The Whole 30 diet recommends that I don’t drink my calories. I usually have a green smoothie of some sort in the morning but they want to encourage chewing.

OK, I prefer chewing anyway.  So Vitamix, you’ll get a break this month.

no. no. no. no. no.

  • No added sugar or artificial sweeteners
  • No alcohol
  • No grains
  • No legumes
  • No dairy

The immediate thought I had was, how much kombucha would I have to drink to get buzzed? I could probably test that.   I know that it may be possible because I brew my own and one day I was drinking one on my way to work and I think it got myself buzzed… I had it on an empty stomach first in the morning (bad idea), mmm but I did get get some hashbrowns to soak up the buzz… phew I just double checked. Kombucha is ok.

Oh potatoes count! yas! mmm roasted potatoes….

Falling into peer pressure – Whole 30

My science brain doesn’t get why this restrictive diet works…   It may be because that exclusion diets, ones that exclude basic sugar and simple carbs make taking in excessive amounts of calories hard. You get tired of chewing before you can blow your calories away.

Reasons to get on the train..

Taking out sugar, fried foods, basic carbs, and cooking more at home is only good for me.

Staying away from dairy helps my skin and I’m a lactard…

My sister is doing it and it’ll be fun….

I am vain and would like to stay looking cute, ya feel me.

And so I shall take a ride on the Whole 30 train… toot toot!

Guidelines

My friends have told me it can get really expensive to eat Whole 30, which make me sad because my food budget is low this month.  Life is expensive people…  well if the food gets to expensive I guess I’ll just stop eating, that’s cheap… no food = $0 hahaha oh for the sake of vanity…. I kid I kid.

Here is the challenge stay within the Whole 30 guidelines (Except I’m going to eat tofu because my liver isn’t the best and I’m not a huge fan of chicken, and if tofu stays all soy stays.. but I will only eat non-GMO soy… if possible.  I don’t like all the pesticides they spray on those beans…  the geek in me acknowledges that the technology is super cool, but plants should die in the presence of poison.  Cool technology but that should not have been implemented on our Earth).

Sorry, back to the main program.

Stick to the Whole 30 guidelines (with a soy exception) and try to do it as frugally as possible. post pictures and recipes!!

And yes, also.. hello again.. it’s been a minute. yay.

 

 

 

a dash of confessionals – meet the garbage bowl.

2015, what a ride already!! We are well established in March how did we get here?  This is the first evening in a long time I get to sit and process.  I could bore you with all the details, but who really wants to know about boring details.

Friends why are we so awkward in front of those we want to impress?  Maybe I just want to impress, lame, I’m lame I get it.  Being relatively new to an area and social group makes me do weird things…  in an effort to be well liked, to be known, to catch the eye of someone.  Oh the later, smh..le sigh.

When are you the best version of yourself?  Who are you the best version with? Who are you?! If who you are or how you are changes in light of who you are around, how are you sure you know? Do you just pick your favorite you or take an average?  Is reflecting differently around others truly authentic? Should our desire to be authentic always?

New situations, new people are not my forte, more like my piano.  – Nerd!  Nervousness takes over.  Ironically, often I over share in hopes that we will be comfortable with one another faster, but it comes off as self-involved and pretentious. booooo

To be known, authentically by others, I think this is the closest, realest definition of community I can come up with.  Who is your community?

This sounds like a Xanga post.  I loved Xanga, EMO EMO EMO… I should just have Dashboard Confessionals embedded in the background with blinking hearts on my wallpaper.  haha

Anyway lets move on to the food.  Garbage bowls maybe the most common thing I eat at home.  Buddha bowls are super healthy (adheres to Buddhist traditions) and skews Asian but garbage bowls are those random dinners that are consumed more out of need than want.

Tonight’s is left over Jigae that I put over leftover otomoyaki. When they were fresh, both dishes were brilliant! The stew was velvety with in your face miso flavor and spice from the jalapenos.  The otonomoyaki was great! Roasty flavor from the nagaimo layered with peppers, carrots, and cabbage with a thin layer of egg.  Pillowy and delicious.  Now, it’s all mush in a bowl.  Mush mush mush, tasty mush.  Would I serve this to you if you came over, no, but its Monday dinner.

Bean Sprouts Make You Pretty – Eat Them

EW, Chicago, it finally happened. snow. slush. yuck.

Why are there so many wives tales? Who made them? Why do they exist? Are they based on facts? Anyway, Korean moms say that eating bean sprout soup will make you a good singer because they look like musical notes.  Sometimes, I imagine the little sprouts confidently hanging as musical notes on a score.  My mom used to say all sorts of things to encourage us to eat well. The only ones that we found convincing were the ones that pertained to our vanity.  Vanity… it gets the best of most girls… vanity… who are we kidding it often gets the best of everyone…

So, I’ll just say it, bean sprout soup will make your skin glow and better looking overall, so eat it.  It’ll also probably help with the remnants of that hang over you are nursing from the holidays… and it’s pretty low in calories, although high in sodium…

SAMSUNG CSC

Sidenote:  Kimchi recipe coming soon, I am experimenting on the size and cut of the kimchi, oh and sugar free versions.  Interesting fact, post fermentation, the kimchi was sweeter, like the fermentation process enhanced the sweetness of the kimchi overall… weird/cool, right! Fermentation is so interesting… those little bacterial burps make alcohol, probiotics, pickles, yogurt… flavor development in coffee/tea so cool… just saying…

This soup is the easiest, maybe that’s why we had it on the regular growing up.

IngredientsSAMSUNG CSC
1 bag (16 oz.) of soy bean sprouts (washed thoroughly)
¼ cup dried Pollock, shredded and cut into inch long pieces
3 green onions, cut about an inch long
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
Salt
Lots of water

Place your bean sprouts and dried fish into a large heavy bottomed pot
Put enough water just to cover the bean sprouts
Place the lid on and let it come to a rolling boil on high for about 15 minutes
Add green onion, chopped garlic and salt to taste
Serve with rice

Notes
Egg – Some people like adding an egg to the soup as it is boiling.  Beat an egg and add it to the soup while it’s boiling and it will produce those egg drop soup like ribbons.  I’d suggest doing that prior to the garlic and green onions so you don’t get chunky ribbons. The trick to silky eggy ribbons is the boil, make sure it’s really boiling and slowly pour the beaten egg in a sweeping motion across your pot.

Tofu – for added protein, you can add some tofu, I ran out of rice today so I actually added cold tofu to my bowl of hot soup, it cooled the soup down to a good temp and provided a little extra protein, double double…

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