Getting Out and About

Today's salad had great potential. I thought I was making a salad with wakame but I soaked some arame instead. It was still good but I have to admit that the wakame is better, well at least I like it better. It was still good though.

Here is what I put in the Seaweed Salad:

arame
bean sprouts
1/2 granny smith apple
cucumber
spiralized zucchini
onion
chopped cilantro

Dressing
3 Tbl apple cider vinegar
3 Tbl Namo Shoyu

1 1/2 Tbl sesame oil
1/2 Tbl flax oil
1 tsp agave
1 tsp grated ginger
1 large clove garlic
1 Tbl sesame seeds

I ate this for lunch with some nori rolls. I know, I love them. I can't stop eating them. It's ridiculous. They are the same ones I ate yesterday. I don't know why I keep taking pictures of them since they are always the same. Tee hee :o)

I soaked some almonds and pecans last night so I could make some falafels today. I have been wanting them for quite a while. I whipped them up this morning and put them in the dehydrator. I was surprised how quickly they were done. They finished in half the time I expected. I was planning on having them tonight with a nice tabouli but I forgot that I had planned to go to the local raw food restaurant for a meetup tonight.

I put a few in a collard with some tomatoes, cucumbers and alflafa sprouts for a little snack around 3:00. They were a little dry. I think when I go to eat them for a main dish they will need some kind of sauce. I am not a huge fan of tahini so I don't know what I will do with them just yet.

On my way over to the Borrowed Earth Cafe I stopped off at the Olive tap. It is this cute olive oil shop in downtown Downers Grove. It was so cute but the best part was the owner. What a sweet man. You could just tell that he loves what he does. He has passion and that is contagious.

The oil and balsamic vinegar are in these big stainless steel looking urns with spigots on them. He walked around with me and told me about all of the oils and the types of olives used, where they came from and how they were pressed. He gave me samples of all the different things he had and let me tell you, it was divine.

I ended up purchasing a medium bodied olive oil from Sicily. A big shout out to you Dea!!!! I also got the most unbelievable balsamic vinegar...are you ready for it...pomegranate! OMG it is ridiculous!!! I can't wait to make a salad with it. Woo hoo! I walked out of there with two bottles wrapped up in pretty tissue paper and placed lovingly in a beautiful paper shopping bag. It was such a treat. I guess it should be for the price I paid! Whew, I can't wait for the hubby to get that bill. He won't understand :o)

The meetup was so much fun. I met some great people and had a really nice chat with the owners at the end of the evening. It's a great place and the food is delicious. It has a nice vibe. I like it there. I told Kathy (the owner) that if they ever need an employee to work a bit here and there that I would be open to it. I think it would be fun. Ha, my parents might fall over since I tried so hard to run away from the restaurant business my whole life. This is different though. :o)

I had a burrito to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. It was really good even though it was a bit spicy for my tastes. All of their food comes with 2 or 3 side salads that will vary depending on what they have fresh that day. I was able to eat that and cool my tongue down a bit. It was a lot of food and I ended up only eating half of it which was good because it saved room for the COOKIES!

OK seriously, I don't know what the heck they did to make these bad boys but they were like nothing I have tasted before. They were double chocolate chip cookies. The texture was firm and soft at the same time and the flavor was rich and sweet. Holy cow...so good they should be illegal. I was planning on eating only one but, uh oh, I ate both of them. Shhh, don't tell anyone. Now I know to stay away from them.

When I got home I had my hubby try the burrito and he really liked it. He actually finished the whole thing. I am so happy because now I know for sure there is something he can eat there when we go out. It was good too because I asked him how spicy it was to him on a scale of 1 to 10. He said 5 and I said 8. Pretty good to know how we compare. Now I know how to make his food when I cook for him.

My little Liam was home sick today. It was a bit scary. He woke up screaming and crying at 6:00 am telling me his back hurt. He had a slight fever. I got him back to sleep and then when he woke up again he was still complaining of a sore back. It was mostly on the left so I knew it couldn't be the gallbladder or appendix so I thought maybe the kidneys.

I went with him to the bathroom and watched him straining while he was peeing so I got a bit worried. I took him to the doctor and they did a urinalysis on him. The quick one came back clean so that was good. They are going to culture it but I think it will come back negative too. I found out that he hasn't pooped since Friday though so the straining could just be constipation. I am thinking he has two unrelated things, a virus and constipation. I got him some organic cranberry juice just in case and had him eat some flax crackers and raisins. Hopefully that will get him moving again.

As the day went on his fever got worse. He was bright red, burning up and completely listless on the couch. He kept falling in and out of sleep. I usually try not to give the kids any kind of fever reducer but when it hits about 104 degrees I usually give in and that is what happened tonight. Poor little guy.

Wow, I had a lot to write tonight didn't I? Well, it was great getting out of the house and doing something new and different. When I was driving home I realized how happy I was singing in the car and it made me see that I need to do this type of thing more often. I feel such a bond with so many of you on the Internet but I don't really have any friends locally that are into the same things as me. I am usually the odd one that everyone asks weird questions to. It was great to see that there are people out there who are like me and one of them lives minutes from my house! They get together all the time and they are planning some fun adventures. They want to go camping and to Ravinia for meetups. Now that's what I'm talking about, well not the camping thing but still, how fun. Only my hubby could get me to go camping for him :o) OMG, I can't stop typing. Sorry!

Much love!

Weekend Menu

So you all know I've been craving seaweed. I decided to whip out my wakame that I had in my pantry and see what I could do with it. I made the first salad yesterday. It was OK. A little boring but OK. I have never had wakame so I was surprised that I couldn't really taste it too much. I was so excited that the taste was so bland and yet so good for me so I gave my husband a strand. Ha ha. He was gagging and spitting it out. It was the funniest thing. Hee hee, I'm evil. No, I really didn't think it had that much taste. Oh well. Here is the recipe I used. I did not use the Bragg's and I used romaine lettuce and tomatoes. No nuts.

Simple Wakame Salad

Recipe contributed by Dorleen Tong
1 clove garlic, grated
1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
1/2 avocado
Bragg's to taste
3 cups greens (sunflower, buckwheat, spinach, lettuce, etc)
1 cup soaked wakame seaweed
optional: tomatoes, walnuts, pecans, almonds or pine nuts

Grate the ginger and garlic. In a small bowl, mash the avocado, ginger, garlic and Bragg's together. Break greens and wakame up into bite size pieces. Toss all ingredients together thoroughly.
This recipe is courtesy of San Francisco LiFE

Today I decided to try again. I made Japanese Delight that is in Alissa Cohen's book, Living on Live Food .I added a bunch of alfalfa sprouts and substituted the Bragg's for a little bit of miso. It was pretty good. Better then the first one. Still not to die for but still, very good.

Now the nori rolls I made to go with it are another story. Wow, I loved them. I mixed some fresh grated ginger with a bit of miso, a bunch of alfalfa sprouts, avocado, cucumber, cilantro, and red pepper. I really loved these and wanted more and more and more. :o)

For lunch I made the Indian spinach dip from the same book. I didn't know what to expect and I was thrilled at the taste of it. It had 4 cups of spinach in it and I ate about 1/2 of it. I put it in a collard wrap with more alfalfa sprouts, red pepper and grape tomatoes that I cut in half. Yummmmmmy! I didn't take a picture of it because honestly it didn't look that great, but it tasted wonderful!

I did take a picture of the sandwich I made with it for dinner though. I used the Black Sesame Bread I made from Ani Phyo's Book and topped it with cucumber, tomato, alfalfa, and red onion. It was pretty good. Better in the collard wrap though. I guess I can't be a good critic of the bread because when I was supposed to put sunflower seeds in it, I put sesame seeds. Oops, I think that might change the taste a bit. I am going to have to try it again.

I don't know why I decided I wanted a dessert tonight. Maybe I thought it was a special Sunday treat. I made this Mango Mousse and Berry Parfait. I don't know where I got the recipe because I copied it off the Internet about 2 years ago but boy oh boy was it good. My husband and kids thought it was good too. I made a smaller amount.

Red Mango Mousse and Berry Parfait

4 cups Fresh Red Mangoes (I don't know what red mangoes are. I just used a regular mango)
4 TB Coconut butter
1/2 vanilla bean (I used liquid)
2 TB lime
1 TB lime zest
1/2 cup agave (I used a lot less, a drizzle)
Pinch of salt
1 cup berries (I used strawberries)

Put all ingredients except the berries and 1 cup of the mango in food processor and process until smooth and creamy. Chill in the fridge 1-2 hours or overnight. (I didn't do this)

Fill the cups with a layer of the mousse, a layer of fresh sliced mango, then another layer of the mousse, then a layer of fresh berries and so on until full. Top with a layer of fruit and fresh mint leaves.

I was so excited on Saturday when I went to a local kitchen store Sur La Table and bought myself a spiral slicer. I was able to make the most beautiful angel hair pasta with it. I topped it with marinara and it was delicious. I love that slicer! It's so cool. I also got this neat mango cutter. You just press down on it and it takes the pit out. It makes it so much easier. I loved it.

So that was my culinary weekend. I hope you enjoyed the recap. I am enjoying my food so much that I wish I could eat more:o) There's always tomorrow!