Post Punk Kitchen- Cashew Queso

This recipe is from the Post Punk Kitchen Web site (click here). The picture does this no justice. It's amazing and I think it tastes exactly like Mexican cheese dip, I don't see how someone would even know it's vegan.

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup cashews, soaked in water for at least 2 hours or overnight (I soaked mine for half an hour, but I have a blender that is similar to a Vitamix) 
  
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 2 tablespoons white miso (I used brown miso)
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch or arrowroot
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and sliced (keeps seeds if you want more heat)
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin (I used whole and toasted them, they were ground when I blended the mixture)
• 1 teaspoon ground ancho pepper (or any mild ground red chili) 
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Instructions:

Drain the cashews. In a blender or food processor, puree them with vegetable broth, miso and cornstarch until very smooth. This could take anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes depending on your device. Rub between your fingers to test; slight graininess is okay, but try to get it as smooth as possible.

In the meantime, preheat a 4 quart pot over medium heat. Saute onion, red pepper, and jalapeno in oil with a pinch of salt until soft, about 7 minutes. Add the garlic and saute about a minute more.

Transfer vegetables to the blender where the cashew mixture is. Add cumin, ancho, nutritional yeast and salt. Blend again until very smooth, scraping down the sides of the blender with a spatula to make sure you get everything.

Transfer mixture back to the pot. Whisking often, turn heat up to medium until the queso comes to a slow rolling boil. Lower heat so that it doesn’t burn and cook for about 20 minutes. Whisk often and check to see that it’s thickening, if it’s not, then turn the heat up a bit. It should become nicely thickened but velvetty and pourable.

Stir in the lemon juice at the end. If the queso seems too thick, drizzle in a little water and whisk to desired consistency. Taste for salt, spices and lemon juice and adjust as you like.

Serve hot!

Tomato Soup

I adapted this recipe from a the Jamie Oliver Food Revolution cook book.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 carrots diced
• 1 onion diced
• 1 jalapeno diced
• 1-2 stalks of celery diced (optional- I didn't use because I don't like celery)
• 2-3 cloves of garlic minced
• 5-6 vine ripened tomatoes with the vine
• 1 14 ounce can of tomatoes
• 32 ounces of vegetable broth
•  1/4-1/3 cup of freshly chopped basil or 1 tbsp. rehydrated in water
• 2-4 tablespoons of olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Saute the diced veggies in a pan for about 5 minutes with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and cook for about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes (with the vine) and the can of tomatoes, cover and cook for 5-10 more minutes. Add the soup to a blender (probably in batches) along with the basil, olive oil and salt and pepper. Blend until smooth. Add additional salt and pepper to taste. Serve with a cashew queso grilled "cheese" sandwich. Click here for that recipe.

Black Bean Soup

The reset is over and I'm freaking out. I've had a plan telling me exactly what to eat for the last three weeks, and now I have to do it myself! I craved Mexican food the whole time and thought I would make some vegetarian bean burritos, but as I was cooking the beans I decided to make soup instead. It had more veggies, so I thought it was a better idea.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup dried black beans (first soak for about 4-6 hours and change the water a few times, then cook for about 45 minutes in a few cups of water- adding more as needed)
• 1/4 onion diced (red or yellow)
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 carrots diced
• 1/2-1 jalapeno diced
• 1/4 red bell pepper diced
• 1/2 can diced tomatoes (with or without chilies- I used with)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon miso paste
• 1/2 Bragg's liquid aminos
• water or veggie broth to add for desired soup consistency

Directions:
After cooking the soaked beans until soft, add all of the veggies (raw or sauteed) along with the bay leaf and cumin (add water or broth to achieve desired consistency). Cook for an additional 30 minutes and then add the miso paste and liquid aminos. Make sure that the soup is not boiling when the miso is added. It will kill the good stuff in the miso. Serve with sliced avocado and salsa and maybe a few tortilla chips or a quesadilla. This probably equals about 1 serving.

Beachbody Ultimate Reset- 21 Days

For as long as I can remember I have always been tired throughout the day and I do not seem to have a lot of energy. I was cruising the internet recently and came across Beachbody's Ultimate Reset. I watched several videos on YouTube and read several reviews. Everyone was claiming it would do for me what I have always wanted- give me more energy and feel less tired. I took a leap of faith and decided to try it. It was pretty expensive but it is worth the money if it works and if not, the company offers a 30 day money back guarantee, which I will be sure to use if I'm not satisfied. Overall, this cleanse is going to be really expensive. It costs a couple hundred dollars to buy the kit and then you have to add in the cost of food. I'm going to keep track of the cost of food so that I can get an average cost per day and per meal. If the food item I need is offered in the organic section, that will be the product I purchase, if not I will purchase the conventional counterpart. The whole point of this cleanse is to reset my body and get all of the toxins out of my body, there is no need to add them during the process. That's why I'll go for organic if the store has it. I'll post pictures of some of my meals and give my opinion on them and tell how I feel during the process. I'm not getting a blood test to check cholesterol and sugar like several of the reviewers did that I read about. I'm positive this cleanse will lower mine, even though I doubt they are high or bad since I do have a fairly balanced diet. I'm going to record my beginning and ending weight and judge based on that result along with how I feel mentally and physically before and after. I will begin on May 2, 2012...more to come.

Note:
The system comes with a variety of supplements to take that help with detoxing and other things... it's not just about the food. I don't have recipes for the items, just pictures and descriptions of some of the meals that the reset has to offer. 

Day 1- Beginning of Phase 1

Breakfast: Whole grain toast, eggs and steamed kale

Lunch: Salad

Dinner: Baked salmon, steamed asparagus and baby potatoes

Thoughts: Everything was great except for the kale, that was hard for me to eat. I wasn't hungry during the day and drank lots of water along with the supplement.

 

Day 2

Breakfast: Oatmeal, blueberries and plain yogurt

Lunch: Greek Salad

Dinner: Black beans and rice, corn, salsa, guacamole, kale and a tortilla

Thoughts: Same as day one...no problems at all

 Day 4

Dinner: Stir fried vegetables with quinoa and cucumber and tomato salad

Thoughts: The meals are pretty huge, I could barely finish my lunch. The dinner was really good, I really like the stir fried vegetables- really tasty. Again, I was not hungry during the day at all.

Day 6

Breakfast: Whole grain toast, baked tempeh, avocado and kale

Thoughts: The pine nuts on the kale made it tolerable. I thought it would be weird eating tempeh for breakfast, but it went really well with the avocado.

See dinner below

Dinner: Roasted root medley (beets, carrots, sweet potatoes and onions), zucchini cashew soup and toasted millet.

Thoughts: This has been the best meal by far, everything was really good. I never really like beets, but this recipe made me change my mind. The cashews made the soup creamy, as if it contained dairy. All that it was made of was zucchini, cashews and some herbs. I think I am noticing some increased energy levels.

Day 8- Beginning of Phase 2

Breakfast: Fruit Plate

Lunch: Salad and avocado

Snack: Carrot and avocado (although I did not eat it this day, but a day or two later)

Dinner: Pinto beans and rice, steamed zucchini and string beans

Thoughts: I thought it would be hard cutting meat out of my diet, even though I do not eat it often, but it has been easier than I thought. The addition of Bragg's Liquid Aminos adds smokiness that I think I mentally associate with meat. They were in the beans, and it tasted similar to bacon being in them. Feeling better, but I haven't really noticed a change in my skin yet. Maybe that is to come.

Day 10

Thoughts: I broke the rules today and took ibuprofen. I had a terrible headache that made me feel nauseous and that wouldn't go away with heat. There is nothing like laying awake for a few hours in the middle of the night with a throbbing head. I'm not sure what caused it. I did go for a short hike, but I don't see why that would cause a headache. I just told myself I would try not to take any more over the rest of the reset.

Day 11

Dinner: Hearty vegetable miso soup and steamed swiss chard (I added pine nuts so that I could eat the swiss chard)

Thoughts: So far so good. I haven't had many issues with hunger during the day. I have had a snack or two since the beginning- but only the ones that are suggested in the manual. I am feeling more alert a little less tired. I've been researching vegan cookbooks, yes some of them have recipes that are bad for me (Veganomicon, Sticky Fingers, Vegan with a Vengeance, Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, and some others.). I got a few from the library and they look good enough to buy. So far Veganomicon and Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookies Jar. I'm waiting for the rest of the list to come in at the library. This is making me consider more and more having a vegetarian/vegan diet. I'll just have to wait and see.

Day 12

Dinner: Roasted beets, coconut collard greens and quinoa.

Thoughts: No complaints. I have been feeling more hungry during the day, but I think that is because I'm nearing the end of phase 2 and the grains are being phased out. Phase 3 only has optional grains for dinner, but it is suggested to cut those out completely during the last phase. I felt pretty good today, not too sleepy. I'm still waiting for the acne on my chin to clear up. I should probably ditch the makeup to help that along.

 

Day #... I lost track of what I ate and when. Some pictures and food descriptions below...

 

Stir-fry and coconut collard greens.

Veggies and grains along with kale. Not so bad.

Curry cauliflower, brown rice and kale. The cauliflower was awesome.

Fennel...this was pretty disgusting and really hard to eat. I could barely chew it and it was so tough.

Roasted beets, greens and tempeh. Not so bad.

Dinner day 21. This soup was absolutely DISGUSTING!!! If anyone ever suggests cucumber and avocado soup...run the other way. I tried to drink it but could not make myself swallow. The rest of the food was good though. I saved the terrible soup and mixed it into smoothies for a few days after, so as to not waste food.

 Conclusion: I followed the meal plan "almost" exactly. It did introduce some items into my diet that I was not accustomed to eating, and I plan to keep most of those items. I enjoyed eating an animal free diet, I thought I was going to stick to a vegetarian diet after, but Chipotle has been the death of me. Not really, but it has drawn me in a few times. I don't think I eat that much meat, so I'm not too concerned. I don't eat fast food or much pre-prepared food so I don't eat that much processed food. Overall, I didn't feel a huge change. I lost 3-4 pounds over the cleanse, I was thinking I would lose more but that's not what this was about. I was still tired during the day, but I think that is because as Americans we have sedentary lives. I sit at a desk several days a week working on a computer. The other days I have a lot of activities, but am not necessarily that active. What I think this cleanse helped me to learn, is to eat more veggies. I thought I ate a lot, but I was wrong. I think it also helped me learn that I'm not as toxic as I thought I was. I do tend to eat mostly organic/natural items and try to limit the amount of animal products I eat. I was expecting more from the cleanse. I believe it works, just better on people who lead lifestyles that are more unhealthy than mine. If you're drawing the last straw, then give the cleanse a whirl. You never know, it may be what you need to jump start your system. Just be prepared to drop about $700. Three weeks of food was about $475 and the kit is a little over $200. I think exercise was the answer I was looking for, so I bought the rowing machine I've wanted for the past 5 years. It has been less than a week and I'm already feeling a huge difference (Concept II).

Southwest Corn Chowder

This turned out to be really good, especially a couple of days after. My inspiration came from a corn chowder that was available at Whole Foods in the ready to eat section. It smelled really good, but was expensive, so I decided to make my own. As always, I suggest to use organic ingredients if possible.

Ingredients:

• 2 16 oz bags of frozen corn
• 4 medium sized potatoes- diced small
• 1 medium/large yellow onion- diced small
• 2 cloves garlic- minced
• 3 jalapenos- chopped (I wanted to use poblano, but they were not available when I needed them)
• 1 can diced tomatoes- drained
• 1 32 ounce container chicken stock/broth
• 2-3 cups of milk (I used 2%)
• 1/2-1 tsp of cumin powder
• 1 bay leaf
• 6 slices of bacon
• 4 cooked chicken tenderloins- diced (sauteed, grilled, boiled or however is preferred)

Directions:
Fry bacon until it is crispy and golden brown. Remove from pan to drain on a towel- crumble. Leave the bacon grease in the pan and saute the onion, garlic and jalapeno until soft (5-6 minutes). Add the corn, potatoes, tomatoes, chicken broth and bay leaf. Bring to a low boil and cook until the potatoes are cooked through (30-45 minutes). Add the milk, cumin and chicken. Simmer for 10-15 more minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper or pepper flakes for added heat. Serve with crumbled bacon, sour cream, salsa, guacamole and chips.