Dining out-Chinese Food

I haven't cooked anything in a few days. I don't really need to since I have plenty of left-overs (because I always cook too much), but I did eat out Wednesday night. I went to Ginger Blossom, a local Chinese and Japanese restaurant (if you're in the area 1203 Parker St). Let me just say that my first time there after I decided to stop eating meat was a challenge. Their Chicken Fried Rice is delicious and how can you eat at a Chinese restaurant and not have Chicken Fingers? Or Boneless Spare Ribs? Whew....but after studying the menu a while, decided on the Eggplant in Garlic Sauce. I'll be honest, I had my doubts but it was delicious. So, that's what I had Wednesday night along with an Avocado Salad (and a few Crab Rangoons---how could I not?) It might not sound like much, but was very filling and I never once yearned for the Chicken Fingers.

Oatmeal, Coconut, and Sunflower Seed Cookies

In addition to not eating meat, I’m trying to eat healthier overall. So I’ve decided that when I’m craving something sweet, like I was last night, I going to make/bake/cook something instead of buying it. As I mentioned, I was craving sweets last night, specifically cookies. So I searched for a healthy cookie recipe and found the Oatmeal, Coconut, and Sunflower Seed Cookie recipe on wholefoodmarkets.com. (For anyone who has an iPhone, there’s an app for it and it’s free! It’s called Whole Foods Market Recipes.) I happened to have all the ingredients so I tried it out. The only thing I did differently was to use coconut oil instead of butter. Why? I read this book once, “The Coconut Oil Miracle” by Bruce Fife and it talks about the health benefits of coconut oil versus other oils. Since reading it, I use coconut oil instead of butter and vegetable oil for baking. Oh, and I used regular flour instead of whole wheat pastry flour----but it was organic flour.

So I know you’re wondering, “How did they taste”? Not too bad, they kind of taste like peanut butter cookies. And I’ll be honest, the first batch was a little well done; I shortened the baking time for the second batch and they (the second batch) turned out better. I don’t know if I’d make them again though, maybe next time I’ll make them with the whole wheat pastry flour. Or maybe I’ll try something a little more fun.

Chipotle Black Bean Soup

Today’s lunch was Chipotle Black Bean Soup, courtesy of of wholefoodsmarket.com. It’s pretty flavorful. I’m sure you can find every ingredient you need at Whole Foods, but the closest one to me is about 25 minutes away and I didn’t feel like driving. I couldn’t find the canned chipotle peppers so I used chipotle seasoning instead. Also, instead of using olive oil, I used ghee. Ghee is traditionally used in Indian cooking but I use it to sauté my vegetables whether I’m cooking an Indian dish or not. My point is, don’t be afraid to experiment and/or make substitutions. So, did my dish come out as good as the true recipe version? I don’t know, but I like it! If you decide to try this recipe, adding cocoa and orange juice might seem odd (it did to me) but it works.

Back on Track

In addition to not eating meat, I also cut out junk food, I try not to eat after 8:00 pm, and I cut way back on dairy. I really want to focus on eating real food and avoiding processed food as much as possible. This means that I need to cook, which I love to do, but I'm not used to doing it everyday.

I've been doing pretty good with the exception of some shrimp and a few pieces of fish. I don't really consider seafood meat, but I still don't want to eat a lot of it. So anyway, I've been doing pretty good but I was on vacation last week and I ate junk food, instead of cooking I ate ate out, I started picking up a soda habit, and ate more sweets than usual. I went out to eat at a local restaurant the day before yesterday; I couldn't finish even a third of my meal (Shrimp Scampi) because of the appetizers so I took it home. I ate it for lunch yesterday and while it was delicious, my body hated me for it. I don't know if it was the shrimp or all the cheese, or all the oil, but I felt awful. I ate it around 1:45pm and I was still digesting it when I went to bed, and I was cramping, etc. UGH!! So what did I do this morning before I went to work? I cooked! Creamy Red Lentil Dhal. It's a recipe in a cookbook I have entitled "400 Recipes:Three & Four Ingredients" by Jenny White & Joanna Farrow. It's delicious, but I could have cooked the lentils a little longer. This is the ingredient list: red lentils, oil, and hot curry paste. I added coconut milk to make it creamy and garnished it with fresh cilantro (suggestions from the book). There's an updated version called "500 Recipes: Three & Four Ingredients". I really want to get it but I don't think it's smart to pay $20-$30 for just 100 new recipes.