Do these Veggies Make My Boobs Look Big?

Okay, not the most flattering photograph of me, but the good news is that I "cooked" up a storm yesterday!

Well, if you could even call it cooking. I prepared another batch of Jane Esselstyn's delicioso Kale Butter (http://healthygirlskitchen.blogspot.com/2010/05/day-8-and-janes-kale-butter.html) which I served on top of some plain quinoa--simply amazing! Then I dressed some romaine lettuce and spring lettuce mix with my favorite Galeo's low calorie miso dressing.  Lastly, I whipped up a batch of Sesame Noodle Sauce from the Choosing Raw blog (actually using Tahini, which tastes remarkably like peanut butter when you try it plain, http://www.choosingraw.com/sesame-noodles-raw-and-cooked/) and poured it over a mixture of spiralized zucchini and carrot noodles.

I had my husband take these photos with his cell phone.  So the even better news is that my new digital SLR camera arrived today! Yipee! Now I just have to learn how to use it. The thought of gorgeous food photography is totally exciting to me.  And my husband will be a very happy camper eating all of the healthy food that I will be inspired to make. Have I told you about how much his basketball game has improved now that we have gone Plant Strong? I'll save that for another day . . .

Banana Soft Serve Vegan Overnight Oats

No food photos, so I thought I would share this with you.  That's my 5 year old out on Lake Erie!

Again, I really want to apologize for leaving all of my readers high-and-dry for the past few weeks.  My sudden quieting down has a lot of factors, including my lack-of-a-camera-situation but truthfully, a bit of lack-of-motivation recently. Which, in the world of someone who has to work hard to remain at a healthy weight is not such a good thing!

So this weekend I pulled out a recipe that I had in my to-do pile. I can't even remember where I got it from, but after about an hour of searching for it on one of my favorite blogs, http://www.choosingraw.com/, so that I could provide you with the link, I broke down and did a google search for it.  It's a breakfast dish that combines chia seeds and oatmeal soaked in the fridge overnight into a parfait with banana soft serve (remember that heavenly creation?). Well, I guess this stuff is pretty popular, because there are a world of links about it on the www. And after eating it for breakfast this morning, I can attest to its strange addictiveness. If I could, I would eat it again for lunch right now!

So here's a cool YouTube video that explains the process.  The woman in the video has a fantastic blog called Oh She Glows! http://ohsheglows.com/ I highly recommend giving this recipe a try and letting me know if you do!

FYI-The recipe that I used did not layer in cacao nibs or anything else but rather just used the overnight oats plus the banana soft serve. Just saying! Although I'm sure these are great additions. Plus, I used 2 frozen bananas instead of one, 'cause I can't get enough banana soft serve!

Food For Thought

I know that I have been a very quiet blogger lately. I'm sorry!

I'm digital camera-less right now.  The camera that I have been using for the blog is actually my oldest daughter's point-and-shoot Canon CoolPix and she took it with her to summer camp.  It's also not the ideal camera for a food blogger, so I've been spending some time just trying to figure out which digital SLR camera is right for me. So until then, no food pictures!

Instead of cooking I have been spending a lot of time thinking about eating. And I just happened upon a short but very relevant article about just how much and how often we are eating. Anyone who struggles with food will this interesting:
http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/inspiration-eating-occasions.html
I hope you take the time to read this article. Let me know what you think!

Tomato, Corn, Black Bean and Avocado Salad

Hello Healthy Girl readers! Glad to have you here today. And while you are here, why not stop by and say hello in the comments section at the bottom of this posting. I will love you if you do!

Here's a great article from The New York Times (yeah!) about how the nutritarian way of eating is catching on:
http://www.livemint.com/2010/06/14221940/Eat-a-8216nutritarian8217.html?h=C

And if you've got as many pot luck functions to attend this summer as I do, you may be interested in the following salad recipe! If you are making it for a large crowd, you probably want to double this recipe.

Tomato, Corn, Black Bean and Avocado Salad

2 ears corn (husk and silk removed)
1 pint cherry, grape, or pear tomatoes, halved or quartered if large
1 avocado, halved, pitted and diced
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1 15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
4 tbsp fresh lime juice
coarse salt and ground pepper

Stand ear of corn in a large wide bowl. With a sharp knife, carefully slice downward to release the kernels. Discard cobs.

Add tomatoes, avocados, scallions, black beans and lime juice to bowl.  Season with salt and pepper and toss gently to combine.

Serve as is or over a bed of salad greens.

Tomato

Guest Blogger, The Engine 2 Diet Graduation and Pot Luck

The Whole Foods 28 Day Engine 2 Diet Challenge went by in the blink of an eye! Here are some photos from our graduation and Pot Luck. I highly recommend participating in one of these challenges if you get a chance. I know that our Whole Foods at Cedar Center in University Heights, Ohio is not only planning on running more 28 day challenges but also continuing to provide support and encouragement for the graduates of this challenge. Go Whole Foods!

And here to talk about her experience on the 28 day challenge is my friend Lindsay:

28 Day Challenge: Day 29

Yesterday was our “graduation” from the Engine 2 Challenge. Wendy asked if I’d be interested in guest blogging about the experience, and while I don’t have a sensational story with impressive “before and after” results, I do feel like the past 28 days have changed my life.

Just a little background information: I’m from the south, a land of meatloaf and gravy, extra ranch dressing, more salt, fried chicken, fried cornbread, and fried okra. Fortunately for my arteries and cholesterol levels, I grew up in a home that wasn’t afraid of garden fresh vegetables and “well balanced meals”. But I moved out when I was eighteen and started making my own food decisions. In the first few weeks of independent living, I concluded that one of the greatest things about being an adult was the ability to eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. Ice cream for breakfast? Delicious! Macaroni and cheese with hotdogs for five days in a row? Sounds good! Ordering a box of ten crispy chicken legs from KFC to share with a friend while watching a movie? Yeah, I did that too. So it probably isn’t a surprise that I was overweight. Throughout college I felt mostly “blah” all the time. Not awful, not great. I still thought I made fairly responsible food decisions because I ate more healthfully than most of my friends. I didn’t eat McDonald’s or excessive amounts of potato chips and I liked broccoli and asparagus. But I was wrong.

Fast forward: I moved to Cleveland in 2006, I started exercising more regularly because a friend asked if I wanted to be her “gym buddy”, she moved away, I gained back the weight I’d lost, then I joined a running group because my friends were getting together on weekends for running and brunch. And I love brunch. But I was an awful runner. I couldn’t run a mile without stopping four times to catch my breath. I hated it. But I kept doing it because I didn’t really have anything better to do and I was losing weight again. So two years later brings me to a few days before the Engine 2 Challenge. I could drop whatever I was doing and run a 5k, I could probably run a slow 10k. But I had reached a plateau. I felt better, but I still didn’t really feel great.

I heard that Wendy was doing this Engine 2 Challenge at Whole Foods. I was really interested. I’ve been a meat eater my whole life mostly out of convenience (or laziness) and less out of a strong desire for meat. I don’t require meat at every meal and rarely eat red meat. On two separate occasions I’ve lived with a vegetarian and have always been vegetarian/vegan sensitive. So to tell you the truth, this challenge wasn’t too far outside my comfort zone. And like I said, I grew up in a vegetable friendly home, so I just had to reach back a few years to find some yummy kale soup recipes my mom used to make. Plant strong. I can do this. It’s only 28 days. But what I wasn’t prepared for was falling in love with this way of eating and thinking about food. The week before the challenge, I transitioned from meat eating to being vegetarian. When Day 1 of the challenge came around, I was ready to make the easy transition to being vegan. At the end of the first week I already felt different. Was it psychosomatic? I don’t know, but I felt different. I really felt “cleaner”. I felt like a thin, imaginary layer of slime and grit had been peeled away from my skin. I felt great. For the first time, maybe ever in my life I feel healthy and wonderful. I feel like my insides are smiling. This was the right decision for me.

I have a feeling I lost a few pounds during the Challenge, but over the past two years I’ve lost about twenty-five pounds total and have maintained my lowest adult weight for six months or more. The last time I went to the doctor was the first time I’ve ever heard a doctor say, “Well, you’re weight is good.” instead of, “Well, you’re a little over weight.” I’ve been asked by friends what I’m going to do now that the Challenge has ended. But it hasn’t ended. For me, this was an amazing educational experience. And like all great moments of enlightenment, my way of thinking, my way of viewing food and what I put into my body has forever changed. FOREVER. Now, I’m not going to lie, I might occasionally eat something that has a little olive oil. I might even savor a tiny sliver of manchego cheese on a whole grain cracker if I really, really, really feel like it. But the important thing is, I have learned how to eat well and I love doing it. I LOVE IT! And I don’t want to go back to eating like I did before. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life just feeling “okay”.

I’ve always heard that it takes 21 days to form a new habit, but even an additional seven days of low fat vegan eating went by way too fast. I feel like I’m just getting started, like this is just the very beginning, and I am so excited about the things to come.

Thanks for sharing your story Lindsay!

Carrot Pineapple Cake with Cashew Date Frosting

A friend of mine and I got into a brief discussion yesterday about whether or not I post the recipe and pictures for everything I cook in my kitchen, regardless of whether or not the recipe is a "success." She had assumed that because she made one of the recipes that I posted  (Aduki Bean Stew with Millet Mash) and didn't like it, that I didn't like it either but was in the business of blogging about everything that I make.

Ironically, she then mentioned that she made said Aduki Bean Stew a second time, but added both olive oil and salt, and substituted Quinoa for the Millet Mash, and loved it!

I'm here today to clear up some myths and shed some light on this very, very interesting subject: Just who will love the recipes posted here at Healthy Girl's Kitchen? I do have to admit, for most people that are accustomed to eating SAD (the Standard American Diet) jumping into Healthy Girl's Kitchen recipes could be quite a shock to the taste buds and the system.

First, I do not post everything that I make. I consider my kitchen a test kitchen of ultra healthy recipes (remember, I am less into creating my own original recipes and more into testing and tweaking other people's recipes). I have had high hopes for many of the things that I have chosen to test, only to dump them down my garbage disposal, and you never hear about any of those experiences. 

Case in point: the following cake recipe from Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn. I made the cake and the icing that was suggested in the book and ended up dumping the icing. It was tofu based and the flavor of the tofu was too strong in the end. I thought it would ruin any chance that people would like the cake, so I threw it away. It is subjective! Maybe some people would like the tofu icing, but I didn't, so I whipped up an icing that I had made in the past from Eat for Health by Dr. Joel Fuhrman and the cake was a smashing success! Well, at least I thought it was . . . remember it is subjective. But my three kids loved this cake, and that is a pretty great sign!

Carrot Pineapple Cookie Cake

makes 12-16 servings

3 cups whole-wheat flour

1 cup grape nuts cereal

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 cup maple syrup, honey, or agave nectar

egg replacer for 4 eggs (4 tbsp flax seed meal mixed with 12 tbsp pineapple juice or 2 tbsp Ener-G egg replacer mixed with 8 tbsp water)

2 cups shredded carrots

1 16 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix first 4 ingredients well in a large bowl.  Add remaining ingredients and mix.

Scrape batter into two 9-inch round cake pans and bake for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool completely.

Carefully slice each cake in half horizontally with a long serrated bread knife. Frost cake.

Cashew Date Frosting

2 cups raw, unsalted cashews

2 cups unsweetened almond milk

1 1/3 cups pitted dates

2/3 cup brazil nuts or hazelnuts

1 tsp vanilla extract

Place all ingredients in a high powered blender and blend until smooth.  Spread on cooled cake.

To make a chocolate frosting, simply add 4 tbsp cocoa powder before blending.

But does that mean that you will love, or even like, any and all of the recipes that you decide to try from Healthy Girl's Kitchen?

From real life experience I can tell you that not everyone likes what I like. It's as simple, and as complicated, as that. The following are the factors that I believe account for a person's taste preferences when it comes to healthy eating:

1. Are you trying to lose weight? How serious are you about that goal? It might be that the more serious a person is about weight loss, the more open they are to enjoying a dish that they know is going to get them to their goal. At first, you just can't afford to be so picky if you want to lose weight. In time, those healthy foods that were once "not your favorite" taste better and better. This happened for me with lentils. I used to hate anything with lentils. Lately, I have been eating a soup at a restaurant that is so delicious to me, just amazing, and it is made with red lentils.  And all of a sudden, I just can't get enough lentils. My battle with lentils is over!

2. How recently have you been eating SAD? It takes some time for a person's taste buds to adjust from enjoying a McDonald's hamburger to loving Aduki Bean Stew.  This reality is talked about a lot in places like http://www.diseaseproof.com/ where many people are dramatically changing their food habits. Inevitably, a person eating ultra healthy begins to taste real, whole plant food in a way that they may never have tasted it in their life. Something as simple as a raw spinach leaf can be an incredible taste sensation that a person savors. Sound crazy? You should watch me eat!

3. Different strokes for different folks.  Everyone is unique. I pick and choose recipes to try and ultimately post based on my own unique taste preferences (I love ethnic food, not too spicy). I'm pretty sure that readers can easily discriminate amongst the recipes that I post based on their own taste preferences.

4. Salt. Salt can make almost anything taste good. It's also something that we Americans over consume to a scary degree.  Over time, if you are seeking great health, you definitely want to watch and restrict your salt intake. But limiting salt in a recipe will have a dramatic effect on the way any savory food tastes. It is just another thing that your taste buds will adjust to if you give them a chance.

Did I answer my own question? I don't know, but I think you get the point!

When Life Hands You Lentils, Make Fat Free Vegan "Mujadara"

It's Pot Luck Season here in Northern Ohio and that fortunately  affords me an opportunity to share my love of healthy food with other people.  In a matter of one week, I have four pot luck dinners to plan for, prepare for and attend .  That's probably why I have been so quiet on the blog these days! So much good stuff going on!

For yesterday's event I decided that I was going to tweak a recipe out of The Engine 2 Diet called Candle Cafe Brown Rice and Lentil Burgers. The tweak was that I was planning on making balls instead of burgers to make a vegan "meatball."  When it came time to roll the balls and I tried doing so, nothing was going to hold the mix of ingredients into a ball shape (I guess I missed the part of the recipe where it said to add whole wheat flour if the mix wasn't sticking together--oh well, it was a happy accident). So I tasted the concoction and decided that it was delicious as is, added a bit more brown rice, and brought it to the party as a warm salad. No hassle with rolling into balls! Yipee!

I loved it, my husband loved it, and so did all of the party goers. I brought along a bowl of Kale Butter and it was a great pairing. We just spooned the kale butter on top of the brown rice and lentils. When a guest at the party, who happens to be a local vegan chef, tried the dish, she immediately exclaimed that, "It's Mujadara!"  Mujadara (also spelled Mujadarah, Megadarra or several other variations) is a delicious, inexpensive, and simple to make Lebanese comfort food.  My version's spices are not the traditional cumin, cinnamon and allspice, but the results were just as spectacular.

Wendy's Warm Brown Rice and Lentil Pilaf

7 cups water
1 cup dry lentils, rinsed and drained
2 cups uncooked brown rice or 4 cups cooked brown rice
4 garlic cloves
2 medium red onions, chopped
3 large carrots, peeled and chopped
2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp chili powder (or, for traditional Mujadara, use 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp cumin)

In a saucepan, bring 3 cups of the water to a boil.  Add the lentils, reduce the heat, and cook until the beans are softened, about 15 minutes (check for doneness, the lentils should be soft but not falling apart, this may take longer than 15 minutes).  Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, in another saucepan, bring the remaining 8 cups of water to a boil, add the rice, reduce the heat, cover and simmer until the rice is tender, about 40 minutes. Drain and set aside.  (Or, microwave two Trader Joe's frozen brown rice pouches to yield 4 cups of brown rice.)

In a saute pan, water or broth saute the garlic, onion, and carrots over high heat until lightly browned.  This may take a while. If mixture starts to burn, lower the heat a bit.  In a large bowl, combine the lentils, cooked rice and vegetables.  Add the salt and chili powder and mix well.

Delicious served with a dollop of kale butter on the top. http://healthygirlskitchen.blogspot.com/2010/05/day-8-and-janes-kale-butter.html

No Added Fat Vegan Eating: Chickpea Burgers and My First Engine 2 Salad Dressing

One of the fun new foods you will want to discover if you are experimenting with vegan eating is the bean/grain burger. They are fun on a bun, but also a great way to turn a salad into a meal. Just pop a few on top of a green salad or serve some up next to an alternative type of salad (like a tomato, corn and avocado salad).

There are probably hundreds of variations of this type of vegan burger if you do a search for them on the Internet. Here's my take on one that I found in Experience Life magazine. My big change to the original recipe is that I substituted 3 tablespoons of vegetable broth for 3 tablespoons of olive oil. And I have to say, the finished product didn't miss the olive oil or the added calories that would have come from it. Winning!

Middle Eastern Chickpea Burgers

makes about 10-12 burgers

2 cups cooked or canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp ground coriander

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp minced fresh ginger

3 tbsp vegetable broth

2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 1/2 cups cooked brown rice

3 tbsp diced carrot or red bell pepper

1/4 cup loosely packed, minced, fresh flat leaf parsley

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil.

Combine the chickpeas and all ingredients down to the lemon juice in a food processor and process until smooth and well combined, scraping the sides occasionally. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and fold in the rice, carrot or bell pepper and parsley.

Moisten your hands to keep the mixture from sticking, then shape the mixture into 1/2 inch thick patties about 4 inches in diameter.  Place them on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes, until the patties start to get dry and crisp on the outside.  They will firm up as they cool.

The following salad dressing recipe is from The Engine 2 Diet book by Rip Esselstyn. One of the principles of this way of eating is to eliminate added fat from your diet. But most people are so used to only eating salad dressings made primarily with some form of fat, like olive or canola oil. So what to do when you are following a no-added-fat vegan diet? Try making dressings like this one. It has a lot of ingredients, but at this point, like me, you may have them all in your pantry. And after eating it on my salad with dinner, I'm not missing the oil at all!

E2 Basics Dressing

2 Tbsp nutritional yeast

1 Tbsp tamari

1 Tbsp mustard

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

Juice of 1 lemon, lime or orange

1 Tbsp agave nectar, honey or maple syrup

1 tsp vegetarian Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp wheat germ

Water to desired consistency (I didn't use any)

Whisk the ingredients together in a bowl.

Weight Watchers 5K Walk-It Challenge and Pot Luck Lunch

There is a new study just released by the American Psychiatric Association about women and how they feel about their asses.

The results are pretty shocking:
1. Only 5% of women surveyed feel their ass is too big.
2. 10% of women surveyed feel their ass is too small.
3. The remaining 85% say they don't care; they love him; he's a good man and they would have married him anyway.

Now there's some Healthy Girl's Kitchen humor!

This past Sunday I hosted some of my friends from Weight Watchers for a pot luck lunch. We all did the Weight Watchers 5K walk together and then shared a healthy lunch. Thank you to Quinn for organizing what I hope will be the first of many celebrations of it's kind. We have a wonderful thing going at our Wednesday Weight Watchers meeting.  A really nice group of wonderful people who are supporting each other in achieving their goals.

So here's my tip: If you want to lose weight, get support and camaraderie! The world is full of it and it makes losing weight so much fun. I can personally vouch for http://www.peertrainer.com/ and Weight Watchers, and I'll bet that http://www.sparkpeople.com/ is pretty awesome too.  There's tons of stuff going on at http://www.meetup.com/ and I have found a great thing in The Engine 2 Challenge at my local Whole Foods.  I'm always game for going to events centered around healthy eating. I always get a new burst of energy as a result of my participation, and isn't that what we all need to keep up our healthy new habits?

Coffee Cream Smoothie and Vegan Brown Rice Sushi Take Two

There were a lot of cut up filling ingredients left from my first foray into home sushi rolling, so I went for it again the next night.  The resulting sushi is photographed above.  For instructions on how to make your own brown rice sushi, go to http://healthygirlskitchen.blogspot.com/2010/06/day-18-and-brown-rice-vegetable-sushi.html  I plan on using the rest of the cut vegetable leftovers tonight in an Asian stir fry with broiled tofu and rice noodles that I am concocting in my head right now. If it works, you'll hear about it!

I was inspired one morning this week as I read the most recent posting on the Choosing Raw blog.  I too share Gena's guilt-free love of coffee and had been thinking for a good long while about experimenting myself with a coffee smoothie.  All it took was one look at hers and I went for it!  http://www.choosingraw.com/sinful-smoothie/ 

Here's my take on a coffee smoothie. It's definitely for coffee lovers only!

Wendy's Coffee Cream Smoothie

serves 1

1 cup brewed coffee

1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk

1 Tbsp chia seeds or ground flax

2 large dates, pitted

1 1/2 large frozen banana

7 ice cubes

Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.

Day 18 and Brown Rice Vegetable Sushi Rolls

This past Tuesday evening my daughter and I attended the third meeting of our 28 day challenge.  It was very inspiring.  The hilarious Jane Esselstyn, sister or Rip, nurse, longtime vegan, sex educator and mother of three gave a "cooking" demo and talk.  Jane showed us the ins-and-outs of making vegetable sushi with brown rice and then we had a shot at rolling our own roll right then and there.

Now I am no novice at sushi making.  Well, maybe I am a novice, but this wasn't my first time rolling my own sushi.  But, this was the first time that I enjoyed it!  I had made it before when I was in college, the normal kinda way, with white short grain rice that you dress with a concoction of sugar and rice wine vineagar in order to make it sticky. And holy cow, don't even try to pry that sticky rice off your hands.  It was a frustrating mess and I never attempted it again.

But I LOVE sushi, so after 18 years, I was excited to give it another shot. And thank you-know-who that I did. The way Jane showed us how to do it, it wasn't difficult at all.  And the key to making it so easy is using straight up BROWN rice instead of the white stuff with sugar and vinegar.  Cooked short grain brown is naturally perfectly sticky enough to make a nice roll without being overly sticky.

So of course, Sophia and I did a little shopping at Whole Foods before we left for home and picked up everything we needed for our own sushi fiesta. That included 2 packages of sushi nori sheets, short grain brown rice, pickled ginger, wasabi powder, low sodium tamari and all of the veggies we wanted.  The next morning I spent some time julienning the veggies and putting them into containers so that it would be really stress free when I got home that evening.  As you can see, we used carrots, red, yellow and orange peppers, mango (yes, mango, do it! it's da bomb), bok choy,cucumber, avocado (wait until rolling to cut into the avocado or you will have a yucky brown mess) and bean sprouts.

Immediately when I arrived home from work I got my short grain brown rice going in my rice cooker. You don't need one of these, but they are magical. The ratio of rice to water is one cup of rice to two cups of water. I cooked three cups of dry rice and we used the whole thing.  We eat alot and we had two rolls leftover for the kid's lunches the next day.  Even my five-year-old discovered that she liked the sushi nori (that's the dark green sheets that are the outside of the rolls) but she was only willing to eat a roll with just rice, so that's what we made her. 

I happened to have a sushi mat, but you really don't need that either.  Just lay your nori sheet on a cutting board and place a scoop (about 3/4 cup) of the cooked and STILL WARM short brown rice near the bottom of the sheet. Use a rice paddle or spatula to smush the rice over the nori, but leave the top 1/3 of the nori sheet free of rice.  Make sure to get rice all the way to the bottom right and left corners of the nori sheet, it makes a difference.

Place your julienned vegetables onto the middle of the rice. Each roll can be a little bit different.  You can get really creative too. I've had rolls in restaurants that have cooked spinach in the center of the sushi and it was super yummy.

Now for the rolling.  Start at the base of the nori sheet and fold it up and over, rolling tightly but delicately as the you don't want the nori sheet to tear.  Oh yeah, you may want to watch how much filling goes into each roll as overstuffing them will cause unwanted nori tearing!  Keep rolling up the roll from the bottom. The warm rice will cause the nori sheet to become pliable and a little sticky, which is a good thing, because that is what is going to hold your roll closed.  If for some reason this isn't happening, just wipe the top edge of the nori sheet with water and it will stick to itself, sealing the roll.

And lastly, go for the slicing.  Make sure to keep each roll rather thin (about 1/2"-3/4") because eating them is just easier if they aren't too big.

I really hope that you try this yourself at home. It is so worthwhile. We are going to have them again tonight for dinner because I have so much leftover sliced filling ingredients.  Can you ever get tired of sushi? 

Road Trip Report and Healthy Engine 2 Diet Chalupas

Let's just say that taking a road trip with a family of small children to a college reunion is not the best scenario for a person attempting a 28 day vegan, no added fat, no processed food challenge. I'm not going to bore you with the gory details, but let's just say "What happens in Princeton stays in Princeton."

Now don't get me wrong, Sophia and I stayed relatively "plant strong" for the entire 5 days. But there were some serious moments of weakness (me with the Indian food, the Belgian waffles and the ice cream truck treats, her with the sugar cereals and  the ice cream truck treats).  There were also some real highlights, most notably a barbecue at my brother's house with tons of delicious plant strong food prepared by my sister-in-law (thanks Ruth!). And thanks to my plant strong ways, even with all of that indulgence, I didn't gain an ounce. SHOCKING!

Being a total homebody, it was a real relief to be back to the daily grind.  And because the daily grind around here involves some sort of experiment with a new (for us) plant strong recipe,  last night's dinner was Chalupas from The Engine 2 Diet book.  Not surprisingly at all, it was a huge success.  Easy and delicious, just like the other recipes from the book.

Healthy E2 Chalupas
Serves 2 (for the original recipe, my version served 2 adults and 1 child)

6 corn tortillas (I used 4 Sprouted Grain Wheat Tortillas)
1 can fat-free vegetarian refried beans
12 cherry tomatoes, cut in halves (I used a lot more and substituted in grape tomatoes)
1 jalapeno, diced (I omitted this)
1 avocado, peeled, seeded and sliced (I used 1.5 avocados)
2 cups shredded romaine lettuce
1/2 bunch cilantro
Salsa
My own additions: diced mango, black beans

Preheat oven to broil. Place the tortillas on a sprayed baking sheet (optional: line baking sheet with aluminum foil first) and broil for 2 minutes.  Turn the tortillas and cook for one minute, or until crispy.  Spread the tortillas with about 1/3 cup refried beans. Sprinkle on the optional black beans.  Place tomato halves on each chalupa.  Sprinkle jalapeno onto the chalupas. Broil for 5-7 minutes, or until the tomatoes begin to droop (watch out that the chalupas don't burn during this step--do not place them in the oven too close to the heat source).  Divide up the avocado slices among the chalupas, and top with the lettuce, salsa, cilantro and optional mango.