Lettuce Wraps

This isn't really a recipe, it's more of and idea. I just threw a bunch of stuff in some lettuce leaves for lunch and thought it tasted good, so I thought I'd share what I made! It was lettuce wraps stuffed with vegetable walnut pate from the moosewood cookbook (minus the mayo, plus a tiny splash of coconut milk), avocado, lactofermented rutabaga, and bean sprouts. It was yummy! Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures, because I didn't think I'd be blogging about it! Oh well. Enjoy anyway!

Coconut Cookies

These delicious cookies were made as an accompaniment to my coconut lime ice cream, but they're also delicious on their own. They have crispy edges, and they're soft and chewy in the middle.

They're based on these cookies, but they're a bit crispier. They're healthy and so delicious, you won't even miss the grains, refined sugar, dairy, or grains! Enjoy!

Coconut Cookies

Ingredients

3 cups shredded unsweetened coconut

1/3 cup pure maple syrup

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. fine sea salt

2 egg whites

 Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 300*F.

2. Put 1 2/3 cups of the coconut in a mini food processor (I haven't tried a regular food processor, but you'd probably have to add more coconut so it blends better), and blend for about 10 minutes, or until it turns into coconut butter, scraping the sides as necessary.

3. Combine the remaining ingredients in a bowl.

4. Scoop tablespoons of cookie dough onto a cookie sheet and flatten into thin circles.

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the edges get crispy and brown.

6. Let the cookies cool a bit before eating.

7. Enjoy coconutty yumminess!

Spinach, "Rice", and Egg Soup

This is a very simple, yummy soup. The inspiration comes from a recipe in the De Luca's cookbook. Enjoy!

Spinach, "Rice", and Egg Soup

Ingredients

9 cups stock (chicken is best)

1 cauliflower, riced (chopped in a food processor until it's the texture of rice)

1 Tbsp olive oil

4 cups spinach, coarsely chopped

4 eggs

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

fresh grated nutmeg, to taste

salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Bring the stock to a boil in a large soup pot.

2. Add the cauliflower and simmer until tender.

3. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a pan and cook the spinach until wilted. Set aside to cool.

4. Whisk the eggs with the nutritional yeast, nutmeg, salt and pepper.

5. Mix in the spinach.

6. Stir the egg mixture into the stock. Let the soup heat up for a few minutes.

7. Taste and adjust seasonings. 

8. Serve with a sprinkle of extra nutritional yeast, if desired.

Half Marathon

I ran my first half marathon today, and it was great! I thought it was going to be exhausting, but it actually went great. The day was beautiful, warm but not too hot; it was windy but not extremely. The course was really nice too. It was really flat, so that made it easier. Most of it ran through trees, so it was nice and shady. There were also a few parks, which were really nice to run through. There were some interesting people who were fun to watch or had funny T-shirts or signs. They made the race more interesting.

I felt fine for the first half, then I started to get a bit tired, but by mile 9 I realized that I wasn't all that tired and I managed to pick up my pace a bit. My time was better than I ever could have hoped for! My goal was 2h 15min, but I managed to run it in almost exactly 2 hours!

Running through that giant arch at the end of such a long race was such a great feeling.

Some tips I have for someone wanting to try running a half marathon:

• sleep well the night before and the night before that
• bring an iPod or MP3 player (make sure it's charged!)
• wear comfortable shoes
• don't drink too much the morning of the race
• rest a few days before the race
• train hard!

Anyone can run a half, it just takes some determination, time, and dedication! And you get a T-shirt and a medal just for finishing! Plus you get bragging rights and a sense of accomplishment, as well as free food.

Now I just need to run a marathon! 

A Bike Ride

It's always nice to take a bike ride on a beautiful day.

June is a beautiful time. The sun is shining, green is everywhere. 

This is one of my favourite places to ride in the summer. It can be hard to find nice little pockets of nature like this in the middle of the city. Especially since Bunn's Creek is flooded this time of year.

It's flooded here too, but not on the path.

Roots are beautiful. Trees and leaves are beautiful. I love the outdoors! But not in winter.

Winter looks like this:

Winter is not beautiful. Nothing grows in winter. Now compare the above picture to summer:

Seriously, which would you prefer? And look at all those dandelions, growing little heads of fuzzy sunshine for us! It's not their fault they love to spread their sunniness, which can ruin crops. They just love brightening the world!

Without weeds, there would be a lot of empty dirt. Weeds are much more beautiful than empty dirt!

See? They're already starting to beautify this patch of dirt. Unfortunately, to get to these beautiful natural areas, it's sometimes necessary to go through some very unnatural places. 

But it's so worth it!

Chinese Beansprout Salad

There are often times, usually a few days before the next grocery shopping trip is planned, were I start running out of fresh vegetables. At these times, beansprouts can be a lifesaver. I sprout my own, so the bag of dried beans is always sitting ready for me in my cupboard. It takes a bit of pre-planning, but beansprouts really help to stretch the last bits of fresh produce in my fridge until more can be bought. Did I mention that beansprouts are really healthy? Yeah, they contain protein, they're low in calories, and they've got tons of enzymes. Raw foodists love them because they're the most "live" food you can eat. (Unless you eat a live bug, but I don't think anyone really wants to do that on a regular basis.)

This is one way I enjoy beansprouts. They're also really good with some leftover roasted winter squash and peas.

Chinese Beansprout Salad

1 cup mung beansprouts

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped

1 carrot, grated

1/2 cup sugar snap peas, chopped

1 tsp rice wine vinegar

1 tsp organic tamari, nama shoyu, or coconut aminos

1 tsp sesame oil

1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger (or less, to taste)

pinch of red pepper flakes

optional: a few grinds of pepper (I like to put pepper in everything)

1. Whisk together the tamari, vinegar, oil, ginger, red pepper flakes, and optional pepper.

2. Combine the beansprouts, carrot, bell pepper, and sugar snap peas.

3. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to combine.

Coconut Lime Ice Cream

I wanted to call this lime sherbet, but it's not extremely sour, it's not lime green (ironic, I know), and it's creamier than most sherbets. This is why I decided to call it ice cream. This is just another one of coconut milk's incredible advantages; it doesn't curdle!

Since it's getting warmer and I haven't used my ice cream maker nearly as much as I've wanted to, I'm planning on trying out a lot of different ice cream flavours this summer. I'll try to post an ice cream recipe every 1-2 weeks.

Coconut Lime Ice Cream

3 cups full-fat coconut milk

2 egg yolks

zest and juice of 3 limes

1/2 avocado

pinch of salt

1/3 cup maple syrup (or more, this doesn't make a super-sweet ice cream)

1. Throw everything in a blender.

2. Blend.

3. Follow the instructions for your ice cream maker to freeze the ice cream.

4. Put the ice cream into the freezer for a few hours to harden it up.

5. Devour your healthy, delicious ice cream!