So Fresh and so Crisp, bean salad

Ingredients:
1.5c. dry Organic Adzuki beans 
1 mini-can corn (extra crispy!)
1.5c. tinily chopped broccoli
handful of organic raisins
drizzle of EVOO
drizzle of apple cider vinegar
heavy drizzling of honey
couple heavy shakes of cinnamon
couple sprinklings of garam masala (spice mix)
sea salt to taste


Directions:
1) Soak the beans over night.  Not all beans seem to respond well to this pre-treatment, but these beans almost doubled in size overnight.
2) Cook beans w/ ample water for 2 hours or until soft
3) Allow beans to cool to room temp, then place in the fridge to cool.  (I made curry with some of the beans that same day and kept some of them separate to make this salad the next day.)
4) Mix all the ingredients together, and voilà!!


Serve chilled. Enjoy as a side dish or a main dish.

Miso Mushroom Mezcla

My first soup ever. Sin Receta, just wingin it. And it came out totally tits! woooot!

Ingredients:
1) minimal drizzle of olive oil
2) 3 LARGE cloves Garlic - pulverized
3) Half a med.-large onion, chopped finely
4) ~2tsp ginger paste (you could use fresh ginger, but i had the paste on hand and i'm tryin' to use it up cuz fresh ginga's always preferred.) - *quantiy can be adjusted to your taste or even omitted altogether
5) 5-8 carrots (depending on size), finely-to-regularly sliced
6) couple shakes of salt
7) bowl of mushroom juice from making mushroom risotto the evening before (it is this really dark, potently flavored liquid that you get when you soak the Boletus edulis variety of dried musrooms (in pic below) for a few hours - you use some of the liquid in the risotto, but end up with a lot leftover, hence the idea for making this sopa!)
8) vegetable caldo (it's like chicken bullon but of the veggie variety (make sure it has no MSG)
9) Miso (shown in pic below)
10) what seemed like 2-2.5cups chopped cauliflower (it was like 1/3 of a very large head)
11)about 3/4-1c. chopped pumpkin
12) 2 cups heftily sliced mushrooms (sliced long-wise) of the variety shown in the photo below
13)finely shopped chives (if u want, don't have to have them, but we just happened to have them)

Instructions:
1) Add first 6 ingredients into a large pot, and turn up the heat; turn it aaaall the way up. The idea is to attempt to caramelize the carrots to get that nice lil flavor even tho with all the other ingredients in the pot, it won't actually happen... lol, but i'm too impatient to sear the carrots on their own, and it works well enough like this. When things start steaming a lot and you start thinking it looks like the carrots or something might burn, add the caldo, and stir it up for another 15 seconds or so, but if ur scared something might burn, go ahead and add the mushroom water, and about 2-3 more bowls of water to fill up the pot, leaving enough room for the rest of the ingredients.
2)Add the pumpkin, cauliflower, and shrooms, you could add a dash of black pepper now too, (I had intended to do that, but forgot, and it still tastes awesome!, so maybe you don't need it)
Keep the heat on high, let it boil like crazy, but then when it gets too crazy, turn it down to the lowest setting, and about 2 minutes later voila, it should be ready. Just make cook it for long enough to cook the cauliflower and pumpkin, but u want the cauliflower to still be crisp not soggy, so u might actually add it first and the shrooms and cauliflower later.

Fin! and OMG, it's so good.

Of all the foods I've ever prepared, I have never delighted more in savoring them than I have in this soup. I don't know what it is but something about it, woohhf, it's the most delicious thing I've made to date!

Ok, so just a few notes, I had originally wanted to make the soup with brocoli (not cauliflower) and I also wanted to use some green beans, the round, sweet kind, but i couldn't find any :( Also, I had the pumpkin just by chance, cuz I'm making a pumpkin risotto tomorrow and have more than i need for the risotto, but otherwise i'd never have thought to add that, but I think it made the sopa! it somehow makes it creamier without there being any cream. sweet! aaand, it means there is soemthing a bit chrunchy in the soup! - which I love in a soup!

Normally when I eat, if I am eating alone, I do other things while I'm eating - writing, reading, and most of all, I am almost always listening to music. Sometimes however, I like to grant myself the relaxation of eating in peace - not doing anything at all but eating, tasting, and appreciating the nourishment I am giving myself. But even then there is usually music playing in the background. Today, however, I cut it all off to enjoy this salad, and suddenly, I am acutely aware the the sound of myself stuffing copious amounts of spinach into my mouth and crunching up each bite sounds strangely familiar. It sounds the elephants I heard grazing on wild bushes.

Also, why are salads so good in Spain?? Is it the delicious cherry tomatoes? Is there something special about their eggs which you know are always so fresh because when you buy them in the store they are not even refrigerated?? They are very tasty eggs. Or is it the vibrantly green olive oil and the balsamic vinegar from a couple countries over (in Italy)?? I don't know, but I love Spain for its fresh produce and its affordability. I bought the bag of Spinach for 1 euro and it was the super-duper family size that no one in their right mind could expect to finish when feeding a family, and you'd have to be out of your mind to imagine finishing it as one person... ahem, ahem... Four titanic salads and one Eggs a la Rachel later, the bag still looks more than half full. I'm still gonna try to kill it before it spoils.

There was one other time when I noticed a comparison to the way us humans eat to the way animals eat. My brother and I were having dinner, and I don't know what it was, but somehting about the way he was sort of slurping the lettuce into his mouth made me think of rabbits. It's ironic to me though, that it's only happened twice that I've made the comparison, as we humans, distinct as we may try to be, are nothing but animals. I think actually if we all tried to eat more "like animals" true to what our dietary requirements are or within the realms of pertinent dietary enhancements, as if we didn't have omnipresent access to all kinds of food, beneficial or mishegossical at the snap of our fingers we'd all be a lot healthier and happier.

The trouble for me (well and it's sort of a mission) is distinguishing what exactly is a healthy diet? What are our "dietary requirements"? And what kind of a diet could enhance our well-being beyond the basic requirements?? When you think about it tho, it's not difficult to identify and eliminate foods that are detrimental to our health. But it's true that with researchers finding evidence of benifits in foods such as coffee, chocolate, and beer, one may find it difficult to find reason to abstain from eating foods such as these. I suppose for as long as advice has been given, "moderation [seems to be] key".

I tend to think that it is not only what we eat, but our eating habits that are important. For example, how often we eat, binge eating, and even the very eating itself (eg. if it is is rushed and we barely chew). In fact, with regards to the latter characterization, I'd like to perform a study as follows:

1) Collect a misc. group of 100men and 100women.

2)Provide them with some really delicious, well-calculated food. Take a baseline measure of pertinent nutrients (eg. ascorbic acid) and baseline of other health indicators. Have them eat the food as normal, and monitor the time it takes to chew each bite (maybe get an average). Monitor the level of any nutrients that are detectable in their serum for however many hours afterward that are necessary for humans to process food/nutrients. Have them collect all their shits for processing of nutrient levels.

3)Repeat #2 but this time regulate that each and every bite is chewed for some appropriate function longer before it is swallowed. (i thought some sort of function would be better b/c if you have someone that inhales their food, 20% longer won't really add much, but maybe it's best to go with some percentage, so that the ratio's are neater... Anyway, this function would be determined after #2 has been performed and chew times have been compared across the subjects.)

4) Analyze: a) Determine if chew time matters whatsoever in terms of reaping the benefits of your food.
b) If chew time is relevant, determine the optimal range for chew time.
c) Note any other interesting correlations (eg. if women chew less than men...)

Today has been a good day - food wise, and all around. And I'm beginning to think, day's get better when the food is better...

I woke up at 10 again even tho I went to bed at 3:45, and I wasn't so hungry nor awake, so I just drank some water. By the time I got around to breakfast, it was about 11:30 - I wolfed down some banana-blueberry-raspberry soy yogurt, and although I still felt hungry, I knew that I'd feel full another 10 minutes or so. then I putzed around until I left for the gym at 12:45.

After my workout, I immediately downed one Aquarious (which is like Gatorade) and one Nestea. Then when I reached home, I drained more agua, and began preparing an omlet with Inidan flair.

Ingredients:
2egg whites, 1 egg yolk
splash of water
cucharita de soy sauce
this funky ginger gel, that i thought i'd try - i put it quite a bit
pinch of curcumin
pinch of cumin
0.1 pinch of black peppa
finely chopped HOTT peppa

chopped, steamed broccoli florets (1/2c.)
4thinly sliced cherry maters

>just mix up all but the veggies with the eggs, and "whip it! it good!"

>then make ur omelet. man, this things was super tasty if i do say so myself!!!!

Then, of course, I needed mi postre. I decided to take my carrots up a notch. This time I used three good sized carrots, and after I steamed them I made a "cake" inspired by the dessert (which was really more a plastic tub of greasy, carroty goodness) an Indian friend of mine shared with me.
-I browned some raw, cashews, almonds, walnuts, and sunflower seeds, but alas it was my first time browning nuts, and I burnt the crap out of the sunflower seeds, so those weren't actually included in the final product... whhooops!
- I added juice from half of a lemon, one small tsp of raw honey (fresh from the Navarra region- super special stuff) in with the carrots when they were about half-way cooked and also sprinkled some cinn, cloves, and, nutmeg on them.

Lastly, I added the toasted nuts to the flavored carrots, and about 1tsp and a half of almond butter, 2 tblsp of coconut oil, and used my stick blender to make something that tasted pretty nice, but did not look very appetizing - yes... it looked very much like vomit. Oh, I almost forgot! I put more of the little HOT peppers in there too, b/c even desserts need some heat sometimes. And although, supposedly spicy foods aren't god for acne, it's good for other things, and today I wanted heat, so I went for it.

I couldn't finish this entire dessert, it was a little big, so i put it in the fridge, and it made a great snack later. Turns out, it's more "deli" served chilled.

I've also eaten a banana as a snack right before dinner.

Tonight, I feasted on the salad I was supposed to have last night, but my tummy was to upset. Tonight, for some reason I'm not hungry; I'm thinking I might be dehydrated - anyway, I guess I'll have more salad for breakfast tomorrow... I couldn't eat any of my steamed broccoli either... so weird, where'd my appetite go.

Lastly, I'd like to note that today is officially the seventh day I've had sans meat. That's the longest I can ever remember going with out meat, and I'm doing just fine - no craving or anything. However, on my walk back home from the gym today, I smelled some amazing smelling steak, and all I thought was, hmm, I wondered "Is that meat from some of the bulls that met their demise at the weekend bull fight. Hmm, wonder what their names were?? Fred? Tom? mmm, tasty, tasty Fred...

I am attempting to adhere to a certain inexact diet - one that does not involve dairy; nor, for the moment, meat (although that will change when I'm in Frankfurt (mmm, wursts!!!) and in Africa; and one that makes me less acidic (which, for one, means eating less to no grains/flour). I read something a while back about acidity causing cramping, and at any given moment if I curl my toes, they will cramp up. That does not seem normal, and I couldn't figure out why (and that's been going on for, well, I'm not sure how long, but at least 6months), so anyway, I got to thinking maybe I am like hyper-acidic,  a diet that will help me benefit and recover from my exercise in the maximum way possible.

This morning, I awakened at 10 and I wasn't ravenous when I woke up (as I usually am), so I just drank a full glass of water and a full glass of almond milk. Then about an hour or so later, I made a veggie side dish as the main dish, consisting of zucchini and mushrooms, flavored with onions, garlic, a trace of balsamic vinegar, and oregano (of course a pinch of salt was necessary too). (btw, whenever i smell oregano cooking, i think of pizza, and it makes me happy). Then for dessert (because dessert is always necessary even if you're on a diet...), I chopped and steamed two med-large carrots, and dusted them with ample cinnamon and a more conservative sprinkling of nutmeg. I'd thought about adding honey to make a nice glaze, but honestly steamed carrots are sweet enough on their own and for the abventure, it's best to leave out any extra sugar-containing foods (lol, ok, i just pronounced "sugar" [su-gr] not [shu-gr] b/c of this song, in which there is a line that absolutely cracks me up: "I bring a box with sugar to put you in" HAHAHA. This song is intensely popular in Spain right now, btw)

So, what's next on the menu today?? An omelet with three/four egg whites (will decide after my work out - depending on how hungry i am), one yolk, and broccoli (to counter inflammation...), a bit of onion, and probably, knowing me, more fresh pressed garlic... (sans queso, sans leche). Maybe i might toss in a few maters... depending on my mood. (not sure how those are for my cramping tho.) It's weird, I was reading that certain foods that are acidic, like citrus, actually have an alkaline effect on the body. I think tomatoes are most likely acidifying tho... I need to read up on this stuff tho.)

Then for my second dinner: a salad of mixed greens, one medium chopped beet, chopped walnuts, unsalted raw sunflower seeds, raisins, and, more than their fair share of soy sprouts (b/c I have way too many to eat before I leave monday! lol) - all topped with homemade raspberry vinaigrette, where I go real easy on the vinegar and heavy on the raspberries (they're freeze dried, btw, but I'll reconstitute them (obviously)) (and although acidic, they also have anti-inflammatory properties...)

If, I'm still hungry, for dessert, I will have homemade blueberry-banana soy yogurt, (which is way better than it sounds) (oh, and the yogurt is unflavored organic yog. from the store; I just add the blueberries (again reconstituted, freeze-dried) and banana, and voila, a tasty, tasty treat!

Lastly, although, it is very hot, I'll finish of the day with my favorite, minty, gingery, caffeine-free herbal tea.