Back in the Kitchen

Wow, I can't believe it's Thursday already! This week has FLOWN by. I'm already getting excited for the weekend!

It's been a busy week. On Monday, my son woke up with a bad cold and it also rained over 5 inches (!!) in my town, so we decided to just stay inside all day and snuggle in my chair. We read books, watched Cars, played with some toys, and were just cuddle bunnies all day :) My son is just the sweetest little thing and it makes me sad to see him sick. But it was good to just take a day and rest. It was not, however, a good day for me and my juicer. Apparently, even some juices are a little too hardcore for me.

I didn't have cucumber, lemon juice, fruit, or anything else to make this taste better. It was straight up collard leaves, celery, ginger, carrot, and romaine. It was not good. I consoled myself with a delicious carrot-ginger smoothie afterward.

On Tuesday, he was feeling a little better, so we made a quick run to BJ's to stock up on the essentials. In my house, the essentials are: 6 cartons of Silk soymilk, 1 large bottle of carrot juice, 2 English cucumbers, 1 lb of baby spinach, 9 lbs of bananas (hey, those smoothies don't make themselves!), a 4-lb bag of raisins, a gallon of Almond Breeze almond milk, and Megamind. (Okay, Megamind isn't technically an essential, but it's very funny...and it was on sale :)

Yesterday, my hubby surprised me by coming home from work at 9:30 in the morning and announcing that he had taken the rest of the day off. This was indeed surprising, as he's only taken one day off this entire year! I was totally psyched. My son seemed to be feeling better, too, so we decided to pack up and head to the beach. I grew up in Newport, RI, and my parents still live there, so we headed on down to their house so we could hit the beach with my Mom.

He could spend hours playing this game: "Where's my foot? Where's my foot? There it is!"

I think he had a little too much fun at the beach, though, because he woke up feeling warm this morning :( So, another day in the house was called for. My son actually asked to cook something with me this morning (*swoon*), so I decided we should make some snacky food. I thought it would be fun to try something out of Peas and Thank You, since I hadn't made anything out of the cookbook yet.

First up: Pumpkin Spice-Roasted Chickpeas (recipe here). Chickpeas, maple syrup, canola oil, cider vinegar, salt, nutmeg, ginger, and cinnamon are tossed together and roasted until they become crispy. Here are the chickpeas, fresh out of the toaster oven:

 I put them in a little container in the fridge for easy snackin':

We also made Chewy Energy bars (recipe similar to the one here). Maybe these will help me kick my Larabar habit.

After these were done, my poor little guy was needing a nap, so I put him to bed and then came downstairs, pondering what to make for lunch. I was feeling like chickpea salad, so I started grabbing some stuff out of the fridge and pantry, and in 5 minutes flat, I had a tasty lunch ready!

Speedy Chickpea Salad
Serves 4

1 15-oz can organic chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons Vegenaise
1 tablespoon capers plus 2 teaspoons brine
2 medium stalks celery, finely chopped
1 scallion, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon dulse granules (can substitute sea salt, to taste)

Mash chickpeas in a sturdy bowl with a potato masher. Add the rest of the ingredients and combine.

I decided to use it in some collard wraps. I destemmed a large collard leaf, then added some romaine lettuce and a big scoop of my chickpea salad.

I topped this with some sliced grape tomatoes...

And then rolled it up like a burrito.

I also had some stuffed into some little romaine leaves. I actually preferred these to the collard wrap!

I was pretty happy with how my quick 'n easy lunch turned out!

My son's up from his nap, and he just told me "I'm upset because you're on the computer." I think it's time for me to sign off :)

Summer Rolls

It was a complete coincidence that tonight's dinner was Nectarine and Basil Summer Rolls from Vegetarian Times - I mean, what could be more appropriate for the first official dinner of summer than Summer Rolls? I totally didn't plan it that way, but I think it's a fun co-inky-dink :)

I was laughing as I was making dinner, because my hubby wandered into the kitchen and said, "We've had these before, right?" I said, "Yes, hon, I usually make them once (just once!) every summer!"I think the reason why I only make them once every summer is because I don't ever have rice paper wrappers on hand, and they take a bit of prep to get ready. However, this year I decided to switch out the rice paper wrapper in favor of a good old collard leaf and make collard rolls. You know what? It worked great! I'll definitely make them more often now because I often have collards on hand.

The recipe calls for nectarines, avocado, basil, and watercress leaves rolled up in rice paper wrappers and served with a tangy, succulent almond butter-rice vinegar-maple syrup-soy dipping sauce. The sauce is amazing - I could probably drink an entire bowl of it. But I've discovered over the years that my tummy is particularly sensitive to having both avocado and nuts in the same meal. This is an important principle of food combining that I have learned to obey. I substitute coconut butter for the almond butter because coconut is a much better combination with avocado. It also tastes freakin' DELISH mixed with the rice vinegar, maple syrup, and soy (I substitute tamari). Yumbles.

Here's a collard leaf, stacked with basil, sliced nectarines, avocado, and some baby spinach:

 Here's a whole bunch of 'em:

 And here's one all sliced up and purty:

 I also made a salad and topped it with quinoa and Carrot-Ginger Dressing from Appetite for Reduction. Here's the dressing (looks sorta like baby food, doesn't it!)

 Salad with baby spinach, celery, radishes, orange pepper, quinoa, cucumber, and the dressing:

For my afternoon snack, I had a Blueberry Cardamom Breakfast Smoothie:

It's one of my favorite smoothies and I'm not sure why I haven't made one in so long! I love everything in it - blueberries, bananas, cardamom, and cinnamon. It's so simple, yet so brilliant! And what a lovely color. It hit the spot this afternoon!