What’s Cookin’

Life is very good and very, very full right now. Some things have had to give.

We’ve started having help with mowing … and even with the house-cleaning now and then.

My vegetable garden turned into a huge weed patch; I’d essentially given up on it until Eat Your Yard Out entered the picture.

Another thing that fell by the wayside was cooking at home.

Since taking possession of Peerless in May, we’d gotten into a habit of working to exhaustion, then eating out because I couldn’t imagine shopping and cooking at 8 or 9pm. It’s a catch-22 because I ate out because I was tired; but then all that restaurant food was killing my energy! One day I told my mom that if I’m going be this busy I need to start eating and exercising for energy. I started really listening to my body after each meal and heard a few things:

• It doesn’t take much gluten and sugar before I’m sluggish. Bread has gluten…so does beer.
• I feel better when I eat more raw foods.
• Let’s be honest, most dairy (besides yogurt) gives me gas.

Pretty simple stuff, no brainers actually! So after we returned from a trip to Minnesota a couple weeks ago, I stocked the fridge with lots fruits and veggies and decided to make time for cooking. Inspired by this Zen Habits post about the intersection of fit and fun, I’ve been cooking with more whole foods, a few more raw foods, and making it fun. Really fun! And totally tasty.

Some of our favorites (yes, Caleb loves these too!):

• Avocado and mustard seeds from my beautiful, new copy of Super Natural Every Day Food. You can download a free sampler that includes the recipe here.
• Steamed quinoa mixed with fresh basil and topped with grilled zucchini, onion, mushrooms and spicy tahini sauce. We eat this at least once a week and have served it to friends, too. Serve it alongside quartered figs drizzled with balsamic reduction. Let some of the balsamic mix with the tahini and veggies. Trust me on this.
• Small glasses of cold brew iced coffee with Silk coconut milk. Cold brew coffee has 67% less acid and I’ve read it doesn’t dehydrate the body as much. And it’s sooooooooo delicious.
• Veggie stir fry (with lots of greens) with cashews and coconut on top.
• Nikolas’ blueberry-banana smoothie with tahini, peanut butter and cold brew coffee (all the ingredients listed, so try it)
• Fresh fig and banana smoothie
• And this twist on oatmeal:

Blender Oatmeal

1/2 cup rolled oats
3 dates
Small handful almonds
1-2 tsp coconut oil

Blend. Eat. You can also add some shredded unsweetened coconut, just for kicks.

It will be dry and crumbly. Don’t worry, just go with it because it’s delicious, especially alongside a cup of coffee. Eat it with a spoon like you would oatmeal. Rolled oats are not actually raw, but this is a whole, simple and cool way to enjoy oatmeal in the summer. We even blended up a couple batches  for a two-night art de-installation trip to Lincoln last weekend. Ate it out of plastic cups in our hotel room and saved money on breakfast!

Energy levels increasing ….

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