Tomatoes, Pickles and Manhattan Mondays

I have been feeling a bit down lately, so I decided to do a few comforting and relaxing things for myself on my day off.

One of them being sitting on my couch and watching one of my favorite movies.



And another one of them being this fresh and yummy tomato salad that I made for lunch today...

one vine-ripened tomato*, small-medium, diced
one persian cucumber, quartered length-wise and thickly sliced
two small israeli pickles, diced
two scallions, chopped
one tsp, freshly squeezed lemon juice
sunflower oil, very lightly drizzled
a dash of salt and a dash of pepper


*As far as vine-ripened tomatoes go, which are my favorite tomatoes (next to heirlooms), they contain double the amount of vitamin C as a hot-house tomato and are much more flavorful.
 
So good! Especially if you like things on the sour side, like I do.

brown rice pasta with raw zucchini!

I modified this recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks.

I love for so many reasons. The chapters aren't split up by courses or types of dishes, but they are split up as aids to an ailment you might have. Whether you need an energy boost, a detox or something to uplift your mood. It also has tons of fun (at least I think they're fun!) facts about what you are getting out of the recipe.

This recipe was under the energy chapter. I made this recipe almost exactly the way it was written, except that I used organic brown rice pasta rather than a whole wheat pasta because I am still trying to refrain from eating too much wheat or gluten. I also used ghee instead of both the oil and butter.

1 pound/pkg of organic brown rice pasta.
2 raw zucchini, finely grated.
2 tbs ghee.
2 tbs Parmesan cheese, finely grated.
sea salt, to taste.
freshly ground lemon pepper, to taste.

This recipe was so simple. All you do is mix all of the ingredients into the pasta after it's been cooked. I will say that by using ghee as opposed to butter, this dish came out a bit more rich than I was expecting. It was still really delicious, but I think next time I'll probably use half the amount and maybe add a few drops of olive oil if I need to.

back!

Well, friends. It seems as though I've been neglecting this place for a while, but here I am. I've hit a few bumps during this journey I've talked about in my previous posts. Since my last, I had lost about another ten pounds, but I've gained back about six. So I'm still 24 pounds down from when I started. After all these diets I've tried, I decided that Lindora is not right for me. Too much protein, and the packaged snacks were making me feel not so good. I live in this beautiful city where the quality of food is high and accessible, so I've been taking advantage of it lately and I feel good again!

I wanted to try to add more miso into my life, so here is a recipe that I've made into my own, adapted from a Whole Foods beet and mint slaw.

I love the contrast of the golden and red beets in the first photo! Anyway, here is the recipe:

2 medium to large sized beets, red and/or golden, raw and shredded.
1/2  fennel bulb and fronds, thinly sliced.
1/2 bunch of green onions, chopped.
a few sprigs of fresh mint (I used about 6 or 7), chopped.

Dressing:
4 tsp mellow white miso
3 tbs brown rice vinegar
2 tbs agave nectar or honey (I used one of each)
ground black pepper, to taste.
 -whisked together in a little bowl and the poured over and tossed into the salad.

So yummy!