Thanksgiving Goodies

Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay your vows unto the most High.

Psalm 50:14

It is Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada and we celebrate Thanksgiving on Monday, October 10, 2011.  I was wondering what to make that would be healthy.

Most of my lovely readers know that I've been trying to eat healthier and find different and fun recipes for using vegetables and other healthy foods. Creative and interesting ways of eating these foods means I will be more likely to eat them.

In my family we tend to eat turkey for the Thanksgiving meal. This year we will have a stuffed chicken. For dessert we will probably have pumpkin pie or maybe a pumpkin mousse pie.  For mashed potatoes I thought I would  make mashed cauliflower (mock mashed potatos) for a change and I'd like to try this new recipe for kale salad. I haven't cooked the dinner yet and probably won't until Monday so I am having to use other photos (with proper credit given). I wanted to share the recipes with you in case you want to use any of them.

The first recipe comes from nutritionist, Julie Daniluk, host of Healthy Gourmet, a reality cooking show.  The other recipes I picked up here and there.  Ms. Daniluk's  first book, Meals that Heal Inflammation is soon to be published and I understand it will advise on allergy free foods that both taste great and help the body's healing process.

THANKGIVING KALE SALAD

Photo credit: Julie Daniluk and Chatelaine magazine

Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa (yields 4 cooked cups)
2 1/2 cups water, divided
8 cups kale (yields 4 steamed cups), stems removed, cut into ribbons
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup dried cranberries (juice-sweetened)

Dressing:
1/4 cup pumpkin seed butter (use almond butter if you can't find pumpkin)
1/4 cup apple cider
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/2 tsp salt (reduce if needed)

Directions:

1. Place quinoa and 1.5 cups of water into a medium pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, then simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat for five minutes, then fluff with a fork. Let cool.

2. Place kale and 1 cup water in a large pot and steam for two minutes. Drain well.

3. Place cooked quinoa into kale pot. Add seeds and berries. Mix well to combine.

4. Mix all dressing ingredients together in a bowl and add to pot.

5. Combine well. Serve warm immediately or chill and serve.

Makes nine cups.

Modifications:  Since there will only be two of us for Thanksgiving dinner, I will quarter this recipe. I also plan to use almond butter rather than pumpkin seed butter as that is what I could find at the shop yesterday.

For my readers in Africa or for those who don't have quinoa readily available you could use cous cous, bulgar wheat, cracked wheat, or barley.  For the pumpkin seed butter you could substitute smooth peanut butter in the dressing recipe and use any kind of seeds (pumpkin, sliced almonds, peanuts, cashews, etc.) in the salad itself.

CAULIFLOWER "MASHED" POTATOES 

1 head cauliflower
1/8 skim milk
Salt & pepper
Optional seasonings: Ranch dressing, garlic, cheddar cheese, chili powder.
 
Cook cauliflower until fork tender. Place cauliflower (in pieces), skim milk, salt and pepper in blender. Whip until smooth. Pour cauliflower into small baking dish. Sprinkle with seasoning to taste. A few shakes of Ranch dressing powder,  or add garlic, salt and pepper, cheddar cheese, or a dash of chili powder. Serve hot/warm.

PUMPKIN MOUSSE PIE

1 graham wafer pie crust
2 tbsp. gelatin powder
1 cup water
1 cup whipping cream
1 can (19 oz). pumpkin pie filling
1 cup walnuts
1 cup mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 nutmeg

Sprinkle gelatin in 1/2 water.  Boil remaining water, add to gelatin and stir until dissolved. In a separate bowl, whip whipping cream until stiff peaks form; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine pumpkin pie filling, walnuts, mascarpone, honey, cinnamon and nutmeg, stir well.   If you don't have mascarpone cheese you can use creme fraiche or cream cheese beaten with heavy whipping cream (about 3 parts cream cheese and 1 part whipping cream). Perhaps you could even use thick, plain yogurt. I think I will look use the yogurt myself.  Add gelatin. fold in whipped cream until combined and pour mousse into the ready made graham wafer pie crust. Gently shake the pie pan to release the air bubble and smooth out the surface.


 I hope  you enjoy these Thanksgiving meal recipes.
 It is a good time to reflect on all the many blessings we have at this time of year, especially the things we may take for granted.  For example, parents or loved one, a job or some means of financial support, shelter, food, the ability to walk, see, hear, etc. I am thankful for all these things and more especially since my ability to walk has been recently restricted.

Check out my post tomorrow to read one more thing for which I give thanks.

One Foot Forward & Two Steps Back

I waited patiently and expectantly for the Lord; and He inclined to me and heard my cry.

Psalm 40:1

After having about two days of little to no inflammation and my right leg feeling almost perfectly better, I was feeling rather hopeful about being able to walk again soon. Perhaps I overdid it. I don't know but it does appear that way. Because today I was in excruciating pain.

We are fully into the Fall season here but have had a lot of rain already. I love to walk outside when it isn't raining and enjoy the Fall colours.

The pain started up again on Thursday night while I tried to sleep. It slowly got worse. Yesterday I walked about 18 city blocks and for 7 of those I was carrying heavy bags of groceries. Did that aggravate my leg pain?  In retrospect, probably "yes".

I especially like to see all the leaves on the ground.  The moment I stepped off the city bus, I was captivated by this red leaf amongst all the golden ones.

My acupuncture doctor said I should be taking it easy and go slowly, very slowly with my activities. I told her that until one tries something and realizes it was too much, how is one to know that it was too much? I said that it is only normal to do things when you start to heal.  She thought I was making excuses. She said the healing takes time and that as long as I am moving forward (with healing) then we are going in the right direction.

I had to capture the red maple leaf up close. This is the leaf that is on Canada's flag.  Isn't it pretty?

I do totally agree that healing takes time but I figure I have given it a lot of time already (about 7 weeks) and so I thought we were kind of getting to the end of the healing process. My acupuncturist shared with me that she herself had similar leg issues which took a year to get better and she is a healthy person with no previous illnesses, as well as a Tai Chi instructor. I thought "wow!".  If it took her that long, it is going to take me even more time!  Here I thought I was nearing the finish line of therapy. That's a laugh.  I guess I have to take it easier than I thought.

I'm learning that I don't have a lot of patience. I am raring to do things and move normally.  I've been praying a lot for myself and especially as I get my treatments.  The scripture verse at the top tells me I need to be patient and expectant.  When my body says slow down.  I must listen.

Are you a patient person or an impatient one?
How do you deal with inconveniences like what I'm dealing with?

I like the wild English garden look in this photo. I don't know the name of the flowers.

I took some photos that brightened my day. It won't be long before there are no more beautiful flowers to photograph here. Hopefully, I've taken enough of them so I can share them now and then during our long, rainy winter.

I take this time to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving as we celebrate Thanksgiving here on Monday, October 11, 2011 this year.  If I am up to it on Monday, I will make a small dinner.   I won't be making a large turkey. Instead I will make roasted chicken, mashed cauliflower (or mock mashed potatoes), kale salad and pumpkin pie. I'll post the recipes later. Have a blessed holiday.

Today's Juice

‘We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore is not an act but a habit.’

Aristotle

I read the quote earlier this week on someone's blog and I liked it because it is the habits of excellence in regards to healthy eating and living that I am trying to achieve right now.

One of those habits is to make sure I get my greens. In my most recent juicing experiment I used

- one bunch of kale with the ends of the stalks removed
- 2 or 3 cauliflower florets
- 1 small green pepper
- 1/3 of a carrot for sweetener

There wasn't a whole lot of juice from juicing a whole bunch of kale. I used 3 or 4 times what you see in the top photo. I didn't quite use enough carrot to cut the bitterness but it wasn't that bad especially as there wasn't a full glass of it. You can see the juice is very dark and green and I like the foam on top. For the nutritional benefits of kale, read here.

Macro Flowers, October 7, 2011

If you've been following my blog posts on macro flowers you will know that I often take photos as I go on short walks in my neighbourhood.  I don't have a big garden and I don't seem to have a green thumb either. It's probably because I spend so little time cultivating what I plant.  Some day I hope to take up gardening a little more seriously.  In the meantime, I'm fortunate that I live in a city of avid gardeners and I don't have to go far to enjoy flowering plants.

In one of my walks, I took these photos of the delightful little bush with small, white flowers. I was enthralled by the centre of the flower which if you examine it closely looks a lot like the daisies I featured in this post.

My hand wasn't steady enough for the first macro shot.

This shot is a little better. At least you can make out the intricate pattern. Isn't it lovely?

Hummus & Veg

Yesterday (Wednesday)  I made some vegetable juice for lunch and had a pasta stir fry with lots of vegetables and shrimp for dinner. It was great but I was so full.  Today that juice really worked on me to cleanse my system.  So today I made juice again but I reversed the order of meals and opted to have juice for dinner.  Instead of my usual and savoured coffee, I had several cups of green tea.

I had my regular lunch and tonight I had a green juice instead of the fennel I talked about yesterday. I made spinach juice with some cauliflower and a small amount of apple for sweetner. I also added some water and some green powder (full of spirulina and such like). It was good with the apple otherwise it would have tasted like alfalfa (I know what tastes like as mom used to make a health potion when I was a child and it had alfalfa powder in it).

My spinach - cauliflower and apple juice.

Yesterday I boiled up some chick peas to have on hand for when I want to make hummus.  So tonight I made hummus and had that with some veggies, whole wheat pita warmed up in the oven and of course my green juice.

I was feeling very tired today. It seems that almost everyone I speak with near or far has some kind of early cold bug. I got mine last week. My acupuncture doctor even told me today that her pup has a "doggy cold". I didn't know dogs get a cold but she says it is phlegm in his chest and she is treating him like she treats her human patients.  Giving him herbs to expel the mucus.

I suppose it is the change of weather and seasons that is making people sick. Hopefully the greens will help me keep my immune system strong. I noticed I got over the little cold I had last week and it hardly bothered me at all.

A sample of my dinner.

Hummus is a popular dish that originated in the Middle East. It is a spread, dip, or paste made of chickpeas and tahini that is usually eaten with pita or any other flat bread, often during breakfast. It has a texture and consistency similar with peanut butter. This Middle Eastern favorite is widely used in countries like Syria, Israel, Turkey, Greece, Cyprus and Lebanon. Its popularity is rooted not only from its delicious taste but also from its great nutritional value.


The nutritional benefits of hummus can be gleaned from each of its ingredients. The primary ingredient, chickpeas are very healthy because they do not contain any cholesterol or saturated fats. They are also rich in protein. This makes hummus a favorite among vegetarians. Chickpeas are also known to be effective in preventing build up of cholesterol in the blood vessels. Apart from that, it can maintain correct blood sugar levels. So chickpeas are a perfect food for my health issues.  Olive oil is a healthy fat and can help regulate cholesterol and protect the heart from various diseases. Garlic and lemon juice are great antioxidants and help strengthen the immune system and help fight bacteria and viruses. Tahini is full of fat and calories but you don't need much if you use it in your hummus.  I don't generally use tahini in my hummus because it is just one more ingredient I have to have on hand and I wouldn't use it very often.  My recipe for hummus is therefore, "tahini free".

Ingredients for hummus

- chick peas cooked
- liquid from the stored chick peas
- one small red pepper
- cloves of garlic to taste
- lemon juice to taste
- olive oil not too much, just enough to make it a bit smooth
- a bit of salt to taste


Whip all this up in a blender or food processor. I add the olive oil slowly at the end so I don't add too much and I add the salt at the end too.  Perhaps you don't even want or need any salt in your hummus. Taste it first and see.  I added the red pepper because I like red peppers and it adds a slightly deeper colour.

I boil up dried chick peas most of the time rather than buy them canned. After I cook them I store them in the refrigerator in a covered container with a bit of water.  I use some of that water in the hummus mixture when I process them.

My hummus was all right but I rushed to make it so I can have dinner before 8 p.m. and I need to work on getting the right balance of garlic and lemon juice.  The consistency was perfect and went well with my warmed up pita.


Try it and let me know how you like it :-)