Detox Diet and Adventures in Food

I've been feeling very crummy lately. Sluggish, tired, bloated, moody. And not just this week either... I've felt this way for a while.

So, I figured rather than blame my hormones, I'd see if perhaps food is contributing.

So I'm trying a detox diet. Type it into google and you'll get the whole enchilada, but in a nutshell, I'm eating fruit, vegetables, quinoa, rice, seasalt, pepper, herbal teas, olive oil and soy sauce. No Gluten/wheat, no dairy, no meats. And no sugar. Which pretty much rules out every processed food in existence. Honestly, of all the things on that list, I'm having the hardest time with the sugar. No artificial sweetners, no agave nectar, no honey. I could use stevia, but I don't personally like the taste of it. Valentines is coming up and Easter hot on it's heels. There is chocolate EVERYWHERE!!! And I want it. All of it. I can't even really enjoy a hot beverage without some sort of sugar in it, and I'm used to having a hot beverage in my hand every time I turn around... Oh well. I might yet wave my magic wand and declare honey kosher.

Yesterday was day 1 of the detox diet, I ate steamed veggies with sesame seeds, squash soup, mango, and cashews in no particular order. I also went shopping in Chinatown. Best thing I ever did. It's the nicest, and cheapest produce in town. I will continue shopping there even after the diet is over.

This morning, breakfast was a mango and a sugar-apple... something I've never even seen let alone eaten before.

It looks from the outside like a reptilian cousin of an apple- the skin is a patchwork of scales. The scales pull back easily from the soft fruit which grows in little capsules around the seeds rather like pomegranate fruit does. That's where the similarities end though. The sugar-apple flesh is mushy, slightly grainy, sweet and is supposed to taste and feel kinda like custard. I've never had custard, so I couldn't tell you. It was delicious, but easily the most pricey item I purchased yesterday.

For lunch I stir-fried purple sweet potato, green beans, onions, garlic, broccoli, red peppers and sesame seeds and served it over quinoa.

I'd never eaten quinoa either. I wasn't sure I'd like it because it's only recently that I'll even eat rice. The smell did nothing to soothe my fears. It's not bad, kinda like a cross between rice and something green... but it didn't smell particularly appetizing to me. It was just fine to eat though. There is very little flavour to it on it's own, and the texture isn't horrible. It just added sustenance to the meal and took on the flavour of the stir-fry. The meal was delicious, and I practically licked the plate clean.

Now I'm turning my thoughts to dinner which will likely be baked squash... except with olive oil not margarine, and no brown sugar... :( I suppose I'll have to make due with sea salt and pepper. Maybe I'll cut some slices of mango and put them inside the squash cavity as it bakes, and see if that lends some sweetness....

What I'm Reading

I haven't updated you on what I've been reading recently, so I might as well do that now! Recently I've read two more books from Jane Lindskold's Firekeeper series. The stories focus around a young woman known as Firekeeper or Lady Blysse among other names, who was raised by sentient Wolves following a tragic fire that destroyed the settlements her family was colonizing. Firekeeper is the only human survivor west of the iron mountains for many years, because of an unspoken pact between the Royal or Wise Beasts and the humans, but when when a party of explorers discovers her existence they set out to re-domesticate her and bring her back to human society. Lady Blysse, who believes she IS a wolf, if a funny looking one, struggles to assimilate, even as her courage and unusual talents for woodcraft make her invaluable on several missions and expeditions in the service of King Tedric. The most recent two books I've read, Wolf Captured and Wolf Hunting see Firekeeper and her ever-present lupine companion Blindseer captured and captivated by intrigues of a foreign land called Linglim. They're an easy read, the sort of thing that isn't really a mental work out to grasp, but good none the less. I've read 5 books of the series so far, and I'm thirsting after the 6th and final book, Wolf's Blood, but alas the library here doesn't carry it.

I also finally read the 3rd book of the Eragon series, Brisingr. I had just as hard a time putting it down as I did when I read the first two when I was about 14. I decided to read this third book just for the sake of continuity and not leaving the series unfinished, but found myself eagerly awaiting the fourth and final book of what has been destined to become a quartet since the very beginning, though many became doubtful with the years that passed between Eldest and Brisingr. Christopher Paolini was much younger when he wrote the first two books, and I applaud his ability to reach way back and recapture the childlike wonder that makes this fantasy so rich.

I've also been reading some non-fiction material related to alternative health care, such as Essential Reiki by Diane Stein. It was very informative and interesting to read, even if she comes across a bit boastful and contradictory at times. For example, she preaches that reiki can only be passed on through attunements by a master, and yet she herself didn't want to pay to receive reiki training and was given her first attunements by a reiki II, and has never had certifications or proper training, yet she feels she can teach to so many others. Aside from my judgements of her personal validity however, this book was great for answering my questions about what is reiki, and would be a great reference and reminder for someone who already practices. I could see how reminders on how to draw the sacred symbols might come in handy for example. My goal is to become a reiki I in this next year, and depending on how I like it I may continue in that direction.

Another book I'm reading is Wild Health by Cindy Engel which describes methods animals have of avoiding and dealing with dis-ease and injury, and what we can take from their knowledge to apply to our own health. I'm not very far into it yet, I must admit though I love the idea of it, I'm finding it a little dry.

My Forest at Night

Thought I'd throw up a couple pictures of one of my favorite places on earth: The little patch of woodlands that borders my parent's subdivision. Zack and I took a walk there a while back in the dark and got some really beautiful pictures. They were taken with my mom's camera.

Enter into the cedar grove...

Fallen tree amongst it's strong comrades

One of these days I'll take a better, daylight picture of this spot. It's a pile of rocks and rubble in the midst of a farmer's field. Wild lavender grows all around and through it. We always called it a faerie circle as kids. If you could find your way to it through the wheat that came up to your waist or corn that was well over your head, it made a great spot for reading, or playing house, or just sitting and daydreaming.

The rest of the pics are too similar to the first three, or just plain too dark.

New Camera... went kinda trigger happy

Can't resist sharing a few pics I took with my new camera!

Brr...Welcome to out winter wonderland!

My favorite photography subject, by far.

Bath time with Dakota and Sahara.

Just a second too late... Taffy and Dakota WERE nose to nose... Still cute though!

Look guilty? That's because she just stole wrapping paper from a garbage bag and took off running with it. Then turned and sat on it in front of the tree as if to say "Photo op mom!"

I've become a wii-tard

For christmas we bought my mother the new wii fit plus game. I think the poor woman has gotten a mere hour on the thing since we bought it... my brothers and I can't get enough of it! My favorite feature is that it tells you how many calories are burned by doing each activity. A new app on my iPod Touch has me tracking my caloric intake and balancing them against calories I've burned through exercise, so it's nice to be able to tell it exactly how many calories I've burned. I'm currently "allowed" 1846 calories a day, and anything I eat above and beyond that (because lets face it, it's holiday season and there's a plethora of lovely goodies about that aren't a part of my normal diet!), I balance out walking the dog and playing on wii.

Another feature I like about the wii fit plus is it allows you to create a pet/baby account to track the weight of your pets or small children. Very handy. Taffy has put on about a pound since her vet visit in October, so I'm making an effort to walk her more, despite the cold!

Sidenote: Got a new camera for christmas!!!! It's a Cannon Powershot A480. Stay tuned for more pics coming soon!!

Winter!!!

Winter has closed it's icy fingers around us, but I for one don't really mind this year. It was a long time coming, and for both of my parents, snow means bonuses and overtime at work. I made my first snow man of the year a while back, pictured at right. Nothing spectacular... in fact he's pretty tiny. His eyes nose and buttons? They're made of chocolate chips. He's sitting up on the table top so he's safely out of reach of the dog :D.

Our last Pathfinder meeting of the year involved a trip to a local high school to go tobogganing on the hill behind their parking lot. Lots of fun was had by all. Even my friend's baby. She didn't actually go down the hill, but at 3 months old I think she's quite the little trooper just for toughing it out with us for an hour and a half!

Almost all of my shopping is done for the holidays... I have two people left to buy for. Not too bad considering!

For the first time ever I'm not watching every second tick by on the clock this last week before christmas... I'm more excited about what's coming after! January 2nd I move into my new place! Right down town Toronto! I'm a stone's throw away from Medieval Times.

Been making sugar cookies this week too... wish I had a camera available to me that day... they turned out really neat. Each and every one was different. I'll put the recipe up tomorrow... which is technically today because it's almost 1 am, but you know what I mean!

Yummy Fall Bounty- Squash!

I was never really raised eating squash. I think I tried it for the first time two years ago. Since then I've been slowly trying to integrate it into my family's repertoire of foods.

Again, you can get squash any time of year these days, but I find that there is never as much selection as at this time of year! And most of them local too! That aisle of the grocery store's produce section is usually showing a pale yellow (spaghetti squash), a beige (butternut) and if you're lucky, a bit of green (usually either acorn or pepper squash). There is nothing wrong with any of those, but it's exciting when the bright, unique colours come out in the fall. Acorn squashes also come in a golden variety, with a yellow to bright orange rind. I love acorn squashes for individual consumption- they're just the perfect size to feed one person. There are also the lovely forest-and-mint green striped sweet dumpling squashes. They hardly need any sweetening, because they have such high levels of natural sugar. Patty pan squashes are just so darned cute. No bigger than the palm of your hand, they're short and wide with pretty scalloped edges. If you get small enough ones you can eat them skin and all, like a summer squash (zucchini). Most people cook them, but I've eaten them raw too. Carnival squashes have just about every colour you can imagine on a squash all mottled together. They don't taste particularly different than say a pepper squash in my opinion, but they're very showy and make for really nice presentation. Hubbard squashes are interesting in that their surface is covered in "warts", though I've heard they can be a little bitter if they're too big. I couldn't say, I've only ever had a really mild one that tasted like a butternut. There are so many more, I couldn't begin to list them all, but go and take a look at the produce aisle.

So, we've gone to the grocery store, fallen in love with all the colours and textures, and picked 1 (or 5... I'm an all or nothing kinda girl...) that you want to try. Great! Now what on earth do you do with it? You can basically treat squash similar to tubers. They can be boiled, baked, steamed, whatever you like. My advice: play around with them! Patty pans are so tender I tend to chop the whole vegetable into a steamer, usually with mushrooms and zucchinis. Spaghetti squash's flesh literally peels off in tiny ribbons that resemble pasta. To prepare it, cut the squash in half lengthwise (it can be done with a big knife, but be careful, the rinds can be very tough. A friend of mine swears by keeping a sharp hatchet handy in squash season). Scoop out the seeds, and place the squash cut side down on a baking sheet. cook at 350 for about 45 min. Being upside down will trap the steam that the vegetable is generating, and cause it to cook better. Pull it out and gently pick at the flesh with a fork, loosening it away from the rind. Dump it in a bowl and fluff to separate the strands. Serve with pasta sauce, or cheese sauce... whatever you would normally put on noodles, but rather than gluing up your intestines and b-lining straight for your hips, you're getting a tonne of fibre, and beta carotene, and a whole bunch of other good vitamins. I find one squash will usually feed two people, or two meals for one person. Other squashes can be done in various ways. I've chopped and peeled them and added them to stews, boiled and pureed them for soups. I like to split them in half lengthwise and scoop our the seeds, then stuff the seed cavity with butter/margarine, honey and brown sugar. I've used maple syrup as well, but I personally am not fond of the flavour. To me, maple belongs on pancakes, waffles, french toast and not a whole lot else. If you prefer a more savory squash, try adding just the margarine with salt and pepper, and whatever combination of herbs tickles your fancy. Then with the cut sides up this time bake in a 350 ish oven for about 45 min or until flesh is soft. Alternately, put the two halves of the squash back together and wrap in tin foil and toss it on the bbq or into the coals of a fire.

And pumpkins aren't the only squashes who's seeds taste good roasted! Although it's a little more tedious because the seeds tend to be smaller, and there tends to be fewer of them, if you're doing up a couple squashes or more it's really worth the time to whip up these light crispy little treats. Separate the seeds out from the slime and stringy stuff. Rinse them, and spread them out in a single layer on a baking sheet. Hit them with salt and pop them in the oven. Similar to jerky, it's more about drying them out that actually baking them. I tend to use the oven lock to prop the door open a bit, and use a low temperature... in the 100's somewhere. usually about 170 ish I think. When the seeds start to take on a golden hue they should be done... but go on and taste one. Just to be sure. I know you want to.

Good luck, and enjoy!