Day One of a Hundred

DISCLAIMER:  I don't want people to think that to work with me as a Holistic Nutrition Client you must pledge to be a vegetarian or listen to me prattle on about animal rights.  I believe in Bio-Individuality, which states that one person's perfect food could be another's poison.  The hallmark of my private nutrition work in fact, is helping each client figure out for herself what foods work with her body/life and what does not.  Vegeterainism is good for some, but not so good for others.  The important thing for EVERYONE though is to decrease the amount of animal protein eaten while increaing vegetables and plant matter.  Pretty much every diet plan agrees with that.

With that out of the way, let's talk food:

On Friday I went to the shuk (outdoor fruit and vegetable market) near my house and took a picture of all the beautiful things I bought:

Yum

For breakfast today I had a BIG GREEN Smoothie.  I didn't snap a pic but I eat this almost everyday so I'll get it tomorrow.  In it was:

1 banana

1 mango

2 handfuls spinach

1 cup chopped red cabbage

1 T ground flaxseeds

3 cups water

Sounds gross?  It looks bit gross too, truth be told, but it is DE-LISH.  Seriously, it just tastes fruity and sweet and it is just packed with energy, fiber, and nutrition.  It makes a full blenderful so I drink it over time.

I was teaching a class in Raanana at lunchtime, so I saved a bit of the lunch I served at class to eat when I got home.  I always serve food to the weight loss groups I teach.  I think it's very important to show people how to make things and to let them taste it as well.  I also find that it's a real treat for women to be fed.  We spend so much of our time feeding others and then stuffing something icky or unsatisfying in our own mouths.  Like we don't deserve to take the time to make our own healthy food and eat it.  Let's just turn that on it's head already, shall we?

This is Tempeh Chili, Cheezy Vegan Potato Skins and a salad with avocado dressing.

I had two helpings of that and then some chai tea with almond milk so I wasn't so hungry when we got to dinnertime.

Leftover Vegetable Mung Bean Soup from Shabbat and a few brown rice cakes with hummus topped me off for the evening.

Sundays are the first day of the work/school week here in Israel and they always feel like a full-out sprint from sun-up to sundown.  I'm heading off to bed with my bookclub book.

Here's the recipe for the Potato Skins.  If you want any of the other recipes, please leave a comment below or email me at Emily@TriumphWellness.com

Cheezy Vegan Potato Skins

inspired by recipe of the same name on Compassion Over Killing http://www.cok.net/

4 baking potatoes

1/2 butternut squash

1 head garlic (you will only use 4 cloves, the rest can be saved to spread on bread or use in recipes)

cumin or shwarma seasoning to taste

1-2 T olive oil (optional)

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 200C.  Wash and prick the potatoes.  Place them in hot oven.  Place the squash, cut side down in a pan with a bit of water.  Place it in the oven also.  Lastly, slice off the top of the garlic head, wrap it in foil and place it in the oven with everything else.  Bake all for 1 hour or until soft.

When everything is cool enough to handle, slice the potatoes in half and scoop out the innards, leaving a potato skin shell.  Put the potato innards in a bowl and mix in the squash innards and 4 cloves of the now soft, roasted garlic which will squeeze right out of it's skin.  Add the oil if using and the seasoning to taste.  Mash it all up smooth.

Spread about 1-2 T of the mashed potato-squash-garlic filling back into the skins.  Place them back in the oven for about 15 minutes until crisp and golden.

These LOOK cheesey and they TASTE cheesey but they don't have any artery-clogging, zit-producing, cow suffering dairy.  Yay!