Divine HealthIn pursuit of healthy living.

One of my favorite things about living in San Diego is the endless hiking options. There are so many different areas to hike that are all unique. We decided to try a hike in the Laguna Mountain area last weekend. I wanted to bring a light lunch to eat along the way and knew it was going to be really hot.

Cold and juicy!

Veggie wrap ready to roll

Veggie wraps are great because you can use any combination of veggies you have on hand. I used white beans, zucchini, spring mix, sprouts, tomato, red pepper and a little dressing.  We stopped about half way through the hike and found a nice cool rock to sit on.

Enjoying the shade

The watermelon was particularly refreshing. This lunch hit the spot and gave us enough energy to finish the hike.

It was a beautiful day!

What is your favorite food to take on a long, hot hike?

I think this makes a refreshing light dinner on a hot summer evening. The cole slaw can be made ahead and kept cold. It called for crunchy Asian noodles but I couldn’t find any that didn’t have HFCS so I used rice crackers and they tasted great on the salad. The original sauce for the rolls called for fish sauce so I tossed it aside and used a recipe for a sweet and spicy sauce that a friend gave me. The rolls require a bit of work but I promise they are worth it! Cool, crunchy, sweet, salty and delicious!

Slightly Asian Cole Slaw (adapted from Sam the Cooking Guy)

Ingredients:

• 1-10 ounce bag cole slaw
• 1 red pepper
• 3 tablespoons vinegar, rice vinegar if you have it – if not white is just fine
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• Rice crackers (broken into bite size pieces)

Directions:

• Add vinegar, sesame oil, soy and sugar to a small pot over medium heat to mix, but do not boil – remove from heat
• Slice red pepper into thin strips and then cut them in half lengthwise – you don’t want them too long
• Mix together red pepper, cole slaw and cooled sauce
• Top with rice crackers just before serving

Asian Cole Slaw with Rice Crackers

Asian-Style Veggie Rolls ~ Adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients (rolls):

• 8” round sheets rice paper
• 2 cups thinly sliced bibb lettuce leaves (I used spinach)
• 2 cups cooked bean threads (cellophane noodles)
• 1 cup fresh bean sprouts
• 1 cup shredded carrot (about 1 large)
• ½ cup coarsely chopped fresh mint
• ½ fresh cilantro leaves
• ¼ cup thinly sliced green onions

Ingredients (sauce)

• 1 cup rice wine vinegar
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tbsp hot chile sauce

Prep work done, ready to start rolling!

Preparation

• To prepare rolls, add hot water to a large, shallow dish to a depth of 1 inch. Place 1 rice paper sheet in dish, and let stand for 30 seconds or just until soft. Place sheet on a flat surface. Arrange 1/4 cup lettuce over half of sheet, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Top with 1/4 cup bean threads, 2 tablespoons sprouts, 2 tablespoons carrot, 1 tablespoon mint, 1 tablespoon cilantro leaves, and 1 1/2 teaspoons green onions. Folding sides of sheet over filling and starting with filled side, roll up jelly-roll fashion. Gently press seam to seal. Place roll, seam side down, on a serving platter (cover to keep from drying). Repeat procedure with remaining roll ingredients.
• To prepare sauce, in small bowl combine rice wine vinegar, sugar, ¼ cup water and chile sauce; set aside.
• Serve rolls with sauce and enjoy!

Make sure the surface is wet or they will stick!

Maybe not beautiful but delicious nonetheless!

What’s your favorite meal to make when it’s too hot to cook?

I think I’m in a recipe rut. The problem is my arsenal of cookbooks and recipes include lots of meat and dairy based dishes. Since going vegetarian and trying to go vegan I have found lots of new recipes but I don’t think I have enough. I find myself unmotivated to pick recipes, shop and cook. But I love cooking so this doesn’t make sense. I’ve started reading a ton of vegan blogs and websites looking for inspiration but most of the time the recipes look difficult or time consuming. I’m okay with that once or twice a week but not every night. The other problem I run across is recipes with tons of ingredients which translates to spending more money than I’d like. We rarely eat out so that means that I make dinner every single night. That’s a lot of recipes, assuming I don’t repeat any of them too often. Erik will eat anything, he’s not excited about food. He only eats because he has to. I wish I had that kind of relationship with food, then maybe this wouldn’t be as difficult.

A few of my veg'n cookbooks

I’m also frustrated by the fact that most vegetarian recipes use cheese or other fattening products. Is it really that hard to come up with healthy vegetarian/vegan recipes? Surely not. I think I’m going to have to start making up more of my own.

Where do you find recipes and inspiration to cook?

The hubs and I really enjoy pizza but we’re burnt out on Margherita and all the other usual suspects. I decided to try out my old barbeque chicken recipe using tofu. It turned out really great! I like the ease of buying a pre-made whole wheat pizza dough from Trader Joes or Whole Foods.

BBQ Chik’n Pizza

Ingredients:

1 whole wheat ready to bake pizza dough

¼ cup barbeque sauce

¼ cup pizza sauce (pasta sauce or tomato sauce with Italian herbs will work)

8-10 ounces firm tofu (seitan would work great as well)

2 Tbs cilantro finely chopped

¼ cup red onion finely chopped

2 Tbs olive oil

½ cup shredded mozzarella or cheddar cheese (Daiya vegan cheese works too)

Instructions:

Let the dough rest at room temperature and prepare as directed on packaging. I like the way it turns out if you pre-cook for about 5 minutes, then add the toppings and finish cooking. Press the tofu to remove excess water and chop into small pieces. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and add tofu, cook until the tofu turns golden brown. Remove from heat and toss the tofu with barbeque sauce. Spread the pizza sauce in a thin layer over the crust and top with cheese, tofu, onions and cilantro. Cook for about 10 minutes or according to the package.

We try to eat a decent amount of veggies with every meal so I made a quick green salad to go along with the pizza. It was a perfect meal.

What’s your favorite vegetarian pizza toppings?

Yesterday we brought the spa home by giving ourselves a French Pedicure. Today let’s add to that experience with some delicious cucumber water! Everytime I go to the spa I love the water they have in the relaxation rooms. Usually there is a citrus and a cucumber water. One day it hit me that there’s no reason I can’t have this at home. Now it’s my favorite way to enjoy water in the summer. If you don’t like cucumbers you could do the same thing with oranges, lemons and limes or any combination of them. Strawberries would be good too.

This is a really great way to get your daily intake of water if you don’t normally like to drink it.

Step 1: Slice a cucumber, you’ll want about 5-7 slices for every liter of water

Slice the cucumber

Step 2: Add cucumber and filtered water to a pitcher

I like the ease of a Brita Filter System

Step 3: Refigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 24. The longer you leave the cucumbers the stronger the water will be. You want to remove them after 24 hours because they will start to desinigrate.

Tasty!

Step 4: Sit back, relax and pretend you are at the spa while you enjoy a glass of delicious cucumber water!

I love grilling in the summer! To be honest though, since we live in San Diego we grill year round. I do grill more in the summer though. Especially since the season brings tons of great veggies! Corn on the cob is probably one of my favorites on the grill. I’ve tried soaking it, leaving the husk on and a few other ways. I’ve found the easiest method is to grill it with foil. It comes out perfect every time and requires little effort. This works great on a grill or even a camp fire!

Grilled Corn on the Cob

Ingredients:

1 ear of corn per person plus one square of foil for each

Earth Balance organic buttery spread – about 1 teaspoon per cob

Salt to taste

Directions:

Peel the husks off and rinse the cobs, dry thoroughly. Lay foil squares out and spread the Earth balance right on the foil, add a dash of salt if desired.

Place the corn on the foil and roll it up, twisting the ends to close. Repeat for as many cobs as you have.

Grill on medium to high heat for about 20 minutes total, turning at least 3 or 4 times to prevent burning. If you are using a charcoal grill or a camp fire it might take closer to 30 minutes and you should turn the corn every 5. Carefully remove the foil and enjoy your tasty grilled corn!

What’s your favorite veggie to grill in summer?

My favorite vegan cookbook author and blogger, Happy Herbivore promotes cooking without salt or fat. When I was on the 30 day whole food challenge we had a few chats about using water to sauté ingredients. I thought she was crazy and couldn’t believe it would actually work, let alone taste good. I was delighted to find out she was right! There’s a reason she’s the cookbook author, not me. If you ever want to chat with her just like her facebook fan page or follow her on twitter, she’ll post when she is going into the chat room. It’s always a lot of fun!

Here is my favorite recipe sautéing with water. I’m not big on measuring so all quantities may be adjusted and it will turn out great, I promise!

Triple bean and lentil chili

2 medium tomatoes or 1 can diced tomatoes

1 small can tomato sauce plus 1 can or about 2 cups water

1 can each kidney, pinto and great northern white beans

1/3 cup each red and green lentils

1/3 cup each red, green and yellow bell peppers, chopped

½ cup white or yellow onion, chopped

1 jalapeno

5 garlic cloves

Chili powder, cayenne, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Put enough water in a large sauté or frying pan to cover about ¼” and bring it up to a simmer. Add the bell peppers, onion and jalapeno, sauté for about 5 minutes or until almost tender. Add the garlic and sauté for about 1 minute more. Add all of the ingredients to a crock pot or slow cooker and cook on low for about 8 hours or high for 4 hours. You can add chopped green onion to the top if desired.  

This chili isn’t as heavy as a meat based chili and would actually be good in summer or winter.

Have you ever sautéed in water? Are you as skeptical as I was? Try it out and let me know how it goes!

To date my posts have been about serious issues so today I want to mix it up with my new favorite recipe. It’s perfect for a weekend dinner and I suggest enlisting the help of a loved one, it makes the cooking more fun. :) I love this recipe because it is really easy and made from scratch. How often do you hear those terms together in one pizza recipe? I had never cooked with polenta and was worried I might dis-like it but both the hubby and I found it to be quite tasty!

Crust:

1 ½ cups coarse cornmeal

1 tsp. salt

1 ½ cups cold water

2 cups boiling water

Dash of olive oil

Filling:

1 Tbs. olive oil

1 small onion, thinly sliced

1 cup thinly sliced bell pepper

1 large zucchini, thinly sliced

5-6 medium cloves garlic, sliced

2 tsp. dried basil or 2 Tbs. minced fresh basil

½ tsp. oregano

Fresh black pepper

¼ pound mozzarella cheese, grated

2 small or 1 medium ripe tomato, sliced

1) Combine cornmeal, salt and cold water in a small bowl. Have the boiling water on the stove in a saucepan and add the cornmeal mixture, whisking. Cook about 10 minutes over low heat, stirring frequently. It will get very thick. Remove from heat and let cool until handle-able.

2) Spread the mixture on a baking stone if you have one. Otherwise, oil a 10” pie pan. Use a spatula and wet hands to form it into a smooth, thick crust over the bottom (and sides) of the pan. Let stand at room temperature for at least 30 minutes, up to 2 hours.

3) Preheat oven to 375®F. Brush the surface of the polenta with olive oil and bake for 45 minutes.

4) While the crust bakes, heat 1 Tbs. olive oil in a medium sized skillet. Add the onion and sauté for 5 to 8 minutes, or until it begins to soften. Add bell pepper and zucchini and sauté until everything is tender. Stir in the garlic and herbs and sauté just a few minutes more.

5) Remove the polenta crust and turn the oven up to broil. Sprinkle half the cheese onto the bottom of the baked crust, then add the tomato slices. Spread the sautéed mixture over the tomatoes and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Broil until brown (about 5 minutes) and serve hot.

This recipe has been adapted from Moosewood’s “Polenta Pie”. You can add mushrooms, eggplant or any other veggie you like. The original didn’t call for letting the polenta rest but I believe it helps solidify the crust and it will break less if you do this. In a time crunch you could put it straight into the oven and it will turn out good. I didn’t have that much mozzarella so I mixed it with a little cheddar and it was very tasty, the flavors went well with the veggies.

If you try this recipe please let me know if you enjoyed it.