Saturday

Coffee is brewing here. I'm downstairs at my cute neighbor's apartment. We're watching Planet Earth.

This morning, walking to Stony Creek, ate a banana to get breakfast started. Then wandering on the creek bank, had my favorite trail mix from Nuts to You ('Slightly Sweet,' $2.29 / lb.). Crunchy soy nuts, sunflower seeds, pepitas, peanuts, raisins, carob chips.

After creeking, and after thrift store shopping for home decor (successfully: $8 = Ikea stool, body pillow with washable brown cover, aqua throw pillow, two big cream-colored plates, two small white plates with blue trim and the words Delta Airlines on the bottom, two petite coffee cups that look like miniatures of big chunky midnight blue coffee mugs, and a little box with a green fish on it), my pal and I went grocery shopping at the DeKalb Thriftway.

I am so stocked for food. This is great. Discovered a wonderful generic brand called White Rose that has delicious things with short ingredient lists for cheap money.

1 lb. box of whole wheat penne
?-oz. pasta sauce (like, enough for the pasta, Newman's own, tomato and basil, $2.99)
1 lb. jar of White Rose natural peanut butter, $2.79
gigantic box of "whole grain" saltines (whole grain saltines?), $2.50, to spread the peanut butter on
22 oz. box (yes, you heard correctly) of Mom's Best raisin bran for $3.29, also with a strikingly short ingredient list
a 12-pack box of White Rose instant oatmeal, $2.49
a jar of Vlasic baby dills, $don't-remember
1/2-dozen doughnuts, $1.50

I cannot remember what else I bought right now, but I spent $23. My companion bought some peapods and tomatoes and coffee and some other important things. At home were couscous, asparagus and broccoli.

Dinner was couscous and steamed peapods, asparagus, broccoli and tomatoes. Dessert is dark, muddy coffee and doughnuts.

Yes, you are seeing  Steamed Grape Tomatoes.  

They were... tomatoey, in the very best way.

Snack, on my mind for later: Saltine cracker, peanut butter, crunchy soy nuts, banana slice, drizzle with honey (or not). Repeat.

Other snack, on my mind for another time: Raw peapods and broccoli and cherry tomatoes dipped in Italian dressing.

Also begging to be put with peanut butter: 'Slightly Sweet' trail mix from Nuts to You ($2.29/lb.) and oat bran pretzels ($1.50/lb. at Nuts to You). Spread peanut butter on a pretzel and sprinkle with trail mix.

Pasta and steamed veggies for dinner a couple times this week. Maybe once with just olive oil, seasoning and steamed veggies, and nutritional yeast, and once or twice with the marinara sauce and veggies. Marinara and veggies is decadent. Doesn't happen often enough in here.

Breakfast will be raisin bran and 8th Continent soy milk. Oranges. Coffee. Improv breakfast cereals: banana/trail mix/soy milk or even orange/trail mix/soy milk.

The couscous turned out better tonight. I didn't make it. Hm.

mushroom scramble

breakfast (8:30 a.m.) = oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar

brunch (11:30 a.m.) = bagel with scrambled mushrooms

Heat some olive oil and a diced red shallot, along with salt, pepper, and fennel seeds, over low heat. Add 5 small-medium button mushrooms (those small, round, white mushrooms that are easy to find), chopped. Heat, stirring/turning occasionally with a spatula, until the mushrooms are slightly browned on the edges, and you should hear water hissing out of them. Turn the heat off and let them continue to sizzle while your bagel toasts. I did mine in the oven at 400 degrees until it was slightly brown on the edges. Spread margarine on the bagel, then top it with the mushroom scramble. Don't be shy with the olive oil; mushrooms will drink it up. Fennel seed gives the topping a savory breakfast taste.

Saturday

Farmers' Market this morning:

Sweet potatoes

Crimini mushrooms

Red beans

Sweet onions

Red, orange and white carrots

Collard greens

Lettuce from York County, where it snowed last night

Breakfast this morning:

Sesame seed bagel with hummus, and coffee from Green Line Cafe across the street from the farmers' market, where I watched dogs walk by with their people and people shop at the market and street canvassers canvass.

Pictured above: Take-Out from Desi Village. I don't remember what the main dish there is called but it was basically mixed vegetables over rice. Also in the picture are vegetable pakora (veggies battered and fried) and vegetable samosas (peas and potatoes with cumin in a pastry shell). The green sauce is hot and the red sauce is sweet and smoky.

Co-op later for: bananas, raisins, English muffins, soy milk, nuts, and tea

Ready for the week

Made this chili with canned ingredients tonight, for lunch tomorrow. Roasting some greens (fresh from the farmers' market) right now to go with them. Will also bring grapes from the farmers' market that taste like wild grapes. Very excellent trip to the store tonight.

Fu-Wah Mini-Market

Whole wheat flour
mineral water (2)
diced tomatoes (in a can)
black beans (can)
kidney beans (can)
Beirut Tahini Sesame Paste
brown rice cakes
chili powder
1 quart Almond Dream almond milk
baking soda

Total: $23.80

At the farmers' market on Thursday, I bought...

collard greens
mustard greens
okra
green beans
grapes
blackberries
yellow onions
carrots
tomatoes

I think that's it. I have maple syrup to mix with the tahini paste to put on the rice cakes. I can now make whole wheat pancakes. (I'm getting really good at pancakes.)

Tomorrow:

Breakfast - raw grain and walnut cereal with almond milk and blackberries
Noon Lunch - roasted greens, tahini w/maple syrup on rice cakes, and grapes
3 pm Lunch - 2-bean chili
When I get home from Arcadia - Whole wheat pancakes w/maple syrup

An avocado gives you 4 grams of protein with a perfect amino acid score

Had to go downtown today, so I stopped at Trader Joe's.

out-of-the-ordinary shopping list

3 avocados
1 lb. of oatmeal
2 lbs. 4 oz. of pancake mix
8 oz. maple syrup
17.5 oz. strawberry preserves
1/2 dozen English muffins
80 Irish breakfast teabags
and
dish soap

total: $27 and change

Avocados are expensive, but they are $1.29 at Trader Joe's and $1.99 at Milk & Honey.

An avocado gives you 4 grams of protein with a perfect amino acid score.

So I grabbed three, figuring I will eat one and Mark will eat one and I will use the other for sandwiches.

Things I can have now that I couldn't have before these groceries:

pancakes (with syrup or jelly)
English muffins (with syrup or jelly)
mushroom scramble on English muffin
an avocado, lettuce, & onion sandwich with mustard
an avocado
a bowl of oatmeal (with or without maple syrup)
iced tea
hot tea

We're out of bread and the stores are closed but I had a mushroom, lettuce, & onion sandwich earlier, will get bread tomorrow, and will have the avocado sandwich for lunch Friday.

Shortly: pancakes

For breakfast tomorrow: English muffin with strawberry jelly, oatmeal

For lunch tomorrow: not sure

Dinner tomorrow: baked potato, steamed asparagus & carrots, miso soup

Breakfast Friday: grapefruit, oatmeal

Lunch Friday: avocado, lettuce, & onion sandwich with mustard

Dinner Friday: pancakes

How's that?

Tuesday

Breakfast: Half a grapefruit. Bowl of oat bran with coconut. Black coffee. The coconut is dried coconut from the lady who sells the beans and spices at the farmers' market. It adds fat to the oat bran. This is also good if you want to add a little cocoa powder and raw sugar but I'm not doing that this morning.

Lunch: Sandwich - portobello mushroom marinated in balsamic vinegar, onions, and lettuce, on multi-grain bread. Avocado.

Dinner: Open to suggestions.

Pancakes with Apple Syrup

buckwheat pancake mix
2 Tablespoons of ground flaxseed
soymilk (or rice milke, etc.)
a small amount of water
cooking oil
apple syrup

I don't know if this is a bona fide recipe, as one of the ingredients is pancake mix. But here's what I had for a delicious Sunday afternoon breakfast.

Put your skillet over medium to high heat, add a little olive oil, spread it around, and let the skillet get hot. My new cast iron skillet is perfect for this.

I started with Arrowhead Mills Buckwheat Pancake Mix. Maybe a cup of that (I didn't measure, just eyeballed it).

Added enough soy milk to mix it up but kept it thick and goopy because I still had another wet ingredient to add.


In a separate, small dish, put about 2 Tablespoons of ground flaxseed (a good source of fat and protein) and add cold water. Let this sit for a couple of minutes. The flaxseed will absorb the water and take on a slightly gooey consistency, similar to a raw egg. That's going to serve the function that people sometimes use chicken eggs for in recipes.

Add this mixture to the mix, and you're ready to fry your pancakes.

I always butcher the first one, even if I've let my skillet get hot. Be sure the cooking surface is hot and ready to sizzle before you pour the batter. When the pancakes start to bubble on top, slide your spatula under to make sure it's not sticking. Be gentle. When you're confident it's not stuck to the skillet, flip it over.

My first two were messy but the second two were beautiful.


Enjoy with your favorite syrup. I used my apple syrup, made right here in PA and bought at the Clark Park Farmers' Market.

Fuel

SEPTA is on strike, so I'm riding my bike to work. It's 40 degrees... real-feel: 38... real-feel on a moving bicycle: god damn cold. So I had a bowl of hot oat bran with molasses and flaxseed, for fuel.

I'll have a cold ride home in the dark to look forward to, so for lunch, I'm bringing a Thermos full of potato-leek soup (extra rosemary makes it seem warmer to me), with a side of red beans with lemon-pepper (the pepper is super-hot). And a couple slices of multi-grain bread for toast right about tea-time.

Here we go!

Fats: flaxseed and oat bran

You can't see the flaxseed in this picture, but it's there, and it's full of fat.

Here's the important thing about flaxseed:











Its calories come mostly from fats. Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids, which you can also get from nuts, coconuts, and vegetable oils, among other things.




Flaxseed is always in my refrigerator. I add it to stew, oat bran, cereal, sprinkle it on squash, salads, sandwiches, toast. You can put it on anything. If it has a taste, it's a slightly nutty taste, but it doesn't really have a taste.

What you see above is a bowl of hot oat bran, with two tablespoons (or thereabout) of flaxseed mixed in, and granola sprinkled on top. This is an incredibly filling breakfast. The oat bran (1 cup of it) has 33% of your "recommended" daily protein, along with 28% of your iron, 58% of your fiber, and 10% of your fat.

The granola is just fucking delicious and has maple syrup and vanilla, so there you have that. The granola contains: rolled oats, walnuts (again, look at the fats and protein), sunflower seeds, maple syrup, raisins, cranberries (look at the color!), coconut, canola oil, and vanilla extract.

This breakfast (or -- if you're studying for a test or you have a deadline and/or you're sleepy and lazy -- dinner) is a powerhouse of fats, protein, and iron. Also, you can have it with toast and blueberry preserves, and then it's just game over. Look at this. Shut up.