Picked up my produce box yesterday @ Green Grocer Chicago. Bananas! Guess it is time to try this blender/food processor some more on the quest for the perfect green smoothie…
My fridge sports kale and watercress, beats and turnips, yams and potatoes, white cabbage… what will go best with bananas & apples? I choose the kale. Chopped it up a bit, before putting it into the blender (the whole bunch, yeah, today is a healthy day!), added a banana and a small apple. Was ok. Nothing to be excited about, but drinkable. As in previous occasions, I started to be hungry really fast. Worse, I felt cold, as if I had no energy….
So 2 hours after my Green Smothie Bfast I was happily chopping veggies at the stove (warmth!) for lunch. I quickly sautéed ¼ white organic local cabbage with 1 small organic fennel (bulb & greens) in some olive oil and A LOT of chili pepper (some more warmth!!) . Enjoyed that with a sprinkle of salt on Fabio’s & Nicoletta’s Fragrance Rice (from The Scrumptious Pantry). Mmmhhh… so much better than the green smoothie. The energy I got from this dish kept me going until 9pm when I started nibbling on a cheese plate and two slices of bread with a glass of biodynamic wine from my friend Franz Loacker’s estate in Montalcino, Italy (where the Brunello comes from. But, no, I was not sipping Brunello all by myself in front of the PC).
Happy me. All healthy, nourishing food today!
Bfast: kale 1.50$, apple small 40c, banana 39c = 2.29$
Lunch: cabbage 35c, fennel small 40c, chili flakes 10c, rice 60c, olive oil 25c= 1.70$ (03/19/10 - correction: these veggies fed me over two servings -1.15$)
Dinner: 2 slices organic artisan bread 24c, nibbles of Wisconsin blue cheese, beer&mustard cheese from the UK and some camembert 2$. 1 glass Loacker Rosso di Montalcino 3.5$ =5.74$
TOTAL FOOD COST FOR TODAY – 9.08$
Showing posts with label raw vegan diet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label raw vegan diet. Show all posts
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Day 34 - Value Eating on 02/25/2010
Today I wanted to get really serious with the “Green Smoothie” for breakfast. I used about ½ bunch of organic spinach (1$) and an organic apple (75c). Although I added some organic yoghurt for some smoothness (0.15c), I did not particularly like it. Too grassy and not a very pleasant consistency. What’s worse is that I was so hungry after an hour or so. I wonder how important the act of chewing is for us actually feeling full, cause usually I am perfectly fine with some fruit cut into yoghurt for breakfast. Need to research that more.
Anyways, I was on the road and starving. Seriously. So I paid a visit to a Libanese cafe a friend had recommended. I liked the texture and balanced taste of the falafel and the sauces, but it would have been significantly better if the falafel would have been freshly deep-fried, rather than plucked from a mountain of ready made falafel under a heating light. Especially as it was stuffed in a cold pita bread. I prefer a warm bread, hot falafel and cold salad for some contrast and to best present the beautiful flavors of the falafel itself. Oh well. (3.5$)
For dessert at home I gave the “green smoothie” a second try – the spinach & apple had resulted in ca. 3 cups of smoothie, of which I had only managed to drink half. I added a lot more yoghurt, threw in an organic banana that had come with my weekly produce box and finished it all off with a teaspoon of local honey from the farmers’ market (although the banana added some nice texture, it suffered from the “green import syndrome”, which left it pretty tasteless, so the smoothie needed some sweetener). After all these additions, the “green smoothie” was good. But if all green smoothies have to come with bananas by default for texture, I do not think I will be a smoothie girl – at least not as long I do not live in some tropical, banana growing country. The taste of mealy bananas, that were picked tasteless and left to “ripe” in my kitchen does absolutely nothing to me. Anyways. Cost for additions: yoghurt (37c), banana (49c), honey (10c).
For dinner I fixed up a tasty, thick rice based soup. If I had to choose my favorite ever dish, I would say it is thick soups & stews. I had bought some broccoli the week before at the GreenGrocer and saw no chance of eating it all, before it would go bad. So I briefly blanched the broccoli and froze it for future use. I then fried some chili flakes and garlic in a dash of olive oil (0.29), sautéed 1.5 carrots (25c), added ½ cup of Fabio & Nicoletta’s beautiful Originario rice (an heirloom variety on the brink of extinction, 45c) and cooked all of it in the water left from blanching the broccoli. At the end of the cooking time for the rice (ca. 18 minutes), I finished it all off with Cosimo’s fragrant Extra Virgin Olive Oil from The Scrumptious Pantry (45c). Very comfortable, but I was amazed at my craving for carbs today. I wonder if this has something to do with the whole “green smoothie” thing….
Total Food Cost For Today: 7.08$
Tomorrow, I will be headed abroad for 10 days. During these days, I will suspend the “Value Eating” posts, as I do not want to falsify the results using other country’s grocery prices and a unfavorable exchange rate to the dollar. More “Value Eating” on March 9 – in the meantime, check back for regular posts, especially a conclusion to the first 30 days of “Value Eating”!
Anyways, I was on the road and starving. Seriously. So I paid a visit to a Libanese cafe a friend had recommended. I liked the texture and balanced taste of the falafel and the sauces, but it would have been significantly better if the falafel would have been freshly deep-fried, rather than plucked from a mountain of ready made falafel under a heating light. Especially as it was stuffed in a cold pita bread. I prefer a warm bread, hot falafel and cold salad for some contrast and to best present the beautiful flavors of the falafel itself. Oh well. (3.5$)
For dessert at home I gave the “green smoothie” a second try – the spinach & apple had resulted in ca. 3 cups of smoothie, of which I had only managed to drink half. I added a lot more yoghurt, threw in an organic banana that had come with my weekly produce box and finished it all off with a teaspoon of local honey from the farmers’ market (although the banana added some nice texture, it suffered from the “green import syndrome”, which left it pretty tasteless, so the smoothie needed some sweetener). After all these additions, the “green smoothie” was good. But if all green smoothies have to come with bananas by default for texture, I do not think I will be a smoothie girl – at least not as long I do not live in some tropical, banana growing country. The taste of mealy bananas, that were picked tasteless and left to “ripe” in my kitchen does absolutely nothing to me. Anyways. Cost for additions: yoghurt (37c), banana (49c), honey (10c).
For dinner I fixed up a tasty, thick rice based soup. If I had to choose my favorite ever dish, I would say it is thick soups & stews. I had bought some broccoli the week before at the GreenGrocer and saw no chance of eating it all, before it would go bad. So I briefly blanched the broccoli and froze it for future use. I then fried some chili flakes and garlic in a dash of olive oil (0.29), sautéed 1.5 carrots (25c), added ½ cup of Fabio & Nicoletta’s beautiful Originario rice (an heirloom variety on the brink of extinction, 45c) and cooked all of it in the water left from blanching the broccoli. At the end of the cooking time for the rice (ca. 18 minutes), I finished it all off with Cosimo’s fragrant Extra Virgin Olive Oil from The Scrumptious Pantry (45c). Very comfortable, but I was amazed at my craving for carbs today. I wonder if this has something to do with the whole “green smoothie” thing….
Total Food Cost For Today: 7.08$
Tomorrow, I will be headed abroad for 10 days. During these days, I will suspend the “Value Eating” posts, as I do not want to falsify the results using other country’s grocery prices and a unfavorable exchange rate to the dollar. More “Value Eating” on March 9 – in the meantime, check back for regular posts, especially a conclusion to the first 30 days of “Value Eating”!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Day 32 - Value Eating on 02/23/2010
Today was easy... enjoying leftovers!!
But before we indulge in some more Sauerkraut, my breakfast was a HUGE SLICE of "Mohnstriezel" from an Austrian Bakery on Clark Street. It is a sweet bread, yeast dough based, that has poppy seeds and sugar mixed in. I almost fell over backwards when I tasted it. JUST LIKE IN VIENNA. My mum would kill for a taste of this bread! It is just as it should be, a great Austrian baking tradition kept alive in Chicago! Pensa te!! I would lie if I knew how much my friend had spent on this Striezel, and I have no intentions to inquire, after all, it was her hostess' gift. I guess though if we assume 60c for the slice I enjoyed we should be save. So, once more, 1.10$ for brunch expenditures (yes, I had a cappuccino. This coffee thing is terrible. Once I know I have it in my fridge, that darn appliance calls my name. That is why I should not have coffee in the house (and cheese, while we are at it).
Afternoon snack: a red beet pear smoothie. Ha! Now here is a story! After waiting over two weeks for some neighbor who accidentally signed for my super-duper blender-food processor to return that precious appliance to me, it finally arrived yesterday. I had been inspired to invest in a blender after reading a bit about the raw diet and how it is supposed to be good for you. As you most probably have found out by now, I like my food cooked. Spiced up. Transformed. Elevated. Not necessarily raw. But (there is always a but), I did totally understand the logic behind all of this raw eating. It makes sense, if you look at the data and studies and what not. So I figured, if I could get me to eat some more raw stuff all shredded together into a veggie&fruit smoothie that might be the solution? We will see in the days to come, but my red beet (2 small beets) and pear (1 pear) smoothie was really yummy. I also added some of the beet's leaves and stems which added a nice texture to the whole thing. The chopped stems gave me the impression of nuts. Now do not ask me how my brain made the connection between beet stems and nuts, but I can assure you, that was absolutely the association I had. 0.69c beets + 0.79c pear = 1.48$ in three servings of which one was stored away for tomorrow.
Dinner was a dumpling/kraut/pork loin leftover serving for approx. 2$
Total Food Cost for Today: 4.08$
But before we indulge in some more Sauerkraut, my breakfast was a HUGE SLICE of "Mohnstriezel" from an Austrian Bakery on Clark Street. It is a sweet bread, yeast dough based, that has poppy seeds and sugar mixed in. I almost fell over backwards when I tasted it. JUST LIKE IN VIENNA. My mum would kill for a taste of this bread! It is just as it should be, a great Austrian baking tradition kept alive in Chicago! Pensa te!! I would lie if I knew how much my friend had spent on this Striezel, and I have no intentions to inquire, after all, it was her hostess' gift. I guess though if we assume 60c for the slice I enjoyed we should be save. So, once more, 1.10$ for brunch expenditures (yes, I had a cappuccino. This coffee thing is terrible. Once I know I have it in my fridge, that darn appliance calls my name. That is why I should not have coffee in the house (and cheese, while we are at it).
Afternoon snack: a red beet pear smoothie. Ha! Now here is a story! After waiting over two weeks for some neighbor who accidentally signed for my super-duper blender-food processor to return that precious appliance to me, it finally arrived yesterday. I had been inspired to invest in a blender after reading a bit about the raw diet and how it is supposed to be good for you. As you most probably have found out by now, I like my food cooked. Spiced up. Transformed. Elevated. Not necessarily raw. But (there is always a but), I did totally understand the logic behind all of this raw eating. It makes sense, if you look at the data and studies and what not. So I figured, if I could get me to eat some more raw stuff all shredded together into a veggie&fruit smoothie that might be the solution? We will see in the days to come, but my red beet (2 small beets) and pear (1 pear) smoothie was really yummy. I also added some of the beet's leaves and stems which added a nice texture to the whole thing. The chopped stems gave me the impression of nuts. Now do not ask me how my brain made the connection between beet stems and nuts, but I can assure you, that was absolutely the association I had. 0.69c beets + 0.79c pear = 1.48$ in three servings of which one was stored away for tomorrow.
Dinner was a dumpling/kraut/pork loin leftover serving for approx. 2$
Total Food Cost for Today: 4.08$
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