The brunch will go on!

A good friend once told me that she and her husband based their decision on what neighborhood to live in in the city around one fundamental question, "Are we brunch people or bar people?"

From the simple answer to that question, they would be able to narrow down the neighborhoods that would make them happiest and be most fulfilling to their lifestyle.

Interesting proposal I thought. But without knowing it, Jon and I had really already answered that question without really ever needing to utter anything out loud. We are brunch people and therefore live in Eastern Market- best brunch options in D.C. (not that we're biased or anything).

When we decided to go vegan though, probably the most challenging aspect and question we needed to answer was- what would we eat for brunch?

Think about it.

Brunch is like the dairy queen of all meals.

For real.

You can do brunch EASY as a vegetarian- no problem. But vegan? Talk about an obstacle.To this day, that's the one meal I really need to research before we try to eat out to make sure the restaurant will have at least one option that we can choose from (usually oatmeal or maybe a tofu scramble if we're lucky).
Once we became vegan, we've found a few key places around the city as our "go-tos," but it's been super tricky.
In the mean time though, we hadn't really ever tried cooking a big vegan brunch on our own. It seemed pretty overwhelming and since we aren't really bakers by nature, it almost seemed counter-intuitive.
BUT- this resolution has led us to make two fantastic huge brunches two weeks in a row! Horray! We were so excited about the recipes that we tried and modified, that we needed to share the love.

We encourage you to try all of these out as they came out just fantastic.

I think we may have started a brunch revolution. Restaurants with limited options- we need you no more! Delicious home-made brunch-love! Here we come!

Tofu Scramble:
Ingredients:
1 onion (diced)
5 garlic cloves (minced)
2 cups of bell peppers (diced)
2 cups of asparagus (diced)
2 cups of mushrooms (chopped)
1 package of extra firm tofu (cut into 1/4 in. cubes)
1 1/2 tspn. curry powder
1 tspn. cinnamon
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/3 cup of soy sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
Place a large skillet (or wok) over high/med heat
Pour olive oil onto the skillet and let onions simmer for 5-10 minutes (or until the begin to brown)
Add curry powder and garlic (stir for 2 minutes)
Add cinnamon
Add tofu and vegetables (stir for 5 minutes)
Add soy sauce (stir for 10 minutes or until vegetables are soft)
Add salt and pepper for taste
Serve and enjoy!



Banana Pancakes:
Ingredients:
1 cup of whole-wheat flour
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 cup of soy milk
1/2 banana, mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla
Preparation:
1. Mix dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together in a mixing bowl
2. In another bowl, combine all wet ingredients: soy milk, banana and vanilla. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir well. Add more soy milk if batter is too thick.
3. Cook on medium-high heat in skillet until browned on both sides.
Serve with maple syrup or yummy jams!
Delicious!

Vegan Banana Bread:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup vegan butter

3 ripe bananas mashed

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup light soy milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix all dry ingredients separately and then add liquids.

Bake at 350 degrees for one hour

Vegan Waffles:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Vegan butter

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 cups light soy milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup applesauce (1/4 cup per egg) or use two eggs worth of Ener-G egg replacer.

Spoon out and cook on your waffle iron. Serve with delicious syrup and jam.

Brunch with tofu scramble, vegan waffles, vegan banana bread, fresh oatmeal bread and OJ.

Saturday Night Cookin'

This past Saturday, in an attempt to both eat well and be social, we decided to make an incredible Mexican vegan dinner for friends. With good friends, avocado and wine- it's hard to go wrong (actually, it's all right), but add some spice, sauce and some great entrées and you're talking BIG game.

For our main course, we decided to take on vegan enchiladas. We played around with a wonderful recipe that Jon's mom uses, but modified it to fill it with our favorite vegan cheese, to include more vegetables and seitan. (If you've never had seitan before, we encourage you to try it- it's a very different way to experience vegetarian protein if you've typically only had tofu or tempe. We describe it as having a bit more of a "tear" to it and takes on more of that "meat texture" and even flavor- and this is a great and easy dish to try it with).

We wanted to share this recipe because they came out wonderfully- this recipe made about 12, which was more than enough to fill everyone who came and also provide us with office lunches for the next few days (double score!).

If you want to make it extra delicious, we recommend having plenty of guacamole (our favorite recipe to come soon) and vegan sour cream on-hand so you can add and decorate as liberally as you'd like.

Ingredients for Enchilada Filling:

2 onions

2.5 tbs olive oil

8 oz seitan (westsoy) strips

2 green peppers

10 oz baby bella mushrooms

3 tbs of chipotle paste (or siracha or like minded)

Daiya Cheddar Cheese (there are many fake Vegan cheeses, Daiya is our favorite for actually melting)

medium sized whole wheat tortillas

Ingredients for Enchilada Sauce (combine and warm)

40 oz

marinara sauce

3.5 oz chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

1 tbs cinnamon

Pinch of salt

Preparation:

Dice the onions and cook in oil. chop seitan and green pepper into similar sized pieces and add to the onions. Slice mushrooms in a similar size and after 5 minutes add to the mix. Stir together and once cooked through, remove from heat.

Coat 9X13 pan in thin layer of sauce. Fill tortillas with filling and fold into 9X 13 pan. Once the pan is full, smother with sauce and drizzle cheese on top. Place in the over at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes until tortillas are crispy.

Coffee-LOVE

So, we are now wrapping up day 22 (holy cow.). And through all of this- all of the fun, challenges and trials- I honestly cannot believe that I still have not gone into a coffee shop or bought myself a cup of freshly brewed yumminess.

For as healthy as I try to be- there is something so seductive to me about coffee. The rich flavor, deep aromas - I just can't get enough. And there is something just so fundamentally comforting to me about holding a hot beverage. Something about it speaks - Home. Relaxation. Comfort. Calm. Enjoy.

Needless to say- I'm missing my coffee breaks.

Basically, there is only one time in the day for me to really get my coffee-love on and that's first thing in the morning before I go to work, when I can brew it at home.

And, I must introduce you to my favorite morning friend- Bernadette.



Bernadette is mine. She is not Jon's. Jon doesn't drink coffee. And Jon and I could go back and forth all day about the antioxidant levels in coffee bean and how drinking it is good for you, but too much caffeine is bad for you. But the bottom line is, I'm the coffee drinker in the family, and I do it (happily) in solitude.

Therefore, I need Bernadette. I needed a way to brew coffee without a huge coffee maker, since I can't rationalize a coffee maker on our small counter tops that both of us won't use equally.
Bernadette is small, stores easily and brews the perfect cup of coffee - plus, she's ceramic- not plastic, which is important when dealing with hot beverages.

Every morning Bernadette and I begin our love affair by my getting a paper filter out of the pantry. I fill it will my favorite ground coffee, Mayora Coffee, which I grind at Costco and then refridergate to ensure it holds it's flavor and freshness. I then boil my water in one of my other very favorite kitchen buddies, my water kettle (again, glass not plastic). Once the water kettle is good and boiling I pour it over the ground coffee which Bernadette then filters directly into my travel mug. So easy. So perfect.


Good Morning Deliciousness.

Pizza Pizza!

Being Vegan and cooking at home does not mean giving up delicious foods like pizza. (No way!)

One of our favorite recent cooking tools is a pizza stone and pizza peel. We have used a variety of pizza doughs- our favorite tends to be Trader Joe's variety (Whole Wheat & Garlic Herb are our current favorites), although for ease you can also use whole wheat pitas, and Alicia Silverstone often uses Ezekiel Bread's tortillas in her recipes. One day soon, we'll take on making our own dough from scratch- but for right now, we are loving all of the above options.

So, let's get started! If you do use dough (such as Trader Joes, your own, or another), first be sure to cover the surface of the dough with cornmeal and roll it out directly onto the pizza peel until it is stretched out as much as you would like. Sometimes this can be a bit of a process, so be prepared to put some muscle behind it! Stretching pizza dough to the right size and shape, we've learned, can be quite an art form, which takes practice, laughing, more corn meal than you would expect and a good deal of starting over. But it's also, just so fun!

Once the pizza dough is completely rolled out, it is then just a matter of mixing in a delicious sauce and adding any amazing topping to your liking!

For this particular pizza, I used about 12-14 oz of marinara sauce and mixed in 1/2 a diced jalapeño pepper. I then added (vegan) cheese (Daiya is what we strongly perfer and it is available at Wholefoods, Yes Organic, and a growing number of other supermarkets), yellow pepper and avocado before putting it in the oven. (Although you'll want to add avocado post-oven.)

Here is an essential trick to making pizza at home- you need to make sure that you cover the pizza peel in lots of cornmeal so that the pizza is able to slide off easily and onto the pizza stone also covered in cornmeal. I often find myself overzealous with pizza decoration (who can resist?) and the pizza becomes far too heavy to slide off the peel and onto the stone. The pizza then will get mushed together and the toppings fall everywhere. (Sad!)
Additionally, the pizza does not cook nearly as well. (Double sad)

However, once the peel and stone have a nice coat of corn meal, it is then easy to shift many pizzas through in a short amount of time to make many, many pizzas at once. We were recently having a pizza party at a friend's house (the best), were able to produce 7-10 pizzas in quick secession using delicious accouterments from mushrooms and peppers to caramelized onions, green apples, asparagus, tempeh, and seitan.

One of our favorite ways to do pot lucks has actually been "make your own pizza parties," where friends come with a topping or two, we roll out all of the dough and, using the combined toppings, everyone decorates an individual half or full pizza. Very fun and VERY delicious!

Pizza is certainly one of the easiest foods to make once you have the right tools, and if not, try using a cookie sheet, it is not far off!

Pizza:

1 ball of pizza dough

covered liberally in corn meal

12-14oz of sauce

1/2 jalapeno pepper

1 yellow pepper (sliced)

1 avocado (sliiced)

liberal application of corn meal on peel and stone

Cook at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes or until crust begins to harden

Enjoy!

Nori, Nori, Hallelujah!

As some of you may know, this past week I came down with an awful case of the flu (so gross)- From where? I have no idea- BUT, it struck hard Monday night nailing me down with a fever of 102.8. Horrible!
And I’ve been pretty much out for the rest of the week (awful). Good timing in terms of our resolutions, though- being house-bound for THIS particular resolution was probably best due to my fatigue and general listlessness, which also allowed me to easily skirt around the many temptations of life beyond my bedroom. (Not that I was searching for an easy out...)

This week did however allow me to reconnect with Nori (not that I ever lost the love, but it made me regain my gratitude and appreciation).

On Wednesday morning I went to the doctor, where he formally diagnosed me with the flu, and put me on a remedy of rest, sleep, rest and a lot on vitamin C, which was fine by me (I don’t usually like to go on too many medications if I don’t have to). Which got me thinking- How can I get the most bang for my buck with Vitamin C?! Then I remembered my friend, queen of all super foods- NORI.

Nori (and all sea plants) really first entered my life (outside of sushi) about a year and a half ago when I first read Alicia Silverstone’s “The Kind Diet.” In her book she explains that all though “eating sea vegetables may sound icky” in trying them you’ll be “pleasantly surprised.”

Alicia goes on to outline many of the “magical qualities” of sea vegetables, such as: they are anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, incredibly high in minerals and protein, they are both alkalizing and detoxifying to the blood, they reduce blood pressure, and they make for beautiful skin, nails and hair.

Sea vegetables actually offer one of the broadest ranges of minerals of any food, which contains almost all the minerals found in the ocean (WOW) - and many of same minerals found in our blood.

And if you’re not on-board yet- sea vegetables are an excellent source of iodine, iron, copper, potassium, zinc, vitamin K, the B-vitamins, magnesium, iron, calcium, vitamins C and E.

So, to get over the flu- I needed to cook myself some sea vegetables, and nori, is just one (of many) that I happen to be most familiar with.

Here are two recipes I made myself this week (you’ll notice a lot of the ingredients overlap, which is great) using Nori, they both tasted delicious and I think contributed to a healthier non-flu-ridden me! :o)

Nori Rolls: (I modified my own based on this version)

Ingredients:

2 cups of cooked forbidden rice

½ cup of mung bean sprouts
½ cup of grated carrot
½ cup of cucumber, finely diced
¼ cup of daikon radish
2 tablespoons of fresh parsley

1 tablespoon of soy sauce

½ tablespoon of soy mayonnaise

2 teaspoons of lemon juice
1 teaspoon of dill weed

1 avocado (thinly sliced)
4 sheets of toasted nori

Preparation:

Combine all ingredients (except the avocado & nori sheets)
Allow the mixture to stand for 1-2 hours.

Set out the toasted nori sheets.
Place ¾ cup of filling on each sheet of toasted nori.

Place avocado strips along slide the filling.

Roll tightly and cut (with very sharp knife) into five slices.

Miso Soup

Ingredients:

"Natural/Instant Miso-Cup" Edward & Sons

1 cup of diced mushrooms

2 cups of diced tofu

2 sheets of nori (torn/cut into small squares)

1 teaspoon of dill

2 tablespoons of fresh parsley

¼ cup of daikon radish
½ cup of mung bean sprouts

1 teaspoon of cin

namon

2 teaspoons of pepper

Preparation:

Add 2 packets of the Miso Cup to 2 cups of boiling water, bring down heat to med/low

Add mushrooms and let sit for 2 minutes

Add the dill, parsley, daikon, mung beans and tofu

Stir ingredients together

Add the nori and stir

Add the cinnamon and pepper

Enjoy!

Heirloom Vegetables

When I was last in Arizona to visit my mom and Gordon, she pulled out a delicious salad recipe that called for Heirloom tomatoes. I had rarely, if ever, cooked with Heirloom tomatoes (or any other Heirloom vegetable for that matter), so wasn't exactly sure what to expect, but in my love for all things vegetable, I was ready to find out.

I think Barbara Kingsolver states it best when she says, "Just the sound of 'heirloom' brings on a warm, snugly, bespectacled grandmother knitting socks and baking pies kind of feeling."

And that's sort of how you find them in the grocery store- The heirloom tomatoes we found were very few in number, delicately placed in a wicker basket, and placed off to the side of the standard red tomatoes that typically catch my attention.

These tomatoes were quite large, almost ridiculous looking in shape, and weren't red at all- one tomato held about 5 different colors to it- purple, green, yellow, black and orange. And they were expensive! Shockingly so! Both my mom and I gasped when we saw the price of just one tomato- $6?! How could one tomato cost $6? We debated for a moment, and then went for it. We needed to figure out what the hype was all about.

When we got home without hesitation, we cut into the purple tomato, assembled the salad, reduced the balsamic vinaigrette into a dressing and dug in. I can say, without doubt, that that heirloom tomato was one of the sweetest vegetables I've ever tasted.

Which leads to me to this post- What is the deal with heirloom vegetables? Why are they so delicious? Ridiculous in size and shape? And so costly?

Today, most of our grocery store produce comes from large-scale agricultural plots that are scattered around the globe (literally from Iowa to Mexico to India). Our beloved fruits and vegetables are grown monocular plots, meaning they are grown from one standard seed, aimed to create a plot of produce that looks the same, tastes the same, packs the same and ships the same. Our standard produce has been bred to have this uniform appearance that we have all be trained to know, love and look for in the grocery store.

Have you ever noticed that almost all of the tomatoes in the grocery store look exactly the same? Or that all of the Fuji apples are the same size and shape? And that you can still by pineapples in January? Most of the produce you see in your grocery store today was bred specifically to work in conjunction with a mechanical harvest, to be packed conveniently and a have tolerance for a lot of travel.

And what is lost along the way? Real taste, nutrients, vitamins and variety.

However, there still exist this very special type of produce known as Heirloom. They date back to some of the very first produce grown in human history. Because they require open pollination to bloom and rebloom each year, they continue to offer a wide variety of tastes, colors, shapes and sizes. The seeds of an Heirloom vegetable remain untainted. They have not been chemically altered to travel long distances or look and smell a certain way.

Kingsolver states, "Heirloom vegetables are irresistible, not just for the poetry in their names but because these titles stand for real stories. Vegetables acquire histories when they are saved as seeds for many generations, carefully maintained and passes by hand from one gardener to another."

As a result of the abundance of monocultural plots and that in today's society, even the seeds of produce can and are copy righted, it is incredibly difficult for farmers to grow any type of vegetable variety off the grid, or for us as consumers to buy produce that has been grown off the grid. And that's what make Hierloom's so special (and expensive). They remain untouched by the industry. They are pure and there are currently not enough of them.

Currently, Heirloom vegetables are gaining popularity among consumers and their demand is growing- so we, as vegetable lovers and conscious consumers, should seek them out in the grocery store or your local farmer's markets- smell them, gaze upon them, and when your budget allows, cook and feast upon them!



Actually, great fact: Forbidden rice is a type of hierloom rice! How great is that?!







I'll post our yummy Heirloom salad recipe to hopefully inspire you all of try (if you haven't already) some of these delicious, historic works of art!

Ingredients:

• 3 heirloom tomatoes, as many colors as possible
  
• 2 oranges
  
• Roasted red peppers slices
  
• 1 can of hearts of Palm (or cooked)
  
• 1 head of Romain lettuce
  
• 1 package of Good Seasons Italian Dressing Mix
  
• 1/4 cup of orange juice
• 1 tbs. canola oil
  

Preparation:

Get one large platter to use as base for the salad
Separate the Romain lettuce leaves and place individually along platter
Place 4-5 slices of hearts of Palm in the rib of the Romain lettuce
Place 3 slices of thinly sliced orange on top of of the hearts of palm in the lettuce
Carefully lay the strips of roasted red peppers across the tops of the lettuce leaves
Thinly slice the heirloom tomatoes and use them decorate the plate
Follow the directions on the Good Seasons Italian Dressing Mix Package, but substitute the water for orange juice. Shake well and add to the tops of the salad.

Thai Potato Curry

It is incredibly flattering after only a week of writing to have friends write to us with requests for what to make- THANK YOU! This request came from a friend who has been over for dinner a few times and recalled a meal I haven't made in over a year- so, inspired, we made it tonight (delicious) and here is the recipe:

Thai Potato Curry

This is a dish Jess originally made from one of our cookbooks Veggie Planet. I then played around with the recipe when our friend was over and did the same tonight.

We have discovered that being vegan and cooking at home is really not too difficult once you have the ingredients in your house- it is that hurdle and initial investment, which can be challenging, but you'll also find that having these initial ingredients really pays off and they last for a while. If you do not have these ingredients in your house, feel free to substitute similar ones- it is challenging to completely mess up a curry :)

1 onion

4 fist sized potatoes

2 fist sized sweet potatoes

2 tbs olive oil

3 tbs green curry paste (I didn't have any this time and made my own, 'recipe' for that is below)

1 can of light coconut milk

1 red bell pepper

Dice the onion and heat with olive oil till translucent.

Add in curry paste and mix over heat.

Add potatoes (cut no larger than 1in cubes) and mix to ensure curry paste is evenly distributed

Add light coconut milk and reduce heat to low-medium till milk has reduced, is at your own comfort level for spiciness and potatoes are tender. (Likely 10-15 minutes)

At minute 5, add red bell pepper- cut to same dimensions as potatoes

Serve over Forbidden Rice.

Curry Paste:

I am skeptical of whether or not this is curry paste or just a bunch of random ingredients I thought would taste good in my curry- but I assure you it tastes delicious and that you could adjust quantities if you would like and add at the step above for curry paste and then throughout the reducing stage as needed.

3 tbs of low sodium soy sauce

2 tbs of curry powder

1 tbs of cinnamon

2 tsp basil

3 tbs uncle brutha's hot sauce #9 (or your favorite hot sauce)

3tbs lemon juice (lime may have been better if we had any)

Feel free to let us know how it turns out or if you have any other requests for us to try out!

Vegan Muffins - YUM!

This weekend we visited a few friends up in New York and upon our arrival, had a beautifully orchestrated home-cooked meal for Shabbat dinner. Together, we feasted on whole-wheat pasta with freshly roasted vegetables, a gorgeous salad, grilled asparagus and of course, wine & challah.

At the end of the meal, our gracious hosts insisted we end the night by baking up some vegan blueberry-apply muffins for breakfast in the morning (no resistance here!). So, at 1am, we all joined together to create a vegan muffin masterpiece.

The muffins turned out great and we ate them all weekend long. I'm not much of a baker, so had to share the recipe as I really fell in love with these muffins.

Blueberry-Apple Vegan Muffins Recipe (Makes 12 muffins)

Ingredients:

Whole Wheat Flour (2 cups)

Baking Powder (3 teaspoons)

Salt (1/2 teaspoon)

Brown Sugar (3/4 cup)

Rice Milk (1 cup)

Lemon zest (2 lemons)

Unsweetened Apple Sauce (1 cup)

Apple cider vinegar (1 tablespoon)

Cinnamon (1 tsp.)

Blueberries (1 and 1/2 cups)
1 diced green apples (peeled and diced into 1cm cubes)

Procedure:

Preheat the oven to 375F. Grease a muffin tin(s).

In a medium bowl, combine together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and lemon zest.

In a large bowl, combine the brown sugar, soy/rice milk, oil, and vinegar and mix well.

Add the two bowls of ingredients together and stir until just combined. (Batter will be lumpy)

Fold in the apple and blueberries

Fill the muffin tins about 2/3rds full.

Bake for amount 20 minutes (or until testing toothpick comes out clean)

Remove from the oven and let it cool for 5 minutes.

Eat & Enjoy!

A sandwich is a sandwich is a sandwich...

Not eating out means being prepared. We have noticed that it is not particularly difficult to be eating home cooked meals, it just is a bit more work on the front end of things. Commitment to wake up early, plan ahead, get the proper groceries, and make something so good, you don't crave something more.

We have been preparing a lot of sandwiches lately and as a result- we certainly are making more of the sandwiches at home than ever before. In the morning our kitchen counter sort of resembles that of a deli sandwich line.

Now I have always been a sandwich guy- for those of you who knew me from K-12, you likely remember that I had a peanut butter sandwich every day for lunch- I even wrote my college essay on this unique facet of my life.

However, since going vegetarian and eventually vegan, Jess and I have become much more creative with our sandwich making. I remember my first Haskell-made vegetarian sandwich (YUM.) When Jess and I hiked Mt. Tamalpais (Mt. Tam) in Marin (where Jess grew up), her mom left us a car full of these amazing homemade vegetarian sandwiches at the top for us to enjoy at the end of our adventure. Those were some of the best sandwiches I remember eating and completely changed the way I viewed a simple "sandwich."

It became an aspiration of ours to be able to make such delicious packable, eat on the go meals with complex flavors that leave you satisfied and full.

The secret- not surprisingly- is in the ingredients and spreads.

We began experimenting with different Trader Joe's spreads- the Roasted Eggplant and Red Pepper spreads being our two favorites (Try them out!). We then would add a plethora of fresh veggies from cucumber and tomatoes to multi colored peppers, avocado, sprouts and veggie burgers (either packed or home made- the recipe of which will be coming shortly). Sometimes we even go crazy and add some vegan cheese (!).

We now often use our own homemade hummus and Vegenaise (Vegan mayonaise which is actually closer to mustard than mayo in our opinion) with marinated and baked tempeh or green apple inside.

The bread is clutch here too- Jess loves the breads that are full of all sorts of grains and goodies, and the ones, as she puts it, "are alive." Meaning, they are full of probiotics and minerals that work on your body's behalf. We are currently eating a lot of Ezekiel's bread.

All in all, we have found that the home made sandwich is a wonderful meal that allows you to innovate and still remains easy to transport on days when you are eating on the run and would otherwise be forced to stop in a local cafe.

Progress In Action

Day 12 - almost done. WOW. Today brings us to the close of two full work weeks of packing lunches in the morning, planning out snacks, grocery shopping consistency, cooking meals, lovin' on leftovers and trying new recipes. This is HARD work! Packing a lunch, snacks and sometimes breakfast everyday is not for the faint of heart....

Today, as it's Friday, I've spent some time reflecting on the fact that we've stayed so disciplined for these past two work weeks. In twelve days, I'm guesstinating that I've saved over $31 in buying coffee out (how pathetic am I!) and over $30 in eating lunches and grabbing snacks out and about in the city. Together, we've probably saved an additional $100, at least in what we might have spent going out for a few dinners or participating in a few happy hours. GO TEAM.
That's not to say that our grocery bills haven't gone up, because they have, but probably only by about $20 or so, leaving the math clear.

Cost aside, because while saving money is a wonderful benefit of this first resolution, it was not the driver behind our intentions. More so, it was pushing ourselves to cook more, try new recipes, incorporate more foods, re-examine & re-invent the "packed lunch" and just be healthier all around. There's something fundamentally healthy about knowing every ingredient (and quantity of that ingredient) that is put into your meal.

However, in thinking about the benefits of saving money- it has also made me realize the other unintended benefits that we are currently enjoying as a result of not eating out.

(In one of our next postings we'll have to talk about the insanely delicious sandwiches we've been enjoying the last twelve days to keep ourselves satisfied and joyful, so more to come on the packing lunch front...)

But over the past two weeks I've noted that I've read more, written more, gone to the gym more, stretched more and even had noticeably more energy than usual. I believe this a result of feeling consistently better about all of my meals (as I am my own chef :o) ) and the fact that I've been home more.
Due to the nature of my job, it's easy and often compelling to work from coffee shops (which relates to why I saved so much money on coffee so far), to work late or go out after work. Because I've had to come home to eat and cook, I've had at least an extra hour if not two at home every night, meaning, I've actually been able to achieve other goals and priorities (like reading and gym). I didn't expect this upon embarking on this journey- but loving that it's been a by-product of the adventure.

In my reading time, I decided to start Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barabara Kingsolver (a favorite author of mine). I've been meaning to read this book for a while now, and thought that these 36.5 days would be the perfect time to dive in. She writes about the journey she took with her husband and two daughters for 1 year- living completely off of the land surrounding them. She writes candidly about their journey to toil their own soil, build their own garden, harvest their own foods and live and eat by their family values. The picture on the right she calls "vegetannual" as it represents the vegetables they harvested over course of the year by season. So fascinating and so inspiring! As I dive deeper into the book, she uncovers wonderful recipes, ideas and bit of empowerment, which I will no doubt share as I read on and continue my own adventure.

One particular section stuck a chord with me this afternoon, regarding American food culture, or lack their of really. She speaks about our agricultural and food industries and their role in the unhealthy society that we have become. She also talks about a new and better food culture that is is beginning to develop, one that involves caring about where our food comes from, being proud and mindful about what we eat and feeling great using "food" and "dirt" in the same sentence. She writes, "Something positive is also happening under the surface of our nation's food preference paradigm... It's the city dwellers who roll their kids out of bed on Saturday mornings and head down to the farmers' markets to pinch the tomatoes and inhale the spice-sweet melons."

This made me think of my love for Eastern Market and then made me love it even more. I love that I know the vendors, can smell the melon she describes and know that on any given day, I'll probably run into my sister, friends and colleagues doing the exact same thing. What a special place to be.

The Beauty of Cinnamon

Many of you noticed that Jon referenced our impressive use of cinnamon in our meals, both for its delicious taste and also it's incredible medicinal powers, but wanted to know more... what's the deal with cinnamon?

Well, cinnamon is truly a beautiful herb to me and I'll use this blog post to break it down and spread the cinnamon love...

First, the cinnamon that we typically use as a spice in our cooking or even as incense is derived from the bark of a small tree common in South Asia and the Middle East. I love this both because I love trees (a lot) and because there is something so special and beautiful about using the bark of a tree that is connected to over thousands of years of culture and traditional remedies.

Cinnamon is also one of my superfoods, meaning it has extremely high anti-oxidant levels, such a plus. It also a wonderful source of fiber (yay!), iron (yes!), magnesium (oh-yea!) and calcium (genius.).

With all of these nutrients, cinnamon is a known remedy for:

• Aiding in digestion
• Reducing arthritis pain
• Boosting memory and cognitive function
• Treating toothaches
• Curing headaches and migraine pain

And the oil from the cinnamon has strong anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties.
Are you lovin' on cinnamon yet?

Need one more reason?

A recent study done on cinnamon in 2003 raised heads for indicating that cinnamon's use to treat type 2 diabetes, which is growing at an in our country today. In this study, sixty men and women with type 2 diabetes were divided randomly into six groups. For forty days, groups 1, 2 and 3 took either 1, 3, or 6 grams of encapsulated cinnamon daily. The other three groups took a wheat flour placebo in the same doses. Results showed that the group taking the highest dose had significantly reduced blood gluclose and triglyceride levels after just twenty days. And, the other two groups taking the lower cinnamon doses also showed the same positive results after the forty days. The groups taking the cinnamon capsules also lowered their cholesterol (10-24%) without affecting their "good" cholesterol. None of the placebo groups showed any of these positive effects.

Now, if you weren't lovin' on the healing powers of cinnamon before, how can you resist? We put it in just about everything we cook, so take note, but many more recipes and ideas on how to include it in your cooking to come!

If we can't go out... you'll have to come in!

Never a better excuse for a dinner party...!

For those of you who know us, you likely have received an invite to one of our dinner parties in the past- we love hosting, and these days in seem like the perfect storm to cook for those we love.

We decided to celebrate our new "eating at home resolution" with some of our wonderful 2nd floor neighbors.

While you saw the delicious chili recipe that Jess made for the dinner (if not, check out her post below), I was charged with appetizers (clutch!) - hummus and pita chips.

Ah, hummus- a delicious blend of chick peas and spices- that has become a staple in our lives and in our relationship too! Yes, we do love it that much. :o)

Thanks to a gift from Jess' mom, we have our own Cuisinart, which I have come to know and love. I use it almost like a lab device- experimenting with favoring, changing spices, adding citrus juices- too much fun. It has definitely allowed for making a variety of flavors of hummus and it is also MUCH cheaper to make it from scratch than buying it at the store (and way more fun too). We have traditionally used two cans of chickpeas to make our hummus, but as Jess mentioned, she has now begun using the Crockpot for dried beans, so we took three cups of the Jess hydrated beans (awesome!) mixed with artichoke, jalapeño, cayenne pepper, and cinnamon.

Artichoke Hummus:

3 cups garbanzo beans

1 cup of marinated artichokes (chopped)

1/2 large jalapeño

1/4 cup water

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp cinnamon

We also have quickly realized that pita chips while delicious are quite costly. We set out to find a better way! So, to make Pita chips, we take half a package of whole wheat pitas (6) and cut them into eighths. We lay them on a single layer on a cookie sheet and spray them with cooking oil. I sprinkled adobo spice, cinnamon, and onion powder and then put them in the over at 350 for 5-10 minutes until crispy/brown. You might notice at this point that we use a cinnamon in many of our recipes. Once while cooking Jess mentioned that you should have a bit of cinnamon every day- since it tastes delicious and Jess seems to have a strangely insane knowledge about spices- I never questioned her! Therefore, it is a common spice that I use in most recipes we cook. :)

Chili Time is a Good Time

Which means winter = a good time.

I am a chili lover to the core. There is something about the warm, chunky texture that is so calming, satisfying and enjoyable to me.

Actually, the other day I was watching a food documentary entitled, Food Matters. It spoke of the healing powers of food, which I love learning about and actually really spoke a lot about the power of both the vegan diet (yay!) and also eating a raw foods diet (hum.) . Actually, it startled me to learn that even when you steam veggies (a daily practice in my life), you are depleting them of their natural nutrients, making it harder for your body to digest. The more food is processed & cooked, the harder your body has to work in order to digest it. Therefore, the more you eat raw foods, the less work your body does to digest them, and the more nutrients you ingest and can do good things for your body.

Makes. Sense.
BUT.

I actually like eating warm and hot things! Actually- I'm almost famous for the fact that I drink my tea and eat my soups at almost boiling temperatures!

Sometimes learning new facts like that makes me a little sad, but then I get re-inspired by how good my chili is - and I realize, that maybe I'll just need to eat twice as much of it in order to account for all of the nutrients lost in the cooking of it (ha! foiled the system!)!

So, without further ado- my new and improved chili recipe! Now featuring... Forbidden rice!

Ingredients: (portions are based on estimations made by me (I'm not a big measurement person), so when in doubt, go with your gut)
2 - 3 tablespoons of olive oil
3 onions- diced
10 cloves of garlic- finely chopped
2 tablespoons of curry power
1.5 teaspoons of ground cumin
1.5 teaspoons of cinnamon
2 sweet potatoes - peeled & diced
3 green bell peppers - diced
4 cups of vegetable broth
2 canned Chipotle peppers - diced
2 cans of fire-roasted crushed tomatoes
1.5 cups of black beans
1.5 cups of black rice
1 teaspoon of ground pepper

Cooking Instructions:
In a large pot, head the oil and onions over med/high heat for about 10 minutes or until onions start to brown.
Add garlic, curry powder and cumin and stir for about 2 minutes
Add cinnamon and stir for 1 minute
Add vegetable broth and stir for 2 minutes
Add the sweet potatoes, bell peppers, tomatoes and chipotle peppers. Stir together for 2 minutes.
Put the lid on the chili and let vegetables cook for 10 minutes.
Add the beans and rice and stir together for 1 minute.
Add ground pepper and stir together for 1 minute.
Let chili sit with the lid on it for 10 minutes or until vegetables are soft.
Serve, enjoy, relax!
(This will make enough to serve you and your loved one(s) for 3-5 days)

Also, of note- back to the needing to eat most things raw in order for your body to fully digest them: They also said that if 51% of the foods you eat are raw- then you are good to go- salad, anyone?

Shhhh! It's Forbidden!

Black (Forbidden) rice is my latest superfood obsession!

Meaning, if you've been to our house for a meal in the last week or so, you've definitely been served this in some form within the larger meal we cooked for you (and isn't it great?!)!

Top 5 reasons to worship my new favorite superfood:
1. It's so purple it's almost black- and I do love all things purple.
2. Because it's purple (so dark in coloring), it contains amazing levels of antioxidants (love antioxidants!), such as anthocyanin (which has wide-spread benefits such as improving memory & preventing heart disease).
3. Actually, a study this year found that a spoonful of black rice contains more anthorcyanian than blueberries, but with less sugar (he-oh!).
4. Black rice actually has a higher concentration of anthocyanians than any other food! Great bang for your antioxidant buck!
5. Similarly to brown rice, black rice retains the bran cover on each grain of rice, meaning the nutritional benefits remain (score!). So you are definitely getting your necessary intakes of iron and fiber.

Stay tuned for my newest development in vegan chili recipes that include black rice...!

More than one-fifth, less than one-quarter...

...was the discussion we had tonight as I crossed out "Day 8" on our giant white board calendar wall in our kitchen. It seems like we've accomplished so much- 8 days of not eating out- no Starbucks, no coffee shops, no restaurants, no lunches on the go and no happy hours (huge successes when you office is surrounded by no less than 4 Starbucks, 1 Saxbuys and is sandwiched between a Corner Bakery and Au Bon Pain - Not to mention food trucks and the wonderful restaurants that live in between). While the time is seeming to fly by, staring 28.5 more days of this in the face is daunting still!

I will say- that this not eating out, has kept me home and cooking a ton- which has been terrific. I'm actually finding, I can be quite a good chef when I put my mind to it! AND I just happen to cook all of the dishes that I like and would want to order if eating out anyway- how convenient!

I'm a BIG veggie fanatic- so these 36.5 days are all about the sauces, stir fries and yummy seasonings I can think up and more. I've even used this an the final excuse to pull down the crock pot we were so excited to get and then promptly never used.

I've always hated the idea of using beans from a can- yet we always do. Why? Lazyness? Utility? Convenience? Probably all three- certainly not for deliciousness (all that canned sliminess it comes it- yuck!). Anyway, I did a quick search on Google and one rinse and a good night sleep later- I had made us over 6 cans of beautiful black beans. It sounds corny, but I've honestly never felt more connected to or excited about the beans I was about to partake in. And the best part- absolutely no sliminess! Completely worth the minute effort (time mostly) that goes into cooking dried beans. Convert = yes.

...Garbonzo beans are cookin' away right now actually... I think we are on hour 7?.... YUM.

Happy New Year

And so it begins....

Welcome to our Blog! We are Jess & Jon - a newly married twenty-somethings couple living on capital hill in D.C. This is our 5th year living in the District and we are enjoying the culture, temperament and interesting neighborhoods every day.

We recently kicked cable to the curb and have turned out TV into a beautiful (and big!) computer, thanks to the newest member of our household, our MacMini. As a result, we've been lovin' on Hulu and Netflicks. Through this process, we rediscovered Morgan Spurlock's TV series 30 days.

Each of these episodes places someone in the shoes of an entirely different person or setting for thirty days to see what will happen. We've enjoyed watching the comedy, challenges and conclusions that each person comes to as they take on a new perspective and way of life for 30 days.

After struggling to come up with a singular New Years Resolution for ourselves, we decided to practice a similar idea to Mr. Spurlock by doing a variety of new & different things for a set period of time. We started on January 3rd (when we arrived back home from our Winter Break trip) with "Not Eating Out" for 36.5 days (placing us on day 7) and have since decided on 10 total that will do each for 36.5 days throughout the year. Yes, we are suckers for challenges :o)

This first 36.5 days we are not eating out came amidst discussions of what we could possible do faithfully together that would be feasible, but challenging. Both of us work at a non profit on K St in Washington, D.C. and it is part of the culture not only to regularly go out for coffee but to join people in happy hours and dinners after work. Removing ourselves from all of these situations would be tough, but we were excited to try.

And so, we meet day 7. Faithfully grocery shopping, cooking and packing lunches. Each day we've met new challenges, faced different reactions from friends and family and learned something new. These lessons and interactions are what we hope this blog will be all about.

So please join us on this adventure and wild ride that will be our 36.5 days of resolutions of 2011...

Future adventures that we are currently debating may hold (suggestions welcome):

36.5 days in the gym

36.5 days of correspondence

36.5 days of only reading conservative news

36.5 days of yoga

36.5 days of 36.5 pages read

36.5 days of 36.5 attractions in D.C.

36.5 days of practicing Spanish

36.5 days of prayer

36.5 days of do it yourself projects

36.5 days of learning an instrument