Green/Clean/Bean

Start off with Green
It was an easy morning because I thought ahead. Yesterday I made Dr Oz's "Green" drink. Only in my case, I've been making it with a whole bunch of celery instead of just one stalk of celery. Maybe you haven't heard of Dr Oz's "Green". It's a drink you make in the blender - a bag of spinach, 2 green apples chopped, a stalk of celery chopped, a cucumber chopped, an inch of fresh ginger, the juice of 1/2 a lemon and 1 lime, a bunch of parsley. That's it. When I make it with a whole bunch of celery, it makes about 2 qts, it's thick and I eat it with a spoon. With just one stalk of celery, you can probably drink it. Either way, it's good and good for you. I ate a cup of green and had a cup of coffee for breakfast.

Wednesday's are still too quiet in the office. I have plenty of time to work on a project. Today I cleaned the pantry. It's good to know what you have. I appears that at some time I was impressed with sesame seeds. This revelation led me to Deborah Madison's "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone" cookbook to find a recipe that would use up a bit of my sesame seed stash. I found "Gomashio". I love it when I find a recipe with a foreign name. Gomashio is a condiment, commonly served over rice. I shall make it, introduce it to my housemates and sound like a well traveled woman.

1/3 cup sesame seeds 2 teaspoons sea salt Roast in a heavy skillet for about 3 minutes over medium heat. Grind a bit, leaving a lot of texture - you don't want a powder when you're done.

I had a hard time with the grinding part. The coffee grinder worked best.

Lunch was a salad of grated carrot, yellow cherry tomatoes and an avocado. I cooked up some brown rice noodles and sprinkled them with the Gomashio. Fantashio. Delishio.

Next a little quality time with One Three. She patched my sprained ankle, then poured me a cup of tea and fixed me a watery lunch. Then we played a bit of hide and seek.

Every time I happened to pass the pantry, I had to take a look. At dinner time it took a little extra time to find what I needed. Still, I couldn't wipe the smile off my face.

Bayou Red Beans and Rice (adapted from "Cooking Free" by Carol Fenster, Ph.D.)

1 celery stalk, chopped

1 sm yellow onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 pound dried red beans

2 tbls fresh basil, chopped

1 tbls fresh rosemary, chopped

1 tbls fresh oregano

1 tbls fresh thyme leaves

2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

2 tbls maple syrup

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 bay leaves

water to cover beans

4 cups hot cooked brown rice

Saute the celery, onion, garlic in olive oil until translucent.

Rinse beans and add to saucepan with the spices.

Add enough water to cover the beans and simmer over med heat for 2 hours or until the beans are done. Serve over rice.

It was a pleasant day. I watched President Obama deliver a wonderful speech. I am optimistic that we the USA can move up the list and become one of the countries with outstanding health care for all.