Yesterday morning a mama friend proposed to meet up for an evening dinner picnic with our families at a nearby park. It was quickly decided “Yes! Let’s do it!” and with that I was on to figuring out what to bring.

With a look at what I already had on hand (quinoa, avocado, corn and red pepper), I made a short list (limes and fresh cilantro, plus a Kombucha and some dark chocolate too if you’re going to look at my receipt) and planned a quick grocery trip while the girls were at gymnastics for an hour in the afternoon.

I’ve been on a coleslaw kick for quite a while now.  It’s just a great salad to have on hand for a fast vegetable side for lunch, dinner, snacks or what the heck, even breakfast.  It’s easy to make, the flavors deepen and improve on Days 2 and 3 (if it lasts until Day 3!) It’s easy to get hooked on coleslaw.  Maybe we should call it cabbage crack.

Shrimp Ceviche on Salad

October 22nd, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Vegetable Lovin' - (4 Comments)

“Ceviche” is a relatively new word to me.  Wikipedia says ceviche is a seafood dish marinaded in citrus juices – and I’m with ya so far.

But Google Chrome and it’s squiggly red line under the word Ceviche is suggesting I use the word “Crevice”, which is not especially helpful because until just a few moments ago, I wasn’t even sure how to pronounce “ceviche”.  Now I’m going to go to a fancy party some day and say “May I please have the Shrimp Crevice?” and people are going choke on their caviar and/or snort Cristal out their nose.  Thanks for nothing, Google Chrome.

Make Your Own Kimchi

October 17th, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Vegetable Lovin' - (11 Comments)

We discovered kimchi about 3 years ago, thanks in part to The 4 Hour Body (a gimmicky book but some aspects were informative and entertaining nonetheless.)  Kimchi is an Asian dish – it’s a spicy, sour fermented cabbage. Fermented foods like yogurt, sauerkraut, real pickles (and kimchi!) are an important part of your diet (have I convinced you read Deep Nutrition yet?  Come on people!)

With that, store bought kimchi (or kim chee) seems to fall under one of two categories:

Category 1: Not that good.

Category 2: Not that cheap.

Chewy Pumpkin Granola

September 29th, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Vegetable Lovin' - (Comments Off on Chewy Pumpkin Granola)

I’ve got another pumpkin recipe today, but please don’t be annoyed.  I promise that I’m about to lay off the orange stuff for a while to ensure my hands stay on the paler side of normal this season.

I’ve had a hankering for granola, but every time I look at the ingredient list on the packages in the store and then look at the price, I sigh dramatically, throw my head back with my forearm over my brow and cry “Why, Granola?  WHY?”  (and then I look around the granola aisle and say “who said that?  people in this store are crazy!”)

This is officially my new favorite way to eat summer squash.  I made this for dinner and I didn’t even need to add any salt because I garnished these zucchini and squash peel “noodles” with tears of joy.

Zucchini and Yellow Squash Noodles

I’ve been curious about “zucchini noodles” for a long time, but don’t own a spiralizer.

(If you’re not in the know – a spiralizer is a kitchen gadget that will spin your vegetable while carving off long, thin strands to make something that resembles a noodle.)

Oh Parsnip Fries!  Where have you been all my life?

Parsnip Fries for Lunch

No, seriously. Why have I never eaten a parsnip?

Parsnips

I have no idea, but I stumbled upon these guys (not literally) while looking for vegetables that are higher in carbohydrates to help fuel me through my floor-sweeping, baby-chasing, laundry-toting days.  Me and my orange hands need something besides carrots and sweet potatoes to eat.  Parsnips and their lack of beta carotene fit the bill, so let’s do this!

(To the paleo/primal curious and my gluten-free friends, it took me a while to figure out that I feel crummy if I go too low with carbohydrates.)

In my post about Zak’s juice fast, a couple of you asked about some of his favorite juice recipes.  Let’s just say that there has been a lot of experimenting on his part lately.  He often makes what he calls “Kitchen Sink Juice”.  I’m sure this title needs no explanation (but here I go anyway.)   He basically piles together whatever he finds in the fridge and then proceeds to shove it into the juicer.  From where I stand there does appear to be some rhyme and reason to what he makes for himself – often adding greens, carrots and beets for the nutrients, plus some apple, pear, lemon, lime and/or ginger to help with the flavor.  But then there was that time that he juiced an onion.  And that day when he juiced 4 cloves of garlic.  We’ve put garlic in juice before – but not 4 cloves.  And not until we had that vampire problem.

The Fountain of Juice

April 3rd, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Vegetable Lovin' - (4 Comments)

Yesterday was my 34th birthday.  Thirty four.  What a perfectly ordinary age.

Although I think I’m officially in my “mid-30’s” now.  How about “early in my mid-30’s”?  That’s a little easier to swallow.

Getting older isn’t so bad, it’s the looking older part that doesn’t thrill me.  There are more gray hairs sprouting from the top of my head than I can/should pull out now.  I’ve been noticing more fine lines around my eyes lately too.  And there is definitely less distance between the floor and my butt these days.  Hmmm, what other embarrassing things about myself should I admit here?  I think I’ll stop now.

Intro to Collard Greens

March 28th, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Vegetable Lovin' - (6 Comments)

These are collard greens. These collard greens have been in my refrigerator for more than a week.

Collard Greens

My hesitation stems from the fact that I tried collards at a picnic over the summer, and they were awful.  AWFUL!

There are enough people in this world who enjoy collard greens that I figured it was not the collards fault that they were so bad – it was probably the fault of the person who made them.  A person who doesn’t have the slightest idea that this blogs exists, so I feel like I am free to say “Your collards sucked, lady!”  (sorry.)