Fashion Week Yummy Treats!

It’s no secret that I celebrate Fashion Weeks like full-on holidays. I love them! Love the energy, the clothes, ESPECIALLY the models and sense of community. I just adore how, during all this, fashion and beauty bring us all together all over the world. Of course, can’t have a good bash without food! So, I wanted to post here a few things I’ve put together for those of us enjoying the streams around here! :p

Tomato & Basil Organic Whole Grain Linguine. I love Racconto brand (pictured here) but my favourite is Nature’s Path w/ Flax. 🙂 Here, I tossed it w/ store-bought all-natural tomato/basil sauce, fresh diced organic tomatoes & fresh organic basil. Gee, that’s a lot of “organics” haha. From now on, I’ll just say what it is. You may assume it’s organic, unless I state otherwise.

Here’s the sauce I use frequently from my local Sun Harvest store. It’s quite good! Sometimes, I spice it up with some extra Italian seasoning, diced garlic, basil, flat least parsley. I have fun!

Limburger Cheese on multi-grain crackers w/ a blueberry on each. Those cherry tomatoes and raw okra are delish to snack on, too. Now, I know Limburger is heralded as one of the stinkiest cheeses in the world, and it’s true! But stinky cheese is my favourite kind. The pungency is lovely. The stench is nothing like the taste, I think. A lot of people can’t stand it but that’s okay. More for me! :p

Tomato Soup! I start by peeling a bunch of tomatoes like this. I saute onions in good olive oil, sweating them down like I always do. Then, I add the tomatoes whole, (no seeding! All the natural juices in the tomatoes help the soup!) Add some sea salt, white pepper, fresh thyme, 6 cloves of roughly chopped garlic and let it all cook down on low for about 20 minutes. Next, I add 2 cups vegetable stock and puree with a hand emulsifier. Voila! Tomato soup. Feel free to top with your favourite cheese, crumbled crackers or dip with warm crusty bread.

Blueberry & Almond Smoothie w/ a side fruit salad. This smoothie is Gwynnie’s recipe from GOOP.

Blackberries, cherry tomatoes, blueberries, raspberries, baby spinach, good olive oil & gentle splashes of red wine vinegar. Yum!

Horseradish Hash-Mash Taters – This is a clever thing to do with mashed potatoes. I saw Giada de Laurentis do it to boiled red potatoes. She presses down on a boiled red potato to give it just a slight mash, flatten it, then fries it in olive oil with some salt and pepper. So I figured I’d try it with some left-over horseradish mash and it was glorious! Kind of like a french fry, kind of like a breakfast hash. Some crispiness mingled in with creaminess. Garnished with slivered scallion and pasley.

Heat olive oil in a skillet but don’t let it smoke. Add left over mashed potatoes and spread evenly with a spatula or spoon, whatever is easiest for you. (Just no metal spoon + non-stick cookware!) Allow to cook 7-8 minutes. You’ll see plumes of smoke start to pop out of select spots and around the sides. Turn up a corner or some small place to see how it’s looking on the bottom side. If it’s not turning golden yet, allow to cook a bit more. Then, test again. When you see the bottom getting golden, start messily flipping it over. This isn’t a goal of perfection. We just want to crisp up as many sides as possible. Feel free to mix it all up and flatten again if you like. You shouldn’t have to re-season but if you want to add anything, it’s up to you. Two or three rounds of that and remove before anything burns. It’s a fun indulgence. :p ~Oh, and do try to be frugal with your taters. Really don’t need A STICK OF BUTTER or cups and cups of heavy cream. I use Earth Balance and just enough veggie stock and olive oil to keep my mashed taters smart and lush. 🙂

🙂 Quinoa is one of my best friends. I cooked this quinoa in home-made tomato broth and tomato concasse with celery & edamame. Garnished with fresh basil leaves.

Kiwi Mash w/ Orange, Almonds & Chia Seeds – I love this. I halve a bunch of kiwis, scoop the flesh out with a spoon, (quicker than traditional peeling in my opinion), mash ’em up with any utensil (a potato masher works but so does a fork or back of a spoon) and top with fresh orange sections, raw almonds and sprinkle with chia seeds! Simple, refreshing and very filling!

I think that’s enough snacks for now! Back to the shows! It’s London Fashion Week right now and it has been great so far!

GOOP Day 7 Recap

Sorry for the delay on this post! Been a bit busy, then tired, then busy, then tired! :p Such is that vicious cycle!

Yet again, the day began with room temperature water w/ lime on wake. An hour later, it was black cherry tea (one of my favorites).

This pale Green Monster was breakfast. It may not look like much but it was pretty filling. I blended an obscene amount of cilantro with fresh mint, almond milk, blueberries, raspberries and bananas. I love the oddity that is the herbaceous nature of the cilantro with the mentioned sweet ingredients. I just about put cilantro in everything at this point. Besides, cilantro is good for all kinds of things, including detoxification!

Lunch! Small, I know, but as time has gone on, I really just don’t crave huge portions anymore. I’m so used to portion control, it’s no longer anything I consciously think about. It’s a part of my lifestyle at this point. But here is a small raspberry & blueberry salad w/ raw kale, all sprinkled with golden flax seeds. All organic!

Then, I had my coconut water and nibbled a few more seeds and berries till. . .

. . .Dinner! Another small portion but this is poached orange roughy on a bed of raw kale salad, drizzled with a little apple cider vinegar & cold pressed organic extra virgin olive oil.

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My extended thoughts on the GOOP Detox are filled with nothing but praise. I’m no stranger to fasts, detoxes, cleanses. I love trying new ones, old ones, experimenting with various regimens. I even tried Master Cleanse and failed miserably at it. If it works for folks, all the power to them but it leans too far to the starvation side for me.

Every time I finish a run with GOOP, I feel lighter, brighter and more internally refined. What I love about Gwynnie’s program is that it allows for so much versatility. With the correct know-how and research, you can incorporate your own recipes and ingredients that work equally well, if not better. Also, guidelines of GOOP have gone from parts of a program to my daily lifestyle. Ever since my first run with GOOP when it was first released, I’ve began my day with that glass of water & citrus (regularly lime, sometimes lemon. Grapefruit has been known to cameo, too!). I love coffee so that’s usually what follows but I divide my coffee time near equally with tea time. I try to have a coconut water daily but I slip on that sometimes. And Dr. Junger’s suggestion of some olive oil before bed to stimulate the liver’s elimination of bile and circulation is something I do 1-2 times a week.

For me, it’s pretty easy to get into a healthy groove. I find life is more fun when on some kind of program or regimen or adhering to some rules. It’s like an activity, keeps me busy. Once upon a time, when I didn’t monitor my diet very well, I found myself increasingly bored. It’s a strange thing that happens when everything is at your fingertips. I prefer life this way, with schedules and goals. It gives me things to look forward to.

Bottom line, GOOP is the best detox program I’ve ever used and one I encourage everyone to try. God bless Gwynnie! I love her to death! 😀

GOOP Day 6 Recap

Apologies for the gap in posts. Been at the bat planning some special yummies for a special Friday, June 4th! :p

So, day 6 went like this: On wake, had the usual water w/ lime followed by an orange blossom tea an hour later.

Breakfast was gluten free cereal w/ a ton of golden flax seeds, blueberries & almond milk.

I was real skimpy on lunch. I only snacked on almonds and flax seeds and raspberries and cucumber chunks and chewed on cilantro. And I had the above strawberry, parsley & cilantro slushie! (no milk or anything, just crushed ice).

Then, I had this! Per Gwynnie’s recipe ~ Beet, Carrot, Ginger, Apple Juice blended with watercress, arugula, cardamom (powder) & crushed ice!

Dinner rocked! I loaded a hunk of salmon w/ some no-salt herbal seasoning and poached it. Then, I made a raspberry vinagrette from scratch, (raspberries, red wine vinegar, cilantro, Grains of Paradise, organic cold pressed extra virgin olive oil, lime juice) and served it on a bed of raw kale & green leaf lettuce salad w/ raspberries & lime garnish. ~I like how the vinagrette looks hehe :p ~Looks like a river of bloooooood!

Tomorrow or the next day, recap of day 7 and my thoughts of the program after another run with it!

GOOP Day 5 Recap

Day began with the standard water w/ lime. An hour later, I had a parsley tea w/ ginger juice & apple cider vinegar. It does a job to open the eyes!

For breakfast, I had a Green Monster! Can you tell I love Angela Liddon’s blog/activities? :p

This particular Green Monster had Broccoli, Kale, Baby Spinach, Cilantro, green grapes, some Benefiber powder, veggie protein powder, some almond milk & some crushed ice. All organic, of course. It was great! I’m really hooked on these things and the results of long-term ingestion pretty much kick ass. More energy, better hair, nails, skin; more general vibrance physically and in mood.

Then, my daily coconut water. 🙂 Been having one of these a day, btw. Forgot to add them to my posts!

Antioxidant Happy Salad – Called this a Happy Salad because of how peppy it made me feel. Maybe I’m just high on the whole health binger thing lately and Day 5 was a very green, very refreshing day but lunch made me beam. This was very simple; torn green leaf lettuce, curly endive, (there’s a layer of baby spinach under there, too!), raw okra, raspberries, a strawberry & lime wedge, all sprayed w/ ginger/lime juice/red wine vinegar (w/ pomegranate).

Dinner was a spin on Gwynnie’s Detox Teriyaki Chicken. I don’t really enjoy Mirin so I took an axe to that. Instead, I seasoned a boneless, skinless chicken breast w/ Herbes de Provence, a small amount of sea salt and Grains of Paradise. Grilled it to prettiness and had it with with a tangy balsamic vinegar/ginger juice dipping sauce. And some green leaf lettuce salad on the side.

Will post Day 6 tomorrow and wrap up my GOOP 7 day detox! 😀

GOOP Day 4 Recap

On day 5 so Day 4 recap needs to be posted! It’s gonna be another quickie but it’ll get done! :p

So day 4 began with the usual water with lime followed by a tea, (I had green tea w/ cilantro & parsley).

Breakfast smoothie of fresh peaches, almond milk, mint & crushed ice!

Lunch was very simple and frugal! I made a decorative “cup” out of  some baby spinach, (set them up in one of my larger soup bowls). Then, diced some green apple and chayote, topped with organic alfalfa sprouts and sunflower seeds.

Dinner was frugal, as well! Simple greens w/ steamed veggies on top! (Carrots, broccoli, radishes). Sprinkled w/ scallion and cilantro. Drizzled w/ red wine vinegar & freshly ground mixed peppercorns!

GOOP Day 3 Recap

Shotgun post tonight as I’m quite tired lol~ Here is how Day 3 went!

Had the usual water w/ lime then a blueberry tea an hour later in the morning.

Organic Overnight Oats as championed by Angela Liddon of Oh She Glows!

The night before, I prepared my oats with almond milk and put ’em in the fridge. In the morning, I pulled them out, added a bit more almond milk, some fresh organic blueberry puree, some almond butter and a pinch of cardamom, stirred and had at it!

For my smoothie a while after breakfast, I made one with fresh organic cherries from my local farmer’s market, organic avocado, parsley, cilantro & almond milk. It was fantastic! I love the herbaceousness of the parsley and cilantro, the tart/sweet of the cherry and the creaminess of the avocado & almond milk. 🙂

Lunch was great, too. I made a very thin, very brothy Broccoli, Arugula & Radish soup. 🙂  It also had parsley, cilantro, ginger, garlic and a pinch of cayenne pepper. :p ~Those are paper thin radish slices floating atop the foamy broth.

Awesome dinner salad of lettuce, carrot ribbons, blanched broccoli, radish & olives w/ a scallion garnish.

All for now. I’ve nodded out twice at the keyboard! :p That’s what happens when one wakes up @4:45 A.M.!

GOOP Day 2 Recap

This gets easier and easier every time I hop on GOOP. It’s already Day 4 and I have no idea where the time went. It’s such an easy, fulfilling regimen (at least for me). I hope everyone gives it a go at some point.

Here’s how Day 2 went!

My morning water w/ lime.

For tea time, I had Parsley Tea. Actually, I’ve been guzzling this stuff all I can stand because parsley is a natural diuretic and fantastic for eliminating water retention. So, if you find yourself frumpy with bloating issues, fix up some parsley tea to help get it all out. Hound down lots of watermelon, too!

Parsley is also high in antioxidants. However, word around the campfire is pregnant women should steer clear as it can contribute to premature labor.

I like this page from Your Cup of Tea.

Breakfast = Avocado, Strawberry & Mint Smoothie. Made w/ 1 Avocado, 4 Strawberries, 4 roughly chopped mint leaves & 1 cup Almond Milk, topped w/ Flax Seeds. All Organic.

My local Sun Harvest ran out of raspberries but I bought some blackberries and strawberries. 🙂 *As of 6:12 A.M. CST, their website is acting fussy but here’s a link to the weekly ad: http://www.mygroceryads.com/ads/tx/sun_harvest_san_antonio/

I used my own salad recipe for lunch.  It features a decorative Chayote Carpaccio, baby spinach salad w/ julienned carrots & a focal sauerkraut stuffed strawberry. To do that, I fanned the strawberry and stuffed some sauerkraut in the center. It may sound odd but the combination of tart/sour and tart/sweet make for a miraculous treat! Everything is organic and sprinkled with red wine vinegar, (my favorite of all vinegars).

Dinner ROCKED! I had the salad Gwynnie suggests on the GOOP menu here (scroll down some). (Salad w/ Carrot & Ginger Dressing). Salad assembly is simple. Torn lettuce, sliced red onion rounds, cubed avocado (that’s a how-to vid), and Ginger/Carrot dressing. However! Instead of using the blender, I fell back on my Mexican roots and whipped out the Molcajete!

Chef Charlie’s GOOP’d Up Ginger Carrot & Cilantro Dressing

1 large carrot, peeled & diced

1 shallot, peeled & diced

1 clove garlic, chopped (no need to mince, it’s gonna get smooshed to all Hell soon!)

1 tbsp. grated ginger

1 tsp Herbes de Provence

1 tbsp. chopped cilantro

1 tbsp. organic cold pressed extra virgin olive oil

1/4 tsp. Red Wine Vinegar (or whatever your favorite vinegar is)

1/4th cup organic vegetable stock

Sea Salt & Grains of Paradise (or black pepper or mixed peppercorns if unavailable) to taste.

*I keep fresh ginger root in the freezer. It makes it super easy to pop out and grate with a small hand or box grater. Also, if you leave the frozen ginger to thaw in the refrigerator or on the counter for a bit, you are able to squeeze all the juice out once it’s soft. So, you can adapt that into this recipe. Instead of adding grated ginger, u can squeeze 1-2 tsp of juice into it.*

Heat olive oil in pan and saute carrots over med-low heat till carrots are soft, 6-8 mins or so. Cover to help the process, stirring occasionally.

Uncover. Add garlic, shallot, ginger, Herbes de Provence and saute till fragrant, 2-3 mins.

Add vegetable stock and simmer 2-3 mins.

Dispense mixture into molcajete. Add sea salt, Grans of Paradise or (freshly ground pepper), chopped cilantro, vinegar and get to mashing! It’s a bit of a process but it’s fun! Do it gently so you don’t make a mess! Once it’s reduced to a balance between clumpy and runny (see pictures above), it’s ready for storing or application.

You may adjust the recipe for the size of batch you’ll be making. You may allow to cool (as I did before distributing over the salad) or use warm to wilt the greens. Refrigerate unused portion for up to a week.

So, GOOP is going fantastic! I’ll try to post Day 3 pictures later today. I need to do some writing!

GOOP Day 1 Recap

Here’s a recap of yesterday’s GOOP adventure, Monday, May 24th!

I woke up around 5 A.M. per usual. I’m a morning person. I didn’t used to be! As a teenager and in my early twenties, I was a complete night owl. Once I hit 25, something changed. I dunno if it’s a chemical thing or what but I gradually lost my knack for life in twilight. My biology demanded more traditional sleep patterns and, thus, I became one of those folks who beat roosters to the crack of dawn.

First things first! Room temperature water with lemon! I ran out of lemons so I used lime. What I do is leave a tall glass of water on my nightstand, covered so nothing peculiar lurks into it as I sleep. The lime, however, I slice fresh.

Almost two hours later, I had my tea. It was roughly 7 A.M. and I know there is supposed to be a 1 hour space between water and tea but I had a workout and lost track of time. (Did some jogging and some eliptical).

7 A.M. Tea! It’s Ancient Cherry Green Tea (w/ Mint), one of my favorites from Gevalia. (I love their products).

That’s my favorite coffee cup. 🙂 It’s pink with white hearts! The mint is fresh from my garden.

I did some work on my novel over tea and hung out on Twitter/Facebook a bit. I’m a complete junkie for all this social media stuff! :p

9 A.M. – Orange, Blueberry & Almond Milk Smoothie! I use plain Almond milk as sometimes I find the vanilla one too sweet. I probably should have used more blueberries in this but I like snacking on them and saved a bunch to sneak in at other times. :p

Around 1 o’clock, I screwed up. Instead of making a proper lunch per the program’s instructions, I snacked on edamame & sunflower seeds and just didn’t feel that hungry so I skipped it. I had a proper lunch today (day 2) and plan to do the same tomorrow (day 3).

I didn’t full-on have a full dish till 5 P.M., (which is close to my cut-off. I try not to eat much after 6 P.M. 8 P.M. at the latest. But since I “skipped” lunch, I changed things up a bit. I moved my protein from day 2 into day 1. And not chicken either! I had fish!

Here is my Poached Orange Roughy in a Veggie Broth w/ Edamame & Mint:

I let the fish pick up some color from the sauteed veggies I began my broth with. Here’s the recipe:

Poached Orange Roughy in a Veggie Broth w/ Edamame & Mint

Ingredients:

1 4-6 oz. Orange Roughy filet (or frozen, if you must. They are portioned for you. Pictured are cuts from fresh filets).
1/2 cup Shelled Edamame
2 Ribs of Celery, diced
4 Cloves Garlic, roughly chopped
1/3 cup Red Onion, diced
Water
Pinches of cumin, sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, marjoram to taste. (In general, about a teaspoon each. You may take it from there).

How It’s Done:

Heat sesame oil in saucepan or skillet over medium-low heat, about a minute.
Add aromatics, (onion, garlic, celery). Stir a bit and cover immediately. Allow to sweat 3-4 minutes.
Uncover, add sea salt, pepper, marjoram and cumin. Stir a bit and re-cover to sweat more, 2-3 minutes. This a gentle, delicate process that’s a bit of an infusion of flavors. We’re creating lots of condensation beneath the lid and as the veggies release their water, (with the help of the salt at this point), the infancy of a very good broth is had!
Uncover. Make some room in the veggies for the fish. Rest in the skillet and cover again. Let the magic work 1-2 minutes, 3 at the most.
Uncover. Give everything a little movement and add 1/2 cup water. Scrape at the bottom of the skillet to release any fond that may have developed. Re-cover and allow to work 10-15 minutes. Keep an eye on it so that if it needs just a little bit more water, feel free to add by the splash. Constantly taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary.
When done, remove fish and set aside beneath foil to stay warm.
Strain liquid through a sieve so that only broth remains. Give the poached, mushy veggies to someone beside you (so they don’t go to waste).
Ladle broth into your bowl. Add uncooked edamame so it can just heat through. Stylishly stack fish in the center, garnish with mint and serve immediately.
Serves 1.

It was divine! The dish was very clean, very controlled, very disciplined. I’ll tell ya one thing I love about GOOP; it’s so adaptable. I think Gwynnie gives us a fantastic set of GUIDELINES to utilize but as long as we stick to the principles of her Detox, I believe we can change up a few recipes and the order of them to fit what is available and our moods.

I’m tired and falling asleep at the PC so I’m gonna wrap this post up lol ~It’s 11:27 P.M. and, like I said, I’m beat by this hour so. :p Good night all and I’ll post how Day 2 went sometime during the course of Day 3!

DAY 1 – Back on the GOOP Wagon

So today I begin the GOOP 7 Day Detox again! It’s my favorite detox, one from which I have extracted daily lifestyle habits.  Whenever I’ve used GOOP in the past, I feel like four-million dollars after the program. During it is no different and, I must say, feeling that fantastic is addictive so here we go! Besides, it’s the perfect way to get geared up for Summer.

GOOP is a detox developed by Actress Gwyneth Paltrow (who I ADORE!) & her friend, Dr. Andrew Junger. After she went to Hell and back having a go at “The Master Cleanse,” which she described as “hallucinogenic,” Gwynnie sought the expertise of Dr. Junger to compile a detox that was less aggressive yet effective. Personally, I am no fan of the Master Cleanse. If it works for ya, hat’s off but the program leans too far on the starvation side for me. I felt horrid when I tried it so I dropped it like a hot tater and prefer sticking to GOOP when it’s time to restart the body’s engine.

Here is the program:

http://www.goop.com/newsletter/15/en/

I will detail my progress and post photos of the things I make during the cycle. If you’re looking for an ace detox, I highly recommend this one!