Just Flourishing » oats

Help in the Kitchen

Janna — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 18:14:19 +0000

Though it is summer, for some reason my Dad likes to keep the house at temperatures that could rival a Winnipeg winter!

I’ve been trying everything short of wearing my winter jacket to stay warm! Kidding. Sort of. Anyway, I’ve been drinking lots of this good stuff.

And sometimes adding some of this. Sea Cider Organic honey my parents picked up when they were in British Columbia.

It is GOOD,

Dinner last night was pretty wonderful, if I do say so myself. What made the meal was an amazing Lemon-Mustard vinaigrette inspired by the one I had at Blue Water Grill the other night.

What also helped make it pretty great was that I made dinner with my dad! It’s nice to have some company in the kitchen.

We BBQ’d wild caught salmon brushed with the vinaigrette.

To go with it we made a simpler version of Sophie’s Chopped Salad

Steamed potatoes with S & P

And a few leftover brussels sprouts.

And the star of the show – My Lemon-Mustard Vinaigrette!

I don’t know the exact proportions of what I put. But I will estimate that it was:
*1/2 tsp Paprika
*1/8 tsp Garlic powder
*1/8 tsp Onion powder
*2 tbsp Goat’s milk yogurt
*Juice of 1 lemon
* 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
* 1/2- 1 tbsp Olive oil
* Touch of sweetness (sugar, honey, agave)
*Handful of chopped dill
*Salt
*Pepper

I loved how tangy it was. Definitely a keeper! And it went so well with the salmon, salad AND potatoes! Mmm!

My plate!

And after dinner I had a date with the other half of the watermelon I attacked yesterday.

My sliced up watermelon goes very fast in this house!

And my breakfast this morning – OATS! I haven’t seen them in so long! It felt way too hot in NYC to have them. But with the temperature in my house oatmeal is necessary!

Made with oats, almond milk, banana and topped with honey, AB, goat yogurt and cacoa nibs. Mmm mmm good!

Today, I’m just adjusting to being back home. Unpacking, getting myself together and such. And tonight I have dinner at my Baba’s (mom’s mom)! SO SO excited to see her and my Zaida (mom’s dad)!

What temperature do you like your living space to be at?

I honestly like it to be pretty cool – but not COLD! Maybe slightly cooler than room temperature.

Yoga = FAIL. Vegan Food = Success!

Janna — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 19:45:01 +0000

Welcome to day 3 of Vegan for a Week!

Yesterday I went to Yoga at the Great Lawn in Central Park. There were a few other people in attendance…;)

10, 000 people were due to show up to what was supposed to be the worlds largest yoga event! I arrived around 5:45 to a MASSIVE line. 2 hours later, I was still in line, finally nearing the great lawn when it started to rain. The lucky yogis who arrived earlier actually managed to get ON to the lawn and definitely had a much better experience than those of us stuck in a line for 2 hours.

But even those lucky enough to get on the field had to leave as it started to pour and the event was cancelled. Thousands of New Yorkers scattered outside Central Park, some using their free yoga mats they received from the event (I was too late to get one) as a shield from the storm!

They’ve having a makeup event, I might go… but I’m not so sure I want to wait in a line for 2 hours again.

~The Vegan Eats~

Last night for dinner I made Oh She Glows’ Chickpea Coconut Curry. I used olive oil instead of coconut oil and coconut yogurt instead of soy.

And I had it with soba noodles instead of rice. It wasn’t my favorite dinner – mostly because I overcooked the noodles, and the flavor was a bit muted. I think more spice or coconut oil would have given it more oomph.

TEMPTATION/CONFESSION! – Last night BF was mean and ordered pizza for himself for dinner. I must confess – It looked so good, and because I was a little unsatisfied with my own dinner, I stole one of his pieces and scraped off the cheese to eat it! Still vegan though! Right? RIGHT??? Oh man, it was only day 2! What can I say, I love my pizza. Dear BF, stop tempting me with your cheese-filled dinners!

Afterwards I sliced up a mango to eat while we watched Youth in Revolt.

B-Fast this morning was standard banana oats with a (big) dollop of almond butter.

Midmorning snack was a few handfuls of some curry cashews. Guess I didn’t get enough curry last night!

And now for my lunch/ a wonderful vegan recipe for you!

Southwestern Rice Salad

Ingredients:

1 cup brown rice, cooked and cooled
1 cup corn
1 cup black beans
1-2 scallions (green onions) diced
1 medium or 2 small bell peppers diced
1/4 cup sliced black olives (or more if you’re an olive fiend like me!)
1 cup salsa
2 tsp cumin
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T lime juice
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Combine veggies and rice in a bowl

Top with salsa, cumin, garlic, cilantro and lime juice and mix together.

Chill for at least an hour. Overnight is best. It lets all the flavors develop and mix together.
Then serve!

I love this salad. Mostly because I LOVE the combo of lime juice and cilantro!

~Interview with a Vegan~

Today’s vegan blogger is Lindsay of Cooking for a Vegan Lover

How long have you been vegan for? I have been vegan for 3.5 years and vegetarian for 14 years.

Why do you eat a vegan diet? I eat a vegan diet for animal rights reasons, health, and environmental reasons.

Do you think a vegan diet is "healthier" than a vegetarian or omnivorous diet? I do think that a vegan diet can be healthier than that of a vegetarian or omnivorous diet as both of those diets are based around animal products which are filled with saturated fats, and unless you are getting high quality organic products you are filling yourself full of hormones and antibiotics that are in the animals/animal products that you eat. Plant-based diets have been proven to reduce diabetes and heart disease which gives further evidence that a vegan diet is healthier. This all being said a vegan diet is only healthier if the individual who is eating a vegan diet is eating vegetables, fruits, whole grains, plant based proteins and not pop and chips. There are many junkfood vegans out there you I would not consider any healthier than some vegetarians or omnivores.

Do you take any vitamin supplements? I take a raw prenatal vitamin and I have taken B-12 but do not currently.

Do you miss anything about not being a vegan? There is nothing that I miss about not being vegan however there are some items that I wish would come in a vegan version- however most things do nowadays; I just wish they were more accessible like vegan creemees (soft serve for those of you not from Vermont).

Do you think you will be vegan your whole life? Yes, definitely.

What are some of your favorite vegan dishes? I have a number of favorite vegan dishes honestly more than I could ever name but here are a few:

http://cookingforaveganlover.com/2010/04/07/creamy-miso-morel-pasta-with-peas-leeks/
http://cookingforaveganlover.com/2010/04/11/recipe-vegan-lobster-roll/
http://veganyumyum.com/2007/04/soy-mirin-tofu-over-rice-with-broccoli-and-peanut-sauce/

Thanks so much Lindsday! That creamy miso morel pasta with peas & leeks looks delicious!

Alright I’m off to find something sweet to eat…or perhaps something minty, I have some serious garlic breathe after that lunch! I can’t help it, I love my garlic.

Have a great hump day!

Question of the Day: Are you an onion/garlic fan. I feel like either you love em or you hate em. Same with cilantro. Do you love it or hate?

Me? I LOVE ONIONS AND GARLIC and I LOVE CILANTRO!

I’d Like Some Pasta with my Butter

Janna — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 14:53:26 +0000

All I wanted this morning was some oats and a large scoop of my new almond butter.

Not quite as delicious as Justin’s Maple Almond Butter, but it’s up there!
I made a decadent bowl of “Ice Cream Sundae” oats!

Whipped banana oats topped with cinnamon, goat milk yogurt and a drizzle of honey AB

Holy. Yum.

Before heading to volunteering I snacked on some mango. I knew we would be having lunch there so I didn’t want to fill up too much beforehand

Volunteering was great. I didn’t think it would be appropriate to take pictures though. The program I volunteered for yesterday is called Operation Frontline which is a cooking based nutrition education program that teaches low income seniors, families, teens and children how to cook healthy, tasty meals on a budget. I was the substitute “chef” and taught a group of 5-12 year olds how to make a brown rice salad and strawberries and cream. All the kids helped me make the food and we all got to eat what we made afterwards! The kids were amazing. They were so adorable! One particular 6 year old took a liking to me and gave me about a million hugs throughout the class! We all had to wear nametags and at the end of the class he came up to me and gave me his nametag so I “would remember him”. How cute is that???

Afterwards BF and I went to dinner at Perilla.

I initially wanted to order just two appetizers instead of an entree but the waiter insisted that they would be too small. It was nice of him to say that, but waiters have actually said that to me a lot when I’ve asked for two apps instead of an entree and the appetizers ended up being just the right size because entrees are usually SO big!

But I was silly and listened to him. So I cancelled my appetizers and just got an entree.

They still brought out one of my appetizers, which I had cancelled but BF said he would share it with me so we kept it.

I was glad they made the mistake. It was REALLY good! It was a hearts of palm and macadamia nut salad. Mmmm..

And then there was my entree. The only non-meat item of the entrees. It was ricotta stuffed Agnolotti.

I was not a fan. It was literally SWIMMING in butter. Actually, BF got a pasta appetizer which also had tons of butter. I’ve heard it was a restaurant trick to add up to a tablespoon of butter to a finished pasta sauce to enhance the taste, but this was over the top!

Don’t get me wrong, a little bit of real butter is probably much better than some other things, but I think some restaurants go a little crazy. Perhaps some people enjoy their food drenched in butter, but I definitely do not. Serves me right for listening to the waiter and not going with my first instincts. I think two appetizers would have been the perfect size.

Afterwards we went out for some Pinkberry. I definitely felt like it at the time, but afterwards felt a bit sick. Ooof. It was a bit too much food… or maybe it was too much butter. Next time I will go with my gut (literally) haha!

What do you think about restaurants and butter?

Do you tend to eat out more or make more meals at home?

Chocolate Bread and Reggae

Janna — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 16:07:52 +0000

“Welcome to Boston!”

The best kind of welcome is a loaf of Chocolate Bread!

Want some? You’d better hurry and grab a slice… before it’s all gone!

I arrived in Boston to a warm welcome in some chilly weather.
After munching on some AMAZING chocolate bread that Amanda picked up for us, we headed to Snappy Sushi for dinner.

Remember when I attempted to make chocolate bread? Ha!

Onto the evening….

Snappy Sushi! It was packed

The great thing about Snappy is that they serve all of their sushi with brown rice!

We each started off with a bowl of Miso to warm up!

Slurrpin’ up the Miso!

There were 3 of us and we split 4 rolls (plus 2 salmon nigiri) between us.

The “Tuna Gone Wild” roll, 2 salmon nigiri and a salmon roll

The “Roasted Garlic Scallop Roll” (my favorite!)

And an un-pictured roll with shrimp and eel

You couldn’t even tell that the rolls were with brown rice…they were delicious!!!

Afterwards we headed to Johnny D’s for reggae night!

Multicolored beers!

We had SO much fun listening to the band (Live Wyya) and dancing the night away!

Group photo with the boys of Live Wyya!

This morning I woke up at the lovely hour of 9 (so lovely!) and (while Amanda was at work) made myself a delicious breakfast of oats, toasted walnuts, Trader Joe’s PB and a side of chocolate bread (can’t get enough!)

Amanda comes home soon so I’m going to get ready for our day of yummy food, visiting an animal shelter, shopping and more!

What kind of music are you into? Favorite band/artist?

Out with the Old (camera) in with the New!

Janna — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 17:04:07 +0000

Happy Weekend to you!

I’m having a lovely time so far. Yesterday consisted of some apartment cleaning, shopping and meeting up with some friends last night!

We went out for drinks in the West Village and walked around the area a bit. I never explore there, but I really should more! Some parts reminded me so much of Montreal (where I went to university). It made me all homesick for my old city

Yesterday, for dinner, I made myself something I haven’t made at home in a LONG time…

A gigantic salad!

I didn’t have too many ingredients on hand (this salad definitely could have used some tomatoes, goats cheese and nuts…next time!) but I think I threw together a pretty yummy mix.

Green leaf lettuce, orange peppers, strawbs and chickpeas topped with EVOO and balsamic and lots of black pepper!

All mixed up:

I hate when all the toppings fall to the bottom!

I don’t know about you, but I can never have an”all veggie” salad. I always need something else in there like fruit, cheese, beans, nuts, quinoa… I’m just not satisfied without the extra toppings!

Same goes for oatmeal! My delicious breakfast this morning…

I always need something on top of my oats! This time is was some FEED granola and PB.

I can’t believe that before I started reading food blogs I ate my oats plain!

P.S. I am loving the way my pictures are looking with my new camera. They look so much better now!

My new camera is a blue Canon Powershot SD1300 IS. It is really great in low light, has great image quality and the price is right. I would highly recommend it!

Just for comparisons sake. This is a picture of oats with my old camera….

Not even close to as sharp as my oats above.

On the agenda today:

To the gym for some Summer Shape Up
Bed Bath and Beyond for some household stuff
Trader Joes for some new nut butter and bananas!
Out with JH and friends tonight!

What city did you/do you go to college in? Did/do you like it? Do you ever go back and visit?

I LOVED Montreal. I miss it all the time. I’ve gone back twice since graduating and I’m hoping to go back again this summer. So many memories there.

My First Oats in a Jar

Janna — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 02:05:06 +0000

Good Evening,

Hope your Saturday went well. Apologies for the tardy posting, the internet wasn’t working until just now!

This morning I tried Oats in a Jar for the first time!

Almond butter awaiting it’s oaty topping:

Creamy oatmeal goodness:

YUM!

I was very satisfied with my first OIAJ! Now I just need a new jar!

Today I wanted to get myself some new work-out clothes.

I went to lululemon and tried on some very comfy pants. They gave me giant sneakers to wear with them and BF thought I looked funny and decided to take a picture.

Turned out like this:

Awesome picture taking skills BF! Har har.

For tonight: I bought some apples the other day and am thinking of making something with them for dessert. Not sure what though.

On deck for tomorrow:

Blogger Run with KERF! She’s visiting NYC this weekend and a bunch of us are going for a run tomorrow! Can’t wait to meet everyone

Have a great night. I’m off to make some apple-y goodness!

Question of the Day:

What are your favorite apple desserts?

How [not] to run in Manhattan

Janna — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:51:39 +0000

(As opposed to How TO run in Manhattan – the BF demonstrates above on the Brooklyn Bridge)

Happy Friday!

I finally made it out for an outside run! But, let me tell you, it was not easy.

Before I went: First I celebrated National Pomegranate Month with a bowl of pom-oats. Yep, I cracked open my other pomegranate just for the occasion

1/3 cup oats, 2/3 cup water, 1/2 banana. Topped with pomegranate arils, cinnamon and raw almond butter on the spoon KERF style.

After that, I quickly popped into Best Buy to purchase a new pair of very *pink* headphones.

With my pink ipod:

Too much pink? NEVER!

Then I bundled up and made a plan to run over the Brooklyn Bridge…which is my usual plan because I know no other running routes in the city and have no sense of direction. But, unfortunately, I just can’t win with that darn bridge! When I got close, I saw there were police cars, police officers and a large crowd of NY Yankee paraphernalia clad people. No way I was running through that mess! So I reluctantly turned back around.

The next part of my run was seriously a test in anger management. I just couldn’t catch a break; there were large crowds of people everywhere I turned. All I wanted was to run freely without having to weave my way through tourists, Yankee fans and food carts,without having to stop to walk around massive crowds or fold my arms and tap my foot while waiting at a red light for 5 minutes. I longed for the empty streets of Winnipeg; the vacant trails right outside my door…the endless running possibilities that were now so far out of my reach.

Every time I saw a clear path ahead of me, I exploded with speed to take advantage of the lack of people and to make up for all my walking and stopping. Finally I got into a somewhat less crowded area and could truly “run” without weaving through too many people and without stopping. What a relief.

I made it home and took a look at my Garmin:

Not bad!!! 5.08 miles in 41 minutes and 19 seconds. And then I remembered; when I ran my 8K (5 mile) race in April, my chip time was 41:41. So I… beat my race time? Innnteresting. I hope my Garmin’s not broken. That just seems kind of crazy! It was my first race… and I’ve definitely improved since then but…still. Hm, I guess all those bursts of speed when I saw an open path really moved me along!

After the run, I went inside and made myself a post-run smoothie.

1/2 cup almond milk, 1/2 cup water, other half of banana from breakfast, a couple frozen mango pieces, and couple frozen papaya pieces and half a packet of Vega Complete Whole Food Health Optimizer powder.

Blennnnded up to make…..THIS!

If those pictures don’t look appetizing, I don’t know what does.

Haha. It looked like a swamp, but tasted like icy cold, healthy, goodness!

I also had a couple more sweet potato fries from last night.

But I wasn’t satisfied. So I decided to celebrate cookie friday with yet another one of my vegan chocolate chip cookies. I still wasn’t satisfied so I had another. Urgh… too much celebrating, now I have a tummy-ache.

Off to hit the books. Have a great start to your weekend!

********
What’s your running route? Do you have to weave through people or do you usually have a pretty clear path?

I caught the Running Bug!

Janna — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 23:55:51 +0000

Happy November! Did you remember to turn your clocks back?

Hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween!

Running Bug

This past year has involved a lot of running for me, and I ran my first 2 races ever. An 8k and a 10k. But after that 10k in May, my urge to run started steadily diminishing. While training from March till May, I was running 4 or 5 times a week. Then, slowly but surely, that turned into 3 times a week, which turned into 2, then my runs became very sporadic. By the time I moved to NYC at the end of September I was probably only running once or twice a month.

I just didn’t want to do it anymore. And I was okay with that. I wasn’t going to push myself to do something I didn’t want to! Not my style

Anyway…I’m not sure if it’s the Marathon fever in the air (the New York City Marathon was today), but suddenly I have the urge to run again!

I took a long break… but I think I’m ready to get back into it! I’m going to go for a run tomorrow!

Even though 90% of my days will be about studying (i write my GRE in 2 weeks!) I want to take an hour to let loose and just run.

I realize this is poor timing as it is November 1st and the weather is starting to get colder, but I’m going to see how it goes. Eventually I will have to switch to the treadmill or the RAD (Revolving Apparatus of Death) as Fitnessista likes to call it

I may try and find an easy training schedule to follow… or maybe even just do my own thing. Who knows! We shall see how long this running bug lasts!

Brekkie

It feels like I haven’t had oatmeal for so long! This morning was definitely an oats morning.

In the mix was a 1/2 cup oats, 1 cup water, 1/2 super ripe banana, 1/3 cup almond milk added at the end. Topped with lotsa cinnamon, the other half of the banana for extra staying power and a dollop or Barney Butter.

Banana-licious!

That bowl kept me REALLY full so lunch was just a bunch of random snacks I brought to school (almonds, grapes, an orange, some dried mango).

After spending 3 hours at school I came home and did a 75 min vinyasa yoga class at the gym. Love yoga.

Tonight for dinner I’m going to try and recreate the amazing ratatouille I had at DBGB KItchen and Bar.

Hope it turns out!

Have a lovely night!

Janna

______________________________

Question of the Day: What is your FAVORITE Oats combo?

Mine is: oats, almond milk, bananas, lots of cinnamon, flax and couple of carob chips. Mmmm!

Rice… made from Oats?

Janna — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:02:34 +0000

[Source]

Gooood morning!

Well, my waking up early streak lasted 1 day! I’m going to keep trying though. I hate waking up late!

Not sure what I’m feeling like for breakfast.

Maybe I’ll have some Rice-Oats!

Huh?

The other day my brother sent me an article from my hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba about Cavena Nuda, or “Rice of the Prairies”.

He said “Thought you might be interested in this. It is apparently a big ordeal”

And interested I was. Cavena Nuda is a rice-like product made from oats, currently being grown only in Manitoba by farmer Scott Sigvaldason.

So, is it rice? Is it oats? What is it? I was intrigued.

Cavena Nuda (which means Canadian naked oats) is a hulless oat that is also free of the tiny hairs that make other forms of hulless oats so unattractive to most farmers.

Okay. But what is the big deal?

Apparently Cavena Nuda has twice the protein of rice, 10 times the dietary fibre and more cholesterol-lowering beta glucan than is found in regular hulled oats.
BUT it looks, cooks and tastes like rice!
Also… it’s good for the environment!

How can this be?

Let’s see how this works:

From http://www.wedgefarms.com:

With regular oats, the hull remains on until they are processed to remove the hull often hundreds of miles away, then the hulls must be disposed of as a by-product of oat milling. This involves moving the oats with the hulls on and then the hulls themselves, burning a lot of fuel in the process. The oats must then be heated to stop them from becoming rancid as the hull is no longer there to protect the kernal, using more fuel.

Cavena is unique as the oat itself is naturally both hulless and hairless. There is no difference in the look or growth of the plant until harvest. When cavena is threshed the hull is removed and returned to the soil immediately where it breaks down improving the health of the field. Cavena is then much more dense needing far less storage space and hauling, reducing the carbon footprint substantially. While regular oats need heat treating once the hull is removed, Cavena has natural defences against spoiling.

Sounds too good to be true! Now, the only question is? Can I turn it into whipped banana rice oats?

What are your thoughts on this new oat variety?

You can read the article and the product website to learn more.