Thank you!!

Good salad today:

romaine lettuce, purple cabbage, walnuts, beets, pear (nothing like a perfect pear!)

dressing: garlic, balsamic vinegar, olive oil

Making something I've made before - YEARS ago. Cowboy Loaf. Mashed potatoes and Lima beans with other added ingrediants. Looking forward to it!

Great meal tonight:

Brussel sprouts (chopped up) and baked with onion, annie's organic maple BBQ sauce, garlic, and annie's organic horseradish mustard

mixed with

a chopped up Morningstar Farm Hickory Smoked Riblet (frozen/microwaved)

Watermelon for dessert :)

I just had a stellar lunch!

I started out with some of the Quinoa and Black Beans that I usually have stocked in the freezer and topped it with a very generous amount of fresh tomato salsa. Normally, that is where it stops and I love it like that. Right now where I am the avocados are just amazing, so I thought it would be good with this. Adding half of a ripe avocado cubed up was just the perfect idea! I ate it so quick, I forgot to take a picture of it, you'll have to imagine based on the recipe pic...

27g slow burn carbs, 15g healthy mono fats, 10g complete protein, 300 total kcal

:eating:

About two weeks ago I had a very bad "episode" ...I'll call it.
I actually ended up in the ER. Anyway, I'm better now but this episode caused me to re-think my choices. Later that day, once safely home, I made a monumental change. I went through my cupboards and tossed anything that could remotely be considered crap. I also cut out almost all animal products. I'm still eating some salmon, but I am now eating very clean. The changes in how I feel, even after such a short time, have been amazing. Extraordinary even. I'm happy to be subscribing here and I look forward to reading all about your experiences.

I figured this might be the place to ask; has anyone heard of or done seasoning of a stainless steel pan?

I am going to replace my non-stick skillets with stainless and ran across this video:



I had never heard of it, it seems almost too good to be true. Thoughts? Opinions?

Kelt, would you mind posting your recipe for the fresh tomato salsa?

I am chagrined to admit that the stuff I used today was purchased. The store where I buy my bulk staples makes it on site.

However, that is a ways off so when I don't have that, I make this:

Tomato Salsa

2 tomatoes chopped
1/4 C minced red onion
1/2-1 jalapeno pepper seeded and minced
1-2 tbsp fresh lime juice
2-4 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
Kosher salt to taste

All amounts can vary to suit taste

I just realized that the vid I posted above ends with her testing eggs in it.

I know some vegetarians eat eggs. In any case, I wanted to put this disclaimer in and hope I haven't offended anyone with that inclusion.

:praying:

This thread is vegetarian and vegan inclusive so all is good, Kelt!

And, of course, on an additional note, no one has to be vegetarian or vegan to post. As long as a post is veg friendly, it's all good :)

Just got a smokin' deal on artichokes (5 lg $1) and was wondering what to do with them. I am usually a steam/drawn butter sort, but wanted to try something new. I went to my go to source and came up with this idea:

Grilled Garlic Artichokes

http://images.media-allrecipes.com/u...11/1001192.jpg

I don't have access to a charcoal grill, I wish, and so will do them in the broiler.

Tonights dinner is already planned, so I will do the prep tonight and finish them up tomorrow. I really like trying new things.

:eating:

Tonight I made baked yellow squash "chips" cooked with rosemary, salt, garlic and olive oil spray. They were outstanding.

I also had sauteed (frozen to pan) collard greens with evoo and garlic. Amazing!

As my "main dish" I had one of the Morningstar Farm riblets (frozen/microwaved and already has its own bbq sauce on it).

Watermelon for dessert.

All the flavors worked really well together, especially the sweetness of the squash chips and the bitter dark flavor of the greens.

I also like to try new things, and its especially exciting when they work out. I wait for BB to take a few bites and then say tentatively, "Is it edible?"

I found a resource today I thought I would share. I have posted in here that I have been eating some Vietnamese food lately but was having trouble identifying some of the herb flavors.

Today I learned that fresh spearmint, purple basil and peanut butter are great together!

The page I found is "Vietnamese Herb Primer" within an asian (omnivore) cooking site, I hope it will help with some of the others. Naturally, it did not answer todays question; broad leaf about 4"x2" medium green, tastes like lemons. Oh well, the hunt continues. If anyone knows this one, I'd love to find out.

I like learning flavors from other cuisines and especially for vegetarian dishes. When looking for new meatless recipes I have found that rather than using a 'meat substitute', I like to find dishes that never had it to begin with. I find a lot of Asian, Indian, African, and Middle Eastern dishes fit the bill quite nicely. I don't feel like I am approximating something else, but having it the way originally intended.

Also loves a good "burger" too though.

:eating:

never seasoned stainless steel. always think some free radicals will pop up. maybe not. here's a youtube I found... maybe it will help.



If that makes it really stick free, I may look into it. :)


[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1376ITxF1Oc"]How To Cook On & Season A Stainless Steel Pan To Create A Non Stick Surface - YouTube[/nomedia]

I was less than impressed with my own test. YMMV

My honey suggested the herb could be a kaffir lime leaf.

Close, but no cigar. I had hope at first, looking it up it looks right at first but it is a double leaf. If you took off the bottom part it looks like that.

Thanks for the idea though! It sounds close in the description. I will ask my friend if there was a lower part to the leaf.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...strix_leaf.jpg

Quinoa for breakfast
 

I eat lots of quinoa. It is a protein, and it's loaded with magnesium. I eat this instead of taking fever few for migraine management. Anything that helps....

The lady in the video made home made rice milk to cook her quinoa in, I used vegtable stock. This is an informative video (I thought)