Cheesy and buttery asparagus & Shiitake mushrooms with green beans

Easy cheesy, buttery aparagus
(pictured on left)


Ingredients:

• 1 bunch aspargus
• 1Tb oil: flax, safflower, olive oils cold pressed preferred
• 2-3 Tb nutritional yeast
• sea salt and white pepper to taste

1. Steam asparagus by putting about 1 cm of water into a covered pan and bring to a boil.  Put asparagus into the covered pan until they all turn bright green in about 6 minutes.  Immediately remove from heat and pour off liquid.  You may rinse with cold water briefly to stop the cooking process.  
2. Add oil, yeast, salt and pepper. Mix well and serve immediately. 

  
Shiitake mushrooms and green beans
(pictured above on right)



Ingredients: 

• 1 bag frozen organic green beans
• 3/4 cup frozen shiitake or frozen organic mixed mushrooms  
• 5 Tb organic Muir mild salsa
• 1 Tb raw tahini (ground raw seseme butter found in the nut butter section)
• sea salt and white pepper to taste

 

1.  Steam the beans and mushrooms together in a pot (see similar instructions above #1).
   
2.  Add salsa, tahini, salt, and pepper.  Mix and serve. 

 So easy, healthy, and delicious! I love sharing my dinners with you!
 

Half

We live in a world of excess, where bigger is better until it becomes latched around our bellies like an inner tube, so why not try to half your portions of food intake?

When eating at home, use smaller dishes and glasses like... 

• asian rice bowls (Tokyo Mart, Tamuning next to Cost-U-Less)  instead of soup bowls 
• salad/dessert/saucer sized plates instead of big dinner plates
• salad forks, chop sticks, and smaller serving spoons instead of dinner forks and big spoons
  
• juice glasses for drinks with calories instead of big gulp sized glasses, which are great for drinking water!

When eating out, why not decide to live for a poor student like me by...

• drinking a glass of water before you leave for the restaraunt
• deciding to halve your food portion to take home for an snack or meal later

Vegan Cheese

There are several varieties of vegan cheeses available at Payless. The best of these cheeses is made by Follow Your Heart for taste and melt-ability. However, I find the ingredients in them aren't as healthy as they could be, because they use the cheapest oil possible, canola oil, which has been shown to have negative health effects.

Instead, my partner and I have made our own melted vegan cheese which tastes great on pizzas, veggies, etc. It is healthy and keeps in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or so.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium-sized onion, diced
  
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• olive oil 
• 1 head cauliflower (organic if possible), chopped
  
• salt and white pepper to taste
• 1/4 - 1/5 cup nutritional yeast (high in B vitamins, which vegans need to supplement) (1/4 for larger cauliflower, 1/5 for smaller)
  

1. Place diced onions and a bit of olive oil into a pan and cover with the lid until onions turn translucent. Remove the lid and brown onions. Add garlic and more olive oil. Continue browning. Put on the side when done.
2. Steam cauliflower about 8 min or until soft. You can add 1cm of water to a pot, when the water boils, add cauliflower.
3. Pour off water into a bowl and set aside. 
4. With a spatula or with potato masher, smash the cauliflower until it is paste-like. You may have to add a bit of the reserved water. Add the onion and garlic mixture and mix. Salt and pepper to taste. 
5. Finally, add 1 Tb of olive or flax oil and nutritional yeast. Use as cheese to top everything.

I found other vegan cheese recipes online you might want to check out:
Parmesan Cheese, Slicable White Cheese, Creamy Cheese Sause

Slicable Vegan Cheddar

Chunky Soup's On

It's that time again, where everyone seems to have the sniffles or a flu of some sort. Some say it's the weather, but whatever it is, it's a great time for an easy and delicious soup. (I apologize for the poor photography, I'm sick!)


Ingredients:

• 1 can Amy's soup (lentil, veg barley, etc; be sure to read the label, some of her soups contain dairy)
  
• 1/4 block tofu cubed
• chopped fresh/frozen veggies (ie. salad leftovers, peas, bell peppers, sliced beans, shredded carrots, garbonzo beans, etc.)
• 1 Tb raw tahini 
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 Tb yeast flakes 
• 1 Tb flax oil 
• 1/4 local avocado, which is in season now!
  

Add can soup to a small pot and heat on medium-high.  Add water into the empty soup can to fill 1/6 the can's volume. Swish the water in the can and add to the pot. While soup is heating, add tofu, veggies, tahini. Boil on medium until veggies are done to your taste. I like my veggies a little au dente for crunch and texture. Remove from heat. When soup stops boiling, add yeast, flax, and salt and pepper to taste. Serve with avocado on top.

When I'm sick, I want something easy to prepare and delicious to compensate for my loss of appetite. Whether I'm short on time or feeling a little under the weather, I find adjusting pre-made food is a great way to cut down on time spent in the kitchen.


Vitamins and herbs for colds/flus:

• Zinc
• Vitamin C
• multi-vitamin
• Echinacea Goldenseal- tea or pills
• Probiotics
• lots of liquids and rest! 
  

Take care!

Hunting for Fresh Produce

Let's face it. How many times have you gone into a grocery store and cringed at the vegetable isle? Sometimes it is so bad, I make a bee-line straight for the frozen or canned section. It used to be even worse when I lived here in 2000, but it has greatly improved since then. But despite these improvements, the limp vegetables are still a huge turn-off.

Here's a word to the wise for you about shopping on Guam: New shipments come in the middle of the week, so Wednesdays and Thursdays are great days for fresh produce.

By the weekend, the veggies are pretty soft. I've had some luck at California Mart and Cost-U-More... er... Cost-U-Less (Guam's version of Costco or Sam's Club, no membership required) on the weekends for fresh but very limited produce.

So the best shopping days are midweek, which includes trips to Simply Foods (remember they are closed on the weekends and by 3pm on Fridays). Whether it is California Mart or Payless, good luck to you on your gathering trips to the grocery stores.

Links to Grocery Stores:
Payless Foods
Cost-U-Less
Simply Foods
why doesn't California Mart have a website? anyone know? anyone?