Mountain Rose Herbs. A herbs, health and harmony c

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

What I ate on Sunday

Last Sunday was paying respects to "Kale" Day.
The day started off with some delicious and aromatic saffron tea followed by some ripe bananas.  I enjoyed the tea while oven baking some green raw coffee.


   



















Once the coffee was roasted and cooled I ground it down with some cardamom and I  brewed a small but strong thick and syrupy cup of coffee.









Then while I was vacuuming and cleaning my house I was able to oven bake a few batches of kale chips (not raw).
I used to make "raw" ones years ago but my feeling is once you dehydrate them and get all the water out of them it's about the same thing. So I sold my Excalibur Dehydrator on craigslist to someone who makes Hollywood special effects make up and body parts - props for scary movies :).


The kale chips are a fun and healthy snack but you're ultimately better off eating fresh raw kale instead of baking or dehydrating them. And even boiling it in soups and stews is a great nourishing option.

The kale baking turned out spectacular.
I made 2 flavors
The first one was kale, nutritional yeast, peanut butter, coconut oil, soy sauce and chile.
Raw and ready to go in the oven.



Spicy, peanut butter coated kale chips. 



The second batch was Chocolate, maple syrup, vanilla and peanut butter kale chips. Sounds odd but believe me - you don't even taste the kale. It's just a crunchy airy base for the maple cacao peanut butter mix. 
I baked them at around 250-275 F and I turned them over 2-3 times to make sure they were all evenly baked/dried. 
Chocolate Maple Kale Chips with Vanilla and Chipotle 

 While I was still busy cleaning I decided to get some strong chamomile tea going for after I am done with the house chores.

After the tea I ate the maple chips... mmm yes a whole batch which seemed pretty small considering how much kale there was before baking it. It turned out to be very filling. So that was lunch and I headed out to meet a friend for a hike.
I managed to catch a beautiful sunset overlooking the city.



And headed home. A few friends came over so I had a glass of wine and a few huge mugs of chamomile tea with almond milk. 
The wine was biodynamic and yummy. I get this question a lot. Do I drink? Not often. With occasion I have wine. On a summer afternoon I have wine. When I travel europe I have beer. I love microbreweries. I don't really pay attention to it but sometimes I have wine once a month or less, sometimes 2x week if there is a lot of fun activities going on. I find wine to be very blood building from a chinese medicine perspective and I DO KNOW how to value it :) As long as it's not a habit I consider wine to be a healthy and full of antioxidants drink. WINE is nature's nectar.  I might even be a tiny bit of a wine snob. I love cuvees, australian cuvees, californian cuvees, love syrahs and certain pinots, lately cabernet has been good. 


"WINE IS BOTTLED POETRY"
                                                    ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON




The size of my tea mug :)


Dinner was a healthy huge raw veggie platter with 2 dips.
Kale Dip: 
Kale
Sprouted Tofu
Coconut Milk
Carrots (they make the dip sweet and work as a base to thicken it)
All Organic
(optional- garlic, spices, hot pepper, oil, salt)
 But I noticed that this dip is super yummy with fewer ingredients. 
Cinnamon and cayenne on top.
The kale dip turned out creamy and delicious. It reminded me of a spinach mayo dip. Just a much healthier version. 

The second dip was carrots, tofu, spices, tomato juice, coconut milk (sorry if there is one food I had to pick to live on if I was stranded on a deserted island I think I would have to go with young coconuts :).
 I love me some young coconuts :) )

Vegan raw carrot creamy dip!
The carrot dip color was spectacular. Milky peach orange. I don't think these pictures are doing it any justice :)

 (note I have an industrial blender that can get through pretty much anything and can liquify raw foods  so if you have a regular blender you can just steam the carrots before blending them)









I added some freshly squeezed lime juice on top of the dips.




Then I decided to put everything in Cron-O-Meter - a website that tracks your calories and nutrients for the day/week. You may find this interesting!
This is my mineral and vitamin  ratios/intake for the day.

Vitamins
B1 (Thiamine)
1.7
mg
154%
B12 (Cobalamin)
4.5
µg
188%
B2 (Riboflavin)
2.2
mg
198%
B3 (Niacin)
23.4
mg
167%
B5 (Pantothenic Acid)
6.1
mg
121%
B6 (Pyridoxine)
4.1
mg
312%
Folate
1015.7
µg
254%
Vitamin A
35925.6
IU
1540%
Vitamin C
695.6
mg
927%
Vitamin D
407.4
IU
204%
Vitamin E
29.8
mg
199%
Vitamin K
3221.1
µg
3579%
Minerals
Calcium
2169.6
mg
217%
Copper
7.9
mg
879%
Iron
22.3
mg
124%
Magnesium
640.5
mg
200%
Manganese
7.3
mg
403%
Phosphorus
1146.4
mg
164%
Potassium
7991.9
mg
170%
Selenium
20.2
µg
37%
Sodium
1963.2
mg
131%
Zinc
9.3
mg
116%
  


For mostly having veggies and fruit this looks pretty impressive. Selenium is low, but in general, selenium is a nutrient we can't rely to get from our food supply because the soil is so depleted. BRAZIL NUTS ARE A VERY GOOD SOURCE OF SELENIUM.


Also the Vitamin D and B12 come from the store bought Almond Milk so if I had used homemade milk the values were gonna be at 0.

The high Vitamin K and A values are obviously from the kale, cabbage and carrots :)


OK this was all my food and drinks for the day :)

My macro nutrients ratios were at 70 20 10. A higher in fat day which happens here and there as I don't really pre-plan anything.


(my blogging skills are still a bit rough around the edges but I am working on polishing them
 :P )

LOVE AND LIGHT TO ALL 



17 comments:

  1. Love these, thank you for sharing!

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  2. What are the proportions you use in the dips? :)

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    Replies
    1. I am not measuring them - around 2-3 big carrots, 3-5 kale leaves, half a block of tofu and coconut milk depending on the desired consistency, lemon juice, raw or canned tomatoes, spices, etc. Once you get used to making dips it gets to be pretty easy. <3

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  3. As usual, everything looked yummy. I have never tasted a sweet kale chip so I will definitely be trying that. OOH...the coffee you described!...I do love a thick dark, black coffee. I would love to have the website that breaks down your nutrient intake! I take that part of diet planning seriously but am only able to estimate...amazing! It would be especially helpful for people with special health issues. Anyway Ali, thanks for sharing. xoxo

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    Replies
    1. Laura the website is http://cronometer.com/ - i like it because it gives you amino acid content, ratios, nutrients etc. it's a great website for people on special diets or people new to a certain lifestyle. the cacao kale chips is worth making here and there. :) i think i will continue with the amazing coffee roasting for a few more weeks so expect more coffee pix :)

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    2. Thanks Ali, I'm going to check it out right now...

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  4. ali i wish i live where you live where i can hike! i love young coconut too especially coconut water!

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    Replies
    1. Jayzel oh there is no hiking areas around where you live?

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  5. Ali-I'm definitely feeling the raw pull again after reading all your blogs- tea and dip heaven! Thanks for sharing...and yeah, the coffee-I can't take it much more. I'm gonna get me some of them green beans ah huh! and sit around the fire roastin 'em-I love a good rich earthy mug of coffee-

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    Replies
    1. haha Alison you are so right- its really "the teas and dips I had" blog :D oh fire roasting is a whole another level!!! i used to skillet roast them but now oven baking works just fine :) let me know if you get green beans -and how that goes ...

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  6. Hi Ali,
    I discovered your YouTube channel about a month ago and I really enjoy your workouts. I love how you combine intense interval cardio with the calming yoga. As I read your blog, I am amazed how little you eat. Probably it is enough for you. I am no vegeterian or vegan, but I do try and eat healthy. Where do you buy your teas from? They all sound very delicious.
    Thank you! Have a beautiful day :)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you :) I eat around 1400-1700 calls, some days 2200 so I actually think that would be enough for most females with my activity level. I get the bulk teas at www.mountainroseherbs.com and I get some bagged teas locally. love <3

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    2. Hey Ali, I made your peanut butter , nutritional yeast, etc. version of kale chips today...very yummy. Also, I went back through and copied more of the dipping and salsa recipes. Most outside recipes have way too much oil and fat. I have a cookbook called RAW that I bought about 8 or so years ago. I remember feeling incredibly burned out on nuts...Raw has come a very long way since then. I have some garbanzo beans sprouting in the kitchen that will be ready tomorrow...alfalfa sprouts too...Got any good ideas my funky sister of rawness? I am still way loving broccoli and kale and asparagus...also, corn on the cob is coming out now too...Raw Gazpacho??? Anyway. Thanks for the support and all of the terrific food and prep ideas...you know who loves you...xoxoxox

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  7. Hey Ali,

    Where do you get your cacao powder from? I think it would be nice if you add more cooking videos to your youtube channel for us newbies ;)

    Thanks for all your videos & posts... I really look forward to them!! xx

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  8. Hi! I just discovered your youtube yoga channel and blog. Love it! I am also a vegan and eat the high carb/lowfat/low salt way and it is amazing. I am curious to how much you exercise?? Ps. would love to see more 'what i eat in a day' posts. :=)

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  9. I love these posts, I just found this blog after watching your youtube channel. You're so lovely and healthy and these posts really inspire me to eat even better! I'm vegetarian and eating completely vegan/raw is something I'd like to do but I've had a hard time keeping to it on my own.. hopefully you post more of these:) i love the simple but super healthy recipes

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Mountain Rose Herbs. A herbs, health and harmony c