I’m hungry. What time is it? (checks phone for time)

4:56pm. Early. I’m a senior citizen disguised as a 24 year old. Eating early is nothing new.

What to make?

Salad with newly bought sprouts? Kale? And avocado? That avocado needs to be eaten today. It’s getting too mushy.

Guacamole? Haven’t made that in a while.

But it is sort of cold outside. Maybe something cooked?

Homemade pizza on torrtilla with the raw goat cheese I just bought? No, too much clean up. Involves using the oven. Maybe tomorrow night.

Linguini with red sauce? Just bought big mamma roma tomatoes, those could be good.

It takes a while for water to boil for macaroni. Wasting time. Belly hungry. Need food asap.

Go with the guacamole.

And it’s Wednesday!

(scurried into the kitchen to whip up this bad boy in 5 minutes flat)

Guacamole included:

• avocado
• 4 cherry tomatoes, chopped
• 1/4 red bell pepper, chopped
• 2 itty bitty cloves or garlic (or 1 normal clove), minced
• 2 tablespoons of lime juice
• 1 teaspoon Louisiana Hot Sauce (optional)
• few leaves of fresh cilantro, chopped
• salt to taste

Served with romaine lettuce and red bell pepper (the remaining 3/4).   

Talk it up: Why do you eat healthy or try to? Why do you bother?

My new favorite bread is Food for Life‘s Genesis 1:29 Sprouted Grain and Seed Bread. I had been a fan of the Ezekiel 4:9 Whole Grain Flourless Bread (the one that comes in the orange bag) for a long time but I started to get a little sick of it. Eating the same bread for almost 6 months straight gets old. I was sort of scared to try the Genesis bread because I was afraid it would be too seedy. I don’t know about you but I like bread with seeds but there is a point where too many seeds freak me out. I don’t need excessive seeds all up in my grill bread.

This bread is great. I actually like it more than Ezekiel bread. I guess trying new things is a good idea!

Confession: I have eaten this sandwich everyday since Thursday. I just can’t get enough. Is it a bad thing to eat the same lunch for 5 days in a row (my sides dishes have been different – does that help the situation?)?

Looks like a pretty boring sandwich, right? Don’t be fooled. There is all sorts of goodness between those two slices.

I am sure you have heard the expression “everything and the kitchen sink” (or “everything but the kitchen sink”)  when referring to almost all that you can imagine of something.  Like going on an overnight vacation and you pack 3 huge suitcases.   You packed everything and the kitchen sink.  Or maybe you have heard the expression used when referring to communication.  When two people are arguing about one topic (let’s say, who is going to wash the car) and all of a sudden one person throws in a old argument (the electric bill that was paid late. 4 years ago).  The argument goes from talking about the car to fighting about a past fight.  One small fight turns into a huge fight about all of the arguments you have ever had.

Last night, I kitchen sinked (verb?) my salad. Then I did it again this morning with my juice.  I will be going out of town this weekend to visit the folks and I have a lot of fruits and veggies to eat in the next few days.  Last night, I opened the fridge and just kept adding vegetables until I had one of everything on my plate.  I did that again this morning.

My breakfast juice included:

• 2 lemons
• 4 carrots
• 2 collard leaves
• 3 stalks of kale
• 1/2 stalk celery
• 1 green apple

My salad from last night included:

• romaine lettuce
• zucchini spirals (from the gray day)
• kale
• broccoli sprouts
• vine ripe tomato
• carrots
• avocado

Are you a fan of kitchen sinking? What do you make where you just add ingredients until there is nothing left to add? Juice, salads, oatmeal and stir-fry are at the top of my list.

I worked from home today which meant that I could spend extra time making my lunch and not scarf down whatever was in my way.  I turned to a cookbook Santa bought me for Christmas this year (PS Santa = me).  Raw Food Made Easy is just that, easy.  The book is simple and straightforward.  The recipes use ingredients you probably already have in your cabinets/ fridge or ingredients that you can easily find in the store.  I have yet to read a recipe that has a fancy ingredient that is impossible to find and costs a fortune.  This book is one of my favorites.  Learn more about Jennifer Cornbleet and her book on her website.

I decided to make the Cream of Cucumber Soup (page 76 if you have the book).

4 romaine lettuce leaves, chopped  I forgot to include the romaine — whoops!
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 clove garlic, minced
1/2 ripe avocado, chopped  I used a whole avocado
1 tablespooin extra-virign olive oil
1 tablespoon minched fresh herbs (dill, mint, tarragon, or cilantro), or 1 teaspoon dried I used 1 teaspoon of dried tarragon

Place the lettuce, cucumber, water, lemon juice, garlic, and salt in a blender and process until smooth.  Add avocado and olive oil and blend again until smooth.  Add the herbs and blend briefly to mix.  Serve immediately.  For a chilled soup, refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving.

I really didn’t like the garlic.  I was hesitant to add it in the first place because cucumber and garlic didn’t seem like a food combination that I would enjoy but I followed the recipe like I was supposed to do.  Don’t get me wrong, I love cucumbers and I love garlic but putting them together is like putting Tiger and Elin together.  They just don’t get along.

Not going to lie, I seriously didn’t like this soup.  It was just funky.  I couldn’t even eat it and that made me super mad — I wasted a perfectly ripe avocado!  I haven’t totally given up though, I really want to try this soup again when I have fresh mint.  I think mint and cucumber are perfectly matched.  And I would definitely forget out the garlic.  The garlic is just a third wheel in this relationship.

Just in time for the Olympics!  Who are your Olympic crushes? Bodie Miller, Apollo Anton Ohno, Evan Lysaek.  All of the above!

Those aren’t really my favorite things.  I guess I could technically agree with the whiskers on kittens line because I think if a kitten without whiskers crossed my path I would be creeped out.  However, all of my favorite things involve food.  And the more food the better.  I love when the deliciousness of a meal exponentially increases with the amount of ingredients you add.  Think sundaes.  Can a sundae ever have too many toppings?  Hot fudge, rainbow sprinkles, cherries, whipped cream, cookie crumbs, chocolate chips,  little marshmallows, gummy bears — the more the better!  There was always such a moment of panic every time I went to the ice cream parlor as a kid and I had to choose one topping for my ice cream.  Just one topping.  To a kid, that is pure agony.  The fear of choosing the wrong topping is enough to send most kids to therapy.

I felt a glimmer of that agony making a salad/pileoflettucewithguacamoleontop for lunch today.  I just kept adding and adding ingredients to the guac that I eventually I had to tell myself to stop.  I think I would have been more out of control if I had more ingredients at my disposal.  My fridge is still building back it’s power after being emptied before going to Colorado.

This guacamole included:

• 1 avocado
• 1 vine ripe tomato
• 1/4 red bell pepper
• 1 clove garlic
• raw agave syrup
• lemon juice
• lime juice
• Louisiana hot sauce
• red pepper flakes
• salt
• pepper

11 ingredients in one guacamole?!  I think that equals awesomeness.

PS Maybe I shouldn’t be admitting this but I have never seen the Sound of Music.  That is definitely a lifeskill I am lacking.

The goods:

• romaine lettuce
• kale
• avocado
• cherry tomatoes
• carrots
• dulse
• Celtic sea salt
• raw agave syrup
• lemon juice
• awesomeness

I just can’t stop eating this salad.  Seriously amazing.  I am totally in love.

In Oprah news, she did a great show today with Michael Pollan (Food Rules) and Alicia Silverstone (Clueless) about eating wholesome, real food.  Oprah was moved to do the show after she watched Food, Inc. — a movie I have been wanting to see since it came out this summer.  Oprah has teamed with Amazon to offer Food, Inc. at a discount for $9.99 until this Friday at midnight.  I will be ordering mine tomorrow.  Check it out here.

Obama time!