Day 20 Spinach Beet Salad

Spinach Beet Salad

4 Servings

Maple Mustard Vinaigrette

1/2 Cup Walnut Oil
1/4 Cup Maple Syrup

Always use real maple syrup, not maple flavored syrup

1/4 Cider Vinegar

2 Tablespoons Mustard

Any stoneground or dijon mustard will work.  

2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

Tamari is gluten free without chemical additives.

1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Pepper

Whisk all ingredients in a bowl.  Refrigerate any leftover dressing not used in the salad.

Salad

6 Cups Baby Spinach
1 Cup Beets, quartered, cooked and peeled
2 Tablespoons Pecans, toasted
2 Ounces Vegan Cheese, diced or crumbled

The better vegan cheese are nut based.  The Treeline is very tasty.

Toss all ingredients in a bowl.  Separate into individual servings.  Add desired amount of dressing,

Use gloves to peel the beets. This prevents staining of your hands.

Goes well with Champagne

Soundtrack  J. Cole - Born Sinner

Stuff I have been eating

Limpa bread

I have been a bad blogger.  There have been no posts since August.  Oops.  Here are some of the things I have been cooking.  The bread shown about is called Limpa and it is a type of rye bread made with molasses and rye flour.  Even though the sweetener was added, the taste was not sweet.  The loaf bread was sliced for breakfast or with meals.  The rolls were for sandwiches.

Mushroom burger

One of the sandwiches I made was a Portabello Mushroom Burger.  The mushrooms were steamed in a mix of olive oil and balsamic vinegar which gave it a sweet and tart taste.  Roasted golden beets and romaine lettuce rounded out the sandwich.

Hoppin' John

Hoppin' John is a traditional New Years Day dish in the South.  The black eyed peas are supposed to bring you good luck during the year. My version is made with sauteed onion and garlic, bacon spiced tempeh, celery, canned black eyed peas, cooked brown rice, thyme and parsley.  It has been a great lunch dish with just over 300 calories per serving.

 Tonight's dinner was a Ginger Not Chicken with Broccoli and Bulgar Wheat.  Some ginger was sauteed in peanut oil, then I added broccoli and roasted corn. The mock chicken was added next with some salt, pepper and mint.  The Bulgar was cooked in my veggie broth and added at the end.  This was a 352 calorie meal with 29 g. protein.  The mock chicken is a brand called Beyond Meat and is by far the best I have tasted.  People who are used to eating the tasteless chicken from regular grocery stores can't tell the difference.  

Bad Juice Day

Everything started out well today.  I had the above mix for breakfast.  Fridays is personal training day at Canton Club, so I had everything ready to go the night before. This juice was made from chard, kale, cucumber, celery, and lemon.   There was definitely enough other ingredients to cover the taste of the cucumber.  I drank this one in the car while driving Tommy to the train station for work.  

So for lunch I made a juice from 3 carrots, 2 large and 2 small beets, and celery.  These are all ingredients that I like.  The juice was very nice looking.

I was about 3/4 done with the glass when I noticed it was really rich.  I decided to add some soda water to finish it off.  Before I could make the water, I was in the bathroom divesting my body of this drink.  It was a very fast and strong reaction.  I start thinking that maybe I have had too many juice meals.  But people do juice for 90 days  with no solid meals and bad reactions.  Should I have solid food before my gym workout? I have done smoothies before workouts with no problems in the past.  After a little googling, I found that beet juice can be quite toxic.  It can paralyze the vocal chords and cause liver damage.  Really?  How did I not know this?  You know not to eat mushrooms in the woods because some can kill you.  I knew that rhubarb needed to be stripped because it can make you sick.  You  remove bay leaves from soups and stews for the sake of your stomach.  Why is this not public knowledge.  Apparently it is a quantity issue.  I read that you use one beet per 8 carrots then there should not be a  problem. In the future, I may try beets again, but it will be the minor addition to the juice. I ate a little bit of potato soup and a tortilla to help settle my stomach.  My vocal chords are still sore.

Dinner was very simple. I made an open face sandwich using 7 grain sprouted bread spread with dijon and topped with tofurkey and my last slice of rice cheese.  The deli slices are a mix of wheat protein and soy protein.  They taste good. The cheese still sucked. On the  side I made a slaw using cabbage, apple, chives, and coconut yogurt.  This was my first time tasting that type of yogurt.  It was good for the slaw, I am not sure how it will be as a breakfast item with fruit.  Coconut milk does not have a strong coconut taste, but the yogurt did.  After dinner, I noshed on some Annie's Honey Wheat Pretzels. Bunny pretzels for Easter!