As most people around me now know I've embarked on a new food journey. I'm trying to eat in a way that is less likely to have me end up with cancer again. I know, I know, I've heard the nay-sayers repeat to me that "everything causes cancer". But I want to have a little hope that I can control at least a little part of my health. I can try to eat foods that have been proven again and again to be good for me, and avoid foods that even common wisdom knows is bad for me. Hopefully this will help my body have the resources it needs to fight the cells that are mutating and not let them overtake any part of my body.
The biggest challenge in this drastic change has been what to make for dinner. For the first little while I tried making a separate dinner for me than I did for the rest of the family. That lasted, maybe, two days. Besides the fact that it was a real pain, if this food was better for me to eat, why wouldn't it be better for my whole family. I've been really blessed with the husband I have. He has supported me and is willing to try anything. His one qualification is that it must taste good. But he is totally willing to move to a new way of eating with me. The kids have also been champs. They are eating most of what I put in front of them with only age-appropriate whining.
So now I think I'll be cataloging the dinners that go well for a while so I'll have a good place to review them, and also others who might be trying to find recipes with similar characteristics.
My guidelines as of right now: These are subject to change as I learn more.
Eat:
Lots of whole grains in many varieties
Lots of vegetables, multiple servings a day
Lots of fruit
Lots of beans
Some nuts
Some natural sweeteners
Avoid:
Meat, fish, poultry, eggs
Dairy
Refined sugar
Oils (I haven't been as good on this one yet)
So onto tonight, I was feeling tired of beans. We had soaked a pot of them and I had cooked them all afternoon. Now they were ready to be seasoned and made into dinner, but I wasn't feeling it. I wanted something with pineapple in it. I wanted Hawaiian food. I had to poke around some (I love Google) and I found a couple recipes that I only had to modify a bit to make it fit my requirements.
Hawaiian Salad
Toss in bowl
Head of Romaine lettuce
1/2 bunch of Spinach
1/2 green pepper chopped
1 tomato chopped
1 carrot chopped
1 stalk celery chopped
1 cucumber sliced
Serve on side or top with
grilled pineapple
I love grilled fresh pineapple, if you have it on hand it's so good. I didn't tonight though so I drained a can of pineapple and put the chunks on our indoor grill. Do this right before you set down to dinner so the pineapple is warm.
I got the recipe for the tofu from "The Accidental Vegan" cookbook. I just got this book and I'm excited to be trying out some of the recipes. I didn't change this recipe at all except that we diced the cooked tofu and put it on our salad.
Baked Tofu
3 T crushed pineapple
2 T water
2 T Soy Sauce
1 T rice vinegar
1/2 t liquid smoke
1 lbs firm tofu
Mix up the sauce and dip thinly sliced tofu in it. Place the sliced tofu on an oiled baking sheet and cook in oven at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.
We topped the salad with a dressing from This website The only thing I changed was the type of sugar used.
COCONUT-LIME DRESSING:
1/2 cup good-quality coconut milk (not 'lite', as it is too thin)
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 to 1/3 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. fresh-squeezed lime juice
1/2 tsp. dried crushed chili flakes
2 tsp. honey
optional: 1 tsp. grated lime zest
You could also top the salad with almonds, we didn't tonight just because I didn't think of it in time, but it sounds good now.
Later, after the girls all helped with the dishes I decided to try and make a dessert of hot chocolate and popcorn. Popcorn is easy, we just use an air popper and avoid microwave popcorn now. But hot chocolate is another story.
I made it on the stove in a sauce pan.
Start with this amount per serving desired.
1 T cocoa powder
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 T agave nectar (or to taste)
Warm these ingredients in the pan on medium low, stirring with a whisk and make a syrup.
I added:
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 cup coconut milk (the kind sold in a carton, not the canned variety)
The kids liked it and I'm glad I figured out a way we can have hot chocolate on a cold day.
