Jackie Vetter’s Kitchen

And, it is the 104th post on my blog! The 100th post got right past me! The first day of our 14-day plan was the 100th post! WOW! That is amazing and time really does fly.

Day 4.

Breakfast: Smoothie, no Rice Dream (we were all out). I used just water, but we prefer the smoothie with rice milk. Today was just like yesterday with the fruit except that today I put blueberries in my smoothie too.

Midmorning: 8 ounces of carrot, cabbage and cucumber juice. The cabbage was pretty strong, but good. Not a bad strong.

Lunch: We mixed it up today for lunch. We were running some errands, and decided to have lunch out, but to stay within our plan. The only thing is that lunch on this plan is just fruit. Well, I’m having some problems with my blood sugar going up just eating fruit, so we decided to change this part up a bit. We went to Kansai, yes our favorite Japanese steakhouse. How in the world, you ask, can you stay on plan there? Well, you see, Henry and Michael (two of the sushi chefs there) know what we are doing, so they worked with us. We had a regular house salad. We love the salad there. We also had a bowl of miso soup. Oh so delicious.

We also had a seaweed salad. This is one of our favorites. Placed on top of a bed of lemons and cucumbers it is most scrumptious. About halfway through lunch I mentioned that we should have brought the camera. Ken’s cell phone has a camera, so the pictures aren’t the best, but the food sure was!

We asked Michael to make us a raw vegetable roll with avocado and rice paper, no rice. The roll he made was beautiful and it was so good. A little wasabi paste, a small amount of soy sauce. It was a melt in your mouth roll full of raw veggies. Michael outdid himself!

As I said, we had eaten half of it when I thought about taking a picture. Nevertheless, it was an amazing meal and we both left having eaten less than we normally do when we go there, but totally satisfied.

Midafternoon: 8 ounces of carrot, cabbage and cucumber juice. Yes, it is the same as this morning. We had to go to the store this afternoon to get supplies, so we had to repeat the juice.

The salad for dinner was from the Hallelujah Acres book, “Recipes for Life” and was Broccoli Mix. I do want to say here that this book is copyrighted, however, they say, in the front of the book, to tell everyone about this way of eating, they say, “quote it liberally”. So, that is what I am doing, letting everyone I can know about eating live, fresh foods.

The recipe is:

2 cups broccoli florets
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 vine-ripe tomato, chopped
1 green onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped

Combine the above ingredients and place them on top of a bed of lettuce. To dress them use the following:

1 medium vine-ripe tomato
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
3 tablespoons mild pepper ring juice (I added this just for a kick)

Put into a blender (I used my Magic Bullet) and blend until smooth and creamy. Add a little salt if needed. Pour over the top of the broccoli mix salad. I know I keep using the word delicious, but seriously, it was!

Dinner was Lentil Barley Stew with Whole Grain Rolls. Delightful (At least I didn’t use delicious again. I visited thesaurus.com!).

Here’s the recipe:

1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
14 ounces lentils (I used a combination of green lentils and French lentils)
1/3 cup barley
3 medium carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 potato, chopped
3 cups crushed San Marzano tomatoes (low salt)
8 cups vegetable broth
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons cumin powder
Salt to taste

Place olive oil in pot and bring to heat. Add carrots, potato, onion, garlic and celery. Stir to coat. Add lentils and barley. Stir to coat. Add vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, turn to lowest heat setting and cover. Let cook for 35 minutes. Add tomatoes and seasonings. Cover and let continue to cook until lentils are tender. Add pure water, if needed, to thin the broth.

All in all a wonderful day. I am looking forward to day 5.

Happy, Healthy Eating,

Jackie V