Have you seen the movie Julie and Julia? Or read the book? Julie Powell became an internet celebrity with her 2004 blog recording her yearlong adventure cooking every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I am taking on a similar challenge, only I am blogging my way through a very healthy cookbook! And I will learn to master the art of healthy cooking! The book is called Eat For Health by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, M.D. I will cook every recipe start to finish in four weeks just as they are laid out in the book. I will write about the recipes, show you pictures, and tell you how my SAD (Standard American Diet) eating, carnivorous husband likes them too. (See archives below.) He is behind me 100%!!


Sunday, January 10, 2010

Day 24/ Phase 4/ Week 4

I had a dream last night that Haze was really trying to be supportive of our food plan (which he really is!!) but in my dream he went out and purchased 3 GIANT-sized sacks of garlic because they were on sale. We are talking like trash bag size--and 3 of them!! I was trying to be nice because I knew that he was all excited about his bargain garlic find! But secretly I was thinking, what the hell am I going to do with all of this garlic?? Anyway, we do use tons of garlic!! We absolutely love it!

One of the recipes that I cooked yesterday was Southwest Vegetable Chili and it is not listed in the EFH recipe index for some reason. I was supposed to cook it a few weeks ago, but couldn't find it! Anyway, I found it! The recipe is on page 239 and it's really really good!! Here is what we had yesterday:

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Breakfast:
Mixed Vegetable Juice
Special Oatmeal
We reviewed the Special Oatmeal back in Phase 3, and again it is a favorite!! This was our first real taste of a fresh vegetable juice--and it was...not bad! I admit that it would take some getting used to, but overall it was pretty good. I can definitely taste the kale in the background--and maybe a simpler mixture of veggies would have been better to start out with. I think next time I would add more apple to make it sweeter, but all in all it was pretty good. I gave it a C. Haze on the other hand, could barely take more than a sip and did not like it. But hey, he is drinking the Smoothies every day--so I am happy!!



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Lunch:
Mixed Greens and Fruit
Blueberry Dressing
French Minted Pea Soup
Let's start with the soup. Both of us gave it an A+!! It was sooooooooo easy to make, sooooooo yummy good!! Haze did not want the lettuce added to his--he liked it better all creamy. I added the lettuce and really liked it. I actually forgot to add the dates (I was looking at the recipe as I ate it), and so I have to say it's good without the dates! I don't even think I would add them when I make it again. I think this soup would be really easy to change flavors--you could make it spicy, or add paprika, or spinach. It's super easy to make--We highly recommend this one! The Blueberry Salad was really good too--there is a lot to be said for "pretty" food! It was really tasty--not too sweet. We gave it an A-.






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Dinner:
Orange Sesame Kale
Southwest Vegetable Chili
The dinner was supposed to be Spaghetti Squash Primavera--but since I already made that back in Phase 1, I decided to make the recipe I missed which was the Southwest Vegetable Chili. It was heavenly good! Right away Haze gave the whole meal an A+. I did too!! He LOVED the Orange Kale soooooooooo much and said he would eat it every day if I made it! (I made the kale with almond butter but I told Haze it was peanut butter because he always says he hates almond butter! ha ha ha!! ) The Chili recipe seemed to be lacking some liquid, so I just added double the canned tomatoes and it was perfect. It had big chunks of potato and some corn too--it was very filling and very tasty. I also added some Spicy Mrs. Dash (I am digging the Spicy Mrs. Dash!!). It was fantastic. A+ meal!!






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Dessert:
Supposed to be Berry Cobbler
but we ended up having Jenna's Peach Freeze. I will make the Berry Cobbler in a few days and let you know how it is!

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2 comments:

Jenn in MO said...

Jana - Just wanted to say a big Thank You for this blog! I am going to write your grades in my copy of the book for future reference. I too have been reading nutrition books for years, and agree you need to add action. Kudos to you for taking a huge action step with this blog!! Thanks again!
Jenn in St. Louis

Jana Diedrich said...

Jenn,
Thanks for the comment! I love to hear your thoughts!
Jana
:O)