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%!!


Thursday, January 14, 2010

Day 28/ Phase 4/ Week 4

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I played softball as a kid. This project was sort of like sort of like swinging two bats in the on-deck circle!! I mean really!! I cooked anywhere from 4-7 recipes per day. In real life, cooking 4-7 recipes per week should feel easy as pie!! But we made it!! Can you believe it?? I have one more day to sort of finish up though. There are just a few recipes I did not make, so I will post that tomorrow. This was an amazing experience.
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One thing I have to say is that there were TONS of meals that I never ever would have tried just by reading the recipe. It just did not "sound" good. But SURPRISE!! I have a literal freakin cache of recipes now that I will make over and over again. Haze is on board with this--he really truly is now. He asks for a little bit of salt, and a little bit of meat on occasion. But overall, he loved the food. I did too. We were flipping through the book last night looking at our grades--lots and lots of As!! I am encouraged now to keep doing this! I am going to do another book after Chef AJ's project--maybe not at the breakneck speed in which I did Eat for Health! This was so much fun! Here is what we had yesterday:
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Breakfast:
Garden Eggs and Tofu with Salsa
This had tons of veggies in it, and Haze loved it. (He pretty much loved all of the egg dishes!) He gave it an A-. This is a great weekend breakfast dish. (sorry no pic)
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Lunch:
Broccoli with Red Lentil Sauce
Raisin Collards and Carrots
The Raisin Collards was our first real taste of collards--just on their own (not in soup). I left some of the raisins whole (and forgot the carrots!) but we love love LOVED this dish! We BOTH gave it an A+!! It's kind of sweet and nice and creamy from the nut butter. Really yummy!! The Broccoli with Red Lentil Sauce was not our favorite (I think I made the lentil sauce way too thick!) It was kind of time-consuming to make. We both gave it a B. But it was nice with the Collard dish. We also had brown rice and some salad. Nice lunch!
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Dinner:
Raw veggies and Bean Dip
No Pasta Vegetable Lasagna
Ok, the Lasagna was fabulous!! I said A+/ Haze said A-. It took awhile to make--so just settle in, put some music on (or Judge Judy like I did!) and start chopping. And when you make it, make LOTS! The tofu ricotta tastes sooooooooo yummy. It's just a perfect fancy schmancy dinner. I added some no-salt canned San Marzano tomatoes to my low sodium pasta sauce--we like things extra saucy. Big YUM.
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Dessert:
Healthy Chocolate Cake
A+ and a big WOW. I hardly know what to say. This was by far our most favorite dessert--Haze cannot believe he gets to eat this wonderful treat!! I read all of the comments in the Recipe Guide (on Dr. Fuhrman's website) and learned that there was a little trouble with the cake being "too moist" and not quite cooking right. So...(this seems to by my cure for everything!) I made them into cupcakes!! Here are the changes I made: I pureed all of the dates into the "wet mixture." I minced all of the vegetables very fine and I chopped the nuts extra. So I left nothing really "chunky." (that is how we like it) Then I made them into cupcakes and baked them for 45 minutes (but make sure to test the time on your own--I live in Colorado and the altitude affects baking times.) They are so fudgey and moist--so freakin good!! These are amazing!! A MUST try!!
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9 comments:

Dawn said...

You had me at FUDGEY! I am so making the cupcakes and the dinner this weekend! Thank you for all your hard work! I love seeing what you liked and how it all looks in the end!

N said...

What a project! It's inspired me to try more of the recipes from Eat for Health.

Thanks for doing this and blogging about it!

Jana Diedrich said...

Ha ah ha!! Thanks Dawn! You will love them--I promise. Just remember to check them to find your right baking time. And DARN you might have to break one open to check--and then sample it!!

Thanks for the comment N! I plan on continuing, so keep coming back!!

:O)

Anonymous said...

Congratulations!!! Thank you so much posting pictures as well ... I truly appreciated that!
Suze
(rubyday on drfurhman.com)

Jana Diedrich said...

Dawn,
P.S. For the cupcakes I added double the cocoa powder, and I also used whole spelt flour (but whole wheat would work too).
Jana

earthchick said...

Thank you so much for doing this project and for blogging it all for the rest of us. I am just starting Eat for Health (9 days in and 4.5 lbs. down) and am really excited to try some of the great recipes you've reviewed. Thank you!!

Jana Diedrich said...

Thanks earthchick! Good luck on your journey!! I will be continuing here with another book...

Jana
:O)

Catiekk said...

Another THANK YOU for this great blog. I started from the beginning and you got me so interested and excited I bought the books - and I NEVER buy books (Luv the library!). I was already following ETL and the recipes will be a wonderful addition. Thanks again for the great work!

Jana Diedrich said...

Thank you so much Catiekk for the nice comment. It makes me so happy to know that I can help people! If you are already enjoying ETL, then I know you will love the food in the Eat for Health books. Good luck!!

Jana