It’s Raining Cucumbers!

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Oh my.

My cucumber plants have decided to go nuts.
And more on the way…

They are delicious…
But there’s just my hubby and me to eat it all!

So what to do?

Make Cucumber and White Grape Gazpacho.

So yummy in this hot weather!
You can find the recipe  in Matthew Kenney’s book Everyday Raw, and someone posted it at care2.com.

And there’s Quinoa Tabbouleh, also from Everyday Raw. You make it like regular tabbouleh but instead of wheat bulger,
soak tabbouleh in water for 12 hours (it will begin to sprount!) and use that instead.

Sprouted quinoa

(that's Marty in the background!)

And quick pickles!

I used the recipe in Veggie Burgers Every Which Way by Lukas Volgar.
I don’t like to post other people’s recipes, but there are several easy quick pickles recipes online.
I highly recommend the book though.

What else can I do with all these cukes?!

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The Garden Thrives

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Green Peppers

There are lots of things I like about living in Colorado,
and one of my favorites is that for the first time in my life I am able to have a big garden!

(It’s possible to have a garden in Virginia; I just didn’t have the yard!)

Less than a week after arriving here my mom and I planted seedling tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, yellow squash, carrots (CARROTS!), zucchini, watermelon, strawberries (!), basil, parsley, chives, onions, and cucumbers.

Tomatoes - one's turning orange!

And I’m happy to say that the garden is doing GREAT!
We get lots of sunshine here and tons of rain – usually it storms in the afternoon.

I think it’s been really good for me to have this garden as I’ve been going through the cancer ordeal. It’s something I really look forward to – every morning and every evening I do my “inspection” to see what’s changed. To see this life – so vibrant and thriving – well, it just gives me a lot of hope.

 

 

My first eggplant :)

Lots of basil - there's more in the ground

Did I forget to mention there's grapes too? I didn't plant these - came with the yard!

the strawberries are AMAZING

These photos were all taken on my iphone – not too bad!

On another front – my endocrinologist and I reviewed my pathology report yesterday and she confirmed that my prognosis is excellent. I was stage 1 and because it was caught early and the tumors were small, she wouldn’t expect me to have a recurrence. I am SO lucky. As Mike pointed out in the comments section of my last post, it is vital to check out anything unusual you notice in your body. Don’t wait!

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The Unexpected

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HI!

It’s me!
How have you been??!
I’ve been thinking about you so much – about revitalizing this blog.
In fact I just had a whole post written out in my head while I was crocheting.
Then I figured since my mind really wasn’t on what I was doing,
why not just write the blog?

So…where to begin?
Lots has happened in the last two years.
I could write about completing my yoga therapist training (yay!),
or moving to Colorado (yay!),
or my latest good eats,
or the weather.

But there’s an 8,000,000 pound hot pink elephant in the cyberspace that I can’t ignore.

My Story

In March of this year I was getting a check up and pointed out to my doctor that there was a little bump under my chin that wouldn’t go away.
She thought it wasn’t anything but just in case I should see an Ear Nose Throat doctor.

A month or two later I finally got around to doing that.
The ENT thought I might have a thyroglossal cyst and ordered an ultrasound so we could see the exact location of my thyroid and how that might be related to the cyst.

It turned out the “cyst” was actually a “reactive lymph node” – a lymph node that was reacting to something – an infection of some sort.  Not something to worry about.
What was worrisome to the doctor was the 0.8 cm nodule on my thyroid.
He ordered a biopsy, and the results of that indicated that I had papillary thyroid cancer.
And three days later we moved to Colorado!

Isn’t there some quote about making plans and God laughing at them?

In late June I had a total thyroidectomy (“TT” in the thyroid cancer world) and a left neck dissection (“ND”).
They biopsied 31 lymph nodes that they removed from my neck and all were clean.
(did you know you have at least that many lymph nodes in your neck?!)
The margins were good on the thyroid – they think they got it all.

I’m now recovering from the surgery and getting used to life without a thyroid.
I have a huge scar across my neck and my voice is weak and a little squeaky.
I’m seeing improvements, which is very encouraging.

I’ll write more about this later.
I’ve learned a lot the last few months and I’m looking forward to sharing with you.
Oh – and I’ll write about other stuff too.
There IS still more to life than thyroid cancer  :)

All is Good,

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Eating Healthily is a Serious Mental Disorder

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Légumes

Image via Wikipedia

Thank you Health Ranger for re-posting this article from The Guardian, which explains an eating disorder called “orthorexia nervosa.”

This “disorder” label is given to people who have beliefs about what foods are “good” for them and what foods are “bad” for them, and who adhere to those beliefs when making food choices, thus resulting in obsession, stress, social isolation and  possibly malnourishment.

HUH???

So let me get this straight.
If I eat only fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains, because that’s what I believe is healthy for me, and I avoid processed, chemicalized junk foods, dairy, eggs, and meat because I believe they are not good for me, the animals, or the environment, then I am mentally ill?

Did it ever occur to the author that perhaps in making these food choices I might not feel deprived and in fact actually feel good?
That I might be healthiest I’ve ever been in my life?
That I could have an abundance of energy and strength?

Would the author feel better if I sat on the couch with a bowl of Cheetos covered in hot sauce?

Sheesh!

PS: Full disclosure – I in no way strictly adhere to eating only fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and beans. I’m too much in love with cookies, ice cream, and cake! However, if I or someone I know DID only eat those foods, I’d say “good for you!” I would not try to send them to rehab.

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Fake Chicken

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An adult male chicken, the rooster has a promi...

Image via Wikipedia

Time magazine reported yesterday that the University of Missouri has had a huge breakthrough in the creation of fake chicken meat. Not only does it LOOK like chicken it TASTES like chicken too.

So this makes me wonder, assuming that you really wouldn’t notice a difference between real chicken and the new fake chicken, how do you feel about eating soy-based “chicken?”

Some considerations:

1. Decreasing our chicken consumption means fewer chickens will be tortured and slaughtered – I think this is a good thing!
2. Fewer chickens = less chicken poop and gas = better for the environment
3. Could fake chicken possibly be good for you in terms of calories, fat, cholesterol etc than real chicken? I really don’t know…
4. Fake chicken is, well, fake! So we’re adding one more processed food to the menu. What is the effect on our health?

What do you think?

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My New Favorite Snack: Next Organics

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Lately I’ve become addicted to these delicious chocolate treats!

It’s very simple: organic fruit covered with organic dark chocolate. I started with the Dark Chocolate Coconut and I was hooked! From there I’ve tried Dark Chocolate Apricots (winner!) and Dark Chocolate Cherries (yum!)

Next Organics also offers the following:

  • Goji berries
  • Bananas
  • Almonds
  • Walnuts
  • Cashews
  • Brazil Nuts
  • Ginger

All are smothered in dark chocolate. :)

Happy snacking!

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Meatless Mondays! Mongo Salad

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I celebrated Meatless Monday today with a huge lunchtime vegan salad:

Organic baby lettuce
Organic bibb lettuce
Organic green onions
Organic carrots
Organic cucumbers
Chickpeas
Walnuts
Fennel*
Organic pink lady apple*

I’ve added apples to my salads before, but since Kate introduced me to adding FENNEL I’ve become a fennel devotee. Wow is it delicious! I never would have thought of it as I didn’t think I liked fennel. But when chopped up small and added in along with an APPLE it’s awesome.

For the dressing I whipped up a vegan cumin-mustard vinaigrette that consisted of:

1/3 c extra virgin olive oil
1/4 c rice vinegar
1-2 T mustard
splotch of agave
pinch of cardamom
pinch of cumin
pinch of salt

And for dessert… a square of vegan dark chocolate!

Did you celebrate Meatless Monday? What did you have for lunch? :)

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The Veganized Double Down

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This is hilarious. Or sad. I’m not sure which.

Remember on April 12 when KFC introduced their artery-clogging, blood pressure-blasting, heart-stopping sandwich called the “Double Down?”


“The one-of-a-kind Double Down features two thick and juicy boneless white meat chicken filets (Original Recipe(R) or Grilled), two pieces of bacon, two melted slices of Monterey Jack and pepper jack cheese and Colonel’s Sauce. And no bun, of course. “

UGH!

Well of course no one wants to be left out of the fun! So Foodswings of Brooklyn has responded with the…

wait for it…

the “Handwich.”


“The Handwich is two faux chicken patties breaded with cornflakes and special seasoning, fried with daiya and tofutti cheese, faux bacon, lettuce, tomato, red onion and a sweet mustard dijonaise (we add veggies because they’re manly too!)”

Thus proving that indeed you CAN be vegan and eat unhealthy junk food LOL!

In other breaking news, KFC announced today that later this month they will sell their 10 MILLIONTH Double Down sandwich.

Source: Jorge in Wonderland http://www.flickr.com/photos/78603183@N00/580541261/

10,000,000!!!

And so KFC is going to keep the once “limited time only” Double Down on it’s menu forever.

I swear I must really belong in some alternate universe. :0

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Meatless Monday: Vegan Coconut Rice Pudding!

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Meatless Monday Mania is sweeping the nation! Even Mario Batali is doing it!!

In case you haven’t heard, “Meatless Monday” is an international non-profit initiative in association with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to reduce meat consumption by 15% to improve personal health and the health of our planet.

And while I personally believe that not just Monday but EVERY day should be meatless,
and not just for personal and planetary health reasons,
I joined the Meatless Monday movement and you can too!

Just go to the Meatless Monday website and sign up. You’ll get delicious meatless recipes sent to you each Meatless Monday.

I know it’s VERY challenging to go meatless when you are not used to it. So to help out I’m offering a vegan dessert recipe today that is, well meatless sort of by definition (“dessert!”) and happens to be dairy-free too! So it’s Meatless and Dairly-Less Monday here at Eat. Run. Do Yoga!

Vegan Coconut Rice Pudding

Ingredients

  • 1 cup rice
  • 2 cups water
  • salt
  • 2 cups coconut milk
  • cinnamon
  • agave nectar
  • vanilla extract
  • optional: coconut extract, almond extract, orange essence, lemon or lime rind, nuts, dried fruit, other spices like ginger or nutmeg.

Method

  1. In a medium sized sauce pan, bring the water to boil. Add the rice and a dash of salt and simmer on low until the rice is starting to get tender – about 10 minutes or so.
  2. Add in the coconut milk. Stir frequently until the rice gets soft.
  3. Add in the cinnamon and any other spices you are using, along with agave nectar. I started with just a bit of agave and then kept adding until I got the sweetness I wanted. Continue to cook on low and stir for about 5 more minutes until you get the consistency you want.
  4. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract, and / or any other extract you are using, along with the dried fruits or nuts if using.
  5. Enjoy hot or cold!

Adapted  from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

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