Salad Rolls for Mom

Making something new or vaguely exciting for my mom is tough, due to her low-sodium, low-carb, low-sugar, and low-fat dietary requirements.  It kind of leaves vegetables, which ironically, for as much as she made me eat vegetables when I was a kid, she has shown much less verve when I cook them for her.  So I decided to try making a variation on Vietnamese summer rolls (which normally feature noodles, shrimp, and pork) with the focus on salad and she dug it.  Interested?

I used baby spinach and arugula, tofu, and avocado as the filling with rice vinegar and garlic powder as seasoning.

The other key ingredients are these rice paper wrappers:

They are a great lower carb alternative (about 7 carbs per paper, depending on brand) to tortillas and are great with cold items like salad.  When you take one out, it's so thin and seemingly fragile:

I've read various recipes with different recommendation on soaking these rice paper circles--some advise soaking the rice paper for 30 seconds until pliable, some say let them lie between wet paper towels, but I learned from eating dinner with my Vietnamese friend and her family that you only have to submerge it once (make sure the whole thing gets wet) and put it on your plate.  As you load the fillings (granted this took longer when you're passing fillings around with a family then a chef would have mise en place) the water soaks in and when you're ready to wrap it up, it's pliable. 

So here at my mom's I just dipped it in a clean fry pan filled with tap water and put it on my plate--yes, it's initially still stiff:

Then I laid down the filling--some baby spinach leaves and arugula, some slices of avocado and tofu, and topped with splashes of rice vinegar and sprinkles of garlic powder (alternatively, I guess one could toss the greens with a dressing and seasoning beforehand):

Then you roll it like a little burrito, first bring the top up:

Fold the sides in:

Then finish rolling it up:

Ta-da! Vegetables that my mom likes to eat. The nice bonus is that my mom hadn't been enjoying salads because of her poor eyesight--now she doesn't need to see the salad--it's all in her hand. Next time I'll try adding cilantro or mint for her as well. Ideally these should be eaten shortly after they're made--which isn't hard, they're pretty darn tasty!

For those on less restrictive diets, I'm sure some leftover marinated cooked steak or chicken could replace the tofu and it would be dynamite. Just don't tell my sodium-restricted mom!

My summertime Green Smoothie

I have really gotten hooked on these green smoothies since I tried them a few months ago and pretty much drink them near 4-7 times a week.    They really make me feel like I'm giving my body a gift of pure vitamins and hydration.  And no matter what kind of diet one is on, they all promotes getting more greens in, right?

So for the summertime I discovered this new combo--spinach, kale, watermelon, half a pear, and of course about a cup of water:

I love it!  I've noticed that an apple or pear really keeps the smoothie body together.  It's kind of a bummer when it separates into green water and mossy thickness on top, so I've been adding at least half and apple or pear to these.

Look at this deep green loveliness! And they don't taste like heavy bitter greens--the fruit and water really make this drink refreshing. Plus I really like that unlike juicers, I'm consuming the whole greens and fruit and not wasting any. Anybody else trying these?

Chamomile Iced Tea aka Sweet Honey Iced Tea

Anybody else trying to lighten up on soda and caffeine? I scanned the cupboards and came across a fairly full box of chamomile tea from my detox at the beginning of the year. It's an herbal tea with a really mild pleasant flavor so I decided to try making iced tea from it.

I followed the conventional iced tea wisdom of brewing a strong batch, so I steeped 8 bags with a quart of hot water:

Then I sweetened with some honey for flavor:

And some agave nectar for sweetness:

Then I let it cool in the fridge for a couple of hours and then poured over ice:

It's a really pleasant cool drink--very inoffensive but won't necessarily knock your socks off. Because of the mild flavor of the chamomile tea, the sweet honey is the dominant flavor. So I gave it the alternate name of Sweet Honey Tea. Or maybe next time I should steep some extra bags of chamomile tea. With plenty of hot summer left here in South Carolina, I'm sure I'll be doing some more experimenting...

SoCal Round up: Linda Fed Me

Besides eating through SoCal and the mud run, I had a great visit with Linda:

Besides hanging with her, which is always awesome, she also fed me.  Delicious vegan minestrone:

Strawberry shortcakes:

And her cool creation of furikake crostini:

Man, so tasty--she is crafty in cooking as she is in, well, crafts!

SoCal Roundup: Palm Springs & Los Angeles

To top off my SoCal trip, I also enjoyed some new places outside of Orange County:

Like Tinto-a Tapas restaurant by Jose Garces (winner of Iron Chef America!)

And Gjelina-a fabulous restaurant in Venice:

And topped with N'ice Cream!  I had the salted caramel, but next time I'm definitely getting the honey yogurt!

These were definitely more high-end than I normally partake in but I didn't want to miss out on the opportunities.  Worth it...

SoCal Round Up: Orange County

Man, I miss eating in SoCal! But do I make up for it whenever I'm out there. This time out, I caught the KogiBBQ truck:

And enjoyed a tofu taco and tofu burrito:

Also got to try the new Crispy Chickin' plate at Veggie Grill, featuring Crispy Chickin', Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes with porcini mushroom gravy and steamed kale--so delicious!

And went to the Umami Burger in Costa Mesa. I was excited to visit this branch after my amazing experience at Umamicatessen. The cheesy tots were a great treat--especially after completing a mud run the weekend before it!

And I decided to try the classic Umami burger a try, with a portabello mushroom instead of the beef patty.  Truth be told, I wish I had stuck with the Earth Burger--the portabello mushroom was incredibly oily and overwhelmed any other condiment or flavor. Next time...

The next day, a lovely friend dropped off this Banzai Bowl from Banzai Bowls:

It's this GIANT (see my pen cup for comparison) portion of acai smoothie with delicious fruit like bananas, strawberries, and granola.  So tasty--and bonus--good for you!

Already craving this food again!

Camp Pendleton Mud Run

So glad I can finally STOP RUNNING.  I can now cross the Camp Pendleton Mud Run off the bucket list.  It was really great accomplishing this with my co-workers. I suggested this tag line for our team shirts--dig the takeoff on the classic phrase?

Thanks to Carol (my team captain from the SC Mud Run), who lent me her silver cape that she was given for her first mud run -- I needed all the good mojo I could get! Though I didn't wear it on the actual run (I foresaw getting snagged and garrotting myself), I loved the good will and positive energy and encouragement that traveled with me from SC to Camp Pendleton:

This mud run was very different from the experience I had at the SC Mud Run in that this was a LOT more running. This Camp Pendleton Mud Run was a 10K (roughly 6.3 miles) compared to the 5 mile in the SC Mud Run.  And unlike the SC Mud Run, which was so loaded with obstacles I felt that the most distance I ran at once was about a quarter of a mile, this mud run was ALL running for the first 3 miles and most was UPHILL.  It was a steady and steep climb and made for a very challenging "run" for the first half hour.  At some moments, I thought, Okay, for sure, we're done with this hill and nope, I'd turn a corner and see a long line of people going upward and onward ahead of me.  Each one of these moments was fairly demoralizing, but I carried on.

There were a bunch of co-workers who had been training after work regularly for this Mud Run, running about 7 miles, 2-3 times a week, but all I had the heart for, on my own here in SC, was a weekly run on Saturday mornings.  The longest was a 6.5 mile run a couple of weeks before on Memorial Day:

I tried to make up for the holes in straight running with boot camp and kettle bell classes and hoped it would do.  It turns out I managed to keep up with them in general, though initially I just wanted to get ahead of the crowds which, for what it's worth, was kind of never-ending when you're in the last wave.  You start catching up with groups of those who started in an earlier wave and were gassing out. 

Unfortunately I jerked my hamstring during the steep downhill where I was like the boulder in that infamous Indiana Jones scene.  Observations from my teammates indicate I was flailing mess tumbling down that hill but I needless to say, I made up some time from my slower uphill run.  Another observation confirmed that I am indeed, a "gasping" runner from the get go.

But surprisingly, even with the low mileage training and contracted hamstring, I managed to finish with the first team (our company was divided in 3 teams, roughly based on time estimations) who finished in 14th (out of 294) in the Mixed team category with a collective time of 1:18:11.

I waited less than 20 minutes for the rest of my team members and we finished with a collective time of 1:34:09--coming in 100th place.  And our third team finished at 200th place with a collective time of 1:51:12.  Not bad considering with one or two exceptions, this was all our first time doing the Camp Pendleton Mud Run.

Immediately afterwards, I remember thinking that I was so dunzo with running--that I was crossing this motherblesser off the bucket list and never looking back at this Camp Pendleton mud run.  But after seeing that our company almost cracked the top ten of the Mixed team list, my mind starting turning with a bunch of what if?s.  What if I actually trained more than once a week running?  What if we trained so we didn't turn our ankles, jerk our hamstrings, or cramp our calves?  For what it's worth, other folks kind of thought the same things but for now...who knows...

Comparing the two mud runs, I liked that the Camp Pendleton Mud Run was not anywhere near as muddy as the SC Mud Run.  Honestly, I think these runs are enough without the added mud.  I would love a fun run with an obstacle course, sans mud.  I definitely preferred the more challenging obstacles of the SC Mud Run--the Camp Pendleton obstacles in comparison were very, very doable and frankly, welcome breaks in the running.  Besides the challenging aspects of SC Mud Run obstacles, I liked that it was more team-oriented.  So whether you did the obstacle by yourself or not, you had the encouragement and support (sometimes literally) of your teammates with you the whole way.  But I will tip my cap to the Camp Pendleton Mud Run--it is a very grueling run.  I definitely recommend it to runners who aren't so interested in obstacles but a really (and famously) challenging run.

Going forward--some of my co-workers are moving on to the Long Beach half marathon (13.1 miles--of JUST running!) in October and I'm wondering if Carol would be up for the doing the SC Mud Run on October 13.  But for now, I'm looking forward to relaxing and NOT running.