[Firebird Rising]

Today was an AWESOME healthy low-fat food day, despite my burning oatmeal to the bottom of a pan.

This morning was oatmeal. Usually, I boil the water, then add the oatmeal and turn it off and leave it for 10-20 minutes while I get the kids changed and into day-time clothes. Today, I forgot to turn it off and it boiled over and ALL over the place and crusted to the bottom of the pan.

I am trying to stay away from regular sugar and brown sugar if possible so I sweetened my oatmeal with molasses this morning and added small bits of dried apricot to it. Cameron had the same but threw all the apricots at me so I won't do those again for him.

I have realized over the last two days that I NEED fast snacks in the house so that when I'm in my "I've been breastfeeding all day and have no energy" phase of the day, I can grab something and not just eat something that's bad for me. So I decided I needed sushi. I made some rice in the rice cooker and added a bit of extra water to help gum it up a bit. After it was cooked, I cooled it in the fridge. Once it was no longer steaming, I added rice vinegar, sugar (I know, I just said I was trying to avoid this, but I didn't want to use up my mirin, too expensive) and some salt. I cut up carrots, green onions and avocados into strips. I made two nori rolls and then one bowl of sushi rice salad (all the ingredients for sushi, but thrown into a bowl instead of taking the time to wrap, tearing up the nori (seaweed) and throwing it into the bowl. I was rather pleased with the salad and Cameron even ate some (as long as it had avocado in it). The nori rolls, I wrapped up in plastic and put in the fridge to grab for a snack (I just ate one for my late night snack). Here's what all of it looked like as well as a close-up of the bowl. Below the pictures are some ideas for vegan sushi ingredients.

California roll: rice, avocado, cucumber, seaweed, sesame seeds
Salad roll: rice, tomato, avocado, cucumber, seaweed
Vegetarian roll: rice, carrot, avocado, seaweed, chili pepper
Almond roll: rice, teriyaki glazed onion, almond, cucumber, mushroom, seaweed
Frushi: rice, favorite fruits, seaweed
Thai Noodle Roll: rice, pad thai noodles, seaweed, mushroom
Curry Roll: fried curry rice, potatoes, peas, baby carrots, seaweed
Spaghetti Roll :rice, spaghetti, seaweed (dip in marinara)
Grilled Veggie roll: rice, grilled eggplant and bell peppers, italian dressing, seaweed


I had a midwife appointment today and that means I get to go to Briar Patch Co-op, which is in the same city. I always love going there. I bought some burdock to make a salad and then ended up over in the deli (I try so hard to avoid it, but it's SOOOO good) and bought two things I'm going to try to duplicate. I have no pictures, but I'll share what they have in them.

The first thing that I tried was not vegan, but could easily be made so with a little tweaking. It was called a Hijiki Tofu Cake and contained the following:

Tofu, Shiitake Mushrooms, Carrot, Burdock root, Sesame Seeds and oil, Agave syrup, Tamari, Sake, flour, egg.

It looked like a little pancake and was so stinking good. I'm going to try to make it without the egg, using honey instead of agave and maybe I'll spring for some shiitake at some point.

The second thing was equally good and really high in brain foods (natural fats). It was a Walnut Miso Spinach sort of salad and consisted of:

Spinach, Miso, Walnuts, Kombu, Maple Syrup and Tamari. It was incredible and so very green and healthy looking. I'll try it soon. I can't remember if I've got kombu in the house or not.

For dinner, I was SO tired and told my mom, "Let's just have haystacks." Haystacks, or frito boats or taco salad, depending on the locale and culture, is one of our favorite meals. If you haven't had it, you're missing out on a very easy meal that can accommodate meat and non-meat eaters, vegan and lacto-ovo vegetarian. Here's how I make a haystack:

Layer of tortilla chips on a plate, crushed slightly
Add cooked beans (chili are best, but black, pinto, red, anything pretty much works)
Add cheese (if you eat that sort of thing)
Add Lettuce (lots of it)
Add Chopped tomato, chopped onion, chopped whatever veggie needs to be used up (tonight, we had carrot and cabbage)
Add ketchup or salsa or both
Add sour cream (again, if you eat that sort of thing )
Top with a few olives

YUM Here's what it looked like before I dug in.


Truly a great food day. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.