Celebrating an all-natural lifestyle

Hemp Bliss

No, that title is not in any way meant to suggest the elevated aftermath of certain smokeable substances. Wrest your minds from the gutter! It is a reference to one of the most popular brands of hemp milk. And this weekend, I concluded that homemade hemp milk — though I honestly don’t have a basis for comparison — must surely rival, if not surpass the delights of other hemp derivatives.

It’s funny I should be making this bold claim, because I’ve always disliked hemp milk. Really: I’ve wanted to like it, but I simply couldn’t get over the hemp-y taste. Which is silly, because I love hemp seeds, hemp butter, and  hemp oil, and none of those things could rightfully be called subtle-tasting, either. They’re hemp foods, and they taste like it. Still, something got in the way of my enjoying hemp milk. Until this weekend, when I attempted to make my own, and a new love affair was born.

As the great heat wave of 2010 rages in NYC, I’ve been enjoying plenty of smoothies. Smoothies (often) mean having lots of fresh nut milks on hand, which is part of why I’ve been giving them some blog focus lately (see my post on nut milk troubleshooting if you’re running into trouble making your own nut milks). The hemp milk I’m about to share is my latest creation, and it may henceforth be my most beloved. It’s creamy, rich, high in nutrition, and somehow the hemp taste bothers me far less than it does when I drink the store-bought brands. The recipe is pretty standard:

Hemp Milk (yields about 4 cups)

1 cup shelled hemp seeds
3 cups filtered water
3-4 tbsp agave nectar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp soy/sunflower lecithin (optional, but it will help keep the texture smooth, which is important since you’re not straining this one)

Blend all ingredients on high till they are very, very smooth. Enjoy!

You certainly could strain this nut milk if you’d like to, but I don’t recommend it. The texture is particularly nice when it’s left unstrained, and moreover, hemp seeds are so rich in nutrients that it seems a shame to divest the nut milk of some of its nutrient power by straining. In fact, I’m such a fan of hemp foods as nutritional powerhouses that I even calculated the nutrition facts for the milk. This is something I’ve been asked to do for my almond milk, too, which I can’t because I’ve no idea how straining effects the nutrition. And no, I don’t intend to make a habit of posting nutrition information for all of my recipes. But I can make exceptions once in a while. The stats:

For 1/2 cup serving (a little goes a long way!):

Kcal = 128
Fat = 7.8
Sugars = 4.8
Protein = 8.8 g
Fiber = 1.2 g

As you can see, hemp milk is a more protein rich alternative to standard almond milk, which is great for those of you who are working to incorporate more protein nito your diets. Keep in mind, too, that the fats in this hemp milk comprise both Omega-6 and Omega-3 fatty acids, which our bodies need for brain function, growth, and development.

The bottom line is that this hemp milk is a slightly more nutrient dense alternative to my basic almond recipe. But increased nutrition does not come with decreased taste; you may need to adjust to the strong flavor of hemp, but as soon as you do, you’ll want to enrich every smoothie and overnight oat bowl with this stuff!

Speaking of healthy fats, I’ve written yet another blog post on why we shouldn’t be afraid of them–this time, it’s up at Whole Living Daily. I encourage all of my readers who are scared of eating more fat to check it out, and to embrace the healthy properties of lipids!

xo

Surf n’ Turf, + iHerb Giveaway

Happy Sunday, friends. I appreciate your kind words about my mom’s boyfriend’s son — they meant the world to me.

So in my last post, I mentiond that I grew up eating a little differently from most of my Greek fam. They were carnivorous; red meat made me squirm. They liked their veggies cooked through; I liked mine crunchy. They liked dishes that were salty and heavily flavored; I liked my food plain. Of course, there were things we all agreed on: my Grandmother’s spaghetti (which, even though slathered in butter and made from white pasta, was quite tasty); my mom’s wonderful broccoli, made with tons of lemon and olive oil; giant salads, which adorned the table at every family meal, and which, as the resident veg-aholic, I was usually put in charge of; and, in later years, my vegan baked goods, which totally transformed my mom’s conception of vegan sweets and treats.

So while there were things we didn’t all agree on — such as lamb, and the 101 uses my Yaya found for it — we did agree on a bunch of things. One of our main areas of unison was this: there were lots of mainstream American foods we didn’t know much about, and hadn’t tried. I don’t think I ever tasted a sugary cereal growing up. I had my first soda at the ripe old age of ten (ripe, sadly, by mainstream standards). There were no hot pockets or pop tarts at home, no chips or cheetos or even oreos. This doesn’t mean our pantry was perfect: there were other things, like spray margarine and Lean Cuisine, that were, in retrospect, pretty foul. But we were fairly cut off from the cornucopia of processed food that is the American supermarket.

More than that, there were lots of classic American dishes that we never grew up eating. Sure, my Mom made the usual sorts of comfort food dishes on occasion — veggie pot pie, for example, or tuna casserole — but most of our food was Mediterranean in flavor: grilled fish, chicken or zucchini broiled with lemon and tomatoes; pasta with pesto and veggies. And because that’s what we ate at home, that’s usually what we ate when we went out to restaurants, too. So there were tons of restaurant offerings that remained mysterious to me well into my adult years.

One of these was “surf and turf.” Believe it or not, I was twenty the first time I learned what this was, vacationing in a hotel with my father and his family. It sounded like such a fun dish, until I learned what it was: a side-by-side offering of steak and seafood, oftentimes fried. To me, that reeked of an animal protein overdose. Needless to say, it’s not a dish I’ve ever tried — I’d guess that many women haven’t — but the name has always amused me.

This weekend, I found myself with a pantry full of dwindling bags of sea veggies. You know, bags that have less than a real portion left, but are taking up space while I wait to finish them off. I thought I’d whip up some seaweed salad. As I contemplated that prospect, I also realized I had a portobello cap in my fridge that I hadn’t found a good use for yet. Portobellos, of course, are often called upon to represent “meatiness” in a vegan meal. And sea vegetables are just the closest I’ll get to touching fish. So with these two components at the ready, I decided to try my hand at my own version of “surf n’ turf” — vegan, raw, and healthful.

This salad is wonderful. Really. It’s salty, savory, and fun to eat. Mix the seaweed around with the kale and mushrooms, and you’ll happen upon lovely, intermittent pockets of flavor. Mushrooms, along with my hempesan, provide an earthiness, while the seaweed gives it a delicate and salty touch. The kale, meanwhile, is crunchy and a great contrast to the rest of the meal.

Note: every time I post a sea veggie recipe, someone asks if there’s a substitute to be had, since he or she hates seaweed. Sorry guys: the sea-veggie flavor is a fundamental component to this dish. So if you’re not into dulse or wakame, I’d say you’ll be missing out!

The process:

Gena’s Surf n’ Turf Salad (serves one VERY hungry person)

Ingredients:

1/2 bunch curly kale
1/3 cup each: shredded carrot, cabbage, zucchini
7 grams (or so) each: wakame, dulse, arame
1 portobello cap
3-4 tbsp hempesan
1 1/2 + 1 tbsp olive or hemp oil (separated)
2 tbsp nama shoyu
1 + 2 tbsp lemon juice (separated)
1 tsp toasted sesame oil

Directions:

1) The night before eating: mix 1 1/2 tbsp olive or hemp oil, 2 tbsp lemon, 2 tbsp nama shoyu, and 1 tsp sesame oil together. Slice portobello and submerge it in the marinade, leaving it overnight.

2) The next day, remove mushroom from marinade, storing it in the fridge. Reserve the marinade.

3) Soak your seaweed (wakame, dulse, arame) in water for at least 1-2 hours. Rinse. Transfer the seaweed to your leftover marinade, and let it soak for at least an hour. When it’s done, remove seaweed and place it in a sieve; press gently to squeeze out excess marinade. Discard the marinade that’s left, or save it for something you’ll marinade right away; there should still be quite a bit of it.

4) Wash, rinse, spin, and chop the kale. Place it in a large bowl with the carrot, cabbage, and zucchini, and then massage the whole thing with 1 tbsp lemon, 1 tbsp hemp or olive oil, a salt and pepper to taste. Add a little drizzle of agave if you’d like to. Set aside.

5) Top the kale salad with half of the seaweed (you can save the other half for another meal!) and the mushroom. Sprinkle 3-4 tbsp hempesan over the whole thing.

6) Dinner is served.

Talk about treasures from land and sea. This salad is packed with nutrients: rich in iodine, vitamin K, folate, and B vitamins from the sea veggies; vitamins A + K, iron, and calcium from the kale; and protein, essential fatty acids, and more B vitamins from the hempesan, not to mention additional fatty acids if you use hemp oil.

In other words, this salad is a whole lot more nourishing than the fried, butter slathered original dish — at least in my book. So the next time the CEO of your company waxes poetic about the steak+lobster plate at a business dinner, you can smile inwardly, confident that you’ve got an even healthier alternative up your sleeve.

Hope you all get a chance to make this one soon!

Before I go, a lil’ giveaway for you all! I’m sure quite a few of you have seen giveaways for a $50 shopping spree on iHerb already. Well, I’m joining the bandwagon: Abby, over at iHerb, was kind enough to offer me a sample shopping spree of my own ($50 worth) and an additional giveaway to one of my lucky readers! What’s iHerb? It’s a no fuss, no gimmicks online supplement store, featuring everything from “superfoods” to baking goods that are allergy friendly. Other stuff that makes iHerb special:

1) 95% of Orders placed before 1 pm, PST, ship the same day.
2) Free Domestic UPS Ground Shipping for Orders over $40
3) Free International Airmail Shipping for Orders over $60 and 3 lbs or less
4) They sell products for up to 50% off suggested retail prices
5) They carry close to 19,000 products that include vitamins, herbal supplements, health food and personal care items

What did I purchase in my shopping spree? I picked up some of my fave MegaZymes enzymes; some almond flour, which I’ve been meaning to try out; and some probiotics. Basically, my supplements of choice. The items arrived almost immediately, which was a major plus!

If you’d like a chance to pick up some goodies on iHerb, here’s the deal:

1) Leave a comment on this post, saying one supplement or product you might like to try
2) For an additional entry, tweet the contest or link to it on your blog, and tell me you did

That’s it! Winner will be announced next Monday, May 10th. In the meantime, if you simply can’t wait to shop on iHerb, go ahead and use the code UGE458 at checkout, which will get you a $5 discount.

Good luck!

And finally, before I go, Diana recently reminded me that I forgot to announce a winner to my Sun in Bloom giveaway. D’oh!!! I’ve been so distracted lately. The winner of a complimentary entree at Sun in Bloom is #59 – my friend and soon to be hot mama Lauren!!!! I am so happy to pass this on to her. Congrats, Lauren! I can’t wait to hear what you think of the restaurant.

OK, kids. I’ve got lots to do this Sunday. For now, peace!

xo

Hemp-esan, and New Uses for Old Dressings

Hey guys,

GREAT feedback on yesterday’s post! It was so interesting to hear how you all negotiate the zone between eating consciously, but without dogma and fear. Thanks for chiming in!

It’s no great secret that parmigiano-reggiano — or Parmesan, as we like to call it here in the US of A — is one of the world’s most beloved cheeses. No surprise there: it’s salty and unmistakably flavorful, and a little goes a long way. So what do those of us who aren’t into the fromage do to replicate some of that effect? Well, we have a few options. There’s Parma, a product I love: vegan, raw, and out-of-control tasty, it’s sure to add flavor to your dishes. There’s Rawmesan, which I haven’t tried, but looks pretty good, too. There’s Galaxy’s vegan Parmesan, which isn’t raw, but if your body tolerates soy nicely, is a tasty alternative (and great for those who are used to a more traditional Parmesan texture). And for those of us who like to keep things really simple, there’s always a healthy sprinkle of nooch.

Last night, as I threw together some raw pasta leftovers, I noticed that I had only a few tablespoons of nooch left in my pantry. I also noted that I was down to a few tablespoons of hemp nuts. I’d wanted to experiment with a light, yet protein and nutrient rich topping for a while — especially since many of my clients are in search of a parmesan substitute. So I decided to experiment with a hemp based “cheese.” Into my food processor went 3 tbsp of hemp seeds and 3 tbsp of nooch. I pulsed for a few moments, and came up with this:

It was absolutely delicious! And a wonderful offering to my clients who are a little worried about protein intake with a mostly vegan diet: hemp seeds, as we know, are a rich source of complete protein, and nutritional yeast packs eight grams in a tablespoon and a half. I’ll definitely be recommending this topping to clients, and enjoying it’s nutty, salty, and earthy taste myself.

Last night was also a fun exercise in leftover usage. I have a small vat of carrotini dressing at home, and I’ve been wondering how I’ll make a dent before it goes off. Since I also had some spare zucchini, I decided that carrotini noodles would be the order of the day. The recipe? No recipe. Just one spiralized zuke, 1 cup of chopped mixed veggies, and about a quarter cup of carrotini dressing mixed in, like so:

Then, of course, came a small mountain of the hemp-esan:

Along with some steamed broc and cauliflower, it was a tasty and hasty meal:

Two thumbs up! I admit, I’m not a leftover fan: I love variety, and leftovers don’t give me much room for that. But when leftovers offer me new and unexpected ideas for using up a dish I’ve already made (like turning a salad dressing into a “pasta” sauce), well hey, that’s pretty cool.

What about you guys: leftover fans? Not so much? Would love to know! More importantly, let me know what you think of hemp-esan. I’m a fan

Happy hump day, all.

xo

Red Pepper and Hemp Soup

Ah, fall. Season of soups.

You guys know by now that I love raw soups. Which is a little funny, since I was never a fan of cooked soups. Or rather, I was never a fan of cooked soups with lots of stuff in them: chicken noodle, minestrone, miso, vegetable barley, whatever. I could handle the blended, creamy ones: butternut squash, cream (ew) of leek, cream (ew) of mushroom, carrot—but that makes sense, since those are the soups that raw soups most closely resemble.

To make a long and not very cool story short: I like creamy soups. I really like them even better when they’re raw. The end.

Why are raw soups so great? Well, for one thing, they’re chock full of enzymes, nutrients, and fiber, but their blended texture makes them highly digestible. This means they’re great for anyone who suffers from impaired digestion, or simply for any occasion when you need to give your digestive system a little TLC (illness; pre- or post-workout; when you’re rundown). They’re also quick and easy: raw soups don’t require making a perfect roux, waiting for vegetables to soften, or spending hours watching a pot simmer. And for most of us, soups evoke sweet childhood memories of simplicity and comfort.

If the thought of eating soups cold upsets you, don’t be deterred: it’s perfectly OK to heat them gently over a very low flame until they’re room temperature. If you’re not strictly raw and don’t care to be, go ahead and warm them up as much as you’d like!

You’ll be seeing a ton of soups—probably more than you’d like to see—as the weather cools down. I’m starting my soup marathon with a new recipe I tried out last week (my friend Cassie is finishing off my leftovers!): red pepper and hemp soup.

I wasn’t sure about this one: hemp is such a distinctive flavor that I worried it might overpower the peppers. But after my success with creamy hemp basil sauce, I figured it couldn’t hurt to try. And it didn’t. Quite the contrary. This soup is sweet, creamy, and a little nutty tasting, but what really makes it shine is the kick from lemon juice and turmeric. It’s quick, nourishing, and—for those of you who are hung up on that whole protein thing—rich in protein, too. Enjoy it!

Red Pepper and Hemp Soup

Ingredients:

2 extra large (or 3 regular) red peppers, seeded and roughly chopped
½ cup hemp seeds
½ tsp salt
2 tbsps lemon juice
½ tsp curry powder
¼ tsp turmeric
1 tsp Braggs liquid aminos
Black pepper to taste
2/3 cup water (or to taste – this will depend on how thick or thin you like your soup)

Procedure:

Place all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth and creamy. You may want to begin with ½ cup water and adjust based on texture as you go along!

You can add garlic or onion to the soup. If you’re into that.

Of course, soup is lonely without a giant salad by its side:

Spinach, radicchio, broccoli. All together now:

Hope you all had a great weekend. I’ll be back this week with a cooked recipe, a question of the week, and more!

xo

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