Food Truck Style Quinoa Tacos with Slaw

I have been craving food truck tacos for about a month now, so I decided I would create my own easy and cheap version. The base of this recipe is quinoa, but I have also tried it with other add-ins like kale and chicken.

Taco Filling

Caramelize onion and brown garlic in a skillet. Cook qunioa separately. Add quinoa to skillet once cooked. Add flavor with chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, pink salt, black pepper, and a little oregano.

Slaw

Slice a whole cabbage, add to bowl. I used green, but red will also be fine. Grate one large carrot. Add a handful of minced cilantro. In a separate bowl, make the dressing out of rice vinegar, apple cider vinegar, a little orange juice, a little cumin, a little hot chili sauce (like sriracha) and/or red pepper flakes. Stir together and pour on cabbage mixture. Mix together, and let sit in refrigerator for an hour.

Assemble Taco

I use Ezekiel soft taco shells. Add taco filling, sprinkle parmasan cheese (or vegan alternative, optional.) Add cherry tomatoes, cut in half (other tomatoes chopped will be fine.) Add slaw on top.

Apple Lime Broccoli Slaw

Fresh and ready for warmer weather, this recipe naturally follows the Gerson Therapy diet without missing any vital ingredients. Make this salad as is, or add to a bed of lettuce for more veges. You could also easily substitute whatever you have on-hand: other dried fruits for raisins, lemon for lime, different onion (only if you really like onion, because a substitute would make the onion flavor stronger.)

 

salad:

• 1 bag broccoli slaw
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1/4 red onion, fine diced
• 1 sweet apple, cubed
• 1/4 cup raisins
• a few sprigs of parsley, chopped and to garnish

dressing:

• 2 tsp honey
• 2 limes, juiced

Add broccoli slaw, celery, onion, apple, raisins, and parsley to a bowl. Mix honey with juice of 2 limes. It initially seems hard to melt the honey, but it will eventually melt. Mix the dressing to the salad and serve.

Note: If you package the salad as leftovers, the raisins might re-hydrate a bit. (I didn’t mind.)

Enjoy 🙂

Crispy Dehydrated Kale Chips

If you have a dehydrator, yet have not made kale chips, shame on you! 😉 Because they rock!

I have tried to make kale chips in the past, in the oven, but have failed miserably. The chips were always soggy or thin and overdone, no matter how closely I followed everyone’s directions. When I received a dehydrator for Christmas, I actually didn’t try kale chips first (I know, shame on me 😉 ). I first made juicer pulp-ground flax seed crackers/chips (whatever you want to call them, depending on how thin you roll the “dough” out), which actually turned out fantastic. However, when I started the Gerson Therapy, I stopped eating the ground flax seeds, so I turned to kale– and am I glad I did!

I have this Nesco dehydrator, and so far so good I’ve enjoyed using it.

I used about 3-4 kale leaves, which plenty covers the trays. I pack close, but do not overlap the leaves.

After I wash and dry the kale leaves, I arrange them on the trays. If you would like, you can sprinkle the leaves with spices, garlic powder, or onion powder. I also tried adding apple cider vinegar (hoping to make “salt and vinegar chips”) before dehydrating, but I found that the vinegar flavor goes away once dehydrated. I will try spraying a bit of vinegar on after dehydrating. I have been sprinkling the spices after arranging the kale on the trays, but I’m sure it would work fine putting the kale in a bowl and adding the spices beforehand.

If you are not on the Gerson diet, adding coconut oil and then spices to kale in a bowl before adding them to the trays is probably the way to go.

After arranging the kale, simply dehydrate for about 2 hours at 135 degrees F. I have been following the Nesco instructions for dehydrating vegetables (135 degrees), but will experiment with lower temperatures. I first tried dehydrating for longer times (3 and 4 hours), but have found that the chips are not crispier with the longer time, but disintegrate easier (not desirable to me).

This has been a great snack to come home to!

Tabbouleh Salad with or without quinoa

“Gluten Free” Tabbouleh Salad, made with or without quinoa

Tabbouleh is Middle Eastern parsley salad that I have been eating since I was very young. Traditionally made with bulgur (cracked wheat), recently my grandma was on a quinoa substitution health streak, substituting quinoa for wheat in many of her traditional dishes. What an amazing discovery! Turns out, quinoa didn’t change the flavor of the beloved dishes, but is much more moist than wheat, so it made everything taste better, in my opinion. Even some of the dishes I had been growing tired of were given new life with quinoa. Plus, it made many dishes “gluten free” for when her gluten free friends came over for dinner parties.

One of the dishes she substituted with quinoa was tabbouleh. I modified her recipe to fit the Gerson Diet, pretty much only removing added salt and substituting flax oil for olive oil if desired. I will note that is it unclear to me as to whether a Gerson patient can have a lot of raw parsley because of the oxalic acid, so I would limit this salad to a side dish, rather than eating it as a main course.

Tabbouleh can be eaten alone, or added on top of romaine lettuce, kind of like a lettuce wrap. This is a good way to eat more greens! Please make sure all ingredients are organic.

Gluten Free Tabbouleh Salad, made with or without quinoa

• 2 cups parsley, finely chopped
• 2 tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• juice from 1-2 lemons depending on how lemony you want it
• 1/2 cup cooked and cooled quinoa (optional, if it’s grain day 🙂 Also, some people prefer their tabbouleh with more grain, but this is how I’ve always eaten it.)
• 2 tbsp flax oil (optional)

Mix parsley, tomatoes, onion, and quinoa together, then mix in the lemon and flax oil. The toughest part to this is chopping up all the ingredients, so you could use a food processor if desired, but just make sure not to process it too much. If you can stand it, it’s much better to chop by hand. The tabbouleh pictured was made without quinoa. Though I prefer with, without was still tasty! Other non-traditional vegetables to add would include sweet peppers, green onions, and cucumber (non-Gerson).

Orange Stir-Fry

This is my mom’s stir fry recipe, adapted for the Gerson Diet. We added the vegetables that we had on-hand, but you could add other vegetable that you like– I’m thinking  snap peas would be a fun addition. The cabbage can be a little bitter, so the orange is a must. Feel free to even add a little (self-juiced) orange juice if you would like. If you can brown the garlic without oil, try adding some bigger pieces, because they can kind of resemble the texture of cashews or peanuts when cooked. Or maybe use your imagination. 😉

• 1 onion, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 1 cup broccoli, chopped to bite-size pieces
• 1/2 green pepper
• 1/4 head cabbage or bok choy, sliced
• 1 orange, cut into small pieces
• quinoa or brown rice (cook while making the stir fry)

 

In a large skillet, saute onion and garlic in a spoon or two of water. Props to you if you can brown the onion and garlic without oil. Add celery and carrot. Add broccoli. Add green pepper, and cabbage. Add orange once vegetables are tender crisp. Serve with quinoa or brown rice.

 

Salsa Fresca

Ready for the Super Bowl!

I was so happy when I realized most typical salsa ingredients were okay for the Gerson diet. This salsa is so fresh and can be used by itself or as a topping for many foods. I have been adding it to greens as a “salad dressing,” with cold chopped potatoes. I have also been thinking of dehydrating some kale to make kale chips, and trying this salsa out with chips. Store in a mason jar, and use freely for topping.

 

Very easy to make, just mix all ingredients together in a bowl.

• 4-5 medium-size tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 sweet pepper (we used red), chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced, to taste
• 1/2 red or sweet onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• juice of 1-2 limes or lemons (limes preferred)
• flax oil, to taste (optional)

Glass Water Bottle Koozie

So before I started on the Gerson Therapy, I was drinking tons of water all day long to filter out my body. I carried around a large Voss glass water bottle, because I found that to be the best option out there. The large Voss bottles are large enough to hold a pretty decent amount of water, and glass was a must. There are many brands of water bottles at stores like Target for $12-$18, but at $3 a bottle for the Voss, it was definitely worth it to buy a bottle with the water already in it! It was also nice to be able to flavor the water with lemon and essential oils for a tasty treat.

I started carrying my water in a holder that I made– a little for protection, but mostly because it made it easier to hold. Where ever I went, it always received positives comments. I just can’t believe how many people are still using plastic water bottles, when it’s so easy to bring your own, and were surprised to see that I had a large glass bottle.

I have put the bottle holders up on Etsy for anyone interested in having one.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/204371121/handmade-glass-water-bottle-koozie

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme (Homemade Tomato Sauce)

Pasta with warm tomato sauce seems like it would be a no no for a person on the Gerson Therapy/Diet.

However, I have been craving pasta lately, so I decided to make my own Gerson-approved herb tomato sauce, served with broccoli slaw “pasta.” If you have the time, you could easily make vege pasta from zucchini, but I bought organic broccoli slaw from Trader Joe’s to made things faster. I’m hungry!

Even if you’re not on the Gerson Diet, this is a very healthy homemade tomato sauce, made from scratch. Skip all of the preservatives in store-bought jars and cans, and easily make your own.

Gerson-Approved Herb Tomato Sauce

• 2 lbs Tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 sweet pepper, chopped
• 1/2 Large Onion, chopped
• 3 Cloves of Garlic (to taste), minced
• Handful of fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 tsp dried or fresh sage
• 1 tsp dried or fresh rosemary
• 1 tsp dried or fresh thyme

Add all ingredients to a deep skillet, and let simmer at least 30 minutes. The longer you simmer, the thicker and richer it will get.

Warm up the broccoli slaw in a skillet, about 5 minutes depending on how “al dente” you want it. Make sure to keep stirring the slaw, or it will burn. Do not add oil if you are on the Gerson diet. It’s not needed anyway.

 

Add the warm tomato sauce to the broccoli slaw. I added a pinch of dried garlic granules to the top for a zesty kick of flavor. Enjoy!

We may have money, but we are losing our time

I read a great article the other day that has been going around Facebook. It discusses a lot of things I’ve been thinking about lately.

The article argues that our society has been designed to sustain the economy, making us the pawns in the system.

After our 8-10 hours spent at work daily, it doesn’t leave much time for free time. Mostly, Americans eat a quick dinner and then go to sleep to do it all over again, and then only have two days– if that– every week to spend doing anything other than work. This leaves Americans in need of quick, expensive, entertainment. We have lost the ability to entertain ourselves with more time-consuming activities like walking through a park, exercising, or reading a book. We may have money, but we lost our time.

“For the economy to be “healthy,” America has to remain unhealthy.”

Sadly, I am becoming one of these people, and I’m still young. I feel like I’m wasting my life working an office job I dislike. I need to get out of this rat race of  accumulation of material things. The other day, we had a company meeting about stock options, and they said we couldn’t cash out until we are 70 1/2 years old… It’s hard for me to think of working a miserable desk job for another 45 years. What a waste of life! I don’t want to look back on the years only to see myself working the whole time.

It seems like the only way to do this is to work for myself– work for myself, support myself, don’t work for other people.

At least I will feel like I’m living for me.

(Here’s the article)

Your Lifestyle Has Already Been Designed

Trader Joe’s is coming to (my) Town

In honor of one of my favorite stores opening a new store near my house today, I wanted to write about Trader Joe’s. I’m sure most of you have heard of this California-born grocery store that offers great deals on its own private label products. Personally, I call Trader Joe’s the “fun store.” When I was living by myself in college, I turned from enjoying clothes shopping to enjoying food shopping. (I know I’m not the only one here!) Trader Joe’s had all the fun snacks and an AMAZING cheese wall full of choices. Because of this, cheese and wine night became a staple at my apartment. I read once that people consider Trader Joe’s a store for poor college students with rich taste buds, and the variety of cheeses and wines to choose from really grew mine.

I have tried many of their private label items, and they were all great. Recently, I have significantly cut back on sugar, and any soy or corn products, however, before I did this, here are some items that I especially recommend, and some that I still recommend:

• Cookie butter – amazing on apples. I had been holding back on this, but after I sampled it in-store, I couldn’t resist.
• kalamata olive bread and hummus – okay, I just love olives
• Harvest blend herbal tea – I noticed after drinking it that this tea contains “other natural flavors” (sketchy much?) which I try to avoid, however, this is the best tasting tea I’ve ever had. EVER.
• Green juice (not sure what it’s called) and Apple Cider – both contain too much sugar and are pasteurized, but taste great, and would be a good alternative to other sugar drinks.
• 100% Cranberry Juice – good price on it, unfortunately it’s pasteurized
• wine and cheese, of course
• Other items: I like buying organic fruit at Trader Joe’s (I am thinking of apples and kiwi) because it’s a lot cheaper than other stores, and the quality has been good.
• I also like buying Dr. Bronner’s liquid soap there, because Trader Joe’s has the best price I have found so far.

As you can see, my list is getting long, and that’s because I liked everything I tried! Well, I didn’t care for the pumpkin butter, but my family loved it, so it must just be me.

One thing I especially like about Trader Joe’s is that none of their private label items contain high fructose corn syrup, nor GMOs. This makes my shopping trip a bit easier, because I’m one to examine the ingredients list on the back. I still will examine it, but not as skeptically.

Trader Joe’s commitment to good health and great prices makes me a loyal shopper, and I am soooo glad to have one near by.