Black Barley, Braised & Roast Veg Salad

I was out for a meal a few weeks ago and had a delicious roasted beet salad  which was basically a pile of salad leaves surrounded by slices of red & yellow beets and all drizzled with a balsamic dressing.

This weekend I found Black Barley in the health food shop & being a lover of pot parley & pearl barley decided to try it. It has a lot of bite and a nutty flavour so I will be using it again. Already having ideas for a pilaf....

This salad is the result of combining the barley, the beet salad idea together with a delicious roast veg salad I had in Jersey. It has a few parts but none are hard.

Ingredients
Barley
1/4 cup of Black Barley soaked over night, rinsed and then boiled for 10 mins & simmered for 50 minutes until tender. I left this in the pot to cool while I prepared the veg, but it could be made at same time or the previous day.

Braised veg:
1 medium beet washed
1 small sweet potato washed
1 large carrot washed
1/2 small butternut squash.

Do not cut up the veg. Place all in a covered casserole with just a little water. Cover & bake at 390 degrees for about 1 hour until tender.

Roasted veg:
1 red pepper cut in 4 & deseeded
1 red onion cut in 1/2
half a head of anise/fennel sliced in 1/2

Place veg in roasting pan with a small amount of water to just cover the bottom of pan. At about half way through cooking the braised veg add this pan of veg to the oven. The edges of veg should be slightly charred when cooked.

Salad veg:
Romaine lettuce - I used 4 or 5 leaves chopped
1 tomato chopped
2 sticks of celery chopped
hand full of bean sprouts washed & drained
hand full of cilantro chopped

Putting it all together
Slice the braised veg and roasted veg into bite size pieces. Throw all the ingredients into a big salad bowl & drizzle over some balsamic vinegar & some tamari  - maybe about a tablespoon of each. Some agarve could be added for sweeter dressing. Toss & serve.  I guess it will serve 2 as a meal or 4 as a side. I had a big bowl for lunch & there's plenty left for supper.

Enjoy

food addictions, fats and weight

Wow apart from my rant a few minutes ago it has been months since I last posed on here!

Many things have been happening & I am hoping to put some of that on my blog Debbie's Deliberations. What is important though on this site is the vegan journey.

I began in Sept to be very intentional with the amount of fats & added oils I put into my body. So I began counting them & finding ways to cook without added oils.

I discovered 'roasting' using only water or tamari & water or water and spices/herbs. Amazingly I soon found I did not miss the oil. I discovered that making salad dressing with just some Balsamic or cider apple vinegar with maybe a touch of argave on the days I craved a sweeter dressing was far fresher tasting that ones made with any oil. When I did use oil it was a very small amount of flax oil. I also made some low fat tofu dressings which then also got uses as a dip & once I mixed it with some puréed chickpeas to make a different hummus.

So with cutting added fats my weight shot down around 12 kg from September to Christmas.

I was very careful over Christmas, making sure my days of indulgences were  interspersed with very healthy eating so over the 3 weeks I was a way I only gained about 2 kg - which I lost quite quickly once I got home to Calgary.

While I eat vegan most of the time my one small indulgence was Udi's gluten free bread - unfortunately it has a small amount of egg white in it.  I had a blood test in November that showed my allergy to eggs is far worse than my intolerance to gluten. The blood test also revealed a rise in my blood sugar. This is also often caused by fats in the diet and processed grains. So no more Udi's & double checking the amount of fat grams in store bought goods. This has helped as even more healthy processed grains and yummy vegan gluten free treats like muffins, smoked tofu etc have high fat contents & so tend to slow my weight loss down.

However this past month has been incredibly stressful and I have craved bread (comfort food..) and thus more fats. I have tried to make these more healthy - i.e. choosing spelt bread which doesn't affect me the way wheat does and has no egg added & using low fat Veganaise or mashed avocado instead of margarine or higher fat vegan mayo. But the struggle with weight began again & the 2 kg lost has returned.

So I have discovered a couple of things I need to be vigilant over fats and refined carbs in my eating. I have the equivalent to an addiction, when I allow myself to eat processes grains I crave more and almost cannot help myself from gravitating to the bread section of the store. I also think it affects my blood sugar or satiation response, for I feel very full immediately after & somewhat bloated but then when that subdues I feel hungry for ages even after a good healthy meal later.

2013 promises to be a year of major changes in my life so here is the skinny - I am going to continue with the 'no added fats' way of eating, go 'cold turkey' off the addiction to processed grains and look more into food as addictive substances.

Please let me know if you have experienced food addictions, what is going on with your journey to eating more healthily and any recipes you find that are delicious, no added fat & vegan.

May your life be filled with good things and blessings. D

A Bit of a Rant:

Hi sorry to start with a rant....

I have had a number of friends, colleagues and acquaintances over the years refer to vegan eating, especially gluten free vegan eating as very restrictive. I'm afraid the last person to say this to me caught me at high stress levels & my response was less than gracious.

I find the restrictive idea hard to fight when I have examples like this - I went to a 'Christmas Banquet'  & it was so disappointing - turkey, potatoes, peas & carrots & dressing made with chunks of white bread with a few cranberries & onion thrown in & greasy gravy....so I got to eat a few spoons of mashed potato, peas & carrots - no wonder it seems restrictive to people!  Also the potatoes may have had milk or butter in so really I should have bypassed them too but $25 for some peas & carrots is really ridiculous.  I made two Christmas meals for some friends, each had - quinoa & cranberry stuffed mushrooms, sage & onion stuffing balls,  roast potatoes, roast sweet potatoes, roast carrots, baked acorn squash,  asparagus, peas, Brussels sprouts, and chickpea & red wine gravy. A delicious vegan salad, wine and bread was also provided by guests. Nothing restrictive about these meals and my meat eating friends loved it!  Also at each meal meat was brought by a friend for those who couldn't do without but much of it taken home again whereas the veg selection was taken up for 2nds and 3rd helpings and many compliments.

However I have been considering this idea that it is restrictive or somehow not as healthy as the standard western diet because of the myth that it is short on protein; or that we who decide to eat the most healthy way possible are somehow just fanatics or must have a stronger will-power. As I have cooked, created & considered this & as I have read health books I have discovered a few things:

• my diet is far more varied than those of my friends who eat flesh. I use every vegetable I can find, I try new things, new ways of cooking & experiment with tastes, herbs, spices and ideas. Sure I still love a plate of roast potatoes and gravy, but I don't miss the meat and I  have more variety of veg and surprise items on the plate - such as a lentil loaf or quinoa patties. I have created some soups that are delicious, varied & make a meal in a bowl and satisfy longer than a burger & fries or meat chilli & white rice.
• most people who eat flesh & gluten have health issues that would improve or may be resolved by becoming vegan. (please read the research done by doctors such as Neal Barnard, Dean Ornish and T. Colin Campbell)
• There is growing evidence that meat, dairy and processed grains create addictions in us, so we crave them, feel we could not give them up or need them to be healthy. This myth is promoted by advertising paid for by the meat & dairy industry as well as the companies who make foods to satisfy our addictions and crate more addictions by the additions of sugar, salt and oils. 
• Even medical advice about healthy living is often given by doctors and health practitioners who do not have time to do research, have been trained in a medical model that ignores much dietary research and by doctors who are bombarded with "cures" & symptom suppression medication from the drug companies who spend millions on making sure our doctors use their products. When I had the heart attack I was appalled to have a dietician tell me I needed to drink milk & should eat at least one egg a day and was completely ignorant of all the evidence that shows that both these are full of "bad cholesterol" and increase the likely hood of blocked arteries. Also milk actually promotes calcium drainage from your body. She was also unaware that while salmon has omega 3 it is also so full of saturated fat it is just as bad for your heart and arteries as a bit of fatty steak. The gluten free alternative to bread was a puffed rice cracker which is about as healthy & filling as a ball of cotton wool! Recently I saw 2 alternative health practitioners, who I assumed would have good information but they too promoted eating meat as the best source of protein & were unwilling to have a conversation about why this is not true unless I could be persuaded to agree. Needless to say I will not be seeing them again. 
• I guess if people are willing to smoke cigarettes, consume excessive amounts of alcohol or shoot up, smoke or otherwise partake in taking addictive, life threatening drugs I should not be surprised there are so many who are willing to eat stuff that masquerades as food even if it will kill them or at best make them feel less than well.
• Finally on a more positive note, my vegan lifestyle is having very positive results and as long as I remember that it's not so much about cutting something out as it is about making room for something better then there is no sense of restriction or loss only delight in the deliciousness of life.

May your life be filled with good things and blessings. D