No-Brainer, Really...

Today was cooking day since it has been so long for one of those. Lots of things to catch up on. Lots of cheese waiting to be made. First I pulled off the zucchini chips. I get 1 oz of chips per pound of zucchini (!). Wow, huh? I started 7 more trays of them since we had a goodly supply of zucchini on hand from the market. We ate the whole 2 pounds as soon as I took it out of the dehydrator - yes, they are that good! I also put more soaked and sprouted almonds in so that I'll have plenty of almonds around for honey almond butter.

I also made 4 more tortillas out of some of the zucchini. It takes about 1 zuke to make a tortilla.

3c peeled zucchini
3T olive oil
2t lemon juice
Pinch cayenne
1t ground coriander
1/2t salt
1/2c flax meal*

• Blend all ingredients except flax meal in a high-speed blender until smooth.

• Add flax meal and blend again until smooth.

• Pour mixture onto 2 dehydrator sheets and spread evenly into a circle on each.

• Dehydrate for 8 hours at 105 degrees F, or until able to peel of the sheet.

• Once the dehydrator sheets are removed, return to the dehydrator for 30 - 60 mins, until both sides are dry to the touch but still pliable.

* Flax meal is flax seed that have been ground in a coffee grinder or similar, to produce a fine flour.

These are really tasty and are an excellent substitute for the heavy grain kind. We used some made yesterday for some burritos for dinner with "not fried no beans", and they were delicious. I also got my salsa groove on with another interesting salsa:

1 10 oz. bag frozen corn, thawed
2 avocados, diced
1 chopped sweet pepper
1/2 a pineapple, chopped up
1/2 a large onion, diced small
splash of lemon juice
salt to taste

This made a huge bowl that we ate as salad with some romaine on our "burritos". Good stuff.

Once the dehydrator was loaded up, it was time to make the no-beans and then tackle the cheese. First we made a small batch of yogurt to have with the blueberries. I just made the hemp sour creme and mixed in some honey and vanilla bean. Ummm Umm good. We had that tonight for our FHE treat we didn't get last night. Then we made several batches of "cheddar" since we use it for so many applications. I also started the broccoli marinating so we could have our broccoli cheese soup for dinner. After the cheddar, we finished up with raisin cheese, and then I put the package of mushrooms on to marinate so we could have it with out green spaghetti later in the week. I find mushrooms will hold better in marinade than in their plastic grocery store package.

I shouldn't neglect to mention that Darius made yogurt shakes for breakfast this morning. He wanted to try a spinoff of my lemon shakes. He made a cherry version which was delicious. It really is hard to screw this stuff up. It seems like a no-brainer! We snacked on the zuke chips and fruit the rest of the day until dinner.

Menu Planning?

We had bananas mambo for breakfast since our bananas are turning fast. I made the almond butter from some almonds dehydrating that had been soaked and sprouted. It made a very nice butter. I mixed it with some honey, 1/2 a vanilla bean, and some cinnamon and dipped it on some bananas. We topped that with raisins and spiced sunflower seeds. It was quite tasty.

For lunch we had some of our leftovers. I mixed the leftover alfredo sauce with some coconut water to thin it, then topped some corn and marinated mushrooms to make some kind of soup - I have no idea what kind! Mushroom corn chowder? Nevertheless, it was tasty. Then Roger had the leftover Crabby Cakes with some sauce leftover from salmon, a lemon caper sauce. I had some of the refried beans and sour cream on lettuce leaves. Wyatt had his usual selection of corn chips.

It is interesting to me how easy it is to use leftovers on this dietary plan. I have always tried to use my leftovers creatively, but it was work. I find this very easy. It is like everything goes with everything else. There aren't any bad combinations. If it sounds good, it probably is. Even when it doesn't sound particularly good, it might be. You just have to take a chance. The point is, very little has to go to waste. My biggest problem is that I will buy something thinking I will use it and then decide not to prepare it. Eventually it will go bad. I have a real problem with cole vegetables. I just don't like them very much, but I know I should make them. At least 1/2 the time they go bad and then I don't have to make them; problem solved! A better solution would be to not buy them in the first place. An even better solution would be to make up menus including those vegetables and develop the discipline to actually prepare them. Actually Wyatt made the suggestion today to make up menus. His mother always did that, he said, and then they always knew what they were going to be eating. He really doesn't like not knowing what's for dinner. In all honesty, I don't know until I get in the fridge and start stirring things up. I don't know why I'm like that. It's better to do it the other way, I suppose. I guess that is one of my many faults. I'm not working too hard to overcome it though.