My recent cooking adventures

Wagwaan (Translation = Wadup) my people!

For my Jamaicans: How har hunnu?    
and 
For all my people: How you be?

I hope life is lovely and you are enjoying more and more bangin' bird food everyday.  I've been doing a lot in my free time since school's been out.  Exercising my brain has been one of them:

Reading.......... 

.......Is........
(That face is so intense and this is leisure reading.  Imagine my med school face.)

..........Fundamental
(I'm really comfy now)

And I've also been cooking up some good stuff lately and I've been bad for not sharing these aromatic and delicious masterpieces.  They are all new recipes!!!  Alright, alright.  Ya girl is not playing around.   I get these ideas, start playing around with them and before you know it, I've got something bangin'.  Some were birthed a couple weeks ago while others are my full-proof comfort food recipes (that I make all the time) and others are my version of a recipe I found surfing the web.  I just love how colorful the food is.....and BRIGHT.  The color intensity of my veggies need to remind me of crayons.  That's a good sign that they are not overcooked.  Alright, I've got the goods for you.

It all started when my mom bought me a waffle maker and this lady KNOWS I love appliances.   So of course.......

...in the morning, I was making waffles....

And more waffles.............
(Blueberry waffles with kiwi, scrambled tofu and some Tofurky sausage)
I could have tried to have other things for breakfast, right?   Nahhh  :)

Ahhhhhhhh!  Look at all those colors!!

Mercy!

I call it Veggie Heaven

This was a chickpea and eggplant casserole with spinach salad and whole grain pasta.
I LOVE chickpeas and I LOVE eggplant.
It's based off of a recipe I found in the NYTimes.

Trying my hand at a chocolate mousse.

It wasn't me alone. I promise
No, my fingers aren't crossed behind me.  :)

I'm really into edamame right now.
It's sooooooo good!

I am also now using a new formula with pasta.......

......I'm keeping it 20% pasta and 80% fresh veggies.
It's working out nicely.

Then I came back to an oldie but goodie.

Panera Bread inspired Broccoli Cheddar Soup

This picture is looking hurt because I was eager.   This was after about 5 bites.
The poor soup had no chance.

This was an original open face sandwich.  Sauteed spinach, edamame,  sweet red peppers, garlic, onions, scallion (green onion) and avocado drizzled with cheezy sauce.   I ate is all yesterday.  I wish I could have shared.

Last but not least.........................

My attempt at veganizing/plantifying/plant-basing (I just love these verbs) ackee and saltfish.  It sounds kinda of crazy but I added a little seaweed to recreate the fish flavor.  It worked :)

That was breakfast this VERY morning.

So maybe Dios is telling me something.  I keep coming up with some seriously bangin' bird food (not trying to toot my own horn here but it really is though), my efforts are rewarded with clean plates and mmm mmm mmm's, this blog is growing, phrases I hear these days include, "MGD, you would be so proud of me today.  I had a salad.......(or some high quantity of plant-life)" and then I find THIS:

When I was back in ATL, I was thrifting with my Ma and she happened to find this just looking around the bookshelves.

Brand Spanking New!

So now I have a space specially designated for jotting down and storing these ideas that come to my mind.  I can't wait until the whole thing is full.  You never know...........maybe I'll end up turning it into a cookbook. :)

Thank you for reading!  My people, I appreciate you all so much.  Be happy and healthy.  Ciao!

Day Juice Fast: Day Four

The end has come!  

The last day of my juice fast, my people, and today's juicing experience was just BEAUTIFUL!   I mean the colors of all the veggies and fruits were so gorgeous.  I was all over the photography.  Nature is so impressive, so very impressive.  Basquiat, Walker, Picasso, Kahlo, Van Gogh and Rivera......Ain't. Got. Nothing.......

Rainbow Juice

3 Yellow Squash
3 Zucchini
1 carton of Strawberries
1 Apple
1/4 cup of Ginger

How gorgeous is this!

Doing it's own art.

I let the juice settle a bit.....

......and.......RAINBOW!

So it smells goods......

....and it looks good.....

...so it must taste good.  

So bangin'.

Red Juice

2 Oranges

5 Plum tomatoes

1 carton of Strawberries

2 Red Peppers

1 Nectarine

I should just frame this.

Oh Oh Oh :)

Living the Good Life!

Mental Status: Feeling less tired today but I know I should be feeling more energetic.  Again, I repeat my admonition to juicers------> Do not go to bed at all kinds of late hours consecutively.  When I do other types of fasts, like just raw fruits and veggies, and I sleep as I should, I'm feeling lively but I compromised this one quite a bit with my sleeping habits at the mo.  Even my G (grandma) was like, "you need to calm down with that".  Jamaican grandmothers are seriously the best.  I cannot keep a straight face whenever I am talking to that lady.  Jamaicans in general are also very direct people.  We tell it like it is, as it is, what it is......we just don't see the need to beat around the bush.    So in response to observing me on this interesting undertaking I was involving myself in, my G says to me, "You wilting down to nothing.  You getting too small, man.  You need to stop this now".  Mind you, I expected to lose some lbs, even with just being on the fast for a little more than half a week.  So she was noticing that but was also talking about the weight loss that results from just eating plants (I'm my high school weight) and addressed this in only the wonderful way she can.  I assured her that today was the last day and with that she responded.  "Mi so glad seh dis a di las day yuh a do dis yah fast business"....as she was shaking her head.  Translation = "I am so glad that today is the last day of this fasting thing you are doing."  I was cracking up, which made her crack up and that had us both cracking up.  Now you can see why I absolutely love this lady.

Physical Status:  My skin is looking great though.  I got that glow, man, I got that glow.  My stomach also feels very light and relaxed.  I do have to note that when drinking juices, you should drink them slowly.  Drinking them too quickly can lead to some indigestion, so take your time.

I had another smoothie after the juices of water, strawberries and banana.  I blended it until it was super smooth, making easy for digestion.  

Breaking the fast:  There are a lot of recommendations out there on how to break a fast properly.  This is actually really important because people can find themselves in the hospital if they decided that breaking the fast could only be done right with a nice sirloin steak.  Uh uh!  That's a no no, unless you like excruciating pain.  I mean I don't know.   Some folk might be about that masochist lifestyle.  I know I'm not, however, and you are probably not either.  But seriously...be cautious here.

I broke the fast with fresh fruits and a handful of nuts and later I had a pureed pumpkin and potato soup.  I was fine.  Since I eat plants all day and I had the two smoothies, I didn't have that much to work up to in terms of transiting back to my diet.  It may take a bit longer if I were working back to meat and dairy.  The next day I had some waffles with lots of fresh fruits and rice with tofu.  I didn't have any beans until Day Three or Four.  They say transitioning should be half the time of your fast, so mine was about two days.  

I hope you enjoyed following my juice fast and it gave you some inspiration and ideas of your own.  

Thank you for reading!  My people, I appreciate you all so much.  Be happy and healthy.  Ciao!

4 Day Juice Fast: Day Three

Wadup, my people!  

Forgive me that these posts are not following order in terms of being posted consecutively.  A girl's got places to go, people to see and mouths to feed.  I don't actually have children but I stay cooking and feeding folk.  I appreciate you much though, so here we go.

Today I had two juices again.  I started with a green and then had the orange.  These were fairly similar to the ones I had on the prior day.  

Green Juice

1 Cucumber
7-8 leaves of Lettuce
1/3 cup of Ginger
1/4 of Honeydew
2 Apples

All ingredients were juiced except for the lettuce, which was blended.

Orange Juice

1 Peach
1/3 of a Paw Paw (Papaya)
2 Apples
7-8 Carrots
2 tbsp of Ginger

I actually blended the paw paw this time and added it to the other juiced ingredients.

Perfection!

1 seconds after.  I know.  Just too excited. 

Mental Status: Feeling tired today.  Not what I was expecting but then again when you are conned into doing yard work as soon as you wake up and throughout the whole day on a stomach filled with juice, this may possibly be something that could be expected.   My mama likes to make sure my services are used thoroughly when I come home to visit.  The plight of offspring.  Haha.  

Also, as a note for anyone doing a fast ------> Do not go to bed at all kinds of late hours consecutively.  It counters the benefits for sure.  You will still benefit but not to the highest degree that you could, in my opinion.   I have to say I am doing the most right now as I have been "late nighting" it a little too much for my liking.  

Physical Status:  My mother commented on the brightness of my skin today so my juice fast is doing it's thing.  People usually describe seeing changes or effects of the fast by Day Three.  I'm so about that glow!! That's natural makeup right there.

I also had a smoothie later of water, blueberries and banana.  Technically, it's not a juice but I don't think it took away from any cleansing.  No biggie.

Come join me and get your juice fast on, my people!

Thank you for reading!  My people, I appreciate you all so much.  Be happy and healthy.  Ciao!

4 Day Juice Fast: Day Two

Sorry folk.  I'm a little slow on this updating thing.   But no worries, I'm back to "bidness".  So this post documents Day Two of my juice fast.  Super Easy.  

Okay, maybe not super easy but there's no stress about recipes.  I'm just throwing stuff in the juicer.  All plant life love each other so they can be together in every fashion and form, such as in my juice.  On another note, I was going to continue with the videos until I realized the torture I was putting people through having to watch the sadness that was the resolution of my video.  Videos might have to be postponed, my people, until that situation can be eradicated.  I just can't do you like that.  That ain't right.  


Green Juice

1/4  of a Honeydew Melon

1 Orange

7-8 leaves of Lettuce

1 Cucumber
1 Zucchini

2 cups of Pineapple

All ingredients were juiced except the lettuce which was blended.

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Orange Juice

1/3 of Paw Paw (Papaya)

9 Carrots

1/4 cup of Ginger

2 Apples

All ingredients were juiced.

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Looking like anime, no?  Cameras do some stuff.

Mental Status: Feeling awesome!  I'm all kinds of hype right now.  I've had energy all day and it's 2 AM and I feel like I could go for another 3 hours.  Not sure if that's due to adrenaline or my juicing but I'm definitely feeling lovely.  I'm holding up as well in terms of not feeling restricted, irritated or tempted to turn into Wolverine and claw folk up because I'm miserable doing this fast.  It's ALL mental so you really really have to prepare yourself in that way before you set out to do this.  If you come in knowing your are going to be thinking about food 24/7, it's probably not the best idea to start this right now.  I don't want you to go Wolverine on folk.  Not pretty. I like to focus on the fact that my body is benefitting from the fast with all my body's responses being a result of it doing what it is supposed to do at this time.  Helps a whole lot.  Trust me!

Physical Status:  My skin looks fine.  Slightly brighter but nothing drastic.  I think I dropped about a lb or two since Tuesday.  My stomach feels light and chill.  Good things so far.

Come join me and get your juice fast on, my people!

Thank you for reading!  My people, I appreciate you all so much.  Be happy and healthy.  Ciao!

4 Day Juice Fast: Day One

My people!  The juice fast has officially BEGUN!  Yessss!!!!!    

I started off the day with a semi-fast where I was simply drinking water during the morning.  It actually wasn't necessarily planned since it was due to me being so busy that  I couldn't get started but it worked out in helping me ease into the fast.  I know that seems like it makes no sense at all but it lessened my craving for any food and thus made way for my awesome juice fast.  

I used two slightly different green juice recipes for the first day.  The first recipes had SEVEN ingredients and the second one had FOUR.  They were both super simple combinations of various fruits and vegetables.  Listen, I need this fast thing to not be complicated or include anything that is going to stress my head as the aim of this whole thing is to go in the other direction.  Here are the ridiculously simple recipes that I tried today.

First Green Juice (7 things)

1 Orange
1 Apple
1/2 of a small head of lettuce (4 cups of chopped lettuce)
1 lemon (with the white rind peeled away)
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
6 stalks of celery
Roughly 2 cups of water or as much as would fill half of where the lettuce fills the blender.

The only portion I blended was the lettuce and the rest of the ingredients were juiced.  Both were mixed together afterwards and thoroughly enjoyed in one big glass of GREEN!

Bangin'!!!

Second Green Juice (4 things)

1/4 of a honeydew melon
1 yellow squash
5 stalks of celery
2 cups of pineapple

All of these ingredients were juiced.

It's ridiculously easy, let me show ya:

I soooooo need a new camera.  Pray for me! 

Mental Status: Okay! I'm feeling alright.  A little tired but it is kinda late right now, bout 2 o'clock.  No profound changes or anything.  That's all I can say for now.  From what I've seen and heard, an energy boost should come soon.  I will be as objective as possible and see what happens instead of expecting this to be the case.  I don't want my little experiment to be riddled with confirmation bias.  Nah, we're not about that.  Trying to promote truth over here. :)

Physical Status:  I know that I will definitely lose about 8 - 10 lbs.  This wasn't intentional but simply a consequence of drinking fresh raw juices and having your body focus more on cleaning out junk and healing you than storing energy.  When Spring Cleaning rolls around, stuff gets trashed and thrown out.  Your house is lighter.  It's the same with your body.

Come join me and get your juice fast on, my people!

Thank you for reading!  My people, I appreciate you all so much.  Be happy and healthy.  Ciao!