Strawberry Surprise

Sunny days on the deck are a thing of the past in Duluth - at least during the last seven days of torrential rains. So it was fun to see these photos I had taken earlier this month of a delightful pureed strawberry surprise.  I had enjoyed sliced strawberries with balsamic vinegar prior to my need for pureed food, so when I recently heard of adding black pepper to that already delightful combination of flavors, I was fascinated to try it with pureed strawberries.  Definite Pzazz!  Be daring...be surprised....be bold with your life and flavors.  


Ingredients:
1 cup sliced strawberries
2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar (high quality)
   (add a bit more if desired)
freshly ground pepper


Preparation:
Puree  the strawberries, sugar, and balsamic vinegar in the blender.  Add freshly ground pepper to desired taste.  Don't be timid.  It really is delicious!


Nutrition:
Servings per recipe: 2                              
Serving Size: 1/4  cup                        
Calories: 42
Total Fat: 0 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 1  mg
Total Carbs: 10 g
Dietary Fiber:  4 g
Protein: 0

Mango Coconut Dessert

Have you heard of an ataulfo mango?  My friend, Christal, shared one with me a few weeks ago and I was delightfully surprised by the lack of fibrous texture in this delicate golden yellow mango that is about half the size of the typical mango.   The texture was smooth and almost buttery.  So I purchased one a few days ago and looking at it this afternoon, I realized it needed to be used..... promptly.  I love how a mango turns frothy when pureed.  I also love the white violets blooming in the wooded part of my yard this morning.  

Ataulfo mango 

Ingredients:
1 ataulfo mango                                                        
1/4 cup plain non-fat Fage yogurt
2 teaspoons unsweetened finely shredded coconut          






Preparation:  

Peel and slice the mango.  You should have about 3/4 cup slices.

Peeled ataulfo mango

Puree it with the Fage yogurt and coconut in the blender.  

Nutrition:
Servings per recipe: 1
Serving Size: About 1 cup
Calories: 140
Total Fat: 3 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 25 mg
Total Carbs:  24 g

Peeled and sliced ataulfo mango
                                       

Dietary Fiber: 3 g
Protein: 7

Cucumber Spinach Frothy

Salads say "summer is here", and indeed, the forecast is for 70 degrees again today, and I am desiring a salad. But salads pose a high risk of causing a digestive tract blockage for me, so I made the next best thing - a green frothy drink.  Previous summers, I have "juiced" raw green vegetables, which extracts the fiber from them, and the juices made peace with my digestive system quite easily. But making green smoothies with raw vegetables is a bit of a new experiment for me, and now available because I have a VitaMix.  While the smoothie includes highly pulverized/pureed fiber, and meets my gastroenterologist's guideline for my food (if it can squeeze through a tube of toothpaste, it is safe for me to eat),  it is not cooked, so I am curious to see if my system will tolerate it or not.  While I know it won't create a digestive tract blockage, it may just race through my system.  If you don't see anymore posts on this blog for smoothies with raw green vegetables, you'll know the answer to that question without my having to bore you with the gory details. 


Sitting on the sunny deck sipping this nutrient-rich frothy drink nourished my joy today and gave me a much needed taste of summer.   

Ingredients:
2 cups chopped cucumber (1/2 of a very large cuke)
1 cup loosely packed fresh baby spinach
1/2 cup water
lemon juice to taste

Preparation:   This is where the VitaMix really works wonders to sufficiently pulverize the vegetables so I don't need to worry about a possible digestive tract obstruction.    Put the cucumber, spinach, water, and lemon juice in the mighty VitaMix and process until it is frothy.  Sip in the sunshine, with clean, green gladness.


Nutrition:
Servings per recipe: 1
Serving Size: 1 3/4 cup            
Calories: 53
Total Fat: 0
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium:  32 mg
Total Carbs: 12 g
Dietary Fiber: 3
Protein: 3 g

Blueberry Mint Smoothie

Before Tom goes fishing each year, I make a ritual of cleaning out the freezer in anticipation of making room for a new batch of walleyes.  So this year when I was cleaning the freezer, I discovered two bags of organic blueberries and you would have thought I had won the lottery.  YeeHa!   I had struck it rich! At least rich in delectable, beautiful blueberries.  And today the temperature in Duluth was nearly 70 degrees, prompting me to make something refreshing.  Time to whip up something new. What did I have to compliment the taste of the blueberries?  Ah...the mint that is quickly growing in my herb garden would be perfect, along with some kefir. 


If you aren't familiar with kefir, it is a cultured milk drink, and a great source of probiotics.  Probiotics are helpful for digestion, as well as for the immune system.  My favorite brand of kefir is Nancy's Organic Low-fat Plain kefir.  This particular brand contains 13 live culture strains.  I don't tolerate normal milk products, but cultured milk products are entirely different. Like yogurt, the live cultures in kefir are helpful for digestion and I need all the help I can get.  


But as I sat on the deck in the warm sunshine sipping this delightful smoothie, I wasn't thinking about it's nutritional and digestive merits.  I was simply savoring the moment.  

Ingredients:
1 cup plain low-fat kefir  (or less if you like a thicker consistency)
1/2 cup frozen blueberries, thawed
About 6 -8 fresh mint leaves


Preparation:
Process it all together in a blender, making sure the blueberry skins and mint leaves are completely pulverized.


Nutrition:
Servings per recipe: 1
Serving Size: 1 1/4 cup
Calories: 180
Total Fat: 4 g
Cholesterol: 20 mg
Sodium: 151 mg
Total Carbs: 26 g
Dietary Fiber: 3 g
Protein: 11

The Carcinoid Cancer Foundation

First daffodil of 2012

I have one single daffodil blooming in my front garden today midst the fog and the 45 degree weather.  It signals hope and persistence to me, as it pokes its way through the brown downtrodden soil, appearing in its cheerful bright yellow.  The encouragement for how to live is apparent.   There are also peony stalks heralding the coming of full beautiful blooms several weeks from now.  Patience, persistence, and cheerfulness - attributes I need to cultivate further in my life. So many of life's challenges - cancer, finances, remodeling projects - provide opportunities for growth if I am open to them and trust the process for awakening, rather than for particular outcomes.    

In my quest for more insight into living well with my type of neuroendocrine tumor, I discovered another fabulous organization, the Carcinoid Cancer Foundation.

Emerging Peony

The website for the Carcinoid Cancer Foundation includes comprehensive and up-to-date information about the varieties of neuroendocrine tumors, as well as information about physicians who specialize in these types of tumors.  It also provides information about support groups, treatment, clinical trials, national conferences, and a wide variety of other resources. Access to professional presentations on this site has been a great source of education and intellectual invigoration for me. Ah, yes, hope, persistence, patience and cheerfulness  can be found in many and varied forms.

Hot Broccoli Tofu Dip

For supper tonight, I made cooked tofu and had also pureed broccoli and decided to throw it together because I was too lazy to wash two bowls.  Surprise, surprise. It was delicious! I sprinkled crushed baked tortilla chips on it to add some crunch, or could have scooped up the dip with the chips.   It was definitely ethnically confused : Mexican tortilla chips, East Indian curry and turmeric, and Asian soy sauce and tofu.  It could also be stuffed into a pita pocket bread, adding a mid-Eastern influence, too.  Does this snack qualify as "fusion cuisine"?  


Ingredients:
4 cups broccoli florets
1 cup water
1 pkg (12.3 oz) soft tofu
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons Kikoman reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons coconut oil


Preparation:
Drain/squeeze excess water from the tofu.  Mash it up with the seasonings and soy sauce, and let it sit for about 15 minutes to meld the flavors.  Heat the coconut oil over medium heat and add the tofu and cook it for about 15 - 20 minutes, stirring frequently.  I like the tofu to get almost crispy fried, but you can cook it to your heart's fancy.  Tofu is ready to eat without cooking, but the cooking process more thoroughly melds all of the flavors. While the tofu is cooking, put the broccoli and water in a 4-cup glass measuring container and microwave on high power until the broccoli is tender, which is about 10 minutes in my 1984 microwave.  (Don't laugh. My 27 year-old refrigerator still works, too.)   Puree with an immersion blender in the glass measuring cup.  Then stir in the tofu.  Adjust seasonings to match your mood.  Scoop it into a bowl and throw in a few crispy baked chips or similar to give it some crunch.  (The extra garnish is not included in the nutritional analysis.)  Or stuff it into a pita pocket before you stuff it in your mouth.

Nutrition:
Servings per recipe: 2
Serving Size: About 1 cup
Calories: 189
Total Fat: 9 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 309 mg
Total Carbs: 15 g
Dietary Fiber: 6 g
Protein: 14 g

Curried Carrot Soup

It was 49 degrees in Duluth on Saturday, but the cold wind from Lake Superior made it feel like 30 degrees, so it was soup day for me.  This recipe is a modification from one in The Soup Bible.  I replaced the olive oil with coconut oil, and reduced the amount of vegetable broth to make it creamier.  Yum!  Our daughter-in-love, Kiara, had some tonight and she also thought it was  scrumptious.  


But my brain's pleasure center really lit up when my friend, Tahirih, visited. She is a frequent "juicer" and feels wasteful if she throws out the fiber extracted by her juicing machine.  So she had cooked the mixture of fiber from carrots, tomatoes and I don't remember what else with some spices and then put it in her blender.  But it still had a grainy texture, so she wanted to try using my VitaMix to make it smoother.  Kudos to the VitaMix! It successfully transformed the grainy mixture into a creamy one. So we swirled a bit of that mixture into my curried carrot soup for a richer visual and taste experience.  


As a side note, a couple of weeks ago I had a complete lipid profile analysis, which showed that my consumption of coconut oil has not created any problems for me.  In fact, my HDL, LDL, total cholesterol and triglycerides were all improved since I started to use coconut oil and all are now within optimal range.  See my earlier post about coconut oil and why it is more easily digested by people with pancreatic insufficiency.    


Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon coconut oil
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
1 pound carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
3 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
dash of sea salt
sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper

Optional garnish:  goat yogurt, non-fat yogurt or fat-free feta cheese; parsley or cilantro
(not included in nutritional analysis)

Preparation:
To chop the onion, carrots, and ginger, I used the chopper attachment for my Cuisinart SmartStick and it performed the task quickly and clean up was easy.  Heat the oil in a saucepan and add curry powder, onion and ginger.  Cook until onion is soft.  Add carrots and cook, covered, for 20 minutes, stirring from time to time.  Pour in the broth and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 15 minutes or until carrots are tender.

Blend soup until smooth.  Return to the saucepan and gently reheat.  Stir in the lemon juice and season to taste.  Ladle into bowls and garnish with a swirl of yogurt or sprinkles of fat-free feta cheese and the parsley or cilantro.
 
Nutrition:
Servings per recipe: 4
Serving Size: 1 cup
Calories: 104
Total Fat: 4 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 187  mg
Total Carbs: 17 g
Dietary Fiber: 5 g
Protein: 2 g