Roasted Red Pepper Humus Wraps

One of my very favorites because it is so different from everything else we tend to eat regularly.


This is a very small 2.5-cup to the rim food processor.


First make your humus.
1 12oz can of garbanzo beans
1 roasted red pepper
1 tsp garlic
2 tbsp cilantro
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 pinch salt
1/4 tsp cumin
juice of one small lemon
1/4 cup of onions
1 tbsp veggie oil
1 tbsp tahini
1/2 tbsp jalapeno pepper

Blend all of these ingredients in a food processor until nearly creamy. You may need to add a splash of water if too thick.

Substitutions: If you don't have tahini sitting around you can eliminate the vegetable oil and tahini and replace it with 1tbsp of sesame oil. You can also replace the tahini with 2 tbsp of peanut butter.

For the wrap we used a whole wheat wrap and warmed it over the stove.

Mix together:
1 cup of lettuce
1/2 cup of cucumber
1 chopped tomato
2 tbsp red onions
5 chopped kalamata olives

Shmear the tortilla with a generous serving of humus, add your filling mixture. Wrap or Fold and eat!  I wrap mine as a like a burrito, Victor prefers his folded like a taco as in this photo.

Makes 4 of the 8 inch size tortillas and you will have half the humus left over for another meal or snack with crackers.

 

Tortilla Soup

This vegan soup is great, a little heat, big beans, super veggies. Thick and heavy, perfect for a cold winter night's dinner in January in Up North, Wisconsin, or pretty much anywhere I suppose!

Let's build our soup! Start with a 4 quart sauce pan

1 chopped small white onion
1 tsp chopped garlic

Saute these two ingredients until translucent, usually about 3 minutes, add:

8 cups water
6 oz can of V8 or tomato juice  (lowest sodium)
2 cubes of vegetable bouillon
1/2 cup barley
1 cup frozen lima beans
1/2 cup chopped Swiss chard
1/4 cup julienned carrots
1 tsp chopped jalapeno pepper
and any variety of veggies from the refrigerator
1 tortilla chopped small
1/4 tsp black pepper

Simmer for 30 minutes then add:

2 tsp rough chopped cilantro

Simmer another 5 minutes, then serve into bowls. Decorate each bowl (see photo above) with:

chopped green onion
chopped tortilla strips, baked til crispy

Enjoy! Makes plenty for left overs and this is one that gets better as it ages and the flavors blend.

Ingredient Notes: We had difficulty finding vegetable bouillon in our regular grocery stores but just this week found Rapunzel vegan no salt added vegetable bouillon at our local whole foods store, 8 cubes for $3.55. Look closely at salt content some of the other brands were as high as 42% daily recommended allowance per serving, about half a cube, compared to the Rapunzel at only 5%.

Healthy eating. What?

Most who know us, know that Victor is a long time chef and have shared meals with us at the Cafe Charlotte, Peninusula Yacht Club, Stanford or somewhere else along the line, over the years. It is an absolute dream living with a chef... All that cooking I don't have to do. Thank you so much Victor. On the one hand it is so very unfortunate that Cedaroma doesn't have a little restaurant, he loves to cook for people.

Sometime mid-Deccember I got this bug in my bonnet about changing my eating patterns. I was not getting any smaller, wasn't even trying. Over the last 10 years I have gained 35 lbs and I can't say that I have tried a diet since my 20's. I often think about foods and usually follow a "I shouldn't eat that" thought with a "there are lots of things I shouldn't eat, and tomorrow I will start changing" thought.

So, one of my FB friends is a vegan/health food guru and I tend to read much of what he posts. (I think he actually reads before he reposts something and only posts interesting and valid ideas) This particular day he posted one about a 21 day kick start vegan program after I had mentioned that it takes 21 days to develop or break a habit. So, I off I went to see what it was all about.  http://www.facebook.com/21DayKickstart.

I signed up that day, with little thought that it would actually happen as I am not the cook around here. A week later I mention it to Victor who sort of nods. Over the course of the next couple of days I share a tidbit daily that I have gleemed from the "get ready" emails 21Days was sending me. It is now December 30th and Victor asks me if I am still thinking about doing this vegan thing. Yeah, sure I guess, if you are... He will! So we don't start on the 1st, of course our fridge is full of meaty, cheesy, and creamy products. We eat through what we can for a few days and begin interspercing a vegan meal here and there. I have set myself to kind of ease into it for January and really start it in February.

By Saturday, January 4th, we had a vegan breakfast, vegan lunch and would you believe, vegan dinner. So I say stop screwing around and just do it. I announce myself as a vegan now to Victor so he knows what to start cooking for every day and haven't looked back since. Victor cooks only vegan at home. When we go out, he will order meat and he hasn't given up his cream for coffee, but he's with me most of the way on this.

I mention this all here because so many folks are calling out for the recipes for the courses that I am posting photos of. I can't keep up two blogs and facebook is not the place to post for recipes. I will blog here and blend it with the Cedaroma Blog. I hope you will follow along with us.

Saturday's lunch was a Thai soup with coconut milk, lemon grass
and a billion other delicious frech vegetables and interesting seasonings paired a cold potato salad.

Cold Feet

Seems my feet won't warm up... ever again. But we know this isn't true. Our first winter here is awesome. There are so many things that are new to us. Living on the shores of a frozen lake is one. Did you know that the ice groans? Different tones based on how cold it is. The snow here is different than Groveland snow too. The lightest flakes of stunning white. Sometimes you can't even see that it is snowing but for the accumlation on the ground. It billows with the wind too, like a bridal veil fall in Yosemite, whisping around. It's quite odd really.

The enormity of the color variations just by a matter of sunny vs. cloudy day. The extremes seem more so here than they did in California, and perhaps they are, or maybe the newness of so many things makes them appear more extreme. I don't know which answer is closer to right, but so far, we seem to like it.

This is one of my favorite bedroom views. This is from Cabin 5, the front room with views of the lake and grounds.

Sunny days are warmer, regardless of what the thermometer says!

There are a million ways to enjoy winter. Blowing snow with the John Deere is just one of them!

 

I call this my dancing tree.

Many winter days we keep a fire going. It is so homey. I like to have one in the evening too.

There we go, safe ice walking. I have two pairs of these, join us?

That's my proof. COLD!

Sunsets can be very colorful.

Over his belly. I bet his feet are cold!

Opening the package in Chicago

How we arrived at Cedaroma, part 3ish...

Arriving in Chicago, we successfully get the car stored away in the garage having traversed the labrynth of streets, high and low, that make up the busy downtown. After our hellos and hugs the first question is "So, what have you two been doing." and I, not Victor, reach into that closet, pull out the package of neatly wrapped properties and untie the knot that was to stay tight for 5 years. I picked out Cedaroma Lodge from the grouping and waxed on about how neat it was. That one small act started the dream of possibilities up again, no way to return to the back of the closet.

We continued our trek, not knowing when or if there would be an acceptance or counter offer and each day we were further from Wisconsin having headed South through the states of Indiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, then East to South Carolina and Victor's sister and her family. Here we spent 4 too warm nights on a too warm lake enjoying family duriing a too warm spell. But we love seeing Gary and Favs and always have a great time.