Thai Spring Vegetable Soup

This is like Pho redux, thrown together to use up some Asian vegetables in the fridge, and more delicious than anything I have eaten... ever. I didn't measure anything because I knew not how delicious it would turn out to be.

Thai Spring Vegetable Soup

“Better than Bouillon” organic vegetable base
fresh garlic
fresh ginger root
soy sauce

sweet potato, peeled and cut in bite-sized chunks
baby bok choy
bean sprouts
yellow onion
celery

cilantro
Sriracha hot sauce
spring onions
fresh lime

Directions:
Heat water on the stove and add a small dollop of vegetable base, a splash of soy sauce and generous amounts of grated ginger and garlic.

Steam the sweet potato chunks

Sautee yellow onions, celery, bok choy and sprouts until tender but still a bit crisp. (I used butter).

To each serving bowl, add a handful of chopped scallions and cilantro, a squeeze of lime and a dash of seasoned rice vinegar. Pile in sauteed vegetables and sweet potatoes and pour broth over everything. Add Sriracha to taste. Die from happiness.

Day 7

3/5/10
GS: chard, spinach, parsley, 1 orange, 1 pear, 3 strawberries, hemp seeds, ginger
spoonful PB, few banana chips
few walnuts, kalamata olives, 1 cube candied ginger
mozzarella cheese and 1 spelt cracker
steamed brussel sprouts with EVOO. 1/4 cup homemade sauerkraut
“veggie pho”-- tofu, carrots, oyster mushrooms, snow peas, onion, bean sprouts, celery and bok choy in veggie broth
snacks at Harry’s: bagel chips, cashews and green olives

Day 6

Yesterday's smoothie: notes of creamsicle.

3/4/10
GS: chard, spinach, parsley, 1 orange, 1 apple, 1 strawberry, 1/2 avocado, hemp seeds
few pumpkin seeds
roasted asparagus and carrots with chopped almonds and lemon juice, mozzarella cubes, WW pita with EVOO, balsamic vinegar and grated garlic.
few banana chips and dried unsweetened coconut
tofu cubes with peanut sauce (PB, soy sauce, rice vinegar, Sriracha), spring green/herb and bell pepper salad with EVOO, lemon juice and balsamic
popcorn with butter, salt and 1 tsp sugar (x2, shared with Scott and James)

Day 5

I said there wouldn't be food porn, but I lied. Yesterday's lunch and log. I want to eat this. Again.

3/3/10

apple with PB

snow peas, Yukon potatoes, purple cabbage, onions and chopped almonds over brown rice with soy sauce, rice vinegar and lemon juice

few home dried banana chips

roasted edamame

few walnuts/Brazil nuts, 1 slice pepper jack cheese

2 egg scramble: broccoli, bell pepper, onion and mozzarella, spring greens and herb salad with EVOO, balsamic vinegar and lemon juice

1 strawberry, popcorn with butter and 1 tsp. sugar

Day 4

Here's yesterday's log. Let's do this for thirty days, yeah? A defined endpoint modifies the whole project from unmitigated obsessiveness to... mitigated obsessiveness.

Talented fictionist and chef extraordinaire Rachel from Waffle Songs created the amazing coleslaw from last night's dinner. I went back for seconds.

3/2/10
GS: kale, spinach, celery with leaves, 1 carrot, 1 mango, 1 pear
spoonful natural PB
few home dried banana chips
Huge pile of steamed broccoli and carrots, WW pasta with butter, garlic, onions and parmesan cheese.
Few Brazil nuts and almonds, few banana chips
Brazilian black beans with cilantro, purple/white cabbage coleslaw, orange wedges, few nuts

Day 3

Recent discovery: dry popcorn kernels microwaved in a Pyrex bowl make perfect popcorn without processed oil. Adding your own butter tastes better anyway.

3/1/10
GS: kale, spinach, pear, apple, blueberries, hemp seeds, ginger
1/2 Chipotle bowl: black beans, guacamole, corn, fresh tomato salsa, sauteed peppers and onions, romaine lettuce, cheese, sour cream
quinoa with sauteed peppers, onions and purple cabbage, pepper jack cheese
few walnuts, 1 ginger candy
roasted edemame
popcorn with butter, salt, 1 tsp. sugar

Sugar Bust- Days 1 & 2

Hello again, faithful readers.

It may look like I'm back, but in fact I never left. I have been here in Florida since my last post in August, composing poems, teaching writing to undergraduates, drinking green smoothies and laconically surfing the internet.

Now I'm clearing my throat in the blogosphere to report on a topic that promises to be completely uninteresting: food. Not gastronomy, not food porn, not slow food, just food that I eat. I'm determined to cut back on sugar and I'm looking to inject a little accountability into the effort by posting all meals and snacks here on Vegetable Mine at the end of each day. (This is not a diet and involves no calorie restriction whatsoever.)

So welcome back to my (b)log, where you may find nothing besides artless lists of food consumed. And thank you, silent reader, for your unwitting complicity in my quest to healthier living. Let my solipsism remain more symptomatic than my blood sugar!

Useful notes for interpreting the log:

- I am vegetarian, no longer vegan but mindful of the environmental cost of dairy and eggs.
- I do not aim to eliminate all sugar, only to severely limit processed sugars.
-"WW" will mean "whole wheat"
-"GS" will mean "green smoothie"
-"few" will mean a small amount, less than 1/4 cup
- bold text will represent a larger quantity of food, "a meal"

Enjoy! Or perhaps more accurately--Tolerate!

2/27/10
GS: kale, collards, spinach, parsley, pear, apple, hemp seeds, unsweetened cocoa powder and ginger root
few home dried banana chips, few pumpkin seeds
Vegetable/red lentil /garbanzo curry soup w/1 slice WW toast and 2 spelt crackers with avocado
1 cube candied ginger, two Doritos
Quinoa with stir-fried purple cabbage, soy sauce & sesame oil, steamed broccoli, baked beans
popcorn with butter, salt and 1 tsp. sugar

2/28/10
GS: kale, spinach, pear, apple, blueberries, hemp seeds, cinnamon
½ WW bagel with natural peanut butter, raw honey and Sriracha
1 spelt cracker with pepper jack, few kalamata olives
quinoa, steamed broccoli and sweet potato, 3 grape tomatoes, pepper jack cheese
1 ginger candy, few home dried banana chips
small bowl vegetable/red lentil /garbanzo curry soup, ½ avocado