Wintry Vegetarian Lunch with Springy Colors

It's been chilly in Los Angeles these last several weeks but this weekend we had some magical mid-day warmth which meant I could serve lunch on the patio for my very special guest, Adelaide.  It put me in a spring-y mood!

Was inspired by the fruits and vegetables I found plus my own cravings.  The avocados and raspberries were particularly wonderful so they started and ended the meal to be properly celebrated.  

Here's the menu put on my refrigerator so I didn't forget any of the elements at the last minute:

I started my year off with a five day Ayurvedic cleanse which entails eating pretty much only lentils, rice and some veggies, but instead of getting sick of these items I find myself addicted to them.  I love roasted veggies of all kinds and have made a million different roasted cauliflowers but I particularly love this one (from Food & Wine, of course -- Spicy Roasted Cauliflower), served over perfect Basmati Rice and Green Lentils (I just added a bit of cumin, turmeric and salt to them).   I didn't have time to swing by the store for cilantro and mint which would have taken the cauliflower up a notch but flat parsley did the cooling trick in a pinch.  Also, 2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes that the recipe calls for was too much for my guest. Perfect for me, but if you have a guest who doesn't like spicy, you should probably only do 1 teaspoon.  Also, I added the juice of an entire large lime over the entire dish for a little cooling as well.

Let's talk for a quick sec about rice.  I have had a history of screwing up rice, but this recipe is an absolute no fail at making exquisite perfectly textured rice. It's super duper easy.  Follow it exactly as it is written (scroll way down for the actual recipe). Guaranteed: Perfect Basmati Rice 

Found a new Roasted Squash Soup recipe from a new blog I discovered when searching for new squash soup recipes so wanted to give it a go and loved it.  Roasted Butternut Squash Soup.  How can you not love a blog called COOKIE & Kate? Kate is the chef and Cookie is her faithful dog who licks up kitchen debris.  This soup is lovely and quite easy. I will say it was a bit too sweet for me, but I'm very odd about sweetness of soups.  So I added the juice of one very large lime to it AND added one more little squeeze upon serving.  Don't do that unless you taste it first and happen to share my taste bud affliction.

This is how it looked on the plate when I served the salad and the Cauliflower/Lentil/Rice mixture.  This shot doesn't do it justice and I forgot to take a picture of the salad before I served it. It was gorgeous with all those colors!  Dark green, light green, white, deep red, deep orange, etc. 

Recipes for the other things I made, i.e., no link provided above:

• First Course -- Slice heirloom tomato and ripe avocado.  Sprinkle with good dose of lime juice a teensy bit (avocadoes give plenty of fat -- it's for the tomatoes) of extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkle of Maldon salt -- or some other delicious salt.
• Salad -- Arugula, butter lettuce, roasted squash (roasted in olive oil, salt -- and rosemary, if you have it, or whatever spice beckons you), pomegranate seeds, toasted pumpkin seeds, toasted almonds.  Dressing is just lemon or lime juice (i did a combo for this), olive oil and good salt.
• Dessert -- Good vanilla ice cream, homemade caramel sauce (will post this later in the week), fresh raspberries, toasted pecans.  Side of cookies.

All of these recipes are super duper easy.  Seriously no joke easy-peasy.  I need to post this over on the Lazy Woman blog because they are LAZY recipes but if you want to be superhero entertainer they come in handy too!  

So Buon Lazy Superhero Appetito to all!

Superheroes Fight Superbugs

My friend Gina recently told me the story of taking a Christmas cruise and being the only one in her party of 20 that did not succumb to the flu spreading through the ship. She took regular doses of Boiron Oscillococcinum Homeopathic Flu Medicine and drank Airborne instead of champagne at all her meals. This magical combo consistently has kept her healthy through flu seasons for years.

I had to confess that while both of those remedies used to work for me, they no longer do.   It appears that I get the flu once a year around this time of year. I'll never forget moving last year while hacking and running a fever.  Good times.

Well now I have something that will forever be on hand, particularly since it is most effective when taken at the onset of symptoms: Host Defense My Community

On New Year's Day when I umped onto my big bed with two friends who had spent the night on New Year's Eve and we were laughing hysterically, I suddenly got a sharp pain in my throat. That doesn't seem right, does it?  Sickness arrived at the peak of my joy!

It got worse over the course of the next couple days and started to move into my lungs on Sunday.  Luckily I had a conversation with a friend who is a doctor who commanded me to go out and get Host Defense My Community and start it right away.  I dutifully followed his orders as I was about to start my work week and couldn't afford to be sick. It immediately stopped the progress and as of 72 hours later my symptoms are gone.

I get that isn't a miraculous story, although it should be noted that this thing that's going around is taking people out for several days to 2 or 3 weeks, so I feel profoundly lucky. The miracle is that my friend started getting symptoms yesterday afternoon. I insisted she go out immediately and get it.  She was completely symptom free after taking a dose and having a good night's rest.  

So if you catch it late, give this a shot. As the doctor said, "It will at least shorten the duration of the illness."  And it absolutely did for me.

If you aren't sick and you like to have things like this on hand -- as every Superhero should -- in the event that a dose of cold & flu kryptonite tries to grab you by the throat and lung, get some of this.  My friend and I got ours at Whole Foods but you can get it many places online as well.

Here's to flying high all winter with healthy bodies and hearts!