Chinese Salad

Okay, I really don't know if this is a salad that the Chinese people would eat, or even if they eat and enjoy salad. But it uses some ingredients that are sometimes found in Chinese cooking (at least, the kind of Chinese foods that I've had here in America), and together they make a green salad that, so far, is my favorite. Here's what I put in it:

1 head red lettuce, chopped or shredded

1 bunch spinach (washed, stems removed, etc., etc.)

1 small head Napa cabbage (I found this to be young and tender and mild, with just the right amount of crunch), sliced thinly

1 package cherry or grape tomatoes

2 tomatoes, sliced for salad

1 or 2 carrots, peeled and shredded

1/4 to 1/2 head of cauliflower flowerettes

1/2 cup or so (not a lot) of purple cabbage, chopped small

Combine all those ingredients, and any others you like, and serve with a bit of ranch dressing and some Chinese noodles and slivered almonds sprinkled on top.

I just ate this for my mid-morning snack, but I ate it over the top of the leftover sweet-and-sour pork, brown rice, and sauteed vegetables. It was soo good.

For the sauteed vegetables, I put 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a heated pan, and sauteed the following until tender:

1 cup celery, sliced on the diagonal

1 cup onion, chopped

1 can bean sprouts, rinsed and drained

1 can mushrooms, drained

You may not like the mushrooms or the bean sprouts, so feel free to leave them out. You may like to try some other vegetables that I did not want to put in, such as bamboo shoots or water chestnuts.

Serve over a bed of brown rice, with sweet and sour pineapple pork on top, followed by the above salad.

I'm liking how I can eat a big mid-morning snack and it's okay. I mean, sure, I ate two pieces of toast and two eggs and a plum for breakfast. But that was three hours ago, and I was hungry for more than "six almonds" or "1/2 cup of cottage cheese" or some other ridiculously unsatisfying suggestion from some of the diet advice that I've read. The emphasis in the Lean and Free 2000 Plus book is on feeding our bodies, not starving them, and I really like that!

Cinnamon rolls

This morning I made these cinnamon rolls from Dana Thornock's Lean and Free 2000 Plus book. They are light and yummy, and I highly recommend trying them.

Ellen

Crockpot Bean Soup

I threw some things in the crockpot last night around 5 p.m., knowing that we would be hungry after our session at the temple. It turned out pretty good, so I thought I'd share the "recipe" on here.

In a crockpot combine:

2 quarts water

1 cup dry soup mix from the cannery

1 cup 12-bean soup mix (this is a combination of dry beans--pinto, red, kidney, black, lentils, black-eyed peas, Navy, split peas, etc.)

1 bay leaf

2 teaspoons chicken bouillon powder

1/2 large onion

2 huge carrots peeled and diced

2 ribs celery cut up

1/2 pound ground turkey, broken into pieces

Cook for 4 hours on high. Then add a can of corn (I included the liquid) and a can of stewed tomatoes, and salt and pepper to taste.

We ate it with toast and butter, and a big plum for dessert. It hit the spot for me.