Tempeh is a fermented food and a heart-healthy bad-cholesterol-free food. It is a soy product, high in protein and you can find it at your local grocery store, usually sold in rectangular blocks.
Tempeh can be cubed, sliced, crumbled or roasted whole like a steak. It takes on the flavor of whatever you cook it with (spices, seasonings, sauces).
To cook: I simply cut the tempeh into thin slices and healthy-sauteed it in vegetable stock (no oil) with sliced button mushrooms. I added a little tamari and also a dash of brown rice vinegar, as well as a little black pepper. That’s it. Just taste as you cook until all the vegetable broth has cooked away and you are left with a deep, rich, thick flavor from the mushrooms, vegetable stock reduction and seasonings.
Lots of Kombucha Brooklyn (and I could do a whole post about how awesome they are!), collards, kale, chard, sprouts, raw food collard wrap (from Zia’s), cucumbers and celery for juicing… also a bottle of motto (sparkling matcha), strawberries etc..
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This Friday evening, a friend and I devoured an evening meal from Raouche (legit, family-owned, super delicious Lebanese food in Falls Church, VA..). Here a picture of the results of devastation:
Raouche Cafe
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So you may – or may not – ask.. What exactly do you do in the morning.. Well, thing is.. I love to cook. So, first thing I do, yes even in my bathrobe – is turn on the stove top and cook something… #SaturdayMorning. This happens to be authentic, whole-spices, black tea vegan chai – in coconut milk, with coconut sugar. (spices include cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, vanilla, etc..). DELICIOUS. Look at photos of me executing the process. Note: straining is required because of infusion of whole spices and loose leaf tea :)…
At Big Bear, I had the most legit espresso ever. The coffee was so deep, dark and delicious – yum yum yum! Then a storm was brewing… Good thing we were in Big Bear, because otherwise we would have been caught in the rain – a downpour.
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By the way, Big Bear Cafe has a nice outdoor patio in the summertime, awesome place to enjoy a coffee surrounded by foliage on days when it’s not raining!…
Big Bear Cafe
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When we got home (we dodged the rain, by chilling in Big Bear) a meal to satisfy tired bike bodies was prepared. Seriously though.. I put this together in a matter of seconds. NO JOKE. Get home, and 90 seconds later, – poof! – THIS:
Baba ghanoush and quinoa tabbouleh (gluten-free!). Both of these were prepackaged, that I bought at MOMs, all natural – no preservatives, etc.. Served with raw, dehydrated sunflower bread (from Lydia’s).
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And a little bit later, whenb night had fallen over Rosslyn, Virginia (were I live)…
…the fridge was still full of greens.
So I turned on some music…
…put my green juice hat on… and cut, cut, cut!
When green juicing: choose the perfect quantity of each vegetable (in general for green juice: 80% celery and cucumber, 20% dark leafy greens – in this case kale, collards, chard, etc..)
On Sunday I made health-promoting vegan burritos.. made with ezekiel sprouted grain tortillas (no flour, just sprouted grains!), sprouts (alliteratively substitute for spinach), and sauteed enokitake mushrooms + chard (in vegetable broth and tamari). #Vegan
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And… finally, when I woke up and was home again this (Monday) morning, I made a couple of foodthings before going to work.
CHAI:
I made chai this morning.. damn that looks like coffee! (almond milk, cinnamon, cardamon, cloves, black tea)
RAW COLLARD GREENS, TRI-COLOR QUINOA, WILD CHANTERELLE MUSHROOMS:
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Whoa! What a weekend! 🙂
What a lot of fun! A snapshot of good food 🙂
Germinated brown rice, boiled in vegetable stock, Turkish seasoning (has some sumac in it, which I love!), Bragg 24 herb seasoning, chili powder, and finished with olive oil. Fresh oregano.
Sweet potato fried with scallions in coconut oil. Pink salt, cajun seasoning, cayenne pepper, coconut sugar.
Oven roasted broccolini, carrots, apple, and rosemary with olive oil and Himalayan pink salt, and black pepper.
If you’re ever in the mood for a sexy place to relax and have tea (by yourself or with a lover!), SiTea Spice in the Takoma area of Washington DC is your place! It’s right by the Takoma metro stop on the red line (so you don’t have worry about parking).
At SiTea you’ll find a cosmopolitan living room style layout of couches and comfortable chairs. The color scheme is warm, the space feels sexy and the food/drink is refined. Wherever you’re from, you’ll feel at home at SiTea.
More than a tea shop, this places feels like a spiritual haven.
But, there’s no messing around when it comes to their tea. Quality, hand-blended, and seved to you with the utmost care and dedication (in a cast iron tea service with candle warmer)… You’ll revere these teas; they are amazing!
There are so many to choose from:
(You can find chai blends, herbals, ancient-functional healing-elixirs, greens, and blacks: over 75 blends to choose from!! And don’t worry coffee drinkers, there’s Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee here too!)
Yes, they have food. Samosas, chili, soups, vegan muffins and treats… A place where vegans will find food options. 😉
The owner’s family knows their spices. The spiced chai recipe (made with whole spices, not a pre-ground and pre-packaged chai mix) is their Grandmother’s.. They’ve been in the spice trade for generations, and the chai recipe is still a family secret! There are over 10 spiced chais to choose from and they are all made with almond milk (while soy and rice milks also available, you won’t find cow’s milk anywhere near this place. Vegan all the way!).
*Tip: If you’re in the mood for something out-of-this-world, ask for the “Love Potion #10“. I’m sure you’ll be feeling the Love and Appreciation when you indulge in this special treat!
Overall, this tea shop is a gem. With teas that are organic, natural and fairtrade, the focus of this tea shop is health, healing, and rejuvenation. I really recommend this place to you.
You can also buy their tea and spice blends online at: www.siteaspice.com
SiTea Spice
6902 4th St NW, Washington, DC
(202) 525-5386 http://www.siteaspice.com
Hours OPEN: Mon-Fri 12-8pm, Sat 11-8, Sun 11-6
(Tea shop has free WiFi and lots of power outlets!)
Brown rice, with a balancing Ayurvedic hot curry mix (cumin, ginger, fenugreek, fennel, yellow mustard, coriander, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper), sea salt, and oregano. This morning’s farmers’ market-fresh organic kale sautéed with water and a hand-squeeze of lemon juice, (removed from heat and lightly coated with) untoasted sesame oil, and cumin seed. Organic, fresh, simple, wholesome, satisfying, good. This is a GREAT meal.
Lima’s (Soft & Spicy) Mu tea (Peony, Parsleyroot, Thistle, Orangepeel, Liquorice, Cypress, Cinnamon, Hoelen, Peachstone, Ginger, Rehmannia, Cloves, Peony root, Ginseng, Coptis), spices (cloves, schezwan pepper, cardamom – steeped in hot water and sweetened with stevia), rice milk (infused with almond by blending with almond paste), cinnamon powder, raw silk lucuma (eggfruit) and a cinnamon stick. 🙂
Awesome. Vegan. Blog. 