Tomato Pie = Vegetable + Alchemy

Pizza Marinara...jucy and crisp!

In traditional historic Italian pizzerias many say there are only two types of pizza: Marguerita, with cheese and basil; and Marinara, without cheese adding basil and oregano.

Before you is a Marinara Pizza. The Vegetable is the Tomato.  The Alchemy is in the Development of outstanding flavor from one great ingredient handled well.  The tomatoes are in two styles: cooked in a simple sauce, spread on thin crust, then covered with slices of fresh ripe tomato.  A final sprinkle with basil and oregano and baking starts til crisp. 

Outstanding taste!  Easy to make and enjoy at home.
The Vegetable Alchemist.

Partnering Flavors

A simple combination of shaved radish and grated fresh Parmesan does well to balance fresh cut kale tossed with a touch of salt, fresh ground pepper with a bit of lemon and olive oil.  The croutons actually add texture and round out the dish.  A keeper of a recipe for sure!  The Vegetable Alchemist.

CARROTS!

four to five inch carrot pieces of tasty fun

To cook or prepare food is a routine that a lot of us looked forward to doing each day.  It's a way of creating something cool and fun, flavorful and tasty that gives you lusty memories all day.  On occasion depending on how good you do it, it is almost as memorable as sex!  So not cooking you lose you a lot of memorable fun time that you could be having when you are not having or in the mood for sex.  Just a thought.

These carrots are slightly past raw, slightly past no fat, but completely high in flavors that will get you smilin' and on to doing it again and again....doing it over and over again will get you good at this charring technique.

Start with peeling and cutting a bunch of your favorite carrots in half.  Then cut the halves in half and then into four to five inch pieces. Grate a teaspoon of lemon peel and set aside.  Take out a cast iron pan and set up some kind of quick steamer.  Bring the steamer to boil.  Heat the cast iron pan to medium heat.  Have a bowl stand by with a few drops of oil.  Have some sea salt at hand and fresh pepper on hand if you have a frig stocked like mine, a little homemade or great store bought soft ricotta is a plus for a side garnish dipper.

Steam the carrots.  Toss them into the boil with the oil then quickly spread them to char in the cast iron skillet.  Turn the heat up slightly and in two to three minutes char the pieces, removing them as they char on one side to the bowl.  When all are done, toss in the lemon peel, a few pinches of seasoning and plate.  Offer the ricotta on the side and a sprinkle or two of chopped cashews or hazelnuts doesn't hurt either!

The first time you do these don't make the mistake that I did and only do three of four carrots.  Because they are so tasty, you will find yourself making a meal of them!  Good to do for a group with a glass of Prosecco around as you show and cook!  Charred carrots rock fun memories!  The Vegetable Alchemist.

Compounding Kale

Quinoa, Chickpea and Softened Kale

Two days ago we talked adding a touch of lemon juice and sea salt to chopped, stemmed kale and working it with your hands to soften and sweeten the texture and flavor.  In this dish I simply compounded that bowl of kale with drained and rinse chickpeas, and equal parts of cooked quinoa with some spices like smoked paprika, basil and pinch of cinnamon.  The addition of drizzles of olive oil smoothed out the flavor.  Good thing about this dish is that you will have NO leftovers!  The Vegetable Alchemist.

Work, Life and Fashionable Food

mixed cabbage, cauliflower, gr.onions, soft wrap

When it comes down to it, The Quest of the last ten days to drop 15 lbs of unneeded weight based on enjoyable nutrient dense plant centric recipes has opened a lot of new doors for me.  And now I am thinking of how to make this into an enterprise of entrepreneurial merit. 

Looking at what makes food cravably delicious I find it starts with this pre-vision of eating something with a concept in mind when you know you want to eat.  For me, that begins with one bubble of items that are inseparable: the look, the taste, the nutritionally dense and monetary value.  This one bubble makes the rest of the work pale.  It is the ease of executing that one bubble of items that can send me in motion to make the dish, find and buy the dish or have a friend do one of the same.

fold or wrap it up!

 Here: a lightly braised red chili cauliflower with onion rolled into a gluten free soft bread wrap.  This was a 25 minute bit of work, that makes my life rock and has a smart body sense to it of fashionable food, pleasure and sensuous taste.  The Vegetable Alchemist.

Kale Redux

cut leaves of curly kale

softened kale hand rubbed with lemon and salt

Depending on the variety, some kale are stronger than others in flavor and leaf.  One easy way to soften the taste of a stronger type is to remove the strong stems and mix the leafy green with a touch of lemon juice and pinch of sea salt. Toss and work the leaves in your hands for 4 or 5 minutes or until leaves wilt and the volume decreases almost by half.  This techni ue turns bitter flavors to sweet!  Use the resulting greens as an addition to anything from salads, sandwich additions and slaw. 

In this case a cabbage kale slaw with bacon and thyme.  The Vegetable Alchemist.

kale and cabbage bacon slaw

The Art of Transformation

tasty curried shredded cabbage, greens and broccoli

Changing Habits can be challenging, in fact difficult.  A week ago I put out 'The Quest', to make changes to my work out schedule, and form a new consistent method to how and what I eat.  The goal is to focus on a height to weight ratio of 5'10" and 170 lbs, 27 lbs less than a week ago.  To be clear, I was not looking for a diet but to test my idea of a new Cell Cuisine shaped out of Vegetable Alchemy that would offer more flexibility, much more energy, less stress on the body skeletal and organ structure and because of all of it, a more sustainable and longer approach to living, as each of our bodies is our own eco-system. 

As of yesterday, 5 days into the project, on a comfortable tasty plant based menu which I posted daily my weight has gone from 198.9 lbs to 191.1.  My hope is to drop to 189 by Monday, a decent start and with no regrets.

curry rubbed pork chop adds to the salad

What I gleaned in the first week I want to share.  When I stepped on the scale yesterday, my mind kept pleading, 'please be more loss that 197 lbs.!'  I literally could not see that much discernible difference in losing the first  8 lbs!  Second, I realize how much stress a poor body to mass index has on the organs and skeletal structure as running, swimming, biking or any other details, even simple everyday walking carry weight past my needs. 

But more importantly what I have found is that I have learned a fantastic amount of information about my body and how what I eat effects my moods, my flexibility, my daily work and in effect my relationships.  I am in the midst of a complete positive physical transformation. In short, I simple feel noticeably healthier.  So on to phase two.  My goal is not gaunt, straggly skin and clothes that do not fit, but a decent looking body that likes to enjoy life to the fullest and learn a lot more about living on the way.  The Vegetable Alchemist.