June 6th was my mom’s birthday, so Christopher and I drove to see her for a surprise visit and birthday meal! I did all of the cooking and we had a great time hanging out with my parents and their dogs.

My cheesecake from The Kind Diet...yum! My mom loves cheesecake and she actually loved this one too! She is a tough critic when it comes to tea and dessert

My mom had made the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups from my book and had a huge stash in her fridge that she makes without the chocolate  

Christopher dancing with mom's new rescue dog

Here’s the meal I made:

Lunch

• Quinoa with Basil and Pine Nuts (p. 224 in The Kind Diet)
• Warm Potato, Soybean, and Cucumber Salad (p. 178 in The Kind Diet)
• Sugar Snap Peas, Radishes, and Edamame with Lemon Butter (p. 167 in The Kind Diet)
• Arame Turnovers (p.260 in The Kind Diet)

Sugar snap peas, radishes, and edamame

This is a picture of me soaking the beats to get the dirt off...instead of running water, which is wasteful

Beet salad

Dinner

• Watercress, Beet, and Heirloom Tomato Salad (p. 173 in The Kind Diet)
  *For this salad, we soaked the beets in water to clean them. This is a great way to wash them and save water!
• Radicchio Pizza with Truffle Oil (p. 144 in The Kind Diet)
• Mixed Berry Cheesecake (pictured above; p. 192 in The Kind Diet)

The radicchio pizza

Me with my dad

Mom and Christopher picking lemons

My mom's birthday was really sweet and nice!

I just got an email from Olivia Wilde that made me sooo happy!  She is currently in Santa Fe working on the film Cowboys and Aliens... Here is what she wrote me:
 
"The catering chef on set here in Santa Fe has been using your book to cook for me...I've been hardcore vegan the whole time without having to compromise due to lack of food. For a snack today he made me your Fried Mochi. To die for. For dessert? Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups! Heaven. Sam Rockwell has been ordering what he calls the "vegan surprise" every day, along with many of the crew. So cool. Yesterday Jason the chef made your rice crispy treats!"

This makes me so happy I can't even stand it!!!!!
 
Laura Linney, who was my costar in Time Stands Still on Broadway, is doing the same thing on the set of her new show, The Big C. She is having the catering people make a whole section of vegan options, using recipes from my book!

I love these women!!!!!

Doug Evans (pictured below) is this super cool guy who I met when I was having dinner at Pure Food and Wine by myself. Doug came over to my table and asked if I would like to join him and his friend at their table. I was loving my date by myself, but he was so nice that I went and joined them for dessert. I’m happy that I did, because he’s a great guy who is doing great things in this world!

Organic Avenue is his place that specializes in raw and vegan essentials as well as detoxes and cleanses. Denise Mari is the founder and shepherd of the brand, and Doug is the CEO. The mission of Organic Avenue is to spread love. Love, Organic, Vegan, Experience. They spread the love by offering detox cleanses, superfoods, prepared raw meals, and yummy juices. And they hold organic workshops to help others transition to a sustainable lifestyle.

The store is super cute and a really great place to meet up with friends. It's got such a good vibe - the location on Suffolk street is called The Space of Love. The Space of Love was designed to be environmentally sustainable with bamboo flooring, non-toxic paint, and custom-built air and water purification systems. It's a beautiful place to be.

When I was in New York this winter and I felt like a little green juice, I would head over there and get my favorite juice, Green Love. Green Love has a bunch of stuff in it; kale, cucumber, spinach, romaine, Swiss chard, collard greens, apple, lemon, and parsley. I would go about a few time a week. It was wonderful to walk by Organic Avenue and pick up some Green Love whenever I wanted it. Especially cause the West Village store is so quaint and cute!

When I was in Shreveport shooting Butter (which I loved!!!), it was a challenge to find greens and vegetables, so I asked Doug if he could send me some delicious juice. It was definitely a desperate measure, but I was so happy to have some Green Love.. and the coconut water he sent me was a fantastic dessert treat. It felt so decadent, and I felt so spoiled...and I loved it.

Organic Avenue delivers all around New York City and for those outside of the New York area there is a website with various items that can be shipped to you.

I’m not into raw foods myself...as I tell the story in my book, I’ve kinda been there, done that (I’ll blog more about this in the future). Being macro/superhero works way better for me!! But I love what Doug is doing. And I love a green juice every once in a while, or even a few times a week! And coconut water is a dream luxury treat! I just want you to know that if you like a green juice, Organic Avenue has the best!  And if you like nice vibes, good people and a happy world, this is the place to go.

Thank you Doug, and thank you to the whole staff at Organic Avenue who are all so groovy and sweet, and play great music!

Growing dandelion is super cheap and is so good for you! Try it in summer salads or stir-fries! When you buy it from a farmer’s market or the store it costs something like $2, and it goes bad if you don’t eat it in a week. But when you grow it yourself, it grows constantly, like a weed. It doesn’t go bad in the ground, so there is no pressure to use it up, and you can get the exact amount you want. Plus it looks pretty and it is soooooo good for you!
 
If you haven’t eaten dandelion before, here are a couple of ways to try it:

• Put 4 or 5 leaves (chopped or cut in large pieces) into a salad
• Stir-fry it with other greens and serve warm

Have fun experimenting, and let me know if you invent any yummy new dandelion dishes along the way!

A few Sundays ago, when I was still in LA, we went to the farmer’s market. When we got home, we cleaned out the fridge – which means that the dogs got lots of stuff to eat! We composted some stuff, and ate the stuff that needed to be eaten. On Sunday, that was some cabbage, the leftover red onions from my garden, some leeks, a leftover tomato, and some of our farmer’s market finds, including a porcini mushroom (look how beautiful it is!). 

We had a great day  – we cleaned out the fridge, started to cook, took care of the dogs, listened to music...the whole clean out/cooking process took 2 hours. Not bad!

Here is what we made that day:

Nori Rolls -
I made a variation of the Toasted Nori Burritos recipe from my book (p. 219). Just FYI, you never have to roll them as fancy as they look in my book... I never actually roll them like that. Mine usually look like this...I make them quick and easy!

It’s more of a fold-over-and-grab! So on Sunday I made them with Green Olive Pate (you could also use whole olives and cut or rip them into little pieces), some of my big salad for the week (recipe below), some avocado from my tree, and my Tahini Dressing recipe from the book (pg. 263). It was so delicious!
 
You can also make the roll with all of the stuff I listed above, and add this cabbage dish that Christopher created. Very yum. Here’s how we make this Cabbage dish: take some cabbage, some leeks and some onions and saute it all in oil until al dente. Then squeeze in a little lemon and throw in some salt, pepper and balsamic vinegar.

Salad for the Week -
I always make a big salad to keep in the fridge for the week. This one came entirely from my garden. I picked Nasturiam flowers, purple Borage flowers, dandelion, kale, lettuce, chives and basil. It’s a bitter, but soooo healthy salad. I also put some radish in there, and threw in an avocado from our tree. I found some green beans in the fridge that needed to be used up, and put them in as well. My Tahini dressing goes great on this salad! I made a huge batch, and kept it in the fridge (without any sauce or dressing on it), and would just pull from it during the week when I was in the mood for salad.

Heirloom Tomatoes -
We got some Heirloom Tomatoes at the farmer’s market, so we just put some olive oil and basil from the garden on them, and added a bit of salt. Yum!!!! Seriously delicious...

French Mushrooms -  
This recipe is great to make for your meat loving friends! Christopher either makes it with Mataki or Porcini mushrooms. It’s fancy pants and delicious! And is great for flirts!!! Here is how we make it: heat some oil in a pan. Add the mushrooms (which ever kinds you want, we used Mataki the other day and Porcini most recently), and a healthy amount of Earth Balance butter (or any plant based butter substitute) it should feel like you are cooking French food...so it should be pretty oily and buttery...but don’t go crazy! Cover the pan for about 5 minutes on a medium to low flame. Uncover the pan, and add some more butter or oil if needed (those mushrooms like to stick to the pan). Then, add one clove of chopped garlic, a few shakes of organic, good quality shoyu, aka soy sauce, and a squeeze of grated ginger juice. Sprinkle on some salt, and sauté the mushrooms until they are soft and yummy. Then get it in ya!!!

I get so happy when Sunday rolls around because it's my farmers market day.  But while I was running around preparing to leave for Detroit to shoot Vamps (by the way thank you to Wendy Kirchoff, Claire and Cheryl Koots for the great restaurant suggestions in Detroit), I didn't feel like doing anything, and when I went to make breakfast for myself, I just didn't feel like it!!  So I had some almonds.  Oh my gosh, almonds can be so delicious!  They're like candy!  I have to be careful with almonds though because once I start I can't stop (I sound like my mother... she always says that about nuts!)!  But I had less than a cup, 'cause let's face it - too many almonds is no bueno.  Then I made a smoothie and put it in a bowl and I was eating it with a spoon. Breakfast dessert!!! Sooo not superhero but I was happy with it at that moment.  

I feel like sharing this with you all to show how delicious something so simple can be. Also, if you are having PMS or feeling naughty sometimes a smoothie can do the trick! So instead of reaching for ice cream next time or something else with nastier ingredients, reach for something much healthier like fruit! It makes me feel like I'm getting away with something naughty while not going too crazy!

Smoothies are easy and fun -  so I went on a hunt through my kitchen to find what ingredients we had lying around...and there wasn’t much. I looked in the freezer, and discovered some Beverly Hills Juice Club Sunflower ice cream! My husband must have bought a bunch. Beverly Hills Juice Club makes a sunflower seed or almond, dairy-free "ice-cream" in tubs – and it makes a great smoothie base. So I used that...I also used strawberries from our garden, a cinnamon stick (I love the crunch and flavor!), three drops of Stevia, and rice milk vanilla flavor (no sugar). And it was the best smoothie! Like I said before, definitely not superhero but it tasted great and served its purpose. I was left feeling a little tired and spacey which is perfectly fine for a lazy Sunday.

After my delicious smoothie, I felt I needed to balance myself out for the rest of the day, so for lunch I made a big soup using lots of ingredients from our garden.  We didn't have much food in the house so I just worked with what I had.  I started with celery and leek from our garden. The leek was so sweet and yummy.  Then I added the following:

• leftover kabocha
• frozen corn and peas
• some leftover onion
• a little garlic
• a little miso (both dark and lite)
• little organic shoyu (had a packet from M Cafe I wanted to use up)
• ginger juice squeezed from fresh ginger
• a little veg stock...I used a little cube

Along with some rice, that fed me for the rest of the day!  It completely balanced out the smoothie effects, and it made for a very happy Sunday. After some lunch we went on a walk with our dog The Pig (pictured), then I did some dancing to prep for Vamps... and did some other work - all thanks to the soup and rice that fueled me for the day!  

So, see how easy it is to throw some quick, tasty meals together using what little ingredients you have sitting around the kitchen or garden!  What meals do you throw together like this?  

PS – This got me wondering...why are too many nuts no bueno? Let’s see...they throw the body out of balance. For me, personally, I notice that they make my skin break out if I have too many of them. They are great, and an important part of my superhero diet when they are used as flavoring tools, but when I make them the main attraction (i.e., more than one cup), I usually notice some weird reaction. The thing about nuts is not that they are not in any way unhealthy, but the fat and calories can be problematic if eaten in excess.

Almonds have powerful cancer fighting compounds in them and are valuable to us in maintaining daily robust health, but it seems that if you eat more than a cup in a sitting, which is a lot, then the body struggles to assimilate the protein, fiber and fat in that volume. That would be true of all nuts, not just almonds. On the other hand, our digestion is made to handle nuts in any quantity, so feel free to enjoy them; the volume depends on our individual digestive capacity and ability to assimilate fats and protein.  

I remember back in my raw food days I ate so many nuts, and it kept me a bit chubbier than I like, and my skin was fully broken out all the time. Since nuts are calorically dense, they can keep us chubbier than we like to be...but they are an important source of fat and protein and so need to be enjoyed...you just have to figure their calories into your daily intake. If nuts make you break out, like me, well that could be one of 3 things: poor digestion of the protein, which turned to fat and discharged as pimples, or poor digestion of the fat – or if you have too many nuts in one sitting it could make for poor digestion of the fat AND protein. A sort of rule of thumb is to only have 12-15 almonds or other nuts in one sitting (but who can do that? once I start I can't stop! Yum!) and that can be daily, but that amount seems to go without reaction in people.

So except for my fun nut splurges...I try to use them as enhancers to dishes and as ingredients in a dish...that keeps me superhero. And I try not to dig my hands into the bag. But hey, every once in a while, you gotta do what you gotta do! So don't fear nuts. Just be wise about where they fit and how they feel to you!

Recently our hair designer on Vamps, John, brought in some treats from nearby Pinwheel Bakery...so mad at him for that!!! Anywho, they were all vegan, which was so sweet of him! The brownie and the ginger cookie were my favorites, and the peanut butter cookie was really good too.
 
If you live in the Detroit area and would like to sample these, you can go to Pinwheel Bakery in Ferndale:

Pinwheel Bakery
220 W. Nine Mile Road
Ferndale, Michigan 48220
phone: 248.398.8018
fax: 248.398.8016

Hours
Tuesday - Wednesday: 8 am - 6 pm
Thursday - Saturday: 8 am - 8 pm
Closed Sunday and Monday

Not everything from Pinwheel is vegan, so just be careful.  And since their vegan items are new, they haven’t added them to the online menu yet. But they feature five different varieties of vegan cookies per day: oatmeal raisin, oatmeal chocolate chip, oatmeal ginger date pecan, peanut butter, and ginger molasses. They also make vegan brownies, as well as lemon sugar and cocoa spice cookies. Just make sure that you specify that you want the vegan versions!

Thank you John!  And thank you Pinwheel!

Roger Doiron is the founding director of Kitchen Gardeners International (KGI), a non-profit devoted to promoting kitchen-gardening, home-cooking, and sustainable local food systems. He recently emailed me to give me a heads up about National Snack Food Month, a nasty marketing ploy by the Snack Food Association, whose members include companies like ConAgra, Fritolay, and ExxonMobil (apparently big oil permeates every industry, including food). Fortunately, Roger has the perfect antidote - World Kitchen Garden Day, happening this month on Sunday, August 22!

A tireless activist, Roger is perhaps best known for encouraging the Obamas to plant the White House Kitchen Garden on the South Lawn of the White House. Michelle Obama oversees the White House Kitchen Garden, with the help of local school children who help her to plant and grow food that is then donated to nearby homeless shelters. It's a great service to the homeless population in Washington, D.C., but perhaps more importantly, the White House Kitchen Garden educates the nation about sustainable food!
 
Here's what Roger has to say about World Kitchen Garden Day:

"Yes, it's hard to believe but we're apparently not eating enough potato chips, cookies and fluorescent orange cheese puffs, at least not according to the Snack Food Association (SFA) which has joined forces with the National Potato Promotion Board to address this national crisis. Their response: christening February as National Snack Food Month.
 
As advocates for healthy, sustainable and socially-just foods and gardens, we can't let this hijacking of the country's culinary calendar go unanswered. Although we won't be able to outspend the SFA and their 590 members...we can outdo them in terms of people-power, spirit and creativity with a food holiday of our own which is as local, healthy and sustainable as it gets.

World Kitchen Garden Day is an annual, decentralized celebration of food produced on a human-scale. It is recognized each year on the 4th Sunday of August.  It is an opportunity for people around the world to gather in their gardens with friends, family, and members of their local community to celebrate the multiple pleasures and benefits of home-grown and locally-grown foods. Please help us make this year's celebration of Kitchen Garden Day a success."

Here is how you can participate in Kitchen Garden Day:

• "Attend" the event on Facebook and invite your friends to do the same (5 minutes)
• Put your own Kitchen Garden Day marker on the global Meetup map (5 minutes) and use Meetup's tools to bring some like-minded people together in your area
• Share the event on your website, blog, or online calendar using text from this message and one of the graphics here. (10-15 minutes)
• Share this email broadly within your personal and professional networks (5 minutes)

What a great way to fight back against the purveyors of harmful foods! Thanks so much Roger for your dedication to such an important cause!

How do you plan to celebrate Kitchen Garden Day?

Yesterday on set I had the Kanten from my book and shared it with some of our Vamps people! My co-star Krysten had some and said, “This is heaven…it’s like dessert,” which made me laugh... and I said, “It is dessert!” Anywho, if you haven’t tried the Kanten from The Kind Diet (p. 281), try it! It’s a super fresh and very healthy superhero dessert.
 
It’s hot here in Detroit where we’re filming, and its super hot on set, so the Kanten was a nice treat. My assistant Megan tweaked the recipe from the book, using plums and blueberries instead of strawberries. You can use whatever fruit is in season near you!

Megan ended up making this dish again today because it was such a hit!  This is the one that’s in the picture – today she used mango (tropical I know, but she had some to use up from a gift basket...can't waste!), blackberry, and apricot.  Yum!!