40 Plant Foods Challenge

I decided to take it on!

The 40 Plant Foods Challenge was hosted by happyhealthymama, which is a bog I regularly read. In THIS post she talked about how we all need variety in our diets to "cover all the bases" of nutrition. According to happyhealthymama's research (which I trust), anything above 30 different plant foods in a week is considered excellent variety. So if one could get to 40 they would be doing beyond excellent! 

The reason that this challenge is focused on plant foods is because, though animal products play an important nutritional role as well, plant foods are very nutrient dense and are crucial for getting all of the nutrients are bodies need in order to thrive. 

My plan with taking part in this challenge was to eat as normal as possible. I didn't want to squeeze things in that I wouldn't have eaten otherwise, because I wanted to see if I was on track already or if I needed to change something.

Here is my list

There were definitely some exceptions in this week though. Such as beets. I wish I could say I ate more beets, but it really isn't something I regularly have. Heike (the woman I nanny for) made me a juice with beets in it! Speaking of work, I do have a little advantage because Heike often has some different produce than I have. So I don't have to buy little bits of this and little bits of  that in order to get a wide variety. I've also never had a white apricot until this past week (I got them at Trader Joes!), and jalapenos are extremely rare for me. So there were a few things that I wouldn't have on almost any other week, but there are also foods, such as other beans/lentils, melons, and other berries, that I didn't have this past week that I do have other weeks. So I figure it balances out for the most part. 

You also may have noticed that I put "Spring mix" on the list, which is a variety of greens. This was something prepared for me at work and I didn't feel like digging the package out of the garbage to list all of the specific greens. Are you disappointed with my lack of dedication?

I was definitely happy with the end result, and I hope that this is a good representation of my regular diet. The fruits and veggies I eat change according to what's in season, but I think it just changes what is included in my variety and doesn't change the fact that I have variety. Maybe I'll have to do this again in the Winter to be sure!

I hope you're encouraged to eat as many plants as possible, and if you're interested in taking on the challenge you can check out the links I put in the beginning of the post for more information about "rules", or you can also ask me questions, or ask me to join you : ) 

Tomato Basil Mozzarella on EVERYTHING!

I am as close to obsessed with this combination as I ever want to be with a food combo. Put it on pizza, sandwiches, salads, crepes, English muffins, and so on, and so on. I've been eating this way more than bananas and peanut butter : O

Despite this not being particularly German, it all started in Germany.

I'd say that this sandwich started the whole obsession, but that wouldn't be true. This was approximately the 5th out of 6 - 7 of  these sandwiches that I ate in Germany. There are bakeries all over the place and almost all of them sell sandwiches with meat/cheese or tomato-basil (sometimes pesto)-mozzarella. These bakery sandwiches are not only really delicious - they are cheap! It's not that I had never heard of this combo, but I didn't have it often. I also was never too excited by it because I am not a tomato fan. However, on this trip I discovered the beauty of tomatoes when eaten in this way. 

Here are two ways I've enjoyed this combination since coming home.

Threw down some fresh mozzarella on a toasted English muffin with tomato, basil, and herbs de Provence. Fresh basil is SO good (And I think I say that every time I smell it). 

After having a pizza similar to this in Germany I was craving it at home.

Mozzarella slices, basil leaves, tomato slices, light drizzles of olive oil before and after cooking. Why did I drizzle olive oil before and after? Not really sure. Seemed like a good idea and I wouldn't change anything about this pizza, so maybe you should do it that way too.

TIP: Salting each tomato right before serving really enhances the flavor. Don't skip this silly step!

In addition to these two items I also made a crepe filling with sauteed spinach, basil, tomato, and herbs de Provence, which I put on top of mozzarella which was laid on my crepe. 

AND I went to have lunch with Marshall one day, and what did I bring? A spinach salad with.....nevermind. If you can't figure out what I put in my salad just ask me. I'll give you a hint: When I took my last bite Marshall looked at me and said "Did you just eat what I think you ate?", and began to talk to Olivier about how I couldn't stop eating this particular combination of food that I don't want to mention because maybe you won't figure out what I ate on my salad if I don't tell you.

What can I say? I'm ALMOST obsessed. 

An Abnormal Exciting Weekend

I said in my last menu that I didn't have a weekend plan, so here's a bit of what we ate and did this weekend.

Look who came to visit! Can you see him? He's in the mirror. 

It's Alex!

If you have ever spent time in Atlanta you may know that when it rains it POURS! This picture was taken during one of those rains. We could barely see at all so we stopped in a parking lot. Rain is a serious thing here! I wouldn't recommend living here without having either rain boots or a car. I chose rain boots : )

When we found out Alex was coming we were planning to grill, but the humid nineties kept us inside for dinner. 

We had THESE burgers.

So I made the burgers pictured above on the stove-top, but they were still delicious! Huge burgers though....they should have been a little smaller. Oh well! They are Mexican spiced pork burgers with cheese, shrimp (yes, shrimp on the burger), and a paprika-lime mayo. A lot of ingredients but not a lot of work.

On Saturday we went out for lunch to a place called La Fonda. 

I had tilapia tacos. I've had these before at this place and they are quite good. Marshall and Alex had beef burritos that they said were good, but not great. I recommend going here for the fish tacos or the paella if you're ever in Atlanta. Alex excitedly found the horchata (sweetened cinnamon rice milk) on the menu and I decided to join them in their enjoyment of this drink. A tidbit sweet for me, but so tasty!

We had a great time this weekend with our unexpected guest! After bowling, Sublime Donuts, Settlers of Catan, and my first time seeing Frozen, I feel ready for the week ahead! And I'm only working half of this week, so I hope to adventure into some German cooking soon. 

Stay tuned!

German and Danish Food

I'd like to introduce you to some of the delicious food we ate in Germany and Denmark. These are the dishes that stood out the most.

Weisswurst, pretzels, and beer

I've had weisswurst in the U.S. before and it's okay, but it was very good in Munich! And I failed to get this part in the picture, but there's a really tasty sweet mustard to have with both the sausage and pretzel. And a little side note about this meal - it was breakfast! It's traditional so we did it one time. Only in Bavaria....

Schweinshaxe

This is crispy pork knuckle. The inside was tender and juicy and the outside was crunchy. Surprisingly, Marshall didn't like this as much as I did.

Kaiserschmarrn

This was hands down my favorite thing I ate during our whole trip! It's difficult to explain, but kind of like really thick crepe dough all chopped up and cooked with cinnamon, sugar, raisins, and slivered almonds. It was served with an apple compote to dip in. This was so good that I ate until it was no longer possible. I will be trying hard to replicate this over the Summer! And a note about this meal - It's a lunch, not breakfast. Those Bavarians have their meals all flip flopped

Yummy sandwich (I have no idea what this was called)

We had this in Copenhagen. It had roasted pork, red cabbage, sliced apples, pickles, a mild but tasty sauce (I think it was mayo with a couple things added), and really crunchy pieces of pork fat. The bread was a little bit crunchy on the outside and nice and soft on the inside. PLUS, it was served on a slate plate!

This is obviously just a glimpse since we were gone for two weeks, but you're definitely looking at some of the best food we ate! 

Key word - SOME. 

Food is such a pleasure : )

Menu

Monday - tuna steaks with mango salsa, millet with kalamata olives and fresh basil, spinach salad -- Tuna steaks are a splurge even with them being on sale, but when I came across wild tuna steaks I couldn't pass them up!

Tuesday - mancakes -- Marshall's making dinner!

Wednesday - twice baked mashed potato muffins, brats

Thursday - apple maple turkey burgers with maple mayo and bacon (I'm putting strips of bacon on top instead of bacon bits in the burger), roasted carrots - these are quite yummy! (I meant the burgers but so are the carrots)


I don't have the weekend plans established yet. Mostly because I am going to the market tomorrow and I want the freedom to pick and choose a bit instead of only shopping according to a list! Yay for the market!

First Menu After Germany

After two weeks of not cooking I am SO ready to get back in my kitchen! Actually, I missed cooking so much that Marshall and I made dinner for the family we stayed with in Copenhagen on our last night there : ) However, I am so glad that I made a pizza before leaving for the trip so that I don't have to cook today, and we are having dinner at a friend's place tomorrow. It's nice to not have to think about dinner while I'm unpacking, doing laundry, and getting ready for normal life again.

Eating all of the "once in a whiles", which is my new term for all of the traditional dishes that Germans would actually only eat now and then but we had to eat every day to fit them into our two weeks, was certainly delicious, but I am ready to get back to our normal way of eating. Not to say nothing was healthy but, put simply, we ate far less produce, more meat, and more sugar. Though I look forward to finding recipes for and trying my hand at making some of the German dishes we had, for now I'm mostly sticking with simple.

Wednesday - kalamata olive pizza from the freezer (as mentioned earlier)

Thursday - whatever our friend prepares -- It's such a blessing to have a meal prepared for you!

Friday - cheeseburgers (no buns), roasted carrots, and boiled potatoes

Saturday - tomato-basil-mozzarella pizza

Sunday - pierogies, kielbasa, and roasted Brussels sprouts

Here's a little sneak peak from our trip 

Marshall, Lothar, and myself at a castle

 Full view of the castle from the previous picture

 Cappuccino and apple strudel 

Schweinshaxe

Changing of the guard at the royal palace in Copenhagen