Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Fall Detox







Are you feeling sluggish most of the time? 
Do you have problems digesting food? 
Is your skin a mess?

All of these are symptoms of the toxins we put into our bodies every day, from the food we eat, to the skin products we use, to the air we breathe.




Join my Fall Detox Program today!

Detoxification, if done correctly, can bring you:
· An Increase in Energy
· An Increase in Concentration and Clarity
· A Decrease in Digestive Problems
· Clearer Skin
· An Improvement in Vision
· A Reduction of Aches and Pains
· A Reduction or Elimination of Food Cravings
· An Improvement in Sleep Patterns
· A Jump-Start to Weight Loss
· And Can Help Bring About an Improvement in Overall Health & Wellness

You can choose the cleanse program that is right for you:1-7 Day Cleanse. This cleanse is great for first-timers or those needed a quick tune-up. You choose the number of days that match your goals. Even one day helps to detoxify the body. $39.99

1-Week Cleanse. The moderate cleanse is great to do four times a year, corresponding with the change in seasons. Each day focuses on detoxifying different organs to give a more comprehensive body detox. $49.99

5-Week Cleanse. This thorough cleanse is only for those who can dedicate the time (and will power) to eliminate the toxins built up over years of neglect. Even first-timers can easily follow this plan which slowly takes you off of a toxic diet into the deep cleansing portion, then leads you back into a more balanced diet routine. $199.99

Not Sure? Reserve your seat at the "Cleanse Kick-off" meeting for $20 and have that applied to your program of choice, once you better understand the options. 

Choose whichever program suits your needs and health goals. I will be running the detox programs with my colleague Karen Yagnesak CHHC, AADP. We will provide you with a complete detoxification program, recipes, personal and group support.


If you live in Northern NJ, join us at the kick-off meeting on Saturday, September 18th at 12:00 pm at the Bloomfield Wellness Center in Bloomfield, NJ. 


If you don't live locally, you can join us by teleconference at 2:00 pm EST. Space is very limited, so sign up today!


For more information or to sign up
Email me at dianne@diannewenz.com
or visit Bloomfield Wellness



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Monday, August 30, 2010

For the Animals Sanctuary

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I started a group called Montclair Vegans on Meetup.com. We started our meetups out this weekend with two events: a potluck at my house, and visit to For the Animals Sanctuary in Blairstown, NJ.

The potluck was a lot of fun. I was worried about a lot of people fitting into my house, but it worked out well and everyone seemed to have a good time. I made another chocolate raspberry tart and it was a big hit! Everyone made really tasty dishes and I really enjoyed meeting the members of the group. I'm really looking forward to the next potluck!

The visit to For the Animals Sanctuary was also a lot of fun. The animals that live at the sanctuary are all rescues from the food farming trade. It's always great to see animals living the way they are supposed to: well loved and carefree in a field chewing on grass and hay. The animals are very sweet and friendly and I loved spending time with them. I highly recommend visiting the sanctuary if you are in the area. It's well worth the trip!

Pippen is the big black and white goat.










Boo Boo






Hope has a dislocated hip. Everyone's hoping she pulls through.


Kevina


Herbie


Mandy



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Friday, August 27, 2010

Kale and Quinoa


It's really rare that kale enters my house and doesn't get made into chips these days. But somehow I had a bunch in the fridge that wasn't chipped and was ready to be sautéed instead. I cooked it with summer squash, peppers, chickpeas and cashews and served it over quinoa.

Lately I haven't been making as many raw dishes as I was when summer first started. Instead I've been making light and easy cooked dishes with things like zucchini, peppers and chickpeas. I have been making a lot of kale chips, raw sandwiches and salads lately, and since I've eaten them many times before they haven't seemed worth blogging about. However, I just bought Ani's Raw Food Essentials, and I'm really looking forward to digging in and trying new recipes! Stay tuned...

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Thursday, August 26, 2010

Polenta with Beans and Zucchini


This is another quick and easy meal that's nice and light, which makes it perfect for a busy summer weeknight. Lately quite a few of my meals have featured peppers, summer squash and zucchini. I've been buying most of my produce at the farmers' market, and peppers, summer squash and zucchini are in season here in NJ. As I've said before, eating locally and supporting area farmers is both good for you and good for your local economy. Your food hasn't traveled hundreds of miles to get to you and you're eating the food nature intended for you to eat.

For this dish, I sliced up a tube of premade polenta and then cut the slices into wedges. I pan fried the pieces in a tiny bit of oil until they were crispy. In another pan I cooked together zucchini, shallots, peppers and cannellini beans. After it was all cooked, I sprinkled a little bit of hot sauce over everything. Delicious!





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Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Pasta with Artichokes and Arugula


This is a recipe from the September is Vegetarian Times. I think it appealed to me because it's very similar to one of my favorite go to dishes, which is pasta with greens, sun-dried tomatoes and chickpeas. 

The recipe called for papparedelle pasta, which doesn't seem to come gluten-free. Instead I bought fusilli pastas, which always reminds me of Jerry Seinfeld. The recipe also called for arugula, sun-dried tomatoes and artichoke hearts. I added chickpeas and olives, because everything tastes better with chickpeas, and I seem to have developed a slight olive addiction. 

This was a nice light summer dish, and it was quick and easy to make. It's the perfect meal for a busy weeknight! 



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Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Zucchini, Tomato and Eggplant Casserole

This dish is a new version of the Zucchini Tomato Gratin I made a few months ago. It's been a unseasonably good and rainy here in NJ and I felt the need to make some comfort food. I had a cute little eggplant, some pretty green heirloom tomatoes and an interesting looking flying saucer squash. I sliced everything up, layered them in a casserole dish, covered everything with Daiya cheese and olives and baked it in the oven until the cheese was gooey and the veggies were soft. This meal was perfect for a cool rainy evening.















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Monday, August 23, 2010

Good Karma Cafe

There used to be a really great vegan restaurant in Red Bank, NJ called Down To Earth. Red Bank is about an hour south of here, so sometimes Dennis and I would drive down and spend the day there. We would have lunch at Down To Earth, walk around town, spend some time in antique shops, visit the water front, and then go back to Down To Earth for dinner. Sadly, they closed about three years ago and left both of us heartbroken and hungry. The owners put out a cookbook called You Won't Believe It's Vegan with many of the Down To Earth recipes, but making them myself in my own kitchen just isn't the same.



I was quite excited when I found out that Red Bank has a new vegan restaurant called Good Karma Cafe a few weeks ago. I was even more excited when my friend Jessica told me that it was the same owners as Down To Earth!

So on Friday evening, Dennis and I drove to Jessica's house and then headed over to Red Bank with her and her boyfriend Greg. They live close by and have eaten there several times already. The restaurant is tiny and we had to wait about 15 minutes for a table, but it was worth it!



To start, we had two orders of nachos - raw and "cooked". The waiter put the Queso and Nacho Chips in front of Greg and Dennis and the Live Nachos in front of Jessica and I, so the boys ate most of the Queso nachos and we ate most of the Live ones. The Queso dip tasted like nutritional yeast, which is good, because I love nutritional yeast!



The Live nachos were delicious. There was cashew sour cream, sunflower seed taco "meat", guacamole, lettuce and tomatoes. My only problem with this dish was that it wasn't larger!



I ordered a raw dish called Whole Lot of Love. I think they named it that to make ordering awkward. "What can I get you?" "Um, I'd like a Whole Lot of Love, please." I was a little disappointed in the size of the dish, but it was really good. It consisted of buckwheat flax bread, kale chips, sunflower cheese and shredded veggies. I just wish it had been bigger!



Dennis had the Barbeque Tempeh Wrap.



Greg had Live Lasagna.



Jessica had the Indian Plate. I had a piece of the tofu, which was soooo good!



Since I was still a little hungry, I decided I should have dessert too. I had the raw Mint Cacao cup. It was really filling and I wasn't able to finish it. Jessica and Greg had one too.



Dennis had the Tiramisu cup.

The food at Good Karma Cafe was delicious and it was well worth the drive. We had a great time and ate good food with amazing friends! Who can ask for more?


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Friday, August 20, 2010

Fall Detox

My Spring Detox was such a success that I will be running another detox program for fall! 




Did you drink one too many margaritas this summer? Are you feeling sluggish? Do you have problems digesting food? Is your skin a mess?


Detoxification, if done correctly, can bring you:




· An Increase in Energy




· An Increase in Concentration and Clarity




· A Decrease in Digestive Problems




· Clearer Skin




· An Improvement in Vision




· A Reduction of Aches and Pains




· A Reduction or Elimination of Food Cravings




· An Improvement in Sleep Patterns




· A Jump-Start to Weight Loss




· And Can Help Bring About an Improvement in Overall Health and Wellness


The Detox kickoff meeting will be on September 18th at the Bloomfield Wellness Center in Bloomfield, NJ. Details coming soon! If you're interested in signing up, please contact me at Dianne@DianneWenz.com or visit http://www.bloomfieldwellness.com/Events.html


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Thursday, August 19, 2010

Roasted Farmers' Market Veggies


Dennis and I missed the Montclair Farmers' Market last weekend because we were being lazy and didn't feel like going out. But fortunately there's another farmers' market a few towns in Nutley over that runs every other Sunday. It's small, but it's growing, and I think it will be larger and run every weekend next year. We were able to find all the produce we needed there, so the size didn't matter. What I really love about buying directly from the farmer is the different varieties that I never see in a grocery store. We found purple bell peppers, mini confetti eggplants, multicolored zucchini, orange tomatoes and round summer squash.



I wasn't sure what to do with all the veggies we bought, and somehow I decided to chop them all up and roast them. In retrospect, that wasn't the greatest idea, because it was super hot and the oven just made things hotter. But the veggies tasted amazing, so I guess it was worth it. I chopped up the eggplant, some peppers, zucchini, tomatoes and onion, drizzled them with olive oil and roasted them in the oven for about an hour on 400 degrees. I mixed in a can of navy beans and served them with brown rice pasta shells, and I sprinkled chopped olives on top. Yummy!




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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Raw Key Lime Pie




Yesterday was my coworker Kris's birthday. During a conversation once she mentioned that she really loves key lime pie, so I knew I had to make a raw version for her. I've made pie many times before and it's always been a big hit, even with people who don't usually like key lime pie. 

Raw key lime pie is super simple to make and is the perfect treat for a hot summer's day. The crust is made with macadamia nuts, shredded coconut and dates that have been ground in a food processor. The filling is made with avocados, key lime juice, agave nectar and coconut oil. Yes, there has been a lot of controversy over agave nectar lately, but I still think organic raw agave a good sweetener to use in moderation.

Kris was really surprised by the pie, and she really loved it. All of my coworkers loved in, in fact (why wouldn't they?) and they were all really surprised that it was made with avocado.




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Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Pasta with Zucchini and Tomatoes


Look at how gorgeous this heirloom tomato is! It almost seemed a shame to eat it - but I did anyway!





This dish was inspired by a recipe I saw in Vegetarian Times, although I didn't really follow the recipe at all. It's a simple summer dish. I realized that I've been eating pasta more since I've gone gluten-free than I did before, but that's probably because it's nice and light and doesn't require the stove to be turned on. 

For this dish, I shredded zucchini with a julianne peeler and diced a few heirloom tomatoes. I cooked them in a little olive oil for a few minutes and then added them to the cooked pasta along with some chopped olives and a little shredded Sheese. This was quite tasty and was a good use of all the tomatoes and zucchini that I picked up at the farmers' market.






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Monday, August 16, 2010

Cajun Cauliflower Hash


The September issue of Vegetarian Times has a lot of really good looking recipes, including an entire section devoted to cauliflower. My recent insect incident has led to a fear of cauliflower, but I decided to face my fears and make Cajun Cauliflower Hash. Instead of buying a head of cauliflower, I bought pre-cut organic cauliflower at Whole Foods. The precut packages cost a little more, but being able to see what's inside is worth the extra money to me. 

This is a simple recipe using spices, onion, garlic, cauliflower, frozen hash browns and chopped pepper. I deviated from the recipe a little and used red pepper instead of green and I added some chopped kale, because kale makes everything a little better. I also cooked the dish a little longer than the recipe called for because the potatoes seemed to need more time. 

This was a really good meal, and the cauliflower did taste pretty tasty. I guess I am over my fear of cauliflower now. I'll be buying more and making a few more of the recipes from Vegetarian Times soon.


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Friday, August 13, 2010

Green Pizza


This little pizza was inspired by the mini pizzas I made last week.  Once again, I used Mini Rustic Crusts. I wanted to use pesto sauce again.  I didn't have any basil or spinach, but I did have kale. I thought it would be interesting to give kale pesto a try, so I mixed the kale up with some olive oil, nutritional yeast, garlic and cashews. It tasted great, and kale pesto is a great way to get more kale into your diet! I topped the pizza with zucchini, green zebra tomatoes, olives, sun-dried tomatoes and Daiya cheese. It was delicious - even better than last week's! (Although Dennis once again said that the crust reminded him of frozen fish sticks.)

Kale is the most nutrient dense food there is, and his many health benefits, so it's good to have it in your diet on a regular basis. I like to sautée it with olive oil and garlic, but it's also great chopped up into kale slaw, dried into kale chips, blended into smoothies or even used raw in a salad in place of lettuce. 





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Thursday, August 12, 2010

California Pizza Kitchen



I'm not a big a fan of chain restaurants, but that's pretty much all there is in the area where I work. It was Vanessa's birthday on Monday, and we always go out to lunch to celebrate. We took her to California Pizza Kitchen. You'd think that there's be slim pickings for a (mostly) gluten-free vegan at a place called California Pizza Kitchen, and you'd be right! But that doesn't mean it's impossible to eat there. I had a grilled vegetable salad which consisted of lettuce, avocados, sun-dried tomatoes, grilled asparagus, corn and zucchini. It was really tasty. What I appreciate about California Pizza Kitchen is that they have vegetarian info and food allergy info for all of the dishes on on their website. With food allergies on the rise and vegetarianism and veganism becoming more popular, I think that more and more chains are doing this, which is a really great thing. If you can't find information on a restaurant's website, you can always call ahead and see if they have entrées you can eat. Most places will accommodate special dietary needs, so explain what you can and cannot eat. If they do not have something suitable on the menu, they might even make a special dish to suit your needs.




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Wednesday, August 11, 2010

White Chocolate Dark Chocolate Raspberry Tart

I saw this recipe on the Rawmazing website a few weeks ago and have been itching to make it. Monday was my coworker Vanessa's birthday, which was the perfect occasion! This was pretty easy to make - all you  need is a food processor and a blender. (A vitamix works wonders.)



First I made the crust of almonds and coconut oil in the food processor.



Then I made the white chocolate cashew base. I spread a little over the crust, then layered on the raspberries. 



Then I poured on the rest of the white chocolate base. Because I made it in the Vitamix, it was very smooth and creamy, but it was a little thick and it took a while to scrape it all out of the blender.



Then I made chocolate ganache and poured it over the top. I put the tart in the freezer while I was making the ganache, but I didn't give it enough time to set, so it I had to be careful not to mess up the base layer while spreading the ganache. 


It was incredibly delicious! It was so rich and creamy, that a small piece would satisfy the biggest sweet tooth. And it was a huge hit with my coworkers. Raw desserts are so amazing, it makes me wonder why anyone would want to turn the oven on!




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