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Week One, Day One

On Sunday evening, I made Bran Muffins - which would serve as our breakfast today and for most of the week. Lunch was a sandwich on bread from Semifreddi's, a local bakery, with hummus, tomatoes and cheese. Dinner was reheated food from the night before and consisted of daal (black lentils), potatoes stir-fried in chard, plain Strauss yogurt and wheat pita bread.

Total Cooking Time - 1.5 hours on Sunday

Recipes:

Bran Muffins (recipe courtesy a friend in Seattle)
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups wheat bran
1 cup buttermilk (I used yogurt and lemon instead)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raisins (I used dried figs instead)

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line
with paper muffin liners.
Mix together wheat bran and buttermilk; let stand for 10 minutes.
Beat together oil, egg, sugar and vanilla and add to buttermilk/bran
mixture. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir
flour mixture into buttermilk mixture, until just blended. Fold in raisins
and spoon batter into prepared muffin tins.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of
a muffin comes out clean. Cool and enjoy!

Variations
1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup oatmeal (with other things), large dried
cherries chopped in half

Black Daal
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups black lentils
1 chopped onion
1 chopped tomato
1 chopped chili
1/4 inch chopped ginger
2 chopped garlic pearls
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
salt to taste
three tablespoons milk
handful of chopped cilantro

If you have time, soak the lentils in water for at least a few hours. Cook the lentils on medium heat on the stove with onion, tomato, chili, ginger, garlic and turmeric. As the lentils are cooking, add in the milk and leave on stove on low heat until the lentils are well-cooked. Add salt and garnish with cilantro.

Potatoes and Chard
1 tablespoon mustard seed
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
3 potatoes
1 bunch chard (or spinach)
salt to taste

Chop potatoes and chard. Add oil to hot pan and roast the mustard seeds until they start to sputter. Add potatoes and turmeric and fry until cooked. Add chopped chard at the end for a few minutes. Mix well and add salt to taste.