When you just want it now!

So I got off the Greyhound bus about an hour ago and here I am blogging! I missed you all while I was gone…shout out to my sis Priya who helped pack my week with more meetings and projects I thought humanly possible! I went to Toronto to prepare for my wedding and I had all the right intentions to share more of Mama Raj’s cooking, but alas I had little time to myself amongst the chaos. I promise to make up for it and share more of Mama Raj’s recipes this week. As I was saying, I just got home and was staaarving! I opened our freezer and I found the perfect food to satisfy me while my pasta was being cooked: edamame. I knew that I had to just blog about it really quickly. So I went went to work cooking and taking pictures of it…see how much I love y’all? I didn’t even unpack my bags and here I am writing on my Mac as I scarf down my edamame. Edamame is the whole soybean pod and the inner beans are eaten as a delicacy in Asian countries. According to the USDA: When cooked and lightly salted, the pea-like beans inside "vegetable" soybeans make a protein-rich addition to salads, casseroles, soups, snacks, mixed or stir-fried vegetables and other foods. 6 cups of water 1 package of Edamame (in most frozen foods sections of grocery stores) Optional Sauce: 2 tsp of black fig vinegar (or any flavored vinegar could work) 1 Tbsp shoyu sauce (Japanese name for soy sauce…the brand San-J makes a wonderful shoyu) Once the water is boiling, cook the edamame for about 4 minutes. Drain and run cold water over it to stop the cooking process (if it is cooked longer the bean will be mushy... some people like that, but I like my beans a little on the firmer side). Now you can eat just like that (I had to stop myself from eating it all as I cooled it over the sink!) or sprinkle some salt over the pods. I decided to experiment with a light sauce and it was great! If you are used eating salted edamame, try it with the sauce above. That’s it for now…time for unpacking!

Finally…A Dessert That’s Not Deadly!

Are you craving ice cream but need to lock your freezer door to keep yourself away from this deadly dessert? Well, you can now hire a lock cutter, because I’ve got some news for you! What if I told you that you can now eat ice cream that’s actually good for you? No, I’m not crazy, I’m just resourceful! :) There are now brands of ice cream made of soy which have all the flavor and none of the cholesterol. Really…I’m not joking! Take a look at that picture above, does that look bad for you? Well, it does, but it’s not! This is a Green Tea ice cream made by Soy Delicious my absolute favorite brand of ice cream. They have flavors like Cherry Nirvana, Cookie Avalanche, Rocky Road and on and on. I have to warn you that the Green Tea flavor is very “earthy unique” and won’t be for everyone. So where can you find this soy goodness? Most grocery stores will have soy ice cream. Tofutti is the brand that is most available around the country. But if you go to Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods, you’ll be in soy ice cream heaven. I’ve seen people look like zombies staring into the ice cream freezer. Their brains freeze looking at all the amazing flavors and choices they have with absolutely NO guilt! (actually, I haven’t really seen that happen, but I’ve been one of those zombies myself, so I know the experience!) Who says eating healthy can’t be fun, delicious and beautiful?