Day 3 of the Cleanse: I want a grilled cheese and tomato soup

…and a burger, fries, mozzarella sticks, mom’s eggrolls, seafood, sushi…the list just goes on and on. Just thought I’d check in for a minute to report that I am starving. This cleanse is going pretty well….but….I’m not going to lie, I’m hungry. I know it’s a mental thing, and I’m going to be sooo proud of myself when I finish Day 7.

Today is my first day of absolutely no solids. I’m probably not drinking enough of the juice, but frankly I’m rationing it till the end of the day when I can get more veggies to churn in my juicer.

I will now end this pitiful entry with a montage some of my favorite foods in Austin:

Uchiko Deliciousness

Pho Dan for the best pho in town

La Condesa

Yummm Koriente!!

Hello, 2012!

Weighing my carrots for the IzoCleanze red juice

I know everybody hates resolutions. I definitely do. They’re way too lofty, unreasonable, blah blah blah.

Instead of having these crazy goals for a new year, I just take it as a time to clean up my brain, which inevitably results from the physical cleaning of my house, my car, and my file system. Having a mental timer go off every six months to do these things works for me, and I wanted to share the five ways of how I am welcoming the new year.

1. The cleaning of my system. You can laugh, it’s kind of gross, but I swear by the IzoCleanze. I’m easing into it by doing the partial cleanse, but will move into the full cleanse. I’m going to try to hang on for 7 days. In case you’re wondering, I didn’t start it because it’s a celebrity-endorsed cleanse; I actually didn’t know it was until after I did my first one. The holidays bring out the worst in my eating habits, and this past one was no exception – Popeye’s, Arby’s, about a million pounds of mom’s food, and lots of coffee and booze. What better way to start the year by going on a food regimen of juice and quinoa?

2. Re-organizing finances. I have a lot of travel plans I’d like to do for this year, but that isn’t going to happen magically. Not only did I find things to cut out of my budget, but I use mint.com to see exactly where my money is going. You can even set goals to help you allot funds. This idea may depress some, but let me assure you the bright colors of the pie charts can really take the edge off.

3. Planning calendars for both my consulting and creative projects. Like Mint, seeing my calendar puts perspective on how much I will be able to accomplish.

4. Starting an experiment I’ve been wanting to do since last year. In an earlier entry, I talked about crafting a product in order not to buy one made in China. It truly makes me sad that our domestic economy continues to decline simply because massive corporations want to save a buck. In any case, I’ve been wanting to try this more seriously for a year. So, I started a new blog today!

5. Cleaning/re-organizing my kitchen cabinets and utility closet. This prompted me to convert an old box into something nicer to hold  plastic and paper bags:

Green Onion, Ginger & Seitan Wonton Soup – Attempt #1

Ever since Brandon and I ate at Dao Palate in New York on our last visit, I have been in love with the idea of doing a vegetarian or vegan wonton soup. The veggie ham they used was amazing – it wasn’t bland and had a really quality texture that was akin to the pork that I would normally use.

Wonton soup, the way my mom makes it, is one of my favorite comfort foods. There’s something about the sesame oil and soft wontons with the green onions that makes me happy (and hungry). I wanted to give this same feeling to Brandon, so we set out to make it. Unfortunately we weren’t able to find the correct veggie ham, so we settled for ground seitan:

PLEASE NOTE: the ground seitan was flavored with oregano, and the buillon cube had a pretty heavy “thanksgiving” taste…but we were desperate for soup and wanted to try it anyway! If this sounds disgusting to you, you may want to stop here. But the good news is that it actually turned out really well. Like an East meets West kind of thing. I’m still trying to perfect it, but Brandon found it so delicious that I am encouraged to share it, regardless!

Also, because this was an experiment, I didn’t really record measurements as accurately as I would’ve liked.

Last but not least – lessons learned: I will make my own broth next time – no cubes, and I will hunt for the right veggie ham…this is what happens when you’re really hungry.

So without further ado, here is the basic recipe:

Serving size: 2 bowls, 10 wontons per bowl. Total time including preparation: 45 minutes.

Broth ingredients:

• lots of ginger
• 1 white onion
• 3 Carrots
• sesame oil (4-5 tbsp)
• soy sauce
• vegetarian fish sauce
• 1/2 Vegan broth buillon cube
• fresh cilantro

Wonton ingredients:

• wonton wrappers – thawed, if frozen
• 1 farm fresh egg to seal the wontons
• green onion
• ginger
• garlic
• salt & pepper

Step 1: Prepare the broth.

1. Cut onion in half, place both halves in pot with about 10 cups of water. Place heat on high.
2. As the water is brought to a boil, cut the carrots into long sections and slice ginger according to taste. I recommend the more the better.  Place both into broth.

Step 2: Prepare wontons

1. Mince two cloves of garlic
2. Mince ginger
3. Use wooden spoon to divide ground seitan (approximately a fourth of a package)
4. Chop 1-2 green onions – it depends on how much you like!
5. Mix garlic, ginger, seitan, and onions in a bowl; add salt and pepper to taste

Step 3: Complete the broth.

By now the broth is probably boiling. Add the half of vegan buillon cube. Add the sesame oil. Dash in soy sauce to taste and for color. If you like a saltier broth, add some dashes of the vegetarian fish sauce. Lower heat to a low setting and let simmer for at least 15 minutes.

Step 4: Make the wontons.

1. Whisk the egg in a separate little bowl so it’s nice and scrambled.
2. On a large plate, take one wonton wrapper and position it so it looks like a diamond
3. Place a tiny amount of the seitan mixture in the center. Using your finger, place a tiny amount of egg at the top corner of the diamond.
4. Bring the bottom corner of the diamond up to the top. Press into the egg.
5. You should have a triangle formed. Place some egg with your finger again on the top corner. Bring the right corner of the triangle up to the top corner and press. Repeat for the remaining left corner.
6. Repeat steps 2-5 until you make as many wontons as you want.

Step 5: Check on the broth.

Taste to see if it needs any additional sesame oil or salt.

Step 6: Cook wontons.

Wontons don’t need to be cooked very long. Otherwise the wrapper will become too soft and fall apart. In a shallow but wide saucepan, bring 3/4 of the volume to a boil. Using either a steamer strainer or a hand-held noodle strainer, place about 9-10 wontons and let it sit in the boiling water for no more than 3 minutes. remove and strain, but do not run cold water over it. Place into bowl, pour plenty of broth over it, and garnish with chopped fresh cilantro and green onions. Add siracha sauce!