Celebrate San Gennaro at Little Dom's!

In honor of the feast of San Gennaro, the perennially popular Los Feliz restaurant Little Dom's is offering "special eats" and $5 wine during dinner service this week through Saturday evening. In case you have other dinner plans this week, make up for it with a lazy street-side brunch of their outrageous Bloody Mary's and blueberry & ricotta pancakes. You can now follow Little Dom's on Twitter to keep abreast of future special offerings. @littledoms

Tuesday, September 21-Saturday, September 25

2128 Hillhurst Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90027

323.661.0055

For more Italian festivity, check out Italian Feast of San Genarro Los Angeles this weekend.

Week 1: Saturday Breakfast

Okay, so I woke up really hungry and craving something sort of indulgent. Unfortunately I didn't really prepare anything in advance, so I cut some corners. I made myself a quick bowl of oatmeal while I attempted to create a modified waffle recipe. We had Bisquik, but I decided I didn't want to mess around with bleached white flour, so I followed the Biskquik baking instructions using organic unrefined flour, some almond milk, some orange marmalade and, mistaking it for olive oil, some white truffle oil! (Ooops). The truffle oil made it pretty savory, but the consistency of the waffles was tough and chewy, and I think I can definitely improve up this. It tasted okay, but it was too sweet of a meal overall, and I should have balanced it with more veggies and maybe some veggie bacon or something along the lines of protein. Anyway, it wasn't terrible, but it did remind me to stay on track while I was eating and drinking at a wedding later that afternoon.

Week 1: Friday Breakfast

Today was a sort of dismal breakfast - in a rush, and all I could grab was some toasted cinnamon raisin bread with orange marmalade. It tasted good, but not very filling or balanced. I also had some baby carrots in the car. Still, I've been on track so far this week; I think writing about my breakfast really helps me stay in tune to my eating habits. I've been eating vegan now for 6 days, and pretty healthy at that! (Not like a gummy bear-only diet).

I made a really excellent ginger tofu dish and a bok choy salad one night this week...check out the photos below. It took a while for the tofu to marinate and for the rice to cook, but overall, it was delicious! Really, I will make this again. I think the key to eating according to "the kind diet" is preparing in advance (so you don't have to wait an hour before your food is ready to eat) and taking the time to cook flavorful, interesting meals. If all I ate was rice and beans every night, I would hate eating! (Even though I love both rice and beans). Eating is supposed to be enjoyable, and I have to say, so far the times I've made one of Alicia Silverstone's recipes, I've been really happy with the results. (Check out her book The Kind Diet for the recipe). I'm ready for the weekend for some more food experimenting!

Week 1: Thursday Breakfast

I missed posting about this yesterday, but I had a nice modified "oatmeal" breakfast. I had a lot of leftover rice, and just added my usual maple syrup, apples, cinnamon, walnuts & flaxseed oil... very good! It was cold, though, so not ideal.

Week 1: Wednesday Breakfast

This morning I got up a little earlier and made the totally delicious oatmeal that I tested out on Sunday. It is SO filling, and SO sweet! I made it the same way I did Sunday, but I'm thinking I can start lessening my use of maple syrup as I don't normally use that anyway. (Are there health benefits to maple syrup?) I accidentally doused my bowl of steaming oats a bit too much with flaxseed oil, but I think I'll live. Flaxseed oil is apparently good to have daily, so since I don't think I had any yesterday or the day before, I should be nicely provided for! Here's what the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine says about flaxseed oil as a good source of omega-3 fatty acids:

Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are important in the normal functioning of all tissues of the body. Deficiencies are responsible for a host of symptoms and disorders including abnormalities in the liver and kidney, changes in the blood, reduced growth rates, decreased immune function, depression, and skin changes, including dryness and scaliness. Adequate intake of the essential fatty acids results in numerous health benefits. Prevention of atherosclerosis, reduced incidence of heart disease and stroke, and relief from the symptoms associated with ulcerative colitis, menstrual pain, and joint pain have also been documented.^{2,3, 4}

It is important for vegetarians to include foods that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids on a daily basis. Alpha-linolenic acid, a common omega-3 fatty acid, is found in many vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds, and fruits. The best source of alpha-linolenic acid is flaxseeds or flaxseed oil.

While supplements and added oils are not typically necessary in the vegetarian diet, good sources of omega-3 and omega-6 fats should be included daily. It is important to take these two fats in the proper ratio as well. Omega-6 fatty acids compete with omega-3 fatty acids for use in the body, and therefore excessive intake of omega-6 fatty acids can be a problem. The U.S. diet has become heavy in omega-6 fats and low in omega-3 fats, secondary to a reliance on processed foods and oils. It is necessary to balance this by eating a low-fat diet that is low in processed foods and with fat mainly coming from omega-3 fatty acids.

I used Spectrum's Organic Flaxseed Oil, and it added a barely perceptible nutty flavor, which was nice!

Week 1: Tuesday Breakfast

Yikes, I was a little rushed this morning, but I still managed to make a yummy breakfast to keep with my 4 week vegan goal, albeit on the go! I'll have to plan better for tomorrow, because I can't keep eating the same thing in a row! That oatmeal was really yummy on Sunday; now that I've got some brown rice syrup, I'm interested in trying that out as a sweetener.

Week 1: Monday Breakfast

This morning I had a thick slice of bread from Julian Bakery (of San Diego) with a slather of almond butter and some orange marmalade on top. To add some veggies into the mix, I had a side of baby carrots. A little strange, but very satisfying and yummy!! I like to dip carrots in peanut butter usually anyway, so this was an easy stretch.

Week 1: Sunday Breakfast

Today I made my first official breakfast on The Kind Diet, "Quick Date-Apple-Cinnamon Oatmeal", taken from a recipe off Alicia Silverstone's vegan list. Technically, this was only Quick Apple-Cinnamon oatmeal as I didn't have any dates on hand. Now, I am a long-time lover of oatmeal, but this was particularly delicious and super easy to make. Usually I boil two cups water, add in a cup of oats, turn off the heat and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Then I add in some cinnamon, and that's usually it. Since I've been staying away from milk lately, it hasn't had the douse of milk I used to add.

However, today's oatmeal was quicker and tastier, and Alicia-approved! Yay! I boiled some water in a saucepan, and meanwhile combined the following in a stainless steel mixing bowl:

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup (more like 1... I was at the bottle of the bottle)
• 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts (I used a handful and broke them into pieces)
• 1/3 crisp apple, cut in cubes
• some ground up sea salt
• 3 shakes ground cinnamon
• a drizzle of flaxseed oil

Once I'd combined those, I got the pot of water, turned off the stove, and poured the water over the mixture so that the oats were just barely covered. I put a lid on the bowl, and let it sit for 2 minutes or so, and it was ready! It was sooo yummy and very filling. I have a nice warm feeling in my belly now, and I feel very relaxed.