A bit of everything #2

As always THV means it's a recipe for The Healthful Vegan. We went shopping Wednesday (14th) so I have a good amount of stuff to work with.



THV More Sunny Tomato Soup, really I just wanted to show off my new mug, isn't it pretty? It's a lot bigger than most, so it's perfect for soup.


Roasted parsnips and asparagus. The asparagus with roasted with a little gf soy sauce and topped with sliced garlic. The parsnips were just roasted plain.



A Breast Of Orange Pom Tofu atop a bed of Tarragon Millet and Sesame Kale and Snow Peas (wow that sounded fancy didn't it?) I've told you about the tofu before, basically it's tofu marinated in orange juice, pomegranate molasses and some other stuff. Normally I cut it into cubes, but I cut the block into filet's this time so it'd look fancier. They finally had millet (only 1 bag left) at the health food store, so I made that. It's so good, kinda like quinoa, but fluffier and without the little tails (which is the one reason why I don't eat it as often as I should). I added some dried tarragon to it and it added a nice licorice-like flavor. Then the bottom layer is my Sesame Kale and Snow Peas, which is steamed snow peas and kale, with sesame seasonings. (the tofu and sesame kale are both THV recipes). You would think that orange pomegranate, tarragon and sesame oil all together in one meal would taste weird, but it actually was very nice.


Toast with 2 jams. The slice on the right has my all-fruit blueberry jam (polaner) and the slice on the left has all-fruit black cherry (also polaner). I think I prefer the blueberry because it has more flavor. On the side is some fresh pineapple (it's been months since I've had any) and I'm not sure if you can tell, but there is a blue cup next to the plate (top right corner), in there is some "Detox Lemonade". I heard of a recipe (can't remember where, I think it was on a raw newsletter), all you do is mix filtered water, fresh lemon juice and maple syrup or honey (or other sweetener) and drink. The lemon is supposed to help your digestive system, and the sweetener makes it less tart. I didn't have any maple syrup, so I used stevia. I don't think it helped because I still got a stomach-ache


Here's a simple sandwich of Ener-g Tapioca Bread, baby spinach*, mustard*, and portabella mushroom. And some asparagus on the side, normally I just roast my asparagus with a little soy sauce, but this time I wanted to try something fancier. So I roasted 3 cloves of garlic until soft, threw it in my mini food processor (my mom bought me an Oster Immersion Blender on sale for $12 last Friday, and it has this awesome little chopper attachment that works perfect for things like this.), along with the garlic I added 1/4 cup soy milk* and 1/2 TBS cornstarch and a pinch of salt and blended it until smooth,. It was pretty good, nice garlic flavor, but also somewhat bland, I added a little mustard* and that perked it right up, then I poured it over the asparagus. I think I may just stick with my soy roasted asparagus because it took a bit of work, though it was a nice change of pace.


THV Morning Millet, I wanted to try and make something different for breakfast, so this is cooked millet, seasoned with cloves and cinnamon (and another secret I can't tell you about :), and some fresh ripe mango.
I definitely need to cut the mango smaller next time, but that's the only complaint. Oh and I added cashews which were like the icing on the cake, made it perfect.


Simple stir-fry of frozen asparagus mix, some fresh mushrooms, garlic, gf soy sauce and baby spinach*, served with jasmine rice. I was quite disappointed with the rice, because I'd heard that it was much better than most rice, very flavorful and fragrant, but it just tasted like rice. Oh well...

A Little Of Everything #1

I find it's a lot easier for me to post 1 week of pictures all at once, instead of a post everyday. Here's all my pictures for 3/8-3/14. Oh and THV means it's a recipe for The Healthful Vegan :)




A nice balanced dinner. Roasted sweet potato "fries" tossed with a little sea salt and stevia (the starch), cooked moong dal, or yellow lentils (the protein) and some frozen vegetable stir-fry mix cooked with some soy sauce and grapefruit zest (the veg). Very simple and good.



Breakfast Ice Cream. Frozen bananas and pineapple blended with a little stevia and just enough water to make it blend. So good, looks just like vanilla soft serve doesn't it. I really wanted it to look like vanilla bean ice cream, but I had no vanilla beans (too expensive), so instead, right before I ate it (after I took the picture), I stirred in a little ground cloves and it gave it the perfect finishing touch.


THV? Congeili (little shells) with mushrooms and peppers. I sauteed some portabellas and roasted red peppers with Italian seasoning, onions, and garlic, then added some cornstarch and soy milk. It was very good, but not enough flavor, and the onions weren't cooked long enough, so I had to pick those out :(


Gorgeous Rome apple I had for a snack. Can you see all the pink in the white? It was very flavorful, but a little mealy.



Normally I don't go all out for dinner, but the other day I wanted to so I made some short brown rice, Orange Pom Tofu (THV), a stir-fry (frozen stir-fry mix and some soy sauce) and some asian style greens (steamed mustard greens with sesame oil and sea salt). Everything was great except for the mustard greens. I'd never had them, so I bought a small bunch to try. I cooked them the same way I always cook my kale, but I hated them! They were so bitter it was awful, like dirt (yes I've tasted dirt)


I hate having to use those plastic bags for my groceries. So I made some of my own bags. We were given a big box of unused hospital scrubs, so I took some of the shirts and turned them into bags like the one above. The downsize is their huge, because the shirts were mainly extra larges, but oh well. I only made 2 so far, because I have to hand sew the top sides and bottom and handles, so it takes a good while. I'm gonna make more in the next couple days so we'll have enough for our re-stock shopping on the 15th.


THV 4 bean chili, yum. It's got lots of spices, tomato sauce, peppers, onions, chickpeas, kidney beans, pinto beans and black beans. I didn't have any pinto or chickpeas, so I substituted small red beans, some wild rice and black eyed peas instead. So great, though I missed my chickpeas :(


A really great breakfast. Half a papaya (I ate the other half at breakfast the other day), a Stonyfield Starwberry Soy Yogurt (4oz), to which I added some flaxseed, ground cinnamon and cloves, it really ups the flavor. And a slice of Ener-g Tapocia Bread with blueberry all-fruit spread. A perfect way to start the day.


Heres a pic of one of my (many) kitties. His name is coconut and he is blind and deaf (aren't his eyes cool? one blue and one green), you can read more about him Here. I was laying down and he decided to try and eat my hand, so I grabbed the camera and took a picture. Isn't he cute?

A day of healthful eating

As some of you know, I normally just post 1, maybe 2 meals a day, but today I decided to do a day of healthful eating. So here's my breakfast, lunch and dinner. I didn't include snacks though, they're too boring :)

Breakfast

2 slices of French Toast, basically I did the same thing I did last Tuesday, except I omitted the almond extract, and used a tiny bit of grapefruit zest instead of orange (I used Ener-g Tapioca Bread again). Very yummy. I ate this beside a large grapefruit "dusted" with Stevia. Does anybody find that eating breakfast with bread/rice helps keep them fuller. Especially bread for me. Though something like a tofu scramble and oven fries doesn't keep me full? I think it's the combo, Sweet + Bread + fullness.



Lunch

I decided to make a taco salad. I got the idea from Vegan Eats & Treats, though unfortunately I didn't have any brown rice tortillas. Though I did have some whole-grain corn tortillas (6 inch), so instead (because I thought they would make too small of bowls), I cut them into triangles and baked them in the oven until crispy. Then for the bowl:

I took some cooked small red beans that I made this morning. Mashed 1/4 cup in the bottom of my taco bowl with some cumin.

Then I added some green leaf lettuce (chopped).
(forgot to take picture of :)

Then in a skillet I cooked some parsnips, mushrooms, green bell peppers, onions, garlic, and canned diced tomatoes with cumin and chili powder until everything was soft. I spooned half of this over the lettuce.



Then I added some more beans (un-mashed)


Then the rest of the sauteed veggies, and arranged the chips around the edge


And it was delicious. The only thing I'd change is add some salsa, and cut the chips bigger, because the plan was too use them to pick up the filling.

Dinner

I was in the mood for some pasta. Earlier today I watched Healthy Appetite with Ellie Kreger, and on there she made pasta with roasted tomatoes. Basically she roasted garlic with some fresh tomatoes, then tossed it with pasta, beans, cheese and olive oil and basil. I didn't have any fresh tomatoes, so I took some canned tomatoes and drained them really good, then roasted them. It actually turned
out pretty good, though I wouldn't do it again because it didn't give it enough flavor for the time it took to roast. I sauteed some garlic and spinach in a skillet while the pasta was cooking with some Italian seasoning and a little sea salt. Then added the tomatoes and pasta. Magnifico (I think I spelled that right), very good.




Now I'd like to tell you about my favorite pasta. There is now many good gluten-free pastas out there that actually taste like pasta, but my favorite doesn't really taste like pasta. NutriKitchen makes pasta completely out of soybeans! And I love it, it doesn't really have the same texture or taste of pasta, but for me it's addictive. Anytime I go to Whole Foods (not often) I buy a bunch of this stuff. The main thing I love about the pasta is it's health benefits. It's full of fiber (11g), protein (22g), iron (60-70%), and it's also low fat (2.5g), and has Soy Isoflavones (46-70mg). Though it has 2 drawbacks. 1. the pasta tangles together really easily (I do stir it, and cook it in plenty of water) and it only comes in 1 shape. I wish it came in penne or something too.

Now I must confess something. I am... *tension builds up*

A Tea Addict (ATAA)



Yup that's right. Every month I try a new tea, green tea. At the moment I have 6 kinds of tea. Mango Zinger, Mint Green Tea (decaf), Mandarin Orange Green Tea (decaf), Cranberry Pomegranate Green Tea (bag), Acai Berry Green Tea (tin), Plain Green Tea (decaf) and Jasmine Passion fruit Orange Green Tea. My favorite is green tea, I particularly like the flavor, plain teas (herbal) don't have enough flavor to me. I like to drink mine with Stevia. Other tea addicts: how do you like yours?



So there's my day of healthful eating, I don't think I did too shabby :)