Little Brake

Hey everyone, I know I haven't updated in about 3 weeks (oh no!) but I'm having serious computer/camera problems, though I should be back soon, with lots of smoothie, salad, strawberry and other pictures.

Oh and I got the shoes I won at my rock climbing competition. They're blue and silver with a flower on the tip, very nice. And I'm competing in another competition (top roping this time) on the 28th!

A Little Bit Of Everything #3

THV my Sesame Kale and Snow Peas again. I added chickpeas to make it a real meal.


[day before fating] I was reading The Urban Vegan's blog the other day, where she talked about doing a juice fast, and how it helps her digestion and all that stuff, and I have a horrible digestive system, I get sick after every meal (no matter what I eat), chronic constipation (though I get plenty of fiber and water) and I'm bloated all the time. So I figured I'd give it a shot. I bought 2 bottles (2 quarts) of juice. A bottle of Bolthouse Farms C-Boost and a bottle of Bolthouse Farms Blue Goodness. My plan is to drink both bottles of juice and lots of water (I was going to do a water fast but I didn't want to lose weight). Wish me luck.
[Day of fast] Well this was a complete failure, I had a massive stomach ache all day (worse than normal) an I ended up drinking all my juice by 5p.m. because I was so hungry, I ate an apple and, amazing, the stomach ache went away! I definitely will not be trying that again.


Fruit salad of apple, kiwi, pineapple and lime juice. I was going to go help out at my climbing gym (Redpoint) where they're having a bouldering competition, so I was going to help with registering people and stuff, so I did that then went to go watch my friends. To get points for finishing a climb you had to have 2 people watch you and then sign your sheet, so I helped my friends Haley and Lexi on that, but it looked like so much fun I signed up too. I'd never been in a competition before (of any kind) so I was super nervous, but I had a lot of fun and got 3rd place in beginner level (v0-v2 for those informative in climbing), for my prizes I got a free pair of climbing shoes (retail $90), a Redpoint coffee mug, a shirt that says "run like a girl" and a competition shirt. I think I'm going to do more competitions as this was so great.


Stir-fry of Chinese greens (it looked like broccoli raab but I'm not sure what it really is), mushrooms, garlic, red pepper flakes, peas, soy sauce, orange zest (Orange zest and soy sauce are so awesome together) and tofu. For the tofu I coated each side in lots of fresh pepper and a tiny bit of salt, then browned it in non-stick cooking spray then added it back to the stir-fry in the end. And of course a yam baked on the side, seriously awesome.

THV More 4 Bean Chili

Italian Roasted Red Peppers. All I do is take jarred roasted red peppers, and add peppercorns, rosemary, sometimes thyme, and garlic and it transforms them to Italian Roasted Red Peppers! Perfect for sandwiches or snacking.



Green leaf lettuce, carrot (grated), roasted red potatoes, olives, roasted chickpeas, and this recipe for 1000 island dressing I found HERE, it was good, tasted like thousand island, but a little bland.


My power smoothie, every Wednesday I have rock climbing, so I have to eat extra [calories] to keep up my strength, and normally a smoothie for me is only 200 calories or so, and this one was 370. It has strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, soft tofu, cooked millet, almond extract and stevia, it was so creamy and thick it was
perfect.


THV Chili Orange Roasted Chickpeas. There's a few ways I like to roast my chickpeas, Chili Orange, just soy sauce, Salt & Vinegar Chicks (THV), and just curry powder. I just made the Chili Orange and Soy Sauce this time, I would've liked to make SALT & Vinegar Chicks, but I didn't have any vinegar (weird!)


Kale and potatoes with roasted garlic. I steamed the chopped kale until tender, then added 1 small roasted potato (chopped), and used a fork to mash the potato, then added 3 or 4 cloves of roasted garlic, and mashed it in, then added salt and pepper. I loved the texture, it was just perfect, I think some mushrooms or peas would've made it even better

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?

Food Porn

Here we go, I have been saving up my pics all week so here's some food porn for you all (sorta). If it had THV in front of it, than it is a recipe for The Healthful Vegan.

THV Carrot Cardamom Doughnuts They were originally supposed to be cookies, but when I was looking for the sheet pan, I found this old doughnut pan, and turned them into doughnuts. I wanted to make them into muffins yesterday for a more breakfasty thing, but I couldn't find it, so they were just doughnuts again. I added some wild blueberries (frozen) to make them even more healthier. For the original version they're made out of brown rice flour, potato starch, flax seed, bananas, carrot, cinnamon, & cardamom. Very simple, and very good (They taste like cinnamon doughnuts from dun-kin donuts). They're perfect for breakfast with some fruit and a soy yogurt (or nuts).

THV(Tofu only) Stir fry of Napa Cabbage, Chickpeas, Peas, Broccoli, Water Chestnuts, Onions and Soy sauce. Then on the side is the rest of my Orange Pom Tofu from THV. It's probably my favorite tofu recipe. It's really simple, just soy sauce, orange juice, pomegranate molasses and garlic.


THV Chocolate Peppermint French Toast. Needs some more cocoa next time, otherwise very good. perfect with a side of mango.



Beautiful orange tomato, very flavorful. Can you tell which is the orange and which is the tomato?*


The best salad in the world, seriously: my Caveman Salad. It's basically small sups of lettuce filled with peas and dressed with an orange dressing. I'm seriously considering making it a THV recipe, but I'm not sure, it's too easy to be recipe.


THV? Super Yummy Delicious Everything Breakfast Bread. I made it the first time today. It's full of awesome things like brown rice flour, buckwheat flour, pumpkin puree, cinnamon, cloves, dried unsweetened coconut, cashews, raisins, wild blueberries, flax and some other less awesome things like water, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and stevia. It's so good, lightly sweet, and you get a crunch from the cashews, and chewiness from the raisins. Though I had some problems:

1. It didn't rise. I put a good amount of baking powder in it, but it didn't rise at all. I'm going to buy some yeast and try it again.
2. It fell apart. Normally just by adding flax it keeps everything together, but not with this. Instead it became very crumbly, so I cut it in half lengthwise, then cut into 12 large cubes, that way it's like a thick, short slice of bread :) And because it's so full of good stuff, it doesn't even need any EB or jam or anything.

If the yeast doesn't work out, I think I'm going to try and make them into muffins instead, that way no problems of cutting them :) Though I will have to rename them the Super Yummy Delicious Everything Magnificent Muffins

Another caveman salad. I've eaten one everyday for 4 days lol, so good.


Breakfast of sliced orange, johna gold apple and some of the Super Yummy Delicious Everything Breakfast Bread.


THV Sunny Tomato Soup. I've been working on this one for a while, I wanted it to be creamy and have a lot of flavor, but I couldn't give it a lot of flavor without overpowering. So this last time I made it was some Sunflower seed butter, and omg, the texture is awesome. I've tried making this with coconut milk, soy milk and stock, but I I found that using stock and the sunbutter gave me the texture I wanted (which is weird because the coconut milk couldn't). It still doesn't have a ton of flavor, but I think I like that. I want it to taste like a tomato soup, not make it with lots of herbs and spices. Other things in the soup are quinoa, peppers, onion, red pepper flakes, garlic ginger and coriander.

Lola

Hey everyone, sorry I've been MIA for the last few days, I've been super busy. I just wanted to tell you all that my guinea pig Lola had her babies this afternoon. She had 4 total, though 2 were stillborn, and 1 isn't doing too good :( The living ones are black (he/she's the one that isn't doing so good) and a brown & white. I named the black one Jujube (like the Chinese date. The nickname with be Juju) and the other Mango. Since I'm not sure weather they're girls or boys so depending on which it is, it's name will be Miss Mango or Mr. Mango.


Also I am looking for a cookbook tester. If anybody is interested, please e-mail me at Aprii13@aol.com

Lotsa Good Stuff

Yesterday we we had to go to Lowes to return stuff, and since Lowes Foods is across the street, and I'm still searching for my millet and amaranth, I asked mom if we could go look. Now I rarely shop there because they are so over-prized, but they do have some things a normal grocery store doesn't have. Well they didn't have the millet or amaranth, but I did find 2 other items.

This is Polaners All Fruit Blueberry Jam. It is so good, I was actually looking for fig jam, and there was some, but it had sugar, and HFCS (High fructose corn syrup), and truthfully, that stuff kinda scares me lol. So since the Blueberry Jam is sweetened with only fruit juice, I got that (and it was on sale). I was really eager to try it, so when I got home I just tried some straight. It's awesome, and it really has little pieces of blueberries in it!



Next is Sunbutter What is sunbutter? Sunflower seed butter! I got a book from the Library called The Food Bible by Judith Wills (awesome book, it even has a full section of vegetarianism, and mentions veganism), and it talks about sunflower seeds/sunflower butter in the back of the book as being very good for you because of it's high vitamin E continent (27%), it also has high levels of copper & magnesium. And lucky for me I found it at Lowes! I checked their website, and I'm going to try and find the organic if I can, because that has even more vitamin E then the kind I got it (40%). It taste like a combo of Peanut butter, and cashew butter. Yum-O.


Now for the other food (besides jam):



For breakfast was a small Stonyfield Soy Yogurt (strawberry), 1 slice of Ener-g Tapocia Bread with 1/2 TBS of my new blueberry jam, and 1 large pink grapefruit dusted with stevia. Very yummy and the perfect mix of protein (yogurt), carbs (yogurt, bread, jam, grapefruit) and fat (bread, yogurt).



For a few days I've been thinking up a bean salad. I wanted something for when people go (Well where do you get your protein?) you can say: This! With 30g protein I think I did a good job. It also is lower in fat (10g) and very high in fiber (30g, more than 117% of your daily value)



It's made out of edamame, chickpeas, small red beans, grated carrots, scallions, sunflower seed butter, red pepper flakes, lime juice (I used a little orange juice because I had no limes) and soy sauce. The grated carrot looks like noodles doesn't it? I need to keep adjusting it though, It needed a little less soy sauce, and something was missing...I'll keep working on it!



Oh and look at this gorgeous plate I got! We walked next door to the dollar store (A little ways down from Lowes Foods) because mom needed some more reading glasses, and I always walk down the cooking-ware aisle, and I saw it! Only a dollar. You'll definitely be seeing it a lot (I ate my breakfast and lunch on it, see)


*EDIT*
Sorry I can't get it to let me put the link for the Sunbutter. The website is Sunbutter.com

Oh and Lola still hasn't had her babies :( Though she looks like she's about to pop.

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 :)

Behold...THE Salad!!

Today I was in the mood for a salad. So since we had to go to Lowes and Blockbuster anyways...and Wal-mart is right next door. We stopped by and I got some more carrots, lettuce, canned tomatoes, soy yogurt, apples and some other stuff. Now I really do love salads, the dressing is hard for me though. I know eating a dressing with fat helps you absorb the nutrients, but I'd rather get my fat at other times in the day by eating nuts, so...

Another thing about salads for me,is they gotta be simple. I can't stand tomatoes, celery, raw bell peppers, anything like that in my salads. For me, it's gotta be lettuce or other greens-all kinds go, baby spinach, arugula, green leaf, Boston, romaine etc-, lots of grated carrot, and depending on the season an addition of radishes (sliced), fennel (sliced), sugar snap peas, lightly sauteed mushrooms, roasted parsnips, cooked beans (chickpeas, red, black) & roasted brussel sprouts (with soy sauce), are OK. Oh and roasted red peppers, I tried it for the first time tonight and really liked it.

For THV I don't have many dressing recipes, but I did make one for my salad tonight, though it was so simple, it's not gonna be put in THV, though I will share it with you:

Remember, I used about 4-5 cups lettuce, 1/2 cup grated carrot, and a bunch of roasted red peppers, so this makes a good amount of dressing.

1/2 cup fresh squeezed OJ (I found that after I squeezed the orange, I was obsessed with having to eat all the membranes and pulp left in it because I didn't want it to go to waste, I'm weird right?)
1/2 TSP dried basil, crushed between your fingers
1/2 TBS Dijon mustard
1/4 TSP dark sesame oil
pinch of sea salt

Whisk everything but the sesame oil together. Drizzle in the sesame oil while whisking. Beat until cream-ier.

The only thing I had a problem with the dressing was it was too sweet. I ended up sprinkling a pinch of sea salt over the top of the salad, which just made the balance perfect. The other nice thing I thought of about the dressing is that if you were eating it with spinach, the vitamin C would help your body absorb the iron right?