Follow the Journey!
While traveling recently it was too
cold to think about eating dinner outside at a rest area. So we decided to stop at Starbucks instead. Starbucks allows people to hang out and use WiFi for free even without being a customer. So we bought a coffee and brought in our dinner. Mande had made butternut risotto and we transported it in our portable oven. Very good to have a nice healthy meal just by pulling off the road to eat.
We had these blonde brownies for
dessert. Made from chick peas, oats, honey, coconut sugar, almond milk, baking powder and vegan chocolate. Mixed in Vitamix and baked in the oven. Very good.
A recent post on the Forks Over Knives Facebook group asked
Anyone have any cheap lunch ideas for me? Im on a tight budget and always end up buying supernarket food for lunch which is alot of the time processed but i want some homemade lunch ideas that are affordable and include greens and something filling.
My response
Quinoa and beans. Add a few veggies as you like. Very filling. You can try different beans to change up the flavor like black and pinto and ranchero. Veggies like onion, zucchini, squash, bell pepper. Top with spinach. Spices as desired.
Here is a quick dinner idea on a cold
night. Black beans cooked in the instant pot along with brown rice. Top with tomatilo salsa an cilantro!
While walking around NYC we came
across a farmers market in Union Square. Bought some blue potatoes and then cooked them with onion, bell pepper and zucchini that we had left in our AirBnb. Added guacamole and salsa we had bought at Whole Foods and had these delicious tacos for breakfast!
Below is a picture of the mixture cooking. I boiled the potatoes in water until they were no longer crunchy. Then drained the water and sauteed all the veggies with the potatoes.
Social media is full of jokes about the holidays including the meme that says “set your scales back ten pounds”! But it doesn’t have to be that way. We can maintain a Whole Food Plant Based lifestyle and still celebrate the holiday.
Snacks before dinner included fresh veggies and tortilla chips with ranch, cranberry salsa, salsa and homemade bean dip.
For dinner we had roasted
cauliflower with carrots and onions. Mashed potatoes. Green beans. Gluten free bread stuffing. Mac and “cheese”.
For dessert we had pumpkin pie and chocolate pie. The pies were so good that our non plant eaters didn’t even question them!
Links to recipes to follow so that they can be used for future holidays.
I felt like a change of pace from my
standard smoothie or oatmeal. So I looked for a Whole Food Plant Based pancake recipe. I found this gluten free vegan recipe and substituted apple sauce for the oil. I had to add some extra almond milk. These are really tasty. I cooked some with blueberries. And then added sliced banana and strawberries on top!
Mande made homemade curry
hummus. Add some veggies and it makes a great afternoon snack!
It is unseasonably cold and rainy here in Texas for October. Don’t get me wrong I love cold for like 1 week but it is looking like we will have many weeks of this gross wet cold. cold weather means soups and stews and fall smells from the kitchen so I do love that. As we are on this journey and losing weight and getting healthier I am finding that I stay colder then I used to. Guess its less body fat to keep me warm. Having a frozen “Nice” Cream for dessert is no longer appealing as it will just make me colder. So I have been having air popcorn. Works for me but my sweet hubby REALLY likes chocolate and he has been working so hard to get our house ready to sell that I decided to experiment and find him something chocolatey that is not frozen. Found a couple of recipes and decided to try the No Bake Fudgy Chocolate Cake Bites by Minimalist Baker. I really like her stuff. I usually have to leave out the oil and adjust some things but overall I really like her stuff. Her recipe is here. Ill post my recipe below.
Cake Bites
1 cup packed pitted medjool dates(measured after pits are removed)
1 1/3 cup almond flour
1/4 cup cacao powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 TBSP maple syrup
1 TBSP full fat coconut milk
Outer Covering
1 bag Enjoy Life Chocolate chips melted
Instructions
Line a cookie sheet with either parchment paper or a silicone mat.
Add pitted dates to your food processor or high powered blender and blend until the dates are small pieces and or a ball starts to form. Remove dates and set them aside for future use.
Add almond flour and cacao powder to food processor/blender and blend until you see a fine meal. (I ran mine food processor on low for 20 seconds)
Add the dates,vanilla extract, maple syrup, and coconut milk back in with the cacao/ almond meal mixture then blend until a sticky dough forms. (Mine took about 35 seconds in my food processor). If your dough is too dry add a little more coconut milk or maple syrup. If its too sticky add more almond flour or cacao powder. NOTE they WILL BE tacky and stick to your fingers some!
Use an ice cream scoop or a big spoon to get about 1 1/2 TBSP of dough. Roll it into a ball and place it on your lined pan. Repeat this until you have gone through all your dough.
Place your pan with the dough balls into the freezer for 20 min or longer. i think mine sat for a couple of hours because I got distracted and forgot about them. OOPS!
While they are freezing open your bag of enjoy life chips and place them in a shallow bowl microwavable bowl or a double boiler and melt the chocolate.
Once the chocolate is melted use a fork to dip the dough balls into the chocolate to coat the outside. The fork allows you to tap off the excess chocolate before you place it back on the cookie sheet.
Do this for each of your “cake” balls. Place in freezer or refrigerator until the chocolate is set.
ENJOY!
Im not sure how long these are supposed to last but my guess is at my house they won’t make it through the weekend. I would assume they would last at least a week in the refrigerator.
Stay tuned for more Fall Fun recipes.
Thanks for joining us on our journey. Can’t wait to hear about your journey to health.
One of the keys to making the Whole Food Plant Based lifestyle easier is food preparation. In this video Mande shows how to prep Zucchini so that you can use it for many purposes during the week.
We get these Bento boxes from Amazon to store the prepared food.
