Some things that kept me full and energized this week!
My vegan go-to dish, beans and greens. These beans are garbanzos, and the greens are 5 oz baby kale. 1/2 cup beans, 5 oz kale, sauteed with a little diced onion, some garlic, veggie broth, red pepper flakes, served with a splash of red wine vinegar, and under 250 calories. Mega win.
Dinner tonight was kind of amazing.
15 Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta from my absolute favorite blog, Oh She Glows. Salad was spinach, a few chickpeas (leftover from lunch), shredded radishes, finely chopped (with the food processor) raw broccoli, green onions, and dijon vinaigrette. So good! Warm, rich pasta with that fresh, tangy salad.
Beating the broccoli nearly to death with the food processor has made me eat so much more raw broccoli! I was inspired to do this, again, by Oh She Glows, where
broccoli, cauliflower, and other veggies become confetti. I was amazed at how much raw veggies I can eat this way. Processing my broccoli ensures it gets eaten.
Day 1 lazy lunch with my boss. Veggie Thai red curry. REALLY good. Trying to convince my boyfriend we need to go here tomorrow night. Not 100% sure it was vegan, but I know it was close.
Synergy drink,
Black Chia. These are too expensive to enjoy regularly (at my local natural foods store, they are $3.29), but I'm sipping one now after a killer exercise class this afternoon. I haven't had them regularly enough to notice any health benefits, but they are delicious and loaded with Omega-3's. The texture of the chia seeds is almost like runny jello. I like it, but most of their flavors are chia-free, so if that texture sounds like it will freak you out, don't get the chia ones.
Not Pictured
I'm bummed at the pictures I DIDN'T take these last few days. It's like the most popular kids at school missed picture day and didn't get in the yearbook.
My morning Green Monster smoothie. Many many many variations on this, just google it. I keep it simple. 2-3 cups spinach, 1 banana, 1 cup unsweetened almond milk, 1 splenda packet, and 2 tbsp ground flax.
Black Bean, Sweet Potato, and Red Quinoa Soup. This one's the biggest bummer of all because it was my favorite dish and definitely the prettiest! I can't believe I ate it for three meals and didn't snap a picture even once! The wonderful thing about it was, my soup was just as pretty as it looked in the pictures on the blog. So go check it out. I used white quinoa instead of red. Even my boyfriend loved this one. Which is good because I left onions out of it specifically for his picky self.
Random meals that make me happy because they're so simple and doable. One night I feasted on roasted mushrooms and broccoli, and it was as delicious as anything else I've eaten this week. Sprinkled a sliced apple with cinnamon last night, and voila, dessert.
Copious amounts of
Lilly's hummus (roasted jalapeno and kalamata olive flavors) and dill seasoned Triscuits. The guiltiest pleasure of the week. KILLER.
The only thing I really have to watch out for eating this way is to not eat too many carbs (rice, other grains, etc) every single meal, and limit oils. Because I do want to lose a little weight, I can't have the carefree attitude about calories and fats that other vegans seems to express. The night I ate broccoli and mushrooms for dinner, the veggies themselves were 64 calories, but I had triple that in olive oil. I want to learn more about cooking without oil. Especially roasting, which is my favorite way to prepare my veggies. I won't give it up totally, but I am definitely mindful of it now.
