Northern Italy Vegetable Stew (or something like that)

At the end of last semester, I was a bit sleep deprived from a combination of work, studying for finals, packing for Christmas Break, and various other things.  So of course just as my immune system is completely compromised, I hop on a plane, to fly home to the midwest, where it's freezing.  By the time I made it to my parents house, I was about 90% sure I was getting sick.  My parents took me to Olive Garden for dinner my first night home, and I followed one of my #1 rules for eating healthy when eating out:

Always at least look at the "lighter fare" or "under 500 calorie" options on the menu.  You don't have to order from it, but at least consider it.

I have never been happier that I created that rule for myself.  I discovered this fabulous non-pasta option at Olive Garden called Chicken Abruzzi which I felt like was an antioxidant immune-system-boosting wonderland of perfection.  I ordered it, and it turned out to also be delicious!  (And apparently all those immune-system-boosting ingredients did the trick, because I felt better within 24 hours!)

I couldn't remember exactly what was in it, but last week I decided to create something similar at home.

I don't really know exactly what to call this, because there definitely wasn't enough broth to be a soup, but a "one-pot pile of vegetables on a plate" doesn't really sound appealing, and it sort of has a broth, so I'm calling it a stew.  You could easily make this more of a soup by simply adding an extra can of broth.  By substituting vegetable broth, this is also easily a vegetarian/vegan meal!

The food:

1 can great northern or cannellini beans

1 can diced tomatoes (drained)

1 can chicken broth

3-4 medium-large yukon gold potatoes, cubed (substitute any type of potato, but russet potatoes will take longer to cook or should be cut into smaller pieces)

Kale (torn into pieces, stems removed) - I'd say I used about 3/4 of a "bunch" bought at the store... I don't have an exact measurement on this.

Garlic (I honestly just dumped the last of my small jar of minced garlic into the pan... I'd guess it was about a tablespoon, but you can use less if you don't want it to be super garlic-ey.  I also think this would be fabulous with whole cloves of roasted garlic like the original at Olive Garden, but I was improvising)

Basil

Oregano

Salt & pepper to taste

The gear:

Knife and cutting board

can opener

a large pan
A spoon or ladel of some sort.  

The know-how:

1. Saute garlic over medium-low heat (I just used the liquid from the jar of garlic, but you could easily use olive oil or a little bit of the chicken broth.) about 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Add the beans AND the liquid from the can (the starch from the beans will help create a thicker, richer broth.)

3. Add the canned tomatoes and chicken broth, bring to a low boil.

4. Stir in the basil, oregano, and any other seasonings.

5. Add the potatoes.  Keep it at a simmer or low boil about 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are tender

6. Add the kale, stir to submerge in liquid.  Let simmer just until kale has wilted.

7. Enjoy!

Roasted Spaghetti Squash

Roasted spaghetti squash, straight from the oven!

A few people have recently asked me how I cook spaghetti squash, so I figured there's no time like the present to write a blog post on it.  So without further ado:

The Food:
1 spaghetti squash
Olive oil
2-3 teaspoons minced garlic (I buy the already minced kind in a jar)
basil
oregano
salt
other seasonings as desired
Parmesan cheese (optional) 

The Gear:
a cookie sheet or baking dish
cutting board
a good sharp chef's knife
a large serving/mixing bowl

The Know-how:
1. Rinse the spaghetti squash (not-so-fun fact:  you should always rinse your produce before you cut into it.  The knife will bring any bacteria from the outside right into the edible part of the food!)
2. Cut the spaghetti squash in half.  I prefer to cut it lengthwise, ending up with two oval shapes, but this is more difficult.  If you don't have the best knife skills, I'd recommend just cutting it in half so you get two circle pieces.
3. Scoop out the seeds and the very center fleshy part (this will have a very different texture than the rest of the squash, much like when you are carving a pumpkin.)
4. Slice into the center of the squash a few times.  This will allow the olive oil and flavors to seep into the rest of the squash better.
5. Place the squash in a baking dish or on a cookie sheet with the cut side up.  Drizzle olive oil over the squash.  You may even end up with a small puddle of oil in the hollow part of the squash -- this is fine!
6. Spread the minced garlic along the hollow area of the squash.
7. Sprinkle salt, basil, and oregano over the squash
8. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes to an hour.  The edges should have a slightly golden brown color.
9. Remove from oven.  Take a fork and scrape out the squash.  It should pull apart into spaghetti-like strands (hence the name.)  If it doesn't come apart easily, put in the oven an additional 10 minutes or so.  
10.  Use the fork and another utensil (I prefer a pair of tongs, but anything will do) to remove the squash from the skin and transfer to a large bowl.  If desired, add cheese and toss lightly.  
11. Enjoy!

Served with zucchini and Italian chicken sausage

PB&J Overnight Oats

Who in their right mind doesn't like a PB&J every now and then?  Okay, if you have a peanut allergy, you're exempt, but otherwise, if you don't like PB&J, you might be insane.  I discovered overnight oats about a year or so ago, and while I do enjoy them, I've struggled to find the right combination of flavors and textures to make something I can eat regularly.  Then, last night, in my new apartment, with none of my usual toppings and mix-ins on hand, I came up with this brilliant concoction.  Overnight oats are a nice twist on the classic, comforting flavors of PB&J.

The food:

1/3 cup oats

1/3 cup nonfat milk (or whatever milk you have handy… almond, soy, nonfat, etc. are all fine)

1/3 cup yogurt (I prefer Dannon light and fit greek vanilla, but anything with complimentary flavors will work)

1 Tbsp crunchy, natural peanut butter

2 Tbsp reduced sugar craisins

The gear:

Container with lid

Spoon

Measuring cups and spoons

(This is really high tech stuff here folks)

The know-how:

Combine all ingredients in container, stir, and refrigerate overnight.  (Again, this is really tricky.)  Add additional milk if desired to reach preferred thickness/texture.  Enjoy!

The Numbers:

Calories: 320
Protein: 17g
Sugar: 17g  (You can pretty much cut this in half by using unsweetened almond milk and skipping the craisins)
Fiber:  9g

Overnight oats are great because you can prep them the night before and have breakfast ready to go when you wake up in the morning!  They are also easily portable, so you can toss the container in your lunchbox and eat it when you get to work/school/etc. if you are in a hurry.  As an added bonus, they are cool and refreshing, which is nice in this hot summer weather!

While this particular flavor combination is my favorite, I also enjoy them with vanilla and fresh blueberries instead of the PB and craisins, and hope to try an apple cinnamon variety soon.  Basically, feel free to toss in whatever sounds good to you, just keep in mind if it is something that will get soggy, you may want to add it in the morning instead.

Cheesy Mexican Rice and Veggies

As usual, all amounts of ingredients are an estimate!  I had this with chili-lime pork steaks and tortilla chips, but it would go great with fajitas or any other mexican dish too!

The food:
1 can black beans
1 can corn
1 can rotel tomatoes w/ green chilis
3 cups dry brown rice
Water - amount listed on rice package instructions, minus 1/2 cup
Shredded cheese (I prefer colby jack, but any cheese will do!)
1 small red onion
half of a sweet bell pepper (red, yellow, or orange)
Vegetable oil
fresh cilantro (optional)
chipotle powder (optional)
Sour cream (optional)

The Gear:
Large Skillet with lid, knife, cutting board.

The know-how:
1. Heat skillet w/ small amount of vegetable oil
2. Dice the onion and red pepper, saute in skillet until tender
3. Add rice, water, and can of rotel tomatoes to skillet.  Stir in cilantro and chipotle powder. Bring to boil.
4. Reduce heat, and cover with lid - cook according to rice package instructions (usually simmer about 30 minutes)
5. While rice is cooking, open and drain the corn and black beans.  Stir into the rice mixture during last 5-10 minutes of cooking.
6. top with shredded cheese and replace lid until cheese is melted.
7. Serve and enjoy!  Top with a dollop of sour cream if desired!

Meatless May: Complete!

It’s officially June, and Meatless May is over!  Ultimately, my goal for Meatless May had less to do with not eating meat and more to do with being healthier, trying new foods, and eating more fruits and vegetables.  While I did go the entire month without eating meat, I felt like I was much more successful during the first couple weeks, and as life got busy, I started cooking less, and eating more convenience foods that were not as healthy (but still meatless!)

I did not and still do not have any intention of becoming vegetarian.  In fact, this weekend I ate meat at both lunch and dinner both days.  However, there are plenty of great foods I discovered and habits I developed during Meatless May that I will be doing my best to continue with:

Smoothies – I’ve finally realized just how quick and easy smoothies truly are – it helps that we recently got a new blender that is super easy to clean – and have been eating/drinking them much more frequently.  They’ve become a pretty typical weekend breakfast food for me, and even the occasional weekday morning.  On nights that I don’t really feel like cooking, it hasn’t been uncommon for me to make a smoothie along with a small sandwich or leftover veggies instead of picking up fast food or making grilled cheese, or grabbing something random (and probably unhealthy) from the freezer.

Quinoa – I’ve only cooked with quinoa a few times this month, but I am definitely looking forward to trying new recipes with it and using it as a way to get a filling, protein-rich meal without excessive amounts of meat. 

Veggies can be a main dish! – people typically think of vegetables as being a side dish to go along with meat… why can’t it be the other way around?  I mean really, look at chicken-fried-rice for example – the focus of the meal is the rice, and it’s often loaded up with veggies along with the chicken; if I had to guess, I’d say that a typical serving is probably less than 25% chicken.  So when I want to eat ribs, corn, and green beans, why can’t I eat primarily green beans and corn, with just a small serving of ribs?

Avocado – I’ve always like avocado and guacamole, but never realized just how much avocado can “beef up” a meatless meal.  A veggie sub from subway or Jimmy Johns is wimpy and not filling in my opinion (it may be because I don’t like tomatoes, so I feel like it doesn’t have much substance), but adding the avocado spread is just enough to make it more substantial.  And of course, avocado is AMAZING with any type of Mexican food, such as my black bean and corn salad or stuffed peppers!

Veggie burgers! – if you’ve read any of my previous posts about Meatless May, then you know I have a new love of veggie burgers.  While I haven’t made any from scratch yet, I absolutely love the Morningstar ones and will be continuing to keep them in my freezer at all times (seriously, I went grocery shopping on May 31^st, and bought 5 boxes even though Meatless May was ending.)  To me, they are a great alternative to so many unhealthy convenience foods… Craving frozen pizza or pizza rolls?  Eat one of the tomato basil pizza burgers topped with a touch of tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese.  When you would normally heat up a frozen processed chicken patty for convenience, grab any other veggie burger for something just as fast, with more variety, and much healthier!

Apples – Apples have always been my favorite fruit, but during Meatless May, I ate one just about every day, and some days would easily eat 2 or 3.  Apples are amazing.  Whole apples, sliced apples, plain apples, apples with peanut butter, gala apples, granny smith apples; if it’s an apple, I want to eat it!  The end of Meatless May will not be the end of my apple obsession.

Less junk food – as far as snacking goes, during Meatless May I didn’t tend to crave a lot of junk food.  When I wanted a snack (even if it was the “mindless snacking” when I wasn’t actually hungry), I just sort of gravitated to options like fresh fruit, carrots, yogurt, or nuts.  I attribute this to a few things.  First, I feel like the less I eat junk food, the less I want it.  If I start my day with a smoothie, and eat an apple for a morning snack, and then have quinoa and veggies for lunch, by the time the afternoon rolls around, potato chips don’t even cross my mind.  Secondly, I knew there would be days that my vegetarian meals might not be as filling as I would like, so I had some filling healthy snack options available for when this happened.  Since I had a jar of almonds in my desk, they were a much more logical snack option than getting crap from the vending machine.  Thirdly, I was also making a conscious effort to eat less processed crap and junk food.  Since the entire point of Meatless May was to build healthier eating habits, I figured it would sort of counter intuitive to eat a bunch of garbage along with all the healthy things.

While I’ve made a few healthy changes in the past month, I still have a long way to go.  I’m not great about taking the time to pack my lunch, meaning I end up making bad food choices for lunch more often than I’d like.  And while I do eat less junk food, there are some things, like ice cream, that I will never completely give up… I could probably work on some of my portion sizes with these things though. 

There may be a few more follow-up posts, but for the most part, Meatless May is over!  I’m not sure if I’ll do any other “challenges” this extreme or not, but I’m definitely planning on continuing with my new healthier habits as well as building some new ones.  But who knows, maybe next month I’ll try “Junk-free July!”   

Vegetarian "Convenience Foods"

Honestly, I have not done much cooking or had any new exciting foods in the past week.  If you’ve been following the other posts on this blog, you know that I just started my 60 Day Running Challenge, so I’ve been focusing a lot of making sure I actually run in the evenings… I end up either not wanting to eat anything heavy before my run, or I come back from my run and am starving and just want to eat something quick and easy immediately… Both scenarios result in me not actually cooking, so I decided for the Week 3 Update, I would instead just talk about some of the great vegetarian “convenience foods”  that I’ve discovered so far this month!

Veggie Dogs and Veggie Burgers

Morningstar veggie burgers are amazing.  I’m pretty sure I’ve eaten veggie burgers at least once or twice a week since starting Meatless May.  Yes, they are a “processed food”, but they are vegetarian, protein-rich, and I can pronounce pretty much everything on the ingredients list!  They are also incredibly quick and easy to prepare, easy to eat on-the-go, and come in a variety of different flavors:

Garden Veggie:  This one is definitely my favorite.  It’s great just microwaved for a couple minutes and eaten plain with a fork, OR on a bun, loaded up with lettuce, pickles, etc.

“Chicken” grillers:  The “chicken” patties are just okay in my opinion.  They are a bit on the dry side, and don’t have a ton of flavor, but they go great with barbecue sauce!  One night last week my family had ribs for dinner, and one of these with a little BBQ sauce was a great substitute alongside the same sides as the rest of my family (corn on the cob and baked sweet potatoes!)  It was a simple way to still eat with my family without too much extra effort on anyone’s part. 

Classic grillers:  This is the one that is supposed to taste most like your typical beef burger… And honestly, I’m not a huge beef person, so to me it was the same level of averagely tastey… I would imagine if a cattle rancher ate one of these, he would be highly disappointed, but for me it worked just fine when we grilled out.

Tomato Basil Pizza Burger:  These smell AMAZING when you are cooking them, and they taste just as good!  I like mine “open-faced” on top of half of a sandwich thin or English muffin, then topped with a bit of pizza sauce and mozzarella.  They’re pretty good plain too though!

SmartDogs Veggie Dogs are pretty good!  The texture is slightly softer than a normal hot dog, but the flavor is pretty good!  I’ve actually only microwaved these so far, but they package says they can be grilled too.  They’d be great to bring to a cookout to give yourself a vegetarian option without too much extra work for the person manning the grill! 

Smoothies

Okay, smoothies do require a teensy bit of prep-work and clean-up, so I guess you could argue that they aren’t truly a “convenience food”… But really, the entire process of making a smoothie and washing the blender takes less than 5 minutes, which is pretty stinkin’ convenient if you ask me!   And as an added bonus, you can put them in a to-go cup!  I’ve always liked smoothies, but it wasn’t until recently that I started making them more frequently.  I’ve found that the best way to simplify your smoothie making is to come up with a few simple combinations you really like and use those as your starting points.  You can always substitute if you are out of something, and the more you make them, the easier they get.  My newest favorite smoothie is Strawberry Orange Pineapple, but last week I substituted half of a banana instead of the pineapple… It was a little thicker when made with the banana, but still tasty – next time I have to substitute, I’ll add a splash of juice or tea to get back to my usual consistency.  Also, Smoothies are a great way to get in a few servings of fruit and veggies!  I recently started adding a handful of shredded carrots to my smoothies and don’t even taste them!

Nuts, fruit, and vegetables

Again, these aren’t what we typically think of when we hear “convenience foods”, but really, they are natures first convenience foods!  What is more simple than eating an apple?!  Nuts are a quick way to get a boost of protein and last a long time without going bad.  It’s easy to keep a small baggie or container in the car or in my purse for when I get hungry while out n about!  The plain, dry-roasted are a great way to curb that “crunchy food craving”, but the occasional salted variety is good for that salty craving too! 

The easiest and most convenient fruits and veggies are the ones that don’t need any slicing or peeling and aren’t super juicy or messy.  My personal favorite is an apple, but grapes, pears, blueberries, bananas, blackberries, or raspberries would also be a great choice!  Carrots are also incredibly portable -  baby carrots are obviously the easiest option, but I prefer to buy whole carrots and peel and cut them up ahead of time, then I can just grab them from the fridge when I need them.  Celery also requires minimal prep effort… Just a quick rinse and a few chops with the knife and you’re done!  Sliced bell peppers are a little more work because you have to get rid of those pesky seeds, but they’re pretty much the only other vegetable I’ll eat raw, so it’s worth it to me…  Really any vegetable you like raw can be prepped pretty quickly once or twice a week and you end up with tons of “convenience food” vegetables!

Burritos

Seriously.  Bean burritos are the easiest things ever.  They were one of my go-to quick easy meals even before I started Meatless May… Just open up a can of black beans or refried beans, spread some on a tortilla, top with some cheese, microwave for 45 seconds.  Boom.  Instant dinner.  Sometimes I’ll add a bit of salsa, rice, fresh veggies, etc., but when I am really in a hurry I just eat it plain.

Pasta or Rice

Last week I said that replacing every meal with pasta is a bad thing to do.  It still is.  But the occasional plate of spaghetti isn’t going to kill anyone.  Plus, marinara  and other tomato-based sauces have vegetables.  Making your own sauce is way healthier than most of the store bought ones, but if you’re making pasta for convenience, store-bought sauce is a bit more realistic. 

Healthy Choice and Lean Cuisine Frozen Meals

Personally, I’m not a huge fan of frozen dinners, because I feel like most of them are smothered in unhealthy sauces and not at all filling.  The Healthy Choice and Lean Cuisine meals are not nearly as bad though, and they do offer a decent number of vegetarian options.  Again, I ate plenty of these before Meatless May, so these were an easy option for me when I was in a hurry this month.  It’s usually fairly easy to tell which options are vegetarian by looking at the packaging, but when you’re at the store that can be a time consuming task.  Healthy Choice lists all of their products online and has a complete list of their vegetarian products.  Lean Cuisine doesn’t have a vegetarian list, but you can view the nutrition info and ingredients of all products online before you head to the store.  Just a little research while you relax and watch TV one evening and you can have an entire list of which of these products to put on your grocery list… Then when you have a hectic evening and suddenly don’t have time to cook that elaborate dinner you were planning, you can just microwave one of these and you don’t have to starve.  If these aren’t filling enough on their own, pair them with a salad or have fresh fruit for dessert… still pretty stinkin’ convenient!

Salads

A lot of people assume being vegetarian means you have to eat salad all the time.  Well, in three full weeks of being vegetarian, I have only eaten two salads, both just a basic side salad alongside the rest of my meal.  So I guess people assumed wrong… hmm, I think we know what that means!  But really, salads are pretty quick and easy to throw together.  I’m honestly not a huge fan of salads, and I’m not great at coming up with big, elaborate, entre type salads, but if you experiment with enough of them, eventually you’ll find a few winners.  Two that I enjoy are:

·         Mexican Salad: lettuce/greens, topped with corn, black beans, salsa and/or tomatoes, fresh avocado, and cheese.  I absolutely love Brianna's Santa Fe dressing on this salad, but you could also use a homemade dressing or just a touch of lime juice.  And honestly, it’s pretty good without any dressing if you use salsa!

·         Cranberry Walnut Salad:  lettuce/greens, topped with dried cranberries, bleu cheese, walnuts, carrots, and balsamic vinaigrette.  (When I’m not pretending to be vegetarian, I often top this with a bit of leftover chicken breast.)

Oatmeal

This one’s pretty self explanatory, but I’ve eaten oatmeal more often for breakfast lately and thought I’d include it.  For me, it’s easy to actually prepare and eat at work when I don’t have time to eat breakfast at home.  Just put it in a Styrofoam cup (or if you want to be green, a bowl or mug) then add hot water from the coffee machine and let it sit for a few minutes.  This usually is filling enough to hold me over until late morning when I end up eating an apple.  

Meatless May: Week 2!

So… I know I’m a few days late on posting this, but it’s been a busy week!  Week 2 of Meatless May wasn’t quite as organized or well planned as the first week, but overall it’s still going great! 

Tuesday

One of the biggest mistakes people make when they try to eat vegetarian is that they start eating tons more pasta and potatoes to compensate.  There’s nothing wrong with pasta or potatoes, but when they become a major part of your diet, you’re not leaving much opportunity to get any protein.  But I do love pasta, so I figured it was about time for some Penne Asparagus Alfredo… Yum!  It was a quick and easy vegetarian meal without just reheating leftover or microwaving a veggie burger or something.  You could really do this with a variety of vegetables, but Asparagus is what I happened to have on hand at the time.  I’ve you’ve been reading about Meatless May from the beginning, you’ll notice that this is the only pasta I’ve had in 2 weeks – I’ve been very conscious of avoiding the over-pasta-fying mistake!

Wednesday

For some reason after work, I was really craving a smoothie on Wednesday… unfortunately I got a bit too adventurous with my ingredients and ended up not being able to drink it.  It was not exactly delicious.  I lucked out that my parents were having Italian food though, so I stole a piece of garlic bread and had that along with a salad and a bowl of Campbell’s 100% Natural Minestrone soup!  Not what I was in the mood for, but it was good, and I guess you can’t win ‘em all!

Thursday

When I made quinoa last week, my mom tried a bit, and she commented that it would probably be good made like fried rice with veggies and soy sauce… I love Chinese food, so it’s safe to say that I loved the idea!  If you know how to make homemade fried rice, you can use your favorite recipe and simply substitute quinoa for the rice!  I’ve never made fried rice before, but I know the basic concept and my mom is a pro, so she helped me out!  If you’ve never made fried rice before, it’s really not that hard… There are plenty of recipes online, and I will be posting mine soon!

Obviously, regular vegetable fried rice is already vegetarian.  The main benefit to substituting quinoa is that it is a “complete protein.”

Friday

Friday I was visiting my old roommate after work and then going line dancing.  Normally, I would just go over to her place and we would either cook something quick or order delivery.  The vegetarian options for pickup or delivery are pretty limited, and half of them are pizza, so I gave her a call ahead of time to ask if she’d mind if I just brought over some veggie burgers and baked potatoes for us to eat.  She’s not vegetarian, but she likes black bean burgers and was willing to try the other veggie burgers, so it all worked out!  Veggie burgers and baked potatoes are pretty basic, but this was my first situation in which I had to figure out how to be a vegetarian when I was going to be eating at someone else’s house, so I figured it was worth noting. 

Saturday

My mom, sister and I were going to a late movie as the beginning of our Mother’s Day gift to my mom.  We’d all had a fairly busy afternoon and wanted something simple and easy, so we made pizzas!  Individual pizzas are pretty common in our house and are easy to go vegetarian.  We use the ready-made pizza crusts, and on mine I had mushrooms and Morningstar Meatless Crumbles along with canned pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese.  The great thing about making pizzas at home, is that you can make each person’s differently so everyone is happy!  By making them at home, you are also cutting down on a lot of the grease and you can choose your own healthy ingredients – vegetarian or not!

Sunday

For Mother’s day we went out for brunch at a nice local restaurant, and I’ve gotta admit, the smell of bacon was tempting at first!  We had a bit of a wait, and I was hungry, and of course the main thing you smell in any restaurant at breakfast time is bacon, so I was feeling very jealous of my mom and sister who I knew would be eating it.  But once I got up to the buffet line, I saw all of the other amazing looking food and didn’t even have room on my plate for the bacon by the time I got to that end of the line…  Eggs, hash browns, mushroom and spinach mini-crepes, roasted vegetables, and fresh fruit had my plate pretty full!  A multigrain blueberry pancake topped with just a touch of hot cinnamon apples and I was set!  My sister did get another plate with quite a bit of bacon on it, but by the time she had it, I was too full to really want it anyway.  Bacon was really the one food I was expecting to be the most challenging.  I actually rarely eat bacon, and when I do it’s a pretty small portion, but I knew that the first time I was with someone who was eating fresh bacon would be tough.  Luckily this time there was plenty of other healthier, vegetarian, and yummy food to distract me.

Monday

On my first day of going meatless, I made Quinoa Stuffed Peppers, and they were delicious!  I still had some quinoa leftover from my “fried rice” style quinoa, so I decided to make the stuffed peppers again!  Since I wasn’t planning on making a batch of the black bean and corn salad this time, I decided to add black beans and corn to my stuffed peppers, much like the original recipe I referenced.  

Penne Asparagus Alfredo

I feel a little guilty even calling this a recipe, so I guess it’s more of a meal idea/suggestion.  Everybody likes pasta, and pasta is easy to cook, but nobody eats just plain pasta without any type of sauce or anything.  Marinara sauce is an easy vegetarian option, but it can get boring after a while.  Alfredo is a great alternative, but we typically hear alfredo and immediately think, “chicken alfredo” – what about the vegetarians?!  Asparagus goes great with alfredo, but plenty of other vegetables go well with it too.  Off the top of my head, I’d say broccoli, mushrooms, and asparagus would be my top choices. 

Simply cook the pasta according to directions.  Then steam or sauté your vegetables in a large skillet or pan.  Once your veggies are cooked almost to how you like them, pour in a jar of ready-made alfredo sauce (there are plenty of light varieties out there!), and heat it on low while your pasta finishes cooking.  Personally, I think some pre-made alfredo sauces are a bit bland, so I tend to add some minced garlic and some basil and oregano.  

Smoothie Success!

I absolutely LOVE smoothies, but I never seem to have time in the morning to make them before I leave for work.  Every now and then I’ll have one for lunch on a weekend, but I just never have a chance to have a smoothie for breakfast, which is just downright disappointing.  Well today I was strangely ahead of schedule, so I finally had my first breakfast smoothie of Meatless May! 

Smoothies are a great way to get some of your servings of fruit and vegetables for the day, as well as a great source of protein!  For me, every new smoothie is an experiment, and not always successful (last week I tried one that was a complete disaster!)  As a general, guide, I use some frozen and some fresh fruit, and either liquid (almond milk, green tea, juice, etc.)  and a scoop of protein powder, or Greek Yogurt.  I have made one attempt at adding veggies so far, but haven’t had much luck with that yet. 

Today’s smoothie was one of the best tasting and most filling smoothies I’ve made in a while, so I thought I’d share it with you!

Sunrise Smoothie Recipe (Orange, Pineapple, Strawberry)

Yield: about 20 oz.

The Food:

1 orange – peeled

2-3 slices of fresh pineapple – cut into large chunks  (If you don't have fresh, you can use canned, just make sure to get the "in juice" rather than "in syrup" and drain it well to avoid adding extra sugar!)

8-10 whole frozen strawberries (if your blender is not very powerful, smaller pieces of frozen strawberries may be easier)

About 1 cup greek yogurt (17 grams of protein!!)

The Gear:

Blender

The Know-How:

1. Combine all ingredients in blender.  Be sure to put your strawberries in first since they are frozen so that they will blend up more easily.
2. Blend until smooth.
3. Enjoy.

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

I’ve been dying to try quinoa stuffed peppers ever since I came across this recipe on pinterest.  This one looks amazing, but I was really in the mood for a more southwest/Mexican style recipe, so I did some googling and found this great recipe that I used as the basis for my recipe.  Since I was serving mine with a black bean and corn salad, I decided to omit them from the peppers.  That’s the great thing about stuffed peppers; you can make them to really suit your own preferences!  I also wanted to be able to make extra quinoa to have with throughout the week that would have a milder flavor to go with various other things. You could easily modify the recipe to make just the 2 peppers, or use the same recipe and just use more peppers.  For each whole pepper, you will need about 1-1½ cups of the quinoa mixture.

A few notes about quinoa:

• Quinoa is technically a seed, but often referred to as a whole grain.
• It is a complete protein with all the essential amino acids, making it a great part of a vegetarian or vegan diet!
• It is similar to rice in texture, flavor and cooking technique, and they can be easily substituted for each other in many recipes.
• As a general rule of thumb, 1 cup dry quinoa yields approx. 3 cups cooked.
• When cooking quinoa, use 2 parts liquid (water, chicken or vegetable broth, etc.) to 1 part dry quinoa.

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers Recipe

Yield: 2 medium peppers, plus 4 servings of leftover quinoa

Active time: about 15-20 minutes.

Total cook time: about an hour.

The Food:

2 medium bell peppers – (red, yellow, or orange will be sweet; green will by more spicy)

1 ½ cups dry quinoa

3 cups water (for more flavor, you can substitute part of this with chicken or vegetable stock)

½ a medium yellow or white onion

1-2 small tomatoes or ½ can diced tomatoes, well drained

1-1½ cups finely chopped carrots (I used matchstick carrots then just gave them a course chop)

1-2 teaspoons minced/chopped garlic

2 stalks celery, finely chopped

Vegetable oil

Oregano – amount varies by preference; I used about a handful of fresh oregano finely chopped.

Chili powder – amount varies by preference; I used just a quick sprinkle because I don’t like it too spicy

Chipotle powder - amount varies by preference; see above

Other herbs or spices as desired

¼ - ½ cup shredded cheddar or Colby jack cheese

1-2 slices “spicy” cheese such as pepperjack (I happened to have jalapeño white cheddar, so I used that)

The Gear:

Large skillet – large enough to hold your water and quinoa without boiling over OR a smaller skillet and a large pot.

Small baking dish

Nonstick foil or cooking spray

The basics (Knives, cutting boards, measuring cups, etc.)

The Know-how:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onions and celery and cook about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then add the garlic and continue cooking (stirring occasionally) until onions are translucent, about another 2-3 minutes.
3. Add water, oregano, quinoa, and carrots.  If you want all of your quinoa to be more on the “southwest” or spicy side, go ahead and add all your spices and herbs now.  I wanted the leftover quinoa to be mild to go well with other dishes, so I add those spices later.
4. Bring water to boil and boil about 5 minutes.  Reduce heat and simmer covered, an additional 15 minutes.  When the quinoa is done, most of the liquid will be gone and the quinoa will have a rice-like texture and have small white spirals visible on each seed.
5. While the quinoa is cooking, slice the peppers in half lengthwise and remove the seeds.  Spray the baking dish with cooking spray or line with nonstick foil.  Place the peppers in the baking dish.  Dice your fresh tomatoes or drain your canned.
6. Remove about 2-3 cups of quinoa to a mixing bowl.  (Set any remaining quinoa aside to cool so you can store the leftovers.)  Stir in remaining spices, diced tomatoes, and shredded cheese.
7. Scoop the quinoa mixture into the pepper halves – don’t be afraid to pack it in there tightly. 
8. Cover the dish with foil and bake for about 30-35 minutes.
9. Remove the dish from the oven and top each pepper with ¼ - ½  of a slice of the pepperjack or other cheese – just enough to form a thin layer that will bubble up nicely and cover the top. 
10. Bake an additional 5 minutes uncovered until cheese is bubbling.

This makes a great vegetarian meal served with black bean and corn salad and fresh avocado, but would pair well with any Mexican-style dish!  As for the unused quinoa in this recipe, just let it cool, pop it in some Tupperware and refrigerate to have later in the week!

Quick and Easy Black Bean and Corn Salad

I discovered this recipe last summer, and it is delicious!  It goes great as a side dish with any Mexican meal, or use it as a salsa or to top a salad.  It’s also a great way to use up leftover corn (just use your leftovers instead of the can) or use up fresh tomatoes before they go bad.  No cooking required!

The Food:

1 medium red onion

1 can black beans – drained

1 can corn – drained

1 can diced tomatoes – drained –for an added kick, substitute a can of rotel tomatoes with green chiles!

Juice of half a lime

Small handful of fresh cilantro, finely chopped/shredded

The Gear:

Can-opener.  Bowl. Spoon.  Knife. Very high-tech stuff here folks.

The Know-how:

1. Open cans.  Drain out excess liquid.
2.  Dice onion.
3. dump contents of cans into bowl. Add diced onion.  Stir.
4. Slice lime in half.  Squeeze juice over vegetable mixture.
5. Chop up the cilantro.  Stir into the mixture.
6. Refrigerate covered at least 30 minutes to chill and let flavors combine.  Personally, I think it tastes best the next day

 See?  Isn't that easy?  Super easy and super yummy!

Meatless May - Week 1

Wow!  I have had some AMAZING food these last few days!  I ended up starting “Meatless May” a day early; and a full week in, I love it!  I haven't had any real cravings for meat or anything, nor have I found my self feeling starved all day.  After a week, I still don't think I want to become a vegetarian forever, but I do think at this end of this month I will continue to eat significantly less meat and more vegetables than usual.

Is it easy to go Meatless?

My biggest challenge so far has been time management.  As I said in my last post, I'm living with my parents at the moment, so I'm not used to cooking dinner every night of the week.  By the time I get home from work, it's usually about 6 o'clock and I'm getting hungry, so the last thing I want to do is slave away in the kitchen for 2 hours before I get a chance to eat.  So far, I've been doing okay though!  I've planned out meals ahead of time and done my grocery shopping ahead of time, so when I get home, I know exactly what I need to do and have able to get it done in a reasonable amount of time.  I've also accepted that I need to be flexible.  I have a few quick easy vegetarian dinners handy so that if I get stuck working late or am especially tired or stressed one evening, I don't have to cook.  I have a few vegetarian lean cuisines, veggie burgers, fresh fruits and veggies, etc. that I can eat instead, and then I just push my planned meal to another day of the week!

So what have I been eating?  

This isn’t a “daily food journal” because that would be boring, so I am not listing every single thing I eat.  I’m sure you’ve all eaten a PB&J or a carrot before in your life, so if I eat that, it’s not very exciting for you to read about now is it?  I will, however, post an overview of any recipes or new vegetarian foods I've tried each week.    

Tuesday

I was working from home on Tuesday, so I decided to take the opportunity to try one of the Veggie Dogs I bought at the store this week for lunch.  The verdict?  Yum!  Compared to a normal hot dog, they are not quite as firm, but still very hot-dog-like.  The flavor was about the same, but maybe a bit stronger… it actually tasted more like meat than a real hot dog does.  As far as nutrition goes, you really can’t beat it – fewer calories, less fat, and more protein!

For dinner, I made homemade Quinoa Stuffed Peppers along with leftover black bean and corn salad and fresh avocado… amazing!  I will have another post soon with the full recipes, but look at how yummy this looks!!  **Recipe now posted!**

Wednesday

When I made my stuffed peppers, I made extra quinoa to have as leftovers, so I had this and some frozen veggies for lunch.  The quinoa re-heated nicely in the microwave, but I did add just a little water first to keep it from drying out.

Portobello mushrooms with marinara sauce are a staple in my house ever since my mom started trying to cut out carbs again.  The mushrooms with a slice of fresh bread and a nice salad make a great vegetarian meal; and for the meat eaters in my family, we have turkey meatballs too!

Thursday

Thursday was a rough day right from the start – I overslept and didn’t have time to pack a lunch.  Then Work was chaotic so I couldn’t go out to lunch for a sit-down lunch that might have some vegetarian options.  So I ended up making a quick run to taco bell to pick up bean burritos to bring back to my desk.  It wasn’t ideal, but it’s vegetarian, quick, and cheap, so it works out okay I guess. 

I had planned on cooking spaghetti squash with some other veggies for dinner, but ended up leaving work 45 minutes later than usual and definitely not in the mood to cook a big meal.  So instead, I heated up some Morningstar veggie burgers from the freezer.

Now let me tell you; I’ve always been skeptical of veggie burgers.  To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of ground beef to begin with so I’m not big on burgers in general.  The only non-meat burgers I’ve really been exposed to are black bean burgers, which also never appeal to me because they are usually seasoned to be a bit spicy.  But seriously, I wish I’d tried veggie burgers years ago!  I’m sure every veggie burger is different, but these are AMAZING!!  I didn’t even grill them – just popped them in the microwave for three minutes!  It didn’t taste anything like a typical beef patty, but it had a ton of flavor!  There were some visible pieces of carrots and peppers in the patty, and you could really taste the flavor of the peppers  (sweet, not spicy), and there had to have been some herbs and seasoning added to it, because this was the most flavorful burger I’ve ever had! 

I could seriously go on about these for ages!  Actually, don’t be surprised if there’s a whole post devoted to them later!

Saturday

I finally had a chance to make my Spaghetti Squash!  I had spaghetti squash mixed with some saute'ed mushrooms and aspragus and a can of diced tomatoes... Overall, I would say it was good, but I don't recommend it as an entire meal.  With just a light olive oil sauce and the other veggies, the texture of the spaghetti squash was weirding me out after too much of it.  I will definitely be doing more with spaghetti squash in the future, but not making it my main dish.  

Monday

I had some amazing roasted vegetables - potatoes, mushrooms, and asparagus - with a touch of olive oil and rosemary.  Along with carrots and a salad topped with feta and almonds... delicious!  The rest of my family ate the same thing, but had a rotisserie chicken with it, so everyone was happy!  I was still a teensy bit hungry after dinner, so I had a small container of yogurt for dessert.

Last Meal

I have officially eaten my last non-vegetarian dinner for the next 32 days!  I am officially going vegetarian on Wednesday, but in doing my meal planning for the week, I realized I will be eating quinoa stuffed peppers for dinner tomorrow as well, so I guess I’m starting a day early!

I am very excited about starting Meatless May… and a little anxious if I’m honest.  I know it will be challenging at times, but it’s a challenge I am looking forward to.  This weekend I went to the grocery and stocked up on lots of vegetarian-friendly foods… plenty of fresh fruits and veggies, quinoa, veggie burgers, and a variety of other yummy foods!

So what's Meatless May? I have no idea!  Just kidding, but it's really not a "real" thing; it's just what I am calling my attempt at vegetarianism.  For the month of May, I will not be eating meat.  I am not going vegan, so I will still be eating some amount of dairy and eggs.  I may also occasionally eat fish... So I guess I'll technically be going pescetarian, but I can never remember how to pronounce that, so I'm just going with "vegetarian."

When planning out my meals for the week, I decided to stick with a few frozen veggie blends, fresh fruit, and yogurt for lunches, ans dinners will be a nice mix of simple/familiar foods, and some new foods I’ve been meaning to try.  This week’s dinner menu:

The biggest challenge for me right now, is that I currently live at home with my parents, so I’ve been a bit spoiled by my mom’s cooking since moving home after graduating college.  Not only is her cooking amazingly delicious, but it also means that I don’t have to cook every night!  While there will be some nights that I will eat what the rest of my family eats and simply omit or substitute the meat, there will be many more nights that I will be doing the cooking.  I’m a pretty decent cook, and I do enjoy cooking, but I’m not used to spending a ton of time in the kitchen after work on weeknights.

Check back later this week for an update on Meatless May!  I'll be posting recipes, challenges, and whatever else catches my fancy!