Friday, February 20, 2015

Salads, Pasta, Lentils and Healthy Blueberry Porridge and Snack times :) Summary of the last week

So it's been a long time!  School got the best of me at the end of fall, and next thing I knew I travelled to India for a month to see family I haven't seen in over two years!!

I am back and I am ready to start a fresh!  I want to reinvigorate fresh foods in my life as well as regular exercise.  The stress of daily life can sometimes impede.. but it's a sign that its even more important to make time for that!

So the last couple days I've been making super easy on the go foods.  The scale of goodness from 1-10, maybe is about a 5, the scale of healthiness is probably about an 8 though.  :)

Or something...

So coming back from India I was craving craving fresh foods, I had limited myself to mostly cooked cuisine since I had fallen sick a couple of times there and wanted to reduce my chances of getting any more stomach issues/ colds.  It was relatively mild what I had picked up, but it's good to be somewhat pre cautious while traveling.

I came home and I bought:
cabbage
romaine lettuce
kale
collards
green beans
yellow and orange bell peppers
oranges
limes and lemons
portobello mushrooms
canned organic corn (for the sake of ease)
coriander
parsley
i would have loved basil if they had had.. but they didn't
2 different types of tortillas -- ancient grains, and gluten free
avocados
zucchini

If I had had the option to purchase more fresh fruit I would have, the selection looked pretty sad though at the store so I held off.

First thing I made was:
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Spanish Lentils:
3/4 cup of lentils
2-3 cups of water
4-5 sundried tomatoes
3 crushed garlic
1/2 tsp salt

Add all ingredients into a crockpot, cook on high heat for 4 hours

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Avocado and Cilantro Lime Corn Soft Taco Salad:
2-3 servings

1 avocado diced
1 can of corn drained
1/2 lime juice
3 tbsp chopped cilantro
1 yellow bell pepper chopped
1/4 tsp salt
dash of pepper
dash of smoked paprika
spanish lentils (optional, can add a few tbsp)

Mix all of the above ingredients into a bowl

2-3 big leaves of romaine sliced
2-3 tortillas
refried beans (home made or storebought -- I used an instant one that is just to be mixed with water... and it was actually pretty terrible.. lol I recommend either from the can or homemade)

Put a tortilla on a plate, top with beans

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Savory Portabello with Herbed Cheese Wrap:
1 portobello diced in large chunks
8-9 green beans ends removed and sliced 2-3 mm thick
1 zucchini diced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp soy sauce
2-3 tbsp of sherry vinegar
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp salt

Let vegetables cook in liquids and seasonings for 5-10 minutes.

Herbed Cheese:
1/2 cup cashews
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp salt
1-2 tbsp of water, depending on desired consistency

Blend cashews plus water, salt and lemon juice until desired consistency
add basil.

For the wraps:
Place a tortilla on a plate, spread with 'cheese', layer chopped romaine, and add vegetables


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Curried Tomato Pasta:
1-2 servings
1 cup of dried pasta -- boiled

Sauce:
1 can of tomato sauce or 3 blended tomatoes
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 dollops coconut yogurt (or half can of coconut milk -- I recommend coconut milk, I used yogurt, which was fine, but the leftovers.. seemed to have too much of a sour taste)
dash of cumin
dash of pepper
dash of smoked paprika
dash of cayenne
2-3 kale leaves thinly sliced

Once the sauce is heated, add the kale until just wilted, mix altogether with the pasta.  I added nutritional yeast atop :)
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Cooked Cabbage and Quinoa salad with Tahini dressing:
1/2 head of cabbage sliced and roughly chopped and lightly steamed
3-4 leaves kale sliced
3/4 cup of dried quinoa boiled

Tahini dressing:
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp balsamic
1 tbsp agave
1/2 tsp salt

Mix all the dressing ingredients together

To make the salad mix cabbage, kale and cooked quinoa with the dressing.
Garnish with hemp seeds and flax seeds :)
I actually ate this for breakfast yesterday :)

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Healthy Blueberry Porridge:

1 cup of whole groat oats soaked over night
1/4 cup frozen blueberries
2 tbsp of vega nutritional blend (optional -- or any other high protein powder)
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp flax seeds
1 tbsp of hemp seeds
2 tsp chia seeds
2-3 tbsp dried cranberries
1/2 cup of water -- or as much needed to make a porridge consistency

Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender until smooth :)

VOILA


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Snack times:

For snack times, and for moments of hunger, I eat:

1 gluten free tortilla, spread with peanut butter :)

I also recently made chocolate!

I melted 1/4 cup of cocoa butter in a pan, and added 2-3 tbsp of cocoa powder.  oh it was sooo good and it was dark!  I added 1 tsp of agave and MY mistake I added organic sugar... like 1-2 tbsp...
The sugar did not melt like I thought it would!! It was crunchy :////

Quite the disappointment.. anyway, I've still been eating it.

I poured the chocolate into a plastic container. And 5-6 hours later it was dried and easily peeled off. I was breaking it off and eating it.. it tasted awesome... texture was bad.. because of the sugar.. but oh well.

I added it to my peanut butter sandwiches after slightly microwaving the tortilla to get it warm.. and then the chocolate melts... and at that point i never noticed the crunch :)






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