Breakfast Smoothie: Chocolate Banana

I love making this for breakfast. It's super fast & easy, and I know I'm getting a nice boost of protein, simple carbohydrates, and some good fat from the hemp to start my day.

Ingredients:

• 1 c almond milk* (vanilla, unsweetened)
• 1 tbsp raw agave nectar
• 1 tbsp raw cacao nibs (could also use cacao powder)
• 1 tbsp raw supergreens
• 4 tbsp raw hemp protein powder
• 1 medium-large banana (frozen is best)
• 1 c spinach (also best frozen)

Directions:
With my Ninja, I prefer to use the small blending cup when I'm doing single servings (this is about 2 cups blended).  I put in my milk first, followed by my banana, my powders & cacao nibs, and top everything with the spinach.  I start off using the dough button (#1) for about 5-10 seconds, then bump it up to blend (#2) for 10-20 seconds, followed by about 10 seconds on crush (#3) to break down the cacao nibs.

Pour into a glass & enjoy!

*not a raw food, though you could make it yourself!

Breakfast!! Success!!

It finally happened! Breakfast!!  I managed to eat this, and with only being a little nauseous, I'm calling this a great success!  Added bonus?  I think this breakfast is totally soy free!

In the bowl:
1/2 c (dry) oats [not instant] & 3/4 c Almond Breeze Almond Coconut Milk
1 medium banana, sliced
1/2 c Amande Plain Yogurt

Directions:Cooked the oats & milk per package instructions.  Let it cool a little, then slice bananas over the top, and spoon on the yogurt.  Enjoy!  It's best in layers; if you mix it together, the yogurt gets hot.. gross.

Nutritional breakdown:
Calories:  380
Carbs:  72g
Fat:  10g
Protein:  9g

posted from Bloggeroid

Mushroom Wrap

I could eat this three meals a day, and it's a great way to use up veggies!  I generally saute whatever I have in the fridge to al dente, put hummus in a wrap, layer on the warm veggies, top with kale, spinach, lettuce.. whatever leafy green I happen to have (in this case, it was baby kale), wrap it up, and demolish it!

This particular wrap has red pepper hummus, sauteed baby portobellos, mini sweet peppers, and kale.  Two of these are only 288 calories, with 47g of carbohydrates, 5g of fat, 13g of protein.

posted from Bloggeroid

Chili gone wild!

Clancy's chili is in the monster tupperware container at the bottom.
I've already eaten two servings of mine...

Clancy and I are busy people who like to eat tasty food on the cheap and on the fly. Hence, large quantities of chili being cooked at once. But here's the thing.. there are TWO kinds of chili here. We started off with very similar base recipes, but he added sausage (like, real sausage, from a pig) and I certainly didn't. Different strokes for different folks, and YES, vegans can happily co-exist.

And by the way?  This chili is a vegan protein powerhouse.  You're welcome.  =]

Ingredients for my chili:

• 2 cans of chili ready diced tomatoes (or just diced tomatoes, adjust your spices accordingly)
• 1 can golden sweet corn
• 1 can dark red kidney beans*
• 1 can black beans*
• 1 pkg Tofurkey Ground Beef Style
• 3 mini sweet peppers (or 1-2 bell peppers), diced
• yellow onion (I used up what I had left in the fridge, I recommend 1/2-1 medium onion), diced
• Season to taste (cumin, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, black pepper, white pepper, chili powder, garlic, etc)

Directions:
Pour all of your canned ingredients into your crock pot and put it on high.  In a nonstick pan over medium high heat, saute your onions and peppers in your oil until your onions are starting to go translucent.  Add your "beef" and continue sauting for about five minutes per package instructions.  Stir your "beef" into your chili.  Let your ingredients cook for a couple of hours, stirring occasionally, and adding water as needed.  Bump it down to low, and let it simmer as long as you see fit (chili tends to simmer all day & night around our house).  Enjoy with homemade biscuits and peanut butter sammiches!

Nutritional info (serves 8?):
Calories:  229k
Fat:  4g
Carbohydrates:  37g
Protein:  14g

* = feel free to use whatever beans you like!  It's your chili!

posted from Bloggeroid

Breakfast!!

I made myself eat today!  I was up early enough that I had enough time to get hungry, versus the usual nausea I get in the mornings.  And before anyone asks, no, I'm not pregnant (unless I've been pregnant my whole life, ha).

In the photo:
1c Kroger Corn Flakes
1 medium banana
1/2c 365 Organic Vanilla Soymilk
1c Folger's Medium Roast Coffee
2tsp bulk sugar
splash of Soymilk in the coffee

Nutritional info:
Calories: 284k
Fat:  2g
Carbohydrates:  69g
Protein:  7g

posted from Bloggeroid

Swedish meatballs, vegan style.

This is one of my all time comfort foods.  Whenever one of us is sick, or really stressed out, Clancy will whip this up and have it ready when I come home.  He knows it will always put me in a good mood, and is one of my favorite meals.  He wanted to make a mushroom gravy (my favorite), but I used them all for the baked polenta topping the other night.

I have no idea how many calories this has, and I don't care.
You have to treat yourself now and again, or what's the point?

We don't get to eat a relaxed dinner together often, so this combined with one of my favorite comfort meals put me right at ease.  I love that man something fierce.

How to make it?  We are usually eating on the fly so we tend to make things like mashed potatoes ahead of time and buy frozen Meatless Meatballs from trader joes... Only the gravy ends up being made fresh, haha.  I honestly don't know how to make it... Clancy always does the gravy.

Breakfast, maybe?

I recently posted that I'm not much of a breakfast (or morning) person, and often struggle with eating before noon.  Lately I've been finding solutions and experimenting with eating light breakfasts, versus just not eating.  The other morning I had half of a whole wheat bagel with almond butter on it (115k, 28g carbs, 10g fat, 11g protein) and that sat pretty well, despite it being an epic battle to eat it.  Things just taste funny that early, like my body is warning me, "Hey.. you eat that, you're going to be sorry."  Sometimes I'll just have "yogurt", which tends to always sit well, or some fruit.  Yesterday, I was brave.

Ingredients(?):
3/4 cup Cocoa Snapz
1/2 Simple Truth Unsweetened Almondmilk
1 medium banana, sliced (I always slice right off of the banana, then eat the leftovers)

Directions (ha):
Measure and pour your cereal into a bowl.  Grab your banana, and while still partially in peel, work your way down it, cutting it into slices over your cereal.  When you have enough banana, eat what's left in the peel.  Measure and pour on your milk.  Enjoy!  =D

Nutritional facts (serves one):
Total Calories:  140k
Carbohydrates:  27g
Fat:  3g
Protein:  2g

Easy Cupcakes with Protein Icing

Ingredients:
1 box of vegan cake mix (I used a chocolate fudge cake mix)
1 15 oz can of pumpkin puree
30-35g (one serving) of protein powder*

Mix your cake mix & pumpkin together and bake according to box directions.  Cool completely before you try to ice them.

For the icing, mix one serving of protein powder with 3-6+ tablespoons of water.  You will have to adjust this according to what type of protein powder you have.  Flavored protein powder is best - they tend to already have a zero calorie sweetener in them, and don't usually taste too.. grain-y.

Makes 24 cupcakes.
91 calories each.  16 grams of carbs, 2 grams of fat, 2 grams of protein (80:10:10).

Testing tonight's dinner.

Can you even see the baked potato under that mountain of crock pot vegan chili? The only way this could get better is with vegan cheese!

posted from Bloggeroid