Welcome to Philly

Okay, so the title of this post is kind of a complete lie.  First, I need to finish with my last few bits about New York, and then...well I don't actually live *in* Philly.  But...well you'll see.  Read on if that didn't scare you away :)

The New York wrap up first.  My last cooked meal in New York had been bubbling around in my mind for about a week.  In fact, I roasted the garlic about 3 days before I ever even got around to making it.  What I ended up with was Roasted Garlic Mashed Cauliflower with Quinoa and Peas.

It really doesn't get easier.  It is just a head of cauliflower, steamed; a bulb of garlic, roasted, 1/2 cup quinoa, cooked; and a cup of frozen peas; defrosted.  The first three ingredients go into the food processor with a little bit of cooking water from either the quinoa or cauliflower, add a little oil (like, a tsp or two) if you want, and it is all blended together.  Then mix in the peas.  While its really easy, and uses minimal ingredients, it is also really really yummy.  

You may have noticed that I stopped calculating my nutrition information around the same time I started blogging with any sort of regularity, and that is simply because I just didn't have enough time.  I'm not a calorie counter, I just like doing that to show how nutritionally complete vegan food is/can be.  That being said...I have time now!

Serves 2 (with 2 tsp oil)

Nutrition Information:  359.4 Calories;  10.2g Total Fat;  0.8g Saturated Fat;  0.0mg Cholesterol;  82.5g Carbohydrates;  15.6g Fiber;  20.6g Protein

I also have something non-food related that I want to share before I move on to what I am currently up to.  This is the front door to my parents' house (where I have been living for the past almost 2 years). 

On Wednesday of last week, my mom, brother, and I came home, and a little visitor came in with us.  Turns out, we have had a tenant all this time and had no idea.  She lives in these flowers:

And....she has babies:

SO CUTE!!  We named the mommy bird Sangria, and the two babies are growing so fast.  We've been going in the side door to keep from a.) scaring them, b.) Sangria getting in the house again.  

Cut to...today.  My student teaching is done, my thesis is finished, graduation is on Wednesday.  I still don't have a job.  I know that I mentioned my husband came home, I don't know if I mentioned that he got a job in South Jersey teaching ROTC.  Well, he did.  I really wasn't thrilled about it; when I came down a few weeks ago we were not happy, but for some reason, our attitude has changed.  I came down here last night, and today has been a really beautiful day, we found an apartment to sublet for August as long as the credit check passes ::crosses fingers::, I went to the ROTC commissioning ceremony this morning, and then...we went into Philly.  I don't know what happened, but it did not go well.  

We went to Govinda's, which I had heard was one of the better vegan places in Philly.  I, apparently, was wrong.  

Okay, that's a little harsh, but it did not live up to my expectations.  First, we went to Govinda's To-Go, which is apparently different from the actual cafe (which I just learned by reading online, oops), but it was kind of dirty, the employees weren't nice, and the thing that I really wasn't expecting was...it wasn't vegan.  Yes, it is called Govinda's Vegetarian Cafe, but for some reason, I was thinking "vegan".    

This was upsetting because the whole draw of going to places like this, is not having to ask questions.  Normally it sounds like "Is there cheese on the soup?" or "Is the broccoli cooked in butter?"  Which...is actually okay because it just makes me sound health concious.  But at a place like this you end up having to ask "Is the ______ vegan?"...and that's annoying to me.

For example:  "Is the soy cheese vegan?"  "Is that cookie vegan?"  etc.  

In case you were wondering, their soy cheese is casein free...I had to ask about that, almost all of their meals have either fake cheese (or real cheese if you want) or fake meat.  Since the employees weren't exactly courteous, I didn't feel like asking about the desserts.  

All that being said, I had the Chicken Quesadilla.  It was actually really good, although the picture isn't exactly flattering.  

So while the food ended up being pretty good, I doubt I'll go back.  I'm not big on fake meat and cheese, and I really didn't like the vibe of the place or the people who worked there.  

This explains why I've been in a bad mood today, my first vegan place in Philly and I have to give it THAT review?  Not as much fun as I wanted it to be.  If anyone is in/near Philly/South Jersey, or has been to the area and has suggestions...PLEASE let me know!!  Right now I've got a bad vegan taste in my mouth for Philly, and I'd really like to remedy that.  Gianna's Grille is next on my list right now! 

Protein Packed Ice Cream

Who doesn't love ice cream?  Even better, who doesn't love ice cream that is pretty darn healthy?  

I've been making this for awhile, although it is a thousand time easier now with my new food processor.  I wanted to eat it before it started to melt, so the picture is a little fuzzy..oops!   

Strawberry Protein Ice Cream

1 cup frozen strawberries

1 tbsp solid fat (that sounds gross, but I mean coconut oil, or a nut butter..who knows, maybe avocado, but I haven't tried it)

1 scoop protein powder (should be about 1/3 cup, if you don't have a typical scoop)

2 tbsp of your choice of milk (I have used soy and almond)

water to "taste"  

Throw everything but the water into the food processor.  I'd imagine this would work in a high powered blender that everyone has but me ::pouts::  but I wouldn't recommend a regular blender, because its a pain.  You can still do it, but you have to manually turn everything a lot.  Anyway, blend everything.  Once it is combined, add water until it has reached the desired texture.  I usually only use a tbsp or so of water.

Serves 1 - made with strawberries and coconut oil

Nutrition Information:  292.3 Calories;  15.3g Total Fat;  12.1g Saturated Fat;  0.0mg Cholesterol;  17.0g Carbohydrates;  5.0g Fiber;  25.3g Protein  

There are a ton of combinations that you can make:  Strawberries and almond butter, cherries and cashew butter, raspberries and coconut oil...tons of combinations!  And honestly, you can't really taste the fat, so it is kind of irrelevan, taste-wise.  What is important though, is the protein powder.  I've talked before about my favorite protein powder,  and the quality and type of protein powder affects the taste.  This is the case with almost any protein powder recipe that I post.  If you hate the taste of your protein powder, this recipe isn't going to mask it.  

Anyway, this is one of those desserts that just makes me so happy!  I only have it on days that I don't work out though, because I don't like to use a protein supplement more than once a day.  If you haven't realized from my workout posts yet, I work out most days, haha, so I maybe have this once a week.  Of course, this would make a perfect post workout snack, I just like to have it at nighttime.  

Zoe says:  Mommy, when are you going to make ME something??  

As a small aside...I fixed my rainbow problem from yesterday morning.  Apple Pie Quinoa with a tofu scramble instead!!

  

Tomorrow is going to be a raw day!  Stay tuned :)

Where's My Rainbow?

A word of warning, my internet is sucking, so I apologize in advance for the brief post, and possible lack of posting this week.  My dad seems to think there is some sort of virus on the computer that is hosting the network so, we'll see what happens.  

Yes, I am stealing my neighbor's internet right now (shhh, don't tell them).  

Anyway, today is about breakfast.  I happen to love breakfast.  In high school, I often skipped it or had something lame like a Nutri-Grain bar, but now  I would never ever miss it.  In fact, I usually love what I make for breakfast so much that I will make the exact same thing for days, or even weeks.  You may remember my Cranberry Quinoa...from a month ago.  I've had that at least 5 days a week since I made that post.  

Anyway, I decided I was in the mood for something new.  Sort of.  I still had the quinoa, and I still had the tempeh, but instead it was a Apple Pie Quinoa and Tempeh Bacon Hash.  

  

Both were super yummy.  I made it again today, but sadly, I also ran out of my flax tempeh today, which...I have been spoiled with and don't really like normal tempeh now *sigh*.  

The Apple Pie Quinoa is 1/4 cup of apple juice or apple cider, 2/3 cup cooked quinoa, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg.  Bring the apple juice/cider to a boil, add the apples, sautee until soft, then add the spices and the quinoa, which will soak up the rest of the juice.  

Nutrition Information:  230.6 Calories;  3.0g Total Fat;  0.1g Saturated Fat;  0.0mg Cholesterol;  47.5g Carbohydrates;  6.7g Fiber;  5.5g Protein

I never get tempeh bacon right, but I was craving the flavor, so I just crumbled it up hash-style, and made it like that.  I let it marinate while the apples were cooking in 1-2 tbsp water, 1 tsp ketchup, a few shakes of liquid smoke (1/4 tsp maybe), 1.5 tsp Bragg's (or soy sauce if you like), 1 tsp agave nectar.  Then just sautee it in a pan until it is cooked through.   

Nutrition Information:  131.0 Calories;  6.2g Total Fat;  1.3g Saturated Fat;  o.omg Cholesterol;  11.0g Carbohydrates;  10.0g Fiber;  10.6g Protein 

Now, I probably won't be making this exact breakfast again, because as the title of the post suggests...it wasn't exactly colorful.  I had to get my rainbow from the plate!  But it was totally yummy, and both pieces were definitely worth having again...just maybe with either a colorful addition or with a different meal companion.

Just for fun, the nutrition information for the entire meal is:  

Nutrition Information:  354.9 Calories;  9.2g Total Fat;  1.3g Saturated Fat;  0.0mg Cholesterol;  56.8g Carbohydrates;  16.8g Fiber;  16.2g Protein

  

By the way, I realize that no vegan meals have cholesterol...I just really like putting 0.0mg Cholesterol, it makes me happy!

I also wanted to post a short workout update.  I still have 2 more weeks of the program that I am doing, and I have a plan for what I will be doing next, but I am so excited that I don't have classes most nights anymore because now I can go to yoga more than once a week!  I still have class on Monday's, which is a yoga night at my gym, but supposedly it won't meet every week.  I can tell that I have been getting better at it, but I feel like I won't REALLY get any better if I am only going once a week.  Plus, I love it.  I have my strengths and weaknesses, I am pretty flexible, I have good balance, but my hips are incredibly tight.  Like, my basic pigeon needs some serious help, but then I can balance with a half lotus, wrap my arm around my back and grab my toe.  

I also think I'm going to start doing a raw day once a week.  I returned something and got Ani's Raw Food Kitchen, but was almost going to exchange it again, but those raw desserts totally lured me in.  I think some of the stuff you can do with raw food is just so...cool.  So I want to make some of it!  

Also, I want to give a little shout out to my bestest friend, Jackie, who just told me she is thinking of being vegetarian (and at the very least, eating better and expanding her diet), and I thought maybe you all could post some words of encouragement for her!

I hope that all of you out there in the blogosphere/internetland had a great weekend!  

Quinoa Stuffed Mushrooms

Today actually was the dinner that I said I was going to.  I think I've finally gotten my days straight.  Today is Monday right?  Okay well it's 12:02 here, so technically its Tuesday, but you know what I mean.  

My friend told me she was making soup, but I was anticipating a lack of protein, so I decided to make some stuffed mushrooms stuffed with quinoa.  I was incredibly pleased with my time-management, actually, but the shrooms were good too!  

Quinoa Stuffed Mushrooms

Pre-oven

About 16 baby bella or white mushrooms (enough to fill a square baking dish)

3 cloves garlic

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tsbp salt free seasoning (I used Emeril's Chicken Rub:  red pepper, paprika, poultry seasoning, etc) 

1 1/4 cup cooked quinoa

3 tbsp dried basil

3 tsbp dried parsley

1.5 tbsp nutritional yeast

3-4 tbsp vegan cream cheese

salt & pepper to taste

paprika

1.  Preheat oven to 400.  Prepare baking by coating with a thin layer of oil, or use cooking spray.

2.  Stem and clean mushroom caps by brushing with a damp towel.

3.  Heat olive oil in pan.  Add garlic and saute for a few minutes, then add salt free seasoning, mixing to coat.  

4.  Add quinoa, basil, parsely, and nutritional yeast until well combined.

5.  Add cream cheese and mix well 

6.  Salt and pepper to taste.  

7.  Fill mushrooms with stuffing, sprinkle with paprika, and cook in preheated oven for 20 minutes, uncovered.  

Per Mushroom (about 3 per person would make a good appetizer serving):

Nutrition Information:  41.8 Calories;  1.8g Total Fat;  0.3g Saturated Fat;  0.0mg Cholesterol;  5.1g Carbohydrates;  1.3g Fiber;  2.0g Protein

Oh, cutest thing, my friend tried really hard to make stuff that I could eat.  She wanted to make potato leek soup, so I sent her a bunch of vegan recipes for it, and then she found her own recipe for vegan pesto.  When I got there, she said it came out really well, but she didn't understand why it told her to put yeast in it.  Too cute, she put regular yeast in it, when it obviously (to vegans) meant nutritional yeast.  It was seriously delicious though, even with the regular yeast.

We had a fun night, we ate, drank, there was a ton of food and not enough people to eat it.  Then we played Apples to Apples and Partini.  I am a big fan of Apples to Apples, I think because I am pretty good at reading people, so I often win.  I'm pretty competitive, so...I like any game I have a decent of winning, haha.  We were really frustrated with Partini at first, it seemed to hard, but it ended up being a lot of fun...so much so that I didn't realize how badly we were losing, and I actually didn't even care (shocker!!).

It still feels like the weekend to me!  My brother is home from school, my dad is home from work, I am just so damned confused.  So, I guess I should end this by telling everyone to have a great week!

Today's Cooking Song of the Day:  "Don't Look Back in Anger" - Oasis       

Don't Trust a Ho

Today dragged by.  Don't days always feel like that when you really spend the ENTIRE day procrastinating?  I woke up late, I waited for my husband to call..he didn't, so I got to the gym super late, today was weights and running, so I was there forever, and then I bought Shirataki noodles at the grocery store, and they weren't in the system, so I was there for way longer than I wanted to be, and then I was busy eating a box of Peanut Butter Puffins.  They're really good and I'll probably never buy them again because I ate the whole box.  If you have self restraint around things peanut butter, I highly recommend them.

Anyway, on to the food.  I had a tofu scramble for breakfast, the first time I've put nutritional yeast in it.  It didn't really change the taste that much, so I'll probably keep on doing it since its so damn good for you.  It was pretty much the same as my standard, but I did put the last of my spinach in it and used peppers instead of scallions.  

Dinner was for my family tonight.  I usually end up making dinner on Wednesdays.  I mentioned a few days ago that I got Vegan Fire and Spice by Robin Robertson out of the library a few days ago.  I just haven't had time to make anything out of it, and figured this was a good time.  Then I remembered that my mom doesn't like anything remotely spicy and my brother's tolerance is just slightly higher than hers.  Ooookay.  Well I picked a recipe that only had one chili pepper (I think it goes up to three), and then I completely changed it.  So much so, that the recipe deserves posting.  

The recipe it evolved from was called Red Beans and Rice Casserole.  So, let's call this a: 

Two Bean Quinoa Casserole.

     

The picture is lame because I thought I was going to have more leftover my my family ate almost all of it.  

Anyway, it goes like this: 

1 tbps olive oil

1 cup onion, chopped

1/2 cup red pepper, chopped

1 poblano pepper, chopped

3 cups cooked quinoa

3/4 cup chickpeas

3/4 cup black-eyed peas (leftover from the Black-Eyed Pea and Quinoa Croquettes)

1 can diced tomatoes, drained

6.15 oz Mori-Nu Silken Tofu (half a package)

2 tbsp unsweetened soymilk

2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp paprika

salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat Oven to 375.  

2. Heat oil in a large skillet, add both peppers and onion, toss to coat, cover, let cook for 5 minutes.

3.  Add ingredients Mori-Nu through paprika to blender or food processor and blend until smooth.  

4.  Add tofu mixture, beans, tomatoes, quinoa, peppers, and onion to a large bowl, and mix until everything is coated.  Season to taste.  

5.  Put the mixture in a 2 1/2 quart baking dish, cover with foil, at bake for 25 minutes. 

5.  Take off foil, sprinkle with chili powder and cilantro (or parsley if you're a cilatro hater, its just to look pretty).  Return to oven for 5 minutes.  Serve.  

Serves 4.  

Nutrition Information:  364.4 Calories;  7.8g Total Fat;  0.8g Saturated Fat;  0.0mg Cholesterol;  61.9g Carbohydrates;  10.0g Fiber;  13.1g Protein.

My family really liked it, the tofu mixture made it so creamy and moist.  It was also my family's first experience with black-eyed peas.  About halfway through dinner, they started debating what kind of beans were in it, and the resulting conversation went something like this:

Brother:  "Black-eyed peas look weird"

Mom:  "Ooooooh...so that's why they're called black-eyed peas!  They have little black spots"

Me:  "Hahaha, you didn't notice when we had them last week?"

Brother:  "Don't trust a ho" 

Everyone:  "... ... ... " 

What?  Yeah, apparently, it made him think of The Black Eyed Peas, the band, and...that's what came out.  He's fun (that sounds sarcastic, but its not).  

We also had roasted cauliflower and carrots, sprinkled with salt, pepper, and cinnamon.  Excuse the ugly picture.    

  

Today's Cooking Song:  Norwegian Wood - The Beatles (my favorite Beatles' song, if you were wondering).  

I also wanted to add that, my day was so screwed up from waking up so late and getting back from the gym so late, that the entire box of cereal actually worked into my calories for the day.  Sheesh.  

Cranberries and Bars - Day Two Gluten Free

On this gluten free adventure, breakfast is by far the hardest part.  I try to get at least 10g of protein in all my meals, and even more for breakfast (typically 20g).  I realized I was going to have to go outside of my normal breakfast foods in order to meet this.  Enter one of the prettiest breakfasts I have EVER had.  

Cranberry Quinoa

This was stupid easy.  I threw 1/2 cup of quinoa and 1 cup of whole cranberries in a pot with 1 3/4 cups water.  Cook until the quinoa is done (the little rings start to separate off), zest some citrus zest into it, cover, and let sit for 5 minutes.  I used a whole clementine zest.  Is it clementine season?  Clearly they aren't seasonal here (New York), I just was just wondering why my mom brought home this crate of clementines, it seemed so odd.  Anyway, you'll probably have to drain the quinoa mixture.  I stirred in some cinnamon and that was that.  

What?  That was that?  Cranberries are so tart!  Yes, they are.  I had it with some tempeh sauteed in agave nectar, so in eating them together, it was perfect.  If you are just going to have the quinoa, you might want to add some agave or sugar to that, to taste.  Don't add too much, cranberries are ruined by all that sugar we add to the to make dried cranberries.  

Nutrition Information:  202.6 Calories;  3.6g Total Fat;  0.0g Saturated Fat;  0.0mg Cholesterol;  11.0mg Sodium;  35.0g Carbohydrates;  13.3g Fiber;  7.2g Protein 

My other gluten-free adventure, which has taken place over the past two days, was gluten free snack bars.  I usually try to stick with bars that are higher in protein, and there is a good one, that is raw and high in protein (and super expensive and only at my natural food store which is an hour away near school), but I though, in spirit of being gluten free, I'd try a bunch.  Plus, I hear so much about those damn Larabars, I figured this was the perfect time to try one.     

My Review:

Larabar; Ginger Spice - Highest in calories (220 kcal), highest in protein (6g).  Awesome!  Gingery, spicey, moist, just enough sweet, really really good.

Dr. Weil; Chia Razz - Has 180 calories and only 2 grams of fiber.  I was not a fan.  I thought maybe it was the chia, which wouldn't make sense because I have hot cereal with chia in it that I love.

Clif Nectar; Cranberry, Apricot & Almond - 170 calories and 3g of protein.  Not a fan of this one either.  

The Larabar wins by a mile!

It is pretty important to note that these all were made of pretty similar ingredients:  dates, nuts, fruit, and sometime fruit juices or spices (so they're all raw also).  I think that I didn't like the fruity flavors of the last two because the dates are already quite sweet.  Natural sugar overload?  Anyway, after that I decided I'd just stick with the main ingredient....dates.  They're delicious and I have a huge tub of them.  Although as soon as I get a food process (for Christmas, hopefully), I'm trying to make my own, Larabar style.    

Anyway, that's it for today.  I got some exciting mail today, which I will be posting about tomorrow, so be sure to check back!  

Today's Cooking Song of the Day:  You Better You Bet - The Who