Veggie Way Day 5… Second Thoughts

This recipe may look (and be the consistency of) baby food… but, boy, did it taste delicious! While my laundry was doing it’s thing at the laundromat, I ran across the street to the Stop&Shop to pick up some bananas for an impromptu breakfast-in-the-middle-of-the-day craving. I knew I’d been saving Chocolate-Covered Katie’s Banana Bread Oatmeal idea for a rainy day and that day was yesterday. Although, it wasn’t actually raining (which was good because I SERIOUSLY needed to do some laundry).

Since Katie is vegan, I slightly altered the recipe to include milk and regular cereal (I used Fiber One’s oat cluster cereal). It was really good, but since bananas aren’t my favorite thing ever, next time I’ll probably only use half as much banana and more milk and cereal. But at that point I guess it’s more like just throwing a bowl of cereal in a blender… it still sounds good to me, though!

I was slightly bummed last night because I had these really cool-sounding recipe for a Portobello Mushroom Burger all planned out to make last night. But (of course) I didn’t read the recipe beyond the ingredient list before shopping and attempting to start making it (unfortunately this isn’t the first time this bad planning has led to a change of dinner plans – I really need to get it together!). I was supposed to grill the portobello mushroom before making the burger (duh!) and couldn’t do this because I don’t have a grill (or a gas stove – they do that all the time on those cooking shows, it looks easy! … Just kidding). So instead I whipped up something else I had recently added to my T0-Make list that I just happened to have all the ingredients for!

For starters, a yummy salad… (my eyes were bigger than my stomach – I actually only ate about 1/4 of this and saved the rest for later, ha ha!)

Then ta-da! AWESOME scalloped potatoes with a side of green beans (I was planning on making these to go with the burger anyway) and the seriously protein-packed large serving of (my new favorite thing ever) Roasty Toasty Chick Peas!!

First of all… just look at this plate. Can I get any more healthy?? Ha ha. There’s a starch, a veggie, and a protein – all packed with plenty of flavor. Definitely one of my personal favorite meals (it may not look too fancy shmancy – but it seriously hit the spot).

Roasty Toasty Chick Peas

Ingredients:

• 1 can chick peas
• 1/2 onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/4 red bell pepper, finely diced
• 1/4 cup finely chopped mushrooms
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

• Add oil, onion, garlic, and red bell pepper to a large skillet on medium heat, stirring until onions are golden brown (about 5 minutes)
• Add tomato, mushrooms, and chick peas. Stir occasionally until chick peas are slightly browning (about 8 minutes)
• Add paprika and salt, to taste.

 

Scalloped Potatoes (adapted from Food Network Magazine)

Ingredients:

• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 lbs russet potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick
• Salt, to taste
• 1 1/4 vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup skin milk
• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese (because I’m obsessed with it, but you can use any kind you prefer)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425˚
• Add olive oil and garlic to a skillet on medium heat and cook for about 3 minutes.
• Add the potatoes and salt. Pour broth and milk over the potatoes and simmer for 3 minutes.
• Spray a baking dish (I used 8×8 but I’m also not sure the exact pound-age my potatoes were) with cooking spray and slide the mixture into the dish. Sprinkle with cheese and bake until golden (about 2o minutes).

After dinner I also made these awesome Apple Pie Muffins (a slightly different take on my favorite Blueberry Crumble Muffins). They would’ve been a great healthy version of apple pie if you served them piping hot with some ice cream!

Apple Pie Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 apples, peeled and diced

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350˚
• In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, oats, cinnamon, and salt. Mix until combined. Melt the butter and add to the mixture along with the vanilla. Stir until batter is evenly moistened (this is going to take some effort and a minute or two). Add apples and continue mixing, add 1/4 cup water.
• Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray and add batter to muffin cups. Bake for about 20 minutes – enjoy!

 

This morning I was definitely feeling healthy… I don’t know what it was, ha ha! I had this awesome meal that was again perfectly well-rounded with leftovers from last night and some leftover lentil pasta (I made WAY too much of that – I still have SO MUCH!).

Later on in the day, before work, I went to a Greek restaurant on campus and ordered this Greek veggie wrap – delicious! And I got a free sample of falafel and this other awesome dessert out of it – good deal

The other day, I got this book delivered to my house. I read about it somewhere and decided to buy it super cheap from Amazon (I had to order another book for class anyway). So far, I’ve really liked it. I always had this bad opinion about Bethenny Frankel because I only know her from hearing about her being on one of the Real Housewives shows (can any book actually worth reading come from an author who’s done THAT?!), but as I’m getting further into the book I’m kind of starting to like her. It’s like somebody took out all the healthy thoughts I’ve had in my brain about life since I’ve started to lose weight and used them to write this book. She and I are really on the same page about this stuff. Ha ha… “page”… I didn’t even plan that one!

As the end of my veggie week is quickly closing on in, I’ve been reflecting on how I’ve felt about it so far. Wednesday I remember being very enthusiastic about the whole thing when some coworkers asking about how it was going and saying how I might want this to be a regular thing… but today I had some different thoughts. As I was getting back from class and on my way to work, I really wanted to stop for some chow. At first, I pulled into the parking lot of the chinese restaurant (I’m always craving lo mein and crab rangoons), but thought better of it and headed across the street for some healthier options. I was all ready for a turkey sandwich from Bagelz when I realized… Wait, I can’t have turkey, I’m vegetarian (at least for this week). And then I decided that, instead of getting something on-campus, I’d stop at Wendy’s closer to work for a delicious hamburger and fries. Oh wait… I mean, just the fries? I ended up being happy with my veggie wrap choice, but I was still a little bummed out by the thought that if I go fully veggie, I’ll never get to have a turkey sandwich, Wendy’s, Johnny Rockets, Subway, or all of my favorite meat-included meals ever again. Of course there are vegetarian options at all restaurants, but it’s not the same. Is going full-time veggie really in the cards for me?