Dare to "Green"

Green isn't my favorite color, but that doesn't mean I'm not attracted to it. It's just so vibrant and... lively! So I decided to make buckwheat soba noodles with zucchini for dinner. It was so quick and easy to whip up, I'm sure I'll be having these often on my busy nights.

Ingredients:
-buckwheat soba noodles (I used the pre-made ones that's a single serving. I cut a slit in the package and microwaved it for one minute)
-medium zucchini, sliced
-Season to your taste (I used soy sauce, lemon pepper seasoning, chopped onion seasoning, and green onions for garnish)

Cook your zuchinni on medium high heat. Toss in the noodles when the zucchini is slightly soft. Mix in the seasonings. And voila. That easy! Less than ten minutes on the stove. Add chickpeas or tofu for a protein source. I roasted some chickpeas in the oven, gave it a dash of seasoning, and had it for my appetizer.

"Cheesy" Popcorn

No cheese whatsoever! Instead, sprinkle your air-popped popcorn with nutritional yeast for a cheesy flavor.

My method:

Put two tablespoons of popcorn kernels in a brown paper lunch bag. Fold the opening twice (about 1/2 inch increments). Place in the microwave for about 1 minute and 30-40 seconds. Ta-da! Air-popped popcorn! 

Rice paper to the rescue!

The miracle of rice paper? They can make leftovers appetizing. Thank goodness for that, because I had spaghetti squash, baby carrots, and celery leftover from the week and I needed to get rid of it. However, eating them all week didn't make them anymore appetizing.

Nonetheless, I cut up the celery and carrots threw into a pan to cook, then added the cooked spaghetti squash.

To season, I added 1/2 a tablespoon of Hoisin Sauce and chili paste. Then I used rice paper (Three Ladies Brand is the best, in my opinion) and rolled them up. Although, I do need to work on my rolling/folding skills.

Nevertheless, the rice paper saved me from my leftover slump! Yumm! If you're ever in a rut, I suggest you try it!

My verdict on vegan cookies.

I did my grocery shopping this weekend at Whole Foods and came across this vegan cookie dough.

This has 28 servings at 50 calories per cookie. I'm pretty sure I'll be set this month when it comes to my cookie cravings.

Once I got home, I tried them out right away.

My verdict? They're so damn delicious! Better than the non-vegan doughs I've tried!

Peach-nana and Straw-nana Green Smoothies

Green smoothies! Here's a simple and quick recipe!

Ingredients:
1 cup of spinach
1/2 a banana
1/2 cup of frozen sliced peaches OR strawberries
3Tbsp of water (or more to reach the consistency desired)

Blend! Ta-da!

*The first photo is made with strawberries and the second is made from peaches. Excuse my pj's ;]

February Vegan Challenge

February first. A new month. A clean slate. Just what I needed! And I think a new challenge and self-experiment is needed!

As a child, I always associated February with Red. Red for Valentine's Day and red for the Vietnamese New Year. I'm not ashamed to say it, but Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays. I can see you rolling your eyes as you read this, but hear me out. We all live busy, face-paced lives. How often do you tell your loved ones, that you love them? Yes, it's a commercial holiday, but it also reminds you to appreciate those around you. And sometimes, we need a reminder (even if it's one where the greeting card industry profits).

I grew up in a household where we didn't say we loved each other, and it wasn't because we didn't love each other, we just weren't accustomed to saying it out loud. So when I got home from school on V-day's with a brown paper bag filled with cards that said nice (albeit standard) things, I couldn't help but feel good about myself.

Now flash forward. I'm no longer a child, but a young adult. No more brown paper bags filled with cards. Single or not, I still celebrate Valentine's Day. I send my single mother flowers, my sisters chocolates, and go out to dinner or watch a movie with my friends.

This year, I want to do something different. With the Vietnamese New Year to boost my New Year's Resolutions, I've decided to go Vegan for 28 days. I tried going Vegan two years ago, but it didn't last too long. This time, however, I'm determined to do the 28 days. The way I think of it, I'm resetting my body so that I can learn and go on living a happy and healthy lifestyle with a plant-based diet.
Along the way, I hope to find a balance between my mind and body. And once Valentine's day comes around, I hope to inflict myself with copious amounts of self-love (something we all need, once in awhile) and delicious food!

I'll be using Kriss Carr's Crazy, Sexy, Kitchen and Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet to help me accomplish this. Look forward to my recipe reviews.

Spaghetti Squash with Pad Thai Sauce

I've found another sauce that goes well with spaghetti squash! Pad Thai Sauce! I didn't have the regular ingredients at hand for pad thai, but I did have broccoli and tofu.

It turned out pretty well, that I made it again for my friend Lyly for dinner. Rest assured, it's been Lyly-approved!

Makes 2 servings (but you can easily make it for one due to the simple ratios)

Ingredients:
2 cups of broccoli
2 cups of cooked spaghetti squash
2 servings of tofu
3 Tbsp Pad Thai Sauce

Steam broccoli in one pan. Cut tofu into cubes and cook on medium-high until they have browned on all sides. When the broccoli is a vibrant green, set aside.

Once tofu is cooked, add the broccoli, spaghetti squash, and sauce together. Mix well over medium heat. Once the spaghetti squash is warmed up, you're good to go!

Loaded Veggie Soup

I'm not too good about eating my vegetables. Fruits, I love. Veggies, not so much. I try to incorporate salads or soups into my day as much as possible to compensate. So for this week I made a batch of soup to eat for the week instead of to-go salads. I'm a total newbie to the soup scene, so I just threw whatever sounded good in (the same approach I have to salads ;]).

Ingredients:

1 box of broth of your choice (low sodium)

1 medium zucchini

1 yellow squash

1 cup of cut green beans

1 can of kidney beans (rinsed)

1 cup of cut baby carrots

2 large celery stalks

Seasoning of your choice (I used black pepper, Mrs. Dash-Fiesta Lime, Chili paste) (weird combo! But that's all I had at the moment).

Directions:

Wash, peel, and cut veggies while bringing broth to a medium boil. Add carrots to the boiling broth first to give them a head start. Then add everything else. Stir occasionally.

Add seasoning. It's done, when the veggies are tender. Don't overcook it or you'll end up with mushy veggies (unless you like it that way).

~makes about 8 cups at 75 cals per cup

 

Reese's Hot Chocolate

I'm calling this "Reese's Hot Chocolate" because after seeing my baby cousin eat this:

I knew I had to find a replacement for that. So PB2 and Cocoa Powder to the rescue!

In one mug heat up a cup of unsweetened almond milk (or milk of your choice) for 1-2 minutes until hot. While the milk is warming up, mix one tablespoon of PB2, one tablespoon of cocoa powder, and 1 or 2 packets of stevia (depending on how sweet you want it, you can always add it after if you aren't sure) in another mug. Once the milk is warm, pour it into the mug with the dry ingredients. Stir well to make sure everything dissolves or stir as you drink (since the powder has a tendency to sink and sit on the bottom).

It definitely took away my craving, lasted longer than the few fleeting bites my cousin had, and was a healthier option compared to the process stuff.

*Note: This drink is very rich and may not suit everyone (because of the peanut buttery taste). To make hot chocolate, just omit the PB2 and use 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder instead.

Healthy Take on Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Oatmeal raisin cookies are my favorite. I can literally eat a dozen of them in one sitting. So I decided to put my own spin on it in a half dozen batch that is completely guilt-free!

Makes 6 cookies, bake at 350 degrees for 12-14 minutes. Just simply mix all ingredients together.

1 packet of instant unflavored plain oatmeal
1 tbs unsweetened applesauce
2 tbs unsweetened almond milk
1/2 tbs of sweetener of your choice
pinch of salt
dash of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1 mini box of raisins (or about a tablespoon)

 Mix!

 Divide into six cookies!

And after waiting patiently, dig in!

Update on yesterday's banana ice cream!

So this morning for breakfast (yes, ice cream for breakfast!), I made the chocolate ice cream that I wrote on my previous post. It was delicious!!! Although, it came out more like a soft serve texture. I think next time I'll try mixing greek yogurt with sweetener and cocoa powder, then freeze it for a few hours to see if that texture is creamier and ice cream like. Once I do, I'll make sure to update you all!

Spaghetti Squash with Hoisin Sauce

This week I had spaghetti squash with vegan meatballs for my meal prep. Today I didn't have any red sauce or vegan meatballs left, but I still had half a cup of spaghetti squash. Today must be my "winging" day because I winged this one too.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of spaghetti squash (cooked) (since it was all I had left)
1/2 tablespoon of hoison sauce
1 tsp of chili paste (if you like it spicy)
cilantro (optional, I used it to garnish)

Mix together and cook on the stove (med-low heat) until warm!

Tasted great! Since I know it worked out well, next time I'm gonna double the recipe, add veggies, and a source of protein to make it a real meal.

Remember, I'm a basic experimental cook. So get creative with this and add whatever you like! I for one cannot wait to eat this with red bell peppers, onions, and grilled shrimp!

Have a happy healthy day!

Chocolate Pudding/Dip/Ice Cream

Remember those chocolate pudding snacks in elementary school? I had a craving for that today, but I wanted a healthier version. Thanks to the versatility of bananas, I can!

This chocolate pudding can also be a dip or ice cream too. So simple! Just blend a refrigerated banana with 1/2 a tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder. For ice cream, simply use a frozen banana! Ta-da!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies!

Instead of eating typical oatmeal today for breakfast, I wanted cookies! Thus, I winged it and created a medium between the two.

Ingredients:
-1 packet of instant unflavored oatmeal (or you can use 4 Tbs of rolled oats and crush them in a food processor)
-1 Tbs of Peanut butter or any nut butter you prefer (I used PB2)
-3 Tbs of unsweetened almond milk
-1 packet of stevia or truvia
-pinch of salt
-1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon of baking powder

Mix all of the ingredients together. Place on parchment paper on a cooking sheet (you don't have to use parchment paper, I just prefer it). The mixture makes six cookies. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

These came out chewy and soft! Next time I'll add some mix-ins like raisins, nuts,  or chocolate chips!

-Miss M

Spaghetti Squash with Vegan Meatballs

My healthy take on spaghetti, it's as simple as one, two, three! Seriously.

1) Spaghetti squash
2) Red sauce of your choice
3) Vegan meatballs (or you can go for whichever meatball that suits you).

Yum! Michelle Approved! 

Perfectly Imperfect

Read this entry from Heidi Powell's blog!

Week 4 Meal Prep

Meal prepping takes forever!!! But I know it'll be worth it during my busy week.

On Facebook I follow personal trainer, Chris Powell. His status today mentioned that people usually bail out of their New Year's resolutions by January 17th. I'm happy to say that I am still going strong, and I hope you are too. Here's a motivating photo I found on tumblr to celebrate!

So true, right?

This morning I woke up and wanted banana-egg pancakes. I like to get creative with them, sometimes adding blueberries, raisins, or PB2 peanut butter (I love PB2!). However, my mother was cleaning the stove, so I came up with a brilliant idea to make waffles instead, using our waffle maker. It didn't turn out so brilliant after all... Sad face.

Nonetheless, I still ate it though it came out looking nothing like a waffle. My workout this morning was great, another body-pump day with a little bit of cardio to warm me up. After the gym, I went to buy groceries for the week (not a good idea, since I was starving). Once I came home, I prepped everything I needed for the week. Snacks: bananas, apples, grapes, celery (to eat with PB2), Chia seeds with vitamin water, black bean brownies, and pistachios (my favorite nut).

Then I made cauliflower fried rice and yellow-green salads for a side/lunch/dinner.

For dinner tonight, I'm going to make a healthy spin-off of spaghetti and meatballs using spaghetti squash and vegan meatballs.

This has been a very productive day.

-Miss M

*Recipes on the previous post

Yellow-Green Salad (to-go)

I didn't plan on the colors, they just came out that way. Prepping salads are a life-saver! Or should I say, time-saver!

This recipe yields four, because I basically put 1/4 of everything in a bag (with the exception of the lime--those are halves).

Ingredients:
1 big box of fresh spinach
1 can of rinsed garbonzo beans
1 can of corn (no salt added) and rinsed
1 granny smith apple
1 cucumber
1 mango
2 limes (cut in halves)

Put the heavier items on the bottom and the spinach at the top. I don't really use dressing, instead I use half a lime and I mix it with any type of Mrs. Dash's salt-free seasonings.

The simpler, the better! Like the bag says, YUM!

Black Bean Brownies!

I got this recipe from this food blogger here. Although, I'll also copy and paste below. In my version, I omitted the chocolate and peanut butter chips, just to see how the brownie really tasted. Next time however, I'll make sure to add mint chocolate chips! One thing to note is to rinse your black beans to take away that beany taste. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it and I'm sure I'll use it as a pre or post workout snack! Also, I used muffin tins instead of a brownie pan because I knew I would be too lazy to cut them (though I forgot to put cooking spray, so it was a bit stubborn--learn from my mistake!) and I wanted to individually wrap them so I could bring them to school or the gym.

Note that their are other BBB recipes. This was just the simplest one I could find.

Low Calorie Black Bean Brownies Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 15.5 oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed
• 3/4 cup egg beaters egg whites OR 6 egg whites
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 3 tbs. unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 tsp. instant coffee granules
• 3/4 cup splenda for baking (or regular granulated sugar)
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup peanut butter chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF and spray a pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Dump black beans, applesauce, cocoa powder, egg whites, vanilla extract, splenda and coffee granules into the blender and blend until smooth.
3. When blended to your satisfaction, stir in chocolate chips and peanut butter chips
4. Then pour into a baking dish.
5. Put the brownies in the oven for a half hour and bake until the edges pull away from the sides and a knife inserted comes out clean.

BASIC Cauliflower Fired Rice

I will just say now that I am a basic cook. I like to be as simple as possible. When I heard about cauliflower as a substitute for rice, I had to give it a go! I'm trying to get as much veggies in as possible, so I thought fried rice with mix veggies would be perfect.

So I use an eco non-stick pan that doesn't require cooking spray or oil, so if you must, add it accordingly.

Ingredients:
I medium head cauliflower
1 Can of mixed vegetables (Although, I prefer frozen over canned, but seeing as I didn't want to wait for it to defrost, I went with canned this time)
2 eggwhites
black pepper and soy sauce for seasoning

Like I said, this is a very basic recipe. Feel free to add garlic, green onions, your choice of protein, and other additions to your liking.

To prepare the cauliflower, either put it in a food processor to chop, or you can cut it yourself if you have the time.

Rinse/defrost your mixed veggies.

Medium-heat a large pan.

Cook the cauliflower first (or rather, give it a head start) then add the mixed veggies, egg whites, and the seasoning.

I thought it was pretty good, considering I was eating a plate of veggies! I can't wait to use the cauliflower rice with something else. Maybe curry? Hmmm....