Saturday, June 28, 2014

June 28, 2014

Oh, hello, that's right, I was trying to be healthy. That has fallen by the wayside since vacation! I could list a 1,000 reasons why but none of that is really important. What is important is to get back on track. It has been carb city and processed foods up in here for the past few weeks so I expect a bit of withdrawal this go round.

Breakfast
Strawberries, grapes, chia seeds. Handful of raw walnuts.


Lunch
Welcoming back the big ass salad!



Snack 


Dinner
Grilled green beans and cherry tomatoes. Garlic and Quinoa Veggie Burger. Not pictured - handful of walnuts and two beers. 



Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Menu May 19, 2014

Well, after total descent into eat all the carbohydrates, sugar, booze and none of the veggies or fruits I'm feeling a bit bloated and in need of crisp healthy goodness. Too bad the fridge is still ridiculously empty.

Breakfast
Well, not off to a great start since I'm out of unsweeteened milk for my coffee. I just can't do totally black so about 1tsp of sugar in my coffee.

Sauteed tofu, onions, pepper, with frozen broccoli and canned diced tomatoes.




Lunch
Absurdly expensive Whole Foods salad with more tofu and a few potatoes.

Snack
Watermelon

Dinner
Trader Joe's refried black beans, TJ's habanero-lime tortillas, lettuce, tomato, onion, salsa and a dab of sour cream left over from beach trip. (there were two of these because, yum)

Desert

Strawberry, banana, chia, flax, cocoa powder and PB smoothie.

Monday, May 19, 2014

May 14 - May 18, 2014



Pretty much this:





And a whole lot of this:



Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming of healthy eats. 

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Menu May 13, 2014

Breakfast
Tofurky kielbasa, kale, onions, grape tomatoes and an apple.


Lunch
My all the time salad of greens, sweet potato, black beans, veggies, salsa, guacamole.

Happy Hour
Creamscile "smoothie". Two flatbreads with hummus.

Dinner
 I was SO not in the mood to cook so Gardein beefless tips, onions and pepper with steak sauce. Two dogs that thought they'd get some of my food. HA.
Hmm. Not that appealing in pictures. But, tasty. 

Drinky Drinky Time
Oh law, so many margaritas and then a coke and bourbon. Also, chips and guacamole and only the best crackers ever with garlic hummus.

While certainly not Eat to Live approved with the sugar I was thrilled to find a good margarita mix without high fructose corn syrup, artificial ingredients and other scary items. Fat and Juicy is the brand and I look forward to trying their other mixes! I could use their bloody mary mix right about now......

We're officially on vacation mode, apparently.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Menu May 12, 2014

Breakfast
Huge ass salad with sweet potato, black beans, cumin, smoked paprika, mixed greens, yellow pepper, grape tomatoes, red onions, salsa and a honkin' scoop of delicious guacamole. The avocados were just at the perfect ripeness this morning. Yum.


Lunch
Siracha hummus on all the things. And, great news (eyeroll) coke tastes good again.

Happy Hour
I almost forgot my fruit today! So, banana, strawberry, orange/pineapple juice and vodka to the rescue!
Gratuitous sound view shot


Tofurky kielbasa with white beans.


Dinner
This, my friends, is where it all fell apart. I was craving a baked potato like nobody's business but alas, no vegan sour cream on the island and I didn't feel like making any. I know! I'll just get some bread instead. I can totally eat a reasonable portion of crusty delicious french bread with melty Earth Balance, said every lying person with binge eating disorder. So, anyway, dinner was bread, butter and an actual reasonable portion of So Delicious Cookie Dough Ice Cream. The ice cream has no business being in this house either but at least a normal portion seemed to do the trick for this. And a half a can of coke before I came to my senses and told myself to have water.

I think it's safe to say that sugar is my nemesis and starts a spiral into carby carby hell. And that old "It's vacation, eat what you want!" habits die hard.

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Menu May 11, 2014

Breakfast
Tofurky kielbasa, kale, onions and tomatoes. Peach, strawberry, banana, chia seed and flaxseed smoothie with soy milk.

Heh. Smoothie matches the counter.


Lunch
Doctor Kracker's Klassic 3 Seed Flatbread, baby carrots, celery and a huge scoop of Everything Hummus.


Happy Hour
White beans with a bit of olive oil, dijon mustard, lemon juice and parsley over greens. And a grown up creamsicle smoothie - vodka, OJ and pineapple juice, soymilk. Appropriately trashy beach Harlequin novel. And another flatbread with hummus.


Dinner
Since I didn't bring my spiralizer (I thought about it, I really did) tonight we have zucchini ribbons, grated carrots, tofu and peanut sauce. Pretty good but I wish I'd brought the spiralizer! The texture is just better, in my opinion. I like the peanut sauce and appreciate that it only has a bit of soy sauce so it's not chock full of sodium. 


And, of course, bourbon. 

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Menu May 10, 2014

IT'S BEACH DAY!!!!! I've landed in Hatteras Island for a glorious week of the beach. I'm hopeful for sunny days, lots of kayaking, reading, walks with the dogs and plenty of good (and healthy!) food and (not so healthy!) adult beverages.

Getting down here and trying to get settled in with two dogs has been exhausting. The drive is always long but throw in two whiny dogs, getting them settled into a new environment, carrying stuff up so many stairs. Whine whine vacation is hard.

Breakfast
After a quick morning run to get as much crazy out as possible for the dogs I had the last of the damn lemony lentils with radish and a raspberry, mango, banana, chia seed and soymilk smoothie.


Snack 
In the car I snacked on black bean hummus and baby carrots and an apple. During a gas stop the urge to buy some salty nuts or chips and a soda was strong. I've always "rewarded" myself on long trips with a soda and either chips or roasted salty as hell nuts. It felt more like habit than anything else but I resisted and was feeling quite smug about 10 minutes later gnawing on my apple.


Lunch/Dinner 1
I was STARVING when we got to the rental house and I carried in about half of my crap. I was SO glad I had made some pasta, lentil marinara and kale that just has to be popped in the microwave.


Cocktail Hour
(Dog) Mama needed this after all day in the car. So, the one "treat" I decided on days ago that would be fine to have since it's vacay is coke with my bourbon. I was actually ridiculously excited for the Coke (SUGAR) but.... have I killed my taste buds these past weeks? It tasted not right and made my mouth stick together. I may have to switch to vodka tonic instead? This is just bizarre. Anyway, Knob Creek never fails.




Dinner
In my head I was going to be making peanut sauce to have over veggies. It's so cute I thought I would feel like cooking tonight. I picked up a 4 pack of Tofurky Kielbsas  when I ran to the store to get toilet paper, soap, and frozen fruit (I FORGOT THE COFFEE FILTERS, OMG). While at the grocery store my brain was so trying to kick it into vacation mode. Vacation mode means chips, pastas, bread and butter, nuts, french fries, sodas, crackers and anything else carby or nutritionally void. So, settling on something like the kielbasas feels like a win. Not the best choice but I was once again starving and too impatient to wait for tofu to press and didn't feel like beans.

Sauteed kielbasa, onions, kale and grape tomatoes.



Overall not bad for a vacation and driving day but I feel like it's definitely going to be a struggle, especially once the manperson and my mom arrive and have tempting food in the house.

Friday, May 9, 2014

Menu May 9, 2014

Brunch
Clean out the fridge salad! Iceberg lettuce (the saddest of all the lettuces), rice, black beans, buffalo cauliflower, broccoli, yellow pepper, green onions, red onions, avocado and salsa.


Snack
Pineapple, peach, banana and blueberry smoothie with flax seed and soy milk. More lemony lentils with radish.

Running errands snack
A stale Luna Nutz over Chocolate bar. Staleness was sad. 


Dinner

 Broccoli, yellow pepper, onions, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes and garbanzo beans stirfried with coconut oil, hoison sauce, soy sauce and just a bit of rice that was left. Nowhere near as good as the manperson's stir-frys. And a Stella Artois.


Menu May 8, 2014

Otherwise known as thank dog I took photos because I couldn't remember what I ate just 24 hours ago....

Breakfast
In keeping with the 'normal people eat salads for breakfast' ruse, kale salad with red onions, garbanzo beans and lemon-tahini dressing. Basically, I like to start the day out with stank breath.


Also had a pineapple, banana and raspberry smoothie with chia seeds and soy milk.


Lunch
Buffalo cauliflower salad take two. I'm trying to find a good vegan ranch that's not full of processed ingredients and thus far good isn't really happening. THIS is the BEST ever vegan ranch and fools die-hard omnivore ranch fans but alas, full of ingredients I'm currently avoiding.  So anyway, the search continues. At least this one looks prettier?


Snack 
More lemony lentil salad. Note to self - next time make half a recipe.

Also had a bite of an Apricot-Chocolate Brüks Bar that a coworker shared. (note, label on the one she had didn't list honey). OMG delicious. OMG so not something I can buy because I could tell I would have NO self control over it. It was like a groumet clif bar.

Dinner
The man person makes the best stir-frys. I'm pretty sure he has rainbow dust on hand as his secret ingredient. I'm not exactly sure what all he used but at least the following: coconut oil, broccoli, orange pepper, garlic, ginger, corn, soy sauce, hoison sauce and siracha. I had a bit of white rice under it and a few Corona Lights. Excuse the worse than normal picture quality. I was HUNGRY. And yes, that's a chip in my plate.

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Menu May 7, 2014

Breakfast
Feeling pretty uninspired today in the food department. So, leftover smokey kale, black eyed peas and onions in tomato sauce. Ahhhh leftovers, saving me from having to think!

Snack/Lunch/Snack
Today was just..... odd. Tons of running around in the office so just grabbing food when I was hungry and had a minute. I had the following during my (15 hour) workday.

Strawberry, mango, banana, flax seed and soy milk smoothie.
Salad - mixed greens, sunflower seeds, carrots, celery, onions, peppers, Woodstock Dressing
Lemony lentil leftovers over baby kale
Trader Joe's Organic Split Pea Soup

Oh, split pea soup. Kinda tasty. Really ugly.






Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Menu May 6, 2014

Breakfast
Leftover bell pepper nachos, of course.

Snack
Strawberry, mango and banana smoothie with chia seeds and soy milk.

Lunch
Due to work and and personal obligations both lunch and dinner are at restaurants today. First up is Luna's Living Kitchen Luna's has been able to cross over the vegan/raw lines and appeal to omnivores, foodies and even your grandma. Their food is consistently delicious and it's gorgeous to boot. My favorite is their Classic Veggie Burger but everything is wonderful. I knew I'd have bread for dinner so I opted for the Pad Thai. I didn't take a photo because I didn't want my coworker to think I was completley nuts but it looks mostly like this:

Photo Snagged from Luna's Facebook Page
Spiraled zucchini and carrots, raw almond butter sauce, purple cabbage, microgreens, house-made hot sauce, some other stuff I'm probably forgetting and basically just a big plate of yum.


Snack
Kale, pinto beans and onion in tomato sauce.

Dinner
Dinner was at a much less vegan friendly place than than lunch. Greek Isles is a popular restaurant and I see tons of opportunity for more veg friendly fare but alas, we're not there yet. I opted for the Hummus with Pita and the Greek Salad no cheese. Hummus was ok. Salad was blah and I ended up having too many pieces of white bread because I was starving. 

Monday, May 5, 2014

Meny May 5, 2014

Breakfast
Smoky black-eyed peas, kale and onions in tomato sauce. Pineapple, banana, strawberry, blueberry, flax seed smoothie. Forgot to take a photo but there are leftovers!

Snack
Lentil salad from yesterday with baby kale.


Lunch


Leftover pizza from Saturday's dinner and a basic side salad with Annie's Woodstock Dressing. Love that stuff.


Dinner
Since it is Cinco de Mayo (a totally Americanized holiday) and I never need an excuse to have Mexican food I thought hmm, what can I do besides yet another Mex-style salad which are a mainstay in my diet. Mini Pepper Nachos! Let's be real here, this ain't the same as a plate full of corn chips, boca ground, daiya and vegan gourmet sour cream but it IS delicious.
Mini peppers halved and scooped, jalapeno cashew based cheese sauce, soy curls* with cumin, paprika, oregano, granulated garlic and red pepper flakes, black beans, jalapenos, green onions, shredded iceberg lettuce, salsa and guacamole. Freaking good.

*I don't think I would buy soy curls again. They're highly processed and I've just never really loved them. I've had this bag at least 2 years. This is the best way yet as it gave some crunch to the dish since I all but burnt them!


Sunday, May 4, 2014

Menu May 4, 2014

Breakfast 

Normal people totally eat salads for breakfast. Mixed greens, small sweet potato, kidney beans, onions, bell pepper, yellow squash, grilled tomatoes, avocado, salsa and hot sauce.
Hmm, that picture makes the bowl look small. I guarantee you that was not the case.


Snack 
Banana, Strawberry, Blueberry, Pineapple, Flax Seed, Almond and Soy Milk Smoothie


Lunch 

Baby Kale with  Lemony Lentil and Chickpea Salad with Radish and Herbs

Dinner
Leftover carrots and green pasta primavera.


Menu May 3, 2014

Breakfast 
I was up before the roosters to volunteer at Girls on the Run Charlotte's Spring 5k. I knew it would be a busy morning so I had a quick peach, strawberry and banana smoothie with almond milk and chia seeds on the drive there and tossed an apple, celery and some hummus in my bag. Ate those when I had a chance.

Lunch 
Another day, another taco salad. Mixed greens, refried pintos, sauteed peppers, onions, shrooms and yellow squash, avocado, pepitas, homemade salsa.

Dinner
Photo from Quarrygirl.com
Photo from theeffervescentvegan.com












We had a gift card to California Pizza Kitchen. I've never been but in checking out the menu was surprised to see it's pretty vegan friendly. Now, I'm not generally a fan of chain restaurants. The food, at most, is normally uninspired, bland to accommodate a lot of different tastes and overpriced. BUT, I do like to support restaurants from local mom n pops to national chains that make life easy for a vegan.

I couldn't find the exact list of ingredients anywhere so I'm sure it doesn't strictly fit into the Eat to Live lifestyle but I figured I could make something work. I started with the asparagus and arugula salad, no cheese, and then the California Veggie pizza, no cheese, on whole wheat crust with spicy marinara. So many sun-dried tomatoes, they're so damn good. Had all the salad (kinda teeny) and about 3/4 of the pizza. We didn't love the food and agreed there are much better pizza options in our area but it would be a solid option for a no-brainer meal when traveling. Not pictured - tall boy Stella Artois.


Friday, May 2, 2014

Menu May 2, 2014

Breakfast
Nature's Path Pumpkin Flax Plus Granola and a peach, pineapple, banana, flax seed smoothie. Both with almond milk.

As is the theme this week running late, so no photos!

Snack
Celery and hummus 

Lunch 


B.A.S. with mixed greens, yellow squash, yellow pepper, red onions, grape tomatoes, carrots and garbanzo garbanzo beans topped with lemon tahini dressing.

Snack
TWO apples

Dinner 
A happy bowl of zucchini noodles, lentil marinara, tofu and kale.

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Menu May 1, 2014

It's May, yay! According to the interwebz the following foods are celebrated in this month:

Asparagus
Barbecue (used in the INCORRECT way to mean any food on the grill, not the CORRECT way which means a pulled meat or meat like substance cooked in a tasty tasty sauce)
Chocolate Custard
Egg
Gazpacho
Hamburger
Salad
Salsa
Strawberries

Goal for this month is to make sure I hit all those, well, vegan versions anyway! Figuring out how to make sugar free vegan custard may be the most difficult but I'll get there.

Breakfast


Sweet potato, black beans, onions, grape tomatoes, mixed spring greens, romaine, salsa and guacamole.

May foods - Salad, check! Salsa, check!

Snack 

Strawberries, bananas, blueberries, coconut, flax seed and almond milk smoothie.

May foods - Strawberries, check!


Lunch

Zucchini noodles, sauteed mushrooms and kale with red lentil marinara.

Snack #1
Celery and hummus

Snack #2 (I may have a tapeworm today)

Not only can you tell I need a manicure, if you look closely you'll see a pedicure is also woefully delinquent.
 


Dinner 

OSG's Glowing Green "Pasta" Primavera. A friend gave me a mandolin about 4 months ago and I FINALLY played with it tonight. There's a few kinks to work out but I think I'll find a lot of uses for it.

May foods - Asparagus, check!

Snack 3 (seriously)

My stomach was growling at me after dinner even though I've eaten plenty as you can see. Had a strawberry, banana, cocoa powder, pb and almond milk smoothie with cacao nibs. 

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Menu April 30, 2013

Breakfast
I was running way late this morning and scarfed down about half of the leftover Cabbage Gratin while slurping a Banana, Raspberry, Pineapple, Chia Seed, Coconut, Almond Milk Smoothie in the car. Texting while driving -no. Eating - yes. I also managed to spill half the smoothie down my pants further delaying my start of the day. Is this a Monday?

Snack
Celery and Hummus in the Blender

Lunch
Lunch was provided today and I was the mercy of whatever the meeting space's chefs deemed "vegan". Ended up with a cold plate of veggies, some lettuce and Granny Smith apple slices with no dressing. So of course I then had to have "this is a bullshit lunch" compensation chips. Chips are best when eaten bitterly.


Dinner

Buffalo cauliflower salad with romaine, mixed spring lettuce, red onions, fire-roasted corn, grape tomatoes, carrots, celery, pepitas, black beans and vegan ranch dressing. And Corona Light. More than one Corona Light, actually. 



Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Menu April 29, 2014

Breakfast

Lentils and rice mix like yesterday.

Pineapple, goji berry and mango smoothie with almond milk and chia seeds.

Lunch

Same as yesterday just guacamole instead of avocado.

Snacks 

Baby carrots and celery with hummus and an apple


Dinner

Grilled Salad

Grilled romaine, grilled tomatoes, grilled Hilary's Hemp & Greens Burger, red onions and Oh She Glow's Lightened Up Tahini-Lemon Dressing.
Picture doesn't do this justice. Super yum.
Hilary's hands down makes the best veggie burgers and best yet, no funk ingredients. OSG's Tahini-Lemon Dressing is one of my favorites. I make with sesame seeds instead of tahini because tahini is a pain to measure!

Monday, April 28, 2014

Menu April 28, 2014

Breakfast
Della Blend's Organic Quinoa Rice Blend, lentils and grilled zucchini, yellow squash, peppers, onions and tomatoes topped with agave mustard dressing.



I'm having my monthly chocolate cravings. Dark chocolate is chock full of antioxidants and all in all not an unhealthy item however my normal monthly bar is only 55% cocoa so I thought I'd try to cure the chocolate itch with my morning smoothie this month. Frozen bananas and strawberries with unsweetened cocoa powder, dried coconut and flax seed. Topped with cocoa nibs and more coconut.
YUM.



Snack  Hummus in the Blender and raw celery. Really, there's no excuse for me not to make my own hummus. This was crazy simple and very good.


Lunch
Burrito Bowl sans rice. This was so tasty yesterday and I have so much salsa left I had to whip up some more refried beans for lunch. Tons of lettuce, refried pintos, sauteed peppers, onions and shrooms, homemade salsa, cashew and sunflower seed sour cream and avocado.


Snack  - Apple

Dinner
Dinner was supposed to be leftover Cabbage Gratin. Instead it was this ridiculousness:




Excuse - got home late, had been burning up all day because I work with people who think 76 is an acceptable workplace temperature and then went to an after work meeting at a county building. The county turns their air off at 5:30. Our meeting starts at 5:30. Yay for energy saving. Boo for lack of forethought. Went for a quick run and I'm also in a LOVELY mood so no cabbage. Just more this ain't really chocolate but it's still good smoothie and a handful of roasted sunflower seeds I found in the bottom of my produce bin. Yeah. At least they were in a halfway closed bag?