WIAW: The Tuesday Episode!

Apparently I’ve been missing the memos that WIAW actually equates to what you ate on Tuesday. Silly me. I’d been posting my Wednesday eats like a little twit! So here we are. My Tuesday eats. No pancakes, sorry. I’m sorry if this seems like a dumb question, but wasn’t last Tuesday  national pancake day as well, on Shrove Tuesday? Hmm…

And no ‘leap day’ themed eats. Just my almost-everyday foods. I try to spice it up the days I document my food. I’m still trying to break out of my food rut.

Thanks, as always, to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons for putting this weekly par-tay together!

 

Well anyways, Tuesdays and Thursdays are my late-start days for classes (first class -Buddhism -starts at 12:30!) So these days, I allow myself 25 extra minutes of sleep in the morning before I get up and do my yoga. You would think that this would be a good sort of day, right? With extra sleep and time and all? Well…for some reason I felt oddly cruddy when I probably should have been having a good day.

Nothing in particular went wrong. Nothing was really “bad.” I just didn’t feel “good,” no matter how many good things happened. But on to my eats:

Breakfast:

After half and hour of yoga and other morning rituals (dress…make breakfast…start lunch…homework…et cetera…)

Sort of my usual, just different proportions of vegetables and lentils. If I don’t start out my day with *something* like this, I end up having a s*** day. This fueled me through a pretty intense 30 minute round on the bike at the gym. I like getting cardio in that isn’t harsh on my ankles. For some reason they tend to be sensitive, and my right one has been acting up lately, and is just getting better.

Lunch:

Finally had this after Buddhism, around 2 pm. I was so hangry by then I was getting terrible stomach pains that made me not want to eat at all. But I ate anyways. Then I felt better. Marginally. I made, this morning, a slight variation on my kheema curry that I posted the other day, so it’s more like a thick soup. I’ll post the recipe tomorrow. Had this with a grande dark roast from Starbucks A given.

Dinner (aka mini-meal 1):

Hours later.

A work in progress recipe. It’s pumpkin kofta in a pumpkin-yoghurt “gravy.” After a little tweaking I’ll post the recipe. But this was a good first run. Had this whilst copying Hindi notes over again and reading Siddhartha, and answering some homework questions on Siddhartha.

One good thing that happened today that I should be more appreciative of: I got an A on my first Buddhism exam. And yesterday I got an A on my Contemporary Asian Societies essay. I should be much happier than I am…

Onwards.

At around 7:30 I trotted on over to the gym and biked again for a half an hour.

The gym didn’t feel all that great because I’m still sore from doing a crazy intense Jillian Michaels workout DVD the other night. It was awesome, but totally drained me. I should have probably ate something protein-y afterwards but didn’t…bad choice noted for future reference.

That and they constantly play s***y Katy Perry and Rihanna music, which just puts me in a bad mood in general.

I refueled with some kiefer-pumpkin “pudding” with half a cup of cooked butternut and half a banana chopped up.

I ate this while watching the Biggest Loser and downloading powerpoint presentations to study for a quiz in Islamic Cultural History on Thursday. I have so much to study. I ended up taking a break, doing some strength training, and then had my 2nd mini-meal…

Just some garlicky spinach, cinnamon-y butternut squash, scrambled tofu, and HUMMUS! Weird? Perhaps. But it was just a little bit of everything that sounded good…enough.

I was still a little hungry afterwards so I had half a cup of plain soy yoghurt with 1 tbs chocolate hemp shake powder mixed in, and 1 packet of stevia to sweeten it. I’ve been lovin’ my soy/coconut milk yoghurts lately.

And finally…my oat bran. Pumpkin-banana “cream pie.” With powdered peanut butter paste. Yums.

Yes, there are bananas and pumpkin puree AND oats underneath that yoghurt and pb goodness.

So there we are. My almost typical Tuesday.

What was the best thing that you ate today?

Do you have days when you just feel bad?

University peoples…got any midterms to study for? How is that super happy funtime going?

February Foodie Penpal!

So here it is…the big reveal! This month I sent out a goodie box to Julie from ROJ Running, so check out her page to see what I sent her

But I received my package from Nicole from Lyrical Nutrition! And let me say, she put together a fantastic package!

Everything she got me she got whilst on a two week road trip! How fun does that sound? Specifically, she got me…

Coconut Shea Butter Soap! Which I love because coconut is one of my absolute favourite scents (and flavours…) AND a loofa! Is it nerdy to say I’ve always wanted one of these? They’re great for exfoliation. A perfect accompaniment to the coconut soap

LOCALLY ROASTED COFFEE! We all know about my coffee obsession, right? Danni is always a happy happy girl when she is given coffee. Readers, take note.

Cranberry pepper jelly! This is really tasty. Actually, it’s the first time I’ve ever even had pepper jelly. I know my mum’s always been a fan, but she never made any with cranberry in it. I love the combination of the sweet and spiciness…it’s great with tofutti better n’ cream cheese!

So thank you, Nicole! I loved everything!

And if y’all are interested in participating next month…here are the details on the foodie swap:

-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal! 
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.
-Foodie Penplas is open to US & Canadian residents.  Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We’ve determined things might get too slow and backed up if we’re trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa. So, I’m going to keep two separate lists and match US w/ US and Canada w/ Canada!

If you’re interested in participating for March, please send  an email to Lindsay at theleangreenbean@gmail.com and include the following information:
-Your full name
-Your email address
-Your blog name/address
-Your twitter handle (if applicable)
-WHETHER YOU ARE A US RESIDENT OR CANADIAN RESIDENT. - this is SUPER important so you get on the right list!

You must submit your information by March 4th as pairings will be emailed on March 5th!

***PLEASE NOTE: if you send an email, you WILL GET A RESPONSE within 48 hours. If you don”t….please re-send your email or contact Lindsay via Twitter (@LeanGrnBeanBlog). Last month we had a few emails get lost as spam so we’re trying to avoid that!

Cakes n’ Curries

Hey to the kindly people who continue to read my blog, despite my dismal number of posts throughout the week!

Since I have very little coursework to do this weekend, I thought it due time to have a little recipe post! I actually managed to do a little cooking and baking yesterday. Shocker. I’ve done almost no baking in the longest time…well at least not as much as I used to. I have to admit, I miss baking every (or every-other) day. But it’s kind of hard just to bake for oneself, and I have little time to bake at my apartment anyways. My beloved books take up the majority of my time.

But this post isn’t about writing essays or reading ethnographies. No. It’s about cake. and curry. Both of which I made yesterday…which was a special day. Were he still alive, yesterday George Harrison of The Beatles would have been 69! Happy late birthday, George!

*for those of you who don’t know, I am a modern day Beatlemaniac who celebrates the birthdays of all the Beatles. Don’t judge*

So I made a cake.

Sorry, I’m not very talented when it comes to writing with those nifty decorating gel tubes. The verdict was: the cake is very good (tender, moist…), and the icing was even better. So I have been told (no…I didn’t have any myself. Still haven’t been able to get myself to eat sweets...)

Low Fat Low Sugar Whole Wheat Vanilla Cake

Serves 8-12

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup stevia extract in the raw
• 1/4 cup raw sugar
• 2 tbs Olivio Coconut Oil Spread
• 2 tbs soy yoghurt
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp butter-flavoured extract (optional)
• 3/4 cup almond milk curdled with 2-3 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups white whole what flour
• 1/2 tbs baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350F and spray a 9″ cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a mixing bowl, cream together the  stevia, sugar, coconut oil spread and yoghurt. Mix in the extract(s). Add in the remaining ingredients and mix to form a fairly thick batter. Pour and spread evenly into your cake pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Allow this to cool completely before icing. Use any icing you’d like, but I used this:

Chocolate “Buttercream” Icing

For 1 8-9″ cake, or 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 3 tbs vegan margarine
• 3 tbs tofutti better n’ cream cheese
• 2-3 tsp vanilla extract
• (optional) 1/2 tsp chocolate extract
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 2 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions:

First cream together the margarine and tofutti. Then mix in the extract(s). Add in 1/4 cup of the icing and the cocoa – mix. Keep adding the rest of the icing in 1/4 cup increments. Ice away!

I did make myself something that I considered to be a treat yesterday…something a little different than my usual curries. Sure, the ingredients are similar, but whatever. It was different enough for me, satisfied, and tasted damn good.

Kheema Curry

Serves 1

Ingredients:

Kheema:

• 2 tbs TVP
• 2 tbs warm water
• 1 tsp braggs liquid aminos
• a dash of garlic and onion powder

Curry:

• 2.5 oz peeled and cubed butternut squash
• 3 oz chopped cauliflower
• 1 tbs braggs liquid aminos
• 1/2 tbs onion powder
• 1/2 tbs garlic powder
• 1 tsp ginger powder
• 1/2 tsp coriander powder
• 1/8 tsp turmeric
• 1 tbs ketchup
• 1/2 tsp sriracha
• 1 tbs frozen peas
• 1 1/2 tbs soy yoghurt

Directions:

For the kheema, combine all ingredients in a small bowl and let the TVP rehydrate – this is just until the liquid is absorbed. It should only take a few minutes.

In the meantime, simmer in a saucepan both the squash and cauliflower until tender when pierced with a fork.

Add the rehydrated TVP to a small/medium sized skillet, sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, set over medium heat.

Once tender, add the veggies to the skillet with the TVP as well as the ingredients braggs through the sriracha. Mix everything together.

Cook for a minute or two, and then add in the peas. Cook through.

Finally, add in 1 tbs of the yoghurt, mix, and turn off the heat.

Transfer to your serving bowl, top with the remaining 1/2 tbs of soy yoghurt and enjoy!

That totally fueled me through my Hindi translation exercise.

Speaking of exercise…I’ve been trying to find some good strength training exercises and/or circuits online.

Does anyone have any suggestions or good websites where I could find some?

and…

What’s the best thing you ate/made this weekend?

Layers and layers…

Today is filled to the brim with layers.

Both in terms of food and just life in general.

Let’s just get my life rant out of the way, shall we?

I, myself, was having a very very good day.

My test in Buddhism was a piece of cake. I got my Hindi all finished up. I did all of my exercise. I had some yummy eats (more on that later). AND what made me most happy was that my Islamic Cultural History professor extended the due date for our essay until Saturday at 6 pm! WOO!!! Three cheers for Professor Haq!

But. As I said…there were other layers of emotional states today. Oddly enough, most of them have to do with my passionate opposition to religious intolerance. Almost nothing bothers me more lately than when someone condemns someone else as wrong, different, or just plain bad simply because the accuser doesn’t understand the basic principles which the accused live by.

In my school, as with a few other big name schools in the US, it has just been released that students AND professors within the university have been being monitored since 2006 (or maybe it was 2007…the year doesn’t matter) because they’re Muslim. Yes. You heard me. And for no good reason at all. These people were all this time being monitored, surveyed, watched, tracked, and followed. Yes, again your heard me. Followed. The university supposedly did not know about this secret-tracking, but I’m very doubtful of that. The school had to have known something. The kids being targeted were all members of our uni’s Islamic Student Association, or somehow in connection with it. It just makes me sick to my stomach to think about it. These people – people I know, and happen to like very much – are being tracked for no reason other than their religion and cultural orientation. Even my teacher’s email account is being filtered. For a school that prides itself in cultural diversity…this is the last think I would expect. It, as I said sickens me.

Bring in part two of my disgust with intolerence in this country. You’ve all heard of the burning of the *many* copies of the Qu’ran is Afghanistan, right? If you haven’t, here’s an article on it. Again – It. Makes. Me. Sick. How DARE the American Military do something as ignorant as burning a religions holy book – NOTHING and I mean NOTHING could be more insulting. It’s like the biggest slap in the face to someone devout to the Islamic faith – the Qu’ran is everything. It’s the word of God. It guides moral principles. It’s the foundation of law. It’s the foundation of the family and community. Everything. An act like the one taken just 48 hours ago is an attack on a whole religion. And NATO is calling it an ‘accident’ and that they’re ‘sorry?’ Yeah. I’m sure. NOT. They aren’t sorry. Something so vile requires much more than a bleeding apology. NATO and the army should be ASHAMED. SHAME ON YOU WHO WOULD DO SUCH A DISGUSTING ACT.

*fumes for a moment*

I’m better now. That sort of thing just really grinds my gears.

Let’s talk food now, shall we? I personally have been craving Middle Eastern/Arabian flavours and eats lately (note my mass consumption of falafel and hummus). So I’ve been searching for some good Arabian food blogs, and the other day I came across this one, from which I adapted a tasty little recipe…

 

Quick Afghani-Style Butternut and Cauliflower

Inspired by this recipe from Afghan Culture Unveiled

Serves 1

Ingredients:

• 2.5oz peeled and chopped butternut squash
• 3oz chopped cauliflower
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tbs ketchup or tomato paste
• 1/4-1/2 tsp sriracha (depends on your spice tolerance)
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 3/4 tsp ginger power
• 1/8 tsp turmeric
• EITHER: 1/8 cup cubed, pressed lite firm tofu OR 1/8 tsp cooked lentils

Topping:

• 1/4-1/2 cup greek style non-dairy yoghurt (or just normal non-dairy yoghurt)
• a pinch of dried mint

Directions:

Mix everything together but the tofu or lentils in a small cast iron skillet (if not cast iron, non stick works I suppose). Set over medium heat until the liquid starts to bubble. Then set the heat to low, cover, and cook until the vegetables are tender and the excess liquid has cooked off. Stir occasionally to make sure that nothing starts sticking (or to make sure it’s still cooking…you don’t want your heat too low…). Then stir in the tofu or lentils, and remove from heat. Pour everything into a serving bowl (or plate), top with the yoghurt, sprinkle with the pinch of mint and serve! These would go great with lavash or pita bread.

 It was so good, and kept my belly happy for quite a few hours. I’m making it again for lunch tomorrow, whilst attending an ‘Asia @ Noon Lecture’ at school. I’ll have to get up extra early tomorrow and go to the gym, or do strength training at my apartment, since noon is my usual exercise time on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I’ll contemplate that more later.

In the meantime I’ll share an easy and yummy treat that I threw together tonight. You know…I felt like I deserved a treat, since I had a pretty darn good day overall.

Squash-Banana Parfait

Serves 1

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree mixed with 1 packet of stevia in the raw and 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup cooked butternut squash (simmer 2.5oz until soft)
• 1/2 banana
• 1/2 cup non dairy yoghurt

Directions:

Layer up! Start with your pumpkin, add layers of squash and banana, top with yoghurt (and a sprinkle of cinnamon, if you’re like me!) and enjoy!

Happy Thursday!

What sorts of things get on your nerves?

Do you ever like just a good rant?

Do you have any good Middle Eastern recipes to share?

aaaand…

What do you do when you have a swollen ankle? Mine is bothering me…

WIAW: The Protein Episode

Okay vegans, get ready to cringe.

Are you ready?

Okay.

Where do you get your protein? *cringe*

Painful and pretty bleedin’ annoying to hear, I know. In my Contemporary Asian Society class a few weeks ago when we were doing *annoying* group work in class, this muscle-head in my group must have noticed: A) My shirt with some sort of vegan saying on it or B) my vegan tattoo. Either way, he asked the proverbial question of where I get my protein. So I gave him the shpeal.

But yesterday I got to thinking…how much protein do I get in a day? How much do I even need? I know it’s not that much.

And it isn’t. Here’s a calculation I found on About.com:

How to Calculate Your Protein Needs:

1. Weight in pounds divided by 2.2 = weight in kg
2. Weight in kg x 0.8-1.8 gm/kg = protein gm.

And I think elsewhere I’ve read that the average woman should have 30 to 50 g per day, the higher amount being for more active women. So I calculated my need around 35g for someone of my weight and activity level.

So I decided yesterday to track my protein intake. You know what it was? 53g. Just eating my every-day foods. Not. Too. Shabby.

I’m kind of interested in the actual macro and micro nutrients and vitamins I’m getting in my diet…I really am working towards getting healthy. And strong. I’m coming to realize I would almost rather be strong and athletic (yet still skinny) than deathly rail thin. Of course, I’m not hepped up on gaining weight, and that is not my intention at the moment. But eventually…it must be done I suppose. But a healthy relationship with food comes first!

Lets see how I did today, shall we? **Thanks, as always, to Jenn over at Peas and Crayons for putting this shindig on**

 

 

Breakfast:

A tofu scramble! I decided to swap out my morning lentils for some of that lovely bean curd this morning. Added in some spinach, broccoli, and butternut squash, along with some curry spices, a tablespoon of soyghurt, a drizzle of mango puree and  a splash of coriander chutney and BOOM. Killer breakfast. With some coffee when I got to campus. I didn’t even need to order. I walked up the the counter and my order was magically ready. Amazing.

120 calories, 12.6g protein

Lunch:

Hindi class. Done.

Gym. First 30 minutes (bike). Done *man did that feel good!*

Off to the apartment to make lunch/mull over my Hindi homework for about an hour. Got it half done.

Lunch today was a mixture of cauliflower, butternut squash, mango, split moong dal, and kiefer. Sorta like dal, but sorta not. I used sweet, warm spices…cinnamon, ginger, cardamom. Went a little heavy on the cardamom, which made it a touch off-putting. I had it with 1/2 of a Flatout flatbread

…It actually tasted better than I thought it was going to. I need to work on the recipe a tad before posting.

165 cal, 11.25g protein

Small meal 1:

…in the works whilst I plugged away at my Hindi. Which I have only about 1/4 left. Which will take but 10 minutes to do. No biggie. Anyways, dinner was a falafel bowl. What could be better? Not much. Although, if I were eating a falafel bowl with Colin Firth…now THAT would be better. But realistically…this was good.

160 cal, 10.25g protein

Snacks 1 & 2:

Both were small snacks, as I wasn’t none too hungry, but I knew I needed calories. So while I FINISHED (and I emphasize FINISHED) my one paper (I still have another to do…for Friday…ack!), I noshed on…kiefer “pudding” made of some cultured coconut milk, almond milk, 1/2 tbs chocolate hemp shake powder, a little chocolate and vanilla extract, plus some xanthan gum to thicken and stevia to sweeten…a mighty tasty little treat. (55 cal, 1.6 g protein)

…And a wrap. My other 1/2 my Flatout flatbread with some spinach, 1/16 of a block of lite firm tofu and a table spoon of hummus. Shockingly filling for a small little bugger (I’m not much of a wrap person, but my hummus and lavash were calling me. Just call me the hummus whisperer.) (80 cal, 8.8 g protein).

Yes, that is the book I was writing my essay on. It is much loved.

Small meal 2:

After a little bit of strength training exercises to clear my mind post-essay, I had a bowl of cooked spinach and kale with some lentils, soy yoghurt, a drizzle of mango puree and some cilantro chutney with roasted acorn squash. I just with I could have my beloved kabocha instead of my “make-do” acorn…

200 cal, 13.15g protein

Bedtime Nosh:

Oat bran mess with banana, powdered PB and Greek Style Vanilla Coconut Milk Yoghurt. My guilty pleasure.

320 cal, 10.6g protein

So that’s a total of 1100 calories and (give or take) 68g protein. Without even trying. Sure, I don’t know which amino acids I was specifically intaking, but no matter. The point is, it’s easy to get protein as a vegan. If you want a good list of sources, check out this article from Care2…it’s pretty informative.

So…

How often are you asked the protein question?

What’s your typical response?

So what is your favourite way of getting in protein?

Are you giving up anything for lent? I’m not. I don’t do that sort of thing.

Would anyone care to explain this whole “lent” thing to me? It makes no sense to me…

WIAW: It’s a BodyPump Kind of Day!

Namaskar!

How is everyone this fine Wednesday? I don’t know if it’s because it was sunny out today, or if it’s from the *major* endorphins released from BodyPump or what, but I feel pretty fantastic today. BodyPump always makes me feel good like that. As to not bore you all with my blather, let’s just get to today’s eats, shall we?

Thanks as always to Jenn over at Peas and Crayons for hosting this blogging event!

 

Breakfast was my usual bowl of veggies and some coffee. I’m wondering if I should start changing this up…it’s starting not to satisfy very much. Perhaps someday soon I will have to perhaps try my oat bran in the morning, and see how that makes me feel. But as for now, this at least tastes good. I do miss my Starbucks coffee on campus, though. Supermarket brand coffee doesn’t cut it. I had this all after doing Level 2 of Jillian Michaels Yoga Meltdown and some cardio on the Gazelle. After breakfast was BodyPump! Which was awesome, as always!

Afterwards, I had this – a protein smoothie! One of my new favourite things.

Soon after I had my lunch (class ended at quarter after 11, so I was rearing for lunch afterwards!). Again, a pretty typical lunch – a bowl of veggies. Go figure. It tasted good – cinnamon spiced squash with garlicky kale and mushrooms, topped with hummus and coconut milk yoghurt. And a bran cracker on the side. Surprisingly satisfying.

Dinner came later after doing a whole lotta nothing. Falafel and curried veg. Usual but oh-so tasty. Don’t judge my rigid, regular food choices

For a snack I tried my hand at OIAJ. To be totally honest, I’m not a fan. At least not of the refrigerated variety. The texture of cold yoghurt-y oats freaks me out :\ Bummer. Total bummer. Oh well.

I made up for that fail by having a bowl of plain steamed veggies topped with homemade butternut squash puree and hummus, and some unpictured tofu pudding and an unspictured slice of gluten free buckwheat bread. Which ended  up totally awesome.

Questions:

What have your favourite eats been lately?

What are your opinions on OIAJ? How do you make them?

A couple of things that made today good…

*Side note: Look! I’m being positive! Yay me!*

Exhibit A: It’s Thursday. That means tomorrow is Friday. I get to go home for the weekend after Contemporary Asian Societies!

Exhibit B: I had soup for lunch (recipe coming soon. Once I have a better picture of it…). Soup for lunch always makes me happy.

Exhibit C: Not much homework! I just have a 4 page essay for Islamic Cultural History due in a week. I think I’m going to write about women’s rights in Islam.

Exhibit D: Fiddler On The Roof is on right now. I love that movie/musical.

Exhibit E: My heat is fixed in my apartment. I can finally be warm again!

And most importantly…I made hummus today! I had a major hankering for hummus all day today. Don’t ask me why, considering the mass amount of it I ate yesterday. I came to realize this morning, to my horror, that I only had about a tablespoon of my last batch left! So after I returned from campus today, whilst making some yummy falafel for supper, I whipped together some hummus. In doing so…I improved upon my original recipe! Don’t you love when that happens?

Creamy Low Fat, Low Calorie Hummus: Perfected

Yields 2 cups

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups cauliflower, boiled until very very tender
• 1 14oz can chickpeas (about 1 3/4 cups cooked), drained and rinsed
• 1 tbs tahini
• 1 tbs plain non-dairy yoghurt
• 1 tbs lemon juice
• 1 tbs Braggs Liquid Aminos
• 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 1/2 tsp onion powder
• (optional) 1/4 tsp sriracha hot sauce or a pinch of cayenne pepper

Directions:

Simple puree everything together in a blender until smooth and creamy. Scrape the sides with a silicon spatula as necessary to ensure there are no lumps.

Serve with pita bread, or in a sandwich, or with crudité, on a mezze platter, on a salad, in your breakfast cereal…

I think for my next kitchen adventure, I’m going to try my hand at making pita bread. Or perhaps I’ll try out that socca stuff that I’ve seen popping up all over the blog-0-spehere. I ideally would like to make something to go with hummus that isn’t a grain/flour product. These sorts of carbs (ie not the ones in fruits and vegetables) still freak me out…the idea of eating them that is. What goes good with hummus? Perhaps hummus could simply be a side to a meal. Does anyone out there have any good Middle Eastern recipes? Even non-vegan ones that I can put a vegan twist on? I’ve been craving something new lately…

So, any Middle Eastern recipes? Anyone? Anyone? 

What is your favourite hummus recipe?

What is your favourite “type” of cuisine?

WIAW: In School, Episode 5

So I’m finally 5 weeks into the semester! And you know what that means? 10 more weeks to go I’m 1/3 done with this semester! <—THAT. Is optimism.

I have been so busy with homework lately, I’ve had very little time to do much else. Days come and go where my daily activities consist of going to campus, making my typical meals, going to the gym, homework, and bed. For 5.5 hours. About. That’s not good, I know. More sleep is something I really have to work on. I’m basically exhausted. But the thing is…I’m doing homework until around 10:00 pm (tonight being an exception…I had a fairly light load today. Only two hours worth of Hindi instead of 3 or 4, plus I read ahead in Degrees Without Freedom…). Then I finally get a chance to talk with me Mummy for about an hour, then I eat a snack and go to bed (after watching the first 45 minutes of Leno).

Enough of that part of my day. It’s Wednesday, so that means it’s time for me to talk about stuff that I ate! With emphasis on veggies, since over at WIAW-land, it’s veggie love month! I tried to spice up (both literally and figuratively) the veggies that I ate today. I think I did pretty well in terms of diversifying my noshes. Let’s take a look, shall we? (And thanks as always @ Jenn from Peas and Crayons for putting on this faboo blog party. Yes. I just said faboo. Have a problem with that? No. Carry on)

Break-the-fast

A Grande Starbucks Bold Pick of the Day (I think it was Verona today...) and my usual breakfast of cooked veg: squash, cauliflower, spinach and spilt moong, spiced with garlic, onions, ginger, coriander, turmeric (the smallest squirt of ketchup and sriracha for good measure) topped with soy yoghurt and a small spoonful of hummus.

Not the prettiest thing to look at, but it sure tasted good.

Lunch:

Comes HOURS later. It’s kind of like a sweet-spiced cauliflower-squash “daal.” It was okay, but it needs improving. I almost think it would be better with rice or something…I dunno. It tasted okay, but it didn’t have the most pleasing texture, and it didn’t keep me full for long.

Small Meal 1:

MUCH more pleasing. Falafel makes everything better. I had my yummy falafel with some curried squash, broccoli, and spinach topped with yoghurt, hummus, and some dhania chutney. YUM.

Snack:

1/2 cup cultured coconut milk, 1/4 cup mango puree, 2.5 oz cooked squash, 1/2 cup puffed kamut cereal, sweetened with jaggery and spiced with ginger, cinnamon, and cardamom. Weird? Perhaps. Delicious, soothing, and fillings? Yeppers.

Small Meal 2:

I didn’t want to bore y’all with my usual roasted squash and kale, so I opted out of that for the night and decided to go with this. It is cooked greens, but rather than topping them with my usual roastie, I cooked up some scrambled tofu “eggs” (thank you kala namak!), oyster mushrooms, and a big ol’ scoop of (you guessed it) HUMMUS. I love that stuff. Topped it all off with a classy drizzle of ketchup (plus a little sriracha and coriander chutney).

Snack 2.5:

Back to the usual – pumpkin mousse and an oat bran mess. Yes, same as always, but I like to treat myself with this at night.

So…veggies: squash, kale, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, pumpkin, mushrooms

Fruit: banana, mango

Protein: lentils, hummus, tofu (silken, firm)

Grains: kamut puffs, oat bran

Non-dairy: soyghurt, coconut milk yoghurt, kiefer

Not bad, eh? I’ve done worse. It was hard for me to get all of my calories in (only 1100…with 1 hr. cardio, 3o minutes of yoga, and a ton of walking with a heavy backpack all across campus).

So…

What’s your favourite way of incorporating veggies into your day?

Do you like savoury breakfasts?

What’s your favourite way to eat hummus?

Do you want to share your favourite hummus recipe with me?

Just a brief word…

Hey all, I’m going to try to make this a fairly brief post, as I have homework to be doing and some extra Urdu to be studying. I just wanted to apologize for my sheer lack of posting or responding to comments. I have been reading them all, and I very much appreciate them (keep ‘em coming!)…I’ve just been so busy, I haven’t had the time to respond to them in a timely manner. So I apologize again for that.

And now for the other reason I haven’t been posting…I have been (as I have mentioned) stuck in an awful rut. I haven’t really came up with anything “new.” I am trying, presently, and will post new recipes as I see fit. But more than that…I haven’t felt comfortable at all with eating lately. Okay, so it’s been a downright awful feat, eating has been, for me lately. Even worse than usual. I am consuming from 1100-1200 calories a day with exercise, but it just feels…bad. My mind is telling me “Stop! No! Don’t eat! You’ll only want to eat more later! That’ll make you fat!” And so on. It’s awful. I know in my rational mind that this is not true, and I force the same foods down my throat each day (some thing I enjoy, others are just eating because I know I need more calories). I just don’t get hungry. When it gets to a mealtime, I get a terrible aching, heaving feeling in my gut that just ruins any appetite that I may have had. I’m not sure if it’s stress or what…but it has certainly made eating hard.

But enough of that depressing talk now. When I took one or two (well deserved) breaks from homework over the weekend, I decided to do a little bit of baking, as I never have time to during the week (and why would I bake for just myself? That’s silly. I’d have no one to share my baked goods with…). So I whipped up two things. One’s healthy. The other ehhh…should be enjoyed occasionally. Let’s start with the healthy ‘dessert…’ or perhaps breakfast? Or snack?

Chocolate Chip Banana Baby Bundts 

Yields: 12 mini bundt cakes/muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 very ripe small/medium sized banana
• 1/4 cup non-dairy yoghurt (soy, almond, coconut…)
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1/2 cup stevia extract in the raw
• 1 tbs vanilla extract
• (optional) 1/2 tsp chocolate extract
• 2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 2 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tbs baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400F and spray your baby bundt cake pan (or muffin tins) with nonstick cooking spray.

In a mixing bowl, mash your banana until there are few/no lumps remaining.

Mix in the remaining “wet” ingredients (the yoghurt through the extracts).

Sift in the dry ingredients and mix to form a batter.

Finally, stir in the chips.

Divide the batter evenly into 12 cake moulds of choice.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Allow the cakes/muffins to cool for 5-10 minutes before removing from the pan.

 

No added sugar or fat? Heck. Yeah.

But let’s say that you want sugar in your dessert for say…a Valentine’s Day treat? Yes. I of all people threw together some V-Day cookies. Even though it’s one of my least favourite holidays.

 

 

“Stand-Out-From-The-Crowds”

A “Tag-A-Long” Girl Scout Cookie Copy-Cat

Yields: Around 22-24 cookies

Ingredients:

Cookie:

• 1 stick vegan margarine (1/2 cup), room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tbs vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tsp ener-g egg replacer mixed with 2 tbs warm water
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

Filling:

• 1/2 cup peanut butter (creamy is preferable – the cheaper the better)
• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 2 tbs vanilla extract

Coating:

• 1 cup vegan chocolate chips
• 1 tsp oil

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl, cream together the margarine and sugar.

Mix in the vanilla and egg replacer.

Sift in the dry ingredients and beat together to form a stiff dough.

Turn your doughball out onto a lightly floured surface, and roll out (gently!) until about 1/8″ thick. Cut out into your desired shapes (the smaller the better).

Bake for 10 minutes.

Cool completely before decorating, if you choose to do so.

 

 

In a smallish mixing bowl, mix together all of your filling ingredients together to form sort of a fudge-y dough. Divide the dough into 24 even sized pieces. As best your can, press each dough piece onto a cookie, spreading and working it evenly across the cookie to cover it evenly. Repeat with the remaining pieces.

 

 

Melt your chocolate with the oil via your preferred method (I microwave in 30 second increments, stirring as I go to melt the chocolate). Dip each cookie peanut butter-filling side down into the chocolate to coat the cookie. Now just let the chocolate cool and set, and your ready to eat!

 

Yeah. That’s shows them girl scouts who’s boss.

I used to be a girl scout. I hated it. My troop was lame. We didn’t do “campy” things or anything like that. And my scout leader was a drunk.

Yeah.

Until text time…

What is your favourite girl scout cookie?

Are you doing anything for Valentines day? I am. I have a date…with homework. Yup. I went there.

WIAW: The Tuesday Episode!

I have started referring to “days” or events as “episodes” as of lately. It’s something my Islamic Cultural History teacher does when referring to class days (ie. Episode 4 of Islamic Cultural History = Class, day 4. Much more interesting to call it an episode.)

In case you were interested. I know, since it is Wednesday after all, you also are very much interested in seeing what food I consumed today. Well, instead of today’s energy sources, I will display what I ate yesterday. Just for a change of pace. It was getting to feel like I was getting too monotonous with my Wednesday posts. So here’s a typical Tuesday for me…

*FYI – food = basicially the same as a Wednesday. I’ve been too busy with homework to recipe-create. Maybe later this week I’ll come up with something new.*

Tuesdays are a little more chill for me than Wednesdays. Classes don’t start for me until 12:30, so I have a long while to do whatever I want to back at my apartment. I ended up having breakfast around 8:30-8:45-ish, after doing yoga and chatting with mum on the phone.

The usual as of lately. Garlicky cooked greens (spinach and kale) with some simmered acorn squash, and a tablespoon of yoghurt. My favourite new veggie condiment. With a few cups of coffee, of course. Okay. Maybe just one cup of coffee.

Then it was off to the gym at 10:00 after prepping lunch for later. I biked for a half an hour. Then went to campus. Signed some papers so I can get paid at the end of the semester (I have a job as a note-taker! I get paid $75 just for taking notes! Yea!). Got a grande coffee from Starbucks. And at 12:30 went to Buddhism class, followed by my note-taker orientation.

After orientation I was rather starved (we can’t eat during Buddhism, even though it’s during the typical lunch hour…). So I ate lunch at 3:00 in Islamic Cultural History.

Kaddu “falafels” were the lunch of the day. On a bed of greens and squash. With yoghurt, of course.

This was for lunch today as well, btw. With the addition of a dollop of hummus. Yummmmm.

Class ended right on time at 4:20 when I shuttled back to the apartment, where I did some reading until I was ready for dinner.

Which was the usual. I wasn’t feeling like thinking of making anything new. Too invested in reading at the time. I know. I’m such a nerd so dedicated.

And honestly, I wasn’t up to going to the gym for another round of biking (hey – who the heck wants to venture outdoors when it’s below 20 degrees out, and windy? Not me!). So instead I did 30 minutes of “power yoga” which consisted of a whole bunch of continuous sun salutations and warrior sequences. And followed that up with 30 minutes worth of strength training, which consisted of everything from bicep and tri-sep curls, to lat-rows, some shoulder exercises, some lunges (holding weights for resistance), squats with my medicine ball, sit ups with my medicine ball (done in various fashions targeting different muscles) and stuff like that. I feel as though that made up for not doing another gym session. Anyways…after this I was a tad peckish, so I decided to have a little snack while I roasted some squash in the oven.

I had half a cup of soy yoghurt with a tablespoon of peanut butter powder mixed up at the bottom. Yum. I love yoghurt and peanut butter.

This, of course, was supplemented with some squash, kale, and a mocha almond milk “shake. And Hindi studying. Delicious.

Eventually, my brain reached its capacity for homework, I chatted with mum on my cellular device, had a snack, and went to bed. My snack was…

Pumpkin mousse and…

A “pumpkin cream pie” oat bran mess.

So there is Tuesday for ya! Not all that different from Wednesday.

So thanks to Jenn from P&C for hosting this weekly blog party! BTW, this month for WIAW, its a month devoted to veggie love! Thankfully, I love veggies so this is a cakewalk for me! But perhaps I should try to incorporate new veggies into my diet…

Veggies for *Tuesday*:

• squash
• pumpkin
• broccoli
• spinach
• kale
• mushrooms

I could really work on my diversity!

What are your favourite vegetables?

Have you tried anything new lately?

Do you tend to eat the same thing on a daily basis?