Vegan Cookies & Pizza

This afternoon I got a craving to bake. Weird, huh? ;) Our cookie jar was empty, which is somewhat rare in my house. To refill it, I baked two different types of vegan cookies. Both recipes were courtesy Dreena Burton. She is one talented lady. 

Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies.

"You Got Peanut Butter in my Chocolate Cookies"

Both cookies are outstanding. The chocolate chip ones are delicious. I had Chris try one without telling him they were vegan. I'm a sneaky girl. But he liked them! And oh the chocolate pb cookies! My mouth is watering just thinking about them. I mean, how can you go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter? My mom loved them and said she would have never thought they were vegan. I nibbled on a few of these cookies throughout the afternoon. 

Dinner was two small slices of veggie pizza and baby carrots. I had chipotle salsa on the side for dipping. 

 

I'm sipping on ginger tea which helps digestion and calms my stomach. My cousin and I have to be up pretty early tomorrow. She needs to get her passport renewed and afterwards we are going to lunch and MOA (again!) before I have to say goodbye and drop her off at the airport. Depending on how rushed I am in the morning, I might not have time to post until the evening. I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. I haven't had any formal exercise since Saturday- my irritableness today is a sign that I need to release my energy. I've also been grazing on food a lot this weekend since I've been home all day long. 

This coming week will be a short one for me. It's already Monday night and I'm flying to Chicago on Friday morning. I have lots to accomplish in 3 days! 

P.S. I'm loving the John & Kate Plus 8 marathon. 

Chilly Day = Comfort Food

I meant to post lunch earlier today but I left my computer at home all afternoon. I knew that if I brought it along to the coffee shop, I'd be tempted to check blogs, facebook, email, etc. instead of studying. My original plan was to pack a lunch and eat it while I studied. However, I lost track of time catching up on blogs this morning and I started to get hungry around noon due to a smaller breakfast than normal. 

Since I was hungry, I ate lunch before leaving. I was in the mood for soup due to the chilly weather so I had a can (1.5 servings) of Trader Joe's Vegan Split Pea soup. The soup's sickly green color does not do it justice. It is quite tasty and very, very filling. On the side I had a serving of Kashi crackers. 

Excuse the ugly plastic container, I had already packed the soup up and didn't want to dirty another dish. Lunch total: 280 cals, 3g fat, 7g fiber, 14g protein

I had a productive afternoon reading about lipids and cardiovascular disease. While studying I had a coffee and a huge apple. I weighed this apple on my food scale and it came in at a whopping 130 cals! Snack: 130 cals, 9g fiber, 1g protein

After studying, I went across the street to the gym. I ran for about 5 minutes and realized I should do more cross-training so I hopped on a stationary bike. I was reminded again how much I dislike stationary bikes. The reason I don't cross-train more often is that I just don't like the other machines. I get bored too easily and nothing gives me as great a workout as running. At least, I was able to watch a rather entertaining Dr. Phil. I did 25 minutes of biking and then I went to a strength training class. It's been awhile since I've done any strength training so I'm sure I will be sore tomorrow. My post workout snack was a Clif Nectar bar, 160 cals, 6g fat, 6g fiber, 3g protein. 

It was a chilly, rainy afternoon/evening so I decided to make something warm and comforting, ED&BV's Cocoa-Coconut Chili. Another delicious, winning recipe. I'm so excited for the leftovers!

Chili + French roll totals: 490 cals, 7g fat, 13g fiber, 21g protein

Daily total: 1388 cals, 27g fat, 46g fiber, 50g protein

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Tacos

Wow, dinner tonight was delicious for being thrown together so quickly. I am completely stuffed but it was so good, I had to go back for more!

But before I get to it...

Afternoon snack + Workout

I had a chocolate chip z bar as my afternoon snack. I was feeling pretty hungry so I wasn't sure this would hold my hunger. But it did. Snack total was 130 calories, 4g fat, 3g fiber, 3g protein.

After being stuck in traffic for over an hour I was so close to driving home instead of going to the gym. The idea of catching up on my tv shows and relaxing on the couch was very appealing. However, I'm glad I made myself to go to the gym. I did a shorter, more intense run today. It was about 4 miles total. I did something today that I haven't done in almost year. I ran without my HRM. I forgot it at home. I kinda freaked out because I am so used to monitoring my heart rate during my runs. But I think by now I know how my zones feel so I felt pretty confident during my run. I need to learn to trust myself more.

I wasn't able to make it to yoga tonight but I'm okay with that because my arms/shoulders/upper back are extremely sore. You should have seen me changing into my workout clothes, it was painful!

Dinner tonight was so good. I had been craving sweet potatoes and black beans this afternoon so I knew that's what I wanted for dinner. My usual fix is a baked sweet potato topped with black beans or chili. I wanted to try something different tonight so I made sweet potato and black bean tacos.

I started off by peeling and cutting a big sweet potato into cubes. I threw them in the microwave for about 5 minutes to speed up the cooking process. In a skillet, I sautéed garlic in olive oil for a minute. Then I added the par-cooked sweet potatoes and seasoned it with salt, pepper, and red pepper. Once the potatoes were crusty, I added the black beans and cooked just until everything was heated through.

In a separate skillet, I warmed up a couple of corn tortillas. I like my corn tortillas to be crispy, but still foldable. To assemble: top the tortillas with the potato/bean mixture and salsa. And viola! Sweet potato and black bean tacos.

These were so so good! I started with two on my plate, but I had to go back for a third. As Rachel Ray would say, yum-o!

It is hard to say what the exact calorie count is for this meal because I didn't measure any of the ingredients. From experience, I'm guessing that my 3 tacos had about 1 cup of sweet potatoes and 1/2 cup of black beans,(plus a few tablespoons of salsa and tsp of oil). Based on this rough estimate, dinner totals were about 500 calories, 4g fat, 13g fiber, 12g protein.

Daily Total: 1421 calories, 38g fat, 41g fiber, 60g protein.

Tasty Chickpea, Asparagus and Orzo

Dinner last night was heaven.

I made Heidi Swanson's Ten Minute Tasty Asparagus and Brown Rice Recipe.

Heidi is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. I'm seriously going to Barnes and Nobles to pick up a copy of Super Natural Cooking.

I followed her recipe exactly except I used whole wheat orzo instead of brown rice. (I didn't have any cooked brown rice, so I chose orzo to make it a quick meal.) I also used a little less oil then called for. Oh and I threw in mushrooms that were about to go bad; and I added pine nuts, rather than almonds. The result? Outstanding.

The chickpeas getting nice and crusty in olive oil and sea salt

With the asparagus, mushrooms and orzo.

With the tahini dressing

This recipe is perfect for a weeknight, as it came together really quickly. It is supposed to make 4-6 servings. Ha. If your family is any thing like mine, it will only make four. It is however, SUPER filling. I was almost too full after I ate my bowl...but it was so good I licked the bowl clean.

FYI, my dad was wary at first. He doesn't like asparagus, (or broccoli/cauliflower/peas) so I carefully served his portion without any. He LOVED it. Mission accomplished :) It makes me feel so good to make these delicious dishes that are super healthy and tasty for my family.

Broccoli Teriyaki Tofu Stir-Fry

Eat, Drink, & Be Vegan's

Broccoli Cashew Teriyaki Stir-Fry

Dinner tonight was SO flavorful. This recipe turned out wonderful! I think the homemade teriyaki sauce is what made the dish. It tasted nice and fresh thanks to the freshly grated ginger and garlic. By using tamari rather than soy sauce, the dish was perfectly balanced. I hate it when dishes are overpowered with soy sauce because all you taste is the salt.

I followed the recipe almost exactly except I made a few modifications due to not having some ingredients.

• Replaced sesame oil with walnut oil and used cornstarch instead of arrowroot powder for the teriyaki sauce.
• No cashews. I was going to use peanuts, but I'm kind of sick of peanuts thanks to earlier today when I consumed massive amounts of peanut butter cookie dough.
• I used broccoli, red peppers, mushrooms, and yellow squash.
• Right before I turned the heat off, I added crushed red pepper.

Served on top of brown rice...

Delicious.

Oh and I wasn't kidding in my previous post when I said the cookies were addicting. In the course of the afternoon, I've eaten like half of them. I think I need to give away the rest!

Chocolate Mint Melties

These cookies smell so good and look beautiful! I can't post the recipe for these cookies but you can find it on Dreena's Sample Recipes.

I had to scrub my hands before typing this post because they were covered in gooey melted mint chocolate. I haven't actually tried one of the cookies yet but I know the Dark Chocolate with Deep Forest Mint bar from Endangered Species Chocolate was delicious. This bar was more expensive than others but once I picked it up, I felt way too guilty not buying it. I can afford to pay an extra 50 cents if it means saving endangered animals.

On to the cookies. I have been dying to try one of the recipes from Dreena Burton's Eat, Drink & Be Vegan ever since I got the book. I am not vegan but I want to include more vegan dishes in my diet because I have a sensitive stomach. I've learned in the past years that natural, whole foods make me feel my best. Plus, vegan recipes are delicious so I really have no problem including them in my lifestyle.

This was my first attempt at a vegan cookie recipe and I am proud to say I was successful. The recipe is pretty simple and I actually had most of the ingredients already. I was only missing the chocolate bar and spelt flour. I wasn't sure how easy it would be to find spelt flour at my grocery store since I had never looked for it before. I am so happy because in the bulk bins I found all sorts of alternative flours. It encourages me even more to make vegan recipes now that I know how easy it is to find the ingredients. (The nearest Whole Foods is 20 minutes away from me.)


The recipe made 12 cookies. I will be surprised if they last longer than tomorrow. I am so happy with the results of this recipe. I can't wait to try out more recipes from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan.