More Meatless Monday Madness

Writing this post Monday night after doing an entire vegan day. The plan is to finish this, shower and hit the bed before some kind of animal related item jumps into my gob. Seriously, how do the vegans do this everyday?
So, get this, Sunday night I actually write a menu like I would for something at work cause it's just about the only way I can be sure to keep it animal free. One of my menued items was a grilled peach snack which I manage to screw up by seasoning with honey ginger white balsamic vinegar. Honey comes from bees so the peaches get put away for a Tuesday snack.
Anyway, here's what I ended up with..
Breakfast: 
Oatmeal and brown rice protein powder cooked in a mixture of water and coconut milk seasoned with cocoa powder, salt, vanilla and beet sugar. Apparently regular sugar can be processed with bone char so that's out. Beet sugar it is. And coffee with Mimic Creme because I learned my lesson the first week. (See my last Meatless Monday post.)
Lunch:
Salad - sliced radishes and radish greens dressed with cinnamon pear balsamic vinegar and olive oil vinaigrette.
Vegan burrito - whole wheat tortilla, BBQ rub seasoned corn pan seared with chipotle olive oil, spelt, onions, garlic and Helen's Kitchen Vegan Chorizo
I have not yet found a premade frozen vegan or vegetarian burrito that tastes like...anything I would want to spend money on or eat again. But mine was quite yummy so I made enough to put up 3 more in the freezer.
Snack:
Suburban Organics banana split and spread with chocolate PB2. So. Damn. Good.
Dinner:
Shirataki noodles stir fried with beet greens and roasted edamame seasoned with fresh ginger and General Tso's sauce over raw kale. Grabbed a double sized side of Sodexo's country kitchen vegetables to go along with it cause I was dining at work.
Snack:
Spelt topped with Italian seitan, tomato sauce and vegan mozzarella shreds. Nuked till warm. Hey- I was out of ideas, had the stuff in the fridge and it worked.
Almost killed it when I passed the empty pizza box from my hubby and daughter's dinner. A little cheese was stuck in it so I plucked it and almost tossed it down the hatch. Stopped myself just in time!
-DK

RTB: Crock Pots = Cheap Healthy Eats (part 1)

My day job keeps this foodie busy on workdays which doesn't leave alot of time to make tasty and healthy food. Having lost 60 lbs in the last 15 months, I have few tricks up my sleeve to make sure I'm eating what's healthy and not what's easy. Typically, easy = not so good for me.
Enter the best gift ever - the three compartment crock pot ! It's 3 crock pots in one unit and each pot has independent controls. Meaning that one can be set on high, one at low and one not turned on at all if that's whatcha wanna do. So awesome for makin' alotta different food.
So, I had 2 whole days off in a row last week. (Right!? How'd that happen?) Set up the crock pots on day 1 with...
Sofrito:



Sofrito is kinda a spanish mirepoix. It's usually buzzed raw in a food processor and used in stews, etc. But Monsterfink hates the texture of
veggie although loves the flavor. So our sofrito gets slow cooked and pureed before it smothers grilled chicken with cheese on top. (Yummmm!)
Vegan Chili:



This recipe came from the Skinny Bitch Book of Vegan Swaps I won from Steph Chows. Great recipe - my only change was to toss in a few dried, diced ancho peppers. No recipe is ever made as is in my house. Gotta make 'em my own!
Homemade Vegetable Stock:



Every friday Suburban Organics delivers a box of AMAZing organic veggies to my doorstop. When I make salad, etc I can't bear to toss out the perfectly good trimmings so I keep 'em. Like that honkin' big chunk from the bottom of a head of cauliflower or a ton of broccoli stems. I mean, how much broccoli slaw can one girl eat? They all get dumped in the crock pot with filtered water, celery, carrots and onion. Then set & forget - if the stock isn't quite flavorful enough when all the veggies are soft, strain and simmer on the stovetop to reduce it.
Once everything is done, it get's separated into serving sizes, dated/labelled and put up in the freezer. Homemade so it tastes great and is seasoned to my own finicky tastes, thaw and use so I stay on the path to healthy hotness and CHEAP!!!!!!
What's not to love?
- DK

RTB: Apple Pie Amaranth

I love carbs! I can feel the pleasure centers of my brain lighting up just typing about them. Contrary to some so-called experts, carbs are not bad for us. Half of what we eat every day should be carbs. Our bodies, and especially our brains - need them. Check out the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, specifically the chart on page 15.

The problem comes when we eat too many carbs that are devoid of any nutritional value other than calories. Like white flour or white rice, etc. Not that I don't eat these things - had a great sourdough roll today and rice pudding last night - but they account for less than half of my grain intake for the day. The other half (or more) is whole grains. If you're a carb queen like me, you'll soon fall in love with whole grains - they taste AMAZING! And grains cost ALMOST NOTHING! Especially if you get them bulk. Buy as much or as little as you like and pay for what it weighs.

One of my favs is amaranth. Grain to liquid is a 3 to 1 ratio and it makes a creamy, rich hot cereal. Try it in Apple Pie Amaranth:

1/4 cup dry amaranth
2 tsp Splenda brown sugar blend
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/2 fresh apple, grated
1 tsp grated lemon zest
Pinch of kosher salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 T heavy whipping cream

Combine all ingredients except cream in a small saucepan. Simmer until thickened. Spoon into a bowl and drizzle top with cream.

Calories: 296
Total Fat: 8.6g
Sat Fat: 1.8g
Carbs: 53.3g
Fiber: 10g

-DK

Meatless Monday Missteps

No - I'm not vegetarian, or vegan. Just a foodie tryin' to avoid becoming a statistic in the (cue ominous music) obesity epidemic. Seriously, the way this is talked about in the media, you'd think it was the zombie apocalypse.

I've been doing the lacto/ovo vegetarian thing on Mondays for a while now. That means milk and eggs but no animal...um...flesh? And at the risk of offending the pescavegetarians...fish are animals so they are not part of my Meatless Monday routine. Of course, I'm an unrepentant carnivore the rest of the week so I'm pretty much offending someone 6 days a week anyway. Why stop on Mondays!?

At any rate, I've found it pretty easy to do vegetarian once a week so I figured, how hard could it be to do the full on vegan thing?

Apparently, it's pretty freaking hard!!!! No dairy or eggs is takes some planning.

Week 1, I had made my lunch for work, planned dinner and packed snacks - all vegan. Ate vegan breakfast and grabbed my coffee. Annnnnnd realized I couldn't put half and half in it. I take my coffee seriously, folks. The almond milk I tried to lighten it with did NOT cut it.

See what I mean...ewwwwwww!

Week 2, I figured would be easier because I got through week 1. After eating O'soy for a snack did I read the cup to find the active cultures came from milk. Why make a cultured soy yogurt and put a milk based item in it? Why?????!!!!! Then I made my vegan pizza with the home made dough for dinner. Cause I never just follow a recipe like a normal person, I brushed the dough with olive oil and seasoned it up my way. Not a prob until I realized halfway through grating parmigiano reggiano over it, that it was no longer vegan. Dammit! But I built it anyway with the vegan mozz and Italian seitan and it was might tasty.

Now THAT's a crust! (and why do I have man-hands in this pic?)

Never do I back down from a challenge - even when I should - so I am determined to make this happen! (I am so gonna Ahab this Vegan Monday thing until I take the whole boat down with me...)

-DK

RTB: Staycation Day in Princeton, NJ

Me and the fam had a FAB-u-lous foodventure in Princeton, NJ recently. First, we went to House of Cupcakes who you might have seen on Cupcake Wars more than once - they won the first time they were on. My Mexican Hot Cocoa cupcake was richly chocolicious and not shy on the spice at all. My hubby had the one with the pretzels on it and my little miss loved her cuppie with the candy all over the top. 

They were even nice enough to let me come behind the counter for a picture of their great wall of cupcakes:

Then we did some damage up at Carter and Cavero, where you can sample a crazy amount of different balsamic vinegars and olive oils. Trying to decide which of them to buy was harder than choosing a name for my only child.

Oh, and they had an AMAZing selection of other goodies as well, like salts...

We finally made our decisions and came out with our hard won booty:

We rewarded ourselves for not buying one of everything at Carter and Cavero's a few doors down at Thomas Sweet where they have the most heavenly salted caramel candies...

And to reward myself for only eating 3 chocolates at Thomas Sweets, I bought kitcheny gadgets and coffee at Kitchen Kapers. Sorry there's no pic but my hands were full of bags at this point!

If you find yourself with a free afternoon and some decent weather, check out Princeton, NJ. And when you're too full and happy for any more foodie fun, there's a free art museum on the university campus. Not too shabby for a staycation day!

-DK

What's In These Brownies, Dude?

 

Yes, they are that good and no, the secret ingredient is not what you think.

It's black beans!

Oh, that is what you thought it was. Well, alright then.

You can see by the pic below, the batter starts out looking meh but hang in there, it'll look like brownie batter by the end.

But in case you're like me and this is new thing for you, this is the recipe from Meal Makeover Moms:

Fudgy Black Bean Brownies

Makes 16 Servings (I cut them into 8 larger brownies)

One 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed very well
3 large eggs
3 tablespoons canola oil
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract, optional
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch salt
1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly oil or coat an 8 x 8-inch baking pan or dish with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

2. Place the black beans in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs, oil, sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, peppermint extract as desired, baking powder, and salt and process until smooth. Add ¼ cup of the chips and pulse a few times until the chips are incorporated.

3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top with a rubber spatula, and sprinkle with the remaining ¼ cup chocolate chips.

4. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan before slicing into 2-inch squares.

Nutrition Information per Serving: 120 calories, 5g fat (1.5g saturated, 0.3g omega-3), 95mg sodium)

I doubled the recipe and my food processor couldn't handle the double batch so I just pureed the beans with the eggs, transferred it to my mixer and finished the recipe that way. 

My picky 6 year old, Daughter of Fink, loved them. And she runs screaming at the mention of the word BEAN.  I used my whole family as test subjects at a get together and no one batted an eye.  What a great way to get folks to enjoy the nutritional benefits of a food not everybody is crazy about. I'm not above subterfuge when it comes to my family's health and I'm OK with it.

-DK

Jersey Girl Cafe

The Hamilton Squares at the Jersey Girl Cafe in Hamilton, NJ made the pleasure centers of mah brain light up like Christmas ornaments. Rice Krispie treats with peanut butter cups, a layer of peanut butter and smothered in chocolate. Oh mamma!

For lunch I had an excellent Brie turkey pannini with berry mayo. The berries were just the right amount of sweet and balanced perfectly with the savory turkey and creamy cheese. Bread was grilled just enough for a satisfying crunch. I hate when the bread is so hard it makes the sandwich filling squish out on the first bite. Not the case here - it was pannini nirvana.

Check out this fun and tasty spot. Unless you don't like good food, fair prices and excellent service that is. In that case - stop reading my blog!

- DK