Vegetarian Meal #8 of 10

Okay ... after reading your comments to yesterday's post, I totally feel boring in the popcorn department! You guys put some crazy, yet interesting things on your popcorn! What I am wondering is, what made you want to try new flavourings for the first time?? Are you really that adventurous!? I am a chicken, and never venture beyond the butter or margarine world. Hence, my boring popcorn last night:

You know how a few weeks ago I woke up to snow ...
Well that is all gone now. It was nearly hot last weekend.
And this morning I woke up to pouring rain! This is Saskatchewan weather for ya!

So when it is pouring rain, and cool, and dark, breakfast can only be one thing ...
OATS!



(1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond breeze, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup oats, homemade pumpkin butter, and pumpkin seeds)

I had a mid-morning glo-bar snack:



Then for lunch I had perogies:



And the terrible two:


(old Cheddar and pears go fabulously together).

I have had more of an appetite than usual today, and by 3:30 I was haaaaaangry!
I had my 2nd LARA Bar:



This one was even more delicious than the last. I am so happy I finally tried these bars.
They are a little on the sweet side, and since I don't have a sweet tooth, I can only eat about 1/2 at a time - but I do love 'em.

Dinner was Vegetarian Meal #8 of 10

Red Tofu and Bean Chili

Ingredients:

- 2 t olive oil
- 3 cups chopped onion
- 1/4 cup chili powder
- 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 2 minced garlic cloves
- 3 cups veggie stock
- 1 can kidney beans, drained
- 1 can black beans, drained
- 1 can chopped tomatoes, drained
- 1 can mushrooms
- 1/2 block extra firm tofu
- Cheddar cheese to sprinkle on before serving

Directions:

• Heat oil, add onion, saute 5 min.
• Add spices, and saute 30 seconds
• Add stock, beans, tomatoes, bring to a boil
• Add tofu and mushrooms
• Simmer about 45 min. or 1 hr.
• Sprinkle shredded cheese on top before serving

I just realized that I didn't eat very many fruits/ veggies today. Guess that means I should have a GM tomorrow morning.

I really try to get my veggies in everyday, but some days (like today) I realize that it just didn't happen. No sweat. I will just have more tomorrow :-)

How do you maintain balance in your diet? Do you strive for a certain # of servings of the different food groups, or just eat what you feel like eating?

Vegetarian Meal #7 of 10, and a LARA bar!!

Good evening! I hope everyone had a good Monday, back at the daily grind! Mine was pretty good - it was nice outside, so that was something to smile about.

Before I forget, last night I ate 2 scrambled eggs with hot sauce on them. I was craving eggs for some reason, so I think it meant I needed protein:

Here are my eats from today ...

Breakfast:

• Blueberry/ Banana smoothie (1/2 cup frozen blueberries, 1 banana, 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond breeze).
• Glo-bar

I didn't have any thing to pack for lunch, so I had to run out. I went to Extreme Pita, and got a pita pizza with black olives, bruschetta mix, mushrooms, and mozzarella:

I also had about 4 pita chips with hummus:

After work I had to run to the university to do some work. I ate my VERY FIRST Lara bar on the way!! I tried the pecan pie flavour:

Now, I am not one to eat a lot of store bought bars ... typically because the ingredient list scares me. I always read the labels of products, and I try to find foods that have the least amount of ingredients with most, if not all of them, recognizable to me. The ingredient list on the back of this Lara Bar blew-my-mind in 1 millions ways. Check this out:

In case you can't read that ... it says "Ingredients - Dates, Pecans, Almonds."
That is insane. And amazing. LOVE it! Now that is a "whole food" bar. I am officially a fan!

It tasted great too :-)

Dinner today was Vegetarian Recipe #7 of 10.

Indian Curry with Chickpeas and Mango

This is seriously the easiest curry dish I have ever made. And it was delicious.

Ingredients:
1 - 14 oz can of chickpeas, drained
2 fresh tomatoes, chopped (or 1 - 14 oz can)
1/2 cucumber, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 cup coconut milk
2 T red curry paste (Patak's mild curry)
1 mango, chopped
1 T oil



Directions:

• Heat the oil in a large, deep pan
• Add the onions and simmer until translucent

• Add the curry paste and simmer for 1 minute

• Add the coconut milk and chickpeas and simmer for a couple minutes

• Then add the cucumber and tomatoes and simmer another couple minutes

• Add the mango and let simmer until the mango is warm

Serve over rice and enjoy!

My portion:

I cannot remember where I found this recipe - it might have been a blog ... if this is from your blog, please let me know and I will give you credit! I printed it, and now I don't know where I got it. The paper says vegweb.com, so it must have originally come from there.

The hubby is nagging me to come watch TV with him ... he wants to try out my new popcorn maker that I won, and I told him he was to wait for me so that he can share with me :-) I think we will make a small batch with some yummy butter!!!

What do you put on your popcorn?

Vegetarian Meal #6 of 10 and Introducing ...

For the first time on EverydayFoodie ... Oats in a Jar!

This is definitely a favourite in the blogosphere ... and I finally tried it for breakfast today! I used what was left of my almond butter, and threw in 1 T unsweetened coconut, and 1 tsp mini chocolate chips. It was excellent.

Lunch was leftover Pad Thai of course:

And also the perfect pair:

No pun intended :-)

After a great day at work, and coaching a v-ball game, I came home famished! I snacked on the 2nd fresh roll from last night while whipping up Vegetarian Meal #6 of 10.

Zucchini Lasagna (sans noodles):

In this dish, the zucchini takes the place of the noodles. I found this recipe in a book, but altered it a bit to make it more protein rich, and awesome.

Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1 1/2 lbs zucchini, cut into thin strips lengthwise
- 1 3/4 cups bread crumbs
- 2 T butter
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 5 shallots, chopped coarsely
- 2 carrots, diced
- 8 oz chopped asparagus
- 3/4 cup cream
- sprinkle of Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup or more of hemp seeds (for protein)

Directions:

- Put some oil in a pan and sautee the zucchini for a couple minutes, then set aside
- Heat 1 T of butter and brown the garlic and then add the bread crumbs and brown a bit, then set aside

- Saute the shallots and carrots in the remaining oil until lightly browned. Add the asparagus and cream and cook for 10 minutes. Season with salt. Dump in 1/2 cup hemp seeds and stir.

- Line the baking dish with 1 layer of zucchini, then a layer of the asparagus mixture, then some bread crumbs. Repeat, ending with breadcrumbs. Toss a little parm on top.

- Bake for 15 - 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

- Gobble down

After dinner I made a run to the post office to pick this up!

A FREE popcorn maker! I won this in a contest on Gareth's blog: Stumptown Savoury. Sawwweeeet!

I also made a run to Wal-Mart to buy a bunch of big tupperware for organizing our basement!
It is almost done. Before and after pictures will be within the next couple weeks.

I am headed to bed peeps.
G'night!