Monday, November 24, 2014

Individualized chicken wraps

We have plain chicken left from last night's casserole so I made wraps:

For Me
Chicken, romaine, home canned cranberry relish and mandarin oranges

For my husband

Chicken, romaine, Parmesan and salsa verde

Vegan Super Stew

Daughter has a cold. So I made this vegan vegetable stew.


The broth was saffron road vegetable broth with extra water added. I spiced it with paprika, parsley, pepper, garlic powder and lemon-dill.

I sautéed kale, radishes, butternut squash, three colors of peppers, and zucchini before adding them to the broth.

Other items included carrots, cauliflower, potatoes, garbanzo beans, and white northern beans.



Sunday, November 23, 2014

Leftover cabbage and... Pizza Hut?

My mother-in-law brought us her leftover stuffed cabbage, which I adore, and even put some plain cabbage in the bottom for the wee one. You see, despite her carnivorous nature and love of all things meat, doesn't like the typical ground beef and rice filling of stuffed cabbage or stuffed peppers. But she likes the vegetable exterior.

So I heated the leftovers in the oven, tossing two vegetarian burgers (Morningstar Mediterranean Chick Pea burgers) in with the cabbage.

And why the oven? Because I worked in Target cafe today and there was a Cartwheel for Pizza Hut Tuscany pasta. So when I made the meaty marinaras I bought one for my family and didn't even cook it. 

Did it at home.

I topped our pasta with grated percino romano and mine with crushed red pepper. I also had one of the veggie burgers along with my stuffed cabbage.




Friday, November 7, 2014

Weight training smoothie

It's 9:20 a.m. and between the cold weather, the everyday aches and pains of this body and PMS, my diet has consisted of too much Halloween candy and too many potato chips.

My fitness goals have been challenged by the cold snap and my unheated work out space coupled with ankle pain that may be related to my cerebral palsy and/or preliminary phases of arthritis. 

So today I brought some weights inside. I did 20 minutes of yoga for abs and 15 or so of lower body yoga. I'd never done that routine. The results were indeed awkward. I added to that 15 minutes of upper body free weights while watching an old episode of ER and ended up getting more reps than usual in because I enjoyed watching TV.

I "rewarded" myself with a breakfast smoothie, vegan:


 It's sweeter than I expected. I used 4 ounces coconut water with pulp, 4 ounces very vanilla silk soy milk, one tablespoon unsalted organic almond butter from Wegmans (a friend hates it and passed it off to be knowing I do love almond butter in all shapes, sizes and varieties), a banana, and Biochem Sports vegan protein powder in vanilla.

Makes me feel stronger already.

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Tuna boats on garlic bread

I made (with the wee one's assisance) open faced tuna sandwiches on garlic bread slathered in cheese. With cheesy peas.




Sunday, November 2, 2014

Green Vegan Protein Breakfast

I can't say I'd do this again. But it was edible and at times even good.

I heated some soy milk with a half a scoop of each of my protein powders (the Pure Green protein vanilla and the Biochem sports vegan vanilla). I tossed about a cup of yesterday's cream of wheat in there with a small apple (chopped of course) and lots of cinnamon. I topped it with mixed raw nuts.


My Crazy Chicken Spinach Potato Chip Casserole

I hope this works.

I made a chicken rice potato chip casserole. But not the standard kind with cream of chicken soup.


I cooked three chicken breasts (but only ended up using two). Meanwhile my daughter made a sauce of the following:

- one cup homemade chicken stock
- 1/3 cup mayo
- 1/2 cup soy milk

We added spices:
- parsley
- Himalayan pink salt 
- black pepper
- garlic
- mustard
- ras el hanout
- nutmeg
- cheddar cheese dip mix (about 2-3 tablespoons)

We mixed into the sauce:
- 2 cups raw spinach
- 1 cup northern beans

We placed one cup cooked rice on the bottom of the casserole dish. We layered sauce/mix onto the rice, put in the chicken chucks, and then sprinkled a touch of Parmesan and mozzerella cheese on it. We put the rest of the sauce/mix on top, added more cheese and topped the whole mess with crushed potato chips. 

I put it in the oven, uncovered, at 325 for 30 minutes...


It's a tad bland. I need to jazz up the spice blend more.