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What We Ate Today #2

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Hey! Happy Monday! 

I hope you had an awesome weekend.  We hung out at the park, watched a few movies, ate lots of avocado rolls, and read a little (Dominique Moceanu's autobiography is pretty good).

Last week I posted another video on my YouTube channel (here's the first one) to show what we eat as a family. In the latest video, I show breakfast, lunch, dinner and one snack.

Stay tuned for more videos like this!

All of the recipes from the video are at the end of this post. 

Did you do anything fun this weekend? Let me know in the comments.

 

Recipes from the video: 

Tempeh Bacon 

Creamy Grits from Vegan Cooking with Love 

Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup from Chef Robert Martin

 

Spinach & Lentil Enchiladas

by Recipe from "Gluten-Free Vegan Comfort Food" by Susan O'Brien

Cook Time: 25

Keywords: vegan

Ingredients (Serves 6)

    For the Sauce
    • ¼ cup onion, chopped
    • 1 teaspoon olive oil
    • 2 tablespoons chili powder
    • 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
    • 3 cups marinara sauce
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
    For the Filling
    • 1 ½ cups lentils, rinsed
    • 1 tablespoon olive oil
    • ¾ cup onion, chopped
    • 2 tablespoons green chiles, chopped
    • 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
    • ¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
    • 2 cups fresh spinach
    • 2 cups vegetable broth
    • 10 corn or flour tortillas
    • ½ cup vegan cheese (optional)

    Instructions

    Preheat oven at 400 degrees.

    To make the sauce, in a saucepan, sauté the onions in olive oil over medium heat for 3-4 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil, and then turn off the heat.

    For the filling, heat oil on medium-high in a large skillet. Add in onion and sauté for 3-4 minutes. Then add in garlic, stirring occasionally for about a minute. Then add in sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, lentil and broth. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for about 20 minutes.

    Line a casserole dish with about a cup of sauce.

    In a small skillet heat each tortilla on medium heat for about 45 seconds on each side.

    Working on a flat surface, scoop about a tablespoon of the lentil filling into each tortilla and roll up lengthwise.

    Arrange each enchilada in the casserole dish and cover with the remaining sauce.

    Sprinkle on vegan cheese (if you're using it), cover with foil and bake for about 25 minutes.

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    Check out all the previous "What We Ate Today" posts here

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    Family Meal Planning Tips

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    5 tips I use to make meal planning easier:

    1) To save money and time, keep breakfast as simple as possible. Mornings are already crazy enough, so use this time to make delicious and healthy meals that take less than 10 minutes. You can serve oatmeal, grits, tempeh bacon with fresh fruit, smoothies, and much more.

    2) Take a main food and plan a few meals around that ingredient- Google the ingredient with the tag “vegan recipes” and many options will be available to plan your meal around that item. Black beans are a great example of a main food to plan meals around.  One night you can make black bean burritos, and the next spicy black beans and rice. Save money by picking up dried beans opposed to the canned option. You can make your beans on the weekends and serve later in the week.

    3) Put a spin on favorites and make enough for leftovers-Spaghetti is one of those meals that is very easy to change up.  You can literally serve spaghetti every week with a new spin.  One week try adding in sautéed mushrooms and the next lentil balls.

     

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    It's TEA Time

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    I love tea and usually drink several cups of black, lavender, ginger or green tea a day. ​

    teatimecupmarch2013.jpg

    This past weekend, Eric and I explored a local tea shop and purchased our first bag of coconut black tea.  It's definitely different but I've never met of cup of tea I didn't like. 

    Wonderful tea benefits:

    ​*Contributes to lower cholesterol

    *Reduces blood pressure (especially green tea)​

    *Helps fight viral and bacterial infections

    *I read in the latest issue of O magazine (Dr. Oz article) that drinking several cups of green tea a day helps combat belly fat.  *pouring another hot cup*​ #YeShrug

    ​Here are some pictures from that little trip....

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    coconutblackteamarch2013.jpg
    realteapotsmarch2013.jpg
    coconutteabagfeb2013.jpg
    teadogmarch2013.jpg

    TEA Dog :-)

    Are you a tea or coffee drinker?

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    7 Juice Feast Tips

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    Even though I don't see myself doing another juice feast, I really do enjoy starting my day off with fresh juice.

    Here are a few lessons I learned from our recent juice feast:

    *There's no such thing as too many fruits and vegetables while shopping for your feast.  We had to replenish our stash twice during our 5 days.

    *Drink before you start to feel hungry-have fresh juice an/or water available at all times.  Sip, sip and sip some more. :-) This will make the hunger pains less overwhelming

    *Watch documentaries or read books about health and nutrition at night.  After 7 PM was the time I found myself wanting to quit the most.  Use that time to read and watch inspiing stories.  Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead is a good one.

    *Try to juice enough for the whole day-Cleaning a juicer is way too much work to juice several times a day.  Use mason jars and a refrigerator for storage, but try to drink within 24 hours because the vitamins and minerals in the juice can oxidize over time.

    *Keep busy-Try to find activities that will prevent you from thinking how much you want to eat.

    *Get an accountability buddy-Having Eric made all of the difference in the world for me.  I would have quit by day 2 if I didn't have him to keep me on track.

    *Try to have fun-Get your kids to help you juice and serve it up! It felt so good seeing the boys enjoying all the fresh juice with us.

    *Speaking of kids, try to make as many meals for them in advance.  You don't want to put yourself in a position where you're constantly forced to be around food. Make several bulk meals like soup and spaghetti, and freeze to avoid being in the kitchen for longer than a few minutes.

     

     

    Just a quick update: Eric is juicing daily and continues to watch many of the documentaries on Netflix pertaining to health and whole foods.  He told me earlier that he wants to slowly transition to a vegan lifestyle.  I'm SUPER excited!

    Happy Juicing!