Late to the party.

So...I was late to the smart phone party. And hence was late to the instagram party. And hence I am now obsessed with instagram even though it's been in existence for...well, I don't really know.

(Just you wait. You will soon be seeing the results of the obsession).

Let's back up to last week. This is what I ate for lunch every day and it most definitely did not get old:

Sandwich with swiss cheese, sun-dried tomato & basil hummus, cucumbers, spinach, avocado and olives. Another bonus about this sandwich was that it kept me full for more than 1 hour!

This weekend, my goal was to get my life in order. Luckily that is exactly what I did! Starting with making breakfast at 7AM on Saturday morning.

A crisped up tortilla topped with refried beans, cheese, avocado, egg, and salsa. 

My productive weekend also included working out both days, planning both lunches and dinners for this coming week, grocery shopping, and cooking for said meals. Remember how one of my April goals was to somehow incorporate yoga into my workout schedule? I finally did that this weekend, and I think I am now designating Saturday as my yoga day. I hadn't gone to a yoga class in 4-5 months prior to yesterday, and boy am I feeling the effects today. I used to be so strong and flexible! I don't know what happened.

Post-yoga, I wanted to eat something really hearty. Disclaimer: I don't usually do these things but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Chipotle burrito bowl. Who am I? (Really, I asked myself this question after I got it). But I skipped on the rice and sour cream, and added a very minimal amount of cheese to make it a bit healthier. 

(Can you tell I'm really into avocado these days?).

I planned some very elaborate meals for this week. While I did enjoy my sandwiches everyday last week, waking up 10 minutes earlier to assemble it was not ideal. I decided that this week, my lunch would include something that I could pack up the night before and not have to worry about in the morning.

Also, I have a mint plant which is growing out of control and I decided some mint had to be used. And hence the following recipe was born.

Coconut Mint Curry

Ingredients:

• 2 medium-sized sweet potatoes
• 1 bag of frozen cauliflower (~4 cups chopped)
• 1 1/2 cups frozen peas
• 1 can light coconut milk
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 4-5 cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 15-20 mint leaves (~3-4 tablespoons chopped)
• 4-5 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• juice of 1 lemon
• salt
• green chilies (optional)
• roasted cashews (optional)

Cook the sweet potatoes in the microwave until soft, and then chop into cubes.

In a large pot, heat the oil, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, half of the chopped garlic, and green chilies if using.

Chop the mint,

and add it to a food processor or blender along with half of the chopped cilantro, lemon juice, and the other half of the garlic. I also added 5 or so spoonfuls of the coconut milk to facilitate the blending. 

Set this mixture aside.

Defrost the frozen cauliflower and peas, and add them to the large pot along with the sweet potato. 

Then add the coconut milk, about 1/2 can of water, the mint mixture, curry powder, and salt.

Cook on low-medium until the veggies are soft and then add the cashews. Garnish with the rest of the cilantro.

Serve with rice, quinoa, or grain of choice. 

A fancy meal that does not take much time at all. I guarantee it! (The time, not the fanciness).

Hello there, obliques.

Remember the time I used to think Zumba was not a good enough workout?

I don't know what I was thinking. Yesterday, I went to a tough Zumba class. It was 1 1/2 hours long, taught by an international presenter! After the marathon of Zumba my feet were seriously unable to move. And this morning I woke up with my sides in pain. Definitely a sign of a good ab workout!

Also remember the time I used to post legitimate recipes? Today is the day I am bringing the recipes back. The past few weeks have been such a fail in the meal planning department, and all it really takes is a little bit of organization. Today, I sat down with one of my Vegetarian Times magazines and looked for some recipe inspiration. And inspired I was!

[cheesy]

Glass Noodle Stir Fry

Ingredients:

• 2/3 package glass noodles*
• 1 large eggplant
• 1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms
• 1 1/2 cups chopped broccoli**
• 3 cloves garlic
• 3 eggs
• pinch salt
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon hoisin sauce
• 2-3 tablespoons soy sauce

*Glass noodles can be found in any Asian store or a store that has an Asian food aisle. They are made of mung bean flour, so check the ingredients for this if the package does not indicate what type of noodles they are.

**I used about 1/2 a bag of frozen chopped broccoli.

Boil water in a large pot and cook the noodles.

While the noodles are cooking, prepare the eggplant, broccoli, garlic, and mushrooms in a skillet with the vegetable oil, a pinch of salt, and about 1/4 cup of water. Cook until the eggplant is soft.

Season with hoisin sauce and sesame oil. Then, once the noodles are ready, put the skillet of veggies into the large pot with the noodles.

In the now empty skillet, scramble 3 eggs and then add the scrambled eggs to the noodle and veggie mixture.

Season with desired amount of soy sauce.

Optional: serve with chili paste. (Not optional for me!).

Note: this recipes makes a lot. I planned it out so that I can eat this every night this week for dinner, and from the looks of it, I might even have extras! Being back on the organization train feels oh so good!

Remember the time...

I will never, ever take for granted the ability to eat ever again.

Remember the time I had strep? Well, once I began recovering, I came down with something else. Or it could have been a continuation. Who knows. Either way, the second time around, I was unable to swallow anything that was not frozen and pureed to a complete smoothness.

That eliminates a lot of my favorite foods.

And I couldn't even eat soup. (Strange, I know).

And then my mom came up with the ingenious idea of trying to eat baby food. Can I just give some credit to the makers of baby food? The stuff is not only delicious, but is 100% made of natural ingredients. Huge fan! And not ashamed of it, obviously. Oh, and I was able to eat it with no problems whatsoever. The only issue I had was that the jars are way too small for a normal-sized human being. Details.

Because I have been consuming these types of foods, no pictures have been taken all week. I could have taken pictures of the jars and jars of baby food I consumed but...who likes to see that? Not I.

Last week, I had prepared my lunches and dinners and was oh so proud of it as usual. Unfortunately, very little of it was able to be eaten, so the lunches were frozen and the dinners, well...the produce went bad. I had planned to eat quinoa salad for dinner last week.

The salad includes cooked quinoa, spinach, thawed frozen corn and frozen peas, cucumber, cilantro, and avocado. I used lemon juice and salt as a simple dressing.

Luckily quinoa does not go bad for awhile (or so I think?) and I easily replenished the veggies I had planned to go alongside it. So lunches and dinners for this week = ready! And hopefully I can remain illness-free for more than 1 day this week. Wish me luck!

Hyped

Can I just say that the Biscoff spread hype is completely TRUE?

I started by spreading this on toast and decided...what's the point of the toast when I can just eat this deliciousness straight off of a spoon? If you haven't heard of it, Biscoff spread is basically ground up gingerbread cookies which results in a nut butter-like spread.

(Disclaimer: Biscoff spread is not a health product whatsoever. But I like trying new things! And I wanted to know what the hype was about).

I was at Whole Foods yesterday (which is walking distance for me, YES!) and was about to pick up some kombucha when I came across this:

It was quite good, but I think I prefer kombucha, as it's a little bit less sweet.

In other news, I was using my waffle maker liberally...

(With all kinds of toppings including thawed frozen mango).

Until this week, when I decided to use some thick bread to make a grilled cheese sandwich in the waffle maker.

The grilled cheese was pretty amazing, if I say so myself. Too bad the waffle maker handle broke off in the process.

Sigh. The waffle maker had a good run.

Confession time: I would have more pictures to show you but this week, I had strep and ate either canned soup or macaroni and cheese out of a box. TFG at her finest! This week I am back on the health track and I made not one, but two recipes for this week to share with you.

Now that it's spring and today is the start of a new month, I've decided to make a few new goals. Goal #1: Incorporate yoga into my weekly workout schedule again. Easy enough, right?

Right! Wrong. There are not enough days in the week to do all the workouts I want to do. What a ridiculous problem to have. Does anyone else feel the same way?

Lately

I've been buying way too much produce to finish in a timely manner.

(Luckily, the above picture is mine and my roommate's produce combined. It's still a lot).

I bought 12 beets for a grand total of $2. What does one do with such a volume of vegetables!? Juice them. Of course.

Needless to say, I've been consuming lots of juice lately.

Let's talk about how I come up with ideas that I think are pretty ingenious, and then I go and Google them only to find out the entire world has already been there, done that.

One such instance was this weekend when I wanted to french toast a tortilla.

I still was quite proud of myself for coming up with the idea. I soaked my tortillas in a combination of egg, milk, and cinnamon.

My topping of choice was honey. Usually my topping of choice for any breakfast item (french toast, waffles, pancakes, etc) is almond butter + maple syrup. Fun fact!

This weekend, my goal was to make these BBQ cheddar chickpea burgers. And that I did.

I made just enough for my lunches this week!

Why is it that I never knew how delicious BBQ sauce is? Who knew that one could use BBQ sauce for things other than BBQ? Never mind the fact that the first ingredient in the BBQ sauce is high fructose corn syrup. I'm planning on using it sparingly. (But seriously, it is quite delicious).

If you're looking for reasons to juice, check out this article. 

Cave life.

Have you ever gone a week without tv or internet at home?

I HAVE! And it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I somehow entertained myself without technology. Tough life.

The good news is that now it's back. And now I'm back to sitting in front of the tv with my laptop...in my lap. I missed you, couch. I just realized how much more out and about I was when I didn't have these things at my fingertips (or in my apartment). Potential new life challenge? Perhaps. (Probably not).

Let's talk food!

Last week I went to the farmer's market and bought something like 12 tomatoes. So I did what anyone would do with 12 tomatoes and made tomato sauce. Super easy tomato sauce-- I just sauteed garlic + olive oil + chopped tomatoes until the tomatoes released lots of water. Then, I added in random veggies that I happened to have (broccoli, carrots, spinach, bell pepper) and seasoned with salt, pepper, and oregano. Instead of serving with pasta, I ate it with brown rice and topped it with goat cheese.

My dinners last week looked similar to this:

That is what happens with an overabundance of eggs and avocado. I can't complain, though. It's a pretty delicious combination.

This week I did something a bit more on the fancy side. Yesterday, I bought all kinds of ingredients I normally wouldn't buy such as bok choy (a miniature one!), lemongrass, and dried mushrooms.

Dried mushrooms! Best invention ever. To re-constitute them, they just need to be soaked in water for about 30 minutes.

I only used 1/8 of the bag for an entire bowl full of mushrooms. I'm a huge fan of this.

I combined all my findings and made a quick stir-fry.

This included: bok choy, red bell pepper, tofu, mushrooms, about 1.5 tablespoons lemongrass, soy sauce to taste, and a pinch of salt. I lightly cooked the tofu in 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil before adding the veggies in. 

Can I just say that I love that the sun doesn't go down until past 7pm now? That is quite good news for the food pictures!

Count the ways...

I apologize for leaving you in suspense for one week after that cliff-hanger in the last post. I'm sure you all were waiting (im)patiently on the edge of your seats for the conclusion of how I used that huge chunk of goat cheese I purchased.

Fortunately for you goat cheese lovers, I've been using it all week. Fortunately for me, I still have more than half of it left to finish! Let's count the ways the goat cheese has found its way in my meals this week:

1. Polenta.

I based this idea off of something I saw in Vegetarian Times magazine. The polenta I used was square shaped, because when I went to the store, the regular polenta was all out. (Strange...I didn't know it was that popular). So I ended up buying this:

(The box is misleading, because the polenta really is no different from the cylindrically packaged polenta. It's just in a square shaped box).

What I did for this dish: I sauteed green peppers, garlic, and mushrooms in olive oil (seasoned with salt/pepper) and transferred it to a baking dish. In a separate skillet, I cooked the polenta. Then I placed the polenta on the veggies, topped the polenta with goat cheese, and baked everything for about 15 minutes.

2. Eggs.

Can I just make a quick announcement? How come I was never informed that eggs could be cooked in a microwave? My life changed this week because I had a couple of my dinners come together in about 2 minutes with this microwaved egg trick. Above picture: tortilla + microwaved egg + salsa + goat cheese.

I attempted to make a spinach and bell pepper omelette with goat cheese. Apparently I was a little overzealous with the amount of veggies...because the egg did not flip...at all. So I had a nice plate of spinach, bell pepper, and goat cheese scrambled eggs! 

3. Pizza.

Sometime last week, the idea of goat cheese popped into my mind. I made it a reality today. Best decision ever. I found these awesome pre-made whole wheat pizza crusts:

I think this thin crust made all the difference...it was so crispy. The other toppings included spinach, olives, and mushrooms. (Still obsessed with spinach if it was not evident enough).

Since I still have lots of goat cheese left, tell me: what is your favorite way to incorporate goat cheese in your meals? Any recipes to share?