Whole Foods splurge

Yesterday I went to check out the new Whole Foods that opened up about 7 minutes from our house. Whoooo, let me just say it was a MAD HOUSE!!  I know grocery shopping on Saturdays is a mad house anyways, but combine with the recent opening of this place made it just CRAZY!!  Let me just say it was like a dream come true.  It was amazing.  It looked fabulous and all the food was so tempting.  I don't regularly shop at Whole Foods as our budget barely work for us in good old Kroger.  But I do get some bulk goods there, and some exotic foods that aren't normally found at the grocery store - like the coconut vinegar I was after yesterday that I got home and found out DOESN'T REMOTELY TASTE LIKE COCONUT!

Who'd have thunk.

Well, I should have given that it's a VINEGAR and since when does any flavor of vinegar I have in my pantry actually have a non-vinegary taste!  But I didn't, and so when the bottle itself specifically stated "does not have a coconutty flavor" my jaw just about dropped as I felt pretty duped.  But the recipe I got it for still tasted great and the person who gave me the recipe concurred that coconut vinegar tastes nothing like coconut.  I'll tell you about the recipe in another post.

Anyways, they were giving out tons of free samples, and I sampled some fabulous hummus flavors while I was there.  Normally I never buy premade hummus due to the cost and the fact that I can control ingredients when I make it.  But these flavors were SO good, they are ones that I haven't perfected at home yet, and MOST importantly, they were HALF OFF.  That last one was really the clincher.  Mostly our budget just can NOT support our hummus habit.  But half off lured me in to try these flavors and I'm so glad I got them.

Charlie and I got home and I started to unload cold stuff in the fridge and this is what I came back into the hall to find.

The leaning tower of hummus - minus the leaning.

Charlie had diligently raided the rest of my grocery bag, pulled out the hummus and neatly stacked them by the door.  He's BIG into stacking right now.  I was so proud of him for his accomplishment, but then I made the mistake of attempting to get them in the fridge.  I knew better than to just haul them all away as he'd probably start screaming that I destroyed his precious creation, so I tried to make a game out of it by handing him one and telling him we have to put it in the fridge.  (He's big on the taking things one by one and putting them where they belong too - like rocks in an empty can or pieces of minuscule dirt in a pile or little pieces of dropped kale into the trash.)  Alas that was a no-go as well.  As soon as I took the first hummus container off the stack, he about went ballistic!  Nothing could be worse in that moment than destroying the hummus tower.  So the hummus had to stay put while I hauled him off to an overdue nap time.

Oh the tragedy that is a destroyed creation.  Let that one sink in for a bit folks....

What did you have for lunch today? (Or dinner last night...)

I had a HUGE fresh salad and it was MAH-velous dahling.

Admittedly our fresh salads over the last couple months have sadly been few and far between.  Why?  Lots of reasons.  I had gotten mildly burned out on salads from my insane salad days of the summer and fall.  When it's cold outside I crave soups and hate having to shove my hands under icy cold water to wash veggies.  And probably mostly because the produce at our local store had taken quite a hit from extra harsh conditions up north apparently.   Things were a little bleak in the lettuce/cabbage/broccoli area especially.   So we had been doing a lot of bean/veggie soups and I was getting a lot of smoothies, which I wasn't needing/using lettuces, cabbages, broccoli, tomatoes, etc, for.

But yesterday I walked into my Kroger and BEHOLD!  Lots of lovely looking lettuces and green things!  (With a slight escalation in price, but not enough to deter me.)  I bought two large heads of green leaf lettuce and went back today for a third.  I had the delicious salad below last night for dinner AND today for lunch.  That's a 7 cup pyrex bowl, fyi, and I loaded it up with leaf lettuce, zucchini, tomato, carrot, green bell pepper, and some left over orange bell pepper.

I added a nice large dollop of homemade hummus and a slurry of balsamic vinegar and I was set!  It's SO good.  I have missed fresh salads a lot!  I know my husband has, so we are definitely going to have a nice large salad either tonight for dinner or tomorrow for lunch.  Whichever meal we don't have the salads will be fresh, homemade tabouli!  Mmm... both of us have been craving that too!

Sometime soon I'm going to try this dressing right here.  I love reading Kristen's blog and all her recipes, and now that I finally have made a homemade nut butter (I'll post a picture later), I plan on whipping this thing up.

Hunting for dressings...

I'm currently trying to find some good vegan oil-free salad dressings.  There are vegan dressings galore, but not so many that are oil-free.  They exist but are rarer.  Even rarer still are the dressings that contain no fat whatsoever (meaning no nuts/seeds) or that contain nuts/seeds that could easily be substituted out for a bean base.

Haha, what am I talking about putting beans is salad dressings for and why am I hunting up oil-free dressings?!

So, eating huge salads is a super healthy, high nutrient way to lose weight or maintain weight or just plain be healthy.  The problem is that salads, for whatever reason you choose to eat them, are easily over-dosed with dressing, just about negating any benefit of the vegetables consumed.  I heard it said once that there is no point in consuming 20 calories of lettuce only to smother it with 150 of dressing!  Which unfortunately isn't too far off as 2 cups of shredded romaine lettuce is only 16 calories and 1/4c of reduced-fat ranch dressing is 120 calories!  (I gave people the benefit of the doubt on the reduced fat ranch, as the regular ranch was nearly 300 calories per 1/4c.)

Who eats 1/4c of dressing on their salad??!?!?...You're asking...

Ha, well it's amazing how LITTLE the recommended serving size of 2 Tbsp of dressing really is.  Certainly not everyone falls into that category, but I frequently will see almost as much dressing as lettuce on someone's plate.

But I digress.  Eating lots of salads is a great healthy way to lose weight, but you have to be careful of the dressings.  So finding dressing "bases" other than oils are a great idea to cut out extra fat calories (besides, most dressing oils are not nutrient dense anyways).  Finding dressings that have raw nuts/seeds as a base (almonds, cashews, sesame seeds) are good substitute because raw nuts have lots of nutrients, the good fats, and fiber in them (and don't even get me started on how most of the American population could do with more fiber in their diets).  Unfortunately if you really need to lose weight or don't particularly want to get most of your daily fats from your dressing, it can still be easy to overdo with nuts as a base.  So I've started trying to substitute beans in for at least part of the nuts in some recipes.  This means you can go a little heavier on the dressing if you need to, without really packing on the calories.  Plus you are getting the good protein, fiber and  nutrients that are in beans (which you should be eating daily anyways) - a win win!  A good bean of choice is the Great Northern Bean, a nice mellow flavored white bean, which I currently use with cashews as a base for a vegan caesar dressing I found.  I don't think it's really noticeable - the bean flavor that is.

Unfortunately not all salad dressings, nut or oil based, lend themselves to being turned upside down and having beans substituted in as a base.

Hence the hunt for salad dressings....  Actually, in the two years that I've been eating a higher plant based diet and more salads, I've only ever made one vegan, oil-free dressing - the caesar dressing.  I've made tons of dips and hummus which I frequently will eat on a salad instead of dressing, but only one dressing.  I love it, don't get me wrong.  But variety is good.  So someone asked me about dressings the other day and I figured it was high time I actually find some more for myself too!

Do you have any good homemade dressings you can share - with or without oil?   You never know, it might just lend itself to going oil free for me!

Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

I am finally getting around to posting this recipe!  You'd think I could just sit down and type it up - yet there are so many reasons why that just doesn't happen.  So here we go....

We usually have green smoothies over here for breakfast - probably 90-95% of the time.  We love the really nutritious boost it gives our day and the fact that we've already consumed a large number of servings of fresh fruit and veggies before 9am even rolls around.  I could go on and on about smoothies, but that is a separate post, which is (hopefully) coming soon as well.  So what do we do on those 5-10% mornings?  We do one of two things: either fresh oatmeal (and I'll share how we make that healthy and tasty later) or Oatmeal Breakfast Bars.  Lately the Breakfast Bars have been happening more because when we're rushed, we're really rushed and a bar is SO much quicker than even 5 minutes of oatmeal. We love these because it's one of the few "bread/cake" products we keep in the house (and one of the few I eat period), it's nice and filling and it tastes great!  Not to mention that these bars, while not as nutrient dense and healthy as smoothies, are so much better than a lot of other breakfasts out there.  Seriously these bars have oats, spices, dried fruit, nuts and some apple juice/sauce.  Not a list of offending ingredients there.

I got the recipe from my sister Carrie, who got the original recipe here.  She made changes to the recipe and I made changes (of course!)  So you can see what the original one was like, and see what I did to change it. (Usually my alterations will come in the form of making something as healthy as I can get it without compromising taste in my opinion.)

(The picture does not do it justice, by the way.  They are much tastier than they look.)

Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

2c oatmeal

1c oat flour (just ground up oats in the blender or food processor)

1c chopped dried apples or other dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, blueberries, etc)

1c apple juice/orange juice

8-9 dates, chopped small

1/2c unsweetened apple sauce (in place of oil)

1-2 Tbsp cinnamon

1 Tbsp baking soda

1c raw nuts, chopped (walnut, pecan, almond, cashew)

Combine all ingredients in bowl and  mix well.  Mixture should form a ball in your hands without excess liquid dripping off.  Use oat flour and apple sauce to adjust consistency if needed.  Spread mixture evenly in greased 9x13 pan, and bake in preheated oven at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.  Bars will be dark on top, but shouldn't be dry or burnt.  They should have a dense cake-like consistency, kind of like banana bread I guess.  (But the bars will have lots more little pieces of dried fruit and nut scattered everywhere.)  Cut into 8 large squares and eat for breakfast, or freeze for later use.

Notes: The chopped dates are in place of the original sugar.  You could just lessen the original amount of sugar in your recipe, but why not cut it out altogether?!  Dates are delicious and much better for you than processed sugar.  I chop them up nice and small and then usually toss in some extra dried fruit (raisins are sweet and cheap) to help make up for the fact that I cut out the original sugar.  Keep in mind these won't taste like sugary pop tarts or sweet rolls, but have a nice subtle sweetness to them. Also I increased the nut amount because nuts are a great sources of good fats, protein and help give the bars satiety value (or staying power).  If you are concerned about the fat in nuts, 1 cup in 8 bars really only gives you 1/8th of a cup of nuts per bar anyways, if you are trying to watch your weight.  If you aren't trying to watch your weight or need to gain weight, add some more nuts!  Or better yet eat them raw as a snack.  Raw nuts are one of the healthiest ways to consume fats.

Generally I make the bars ahead of time, freeze them, and then we pull one out of the freezer, wrap it in a dish towel and thaw it quickly in the microwave.  It's a super fast breakfast when you just can't quite find the time to make your green smoothie.  Oats are a great source of fiber, iron, thiamin, phosphorus, manganese, selenium and believe it or not - protein!  1/2 cup uncooked oats has 6g of protein.  And they say getting protein is hard as a vegan.  Most people would not even think about considering oats as a source of protein.

So there's our super quick and easy breakfast!  Let me know what you think and if you make any alterations of your own to it!

What are your quick, easy and healthy breakfast options?

They were right

I read somewhere once that when in a food dilemma between eating something you should eat and something you shouldn't eat (but really want to), a person never regrets the healthy choice.  But the unhealthy choice - it's only a matter of time before the regret comes.  5 minutes, an hour, a day, 5 seconds!!!  It will eventually happen.

I must say I find that to be 100% true.  If you have knowledge of the good and the bad that you choose to put in your body, the regret will eventually come.  It always does.

Bleh.  Regret is a terrible feeling, no matter what it's over.

Charlie's Famous!!! (sort of....)

I'm so excited!!  Today I received in the mail my copy of Green Smoothie Girl's newest book out, the Big Book of Green Smoothies!!

And you'll never guess whose cute little picture is among the pages!  Charlie is one of about 50 kiddos whose pictures made it into the book - all of the kids rockin' out fabulous green smoothie mustaches!  These pictures are ADORABLE!!  It makes my heart so glad to know that there are so many kids out there enjoying healthy green smoothies, instead of succumbing to sugary soft drinks and breakfast cereals, etc....  Little kids CAN enjoy eating greens!!

So the book is comprised mostly of smoothie recipes and munchkin pictures from GSG readers!  That's right, every day people like you and me!  I was too late getting our smoothie recipe in, and I almost missed the deadline for sending in Charlie's picture, but thankfully not quite!  Robyn Openshaw, or Green Smoothie Girl as she's often called, is a wealth of knowledge on nutritious whole foods!  Check out her website here, and this newest addition to her line of recipe books here.  If you have any interest at all in shaking up your diet and going for more raw, unprocessed whole foods, I highly recommend browsing her website.  She also has a blog, which I enjoy reading and find informative.

I'm looking through the book and the recipes look delicious and totally FUN!  It's definitely inspiring me to shake up our normal green smoothie recipe and try something new.  How could you not be curious about such smoothies as, "Mouthwatering Mango Smoothie" "Morning Mojito" "Green Beauty Cilantro Shake" "Ogre's Blood" "Fungus the Bogey Man Juice" "Peach Pizazz" "Shrek Shake" "Pineapple Coconut Smoothie" "Yoda Soda" "Darth Vader Juice" "PeachANUT Butter Smoothie" "Tropical Princess" and SO MANY MORE!!  Green smoothies are an awesome way to get a large serving of fruits and veggies, and are jam packed full of nutrients!  Not to mention if you are eyeing your waist line grumpily, they are a great way to lose weight since greens are the highest nutrient per calorie foods out there!  So lots of nutrients to nourish your body, with very little calories!

Thanks Robyn for compiling this awesome book of green goodness recipes.  Can't wait to get started trying them!

This isn't the picture I sent in of Charlie with his smoothie mustache, but it's super cute anyways.  Maybe you'll just have to buy the book to see that picture. :-)

Charlie enjoying is daily morning smoothie.

When I say "smoothie" the kid seriously comes running.  I love him.

Charlie

One of my goals in starting this blog was to have a place/reason to post more pictures of us - well Charlie mostly - so that people would actually be able to see up to date pictures of him.  Usually I'm so bad in the picture department that no one ever sees any pictures of him at all.  So I am striving to be much better - in the picture taking area as well as the picture sharing area.  And I found these that had been uploaded from my camera just the other day!  I'm such a sucker for my cute little chubby cheeks man. :)

I love the last two. They just make my mama heart melt.