Healthy Start to the New Year

Happy New Year!
My alcohol-free month of vegan, relatively low carb, and mostly whole foods has begun!
Today was a productive start to 2015. I bathed the dog, went to the gym and lifted weights, went grocery shopping, rode my exercise bike, cleaned the bathroom and kitchen, unpacked, changed the sheets on the bed, and made some delicious food.
Let's just say, the boys had other plans. ;)

Here's the stuff I ate today:
I just had coffee with coconut creamer for breakfast as I wasn't hungry. Then, I made myself a delicious lunch of what I like to call "save the crab" salad with a green salad. It's a vegan take on crab salad made with hearts of palm (instead of crab) based on the vegan crab cake recipe in Crazy Sexy Kitchen.

 

Then, I had a Mamma Chia beverage for a snack. This one was pretty good.

 

I went all out for dinner and made a black-eyed pea and root veggie tagine based on the Chickpea Tagine recipe in Crazy Sexy Kitchen. Since it's New Year's Day, I added black-eyed peas instead of chickpeas. I made mine with turnip, sweet potato, and carrot. This was out of this world good!

 

I served this with couscous and some vegan cucumber raita. I decided to make the raita with Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream non-dairy sour cream this time. It was pretty excellent.

Vegan Cucumber Raita

Ingredients:
1 package Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream
1 cucumber, deseeded
about 1 teaspoon garam masala
about 1 teaspoon cumin
a few twists of freshly ground black pepper

Method:
Put sour cream in bowl. Grate about 3/4 of the cucumber directly into the bowl with a hand grater. The cucumber's juice will thin out the sour cream; you want that to happen. Add the spices. Stir and keep in fridge until ready to serve. I like to garnish mine with some cilantro leaves and leave it in the fridge for at least an hour so that the flavors blend. Mmmm.

Going green ... and a Quick Roasted Red Pepper and Chickpea Salad ... yum!

 
 


So, I've been really sick this year and I credit that, in large part, to my eating a lot of dairy and some processed food again. After my latest bout with illness, I'm trying to be done with dairy again and eat much more clean. Since I was feeling miserable anyway, I managed to quit coffee while I was sick two weeks ago. I start the day with water or a fresh raw juice which makes a lot more sense! I'm sure my immune system is thanking me already.


I also quit dairy. My biggest weakness is a toasted bagel with cream cheese. Hey ... I'm raised in Jersey and I live in Brooklyn. This is, like, essential to life as, say, sunshine. So, I'm trying some alternatives. I don't like the Tofutti cream cheese style spread and so I tried the Daiya version. Sorry to say that the Daiya is not a tasty substitute in my opinion either. :(

So, I smeared some avocado on my bagel and that was better than any vegan cream cheese-like spread I've ever had. Hummus won't do the trick; it's got to be creamy. So, I think I'm going to try the tofu ricotta from Veganomicon next.


I also love provolone subs (a la the Jersey Shore style). This would be my last meal. Seriously. So, I tried the Daiya Provolone slices. I ordered a sub with no meat or cheese and then added the Daiya to it. No deal. Good try my friends at Daiya, but it can't really replace provolone for me. I put a few slices of avocado on the other half of my sub and that tasted pretty good. *sigh* ... but not as good as provolone. *sigh*

While I was at the Jersey shore for the weekend, I cooked up some yummy things ... Here are a few:

Roasted Red Pepper and Chickpea Salad with Parsley and Olives
Ingredients:
1 can chickpeas
1 jar roasted red peppers
1 bunch curly leaf Italian parsley
1 small can sliced black olives
1 shallot, diced
red wine vinegar and olive oil (I do half vinegar and half oil)
salt and pepper to taste
Method: combine all veggies in a bowl and drizzle with vinegar and oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.
I served this with some couscous with toasted pine nuts and steamed kale as well as some roasted fennel, roasted eggplant, and a green salad.

Israeli Couscous Salad with roasted tomatoes, peas, and olives ...

Israeli Couscous Salad

2 cups Israeli couscous
2 1/2 cups water
3-4 cloves garlic - sliced very, very thin
1 package grape tomatoes
1 lemon (juice of and zest)
1 small package frozen peas, defrosted
3/4 of a can small or medium black olives, all olives cut in half
1 small bunch fresh parsley, chopped fine
olive oil
ground black pepper, to taste
oregano (fresh or dried), to taste

Method:
Preheat oven at 400F. Cut grape tomatoes in half. Spray cookie sheet with olive oil cooking spray. Place grape tomatoes, cut side up, onto cookie sheet and spray with olive oil cooking spray. Sprinkle some black pepper and dried oregano on grape tomatoes and then put in the oven to roast for about 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, heat oil in a saucepan and saute the garlic in the oil for about 30 seconds over low-medium heat. Toss in the dry couscous, turn heat up to medium, and stir continuously for about 3 minutes just to toast the couscous a bit. Pour in the water, turn the heat up to medium-high, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to lowest setting and cover the saucepan. In about 10 minutes, most of the water should be absorbed by the couscous. If it still needs to absorb more water after ten minutes, let it go for another 5 minutes. Once the couscous is done, toss in a bowl with the peas and olives. Cover and refrigerate for a few minutes to chill it slightly before adding the rest of the ingredients. Let the grape tomatoes cool before adding them as well. When both things are cool, combine and add the chopped parsley, zest of one lemon, and juice of one lemon. Add black pepper and oregano (fresh or dried) to taste and maybe a little more olive oil drizzled over top if you're feeling decadent. Enjoy!

Chickpea and Prune Tagine (vegan)

*Recipe adapted from Dec 2011 Vegetarian Times magazine.

Ingredients:
olive oil
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 (15oz) can crushed tomatoes
3 cups cooked chickpeas
prunes (quartered) for couscous
fresh cilantro leaves as garnish

Instructions:
Heat oil in saucepan, add onion, and saute until onion is soft and translucent. Stir in spices and saute 30 seconds. Add tomatoes, chickpeas, and 1/4 cup water, simmer 10 mins. Serve over couscous (recipe below) and sprinkle cilantro leaves on top.
*This would be even better with some okra in it! Definitely doing that next time.

Couscous recipe here:
http://sundaegirl108.blogspot.com/2011/08/beet-greens-with-black-eyed-peas-and.html

Beet Greens with Black-Eyed Peas and Couscous with Dried Plums

Beet Greens with Black-Eyed Peas
beet greens from two bunches of beets
1 medium-sized red onion, sliced in thin strips
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (28oz) can whole peeled tomatoes
1 (15oz) can black-eyed peas
oregano
fresh ground black pepper
red pepper flakes
olive oil

Heat olive oil in a pot with high sides. Throw in onion and saute until it's translucent. Throw in garlic and saute for a few seconds. Toss in beet greens, tomatoes, spices, and black-eyed peas. Break tomatoes up with a spooon and turn heat to medium, cover with lid, and let simmer until the greens are tender and the flavors have combined.

Whole-Wheat Couscous with Dried Plums (aka prunes!)
plain whole-wheat couscous
prunes chopped in quarters
your favorite spice blend for couscous (I use Moroccan couscous spice)

Make couscous according to package instructions. )My instant couscous was one part water to one part couscous.) First, I boiled the water and then turned off the heat. I threw in the couscous, spices, and prunes and then covered the pot. Let sit at least 5 minutes and then fluff with fork.

I served this with the insanely delicious chickpea cutlet from Veganomicon. Mmm mmm, good.

Israeli Couscous ... and a Pumpkin Pie

I made the Israeli Couscous with Pistachios and Apricots from Veganomicon (p.117). It was delicious!
Note if you live in Brooklyn: I got my couscous at Sahadis on Atlantic Ave.

I also made a pumpkin pie!

I don't usually bake, but I was feeling especially crafty last night.
I made the traditional pumpkin pie from Martha Stewart Living, Nov 2008, p.82.

1 9" pie crust
1 (15oz) can solid-pack pumpkin
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 tsp coarse salt
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 (12oz) can evaporated milk
pinch of ground cloves
Whipped cream for topping

♥ Preheat oven to 325°F
♥ Whisk together the pumpkin, sugar, cornstarch, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, vanilla, eggs, milk, and a pinch of ground cloves.
♥ Pour mixture into pie crust
♥ Bake for about 50 minutes

Yes, my boyfriend is spoiled. haha.

Tomato Couscous with Capers

I made the tomato couscous with capers from Veganomicon last night. It was delicious!

I think I should go lighter on the capers next time though. I love capers, so I was a little more generous than the recipe called for ...

We ate it up so fast that I didn't get a chance to take a picture. =)