What I Ate Wednesday #17

 

Happy WIAW! Only one more week of school for Mya. I cannot wait for this school year to be over.  I look forward to the long days of summer.  Swimming, bike riding, trail hiking, camping, no rushing out the door, and most of all, no homework!  I am beginning my summer meal planning so I have plenty of great options for our meals and lots of snacks for Mya and her friends to enjoy by the pool.

My WIAW meals are my recap of what I actually ate Tuesday.  Breakfast was a simple Tofu Scramble with lots of veggies and some field roast sausage mixed in.

For lunch, we had vegan chicken salad sandwiches with kale chips and watermelon.  I was at Whole Foods and had picked up a small container of Veggie Chicken Salad. It is delicious, and it’s a treat not to have to make it from scratch for a change.  I don’t indulge in convenience food often, but this is a nice option.

 

A bread customer of ours was generous enough to supply us with some samples of his NY Bagels.  They were huge! Crisp on the outside and really dense on the inside.  I froze some to take camping, I think they will be good toasted on the grill on a chilly morning with hot coffee and homemade veggie cream cheese spread.

 I had my chicken salad on a slice of toasted Rye, I thought the bagel was too much bread for me, but Andy enjoyed it.  I filled it with the chicken salad, spring mix and fresh ripe sliced tomatoes.

My friend Dee is working on a huge organic garden.  She was overwhelmed with Kale and was kind enough to supply me with a whole bag of her tender kale.  Kale chips were my first thought.  I forgot how much I loved them until the crispy leaves emerged from the oven. ~Thanks Dee!

Kale Chips:

• 1 bunch Kale
• 1 to 2 tbsp. olive oil
• Sea Salt

Pre heat oven to 350.  Line a baking sheet with foil.  Thoroughly rinse and dry kale.  I use a salad spinner to remove excess moisture, then lay on a paper towel.  Once dry, tear kale into palm size pieces, discarding large spines, and place in a bowl.  Add 1 tbsp. olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt. massage into kale until all is coated.  If you have a huge bunch of kale, use a second table spoon of olive oil.  Place all your glossy pieces  onto the foiled pan, not overlapping kale.  Place in oven for 12 minutes, check on kale, if it is all crisp and none is moist, it is done.  Keep checking on it after 12 minutes, it does not take long to over cook.

A few slices of sweet watermelon rounded out our plates.

We loved the whole meal, the kale chips were addicting, I think I will pick up some more Kale today.  Mya didn’t get to have any and she loves kale chips. 

My late afternoon snack was five organic blue corn chips dipped in Spicy Hummus.  This is by far the best hummus I have ever bought.  The spiciness was just perfect, hot, but not overwhelming.  I also picked this up at Whole Foods while I was there.  I will buy this again and again.  The heat also keeps me from eating too much, which I often do with hummus.

Dinner was a vegan version of Fettuccini Alfredo with chicken and veggies. It was a surprise that came together on a whim.  Mya loved it and ate a huge bowl and asked me to make it again tomorrow.  Andy and I both enjoyed it as well.  It tasted super decadent and totally sinful, but it was not.  I will put together a recipe, this was an experiment that worked out perfectly, now I just have to get ingredients measured.

I used a new rice fettuccini that I had not tried before, Pasta Joy.  It is a gluten free rice pasta that was so good, it is now my new favorite pasta and I will use it again and again. The noodles were creamy and tender but did not break apart at all.

For the sauce, I made a béchamel from earth balance butter, some unbleached flour and unsweetened almond milk.  I seasoned it with Mrs. Dash Garlic blend, nutritional yeast, sea salt, black pepper, and a handful of vegan mozzarella to melt in.  It was thick and creamy and coated the pasta perfectly.  In a separate pan I cooked up some Gardein Chicken that I cut into small pieces.  During the last 2 minutes of pasta cooking time, I added frozen broccoli, cauliflower and peas to my cooking water.  Then, I drained the pasta and veggies and added them to my sauce along with the chicken.  I mixed them all together and it was a gorgeous sight!  I topped our bowls with fresh pieces of tomato.  YUM!!!!!!

Me and Mya both had some after dinner decaf, she loves coffee once in awhile!

Today, I plan on spending my Wednesday catching up on laundry, office stuff, work in the garden, and maybe even the hundred pots and pans in the kitchen, I think I still have two pans in the cabinet to use before I officially run out!!!  I hope you all enjoy this gorgeous weather we have today in the North East, it looks like it is going to be a beauty.