What I Ate Wednesday #8

   

Hi Everyone! Another week past, and another day of awesome plant based meals.  I always base my WIAW on my Tuesday meals. Today, we had lots of variety and managed to squeeze in some healthy meals into a really busy day.

 Breakfast was a tofu scramble. 

It was chock full of veggies, onions, sweet potatoes, spinach, hot peppers, sweet peppers, shitake mushrooms, diced tomatoes and tofu.  Seasoned to perfection with nutritional yeast, garlic, onion, sea salt, turmeric, and some Braggs.

Stats for this huge plate: 240 calories, 6g fat, 19g protein, 10g fiber, 25% daily calcium and 31% daily iron!

This was very filling after a cardio and HIIT workout.  It had to keep me full through some dessert recipe testing.  I was working on Superfood chocolate cherry energy balls and banana cream pie that will be part of an upcoming post.

Lunch was started at 7am, so I could include it in Mya’s lunch too.  One of her favorites, Chickpea “Tuna” Salad.

For Mya’s lunch, I served it on whole wheat. For Andy and myself, it was on a Trader Joe Reduced Carb Wrap with spring mix, tomato and onion.

Stats for 1 wrap: 180 calories, 5g fat, 9g protein, 12g fiber,     8% daily calcium, and 11% daily iron.

After lunch, we had a bit of running around to do.  When we arrived back home, my recipe for Cashew based Banana Cream Pie in a Raw Nut Crust was ready to taste. (YAY!)  It was worth the two hour wait to firm up.  The layer of banana cream was rich, creamy, and full of banana flavor. The crust was so delicious with the crunch of raw nuts and the sweetness of dates..  I swear I will never bake or buy a regular crust again.  Raw nuts and dates are the way to go  nutritionally and for flavor and texture.  The crust is like a dessert on it’s own. check out the stats for this decadent dessert.

Stats for 1 slice (10 slices in whole pie): 254 calories, 15g fat, 11g protein, 4g fiber, 8% daily calcium and 12% daily iron.

After school, we were in a mad rush to get work done and prepare for the Strings Concert Mya was performing in.

Dinner was made in a hurry.  I made a stir fry over quinoa with dumplings on the side.  I find quinoa is so much easier than rice, it cooks in less than half the time, you get more volume and much superior nutrition.  I also had a bag of frozen Asian vegetables that I cooked along side a bag of Gardein mandarin orange crispy chick'n. That is Mya’s favorite chick’n.  My wok was no where to be found, so I used my double skillet.  I put the veggies on one side, chick’n on the other, they both cooked up perfect.  Everyone cleaned there plates and off to the concert we went.

Stats for my dinner plate with two dumplings: 409 calories, 5g fat, 17g protein, 4g fiber, 8% daily calcium and 8% daily iron.

It was a beautiful performance.  Mya is first year, so they only played a small part in the concert, but the middle school and high school students performed like an well seasoned orchestra.  You can see the time and effort the students and there instructors put in to achieve that kind of professional performance. I am excited to see if Mya continues with the violin, she really has improved so much through this year.

I rounded out my nutrition for the day with a small bowl of whole grain (Uncle Sams) cereal in coconut almond milk. I also enjoyed two cups of coffee that are not pictured here.

Thanks for reading about my crazy day and all the meals along the way.  Have a great Wednesday!

Guilt Free Shepherd’s Pie Dinner

Comfort food is something I cannot live without.  I just adore potpie, “meat”loaf, lasagna, chik’n dinners, roasts, and all the lovely vegetables that accompany them.  Since you all know I have been really trying not to eat bread and such, I made this healthier crust-less Shepherd’s Pie.  I make chik’n pot pies with crust on the bottom and stuffing on top every once in a while, but this time I opted for the beefier version.
Here are my ingredients:
Pie

• 3 carrots, cleaned and sliced
• 3 stalks celery, cleaned and sliced
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 potato, diced
• 1 8oz pack mushrooms, quartered
• 1 pack seitan, broken into1/2” pieces
• 1/2 bag of frozen mixed veggies (corn, peas, greenbeans)
• 1 bag plain frozen cauliflower
• 1 bag garlic frozen cauliflower
• 2 tsp. coconut oil
• 2 tbsp. nutritional yeast
• salt
• pepper
• herbs de Provence
• crushed bay leaf

Gravy

• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/3 cup earth balance
• 1 tbsp. beefless bouillon
• 3 cups water

My method:
My pie began with cooking the classic carrots, onions and celery in 1 tsp. coconut oil, then adding 1 diced potato ( trying to keep it skinny), then 8oz. quartered button mushrooms.  I seasoned generously with herbs de Provence and crushed bay leaf, I kept salt to just a tiny crank or two of pink sea salt.  Once the veggies were par cooked, I removed them from the pot and poured them straight into a casserole dish that was coated with cooking spray.
For the “beef”, I used seitan.  I love seitan.  It mimics beef and it is super high in protein and low in calories.  I heated my cast iron pan, then added a tsp. of coconut oil. I drained and chopped my seitan into small 1/2 beef like chunks.  I put them into the hot oil for a few minutes until they browned. While doing that, I popped one bag of garlic cauliflower steamers into the microwave for 5 minutes.  While the seitan was browning, I made a rue of flour and earth balance butter.  Then I added water and Better than Bouillon Beefless Base.  It made a nice thick gravy.  I seasoned it with a little of the same seasoning I used on the vegetables.  Once it was thick, I reduced the heat, and checked that my seitan was perfectly browned. I then microwaved my bag of plain cauliflower for five minutes. I then poured the seitan chunks through out my vegetable into the casserole dish.  Then I sprinkled some frozen corn, peas, and greens beans into the casserole dish.  I mixed everything together and then poured in my gravy (about 3 cups) onto the vegetables.
Once both cauliflowers were steamed, I poured them into my food processor with 2 tbsp. nutritional yeast, and 2 tbsp. vegan sour cream.  I blended them until they were smooth and creamy like mashed potatoes.  I topped my vegetables with them, covering the casserole dish.  I put it into a 375 degree oven for about 40 minutes until the top was brown.  Once I removed it from the oven, I let it cool around 15 minutes before serving. 
You can serve this any night of the week for a great hearty meal and it was awesome the next day beside salad for lunch!

Yesterday’s Lunch Inspired Last Night’s Dinner

BUTTERNUT SQUASH….Even it’s name sounds delicious!

On my way home every Tuesday, I stop at a little Mennonite farm that has a “honor system” table set up with all their extra garden goodies.  I always get tomatoes, peppers, sugar onions, and an assortment of whatever looks good.  The prices are dirt cheap, and they don’t spray!  Well this week they had ripe butternut squash, so I bought a few.

Yesterday  I roasted 1 whole squash for lunch.  It turned out perfect, creamy tender sweet flesh slightly caramelized.  That is all I ate for lunch because it was so filling.  Mya had a lunch time dental appt. so I brought her a container full.  She opened it in the car, said “YEAH”, then ate it all and asked for more. 

Since it was so good, I decided to make it again for dinner, only this time as roasted butternut squash soup.  It was my best yet.  I t took about 45 minutes in the oven, and about two  in the blender.  What a great way to have squash 2x in a day!