Woo! That Sicky Sicky Shake

Boo for being sick 😦  I stayed home from school yesterday and spent 25 of the last 36 hours sleeping.  Because I’m able to stand up and actually walk today, I figure I’m “recovered” enough to be back at school.  Now that I’m here though, I’m realizing that I’m too out of it to pay much attention, so I’m blogging instead.  Whoops.

I started today with a little something I call my Sicky Shake.  I invented this last May when I was recovering from my tonsillectomy.   I just throw the following into the food processor and go to town: 1/2 c. Purely Decadent Peanut Butter ZigZag soy ice cream (my faaaave), 1/2 a large frozen banana, and about 1/3-1/2 c. unsweetened soy milk (I just pour it in as necessary to thin out the shake.  The end result is sweet, cold, and delicious and is a total pick-me-up when you’ve been bed-ridden.   Here’s mine from this morning:

Sorry for the weird picture.  My head is not really working properly yet.

Moving along, I said last time that I had some potato-y goodness to share.   Basically what happened was that I had a 5-lb. bag of Yukon gold potatoes that needed to get used, so I had some fun with those.

One night I decided to cut them in wedges and roast them.  A pretty elementary recipe: Cut potatoes, toss in a little olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and fresh ground pepper, bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes, turning once.  With a side of kale steamed with garlic:

The next night in order to use up a greater number of potatoes at once, I made them mashed.  I peel the potatoes and cut them into quarters, bring them to a boil then simmer then for 20 minutes, drain them, then use a fork to mash them with about 6 T. Earth Balance, 1/2 c.-1 c. unsweetened soy milk, and sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.   With a side of–you guessed it!–kale steamed with garlic:

I like to take the garlic out of the pan after steaming the kale and mix it into the mashed potatoes.  I also eat them with tons of hot sauce because I love my food spicy!  These are sooooo yummy and literally last me a whole week.  I’m pretty proud of my use of this big bag of potatoes!

As a sidenote, I know that neither of these really look like complete meals, especially to a non-vegan eye.  I actually on both occasions had planned to eat a grilled portabello mushroom with the meal, but never got there because I was full enough from the potatoes and the kale.

Breakfast of Champions

It’s been a while since I’ve done a breakfast post, so here goes.  Because my schedule this semester is so hectic and my days start much earlier, I’ve been trying out some new things in the morning.  For a few months I’d been doing the fruit-only breakfast thing a la Skinny Bitch, but I found it wasn’t working for me; it was causing me to eat more throughout the day, and since I’m trying to lose weight right now, that was obviously not a good thing. 

Last week for a quick fix I tried the French Toast recipe from Happy Herbivore’s sneak-peek cookbook.  

Here is a slice getting ready to be drizzled in maple syrup (my fave!) and gobbled up:

This was really yummy but very sweet and probably too caloric for my current needs.  I’ll save it for a future weekend breakfast treat.

I also tried out the Raw Coconut Pancakes that were posted on Vegan on Stage last week. 

Here is one decorated with banana and shredded coconut, and packed up to go to school with me:

These are delightful and felt good to eat.  However…my recipe made 7 of these and when I calculated the nutrition info, they came out to over 400 kcal each.  😦  I froze the remaining ones and plan to eat them on all-raw days or on days when I’ve exercised particularly hard.  Unfortunately I can’t eat them for a normal brekkie right now because they are filling but not filling enough to keep me from going over my calorie limit.

I know I don’t usually do product reviews on here, but I had to share this particular gem.  I’ve been making Ancient Harvest Quinoa Flakes alot of mornings and I absolutely love them.  Here’s a bowl fresh out of the microwave (and before add-ins):

A 1/3 c. of dry flakes makes this big bowl of goodness, to which I add 1 T. of maple syrup, 2 T. of dried blueberries, a generous sprinkling of cinnamon, and a dash or two of nutmeg.  All of that comes out to about 210 kcal per bowl.  This is a really great and satisfying hot cereal which keeps me full for a while and helps set a tone of NOT over-eating for the day (which imho is what breakfast is for!).  So yay for these 🙂

Be back soon with some potato-based fun!

SouperBowl Sunday

Who am I kidding, I’m not watching the Superbowl…just tuning in every so often to check out the commercials. What I am doing is posting about one of my favorite soups that I’ve ever made, Lemon Chickpea Lentil soup from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan by Dreena Burton.

Pre-puree (complete with steam!)

Finished product

A perfect little dinner…soup and sauteed kale

This soup was SO. GOOD.  Thick and flavorful and filling.  I actually added more cumin than the recipe called for because I was loving the earthy Middle Eastern taste of the soup.  I would definitely make this again.  It was simple and it is perfect winter fare.  Anyone who has ED&BV–make this recipe!