F Is For....Forgotten Friday

This post is going to be exactly what the title implies.  It's going to be a mish-mash rambling post.  There are a few old posts that I never got a chance to post.  They got shoved to the back and I want to give them to you now, along with some information that I've been dying to let you in on.

Let's start with news....

• I have decided to postpone my photo shoot.  I originally planned it being the week of October 6th.  But, due to the fact that my diet was crap due to getting used to our hectic schedules and I missed all but a handful of workouts for 2.5 weeks I am nowhere near where I want to be.  So, I'm putting it on hold until I can get into the shape I want to be in.  

• I have started my cardio training for the mud run on the 5th.  I have 2 goals for this run.  Beat Ken and finish in under 90 minutes.  Ken is doing his run at 11:30 and my time is at 10 so, if I don't finish by then I screw him over.  I have been using this new piece of equipment at the gym.  

It's called the Helix Lateral Trainer.  It's kind of like an elliptical machine except instead of forwards, you move your legs clockwise and counter-clockwise.  (You switch in the middle of your workout)  It's a major workout and it targets muscles that you don't normally use.  I was quite sore for a few days after I used it the first time.  I am addicted now.

Since we're on the topic of exercise, I became obsessed with the rowing machine (I still am, I am just MORE obsessed with the Helix at the moment...gotta switch up your routine from time to time to keep your body from getting used to it.)  The rowing machine has a bunch of benefits.  It's a major  calorie burner and it's a total body workout.  Below are some links about how awesome and beneficial the rowing machine actually is.

Rowing Machine Links

References
Details.com Why Rowing is the New Spinning
Greatist.com The Rowing Machine: Get the Benefits Without the Boat
ExpertClinic.com Rowing Machine Benefits

Next I bring you a nice gravy recipe.  It's great for going over biscuits.  If you thin it out a bit then it would make an awesome stew also.  This recipe  came about due to my love of comfort food and a failed meatloaf recipe.  It's versatile and awesome.  Give it a try!

Meat Lovers Meatless Gravy
Recipe
2 bags Boca Soy Crumbles
1 bag frozen peas
2 medium onions, diced
1 T minced garlic
5 cup vegetable broth
1/4 cup cornstarch (or more if you want it thicker

Directions

1. Cook peas according to directions
2. Saute onions and garlic until soft
3. Add  in soy crumbles and cook until thawed.
4. Add in peas and vegetable broth.  Bring to a boil
5. Mix cornstarch with water and make a paste.  Whisk into vegetable broth.
6. Boil until thickened.

And lastly, a product review.  (This is the brand I used for my K recipe that's coming up later this month)

Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain Hot Cereal Review

To order this shirt head over to Zazzle

Every time I went to Diane's my eyes would lock onto Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain Hot Cereal.  I finally picked some up a while back.  The texture is more like grits but, the taste is very oatmeal-y.  The hot cereal is a mixture of  red wheat, rye, triticale, oat bran, oats, corn, barley, soy beans, brown rice, millet, and flaxseed.  It's delicious.  Honestly you should go buy some!  You should be able to get it at your local health food store or Whole Foods.

Well, thank you for reading my scatter randomness!!

D is for Donuts! Sunny Made Donuts and I Helped!

There are a few things that you don't know about Sunny.



1) She loves to bake


2) She isn't a huge dessert fan


3) Cookies, ice cream and donuts are the only desserts she'll actually finish

4) Before bed she enjoys cuddling and watching Food Network and The Cooking Channel with me.

The other night we were watching Unique Sweets on The Cooking Channel.  It was the episode about donuts.  In this episode one of the places they were talking about was The Donut Man in California.  One of their famous donuts is a strawberry stuffed yeast donut.  

So, since I'm participating in Vegan Mofo I decided to treat y'all to a vegan blueberry donut.  Honestly though, this recipe would work well with any puree.  In the mood for strawberry?  Use strawberries!  Want a really simple one?  Use applesauce!  Do you want to sneak in some veggies for the kids?  Puree zucchini.  You could even make these chocolate by cutting out 1/4 cup flour, add in 1/4 cup cocoa powder and up the sugar to about 4-6 tablespoons.  

Blueberry Donuts
Adapted from:   Happy Herbivore's Vegan Donuts
Calories: 52
Fat: 0.01 g
Carbs: 11.0 g
Sugar: 1.6 g
Protein:  1.4 g

Ingredients
.5 cup fat free soy milk
.5 cup blueberry puree
1 t lemon juice
2 t vanilla
3 T sugar free syrup
2 T sugar
2 cups white flour
.25 cup whole wheat flour (or extra white flour)
.5 t baking powder
.5 t baking soda

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Stir together soy milk, blueberry puree, vanilla, and syrup
3. Mix together sugar, both flours, baking powder and baking soda
4. Add wet to dry and mix well
5. Grease your cake pop pan and add batter according to directions.  (I had to do 2 batches)
6. Bake for 12-15 minutes until done.
7. Let cool on a baking rack.

C is For...Chick'n Ranch Wraps

My mom is an awesome cook.  I really wish I could still eat the foods I grew up on.  But, like I've said before, I try and alter as many recipes as I can.  So far, I've been able to replicate about a handful.  This recipe is a very simple one {which is rare for mom's recipes} but, it's very delicious.

I made it Fat Free Queen AND vegan friendly.

Chick'n Ranch Wraps
1 bag of Quorn Chick'n Strips
2-4 T ranch dressing
1 head romaine lettuce, cut thinly
1 roma tomato sliced paper thin
 6 tortillas

                                                                   
Directions

1. Heat chick'n and toss with dressing
2. Lay a tortilla down, put some lettuce, onions and tomatoes, then top with chick'n
3. Fold bottom over filling then roll, leaving the top open.

Wham, Bam, Thank you 15 minute dinner!  

B is for Book Review

Time for another book review.  

This time it's My Beef With Meat by Rip Esselstyn.

The thing I love about Rip's books (his first one was The Engine 2 Diet) is that he doesn't really go into the ETHICAL reasons behind veganism.  Heck, he doesn't even call it veganism.  He uses the term "plant-strong."  We all know the ethical reasons behind veganism.  And I will not refuse to go into them here.  But, alot of people do not understand the health risks, diseases, and complications associated with eating meat.

The first half of the book is all about nutrition.  He has chapters dedicated to things like, protein, B12, and iron.  He also talks about vegan athletes, vegan kids, weight loss, poop and *gasp* sex.

The second half is the recipes.  140 total.  They all follow these guidelines:

• They are plant-strong!  One hundred percent plant based, they contain no animal products or by-products.  
• They contain no added extracted oils.
• They used little to no salt.
• They use minimally processed sweeteners (predominately pure maple syrup or dates)
• They are simple and easy to prepare.

Since I cannot have fat and I am prediabetic (which means I have cut out 99% of my sugar) these recipes are perfect for me.

They recipes are broken up into the normal subcategories, breakfast, sides and appetizers, pizza & flatbreads, sandwiches, etc.  But he also dedicates whole chapters to hummus, salads and tacos!  Most chapters have around 10 recipes.

I seriously can't wait to test out some of the recipes.  Keep watching the blog for them!  And if you can't wait for me then you can click the links below to either buy the book from Amazon or, check out the Engine 2 Diet webpage.  They have some great recipes on there.

I have another book loaded on my Kindle just waiting to be reviewed for you!!


Amazon.com
 Engine 2 Diet

A to Z Vegan Style

I am participating in Vegan Month of food (MoFo) {LINK} this month.  Why?  Because I don't think I cover the 100% vegan recipes enough on this blog.  I've been wracking my brain about what recipes to include and what other things I should cover this month.  So, to make it easy on myself I've decided to start with the letter A and work my way to Z. 

First let's start with A list of my favorite vegan blogs. 

Fat Free Vegan
Happy Herbivore
Healthy.Happy.Life
Meatless Monday
Vegan Richa


My Favorite Vegan Pinterest Pinners

Oh My Veggies
Vegansaurus
Engine 2 Diet
Vegan Richa



Check these blogs and Pinterest pages out.  Are there any other vegan blogs you love?  Do you have a vegan blog?


AND I leave you with some nice infographics for y'all about veganism. 

Sausage Gravy and Biscuits

Due to my dietary restrictions I had to give up 95% of the foods I used to love.  I have found comparable substitutes for the other 5%.  These days I very rarely crave certain foods.  I crave normalcy.  I want to eat what everybody else is eating.   Sometimes that happens to be comfort food.  A stick to your ribs meal.  Sausage gravy and biscuits is a meal that I crave.

I'm really not certain why I crave it.  I only ate it once before I got sick.  That was back in 2005 at Krystal in Georgia.  But, this is one of my favorite recipes.  It's quick and simple to whip up. I make my own biscuits for 2 reasons.  1) I love making biscuits and 2) there are no fat free ones in the stores.  But, if you wanted to you could totally use store bought biscuits and that would cut down your prep time and ingredients. 

Biscuit

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 t baking soda
1 T baking powder
3/4 cup sour cream
1.5 T milk or water


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Mix everything together
3. Roll out dough on a floured surface and cut out circles using a biscuit cutter, circle cookie cutter or a cup
4. Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 10-20 minutes until brown
5. Serve warm

Sausage Gravy

Ingredients

1 onion, diced
8 oz diced mushrooms
3 T flour or cornstarch
3 cups plain milk
1 packages of Gimmie Lean ground sausage (ground soy crumbles would probably also work)

Directions

1. Saute onions and mushrooms until soft
2. Crumble sausage and add to the pan and brown
3. Sprinkle flour over sausage and vegetables and stir for about a minute.  {if the sauce is not thick enough for you add a few more tablespoons of flour or cornstarch}
4. Whisk in milk, reduce heat to low and simmer until thickened

To assemble the dish:
Cut biscuit in half and ladle gravy on top. 


So, what is your favorite comfort food and why?

Baked Beans in the Slow Cooker

This semester (from August to December) has crazy, jam packed Wednesdays.  I'm in class until 5 and Kaylee goes to practice at 5.  Here's the Wednesday schedule.

6:30 -- Wake up the kids
7:30 -- Leave for the bus stop
7:40 -- Kaylee gets on the bus
8:20 -- Mo gets on the bus
8:30 -- Drop Sunny off at school
8:45 -- Get to the gym
9:45 -- Leave the gym
10:00 -- Wake up Ken
10:30 -- Leave for Class
11-5 -- Class
12:30 -- Ken picks up Sunny
4:30 -- Ken picks up kids at the bus stop
4:45 -- Ken drops Kaylee off at swim
5:00 -- Ken picks up Katie
5:15 -- back to Kaylee's swim 
6:30 -- Finally home.
6:45 -- Start dinner

Crazy, right??!??  And originally Mo had gymnastics from 6:30 to 7:30.  We wouldn't have gotten home until close to 8.  But, I changed her practice from Wednesday to Thursday.  

These are the types of days that warrent breaking out the crockpot.  I love my crockpot.  It is a very under loved appliance in my kitchen.  

I'm always looking for newand unique recipes.  Kaylee is a baked bean freak.  She could eat a whole BJ's can by herself.  So, when I found this baked bean recipe on 100 Days of Real Food, I knew that I had to try it.  Plus, I had all the ingredients in my pantry.  I substituted black eyed peas for the navy beans that the recipe calls for because I didn't have any. 


Slow Cooker Baked Beans
adapted from 100 Days of Real Food: Slow Cooker Baked Beans
Calories: 153
Fat 1.2
Sodium: 882
Carbs:38
Sugar 7.5
Protein: 5

 Ingredients

1 lb dried black eyed peas (soak in water overnight)
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
15 oz can tomato sauce
.75 cup sugar free maple syrup
3 T mustard 
3 T apple cider vinegar
3.5 c water


Directions

1. Whisk together  tomato sauce, syrup, mustard and vinegar. (I did this the nite before so I could dump it in the crockpot in the morning)
2. In the bowl of your crockpoot put  beans, bell peppers, onions, and water.  
3. Dump in tomato sauce mixture and stir.
4. Turn crockpot on High for 10-12 hours. 

These were super delicious.  They were great as a stand alone dinner.  Sweet but  I made simple baked potatoes to go with it.  They would also be great over rice.  The best part?  They were done when we got back from practice.  

I really wish that I had gotten a picture.  These will definitely be a reoccurring dish in our house.  What crockpot dishes do you like?

**Warning:  If you are here from Vegan Mofo then you need to realize that I am not normally a vegan.  I have some vegan recipes posted on my blog but, many contain meat or dairy. **