Vegan Warriors...

I love this! You can be a vegan, build muscle, and be very fit. These guys require a lot of calories and nutrition. If veganism is good enough for them, then it's good enough for me! Watch and be amazed at the vegans on YouTube! A link to their web site is here.

Veggie Soup with Kale

I love Kale... With all my heart.  And it's good for my heart.  And lots of other body parts....

Okay, I'm not a poet so I'll stop there.  I think with a little iteration I could turn that into a nice poem, but not today.  I've got some other things to do!  This is also the second attempt at posting this recipe--remember, yesterday I complained how blogger ate my post.  Cross your fingers that this post sticks.

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The days are starting to sort of feel like fall. Sort of.  (Never mind that it was in the low 80s on Saturday and the high 70s of Sunday.)  On Sunday, I wanted soup--warm, comforting soup.  I wanted it with lots of green.

I scoured the web and looked at many versions of veggie soup with Kale.  There are lots of similar recipes.  I didn't see anything that was exactly what I was looking for so I made one up.  Here it is:

2 yukon gold potatoes diced (not peeled)
1 large yellow onion diced
2-3 carrots diced
1-3 cloves of garlic diced
1 can of garbanzo beans
1 32-ounce container of veggie broth
~3 cups of water

Combine all of the above in a big stock pan and bring to a boil.  Let it cook at a slow boil for 20-40 minutes or until all the veggies are soft.  (The time it takes to make the veggies soft will depend on the size of the veggies.)

After the veggies are of a good texture add:

~28 ounces of diced tomatoes
another 32-ounce container of veggie broth
salt (if needed see how much is in your tomatoes and broth)
1 zucchini sliced into thin pieces (I sliced thin and then quartered) (peel or not, your preference, I didn't)

Cook for another 5-10 minutes.

Add Kale 3-4 cups chopped with stems removed

You could stop here as it's a delicious very low-fat, no-oil soup.  Or, if you're feeling adventurous you can add 2 links of Italian Vegan Field Roast Sausage chopped into small pieces. (Nick, Nat, and I love this stuff.)

If you choose to add the vegan sausage you will add fat to the soup, but it's delicious!

After you add Kale (and the vegan sausage), cook for another 5-10 minutes.  

Here are the nutrition facts without the vegan sausage.  If you add the sausage you add ~2 grams of fat per serving and ~48 more calories.   (I'm calculating 10 very GENEROUS servings for this recipe, but it might be more like 16 normal sized servings.  I love soup!)

Kid report:
Nat, the vegan who loves veggies, ate the soup.
Kira ate the broth and the potatoes
Tia ate the broth, potatoes, garbanzo beans, vegan sausage, and a few pieces of zucchini.

Yea, I had to try to ladle the soup up with only their preferred veggies.
 
I'll be making this soup again this fall and winter! 

&*@#$ !!!

Darn it!

I wrote a GREAT post last night (brilliant, even) and blogger ate it.  Seriously.  HOW ANNOYING.

I know what happened, but I can't believe blogger was so stupid.  I had two windows open with the post in it.  I finished it in one, changed the title, and published it.  Then,  I found the other window that was nearly blank with only the start if the post in it.  It still had the OLD title.  I closed it.  I must have hit save.

Even though I hit save, I can't believe the one with the new title (that was published) was wiped out by the old post with the old title when I saved it.  GRRRR!  But the new post I wrote is no where to be found.  It's not published and it's not in my drafts.  Blogger ate it.  It must have been because it was a post with a tasty soup recipe in it.  You can't really blame blogger, can you?

Sigh.

Now I have to do it again and it won't be nearly so brilliant.

So what'd I tell you in the other post?  I told you about the fun cooking weekend I had! I made 2 versions of these bars I'll have to tell you about the strawberry version I made (later) 'cause they are scrumptious!

I also (FINALLY) had a chance to make these pumpkin and chocolate chip muffins! I actually got to make them on Monday and then again on Saturday. You know you like a recipe if you make it twice in one week. The girls give them two thumbs up! I love it when I find something all of them will eat! Muffins are so nice as a quick breakfast. A quick healthy breakfast makes mornings so much easier!

 I did change the recipe slightly the second time I made it. I added flax and removed 1/2 a cup of the oatmeal flour. I also only added 1/2 cup of chocolate chips.  Below are the nutrition facts for the new version of the recipe (below) with the serving size being one muffin.

Here's the new recipe:

1 medium banana, mashed
1 (15-oz.) can Pumpkin
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1.5 cups Whole Grain Oat Flour
1/2 cup Flax Seed Meal
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 cup Organic Dark Chocolate Chips
4 tablespoons 100% pure maple syrup

If you decrease the maple syrup to 2 tablespoons, you get only 7 grams of sugar in each muffin.  I think they are sweet enough with only 2 tablespoons of maple syrup, but I don't like the taste of sweet.

If you want pictures, go take a look at the forks over knives site and scroll down until you see very cute muffins!  I'll try to remember to take a picture before we devour the muffins next time I make them!

Okay, this isn't the brilliant post I wrote last night about veggie soup, but I'm stopping here for now.  I'll share the recipe for the soup I made last night in another post. 

Not green

These aren't green, but they are oh so good. I am now a huge fan of goji berries. They have an interesting flavor that I can't describe and aren't too sweet. (Many fruits are too sweet for me, especially dried fruit.) Goji berries seem to be easy to find and they are easy to take with you when you're on the go as a snack. I'm going to create a category on this blog called "snack-y goodness" that will contain my favorite foods for travel and "on the go" life.

I can't find really good web sites on goji berries, but everything I read says they are super good for you and a lot of the sites tell the story of Li Qing Yuen, who "lived to the age of 252 years" (1678-1930). The legend goes that he ate Goji berries every day. I don't know if they'll help me live to be 252 years, but I think they are tasty and probably not bad for me.

very good advice

A great piece about how to start to make a change. Change is scary and it's hard, but the bottom line, if you want to make a change, then just start... start small or big or anyway that gets you to start!   

The most important meal of the day

A review of a new recipe
I  made the raw power-packed pumpkin pie buckwheat breakfast that my happy healthy friend recommended.  I had it for breakfast yesterday.  My first thought when I tasted it was, well, at least it's convenient.  My second thought was, maybe the flavors need to blend a little more and then it will be tastier.  My third thought was, maybe I need to get used to it.

I really wanted to like it, it has so many good things in it.

I ate it, Friday (about 8 am), because it so convenient.  Then I went to my incredibly fast-paced Zumba class, came home, straightened up the house (the cleaners were coming), and wasn't hungry until around 12:30 pm.  Whoa.  It was a good breakfast.  Usually, I'm starving after a couple of hours.

On Saturday morning, I was running out the door to take the girls to gymnastics and I realized I hadn't eaten. I'd gotten up really early to meet my class online and then I did some other work.  As usual, I was running late to leave.  I wasn't sure what I could eat 'cause it was TIME TO GO.  Nick, my husband, reminded me of the breakfast pudding (as we're calling it).  I thought, "Okay, well, it's convenient," and grabbed a bowl.  This morning, the flavors were more married and it tasted better.  I don't know if it's me getting used to it, or it aging well, but I will probably give the recipe another shot--not right away.  It totally wins because it is SUPER easy to grab a bowl and eat it.  We'll see if it keeps me full for as long as it did yesterday.  

Here's a link to the Happy Health Librarian's version of the recipe.  

Here's a link to the version that inspired Happy Health created by Oh She Glows.

My notes on the recipe

I didn't add any dates or any maple syrup to my version.  I only used a little stevia and banana for sweetner. Adding either date or maple syrup might have made the taste a little smoother and maybe I'd have enjoyed the buckwheat recipe more, however, I don't like to add too much sugar, even if it's natural like maple syrup or dates.  Also, Happy Healthy and Oh She Glows both recommended keeping out 1/2 the groats to add after the blending so you have a "textured" pudding.  Um, no.  I did that, tried it, and didn't like the texture at all.  Since I hadn't emptied it the blender, I added all the groats and blended until everything was smooth.  Other folks may like the texture with some of the pieces being hard/chewy, but all I could think was "crun-chewy" which was a word used in bad 80s (maybe even 70s) dog food commercials.  

Finally, I only made 1/2 the recipe that Happy Healthy and Oh She Glows made.  I didn't want to be committed for 4-5 breakfasts.  With the half recipe, I committed to 2-3.  I finished eating it this morning. I'll let you know if I "fall in love" with this recipe. Right now, it's convenient, good for me, and a breakfast that will take me all the way through an intense workout and beyond.  I will make it again, and give it another chance*.  I'll keep you posted.  

*I know that for some foods it takes 4-5 (or more) tries to like something.  If the recipe wasn't so easy and if it wasn't so darn convenient to eat in the morning, I'm not sure I'd give it another try, however, it rocks in that department.  I'm also going to try some of the other "prepare the night before" and eat in the morning breakfasts that Oh She Glows has.  I'll let you know what I think.  I've never tried them before.  I really like making (oat bars) and (scones) and (my PB cookies) as grab and go breakfasts, but prepared the night before cereals could be a new thing for more variety.  I'm thinking of trying the green monster overnight oats!

Broccoli and salsa

 
She's a vegan who likes vegetables.  Here she is eating broccoli, salsa, and brown rice.  (One of her Mom's favorite combos, too.)  You can see her green (kale) smoothie on the right side of the picture (just barely).  She's always liked veggies, even as a preschooler.  When she was 3.75, if she didn't have a veggie with her lunch or dinner she'd say, "I need something green." Green is her favorite color.  Someday, I'll ask her to do a guest post here.