Tropical Green Smoothie

Mmmmm. Spinach for breakfast. 

Doesn't that sound amazing?

Even though I'm vegan, the thought of salad for breakfast sounds horrible. I've got a serious love of sweet breakfasts.

But, when the taste of spinach is overpowered by sweet, fruity flavors, then I'm all in!

Check out this simple recipe that is sweet and satisfying and allows you get to get your veggies in first thing in the morning!

Tropical Green Smoothie

(Serves 1)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups spinach (or kale)
• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1/2 cup pinapple
• 1 stalk celery
• 3/4 cup almond milk (or 3/4 cup water + 1 teaspoon almond butter)

Directions:

1. Place all of the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth!

If you like this recipe, you'll also like this simple Green Kale Smoothie!

Eat Consciously,

Faith

From Oatmeal to Smoothies to "Cheesecake"...A Day of Vegan Eats!

Welp. Here you have it. A day in the life of my belly.

Breakfast:

Plain ol' oatmeal with chia seeds, ground flaxseed and almond butter.

Morning Snack:

An unpictured plum

Lunch:

Homemade Vegetable Vegan Lasagna with salad.

It's my own recipe and it actually turned out really good.

Afternoon Snacks:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Lara Bar

Decaf american with steamed soy from Starbucks

And later a smoothie made with this homemade vegan protein powder from The Daily Garnish.

I'll be posting a review about it soon!

In said smoothie: 

1/2 banana, 1/2 cup blueberries, a couple strawberries, a leaf of kale, 1/2 cup almond milk, 1/2 cup water, and 2 tablespoons of protein powder. 

Dinner:

Chickpea and Rice soup with Kale from the Post Punk Kitchen.

Grilled flatbread

Cucumbers and tomato wedges

No pictures sorry! Was at a friends house:)

Dessert:

A slice of the Vanilla Chocolate Chunk Cheesecake with Peanut Butter that I made

from This Rawsome Vegan Life.

We all weren't sure how we felt about it at first, but the longer it sat out and got soft and the more bites we took, we grew to like it more and more.

I can't wait to tweak it and try out my own "cheesecake"!

That's it! Head over to Peas and Crayons to check out other people's eats for recipe inspiration:)

A Day of Eats

After being in Tennessee for a week, traveling long hours in a car, eating too many pretzels and not getting enough sleep it was so nice to have a day off of work on Monday to rest, recuperate and exert some energy outside. I slept in until 8:30 (I know, I'm a wild one) and started the morning with an orange and a bowl of oats with chia seeds, ground flax and a dollop of almond butter. It's hard to not have some kind of nut butter with my oatmeal these days.

After digesting I went for a 7 mile run in the beautiful Florida air. It felt so good to run long and slow after being in the car for 19 hours on Sunday. Afterwards, I refueled with some chocolate soy milk from Trader Joe's and stretched.

For lunch I made a curry quiona wrap with hummus and spinach in a whole wheat pita pocket, also from TJ's. 

I love the ingredients in these pita pockets:

I put peas and raisins in my Curry Quinoa and it's delicious. Sometimes I'll just put it on a bed of spinach for a salad.

For an afternoon snack I had an apple with "peanut butter" made from peanut flour and water...

...and an orange. We have a ton of apples and oranges in our house so I felt like I needed to do my part in eating them. Don't mind if I do.

For dinner I cleaned out some of the frozen veggies that have been in our freezer since before Brett and I got married (Yikes!). I made some brown rice and simmered the veggies with this Green Curry Sauce from TJ's.

I also made some breaded baked tofu to go with it and the whole meal was delicious and came together so quickly! 

I was still pretty exhausted from such a long day driving on Sunday so Brett and I just went on a walk around the UCF campus and went to bed early. 

There you have it. Monday's eats!

Check out other people's daily eats over at Peas and Crayons for some creative ideas!

A Cooking Milestone: My Very Own Cookie Recipe

I gotta say I'm pretty excited to write this post, because I get to document a cooking milestone: my very own recipe! One of the main reasons for this blog was to document my experiences in the kitchen as a new vegan cook and hopefully get to the point where I would start creating my own recipes that are edible and maybe even delicious. The other day I finally got brave enough to try one out and I'm happy to report that these Trail Mix Energy Cookies really did turn out well. Husband tested and approved.

After my half-marathon on Saturday, I was unsurprisingly in the mood to bake. There's something about weekends that just brings out my desire to be in the kitchen experimenting. I've been wanting to make hearty "trail-mix" cookies so I started looking on-line for cookies that were chalk full of dried fruit, nuts, grains and healthy fats. I couldn't quite find what I was looking for so I found a few basic cookie recipes to go off of and invented my own.

These cookies are made with whole wheat flour and oats, chia seeds and hemp hearts, almond butter and coconut oil, walnuts and pecans. Tons of natural energy sweetened with a little sugar and agave nectar. Yum!

You can view these as a hearty dessert or eat them as granola bars. They're delicious without being too sweet. I baked half of them on a cookie tray and tried the rest in muffin tins. Both versions turned out great. The dough baked in the muffin tins didn't take as long to cook in the oven and held together slightly better because I was able to firmly push the dough into the bottom of the tins.  I'll definitely make this recipe again! Next time I'll even decrease the sugar a little to or use only agave or date paste. But for a first try, I'm quite happy with the result.

I hope you try these out...but beware, the chia seeds will get stuck in your teeth!

Hearty Trail-Mix Cookies

(Makes 18 cookiess)

 Ingredients:

· 1 cup quick oats

· 1 cup whole wheat flour

· 1/4 cup natural cane sugar

· 2 tablespoons chia seeds

· 2 tablespoons hemp heart seeds

· 1/4 cup semi-sweet Ghirardelli chocolate chips, chopped

· 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

· 1/4 cup pecans, chopped

· 1 teaspoon cinnamon

· 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

· 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

· 1 flax egg: 1 tablespoon ground flax seed + 2.5 tablespoons water

· 1/4 cup craisins

· 1/4 cup coconut oil

· 1/4 cup almond butter

· 1/4 cup agave nectar

· 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or spray two muffin pans with cooking spray and set aside.

2. In a large bowl whisk together the dry ingredients, from the quick oats to baking soda.

3. In a separate bowl stir together the wet ingredients, from the flax egg to vanilla, until combined.

4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix together until everything is incorporated.

5. Take two tablespoon amounts of dough at a time and press it into the bottom of muffin tins or roll tightly into a ball and then flatten as cookies on a baking sheet.

6. For muffins, bake for about 13-15 minutes.

7. For cookies, bake for about 15-18 minutes.

8. Let the cookies cool fully so that the coconut oil can harden and keep the cookies from breaking.

9. Enjoy a hearty bite of goodness!

   

Eat Consciously,

     Faith

You're Vegan? Where Do You Get Your Protein?

This is a question I was asked a lot when I first decided to stop eating meat and dairy. I even wondered it myself knowing that my usual breakfast of plain, Greek yogurt wouldn't be an option. However, the more I did research on sources of protein-rich food and figured out how many grams I would need a day, I was surprised by what I learned. Like most Americans, I used to eat way more than my recommended daily requirement for protein. Now that I'm not eating meat or dairy, my protein intake has decreased, but I still manage to get all the protein I need.

I figured I'd show you today how I'm able to get all the protein I need, even while traveling. Brett and I left yesterday for Virginia and were in airports most of the day. I was able to awkwardly snap some pics of my meals and snacks so I could share with you "What I Ate Tuesday While Traveling." I apologize for the iPhone 4 picture quality.

Breakfast:

(Unpictured)

A quick bowl of oatmeal with some almond putter and flaxseed.

Protein: 10 grams

Morning Snacks:

Part of a banana and strawberries

Protein: 1 gram

(At the airport)

This awesome granola bar from Starbucks:
Evolution Harvest Bar
I knew I would like it as soon as I opened it and you could actually see the ingredients!

Protein: 10 grams 

...and a 1/2 caf. Americano for our first plane flight to Detroit.

I love flying because I get to sit and read for hours. Anyone else?

Lunch:

A veggie and guacamole sandwich (without olives or cheese) from Quiznos...

while practically running to catch my next flight.

Protein: 24 grams

Afternoon Snack:

Once we landed in Virginia and got our rental car, Brett and I stopped at Trader Joe's to pick up some groceries for the week. Ah, I love that place!

We picked up yogurt, fruit and granola for breakfast and got soup, bread and spinach for lunches. Of course we also got some chips and kettle corn, which I had to open and try as soon as we got to the car. 

Not much protein there, but it was delicious.

I can't wait to live in New York where I'll be able to walk to Trader Joe's often.

Dinner:

After getting groceries, we went and hung out with my brother, sister-in-law and my niece and nephew. They order Pho and I got the fried tofu and mixed veggie bowl.

De-licious.

That bowl doesn't look big, but we all ate out of serving bowls.

We ate every last drop.

Protein: ~25 grams

My brother and his wife just built an awesome patio with a fire pit in their backyard.

After dinner we got to hangout by the fire and make s'mores with homemade mallows and graham crackers.

Amazing.

Grand Total of Protein: 70 grams!

 And that's how it's done. Head over to  Peasandcrayons to see other's daily eats. Have a great Wednesday!

Eat Consciously,

     Faith

A Free Nights Stay and Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

My husband is the best. Why? Well, for many reasons, but also because he always manages to work out free deals for us. Last night we got to enjoy a free night stay at a nice hotel on Daytona Beach. We stayed in a beautiful room with a full kitchen, family room and a balcony that overlooked the ocean. All you could see was water for miles.

It was cloudy and raining yesterday morning so we took our time waking up and packing for the our night away. We stopped at a friends house before beginning the hour drive to Daytona. Usually I'm not a big fan of cloudy days, especially when we're trying to spend time on the beach, but I was loving it. I just wanted to snuggle up on the couch, read and look out the window to the ocean. And that's just what I did. It was wonderful.

We got to see a double rainbow and the sunrise!

Is anyone else out there a morning person and as excited about 

daylight savings as I am?

The past couple of times we've gone to the beach I've ended up being the only girl with a bunch of guys. I always have a great time, but man, boys sure can eat! Especially when they've been surfing and throwing footballs around all day. Brett, knowing I'll never turn down a baking opportunity, always requests some baked goods to take with us for the guys to eat after surfing. Even though it was just me and Brett this weekend, the request still remained. As did my excitement to bake.

During our time in Dallas last week I was able to stop at a Trader Joe's and pick up some almond butter - I had just run out of my homemade almond butter - and coconut oil. I wanted to find a recipe in which I could use both ingredients. I found a simple chocolate chip cookie bar recipe, adapted it a little and was very pleased with the result. They were a bit crumbly when I first cut and ate one, but after resting overnight they were perfectly solidified, moist and held together great.

The next time I make these bars I'm going to try using 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1 cup of another flour. I also think turning the 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed into a "flax egg" will help hold the bars together when they first come out of the oven.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

(Makes 16 servings)

 Ingredients:

· 1 1/2 cups brown rice flour

· 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

· 1 cup rolled oats

· 1/2 cup natural cane sugar (or other dry sweetener)

· 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed

· 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

· 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

· 1/2 teaspoon salt

· 1/4 cup coconut oil

· 1/4 cup almond butter

· 1/3 cup almond milk

· 1/2 cup agave nectar

· 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

· 1/2 cup non-dairy chocolate chips

Directions:

1.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 8x8 baking dish.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, oats, sugar, flaxseed, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

3. Add in the coconut oil and almond butter and use a pastry cutter (or your hands if you don’t have one) to mix in the oil and almond butter until a crumbly mixture forms.

4. Pour in the rest of the ingredients except the chocolate chips and stir until combined.

5. Fold in the chocolate chips.

6. Pour the batter into your prepared baking dish and level it out by pushing down with your hands until firm.

7. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes before cutting into 16 squares.

 Notes: Adapted from Good Clean Food.

I've never baked (or cooked) with coconut oil before and after making these bars I'm sold. First of all, it made my kitchen smell amazing. Secondly, it made these bars so amazingly moist and gave them a texture that's subtly different than when you bake with butter or other types of oil. 

Eat Consciously,

     Faith