Beyond Willpower

Well I haven't been around lately, just busy and tired at the same time, that combo makes for far less yoga and blogging. Luckily I'm in such a healthy eating routine that I havne't been knocked from it. Last night I tried a new recipe I found online. It was for black bean burgers:   [Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt] One of the things about black bean burgers is that they are notoriously mushy and they can even fall apart at times. Over at Serious Eats  you can find the recipe and read the article that goes along with it, explaining the trial and error, the fucking SCIENCE that went into creating this amazing 'meaty' textured black bean burger. I highly suggest you make a batch. It's a little more work than usual for such a thing but the reward is totally worth it in the end. Joey loved these burgers so much he said we need to make them when he has friends over on Sunday we are also trying to eat healthier. He even had one for lunch today ...

I wish I had some chinese 5 spice for this, but I need to find a gluten free one and haven't yet, so for now this is what you get!: This is definitely one of my fave meals right now and I know a couple people have asked for the recipe, so FINALLY, here it is, thanks for being patient! Ingredients: 3 oz extra firm tofu 1 thin slice of red onion, chopped half seeded jalapeno handful lettuce 2 corn tortilla shells 2 tbls bbq sauce (gf/vegan) 1 tbls water 1 tbls hot sauce (I used frank's but prefer chalula) 1 tbls low sodium gf soy sauce 2 tbls tofutti sour cream 1 tsp sesame oil 2 tbls salsa .5 tsp garlic powder (Not salt as pictured!) .5 tsp crushed red pepper 'dash' of granulated onion .5 tsp cumin .5 tsp chili powder .5 tbls daiya flavor of your choice. All I had was mozzarella, but I prefer pepperjack Dir ections: Slice the tofu into thin rectangular slices chop red onion, jalapeno, and lettuce heat pan on medium heat, ...

~*~*~I'm gluten free and vegan~*~*~ As are all my recipes Almost all of my recipes serve 2, many with enough for leftovers This recipe could easily serve 2 people who are VERY hungry, or 4 people with a side salad. Stuff you will need for the sauce: 2 medium zucchini Pam spray oil 28 oz crushed tomato (preferably delallo in heavy basil juice, or else you may need tomato paste or to drain the tomatoes if there is a lot of liquid) 1 tsp oregano 1 tbls basil .5 tbls garlic powder .5 tbls crushed red pepper 2 tbls (sugar?) or equivilant sweetner, usually 1 packet of whatever you use is = to 2 tsp sugar.  .5 tsp black pepper 1 tsp salt Stuff you will need for the filling: 3/4 cup veggie broth .5 tsp soy sauce 1 cup dehydrated texturized vegetable protein 3 oz crumbled firm tofu .5 cup mozzarella daiya (most of my recipes this is take or leave, but with this it really helps stick everything together and helps the texture.) 1 tsp garlic salt .5 tbls basil 1 t...

~*~*~I'm gluten free and vegan~*~*~ As are all my recipes Almost all of my recipes serve 2, many with enough for leftovers This one easily serves two but I was REALLY hungry! So, when I woke up I was starving, had eaten an early dinner so by the time morning rolled around I was so hungry I felt nauseous. So, I needed something quick, and high protein, because if you read  yesterday's blog  you'll see I thought I was feeling mentally weak because I could not keep food off my mind. Thanks to  ~Darla~  I realized it was not mental weakness, it was physical. While my carb intake was as usual, even with the bread I had, my protein and fiber were both very low. Fiber was half what it normally is, and protein was less than a third what it normally is! So, on days when I wake up needing protein I have scrambled tofu. Today I was craving some spice, and crunch, so I decided on scrambled tofu tacos: This was so quick and easy I didn't even write it on the drawing boa...

I stopped in target to do some shopping last night and picked up some new placemats and a few assorted colors and styles of dishes and bowls to use to make the blog nicer. Here is my first pic, I replaced the old pic of the basil red pepper pasta with veggies.  Wooo! I'm totally sprucing this place up! ;) Also, I know I'm most likely the only one excited about this one, but today is me and my bf's anniversary. It has been 16 glorious years, everyday I'm more happy than the last. Every day, I don't know that I could be more happy and yet the next day comes and there it is. More good times, more happy. :) I know he's reading this, so happy anniv, love! :) We have a full day ahead planned for us, and I will post later tonight about what we did since it's definitely weight loss relevant. ;)

So I made this today: Joey loves 'chicken and rice' or 'chicken and star's' types of canned soups, but he doesn't eat meat anymore. I'm eating dinner before him tonight and wanted him to have something easy to heat up when he got home that wouldn't dirty a lot of dishes. I made this chicken style tofu and rice veggie soup. It. Is. Amazing. It is a weird assortment of spices, because I was fresh out of veggie broth and base. Instead I boiled some spices for a bit then strained them through cheesecloth,the remaining bits can be seen above. Just enough of them to make my photo stylin'. :) I was also shocked to find that I found a way to make tofu taste like rotisserie chicken. On total accident. Wow. There's a bit of rice in there too. It is truly amazing. I'm not much a soup person and this is hearty, packed with veggies and protein, the recipe I tracked my calories for was for half of this. I doubt I'll eat even a quarter of all it made...

~*~*~This recipe is gluten free and vegan~*~*~ As are all my recipes I tend to shoot for 2 servings, but this very low cal dish makes enough for leftovers unless you are both VERY hungry! This recipe was inspired by the potato spinach curry in Appetite for Reduction (pg. 232). I think this is a little quicker and I hate potato chunks so it uses marinara instead of chopped tomatoes. I think that makes it creamier too. *NOTE* Also, this recipe is best if made ahead of time and eaten later/the next day. The flavors really have time to soak in that way. Or you could probably make it in a slow cooker, I don't have one but this is an assumption. EDITED TO ADD:  I forgot, it's a bit more bitter than I like. I like to add a tiny bit of sweetener, this should just be to taste and the sweetener of your choice. Stuff you will need: to the drawing board! Prep directions: First, put 2.5 cups water with a veggie base/or use veggie broth, in a medium pot. While waiting for the wat...

~*~*~This recipe is gluten free and vegan~*~*~ As are all my recipes This makes 2 servings Stuff you will need: Stuff I forgot on the drawing board: Chili powder Daiya (if you like) or nutritional yeast Chopped red onion Prep Directions: The first thing you want to do is put your 2 cups of light plain soy milk (for the calorie watchers) over low heat while you chop your broccoli. Add 1 tbls veggie base. I just got some Spike veggie base powder and it's pretty good. As for the broccoli, I just use mostly florets and break them off or chop them into large chunks. I used about 2 cups of broccoli for the soup. *NOTE* I set aside about a half cup for garnish. Over low heat let 2 tbls of earth balance melt and simmer and then add the onions and saute until they start to turn clearish. Here, you need some type of blender/food processor. I use the new ninja master prep pro . I just add the broccoli Florette's to the bottom of the large container and pour the hot soy milk o...

So, last night I had a really busy day, Joey and I went shopping! I got new jeans for 25$ at target! I'm starting to grow out so fast that spending 50$ every few months is not worth it. I got a new tank and best of all, a new camera! I got this for anyone who cares, I like it, I'm electronics impaired and this is an easy touch screen: It's a Sony Cyber-shot T99 and I love it! Expect better food pics!  Anyhow, we didn't want to eat out, it's too difficult for me with the gluten thing most times anyhow, but we ended up being out much later than expected. After we were done shopping, we decided to hit up the salad bar at eat n' park. I had one plate of salad with fat free italian dressing, a few pieces of fruit and a scoop of sunflower seeds. I hadn't looked at the menu so I asked the waitress afterwards how much the salad bar was. It was too much for what I ate, that much was true. This is another reason I don't see the point in going out much any...

I made this broccoli soup tonight for dinner and will be posting the recipe tomorrow!: * Click to see in it's full size glory! Yes, I got a new camera just for you guys ;) * This is one. Hearty. Soup.

~*~*~This recipe is gluten free and vegan~*~*~ As are all my recipes Okay, so I haven't actually eaten a cabbage roll since I was about 8. I didn't like them then and never ate one again until last night.  A week or so ago I was experimenting with a vegan "meat" sauce, needing to add a bit of protein to my day. So, I thought the meat sauce, which came out great,  might make a good cabbage roll filling and off I went to the drawing board! *literally* Stuff you will need: to the drawing board! *Sorry for the crappy pic quality, sometimes the blogbooster app doesn't like me* Preparing the cabbage First, I decided to use two big cabbage rolls instead of a billion tiny ones. I peeled two off to use as rolls and then two more to shred for the side dish (pictured below). Boil the cabbage in a large pot, I like to use half (low sodium/unsalted) veggie broth and half water. Cover pot, boil for five mins While the cabbage is boiling, finely chop 1 medium red bell p...

~*~*~This recipe is gluten free and vegan~*~*~ As are all my recipes Serves two. UPDATE: 3/17/2011 I have de-spiced this a bit and gave directions for a smaller serving of sauce. It seems I like my food spicier than most! ;) I've tried many vegan alfredo recipes I found online or in cookbooks and I never made one that i liked so much i made it twice. Always looking for something better. Tonight I messed around and created my own. My bf took one bite and he made.... The "O" face. Ha! He named this recipe when he said, "Nothing to say but Mmmm...". EDITED TO ADD: You will have LOTS of sauce left over, you can easily cut the sauce ingredients in half. Oops. What you need:  Here it is, excuse my horrible handwriting. I tried. ;) Here is a pic of stuff I used: Directions: I made the alfredo sauce while the gluten free (bionatura is my fave brand), pasta cooked.   I put 1 pack of mori nu lite silken tofu into the ninja ( my food processor above ), and...

~*~*~This recipe is gluten free and vegan~*~*~ As are all my recipes Basil red pepper pasta with veggies: ( this is made with gluten-free, bionatura pasta, but can be made with whatever type of pasta you like): What you need: 1 serving of pasta (about a half cup dry) Half a yellow squash Half a zucchini 1/2 Inch thick slice of onion, chopped These were all done to taste: Garlic salt Black pepper Crushed red peppper Basil ( lots of it! ) 1 tbs oil Directions: Saute veggies in .5 tbls oil Boil pasta and drain Add veggies to pasta Add .5 tbls oil to pasta with the veggies added Season to taste. ( I use about a .5 tsp of garlic salt, 1tsp of red pepper, a dash of black pepper and .5-1 tbls of basil. Im a basil fiend. ) The finished product, again: I make this after work all the time. Its a fave. :)