White Bean Spread



Tuesday morning started off pretty typically with a chocolate, peanut butter, and banana protein shake.  The blender cup that transforms into a to-go cup is really super convenient for taking my breakfast on the go and drinking it while I drive to work.  It's probably one of my favorite purchases ever. 

 

A little later in the morning at work I snacked (healthily!) on some carrots and grape tomatoes. 

 

Rather than having a more "traditional" lunch, I turned to snacks later in the afternoon again when my stomach started to rumble and mixed myself up some apples and cinnamon oatmeal. 

And of course I added a generous spoonful of peanut butter.  In addition to just being more filling because it's slightly more food, I feel like adding the protein into the mix makes this much more satisfying than your average snack - it really turns it into a meal. 

Sunday my boyfriend and I decided to actually plan ahead for the week, so for dinner Tuesday we picked a recipe out of one of our favorite cookbooks, Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson. 

Heidi's recipes aren't all vegan, unfortuantely - including a few of my very favorites - but the one we chose happened to be vegan with no modifications needed.  We decided to make the white bean spread.  Perhaps a bit odd for dinner, given that it seems more like a party appetizer, but we thought it would be delicious, healthy, and filling with some good French bread. 

My version didn't come out quite as pretty as Heidi's, but it still tasted great!  Plus the recipe made a ton of spread, so we had plenty of leftovers. 

We enjoyed it with sliced French bread, but only used about 1/3 of the loaf so we also had plenty leftover bread to eat the rest of our bean spread. 

The recipe was super simple with very little advanced preparation needed, and it used almost entirely ingredients you likely already have on hand.  I'll definitely be making this recipe again.  Maybe next time I will have a party to go to and I can bring it as an appetizer! 

And for dessert ... you guessed it! ... more strawberries!  This is actually the last of them until the next time I get to the store.  Maybe next time I will pick up raspberries!  Or go really crazy and get blackberries!  No, they're so much better if you pick them yourself.  I will just have to wait until the farms have them in season.