Banana Bread Smoothie

I love having smoothies for breakfast.  They save me time in the morning because I don't have to sit down to eat before I head out and keep me from wolfing down food in the car.  Instead, I take a smoothie in a to-go cup and finish it some time mid-morning at my desk.  But even on the weekends when I'm not rushing out I still like to enjoy a tasty smoothie while I read or lounge around.  With the added time, sometimes I'll even get more creative with my morning meal, like putting together this Banana Bread Smoothie that really tastes like dessert for breakfast!

 

Banana Bread Smoothie

 

1 ripe banana

1 1/2 cups vanilla almond milk

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 tablespoon peanut butter (I used Peanut Butter & Co mighty maple)

 

Blend everything together and enjoy!

A Scary Thing Happened on the Way to the Nutrition App

A week ago I started using the app My Fitness Pal to track my daily eating and exercise habits.  I mentioned that I've gained a bit of weight after indulging too much lately, and I thought the app would help keep me accountable and on track with my goals.  After a week of tracking my food and cardio (I didn't really bother to put in weight training), I definitely found myself paying closer attention to portion sizes and whether I really needed that late night snack.  After just a week I was already down a couple of pounds and feeling great. 

 

That is until I landed on the handy feature that lets you compare the amount of carbs, fat, and protein consumed to your "goals" for the day.  Discounting today, because I've only had breakfast so far, you can see that I've missed the protein goal more days than I've hit it. 

The pie chart feature on the app also tells me that my percentage of total calories for the week coming from protein is only 12%, compared to a goal of 20%.  How could this be?!?!  I feel like I really go out of my way to eat protein at every meal.  I add protein powder to my morning shakes and don't exactly eat a lot of packaged food like cookies, chips, and candy.  How could my nutrition be so ... off?! 

After first encountering the pie chart a few days ago I made an even more concerted effort to incorporate protein into my day, pairing peanut butter with apple slices and adding quinoa to everything.  But no matter what I did that green slice stayed just the same size.  I started reading about vegan protein sources online.  Surely I was missing some critical food item that would square everything away.  But everything I read were things I already knew, suggestions of foods I already ate. 

 

I started to really panic, thinking there was no way I could get enough protein in my day as a vegan.  Maybe I should add eggs back into my diet?  Just one egg a day would surely push me back in the right direction.  And I would get them from the farmer's market - the most humane eggs around.  Would that really be so bad?  But what does even the most humane farmer do with a male baby chick?  Or to a female that's passed her one or two years of egg-laying usefulness but could have several more years of life left to her?  I couldn't let myself pretend they were sent off to a happy and long retirement. 

 

Of course Josh tried to console me.  Was there really any reason I felt like I wasn't getting enough protein ... other than the fact that the app told me so?  No.  I'm not exactly a body builder, but I also have no issues at all with having enough muscle.  In fact, sometimes I wish I had a bit less in my legs ...  So why was I really worried?  Josh reminded me of what I really already knew, but had let myself forget ... too often we're told that we should get more protein in our diet than we really need.  As I read more online, I came across this great article on No Meat Athlete, which explains how much protein we really need in our diet.  And percentage-wise, the recommended figures come out to 10-15% of calories.  Suddenly that 12% doesn't look too shabby.  And all of my crazed concern over what one little app was telling me feels just a little silly. 

 

I'm definitely not trying to discount My Fitness Pal as a valuable tool in keeping track of your diet and exercise.  It's still a great (and FREE!) way to track calories in and calories out, which is what it all comes down to if you're trying to lose weight.  It keeps you accountable for your snacks and portion sizes, which is just what I need right now.  I just need to make sure I listen to my body before getting concerned about those other pesky details. 

Spicy Peanut Butter Broccoli Wrap

If you've spent any time poking around my blog, it's probably pretty obvious that I'm a huge peanut butter fan.  I could eat peanut butter every day and never get bored - in fact, whether or not I mention it, you can rest assured I probably had some peanut butter at some point on any given day.  But for me the ol' PB usually pops up in sweet treats, whether it's mixed into oatmeal, peanut butter pie, protein breakfast shakes, or on a spoon straight from the jar.  (Love that white chocolate wonderful!) 

 

But peanut butter can also be a delicious part of savory foods as well.  I actually made this spicy peanut butter broccoli wrap before my trip to California last week and loved it so much I made another to stash in my carry-on for the plane.  It's healthy and satisfying, plus with only six ingredients it's so easy to make! 

 

Spicy Peanut Butter Broccoli Wrap

 

Ingredients:

1 whole wheat tortilla

1/2 cup broccoli florets, chopped

1 handful lettuce of choice (I used Spring mix bagged salad mix)

1 1/2 tablespoons peanut butter - if you can find "The Heat is On" by Peanut Butter & Co, that would be great for this, but if not creamy or crunchy regular is fine - just not White Chocolate Wonderful! :)

1/3 cup Israeli couscous, prepared following box directions

red pepper flakes to taste
 

Sautee broccoli lightly in a pan with red pepper flakes.  Add couscous and peanut butter and mix thoroughly.  Place lettuce along center third of tortilla, top with broccoli couscous mix, and fold tortilla over to seal wrap.  Enjoy!

Weekly Exercise Recap

So, I've been eating a ton of junk lately.  First there was delicious peanut butter pie ...  And then there was that amazing vegan cheesecake ...  And then I had the brilliant idea that I would make chocolate covered potato chips.  Yeah, it's a bit out of control.  And it's showing both on the scale and with how I feel. 

 

So I decided it's high time to ramp up the healthy eating and the workouts to get myself back on track.  And part of that endeavor is going to be keeping better track of my workouts so I know exactly what I'm doing (and what I'm not), and hopefully guilting myself into making exercise a much more regular part of my routine. 

 

So here's a quick recap of my workouts from last week:

 

Monday - 1 mile walk to work trudging through the snow (not much of a workout, but better than nothing!)

 

Tuesday - treadmill + 15 minutes of weights

 

Wednesday - treadmill

 

Thursday - off

 

Friday - off, but about 50 pullups with the green band

 

Saturday - 4 mile nature walk, plus walking to get groceries and go to the library

 

Sunday - off

This list doesn't show all the other random things I try to do, like calf raises while I brush my teeth or a one minute plank before bed, but those aren't the things that will make a big impact on my fitness anyway. 

 

And while I realize this isn't exactly a stellar week of workouts, but hopefully it will set me off on the right foot for this coming week.  Wish me luck!  (Actually, I don't need luck ... wish me will power!)

Happy Pi Day

Happy Pi Day!  I hope you get a chance to celebrate with a big piece of pie today ... or quiche ... or pizza!  There really are so many ways to celebrate this wonderful day. 

 

While I haven't decided just what form of pie I'll be partaking in today, I've had a couple of other delicious pies recently that I can reminisce on in the meantime. 

 

In my last post I had a picture of peanut butter pie that I made following this recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie.  While I thought that version was perfectly good, Josh didn't really care for the banana flavor of the pie, so a couple of weeks ago I finally got around to trying the recipe again sans banana.  While you wouldn't think it would work, I substituted a block of lightly pressed tofu for the banana, and this version turned out amazing!!!  I also nixed the home-made pie crust and used a store-bought graham cracker one.  And for extra deliciousness, I made a chocolate ganache to layer on top.  I couldn't believe how amazing this pie was.  Plus super easy ...  The perfect recipe!

 

Then just last week I decided to finally get around to trying my hand at a vegan cheesecake recipe.  I stocked up on tons of Tofutti cream cheese and got to work.  Of course it turned out I didn't really need all that cream cheese.  I ended up with way too much filling - probably enough for two cheesecakes - and had a hard time blending it all together because I had too much to fit in the blender at once!  Oops.  Fortunately the great thing about vegan anything is that you don't have to worry about eating it raw.  I used the excess filling as a delicious apple dip!

 

I have to say, what I ended up with really wouldn't pass as "real" cheesecake in any dairy-eaters book, but was still quite tasty.  The vegan cheesecake just didn't have the "kick" that you get from real cream cheese - and sorry, but adding a little lemon juice just doesn't cut it.  But it was creamy, sweet, and felt very decadent.  In fact, the first night I had it I ate two big pieces!  (Yeah, that didn't make me feel too great afterwards.) 

 

While this cheesecake was great as-is, I also experimented with a few different topping options like masserated strawberries and melted chocolate.  The chocolate was definitely my favorite preferred topping.  My drizzle may not be all that artful, but it still tasted great! 

 

 

 

Hope these inpsire your pi(e) adventures today! 

Highlights From the Past Month

I can't believe it's been more than a month since my last post!  Bad bad bad.  But rest assured, I've still been taking plenty of pictures of my daily eats, just not managing to actually sit down and write about them.  Which means I've got plenty to catch up on.  Obviously I've been super busy over the past month with the start of the legislative session, and I pretty much have no hope of catching up by actually writing all the blog posts I should have written all this time.  So instead I'm just going to go with an old fashioned photo dump to get it all out there.  And then maybe I'll get back on a normal blogging schedule soon. 

 

So here ya go ...

 

Pasta packets a la Vegetarian Times Magazine:

 

Mmmm ... peanut butter pie from Chocolate Covered Katie:

Dinner at Pizza CS:

Yep, I made my own cheese ... and it came out green.  I guess I should have mixed the chives in by hand rather than tossing them in the blender with everything else.  But it was still tasty :) 

 

 

Mexican dinners rock ... especially chipotle adobo black beans with fried plantains and vegan sour cream!

Chicken Picatta using the recipe from the back of the Gardein package.  (We've made this a few times ... it's delicious!)  Plus asparagus and roasted potatoes.  Would you guess this is vegan?!

Chocolate cake to live for :)  Yum yum yum. 

Dessert again ...  Vegan cheesecake from Capital City Cheesecake.  Unfortunately, neither of these really tasted like cheesecake and at least one of these beauties made both Josh and I incredibly ill.  Never again, CCC. 

 

And ... Valentine's Day dinner!  I made a super simple beer bread and served vegan black pepper steaks and roasted Brussels sprouts with pomegranate glaze on the side.  Josh wasn't a fan of the black pepper steaks, but he loved everything else.  So much for that secret ingredient - love!  I guess two out of three isn't bad. 

Spontaneous Edinburgh Proves to be Less Than Vegan

While my last post was about how good I was at researching vegan food in Edinburgh before our trip, my research could not account for every moment of the day.  There were more than a few times when we were out and about that I was cold, hungry, or just wanted to be part of the experience.   In those instances my vegan ideals went most of the way out the window.  

 

Like the pint of milk provided by the owner of the hotel to go with the complimentary cereal and fruit for breakfast.  Should we let the milk go bad or thank him for the free breakfast?  You guessed it ... we ate the cereal.  

 

I definitely didn't document every scrap of food I ate during the trip, but here are a few of those times in Edinburgh where the experience took over ...

Unfortunately, my vegan designs went out the window right from the start, when I forgot to sign up for a vegan meal far in advance on our British Airways flight.  Fortunately, one of the two standard options was vegetarian at least - tomato pasta with cheese.  And yes, that's a cheesecake sitting there.  And yes ... I did eat it.  My first cheesecake in nine months?  Yeah, it was good. 

In fact desserts and sweets proved to be my general downfall when it came to staying the vegan course on this trip.  While walking around Edinburgh, we stopped at a convenience store for a little sustenance, which is where I spotted this peanut butter KitKat.  Unusual flavored KitKats have always been a fascination of mine, and I couldn't help but pick it up to split with Josh while we walked.  It was quite good. 

The other major source of trouble was when we stopped for a meal at a place that I hadn't pre-planned before our arrival.  Our lunch at a Debenhams Cafe, for instance, was lovely with its views of the water, but didn't have any vegan options beyond a side of fries (chips). 

Rather than go hungry, Josh and I split a vegetarian mushroom and cheese pie with chips on the side.  It wasn't even that great, but hey, it was food! 

There were also those instances when I made half-hearted attempts to be vegan, but which wouldn't really amount to much if anyone's keeping score.  For instance ... Since I'm a huge Harry Potter fan, of course I wanted to stop at the Elephant House Cafe - the place where JK herself wrote the first HP book. 

There was a huge line, but we were able to grab a table where we enjoyed hot chocolate and dessert.  I ordered my hot chocolate with soy milk, but the barista was kind enough to let me know the chocolate mix still had milk powder.  Strike 1.  No matter, I said ... my carrot cake wasn't vegan either.  Strike 2.

And remember when I left Night 3 dinner out of my last post?  That's because we found ourselves tired and with sore feet, but luckily right in front of a little pub.  Our stop for a couple of beers quickly turned into dinner once we saw a few plates of burgers and chips (fries, again) go by. 

They actually had three vegetarian burgers on the menu, but none of them were vegan.  I ordered myself the portabella mushroom burger and had it topped with the spicy fixings from another offering - including jalapenos, chipotle mayo, and pepperjack cheese.  I could definitely have taken steps to make a more vegan choice (like hold the mayo and cheese), but without comforting vegan substitutes available I really didn't want to. 

I wanted my big greasy burger with fries and a beer.  And maybe I was letting the vacation give me the excuse I've been wanting a lot of the time in "regular" life, but which I won't let myself indulge. 

I definitely took more than a few more opportunities on the trip to eat foods I've been craving but couldn't have over the past few months.  Like this donut from Krispy Kreme, which was conveniently located right across from the hotel we stayed in on our final night in Edinburgh before flying out.  They were having a caramel-themed flavor special, so this was the caramel crunch.  I've been thinking about donuts more in the past few months than I have in my entire life, and this my "oh well, it's vacation!" mantra had thoroughly sunk in by the last day. 

I tried my best to savor it, knowing it would be quite a while before I came across a vegan donut ... or found myself on another vacation and standing in a Krispy Kreme. 

The other big excuse I used on the trip, of course, was the desire to experience Scottish culture.  It was an excuse to eat the complementary shortbread cookies at the hotel (plus I love shortbread ... vegan shortbread post coming soon!).  And it was a great excuse to eat this fruit scone with jam and clotted cream at the Royal Botanic Gardens when we took shelter in the cafe to escape the downpour.  And the hot chocolate was a great way to stave off the cold. 

What was my excuse for three chocolate truffles at Jenner's?  Well, after looking around at their wares for an hour without buying something, and still needing to fill a bit more time, we just had to get something from the cafe.  And whiskey flavored truffles are as Scottish as truffles get (short of haggis truffles, I suppose ... but no one's rushing out to make those). 

Waiting at the airport in Edinburgh we had time to fill and no guarantee our (now properly requested) special meals would actually make it onto our flight - these things so often slipping through the cracks, so naturally we stopped for a quick bite.  I suppose I could have planned yet further and packed up something from the city before arriving at the airport, but of course I didn't.  And while I could have had a fruit cup or some other poor man's substitute for food that I could find at the terminal, yet again I through vegan caution to the wind. 

A chocolate caramel shortbread bar and mushroom and cheese panini?  Why yes, thank you.  They look delicious.  And they were. 

One of the things I learned on this trip?  I'm certainly not lactose intolerant yet.  I tested my digestive system enough times to know that for sure.  But did I also learn I'm not a good vegan?  That I'm not really vegan at all?  Maybe.  But I think I tried a lot harder than a non-vegan would.  I suppose I'm a semi-vegan.  And that's not necessarily a bad thing. 

Every day, every bite, we have a new opportunity to decide what we put in our mouths and what impact we will have on the world through the food choices we make.  I've been back in the US now for almost two full days.  And no animals were harmed in the making of the past two days of my life.  And any food decisions I made in the past couple of weeks, just like those I made over the past couple of years, do not need to affect the decisions I make tomorrow, or the next day, or the day after that ...

3-ish Day Juice Cleanse

Sometime last week Josh was complaining about all the junk food he feels like he's been eating lately (I'm sure still a lot less than the average American) and how tired he's been.  For some reason, I suggested he could do a juice cleanse, which a lot of people claim makes them feel healthy and enegergized while kicking cravings at the same time. 

 

I did a week-long Master Cleanse once with a friend, but failed on about the fifth day when I ate half an apple, and then completely abandoned it on day six when I scarfed a whole bag of Gardein chicken tenders (craving protein, big time).  But a shorter juice cleanse seemed like it might be a good idea.  I'd felt good on day four of the Master Cleanse, and including lots of fruit and vegetable juices seemed a lot more manageable as far as calories and variety are concerned.  Another element of the Master Cleanse regimen we would not be including was the nightly salt flush - yuck! 

 

We also thought the week after moving would be the perfect time because we had barely any food in the house anyway. We headed out Sunday to grab tons of fruits and veggies so we could start the cleanse Monday morning.  With no juicer, my plan was just to blend the fruits and veggies with water and appreciate the added fiber to keep us full. 

 

Day 1:

 

The first menu item: a grapefruit-orange-kiwi juice.  This was majorly sour, but otherwise tasty.  I sipped this one slowly while teleworking Monday morning, and managed to finish it off only a little before it was time to make my lunch juice.  Josh, meanwhile, took a Naked Juice to work for lunch to make his life easier on the juice front. 

 

For lunch, I blended up a green juice using kale, green apple, green grapes, and a cucumber.  This one definitely tasted like grass in a cup.  It was not a pleasant lunch (and dinner - I made three servings so Josh and I could each have this one later too) but with work and unpacking later, it wasn't too difficult to get through the day. 

 

Before bed we each had a glass of banana-cashew milk (soaked cashews blended with water and a banana) with a pinch of cardamom and pumpkin pie spice.  This was definitely my favorite drink of the day, though I won't exactly be adding it to my post-cleanse repertoir. 

 

Day 2:

 

For breakfast on Tuesday I mixed together frozen blueberries, mango, and strawberries with water.  This juice was actually tasty and, dare I say, a pleasure to drink.  Don't get me wrong, my normal morning smoothie made with soy milk and protein powder is a whole lot better ... But this wasn't a bad option if I happened to be out of both. 

 

For lunch I followed Josh's lead and headed out to grab a pre-made juice for lunch.  This isn't quite in the spirit of the cleanse, I realize, but it definitely makes life a lot easier.  I grabbed an Odwalla Mango Tango, made with mango, apple, organge, and banana.  It wasn't exactly filling, but it was enough to get me through the rest of the day with only minimal stomach rumblings. 

 

When I got home I was pretty hungry, so I quickly had the rest of Monday's green juice while I waited for Josh to get home from work.  He later informed me that during work that day he'd snacked on some peanuts to get him through the day - not the worst cheat, considering we were blending up nuts into our juices as well.  But in theory one point of the cleanse is to avoid solid foods altogether to "rest" your digestive system.  Not sure how much I buy into that ...

 

For some reason I didn't manage to take a picture of our "dinner" juice, which is a shame because it was really pretty good.  I roasted a sweet potato and soaked some almonds before Josh got home, so when he walked in all I had to do was blend up the sweet potatoe and almonds with a banana, water, and a big pinch of pumpkin pie spice.  It was really delicious, and actually pretty filling too!

 

"Dessert" was mango strawberry juice, which was also excellent - the same as breakfast, but even better without the blueberries. 

 

Day 3:

 

Wednesday morning I made us a breakfast juice of banana, kiwi, and mango.  The banana really helped cut the sour flavor of the kiwi and made this a pretty tasty juice as well. 

 

Rather than heading out to buy a lunch juice, I also mixed up a lunch juice before work that I planned to shake up and drink midday.  On the agenda: stawberry and kale juice. 

 

BIG mistake ...

 

This "juice" was disgusting.  The strawberry wasn't enough to mask the kale flavor.  And blending didn't break up the kale enough, so there were big chunks still in the juice that I had to try to choke down.  It was really quite vile. 

 

And so I broke ...

 

I suppose I could have run out to the store to buy a replacement juice, but my heart and will just weren't in it anymore.  Instead I went straight to my office cupboard and ate two heaping spoonfuls of peanut butter.  (Hey, that's still not really solid food, right?) 

 

When I told Josh of my cheat, he said he'd also broken that day and eaten a bagel for lunch.  (Way bigger cheat ...)  But we decided that, despite the breaks, we shouldn't let that be a reason to let the whole experiment fall apart.  I mixed up a dinner juice of blueberries, cucumber, and apple.  There was so much pulp it was hard to drink, but it was otherwise tasty. 

 

Maybe it was our cheats, but we still had energy for a "run" after "dinner" in Rock Creek Park (near our new place).  It was really scary because it was almost dark when we ran, and even darker in the woods.  I got especially freaked out when I accidentally kicked a frog that was in the middle of trying to jump away from us.  Wherever you are, frog, I hope I did not injure you too badly!

 

Before bed we had another banana cashew milk (the same as Monday's).  We also decided our original plan for a 4-day cleanse would be nixed and we would end our cleanse with breakfast today. 

 

I decided to go out with the healthiest juice I could muster - kale, avocado, and green apple.  And I just now took the last sip.  It wasn't good, but I drank it.  And perhaps I'm healthier today than I was Sunday ...

 

So, what's my verdict on our half-hearted cleanse?  We didn't do a pre-cleanse weigh-in, but I feel a bit lighter than I did at the start.  I don't think I've had any more energy, but I certainly haven't had less either.  And I'm sure I've gotten more servings of fruit and vegetables than I normally would, so I've certainly gotten all sorts of helpful vitamins. 

 

Would I do it again?  Probably.  Maybe at another time our hearts would be more in it.  Maybe if we hadn't just moved and were feeling so isolated in a new and strange place.  All we really wanted was to go out and explore, but usually that would have involved looking for new and interesting restaurants near our new home.  That's our plan for tonight.  We'll be Yelping for Mexican food in Silver Spring, and hopefully we'll find something good.  But either way, I'm sure it will seem great compared to the last few dinners we've had ...

Quinoa Salad and a Healthy Wegman's Dinner

I slept in incredibly late Sunday morning and it felt wonderful.  When I finally got myself out of bed I enjoyed a peanut butter banana protein shake but this time with vanilla protein powder and vanilla soymilk instead of my usual chocolate.  It wasn't really breakfast because it was closer to lunchtime when I drank it. 

After lazing around for a bit I got out of the house to go for a run around the reservoir at Druid Hill Park.  It was a beautiful day for a run, with a cool breeze and sunny, blue skies. 

 

Unfortunately I hadn't let my protein shake digest long enough, and it was sloshing around horribly while I tried to run!  Needless to say, I felt sick and horrible and kept stopping to walk along the way.  Not a good run at all :( 

 

When I got home I indulged in a slice of pumpkin cheesecake post-run to bring my spirits up. 

I decided lunch should be a little healthier than I've been eating lately, so I mixed up a healthy quinoa salad.  I used yellow quinoa, canned black beans, canned corn, diced red pepper, chopped scallions, and a lot of chalula.  This is my go-to quinoa salad because it's really healthy, filling, and delicious.  But I've been thinking I should add another quinoa salad to my repertoir.  Stay tuned for something new in the near future! 

After lunch my boyfriend and I hit the climbing gym for a couple of hours and then headed to his parents' house to catch up on Game of Thrones - we don't have cable so it's hard to stay on track.  

 

For dinner we decided to stop by the Wegman's prepared foods bar.  There's always something new at the bar I haven't tried, and everything is so delicious!  Trying to stay on my healthy kick, I headed to the salad bar and started with a bed of romaine lettuce and piled on a spicy six bean salad and some roasted yams and kale.  They were both amazing.  I wish I'd taken a closer look at the ingredient lists on these so I can try to recreate them at home sometime.  I will have to remember next time I go back. 

 

I also put together a container of mixed fruit for dessert.  Healthy, healthy! 

 

It was a valiant effort, but the healthy kick didn't last long.  When we got home the last of the pumpkin cheesecake in the fridge called to me and I couldn't resist it's siren song. (I'm so melodramatic when it comes to my desserts!)  I decided to just give in and eat one last giant piece.  Now the pie's all gone and I will not let myself make another dessert ... at least for this week!