Last Week's Workouts

Last week's workouts were pretty ho-hum.  I wasn't really feeling it most days, so I just tried to get something in each day ...  Which I still managed to do, so I guess that's not too shabby. 

 

Monday - 60 pull-ups with the green band

 

Tuesday - 20 pull-ups with the green band plus 2 mile walk to library and early voting! Yay for participation, right? :)

 

Wednesday - 30 minutes on the exercise bike on manual level 7

Thursday - 30 minutes on the exercise bike on manual level 7 plus 30 pull-ups with the green band

 

Friday - 23 pull-ups green band plus 30 minutes on the exercise bike on manual level 7

 

Saturday - 2 mile run outside - gotta enjoy the weather when you get the chance!

 

Sunday - back outside for a 1 hour and 45 minute hike in Rock Creek Park.  I took a different route than usual and quickly learned that change is bad.  I bushwhacked a lot of the way on overgrown, buggy paths that didn't even offer much elevation change to challenge me.  Oh well, back to my usual circuit next time I guess!

Soup in Summer?

A little while ago I came across this recipe for Pumpkin-Butternut Squash Soup with Kale.  It looked so yummy - with a lot of my favorite flavors all mixed into one bowl of goodness - that I knew I wanted to try it.  But the recipe's author, Tina, wrote her post in March, when a warm bowl of soup always sounds just perfect.  It doesn't seem to make as much sense in summer ... especially when said summer is the sweltering heat of DC. 

 

But it looked so good I decided to crank up the AC and give it a try anyway.  Fortunately, unless you've just been outside for a steamy run, a bowl of soup is still quite nice in summer.  It's a bit like a shower - sometimes making your body warmer actually makes your surroudings feel that much cooler! 

 

I tweaked the recipe just a bit by nixing the ricotta, cinnamon, and nutmeg, (of course) substituting soy milk for cow's, and increasing the milk a bit - probably because I also used a lot more kale to make the whole thing more filling.  I'd say I ended up with proportions more like: 1/2 cup butternut squash, 1/2 cup pumpkin, 3/4 cup milk, 1 1/2 cups kale, salt and pepper.

 

Definitely a winner in my book.  It's so simple to throw together and low in calories but still substantial enough to serve as a main course.  I made it three times in one week (until my pumpkin ran out).  Plus Panda enjoyed helping to make sure every bit of pumpkin got used up.  I'm sure this soup will be that much better once it gets cold again - can't wait!

Searching for the Right Vegan Hollandaise Sauce Recipe

I was kind of a weird kid.  Whenever we went out to brunch, my go-to meal was always Eggs Benedict with no Canadian bacon and no yolks in the eggs.  I never liked the idea of ham, even when I ate meat.  And egg yolks, of course, are gross.  Runny egg yolks are even worse.  My mom joked that our server would think I had a heart condition.  But mostly what I was going for was the Hollandaise sauce.  Everything else was just a delivery mechanism. 

 

When I got a bit older I found that rather than nixing everything out of an order of Eggs Benedict, at some restaurants I could order asparagus with Hollandaise.  Or better yet, I could make my own sauce at home and whip it up myself in minutes.  Which I did.  Over and over and over again. 

 

When I became vegan it may not have been the thing I missed most, but every once in a while it would cross my mind.  And as I thought about it, I figured it should be easy enough to make in vegan form.  So why not give it a whirl? 

 

As a starting point, I followed this recipe from Vegetarian Times.  Unfortunately, I got a bit cocky and estimated all my measurements.  When I tasted round 1 the sauce had way too much lemon and a bit too much spice.  I promptly added more tofu, more salt, more oil (I used olive rather than corn) and tinkered around until I got a version I liked.  When I sat down to really eat the sauce on asparagus and toast, I found it was still too lemony for my taste, but it was definitely a decent approximation of real Hollandaise.  Definitely a good place to start, at least.  I enjoyed my asparagus, toast, and Hollandaise literally for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (not all on the same day).  This is definitely a recipe I'll continue tinkering with until I find the right balance.  And when I do I'll be sure to share the results!

Blueberry Muffins and Thai Arroy Dinner

Last week I managed to score a last-minute dentist appointment Monday morning (yay for cancellations!).  Unfortunately, I scheduled said appointment with my dentist up in Baltimore (I'm too lazy to look for a new dentist).  And now that the dentist isn't walking distance from my apartment, but instead a good 1 1/2 drive away, I asked Josh's parents if I could stay at their place Sunday night to make the Monday morning drive a bit an hour shorter. 

 

They were heading out to dinner for the evening, which would leave me alone with their cable TV, the dogs, and to fend for myself for dinner.  Fortunately, that gave me a great excuse to head to Thai Arroy on my drive up Sunday night to pick up yummy drunken noodles - which Thai Arroy will make vegan for you on request.  I haven't had these in forever and they were truly delicious.  Plus the serving was so huge I had leftovers for the next day too!  Dog cuddles, TV binging, and tasty food ... definitely a great night.

 

Of course I didn't realize I'd have drunken noodles left for breakfast the next day, so I still wanted to show up prepared.  Plus I always like to bring a treat with me when I visit Josh's parents to share the vegan love as much as I can.  For this visit I made a small batch of blueberry muffins.  I followed Chocolate Covered Katie's recipe for a single-serving blueberry muffin, so I actually had to quadruple the recipe to get the eight I ended up with.  (My muffins were a bit on the small side to stretch to eight.  If you wanted really big muffins you'd probably end up with five or six.)

 

I've made these muffins before with mixed success, but I knew that they would be a hit this time if I did it right.  They really are best made with coconut oil, with the applesauce version declared to be "gross".  Since I had leftover Thai food, I ate one little muffin at breakfast and then snagged another to go for a snack the next day.  I left the other six behind for Josh's parents.  And though I left before they got to sample them, the muffins were definitely a win in my book ...  Hopefully they agreed!

Reading, Reading, Reading ... On the Exercise Bike!

I found myself pretty sore at the beginning of last week from Fran the previous Friday.  I know ... three and four days later and I was still sore?!?!?  Normally I don't feel the real pain from a hard workout until two days later, but usually not three or four ...  I guess it was a good workout! 

 

But I was so sore I definitely wanted to listen to my body, so I spent the first three days of the week taking it easy on the exercise bike and getting some reading done. 

 

Monday - 30 minutes on the exercise bike at manual 5

Tuesday - 30 minutes on the exercise bike at manual 6

Wednesday - 30 minutes on the exercise bike manual 6

Thursday - off

Despite my pain from Fran at the beginning of the week, I decided to go right back there again on Friday.  Aaannnnnddd ... I improved my time by 30 seconds with the same weight!  Next time to try 40 pound squat thrusts ... (Ugh!)  Fortunately, I was no where near as sore after Fran round 2.  I must be getting stronger! 

 

Friday - 30 minutes on the elliptical at manual 6 plus 7:21 minute Fran with 30 lbs squat thrusts and 55 lbs pull-downs

 

Saturday - 1 hour and 40 minute hike in Rock Creek Park

 

Sunday - 30 pull-ups with green band plus 30 minutes on the exercise bike at manual 6

My Love for Peanut Butter

When I was at the grocery store the other day, I saw something truly wonderful.  There are few things in life as great as a sale on Peanut Butter & Co. peanut butter.  Actually, I think I really showed a great deal of restraint by only purchasing two jars (considering I had peanut butter at home already).  I bought one jar of White Chocolate Wonderful and one of Mighty Maple.  And have been blissfully devouring them all week. 

 

I can eat peanut butter on pretty much anything.  It's probably my favorite food, and I'm always stretching its versatility to the limits.  Granted, I bought two sweet flavors at the store, so most of my peanut butter consumption this week has steered clear of the savory variety, but not entirely. 

 

Of course, my favorite accompanyment for peanut butter is fruit, whether it's slathered on apple slices, mixed with a mashed banana, or incorporated into one of my morning protein shakes. 

I also took the opportunity to step up the game on my Peanut Butter Cup Chia Pudding by using White Chocolate Wonderful in place of plain, creamy peanut butter.  Oh yes, what a delicious improvement!  This stuff is great for dessert, of course, but also served as a delicious breakfast this week - full of protein and fiber, it does a great job of keeping you full until lunch time! 

 

And while of course peanut butter and grain seems normal enough when bread is involved - there's always peanut butter toast and PB&J sandwiches - not everyone thinks of peanut butter popcorn.  But this sweet and salty snack is super easy to make, and makes a surprisingly filling movie snack! 

 

Just prepare popcorn, nuke enough peanut butter for desired coverage (I used three tablespoons of Mighty Maple), drizzle PB over popcorn, and stir to coat thoroughly.  Then be sure not to tell anyone you made it so you can enjoy the whole bowl yourself!

Vegan Cotswold from the Non-Dairy Formulary

Since he was just a little boy, Josh's favorite cheese has been Cotswold (I know, what a pretentious little boy!).  Needless to say, I haven't had any since becoming vegan, but I thought it would be a great thing to be able to bring backed into our (shared) lives.  So I decided to try expanding into the more complicated reaches of the Non-Dairy Formulary to give their Cotswold recipe a try (labeled as Gloucester with Onions and Chives).  The recipe is actually somewhat similar to the ones for brie and Camembert, relying on coconut oil, soy milk, kappa carageenan, miso paste, and tapioca flour, amongst a few other ingredients.  The ingredients I didn't already have on hand were easy enough to get - tomato paste for color, plus chives and dried onions for that signature Cotswold flavor.   Though I had some difficulty with tapioca flour in my vegan brie (ultimately deciding both the brie and Camembert are best without it), I decided I should at least start by following the recipe the way it appears in the book before messing with it. 

 

And unfortunately it looks like messing with the recipe is exactly what I'm going to need to do.  My Cotswold never really firmed up all the way - in fact it stuck horribly to the mold and I had to scrape it out and kind of glop it back together.  Not a pretty sight, is it? 

 

Fortunately the taste is better - reminiscent of Cotswold, at least.  But that's really due to the chives and onions.  Even after days of storing it, per the book's instructions, in the fridge wrapped in a paper towel that gets changed once a day and then wrapped in plastic wrap, it's still a very spreadable consistency.  Not exactly Cheez-Whiz texture, but not particularly far off either.  And this clearly isn't what the book's author would have expected, because the instructions say after 24 hours of chilling you should be able to slice or grate it.  But mine definitely wouldn't hold up to a cheese grater. 

 

Since nixing the tapioca flour actually made both my brie and Camembert firmer, I might try this route next time for the Cotswold as well.  It tasted good enough to me that further experimentation seems worth it.  So ... I guess more Cotswold posts coming soon!