And I Chose…

First I want to thank everyone for their awesome cookbook suggestions. After I wrote yesterdays post and made a call out to twitter I got some great suggestions for vegetarian cookbooks.

Here are some of the books recommended:

• Supernatural Cooking
• Any of the Moosewood Cookbooks
• Vegan on the Cheap
• Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone
• Rebar Cookbook
• Garden of Vegan

After hitting up two chapters stores, one 25% off coupon later and browsing tons of cookbooks I left with…

(Source)

Thanks so much to Robyn for this suggestion. I will admit that this book was expensive (about $50) but with the 25% off coupon and my irewards card of another 10% off I decided to splurge and get it. What I love about this book is that it doesn’t just list recipes but each section (eg. beans, vegetables, soups, casseroles, stir fries) goes into an explanation about the section.

For example: Winter Squash and Pumpkin – This has sections on

• Types of Squash
• What to Look For
• How to Store
• How to Use
• Special Handling
• Quality

Then it is followed by recipes using Squash and Pumpkins. In total the book is over 700 pages in length and has hundreds and hundreds of recipes. I will definitely have lots of yummy recipes to keep me busy for a while.

Thanks again to everyone for their lovely suggestions. I can’t wait to pick up a Moosewood Cookbook as well. I was debating between both but ended up with my choice because of the extra 25% coupon. It could only be used on a purchase of $35 dollars or more so I decided to take advantage and pick up the more expensive book.

Tonight we are celebrating Matt’s birthday so I’m making a simple pasta recipe (which is what he asked for) but I’m sure I’ll have some exciting new dishes to share with you soon.

~ Katie :)

Cookbook Help

This will be a short and sweet post.

Sorry for the lack of food blogging lately. I think the best meal I had this week was super simple. It was roasted veggies (sweet potatoes, butternut squash and broccoli) served on a 1/2 cup of quinoa topped with some roasted cranberries (I promise if you stick cranberries in the oven with your roasted veggies for the last five mins or so they turn out delicious) and a little feta. Absolutely wonderful dinner. Unfortunately I was so excited about eating it I forgot to take a picture.

Yesterday I also got creative with lunch. I was craving parsnip fries but I had no idea what to have with them. After thinking and thinking I came up with a simple and easy idea.

Two pieces of whole wheat Italian bread topped with a thin layer of pizza sauce, tons of spinach and a little mozza and feta (another obsession of mine right now).

Served with parsnip fries of course.

And I even remembered to take pictures this time :)

These were the only three pictures on my camera when I plugged it in :(

Help Needed:

Ok so here’s what I need help with right now. I’m heading to the store later to pick up a vegetarian cookbook and I need your ideas on your favourite one. If I don’t get any suggestions I’ll have to grab whichever one I feel looks the best but I’d love some input if you have a favourite.

My other plans for today include:

• Yoga in a hour
• Lunch at Wok Box
• Picking up the Hubby’s Birthday Present (his birthday is on Monday)
• Spending some Quality Time on the Couch with a Book

Happy Friday Everyone and Enjoy Your Weekend!

And don’t forget to leave a comment with your favourite vegetarian recipe book.

~ Katie :)

Rockin’ the Weekend

So as you can probably tell from the title of the post I rocked my eating this weekend. Lots of healthy yummy meals.

Saturday started out with some scrambled eggs with some cheddar and a piece of oat bran toast.

Dinner was my sweet and sour meatballs. You can find the recipe here. I followed it exactly except I used red and yellow peppers instead of broccoli. I think it turned out better then the last time. The sauce was thicker and a little tastier. I’d definitely recommend it.

Here are a couple of pictures from dinner:

Sunday breakfast was similar to Saturdays. Scrambled eggs with cheddar, and piece of oat bran toast and hash browns (with pepper, thyme and cayenne – I must say I don’t think cayenne doesn’t sit will in my belly. I felt pretty yucky for about and hour or two after breakfast).

Lunch was a bagel sandwich with smoked turkey, organic spinach and mozza on a whole wheat bagel.

In the afternoon Matt and I went for a walk and I stopped at booster juice. I got a Citrus Swirl (oranges, strawberries, pineapple, bananas and yogurt) Nom!

Dinner I made lasagna. This is one of my favourite meals but I hardly ever make it. It’s a lot of work and very calorie dense if you eat too much of it.

While cooking dinner I also finished the rest of my POM Wonderful that I had been drinking. Mange Pomegranate to be exact.

 

My recipe comes from Better Homes New Cookbook. I got this as a wedding shower gift last year.

Ingredients:

• 12 ounces of ground beef
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 can of pasta sauce (I use Ragu – you can also make the sauce from scratch but I wanted to make the quicker version)
• 9 dried lasanga noodles
• 1 egg
• 1 container of low fat ricotta cheese (I use the Superstores blue menu kind – awesome nutritional info)
• 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese
• 1 1/2 cup of shredded mozza

First chop the garlic and a cook it up in a tbsp of olive oil, when it is cooked add the ground beef and cook it. When finished add the pasta sauce. During this time boil the water and add the noodles.

In a separate bowl beat the egg and add the ricotta and parmesan. Mix together.

Once all this is done start layering in the Pyrex dish. I start with a small amount of sauce then add three noodles.

Then a layer of the ricotta mix and a layer of mozza.

Layer of sauce.

Continue for three layers and top the remaining amount of mozza and a little extra parmesan.

Cook at 375 for 40 mins.

For some reason this was left in the oven for about 5 mins too long but dinner was still great.

For dinner I had a small piece of lasagna…

And a piece of whole wheat garlic bread with cheese…

My evening snack was a huge bowl of fruit that I shared with the husband. In the bowl is grapes, banana, blueberries and pineapple.

Today I had an awesome snack when I got home from work of half a bagel with some white chocolate wonderful pb and 1/2 and banana.

Dinner started with a salad.

In the salad spinner: organic spinach, carrots, cucumbers, red peppers, yellow peppers and baby tomatoes.

Salad topped with dried cranberries and lemon juice…

Left over lasagna…

And included a piece of whole wheat garlic bread with cheese.

All together…

Another yummy dinner.

After dinner I hit up yoga with Jaime. It was a much needed class and my body was craving the stretch and workout.

Sorry for the crazy long post. Thanks for bearing with me.

~ Katie :)

Finally…Almond Butter

So first I want to thank everyone for support lately and I hope everyone enjoyed yesterday’s post on some of my favourite blogs. Hopefully, some of you were able to find some new blogs to read and enjoy.

I did found out some horrible news today. One of our really good friends lost their baby yesterday. And the worst part is that she was 8 months pregnant so she still have to give birth and go through labour. I feel worst too because they live in Newfoundland so their not really close so I feel like there’s not really much we can do except support them and be here if they need anything.

So after that sad news…back to some healthy living blogging. So yesterday Matt and I made a stop at Costco and picked up some of this…

I finally picked up some Almond Butter.  For those of you who are new to my blog this is the first time I’ve ever bought almond butter. I knew I as soon as I got it the first thing I wanted to make was Angela’s Nut Butter Fries.

Since we also picked up some fresh boneless skinless chicken breast I decided to par it with Lemon Chicken that I got from Sophie Uliano’s The Gorgeously Green Diet: How to Live Lean and Green.

Chicken:

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (the recipe called for chicken thighs)
• 2 lemons
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic - chopped
• 1 tsp celery salt
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp dried thyme

First I cut the chicken into strips (I almost always do this with boneless skinless chicken breast – they cook so much faster in the oven that way).

In a bowl I mixed together the rest of the ingredients (with the lemons I squeezed all the juice out of 1.5 of them).

I dipped the chicken in the marinade and put it in a Pyrex dish. I used the last half of the lemon as garnish.

I cooked them in the oven for about 25 mins.

Nut Butter Parsnip Fries

I followed Angela’s recipe almost exactly.

• 3 parsnips
• 1 tbsp of almond butter
• 2 tbsp of peanut butter
• 1 tbsp of olive oil
• a little salt

First I cut the parsnips into fry like shape.

Then mix the rest of the ingredients together and coat the parsnips in nut butter mixture (if you wear any jewellery make sure to take it off – it makes a huge mess – hehe). Place on a pan (I covered the pan with aluminum foil to help control the mess a little bit).

I cooked these in the oven for about 35 mins.

Chicken…

Fries…

Dinner is served…

NOM! This was so yummy! Thanks so much Angela for this amazing recipe. I will definitely be making these again very, very soon!

Now I’m enjoying some quiet time with the hubby and drinking some of this…

I hope everyone has a good night.

~ Katie :)

Healthy Chicken Parm

This morning I slept through the alarm. By the time I looked at the clock it said 6:05 and I need to leave for the gym at 6:00. Since that wasn’t an option anymore I re-set the alarm and went back to sleep for another hour. Gym this evening it is.

Tonight’s dinner was a healthy version of an old favourite… Chicken Parmesan

I adapted this recipe from Hungry Girl.

 

Pan-Fried Chicken Parm

Ingredients: (I had to adapt a little too because I was cooking for three and the recipe was for two)

• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup of fibre one bran cereal
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp rosemary (the recipe called for italian seasoning but I didn’t have any so I used the last three spices instead)
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 2/3 cup tomato sauce (I used ragu)
• 1/2 cup liquid egg whites
• 3/4 cup of shredded mozza

I had a ton of the mixture left over so you probably don’t need to add so much.

First crush the fibre one to breadcrumb consistency. I don’t have a food processor so this turned out to be difficult but I got creative and put it in a plastic bag and crushed it with a hammer – the husband loved that – hahaha. This is the second recipe in a week that has called for a food processor. I think it’s almost time to invest in one.

Then mix the fibre one with the oregano, rosemary, basil, onion powder and garlic powder.

The crushing didn’t turn out perfect but it did the trick. Then place the egg whites a separate bowl.

Dip the chicken in the egg whites then coat in the fibre one mixture and place in a non-stick pan with a little EVOO on medium heat.

The recipe called to cook the chicken on both sides for 5 mins. My chicken was really thick and would have taken a long time to cook in the pan that way so I ended cutting it up into pieces in order for it to cook faster.

Once cooked through, add the sauce and the cheese

Cover on low heat for 3-5 mins until the cheese is melted.

 

I also made a salad to go with dinner. In the ss: organic spinach, red, yellow and green pepper, cucumber, carrots and baby tomatoes.

Served with lemon juice and dried cranberries.

All together…

The whole meal was less then 350 calories and tasted delicious. I will definitely be making this again.

After dinner I hit up the gym for a quick interval run. Running started at 6.4 and ended at 7.5. It was tough tonight. I could still feel supper in the belly and it made it very heavy. I pushed through and felt awesome when I was finished.

Question of the Day: What is your current favourite song to work out to? I’m really loving everything from Ke$ha right now – especially Your Love Is My Drug. I’m a little obsessed with that song right now.

Have a good night!

~ Katie :)