Same ole' foods

I fell into a food funk. It's been pretty toasty here the last few weeks (heat indexes in the 100s), so I haven't wanted to cook. No, we didn't eat out for two weeks straight or anything crazy like that. We ate very simply. I made quick things that we both enjoy but are hardly bloggable. Normally I would blog about them, but with other things between them so it wouldn't be quite so boring.

The foods we ate:

Fried rice with tofu, summer squash, onion, spinach
easy chiliques (3 times!)
boca vegan burger with tato tots
aztec salad with tortilla chips
tofu scrambles

The only thing new I made this past week was Vietnamese seitan sammies from the veganomicon (yay, the library finally got a copy). I also made little french bread loaves to have it on.


without the mayo (didn't seem to add anything to it)
side of chopped shroom & steamed veggies

I liked this. Pookie didn't care for it. I ended up eating 3/4 of this (which was fine by me).




I went to the farmer's market this week, and scored some pretty produce:

tiny sweet peppers : $2
pint cherry tomatoes: $1
cuke: 30c
cantaloupe: $2
spaghetti squash x2: $3.50 ($1/lb)
6 ears of corn: $1.50
eggplant x3: 1.25




Zucchini & curly looking cuke were be-gifted to us from a lady Boo works with.


Sat food log:


Breakfast was a tofu scramble, no recipe just added zucchini, cherry tomatoes, onion, shroom , seasoned with garlic powder/onion powder & T of nooch. (4)
Mini french bread (4)
Made lunch to have with boo, aztec salad with basmati rice (threw a can of rotel in it and some taco seasoning). (5)
I fell asleep before dinner... lol



Exercise?:

lol
I haven't really done the si6 lately, but I have been going on walks with boo for the last several days. Well he runs (he is such my opposite health-wise), and I walk/jog every other day. Off days we just have a nice walk together (insert hearts & rainbows here).

Friday's Freezer Feeding - vegan meatballs

It's been hotter than Beelzebub's belly button lately, so I haven't cooked as much as I normally would.

I did manage to add 16 Vegan Meatballs to the freezer this week.

"One ball has 64 calories, 2.3 g fat, 0 saturated fat, and 2.5 grams of protein."

Food log

B: Quinoa with light coconut milk, mango and cinnamon (5)











L: leftover Casablanca couscous (9)









D: 3 Vegan meatballs (3),2c spaghetti squash (2), 1/4c sauce (1)
s: bagel thin (2), fruit spread (1)

Lay down with a pookie..

So, we have the fleas.. lol

Best we can tell, Boo brought them inside from doing yard work. I called around and the bug people said they would take many visits to get rid of, quoted me at around 500usd. I will admit, I am not sure how hard a fight getting rid of fleas is, but it has to be easier than spending that sort of money.

Today we dropped 3 bombs, and went out for the wireless adapter.

We made a date of it, 'cause why not.

1. Returned the book of eli
2. Checked out the dollar tree (bought roasted red peppers & cleaner)
3. Walmart (to eat at the subway inside)
4. Gamestop (to browse)
5. Walmart to actually buy the wireless adaptor
6. Public library to listen to Pan Usa band & checked out veganomicon

It's funny how your idea of date night changes as you get older. There was food and entertainment, so I am calling it a date :P

Food log:

B: Subway foot long veggie *italian bread, veggies, sweet onion dressing* (10pts)
L: Casablanca CousCous (9) whoa!
D: 100calorie wrap (1), 5 olives (.5), sun dried tomatoes (1) roasted red pepper (1) 1/2 portabella mushroom, spinach, cucumber, evoo (1), red potato (2), evoo (1)


26.5 / 26
.5/25 weeklies

Exercise:

Ramp it up! si6


Pookie's Lunch:



Casablanca couscous
veggies & hummus
cinnamon applesauce

Down PC

I wanted to say "MAN DOWN, GDI!! MAN DOWN!!!", but that seemed (perhaps) a bit of an over reaction.

Pookie and I wiped our computers last Friday. They were acting hinky. It had been a long time since they had been cleansed, so we hunkered down and got'er'done.

We decided it was a good time to switch to Windows 7. So... it was more of a pain than I had thought it would be:

Friday - buy win7 (picked up kaspersky antivirus as well, as they use it at Boo's work)
Saturday - Install win7
Sunday - buy router
Monday - buy new wireless adapter card that works with new router

Happily for me, now I have a working pc (that is ALSO online). I did slack some on the diet over the few days I couldn't post. I made some choc chip cookies from VCTOTW. yummm

I cut my finger on my cheapo mandolin slicer Wednesday night. I took two days off exercise (instead of one to let it heal up a bit). Saturday & Sunday I did exercise but did start it up because I was worried I'd re-open my finger using the resistance bands.

First visit to the farmer's market this year

I woke up crazy early (5:30) today!

I don't do the rise and shining much so I was in great spirits that it finally happened on a Saturday. Pookie was still sleeping (usually he's the early birdie!), so I grabbed a soda, and knocked start it up out of the ballpark, hazzaahh!
I grabbed breakfast, and waited for boo to get up. The great thing about Saturday is that it's farmer's market day. I all but dragged Pookie there to see what they had for sale.

There were several stands and it was pretty packed.

I checked them all out first and then decided on zucchini (3/$1) , summer squash (50c each), spaghetti squash ($1/lb), one MASSIVE cucumber (50c). Boo is a huge garlic guy and wanted to try some grown closer to home so he bought 2 bulbs (@$2 each). I was really happy to find great produce from nearby at good prices.





Food log:



B: Brown rice bread (4) with 2t almond butter (2) & 1/2 banana (1)











L: 100calorie wrap (1) with hummus (1), spinach, red pepper, olives, cucumber (1) loads of veggies on the side (1) blueberries & strawberries (1)






D: Tahini Tofu squash (4)
s: act2 butter lovers (4)
s2: Ramen (8)

Friday's Freezer Feeding - Quinoa

It seems like I don't really freeze things anymore. Not like I used to when I ate meat, anyways.
I would buy the huge meat log (pork) or pounds and pounds of chicken (or beef) and then set to splitting them up into bags for the freezer for later use. I also would bulk cook some of our favorite recipes so that we could have something ready to go at the drop of a hat. I miss bulk cooking every now and then. I miss having ready made entrees at my disposal. I am going to try to have something to freeze at least once a week (by Friday, maybe).

Things that made it into my freezer(s) this week:

2 Servings of Quinoa kitchari (5p each)
3 Servings of Farmer's market Quinoa (4p each)

Now that the oven is working again, I think I will do much better at this :D

Pookie's Lunch:



1/2c Brown rice (2)
WW cupcake brownie minis from the freezer (2)
Tahini tofu squash with mushroom & zucchini (4)
blueberries & strawberries (1)

Ode to the blueberry & food log

It's funny to me that I used to think I hated blueberries.
I hated all things blueberry. A few weeks ago, I did the unthinkable, and bought a pint of blueberries. I wouldn't tell Pookie this, but I wasn't sure IF I would be able to eat them. I knew they were good for me, and I really wanted to eat better. I hate wasting food, and Boo hates wasting money. Lucky for me I found it heavenly! I don't know why it never occurred to me to try them fresh.

Growing up, my family's budget was pretty tight. Lots of mouths to feed and bills to pay. We didn't get much fresh fruit, and when we did it was watermelon. Well, that's the only fresh fruit I can remember us having, and that wasn't that often!

I really wish someone had told me how wonderful the delicate flavor of a fresh blueberry is. I think I even prefer it to snacking on strawberries!




Food log:

B: Tofu scramble (4) & tempeh crumbles (1)
L: tofu shirataki noodles (0) with asian veggies (1), 1/4c blueberries (.5), 5 strawberries (.5)
s: aztec salad (2), tortilla chips (3)
s2: tato (4) evoo (2)
s3: tahini tofu squash (4) *I added 1c shrooms & zucchini*





Exercise:

slim in 6, day 3, ramp it up


Pookie's Lunch:

Pretzel crisps
Apple Almond Cake
Wrap: spinach, red pepper, hummus, cucumber, olives, shroom, evoo in a 100 calorie smart wrap by La tortilla factory.

Yep, I was pretty sleepy when I made this, otherwise I would have taken the pic before wrapping it lol!

No power = Pizza & Game night!

Had the electric guy out (Mr.Quik) to look at my wiring and fuse box. Turns out that was a good call. The house is 32 yrs old and apparently the box was filled with code violations. We had to replace it, ground the kitchen and bathrooms, and fix some hinky piggy back wiring on the kitchen lights. He arrived at 3pm and was here till 8:30pm. I love the new shiny box of safety! Sadly, the whole house is electric and no power is no good. I decided to make it game night.

We ordered a hand tossed crust, no cheese, veggie lovers from pizza hut. I started off with Yahtzee *I won 2/3*, and then we played some scrabble. After an hour or two we were done with that, but made it through a good chunk of the power being off.

Food log:

B: Tofu scramble with onion, bell peppers, mushrooms (4), 1/4c tempeh sausage crumbles (1) *both from VWAV*

L: 4 slices - Medium hand tossed pizza with all veggies , no cheese , 600 cal, 16 fat, 8 fi (13)

D: 4 slices med. hand tossed pizza with veggies, no cheese (13)
s: 5 mushrooms (0)


26/26 *5 weeklies, 11/25 used*

Exercise:

Start it up, slim and limber

Pookies Lunch:

Alicia's seitan & bbq sauce
baked red potato with butter (Pookie doesn't do fake butters)
green beans with kidney beans
spinach, sprout, shroom, broccoli, salad with evoo.

Food Log, Day 1 Slim in 6, Restart WW

Food Log-

B- Green monster - 1/2 nana (1), spinach, strawberries, flax seed (1), soy milk (2)













L- aztec salad *1/5th recipe*(2) on spinach (0), tortilla chips (3), salsa (0)











D- Farmer's Market Quinoa (4)







s- Vegan boca burger (1), sandwhich thin (1), salad mix with sprouts, broccoli, red onion, mushroom, cuke (1), evoo (1)







s2: Act Butter lovers popcorn (contains no butter) 4
s3: Green beans (1), kidney beans (2)
s4: Apparently I am wicked hungry today, Ramen (8)


26/26 + 6 weeklies *6/25*


Exercise-

Slim in 6 - Start it up & Slim and Limber



Pookies Lunch Box-


aztec salad, tortilla chips, salsa, pears

Monday Meals - July 12

Went to Indy yesterday to use up that Dick's sporting goods gift cert. I wasn't able to find anything I could fit in the woman's section of the store (well aside from hats), so instead we bought Pookie a new pair of kicks. He goes through shoes pretty fast, about two pair a year, so he was ecstatic to hear they had shoe insurance. I kid you not, insurance for your shoes. He left the store giddy.
I have a ramen addiction. I am ok with it most of the time, but it can be hard on poo bear. I can only find the Top Ramen, Oriental Flavor (vegan) at Meijers. We don't have a meijers here, so anytime I drive by a Meijers I must stock up on certain items (read:RAMEN!).
Having decided to focus more of my diet (now that I am more confident in my vegan-ess), I also stocked up on Lite Tofu. They don't carry that at my Krogers *frownie face*.

Groceries for the upcoming week:

Krogers:
Poo bear lost this receipt (likely threw it away), I need to do better at ninja-ing them! Will edit this if I locate it.
Big lots:
2 x Nature's own double fiber bread - 2.40
Meijers:
47 x Top ramen, oriental flavor - 15.67
2 x LTF 100 calorie wraps -5.02
Somen noodles - 2.89
Noodles - 2.89
Nayonaise - 2.99
10 x Lite Tofu - 20.00
sushi rice - 5.99
day old french bread - 1.07
total = 59.02

Last week's meals in pictures -

Alicia's Seitan cutlets
greek pizza made at home
eggplant, tomato & garlic pasta
pookie's lunch - Snobby joes, hotdog buns, salad with goddess dressing, pears
Farmer's Market Quinoa
boca burger on a sandwhich thin, served with spinach, mushroom, red onion, cucumber & sprout salad, with organicville dressing, hummus with jicama / red pepper/ celery/carrot sticks.

30 days of Veganism - completed

I thought it would be really hard for me.
I put if off for a few months thinking it would be a huge stressful mess. I did have to read a lot more labels, and it did make buying more processed items pretty difficult. I feel like it is well worth the extra effort and wish I had started sooner.
I realize our budget (50$ a week / 2 people) is higher than some people's per person (less than others). We enjoy fresh vegetables and fruits- so we make cuts in other areas, no eating take out, etc. We could spend less, but that is the amount we have decided on. Actually, if you take into account the huge grain stock up at costco, we could definitely do with spending less. I wouldn't mind that at all. For my first month, I wanted to not feel deprived. I didn't.
I will whittle the amount down in time when I get more comfortable with vegan meals & menus (fingers crossed). I would love to cut it down to 30$ a week.

Groceries for upcoming week:
We shop on Friday and sometimes use items for the weekend's meals.

Kroger:
I spent 40 here- Boo is still in the habit of throwing out receipts, if I find it, I will edit.
Big Lots:
ground sage - .50
roasted red pepper - 1
2x Roibos red tea - 6
Extreme wild fire habanero hot sauce - 1.50 (pookie's splurge)
wasa multi grain - 1.8
Walmart:
3 bulbs garlic - 1.28
Jicama -2.19
Avocado - .98
Garlic toast from the bakery - 3 (Boo impulse buy)

This past week's meals:




















Tahini Tofu Squash - Recipe called for butternut, but I adore acorn. Turned out great! Hands down the best thing we ate this week.
Unbeef Stew - love the frozen thawed tofu in this. Yum.
Tempeh crumbles & potato pizza from Vegan with a Vengence with Apple almond cake. The pizza turned out surprisingly yummy, would definitely make it again. The almond cake was tasty enough and was enjoyed with coffee in the morning more so than as a desert.
Plain Jane Tofu scramble from VeganDad's site with added leftover veggies from pizza night. Had the leftover tempeh sausage crumbles from VwaV cookbook with it.
Ooey gooey sandwhich from the ultimate cheese book, served with a side of baked fries.
Homemade Pita pockets (made with okara & love), veggie sticks, hummus, Saniya from Brianna's site. Served in Hubby's new laptop lunchbox - sent for his lunch. We didn't love the Saniya, it was kinda heavy and upset both of our tummys. Could be cook's error, but just in case - won't be making it again.