First WW weigh in, Seitan logs, Making Tofu

My first weigh in was this past monday, and I lost 5.4lb (which I realize is mostly water weight). I am quite thrilled about it, either way :P

It has put me off getting too creative in the kitchen though, as I don't know the points plus values for anything really, and entering everything into etools to find out is quite daunting. My meeting location is one of the many without calculators (wahhh!). I am hopeful we will get them in soon, as it would be handy at the grocer.













40 cloves garlic, broccoli, and chickpeas from Appetite for reduction (sooo nummy).

Seitan log made with hungryhungryhippie's recipe, and again but with the seasoning from Vegandad's corned seitan recipe.

A little bit about me and seitan: I have made a few different recipes. I kept seeing people going gaga over it, and just couldn't figure out why. I even sucked it up and overpaid for some of the gardein faux chicken kind (ick). I was pretty sure I'd never see eye to eye with the wheat beast, but kept looking... I am now quite happy with the EASY oven method HHH's recipe provides.

I have tried these ones:

how it all vegan (it squeaked on my teeth??/shudder)
Veganomicon (was a good one, no complaints just time consuming)
myveggiekitchen's (it was kinda, fall aparty, I think due to my error though, might revisit)
Vegandad's sausages, a success and when the freezer stash is empty I will make again.

Back to my week in food pics~













All to make this faux reuben possible! mmm, ok it wasn't going to fool an omni.. but it hit all the right notes for me! VERY POINTY

I was very happy to have made it to costco to replenish my supply of kalamata olives (2jars...oh yah!) and all the fresh veggie goodness that a trip there brings. It put me in the mood for pizza, not that I need anything to put me in the mood for it. I used the pizza dough recipe in the ww kitchen companion app. It was quite tasty, Pookie approved ;)













We had a couple of nice days here, so I decided to give making Tofu another go. It was messy and time consuming, and I think a smashing success. I used the Instructables site's guide. I chose to use gypsum (because yknow I bought it specifically for tofu) instead of Epsom salts 1:1 ratio - 2T. Using 3c dry soy beans, without removing any of the soy milk, I ended up with 2lb, 5oz of tofu.

I dry fried some in a pan and tossed it with some shirataki spaghetti noodles and soy sauce, served with steamed veggies and 3 lingling mini spring rolls. perfect.

Pookie turns 41 tomorrow! I don't know if I will do much cooking this weekend, but that okara is sitting in the fridge mocking me... so we'll see!

Vday grub & first WW meeting

I joined weight watchers on Vday.

I went to my first meeting, and signed up for the monthly pass. My leader is a pretty charismatic guy, which helps because I wasn't sure how I'd feel about a fella leading it. Usually (yep many times) I try it on my own. I goto ebay, I overpay for the materials, and I go it alone. Oh I read all the very kick booty blogs, but something just... fizzles. I fizzle, lose my oomph, and put on another 10 pounds.

The meeting was PACKED! I had no idea how popular it would be in my rinky dink town. hehe

A lady did come and sit with me (as I went alone), and it was nice to not be sitting alone LOL. I weighed in about 15 pounds more than my wii board thinks I weigh! The topic was relevant to me, and I even tried to participate. Not too shabby for being a fluffy hermit ;)

Now on to some of what I ate this past week.

I almost stuck to the 2nd week of the meal plan. I did make the soup (having made it before I didn't take a picture of it again). It was a great way to start off the week, mmm soup. Last tuesday I made the dal and basmati, the new to me dish was the Tamarind quinoa from appetite for reduction. I loved it, but I foolishly put in the peas thinking we could use up that last can from my sis. I could overlook em, Pookie could not.


Instead of the quinoa putanesca per my big menu plan of genius.. well, Pookie wanted spaghetti. I made some whole wheat pasta and served with some earth balance, garlic powder oven toasted aunt millie's bread.

Friday, I did make the appetite for reduction chickpea picatta, it was yummy (again), and I will dream fondly of it until next I make it, lol.

I was mucking about the web looking for something to make special for valentine's day, and came across this page about making Ethiopian food at home. It looked like it would be right up our alleys, and it was!




I had to make the injera from scratch, they don't sell that sorta stuff round these parts. When I had planned this meal I had thought to use all of Kittie's recipes and just go.. yuuummmm... soo fatty goodnessyyy. I mean it IS a holiday, right? sorta? lol

Turns out my starting weight watchers on valentines day coupled with a few of the recipes being in my new cookbooks (Happy herbivore had the kik alicha and the yesimsir w'et and the berbere spice mix, Appetite for reduction had the spicy gomen recipe) saved me.. well, from me. I roasted up the veggies in Kittie's gingered vegetables to have with it, and made the simple salad with Italian vinaigrette Kittie suggests.

Today, I don't feel like cooking, nope, not one bit! I feel like I used up half my pots and pans yesterday making all those delicious dishes. I opted to try a tofu salad on toasted bread, with leftover salad. This was my first tofu salad, I based it on this recipe, and used reduced fat veganaise instead of mayo. I also used capers in place of the pickles, I am fresh out.




I need to figure out a very simple plan for the next couple of weeks, will post if/when it's finished!

Shout-out to Sis who's chill in Vegas this week!

happy herbivore (mostly) recipe pics

I (so far) have stuck to the dinner plan for the most part. Here are a few pictures of the new to me meals. Most of these are from the happy herbivore cookbook.


Sunday:
























Nomelette with steamed veggies inside (I THINK I undercooked it, but I thought it still tasted fine), served with her cajun home fries - from the happy herbivore cookbook

Buddah's delight from the happy herbivore cookbook as well, served over brown rice

Quinoa kale white bean soup from appetite for reduction, served with french bread



Monday:





B: oats, mango, chia, 1/4c coconut milk
L: leftover soup & french bread
D: Nacho mom's queso, roasted potatoes
s: lesser evil potato chips (1.2oz bag)


Tuesday:













B: leftover soup
L: Tvp beef style taco, on two corn tortillas instead of in hard taco shell, topped with spinach n grape tomatoes
D: Breakfast sandwich (nomellete, breakfast patty from happy herbivore), sans faux cheese slice as I can't find any vgn ones here in town.

According to the menu plan, I was supposed to make the charlston red rice with the tvp tacos. I made those while making up the breakfast sandwiches, and completely forgot. It made for a pretty light lunch lol.


Wednesday:













B: breakfast sandwich
L: portabello steak fajitas, whole grain wrap, steamed cabbage (instead of lettuce), made the charlston red rice to go with this
D: Portabello steak, baby potatoes, 1/2c nsa applesauce

Since I had forgot to make it yesterday, I made the rice while I steamed the cabbage. Very tasty. I did have seconds of the fajitas, yum. You have to make the portabello steak recipe to make these, so I reserved one to have for dinner to try that too.