Kale Berry Smoothie

The tropical kale smoothie that had been my daily breakfast for the last year or two has slowly morphed into this kale-berry smoothie.  I've been slowly replacing ingredients with ingredients that seem to have more health benefits, based on Dr. Michael Greger's Nutrition Facts podcast, website, book, and "daily dozen" app. 

Here is how I've been making it these days.  It makes two servings.  I drink a 16 oz glassful and put the other half in a 20 oz mason jar in the fridge for lunch or breakfast the next day.  It is a fantastic start to the day and keeps me full till lunch.

Ingredients
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk (I use WestSoy these days because its ingredient list is limited to water and soy beans and it tastes good AND it's even shelf stable.  It's expensive though.  A lot cheaper at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods than at my local Jewel.  I should really take another stab at making my own soy milk...)
1/4 cup pineapple (I use chunks canned in their own juice.)
1 ripe banana (fresh or frozen)
1 tsp amla (Indian gooseberry) powder, from dried whole fruit (I bought this on Amazon)
1 tsp chia seeds (or hemp seeds -- I think pretty much any seed would do fine here, it's just to add a touch of fat)
2 tbs ground flaxseed
2 cups frozen kale (I buy fresh curly green kale, tear it up and wash it, and put it in a bag in the freezer for these smoothies.  I've used it without freezing it, and it overpowers the entire smoothie with its green leafy taste.  If I don't have frozen kale, I use fresh baby spinach, which I keep on hand.  I also am not sure it's exactly two cups.  I fill the entire blender with green until there's barely room for the berries.)
1/2 cup berries (This is really good with whole strawberries, wild blueberries, or any kind of berry blend.  I usually get organic ones from the Trader Joe's freezer section.)

Directions

1. Put all ingredients in a high speed blender, blend, and drink.  Makes two servings.

Meal Planning

I need to do my final grocery shopping before Christmas, so I'm finalizing dinners between now and then.  I haven't made several of the meals planned for this week because we've all been sick, and no one would have eaten them (because Sameer and I weren't hungry and Simran would've given me a hard time anyway), so I basically fed Simran leftover soup and sandwiches and Gardein chik tenders while I skipped meals or drank a green shake.  So we still have the ingredients too.  Here is what I'm making between now and Christmas Eve:

Loaded Nachos
This one was going to be Friday night dinner, but Friday is here and we had a big, late lunch, and I'm not hungry, so I'm doing it tomorrow.  Broccoli with ketchup and chik tenders and garlic bread for Simran tonight.

Pav Bhaji
I guess that makes this Christmas Eve dinner.  I don't know how else to use up the potatoes I have left.  I also want to finish off the tomatoes and container of chopped bell pepper this will get rid of.  And the bag of hamburger buns.

Christmas Dinner has its own link, and the next day will probably be a combination of leftovers and Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup.  

After that I still have most or all of the ingredients to make:

Leftover Soup and Vegetarian Reuben Sandwiches

Dal Makhani and Basmati Rice
This would especially be good if we have more leftover veggie sides to go with it.

Vegan Shepherd's Pie

Lasagna and Broiled Asparagus & Artichokes in Vermouth Brown Butter

Spaghetti & Meatless Balls

Christmas 2017

I'm mostly making easy stuff for Christmas dinner, but we're also doing some baking, and I need a place to keep track of all my links.

We barely touched the Cranberry Waldorf I made on Thanksgiving this year, so I'm not making it for Christmas.  I've decided to do stuffed mushrooms though because they are one of my favorite foods.  I recall making a batch and eating the entire thing for dinner once when I was pregnant and Sameer was out of town.  Here is my plan for Christmas dinner:

Crudites and Pumpernickel Bread with Homemade Ranch Dressing
This was my entire lunch on Thanksgiving, and it seems to work well for that.  Delicious and filling, yet light enough that I can eat such a heavy dinner without feeling ill.

Gardein Vegetarian Turk'y Cutlets
Tastier and easier than any holiday fake meat (or real meat) I've ever made (or eaten).  I had to go to all the stores to finally find them at Mariano's before Thanksgiving, but now the local Jewel has them too.

Boxed Mashed Potatoes
Again, easy and tasty.  Sameer, Simran, and I all prefer the taste over from scratch potatoes that require me to use and clean my ricer.  I use a box of Idaho potato flake, milk, butter, and salt.  Don't judge.

Green Bean Casserole 

Stuffed Mushrooms with Horseradish Cream Sauce

Candied Pears 

I haven't decided on a dessert yet.  I might bake a cake or pie, or I might pick one up from a store.  Simran will help decide.  So far she has suggested a pink cake.


Christmas Baking:

Cranberry White Chocolate Scones
I haven't made these in years.  I figure Sameer can take the leftovers to work or we can pawn them off on neighbors.

Gingerbread Cookies with Royal Icing
I made the dough yesterday and we'll finish the cookies today.  The royal icing I made from a can of Wilton's vanilla flavored egg powder last year was beautiful but tasted cloying and weirdly chemically (maybe it was just the vanilla flavor, I don't know), so I'm getting a carton of pasteurized egg white product and trying a from scratch recipe this year.  It doesn't sound harder.

ETA:  Christmas Dessert
Dark Chocolate Peppermint Cake
I'm going to use this black magic cake recipe, which I've made before and is wonderful, and I'm going to use this candy cane cake's peppermint frosting recipe as the basis for the frosting.  Except I'm using butter in place of margarine and going to use 1 tsp of peppermint extract (which I think I already have on hand in my baking box) and taste the frosting before adding a second teaspoon.  The candy cane cake reviewers indicated that the frosting is the best part and some mentioned using it on chocolate cake, so my hope is that this combination will have a sort of peppermint bark flavor.  I think I'll also use a drop of food coloring to tint the frosting pink since I don't plan to roll the thing in candy canes or do anything else that would be a solid tip off to the flavor.  Unless I can find tiny candy cane-shaped cake candies.  Or maybe if I put peppermint candies in the food processor and turned them to dust they could be sprinkles.  We'll see.  [Edited 12/29/2017:  This chocolate cake was exquisite as usual, but the peppermint and cream cheese flavors just didn't meld.  It was fine, and we ate some, and Sameer is still eating the leftovers, but if I made this again I would use a vanilla buttercream frosting as the base and just add peppermint extract, not use cream cheese.]

Meal Planning

I need to clear out the fridge to make room for Christmas dinner.  I stuck to the meal plan pretty closely last week.  I think today I'll delay the previously planned pav bhaji and do leftovers instead.

Burgers / Sandwiches and Leftover Sides
We have an entire package of whole wheat hamburger buns (more than we need for the pav bhaji), plus at least a couple Gardein burgers and homemade black bean burgers in the freezer.  The fridge is still playing host to leftover broccoli soup, beefless stew, pasta salad, and fresh broccoli florets and homemade ranch dip.  I also have the innards of several baked potatoes from making potato skins last night.  I also have a pint or more of cremini mushrooms I didn't prepare in time for the pizza that I can saute and eat plain.  I think this will be a good dinner plan for today.

Pav Bhaji

Vegan Mac 'n Cheese and Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup
Making this again to use up the vegan cheese sauce I made last week.  This will be a good meal for late in the week because it's easy and tasty.

Tofu & Veggie Stir-fry and Brown Rice

Dal Makhani and Basmati Rice
Using up the rest of the can of coconut milk I had to open for the vegan cheese sauce.  Most of the work on the dal makhani will be done by morning, so I think I might make this tomorrow's dinner since Sameer and I will be out most of the day while Simran is at school.

Vegan Shepherd's Pie
My main goal here is to use up some of the other vegetables in my fridge and freezer.  I have celery, carrots, and then corn and green beans and peas in the freezer.

Loaded Nachos

Meal Planning

Time for weekly meal planning.  I'm being more conscious of meal planning for weekends since I want to avoid restaurant or fast food in the hope it will help me lose weight more easily.  Even homemade junk food dinner ends up being dramatically lower in fat and higher in vegetables than anything I get from outside my house, so it seems like a decent idea.  Here is what I'm making this week:

Tofu & Veggie Stir-fry and Brown Rice
This will use up two small containers of diced tofu and one of green bell pepper from my freezer.  I also have some sliced carrots in the fridge that should still be good and half an onion.  I might not even have to chop anything tonight.

Pasta Salad
I made my pasta salad vegan last time by using Annie's brand vegan Tuscan Italian dressing.  It was more balsamic than I had expected but also a lot tastier.  It's a heavily tomatoey flavor that went well with the rest of the ingredients.  

Vegan Mac 'n Cheese and Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup

We finished off the last batch of soup last night, so I need to make more.  The mac 'n cheese is a nice cold weather comfort food.

Beefless Stew and Leftover Pasta Salad or Mac 'n Cheese
I need to buy some potatoes to make the vegan mac 'n cheese sauce, so I'm making this stew to use up some of the remaining potatoes.

Pav Bhaji
Using up the rest of the potatoes.

DIY Sandwiches and Leftover Soup/Sides
I will see if I can find pretzel bread for these sandwiches.  We can have Garden Pretzels or black bean burgers, depending on if I've got some burgers pre-made in the freezer.   This will be an easy Saturday night meal.  

Personal Pizzas and Green Salad
Making pizza is a lot more work than ordering it, but it tastes at least as good (pizza isn't very good here), mine is dramatically healthier (less cheese or none on mine, lots of veggies, and whole wheat crust), and we don't end up with tons of leftovers to finish over other days like when we order in.  I already bought a new container of non-fat yogurt for making my next batch of homemade ranch dressing.  This will be our special Friday night dinner.

Meal Planning

Still working on cleaning out the freezer.  Here is what I'll be making over the next few days.

Mexican Omelette and Hashbrown Patties and Leftover Soup
I have a bunch of eggs, plus a little wedge of Gruyere and half a container of broccoli soup.  I'll also cook any vegetarian sausages or bacon I find (I think I have a container of tempeh bacon that will expire this month).  I just need guacamole and tomatoes.

Lasagna and Broiled Asparagus & Artichokes in Vermouth Brown Butter
I have lasagna noodles in the pantry, and half a pound of chopped spinach in the freezer as well as some vegan sausage crumbles, and I have cottage cheese in the fridge that needs to go ASAP.  The side dish will get rid of a couple bags of vegetables from my freezer too.  I might have to buy some mozzarella and some pasta sauce. 

Loaded Nachos
This isn't particularly healthy or something that will use up a lot of ingredients I have on hand, but we've been eating junk food so much on weekends lately that I'm just going to cook some instead.  It'll still be healthier than Taco Bell.  Sim ends up eating a quesadilla with low fat refried beans and corn tortillas when we have nachos, so it's substantially healthier for her.

Next Monday I'll make Tofu & Veggie Stir-fry and Brown Rice because I just ran across two small containers of diced tofu in the freezer as well as some sliced green bell pepper.  

I also have to see if the patties wrapped in wax paper in my freezer are homemade black bean burgers like I think they are and if there are at least three of them.  That would be an easy meal.