This past week (and the weekend before), I somehow managed to eat relatively good tasting meals and tried to mix up my options. Getting a little of my creative juices flowing. That’s another goal for myself which I’m trying to meet: making the food I eat not only prettier but more simple in some ways and more fancy in others. I want to mix up what I eat. Rather than a plain bowl of oatmeal with berries, I want to purchase seasonal fruits and vegetables, making creative dishes. Thinking outside of the box rather.
On Sunday I made these amazing tacos. Trader Joe’s corn tortillas with kale and leftover wild-caught Salmon that I ate for dinner the previous Friday. I figured a fruit salsa would work wonderfully with the fish so I microwaved some frozen pineapple and mango that I had in the freezer. The fruit paired perfectly with the fish. I was in Heaven.
I love making tacos that don’t taste extremely spicy or Mexican in flavor because then you’re not left with that post-taco food coma where your mouth tastes like a million different spices and flavors.
This hit the spot.
On Monday I picked up 11… YES, ELEVEN.. pears at the Farmers Market. I was so so excited. They were only $4 for the whole bag. The stand I purchased them from comes every Monday from Michigan to sell their apples, grapes and pears. In one small box of pears was around 4-5 but when I told the man I use bruised fruit for smoothies, he threw me in a few extras. I already put 2-3 in my freezer for smoothies and I still have a few sitting around.
This set my week off to a great start.
One of my lunches before class was a Sweet Potato Egg Hash. I roasted one sweet potato in the oven at 420º for 20-25 minutes until browned then I scrambled 1 egg with black beans and peppers to put on top. Added a bit of nutritional yeast and avocado for flavor and texture and it seriously was an amazing lunch. Super filling and a good take on breakfast for lunch.
One of my “first-time” breakfasts was this Food For Life Sprouted Grain Tortillas with Maranatha Sunflower Seed Butter on one half and Tahini from Trader Joe’s on the other. With the sunflower seed butter I sliced up a pear from the farmer’s market and on the tahini side I put a banana with Nature’s Path Q’ia cereal – which has hemp seeds, buckwheat groats and chia seeds. It was my first time trying banana with tahini and now it’s my new banana and pb combo.. it is so creamy and tastes extremely dessert-like.
I’m finding now that sunflower and sesame seeds are taking over the almond and peanut butters in my life. They’re extra creamy and deliver just as much (if not sometimes more) protein. New faves.
The Food For Life tortillas (because they’re sprouted wheat) are a bit hard to handle without breaking so try your best to keep ’em together! The tahini and nut/seed butters really help to roll them into wrap form (what I did).
Next breakfast up was my Banana Sunflower Seed Smoothie Bowl. Seriously the best banana ice cream/smoothie bowl I have ever made. So rich, so creamy. Tasted exactly like vanilla bean ice cream. I put in 1-1.5 frozen bananas, 1/2 a frozen pear, Vanilla Sunwarrior Protein and a spoonful of Maranatha’s Sunflower Seed Butter. Blended together with just a 1/4 cup or less of almond milk. SO creamy.
Of course, naturally I topped it with Purely Elizabeth Granola because it’s my lifeline.
For a small lunch/snack last Thursday I stopped in Whole Foods to pick up a few groceries for the end of the week and tried this hummus: Oasis Roasted Red Pepper with Mary’s Gone Herb Crackers.
I’ve been eating Mary’s Gone Crackers for about two years and they’re awesome. Although I’m sure the average person would find them intimidating and bizarre, they’re created with all wholesome ingredients you could never find in your branded crackers elsewhere. They’re organic, non-GMO, vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free… the list goes on and on. Created with brown rice, quinoa, flax and sesame seeds, they’re a great snack and pair perfectly with hummus.
My first experience with this Oasis hummus assured me it would not be the last. The hummus is completely natural and for only $2.50 for the small container, it was the cheapest small tub I saw.
There are only 8 ingredients (2 of which are salt and pepper) so how can you really go wrong? Chickpeas and tahini. My two favorite things. This version has no olive oil or canola oil either, and tastes just as creamy as the ones with the added oil.
I ate the crackers and hummus with a few raw parsnips because parsnips are pretty much my new carrot. I’m obsessed with them and they don’t make my skin turn orange like carrots do 🙂 They are a great root vegetable and taste like sweet potato fries when roasted. If stranded on a deserted island, I think I could easily have parsnips and hummus and be satisfied.
Friday night for dinner, when all else fails and I have nothing planned, I always opt for eggs in some form. This time I made a fried egg with avocado, spinach and tomato on Trader Joe’s Sprouted Grain toasted bread.
Egg sandwiches are always super easy to make and with avocado, what more could you ask for? I obviously had to have more than a small sandwich so I blended together the most simple smoothie.
Handful of kale, frozen strawberries, frozen blueberries, 1 cup of almond milk and ice. Topped it with some chia and hemp seeds and boom. Super thick and filling.
The first week (or half week you could say) of October was phenomenal in foodie flavor and interesting dishes.
Here’s to another 3 filled with more homemade pumpkin lattes, pumpkin smoothies and apple oatmeal.
-Addie
