Finally Tried Plant Wise (plus other recent meals)

I finally tried Plant Wise Eatery and of course, now I’m obsessed.

Plant Wise is not far from my house but closer to where I used to live and not really in the direction I head most of the time.

However, I will now make it more of a destination area because I can’t get enough of the delicious plant-based options.

What I Tried From Plant Wise:

The Plant Wise menu is literally everything I eat so it just has to be a regular in my routine!

I wasn’t sure what to have for my first time at Plant Wise. The menu is extensive and everything sounds so appealing!

For my first order, I chose their half and half bowl option which allowed me to try two things from the menu at one time.

This is the avocado quinoa salad plus half of the tomato chickpeas which also includes a black beanball.

The above bowl was SO GOOD but also so filling that I think I need to choose just one option, not the half and half bowl unless it’s for dinner.

The next time I went, I tried the kale caesar salad which included their version of “tuna” salad made with chickpeas.

I love mashed chickpeas!! This was definitely a winner for me.

I can’t wait to go back to try the rest of the menu.

Other Recent Meals:

I told you I would go back to ordering salads at The Cheesecake Factory!

After my momentary interest in a veggie burger last time, I ordered the vegan cobb for takeout over the weekend.

I’m pretty sure that it has been years since I last filled a brown box at Whole Foods from the food bar.

While I was shopping at Whole Foods the other day, I decided to load up a brown box with all of the roasted vegetable options plus quinoa and a lentil salad.

It had also been a while since I last made chickpea pasta shells. I made the chickpea pasta shells with broccoli and mushrooms for dinner which I cooked in a pan with Trader Joe’s spicy tomato sauce.

I wanted pizza for dinner last night but wanted a different slice than my usual.

When I walked in and asked for a slice of the eggplant pizza, the man who usually helps me was so shocked! He didn’t know why I didn’t want my usual whole wheat margarita slice so he decided to give me both!

I had the eggplant slice (on the right) last night and will have the whole wheat margarita pizza slice tonight for dinner.

7 Recent Meals Including Maoz + Vegan BLT + Ralph’s Ices

Seven meals to share with you today! Let’s start with pizza. 🙂

I had my usual whole wheat margarita pizza with a salad the other night. This dinner is really one of my favorite go-to meals.

Another night turned into pizza for dinner too. This time it was the vegetable slice from Mario’s. The crust isn’t whole wheat like Monte’s vegetable slice and the vegetables aren’t piled high on top but I still really like it. I like both types of vegetable pizza.

I’m obsessed with this ingredient combination for my Chopt salads right now.

• Romaine
• Spinach
• Roasted Chickpeas
• Hearts of Palm
• Cauliflower Quinoa Tabouli
• Avocado
• Pickled Onions
• Beets

Tzaziki Dressing on the side.

Have you tried Banza chickpea pasta yet? It’s so good.

I made a vegan BLT!

Here’s what happened.

My son has been making bacon lately and as you know, the smell of bacon lingers which made me want bacon too. While sometimes I will take a bite of regular bacon or eat it if I’m out and it somehow ends up in the salad, I don’t go out of my way to eat bacon since I’m a vegetarian.

The easiest solution for a bacon craving caused by the smell of bacon in my house was to find a vegan bacon and make myself  a vegan BLT.

I bought Morningstar Farms bacon which is technically not vegan — it’s considered vegetarian (which I didn’t realize until I brought it home).

In my opinion, the Morningstar Farms bacon is no substitute for real bacon BUT if you put it all together in a BLT sandwich, it does do the trick.

I used Dave’s Killer bread along with lettuce, tomato, and avocado too. This almost vegan BLT sandwich definitely satisfied my bacon craving.

I had a delicious salad bowl from Maoz for the first time in forever.

Who remembers when I would create giant Maoz salad bowls in the city back in the day? The Maoz city locations were the best since they offered a do it yourself salad bar. I would literally load my bowl as high as possible! I wonder if the Maoz locations in the city are still set up as do it yourself salad bars, I really need to get to the city soon to see!

Last by not least, I had Ralph’s Ices one night. I only ever get two flavors, either the rainbow cookie or snickers fudge ices.

I couldn’t decide which flavor to get so I got both this time.

Don’t forget about Sephora’s Spring Savings Event happening now through April 19! Here are my suggestions for what to grab during the sale.

 

Easy Recipes To Make Right Now While Stuck At Home

Now is a really good time to share some of my easy-to-make recipes from past years on the blog.

Obviously, we know that I don’t create new recipes these days (unless you want to learn how I make a pizza bagel) but I feel that I did put in my time in the kitchen during the early years of my blog. While never a true recipe blogger (zero interest in the photography aspect), I do know what I’m doing in the kitchen when it comes to easy vegetarian recipes, baking, and goodies.

So maybe you are a new reader who never knew I had recipes up my sleeve. Or maybe you are a longtime reader who totally forgot about some of the recipes I’ve shared in the past. Perhaps you are looking for something different to cook or a new angle for what you already make regularly. Maybe you have some pantry staples and didn’t think to combine them in the way I’m listing below. Or even better, maybe you are looking to try more vegetarian recipes and didn’t know how easy it was to do.

Let’s start with a treat. My Cold S’mores. 

I call the recipe mine although I owe it to my son’s cooking class from when he was barely three years old.  Gosh, I miss taking him to those little classes at that age! We had so much fun. Anyway, the summer before my son turned three, we would go weekly to a cooking class for his age group. The first recipe we made was, in fact, Cold S’mores! Easy for kids to make, only requires four ingredients, and there’s no need for an oven. PERFECT.

This has to be the most perfect easy dessert recipe for right now. You likely have the ingredients in the house and you can make so many Cold S’mores from one recipe which you can freeze in bulk.

• Chocolate Chips
• Cool Whip
• Mini Marshmallows
• Graham Crackers

I’m all about food in bulk right now because I hate the fact that I can’t go food shopping whenever I want. This whole experience is leaving me feeling as though I need to stock up and fill my fridge, freezer, and pantry like never before.

How To Roast Frozen Vegetables

As a vegetarian, I live on vegetables. Right now, it’s an issue to live on fresh vegetables because it does require me to order from the grocery store or dash on through a store once a week like an episode of supermarket sweep to grab what I need while praying I don’t catch the virus.

I do love frozen vegetables though. In fact, I find frozen vegetables much easier to digest than fresh vegetables most of the time. Years ago I came up with the idea to roast frozen vegetables. I had no idea it was a thing so I wrote about it, and well, How To Roast Frozen Vegetables  has become my most popular searched post to date. If you are stocked with frozen vegetables right now, you can definitely roast them!

Plant-Based Stir Fry

Talk about the easiest meal to make from the pantry and freezer! I created this plant-based stir fry recipe (if we can even call it a recipe?) using a bag of steam fresh vegetables, chickpeas, and brown rice. You can cook the brown rice you have in your pantry OR go with Trader Joe’s brown rice packs from their frozen section. The EASIEST and QUICKEST healthy meal there is, and it’s quite tasty too.

Vegetarian Power Bowls

I’ve written about power bowls so many times over the last seven years. I’ve even revamped my How To Make A Power Bowl post in recent years but the original infographic below is really useful as it lists ingredients ideas which are great ingredients for stocking up, with many able to store in the pantry (and freezer!).

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pancakes 

How about some pancakes? I created this recipe for Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pancakes and immediately shared it because my son loved the pancakes, and he is not always so easy to please when it comes to my cooking.

6 Healthy Recipes Using Oatmeal

I rounded up some of my favorite recipes that I’ve shared on the blog in this post for 6 healthy recipes using oatmeal. I live on oatmeal even though I don’t speak about it as often anymore. This oatmeal recipe round-up includes my amazing oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies, protein balls, and oatmeal recipes for breakfast.

And one more recipe round up! A few easier to make vegetarian recipes including delicious veggie burgers, power salads, and yummy cookies.

Please let me know which recipe(s) you decide to try and if you have any questions! I secretly hope that your first choice is Cold S’mores. 🙂

 

 

Easy To Make Vegetarian Recipes (and cookies too!)

 

I decided to give my recipe section of the blog some attention by highlighting a few easy to make vegetarian recipes that I haven’t talked about in a long time! At least I do not think that I have?

I hope that one of these recipes inspires you to try a new salad combination or to cook something different. Oh, and I added two cookie recipes too…just because. 🙂

Let’s start with this Super Salad Recipe. 

The picture doesn’t look like much but trust me, the shaved Brussel sprouts, feta cheese, and dried cranberries combine to create a delicious meal.

Sometimes the most basic of salad ingredients need to be called out so we all realize how easy it is to make a great tasting salad at home.

I am definitely going to buy feta cheese this week and brussels sprouts so that I can make it again.

Dried cranberries with feta cheese = Always amazing.

Once you have the feta cheese in the house, you can make this Power Salad too!

Another great salad recipe which is super simple to throw together. Of course you can always customize the vegetables (and even the plant-based proteins) but this is an awesome salad to use as a reference if you need a little assistance on your selections.

I like this power salad for making in advance too so that then you have it for lunches (and even dinners) for the week. If you eat meat, you can also add grilled chicken or steak to this salad and I’m sure it would be a winner.

I forgot how often I used to roast cauliflower!

Eggplant Cacciatore!

Oh this eggplant cacciatore was SO GOOD. Eggplant cacciatore is delicious and really easy to make. The most important thing is to remember to actually buy an eggplant and not forget it like I always do when I get to the grocery store.

I don’t find eggplants to stay fresh for long (even in the refrigerator, usually just a few days) so keep that in mind when you get one in terms of how soon you plan to make this recipe.

Sweet Potato, Black Bean, & Quinoa Burgers

These burgers were the best and so good for freezing! They held together really well and reheated without issue. I miss having them on hand in the freezer so I really need to make them again.

Coconut Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies

I LOVED this cookie recipe the first time I experimented with it. The use of coconut flour in place of regular flour made these cookies a bit crumbly but they certainly don’t fall apart. The texture and taste was on point. I definitely need to make them again.

Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Protein Cookies

Yum. One of the best healthier cookie recipes I have ever come up with in my cookie baking history. I always use Skoop Protein Powder but I’m sure another vanilla protein power that you favor would work well too.

Honorable Mentions:

Quick & Easy Plant Based Stir Fry – Always my go-to lunch or dinner when I need to eat fast and don’t feel like cooking.

How To Make A Power Bowl – If you are looking to have no-brainer vegetarian meals on hand any day of the week, it’s important to know how to make a good power bowl.

Flourless/Grain Free No Bake Fudge Brownie Bites – I created this fudge brownie bite recipe on a whim and it came out terrific. The recipe involves sweet potato!

[bctt tweet=”Easy to make vegetarian recipes on the blog today! #recipes #vegetarian #easyrecipes #salads #cookies” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

Are you stuck in a cooking rut making the same meals over and over? Does it bother you or are you fine with your usual meal rotation?

Which salad ingredients are you using most often right now?

 

 

 

That Time I Ate A Piece Of Chicken By Accident

 

Oh boy. I HATE when I miss a What I Ate Wednesday post. This week has been a little bit nutty for me routine wise which didn’t help me to remember to take  pictures, especially of breakfast, for yesterday’s post.

Why can’t I remember to take pictures at breakfast?! Probably because I’m still half asleep during my pre-run oatmeal and then super focused on eating when I’m making my post-run oatmeal. Ah well.

My son and I had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory Monday night. So much for getting back into the swing of cooking during the week. Maybe when school starts? Hopefully?

For the last 5+ years as I’ve been living as a meatless eater, I order my favorite barbecue ranch chicken salad without the chicken. Sometimes they get my order right the first time. Sometimes they bring the salad with chicken and I have to send it back. But this time, it was evident that they must have put the chicken on, quickly realized and then took it off.

How do I know this? I ate a piece of chicken by accident and then spotted one more piece in the bowl.

I’m pretty sure this was the first bite of chicken I’ve had in almost six years. And no, I did not like it. Not one bit.

So here’s the thing. I am not a super strict vegetarian person. I do eat all types of sushi which means I will eat fish (pescatarian). I’m also not totally against tasting a bite of steak at this point. For several years, even if I had a random craving for red meat, I would find something else to take its place. Right now, I feel that if someone is eating skirt steak near me and I want it, I am willing to take a bite. I always liked steak.

Chicken on the other hand, I have NO INTEREST in eating. This was reconfirmed for me after unknowingly eating a piece the other night. Ick, I do not miss chicken at all!

I think I am glad this accidental bite of chicken happened though, even if it made me want to gag from the taste.

Sometimes I do go back and forth wondering I should eat chicken again. Like maybe I need more protein, maybe my diet could use variety, maybe it would be okay to make one of the trending sheet pan dinner recipes and just eat the darn chicken because it would make life easier somehow to cook one meal for both of us.

No thanks. I am doing just fine without it.

In case anyone really missed seeing a What I Ate Wednesday post yesterday, here’s my What I Ate Wednesday post from a year ago today. This post actually shows that I had my usual salad from The Cheesecake Factory once again but also goes into depth about how beneficial sea salt is to my diet in terms of hydration and balancing my electrolytes. It’s definitely an important topic for summer running!

If you are a meatless eater, have you ever eaten chicken or something else by accident? Did you want to gag?

How long have you been vegetarian, vegan, or pescatarian? 

What do you like to order at The Cheesecake Factory?

Vegetarian Tacos at Dos Caminos (WIAW)

 

I had THE BEST vegetarian tacos at Dos Caminos Monday night and couldn’t wait to tell you about them today!

Let’s back up a bit first to Monday morning.

Breakfast:

I’m still eating a super small bowl of oatmeal before I head out for my run. After my workout and shower, I had this cold bowl of oatmeal mixed with berries, cinnamon, sea salt, peanut butter and almond milk

In case you missed my latest oatmeal recipe round-up, here it is!

It was a long morning (at least it felt that way) because I had to get my son ready to leave for this week’s teen tour after my run. By the time I got him where he needed to be, stopped for gas, and got back home to begin my work day, I was already losing focus!

Lunch:

I made an easy salad to eat while on our weekly company conference call. A Dr. Praeger’s Veggie Burger chopped into a basic house salad with balsamic vinegar and feta cheese is becoming my new, easy favorite salad combination.

Feeling low on energy, I went to Dunkin Donuts quickly after lunch for an iced coffee. Please don’t allow me get in the daily iced coffee habit, it really adds up if I don’t pay attention!

Later in the afternoon, I got dressed for the city. I met a friend in Bryant Park to catch up. It was really nice to sit outside! Then I went over to Saks.

I don’t think I ever noticed this view of Rockefeller Center out the window of the fifth floor in Saks.

Dinner:

We were in the mood for Mexican so we made a reservation at Dos Caminos.

I haven’t had dinner at Dos Caminos in a few years so this was a nice treat! We went to the location in midtown but there are a few to choose from when you are in the city.

Of course we started with guacamole. We remain convinced that you can’t go to Dos Caminos without ordering guacamole.

In fact, the  guacamole bowl sits empty on your table until you order it, as if they just assume you will order it so it’s only a matter of time before they fill it.

The guacamole comes with a variety of salsa plus a huge bowl of chips. Is their guacamole better than Rosa Mexicano? I probably have to go back to Rosa Mexicano soon to decide as I haven’t been there since this WIAW post in 2014!

I was really excited for my entree at Dos Caminos! They have the option to order your tacos “naked” which means that instead of a taco shell, they serve the filling over a grain bowl with avocado. I chose the vegetarian tacos “naked” which came with butternut squash, other veggies and beans over quinoa.

I could barely make a dent in the bowl of vegetarian tacos even though I loved this meal! It was so out of character for me but we think I was full from the guacamole.

We were even too full for dessert. I KNOW.

[bctt tweet=”dinner at Dos Caminos plus the rest of Monday’s meals! #WIAW #doscaminos #NYC #tacos #vegetarian ” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

Linking up with Sprint 2 The Table for WIAW today!

Have you been to Dos Caminos? What do you like to order?

Are you a taco fan or a burrito fan? Or would you prefer it served naked like my taco bowl above?

What has been your go-to lunch lately?

Thanksgiving Highlights 2016

 

I meant to pop in yesterday morning but here’s what happened:

First, I didn’t open my laptop on Wednesday beyond 2:30 pm. My son and I went out in the afternoon after I picked him up from school and once we got home after dinner, I considered myself unplugged from everything other than my television as I was glued to watching MTV’s marathon of The Hills for the rest of the night.

Yesterday I made the mistake of checking my email when I first woke up which meant I spent my time searching the Henri Bendel and Kate Spade websites for Black Friday sales instead of writing a post before heading out for my Thanksgiving morning run.

So hi. I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving!

I love being lazy on Thanksgiving but I guess I am not as lazy as I think. I ran 10 miles instead of my usual Thursday morning run of 7 or 8 since I had the extra time.

While watching the parade in my pajamas with my son, I made my famous oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies (the dairy free version –recipe here ) and since I had the oven on, I also made up a dairy free pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe too. If you like pumpkin, I would say these cookies came out delicious but I didn’t pay attention to my recipe therefore I cannot share it. I apologize!

Oops. We just looked at Thanksgiving dessert first! Let’s back up to the main meal!

My son and I headed over to my parents’ house in the afternoon so that we could drive in with them to the city to go over to my aunt and uncle for the holiday.

My aunt sets the best table. Always.

I say this every year but my aunt’s taste and choice of flowers is the reason why she was in charge of working with my florist for the centerpieces at my wedding way back in the day.

The food is always amazing too. As a vegetarian, the Thanksgiving side dishes have always made me happy but this year they were extra delicious.

There was broccoli slaw, a kale salad and highly addicting roasted cauliflower. I could have eaten the whole bowl!

I also had asparagus, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, mashed parsnips, roasted potatoes and quinoa.

I piled a few plates that looked like this.

Back to dessert again. I didn’t get a full picture of the dessert table because I was too busy eating chocolate cake and my cookies. Gosh my oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies came out so good! I hadn’t made them in a while so it was nice to know I still had my talent in me.

I was definitely full but not sickly full which means Thanksgiving was a success.

Enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend!

Previous Thanksgiving Posts:

Thanksgiving Highlights 2015

Thanksgiving Highlights 2014

Thanksgiving Highlights & Black Friday Appetite 2013

[bctt tweet=”Thanksgiving highlights! #thanksgiving #food #cookies #vegetarian #sidedishes ” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

Which foods were your favorites yesterday?

Are you shopping Black Friday sales today?

 

Recipe Challenge: Vegan Sloppy Joe’s

 

It’s Friday which means it’s time for week #2 of the Recipe Challenge Laura and I created for ourselves!

In case you missed our first Recipe Challenge last week, you can check it out here. I loved those sweet potato, black bean and quinoa burgers. I had frozen a few of the burger patties from that recipe so I had one again earlier this week for dinner. It reheated really well and provided me with dinner in a pinch.

Before getting to this week’s recipe challenge, Lisa mentioned that she tried making the sweet potato, black bean and quinoa burgers and although she liked them, she said they took a really long time to make. Most likely the issue with making the burgers quickly revolves around baking the sweet potatoes required in the recipe. If you don’t have a chance to bake your sweet potatoes in advance, one trick I learned to quickly baking a sweet potato (or any potato) is to microwave it a bit first while preheating your oven to 450 degrees. I usually set the microwave to the potato setting and then when it beeps that there are only a few minutes remaining to cook, I take it out and switch the potato over to the oven.

It definitely reduces your baking time and still comes out tasting delicious!

This week’s recipe:

Laura suggested we try making this Double Bean Burger recipe from one of my top favorite blogs, How Sweet Eats. Of course I agreed since Jessica of How Sweet Eats is not only an amazing recipe creator but also one of most favorite bloggers (I love her recipes, pictures and especially her personality – she loves Lisa Frank as much as I do).

Only problem, the double bean burger recipe failed me. The burgers did not hold up at all in the pan and looked like mushed splattered cookie dough. I don’t know what I did wrong as I actually followed the directions, using the panko crumbs as the recipe required.

Laura on the other hand, had a wonderful experience with the recipe (read her review here) so this just goes to show you that sometimes recipes will work wonders for one person and not so much for the other!

While I didn’t retry that burger recipe, I did want to try something new for this week so I quickly switched gears to make these Anything Goes Vegan Sloppy Joe’s from Connoisseurus Veg.

This recipe worked PERFECTLY as a quick recipe substitute as I had basically all ingredients on hand.

The anything goes part of the vegan sloppy joe’s recipe title is key here because it allows you to work with any type of lentil/bean you have in the house rather than stick to a strict ingredient list. I don’t like strict recipes!

Here’s a snapshot of the ingredient list from Connoisseurus Veg’s pin to the recipe on Pinterest. It’s a pretty basic ingredients list which is another requirement for me if I am going to be cooking.

Preparation:

The vegan sloppy joe’s recipe is super easy to make and comes together really quickly. It’ a perfect weeknight meal when you are starving and have zero patience (um, that’s me every single night regardless of the day of the week) and can also be prepped in advance to reheat at a later time.

I didn’t have any carrots left in the house so I left them out of the recipe. I cut down the serving size by using only one can of chick peas and one red pepper but next time I make this recipe, I think I would want to make it in a bulk amount so that I have even more leftover to freeze! That’s how much I liked it.

Taste:

Loved it! It’s a nice light meal but rich in flavor and texture, leaving you satisfied but not overstuffed. I served it on a toasted Ezekiel roll because those are my favorite at the moment. The vegan sloppy joe’s mixture though would be perfect over a baked potato and roasted vegetables which is my next plan for this dish.

I loved the red pepper in this dish. I always liked red peppers but rarely remember to buy them in the store but that will now change. So much flavor! Next time I would like to try making the vegan sloppy joe’s with lentils or even a mix of lentils with chick peas and possibly through in some quinoa too.

Gosh, I love that I am playing around in the kitchen again. I am excited to plan next week’s recipe which I will talk to Laura about later today. Have a great weekend!

[bctt tweet=”recipe challenge: vegan sloppy joe’s! #recipe #vegan #sloppyjoes #pinterest @thisrunrecipes #recipechallenge” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

Have you had a recent recipe fail without knowing what went wrong?

Do you like sloppy joe’s? How do you normally serve them?

What are you doing this weekend?!

New Super Salad Recipe

 

 

I am obsessed with a new super salad combination this week and I have Gina (Fitnessista) to thank for it! She posted this Superfood Salad recipe the other day which sparked my interest and craving for making my own version almost immediately.

I have now made my version of Gina’s Superfood salad a few times since she shared her recipe and I want to share my version with you today just in case you want to pick up these yummy ingredients this weekend to make this salad too!

So what does my salad include?

Chopped romaine lettuce

Shredded roasted brussels sprouts

Diced sweet potatoes

Brown rice

Dried cranberries

Feta cheese

Avocado

Gina’s Dressing

I modified Gina’s recipe a bit:

I roasted the brussels sprouts before slicing (because I love roasted brussels sprouts and hate what the raw would do to my stomach)

Replaced the beets with diced, roasted sweet potatoes

Added avocado

Left out the almonds (because I am allergic)

I just love flavor and texture combination of the dried cranberries, feta cheese, brown rice and avocado in this salad.

After being totally out of the salads for lunch phase for quite some time, I now want this salad combination every day. Sweet potatoes and brown rice are a terrific complex carbohydrate addition, especially for us runners. I used the brown rice medley from the frozen section at Trader Joe’s – you just heat up a pouch in the microwave – really fast and easy.

Other great options to this vegetarian salad would be chick peas, quinoa, walnuts and diced apple. To make this salad vegan, leave off the cheese. If you aren’t vegetarian, you could certainly add grilled chicken. Please let me know if you try it and what combination you come up with of your own!

Passover begins later today.

We are going to my parents tonight for the first seder so I guess today I will make some Passover side dishes to bring to their house. I will just be eating dinner as my pathway to the chocolate-covered macaroons for dessert which we picked up from ShopRite’s Passover candy counter.

The chocolate-covered chocolate macaroons are my favorite. But I love the chocolate -covered chocolate chip macaroons too!

With lots of boxes of Matzoh in the house for Passover right now, I haven’t thought ahead much to next week’s meals but found some good recipe links of interest for you. 🙂

24 Meatless Recipes That Carnivores Will Love

55 Vegan Bowl Recipes to Make For Dinner

Vegan No-Chicken Nuggets

Smashed Roasted Potatoes with Avocado Dill Aioli

What Do Vegetarians Actually Eat For Breakfast?

Paleo Blueberry Coconut Souffle Bake

Pasta with Roasted Spring Vegetables And Marinated Mozzarella

Apple Matzoh Kugel

Passover Apple Cake

[bctt tweet=”My new favorite salad plus recipes of interest! #Passover #salad #lunch #recipes #fitfluential ” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

3 things you are doing this weekend?

If you celebrate Passover, what are you cooking?

Who has a race this weekend?

It’s Okay When What You Eat Changes

 

Jen from Peanut Butter Runner (one of my most favorite blogs and the first blog I ever read!) shared a terrific post last week called Food, Fitness and Feeling Good: Paving Your Own Way and Learning What Works For You.

I think what I love most about her post is how she points out that a diet or lifestyle that works for someone else may not work for you. And even more importantly, what worked for you last year may not work for you now!

I have shared the story behind My Meatless Diet (which you can read here) explaining how I suddenly transitioned to a meatless way of life.

This is NOT a post saying I now eat chicken or steak! No, I am still a meatless eater! But will I always be? Will this diet always continue to work for me? I like to think so but who knows for sure.

Honestly, sometimes when I read Michele’s blog and she shares photos of burgers on her plate, I start to think that maybe I want one too.

Will I have a burger one day soon? I don’t know. Right now, the answer is no but that could change.

Lately what I want to eat is changing.

This always happens to me after a stomach virus. Always. In fact, it’s exactly how I ended up giving up meat and eating a mostly plant-based diet for over four years now.

But I am not strictly plant-based, I will never be vegan and I am not strictly vegetarian either. Sometimes I eat shrimp or a spicy tuna roll and then sometimes I go extended periods with very limited dairy and no eggs for months.

Right now though I am eating as many eggs and egg whites as I do bowls of oatmeal.

I felt the need for more protein and adding eggs and egg whites back in to my diet on what feels like a daily basis now did the trick immediately. I definitely noticed an immediate difference in how I felt, both in my energy levels and appetite satisfaction.

I am really enjoying oatmeal lately when it’s cooked with eggs/egg whites stirred in, maybe some banana, cinnamon and a little bit of Skoop. Sometimes I add a drizzle of maple syrup. It has become a terrific (and satisfying) post-run meal.

I used to love berries mixed in to my oatmeal but right now, that is not appealing to me.

Peanut butter has lost it’s appeal too which is really upsetting if you want to know the truth.

I very rarely add it to oatmeal, haven’t had it for lunch in several weeks and most of time when I try to eat peanut butter, I realize that it really isn’t what I want to be eating.

And my favorite red-capped jar of crunchy peanut butter with flax and chia seeds from Trader Joe’s?

It now tastes awful to me. I can’t even understand how I used to eat it nor can I understand how I am saying this but it’s how I feel.

I still like my Crunch Time Peanut Butter (from PB & Co)  but I don’t eat much of it. In fact, more than a spoonful has given me a stomach ache.

Most of the time, I am eating an apple plain or with some chocolate.

Lately I find myself eating more bagels than I have in years.

I had this salad and bagel combo over the weekend. It was probably the first salad I had eaten for lunch in weeks. My appetite has started to think, at least for right now, that vegetables before dinner are dumb.

This was a whole grain maple cinnamon raisin bagel – you really tasted the maple syrup, it was a genius addition.

Even my Cold Stone sundae the other night was different for me. I am a total creature of habit when it comes to my desserts but I didn’t want whipped cream, I wanted the chocolate fudge brownie frozen yogurt in place of my usual vanilla-based favorite and I didn’t care that they were out of waffle bowls. I added cookie dough to the mix (with chocolate chips and hot fudge) and this is now my favorite.

I think my point is, we are allowed to change what we eat on a regular basis. Nothing in life stays the same, our diets and food choices included.

As Jen said in her post, and I quote,

“The important thing to keep in mind is that you have to honor YOUR body. What feels good for someone else might not feel good for you. What felt good for you last year might not be your jam this year. And sometimes, something you’ve been doing for your entire life might quit working. You have to be open to changing your ways and sometimes that can be tough when we have super hard-wired thinking patterns.”

You can read her full post here in case you missed the link at the top 🙂

[bctt tweet=”It’s okay when what you eat changes #food #recenteats #meatless @jdecurtins #fitfluential “]

Are there any foods that you used to love and now suddenly just don’t?

How have your eating habits/patterns changed over the last few years?

If you are a meatless eater, do you ever want a hamburger?