The Baker Blues

Wow, where did the time go? Somehow it got away from me. Last week was a productive week, if you count baking as productive. The baker inside me just couldn't be contained any longer. I love to bake (and eat said baked goods) and I just couldn't take it any longer. So, I made delicious lemon cupcakes. They were so light and fluffy with just a little kick of lemon. I served them with no icing - they just don't need any. Then I had bananas that were turning a wee bit brown and I just couldn't throw them out, so I turned them into banana nut bread. I have a great vegan recipe for banana nut bread that I just love. Besides bananas and flour and the other requisite stuff you put in to make banana bread, it has applesauce and maple sugar. No eggs, no white sugar. It is moist and dense and oh so good. By this time it was Friday and I needed chocolate. I just happened to have a box of brownie mix stashed in the back of the pantry so we had ooey gooey brownies for dessert Friday night. A lot of baking, I know, but I just enjoy it so much. It is almost therapeutic for me. It lets me take my mind off of the everyday worries that life brings and just concentrate on making something delicious. 
I did manage to eat relatively healthy during the day. I made this hearty Lemon Quinoa Garbanzo Salad (I used Daphne Oz's recipe from The Chew as my inspiration). It is really tasty. The crunch from the quinoa and the slivered almonds really go well with the beans and the feta. The chips are Trader Joe's Black Bean and Quinoa chips. They are crisp and satisfying. 

Of course, eating healthy during the day isn't near the problem that eating healthy in the evening is. I figure if I can eat at least two to three healthy meals a day (and most days it is three) then if I splurge a little bit now and then it's okay. Some evenings dessert is healthy (fruit and such) other evenings it is nonexistent, and other evenings it is an all out sugar fest. But even when I splurge on dessert it is usually homemade. As I type this I am seriously contemplating making a chocolate cream pie for tonight - I mean, it is the last day of summer before school starts and one should celebrate these occasions, right?  

Confession Time

I must confess that I have not been very good this week. Monday was good - stuck to the plan, but it kind of all  went down hill from there. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I ate my healthy breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but after dinner I was bad, very bad. I made chocolate chip cookies for a friend of the family and of course I kept some for the kids. So.... on the previously mentioned days, after eating my nice, home cooked healthy dinner I succumbed to temptation and had two chocolate chip cookies and a half a glass of wine while watching TV. There is just something so relaxing about having a little dessert and some wine while watching one's favorite shows and/or football game. Well, there you have it. I cheated almost every day this week, but I ate so healthy during the day (that's how I justify it to myself). 

Now it's Friday and I just took my homemade vegan chocolate cake out of the oven and am getting ready to make my vegetarian pizza dippers for dinner (which will be accompanied by a very nice Chianti). Here's to the weekend. Will start over again on Monday :-) I hope everyone has a very enjoyable and safe weekend. Take care.

Tuesday, Tuesday

Tuesday again. Somehow I missed writing on Monday. So, here it is Tuesday. I kind of like Mondays in the sense that they are almost like do-overs. Every Monday you get to start again. A new week. I started Monday looking forward to a day of fresh, whole food. I had eggs, Ezikiel toast, berries, and tea when I got up. For lunch I had a nice spinach and romaine salad with feta and tomatoes followed by a few banana chips. Dinner was very tasty. We had corn on the cob and spinach with red onion and cannellini beans. For dessert I had fresh peaches with a little Greek yogurt and some homemade granola.

Tuesday, otherwise known as today, I started out with fresh berries, Greek yogurt, granola, toast, and tea. For lunch I scrambled some eggs with soyrizio and made a taco with corn tortillas, a bit of cheese, and some salsa verde. This afternoon I made chocolate chip cookies for my son's friend for his birthday. I had to taste one just to make sure they were edible and all. I only ate one (which is quite an accomplishment). Now, as I spend the evening watching television those stupid cookies (we had some left for the family) keep calling to me. I am pretty sure that I am not going to be able to resist much longer. I guess it is true, if you don't have the stuff in the house you can't eat it, but if it is there you will. I am trying really hard to convince myself that I don't want those cookies, but I really do. 

Welcome Weekend

Hello fellow foodies. The weekend is upon us. Happy day!! Went out of town Thursday and as we rarely go out of town, we kind of went off the healthy eating wagon. Started out the day with a healthy breakfast and then had El Pollo Loco for lunch, but we stayed somewhat healthy right up to the flan. I had a rice, bean, and cheese burrito, sweet potato fries, and some bbq black beans (which were amazing), and then split a small order of flan, so all in all, not too bad. Stopped at Panda Express for dinner and had brown fried rice, chow mein,  mixed veggies, and a vegetable spring roll. Shared the meal so it wasn't so bad. No stops in between eating. No snacks. No DQ. No Starbucks. So all things considered, I think we did pretty good.

Friday night is pizza night at our house. This week we used the Schwans starter crust and topped it with spinach, red onion, green pepper, and pineapple - very delicious. Of course we ended the evening with cheesecake and wine (hey, it's Friday night).

Tonight I a made a Micheal Symon inspired dinner: zucchini pasta with basil and tomatoes. It was very light and yummy; perfect for a summer evening.

Hope everyone is enjoying a relaxing and fun filled weekend. I can't believe how close summer is to being over. Soaking up every moment of the free time. Until Monday. Take care.

I Failed!!

Hello friends. Yes, I failed! I failed horribly. I made it through the day eating well, but the whole National Cheesecake Day thing took me down. We went to the store and rented not one, but two movies, and bought an amazing cheesecake and a bottle of wine. The cheesecake was so delicious. I savored every bite. I took the tiniest bites, dragging out the rich and creamy pleasure as long as possible. We watched both movies and to my surprise finished off the bottle of wine. It was a very enjoyable evening (even though I was cheating). We spent some family time together and I thoroughly enjoyed my cheesecake and wine and even the movies weren't too bad.

So, here we are a new day and a new start. Began the day with some berries and yogurt, and toast and tea. Had a nice crisp salad with the best avocado I have had in a long time for lunch. Props to my wonderful hubby for picking out the perfect avocado. And now I am very excited about dinner.... we are having veggie kabobs!! We very delicately skewer fresh pineapple, mushrooms, tomatoes, green peppers, and onions and then lightly coat them with some teriyaki sauce before grilling them. I love them so much!! 

Today I have not eaten between meals and I have not been famished like I usually am - maybe I really will be able to make this a life style change that I can embrace.

Happy National Cheesecake Day!!

Hello friends. Hope all is well in your corner of the universe. This morning I debated between the usual berries, egg, and toast for breakfast or trying something different like oatmeal with berries and yogurt. I ended up taking a different road all together. I toasted a piece of Ezekiel bread and fried an egg (hard). I cut the toast in half and placed a half slice of provolone cheese, my fried egg (cut in half and stacked), a couple of tomato slices, some spinach, and the other half of the toast. It made a most delicious breakfast sandwich. I will definitely be having that again. And as an added bonus it kept me quite full until lunch time. 

Dinner was a bit of an adventure and the family, although very polite and appreciative, was, shall we say, a little less than excited about it all. I find dinner the most difficult meal to prepare using just fresh and/or whole ingredients. We have been a family of pasta, potatoes, and rice for so long that not having those items on the menu makes dinner a challenge. Anyhow, tonight I prepared cauliflower poppers, steamed cauliflower and carrots, lightly sauteed asparagus (I like mine crunchy) and some cannellini beans with diced onion. It all came together rather well and I don't think anyone left the table hungry. 

Now, my biggest dilemma of the evening is dessert. I have fresh cut peaches chilling in the fridge, which I know will be sweet and delicious. But.... today is National Cheesecake Day and as such I am really craving some cheesecake and red wine. It is taking all the will power I have not to hop in the car and go get a cheesecake and a bottle of wine!! I am going to try really hard to not leave my house this evening and save the cheesecake and wine for the weekend. Wish me luck!!

Hello Monday!

Hello fellow foodies. Hope everyone had an enjoyable and safe weekend. I enjoyed my weekend just a little too much. After eating so very healthy for four full days, I fell off that wagon hard. I began Friday morning with some amazing homemade chocolate peanut butter crepes filled with bananas and topped with bananas, a mini Reeses, and a drizzle of chocolate syrup.

It was just downhill after that. I enjoyed every bad thing I ate over the weekend though and savored the flavor just that much more, knowing that beginning Monday it was nothing but healthy eating for me.

I began today by going to the store to pick up some fresh produce for the next few days. Made a list and took limited funds. I was able to get spinach, asparagus, cauliflower, strawberries, blueberries, bananas, grapes, a nectarine, a peach, a green pepper, and a couple cans of beans. I have to confess I like the challenge of shopping on a budget and trying to figure out new and interesting, not to mention tasty, meals for during the week. My next goal is to try to figure out fun and satisfying meals for the weekend that are quite so far from the healthy food that we eat during the week. Don't get me wrong, there will be chocolate on the weekends, but maybe not quite so much sugar and processed foods.

Hope everyone has an amazing Monday!!