We had a crazy week! But even in our craziness, we are still eating healthy! I'm finding that I actually like eating this way better than how we ate before. I feel better and although losing weight wasn't my goal, I have lost 5 pounds - and of course, Shawn's lost like 10! Why do guys tend to lose more? Ok, maybe because he's playing soccer and I'm pretty much doing no exercise.
Last week we didn't really have any great meals, but the ones we did have were so easy and that's why I'm posting them.
The first recipe is from ForksOverKnives.
Orange Black Bean Taquitos
1 large yellow onion, diced small
4 garlic cloves minced
2 tsp cumin seeds, toasted and ground (I just used ground cumin)
2 chilies in adobo sauce, mined, or 2 tsp ancho chili powder
Zest and juice of 2 oranges
2-15oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed (about 3 C)
Sea salt
18 corn tortillas
1 jar salsa
*1 1/2 C Spiked Sour Cream
Saute onions over medium heat for 8-10 minutes. Add water 1tbsp at a time to keep from sticking. Add garlic and cook for another minute. Add the chilies, cumin, orange zest and juice and black beans. Season with salt to taste.
Puree the mixture in a food processor or blender until smooth.
It just looks like refried black beans.
I did this early in the day and stuck it in the frig until it was time for dinner. (I love doing this so I am not crazy busy at dinner time).
When it's time to eat, place the tortillas in a skillet to heat about 4 minutes.
Now, the recipe says to fill the tortillas with about 3 tbsp of the bean mixture then heat them in a skillet for another 3-4 minutes. I actually made them up, put them in a baking dish and stuck them in the oven. (I was leaving and was trying to make dinner for the Shawn and the kids easy). This didn't give them the crispiness like taquitos typically have though. So, if you just want something easy to make and eat, do it this way. If you want something a little more like an actual taquito, heat it on the skillet just before eating.
Eat with salsa, guacamole and Spiked Sour Cream.
I did not have the ingredients for the sour cream, but I'd like to try and make it for other Mexican dishes.
*Spiked Sour Cream
1 package extra firm (Silken - brand) tofu (or any brand)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp chili powder
Pinch cayenne pepper
Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth and creamy. Chill until ready to use.
Plant-Strong Burgers
What I love about this next recipe, is that you can make any burger you want. There are so many options. I will for sure be making these again, but changing the ingredients. I also made these earlier in the day and stuck them in the frig until I was ready to cook them for dinner. It is from the engine2diet website and since there are so many ways to make these, I cannot type them all out. If you go to www.engine2diet.com you can see all of the different options.
I used pinto beans (and their juice), quick cook steel cut oats, celery, carrots, onions, garlic powder, marjoram, salt and pepper and nutritional yeast. You just follow the directions to add everything in them make them into patties and bake them for 20 minutes.
Caleb ate one whole one and Amelia ate half. We had them with whole wheat buns, corn on the cob and fresh fruit. Since they were pinto beans, I wasn't sure if ketchup and mustard would be good toppings, so all of us, except Amelia, put guacamole on ours. It was delicious! We even had leftovers that Caleb and I ate.
My last recipe is from the PlantPure website. I was on hospitality duty for church the next day. We had hosted a church event on Wednesday and I had the church ladies over for brunch Saturday morning, so I was a little pooped and didn't want to run out to get ingredients for something or spend money buying premade pastries. So, I found this recipe and had all the ingredients. I was hoping they would be good, because I didn't have a plan B.....although, plan B would have been to run out and buy premade pastries.
I didn't take any photos, but I will still put the recipe on here. They were good, but I felt that something was missing. It think it was butter and oil and sugar. Haha! I kept out the egg substitute as the author stated, but I think I would add it in next time to see if that helped hold them together better.
Apple Carrot Muffins
1 1/2 C whole wheat flour
3/4 C flaxseed meal
3/4 C oat bran
1/2 C date sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon (or pumpkin pie spice)
1 1/2 C finely shredded carrots
2 apples peeled and shredded (or pears)
1/2 C raisins (optional - I left them out)
1 C chopped nuts (I used walnuts)
3/4 C almond milk
2 egg substitutes
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp coconut extract (didn't have, so I put in unsweetened coconut - about 1/2 C)
1/2 C unsweetened applesauce
Mix together flour, flaxseed meal, oat bran, date sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. (You will need a very big bowl). Stir in carrots, apples, raisins and nuts. Combine milk, eggs and vanilla in a small bowl, then pour into flour mixture. Add applesauce. Stir until moistened. Do not over mix. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. (I used cupcake holders since I would be putting them out at church). Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. It states this makes 15 muffins, but I got about 28 out of it.
I will make these again!
And lastly!
Sorry this post is so long!
I read an article about milk this morning that I found really interesting. I am not a milk person, so cutting milk out of my diet hasn't been hard for me. Eating cheese and yogurt, etc. has been a little more difficult. I am copying and pasting it to my blog. Is that plagiarism? Does that have something to do with copywrite laws? I don't know, but hopefully you'll find this as interesting as I did.
WHAT YOU ACTUALLY GAIN FROM CUTTING DAIRY OUT OF YOUR DIET
Published On 02/17/2017
Almond milk, soygurt, fermented cashew cheese… all these dairy imposters and others are slowly taking over the refrigerated food section. Whatever happened to squeezing a cow's teat and making do with the pale, white fluid that oozes out? It's like consumers today think they're too good to suckle at a bovine udder or something.
Or maybe they're onto something -- that drinking cow milk is a little unnatural. Of course, just because something is unnatural doesn't mean it's bad, points out Dr. Michael Greger, a physician, author, and prominent vegan. "Wearing shoes is unnatural," he says. "Lots of things are unnatural, but we should look deeper if we're doing something that's a little strange, to make sure it doesn't cause negative effects."
Cutting out milk could reduce your risk of prostate cancer
A meta-analysis shows that milk consumption is a risk factor for prostate cancer, the second-most common cancer in men. In some ways, it makes sense, since even organic milk is naturally full of hormones, which help both calves and tumors get bigger.
"Drinking milk boosts IGF-1, a cancer-promoting growth hormone," Dr. Greger says. "It's a bioactive growth fluid that does what it is designed to do: put a few hundred pounds on a calf. So maybe we shouldn't be surprised that drinking milk from a massive species has these effects on our own bodies."
Almond milk, by the way, suppressed the growth of cancer cells by 30%. And it keeps longer in the fridge, too.
You eliminate an inferior calcium source
"But, but, but… calcium!" That's what people scream at you when you tell them to quit dairy, right? Right?!
Yeah, milk has calcium. It also has saturated fat, cholesterol, and hormones. "There's calcium in dairy, there's protein in pork and iron in beef, but food is a package deal," Dr. Greger points out. "You can't say, 'I would like the burger, but hold the saturated fat and growth hormones. And that's the baggage that comes with dairy."
Plus, the calcium that's in dairy isn't easy for our bodies to absorb; only 31% of calcium in milk is absorbed, compared to 60-70% of calcium in foods like sesame seeds, Dr. Greger says. Double down on the tahini, in other words.
You get more fiber and antioxidants from nondairy foods
Kale, almonds, collard greens, and other foods have calcium levels that are equivalent or superior to what you'll find in dairy products. Plus, they have tons of fiber, which you probably need anyway.
"Ninety-seven percent of people don't reach their minimum daily fiber intake," Dr. Greger says. "Dairy and animal products have no fiber. Getting calcium from vegetables, you get fiber, folates, antioxidants -- all the things missing from dairy that we could use more of."
The only catch is that you have to actually eat collard greens and kale to get that calcium. "If they rot in your crisper drawer, the absorption rate is zero," Dr. Greger points out. Eat your greens, people.
You gain stronger bones and a longer life
A big cohort study that followed more than 100,000 Swedish men and women for 20 years showed that the women who drank the most milk had the most hip fractures. "More milk was associated with more fractures, higher rates of cancer, heart disease, and a higher total mortality -- meaning they lived shorter lives," Dr. Greger says. "Men also had higher rates of death."
You help save the planet from global warming
Did you know cow farts (aka methane) contribute to global warming? It's such a big deal that California recently enacted regulations to stem the tide of greenhouse gases that originate in bovine butts. That's not even counting all the energy it takes to feed and water the livestock.
If you want to fight climate change, you could swap your car for a bike. But you could also just skip the gallon of 2% and grab a carton of plant-based milk instead.
It's a baby step in the right direction… which is a step away from drinking stuff made for actual babies.
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