Food: groceries & a new salad obsession

SAturday’s breakfast: the usual banana-egg pancake. This time instead of coconut flour I used almond flour. It’s nice too but I prefer the texture of the one with coconut. It’s more cake-like.

from Tj’s and WF

• My new beloved soy yogurt
• mushrooms
• nut butter
• organic pear (for Sofia)
• Suzie’s thin corn cake (obsessed with it)
• Theo chocolates
• 2 bunches of organic kale (for my new salad obsession)

• organic romaine 
• banana
• cherry tomato
• avocado (a weekly must!)
• cocoa powder
• golean cereal
• organic thousands island dressing (mom’s favorite!)
• english cucumber
• Tj’s vainilla almond milk

New products: Baby organic Whole grain oatmeal cereal, for Sofia

oatmeal is better than rice because rice could be constipating.

Raw sunflower seeds (for a baking project)

Justin’s honey almond butter. I’ve read so many good things about it that I need to try it.

Theo chocolates: dark chocolates with toasted coconut (thumb down!), with mint (thumb up!)

And here’s my new salad obsession: massaged kale salad with tahini-avocado

Ingredients:

• 3-4 cups of kale
• 1 cup chopped cherry tomato
• 1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
• 1/2 avocado
• 1 serv. firm tofu, scrambled
• 2 Tbsp tahini
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp maple syrup
• salt
• pinch of cayenne pepper

Method:

1. Prepare the dressing: tahini, lemon juice, maple syrup, salt and cayenne pepper well mixed.

2. Pour the dressing over kale, add chopped avocado, tofu and mix well with hands (or massage it).

3. Add cherry tomato and mushrooms.

4. Let it sit for 30-60 min before serving.

5. Prepare to enjoy a tasty, filling and delicious salad!! 🙂

Q: Do you like kale? What’s your favorite way to eat it? I didn’t like kale first unless it’s in chips form. But lately I’m obsessed with it, it has became my favorite green veggie. The key to eat it raw is to massage it with the dressing and let it sit for a while before serving. It’s soooo delicious and full of nutrients.

Food: new products and menu planning

A big haul from Tj’s and Whole Food

new products to try this week: Spicy Jalapenio chicken sausage. I’m sure I’ve had this brand’s sausage before but it was a long while ago

Uncured Black Forest ham for mom’s morning breakfast

sugar snap peas. Can you believe i never had this? Unbelievable! 😯 As I was searching for new salad ingredients, I say why not, let me try this. And I am so glad I grabbed it because it’s so tasty, crunchy, sweet and fresh! I can eat it as snack nonstop!

Irene’s cranberry biscotti. I got it at WF. It was $5.99, freaking expensive I know. But I was intrigued because it has no refine sugar, a short ingredient list, no artificials, its main ingredient is egg white ane each biscotti is 20 kcal. I ate one at the parking lot! Yeah, I was really intrigued. I was expecting something bland but it was just the opposite. It’s crunchy, sweet and really good flavor. I like it even more than standard biscotti because the texture is less dense. The only downside in addition to the price tag is that it’s a bit too sweet for me, I can’t eat more than 2-3 at once. So, if you like biscotti, give it a try.

Apple cider vinegar. I’m not sure I’m ready for the vinegar shot in the morning, but due to its benefits, I will use it in the salad dressing.

Bare Fruit apple chips. Since I love so much the Yoga vive chips, I wanted to try this one too since it’s a bit cheaper ($3.49 vs. $4.99). Well… although it’s good, crunchy and tasty, it’s not as popped as the Yoga vive ones. I guess I’ll keep buying Yoga Vive from now on.

Chopped Chard read to cook. I was looking for kale in Tj’s but couldn’t find it, so I’ll give this a try. I like chard too, they’re probably even more versatile than kales.

For dinner on Saturday I used up last weekend’s produce. Made a sauteed mustard greens with mushrooms

chinese turnip with onion cooked in coconut oil and soy sauce. I couldn’t believe how sweet it turned out. Was it the coconut oil or the onion? Anyhow it was delicious, definitely making it again.

together with oatmeal with 1/2 cup of chopped celery (it adds freshness and texture)

Sunday morning: food preparation for the week

made carrot ginger miso dressing for the salad

carrot ginger miso dressing 

• 1 cup of baby carrots steamed
• 1 tbsp white miso
• 1 tbsp tamari
• 1/2 meyer lemon juice
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1/2 inch ginger
• 1/2 cup water
• pinch of stevia

All blend together. Yumminess~~~ 😀

Prepare tomorrow’s salad

mix of greens (baby arugula, baby spinach, romaine, parsley), cucumber, cherry tomato, tofu, lentils, chickpea, 2 eggs and goat cheese. CAN’T wait to dig in tomorrow!!!

Lastly prepared Monday’s dinner. Ingredients used: wakame

chinese lean pork sausage

cabbage

and millet

Ok, now menu planning. I NEVER EVER thought I’d do menu planning because I always prefer eating whatever I’m in mood of, so deciding what I’ll have for dinner a week in advance wouldn’t work for me. But since I got back to work I’ve been eating poorly, specially for dinner because I don’t have time nor energy to think what I want to eat. I just eat whatever it’s possible to make in 5-10 min and done with it. The result? I got bored with food, felt unsatisfied with what I was eating, was eating way too much snack to fill the energy-gap that I need to support the breastfeeding. I had a conversation with Star last week and told him the situation. He suggested me to start some menu planning and ask for my mom’s help to do the preparation so I can just cook when I arrive. My dear husband even sent me a menu! How sweet he is! 🙂 Although I didn’t take his menu but I am adopting the idea of menu planning for the week. Just think about it once over the weekend, do as much preparation as possible, and hopefully I’ll eat more balanced and interesting meals.  So, here’s my first menu planning for the week:

Breakfast: rice cooker oatmeal (oats, almond milk, protein powder) using the preset timer feature. Pour everything the night before and will have warm oats ready to eat the next morning.

Topping ideas: pumpkin, blueberries, strawberries, cottage cheese and peanut butter (2 TBs or I’ll be hungry in 3 hrs)

Lunch: salad as above

PM Snack: greek yogurt with nut butter

Dinners:

• Monday/Tuesday: millet-cabbage-sausage one pot meal
• Wednesday: Tina’s cheesy garlic & Herb Brussels Sprouts with sausage
• Thursday: chard, mushroom and tofu bowl with a miso tahini dressing

Friday-Sunday: at home so I’ll eat what I’m in mood of. 😉

Q: Do you do menu planning? What’s on your menu this week?

Food: messy parfait, salad and chinese food

I enjoyed very much this week’s food because they’re easy to make, nutritious and fresh enough for hot weather (over 100F!!! :shock:)

Breakfast continued to be “messy parfait”. I love it so much that every morning after I wake up I look forward to my breakfast! 😉

this combo has 2 chopped nectarine, 1 protein brownie, 1/3 cup cottage cheese mixed with 1/4 cup almond milk and 1 tbsp chia seed

After I finished the protein brownie, I made another batch replacing cocoa powder with 1/3 cup shredded coconut.

this combo has the coconut protein cake, 1/2 cup greek yogurt and nectarines.

And one more combo with cottage cheese, almond milk and chia seed (sit at the fridge overnight), coconut protein cake and nectarines. YUM~~~

I just made another batch of protein cake, this time mango & coconut protein cake

• 1 1/4 cup oats, grounded
• 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut flakes, grounded
• 60g protein powder (vanilla)
• 200 g mango, puree
• 1/2 cup egg white
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1/2 tbsp baking powder
• 42g chopped walnuts
• 1/4 cup NuNaturals stevia baking blend

Mix wet and dry separately and bake at 350F for 30 min.

Salad is all I crave during this hot weather. So whenever I have lunch at home, I’d make a nutritious salad

this one has chopped romaine, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, tofu, corn and half large avocado. Dressing: balsamic, olive, mustard.

this one used kale and Mama Pea’s sunshine salad dressing

Same salad ingredients as the previous one and the dressing is made using 1 tbsp tahini, 2 tbsp water, 1 tbsp vinegar, 1 tbsp nutritional yeast, minced garlic, salt and pinch of stevia.

And my favorite salad combo this week!!!

made with chopped romaine, tomatoes, cucumber, tofu, 2 boiled eggs, 1 avocado, dressing: balsamic, mustard, nutritional yeast, chia seed and almond milk.

Love the creaminess of extra avocado.

Dinners were chinese food.

#1

A salad made with sliced cucumber, mung bean sprout and mushroom (pic of the can below), salt, sesame oil and pinch of sugar.

napa cabbage soup with homemade fish ball and dry shrimp

sautéed chinese greens with oyster mushroom

this week’s porridge: aduki, mung bean, chinese red dates and oatmeal

#2

with scrambled eggs with tomato

#3

sauteed greens with oyster mushroom and sautéed zucchini with black fungus, fish balls and dry shrimp

#4

soup of napa cabbage, seaweed, dry shrimp and fish balls

I’m loving my homemade meals lately. Although I haven’t been very creative, but I enjoy them a lot. 🙂

Q: What are you loving lately?