Chili Lime Sweet Potatoes

Sorry it’s been a while since my last post. Been a busy couple weeks. I was in (and won!) a speech competition in my Toastmasters club as well as taught my first cooking class at work. More on that later.

This recipe is from Cooking with Trader Joe’s: Skinny Dish. I had the opportunity to meet the author, fellow dietitian, Jennifer Reilly in D.C. & get my book signed. If you are a fan or Trader Joe’s, I definitely recommend this book, but the recipes can be made with ingredients from any store. While it doesn’t say so outright, it is a vegan cookbook with recipes such as blank, blank & blank.

These sweet potatoes made a perfect side dish. Not too spicy & the lime was perfect.

Served with Blackened Tofu & Steamed Kale

4 small sweet potatoes, scrubbed & diced

Juice of 2 limes, about 3 Tbsp

1 Tbsp agave nectar or maple syrup

2 tsp chili powder

2 tsp grapeseed oil, or other vegetable oil

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350. In a small bowl, whisk together lime juice, agave, chili powder, oil & salt. Place sweet potatoes in a 9x9 inch baking dish & toss with juice mixture. Bake for 40 minutes or until sweet potatoes are tender.

Organic Produce Delivery

Speaking of fruits & veggies, yesterday I received a message from a friend online asking about the organic produce delivery I get. Half an hour later I received a text from my cousin asking similiar questions. I have decided to answer their questions here for everyone to benefit.

I receive weekly produce delivery from Full Cirle Farm. Here are a couple exmaples of what a Garden size delivery might look like.

Apples, oranges, pears, mango, red leaf lettuce, kale, cucumber, broccoli, purple turnips, yellow onions & roma tomatoes.

Red chard, green beans, celery, rainbow carrots, broccolette, shallots, spinach, lemons, apples, mango & 2 varieties pear.

Pros
- Can choose from 4 different delivery sizes
- Can choose weekly or biweekly delivery
- Can put deliveries on hold during vacations
- Can choose permanent examptions of produce you do not like & never want to receive
- Receive an email 5 days before delivery day with what will be coming & have 3 days edit your box
- No contract, can stop anytime
- Can change delivery schedule 9weekly vs biweekly) & delivery size at anytime
- When editing your box you have 15+ choices to substitute for what is scheduled, usually everything scheduled so you can double up if you desire & some other choices
- Green grocer section: can add additional items to your cart for a fee, all local & organic including chocolates, tofu, nut butters, herbs & a wide variety of produce

Cons
- I do not like that my delivery day is Tuesday as I typically prepare lunches for the week on Sundays (delivery day varies depending on where you live)

This is just one option for organic produce delivery in the Seattle area. I have used Terra Organics in the past. Very similiar but what I did not like is when you edit your box weekly, each substitution item has a dollar amount attached & changes the price of your delivery. Tiny's Oragnics is another I haven't had experience with. And there are more. If you are not from this area, just search for organic produce delivery or CSAs.
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Get your fruits & veggies

Last week was National Registered Dietitians Day. So I celebrated myself with delicious, healthy food J

On that day I had cherries, spinach, pear, sweet potato, beets, spaghetti squash, onion, broccoli, carrots, currants, an orange, an apple & broccoli. That’s 13 different fruits & veggies. Granted not a full serving of each, but great variety.

Where in the world did I fit all that in?

Breakfast:

Chocolate cherry smoothie with some spinach snuck in

Overnight oats with pear & walnuts

Snack:

Roasted beet hummus w/ sweet potato chips for dipping

Orange

Lunch:

Leftover spicy spaghetti squash w/black beans & onion

Snack:

Apple

Broccoli salad w/shredded carrots & currants

Dinner:

Mac & Cheeze w/broccoli

This is not supposed to be an “I’m-better-than-you post,” but hopefully an “I-inspire-you post.” Here are some tips from choosemyplate.gov for increasing your fruit & veggie intake:

- Keep a fruit bowl in sight as an easy, visible snack option.

- Keep diced fruit & veggies in containers in the fridge for easy use.
- Keep dry, fresh, frozen and canned fruits in your kitchen.
- Add berries or sliced banana to cereal, pancakes, or yogurt at breakfast.
- Pack a ready-to-eat piece of fruit in your lunch; apples, oranges, bananas, pears, tangerines, etc
- Top salads with mandarin oranges, dried cherries or cranberries, or strawberries.
- Try baked apples, poached pears, or a fruit & yogurt parfait for dessert.
- Make a fruit smoothie with fresh or frozen fruit. You can sneak in spinach or other greens.
- Substitute unsweetened apple sauce for half the oil in baked good recipes.
- Build a meal around a vegetable main dish such as stir fry or soup.

- Try a veggie pizza. See my recipe for caramelized onion pizza.
- Use shredded carrots or zucchini in muffins, breads & casseroles.
- Sneak chopped vegetables into pasta sauce or layer into lasagna.
- Grill vegetable kabobs to accompany your BBQ meal.
- As snacks, try raw vegetables with a low fat dip or hummus.

Crockpot Mexican Quinoa & Black Beans

I love when I create a recipe from scratch, and it actually tastes good. I am typically a recipe follower.

1 1/2 cups quinoa
3 cups vegetable broth or water
1 can black beans, drained & rinsed
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1 packet taco seasoning
1 small onion, diced

Saute onion in small amount of water oil oil until soft. Spray crockpot with non-stick spray. Add onions & remaining ingredients. Cover & cook on high for 1 1/2 - 2 hours until liquid is absorbed. It's that easy!

Roasted Red Pepper & Spinach Enchiladas

After yesterday's post, I need to share something healthy :) These are super easy. Serve with beans & rice for a complete meal.

1 package small whole wheat tortillas

1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 sweet onion, diced
salt & pepper to taste
1 bag baby spinach
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp fresh oregano, minced
1 jar chili verde or green enchilada sauce
1 large jar roasted red peppers (I used a jar of mixed red & yellow)

Preheat oven to 350.

Heat a pan over medium heat. Add olive oil, garlic, onion, salt & pepper & peppers, cooking 4-5 minutes. Add spinach & lemon juice & saute until spinach is wilted.

Coat bottom of a 13 x 9" pan with just enough chili sauce to coat the bottom. To assemble enchiladas, add a few tablespoons of filling on one side of tortilla & roll. Place in baking dish, seem side down. Repeat until baking dish is full (can fit about 8 enchiladas). Cover enchiladas with remaining chili sauce & bake for 25-30 minutes.

Adventures - Bearded Lady Food Co, Olympia

Starting March 1st, I cut out caffeine, alcohol & sweets for a month. The alcohol will be easy as I often go a full month without. Caffeine wont be bad either as I rarely have a latte these days. I will miss my green tea for a while. I did this, partly because I'm starting training for a half marathon, but mainly because I have a sugar addiction I need to break.

The sweet are killing me! I think the smoothie I just made with cocoa & peanut butter may have broken some rules. Since I'm home sick from work today dreaming of sugar, I figured I'd make it tougher & share this post about one of my new favorite places.

I came across Bearded Lady Food Company via facebook & first ordered my birthday cake from them, a chai spice.

Next my husband & I took a trip to Olympia one Saturday night & dined in. Bearded Lady is a dessert only restaurant serving 6 or so plated desserts, a build-your-own sundae bar & bakery goods. About half the options are vegan & the rest are gluten free (some are both).

On our first trip I had peanut butter ice cream with brownie chunks, chocolate chip cookie chunks & chocolate ganache. So glad I chose a small because it was rich & amazing. My husband chose a non-vegan chocolate bread pudding & exclamed, "I'm glad you're vegan because that means you wont steal a bite of this." Think he liked it?

While Olympia is a trek from home, it is only half an hour from work. This past weekend I went again to pickup cupcakes for a volunteer dinner I was hosting Saturday & for a baby shower Sunday. To make it worth my long drive home, of course I had to have a plated dessert too.

Vegan gluten free torte of sugar cookies, chocolate sour cream sorbet, peanut butter mouse & caramelized bananas with a beautiful sugar garnish, raspberries & almonds.



Vegan gluten free torte of sugar cookies, chocolate sour cream sorbet, chocolate mouse & caramelized bananas w/beautiful sugar garnish.



Here are some shots of the bakery goods.

I took a lavendar pear & peanut butter banana cupcake to go.

And here are the mini mini chocolate Mexican spice cupcakes w/vanilla bean frosting cupcakes for the volunteer dinner. As well as the adorable peas in a pod cupcakes for the baby shower for my new twin baby cousins. These are chocolate w/peanut butter frosting & red velvet w/rosewater frosting.

What will keep me coming back, aside from the fact that there are more ice cream flavors I must try (roasted pear & chocolate chunk & chocolate cardamom to name a couple), is that the plated menu changes monthly.

And I must mention, if you visit Bearded Lady, walk one block to a cute shop Oly Vegan that sells only vegan products. The have handbags, shoes, clothing, beauty products, books, lots of snacks & more. I got a great faux leather jacket with faux fur trim for only $40, some soy creamer packets (non-dairy creamer packets are not 100% dairy free!), some dark chocolates & a list of things I want to buy next time :) I will do a full write up after my next trip because I forgot to take pictures.

Everyone enjoy some sugar for me & wish me, and everyone around me, luck for the next few weeks.

Seitan Sausage Recipe

In the photo I shared of the Avocado Cous Cous last week, it was served alongside sautéed greens with veggie sausage. I also shared this photo on facebook & got asked, “How do you make veggie sausage?” I should be more clear, while it is vegan sausage, it is not made of vegetables.

I have been making this recipe a lot lately. While I love the Field Roast brand sausages, they are $5-6 for a pack of 4. This is a much more cost effective option & SUPER simple.

The original recipe I use for seitan sausage can be found here. I have loved every recipe from this site I’ve tried.

1/2 cup cooked white beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup vegetable broth
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/4 cups vital wheat gluten*
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 cloves fresh garlic, finely grated
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
Several dashes fresh black pepper

4 squares aluminum foil

Fill a pot with water & add steamer basket, bringing to a boil.

While the water is coming to a boil, throw everything else together. In a large bowl, mash the beans. Add other ingredients in order listed & mix with a fork (I usually use my hands & kneed it a bit to get a good dough consistency).

Divide dough into 4 equal pieces. Place one part of dough on edge of an aluminum foil square & shape into log, leaving a couple inches on each side. Wrap dough in foil & twists ends.

Place sausages in steamer basket, cover & steam about 40 minutes. Ta da!

I add this to stir fry, greens, pasta & they make a great Panini.

* Vital wheat gluten is derived from wheat. It is basically powdered wheat protein. It looks like flour & can be found on the baking isle near other specialty flours (do not confuse with gluten flour). I buy mine in the bulk section. It is typically mixed with broth & seasonings & boiled or steamed to make a meat substitute called seitan (say-tan).