Trying New Foods - Back to Basics

I can't say enough how much I have been branching out in the food department lately. It's really been helping me stay healthy without being bored. I thought I would share some of my new-found yummies lately. Grab a cup and stay awhile, I have a lot of catching up to do!

Colorful and sweet

SO not a tomato!

A plan to make my neighbor persimmon cookies (something new I was trying) went awry when I was told by my mother-in-law that I had bought the wrong kind of persimmons. What to do with these beauties? Well, I ate them! Like an apple! Sweet, mild flavor. I had never tried to do that before because they look like tomatoes. And I am not one to grab a tomato and eat it like an apple. I am now a fan.

What's this? Tastes like chicken?

Have you heard of seitan? I had first heard of it from a Facebook friend who started a creative cooking group of mostly vegan members. I'm not vegan, but I do lean toward vegetarian meals most days, and I enjoy the recipes and food discussions. Seitan is also knowns as "wheat meat". Doesn't sound that appetizing, does it? Well it doesn't look so appetizing either. But, I wanted to give it a go. It is essentially high-protein gluten. When its cooked, it actually does have a similar texture and look to meat. I cooked some with taco seasoning, and ended up with some very yummy seitan soft tacos that were garnished with salsa, kale salad, and a tiny bit of cheese.

Very interesting! Tastes even better.

On the side I had these awesome new chips I bought at Whole Foods. They are quinoa chips with chia seeds! I was a little apprehensive about the taste before I tried them because of how they look. Well, you can't judge a book by it's cover! Although they are dark, these chips blow blue corn chips away. I will surely spend a small fortune buying these from Whole Wallet again!

Even my hubby liked the chips. Not present for the tacos.

Brussel sprouts make most people wrinkle up their nose. I think they are pretty tasty. Well guess what, I had never made those either. Nor had I ever made cranberry chutney either, which made the brussel sprouts taste...well, even better than brussel sprouts! 

Easy to make these healthy beauties

Chutney of Love

A bit much but I couldn't help it. You would do the same!

Love portobello mushrooms? I do as well, but don't eat them very often, and have never made them. Last night, after a terribly unfortunate, high fat/calorie Panera Bread salad for lunch, I couldn't decide what to have for dinner. I knew NOT eating was not the answer, but wanted to have as low impact of a meal as possible. So, I happened to have some portobellos in the fridge. I heated up less than a tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan, sliced up a large garlic clove to flavor the oil, chopped up half a small onion, sliced up 2 large mushrooms and sauteed them until the onions were soft and the mushrooms were blackened. I seasoned them with black pepper and sea salt, and shook a little grated parmesan cheese over them before I ate them. Yum. Portobellos, for the win! By the way, the salad I had was the Mediterranean Salmon Salad. Sounded very healthy, but had 580 calories and 38 grams of fat! I didn't eat even half the dressing, so it possibly wasn't that bad. But I was very disappointed when I looked that up.

More filling than I expected and full of flavor as well

After reading this article about ditching recipes that @citymama tweeted, I have also decided to try to get back to basics in the kitchen. I realize how much easier it is as a working mom to eat good food if I try to keep it simple.

After yesterday's lunch debacle I am going back to my homemade salad for lunch today. I think my waistline would agree. Stay healthy and delicious my friends!

Has your quest for health and wellness driven you to try anything new lately?

My Night As A Single Gal

My night without the husband and kids last night did not involve any tight dresses or any bars, but I definitely got a taste of what my life would be like today if I was single. My parents have my boys overnight for 2 nights, so I wanted to take advantage of my "me" time by scheduling a badly needed massage after work. Aaah. Since Chip was working, I came home to a dark, quiet and empty house. I flipped on the lights, turned on the TV and started the DVR. It was late but after the light amount of food I had eaten that day, I needed dinner. And fast.

Fortunately I had frozen stir fry vegetables. I needed a protein source, so I went with this extra firm tofu I picked up today:

I put a little less than a tablespoon of oil in a pan, with two cups of frozen stir fry veggies on medium high dashed with salt and pepper:

Meanwhile, I cut off a small slab of tofu about 1/2 inch thick and cut into squares. I wanted it to be as meat-like as possible, and this firm tofu came through. In a separate small pan, I put a small amount of oil (approx 1 tsp) on medium high heat and cooked the tofu on both sides to make it crispy. I periodically shook the veggies in the pan to make sure they cooked evenly, and doused with low sodium soy sauce for flavor:

When the veggies were done according to my preference (still firm, slightly softened and heated through - nothing worse than soggy stir-fry), I combined the tofu with the veggies and served this very easy, single serving meal to me, myself and I while I watched TV.

Dinner for One!

At about 10pm, I was a little hungry, but I was NOT going to snack that late. I turned on my iPad, got into bed and read The Hunger Games until I couldn't keep my eyes open.

And how did I like this night alone? Honestly, I probably needed it. But I MISS MY BOYS. It's always good to have a little break, it makes me a better Mom. And Monkey and Buddha are on vacation, so its good for them to get outta dodge! Since I was sick for a whole week, the poor little guys had been at home pretty much since they got out of school. While I can't wait for them to come home, I will relish in this time where I can eat however I want with no one else to please. No competition for time to make my lunch this morning, and no  interference with my morning work out. How often do I get to be selfish? Rarely. And I'm getting a pedicure after work tonight. YES.

Have you had a whole night to yourself lately? How did you spend it? If you could have a night alone and could do whatever you wanted, what would you do?