New hair color plus some recipes!

Before hair (mousy light brown/dark dirty blonde, with Florence Henderson mullet)

After hair (sexy blonde bombshell vixen sans mullet)

As you can tell, I'm thrilled with my new hair!  I'm blonde!!!  And not just kind of blonde, definately blonde.  I'm excited to be playing with my hair color again, it's been natural for years.

This was my reward to myself for being halfway to graduation.  :-)  One more semester is DONE.

my other reward to myself...

Just to make this a productive blog entry, here are a couple of new recipes!  Both healthy versions of comfort food classics.  Doesn't get more comfort-food than pizza and french fries!

Pita pizza with Daiya Cheese!

ingredients:
1 whole wheat pita
1/4 cup Daiya mozerella cheese
chopped up squash, pepper, and onion
1 tablespoon tomato paste

directions:
Spread toppings on, put in oven at 400 for about 8 minutes. Perfection.

about 190 calories for entire little pizza.  It's a great meal!

Homemade French Fries

1) Preheat oven to 450.
2) Slice a (washed) potato into thin strips.
3) Spray baking sheet with Pam (or some comparable)
4) Spread potato slices onto baking sheet
5) Spray them with Pam, add some seasoned salt
6) Put in oven for 8 minutes
7) Take out, flip, spray and salt on other side
8) Put in oven for 4-5 more minutes.
9) Take out and ENJOY!
 

my back to school plan (and some unflattering self-portraits)

I'm doing a three-in-one kind of post, since it's been a while since my last post and I have three things that I want to talk about.
The first thing is that I ate a yummy dinner tonight that I'd like to share with you guys. 

It may not look pretty, but this meal was great!

ingredients: brown rice, lentils (from dried), peas (canned, no salt added), and tomatoes (canned, with celery and green peppers), EVOO, salt

directions: Cook the rice and lentils according to instructions.  I used 1/2 cup dried lentils and 2 cups of cooked brown rice.  Combine the lentils and rice together.  Add the peas (about a cup) and tomatoes (entire can) and stir up.  Add a tablespoon or less of EVOO (I  used two teaspoons).  Salt to taste.  This recipe probably will be about 4 or 5 servings.

Secondly, I'd like to show some reverse-progress pictures.  Or "here's what I look like with some holiday weight on, squeezing into some new size 14's that would have fit perfectly only a couple of months ago" pictures.

And I want to make this perfectly clear:  I'm not upset with myself about this gain.  I had a LOT going on in my life, and eating right and exercise both took a backseat to those things.  But I wanted to be honest with you guys.  I haven't been weighing myself, but the last time I weighed in I was about 156 and I have not gotten any bigger since then, so I assume that I'm still around there.

I adjusted the saturation on Picnik!  Now it's "art".

neck... not too shabby.

ummm... I need to do some work on the ol' triceps.

Okay, now that that's out of the way, here's what I'm doing to get back down to a more comfortable size, and I'm calling it My Spring Semester 2012 Plan (clever, I know):

Monday, Wednesday, Friday

Breakfast- Luna or Lara Bar + piece of fruit
Snack (if hungry)- fruit or nuts
Lunch- sandwich, veggies, pretzels, fruit
Exercise- gym class
Snack (if hungry)- veggies, redvines, yogurt, fruit, OR nuts
Dinner- something cooked that includes whole grains, veggies, and healthy fats
Snack (if hungry)- popcorn, pretzels, yogurt, fruit, nuts, cookies, ice cream, OR veggies
Before bed- tea

Tuesday, Thursday

Breakfast- oatmeal with peanut butter and piece of fruit OR cold cereal with piece of fruit
The rest of the day- just like MWF

Saturday, Sunday

INTUITIVE EATING
Exercise- walks, cardio at home, or DOR

Random Rules for every day-

Never buy chips at grocery store, can only eat chips when out .  Substitute with pretzels, baked potato, popcorn, etc. This is because chips are a trigger food for me to binge on, but for whatever reason, those other foods are not.

Exercise at least 6 days a week.  2 days a week do cycle class, 1 day a week do yoga class, other days mix it up.

No calorie counting unless I feel like I'm gaining weight; just go with hunger signals and follow the basic plan as outlined above.

And that's the plan!  :-)

This loose(ish) plan is to help me stay focused without being obsessive.  All the foods listed on Monday through Friday are favorite foods of mine, and the calorie count will be anywhere from 1200 to 1800, depending on which options I choose. 

I won't be tracking calories or PointsPlus, and will be listening to my hunger signals 100%, every day at every meal and snack. 

I will be switching up my exercise routine, which will probably help me out quite a bit.  I'm finally going to be taking advantage of my "free" membership to the University of Memphis gym and will be taking cool classes like kickboxing, spinning, zumba, and yoga. 

I'll take monthly progress pictures of the same three areas, and hope to fit comfortably into those way-too-tight jeans by the end of the semester, which is May 5th. 

Okay, that's it for now!  I hope to post again soon.  By the way, I'm back down to 199 followers, so if you want me to do a 200 followers giveaway, please tell a friend about my blog.  :-)

Do you follow an eating and/or exercise plan? 

How is it going for you?

A successful experiment with vegan holiday treats! Von-vons (vegan bon-bons)

(not actually my von-vons, but this is what they looked like I swear)

I made the same vegan sugar cookies that I had success with last year, and they were once again AMAZING.  This year I decided to try to make vegan bon-bons (von-vons!), based on an old family recipe that I have been enjoying my entire life but had to miss out on last year because I couldn't find any vegan condensed milk.

This year, I decided to make my own!  I found a recipe that works great for making condensed milk from any type of milk.  I used Silk vanilla soy milk, but it supposedly works for any type of soy, almond, coconut, or dairy milk. 

Here a link to the recipe for condensed milk: condensed milk
I used the slow-cooking method (of course!), which I'll put here for you-

Ingredients:
2.75 cups non-dairy milk (I used Silk Vanilla soy)
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Set slow-cooker to high, pour all ingredients in, leave top off of slow-cooker, and cook for 7-8 hours.

Now for the recipe for von-vons!  This is based on an old family recipe, and is ridiculously sugary and delicious.  This is a one-time-a-year type of deliciousness, and makes about 30 von-vons.

Ingredients:
about 1 cup condensed milk (the above recipe makes the perfect amount)
about 1/3 container of Earth Balance (original recipe calls for 1 stick of butter)
2 pound bag of powdered sugar
2 pound bag of semi-sweet vegan chocolate chips
1/2 slab of Gulf baking wax

Directions:
1) Mix the condensed milk, the Earth Balance, and the powdered sugar together with a mixer.  Put in refrigerator for about 4 hours.
2) Remove from fridge or freezer, and form into balls with your hands.  Place on wax paper atop of random pans, and put into freezer.
3) While the balls are hardening, melt wax in double broiler (or in a small pan inside a larger pan that has water in it, like I did!).  Add chocolate chips when wax is almost completely melted. 
4) Using a toothpick, dip balls into the chocolate/wax mixture, and replace balls onto wax paper.
5) Put back into the refrigerator until the dip is hardened (less than an hour).
6) Enjoy!!!

P.S.  You could also add coconut to the mix in step 1 if you would like coconut von-vons!

Recipe makes about 30 von-vons and they are about 150 calories each, if you're counting. ;-)

How to Slow Cook Dried BEANS!!!

Many of you may already know how to cook beans from dried, and you also may have assumed that I did, too... but... Here's a confession:

...This last weekend was the very first time I have ever attempted to cook my own beans.  Yep, you read that correctly!  I have been eating canned beans since the beginning of my bean obsession, which began around the time that I started this blog and learned about The Kind Diet (vegan eating).

I always drained and rinsed my beans, so I don't think they were terrible for me or anything, but I knew deep down that it would probably be healthier to actually cook my own beans from dry beans.

What was holding me back from trying? 

I was afraid that it would be too difficult and time consuming.  I admit that I am a lazy vegan.  I would use the excuse that I'm just way too busy to cook, but the truth is that I've been avoiding cooking for years, and some of those years were not busy at all.  (Of course now I actually AM extremely busy so that excuse really works!)

Anyway, the point of this blog entry:  An EASY recipe for cooking dried beans!

Trust me, if this lazy vegan could do it, pretty much anyone can. 

I have this new cookbook to thank for the recipe-

I won this awesome book in a giveaway over on Rae's blog!

So far, I am loving it!!!  Every recipe looks simple and doable.  I won a crockpot at Stacey's office holiday party last December, and this is the first time I've ever used it. 

Here's the recipe:

Dry Beans From Scratch

Ingredients:
1 pound dried beans

Directions:
Rinse the beans, and make sure there are no little rocks that might have been missed.  Place in the slow cooker and add water to come about 3 inches (7.5 cm) above the beans.  Cook on low overnight, or for 6 to 8 hours.

After you cook the beans once in your slow cooker, you'll be able to determine whether you need to use less water (about 2 inches [5 cm], instead of 3 inches [7.5 cm]).  It will vary depending on how hot your slow cooker runs.  Use a slotted spoon to remove the beans if there is extra water.

Yield: 4.5 to 5 cups
Total prep time: 5 minutes
Total cooking time: 6 to 8 hours

my beans a'cookin! (I used a bag of dried mix beans, including pinto and great northern)

the finished product.  I was so proud!



mixed with barley, rice, tomatoes and EVOO!



mixed with barley, rice, lots of steamed veggies, and EVOO

So, in conclusion, if you are looking for a good cookbook to go with a slow cooker, I highly recommend this one.  I will be sharing more recipes in the future!

PB & Banana snack

What should you do when you feel like eating some serious junk food but don't want to blow your whole day? 

And no, it's not "pour yourself a bowl of Special K", though I'm sure that would work, too. 

Create a healthy(ish) dessert, and enjoy every bite!

Here is a simple recipe for a peanut butter and banana "cake". 

Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon natural peanut butter
- 1 medium banana
- 1 tablespoon sugar free syrup
- 2 sandwich thins

Directions:
Layer all ingredients however you want, I did the following:  1/2 sandwich thin, 1 teaspoon PB, 5 slices banana, 1/2 sandwich thin, some syrup, 1/2 sandwich thin, 1 teaspoon PB, 5 slices PB, 1/2 sandwich thin, 1 teaspoon PB, the rest of the banana slices, and some more syrup!  Microwave on high for 20 seconds.  EAT.

total calories: 372

recipe: more beans and rice!

This is an example of a big, delicious, healthy, vegan meal.  Oh yeah, and it's EASY!!!

Ingredients:

1 bag of frozen broccoli, steamed in the microwave

1 cup of cooked brown rice (mine was leftovers!)

1 cup of black beans, canned (drained and rinsed)

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup canned tomatoes (with green peppers and celery)

salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Cook the broccoli according to directions (5 minutes in the microwave usually).  Top with rice, then tomatoes, then beans.  Drizzle the EVOO over it.  Add salt and pepper, and stir all ingredients together.

You can adjust the amounts of these foods to adapt to different calorie-counts and PointsPlus values.  If you make it with the amounts listed exactly as they are here, and are on Weight Watchers, this is an 11 PointsPlus meal, or 0 PointsPlus if you are on the Simply Filling Technique.  If you count calories, this is a 571 calorie meal. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Roll-up Bites!

This is what happens when I brainstorm to find a low point chocolate snack: pure genius.

It is low in points, easy to make, and tastes like it's bad for you.  ;-)  Perfect for my current PMS status.

Step 1:  Gather your ingredients

1 tablespoon Peanut Butter & Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter

1 low carb high fiber tortilla

1 packet of Splenda (optional)

 Step 2: Spread peanut butter all over tortilla, sprinkle Splenda on top (if using)

 Step 3: Roll up tightly!

 Step 4: Cut up into bite-size pieces

 Step 5: Microwave for 25 seconds (optional, but it makes it ooey and delicious!)

Step 6: Lick excess peanut butter off of tablespoon.  (Doesn't everyone do this? Like my PJs?) 

Close-up of a bite!

Entire roll: 4 PointsPlus

A few SFT "open-a-can" recipes!

Here are a couple of Simply Filling Technique recipes that are almost as easy to make as opening up a can (or two!). As I've mentioned, I absoultely love these "bowl" meals. They are so delicious, and to me, the look gorgeous! Just look at all of these bright colors. :-)

Cous-cous with beans and veggies

Ingredients:

• whole grain cous-cous, cooked (I actually cooked this cous-cous in the microwave!!! Just microwave the water for about 2 minutes, then slowly add cous-cous until you get a desired consistency!)
• 1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can diced spicy tomatoes
• 1 can green beans, drained and rinsed

Rice, beans, and veggies done right!

Ingredients:

• brown rice, cooked
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 can corn kernels, drained and rinsed
• 1 can garlic tomatoes

Because I am now following the Simply Filling Technique, I no longer have to measure the Power Foods. I just eat them to satisfaction!!!

To enjoy these meals, SFT-style, I serve myself a small bowlful at a time, adding a teaspoon of healthy oil on top.

Up next: My First Green Monster! (FYI: It wasn't my last...)

Two more bowl meal ideas...

As you've probably noticed, I love eating these "bowl meals", which means what it says. A meal in a bowl! :-) I eat this almost daily for lunch and dinner recently. There is just so much variety! Usually it is this: 1 cup whole grain, unlimited vegetables, a half cup of beans, and a teaspoon of a healthy oil. Whenever I create one that is particularly delicious and/or pretty, I will take a picture and share! Enjoy two more bowl meal ideas!

Brown Rice, Chickpeas, Frozen Veggies, and EVOO

Ingredients:

2 cups brown rice, cooked

1 cup chickpease, canned, drained and rinsed

1 package frozen mixed veggies (mine had carrots, onions, and peppers), cooked

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

Makes 2 servings, 9 PointsPlus each.

"Chicken" Salad

Ingredients:

2 Morningstar Fames grilled "chicken" patties, cooked and cut up

1 can green beans, drained and rinsed and/or no salt added

2 tablespoons veganeise

1 tablespoon mustard

Makes either 2 servings, 2 PointsPlus each, or 1 serving, 5 PointsPlus each. (I ate it all!!!)

Recipe: Fried Plantain

Fried Plantain!!!

Start with a raw plantain. Yes, it looks like a big banana. No dirty jokes, please! ;-)The second ingredient is canola oil. I thought about using olive oil, but that sounded gross to me. So I found my old stock of canola, which was mostly untouched. Add 1 teaspoon of oil to a skillet. Wait for the oil to boil before adding the plantain.While the oil is heating up, slice up your plantain. It has a thicker skin than a banana, so you may need to cut the ends off first, then slice down the side of the peel before peeling.Cook in the oil, about 3 minutes on each side over medium-high heat. This was seriously the most delicious snack that I have ever cooked myself.

Chik'n Strips recipe!

This is an example of a "thrown together" meal, which I am getting more and more comfortable cooking!

Just look through your freezer and pantry, find some stuff that you think will probably taste good together... and throw it together! This one came out pretty good, so I thought that I would share it here.

I started out with some MorningStar meal starters "chik'n strips", which are the only vegan chicken that I can find in regular supermarkets around here. I found some frozen vegetables, Pictsweet Seasoning Blend in onion and pepper.

I threw these on a skillet together and cooked on medium-high for about 5 minutes. I cooked them in two teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil. But it was still missing something...

I found some DelMonte Italian Herb chunky spaghetti sauce. I poured a half cup of this onto my dish.

It really added something special to it! Plus this can had been in the back on my pantry for years. It would have expired in May, and you know how long it takes canned good to expire!


Add a cup of brown rice, and you're done!

Viola. Done. Entire bowl = 12 PointsPlus

Coming up: My thoughts about Oprah's vegan episode! Stay tuned...

Butter Beans and Barley meal

Here is another meal that I put together quickly, and it tasted so delicious that I had to stop eating, take a picture, and write down the recipe for you.

Butter Beans and Barley

Ingredients, all mixed together in a bowl:
-1 cup barley
-1/2 cup butter beans (canned, drained and rinsed)
-1 can tomatoes, green pepper and onion flavored
-1 teaspoon EVOO

Mix all ingredients together, and enjoy!!! PointsPlus value: 8

Food Pictures!

The responses were pretty much unanimous: You want to see pictures of my food! :-) So, I decided to post the last three delicious meals that I've eaten.

Chocolate Peanut butter and banana toast!

6 PointsPlus

Ingredients:

-2 slices whole wheat bread, toasted
-1 small banana, sliced

-1 tablespoon Peanut Butter & Co. "dark chocolate dreams"

Lunch, bowl-style

10 PointsPlus

Ingredients:

-1 cup leftover brown rice

-1/2 cup bean trio (canned, rinsed and drained)

-1/2 cup corn (canned, NSA)

-salsa, to taste

-1 teaspoon EVOO

Barley, beans, and veggies!!!

8 PoinstPlus

Ingredients:

-1 cup barley (I just found out that I can cook barley in my rice cooker!!!)

-1/2 cup bean trio (leftover from lunch)

-lots of steamed broccoli and carrots

-1 teaspoon EVOO

My easy filling late night snack/meal...

This is an example of an easy, throw-together meal. It may not look pretty, but it was delicious, and I will be eating this again! I created this myself, by the way... I've been inspired to create my own "open a can" recipes by the book PETA's Vegan College Cookbook.
Warning: This one is very spicy!

Black and Green Beans Salsa Surprise

Ingredients:

1) half cup black beans, canned, drained and rinsed

2) can of green bean, drained and rinsed

3) salsa, to taste

4) garlic powder, to taste

Directions:

Mix black and green beans together. Pour salsa over. Stir in some garlic powder. Enjoy!

2 PointsPlus for entire bowl

Snacks for vegan students #1: trail mix

Leah's Super Special Vegan Trail Mix!!!

Perfect for snacking on during class.

Mix the following ingredients in a gallon ziploc bag and shake:

1) 1 cup chocolate cheerios

2) 1 cup wasabi peas

3) 1 cup pretzel sticks (broken in half)

4) 1 cup granola

5) 1 cup raisins

entire bag = 36 PointsPlus. I have been eating 1/4 of the bag at a time, for 9 PointsPlus a serving.

The next time I make this, I am skipping the granola, or using a less point-y one, since that is where the majority of the points came from! But for now, I will continue to enjoy this tasty treat!

Recipe fail: "Open-a-Can Bean Salad"

I have always assumed that if I make a recipe correctly that I will like the taste no matter what. I was wrong! And this recipe makes a huge amount of food, so I will still be eating this, despite not liking it. I'm not sure where I went wrong... But this is the first recipe out of my new favorite book (PETA's Vegan College Cookbook) that failed me.

"Open-a-Can Bean Salad"

Ingredients:

-1 can black beans

-1 can garbanzo beans/chickpeas

-1 can black-eyed peas

-1 can corn

-1 can tomatoes with onion and garlic

-1 teaspoon chives, chopped

-4 oz. Italian dressing

Directions:

Drain and rinse all beans and the corn. Mix all ingredients in one bowl. Makes 4 servings.

Okay... I skipped the chives, but I'm pretty sure that's not why I don't like this. I'm not sure what the problem is, since I love all of these ingredients. Although I had never tried black-eyed peas, so I guess that could be the gross flavor that I don't like. Hmmm...

I have a GIANT bowl of this stuff in my fridge, and I don't like it, but I don't want to waste all of this. So I will try to get creative. Mix some with rice or cous-cous, make a soup with vegetable broth, mix with pasta and ragu. I'm sure that there are ways to save these (usually delicious) beans.

Do you have any other ideas? How do you not waste recipes that you don't like?

***edited to update: I rinsed them off, and it's still disgusting. I think that it's the canned tomatoes that taste bad to me. :-( I will still try to salvage what's left tonight was a soup (mixing half of the beans with a bunch of vegetable broth and pepper) and some pasta (mixing the other half of the beans with pasta and ragu).

I made a smoothie!

...and I liked it.

Ingredients:
-1 ripe banana
-4 strawberries (I left the stems on!)
-handful of baby spinach
-1 clementine
-1/2 cup of orange juice
-3 ice cubes

I put all of these into my Magic Bullet (using the blender top) and it was pretty good. Tasted like a "Naked" juice. Looked kind of like this picture, but with a few more green specks in it. Couldn't taste the spinach. Amazing!

I have also made a few things from the book, "PETA's Vegan College Cookbook" and I'm OBSESSED with this book now. It makes me happy! It gives me the delusion that I am a great cook.

After reading many online reviews about this book, I have found out that many people make fun of it as not being a "real" cookbook. And yes, there are some very simple recipes in it, but that's why I love it!

It doesn't intimidate me like many other vegan cookbooks, like "Veganominicon" which I have picked up in many bookstores, gotten scared, and left behind. So many foreign ingredients!

And yes, I have the same problem with all the recipes in The Kind Diet. Too many expensive ingredients, lots of steps to every recipe, many recipes take hours to make. :-(

Finally, I have found a cookbook that I can commit to, and I really do think that I will be trying most (if not all) 275 recipes in this book. :-)

The best one so far:

Dirty Chick(pea) Cleansing Salad

Ingredients:
-1 15.5 oz. can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
-an apple, cored and diced
-celery, diced

Directions:
-Mix all ingredients together. Eat.

In the book, it calls this 1 serving. I split it into 4 servings, 3 PointsPlus each. Each was a pretty decent sized bowl! I did eat 2 servings at once for lunch once, for 6 PointsPlus. I can only imagine the effects of eating an entire can of chickpeas in one sitting. Perhaps that is why this is a cleansing salad?

I look forward to putting more of these fun recipes into the recipe building on weightwatchers.com and seeing how I can modify either the amount of olive oil (some recipes call for an insane amount!) or the amount of servings.

Seriously? I am a chickpea convert. I now love chickpeas!

Vegan Sugar Cookies!!!

First off, I just wanted to announce that I'm down another pound... and am still on track to losing 50 in 2010!!!

Unfortunately, I ate every single WPA over the weekend. I went out to eat and baked cookies.

Still, I tracked every bite, and am still OP. :-) And, I brought the remaining cookies in to work today, to share.

It was the first attempt to make vegan sugar cookies, because I don't want to be left out of the holiday baking this year. It's a family tradition, decorating sugar cookies the week before Christmas.

(Of course, I will be opting out of the family tradition of gaining 10 pounds every December this year!)

Anyway, I thought that I would try out a new recipe every week until I found the one that tasted the most like Mom's.

I found the perfect recipe the first time around. These taste just like regular sugar cookies!

The frosting, I did badly on, and ended up having WAY TOO MUCH because I added too much soy milk to the mix and had to keep adding sugar and margerine until it got the right consistency again. But it tastes awesome. Here's the recipe:

Vegan Sugar Cookies (makes 25 cookies, approximately 2 points each)

Ingredients:

- 3/4 cup vegan margarine

- 1 cup sugar or granulated sweetener (I used regular white sugar.)

- 2 egg replacer "eggs", prepared (I used Ener-G egg replacer)

- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 2 1/2 cups flour

- 1 teaspoon baking soda

- 1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, cream margarine and sugar together. Blend in egg replacer eggs and vanilla.

Add sifted flour, salt, baking soda. Combine to form a dough.

Cover with plastic wrap and chill about 1-2 hours.

Roll dough to desired thickness, approximately 1/4 inch thick, and use cookie cutters to form shapes. You could also just make these into rounds.

Place cookies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. (I didn't have parchment paper, so I just baked on a greased cookie sheet). Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until just starting to brown. Cool on racks.

Frosting (cookie with frosting will be approximately 3 points)

Ingredients:

-3 tablespoons vegan margarine

- dash of salt

- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

- soy or rice milk (I used soy)

Directions:

- Once cookies are cooled, make the frosting by beating the ingredients until they are fluffy. Add enough rice or soy milk to reach your desired frosting consistency.

source: http://www.vegfamily.com/vegan-recipes/desserts/holiday-sugar-cookies.htm

No chips - Day 4

...and going strong! I have to say that it took a lot of willpower to start this challenge right before a weekend.

Usually one of the rewards that I give myself after a great weigh-in is a bag of light lays. I know, food shouldn't be a reward... but, still, that's what I've been doing.

On Saturday, I stepped on the scale and it said "166.4" which is a new low for me. Yay!!! I'm now offially only 11.4 pounds overweight. That's not very overweight at all. :-)

I am not stopping eating chips because they have hurt me on the scale. No, I was definately getting away with my post-weigh-in chips ritual.

I'm stopping eating chips to prove to myself that I don't need them. There are healthier alternatives to potato chips out there, and I'm using this time to get to know those options better.

You know what I was craving this weekend? Honest to Goddess. Salad. SALAD. So I added lettuce and spinach to my grocery list, and made a big ole' salad when I got home. And it was amazing. And I plan to have another one tonight. Want to know my super-secret zero-point salad dressing recipe? Here it is:

Leah's Super Secret Zero-Point Salad Dressing

- 1 part (this can be a teaspoon, tablespoon, or just eyeball it) lemon juice
- 1 part (ditto) balsamic vinegar
- salt and pepper to taste

Stir and enjoy.

It's amazing!!! Oh, and if I need another healthy oil, I could easily add a teaspoon of EVOO to that, and it would probably taste pretty good, too.

Okay, that's all for today, my beautiful readers. I hope that you are all having awesome days!

Recipe: Tempeh and Vegetables

I have recently become very inspired by another blogger, Bitchcakes. I have a link to her blog under "stuff to check out" to the right, if you are interested! She is a vegan Weight Watcher who recently got to goal. One thing about her journey that particular inspires me is the way that she cooks. She recommendsa kind of cooking for beginners that she calls "throwing things together".

This is my first attempt, and it was quite successful!

Tempeh and Vegetables Dinner

Ingredients:

-1 chopped green chili pepper

-1/2 chopped large red onion

-2 chopped small tomatoes

-1 chopped/ripped up heart of romaine lettuce

-1 package of "Marinated Tempeh in cocunut curry" (shown in picture, bought at Whole Foods)

-some red wine vinegar

-some lime juice

-some salt

-minced garlic (I used the kind that comes minced, in the jar)

Instructions:

Pour some lime juice and some red wine vinegar into a large pot. Turn the heat to medium high. Add chopped red onion and minced garlic. Wait for onion to turn clearish brown and add pepper. Stir, adding more lime juice and a dash or two of salt. Add tomatoes

Meanwhile, on seperate skillet, begin to cook the marinated tempeh. On medium heat for two minutes on each side.

Back to the large pot: Add the heart of romaine lettuce to pot. Stire entire contents. Add some more lime juice and salt. Turn to low heat. Cover for a minute or two, until lettuce looks cooked.

Add the marinated tempeh. Stir all ingredients together in the big pot. Add some more salt to taste.

Makes 2 large servings for 2 points each, or 4 small servings for 1 point each. Or eat the whole darn thing for 4 points if you are super hungry! Lots of food.

If I had had more points available last night, I would have poured this over some brown rice. If I had needed another healthy oil, I could have added that to this, too.

The important thing is that I am learning to trust myself in the kitchen. Thanks, Bitchcakes!