In My Belly

These pics are actually all from this week (since Saturday, I think). Obviously it's not everything I ate but y'know, some of it!

I'm officially obsessed with cacao. I'm a huge dark chocolate fan but hadn't given cacao a real try until recently. Today I got some cacao powder as well so I'm eager to try that! The health benefits are obviously better since cocoa is a processed (which strips nutrients) version of cacao. Have you guys tried it?? It's more bitter but when paired with something sweet, it's so perfect!

Toast with almond butter and homemade fig plum jam. To make the jam I just heated up some plums, figs, water and chia seeds and mashed it all together. haha

Lots of oatmeal this week. To get it thick like this, put it in a food processor/blender and give it a few pulses. Topped with nuts, almond butter, coconut cream, cacao nibs and mulberries.

Orange/ginger/carrot juice and kale chips. My husband is not a fan of kale chips but my dog loves them. haha

Raspberry banana smoothie topped with cacao nibs.

Fresh green juice.

Buddha bowl with quinoa, wild rice lentil mix, sauerkraut, seitan, bell peppers, squash, kale, seaweed, zucchini and homemade ranch. Mmm.

Healthy goji cacao cookies! Of course, I can't remember what recipe I used. Grr. 

Oatmeal with chai seeds, mulberries, figs and raspberries. Coffee with coconut cream (canned coconut milk + Stevia) and cinnamon.  So good.

I gave these veggie burger a try after reading the ingredients list and being impressed! They do have a very "earthy" taste and I preferred them in a salad but they are good! There are lots of other flavours to try. 

Frozen mangoes and frozen bananas topped with unsweetened coconut.

Kale salad with the green hemp veggie patty.

I've been sampling the Aloha packs and really loving them! I will have a review up eventually. You can buy them here.

I actually made this two days in a row. hehe The hummus is just chickpeas, garlic, tahini, hot sauce and a splash of water. Oh and I was watching Ted Talks Chew on Netflix!

In My Belly

I cooked with jackfruit for the first time this week! Oh boy! It makes for some great meat substitutes like pulled pork and tuna salad. Have you tried it? I got mine from Vegan Essentials. It's so fun trying new foods. I'd had jackfruit as a tuna melt sandwich when I was in Sacramento a few months ago and kept hearing about it as a meat alternative so I was happy to finally try it! I already went through my two cans!

Summer weather is definitely here. It hasn't been crazy hot lately, only around 80f but humid! Humid for us anyway. At dinner I don't mind having a hot meal but the rest of the time I've definitely been leaning towards cooling foods. Most of the pics below are dinner or breakfast haha Lunch is often a smoothie and later I'll have leftovers, a salad or a snack like veggies and hummus.

Jackfruit tuna sandwich. Similar to this recipe.

Have you tried these? Husband and I tried these ones as well as the sweet potato ones and really enjoyed both. You can find them at Target!

Husband and I got together with some family for a BBQ. I brought watermelon and veggie burgers. His aunt made the salad and put the cheese on the side for us. I so appreciate when people make that effort!

Pulled "pork" jackfruit! I totally cheated and bought a pulled pork sauce from Target haha I cooked up some onions and garlic then added the jackfruit and sauce. I baked it all to get it a little crispier.

So, the other day we were low on groceries and I was feeling pretty uninspired by my breakfast options so I decided to pull out a very old box of Cream of Wheat haha It's not a particularly healthy dish but it sure brought me back to my childhood.

Homemade granola. A really simple way to make it is just to combine dates, banana and spices in your blender or food mixer. Then add that to your oats and other dry ingredients. It sweetens it and helps it stick together! It helps to cook the dates in a bit of water first. You can add the date water to the mix as well.

Bowls like these are a common ocurrance in this house hold. They're just so easy and you can add a lot of nutrients. I do a grain, protein, seaweed, sauerkraut, veggies and sauce.

CSA delivery! I added on the oranges.

TVP chili. Recipe here. Next time I'll do less TVP and more meat. It was good though! I topped it with unsweetened plain coconut yogurt which is a great replacement for sour cream. I know there are vegan sour creams but this is just healthier. I grew up using yogurt instead of sour cream so it feels normal to me :P

Tofu scramble (the only way I really cook tofu these days, I've noticed), toast with hummus and homemade hashbrowns.

I'm still  loving smoothie bowls for breakfast. I think this was frozen banana and pineapple, maca powder and matcha green tea powder.

Another bowl! This one has some seitan in it. I'm loving seitan and tempeh lately.

A very green smoothie bowl! I probably added spinach to it.

CSA last week. I added on the blueberries. I should have gotten more!