zucchini diet

I got a whole boat load of zucchini from my farm share this past week, so yesterday I spent all day in the kitchen determined to use it up. And I made a few other things.
-zucchini bread from the New Soul Vegetarian Cookbook, made with whole wheat flour and turbinado sugar (per the recipe) and I cut the oil in half and made up for it with apple sauce. It turned out really well.
-stuffed zucchini with corn and dill (both also from farm share) from Vegan Planet. It had a good flavor, but didn't hold up very well, especially since I dropped the tupperware holding it...
-black beans and brown rice mix with leftover stuffing from stuffed zucchini.
-brown rice pizza from Vive le Vegan where you smush sticky brown rice into a spring form pan and bake it for a bit, then treat it like a pizza crust and top it. I topped with a homemade kale and hoisin tomato sauce, roasted zukes and peppers, olive, and some veggie parm.
-tofu quiche from the Fat Free Vegan Kitchen blog with zucchini, (farm share) onions and red peppers.
-olive and walnut tapenade recipe from Vive le Vegan. It's pretty good, but I think I'd like any tapenade because I love olives.
-vegan pâté from How It All Vegan. I was surprised by how delicious it is. I think it's the first recipe I've made from this book where I was really shocked by how good it was.

I was so motivated by all the healthy food I made, that I decided to be extra healthy and get up early this morning to do a 7am spinning class. I was sleeping during the class, but I'm feeling good now.

Food log:

Pre-spin class snack: two smallish zucchini bread muffins.

Breakfast: zucchini tofu quiches and a grapefruit.

Lunch: brown rice pizza and a lemon Larabar.

Late afternoon snack: stuffed zucchini, pâté maybe on a pilfered piece of bread from the work fridge (was going to buy crackers but left wallet at home) and a green apple.

Late dinner: I'm thinking beans and rice with some steamed broccoli and sautéed Soyboy smoked tofu (really yummy in small doses) and a low carb tortilla/wrap thing.

Thinking about food

So since I started reading "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" I've been trying to be more conscious of what I'm eating. I'm really trying to enjoy the complex tastes of all my foods and the time and care that goes into making them. This is good because this sort of automatically means that I'm cooking and eating healthier and eating less. I think when I'm done with it I'm going to do another go-over of the BDS book and remind myself of all the things I learned in it with the additional perspective of this new book.

Food log:

Breakfast yesterday: half of an everything bagel with veggie cream cheese, arugula, tomato, cuke and red onion and a banana.

Snack: four leftover falafel balls with cuke-dill-yogurt sauce, hummus and hot sauce.

Lunch: other half of bagel sandwich and a salad of raw baby zukes, cukes, radishes, red onion, adobo seasoning and fresh pepper.

Dinner: breaded and baked buffalo tofu, breaded and baked okra, twice baked potatoes with non-hydrog Tofutti sour cream and chives. This was a really comforting and really yummy dinner. I have a picture on my camera of it that I will upload soon.

Dessert: peanut butter cream cheese brownies from this blog: www.cozyinside.blogspot.com not the mostly healthy things ever, but maybe the most delicious things ever.

Breakfast today: half of everything bagel with tofu cream cheese, sundried tomatoes and red onion and half of a grapefruit.

Snack: other half of grapefruit.

Lunch: leftovers from dinner last night and some brownie with vanilla almond milk.

Snack: Larabar and a banana

Dinner: I'll be getting home later so I think I'm going to have a leftover twice baked potato and sautee up whatever veggies I have on hand for a quick and healthy dinner while making cupcakes for work tomorrow.

I've started reading "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver and its' getting be back into focusing on my food and really enjoy and appreciate what I'm eating. I think this will help me get back into a BDS state of mind. If I love my food more, I'll eat healthier and less of it, like the French and Italians.

Some recent food pics:

A pretty salad Nick made for me with mixed greens, blueberries and homemade spicy candied walnuts (plus a shot of the apple bran muffins he made in the top left corner).

Fajitas with (I think) grilled onions, zucchini and kohlrabi and avocado, salsa, Tofutti sour cream on a low carb wrap.
Bowl with brown rice mixed with salsa verde, refried beans mixed with hot tomato salsa, melted FYH jack, Tofutti sour cream and avocado. Yummy and simple. All leftovers.
Dinner last night was homemade (from a box) falafel with mixed greens and radish salad, yogurt dill cucumber sauce, tomatoes and red onions, chopped up cornichon, baba ghanoush and low carb wraps. Really yummy and complete one dish meal.

Food log:

Breakfast: leftover pasta with sundried toms, tempeh, Soy Garden and veggie parm and a grapefruit.

Late morning snack: odwalla bar.

Lunch: leftover falafel fixings minus the low carb tortilla. I'm just going to eat it as a salad.

Dinner: picnic while watching the NY Philharmonic as Prospect Park. I think I'll get some take-out burritos for me and Nick.

Back on track!

I need to get back on track! I've been getting really busy at work, so I haven't had as much time to blog during work, and I try to spend as much time out of work away from a computer. But because of the lack of blogging and diet tracking, I'm gaining some weight back. I need to make time to think more about my eating and read more of the BDS book, but it's hard when any spare time I might have I just want to sit on my couch with my kitties and watch a movie.

So shortly after I stopped blogging, about 2 weeks ago, I decided I wanted to train for a running/biking duathlon. I've never been a runner ever. So I started doing things like going to the gym before work and running two miles or sometimes running a mile after a spinning class. After a week and a half of this, it was made clear to me I was doing way too much too soon and my knees were mad at me for it. Bad knees run in the family and I need to take it especially slow if I want to be able to run. I took some time off from running, but was still doing spinning and other stuff. The knee ache was lessening, but not entirely gone. I thought I might be able to do some gentle jogs this week. Then last night during kickball I collided with another player and was thrown to the ground with the immediately noticable injuries of a scraped up back and a bumped up head. When I woke up in the middle of the night, I noticed my left knee was not feeling okay either. This is really frustrating. Deciding to do a short duathlon really gave me a focus with my exercise. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to do one, but if I can, probably not anytime soon. Maybe aim for next spring? I hope so.

Food log:

Breakfast: one flax waffle with Soy Garden and maple syrup, a kiwi and a cup of tea.

Lunch: sauteed swiss chard, bok choy and zucchini mixed up with some non-hydrog Tofutti sour cream and salsa on a low-carb (but yummy I swear) tortilla. Homemade baklava for dessert, too much sugar and Soy Garden, but made with whole wheat filo so it's ever so slightly healthier. And I only brought myself a small amount to work to control myself, which is difficult to do around large amount of baklava.

Snack: whole wheat pasta with some Soy Garden, veggie parm, sundried tomatoes, balsamic-soy tempeh and lots of fresh ground pepper.

Dinner: I have no idea yet. I want to use up more stuff from the fridge and freezer before I do a shopping next, so I think what I make will be determined by what calls to me when I open up the fridge and freezer and stare.

Dessert: probably more baklava, but hopefully not too much!