I don’t know about you, but as an aspiring vegan, I find my biggest obstacle is my tongue. Even though I’ve gradually been expanding the limits of my gustatory tolerance (or in plain English, what I’m willing to eat), I’m still finding that I revert back to eating what tastes best to me and is easy to grab.

Granted, with a newborn around, the abundance of culinary adventures has dropped off slightly (read: plummeted) in the past few months. Unfortunately, when Simple and Quick reigns supreme, Healthy often takes a dive. So, to find something that’s simple, quick, tasty AND healthy is quite the grand triumph. Here, a recipe my husband created – I give you:

(Ta-da!) the Vegan Pineapple Upside-down Smoothie

A word before we begin – don’t try to do this in a smoothie maker. The blades don’t spin fast enough to pulverize the nuts, and you’ll end up with a lumpy rattling watery Undrinkable. A proper blender is the only thing for it.

Into the Blender: (does that sound like a book title to you?)

1/2 Cup pistachios (unsalted nutmeats)

1 to 1 1/2 Cup pineapple chunks (fresh is best)

1/2 to 3/4 Cup coconut milk (preferably not from a can, as can linings tend to contain BPA)

1 Tbsp hemp hearts (shelled hempseed – see end of article for substitute suggestions)

3/4 to 1 1/2 Cup water (start low and add more for consistency as you blend)

Procedure: Blend it up, then live it up.

How can something so healthy taste so much like dessert? I’m guessing it’s the combo of natural fruit sugar and good fats from the pistachios and coconut. (For those who haven’t been updated about “good” saturated fats versus “bad”, coconut fat is Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCTs) or Medium Chain Fatty Acids (MCFAs), which encourage the body to burn fat rather than store it.)

Fresh out of hemp hearts?

You might leave them out altogether. Or substitute flax seeds, sesame seeds, any other seed that appeals, maybe psyllium husks or soy powder? I haven’t tried any of these, so I’m not sure how they’ll affect the flavor, but experimenting is half the fun of food preparation!

I made these for my mom on Mother’s Day – I think she liked how quick and simple they were compared to the meat-filled ones she loves but doesn’t make often due to the time and involvement.

Tasty and healthy enchiladas in 30-40 minutes? Yes, please!

4 Tbsp. olive oil

2 15oz. cans black beans

8-12 oz. sliced mushrooms (omit or substitute another ingredient if you’re not a mushroom fan)

6oz can pitted olives (sliced, or buy sliced olives)

1 1/2  tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. cumin

1 28oz. can enchilada sauce (Colorado red chile sauce)

4 Cups cheese (cheddar, jack, pepperjack, or blend)

14? corn tortillas

In large pan, heat oil, beans, mushrooms, olives and spices on med-low to med.

When mushrooms have cooked down (about 10 minutes), stir in 1/4 of the enchilada sauce and 1/4 to 1/3 of the cheese.

Warm the tortillas or dip them in sauce to keep them from cracking as you work. (If you choose to warm them, pour another 1/4 of the enchilada sauce into the pan or pans first – use glass baking pans.) Spoon in the filling and roll them up, stacking closely in the pans.

Top with remaining sauce, then remaining cheese. Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes.

From cupboard to table in less than 30 minutes, about 5 minutes of which actually require you to work with the food

Preheat oven to 300 F. (275 F for convection oven)

Crush 4 or 5 oz of tortilla, corn, or nacho cheese flavored chips in an ungreased 8 x 8 square glass baking pan.

Pop open a can of your favorite chili and dump it over the chip layer. (Something with both meat and beans works best. I like Trader Joe’s Turkey Chili.)

Sprinkle 3 or 4 oz of shredded cheese over the top.  (I like a blend of cheddar and jack.)

Pop the pan in the oven to melt the cheese, 15-20 minutes regular oven, or 12-16 minutes convection.

3/4 to 1 cup milk

1/2 cup strawberries (using frozen will make the shake thicker)

2 tablespoons vanilla yogurt (I use Zoi greek yogurt)

1 cup strawberry ice cream (I like Breyers, or Dreyer’s Grand because they’re natural and lower in fat)

1 graham cracker sheet (I like Trader Joe’s Honey Graham Crackers)

 

Blend milk and strawberries first, starting with 3/4 cup milk and adding more if shake is too thick. When desired consistency is achieved, add yogurt, ice cream and graham cracker. Blend until smooth, adding milk if shake is too thick to blend (or thicker than you like); now have a taste. If you want a bit more cheesecake flavor, add another tablespoon of yogurt and blend.

Options:

- Obviously, if you don’t like cheesecake at all, you can leave out the yogurt altogether and just make it a Strawberry Cream Pie shake.

- For a Strawberry Banana Cheesecake Shake, use banana instead of the strawberries.

- For a boost of fiber you won’t notice in the taste or texture, add some Benefiber.

- And of course, for something creamier and sweeter, you can add some extra ice cream. Just know you might have to add more milk in order to get it to blend!

Take one regular box of macaroni and cheese and prepare it mostly to the directions, except when you cook the noodles, use garlic salt and a shake or two of celery seed in the cooking water, remembering not to rinse after you drain the cooked noodles.

Use 2 Tbsp butter and 3 oz of milk (which is 3/8 of a cup – and I used 1%)
add 1 Tbsp. nacho cheese dip (I like it very mild)
2-3oz of real cheese (I did a blend of cheddar, jack, mozzarella and parm-romano)
and a drop or two of liquid smoke.

If you want it spicier, you can use more nacho dip and adjust the milk or butter to desired creaminess, or slice in some jalapenos.

6 large or 5 extra-large eggs
1 Cup milk
6 oz cheese (I did cheddar, mozz and parm)
few shakes each of salt, pepper, paprika and onion powder
a couple drops of liquid smoke (don’t overdo it) or 3-6 crumbled bacon slices
Spray an 8×8 glass pan or 9″ pie pan
375F for 40 min

This is kinda like pina colada, but with a twist.

1/2 C vanilla yogurt

1/2 C coconut milk

1/2 C fruit punch

1/2 C frozen mango

1/2 C frozen pineapple

1/4 C frozen blueberries

optional: throw in a few scoops of protein powder, fiber booster, wheat germ etc.

Dump it all in the blender, blend ’til smooth, and try not to get an ice cream headache if you’re prone to those.

I made some awesome s’mores a few days ago – to re-create:

- Put one Nestle’s Wonka chocolate square on a graham cracker square (half a cracker sheet) and microwave for several seconds.

- When the chocolate is melty enough, spread it around to the edges, then put a large Caramel & Vanilla marshmallow on top.

- Microwave until the marshmallow puffs up to twice its size, then remove from microwave.

- Top with the other half of the graham cracker sheet, then munch.

The reason I wait until after to top the sandwich is, if you put the square on top of the marshmallow and THEN microwave it, it falls to one side because the marshmallow puffs irregularly. It’s just easier to do it that way, and the bottom cracker doesn’t pick up that much heat anyway.

This is one of those funny, fill-in-the-blanks, about-me questionnaires that I picked up on Facebook.  I’m a fan of Led Zeppelin but haven’t much knowledge of song titles and all, so I had to go Google their discography. Thank goodness they’re prolific, and I had plenty of awesome titles to choose from, resulting in several perfect fits.

~~~From my Facebook profile~~~

I actually found a few different options for some of these questions… so I couldn’t resist, and included them all, with some explanatory comments.

Rules: Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. Pass it on to at least 15 people and include me. You can’t use the band I used. Try not to repeat a song title. It’s a lot harder than you think! Repost as “my life according to (band name)”

My Life According to Led Zeppelin

Are you a male or female: Living Loving Maid
Describe Yourself: Whole Lotta Love
How do you feel: Dazed And Confused (I had an appointment for next week to get tested for ADD, but they bumped it way back to January )
Describe where you currently live: (1) Houses Of The Holy, (2) In the Light
If you could go anywhere, where would you go: Over the Hills and Far Away (I love travel of any kind – I’m not particular about where)
Your favorite form of transportation: Night Flight (I actually do prefer night, when there’s fewer people)
Your best friend is: (1) Friends, (2) Thank You, (3) Ramble On (Jamie will laugh, cuz it’s true)
What is life to you: Stairway To Heaven (This actually hit the nail on the head.)
Your fear: (1) Sick Again, (2) Ozone Baby, (3) Communication Breakdown, (4) No Quarter (1 & 2 being health issues, and 3 & 4 being people who don’t understand me and don’t want to try)
What is the best advice you have to give: Nobody’s Fault But Mine (If your life sucks, then you did something wrong – Could either be how you reacted, or the fact that you reacted instead of acted)
How I would like to die: In My Time Of Dying (I’d really like to live to 100 – in good health – then be “twinkled”.)
My Motto: (1) Boogie With Stu, (2)  Hey Hey What Can I Do. (I like to dance, and I like to be helpful.)

Some of the best-kept secrets to battling the bulge: Protein, Fiber, and good old-fashioned nature-made nutraceuticals.  Nutra-what? Micronutrients (vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, enzymes and other substances in food) can have just as much impact on your health as pharmaceutical drugs.

Protein and fiber are powerful, because they help you to feel full even when you cut back calories. They also balance the release of carbs into the blood stream as sugar, which affects some of your bodily hormone balances… so not only micronutrients, but macronutrients can act like a drug.

So, everyone knows how to manipulate their macronutrient intake – or in other words, calorie intake. But how do you get more of those micronutrients? Switch from processed foods to whole, REAL foods.

The reason is, when you feed your body junk and empty processed nutrient-stripped calories, it knows it hasn’t gotten the good stuff it needs, so you get hungry right away. Your body will happily pack away any extra calories in case it wants to burn them later… and then it will ask you to eat more, in an attempt to get the micronutrients you didn’t get from that processed convenience food! And if what you ate was sugary, it interferes with the “I’m-full” hormone, leptin – so you overeat even more.

There are so many choices to help you switch from low-nutrient, calorie-packed foods to their opposite…

First, here are some foods that you could practically binge on without gaining weight: apples, beans, bell peppers (especially orange ones), berries (like cherries, açaí, or blueberries, fresh or frozen), broccoli, cinnamon, garlic, kiwi, oats/oatmeal, onions, oranges, pomegranates, pumpkin, soy, spinach, sweet potatoes, tomatoes. Berries are not only high in antioxidants, but fiber as well.

Some other foods that are nutritional power foods you can enjoy in moderation: avocado, bananas, dark chocolate, dried berries or apricots or figs, extra virgin olive oil, honey, low-fat or fat-free yogurt, turkey, peanuts or walnuts, wild salmon. Just take note of your fat or sugar intake with these foods.

But you could probably still eat a lot of these and not gain much weight.

Last, but not least diet-wise, plan to splurge. Cut yourself some indulging opportunities and DO NOT feel guilty. Just think a little bit ahead to that party or that holiday table and save aside a few calories from earlier meals in the day (or even in the week, depending on how much feasting you want to enjoy). And if you slip up here and there, don’t waste emotional energy beating yourself up, when you could be focusing on what you’ll do to recover and avoid the same mistakes next time!