"Beefless" Kabobs

I made these for the first time last week, but since I made them AGAIN tonight I thought I'd finally post them!

As you can imagine, these are not really made with beef! They're Gardein vegan "beefless" tips, and they are probably my favorite product from them! They just have a great flavor, and with the sunny weather we're doing a lot of grilling lately, so I thought "Hey, these would be great on a kabob!" They seriously rock!



I put the beefless tips into a bowl and seasoned them with Bragg Liquid Aminos (similar to soy sauce, but with less sodium) and some garlic powder, and pepper and then cooked them in a pan with some olive oil according to the directions on the package. Then I put them on skewers with some veggies and tossed them on the grill. Since they are already cooked you're just cooking the veggies and getting that grill flavor on the beefless tips.

We served some grilled asparagus and corn on the cob on the side. With corn in season, we're having it just about every day (or at least every day that we grill). LOVE some grilled corn!

Veggie Turmeric Quinoa

This is yet another Beauty Detox Solution recipe! I've been wanting to try this for a while, but I keep forgetting to buy quinoa since I have never bought or eaten it before. Well, until tonight, that is!

This is so easy to make that I'm not even going to go get the book to tell you the recipe. : )

Start by soaking the quinoa for 24 hours, and then rinsing well. Cook the quinoa by boiling the water, mixing in the quinoa and reducing to let it simmer and soak up all the liquid. Or you can walk away and forget it and let it keep boiling like I did. Still turned out fine! LOL!

Then heat a little coconut oil in a skillet and saute a small diced onion. Add seasoning (sea salt, curry, turmeric - I also added pepper, Adobo and coriander). I then tossed in some chopped cauliflower, fresh corn off the cob, and diced red bell pepper. Then I probably put a pound more curry and the other seasonings on it and continued to cook and let everything mix together. After the veggies are cooked, add the quinoa in and mix it all well. We topped with fresh parsley, but I thought it took away from the other flavors. Matt liked the cauliflower, but I thought it would be better without it. Then again, I'm not a fan of cauliflower!

Oh... I also added some fresh squeezed lemon over the whole thing before serving. I think this really added to the flavor. Lime may have tasted even better.

This is a tasty, quick meal. If you don't walk away from the quinoa while it's cooking you can chop up all your veggies and get those started and probably cook this in under 20 minutes.

This makes it all worthwhile!

God is good! My hubby went to the doctor today and received some great news. Since we started our lifestyle change and have cut out meat and dairy from our diet, Matt's cholesterol has gone down 100 points!! It was dangerously high before, and now it's at a healthy level. But 100 points in just a matter of a few months by nourishing our bodies with the right food is just amazing to me! He has also lost 25lbs (I've lost 15lbs, but he works out more than I do). : )

People always look at us like we're crazy when they hear that we don't eat meat, and now I have some concrete facts that support that the lifestyle we have chosen is making a positive difference in our lives! We're done traveling (at least for the rest of this month) so I'm going to be trying out some new recipes this week. Can't wait to share them!

Orange Chik'n with Kale and Brown Rice

I like Gardein products, so I was thrilled when I found their Crispy Chik'n at Whole Foods. I'd never seen that one before, AND they were on sale, so I stocked up! The Crispy Chik'n comes with a mandarin orange sauce, but I made my own sauce since I had oranges that needed to be used.

The recipe comes from 101 Cookbooks. The recipe is for orange pan glazed tempeh, though I made this sauce with tofu before and fell in love. It's easy to make and delicious (and probably much healthier than Chinese take out!).

The recipe below is the one from 101 Cookbooks, but since I never make anything exactly as the recipe says I thought I should make some notes. I didn't have tamari or soy sauce, so I used Bragg Liquid Aminos (another soy based sauce that is lower in sodium). I didn't have lime, so I used lemon. And I didn't have any cilantro (or ANY fresh herbs) so I used some dried parsley. I also didn't have maple syrup, so I used honey. Personally, I think some green onions would have been nice on here. Oh, and definitely scoop some sauce onto the brown rice. I can't get enough of it!! Another thing... I chopped up the ginger and just tossed it all in instead of squeezing the juice out.

Orange Sauce
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (3-4 large juicy oranges)
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
2 teaspoons tamari (or soy sauce)
1 1/2 tablespoons mirin
2 teaspoons maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
2 small garlic cloves, crushed
roughly 10 ounces of tempeh (or extra-firm tofu)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 lime
a handful of cilantro (coriander) leaves

Put the orange juice in a small bowl. Squeeze the grated ginger over the bowl to extract the juices, then discard the pulp. Add the tamari, mirin, and maple syrup, ground coriander, and garlic. Mix together and set aside.

After you cook your tempeh, tofu, or in this case crispy chik'n, remove the protein from the pan and add the orange sauce mixture and simmer for about 10 minutes. You want to get it to reduce to a glaze. Once I noticed that the bottom of the sauce was thickening, I added the chik'n and that helped it glaze up nicely. Just thinking about it is making me crave it! It's absolutely delicious, and you'll be surprised to find just how easy it is!

Raw Cacao Truffles

I made this sweet treat a few weeks ago but never got around to blogging about it. I didn't make the recipe exactly like this. I had macadamia nuts, so I used those instead of almonds. I also had carob powder so I used that instead of cacao powder. I didn't have dates, but I had raisins. And instead of maple syrup I use raw honey. I'm guessing that it would have been better with the right ingredients because I prefer all of those to what I had, but it still turned out pretty good. Matt didn't like it as much as I did, but I thought it was a nice treat that I didn't have to feel guilty about!



This recipe came from The Beauty Detox Solution:

Ingredients
2 cups ground raw almonds
3/4 cup raw cacao powder
6 dates, pitted
1/2 cup raisins
1 tbs coconut oil
pinch of sea salt
3 tbs cold, filtered water

Optional - 1 cup shredded coconut flakes and 3 tbs maple syrup


The recipe recommends soaking the almonds for 24 hours, rinsing and drying them in a dehydrator. I didn't do all that because 1) it was a last minute decision because I was craving a treat and 2) I don't have a dehydrator.

Grind up everything in the food processor (adding water last and only as much as you need). Roll the mix into a ball and roll the truffle in the coconut. Allow to harden for at least 2 hours.

Lesson Learned

This past weekend was a serious test for us, and I have to say we failed miserably! We went to visit our friends in Charlotte and totally indulged in just about everything that was put in front of us. I even had a small meat taco (I blame it on all the wine lol). Cupcakes. More wine. More cupcakes. I'm not even a big fan of cupcakes (too much sugar makes me feel icky), but if you put it in front of me I'm going to eat it. Then later I will regret it. Every day I made poor choices, and every night I felt terrible (physically and mentally) for doing it. Yet I did it again the next day.

My punishment... I gained almost 8lbs! In one weekend! My friend asked if I had a good time, and I said yes, but man I am paying for that good time now!

But also my friend pointed out that the weight I gained is a good reason to get back on track. And I have to agree! I'm glad that we did it. I know now that if I don't have a plan for food when I'm traveling or visiting with friends I'm going to just eat whatever I am offered. I also know that you can gain weight VERY easily. In fact, I told Matt that I thought I gained about 8lbs after our weekend. When we got home, I jumped on the scale and told him yep, I was about right. I don't think he believed me until he jumped on the scale and found he had gained 6-7lbs!

Fortunately, I've already shed about 6lbs back off. We've been eating really light. Dinner has been salads full of fresh ingredients and homemade dressing (made with little or no oil). I did a pretty intense workout the night we got home (cardio and toning) and today I did some more toning. I think every part of my body hurts! Figures that the ONE week I don't schedule an appointment with our chiropractor is the week that I really need it! I tried to stretch a lot today but there are places that hurt that I didn't even know existed! LOL!

I hope that Matt and I have learned something from this weekend. If we are going to be strong about our choice to live a better lifestyle then we're going to have to support each other! One of us has to say to put the cupcake down! : )