Eggplant Chips + WIAW

April 24, 2013 By Laura

Life gets busy.

I know this isn’t news to any of you, but it’s hitting me hard this week.

I’m 10 days out from my next figure competition. The asparagus (click here for the reason behind that) begins this weekend. I’m thinking next Friday’s #strangebutgood link up will take a twist as my diet gets to the most strict point… not-so-strange but good, anyone?

Balancing work with the competition preparation is not easy. In addition to my 7 meals and regular workouts, I’m running sprints every day. It’s a lot of fit in, especially since I dislike working out at night. I’m TIRED. Cutting a good amount of carbs and basically all sodium and fat leaves my energy level a bit low.

But I’m focusing on May 4th (competition day) and staying motivated. I don’t want to get on stage and have any regrets!

I’ve been taking a couple of products I received from GNC through a FitFluentiual campaign that have helped me maintain my level of activity: Ultra 25 Probiotic Complex and TriFlex.

The probiotics (said to replenish good bacteria needed for digestion) made a BIG difference. Those 25 billion active cultures kept my gut healthy (translation: I have no problem going #2). This make me happy and had prevented bloating! This particular pill also has “enzymes and ginger for additional digestion support.”

The TriFlex I think I need to take longer to say 100% whether it’s made a difference. It is supposed to “promote joint mobility & flexibility” and contains Glucosamine, Chondroitin, and MSM – all of which are great for joint health. I have been taking it regularly. That, in addition to seeing a new chiropractor, I *believe* have kept my joints are feeling good despite some crazy workouts!

My WIAW meals were still pretty good, despite and lack of yummy, yummy fat. Mmmmm… peanut butter… I digress.

Check out my 7 low-fat, low-sodium, protein-laced meals below, and then click here to head over to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons to get to see how more normal people are eating!

Meal 1:

My day began with my morning cocktail (apple cider vinegar, water, and Aminos), as always.

I was going to go ahead and run sprints before breakfast, but my metabolism is out of control lately… I am STARVING all the time. Breakfast had to happen before I entertained the idea of working out. I wanted everything at once… so I had it! It was PB&J-ish… with a coffee flair! After adding baking powder to my Mango-Coconut TVP Oats, I’m hooked. I used it again here for an especially voluminious bowl.

PB & Raspberry TVP Oatmeal

1/3 C Textured Vegetable Protein
1 T oatmeal
1 tsp coffee
3/4 C water
2 T peanut flour
1 tsp ground flax
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp butter extract
1/4 tsp maple extract
5-6 drops liquid stevia
Raspberries

Bring TVP, oats, coffee, and water to a boil. Cook until liquid is mostly absorbed. Add in remaining ingredients, adding additional water if needed.

Allow to simmer until water is absorbed and your TVP oats reach your desired level of thickness.

Note: I add 1/2 the berries at the end of cooking and use the other half to top because I can never decide if I like them better cooked or as a topping.

Meal 2:

First, I ran my sprints like a good kid. Then I put a Mexican Sweet Potato Pie in the oven to bake. It only made me wish I made a second one for myself. This was to take to a good friend who is a new mom!

Finally, it was food time. And my continued bison obsession. As part of my Sunday food prep, I made up several burgers to be able to grab quickly.

I ate this one atop a spinach, heirloom tomato and cilantro salad. With red pepper flakes, obv.

Meal 3:

Lunch was my current favorite – sea bass. This is even better than swordfish right now… and that’s a big thing for me to say since I consider swordfish the “steak of the sea.”

Eaten post-workout with a giant mound of lightly sautéed kale and a super-fast sweet potato and shiitakes with rosemary and garlic.

Meal 4:

Clean chicken salad made from the “naked” (nothing added) Whole Foods rotisserie chicken, a little Greek yogurt, vinegar, cumin, and diced cucumber.

Meal 5:

I couldn’t totally cheat on my favorite fish. Steak of the Sea for dinner (swordfish)! Served with my BBQ Roasted Cauliflower and eggplant chips.

Evey time I post eggplant chips on Instagram, I always get a billion questions about how to make them. It’s the easiest thing ever, so I felt silly blogging it… but even simple meals can count a recipes, right? The “secret” is at the bottom of this post. 🙂

Meal 6:

This was a hodge-podge. I had a little chicken left and a little Monchong (fish) from last night. So I made a combo to get my protein in. I had celery sticks and sugar peas on the side. I adore sugar peas – the dessert of vegetables!

Meal 7:

My favorite meal of the day is desert. I took some non-fat Greek yogurt and mixed it with cocoa powder, cinnamon, vanilla, and a little stevia. Then I melted some frozen cherries in the microwave with some ginger so my “sauce.” Then I topped all that with homemade popcorn and more cinnamon. Paradise.

Eggplant Chips

1 eggplant
Olive oil spray
Optional toppings: onion, garlic, nutritional yeast, herbs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut eggplant into thin slices (~1/8 in thick). Spray with olive oil and spread evenly across a foil-lined baking sheet.

Place in over and bake ~10 mins. Remove from oven, flip slices, and top as desired. Return to over for another 5 mins, or until crisp.

Note: These can be stored in the fridge – simply place them in the oven under broil for 2-3 mins to crisp back up.

I’m linking these up to Heather’s MMAZ – check out all the eggplant love!

***

Protein count for the day: 163g

What was the best thing you ate yesterday?

What keeps you motived when you’re tired/busy/etc?

Blood Orange Avocado Scones

April 1, 2013 By Laura

Baking is one of my favorite things to do.

Any opportunity to create something #strangebugood!

This marks the start of round 2 of Heather’s MMAZ link up. She changed up the format, making week 1 a creation opportunity and week 2 a time experiment with someone’s recipe from week 1. I love the new twist!!!

Today we start with A. A is for Avocado.

Baking with avocado may seem odd, but no, this isn’t an April Fool’s joke. Don’t be scared – #strangebutgood flavor twists are fun!

Avocados add an incredible texture to baked goods. A little silky, a little rich, it takes this slightly sweet, crumbly scone to a new level. You don’t taste it in the least! Avocados are also a great, healthy option to replace fats in sweets. It makes creating a vegan recipe even easier, as you can use them to replace butter or other animal fats.

My favorite part about these scones is the bright citrus from the blood orange. They are is season right now and not to be missed. Blood oranges are less sweet than a navel, but are more complex. They also have more Iron than a regular orange. An orange amplified, if you will. That said, you could sub in a regular orange and be just fine.

Using a mix of almond meal and chickpea flour, I also made these scones gluten-free! The chickpea flour leaves just a hint of nuttiness, which perfectly compliments the almond meal. These two flours also provide a TON of protein. Each scone has almost 8 grams!

If you don’t have chickpea flour, you could sub in brown rice flour or another gluten-free flour. If you don’t care about the gluten free feature, you can use whole wheat pastry flour; however, you should also leave out the vinegar and xantham if you do so.

I’m also linking these up to Katie’s Marvelous Monday… because how is starting out the week with a homemade scone and coffee not marvelous?

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Blood Orange Avocado Scones

1 C almond meal
1 C chickpea flour
1/3 C tagatose (or other sweetener)
1 tsp no-sodium baking powder
1 tsp xantham gum
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Zest of 1 blood orange
3 T unsweetened almond milk
Juice from 1/2 blood orange
6 T (2 oz) avocado
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp butter vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper dusted with GF or rice flour.

In a medium bowl whisk together dry ingredients and zest.

Place milk, avocado, vinegar, and extract blender or mini food processor. Purée until well-combined. Add purée to flour mixture.

Combine with a spoon and then fold together with your hands to form a ball. Dough will be sticky at first but will come together.

Move dough to cookie sheet and flatten into a 1 inch thick disk. Cut disk into 6 pieces with a sharp knife. Do not separate.

Bake for about 15 minutes, until lightly browned.

Note: I baked these in a convection oven. I’ve adjusted the instructions for a regular bake, but if the middle doesn’t cook as well, pull the scones apart and bake an additional 3-5 mins.

Approximate nutritionals: 198 calories, 11.8g fat, 14.7mg sodium, 23.1 carbohydrates, 4.4g fiber, 2.9g sugar, 7.7g protein.

***

Quick weekend highlight reel: I took a “Rockstar Yoga” class with 150 people, PR’d standing lunges and front squats with 135lbs, learned how to wear a corset, and got a cat. None of this is an April Fool’s joke.

Have you ever baked with avocado? ~~Do you think I’m nuts?~~

What is on your weekend highlight reel?

Brown Beer Hummus

February 25, 2013 By Laura

I make a lot of strange stuff.

Relatively speaking – I think it’s totally normal! 🙂

I must confess that there ARE certain things that intimidate me. Heather’s Meatless Monday A-Z ingredient this week one of them. Yeast. I am inexplicably intimidated by the thought of using yeast to make bread. Bread seems so complex to me! It’s only a few ingredients, I know.

For this week’s recipe I decided to be sneaky with the ingredient and use beer. Beer has yeast. It counts, right?

This was actually created for another reason: I had an Oscar party! I wanted to have food in the theme of the movies this year, and this killed two bird with one stone. Hummus for the Middle Eastern-set Argo and Zero Dark 30, and beer for the tailgate theme of Silver Linings playbook!

What resulted was a funky hummus, with the nutty tahini and cumin flavors we all love, combined with hoppy, brown sweetness from the beer.

The beer I used is a limited release. Laguanitas came out with a seasonal beer – Brown Shugga’ – a few years ago and apparently it was SO good that when they didn’t bring it back the following year due to capacity issues people were outraged. Laguinatas Sucks is their apology.

It’s awesome. It says brown shugga,’ but it has notes of citrus and pine that make for a really interesting marriage of flavors with the more tadtiional lemon and tahini in the hummus.

Brown Beer Hummus

1 can no salt added chickpeas
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 cloves garlic
2 T fresh rosemary
1 T tahini
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp coriander
1/3 C beer (I used Lagunitas Sucks, a hoppy beer)

Add all ingredients to a food processor and process until smooth. Add additional beer for a thinner dip.

Serve with chips and veggies.

Makes 1 1/4 cups.

***

I wish they wouldn’t do these shows on Sunday nights. I’m SO tired… but how awesome was the Les Mis performance?!

Did you watch the Oscars? What was your favorite performance?

What are your thoughts on yeast? Does bread intimidate you?

Butternut Banana Protein Shake

February 18, 2013 By Laura

There is something in the water.

Ok, there are probably lots of things in our water… I don’t think about it.

This weekend I must have been drinking the ‘roid water because I was hitting PRs all over the gym. I don’t feel any different in terms of ability, but for some reason the weights were lighter these past few days.

My Saturday PRs were: (unassisted) dumbbell chest press, include bench press with a twist, and pullovers. Then on Sunday I PR’d on the read delt machine. I’d been stuck at the same weight forever… but I turned up the music and told the thing is was going to move ~~Cee Lo-style~~.

The only thing I’ve changed is to make sure that immediately following a workout I have whey protein with a complex carb. That works for me because my favorite post-workout snack is a protein shake.

I had not been making many – it’s too cold – BUT Heather gave me a good reason to being them back into my life with her Meatless Monday A-Z ingredient: Xanthan Gum!

Xanthan gum is a thickening agent and it prevent separation. These qualities make it a perfect smoothie/shake addition! If you read the ingredient list for most ice creams and milkshakes, you’ll find Xanthan gum, as it gives these desserts a fabulous creamy texture.

Bananas are often used to make shakes thicker in the healthy-living community. I used it in my Oatmeal Cookie Shake! Never one to settle for “normal,” I began using alternatives like butternut squash or sweet potatoes to thicken my protein-laced creations. What I never thought to do until this weekend was use BOTH.

Sweet banana and butternut make for one fabulous combination. It’s almost like a cold pie filling! I loved it with the almond extract – it makes everything taste like cookies to me.

This shake is especially good to have post workout – you get your 20g of protein from the powder, carbs from the banana and butternut, potassium for muscle recovery from the banana, and anti-inflammatory benefits from ginger and cinnamon.

A little bit of Xanthan goes a long way here with the already-creamy banana and butternut combo. What results is a treat so fantastically thick you’ll need to eat it with a spoon.

If you’re so inclined – and I am ALWAYS inclined – you can toss in some spinach for an extra serving of greens. You can’t taste it. Don’t be scared.

Yes, I put this back in the blender after taking pics the “normal” colored shake.

Butternut Banana Shake

1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1/3 C butternut squash, pre-cooked
1/2 banana
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2-1/4 in piece fresh ginger
1/8 tsp Xanthan gum
6-7 drops liquid Stevia (optional)
Spinach (optional)
Ice + water, to taste

Place everything in a high-speed blender (I used my Vitamix) and blend until smooth.

Transfer to a glass and enjoy!

***

I know some one will ask… that spoon is from this Etsy shop. ~~Good luck. I spent an ungodly amount of money on spoons.~~

Can you name a food that starts with an X? I think I can name 2… I have NO idea what Heather’s going to do for the next few rounds!

Have you ever used thickeners for before?

High Fat Fail + 5-Spice Roasted Veggies

January 14, 2013 By Laura

Ever think something sounds fun… only to learn it is just the opposite?

I wish I didn’t make this mistake so often…

Last week I decided to experiment with a high-fat/low-carb diet. Nut butter, oils, avocados, nuts, egg yolks, red meat… it sounded like a brilliant idea! Notsomuch.

Nut butter needs toast or oats. ‘Nough said. It turns out that all of those thing are delicious… but much better with a carb. Runny eggs need a piece of bread to soak up the goop.

Red meat is better on a bun… but this was still good:

But it wasn’t just the carbs that had me regretting the high fat thing. Regret is the wrong word. I learned a lot, and I do not regret that. Here are the side effects:

Constipation – this was the worst; I am grumpy without a good morning poop (TMI?)
Gas/Bloating – I could clear a room in 5 seconds
Lower energy – I felt like I was in slow motion
Slower muscle recovery time – leg day soreness lasted FIVE days
Hunger – fat digests faster than carbs, so I would eat and be hungry an hour later
Lower veggie intake – veggies have carbs and I found myself cutting them in order to keep my carbs low
Flat muscles – even after a hard bicep day I didn’t have the same “pump” I usually do

Hard workout, yet pretty flat-looking

PLEASE do not take this as a deterrent if you are on/want to try a higher fat diet yourself. Like I said in the ab/nutrition post, diet is personal. This was just my experience. Don’t be afraid to experiment! You will learn a lot about your body.

________________________________________________________________________________________

One of my favorite things about Heather’s Meatless Monday challenge is that it forces me to try new things. Like this week – Turnips.

I know I’ve had turnips before… but I can’t remember when! After a little research I learned that turnips are a lot like rutabagas, and have a potato-like taste (but better…. I hate potatoes). Long ago I made Rutabaga Fries, complete with a vegan cheese sauce. I liked it, but for some reason I don’t often buy veggies in that family.

Sunday while on my weekly grocery trip I picked up a turnip. When I got home I realized I had no idea what to do with it… but with potato on the brain, I decided to make a roasted veggie dish using another fun find: a purple sweet potato! It tastes a lot like a sweet potato, but slightly less sweet.

I diced my new finds and tossed them with the usual suspects: oil, apple cider vinegar, garlic, onion, and rosemary. Then I decided that such cool veggies couldn’t be treated in such a pedestrian manner. And that’s how I ended up with Roasted Turnips & Purple Sweet Potatoes with Five-Spice. And brussels, but that’s too long of a title. 😉

A little sweet from the ‘taters, heat from Chinese 5-Spice, and a whole lot of staying-power from the starchy. I’ll be enjoying this in my packed lunches at work all week. If it lasts that long.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Five-Spice Roasted Turnips & Purple Sweet Potatoes

1 turnip
1 purple sweet potato (can use regular sweet potato)
1/4 C red onion
1 T fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp olive oil extra-virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder*

Preheat to 450°F.

Slice turnips and potato into 1/2-inch-thick cubes. Toss with onion, rosemary, oil, garlic, and 5-spice in a roasting pan until well coated.

Roast for 20-25 mins, stirring once halfway through.

*Note: Chinese 5-spice can be found at most major grocery stores and Asian markets. It’s a blend of Szechuan pepper, cinnamon, fennel seed, cloves and star anise.

***

I told some of you today would be it, but the 6 hour endurance training cram session recap is coming tomorrow… sorry!

Have you experimented with your diet? What did you learn?

Have you ever seen a purple sweet potato?

Pear-Ginger Tofu Surprise

January 7, 2013 By Laura

People always joke about the lunch lady and her “surprise” specialties.

Surprise and tuna should never be in the same sentence.

Dishes with unidentifiable ingredients can be a scary thing. We all fear the unknown. Rest assured, this is one surprise bowl you need not fear.

The first surprise is the ingredient in Heather’s Meatless Monday round-up this week – Spinach. My favorite!

Spinach may be the most versatile veggie in the land. I like it in salads, sautés, sauces, soups… apparently anything that starts with an S… I especially like it in smoothies. It’s the perfect way to sneak extra veggies in you diet and to make your drinks a very pretty color.

Today’s Pear-Ginger Tofu Surprise Smoothie is the thickest, creamiest smoothie you’ll ever have. Guaranteed. The tofu and avocado together make this reminiscent of a soft-serve treat. The pear and ginger flavors are a fun, refreshing combination… and you’d never detect the green surprises if it weren’t for the color.

Strange. But good.

The strange but goodness doesn’t end with the surprise ingredients. How I stored the ingredients is also a thing of curiosity.

Do you ever eat half an avocado and wonder what to do with the rest? No matter what I do, they don’t store well. So I freeze them. Remove the skin and toss it in a baggie for safe keeping in the freezer. I toss the frozen chunks into smoothies for the added creaminess and healthy fats.

Warning: You can thaw it for use in a dip, but it won’t be the same if you try to eat it in slices.

Same goes for the pear. I had a massive pear and only wanted half. The other half went into my freezer, and was used in this smoothie. Awesome, right? We all knew this worked with bananas. Don’t be afraid to try it with everything! I’ve done oranges, cherries, berries, mango, peaches… beans….

Pear-Ginger Tofu Surprise Smoothie

3 oz tofu
1 C fresh spinach
1 scoop vanilla protein powder (I use Sun Warrior)
1/2 large pear
1/4 avocado
1/4 in piece fresh ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 small slice fresh lemon
5-6 drops liquid stevia
Water + ice, to taste
Optional toppings: oats, muesli, cinnamon, etc.

Throw everything into a high-speed blender and mix until smooth.

Add toppings of your choosing and enjoy!

Serves 1.

***

Week 1 of Junk-Free January was amazing. It sounds funny, but I almost forgot how good it feels to eat clean. Energy is awesome! 11 weeks until my next competition and I am PUMPED!

Do you freeze your leftover produce?

Are you detoxed from the holiday yet? Or are you one of those “good” people with self-control? 😉

Pushing Forward

December 10, 2012 By Laura

Time is scarce.

I’m sure that was a newsflash to everyone…

Lately I’ve been struggling with wanting to move forward in several areas of my life, but lacking the time it takes to make the necessary changes.

In the gym I’ve been rushing through workouts because I’m so busy at work. I’m still putting in the effort, but my rest time suffers. Last night I took the time to more thoughtfully move through my workout and take the rest I need between sets. Lo and behold, it paid off! I hit a new bicep curl PR for the first time in weeks.

I really wanted to tell all of the guys in the weight room, but I managed to bottle my 8-year-old-on-Christmas-morning excitement. I did tell my concierge and he noted that I look bigger. 🙂

The next thing I’d like to do more with is developing recipes. My Recipage still needs to be completed, and I have a few new recipes I need to share with you guys from 2-3 weeks ago. I’ve been too lazy to edit pics. Is that terrible or what?!

I want to get back to posting more food. I’m still cooking a lot, but lately I’ve been rushing around too much and not bothering to measure/take “good” pics of anything I’m eating.

Tonight is a great example. I was in a rush and made my cauliflower pizza crust again. This time I used different spices that worked really well… but I didn’t write it down. I also didn’t take a pic… which I really needed to do so I could join Heather’s Meatless Monday A-Z link up.

She might kick me out for this one, but I DID use this week’s ingredient – quinoa – to make a vegan version of my Cauliflower Pizza. The binders in the crust were a flax egg and quinoa flakes. Check out the original recipe here.

Recycled pic… but this crust is sturdy enough to eat by the slice!

Finally, I’ve been wanting to make forward progress on is this blog. My goal is to make it more interactive. I love all of your comments, tweets, and emails, and I wanted to find ways to be able to get to know you better and make sure I’m posting things you’re interested in. Step one was the Facebook page I created last week. (Pretty please “like” me!) Step two is what I want to share today.

For weeks I’ve been threatening to start a “Strange But Good” link up. Now that I have a snazzy new logo, I have no excuse not to get it together and brave the Linky thing. This Friday will mark the first ever Strange But Good Link Up!

Here’s the deal. A lot of things healthy living bloggers/readers eat wouldn’t be considered strange inside this community; however, your co-workers, friends, and families probably give the strange looks when you load up your sweet potato with almond butter, for instance. Those things count as Strange But Good!

You get bonus points if it’s a combo that this community would think is strange. This could be something like my Vegan PB & Zeggs, or this Chocolate Protein Red Cabbage Ice Cream many of you thought was bizarre:

Want to play?

All you need to do is come up with a concoction this week that is Strange But Good. Just add the Strange But Good logo to your post and link up to your recipe. (Copy the code below.) On the Strange But Good post each week, you’ll see a link to add your own recipe and picture at the bottom of the page.

Not a blogger? I still want to see your strangeness! Send me an email with a picture of you food and a brief description by noon on Thursday and I’ll include it in Friday’s post.

It would be fabulous if everyone would use #strangebutgood in any Tweets and Instragrams of your creations. 🙂

***

I’m SO excited about this link up!!! I’ve been thinking of how strange a concoction I can come up with to share. Bwhahaha!

Do you struggle with finding time to make forward progress? How do you do it?

Is there anything specific you’d like to see more or less of on the blog?

Spiced TVP Breakfast Squash

November 12, 2012 By Laura

Universally good food.

The stuff you’d eat regardless of your “diet.”

I’m really excited to be able to participate in Heather’s Meatless Monday’s A-Z! I’m almost as excited to use this month’s ingredient, nutmeg, in one of my go-to universally good breakfast foods: TVP oatmeal. I still ate it on my “break” from my nutrition plan! Translation: it’s really, really good.

Nutmeg is one of my favorite “winter” spices. I say winter because it has such a warm quality to it. the smell of it brings to mind spiced desserts, fireplaces, and red wine. (Ok, ok… I think of red wine no matter what.)

I prefer to use freshly grated nutmeg. I always recommend keeping fresh spices on hand because they store longer and are more flavorful. Whole nutmeg can be found in the spice section of your grocery store. It looks like a little round nut. All you need is a microplane and you have fresh nutmeg to top your dishes.

Click for source

Squash takes a little time to roast, so I didn’t want to spend any more time making the TVP oatmeal. Yes, I realize this is extreme laziness and I could have been making them simultaneously. Something good came out of my laziness – the discovery that TVP can be cooked in the microwave like oatmeal.

After a quick cook in the microwave, I stuffed my squash and popped it back in the over to brown a bit on top and allow some of the spices from the TVP to soak into the squash bowl.

If you like fruit in your “oatmeal,” you can stir in your favorites before putting the stuffed squash back in the oven. I stirred blueberries into mine – I love the way they burst in your mouth when they are hot.

I also grated a little extra fresh nutmeg on top for ~~the picture~~ an added punch of flavor. Annnnd… I had to top the whole thing with peanut butter.

This also makes for a fabulous brinner.

Spiced TVP Breakfast Squash

1 Kiri squash (or other small squash)
1/2 C TVP
1 C water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp nutmeg
5-6 drops liquid Stevia
Optional: fruit to stir into or top TVP (I used blueberries)

Preheat oven to 350.

Cut squash in half and gut (remove seeds). Place on a baking sheet , cut side up, and roast until tender (~15 mins),

Add TVP and water to a medium-sized bowl. Make sure the bowl is big enough because – like oatmeal – TVP will explode in the microwave.

Microwave for ~2 mins, until tender. Allow to rest and soak up any remaining water before stirring in vanilla and spices.

Remove squash from oven. Stuff with the TVP mixture (stirring in fruit, if desired) and return to oven for ~5 mins, until slightly browned on top.

Place on plates and add toppings of choice. I topped mine with a dusting of fresh nutmeg, blueberries, and peanut butter.

Note: If you’re sensitive to soy, this would also be good with regular oatmeal in place of the TVP.

Makes 2 servings.

***

Speaking of Heather… I get to see her on Friday! This week is going to draaaaag.

Have you tried TVP oats yet?

What is your favorite “winter” spice?

Eggplant Chips + WIAW

Meal 1:

PB & Raspberry TVP Oatmeal

Meal 2:

Meal 3:

Meal 4:

Meal 5:

Meal 6:

Meal 7:

Eggplant Chips

Blood Orange Avocado Scones

Blood Orange Avocado Scones

Brown Beer Hummus

Brown Beer Hummus

Butternut Banana Protein Shake

Butternut Banana Shake

High Fat Fail + 5-Spice Roasted Veggies

Five-Spice Roasted Turnips & Purple Sweet Potatoes

Pear-Ginger Tofu Surprise

Pear-Ginger Tofu Surprise Smoothie

Pushing Forward

Want to play?

Spiced TVP Breakfast Squash

Spiced TVP Breakfast Squash

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