know your calories & oil free hummus recipe

Knowing your calories keeps you accountable.

For instance, this morning I had enjoyed one of my green smoothies at about 280 calories.  My darling husband offered to stop by my office and bring Starbuck - Humm....black coffee or a Chi Tea Soy Latte? The Latte did sound like heaven - Google Nutritional information at Starbucks = 310 Calories. "Black coffee please!"

smoothies, broccoli-slaw and enchiladas oh my!

After our Father's Day weekend it was really nice to get back on track yesterday and fill my body with healthy goodness!  Started out the morning with my go to Green Smoothie. Thanks to my Vitamix it is the perfect way to start off the morning and super easy to make.  My little Cavalier iHop loves them too!

Go To Green Smoothie

Ingredients

1 Banana (or Avocado)
1/2" Piece of fresh Ginger
1/2 Cucumber pealed and sliced
1/2 cup of baby Carrots
1cup frozen fruit of your choice
2/3 cup of filtered water
1 cup of Spinach
2 T. Ground Flaxseed
1/2 cup Oats
Ice Cubes as needed

cooking in the vegan kitchen

Experimenting With New Recipes

I love to cook and experiment with new recipes and one of the joys of being vegan is changing things up while cooking.  For example, say a recipe has asparagus in it and maybe you have yet to become a fan of asparagus – so add something in its place, sliced zucchini, green beans, red pepper…the choices are endless!  Experiment and have fun while cooking.  I love when J tells me a meal is “two thumbs up” and I have no idea or memory of what all exactly I added in it lol!    Don’t be intimidated by ingredient you don’t know either.  That’s what the Internet is for, Google for an image to see what you’re shopping for and then ask a store clerk if you are unable to find.  There may even be a substitute for that ingredient you do have in your kitchen, use that instead.  Please, don’t be afraid of the recipe or your kitchen. Think of a recipe as a starting place and who knows where it may end.

 

Tools of a Vegan Kitchen

This is another exciting part for me – lots of cool kitchen gadgets and appliances!!  I have for years been using the little old cheap blender that I think I may have received as a wedding gift almost 19 years ago.  My dream was a Vitamix blender…the blenders of all blenders.  I have read many blogs telling amazing tales of their great feats.  Mixing nuts into cheese sauces, incredible smooth hummus and smoothies to dies for!!  Yes, please sign me up!! Now these baby’s don’t come cheap normally $340-$1000 but I knew that I didn’t need a restaurant top of the line one, so I did my research and found that Bed Bath & Beyond had a model in my price range along with being able to use a 20% off coupon!  They also will take it back if I didn’t like it – yea, that didn’t happen.  Out of the box this thing was a beauty!  My first green smoothie took seconds and was the creamiest smoothie I have ever had!! I was in appliance love.