Avocados are one of my favorite foods! Sliced avocado is perfect on a sandwich or a salad, and guacamole is good for any occasion!  Last night, Loren and I had dinner at my parents house.  Veggie Fajitas! I made my guacamole to go along with the meal.

Its just too bad I didn’t snap a picture of it right away because within minutes, it was almost gone!

When I make guac, I put 1 ripe avocado, 1 clove garlic (pressed in my garlic press), juice of 1 lime, diced tomatos, diced white onion and a few dashes of cumin and cayenne pepper into a tupperware.  If you have some cilantro on hand, dice a little up and add it on in as well…it makes a delicious, fresh addition. Then using my potato masher, I mash the ingredients together leaving it slightly chunky.  Delicious!

The other night as we munched on some peanut butter granola, Loren and I discussed the idea of putting the granola into a brownie or a cookie. I grabbed my Vegan Baking cookbook and found the recipe for chocolate chip cookies ad the rest is history.

Granola Chip Cookies

1 recipe Chocolate Chip cookie recipe
2 cups Peanut Butter Granola

One of my favorite snacks is hummus with veggies. Tonight I made roasted red pepper hummus with a little twist: cumin and cayenne pepper. It was such a beautiful night, we ate it on the patio.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine 1 clove of garlic (chopped), 1 can of organic garbanzo beans (drained and rinsed), lemon juice, tahini, Italian seasoning, roasted red peppers (chopped), sea salt, cumin, cayenne pepper and some extra virgin olive oil. I can’t be certain what amounts of each ingredient I used…get creative!

Once the tempature starts to drop the best way to celebrate is chili! Here’s my recipe for last nights chili.

Chili con Rustin

Morningstar Farms ground beef crumbles
1 medium white onion diced
1 green pepper diced
1 red pepper diced
Diced mushrooms
Organic diced tomatoes low sodium cans x 3
Organic black beans
Organic kidney beans
Organic pinto beans
Organic tomato sauce
Oregano
Cayenne pepper
Chili powder

Put all ingredients into a big pot and heat, covered, on medium high for about 30 minutes.

Whenever we have leftovers in the house we like to think of new and creative ways of eating them. This meal was inspired by one of those moments.

Southwestern Potato Burrito

Warm up some leftover Southwestern Vegetable and Potato soup.

Once heated, scoop onto a tortilla (we use whole wheat tortillas). Make sure to reserve most of the broth.

Cover with Veggie Shreds and put in the microwave for another minute so it melts. Fold together and set aside to cool down while you prepare the topping.

Grab the reserved broth and mix it with some organic tomatillo salsa (use as much as desired…I match amounts).

Pour over burrito and eat!

One of my all time favorite foods is the sandwich. It can be made a variety of ways with a variety of ingredients. There are no rules when it comes to the sandwich.

Tonight I made myself a Tofurkey sandwich on Food For Life’s Sprouted Grain bread. Included on the sandwich was yellow mustard, vegan mayo, Veggie pepperjack and cheddar jalepeno slice, organic broccoli sprouts, pickle, organic spinach and red onion.

Attention meat eaters: sandwiches don’t have to have meat on them to be delicious! Give a veggie sandwich a try, you may never go back!

Sometimes I’m really busy and can’t make it to the grocery store as much as I’d like to so when I do go, I make sure I buy staples. Tonight dinner was made from a journey throughout my cupboard.

Appetizer: Potachos
Nachos made with thickly sliced potatoes that are sauteed in a variety of seasonings and then topped with your favorite nacho toppings.

Clean and cut your potatoes into 1/3 inch thick circles. Saute them on medium low heat in extra virgin olive oil and a mixture of salt, pepper, cumin and garlic powder. They’ll turn translucent once they’ve cooked through.

Plate and enjoy! I topped my potato slices with Veggie Shreds Cheddar Cheese and some organic tomatillo salsa.

Main Coarse: Southwestern Vegetable and Potato Soup

To start the soup, I poured two cans of Amy’s Southwestern Vegetable Soup into a big pot.  To it I added, 4 chopped potatoes, chopped onion, chopped green pepper, 1 can of black beans (drained and rinsed), 1 can of corn (drained and rinsed), 1 box of Imagine’s Low Sodium Organic Vegetable Broth, and some cumin, cayenne, salt and pepper.  I brought the ingredients to a boil for about 10 minutes (covered) and then let it sit off the heat for about 5.  After I took the soup off the heat, I added some leftover whole wheat noodles we had from the spaghetti we had the night before.  When plated, I added some Veggie Shreds Cheddar Cheese and some more cayenne pepper.

Friday for lunch Loren and I went to Cafe Sunflower. It’s completely vegetarian with some vegan items as well. Its a cool place…they have their wine bottles displayed on the wall, the wait staff is great and very friendly. The food and it’s presentation is incredible! I can’t wait to go back!

Loren ordered the Baked Garden Loaf which was served with mashed potatoes and organic greens. I ordered the Tostada Napoleon which was made with the house veggie chili, organic brown rice, organic corn tortillas and black beans.

For vegetarians and meat eaters alike, I highly recommend this place! They have a separate lunch and dinner menus and are closed in between lunch and dinner time as well so check out the website for the hours before you venture on over.

I’ve been reading a lot of the Skinny Bitch books by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin.  Shit makes sense.  I found a lot of similarities in how I already eat with what they are writing about.  If you are interested in losing weight, fixing your insides, and getting your health on the right track, I suggest you read this book and take it to heart.  Not only am I reading these books, but I’m also taking notes and highlighting what I feel are the important sections.

Ridding my home of high fructose corn syrup and preservatives was easy.  Below are photos of what went and what I bought to replace what went.  In the case of peanut butter and ketchup, all you have to do is buy the organic versions of the product and the result is the same taste and texture without all the added chemicals, sugar, and body killing ingredients.

out with the old!

in with the new!

Tonight at dinner we brought back an old favorite. Loren’s Black Bean Potatoes served with a salad.

Loren and I each opened a bottle of 2 buck chuck and sat  down to an episode of Mad Men with our dinner.