My first Green Monstah

......Smoothie that is! This morning I made my first green monster smoothie before my workout. It was really yummy and did not taste like it had SPINACH in it. It's crazy! I'm thinking about making weekends my "smoothie days" for breakfast and lunch. This is my trial weekend to see how I feel. I said in my last post that I would give the recipe for the strawberry cheesecake recipe, but this was too good to pass up. I had some of this before my workout, along with the leftover apple. I had the rest after my workout. This will not keep me full until lunch, but it's a great way to get extra veggies in without really noticing.

"Avapple Smoothie"
1/2 avocado
1/2 large apple (or 1 whole small apple)
1/3 cup your choice of milk (I used soy for the protein)
1 tbsp flax/choice of protein
heaping handful of fresh spinach (this is a good time to use those that are starting to wilt) 
1 cup ice
You can use honey to sweeten, but I did not have any readily available. Plus, with the soy milk it was sweet enough.


Place avocado and apple chunks (small), along with milk and blend until smooth. Next comes the spinach and flax. Be sure to push the leaves down or else they will have a hard time blending. Last, add the ice. Use the ice setting on your blender because otherwise they just sit on top. Blend until smooth and voila you have your Avapple Smoothie.

Quinoa Stiry-Fry

It's been just over a week that I've been eating flexitarian and so far I don't miss meat much at all. I've had meat twice since I've started, but in small portions. So far, breakfast and lunch hasn't been too different from before, but it's now making sure my snacks and dinners include enough protein. Obviously I've increased my protein other places, but dinner is the most important place for me to get my protein.

Last night I made Quinoa Stiry-Fry. It was simple, quick, and filling. I measured out 1 cup quinoa and cooked it according to the directions (if anyone has a good method of cleaning those little buggers please let me know). Next, I sauteed frozen (yes frozen) stir-fry vegetables and added my own fresh bell peppers because I was running low in the veggie department.  Mark started me on adding soy sauce to the quinoa, so I added a little of that as well and some butter. When all was said and done, we probably had almost 1 1/2 cups each on the quinoa and about 3/4 cup veggies. We also had salad on the side to get in more veggies.

The quinoa alone provided about 10 g of protein (but high on carbs- 49g). Needless to say, Mark and I loved this meal and will definitely make it again. Next time I think I might use peanut sauce and chopped peanuts.

The next recipe I will share will most likely be Strawberry "Cheesecake" Smoothies. Can't wait to try that one!

Veggie Tacos

Tonight I made my first official "flexitarian" dinner and boy was it delicious! I made tacos (oat bran pita) with Rainbow Veggie Salad and brown rice on the side. Needless to say, Mark, a meat-lover, even enjoyed eating it (and he was full)! So far I'm not lacking in protein as  1 cup chickpeas and black beans has 15g. Along with all the fruits and veggies, oatmeal, and flax, I am covered in the protein (and fiber) department.

Directions:
1 can rinsed chickpeas
1 can rinsed black beans
1 stalk diced celery
1/2 sliced any color bell pepper
Some sliced carrots (optional)
Add red pepper to taste

Warm up pita and cut in half. I put sour cream and cheese in first and then loaded up with the veggies! I covered mine with diced tomatoes since Mark isn't a big tomato fan. 

Isn't she beautiful? Mark suggested that next time I saute the peppers with some onion and then throw in the cold veggies. That's his one complaint about vegetarian dishes is that it's more often cold when it includes mostly veggies. I will need to work on dinners that are warm to keep Mark on the bandwagon.

My resolution

Hope everyone had a great holiday season and now it's time to join the real world again. After a lot of thought and reading, I have decided to become a flexitarian. It's not completely vegetarian, but I have cut meat down to 2 times a week. It also means including a lot beans like chickpeas and black beans in my diet (which means a lot of fiber. sorry kids)

In the morning I have oatmeal with raisins and flax seed and then a banana for a snack. For lunch I have salads with tons of veggies, beans, balsamic, and an apple. Because of the fiber it's extremely filling. I'm thinking either a granola bar or almonds for my afternoon snack. Dinners are going to be the challenging part of my day. Luckily, my husband Mark has agreed to join me on my new journey, but it's still tough to make healthy dinner choices that include protein without meat. 

I am just starting out and plan on sharing recipes on here. I would love to hear some of your favorite vegetarian recipes and also some recipes that include chicken and beef.