Portobello Steak

Serves 4: (use two of these for the Portobello Burger recipe later :)

> 4 whole portobello mushrooms
> 1 small onion, diced
> 2 garlic cloves, minced
> 2 cups mock beef broth (I used real beef broth because I love the taste of it)
> 6 tbsp balsamic vinegar
> 2 tbsp mirin, sherry, or white wine (I used sherry cooking wine)
> 2 tsp dried thyme
> 2 tsp dried chives
> 1/2 tsp dried basil (I used a couple teaspoons of italian seasoning instead of these last three spices)

Add onion, garlic, and beef broth to a frying pan and cook for about 2 minutes, or until onions begin to golden. While waiting, remove the stems from the mushrooms. Add the remaining ingredients (with the exception of the mushrooms) to the pan and turn to medium. Stir. Add the mushrooms and cover. Cook for 5 minutes. Flip the mushrooms and cook for another 5 minutes. Add water as necessary to keep mushrooms from sticking. Plate and spoon juices on top.

Ryan and I ate these with a slice of bread to help with the texture of the mushroom (we don't eat them often). It is so savory! The flavors are so delicious.

Strawberries and Cream Oatmeal

Serves 2:

> 1 cup rolled oats
> 8 oz strawberries, sliced
> 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
> 1 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk
> 1/2 tsp cinnamon
> 1 tsp raw or brown sugar

Cook oats in 3/4 cup water. Stir in applesauce and milk. Top with strawberries, cinnamon, and sugar. Serve.

Creamy Chipotle Corn Soup

Serves 2-3:

> 4 ears of corn
> 1 cup of non-dairy milk (I have used both almond and oat milk and they are both delicious)
> chipotle powder to taste (I used about 1/4 tsp)

Combine half of corn, milk, and chipotle powder in blender. Puree until smooth. Transfer into a saucepan and add remaining ingredients. Heat over low. Add water/milk to thin if necessary. Serve.

Breakfast Quinoa Bowl recipe

Ingredients: (serves one person -- I just doubled everything)
> 1/4 cup quinoa
> 1/2 cup non-dairy milk (I used oat milk -- so tasety!)
> 1TBS brown sugar (feel free to use less, especially if you use sweet milk)
> drop of vanilla extract (I actually forgot to include this, but it still tasted amazing)
> 1 cup blueberries
> dash of cinnamon (optional -- tasted wonderful)

Combine quinoa and milk in saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn down to low and simmer until milk is evaporated and quinoa is light and fluffy (add milk as necessary to thoroughly cook quinoa). Add extract and blueberries. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Serve.

Sooo sweet and delicious! Ryan felt overwhelmed by the blueberries, but I thought it was delicious as it was.

I took these pics in the car, so I can't vouch for the fantastic lighting, but you get the idea.

Coming up soon: Creamy Chipotle Corn Soup!

Super easy lunch bowl

Veggie and Rice bowl recipe:

>1 packet of frozen veggies ("Steamfresh" for even more simplicity)

>1 package of sticky rice (microwavable kind)

>Teriyaki sauce (my favorite kind!)

1. Heat frozen veggies (in microwave if using Steamfresh or something similar) ~ 5 min
2. Heat rice in microwave ~ 1.5 min
3. Cover with Teriyaki sauce and eat!


It reminded me of Flame Broiler, but with an even better sauce that won't get you addicted with MSG :) This ended up serving both myself and Ryan. 

Restaurants

Oh restaurants, how I love you.

And kinda hate you.

Such delicious foods, with so much creaminess and usually MASSIVE portions. Ryan and I had our anniversary dinner date on Thursday night. We went Criollo, a fancy Latin place. Sooooo good. We usually try to split something when we eat out to save money and be healthier, but it was our anniversary and we were splurging :) Ryan’s dish was actually really healthy: duck breast with quinoa (yes, Kaysie, I said quinoa!), topped with apple shreds. It was also a good size, so he ate it all. Mine was massive and delicious. Shredded beef smothered in spices and flavor, pinto beans, and Spanish rice like no other. I ate about a third of it, the size was that big. (I've been attempting this new thing where I actually stop eating when I feel full. It's been revolutionary.) I took the rest of my food home. Ryan is not the biggest fan of leftovers, so I got to indulge in my anniversary food again all day while he's camping. I just had lunch: I took all the components from that dinner and made flour tortilla tacos, adding a dollop of dairy-free sour cream (tastes just like the real thing). They were amazing! And I still have enough for dinner!

I'm being thrifty and decently healthy :)

We're back!!!

Okay, so I suck at blogging, apparently. But I'm giving it another go, especially now that Ryan and I are on a set food routine.

We have recently starting working out: my goal is to lose the fat, Ryan's is to lose fat and bulk up. In order to achieve our goals, we've set-up a system for our food and workouts.

Food:
4 meals a day, plus a snack. We're still trying to make this work with our jobs (he's in the cleanroom), but this is the plan anyway.
1) Breakfast (few/no carbs) -- fiber/granola cereal with fruit, or omlet with with spinach and fruit, or yogurt and fruit with granola, or oatmeal.
2) Snack -- nuts, fruit, etc
3) Lunch (few/no carbs) --  salad with toppings like chicken (or some other protein like tuna, steak, etc), fruit, veggies.
4) Recovery Shake (after our workouts) -- includes whey protein
5) Dinner (carby) -- pasta with sauce and veggies and protein (chicken, clams, etc) stirred in, or meat with rice and veggies, etc.

I'm still trying to not eat a whole lot of meat (by American standards), just the topping for salad and a normal size portion for dinner. We are getting our proteins from things like eggs, beans and such as well as the meat (in addition to whey protein, although I may switch to something without lactose since my stomach has been unhappy with dairy since we cut back on it).


Workouts:
We start by stretching and doing some minor things like sit-ups, toe-touches, etc. Then we choose a muscle group to work on: abs, legs, arms/shoulders,or back. We spend almost an hour lifting weights that will work whichever group we picked for the day. Ryan is trying to go in order from the top of the body down, but seeing as I have missed our workouts frequently these last two weeks, I have messed with his schedule a bit.... It takes about 4 days of the week to hit every muscle group. We spend a fifth day doing cardio (so important for bulking up, as you don't want to starve the muscles of blood from not having a strong enough heart, and also to drop the belly fat :). Then we usually end up going 2 days without working out, but I think we are going to try and cut that back to one day. Or at the very least do something active one of those days (hike, bike ride, whatever).

Today's food:
> Oatmeal with blueberries for breakfast (plus a piece of cake at a work mtg -- I had to! I swear!!)
> Lunch with co-workers (I haven't gone yet, but I'm planning on either a salad or veggie-intensive entree)
> Pecans and green tea (iced) as my snack
> Recovery shake after the workout
> Pasta with clams, zucchini, tomatoes, and avocado (I may switch the clams out for chicken, depending on when we get home...)

That is all for now. I shall keep you posted.