Tag: Vegan

Berry Walnut Quinoa Breakfast Cereal

I have been looking for a breakfast. Breakfast cereal without oats that I liked. It seems oats and I don’t get along. My body hates them. So we adapt and change. Find what works for you and put away what does not.

I love this one… I found it in a book I am reading called Roar. I include the information for the book below. This is a healthy, delicious, vegan, contains good for you fats, and has some protein.

You can add your own toppings but I liked mine this way.

This can be made ahead of time and kept refrigerated for 4 to 5 days.

Anyway enough of the word salad here is the recipe.

Berry Walnut Quinoa Breakfast Cereal

Yield 4 servings

Ingredients:

  1. 1 cup of organic quinoa
  2. 1 cup of organic almond milk unsweetened
  3. 1 cup of water
    Toppings:
  4. 1/2 or 2g tsp chia seeds
  5. 1 tbs or 13g dried organic cranberries
  6. 1/3 cup or 56g frozen fruit
  7. 1/4 cup or 60g almond milk
  8. 1 tbs or 18g agave nectar
  9. 1 tbs or 4g raw walnuts
  10. 1/4 tsp of cinnamon or to taste
  11. Pinch of salt or to taste

Directions:

  1. Combine water, almond milk, and quinoa, bring to a boil.
  2. Cover, and turn heat down, to medium low and simmer for 15 minutes or until water has evaporated
  3. Let set for 5 minutes with head off.
  4. Portion out into 4 jars/containers, and add toppings.
  5. Mix, cap and let set in the fridge.

Nutritional information: For 1 serving of cereal

Calories 337, Fat 5.1 g, Fiber 7.4 g, Carbs 65.3 g, Sodium 75.1 mg, Protein 6.3 g

I hope you get a chance to try this out. I have been looking for ways to fuel my workouts, and to keep my body going. I found the base recipe out of a book call Roar by STacy T. Sims PhD. I so far love this book and it has helped me understand a great deal more about my hormones and training as a woman. I recommend picking it up.

I added chia seeds, extra liquid, altered the sugar source and amount, and altered the toppings.

Here is a link to the book I got on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/ROAR-Fitness-Physiology-Optimum-Performance/dp/1623366860

Let me know if you get a chance to try this. If you liked this recipe please hit the like button. If you try it out let me know in the comments section. Subscribe to follow my adventures. My daily shenanigans you can catch on instagram @sharpcupcake.

As always, Don’t Photo Edit, Just Go Get It!

Savory Salads with Fruit

I like veggies and salad. And while I am not a strict vegetarian any more… I still love veggies. Given the choice 9 times out of 10 I will reach for grilled veggies, a salad, fruit, you name it. So here are some salads I made. My family loves them and devours them. I hope you and your family loves them too.

Pear Walnut salad

This is a pear, walnut salad. I made rice and lemon pepper tilapia to go with it.

If you have have never had a savory salad with fruit in it? If you have not I really suggest you try it. The savory flavors and slight sweetness of the fruit are a great compliment.

This is a vegan, gluten free, dairy free salad. It is healthy nutritious and delicious. I hope you get a chance to try it.

Recipe for pear walnuts salad:

1) 8 cups baby greens
2) red onion sliced to taste
3) 1 Bartlett pear sliced
4) 2 or 1 cup baby cucumbers sliced
5) 1/4 cup toasted walnuts
6) lemon zest

Honey Lemon Soy dressing
1) 1 tbs honey
2) 1 tbs soy sauce/or aminos
3) 1/2 lemon juices about 1 tbs
4) salt and pepper to taste
5) 1 tbs Olive oil

Nutrition: yield 4 servings

582g calories, 33.8g fat, 14.4g fiber, 63.2g carbs, 777.3g sodium, 12.5g protein

Peach Balsamic Salad

Peach and Balsamic salad! Nom nom nom

Kids loved this salad, the first time they have had peaches in salad.

Salad:

  1. 2 medium peaches sliced
  2. red onion sliced
  3. 8 cups mixed baby greens

Balsamic dressing:
1) 2 tbs balsamic
2) 3/4 of tbs honey
3) 1/2 tbs mustard
4) 1/2 tbs olive oil
5) salt and pepper to taste

Whisk all ingredients together, then toss with salad.

Nutrition: yield 4 servings

343 calories, 15.6g fat, 9.4 fiber, 52.4 carbs, 920.3 sodium, 11.5 protein

Thank you for reading. I hope you liked these. If you get a chance to try it out let me know what you think.

If you liked this please hit the like button, if you want to chat please feel free to comment, and subscribe to follow my adventures.

As always, Don’t Photo Edit, Just Go Get It!

Protein Packed Overnight Oats with Cinnamon Apple and Cranberry

fancy pants over night oats with a bow

You see this picture… pretty huh? Who has time for that bow nonsense? I don’t! I am a busy woman. I generally make my oats and attach my reusable spoon with a produce rubber band I have recycled. Very much like this.

I use a rubber band

In order to make sure I eat on time. I have started back up making overnight oats. But I found a protein oat mix that simplifies things instead of having to add protein powder.

I based it of the base overnight oat recipe from (https://feelgoodfoodie.net/recipe/overnight-oats/) , but added some different ingredients. Like the protein oats.

This has protein, carbs, is vegetarian, can be vegan, and very tasty!

Here is an updated version of overnight oats the way I make it with more protein. Enough of the chatter on with the recipe:

Protein Packed Overnight Oats with Cinnamon Apples and Cranberries

yield 1 serving

Ingredients:

  1. 1/2 cup of protein oats
  2. 1/2 cup of milk of your choice, I use non dairy milk
  3. 1/4 cup of Skyr or Icelandic yogurt
  4. 1 tbs chia seeds or 10 grams
  5. 1 tbs of sweetener of choice, I use local honey
  6. sprinkle of cinnamon
  7. 1 tbs of probiotic dried cranberries
  8. 1/4 cup of water
  9. 6 grams or a hand full crushed Freeze dried cinnamon apples

Directions:

Add everything to the jar, or container, and stir really well. Cover and refrigerate overnight or for at least 2 hours.

Note:

  1. I add more water because I am using dried fruit and freeze dried fruit.
  2. You can add fresh fruit instead of the dried fruit
  3. You can add unsweetened cocoa powder
  4. You can even add chocolate chips

Calories and Nutrition Information:

calories 353, fat 7.1 g, fiber 9.5 g, carbs 55.5 g, sodium 74.4 g, protein 17.4 g

  • ingredients I used
  • almond milk
  • eating breakfast outside

Let me say this… yesterday was a bit of a bust. I ate within an hour after waking good. Then I ate at the next designated time also good, but then got super busy not good. So missed the 3rd and 4th eating time. Ended up not having a lunch type meal till 7 hours after. That is no bueno for me. Hey but I was able to eat at some of the times I planned out.

I hope you get a chance to try this out. I love it… I am weird and love that freeze dried apple reconstituted in water or milk taste. It reminds me of my childhood.

If you liked this please hit the like button so I know. If you want to follow my blog I write about my martial arts training, workouts, and food/recipes please subscribe. If you want to see my day to day shenanigans, you can catch me @sharpcupcake on Instagram.

As always, Don’t Edit, Just Go Get It!

Fuel your body during COVID-19: Easy Veggie Soup with Sausage – (use old veggies that look ugly/go bad)

the veg

Hello everyone. Yup I had a fridge full of the ugly veggies that I took pictures of for my previous fuel your body post. I wanted to do something with them, so I decided to make it easy on myself and make a veggie sausage soup. You can totally make this vegan with no sausage, but with my family of pre teens they will riot if I don’t feed them.

I had onions, carrots, cellary that was starting to look wilting, and one stalk even looked a little anemic. I had tomatoes that were not firm any more, bell peppers that were wrinkly and not as beautiful, and a staple in my house Yukon Gold potatoes. I had one container of chicken stock, but you can sub veggie stock to make it vegetarian/vegan.

Our stores still don’t have all the products we are used to. Our shipping is over loaded. So I bought what was on sale, and what I could find. When I got home I realized I bought beer bratwurst. So I just went with it.

This recipe can be altered to be:

  1. Vegetarian/Vegan

This recipe is:

  1. Gluten Free (unless you make the bred below)
  2. Dairy Free
  3. Full of Fiber
  4. Full of nutrients
  5. Low in fat
  6. Low in salt

Anyway it came out fantastic. So here is what I did.

Easy Veggie Soup with Sausage

Ingredients:

Yield: 8 servings

  1. 4 cups of stock Chicken/Veggie your preference
  2. 4 really ripe soft tomatoes chopped
  3. 4 cups of Yukon Gold potatoes chopped
  4. 2 cups of carrots chopped
  5. 4 stalks of celery chopped even the leafy tops
  6. 1 yellow onion chopped
  7. 2 green bell peppers or 2 cups chopped
  8. 1 tablespoon of ginger sliced about the top part of your thumb worth of ginger
  9. 2 cloves of garlic chopped
  10. 2 cups of water
  11. 1 tablespoon of salt
  12. Pepper to taste
  13. Beer Bratwurst 5 casing cut removed and sauteed

Directions:

  1. Saute onions, ginger till fragrant, add meat that has been removed from casing, and saute till cooked.
  2. Add hard veggies and the rest of the aromatics, carrots, potatoes, garlic, and celery. Stir together to heat.
  3. Add stock, and water, bring to a boil and lower heat to medium. Let cook for about 10 to 15 minutes.
  4. Add soft veggies tomatoes, and peppers. Let cook another 10 minutes.
  5. Serve piping hot. I made home made bread with it, and the family gobbled it up. It made enough to have it for two nights with 4 people.

I will put a link to the bread recipe I used. It is a no knead dough, that uses yeast.

Easy Rustic Crusty Bread with Tutorial {No Mixer, No Kneading}

This was a hit with my family. We had warm crusty bread. Delicious soup with so much depth of flavor. They gobbled it up.

I hope this post finds you and your family healthy and happy. Please stay safe, wash your hands, and take the precautions you need. Thank you for reading. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. Would you like to see posts about baking breads?

Fuel my body, during COVID-19 shortages…Strawberry Banana Lime Oatmeal Breakfast Bake

Good morning… yup I hear my family fussing about hunger. So here is what I came up with this morning.

This recipe is:

  1. Gluten free if you need it(make sure to get the gluten free oats/means it is processed away from glutenous products)
  2. Can be dairy free
  3. Vegetarian
  4. Can Be Sugar free if you choose sugar alternatives (like Stevia, equal)
  5. Natural Sugar ( Like honey, or agave nectar) or omit the sugar all together.
  6. Has a good amount of protein and fiber to fill your family up.

Right now there is a shortage of eggs in my area. I had to go to 3 stores to find them. A lot of the pre-made or instant items are being taken, so you are left with rolled oats, some produce, milk if you are lucky, but soy, almond, and alternative milks are around.

This is a great recipe for using “ugly” fruit. Fruits and or Veggies that are not the prettiest, and have been picked over, are great in baked items. My banana was going the way of the Dodo, and had some bruises, however, it still baked up just fine.

Luckily for me??? Am I lucky? I am lactose intolerant. So I tend to have alternative milk products around.

I was able to find strawberries, bananas, limes, had coconut milk, and had non instant oatmeal at home.

I decided to make a tropical-ish baked oatmeal breakfast… Can we imagine we are away on a deserted island, I mean we have the isolation part right? Win!

You can make this the night ahead and heat it up in the morning. You can also remove from the pan and wrap completely, and freeze if you have leftovers.

Enough talking here is the recipe:

Strawberry Banana Lime Baked Oatmeal

Ingredients:

  1. 2 cups of rolled oats
  2. 1/3 cup of granulated sweetener ** (or leave it out)
  3. 1 1/2 cups of milk (sub almond, soy, coconut)
  4. 1/2 cups of milk (sub lime juice, orange juice, or water)
  5. 1 tsp baking powder
  6. 1/2 tsp salt
  7. 8 oz/221 grams of Strawberries
  8. 1 each/100 grams ripe banana
  9. 1 egg
  10. 1 lime zested (optional)
  11. 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

  1. Set oven to 375 degrees F
  2. Mix the dry ingredients, oatmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt, mix in half of the strawberries, and half zest
  3. Grease or spray a 2 quart pan, and put dry ingredients down. Layer fruit on top.
  4. Whisk together wet ingredients, milk, juice, egg, vanilla
  5. Pour wet ingredients over
  6. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, depending on oven. Take it out when top of the oatmeal is browned nicely.
  7. Enjoy hot, or let it cool down and enjoy at room temperature.

I hope you get a chance to try this. It is adaptable to other fruits, and keep in mind it is a great use of fruits that are not the prettiest.

This serves ~ 6 servings. Total calories depends on the ingredients you use. But about 200 to 250 calories.

** Use any type of granulated sugar or sugar substitute that you can measure same as sugar. Honey is sweeter on the pallet. So conversion is 1 cup of sugar to 1/2 cup to 2/3 cup of honey.

Thank you for reading. You can use this time to adapt your goals and try something new. You can still stick to your healthy lifestyle its just going to take some tweaks and ingenuity. Have a great day and stay healthy.

Quick Note: Don’t throw away those squeezed limes. You can slice them up and put those in your water, for lime flavored water.

Fuel my body, during COVID-19 shortages? Berry Chia Coconut Pudding!

I had to make it instagram pretty.

So in this time of toilet paper, and hand sanitizer shortages. Shortages on meat, shelf stable staples (rice, noodles, beans, canned goods), and water. (This is the case at least in the good old U.S.A.) I noticed the foods that are readily available still are the highly processed granola bars, terrible chips/snacks (although those are going quickly too), fresh veggies, and the healthy food section.

I am going to put up recipes in this Fueling My Body During COVID-19 Shortages, that utilize the health foods (such as chia, vegan protein powders, quinoa and the likes), veggies that are getting left behind, and other products it looks like people are not using.

Interesting to note, the first pastas to go were the spaghetti and angel hair pasta. The linguine were left behind, people were not buying it. Do they not know you can still use that pasta in many pasta dishes? Even substitute it in spaghetti dishes. It may not be traditional but it will still feed you and your family.

So for today I made a berry chia coconut pudding. Aside from the coconut milk which I was out of. All these ingredients I regularly have in my pantry. Because I love to use them in my foods.

Enough with the expounding or lets be honest my prattling on, here is the recipe.

Berry Chia Coconut Pudding

Ingredients:

  1. 6 tablespoons/ 60grams of Chia seeds
  2. 1 tablespoon/23 grams of honey
  3. 1/4 cup/20 oz of coconut milk
  4. 1 whole/108 grams of ripe banana
  5. 1 cup/131 grams of frozen berries

Optional Toppings:

  1. 1 tsp/15 grams yogurt (omit for dairy free, vegan)
  2. 2 tbs/20 grams frozen berries
  3. pinch of desiccated coconut

Directions:

  1. Blend together a banana, and a cup of frozen berries. If you need to splash a little coconut milk in it to allow for better pureeing.
  2. Measure out chia seeds, and milk and mix together in a bowl.
  3. Pour in fruit blend. Taste… it is plenty sweet with the fruit, but I wanted a more dessert like taste for this so I added the 1 tbs of honey to the mixture.
  4. If you are going to make it pretty spoon it in to the individual serving cups
  5. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight like I did.
  6. Serve alone, it is delicious, or add berries, yogurt if you have it and desiccated coconut.

Yield: 6 servings

Calories 696, Fat 37 g, Fiber 35.8 g, Carbs 85.1 g, Sodium 9.5 mg,
Protein 14.8 g

1 serving:
Calories 116, Fat 6.2 g, Fiber 6 g, Carbs 14.2 g, Sodium 1.6 mg, Protein 2.5g

It is delicious. My entire family loved it. This is a great thing to make ahead of time, for meal prepping. It will last covered for up to 7 days in the refrigerator, if it lasts that long, because my family will eat it all before 7 days are up.

This is gluten free, vegetarian, and without the yogurt dairy free and vegan.

Lets use this time, when we are unsure of what is happening in our world. When the normal foods we eat are not around, or being snapped up fast. Lets try some new things if this is new to you. If its not help your loved one try out the “new healthy” foods. They may like them, and we will come out of this pandemic hopefully healthier, and with healthier eating habits.

Thank you for reading and I will post more recipes of healthy foods I make with what I can find at the grocery store. Tell me what you think and if you have any questions. Stay kind to each other, and help your neighbors. Stay safe and strong.

Spicy Mango Fruit Bowl

Ok this may seem strange to you, but this is such a tasty snack and healthy to boot. Its full of fiber, vitamins, good fats, and protein. It is gluten free, vegan, and did I mention it is tasty.

Cayenne pepper is so good on tropical fruits. I love the sweet and spicy mixture. My mango was a little under ripe so it was a little more acidic. But just as tasty.

Enough of my jabbering here is the recipe.

Spicy Mango Fruit Bowl

Ingredients:

  1. 1 mango diced
  2. 1 banana
  3. 1/4 cup or 24 grams of roasted almonds
  4. 10 grams of unsweetened tasted coconut
  5. Cayenne pepper to taste (beware the pepper packs a kick)

Directions:

  1. Dice mango up, slice banana, add roasted almonds, sprinkle on the cayenne, sprinkle on the tasted coconut.
  2. Mix together and enjoy

Stats:

Calories 371, Fat 12.9 g, Fiber 8.6 g, Carbs 63.7 g, Sodium 13.5 mg, Protein 8 g

I hope you get a chance to try this. It is one of my favorite snacks. Its a whole food snack, spicy, and tasty. Did I mention that it is easy to make. All you have to do is cut up the fruit. You could make it ahead of time and put it in a reusable container and take it to work with you.

Smoothie Bowl w/ Chocolate PB2 and Honey

Another smoothie day. It is going to be to cold for smoothies soon, so I have to get my smoothie on. I decided to make another smoothie bowl for lunch.

This is gluten free, uses natural sugars, dairy free, vegan, healthy/full of vitamins, and so yummy.

I wanted to get some protein in there. So I added the PB2 Chocolate. It is a chocolate peanut butter powder. It is great on waffles, in waffles, on toast, in smoothies, in shakes, on smoothie bowls. You get the picture I am sure.

Ingredients:

  1. 2 cups of frozen fruit
  2. 1 frozen banana
  3. 1/2 cup almond milk
  4. 2 cups of water

    Toppings:
  5. 2 tbs of PB2 Chocolate Peanut Butter powder
  6. Fruit
  7. 1/2 tbs honey
  8. Pinch of Slivered almonds

Directions:

  1. Blend the frozen fruit till you have tiny pieces, almost looks like rice
  2. Add liquid and blend till smooth
  3. Add toppings and enjoy

Calories 371, Fat 19.2 g, Fiber 14.4 g, Carbs 73.7 g, Sodium 161.5 mg,
Protein 11.1 g

Thank you again for reading. I hope you get a chance to try this.

Make Your Own Tropical Smoothie Bowl

If you have been anywhere in the metropolitan U.S. of A, you will notice that smoothie bowls are a thing. Especially in the summer when its hot and you don’t want to eat something hot. As fall is kicking in and its going to get colder and I don’t know about you but I will want less cold foods and more warm, or warming foods. But since it is still only the fall and summer is still holding on I thought I would post this.

Its easy peasy. Choose a frozen fruit you like, or a mix of them. Have frozen bananas on hand. And choose your toppings. For this one I chose nut and dried fruit mix for the healthy fats, a few dark chocolate chips to feel like I am getting a treat, desiccated coconut, and frozen raspberries.

You are going to blend the frozen fruits till you get tiny chunks of fruit. It kinda looks like confetti. It will look a little like this.

After you get the frozen fruit mix into tiny chunks, you add the liquid. Today I used soy milk and water. Blend again till smooth and you get something that looks like soft serve ice cream.

Tropical Smoothie Bowl

Ingredients:

  1. 2 cups of frozen fruit (this was a tropical fruit mix)
  2. 1 frozen banana
  3. 4 tbs of soy milk
  4. water as needed alternately you can use juice instead

    Topping ingredients
  5. 2 x tbs Nut and fruit mix (I used planters NUT-rition)
  6. 1/4 frozen raspberries
  7. 1 tsp of dark chocolate chips
  8. 2 grams of desiccated coconut

Directions:

  1. blend the frozen fruit till it is in small chunks
  2. add liquid and blend till smooth, add water if needed
  3. put the smoothie in a bowl and add toppings and enjoy.

Calories 426, Fat 11.71 g, Carbs 76.11 g, Protein 9.58 g, Fiber 10.93 g, Total Sugars 50.89 g, Sodium 59.36 mg

I hope you get a chance to try this on your own. Thanks for reading. My respect to you.

Healthy Vegan Snack… Sweet and Spicy Tropical Salad

I wanted a sweet and spicy snack so I “made” this. Made is such a grand word for what I did. I cut up some fruit and put it together added spice, and coconut and ate it. But made it I did. It is beautiful and so very tasty as well. You eat with your eyes first so it if is beautiful, it is more appetizing.


Sweet and Spicy Tropical Salad
Yield 1 serving

Ingredients:

  1. 1 mango diced ( about 2 cups)
  2. 1 dragon fruit diced ( about 2 cups)
  3. 2 tbs desiccated unsweetened coconut
  4. Cayenne Pepper to taste

Directions:

Cut fruit, add to bowl, add cayenne to mango, add unsweetened coconut. Mix and serve.

Calories/Stats

Calories 374, Fat 10.6 g, Fiber 13.7 g, Carbs 71.2 g, Sodium 9.1 mg,
Protein 6.1 g

Thank you for reading. If you get a chance to try it let me know. Be good to yourself, and always strive to make yourself a better you.