Foodie Friday: Buddha’s Feast

Often times, Thursday ends up being a dinner of leftovers from the meals we had during the rest of the week. We typically plan on going out to dinner on Friday so we’re happy to use up what’s available in the fridge. This Thursday offered up some delicious choices; homemade turkey meatballs, lemon herb chicken, and roasted spicy orange chicken.

As I was trying to figure out what intrigued me, I came across this tweet. Done! I couldn’t wait to get home for dinner!

Traditionally, a “Buddha’s Feast” bowl is a vegetarian dish, but since I was using what was already cooked, I decided a turkey meatball would be a great addition. Below is the recipe for the specific bowl that I made, but this is so versatile that you could really make it with anything! The end of this post has a bunch of different options you could try!

Buddha’s Feast

Serves 1

Ingredients
– 2 beets; sliced
– 1/2 medium sweet potato; diced
– 1 cup broccoli florets
– 2 oz turkey meatball
– 1 cup baby spinach
– 1 tbsp peanuts; chopped
– 1 – 2 tbsp spicy Thai peanut sauce [recipe below]
– 1/3 – 1/2 tbsp EVOO
– Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F. Place beets and sweet potato on a lined baking sheet. Drizzle with EVOO, season with salt and pepper to taste, and roast about 20 minutes.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven, add broccoli florets, and toss with EVOO, salt, and pepper. Return to the oven and roast another 20 minutes until all vegetables are tender.

In a bowl, add your spinach and top with roasted vegetables and turkey meatball. Drizzle with spicy Thai peanut sauce, top with chopped peanuts, and devour!

Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce

Serves 2

Ingredients
– 2 tbsp peanut flour*
– 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
– 1/2 tbsp lite soy sauce
– 1/2 tbsp garlic chili paste
– 1/2 tbsp toasted sesame oil

Directions
Add all ingredients into a small bowl and mix until well combined.

Nutritional Information
Per Buddha’s Feast bowl with 1 serving Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce

371 Calories  /  18g Fat  /  37g Carbs  /  7g Sugar  /  10g Fiber  /  23g Protein

Additional Buddha’s Feast Options

Bases:
– Quinoa
– Brown rice

Greens:
– Spinach
– Kale
– Collard greens
– Swiss chard

Roasted Vegetables:
– Sweet Potato
– Broccoli
– Brussels sprouts
– Asparagus
– Beets

Protein:
– Chicken
– Beef
– Turkey
– Tofu
– Tempeh
– Beans
– Nuts
– Seeds

Dressings:
– Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce
– Creamy Tahini Nooch
– Spinach Basil Walnut Pesto Aioli

Food for Thought

Do others’ posts or tweets ever inspire your meals? How would you customize this bowl?

What I Ate Wednesday #34: Asian Fusion

If you gathered from my Valentine’s Day recipe roundup, Nathan and I happen to love Asian cuisine. And we really don’t discriminate either.. Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Korean.. you name it, we love it! I would say we have a problem, but in reality, it makes for some fun road trips.

[Breakfast]
Post 7 mile run [mentioned simply because it’s my longest ever!], I had my slimmed down sweet scramble topped with nut butters and Love Grown Raisin Almond Crunch granola. Have you tried their products yet? So good!

Also, every time I tweet a picture of this scramble, people ask me for the recipe! I’ve happily linked it up but always want to make sure to give credit where credit is due. Tina at Carrots ‘N’ Cake is the mastermind behind my daily breakfast and I thank her 🙂

[Lunch]
Pleased that we didn’t have a very far road trip on Sunday, we made our way to Honey Pig, a Korean restaurant where the food is cooked at your table. At your table, they give you a few sides to share: steamed broccoli, egg, pickled daikon, jalapenos, garlic, sweet potatoes [like sticky sweet potatoes.. not like regular orange sweet potatoes], plus a small salad and bowl of rice for each person.

This wasn’t our first rodeo so we knew what we wanted.. Beef Bulgogi and Spicy Chicken. We’ve had both before and they were great. This time, however, the waitress decided we could use a little extra spice. It was absolutely amazing and we devoured every last bite. Extra spicy is the way to go.

*Picture stolen from Mary.

[Dinner]
We were absolutely stuffed from lunch so I opted for a late dinner of coconut oil roasted broccoli and sweet potato with Kasey’s tahini nooch sauce. It’s definitely a favorite dinner of mine! And the picture was so terrible that I decided to spare you. Seriously, I’ve never seen such a terrible picture from a phone!

[Snacks]
Clementine
Apple

Food for Thought

What is your favorite kind of cuisine?

What I Ate Wednesday #29 – Back in the Swing of Things

You know how every year the holidays sneak up on you and you say “I’m going to be good. I’m not going to overindulge!”? And you know how every year you overindulge? Yea.

Alright, so I didn’t go crazy this year, but I’ve definitely stepped up my game since New Years! More specifically, since Monday. Last week was pretty much a wash with NYE on Monday and New Years day Tuesday. That only left 3 days to get back into my routine and then the weekend hit.

Monday started Tina‘s Best Body Bootcamp; that along with Tone It Up‘s new Love Your Body challenge (you can still sign up!) has really gotten back into the swing of things! Especially since TIU is giving away prizes for checking in! If you follow me on Instagram, you may be getting tired of all of my meals and workouts, but I’m in it to win it, baby!

[Pre-Breakfast / Post-Workout]
Fitmixer Amino. This was part of my Fitbloggin’ swag that I just recently started taking advantage of after my morning workouts. I have to admit, I don’t love the fruit punch, but it’s not bad. And it certainly helps me get 2 extra glasses of water down a day!

[Breakfast]
I whipped up a lightened version of my favorite sweet breakfast scramble. Check it out..

– 1 egg
– 2 egg whites
– 1/2 banana, mashed
– 1/4 cup squash [I’ve been using pumpkin]
– 1 tbsp ground flax seed
– Cinnamon
– Ginger
– Nutmeg

I just recently started adding the ginger and nutmeg.. it makes it taste like gingerbread!

Scramble it up like eggs and top it with your favorite oatmeal toppings! Aka lots and lots of peanut butter 😉

[Lunch]
Getting back on my salad kick, I topped a bunch of spinach with tons of veggies, chicken, and some healthy spinach basil walnut pesto aioli for my dressing! This dressing was a bit of an accident, but it came out so well!

[Dinner]
Warm kale salad. Sounds a little weird, right? But it’s not. It’s amazing! And it’s an idea I stole from Kasey.

I absolutely love roasted veggies, so while roasting sweet potato, parsnip, tomato, and broccoli, I chopped up some kale, tossed it in a big bowl and threw it in the microwave for about a minute. This softens it and also makes it a little less bitter. For my dressing, I made a tahini nooch sauce, similar to Brittany’s dressing here [I love the little bit of sweetness from the maple syrup!] Then I toss half of the dressing into the kale and massage it in, again, making it a little less bitter. Finally, I throw all of my roasted goodies on top, the rest of the dressing, and some crunchy bits, like sunflower seeds.

Have I convinced you to try it? Because you really should!

[Snacks]
Coffee with unsweetened vanilla almond coconut milk <– a new favorite find!
1/2 grapefruit with stevia.
Madagascar vanilla almond KIND bar.
Apple with peanut fluff.. the only picture I missed!

It definitely feels good to clean up my eating again and get rid of the extra sugar I was eating. And it definitely helps to be getting my butt kicked by TIU and Tina (more details on Tina’s butt-kickings later)!

Food for Thought

Did you overindulge over the holidays? How have you cleaned up your eating recently?

What I Ate Wednesday #27 – A Day of Rest

I’m extending my Just My Imagination giveaway! You now have until Thursday, 12/20 at 11:59 PM EST to enter! Get your entries in 🙂

Who’da thunk running around non-stop for 2 weeks would completely wear you out? It just doesn’t make sense, right?!

Sunday was the first time we actually had a chance to rest and even though we planned on going to the outlets (the week before Christmas, no less) we never made it out of our PJs. I have no idea the last time this happened but there were no complaints! And I’m not sure I even realized that we literally did nothing all day until I went to lock the door before bed and it was still locked from the night before.

I happily laid around on Sunday and made some delicious meals. But before sharing them with you, I have to congratulate Jenn for celebrating her 100th WIAW “birthday!” And thanks for including everyone in your fun parties 🙂

[Breakfast]
I just can’t stop! The Sweet Breakfast Scramble is a habit hard to break.

[Lunch]
Kale & quinoa salad with a baked omelette on top! For whatever reason, I was in an egg kinda mood, so I decided to try and recreate a baked HUMONGOUS omelette I had in Florida. Unfortunately, it was not even close to as fluffy and large as the one I had before, but it was still delicious.. filled to the brim with sauteed broccoli and feta cheese. Yum!

[Dinner]
Another kale salad! This time topped with roasted delicata squash and a lightened up version of chicken cacciatore. I started with a Martha Stewart recipe and added tons of extra red bell pepper, red onion, and a splash of white wine. It was full of flavor and so easy.. definitely recommend trying this recipe!

[Snacks]
Clementines, celery, peanut butter, dried figs, and dried apricots were consumed over the course of the day. I could eat those things all day long!

As this week continues, I find myself hoping for another Sunday in my PJs. Oh how I love the holiday season 😉

Food for Thought

Have you been running around like crazy lately or have you found yourself with time to relax?

What I Ate Wednesday #24 – Thanksgiving Feast

This year might have been my most successful Thanksgiving ever. For the first time, probably ever in my life, I didn’t overeat and it was amazing! It also left me wanting more. Usually I’m all Thanksgiving-food’ed out after we have our 2 dinners, but this year I feel like I could eat Thanksgiving dinner a few more times.

One of the biggest tips I’ve always heard on not overeating is to eat all of your meals as you would normally. So that’s what I attempted to do.

[Breakfast]
Tina from Carrots ‘N’ Cake said it perfectly..

“…a good breakfast sets the tone for my day.”

Since I’ve tried her Sweet Breakfast Scramble, I haven’t turned back. It’s amazing.. my favorites are with spaghetti squash and pumpkin, topped with 1 tbsp peanut butter. Usually two different kinds of peanut butter to mix it up 🙂

[Lunch]
Peanut butter cup protein shake.

[Snacks]
Carrots and an apple.

[Dinner]
Thank goodness for Thanksgiving! I loved the menu this year; of course we had our staples, but some new side dishes popped up too.

• Deep fried turkey
• Sausage stuffing (secret recipe!)
• Roasted sweet potatoes
• Roasted broccoli
• Roasted asparagus
• Winter panzanella salad
• Cranberry relish

Check out my plate above.. I definitely had a little extra of a few things, but I couldn’t believe I walked away with white space on my plate!

This year I jumped at the opportunity to make a few items for the night, partially in an attempt to have a few healthier items on the table.

I brought one of my favorite winter salads; winter panzanella from smitten kitchen. I also wanted to bring a healthy dessert so I made my Kind Apple Crisp. And then the healthy options ended. My homemade peanut butter cups are an absolute must ever year. I’ve been making them since I was a kid and have perfected them in the last few years. Nathan said they were the best this year, but I think he tells me that every year! I’ll keep him around.. 😉

Mom slicing the turkey!

My brother deep fries the turkeys outside and as soon as they come in, everyone starts swarming the kitchen.

“Oh, this piece is going to fall off. I should grab it before it falls..”

And as soon as my mom starts slicing, you’d think we were a bunch of vultures that hadn’t eaten in days! Who knows, maybe some of us haven’t eaten in days in preparation? It’s well worth the wait!

[Dessert]

Along with my peanut butter cups and apple crisp, there was also a deconstructed pumpkin pie in the cutest little cups, chocolate chip banana bread courtesy of my brother’s girlfriend, and a pumpkin roll. My aunt makes this roll special for Nathan every year, so you can imagine our panic when we saw her facebook status in the early afternoon..

“First attempt at pumpkin roll a failure and dumped in trash. Helper off to the Giant for more sugar. I know Nathan is counting on me!”

I’m pleased to report that her second attempt was a success! Luckily, I convinced Nathan ahead of time to split the desserts with me so I was able to try a little bit of everything. And boy can my family bake! Seriously. We’re good!

What a great holiday! I’m so thankful for my wonderful family, especially since they’re such great cooks and bakers 😉

Food for Thought

What are you thankful for this year?

What I Ate Wednesday #22 – Election Day Eats

The day after a presidential election is always a good day. Whether you’re please with the result or not, I think we’re all glad the ads are over!

All politics aside, the day after election day means it’s time for another WIAW!

[Breakfast]
Poor, poor planning on my part of not requesting an absentee ballot, not changing my voting place to right down the street from where I live now as opposed to down the street from my parents house, and not attempting to vote early resulted in an early morning for this gal. Knowing this, I planned accordingly. Cinnamon overnight oats adapted from my Overnight Oats & Quinoa recipe made me quite happy while I was waiting in line to vote.

[Lunch]
Trader Joe’s has some awesome boxed soups. If you haven’t tried them yet, I’d highly recommend you get on it! I added some edamame and nutritional yeast* to my tomato and roasted red pepper soup. Delicious and full of protein!

[Dinner]
Thai red curry chicken with roasted broccoli, sweet potato, red onion, and turnip. I’ve become a big fan of Sharwood’s sauces and since finding a reasonably priced bag o’ garam masala, I’ve been looking forward to breaking out the Thai red curry. I’m happy to have leftovers 🙂

[Snacks]
A (not pictured) grapefruit in the morning and Gnu Espresso Chip Bar in the afternoon are added to the list. But the snack to top them all is my current favorite (clean eating) dessert. Vanilla greek yogurt with mini chocolate chips and peanut fluff (peanut flour*, stevia, & water). This has been satisfying my night time sweet tooth and has a good amount of protein to make it a great snack for after workouts. Sometimes when I need a little crunch, I top it with a few bunnies 😉

*I get my peanut flour and nutritional yeast from iHerb.com. Use code ZAF482 for $5 off of your first order.

Look out Friday! I have a delicious treat coming for ya that I can’t wait to share.

And big thanks to FitSugar for sharing my Pumpkin Protein Souffle with Cream Cheese Filling & Frosting!

Food for Thought

Did you stay up all night watching the election results roll in or did you find out this morning?

I zonked out at 11, but woke up at 2am and checked twitter to find out. Because really, where else do you go to learn about current events?! 😉

What I Ate Wednesday #17 – Holiday Recovery

I love getting together with my entire family for meals. It’s great to see everyone, catch up, and eat good food. Ooooh, the food!

Jewish holiday meals always include brisket, some sort of poultry, whether it’s chicken or turkey, often there is fish, usually salmon, matzah ball soup, vegetables, kugel, an assortment of desserts, and the list could go on and on. To say I overeat at these dinners would be an understatement.

I always tell myself, “1 piece of this, 1 piece of that, a couple little bites of this, a couple little pieces of that… you can always go back for more.” And I do. I take a little bit of everything and always go back for more. What can I say? My family knows how to cook and I’m going to take advantage of it when I can!

So after two Rosh Hashana dinners, I find myself trying to recover and pick up the pieces of my “has-been” healthy eating habits.

[Breakfast]
Tone It Up pumpkin protein pancake topped with peanut fluff and, with all of the benefits of ACV (courtesy of Brittany at Eating Bird Food), I knew I had to have my bombshell spell. Steering clear from the grains for a day or two will definitely help, so I put the oatmeal on the back burner. Get it?! 😉

[Snack] Not Pictured
I found out that I’m not a huge fan of vanilla Greek yogurt without any fruit or granola in it. And unfortunately I had no fruit or granola in sight, so I went for the next best thing. I mixed in a tablespoon of no sugar added Swiss Miss. What, you don’t have a container of Swiss Miss at your desk?!

[Lunch]
The only good picture of the day. Salad topped with veggies and roasted salmon. The salmon was leftover from Rosh Hashana dinner and man, my mom did an awesome job! It’s a little smokey and a little sweet. And luckily I have some more leftovers to hold me over through the week!

[Snack]
It was a sad, sad day as I finished my very last Premier Protein shake. The vanilla is awesome and I will definitely be making my way over to Sam’s Club as soon as I can to get more!

[Dinner]
Chipotle honey lime chicken with coconut oil roasted brussel sprouts and broccoli. This chicken was so good! Nathan tasted the sauce and I got an “oh yea!” in approval and that’s when I knew I’d have to share the recipe with all of you! You know what that means.. check it out this Foodie Friday! 🙂

[Snack]
I just feel the need to apologize for this picture. It’s not a pretty one, but it was so tasty and hit the spot after a hard interval workout, courtesy of Julie at PBFingers! I mixed 1/4 cup Chobani vanilla Greek yogurt with 1 tbsp peanut flour, 1 packet stevia, and 1/2 tbsp vegan carob chips. Then I mixed in a chopped up apple and sprinkled a little cinnamon on top. Yum!

[Goals]
In the spirit of continuing with my previous goal of beating my 5K time of 26:08, I ran my second 5K on Sunday. Unfortunately, this one didn’t have a chip time, only a gun time. But according to MapMyRun on my phone, I had the exact same time and pace as my first 5K. And I have to say, that while I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t beat my time, I’m still pretty pleased that I did just as well. Next up, 5K on September 29th. It’s on!

Speak Up!

What is your favorite holiday meal and what are your favorite foods that go along with that meal?

What I Ate Wednesday #14 – Rainy Day Adventures

We had some awesome plans last Saturday to rise and shine super early and head to Rehoboth Beach for the day. We haven’t been to the beach at all this summer so I was looking forward to it all week!

And then the weather forecast changed. To rain. All day. What do you even do when you’re at the beach and it’s raining? Exactly.

Well, fine then! We slept in, had a nice, relaxing morning, and then packed up and headed over to Alexandria, VA for the day! For what, you ask? Wine.

But not just any wine. Trader Joe’s Two-Buck Chuck. Yep. We drove 1.5 hrs each way for Trader Joe’s wine. Don’t worry, we got some good eats on the way too!

[Breakfast]
Cinnamon protein Coach’s Oats, topped (of course) with Earth Balance coconut peanut spread and fig. Naturally, I had my Tone It Up Bombshell Spell and some coffee with almond milk on the side. Perfect way to start the day!

[Snack]
A relaxing morning turned into a very late lunch, so I munched on some baby carrots in the car. Nothing exciting.. or worth picturing.

[Lunch]
Here’s the exciting part. We googled for a good 30 minutes looking for the best place to go for lunch and ended up at Caphe Banh Mi. If you’re in the Alexandria area, definitely go!

We started out with a vegetarian summer roll with tofu, carrots, cucumber, lettuce, and other veggies with a peanut dipping sauce. The sauce made it for me.. anything peanut [butter] related is a big green light! For our meals, we both tried pho (our first time!) Nathan got the traditional and I got the chicken. Traditional is the way to go! The beef was so rich and delicious and I could have eaten all of his! But instead, I ate all of mine. Topped with bean sprouts and fresh Thai basil. YUM!

[Snack]
Old towne is such a cute place! We walked around looking for a place to get a sweet treat and found Pop’s. Peanut butter chocolate pretzel ice cream. This is no joke. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of it (because I ate it too quickly), but that sample picture will do. I would make the drive for the ice cream.

[Dinner]
Late lunch + snack = late [lazy] dinner. Steamed some broccoli in the microwave, topped it with chicken and bbq sauce, and called it a day!

[Summer Staple]
Wine! Yep, I went there. Every summer day is better with a glass of wine.

Trader Joe’s in Maryland doesn’t sell wine and we’ve heard so many good things about it. But the biggest thing is that we’re trying to find every way to cut back on our wedding budget, so when Nathan heard about Two-Buck Chuck taking home a big prize, we knew we had to give it a try.

Results are in! And it was totally worth the drive. Wedding attendants, get ready for some Two-Buck Chuck! 🙂

Speak Up!

Where is your favorite place to day-trip? Have you ever taken a day trip for a meal? … Or a drink? 😉