Seth and I have been talking about wanting to eat healthier for awhile now. Then last week we watched Forks Over Knives on Netflix. It was just the inspiration I needed to make some changes in the kitchen. We decided to try to eat a plant based whole foods diet and cut out sugars and processed foods as much as possible.
The first step was to clean out the fridge and cupboards and do some shopping. Katie was my shopping buddy this time. The two of us spent a couple of hours at the Skagit Valley Co-op loading up our carts with healthy whole foods.
I had spent the night before printing out some new recipes, mostly from the Fat Free Vegan Kitchen blog. We've tried many of the new recipes this past week and most have been very good. Everyone's favorite so far are Tostadas. We start out with a toasted organic corn tortilla with fat free refried beans spread on top. Then everyone gets to load it up with their favorite toppings, like olives, tomatoes, shredded lettuce, onions, red peppers, avocado, and salsa. Of course Violet and I are the only ones in the family who like avocado. :)
A snack we have been having a lot is popcorn. We had been in the bad habit of eating extra buttery microwave popcorn. While that tasted really yummy it was a very unhealthy snack. I still really wanted the convenience of microwave popcorn without the added ingredients. The FFVK blog recommended this popper from Amazon. It cost about $17 which I thought was pretty affordable. I love that you just add about 1/3 Cup of popcorn kernels to the bowl and pop it in the microwave for 3 minutes. It's so easy!
We have been using a recipe I got from my friend Suzy to add some flavor. I left out a few of the ingredients I didn't have on hand and cut back on the amount of nutritional yeast and Braggs. For the flax oil I use my Pampered Chef spritzer. That way I can get an even coat of oil and use a lot less.
Seth and I and Violet love the popcorn! The rest of the girls have been asking for the "normal" popcorn. I told them this is the new normal. Ha! They still munch away on it during our family movie night. I'm hoping soon they will retrain their taste buds and actually prefer the healthy stuff. :)
Another healthy snack food we have tried is microwave potato chips. I peeled a couple organic Yukon Gold potatoes and sliced them with my Pampered Chef slicer. Then I arranged them on some parchment paper in my microwave and sprinkled them with a little sea salt. You can find the recipe here.
They were very tasty but a bit too time consuming to prepare very often.
We've been having a lot of soups. I love the variety of soup recipes on the FFVK blog. We have tried the Cajun 15-Bean soup, a vegetable bean soup, and Eat the Rainbow soup. Here are the ingredients I set out to prepare our Rainbow soup.
The spices we used...
Can you see why it's called Eat the Rainbow?
The recipe said 10 minutes prep time. I just do not see how that is humanly possible. Lol. Granted, I did double the recipe, but still it took me a good hour to prep all the veggies for the soup. Maybe if you are using frozen already chopped veggies I could see the 10 minutes...
I love how colorful this soup is! Here it is with all the ingredients added to the pot. (I intended to take a picture of it all cooked and ready, but while it was still cooking my scrapbox was delivered so I was a little distracted. :) I will post more on that when it is all set up!) The next time I make this I think I will use a little less cabbage and add brown rice. We actually did add in brown rice when we had left overs and I thought it was a nice addition. It added a little more bite to the soup.
Just today I tried a new recipe for Samosas. I absolutely LOVE the samosas with mango chutney at the Sno-Isle Co-op deli! Yum-O! But I am sure they are not oil-free. This recipe from FFVK has a similar taste and fits in nicely with our new diet. I didn't want to use tofu so I just replaced it with more potatoes.
Here are the ingredients all ready to go..
The spices we used...
I found these wraps at Fred Meyer in the nutrition section. They are very thin and perfect for samosas! They were pricey though so it will have to be just an occasional treat.
The tip to fry with water instead of oil was new to me. I was skeptical it would work without burning or leaving the food soggy. What I have found works great is to boil a kettle of water and have it ready. When you add a tablespoon at a time of boiling hot water it doesn't interrupt the frying process and works beautifully!
This recipe was relatively quick compared to the others I have tried this week. I divided the filling into 8 portions to fill the wraps.
I was hungry and in a hurry so I just wrapped them up burrito style. Next time I want to take the time to wrap them in the traditional samosa triangle. :)
So, we have been eating this way for one week now and I have lost 6.9lbs! I am very happy with that. I love being able to eat until I am full and not having to count calories because everything in my fridge and cupboards are healthy good foods. I also have a lot more energy. I have been waking up earlier in the mornings and have been fitting in some jogging before all the girls are up. I have to say I am loving this new eating plan so far! :)
