I’m still struggling with things to write about. I wanted to do a post about the dinners Jerry and I have been eating lately, but I was hoping to wait until I had more photos. I’m starting to forget what some of these recipes were, so I’ll go ahead and post them.
The main goal (for our two-week challenge) was to eat more vegetables, but it kind of turned into eating mostly whole foods. We both really loved doing this! It was interesting to see how much better we felt (physically and mentally) by eating foods our bodies like. And that was only two weeks!
I made most of the recipes from the How Not to Die and How Not to Diet cookbooks. I don’t think there are any that we didn’t like; Both cookbooks have been amazing. Keep in mind that I’m not even the slightest bit good at food photography, so my photos aren’t exactly attractive, hahaha. In fact, there were a few that I’m not even going to post because they will make people never want to try things like black lentils and black bean soup.
Anyway, these are some of the ways we get more vegetables…
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| Sweet Potato Waffles (I found that I use a lot less syrup if I put it in a small pan and dunk the waffles as I eat instead of pouring it on top; I only used half of what is pictured) |
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| I didn’t mean to include this, but I definitely ate all of these Asian pears before they went bad! Ha ha. |
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| Sweet Potato Taco Bowl (brown rice, sweet potatoes, corn, black beans, seasonings) |
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| Millet “Risotto” with mushrooms, spinach and white beans (we didn’t like this dish only because we didn’t like the taste of the millet itself; this would go well with another grain) |
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| I don’t remember what it was called, I think it was some kind of stew, but it had barley, mushrooms, peppers, onions, carrots and chickpeas. |
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| Lentil and Quinoa Chili |
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| I actually forgot what this was, but it reminded me of a broccoli, cheese, and rice casserole. She was good! |
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| Sweet Potato Shawarma Bowl (quinoa with seasoned sweet potato and cauliflower; topped with lettuce, onion, cucumbers and homemade tahini dressing. |
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| Stew with pumpkin, red beans, corn, tomatoes, peppers and onions. There’s also quinoa down there 😉 |
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| This was sort of our “junk food” dinner: tofu in a sriracha marinade and baked, along with baby potatoes with “chili cheese” seasoning. |
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| Once again, I forget what this was called. But it had sweet potatoes, cauliflower, peas, peppers, and raisins (it sounded weird with raisins, that’s why I chose it from the book). I don’t remember what grain was under there, but it was probably brown rice. This was really good! |
Well, that was the beginning of Jerry and I’s year of being adults and eating vegetables. He really hoped this challenge would help Jerry like vegetables more, and he discovered that he likes sweet potatoes, mushrooms, and cauliflower (when prepared a certain way). He even admitted that the cucumber in the shawarma bowls actually worked well. He has never liked cucumbers because he said that they dominate everything else and that the only thing you can taste is cucumber. Turns out I love them. I think I’ll make hummus today and have cucumbers and hummus as a snack; sounds delicious.
Now I’m going to write a meal plan for the week. I used to hate meal planning, but this vegetable challenge got me excited about meal planning again. I’m going to try kale again this week (it’s been YEARS since I tried it) and I hope I like it better this time. When I cook with vegetables, I usually opt for spinach or kale. Yesterday, Jerry and I decided to spend another two weeks eating (mostly) whole foods. We both felt gross for eating poorly after having eaten very well for two weeks.
Anyway, if you have a favorite recipe that uses a lot of vegetables, share it!
