This is a very unassuming meal. Sloppy joes without the meat.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dried lentils, picked over and rinsed
• 1 1/2 cups low sodium veggie broth
• 15oz can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes
• 1/2 bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 onion diced
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne(optional)
• 1 Tablespoon mustard
• 1/4 cup bbq sauce
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Cook onion until softened. Add in all other ingredients.

Bring to a boil, turn burner down to a simmer, cover pan and simmer until almost all of the liquid cooks off.

The lentils will be al dente and flavorful.

Serve on a bun with pickles!

Like I said, this isn’t a fancy meal, but makes 4 giant or 6 normal sized sandwiches.  They have a nice flavor, simple recipe and brings back memories of childhood. They would also be great on top of a southwestern salad. This is a picture of Brian’s place. I scooped my lentils onto one slice of gluten-free bread and ate it like an open faced sandwich.

Recipe adapted.

Ingredients:

• olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 3 tablespoons Italian spices
• 2-3 carrots, cut into thin coins
• 1-15oz can of fire roasted tomatoes, diced
• 1-15oz can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

Saute onion and garlic in hot pan until translucent. Add celery and spices and saute a few more minutes. Add carrots, tomatoes and beans. Add enough water to cover what is in the pot. Bring to a boil. Cover and lower to a simmer. Simmer for 30 minutes or longer. Add salt and pepper to taste.

My nearly empty bowl as I gobbled it down at work. I was hungry for lunch!

After eating this dish(adapted from 101 Cookbooks) and pondering making it again for dinner tomorrow night, I opened the refrigerator door and realized how many left overs we having piling up and need to eat. But I really want this for dinner again tomorrow. It’s so good. Two bites into his bowl, Brian asked, “Is there more?” Knowing he would be left wanting more. Yep, it’s that good. Good enough to serve at a holiday meal and easy enough to make during the week.

Have I sold you yet?

Ingredients:

• 1/2 block extra firm tofu, sliced lengthwise and pressed
• 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup almonds, roughly chopped
• 3 tablespoons raw coconut crystals or brown sugar
• 1/4 cup cilantro chopped
• 1/2 lb Brussels sprouts, washed and cut into 1/8-inch wide ribbons
• sea salt

Heat 1/2 the oil in a hot skillet on the stove top. Cut tofu into thin 1-inch long strips.

Cook the tofu strips in the hot skillet until golden brown on both sides.

Add garlic and almonds and cook for another minute or two.

Stir in the raw coconut crystals or brown sugar. I chose to use coconut crystals as I am trying to limit my added sugar intake and they are a lower glycemic alternative.  Cook for another 3-4 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in cilantro. Scrape the tofu into a bowl and set to the side.

Without washing it, use the same pan, add the other half of the oil, a pinch of salt and turn the heat up to medium-high. When the pan is nice and hot, stir in the shredded Brussels sprouts.

Cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring 2-3 times until you get some lightly browned bits and the rest of the sprouts are bright and delicious.

Divide sprouts between two bowls and top each bowl with half of caramelized tofu.

This tastes so fancy but is so easy to make. If this were served to me in a restaurant I would be blown away by it and thought they used magic to create it and wouldn’t have thought it could be made so easily at home. But it can. And it will be made again, soon.

This week has been a little rough on the healthy eating plan. For Valentine’s dinner Brian and I went out for sushi. Yum. We were very good about ordering light and healthy rolls and avoiding the crunchy and creamy rolls. However, the sodium in the soy sauce made me feel like a blimp. Then, there was the wine with the girls night. And then, I left my job of almost 8 years yesterday to start a new and exciting job. My coworkers showered me with all sorts of delicious healthy and not so healthy treats. We topped it off by going out for Mexican last night and having margaritas.Fiesta!

Ugh. My body was talking to me today and it was using a few four letter words about how I treated it this week. So today I started my day off with a run and big glass of kale, spinach, apple, carrot, parsley and ginger juice. I ate almost all detox and unprocessed foods all day long. Had another big glass of green juice for supper along with the Macrobiotic remix bowl.

The beauty of the bowl was that Brian loved it! I expected him to eat it, but ask that I make it more often. His didn’t have the kale in it(he turns his nose up to the stuff). But it made enough for both of us to have a sizable dinner and two containers of leftovers for me to eat in the coming days. It’s so much easier to make healthy choices when things are convenient.

The bowl contains quinoa cooked in vegetable broth, black beans, cooked kale, roasted tofu and sweet potato fries cooked in coconut oil. So tasty. I’m already salivating thinking about eating it for lunch tomorrow.

When I was in Texas, the land of Tex-Mex food, a few weeks ago I had some really amazing vegetable enchiladas. So, of course, I wanted to recreate them. Well, mine didn’t come out quite like theirs. In fact, they were a hot mess, but they tasted good.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 yellow(or any color) bell pepper, diced
• 1 small yellow squash, diced
• 1 small zucchini, diced
• 4 oz baby portabellas, sliced
• 1 15oz can black beans
• 1 package 100% corn tortillas
• 1 jar of enchilada sauce of choice
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat oven to 350.

Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion, cook until translucent. Add garlic, cook for about one minute.

Add bell pepper, squash, zucchini and mushroom. Cook until veggies are fork tender.

Add black beans, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes.

In a large casserole dish, spoon a layer of enchilada sauce across the bottom.

Take a few spoonfuls of veggie mixture and place down the center or tortilla.

Roll and place in pan. Continue with tortillas until pan is full.

Pour rest of enchilada sauce over the top of the rolled tortillas.

Bake for 20 minutes or until heated through.

Serve with sides of brown rice and refried beans.

Why do I call these hot mess enchiladas? Well, they turned out looking like a hot mess. I was trying to keep them healthy, so I didn’t fry the tortillas the way enchiladas are traditionally made. My tortillas were breaking on me left and right. I also didn’t spray the pan before I put them in or add enough sauce to the bottom of the pan, so they stuck to the bottom when I was trying to lift them out. They may have looked bad, but they sure tasted good.

Breakfast:

In fact, I made it for breakfast and dinner yesterday. For a single serving, saute some onion and garlic. Add in any other veggies you want. These batches have some yellow summer squash that I needed to use up. Add in 1/2 tsp turmeric and some nutritional yeast( I probably used 1 tablespoon). Add 2 tablespoons water and some pieces of kale. Cook until liquid is gone. Crumble in 1/4 block of drained firm tofu. Stir together. Cook until heated through. Add in some spinach. Cook until wilted. Salt and pepper. Full of protein, veggies and cheesy deliciousness.

Dinner:

For Christmas I got an amazing thoughtful gift of paper white bulbs. I nourished them and grew them in the kitchen and have enjoyed looking at them every time I cook. Very beautiful.

With a spur of the moment stop at World Market the other day, I scored two very exciting new teas.

The Coconut Chai is to die for with a splash of coconut milk in it. I can’t get enough.

I *thought* that I had avocado at home, so I didn’t buy one. I did, it just turned out that when I cut my avocado open it was 75% brown and only 25% usable green. I know some people eat it even when it turns brown, but it just doesn’t taste good to me and creeps me out. So, I had to make a modified version of this salad. I will be making it again soon with a good avocado.

Here’s the recipe for all the people with one whole good avocado.

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe avocado, lightly mashed
• 1 small tomato, seeded and diced
• 1/4 inch slice of red onion, diced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• 2-3 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 head kale, stems removed and torn into bite sized pieces
• salt and pepper

Place tomato, onion, bell pepper, garlic, cilantro and lime juice in a bowl.

Combine. Add in mashed avocado and stir until just combined. I like to leave my avocado slightly lumpy. I know my picture doesn’t demonstrate my love for lumpy avocado pieces, because I was a little short on the avocado. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Add in kale and mix until kale is covered in avocado mixture.

This picture is my messed up attempt. It’s only a half bunch of kale with 1/4 of an avocado. I must say, it was still amazingly delicious.

This recipe yields 4 servings as a side, but I prefer for it to serve 2 and eat it as a meal. It’s ridiculously delicious. It’s pretty much guacamole salad. Oh, and it’s incredibly healthy, too. That thought will never cross your mind while you are eating it because you are going to be “ooohing” and “ahhhing” at the amazing flavor.

Remember when I made guacamole and tofu wings for the Super Bowl? Well, I had some guac left over and cooked up a little extra tofu without hot sauce. Tonight when I was not motivated to make a mess in the kitchen, I had a brilliant idea.

Open-faced tofu sandwich with guacamole and tomato on gluten-free bread.

I sliced up a medium-sized sweet potato and made baked fries to eat on the side. If you are wondering why the tomato looks so weird, it’s because it is a kumato tomato. They have a slightly brown color and a unique, sweeter taste.

If you have any guac and tofu lying around, I’d highly recommend that you make this quick and easy meal.

Another batch of the delicious and comforting Spiced Butternut Squash and Apple Soup. Perfect for this cold and windy day.

Only 20 more minutes of simmering until I can puree it!