Fat Free Reddi-wip vs. Soyatoo Soy Whip

I recently started trying to eat more fruits and vegetables.  The fruit part is going well....the vegetable part needs some work.  For breakfast I've been mixing 1 cup of strawberries, 1/2 cup of blueberries, 1/8 cup of granola, and 1 serving of whipped cream (either Soyatoo Soy Whip, Soyatoo Rice Whip, or Fat Free Reddi-wip).  It is a delicious breakfast and only 130 calories!

I have found that I enjoy the Soy Whip and Rice Whip much more than the Fat Free Reddi-wip!  The Soy Whip and the Rice Whip have 10 calories per serving and both stay creamy as they are mixed with the fruit and granola.  The Fat Free Reddi-wip has 5 calories per serving (nice!) but turns very watery as soon as it is mixed with the fruit - it is like you are just eating the fruit and granola without any whipped cream - what's the point!?  I'm sure the regular Reddi-wip would be a different experience, but I don't want the calories.  While the Soy Whip and Rice Whip are 5 extra calories per serving and a few dollars more than the Fat Free Reddi-wip, I'm sticking with the Soyatoo products! 

Winner!

Pizza!

Tonight we had pizza for dinner.  We used to make pizza all the time using the Trader Joe's whole wheat dough.  I'm not sure if we got sick of eating pizza so much (is that even possible!?), if it was just too much work, or if we decided if it had too many calories, but we hadn't made pizza for a while.  Then I discovered you could use Flatout Bread as pizza crust.  There are many different types of Flatouts--original, Italian herb, honey-wheat.  Many of the Flatouts, specifically the "light" varieties, only have 90 calories each.  All you need for the pizza is a package of Flatouts, olive oil, pizza sauce, cheese (vegan or dairy), and whatever toppings you want!  You can make (and eat) a couple of personal pizzas for not a whole lot of calories...as long as you don't use a ton of toppings!

I modified a recipe I found on the Flatout Bread website.  Here's what I did:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Brush the tops of your Flatouts with a small amount of olive oil.
3. Place the Flatouts directly on the grate and cook for 5 minutes.
4. While the Flatouts are cooking, fry up any veggies you want to put on your pizza.  Tonight I used one organic red pepper and one sweet onion.
5. Remove the Flatouts from the oven.  Place on a baking sheet (or 2 depending on how many pizzas you are making) 
6. Top with a small amount of pizza sauce (I like Contadina pizza sauce in a squeeze bottle).
7. Top with a small amount of cheese.  Dairy cheese on my pizzas and vegan cheese on Larry's!
8. Add the veggies (or other toppings...the possibilities are endless!).
9. Place the cookie sheet in the oven for another 5 minutes (or until the cheese is melted).
10. Cut up the pizza and enjoy!

Larry's vegan pizza!

My dairy pizza!

Burritos!

Tonight's dinner was burritos.  Well, a mix between burritos and fajitas.  It is essentially a bunch of different things thrown into a wrap.  I used La Tortilla Factory's Smart & Delicious 100 Calorie Tortillas.  It is tough to find low-calorie wraps, so I was excited when I discovered these!

Basic Ingredients:
- tortillas
- 2 peppers
- onion
- rice
- black beans
- additional toppings for your burrito (salsa, cheese, avocado, anything else your taste buds desire!)

First, I heated a pan of water for my boil-in-a-bag rice.  My favorite way to cook rice!  As soon as the water was boiling, I cooked the rice.

While I waited for the water to boil, I sliced up some peppers and started frying them.  I sprayed the pan with a small amount of olive oil (I filled up a travel-sized spray bottle with olive oil - it works well enough).

I used yellow and orange peppers...they needed to be used before they ended up in the compost bin!

 Next, I sliced up an onion and fried it with the peppers.

Yum!

During the frying process, I also sliced and mashed a small avocado.  I love avocado or guacamole on my burritos!  When I don't have an avocado on hand or the avocado just isn't ripe yet, I split a Wholly Guacamole 100 calorie pack between my burrito and Larry's burrito.  We usually have this on hand.

I had some cilantro left over from last night's dinner, so I decided to add it to my rice along with some lime juice.  About a year ago I found a recipe for rice like Chipotle serves.  You can see the recipe here.  Mine is a modified version - just the rice, cilantro, and lime.  It just gives the rice a little flavor. 

Lastly, heat up the black beans!  I forgot to do this until the last minute tonight.  I had half a can of black beans left over from last night's dinner, so I threw the Pyrex dish and the microwave to heat up the beans.  

Time to make the burrito!  We usually start with salsa and then add cheese (vegan for Larry, dairy for me!), rice, veggies, avocado, and beans.

Add your ingredients...

wrap....

and enjoy!

Mango, Avocado, and Black Bean Salad

I am always on the hunt for new recipes that are relatively simple.  I also enjoy recipes that involve avocado and mango.  While on my search, I found this recipe on the Whole Foods website.  It seemed pretty easy, was healthy, and involved some tasty ingredients.  I decided to make it my own and serve it over rice in order to make it a complete meal.  Usually I use the boil in a bag brown rice (for this recipe I used one bag of Success boil in a bag brown rice).

The recipe on the website serves six.  I cut the recipe in half since I was only cooking for 2!  That was easy to do - instead of 2 avocados and 2 mangoes, I used 1 small avocado and 1 mango.  Although there was a lot of pealing and chopping, this recipe was very easy (and delicious!)

I was excited to use my mango slicer!

I got this mango slicer at a Papmered Chef party.  It is actually called a "mango wedger"

The mango "wedger" slices the mango nicely and makes it much easier to remove the skin.

Look at those pretty wedges!

The mango, avocado, and black beam salad tasted pretty yummy on its own.  It would make a great side at a summer bbq - vegans and non vegans would love it!

To make the mango, avocado, and black bean salad into a meal, I put it over rice.  I was a little worried about mixing the hot rice with the cool salad, but it was tasty!

The final product!

We had some organic romaine lettuce left over from dinner on Saturday night, so we also had a side salad with our main course.  A simple way to please vegans and omnivores - different salad dressings!  Larry had a 0 calorie balsamic vinaigrette dressing (which he said was good) and I tried a chunky blue cheese yogurt dressing with only 35 calories.

Salads that make everyone happy.

I was very pleased with the whole dinner and will definitely be making it again.

Quesadilla night!

We have quesadillas at least once a week.  I would say they are one of Larry's favorite meals.  They are also a super easy meal to make to please both vegans and non-vegans!  All you have to do is use different cheeses.  We recently discovered Daiya dairy free cheese--it comes in 3 different flavors (cheddar, mozzeralla, and pepperjack), melts very well, and, most importantly, it's vegan. 

I have made quesadillas in a variety of ways...plain cheese, cheese with a soy-based meat product, and sweet potato and black beans just to name a few.  The quesadillas I made tonight are my current favorite--cheese, mashed avocado, and refried beans. 

You don't need many ingredient to make this yummy meal!

You don't need many ingredients - just whole-wheat tortillas, vegan cheese for the vegans, dairy cheese for the non-vegans, refried beans (I prefer refried black beans), and an avocado (or two, depending on how many quesadillas you are making).

First, mash the avocado.  I usually add a bit of garlic salt to the avocado to give it a little bit of flavor.

 
Next, add a small amount of olive oil to a frying pan that is large enough to fit a tortilla and turn the stove to medium heat.  Place the tortilla in the pan and top with cheese.  Add a few scoops of refried beans and a few scoops of avocado in the middle of the tortilla.

Add a small amount of cheese to the top of the refried beans and avocado.

Place a second tortilla on top and flatten the quesadilla using a spatula so that the ingredients are pushed out towards the sides.

Once the bottom has browned, flip the quesadilla and cook until the other side is browned.  Once it is cooked thoroughly, transfer your quesadilla to a plate.  Use a pizza cutter to cut your quesadilla into the desired number of slices.

I always make the vegan quesadilla first.  Repeat the process using dairy cheese (if desired).  Add your favorite toppings (we like to add salsa) and enjoy!

"That must be tough!"

The comment I get most often when I tell people that Larry is vegan: "that must be tough!" 

It actually isn't!  There are so many options when cooking for a vegan.  I have grown to really enjoy tofu and coconut milk ice cream...though I do still eat a burger when I go out to eat or put real cheese on my half of the pizza when we make our own pizza for dinner. 

We eat some pretty tasty meals.  One of my current favorites is just a basic stir-fry. 

Fresh onions, peppers, broccoli, garlic, and tofu (Vermont tofu is the best if you can find it!  They have it at the Whole Foods in Bellingham, MA but not at the Whole Foods in Providence, RI.  Let me know if you know of other places that carry it!) mixed with a little bit of rice and reduced sodium teriyaki sauce and soy sauce = a healthy, yummy dinner!