My Favorite Plant Based Sandwich

I'm sorry I haven't posted anything in a week! Daniel went back to work last week and the girls and I enjoyed having different company over every day. It's great to have a new baby so you have an excuse to have people over. Daniel picked up laundry duty when I went back to school, so this week I did laundry for the first time in eleven months! I don't know why people complain about laundry so much. It's so darn exciting. 

Being home alone with the girls is slightly challenging. The biggest challenge has been finding time to eat, let alone cook my food. Since I'm so anti-processed food, I realized I needed to make up a few meals to have on hand so I could have instant healthy food. Tuesday my in-laws took the girls for the day so I could do visit with my old friend, laundry, and make some food to have in the fridge. I made:

* Hummus

* Swiss chard pot stickers (only up to the folding part so when we were ready to eat, I just fried them up and they tasted fresh)

* Vegan Paella (from Paltrow's My Father's Daughter. I love this dish!)

I made something else, but I'm sleep deprived. So parts of my brain sleep during the day since it can't sleep at night. 

This is what I made with the hummus throughout the week. This sandwich is perfect for us. Daniel runs and swims almost every day, and often bikes to work, so he needs lots of protein and most importantly fat. I'm nursing a giant (she gained a pound and a half her first two weeks. holy cow) so clearly I am working harder than Daniel and need the fats even more than he does. Remember, being on a plant based diet the biggest challenge is getting enough fat, not protein! But these fats will keep you slender.

This sandwich is very near and dear to my heart. It was one of the first vegan meals I ever ate as a teenager. A local health food restaurant made this and I loved how delicious and satisfying it was. It's refreshing for summer and has lots of natural fats your body and brain need. Here is my rendition. 

Summer Veg Sandwich

Ingredients:

2 slices of bread (I use Ezekiel, but you can use something lighter)

2-3 Tbsp. hummus

1-2 tsp. sunflower seeds

1 Tbsp. Veganaise

1/2 ripe avocado, sliced

4 slices tomatoes

1 c. loosely packed alfalfa sprouts(these guys get a bad rep. Lay off the hateful talk, they are awesome!)

1/2 cucumber, peeled and grated

1) Spread hummus over one slice of bread. Sprinkle with sunflower seeds. 

2) Spread Veganise over other slice of toast and layer avocado evenly over it.

3) Put tomato slices over avocado, then top with cucumber and alfalfa sprouts. Close with the slice of bread with hummus. 

Serves 1

Hmmmmm....so good! I love the sweet and nutty taste this sandwich has. 

It was nice to have food made so I could hang out with these people. 

I will be making more meals ahead of time and more quick meals too. I'll be sharing! 

I want to thank all of you for welcoming my baby and giving me such a warm welcome back into the blogging world. To those who have written me, sorry I haven't gotten a chance to write all of you a personal email back. You are much appreciated and thought of! 

By the way, I would like to discourage you all from buying soft tofu. We got soft tofu instead of firm tofu this week and the texture is even less exciting than laundry. 

Saturday Indulgence

     I don't consider myself vegan. I consider myself on a plant based diet. Vegan focuses on the negative, someone who does not eat animal products. While a plant based diet focuses on what you can eat, everything grown from the earth! My body functions best when eating plant based, so we don't have packaged foods in our home. However, some days I like to indulge in food from my past. In these rare occasions, I eat vegan, because even though these options will be imitation, they don't contain all the hormones and saturated fat that I don't miss. I'm surprised how much I really don't miss meat. 

    I wanted a vegan hot dog! We got Light Life vegan dogs. They can be grilled so they are actually really good. We went crazy and got white flour hot dog buns. I know. Living on the wild side at our house. We never have white flour, so I was loving every bite. Topped with sauteed bell peppers and onions, delicious! I was having a really fatty craving, wanted me some tatter tots! Tatter tots rank on the top ten list of what was great about public elementary school. 

      I love getting to enjoy naughty food like this on rare occasion. Because it is vegan, I don't feel gross or fat afterwards! Love that. 

     It is a fact that it is impossible to have a bad day after waking up to this. 

What foods do you like to indulge in? I'm nursing so I'm always looking for ideas!

How I Get Through My Day

Stretch. I'm usually pretty stiff when I wake up in the morning. Especially if I wasn't able to exercise the day before. One of my favorite stretches to do is the Sun Salutation. 

I love this because all the poses flow into each other, it stretches my whole body and it only takes a couple minutes. I like to do the whole thing a couple times to really get a good stretch out.

Treat Yourself to a Sweet Breakfast. When I was eight, one of the first recipes I started baking regularly were blueberry muffins. What I learned from that experience was that the only way to make blueberry muffins is with fresh blueberries. Since I found this Blueberry Muffin recipe I've been anxious to get some fresh blueberries into this house. I finally got my hands of some! 

These muffins are made from spelt, a distant cousin to wheat, and don't have any sugar! I asked my brother-in-law to rate them based on a scale of 1-5 (1 being the lowest) and he gave them a 4! Yup, these are delicious! 

Bring out your Beauty. I've always had bags under my eyes. Lately they have been turning into a lovely shade of veiny blue. Nothing has been working to get them covered and then I found this!

Bobbie Brown Creamy Concealer Kit. This stuff is awesome! It's the first concealer I've tried that really covers up my bags. Yeah, my bags are still there, but they blend in my face now! Imagine that. This stuff really stays put. Even when my mascara has smeared and I've smudged it off, the concealer doesn't budge. With four steps it better not! 

Ten-Minute-Meals. When you think, "Vegan Meal", what most likely comes to your mind is, labor some, tedious, involved, well planned, tofu. But thankfully it doesn't have to be any of these things. Here is a ten-minute-meal I whipped up the other day when I was super tired and my fridge was on empty.

No Bake Enchiladas

Based off authentic style enchiladas, these are simple and pan fried. 

The main difference is I opened cans.

I found this canned enchilada sauce at our grocery store. I had to get no spicy to make it toddler friendly. This sauce is really yummy. You can use whatever you have on hand but let me just say, get a good one cause the sauce is the main contributer to the flavor of this dish. 

Fry a corn tortilla in some olive oil and a couple tablespoons of enchilada sauce until the tortilla bubbles. Flip tortilla and repeat.

I usually have some left over beans in the fridge. This time I had to open a can of black beans and warmed them in a pan. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt. 

Authentic Mexican Enchiladas are served with cabbage, but I just had lettuce on hand. 

Wrap the beans in the enchiladas 

 Top it with lettuce. Quick and yummy.

When I served these to Daniel, he got a little sad that we didn't have any Tofutti sour cream on hand. Pretty terrible name, but this stuff is legitimate.  

You could also top this with tomatoes, avocados or onions. 

Have a great Monday everyone! Am I allowed to say that? Or does everyone hate Mondays too much to enjoy them?