Tag Archives: easy dinner recipe

Vegetable Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

  • 1/2c diced carrots (about 2 large carrots)
  • 1/2c minced onion
  • 2c mushrooms (I chopped 1c and sliced 1c to vary textures)
  • ~1c edamame beans
  • 1c diced water chesnuts
  • 1T garlic powder
  • 1.5T tamari (or soy sauce of your choice)
  • 1T GF Teriyaki sauce
  • 1 head of lettuce (I used Boston lettuce fresh from the farmers market), rinsed with leaves separated

In a non-stick skillet, lightly saute the carrots, onions, and 1/2T garlic powder over low heat until onions turn translucent (about 5-7 minutes). As they cook, finish preparing your remaining vegetables. Add in edamame, water chesnuts, mushrooms, and remaining garlic powder. Stir and saute allowing vegetables to begin to soften. Add in sauces and stir fry until mixture is cooked to your preference. I let the liquid cook down from the veggies and stir fried until they got a little crust on them.

Arrange lettuce leaves on plate and scoop mixture inside. Top with crushed cashews, wrap, and enjoy!

This makes 4 light servings or 2 dinner-sized portions.

Ups and Downs

After a fantastic whirlwind of a weekend it was time to get down to business for another work week. There hasn’t been too much exciting going on, just taking care of errands like the grocery store, some cleaning, and spending time reading American Wife. I’m enthralled with the book and seem to be sneaking in time to read when I should be doing things like sleeping and being productive. Oh well!

Between the quick weekend and lots to look forward to I feel like I’m experiencing extreme ups and downs. I have so much exciting coming up in the next few weeks and a lot to take care of before and during those events. I’m trying to plan ahead smartly to avoid lots of stress and am taking on some additional stress by making some long-term plans. I knew they were coming but it’s now “go time” adding to my roller coaster of feelings. Despite the ups and downs I’m feeling positive and excited which is a good thing!

On Monday night I whipped up some roasted chicken along with my favorite pantry meal – roasted chickpeas and veggie brown rice, a recipe inspired by Mama Pea that I truly love. That meant that I had some great leftovers yesterday!

I took my lunch break to head to my usual total body conditioning class at the gym. It was another great workout and I’ve noticed that I’m getting stronger and feel less like death during class which is great. I even found myself wishing the studio in which class was held was bigger so that we could sprint farther. Who am I?! :)

Lunch afterwards was a simple salad topped with roasted chicken plus a small side of veggie rice. I also had some grapes and half a pear that were camera shy.

I snacked on a mini bag of popcorn in the afternoon while checking things off of my to-do list. As soon as I got home I changed into comfy clothes and curled up on the couch with my book. I told you I’m really into it!

I had a craving for pasta and kidney beans (random) so I whipped up a vegetable sauce of sorts using asparagus, onion, broccoli, and spinach. I combined that mix with pre-made tomato sauce and mixed it with some Italian seasoning, kidney beans, and ~half a serving of brown rice pasta.

My snack during the Biggest Loser was some fruit – I might turn into a blueberry with the amount I seem to be eating lately!

What book are you currently enjoying? What fruit can you not get enough of at the moment?

Happy 2011!

Happy New Year everyone! There’s something about being back at the beginning, at the start of the calendar year, that makes me excited and optimistic about what this year will entail. I’m hoping that 2011 will be much better than 2010!

I had a low key New Year’s Eve with friends and was asleep around 1:30am which I was pretty proud of. What I was a little less proud of was the fact that yesterday I woke up at 12:45pm! I have been battling a cold for almost a week now and it seems like my body demanded a final morning of solid sleep. All I was craving for “breakfast?” was a pear and a slice of toast so that’s what I had.

I then went out for a walk through a somewhat empty Georgetown to enjoy the warmer weather we’re having. A little over 3 miles later and I was ready for some college football. It was a quite a lazy, relaxing day and I loved every minute of it!

Dinner might as well have transplanted me to the Deep South but I wanted to eat my traditional New Year’s Day foods for good luck and prosperity. I made black-eyed peas and collard greens with a little twist.

BBQ Black-Eyed Peas (eyeballed recipe)

  • 1 can black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
  • 1 squirt ketchup
  • 1 squirt mustard
  • 1/3c or so BBQ sauce
  • 1/2T sugar-free syrup
  • dashes of garlic and onion powder
  • dashes of cumin and mustard powder
  • 1/2t brown sugar
  • 1 small bay leaf

Combine all ingredients in a pot, stir well, and let simmer for 7-10 minutes or until sauce thickens. Enjoy!

For the collards, I used this recipe as inspiration and used 1 bunch of organic collard greens and added 21 Seasoning Salute. I didn’t mix in rice either.

Instead, I had a vegan black bean tamale that I imported brought back with me from Dallas. Mmmm.

This morning (!!) I am up and about to take my first trip to the Farmers Market in 2011 and then I’m off to do some shopping and have lunch with a friend.

What traditional foods (if any) do you eat on New Year’s Day?

5 Minute Dinner – Creamy Polenta Bowl

A few nights ago I was hungry for dinner yet had no clue as to what to make. While staring at my pantry I came up with this easy to make and oh so comforting meal. The best part is that you can customize it with ingredients you have on hand. This bowl warmed me right up and kept me full all night long!

Creamy Polenta Bowl (for one)

  • one serving corn grits / polenta (I use Bob’s Red Mill polenta)
  • 1/4c [nondairy] milk
  • 1/2c water
  • 3 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped into bite-size pieces
  • 1/2c broccoli florets
  • Earth Balance
  • Parmesan cheese
  • garlic powder and Italian Seasoning

Combine all ingredients from corn grits through broccoli in a bowl and stir. Microwave for 2 minutes. Stir again. Heat through until grits / polenta is cooked all the way through. Stir in seasonings and Earth Balance. Top with cheese and hot pepper (optional but encouraged!)