Part of the cool kids club

Today was quite the experimental cooking day.  Lately, I’ve been salivating reading all my fellow bloggers’ delish recipes, not to mention jealous that I haven’t had time to sample the popular dishes on my own!  Desperate to join in on the action and give my own reviews, I grabbed my chef hat and decided to seize the day…  I don’t have Veganomicon, but if all goes well today, I may have to make a trip to Barnes & Noble. 

I started cooking in the AM, pretty much right after I woke up.  Okay, actually I had this first.

Since my stomach was grrrrrowling, I made it a latte (with lactaid, obvi).  And, yup, I busted out the froth machine.  Foam just gives my AM coffee that little extra something something, ya know?  I had 2 big cups of joe while my goodies were in the oven. 

Yeah, I know, Brussels sprouts are kinda atypical morning eats.  But you can’t help what you crave, right? 

Pre-oven: salt and no stick spray

Post-oven: baked and browned to perfection

For the rest of my brunch, I decided on eggs with sautéed greens (a pseudo scramble). 

I threw some fresh spinach in a pan, then once it was nice and wilted, I added in some broccoli slaw.

Eggs + sautéed greens +  Brussels = the perfect brunch 🙂

I was nice and full after brunch, so I had a cup of tea and continued cooking, while watching last night’s eps of Gossip Girl and the City. 

Butternut squash fries!!!  YUM x a million!!!!

I microwaved this fatty for a few mins before trying to cut into it (thanks Erin)!  Such a great trick – and my knife remained in one piece (always a plus). 

Chop, Chop, Chop

Can I even tell you how excited I am to try these!!!  Everyone has been making them lately, so I HAD to join in the fun! 

Salty AND healthy!  What’s not to love.  Mmmm…I def had 2 FULL plates.  So so good.

Later on I was craving something sweet, so I had a few strawberries and mango slices.

Followed by a couple of dried pineapple rings.

That got me going…

GYM:

Elliptical (level 10-12): 30 mins

Tread Mill (level 5.5-6.5): 30 mins

Stretching, arms, abs: 15 mins

For dinner I was SUPER excited to try out a delish vegan twist on an old classic…

Snobby Joe’s recipe

Ingredients
1 cup uncooked lentils
4 cups water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced small
1 green pepper, diced small
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons chili powder (maybe not quite this much)
2 teaspoons oregano
1 teaspoon salt
8 oz can tomato sauce
1/4 cup tomato paste
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
4 to 6 Kaiser rolls or sesame buns  (or Ezekiel English muffins, DUH!)

**I altered the recipe a bit, using WAY less chili powder, and instead adding some cumin and cayenne pepper, also I nixed the EVOO for PAM instead when sautéing the onion (healthier fo sho)

Directions
Boil lentils in a small sauce pot with 4 cups of water until lentils are soft, then drain and set aside.
Sauté onion and pepper in oil (I used PAM) until soft, then add garlic, cooked lentils, chili powder, oregano and salt and mix. Add the tomato sauce and tomato paste. Cook for about 10 minutes. Add the maple syrup and mustard and heat through.
Turn the heat off and let sit for about 10 minutes, so that the flavors can mix…or go ahead and eat immediately if you can’t wait.

Here’s some shots of the cooking process.

 

The results….FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

 

O-M-G.  No words can describe how good these were.  I burnt the crap out of my tongue and still the flavor was great!  It was spicy, but not too spicy, and it had lots of different textures too…with the peppers, onions, and lentils.  I wanted to eat the entire thing straight out of the pot!!! (no wonder I burnt my tongue, right?)  I had the first round with the Ezekiel muffin, the second plain on the plate (no photo), the third plain on the plate, again (see photo), and the fourth with a side of Brussels (gotta get my greens in right?).

 

Note to self:  make this recipe again (but double it)!! 

Of course as full as I was, I still had room for dessert :)  I tried my new tea (blueberry green tea) with a handful of dates (oops, I ate them way too fast to catch on film). 

FYI: Compete in a race or sporting event and write to Toyota and they will plant a tree in a US National Forest that has been damaged by fire, insects, or disease! A green way to give back AND get in some exercise!