Well, I woke up pretty tired from last night's E2 dinner party, but it was worth it! I ate the rest of the vanilla chia seed pudding Amanda sent me home with for breakfast along with a mason jar of raisin bran with added sliced almonds and unsweetened vanilla almond milk. Yum!
And here's the recipe Amanda used to make the Vanilla Chia Seed Pudding! I believe she subbed the coconut palm sugar with maple syrup, though, to make it E2 friendly!
I snacked on an apple on my break and some more hot green tea with lemon and ginger juice! I tell ya, that stuff is so so good! (I'm drinking some as I type now!)
I didn't have time to pack a lunch so I got some brown rice/quinoa avocado and cucumber sushi that I dipped in a little liquid aminos. It tasted good, but I wasn't totally feelin it today so unwrapped some and just ate the avocado and cucumber. Still was enough to fill me up for lunch.
I followed the sushi with a delicious clementine that is so sweet, it could be dessert. Yum!!
After work, I stopped by our Healthy Eating Specialist's station to chat with Dori about Engine 2 approved food. I want to make E2 enchiladas and wanted to see if she thought any of the premade enchilada sauces we sell were low enough in sodium to work. Unfortunately, we didn't really have premade sauces super low in sodium. I lucked out, though, and Michael Martin, our fabulous cooking coach who many times a year cooks with Emeril Lagasse, walked by and was very willing to help me! He walked me to our no salt added tomato sauces and our canned chipotle peppers. Remember when I said I rinsed and soaked those chipotle peppers because they were packed in oil? I was wrong! Guess I didn't look at the label very closely because there is no oil in the adobo sauce the chipotle peppers are in. There is a little salt, but they thought that'd be ok to use since I'm diluting it in two cans of no salt added tomato sauce. After grocery shopping, I wandered around my favorite craft store and then finally headed home.
I took a pretty long nap, and felt a little more rested when I woke up around 8:30. I almost went back to bed without dinner, but knew that'd be irresponsible. You need to eat each meal.
I had every intention of having another garlic kale salad, but I was feeling lazy...even though I had enough energy to make another helping of Heather's Hot Baked Tofu with baked sweet potato chips. Dori, our Healthy Eating Specialist at Whole Foods, reminded me to eat greens everyday because they burn fat...besides being reeeeally packed with nutrients. I guess I'm still choosing "indulgences" even when eating E2. But, I'll get that kale in me tomorrow.
Speaking of indulgences, guess what I also whipped up tonight? Chocolate chia seed pudding!! I took some hints from Amanda's chia seed pudding and also from a chocolate pudding Dori made a while back and ended up with a pretty fantastic result!
It actually tastes a lot like brownie batter. In high school, we used to make a bowl of brownie batter at parties (eggless) and all eat it with spoons. So good, but not that good for ya. But hey, that was pretty tame if that was the worst thing we consumed at our high school parties!
Okay, okay, enough strolling down memory lane. Here's the recipe:
Heather Jean's Brownie Batter Pudding
4 tbsp chia seeds
1 1/2 cups unsweetened almond milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
6 to 8 pitted medjool dates
1 fresh banana, sliced
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
Soak dates in water overnight. In a seperate container, mix chia seeds, vanilla, cinnamon, and almond milk together and soak overnight (but you can probably do this over a shorter amount of time.) The next day, pour the almond milk mixture into your blender cup. Add the sliced banana, 6 dates and cocoa powder. Blend until smooth. Add more dates if you want it sweeter. Add more cocoa powder if you want it more chocolatey! It's that simple! And really really good! I bet it'd be good with chopped nuts or blended soaked nuts like hazelnuts too!
This one is so tasty,I know I'll be making it on a regular non-E2 day! I'll serve it to my family too, as I'm sure they'll love the taste and will benefit from all the nutrients packed in those tiny chia seeds! By the way, if you don't know, chia seeds become kinda gel-like when added to a liquid. Not sure if I've mentioned this in a previous blog, but that's why they're perfect for a pudding base!
I got a compliment from a friend today. She said she can tell I'm eating healthier by the way I look. Said my face isn't as puffy, which could be because of the decrease in salt. I appreciated the recognition of my efforts! It's not as hard as I thought it'd be, but it has its challenges...like right now with my roommate cooking some kind of glorious smelling fried chicken downstairs. You're killing me Julie! Hehe, not really, but it does smell good.
I'll be finishing my enchiladas tomorrow and will include the recipe for those plus a photo and ingredient list for the garlicky kale. I use the same ingredients as our garlicky kale salad from Whole Foods, so would not feel comfortable sharing a recipe that could potentially take away garlicky kale sales. But, the ingredients are listed on the sticker when you buy it, so I can share those. And really, it's just throwing in as much of each ingredient as you desire.
Day 9: My stomach isn't getting in my way as much! Ha!
Today I felt: Thrilled with how good my brownie batter pudding tastes, thankful for cooking tips from Dori and Michael, and tempted by the smell of my roommie's chicken...but nothing's stopping me now!
Thanks for reading!!
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