This is one in a series of food photo diary posts in which I track my food in pictures. I’m also counting my calories. Read all about it in this post or click here to view a detailed breakdown of my calorie intake in a nifty spreadsheet.
It was a day of trying new things and expanding my lexicon of fast and tasty vegan meals. From fruit and muesli to lentils and swiss chard, there’s are lots of recipes in today’s post. Read on…
Diary for Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Calories In: 2,225
Calories Out: 1,615
Deficit: 610
Swim
I went for an early morning swim before breakfast, and thus caught the working crowd. I still managed a very nice one-mile swim, and having other people in my lane encouraged me to push myself to swim faster and focus on my stroke (rather than on breakfast)
Calories burned: ~325
Breakfast
Bircher Muesli with Carrots and Cinnamon
Inspired by Maya’s carrot cake oats, I decided to branch out from my usual Bircher Muesli recipe and tried a few new things. First, I soaked the oats in soy milk instead of water and I skipped the whole almonds. In the morning, I added a grated carrot along with the usual grated apple, plus some extra cinnamon. Finally, I topped the lot with toasted sliced almonds. I wouldn’t call it “carrot cake”, for lack of cream cheese frosting, but I loved it, especially the crunchy texture of the carrot. Highly recommended.
80g rolled oats
20g raisins
10g flax seeds
1 cup soy milk (or more as needed)
cinnamon
1 apple, grated
1 carrot, grated
1 wedge of lemon, juiced
20g slivered almonds, toasted
Soak the oats, raisins, flax seeds and cinnamon in the soy milk overnight (add enough soymilk to cover the oats). In the morning, mix in the apple, carrot and lemon juice. Top with slivered almonds and serve. Serves 2.
Calories: 396
Protein: 14g
Fat: 16g
Carbs: 62g
Snack
Strawberry and Banana Tofu Smoothie
I’ve been taking some of your suggestions and mixing up my smoothies with other fruit besides banana. I really like the strawberry and banana combo. Tomorrow I might try adding some mint.
80g silken tofu
1/2 cup soy milk
4 strawberries
1/2 banana
1 tsp of honey
Whizz it all up in a blender. Pour into a glass and enjoy. Serves 1.
Calories: 203
Protein: 12g
Fat: 5g
Carbs: 31g
Walk
Took a long walk with Tim around Clissold Park, ~4 miles.
Calories burned: ~300
Lunch
Grilled Veggie Sandwich with Salad
I’ve been craving a grilled portabella mushroom sandwich, so on the way back from our walk, I picked up a baguette from The Spence then headed home for some hot grillin’ action. First I put some portabella mushrooms, sliced red onions and sliced red pepper into a big ziplock bag. Then I added a little bit of balsamic vinaigrette, fresh parsley, salt and pepper to the bag and mixed it all around. Then I grilled the veggies in the oven and stuffed them into the baguette along with some avo and tomato. It was perfect!
Calories: 296
Protein: 11g
Fat: 6g
Carbs: 55g
Snack
Leftover Stir Fry Salad
Ever wonder what to do with cold leftover stir fry? (Besides heat it up and eat it as it was intended?) I like to pile it all on a bunch of lettuce. The stir fry and sauce acts as its own dressing. Plus it takes <1 minute to throw together (if the salad leaves are washed and ready to go).
Calories: 288
Protein: 12g
Fat: 14g
Carbs: 34g
Dinner
Braised Lentils with Rainbow Chard, Rice and Bread
Another hit from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. Bittman’s Braised Lentils, Spanish Style are delicious and easy (that is, if you happen to have red wine, smoked paprika, and saffron around). I also tried a new recipe for Swiss Chard from the New York Times: Swiss Chard with Currants and Pine Nuts. I used walnuts and sultanas instead of pine nuts and currants, and it turned out great. It’s amazing how the addition of just a small amount of rich nuts and sweet sultanans can turn boring greens into something exciting. To me, this is the heart of vegan cooking: learning how to make vegetables taste good (rather than learning how to make vegetables taste like meat!).
Recipe: Braised Lentils, Spanish Style
Recipe: Swiss Chard with Currants and Pine
Nuts
Calories: 432
Protein: 18g
Fat: 13g
Carbs: 59g
YUM! i love your carrot oats! so glad you tried it 🙂 love the addition of the grated apple! i must try this recipe.
have a wonderful day 🙂
maya
You could totally make the yogurt cheese frosting from Tosca Reno’s Eat Clean cookbook for the oats!
Love your idea for the stir fry on the salad. I’ve only ever tried a portabello mushroom once and wasn’t keen on it, but maybe that’s because of the way it was prepared? I should try it again… thanks for all the great vegan recipes.
I can’t tell you how grateful I am for this post ~ it’s almost impossible to find appetizing vegan recipes that are calorie-counted, and as someone who needs to keep an eye on such things it’s wonderful to see gorgeous food such as the carrot cake oats and smoothie already pre-portioned and analysed. Love the blog, and keep the yummy meals (and recipes/calorie counts) coming!
~Jessica~
@maya – the carrot oats were AWESOME. i wasn’t going to do the apple but it seemed a little dry without. turned out to be a winner – let me know what you think.
@sagan – i am going to look up this recipe you mentioned. it sounds interesting! as for the portobellos, it could have everything to do with preparation. i think they need something beyond salt and pepper… they’re very good marinated in soy, ginger and garlic. but it could be the texture – i know some people who can’t bare it.
@jessica – thank you for your kind words! I’m so glad it’s helpful. It motivates me to keep it up when I get positive feedback like this. It occurs to me that I always list the total calories for a meal rather than the recipes for the individual portions.. . I think I should start separating them out. Aah, more ways for me to obsess over food. =)