Stuffed Artichokes

I made this recipe a few weeks ago, but I am finally getting around to posting this.
I had never cooked artichokes before, and this was a wild shot in the dark.
I think it turned out pretty, pretty, pretty good.

.........

STUFFED ARTICHOKES

Ingredients

• 2 artichokes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 4 cloves garlic, slivered
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme 
• 1/4 teaspoon dried ground fennel
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Vegetable broth

1. Preheat oven to 400F.

2. In a skillet, saute the garlic and onions til soft. Stir in the thyme, fennel, breadcrumbs and nutritional yeast. Stir often and cook until the breadcrumbs start to brown. 

3. While the breadcrumbs are cooking (or after if you aren't the best at multitasking), prep the artichokes. Rinse them and pull off the outer layer of the leaves. Chop off the top and bottom of the artichoke... the bottom so that it will sit flat and the top inch or so to get rid of the sharp pointy thingies. Take some scissors and snip off any remaining pointys.

4. The original recipe has some crazy instructions here on removing the choke from the center of the artichoke... I didn't do this. I couldn't spread the leaves enough to get to the center... so I cooked it as a whole and just didn't eat the center... taadaaa! Lazy person instructions. 

5. Take the stuffing and start stuffin'! Starting from the outside in, gently pull back a leaf and put some stuffing inbetween the layers. Continue doing this to each leaf as far in as you can. My artichokes didn't want to let me into the middle too much... but such is life. 

6. Line a baking dish with foil (for easy clean up... read: lazy), place artichokes upright in said dish. Pour broth into the dish, about an inch or so high. Cook for 60 minutes.

7. Enjoy! 

Juice Day 3 & 4

My recap for the past two days is essentially the same as days 1 and 2. Juice, bootcamp, veggie dinner.

Day 3: Juice 1

2 granny smith apples, 4 carrots, 1 cucumber, 2 handfuls spinach, 3 leaves rainbow chard, 1 inch ginger

 Day 2: Juice 2

2 cups blackberries, 6 strawberries, 1 cucumber
one of my favorite juices
tastes like springtime in your mouth 

Day 4: Juice 1

5 carrots, inch of ginger, 4 leaves purple cabbage, 3 leaves rainbow chard, 1 cucumber
I ran out of apples... so extra carrots for sweetness. 

From the top, this juice looks groovy...

...from the side, not so much.

 Day 4: Juice 2

1 navel orange, 2 tangelos, 2 mangos, 1 cup coconut water (not pictured)
this was amazing as well!! sooooo yummy!!

I highly recommend a juice reboot or even just adding juice and/or smoothies to your daily routine... so much vitamins packed into that little glass! And by golly are they delicious.

Tomorrow I have the day off (um, woohoo!!!) ... and I will be taking myself out for a day on the town. Shopping, eating and the meeting up with a few girl friends for the grand opening of El Santo Cantina (if anyone else in the area wants to go, let me know! I'd love to meet some local blogger and, of course, the more the merrier!). My Saturday and Sunday have not been set in stone yet, but I know there will be lots of fun, food and fiesta-ing. I feel like its Christmas... but maybe its just Cinco de Mayo. And maybe I'm just having an awesome week.

Hope you are all having an awesome week as well!!  

Juice Day #2

Day two of "jucing". I'm not even sure I can call it that, because I'm not drinking only juice during these five days. But its still some sort of reboot, and I'm loving the results.

{Juice 1}

purple cabage, cameo apples, lemon, rainbow chard and carrots

After I juiced those, I realized it did not make enough juice... 

Only half full! But it IS colorful

So I added another batch of goodies to the same cup:

spinach, more rainbow chard, another cameo apple, the other half of the lemon

{Juice 2} 

3 navel oranges, handful of strawberries

best juice I've made so far

Lucky for me, there were no speed bumps today. Everything went as planned. I was not hungry and had no headaches all day :) 

Today was an off day from bootcamp so I headed over to the gym to do just a little but of running. The gym was so crowded today! I wonder if everyone else in Arizona is participating in Healthy May as well? Haha.

{Dinner}

After the gym I headed home and made my dinner - sauteed spinach with garlic on raw zucchini noodles. 

I'm currently obsessed with zucchini noodles. They are delicious and healthy! 

Until tomorrow - have a great (healthy) day!! 

Juice Day #1

May day! May day! May is finally here :)

[source]

It's now one month closer to my birthday, one month closer to the wedding, one month closer to being healthier. I already had personal goals set for myself, but now I am excited to be linking up with Here Comes the Sun for Healthy May (you can see the rules/guidelines/suggestions for Health May here). This is just one more way to keep me accountable and excited about my continuing journey towards health.

I will be tracking my food and exercise on SparkPeople (we could be Sparkfriends if you also use it), tweeting about progress (Twitter: @lebonk) about progress and taking pics of stuff along the way (Instagram: @lebonk).

Anyways - on to Healthy May and recapping my first day of "juicing"... Yesterday morning I woke up bright and early to get my juice on. I made two juices, one for breakfast and one for lunch. I was ready to hit the ground running! 

{Juice 1}

4 celery stalks, 4 carrots, 2 cameo apples, 2 kale leaves, large handful of spinach

Green!

Now I'm not claiming to be any kind of juice recipe expert... so if you copy these recipes and you hate them, don't blame me. I'm just sharing what I did.

sidebar: I gave samples of this juice to my boyfriend and his roommate... boyfriend always loves my green juice, roommate politely tried a sip and then, when I wasn't looking, let boyfriend finish the rest. Moral of the story: not everyone likes to drink a garden.

{Juice 2}

1 cucumber, handful of strawberries, handful of blackberries, handful of spinach, 1 granny smith apple, 1 cameo apple

Now this is where I hit my first speed bump. I had an off-site client meeting at 9:30am, and was supposed
to be back to the office around 11:30am, so I did not bring any juice with me. The meeting ran long... and I kept looking at the clock, hoping that we could wrap it up soon... but I didn't get back to the office until almost 3pm. I was STARVING and had a massive headache!

I chugged a boatload of water and downed my second juice but it wasn't helping. I had some cucumber slices and carrot sticks in the fridge from last week so I went ahead and ate those. The headache eventually subsided and I was ready to roll.

Then I went to bootcamp... start of week two - woohoo! 
Bootcamp was great, but when I got home I needed more than just juice to munch on. I knew this was going to be a possibility, so I went to my backup plan: I will be juicing during the day and then eating some healthy plant-based dinner after my workouts.

Monday's dinner ended up being kale chips (recipe to be posted at some future date) and some delicious coconut water. Coconut water is delicious and GREAT for after a workout. 

Do you guys have any health/diet/exercise plans for May? 

Anyone else interested in joining in Healthy May? 

Anyone have a good juice recipe for me to try this week?

Healthy Curly Fries

before you read the title/ingredients below and decide it sounds "gross", 

take a sneak peek at the end product 

Mmmmm... so delish!

ok, so now for the secret ingredient

this was another experiment with yet another random vegetable 

that arrived in my weekly box o' organic goodies...

....

turnips!! 

they don't look yummy yet, but they will, just wait

to be honest, i don't think i have ever had turnips before this

and i had no idea what they would taste like 

or how to cook them 

and they sounded gross to me at first 

i mean, just say the word aloud.... turnips... tuuurnippss (see?)

but i feel bad wasting food, and i already had them in my fridge 

so i started trying to brainstorm how i would cook em

then my handy dandy veggie spiralizer arrived on my doorstep

and i just had to use it on something

oh the possibilities! 

soooo spiral somethings?

curly somethings? turnip somethings?

curly fries? turnip fries? 

sure, lets go with all of the above

OVEN BAKED TURNIP FRIES

Ingredients

• 3 turnips
• 1/8 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp onion salt 
• 1 tsp ground paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• parsley (to make it look pretty at the end)

 1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray (makes for easy clean up - i use organic olive oil spray).

2. Wash and peel the turnips. Cut into fry-size sticks (the thinner you cut them, the crispier they will be - so you choose between steak fries or shoestring fries). If you are lucky enough to own a spiralizer... spiralize those bad boys.

seriously, i love this thing
wheeeeee!

 3. In a large ziploc bag, combine cheese and seasoning. Add turnips and shake to coat (you may dance while shaking if you want, i've found it adds to the flavor as well as the experience).

4. Place turnips on baking sheet and back for 15-20 minutes (or until turnips are tender and golden).

 

before the cookin'

 after!

 5. Enjoy!

taa daaa!

if any of you are curious about what turnips taste like, because i know i was

i found them to taste similar to radishes (when raw) 

and kinda like a potato-onion hybrid (when cooked) 

they have a slight sweet flavor (like cooked onion)

but the overall dish was tasty

and apparently turnips are one of "The 150 Most Healthiest Foods on Earth"

win-win, eh?

have you ever tried turnips? how do you like to cook turnips?

Paul McCartney's Ob-La-Di Enchiladas

looking for a delicious and satisfying recipe for meatless mondays?

well look no further!

i've made this recipe a few times now

and it's always met with rave reviews!

(not to mention it's perfectly named)

rather than making individual enchiladas

i layered the ingredients like a casserole:

one layer tortillas

one layer tofu, spinach, and mushrooms

repeat

worth noting: i used two bunches of spinach

and two packs of mushrooms...

...and NO cornstarch (i've never had any complaints)

this recipe is also dairy-free making it a perfect choice for the vegan and plant-based crowd

enjoy!

(originally posted at House of Glass)

Mini Cauliflower Pizza Cups

Let me start off by saying that colored cauliflower might be my new favorite vegetable. 

Its just. so. fun.

Yes, it really looks like this. 

In my box of magic this past week, I was lucky enough to get a purple cauliflower. 

Can we say stoked!?? 

I kept trying to find an awesome cauliflower recipe that would be fun to prep and that my veggie-phobic friends would actually eat. 

Then I was shopping and found a mini muffin pan on sale. 

So it was decided my cauliflower would be in mini muffin form. 

Mini Cauliflower Pizza Cups

Ingredients:

• 1 head of cauliflower
• 1 tbsp milled flax seed 
• 1/8 cup low fat cottage cheese
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano + 1/2 tsp dried basil (or 1 tsp pizza seasoning of choice)
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• whatever additional pizza toppings you'd like

Steps: 

1. Preheat oven to 425. Prep muffin pan for pizzafication (grease the cups, line with lines, whatever. The inspiring recipe says to use silicone or foil liners... I just greased my mini muffin tin with some EVOO and it ended up turning out fine. No sticky mess for me. )

2. Wash cauliflower and break into smallish segments. Steam the cauliflower. 

...before...         and        ...after...

i LOVE the color change! So much purpleyness! (thats a word, right?)

3. Drain out all of the excess water. You may want to try pressing it with a paper towel (I let mine sit in the fridge over night so it kinda drip-dried). 

4. Place cauliflower and flax seed in a food processor or high speed blender and pulse until it reaches a rice like consistency. (Mine was a little more gooey than ricey... perhaps a little too much moisture? After baking it ended up being fine.)

5. Mix cauliflower and other ingredients in a bowl. 

6. Spoon into muffin pan. Press the tops so that its compact and flat on top. 

Aerial view provided by the boyfriend... 

I asked him to take some pics for the blog and he turned into the dang paparazzi

7. Place in oven and bake for about 25 minutes. 

8. After 25 minutes, remove from oven and add your toppings. We used mozzarella, lean ground turkey (seasoned with Italian seasoning, garlic and lotsa lotsa pepper) and some parsley flakes for color. 

9. Place back in the over and cook for about 10 minutes or until the cheese starts to brown/bubble. (If you are opting for a topping free version, I'd say about 10 more minutes as well, just keep an eye on them) 

10. Remove from oven. Let them cool a little bit and enjoy! 

The finished product :)  

 I'm still in love with the purpleyness!

Things to note:

• Recipe adapted from here.
• I substituted flax seed + the water from steaming the cauliflower for the egg white, for a slightly healthier kick. Hello, Omega-3!
• I doubled the cauliflower, but not the cheese from the original recipe. Another attempt and making it slightly healthier.
• I personally would not consider this meal as a whole "healthy"... But it's a lot of veggies... and three veggie-phobes said they liked it... and it's yummy.So I'll allow it.
• Very easy to make this meal vegetarian.... I'm not sure about vegan though.  Even though there isn't that much cheese, it does help bind the "dough"... I'm sure someone more creative than me has some thoughts/comments on this.

Mean Green Sandwich Machine!

Food, how I do love it so!

Experimenting in the kitchen is one of my favorite hobbies... but its tax season right now. I'm gonna take a wild stab in the dark and guess that no one reading this post is a tax accountant (Right? Right? Ok, so maybe it was a lame poke in the light), so I can explain to you what that means to me.

• I am working on average 55-60 hours a week (only two more weeks left!)
• I am too lazy to spend hours cooking extravagant meals when I get home from work
• I am too lazy to wake up early and prep a "real meal" before work

Ergo, I've been eating "easy meals", but trying to stay on the healthy side. Hopefully I spend some time in the kitchen this weekend... but until then, here's a peek into what my meals were like yesterday...


Breakfast

Vega One meal shake with unsweetened Almond Milk and a banana. 

I love that the Vega One powder has three servings of green vegetables in each scoop, along with a boatload of other good-for-you's. It's also vegan, mostly raw and super easy for my lazy butt in the morning. 

Also, I love my yellow blender bottle. Yellow makes me happy :) 

Lunch

Mean Green Sammich Machine: Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Whole Grain bread, cucumber, avocado, alfafa sprouts, vegenaise, red leaf lettuce, and spinach.

Oooooh I do love me a good sammich! My momma used to make fun of me for it. Said that in order to win my heart, a boy should show up with a sandwich instead of flowers. You may laugh, but my momma is a smart, smart lady.

Dinner

(not pictured.... oops!)

Essentially a repeat of lunch, minus the bread. I went to the gym (running plan, workout day #3... woohoo! Go me!) and when I got home I wasn't hungry at all... but I knew I needed to eat something, so I made some lettuce wraps using essentially the same ingredients as the sammich.


Speaking of the gym... when I was leaving there tonight, there was the most gorgeous sunset! I snapped a quick pic before hopping in the car. Arizona really does have the prettiest sunsets that I have ever seen - and that's a bold statement coming from someone who grew up in So Cal watching the sun set behind the Pacific!

Have a great Friday! :)

My Box of Magic

Every other Friday I get a box of delicious magic delivered to my doorstep.... I wake up on those Fridays like a little kid on Christmas... I rush to the front porch to see what sort of goodies arrived during the night.

The magical goodies in the box are an random assorment of organic, locally grown, fruits and veggies.

I LOVE to be in the kitchen, Googling various recipes and concoctions to try. It's fun to be surprised with random produce that I've never cooked with before. And this produce is DELICIOUS.
A million times better than the grocery stores (even when you buy organic at the grocery store) AND it just shows up at my doorstep... how cool is that?!

This week's assortment:

Please ignore my reflection in the mirror... I promise 

I don't have a Santa belly... its just the shirt and the angle :) 

Veggies:

• 1 bunch of spinach
• 2 bunches of carrots
• 2 bunches of kale (with red stems? interesting....)
• 1 bunch of chard (rainbow? not sure... stems are lellow)
• 2 broccoli crowns
• 1 cucumber

Fruit:

• 5 bananas
• 3 fiji apples
• 3 braeburn apples
• 3 tangelos
• 5 kiwis
• 2 pears
• 1 avocado

I see lots of yummy juice, smoothies and salads in my future!!

LeBonk!
"Did you mean: 'clam bellies'?"

Dinner

Crust - cauliflower, mozzarella, eggs, parsley, garlic, oregano

Sauce - olive oil, garlic, salt, parsley, Mrs. Dash galic and herb,

Toppings - spinach, mozarella, chicken breast, shallots, sun dried tomatoes, parmesan, romano, asiago, parsley

... and maybe some other things I forgot.