Pardon me for combining lunch, snack and dinner – I was out running errands after lunch and then had kitchen things to do so I just figured I’d post all it once 🙂
Run + Lunch
Nice long run this morning – about 5 miles. We ran through a really fancy neighborhood and ooohhed and ahhed at the mansions. It helped pass the time!
Colorful Wheatberry Salad
We had leftover sprouted wheatberries on hand from the husband’s baking so I decided to mix them up as a salad for lunch. I used about 3/4 a cup, which is about 240 kcal worth. They are really chewy and delicious!! Almost rubbery in a really good way. Here’s some info on how to prepare them yourself. I found them at EarthFare in the bulk bins so look around at your local health food store (I’m sure Whole Foods will have them you lucky ducks who shop there).
Grains, check!
I added the rest of our veggies (the veggie drawers were COMPLETELY empty after this) cucumber, a handful of spinach (chopped), celery and the rest of a bag of frozen bell peppers.
Veggies, check!
I also added in a whole navel orange (and used some of its juice for the dressing) as well as a rehydrated mini box of raisins.
Fruit, check!
I made the dressing out of orange zest + juice, raspberry vinegar, zesty mustard, a tsp of honey, S+P.
Lastly, I topped the salad with some sliced toasted almonds.
Healthy fat, check (but if I’d had avocado it would have definitely been added too!)
Check out the wheatberries up close –
Normally a “one bowl lunch” would leave me unsatisfied (mostly mentally) but this was super satisfying, probably because of the variation in flavors and it was a big bowl!
The salad was about 475 kal, 15 grams fiber and 10 grams protein.
Dessert…Fig-a-majigs
Scones or Cookies!?
I went out and ran errands, including a trip to EarthFare for buns. While there I sampled a tiny bite of short ribs, a wasabi peanut, and lemon hummus on a pita chip. Just for the record!
While I was out I stopped into Barnes and Noble to browse through the cookbooks for scone recipes (mostly to check out Veganomicon’s Pumpkin Scone recipe!). But I stumbled across Vive le Vegan! After flipping through it for 30 seconds, it came home with me. I immediately saw at least 5 recipes I wanted to try. I think what I like about Dreena’s cookbooks isn’t the vegan draw (since I’m obviously not one), it’s the fact that this cookbook was written by a normal person who is really good at experimenting in the kitchen. The recipes just feel different than your standard “cookbook.” These are the first cookbooks I have ever read cover to cover!
So I gave a shot at her Squirrelly “Scones,” which she says don’t really taste like scones but look like them. She was right – they are oat cookies! But super healthy cookies! I left out a lot of the dried fruit and just ended up putting in walnuts and flax. But they are quite yummy! A touch of maple, a touch of cinnamon, oats, whole wheat pastry flour. They didn’t satisfy my scone craving, but they are good.
I think next time I’ll put in dark chocolate chips! These turned out to be 130 kcal each. They are a little small for the calories, but at least they’re healthy calories.
From Seeds!
Look what the husband and I created 🙂
Soup’s On!
Dinner tonight was ED&BV’s Rosemary White Bean Soup. It was actually very disappointing. Too watery and very bland – even with all the rosemary fresh from our garden! BUT, we fixed that with homemade croûtons (which she recommends with the soup) and Parmesan cheese (sorry, vegans!).
Here’s the first batch, sans cheese. Very bland.
With a tbsp of grated Parm – it made ALL the difference!
The croûtons, made from homemade spelt bread, were fabulous! We just cubed the bread (3.5 oz worth), drizzled on a tsp of EVOO and some salt and baked for about 12 minutes at 400*. LOTS of flavor!
Speaking of olive oil, here’s a cook’s tool I LOVE! It’s an olive oil holder (from Crate and Barrel) that you squeeze to bring OO into the top part, which measures 1, 2, 3 tsp or 1 tbsp for you. It’s so nice not to have to dirty up a measuring spoon!
Dinner from above –
This bowl was about 450 kcal, 22 grams fiber and 21 grams protein.
Sweet Spot
The husband made these nut and seed sweet crackers with a homemade yogurt-sugar icing. (I think he’s planning on doing a whole recipe page for his next batch.) I tried one for dessert!
While I didn’t get much school work done today, I’m feeling pretty organized to start the week. Dishes are all done, dishwasher emptied, laundry done, house clean.
See you guys tomorrow for the start of another week!
and…………..
A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO VEGGIEGIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Em says
Yum! The crackers look divine, and the scone/cookies don’t look bad either. Too bad the soup wasn’t better! And that oil dispenser is so neat! I want one!!
Did you say you used frozen bell peppers in your salad? Did you just microwave them for a bit before you added them? I never thought of using frozen veggies in a dish that wasn’t hot? Looks delish!!
bikergurl says
Wow, crackers with icing sounds amazing, how did you stop at just one?
As usual, your meals look to die for, even your soup “before cheese” shot.
Nick says
Whoa, a ton of food going on there. I’ve never tried wheatberries but I have a feeling they are like barley/bulgur/any-other-chewy-type-grain, is that about right? I’m sure the flavor is a bit different, but I’ll need to try them, I love grains.
I like the scone/cookie looking things, I’ve been craving scones as well recently. I’m currently working on a peanut butter scone recipe which I’ll hopefully turn out soon!
– The Peanut Butter Boy
Michelle says
Your lunch looks amazing!
How do you rehydrate raisins- mine always get so dry/stale tasting!
Also, how did you add frozen peppers to a salad? Wouldn’t they get everything wet?
Kath says
Re. Peppers,
Microwaved until hot in a little water, drained, let cool to room temp., added. They were a little wet, but so was the dressing.
Re. Raisins,
Rehydrate in a little bowl of hot water for 5 minutes to plump them up.
K
Erin says
That olive oil holder is amazzzzzzing! I must have one! Or maybe 2 – one for olive oil and one for salad dressing. I can’t believe I’ve never seen that before!
Romina says
Wow, you’ve been realy busy!! Where do I begin? Your salad look amazing, I’ve never tried wheatberries. They look great!!
And I must say that Vive Le Vegan is the first vegan cookbook I’ve ever opened, and I love it! Those are some of the best cookies ever. =)
VeggieGirl says
Oh my goodness gracious, what a busy, delicious day you’ve had!! Between the bowl-meal, squirrel-scones, the crackers – jeez, EVERYTHING, looks PHENOMENAL!!!
Kath, you are FAR too lovely – thank you so much for the birthday shout out :0)
Betsy says
I’ve always wanted to sprout my own grains and your salad with them looks so good I might build up the confidence to actually do it!!
bummer that your soup wasn’t too flavorful. I made a white bean soup a while back too and it wasn’t too flavorful either. I was totally bummed, and I’m still not quite sure what went wrong there!
Yaz says
Wow Kath, your flowers look amazing, they’re so full of life.
Speaking of gardening, I live in L.A. and just joined a gardening community a block away from home. I am superduper excited! 🙂 I can’t wait to see what I can create. I am a novice at gardening and the first persons I thought of when I was trying to decide who to hit up for some advice was you and Matt. You’ve mentioned that you have some herbs in your garden and I’d love to know what you’re growing and were you got your seeds. And of course any other tips would be greatly appreciated.
In fact anyone with gardening advice… I need your help!
I am so excited, did I mention this already?
I am going to start out with herbs but am looking to expand to fruits and vegetables.
Thanks Kath & Matt and all other “Kathers”
Jill says
I love wheatberry salads! I always have to add some salmon, my favorite touch!
I saw the Vive le Vegan cook at the library not long ago but had not heard much about it, so you’ll have to keep us updated on how it is!
Cara says
Wow it all looks amazing. Today I made asparagus the way I saw you make it once. I was very satisfied. mmm.
Ally says
What a delicious day!
and Happy birthday Veggiegirl, you deserve the shout out 😉
Petite Yogini says
That olive oil tool is an awesome idea. I have to stay away from kithcen stores because of cool products like that.
sarah says
mmm, those cookies/scones (skookies? cones?) look delicious. i never thought i’d want a vegan cookbook, but now i’m thinking about it. i definitely would have added parm to that soup, though, just like you did!
i’ve done 2 half marathons in charlotte and both had us running through these supermansions and luxurious neighborhoods! i wonder if that’s where you went running 🙂
Kath says
Nick ,
I would say the wheatberries are like a thicker cross between quinoa and barley. They were great! I can’t wait to see your PB scone recipe too!
Yaz ,
The husband is our resident gardener – I just do what I’m told! I like to weed 🙂 Do you have any specific questions? We kind of cheated because our lavender, thyme, rosemary and oregano came with the house, but we have grown basil, cilantro, dill and oregano from scratch on our apt. balcony. We also had jalapeños on the balcony! You just need a planter filled with soil and some sprouted seedings (you can start from seeds, but it’s more difficult). What you should do it go to Lowes, Home Depot or a gardening store and tell them what herbs you want to start with and they’ll show you exactly what supplies you need (that’s just what we did).
sarah ,
You should definitely get one of Dreena’s cookbooks. Like I said, they are so creative and not your typical recipe that you could probably create yourself or easily find on the internet.
We went running through Quail Hollow. I bet you ran through Myers Park though – so beautiful!
Kath
Suzanne says
That olive oil thing looks so handy. I’m going to pick one up. Too bad I already placed an online order from Crate and Barrel a few hours before your post! 🙁 Or else I could have added it to the order.
Thanks for the tip! 🙂