Juicing & Salads ~ Continue!

I'm REALLY trying to stay positive but it's been hard to lately!

I'm trying to keep my mind and body busy with other things to not over analyze like I tend to when stressed.

This past weekend my mom and I put the SlowStar Juicer to the test again!  WHY?  Because it's STRAWBERRY Season!  Woot!

This juice you see here is Strawberry, Pineapple, and Kiwi Fruit!  It was very tasty!

This week I will continue with the juices, smoothies, and salads for the most part.  I can see myself doing this - or at least - aiming for the major of my meals planning around these items - throughout the summer months into the fall.

It's mostly back-to-the basics while trying to detox a bit and shed a few in the meantime.

I have had MANY salads the last week or two and I'm not getting sick of them in the slightest!

This one you see here is iceberg lettuce (which I realize has the least nutritional value of any of the lettuces but I like the CRUNCH), a few leafy greens and spring mix are in there too...you can't see them but I have carrots and cherry tomatoes in there - PLUS - nutritional yeast, hemp seeds, corn strips, topped with Vegan Ranch Dressing, and smoked paprika.

Over the weekend we stopped by a family restaurant that has the best salad bar in the county and I piled up.  They have a California French that happens to be vegan...so I usually go with that.  We also stopped at a Variety Buffet yesterday and I had salad, corn, brussels sprouts, rice, and fruit!

Foods of the Week

This is the 2nd post of mine, today, be sure to scroll down for more!  Here are the foods I have been grazing on this week!  This first one I have done before or a quite similar dish with a few variations. 

This is simply - Cooked Quinoa with Black Beans, Corn, a handful of Hemp Hearts/Hemp Seeds, and I stirred in Salsa that I cooked down and added some Agave Nectar.

This was a large batch that lasted me two days!  This is one of my favorites the more and more I make it and eat it!

This plate, here, is literally a bunch of stuff I threw on a plate based on what was handy and quick!  I had some Lima Beans that I seasoned with just a sprinkle of Wildtree Lemon Pepper and nothing else.  I also cut up some tomatoes and the larger portion of this plate contains cut up Quinoa Polenta topped with Pepper Jack Daiya Cheese and Salsa.  It was quick, it was easy, I worked from my cupboards and Frig, and it was tasty!

Today I didn't break for lunch AGAIN but I was able to go down the street and get a HUGE salad from Wellness Cafe.  They made a vegan version of their Salad for me and when I got back to the office I sprinkled some Nutritional Yeast on top of it.  This salad had Strawberries, Grapes, Walnuts, Baby Spinach, and a Balsamic Reduction of some sort. 

It totally hit the spot!  I had some fresh squeezed Lemonade, too!  YUM!

Earlier this week I made some Salad Dressing!  I knew I wanted to use carrots and Avocado.  Here is what I came up with in my Ninja!

2 Carrots
1/2 Onion
1 tea Ginger (powder)
2 T Miso
2 T Rice Vinegar
1/4 C Grapeseed Oil
1 C or less of Water
1 Avocado

I'm pretty excited about this attempt!  I loved the creaminess of the Avocado, the sweetness of the Carrots, and the vinegar notes, with a gentle hint of saltiness from the Miso!

What are these?  You might be thinking, right?  Well, there were supposed to be Vegan Cheese Sticks but I turned them into Spicy Vegan Cheese Balls instead.  It was my very first attempt and altho it was a FAIL they ended up being quite tasty as a mistake!

I used Pepper Jack Daiya Cheese and added some Soy Milk.  I froze the mixture and then TRIED to make 'sticks' out of them.  When that didn't work I ended up 'rolling them' into BALLS instead.  The Cheesy Mixture in with Vegan Bread Crumbs.  I then used a little bit of Wildtree Chili Grapeseed Oil (it's now discontinued) from my stash to 'fry' them.  I just did them in a frying pan.  They were creamy, cheesy, crunchy spicy, and tasty for a vegan "cheat" food.

Here is a photo of one of them 'cracked open' showing the inside!

They were a treat - I wouldn't do them often because I technically 'fried' them but still...on a rare occasion...these were fun!

So...what kind of foods did you experiment with this week!?  What are some of your favorite things to throw together from frig/cupboard/pantry to bowl on a whim?  What are some of your 'cheat' foods?  Have a great weekend!