I have been super busy lately working on finishing up my last month of IIN, focusing on my health coaching practice, working on getting our home fixed up and working on new projects for the blog.  I am really excited about everything that has been going on and can’t wait to share more with you.

As for IIN I am now certified by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners which is all of a sudden making this feel so real. I am also working on some special rates for my husbands company which is a young, health conscious group and already have a number of healthy living initiatives so I am hoping my services will appeal to the group.  I also am going to be coming out in the next week with a special readers rate so keep your eyes peeled.

For the blog I am working on a local product project to give you a feature of different vegan Vermont products.  This month I will be featuring Nutty Steph’s and Vermont Soy- with that being said if you have specific questions you would like to know about these two places please email me  lindsay@cookingforaveganlover.com or comment below. I also am working on another personal project that I am going to feature on the blog as well- keep reading and I’ll discuss this more at the bottom of the post.

With all these projects the Hubz and I haven’t spent much quality time alone together so last night we took the night off and went to The Farmhouse Tap and Grill to enjoy good beer and food.  We also did a little shopping because well we both need an update.  The Hubz got some new kicks and I got new jeans and a skirt from Ann Taylor Loft (only $12 for both SCORE!).

This morning I started things off right with a bowl of oatmeal with a little sample of Barney Butter (giveaway and review to come son), a banana and Bee-Free Honee (review and giveaway for this too!).  I also had a cup of awful instant coffee- Tasters Choice- a free sample I applied for online somewhere- it was awful, then again I’m a coffee snob.

After breakfast I made the Hubz and I lunch; since we went out last night we had no leftovers from dinner (except yummy olives) so I was happy that Cedar’s sent me a few coupons for free products which allowed us to have a yummy Mediterranean feast see below:

After breakfast and lunches came my next challenge for this month- clean out the cupboards before summer.  This is the month of the pantry challenge.  My goal is to reduce packed items from out cupboards; there really isn’t a much but I am ready to make some changes and increase the dried beans and grains and fresh veggies. In addition to cleaning out the cupboards the real challenge will be to not purchase items that we are already trying to get reduce/crowd out. This is also a pantry challenge to hopefully save a little money on groceries this month because I am a natural food store-aholic- they are my favorite places to shop. So here is what we have to use:

• Rice Vermicelli Noodles
• Rice Paper Wrappers
• Rajmah Spice Mix
• Punjab Chole Spice Mix
• Frontier Soups Wheat Berry Chili Mix
• Sambhar
• Jovial Brown Rice Pasta (also need to review)
• Nature Burger Mix
• Red Lentils
• Green Lentils
• Pearl Barley
• Red Quinoa
• White Quinoa
• Falafel Mix
• Whole Wheat Orzo
• Canned Diced Tomatoes
• Brown Rice
• 3 cans of chickpeas
• 2 cans of black eyed peas
• 1 can of cannelini beans
• Taco Shells
• 3 cans black bean soup
• WW Couscous
• Dried Chickpeas
• Red Rice
• Sushi Rice
• Frozen Artichokes
• Frozen Mana Bread
• Vegan Nacho Queso
• Kaia Foods- pumpkin seeds, buckwheat granola, fruit leathers
• Barbara’s Animal Crackers
• Oatmeal

I know it is a nice long list of items and I hope that between Saturday  March 5th (shopping day) and April 5th I will be able to work my way through these items and start to build the pantry that I really want.  I am excited for this challenge as well because it is going to help me get back into creating recipes. Have you done a pantry challenge? Who else wants to participate?

Alright so that is the update around here now it’s time get ready for work!

Why should you participate?

1. To create new recipes
2. To save money
3. To limit  the waste of food
4. BECAUSE IT’S FUN!

I’m excited to see how well I do, while still eating healthy. If you would like to participate as well please leave a comment telling me about your plans for this challenge.  Also if you have a blog I encourage you to blog about this challenge and do weekly updates about it. I will be blogging each week detailing how much I spent that week and the meals that I made using the items I purchased, the items from our CSA and of course everything from our pantry/fridge/freezer.

Q: Have you ever tried a pantry challenge? How well did it go for you?

Day 1- Sunday:

• Breakfast: Cornmeal Pancakes with berry sauce (made from frozen berries)
• Lunch: Leftovers from our dinner party- chickpea romanesco, saffron-garlic rice and roasted asparagus
• Snacks: Hubby and I split a Lucy’s Cinnamon Cookies Sample and a package of Daneille Crispy Fruit Chips- Pineapple;  I also had a Texas BBQ Primal Strip Sample
• Dinner: Homemade WW bread with sauteed cabbage, Italian Field Roast sausage, onions, mushrooms and 1 heaping tablespoon of Tofutti cream cheese and hubby and I split and orange for dessert

Day 2- Monday:

• Breakfast: 2 slices of WW Homemade Bread with Tofutti cream cheese and a cup of decaf coffee for me and some maple brown sugar instant oatmeal for the hubby
• Lunch: Hubby’s lunch was homemade WW bread with a huge salad of romaine, carrot, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sliced almonds and raisins with a homemade balsamic raspberry dressing
• Snacks: Danielle Mango Crispy Fruit Chips
• Dinner: Beans and cabbage with mexi spices in a big chili wrap with some reduced fat salt and pepper chips and a glass…or 2 of red wine

Day 3- Tuesday:

• Breakfast: Coach’s Oats with chia seeds, stevia, banana, cinnamon, coconut PB and a few mini chocolate chips for me and instant maple brown sugar oats for the hubz
• Lunch: neil had leftovers from dinner last night and I had a big wrap with romaine, BBQ sauce and Gardin Buffalo Chicken
• Snacks: Baked Salt and Pepper Lentil Chips, orange
• Dinner: BBQ Dinner- Veggie Dogs with mushrooms and onions and BBQ potatoes

Day 4- Wednesday:

• Breakfast: refried black beans and tortillas and a coffee
• Lunch: Leftover BBQ potatoes and hot dogs
• Snacks: Nugo Dark Chocolate Pomegranate Bar, Trader Joes Fruit Strips
• Dinner: Homemade refried black beans, sauteed cabbage and southwest corn in GF tortillas that weren’t great so we each only ate one and we had some beers

Day 5- Thursday:

• Breakfast: leftover black beans with cabbage and corn for me and oatmeal for hubby
• Lunch: low carb tortillas with black beans, romaine, hot sauce and scallions for me and leftover black beans with cabbage and corn for hubby
• Snack: Baked BBQ chips, teriyaki primal strip, Sensible Foods Dried Corn Snack, Coconut Water
• Dinner: Field Roast Italian Sausage, Sauteed Cabbage and Potatoes (we ended up eating a like 3 bites of potatoes and were done.)
• Dessert: Blueberry Crisp Pie

Note today I picked up 3lbs more of cabbage at $0.25/lb  so that makes my weekly total: $19.44

1. Create new recipes

2. Saves money

3. Ensures that food does not get wasted

I’m excited to see how well I do, while still eating healthy. This week I picked up:

• 2.07 lbs of Bananas $1.43
• .19 lbs of Garlic $.76
• 1 package of Scallions  $1.69
• 10oz of Mushrooms $2.49
• 3PK of Romaine Hearts $3.49
• 4.61 lbs of Navel Oranges $4.57
• 1lb Carrots $.89
• 5lb Russet Potatoes $1.69
• 2 Lemons $1
• 2.71 lbs of Green Cabbage $.68
  • • Total: $18.69

Have you ever tried a pantry challenge? How well did it go for you?

busymomto5- “our house eats sooo much hummus!”
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I know that in my last update I had said that I had given up on the challenge due to a lack of pantry items however after some consideration I decided that I could do at least another week however I would need to pick up a few pantry items (4 cans of beans and 2 cans of tomatoes).   Yesterday breakfast was leftover quinoa chili I just couldn’t wait until lunch to eat it.  For lunch I had noodles with chickpeas, earth balance and curry powder, simple but yummy.

For dinner I used my sample of Wildwood Organics Sprout Baked Tofu – savory flavored.  I threw 3 shallots, 2 cloves of garlic and the tofu into the food processor and pulsed to break it up.  I threw it in a pan with some vegetable broth and toasted in some nooch, paprika and chili powder.  I added a frozen mix of corn, onions, peppers and black beans and 2 handfuls of spinach.  I had some Ezekiel bread left in the freezer and toasted it up to have with our scramble- unfortunately I didn’t photograph any of this.

I’m going to do a mini giveaway- I have a bunch of coupons for free Cedar’s products including hummus, salsa and their new creamy hummus- If you would like a chance to win, leave me a comment by 8pm on January 21st.  

I have to say though I have created some great meals this week.  My husband commented on the fact that they were fun and different than we usually have and actually have tasted great. I’ll leave you with some of the items I made this week:

Southwest Grits - Makes 2 servings

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup 5 minute grits
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/2 t each of  garlic powder, onion powder, salt, black pepper, and paprika
• 1 t cumin
• 1/4 t chipotle chili powder
• 1/4 cup frozen corn
• 3 green onions thinly sliced

Directions:

• In a bowl mix together grits, nutritional yeast and spices.
• Bring water to a boil, while stirring slowly stream in the grits mixture.  
• Turn the heat down to low and let cook this should take about 5-7 minutes, make sure to stir frequently.
• Once the grits are almost done add in the corn and green onions.
• To serve place grits in a bowl and garnish with green onion, corn and your favorite hot sauce.

Creamy Butternut Squash Penne - Serves 1

For dinner last night I took the bus into Burlington to meet my hubby after work for a date night.  We went to American Flatbread which is delicious.  I love their menu because it is simple – all they have are 10 signature flatbreads, create your own flatbread and a salad; however their beer menu is extensive – I’d say close to 100 different varieties as well as house made ones. 

Hubby had the Wolaver's Coffee Porter and I had Unibroue's La Fin Du Monde

We shared 2 small flatbreads- This one is Revolution Flatbread- housemade tomato sauce, caramelized onions, mushrooms and herbs

Our 2nd flatbread was the Roasted Tomato Salsa- house made salsa (wood fired tomatoes, garlic, jalapenos, cilantro), corn and black beans

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