Category: Veggie Challenge (Page 2 of 6)

Making cabbage rolls with quinoa instead of rice.

First Quarter Healthy Eating

April 17, 2021 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

It’s been a little over halfway in April and, like Jill, I feel it’s time to evaluate my first quarter results.

First Quarter Healthy Eating
From January to March I definitely have been eating better. How can I tell? My heart rate. The results on the scale. Tracking my food. Adding more veggies. Planning my meals.

Healthy eating is always a goal, so I didn’t make it one of my words or a resolution for 2021. Now I kinda wished I did so I could legit say I nailed it.

I focused on what to have for lunch and dinner. The veggie challenge helped here. Buying lots of vegetables and healthy foods made it easier. Here are photos of a few of my first quarter healthy eating highlights. Among others I enjoyed making and eating eggplant lasagna,cabbage rolls, quinoa veggie salad and roasted vegetables.

I substituted one layer of noodles with roasted eggplant in lasagna.

For first quarter healthy eating I made cabbage rolls with quinoa instead of rice

Making cabbage rolls with quinoa instead of rice.

For first quarter healthy eating, I used the VitaMix to chop veggies the size of quinoa.

Using the VitaMix to chop veggies into the size of quinoa. It’s hard to cut carrots, cucumbers, and cauliflower this small without the help of a machine!

first quarter healthy eating involved using parchment paper and spray olive oil for roasting veggies.

My trick for easy roasting is to use parchment paper and spray the olive oil on to make it easy. I probably roasting three times more veggies because it is easier for clean up.

I know I posted some of my veggie omelets and fritatta. Buying frozen precut vegetables is also a shortcut of mine.

First Quarter Activity
One of my words in 2021 is activity. If I count tracking and cooking as activity, I did pretty well in first quarter. But if I think of activity as exercise… well… I definitely left room for improvement there. I’ve definitely done better with healthy eating in first quarter than I have with the exercise. While I have been getting on my treadmill for some Zoom meetings where I don’t have to talk, I just wasn’t as physically active as I wanted to be.

Now that the weather has improved in NE Ohio, last week I was able to go bike riding twice. This is actually second quarter activity.

Snapshot of early April bike rides.

I’ve also done a couple of beautiful walks outside with friends. I will save this for for next quarter, but it’s been a recent highlight.

Here’s looking forward to improvement during second quarter 2021 on my activity, fit and strong 2021 3 words!

Green Goodness Salad Dressing

April 1, 2021 / Jill McCauslin / 0 Comments

You’re going to like this Green Goodness Salad Dressing. I recently reviewed the Wild About Greens cookbook by Nava Atlas and thought I would try to make something out of the cookbook.

I chose to make the Green Goodness Salad Dressing. As you can see in the photograph, this dressing is a gorgeous green color. It’s just lovely.

Green Goodness Salad Dressing

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 good handfuls of baby spinach leaves

1/2 cup peeled seeded and chopped cucumber

1/2 cup firmly packed fresh parsley

Two tablespoons lemon juice

Two tablespoons white or red wine vinegar

One tablespoon chopped fresh dill or one teaspoon dried dill

Freshly ground pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in the container of a food processor. Process until all that remains of the parsley is tiny flakes.
refrigerate the unused portion in an airtight container. Use within 2 days.

The cookbook says that this is a delicious dressing for grain or bean salads. It’s also tasty drizzled on lightly cooked or roasted vegetables.

Wild about greens, by Nava Atlas. Publisher is Sterling publishing,
Copyright 2012

This was about the easiest recipe to make. Just throw the ingredients in the food processor and turn it on. In seconds, you have a gorgeous salad dressing. It tastes good though I will confess that I added a bit of sea salt. I thought it needed it. That’s certainly personal preference though.

I continue to try to find new ways to prepare a variety of greens and this is a good addition to the repertoire. We’re still doing the 2021 Veggie Challenge and I think this recipe qualifies as a hit.

Chris posted a recipe for a Veggie Blender Dressing a while ago and this reminded me of that. I wonder how this compares to her dressing.

Review of Wild about Greens by Nava Atlas

March 25, 2021 / Jill McCauslin / 0 Comments

A friend gave me Wild about Greens by Nava Atlas a while ago. I looked through this cookbook and thought “what a nice gift” but then never really did anything with it. I do enjoy reading cookbooks though I don’t always feel compelled to actually make anything from them.

Since we’re doing the 2021 Veggie Challenge and I’m trying to introduce some vegetables into my diet that, while not necessarily new, are foods that I don’t normally eat. When it comes to greens, I’m comfortable with a variety of lettuce, spinach, and kale. I struggle with some of the other greens but I’m feeling compelled to improve my greens repertoire. That’s when I remembered Wild about Greens.

This cookbook has 125 recipes in it, all based on greens.

The book is broken into five chapters:

One is about the basic preparations of greens. It includes wonderful descriptions of the different types of greens and the best way to prepare them.
Two focuses on greens with beans, grains, pasta, and other vegetables.
Three covers salad dressings and dips.
Four provides recipes for using greens in soups and stews.
Five is green juices and smoothies.

One thing I like about the recipes is that at the end of each recipe it lists what other greens would be best used to replace what is used in the recipe.

There’s lots of good introductory material about how to buy and store your greens. It also covers basic ways to prepare them and explain some of the differences between the different greens. If you’re at all intimidated by the thought of cooking collard greens or of using dandelion weeds, this is a helpful resource. The recipes cover a wide range of dishes and she provides lots of great advice about how best to use the various sauces and dressings.

The book is visually pleasing with lots of great photos and lots of white space. I used the index and found it to be well done. I hate cookbooks that don’t have a good index and this has passed the test.

The Author

Nava Atlas, the author of Wild about Greens, has written a number of other vegan cookbooks. She also has many recipes on her website, The Vegan Atlas. You might want to check out Wild about Greens and some of her other books.

Food and Activity during the Ides of March

March 15, 2021 / Chris Brown / 1 Comment

Mid-March is a fun time of year for me. The 15th is called the Ides of March (which is supposed to be a warning, but I don’t heed it!) This past week has been very enjoyable. It feels like the beginning of spring and the end of winter.

Lots of changes with the weather has brought cold sunshine or unexpectedly warm, windy days. I’m looking forward to more outside activities in the coming weeks!

Walking More

Jill and I had an opportunity to walk outside and catch up in person! Of course we wore our Becoming Elli masks, since we are still in the end stages (hopefully) of the COVID-19 pandemic here in Ohio. I enjoyed seeing lots of birds flying while I was visiting at my mother’s house. I believe that these feathers are from giant buzzards that were circling above her pine trees and yard!

These are huge birds that return to the area and traditionally have a festival in their honor each year.

Veggie Challenge

I sliced eggplant long ways and roasted it in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. Then I substituted the eggplant strips for about half of the lasagna noodles that normally go into lasagna. Gives a great taste, but cuts calories and adds veggies!

In trying to keep up with the #2021VeggieChallenge, I made an eggplant casserole the other day using turkey instead of beef and roasted eggplant in place of half of the lasagna noodles. Delicious!

I sauteed onions and chopped peppers to layer into the lasagna.

The cheese and tomato sauce still made it taste/feel like eating lasagna, but I definitely added veggies, while at the same times was able to cut some simple carbohydrate calories. I added a lot of chopped yellow, orange, red peppers and a whole large sweet onion. It was great.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of the end result! But this tiny piece that is left, is testament to how good it was!

This photo of the last piece, really doesn’t do it justice!

Quinoa is technically a seed (but is classified as a whole grain) that I sometimes use to substitute for rice. It packs lots of protein, about 8 grams in one cup.

Because I had a little bit of eggplant left over, the other day I scrapped the middle part out and put it into the blender along with some cauliflower, broccoli and carrots. After whirring it around a bit into small pieces, I took it out of the Vitamix and added the mixture to some cooked quinoa. Because everything was about the same size, it really had a nice texture. I added a little dressing to my veggie/quinoa salad and used it as a side to my eggplant lasagna. I really enjoyed this type of salad and will definitely make it again.

How’s your veggie challenge going? Are you able to get outside to enjoy more activity?

A Variation on the Frittata

March 4, 2021 / Jill McCauslin / 0 Comments

I decided to provide you with a variation on the frittata. Chris posted her pepper frittata recipe the other day and she motivated me to cook one for my lunch. I took the opportunity to capture my version of the frittata and thought I’d share it here.

Because I used a pan that could go into the oven, I decided to go ahead and throw the frittata under the broiler. I didn’t have to do that but it gave everything a nicely browned topping.

One of the things I love about making a frittata is that you can save the leftovers and enjoy them the next day. It keeps and reheats well.

Another great thing about frittatas is that you can use whatever vegetables you have on hand. It’s a great way to use up some of those vegetables sitting in your refrigerator.

My Variation on the Frittata Ingredients

Avocado oil or butter or olive oil. Go with what you prefer.

Eggs. The more eggs you use, the larger your frittata is. I used six eggs but probably could have added a couple more.

One clove of garlic, minced.

Chopped vegetables. I used onion, orange and green peppers, kale, and zucchini.

Parmesan Cheese. That’s the only cheese I available and it worked well. You can use other cheeses if that’s what you have. I think Cheddar or mozzarella would work well. Next time I’ll try goat cheese.

My Variation on the Frittata Directions

Pre-heat the broiler.

Heat the oil in a medium to large frying pan that can also go into the oven.

Add all of the vegetables except for the zucchini and saute until soft. Add the garlic and cook an additional minute or so.

Move the cooked vegetables into a bowl to keep.

Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl.

Reduce the temperature of your stove.

Add a bit more oil to your if needed and pour in the whisked eggs. Let them sit so the bottom begins to set.

Gently add the cooked vegetables over the top of the eggs.

Add the zucchini over the eggs and cooked vegetables.

Sprinkle the cheese over the top and let cook just a bit longer. When the bottom seems cooked and the top is starting to set, move the pan to your broiler.

Let the dish sit under the broiler for a few minutes. Keep a close eye on it to avoid burning the frittata. Remove it when the top is nicely browned and the cheese is melted.

Leave the frittata in the pan for a few minutes to cool and then slide onto a cutting board or serving dish. Let it cool a bit more and then cut into generous slices.

You can enjoy your frittata warm or at room temperature.

Frittata with Pepper Stir Fry Veggie Challenge

Frittata with Pepper Stir Fry Isn’t Cheating on the Challenge

February 27, 2021 / Chris Brown / 2 Comments

In one of the recent podcasts I was thinking about my Frittata with Pepper Stir Fry breakfast when I said that I was cheating on the 2021 Veggie Challenge. We are all trying to add vegetables to our meals.

The challenge for me is to eat more vegetables in my diet. The way I’ve been cheating is buying frozen vegetable packs and using them instead of cleaning, cutting and preparing fresh veggies. Jill replied that she doesn’t think it is cheating, so I’ve decided to share this “recipe” with all of you.

It’s very easy and delicious too. Some people cook the eggs in an oven ready pan so they can bake the veggies into the frittata, but I take the easy stove top way instead.

Pop the frozen veggies into the microwave to thaw a bit.
Put a little olive oil in the pan and add the veggies.
Saute them until slightly brown and warm. Set aside.
Wipe out the pan and pour in two eggs, scrambled.
Cook them like you’re going to make an omelette.
Don’t stir or flip the eggs.
When they are almost done, add the veggies on top.
Put a lid over the eggs/veggies as the eggs finish cooking.
After the eggs are done and the veggies rewarmed, sprinkle a little mozzarella or cheddar cheese on top.

Slide the frittata from the pan to the plate and voila! Yummy and easy!

Veggie challenge: 5 servings of vegetables before noon. Boom!! Not bad!!

What are you doing to add more veggies to your meals? Have any easy and delicious “cheats?” Please share!

Quick and Easy Vegetable Ramen Soup

February 25, 2021 / Jill McCauslin / 0 Comments

When I’m talking about quick and easy vegetable ramen soup, I don’t mean the cheap packets of ramen I used to buy for a very cheap meal. Though I suppose you could certainly use those noodles to make this soup and they would work just as well. I don’t know about those packets of seasonings though. They may be a bit suspect.

I bought a large package of gluten-free organic millet and brown rice ramen noodles at Costco. They’re quick and easy to make and here’s my take on a quick and easy soup.

In one of our recent podcast episodes, Chris and I discussed this year’s veggie challenge. Chris said she was cheating because she was using large bags of frozen vegetables to get in those extra servings of vegetables. I said making something easy isn’t cheating. So, this recipe is one of those. I bought a giant bag of stir-fry vegetables (also from Costco) and used that in this recipe.

I also bought a box of broth called Ramen broth. It’s very good. I did not buy it at Costco but at a regular grocery store.

You could add some hot sauce to the broth or a bit of sesame oil. The Ramen broth was good so you don’t have to add anything unless you want.

I added some cooked chicken to the soup as a protein source but you wouldn’t have to do that. You could probably add some cubed tofu if you wanted a vegetarian option or just omit the protein all together.

Quick and Easy Vegetable Ramen Soup

Feel free to make any changes you want to this. It’s basically a quick, throw-together kind of soup.

Ingredients

2 cups Ramen Broth

1 brick of Millet and Brown Rice Ramen

2-3 large handfuls of frozen stir-fry vegetables

1/2 cup chopped cooked chicken

Directions

Heat the broth in a medium saucepan.

Add the frozen stir-fry vegetables and let simmer for 5 to 10 minutes.

Stir in the cooked chicken.

In a separate pan, bring water to a boil. Add the brick of ramen noodles. Cook for about four minutes. Follow the directions on the package. Drain noodles and place in a serving bowl.

Ladle the broth and vegetables over the noodles and mix.

Enjoy the soup! If you haven’t achieved the perfect ratio of broth to noodles, feel free to add some more broth and vegetables to the remaining ramen noodles.

This is a very quick and easy vegetable ramen soup. If you try it, let me know what you think.

Chicken Cucumber Olive Salad

February 13, 2021 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

I am loving my new creation of cucumber chicken salad!

What is your favorite way to make Chicken Salad? I have found that I really like having chicken salad made with cucumbers, olives, a little celery and onions.. and just a bit of cheese. Sometimes I’ll put in Parmesan cheese, other times feta cheese.

I’ve also made this type of cucumber chicken salad by adding a lot of broccoli slaw, but I end up really dicing the broccoli slaw a lot so that it doesn’t have a large ribbon of broccoli. I think it fits better with the bite size pieces.

Spices I like are dill and parsley with a little bit of regular salt and pepper as well. This time I just used lemon juice and vinegar – the same juices as I used to cook the chicken breast in the crock pot before making the salad. No waste!

The cucumbers make this cucumber chicken salad part of the #veggiechallenge for me because it helps me eat some delicious vegetables without even really thinking about it.

Please let me know your favorite chicken salad recipe! Is it with or without cucumbers and olives? Leave a message here or email me at Chris@becomingelli.com

Tracking Food is Making Me Aware

February 6, 2021 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

There is no question that tracking food and water helps me to be more aware of what I’m eating.

I notice that I consciously switch to a lower calorie choice or delay making a choice when I’m keeping track.

Since I recently started keeping track of the amount of water I drink and tracking what I am eating I have noticed these changes:

Snacks have been fruits – granny smith apples, bananas, frozen berries
I’m choosing more lean chicken breast for the protein
I prep food more often
I go back and look at prior days to find out what works
Putting together the grocery list seems easier, more purposeful
Tracking gives me another routine to the day (which helps me to separate the days during the sameness of the pandemic.)

I really wouldn’t think that all that comes from just tracking food, but I notice one step leads to another. I track my food in an app on my phone that shows calories as well as the macros, but I track that I’ve tracked my food each day by filling in a little piece of the coloring page that was posted on our Facebook Group by one of our members.

Healthy Swaps:

I am definitely drinking more water because of tracking my food. With the cold temperatures, my furnace has been working over time and forcing hot dry air in the house. I know I feel better with the right amount of water and it is noticeable.

Another positive change – when I actually enter the food into the app before I eat it, I often make a slight switch to a different ingredients, or en drop something all together.

This has lead to an “AH-HA” moment. I think I am going to try to re-frame my thoughts about cooking. Instead of thinking about having “leftovers”, I’m going to think about cooking as “meal prep.” Meal prep to me means making something that is not for the immediate next meal. I usually think of cooking as the step for eating. Having a “meal prep” readily available – (I almost wrote leftovers! this is going to take a while!) – is handy to have ready when I need to pack a lunch or dinner. Doing meal prep when I’m not hungry is something that I really enjoy.

The other benefit is when I make food myself, I know exactly what is in it. Much easier for tracking food.

While becoming more aware, I noticed something else about my attitude. It’s surprising to me that I enjoy cooking, because normally I don’t. The difference? I make more things when I am not hungry. Food prep on a full stomach, instead of a watering mouth, makes more sense. Perhaps I hit on a good key for me to learn and enjoy some new recipes. Seems like a simple thing – probably something that everyone else learned many years ago – when they learned to cook. It’s eye opening to me, but probably a “duh” to you all.

I took my time and played some music, got all the ingredients out first. Last night I made some more stuffed green peppers and cabbage rolls. Because the stuffing in both is so similar, I made plenty of the filling. This time I tried adding a secret ingredient: water chestnuts! It bulked up the ground beef/onion/rice filling and gave me another vegetable for the 2021 Veggie Challenge! Best of all, even after baking they still give a bit of a crunch.

Three Words:

Food prep and food tracking is another activity I want to encourage in my life. Finding the time to prepare food and fit it into my schedule takes a little planning. Every day that I track food helps to strengthen my resolve.

There is still a long way to go for my activity to be considered real exercise, which is what I had in mind when I selected that word. At this stage of winter, activity in the right direction of good health is a considered a win.

Thanks to one of our members in the Becoming Elli Group for posting this great idea to track my tracking food habits! This tool is working for me. I love the motivation and inspiration from the group!

How are you doing with your plans for yourself this year? If you have a goal, resolution, or three words – maybe a training plan, action plan or other tool, let me know how you’re doing! Leave a comment below or email me at Chris@BecomingElli.com

2021 Veggie Challenge

February 4, 2021 / Jill McCauslin / 7 Comments

Time for the 2021 Veggie Challenge! If you listened to Chris and I talk about our goals for this year in episode 74 of the Fit, Strong Women Over 50 Podcast (Tracking and Motivation – Three Year Anniversary Podcast, you may remember that we discussed reviving our veggie challenge. I believe I said that we’d get something organized to start in February.

We last did a Veggie Challenge in 2019. If you’re trying to find ideas for this challenge, just search on this site for veggie challenge and you’ll see lots of recipes and ideas

2021 Veggie Challenge

We’re going to make this simple this year. We all know that we’re supposed to be eating more vegetables, well, unless you’re following the carnivore diet. Obviously, do what feels best for you.

This challenge is going to be up to each individual. Here are the options that you can commit to:

Trying new vegetables, perhaps once a week or even once a month.
Testing a new recipe for a vegetable that you’re already eating
Adding one or more servings of vegetables to your current way of eating

Of course, you can make the commitment to try all three.

I know when we did the Veggie Challenge a couple years ago, I ran out of steam on finding and preparing new vegetables. I was already eating a good variety of vegetables, so it became difficult to find new ones.

There are ways to expand the vegetables you eating. If you eat carrots, you can try buying a bag of rainbow carrots and see how they compare to the standard orange carrots.

If you normally roast your vegetables, you can try a new way of cooking. I found myself recently making some new soup recipes to try to expand how I cook certain vegetables.

When you have a meal, consider if there’s a way to add an extra serving of vegetables. Even if you’re making a salad, perhaps you can add an extra ingredient. So, it doesn’t have to be a huge change.

We’re going to start the 2021 Veggie Challenge now and see how long we can keep it going. Please feel free to join us and be sure to share your veggie achievements with us.