Juicy Fruit June

liapr

Hi guys! We are actually already in June!!! Isn't that crazy!?!?!

Teri and Karrie, thanks for the smoothie recipes at the end of the May thread, they sound delicious. I'm obsessed with tropical anything (and pineapple or peach anything). I always want to try mint too in my smoothies..

I downloaded the End of Dieting audiobook to start off my May. I figure it will actually help me to keep these ideas in my head by listening to them in the morning and night (before breakfast adn dinner) and actually stopped me from bad snacking today after lunching (as in bad choices). Although the intro is done by Dr. Furhman, and he's SO passionate AND matter of fact in his delivery, it's awesome, but then the rest of the book is read by this sort of terrible narrator... think George Constanza reading to you about health. It doesn't jive... still, I am excited to go through it again.

My goals for June are getting back to basics..... lots of walking, lots of sun and enjoying the outdoors, lots of salads and lots of fresh FRUITS (hence my corny title).

Anyone new to the group, jump in when you like! We are all kind of on our own individualized journey/personalized relationship with ETL.

Mihani

Hi Lia, thanks for starting the thread, love the title! Maybe I should try some new Dr. F books too, get some new inspiration.

I've been so crazed at work the past couple weeks I'm behind on everyone's news, I'll have to catch up the end of the May thread this weekend.

I'm back on track the past few days. I am going to start posting my meals again. Seems to help me keep eating right and planning in my head. So, the plan for today:

B - smoothie with raw fit, banana, power greens
L - steamer broccoli and cauliflower, apple
D - hummus wrap with lots of lettuce and other veggies, some grapes and strawberries

liapr

Great idea, I love seeing other people's ideas for food and whatnot too.

Here's mine for today:
B - banana; coconut yogurt with berries
L - brown rice with almonds, tomatoes, and avocado; nectarine
D - hopefully salad with peppers, seeds, and whatever else we have on hand
Possibility of a Luna bar in there... our meals are a little all over the place still.

We get our house today! But not moving in until a week from Saturday. We are in a hotel next week so that will mean some mad food prep this weekend...

Mihani, hang in there - hope it will pass soon (at least secretary back so she can answer the barrage of phone calls??)

liapr

Carla, any more Ruby pics?!?!

Mihani

Hi y'all... still haven't had time to catch up on the posts from last month although I read them all. Spent the day in the office, and I have another week of hell then boss is off on vacation and maybe I can get a little breathing room. We're scrambling to get things done before he takes off, so many deadlines this month ugh!

I'm going to make this tomorrow: forksoverknives.com/recipes/french-green-lentil-salad/ looks super good and I had everything already other than the parsley which I got today. I thought the meal planner thing on the FOK website looked interesting. I'm not cooking enough right now to do it, but maybe when/if things settle down at work I will give it a try for a month. A lot of those things aren't really geared for a single person though, and I would end up not making half the things on the plan. I might ask on the Happy Herbivores group if anyone has tried it and get some opinions.

I also made up a good recipe that I've been enjoying the past couple nights, and will have again tonight. I decided to call it a hummus quesadilla (clever name huh?). Take a medium (soft taco size) wheat tortilla, spread with a thin layer of hummus, add chopped red or yellow pepper, red onion, spinach or kale, and a small amount (I'm guessing a bit less than 1/4 cup but I didn't measure) of daiya shredded cheddar style. Top with another tortilla, and heat in a skillet until slightly browned and toasty then flip and do the other side. Cut like a pizza and enjoy. I tried it without the daiya the first time and it was still very tasty, but a little bit of daiya makes it even better and helps the tortillas stick together so you don't end up with half your filling falling out in the skillet when you flip it lol.

I'm definitely feeling more like eating well with the weather heating up. I'm craving lots of veggies and fruit, and my cravings for bread/potatoes/pasta are almost non-existent. Maybe I'll actually start seeing some results again.

Hope y'all are having a great weekend!

Mihani

This was really good: I found a recipe and adapted it a bit:

2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup red quinoa
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
2 ears corn, roasted and kernels removed
1/2 red onion, diced

Dressing:
3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (could omit, I used 1 Tablespoon)
1 heaping Tablespoon dried cilantro or parsley
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

Instructions
1. Rinse quinoa and put in saucepan with cumin and broth, bring to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer until done (about 15 minutes)
2. Cool slightly, then transfer to a large bowl and add beans, tomato, corn and onion
3. Mix lemon juice, olive oil, cilantro, and garlic and stir into salad
4. Chill for at least two hours to allow flavors to meld


I also made the lentil salad from Forks Over Knives that I had posted the link above. It is really good, but I think the ratio of lentils to veggies is off. I would use probably half the lentils next time. I'll probably eat it as a salad topping. It made a HUGE batch, there's no way I will eat it all.

liapr

Thanks for the recipe, Mihani! Now that summer is coming around, cold salads and those kinds of dishes sound so appealing. Also love the hummus quesadilla... mmmm. I love hummus and I love mexican food so why not combine?!

I went to this amazing vegan place in Toronto on Saturday (our last hurrah in our neighbourhood), and it was so good. And I really think I can replicate it! I even spent $15 on their housemade dressing (it's lemon spirulina, and very little oil, and I make my own so rarely). But it was warmed short-grain brown rice on the bottom, and topped with a ton of kale/spinach, sunflower sprouts, carrots, arugula, sweet potato, roasted red peppers, hemp granola, and avocado. Such a filling salad/rice bowl!! Why don't I eat things like this all the time?!?

We spent the whole weekend packing and running around. I'm so tired today! Big move is next Saturday. Can't wait for it all to be over hehe.

Mihani

Hey Lia, I think everyone else has abandoned us this month! That dinner sounds really good. Hope you are able to recreate it. So excited for you finally getting into your new house. So much work though!

I threw a whole bunch of the lentil recipe on a bed of romaine to take for lunch today. It was really good. I think it was better today after having time for the flavors to meld a bit.

B - smoothie (raw fit, power greens, half a frozen banana)
L - the romaine/lentil salad

Didn't really eat a dinner. I ate some cantaloupe and a few bites of the quinoa dish. I also snacked on a few triscuits and two small squares of dark chocolate today at work. I was at the office until after 6 p.m. so it was a long day.

Did 40 minutes on the treadmill tonight. It felt really good!

tdh1991

Hi all,

Back from graduation weekend. We had a great time. The place we stayed was really great, with beautiful views of the mountains. The college had our weekend jam packed with events. My daughter performed in her last college concert. Then the ivy exercises--she won 2 awards --so proud of her. We listened to Eric Carle, who wrote the Very Hungry Caterpillar, speak, then they had a baccalaureate service. The graduation party started right after the service and lasted till midnight.

Graduation was Sunday morning at 10 am. We were so lucky. The weather reported heavy rain all morning but it stopped at 9:45 am and didn't come back till 3 pm.

All and all a great weekend. One child down, one to go.

I had a really tight weekend until I got home and had no plan. But still I am happy how I made it thru the weekend. Next time though I will have to plan my meals a little better. I lived on green beans, salad, and mushroom burgers. Not a lot of variety.

Now back to the grind until our 25th wedding anniversary trip.

Mihani

Welcome back Terri. Sounds like a great weekend!

Waiting for laundry then going to hit the treadmill while it is in the dryer. I worked late again.

B - smoothie same as yesterday
L - same as yesterday
D - going to skip it... didn't get time to eat lunch until 4:00 this afternoon and then I got home so late
S - lara bar, 4 squares Endangered Species dark chocolate... starting tomorrow snacks will be only fruit or raw veggies. I need to get off the pre-fab food kick.

Off to treadmill!

liapr

Congrats to your daughter, TErri! What an accomplishment. You must have been proud. Also, congrats to you for navigating a successful food weekend!

Mihani, you are also kicking some butt! Woooo treadmill, good for you. Hope you're feeling good I had been making a habit of popping popcorn for snacks at night and finally went and bought baby carrots because they are crunchy and with some hummus because a decadent snack. Back to basics I hope.

B - avocado on brown seed bread, banana
L - large salad with almonds, sunflower seeds, peppers, tomatoes, and some lemon spirulina dressing
D - tbd

Going to get my nails and feet done tonight! A girls' movie afterwards too. A nice treat, I'm so excited.

Mihani

Lia that salad sounds really good! I am still slogging through all the leftover quinoa salad and lentils that I made. I think they are starting to get iffy and after tomorrow I will have to throw out what's left. I don't know what possessed me to make both at once. Hope you enjoy your mani/pedi!

It wasn't really a good ETL day for me, but not bad calorie wise. I seem to have got into a habit of eating lunch later and then I am not hungry for dinner, especially since I am getting on the treadmill before I eat and then it's getting late in the evening to start thinking about dinner. It's good for my overall calorie intake to skip dinner I'm sure. I did eat some pretzels today though. I seem compelled to eat something off plan every day!

B - smoothie with raw fit, lots of power greens, and half a frozen banana
L - quinoa black bean salad
D - skipped
S - too many pretzels, a lara bar, and some cantaloupe... didn't I say starting today snacks would be only fruit or raw veggies? oops

Did a 20 minute yoga DVD then 40 minutes on the treadmill. Yay! Really happy that I've finally got into a bit of a groove with exercise. It is helping with all the tension/stress in my shoulders and neck.

Mihani

I went to both ohsheglows.com and vegkitchen.com and put summer salad in the search engines... I came up with many delightful hits. I would recommend it if you are tired of the same ol' salads. I think my salads the next few days are going to be:

ohsheglows.com/2011/07/21/heat-wave-summer-salad/

but first on the list of must try: ohsheglows.com/2011/09/27/detox-salad/ because I have everything on hand except for the broccoli and cauliflower. And herbamere, which I had to look up and it's a seasoned salt substitute. I will see if they have it at my organic store. If not I'll substitute.

and this one also looks really good: vegkitchen.com/recipes/summer-garden-quinoa-salad/

Today, still pretzels. Darn it.

B - smoothie same as yesterday
L - Amy's Brown Rice, Black Eyed Peas & Veggie Bowl
D - Red Lentil Kale Soup from the freezer stash
S - lara bar, pretzels... darn those pretzels lol

I've had that Amy's bowl a few times and it is good, I think I'm going to try to recreate it soon. More veggies, more spice.

I've been going back and forth on what i want to do, but with the boss leaving on vacation I think I'm going to go another 4 or 5 days doing what I'm doing, and making sure the exercise has become a habit, and by the end of next week start the 6 week plan again. I think I need to go all in again.

tdh1991

Mahini: sounds like a plan. I am in. Really went off the rails this week after doing so well for so long. Today I will be back on track. I was not prepared at all for this week and have no food in the fridge. Lesson learned need to be prepared. Why not start day 1 this Sunday.

Also, my goal is to get back to the gym. After weeks of physical therapy for my knees they are finally ready for a light workout. I just need to remember to not over do it.

I will check out those salads and probably fix one of them for dinner tonight.

Carla_wfpb

Hi all, sorry to be MIA so much lately. I am super busy with Ruby (puppy) and packing for the move. Between carrying her around and lifting heavy boxes, I managed to injure one of my knees and my shoulder. It is making things very difficult. Plus, I got tripped up in our lawn mower while Ruby was on the leash and so now I'm covered in bruises and scabs. I'm a mess!

I probably won't be able to check in much until the end of the month. My eating hasn't been anything worth writing about in any case. We are starting out with good habits in the new home though! There are already some raised beds on the property for gardening, and we're hoping the previous owners will leave them so we can jump in with some gardening. Not sure what we can do this late in the year.

Sounds like everyone else is doing a better job of staying on track than I am. Even with a few rough days here and there, you all are rocking it! I will be better support soon, I promise! I miss being more involved in the group for sure.

Terri, congrats to you and your daughter on her graduation!

Mihani, thanks for more great recipes. You always pick tasty ones!

Sorry, Lia, no new puppy pics. I'm a bad puppy mom. I should take some soon, she is growing really fast. She is at her first training class this afternoon with my husband while I'm at home waiting for the gutter cleaners to show up. I'll try to remember to take some when she gets home. I'll attach an older one from a few weeks ago. (Her eyes have changed to a greenish hazel since this pic, looks like she's going to take after her dad.) Her fur is super soft!

Mihani

Terri, I can start Monday. Sunday I have plans and I know I won’t be 100% ETL that day, but I do need to buckle down on diet and I want to do the 6 week plan again. I tend to do well with getting lots of veggies and fruit, but I’m letting too many extras sneak into my days. It will make it more fun if you’re along for the ride. I am going to the grocery tomorrow so I will get the stuff for my salads and other ETL meals for the week. A couple of the salad recipes I found need to be modified (remove oil) for the 6 week plan, but they should be easy to adapt.

Carla that puppy face is sooooooo sweet! I love the herding breeds, they are beautiful and so smart. I had an Australian shepherd years ago, and I admired her intelligence, although I swore after getting through her puppyhood that I would never again have a dog smarter than I am lol. She was a trial for a few years, but with lots of room to run at your new place and you working from home, you probably won’t have as many issues as I did. She was the best dog though. She did things that would just make your jaw drop sometimes, because you could really tell how much thought she put into it. Kept things interesting! I hope you recover from all your injuries quickly… that really sucks with all you have to do with the move.

B – smoothie same as all week
L – skipped it, but ate some pretzels and a couple squares of dark chocolate, it was a seriously stressful and busy day with the last push to get things done before the boss leaves on vacation. It has just been a bad week all around, but I feel like I did pretty well with my diet all things considered, and I didn’t drink any wine though it was tempting!
D – getting ready to eat a salad of spring mix, black beans, avocado, mango, and salsa for dressing

Mihani

Lia, hope your move this weekend is going smoothly!

Terri, I'm geared up and ready to start the 6 week plan tomorrow. Glad you're going to be doing it with me! I am stocked with power greens and frozen berries for smoothies, lettuce and other veggies for salads. I also got canned beans and mushrooms, and frozen greens for easy one pot dinners. I am going to try to keep it as simple as possible this time around. I'm figuring saute some onion and garlic, throw in a can of beans, a can of mushrooms, and a bag of frozen greens, and jazz it up with different spices, and dinners are easy through the week. All the GBOMBS accounted for. I am going to make that detox salad today too. I will cut back on the amount of raisins in it though.

Yesterday was an indulgent day:
B - avocado toast with sliced tomato
L - black bean soup with whole wheat baguette
D - quesadilla (wheat tortillas, refried beans, onion and red pepper, spinach, and daiya served with salsa and avocado)

Today's plan:
B - oatmeal with berries
L - black bean soup
D - not sure, going to a small gathering, but there will be food and wine!

tdh1991

I decided to make day 1 tomorrow. Starting on the 13th was not a round number.
We should log every day what we eat. Like you did in your last post.

Start date for week ETL: Tuesday June 14 end date 6 weeks makes it July 26.

Anyone, can join in at any time.

Mihani

That sounds okay Terri, I had a good ETL day except for some almond vanilla creamer, it's used up now and I can be 100% starting today.

Yesterday B - smoothie (water, power greens, frozen berries, chia seeds)
L - salad (lettuce, chickpeas, tomato, carrot, balsamic, sunflower seeds)
D - steamed broccoli and cauliflower, black bean soup

Today's plan B - smoothie same as yesterday
L - salad same as yesterday, apple
D - going to make that detox salad finally

tdh1991

Day 1 ETL 6 week reboot:

breakfast; coconut quinoa breakfast porridge

Lunch: simple vegetable soup, salad

dinner: harvest vegetable soup, salad

So I think I may have narrowed down my food sensitivities: night shade vegetables, and coffee. May have a few other subtle sensitivities so I am still working on figuring it out.
I have all good news; hands are feeling much better, physical therapy is working on my knees. I am starting back on the elliptical low and slow. Now I just need to get off those last 10 lbs. I hope to do this during the reboot.

Carla_wfpb

Yay, Terri! So happy you are feeling better and have figured out the major foods to avoid. Too bad one is coffee! But definitely worth it.

Mihani, great looking food day yesterday. You too, Terri. Happy for you both going on the reboot. It is inspiring.

Lia, hope the moving is going well!

Our move is this coming Monday. We have to move out on the same day our new buyers are moving in, so things could get a bit crazy. We got a 26' truck, but looking at all of our stuff that we started gathering in the garage, I don't know if we'll be able to fit it all.

I decided that this last week I'm going to stick to Dr. F berry oatmeal for breakfast. It is easy to make and most other things have been packed up! We've been eating a lot of prepared foods, but trying to at least stick with Amy's and other similar brands.

Yesterday was my husband's and my 7th Anniversary, and we only remembered the day before! Things have just been too crazy. We went for a walk in the park with Ruby but were too tired to go out in the evening. We are going to go out to a vegetarian Indian restaurant for lunch today or tomorrow to celebrate.

Mihani

Terri, great first day choices. So glad to hear you are feeling better and less pain!

OMG Carla... that sounds super stressful moving in at the same time your buyers are moving in. I hope that things go smoothly. Happy Anniversary! I bet the pup is growing so fast.

I am getting ready to make the detox salad. I'll let you all know how it turns out. I am going to cut back quite a bit on the raisins and currants to keep the calories/sugars lower, but I already planned to make it and it sounds so good I can't resist making it.

Mihani

Detox Salad review ohsheglows.com/2011/09/27/detox-salad/ It tastes very green. You all should know what I mean by that, like fresh mown grass lol. I like it, but if anyone isn't a fan of that green taste I wouldn't try it. I do think that a drizzle of maple syrup when serving as called for in the recipe would be nice, but I didn't want to add that while doing the 6 week plan. I also cut the currants back to 1/2 cup and the raisins to 1/4 so my version isn't going to be as sweet as the original regardless. It makes a lot so I think the amount of raisins and currants I used was reasonable for the 6 week plan.

I'll let you know what I think after it sits overnight and the raisins/currants have a chance to add sweetness throughout. I'm considering a little cayenne to spice it up. I found that processing the broccoli resulted in pulp so I switched to the shredder tool on the food processor for the cauliflower and it worked much better. I didn't have herbamere but I used an all purpose no salt seasoning that I had in the cabinet, and a good amount of fresh ground pepper.

Mihani

Good day! Had a few moments thinking about crackers. The first time I ignored the cravings and the second time I grabbed an apple.

B - banana
L - detox salad (this was really good today after sitting overnight... not nearly as "green" tasting, it's definitely a keeper recipe)
D - Made a steamer bag of cauliflower then added garlic, pepper and lemon. Also threw a can of chickpeas into a cast iron skillet to warm them up a bit, added ground pepper and what I thought was a no salt seasoning but I had grabbed the wrong jar and it was garam masala. It was actually amazingly good. So easy too. I have to keep that in mind for an easy way to add beans to dinner without doing much cooking. Cantaloupe for dessert.
S - apple

tdh1991

Day 2: Excellent mostly too busy to eat
B: quinoa w/ coconut and blueberries
L; none
Morracan Spiced Vegetable Ste
watermelon
S: 9 strawberries, 2 tbs sunbutter, 13 vegan gf crackers

So busy today at work--glad I have the day off tomorrow with my daughter

Carla: good luck with the move and Happy Anniversary!

Carla_wfpb

Mihani, what a happy accident, adding garam masala to the chickpeas - perfect! And mmm! canteloupe...I have to pick some up...will make a nice addition to my fruit salad.

Terri, nice day 2. Hope you're enjoying the day off with your daughter!

I'm continuing to pack and organize for our move. My shoulder healing up nicely and my knee is doing okay as long as I don't overdo things. Food, aside from breakfast and fruit salad dessert isn't on point, but on the plus side of things, this puppy is making me a lot more active! On our walk today, a young guy jogged by and Ruby was insistent that we jog behind him. An unexpected workout. Too bad I was in flip flops!

Tomorrow we go to the title place to sign for the house, and after that head to Ruby's training class. My husband will be packing up our computers on Saturday morning. We are still waiting to hear back from our internet provider at the new place...hopefully we aren't without internet for long!

Mihani

Nice ETL day Terri. Hope you enjoyed your day with your daughter.

Carla, this was the best cantaloupe. I wish we could be sure every melon is sweet and perfect, but it doesn't work that way does it? Glad you're feeling better. That's funny Ruby wants to chase after joggers. Good luck with the move and hope you won't be offline too long.

B - smoothie same as yesterday
L - more of the detox salad... this is a favorite thing now for sure, I may make more for next week
D - going to eat leftover cauliflower and chickpeas, and have a side salad with grape tomatoes and radishes
S - about 15 grapes

tdh1991

Day 3. OK day. Daughter and I went shopping for new work clothes for her.
Took us all say but we are done.
Breakfast coconut milk

Lunch. Bgood veggie burger with lettuce avocado sweet potato fries

Dinner Ruby Tuesday. Salad bar baked potato plain steamed broccoli

Mihani

Glad you had a fun day with your daughter Terri.

B - banana
L - the last of the detox salad, cantaloupe
D - going to make a huge salad with spring mix, radishes, beets, carrots, grape tomatoes, chickpeas. Not sure yet about dressing I'll look at Dr. F's recipes or I'll just fall back on my usual plain balsamic. For the chickpeas I think I will cook them lightly in the cast iron skillet again with some spices. I really like them that way, more flavor, but they aren't crispy like they get when you roast them. I like the roasted ones, but for salad I'd rather have them not as crunchy.
S - soy yogurt, grapes

Bought a watermelon at the grocery today. Can't wait to cut into it. I love watermelon.

Got on the scale this morning, down 3 pounds!

Carla_wfpb

Mihani, congrats on the 3 pound loss. That is awesome!! You and Terri are rocking the reboot.

My food now is terrible. We packed up everything and then our closing date got postponed until this Tuesday (buyer's bank forgot to file something). That means we can't move until Tuesday either so we are eating out or getting takeout from now until then.

On the plus side, between packing and cleaning and exercising Ruby, I'm getting in plenty of activity!

May not have internet for a while...but will check in and say hi once I do. Then I'll be doing a reboot of my own. Keep up the great work guys!

Mihani

Been working all weekend, as usual. Left the office around 2:30 and brought some files home so still lots to do tonight. I got a little caught up with the boss gone, but not enough. It's never enough!

Yesterday...
B - banana and cantaloupe
L - hummus wrap in a whole wheat soft taco size tortilla with lots of lettuce, red pepper, red onion
D - salad with spiced chickpeas, grape tomatoes, sunflower seeds, balsamic, nooch
S - watermelon and grapes

Today...
B - smoothie (water, spinach, frozen mixed berries, chia seeds, 1/4 tsp vanilla)
L - hummus wrap same as yesterday
D - plan a salad with romaine, black beans, tomato, avocado, mango, and salsa for dressing with watermelon for dessert

It is SO hot here ugh. I am not getting in my cooked veggies. I plan to get some broccoli and cauliflower to roast and eat cold on salads. The idea of eating anything hot is completely unappealing!

Carla that is so disappointing your closing got postponed... sometimes it is like all the dominoes are lined up, but nobody can get them to fall! Fingers crossed it is all straightened out and your move goes well Tuesday.