RECIPES: What the Happy Nurse & I Have Been Eating: Enchiladas, Spinach & Artichoke Pie, Carrot Cashew Salad & MORE!!!

Well it been surprisingly harder than I thought to get back into the routine of blogging!  For the past few months I've been commuting 3-5 hours round trip daily to work at a special hospital and between baby preparations, work, studying and driving--well, lets just say it has been very hectic.  Blogging on a consistent routine was challenging pre-pregnancy but not nearly as complicated as it is now!  Anyways, I'll just do the best I can!  

Today, I'd like to share some of the foods the Happy Nurse and I have been eating over the last few weeks.  In early August we decided to get some help with cooking from a friend who does personal chef work. Our friend, the chef, cooked some awesome meals for us.  Her rates were really reasonable for the two weeks we got help and even though its several weeks later, we still have some yummy leftovers in the freezer from her efforts.

Having yummy vegan meals on hand was just the boost we needed for me to become energized about returning to the kitchen again!  So now I'm doing a little bit of cooking each week--nothing near the bulk cooking that my husband and I did pre-pregnancy (I just don't have 4 hours in a row to team cook--WAY too much to do turning our home into a kid-friendly space when I get a block of time off!) and I'll share some of the dishes I'm making myself in a later post.

For now, here are some of the dishes our chef friend made for us--she made her own lentil chili (amazzzing--I'll need to ask if she is willing to guest post on that recipe!) and her own Indonesian salad for us, but the rest were from vegan blogger's recipes I'd been wanting to try but never had the chance...until now.  YUM!!!!  Here is what we ate:  

HGK Enchiladas!

1)  Healthy Girl's Kitchen's Mushroom, Kale & Spinach Enchiladas with Roasted Poblano Cream.  

The Healthy Librarian raved about this dish and already being a huge fan of Wendy (HGK), it was the first recipe I asked our friend to make.  OMG--SOOOOO good!  A fantastic mix of flavors and the Poblano Cream just totally made it outstanding.

2)  Fat Free Vegan Kitchen's Cashew Carrot Salad:

Ok let me just say that my husband ADORED this dish.  He picked it off Susan Voisin's site and wanted it made both weeks we got help. I loved it too!  Sweet but not too sweet.  Made without sugar--this is a seriously good carrot salad and if you have a sweet tooth (as I have this entire pregnancy) then you will LOVE it!  

3)  Fat Free Vegan Kitchen's International Quinoa Salad:  

Once again, another pick from the Happy Nurse.  SO good.  The lime juice is such a great combo with the quinoa and chickpeas.  I completely agree with Susan Voisin--you don't miss the olive oil AT ALL!  Packed with protein--definitely an awesome meal for a person growing a human being!  :-)

4)  My New Roots Winter Slaw

Ok so obviously I'm a huge fan of this salad!  I've blogged about it many many times in the past (here for example)--there is just something awesome about shredded raw kale and carrots.  Talk about dense nutrients--adding the cabbage and the sesame seeds and its a nutritional home run.  YUM!  

5)  Fat Free Vegan Kitchen's Spinach & Artichoke Pie

I've been wanting to try this for ages because Susan Voisin raves about this recipe (along with her blog readers) but was a bit intimidated with the phyllo dough part.  I didn't make it myself of course, but it didn't sound as if it was crazy complicated to make and the finished product was AMAZING!  It is incredible how it can have only 5g of fat and still pack in 11g of protein per serving while tasting SO high in fat!  I absolutely LOVE Greek food--Skanakopita is a long time favorite that I haven't had in years since I gave up cheese.  This pie is just like I remember Skanakopita tasting except it is SO much healthier!!!  Phenomenal.

I love the way I feel physically when I eat vegan--my body just feels so clean and well fueled.  Like its happy I gave it the gift of good nutrition.  

In the coming weeks I'm going to try to make one pot of soup per week to have on hand.  Do you have any soups to recommend??!!!

Thanks! :-)

Salads For A Full Meal: How I've Resisted Them & Now I'm Learning To Make Them! RECIPES!!:-)

My own pasta salad with vinegar,
sundried tomatoes, carrots, scallions &
rice pasta

So I haven't eaten salads consistently in years.  If I ate them at all I ate them out.  I rarely if ever made them at home!  I think because when I was dieting all those years (and failing again and again), salads were a staple.  Eating them reminds me of those unhappy days and so I avoided doing that often since entering recovery!

But then I became a vegan!  And by force of my dietary limitations (gluten-free, soy-free, sugar-free) I'm starting to slowly warm to them.  All of a sudden I'm discovering that you can actually eat salads for complete, nutrient dense meals!  And eating them makes you feel well nourished and energetic!  

The only thing is, I was kind of at a loss on how to create a diverse enough salad to keep me satiated AND provide me with a wide variety of nutrients.  

Enter the amazing vegan low-fat blog world.  

I am so grateful to all my favorite bloggers for teaching me how to do this!  I've been easing into this slowly but the more I read Wendy's (Healthy Girl's Kitchen) posts on how she and her husband eat a salad for dinner nightly, the more I'm becoming jazzed up to actually give this whole salad thing a try!  At first I didn't think it was practical--how was I going to find the time to prep all the raw veggies, etc, during the week!  And what was I going to put on it for dressing??  But then Wendy once again came to the rescue--just recently she posted that she makes all their salad dressings for the week once on the weekend and she also shared the helpful information that without the dressing, a prepped salad can last for several days!

So I'm going to start trying it!  For my food plan next week salad is going to factor in prominently!  My life is becoming more complicated with each passing day and I'm set to travel nearly all of March so I'm going to need some simpler foods to prepare while I'm on the road.  I'm thinking HELLLLOOOOOO Soups and Salads!  

Some great resources in the blogosphere that I have found to guide this new food category for me include:

Tons of AWESOME resources in Wendy's blog "Healthy Girl's Kitchen:"

HGK's No Oil
Caesar Salad Dressing

• The BIG List of No-Oil Salad Dressings: Wonderful dressing options from multiple sources!  Ranging from Dijon Pistachio Dressing to Chef AJ's Husband's Favorite No-oil Balsamic Vinaigrette!
• How To Build A Nutrient Dense Salad
• Time-Saving Tips To Make Salads AND A RECIPE: Roasted Kabocha Squash, Dried Fig and Walnut Salad
• My absolute favorite salad dressing I've made so far:  HGK's No-Oil Caesar Salad Dressing!  I alter it by not adding the soy sauce.  Instead I add 1/4 cup oat milk (original flavor) AND I add 2 full mini bottles of capers instead of just 2 Tbl!  I think I like the flavor of capers...hehe:-)

Fantastic posts on Susan Voisin's blog "Fat-Free Vegan Kitchen:"

• Right up my alley:  Tips for Eating Salads When You Don't Want To & RECIPE:  Hidden Cashew Ranch Dressing!
• RECIPES:  Salad recipes galore!!  Such a large list and so much variety!  Everything from Artichoke Pesto Pasta to Thai Salad in Pineapple BBQ Sauce!
• RECIPES:  Salad dressings: Once again a wide variety of types of dressings, ranging from Blueberry Vinaigrette to Guacamole Goddess Dressing

Other Amazing Salad RECIPES I like:

• My New Roots Roasted Sesame Winter Slaw
• Romaine & Avocado Salad with Cilantro-Lime Dressing from the Party Vegan Cookbook by Robin Robertson

A BIG thank you to all you bloggers out there who give us SUCH great salad recipes and "how-tos!"

Do you all eat many salads?  If so what are your favorite combos and do you have any favorite healthy dressings to recommend?  Would love to learn more from y'all!!

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