Cabbage Soup

OK. Things are super crazy! Between work, bootcamp, volleyball (yay! beach volleyball!), Mother's Day, long weekends, commitments to friends and a little side film project my time has been limited!

To help make lunches simple this week I made a yummy cabbage soup Sunday. I was a little nervous about it because I've had some nasty cabbage soups but this one blew all those fears away!

I know it's a crude cel phone photo. But this isn't the prettiest dish but don't judge a book by it's cover!


Ingredients
2 T sunflower oil
1 medium cabbage, roughly shredded
3 or 4 small/medium carrots, sliced
1 medium yellow onion, chopped 
1.5 cups sweet corn
4 cups vegetable stock
2 t. sesame oil 
1 can white kidney beans
pepper to taste
1 - 1.5 cups water as needed. I had A LOT of cabbage to added about 1.5 cups of water to stock.


Directions
Heat oil in large heavy bottom saute pan. Saute onions, carrots, cabbage and corn for a few minutes until cabbage gets softer. Add pepper and saute a minute more then add stock, beans and sesame oil and simmer for 20 - 30 minutes. Store in tupperware and reheat in the microwave to enjoy at lunch!


Take a look at the blog I got this recipe from!

Vollywood

It's pretty gray out! I'm a little worried! I am supposed to have my first beach volleyball game of the season tonight 8:30! It's so not a beach day, it looks cold and rainy. That sand is going to be dirty! I think we will still have fun. It'll be good practice for when the days are nicer and the weather gets serious. And all those squats waiting for the serve will do my booty good!

I started my morning with some yoga. Really liking this routine I've got going on! I feel nice and relaxed in the AM from the flow. Even though the 6:30 wake-up call is a little rough the poses help to slowly get my body burning. I also get to feel proud of myself when I finally get into work in the morning. I like knowing that I've started my day with something good.

My lunch today was something different. Felafels! I bought a pack from the vegan section at my grocery store, and they were fresh, not frozen, which made them all the more attractive! I served it with brown rice and cooked spinach with some tomatoes, broccoli and green peppers on the side. It was a little bland to tell you the truth with no sauces or anything, but the felafels sure were delicious! I'd like to try making some of my own at home. Maybe with a tzatziki sauce. Mmm!

Now my lunch yesterday was anything but bland! Chili! This recipe was incredible simple and vegan all the way. If you're like me thought, be careful. There are A LOT of beans. They sure helped me stay full!

Ingredients

1 jar chunky salsa
1/4 cup BBQ sauce
2T chili powder
3/4t salt (optional)
1.5t ground cumin
1t dried oregano
1/2t paprika
1/2t sugar
1.5 cup water
1/2 can of diced tomato
1 can cooked red kidney beans, drained & rinsed
1 can cooked black beans, drained & rinsed
1 can cooked pinto beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups corn kernels

Directions

In a big pot heat the salsa and spices, stir to mix. Then mix in the water, diced tomato, all the beans and the corn. Cover and simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Enjoy!

It's really that easy! I knew I was going to have a super busy week so I made this ahead of time Sunday night and now I have tons of leftovers that will last me well into the week.

For something different try using ground round and reduce the amount of beans you use. Cheese, avocado or some corn chips would be great toppings!

A special thank you to my friend Melissa for introducing me to the simply delicious recipe from Vegan on the Cheap. This is one recipe you don't wanna lose.

Birthday Pancakes and Strawberry Sauce

Weekends just keep getting shorter and shorter and with the days getting nicer it's even harder to hold on to the weekend.

I visited a couple friends this weekend for their birthdays and conveniently it was also the weekend of my high school's 50th Anniversary. We visited the school and wandered the halls looking in our old classrooms and hangouts. Surprisingly the school was quite empty so we didn't run into any old friends or teachers. It was a little odd to be honest but fun none the less. Luckily I had a great high school experience so I can walk down those halls and look back fondly. Not much has changed there, that's for sure.

I made my friends a special birthday breakfast on Saturday morning. It was very appropriate for a birthday and was a good excuse to eat dessert for breakfast.

First I'll tease you with the topping. Strawberry sauce!

This took 10 minutes to make and was delicious! Simple slice or chop a pint of strawberries and heat in a sauce pan with sugar and vanilla. I made this the night before we needed it so I just microwaved it in the morning to serve warm.

So what was the main attraction? Pancakes of course!

I've been seeing a lot of recipes out there with sprinkles and cake mix to I decided to get on the bandwagon and try my hand at birthday pancakes.

These pancakes are almost as easy as using a pancakes mix, they just require a couple more ingredients and a little bit of love and fun.

As if sprinkles weren't enough I also made some with chocolate chips!

And the only thing missing is whipped cream. But the icing sugar glaze I whipped up made up for it. I'm not sure any of us used maple syrup. These beauties were sweet enough!

Strawberry Sauce

1 pint strawberries chopped

1/3 cup sugar

1t vanilla

1t corn starch 

In a saucepan over medium high heat, combine all ingredients. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.  Added a couple freshly sliced strawberries after the others were cooked to make sure I had a few big chunks of berries. They softened up in the already cooked berries.

Birthday Pancakes

1.5 cups white flour
2/3 cup french vanilla cake mix
1T sugar
3/4t baking powder
pinch of salt
2 eggs
1t vanilla
1.5 cups milk
sprinkles (lots!)

Combine the dry ingredients and mix. In another bowl wish together the eggs and vanilla then add to the dry mix. Slowly add 1 cup of milk until smooth adding more milk as needed. It will look just like regular pancake batter. Once smooth fold in as many sprinkles as your heart desires and spoon onto your frying pan (I was luck enough to use my friends electric frying pan, *swoon). Cook on one side until the top bubble a little, then flop onto the other side for another minute.

Serve with your favourite toppings like whipped cream, chocolate sauce, vanilla glaze, strawberries, bananas, even ice cream and more sprinkles!

Here's a little hint of what's coming later this week...

Overnight Oatmeal

Oh that potato salad sure is treating me well. It was a nice addition to lunch today! Although, I've kind of been grazing all day and haven't had a full meal really.

I got up this morning and felt a little tired and hungry from working out last night. I relaxed a bit on the couch and ate a bit of breakfast then did a 20 Minute Yoga Quickie with a nice woman on the beach on YouTube. It felt pretty great to stretch like that in the morning. Got my heart pumping and was even a little sweaty!

At about 10am, after my green tea, I had my second breakfast and since then I've only eaten a pear and a bit of that potato salad. What is this magic breakfast that kept me so full?

Overnight Banana Oatmeal!

I don't know why I didn't do this sooner. It's the quickest and easiest breakfast ever! Not to mention delicious. And as usual this dish can be modified to include your favourite ingredients.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of it. But, I used this Banana-Blueberry recipe as a guide and she's got a nice picture that doesn't just look like brown mush!

Get a load of how easy this is.

Ingredients
1/3 cup of steel-cut oats
1/3 overflowing cup of milk
1/3 cup of plain Greek yogurt
1 mashed banana
1/4t of cinnamon (or to taste)

Directions
Mash the banana, then mix everything together in a sealable bowl or container. Pop it in the fridge overnight. In the morning trow it in the microwave for 1 minute and and enjoy! You can top it with more fresh fruit, granola, almonds or cereal if you're feeling really hungry :)

This is a new favourite for sure, and I've been telling everyone about it today. I just can't believe how easy it is. I loved that I could take it to work and top it with almonds and not even think about it!

You can experiment with all flavours here too. Add some honey, peanut butter, raisins or flax seed. Use chia seeds and non-dairy milk to make it vegan. Some apple slices or strawberries would also be great! This is definitely a recipe you can play with.