Archives for August 2016

Potato Protein Bar

August 12, 2016 by Zucchini Runner in Food | 2 Comments

Have you ever gone to a baked potato bar at a restaurant or school cafeteria? It’s usually loaded with butter, sour cream, bacon bits and chives. Well, this week I’m giving you some healthier, plant-based versions to try out. These are a perfect weeknight meal – easy and simple – especially if you use a microwave. If you don’t that’s fine too! The second you step foot in the door from work or wherever, get the oven preheating and pop your washed potato in the oven! In 45 minutes, after you’ve changed from your work clothes, enjoyed a nice beverage on the patio and unwound a bit from the workday, your spud will be ready for some delicious veggie toppings – that just so happened to be loaded with protein too. These will leave you feeling very full with plenty of energy stored up to greet the next day.

Black Bean & Salsa

1 potato of choice, baked

1/2 can of black beans (about 3/4 c.), simply rinsed and drained – no heating required

A healthy blob of salsa

Sprinkle of nutritional yeast – good for a cheesy flavor (optional)

A pat of coconut oil

Top with your favorite creamy dressing – pictured below I used Follow Your Heart Creamy Italian

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11 g of protein with the beans and nutritional yeast

Pea & Brussels

1 potato of choice, baked

~20 frozen, pre-packaged brussels sprouts

1 c. frozen, pre-packaged peas

Sprinkle of nutritional yeast – good for a cheesy flavor (optional)

A pat of coconut oil

Dash of black pepper

Dash of salt

Drizzle of balsamic vinegar

  1. Boil the brussels sprouts and peas in water on the stovetop for about 5-8 minutes until heated through.
  2. Drizzle nutritional yeast, oil, pepper and salt over the sliced open potato before adding the greens.
  3. Drain the veggies and dump over potato, add more oil, nutritional yeast, pepper and salt. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar.
  4. The potato on this one was HUGE, so I ended up giving the last 1/4 of this to Mr. Zucchini Runner! Very filling!
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16 grams of protein in the peas and brussels alone. 🙂

 

Beans & Onion

This one got a little crazy, as I was in a super rush making it! But it was delicious and looked beautiful!

1 potato of choice, baked

1 c. of canned kidney beans, rinsed and drained

3/4 c. frozen, pre-packaged green beans

2 red onion rings, coarsely chopped

A pat of coconut oil

A dash of real salt or sea salt

Top with your favorite tasty dressing – pictured below I used Annie’s Balsamic Dressing.

  1. Place frozen green beans with the chopped onion and kidney beans in a steamer, and steam for 5-7 minutes.
  2. Cut the baked potato in half, then cut each half in quarters.
  3. Dab on some coconut oil.
  4. Dump the steamed onions and beans on top.
  5. Top with some salt and your favorite dressing.

22 g of protein, cause like I said, I went a little crazy with this one. 🙂

The key with any quick food, is to make it colorful. If it is visually appealing, not only are you making your eyes happy, but you are making your cells happy. The more color, the more variety of nutrients in the food!

What is your favorite kind of potato?

Peanut Butter Muffins

August 10, 2016 by Zucchini Runner in Dessert, Food | 1 Comment

First of all, sorry I flaked out on last week’s post! I was just having so much fun with family, I totally lost track of the days. (Side note, I wrote that post at about 9:30 pm, poolside, from my phone!) Today’s recipe was born out of REQUESTS from friends and family on Facebook. I asked for ideas, and they answered! As a matter of fact, I have the next two weeks set as well.

What? You didn’t know you could request recipes? SURE! Why not?! If there is something I haven’t done before, and you want a healthier or vegan version of it, feel free to mention it in the comments below. So last week the top request was PEANUT BUTTER, with a little sprinkle of muffins. Sooooo… these peanut butter muffins were created! They have a mild dough, with sweet bursts from chopped up dates and a little crunch from chopped up peanuts. If you want a sweeter muffin, you can add some brown sugar (maybe 1/4 c.); but I tried to keep this on the healthier side, as always.

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Ingredients

1 1/2 c. Einkorn flour (or standard, all-purpose)
3/4 c. oats
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 flax seed eggs (2 tbsp. ground flaxseed + 6 tbsp. water)
1/3 c. creamy peanut butter
3/4 c. coconut milk
3/4 c. water
12 Medjool dates, divided in half, with half chopped
1/2 c. roasted, salted peanuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 375°F

Yields 12 muffins

  1. Combine all the dry ingredients (first 4) in a large bowl and stir.
  2. Get your flax eggs ready by combining the flax and water in a little ramekin and set aside.
  3. In a blender combine milk of choice, water and 6 of the dates, pitted. Blend very well on high, until it’s a creamy liquid.
  4. Pour sweetened milk mixture into the dry bowl mixture and stir well to combine.
  5. By now your flax egg should be thickened up; pour over mixture and stir to combine.
  6. Add the remaining 6 chopped dates.
  7. Add the peanuts to bowl, stir well to incorporate dates and nuts with batter.
  8. Add paper muffin cups to a muffin pan.
  9. Fill each cup to the brim. This made 12 muffins for me.
  10. Bake at 375°F for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
  11. Cool on a cooling rack for 30 minutes before devouring. 🙂

Here is a step-by-step slideshow showing how easy these are to make!

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These are VERY good with some jelly! 🙂

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What other recipes would you like to see on this site? Are there any other topics you’d like me to cover? And on a side note, is anyone else’s sleep schedule all messed up because of staying up late to watch the Olympics? No? Just us? haha

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