mama's vegan sloppy joes

mmm!

these are my absolute favorite thing in the world. usually i cook my own meals, breakfast lunch and dinner. So this is basically the only thing i let my mom make me, and i let her because it's so good.

she got the idea for the recipe in clean eating magazine, but the original magazine called for ground bison....whatever that is, or beef. so this recipe was swapped around for tempeh instead of meat, and agave nectar for honey. also for the sauce, it comes with a delicious marinara sauce, that you can put on other things beside the sloppy Joe's,

Mama's tempeh sloppy Joe's

•  1 tsp olive oil,
• 1 package of fermented soy, aka tempeh
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 medium onion diced
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 3/4 tsp mustard powder
• 1/8 tsp cayenne powder
• 1 sweet red pepper chopped
• 1 medium green zucchini diced
• 1 medium yellow squash diced
• 1 and 1/2 cups of marinara sauce (recipe below)
• 1 tbsp agave nectar

in a large pan in medium heat, cook the tempeh and the cloves and garlic and tsp of oil and cook until browned, and add the Chile powder mustard and cayenne and set aside in a separate bowl.

 in the skillet and saute' the red pepper , squash and zucchini, and add the tempeh, garlic, and and onions and mix together for about 10 to 12 minutes again.

finally add the marinara sauce and 2 tbsps of water and cook until the sauce is hot and bubbling, serve on a bun and you're done!

Marinara sauce

• 5cups of canned, jarred diced or strained plum tomatoes
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 medium onion diced
• 2 medium carrots peeled and diced
• 2 celery ribs diced
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 fresh sprigs of oregano with the stems removed
• 8 basil leaves
• 1/8 tsp Chile flakes (optional)
• 1 tbsp raw agave
• salt and pepper to taste

in a medium sauce pot heat oil over medium high heat add garlic ,onion, carrots, and celery and saute' until onion becomes translucent and vegetables become soft, add the canned tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, basil, and the Chile flakes, and let it sit and cook till it comes to a boil, for 45 minutes.

once done, and well cooked either use and immersion blender, or a food processor, and puree until smooth, and finally add the agave nectar in.

i love this dish, i think its good to make on a Sunday night, so you'll have something to eat for the whole week. it is in fact very reminiscent of sloppy Joe's mainly because it's so hard to keep in sandwhich!

it really reminds me of school lunches when you were a kid and it was sloppy Joe day at lunch, which is basically the only day i ate what they were serving, besides pizza day of course. 

i went through many food phases as a kid though, starting from when i was in grade school, where i went from eating nothing, to only eating peanut butter sandwiches with really processed peanut butter and gooey white bread (ew) 

in middle school i lived off of rice krispy treats, chocolate clodhoppers, and whatever goody they made in the cafe that day, ranging from 2 brownies,  2 cookies, or 2 slices of cake. i would only ever buy a real lunch unless it was sloppy Joe day, or pizza day, from dominoes (i would buy three slices and two brownies....how was i not fat?)

I've really changed a lot since then, but how about you?

was there a lunch you ate during grade school that you would never eat today? what abut weird food habits?

I'd love to hear!

Getting back to the swing of things!

is harder than i thought! i haven't even posted this week, due to getting back to school, and mid terms being in 2 weeks, i needed to start organizing and reviewing for tests. so i am sorry for not posting, but just because i haven't been posting doesn't mean i haven't been cooking!

for example:

Carrot cake Oatmeal

• 1 serving of oats (1/2 a cup)
• 2/4 cup of your choice of milk
• 1/4 cup of water
• 1 tsp  chia seeds
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 dash nutmeg, dash of ginger, dash of allspice, pinch of cloves,
• 1/2 a large carrot grated.
• 1 tbsp walnuts
• 1 tbsp maple syrup or sweetener of choice

mix all of the dry ingredients into a bowl, and separately  mix together the grated carrot bits and microwave for 45 seconds, just to soften them, because you don't want really crunchy bits, that's not very carrot cake like, set the carrots aside, and mix oatmeal with milk and water and microwave to your preferred consistency, when done with that, mix in the carrots, and top with maple syrup, and walnuts.

and mix together again and you're done!

i topped it with a bit of Greek yogurt, which i wasn't sure how it would taste, but i actually was very pleased with the final result, it gave it a little bit of a tangy kick to it.

so last night i came home from school,  and i was literally awake for about an hour before i completely crashed on my couch for a good 5 hours, and then i went to bed and slept for the rest of the night. i cannot believe how tired i was, and we didn't even have a full week of school! 

one of the highlights of the week was definitely when my mom made vegan sloppy Joe's for dinner :)

 a recipe i will post tomorrow! seriously these are so addicting and delicious it's crazy.

well, i have bunch of things i still have to do 

till tomorrow!

So this is the new year,

and i don't feel any different~
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Death cab for cutie anyone?eh eh? i really only let myself listen to this song once a year, within three days of the new year.  But i hope you all had a wonderful and safe new years. I went into Boston's first night, which i had done only once before when i was 8, i think. it was so long ago. But it was really cool, we started the night into the commons, and we headed to Fanueil hall, and then the prudential center,and wound up at the Boston harbor at the end of the night. the train ride home was madness, seeing as how the T was absolutely PACKED to the full capacity, i'm pretty sure i was practically on top of someone. 
i like new years, it gives you a clean slate, everything is new, and you can just start over again.


Another thing i like about new years are all the sales that go on :)


my sister and i woke up at 9 to go into the mall for the victoria's secret sale, and waited around till the mall opened and hit up bath and body works, ( yellow tag sales!) and then target. After that we headed over to Micheal's where i needed to buy art supplies. i though i had a coupon but apparently it was expired, don't you just hate when that happens? it totally just killed my shopping buzz.
 so when i got home i had to make a quick lunch of scrambled eggs, veggie burgers, an apple, carrots, toast and salsa

i needed to practically swallowed this whole,because i needed to ru to meet a friend to do some more shopping at downtown crossing.
it freaks me out to spend money like i did, i NEVER buy things. ever. But today, i felt a little bit better about it because almost everything i got was on sale.
well, i hope everyone is sticking to their resolutions!
until then!

the eve of new year's eve

and i am just sitting in my house, alone, too tired to really do anything.
i am exhausted for no reason, i have just been sitting around reading, and sleeping. but that's what vacation is all about right?....right? ah well.
so when i am being lazy, i like to be lazy in every aspect of my life:
including chewing, so to help my ventures against chewing and further my lazy aspirations (is that an oxymoron is it?) i made brown rice porridge

mmmm. the best part of this dish was that it was so easy to make! 

Brown Rice porridge

• 1 cup pre made brown rice
• 1 cup almond milk
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp sweetener
• 1 tsp chia seeds
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

optional add ins

• 1tbsp chopped nuts, i used pecans
• 1/2 chopped apple

in a pot, place rice almond milk, syrup, sweetener and cinnamon, alond with the chia seeds and simmer on a low setting until the rice absorbs most of the milk, and you're done!

it was a really nice twist to brown rice, i was sort of getting sick of oatmeal, so this really expanded my breakfast horizons.
so as the new year approaches, does anyone have any new years resolutions? i have a few but they are the basic ones like stay in shape, read more, get more work done, do better in school, eat well, and just generally be happy.

what are your new years resolution?

Christmas has come and gone,

And i hope it was wonderful to you!

christmas this year, was very low key, we haven't had a moment to ourselves for a couple of weeks, so we wanted to take things very easy and slow, starting out with a big lounge around breakfast! which we all made together as you can see:

my family ate french toast, in challah bread with bacon and sausage, which i could not partake in, i really didn't want to start out Christmas with a stomach ache so i made my version of oh she glows vegan blueberry vanilla pancake recipe, which i basically cut in half to make it into a single serving

Vanilla vegan blueberry pancakes with easy blueberry sauce

1/2cup and 2 tbsp of www flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/8tsp cinnamon,

1/8 tsp baking soda

a pinch of salt

1/4 cup almond milk (add more gradually as I'm not too sure about the measurements on this is)

1 and 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup warm water with 

1 tbsp maple syrup

1/2 cup blueberries

Mixed together the dry ingredients and mixed them all together in a large bowl, separately mixed together all the wet ingredients, and mixed together by pouring the wet ingredients in and folding it into the dry. you want to add the blueberries in last so the batter wont turn blue
heat a skillet and use 1/4 cup to spoon the batter on to the skillet, flip once the batter begins to form holes and bubbles on the surface of the pancake
 if you want to get a little more fancy and add blueberry sauce take 1/4 cup of blueberries, 1.5 tsp of chia seeds, vanilla extract and 2 table spoons of maple syrup, blend all together and microwave for a minute, then place in the refrigerator over night, to give it a jam like texture

for dinner we had torfurkey! a new dish for me, which was surprisingly delicious and liked by my whole family!
but now that Christmas has come and gone its time to get  back on track with healthy eating
i started out today with chocolate peanut butter oats which did not come out right unfortunately, and delicious cups of honey dew melon! i love the colors of honey dew, its such a happy and vibrant green

its so pretty!!

 and i had a very healthy smoothie for lunch, with a very small salad on the side

I'll get back to that tomorrow, it was delicious and healthy but I'm incredibly tired so i am unfortunately trying to speed through this post,
i was so tired i ended up just having tofurkey leftovers for dinner..oooh weell :)

well I'm going to go crash, i don't think i can be awake another minute, i haven't slept at all these past 3 nights and i went to the mall today (lesson learned NEVER GO TO THE MALL THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS) goodnight!

somedays you just can't win

for instance,
not all of your pictures will come out good.
like this one:
Pumpkin nog oatmeal with blueberries and chia seeds

it tastes much better than it looks...trust me. now, i was attempting to get more into the Christmas spirit though i am not really sure if it tastes like egg nog, seeing as how I've never had it before! all i really know about egg nog is that it flavored with allspice, cinnamon, and nutmeg. so it was in a way a shot in the dark. now if you are also in the mood for a breakfast full of holiday cheer then be sure to check out my gingerbread oatmeal. as you all know, i am more partial to gingerbread :)

in other news.....

i finally got to try chia seeds! i actually really like them, they have no flavor, add bulk to food, and absorb tons of liquid. Chia seeds have always intrigued me, just the fact that they're so versatile you can make them into crackers, put them in soups, in oatmeal, yogurt, etc. and they're full of important plant proteins, fiber, and omega 3's. so I'm interested to see how they play out in my food.

okay, so one thing i did not expect for Christmas, was a cold! i feel so gross, my throat hurts, i am tired, I've been skipping out on workouts left and right it's awful. i feel as though its covered the entire school, last night i fell asleep at 6:30 and woke up at 9. and then, since i took a nap i was up until 1 and i woke up every hour and at 4 o clock i actually got up thinking it was six and i made breakfast. then i actually looked at the clock and realized the time.

so because of that, it was a long day. so when i got home i needed a snack to pick me up

and with that, i am going to go sleep until Christmas
ONE MORE DAY TILL VACATION!

The winter routine

hey everybody!

so yesterday my ikea trip went very well :) i got all sorts of Christmas shopping done though i still have one more person to finish shopping for and then i'll be done. i can't wait for winter vacation. i started out with a delicious oatmeal bowl with flax seeds, blueberries pecans and coconut shreds. 

i would've posted a picture of my breakfast this morning but...it was really ugly.

do you ever get into a winter routine? i fall into the same one every year. not that i mind though.I feel that in the winter books i pick up a very specific routine of coziness. it usually starts on winter break as

• watch all six seasons of daria

• read all of my Francesca Lia block books

• going to the gym
• wearing giant sweaters.
• a d of course listening to lights on repeat

it's the same every year. i feel like i should be sick of it by now, but no i'm still doing the same thing. and i probably will be doing all these things until i am 60 years old. 

we have school until the 23rd. ugh. not even a half day. they really don't want to cut us any slack. god knows why.

well, happy holidays everybody, i have to go study for the 10 tests i have this week :(

what's your winter routine?