February 22, 2015 Vegan Chickpea curry

The thyroid and iron medication has been working and people are saying I am losing weight. I have been pretty terrible with the diet and other than walking non existent with the exercise. I couldn't get around the stress at work for the last couple of weeks and very little sleep but I did get some catch up time this weekend. I am hoping this week will be better and I can at least get into a bit of a workout routine and do a little bit better on the diet.

Vegan Chickpea and Rice Curry

I started out by making rice in the rice cooker I added a bit of margarine and some curry spice to the water but I put in too much water (I am not good at rice) so I got a sticky rice but it worked out well as rice balls in the curry.

Rice
1/2 cup rice
2 cups water
1 tsbp margarine
spice - I used bollywood spice
handful cilantro leaves chopped and half a lemon
Put all ingredients in rice cooker except cilantro and lemon.
Let cook while preparing other ingredients

Curry
1 tsbp olive oil
1 can chickpea rinsed and drained
curry spice (I used bollywood spice)
1 tsbp tumeric (I used 2tsbp by accident)
1 tsbp fresh ginger
1/2 large onion
3 tbsp salsa (you can use 1 jalepeno, 1 clove garlic instead)
1 tsbp ketchup
salt
black pepper
sweetner (preferably sugar I didn't have any so I used sugar)
acid (lemon or if you have tamarind sauce that is better)

Cut onion and ginger add salsa and puree (I used the magic  bullet)
Heat a pan and add 1 tsbp margerine or olive oil or desi ghee if you have it
add pureed mixture and let simmer until it comes to a boil stir occassionally
meanwhile add cilantro and lemon

to rice and move rice so its is all bound together like a dough ball
then make small duplimg size pieces from the rice balls
place rice balls in sauce once it boils
let cook for 2 mins
then add chickpeas to the sauce
add cilantro, ketchup and a little water to a blender and puree
add to boiling sauce mixture
add sweetener and other spices to taste.

In mine if i had some sugar to add and I didn't put in way too much tumeric and spice this would be really amazing. Its good but I need to tweak those two things next time. 

February 9, 2015 - rice, potatoes and veggie meat

This week I found out my iron levels were really low which explains a lot of the symtomps I have been having such as shortness of breath, tiredness, etc. I just thought it was from the stress and bad diet. I also learned that shakeology really does work on the lowering cholestoral side as the last time I had taken a test which was pre drinking shakeology my cholestoral was high I was pretty amazed that it is normal now after eating terribly the last few months and putting on those 15 pounds. It has to be shakeology that is one thing I haven't given up I still drink it almost every day. I have also started thyroid medication this week. Its only been a few days but I do feel better already I feel like I have more energy my stomach doesn't hurt. Hopefully things will continue to get better I have to get mind set back into doing T25 I am still working on getting my body to agree to what my mind tells it should do. This week i bought a rice cooker it was $10 and my mom cooks everything in the rice cooker, boiled eggs, pasta, lentils so I thought it was worth a try. My parents grew up in africa and this is a traditional dish from there that has rice, meat, potatoes and spices. It is usually dry they call it uckney (not sure how to spell it) and I usually just call it uckney it was never one of my favorite dishes dry rice isn't for me but with my own spin on it, its very good.

Vegetarian uckney

1 tsbp olive oil
1 small onion diced
2 medium potatoes small diced (I used organic german butter potatoes)
a piece of ginger sliced
spices (I use bollywood spice) and pepper
1 cup rice
2 cups water
half a bag of veggie tips
some pasta sauce (optional) - I was using up an opened jar
it's not bacon (optional)

Heat the rice cooker to warm because it won't let you put it on cook and add the onion to it. Let that saute while you dice the potatoe and slice the ginger. When you are ready add to the pot and flip to cook. Stir occasionally until the veggies are 80% cooked. Add rice to the pot and 1.5 cups water, and pasta sauce if using. Stir and cover. Stir pot occassionally while cooking. If you notice it getting dry or sticking to the bottom add more water. I had to add more water until the potatoes were cooked. While its cooking cook veggie meat according to package direction mine just saute in a pan for a few minutes.
When potatoes and rice are cooked add the veggie tips and enjoy.

February 2, 2015 - Paneer Dishes

I weighed myself today ahhhh I have put on almost 15 pounds in the last few months. I knew my pants were getting tighter and my belly bigger its really all in the belly but I really didn't know it was that much. I have been cooking a little more but still not the greatest and I have done a 10 minute workout a few times during the week still nowhere near my goal of really getting right back into a program and doing a workout everyday. I really need to focus more on eating right, exercising, and getting more sleep. Sleep and stress are the biggest contributing factors to my weight gain right now I know getting more exercise and scheduling my sleep would really help.
Paneer (its a type of cheese it is used a lot in indian cooking because its high protein it is also as with all cheese high in fat for vegan versions use tofu. It was on sale so I bought a block.
The first dish I used half a block and got 3 servings out of it the left overs I will get into a story of that later
Paneer with mushrooms and onions
saute half an onion in a pan
add mushrooms
add some spices (I use bollywood spice mix)
add fresh ginger (1 tbsp sliced) and garlic (2 cloves sliced)
remove the vegetables from the pan
Mix 2 tbsps of chickpea flour  and spices (salt, pepper, chili) with water in a bowl
coat the paneer with the flour mixture
place in the hot pan and cook until coating is crispy
I had leftover flour mixture so I tried to make a pancake out of it it was okay but not that good

I kept seeing these cauliflower buffalo wings recipe for super bowl sunday they looked really good. I had bought a too large cauliflower a while ago and already had the cut up cauliflower in my freezer. I also went to an expo a few weeks ago and bought gluten free flour I don't really know why as I don't really make anything so thought I might as well try using it here. The recipe said to mix the flour and water together. Coat the cauliflower and bake for 20 minutes. (note it did say any flour will work even gluten free but the idea was to use fresh cauliflower and I think regular flour is better)

 I got to this point tried one and it was disgusting. I had already made the hot sauce mixture pour hot sauce in a bowl and a little bit of oil and mix I added a little honey. Then you are supposed to base it for  another 5 mins. At this point I wasn't going to be eating this. I will try this again one day with regular flour and fresh cauliflower I think it will be really good. Then I decided to use the same recipe with my remaining paneer and chickpea flour.

I didn't get a pic with the hot sauce on it but I liked the coated paneer. I actually have never tried buffalo wings in my life my friend who is the complete opposite of me loves them which likely means I wouldn't like them. The hot sauce on the paneer was okay but not the greatest. I will use this cooking method for pakoras in the future though maybe a little chutney on the side will work.