Eggplant burgers with Balsamic Veggies

It's Friiiiiday!!

The weekend is finally here!!

I don't have much planned for this Memorial Day Weekend. It definitely going to be a chill one, except for Sunday.

Ohhh I can not wait for Sunday! It's going to be a Sunday Funday outing with my girls and guys out to SF.  I'm not going to get into much detail about what we will be doing or going. I'll put up a post about it after we go!

I'll just tell you this one thing...

$7 bottomless mimosas.

Hells ya =)

To start my Friday off this morning, I had a bowl of hot oatmeal with a blob of almond butter and half of a banana cut up. It was super delish and filling. I was only able to eat half of it.

This was a 1/4 cup of oats, 1 tbs. ground flax with a 3/4 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk, cooked on the stove top in a pan. Once cooked to my liking, I poured it into a bowl and topped with the bananas and almond butter.

I spent the majority of my day doing laundry... 5 loads to be exact. 

Ugh. I hate doing laundry... especially the folding and putting away. 

But I did it. Folded and put away.

That's only half of my closet! You can only imagine what the other half looks like, yikes! 

And yes, my closet is color coordinated. Makes it easier to find things!

I'm an Apple product FREAK! iMac, iPad2 and an iPhone. I also have their old iBook G4 that's not pictured. I'm a tech geek <3

Okay, back on track...

While I had laundry going, I got an early start on dinner. Well, I prepped the first half of it. I decided to make Eggplant burgers since I bought a large eggplant the other day. And since my dad wasn't going to be home for dinner, tonight was a perfect opportunity to make the eggplant burgers for my mom and I.

The first 2 paragraphs of the directions is what I prepared ahead of time and covered the bowl and placed into the refrigerator until I was ready to finish making them.

Eggplant Burgers

Ingredients:

One large eggplant

3/4 cup quinoa flakes (Bread crumbs would work as well. I suppose a GF oat flour, brown rice flour, ect. could work too. I'll have to try that next time.)

1/2 a medium onion chopped

1 Tbs. crushed garlic

1 cup cooked lentils (I used green)

1/2 cup cooked quinoa

1 tsp. dried thyme

1 tsp. dried sage

1 tsp. dried basil

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. agave nectar 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and cover a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.

Remove the top of the eggplant and cut in half lengthwise. Place cut sides down onto your lined baking sheet. Place into the preheated 425 degree oven and bake for 25 minutes. The egg plant will be tender and somewhat sunken. Remove from the oven and place into a large bowl or dish. 

After the eggplant has had time to cool, dump any liquid and scrape the flesh away from the eggplant. Place the pulp or the insides of the eggplant into a food processor and pulse a few times until the mixture is a coarse puree. Place the mixture into a large bowl and add the remaining ingredients to it. Mix well to combine and let the mixture stand at room temperature for about 20 mins.

If you are preparing this ahead of time, cover the bowl with saran wrap and place into the refrigerator until you are ready.

Preheat oven again to 425 degrees and re-line the baking sheet with foil or parchment.

In a large non-stick pan, heat over medium to high heat and spray with cooking oil. Using a large soup spoon, scoop a pretty decent amount of the eggplant mixture and add to the pan. Flatten with the back of the spoon so the patties are about 3 inches wide and 1/2 an inch thick. I cooked 2 at time until they were lightly browned before carefully flipping them over to cook on the other side.

Remove and place on the lined backing sheet. Bake the eggplant burgers for 20 minutes in the oven until they are cooked through!

I served these along with some balsamic zucchini and orange bell peppers.

Enjoy!!

I hope everyone enjoys their weekend and Memorial Day! Lets take the time this weekend to thank our brave soldiers for all that they do and have done for our country!

XO Jen

ABChick Pea's, VOO & Sautéed Balsamic Veggies with Quinoa

First and foremost.... HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all you mom's, grandma's and mom to be's. AND most importantly to the most important mom ever, to my amazing mom!!

Don't my mom and I look alike?! ::sarcasm::
Product of a mixed race marriage <3

Here are just a few of my weekend eats: A breakfast, a lunch and a dinner.

First up- Breakfast.

One morning I enjoyed a bowl of overnight oats, my absolute favorite breakfast to have in the morning. One reason because it is so delicious and two it keeps me pretty full for at least 4-5 hours.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup oats (Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Oats)
1/2 cup almond milk
1 tbs. chia seeds
1 tbs. almond butter
1/2 tbs. oraganic agave nectar

Directions:
In a bowl add all the ingredients, except for the almond butter and agave nectar, mix well, cover and refrigerate over night. Next morning add the almond butter and agave nectar. Either heat up the VOO in the microwave for a few seconds or eat cold.

Nutritional Information: 255 cals., 8 g. fiber, 9 g. protein


Next up- Lunch

For lunch one day I decided to try out Angela's Peanut Butter Chick Pea's from her website Oh She Glows . I was very unsure on how these were going to taste but decided to give it a go! I adapted her recipe a bit. Instead of peanut butter I used almond butter and agave nectar instead of pure maple syrup.

OMG these were delicious! No joke! If you like chick peas and like almond butter/peanut butter, you'll love this. (I hope)

Almond Butter Chick Peas (ABChick Pea's)

(Adapted from Angela's Chick P's& P.B)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup drained and rinsed chick peas (I used canned ones)
1 tbs. almond butter
1/2 tsp. organic agave nectar

Directions:
Drain and rinse the chick peas. For a single serving take 1/2 cup of the chick peas and add to a deep bowl. Next in another bowl combine the almond butter and agave nectar. Scoop the almond butter and agave nectar mixture and add to the chick peas. Mix well with a spoon. Either eat these alone, add to a salad, a wrap or on top a piece of bread. Quite honestly, the almond butter chick peas are perfect just eaten alone!

Nutritional Information: 240 calories, 11 g fat, 7 g fiber and 11 g protein.

Not too shabby!!



And lastly- Dinner

I just wanted something quick, easy, delicious and healthy. Rummaged through my fridge and came out with some leftover quinoa, a orange  yellow bell pepper, chopped onions, grape red tomatoes, mushrooms and sugar snap peas. Sauted the veggies in a pan then added the quinoa to heat it through and drizzled with some balsamic vinegar. Quick, easy, delicious and healthy. YUUUMMM.

Nutrional Information: 212 cals., 5 g. fiber, 9.5 g. protein.

No real recipe for this, it's pretty straight forward!

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend!

XO Jen

TGIF, literally! Snapshot, Flipcard and Cleanse day 5

Happy Friday!! So happy that it's finally here. TGIF, literally.

Yesterday marked day 5 of the cleanse and it was also Cinco de Mayo. A day some people use as an excuse to go out and drink till they pass out. Haha. Not this girl!

I did go out for a bit last night and hung out with one of my best friends and another close girlfriend of mine. I've been feeling in a bit of a slump lately and last nigh was exactly what I needed to get out of it. A night filled with great conversation, laughter and smiles. Sometimes, something so simple as seeing your close friends can do the trick, and it absolutely did last night.

I had an early start to my day yesterday, a 5:30 a.m wake up call to be exact, or I should say alarm blaring wake up call. Got up and did a quick cram session before my midterm at 8 a.m. Had a bowl of overnight oats consisting of:

• 1/3 1/4 cup oats (Gluten free of course)
• ~3/4 cup vanilla almond milk
• 1 tbs. ground flax
• 1/2 tbs. almond butter

Quick and easy and it kept me full all the way through school and the gym. After the gym I whipped up a banana protein shake, went outside and caught some sun.

The banana shake had in it:

• 1/2 a medium frozen banana (Gives it more of a shake like texture)
• 2 scoops Arbonne Protein powder
• 1 cup Vanilla almond milk
• 1 tbs. chia seeds
• 2 ice cubes

At some point in the day yesterday I was greeted by Jack ready to roll out!

My "roll" dog

Dinner time rolled around and I enjoyed a quinoa spinach salad with bell peppers, mushrooms, asparagus, sugar snap peas, chick peas and a handful of slivered almonds. Just what I needed.

Today marks the 6th day in my cleanse and I'll report later on tonight on how it went!

Oh! I almost forgot! There are 2 NEW ways to view my blog: Snapshot or Flipcard. Check out the picture on the sidebar (To the right of this post) and click on it to view!

Enjoy your Friday!

Chocolate Oat Bars and Stuffed Bell Pepper

Hello Ta-ta-Tuesday! (haha)







Went to class today and my campus finally has a Starbucks on site!! This made me very happy today because I absolutely love their Zen green tea. It's pretty much the only thing I get at Starbucks, hot and cold. Yuuuum.

When I got home from class today I put together some Chocolate Oat bars from a recipe I came across on Love Veggies and Yoga  and adapted it a bit. Super simple to put together and oh so yummy! My oat bars consisted of chocolate, almond butter, oats, chia seeds, agave nectar, raw almonds, dried cranberries and dried plums. I don't think I'll be able to eat these once I start my detox cleanse so I might as well now! Haha. (Don't kill me Jenna) I'm pretty sure if I nixed the chocolate out of these, I probably could. Right?? lol. I'll have to run it by Jenna. :)

Oooo wait!! All the ingredients except the chocolate chips are gluten free... bought at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. YEAAY!!

Okay, back to the making of the Chocolate Oat Bars:

First I melted the almond butter and chocolate in the microwave 

with 2 tablespoons of vanilla almond milk for about 30 seconds. 

Make sure to watch it so it doesn't burn. 

Then I added all my other dry ingredients in a bowl and poured the 

chocolatey goodness over. Stirred it all together to combine all the ingredients. 

You want this mixture to be fairly dry. If the mixture isn't dry enough add more oats one tablespoon at a time. Press the mixture into bars or into balls.

Pop in the freezer for about 30 mins, or until it has set up, and then enjoy! 

(After it sat in the freezer for a while.)

I wrapped them individually in plastic wrap then put them in a 

plastic zip top bag and back in the fridge.

Rice puffs would also work great with this. I'll have to try it out next time!

Here's the recipe for the Chocolate Oat Bars which I adapted a bit from Love Veggies and Yoga

Chocolate Oat Bars

Ingredients
1/2 cup of oats
2-3 tablespoons chocolate chips
2-3 tablespoons milk
*The ingredients listed below can be switched up and substituted with other items. :)
1 tablspoon chia seeds
~ about a handful of almonds
dried crandberries (eye ball it)
dried pitted plums, cut up.
~ 1 tablespoon agave nectar

Oh yea, and a stuffed bell pepper for dinner tonight. No biggie. ;-) It was a yellow bell pepper cut in half stuffed with quinoa, cut up red and orange bell pepper, spinach, mushrooms, and onions with garlic, salt and pepper (All the ingredients, minus the cut in half bell pepper, were cooked before stuffing the pepper). YUUUuummmmm! Threw it in the oven and baked it at 375 (preheat oven before hand!) for about 25-30 mins, or until the bell pepper is slightly soft but still somewhat firm.

Let's get this week started!

Hello there, Monday!

Didn't get around to posting over the weekend, it was a busy one! Spent the majority of it with friends and family. Friday night was spent celebrating a friend's birthday and a little bar hopping.

Saturday I went wine tasting with my parents, which is always fun! Later on that evening I went and visited my best friend at her work and she surprised me with a cute robot necklace!  And Sunday was my chill day. I relaxed and oh yeah...read for my psychology classes. So, overall a great weekend!



Monday is here and it's time to get this week started!

I started my morning out with a bowl of banana VOO, my supplements and a cup of coffee. You know, the usual. I haven't got tired of it yet! The VOO keeps me full for at least  4-5 hours.

Banana VOO

Ingredients:

1/3 cup oats

3/4 cup Almond milk

1 1/2 tbs. ground flax or chia seeds

1/2 banana cut up

1 tbs. Almond butter

A drizzle of honey

**If you want to know how to put this yummy creation together check out my Easy Vegan Over Night Oats post. I added my bananas in this morning and stirred to combine with the oats and almond butter.

Right now for lunch I am having a Green monster shake consisting of almond milk, half a banana, flax seed,  spinach and Amazing Grass Amazing Chocolate Meal. Then it's off to the gym later on today! 

*Having half now and saving the other half for after my workout!

My workout playlist that gets me pumped and going! (In no particular order, I usually have it on shuffle)

1. Sugar Skulls- Envy on the Coast

2. Given Up- Linkin Park

3. Temper Temper- Envy on the Coast

4. Crawling in the Dark- Hoobastank

5. Let it out- Hoobastank

6. Sunday Morning- No Doubt

7. All Around Me- Flyleaf

8. Spin- Taking Back Sunday

9. Goodbye to You- The Used

10. Past Praying For- VersaEmerge

11. For a Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic- Paramore

12. I'll Let You Live- Taking Back Sunday

13. You're Never There- Hoobastank

14. Santeria- Sublime

15. Faith- Limp Bizkit

16. Out Of Control- Hoobastank

17. AEnema- TOOL

18. Stinkfist- TOOL

Ooh!! I will also be starting a Detox cleanse soon through my best friend Jenna who is setting it all up through Arbonne.com. I can not wait! Once I get started I'll be blogging about my progress and how I am doing with it.

Have a great Monday everyone! <3

XO Jen

Yummy breakfast: Easy Vegan Overnight Oats

Has anyone ever heard of 'Overnight Oats'? I never had until I came across a blog called OhSheGlows.com (http://ohsheglows.com/recipes) This is one of my favorite breakfasts to have in the morning. I absolutely love it, I eat it almost every morning! It fills me up and keeps me going! I've changed it up a little bit when I make it; I don't add the vanilla extract and instead of chia seeds, I use ground flax seed. Chia seeds are perfectly fine, I just prefer the ground flax. I also don't add the banana, instead, in the morning after the overnight oats have sat in the fridge overnight (hence the name), I add blueberries.

Here's the recipe as it appears on the website.

(What's listed in bold type are the things I changed or added)

Easy Vegan Overnight Oats

PM Ingredients:

•1/3 cup regular oats

•3/4 cup almond milk **(I use the sweetened vanilla almond milk as opposed to the unsweetened kind. Reason why I don't use the vanilla exact.)

•2 tablespoons chia seeds

•1 tiny ripe banana, peeled and smashed

•1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions: Mix together the above ingredients in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge overnight.

Here are my AM ingredients: toppings of your choice. (if you want) I usually do:

•One spoonful of almond butter or peanut butter. (Sometimes, depends on if I'm in the mood for it =) )

•A squeeze of honey.

•Blueberries

I also put the overnight oats in the microwave for about a minute to warm it up and to heat the almond butter or peanut butter to make it easier to mix. I add the honey after, along with the blueberries.

You can add what ever ingredients you like to the overnight oats. I usually do the oats, vanilla almond milk and let it sit overnight in the refrigerator. Then in the AM I add the ground flax and almond butter, heat in microwave for a 1 min, mix it up and add the honey and blueberries. =)

Enjoy! <3