Soooo much food!

It's been a few days since my last post because we've been pretty busy with all sorts of craziness! It was a great time for my first meals from Nourish Charlotte to arrive on Tuesday. Nourish is a brand spankin' new company that is a local, healthy, organic, vegan/vegetarian delivery service. They post a menu on Monday and allow you to select your choices and order over the next few days. They prepare everything the following Monday, and deliver to your door in Charlotte on Tuesday! Sara, who is on the Paleo diet, and Melanie, who is on a medically supervised gluten free diet, and I all went in to ensure we'd meet the minimum $50 order and had it delivered to Sara's work in Charlotte. We found it awesome than even though the 3 of us are on different diets, we could all enjoy selections on their menu.

The food comes in an insulated bag with ice packs, packaged in eco-friendly, microwave safe, reusable containers. There are instructions for reheating both in the oven and in the microwave. Needless to say I was PUMPED to find out about this company and have a few meals each week that I personally wouldn't have to cook. This is great when I'm short on time, and have been handy to keep in the fridge at the school to heat up when I get hungry halfway through the evening. I have totally failed on getting pictures of the food, because by the time I think about it, I've already destroyed the plate by devouring it! This is my feeble attempt at photographing the Risotto Cakes with Lentil Bolognese. So pretty!

I ordered Stir Fried Bok Choy with Seasame Tempeh and Brown Rice & Spring Peas, Risotto Cakes with Lentil & Veggie Bolognese, Asian Slaw, Roasted Veggies, and Strawberry Vinaigrette.

They advertise that the entrees are 2 portions, which for someone like me who is eating smaller meals, they very much are. Jeremy looked at them and laughed because he could probably eat 3 of them and still be hungry (NOT that he would eat one... WAY too many veggies and healthiness happening in those dishes!).

The reviews from Sara and Melanie have been equal to mine: we LOVE Nourish! The food was obviously fresh, and the flavors were great. Personally I think anything I DON'T have to make tastes better than anything I make, mostly because I didn't have to do the work. I'm definitely going to enjoy having healthy "heat & serve" meals on hand each week for myself and I can't wait to see next week's menu. Can it be Monday already??

As for the past few days... I kinda forgot to log Tuesday, and my memory is terrible. I promise I followed all my rules and was probably closer to 99/1 than I've been so far. Wednesday was kind of odd. For some reason I just wasn't really that hungry! I usually have snacks or juices in between my meals and I didn't. I wasn't going to force myself to eat just because I usually eat or snack at a certain time, so I didn't.

Breakfast: Citrus Juice
Lunch: Sweet Potato Chickpea Burgers with Avocado & Salsa, side of Kale Chips
Linner: Nourish: Stir Fried Bok Choy and Seasame Tempeh with Brown Rice & Spring Peas
Dinner: Blackened Fish Tacos with Guacamole & Peanut Slaw on Corn Tortilla (little cheat on the tortilla) and a glass of wine at Mac's Speed Shop!!!

Breakfast was a success. Removing the peel of citrus fruits with a knife was the key to a delicious juice blend! I even made an awesome citrus "snow-man"! After juicing my grapefruit, orange, and lime, I filled the glass the rest of the way with coconut water. Wowzer. This woke me up big time!

I made a dish this week that turned out to be pretty yummy. Again, it's a mash-up of several recipes I've been seeing, tweaked to meet my preferences and what I had on hand. Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers. I hesitate to refer to these as "burgers" because other than the shape they resemble a hamburger 0%. It's a veggie patty. The first one I made was big, and when I made it the next day I did several smaller patties which I liked better. Very flavorful and EXTREMELY healthy and full of all kinds of stuff that's good for you. It also made a good bit that will provide for 4 full meals for me, or multiple side dishes.

1 Sweet potato, cubed, boiled, drained
1 14oz can of Garbanzo beans (they're named after Colonel Garbanzo, in case you didn't know)
3 tablespoons Tahini paste
1 Lime
Salt & Pepper
Southwest seasoning
Breadcrumbs

The cool thing is if you keep the sweet potato, garbanzo beans, and tahini the same, you can flavor this with whatever seasonings you'd like! I had some avocados and fresh salsa on hand so I went a spicy southwest route. Throw everything except the breadcrumbs in the food processor and pulse away until you've got everything incorporated, but before it becomes a smooth paste. Dump it into a bowl and see how it holds together. Likely you'll need to stir in some breadcrumbs to get it to a point where you can patty it up and have it stay together without being too limp and sticky. Once you've got a good consistency, form the patties to the size you'd like and cook over medium heat with just enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan (I used grapeseed oil). If you'd like a bit more crunch you can coat the outside with breadcrumbs too!

To serve I just sliced an avocado on top and threw on a few spoonfuls of local fresh salsa. I paired this with Spicy Southwest Lime Kale Chips which were delish and went really well with the dish. I promise I will write an entire blog on kale, and kale chips, in the near future. I'm quickly becoming obsessed with and finding new uses for kale.

Speaking of kale.... and sweet potatoes.... I ended up spending the afternoon cooking after I ate lunch. I already had the sweet potatoes out so I went ahead and prepped for what I hope will be a scrumptious Sweet Potato & Quinoa Breakfast Hash with Poached Eggs, and since I had the quinoa out, I went ahead and made Quinoa Mushroom Pilaf. Between the Nourish food, all of the fresh veggies for salads, smoothies, and juices, the leftovers from what I've made this week, and the dishes I've pre-made, I seriously question my ability to eat all of it before it goes bad! Hopefully tomorrow morning I'll have the chance to enjoy my breakfast hash. This weekend I'm heading into The Art of Assisting & Arm Balances weekend intensive for my yoga teacher training. 25 hours of glorious yoga! I won't be writing another blog until next week, unless I can sneak one in tomorrow, but I do hope to check out Fern this weekend, which is a vegetarian restaurant in Plaza Midwood near the studio I'll be training at.

I've taken some time off from the scale the past few days so no update on that front, but I will check in Monday with a weight update!
made- mushroom quinoa salad and quinoa breakfast hash