October Unprocessed: Day One

Today I am starting October Unprocessed and I have to admit I didn't do the best job.  While I plan to eliminate coffee for this month, I had a really hectic day and needed one to get me going.  I started my day with pilates and then only had about 45 minutes before volunteering at the Greater Boston Food Bank.  That didn't leave me too much time to prepare food.  If I was smart, I would have planned ahead which is what I will do going forward.  Anyway, here is what I have had:


Breakfast
Large Iced Coffee with Soymilk


Not a healthy start, I realize, but I was rushed.


Lunch
Hummus (I left out the EVOO but added Za'atar)
Cunchmaster Multi-Seed Crackers


If you haven't had Crunchmaster products, you should.  They are totally amazing and 100% natural.  The ingredients are:

Brown Rice Flour

Sesame Seeds
Quinoa Seeds
Safflower Oil
Flax Seeds
Amaranth Seeds
Tamari Soy Sauce (soybeans and salt)
Salt


These are a great, healthy and unprocessed snack.They have 2.5 grams of fat and 60 calories per serving.

Dinner
Quinoa Stuffed Pepper
Roasted Red Potatoes 
Sauteed Spinach
Herbal Iced Tea with Turbinado sugar


Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients:
1 medium yellow bell pepper, cut in half and cleaned
1/4 cup of raw quinoa
1/2 cup of vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
1 carrot, peeled and shredded
1/2 red onion, diced
2 button mushrooms, diced
1/2 teaspoon of parsley
1/2 teaspoon of rosemary
1/2 teaspoon of cumin
1 teaspoon of oregano
1/2 teaspoon of thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
1 clove of garlic
1 tablespoon of Safflower oil


Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.


Bring the vegetable broth to a boil with the bay leaf. Add quinoa. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 12-15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Discard bay leaf.


Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add your halved pepper.  Cover and cook for 7 minutes.  Immediately remove it from the water and soak in cold water.


In a large nonstick skillet, saute the carrots and onions in oil until tender. Add the quinoa and seasonings.  Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until heated through. Spoon into pepper halves. 

place the halves on tin a large piece of tin and bring pieces of foil together at the top and seal.  Place the foil/peppers in a baking pan and bake for 15 minutes covered.  Uncover and bake for another 10 minutes until the peppers and quinoa start to brown.


Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.


I roasted the peppers in the oven with rosemary and paprika and sauteed the spinach with a tiny bit of veggies broth, garlic and some sea salt and pepper.

This was really good and surprisingly filling.  I will eat the other half for lunch or dinner tomorrow as well.


Thoughts


In preparing for this challenge I thought that it would be really great to set forth some personal goals.  As a vegan I am very aware of what I do not eat, but I think that I could definitely stand to have more awareness about what I do eat.  That is my primary goal with this challenge.  Here are some other goals:

1. Reduce my salt intake- I have noticed that I have been using a lot of salt lately.  Instead I would like to increase my use of spices for flavor.
2. Reduce my use of oils in cooking- I use a lot of EVOO and I would like to decrease this a bit (though not eliminate it all together).  I would like to increase my use of Safflower and Grape Seed oils during this time.
3. Cut out coffee- This may be the hardest for me, but I have come to realize that I may have a slight coffee addiction and I would love to kick this habit.  I do plan to have herbal tea and iced tea (fresh brewed).
4. Have breakfast everyday- I am terrible about eating breakfast and I realize that it is the most important meal of the day for a healthy lifestyle.  So I am going to get in the habit of eating breakfast every day.
5. Drink more water- When I played derby, I drank a ton of water on a daily basis.  Recently I realized that I am not drinking nearly as much as I used.  I would like to change that this month.

I am really looking forward to the challenge.  So check back because I will be posting about my progress and will be sharing my recipes and thoughts.  Also, I would love to hear from you if you are doing this too.  Please feel free to post comments.

Here to eating healthy and unprocessed!