Thai One On - Meatless Monday

It's time for Meatless Monday again.

I'm in my second month of eating healthier without "dieting" and have lost 5 pounds already.  I've expanded my meatless meals to more than double what I used to - to see how well that plays out with overall health and wellness by cutting back on too much red meat and saturated fat. I am researching more "veggie" recipes as well as more menus that revolve around small portions of lean meat  (I don't like fish at all except for salmon) as opposed to the giant steak swimming in butter, that was my Friday night date for many years.

The main push with my overhauled diet is to get rid of all of the sugar, white flour, vegetable oil and dairy I was eating, none of which were doing my overall health and post injury arthritis in one knee, any good.  

Breakfast did have an egg, as I usually have one each week.  With it, a fresh batch of the homemade veggie "sausage" featured in this last week's pizza post.  I was out of brown rice so substituted some white rice and it worked just fine, texture wise.  It's a great substitution for pork sausage, and leftover makes a great little breakfast sandwich on a whole grain English muffin smeared with raspberry jam (trust me on that, it's awesome). It's also made with just a tablespoon of healthy olive oil to make 4 servings.

Lunch was Gardein "chicken" strips on chopped salad with Braggs dressing. At work the salad is  in a Tupperware, but you get the idea. My husband even nibbled one of the chicken pieces and said "wow - those are good".  I like them as they're made out of actual food and grains and not a bunch of artificial ingredients like a lot of other meat replacements.

The Braggs dressing is great, made with real olive oil.  Most store salad dressing is made with vegetable oils and studies are finding that too much of those are not good for you. In addition to the Vinaigrette I also bought a ginger one which will make a great marinade for fresh chicken or tofu.

For an afternoon snack I had a Vega vanilla protein powder mixed with a little cherry juice, spring water, and dried cranberries that I could tote to work in my thermos.

Dinner was roasted sweet potato with a zesty Thai peanut sauce.  It was excellent and with leftover rice from making the sausages, took only minutes to prepare, so I could get a few things done around the house while the potatoes roasted. A friend sent me the photo and the recipe and I'm glad she did.

Cut two sweet potatoes into chucks about an inch long and 3/4 inch wide. Toss in two tablespoons of melted coconut or olive oil, and dust with cumin and salt to taste.  Roast in 425 F oven for about 35 minutes, flipping them over about halfway through with a big spatula. 

Serve on rice or couscous with Thai Peanut Sauce

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/4 cup reduced sodium tamari (or soy sauce)

3 Tablespoons Braggs apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons of raw honey

1 teaspoon of grated fresh ginger (or two pinches of dried)

2 teaspoons chopped garlic from a jar

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

2 Tablespoons spring water.

Whisk and serve.

Garnish with onion or some chopped peanuts.