What I've been cookin' and we've been eatin'

Remember when I said we were going veggie?  Yeah, that was awhile ago in "I'm going to be a vegetarian" terms.  It actually been going quite well.  I haven't eaten any meat since then, and it's not been nearly as hard as I thought it would be.  In addition, it's been kind of fun.  I'm spending more time thinking about eating and preparing for eating than before, for sure.  But, I feel good, and Hubs is pretty into too.

So, here's a little taste of what we've been chowing down on at home lately.

Mostly, we've been keeping it simple.  Eating real food, without much fuss.  There are tons of fresh fruits and vegetables out there right now at the Farmer's Markets and grocery stores, so it's been easy to do it that way.  

Here we noshed on some baked sweet potatoes (with cinnamon), some fresh sweet corn and a salad topped with cherry tomatoes from our garden, grilled portobello mushrooms and walnuts.  A yummy natural strawberry balsamic dressing topped it off.

A close up of the delicious salad with fresh greens...oh yeah, and let me just add again, sweet and fresh from the vine cherry tomatoes from the garden a la Erin and Hubs. :)

Getting a little more veggie, and maybe going a little too far for some of you out there...a tofu veggie stir fry.  I started with a firm tofu (this is the first time I have ever cooked it).  I decided to pan fry it in oil first because every time I have eaten tofu, I tend to like it more firm and little crusty rather than having a soft, creamy texture.  I thought it was perfect.  I actually even enjoyed the tofu and the squash, green beans and red pepper over quinoa are super healthy, right!?!  Green, red and super healthy grains...score!  This one was nice and filling too.

Another delicious and filling veggie dish we had were these Boca crumbles tacos.  These were awesome!  Now, I'm trying to make something taste like meat when it's not meat, or maybe I am, I dunno.  These boca crumbles are a really good ground beef substitute, for sure.  I seasoned them with some Frontera seasoning (see below, because this stuff is amazing, and it doesn't even have that many ingredients).  It's helps flavor and give some good juiciness to this dish.  Add on some avocado, sour cream and some more o' those tomaters from ze garden...and voila!  Don't forget the corn tortillas...they are not to be done without.

Good stuff!

Lastly, and admittedly the least veggie is this easy peasy salmon meal.  Again, the sweet corn, because it's out there and it's fresh and Hubs loves it.  Some pineapple deliciousness goes nicely with the fish.  The salmon is wild Alaskan King Salmon, which costs about 3 arms and a leg.  I usually get the farm-raised salmon because it's so much more reasonable priced, but because I was veering slightly from my vegetarian week, I decided to get the super good for you stuff.  Not sure I can do that all the time, but I do love some salmon.  And, it's good for you, so why give up something that's good for your body, right?  I think we'll probably be sticking with eating fish sometimes and not feeling like we're cheating.  The point of all this is to eat better, feel better and to change out diets in a positive way.  So, crazy strictness isn't our bag.  That being said, onto the weekend.  Hubs parents are visiting, so time to try some "new" restaurants.  Or, at least they'll seem new because I'll be ordering from all new menus...the veggie sections.  Wish me luck!

PS - I made some gluten free zuccini bread too!  It turned out really good, super moist and springy. We ate it for breakfast all last week.  Heated up with a little spread...mmmmm.  It was probably the prettiest thing I cooked all week, so of course I didn't take a picture of it :)  Check out this link on the Gluten Free Goddess blog for the recipe.

Happy Eating Foodies!