12 Vegan Pasta Dishes for Your Sunday Night Dinner

March 30, 2014 by Lindsay Ingalls 1 Comment

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by foodie.com. All opinions are my own.

Sunday dinners were never a big deal when I was growing up and even today we don’t do anything special but since working on this post I am thinking Sunday night pasta dinners sounds like a good idea. I remember growing up and watching TV shows and movies where Sunday pasta dinner was a thing and always wished that we did that in our house. So here are 12 recipes I plan on making (or making again) for our new Sunday Night Pasta tradition.

A little bit about these recipes:

The Super Quick Tomato Basil Cream Pasta has been a favorite for years. This recipe was featured back in 2008 on the blog VeganYumYum and I have been making it ever since. I often make this for omnivores and it is a huge hit!
The first time I had the Dairy-Free Spinach Stuffed Shells was actually right after Edith’s birth. A friend of ours brought them over as a baby meal and we have been making them ever since. I make these about every other month and often for potlucks and dinner parties. I also plan on making a batch (or two) for baby #2 freezer meals.
I am obsessed with pesto so the Tofurky Aritisan Sausage Pesto Pasta is one of my favorites to make.

Do you have a Sunday Night Meal tradition? What’s your favorite pasta recipe (share link below)?

Budget // Groceries + Meal Plan // Week Three & Four

March 27, 2014 by Lindsay Ingalls 3 Comments

I was going so strong with our budget and meal plan and then I decided to do a two week meal plan…

The initial idea was as a result of re-reading Ashley’s post about shopping for two weeks and saving money. I figured that while I haven’t always been successful at two week meal plans and shopping that I would take on the challenge and see if I could indeed save money. The second motivator was that I needed to make a Trader Joe’s trip and since I try to only go there every 4-6 weeks it would be the perfect timing.

Here is how that entire plan failed:

Fail 1. Well my trip to Trader Joe’s had me going off my list and picking up extras that I hadn’t planned on.

Fail 2. I decided to go shopping at Fred Meyer first thing on Saturday morning so that I could have my shopping out the way and we could just enjoy the weekend. Plus we had no food for lunch. Well that was a TERRIBLE idea as nothing was restocked and I ended up having to make a lot of substitutions.

Fail 3. Due to Fail #2 I wasn’t was well stocked with fruits and veggies as we normally are and that resulted in us going out to eat twice this past week – both times for lunch.

Fail 4. I ended up going over budget for these two weeks.

Fail 5. I ended up doing a lot of extra grocery shopping because of our lack of produce from Fred Meyer.

Fail 6. We ended up eating out more in the last 10 days than we had in the previous three weeks.

Fail 7. I didn’t follow all of Ashley’s suggestions/”rules” to really make two weeks work.

Fred Meyer: $46.53

Bob’s Red Mill: $15

Trader Joe’s: $86.47

PSU Farmers Market: $16

Whole Foods: $31.84 + $35

Plus I might still need to pick up a few more things before the weekend.

Total: $219.84

What I Learned

Two week grocery/meal plans give me anxiety. Seriously. I felt so anxious shopping the first week because I knew I would still need to pick up some produce the second week that I just didn’t want to go over budget. In the end I ended up abandoning my meal plan all together and this week we are just winging it based on the few items I picked up at Whole Foods and the Farmers Market and what we had leftover.

Trips to Trader Joe’s need to happen more frequently and be more focused so I don’t pick up non-essentials. That being said I need to leave a few empty spots on my grocery list so I can pick up “treat”/non-list items without going over budget.

I really enjoy writing meal plans each week and doing my shopping each week. There is something therapeutic to me about going through this process. I also seem to save more money, although only time will tell with that one.

While Ashley had some good points two week meal plans/shopping trips are not for me. However, regardless of whether you shop once per week or once per month her tips apply so check out her post.

Fit Pregnancy | Latourell Falls Hike

March 25, 2014 by Lindsay Ingalls 5 Comments

We have really been trying to get out and take advantage of the beautiful weekend weather here in Oregon. Two weekends ago we hiked up to Wahclella Falls and had a great time so this past weekend we decided to hike Latourell Falls.While I knew that this hike was going to be more challenging I didn’t expect it to be quite as much of a challenge as it was for me.

When choosing a hike I was looking for something that was had an elevation gain no more than 550ft and was between 2-3 miles round trip. Well, Latourell Falls hike has an elevation gain for 540ft and is 2.4 miles round trip. I thought this would be the perfect hike! Well it was a great hike but shortly into it (I’m talking about a half mile in) it really started to kick my ass. Who knew a 540ft elevation gain was really a lot more than I thought? To top it off the hike begins at a higher elevation than the Wahclella Falls Hike and add in that I’m a week further along in this pregnancy which also makes hikes more challenging.

Anyways I brought my hiking polls with me just in case I decided that I might need a little extra support and when we reached the half mile point and I realized we still had to go up and up and up before we started to go down (a little more up) and then down, down, down I decided that it was time to take them out. Looking back at things I should have started with them from the beginning because it this hike started with a pretty steep incline right from the start, at least there are lots of switch backs; if we had been in VT doing this hike we would have been going straight up!

By the time we reached the half way point I was slowly treking along behind Neil who was wearing Edith. Feeling proud that at nearly 22 weeks pregnant I was out there hiking but also feeling a little embarrassed at just how slow I was going and remembering back to the 10-15 mile hikes that Neil and I used to do back in VT where to be quite honest the trails were considerably harder in comparison.

We completed the hike and it felt great but let me tell you that all future hikes will be ones in the easy category with a 400ft or less elevation gain because while I managed to do this hike I know that as my pregnancy progresses that hikes categorized as ‘easy’ are a better option for me!

Q: What are you favorite types of hikes? Have you hiked in Oregon?

P.S. This is the link to the hike we did around Latourell Falls.

Weekly Meals & Workouts | 2

March 21, 2014 by Lindsay Ingalls Leave a Comment

Photo from this past weekends hike.

Weekly Workouts:

Saturday: Family Walks

Sunday: 2 Mile Hike to Wahclella Falls Hike See more photos here.

Monday: Family Walk

Tuesday: Family Walk

Wednesday: Off

Thursday: Off

Weekly Eats:

This week I didn’t do as good of a job at photographing all my meals (seriously I don’t know how some bloggers do it) but I did get a few shots. I haven’t discussed our budget or meal plan yet but that is coming up next week. We did things a little different this time around so I’ll be sharing the pros and cons of that and what we have learned this month. Until then here are some of my eats this week!

Eggplant Pasta Bowl (recipe to come)

Falafel Bowl –> Falafel Recipe Here.

Black Bean Burrito Bowl –> Inspired by this recipe.

Smoked Paprika Home Fries (find out where you can get the recipe here)Buffalo Chik’n Fires (recipe here)

Other things I ate this week included Ethiopian from an awesome food cart for lunch, homemade pizza, mega veggie sandwich, tofu salad sandwich, gluten free mac and cheese, banana bread and Neil’s Thai leftovers from our foodcart lunch.

Gluten Free Meals Foodie App

March 20, 2014 by Lindsay Ingalls 2 Comments

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored opportunity with Foodie.com. All opinions are my own.

Over the past month we have really cut back on the amount of gluten we have been eating. At first it was really just by coincidence but now we are really making an effort to cut back, not out, but back on the amount of gluten we eat. A few weeks ago we had five days of meals without gluten and I was feeling good. My digestion improved, I was more energetic and well I really didn’t miss the gluten!

Anyways since then we have been making an effort to eat less gluten because it makes us feel better so I was thrilled when this months gluten free recipe collection was released on the Foodie app (unfortunately for iphone and ipad only). While many of the recipes are omnivore and vegetarian there are a few vegan recipes and so far they have been really good.

I am also loving the set up of this collection as it gives you ideas for every day of the week! If you are full time gluten free or maybe you’re just looking for some inspiration this is the perfect app for your entire week.

This morning I made up a batch of the Smoked Paprika Home Fries. It’s not often that I make big breakfast during the week but I was in the mood and these sounded so good. I’m generally not the best at making home fries, they tend to be under cooked or don’t get crispy on the outside but this recipe changed all that. I think my biggest problem has always been that I have been using the wrong potatoes and after making this I won’t ever go back, russets are the perfect potatoes for home fries.

You can get the recipe for these delicious vegan and gluten-free home fries by downloading the Foodie app to your ipad or iphone.

Seriously these were so good and I plan on making them often! I also am looking forward to trying the Pineapple-Mango Green-A-Colada Smoothie <– seriously sounds so good and is also included in these new Foodie App Gluten-Free Collection.

#MeatlessMonday: Buffalo Chik’n Fries for One

March 17, 2014 by Lindsay Ingalls Leave a Comment

Can we talk guilty pleasures? I love, love, love smothered fries. Top them with chili and vegan cheese, gravy and vegan cheese or in this case vegan buffalo chik’n and vegan cheese.

Seriously what is better than fries topped with ooey gooey goodness?

This weekend I decided to indulge in my guilty pleasure and made a single serving of buffalo chik’n fries. These are seriously so good and super spicy. I don’t know what it is about pregnancy but with Edith and with Baby #2 I just can’t get enough spice so not only did this fulfill a guilty pleasure of smothered fries but also my craving for spice.

Ingredients:

1 MorningStar Chik’n Grillers or Buffalo Chik Patty*
1 serving of potato wedges (homemade or frozen)
1 tablespoon Frank’s Hot Sauce
2 tablespoons shredded vegan cheese
1 scallion, thinly sliced with greens and whites separated

Directions:

Cook the potato wedges based on recipe or package directions.
Cook the MorningStar Chik’n based on the stove top directions and then dice up.
Arrange the cooked potato wedges in a pile on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and turn the broiler on.
Top the potato wedges with the chik’n and the scallion whites, the pour over the hot sauce and sprinkle with the cheese.
Place under the broiler for 2-3 minutes until cheese is melted <– keep an eye on this so you don’t burn them!
Remove the wedges from the oven and sprinkle with the scallion greens. ENJOY!

Okay and now I want to make another batch of these and eat them all up. Hmm….maybe a double portion next time (I blame baby #2).

Q: What is your guilty pleasure?

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Kellogg’s MorningStar via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Kellogg’s MorningStar.

Find your fresh take on eating well. Browse hundreds of meat-free recipes at MorningStarFarms.com.

*This product is vegetarian not vegan.

Weekly Meals & Workouts

March 14, 2014 by Lindsay Ingalls Leave a Comment

Happy Friday! With all the beautiful weather going on here in Portland this week seemed to go by fast! We have been enjoying the extra light at night and the sunny weather. That also means lots of really great walks with Edith and Neil.

Family walk & 20 weeks pregnant!

Weekly Workouts:

Saturday: Off. We did a short (1/2 mile) family walk but that was it because it was a pretty dreary day.

Sunday: Family walk.

Monday: Summer Sanders’ Prenatal Video. I seriously love this prenatal workout and I loved it when I was pregnant with Edith. I usually do the express workout which is almost a half hour because when I’m home with Edith that’s about as much time as she allows me.

Tuesday: Off. Tried to get Edith to go for a walk but she was protesting being outside (weird child).

Wednesday: Nice long walk to the park for a picnic and then a round about walk home.

Thursday: Walk with Edith in the Boba Carrier on my back one way and front the way home. Seriously this pregnant lady can’t do front carries anymore I was dying by the time I got home.

Friday: Today’s plan is Summer Sanders’ and then a family walk this evening.

You can check out my review of Summer Sanders’ prenatal video here.

Weekly Eats:

So this week I stayed on task (for the most part) for all of our meals. I actually just cooked up the very last of our produce for our lunches today since last night after a long day I decided to get Edith and myself takeout since Neil wasn’t going to be home until after bedtime. Otherwise I used up all of what we purchased for produced with the exception of a few onions.

Sunday:

Dinner: Cashew Tofu –> Recipe here.

Dinner: Creamy White Beans, Zucchini Fries & Red Leaf Lettuce with Tahini Dressing

Dinner: Stir Fried Veggie Rice & Cheezy Edamame Pods

Dinner: Picnic- Roasted Chickpeas & Cauliflower, Quinoa & Tahini Cabbage Slaw

Breakfast: Baked Almond Banana Oatmeal

Lunch: Leftover Cashew Tofu stir fried up and topped with avocado and Franks

Lunch: Chickpea Flatbread (recipe to come) with tahini sauce and sauteed mushrooms and onions and a huge red leaf lettuce salad with red wine vinaigrette

Not Pictured: Edith and I had tofu scramble one day for lunch but it was too ugly to share a photo of and most of our lunches were just a repeat of dinner. Also last night for dinner Edith and I shared a lemongrass tofu banh mi and fresh salad rolls. Breakfasts not featured included a bagel with toffutti and quinoa with veggies.

What do you eat this week? How did you get your body moving?

Naturally Lindsay