Day 9: Jumping back on the wagon

The past week and a half was off to a roaring good start, eating right, feeling healthy, trying new recipes....until Easter hit.

 Fresh Strawberries...delicous!

Most holidays take two days in my family due to two sets of divorced parents  so I was hit with temptation after temptation! I did manage to exercise some aspect of control and kept meat away from my mouth while indulging in more vegetarian friendly dishes but I did indulge in a few bites of chocolate cake and a whole piece of yummy apple pie!! But now that that's over with, I'm refocused back to my transition to a nutritarian lifestyle and take comfort in knowing that the next big holiday is months away! As an additional bonus, my waistline also shrank! Now how is that for motivation?!?

I have had the pleasure of attempting a few new recipes, a vegetable tofu fry (loved), bean enchiladas (yum!!) and my favorite that I made today, tomato bisque...all from scratch!! I will include the recipes for the bean enchiladas and tomato bisque soup in case you might want to try them yourself! The best thing about this recipes are that they are 100% healthy and completely guilt free! On a nutritarian way of eating the best part is you can eat as much as you want, as long as it's the "good stuff!"

Bean Enchiladas

 Serves 4

1 medium green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1/2 cup sliced onion

1 8oz can tomato sauce, divided (no salt added or low sodium)

2 cups cooked or canned no saldt added or low sodium pinto or black beans, drained and rinsed

Fresh corn off the cob

1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

6-8 corn tortillas

Saute the bell pepper and onion in 2 tablespoons of the tomato sauce until tender.  Stir in the remaining tomato sauce, beans, corn, cilantro, chili powder, cumin, onion powder and cayenne; simmer for 5 min. Spoon about 1/4 cup of bean mixture on each tortilla and roll up. Serve as is or bake for 15 minutes in a 375 degree oven.

Tomato Bisque

 

Serves 6

3 cups carrot juice

1 28 oz. can whole tomatoes, no salt added or low sodium

1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 small bay leaf

1 teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled

2 tablespoons garlic powder or other no-salt seasoning

1/2 cup raw cashews

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

5 oz baby spinach

In a large saucepan, combine all ingredients except the cashews, basil and spinach. Simmer for 30 minutes. Discard bay leaf. Remove 2 cups of vegetables and set aside. Puree remaining soup and cashes in a food processor or high powered blender until smooth. Return reserved vegetables to pot and stir in basil and spinach and let spinach wilt. Voila!

--Recipes taken from Eat to Live by Joel Fuhrman, M.D. --