My accountability sucks! REALITY CHECK RECIPES

OK, so I've been pretty crappy at keeping myself accountable since my last post. A lot has gotten in my way. I went on vacation, which was not very vegan inspired. Then I spent time recouping from vacation..yada yada yada. All excuses! I admit I'm not great at keeping on track, but I always try to keep my goals in mind, I guess that is the important part. So, enough with my personal faults, let's get on with it.

The recipes. I promised to report back. Here are my results. You'll see I take a lot of personal liberty when it comes to cooking. I use what I like and what I have available. I substitute often, and I never write down a recipe :) Another personal fault of mine, but anyway. If you want to re-create something, just let me know.

1-Sweet Potato Smoothie: 10 out of 10 for dessert, REALITY CHECK: boiling the potatoes made this process a little more cumbersome then I like for my smoothies.

If you like sweet potato pie, then by all means give this a go. I found it to be more satisfying as a dessert, than a breakfast, which is when I made it. The strong sweet potato flavor in the morning, was a little much for me first thing in the AM, but awesome as a sort of guilt-free dessert.

2-Sweet Potato Pancake: 10 out of 10 for anytime, REALITY CHECK: I hate grating!!!

My mother and I made these last night for dinner with some personal modifications. I did 1/2 of a large sweet potato and 1/2 of a russet potato, added 1 egg (not so much vegan :)) added some baking soda, flour, cinnamon, salt and some scallions chopped up. Didn't use Rosemary or Cumin. For those of you who like scallion pancakes, you'll love this. These were great! I would make a bigger batch next time and then freeze the rest for a quick snack or meal. If you want more specifics, comment and I'll reply back.

3-Black Bean Burgers: Salsa...10 out of 10 even as a stand alone REALITY CHECK: Easy Peasy

OK, I have the ingredients to make the burgers, but haven't. I made the salsa, again with some personal modifications.

Modification #1: I made an avocado and tomato salsa (using small yellow and grape tomatoes from my garden) with lemon, oil, salt, and a dash of apple cider vinegar.

Modification #2: I made a mango and tomato salsa (seen below) with a mildly hot poblano pepper. I served the salsa with grilled shrimp. The better of two modifications was the mango and tomato salsa with hot pepper. I plan on using the left over salsa for nachos or a pizza (suggestion from my husband..sort of like a Hawaiian pizza)

4. Fresh Friday Pizza: REALITY CHECK: This was so easy, fresh and delicious, you ought to just try it! 

I didn't have a recipe to try, but I did make an awesome pizza. I used an all natural pre-made pizza crust-thin crust. I made a pesto with basil from my garden, pecans, parmesan cheese and oilve oil. Spread that across my crust. Added grated cheese (use whatever you like or have) sliced thin, Big Boy Tomatoes from my garden and thin eggplant sliced also from my garden. Sprinkled with a bit of sea salt and baked to crust instructions. (see below)

Vegan color wheel

The other morning my mother said to me that my smoothie was a "funny green color" for a breakfast, reminding her of peas. I guess that's one way of looking at it. I look at it as a invigorating way to start the day! 

According to color-wheel-pro.com, the color green has many great characteristics. Being an interior designer made me aware of how colors evoke certain feelings. Here's what they say about green:

"Green is the color of nature. It symbolizes growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility. Green has strong emotional correspondence with safety. Dark green is also commonly associated with money.

Green has great healing power. It is the most restful color for the human eye; it can improve vision. Green suggests stability and endurance. Sometimes green denotes lack of experience; for example, a 'greenhorn' is a novice. In heraldry, green indicates growth and hope. Green, as opposed to red, means safety; it is the color of free passage in road traffic."

So what does this have to do with becoming a vegan? Nicole has taught me through health coaching that you should view food as medicine. Ask yourself "What effect will this food have on my body if I eat it?" Well why not entice your stomach visually. 

For several months now I've been eating a bright green breakfast smoothie. I use kale and spinach (green) chop bananas (yellow), peaches (orange) apples (red) and or berries (red, blue) to add to my smoothie. Whip it all up with my vanilla zrii meal replacement shake and I'm good to go. The process of buying bright color fruits and veggies-laying them out in the morning -chopping and preparing them for my smoothie-in itself is therapeutic. I see it, smell it, touch it then eat it. Each step stimulates a sense, all beginning with color. I found this changes my thought process and motivates me to create beautiful color combinations with produce as I did in interior design and graphic design. I will use the vegan color wheel as a resource in more of my meals.