Portion-Controlled Indulgence

Hello there! So I was wandering around Whole Foods today, doing a little shopping and also tasting pretty much every sample they had available :/ I tried these tortilla chips that I loved, by Donkey. They were one of the best store bought tortilla chips I have tried, so obviously I had to get them. I decided to have chips and dip for lunch :)

Easy Bean and Avocado Dip (serves 1-2)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 avocado
• 1/3 cup black beans
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• pinch of salt
• lime juice, ~1/6 of a lime (small wedge)

In a small bowl, mash all ingredients with a fork until your desired texture. Super quick and easy!

Look at the beautiful avocado:

Before the mash:

After the mash:

Served up with some chips and salsa:

I forgot to take a picture, but I also had some strawberries!

If you are looking for a delicious, cheap organic salsa, I highly recommend the 365 brand from Whole Foods:

So tortilla chips aren't the healthiest of foods, but I love them so I indulge in moderation. For example, today I used my small, salad plate to serve up my lunch so I wouldn't overdo it. When it comes to chips or other similar snack foods, it's best to serve yourself on a small plate or small bowl, then put the bag away! It's dangerous for most people to just snack right out of the bag. You never know how much you end up eating and chances are you will have way more than if you served yourself on a plate or bowl. This goes for baskets of chips or bread at restaurants, take a serving and put it on your plate, then eat from there.

It's hard to tell from the pictures I take, but I rarely use my dinner plates at home. I always use the salad-sized plates and small bowls whenever possible. I thought I'd show pictures of the size comparison of my plates and bowls, so you can see the comparison. This is a great way to control portion sizes!

Here's a bowl I use a lot:

Side view:

Well it's really nice out here in Chicago so I'm going to go on an early-evening run!

Beans, Beans, The Magical Fruit...

I've been on a bean kick this week! Recently I've decided to be a little more conscious of the protein in my diet. I've realized there have been too many days of falling short in this area. I'm not a Dietitian who preaches perfection, but it was becoming too much of a trend so I decided to do put some effort into increasing this shortcoming. Sometimes it can be difficult for us vegetarians! Fortunately, besides the meats, there are a lot of nutritious, protein-packed options out there! My protein options from this week's grocery trip were: black beans, chickpeas, eggs, cottage cheese, and greek yogurt. I feel the need to note that I would not normally have bought this "Weight Watchers" wheat pita (quite the list of preservatives), but Jewel has such a poor selection and I needed my pita fix!

So here are a couple of my bean dishes, since using beans is relatively new to me. They just started to grow on me, just a texture thing!

A Breakfast Veggie Scramble

In the mix:

• 1 egg + 1 egg white
• Red and green bell pepper
• 1/4 cup black beans, canned (drained)
• Sprinkle of mozzarella
• 1/3 of an avocado

I start cooking the bell pepper and beans in the pan for a couple minutes before pouring the eggs into the pan. Once the egg and veggie mixture is cooked, I top it with the cheese and avocado.

Pair it with some wheat toast and/or some fruit, and viola! Great, balanced breakfast!

Chickpea and Avocado Mash

I read this recipe on Carrots N Cake and was so excited I had just bought the main ingredients to this recipe. I didn't have pesto, so I changed this recipe a little bit!

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup chickpeas, drained
• parmesan, not sure how much this was, but just a touch!
• 1-2 basil leaves, torn
• sprinkle of garlic powder
• salt + pepper
• 1/3 avocado

I made this for lunch so the night before I put everything besides the avocado in a small tupperware bowl and put it in my lunch bag.

Then the next day, I added the avocado and mashed away. I stuffed it in a half pita with tomato slices.

I had 1/2 cup cottage cheese and some grapes with this lovely sandwich.

This was so simple and I think can be done in a variety of ways! I'm thinking of switching the chickpeas for black beans, and cilantro for the basil...yummm.

Lessons learned from my attempt at chickpea patties...

OK so these didn't go as planned, but I put so much effort into documenting this process I thought I'd write about it anyways! They tasted awesome, but did not successfully stay in the patty form. Basically, I made a chickpea crumble! I'll throw in my perceived mistakes along the way.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chickpeas, drained
• 2 basil leaves, torn
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• crushed red pepper flakes
• salt+pepper
• flour
• olive oil

Blend all ingredients, except flour and olive oil, while heating a skillet with olive oil on med-high heat. *This was one of my mistakes. I needed to blend longer to release more moisture in the patties would stick together, but I apparently thought it looked pretty to coarsely chop the mixture! My sister suggested actually adding a little bit of water, which has worked for her bean burgers in the past.

Form into two large patties or 4 smaller patties (maybe would've been better if I did the smaller?)

Then lightly coat with flour before placing the patties in the skillet. I patted off the excess flour!

Cook on each side for 3-4 minutes on each side.

The flipping made my patties into a crumble!

But no worries, I stuffed it into a pita and used the rest in my salad the next day (which was amazing!) I'll try again because they tasted awesome!

I may try black bean patties soon so I'll let you know how that goes!