For the past two nights, I have been craving two of my favorite things in the world.. Chocolate and Peanut Butter.
These two bad boys called out to me, Trader Joe’s 100 Calorie Chocolate Graham Toucan and 1 tbs of Natural Peanut Butter.
Simple and delicious. Eating this reminds me of when I was a little kid. For a treat, we would have JIF peanut butter and sheets upon sheets of chocolate graham crackers. Ah, to be young and naive about calories 
Hello blog world! The past couple of weeks have been beyond hectic! I had my last ‘real’ day of school on Monday and took an exam today. I have one more exam tomorrow and then I am free for the summer! I worked out early this morning and figured I would use my spare time to do a little vegan baking! This is a recipe I created because I was in the mood for something sweet but not heavy.
Pumpkin & Raisin Cookies
Ingredients
Instructions
Yields 11 cookies at about 35 calories a piece.
I am not sure of the exact calories, I just estimated that number in my head! They are perfectly chewy and dense. I really think the raisins make the cookie. I had two and my mom had two cookies as well! I put the rest in the freezer for later lunches this summer!
I’m sure a lot of people who stumble upon this site have visited KathEats.com. Well, for a little while now Kath has been in search of the perfect scone! Reading about her scone experiments really made me want to make some! Today on her site, someone posted a Scone recipe from Hungry-Girl.com. Out of curiosity, I checked out the recipe and….. it was vegan! I also had all the ingredients on hand so I knew I was destined to make them
Hungry Girl’s Snazzy Blueberry Scones
I made a few slight modifications so my scones came out to 106 calories each. The recipe was beyond easy to follow and you can check it out here!
Review: The blueberries gushed when you bit into the scone and exploded with flavor! Just like the recipe states, these scones are warm and doughy. They are not crumbly at all but the flavor is fantastic! It has a slight sweet undertone and the blueberries are perfectly proportionate with the scones. It yields four scones so I’ll definitely have a great snack for the next couple of days!
And finally, my scone!
Since we don’t have running water, I had to make a one pot dinner to cut down on cleaning! It’s a hard task for me because I love to cook. For dinner, I made a Mexican Inspired plate of Rice and Beans.
Canned Refried Beans. I had to make these in the microwave… surprisingly they were not bad!
Fresh Guacamole.
Brown Rice with Bell Peppers and Mrs. Dash.
Dinner was 403 calories, 12 grams of protein, and 13 grams of fiber.
Since I’m low on calories today, I wanted to end the night with something warm. So, I baked a Berry Crisp!
Using Trader Joe’s frozen berry blend of Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries. The topping is made of Oats, cinnamon, stevia, and soy milk!
This really hit spot! Including grapes and almonds that I munched on, this snack was 250 calories, 7 grams of protein, and 10 grams of fiber.
What a fun night! I went over to Kath’s house for a cookout! The food was fantastic and it was really neat to see her and Matt’s house! I also left with some fun treats… coffee to try, a sourdough base that Matt whipped up (thanks!!), banana pudding for my dad, Eat Drink and Be Vegan, AND Vive Le Vegan! I am pretty excited to flip through the recipe books and make some sourdough bread since I have never had it before. Ok, let’s post some food!
Mango and Almond salad with a drizzle of Goddess Dressing.
Grilled Vegetables and Fresh Flatbread! This flatbread was awesome! I think I had four or five triangles? Not too sure but they were great!
Grilled Tofu on a Bun with avocados, lettuce, and dijon mustard. Matt whipped up a nice marinade for the tofu and then grilled it for me. The marinade had a nice little kick and was extremely good. The grilled tofu was a nice change, I might have to make it for myself now!
The pretty spread 
DESSERT!
I made Banana Cupcakes for the cookout and Michelle made a Banana Pudding! Guess banana was in the air tonight!
Cupcake with a dollop of Soy Delicous Peanut Butter Ice Cream. The ice cream was the best soy ice cream I’ve had and I will definitely purchase some this summer!
The night was really great and I got to sample some goodies from Kath’s kitchen. I tried Hemp milk for the first time (i’m a convert!) and some Earth Fare Peanut butter.
I’m pretty stuffed and very tired! Good night!
I am a little pressed for time so I’ll make this short and definitely sweet!
Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Buttercream Frosting!
Fresh out of the oven!
Both recipes are from VCTOTW. I used the base of the Banana Split Cupcakes!
I had half of a cupcake already just to make sure they were ‘good’!
I’m off to Kath’s for a cookout!
This afternoon, I finally got to try Trader Joe’s ‘Just a Handful of Go Raw Trek Mix’. They are pre-portioned snack bags of trail mix!
210 calories, 3 grams of fiber, and 7 grams of protein. They were really tasty but slightly high in calories… it was good for a day where I am not feeling 100%!
After munching on these, I went for a very easy 2.25 mile walk. It was nice out and I wanted to move on my ‘off’ day so it was perfect
DINNER
For dinner tonight, I went out and had Sushi!
Salad with Ginger Dressing. I had a few bites of this, the dressing wasn’t good at all…
Steamed Edamame with Sea Salt.
Asparagus Roll! Tempura Asparagus turned out to be fantastic! I was surprised when this roll came out because I wasn’t expecting it to be crispy!
Vegetable Roll with asian baby carrots, marinated daikon, cucumber, and asparagus.
DESSERT!
For dessert tonight, We raided Earth Fare! I had several samples of vegan candy from the bulk section and ended up making two sweet purchases.
Vegan Chocolate Frosted Cake
Double Chocolate Cookie from Alternative Baking.
Don’t worry, I didn’t eat it all 
I am pretty full and extremely happy!
Today was so nice and warm but it looked like it was going to rain this afternoon! Thank goodness the rain stayed away because I ran 3 miles around the neighborhood in 26:27. The run was really great and it was nice to see all the flowers that have bloomed! I have some great news though….
It’s PIZZA night!!
I started pizza night off with spinach, roasted squash, and roasted eggplant leftover from pizza toppings.
For my pizza, I used Trader Joe’s pre-made 100% whole wheat pizza dough. This dough was amazing and baked up so well and for only 99 cents, it’s the deal of the century. I think i’ll use the left over dough this weekend!
I topped the pizza with FYH Vegan Gourmet Cheese, Roasted Squash, Roasted Eggplant, Earth Fare Marinara, and Mushrooms.
Dinner was fantastic and I definitely ate it all! I also had some grapes and baby dill pickles while cooking- weird craving! All together, this doughy feast came out to 472 calories, 14 grams of protein, and 16 grams of fiber.
After Dinner, I was craving something sweet but I wanted to keep things healthy and light!
Banana with Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Peanut Butter from PB & Co.
It was amazing! I’ve never had this type of PB before and this tiny sweet treat took me about 30 minutes to eat- I savored it! It was only 126 calories, 4 grams of protein, and 2 grams of fiber!
Good Night!
I’m so glad I have the next week of food preplanned, it was nice to make dinner and not worry about what to put into things! On the menu tonight was one of my favorite foods… pasta!
Whole wheat pasta with oven baked zucchini and eggplant, Trader Joe’s Chickenless Strips, Cherry Tomatoes, lemon juice, s+p, and garlic!
My family had chips and dip with their dinner so I did have around 1/4 cup fresh avocado on the side!
Dinner was 445 calories, 30 grams of protein, and 14 grams of fiber.
For Dessert tonight, I made a Berry Crisp! I used 1/8 cup oats, 1 tbs ww flour, 1/2 tbs light smart balance, 1/8 cup silk, and 1/2 cup of frozen berries! I baked it for about 25 minutes at 375*
It was really good and only 152 calories, 5 grams of protein, and 5 grams of fiber!
Goodnight!
While in the airplane yesterday, I read the Vegetarian Times Magazine and saw their Butternut Squash Chickpea stew with Couscous and knew I had to make a version of it. For my version, I made a fresh, soft polenta. I seasoned my polenta with sea salt, mint, curry powder, pepper, and cinnamon. The polenta itself was delicious enough to be a main course! I really just messed around the spices so I am glad that worked out well!
The Butternut Squash-Chickpea stew consisted of soaked chickpeas, 5 oz creamy organic butternut squash, bell peppers, and carrots. This stew was sweet AND savory. When paired with the polenta, it was a steaming bowl of pure delight. I made this in single serving form but I will most definitely make a bigger version in the future!
It was great making polenta and using dried chickpeas, I really don’t think i’ll ever go back to the store made polenta! Dinner was a satisfying 305 calories, 10 grams of protein, and 11 grams of fiber.
My calories are quite low today so i’ll most likely have something before nine o’clock tonight!
Edit: I ended up making a mini bowl of flax-pumpkin oatmeal with 1 tbs of almond butter
245 calories, 9 grams of protein, and 11 grams of fiber
