Our Journey Update!

Here's a little update!
I'll start with the good! Roque has lost 20 lbs. to date! Pretty awesome, huh!? He's doing really well and it is starting to show. It's always nice when you (the weight loser) can see the results of your hard work.
I, on the other hand, have only lost 2.5 pounds in the last 3 weeks! I knew the last 20 lbs. might be difficult but, geesh! To be honest (and without devulging TMI) it's been a rough few weeks. Let me just say "magnesium". LOL
There have been other challenges as well. I consider myself a pretty good cook. If you knew me 10 years ago, you may not believe this statement...but a lot has changed since then! All of a sudden cooking has become quite challenging. When you cook plant based meals, THE RULES CHANGE! All my prior knowledge is no longer useful. A whole new set of skills needs to come into play. I have been craving the simplicity of a meat based meal! I miss meat!!! There I said it! And eggs (I don't even like eggs. But they're soo simple!). But, this is a health journey that we are on and we will press on. I do feel like an epic fail in the kitchen. Well, until Thursday night. That was one good meal! And it was followed by another on Friday night! And THAT ended up being my own recipe. So I see improvement.
Tonight we went out to dinner. It's been a while. It was needed! We went to a vegan joint called Evolution. It was great! Roque and I both ordered a swiss mushroom burger with sweet potato fries. The kids had chick'n fingers with regular fries. Yum. Andan says he'd like to go there for his birthday. The kids ate all of theirs. Then I told them..."um, that wasn't real chicken". The look on Andan's face was shock, "Mom, can you do that at home." LOL Maybe I can Andan, Maybe I can.

Veggie Burger

I've been looking for a good veggie burger recipe for a few weeks now. I tried a black bean burger recipe. It was just ok. Nothing I would want to spend the effort on making again. Then I found a recipe that was vegetarian but not vegan. But I thought I could tweek it. Well, I had to tweek it a little more than I planned. And the results were great! So this is a Julie Camacho original! Next time I make these, I will be making ahead of time and doubling the batch. This is going to be a great 'go to' meal on busy nights!

    1 onion

    3 cloves of garlic

    1 zucchini

    2 carrots

    1 1/2 cups rolled oats

    2 1/2 tbsp of ground flax seed

    3 tbsp of water

    2 tbsp of nutritional yeast

    1/3 cup whole wheat flour

    1/2 vital wheat gluten

In food processor, pulse onion and garlic and then the carrots and zucchini. In a sauce pan saute the onion and garlic in 1/4 cup of water for about 3 minutes. Add Carrots and zucchini. Continue to saute 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer into a bowl.

In a small bowl, mix ground flax seed with 3 tbsp of water. Add rolled oats, nutritional yeast and flax seed mix to vegetables. Mix well. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

Mix whole wheat flour and vital wheat gluten into the mix. Mix well.

Form mixture into about 3 inch patties. Place on wax paper and continue, making sure to have wax paper between patties. Put in freezer storage bags and freeze until ready to use.

Grill frozen. Makes 8-10 patties.

Comfort Food

Chickpea Cutlets, Mashed Potatoes with Mushroom Gravy

Finally! A meal worth writing home about! Thank you, Isa. This chickpea cutlet actually tastes like meat. The mashed potatoes just sealed the deal. This will definitely be a family favorite. Find Isa's recipe here, here and here.