Stoping Counting Calories and I Love it!

     So, I heavily debated switching to Weight Watchers, and I made the switch and I love it! It is so much easier than entering every ingredient to every recipe in order to count calories. I was lucky to take advantage of a new year's deal where I get the first 3 months for only $1 per month. Luckily, I already had 2016 and 2017 WW magazines on hand to get me started. I've found lots of delicious recipes in the magazines that are very easy to substitute with vegan ingredients.

     Late Sunday evening I finally got around to making the fried mushroom dinner I had planned to make with the portobello mushrooms I got at the restaurant supply store. I was inspired by a creator on YouTube. I thought it was kind of silly she washed her greens with dish soap, I usually just use vinegar and salt. But her fried portobello mushrooms looked amazing so I had to try making some myself. I tried to mimic more of the KFC seasoning though because I know I love KFC's original seasoning. I just don't like to Kill F**king Chickens anymore so let's kill some mushrooms. This is the youtuber I was watching that fried the yummy looking portobellos.

 

 

    I thought it turned out amazing, but who doesn't love fried mushrooms? If it were healthier, I would eat fried mushrooms every week.

 

  

Fried Portobello Mushrooms

Ingredients:

    At least 3 to 6 portobello mushrooms cut into 3rds with stems and gills removed.

    Cajun Seasoning

    Garlic Powder

    2 cups oat milk

    2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

    4 tbsp veggie seasoning

    2 tbsp sage

    1 tbsp marjoram

    2 cups flour

    2 tbsp thyme

    2 tbsp basil

    1 tsp oregano

    1 tsp celery salt

    2 tsp black pepper

    2 tsp mustard powder

    3 tbsp paprika

    1 tbsp ginger

    1 tsp white pepper

    2 tbsp garlic or onion flakes

    2 tbsp nutritional yeast

    oil for frying

Instructions:

    Cut up mushrooms into 3 pieces and season with Cajun seasoning and garlic powder.  Set aside.

    Prepare Oat milk drench for mushrooms. Add oat milk and vinegar to a bowl with veggie seasoning, sage, marjoram, 2 tsp Cajun seasoning, 1 tbsp garlic powder. Whisk together.

    Submerge mushrooms in oat milk drench and completely coat mushroom pieces in batter.

    Prepare breading for mushrooms with flour, 2 tsp Cajun seasoning. 1 tbsp garlic, thyme, basil, oregano, celery salt, black and white pepper, mustard powder, paprika, ginger, onion flakes, and nutritional yeast added to a plastic bag to toss the mushrooms in to coat before frying. 

    Fry mushrooms about 5 minutes per side until golden and crispy.

Yield: 3 to 6 servings, serving size 1 mushroom.

Vegan Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:

    6-8 medium russet potatoes

    6-8 oz. vegan vegetable cream cheese

   1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons vegan butter

   Cajun Seasoning

   Garlic powder

   2 tsp parsley

   1/2 can coconut cream

   1/4 cup bacon bits (optional)

Instructions:

     Poke holes in potatoes and rub them with vegan butter and season them with Cajun seasoning and garlic powder. 

     Set potatoes on the middle top rack and bake at 450 degrees F for at least 45 minutes.

     Once potatoes can be pierced with a fork take out potatoes and transfer them to a medium bowl. 

     Mash the potatoes with a potato masher and add vegan butter, cream cheese, 1 tsp Cajun seasoning. 2 tsp garlic powder, parsley, coconut cream and bacon bits. Mash until fluffy.

Yield: 6-7 servings

Mushroom Gravy

Ingredients:

     6-8 mushroom stems and gills woody tips removed.

    1 onion diced.

    1 small carrot cut into pieces.

    1 tsp Cajun seasoning

    1 tsp garlic powder

    4 tbsp vegan butter

    2 tbsp mushroom powder

    4 tbsp mushroom breading flour for fried mushrooms

    3 cups water or veggie broth

    3 tbsp vegan Worcestershire sauce

    2 tsp parsley

    2 tsp rosemary

Instructions:

     Add mushroom pieces, onion, and carrots to the food processor and season with Cajun seasoning and garlic powder. 

    Process until mushrooms form a pate like texture.

    Use about 1 cup of the mixture for gravy and reserve extra to use in future mushroom recipes. 

    Add 4 tbsp vegan butter to a saucepan and melt over medium heat.  

    Add 1 cup mushroom gravy base mixture to the pan and sauté in butter until fragrant.

    Add mushroom seasoning, mushroom breading flour and water. 

    Then add Worcestershire sauce, parsley and rosemary. 

    Simmer over medium until thickened.

Yield: 6-7 servings

    Later, Monday evening, I got ready to meet my brother, Joe, who lives in Taiwan, at a family dinner at El Charro Viejo. I have not seen Joe since 2016 so I dressed up for the special occasion.

    I wore one of my Hunger Games t-shirts and Candy leggings and a crochet cardigan.

    For makeup I used my essence vegan eyeliner I got last week on amazon. I also used Urban Decay Extragalactic and The Balm Ice Tea eyeshadows.

    And then for the lips I used Rimmel Midnight, Wet N Wild Death to Unicorns, and Lipsense Kiss Me Katie liquid lipsticks to create a frosty plum shade.

    For my hair I put it up in two space buns using hair chopsticks, clipping stray strands with hair clips and clipping on some bang hair extensions. I also clipped on a couple glittery bat and skull bows I made to each hair bun.

    I decided to wear the beautiful Piper K spider earrings I bought at TJ Maxx last Halloween. I want to wear the spider earrings only on extremely special occasions because they were quite a splurge for me, and they are very elegant. This was my first time wearing them and I love them!

 

 

    I was happy to find that El Charro has a pretty extensive vegan section of their menu, and it was no trouble at all to find a vegan option I loved. I ordered the vegan taco salad with a lime Jarritos and the salad was so amazing! It was loaded with grilled onions and mushrooms. It also had beans, pico de gallo, and guacamole. 10/10 would order again.

 

 

    Later that evening I made a very important change to my fitness journey. I signed up for Weight Watchers! I love the program so far. I have been on it for two weeks now and it has really been working well for me. Fortunately, I already had 2 years' worth of magazines that an anonymous person subscribed me too back in 2016. I am glad I held on to them this long. I also ordered another 2-year subscription so I should get more. I love looking through the magazines for references to delicious recipes.

 

     Besides the Weight Watchers magazines these are the 3 books I have been reading lately. I'm furthest along in the feng shui book and find it the easiest to read and follow. The tarot book is pretty good, and I hope to find the companion tarot deck someday. The Astrology book is very fascinating, but the out-of-date slang can be a little hard to understand.

    Tuesday morning, I went to the Planet Fitness and did the 30 Minute Circuit with my work out buddy who is also on weight watchers.

 

    My belly is starting to look cute in crop tops now. I decided to go with an outfit with lots of arrows to represent my Sagittarius pride.

    My belly is looking tighter and more lifted as well as the rest of my body. And my boyfriend loves it!

    Tuesday evening, I made a pot of beans worth 4 WW points. Unfortunately, I think I picked out a coconut that was too old, I think when substituting coconut for ham it is important to try and use a younger coconut to get the soft texture. It was still delicious, but the coconut was too firm and didn't make a suitable pork substitute.

 

Frijoles de Coco

 

Ingredients:

    1/2 lb. White Beans sorted and rinsed.

    1 young coconut and coconut water flesh removed and cut into chunks.

    1 tbsp liquid smoke

    2 tsp Cajun seasoning

    2 tbsp veggie seasoning

    1/3 cup bacon bits

    1 tsp black pepper

    1 onion diced.

    3 tbsp vegan butter

    1 qt water or veggie broth

Instructions:

     Add sorted and rinsed white beans to instapot. 

     Add coconut and remaining ingredients.

     Close up instapot and push soup/broth button. 

     Cooking time may vary but beans should be tender and buttery, with a slightly thick broth. 

Yield:10 servings

 

 

 

    Wednesday, I went grocery shopping with my mother and got some important ingredients for the rest of the week.

    While we were out, I stopped by my mother's house and had some of my mother's coconut yogurt for lunch with strawberries, rice crispies, and bourbon maple syrup.

    I also got to love on my mother's adorable, sweet kitty, Abby. She always must sit on my lap and purr every time I visit. She is a major cuddle bug.

    Thursday, I got another weekly delivery of free food. Surprisingly there were some WW brownies in the bag, that must be a sign I am on the right path. I ended up giving the extra produce to my brother, Ben, because my mother was out of town.

    My gym buddy had told me about a Weight Watchers salad that her wife had made with noodles and chicken and peanuts. I found the recipe in my 2016 Jan/Feb WW magazine, so I decided to try making it. But I used tofu instead of chicken, buckwheat soba instead of spaghetti and almonds and sesame seeds instead of peanuts. It turned out super delicious!

Asian Sesame Noodle Salad

Ingredients:

    2 bunches buckwheat soba noodles

    2 tbsp vegan Asian sesame salad dressing

    3 medium shredded carrots 

    1 sliced cucumber

    1 cup cilantro leaves

    1/2 lb. of tofu cut into small cubes.

    1/2 cup roasted almonds.

    1 tbsp sesame seeds

    1 tbsp garlic chili sauce

Instructions:

     Boil soba in hot water for 7 minutes. Then strain noodles and rinse with cold water until noodles are cold. 

    Peel and shred carrots and slice cucumbers.

    chop roasted almonds and add them to a bowl with cucumber, carrot, cilantro, and noodles.

    In a saucepan add 2 tablespoons sesame oil and sauté tofu cubes with sesame seeds. Sauté until slightly crispy.

    Add chili sauce and salad dressing to salad bowl and mix in sautéed tofu and sesame seeds. 

Yield:3-4 servings

 

     Friday my brother, Ben, came over and we spent some quality time together and I baked him an early birthday cake of a pina coloda upside down cake with coconut ice cream. we had a lot of fun just hanging out and catching up with one another. 

    The ice cream we served with the pineapple cake was Cosmic Bliss Madagascar vanilla bean coconut ice cream. 

 

Pina Coloda Upside Down Cake

 

Ingredients:

    1 box vegan vanilla cake mix.

    2 bananas

    1/4 cup coconut oil

    1 can coconut milk

    1/4 cup pina colada mix

    2 tbsp vanilla extract

    4 tbsp coconut sugar

    1 can pineapple rings

    1 jar maraschino cherries or 1 can cherry pie filling

 

Instructions:

    Mash 2 bananas

    mix in coconut oil and vegan cake mix.

    stir in coconut milk and pina colada mix and vanilla extract.

    Spray a cake pan with nonstick spray. 

    Sprinkle the bottom of the pan with coconut sugar.

    lay pineapple rings and cherries on top in a decorative pattern.

    pour cake batter on top.

    Bake at 350 degrees F for 55 to 65 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

    Let cool for 15 minutes before carefully turning cake over on a baking sheet.

    Serve with vanilla ice-cream. 

 

Yield: 8 servings

 

     Saturday, my friend Soar came over and we had lots of fun watching Rick and Morty and we made Portobello Taiwanese noodles using the last two portobellos and 3 bags of Taiwanese noodles. I sent him home with lots of left over noodles.

 

 Portobello Taiwanese Noodles

Ingredients:

    3 packages A-Sha Spicy Fennel Vegan Taiwanese Ribbon Noodles

    2 packages of dark noodle sauce

    (Spicy seasoning packets optional)

    2 carrots peeled and julienned.

    1 onion sliced.

    2 tbsp mushroom seasoning 

    2 portabella mushrooms steams removed.

    1/2 lb. tofu cut into small cubes

    1 tbsp sesame seeds

    1 tbsp sesame oil

    3 tbsp soy sauce

Instructions:

    Boil noodles in about 4 cups of water with carrots and onions and mushroom seasoning.

    Sauté portobello mushrooms in a sauté pan with sesame oil tofu, soy sauce, and sesame seeds.

    Simmer adding water or covering as necessary until mushrooms cook down and tofu absorbs flavor. 

    Remove portobellos and place on a cutting board and slice into strips. 

    Add portobellos to noodles with tofu and sesame seed sauce and fennel sauce packets.

    top with spice seasoning if desired.

Yield: 3-4 servings

    Sunday, I spent all day catching up on my blog and ate one big meal of vegetable egg roll and spring rolls from Dollar Tree. I used the remaining fennel sauce package as dip for my spring rolls.

    Monday, I went over my daily points by 7 points, but I didn't go over my weekly points.

    Tuesday, I stayed 10 points under my daily points.

    Wednesday, I stayed 14 points under my daily points.

    Thursday, I stayed 8 points under my daily points.

    Friday, I was 44 points over my daily points, but I did not go over my weekly points.

    Saturday, I went over my daily points by 3 points, but I stayed under my weekly points.

    Sunday, I used all my daily points and had 5 weekly points remaining.

    See how much easier weight watchers makes calorie counting?! 10/10 highly recommend! 

    I also feel like it helps me stay accountable and try to choose more 0-point foods over high point foods which makes snacking a lot easier and healthier.

    I don't think I have every had such a successful January in my life and I am accomplishing some pretty powerful changes in my life right now. It is simply meant to be. I feel like 2023 is my year for redemption and I will definitely be taking full advantage of all the positive changes awaiting me this new year and I am excited to see what new relationships with friends I will build this year.