Category Archives: vegetarian meals

Meatless Monday – “Meatless” Balls

I don’t normally follow Meatless Monday on purpose, but sometimes it happens that I do all vegetarian meals.  We were out yesterday for breakfast and there was Rachael Ray’s magazine there, so I was reading that. I have never read her magazine before and there sure are a lot of recipes in it! LOL.  Anyway, I saw this one and thought just the meatball portion would be good.  She calls for grinding almonds in a food processor and thought “Why not just use almond flour?”  Especially since I have a 5 pound bag of it!  :mrgreen:  I also left out the lemon zest.

These are gluten free and grain free! They came out good.  I had mine on GF pasta:

They were quite easy to make.

Ingredients:

  • 2 oz of almonds, ground fine in a food processor *or* 2 ounces of almond flour.
  • 1 can of chick peas (15 oz), drained and rinsed
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 oz of shredded mozzarella cheese (3/4 cup)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a bowl, mash together the eggs and chick peas with a potato masher until just some chunks remain.

It will be mostly liquid with small chunks of chickpeas.  Kind of like oatmeal, I guess?

Now add in the almond meal, cheese, salt and pepper:

Mix well.

Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment and spray with cooking spray.  Divide the mixture into 12 equal portions and form into balls.  I weighed out about 40 grams for each meatball.

Place onto baking sheet.

Mist lightly with cooking spray.  Then bake for 25 minutes.

The texture of these is very much like meatballs, especially when covered with sauce.  I liked these quite a bit.  Very mild in flavor and I think you could do some fun things like adding green chilies or sun-dried tomatoes.  2 meatballs makes a good and filling serving amount.

Nutritional Stats:

Makes 12 meatballs. Per meatball:  108 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, 4 grams of protein. 

Thoughts on vegetarian week

So glad you enjoyed the tulip photos!  It would have been ideal if we had actually gone this week after the festival was over and avoided the crowds.

I headed to the gym this morning. I did not go yesterday. I checked my log and I put 114 miles on the bike since last Tuesday and I was tired. That is a lot of miles for me.  😯  Needed a break!  So I lifted today instead.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Stiff-legged dead lift 3 sets of 10 at 70# Lower body
Wide Grip lat pull down 3 set of 10 at 60# Back
Lying Leg Press 3 sets of 10 at 100# Lower body
Barbell Chest Press 3 sets of 10 at 55# Chest
Horizontal Wood Chop 3 sets of 10 each side at 30# Core
Calf raise 3 sets of 12 at 110# Calves
Face Pull 3 sets of 12 at 30# Shoulders
Bench Dips 3 sets of 10 Triceps
EZ curls 3 sets of 10 with 25# EZ curl bar Biceps

This was a very good workout.  I biked home and cooked up some banana custard oats.  I am also increasing my carbs a bit now with all this riding.


So, I completed my 7 days of a vegetarian diet.  I wasn’t really all that hard.  I did have some really yummy food, like palak chole and my cheese souffle!  I did have a hard time getting in enough protein for my preference.  I couldn’t get it in without the carbs that come with veggie proteins.  I didn’t want to just rely on more of my whey protein powder, which I could have have done, and I did not want to get veggie burgers because I did not want to eat a fake meat food just to get in the protein since I gave up meat analogues a while ago.  Funny how there is the perception that vegan and vegetarian eating is totally 100% healthy, but it is just as easy to eat crap and processed food on those diets as it is an omnivorous one.

Another interesting thing? I ate no salads!  I always like meat on my salads and without the meat, I had absolutely no desire to have a salad.

I have no interest at all in being a vegetarian.  Not that I need to eat meat every day, and I have no problem going without meat for a day.  Personally, I need the specific amino acids and vitamins that come with eating meat.  It makes me feel better.  I just want to know where my meat comes from.  We are trying to make sure we either buy local or from farms that are certified humane. Not always successful, but I try to be mindful of where it comes from.

Lunch time included some chicken in the form of sweet apple chicken sausages.  These are from the Nature’s Place brand at our local Hannaford.  I emailed them and got the info on the farms they purchase from for this particular brand and they are certified humane, which is good.  Plus the sausages themselves are good. :mrgreen:   Only 100 calories a piece!

Work was quite busy today.  Sometimes it slows down in the mid afternoon, but not today.  Pixie saw me so intently working that she just had to get in my lap to make it harder to type:

Her look says, “Less working, more petting.”

Afternoon latte break with a dark chocolate mint cup.  I bought those again.

Then before dinner my tummy was growling, so I had some peanuts.

Both John and I have been really hungry the last few days.  I am getting in enough calories.  Actually, it seems it would be more than enough calories, but something is going on.  That is another reason I am upping the carbs a bit, to see if I might be glycogen depleted or something.

With the gorgeous weather, it was grilling time for chicken.  And since I am eating meat again, time for a salad LOL!

Working on the project tonight.  I was going to ride more, but it is pretty windy out.  I am turning into such a wuss.  The project is down to the little bits.  We put up the privacy film on the window and caulked the edges of the tile.  Now all that needs to be done really is some paint and wall touch ups and installing the doors.  We are coating the doors with poly, so that will take a couple days.  I am so excited!

What snack goes well with caulking?

Mmmm…. chocolate!

What’s blooming and lovin’ the leftovers.

Woke up to a chilly, but beautiful sunny morning. It was almost 40, so I knew I would bike to the gym today!

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Cable Squat to row 3 sets of 10 at 60# Full body
Bent lateral raise 3 set of 10 with 15# DBs (30# total) Back
Pushups 3 sets of 10 Chest
Planks 3 sets of 70 second holds Core
Calf raise 3 sets of 12 at 110# Calves
Low Back Extension 3 sets of 12 at 80# Low Back
Cable Triceps pull down 3 sets of 15 at 30# Triceps
Arnold Press 3 sets of 10 with 10# DBs (20# total) Shoulders
Hammer curls 3 sets of 10 with 10# DBs (20# total) Biceps

Good workout today.  Still a little cold on the way home and I was ready for some coffee and steel cut oats that I soaked overnight.

I used 1/3 of a banana mashed into the cooking water, then I sliced the rest and sauteed in a little butter and cinnamon.  You must do this.  So very good!  Plus a drizzle of coconut butter on top.  I was a super happy camper eating this morning :mrgreen:

Just a wonderful gorgeous day today.  We even had to mow the lawn for the first time.

That’s pretty much all of our lawn right there.  Only a strip down the side of the house.  It takes 10 minutes to mow.

Lunch was some leftover souffle with a pear.

So good.  I told John I want souffles all the time now.

Pixie just doesn’t know what she is missing with not eating people food.

She looks like she cares, right?

Work slowed up, so I went out to take some pictures of this week’s tulips.  These are some kind of apricot ones.  I really need to write down the names of the ones I get LOL.

The pretty inside:

I have 2 groupings of this color:

There are a bunch more buds on the other tulips as well.  I thought I had planted some daffodils, but maybe the squirrels got them.

Then John and I took a ride for some frozen yogurt!

I didn’t even need to put on my hat today after taking off my helmet.  Lucky me.

It was fairly windy out today.  Guess that is what is pushing in the warmer air.  16 miles of biking today!

Tonight’s dinner was more leftovers.  I have to say that I am about ready for some meat!  John made a shrimp poboy for dinner and I really wanted one.  Instead, I cooked up a yukon gold potato and put some of the palak chole over it.

Pretty good.  Getting a good carb load for a longer ride tomorrow.  We need to build a better base before increasing mileage.  We jumped from 45 to 66 miles and that was a bit much.  Tomorrow will be in the 40 to 50 mile range.

Sunday is bagel day with my mom for Mother’s Day! See you on the flip side of the weekend!

Question: Are you a leftover lover?

Who wants cheese souffle?

Veggie day #4 under way.  Thursday mornings are always very quiet.  John sleeps later because of poker on Wednesday night and I don’t go to the gym, so it is good jammie time and a little blog reading.  I made up some coconut flour waffles for breakfast:

I got going on work right away.  I usually finish up early on Thursdays because it is normally a busy day and without going to the gym, I get an earlier start.  Yay!

Lunch time was a new fangled PB&J.  I used some of my wheat bread and mixed up some peanut flour with water and cinnamon.

Orange marmalade on top. I also decided on cooking up veggies for lunch, just for something different. 23 grams of protein with lunch!  Love that peanut flour.

John had also brought cookies that he baked off to the game last night.  I don’t know if any of you recall that I got some frozen cookie dough through fundraiser a few weeks ago.  After I had a binge on dough, I have not had any of those cookies (or dough) since that time.  I just haven’t wanted any.  Well, he brought some home as they were not as popular as the candied nuts were (those are gone).  I broke a cookie into 3 pieces:

I ended up eating the whole cookie.  It was okay.  I like the raw dough better. Salmonella be damned! I enjoyed it with  a nice latte today.

For a veggie meal tonight, I wanted eggs and cheese, but not an omelet.  So – I pulled out an old recipe we have done before.  Cheese souffle!  En francais everyone!

Based on Alton Brown’s Souffle. I love how he makes something that seems intimidating pretty easy to do.

  • 2 tablespoons almond meal
  • butter for greasing casserole dish
  • 1 1/2 ounces (3 tablespoons) butter
  • 3 tablespoons flour
  • 1 teaspoon dry mustard
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/3 cups low fat milk, hot (1% milk)
  • 4 large egg yolks
  • 6 ounces reduced fat cheddar (I used 3 oz of Cabot 75% reduced fat and 3 oz of 50% reduced fat).
  • 5 egg whites
  • 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 375 F.  Use butter to grease an 8 inch souffle dish.  Dust with the almond meal (you can use bread crumbs or grated parmesan cheese if you don’t have almond meal).

In a bowl, whip the egg whites with the cream of tartar to stiff peaks and set aside.

Heat the milk in the microwave until hot (but not boiling!)

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and cook out the water.

While this is melting, combine flour, dry mustard, salt, and garlic powder in a small bowl.  Add this to the melted butter and mix well.

Cook for 2 to 3 minutes.  Now add in the milk, whisking constantly and bring to a boil.

Remove from heat.

In another bowl (yeah, this makes dishes), beat the egg yolks until they are a creamy yellow color.  Add a little bit of the hot milk mixture to this and whisk to temper the egg yolks.

Keep adding a little more milk and whisking well.  After you have done about half the mixture, just add that back to the pot and whisk well.  Hopefully, you have avoided scrambling the egg yolks.  Add the shredded cheese and stir to mix and melt.

There should be enough residual heat to do this, but if not, put over low heat. Smooth and creamy!

Fold the cheese mixture into the egg whites a little at a time.

Don’t stir as you don’t want to deflate the whites.  Just turn the batter over with a spatula.

Pour this into your baking dish.

Bake at 375 F for 35 minutes.  You might want to put it on a cookie sheet in case you get souffle runoff!

Check it out!

Entire recipe is 1308 calories, 82 grams of fat, 40 grams of carbs, 2 grams of fiber, 97 grams of protein. Note, this is based on using 1% milk and 3 oz of 75% reduced fat Cabot and 3 oz of 50% reduced fat Cabot cheese.  Do not use fat free cheese.  The cheese has to be able to melt. Just don’ t do it, please.

So, if you divide this into 6 servings, each would have 218 calories, 14 grams of fat, 6.5 grams of carbs, 0.5 grams of fiber, 16 grams of protein.  Not bad!  In fact, very good!

Yum!!!!


Eating vegetarian today is not a problem.  Although a side of crispy bacon would be pretty awesome with this.  Don’t be afraid to try this.  There are steps, but it really isn’t all that hard and tastes soooo amazing.  It took about a half hour of prep to get it in the oven with me stopping to read directions and take pictures.

Question: Have you ever made or eaten a souffle?

Veggie day #3 with bagels!

Rain! Our river is flooding again. Scary stuff. I think the ground could have handled spring rain if we hadn’t gotten so much snow during the winter. Needless to say, I did not bike to the gym.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Barbell Split Squats 3 sets of 10 at 55# Lower body
Seated Lat Row 1 set of 10 at 40#

1 set of 8 at 55#

1 set of 6 at 70#

1 set of 4 at 85#

 Back
Dumbbell Fly (flat) 3 sets of 15 with 10# DBs (20# total) Chest
Captain’s Chair 3 sets of 10 Core
Calf raise 3 sets of 12 at 140# Calves
Lying Triceps extension 3 sets of 12 with 10# DBs (20# total) Triceps
Upright Row 3 sets of 10 at 30# Shoulders
Good Mornings 3 sets of 15 with 35# bar Low Back and hammies
Biceps curls 3 sets of 10 with 25# bar Biceps

Note I brought back some arm moves for variety.  On a side note, that ‘trainer’ guy who has given me ‘advice‘ in the past was talking about how he took last week off because his shoulder hurt and it was because he got air in the muscle.  Apparently, when you tear the muscle, air can get in there from taking deep breaths (no I am not making this up) and cause pain.  I said he might want to go see a doctor if his lungs were leaking air.  Don’t you want to hire him? :mrgreen:

I picked up John for Bagel Wednesday! My usual whole wheat with cream cheese and Ethiopian Harrar coffee.

With all this rain, I brought the bike inside on the trainer again.  Sigh.  At least I am riding.  I have it in the living room taking up space that we really don’t have with the renovation going on.

Friday I should be back outside weather-wise, though.

Lunch time included some plain greek yogurt, strawberries, and some Fiber One carmel delight.

Good stuff.  I get snacky with this cereal, though.

It was a slog with work today.  You all know what kind of day I mean.  It just seemed to take forever today and then there was some down time with no work for a while.  It’s surgery day, so I don’t get those files.  I hopped on the trainer and did some riding 😀

Afternoon break was nutty.  Almond milk latte (added protein powder) with a side of peanuts!

My version of mixed nuts. Is that legal?

Doing well on the vegetarian front, although I would like some meat.  Last night I repeated the rice lentil dish.  Tonight was some palak chole.  I don’t like beans, but I do like lentils and tolerate chickpeas pretty well.

Interesting, but this recipe page is the most hit upon page on this blog.  Isn’t that funny?

More nuts today.

John made some candied pecans to take to his poker game tonight.  I lurve these nuts! Whenever we go to a fair, just smelling these nuts is enough to make me go crazy. Good thing they are exiting the house or I would be eating more.

Great Escape

So today the weather was nice and we decided it would be the day we went to Great Escape (6 Flags). I was a little nervous, because this is the first time I have appeared in public in a swimsuit in at least 2 years. I know it’s silly, but that doesn’t stop the self conscious feelings.

The loose skin on my thighs was bothering me today. Funny – I go out in tight bike shorts and a tight dryweave top when I bike or jog without too many issues now – but the swimsuit felt really different. I think it was because I wasn’t being athletic today, just being relaxed. Of course, no one said anything to me, no comments or anything like that. Probably I didn’t even garner a second thought to anyone except myself.

We bumped into my sister and 4 year old niece at the park today, which was quite a surprise! Heard someone call my name and thought “Who the heck could that be?”. And there was my sis! And the first thing out of my niece’s mouth was “I like your swimsuit Aunt Lori”. 🙂

Small vent here. We have been trying to stay away from corporate meat. We do eat local farm meat that is locally processed, but try to avoid mass meat products. So, trying to find a vegetarian meal at Great Escape was really, really difficult. One place had a greek salad, but it was full of onions and olives – so that was out. The other options were just side items like a bowl of coleslaw or a fruit cup. Finally, we found a place in Wiggles World that served grilled cheese sandwiches, complete with smiley fries. Made for little kids, but it worked for us. Not having children, I can tell you that eating in Wiggles World was very surreal. So, I am thinking I might write a letter to them about the food options.

Needless to say, grilled cheese and fries were not the best for my plan, so I’ll have to be diligent for the next few days. At least we got in a lot of walking! We did manage to avoid the fried dough, cinnamon roasted nuts, and ice cream stands, so some victory there!