Porkless Beans Recipe

This is a recipe for vegetarian beans in tomato sauce or pork & beans minus the pork, which I came up with because I can never find then in the grocery stores anymore. I used to be able to buy them, but they've sort of disappeared. This is a very simple recipe, quick and easy and would make a great base for vegetarian baked beans. 

In this photo, I've added a Veggie Patch veggie dog, cut into pieces for Beans N Franks.

Ingredients

1 can of navy beans mostly drained but not rinsed

1/2 c. of Campbell's condensed tomato soup (no water added)

1/4 c. of water

1Tbsp. of molasses

1/8 tsp of salt

Directions

Combine all ingredients in sauce pan and heat, letting them simmer for several minutes. You can use 2 cans of beans, I suppose, for more beans, less sauce. Enjoy!

Missing My Banana Pudding Smoothie

It's chilly in the house this morning. My blood isn't moving yet. I was sleeping good when my alarm went off. I have an actual alarm now. I use to go to bed and several hours later I would just wake up, usually around 8 or 9 am. Now I have a hard time getting to sleep(except during the day) and a hard time waking up. My alarm is set for 7am, which is the best sleeping time for me. I am hoping my internal clock will get reset eventually. I do feel much better about blogging in the morning. I do some of it at night and finish when I get up. Before my eyes were always going together as I typed and the next day, I had no idea what I'd written.

Yesterday I had a peach smoothie for breakfast (after finishing my post). I added about a fourth of a tsp. of cinnamon to this one. It was yummy, but I am missing my banana pudding smoothie.

 

What's in the glass?

Canned Sliced Peaches

Vanilla Yogurt

Milk

Old Fashioned Oats

Ground Flax

Cinnamon

Ice Cubes

I had a different combination of leftovers for lunch. I try to mix things up differently so it doesn't get boring.

 

Au Gratin Potatoes, Green Beans w/ Peppers, & Pinto Beans

 

 

This afternoon we went to Mom's. The guys mowed the grass and DH worked on the bathroom. The walls are looking much better. I always hated the part of filling and sanding sheet rock. I don't even do that part and I hate it. I can understand why people put up wallpaper. 

Mom & I took Lucas to JCPenney so he could get him a pair of pants for work, with a coupon Mom had. All we could find were shorts. He went ahead and got a pair of shorts since the coupon was for $10. He also wanted some Sesame Chicken for the Chinese place in the Mall. We got it to go, along with some spring rolls for me and egg rolls for DH. I had planned to get a couple of veggie egg rolls, but they were out. Springs rolls are too small, not enough filling, but I got them anyway.

 

I ate 3 of the spring rolls while I was reheating some sweet potato tots Mom had fixed. These are very good and would be great with the seasoning I put on my spicy sweet potatoes.

 

We also stopped and got blizzards on the way home from JCP. I got the Banana Pudding Blizzard. I told you I was missing my banana pudding smoothie. It was good, but my smoothie is better. I just ate half of the blizzard and was miserable for a while. Ice cream kind of blows me up.

Yesterday evening was not the best for food, nutritionally speaking, but I do that occasionally. The worse part is, I also had a bite size peanut butter snickers bar and a handful of potato chips at Moms and also 5 or 6 peanut butter pretzels at home after the blizzard wore off. We'll call this off camera grazing. This is what gets me into trouble. Once I start doing that, I just eat junk.

That was yesterday, today, I may be going out with Mom & Lynda so, I'd better get something done around the house, in case they call. Happy Wednesday! 

Amy's Veggie Loaf Review

I overslept yesterday, but not today. I could have, but I didn't. I felt tired all day yesterday. I didn't even fix my morning smoothie. I just grabbed half an everything bagel and spread some cream cheese on it.

 

I did sprinkle it with garlic powder and parsley, for extra flavor and to pretty it up a bit.

 

Then later I had a German Chocolate Blizzard fro DQ. This one had large chunks of coconut on top with all the pecan.

 

And half way down, just ice cream again.

 

I tried Amy's Veggie Loaf w/ mashed potatoes, peas & corn for lunch.

Not too appetizing to look at frozen.

 

Better once it's cooked, but nothing like on the box as usual.

 

It wasn't bad. I could eat it again, but it wasn't my favorite. The sauce was pretty good. I'm not a big fan of instant mashed potatoes, or at least that's what these tasted like. The peas and corn were pretty good also, peas firm, not squishy or tough. The veggie loaf was just alright, like mashed beans, but a little firmer. The taste wasn't bad, but it needed the sauce, so did the potatoes, lol. It needed every drop of the sauce. I think they could do better.

 

Nutritional Facts
Serving Size 1 serving
Amount Per 1 Serving 1 Meal
Calories 290
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 8.0g   13%
	Saturated Fat 1.0g   5%
	Trans Fat 0.0g
	Polyunsaturated Fat 0.0g
	MonoUnsaturated Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 0.0mg   0%
Sodium 690.0mg   29%
Total Carbohydrates 47.0g   16%
	Dietary Fiber 10.0g   40%
Protein 9.0 g   18%
Vitamin A   45.000 ~ IU Vitamin C   50.000 mg Calcium   4.000 mg Iron   15.000 mg
* Based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Since I had a blizzard earlier, I went just just a cup of applesauce for a snack. I didn't really get my fruit for the day.

 

 

I do think I have veggies covered and probably grains too, but I think I missed the mark in the protein department. I did have pinto beans for dinner along with some wild rice w/ carrots & broccoli and more broccoli on the side.

 

 

I had a little Italian dressing on my broccoli, a tad of on the rice, which came pretty much unseasoned and some of the Cajun Injector Hickory Grill seasoning on my beans. It was good.

 

Since I didn't feel like I'd gotten enough protein and I'd eaten dinner early, I had a Chobani Lemon Greek Yogurt for dessert a little later. It's packed with protein. I'm supposed to get about .73 grams per pound and I don't think I'm anywhere near that and unless I exercise more, I'm not sure I could eat that much along with everything else I'm suppose to be getting.

 

I still say the lemon is the best. Twice the protein and none of the fat, gotta love that.

Well it's Sunday again, so I guess I'll be getting ready to go to Mom's for dinner shortly. Happy Sunday!!

 

I Need To Do Better

Yesterday was Zumba day and the beginning of my new routine. The morning went smoothly, but it didn't start early enough apparently, since my email subscribers got a little messed up. Sorry. I was afraid of that, because I'm not exactly sure when the delivery goes out. It was suppose to be between 7-9, but it was nearly 9 before I got it posted, so it missed it's chance, I guess. I delayed the delivery a little more and set my alarm a little earlier. It was a little more difficult this morning since I was getting up around the time, which I usually sleep the best. I am in slow motion this morning....but, I'm up.

 

I had a banana smoothie for breakfast. I am missing my vanilla wafers. My morning smoothie didn't taste right yesterday, so I added a little maple syrup for some reason, which made it worse. I think it was because I woke up with what I call an "allergy hangover". That's when I forget my allergy meds and it doesn't really hit me until the next day. I get a terrible headache and my nose gets stuffy, my eyes itch a lot, & breakfast doesn't taste good, not mention I've misplace my eye drops, so it feels like I've got sand in my eyes. I'll be sofa diving today.

 

I was still hungover at lunch time. I was lazy and only had half an everything bagel from Panera with cream cheese and cucumber. It was very good though.

 

Then I had the other half of the frozen Cookie N Creme donut from Krispy Kreme, which was a mistake. Way too many carbs. I've gained everything I lost this morning + another pound. Ugghhh!

On top of that I had another banana smoothie, but with peanut butter as my pre-Zumba snack. It was super yummy. I added about a tablespoon of PB + 1 tsp. of honey. (More carbs)

 

Zumba was hot. We had a big storm before I went which cooled everything off outside, but I was still sweaty after Zumba. I had the a/c on in the car. When I got out my glasses were fogged up. I couldn't see a thing and they didn't clear up, so I had to take them off. 

I had dinner partially fixed when I got home. I made brown rice with spinach, tomatoes, & garlic (a new fave) and I heated a Gardein Chick'n Scallopini seasoned with barbecue seasoning & paprika (another new fave) to go with it.

The rice, way better than the frozen stuff you buy and the Scallopini yummy.

I enjoyed everything I ate, until I stepped on the scales this morning. I also didn't drink enough water yesterday. I never lose when I don't drink my water.

 Also the Function Water I got from FL is a no go unless they make a larger bottle. It left me hangin' towards the end of Zumba and I was running back and forth to the water fountain after that. I need the full 33 oz. bottles for Zumba. 

 

Ok, that's it for today. I'm going to fix breakfast. Looking at all this food is killing me. Have a great day!

Smoothies, Salads, And A New Routine

Yesterday's smoothie was Strawberry Banana, more strawberry than banana. The strawberry were looking sort of puny and I figured I would use them up before they went to waste. My new routine went fairly smoothly yesterday. I hoping it is going to workout. I still didn't get to bed until 12:30, but that was still way earlier than usual.

 

 I had an outing planned yesterday, a day out with Mom & Lynda. We went to Panera Bread and picked up some bagels. I got the last four everything bagels and a free Mango Smoothie. You have to be there pretty early to get those everything bagels. They go pretty quickly. There was quite a line and we thought all the good stuff might be gone before we ordered. Fortunately we got what we wanted.

 

The Mango Smoothie was great. I love Mangoes. It was pretty thick, but came with a huge straw.  Mom & Lynda got something next door at Starbucks.

 

 

We checked out Habit's Restore, Kohl's, Michael's, Goodwill & Target, but not necessarily in that order. I got a tee shirt from Kohl's and some more Gardein Chick'n Scallopini & Lemon Chobani from Target. 

 We also went to Salsarita's for lunch and we all had vegetarian taco salads. We got shredded lettuce, black beans, rice, roasted veggies, tomatoes, red onion, fresh salsa, shredded cheese, spice sour cream. I also got black olives and jalapeños. I got a pack of light ranch, but didn't need it so, I saved it for later. I got a drink instead of water, a mixture of Sprite, Light Lemonade and Hi-C Punch. It was pretty good. The salad was good too, except the shell wasn't to fresh. It was crispy, but not fresh crispy. I just ate half of it.

 

I made the mistake of wearing sandals yesterday. My feet and legs were killing me by the end of the day. I will remember my tennis shoes next time. 

When I got home I still have to make a run to Walmart. I was sort of hungry so I grabbed half a bagel, toasted it, spread some cream cheese on top & out the door we went. I still had my sandals on, but had to take them off on the way home.

 

When I got home I had another salad. I still had corn & black beans to use up, but I didn't make this one like a taco salad, since I'd already had one. I used onion & tomato, Mozzarella cheese, the packet of ranch from Salsarita's and black pepper. 

 

 It was sort of late, by the time I got my salad. I uploaded the photos for the day and called it a night. I even got my yoga in before 12:30am, not bad for the first day of my new routine. I going to wrap this up. Hopefully it will make it to my email subscribers. See ya tomorrow!

Over Indulging

Strawberry Apple Smoothie breakfast. Smoothies are the best breakfast I've ever had. I was never a "breakfast person". I guess because breakfast is mostly about meat & eggs, neither of which I am fond of, although I will eat eggs, they aren't usually first choice.

 

I used some of the leftover granny smith apple. There were flecks of green in this one from the peel. I don't peel the apples, that's the best part, of course you can, if you don't like little bits in your smoothie; I don't mind. 

 

 Lunch was half a stuffed bell pepper, with salad.

 

The salad was spinach, iceberg, corn, black beans, salsa, & light ranch dressing.

I had chocolate cake for dessert, too close to lunch. I was slightly miserable afterwards, but it was good going down. 

We went on a water run this afternoon. No actual running involved, although there probably should have been, since I've been indulging in chocolate cake lately and over eating too often. Along with my water, I picked up a bag of pretzels. I've been wanting something salty to snack on. I should have gotten a pack of gum, but unfortunately it never crossed my mind. Once I got home I had some water and a few pretzels.

 I went down to the garden after my snack and did some long overdue weeding. The crab grass is starting to take over. I now have a few tiny tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers. It won't be long until I'll be eating garden fresh veggies. I can't wait.

I had some MorningStar Farms Three Bean Chili w/ Griller's Crumbles. I started to eat half of it with a few hushpuppies, I waited about 20 minutes and decided to eat the rest plus 3 more hushpuppies; bad idea. I've been miserable again ever since. The chili wasn't bad, it wasn't the best either, but the hushpuppies were great, just what the chili needed. There was not many crumbles in it. It wasn't spicy hot, but it was spicy, hence my heartburn. I added the corn, some I had left from lunch.

 Two Rolaids later. I am almost comfortable again. I think I will work on not overeating. I have tendencies were I try not to waste food and instead of eating just a little more, if there isn't much left, I feel the need to finish it off. I'm also going to cut back on the sweets. It will just be up to everyone else to eat them. I've also been analyzing what I've been eating and I've been eating too much grains and not enough of everything else. Note to self....get more gum!