Chips n Dip.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Mine was wonderful and I'm so sad it's coming to an end! So many activities the past few days. Thursday night I went out to dinner with my husband to Pomodoro Ristorante in Westwood. I didn't take any pictures of the food but everything I had was delicious. I had a green salad with balsamic and olive oil, fresh fresh bread with more olive oil for dipping and my main was spaghetti pomodoro (fresh tomato, basil, garlic and olive oil). It was all so filling. Friday, my cousins came over to visit and we had tea and sandwiches (again no pics!) but I stuck to the usual tofu salad sandwiches and pb &j with hot hot tea. Saturday I went to a Dodger game with my husband and gorged on veggie dogs (yes, Dodger Stadium carries vegan dogs only on certain levels.) while cheering on my ballclub (they lost, boo.). This morning we went on a beautiful hike in Temescal Canyon and had a yummy picnic afterwards of fresh sandwiches on seeded baguette (sorry no pics!). After our hike, we came home to relax, watch the ballgame with lots of dips and chips. I made the one you see in this post. It's refried beans mixed with the other night's chili, topped with fresh tomato, chopped onions, bell peppers and pepperoncini. Then drizzled with vegenaise mixed with chili powder and lime juice and fresh salsa. Was so good!

Detox Week 1, Day 7

Yay, one week down, two to go!

Here are today's eats:


Breakfast: Mango-Date-Plum-Banana-Strawberry Smoothie. This was really nice.




Snacks: Mid-morning we had baked chips and salsa, Carrot sticks and the hummus recipe from You Are What You Eat. My early evening snack was half a banana and a handful of raisins.


Lunch: Thai Vegetable Curry (zucchini, carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, red peppers and kidney beans) which I served with brown rice. I based this curry on the recipe in You Are What You Eat. It feels much lighter than the curries I normally make. It doesn't have much coconut milk so I added a little bit of plain unsweetened soymilk. In place of the spices she uses (coriander, cumin, kaffir lime etc), I used some lime juice and a tsp or so of red curry paste which has all those ingredients in it and not to mention some red chilis which in a curry is a must!

I wasn't very hungry at dinner so I made myself "Ants on a Log", a stalk of celery filled with unsalted natural peanut butter and dotted with raisins. Totally unspectacular and did not need to be photographed!

Detox Week 1, Day 6

Husband and I went grocery shopping and spent $27 on loads of fruits and vegetables. Some of the things we got: lettuce, tomatoes, cilantro, avocados, spinach, zucchini, red bell peppers, yellow bell peppers, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, celery, jalapeno peppers, granny smith apples, fuji apples, nectarines, bosc pears, bananas and fresh roasted peanuts. Some organic, some not. A very affordable and lovely haul if I do say so myself!

Saturday is quite a lazy day for me. I usually do a few chores in the morning and then just chill out the rest of the day. I wanted to spend the least amount of time in the kitchen today. At least that's what I tried to do. I didn't cook anything from You Are What You Eat today but I know I used ingredients that are A-OK in Gillian's book!


Breakfast was this berry blast smoothie that had strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, dates and apple.

Mid morning snack was a handful of fresh roasted peanuts in the shell (no salt) and late afternoon was a banana and a handful of raisins. I also had a cup of lemongrass tea.


Lunch was a rendition of last night's dinner. I had to use up these sprouted grain tortillas before they went bad as there are no preservatives in them. I made a black bean wrap with fresh yellow peppers, fresh homemade guacamole and salsa.


Salsa made with fresh ripe roma tomatoes that we bought today.


My husband is a snacky kind of guy so I had the idea to make these baked tortilla chips. I just cut up a couple of sprouted grain tortillas and put them into the oven on a lightly oiled baking sheet at 400 F for about 4 minutes. You can tell the bottom ones are burnt. That was my first go at them and I left them in too long! These were so nice. They baked up perfectly crisp. I liked them so much that I only ate half of my wrap and abandoned the other tortilla half to use a few chips to scoop up the beans. I think these will be my new favorite snack after the diet instead of crackers.


Dinner was a salad of green leaf lettuce, spinach, red onions, red and yellow peppers, thinly sliced cucumber and sunflower seeds drizzled with yummy goddess dressing.

Vegan Junk Food

A lot of my friends and family think that I can't eat things like chocolate, cookies, chips and other kinds of everyday junk food. Not true! Though it's true I can't indulge in a milk chocolate Hershey bar anymore, or scoff a whole bag of Cheddar and Sour Cream Ruffles, there are other options for me when it comes to junk! You can find most of these at your local grocery store.

So yes, I can have chocolate...as long as it doesn't contain milk, milk solids or butterfat. Here are two that I indulge in most often:


This is so delicious. Sweet and almondy marzipan covered in dark chocolate. Mmm.


Chocolove has a few flavors I like. This one's my favorite.

Other notable mentions: Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate w/ Raisins and Pecans, Trader Joes's 70% Dark Chocolate, Ghirardelli Twilight Delight, Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Covered Pretzels, Cocoa Pete's Berry Berry Dangerous

When it comes to chips I like these best. They don't contain any cheese, milk or whey like a lot of flavored chips do:




These are equivalent to Cheetos and are soooo tasty!


The perfect salty treats. No cheese or sour cream necessary! Well maybe a really good vegan spinach dip!

Other notable mentions: Original Sun Chips, Whole Foods brand Veggie Chips

Cookies and Crackers!



And yes, Oreos are vegan. :)

Other notable mentions: Vons Safeway brand Fudge Mint cookies, Lorna Doone Shortbread, Nutter Butter


And surprisingly Ritz do not contain milk or butter. They do have hydrogenated oil though which isn't good for anybody but when I want a nice buttery tasting cracker for topping with mock tuna salad or dips, I like these a lot.

Ice cream! Since I don't eat dairy I go for these amazing dairy free ice creams.



For a list of vegan items you can find at your local grocery, go here.