While searching through my refrigerator for some inspiration, I had an idea. I would attempt to make a peanut curry sauce for one.

The outcome of my sauce creation was just what I needed to stop me from heading to seamless web and ordering $15 worth of food.

Peanut Curry Sauce for One

Ingredients:

- 1 tbsp peanut butter

- 1 tsp curry paste

- 3 tbsp coconut milk (or whatever milk you have on hand)

- 1 tsp dried basil

- dash of red chili pepper flakes (only if you like a little extra kick)

Directions: Combine ingredients and mix together in a small bowl. Pour over cooked food, raw veggies, or mix into a rice bowl while on the stove.

The sauce recipe easily doubles to serve two!

How do you jazz up boring meals? I’m always looking for new ideas because I’m always left with grains, a frozen veggie and a protein when I haven’t gone food shopping.

The other thing I love about winter is the food. Winter foods are have a warmness that feels like they’re nourishing my cold body in just the right way.

Dinner last night was simple and quick (thanks to frozen organic brown rice from trader joe’s). The only problem with it was I only made one serving and I’m wishing I had leftovers to make tonight.

Roasted Sweet Potato, Kale and Tahini Rice Bowl (serves 1)

Ingredients

- 1/2 cup brown rice (frozen if you can find it)

- 1 medium sweet potato (peeled and diced)

- 3 cups of kale (washed, de-stemmed and torn or cut into small pieces)

- 1/4 cup of dried cranberries

- 1 tbl tahini

- olive oil

- sea salt (to taste)

Directions: Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Start by cooking the rice according to the directions on the package. Toss diced and peeled sweet potatoes with a small amount of olive oil and sea salt. Place the sweet potatoes in a baking pan in the oven and bake for approximately 25 minutes. While the sweet potatoes are cooking start to boil a pot of water. Once the water is boiling place the torn kale leaves in a steamer basket over the boiling water. Cook until greens are bright and slightly tender. Once the rice, potatoes, and kale are cooked combine all three along with the dried cranberries in a large bowl. Drizzle tahini sauce over the top add sea salt to taste and mix. Eat immediately!

Variations: Add a little protein to the mix by mixing in 1/4 cup of chickpeas or baked tempeh. Double the recipe and share with a friend!

Here’s what I’ll be cooking up in my kitchen for Thursday:

• Beet, Fennel and Fig Salad with Cranberry Sage Dressing (from the Candle Cafe Cookbook)
• Chef Chloe’s Country Meatloaf (vegan)
• Wild Rice with Brown Rice Stuffing with Apples, Pecans and Cranberries
• Stir-Fried Balsamic Ginger Carrots
• Vegan-Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie (from Oh She Glows)

We have three guests coming over and I’m a little bit stressed for two reasons. First, I’ve never made any of these recipes. Second, there won’t be any turkey. It’s my third time cooking Thanksgiving dinner for friends, but the first time we haven’t had a turkey.

A month ago when discussing foods we wanted to make for the holiday, my husband suggested we just stick to a vegetarian meal. You should have seen my excitement. I was almost as excited to hear those words as I was the entire week of the NYCM.

What about you? Are you cooking anything this year? What would you think if you showed up to someone’s house for Thanksgiving and there wasn’t any turkey?

Fall spices, marathons, crunchy leaves, and cool weather are just a few of the things that make fall great. During the cooler months I find that I take my time waking up on weekend mornings and often find myself sitting on the couch reading a book first thing, rather than running outside for my workout before the heat sets in like I do in the summer months.

By the time my husband wakes up, I’ve had a few wonderful hours by myself and am ready to make a fun breakfast. Sometimes that means a pumpkin smoothie or trying a new juice combination. Other days it means treating breakfast like a treat.

Pumpkin pancakes taste like a treat but are actually a pretty healthy weekend breakfast.

Vegan Pumpkin Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 2/3 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 tbl sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups Almond milk (or coconut milk)
• 1 tbl Flax meal
• 3 tbl warm water (to mix with flax)
• 1.5 tsp pumpkin spice
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Mix flax meal together with warm water, set aside. Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl then add almond milk, vanilla, pumpkin puree and flax mixture and stir. Cook on an lightly grilled pan or griddle on medium high heat for approximately 4 minutes on each side. Makes approximately 8-10 4-inch pancakes.

Curious to know why pumpkin is so good for you? Read this article from The Well Daily.

What I’ve learned is that prepping is key. While I don’t always succeed at doing this, I’m getting better.

One of my favorite dinner in a hurry recipes requires prepping lentils and a grain (quinoa, brown rice or what ever I have on hand). Within minutes of walking in the front door I have a healthy, delicious homemade meal ready to eat.

Garlicky Lentil Greens

Ingredients:

- 2 cups of baby spinach leaves

- 1 cup of broccoli florets

- 1/2 cup cooked brown rice (can use any whole grain)

- 1/2 cup cooked lentils

- 1 garlic clove (minced)

- 1/2 tsp olive oil

- dash of sea salt

Directions:

Heat oil in pan over medium heat. Add minced garlic and cook until fragrant. Add 1 cup of chopped broccoli florets to pan. Cook for 5-7 minutes. Add spinach to the mixture and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes. Add in 1/2 cup of cooked lentils and 1/2 cup of cooked brown rice. Mix ingredients together in pan until warm. Remove from heat. Add salt to taste. Mix and serve immediately.

Serves: 1

The best part about this recipe is you can use what ever grains, or greens you have on hand and it’s easy to double to make enough for two!

Here are the three ingredients:

Simply bake a few sweet potatoes on Sunday when you’re prepping your meals for the week. During the week pop half a large sweet potato in the microwave for 45 seconds, drizzle with a tablespoon of almond butter, and top with a sprinkle of sea salt and you’ll have a deliciously warm fall breakfast ready to eat in 60 seconds or less.

While my diet wasn’t completely horrible I just wasn’t eating in a way that served me best. My real problem wasn’t necessarily my diet, it was that I was using the word “lazy” to describe my food habits and therefore letting that word or idea take over how I was eating. The words “lazy doesn’t run marathons” stuck with me and I began to change the way I saw myself in the kitchen.

In those following weeks this new view allowed me to naturally change the decisions I made around what I put in my mouth. I’ve been learning to take the time to make meals that satisfy me but also don’t make me feel like I’m spending a lot of time in the kitchen. One of those ways is finding ways to prep “meal bases” at the beginning of the week and by making a plan.

Below is one of my favorite salad bases that I can make on Sunday and enjoy for most of the week in a variety of ways.

“Lazy”Doesn’t Live Here Anymore Salad Recipe (inspired by the Aztec Salad at Candle Cafe and from the book Crazy Sexy Diet)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups quinoa (cooked according to package directions)
• 2 ears of corn (un-cooked, peeled and shaved)
• 1/2 red onion (diced or sliced however you like)
• 1/2 cup cilantro (chopped)
• 1 red bell pepper (diced or sliced however you like)
• 1 can of black beans (drained and rinsed)
• 1 lime (juiced)
• sea salt to taste

Directions:

Combine the cooked quinoa, raw corn, sliced onion, peppers, black beans and cilantro and mix. Then, squeeze the juice of the lime over the top of the ingredients as well as the sea salt. Mix together and it’s read to eat.

It can be eaten as is, served over raw greens, as a side dish, topped with braised tempeh or a even topped with an organic sunshine burger. I ate variations of this salad for 5 meals in one week, so if you get bored with it invite a friend over to share.

The plan was to make him a simple carrot-ginger concoction and hope for the best. That was until he suggested we add an orange into the mix. Being new to juicing neither of us had a clue as to how this would turn. The end result was the most delicious drink I’ve ever made.

If he likes it, then anyone that likes the flavor of creamsicles is sure to like it!

Orange Creamsicle Juice

• 2 Green Apples
• 4-5 Medium Carrots
• 1 Orange
• 1 inch of ginger (optional and surprisingly adds to the “creamsicle” flavor)

Run all ingredients through a high powered juicer, serve over ice or drink immediately.

In case you’re wondering, the juice I made for myself was horrible. Next time, it’s creamsicles for everyone!

Chocolate Strawberry Super Pudding

• 2 T organic chia seeds
• 1/2 c. unsweetened almond milk
• 1T agave (or sweeten to taste)
• 2 T raw cacao
• dash of salt
• 1/2 cup sliced strawberries

Directions: Combine chia seeds and almond milk. Stir in all other ingredients minus the strawberries. Chop strawberries. Cover the chia seed mixture and place in the refrigerator for a minimum of 20 minutes. Remove from refrigerator. Layer a small bowl with 1/2 of the sliced strawberries. Spoon the chia mixture on top of strawberries, then add the remaining strawberries on top of the pudding.

What’s your favorite guilt free dessert? Share your favorite recipe or link to one in the comments section.

• Buying water while running errands.
• Forgetting to bring my Physique 57 socks with me to class and having to purchase another pair.
• Running late to work and taking a $12 cab ride instead of a $2.25 subway ride.
• Lunch

Most of those things just take a little extra planning and a little extra dedication to preparation the night before. The easiest and most expensive one to eliminate is buying my lunch out.

One of my favorite brown bag lunches is a smoothie. They make eating on the go easier. When I had a desk job, I could easily drink my lunch and work at the same time. Some days I’d even put my smoothie in a travel coffee mug and drink them during meetings.

This smoothie is perfect for this heat wave. It’s filling (400-460 calories) and eliminates my craving for an afternoon frozen treat.

Here are the ingredients:

Chocolate Strawberry Smoothie Recipe:

• 8 ounces milk (I used almond)
• 1 cup frozen strawberries
• 1 frozen banana
• 2 big handfuls of spinach
• 1 T. Cacao
• 1 T. Peanut Butter
• 1 T. chia seeds (optional)

Directions: Make the night before by throwing all together in blender and blend. Put in glass jar and freeze overnight. Take out in the morning and throw it in your brown bag. Once at work put in refrigerator and it will be ready to eat by lunch time. (If you’re like me and run around NYC all day you may want to throw it in an insulated lunch bag with a freezer pack).

This week the ladies over at Big Girl, Small Kitchen are hosting a Brown Bag Challenge where they are challenging everyone to get back into the habit of packing their lunch. All week long they are offering suggestions, recipes and hosting giveaways to help encourage this financially fit habit. Today, July 13th from 12 – 1pm, they are hosting a live twitter chat with The Daily Meal, using the hash tag #brownbag

How many days a week do you currently brown bag it?