Health Made Simple, Days 46-49

I'm back with my LAST WEEKEND RECAP on Health Made Simple! My 8-week, whole foods-based meal plan will end this Wednesday, right before Thanksgiving. But going forward, I'm hoping to continue eating this way most of the time.

I actually didn't take many pics of my food on Day 46 (last Thursday) because most everything I ate was leftovers from the day before — same smoothie, same snacks. I did make new dishes for lunch and dinner, but I totally forgot to photograph my lunch (quinoa tabouli). Oops! I managed to remember my dinner pic though. This was the Pasta with Tofu & Broccoli from Health Made Simple. I used edamame/mung bean pasta. The sauce is just a splash of almond milk and some nooch, plus onions, broccoli, and cubed tofu. I added sriracha! Pretty good.

I enjoyed that meal, but I was kinda sad that I ate it. After dinner, I had to oversee press night at Today & Always, our plant-based cafe at Crosstown Arts. We had lots of samples out for the press to try, and I wanted to eat dinner first in case there wasn't enough left for me. Turns out, we had more than enough food so I was having serious FOMO watching everyone else eat. I ended up snacking a little too much on that stuff, even though I wasn't at all hungry. Oh well.

On Friday, I had my usual morning bootcamp (fueled by dates and walnut butter) followed by white rice and a fruit smoothie (cherries, banana, vanilla, spinach, walnuts).

I have a fruit bowl every week day on Health Made Simple, but I was low of groceries Friday. My fruit supply had dwindled down to a few sad grapes. Luckily, Today & Always sells fruit bowls at breakfast, so I grabbed one (pineapple, strawberry, grape) to snack on at my desk.

Lunch was leftovers of that pasta, and afternoon snack was black bean dip and carrots. Dinner was a quick Orange Tofu Tahini Wrap before heading to my friend Andy's house for game night (we played Cards Against Humanity and drank some holiday beers). This wrap was a repeat from earlier in the plan, and I really liked it! It has baked tofu, tahini dressing, pickled onion, mandarin oranges, lettuce, and red cabbage.

I woke up early on Saturday morning and made the Easy & Awesome Tofu Scramble from the HMS plan. I added mushrooms (not in the recipe) and served with toast/Earth Balance.

For lunch, I wanted to go really light because I was going to our annual vegan Thanksgiving potluck at 4 pm. A fruit smoothie sounded perfect. But I was still out of fruit, so I stopped by Juice Bar in Crosstown Concourse for a Blue Chocolatta Smoothie (banana, blueberries, almond butter, raw cacao, and pink salt). 

That fueled me through a grocery trip (yay, I bought fruit!). And then when I returned from the store, I snacked on one of my grocery treats — Miyoko's Vegan Roadhouse Cheddar Spread on Wasa Rosemary Crackers. I'm sticking to mostly whole foods at home, but this cheese is made with whole ingredients, like cashews and nooch. And the crackers are whole wheat. Score.

Then it was time for the potluck! Our friends Nicole and Vaughan have hosted the annual vegan Thanksgiving for YEARS. I would never miss it! I made the Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese from Health Made Simple, and it was a big hit. Here's a glance at some of the savory offerings — tofu quiche, Daiya mac (yes, there were two kinds of mac!), vegan tamales, tater tot casserole, falafel and tabouli, and Jennifer's famous Big Mac dip on crackers.

Here's my plate number one!

And plate number 2!

And don't forget dessert. There were Stephanie brownies, apple pie, pumpkin spice mini muffins, and — not pictured — Shay's famous pumpkin chocolate bread. Also, Nicole made the BEST vegan oatmilk hot cocoa with vegan Reddi Whip. 

Dessert plate!

This was definitely way more food than I'm used to eating on the meal plan, but hey, it's Thanksgiving. And the meal plan is focused on your "most of the time," which is definitely not this. Ha! I felt very stuffed after this, but it was worth it. Here's one table of guests after we all filled our bellies.

And here's me and Shay (who didn't make it into the group shot).

I had another party on Sunday! Tis the season. But first, I had a healthy breakfast of Avocado Toast!

Our friend Don of Lulu's Food held his last vegan pop-up brunch of the year at Fuel, so of course, we couldn't miss that. I joined nine of my friends there at 11 am for Don's Brekky Mac (breakfast mac & cheese with tofu scramble and shiitake bacon mixed in).

And then at 3 pm, I went to my co-worker Caitlin's house for a holiday party! This was an oyster and citrus party, and since I don't eat oysters, I was able to keep things light by snacking on a mound of fruit! Check out this spread of fruit! I tried several new to me things, like persimmon, longan fruit, rambutin.

I made butternut squash hummus for that party, but I'm saving the recipe for a separate post tomorrow!

And finally, I'll end this massive post with Spiked Apple Cider. Caitlin's husband Stephen made the tastiest hot apple cider, which we spiked with spiced rum (of course!).

A fun and food-filled weekend! And I don't even feel guilty for indulging because this plan is teaching me to have a healthier attitude around food!