Quinoa Hummus Cakes

I love hummus. Who doesn't?

Well, I bought hummus the pass weekend and I've been wanting to cook with it. An idea came into mind while I was cooking some quinoa. So, I decided to make quinoa hummus cakes! I just looked around the kitchen and put in whatever I had (of course, making sure the combination would make sense). I'm happy to say that it came out pretty tasty! My sister even likes it and she hates quinoa. She's a white jasmine rice eater.

Though these are yummy, they do fall apart easily, especially when it's hot. When it's cooled down, it won't break as easily. Anyway, here's the recipe.

Servings: 10 cakes
Calories per cake: ~120 calories


Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup dried quinoa (2 cups cooked)
• 1 cup hummus 
• 1/4 cup organic tamari sauce (It's like soy sauce)
• 1/2 cup fat free refried pinto beans
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1 carrot, chopped
• garlic powder
• chili powder
• dried basil
• paprika
• oregano

Directions:

1. Mix all the ingredients into one bowl. For the spices, I just sprinkled them on. 
2. Heat up a non-stick pan and spray with non-stick spray (or grease it with olive oil). 
3. Each cake needs about 1/4 cup of the mixture. Form the cakes with your hands and place in the pan. Cook for about 3-4 minutes on one side and then flip them and cook for another 2-3 minutes. 
4. Be careful when flipping them since they'll fall apart easily. 
5. Serve and enjoy. 

This is the organic Tamari sauce I have. 

I hope you guys enjoy these!

Do you guys like hummus?
What's your favorite food?

Healthy SELF and my week's eats

I bet you guys have been wondering what this button on my blog is about. If you haven't seen it already, it's on the side!
HealthysELF is a continuation of the Elf4health Challenge that Lindsay and Elle created.

What this basically is, is that we are given health challenges to do (sent through email and posted on their blogs!). It's a great community where everyone supports each other. There's even a facebook group that helps keep us in touch, encouraging each other and giving advice. 

What's even great is that for HealthysELF, there is going to be monthly newsletters with health articles and  reminder of the month's challenges. I am honored that I've been chosen to write an article for the first healthysELF newsletter. Thank you so much Lindsay and Elle! I hope you guys enjoy my article once it is sent out. 

Anyway, back to business. The past week has been quite hectic for me. Then again, I've just been busy. But, I'd like to post some of my week's eats. 

I finally tried one of the About Time protein powder samples I received. I tried this Chocolate Peanut Butter About Time Protein powder with Greek Yogurt. I have to say, I'm pretty disappointed with the taste of this protein powder. It didn't mix well with the greek yogurt and there was barely a peanut butter taste. The aftertaste was even less desirable.

As you see, I bought some groceries. I bought the Kashi Heart to Heart Honey Toasted cereal, Van's 8 whole grain waffles, Kashi GoLean Crunch Honey Almond Flaxseed, Laughing Cow cheese, honey roasted almonds and Dave's Killer Bread. Just to let you know, the honey roasted almonds are delicious!

Dave's Killer Bread is amazing! The 20 whole grain bread is delicious. It's all organic and I love the texture. It has bits of seeds within in the bread and I love it.

I tried eating this bread toasted by itself, and it tasted so good! I also made a turkey and cheese sandwich with it. Even better! It goes good with any kind of sandwich you like. I even tried eating it with peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk!

 I got hungry at school, so I bought some honey roasted peanuts. They were only 50 cents at the my school's bookstore. My school's bookstore has a cafe where they sell organic pastries too. I love that place, They cell 50 cent coffee too! Anyway, these peanuts were pretty good. I love honey flavored things.

The Kashi Heart to Heart Honey Toasted cereal is so good! I love eating it with almond milk. My sister says it looks like dog food and tastes a little like dog food. But, I disagree. Then again, I am born the year of the dog.

 I have a night class once a week, so I get pretty hungry and sleepy. Mi amigo bought this Alternative Baking Company Gluten Free Cinnamon Burst Cookie and  Mayan Mocha with soymilk from EcoGrounds during our 15 minute break (I love that place!). Thanks, amigo. I owe you one!

I can't say these Quaker Chewy Bars are the healthiest but there could be worse things you can eat. I like these chewy bars. I just wish that they were a bit bigger for their calorie count. The snacking nuts from kirkland are pretty good but I don't like how one pack is 330 calories. The juice is an indulgent thing. The Aidells teriyaki and pineapple chicken meatballs are all natural. They are so good!

I went to Fluid again, the coffee place near where I work. I've been going there every week. They have vegan pastries and most of it is organic. This gluten free peanut butter cookie was the bomb! It was soft but still a bit crumbly and crunchy. I loved it. I also decided to try a new drink, the Aztec one. I suggest not trying it. There's too much chili powder in it and it overpowered the chocolate taste.

After a while, I got hungry again so I ate this Nature Valley Trial Mix Fruit & Nut bar. It was delicious! Sweet, chewy and a bit salty. I loved it.

 The Van's 8 Whole Grain Waffles are delicious! I tried this with sweetened condensed milk and it was delicious!

I don't know what this says because the writing is in a different language. But, I do know that this is chocolate with almond pieces. It was delicious!

This Justin's Hazelnut Butter Blend is delicious! It doesn't taste like Nutella but it has a chocolaty and nutty taste to it. It was yummy!

I also go this organic tamari sauce from the Asian store. Yummy!

So, how are you guys doing?
Have you tried any health challenges before?

Love Your Body Week

It's Love Your Body Week. 

I noticed it today at the gym. In the locker room, all the mirrors were covered with paper and had sayings that said to love your body. One of the things it said was "The scale measures your weight, not your worth." 

I have to say, that is right. You are worth so much more than just a number. Everyone is. The number means nothing if you feel miserable all the time, right? Learn to love yourself. It's what makes you, you. 

Here's the link to the website. 

http://loveyourbody.nowfoundation.org/

It has a lot of great information. This actually reminded me of a women who avoided looking at mirrors for one year before her wedding. It's inspiring. Here's the link to the story. 

I just had to write this post right when I saw the mirrors covered in the locker room today. It's better to love your body than to criticize it. Love your body. 

Vegetarianism?

"Are you getting enough protein?" "That's not healthy." "You need to eat meat for energy."

These are a few of the many comments I received when I ate vegetarian for a few months last year. I actually enjoyed being a vegetarian, despite the fact that my friends and family didn't support it. I felt better about myself and I had more energy. 

Well, what are some benefits of eating a vegetarian diet? Here's a list from vegnutrition.com (highlighted in green) with a few things I added (in purple). 

• Plant foods provide phytochemicals. These are compounds found only in plants; some of these have significant impacts on risk for heart disease, cancer, and other diseases.
• Plant foods contain fiber, which is associated with a lower risk for cancer, heart disease , and obesity. Animal foods contain no fiber and people who eat typical American diets based on meat and dairy generally do not get as much fiber as experts recommend.
• Plant foods contain no cholesterol. Even lean meats like shrimp and white chicken meat are high in cholesterol . Cholesterol is important but consuming too much is bad for cardiovascular health. 
• Plant foods are low in saturated fat . Most of the saturated fat in American diets comes from meat and dairy foods. Saturated fat is linked to a risk for heart disease and possibly for cancer as well.
• Some plant foods, like olives and nuts, are high in total fat, but they typically contain healthful types of fat. Unlike saturated fat, these plant fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats) are linked to reduced disease risk when they are consumed in moderation.
• The type of iron in plant foods is regulated by the body in a way that guards against iron overload, which may be linked to chronic disease .
• Plant foods are excellent sources of nutrients, such as folate, potassium, and chromium, which help fight chronic disease.

Even with these benefits, vegetarians and vegans are at risk for vitamin B12 deficiency as well as Vitamin D and Iron. However, supplements can help with this part. 

Eating vegetarian doesn't mean you're not getting enough nutrients you need for the body. As long as your diet is balanced, you will be healthy. Nuts are a great source of protein for vegetarians, as well as legumes and quinoa. It's so easy to consume protein now a days, compared to our prehistoric times. 

Anyway, the reason why I bring this up is that I'm thinking about going vegetarian again, but I'm still unsure if I should or not. I really enjoyed it when I was vegetarian. The only problem is that the people around me don't necessarily support it, especially due to my culture (that loves meat and think it's important). Don't get me wrong. Eating meat, especially lean meat, can be part of a healthy diet. It's just not really for me. 

Do you guys have any thoughts on this?

Have you tried going vegetarian? If so, how was your experience with it?

Delicious Shrimp Shirataki Recipe and my week's eats

It's been a busy week for me. I haven't had time to post much recipes the past week! But, I'm going to make it up to you by giving you this recipe for Shirataki noodles.
As you probably have heard, shirataki noodles are these miracle noodles since they're low in calories (as in zero calories!). They can be substituted for some noodle dishes.
I bought this regular shirtaki brand from an asian store and it doesn't use tofu like some brands do. I hope you guys enjoy this recipe. Well, I didn't measure out the ingredients. I eyeballed it instead. But, it still tastes good and you can adjust how much pb, soy sauce, or sriracha you want. If you like spicy, add more sriracha! It's a Thai inspired recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 pack of shirataki noodles, drained
• shrimp
• any veggies you like 

For the sauce:

• pb2 or peanut butter
• water (if you're using pb2)
• soy sauce
• sriracha

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, mix together the sauce ingredients. 
2. Cook the shrimp and the veggies. 
3. Then, heat a nonstick pan and spray with nonstick spray. Place the noodles, shrimp and veggies in it. 
4. Mix in the sauce. 
5. Heat and stir the noodles as it is cooking. Cook for about 5 minutes. 
6. Take off the stove and enjoy. 

Now, here's some eats I've been eating the past week. They're pretty delicious, if I say so myself. 

 I got the Berry Fulfilling from Jamba Juice during their $1. Yummy! I also requested soy protein. I drank this after my workout at the gym. It's my regular Jamba Juice order.

 I decided to try something new for breakfast. I pan fried an egg and topped it with avocados and sriracha. I ate it with the multigrain rounds from Costco. It was delicious! I'm definitely going to eat this combo again.

 I also bought this from a local store. It's a Cookies N Cream ProMax bar and a Double Fudge Brownie ProMax bar. My sister ate the Double Fudge one and she said it tasted good, like a really good brownie, but then had a weird taste after a few bites. She stopped eating it for a bit and then ate it again and it tasted fine. Then, it had a weird taste and stopped eating it. She kept doing that until she finished it.

 They were giving out free samples of PinkPerry Frozen Yogurt in front of my school's bookstore.

 I took advantage of Starbuck's Buy One get one free deal. I ordered the Vanilla Spiced Latte with soymilk, no whipped cream. I actually liked this. The spices blended well together with the drink.

I was so disappointed with this Cookies N Cream ProMax bar. It looked like it would taste so good! Well, boy was I wrong. The outer yogurt coating was sweet and good but the inside was just chalky! It was chewy too and I did taste chunks of chocolate cookies. But, I was not satisfied with this bar. The first ProMax bar I tried, with the peanut butter and chocolate, was really good. I don't know why this wasn't as good...

 I've been seeing bloggers talk about the BelVita for the longest time. I've been hesitant to buy and try this but, boy am I glad I did. I had a night class and had to stay all day at school. I got so hungry so I bought this Blueberry BelVita from the bookstore. I'm so glad I did because these taste too good to not be that bad for you. They tasted like a crunchy blueberry muffin.

 And, of course, since it was a night class day, I bought a Mayan Mocha with soymilk from EcoGrounds. I needed it to stay awake!

 The next day was work, so I stopped by the local coffee shop (which I've been going to the past 2 weeks) and ordered the Hot Pumpkin before going. It was so good! It tastes just like the Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks but better. This had very few and simple ingredients but tasted so good! I finally found out the name of the place. It's called Fluid. They have vegan pastries too. I love this place!

 I snacked on this Apple Cinnamon BelVita that my cousin gave me before I went to work.He said that he likes the Golden Oat better. He says that these tasted a little bland. He's right. There was a hint of cinnamon and some chewy spots in the cookie but other than that, it wasn't that special. The Blueberry one I tried was a lot better.

 I also ate this Crunchy Macadamia Pineapple Rise Bar. I gave one to my mom a couple weeks ago to try and she didn't like it. But, the funny thing is that it's my favorite so far out of the other flavors I've tried. The texture is great and it's sweet but has a natural sweetness I like. The crunch comes from the Macadamia nuts in it. They were very generous with those. The nuts are spread well throughout the bar.

And, yes. Even I eat fast food once in a while. This is the Jalapeño Turkey Burger from Carl's Jr. Sad thing is, I think I wasted my calories and fat on this. It was only a decent burger. The sauce was really yummy though. I liked the spiciness but other than that, this burger had no real flavor to it. 

I guess that's it for now! Oh yea. I attended a volunteer orientation today at a hospital .I'm so excited to start volunteering!

How was your week?
Are you crazy about coffee and mochas like I am? If not, what beverage do you prefer drinking?

Chocolate Crescent Rolls

 I actually created this post last year on January 4, 2012. I thought I had published it but it turns out I didn't. Since I'm so busy, here's the post. Enjoy! You can make these for Valentine's Day. ;) 

Hey you guys. What's up? Today, I decided to make Chocolate Crescent Rolls. We bought the crescent rolls from Costco a while back, and we needed to use it up. I decided to look up recipes using these rolls, and this recipe came up. I guess I purposely looked for a dessert like recipe, since I love sweets. I also love chocolate. Yummy dark chocolate. This was my first time making this, and I'm pretty satisfied with the results. They were devoured right away. I guess because these are quite addicting, even with the use of dark chocolate chips. Anyways, my siblings love these and I do plan on making them again. But, this time, I may add some other things to, like peanut butter or marshmallows. It'd be cool to make smores. So, here's the simple recipe.

Ingredients: 

• 1 -  8oz crescent rolls
• chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate chips)
• powdered sugar (optional)

Directions: 

1. Open the container and unroll the dough. Split into 8 triangles. It should be precut. 
2. On the fat end of the triangle, add as many chocolate chips as you want. Then, you roll it up. Do this with the rest of the triangle dough. 
3. If you want, before adding the chocolate chips, add some peanut butter. Then add the chocolate chips. 
4. Bake at 350 F for 10 to 12 minutes, until golden brown. 
5. Take out and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Enjoy. 

 

2nd Week Back and Recent Eats

Who said college was easy? 

image from: http://www.pamsclipart.com/clipart_images/a_stack_of_school_text_books_0515-0908-1721-0833.html

It's not. You have to study. You have to read, do homework, make charts, do projects, keep in touch with friends and make time for yourself. If you have a job, it adds even more stress!

You see, it's not easy. 

That's how it has been for me. There is so much reading that I have to do, and there's no teacher nagging you to do it. You're independent and on your own when it comes to homework and studying. 

Don't slack off and be lazy. You go through the material twice as fast in college. Do your "assigned" readings and homework. Study for tests. Take good notes. That's what I'm doing and it does help!  

As for friends, it can be easier or harder to make friends. If you live in a dorm, you make friends with people within. If you live at home, you have to depend on the classroom. And, you know what? People don't usually stay and hang out after class or talk much to others. They mainly mind their own business. Its up to YOU to start the conversation and make acquaintances or friends. It's also up to YOU to keep in touch with them. 

Do you know why I am saying this? I started talking to my classmates more this semester and I'm starting to make new friends. It's a great feeling, different from last semester. I was so shy last semester, but I know I have to break out of the shell. 

As for making time for yourself, it can be hard once you are bombarded with homework, studying and "hanging out with friends." It may be hard to find time to get a good workout in or do some things you like such as baking, playing an instrument , keeping up a blog, or what not. It's all about balance. I'm still trying to figure it all out. I admit that I am getting better at it though. One thing that can help is making a schedule!

Now that I have said all of that, here are some recent eats:

I went to PitaPit con mi primo the past week and I got the Spicy Black Bean with a whole wheat pita. I asked for spinach, carrots, lettuce, cucumbers, bbq sauce, and craisins. It was delicious!

 Then on Thursday, I got the Berry Fulfilling from Jamba Juice. Yummy!

 I just had to show you guys a picture of the Belgian Chocolate. It has a cello on it. It also tastes pretty good!

On Friday, I went back to that local coffee shop and ordered the Mexican Mocha with soy milk. It was awesome! It tastes better than the Mayan Mocha I had from EcoGrounds (which was still good though!).
The bread is a Chocolate AnPan Man from a local  Japanese Bakery.

We went to Hometown Buffet for brunch on Saturday and I finally ate a cinnamon roll. It was so good! I also ate some carrot cake, which I haven't really tried before. I love carrot cake now! Also, they had an omelette station where you can order an omelette. It was pretty good.

What's cool is that I received this from my parents. It was my grandmothers:

It's a rice cooker with a steamer attachment. I get to cook quinoa and steam veggies and meat at the same time! Look at the pictures below. I steamed quinoa on the bottom, with shrimp. cauliflower and green beans in the steamer portion. It's super healthy. Maybe I can steam fish next time. Also, I made a sauce with sriracha and soy sauce. It's so good! I'm so happy I have this. I get to make my own easy, healthy and fast meals! 

I guess that's it for now! My weekend has been busy with Chinese New Year stuff. I love eating the vegetarian dish (Buddha's Delight or Jai)  my mom makes every year for Chinese New Year. It's delicious!

How was your weekend?
Are you a meat lover or a vegetable lover (or both?)?