pink, green, crunchy, bananas

Something was a little different today. 

That something was breakfast.

Why exactly is my first photo a HUGE stalk of rainbow chard??  It should be a bowl of oats, no?

Nope.  Breakfast included this lovely stalk of green crunchy deliciousness.  Thanks to Gena, for inspiring me to do something with breakfast, that I never though possible.  Gena is the queen of green, so I wasn’t too surprised when I saw this post of hers.  However, I was surprised when I thought, “hmmm, that could be good!”

But thinking about crunching through leafy greens in the morning, really sounded less than desirable.  Sure, I’ll throw some spinach in a green smoothie, but that is because you cannot taste it.  I even left Gena a comment saying I just wasn’t quite sure if I’d be able to try this one out.

Slathering the greens in nut butter, definitely made the idea more appealing.  I had to give it a shot!  I decided to use 1 small banana + 1 medium sized apple.  I only used about 1/4 of the apple in the wraps, but ate the rest on the side.

First, the rainbow chard was washed.  I figured if I was going to eat greens in the morning, I would at least pick one with a pretty pink stem!  I cut around the stem quartered the leaf.  It was hu-uge.

Then, on each leaf I spread peanut butter, peanut butter carob fudge and coconut + walnuts on two of them.   

I rolled them up and cut each in half.  Cute little breakfast sushi rolls, no?  Are you gagging just thinking about this? 

I plowed through this breakfast without looking back and could have eaten more.  I’m definitely used to having a warm breakfast, but this was quite refreshing.  There was no problem chewing through the greens.  The key is nut butter!!  I didn’t have any raw nut butter on hand, so my rolls were not full on raw.  I can’t wait to try them with raw almond butter + cinnamon.

Yes.  I’m going to make these again and I dare you to try them!  The most shocking thing was that they held me over for 3 hours.  If I’m lucky, oats will hold me over for 4hrs.  I ate a snack and waited another 1.5hrs before lunch.  I consider that a success of a breakfast! 

My bowls of oats are typically around 500+ calories.  I clocked this in somewhere around 400-450 cals.

The crunchiness was awesome!!  Not sure if I liked the apple or banana better.  Both were really good!

Be sure to check out Gena’s post for a step by step tutorial.  Thanks Gena!!

Soup was for lunch again.  I don’t get sick of leftovers too easily.  Especially when they are so delicious.  Not sure why I’m showing you this yet again….haha

I toasted pepitas with smoked paprika, again, and also added a hefty scoop of leftover cooked millet for a little more ooompf.

Salad on the side was topped with the delicious smoked vegan parmesan "cheeze" I made the other week.  Completely addicting!! 

I also thinned out the dressing from last night and dripped it on top.  Another Gena original!

In between lunch + dinner, I made a fabulous vegan chocolate banana bread.  Recipe coming later tomorrow.  It turned out great and I couldn’t/can’t stop eating it.  It has a super crunchy crust, thanks to the spelt flour, and a doughy soft center, thanks to the brown rice syrup and bananas.

You’re going to love this one!

Dinner was lovely.  Another great day of food!

I made the orange pan glazed tempeh from 101 Cookbooks, again.  This is a must, if you’re new to tempeh.  On the side was leftover millet, spruced up with tamari + garlic + ginger.

I found a recipe in the newest addition of Vegetarian Times for flash fried kale stir fry.  Awesome side dish, that was cooked in 5min flat!  I used a full head of dino kale, 1 medium carrot, ginger, garlic, tamari, sucanat and roasted peanuts on top.  I typically don’t use a recipe for cooking greens, but just stick to something simple…kale chips, steamed broccoli, etc.  This was such a nice change, and Husband approved!

Thanks for the great feedback on my January goals.  I’m excited to get started and to talk about them more thoroughly.  It seems you are most curious about my interest in playing the violin and detoxing.  More soon!!

1 more thing before bed…I’m going to be an Aunt this July!!!!!!!!!!!!  A big congrats to my BIL + SIL and little McNugget that’s cooking away.  SO very excited. :)

Happy Friday!

Ashley