Sprouting Archives - Strength and Sunshine

Happy Wednesday! Once today is over you will be able to smell the sweet smell of the weekend at last! I always like to share a food or recipe post on Wednesdays since I can link-up with Jen’s WIAW a share in the blogger/foodie love. I never show a real day of eats and it will stay that way but in addition to today’s new recipe I have to share with you I wanted to show my typical lunches. During the week my lunches stay the same and I alternate between two things. On the weekend things can be a little switched up since I have more time so I will make a smoothie or something like that, that isn’t practical for school. But the two main things I eat are as follows…

A Sunflower Seed Butter + Apple Butter sandwich on Udi’s Multi-Grain Bread (this picture is form the Summer so I had time to grill my sandwich on my mini George Foreman Grill…sadly now I don’t), some sort of crackers for crunch and a side of easy to cut up and eat fruit (like grapes, kiwi, or berries).

A Hummus sandwich which is made by using two GF corn tortillas, slathering each one with hummus, and stuffing copious amounts of spinach (or other greens and veggies) in the middle. So Good! Plus I will have crackers again for some crunch and a side a veggies (Snap peas and the best!)

These combos are both so good and perfect for me and I never get bored of them since I always switch up the little things in each. But I can tell you I hate wrapping up my sandwiches (especially the hummus sammy…it is so floppy and really hard to handle…but worth it) and getting all my snacks ready for school. I do this all the night before except I make the sandwich in the morning so it stays more fresh. Then I get to eat in my Ancient History class since I have no lunch period. O the joys of school.

Now for the new “recipe”. It is really quick and I just threw it together so I hate to call it a recipe but o well. So instead of sprouting lentils again last week, I sprouted black beans! I used the same method although they took one more day to get to the sprout I wanted. But I loved them and even though I have been eating tons of beans and legumes lately my stomach has been pretty good with it. I believe it is the sprouting since that breaks down all the hard to digest compounds. So if you find beans and legumes hard to digest, sprout them and I am telling you your body will be happy!

Spicy Green Sprouted Black Bean Salad

Ingredients: (Serves 1)

– About 1/2 Cup to 3/4 Cup of Sprouted Black Beans

– A Big Handful of Spinach (torn)

– 2 Small Celery Hearts (chopped)

– 1/4 Cup of Cucumber (chopped)

– 1 1/2 tsp of Salt-Free Stoneground Mustard

– 1/2 tsp of Turmeric

– A Few Dashes of both Onion Powder and Garlic Powder

– 1/8 to 1/4 tsp of Fresh Cracked White Peppercorns

Directions:

– Bring a pot of 1 cup of water to a boil and add the beans for about 10 minutes. Remove and set aside.

– Get all you veggies and spices together and then add the beans to a large bowl with all the other ingredients. Toss and coat everything around.

– Next pop the bowl in the microwave for about two minutes, stirring half way through. Take it out, taste, adjust seasonings to your liking, and enjoy!

I also have two other memorable dinners that I loved recently and wanted to share…they deserve the attention.

First up is Smoked Paprika Turmeric and Parsley baked Salmon + a Micro-baked Sweet Potato with Cinnamon and Hemp Seeds. This Salmon fillet was so good. Like the best I have had…ever. I guess sometimes ShopRite’s seafood department does get it right!

Next is a random bowl of goodness that consisted of a can of salt-free Tuna, Mixed Greens, Smoked Paprika Plantain Fries, salt-free Stoneground Mustard, Lemon Juice, and more Smoked Paprika. I have been loving throwing together these bowl type dinners! So easy and fun and a nice change from my normal dinners.

Okay that’s all for this WIAW! Remember to link up and join in on the fun!

So tell me:

What has been you most stellar dinner creation lately?

Do you like throwing together random bowls of ingredients when you have no idea what you want? I totally love doing this now and will definitely be keeping this idea for a go-to when I am in a dinner rut!

Hey, happy Thursday! Just one more day until the weekend, I can’t wait. I have been crazy busy this week but I think it is mostly due to the fact that I am just still getting used to the new routine and swing of things with school. I am hoping it will get easier and easier each week but right now I am TIRED! During school my classes are all over the place and we only have 4 minutes to get to our next class. So I have to sprint from one side of the school to the other side climb up 2 flights of steps and run to the door of my class…but the bell always rings before I get to that last stretch of hall. Thankfully my teacher is okay with it. And that is juts one class…I have to do multiple sprints throughout the day. Since I have 9 classes as well, I really have no down-time. Some classes are just easier electives so they provide some relief but I am still just exhausted by the time I get home…then it is time for homework…when will it end!

So geuss what I finally am giving a try this week? Sprouting lentils! I am so excited and have a new recipe in my mind to try with them when they are done. I am hoping by tomorrow they will be sprouted enough, but so far so good. I started them on Monday and having been giving them motherly care all week. I also picked up some Golden Beets (never had them before, only the traditional red/purple) so I am excited to use them with the lentils! If the recipe comes out good I will be sharing it next week so stay tuned.

I have been so stressed about managing my time with homework, studying, blogging, eating, sleeping, and working out when I get home. It is really hard and I am so worried my blog will be the first to suffer but I am still trucking on with 5 posts a week…for now. I will keep trying my hardest but if it gets to be to much I may have to cut down to 3 or 4 a week instead. Besides that I am also diligent about keeping enough time at night for my workouts. Tuesday I did my 30 minutes of HIIT right when I got home and I plan to do the same today after school. I also did an hour of yoga on Tuesday. Wednesday I did my lower and upper body strength training after homework and dinner. And I will also be doing my calves, push-up, Pilates leg-work routine tonight. It’s a whirl-wind but it always feels great to workout and get the stress pushed aside!

One more thing I am excited about. I mentioned it a few weeks back but now it is finally time! The GFAF Expo on Saturday! I have never been but it seems like fun. From the site, “The Expo is the premier gluten and allergen free event in the US. Whether you are looking for specialty products that taste great or trying to learn how to cook and bake to meet your dietary needs, the Expo is the place to be!” I will be going with my mom and know she will get more out of it than me since I tend to not eat much in the way of processed food and snacks. But it will be great for meeting up with a few of my favorite brands and I will be meeting up with the Plant Fusion team. (I need to update you on Plant Fusion, but that will be another post!) So expect to see a recap sometime next week of the expo!