my pregnancy eats!

i have had no desire to blog lately though i continue to take photos of food and continue to read other people's blogs! sigh!
but thought maybe i should start a post on things i love to eat while pregnant. i had braced myself for comments like "oh, you will crave eggs and steak" and whatever during this new phase of my life, but i haven't gotten those! (i must surround myself with great people! hehe) i did get one comment at work that was "you eat so many vegetables, your kid is going to come out only wanting to eat candy!" which i thought was a little ignorant even as a joke and i replied, "not if she doesn't know what that is!" but i think being vegan is becoming more and more common these days and in general, most people seem to want to eat more vegetables and real foods so i don't think vegan is as confusing to people anymore, maybe?
i still can't believe that i have someone growing inside me (and somehow the 3D ultrasound and the kicking hasn't helped me make the connection either!) and that i will get to meet her by the end of this year! i can't wait to introduce her to so many things and watch her explore and figure out what she likes!
anyways! typically i have had smoothies for breakfast but i can't say i have a routine for breakfast anymore. sometimes i have cereal or toast or even dinner leftovers! this morning, however i returned to a green smoothie!

this one (serving 2) contains:
- 1 quince
- 1 pear
- mini handful of baby kale
- about 2 shots of BrainOn
- about 1.5 cups filtered water
- about 1.5 cups frozen mango
- 1 frozen banana

i added my daily liquid iron supplement to it (i generally have my iron with orange juice during my work morning break) and i'm set! super yum.

i just finished roasting some butternut squash (and currently eating the roasted seeds that roast just a wee bit faster! yum!) for lunch.

at work, i almost ALWAYS have a salad. nothing different than pre-pregnancy. i never look forward to anything as much as salad! on days that i haven't felt like chopping somehow or market shopping, i hope that it's wednesday, thursday, or friday and that i can get to christina's food cart, culver city salads. her salads are glorious!

i got a cuppow dressing cup for mason jars which makes mason jar salads all that more exciting to eat out of. i have never minded so much having dressing on the salad during transport and pre-lunch but it's still fun to add it and mix it in at lunch.


 
 hemp seeds are always a great addition to salads!
 
 i was craving corn (organic, duh!) and added some tao cafe raw burger to the top of my salad and oh goodness, it was the most delicious thing ever!
  
a delicious garden-fresh potato salad my mom made for me this summer - all backyard or CSA box ingredients except the pickles. YUM!
 
yesterday, i bought some sprouted grain wraps (i eat gluten on occasion now, mostly out of curiosity, though it is always organic, whole and/or sprouted) and plopped some collard green, kale, red cabbage, and carrot on top and then drizzled a dressing that i generally have some version of on my salads lately: sprouted chickpea miso, apple cider vinegar, flax oil, nutritional yeast. SO YUMMY!

dinner is generally a warm grain and bean/legume with steamed veg. paul has been amazing at cooking up something for when i get home around 4:30. such a treat!

so basically with this growing a baby deal and being vegan, i feel extra justified in getting any and every veg and fruit (especially seasonal ones at the farmers market) and i continue buying/ingesting organic food. i am taking a prenatal vitamin and iron supplement daily, but other than that ritual, i'm just trying to eat as many different things as possible and the least processed foods as possible. which is not anything new for me.

(i love trying new-to-me things at the farmers market, like these "mini watermelons", er, sour mexican gherkins, which are really like sour bite-sized cucumbers! so refreshing!)
i can't get over how easy pregnancy has been and how awesome i feel and how excited i am about the little growing inside me! part of me wants her to stay inside as long as possible as i'm thinking this is going to be the easiest part. but i hope that paul and i will continue to celebrate and marvel in every step of her growing up.
and i'm confident we will.

inspiring dinners! (an excuse for delicious food photos!)

paul's been surprising me with lunches and dinners more often lately and it's been super awesome to get to eat together and also try new things!
the other night, i was craving baked potato styles and we had some sweet potatoes so he steamed them and mashed them and topped them with an avocado/cashew sour cream and coconut bacon and a mary's crackers chipotle tomato pretzel stick! (don't they look like savoury cupcakes?) nutritional yeast (obviously) and steamed veg on the side. YUM!

and a craving for poutine turned into... (his super yum mushroom gravy with steamed potatoes, green onion, daiya, and peas!)

and farmers market-inspired dishes like multi-coloured carrots and beets, zucchini, broccoli (all steamed) with mashed potatoes!

 and more farmers market-inspired eats (with more mushroom gravy!) swoon!
 
and, well, who can resist a great potluck/dinner party?
this is my plate from janna and phil's bbq in the summer... some whole foods deli salads and homemade slaw and quinoa salad!
 
 and from a dinner with hayz and hanh - veg burger and raw chili and salad!
 

black bean veg burgers! aka i started this post probably 4 months ago and i'm just going to post it now.

i wish i started this post back when i had my original link of inspiration. i know the recipe i was basing my burger off of was something like this one and i feel like a doofus for not posting while my memory of modifications was fresh.
paul just finished the last of the stash we had in the freezer the other day and was remarking how much he liked them and gah! could i even replicate them?

Ingredients:

1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed 1/3 cup chopped sweet onion 1 tablespoon minced garlic 3 baby carrots, grated (optional) 1/4 cup minced red bell pepper (optional) 1 tablespoon ground flax 1 tablespoon warm water

1 teaspoon chili powder 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1 teaspoon cayenne 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 2 slices gluten-free bread, torn into small crumbs 3/4 cup rice flour, or as needed

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a baking sheet.
2.	Mash black beans in a bowl; add onion, garlic, carrots, and bell pepper. Mix.
3.	Whisk flax, water, chili powder, cumin, cayenne seasoning, salt, and black pepper together in a separate small bowl. Stir flax mixture into black bean mixture.
4.	Mix bread crumbs into bean mixture. Stir flour, 1/4 cup at a time, into bean mixture until a sticky batter forms.
5.	Spoon 'burger-sized' mounds of batter onto the prepared baking sheet, about a 3/4-inch thickness per mound. Shape into burgers.
6.	Bake in the preheated oven until cooked in the center and crisp in the outside, about 10 minutes on each side.