alicia & atticus: Food

Well, the day started out very disappointing. I took my car into have the windshield replaced, only to have them tell me after waiting for 30 minutes that the glass for my windshield had never arrived. Keep in mind, this has been on my to-do list for over 6 BLOODY YEARS, and here they are telling me at 0925 on a Saturday morning that I would have to make another appointment, after I had bothered to show up early and ready to wait the 2 hours for a windshield replacement.

I went home, ticked off that it was too late to make it to any gym classes I wanted to go to, and ticked off that I was already dressed in normal clothing so I didn't want to dress to go to the gym anyway.

Instead I pouted for about 2 hours and played on the internet. And then I got to work...

Avocado hummus and homemade tortilla chips.

The avocado hummus I loosely based on this recipe:

I added 1 can chickpeas (drained - but reserve the drainage water), 1 avocado, 1/4 cup water from the chickpeas, a bunch of salt (I really love salt), a couple dashes of cumin, 1 clove of elephant garlic, and 1 TBSP of lemon juice. Add it all to a food processor and grind until smooth. My adaptation was based on availability of ingredients and the fact that I'm not the hugest fan of cumin. Overall it was pretty good.

Before you get all excited about my homemade tortilla chips....They're actually corn tortillas, cut into 6ths, and then baked at 350 for 20 minutes. (Flip halfway through). I've made them before with a little olive oil and salt, but since my hummus was pretty good, I skipped the oil and salt this time around. I like my tortilla chips extra crispy, but if you decide to make them yourself you can make them on the chewier side.

Chocolate peanut butter pudding

I can't find what this recipe was based off of, but again, it was a creation based on necessity (covering up the horrible taste of greek yogurt) and what I had on hand. I swear, Trader Joes sells plain greek yogurt in sizes way too small or way too big. This time I went with way too big and now I"m looking for ways to use it up. Anyways, I took 1 cup of plain greek yogurt, added 2 TBSP of cocoa powder, 2 spoonfuls of peanut butter (all I had left), 2 tsps of sugar, and then added some vegan chocolate chips. I put it in the freezer while I ate my lunch, and had about 1/3 of the recipe above for my dessert. Not bad. Enough to satisfy the sweet tooth without making me regret eating it. I kept it in the freezer, so we'll see what it looks like tomorrow.

Homemade vanilla creamer. And yes....that IS a Shirley Temple pitcher!

Vanilla creamer was based off this recipe. (The cheap recipe at the bottom of the page). I changed it in the fact that I strained it after simmering it on the stove because the powdered milk would not dissolve completely. It's still not bad. It'll do as a cheap replacement for my favorite creamer, especially considering I have a mondo-coffee-tin full of powdered milk that my neighbor gave me before she moved.

Protein bars.

The protein bars are based off of this recipe. I bought RAW protein powder last year but the taste is so distinctive and well, kinda gross that I haven't been able to use it in anything. Its hard to cover up the taste. But, it kinda of matches the tastes in this recipe. I tried a little bit of a bar and its okay. Could use a bunch more almond butter (I use almond butter and almond milk instead of peanut butter and milk) as its a little dry. I also added some more vegan chocolate chips on top instead of the 6-8 packages of stevia it called for.
All my replacements were again, based out of necessity. But I do look forward to eating these as a way to get a high amount of protein (17 grams) in a fairly low calorie snack (265 calories). (You can compare that to a peanut butter cookie Lara bar which has 7 grams of protein and 220 calories. Of course the Life Choice High Protein bars have a few more grams of protein and a few less calories but...I MADE THESE). :)

Oh, yes, and a sewing project!!!