Chakula Tayari: Broccoli and Mushroom Lettuce Wraps

When I was in Tanzania  last year my professor's wife use to always yell "chakula tyari," which is Kiswahili for "food is ready," to call everyone to the dinner table. Everyone ate dinner are 4pm, which was insane to me but the food was always prepared so well by the woman hired that the phrase stuck with me. 

Dinner is ready and on the menu we have broccoli and mushroom stir-fry in lettuce wraps with a avocado and lemon spread. The sides are yummy strawberries and walnuts. This is me trying to be a little adventurous and it worked! The result was mouth watering.

The stir-fry was just a mix of garlic, red onion, mushrooms, and broccoli with a little evoo. For the avocado spread, I mashed half an avocado with sea salt and lemon zest. Next time I think I add some black beans to the wrap.

The Recipe Junky

My staple cookbooks

Confession time:

I've spent countless hours online looking up recipes and too much money on cookbooks. Personally I blame Amazon's 1-click shipping option. I can be spotted snooping around Whole Foods with excitement and apprehension all because I want to be more adventurous with my meal choices. I'd love to get to the point where I can look in my refrigerator and whip something together without a glace at a recipe. Whenever I lack creativity or am just plain lazy I always head back to my staple meals.

Breakfast:

• Oatmeal steamed in almond milk with golden raisins, walnuts, agave nectar and cinnamon. Throw in some slices of banana and it taste just like banana bread in my mind.

Lunch:

• Mashed avocado sprinkled with sea salt with a soft fried egg on toast. Along side some roasted plantain chips, or fruit bowl and I'm set.

Dinner:

• Favorite sandwich! Avocado, hummus, mushrooms, sprouts between bread. Quinoa salad on the side.

It's dinner time!

Avocado Smoothie and Lent

Last year for Lent my Aunt gave up bread, facebook, and meat on Fridays, so this year as I'm sitting in her favorite butterfly chair which I have commandeered  as my own property in her living room by placing all my tech gadgets and books around it, she asked me what I intend to give up for Lent. This will be my first time partaking in Lent and not for any religious reason but more for a test of self-control.

After going back and fourth between what I'm addicted to I decided for Lent I will be giving up Facebook, going vegan, and giving up junk foods. The new boyfriend (oh yes there is a new boyfriend by the way) is also going vegan so this will be an nice endeavor to go through together. 

I'm already vegetarian so the main obstacles that has always been standing between me and vegan has been dairy products. Cheese makes everything taste better, but somethings gotta give. So with my new task came a new interest in vegan recipes. Introducing the Avocado Smoothie. I love everything avocado and this smoothie was so  nice and fluffy. It felt like sipping on green pillows of goodness!!! 

The recipe is from Healthy Blender Recipes and can be found here! I used almond milk to cut time and added another avocado which made it more creamy and bit more green. I also only added two tablespoons of agava nectar because I'm not a fan of too sweet smoothies. It was sooooooooooooooo good!!!!!

the creamy goodness!