Whew, I’m so glad it’s almost Friday! This has been an abusive week with a lot going on at work and home while training for and stressing about the Urban Cow Half Marathon this weekend. I’m looking forward to it and getting it over with because trying to juggle a training schedule with the summer heat, busy work schedule and my normal exercise routines has not been easy. So much running has had a huge affect on my appetite that I’ll have to be careful about when I’m not running as much. I’m also trying to figure out how much I want to run after this is over, maybe twice a week or maybe less in the chilly winter weather. I want to keep my fitness level up, but long runs are, well, long. Allocating 2 hours on weekends for a long run isn’t always easy and not an option on work days for me. It’ll be interesting trying to settle into a regular running schedule again.
My typical lunch this week have been huge salads, like this kale monster dressed with a creamy avocado dressing.
Because of my increased training over the last few weeks, I’ve been turning to more cooked vegan dinners for more protein and this chickpea curry dish I threw together actually came out great.
Quick Chickpea Curry
Sauce
- 1 medium eggplant, chopped
- 1 tbsp. curry powder
- dash of cayenne pepper
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 tsp. cumin seeds
- 1/2 cup water, as needed
- 1 tsp. salt
Blend all ingredients in a high-speed blender to a puree
Dish
- 1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight
- 2 cups chopped broccoli and cauliflower
- 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
Saute chickpeas and oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until chickpeas are golden. Add broccoli, cauliflower and tomatoes and continue sauteing for 10 minutes. Pour sauce from blender over the mixture and simmer for 10 minutes. Enjoy! Makes about 4 servings.
On my last Whole Foods shopping trip, I picked up another “loaf” of high protein tofu for crazy-week quick meals, Wildwood High-Protein Super Firm Tofu.
This massive 30 oz. package was only $4 and has 10 servings packing 14 grams of protein each. It was vacuum sealed tightly with little water and did not need pressing, it also comes in a resealable package to easily slice servings from.
It was fantastic cubed up in a sweet & sour stir fry. The leftovers of this dish was a hit with my little nieces for lunch the next day, they treated the tofu cubes as fun, bite-sized finger foods.
And wonderfully easy to crumble into a curried quinoa dish I threw together last night.
The taste and texture of the tofu is great, not watery and very filling. But I’m really appreciating that it’s been so easy to work with this week! And I’ve only used half of it so far.
love the value on that tofu! being that it’s already high protein and pressed, there’s no “Waste”. What you see is what you get: a hugh jass block for 4 bucks. love.it.
The fact that you can cut it OR crumble it, nice. Sometimes certain ‘fu is good for one or the other, not both.
The eggplant sauce. Nice that you made it was raw eggplant, then vita, then just a quick simmer
I got a crockpot today! On sale at target for $29.
Long runs = major time suck. We used to do lots of halfs and 10-15k races but that was pre kid days. Now with jobs, a child, and real life stuff..there is no way we could ever sustain that kind of time commitment….good luck finding the balance and groove!
This is the first time I see a package of ‘high protein tofu’! I really want to try it:-) looks very yum!
I just ate vegetarian green curry with tofu – what a coincidence! That is one big block o’ tofu! :)
I love curries which chickpeas! Thanks for the recipe, I have to bookmark it ;).
I hope you’ll have a relaxing Saturday before your race! Training for a half (or any race for that matter) is so time consuming but also worth it at the end. However, I also know so well how it feels when you just want to get it over with. The training is what’s making me hesitate when I dream about running a marathon..