More Food, Less Slumping

The color was soooo much prettier!

I started my day with a delicious smoothie made of frozen mango, kiwi, one white nectarine, one banana and some strawberries. It was the color of a really beautiful sunset, or a really beautiful tropical drink, ha. It was very sweet and refreshing. I don't know if I'm alone in this, but smoothies don't satisfy me for long, I think because I'm not chewing. I watched a video awhile ago where the person said you should chew your smoothies. I tried, and I just can't do it, it feels too goofy to be sitting there chewing a mouthful of liquid. So, I use smoothies as a snack, or a light breakfast on days where I'm just not that hungry. I do like the energy I feel from all that fruit though!

I just want a BIG SALAD, with lots of stuff!

I made this big salad for lunch, with Romaine, carrots, Persian cucumber, sunflower seeds, and Goddess dressing. I love Trader Joe's Goddess dressing, which I'm pretty sure is Annie's at a much better price. I rarely had Annie's dressings in Erie, because the price is ridiculous in my opinion. But Trader Joe's has allowed me to go back to my bottled dressing ways.
I cooked up some red lentils so that I could do my best take on the Spicy Red Lentil Wrap from Trader Joe's. I love that wrap so much, and I want to be able to eat it all the time! After perusing the webz for ideas, I realized that the original has a mixture of lentils, and bulgar. I have no bulgar, and no quinoa or other small sized grain, so I mixed a little rice in with my red lentils. I didn't write down a recipe, as this is a work in progress.

Pretty close for my first try!

I cooked my lentil/rice mixture in a little olive oil with some garlic, onion, and crushed red pepper. I forgot about the red pepper sauce/paste on the original, so I just had my wrap with the lentil mixture, and some shredded cabbage. I made my  sauce spicy by adding some sriracha to a garlic tahini sauce. Not bad for my first attempt, especially considering I had to really fudge some ingredients. This is a really fun recipe to continue to improve on! It definitely helped with my slump. I don't feel completely un-slumped, but I am steaming some tempeh as I type to make a curried tempeh salad! I'm trying to force myself to take little baby steps. I'm not going to be making a twelve course meal inspired by French cuisine anytime soon, but some simple dishes should be doable.
I've learned with slumps that it's best to let yourself slump, but for a limited time, and then slowly start pulling yourself out. Sometimes the smallest accomplishments can really make you feel better, and less slumpish.
Happy Monday!