day 1 & day 2 + bonus recipe!

I decided to start my diet extravaganza yesterday, Monday, June 3rd. Here’s how it’s been so far…

Day 1

Summary: I felt really tired around 4-6 pm, but this is typical for me.  I suspect it has as much to do with how much sleep I get during the week as what I’m eating.  Once I got out of the office, I felt much better.

For breakfast:

• 1 slice Dave’s Killer 21 grain bread (the skinny ones) + earth balance
• Sassy Green Smoothie (kale, grapes, orange, banana, coconut milk, flax seeds, cayenne pepper)

Snacks:

• Water, water, water
• Mixed nuts
• A glass of red wine in the evening

Lunch:

• Vegan french dip
• Cucumber cocktail
• French fries

Dinner:

• Leftover pasta (garlic spaghetti w/ lemon olive oil & roasted Brussels sprouts)

Day 2

Summary: I was sure my salad would not be enough for lunch. I forgot that I put quinoa in it this time, and it turned out to be really filling. I did break down in the afternoon and have a Monster, so I need to figure out a good afternoon pick-me-up snack.

Breakfast:

• Strawberry banana smoothie with a scoop of Vega protein powder

Lunch:

• Baby Spinach and Arugula salad with leftover roasted Brussels sprouts, quinoa and pistachios

Snacks:

• Monster 🙁 + water, water, water

Dinner:

• Stuffed summer squash (see recipe below)

All in all, not so bad. I drank a lot more water than usual, but I still feel like I’m eating a tad bit too much at dinner.

And my stuffed squash was so good, I decided to share the recipe!  Be warned, I rarely measure anything, so you’ll just have to eyeball it if you make this.

Stuffed Summer Squash

Summer Squash

Squash filling

Stuffed Summer Squash

Stuffed Summer Squash

Ingredients

• 2 summer squash
• fresh spinach, chopped
• 1 white or yellow onion, chopped
• ground soy / soy crumbles
• quinoa
• vegan shredded cheese
• Harissa
• cooking oil of choice
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Cut squash in 1/2 and scoop out seeds and fiber strands from middle
3. Coat inside of squash with oil of choice (I used sunflower)
4. Bake squash until browned and tender
5. Meanwhile, prep the filling as outlined below.  In the end, it should be about 1/3 soy, 1/3 quinoa, and 1/3 veggies but you can adjust this to your liking as well.
   1. Cook the quinoa
   2. Cook ground soy w/ Harissa (you can sub any hot sauce or spicy seasoning, but I really love Harissa)
   3. Sauté onion & spinach in a small amount of oil (here I used grapeseed oil)
   4. Combine cooked quinoa, soy, and veggies
   5. Add in a small handful or two of vegan shredded cheese (I used Follow Your Heart mozzarella shreds)
   6. Salt & pepper to taste and add more Harissa if needed
6. Add filling to squash, cover and return to oven for 20-40 minutes or until filling is nice and hot

Enjoy!