Brown Rice - Oatmeal Protein Bars - Vegetables & Hummus - Green Salads with Ranch Dressing
Today I made a variation of my Oatmeal Protein Bars, I used raisins, almonds, substituted molasses for brown rice syrup, and added 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 2 teaspoon of vanilla. They turned out great! I like to eat these as a quick snack or for before or after a workout.
I cut up 1 stalk of celery and 3 carrots to go with my hummus. I probably should have made a double batch of the hummus because between William and myself we finished last week's batch long before the week was up! Maybe I'll just start making it twice a week, it's so good when it's freshly made! You can find my hummus recipe here.
I also threw together two quick spinach salads and tried my hand at making a vegan ranch dressing. I'll have to wait until the flavour in the ranch has had time to intensify, but I definitely think I have a good base to work from. I'll put the recipe up when I'm happy with it, it's soy free and full of healthy fats! This should be enough for both salads, I didn't want to make too much in case it didn't turn out well. The salad on the left consists of: spinach, grated carrot, grape tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, and left over falafel. The second salad contains: spinach, grated carrot, red onion, cucumber, avocado, and chickpeas.
Lastly I cooked up a big pot of brown rice to use throughout the week, I can just steam up some vegetables and some beans or tofu to go with it and I've myself a meal. I also like to put brown rice into salads, wraps, or make a lentil loaf!
Jess
Did you ever post the vegan ranch dressing recipe anywhere? I checked the Dips, Dressings, and Sauces link, but didn't see it. I tried to make vegan ranch dressing recently from a recipe and it was terrible. I was hoping to try out your recipe!
Brittany
No, not yet! Most of the recipes I've come across require vegan mayonnaise and I'd really like to exclude that from my recipe 🙂 I'll make sure to post the recipe here in the blog though!
Payton-Marie
This blog has helped me so much on my quest to eat healthier!
I'm not vegan but I've been vegetarian for 3 years and your blog has inspired me with so many new meal ideas. Your on the go meal preps are especially helpful to me because I am gone from the house from 12pm-9pm Tuesday through Thursday so I need easy and healthy meal plans to work up instead of just getting fast food.
Thank you so much and keep up the good work!
Brittany
Wow, I'm thrilled to hear that! I'm so glad you're finding it helpful, that's exactly my goal! That's great that you're taking the time to prepare meals for when you're on the go, it's a little bit of extra work but it's well worth it. Thanks a lot for commenting 🙂
Anastasia
I love your photos! Those salads look delicious and I can't wait until you get the ranch dressing recipe right and post it. I've tried making it in the past and it never turns out quite right.
Also, to the first commenter: I haven't tried this, but have heard if you put some lemon juice on avocado it will keep it from discoloring.
Brittany
Thanks so much Anastasia! I'll put some more work into the ranch dressing this week!
Lemon juice will definitely work to keep the avocado from discolouring, I'd be hesitant to try it in salads because it could make the spinach wilt (depending on how long you keep them in the fridge for.)
Thanks for commenting!
janet @ the taste space
Yum! I like the look of your protein bars. I used up the last of my TVP in some sloppy joe's but you're making me wish I still had some. 🙂
I am surprised you prechop your avocado, though. I would have thought it would go brown if you waited a few days to eat it?
Brittany
Thanks! The bars actually use soy protein isolate, not TVP, but you could probably substitute with another vegan protein powder. The avocado will discolour a little bit, but it doesn't affect the flavour at all 🙂
janet @ the taste space
Thanks for the clarification. I always thought SPI was TVP! I have many different protein powders (not soy-based though), so I looked forward to trying it out. 🙂
Brittany
No problem! 🙂