Recipe of The Day: Faux Philly Cheese Steak

Well, looks like my puter wants to cooperate a little. So here is a post for ya.

For this weeks posts, I plan on featuring a few healthy dishes I came up with for JP and I. We are still maintaining a healthy eating diet. I decided today, that I would cook a weeks worth of food for the both of us. It makes it a lot easier for me. I broke everything down into individual servings and froze them. So that way we can just pull something out and heat it up. Easy enough. The kids aren't being subjected to this way of eating...yet! lol

Today we had, what I like to call "Faux Philly Cheese Steak." The easiest thing for us to eat healthy, is to have things that we still like, but with half the calories. I went to Earth Fare last week and picked a few things up. I saw these Smart Strip Steak Styles Strips.



They looked good to me! The picture had me sold! It looked just like meat. These strips have 14 grams of protein and no fat. The whole box is just 2 servings, which only total 160 calories! We didn't even eat the whole box for our sandwhiches either. My apologies for no step by step pictures. I cooked so much food today, that just would have been a lot of work.

So here is my recipe...

Prep Time: 10-15 Minutes
Cook Time: 10-15 Minutes
Serving Size: 2-4 People

Ingredients:
1 Package Lightlife Smart Strips Steak Style Strips Seasoned Veggie Strips
1 Large Green Bell Pepper
1 Large Jalapeno (You can used can or jar varieties)
1 Pepperidge Farm Classic Whole Wheat Hoagie
1 Laughing Cow Garlic Herb Cheese Wedge( or any variety of cheese JP used Cheddar)
1/2 Medium White Onion
1 Serving of Hellmans Olive Oil Mayonnaise (or any other variety)
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon Canola Oil for Cooking

In a large pan on Medium Heat. Add in your oil. Then add in your Jalapeno, Onion and Bell Pepper. Saute until vegetables start getting a little tender. Add in your Smart Strips. Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper. Saute for 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and assemble sandwich!

I must say, this was an excellent dupe for a Philly Cheese Steak. Wow! The texture of these strips is just like meat. JP enjoyed it, as did I. I can't believe how low cal this meal was. I almost felt like I was cheating. LOL


Another "faux meat" product we tried was White Wave's Chicken Style Seitan. Seitan is a fake meat product made from Wheat Gluten. I made this BBQ style. I simply sauteed it in a large pan with some onions until it browned a bit. Then poured some regular BBQ sauce over it and baked it for about 30 minutes. I think the overall taste was good. The texture wasn't quit like a meat texture. I want to say it was like a McRib texture. LOL Remember those? JP wasn't fond of the texture by itself. I ate it with some Quinoa and Veggies. The next day I threw it on a Whole Wheat Hoagie roll with Olive Oil Mayo and it was even better! JP thought it was good on the bread too. So we'll just keep experimenting with this product.

Don't worry friends, we haven't gone totally Vegan. Just trying out new things. Seeing what we like and what we dislike. We are trying to transition to healthier eating. I will still bang out the classics for the kiddos. Tonight I made them stuffed shells. Lucky! But, we'll see how it goes. We'll still have our cheat days, so you know those will be good. Because after all, we are Banginfood. We like food with a bang! Ha! That's all for now. Ciao!

~Feather
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Lamb's Bread Veggie Vegan Cafe and Juice Bar

It was a cold and windy Saturday! JP and I did not want to spend another weekend sitting in the house. Despite the chilly weather, we got up and took a afternoon drive. After a while...we got hungry. We drove around for a minute trying to figure out what to eat,(because I'm still not eating meat for lent). We headed toward downtown Columbia. We spot a small little building with a huge sign that said, "Lamb's Bread Veggie Vegan Cafe."

We decided to stop in and see what they had to offer. It's located off of Main St. going toward downtown Columbia. It's a unique looking place, once inside. The aroma of the food automatically had us sold. The walls are adorned with unique African art and statutes. Nice quiet atmosphere. We notice there aren't any menus to look it.

A nice lady greets us at the counter. Looking around, we asked her for a menu. She points up to a white board where there are handwritten items. Looking a little confused, we notice meat dishes. Thinking..."Isn't this a vegan spot?" She quickly explains there are no animal products used and that the dishes are named so, because that's how they taste. Ahhhhh! I chose to go with the pepper steak, cabbage and curry potato. JP chose the, smothered strips, chick peas and curry potatoes. Total meal cost us around $16, no drinks. They had an array of herbal teas, noni juice, and other interesting things. The lady showed JP were the food was, so we could get an idea of what the this "mock meat"stuff looked like. She had it in some warming buffet thing.



Oh my gosh ya'll!!! This was some of the best tasting food I've ever eaten! She also threw in some raw avocado, which went well with the dishes. I'm not sure how they do it, but this food really tasted like meat! My food was excellent. The pepper steak was yummy, I couldn't get enough. Even better, after I scarfed my food down I didn't feel all bloated and groggy. I felt good and satisfied. Best vegan meal I've eaten so far. I had a few bites of JP's and it was equally as delicious.

Pepper Steak, cabbage, and curry potatoes

Smothered strips, curry potatoes and chick peas

Good to the last bite!

Bang-O-Meter says it's Baaaaaaaangin!!!!!!! No greasy thumbs...a healthy not bloated satisfied one??? :) Read more!