Woman in Real Life

In this recent post, I showed you how to caramelize Spanish Sweet Onions and use them in a quick, healthy and delicious lunch or dinner wrap. As I mentioned then, caramelized onions are easy to make and have so many tasty uses. As promised, here is a second recipe that makes an ideal foundation for caramelized Spanish Sweets.

These onions contain more sugar and less water than other onions. Not only are they ideal for caramelizing, but they're great for sautéing and grilling too. If you use onions almost daily (like I do), you'll be happy to know that you can chop or dice them and then freeze them, so they are ready to be used in cooked dishes such as fried rice or butternut squash soup.

*This is a sponsored post. All opinions are authentic and my own. Thank you for supporting the awesome companies that partner with Woman in Real Life.

Today I'm doing a proper, traditional What I Ate Wednesday. The What I Ate Wednesday linky party that Jenn hosts involves sharing a look at a full day of eats. Breakfast through to bedtime. Nowhere to hide. None of this showing highlights from the week like I usually do. It is a day's entry from a food diary, if you will - in pictures. If you're a dietitian or health aficionado you could, in theory, tell me what I'm missing in my daily diet. If you wanted to. Which I'm sure you don't.

Anyway, this is a look at my Tuesday foods. The kids and I slept in a bit after staying up late for my daughter's dance showcase the night before. My daughter requested fruit done up in the Yonanas frozen treat maker for breakfast. We used frozen strawberries, bananas, peaches and blueberries. (I am currently out of my fave frozen cherries - I have been to two stores at which they were sold out.) When I make Yonanas for my daughter in the evening, she asks me to add a "surprise ingredient." It's usually chocolate chips, so not really a surprise but always welcomed nevertheless. Sometimes I stick a cookie in the middle. Despite the fact that it was breakfast I threw in some chocolate chips and the three of us had frozen-fruit-that-seems-like-ice-cream for breakfast.

I took a look-see at my blog stats to determine what were the most visited vegan recipes in 2013. Some of the top 5 recipes were posted before 2013, but they continued to remain popular over the past year. All of them are simple, healthy and delicious. Okay, chocolate dipped peanut butter balls aren't that healthy, but they beat store-bought treats!

Here, starting with the most popular recipe, are my Top 5 Vegan Recipes of 2013:

I remember when grocery shopping used to be fun. I still like to browse, read ingredients lists and pick out new products to try, but I have so much stuff to get now that it's a little overwhelming. I have to please four picky people (including myself), think about what to make for dinner, devise ways to get the kids to eat healthy snacks and figure out what to pack for those dreaded school lunches.

Once the kids were off to school today, I stopped by No Frills just to pick up some fruit for lunches and snacks. Close to $200 and a full trunk later, I drove home thinking now I have to get all this stuff out of the car and put away. For motivation I put a Beastie Boys cd in the stereo. I figured they could keep me moving if anybody could. Anyway, that's done, the Beastie Boys are still running in the background, and it's time to move on to What I Ate Wednesday and a look back at some food highlights from the past week.

I chowed down on a whole bunch of these vegan Triple C Bars, above. They are completely addictive. Just ask my mom - she made some herself the other day, and she rarely ever bakes anymore. She just had to have them!

Before I go over this week's meal plan, I want to share highlights from last week's meals. The plan went well...meaning I stuck to it even when it was challenging.

Which brings me to Monday. The plan called for minestrone soup in the slow cooker. When I was planning my menu, I forgot that Monday was the "Family Day" holiday. We had to be at my son's first soccer game by 8 a.m. (Who plans games for 8 a.m. on a holiday, by the way?) Nevertheless I stuck to the plan and quickly threw everything into the slow cooker before we headed out. No easy feat, because it takes us 20 minutes just to get the kids out the front door.

With two weeks of meal planning under my belt, I find I am enjoying the process. Outlining what I want to cook for the week and having all the ingredients available kind of forces me to stick to the plan.

Otherwise, I might be inclined to slack off some nights and make less healthy dinners. In my opinion, half of the struggle with cooking is the daily decision-making.

Last week started off with Monday's Curried Chickpea and Tomato Linguine. I used a recipe from Best Health magazine. It was simple to make and I quite liked the curry flavour combined with the pasta.

This What I Ate Wednesday, I am looking at all of the food I consumed on Tuesday.

Let's start with breakfast. I just went grocery shopping on Monday, which means there was still fresh fruit in the house. I enjoyed some Nature's Path pumpkin flax granola with peach slices, raspberries and soy milk. I also had water with Emergen-C in it. I have had a crackle in my throat for a few days, so I am trying to ward off any illness. I added a clementine for good measure.

It's What I Ate Wednesday! I am sharing a look at some foods that my family and I have enjoyed over the past week.

I am continuing to have fun trying new, simple recipes. I don't go for anything too complex. If I do, I get hot and irritated by the time I put the food on the table. And that's no fun for anyone.

One night, I paired an old favourite, Tina's delicious lentils and rice, with a new recipe for rapini with rotini. The lentils and rice recipe is great for parties because it makes a lot. When I am cooking it for my family of four, I often have trouble. You can cut the recipe in half, but NOT the water amount. So, this time I tried six cups of water, and it worked out great.

I’m off to a school field trip (outdoors on the hottest day of the year) with my daughter today.