chocolate covered peanut butter filled pretzel

These little morsels of goodness!

Homemade chocolate covered peanut butter filled pretzels! (A delish gift from Isaac’s bother’s girlfriend.)

Need an homemade gift idea for Valentine’s Day or even next Christmas? Add these to your list because let me tell you they’re GOOD! Too good to have sitting around the house, that’s for sure. I ate 8 of them in one sitting (before noon). Oops.

Despite the above sugar overload I have been eating healthier meals, although last night’s dinner was a sweet treat as well.

Sweet and Sour Chipotle Tempeh with Sweet Potatoes with Coconut Lime Basmati Rice from Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan. (*The photo below is the perfect example of why I don’t like taking food photos at night!)

I was a bit nervous because my local store was sold out of my fav tempeh, LightLife’s Three Grain- one of the milder varieties. I ended up settling for the Lightlife’s Wild Rice variety. To avoid the bitterness and make certain the flavor would be mild I used a trick of the tempeh trade and steamed it in 2 cups of vegetable broth for about 20 minutes. The tempeh turned out to be tender, had no bitter after taste, and worked magnificently in the sweet and sour dish.

The combination of peppers, sweet potatoes, tempeh, and pineapple topped with an extra sweet sauce and cashews made quite the tasty meal. And although I enjoyed the coconut lime basmati rice, I wished I had served the S&S tempeh with a plain brown rice, quinoa or couscous. The sweetness of the sauce was more than enough for one meal, however I felt fine eating it because all the sugary goodness came from natural sweeteners. As an added benefit, a delicious smell completely filled the house while it baked! I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again- every recipe I’ve tried from ED&BV has been awesome. Dreena never fails me!

Since this morning was my first day back at the office I knew I needed some extra super charging to get me motivated. I had an Ezekiel muffin with better n pb/maca (superfood!!) and cottage cheese topped with (leftover) canned pineapple.