hummus|Chia Seed Me

Jan 20, 2011 Posted by candice on Jan 20, 2011 in our life, recipes, vegan | 13 comments

the best surprise

I felt so blessed by the response to yesterday’s post. Thank you so much for every encouraging word, congratulations, prayer and thought. It really means so much to Jonathan and I.

As we are going through so many changes, I’m so thankful for this blog and all of you who stop by to read it. This is a constant in my life that brings me calmness and familiarity to focus on.

Yesterday was yet another milestone marked off in the journey toward moving to OKC: our house inspection. I think because everything has happened so fast and easily since we put it up for sale last Friday, I had a bad feeling about the inspection, like something just had to go wrong. But it didn’t! We passed with flying colors, and we’re so relieved.

We went to bed last night feeling so at ease, and woke up this morning to the best surprise.

Not only was everything covered in white, but the husband’s office had decided to not open until 10am! Not a bad way to start the morning for sure. We laid back down and slept off and on for another 45 minutes or so, and then got up to have some breakfast and get a few things done.

On my to-do list was to cook up a side dish of some sort to take over to a friend’s house for dinner tonight. Earlier this week, when Grace and Jonathan invited us over, she said she’d be making a vegetable soup, but also some quesadillas for the guys. I promised to make a side dish to go with the soup…I was originally thinking salad, but this morning I just couldn’t get hummus out of my head! So, I pulled out a slew of cookbooks, searching for a recipe that I would already have the ingredients for. Finally, I stumbled upon one in, you guessed it – Eat, Drink and Be Vegan. I adapted the recipe a bit to suit our tastes and due to the fact that I didn’t have a couple of ingredients.

I think it turned out great! But I guess the true test will be tonight. I love how the peanut, tamari and sesame add a distinct sort of flavor, but the garlicky hummus still shines!

Peanut Sesame Hummus with Chias

Ingredients

2 cups canned chickpeas
1/4 cup lime juice
3 tbsp natural peanut butter
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp tamari
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes , or to taste (I like it hot!)
4 tbsp water
1 tbsp chia seeds

Directions

Place chickpeas in a microwave safe bowl and heat for 1 minute
Add remaining ingredients except water to bowl and mix thoroughly
Pour mixture into Vitamix or a food processor

Puree, adding water until consistency is smooth. You’ll also have to stop to scrape down the sides at regular intervals
Garnish with a sprinkle of red pepper flakes and chia seeds, crushed peanuts or a wedge of lime!

Hummus is one of the top items on my list of favorite foods. I especially love how versatile it is – you can eat it for breakfast, lunch, snack or dinner…and you can eat it so many different ways. My favorite store bought kind is Sabra Roasted Garlic, but homemade just can’t be beat…especially because it’s super easy and you can add whatever flavors you want! I’m thinking maybe mexican inspired next time…

Now I’ve got some Super Charge Me cookies baking in the oven, and I’m working on a few projects – planning my PiYo class for tomorrow being one of them. I always end up waiting until the last minute to plan my class, and I’m really trying to work on getting it done early. It’s much more fun when I have plenty of time!

Hope you’re all having a great Thursday!

Do you have a love for hummus? Or have you never tried it before? What’s your favorite kind?

i’m one proud wife

Hi!

It has been quite the crazy weekend around here. Wednesday night I started feeling less than stellar, and by Thursday morning I had a full-on sore throat and achy body. It was not fun. It lasted well into this morning, but I think I’m finally starting to feel better as of this afternoon.

Needless to say my eats have been pretty boring as I’ve resorted to whatever required the least energy to put together. Fortunately I had made a giant pot of taco soup on Tuesday night, so I’ve been eating that pretty much every other meal.

Sprinkle in a couple of Amy’s dinners and lots of hummus – hummus quesadilla, hummus on toast, hummus wrap…and on and on.

I must say I am beginning to seriously crave veggies in a bad way. Must go to the grocery store tomorrow.

Anyway, despite being sick last night still, we headed to Tulsa for the Tulsa Route 66 Marathon race expo. The logo and all of the signage was designed by the husband, and we were super excited to see how everything looked and take some pictures for our website!

I have to say, I am so so proud of him. Outside of his 9-5, he put in over 60 hours for this race last month, and he had 4 other clients to keep up with as well. He has worked so hard – so many late nights, so little sleep, but he is so dedicated. He never stops until everything is just right, and I admire his passion and persistence so much!

Here is a glimpse of the expo.

So proud:) It’s one thing to see the results of all his hard work on the computer screen, but to see it on welcome signs, t-shirts, bags, and even displayed on the floor was just so overwhelming!

We got back from Tulsa late Friday night and ended up sleeping in really late this morning. By the time we got up we had just enough time to clean the house top to bottom before heading out for my 2nd ever photo shoot. I still need to get the photos uploaded and sorted through, but I’ll be posting some asap! They’re pretty cute methinks:)

Anyway, I’m off to bed now – we have to head to Tulsa bright and early tomorrow morning to be there for the start of the race. I hope to get some great pictures of the runners and the husband’s work, but also just enjoy the race atmosphere. I’m already feeling really sad that we aren’t running, but I’m trying to just focus on the excitement of what we are doing! Which is basically the whole reason why we aren’t running….so there you have it.

Hope you’re all having a great weekend!

bring on the carbs

Happy 2nd day of fall! I can’t believe I forgot to tell everyone Happy 1st day of fall yesterday because I am so darn excited. Last night I heard our weatherman say “a fall cool front will be moving in this week,” and I about jumped out of my skin. It sounds like I’m being really dramatic, but I really am that excited. I am in love with fall:)

Jon and I literally drug ourselves out of bed (it was one of those kind of mornings) and went for a four mile run this morning. I was feeling really strong until we hit our first hill, and then everything went downhill fast, literally and figuratively. I think I was dehydrated – it wasn’t even that hot out and there was a nice breeze, but my neck and face felt like they were on fire and my body felt like lead. Very pleasant indeed. We took a couple of short walk brakes and came in just under 42 minutes. I was feelin’ pretty blah, but still so happy that we finished. Our half marathon training is finally looking up a little bit at least, considering we’ve actually stayed committed to our training this week.

Today has been a very “work from home” kind of day, meaning I didn’t leave the house all morning. When the husband called around 11 to say he had to work through lunch I knew I had to get out of the house. Obviously I had no choice but to drive straight to the little bakery we ate at yesterday.

Instead of ordering the same sandwich, though, I just bought an entire loaf of that same bread, haha. I wasn’t kidding when I said how good it was. By the time I was driving across town to get it, I was already starving and developing a serious headache. So, naturally as soon as I got back in the car, I inhaled two pieces. It was so good. Let me say that again – it was so good!!!

Then I came home and recreated that beautiful sandwich, just with different veggies and hummus instead of pesto.

arugula, sprouts, pickles, hummus

with a red pear on the side

I have been wanting to try arugula for months now, but I never can find it! After I picked up my bread, I dropped by the grocery store to get some bananas and happened upon some organic arugula. score! Is it strange to be so excited over a leafy green?

Anyway, I’ve been so excited about my sandwich that I breezed right by breakfast.

I was out of spinach and bananas this mornings, so I had to fore-go my green monster. I opted instead for shredded wheat n bran, a sprinkle of Kashi Go Lean Crunch, frozen blueberries and soy milk. It was a nice change:) I was actually craving cereal last night before I went to bed, so this really kind of hit the spot this morning.

Anyway, I must run. I do just want to say a quick thank you to all my sweet readers for reading my blog- you all are one of the main reasons I keep writing everyday.

And that’s a wrap:) I hope you all have a lovely day – enjoy the cooler weather if you’ve got it and enjoy the last days of summer if not!

takin’ me back

Today was another successful day of Operation: Get Clear Skin. Successful being used very loosely of course – meaning I pulled out all the stops by sticking to the list I posted yesterday…but my face is technically still not clear at all. I honestly do think I can see a glimmer of improvement, though, so my hopes are high. Thank you for all the supportive comments and advice. You guys rock!

Actually, the drama with my face brought back a memory of Thailand for me today. It was Valentine’s Day of 2008, and Jonathan had planned a one night getaway for us at a hotel in Chiang Mai. It was really only about 15 minutes away from our apartment, but had air conditioning, a bath tub and was gecko free as far as we could tell:)

this little guy welcomed us to our kitchen the day we moved in – little did we know his entire extended family + all his friends lived in our house as well.

flowers the husband bought me from the market

hotels like this are fairly inexpensive for Americans

I seriously stayed in this tub for hours on end. It was like I was back in America.

The next morning he took me out to breakfast…

and then it was time for the big surprise.

He had booked me a massage and facial (also really cheap in Thailand – I could get a manicure for about three dollars)!

I remember laying on my back, feeling like I had died and gone to heaven as a sweet Thai woman massaged things into my face.

You see where this is going.

The next morning I woke up and throughout the day this rash began to show up on my face. It was like my entire face was completely overtaken by blemishes…seriously beyond anything I’ve ever experienced in my 27 years. I wanted to hide under a rock and never come out. And I kept asking myself “what could have possibly made you think it was a good idea to let someone rub not only their hands, but also various other unknown concoctions all over your face?!”

Needless to say I haven’t had a facial since.

And that’s where memory lane ends.

Back to today. I started off again with a delicious breakfast juice before doing an hour session of yoga in preparation for my class tonight.

The goods. Parsley, escarole (leafy green I picked up at Whole Foods last week!), 1 plum, 1 organic carrot, 1 beet and 1 apple

aren’t beets so pretty?

a spry little sprig of parsley

and the finished product

After yoga and some light house keeping, I was ready for a snack.

apple and almond butter

I haven’t had an apple and almond/peanut butter together in a long time…but I think it is time to bring it back! holla.

I also sipped on a Pom spritzer (a few ounces of Pom juice mixed with seltzer water) on the side. This little drink was so refreshing to me today.

A little while later lunch was a green monster just like yesterday’s, except with almond milk – yay for a stocked fridge!

After meeting with a new student whom I will be tutoring now as well as student I’ve been tutoring for awhile, I came home craving exactly what you see above: homemade salsa (recipe coming soon!), baby carrots, sugar snap peas, spelt pretzels and spicy garlic hummus. This snack plate was so filling and it took me forever to eat it, which is a plus in my book:)

Dinner was a little more carb heavy. I somehow failed to get a picture, but the husband and I made Mexican Fiesta Pasta. It was hot, mexicany, spicy and it really hit the spot!

I must be off to bed now…I’m planning to make it up in the morning in time for a run, but I’m a little worried seeing as how tired I am right now and how late it is. Must. Get. Sleep.

G’night!

perfect pepper puzzle

This morning Jon and I rolled out of bed just in time to head out for a run. I was absolutely determined to have a good run…which can actually be quite dangerous:)

The weather was decent this morning – in the high seventies with a very light breeze – so off we went. And praise the Lord – it went well! I have been feeling so discouraged about our training, even to the point of thinking to myself “why the heck are we doing this?” Have you ever been there? Thankfully this morning restored my faith in believing that I really can train for and run a half marathon.

Before we headed out I honestly didn’t have a clue what I was going to do to help matters, but throughout the course of our run I tried several different tactics.

What worked:

Paying extra attention to my form. Sometimes when I’m running, I find that I sort of hunch over and stoop my shoulders and back. Today I kept checking in to make certain that my back was straight and my shoulders were down away from my ears. I used a move that I do in my PiYo classes often: scrunch your shoulders up toward your ears as high as you can, and then release them down and back towards the floor, elongating the neck. This helped tremendously today!

Break up the run into smaller segments. Not rocket science right? The thing is that I usually do this with longer runs, but never with shorter runs. I go into shorter runs thinking “well, it’s short already!” But I have to say – in certain conditions, three miles can almost feel like a long run. In fact, I’d rather do a long run over a short run anyday. That’s anyday…not everyday, mind you. ha! This morning, however, I kept telling myself things like “only .4 more miles until one mile is left. You can run one mile easy!” Sounds kind of silly, but it totally helped my mindset. And Jon’s.

Frequent updates on mileage. Sometimes I try to just zone out during a run and not think about the time. Today, however, Jon and were both starting to struggle, so I was giving updates every half mile, and then every .2 miles towards the end. I was somewhat doing this for Jon, since he wasn’t wearing the Garmin, but it totally helped keep my motivation and energy up as well.

Breathe. Again, rocket science I know. But sometimes I really truly forget to breathe. I’ll realize that I’m either holding my breath or breathing very short and shallow breaths. Today I focused on getting frequent deep breaths in, and I didn’t get near as winded throughout the entire run…even at the end.

Stretch. We all know it’s important to stretch after a run, but what about during? At about the halfway point, we both agreed that our legs felt pretty much like lead. So, we stopped and stretched it out for about 30 seconds. When we took off again, I felt much lighter and faster.

I’m not saying these tactics would work for everyone, but they definitely helped change my game this morning. We finished in under 30 minutes including a short walk/stretch break. For us, this was a great improvement!

After our run, I waited awhile for breakfast because I just wasn’t that hungry for some reason. Very uncharacteristic of me. When I finally got hungry awhile later, all that sounded good was a bowl of cereal. I usually shy away from cereal for breakfast because it seems to go right through me, leaving me hungry soon after. But I decided to go for it anyway.

Kashi Heart to Heart, Peanut Butter Puffins, sliced banana and soy milk

I love cereal so much…I wish it just was a little bit more filling. A couple hours later I was already ready for lunch. Jon had to work through lunch today, so I was flying solo.

I decided to throw together a quick concoction – and stuff it in a big bell pepper!

Bell pepper first. I cut the top off, cleaned out the insides and set it on a cookie sheet in the oven at 400 degrees.

For the stuffing, I decided to start with a grain as a base, and after some inspection of the cabinets decided on bulgur. Bulgur is one of my favorite grains because it’s easy to cook and so nutty! Plus, 1/2 cup has only 75 calories but boasts 3 grams of protein and 8 grams of fiber. Into the boiling water it went.

After studying the fridge for a moment, I pulled out some leftover canned corn and leftover chickpeas and dumped them in the skillet.

Protein…check!

Hmmm….I still need some greens. That’s an easy one.

Oops! Leaf overboard!

Lastly, I added 2 tbsp of homemade hummus for creaminess and flavor + 1 tsp oregano and a sprinkle of salt and ground red pepper for a little kick!

By the time this mixture was cooked through, my bell pepper was nicely browned and wrinkled. I carefully (it’s hot!) filled the pepper with the creamy bulgur mixture, stuffing it in deep to make it all fit. Then I stuck it back in the oven for another 15 minutes or so, turning on the broiler for the last couple. I just love the broiler. It soothes my impatient soul.

While I waited, I cleaned up the skillet and cutting board and said hello to this little visitor:) She’s not dead, I promise.

When the pepper appeared super brown and wrinkled, it was ready to go!

Perfect.

With a sweet and juicy peach on the side.

So, so good. Sorry dear…you totally missed out on this one;) The pepper was perfectly soft and somehow the random flavors I threw together fit like a perfect little puzzle. And I love the way the boiler makes the exposed part of the stuffing a little crispy!

After lunch I decided to book it to the coffee shop. Without some lunch company, the house gets a little too quiet. I’ve gotta get some work done and prepare for a call with an Outbox client this evening.

Hope you’re all having a great end to your week – let’s finish strong!

Random Question – what are you most looking forward to about fall?

how to make an epic salad

Thanks for all the sweet and encouraging comments on yesterday’s posts. Every single comment on this blog truly means so much to me!

Today has been pretty uneventful really…I’ve spent the morning working away on the blog and Outbox stuff, breaking just long enough for breakfast and lunch. I do, however, have a new “eats” page at the top to show for it – so go check it out if you get the chance!

Jon and I did go out for a run this morning, which unfortunately turned into a half run half walk. We intended to crank out 3 quick miles, but the return of the heat and humidity plus Jon running late for work got the best of us. I think we may start hitting up the treadmill for our short runs until this heat lets up a little bit. I am not a big fan of the treadmill, but I’m even less of a fan of sweltering heat.

Breakfast this morning was one of my all-time favorites

Cinnamon raisin Ezekiel muffin with 1 tbsp of natural peanut butter and half a sliced banana

And lunch was one of my favorites from last year. When I was a teacher, I would make my lunch before I went to bed every night. A version of this salad was one of quickest, easiest, healthiest and most popular meals I ever took! Popular because several of my coworkers would always ooh and ahh over it’s color and beauty. Now that I am at home for many lunches, I don’t make it as much, seeing as how I don’t have to worry about being on-the-go…but today it was resurrected!

So, in honor of our last few weeks of summer, here is a quick little tutorial on how to create an awesome salad. Salads don’t have to be just lettuce. I’ll be the first one to say “I don’t like salads” if we’re talkin’ lettuce and a few tomatoes thrown on top. I know some people really dig that, but for me – they’ve got to be loaded with different flavors, textures and colors to be enjoyable and to keep me going throughout the afternoon. So, here we go.

Pick your base

spinach
spring mix
romaine
kale

*Next, chop your greens and put them in a large bowl. This salad could get big, so leave plenty of room:) I always chop mine up because I want every bite of salad to have a bit of everything. Plus, I try to avoid shoving giant lettuce leaves in my mouth in front of my lunch buddies (which granted, now mainly include Olive).

Choose and chop your veggies. I like my salads to be bulky. Lettuce really ends up being a smallish part of the overall masterpiece. But you definitely want to create volume by tossing in lots of different veggies. I usually use anywhere between 3 and 5 of the options below.

squash
zucchini
mushrooms
artichoke hearts (a must in my opinion!)
onions
celery
carrots
bell pepper
broccoli
snow peas
sprouts
corn
cold peas
asparagus
beets, shredded
green onions
tomatoes

Choose your protein. Every good salad has to have protein. I’m going to stick to vegetarian suggestions. For beans, I usually add in about 1/3 – 1/2 of a cup. Sometimes I’ll go with 2 different types of beans and add 1/4 cup of each.

beans (kidney, black, chick peas, navy etc)
chopped egg
nuts (sliced almonds, walnuts etc)
tempeh
tofu

Choose your healthy fat.

avocado
nuts/seeds
olive oil

Choose your dressing. Now we all know that a bad dressing can ruin the most healthy and delicious salad. The great thing is that with all the flavorful elements you’re adding to this salad, you don’t need much of a dressing! Here are a few of my personal favorites – just to add a bit of moisture.

balsamic vinegar, straight up. I poor on about 1-2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar and call it a day. It adds the perfect amount of flavor, in my opinion.
olive oil
lime or lemon juice
salsa
hummus

And now for what I consider to be the best and final add ins. These are things that really add a huge punch of flavor or texture.

dried fruit without added sugar (cranberries are my favorite)
chia seeds
fresh fruit (apples, mandarin oranges, strawberries, blueberries, pears, grapes)
seasonings – sometimes just a sprinkle of ground red pepper or oregano can add the perfect touch

Now that all of your ingredients are in a huge bowl, it’s time to mix it up!

This is one of the most important steps because if you just add everything onto a plate, layer by layer, then you won’t get a little bit of every ingredient in most bites. And we definitely cannot deal with that. So mix it up really, really well!

Lastly, dump it all out either onto a plate or in a to-go container. Now off you go with a super healthy, filling and tasty lunch that will make you the envy of everyone you know! ha.

Note: obviously some of these suggested ingredients can serve for more than one category. For instance, olive oil could serve as your healthy fat and your dressing. Or chia seeds could serve as a fun, crunchy add on or as a source of healthy fat or protein. You get the picture.

If you’re someone who is always in a hurry when making lunch like I was was, I suggest using some time on the weekend to pre-chop your veggies that need it (rocket science, right?). Then reserve a small space on one shelf of your fridge for “salad fixins.” That way, when you get ready to create your salad, everything is ready to go – you can just snatch it out of the fridge, toss in a little of this and a little of that, throw a lid on it and go!

Along with creating this salad for lunch today, I also made a new and improved batch of hummus.

Spicy Garlic Hummus

Ingredients

2 cups cooked chickpeas
1 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp tahini
1/2 tsp kosher salt
3 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp vinegar
1/3 cup + 1 tbsp water
1/4 tsp ground red pepper

Directions

toss everything into a food processor minus 1 tsp minced garlic and process until smooth
transfer hummus to a small bowl and add remaining tsp of garlic to the very center
garnish with a sprinkle of ground red pepper

Well, I’m off to have a (hopefully) productive afternoon! See you all later;)

What is your favorite salad topping?

signing off + giveaway winner

Hey!

Today has been busy, busy, but I think I’ve gotten everything accomplished – at least the things that were crucial! Now I’m scrambling around trying to finish getting packed and out the door.

As promised, I definitely filled up on veggies at lunch.

whole wheat lavash wrap filled with squash, cucumber, broccoli slaw, pinto beans, hummus, sliced pear (why not?!) and balsamic vinegar

Kind of an odd combo, but tasty. Too bad you couldn’t have seen me eating it – it was an absolute mess, falling apart like crazy and broccoli slaw going everywhere! I also had a side of leftover roasted brussel sprouts.

Okay, I gotta run. We have to drop Olive off at a friend’s house for the night and hit the road!

But first I’ve got to announce the winner of the Operation Beautiful book! The winner was chosen using random number generator from random.org.

PR_Cal

This week has inspired me. I’m going to make some positive changes and would love a copy of the book to help.

My post-it is:
My body relies on me for nourishment, I will be there for it.

Congrats, and I hope you enjoy the book! Email me (candice@chiaseedme.com) your contact information, and I’ll get it shipped to you!

Thanks to all of you who entered! I highly recommend picking up a copy of the book if you haven’t already – it truly is a great read.

I’ll see you all in Chicago! Have a great night!

a crazy week: part II

Hey hey!

First things first, and then I’ll pick up where I left off earlier today.

Trust me, I don’t want to keep you in suspense any longer than necessary;)

After my stint at the bookstore this morning, I actually managed to get some stuff accomplished! After much debating I decided to start with Be Happy Without Being Perfect. So far it’s really insightful. I’m recognizing a lot of stuff about myself since I quit my job and actually have time to process. I’ll be writing a more extensive post on this topic once I have time to get through more of the book and think over everything a bit more. Good stuff though!

Anyway, between reading, blogging and working on my PiYo class I managed to work up quit an appetite! Actually, I was ravenous! I think it had something to do with the caffeine from earlier…

Either way I needed something, and I needed it quick!

bird bowl courtesy of my lovely sister as an early birthday present (my bday is not until the 10th:)

I went with a bowl of Amy’s reduced sodium vegetable lentil soup – my favorite!

A little while later, the hunger monster struck again, so I decided to whip up something special!

Since trying to cut back on our budget, I’ve decided to start making my own hummus. Jon and I eat hummus like it’s goin’ out of style, so I figured it’d be a good place to start.

I started off with dry chickpeas (the cheapest and cleanest way to buy ‘em!). I brought a large pot of water to a boil, dumped in 2 cups of chickpeas, removed the pot from the heat and let them soak for about an hour. After soaking, I drained them, returned them to the pot with fresh water and brought them to a simmer, leaving them for another hour. Perfect!

Classic Garlic Hummus

Ingredients

2 cups cooked chickpeas
juice of one lemon
3 tbsp tahini
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2-3 tsp minced garlic (we like our hummus super garlicky!)
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp vinegar
4 tbsp water – I will probably use more next time
paprika (to garnish)
parsley (to garnish)

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients excluding paprika and parsley into food processor and process until smooth, stopping occasionally to scrape the sides.

2. Continue to add water until you reach desired consistency. One thing I noticed is that my hummus thickened up a bit once I put it in the fridge – just fyi.

3. Eat up!

adapted from Angela’s recipe

I partook in plenty of taste testing during the making of this hummus. I also snacked on canteloupe.

do you sprinkle salt and pepper on your canteloupe?? It’s the best way! IMHO:)

And now for the best news of the day – the husband got a bonus at work! yay! Way to go husband!

It’s no secret that we use anything as an excuse to go out and celebrate. So off we went to one of our fave little cafes – Cafe Bella.

As usual I ordered the garden veggie with guac and hummus

and the husband ordered the falafel pita

I ended up a bit jealous and stole a couple of bites:) I never lean toward ordering falafel, but every time I encounter it I love it! What gives?!

Okay, now that the eats are out of the way, let’s pick up where we left off earlier, shall we?

So, we made it back to the ramp and began the process of loading the boat. Due to very poor engineering on the part of the resort, loading the boat was not an easy task. There is virtually no protection whatsoever from the wide open lake, so at this point we were taking a direct hit from the white topped waves as they crashed into the cove. After much distress, the boat getting caught on something under the water and my sister very nearly losing her life (or at least a limb), we got the boat loaded and pulled out of the water, only to realize…

the tire on the boat trailer was flat!! What now? It is now lightening and thundering like crazy, and we can see the sheets of rain in the distance, inching closer and closer, threatening to drown is in the midst of our desperation.

We did the only thing we could do – began to slowly creep up the road, hobbling on one good tire in a desperate attempt to reach the free air station.

Just before the monsoon started we were able to figure out how to work the thing (the station was closed up tight!) and get enough air in the tire to make the 10 minute drive back to our cabin. We were SO thankful we made the last minute command decision to come in…it would not have been pretty otherwise!

Despite the rain, things seemed to be making a turn for the better as we curled up in the cabin, waiting for nighttime to envelope us in it’s sleepy grasp.

What we didn’t know is that we were in for an uncomfortably long night…

Stay tuned for part three tomorrow:)

Do you sprinkle salt and pepper on your canteloupe? Or is that weird to you? I say perfectly normal, the husband says weird:)
What odd food combination do you love?

a savory morning

As I mentioned a few days ago, I have been craving savory breakfasts! I used to live on oatmeal, yogurt or cereal for my early morning meal, but lately the sweets just aren’t doin’ it for me.

On my way home from piyo this morning (and admittedly a bit during) I started brainstorming breakfast. I knew I wanted something savory, but I wasn’t really feeling eggs. I contemplated hummus and toast…and then suddenly it hit me.

Savory oats.

I think I first got the idea for savory oats from Angela. But honestly, I really didn’t think I could go there. “There “meaning…to a world where we mix things like black beans and veggies with oats. So, if you feel repulsed by this idea (ahem, Jon), don’t worry. One day you’ll find yourself pondering what to eat for breakfast, and boom, it’ll hit you too. Maybe:)

I immediately went to work. First, I sauteed some swiss chard and corn in a skillet with garlic powder, sea salt and black pepper.

Next I mixed up some humnut sauce by combining a couple tablespoons of hummus with about a tablespoon of nutritional yeast and some water for thinning.

Meanwhile, I cooked 1/3 cup of oats in 3/4 cup of water for a minute and thirty seconds in the micro. Watch ‘em closely so they don’t overflow!

Lastly, I mixed the humnut sauce in with the oats, which created a cheesy, creamy consistency. It was at this point that I started feeling pretty dang good about this recipe:) mmmmm.

Once the chard and corn were finished, I laid them on top of the cheesy oats….and sprinkled on some chia seeds!

Barely able to contain herself next to the creamy oaty goodness:)

After our little photo shoot, I took my first bite and….

it was fantastic! But still missing something.

How about some homemade salsa?

There…that’s it.

While savory oats aren’t my favorite breakfast ever, I definitely will be making them again and trying new variations! If you’re having trouble with the whole idea, just think of the oats as a grain rather than a breakfast food. You wouldn’t think twice about adding humnut sauce and greens to bulgur or quinoa, would you?

Before I go, I’d like to say a huge thank you to my sweet blog friend, Heather from Where’s the Beach, for passing on the Fabulous Sugar Doll Blogger award.

The rules of this award are to tell 10 little known facts about myself and pass it on to three to five other bloggers. So, here goes!

1. I learned to ride a bike when I was 3 (no training wheels!)
2. I used a pacifier until I was 4…get the picture?
3. I played basketball from the age of 5 to 18
4 I am obsessed with anything that has birds on it
5. I flew in an airplane for the first time when I was 20 years old
6. I am a clean fanatic. I absolutely hate being dirty. worked out great in Thailand:)

don’t judge;)

7. I am a chapstick fiend. As my husband says “you are obsessively freaky about it”
8. I changed my major five times in college
9. I love rainy days more than sunny days
10. I never get tired of spending time with my husband

I pass this award on to

Sarah at Gluten Free Tries Vegan

Sarah is one of my very favorite blog friends…if you haven’t visited her blog…go NOW!

What do you think about savory oats? Can you “just not go there?” Or is your mouth watering just thinking about them?

Tonight Jon and I received a special visitor who will be staying with us until Sunday. Can you guess who it is?

comfort food + chia giveaway winners revealed

Jon and I had great intention of running a 5k this morning, but we have a bad habit of chattin’ it up so much that our running suffers. We ended up running/walking 2.54 miles in about 35 minutes . Obvs. there was a lot of walking involved. o’well…at least we were up and moving!

By the time we got back, I had to rush around to get out the door on time!

green monster to-go please!!

2 handfuls spinach, 1.25 cups soy milk, 1/2 frozen banana, 1 scoop Amazing Grass, 1 tbsp natural peanut butter, chia seeds, ice

Need. Bigger. Cup. (I’m hardcore like that;)

After my orthodontist appointment (hi, I’m Candice and I’m 13 years old) I ran through S-bucks for a decaf soy latte. I have cut down on my Starbucks runs exponentially; it’s funny how much better it tastes when it’s a rare treat. Totally worth every last cent today.

After a quick stop at the mall to do an exchange, I headed home for lunch. Sweet Jon had it all prepared for me

Sunflower sprouts make their debut! hooray!

whole wheat pita with hummus, Morningstar black bean burger, broccoli slaw and sunflower sprouts

with a side of juicy watermelon that I picked up last night

one of my thousand new obsessions.

And several hours of work later I dug into this new container of Sabra hummus with baby carrots. Does anybody know how baby carrots came to be? Do they grow them that way? Curious minds want to know!

love me some carrots and hummus

Tonight I was in the mood for some comfort food because I received some bad news. The ESL teaching job I told you guys I landed last week fell through. She called today and said that there had been some kind of hiring freeze and that they weren’t going to be able to hire me after all. Sad:( It hit me pretty hard because I was counting on that being a sure thing when I resigned from my job.

I’m trying to stay positive regardless of what happens. I know that God will provide, and I know everything will work out for the best…I just have to have faith.

Someone quoted the following on twitter last week. Please tell me if you know who it was because I can’t find where I wrote it down!

“This week shall rock! I’m going to hold steady and strong at not digging up in doubt what I planted in full on faith.”

This has been my mantra since I read it last week…I keep repeating it to myself every time I start to sink into doubt. I can’t lose hope the second things don’t go as expected.

Onwards and Upwards!

So, back to the comfort food. I’ll give you 1 guess as to what comfort food was calling out to me.

You got it

Our specialty: homemade enchiladas.

Whole wheat tortilla
black beans
rotel tomatoes
soy cheese
Roll tortillas up and place in a baking dish
Pour canned green enchilada sauce over entire dish
Bake to perfection at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes

**We make six at a time because they are great for leftovers!

All jokes aside about our obsession with Mexican food...if you like enchiladas, you MUST make these. They are like biting into a little piece of heaven. No kidding. You can make any variation – spinach, beans, cheese and onion or a mix of all three! Let me know if you try them out, and I’ll post ‘em on the blog!

In an effort to save money this month, I decided to make a big batch of homemade salsa since we eat it like it’s goin’ out of style. Below is the recipe I came up with tonight, but I think it still has room for improvement. Let me know if you have any ideas for alterations!

Place the following ingredients in a food processor:

1/2 onion, chopped
2 tomatoes, cut into wedges
4 cloves fresh garlic, chopped
3/4 jalapeno pepper, seeds and all!
~ 2 tbsp lime juice
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp kosher salt
small handful basil leaves, chopped
small handful cilantro, chopped

Process until it reaches the consistency you prefer. Eat up!

There are millions of different ways to make salsas – peach salsa, chipotle salsa, black bean and corn salsa, the list goes on and on…

Jon and I prefer just basic, spicy salsa – we’re not crazy about all the add ins. I’m excited to experiment with this a bit more.

Okay, okay, now for what you’ve all been waiting for. I selected the winners using True Random Number Generator from random. org.

Drumroll please.

The winners of the chia seeds so graciously donated by Monterey Bay Spice Company are….

Rhea from Happy Greek Feaster

and

Amber from SAHM’s Musings

Congrats Rhea and Amber. Email me your information, and we’ll get your chias shipped asap!

Thanks to everyone who entered. And a very special thanks to Monterey Bay Spice Company for being our lovely sponsor. Hop over and check out their website when you get a chance. Chia seeds are only the beginning of their amazing products!

That’s all for tonight, friends. Hope you all had a fantastic Monday!

What kind of salsa is your favorite? Any tips to improve my recipe? I’m all ears!!

a rare (but tasty!) occurrence

Good Morning!

I missed checking in last night…right around the time Jon got home from work, I started having stomach pains. Kind of felt like cramps, but I’m not entirely sure. Either way, this morning I woke up feeling mostly good, so I’m happy!

For dinner we created a spin off our usual enchilada recipe.

whole wheat tortilla smeared with canned refried beans (clean ingredients!) topped with black beans, rotel tomatoes, soy cheese.

rolled up and covered with green enchilada sauce

with a side of baked tortilla chips – cut a corn tortilla into chip sized pieces, lay them on a cookie sheet and bake until crispy!

We officially decided last night that no matter what we throw together, if it’s Mexican inspired it’s gonna be good!

Jon and I rolled out of bed this morning and headed straight to the gym. I ended up doing some incline walking at about 3% incline for 20 ish minutes. Then I stepped it up a notch to 5% incline and jogged for another five minutes. Let’s just say running in our little town does not get me in shape for hills!

On the way out I noticed that a class calleed Butts n Guts was starting in about 15 minutes, so I made the executive decision to drop Jon off at home, refill my water bottle and head back. It was a great class, but my favorite part was kickboxing using….those big things you use to kick during kickboxing. Does anybody know what those things are called?! I haven’t the slightest.

I loved it though! It made me think I should try some kickboxing. Our gym doesn’t have an actual kickboxing class, but I think there are some classes that are similar.

I love the little city we live in, but one reason why I’d love to move to a bigger city is to have more options for workouts. Particularly for different types of yoga. There isn’t even an actual yoga studio here at all, and the gym versions are just not the same. I would love to try hot yoga…but the closest class is over an hour away from here:( It made me think that I would love to pursue starting up some kind of yoga studio myself….I mean, why not? With all the college and sorority girls here, I’m sure there is a demand. Hmmmm….

Anyway, I headed home after class, trying to decide on what to have for breakfast. Unusually, I was craving something savory! I almost can’t even believe what I ended up eating. And I really can’t believe that I liked it.

As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t have a problem eating free range, organic eggs. I don’t eat them very often, almost never actually, but if the craving hits I give in!

Unfortunately, I’m the world’s worst egg fryer. Look how sad…

I poured about 1/2 a tsp of olive oil in the skillet before breaking the egg into it. I had no idea what I was doing. But how hard can it be to fry an egg, right?

Meanwhile, I toasted a slice of Ezekiel bread, spread it with Sabra hummus and added a layer of fresh baby spinach. When the egg was cooked, I plopped it on top and sprinkled on a bit of black pepper!

This really hit the spot!

Well, I’m off to shower and do some stuff around the house before I meet a friend for lunch. Hope you all have a great day! Oh, and the giveaway it coming up asap…promise!

Please let me know your thoughts on these questions in the comments section. I’m excited to hear what you all think!

Have you tried kickboxing classees? Would you be interested in trying one?

Have you tried any form of hot yoga? What did you think of it? Would you try it again? I heard you need to go to at least a few classes before judging whether or not you like hot yoga.

say cheeeeze!

Gooood morning! I was up and at ‘em fairly early this morning – I’m meeting my mom in the city to hang out for the day, and I have to leave in t-minus 20 minutes. eek!

Jon and I got in a good, strong 2.5 mile walk this morning. We set out with intentions to run, but were such chatty Cathys the whole time that we ended up walking. I dare say that going on walks with my husband is one of my favorite things in life. I think I’ll try to slip in some online yoga tonight…I’ll letcha know which video I end up using, but I’m thinking maybe this, which was suggested to me by Maggie via Heather. Thank goodness for blog friends, right?!

Last night I went to my power yoga class, and by the time I got back home it was after 7, and I was famished. I decided to whip up this little recipe for Vegetable Couscous + Cheeze Sauce that I had seen on Angela’s site a couple of days ago.

I followed Angela’s recipe, but I did make a few adjustments. First off, I halved the recipe because I was running low on nutritional yeast; I still had leftovers. Also, I had to keep adding water as I stirred the cheeze sauce because it kept getting too thick. In the end, I still would have liked it a little thinner and will likely add more water next time I make it. Thirdly, I used about half the hummus and half the Earth Balance.

For veggies, I used sauteed broccoli sprouts, chopped carrots, chopped onions and chopped bell pepper. Lastly I sprinkled ground red pepper over the top before I inhaled ate it.

All in all it was just as amazing as Angela raved. I will definitely make this again, and I’m super stoked to have leftovers of the sauce awaiting me in the fridge. muahaha.

I also treated myself to a side of steamed broccoli:)

Okaaayyy, now that I am officially 5 minutes late already, I gotta jet. Sorry mom!

See you guys later!

simple pleasures

Today has been the best day ever. And there was nothing major that happened. It was all about the simple pleasures.

A constant thunderstorm all day. Got to lay in bed with J after the alarm went off and had time to make him breakfast. Went to the gym and wasn’t rushed. Picked up my Mini Diana pictures (more to come on this). Blogged TWICE! Ran errands with J. Was able to do lots of laundry and get the bathroom cleaned.

And ate lots of good, healthy food right at my own table.

Breakfast: Oikos plain greek yogurt, Optimum Cereal, sliced banana, cinnamon.

Snack number one: a bowl of fresh cherries.

Lunch: Morningstar spicy black bean burger, leftover guacamole, hummus, onion, tomato, pickles. With an unpictured ear of corn on the cob (obsessed).

Snack two: more Optimum cereal with soy milk.

Dinner: a spinach lavash wrap, organic mushroom and wine pasta sauce, broccoli slaw, leftover veggie and hummus mix. And slightly overcooked brussels on the side.

I’m off to hang out with J and possible enjoy some more of my current read, Glass Castle. One of my goals for this summer was to read more just for pleasure. I read American Wife and Sarah’s Key while we were on vacation, and now I’m on to this new one. Being an English teacher, I of course love to read, but it seems like it has been months since I’ve been able to just sit and read for pleasure. I hope you all have had a wonderful Monday!

Off I go!

we’re back! and a challenge

Well, we made it back from vacation safe and sound a couple of days ago, and aside from me being deathly ill the day after everything is going just great. I am loving not having to commute to work everyday! I feel more at ease and less overwhelmed than I have in I don’t know how long. I finally feel back to myself, and I’m soaking it up.

Sadly, I had to basically drop off the face of the blog world for the rest of vacation because our Paris hotel did not have free wifi. Actually, there was a “mac station” in the lobby which you could use for twenty minutes. That’s right, twenty whole minutes! I’m pretty certain I wouldn’t even have been able to get my photos uploaded in that amount of time. Plus, the keyboard was not an American keyboard so the letters were all in crazy places, so typing even a one line email took an eternity. Needless to say, I was out of touch.

I still will be posting a recap of each day – I’m planning on putting up one post each day this week, in addition to my daily posts. So, don’t be confused…I am officially back on American soil:)

Today has been a blissful day. From sleeping in this morning to finishing my current read, “American Wife,” to working in the yard, shopping at the health food store, cleaning the house and just spending glorious time with my sweet J, it couldn’t have been a better Saturday. I’ve also enjoyed some delicious food.

For lunch I decided to pull together a variation of the meal in this post by Caitlin. I added frozen peas, corn and rinsed/drained black beans to a skillet and sauteed until thawed. Next I added two heaping spoonfuls of hummus plus a sprinkle of ground red pepper and mixed it up.

In the meantime I smeared a tad bit of hummus on a whole wheat tortilla and added some broccoli slaw and alfalfa sprouts.

All together now!

Delicious – with a side of cherries.

For dessert, Jon and I each had a little something that he created for my raging sweet tooth a couple of weeks ago:) A brown rice cake slathered with Maranatha dark chocolate almond butter, aka perfection.

I also snacked on some blue corn chips and salsa this afternoon. Do they have a support group for people who have a serious addiction to chips and salsa? I need help!

I’m off to work on cleaning out our office. I’m still trying to decide on what’s for dinner. There is nothing more fun than getting back from vacation and getting the fridge stocked with great food. The only problem now – there are too many awesome choices I can’t decide what to make!!

One other thing I need to mention. Jon and I have decided to take on a challenge. This is serious people. You see, we have developed a seemingly uncontrollable love for eating out. For the past month (or maybe more:), we have eaten out SO much! Generally we eat at healthy places, but our bank account sees little difference between pizza and veggies.

So, we are challenging ourselves to go a full week without eating out. Starting tomorrow (Sunday) and going through next Sunday, we will be eating at home. And this means no Starbucks as well (eek!). We figure it will be a good way to rediscover how much we love eating at home and how much money we can save in the process. I’ll be posting all of my meals for the next week, so you guys have to help keep us accountable! Do you think we can do it?

How much do you/your family eat out?

Do you prefer eating out or making food at home?

It’s so good to be back:)

hola Barcelona

Hola! We arrived in Barcelona yesterday morning after getting only a couple hours of sleep on the red eye. By the time we caught a bus to our hotel and showered, it was about 1pm. Despite our tiredness, we decided to get out and explore this beautiful city.

Here is our day in pictures:

First stop on our exploration was the National Art Museum. We didn’t go in, opting to enjoy the beauty from the outside instead:)

The pictures are a bit dark because it was overcast. The weather is amazing, though, 70 degrees during the day and 60’s at night.

Looking back toward Plaza Espanya (where our hotel is) from the museum

where the 1992 Olympic Games were held

We went to La Boqueria (the main outdoor market) and I couldn’t resist snapping photos of the beautiful fruits and vegetables

the architecture and structure of Barcelona is absolutely quaint and breathtaking. I love it – it has stolen my heart.

there are many horses and carriages

the front of our hotel – we love this big wooden door that slides open

the Torre Agbar building – or as the guidebook calls it “Barcelona’s own cucumber shaped building”

We are spending plenty of time on the subway where pick pocketing is supposedly the worst. We keep getting warned by complete strangers to be careful. Today a security guard walked up to us on the subway and told us to put our camera, which was around Jon’s neck, in our bag. They are serious.

We finished off yesterday with dinner at a quaint little restaurant on the side of the street.

I ordered the vegetarian plate – hummus, pita, falafel balls, grape leaves stuffed with rice and a salad. It was delish! I haven’t had any problem avoiding meet whatsoever. I just say “soy vegetariano” and they know exactly what I want….or don’t want:)

Jon ordered this chicken dish with hummus, falafel and salad

That’s day one in a nutshell. We are loving Spain and the people here are wonderful. The things that really stand out to me so far are that pickpocketing is a really big deal (but people are being so kind to try and warn us), this should be called the “city of love” because everyone is always kissing each other, the weather is perfect and the streets and alleyways are adorable, and Spaniards are very laid back and friendly. I don’t want to ever leave! I guess I’ll let Jon peel me away, so we can go to Paris;)

Stay tuned for day 2 and to find out what I found in a little hole in the wall shop that is very dear to my heart. Adios!

pack your bags!

This morning started off kind of rocky due to sleeping through our alarm and missing church. Sad:( We made a last minute run to the city last night because I needed to get some shoes to wear on our trip. I had a little too much luck with shopping and ended up with more shoes than I really need.

I’ve had worse problems. Either way, I guess our bodies weren’t quite ready to be up and at ‘em this morning.

We turned things around pretty quickly though, putting it in high gear to get ready to leave for Europe. By mid afternoon we had laid out most of our clothes to be packed, cleaned out the fridge, mowed two lawns (I mowed ours, Jon mowed a friends), and done three loads of laundry. I also was fortunate enough to get two of my drawers and my closet cleaned out. You see, I have had this stellar pair of Nike spandex workout capris that I absolutely adore, and they have mysteriously gone missing as of about three weeks ago. I really want to take them, but alas, even after looking every last place I can imagine they’d be – they have remained undiscovered.

Regardless of the busyness of the morning, I managed to throw together a healthy breakfast and lunch.

Breakfast – Yogurt bowl w/ one soy yogurt, sliced almonds, granola and dried cherries

Lunch – two slices Ezekiel bread, spinach and artichoke hummus, sliced cucumber, tomato and onion. With a side of corn on the cob. Kind of random, but we’re trying to eat the last of the perishables in the fridge.

I am so happy that I planned out my vacation outfits a couple of weeks ago. It has made packing so much easier. Now, if I could just get the laundry done, I’d be set! Folding laundry is my least favorite household task. I’m not sure why, but I’d rather do just about anything else.

We are flying out of Dallas on Tuesday, so we’ll be driving down early to stay with my sister for a day. We are actually comtemplating going tonight, but still have not decided whether it is possible, so we’ll see! Regardless, we will be making a pit stop at Whole Foods once we get there so I can stock up on some healthy snacks. I wouldn’t want to get caught with plane food as my only option!

As far as our time in Europe, I plan to enjoy the food and indulge, but in moderation. I’ll be packing a few of my own healthy things (think rice cakes, nut butter and bars) to supplement, and doing the best I can! I’ll be updating later about ideas for taking food on trips in case any of you are planning your own trips and are interested.

Gotta go finish packing – talk to ya’ll later!

What are some ideas that you have as far as packing food to take on an international vacation? How do you balance eating healthy and indulging while on vacation?

What is your least favorite household chore?

exciting news

Jon and I are going shopping for a new camera next week!! I am so stoked. I have been taking all my blog pics with my iPhone, and it’s become so uninspiring. I’m sure you feel the same way;) We have wanted a new one for awhile, and since Jon’s side business has really taken off we’ve finally come to a point where we can get one. Now the problem is just deciding which one to get. Neither of us knows much about them, so we’re going to have to learn a lot…not only to buy it but to figure out how to use it!

Does anybody have an recommendations? I’ve heard a lot of good things about the Canon Rebel, but aside from that I don’t have much to go on. I’d love any suggestions you guys might have!

These past few days have been CRAZY. On Saturday, my mom, step dad and sister came up to visit for the afternoon/evening. I love hanging out with family. My mom and I cooked dinner together while my stepdad and Jon went to Lowe’s to get a deadbolt for our front door. Awhile later my sister got here, and we spent the rest of the night eating and just hanging out. It is not often that my mom, sister and I all get to spend time together, and it was definitely the highlight of my week. I wish we could do it more often.

Sunday also involved family, but was not nearly as pleasant. My grandma recently found out she has pancreatic cancer, and her health is declining quite rapidly. She doesn’t have much longer, so we drove to my hometown on Sunday, picked up my sister and went to visit her. While I’m so glad we went, it was really hard to see her in the state that she’s in. Needless to say these last couple of days have been a bit dismal feeling.

I do have some random pics of some eats from the last couple of days. I promise that once we get our new camera (and figure out how to use it;) food pics will be much more exciting. I can’t wait!

Regardless…

One of my favorites as of recent – stir fried carrots, zucchini, spinahc and brussels with soba noodles, doused in nutritional yeast obvs.

This is the kombucha that I brought home from Whole Foods when we went there on Valentine’s Day. I saved it ever since then and finally broke it out after our 5 miler on Saturday. It was totally worth the wait!! Now I just need to figure out how to get another one…

This has become my current favorite way to eat oats – cooked in water and topped with soy yogurt on one side and almond butter on the other. Sprinkled with a bit of Bob’s Red Mill cinnamon apple granola. This is addicting. I am so addicted to the combination of yogurt and granola. I may have to add that to my challenge list. haha! yeah right.

And last but not least, dinner tonight. I kept it simple because Jon wasn’t home to eat with me, and I just didn’t feel like spending much time on dinner.

Avocado and hummus sandwiched between ezekiel bread. Exactly what I was craving. It totally hit the spot. I love simple meals like this. Obvs. this meal was lacking a bit in the veggie department, but I’m never low on veggies so I didn’t worry about it too much!

I hope everyone is having a great start to the week. Only four more days and I’ll be on Spring Break when I get to spend every waking moment with the Mr. It seems like a dream right now.

G’night!!

potatoes au grautin

Tonight I made a clean version of an old favorite, and it was delish.

Growing up my mom used to make potatoes au grautin from the box on occasion. Honestly, it wasn’t too often that one would find a processed or “boxed” food on our kitchen table. My mom always made homemade meals from scratch, and she prided herself on feeding us mostly healthy food and everyone coming together at the table for a family dinner. At the time I never really understood why I had to come in from playing outside to sit at the table with everyone, but now I’m so thankful for those memories, and I won’t have it any other way with our (future) children.

But back to the occasional “PAG.” I used to love those cheesy little spuds, but of course nowadays they don’t exactly fit into my repetoire of clean foods. So, tonight I veganfied (?) them!

Alongside a tasty mushroom burger…

Indulgence at it’s finest.

I started out by slicing a sweet potato up, sprinkling the rounds with ground red pepper and garlic powder and baking them for about 20 minutes. Next I mixed up some toasted pine nut hummus, nutritional yeast and water to make my new favorite humnut sauce. After the potatoes were baked, I arranged them on a plate and poured crack the sauce all over them. Yum! Next time I would bake the sweet potatoes for a little bit longer because they were a little too soft for my taste. Otherwise this meal rocked!!

For the mushroom burger, I just sauteed some portobello mushroom wedges in balsamic vinegar until they were cooked through and soft. Chopped onion, tomato, avocado and smushed it all between an ezekiel bun. I may also have added a teensy bit generous spoonful of humnut sauce to the burger as well;)

That’s all I’ve got for tonight. I took the day off from school tomorrow because I am so buried in grading I can’t even see my way out. With sophomore projects and junior research papers both piled high along with several random assignments that are waiting to be graded, I just needed a day at home to catch up and breathe. So after a workout with the hubs bright and early, I’ll have my head in the books papers all day.

It’s going to be a busy weekend even with the day off. Jon is cooking something up for Valentine’s Day, but we’ve planned on keeping it low key because we’re going to Dallas for a couple of days over Spring Break (only 4 weeks away!) as our real Valentine’s celebration. I can’t wait. I live for having days on end with nothing to do but explore and hang out with my favorite person!

Hope everyone is having a great night. TGIF (almost!)

vegan love

Happy Monday evening! Sabai di mai ka (just felt like throwin’ a little Thai in)? Things are going pretty well here. Sometimes it is sorta refreshing when a day doens’nt go just like you planned, ya know what I mean? This morning I got up, got ready for work and off I went, thinking that today would be just like any other day. But by 10 o’clock, it was snowing hard enough that I decided to get a cover for the classes I teach after lunch and go ahead and make the hour trek home. The bad news is that it turns out I really didn’t need to leave early because the roads never got bad (I feel like an idiot a little bit silly). The good news is that I miraculously got squeezed in for a doctor’s appointment I’ve been needing to have, and I got a little extra grading done on my research papers. Score!

I also had an awesome day of eats! It all started this morning when I decided to have the hubs put a little twist on my usual green monster. Don’t worry, it was still green:) Unfortunately, I didn’t get a pic to prove it, but it really was…promise. This combo was excellent. I will def. be having it again in the very near future. I the sweet husband combined:

a couple big handfuls of spinach
chia seeds!
half a banana
1 cup soy milk
1/2 tbsp almond butter
1 big, heaping spoonful of canned pumpkin
sprinkle of cinnamon
ice

Wooooweeeee this was good! I tell you what, I am hooked on pumpkin. The flavors of the pumpkin, cinnamon, banana and almond butter totally hit the spot. I was going to have him add a bit of nutmeg as well, which I think would be a great addition, but we didn’t have any on hand so that will have to wait. You may have noticed that I left out the usual Amazing Grass. I really did miss it, but as discussed in this post, I’m trying to cut back a bit. I may just start having it a couple of mornings a week as a special treat:)

For lunch I swung through Whichwich on my way home. I hadn’t had a good ole’ tomato and avocado from there in ages, and it totally hit the spot! I always get the same thing (don’t fix it if it ain’t broken, right?) – tomato and avocado on wheat with lettuce, bell pepper, red onion, pepperocini, pickles and crushed red pepper. I could so down another one of those right this second….but I won’t.

I snuck in a couple of snacks while grading research papers – first, a tall soy latte from our local coffee shop and then a mix of yogurt, almonds and a few puffins before going to work out a little later. I don’t usually eat two snacks in the afternoon, but that’s just how it worked out today – like I said, nothing went as planned!

Okay, now for din din. I got this idea from HEAB the other day, and I just tweaked it a little bit. After cutting it in half, I put a spaghetti squash in the oven on 375 for about an hour. After it was done, I scooped out all the insides. Then I mixed a bowl full of “spaghetti” with some steamed turnip greens (microwave for about 30 seconds with a tad bit of water) and the most amazing, creamy, vegan sauce I’ve ever had! This sauce, I believe, was created by Mae. I just remembering reading somewhere about her “humnut” (hummus + nutritional yeast) sauce, and while I didn’t know what proportions she used, I knew I had to try it anyway. So, I basically just scooped about 2 tbsp of roasted garlic hummus into a bowl and added 3 tsp of nutritional yeast (my new wonder drug:) and a little water for thinning. I then poured the sauce over the squash and greens, mixed it all together and topped it off with a sprinkle of black pepper and pine nuts.

(So sorry that the picture is kind of rough. I only had my iPhone. Sad. This meal deserved better.)

Now, I can honestly say this is one of the most indulgent tasting vegan meals I’ve made thus far in my vegan journey, and it was so simple. It took me longer to type out what I did, than it actually took to do it (not counting oven time for the squash)! Seriously! It was to die for. It really did taste like a healthified version of mac and cheese. It was so creamy! I could go on and on, but I’ll spare you.

Sorry for the lack of pictures on this post. Too many words, too little pics. I’ll do better next time;) I hope everyone is staying warm and having a great week so far. I’m pretty stoked because I’ve got overnight oats “doing their thing” in the fridge right now. It should be a tasty drive to work tomorrow! Have a good night friends!

BTW…I am so enjoying the Sarah Bareilles station on Pandora right now. Try it out if you get a chance!

i love being off work so that I can work!

Hello! Happy Martin Luther King Day! I was thankful to have a day off work today because I needed to get a lot of school stuff done. Since this is my first year teaching, I have to put a TON of time into planning. So, having an 8 hour day at home with no hoodlums really can’t be beat. I may or may not have been known to take a sick day from work so that I could stay home and work. Am I the only one who has done this? I definitely took advantage of today. I literally worked from about 9 am ’till 5:30 with about a 15 minute break for lunch. I did snack along the way of course, though.

As soon as I get my food philosophy page ready, I’ll be able to share more about my food lifestyle. I try to get in about 5 small meals a day, but it’s hard on workdays because I just don’t have time for a mid-morning snack. So, I eat breakfast (green monster) around 6am and then lunch at about 11. Not ideal, but it works out alright. It was kind of fun today, though, to get in 5 small meals. And here they are in all their glory:

Breakfast was a greem monster right after I got home from lifting at the gym. It was my usual concoction of a little more than one cup almond breeze, 1 tbsp chia seeds, 2 big handfuls of spinach, 1 scoop Amazing Grass, 1 tbsp almond butter and ice. Like heaven in a glass:)

At about 10am, I was ready for a snack, so I had leftover soy yogurt (about 2/3 cup) and a sprinkle of this awesome granola I picked up at our local grocery store. It’s called blueberry almond granola and is stock full of awesome stuff! Organic rolled oats, organic evaporated cane juice, organic pressed canola oil (obvs. could do without this), organic raisins, organic apples, organic almonds, organic oat bran, organic blueberries, and organic sunflower seeds. It’s SunRidge Farms brand, and you can check out their website at sunridgefarms.com. Unfortunately, in my work frenzy I failed to snap a shot of it, but I’ll get it next time;)

Lunch was very basic. I wanted to have something that I wouldn’t normally take to work, so I toasted two slices of Ezekiel bread, smeared it with almond butter and added a sliced banana. It was rather tasty, but about two bites in I decided to forego the second piece of toast. It was masking the flavor of the almond butter and banana just a tad, and we can’t have that!!

With a side of stapler and a macbook;) bad joke, but I couldn’t resist.

A few hours later, I snacked on one of my Joseph’s protein and flax pitas with some Sabra roasted garlic hummus on the side (unpictured). I usually like to base my snacks on fruits or vegetables, but this little combo is to die for! So, I sneak it in here and there:) If you haven’t had this particular hummus, you have got to try it. I’ve tried every brand I can find at the store, and nothing compares!

We decided to splurge a bit for dinner and go to Panera. I always opt for either their black bean soup or their garden vegetable with a whole grain baguette. But tonight they had a little surprise in store for me. They changed up their garden vegetable soup! Personally, I loved it just the way it was. This new version has a couple of different vegetables and big dollop of pesto right in the middle! I am a huge sucker for pesto, so I really enjoyed that part, but honestly by about halfway through, the pesto wasn’t even noticeable anymore. It was really good, though, and a nice break from cooking and cleaning up!

Well, that’s about it for my eats today. I sauntered over to ohsheglows today and really enjoyed the discussion going on in the comments of this post. I just stopped counting calories a matter of months ago, and I feel more free than ever before in my life. I do, however, still weigh once a week. I’m not sure if I feel like I even need to ditch the scale. I don’t really feel like the scale has a negative impact on me because even when I weigh I know in my head that fitness and health are all that really matter. As I was telling myself this, however, I was left with the following question: if weighing doesn’t negatively affect me because I am confident that the number is not what’s most important, then why do I still weigh? Props to anyone who would like to be speak some truth as to your opinion on that. I can totally take honesty;)

I’d love to discuss this more at length at some point, but I’d say this post is long enough for tonight;) Back with more tomorrow. Have a great night!

Btw, sorry for the lack of pictures! I’ve been a bad blogger today. To make up for it, though, I’ll leave you with a picture of our baby. It’s about time she got some face time on the blog.

Meet Olive.

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