Lazy Sundays…

 

Aahh Sunday, I really wish there was one more day to the weekend. Honestly..where did this weekend go? I woke up this morning to some oatmeal and oatbran mixture. It was tasty! I impulse bought some chocolate peppermint flavored coffee from the Coffee Bean and Tea leaf the other night that I busted out as well. I really had some high hopes for it, but overall not too flavorful. Maybe I buy the wrong stuff or something but overall I haven't been too impressed with anything that I have gotten there. Anyways I hit up my favorite spin class this morning…Sundays are the best, the instructor is so energetic and just rocks!

When I got back I was pretty hungry so I made up a quick wrap and some roasted Kombucha squash. The wrap was just some eggplant hummus and chopped veggies.

Overall pretty good. I started to clean up the place a bit and ended up hitting the couch for a bit to relax. I made a big bowl of fruit cereal! I found this idea while reading Sarah’s blog, The Foodie Diaries. A chopped up apple warmed up with some almond milk and topped with pumpkin pie spice and pom seeds. Yummers!

Dinner was pretty simple but delish. Some veggie soup and sweet potato fries. I had this veggie bouillon that I have been using for awhile. I finally checked out the stats on it and realized that it had a days worth of sodium in it! Yowzas! That will teach me to start checking out all labels more closely. So I went without it. Anyone know of a really good low sodium bouillon out there?

Overall wasnt bad though, pretty filling!

Also tried out some new tea. It was pretty tasty. A bit minty with a twist of cinnamon. Nice and comforting.

After dinner I tackled some more Christmas decorating! I finally got some ornaments up on the tree. Sammers decided to help me..

 

And now its back to work tomorrow. I actually had a week off last week and it went so incredibly fast! I feel like my vacation should have just started. Oh well. A start to another fabulous week! Have a great night everyone!

Don’t forget to check out this cool give away! Im so excited about this one!

Give Away Time!

 

I wanted to kick off the holiday season with a new give away. Instead of a food product I thought it would be fun to give away a new cookbook! I picked up The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone. In the beginning of the book she gives reasons as to why she's vegan and some easy steps for incorporating more vegan meals into your diet. In the second half of the book there are a bunch of yummy looking recipes.

Some of the recipes include, Black Soybean and Kabocha Squash Stew, Eggplant Chana Masala, Artichoke, Mushroom and Leek Crostini with Pesto, Maple Roasted Lotus Root, Sunchoke and Leeks plus much more! Overall she has some interesting recipes and its worth checkin out.

Wanna win it?! Yesss! Ok heres the deal:

1) Let me know your favorite movie!

2) Become a follower of my blog

3) Link this contest on your site and let me know that you did so

4) Add me to your blog roll

I will be picking the winner next Saturday, December 5th, at noon! Good luck!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Whew am I stuffed! Good food, family, friends..I love the holidays! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday as well! There are so many things to be thankful for this year. We couldn't be with family this year unfortunately so me and my husband just had a little thanksgiving of our own. Its our first holiday being married so kinda cool!

When I woke up this morning I hit the gym bright and early. Its really hard to for me to break my routine and I especially think its important during the holiday season. With all these good eats around I gotta make sure I keep on movin! When I came home though I was super energized and whipped up some homemade pumpkin pie pancakes for Austin to have for breakfast.

Oddly enough I just kinda wasn't in the mood for pancakes so ended up just eating some eggs and fruit instead.

Ok so what I’m NOT thankful for are those annoying fruit stickers! Arg! I find them everywhere. How annoying.

Since we ate brunch pretty late and I wanted to make sure I was super hungry by the time dinner rolled around, I went out and bought some shrimp for a appetizer. Not too traditional but some good protein during the day always helps!

Our cats Sam and Max loved this too=) Sammy took off with one. What a wiener.

Today was a gorgeous 75 degrees and sunny out. How awesome?! So we ended up taking a nice long walk through the neighborhoods. It was really quiet and you could actually see some of the color changes in the trees which was really nice. Quiet near where we live is an oddity so it was a great change of pace.

When we got back I was too excited to start making dinner. Since it was just the two of us I kept it simple. I asked Austin what he wanted and put that on the list to make. I just wanted tons of roasted root veggies and green beans for some reason. But before I started cooking I made myself some flavored water.

Its just chopped cucumbers, orange and some mint. Its really refreshing! I had to have it in a guinness glass too!

First up was the bread. I LOVE home made bread. The way it makes the whole house smell is the ultimate in comfort! I rolled mine into small balls so it would be easy to tear apart.

Yum!

Next up was the root veggies. For these I used turnips, sweet potatoes, onions, brussels sprouts and parsnips. Roasted up with some rosemary and sage.

I roasted up some garlic cloves to throw into the smashed potatoes. I’m usually not a huge fan of mashed potatoes and I don’t eat them that often but when I do I love them super garlicky and with tons of fresh pepper.

Not a very flattering picture but they were pretty darn good!

Some roasted green beans with toasted almonds and garlic. Some of my almonds got a little too toasty but I still ate them. =)

And finally the turkey breast! I squeezed on some fresh orange juice and some sage and rosemary. Simple and delicious!

What a spread! It was quite a feast for two people. We will be eating well for the next couple of days. The strange looking stuff in the bowl is just gravy. I couldn’t find anything to put it in. I gotta hit up the Bed Bath and Beyond soon.

And for the grand finale…..

Chocolate pecan pies!

Aaahhh and now I have one gigantic food baby going on. I think its time to curl up under the blankets and put a movie on.

Some super cool giveaway! If you like Newmans check this out!

I hope everyone had a super amazing and absolutely fantastic holiday!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!

Its time for Thai!

Wow this morning was a hiney kicker. I took a spin class with an instructor Ive never had before and wowza! She took no prisoners. I like it!!=) Today, uber busy but so fun! I ran to my class, got home, finished up some secret projects (hehe) Then vacuumed and cleaned like a crazy lady then off to the store for dinner supplies.

Tonight is thai night! My friend Holly is coming over and we are cooking up a feast. Whats on the menu? Well some lemongrass infused jasmine rice with a coconut curry veggie stir fry and some thai veggie rolls! Super light and tasty.

Before we started cooking though I had to try something. I’ve been trying to buy fruits and vegetables I’ve never had before just so I can try new foods. I found this horned melon at Whole Foods and thought to give it a go.

It was interesting. It was very gelatinous, almost jello like. It was like eating a jelly like melon tasting orange. Odd but not bad. I don't think I could just sit down and eat this everyday, but it was cool to try…Ok now on with the cookin!

First up we started with the veggie spring rolls.

We stuffed these rolls full of carrots, spring onions, cucumbers and tons of fresh herbs. A quick sauce was made with some Braggs, peanut butter, sesame oil, chili flakes and some agave. It made for a great appetizer and went perfectly with our wine!

Austin’s mom was so awesome and bought us some amazing wine from a winery in Solvang, CA. It was awesome!!

Next up was the main attraction! Jasmine infused rice and some coconut vegetable curry. Curries have the potential to be super fatty and high calorie, but we kept ours light, healthy and tasty!

For the rice we sautéed up some onions, lemongrass ginger and garlic..then I tossed in the rice and toasted it in the pan until lightly browned. I think searing the grains before adding liquid really brings out a fantastic nutty quality in the grain. Then I tossed in some water and bouillon cube and let that cook away!

We chopped up tons of veggies like broccoli, zucchini, carrots, brussels sprouts and tons of fresh ginger, garlic and basil and let that sear up in the pan. The sauce was made with a lite coconut milk, red curry paste, peanut butter, basil, fish sauce, chili flakes and a squeeze of fresh lime. To help keep the calorie count low I just drizzled enough sauce in the pan to wet the veggies and then put the rest of the sauce on the side so you could add your own. Top with fresh cilantro and eat up!

Sorry for the lack of pics..I had the dreaded battery of death right in the middle of dinner! aahh! I forgot to charge it up. Aahh well…

Anyways overall it turned out to be an awesome dinner! Lots of fun! Thanks Holly for coming over and helping out! It turned out fabulous.

Dont forget to check out this amazing giveaway from Healthy and Sane!

Macroons and bars take 2!

 

So my first batch of macroons turned out a bit dry..I think I left them in the dehydrator too long. My second try though i left the batter a bit stickier and dehydrated them for less time and they turned out great! A bit crunchy on the outside and gorgeously sweet chocolaty and chewy on the inside. Awesome!

I also love these goji bars that I found at my local health food store. They are almost $3 bucks a pop though so a tad pricey for me. Looking at the ingredients I figured I could make my own. Coconut, almond meal, goji berries, dried figs, cinnamon, vanilla and sea salt make up this bar. They turned out pretty close to the original. (Although I think they need a bit more of that wonderful coconut flavor)

On a side note though, I finally found some more PB&J Larabars at Whole Foods again. They were out for ages and I got so excited when I saw them again. I stocked up lets just say=)

Pomegrante Mousse with a Chocolate Oatmeal Crust

Pomegrante Mousse with a Chocolate Oatmeal Crust:

Crust:

1/4 c. cocoa powder
3/4 c. oatmeal
2 tsp. cane sugar
1 Tbsp. Maple Syrup
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 Tbsp. water
1 tsp. cinnamon

Pomegrante Mousse:

1 box silken tofu
1 c. pomegranate juice
2 Tbsp. Agar
2 tsp. NuNaturals Baking stevia (or you can sub. powdered sugar or sweetener of choice)

optional toppings:
pomegranate arils
mint
crushed pistachios
cocoa powder (for dusting)

Crust:
for the crust, place oatmeal and cocoa powder in food processor and blend until fine. Add rest of ingredients and pulse. Crust will be a bit crumbly but this is ok. Spray a mini muffin pan well. Press crust into the muffin pan and work up the sides of the pan. If crust is too dry, wet your fingers will you do this. I had to press pretty hard into my pan to get a nice shape. Place into a 350 degree oven for roughly 12-15 minutes. Let cool completely.

Mousse:

Place tofu, stevia and vanilla extract into food processor and blend until it forms a pudding like consistency. Meanwhile, bring the 1 cup of pom juice and agar to a boil. Simmer for about 5 minutes, or until agar flakes disappear. Let cool. Add to tofu mixture, blend quick and place into a bowl. Place in refrigerator until set.

Once ready to serve, dollup the mousse into the chocolate cups and top with pomegranate arils. Dust with cocoa powder. Add Mint for garnish or chopped pistacios.

Enjoy!!

One of the many reasons to excercise...

Waking up this morning I was really just in an overall bad mood for some reason. I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I felt like hiding under the covers, eating my weight in junk and napping the whole day. Instead though I told myself to just get up, make it to the gym and then I can decide what I want to do. I ate my usual breakfast of oatmeal and I made a push to go. And man, was that worth it! I got into the zone super fast and had one amazing workout! I felt so great when I left, my bad mood was gone. That is one of the many reasons to workout. All those good endorphines can really do your body good. The whole rest of the day too I ate amazing foods, got some errands done and ended up having a pretty great day overall.

I even attempted to make some raw dark chocolate macroons! I whipped them up and into the dehydrator they went. I cannot wait to try these babies out tommorrow. My whole apt. smells like a chocolate factory. I tested some of the batter out before rolling them up and they are ssoo good. I cant believe I havent made these before! Im really interested in seeing what the health benefits of coconut butter was and was amazed at the benefits that I have found so far. I even bought a book on it and am going to read it tonight. (Yup, Im a nerd) =)

Tonight I was more in to mood for a light dinner. Plus lets face it, since I worked it hard at the gym I wanted to save some room for some tofu pudding! But I sauteed up some green beans with some fresh grated ginger and garlic. I added a splash of some coconut vinegar that I found at the store. I topped it off with some fresh chopped persimmons and some shredded coconut. Loved it! I havent had a Persimmon in awhile and I forgot how much I loved them. The persimmons added some nice sweetness against the tartness of the coconut vinegar.


I was mentioning this morning to my husband, Austin, that I need to get some more music for my ipod. I just got a few new songs but I have some old ones that have been on repeat for awhile. Time to clean the list out! So when my husband got home tonight he brought me back a giftcard so I could get some more music to listen to while at the gym. I just thought that was such a nice gesture. It made my night. So overall my cranky morning turned into one fabulous day!

Do you ever have days like this? If so, what are some of your ways of turning that bad morning into a good day?

Jam of the day: Evacuate the Dance Floor - Cascada

This song just really got me in the zone this morning.

What a day!

Whew what a day! I was out and about running errands and getting things done! I love days like this. I was starting to feel really backed up and now Im startin to catch up. Fabulous! =) I hit up my favorite store, whole foods. Then I had some appointments to hit up. Finally Im home sitting on the couch relaxing and eating some yummy dinner. Tonight's dinner was pretty simple but good. First I spiralized up some zucchini. Then, I caramelized some onions, brussels sprouts, and red peppers. I tossed in some lentils, fire roasted tomatoes, hot sauce and some Smokin Willie's seasonings. This seasoning blend is nice and smokey. I love it. Threw that mixture on the zucchini and finished the dish off with some chopped cilantro. Excellent!


Dessert was a pumpkin pie pudding. Pumpkin puree, vanilla stevia, ginger, pumpkin pie spice and topped off with some Kashi Go Lean Cereal. Ive been really eating everything topped with cereal lately for some reason. It tasted great though!


On that note I'm off to attempt to try and find a good movie on. Wish me luck=)

Yummy Nutridel cookies!

I started off my weekend by sleeping in. Felt sssoo great but I missed my favorite spin class. Ah well. Im kinda bummed but its Saturday so I do have all day to hit the gym later this afternoon. One of the many perks about not working on the weekends. I staggered into the kitchen this morning and saw that I really did leave it a huge wreck from last night. So while the coffee was a'brewing I got my cleaning gloves out and attacked that kitchen! Chrysta = 1, Kitchen = 0. Its all nice and sparkley now! I decided to reward myself with a bit cup of pumpkin Spice coffee and some nice oats. Nothing fancy, just my vanilla stevia with cinnamon and pepper in it. Its good though!


I have to say I was really excited today though! I received some amazing cookies in the mail that the people from Nutridel so generously sent me! (Thank you!!) I got two flavors, pecan and flax. I started off with the flax cookie. I took a big ol' bite of this cookie and was in heaven! It was light and crunchy and had a wonderful cinnamon undertone to it. It reminded me of some oatmeal cookies that my mom used to make when we were little. It was sweeter than I was expecting but in a good way. I thought the light texture and crunch from the flax was the perfect combo. The taste was just right. I broke one of the cookies up and had it in my greek yogurt for lunch. I left it sitting in there awhile, as I usually work while I lunch, and I found that it didn't get too soggy. Still crunchy even after minutes of being left to sit in the yogurt.


The Pecan flavor was just a good. Not quite as cinnamon-y as the flax but delicious all the same. What I really love about these cookies is the amazing nutritional stats that it boasts. I'm pretty picky about what I eat and buy and I was really impressed with this ingredient list. And only approx. 60 calories per cookie?! Yes Please! I think this cookie would be great crumbled on top of a salad too.

What I noticed as well was that they were a really good size cookie. A lot bigger than I was expecting which is always a plus when you need a filling snack on the go!



Overall I really really liked this cookie a lot. I love the ingredients and it tastes great too! I will definitely be ordering these again real soon. So check em out if you haven't already! Thanks Nutridel for a great product.

Is it Friday yet??

Today was my gym day off. I had an absolutely fabulous gym sesh yesterday though. I blasted through my spin class and even did a cool down on the elliptical, followed by some abs. Nice!! But the one thing Ive learned is to let the body rest. I personally like to take 2 days off a week. Its just what works for me and I just try and listen to my body on which days to take off. So today was a rest day for me! I have definitely been a victim of over training and its no fun. So take care of yourselves, its important!!

I had a quick lunch today of some scrambled egg whites, corn tortillas and some kale, cucumbers and tomatos. Super yummy!


I was having one of those super hungry days too, ya know those days where you can eat anything thats not nailed down? yup, that hit me today! So I obliged and made a bowl of cereal too. I kind of have aADD when it comes to cereal and I cant just eat one kind at a time. oh no. I mixed up 5 different kinds in this bowl! Theres some Puffed millet, Puffed Kamut, organic crispy brown rice, Fiber one and some Peanut butter balls sprinkled on top. Ate this with some cold almond milk and it was amazing!


One of the many things I LOVE about reading people's blogs is all the amazing ideas everyone has! Im continuely impressed and I love to learn new things. Purusing around I checked out LighterPortion's blog and saw some great lookin' oats! So I had to make some for dinner. Mine is pretty similar but here what I did:

Savory Oat Bran:

1/3 c. oatbran
1 c. water
1 laughing cow cheese wedge
sprinkle of chili powder
sprinkle of garlic powder

1/4 c. chopped onion
3 c. fresh spinach
4 Tbs. salsa
cilantro
fresh pepper
salt to taste

Easy dinner! All I did was carmelize up my onion in a dry pan and tossed in my spinach. While that is going I put my oatbran, water, cheese wedge, chili powder, garlic powder in a bowl and heated until done. Then I tossed in the onion mixture and stir it up! I topped it off with some salsa, cilantro and some fresh ground pepper.



This was better than I expected. It was warm, creamy and amazingly satisfying. I will definitely be making this again.

Then for dessert I had some chobani yogurt with cereal (Ive been on this cereal kick now for days) and topped it with some pom arils.


And for Austin (my husband) I made a huge crazy mound of banana soft serve with granola and some chocolate and PB chips. Look at that huge pile of banana goodness!


I hope everyone has a great night!!

Also, One FitFoodie is having an AMAZING chocolate/coffee giveaway! Im so excited about it!

awesome Campbell's giveaway here!

Fun With Vegan Cooking!

My cooking class that I went to on Sunday was amazing fun! Oh my goodness!! I think they are a great way to get out, meet some new people and talk about one of my favorite topics...food!=) I havent made seitan in awhile so it was a really great refresher. I loved the demonstration aspect of the class and I even got a chance to knead some seitan for our nuggets! We made seitan nuggets with a ranch dipping sauce.


The seitan was nice and crunchy and perfectly, dare I say, meaty on the inside! The ranch sauce had that tang to it which was nice. Overall fantastic.

The Lentil Pate was smooth creamy and basically thanksgiving with a crunch. Total comfort. We made the lentil pate and then scooped it up and put it inside some endive leaves and topped it off with sunflower sprouts. The sprouts and endive leaf really lifted the heaviness of the lentils and made for a fantastic appetizer.

Next up was a lemony quinoa salad with warmed maple glazed pistachios. Holy yum, was this ever good. The quinoa was nice and bright and the added pistachios really rounded out the dish quite well. The pistachios were caramelized with maple syrup and cayenne pepper. Very nice contrast of flavors and textures. I ran home that night and recreated it!

Last but not least we made a chocolate and PB torte. I'm going to remake this and take some pictures of it! I got too excited and ate it before I could snap a photo! Ha! Oh well that just means I have to make it again for some photos. Darn! ;)

Tonight Im off to a power spin class! The teacher tonight is fantastic and I'm really looking forward to it. My legs are still a bit sore from the hike on saturday but that's ok. I find once I get moving and warmed up they feel a lot better. Its funny, I've been working out for awhile now but this little hike really kicked me in the butt. Just goes to show what mixing up the routine a bit can do for ya! So its a good thing...makes me use some muscles I've been neglecting for awhile.

Do you ever mix up your workouts on a regular basis? Like maybe every couple of weeks or so and make up a new routine?

Have a great day everyone!

Yummy bar contest!!

We have a winner!!!

I just want to say, before I announce the winner, that you all rock!! I love reading your comments and the support that I've gotten from my blog so far has been amazing. So thank you so much! You make my day!=)

And now without further delay...the winner is......



Random generator says number 23~!

healthnuttxo said...

fav comfort food is amy's non dairy pot pie.
whenever im sad i just pop that in the oven and its like my day is alll better =)

So congrats to healthnuttxo! I will be having another giveaway soon so stay tuned!

Getting out in the fresh air hiking!

Wow am I sore! I went on an amazing 3.5 hour hike with my good friends and my legs are hurtin! Its a good feeling though. I was set on attending my Spin class today. (My favorite instructor only teaches on sunday...arg..) but I'll be honest I dont know if this is going to happen. I might end up just doing some yoga later in the afternoon to try and stretch it all out. It was the perfect weather though. Air was a bit chilly but it was warm in the sun.


Honestly its just really nice to get out into the fresh air for a change. I live in an area thats very congested and this just felt so awesome. We walked up into the canyons and got some amazing views!
Aaahh yes Im looking pretty stellar here...haha. JK! I was pretty tired but the end here. But had a blast! Im looking forward to some more hikes.

One of the great things about it I think, is changing up the muscle groups that you work. My legs are very used to biking and training on certain machines at the gym. Getting out and trying something new just works a whole different set of muscles (I can feel each and every one of them this morning) and I think its a great way to keep some variety to your workout routines.

Today is gonna be great. Hopefully I will have some amazing pictures later but Im getting ready for a vegan cooking class I signed up for. We are making:

-Homemade seitan for seitan nuggets and a ranch dipping sauce
-Rich pecan and lentil pate in endive leaves
-Light lemon quinoa with fresh herbs and glazed pistachios
-Peanut butter mousse pie with a cocoa crust

Sounds ssoo good. The rest of day is getting my shopping done and cleaning the crazy messy apt. Anyways I hope you have a terrific Sunday!