Goals

Happy Friday!

Hope you're having a wonderful week! I must be out of practice because working 5 WHOLE DAYS IN A ROW has been exhausting. Thank goodness I'm on the home stretch and it will officially be weekend time in half an hour. Me= happy.

Hadley from http://sparkyourwellness.wordpress.com/ suggested we all come up with one habit we'd like to focus on in conjunction with the cleanse. So this got me thinking about not just habits, but also goals, resolutions, and the like.

One of my goals is definitely to focus on challenging my body in new ways. Thanks to the fitnessista's review, I purchased the Yogalosophy DVD by Mandy Ingber. She's Jennifer Aniston's yoga guru and if that doesn't offer enough inspiration and motivation, Mandy does the whole workout in itsy bitsy, teeney tiny shorts. And she looks fantastic. I love the workout because it's a combination of traditional yoga poses combined with strength moves. Super relaxing but also challenging. My legs (and arms, and abs) were jello-esque during the workout, and my booty was beyond sore the next day. Love it! I will say that Mandy is a little bit of a ditz. It's endearing if you're prepared for it and willing to not take the whole workout too seriously.

So I'd like to turn the goal of doing this DVD on a regular basis into a habit. I think my booty will thank me for it, if Mandy's is any sign :)

I appreciate Hadley's question and want to think it over in the next few days. What's something that you are willing to think of not only as a goal but commit to as a habit in this new year?

In other news, next week is the gorgeous Ashley's birthday! I am beyond excited to see these amazing girls and catch up- it's been far too long. Here are some photos from our little Christmas get together:









Priceless face, Sharon! :)

Hope everyone has a wonderful and relaxing weekend!

New Favorites

Happy New Year!

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season! Sorry I've been MIA- I was busy drinking and eating far too much. It was fantastic :)

I'm excited for a conference call taking place tonight where I'll learn more about the Cleanse that starts on January 18th. I think it will be a great nudge to help cut some of the processed and not so healthy stuff out of my diet. It will also force me out of my daily habits of coffee with creamer in the morning and a glass of wine at night. Well... at least for ten days. Seriously, though I'm hoping this will be the jump start to have herbal tea in the morning and treat wine as weekend rather than nightly treat. Do I sound like a lush? Ah well, it's my source of antioxidants for the day ;) Anywho, there's information about the cleanse available at http://www.choosingraw.com/ or http://sparkyourwellness.wordpress.com/. It's not a "scary" cleanse, but rather one that focuses on real, unprocessed food. I can't wait!

The new year has brought some changes, so my greatest challenge over the past month or so has been learning how to re-tweak some of my old recipes (and learn new ones) that work for dinner and maybe lunch rather than cooking in larger quantities. I can eat a meal twice-max, and then it just doesn't taste good anymore.

So with no further ado, here are some of my new favorites:

Southwest Glop (Perhaps I should work on a new name...)

• 1 peeled and diced sweet potato
• 1 can black beans, rinsed
• 1 can (or about 1 1/2 c frozen) sweet corn
• Fresh tomato
• Avocado
• Yogurt (optional)

Peel the sweet potato, dice into about 1/2 inch cubes, and spread on a baking sheet sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Sprinkle salt, pepper, cumin, and chili powder on the sweet potato and bake at 425 for about 30 minutes, or until they are soft and start to brown. Meanwhile, heat the black beans of corn in a medium size pan with a dash of olive oil. I usually let the s.p.s cook for about 15 minutes before starting the corn/bean mixture. When the sweet potatoes are finished, throw them into the pan with the corn and beans and stir. This mixture is great on it's own, but even better with a little Tabasco on top, 1/2 sliced avocado, fresh tomato. I also discovered that a little plain yogurt is the perfect garnish! Such a quick and easy dinner!

Un-fried Rice (inspired by Caitlin at http://www.healthytippingpoint.com/)

• 
  
  1 c cooked brown rice
• 1 c mixed veggies
• 1 egg or 1/4 block tofu
• 1 tsp garlic
• soy sauce

Cube tofu (or scramble an egg) and heat in a medium sized pan with a little olive oil (or cooking spray) and garlic, add vegetables (I used a cheapie frozen mix of corn, carrots, green beans, and peas- it reminded me of old school cafeteria lunches and fresh would be much better) and heat, add brown rice and soy sauce to taste. I was lazy and used the little pre-cooked cups of brown rice you can buy at the grocery store. For some reason I have terrible luck cooking brown rice and using the pre-cooked kind made the recipe perfect for a quick lunch hour meal. I also added a little hot sauce for extra flavor. The tofu ended up falling apart and resembling the consistency of an egg so it worked pretty well. I will admit that the frozen veggies were a bit of a bummer, so next time I'll use fresh and the recipe will definitely be a keeper. I had this by itself as lunch, but it would also be a great side dish.

Black Bean Tostadas (Inspired by Molly and Bon Appetite)

• 
  
  2 small corn tortillas
• 1/2 c rinsed black beans
• 1 c chopped cabbage
• 1 tbsp lemon or lime juice
• sprinkle of feta
• fresh salsa

In a frying pan with a coat of cooking spray, lay out the two corn tortillas and top each with 1/4 c black beans. Heat until beans are warm and tortillas are crisp. Top with 1/2 c cabbage each (or less if you'd like), sprinkle with lemon or lime juice and feta, and add fresh salsa (I used the refrigerated Albertsons brand). Dinner is ready! Molly's version (a recipe from Bon Appetite)is much more gourmet and tasty, but this is sort of the quick and cheap version. The whole meal also comes in at under 300 calories, which is my perfect lunch size (2 tortillas- 110 cals, 1/2 c black beans- 100 cals, reduced fat feta- about 80 cals).

And the close up:

Happy cooking!

'Tis the Season!

Tis the season for Holiday treats and looking forward to the New Year!

First, look what I found:



A picture of the yummers banana oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. My mom still thinks they sound gross, but I promise they're amazing.

It's been a cookie-baking kind of month. I made these yummy monster cookies and used Christmas M&Ms to make them more festive.



Word to the wise: this recipe makes A LOT of cookies. Like 6 dozen. It may have had something to do with my increasing the chocolate chips and candies to 1 cup apiece, but I figured the more goodies the merrier. The overabundance of treats made them fall apart a little more easily while transferring from bowl to baking sheet, so I think next time I'll use 3/4 c of each. I also decided to make the cookies regular rather than monster size so that they were a little more manageable.



Soooooo good. Thanks, Leslie for introducing me to this recipe!


I also found the perfect Chocolate Crinkle Cookie recipe (sorry the photo is terrible). These have always been one of my faves and they're soooo easy and tasty. Slightly undercooked with a scoop of peppermint ice cream and a drizzle of chocolate sauce makes them perfect holiday dessert.

*I only added 1 c of melted chocolate chips and skipped adding the additional 1 c of unmelted chips at the end. I don't think they need them. I really want to try this recipe with the mint chocolate chips- I think they would be so tasty!



Granted, there's nothing healthy about either the monster or crinkle cookie recipe, but a little cookie indulgence never killed anyone. That's what New Years resolutions are for, right?

Speaking of resolutions, I'm really excited about this cleanse I'll be doing in January. It's designed by Spark!Wellness and Choosing Raw. When I first started getting healthy I made a conscious effort to cut way back on the processed and fake foods in my diet, but I will admit that I've fallen back on some bad habits. I know I've come leaps and bounds from where I was before starting this journey, but I think the detox/cleanse will be a great opportunity for me to learn some new healthier habits and get rid of the unnecessary junk that sometimes sneaks into my mouth. Both websites are such fantastic sources of healthy and sound nutritional advice I know I'll be in great hands and can't wait to learn more about making smarter food choices. I'm also looking forward to doing the cleanse in a "group" setting so that if there's questions or concerns I won't be figuring things out on my own. The program starts January 18th with an informational call on January 6th, so don't worry- I still have a few days of holiday overindulgence left. ;)

Hope you enjoy the cookie recipes! Any plans for healthy New Years resolutions?

'Tis the Season!

This list is too funny: http://ohsheglows.com/2009/12/18/easy-vegan-holiday-party-appetizers-take-3/

Also I can't wait to try the vegan peppermint cookies!

I'll be posting recipes for chocolate crinkle cookies, Christmas monster cookies, and banana blueberry muffins within the next few days.

Hope you're having a fantastic Friday!

Amazing Cookies

I saw these delicious looking Banana Oatmeal Chip cookies a few weeks ago on Carrots N Cake and decided to give the recipe a try. They did not disappoint! I didn't have agave so substituted 1/4 c honey and 1 tbsp brown sugar. Sorry for not having a photo- my camera ate it :(

This is a great, quick and easy recipe- let me know if you give them a try!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Tuesday!

Food for Thought

Happy Tuesday! It's a gorgeous day here in Big Sky Country! What an amazing gift that Thanksgiving is right around the corner and it was nearly 60 degrees today. As my grandpa always says about the weather, "You better like it because there's nothing you can do about it." I not only like days like these, I love them!

As batty as I think Oprah can be, she can be quite inspired and profound. So, from Miss O, here's a little food for thought on a Tuesday afternoon. Maybe even a little nourishment for the spirit (we all need some every now and then).

Apologies for being such a delinquent flogger (food blogger) lately. Times, they are a changin'. I've decided to go back to school and work on earning my masters degree in Public Relations. I'll be taking (mostly online) classes at the local university (hopefully) starting in January, 2010. I find that I thrive when things are busier and I'm in the midst of a challenge, and I think pursuing my masters will be a great opportunity to re-engage my brain in an academic setting and acquire a skill set that will work nicely with my career as a real estate broker and developer.

Sooo.... I spent a lot of time studying for the GRE. In the midst of that, my meal planning sort of went out the window. Now that the GRE is over (thank goodness- that exam is horrendous and designed exclusively for torture) I've settled into a lovely, though changed routine. Instead of planning a whole week, I buy a ton of produce on the weekend and plan each day according to what sounds satisfying and needs to be eaten. With the shift in priorities, this day to day approach is much less daunting. I've also relied upon tried and true recipes with a few updates rather than scouring through cookbooks on the weekends with the ambition of trying to create new meals multiple times a week. And I'm alright with that. Now that I eat less meat (almost none) and less dairy (though I still love cheese and yogurt, I sub nut milk and soy when possible) I find myself reinventing the meals that I've found reliable and comforting for years.

Things change, priorities shift, and a healthy lifestyle looks different for each individual and may even vary from month to month or week to week. Embrace the changes, find some stability, and keep taking care of yourself! Even though it requires a little extra effort, the return is well worth the additional time and consideration.

I promise I'll be back with new recipes and old favorites soon! Thanks for bearing with me during the transition. :)

Hope you're having a fantastic day!

Apple Oats

After squeezing apples for cider at a friend's house last month I had some beautiful apples that were begging to be used.



My dad with our friend Henry who was visiting from Oregon.



When the weather cools off a little I always crave oats, and I figured I could make the homemade version of the oatmeal packets with those skimpy little dried apples.

Voila! Apple Oats!



I followed the oatmeal directions on the package and added a chopped apple as the oats were cooking. I mixed cinnamon to tastse into the oats and sprinkled brown sugar on top. So delicious!



Definitely my new favorite fall breakfast! Based on Rhodey Girl's suggestion I made a big batch on the weekend and reheated them for breakfast during the week. It saved time in the morning and they were just as delicious reheated in the microwave with a little almond milk. Take that instant oats! ;)

Hope you're having a beautiful Thursday!