It’s that time of year again! The Care Package Swap is in full swing and I just received my package from Kaycee of Vegan Machine. Kaycee sent me an amazing package of wonderful goodies take a look.
Homemade Bath Salts and Some really amazing soap with flower petals
Spices, Stuffing and Tea
Ginger Slices
Dr. Bronner's
Fruit bars and Lara bars
Measuring spoons, rosemary, mini-colander and CVL little frame
Chocolate PB, Chocolate Mint "Chips" and Chocolate Tea
Sweet Potato Tortilla Chips and Homemade Salsa- BOTH SO GOOD
I want to thank Kaycee for all the wonderful goodies and if you ever have the opportunity to try her salsa do so it is amazing!
Last week during my Eating for Energy workshop a few participants got to talking about their favorite beans and one gentleman said how much he loved to make his beans in his slow cooker. I thought that this sounded like a really great idea and decided to try it out myself. I picked up these giant organic dried fava beans at the market on Saturday and decided to make a dish inspired by this dish Neil and I had a few years ago at a tasty Greek restaurant in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The dish was made with giant white fava beans and had a tomato sauce with spices. My recreation may not have been authentic but it sure was tasty!
Giant Beans in Tomato Oregano Sauce
Ingredients
Yields 6-8 Servings
1.5 cups dried fava beans
2 cups water plus more for soaking
1-28oz can of crushed tomatoes
2-3 garlic, sliced
1 large onion, sliced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste
Soak the fava beans for 8-12 hours, changing the water once. Once they a finished soaking drain and rinse; place in a slow cooker with the 2 cups of water and the crushed tomatoes. Cover and turn onto low for 6 hours. After 6 hours, add the garlic, onion, oregano, salt and pepper; stir and cover and allow to slow cook for 2 more hours or until the beans are tender. Serve with your favorite whole grain or with whole wheat pita.
Lately I have been cutting back dramatically on coffee but when I received my Godiva Pumpkin Spice and Caramel Pecan Bark from the Foodbuzz: Tastemakers Program I was delighted to indulge.
I was slightly apprehensive at first because I’m not a huge fan of flavored coffees and since I am not drinking very much coffee I have been choosing my favorites but I decided to give these two flavors a chance. The results: I love them both. Now I might not be buying these all the time but they are really tasty and perfect for fall. I love the Pumpkin Spice, it is so warming with the cinnamon and nutmeg and the Caramel Pecan Bark is delicious, smooth and “creamy”. I brewed up a cup and brought it with me to the fall farms market; the perfect drink to have with the cool crisp air and changing leaves.
I am not much for coffee drinks so just adding a little almond milk to mine was indulgent enough. I do think that either would be wonderful cold and blended into a smoothie though…hmmm I just might have to try that sometime!
I have decided to enter to be a FitFluential Ambassador. Over the past year fitness has become a big part of this blog because it is part of how I live a healthy life. I love to post about what I am doing to stay fit, about my training for races and other fun things I like to do to stay fit such as hiking and yoga. I am always finding new ways to stay fit and stay motivated.
Below are photos of how I stay fit and how I have fun in Vermont; don’t get me wrong I have fun staying fit as well.
Where do you cook? I cook mostly at home in my kitchen. I love to cook and do so for almost all our meals, although if you have been following my posts I will be cooking all my meals at home this month. I love to create recipes and have two e-books available. I also just started working with a company to create recipes for their line of cookware- I’ll blog more about this later on in the month.
Where do you workout? I workout in the living room or office when I workout at home. I run on the roads and bike path near my house and I do other cardio, weights, swimming and classes at the YMCA in Burlington. I also take yoga classes at local yoga studios and at the YMCA.
What’s your favorite restaurant? My favorite restaurant is A Single Pebble because it has really delicious family style authentic Chinese food and tons of vegan options. I also love American Flatbread.
What would we do when we host a FitFluential bash in YOUR town: I would love to have a FitFluential bash in my town and include a 5k charity race, yoga at Shelburne Vineyard (Lululemon had one there last summer) or yoga on the waterfront. I would love to do a food and drink tour around Church Street as well.
Whenever fellow vegans are visiting Vermont I always suggest my favorite vegan friendly restaurant-A Single Pebble. The Hubz and I went for a Saturday lunch a few weeks ago and it was just as good as I remember (it’s been a few months since we last went). The other thing I love is that at lunch everything is less expensive but you still get a ton of food- we ended up taking half of ours home with us.
Our favorite dishes: Vegan Buddha’s Beef (request vegan), Mock Eel, Double Garlic Broccoli, Vegan Dry Fried Green Beans (request vegan) and Vegan Dan Dan Noodles (request vegan).
One of my favorite snacks are almonds but not just any almonds, I love tamari almonds. As much as I enjoy them I don’t purchase them often because they are pretty expensive per pound so I usually just get regular almonds. Finally I decided that instead of spending $4 more per pound I’d make my own.
Wasabi Shoyu (Tamari) Almonds
2 cups raw almonds
1/4 cup shoyu or tamari
1/2 teaspoon wasabi powder
Pre-heat oven to 250F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a bowl mix the shoyu with the wasabi powder; toss with the almonds and spread in one layer on the baking sheet.
Bake for 25-30 minutes; tossing half way through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet. Once cooled store in an air tight container.
Yesterday marked the start of of the CVL Eat-In Challenge: 30 Days Restaurant Free.
The Challenge:
And now, here’s your challenge. Starting on October 1st and running through the month until October 30th, challenge participants are encouraged to eat-in for all meals. This includes snacks and beverages. I am not going to state any exceptions because this is something that you are doing for yourself. Just remember if you do “cheat” one day it doesn’t mean the month is a loss. Just start right back up; each meal is a new chance to jump back in.
Set a budget for the month and stick to it. This budget should include all of your meals, snacks and beverages and should be based on your personal/family needs. This means making your coffee at home, avoiding vending machines at work (you should avoid those anyways). Do you crave dessert? Make sure to add it to your grocery list, try to avoid those late night runs to your favorite dessert spot. Every budget will be different but make sure it is one that you will be able to work with for an entire month.
My monthly grocery budget for October is $360 plus CSA (two remaining share baskets)
How you are going to keep yourself on track and what measures you plan to take to make this a successful challenge.
I am going to blog about my journey, menu plan and focus on buying vegetables, whole foods and bulk items.
If you are participating:
On October 8th, 15th and 22nd post a progress report. The post should include:
Discuss how things are going and whether you are on track for budget.
Discuss the meals you had over the course of the week.
Something you learned, a challenge you faced and how you over came that challenge
Are you participating? Add this badge to your blog:
It’s that time of year again! The Care Package Swap is in full swing and I just received my package from Kaycee of Vegan Machine. Kaycee sent me an amazing package of wonderful goodies take a look.
Wasabi Shoyu (Tamari) Almonds
