Good Morning! It’s been a bit of a messy morning over here but all is well and cleaned up now. I picked up pumpkin yesterday to make pumpkin pie oats for breakfast today and everything was going so well until I went to get the flaxmeal out of the freezer. I bumped my elbow and it was crash, bang, flaxmeal and glass all over the kitchen floor.
After a big sweep of the kitchen, which needed it anyways, everything was cleaned up and it was time for Pumpkin Pie Oats!
Pumpkin Pie Oats for two
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1 3/4 cup water
1/2 cup pumpkin pie puree
1/4 cup unsweetened hemp milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp coconut sugar
2 tbsp flax meal (that I saved)
1 tbsp chia seeds
2 tbsp almond butter
4 tbsp raisins
Combine the oats and water in a small pot over high heat; bring to a boil then turn down to low and cook for 3-5 minutes. Once the oats are cooked stir in the pumpkin pie puree, hemp milk, cinnamon, coconut sugar, flax, and chia seeds. Divide into two bowls and top each with half of the almond butter and half of the raisins.
With my oats I swapped out my normal cup of coffee for a mug of Awake tea. I love this tea since I have been working on reducing my coffee intake to 1-3 cups per week. Past weekend trip photos
When I was uploading the photos of breakfast I found photos from when we went to Northampton for the night back on the last weekend of August. Check out the these ones from breakfast at Cafe Esselon.
Today has been a busy day between blogging and freelance work this morning and then I headed my day job where I started my day with a mug of this delicious tea.
Shortly after getting to work I was ready for a snack so I broke out my homemade trail mix. In the mix there is raw cashews, almonds, pistachios, tamari-wasasbi almonds, fruit sweetened cranberries, raw pumpkin seeds and mulberries- such a good combination.
Lunch was leftovers from dinner chickpea chili in a wrap, a quick and easy way to transition dinner to an easy lunch. I love wrapping leftovers in a tortilla.
My work day ended and I head straight to the gym to get out 2.5 Miles for Ashley right on track for my half marathon training plan. After my run I stretched and foam rolled, holy hell I haven’t foam rolled in awhile and the foam roller was having a love-hate relationship with my IT band. Reminder to self: FOAM ROLL MORE!
Following my gym sesh I had a health coaching sesh which went really well. I have great clients and I love working with them.
Now it’s time to relax a.k.a. work on the couch for a bit while I ice my knees and enjoy a glass of vino.
REWIND
Anniversary Dinner: Tuesday was Neil and I’s 5 Anniversary since we got together. We have been married for 3 years and we don’t usually celebrate our dating anniversary but since it was 5 years it was a big deal and the Hubz decided to surprise me with dinner at a new restaurant, The Bobcat Cafe.
Neil called, checked on vegan options and made a reservation (big deal he never does this) and I swooned. Then we enjoyed an amazing dinner:
Started the Night with a Beer- Bobcat Cafe is also a brewery!
Then we started with the Black Bean Gazpacho and...
a Green Salad with an amazing Roasted Corn and Basil Dressing
The star of the show was the 5-Spiced Tofu A-M-A-Z-I-N-G
Overall Bobcat Cafe was amazing. The food was incredible, the service was great and the beer was good. The atmosphere was a mixture of classy restaurant and a pub- which made for a wonderful place to eat.
Q. If you’re married to you celebrate your dating anniversary?
Menu planning hasn’t always been something that I have done but over the years it has become a part of my weekly routine. I have found that planning out what we are going to eat each week helps me to to stay on track when grocery shopping as well as it keeps us eating healthier. So now each week I sit down and I plan out our meals for the week.
Evaluate. The first thing I do when I start to work on our menu is to see what we have in our pantry, refrigerator and freezer. I take note of items that could be used in the next weeks menu, especially those items that are on their last leg. I make a list of these and use it to help choose recipes. I also currently have a CSA until mid October and base the majority of our meals around what we receive. Every Tuesday afternoon we receive an email of what will be in our share the next day and I use that list to help build our menu.
Recipe Research. Flip through your favorite cookbooks and san through your favorite food blogs to find recipes that interest you and ones that will pair well with the ingredients you already have. New recipes are always fun but make sure you don’t overload yourself with time consuming or complicated recipes. Keep things simple. Keep the complicated recipes to a minimum, one or two, per week and plan to make them when you have more time- for me this is generally on the weekends. On other days focus on recipes that take 30 minutes or less.
Plan dinners first. I always plan out what we will have for dinner and make note of any dining out plans. After planning our dinners I plan lunches; since most of the time our lunches are leftovers I don’t often have to make anything different unless we go out for dinner. Lastly, I plan breakfasts- these are the easiest because generally we have cereal, oatmeal or grits and it’s just a matter of making sure we have enough in stock. My last plan is snacks, beverages and other items we might need.
Make a Grocery List. Once I’ve made a plan, I make a grocery list based on what we need to make each meal and snacks, ect. Making a list helps to save money, make sure you have a stocked pantry/fridge and makes your trip to the market quick and easy.
Other Thoughts. Stay flexible. Many times I plan my meals for the week and then I decide that I want something different half way through. Since I have done my shopping and I am well stocked with healthy foods it is easy to make a quick change to my normal plan- so long as I don’t have to buy more food. Example I plan to make a quinoa bowl with kale, tomatoes and avocado but I am craving a giant salad so instead of making a quinoa bowl I make a delicious massaged kale salad with kale, tomatoes, avocado, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Menu planning is a great way to save money because you are buying what you need and aren’t wasting food or buying more than you need. It helps you to live a healthier lifestyle; by planning healthy meals and stocking a healthy kitchen it is easier to make healthier choices when healthy foods are right at your finger tips.
Take Away:
Plan dinners first.
Plan around what you already have.
Make a grocery list and stick to it.
Keep it simple.
Be flexible.
Do you menu plan? What are you menu planning tips?
To do or not to do that is the question. I have been asking myself this question for years (CVL is almost 6 years old, including transition from Cooking For A Vegan Lover) and I have always debated whether or not I wanted to be a daily blogger. I currently blog most days but I tend to focus on feature/topic related posts rather than more personalized daily post like discussing what I’m eating, my life and everything else. My hesitation in the past has been because of number of things such as:
Do I have time to commit to writing daily?
Do people really want to read about my whole life? and how much do I really want to share?
As I just wrote that I really thought I would have come up with more reasons why I hesitated really it’s just those 3 things. So, I have now come back around to the idea of daily blogging and I am wondering should I or shouldn’t I? I feel like I can commit to writing daily and I feel like I really can share as much or as little as I want. As for do people really want to read it? I have no idea- do you want daily life posts?
I have actually been doing a lot of cooking lately however I have failed at making much that I deem “blog worthy”. Last week was a lot of quinoa and veggie bowls with salad, Saturday morning we had tofu scramble with homefries and yesterday for lunch I made a mac and cheese with gluten free pasta that turned out too dry. I did find last nights dinner to be successful and I took the time to actually grab a photo of what I made.
Since we get our CSA on Wednesday’s Sunday until Tuesday usually ends up being unplanned meals because we never know how much of things we are going to receive. Last night I decided to use up the remaining potatoes, bright lights chard, dill and a cayenne pepper. I also found one carrot, one beet and half an onion that all needed to be used, and so they were.
Garlicky Chard, Creamy White Beans and a Dilly Root Veg Mash
Garlicky Chard
Makes 2-4 servings
1 bunch bright lights chard (or any kind of swiss chard you like)
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt and pepper to taste.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook for one minute. Add the chard and cook until wilted. Season with salt and pepper. Serve!
Creamy White Beans
Serves 4-6
Two 15oz cans of cannelini beans, drained and rinsed
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 medium onion, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons white wine, vegetable broth or water
1 cayenne chili, minced (optional)
1 tablespoon fresh dill, minced
3 tablespoons vegan cream cheese
salt and pepper
In a medium pot heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the onion and cook for 4-5 minutes until soft and translucent. Stir in the garlic and cook for one minute. Stir in the beans and white wine, cook until liquid is gone. Add in the chili, dill, cream cheese and salt and pepper, stir until combined. Serve!
Dilly Root Veg Mash
Serves 2-4
3-4 medium sized new potatoes, washed and quartered
1 large red beet, peeled, washed and quartered
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
2 tablespoons vegan margarine
2 heaping tablespoons chopped dill
salt and pepper to taste
Place the potatoes, beet and carrot in a pot and fill with water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook until fork tender. Drain and return to the pot; add the remaining ingredients mash together to combine. Serve!
My weekend started off with a really great run with my Hubz and then we got ready for a date night. We started our night at the South End Art Hop where we looked at some wonderful local art studios and stole a few snacks (pretzels, veg and hummus) before heading to dinner at Flatbread. We enjoyed a delicious drink while we waited for a table, wine for me and beer for him, and then shared a salad and flatbread with mushrooms, heirloom tomatoes, peppers and eggplant- so good.
Art Hoping
Saturday morning Hubz and I headed out for our Saturday coffee and spent some time working before going shopping. This coming weekend I am heading to NYC for an IIN conference and I “needed” to go get a new “dress to impress” outfit. I spent too many hours looking for a new outfit and by the end of the day I found one I liked but couldn’t commit. I decided to sleep on on it.
This morning the Hubz and I got up at my parents (unplanned over night) and did a hilly, back road run. I had 4 miles on my plan for today but once I got going I felt amazing and decided to do a 60 minute run which ended up being 4.56 miles!!! The most I have ever run in my life and it felt amazing. I really could have kept going but I knew I shouldn’t because I shouldn’t veer off my training plan. After running it was time to get ready to celebrate my G-Ma’s 80th Birthday! Happy Birthday to her!
After her b-day party, Hubz and I headed home and I finally decided to commit to the outfit…and a new pair of pants. Neil was thrilled because after putting him through too many hours of shopping yesterday I finally bought something. See outfit below.
Now it’s time to sit and relax for a bit, watch a few shows and help the Hubz bottle his most recent homebrew. Dinner was sauteed chard, creamy white beans and a root veg mash- recipe to come!
Spend an average of 45 minutes per day working out even on passive rest days. – Improved by 13 minutes per day (36 minutes per day) from last week but not up to where I want to be. This will continue to be a goal for next week.
On passive rest days do yoga, go for a walk or do a gentle swim. –I did yoga this week! Wahoo! I did have one rest day that I didn’t do anything. Again this is a continuing goal.
Get back to meal planning and work on eating foods that will benefit my health, my running and my body.- This week has been great for food! I created a meal plan this week and came home with lots of yummy nourishing food. Favorite meals of the week: Huge green salad and whole wheat penne with ratatouille sauce, and huge green salad and a quinoa bowl with tons of veggies and cheeze sauce.
Hydrate. Drink more water, more frequently. That is one thing that I haven’t been doing well enough lately and I know I should.- I have been drinking a lot more water, a lot less coffee and a lot less beer.
Conclusion. This week went really well. I still need to make improvements but I am on the right track. Yesterday my hips and knee were bothering me some so I decided to do hip opening yoga instead of going on my run. Today I will do that run and shift my other runs a little bit over the next week so I am gong every other day.
Goals for this week:
Spend an average of 45 minutes per day working out even on passive rest days. (Passive rest days = gentle walk, yoga (non-power or hot), easy swim)
Continue to Hydrate. Drink more water, more frequently. That is one thing that I haven’t been doing well enough lately and I know I should.
Drink less coffee and less alcohol. Neil and I have decided that we are going to cut back on these two things to improve our health, our energy levels and (hopefully) our running. We have decided that we can have a coffee on Saturday and we can have a max of two alcoholic beverages per week and only on Thursday, Friday or Saturday and not before a run day.
Safety First: Road ID
When I first started running my husband and I always went on your runs together. Although he is faster than me he was always just 2-3 minutes ahead of me and I felt safe knowing he was near by. Nowadays I often do my running alone, many times in the early morning or afternoon and since I don’t have my husband or a friend with me I always wondered what if something happened to me.
A few weeks ago I made the poor decision to go out on a run even though it was hot and I knew I had not hydrated well. By the last half mile of my run I started to feel a little dizzy but I pushed through. As soon as I arrived home I had to get some water and sit down for awhile because the horrible combination of heat, humidity and lack of hydration made me feel like I was just about to pass out. I lucked out that I made it home before that feeling hit but fear set in anyways and I couldn’t stop thinking about the what ifs. That’s when I looked into getting a Road ID.
I talked with the team at Road ID and they decided to send me a Road ID of my choice to have for my safety and to try out for review. I had a choice between a few different styles: the Wrist ID Sport, the Wrist ID Elite, the Wrist ID thing, the Shoe ID, the FIXX ID or the Ankle ID. I decided to go with the Wrist ID Sport because it seemed like the perfect one for running. After measuring my wrist I chose my size, color and what I wanted on my ID. I put my full name, location, my husbands number, my parents number, I noted that I have no allergies and lastly “Follow Your Bliss”.
I now run with my Road ID on every outdoor run. I have a Garmin on one arm and my ID on the other and even though it looks a little silly I don’t care because it’s all about safety first.
Do you run or do outdoor activities with an ID? If not when will you start to?
