This week I had to take a break from the gym. No seriously I had to because our gym decided to close for a maintenance week so that meant no classes, no gym workouts and worst of all no pool. I was really looking forward to some swim workouts but oh well there’s always next week. This week so far I have done one run, one walk and one run track workout. Tomorrow we are going to tons of walking around Philly but Neil and I plan to get up early and use the gym or pool at the hotel before we head out on our day. Saturday the goal is to do a 4-5miler along Kelly Drive but that will be weather dependent. If the predicted storms come then it will be a hotel gym workout and I’ll probably do 2-3 miles on the dreadmill and 20-30mint on the elliptical plus again more walking around Philly. Lastly, my Sunday workout will probably be elliptical or whatever other cardio machine the hotel has. Trip cancelled due to Irene. I have no idea what my workouts will be this weekend- all depends on the weather. Do you workout on vacation?
I’m so excited to be doing a guest post for Lindsay. Her and I have a lot in common, besides the fact we both love healthy delicious food, we both work as health coaches. Although I’ve been working as a health coach for awhile, I’m just getting into it full time because I just quit my teaching job! Now I have lots of time to spend working with my clients AND cooking & baking in the kitchen. Since I know you all love delicious vegan recipes, I figured why not share one of my favorite recipes….brownie muffins!
These brownie muffins are made with spelt flour, which has higher protein and is easier on your stomach to digest. Make them just like this, or swap out a flour you have in your cabinet, like whole wheat or unbleached white flour and that’ll work just fine too.
Brownie Muffins
Yield: 14 muffin tops or 16 regular sized muffins
Ingredients:
2 cups spelt flour
1/2 cup turbinado sugar (or white sugar will do too)
1/4 cup agave nectar
3/4 cup pumpkin (or unsweetened applesauce)
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 cup ground flax
1/4 cup chia seeds
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup dark or semi sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In 2 small bowls, add the ground flax to one and the chia seeds to the other. Add 1/2 cup water to each cup and mix well. Set aside. Add spelt flour, turbinado sugar and cocoa to a large mixing bowl and mix. Then add wet ingredients: agave nectar, pumpkin, vanilla extract and almond milk. Mix again.
Make sure that your ground flax & chia egg have “set” (it will be a gel like consistency) and then add both bowls to batter and stir. Take 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips and melt it either on a double boiler, or in the microwave at 50% of power for 45 seconds. Mix into batter when melted. Add baking soda and baking powder and mix to combine. Lastly, add remaining 1/2 cup of chocolate chips.
Spray a muffin pan with non-stick spray or use paper liners. Spoon batter into muffin pan and sprinkle tops of muffin with a bit of turbinado sugar. Bake for 22-25 minutes and enjoy!
You’ve got yourself a healthy breakfast or dessert! You can have your muffin without the guilt! I hope you come over to my blog to visit!
Thanks Lindsay for letting me guest post! —
Nicole Culver, M.A.
Over a twitter discussion over my absolute favorite tea- Mighty Leaf’s Orange Dulce I came into contact with Mighty Leaf about doing a review of their new iced teas. They sent me their four new iced tea flavors to try and let me tell you they don’t disappoint. These teas are just like Mighty Leaf’s small tea bags in giant form; so not only do they make delicious tea but what isn’t fun about a giant tea bag?
The Mighty Leaf Iced Teas flavors:
o Ginger Peach Iced Tea: A blissful and lightly sweet black iced tea infused with sun-swelled peaches and delicate ginger.
o Calypso Mango Iced Tea: A sweet and cooling black iced tea with an indulging blend of South Indian black tea leaves, luscious mango, and tropical fruit.
o Organic Black Iced Tea: A flavorful black iced tea made of refreshingly rich and smooth South Indian organic black tea leaves hand-picked on the dewy slopes of the Nilgiri Mountains.
o Sunburst Green Iced Tea: A cool and vibrant iced green tea that delivers mountain-grown Chinese green tea leaves brightened with the crisp taste of ripe oranges and sweet citrus. The lowest in caffeine among all four flavors.
Iced tea is my favorite summer beverage however I don’t often make it at home because unless I have loose tea it is no fun to try to make tea from a handful of tiny tea bags. Well Mighty Leaf makes things so much easier by having their giant iced tea bags. All you have to do is steep the tea bag and then add ice. It’s never been easier to make iced tea at home.
I really enjoyed all of these flavors and once we started making them we haven’t been able to stop. My favorite is the Sunburst Green Iced Tea because it is fresh and crisp and perfect on a hot day. Neil’s favorite is the Organic Black Iced Tea it is wonderfully dark and refreshing.
Summer might be coming to an end but it’s never too late to enjoy a nice cold crisp glass of iced tea.
*CLOSED* GIVEAWAYS: Mighty Leaf is offering a giveaway of their Summer Brewing Kit. One person can receive a box of each of their new teas, as well as the Bodum Iced Tea Pitcher which makes fresh iced tea in minutes. The kit’s total value is approximately $60. US Residents only. Giveaway open until August 25th at 4pm EST
Mandatory: What is your favorite summer drink?
*Additional Entries* Leave a separate comment for each
DISCOUNT: Mighty Leaf is offering CVL readers a 15 percent site-wide discount on www.mightyleaf.com. The unique discount code is: coupon code: summertea15
This weekend I have been preparing for a new workshop that I am doing next week on natural sweeteners. Part of preparing for the workshop is making up some tasty treats for my participants to try out. This granola is made using maple sugar and brown rice syrup.
Makes 8 Cups
Ingredients:
6 cups quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup maple sugar
1/4 cup golden flax seeds
1/4 cup flax meal (ground flax seeds)
1/4 cup nibs
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup black sesame seeds
1 cup Thompson raisins
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup coconut oil (liquid form)
1/3 cup brown rice syrup
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Spread the oats on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. While the oats are baking combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl; stir to combine. Add the oats to the dry ingredients and stir to evenly distribute. Add the wet ingredients to the oat mixture and mix until everything is evenly coated.
Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper (optional). Spread half the mixture on each of the baking sheets and bake for 15 minutes, stir after 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow granola to cool on the baking sheets. Store in an airtight container.
Last year I did a 25 in 25 and honestly they were obnoxiously ridiculous. I’m actually embarrassed to review them because I don’t know what I was thinking or where the money to fund a million trips was coming from. But here they are:
Work on my writing skills. – Completed- however still a work in progress
Get all the stamps in my VT Brewers Passport Stamped
Go to a driving range and hit some balls – Completed-
Read 10 new books. – Completed- I re-read Harry Potter Books 3-5, I read all three “The Girl” books, I read all three Hunger Games books and I read Michael Pollan’s Food Rules; I may have read other books I just didn’t keep track. Most of my reading between September-February were handouts for school.
Update my blog with a new fun look – Completed-however still a work in progress
We are just over the half way point of August and things are going pretty well with my fitness goals. I got a little hung up this week due to our hike last Saturday. I ended up really straining my calf muscle which resulted in not being able to do my planned four mile run on Sunday and put me out of commission for running most of this week. That being said no more hiking until next summer since my half training official beings in 11 days.
Below is my workouts in August up until yesterday; still to come this week are yoga, 3-4 mile run and possible a swim and/or pilates.
Many of you are at/heading to the Healthy Living Summit (wish I could have gone)in Philly this weekend and are probably curious on what to do.
Neil, myself and our friend Laura are on our way to Philly next weekend to meet up with Laura’s boyfriend Aaron and enjoy a new (to us) city. Since my extent of “visiting” Philly is many layovers at the airport I decided to ask a Philly resident Allison from The Sunday Flog what her top recommendations of things to do and eat are. This is what she suggested:
things to do:
art museum (if you’re into museums!)
liberty bell/walk through independence mall (5th/6th and arch) – the only one that requires admission is the national constitution center
run on kelly drive – it’s gorgeous to stroll along the river (FYI from the art museum to the east falls bridge is ~4 miles)
visit LOVE park (15th and arch) and take pictures
mini golf at franklin square (7th and race) – all replicas of mini philly landmarks! super fun and $8! then grab [veggie] burgers from stephen starr’s square burger and ice cream and franklin fountain. cute date night!
stroll on south street and check out the cool shops and weird people
READING TERMINAL MARKET (12th and filbert)
italian market! (9th and washington…all along 9th st) a bit more mexican/chinese than just italian, but dinner at villa di roma is great, as is perusing the little shops (fantes housewares is a favorite!)
stroll through rittenhouse square and grab a drink somewhere!
"I Love Philadelphia," by William C. Ressler
things to eat:
not cheesesteaks because you don’t eat meat!
pizza at pietros. (17th and walnut) i don’t know why but this is one of my FAVORITE places in the city!!!
any of stephen starr’s restaurants (continental, el vez, jones, buddakan, morimoto, pod)
pure fare – organic and delicious!
barbuzzo
cantina dos segundos (931 north 2nd st) AWESOME FOOD and they are super veg/vegan friendly
brunch at honeys sit-and-eat (800 n. 4th) or sabrinas (18th and callowhill OR 9th and christian)
What are you favorite things to do and eat in Philly?
This week I had to take a break from the gym. No seriously I had to because our gym decided to close for a maintenance week so that meant no classes, no gym workouts and worst of all no pool. I was really looking forward to some swim workouts but oh well there’s always next week. This week so far I have done one run, one walk and one run track workout.
Makes 8 Cups
