Author: Lindsay Ingalls

Eating and Cleaning…and a Giveaway?!

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Last night I decided that I’d like something sweet and enjoyed a small glass of Strawberry Mousse that I tested for Ricki’s new cookbook.

Ariel decided she wanted to try it as well

This morning I attempted to get up and do my workout but it just wasn’t happening; my body wouldn’t cooperate.  So I enjoyed some more strawberry mousse, a raw cookie (recipe to come) and a mug of coffee.

Okay now lets get down to business I know you are all wondering what this giveaway is because who doesn’t love to try new AMAZING products? I know I do so I was delighted when I asked Seventh Generation if they would provided me with a variety of their eco-friendly cleaning products to review and giveaway and they agreed.  Now I might be biased because Seventh Generation is a Burlington based company but I really love their products.  I find that there are a number of eco-friendly cleaning products that are just okay and then there are some that are good but Seventh Generation is (so far anyways) the best that I have ever used.

I received the Healthy Home Starter Kit, which is also what Seventh Generation will be providing to the winner of this giveaway.  The kit includes:

Some items are missing as the Hubz put them away before I could photograph and I have yet to locate them...hmm that could be a problem!

  • Disinfecting Multi-Surface
  • Disinfecting Bathroom
  • Disinfecting Wipes- 35 ct.
  • All Purpose Cleaner
  • Glass Cleaner
  • Shower Cleaner
  • Toilet Cleaner
  • Tub&Tile
  • Natural Paper Towels
  • Seventh Gen Recylced Bag

I honestly love everything but my favorite have the been the disinfecting wipes and the Natural Paper Towels which I just purchased 3 more of because they were on sale at the co-op.  These products do a great job cleaning and I don’t have to worry about nasty chemicals that can harm my body or our fur babies.  Now I just tried a few of the many products that Seventh Gen has to offer so I would make sure to check out their site to see what products would be most useful for you.  Now to jump start this we are going to have a little giveaway fun to enter see instructions below.

The winner of the 7th Gen Giveaway is: Ashlei!

To enter giveaway (open to US residents only): Deadline July 23, 2010 at 8am. CLOSED

1. TO ENTER: Visit the Seventh Gen Site and answer the following questions:

Additional Entries (leave a separate comment for each of the following to be counted):

  1. Join Seventh Generation Nation! It’s free! (leave a comment)
  2. Follow SeventhGen on Twitter. (leave a comment)
  3. Tweet “I want to win @cookveganlover @SeventhGen Giveaway http://wp.me/pFVWo-Sx” (leave a comment)
  4. Become a fan of Seventh Generation of Facebook. (leave a comment)
  5. Follow @cookveganlover on Twitter (leave a comment)
  6. Become a fan of Cook.Vegan.Lover. on Facebook (leave a comment)

Weekend? What Weekend?

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We have been so busy this weekend! Friday was beer fest, saturday we did some grocery shopping and went to Costco and then we went to a Lake Monsters game for work because our Honor Guard was presenting the colors.

The Worlds Most Unhealthy-yet free- dinner ever! Vegan Burger with potato chips and diet cola....I cringe as I type this but oh well...it was good after a night at brew fest

Now it is Sunday and I have been busy attempting to unpack as well as having to run to the office to get some emergency items done. We got quite a bit done today however there is still more to do boo! I can’t wait to be totally moved in.  I am happy to say however we have gotten back into our active mornings and finally eating at home.

This morning I knew we had a lot to do so I decided to make a yummy and filling breakfast

Polenta topped with Tex-Mex TVP

Ingredients: (makes 4 portions)

  • Tex-Mex TVP
    • 1.5 cups vegetable broth
    • 1/2 cup TVP
    • 1/2 large onion, minced
    • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
    • 1/4 cup salsa- I used my Salba Mild Salsa sample
    • 1t cumin
    • 1T nutritional yeast
    • 1t paprkia
    • 1/2t garlic salt
    • 1t chili powder
    • 1/2T oil

Directions:

  • Polenta
    • Bring the water to a boil and stir in the corn grits polenta, nutritional yeast, and salt.  Turn down to low and continue to stir until the polenta has thickened.
  • Tex-Mex TVP
    • Bring the vegetable broth to a boil and stir in the TVP; turn down and simmer for 5- 7 minutes. Saute the onions and garlic in oil over medium-high heat until translucent. Add in the cumin, paprika, chili powder and salt and stir to evenly coat the onions and garlic.  Pour in the TVP; it should be soft and expanded some- there should be a little left over vegetable broth.  Stir the TVP and onion mixture together and add the salsa and nooch.
  • Assemble
    • Take 1/4 of the polenta and put it on a plate, top with 1/4 of the TVP mixture and then 1/4 of an avocado.  ENJOY! Other suggestions: add your favorite hot sauce, fresh diced tomatoes, pickled jalapenos or cilantro to add even more flavor to this dish.

After breakfast I tried out my new sneakers and walked a few miles to the Short Stop to redeem my free iced coffee ticket. Then it was off to work for an emergency that had to get taken care of.

After running to work we headed to Bed, Bath & Beyond to pick up some organizational items, the natural food store for a few items and then home to make some lunch- a recipe from Ani Phyo’s Raw Food Essentials– Pad Thai!  Since the only kelp noodles I had were still frozen I made the recipe with zucchini noodles, cabbage and carrot noodles on a bed of baby spinach.

Ani Phyo's newest raw book is really amazing! The book has such a clear layout of recipes which is great for easily navigating it and finding recipes that interest me. I absolutely love the photos that are in the book; they are a huge improvement over Ani's Raw Food Kitchen. The recipes are also even better than her first book! We loved the pad thai, BLT Club and Chinese Chickenless Salads- I can't wait to try more recipes! One thing that I loved about these recipes is that they were easy to follow and they all turned out amazing! There is also a great balance of recipes that require special appliances (i.e. dehydrators, high powered blenders, spiralizers) and recipes that are easy for anyone who doesn't have these special items and doesn't want to go out and purchase them. I would really recommend that if you have any interest in raw foods to pick this book up because you won't be dissappointed.

After recharging with this lovely raw meal it was time to get down to work and unpack our place.  We gave ourselves 20 minutes to relax, check e-mails and twitter then it was time to get unpacking.  We did pretty well over 2.5 hours of unpacking the place but unfortunately there is still more to do- we need more furniture so we don’t really have places to put things…like books.

I attempted to  write this post earlier but my blog has been down all afternoon so, what would have been a separate dinner post is going to be wrapped up into this post. Dinner was simple (see below) since it is a million degrees in our apartment and I’m exhausted.  Enjoy!

Tomato & Cuke Salad, Trio of Dips (leftover TVP from breakfast, Spicy Peanut Hummus and Salba Mild Salsa) with Salba Blue Corn Chips and Carrot Sticks, Lastly, Olives & Caper Berries

The Salad That Will Make Your Friends Say "WOW"

This simple salad will impress your guests:

Ingredients:

  • 1 large tomato, sliced
  • 1 large cucumber, sliced
  • 1 cup baby spinach
  • 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1 shallot, sliced
  • 2T olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

First place the balsamic and shallots in a small sauce pan on high heat and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to medium low  and reduce by half.  Set aside and let cool slightly while you prepare the remaining items.  Create a bed with the spinach for the tomato and cucumber to lay on; alternate the tomato and 2 slices of cucumber until all is used.  Down the center top the cucumbers and tomatoes with the balsamic shallots and then drizzle the remaining sauce over.  Drizzle the olive oil over and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

VT Brew Fest 2010

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Last night the Hubz and I made our way downtown to the Brew Fest at the Waterfront. Since it’s never good to drink on an empty stomach we headed straight to Alhi Baba’s for Falafel.

Then it was time for beer:

Finally our friends got through the massive line to get in and then we had ….well more beer obviously!

Don't worry he hasn't been double fisting all night he has mine as well

and what would Brew Fest be without friends in lederhosens?

and of course what goes better with beer than Alec’s Spicy Pretzels?

Unfortunately the night ended abruptly after waiting in line for a our last beer, getting up to the front just after our men and being told they couldn’t serve anymore. BOOOOOOOO!

The men showing of their success of getting the last beer of the night

Laura showing sad face with our last tickets of the night

It was a fun night and now that I’ve had my green juice I am ready for the market and iced coffee!

Somethings Brewing…

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At Vermont Brewers Festival!

Prior to heading to VT Brew Fest my parents met us at our new place bearing gifts aka mail that arrived at their house.  To our delight Salba Smart had sent me a number of items to sample.  We dove right in with the tortilla chips, the BBQ Crisps and my parents had some of the Cheddar & Sour Cream Crisps.

Some other goodies we have yet to try:

More Brew Fest Posts to come…..

More Hours In The Day

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I really need more hours in the day! I have been crazy busy this week between preparing to move on Monday, moving and working on Tuesday and then Wednesday I had a 13 hour work day which was exhausting.  Yesterday calmed down a little bit and the Hubz and I were able to get some unpacking done but there is still so much to do! Today I slept in and my slept in I mean I got up at 7 instead of 5:30 which was nice.  Tonight we are headed to the VT Brewer’s Festival so it is going to be a fun and crazy night that I will be sure to blog about tomorrow!

Since it’s been crazy around here and we have done a lot of eating out (we haven’t had any food at home) I feel like my body is lacking the nutrients that I get from when I cook/uncook at home.  So for lunch I made a nice salad of spinach topped with apple slices, fennel and pecans.

In that cute little nut butter jar is my dijon agave dressing which is to die for!

Dijon Agave Dressing:

  • 2T olive oil
  • 2T coconut vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
  • 1T dijon mustard
  • 2t agave

Put everything in a jar and shake! This is enough for 2 small salads or 1 huge salad.

Also I encourage you all to take a minute and Support the Walk For Farm Animals:

Guest Post: Caitlin of Operation Beautiful & Healthy Tipping Point

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My name is Caitlin and I blog about my healthy lifestyle at Healthy Tipping Point.  About a year ago, I recognized a need in our community for a way to stop Fat Talk, or negative internal self-talk.  As Jillian Michaels said, “Fat talk is transcending….  It affects your reality and damages you professionally, personally, and physically.”

To help end Fat Talk, I launched the Operation Beautiful website, which is becoming a book on August 3, 2010 (if you want to order the book, it’s available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble,Borders, and Indie Bound).  The mission of Operation Beautiful is to post anonymous notes in public places for other women to find. The point is that WE ARE ALL BEAUTIFUL. You are enough… just the way you are!

By posting these notes, girls, women, and even men are redefining what “beautiful” means and focusing on their internal qualities for validation.  I think we spend too much time, energy, and money chasing an unrealistic ideal of perfection.

So, what do we really mean when we say, “I’m so fat”?  We  actually mean that we are FULL WITH AN EMOTION. Oftentimes, it’s shame.  Or sadness.  Or fear.   Why do we express our inner turmoil by hating our bodies?  Because that’s what Fat Talk and society tells us to do.  Don’t admit you’re scared, just feel fat!  Don’t admit you’re lonely or depressed, you’re just fat!   We can deal with ugliness, we cannot deal with weakness.  The next time you feel the urge to say, “I’m so fat,” think about what you REALLY mean. By berating your body, you aren’t doing any favors.  But by honoring your emotions, you’re living a happier, more honest life.

If you wouldn’t say it out loud to a friend, why would you say it to yourself?

Maybe right now you’re thinking: “But a little guilt can be a GOOD thing!” or “Guilt is a normal reaction to indulging!” But, if guilt was healthy or “normal,” it would be PRODUCTIVE and it would make you HAPPY.  Do you find yourself feeling guilty over food a lot?  Well, then — you’re repeating the same actions over and over again, and clearly… Guilt isn’t productive, it doesn’t work, and it only serves to lower your self -esteem. Guilt is a waste of time and takes away from productive things you could be doing with your time — meditating, studying, sleeping, calling your friends on the phone, and more.

For tips on how to stop Fat Talk and begin to see yourself in a more positive light, check out Change the Way You See, Not the Way You Look.

If you’d like to spread the message of positivity and hope, post an Operation Beautiful note!  Take a picture of your note and email it to me at seebriderun@gmail.com, and I’ll post it on the site for thousands of others to read and enjoy.

Join me on the quest to eliminate Fat Talk in all its nasty and evil forms from our lives!  Remember, it starts now… and it starts with you.

I’ve posted this video about Fat Talk a few times before, but not recently.  If you haven’t watched this before, please do! It’s so powerful and I cry every time:


Moved but Not Unpacked

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So the Hubz and I have finally moved into our new place and it is better than I remembered.  The only down falls right now is that our place is filled with boxes that probably won’t get unpacked until this weekend since we both have to work.   Since we have basically no food in our fridge and no desire to cook we headed out for dinner in downtown Burlington and ended up with a lovely glass of red and a Vermont Soy tofu burger, this is my last hurray since I am taking a break from soy.

I know this post is short and sweet but I am off to bed because I have to get up early to head to an out of town meeting that is going to last all day.  Also yes that is mayo on the board behind my tofu burger it is the standard tray of condiments that comes out but don’t worry no we didn’t eat them just the mustard and ketchup.