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Vegan Wedding Feature: Tess Challis

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Neil and I are celebrating our Third Wedding Anniversary this weekend and today we are off to explore Providence, Rhode Island. While we are galavanting around Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire I hope you enjoy the Vegan Wedding Feature posts. In this first post Tess Challis discusses her all vegan menu and how if the food looks beautiful and taste delicious anyone will eat vegan.  Enjoy!

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Lentil Spinach Soup (photo by Michelle McCluggage)

Although my marriage didn’t have a fairy tale ending, I can happily say that my ex-husband and I are still great friends! We were married in the fall of 2002 in the Lizard Head wilderness. Here in Colorado, you can legally marry each other without anyone else present. However, we did want to have a gathering to celebrate a few weeks after the actual marriage took place. At the time, we were on a shoestring budget so we had to get really creative. Luckily, there were lots of incredibly kind and generous people who offered to participate. Local professional musicians offered to sing at our celebration for free and the space we rented for the celebration was also practically free!

 

So, all that was left was food! Being a vegan since 1991, I was determined to work delicious vegan cuisine into the event as well. And since I was in charge of the food (and my husband was a vegan-friendly vegetarian), we decided on a delicious, all-vegan menu. Having done quite a bit of catering and personal chef work at that point, I knew what dishes were crowd pleasers. For an event like this with mostly omnivores, I wanted a menu that would be exciting and satisfying for everyone. I didn’t want even one person to say, “That was good, but where’s the meat?” So, we decided on a menu that included the following: Creamy hummus (pictured) with sourdough bread, gourmet mini-pizzas (pictured), Italian bread salad, fresh spring rolls with peanut sauce, Lemon Asparagus Linguine (pictured), Lemon Lentil Soup (pictured), and Chocolate Decadence Cake (pictured). I’ve obviously found that Italian food is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser! And it was – even my meat-and-potatoes grandma said after dinner: “If you cooked for me every day, I would be a vegan!” Everyone loved the food and talked about it for many months afterward.

Creamy Hummus with Sourdough Bread (Photo by Olga Vasiljeva)

Mini PIzzas (Photo by Michelle McCluggage)

Lemon Asparagus Linguine (Photo by Michelle McCluggage)

Chocolate Decadence Cake (Photo by Michelle McCluggage)

So, this has been my path! Turning people on to a vegan lifestyle via delicious food. It’s such a sneaky approach, but one that works surprisingly well! I can’t tell you how many people have told me over the years that the vegan food I’ve served them has been just about the best thing they’ve ever eaten. It’s so exciting to turn people on to really delicious food that awakens their taste buds – and then to tell them, “By the way, that was all vegan – and healthy!”
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Quintessence (“Tess”) Challis began her holistic health journey in her late teens. After a lifetime of numerous health ailments (including acne, obesity, strep throat, constant illnesses, anxiety, and depression), she found that a vegan diet along with an “inner wellness regime” of meditation and visualization literally made a world of difference.

In 1994, she began sharing this knowledge through cooking classes, catering, meditation classes, and workshops. She has also been a personal chef to many clients across the United States.

In 2009, Tess published the 2nd edition of Radiant Health, Inner Wealth, a vegan cookbook and complete holistic health resource. Tess’s latest book, The Two-Week Wellness Solution: The Fast Track to Permanent Weight Loss and Vitality, was released in June 2010 and includes a foreward by Dr. Neal Barnard. Her next book, Radiance 4 Life: The 4 Cornerstones of Ultimate Vitality, is due out in June 2011. She currently works as a wellness coach, cooking class instructor, author/speaker, and personal trainer.

Website: www.radianthealth-innerwealth.com
Bloggin’: www.rhiw.blogspot.com
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tesschallis
Connect on Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/yczqmzr

Running Around

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Good Morning Bloggies!

I know summer is (almost) finally here because I have been running around like a crazy person the past few days.  It’s a good run around though! The Hubz and I finally got our memberships at the YMCA and are looking forward to taking advantage of everything it has to offer.  Yesterday we both ran on the treadmill (even though it was beautiful out- fail) and this morning despite my desire to go to the gym early I chose to snuggle under the blankets with the Hubz and kitty instead; guess I’ll be heading there after work!

After the gym yesterday we came home and I made “pizzas” on sprouted grain tortillas and topped them with lots of garlic, portobello mushrooms, chilies, tomatoes, and dates.  Yes DATES! Such a good combination with everything, you should really try it on your next pizza.

After dinner we walked down to our garden plot and planted some red Russian & lacinato kale, astro arugula and cosmic purple carrots.  We are still discussing what other veggies we want to grow – what do you think we should grow? What are you growing in your garden this year?

After planting we headed home but first we stopped to watch the beautiful sunset over the lake- so pretty!

Today is going to be another busy day with work, meeting up with a girl-friend, gym, health coaching work, blogging and gardening tonight! To help fuel us through the day I made a batch of Isa’s Banana Flapjacks and topped with coconut, berries and maple syrup- DELICIOUS!

Weekend Wrap Up

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Hey Bloggies!

Hope you had a good weekend! It has been beautiful here, until this evening anyways when the rain decided to come. The Hubz and I started our weekend off with Day 3 of Week 1 of Couch to 5k; it was great and we have been able to increase our distance a little bit each day.  I did find this week though that I didn’t do enough other exercising besides yoga and C25k so this week I would like to incorporate more elliptical sessions, Insanity and weights.

After our run/walk we had a relaxing night in catching up on our favorite shows and chowing down on this yummy pizza topped with soysage, caramelized fennel and onions and a spicy tomato sauce.

Saturday morning I woke up thinking it was a work day but was pleasantly surprised to find that it was just a beautiful Saturday morning.  The Hubz and I got up and started working on a new project, that you will learn more about in the coming weeks, and then we got dressed and headed downtown to the farmers market and for a walk in the sun.  The farmers market was great this weekend and we picked up some beautiful watermelon radishes, cabbage, parsnips, potatoes, onions, beans and this beauty from Nibble or Nosh :

Vegan Cookies And Cream Cupcake

The Hubz and I spent the remainder of the afternoon relaxing and sipping on large wonderful glasses of sangria.

Today we have been well….lazy but I did create a new recipe that will be featured for “Recipe of the Week” and the Hubz and I went on a walk over at Ethan Allen Tower/Ethan Allen Park and were able to enjoy the nice weather before the rain came.  Now the Hubz is working on our secret project and I’m relaxing, blogging and watch season 1 of 24.

Recipe of the Week

What did you do this weekend?

Weekend Wrap Up

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This weekend was a fairly busy and yet uneventful one and I could really go for an extra day off.

Friday was a ridiculously busy day- none of which did I make time to capture in photographs- but it started with a frustrating morning at the dealership where I went to get my oil changed and it turned into a whole big, extra long mess.  Then it was off to work later than planned to finish a grant proposal that was due at 5pm.  I had a later day at the office than usual but was able to finish the application and get it sent off at 3:40pm! Following that I had to pick up the Hubz and head to the hospital to visit my mom who was having out-patient surgery on her knee.  After our brief visit and long day the Hubz and I were ready for a margarita and portobello fajitas.

Saturday was as little bit more relaxed; we spent most of the day at home working on our projects. We stopped around noon and decided to try out this Vegan Harvest pizza from American Flatbread that I had picked up on a whim.

The verdict: the pizza was meh-okay.  The Hubz and I both though the crust was delicious but that’s a given because American Flatbread has the best crust.  The pizza overall was greasy and really lacked in flavor.  It had a tiny bit of sauce on it and a ton of Daiya.  I would have liked to have seen vegetables on the pizza and a few more herbs.  Overall I don’t think we’d buy this again because we can make a veggie filled home-made pizza for the same that it costs us to buy this frozen pizza.

The Hubz went snowboarding with a friend on Sunday so I spent the entire day working on edits for my e-book that will hopefully be released on Tuesday or Wednesday! Fingers Crossed! Here is a sneak peak

Also don’t forget that you still have until February 10th to enter the Fiery Vegan Valentine Contest! You can enter for all three categories!

On the 1st Day of…

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Welcome to the start of 12 Days of Giveaways! I hope you are as excited as I am about this years special event.  There will be at least one giveaways each day so keep your eyes peeled for multiple giveaways in a day.  Today is the beginning and to get us started will be a giveaway from Amy’s Kitchen.

Amy’s Kitchen provided me with the following goodies to review for this giveaway:

One of the great things about Amy’s products is that they are great when you are in a pinch and need to have food for entertaining.  I ended up bringing both the pizza and the chocolate cake with us to my Grandma’s when we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving.  The pizza was one of the personal sized ones and we baked it, cut it up and served it as an appetizer.  It was a great hit! The flavor was wonderful.

We enjoyed the cake for dessert; we sprinkled the top with a little powdered sugar and served.  I really loved it and wish we had thought to serve it was raspberries or strawberries because the combination of the fudgey cake and sweet-tart fruit would have been so delicious.

My cake fell apart a bit oops!

Amy's personal sized pizza's are also great for a light lunch or dinner. The Hubz and I split the second pizza for lunch one day with a simple salad.

For the giveaway the winner will be provided with  how three Free Product Coupons — good for any Amy’s item, including all frozen items (retail value = $30), plus a nice Amy’s canvas shopping tote.

The Winner is Natalie – A Hint Of Cinnamon


TO ENTER: This giveaway is open until December 2nd at 6am. This giveaway is open to U.S.  Residents.

1. Visit the Amy’s site and tell me your favorite product. (required)

Additional Chances to win (PLEASE LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT FOR EACH ENTRY; also if you already do any of these ie. follow me on twitter/facebook, ect it counts so leave a comment).

  1. Like Amy’s on Facebook
  2. Tweet about this giveaway “I want to win @cookveganlover #amyskitchen Giveaway http://wp.me/pFVWo-1ii“
  3. Like Cook.Vegan.Lover. on Facebook.

From Farm to Table

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Yesterday was busy with meetings, appointments, CSA pickups and lots of organizing before our first guests visit our new home. Since it was going to be a busy day the Hubz stopped and picked up iced coffees for us after his trip to the gym.

We used our GlassDharma Straws to sip them with

After our whirlwind day we finally sat down to a meal that was filled with delicious items from our CSA. In our CSA this week we received 2 lbs Red Beets; 2 lbs Onions; 1 Bunch Kale; 1 Bunch of Thyme; 1.5 lb Beefsteak or Heirloom Tomatoes; 1 Bag Spicy Brassica Mix; 6 ears of Sweet Corn; 1 Qt Frozen Winter Squash Puree. Last night I used half the kale to make baked kale chips, 2 corn on the cob for baked corn and 1 tomato for our pita pizzas.

The kale was tossed with 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil, 1/2 tablespoon nutritional yeast, salt, pepper and a dash of cayenne and baked at 425F for about 7 minutes; just until it began to crisp up.  The corn was removed from it’s husk and rubbed down with a little Earth Balance and then sprinkled with nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper and rolled up in aluminum foil and baked at 425F for 15minutes.  The little pita pizzas had a slice of vegan cheese of half of a pita with a leftover bean&rice burger, tomato and quarter of an avocado.

After dinner I caught up with my BFF for awhile over skype since we hadn’t talked via phone/skype in over a month and then I decided that it would be a great time to try out the Ravi Wine Chiller.  I learned something new last night that red wine is often served too warm! I was unsure about the Ravi Wine Chiller at first thinking that maybe it would make my red wine too cold but it was perfect! It has a great little valve on the side that the more your thumb is over it the slower the wine pours out and the colder it gets; so for red wine you just let it run through the chiller and it brings it to a proper temperature without making it cold.

Q: What is your favorite type of wine to drink? or do you enjoy wine?

P.S. From now until August 16th you can save 25% of your total purchase when you use coupon code EXCITE25; this a one time use only so make sure to check out other items on my OpenSky shop as well as others shops before checking out!

Disclaimer: Ravi provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

Happy Earth Day!

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Happy Earth Day! How are you all doing?

Yesterday I came home to some yummy treats from Blue Diamond Natural.  Unfortunately a few things aren’t vegan such as the almond butter with honey, the Lime n’ Chili almonds and the Salt n’ Vinegar almonds so I brought them to work for the boys to have.

Last night was great at our house.  When we got home we did a 30 minute super clean which I find is always successful; basically we run around the house picking up as much as we can or doing dish or laundry and then we are done for the rest of the evening.  One of the hardest parts of working full time, going to school and commuting is having the motivation to come home and do house work so this helps us to be productive and then we can relax.  Last night we relaxed with some homemade pizza and caught up on Tuesday night’s episode of LOST!

Seriously best pizza I’ve had in a long time!  Now I didn’t make my crust but there is this great little pasta company who also makes whole wheat pizza dough and they sell it in the freezer section of the co-op.  All I have to do is let the ball of dough thaw out and it’s ready for me to roll out and top.  Last night I topped this crust with salt free tomato sauce, marinated artichokes, sundried tomatoes, mushrooms, minced garlic, a sprinkle of nutritional yeast and Italian seasoning.  It was delicious!

This morning was all about the oatmeal with banana and almond butter because it had just been too long.

So last week I posted about self-care and about making time for yourself.  How is that all working out for you? Have you taken time for yourself this week?  I just ordered a few things from Amazon for my own self-care that are inexpensive (only a couple dollars each) and are easy daily things you can do for yourself. They are:

  1. Hot Water Bottle: This is an inexpensive treat for your body;  just fill it up with warm water and place on your stomach for 15-20 minutes each evening.  The heat from the water bottle brings more energy and blood circulation to the digestive organs.  The heat is also comforting so jump into bed and place on your tummy before you head to sleep and it can relax your body and aid in a better sleep.
  2. Tongue Cleaner: This strange little thing is super inexpensive and aids in fighting cavities and bad breath.  It also helps with cravings by cleaning the tongue of leftover food which can cause you to crave food when you aren’t hungry.  Two other advantages to cleaning your tongue is that it improves the taste of food and enhances kisses.
  3. Hot Towel Scrub: Now I know that all of you must have a hand towel and/or wash cloth and this is an easy thing you can do every day.  Basically wet a towel/wash cloth with warm water and ring it out; then spend 5-10 minutes gently scrubbing your body.  This is great for relaxation, circulation and detoxification and it rejuvenates the skin.

Q: What have you done for yourself this week?