Hey friends

Happy Fridayyyyy!! Hope your week has been well. I’m so glad it’s the weekend, Jason and I have hardly time together this week! It’s back to school on Monday, so we are planning on making most of these last 3 school-free days

Lordy, Lordy…. I have been eating my way through Veganomicon, and loving every minute (or bite??) of it! Vegan cooking has opened my taste buds up to a whole new world of flavor. It’s amazing how a dish changes once you get rid of the dairy in it! The other night I made cheeseless veggie lasagna, ohhh myyy gahhhh..the vegetables an sauce were so much more flavorful and satisfying.

I love how I’m not grounded down after eating a big meal. Usually after eating 2 servings of veggie lasagna, I would be popping the button on my jeans and claiming “I’m too stuffed to move”..but take the cheese away, and it fills me up perfectly.

I thought I’d hop on here and share some of my favorite vegan recipes so far! These are three (out of six) that I’ve chosen because they are dishes you must make. Seriously, I would feel bad about not posting and sharing these recipes! They are vegan, but I swear you will not miss the dairy! Trust me

First up – BANANA CORN PANCAKES

(Derived from Veganomicon’s “Blueberry Corn Pancakes”)

*I will never make pancakes without using cornmeal again!! The crunch and crispiness it adds  is amazing*

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1 1/4 cup plain soy milk
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
• 2 tsp. grated lemon zest (or you can substitute lemon extract)
• 2 ripe bananas
• cooking spray

Directions–

Preheat nonstick skillet over medium heat. In one bowl, mix together all wet ingredients. In a seperate bowl, mix together all dry ingredients. Mix wet and dry together, adding sliced banana into the mix. Spray pan with cooking spray, pour 1/4 cup of batter on the pan. Pancakes are ready to flip when they start to bubble on the outside. Keep going until all batter is used (made about 10-11 pancakes for me!), spraying cooking spray when necessary.

Serve with hot maple syrup on the side! Nomnomnom

Second up – SWEET POTATO AND LENTIL STEW

*Your house will smell amazing as this stew simmers! The spices bring it to life, no cheese necessary * The photos don’t do it justice. Period.

Ingredients

(Derived from “The Kind Diet”)

• 1/4 cup safflower oil (I substituted olive oil)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 small tomatoes, diced (Roma tomatoes are great!)
• 1 tsp fresh minced ginger (you can substitute 1/2 tsp. ground ginger)
• 1 1/2 tsp tumeric
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander (common spice used in Indian foods, found it at Wal-Mart for $4)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
• dash of salt
• 2-3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
• 7 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup dried lentils

Directions —

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, stirring frequently until the onion starts to soften. Stir in the tomatoes and giner – cook for 3 minutes. Stir in turmeric, cayenne, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, and dash of salt. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Add sweet potatoes, broth and lentils. Stir well, bring to a boil over high heat. When mixture comes to a  boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 40 minutes (until lentils and sweet potatoes are soft)

Serve hot! Chewy sourdough bread would be a great side for this, or toasted pita bread for dipping! Yummy!! Please don’t tell the library I eat stew on top of their books

Ohmygah my mouth is watering just thinking of all this food! Time to get to dessert, a.k.a – the best cookies I’ve ever made or eaten…hands down.

Finally, we come to the best dessert cookie ever – CHOCOLATE-CHOCOLATE CHIP WALNUT COOKIES

*These cookies only took 10 minutes to bake! They are, without a doubt, the best cookies I’ve ever had the pleasure of putting in my mouth. So chewy, so chocolaty, so delicious. Nuff said.*

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2/3 cup unsweetened cocao powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2/3 cup canola oil
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 4 tsp. ground flaxseeds
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract
• 1/4 cup vegan chocolate chips (or just use regular if you are not vegan! semi-sweet would be best, not milk chocolate)
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions –

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together flour, cocao, baking soda and salt. In a seperate bowl, mix together the oil and sugar. Add flaxseeds, soy milk, vanilla and almond extract. Mix well. Mix together wet with dry, using a fork to stir when batter becomes too stiff to whisk. Using your hands, fold in chocolate chips and walnuts.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper (you don’t need this! cooking spray is also another option)…roll dough into 1-inch balls and flatten with the palm of your hand. Bake for 10 minutes, once finished baking – let cookies cool for about 5 minutes. This recipe is supposed to make 36 cookies, but I made mine a little bigger

Ohhhhhh sooooo gooodddddd…heavin in cookie form. And a chocolate-lover’s dream

That should keep you busy in the kitchen You’re welcome!

This morning I woke up in a great mood, perhaps it was because of my new running tights??? Hmmmmmm?

I love these things. I could practically live in them <– still wearing them from my run this morning! My workout was awesome, here is what I did

1. 3 mile run (in under 30 minutes!!)
2. 3 x 10 chest press with 45 lbs.
3. 3 x 10 lateral pull downs with 55 lbs.
4. 100 crunches
5. 40 side planks, each side

That workout powered me up for the rest of the day! I came home to clean and bake (such a house wife over here!). Today I made more homemade hummus (Jason eats it like there’s no tomorrow) and chocolate-raspberry cookies. Recipe to come!

We have a funeral to go to tonight Funerals make me sad, but it’s good to pay our respects. Hopefully you guys are starting your weekend off with happier commitments!

Be back (<–I just typed “bake”) later this week! Happy weekend!

Actually, that’s a bit more cheerful than I am at the moment. Let’s try it again: Mornin’. <—She says with a grumph.

Sleep has not been kind to me, but I shall not let it ruin my day, or this post for that matter! I still had a majorly exhausting fun day yesterday and I’m gonna tell ya all about it.

Yesterday morning after having some breakfast and two cups of coffee, I decided that even though I only slept for about 3 hours, it would just be great to get outside and breathe some fresh air and get my body moving. I also figured it was the perfect time to try out the toning shoes that New Balance sent me a few weeks ago!

After putting these babies on, I went to the Cramerton baseball fields, behind the rec center, for a little walking.

Ever imagined a camel in high heels?? Well, that’s sort of what it was like to wear these shoes (at least for the first lap). And trust me, it’s not the shoes..it’s clumsy ol’ me. For the record, let me add that I only fell over once They were surprisingly comfortable and pretty stylish too! 

Once there, I did about 3 warm up laps around the field and then decided to do my 30-20-10 push up/bench dip sets on the picnic tables…

It was a bit more challenging than usual, I started to feel my muscles wearing down more quickly and I had to pause several times during the push-ups, but they got done! To cool down, I walked a slow lap around the fields and that’s when I saw these:

Um, hello challenge. You know that I love you and could never pass you up

Well, then I thought of my injury and I told myself “If it starts to hurt, just stop.” I looked back up to the top, sat my water on the bottom step, took a deep breath and then started to climb, or run, up those stairs. Once at the top, my lungs felt alive. I felt alive. The beauty of the day was just seeping through me. The wind was perfect, not a cloud in the sunny sky, no pain in my leg…I wanted to keep going. I ran them up and down 10 times before I had my fill On my last descent down, I counted the stairs and came up with 55!

I probably could not have done it without my ‘stair-climbing’ playlist that I concocted just before going up

• “Shiver”-Coldplay
• “Love Me Two Times’-The Doors
• “Hangin Around”-Counting Crows
• “Daylight”-Matt and Kim
• “Rebel Yell”-Billy Idol
• “Bootylicious”-Destinys Child
• “Everlong”-Foo Fighters
• “Semi-Charmed Life”-Third Eye Blind
• “Basketcase”-Green Day
• “Bookends”-Simon and Garfunkel

HEY! Who put “Bootylicious” on there?! Um, I have no idea how that got on my playlist…must be some glitch on my IPOD

Needless to say, I was totally pooped after this workout. My body was starting to feel the effects of the sleepless night before, and my muscles were getting sore. Time to go home and rest!

And that’s exactly what I did I went home, read some of my book and fell asleep for 2 hours.

Jason came in there and shook me awake around 3:30 saying that it was time to get ready for the Charlotte Criterium! Woo hoo!

I hopped out of bed and started prettying myself up for the night to come Jason and I have gone to the criterium for the past 3 years, so I guess it’s sort of becoming a tradition in its own sort of way

First, we needed to eat dinner. He wanted Big Daddy’s Burger Bar, and that was fine with me.

I ordered a Bud Light to start, and then a black bean burger with cheese, avocado, pepper relish and pickle…along with sweet tater fries (my favorite thing EVER).

I ate all of the sandwich, but hardly made a dent in those fries! There were so many, and I was soooo stuffed. No matter how many I ate, the bowl still seemed to stay full of fries, haha I left them there, no use in leaving them in a hot car for 2-3 hours.

Then it was time to go uptown for the race! We parked about 3 blocks away and took a couple of pics before walking the distance to the start/finish line.

I told Jason that he squints way too much (p.s. doesn’t he look like he’s in some sort of pain?! Hehe)…so this is the next picture I got:

Ha What a smart-a**. Oh well, that’s better than the last one!

Charlotte Criterium is sort of like our Tour De France. Except that it only lasts 2 hours and not 2 weeks. Cyclists come from all over the world to compete in it. Some coming from as far as Norway! To me, that’s amazing. Here they are at the starting line:

…anddddddd they’re off!

Just so ya know, these guys are finishing a mile in about 2 minutes flat. That’s fast. They rock. And I’m pretty sure Jason idolizes them to no extent (he’s a cyclist too!).

To be honest, I wasn’t all there during this race. I was feeling super tired and my body was just plain sore. I kept moving away from the gate and sitting down on the benches, and I felt kind of bad because Jason would come sit with me, and it wasn’t that great of a view from the benches. So I stood back up and watched with him I didn’t want to be a party pooper

My favorite part is the end. That’s when the cyclist give all they’ve got. They’ll whisk by you at top speed and you can see the pain on their faces..and the sweat dripping down their necks..and I’m screaming “Go, go GO! You’re almost there, GO!” I’d like to think it helps them

After the race, we came home…I read a few pages of my book and then it was light’s out.

This morning I woke up with sore leg muscles…so I’m thinking that the shoes work. Actually, after my third lap yesterday, I could feel my calf and my thigh muscles tightening a little bit. Those are now my new walking shoes A big thanks to New Balance for sending them! I love them!

Peanut butter pancakes were the first thing on my mind (after coffee of course)…so I whipped up some batter…

..and when paired with strawberry jam, bananas and syrup…it makes the perfect, yummy and very filling breakfast Why jam and syrup?

Because sometimes having jam with syrup is what life is all about

See ya next time!

I am sooo glad to be able to actually sit down at a computer for something other than homework! This past week was the busiest school week I’ve had all year. There were hospital clinicals for school, coaching for Girls on the Run, working out and a field trip to Queens University for the Charlotte Dietetic Association meeting this past Thursday. Phew. It’s exhausts me just typing all of that!

I love, love, love going to the CDA meeting. It’s so interesting (and educational at the same time )!

Some of the topics were the latest trends in bariatric surgery..

….what we need to know about Vitamin D deficiency…

..the other topics included: Battling growth of childhood obesity, RD public policy and Nutrigenomics (the science of the future) <—still trying to wrap my brain around the last one! I feel like I learned so much..or maybe it is just because it lasted from 8 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon??

Friday seemed to fly by and here is Saturday I shall start my day here:

This morning I slid out of bed and started a pot of Breakfast Blend coffee for Jas and I. While that was trickling, I grabbed my recipe book out of the desk to see if any would catch my eye for our pre-run breakfast.

Peanut Butter Pancakes!

I used the recipe for a base and modified most of it to my liking Here is what I used:

• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/4 cup almond milk
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup Bee’s Knees (PB&Co.) PB

These came out a little different than I expected. Jason declared his love for them right off the bat, but I think it could use a little tweeking. Next time I would probably use chunky peanut butter, and the almond milk definitely made a difference in consistancy and thickness…but that’s not something I think I’d change, just the pb

But anything is good with hot blackberry jam and strawberries on top!!

And coffee of course

Yummmm. ‘Twas good And very filling.

Jason and I waited an hour or so for our food to settle, then we set out to our starting point for a 10-11 mile run! We took a banana, raisins, Cliff bar and fig newtons for fuel. (I like to have choices!)

And look! I got to wear the Camelbak! Not sure why that excites me .

I had a run mapped out that went through Cramerton, into downtown Belmont (a neighboring town), through a park and back up through Cramerton. I wish I could have taken pics to show you guys! The scenery was great. And the weather was just perfect  The pack of raisins came out about mid-run and I’m not sure how long it took us, but we did between 10.5-11 miles!! Yay I was so proud of us that when we got back to the car I did a little jump for joy…

I felt a-mazing after our run. Like the strongest woman in the world or something I think long runs are starting to become my “thing”

We stretched, hobbled to the car and started the drive back to the house. On the way, I stopped for one of these:

Since the rain was holding off, I suggested that we do a picnic lunch in the park with Trixie…and he agreed! As long as I could pack lunch really, really fast because we were hungry

We came home and I threw together some sandwiches, fruit and chips with hummus for us and then we headed off with the dog in tow. My “lunch” (it was already 4 o’clock at this point) consisted of a banana, a sandwich made with hummus, pickle, tomato, mixed greens, colby jack cheese and spicy mustard…nom nom nom.

Please use your imagination and add about 2 tablespoons of pb and a couple handful of wheat thins too I was a hungry gal.

To let our food digest, we took Trixie for a slow, leisurely walk around the park…and then went for ice cream at Bruesters!

They have an item called a “Doggy Sundae”. The put a scoop of vanilla ice cream in a bowl with a Milkbone stuck in the middle It’s free if you bring your dog up there! How cute is that?!

She hated it. I pretty much had to force-feed it to her

I got a small scoop of the Oreo:

..mmmmmmmmm….it was creamy and delicious just like an Oreo is.

It’s strange, but my leg muscles felt better after eating the ice cream. I think my body is trying to tell me that I need more ice cream in my life Yep, that’s what it’s doing.

Looks like we finished just in time! It’s pouring outside and I think I even saw a lightening bolt or two, yikes! Jas and I are going to finish up the 5th season of LOST and maybe rock out with some Guitar Hero

There is pizza dough thawing on the counter…I’m thinking a vegetarian bbq pizza?? We shall see! Hope you guys are having a great weekend! See ya later taters

P.S. Next week is FitBloggin! Can I getta ‘woot woot’ if you are going?? Woot woot. 

Not sure if the sun is shinin where you are, but here it is rain, rain rain. That made it extremely difficult to get outta bed at 4:30 and go to the gym!! When my alarm first went off, the excuses started rolling into my head: “You can work out after class.” “There is always tomorrow” “You need some rest, you don’t need to drive in this drizzle!” ENOUGH! Istarted reminding myself of how glad I would feel that I went, how nice it would be to already have a workout in by 6 AM! And how much I’m gonna looooveeeee my pancake breakfast when I got home

So I went! Here is what I did:

• 100 crunches
• 15 jumping squats (to warm up)
• 15 minutes of running
• 15 minutes on elliptical
• 15 minutes on the stairs
• 100 bicycle crunches

Guess today was a kind of ’15′ day, haha I did plan on running 5 miles, but after I was on the treadmill for only 10 minutes, I realized I wasn’t enjoying it at all! I kept looking at the timer and my speed and wondering when I was going to be done. Running outside is so much better than being stuck on a treadmill!! By the time I left the gym, I was a sweaty, happy woman

I drove (the 20 minutes!) back in the rain, and immediately started in on the scrumptious breakfast I had in mind!

Strawberry Drizzle Pancakes! (to go with the drizzle outside, of course

I used Aunt Jemima whole wheat pancake mix and added brown sugar and cinnamon to the mix. My toppings:

• heated strawberries, mashed into mush <–hehe
• Stonyfield strawberry yogurt drizzled on top
• Maple syrup
• Dark Chocolate pb smeared on each pancake

Gahhhhh, foodie bliss They were so decadent! My initial thought was that they would be too sweet, but it tasted more like a breakfast after adding the peanut butter. I’m definitely making this again!

Now that I’ve had breakfast, it’s time for me to get ready for school! We are learning about metabolism and diabetes this week, fun fun! Oh, I also had a little coffee with my breakfast, but am not really liking the flavor of it…this may be a good day to have a diet soda

Today’s agenda:

• School 9-2
• Work (for an hour) 3-4ish
• Back to school for Micro lab 5:30-9

Gotta pack my lunch! See you guys later and have a Happy Humpday! Hopefully you are getting sunshine wherever you may be