Weekly Rewind~St. Patrick’s Day Edition

Pro Compression Marathon Shamrock Socks-Experience maximum benefit with the Marathon full-length, graduated compression sock. Compression technology helps improve blood flow, resulting in better, more consistent performance with less fatigue and faster, more efficient recovery. In addition to improving vascular performance, Marathon compression socks provide support to critical muscles and tendons, helping reduce inflammation and soreness.

Lucky BIC Bands-Don’t get pinched this year, with our LUCKY BIC Band in a versatile emerald green. Great for your St. Patrick’s Day Shamrock run!

Do It Yourself Fabric Paint St. Patrick’s Day Towel-Add just a touch of St. Patrick’s Day to your kitchen with fabric paint. It’s easy to make up quick dish towels to celebrate any event with a little fabric paint and a whole lot of imagination!

Leprechaun Prints-You know those leprechauns are up to nothing but trouble when this time of year rolls around.

Shenanigans T-Shirt-There is just one question have you tried a Crazy Dog T-shirt yet?  Just Wait until you slip on one of these super soft tees.   You’ll instantly fall in love! Not only are they printed on super soft cotton but the tees fit great on too!

Green Powerhouse Pesto Plate-“This isn’t actually “pesto” per say since it’s nut-free, but it’s close enough. I adapted my beloved creamy avocado dressing for this one. It’s a simple blend of avocado, basil, extra virgin olive oil, lemon, sea salt, and garlic. The dressing has a nice zip to it, kicking up the dish several notches which is always a good thing when cooking with millet.” -Angela Liddon

Colcannon-Colcannon is really just mashed potatoes with kale or cabbage mixed in, but it’s one of those concoctions where the sum is equal to more than the parts.

Leprechaun Grilled Cheese-Grilled Cheese sandwich with broccoli pesto, your kids will love it!

Shamrock Shake Up-Mint leaves, simple syrup, vodka and soda are shaken up for a fun adult beverage.

Shamrock Juice-Pineapple juice, sparkling lemonade, sparkling white grape juice
lime Popsicles, & green apples are all you will need for this fun drink!

Mint Chocolate Chip Frosting Shots-Chocolate Covered Katie does it again! “This mint-chocolate cream is great for any of the following; as a frosting for cakes or cupcakes, for peppermint ice cream sundaes or brownies, as a rich and decadent pudding or mousse, to make friends with leprechauns!”

Minty Grasshopper Pie-“Layers of green soy-based mint-vanilla pudding mingle with a chocolate cookie crumble crust and minty white, whipped fluff on top. All vegan. And that mint green color with tiny mint-colored specks is 100% natural. It was achieved by blending in a pinch of baby spinach (but don’t worry, you can’t taste it). This silky, creamy, cloud-like pie will refresh your palate and make all your mint chocolate dreams come true!”-Kathy Patalsky

For even more St. Patrick’s Day ideas and inspiration check out my Pinterest board!

Disclaimer: The cookies and food on my Pinterest board are not all vegan, but they are all vegetarian!

Dinner Menu for the Week

Do you ever feel stressed out trying to throw a healthy and tasty dinner together at the last minute during the work week? I know I do. With three active kids and two parents who both exercise daily and work full-time, dinner can become very hectic around my house. Next week starts soccer season for my two younger ones, plus the youngest begins swim lessons this week. Flying by the seats of our pants for dinner is not going to cut it any longer.

I am a planner by nature. I like things organized, in their place, and predictable. Routines and I are BFFs. I started to plan dinner for the week last week and it worked out fantastically. I thought other families might appreciate me sharing what we have planned each week.

Keep in mind that I am the only 100% plant-based eater in my house, the rest of the family is omnivores. Adjust each meal to accommodate your own dietary needs.

**I do all my prep work on Saturday and Sunday. This includes finalizing the menu for the week, then checking what ingredients I have at home and making a grocery list. Once home I begin washing, chopping, and sautéeing veggies. I wash all fresh fruits. If anything needs thawed I take it out of the freezer and move it to the refrigerator. I pack lunches and snacks for the next day each night.**

Here is this week’s menu:

Monday: Saucy Skillet with Tofu (Chicken for family) from Food & Family Magazine Summer 2006
Tuesday: Crockpot Tortilla Soup from 86 Lemons
Wednesday: Salads (The family will have steak to add to theirs if they choose)
Thursday: Taco Chili with Cheeze Sauce from Oh She Glows
Friday: Naughty and Nice Enchilada Casserole from Oh She Glows

I pack my lunch to bring to work every day. Here is what I’ve got planned this week; Organic Spring Mix Salad greens with various toppings (sunflower seeds, dried cranberries, hemp seeds, etc.), Tabbouleh (recipe to come!), and Rip’s Sweet Potato Bowl

I also bring snacks to work with me, this week I bought; fresh fruit (Cara Cara oranges, Anjou Pears), granola, roasted red pepper hummus with veggies, and edamame.

Do you ever plan your meals for the week? Have any favorite dinner suggestions? Links encouraged!

Weekly Rewind~Valentine’s Day Edition

Happy Valentine’s Day! I thought it would be fun to share all the yummy Valentine’s recipes I’ve been seeing around the blogosphere this week for the weekly rewind.

Let’s get started with drinks shall we?

Blood Orange Sangria from How Sweet It Is

{Source: How Sweet It Is}

Red Velvet Smoothie with Cashew Cream Filling from Keepin’ It Kind

{Source: Keepin’ It Kind}

Can I interest you in some appetizers?

Beet Ginger Coconut Soup from A Farmer in the Dell

{Source: A Farmer in the Dell}

Go-To Kale Salad from Oh She Glows

{Source: Oh She Glows}

Next for the entree..

Chana Masala from The Post Punk Kitchen

{Source: The PPK}

Spaghetti & No-Meatballs from The Lunchbox Bunch

{Source: Kathy Patalsky}

And now for my favorite part of any meal, dessert!

Vegan Dark Chocolate Strawberry Truffles from Fork & Beans

{Source: Fork & Beans}

Strawberry Shortcake with a Coconut Whipped Cream Topping from One Green Planet

{Source: One Green Planet}

What do you do for Valentine’s Day? Do you go out to dinner at a fancy restaurant with your love? Or do you prefer to make a sinfully delicious dinner in the comfort of your own home? I prefer staying home with my husband and three kids.

Weekly Rewind~Hodge Podge Edition

Time for another edition of Herbivore Triathlete’s Weekly Rewind!

I’ve been super busy this week, I know I’ve said that before, but it’s true! I feel like this week has just been go, go, go!

On Sunday I ran my very first 10K, you can read about my experience here.

My birthday was on Wednesday. I turned 35 (holy shit, when did I get old??)

Three kids + three bedroom house = shared bedrooms = recipe for disaster! We’ve had our house on the market since this past summer and have been casually looking for a 4 bedroom house. I found one that looked like it was a good fit for us, kind of out of town a bit and had a small amount of land. I contacted the Realtor  scheduled a viewing, and went to the house on the designated day and time. We waited for half an hour and she NO SHOWED! What kind of Realtor does that? I was annoyed to say the least. We had made childcare arrangements and cancelled my birthday dinner plans to go see this house. Ugh!

I’ve been reading a lot about photography this week:

• 13 Things Your Camera Wishes You Knew by Improve Photography
• Food Photography Tips by White on Rice Couple
• Food Photography Tutorials by Jenn Cuisine
• Food Photography Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials by Taylor Takes a Taste…
• Best Food Photography Tips from 3 Pros by The Kitchn

By the way, I need this lens–>Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 Awesome lens at an awesome price!

Food I’m crushing on this week:

• Strawberry Chocolate Chip Cookies by Sally’s Baking Addiction (perfect for my pink Princess!)
• Easy BBQ Tofu from Oh She Glows (I make a variation of this type of meal at least once per week, super quick and easy!)
• Millet Salad with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Kale & Beans by Edible Perspective (I love that the kale is lightly baked/toasted for this salad and millet has recently become my favorite grain!)
• Persimmon Blood Orange Jam by Coconut & Lime (Life long blood orange & orange marmalade fan, recent lover or persimmons. I love this idea!)
• Cara’s Cashew Creations by Fork and Beans (Cashews are a vegan’s best friend!)

Looking for a new blog to obsess over? Check out Greatist‘s list of 60 Must-Read Health &Fitness Blogs for 2013. Several of my favorites are on the list, are yours?

 

 

 

Weekly Rewind~Back to Work Edition

It’s been a very busy week for me since I’ve returned to work full time this week after my nice long holiday vacation! As always, Friday means weekly rewind,here’s what happened this week.

Winter Session I of spin classes started this week and the sadistic duo instructors don’t ease us back into things but rather plow ahead full force.

Half marathon training is in full swing as well with each Sunday’s run session getting gradually longer. I’m not running a predetermined number of miles but rather a length of time, this week the plan is to run for 1 hour, 25 minutes. I’m expecting this to be around 10 miles or so.

Although I don’t necessary feel the need to make New Year’s resolutions per say, I do feel like I need to clean up my eating a bit after enjoying a bit of freedom food wise during the holidays.

I’ve been planning my meals again, which is essential for work days and I tend to eat better if I plan ahead. Every day I’ve made myself a huge salad for lunch. My salads typically include spinach, arugula and kale, about 2-3 cups worth. I add cucumbers, tomatoes, sprouts, beans (black beans, chickpeas, etc.), hemp seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, goji berries, cranberries, and banana peppers. For the dressing my current fave is Marzetti Simply Dressed Light Raspberry Acai Salad Dressing.

Check out Somer’s Green Smoothie Challenge, talk about inspirational! She has graciously provided a Google document for anyone who would like to join in the challenge. All the work has been done for you, no excuses!

Megan from Country Cleaver has started a great how-to series. First up, a fabulous looking multigrain bread, picture perfect and waiting to be made into a great sandwich, or simply toasted and slathered with some nut butter, sunflower butter or even cookie butter. Yum!

Angela from Oh She Glows started a Vegan How To Series which I think is fantastic for anyone wanting to eat more plant-based whole foods. I wish she had done this series a year ago when I embarked into the world of veganism. Lots of great tips, tricks, and helpful information is being covered not only in the posts themselves but also in discussions in the comments section. Topics covered so far include; Introduction to the Series, How To Make The Transition, Replacing Dairy Milk, Carrageenan in Our Food, and Homemade Oat Milk.

I’m sick and tired of the music I currently have on my playlist and am looking for new, motivating songs for my upcoming Polar Bear Series 10K, which is quickly approaching. Eeek! It’ll be the longest race I’ve ever done.

Weekly Rewind~Appreciating My Kids Edition

In the wake of last week’s horrific tragedy in Connecticut, I’ve made a conscious effort to be more patient with my kids and appreciate every minute I get to spend with them. There’s been extra snuggles, more kisses, and frequent I love you’s. It’s easy to take these years for granted and I know I will miss them dearly when my kids are all grown.

This weekend we made Swedish Pepparkakor, a yearly Christmas tradition in our house. The kids’ favorite part is eating the dough raw, just like I did at their age! We made white chocolate peppermint bark gift bags for their teachers, appreciating them even more than usual, remembering the brave teachers who tried to protect and save their students.

We did a few science experiments including making oobleck and the naked egg experiment. I attended the annual Christmas program at the elementary school, my oldest daughter’s holiday choir concert, took my son to a bowling party with friends, gone ice skating, made hot chocolate, and went to my kindergartner’s Christmas sing-a-long.

We’ve cuddled on the couch, watching our favorite Christmas movies, including Elf, The Santa Clause and National Lampoon Christmas Vacation. We had fun making silly videos with ElfYourself and laughed until our sides hurt. We turned on Christmas music and looked at pictures from past holiday celebrations.

It’s been bittersweet for me, getting to do all these things with my kids this week and knowing that there are 20 moms in Connecticut who will never get to hold their child again. My baby turns 6 this month, hitting close to my heart knowing the children killed in Connecticut were the same age. It breaks my heart knowing that there are twenty 6 year old kids who won’t be unwrapping Christmas gifts next Tuesday morning. So please, cherish your kids, no matter how old they are, and tell them you love them often.

{Source}

In my house, after everyone is tucked snuggly into their beds, we end the night with, “I love you to the moon and back!”  And I do.

Weekly Rewind

Time for my weekly rewind where I share great ideas, recipes and articles from around the web during the past week!

I’ve been pinning recipes like a mad woman on Pinterest and as a result I’ve been doing a lot of baking and cooking this week.

Over the weekend I made this Outback Steakhouse Wheat Bread (copycat recipe) from Averie Cooks. I did have to tweak the recipe a bit. For the first attempt I followed Averie‘s directions to the letter and my dough just did not rise! So for my second attempt I used less flour, I also changed from white whole wheat flour and used Whole Wheat Pastry flour. Instead of adding the yeast to the dry ingredients, I added it to the molasses/water mix and let it sit and foam up for 5-10 minutes before adding to the dry ingredients. The final change I made was to roll the dough into one loaf instead of two. My second attempt resulted in a perfect loaf, chewy and hearty, perfect for the soup I made! This bread reminds me very much of Swedish Limpa, one of my favorite breads as a child that I have not found here in the States. I’ve tried to re-create Swedish Limpa in the past and have never come close. This Outback Steakhouse Wheat Bread (copycat recipe) from Averie Cooks is the closest to how I remember. I will definitely be making this again and again. Averie suggests serving with honey butter, which is great, but I also enjoyed several slices with Daiya Havarti Style Wedge in Jalapeno Garlic.

I started reading The Language of Food Photography series on Gourmande in the Kitchen. I figure it’s never to early to learn how to do this food blog thing the best way possible, right? So far I’ve only had a chance to read through the part 1, it’s been a busy week! I also discovered 3 (three!) sets of silver in my basement that my husband found at his dad’s house a while back. These will be great for props in the future. He also brought home some platters and dinnerware that belonged to his grandmother. I am super excited about this!

It seems that the holiday season is in full swing around the world wide web with holiday gift ideas popping up on blogs all over the place! Here are some great gift guides that I’ve enjoyed browsing:

• Oh She Glows: 2012 Holiday Gift Guide
• Gourmande in the Kitchen: 2012 Holiday Gift Guide (bonus giveaway for this one!)
• The Healthy Voyager: Healthy, Vegan and Green Holiday Gift Guide 2012
• The Unintentional Vegan: 2012 Holiday Gift Guide: Vegan Food Gifts Book and Juniper Ridge Tea
• Vegan Cuts: Holiday Gift Guide
• Examiner: Vegan Holiday Gift Guide 2012

What’s on your list? I’ve got several cookbooks that I wouldn’t mind receiving along with a food processor, running, biking and swimming gear, a triathlon bag, paid entry fees for races, etc.

This year on Portable North Pole you can send a special video message from Santa to your child for FREE! This is can be personalized for your child and is super cute. My two youngest absolutely loved it.

 

Weekly Rewind

It’s that time of the week when I share my favorites from around the blogosphere!

On Monday, Angela over at Oh She Glows posted this incredible looking Mocha Nutella. Boy do I wish I had a food processor after seeing this recipe. I know what I’m asking Santa for this year!

Cara from Fork and Beans is once again joining Brooke from Crackers on the Couch and making the 12 Days of Christmas cookies. Cara’s will be gluten, egg and dairy-free versions of Brooke’s cookies. Check out last year’s delicious cookies!

On Tuesday I was pressed for time to workout, so I did a quick workout at home. I love Fitness Blender’s Kettlebell HIIT Workout. 30 minutes of exercise burns between 8-14 calories per minute!

I’m on a quest to create a healthy and delicious homemade granola bar and happened to find this recipe on Gluten Free on a Shoestring! Who doesn’t love chocolate?

I picked up some SeaSnax at Wegmans this past weekend, and the logo is absolutely true! “Strangely Addictive”, I sure am glad I picked up a package in each flavor available!

Wednesday I read a few interesting articles. First up, this article on veganism and reduced rates of cancer. Next, I learned that Ellen DeGeneres eats eggs, but only “happy eggs” from her neighbor’s “happy chickens”.

Healthy Voyager posted a fantastic holiday gift list that’s healthy, vegan and green!

Somehow on Thursday I came across the blog, Pinch of Yum. How I have not found this site before I don’t know, but I am super glad that I did. I’m seriously considering buying Lindsay’s ebook, Tasty Food Photography. I also really like this series of posts by Lindsay’s husband, Bjork.

Thursday night my Princess goes to dance and my boy has karate. Both are at the same time (convenient right? LOL) and the hubs was working late so my father-in-law took the boy to karate and I drove my Princess to her dance class. Conveniently for me, the dance studio is across the street from the YMCA so I was able to fit in a quick 30 minutes on the elliptical. The YMCA is updating all their equipment, including their spin bikes, so I ran upstairs to get a peak at the new spin bikes, M3 Indoor Cycle by Keiser. I am so excited to go to class on Monday night to ride one of these!

Did you find any great articles on the internets this week? Any plans for the weekend?

Follow Friday Blog Edition 11.23.2012

It’s that time of the week again when I share four of my favorite blogs!

1. The Fitnessista~Gina makes fitness approachable! On her site she shares both recipes and workout ideas. Short on time but still want a great workout? Check out Gina’s workout quickies!
2. Carrots ‘n’ Cake~Tina is a certified personal trainer, she writes two articles each week for Health.com and contributes bi-weekly posts to the Pretzel Crisps blog as well as monthly posts to The Supplemental. On her site, Tina shares both workout routines and recipes. My favorite part of her blog? Murphy!
3. Choosing Raw~Gena is a Certified Clinical Nutritionist and follows a vegan and raw lifestyle. Her blog is full of informative posts regarding veganism and eating raw.  She’s written about plant-based lifestyle for VegNews, O Magazine, Whole Living Daily, and Food52. 
4. Simply Scratch~Laurie is on a mission to create food from scratch and she’s doing a fantastic job in my opinion! Check out all her yummy recipes!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Plantsgiving! I know I did.

My First Vegan Thanksgiving + Menu

Thanksgiving has been my very favorite holiday for a very long time. I became a vegan in May 2012 and hadn’t really thought much about the holidays until around October. I began to panic and feel anxious about staying true to my new vegan lifestyle. Should I make an exception for Thanksgiving? Would that mean another exception at Christmas? Maybe I could eat vegetarian during the holidays, it’s much easier to avoid meat and still eat eggs, dairy, cheese, etc. But that didn’t feel right to me. I know when I’ve accidentally eaten something with dairy or eggs or cheese in it over the past few months that I’ve felt not only guilty, but have had, shall we say, some physical side effects as well.

Lucky for me, around the time I began to question what I should do, a couple of my favorite bloggers addressed this exact issue! I read a lot of great articles including one on how to navigate the holidays as a vegan and how to enjoy a vegan Thanksgiving. I began to feel less stressed about how to enjoy my favorite holiday and still follow my plant-based diet.

Plus, I have had six months to learn about eating plant-based and making mistakes along the way. I’ve had the chance to cook with new ingredients, learn how to read labels, and explore the vast variety of options that seem to become suddenly available once you follow a vegan diet. (I’ve found the learning curve to be long and steep!) Another factor working in my favor was that for the past few years, I’ve made Thanksgiving dinner. This would make it much easier for me to follow my vegan diet since I will be in control of the ingredients in every dish served for dinner. Now my family is still all omnivores, so there will be a turkey on the table. I have no plans on eating any of it, I will be stuffing my face with all the delicious sides I am preparing. I took my traditional Thanksgiving menu (have I mentioned I’m a tad OCD about things? I keep a folder with all my Thanksgiving recipes) and vegan-ized them all.

Here’s my final menu:

• Pull Apart Dinner Rolls (only change I made to this recipe was to use a flax egg instead of egg replacer, and I ended up with 10 HUGE rolls instead of 12)
• Tahini-Garlic Mashed Potatoes (I did not put sesame seeds on top of mine
• Sweet Potato Casserole
• Green Bean Casserole
• Corn Casserole (did not add cheese to mine)
• Cornbread Stuffing (I used homemade veggie broth here instead of chicken and I made a vegan version of the skillet cornbread)
• Cranberry-Pomegranate Sauce (this has been my staple cranberry sauce for last 3 years)
• Mushroom Gravy
• Pumpkin Pie (only used the pumpkin pie filling from the linked recipe)
• Apple Pie (used the apple pie filling recipe, but made my own crumble for top instead of using a crust on top of apples)
• Turkey & Homemade Brine (again, my staple brine recipe, I love Pioneer Woman!)
• Pie Crusts (I could not find pastry flour anywhere and ended up using AP Flour, it worked out just fine!)

Many of these recipes I’ve been making for years and had to tweak a few things to make them 100% plant-based/vegan.

My Thanksgiving dinner preparation began over the weekend. First I do an inventory of what ingredients I have in my fridge, freezer, and cupboards. Then I make a grocery list and head to the store for any needed items.

Monday I chopped all my veggies, put them in containers and into the fridge.

Tuesday I made cornbread for the stuffing, brine for the turkey (which will then hang out in the brine until Thursday morning), and 2 pie crusts.

Wednesday I will make the garlic mashed potatoes, these will then simply need to be heated up in the oven on Thanksgiving. I will also make the sweet potato casserole, minus the topping which will be made and sprinkled on the casserole on Thursday and then into the oven! I will be making both pies (apple and pumpkin) on Wednesday as well. I think pie tastes better the next day. I may make some coconut whip cream for the pies on Thursday, haven’t decided yet. I will also be making my cranberry-pomegranate sauce and dicing up the cornbread and a loaf of French bread to dry and make croutons for my cornbread stuffing.

Thursday it will all (hopefully!) come together. I will cook the turkey, make the mushroom gravy, make the rolls, green bean and the corn casseroles. I will finish the sweet potato casserole and warm up the mashed potatoes.

As of this writing I haven’t decided yet if I am going to run the Turkey Trot 5K on Thanksgiving morning or not, I will let you know if I do.

What’s on your Thanksgiving menu? How long have you eaten a vegan/plant-based diet? Do you do the cooking to ensure it’s vegan-friendly or do you eat what someone else has made and not worry if there’s animal products in it? Let me know!

Edited to add: I did end up running the Turkey Trot 5K, will post my results as soon as they are available on line.