3 days in 1 post

Hellllo out there. I have so many great things to tell you guys! Let’s start off with food… I have Thurs, Fri & Sat to catch you up on… I’ve had A LOT of awesome Vegan eats. My meals have are so much easier now, which is great because I would’ve quit by now if it was anything like day 1!

Thursday

Breakfast: Banana Berry Protein Smoothie (1 banana, 1 cup almond milk, frozen berries & Amazing Grass chocolate flavor)

Lunch: Whole Wheat Pasta w/ Crushed Tomatoes and grilled Vegetables

Dinner: Homemade Vegan Chili

Dessert: Vegan Peanut  Butter cups – Chocolate + Better n Peanut Butter  + Cinnamon Graham Crackers = LOVE

I have to share this recipe. What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t give you a recipe that included chocolate and peanut butter? Let alone combined…

Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups adapted from Alicia Silverstone’s Kind Diet

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp Earth Balance butter
• 1/2 cup Better n Peanut Butter
• 2/3 cup cinnamon graham crackers crushed + more if desired for topping
• 2 tbsp Maple Syrup
• 1/2 cup Vegan Chocolate Chips
• 3 tbsp Unsweetened Almond Milk

Directions

• Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.
• Stir in the peanut butter, graham cracker crumbs, and maple sugar and mix well.
• Remove the mixture from the heat. Evenly divide the mixture, approximately 2 tablespoons per cup, among the mold cups.
• Combine the chocolate and milk in another pan. Stir over medium heat until the chocolate has melted.
• Spoon the chocolate evenly over the peanut butter mixture.
• Top with more crushed graham crackers
• Place in the refrigerator to set for at least 2 hours before serving.

I’m gonna pull a Rachel Ray and say Yumm-O (even though I make fun of her for saying that). Not only are these healthy, low in calories and easy to make but they are SO SO good. I even tricked one of my cousins into thinking it was a high calorie, unhealthy dessert 🙂

Friday

Breakfast: Van’s Whole Wheat Waffles w/ Protein “Cake Batter”

Protein “Cake Batter”

Ingredients

• 1 frozen banana
• 2 tbsp unsweetened almond milk
• 1/2 packet of Vega Vanilla Protein Powder

Directions

• Blend together

Dessert for breakfast is becoming way too common… But I don’t mind. It’s healthy 🙂

Lunch: Leftover Vegan Chili

Dinner: Vegan Mushroom Pizza & A vegan chocolate chip cookie

The cookie monster must’ve gotten a hold of this before I could grab the camera 🙂 Btw, soy cheese – um, really? Why does every pizza place not offer this as an option? Try it just once, for me! Pleassseee.

Saturday

Breakfast: Whole Wheat Cinnamon Apple Swirl Pancakes w/ Apple Topping (longest name?)

I wanted to make something that my boyfriend and I could eat together so I had to think of something that looked like a man’s meal! He had seconds so I’m pretty positive I succeeded.

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Apple Swirl Pancakes w/ Apple Topping

Ingredients:

Pancake Batter

• 3/4 cup Whole Wheat flour
• 1/2 cup Whole Wheat pastry flour
• 2 tablespoons stevia
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tablespoon Ener-G mixed with 2 tablespoons water

Cinnamon-Apple Swirl Batter:

• 2 tablespoons prepared batter (above)
• 2 tablespoons natural apple sauce
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Apple “Syrup” Topping

 

• 1 chopped granny smith apple
• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Directions

• In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.

• Add almond (or soy) milk and egg replacer mixture and stir just until flour is moistened. (For thicker pancakes, use only 1 cup milk.) Let the batter rest for 5 minutes while the skillet heats.

• While the batter is resting, combine all of the “swirl” ingredients, using 2 tablespoons of the prepared batter.
• Heat a non-stick griddle or skillet (sprayed lightly with non-stick spray) over medium heat until a drop of water sizzles. Pour batter by scant 1/4 cupfuls onto hot griddle. Immediately drizzle the cinnamon-apple batter over the top of each pancake in a swirl pattern. Cook until tops are bubbly and bubbles burst; edges will look dry. With a pancake turner, turn and cook until undersides are golden. Place on a warm platter; keep warm.

• Repeat until all batter is used, brushing griddle lightly with olive oil, if necessary, to prevent sticking.

• Cook apple topping.

• Melt butter in saucepan.
• Add brown sugar, apples and cinnamon and cook until apples are tender and syrup has formed.
• Pour over pancakes.

These were delightful and kept us full for hours… Well me, longer than him. But I wasn’t hungry until dinner! (I did have a snack at the show – 2 clementines and 100 calorie pack of almonds)

We went out to dinner to celebrate Valentines Day since we wont actually see each other on Monday. My boyfriend IS the best because he was craving lamb chops and we had reservations at Capital Grille but they didn’t have ONE Vegan option so he switched it to an Organic restaurant nearby just for me. Such a good guy 🙂 The restaurant was called Dogwood. If you live in Maryland this is definitely a place to check out. Everything was so fresh, the service was great and the atmosphere was comfy-cozy yet funky. I will 100% be a repeat offender.

FYI – I only had my iPhone for pictures so they didn’t come out that great…

Appetizer: Beet & Carrot Soup w/ a slice of Fresh Bread

Dinner: Forbidden Rice & Roasted Butternut Squash Curry with zucchini and yellow squash, organic black rice, mild curried coconut sauce with Vann’s spices, golden currants and toasted almonds

I am literally speechless over a veggie dish! These flavors were spicy, nutty and flavorful. I would love to make this one night…and eat it for days and days.

Unfortunately they didn’t offer any Vegan desserts 😦 But my trusty iPhone found a place right around the corner that did!

Thank you, Sweet Sin for fulfilling my craving. I ordered a chocolate ganache raspberry cupcake.

I die.

On our way out there was something else staring me in the eye.

I couldn’t eat a cupcake and not a cookie. That’s prejudiced and I wont stand for that. So i ordered one for the car ride home. Hey, it was 40 minutes you never know when a craving will strike! I ate it 5 minutes into the drive. This cookie was so fluffy. I had only planned to eat half…Half turned into 3/4’s which turned into the whole thing. Oh well, life goes on. The cupcake was also lovely. Extremely decadent is how I would describe it.

Are you hungry after reading all of that? Because I am!

Friday night my boyfriend arrived and I FINALLY got to give him his birthday present… 5 days in Key West in less than a month!!! I better get serious about my workouts!

Can.Not.Wait. Sun.Beach.Drinks w/ Umbrellas. Need I say more?

On Saturday he got me tickets to the Disney Princess on Ice show in Baltimore. I LOVE princesses and claim to be am one so I was overly excited. There was a couple in the elevator with us who were probably in their 80’s going to see the show too and that made me think “That will absolutely be us one day”. Once a princess, always a princess.

I was like a little kid in a candy shop…or a little girl at a Disney Princess show. After the show was over we waited in line with the 6 year olds other girls and he bought me a light up tiara.

Really, does it get any better than this? Pancakes for breakfast, Disney on Ice, a Princess tiara, amazing vegan dinner, even better 2 vegan desserts? I think not. If you think of something please, feel free to let me know.

I highly doubt Adam had as much fun as I did but he was a great sport.

Thanks babe 🙂 Love you lots!

We also watched The Social Network & Easy A. Neither were academy award winners but they were both entertaining and I liked learning the background story about how Facebook begun.

On Friday night we also discovered Tasti D-lite was FINALLY open. I have been waiting for this for about a year…No joke. Please tell me you have one of these near you? If not maybe I should do a giveaway with some because I know they ship them ( I may or may not have had some shipped to me from Florida once). I discovered this ice cream with one of my best friends last May. 50 calories, 2 grams of fat, 2 grams of sugar, over 100 flavors and 50 toppings.  You can guarantee I will be there at least 3x next week.

They switch flavors out daily so I have already programmed their number to my speed dial. Even though I couldn’t order anything because of Vegan week I went in and told the owner he’d be seeing a lot more of me and expressed my excitement. I’m not sure if he was flattered or wanted to request a restraining order.

Ah, okay. I’m done obsessing.

Also some other great news is I won the shoes from Shanna’s giveaway!! Charles David wedges are on their way to my house and I am so thankful and happy 🙂 Thanks so much again. I’ll post a picture of me in them when I get them but here is a sneak peek in the meantime.

Sorry I didn’t have time to post on Favorite Friday… I’ll make up for it next week! I hope everyone is having a great weekend. This post was really long so hopefully you didn’t get too bored!

QUESTIONS: Have you ever had a vegan dessert? What are you doing for Valentines Day?

Day 16: Dream house

I dream big… I want a lot of children, a huge kitchen where I have so much room I could ice skate if I wanted to, and someone to clean up after me because I am sort of messy when I cook. I’d also like an amazing view of the water and pottery barn-esque designed rooms. It will be colorful yet classy. Is that too much to ask?

Day 17: Something you’re looking forward to

Key West vacation… I’m so done with the snow, ice and numbing winds. Goodbye winter coat. Hello bikini.

ANOTHER great giveaway by Angie! Go enter 🙂 All of these giveaways are making me want to have another….

 

Blueberries galore

I think I’m finally feeling back to normal! Especially after my ridiculous 12 hours of sleep last night…

I woke up too late for a workout – so it was another quick breakfast. I had shopping to do!

Headed to a few of my favorite stores – South Moon Under, J. Crew & Nordstrom to name a few. Below are the items I received… I don’t want to say bought because I got it all for free 🙂

Hmm.. I just noticed everything was black. That’s not like me! The dress is for New Years… It’s the total opposite from what I posted before. But, at this point I really don’t have time to be picky. Sooo that’s that.

Can my shopping count as my workout? Just kidding… But you do burn 137 calories PER HOUR while shopping! That’s why I do it so much..Duh. When we got back from the mall I jumped on the elliptical for a pathetic 35 minutes. I also did a Pilates ab video for 10 minutes. I need to step it up!

Lunch was leftovers – Turkey Chili with Greek Yogurt & VitaMuffin Cornbread

Not to toot my own horn – But i make really good chili. Beep Beep.

After work I headed to the grocery store… I know a lot of people despise this chore – But I absolutely LOVE it. I live for it. On average I spend about 2 hours there each time I go. I enjoy reading the labels and going up and down every single aisle…at least twice. You never know what you might miss the first time around! No matter what store I go to I ALWAYS and I mean ALWAYS get the broken cart. If I didn’t I would think it was my lucky day and run to play the lottery. It was so bad this time that at least 5 people commented on it. “Wow that noise has to be annoying you”, “Oh you poor thing, how did you get stuck with that one?!”. It doesn’t bother me anymore. I’m quite used to it. I got a lot of goodies at the grocery store but I couldn’t decide between these 3 which one of these was my favorite.

Chocolate Whipped Cream, Adult Gummy Vitamins & Organic Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter? How is a girl to choose. First of all…How did I not think of Chocolate Whipped Cream. Ugh, I could be rich by now! Secondly, you should know that I busted open the Gummy Vitamins in the car in the parking lot on my way home. Is there such thing as taking too many Vitamins? Because with the way these taste I could definitely eat the jar in one sitting. And last but not least…There really is no better combination than Peanut Butter and Chocolate so I can only imagine that this tastes amazing. Unfortunately, I will have to wait until tomorrow to find out. So the winner for now is the Vitamins.

Dinner took about 4 minutes to make. A leftover piece of grilled chicken with some melted mozzarella on a sandwich thin topped with spinach and drizzled with buffalo sauce. I REALLY wanted sweet potato fries with this but decided to reach for the veggies since I can guarantee I wont see much of those in Boston.

Anything with buffalo sauce gets the stamp of approval from me. I also had some dessert – I crave something cold or chocolatey every night as my last meal. Tonight I was craving both…So I made this!

Triple Chocolate Dairy Free Pudding…topped with blueberries of course. It’s possible that I might turn into a blueberry shortly! You may or may not know that I am lactose intolerant…but that doesn’t stop me from eating ice cream, yogurt or anything else dairy. The only problem is i definitely pay for it… So sometimes I switch it up to avoid the excruciating pain (see what i do for you ice cream!!). This is beyond tasty – it’s delectable, luscious, sumptuous, and mmmm I’ll think of more once I’m finished licking the bowl. Enjoy 🙂

Triple Chocolate Dairy Free Pudding –Yields 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp cornstarch
• Pinch salt
• 3 cups cold Chocolate Soymilk
• 1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

In a large pot, whisk together the sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt. Add the Soymilk, whisking until smooth. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, whisking continuously. Lower the heat and simmer gently, whisking continuously, for 5 to 10 minutes or until the pudding is thick. (Consider this a workout and give yourself an extra scoop of pudding) Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the chocolate chips and vanilla. Serve the pudding warm, or scoop it into a bowl, press a piece of plastic wrap onto the surface of the pudding (to prevent a skin from forming) and refrigerate until ready to serve.

This recipe was from a cookbook I got this Christmas called “Go Dairy Free” – I wanted to substitute Stevia for the sugar but I wasn’t sure the exact measurements – Maybe next time! If anyone knows how that works, feel free to fill me in 🙂

Goodnight! Can someone roll me to bed?

Questions:

Have you done any after Christmas shopping?

Do you enjoy or dread the Grocery store?