Eats

Hey everyone! Sorry I have been so inconsistent with posting, its just been too crazy up here. I am sooo ready for a break from all this work, work, work.

Anyways, here's what I've eaten in the past few days:

Spaghetti squash with a vegan cream sauce. From the Skinny Bitch cookbook. Verdict: 4/10

Mixed veg "stir fry" with no rice. Just lots of veg, with some curried tofu.

Cajun salmon with some more quinoa bean salad

This salad is pure deliciousness.

Hope everyone is having a great and productive week!

Tempeh meatloaf cupcakes

While visiting my family I had the chance to eat some amazing food cooked by my step-mom. She made this great bean and quinoa salad that I got the recipe for. It is absolutely delicious, I can't stop eating it!

Kathy's Bean and Quinoa Salad:

Ingredients:

• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can black eyed peas (I used a mixed bean can), rinsed and drained
• 1 can corn, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup celery, chopped finely
• 1 cup red bell pepper, chopped finely
• 1 bunch of green onions, chopped finely
• 1 cup of oil (I used 1/2 cup EVOO)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar (I used a little less)
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 -2 cups cooked quinoa (I put one because I'm low-carbing it)

Mix all the ingredients together and let sit overnight. The flavours will intensify the longer you leave it. Enjoy in the morning for breakfast! :)

I enjoyed my bean salad with some cajun baked salmon

Coated with cajun spice, and baked at 350 for 25 minutes. Perfection!

Today I had a super hard workout on the eliptical. I did a total of 30 minutes on it with a 5 minute warm-up. The next five minutes were still a warm-up but at about 75% effort. For the next 20 minutes I did 30 seconds at 100% effort, and then 30 seconds at 45-50% effort. It was grueling. I have never felt my heart and lungs ache so much. And to top it all off with an extra ass kicking, I did some plyometrics. I did the same plyometrics workout as last week, but it felt a lot harder this time around.

For dinner tonight I cooked some mini tempeh meatloaf from the new Skinny Bitch cookbook (cant wait to try out everything form this cookbook). They taste amazing, especially when paired with some misoooooodelicious gravy.

Tempeh Meatloaf Cupcakes:
As inspired by the Skinny Bitch cookbook

Ingredients:

• 2 packages of crumbled tempeh
• 2 tbsp EVOO
• 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled and grated
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp oregano
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/4 cup ezekiel bread toasted and made into crumbs
• 1/4 cup oats (I used spelt flakes)
• 3 tbsp tahini
• 1/4 cup tamari
• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/3 cup tomato paste 
• 1 tsp sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. In a saute pan, add the oil, tempeh, celery and carrot. Saute for about 5 minutes and then add your herbs. Saute for 5 more minutes and the move to a bowl. Add the rest of your ingredients and mash it all up. Make sure it is evenly distributed. Scoop your mixture into cupcake tins and bake for 25 minutes! Let cook and then top with some delicious miso gravy.

Super Delicious Miso Gravy:
I can eat this straight out of the pot with a spoon. Beware, it grows on you.

Ingredients:

• 4.5 tbsp spelt flour
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 3/4 cup engevita yeast
• 1.5 cups veg stock
• 1/3 cup EVOO
• 1.5 tsp dijon mustard
• 3 tbsp miso paste (I used red)
• 3/4 tsp sea salt (this is a salty gravy, so put less if you want it less salty)

Directions:
Put all ingredients into a pot over high heat. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 5 minutes. Enjoy!

I'm catching up on all of the Tudors I missed on netflix right now. I'm too exhausted to do much else. Hope everyone is having a great week1

See you guys later :)



I will be doing a post tomorrow on how to make sure you stick with your healthy eating when you're away from home. There are a few staple items that you have to have to survive.

Just another busy Sunday

Hey guys! It's been a few very busy days. With work and working out, I can't even find time to sleep. I do have Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday off though, and so I will be travelling back to my home town for a small vacation :) I just have to get through todays double.

The picture above was breakfast today. One Ezekiel english muffin, with almond butter, apple butter, and hemp hearts.

Yesterday I did a plyometrics leg workout at the gym, and shoulders. I didn't think I was feeling it much, but plyometrics works you in a different way. I was definitely super exhausted the rest of the day from it.

Plyo Leg Workout:

• Bench step ups  20 each leg x 3
• Split jumps 20 each leg x 3
• Box jump 20 x 3
• Band side step 20 each leg x 3
• Traveling jump squat 20 x 3
• Standing calf raise 20 each leg x 3

I highly recommend this workout. You should take about 30 - 60 seconds of rest between each set, and don't do this as a circuit.

For lunch yesterday, Ryan made me a delicious cajun baked salmon! I added some  asparagus, onion, kale and broccoli (with a hint of salsa) to the mix, and it was a great rounded out (low carb) dish.

The salmon is kind of hidden in the green

And for dinner I had a little salad

Hard boiled eggs, spinach, hummus, balsamic.

I have to get to my 2932039203902 things to do, so I hope you have a great rest of your weekend!

Cauliflower "rice"

Cauliflower Rice Stir Fry:

Ingredients:

• 1 head of cauliflower
• 1/2 spanish onion, chopped
• handful asparagus, chopped
• 1/2 can of canned chopped tomatoes (juice included)
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 tbsp olive oil

Directions:
Saute the onion, asparagus, and garlic in the oil. In a food processor, process the cauliflower until it's a desired size. Add the cauliflower rice to the onion mixture and saute some more. Add the herbs,and tomato and heat. Enjoy after desired consistency is reached (about 10 minutes in total from start to finish).

I thought this might taste horrible, and it did at first, because I hadn't cooked it long enough. But once it was properly cooked it tasted awesome! A great way to get in a load of veggies!

I am extremely tired from the gym, work, and getting over this cold. So I will see you guys tomorrow :)

A work in progress

I made it to the gym today! I was so excited to go, but not so excited by how horrible I felt. I guess I could have felt worse, but I really needed to take it easy, no HIIT today. I worked on biceps, triceps, and did 30 minutes of moderate eliptical work. I started each muscle group with a century set, and after doing these I felt light-headed and extremely exhausted. Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow.

In case you didn't notice, I finally got a recipes page! It's still a work in progress, but it's getting there.

Today I made kale pesto again because it was so darn delicious.

Lots of green.

Broccoli, spinach, tomatoes, onions, too much garlic, the usual.

There were some noodles tucked in there! Organic brown rice noodles.

 The garlic I put into the pesto today was on steroids, the whole dish burnt my mouth. But raw garlic is good for you right, so maybe it'll give my cold a good kick in the butt.

Other things I ate today:

• 1 clementine
• 1 little health monster smoothie with Progressive harmonized vegan protein
• bunch of baby carrots with hummus
• 1 egg + 4 egg whites with salsa and goats cheese
• 2 servings of goat yogurt with a banana and chia seeds

 I feel like I ate way more than what I listed, but maybe not. I've been trying to only eat when hungry, I've gotten it into my head that I need to eat more to gain more muscle mass, but I think I should limit it to when I'm actually hungry. Smart idea right?

Legs tomorrow :)

Have a great night everyone.

When your body turns against you

Why has my body let me down! It's times like these when I wonder if I am doing everything that I can to stay healthy. Was I just unlucky, and caught a cold even though I am healthy, or do I have some diet changes to work on? I've read a lot about people who follow a 100% raw food diet, and they say that they have not gotten sick in years since switching to that lifestyle. It's definitely something to think about.

For the kale pesto recipe I link you to "Edible Perspective Kale Pesto"  . A few things that I changed: I did half almonds, half pecans, I wasn't sure how much a bunch wash, so I did about 7 leaves (took the stems out), and I only boiled the kale for 2 minutes.

I really hate having to take all this time off from the gym. I can already feel my muscles deflating. I figure I should be okay to do some light weight lifting tomorrow and some light cardio. A benefit of being sick is that Ive rededicated myself to my goals. I didn't know quite how much I loved exercise then during the time I couldn't do it.

Anyways, I woke up this morning and wanted pancakes. I pretty much wake up every morning wanting pancakes, but this morning I actually acted on it.

Delicious Spelt Pancakes:

Ingredients:

• 1 + 1/3 cup spelt flour, or any other flour should work
• 1 +1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp sucanat
• 1 egg ( or 1 chia egg)
• 1 + 1/3 cup almond milk

Directions:

Whisk the egg up on its own and then add to all other ingredients. Feel free to add more sugar if you like really sweet pancakes. I toasted off some pecans and added it on top, and it made for a delicious breakfast!

Last night, as my cold got worse, I did not want to leave the house or cook. Unfortunately, I had to leave the house so that I could pick up food that someone else had cooked for me. I went to the magic oven and got their power vegan chickpea soup, a side salad, and a grilled veggie and goat cheese wrap. It was pretty tasty, for what I could taste of it.

Salad with mango, walnuts, avocado.

This had a grapefruit vinaigrette.

Whole wheat wrap

Now I have to keep resting even though it is the most boring thing, EVER!, and then hopefully I will be better and able to workout again :)

Quarantine

Hey everyone! Hope you're having a great weekend. Mine has been spent ensuring that the Quarantine isn't compromised. Ryan has been quarantined to the couch with one pillow and one blanket. I've disinfected everything else, so until he is better he has to stay where he is. This also ensures that he doesn't get sick again, once he gets better.

I thought I would let you know what Ive eaten in the past few days before I travel to work in a blizzard.

This was an amazing Kale Pesto with brown rice noodles, sauteed spinach and snap peas, with some chunky tomato sauce. It was Fantabulous! The recipe is from The Edible Perspective, and I would highly recommend you try it! I will post the recipe later tonight.

First, you toast your nuts

Boil your kale for 1 minute + other steps (hehe)

Then you have a beautiful and healthy dish!

This is what it looks like all mixed together

I also made another dish where I marinated some sliced tempeh in tamari, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup and garlic. I then made a chunky tomato sauce and tossed the tempeh in there with some kale and zucchini.  I topped this on some rice and it was a perfect easy dinner. I added a side salad with some spinach, hummus, balsamic, and mixed seeds.

And the best part, breakfast today was two banana scrambles topped with the chocolate almond butter that I made the other day. I will post the recipe later today. It is highly addictive, I've been eating it with a spoon straight out of the jar.