Tag Archives: smoothie

Everyday Eats

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Eats

A typical day of vegan food…

Remember the Pumpkin Pie Smoothie?

smoothieThat was breakfast this morning.
Mmmmmmm!! Delish.

And lunch was another oldie but goodie: Apple Cherry Oatmeal

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For dinner I tried a recipe from Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan, Blackened Tofu, which would easily fit in here:

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So in a last minute play, I rebounded with this:

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which went very nicely with our brown basmati rice and steamed broccoli.  :)

Run

I hopped on the treadmill today and went for a run. I know…it was beautiful outside today. But the treadmill is SOFT and the gym has WATER and so I opted to run inside.

Distance: 6 miles
Pace: 8:40 minute mile

I found out the gym now has BodyPump classes – has anyone tried this? I think I might give it a go next week. Right now I am running 6-8 miles every other day, and on opposite days getting on the elliptical machine or going to a vinyasa yoga class. I also have gotten back to walking the dogs 2x a day – about 2 miles each time. I LOVE running, walking, and yoga but the elliptical machine is…well…dry. So I’m looking for something else to add in.

On another note…

I came across an article in the Baltimore Sun called Turn Over a New Leaf: Vegan Diets are Moving Solidly into Mainstream. How awesome is that? The article says there are about 1,000,000 vegans in the USA, and that the rise of “eating locally” has resulted in an increase in vegetarian and vegan cookbooks. It also includes a recipe for Manhattan Vegetable Chowder that looks awesome!

Have you seen an increase in people going vegan?

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Vegan Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

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I LOVE this time of year for many reasons.

One of which is…PUMPKINS!

Pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin scones, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread, and Pumpkin Spice Lattes at Starbucks. Mmmmm…..

So today I created…Vegan Pumpkin Pie Smoothie for the hubby and me.

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Vegan Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
Makes 2 12oz smoothies plus a little extra

What you need…

  • 1 12 oz glass full of ice
  • 1/2 container vanilla silken tofu (or plain – I thought this would be a good use for the vanilla tofu I had in my fridge)
  • 3/4 cup pumpkin
  • 12 oz So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Beverage (you could use any vanilla milk – this is just what I had on hand)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract – maybe 3/4 teaspoon if you didn’t use vanilla tofu
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • agave nectar to taste – I used about 2 tablespoons

Add all to the blender and buzz it up…

Enjoy!

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9-A-Day Fruits and Vegetables Challenge Check In

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So….how’s it going?

Fruit and Spinach Smoothie
Image by tiffanywashko via Flickr

How have you been meeting your 9-a-day?

Me…I didn’t do so great yesterday. The reason being, I skipped lunch!
That RARELY happens but that’s how circumstances unfolded yesterday.

So here’s the tally:

  • 1 banana in my morning smoothie
  • 1 serving spinach in the smoothie
  • 1 apple snack
  • 2 servings Tomato Salad while I was waiting for the pizza to cook
  • 1 serving Tomato Salad on my pizza

6 total. I think if I had had a proper lunch I could have made it to 9.

So today is another day. It’s 9-9-09 after all so of course I should go for 9 fruits and veggies!

How about you?

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Revenge of the Bees + Why I Do Yoga

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I just got stung by a bee in my backyard! OUCH! At least I think it was a bee – I’m really not sure since it stung my BOOTIE! Wow that really hurt. It’s a good thing you weren’t near me when it happened cuz I was cussin’ like a sailor! I bought a jar of honey this morning from Bees n’ Blossoms at the Reston Farmers Market - could this be revenge? Maybe this bee misunderstood because Bees n’ Blossoms treat their bees really well, using only organic and natural methods.

Eats

Anywho, this morning I had….a SMOOTHIE! Yes, surprising I know. Here’s what I had:

  • vanilla rice milk
  • banana
  • baby spinach
  • Spirutein vanilla protein powder
  • 2 tablespoons of Better n Peanut Butter

And just now I enjoyed my current rave for lunch:

DSC_0004DSC_0003That would be:

  • 1 cup cooked oatmeal
  • 3/4 cup fresh blueberries from the Farmers Market
  • 2 tablespoons Chocolate pb2 (you can see it peeking out of the top left side in the second picture)
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup
  • pinch of cinnamon

SO YUMMY! For those of you who count, it’s 6 WW.

yoga

Yesterday I spent some time with a yoga teacher friend and she asked me “What do you want from your yoga practice?” I didn’t’ have an answer right away but I’ve been thinking about the question. During my practice this morning it came to me. I want to feel connection.

Connection with my mind.
Connection with my body.
Connection with my breath.
Connection with my True Self.

This is why I practice yoga.
During my regular non-yoga practicing hours, I move through my day running errands, talking on the phone, surfing the internet, teaching, cooking, exercising, eating, etc. My mind jumps from one thing to the next. I am not thinking about my body or my breath. I associate with whatever it is I’m doing in the moment – I’m a wife, I’m a daughter, I’m a yoga teacher, I’m a customer.

But during my practice this changes.
I quiet my mind and bring my attention to my breath, and I feel…whole and…happy.

Why do you practice yoga? Or…why don’t you practice yoga?

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PBU LUV

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It is SO FANTASTIC to be healthy again! YAHOO!!!

I slept in until 7am today and then got up to make our morning smoothies:

  • Lite Vanilla Soy Milk
  • Kale
  • Spirutein Vanilla Protein Powder
  • Banana
  • Cinnamon + Vanilla + Salt

I know – boring!  I have some version of this every morning. It’s just SO YUMMY and it’s exactly what I want when I wake up. So there you go.

I walked the girls and then headed out to teach yoga at Beloved Yoga. It was kinda crazy teaching after laying around for three days – I actually felt out of breath a few times. I wasn’t too breathless though that I couldn’t go for a run afterwards! After class I ran 4 miles and walked 1 mile. It felt really good to be back :)

Anywho, lunch was another fruit salad with coconut and almonds – yummy! Like the morning smoothie, I’m not getting tired of fruit salad either! I also melted some mozzarella cheese on a warmed-up Ezekial Sprouted Grain Tortilla and rolled it up with some fresh baby spinach stuffed inside.

Afternoon snack: Amazing Grass Superfood in Chocolate mixed with 8 oz coconut water + an apple.

Dinner: another smoothie! DOH! I think I’m a SMOOTHIE ADDICT. A smoothieholic, if you will.

At some time during the day I was perusing the interwebs :) and stumbled upon a nugget of pure genuis: PBU!

PBU is the brainchild of Emily over at Curly Top. Plagued by stomach aches caused by fatty peanut butter and unable to find a suitable alternative, she created the answer to her peanut butter woes and hence PBU was born.To make PBU she mixes regular peanut butter with almond milk, and adds in any additional flavorings or seasonings such as sugar, salt, cinnamon.

I gave it a whirl tonight while watching “4th and Long” (don’t ask). When I used Emily’s ratios I came up with something that was quite runny. I added in more peanut butter, and, since I then ran out of peanut butter, I threw in some PB2. I also used a hand mixer. I unfortunately didn’t measure out the exact amounts of the ingredients I used but the the result I got is light creamy peanutty goodness.

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Of course I already ate a few spoonfuls! Tomorrow I’ll be trying it out on rice cakes, in Fage, and yes, in my smoothie :)

Do you love peanut butter too? What’s your favorite recipe or use for it?

Don't Forget the Edy's!

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Over the winter I gained about 5 pounds and I’ve been trying to get rid of them but they are sticking to me like glue!  I swear it gets harder the older you get. So I decided to go back on Weight Watchers, which is how I lost all my weight in the first place. I get a whopping 19 points a day! In case you don’t know, that’s not very much. So here’s what I had today:

Breakfast

Smoothie made with Spirutein vanilla protein powder, vanilla hemp milk, banana, lotsa spinach, cinnamon, and a dollop of Better N Peanut Butter*

Lunch

1/2 of a Trader Joe’s muffin. I was totally schnookered by the package that said “120 calories per serving” (see it? It’s on the right side). I LOVE muffins so I was pretty excited except when I got them home I realized that a serving is HALF a muffin! What a joke! So I had half a muffin today :)

Organic Moral Fiber

A huge salad with cucumbers, chickpeas, tomatoes, carrots, cauliflower, radishes, and baby greens

Saladwith my homemade oil-free dressing

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And finished with an Edy’s Orange & Cream Fruit Bar (I love these)

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I felt pretty satisfied with my lunch. After a little time to digest, I headed out for a 6 mile run that felt AWESOME. I used my new Phillips headphones and they worked really well and didn’t slide off my head like other headphones have in the past.

So…dinner.

We made personal pizzas with Boboli crusts. Doug piled his high with cheese but I used less than 1/4 cup on mine and instead piled it with spinach and sauteed mushrooms. I’m trying to get cheese out of my diet all together but when it comes to pizza…

pizza

(The spinach puree is hidden under the sauce :)   (Sorry for the bad photo!)

I was surprised how good it was because I always thought you had to have a ton of cheese on your pizza. I think next time I’ll skip the cheese altogether and see how it goes.

I had a few other snacks today but I thought I was within my points. Then I realized that I forgot to figure in the Edy’s! So I was over by one point – but I figure that’s ok since I did run today! I’m trying not to get too hung up on the points thing anyway – it’s just a guideline :)

Time for beddie-by!

*Better N Peanut Butter is AWESOME! You have to try it if you haven’t already. It has half the calories of regular PB and 85% less fat than regular peanut butter. I use it in smoothies mostly – I haven’t yet baked with it but the BNPB website has some recipe ideas.