It's Been Awhile: Two Recipes For You

Good news!  Sammy is back to his normal self.

Last night, I made him some chicken and rice and mixed it with his food.  He immediate ate it and then went back a few minutes later to polish off his food and gulped down a bowl of water.

He has been perfectly fine today, so I guess he must have just had a little bug yesterday. See, a good dose of healthy food and rest is all he needed.  I know that if we would have taken him to the vet they would have given him shot after shot of things he didn't need on top of numerous drugs that mommy and daddy would have spent an arm and a leg on.  Last time we took him to the vet because he stopped eating, the vet gave us $150 eye drops and said that he needed a professional dental cleaning for $500.  Seriously?!?!?!

I love my pup more than life itself, but I don't even spend that kind of money on my own cosmetic procedures.

Today was gloomy and rainy and a perfect day to spend in the kitchen.  Something about cooking on days like these is just so alluring to me.

So on that note, I have a few recipes to share with you.  I realize it's been awhile since I've actually posted a recipe, so this is for your eating and viewing pleasure.

Sunday Breakfast:

Cinnamon Vanilla Pear French Toast 

Ingredients (Serves 2) 

• 4 slices of Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Bread 
• 1/2 Cup Unsweetened Vanilla Soy Milk 
•  1/4 Cup Egg Beaters
• 1 TBL + 1 Tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 TBL ground Flax
• 1 Red Pear, sliced
• 1 Tsp agave
• 2 TBL dried cranberries

Sautee the pears in a skillet and sprinkle with 1 tsp of cinnamon.  After the pears are browned and slightly soft (about 10 min) add the agave and let them cook down for another 10 min. 

Next, mix the milk, egg, cinnamon, and flax in a shallow bowl.  Submerge the bread in the liquid and let soak for about 5 min.

Place the bread on a hot griddle or skillet and DON'T TOUCH! This is the key to having a perfectly golden crust on the toast.  Let the bread cook for about 5 min before you flip.

Plate the bread and top with the sauteed pears.  Lastly, sprinkle with dried cranberries and drizzle with almond butter.  I like to put the entire plate in a warm oven so that everything melts.

Delicious!

You can also top with vanilla yogurt and maple syrup, which is exactly what I did.  Trust me, the toppings make the toast!

I ran to the store after breakfast and conducted one of my favorite chores….grocery shopping.  After a few hours of shopping, cleaning and organizing food for the week, I was famished for lunch.

TJ's Vegetable Masla Burger on wilted spinach with Mango Chutney, Sabra hummus, and Cholua

I LOVE these burgers.  I also love roasted acorn squash and have fully decided that squash is the one vegetable that would be the one I would live off of if I had to make a choice.

Dinner tonight was one to go down in the books.

I have been craving a nice homemade stew and after sorting through a few recipes, I came up with one based on some inspirations and my own inclinations.

Sweet Potato White Bean Kale Stew

Ingredients

• 1 MASSIVE sweet potato (or 2 regular sized), peeled and diced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 TBL Minced Garlic
• An array of spices that I did not measure (chili powder, ginger, cinnamon, rosemary, caraway seeds, smoked paprika, thyme, salt and pepper)
• 1/2 Cup of Veggie Broth
• 1 cup light Coconut Milk
• 1 can of Cannoli Beans, undrained
• 1 jar of Trader Joe's Fired Roasted Salsa (could also use fire roasted diced tomatoes undrained)
• 1 small Zucchini, diced
• 3 cups of chopped Kale

Directions: 

Sautee the onion and sweet potato in garlic until onion is translucent and potato is browned (about 8 min).  Add all of your spices and cook down for another 3 min.  Add the beans, zucchini, salsa (or tomatoes), broth, and coconut milk. Bring mixture to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover, cook on low for 30-45 min. Add the chopped Kale during the last 10 min of cooking.

This stew was sensational!  Thick, hearty, a tad spicy, creamy.  Everything I could ask for in a stew.

I added a dollop of Greek Yogurt which made it even more creamy!

Served with a side salad and a slice of TJ's Whole Wheat Tuscan bread with White Bean Basil Hummus

Love!

Hope you enjoy these recipes!!!

Repaired

Speechless.  That is how I felt after I read every single one of your comments from my last post.  Honestly, I was a bit nervous revealing such honest emotion, but you all had the most kind, supportive and loving things to say that tears were brought to my eyes and my heart wanted to explode by the grace that I felt.

I felt repaired, renewed and so blessed to have some of the most caring and beautiful people in my life.  From the bottom of my heart, thank you for being so understanding, loving and gracious.  I love you all!

Well, the rest of the weekend went much better after a slightly gloomy start.

I woke up Saturday morning by my own body clock, which I rarely do.  It felt fabulous!

It also felt fabulous to put these Pumpkin Oats in my belly.

Pumpkin Oats with Blackberries, Apricots, Crumbled Blueberry Apricot Blondie and Coconut.  I also think there was some White Chocolate Wonderful under there. ;) 

After breakfast, we got ready for our day.  We planned to run some errands and also do a little window shopping for a new car.  I don't think I've mentioned this, but we have been talking about getting a new car for a few months.  I really love my Civic and it has done me so well for many years, but the time has come to step it up in the automobile department.  With all of the traveling I am doing now with my job and since it requires me to haul materials every which way, an SUV was just so appealing.

We did have an particular one in mind.  I have had my eye on the Nissan Muranos for YEARS!  I'm not sure why I like them so much, but out of all of the SUV's, the Muranos are my absolute favorite.  Maybe the fact that they are the perfect size, have great reports, and look super cool.

Well, we checked out a few dealers and didn't really see much.  Toly decided to call another dealer to see if they had gotten anything in aside from what there website had, and to our surprise, they had just gotten in two pre-owned Muranos the day before.

We zipped right over and low and behold, there was my dream car.  A white SL Murano with leather tan interior.  I took her out for a spin and we feel in love with each other.

After a few hours of negotiating, Toly (with my much notable assertiveness) were able to score an incredible deal.

She is ALL mine!

The car hasn't even been serviced or detailed yet, so we aren't picking her up until tomorrow.

Toly and I are both so happy about this purchase and can't wait to drive around in our new car!

Well, this morning, we were both up pretty early.  Toly said he couldn't sleep because he was too excited about the car, and me, well, I was rudely awoken by some nasty stomach pains, but they eventually went away.

After awhile, we both were ready for Sunday breakfast.

And waffles were born….

Blueberry Banana Waffles with Pomegranate Yogurt and Pom Seeds

I spent the next 5 hours cleaning.  No joke!  I went a bit wild on the kitchen as one of those obsessive organizing bouts came over me.  I re-arragened our entire pantry, junk drawers, fridge cabinets and cleaned never nook and cranny.  Mainly, I believe this was all in preparation for my Trader Joe's trip I have planned for tomorrow.

Before I knew it, I was starving for lunch.

So I made the only thing I ever crave when I am starving for something fast but amazing….

 Huge Jass with Roasted Squash and Brussels, hummus, cranberry goat cheese and raspberry balsamic

Also had a slice of my leftover Kashi Mediterranean Veggie Pizza from the night before.  This was pretty good for a frozen pizza, after I jazzed it up a bit with some more veggies of course. 

Refueled and ready to get back to cleaning.  It was a rainy day and I planned to do nothing but clean the house.  I really like when I have the entire day to devote to housework because I can take my time and really feel like it gets a good thorough cleaning.

I think I finally sat down at one point, but not for long.  After cleaning, I was on a cooking kick.

First, I made the Chia Pudding from my Living Raw Cookbook.

Only I changed a few things by making mine "Pumpkin Chia Pudding".  I added a ton of cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice and also about a 1/4 cup of canned pumpkin.

This pudding is delightful.  Not only one of the best things you could put into your body, but also soooo delicious!  Can't wait to have some for dessert!

Next up, I made a Black Bean, Mango and Avocado Salad for tonight's dinner.

                      

And eventually, dinner was created using the key ingredient for my inspiration….

I was so thrilled to win Kristin's giveaway the other week and my year's supply of Food Should Taste Good Tortilla Chips arrived a few days ago.  These are hands down my FAVORITE chip (and I don't even like chips all that much).  I was so excited to try some flavors that I have never had before, including this one. 

With the help of the chips, I made 

Tortilla Encrusted Tilapia 

The fish was incredible!  Love this chip flavor by the way. 

Now to make this meal a real Lauren-style dinner, I did what I do best….

Bowl-ifed it! 

First layer, wilted spinach.  Second Layer, Black Bean Mango Avocado Salad, Steamed Broccoli, Third Layer, Tilapia, Fourth Layer, TJ's Peach Salsa and Okios. 

Yeah, it was awesome!  So happy to have leftovers of this! 

Okay, now I've been waiting patiently for hours for my Chia Pudding to rise.  Love how those little seeds grow in liquid- just like the Chia pets.  Who would have thought that those funky little heads could be so good for you? Cha Cha Cha Chia! :)  

Tomorrow is a holiday for both Toly and I, so we have off from work. Martin Luther King day, I believe it is…..wow that's pretty awful that I can't recall, but I do recall that I won't be going to work. 

And so, what do I do with my random Monday off.  Why go to Trader Joes with my dad of course! 

Yep, it's that time again, for our father/daughter Trader Joe's stock up.  Nothing I love more than this time! 

Okay my wonderful friends, I really hope that you all had the best weekend. 

Again, thank you all for being so amazing!  I am such a lucky girl. :) 

Insomnia....check!

Apparently, one of the side effects of the most recent antibiotic I started taking is insomnia because I have been wide awake since 3am this morning.

This is outstanding for me, because I really do operate with the body clock on an 80 year old woman. I am in bed most nights by 9pm and up at 4:30am so obviously, this sleep pattern is not normal for me.

As I was up at this ungodly hour today, I did, in fact, google the effects of the new drug, and it does turn out that restlessness and trouble sleeping is a side effect. So yep, I am prone to just about every single side effect of every single drug out there. Maybe I should think about being drug test participant and at least make a little money from my odd tendencies.

Aside from being irked with no sleep, I must confess how frustrating this illness has been on my life in general. I have not been able to run more than 3-4 miles at a time before having to stop. Going from running 5+ miles at a time every day and loving it, to barely making it through a painful 30 min run is quite depressing. I keep thinking it will get better each week, but sadly, it just seems to get worse.

I was reading Tina's post and truly emphasized with her vent on being sick of being injured and how it limits her from running what she desires to run.

All I can do is focus on the fact that I can still run and do so many other things that a lot of people can not. I should be grateful for that, even though it is not as much as I intend, I know that my body needs to rest right now too.

Okay, I get it. Sometimes you just need to say it out loud.

Anyways, since I had been up since 3am, I was happy to see my hubby earlier than normal for a Sunday. Guess I wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep as much as they wanted.

We drank some coffee, sorted through the paper and moved right into Sunday Breakfast.

I wanted some quick but delicious, naturally, and we had just enough ingredients in the fridge to make the ideal breakfast.

Natures Path Maple Cinnamon Wafle, Stewed Cinnamon Pears with Dried Cherries and Walnuts, Vanilla Oikos, Honey Almond Butter with a Sweet Apple Chicken Sausage on the side

I took a few bites out of the sausage and suddenly felt some sharp pains in my stomach. Not sure if it was the meat or the dairy, but I stopped eating the rest before it got worse. Trying to figure out these dietary limitations is not fun!

After we ate, I got ready to brace the sub below temps and El Nino wind gusts to make my way to the store.

2 hours of grocery shopping, prepping food/meals for the week, and organizing the kitchen worked up quite the appetite for lunch.

I wanted nothing more than a BIG AMAZING salad. Often, I find myself craving these when I come home from grocery shopping. Partly, because I am attempting to clean out and make room in the vegetable drawer and partly because I want to try everything I just bought, so what better way than to throw everything into a bowl over lettuce?

This salad was pretty sensational.

Romaine, Cabbage, Carrot, Avocado, Tomato, raw zucchini, roasted brussels, leftover roasted root veggies with balsamic and hummus

I think what made this salad so incredible was two things....

This.....

And these....

2 new products I picked up at the store. I know that everyone raves about Sabra Hummus and I FINALLY jumped on the bandwagon and realized why.

HOLY COW this is the best hummus I have ever had! It's so creamy and buttery and almost decadent. Why do I always fall in love with the overpriced fancy products that I can never afford. The only reason I bought this today was because it was on sale and I had a coupon. Must make this last!

And then these babies added so much BANG!

Sahale Ksar Pistachios covered with bits of pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, figs and moroccan spices. These were so flavorful that just adding a touch on top of a salad gave it an incredible flavor.

I cleaned up lunch and went straight to dinner. I love making big meal on Sundays that will leave many leftovers throughout the week.

But the secret to my method is that I really don't take much time at all to create it.

I made a variation of the Chocolate Coco Chili from the Eat Drink and Be Vegan cookbook.

Only I used my Crock pot and may have added/omitted a few things.

The entire dish took 20 minutes to put together and cooked for about 4 hours on High.

I also whipped up some Beer Bread to go with our chili. Again, simple stuff. Mix the bread and the beer and vola!

This chili was INCREDIBLE! Maybe just about the best I have ever had. The texture was rich and velvety. The coconut added a great subtle sweetness without overpowering the other deep flavors.

I was really unsure if Toly would like it because it is a bit different. His initial words were "There are a lot of smells coming from this bowl." Surprisingly, he loved it!! That is saying a lot if my meat and potatoes kind of husband enjoyed a bowl of chocolate bean soup.

Okay, now I must call it a night. I am running off 4 hours of sleep and I start my new job in the morning! I must be in top form for such a big day! :)

Hope you all had a lovely weekend.

Until Next Year

So who out there hates the day after Christmas?

When I was younger, I just to get so depressed that it was all over. I convinced my mom to let me keep my presents under the tree for the entire week, just so I would make myself feel better when I saw all of the unwrapped goods I scored.

Now, as I get older, I find myself more eager to get everything cleaned up and put away.

We spent the entire day yesterday, taking down the tree, putting away the presents, and cleaning the house from the endless pine needles that covered our floor.

Now, everything is back to the way it was and it just feels like the magic is gone. Until next year I suppose.

I woke up this morning earlier than I would have liked for a Sunday sleep in morning. Instead of trying to force sleep, I decided to tackle a nice hour workout; 40 min on my ET, followed by 20 min. of abs. It was invigorating.

I came downstairs, sipped on my first cup of coffee and caught up on emails until my sleeping hubby awoke an hour later.

By this time, breakfast was needed.

As I was reading blogs this morning, I stumbled on Allie's post on eating what you crave and felt totally connected to her because apparently, she and I had been craving the same thing....french toast!

I made Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin French Toast with Bananas Blackberries.

Incredibly delicious!

After breakfast, we laid around and digested and eventually moved forward on our day. Toly and I had some errands to run that included Best Buy, Target and an unplanned stop to look at a new housing development. (We've been just dabbing around with the idea of buying a new home and like to window shop)

After a few hours of shopping, I was ready to put something in my stomach by the time we got home.

I quickly put together a glorious Veggie Sammie on a Whole Wheat Honey Bagel (Gluten Free and Vegan that I picked up at the Health Food store). Hummus, spinach, onion, pickle, cucumber and avocado also went on this.

Also roasted some Kabocha which I think could quite possibly be one of my favorite things to ever grace this earth.

Lunch was grand and made me feel so much better. What also made me feel better was a few bites of this FANTASTIC "rice" cream I finally found!

Katharina, look girl, I found it!!!

Carrot Cake Rice Milk Ice Cream. I love that I am finding things to don't require me to sacrifice my true obsessions, like carrot cake and ice cream. Now a days, eliminating dairy is so much easier than it once was! Thank goodness!

**addendum (For those of you that just started reading, I have to start eliminating dairy for health reasons)

Since I was feeling so much better after lunch, I decided to take advantage of this sudden burst of energy and try out my new Christmas gifts.

I think my family got the hint for my little hobby of running.

New running clothes (LOVE them Mom!), new I-pod case and ear buds, new running gloves, and the best of all, my Garmin! (Totally obsessed with this baby!)

I did a leisurely 30 min run and had a blast using my new toys.

The rest of the day was spent doing little things around the house and some relaxing.

Dinner was a plethora of different tastes that all came together in one beautiful salad.

Roasted Beets, Brussels and Asparagus with cucumber, radish, pear and a crab cake on top of Romaine

After I took this picture, I proceeded to douse the salad in Dijon but did not realize just how spicy this particular mustard was. My nostrils were burning but it was so good that it didn't stop me from eating. I like a spicy mustard, but next time I think I will keep in mind the intensity before I nearly burn my sinus cavities. :)

Back to work tomorrow. But thankfully, another short week is ahead. This will also be my last week in my current position, which is kind of sad, but also exciting.

Enjoy your evening friends!

The Day After the Storm

Hello my dear friends and family! How was your weekend?

I really can't believe its over already, but at least it was quite an enjoyable one.

I am so happy that we spent all day cooped up yesterday, because I was able to get so much done around the house and today, the roads were clear which meant I was able to get out and run my errands. It's so nice to have 2 days without any plans, although it was kind of a bummer that our fun stuff got cancelled. Oh well, life is all in order. Cleaning is done, wrapping is done, grocery shopping is done, weekly prep is done.

This morning, the sun was shining and the snow had stopped. We woke up to about 12 inches of pure white fluff covering our back yard. Thankfully, the fluff is not hard to shovel or plow so getting around wouldn't be too messy.

I woke up, started the pot of coffee and relaxed with a mug reading the paper until my hubby awoke for Sunday morning breakfast.

For some reason I have been in the mood for eggs, which really doesn't happen too often so I thought I would go with it.

I made scrambled eggs and egg whites topped with rosemary, dijon, and avocado.

Some of the best grapefruit!

And a Whole Wheat Cin. Rasin Muffin with Pumpkin Butter and Cream Cheese.

I finished my jar of TJ's Pumpkin Butter, but luckily had this guy on hand. Okay, I will probably go to hell for saying this, but this is ONE product that I think triumphs over Trader Joe's. I think McCutcheon's has the best Pumpkin Butter ever! There I said it.

(sorry for the sideways pic. I'm still trying to figure out this ECTO thing)

After breakfast, I moved on to grocery shopping, which was quite a lengthy event today. Maybe I was feeling cabin fever, but for some reason, I spent 2 hours leisurely shopping. It was nice actually. The past few shopping trips, I have felt so rushed and grocery shopping is one of my favorite things to do. I like to take my time, browse, compare prices..you know how most normal people shop at the mall. To me, the grocery store is my mall!

Look at what I found today! Good Belly! I hear great things about this, especially from this girl. Apparently it's loaded with billions of probiotics and all things that aid in a healthy digestive system. I am hoping it helps with my tummy issues.

When I got home 2 1/2 hours later, I was starving!

In a rushed attempt to multitask, I put everything away, while working on this salad creation.

This was one of the best salad's I have made in a long time.

Romaine, Purple Cabbage, Cucumber, Red Pepper, Roasted BN Squash, Mango, Cranberry Goat Cheese, and Spiced Cranberry Pecans tossed in a Cranberry Dijon Balsamic.

Delish!

Continuing on with my multi-tasking, I cleaned up lunch while prepping for dinner.

I pulled out Mr. Crock Pot and started to load him up with all kinds of good things. Kristin would be proud!

This is a Moroccan Vegetable Stew with just about every single veggie and spice you can think of. Along with a few other random ingredients.

Chop Chop Chop, and with a click of a button, dinner would be ready in a few hours.

With the magic of computer time travel, this was the outcome.

I decided to serve the stew on a bed of spinach and cous cous.

Added some pineapple, greek yogurt and green olives.

OMG this stew was unbelievable!!!! First, it was so heart and thick, that I could eat it with a fork. You all know how much I adore eating foods out of bowls with forks.

I am so happy that I made enough to feed a third world country, because I only imagine this stew gets better with age.

Well, that's about as exciting as this weekend got for us. How about you? Do anything fun and crazy?

Night everyone!