TGIF

Hi friends! It's been a really busy week and I just haven't had any time to write a post. But I have had time to follow my favorite bloggers! Check them out - they are listed at the bottom of my blog (and actually needs to be updated). 

Until I get a chance to write a real post, I thought I'd leave you all with a new resource in case you're interested. It's a link to the 21-Day Vegan Kickstart program that I'm starting on Monday. Although I've cut out eggs and reduced dairy products, I still have my lovely serving of cheese daily and want to completely cut it out and see what happens. I thought joining this 21-day plan would be helpful. Sometimes, plans, challenges, whatever they may be called, make it easier for me to stay on track. Depending on how the 21 days go and how I feel throughout, I may or may not wish to continue a vegan diet...we will see. In theory, I love the idea but sometimes things don't always work out in practice. 

Have a great day and I will be back with another post soon - not about veganism, I promise! ;)

T's and S's

Hi there! Hope you're having a great weekend! My weekend has been good, but a little lazy today. Yesterday was a fun and eventful day. One of my favorite friends and I hung out in the evening and had dinner at a Thai restaurant. We both ordered Pad Thai, and it was so yummy. We then went to browse around at TJ Maxx, picked up a few things at the Indian grocery store, made a Target run, and got some ice cream to take home while we watched some television. Thai food, TJ Maxx, and Target. No, the T theme was not planned, but it worked out pretty well.

While at TJ Maxx, we both found some nice sunglasses and I found a pair of beautiful BCBGeneration shoes. The moment I put these shoes on I knew I had to have them. They are the kind of shoes that make you feel sexy. They are gold-ish colored, 3 inch or so peep-toed stilettos. Best part, they were only $40!!

Sorry for the bad pictures - my camera does not take good blog pictures, but you get the idea!

How was your weekend? What did you do that was really fun?

Food Fix Friday: Sandwich Spread...or Filling?

Hi guys! I meant to post this earlier but ended up having to take care of something...and now that I'm posting it I realize I forgot to take a picture of the food. I was really hungry and so was hubby, and I just didn't think to take a picture before clearing my plate.

Vegetarian or Vegan Sandwich Spread/Filling

• one can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• about 2 Tablespoons mayonnaise or Vegenaise (I tried this and it was pretty tasty, just like mayo!)
• about 1 Tablespoon lemon juice (fresh or from concentrate)
• 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
• about 1/2 or one whole roasted red bell pepper, chopped up (I have a jar of these in my fridge)
• whatever bread or wrap or pita you want to use the filling in (I used a pita pocket for fun)

1. Mash up the garbanzo beans - they don't need to be smooth like a paste, just mashed up
2. Mix in the mayo, lemon juice, celery, red bell, and you can add in salt & pepper too if you want
3. Fill the pita pocket or spread onto your choice of bread and eat with a huge salad beast!

We ate these with a simple salad of romaine lettuce, avocado, feta cheese, and sesame ginger dressing. It was a very satisfying dinner!

*I didn't really measure out the lemon juice and mayo, just mixed them in to my taste and kept testing it until I liked it. Super easy recipe.

gettin some happy in my day

Hello blog friends! I hope you've had a nice Wednesday. The week has just been moving along quickly, no? I must say that I've enjoyed this week thus far. Some things that have made me happy over the last few days:

• beautiful weather in TX, finally!
• a couple appointments were cancelled at work this week, giving me more time to do other stuff
• jumping on my neighbor's trampoline on a beautiful Tuesday evening
• going for a walk after dinner with hubby and the dogs earlier tonight
• seeing my doggies swimming in the pool - they LOVE swimming, it's so fun to watch!
• getting yummy food from Central Market, including this dinner:

I picked up veggie spring rolls and a broccolini-tofu-mushroom side dish with balsamic and garlic (I think). It was really yummy, healthy, and filled me up after my quick strength workout. The one thing that didn't make me smile this week: a very busy gym this evening! I don't like working out in the evenings because it gets so busy, but sometimes that's the only time in my schedule to work out. I wanted to do squats with the oly bar but the weight room was crazy busy with big muscle-y men. I used the seated leg press instead and did some cable kick-backs. Also did vertical chest press, seated row, and ab work (plank). It was quick but effective. :)

How has your week been so far? What's made you happy this week?

Yesterday's post

Hi blog friends! Someone posted that they weren't able to access the link I posted yesterday to another blog. The website is happyherbivore.com, in case anyone is interested in seeing the post I talked about.

Also, I hope nobody was offended by anything I wrote yesterday about being vegetarian or vegan. I'm not trying to get anyone to convert or to feel bad about consuming animal products by any means. I just wanted to share my journey through this process and what I've been reading about and thinking. My husband is a meat-eater and I'm the one doing the cooking for him, so you can see I don't push my values onto him, although I do tell him about what I learn and why I'm trying new things. Okay, maybe I do persuade him to eat more vegetarian-ish a little, but he doesn't mind. ;)

Don't be a bully!

I had some down time in the office this morning and was browsing through blogs and came across this post about vegan bullying. Had never heard of it before, but since I've been trying to eat more of a vegan-ish diet, I was curious to read it. I'm glad I did, because it makes me feel better about not yet being 100% vegan. And I'm not even sure I will be 100% vegan. I would like to be, because I appreciate the idea and what that means, but in practicality, I don't know if it will work for me. And anyway, making such dietary changes takes time...at least for me.

Not eating meat anymore wasn't that difficult since I've been an on-and-off vegetarian throughout life. Getting rid of eggs and dairy, not so easy. I cut out eggs a week ago and that hasn't been too hard because I had been considering it for a while, but even in just a week, there were a couple days where I would have just like to scramble some eggs for breakfast, or dinner. It's not so much about the taste (although I do like the taste of scrambled eggs with cheese and hot sauce!) but about convenience sometimes. Eggs and dairy are easy sources of protein. However, I'm not really sure what I believe about how much protein our bodies really need after all the conflicting information I've read recently. (This is something I'll have to research some more.)

Anyway, although choosing not to eat scrambled eggs or an omelet isn't that difficult, letting go of dairy products is a whole other story. There are just so many things I love to eat that involve dairy in some way. Or even include eggs as an ingredient for that matter. Certain things, like desserts, sauces, pasta made with eggs, ice cream (although I've found good alternatives), and many other things. Ordering pizza would not be the same - what about the cheese?! I LOVE cheese, and that is something I have reduced over the week, but not sure I could cut it out completely...at least not anytime soon.

However, to help make these transitions I've been trying to focus on what I will have more of in my diet, rather than solely focusing on what I will have less of or not have at all. I've been enjoying really yummy salads (you can get pretty creative), lots of fresh fruit and fresh juice (remember our new juicer), snacking on my favorite nuts (cocoa almonds), and making my own creative desserts. What it really comes down to is time and being able to plan out meals and be creative. We live in a busy world, and being able to create a yummy and healthy meal is not always easy, but this is one thing I try to do at least a couple times a week, if not every day. I'm beginning to understand that if we invest in our health now, we will reap the benefits in the future.

Well, I guess this post took a different direction than where it started but I hope you had a chance to read the post I linked at the top and are assured that vegans and vegetarians are not haters! Overall, be compassionate in whatever way you are possible...if that means eating less meat, that's great. If not, that's okay too. There are many ways to be compassionate toward others (humans and animals). Have a great Tuesday!

Crunch No More

Well, getting back to a "real" Monday after a week off from school wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Actually, it was pretty productive. Started my day off with the usual green juice, then I finally hit the gym! Last week I worked out at home and even though I have weights and a stability at home, my work-outs are usually lame. My workouts at the gym are always much better. But for some reason, getting my butt to the gym is sometimes difficult...

Luckily this morning that wasn't the case! I had a great workout with some weighted walking lunges, wide-grip lat pull-down, chest flys, leg curls, squats with the olympic bar, assisted pull-ups, and ab work. For my abs, I didn't do a single crunch! I'm in the "no-crunch zone" now. What's the no-crunch zone you ask? Well, I'll tell you.

I just bought The New Rules of Lifting for Abs last week...gotta work on that six-pack for summer, haha! just. kidding. A flat stomach would be nice to start off with. Anyway, this book basically says that crunches don't do anything for you. One of the exercises it suggested was the plank. I often do the plank, but this book offers many progressions to the plank that work your core. For example, there's the 45-Degree Plank, Plank with Leg Lift, Swiss-Ball Plank, and many more. 

This book offers a lot of information, including some simple nutrition guidance. If you want to try something new and work on getting those sexy abs, pick up this book!