Brussels Sprouts "Cheese" Pasta Bake

Wow, where did the week go?!?  Just finished week THREE of cleaning up my health and getting back on track.  Down only ONE sad pound this week, but fitting backing into my smaller clothes and I feel SO great!!  Trying to remind myself that the scale is not the tell all be all of life!  It is easy to become frustrated after stepping off the scale and just saying, "Screw it I give up." BUT I chose to keep moving forward knowing that how I feel today, how great I feel, how happy I feel...that's the reward.  I have also gone these three weeks with absolutely NO alcohol....zero, null, none!  It feels amazing to go to bed and night feeling good and wake up the next morning feeling great.

This vegan redhead is so excited for the weekend (even with the crappy weather coming)...why you ask?  Because there will be a new addition to the kitchen - YES a new food processor!!  LOL!  May not seem that exciting to some, but if you LOVE to cook and have been using a broken food processer for a while....you'd understand my excitement!! After looking around I have decided to purchase the 11-cup capacity processor from Cuisinart.  We have a Cuisinart coffee maker we love, and everything I have read about this one seems to fit all of my needs.  Originally I looked at buying it from Amazon, however Bed Bath & Beyond has it and guess what I have?? Yep, a 20% off coupon!!  Woohooo....makes this vegan redhead a happy-happy girl!

Last night I cooked up a great vegan meal that was pretty easy and VERY tasty!  There are so many different veggies you could add to this and any of my chilies/peppers can be omitted from the recipe if you don't like your food spicy.

Brussels Sprouts "Cheese" Pasta Bake

Ingredients:
8 oz Quinoa Pasta, cooked according to instructions
4 oz. Can of Green Chilies
1/4 Cup Sun Dried Tomatoes
1 Cup Brussels Sprouts, shredded

weekend recap - food, food and more food!

Wow, what a great weekend!  After restocking the fridge on Friday (and getting asked at Sprouts if I juice?!?....no, we just eat LOTS of veggies!) I was ready for a weekend of cooking!!  Saturday before hitting the Fountain Hills Art Fair I whipped up some Raw Vegan Jalapeno Corn Bread to start dehydrating for Sundays menu.  It was a perfect Arizona Saturday morning to be out walking and enjoying great art!  Not to rub it in for those of you stuck in the snow, but it was about 80 degrees!  The find of the day was new cutting boards!  We decided to come back on our way out to buy so we didn't have to carry them around.  Smart move - he marked a bunch down during that time and I picked up TWO corien cutting boards for $5 EACH!!  And oh so perfect for the vegan kitchen, one is shaped like a cow and the other like a rabbit.  LOL!  I now put the poor husband to work helping me chop veggies. 

After walking the Art Fair for a couple hours we started getting hungry and didn't want to fall into the fair food trap of crap, so we headed home for lunch.  For fun I Googled vegan restaurants in the area and hot damn I found one!  I was shocked as it was so close to our house and had NO idea it was there!  The Cutting Board Bakery & Café had great reviews so we HAD to go check it out!  The place was tucked away in a little strip mall and was cute, but really needed better ambiance.  We placed our orders and with only a couple people before us we waited a good 25 minutes for our food....which I can understand as it's all made fresh.  My husband ordered the burrito, which he loved, and I ordered the roasted veggie sandwich, great flavor!  Both came with blue corn chips and yummy salsa.  We really want to come back and try the burger and pizza!  Great food, just not Pomegranate Café that is our all time NUMBER 1 place for vegan food!

 

back on the wagon week 2

Week 2 weigh-in was today and I was down a total of NINE pounds!  Woohoo! I was really hoping to somehow see ten, but I'll take nine.  It was a great overall week, eating was fresh and clean, exercise was great....feeling so awesome!!  Love your body and it sure as hell love you right back, that I promise you!  Now to move onto week three!  Going in strong and positive again!!

Tonight will be a grocery shopping date night.  Time to stock our fridge up with tons of veggies and fruit!  My menu is prepared for the week, which helps with over buying and veggies/fruit going bad.  Even have a fun menu for Sunday's Daytona 500 Race!  Yea, we're redneck and proud!

roasted veggies & chickpea salad

Being vegan you eat a LOT of veggie dishes and you are reminded of that when you're asked, "what's for dinner?" and you reply back, "something with veggies." and then you get back jokingly, "isn't that what we always have??"  Okay, not all veggie dishes are the same!  Point in case, dinner last night...OMG I made the most wonderful Roasted Veggies & Chickpea Salad EVER.  This have great flavor, tender veggies and oh so healthy!! 

Roasted Veggies & Chickpea Salad

Ingredients
1 Cauliflower Head
1 Broccoli Head
1 Bunch of Asparagus
1 large Onion, thinly sliced
1 can Chickpeas, drained and rinsed
3 large cloves of Garlic, minced
1/2 Cup Sun Dried Tomatoes in oil, drained
1/3 cup Kalamata Olives, chopped
2 tbs Balsamic Vinegar
2 tbs Sriracha (less if you like not as spicy)
1 tbs Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
Vegetable Broth (for cooking)
Salt
Pepper

valentine's day vegan style!

With working on getting back to fit and healthy I made the husband promise NOT to buy me any vegan chocolate this year!  LOL!  Instead, I focused on a day of healthy and non processed goodness!  Since he worked Thursday and Friday I first made it my priority
to fully decorated the house to surprise him. I had pink and red hearts ALL over the place!!  Talk about putting you in the mood for love.

Our morning started with a bike ride to our favorite coffee shop and we had an extra surprise - they had live music!!  Right across the street is the Farmer's Market and sadly our vegan food truck was not able to make it.  No worries, we picked up some awesome juice from a local vendor.  It was awesome to see the market SO busy!!

stepping out to the farm life

Every Wednesday here in town is a Farmstand and Food Truck event that the husband and I always say we want to check out, well last night we finally did!  Not only did we go BUT we rode our bikes there!  Our FAVORITE vegan food truck Uprooted Kitchen was serving the most colorful healthy vegan dishes and we could NOT wait to get our hands on them!  Normally when we go to the Gilbert Farmers Market on Saturday mornings we split a breakfast from Uprooted Kitchen, but last night NO WAY...we were getting two meals!  We picked (after much debate) the Un-Bun Vegan Burger and the Hummus Salad Bowl.  Delish both of them!  They not only tasted great, but the presentation was both colorful and beautiful!  The Wednesday event not only has great food trucks but MUSIC!  It was a great mid-week relaxing evening.

Looking for farmer markets in your area? Check out Local Harvest to find one near you!

Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges & Mango Dipping Sauce

Some times even being a redhead you have your blonde moments.  Mine today was locking my keys inside my car along with my phone, purse and lunch.  Ugh.  Not sure I have EVER done that before, but huge shout out to On Star!!  Thank you for unlocking my car before my smoothie melted!! LOL!

On a positive note, the scale keeps moving down!  I hate being tied to the scale and the numbers that it produces each morning as I would rather focus on how great I feel and how my clothes are fitting so much better.  I saw a great post today about the fight of the scale and that we shouldn't fully focus on those numbers but make our goal to be Fit as Fuck!  LOL! Love it!!  That's it, that's MY goal!!

Time to share another awesome recipe (actually two) from this weekend!  You'll find the recipe for my Raw Onion & Jalapeno Bread recipe on yesterdays post that went along with my Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges & Mango Dipping Sauce.  When the husband works and I'm in need of a healthy meal for one I enjoy seeing what I can whip up from what I have in the house.  Since my Raw Onion & Jalapeno Bread was done I knew my dinner would include that, but as always I was craving a sweet potato....found some frozen mangos in the freezer and yippee skippy I had dinner!

Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges & Mango Dipping Sauce

Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges
Ingredients
1 Sweet Potato, sliced into wedges*
Olive Oil Spray
Ginger
Cinnamon
Salt
Pepper

cooking up a vegan storm!

What a GREAT weekend!  Lots of healthy eating, NO drinking, exercised and down 3.2 lbs!!  Woohoo!!

Let's start by getting to the good stuff - eating and recipes!!  Saturday morning I was excited to whip out my dehydrator and make some yummy vegan Onion & Jalapeno Raw Bread!  Making raw bread is really easy, the hardest part is just the wait time while it's cooking...oh, how it makes you house smell sooooo yummy!  Trust me, it's worth the wait!!

Onion & Jalapeno Raw Bread

Ingredients
2 medium zucchini, shredded
1 large carrot, shredded
1 large onions, shredded in a food processor
1 jalapeno, diced
1-2 tbs soy sauce
1/2 cup water
1 cup ground flaxseed
1 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 teaspoon salt

moving on to day 2

Yesterday was back to day of one of healthy eating, exercise and NO drinking.  Mission completed!  I haven't blogged in so long that I did forget to photograph the amazing dinner I made...fail.  LOL!  Looking forward to a great weekend of healthy eats, and this time I promise to share recipes!!

Last night we watched a great documentary on Netflix called Hungry for Change.  No mater how much my husband and I learn regarding our health there is always more and more out there to learn about.  This documentary really focused on our bodies and what we put into them and why.  Very eye opening when you think of how chemicals are made to make us become addicted to a food, just like you can be addicted to smoking or drinking.  I love when they talk about the problem is most people are not even eating food any more, but food "like" product.  Yum, that sounds good doesn't it? 
 

vegan redhead rambling

Caution - rambling ahead.  Proceed with caution!

 

The madness just really needs to stop.  Why have I let things get so out of control?  Am I really listening to the lies I'm telling myself?  I have no reason in my life to be unhappy, yet eating and putting on weight and the excessive drinking leave me feeling unhappy day after day.  I am putting it out all there - right now - in black and white, this just has to stop.  So, today - it's back to day 1.  Time to turn this craziness AROUND and NOW.

 

There are THREE very easy things that can turn my life (and even yours, if needed) around.  They are not a hidden secret.  You do not need to travel around the world to discover them.  Just basic, three easy things.

 

1. Eat fresh and healthy Vegan - all day, every day.

2. Exercise.  Even a basic 30 minute walk everyday is better than sitting my fat ass on the sofa all night.

3. Stop all drinking of alcohol.

 

Number three is the big one.  Number three leads to number one and number two not happening.  I know this.  I'm not stupid.  So, why do I give into number three day after day?!?  Number three also leads me to not doing the things that I love.  Such as DIY projects.  I have so many things I would love to accomplish around the house, but damn number three leaves me tired and lazy.

 

The Plan of Action

• Clean and healthy vegan eating.
• Daily exercise (looking at a stroller for my 3-legged dog so I can take him out walking with me!)
• App on my phone to monitor my weight (I've not stepped a foot on my scale in months)
• Find new things to keep me busy!

Why does my plan of action seem so easy?  LOL!  Let's get this party started!! Who's with me?? Tomorrow I will track my start weight and set some fun goals, because there has to be some fun to the whole thing!! AND I want to not only own this bathing suit, but FIT IN IT this summer!!!

 

Overall goal - be healthy and happy.