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.



NEW vegan bunnies tank top now for sale!

With the summer heat upon us it's time for tank tops!  And what's better than a plain old tank top? A tank top with Vegan Bunnies on it!!  That's right, now for sale on my Etsy store is this super adorable tank top available in several different colors!  Come get yours today!!