Weekend Eats

Hellllllllllllllo.

This weekend I decided it was time to clean out the freezer. I had 2 packages of frozen fish in there from a trip to Whole Foods last summer. I decided it was time to make the swordfish and mahi mahi.

Friday night it was Swordfish with a Balsamic Butter Sauce....

Balsamic Butter Sauce

2 T Vegan Butter

2 T Balsamic Vinegar

2 T Honey

1 T yellow or dijon mustard

Saturday night I had the samething (it was great, but actually had the balsamic vinegar this time, I used apple cider vinegar on Friday night).

I also made Angela's  3 Minute Breakfast Carrot Cake at Oh She Glows for breakfast on Sunday morning.
She is right this is to die for! I love carrot cake & this smelled just like there was one baking while it was cooking in the microwave!

I followed her recipe to the T except I didn't use raisins and I topped my oats with coconut butter. Let me say this one thing, I will be making this over and over again :)

Breakfast Carrot Cake

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 almonds or walnuts

3 carrots peeled and chopped

2 t pure vanilla

1/2 banana

2 t pumpkin pie spice

1 scoop Spirutein protein powder (vanilla)

1 and 1/4 cups almond, soy, rice etc. milk

Blend all ingredients together and pour into microwave safe bowl and microwave for an estimated 3 minutes, I added more almond milk and cashew butter, maple syrup and additional almonds for my toppings.

Sunday night I decided to try a Ginger Glazed Mahi Mahi...

Ginger Glaze

3 T honey

3 T soy sauce

3 T balsamic vinegar

1 t ginger

1 clove of garlic chopped

2 t olive oil

Mix together ingredients and marinate fish. Heat oil in large skillet (I used add'l olive oil) & fry fish for about 4 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily with fork. Remove fish from pan and heat leftover marinade until it becomes a glaze constinency and pour over fish.

I had this with some roasted Kabocha Squash....

Baked at 345 degress for 45 - 50 minutes - perfect!

I really enjoyed scooping the squash and mashing it with some vegan butter - love it!!!!

I recently bought a salad dressing mix from a Wildtree party that I went to and let me tell you how much I am really enjoying this stuff. All you do is mix the natural grapeseed oil with some apple cider vinegar along with the Italian Dressing mix and you have a delicious homemade dressing. I have been enjoying this on many salads as of late...

Lastly I have been having plenty of my Green Smoothies after workouts for max. protein absorption.

-1 Banana

-4 strawberries

-2 handfuls of spinach

-chocolate Spirutein protein powder

-T Flax Oil

-1/2 unsweetened almond milk

Amazing how this little green drink can be so packed full of nutrients and enzymes and so delicious at the sametime.

Nichole

Down with Sickness

My throat feels like it's on fire and it hurts to swallow. Seriously the only thing that helps is hot soup. I have been enjoying my share of instant miso soup.

I have also been loading up on TONS of spinach. I am trying to kick this nasty cold before it gets worse. Lots of fruit, raw veggies and hot soup!!

Getting to the gym has been hard when I am battling a cold so I have been staying in and doing some Jillian Michaels Last Chance workouts on Exercise Tv on demand. I have the Florida trip coming up soon and I don't want my workouts to fall behind, even if it means pushing myself extra hard.

Nichole

Vegetarian Cafe

I had lunch with a co-worker at the fabulous Cafe Manna located in Brookfield, Wi. Cafe Manna is a cute, totally organic & vegetarian restaurant nestled in a corner of tons of little strip malls in Brookfield. I really wish this place was closer to my work so I could go there more often.

We started out with some Green Juice....

Kale, Swiss Chard, Bok Choy, 

Cucumber, Parsley, Watercress, Celery, 

Romaine, Ginger & Apple.

We also had an appetizer called the Middle Eastern Trio (not pictured). It had fresh veggies, pita chips and bread in which we dipped into either coconut cashew hummus, Baba Ganoush (eggplant dip), and Tatziki (cucumber dip). This was a great starter and not too heavy to eat your main dish.

 Crunchy Nutty Sandwich 

This had seasonal veggies with guacamole on their original raw almond bread, 

with vegetable slaw and root veggie chips. I enjoyed this very mucho!!

Peace Bowl

Brown rice & quinoa with veggies and a coconut curry sauce and topped with curry cashews.

Even though I didn't try this dish I was told it was enjoyable and I am very excited to head back to Cafe Manna very soon to try some of their new creations!

I highly recommend supporting this place especially in WI they claim to be the only 3 star certified Green Restaurant in Wisconsin. We need more places like this!!!! Fresh food, Green JUICE!, tons of vegetables and good for you food. What's not to love?

Having Green Juice today with the weather getting warmer really tempted me to break out my juicer again. The last time I juiced I could barely drink the green juice, and I blamed it on the cold weather. Green juice is more or a summer drink for me. Even though my smoothies are COLD, they are much sweeter and I guess my body was trying to tell me something when rejecting the green juice when it was 10 degrees outside. Spring is around the corner and I think I will be breaking out the juicer.... just as soon as this is done.

Nichole

It's all pays off

It is such a great feeling to know all your HARD work is finally starting to payoff. I have been in the gym sweating on average 6 days a week for the last 2 months. Let me tell you, it is easy to get comfortable with the cardio sessions and I am trying hard to keep challenging myself...

5 miles on the eliptical machine - CHECK! :) This took me 60 minutes to accomplish but it was a great sweat session to say the least!!

I have a Florida vacation planned for the end of April so I have got more time to tone up before I hit the beach but this girl will not be taking many rest days until then!

The picture above is from my workout yesterday evening and since I have my favorite masseuse coming over this evening to give me a much needed massage, I decided to work out this morning. I must say that I really enjoy my evening work outs better than the morning ones. I am thinking I have a little too much on my mind in the morning, like planning out my work day.

Before my work out I had a Green Smoothie...

- frozen mangos

- frozen strawberries

-2 handfuls of spinach

- 1/2 cup almond milk

- 1 tbsp organic flax oil

- 1 scoop Amazing Grass Chocolate Infusion Amazing Meal

This gave me the energy to really pump out some sweat in the gym this morning, however I had only been 12 hours since I was in the gym for a 2 hour workout session last night, so I was a little tired.

Dinner last night was a large plate of steamed vegetables..

- Carrots

- Asparagus

- Broccoli

- Brussel Sprouts

I couldn't eat this all... but I was hungry right before bedtime so I had a small cup of granola cereal with almond milk, that did the trick and I slept great.

I don't like going to the gym on an empty stomach, I get way too hungry working out and almost feel week. Since I don't eat meat I find it easy for me to work out on a full belly on veggies. I don't feel bloated after eating a ton of vegetables. I think because they are so easily digested that it doesn't give my body cramps when doing cardio.

What are your workout habits? Do you eat before or afterwards? Or possibly both like me?

Urge Congress to Permanently Protect the Artic Refuge!

Think of the polar bears... :)

Nichole

New Finds and Reviews

Hello! :)~

On my recent trip to my Co-op I found Ezekiel brand pasta - does it get better than that?!?!

Sprouted Grain Pasta went perfectly with the vegan chili I made this weekend. Healthy pasta, I didn't think it exsisted. This has to be somewhat new for Ezekiel because I have not seen it before.

(Kujo wanted to show his face).

I really enjoyed this stuff and it cooked really fast, faster then whole grain pasta. Also I don't eat pasta very often but when I do I know this is the very best option. I love all Ezekiel products from the breads, tortillas and now pasta! :)

On another note I decided a couple months ago it was time to QUIT the "fake baking". I am a very fair skinned individual with plenty of freckles. I have all the attributes to get skin cancer... throw a tanning bed in there and I am VERY high risk. Recently I had 3 family members get cancerous moles removed, and I have also gotten moles removed in the past however they were not cancerous, just changing or annoying.

I decided that it was time to quit for good. I have been trying new self tanning products and I must say that I love this stuff....

Glow Fusion by Fusion Beauty

This gives me an amazing tan! Just make sure you put it on evenly. I am using the MEDIUM tone and it is perfect. Right now since it is winter I am using it on my face, and upper body not much on my lower body at all. This product maybe a little on the expensive side but not more expensive than a  month's worth of tanning. I purchased this from Sephora. I think I will be stocking up ;)

I am so happy that it is March already and ready to move on to spring. I remember last St. Patrick's Day it was very warm outside and the snow was melted... we have about 15 days until then -- the weather better get a move on!!!

Nichole