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

Weekend Fun

 I had a busy little weekend which did not include a lot of work out time, so I am welcoming the new week with lots of sweaty workouts ahead of me! :)

With a birthday party on Friday night instead of the cheese pizza I opted for the vegetable tray and hummus. Saturday was a busy day with lots of shopping and running around, another birthday party and then out for the night with one of my besties :)

My drink of choice? Absolut & tonic with lime.

I was craving some major carbs on Sunday evening so decided to make some vegan spaghetti with 7 grain pasta noodles. I just couldn't do the "zucchini noodles" my body was craving the sugar.. must have been those vodka tonics I consumed the night before.



I ordered a fantastic product a couple days ago which I am enjoying in my smoothies and it's great for a vegetarian.

Amazing Grass truly is amazing. They sent me a bunch of samples of different products as well. Can't wait to try them all! They even have Kidz Superfood which is fantastic to get a child to drink a smoothie with all these amazing ingredients. I really felt great after throwing this into a smoothie and I am really impressed with the chocolatey taste. Besides it being totally organic, raw and vegan - it makes you feel great! I am just hoping I can buy it in bulk, which I haven't seen the option yet. This container pictured has about 15 servings.

I took this right before a cardio/strength workout at the gym yesterday. I did 45 minutes on the eliptical machine and a 5 minute cool down, did some ab work, arm and leg training machines and then hit the ski machine for a 20 minute cardio session. Total 1 hour and 10 minutes of cardio - not bad hey?

Here are some of my favorite things lately....

lightly steamed brussel sprouts

raw cukes - so delish! :)

I am loving my vegetables and trying to keep lots of them in the house for snacking and for my meals. Trying to eat as much RAW food as possible so even though there are not any interesting recipes - filling up on the raw stuff can be just as good!

Nichole

Ash Wednesday

Yesterday was FAT Tuesday, I tried to make it an excuse to go out drinking but I decided I am better off at home getting some much needed sleep because I have been battling a head cold for the past 2 days. I have been on organic spinach overload to try to get rid of the bug with little success yet :(
I did hit the gym up last night for a sweat session and I did about 40 minutes of cardio but the rest of my  workout was short lived because I was feeling very weak. My legs felt like jello so I decided it was time to go home and eat some FAT! I accomplished this by eating an entire avacado by myself.

So with today being ASH Wednesday and the beginning of Lent, I am thinking about giving up multiple things. I have been strictly cutting out all dairy as much as I can lately and I am thinking I can do without eggs and my "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" Spray for 40 days... right? Well I BARELY eat eggs at all, just if we go out to breakfast I normally have a Veggie Scramble or if I eat pancakes eggs are normally in there as well. I can do without cheese because I have an awesome vegan cheese substitute. I could care less about cow milk because I am absultely in love with Blue Diamond's Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk, I use it in my smoothies, cereal, recipes etc... with only 40 calories per serving you can not beat this stuff!!! I was also going to give up sweets. I rarely eat them so I am thinking these are not good things to give up! What if instead of giving up something, I promise to do something. Like go to church during lent. I am going to go to church tonight and start of lent right and then be able to celebrate at Easter! I guess I have all day to figure out what I am going to do... I will keep you informed on that situation.

I went to Good Harvest Market for lunch today because I had a gift card, I figured a nice hot lunch would be a good change today. The organic HOT BAR is delicious! Here are my eats from today...

                                     
Raw veggie salad with organic balsamic dressing and roasted veggies with chick peas.. I already had eaten half when I remembered to take the picture... I promise I will get better at that.

I wish you all a very healthy and happy HUMP DAY and a great LENT :)

Nichole

Cooking with Kale

Hello it's been awhile.... even though I have some interesting eats that I have been experimenting with lately, I haven't had the time to capture the moment :(

I purchased some Kale 2 weeks ago and decided it was time to make some Kale Chips! I have heard so much about them in the past and how delicious they are and how they satisfy that salty craving you maybe having. Well these "chips" turned out great. I even got a 10 year child to try them and then continue to eat them until they were gone and we were eating the crumbs off the pan!

Kale Chips

1. wash and dry kale very well

2. preheat oven to 350 degrees

3. remove leafy greens from stem but pulling them upwards

4. tear into bite size pieces and place into bowl

5. drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil and pinch of salt onto kale

6. massage olive oil into kale so each piece is covered by the oil

7. spread out on baking sheet so none of the leaves are touching, if they touch they will steam not bake and get crispy.

ENJOY!

Another delicious creation that has been floating around the blogosphere is vegan pizzas!

I used Ezekial brand sprouted grain tortillas, and spread plain hummus on the bottom. Then a layer of tomato sauce/paste, fresh tomatos, zuccinni, spinach, vegan cheese, and sprinkled basil and italian seasoning.

Bake for 5-10 minutes at 400 degress - but you have to watch it closely so it doesn't burn and regular tortillas can take longer.

Proud of my delicious personal pizza - this baby was sooo good the vegan cheese melted and the tortilla was crispy. If I am ever craving pizza this is what I am making, all vegan all delicious.

My love for spaghetti... never ends. Below is a picture of some leftover veggie spaghetti that I poured over some raw zucchini for a quick dinner.

This is quick, easy and delicious and always satisfies my cravings for spaghetti.

That is all my interesting eats for now!

Nichole