Taco Twist

Hey friends! Glad we are over the hump! It definately feels like this week is flying by to me since I had Monday off of work.

I wanted to share a new twist I did on my classic bean "tacos", trying to clean out the fridge on the kick of getting more vegetables into my diet for 2011.

I present you with Fajita-Tacos....

First I sliced some onions and red peppers and lightly tossed them in some olive oil and in a pan for about 5 minutes over medium-low heat. I just wanted to add some warmth and keep the crunch.

I threw in some spinach and cooked just a minute or two.

In the meantime prepare Vegan refried beans

Layer in wrap of choice, with guacamole of course

Add in some (homemade) salsa

Roll it up and devour.

......Ezekiel wrap of course. LOVE THEM!!!!

Happy Thursday!

Nichole

Fueling on Plants, Lunching at Work

Hello Bloggies!!

I hope your 2011 goals and intentions are going strong. I have been doing really well by staying active, eating healthy and trying to get as much GREEN into my diet as possible.

I like to start my day off with a a very GREEN shake in my Vita-Mix. 

Jammed pack full of greens - Spinach + Kale

I absolutely LOVE Amazing Grass products, they make me feel, well amazing! I make sure a scoop of Amazing Meal is in my smoothie as well as the Wheat Grass powder I just purchased from iherb.com

When I have more time or am real hungry I opt for some oats instead.

Rolled oats cooked on the stovetop, splash of almond milk, walnuts and coconut butter

SCRUMDILLYUMPTIOUS!!!!

Sometimes I fit in my workout before work and others after work. Do you prefer a AM workout or a PM workout? For me I guess it always depends on the day and my mood. Also if I am rushing to get to work, or if I overslept you better believe I am working out in the PM :)

Here is a yummy salad that I created last week:

Kale, Cuke, Spinach, Carrots, Tomato + Sunflower seeds

I have also opted to bring my lunches to work from now on, I am eating leftovers from tofu to chili to stirfry. We have a microwave at work so it definately works out nicely.

Re-heated Vegan Chili, I think next I am going to add tofu to my chili.

Savory Sweet Potato Soup

re-heated Tofu StirFry

Today it's a "TST"

Tofu, Spinach, Tomato Sandwich

I baked some tofu this weekend and have some leftovers - I thought why not on a sandwich??

I warmed the 3 slices of tofu in the microwave and placed on my pre-made and brought from home sandwich, complete with Ezekiel bread, Veganaise, yellow mustard, spinach & tomato.

This was way good! I will be posting the tofu recipe soon!!

I hope you have a wonderful week!!

Nichole

Vegan Chicken Parm

Hello friends! Hope you are staying warm today because it is snowing and cold here in Wisconsin.

A few weeks before Christmas, I tried my hand at a Vegan Parmesean. I actually used a vegan "chicken" breast that I found at Good Harvest Market in Waukesha.

I used a flax egg to have the homemade italian breading/crumbs stick to the mock chicken.

Place in pan with hot olive oil for a couple minutes

Place "Chicken" in baking dish, and cover with marina

Top with some Daiya and place in oven to bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 Minutes

I also had to make some real chicken for some non vegans.

I enjoyed this over some brown rice pasta and it was fantastic.

Nichole

Weekend Indulging, New purchases & Raw Cookies

Hey everyone! I hope you had a great weekend. I like to indulge a little on the weekends, but it's back to business during the week, regarding my eating habits, of course. Sometimes I take a break of exercise and relax a bit more on the weekends, sometimes that is because I am staying up too late and exercising my arms, by drinking! hahaha. All the more reason why I should exercise but, sometimes I just don't feel like it, so I just don't.

Last week I had a sweet craving so I indulged a little in some Raw Oatmeal Cookies. Recipe from Averie at Love Veggies and Yoga.

Combined everything in the Vita-Mix

and roll into balls

Then I like to flatten them with a large spoon, with raisins on top.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1/2 C Oats

1/4 C pitted dates

1/4 C raisins

dash of cinnamon

I used Vanilla Stevia as well (very small amount)

Put oats in blender first, blend.

Add Dates and rest of ingredients and blend again

Take our your cookie dough and shape into balls.

These defiantely satisfied the sweet tooth and are a healthy snack!

You can refer to Averie's recipe here and follow her directions if you like.

As far as other things I did this weekend, I had my new couch delivered. I thought this giant wasn't going to fit into my living room. But it did and I love it. Now I need to buy a new tv.

This couch is a monster, it has a pull out bed next to the chaise lounge as well.

The dogs will not be sleeping on this. I am making sure of it. Keeping them out of that room when I am at work during the day (they have a bed down in the basement, that they sleep on during the day) and making sure they aren't hopping on it when I am home. haha

Hope you have a great week!

Nichole

Cheerleading & My Favorite Restaurant

Today at my house we were all rooting for my favorite football team, The Green Bay Packers!

Kaiya is a Packer fan :)

The Packers beat The Eagles (and Michael VICK HAHAHAHAA) in their first playoff game today. Final score Green Bay 21, Eagles 16.

How was your weekend? I had a nice weekend, I got in some quality family time with my brother and visited my mother as well. Friday night I had dinner with my little brother who lives in Stevens Point, WI because he goes to college there. However he was in town this past weekend and we went and had a healthy dinner.

This was taken when we went out for his birthday in December. Sibling Love <3 I absolutely adore my little bro and I am so proud of him. He is amazing.

Back to the dinner. We went to the never upsetting, always great... Cafe Manna.

Vegetarian, Organic... GREATNESS.

This is what happens when we were too hungry to remember to break out the camera before indulging in the Walnut Guacamole Potato Skins.

These were served with a "ancho cashew sour cream" we loved it.

My brother had the Savory Sandwich.

Portobello mushroom, grilled eggplant, feta, roasted peppers and caramelized onions, served on toasted rosemary olive bread brushed with house made pesto.

I had special, Truffle Polenta Lasagna. It had a macadamia nut cheese, with onions and mushrooms layed inbetween the polenta. Also had a tomato sauce which was sweet and reminded me of my own spaghetti sauce. This was really good, and even though I couldn't finish it there, I took it home and reheated it tonight (Sunday) and it was still yummy.

I really enjoy going to Cafe Manna and it is definately my favorite restaurant.

Moving on to dessert...

Raw Ch-Ch-Cheeeesecake..

Oh. my GOODNESS. We shared this and even though we were too stuffed to finish our dinners we consumed this whole cakey deliciousness.

I definately can't wait to head back to Cafe Manna and try more of their culinary creations.

I also visited my mother and her pups!! How cute :)

Hope you have a great Monday!

Nichole

Keeping Up With The Vegetables

TGIF!! Hope your first week of 2011 went very well. I thought I would recap how my meals went this week:


Part of my goals this year was to eat more veggies daily and get as much leafy greens into my diet as I can. Here are some progress pictures:

Spinach, Tomato & Cuke w/ Balsalmic

Morning Smoothie's

1 cup spinch, 1 cup kale, 1/2 cup almond milk (unsweetened) 1/2 frozen banana, Amazing Grass Amazing Meal, 1 scoop of wheat grass powder and 1 TBSP flax oil

Another Huge Salad - Spinach, Kale, Cukes, Tomatos, carrots, toasted seasame seeds and sunflower seeds + some light balsalmic

Every morning I had a very Green smoothie, every lunch I had some leftover Vegan Chili from New Years Eve. Most dinners have been very green large salads and some vegetables and some Vegan Alfedo w/ broc.

I also had a huge plate full of brussel sprouts and asparagus last night which was not photographed due to me extra hungry from working until 8pm at the builder show.

I hope you have a great weekend!!!

Nichole

2 Kinds of Alfredo - Vegan & Not

Good morning!

I thought I would share my 2 alfredo trials today, I made these a couple days ago. My boyfriend is not a vegetarian/vegan so I made 2 versions so he could enjoy as well.

Angela's Quick & Easy Alfredo

Creamy Alfredo Sauce (pictured with shrimp and broccoli)

Let 1/2 cup butter melt over med-low heat

add 8 oz of cream cheese

slowly whisk in 1-1/2 cusp of half and half

add 1/2 tablespoon garlic

pepper to taste

whisk until all lumps are out and warm for 5 - 10 minutes until you reach desired consistancy

This is the first time I have made a homemade alfredo and we were all very pleased with the outcome. Also I wanted to have you know that my love of seafood is dissapearing on me. I didn't eat any shrimp after having 1, and I didn't enjoy it at all. I knew eventually I would give it up but I didn't think it would be this soon. Either way I am happy to do what my body is encouraging :)

Hope you have a great day!!

I am still keeping it GREEN! I will have an update on that later :)

Nichole