Market Recap Monday (week 11)

After two weeks of being MIA from our original market, we were so happy to return!

The market stayed open an hour later to collaborate with the art fair that was going on this weekend as well. We were very excited about meeting new people from the art fair traffic. We saw lots of new faces as well as a few different news crews. Apparently one journalist has been trying to contact us for over a month now. I could tell he was very excited to write a story on our business! People really like our story. I think a lot of the locals are attracted to us because we are just average people trying to make a living doing what we love. We don’t have a lot of money but we put all of what we have along with our hearts into everything we do hoping to turn it into something big one day. It seems like each week we are getting at least 10 requests to open a restaurant. Sure this would be a dream come true, help us build up to that point! Seriously. 😉

Anyway, I wanted to show you the massive amount of produce I got FOR FREE.

A super generous vendor said his produce was “getting old” and he needed to get rid of it. So, I’m sure you can only imagine what I walked away with!

(that white veggie is apparently some sort of summer squash it looked so cute, I had to get it!)

Tons and tons or carrots, zucchini, melon, beets, onions, yellow squash, green peppers, cucumber, and other peppers.

I roasted as much as I could fit in my oven…

By the way, I thought that I didn’t like beets. But I now I love them roasted! With just a little basil and thyme.

I juiced some…

& I chopped a lot of them for a huge salad…

I also juiced about 20 cucumbers and poured them into ice-cube trays. I thought this would be a good idea for green smoothies. The juicer is just too much of a pain to wash!

What is your favorite summer veggie?

I Dream of Blenders

I read about it.

I think about it.

I dream about it.

I want it.

I need it.

I HAVE TO HAVE IT!

& I finally got it.

My very own (refurbished) Vitamix! I just couldn’t take it anymore! It’s all I think about.

I ordered my Vitamix from The Vitamix Lady and received free shipping! Seriously, this girl is awesome.

My Vitamix came with:

This sweet Vitamix cook book that contains tons of healthy recipes!

Why I got it:

1. It’ a business investment. Each week at the market, so many people ask for nut butters. My Ninja used to get so mad when he would have to make my nut butters, he just gave up on me.
2. Raw food. ‘nough said.
3. I need a new blender. Sure, I guess I can keep buying new blenders and waste hundreds of dollars OR I can just buy one nice one that will last forever! Or just 7 years at the earliest. That’s a long time!
4. You don’t have to pay all at once! I am on a very easy payment plan: Pay half the amount plus $15 the first month, pay half of the differance the second month, pay the other half (the remaining balance) on the third month. It’s that easy! I don’t know about you, but I feel A LOT better paying like this, it almost makes me feel like it didn’t cost THAT much.
5. The refurbished model will save you about $70 bucks. I can live with knowing that my blender was slightly used by a professional if it saves me $70. And hey, it’s like they tested it out for you so you know that it works great!

Yes, don’t mind me, I’m still talking myself into it!

What I’ve made so far:

A green smoothie! With no yucky chunks!

 

Then I made this 4-minute broccoli “cheese” soup! (it looks like a siab, but it’s soupp!)

New diet staple fo sho, Recipe coming soon!

P.S.

Thank you so much for all of the get well soons on my last post, so sweet of you! I am feeling a little better, but far from 100%. I am just taking one day at a time trying to rest and eat lots of healing foods.

***Vitamix did not ask me to review their product nor did The Vitamix Lady. None of the items that I listed were given to me for reviewing or to sample. As always, this is my honest opinion.***

Green Smoothie Challenge (10 day recap)

Has it really been 10 days? Wow, this green smoothie challenge isn’t as hard as I thought, I actually really enjoy it!

Basically, I’ve been drinking green smoothies or green juices for breakfast every morning for the last 10 days.

Notes:

• Energy level is about the same as a regular day.
• Hunger level has been slighty increased  on days that I didn’t finish my smoothie because it was chunky or just didn’t taste good.
• I need a new blender 🙂
• Knowing exactly what I’m going to eat for breakfast saves me time, money, and stress.
• Frozen spinach RULES!

That’s about it, I mean, I figured this would be a struggle but it’s actually not hard at all so I am going to keep going.

Today was a good day for a picnic

Or at least just eating picnic-type food anyway

Sesame bagel w/ vegan cream cheese, giant tomato slice, cucumber, and spouts (which I spouted myself!) with a pear.

Today I did some baking:

more espresso fudge brownies

more chocolate chip cookies!

Yumm.

Too bad it’s almost time for me to go to work, I was really enjoying this!

WIAW week 21

 

Breakfast

• Tall green juice (cucumber, green apple, parsley, sprouts, lemon)

• Iced tea

 

Lunch

• Half of a leftover bean burrito

• Half of a leftover espresso fudge brownie

• Water

Dinner

• Stir fry w/ tofu

Snacks

• a few too many servings of pistachios

•  8 ounces of raspberries

• 1 mango

• a handful of grapes

•  chocolate 🙂

 

I haven’t been to the gym in FOREVER. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to ditch studying and get my Zumba on.

(Seeing how my studying is getting me NO WHERE…. more on that a different day?)

The One-Day Liquid Green Fast

Hi Bloggins!

Happy Saturday!

Yes you read the title correctly…

Today, I decided to try a fresh juice/green smoothie fast.

If you know anything about me, you know that I obviously LOVE food. I’m constantly eating or thinking about the next time I’m going to eat, it’s actually kind of sad. As much as I try to love raw foods and eat them daily, to me, nothing beats a big hearty bowl of soup and a nice, warm, soft piece of bread (0k, that sounds really good right about now!). I think this one-day fast is over-due.

Why? I’ve been wanted to try a juice fast for a while now. Even if it’s just for one day, the benefits are amazing! I’ve also came to the conclusion that juice alone with be extremely hard for this foodie. Plus, I really wanted to finally make a green smoothie.

So let’s get right down to it.

Breakfast 8:30AM: 12 ounces of green juice.

10-11AM: 20 ounces of water

Lunch 12:30PM: 20 ounces of this beast of a green smoothie:

Green Smoothies vs. Green Juice

Green Smoothies make a TON more drink compared to juicing. Sometimes the greens don’t blend as well so it’s a little plup-y.

Green Juice is easier for the body to degeist but you need a lot more veggie to make a good amount of juice. In my opinion, has more of a fresh taste like water.

All day at work until 9PM- sipped on green juice and the rest of my smoothie.

We were so slow at work that I had so much time to think about eating! I wanted so bad to eat some mashed up stuffed grape leaves, lentil salad, and hummus and dip some pita chips in my Mid-east mess. I also spent a lot of time thinking about making chocolate chip cookies and how I must have some.

Yeah, im crazy. The whole day I kept telling myself, “I’m heeling. I’m cleaning. I NEED THIS.” I guess that worked. It’s funny how your mind plays tricks on you. I wasn’t even hungry but my mind really wanted me to eat.

But I finally made it. Let’s just hope I don’t eat like a cow in the morning because I’ll be so hungry!

Have you ever tried a juice fast?

WIAW week #7!

Another lovely week of..

I love this, it’s gives me an excuse to blog in the middle of the week on the day I eat the most homemade food.

But first let’s talk about injuries.

Yesterday was a perfect day filled with lots of good, small, fun surprises. Then, I got to go to my Tuesday night gym classes that I have not been able to attend in FOREVER. Then, I got to watch my favorite show THE BIGGEST LOSER. I love you SPRING BREAK!

Anyway, one not-so-good thing happened.

My stupid hypermobile knee kept acting up! Yes, just my right knee, it’s weird, I know. When I touch my knee-cap it feels bruised and swelled. What I don’t understand: I did not hit/fall on/bump my knee on anything. It honestly feels like someone took a hammer to my knee while I was sleeping.

Could my knee be so stressed out from a few extra swats this weeks? And the whole Tuesday night legs class – could it have injured me this bad?

If you only knew how much dislike I have for my new doctor you would understand why I am not seeing my doctor for this. Hopefully I will switch doctors soon so I can get this stuff straightened out! Oh well.

So, on to the food! 🙂

This morning I made one of my favorite meals: Tofu Scramble.

I can’t get enough of this stuff! It always taste good no matter what I use. Today I used; garlic, a red potato, some green pepper, kale, onion powder (no onion! 😦 ) , pepper, tofu, nooch, turmeric for color, diaya, and I wanted some tomato action so I pulled a few tomatoes out from my left over chili in the fridge! This was such a good idea because it added so much  f l a v o r .

Also, I found a little piece of home in my breakfast…

I’m not strange! It does really look like Michigan…. Don’t you think? 😛

Mid-morning pick-me-up = green juice!

This baby had all that good stuff:

• 2 apples
• kale
• parsley
• cucumber
• lemon

& That’s all the green stuff I had.

Lunch was the rest of my leftover chili!

Snackage:

Dinner was not pictured because it wasn’t too exciting: a bowl of cereal (pb panada puffs!) and half of a bagel.

Hey, I didn’t feel like cooking!

What did you eat today?

Drinking Vegetables

Happy Friday Bloginns!!!!

I’m not going to lie, sometimes when I think of drinking green juice it really turns me off. Drinking vegetables? How gross. Sometimes I forget how great green juice actually taste! Isn’t that weird? I mean, I’ve made some horrible batches before but I’ve learned from all of my juicing experience:

• Beets = GROSS
• Ginger = a little bit goes a longggg way!
• Carrots + greens = brown juice
• Lemon juice = never enough 😉
• Root vegetables = YUCK!

But we all make mistakes, right? 🙂

That is why I am proud to announce one of the best green juices yet:

• 1 green apple
• 1 pear
• 2 big handfuls of spinach
• 1/2 bunch of kale
• 1/2 cucumber (in my opinion, a whole cucumber is a bit much)
• 1/2 cup random leftover celery bits (including leaves)
• lemon juice to taste (I like A LOT)



Do you drink your veggies?

Like I said, this is probably the best I’ve ever made. I used to always add ginger but I think ginger gives it that nasty over-powering taste I don’t like. This juice is really sweet, just how I like it.

And green mustaches are SO much hotter than ones made from cow mucus, wouldn’t you say?

😛 I thought so anyway!

In other news, I finally tried my single packet of Vega Sport!

!!!Review!!!

The look: When I first mix this stuff with water, it was brown and yucky-looking.

The smell: Was wonderful. It smelt a lot like a fruity tea.

The taste: Oh boy, this was difficult to get down. It just taste weird, that’s all I can really say. The taste is strong but it wasn’t a bad taste, it just wasn’t good either.

The effect: I drank this 30 minutes before my pilates/yoga class and I did feel different. I felt hyper and jittery rather than more focused. I think this would good to take before a run, not before pilates. The class after my pi/yo is a legs class. By this time I almost felt sick. I’m not saying it was 100% the Vega, but something wasn’t right.

The verdict: I would like to try the Vega Sport again to give it another try. I would like to use it on a cardio day and see how that goes. However, the cost plays a huge role in whether or not I’ll try it again.

Have you tried Vega Sport? Thoughts…?

Well, that’s all for today, I’m off for another lovely day at work because this is how I LOVE spending my last days of winter break…NOT.

And by the way WordPress, I don’t appreciate you not cooperating on my post. The “The effect” paragraph is supposed to be ORANGE NOT BLACK. And there is not a gap between beets and ginger! Lame-o’s….

😦

Fail.

Happy Friday Everyone!

 

 I hope you had a great week, mine was pretty good. I am so sore from Pi-Yo last night, that stuff is pretty intense! I had a lot of fun in the class though because there was only one other student besides me. I love those type of classes. I’m thinking for my birthday (the 31st) I am going to ask for yoga, power yoga, pi-yo, body flow and tai chi DVDs. I am beginning to find a great interest in different yoga classes. Do you yoga? What’s your favorite type of class?

I am sad to announce that I have failed the $21 Challenge. I had three days to eat under $3 after today, it’s not going to happen. On the other hand, I am glad to announce that the new $21 challenge will start this Sunday.  I will still try to attempt to not spend over $21 a week on groceries. Yes, this means everything in my pantry is fair game! Other than last night, I honestly have not spent any money on food besides going out Monday. This week I am planning on making a lot of soups and other home-cooked meals in large quantities. I think why I failed this week was because I did not plan out my meals like I should have. I think if I plan out 4 big dishes to make next week it will be a lot easier. Also, the key to a healthy vegan diet is to plan meals a week ahead of time! Some ideas I have:

• Corn chowder
• Veggie soup
• Miso (on a budget)
• “Tuna” or “egg” salad sandwiches
• Hummus (maybe not, I’m a little burned out on this one…)
• Sushi (already have most of the stuff)
• Oatmeal
• Anything with PB

I really need to spice up my diet. I feel like the last couple weeks I have been eating the same veggies over and over. Boring! This would be a good time of year to start drinking my daily greens again. I feel so wonderful when I drink green juice, I just can’t have it for one meal by itself because then I feel sick. Green juice is bursting with all kinds of vitamins your body needs and most likely, doesn’t get enough of. I wonder if green juice could go on a $21 budget…

My favorite green juice:

• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1/3 cup parsley
• 2 big handfuls of spinach
• 2 ribs celery
• 1 cucumber
• 2 apples
• tiny chuck of ginger, about the size of a penny

I use a juicer because I do not have a strong enough blender to make green smoothies. Why do nice blenders all have to be over $400? It’s a blender. I really need to invest in one though. Any suggestions???

Anyway, that’s my plan. You’ll have to excuse my random posts I tend to have from time to time. 🙂

I’m off to make some sort of soup, you’ll have to stay tuned to find out what’s cookin’ tonight!