& Were Off

It is officially vacation time & I couldn’t be more excited.

Granola? Check.

VOO and “Egg” salad? Check.

Apples? Check.

Bananners? Check.

& Were off to go camping on one of Michigan’s great lakes for the whole week!

No fancy restaurants, no Starbucks, no health food stores, no air conditioning, no hair dyers, no oven, no whining cats (sorry babes, mommy is going to miss you very much!), no familiar faces, no gym, no TV, no freezer, and no internet. 

I will bring the laptop but I doubt I will find wifi. I will be sure to share tons of beautiful photos next week. I hope you enjoy the posts I have lined up for the week! When we return, we have a big weekend ahead of us so be patient! (Details later! 🙂 )

WIAW week 27

 Breakfast

Coconut yogurt (for .29 cents!) topped with homemade granola, and a pear on the side. Later on I ate some oats and a muffin I baked for the market! Yum.

Blueberry Bran Muffin:

Recipe soon!

Lunch

Homemade mac & chreese! Yum. I made this out of gluten-free brown rice mac noodles and Tal Ronnen’s cashew cream (1 cup soaked cashews overnight, then blended in the Vitamix with water) mixed with a tomato, basil, nooch, S&P, turmeric, and Diaya. I baked in the over at 350 for about 10 minutes until gooey and creamy. I was very impressed with myself! Super creamy and still pretty healthy! It taste so naughty. 😉

Dinner

Fattoush salad and other random items such as a banana bread LARABAR, hummus, & tempeh.

 What did you eat today?

Bicycle

So, I’ve really been slacking in the physical fitness department.

Can you blame me though? I don’t really have time to go to the gym or wake up super early for a run. To be honest, I’m just really not in the mood.

But lately, I’ve been getting in new forms of exercise.

Biking

It is a great way to clear your mind, get some fresh air, and get your heart rate pumping. Not to mention biking is very easy on the joints which is always a plus for me.

Yesterday I wasn’t really in the mood for anything. I thought about maybe going for a walk but, it was already 10:00 AM I wasn’t all that thrilled to get all hot and sticky outside. So I grabbed my mom’s bicycle thinking I would explore the new bike path:

Oh yes, this bike is quiet a classic. I do own a mountain bike, I swear, I just don’t know how to filled the flat tire. Go ahead, make fun.

Just admit it, you think I look really cool on this bike.

Jealous yet?

I must have biked at least 5 miles, it was so much fun!

Do you bike?

I used to bike a lot when I was younger… before I got a car. Now it’s just a rare occasion. I am pretty excited to bike tomorrow morning! Scott and I usually rent bikes when we go camping. I just checked the prices on rental bikes and they went up a lot! I’m talking $23 each for a rental bike for one day. Last year, they were half of that! SO disappointed. Maybe I’ll have to invest in a bike rack?

WIAW week #8

 

Breakfast.

OIAJ! The best invention ever. My favorite part of OIAJ is NO CLEAN UP. Aww yeah.

 

Post-Zumba Snackage.

Green monsta! Spinach, strawberries, kiwi, pineapple, banana.

Lunch.

Roasted asparagus soup from The Vegan Table cook book:

AKA spring-time in a bowl! 🙂

 

More Snackage.

 Holy cow I cannot get enough of these! And to think I have some left after 4 days, woo.

 

Dinner.

 This stuff ^ ❤  mixed with chickpeas, roasted zucc and eggplant! Yum!

 

Looky I’m growing something!

I think it’s either spinach or basil! I’m so excited, everything I plant usually dies!!!

I planted mint, basil, spinach, tomatoes, and strawberries.

Any tips on gardening?

 

Oh AND I’m super excited for Michigan’s VegFest on the 27th! It’s going to be epic.

Also coming soon:

A few reviews! Sneak peak:

Winter Warm Foods

Ahh, my last week off before I go back for my second semester of my freshman year of college! This weather has been so crazy lately! First it was a snow storm, then it was 40 degrees and rain, then the sun was shinning,

and now, its freezing! 😦

Ahh Michigan, you always keep me on my toes!

That’s ok though, I’ve been keeping warm with my lentil soup 🙂

Not to mention a  H U G E  batch of veggie chili that will probably last me all winter long:

Score! This is a huge time saver! Always make big batches of soup and freeze it for later. This will come in handy on the one night you don’t want to make dinner!

And perhaps I’ve been eating some squirrel-style potatoes! Yumm.

Sweet potatoes, purple potatoes, and long white potatoes all roasted up and seasoned with thyme, basil, and oregano.

A   p e r f e c  t   snack.

What foods have you been eating to keep warm?

In other news, I’m totally loving my new book:

Crazy Sexy Diet

By: Kris Carr

This girl is amazing! She’s like a combo of Rory Freedman and Alicia Sliverstone yet, totally different in her own way. I don’t want to give too much away but you should really go out and get this book. She has a lot of great health and wellness tips and some great recipes at the back of the book.

Does anybody else own this book yet?

I’m so ready to get back into a regular routine. I haven’t went to the gym in over a week! My head is killing me from all of the junk I’ve ate over the holidays like cookies, chip, and SUGAR. I am in need of a green smoothie and some hard-core pilates, that’s for sure! Plus, I still haven’t tried out my new gear! Geez I’m behind! 🙂

 

PB Pancakes

Good Morning.

How is everyone on this chilly Monday morning?

The weather yesterday was insane around here… it was like a blizzard!

Over 200 closings in Mid-Michigan for today. Pretty much every school except my college! But you know what? I didn’t go anyway. I was not waking up and 5AM to shovel snow so I could actually get out of my driveway and risk my life driving on an icy expressway to go to school. Sorry final speech exam, not today.

Anyway.

This called for some peanut butter pancakes.

Serves 2-3

• 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 T sugar
• 2 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 1/2 cup soymilk
• 1 “egg” I used the powdered egg replacer
• 1/4 cup peanut butter

I topped mine with Justin’s Maple PB mixed with more maple syrup

You can also add chocolate chips if you wish.

Tip: To save time in the morning, make a double batch of pancake mix and store in the fridge for a few quick breakfast’s throughout the week.

So what was in that package I showed in the last post?

If you guessed new yoga gear you were correct! Besides, what else could fit in this funny-shaped box?

A new mat, 2 blocks, and a mat case.

I have been debating on getting into some more yoga and this helped make up my mind for sure! I cannot wait to try out these blocks. One of the reasons I stopped doing regular yoga was because my arms and so long that sometimes some yoga poses can be really awkward and uncomfortable. I’ve seen blocks at other stores for around $10 which is a complete waste of money considering the blocks are just a big hunk of foam. However, at the yoga accessories online store, these blocks were on sale for $4. (Sorry but the sale is over now)

How do you feel about yoga?

Now go enter my giveaway and make a snowman!

Apple Picking, Attempt 2

 Hello everyone 🙂

Like the new layout? I think I’m going to stick with this one for a while.

Today was a very eventful day… well, compared to the last few anyway. Scott and I went to Yate’s Cider Mill because I was under the impression that they had an orchard. The orchard was not a U-Pick orchard so if you wanted apples you had to buy them over-priced out of cardboard boxes. What kind of fun is that?

We did enjoy some delicious apple cider that tasted like it was made the day of. Probably the best cider I’ve ever had anyway.

We spent no longer than 20 minutes at the mill until we decided to move on. We stopped at a large produce stand on the way to getting lost lunch. They had lots of different types of squash including acorn, spaghetti,  and butternut. I never tried spaghetti squash but it looks yummy and nothing like spaghetti, oh well. They also had a bunch of pumpkins at the stand that I was excited to see. I love pumpkins! I can’t wait to make some pumpkin seeds and eat them when they are fresh and warm right out of the oven with a little pumpkin goo still stuck to them. I love sticking my hand into the pumpkin and playing with all the “pumpkin guts” and making a huge mess. So what if I’m 19-years-old… I’m going to play in “pumpkin guts” till I’m 62. Admit it, you do the same thing! I’m not a huge fan of carving pumpkin though, it’s too dangerous for me. I used to always draw a face on my pumpkin when I was a kid and then have my dad carve it out because nobody trust me with knives! I can’t blame them though I guess, nobody should trust a kid with a knife, look what happened to Chuckie! Dangerous stuff. I also remember how the day after Halloween we would throw our pumpkins in the yard and wait for the deer to come eat them, that was my favorite. What are some of your childhood experiences with pumpkin carving?

Don’t worry, I still will go apple picking one of these days. I want to pick me some big, juicy, honey crisps! I want to have so many apples that I wont know what to do with them all. Until then, here is a little apple trivia just to keep the excitement alive.

 

About Them Apples:

• Michigan is the top 3rd state for apple producing.

• The number one best-selling apple is the Red Delicious (Pssh, the grosses one..)

• Planting an apple seed from a particular apple will not produce a tree of that same variety. The seed is a cross of the tree the fruit was grown on and the variety that was the cross pollinator.

• There are over 7,500 different verities of apples grown in the world and 2,500 in the US alone.

• Apples are a great source of fiber. (about 5 grams per apple)

• 2/3 of the fiber from that apples is in the skin of the apple.

• Americans eat about 65 apples a year on average.

But wait, that’s not all! Stay tuned for the rest of my adventure! I went to a new place for lunch and then I did a little Whole Foods/Trader Joe’s adventuring! 

Busy Bee.

Hello all! I hope your weekend is going great. Quick post today due to lack of free time…

So, what have I been up to the last few days?

• Signing up for a new college class. My financial aid finally went through and gave me my damn money! This means I will get my money back from the class I paid for plus I got myself a new class; communication. I didn’t really know what this class was. All I knew was that I had to take it eventually. It turns out that this is like a speech class AKA my worst nightmare! Public speaking is the worst, I’m sure a lot of people can agree with me on that! I have a feeling this class will be one of those things  like exercising; I almost hate it but once I’m up there, everything is okay and it will be totally worth it in the end!
• Nature walks. I was at my cousins for the weekend and we went for a nice lonng walk. The weather has cooled down a lot here in MI, It’s kinda nice.

• Adopting a cat. Have I ever told you about Mr. Kitty? He lives outside of Scott’s apartment. His meany momma kicked him out a few months ago and nobody would take him in. After talking it over plenty of times we finally decided to let him in. Mr. Kitty is so loving and sweet. He is all black with big round green eyes. The only bad part is that our adopted gerbil looks very tasty to Mr. Kitty and he lunges at the aquarium trying to attack the poor baby.
• Eating Boondi Ladoo! I found this stuff at an Indian cafe and fell in love. The only way to describe the taste is that of a glazed donut. And check out the ingredients? Not bad! (okay ‘cept all the sugar…)

It’s been pretty busy and I don’t see it slowing down anytime soon. All I want to do right now is take a nice bath with my favorite Lush bath products! 🙂 Now that’s relaxing. I start my classes on Wednesday and I’m working full-time this week. This should be fun.

Did you try any new foods this week? If so, please explain!

West Side Story

Whitney loves Lake Michigan

Wow I sure have seen a lot of bodies of water this summer. It is not too often I travel to the west-side of Michigan. I don’t really know anybody who lives out that way so I feel like I don’t really have a reason to go there.  We went out there for a wedding that was in Holland, which is still in the middle part of Michigan. (Up-north on the west is beautiful!) There was sooo much to see in only three days!

Friday, Scott and I hung out at the beach and did a little shopping in downtown Holland. We went to a peanut store (more like a candy store) and I found one vegan candy. The brand was called “Maple Grove Farms”. The candies were shaped like little leaves and acorns. The best part was the candy only had two ingredients; pure cane syrup & pure maple syrup! Yumm. The candies were so rich and creamy and tasted like nothing I have ever tried before.

Saturday, was the day of the wedding. The continental breakfast being served and the hotel literally had a few types of cereal, milk and a bag of bread. Not too impressed. Luckly down the road there was a cafe called “Good Earth Cafe” that served a good breakfast.

Judging by the name you would think this cafe was vegetarian friendly and they were. Lots of hummus, cheese and veggies. I didn’t see any totally vegan options for breakfast so I got an over-priced cranberry-walnut bagel toasted with organic PB.

I knew I wouldn’t have a lot of other food options on this day so I tried to get full!

After breakfast we got ready for the wedding and met up with some of Scott’s family. The weather was perfect for an outdoor ceremony.

Sunday, I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

On the way home we stopped for an Indian dinner near Grand Rapids. I wish I could remember the names of the dishes I tried because they were all so wonderful! A little spicy for my taste, but nothing I couldn’t handle!

After living off peanut butter and potatoes all weekend, I could not wait to dive into some real, whole foods. I started making this dish today when I discovered the organic broccoli I had just bought was covered in bugs. Not one bug… not five bugs…. COVERED IN BUGS. Gross!!! I understand it is organic and they do not use pesticides to kill the bugs but they should still clean the produce first! I was so disgusted I didn’t even want to eat the meal I made but you know I would anyway…

Chickpeas, fresh corn & portobello’s with pasta sauce

Today, I am relaxing by reading though everybody’s latest posts and sorting though some photo’s. I have no idea what I am going to do for my birthday tomorrow. I still need to make a cake!

$21 Challenge (days 1 & 2)

$21 Challenge: Day one.

Today I got off to a good start on my challenge. This meal cost me 34 cents.

At least it does they way I count it. I count per servings for my meals so the instant oatmeal cost 2.69 for 30 servings. One serving of oats cost 9 cents. The bananas were 44 cents a pound so I figured one small one would be around 15 cents. The amount of brown sugar I used cost pretty much nothing but we’ll go with 5 cents. And that’s breakfast!

After I went shopping with my mom for two hours I needed something quick so I grabbed a carrot cake Clif bar $1. My favorite flavor btw! I left one of these in my hot car the other day and it was all warm and gooey, so delicious! I never noticed the little packets of frosting they have in them until it was warm.

For lunch, scott made me some falafel and I ate half a box because I was starving. Hummus + Falafel =2.22. Does this really count if somebody makes you a meal? 🙂

After running around all day again, I needed something fast. Like I said, I don’t do this often but I made a quick taco bell run. Bean burrito $0.89.

Sunday’s Grand Total…$4.40

Today was really not a good day for this! I felt like I spent a lot but I did not eat enough. But hey, what do you do when you’re not home all day? I think I am going to do the challenge differently for the next few weeks, the way I intended to do it this week. That is to not spend more than $21 a week. You can use all the food you already have but just be very creative with it! You have no idea how much rice I have in my house right now, it’s ridiculous. Although this is a good idea for a challenge, I feel it would get quite annoying trying to remember how much you paid for all the food. If you are a coupon cutter like my mom, sometimes the food is pretty much free! Today she ended up paying about a quarter for each box of cereal.

Day Two:

Breakfast- Cheerios and almond milk (both on sale!) like I said, Mom bought Cheerios for about a quarter each so one serving is 5 cents. I had a coupon for one dollar off almond milk so one tiny cereal serving is 25 cents.

Lunch and dinner- okay so I cheated. I went out to eat, it was another busy day but I got a lot of food (two meals) for 6.99. Say hello to my Mongolian bbq one vegetarian bowl feast:

Mmm. This was amazing! One of my favorite places to go out to eat is Mongolian Barbecue. Incase you are not familiar with this restaurant, let me explain. You can either order a vegetarian bowl or a meat bowl (for once vegan eating is cheaper at a restaurant) you then go fill your bowl up with whatever you want in your little stir fry, they even offer tofu! I like to get every single veggie they have available. Next, you make your own sauce. Today I mixed peanut, lemon, soy sauce, and fresh garlic. Last, you bring your bowl up to they big grill and they grill your food. Be sure to tell them you are vegetarian so they clean your grill area really well and use separate tools that haven’t touched meat. Pretty cool!

Monday’s Total: $7.29

I can’t believe I already spent half of my week’s money in two days. Will I be able to finish the challenge? You’ll have to stay tuned to find out.