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?

Vegan Potato Salad

My new favorite potato salad!

Something I am eating a lot of when I am camping! I discovered this while searching for vegan potato salads. This was the first recipe I tried and I feel in love. It is super creamy and loaded with lots of raw veggies!

Find the recipe here!

WIAW week 24

Breakfast

Green SIAB topped with mulberries, goji berries, chia seeds, and flax seeds.

Lunch

Grilled “cheeze” with tomato soup! Classic!

Dinner

Unpictured veggie burritos 🙂

Snacks

Lots of fresh summer fruit!

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.***

WIAW week 15

Hiiii friends!

I have so much to tell you in such little time! I’ve been pretty busy this week but I’m always thinking of my blog friends. I have lots of new topics I want to share with you in the near future, so exciting!

Holy cow, has it been 15 weeks already since Jen started the What I Ate Wednesday link parties? Every week is so much fun, thank you Jen for organizing this party! Woot woot!

 

Let’s get this party started!

 BREAKFAST smoothie

 LUNCH left over veggie burger

 SNACKS I had a date bar, a fruit leather, some spoonfuls of the most delish food on the planet AKA Cacao Bliss (review coming soon!)

Yeah, I snacked a lot today because my schedule is crazy cause I started a new semester today ahhhh! My new math class is okay, very boring but what can you do?

 DINNER Not sure yet probably left over roasted veggies and tofu!

What did you eat today?

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway

May Goals

Hii bloggins! ♥

Did you have a good first day of May?

I know I did. You know why? Cause mine was filled with lots of food, duh!

Quinoa with sun-dried tomatoes and basil, black bean burgers, Peanut Butter Cookies

Because Megan reminded me!

1. Save MONEY. On food, gas, and other mindless spendings. Even though I’m a major tight-wad, my savings are getting extremely low. My savings are basically for when I decide to transfer to a better college I would have to stress about mu-lah so much. Ya digg?
2. Don’t over-eat on the sweets, nuff said.
3. Work on them ABS 3 times a week! I love working out my abs, I know, I’m weird. Something about sore abs makes me feel like a million bucks.
4. Run outside for 3 miles.
5. Put school first. This 8 week semester just might kick my butt.

 What are your goals for the month/summer?

Teaching Zumba this morning went pretty well. I messed up a few times but, we just laughed about it. I couldn’t practice my routine at home because my CD wouldn’t play in my CD player! They said I did really good though. I’m so lucky to have such a supportive class! Also, I’m realizing how hard it is to yell out directions and shake my butt at the same time! I don’t like it when Zumba instructors don’t yell out what’s coming next, it’s quite frustrating!

Oh, and before I go, here’s a sneak peek at tomorrow’s post:

I spy a GIVEAWAY

A Day in the Life

Hello friends 🙂

I haven’t been posting a lot of meals lately. I’m a busy woman! But, I will let you in on today’s food I brought to work! Today I work from 7-3, so I like to bring a large snack like (a whole tub of) fruit or soy yogurt and granola which I usually eat around 10AM, because my break usually isn’t until about noon. On days like this, I’m not usually extremely hungry at 6:30AM so I’ll have toast with PB or a date bar before I leave. Sometimes, I even bring in overnight oats. So, yes, by 10AM I’m starving.

Green tub- Roasted veggies and potatoes with a falafel.

White tub- FRUIT MESS. Plum, pear, kiwi.

Middle tub- Homemade hummus.

Plastic bag- Chocolate chocolate chip cookie (the ones I tweeted about that I added too much liquid too, turned out tasting like brownies! WIN).

& Water. I get free water bottles at work but I feel bad for using bottled water sometimes

Somedays, I pack a lunch and dinner if I’m doing a work & school combo.

Oh, and yesterday my Zumba instructor was sick SO guess who got to teach for the first time? MEEE! It was so much fun! I loved it. I wasn’t even that nervous! Everyone was so sad that Zumba was cancelled then, when I asked if they wanted me to teach, they all started screaming and jumping around! It was so cute! I love them. I  messed up a few times but I have a feeling that nobody noticed!

Do you pack meals? If so, What do you pack?

Healthy Eating Help

Hi guys,

Kind of a short (yet very important) post today…

(Source)

My best friend wants to experiment with healthy eating and might possibly take a “vegan for a week” challenge.

Sometimes when she asks me questions I think of my fellow bloggins because a lot of the time, I feel like it would be helpful for her to gain knowledge from you guys too, not just me. Everyone has their own opinions about healthy eating and losing weight, I would really appreciate it if you were all so kind to help my friend out and answer some of her health related questions!

1. What made you want to eat healthier or become vegan?
2. What are some ways of getting in the habit of eating healthier?
3. What kinds of foods do you like eating the best that’s still healthy?
4. What are some easy and helpful workouts I can do at home? 

Basically, I would like everyone to comment below and tell us WHY you eat the way you do. Does eating healthy make you feel so good you would never want to go back? Do you just really enjoy eating whole foods for the fresh flavor? Do you eat healthy for the good looks?

Athletes: You had to start somewhere! How did you start getting in shape? Were you always involved in sports? Any major success stories?

Thanks bloggins!

 Keep the advice coming!

The First Bits of Spring

 Hello  H E A T W A V E !  How you doin’?  ♥   ♥   ♥

Totally diggin’ this random 80 degree weather!

iloveyou Michigan !

First day of warmness =

• Outdoor grilling
• Vegan chocolate peanut butter mousse pie (ok so maybe you could enjoy this anytime of year…)
• First outdoor RUN

The boyfriend was not interested in any other activities today because all he wanted to do was grill. Works for me! Time to get my baking on! First I wanted to make a chocolate mousse pie. Then, it turned into this beast of a chocolate PEANUT BUTTER mousse pie!

Once again, random recipe then needs to be tested again (yum…) before posted! Pretty much if you know how to make chocolate mousse add some PB and sweeten with maple syrup. It held together perfect, I was impressed.

Five hours later:

Mexican food buffet? I think so! Refried black beans, grilled mushrooms, lots of grilled bell peppers, grilled Yukon gold potato and corn mixture, guac and salsa.

After this I went for my first RUN of the year, how exciting! I’m not a fan of outdoor running because I’m totally not a “runner”…yet. However I did run/jog/fast-walk almost 2 miles in a half hour. Times flies when you’re not on a treadmill, that’s for sure.

I’m also thinking about buying a fancy watch all you cool runners have. I really want a body bugg but they are pretty expensive.

Any watch suggestions?

This morning I made some pretty intense strawberry pancakes

And that’s my Monday 🙂

How was your weekend?

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….

😦