Today I turn 27 and the day is always bittersweet. I'm happy to be another year older and don't fear the approaching 3 - 0 as many do. What's makes it bittersweet is that someone isn't here to celebrate with me. In 2007, my mom died from an extremely aggressive version of cervical cancer. She was my idol, my hero, my best friend. And so on this day, I'm spending the day at home by myself with the kitties, baking for an event on Sunday, remembering her life, and feeling thankful she brought me into this world.
I'm glad today is quiet. I'm going to test out two new types of cupcakes: Cookies n' Creme and Peaches n' Cream. It's another test of my willpower over sweets! I've lost another pound this week and am down by 17 since starting, so I'll just keep reminding myself that fitting into those jeans and that skirt and that blazer are WAY more worth it than scarfing down a cupcake.
Yesterday, I took off work and treated myself to a haircut in the morning and then walked around the city with J. We went into LeRoux Kitchen, an amazing kitchen supply store in the Old Port. While there, we did buy a little Taza Chocolate that was salted almond and I stowed it away in my purse. Taza Chocolate is incredible and if you haven't tried it, you need to. It comes as a small circle and although it looks and feels like a dense chunk of chocolate, it tastes incredibly airy and light. Then we walked around a bit more and started feeling hungry by 1:30, so we went over to the Portland Public Market and visited our friends at Granny's Burrito, Kamasouptra, and Market House Coffee. Whenever I visit the Public Market, I try to spread my wealth around by purchasing something small from several vendors. So for lunch we shared a burrito filled with peanut tofu, rice, lettuce, and hot sauce from Granny's, a small cup of vegan chili from Kamasouptra, and a pineapple coconut water from Market House Coffee. It was certainly a larger lunch than we're accustomed to and I was glad we'd skipped both our morning and afternoon snacks. We also spent the good part of the day walking at a good pace - I'm guessing we walked 5-6 miles by the time we were done.
It's all about balance! My coworker says it's simple, "Calories in must be equal to or less than calories out." I think it's important to celebrate things once in a while and to not deprive ourselves of things forever because that is exactly what causes me to fall off the weight loss wagon.
So for dinner last night we had a very very light dinner of 1/2 cup of brown rice over arugula with 1/2 cup of shiitakes and a wedge of lime squirted on top. We followed dinner by a few bites of the Taza chocolate and then ran some errands for my day of baking today. After returning home, we were both hungry. Stomach grumbling hungry. So I suggested we make some Ginger-Lime Hummus and have a little with some carrot and bell pepper sticks. It totally did the trick and I'm pretty sure Ginger-Lime Hummus is our new favorite flavor!
Tonight, J's taking me out for a birthday dinner at the Green Elephant - my favorite restaurant. We've already talked about the idea of getting an appetizer to split and then sharing one entree so that portion sizes are smaller. Green Elephant makes vegetarian and vegan food and it's wonderfully fresh and elegant. I'm excited :) J's birthday present to me is a two night stay in Camden, Maine next weekend and I'm super excited about that!
Since 2006, I've thought my birthday was "cursed." In 2006 and 2007, my mom was re-diagnosed with cancer once on my birthday, once the day before. In 2008, we were told my grandmother (my mom's mother) going to die from cancer just days before my birthday. So I've had trouble celebrating these last few years, no wonder. But I'm going to move past the past and look to the future. A future filled with healthy happiness and a celebration of the strong and beautiful women who helped shape me into the woman I am today.
Insights, quips, and queries on the vegan way of life
Showing posts with label Inspiration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Inspiration. Show all posts
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Making do with an emptying fridge
Last night, after finishing my last baking order for the week, I peered into the fridge for dinner ideas. A lone cucumber, bag of carrots, and emptying jar of salsa stared back at me, daring me to make my move. As I uttered comments of discontent, Justin yelled in and said, "Let's just order out." I thought about it, but then I thought, No way! We need to save money because we may be moving in a month or two and we've eaten out too much lately (our original goal of one eat out pass per month has fallen by the wayside recently). I mustered up courage, flung the fridge back open, and rolled up my sleeves.
Our pantry is always well stocked with grains, so I pulled out the rice cooker and started a batch of brown rice. Then I heated a skillet with some olive oil and added the rest of an onion - less than a 1/4 cup, but hey, at least it didn't get wasted. After the onion was cooked, chopped up 3 carrots and threw those in. I followed with beans and some spices, and ended up with a really nice Mexican rice and beans dish. Ta-da! My man even went back for seconds. Here's my recipe:
Odds & Ends Mexican Rice & Beans
2 cups brown rice
olive oil
onion, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
1 tomato, diced
1/2ish veggie stock
1 can garbanzo beans, drained & rinsed
1 can black beans, drained & rinsed
1/3-1/2 cup TVP
Mild - hot salsa
salt & pepper
chili flakes
chili powder
cayenne pepper
Heat the onion in olive oil over medium heat. Once onions are translucent, add carrots and cook until they are tender. Add veggie stock, beans, and TVP and cover. Let the mixture simmer covered for a while, allowing the beans to soften, stirring occasionally. You may need to add more veggie stock or water as it gets soaked up pretty fast by the TVP and beans. After 10 mins or so, add in the tomato (I did it here because I didn't want them soggy, but you could add them earlier) and salsa and mix. Add spices - I didn't measure, so just be mindful of how spicy you want it to be.
Serve the mixture hot over the brown rice, or mix it all together and then serve.
Makes 4-5 servings.
And of course after dinner, there were cookies left over from the 3 orders I had this week, so dessert was a cinch :)
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So I took some leftovers for lunch, and also brought some cucumber salad. Cucumber salad is SO easy to make and so refreshing when it's hot outside. Pick up some fresh dill and cukes at your local farmers market and just chop them up, throw them in a container with some white wine vinegar, salt and pepper, and let it sit in the fridge for a day or so. Yum!
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Today's lesson: Even when you think there's nothing in your kitchen, try to make it work and you might surprise yourself with a new recipe. You just need to think outside the box and let the ingredients you have on-hand inspire you!
Our pantry is always well stocked with grains, so I pulled out the rice cooker and started a batch of brown rice. Then I heated a skillet with some olive oil and added the rest of an onion - less than a 1/4 cup, but hey, at least it didn't get wasted. After the onion was cooked, chopped up 3 carrots and threw those in. I followed with beans and some spices, and ended up with a really nice Mexican rice and beans dish. Ta-da! My man even went back for seconds. Here's my recipe:
Odds & Ends Mexican Rice & Beans
2 cups brown rice
olive oil
onion, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
1 tomato, diced
1/2ish veggie stock
1 can garbanzo beans, drained & rinsed
1 can black beans, drained & rinsed
1/3-1/2 cup TVP
Mild - hot salsa
salt & pepper
chili flakes
chili powder
cayenne pepper
Heat the onion in olive oil over medium heat. Once onions are translucent, add carrots and cook until they are tender. Add veggie stock, beans, and TVP and cover. Let the mixture simmer covered for a while, allowing the beans to soften, stirring occasionally. You may need to add more veggie stock or water as it gets soaked up pretty fast by the TVP and beans. After 10 mins or so, add in the tomato (I did it here because I didn't want them soggy, but you could add them earlier) and salsa and mix. Add spices - I didn't measure, so just be mindful of how spicy you want it to be.
Serve the mixture hot over the brown rice, or mix it all together and then serve.
Makes 4-5 servings.
And of course after dinner, there were cookies left over from the 3 orders I had this week, so dessert was a cinch :)
Vegan Linzer Tarts
Photo by Justin Lewis, filmaperture Photography
Lunch: Mexican beans without the rice, cucumber salad, grapes, and a small salad with radish and hummus.
Today's lesson: Even when you think there's nothing in your kitchen, try to make it work and you might surprise yourself with a new recipe. You just need to think outside the box and let the ingredients you have on-hand inspire you!
Monday, June 13, 2011
Kudos to you!
We all have days at work when we feel under-appreciated. Whether you're a CEO at a bank, a bagger at the food store, a manager of an insurance company, a self-employed consultant - you have days when you just feel down in the dumps, as though everyone around you is out to foul you up in some way.
Back when I was working for my alma mater, we started a "kudos board" as a morale booster. Everytime we received praise via email/letter, we were to post the praise on the board. At first, I must admit, I scoffed. "This is really cheesy," I thought. But as the comments were posted and there was literally a visual representation of the good our department was doing, I couldn't help but smile every time I walked by.
Now maybe you work in an office where it's not possible to have a kudos board, or maybe you're just too shy to suggest it. In that case, just open up a Word doc on your desktop - you can save it there instead of your company's server so that it can be private - and start saving every positive comment you receive or hear. You'll start to see the list grow and when you're feeling down or frustrated, open up that document and read through the comments praising your work. You'll find yourself smiling in no time :)
Back when I was working for my alma mater, we started a "kudos board" as a morale booster. Everytime we received praise via email/letter, we were to post the praise on the board. At first, I must admit, I scoffed. "This is really cheesy," I thought. But as the comments were posted and there was literally a visual representation of the good our department was doing, I couldn't help but smile every time I walked by.
Now maybe you work in an office where it's not possible to have a kudos board, or maybe you're just too shy to suggest it. In that case, just open up a Word doc on your desktop - you can save it there instead of your company's server so that it can be private - and start saving every positive comment you receive or hear. You'll start to see the list grow and when you're feeling down or frustrated, open up that document and read through the comments praising your work. You'll find yourself smiling in no time :)
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