Cooking? What's that?

 Hey all! It's been a while and honestly, I've not been cooking. So that's why. For a brief update, I've successfully completed a year of grad school, I'm moving in December, I got promoted at work to a real position with benefits,I went to the beach once, met some people and I'm having my gallbladder removed on Wednesday because my family line says no woman shall have her gallbladder.

So I've stayed busy.

Today though, I decided I should cook some. Both things I'm about to post were amazing but I unfortunately cannot eat either today. The gallbladder is stating that today will be a pear and toast day, and even that is sketchy, but these two are fantastic things. The pumpkin mac and cheese I'm freezing until I'm able to eat it, and the tomato soup I think I will be able to eat sooner than later, but both were experiments that came out amazing.

For the pumpkin mac and cheese, I found several different vegan  recipes about incorporating squash into a mac and cheese recipe, so I went with that. I'm not a huge mac and cheese person and the last two vegan attempts were less than stellar, so I was not hopefully but could not shake a craving. I then went into the store and selected a few fall flavors that I thought would complement each other and went from there.

The tomato soup was because I had some peppers and tomatoes from a CSA that I needed to use before they spoiled. My friend Taly made me a cold tomato soup when I first got out of the hospital that was so amazing, I wanted to copy it. It may not be as good as hers, but it's pretty close.

The only potential downfall of either of these recipes was my oil. I don't cook with oil anymore, so I had none in my pantry. Only a bottle of meyer lemon oil that I bought on sale at a Tastefully Simple party. So I worked with it and the lemon helped freshen each dish, so it worked. I think if I ever have the will to repeat a cooking day in the kitchen and try these out again, I may add a lemon.

Vegan Pumpkin Mac and Cheese
1 box pasta of choice (I used whole grain organic shells)
1 tbs plus 1 more for topping Earth Balance
1 tbs olive oil (ha, lemon)
1/2 (the smaller) container soy creamer (couldn't find soy cream so creamer it was)
1 tbs flour
3 tbs nutritional yeast
1 package vegan cheese (I used rice cheese because of the fat content being lower but I imagin diaya would be 10x better)
1 can organic pumpkin
1 pkg baby bella mushrooms
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic
sage
salt, pepper, paprika to taste, cinnamon and bread crumbs for the topping

Heat in a skillet the oil and saute the mushrooms, onion and garlic over low heat til soft. Remove and set aside, then make your roux out of the earth balance and flour. Once that's completed, add the creamer slowly and season. I use a whisk for this and from this point until the sauce is complete. Add the nutritional yeast, mix well. Add the cheese, and when that is melted, add the mushroom mixture then the pumpkin and season til you're happy. Finally, add the sage, mix in the cooked noodles (should be al dente) and put in a baking dish. Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon, add breadcrumbs and add little bits of earth balance. Bake at 350 for 20 min or until the sides are bubbly then remove. It's pretty amazing, not going to lie.

Tomato Soup
3 large tomatoes (I also added 1 roma tomato since that's what I had left over)
2 hablano peppers
2 banana peppers
1 japanese eggplant (or omit, again it was extra)
cilantro
1 28oz can fire roasted crushed tomatoes
salt, pepper, garlic powder, touch of natural sugar
Oil for roasting (again, lemon)

Heat oven to 350. Place all produce in a pan, drizzle with oil and salt/pepper. Pierce the eggplant. Roast for 30-35 min or until produce is starting to char and is soft. For me, the peppers finished first. Remove accordingly and place in pot that already has the crushed tomatoes. I usually remove the stems and seeds, then place in the pot. For the eggplant, remove skin and the tomatoes just remove the hard ends. With everything in the pot, use a hand held blender and blend away. Add soy cream and blend, then season as needed. I cooked on low for an additional 45 min because I forgot about it. Amazing soup though, especially for rainy days like today.

So yeah, that was my day. Pretty productive. Also, we had a visit from Salsa, formally known as Squishy as he is staying with us for a couple days as his mom moves. Pretty obsessed with him, the other cats are jealous.

Bittersweet end

In about two weeks or so, each of the babies will have a place to live. I went through so many emotions of not wanting to keep any to wanting to keep them all to really just wanting the smallest. But realistically, in my apartment and in upcoming moving endeavors with internships and whatnot, it's just feasible to have three cats of my own (or four in a tiny apartment). It's been a really hard journey full of sleepless nights, doing 5 loads of cat laundry, and staying in on the weekend. But they are growing at an incredible rate and I'm still shocked that they even survived.

Stepping back...

I got a call from my sister asking if I would take the kittens because approaching the 3rd day, she was overwhelmed, sleep deprived and needed help. Plus, one had died so really we just wanted to keep any more from passing. I went down that night, got a small can of formula, some bottles, cranked up the heat and took home 4 kittens. I had never seen kittens that small that looked more like hamsters than cats. I picked up one and his little body was convulsing so I knew he was not going to make it. By the time I came back with a warm bottle, his little body gave out. I held him for a min and Elise and I cried, but then I wrapped him in a towel and Elise gave me a shoe box to put him in. The next day, I named him Jonas and told him I was sorry that he didn't make it, but I would do my best to make sure that his siblings did.

Nothing could have prepared us for the next month. They were nicknamed AJ, MJ and RJ. The idea was that we needed ways of identifying and recording their feedings but we didn't want to name them in case they didn't make it. Elise took over much of the Mon-Fri daytime feedings because I was at work, but the evenings, weekends and nights rested on me. The first couple of weeks I slept no more than 2-3hrs in a row. The stress and anxiety of making sure that they were growing was incredible. This became more about proving that I wouldn't fail at keeping a living thing alive than anything.

But they survived. And now they are growing kittens with amazing personalities that will have new homes in the next couple of weeks.

This is Margie (formally RJ) a couple days after we got her. She was always a good eater

It took her a while to open her eyes but she was the biggest, lovingly coined (by me) as Large Marge.

She is hands down the most playful, sweetest kitten. She despises baths though, but I look forward to seeing how she acts as an adult. She's going to a friend of a coworker. An older woman that has always had cats and was looking at adopting one from a rescue when my coworker thought of me. This woman has apparently fallen in love with Margie on sight, and I'm confident she'll grow up in a happy, healthy home where she

is the center of attention.

This is Salsa (used to be MJ, although we've been calling him Squishy).

He too was always an easy eater but what makes him unique is he might be the most chill cat I've ever come across. You can literally do anything to him and he'll just relax and take it. He also was the first to eat from a bowl of canned food/formula and the only one to consistently use the litter box, no matter where it's placed.

Salsa was picked for adoption early by a classmate of mine. She's lucky, he's going to be a great cat (as they all are, haha). Plus he just has a face to die for. I'm going to miss him so much, he's such fun to bathe because he loves the water, loves the blowdryer, but really just loves being in someone's lap being doted on.

Lastly, AJ, or now, my sweet Bee.

Not that they all aren't incredibly painful to give up but Bee holds a very special place in my heart. From the very beginning I was not confident that she was going to live. She was tiny, sick and could not seem to eat enough. Two weeks into having them, I pulled her out of her box to see that she was covering in blood and some sort of kitten bodily fluid and just smelled horrible. I started sobbing and texted my roommate that she was dying and I wasn't sure that they money invested would be worth it if she wasn't going to make it anyway. Elise insisted so we loaded up the kittens and took them in where she was diagnosed with acute diarrhea that was leaking from her, grossly underweight at only 4oz and severe "diaper" rash. The vet did say it was a miracle that any survived but they were not out of the woods yet in terms of living. Feedings were increased back to every 3hrs, with Bee being fed inbetween that, all three needed to have ointments/desitin applied after we made them go potty and Bee was on antibiotics.

But the little thing survived.

She's still tiny but quickly catching up. She always has a dirty face now because of how she eats. She no longer takes a bottle and eats on the gruel with Salsa but because her instinct still says "find the nipple," she faceplants when she eats. I always think of Randy from "A Christmas Story" when he ate meatloaf. She is a sweet girl that follows people around no matter where they go. Yesterday she balanced on the top of my foot while I walked around the kitchen. It looks like she's going to go to the coworker that suggested the friend to me. She's wanted a cat and her husband, when seeing the pictures of Margie, melted and wanted one immediately. She'll be an only cat in her family but she's going to be loved on incredibly.

Even though we still have a couple of weeks with them, I cry anytime I think that next month they aren't going to be with me. Now they've graduated from their box to the kitchen and they LOVE it. It's also weird to not have to document every feeding and bowel movement on the white board in the hallway. So much of the past month has been spent obsessing over their health that I don't know what I did before. Excuses like "I can't stay out, I have a feeding in 2 hrs" was the norm =)

But through all this, I could not have gotten this far without "shitmaster" Elise. She was the only one that could make them poop in the beginning. She also sacrificed her room to be heated to a sweltering 90degrees in the first 2 weeks so they wouldn't be cold, not to mention taking over feedings while I was at work. And for putting up with ridiculously long text messages from me about them. Oh, and loving them too =) Also thanks to Steph for being the auntie that came over when Elise and I couldn't feed them and taking over. Finally, thanks to my sister for realizing hand rearing newborn kittens was exhausting and expensive and entrusting me to raise them and find them homes when she wasn't able handle them. I don't know how Elise and I did it with three, I can't imagine days 1 and 2 with five.

Cauliflower

I wish I had thought to snap a picture of this because it was so good and so pretty. I saw this recipe a few days ago, and even though I didn't want to make it with the nuts, I couldn't get it out of my head. So I made my own. Then added curry because you can never have too much curry.

First I cut my cauliflower into florets, seasoned with salt, pepper and cayenne, then baked covered for 30 min at 350. While that was going, I worked on my sauce. First I made a roux out of 3tbs smart balance light and a could tablespoons of flour. Once that finished, I slowly added unsweetened almond milk, about a cup - 1.5 cups total. Then I seasoned that with salt, pepper and curry powder, added a nice handful of nutritional yeast and 2 tbs of tomato paste (might to a little less next time). Once all mixed well and thick like a cream sauce, I poured it over the cauliflower and continued to bake until the cauliflower was soft.

So good. It was even better the next day.

Go make this, you won't regret it.

Makes four servings. Per serving: 174 cal, 18 g carbs, 9 g fat, 8 g protein

April Goals

So since I was so successful in March goals (ha!), I decided to have more attainable, smart goals for April. I feel like when I am trying to implement changes in my life, doing them in one month increments allows me the chance to try it out, see if it works for me and keep the chance at the end of the month. So here we go:

1. Track inches and lose 5lbs.

I lost 7lbs last month which surprised me. I know that to really see weight loss you need to track inches too, so tomorrow I'm going to measure then see if I have any difference at the end of the month. And losing 5lbs will really only be 1.25lbs a week, so let's see if I can make that happen. Summer is quickly approaching, can't wear jeans and hoodies all season long.

2. Carb cutting

I track what I eat on myfitnesspal. I've noticed a higher intake of sugar and carbs (I think I eat too much high sugar fruit) so I want to cut that. I also know from previous dieting that my body does not digest simple carbs and sugars well, so reducing them will be good for me. I'd like to start off keeping my carb count under 100grams and work my way down from there. By the end of the month I should be hoovering around 50-75, which will mean an increase in dark greens and complex carbs, and really eliminating white flour and sugar. Stuffs not good for you anyway.

3. Continue working out 4-5 times a week.

I've been keeping at this workout level through March so I don't see if changing.

4. Eating out only once a week and only one frivolous purchase per paycheck.

I spend money as quickly as I earn it so I need to cut back. I buy enough food that I can easily prepare lunch and bring it in, so I'm going to work on this. Typically Sarah and I hit up Great Sage once a week, so I will allow for that. And one fun spending, this paycheck it was my haircut. Gotta be smart!

So there we go, April goals. I think very doable =)

March is over!

So let's see how I did over the course of March.

1. No alcohol for 30 days.

Ha! I actually didn't do too bad but I did drink. I went two weeks straight then drank some. But basically I cut my daily happy hours out and most weekends and can count on one hand how many evenings I had either a or a couple drinks, so there's an improvement. Scale shows it too.

2. Eat a 80/20 raw diet.

This I did pretty well with. Some days I was all raw. If I didn't have to cook it, I didn't. I rarely ate out so it was primarily my food. I'd say the most I cooked were my sweet potatoes.

3. WORK OUT

Big improvement. I was consistently working out 3-4 times a week, doing 530am classes and classes on the weekend. This week I've not been going at 540 bc of feeding conflicts with the kittens, but that's not stopped me. Instead I used my groupon and hit up the elliptical and weight room for lunch time workouts. Can feel a huge difference with that.

4. Water

80% of the month I went well over100oz a day. Otherwise I drank at least 60oz.

5. $$

Didn't save a 1000. Actually, only saved $500 but I had some bills I had to take care of and things like Warped Tour tickets to get for my brother. =P

So I didn't hit all my goals but I made big changes. Expect a new list of goals for April.

I feel blah

That is all really. I went out for St. Patty's Day and because alcohol bloat hangs onto me I'm up and probably will be for another day, even though I increased my workouts and up-ed my water elsewhere. This is why alcohol is bad news, kids.

Oh well, I'll be down again before the weekend so hopefully I'll have a good weigh in on Monday. I should probably start recording my measurements monthly.

....

The sweet potato and half apple almost make up for oversleeping and missing my workout class and having the biggest hole in my tights that I didn't know was there until I got to work. But it's okay, I can rectify the workout by making a stop at the school tonight after work. I just really hate cardio machines. If the weather were nicer, I'd do something outside but the treadmill and elliptical are a pain. And the weight room is a giant sausage fest. It's okay, run on the treadmill tonight because Saturday and Sunday are 2 hr cardio/strength training classes.

Nothing much else to talk about with me. I'm still losing at a steady pace and can feel my body getting stronger again. I'm officially on spring break. The roommate is going to Montreal tomorrow for a few days, so although I will miss her, I'm secretly excited about having the kittens all to myself all weekend. I get them in the evening and overnight but I don't get to really play with them since their box is in her room and sh

e's usually sleeping. They are doing amazing though. I was worried about the lack of pooping that they were producing for us (ie my roommate), but then I checked their box and it had turds in various spots. Awesome.

So, I will leave you with this precious face.

SWEET POTATOES

I cannot get enough sweet potatoes lately. Japanese, Jewel, Garnet, any kind I just love them. I've been eating them for dinner almost every night for the past week. If I get home in time, I just bake them and pair it with a small green salad or spiraled zucchini and it makes for a pretty satisfying dinner.

I say that because this morning after feeding this CUTIE PIE

I had the energy to go work out, even though it was 5am and I had only slept 3.5hrs. I'm glad I went though, I've been really focused once there so I've had some stellar workouts. Passed out on the train though, so at least I got another half hour nap. But once at work, I dug around for my earbuds and found a sweet potato! I bought two y

esterday, and since I try to use as few plastic bags as possible, I stuck it in my bag and forgot about it.

This meant that I got to have this wonderful, happy breakfast:

Just one sweet potato cubed and microwaved for five minutes. I try to steer clear of a microwave when possible but eh, my work doesn't have an oven. To add a little protein, I paired it with 2 tbs of my left over, homemade hummus. I don't put oil in my hummus so it's a little thicker. Breakfast stats were: 203 cal, 43 carbs, 3 fat and 3 protein.

Ugly breakfasts

Seriously, I eat the ugliest breakfasts. Take a look:

So yeah. Unattractive. But I'm attempting to not buy any food until payday, so I'm scraping the barrel here. I also just haven't had the time to go to the grocery store between work, school and kitten feedings. But this, in case you are interested, is 1 bartlett pear chopped, 2 tbs quaker oats, 1 tbs peanut butter and 2 tbs ground flax seed, all mixed with water until I get the consistency I want, then microwaved for a minute. Stats are: 308cal, 35 carbs, and 16 fat.

I've not been sleeping much due to the kittens (which are eating lots and growing like little kitten weeds) so I've been determined to keep up eating whole and exercising more. Went to an amazing circuit training cardio class last night and it was the first time in a while that I've left the gym with soaked hair because I was sweating so much. I'm going to be a long, lean vegan machine in no time.

This post is kind of blah, I know, but I'm too tired to think so I'll just leave you with this precious picture taken in the middle of the night:

Day......8? Yes? I think it's day 8.

My one week weight loss (weighed in yesterday) was 5.2 lbs. I know so much of it is just bloat and water weight but hey, I'll take it. Also, it's really really hard for me to not weigh myself everyday. I'm addicted to my scale. I typically weigh myself twice a day, but seeing how this is not healthy behavior, I'm weighing myself on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. This way I can see midweek what it's looking like, and on Friday I have a reminder to not blow it. I've also worked out four times last week. Some of the classes I took really kicked my butt and I'm still feeling it.

I became a foster mom on Saturday to three babies. Three, three day old abandoned kittens. They are such hard work. I keep telling myself we just have to get through the weekend. When we get through the weekend, they'll be two weeks old and I feel like that's a huge benchmark. They'll be able to walk more steadily, it won't have to be 9 million degrees in Elise's room, they won't need feedings every 3 hours, their eyes will be open and they'll actually look like kittens. Until then, keep these babies in your thoughts as they will hopefully continue to grow and get strong and healthy.

Day 6!

It crept up behind me and bit me in the butt. Surprised me for sure but I welcome its return. I don't know where it's been hiding for the past several months but it's back.

My motivation!

Seriously, I don't know how many times I've said "oh yeah, I'll go to the gym tonight" then not go. Or I'll mean to go in the morning but I don't. It's even free! Part of my tuition. Or I'll bring my lunch then spend money on something twice the calories and carbs as what I brought. But yesterday was a wake up call. I can improve my eating like I've been doing, and I'm a firm believer that health is 80% what you put in your mouth, but my body has changed since severely cutting down my workout regimen. Last year I was out there nearly every day doing something and my body showed it. My arms had definition, my legs were getting strong and even though I weigh not much different than when I was working out a lot, my clothes felt snugger, my body felt puffier and I just looked softer overall.

So last night after class, I schlept myself and my roommate to the gym. My class ran a little late so we only had time for 30 min cardio but we did it. My endurance and stamina haven't dwindled as much as I thought which made me happy. Then I came home, ate a great dinner of a big salad with tomatoes and a baked sweet potato. Then this morning was the true test. I could take a cardio/strength training class before work at 545. Those are offered three days a week, then on weekend mornings, which would give me enough time to work out and come home and get ready.

And I did it.

Didn't want to. Was super tired after only 4.5 hrs of sleep. But I felt great afterwards.

I'll have to readjust my sleep schedule and force myself to go to bed earlier (not easy for me) but I feel great. I'm 6 full days into eating more whole foods, eating in and (now) working out and I already feel less bloated and gross. Plus I haven't gained back my stomach bug weight loss, so just gonna keep moving forward.

But now, food. I started measuring everything again. It's really the only way I can be sure that I know exactly what I put in my mouth isn't more than it should be (that's what she said). Ahem. Anyways, after working out I ate a bartlett pear to hold me over until I got to work at 9. Then I made this:

It doesn't look pretty, I know, but it's full of things that hold me over all morning, it's cheap, and make my insides happy to do what it is they are supposed to do. It's basically a scaled down version of Kath Eat's basic oatmeal recipe. For mine, I use 1/4c quick oats, 1tbs organic crunchy peanut butter, 1tbs chia seeds, 1 packet of sugar in the raw, pinch of salt and enough water so that it's not gummy. I drain the oil out of my peanut butter when I get it (and please, I know, all the good stuff is in the oil but I don't like it. It's too greasy, I hate stirring it in and I don't eat it on bread), so I put everything in the bowl together, use the hot water from the water filter thing, then microwave for a min. I usually have to add more water because the chia seeds have exploded, so I'll add more, let it sit for another min or two, then decide if I like the consistency. It's not pumpkin pudding, but it does last me hours and I don't have the sugar crash that I get if I add a banana or have another high sugar breakfast.

Stats? Myfitnesspal says for the bowl: 260 cal, 27 carbs, 13 fat, 10 protein, 7 sugar. And again, it's probably a little lower because of the lack of oil in the peanut butter but I'd rather overestimate than underestimate.

Days 4 and 5

Stomach bug!

Holy moley it was bad. I'm still a bit queasy and my stomach is still sore so no cooking for a little while. Good news though?

Lost 4lbs during the whole thing.

Now to keep it going!

Day 3

I really need to get a better control of my eating when I'm home. After class I was starving so it started with a normal dinner that put me under calories, then branched out to mindless snacking. I did work on my alien project for school though, so last night wasn't a total bummer. I also went above my water requirement and did not spend any money yesterday, so both pluses on my side.

I also made roasted chickpeas. These I have to be careful with because I looove chickpeas but they are high in calories. So when I make them, I store them in single serving bags so I don't overdo it.

I love salt and vinegar anything. Since going vegan, I've really missed crabs and vinegar, so maybe that's where I've tried to substitute it elsewhere. Anyways, super easy, super quick snack.

Salt and Vinegar Chickpeas

1 can chickpeas

Sea Salt

White vinegar

Cooking spray

Drain and rinse the chickpeas, then simmer them in 1 part vinegar 1 part water for about 10 min. Drain, place on sprayed cookie sheet and roast at 400 for 10-15 min. Shake them every few min. When you take them out, sprinkle with sea salt while they are still hot.

I like my roasted chickpeas to be a little more crunchy, so just eye their color as they roast. Enjoy!

Curry soup

I opened my fridge yesterday and noticed a drawer full of produce that was on the edge of being too ripe. Sarah had been talking about making soup on Saturday, so I thought why not? My problem though was my produce wasn't exactly soup friendly. I had in my possession: small acorn squash, yellow squash, handful baby carrots, two very small yellow potatoes, 1 green pepper, 1 yellow pepper and 1 orange pepper.

Oy.

So first I cut up (except the peppers), sprayed them with cooking spray, sprinkle of salt, and roasted them until they were all soft. Once they finished, I added them to my dutch oven that had 4 cups of vegetable stock simmering. The green pepper never made it because when I opened it up, I found a grub type worm baked inside. Soooo gross.

Anyways, I let all this simmer away on med-low with the lid on, occasionally mashing them. I decided I wanted to have this thick base which, if I had an immersion blender, would have been easy. Once everything was happily mushed, I decided on a curry soup because I had those things on hand. I added a can of coconut milk + 1/2 can water, 1 can organic pumpkin puree, 1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes and about a cup of dry brown rice. I seasoned liberally with curry powder then added a little salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, garlic and cayenne pepper. Let it all simmer on low with the lid on for about an hour, just until the rice had softened.

It turned out well. I wish I had lentils instead of the rice but still pretty good. At work I found a red pepper that was about to go, so I chopped that up and added it to the top. Made a huge pot, so at least I'll have lunches all week.

Stats: makes 8, per serving: 224 cal, 28 gm carbs, 11 gm fat, 4 gm protein

Day 2, part deux

I failed over the weekend. Yesterday started anew, today doing better =P

I even worked out over the weekend!

Breakfast was the juice of 1lb carrots, 1 grapefruit and a nugget of ginger. Later in the afternoon I mixed 1tbs chia seeds with 1/4c coconut milk and had a bagel thin with 1tbs smart balance light. Lunch is this curry soup I made yesterday with rapidly spoiling produce, which I will post more on later.

Day 2, my breakfast beats your breakfast

Did well yesterday! This is reminding me of when I first went vegan and couldn't remember what/how to eat, so I starved the first couple of days. After the pumpkin pudding, I ate cauliflower mash with shredded zucchini and a little bit of tomatoes and was starving by 3. Like, hands shaking starving. So I caved and ate a clif bar but I recovered by dinner with nearly raw spring rolls, detox salad and a little raw "chocolate" mousse. Preeetty awesome. Thursday nights with Sarah at Great Sage need to be worked into my budget.

Anyways, CHECK OUT THIS BREAKFAST. It's amazing. A champagne mango, handful of grape tomatoes and half an avocado with lemon squeezed over top.

I need to work on my presentation skills. If Julie were preparing this, it would look more beautiful.

Day 1, pumpkin pudding

So far so good! Better be though, it's only 10am. Anyways, I started my day juicing kale, a grapefruit, some ginger and half a cucumber. Then I made my current favorite breakfast.

I've mentioned over and over and over about my love of pumpkin. When I saw the recipe for this, I jumped on it and as a breakfast, it's pretty good. It has enough fiber and protein that I don't get hungry. Plus, it's fairly cheap.

Just doesn't look pretty. Anyways, it also opened my eyes to the wonderful world of chia seeds. These little things are a super food and in my eyes, better for you than my trusty flax seeds. Rich in omega-3 fatty acids, they are also full of antioxidants (so much that they don't go rancid quickly), fiber, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron and zinc. You can eat them raw, but I think the best way to eat them is to soak them in some water or whatever liquid you are cooking with and when you do, they expand 10 times their size in the water they are retaining.

For this recipe, I soaked about a tablespoon, maybe a little more, of chia seeds in about 1/2c vanilla coconut milk for 10-15 min. Really I just soaked them while I juiced then cleaned up. After, I mixed the gelatinous mixture with half a can of pumpkin, a little cinnamon and two sugar in the raw packets. For added protein, I melted 1tbs of organic crunchy peanut butter with a touch of hot water and mixed that in.

There you go! A healthy, raw breakfast.

New Goals

How did I go three months without a post? Oh that's right, I moved (again), worked a part time job at MOM's, full time job in DC, full class load, then when I had some resemblance of a break I worked more, totaled my car then started classes again. Fun times.

So currently I am no longer working at MOM's but decided to work full time in DC while in school full time. It is so draining as some of my days are leaving by 715am and not getting home til 10pm. Needless to say, my health and good eating habits have fallen by the wayside. I'm not as active, I eat later in the day/more processed things and I sleep a whole heck of a lot less. I drink less water. AND I CAN FEEL IT.

My body.

Ugh.

I just don't feel great. I juice every day which is probably my own saving grace. I've not gained weight but I haven't lost any and I've gotten soft. It's what happens I guess when you go from working out at least 5 times a week to none. So I'm making my own March Madness challenge that I want to stick with and see where it goes. These are my rules:

1. No alcohol for 30 days.

I definitely don't drink like I did in my early (eh, and mid) 20's but I've been drinking more than my waist would like. So my first challenge is no alcohol for the month of March.

2. Eat a 80/20 raw diet.

I would love to go raw. I love the idea behind it, I think it's a beautiful thing to eat only what you get in it's most natural state. So I want to make exceptions for hummus, tomato sauce and the occasional cooked vegetable meal. Tomato sauce because my coworker gave me a vegetable spiraler and it makes my squash into "pasta" noodles. I love it.

3. WORK OUT

So thanks to livingsocial and groupon, I have a 30 day membership to Hilton Health Club and the Results gym next to my job. I can use the Hilton for the month of March then switch to Results after but seriously. Something has to change, I can't lose all of my hard work and get too soft.

4. Water

Time to up the water again. I regularly drank 100+ oz a day, now I feel lucky if I drink 40. I've replaced so much water with coffee and tea, so time to get back on that bandwagon.

5. $$

I spend too much. It's my hope that limiting my going out with the above adjustments I can finally save money instead of spending too much. So, my final goal is for my savings to be $1000.00 richer by the end of March.

So that's my March goals. I can do this, right? I'll check in here periodically with recipes and updates, hopefully tracking progress like weight loss and savings increase, not "oh btw I failed."

=)