A little Honesty

I have to be honest with you. I have gained weight again. I don't know why I keep doing this to myself. I have been on this roller coaster for a long time now and I want off! It seems I do really well for a period of time, I start feeling great physically and mentally, then I let something get to me and I get totally off track. I gain all the weight back. Weight that I worked really hard to get off. And what really gets me upset is that I gain back in weeks what took months for me to get off. But I guess there is a silver lining, I don't gain back more weight than I've lost.
 

So I'm back at the starting line.

 This is an up hill battle but it's one I'm determined conquer.  My sweet husband reminded me the other night that it's never too late to start again. Armed with his belief in me I will start again and maybe when I do succeed, these trials will make the final victory even sweeter. 



 “Be of good cheer. Do not think of today's failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles. Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost.” - Helen Keller

     

Roasted Veggies and Bean Bake

Lately I've been trying to balance my plate at meals by selecting a grain, a vegetable, and a bean dish.

While this plate isn't much to look at, it turned out to be very satisfying and tasty. 

For the grain dish I made brown rice and quinoa. 

The bean dish was an onion and white bean bake.

And for the roasted veggies I did asparagus, onion, zuchinni, green bell pepper, and fennel. In the past I have shied away from fennel. I'm not a fan of licorice flavor and I was afraid that it would ruin whatever dish I threw it in. But, because I've been making it a habit to try news foods when I saw it at the grocery store I thought "Hey, why not." 

I grabbed the smallest bulb and headed home. 

My idea was to add it to roasted veggies and if I ended up not liking it I could just eat around it. 

While the veggies were in the oven I started to get nervous....the house was starting to smell like licorice!

The timer went off and I pulled the pan out of the oven and glanced at the fennel dubiously.

I let the veggies cool a bit and I snuck a taste of the fennel. To my surprise I really liked it! There wasn't the overpowering flavor of licorice, like I had expected. It had just the slightest hint of it and, it was closer to an onion than I had expected. Now I'm excited to cook with it again and I'm already thinking of dishes I want to try with it!!!


"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney

Happy Meatless Monday!

While I was in Seattle my friends took me to a vegan restaurant that I've been drooling over for quite a while.

The Veggie Grill !!! As we walked in we were pleasantly greeted by the employee behind the counter. He asked if this was our first time dinning with them. It was, of course, so he stepped around the counter and showed us the menu as he explained many of the items there.

I decided to go with their most popular dish the Santa Fe Crispy Chickin' Sandwich and for my side I chose mac-n-cheese.

Both were beyond delicious and I've been dreaming about the mac-n-cheese ever since. I would be in heaven if they decided to open up a location here in Vegas. I guess in the mean time I'll just have to beg my husband to take me on a mini road trip to LA so I can get a fix. ;)

As I leave you today here is another look at the mac-n-cheese. Yes, yes I do love it that much. :)

 Happy Eating!!


"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well,if one has not dined well." - Virginia Woolf

Travels

It feels like I've been on vacation for over a month! It stared with a trip to see my in laws with my husband. Then 2 days after we returned home I got on a plane to the Seattle area of WA. for a 2 week visit. I then came home with just enough time to recover (I packed a lot into 2 weeks) and get the house cleaned for my mom to join us for her birthday and a week of running around Las Vegas gambling, eating, shopping, and having more fun than I think is legal. :)

So now that things have slowed down I'm getting back into my regular routine. Which I'm sure won't last for very long with the holiday season right around the corner. Although, I am happy to say that I've already started my Christmas shopping. I'm making it my goal to not be running around finishing my shopping last minute and to actually get my Christmas cards in the mail this year. Wish me luck! :)

While in Utah with my in laws my mother in law, niece, and I drove up the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. We missed the tours so we didn't get to see the animals but here are some of the photos I took.

 


"An animal's eyes have the power to speak a great language." - Martin Buber

Pancakes

Some mornings I just feel like having a big stack of sticky pancakes. The other morning was no exception.  I'm still working on a recipe that I'm completely happy with but these did hit the spot... along with a big iced coffee.

In other news, I did weigh myself today- 265.8 

I'm very happy with that number. I was expecting it to be higher. I'm just glad it's moving in the right direction!



"Every strike brings me closer to the next home run." –Babe Ruth

Simple Pasta Salad

Simple Pasta Salad

Tricolor pasta cooked and drained
1/4 - 1/2 a red onion
A bell pepper (I prefer red but this time I had a green one on hand) chopped
A cucumber sliced and then halved
1 can of sliced black olives
1Tbsp dried parsley
1/2 Tbsp dried basil
juice from 1/2 a lemon
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp Vegan mayo 
salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything together and chill. Super easy and delish!

I don't like over dressed salads so this is very lightly dressed. If you would like a creamer salad I would add more of the mayo.

Happy Eating!!

"I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures." - Lao Tzu

Pie For Dinner

Today started out much like yesterday. I thought I was doing a much better job at keeping Andy's excitement from waking James, but alas, when I returned home from our walk I found him asleep in the guest room again.

Even though our walk was 40 min. today, Andy wasn't ready to come home. She whimpered and let me know, for a good half hour after retuning home, that she thought we should still be outside walking. Maybe I should make her my personal trainer. :)

Last night, for dinner I tried another recipe from Holy Cow!. I had tried her brownies on Tuesday and they were exactly the indulgence I was looking for!  My husband loved them as well and was shocked to know that they were dairy, egg and oil free. 

With the success of the brownies, I couldn't wait to try the next dish I had picked out. Savory Sweet Potato Quiche. I did make a few tweaks to the recipe: I used my own recipe for crust, I used dried herbs instead of fresh, and while caramelizing the onions I just used oil (I find they are sweet enough without adding more sugar).

I could have caramelized the onions more but I was getting hungry and impatient. 

James and I both enjoyed the meal, it had a great smooth texture and the herbs and onions did a wonderful job at making the quiche savory. Today, for lunch, I even had a slice cold, without onions and it was heavenly! :)



“Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.” - Dr. Seuss

A Walk in the Park

The second phase of getting back to a healthy lifestyle started today. 

Now that I'm back to a plant-based diet it was time to add exercise back in. I started with just a short 30min walk, at the park near my home, with my dog Andy. I don't know how she did it but she knew I was taking her to the park before I even started to get ready. This didn't make James too happy since her crying and excitement woke him up. He ended up sleeping in the guest room so he could have some peace while I finished getting ready for the day.
  

Andy enjoying a run.

Even with the heat of the day it was nice to get out and enjoy the park. We almost had the entire park to ourselves. So, other than the few cars that drove by and the 2 people we walked passed it was a very peaceful, enjoyable walk.

After we returned home I spent some time doing some stretching exercises and Andy sprawled out on the cool tile floor under an air conditioning vent. 

Life is good! :)

"I'm an introvert... I love being by myself, love being outdoors, love taking a long walk with my dogs and looking at the trees, flowers, the sky." - Audrey Hepburn

I'm Back!

I know it's been a long time since I've posted anything. I got busy working and food and my blog became less of a priority. I went back to my old habits out of convenience and as you can imagine the weight I had lost found me again.

Over a month ago I started to think about what was going on in my life and I decided to get back on track. Over the past month I've been getting back to eating a plant-based diet and I've even lost a couple of pounds!

This time around I've changed my focus. Before It was all about what the scale said, this time it's about how I feel. As I was making my transition this last month I knew the goal was to go completely plant-based but I let myself eat the things I was trying to get away from, all the while paying attention to how each of the foods made me feel. For example, I had been eating plant-based for about a week and my husband brings home a cheese pizza. It smelled wonderful so I added a piece to my plate, next to the salad I had prepared for myself. I started with the pizza eating slowly, after eating half of the slice I was not feeling well. I pushed it aside and ate my lovely salad instead. Since then cheese pizza has not appealed to me.

Tonight in honor of returning to the blogging world and my victory over cheese pizza I made homemade cheese-less pizza

and dairy, egg and fat-free brownies. (the recipe for these you can find at Holy Cow! )

I've missed sharing my love for good food so I'm glad to be back and as always....

Happy Eating!!!
 

"What's so fascinating and frustrating and great about life is that you're constantly starting over, all the time, and I love that." - Billy Crystal