Saturday, August 31, 2013

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

Thursday, August 29, 2013

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

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

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