Category Archives: Other Stuff

Easy Plant-Based Sushi

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This is one of our favorite dinners. The rolling takes a little practice but it’s worth it!

Easy Vegan Sushi

You’ll need:

* bamboo sushi rolling mat – Here’s 2 for $6.31 on Amazon

* cling wrap

* Nori seaweed sheets

* Organic Pea Shoots (Trader Joe’s)

* Organic Brown Rice – I use the frozen organic brown rice from Trader Joe’s, it’s quick! (NOTE: I also mix leftover cooked quinoa in with the brown rice – half and half)

* Seasoned Rice Vinegar

* Organic Baked Tofu – Trader Joe’s makes one or make your own

* Cooked yams

* Organic Persian Cucumbers  (Trader Joe’s), red or orange pepper, cilantro, spinach (Our favorite is rainbow chard), avocado, super thin lemon slices… jalapeno is good too.

* Sriracha Sauce: I think it’s like 1/2 cup of Vegenaise to 1-2 Tbsp Sriacha

Directions:

* Stir a few teaspoons of rice vinegar into hot rice, stir and let cool to room temp

* Assemble your roll and enjoy! (See pics below)

My fillings

These are good!

Wrap your bamboo rolling mat in cling wrap

Ready to roll

Grab a piece of nori

I still don’t notice any difference if the shiny side is up or down

Add your rice

Pile up your toppings towards the front of your roll

I use the spinach leaves to hold all the goodies in while rolling. I also use rainbow chard or kale.

Start rolling the edge closest to you inward as tight as you can get it

Use a dab of water along the outside flap to close

water

Roll it closed and tight with mat

Get your knife wet and slice carefully but firmly

Ready

Serve with soy sauce and wasabi, top with black sesame seeds

My hubby likes his with the Sriracha sauce

Carrot Dogs

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“Carrot what?”

“Carrot dogs, you know… like hot dogs but carrots”

My husband was very confused with this one which says a lot because he’s so used to eating my random weird concoctions. He was confused for only a minute though because once he tried them he LOVED them! He said the guys at the station would love them and if you know firefighters, that says a lot.

We don’t usually eat a ton of bread but I really wanted to try these for camping so I bought some buns instead of wrapping them in collard wraps or something else creative. I had to give my hubby the full “hot dog” experience, right!?!

Carrot Dogs

Here goes the test bite…

Looks tasty!

He loved it!!!

Original recipe from Healthy Slow Cooking. I found this one on Pinterest!!

All Natural Carrot Dogs
soy-free gluten-free
serves 4 but can be easily doubled or even tripled (I doubled the recipe)

  • 4 carrots (cut into bun lengths)
  • 1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar (or apple cider vinegar and a dash of salt)
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil (Optional – I used bean liquid)
  • 2 tablespoons coconut aminos (can sub soy sauce but use unseasoned vinegar)
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (or 1/2 clove garlic minced)
  • a dash or two liquid smoke
  • pepper to taste
  • Ezekiel sprouted hot dog buns

Fill a pot about half-way full of water, heat it on high until it boils. Turn down to medium heat and add the carrots. Cook until you can just pierce it through with a fork. You want it to still have a snap when you eat it. Run cold water over them to stop them from cooking more.

Combine the other ingredients to make the marinade. Use a container that has a tight lid so you can easily shake it without spraying it all over your kitchen. Marinate at least 3 to 4 hours, though they are fine for almost 2 days.

Put the carrots in the container and marinade for a few hours to up to a few days. If you marinate them longer they take on more of the vinegar flavor. If the carrots are very skinny I would not marinade them for more than 1 1/2 days so they don’t taste too sour.

To serve heat the carrots in a 350 degree oven or on in a grill pan on a hot grill until heated through. It should take about 10 to 15 minutes.

Serve in a toasted hot dog bun with your favorite toppings. They’re great the southern way  topped with chili and cole slaw! Prep these on a weekend and you’re ready for a quick weeknight treat.

You could also cook them in your slow cooker in the marinade. You will need to check on them so they do not get mushy, so it’s not an overnight or all day affair. If they get mushy when you re-heat them it will make a mess. Cook until a fork just goes through the carrot, but the carrot is still slightly firm.

Cut carrots into bun lengths – I cut the leftovers to add in too, testers!

Boil carrots until you can pierce with a fork but they’re still crisp – I think mine went about 4 minutes but they needed a bit longer. Remove from water and rinse with cold water to stop from cooking any more.

I left my carrots in the marinade for about 1 1/2 days.

Cook at 350 until heated through OR grill them. I used my toaster oven because my hubby was anxious to try them. Top with your favorite toppings!

It looks like a real hot dog….

My weight loss/shopping journey!

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I apologize for my absence lately… I’ve been busy shopping!

For me, that’s a funny thing to say because I’ve always HATED shopping! I finally reached my goal weight – I’m 20 pounds lighter than I was when I got pregnant with my daughter – age 2! I’m so proud of myself but I have NOTHING to wear! I decided to hire a stylist to help me shop to eliminate the money waste of buying clothes I’ll never wear again, clothes I’m never really sure look good on me and eliminating my habit of buying the same things over and over again. So far it’s been great but assembling a new wardrobe is a lot of work!

You’re probably thinking “Wait a minute… only rich people hire stylists!” but it’s so not true! If you think about it… how much money is hanging in your closet WAITING to be worn? How many things have you purchased, worn once and never worn again? How many times have you been shopping and thought to yourself “UGH… I hate shopping!”. That’s me, exactly!

When I first came up with the idea to use a stylist I decided to find someone with great reviews who could help me. I looked on Yelp and found Vanessa Valiente. I contacted her about 6 months ago and requested that we wait until I finished losing my baby weight. She agreed to wait and I continued to update her on my progress along the way, giving myself a goal to work towards and somewhat of an accountability in this weight loss journey.

I met my weight loss goal a few weeks ago and met with Vanessa for the first time. She came to my house, sat down with me to discuss my personal style and goals for this process. My personal style… I had to laugh a little inside because if any of you have young children like I do, you understand there really is NO TIME for anything close to style! You’re lucky to get a shower most days!

Next we went through my entire wardrobe, she suggested what to get rid of and what to keep. Now keep in mind, I haven’t purchased anything other than maternity clothes over the past few years…well maybe a few “let’s hide the baby belly” shirts here and there but that’s about it. Needless to say I didn’t have many items left when she was done with me. That’s okay, it was refreshing to get rid of it all!

Long story short, she’s been helping me build back my wardrobe and it’s been keeping me pretty busy! Shopping is hard work! That’s why sometimes it’s nice to have a little help from a professional. SO if you need help in the wardrobe department, give Vanessa a call! She’s fast, resourceful (important when you’re shopping for clothes considering there are SO MANY options out there!), easy to talk to and extremely professional. If you want to shop with a girl friend, bring one of your buddies because she’s here to get down to business and that’s what she does well!

So again, I apologize for my absence. I promise I’ll catch up on recipe posts and give you all some awesome new recipes to try. In the meantime, wish me luck! Hope all is well with you and your families!

April 🙂

I had to share this picture! Our future firefighter!

“Top 25 Vegetarian & Vegan Mom Blog” Contest ends Feb. 14th at 5pm

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I am in the running to be one of the top Vegan & Vegetarian Mom bloggers so if you like my blog, please vote for me!

No need to sign up for anything… just click the link below and vote for me!

You can vote once every 24 hours until February 14th at 5pm!!

http://www.circleofmoms.com/top25/top-vegan-vegetarian-mom-blogs-2012

Thank you so very much for your support!

– April 🙂

Our Family!

Easy 3-Ingredient Burgers

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You’ve recently learned how to make burgers out of leftover soup, but how about burgers with only 3 ingredients!?! These are so easy to make and hold together really well, ready for whatever toppings you enjoy most. We like sautéed or raw spinach/collard greens, avocado, red onion, pickle relish and Southwestern Chipotle Sauce or Habanero Sauce (our latest favorite!) served with a side of Sweet Potato Fries.

This recipe calls for HOT beans – I usually cook a pound of beans in my electric pressure cooker and once they are done I assemble these burgers (and save the leftover beans for other things). You can also cook beans in a crock pot, make sure to soak them overnight before you cook them. Make sure to save the water you cooked the beans in when you drain them, helps the burgers stick together better!

3-Ingredient Burgers with Sweet Potato Fries

This is another awesome Melomeals recipe – A.K.A. “The Food Genius” 🙂 I make about 9-10 average sized burgers from this one recipe, enough for leftovers for a few days!

3-Ingredient Burgers

Ingredients:

  • 3 C HOT Beans (HOT means TEMPERATURE) 
  • 2 C old fashioned oats (rolled oats, uncooked) – I’ve used quick oats or rolled oats
  • 1 envelope onion soup mix – I use Lipton or the Sprouts brand packet
  • Hot bean liquid if needed to bring the mixture together – I use about 1/3 cup of bean liquid for a batch of burgers

Method:

  1. Mix everything together
  2. Let mixture cool
  3. form into patties and cook over medium heat in a cast iron skillet for 5 minutes a side

3 Ingredients!

Mix HOT beans with oatmeal and onion soup mix - form patties

5 minutes on each side - use a cast iron skillet if you have one

This one is topped with Habanero Sauce... Yum!

This one topped with Follow Your Heart Nacho Cheese and Habanero Sauce

Chickpea Burger on top of kale and mushrooms

Crossfit… A little side note

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I just have to tell you how much I love Crossfit! I started a few weeks ago and I am totally hooked! I hardly exercised my entire second pregnancy due to morning sickness, exhaustion from chasing an active toddler and just plain laziness! Now, about a year later, my baby is 3 months old and I no longer have an excuse not to exercise so I decided to get serious about getting back in shape. I’m NOT going to buy new jeans!

I’ve been to Crossfit now about 15 times and I already feel stronger, I’ve noticed my muscle tone is coming back and I feel more energized. I really look forward to class, it’s a nice break from being Mommy!

Crossfit is different from any workout I’ve ever done – it’s 100 times harder but much shorter and more effective. The actual workout is only about 15-20 minutes but it’s the hardest 15-20 minutes ever!

I’ve recently joined Crossfit Pride in Santee and I love it! It’s exactly 10 minutes from my house, the coaches are awesome and very motivating, the people are all in super good shape (a motivating factor when you’re the new kid!) and the workouts are always new. The music is nice and loud and gets you pumped up to sweat!

If you are interested in trying a free introductory class – Crossfit Pride in Santee offers one Saturdays at 10am.

Here’s a good explanation of Crossfit from their website:

“CrossFit is a fitness program focused on maximizing a persons potential in strength, cardiovascular endurance, respiratory endurance, power, speed, stamina, flexibility, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy.  In other words, general all-around athleticism.  By using constantly varied, functional movements executed at high intensity, we can improve the physical fitness, or what we call general physical preparedness, in everyone from elite athletes to sedentary office workers, kids to seniors.

CrossFit is a broad and inclusive program encompassing the standards you would expect; weightlifting, body weight exercises, and traditional cardio.  However the magic of CrossFit also calls for Olympic lifting, climbing, throwing, basic tumbling, and gymnastics.  It taxes both the aerobic and the anaerobic energy systems.  Isolation movements have no place here, we focus on whole body, functional movement patterns that occur in activities of daily living (Ever sit down in a chair and stand back up?  Well that’s a squat…daily living).  Core strength may be a contemporary buzzword but it is a foundation of our program.  CrossFit makes us better general athletes and allows us to specialize outside of the gym, be it on the track, the court, or the streets.

Everyone can do CrossFit but CrossFit is not for everyone. Lets be honest, CrossFit is hard work.  There will be no magazine reading while pedaling here.  The people who thrive from CrossFit are committed to hard work, dedicated to consistency, willing to try without fear of failure, and eager for challenge.  Rarely will you do the same workout twice.  Routine is our enemy and will lead to mediocrity, complacency, and injury.  For those of you whose lives depend on your fitness; law enforcement, military, and first responders, CrossFit is what you need to be doing.  Talk to us and we will explain why we so strongly believe in this.  Of course our belief is that CrossFit is the ultimate training program as it can be tailored to suit anyone and any fitness level.”

I was so proud of myself yesterday, I have to tell you about it! I’ve been doing the beginner workout in class but yesterday I did the regular workout of the day AND I DIDN’T PUKE! I wanted to during my last run but I held it in and I made it!! I have a friend who does CrossFit on a regular basis and he says “if you don’t puke or feel like you’re going to puke, then you aren’t trying hard enough”.

This is the workout we did yesterday (a typical regular workout). I didn’t do the 200 sit ups at the end and I used a bar for the overheads vs. weights but hey… I made it through!

WORKOUT OF THE DAY:

For time:

800M Run

10 Ground to overhead(135/95) 

3 Rounds of “Cindy”(5 Pull-ups/10 Push-ups/15 Squats)

Run 400M

3 Rounds of Cindy

10 Ground to overhead

800M Run

Cash out – 200 sit ups

So if you are interested in trying CrossFit, come in Saturday at 10am and prepare to get hooked!!!

CrossFit Pride

8630 Argent St., Suite A

Santee, CA 92071

Phone: (619) 517-4927

Email: info@crossfitpride.com