Happy New Year!!!

Ok, so it's been a while since I posted. December 7th to be exact. It was an absolutely fabulous holiday season... I was really busy but unfortunately I didn't take time to watch what I ate too much. I was very happily surprised today though when I got on the scale and only gained 4 pounds throughout the whole holiday beginning before Thanksgiving. Yeah!!! This may sound weird but when it is fully possible to gain 5 lbs in a weekend, I will take my 4. It's time to re-dedicate myself now. I think the phrasing of re-dedicate is much better than a "New Year's Resolution". Most resolutions fail, and I am not going to fail:-) I think that is what life is all about, trying new things, making mistakes, learning and growing. So, I have set a pretty realistic goal for myself. I plan to lose 5lbs a month. That will put me losing 60 lbs by the end of the year. I think that is completely doable and I am so excited to get there. When healthy, moderate goals are set, I am much more likely to complete them. Here comes a GREAT year!!!

Homemade Vegan Ranch Dressing!

So of course I love ranch dressing but have a slight bit guilt when eating it due to the high fat content and whenever I try low-fat, I'm just not feeling it. I decided to try to make one that is healthy so I felt a little bit better about eating it. So, here is my recipe.
1-2 cloves of garlic smashed up so it's almost paste. Take about 1/4 teaspoon of course salt and grind it up with the garlic. Add chopped chives and chopped parsley to your paste mixture. Then, I added 1 cup of vegan mayo, 1/4 cup soy yogurt and some almond milk to get the right texture. It was actually pretty good. Feel free to add some more greens or garlic if you want the tate a bit stronger but I really liked it:-)

SUPER DELICIOUS AVACADO HUMMUS!!!

Hummus!!! So I really am starting to enjoy hummus. It can take on whatever taste you pair it with so there are a lot of different, really tasty variations that you can do. Tonight, I discovered a new one and it is sooo good. Take 2 cups of chickpeas (I use dry beans, soaked overnight and cooked for 1 1/2 hrs but you can use canned, just be careful of the salt content), 1/2 avacado, 1/4 cup olive oil, 3-4 tablespoons of Chalula hot sauce, 1 clove of garlic, a handful of cilantro and salt and pepper to taste. Blend it in the food processor until it becomes smooth and creamy. You may want to use more or less olive oil, it just depends on what consistency you like. Trust me, it's really good. Maybe add some lime to it if you are going to leave it in the fridge for a few days so the avacado doesn't brown. It is really good dipping carrots or cucumber into it...... YUMMY!!

New Experiment

So I have been doing a lot of studying lately on the benefits of taking cold showers in the morning. When I first read this concept I thought that there was no way that I could do it. I love my hot showers. The listed benefits eventuall won out and I tried it. At first I could only do 15 seconds and I thought that was enough because I could say that I was at least doing it. Then I decided to take it a step further and do it for real. So now I take a 3 minute cold shower every morning. The benefits are supposed to be healthy hair and skin, increased circulation, and increased metabalism. The cold water hits your skin which makes your blood rush to your skin. The immediate rush of blood is said to help with depression as well as increasing brain stimulation. I also massage almond oil into my skin while I am showering. Not only does it distract from the intense cold but it is great for my skin. I am not sure yet how many of these positive results I am receiving yet but I can tell you that I now am much happier in the mornings, so that's one good thing!!!

Post Thanksgiving

If you are anything like me then you probably felt a bit full, bloated and a bit sick to your stomach after your Thanksgiving meal. This morning in an attempt to counteract the horrible effects of my Thanksgiving deliciousness, I decided to eat something healthy for breakfast. Of course, it was a smoothie but I packed it with protein, whole grain and spinach which is loaded with protein, zinc and is good for your digestive system. I used 1 cup of frozen blueberries which are very good to counteract bloating and excess salt, 1/2 cup of whole oats, 12 whole raw almonds, 1/2 cup of plain soy yogurt, 1/2 cup pineapple juice and ice to taste. It was really good and packed with nutrients which I really needed today....

Simple!!

Sometimes simple is great. Tonight my super cute husband made grilled chicken and baked an acorn squash. The squash was just cubed with a little bit of olive oil and salt and pepper. Bake it at 380 degrees for about an hour. It was so delicious and very nutritious...

Bean Salad

Beans are an excellent source of protein. 1 cup of red kidbey beans have 16 grams of protein. In comparison, one egg has about 6 grams per regular size egg. Beans have plenty of protein so don't worry if you decide to limit the amount of animal proteins that you have been eating. I just made a really good and pretty easy bean salad. I used 2 cups of dry red beans that had been soaked over night and boiled for 1 1/2 hours. You can use canned, but fresh tastes a little bit better. Dice green and red peppers as well as some purple onion. The sauce is 1 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup vinegar, 1/2 cup agave nector. I put cracked pepper, garlic powder, chili powder and a little bit of ginger in the sauce and poured it over the beans. It was really good and will be great to put over lettuce. Enjoy!!