On the hunt for pumpking soup...

The other day I was over at "Oh She Glows" blog and saw this easy peasy Pumpkin Soup recipe. I was so eager and excited because I LOVE me some pumpkin soup. The last time I think I had any was on our honeymoon cruise over ELEVEN years ago and when I saw this recipe I thought "dynomite!" I need some of THAT! Unfortunately the whole family thought it was really watery with only a hint of pumpkin flavor. Sorry Angela!! :( I think next time I'll decrease the amount of almond milk and vegetable broth. Or look for another recipe. Anyone have one that they LOVE with robust pumpkin flavor, that's vegan???

It looked pretty though! :)

The salad though rocked! I mixed romaine and spinach with organic dried cranberries, mandarin oranges and some pecans that I roasted in maple syrup and cinnamon. YUMMO. The dressing was Olive Oil, Apple Cider Vinegar and a touch of Agave nectar. I think I wolfed this salad down, along with all the remaining bits on everyone else's plate when they were done! :)

On a side note. I'm currently training for the Disney Princess 1/2 marathon held March 2010! I've always wanted to do something like this, but have never been able to come out of the training period without serious injuries. This time, even though I'm itching to go farther, I'm adhering to the training schedule by the BOOK! This happens every time to me...I get in pretty good running shape and want to go farther, too quickly and it always results in injuries. So I feel like I'm a horse at the races, at the shoot just raring to be let loose.

Saturday, hubby was out for the day and I was scheduled to run 4 miles. I had the boys of course so we loaded up their bikes in the back of the car and headed down to the local park that has a .8 mile loop. We did 5 loops. It definitely wasn't as serene as my normal runs are when I'm not worried about boys going too slow, too fast, needing water breaks but not allowed to stop per me :) But hey...we accomplished our task! The boys had fun too and said they'd do it with me again anytime!!!

Phew.....yesterday was a LONG day! :)

Fridays are always a really long day for me. I homeschool my boys, but on Fridays we belong to a homeschool group that meets every Friday for school on campus. I am also the Site Director. We had an end of the year feast and presentation that kept me HOPPING!!! There was hardly anything I could eat/want to eat there (thankfully I packed a banana and tangerine with me...but that left me VERY VERY hungry by the time I got home!)

I had purchased this Amy's Vegan Enchilada at the store a few days ago and remembered it as I was pulling into the drive way....only takes 4 minutes to heat. My kinda meal when I am about to eat my children's head off!

I decided to take an extra few seconds and chop up some romaine lettuce to put the enchiladas over. Good move cuz it was AWESOME!
I definitely like eating more "whole, unprocessed foods" but on occasion these enchiladas will be a staple here for that hurry up and eat or you'll die kinda moment!

What types of foods do you like that are quick when you need something FAST!?

Hope to hear from you!

Oh...and P.S. someone appease my guilt and tell me it really is okay, and GOOD for you :), to consume all 15 raw fudge babies within 2 days. Please?

Come on....who knew cooking would be so fun!!!

I think I have seriously cooked more, created more, thought more about, experimented more this past month than I have in a long long time....and I'm having a BLAST!

Seriously. Who would of thunk it??? You would think that by eliminating a WHOLE bunch from my diet that would leave me without. Quite the contrary!!! It has actually opened up a whole new world of foods, dishes, spices and experiences. I'm soooo enjoying this.

For lunch today I put together a salad version of last nights dinner!

Romaine lettuce, shredded carrots, spirooli'd zucchini, sliced yellow pepper, threw in some corn, chopped peanuts, remaining Orange Sesame Tofu and Peanut Sauce for dressing!!!

Again. HeavenLY.

Then I got the hankering for something sweet.

I remembered Katie from Chocolate Covered Katie had posted a recipe for RAW chocolate fudge babies. Using only 5 ingredients, these were super easy to make and SUPER DUPER out of this world delicious. Do you think it's still "good for you" when you inhale 5 of them and look longingly at them wanting to eat the rest?????

Here are the ingredients:

1 cup of raw walnuts (I only had like 1/4 of a cup left so I also used 3/4 of a cup of raw pecans)

1 1/3 cup of pitted dates

1 tsp. of vanilla

3-4 T of cocoa

Blended all together and then pressed into ball shapes.

Thai Lettuce Wraps....oh my goodness!!!

Last night I had a DELICIOUS dinner!!! Oh my goodness! I made Thai Lettuce Wraps using Romaine Lettuce I had on hand (Bibb would have been much easier to work with), shredded some carrots, spirooli'd some zucchini and sliced some yellow pepper. I had some left over Orange Sesame Tofu from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan (which if you don't own....run out NOW and get a copy...it's THAT good!)

The tofu was incredible on this dish. LOVED LOVED LOVED it! My husband, he wouldn't come close to the tofu, but ate everything else :) He said that he's willing to eat whatever I serve him with the exception of tofu. Fine. Be the way. More for me! ;)

I had purchased a while back a bottle of peanut sauce from Whole Foods, but it sat on my shelf...until last night! I poured each of us some in a bowl and added some chopped peanuts. Seriously. This is my new favorite dish. I think I'll be eating these quite often now.

More food musings...

So this past weekend I went away on an overnight girls weekend. One of our meals was at the California Pizza Kitchen. I chose the Greek Pizza, minus the mozzarella and the feta cheese. I was wondering how it would taste without that stuff...let me tell you...it ROCKED! But honestly I would have liked it even better if they had doubled the amount of veggies that came on top. I gobbled the whole thing down.

So last night, along with my attempt at this pitiful excuse of Split Pea soup, I tried to recreate the Greek pizza at home. I started with a whole wheat crust, put some olive oil and sprinkled sea salt on the bottom (my mistake here is that I used WAYYYY too much sea salt and it was practically overpowering everything else on the pizza making it not too palatable...hence...in the future, go easy on the sea salt). I chopped up some tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and greek olives. Mixed them together, along with a tad bit of the olive juice and put that on the top of the pizza after it had gotten out of the oven.

I'll definitely re-create this again, sans the salt!!

I workout every morning at 24 hr. fitness. My alarm goes off at 4:45am and I'm out the door by 5am. I typically have never been a "eat before I workout" kinda gal. Several people at the gym had admonished me for this...should I be eating something? Am I wrecking havoc on my body for not?? I don't feel faint or weird. What do you do? Do you eat something pre-workout wise??

When I come home though...I'm definitely hungry! I like to eat something that will stick to my ribs for a while and help me to feel satisfied for quite a while. I've started eating this oatmeal mixture...and it is mmm, mmm, good!
Heaping of oatmeal (LOVE that I no longer measure out how much I'm eating!!)

1/3rd of a granny smith apple, diced

sprinkle of cinnamon, to taste

1 1/2 dates chopped

sprinkle of pure dark amber maple syrup

1 T grated flaxseed

Put everything in a bowl. Heat water up and then pour over the top...don't want too much or too little. Stir and then put a cover over it to allow the oats to "cook". I like it this way sooooo much better than microwaving the tar out of it and ending up with oatmeal mush!

Typical lunch....

I typically am usually in the mood for a salad for lunch! I will change it up here and there, but for the most part this is a very typical salad for me. I did forget to put the corn and the red pepper in it that was sitting in my sink after I cleaned them...oops! It was a rocking salad nonetheless!* Romaine

* Spinach

* Cucumbers

* Avocado

* Tomatoes

* Carrots

* VeggieFarms Chik'N pattie....sooooo good! (this is a special treat when I put one of these in the salad. Even though it is pretty low on sodium for something processed, it still majorly effects me and my hands will swell up a bit with sodium retention whenever I eat one of these patties)

* Organic Oatbran nuggets

* Annie's Organic BBQ Sauce

* Supremely Spicey Sabra Hummus

Healthy Trail Mix

One of the snacks I sometimes snack on, especially if I know I'm going to be in the car for an extended time, or maybe out to the movies with the family, is this homemade granola concoction I came up with!

I open up a bag and grab a heaping handful of this Kashi Go Lean cereal. It is PACKED with protein and fiber!!!

Then I grab another heaping helping of this LIVE RAW granola I got at Wholefoods (or you can order off the internet.) It is completely ALIVE with sprouted Organic Buckwheat Groats, Organic Oats, sprouted flax seed and Organic Raisins!
Then...to make it extra yummy. I add a scoop of Organic Chocolate chips and a scoop of organic dried cranberries!

This is seriously so good, so good for you and not only hits the spot and keeps me WAY satisfied until my next meal but tastes just dang GOOD!