Maca Peanut Butter Green Smoothie, Maca Butter Cups, Trees, Eats, & Records

Hi there! I'm just quickly stopping by to post some highlights from my week.  Mostly from my instagram account, so some of you might have already seen these. 

Let's start with this morning's smoothie:

This one was extra delicious.  Kale, spinach, maca, mango, banana, peanut butter, almond milk, chia, flax meal.

And this breakfast hit the spot.  Gluten free oats, quinoa flakes, chia seeds, hemp seeds, almond milk, stevia, cinnamon, bananas, strawberries.

Gotta have treats.  Maca Butter Cup from LuLu's Chocolate.  If you ever see one of these, eat it!

Made time for trees.

And record store day.  A few of my finds:

I hope you had a great week and that your weekend is fantastic, too! I plan to have at least one fun outing this weekend to see some music.  And the sun is shining, so maybe I'll take my books outside.  Happy Thursday to you.

Busy Girl Drinks Smoothies

Guess what?  School started up again and I've been pretty busy.  I've been missing my blog buddies, so I thought I'd stop by today and try to get the blog wheels turning again.  When I looked through my camera to see what I'd be posting about, it was smoothies galore.  A sure sign of busy times.

Even during the busiest of times, smoothies are a constant for me.  In less than five minutes I can blend together all kinds of healthiness and sip on it while I'm working on school stuff.  Here is my standard smoothie mix:

• 2 cups liquid (usually unsweetened vanilla almond or hemp milk, sometimes I use half nut milk and half coconut water)
• 1 banana
• 2 handfuls of greens (usually spinach, kale, or a mix I buy called Power Greens from Trader Joe's)
• 2 tablespoons flax meal
• 2 tablespoons chia
• 1-2 cups cup frozen fruit (blueberry, mango, strawberry, pineapple, cherry are the staples I keep in the freezer)
• Sometimes I add:  nut butters, cacao powder, maca, spirulina, cinnamon, citrus fruits
• I want to add:  goji berries (need to buy some)

So, that's my go-to for super nutrition on-the-go.  The amounts listed above make two giant smoothies.  I send one with Tim to drink on his way to work, and I drink mine while I'm getting ready for work, or studying, depending on the day.

I'm also still having my cup of coffee with soy creamer every morning.  And have decided to just enjoy it, for now.  Thinking about giving up coffee was kind of stressing me out.  I kept feeling guilty for drinking it.  And that's just silly.  I'll quit when I feel like it.

  

Also, Tim keeps giving me cute mugs, like this one that I've posted about before.  I pick my coffee mug based on my mood in the morning.  Will it be hearts, Star Trek, Texas, or Dr. Who?  I know, I can put other warm beverages in them, too.  I still drink a lot of herbal tea throughout the day, after my one cup of coffee in the morning.  

So, how is everyone?  I'm going to try to make some time for blog visits this weekend.  Also, today is record store day and I'm really hoping to go look around and enjoy the festivities.  Last year we had fun, and came home with some awesome loot.  

Happy Saturday!

Birthday Recap: Beach, Smoothies, Tea, Vegan Leather Jacket and More!

How is it Saturday already?  I got into Spring cleaning mode yesterday and everything else was put on the back burner.  I'm getting everything as organized as possible before Spring term starts (in one week!).  My textbooks came yesterday and I'm forcing myself to not open them for as long as possible, but the nerd in me is eager to start reading. 

So obviously, I'm back in Portland after my relaxing birthday trip to the coast.

My parents live about 20 minutes away from the beach, so my sister and I drove there on the last morning of my visit for a walk along the ocean. 

My sister is also focusing on high nutrient foods, so we had a lot of smoothies and salads while we were there.  We both brought big coolers full of veggies with us.  We made dinner both nights (tacos & pizza) and chose things that could easily be adapted to fit everyone's tastes and dietary preferences.   We all ate well, as a family, which was awesome.

Lately my favorite smoothies have almond butter in them.  This one is spinach, kale, pineapple, mango, banana, flax meal, almond milk, and almond butter.  So creamy and delicious.

I scored some amazing tea and a to-go tea mug from my sister.  She knows me well!

And this assortment of snacks made with sprouted nuts and seeds and coconut oil arrived from Tim's family in Wisconsin.  I love getting products from small businesses.  Everything I've tried so far is super tasty.  I could not stop eating the snack mix. 

  

If you follow me on instagram you saw this picture of my new faux-leather jacket.  I've been whining about missing my real leather jacket (from my pre-vegan days), and Tim took note and surprised me on my birthday with one I don't have to feel guilty about.  I've learned that he remembers everything that I say, because this pin also came in the mail, from PETA:

 

When I was talking about wanting a vegan leather jacket, I said I had to have this pin to go along with it so no one would think I was wearing a dead animal.  He's such a thoughtful guy! 

And I've been playing around with this!  A lightbox!  This is what sparked my Spring cleaning mission.  I had to find a spot in my cramped kitchen to permanently set this up.  I'm really excited to have consistent lighting for my food pictures, especially since I end up cooking a lot at night. 

While I was cleaning and organizing yesterday I was watching these DVDs, a birthday surprise from my dad and stepmom.  I love listening to Dr. Fuhrman talk about health.  He inspires me to continue to invest in my health through nutrition.  There are only three weeks left of the Spring 2013 Healthy Vegan Challenge, but I'll be continuing to eat nutritarian style after the challenge ends.  I've been feeling really good and want to keep it going. 

We're having our first beautiful weather weekend of Spring here in Portland.  I plan on getting out to enjoy the sunshine and spend time with friends.  I have two days left of staycation and want to make the most of it.  I hope your weekend is great, too.  See you next week.

Oregon Coast Birthday Vacation!

Hi there!  This is going to be short and sweet.  I'm spending my 37th birthday on the Oregon coast with my family.  It's soooo relaxing.  And really beautiful.  This was where I had my dandelion latte.  The view from the porch is awesome.  Those are some sleepy cows in the background.

I said hello to some horses on my run this morning. 

And there's a reason I'm holding this chunk of moss.  It contains licorice root!  And I'm going to make some tea.  I'll post more about the tea, and how I used to run around chewing on this stuff when I was a kid, later this week. I'm having an awesome birthday, so I'm going to hop off of here and enjoy some more family time! 

Anyways, I hope you're having a great week.  See you Friday.

Healthy Vegan Challenge Update, Groceries, Nutrition, and the Insanity Workout

Good Monday morning blog-friends! I'm awake early and feeling happy this morning because it's officially staycation week.  No work, no school, and my birthday is on Wednesday.  I'm looking forward to catching up with life, laundry, friends, family, and blogging. 

I'm still participating in Carrie's Healthy Vegan Challenge.  We've passed the half-way mark and I'm happy to report that I'm still feeling great.  I've been revising my challenge objectives as I progress, but the big goal is to feel awesome and do whatever I need to do to make that happen.  The first ingredient in my recipe for feeling good is nutrition.  I've been focusing on nutrient-dense, real food.  No processed crap, and no added salt or sugar.  I've also been eating real fats, like nuts and avocados, and staying away from excess oils.  Here's a look at some of my favorites from the past few days:

Every day starts with a smoothie.  This one is almond milk, banana, spinach, kale, peanut butter, cinnamon, vanilla stevia, mango, and mixed berries.

These are spinach, kale, spirulina, cherry, banana, mango, and unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

I'm setting a personal record for salad eating.  This one has mixed greens with herbs, roasted beets, carrots, sweet onion, and cauliflower, and avo.  After taking the photo, I drizzled it with balsamic vinegar and coated it with nutritional yeast.

Yum.  This salad is in frequent rotation.  Greens, steamed broccoli, white beans, cherry tomatoes, green onion, almond butter-braggs-apple cider vinegar dressing, and nooch.  I could eat this for every meal.

 

My fruit pile.  These are my snacks.  I eat at least 4 pieces of fruit a day.  My favorites are the sumo mandarins hanging out in the back. 

 

This is the best citrus fruit I've ever had.  They're juicy and sweet, not tart at all.  And the peel just falls off.

They're kind of spendy, but I've been calling them my medicine.  My pantry is my preventative medicine cabinet, after all.  Speaking of, here's what my grocery trips have been looking like:

Back row, from the left: 4 bags of greens, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, canned beans, apple cider vinegar, shrooms x3, almond butter, broccoli, frozen artichoke hearts, cherry tomatoes, raw cashews, chia seeds, frozen mango &berries, carrots, avo, sweet potatoes, and onions.

My ideal day of eating lately has been a smoothie for breakfast, mega-salads for lunch and dinner, and plenty of fruit for snacks.  I've also been drinking a lot of dandelion lattes and herbal tea.  I've mainly stuck with smoothies and salads because they're easy and I haven't had much extra time.  This week I'm going to try some blended soup recipes from Dr. Fuhrman's website.

Another part of my personal challenge has been to add more consistent exercise.  The nutrition part is easy for me, but finding making time between school and work for physical activity has been tricky.  I'm hoping to set up a routine during my break that I can carry on when school starts up again (in two weeks).  I'm kicking off my more-structured fitness habits with the 60 day Insanity workout.

Haha, yep, you've probably seen the infomercial.  I got this three years ago and haven't touched it.  It's been sitting on my bookshelf, collecting dust.  I thought I should at least give it a try.  Well, I'm on day four and every muscle in my body feels like it's been hit with a baseball bat.  So far I like it because it's less than 45 minutes a day, I can do it in my (tiny) living room, and it requires nothing besides my body.  It's very challenging, and at this point I'm having to modify some of the exercises to accommodate my fitness level (can't do the crazy one leg push-ups yet!), but the routines are fun and I can feel it working.  I'll keep you posted on how this goes!

I guess I'll stop here.  This post is getting really long!   I plan on getting back to my Monday, Wednesday, Friday blogging schedule this week.  I've missed my blogging time and I'm looking forward to catching up on some blog reading this week, too!  Hope your week is off to a great start.  See you in a few days.

The Extra Mile: Kale & Coconut Smoothie, And A Work Selfie

Hi, there.  Here's another random post for ya.  The busy-ness is slowly calming, and this Friday will be the last of it, for a while. 

The picture below is of one of my favorite smoothies (not made by me).  I'm lucky enough to have two excellent juice bars within walking distance of my house.  Kure is where I've been going for The Extra Mile, featuring young coconut meat and water, kale, and almond butter.  It is both refreshing and satisfying.  I crave it and plan on recreating it in my kitchen sometime soon.

And, look, it's me all decked out in my operating room gear.  I'm wearing a vest. collar, (and skirt that you can't see) of lead, because we were doing a procedure that involved a lot of x-ray.

Haha, thought it might be fun to give you a peak into my life as an operating room nurse.  Speaking of.... hi ho, hi ho, off I go for an extra early shift.

Have a great Tuesday.  See you later this week!

Fast Fuel For Busy Times

Hi! Here's a special Saturday post to make up for my absence this Wednesday and Friday.  When things are this busy I don't spend a lot of time in the kitchen.  Smoothies, salads, fresh fruits and veggies are my go-to fast foods.  I need high nutrition that can be prepared in a few minutes, with minimal clean up. Somehow, between long work days and studying for finals, I remembered to snap a few pics of what I ate this week.

I had a few of these big, gorgeous salads with mixed dark greens, carrots, oven roasted beets, beans, mini heirloom tomatoes, and tahini dressing.

Work lunch and dinner.  Lunch is on the right with dark leafy greens, sprouted mung beans, tomatoes, and steamed broccoli.  Dinner on the left, pretty much the same, but with a small baked sweet potato instead of the beans.  I used a homemade dressing of almond butter, Bragg's liquid aminos, rice vinegar, and water, on both salads.

Snacks and dessert have been citrus.  My favorites right now are sumo oranges, cara cara oranges, and mandarins.  So perfect for my sweet tooth.

Found some organic strawberries at Trader Joe's this week.  Wow, they were surprisingly flavorful and delicious!

Breakfast is always a smoothie, but I didn't get a photo of any this time around.  Too early!  And, of course I've been having at least one dandelion latte a day.  I have one more final to go and I'll be on break for a few weeks.  I even have a vacation from work coming up.  Woohoo!

I also want to mention that I feel amazing.  Eating all of this nutrient dense food, and cutting out the processed crap, is doing good things for me.   Happy body, happy mind. 

Hope you're all having a fabulous, restful weekend.  Take care :)