Tea and Veggies

This morning as I was working on my never-ending physics homework, I made some tea in my cute new tea mug. : ] 

 It was a perfect little substitute for coffee. I'm still trying to cut back on coffee, and seeing as I have TONS of tea, I'm drinking that instead. Plus, I have so many different flavors that I can have a new tea each time.

For my late lunch, I went veggie crazy. This is my lunch before it went into the oven. There's tomatoes, yellow squash, new potatoes, red onion, fresh corn, and chickpeas. Those little flashes of green are fresh basil leaves... Yummy.. : ]

This was veggie heaven. I have leftovers that I can put over rice tomorrow. Healthy, low-cal, fresh, and delicious. What every lunch should be. : ]

Spicy Vegan!

Oh my gosh, I love spicy food. So, yesterday I was trying out a recipe using the Japanese Eggplant I got in my CSA box this week. It was another really simple recipe, but holy eggplant! was it deliciously spicy.

I made it again tonight using the last two eggplants that I had, but this time I made it into a more complete meal with some brown basmati rice and I added some of that beautiful red cabbage I bought from the farmers' market last week. The recipe is just sauteed eggplant, onions, garlic with some soy sauce and chili garlic paste. I added a little more of the chili paste than the recipe called for because I like my food with an extra kick. I wish I had some more Japanese eggplant so I could make this meal again. I know the picture isn't that pretty but I wanted to show how bright the cabbage is.
I was telling my roommate how grateful I am of my vegan diet because I probably would have missed out on the glories of cabbage and Japanese eggplant otherwise. Especially with them mixed together in the same dish.

: ]

On a sad note, Borders is going out of business. : / So, I went by there to pay tribute and buy my school notebooks. They are all soo pretty. Everyone knows how dorky I am about my notebooks. I also got a really cute planner that will be my best friend this fall. I'm ready for school to start and the crazy to begin. Woo!

Final night of training is tomorrow and then I'll be making that paper all next week. I'm scheduled for Tuesday, Thurs, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday so I'll be doing crazy physics studying Monday and Wednesday.

Let the fun begin.

Endless Journey

Hey, so this week has been great so far. I started at Mellow Mushroom yesterday and I had a lot of fun training. This people I work with are great and I really like serving. I'll be solo next week and bringing in some much needed cash. 

Today I picked up my CSA box for this week and I got some lovely little cherry tomatoes that I decided to put on my sandwich instead of regular heirlooms. I think they add a little bit of an artistic flavor to my sandwich..

Cute, huh? This sandwich is basically what I've been having for lunch all week. Creamy hummus spead on rye bread that I got from the farmers' market last week, some spinach, and local tomatoes, onions, and cucumbers. DELISH! And so simple. A mostly local and completely nutritious meal. Yum. I used the last of my rye bread with this sammich so I'll have to move on to some other fun meals for the rest of the week.
Oh, and "What's with the glasses?" you say.
I'M GOING TO SEE HARRY POTTER TONIGHT!!!
The guy who trained me last night is taking me to see it in 3D as compensation since I don't get tips while training. Heck yeah!

I've been doing some serious brainstorming and pondering about med school and my life today and last night with Julia, but more on that when I have all of my thoughts collected in a coherent fashion.. well semi-coherent at least.

Another note about food before I end this blog.
As I'm trying to cut back calories and as I'm getting this abundance of fresh fruits and veggies every week I'm trying to find ways to cut back on really calorie dense food items. We definitely need our whole grains but I try to get them in minimally processed ways. For a while now I've really made the effort to not have bread and pasta on the regular. Not that they are bad at all if they are whole grain, but seeing as I have a lot of produce to eat, I don't really have the calories available in my diet for that. Also, much to my dismay, this also applies to muffins, scones, and cookies. I was on a huge cooking spree for a while and I was making sooo many delicious and nutritious baked goodies but even if they are nutritional, they are very calorie dense. This doesn't necessarily mean there are a ton of calories in a muffin, but I can have a much more filling bowl of oatmeal for probably half the calories. And with the fiber in the oatmeal, I'll stay full longer and that may even replace some more food I would have eaten in the future. I love food and I'm definitely not going to completely cut out all of the wonderful things in life (aka breakfast scones with a big cup of coffee), but I just really need to work on letting those be special enjoyments. If you eat pancakes every morning, they aren't as special as if you were to have a special pancake time once or twice a month to really slow down and enjoy the morning.
Basically, the most optimal nutrition and the most benefits from food will come from eating things as closely to its natural state as possible. Minimally processed if you will. This is where the idea of eating raw comes from (not going raw anytime soon, no worries). One of the other aspects of an overall healthy diet that's still considered processed is oil. A lot of time we can do without it. Most of the time it can be reduced a lot in recipes. Oil and fat are essential in our diets, but we don't need a lot.
I'm really trying to use less oil in cooking and instead just add a small drizzle of flaxseed oil to a meal to get those essential fatty acids. Again, I'm not looking to deprive myself but just to simply be conscious of the amount of oil I'm using. Eating consciously is a major part of living healthfully and losing weight (or preventing weight gain).
Other calorie dense foods, like nuts and seeds I'm going to limit to using them for flavor adders (like sliced almonds on a salad), as opposed to just snacking on them. I want the majority of my food to be veggies, then whole grains, then fruits, nuts and oils (for you omni's out there, try to think of the veggies as the main dish and the meat as a small side or use cheese as you would salt, not something to be the main flavor of the dish but to compliment and bring out other flavors). These are the things that will lead to health and weight loss if that's your goal.

So, my food journey continues and is as adventurous as always. This week I'm going to tackle some recipes using chinese eggplant, summer squash, and red cabbage among other things. : ] Can't wait.

Oh boy, I love cabbage. : ]

Bok Bok!

This is my delicious Bok Choy lunch from today. I took the picture on my phone and it actually turned out a lot better than I thought it would. YUMM! It was even better today than the other day.

Now that I have found the camera on my phone is decent I'll post more food pics.

This week is going to be pretty busy, so hopefully I'll have a lot to report later on. I just wanted to do this short post to display the beautiful greens I ate today!

Adios!

Complete 180

This week has been the total opposite of last week. Just for a quick update, I got a job at Mellow Mushroom (discount for DELICIOUS vegan pizza?! I think so!!!), I signed up for the CSA and picked up some yummy goods on Wednesday, finished my detox fast and thus, have been able to eat some fresh, healthy food!

I've been eating peaches that I got in my CSA for lunch and they are about as perfect as peaches come. I didn't think I'd be able to eat the whole bag that I got but the way it's going, it will be easier than I thought. I got a bunch of cucumbers and tomatoes in my CSA also, so last night I made a salad from The Everday Vegan that was essentially cucumbers, tomatoes, lime juice and balsamic vinegar. There were some dried herbs thrown in there (the recipe called for fresh, but I didn't have any so dried had to suffice). It was delish. I baked some lime and pepper potato wedges to go along with it. It's sounds like a tomato, a cucumber and a potato wouldn't be that filling but I had to save half of it to eat a little bit later. It was a really refreshing dinner.

Today I've been cooking the beans that I set out to soak last night. I set out chickpeas and made a simple Creamy Hummus from Vive le Vegan to dip cucumbers or other various veggies in. I'm trying not to consume much sodium and compared to store bought hummus, homemade is much lower in salt (1/2 teaspoon for the whole batch).

Tonight for dinner it will be a white bean dish (I soaked those last night too.) with roasted red peppers paired with a quinoa-millet pilaf. I love the challenge of finding wholesome dishes to prepare with the food that's already in the kitchen. I have to pick up red peppers today and that's it.

I also got some bok choy in my CSA box. The first (and last) time I had bok choy was when I first decided I wanted to have a vegan diet. I was not a fan at all. I used a recipe from Alicia Silverstone's book A Kind Diet. It's steamed bok choy with a simple dressing of ume plum vinegar and flaxseed oil topped with some sesame seeds. I wasn't a big fan and thought it was bitter, and didn't finish it. I tried the same recipe today and I LOVED it. I don't know if the bok choy is better because its fresh and local or it's simply that my taste buds have changed since I've gotten away from food that is processed, salty, and full of fat.

Anyway, I have found a new love for that simple bok choy salad and will be eating more tomorrow. I unfortunately was wary about eating it today when I made it so I only steamed like 4 leaves from the head of bok choy and I was left wanting more afterward. I'm glad I've found a good way to consume some flax oil and good greens. Woohoo!

I need to get a camera so I can upload pictures to my blog. Because I would love to put pictures of the beautiful foods I'm making and eating. Oh well.

Smiles : ]

Today was the first really enjoyable day I've had in about a week. I took my physics midterm this morning and I had the rest of the day physics free. : ]

I went by the Rush to get a free 2 week membership and then by the farmers market to sign up for the CSA with Mountain Meadows Farm. If you're unfamiliar with a CSA program I'll tell you. Basically, you sign up with a local farm (Mountain Meadows is in Anderson County) and each week they gather a share of all of their crops. So, that's like a couple different fruits, a bunch of veggies, herbs and greens. They bring it to a meeting place (UT gardens) and you pick it up. My roommate and I are splitting it since it is meant to feed a family of 4 or 2 people who cook a lot. Well, I sure do cook a lot. : ] And now that I'll have an abundance of fresh, local, organic produce every week, I can only imagine that I'll be doing much more cooking. So basically all of my produce is paid for through October. I'll also be able to can any leftovers (I'm expecting a lot of tomatoes) and freeze (just learned how to freeze herbs) so I'll be able to enjoy healthy, delicious produce throughout the winter as well. I'm so excited I can't even stand it. I pick up my first share tomorrow so I'll post again soon, hopefully with a picture of all of the yummies that I get. I'm expecting all of the things I saw when I was at the farmer's market today like: blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, watermelon, peaches, all kinds of summer squash, onions, cherry tomatoes, heirloom and other varieties of tomatoes, eggplant. I'm also expecting bell peppers, potatoes, beans, peas, corn, and some greens like chard, collards, and herbs. I'm hoping there will be some really great herbs. Fresh basil is the best thing in the world, and fresh rosemary, parsley, cilantro and oregano would be stellar.

Also, I dropped off an application for Mellow Mushroom today. The manager was out at the moment, but I was assured they are hiring and I am going to go by tomorrow to talk to someone. That would be a stellar job. I need to get my ABC card so I can start serving. The next class is on July 24th so that's not too far away.

I have a wonderful trip to Chicago coming up that I can't wait for. I've been looking up some vegan-friendly restaurants that would be really cool to hit up while I'm there. My friend that I'm going with is a new vegetarian and I'm really happy that there won't be much pressure to go to some very un-vegan restaurants. I know that she really wants to have some Chicago-style pizza, and that's cool. Pizza is pretty easy to make vegan.

Anyway, today is the last day of my fast. Good thing too because the guy who I talked to about my 2 week trial at the Rush is going to give me a free training session in the morning. So, I'll be able to eat some breakfast tomorrow before my workout at 8am. Also, I'm gonna try to get a free juice out of the deal from the juice bar there at the Rush. My detox is tomorrow even so I'm not supposed to have any fat before my detox so it will be some delicious oatmeal in the morning and some fruit or a smoothie to follow-up my workout. Then I'm hitting the pool with some good friends before I go to check on my app and the job at Mellow Mushroom before going to pick up my CSA box.

This week is looking a lot better than last week. I hope it continues this way.
: ]

Physics..

Sucks...

I just wrote a paper about how physics has a large presence in our every day lives... I left out the fact that I do physics homework for about 8 hours every day. I don't think that's what she meant by choosing that topic..

I'm so ready to be done with this physics class. And I'm so ready to take some biochemistry that's actually interesting..
Ugh.

Inhale the Good, Exhale the Bad

Well, that's what I'm going to do for the next few days. I have been noticing my body having some detox reactions this past week since I've been getting back to my normal weight. This summer has done a toll on my body. I have been eating too much processed food like pita chips, store bought hummus, tortilla chips, white rice at restaurants, etc. Well, after coming home from the beach and eating only fresh fruits and whole grains my body is trying it's hardest to flush out all those toxins stored in the fat I've also accumulated in the past month.

So, seeing as I haven't done my regular fasting detox in a while, I figured now would be a good time to give my body's detoxing process a little boost in flushing out all the nasty things in my system. It's also convenient seeing as I have a TON of physics work to do to prepare for my midterm that I'll be taking on Tuesday.

I have been feeling a little in the dumps this week. I'm not sure if that's part of the detox symptoms or a combination of that and I'm feeling discouraged about having such a difficult time finding a job, on top of the fact that all of my friends have been out of town this past week so I've been basically without human connections for 6 days.
All of that being said, I'm going to flush out all of those negative feelings with my detox with a little meditation at night.

I have been meaning to get into the habit of meditating regularly because it's good for your mental and physical state of being but I just haven't been doing it.
So, meditative stretching will be on my agenda tonight when my fun physics-filled day is through.

So, wish me good detoxing and studying.

Breathe in the good, breathe out the bad.

Good On You For Trying

So, I was watching this documentary on Netflix yesterday called Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. It's about a Australian dude who developed a chronic disease and was overweight and decided to go on a 60 juice fast in the US because we are the nation of food and he figured to really overcome his addiction to food and an unhealthy diet, he should test himself in the place overflowing with that kind of diet. He did his first 30 days in NYC and then road-tripped all the way across the country for the next 30.

He talked a lot about how much energy he had even though he was only drinking about 4 glasses of fruit/vegetable juice and water every day. While he was traveling he would just chat with people about their diet and how long they really expect to live treating their bodies the way that they do...

Along the road, at a truck stop he met a 430lb man who had the same rare condition he had and offered the guy help and guidance if he ever decided to change his life.

The guy called for help about 2 weeks after the narrator had finished his fast.
Long story short, this morbidly obese, ill man lost weight and changed his life around.. you know the drill.

There was another lady along the 60 challenge that he convinced to do a 10 day juice fast and document her experience as well.
He suggested the juice fast to all of his friends and one of the things that really stuck with me was him saying how most people will immediately say that there is no way they could do a 10 day juice fast. But he said, if someone gave it a shot and stopped the fast at day-7 he wouldn't view that person as a failure, he would say, "Good on you for trying."

The failure is saying that you can't do something without even giving it a shot.

I have a lot of friends that are vegetarian. And even my friends who aren't vegetarian and still eat healthfully or not, whenever I suggest a vegan diet, all I get back are excuses why they couldn't do it.
So, many times I just want to say, JUST TRY IT!! Give it a week, 3 days a month, whatever. Give it a try.

All I would say is good on you for trying. I stumbled when I first became vegan, but everytime I slipped in the beginning stages and had something with cheese on it or made with any dairy, I felt more assured afterward that I much more prefer my vegan diet, no matter how good cheese fries taste. It took a good three months of eating dairy occasionally to completely be done with it and know I only wanted a vegan diet. I knew how awful I felt after eating dairy and how wonderful I felt on my vegan diet.

Our instincts are such that we want to eat what makes us feel good, but if you've only had lemons, you'll never know how good an orange tastes. I've you've felt how you feel on an animal-based diet, you'll never know how great you can feel on a plant-based diet.

And, let me tell you, the locally grown organic peaches from the farmers market that I had today are sooo good. : ]