Breakfast Time

Here is an example of a vegan breakfast that I make for myself several times a week. The main protein is tofu mixed with vegetables and the sides include Ezekiel toast with peanut butter (peanuts and salt only--be sure to check your nut butter labels!) and a quarter of a cantaloupe. 

Sometimes people find mornings rushed and busy so this kind of meal might seem intimidating to make when you've got kids to feed and work to get to. I try to prepare as much as possible the night before so I don't have too much work to do in the morning. 

For example, when I buy my tofu, I drain it, slice it, and put it in a tupperware container. Then I can just grab a couple slices, crumble it up and saute it with veggies. And speaking of veggies, I slice up onions, garlic, and tomatoes and put all that (along with a handful of spinach) in a separate tupperware container. By the way, that slicing, and then washing of the knife and cutting board, takes all of five minutes out of my life. When I am ready to cook in the morning, I just dump the veggies into the pan, let it cook a little and then add my tofu. I also like to add nutritional yeast (sounds appetizing right?) to give my tofu a little bit of a cheesy flavor. Although I wish they would come up with a different name for it, nutritional yeast is great for flavoring and also for adding a little vitamin B12 to your diet. When all is said and done, you have a nutritious and yummy way to start your day!

Are You Fed Up?

I have a confession to make...

I love sugar.

It is so, so good. I love sugar in my coffee, chocolate chip cookies, fruit cobblers with ice cream. Even the fruit snacks I buy on occasion for Christopher don't last very long in my pantry.

I just love the sweet stuff.

But here's the thing. I know it's not healthy to eat a lot of sugar. Everything in moderation right? And really when it comes down to it, we don't eat a ton of sugar in our household.

Most days...

When I cut most sugar out of my life, I don't even crave it--isn't that crazy? I am completely satisfied with having a small bowl of pineapple after dinner for dessert. Getting in this kind of routine is awesome and I never feel healthier and more energetic than when I get past my sugar addiction. And that's ultimately what my relationship with sugar is: an addiction. When do I reach for sugar the most? When I am stressed. When I am home and the baby is napping. When I am bored. When I haven't eaten enough fruits and veggies or had enough water to drink.

I watched a documentary last night with my cousin called "Fed Up" and, to basically sum it all up, the major cause of obesity, poor health, inflammation is sugar and processed foods. I've been thinking this for a long time, since I began this journey into true health, and it was great to hear my gut feeling put into words. I know how amazing I feel when I cut those two things out of my life and concentrate on eating real food that grows in the ground.

It's been a long time since I've watched a food documentary. Several years ago, when we were just starting to research ways to improve our health, I went a little nutty with food books and movies and kind of got burned out.

Oh and I had a baby!

So for the last several months I've passed over the "Fed Up" documentary when I searched Netflix because I simply wasn't in the mood. But, oh man, am I glad I watched it last night! It was just the motivation I needed to remind myself that I want to avoid added sugar as much as possible. I'm not talking about fruit and I'm not saying no more cookies ever (that would be madness!).

I'm talking about eating real food. As much as possible. And so I'm recommending that you watch "Fed Up" and visit their website at http://fedupmovie.com/#/page/about-the-issue?scrollTo=facts.

I'm picking back up on this blog to share as much as I can as we continue on this journey to true health and happiness. It's great to be back!

A New Day

I ate like crap yesterday.

First of all I had maybe a serving of fruit. I made a salad to go along with my dinner but wasn't the least bit interested in eating it. After lunch I splurged on a bag of chocolate covered pretzels and later in the afternoon had some delicious strawberry cake and my first helping of ice cream since August. On top of that I felt tired, stressed and cranky yesterday. I had no patience for my son's million-per-day questions and was ready to return our adorable pup that we adopted one month ago due to her incessant barking.

Have you had days like this?

Now this was by far not really a stressful day when you view it with a little perspective but it was just one of those days where I didn't feel healthy, calm, and relaxed. In fact I felt tense and pissy! And I wasn't thrilled with how I felt after eating all that sugar. In the past, however, I would internally beat myself up for giving into cravings. Not any more! Because you know what? Today is a new day.

In fact, each day is a new day to start over and bring your A game. So yesterday was stressful and pretty much stunk to high heaven? Guess what. Today is a clean slate, a fresh start. Last night I got a good night sleep, ate well today, made some green juice, kicked the crap out of a punching bag at Title Boxing and moved on. 

Oh and one more thing... I thought about all the good stuff that happened yesterday in between the tension. I got to see Christopher's contagious smile when I picked him up from school. I spent the afternoon celebrating one of his friend's birthdays with some of the nannies in our hood who I really enjoy talking to. I did a face time chat with a dear friend from college for two hours. I volunteered at Operation Breakthrough with wonderful little kids in the morning.

Hmm, I guess yesterday wasn't so bad after all. And I pledge to make today and tomorrow that much better. How about you?

A Good One

Here is a really good take on distracted living from the Huffington Post today...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennifer-meer/distracted-living_b_4059857.html

You Are Enough

I notice two major things going on around me as I move through my day: 1) Nonstop judgement and 2) The feeling that we are not good enough just as we are. I want to talk about these two things here and now.

First of all, I'll start by saying that I am guilty of both of these things. The difference between me now and me, say, this time last year is that I am much more aware of them when they happen to me and also I have retuned the voice in my head to respond to both appropriately.

One thing I see so much of as a stay-at-home-mom is judgement. I think as human beings it is normal for us to judge what we see around us as a way of assessing our world. What I tend to see, however, is the judgement of people around us and ourselves. I saw a mother in the store the other day pushing a cart with 2 kids, one of which was throwing a major, knock down, drag out tantrum. Two young women (my guess is they were in their 20s) walked by her and after passing by, gave each other this look that involved a whole lot of eye rolling. Now I have to say, that could easily have been me in my 20s and I can guarantee you that when I was their age, I had no idea what it was like to be a mother with a screaming child in a department store. But their judgement was there. I just thought in my head as I passed by the woman with the child, "Oh, I've been their sister and it is just no fun when your child decides that Target is the best place to make their displeasure known." But I've also been guilty of the judgement too. One of the areas I struggle with is judging the moms who plop their kids down in front of iPads for extensive periods of time or while they are getting their grocery shopping in. Now, I'm not saying kids should be sitting in front of iPads for hours on end. But maybe that mom worked really hard all day at a thankless job and she had to get the food shopping done after work and the only way to do that was with her kids who are tired and cranky at the end of their day and said mom just needed a half hour of peace and quiet.

I'm also not saying we should ignore someone's parenting choices if they are abusive or neglectful. Or someone's life choices if they are hurting others.

We just have to remind ourselves that there is always more to the story than what we see. We have to remember that most of the time, everyone is doing the best they can with what they have.  And that goes for us too! Stop beating yourself up all the time because you had a piece of cake or didn't eat a single healthy thing today. Tomorrow is a new day! Just bring your awareness to the situation and do the best you can tomorrow.

The other thing I see is people feeling like they are not enough in this world. And is there any wonder why? We are constantly bombarded with messages saying we need certain material things in order to "be our best." That's what advertising is all about. "Buy this and you will be ______." We also see things on social media that can make us think we are not enough. You know that friend who always posts on Facebook all the fun things they are doing (all the time, I might add) or the exotic locations they are visiting or the super genius things their kids are doing? The more you read that kind of stuff, the more you can begin to wonder about your "not-as-exciting-as-that-friend's" life.

Well guess what. All that stuff is crap. You are enough. Your life is enough. You don't have to buy anything to be enough. All we can do is work at being a good person, being kind to others, listening to others and being a good friend. And wherever you are at right now, just by showing up, you are enough.

Candle Cafe

It's an oldie but a goodie for us--The Candle Cafe Cookbook has been around our kitchen for several years and we love the recipes we've tried from it! Candle Cafe is a restaurant in the city (eh hem, New York City) that has been around for years serving fabulous vegan fare. Its fancier, more gourmet companion is Candle 79 (which I also have the cookbook for, although its recipes are a little more complex than this one). Brian and I ate at Candle 79 for my birthday a few years ago and it was our first experience in an all-vegan restaurant. It was fabulous to look at a menu and know that you can eat anything on it!

Anyway, I like the simplicity of this cookbooks and the pure yumminess of its recipes. Among my favorites are the butternut squash soup, velvety carrot and ginger soup, and the potato leek soup--do you notice a theme happening here? Also, the vegetable lasagna with herbed tofu ricotta is amazing, albeit a little more complex than some of the other recipes. I am a big fan of this cookbook and highly recommend it if you are interested in trying some simple yet delicious recipes. Here is my favorite soup to make from Candle Cafe...

Potato-Leek Soup

4 potatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 leeks, white and pale green parts only, rinsed and finely chopped
2 large onions, peeled and finely chopped
4 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
4 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 tsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

1. In a large pot, put 7 cups of water, the potatoes, leeks, onions, carrots, and celery.
2. Bring to a boil and add the parsley, sea salt and pepper to taste. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, until vegetables are very tender. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
3. Transfer the soup to a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. This may have to be done in batches. Return soup to the pot and gently reheat. Taste and adjust the seasonings and serve at once.

Note: I highly recommend using Yukon Gold potatoes in this recipe because they have a nice flavor and make the soup creamier. Also, I usually don't let it cool before blending because I don't have time to wait. Just be careful when transferring it to the blending when it's hot. I love that this soup just uses veggies and water. So simple yet so delish!

It's Crazy AND Sexy

Several years ago, I read Kris Carr's Crazy Sexy Diet and it really changed the way I looked at eating. Granted, it was also during this time that I was reading all kinds of mind-blowing food books from The China Study to Eating Animals to The Kind Diet. While each of those books made a great case for eating a plant-based diet, Crazy Sexy Diet really connected all the dots for me and gave me countless reasons to eat the way I do today. Kris Carr has a playful and fun way of writing that makes me feel like I was having a conversation with one of my good friends over coffee... I mean, green juice!

Well, she has now come out with Crazy Sexy Kitchen and it is filled with nutritious recipes that also taste fantastic! While it does use more exotic (and sometimes expensive) ingredients than The China Study Cookbook, the combinations are frequently different than any I've seen in other cookbooks recently. In addition, the book includes recipes for juices and smoothies as well as a basic summary of what was talked about in Crazy Sexy Diet to start you off on the right foot.

Some of my favorite recipes from this gem include the Morning Glorious green drink, Mango and Coconut Millet (breakfast), Tofu Country Scramble (also breakfast), Warm Kale and Quinoa Salad, and  her Tomatoes and Herbs recipe. I will give you the Warm Kale recipe because it is so good and ridiculously healthy!

Warm Kale and Quinoa Salad

2 cups quinoa
3 cups water
2 cups chopped kale
3 tablespoons pine nuts (or slivered almonds)
3 tablespoons raisins or dried cranberries
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
sea salt to taste
black pepper to taste

1. In a small pot on medium heat, add quinoa and water and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover, and continue to cook for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from heat and fluff with a fork.

2. Add the shredded kale on top of the quinoa and cover for a few minutes to allow the kale to steam.

3. Add pine nuts, cranberries, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and serve warm or cold.