On Hiatus

Hey Everyone! How have you been?? I feel like I’ve been away forever!

Unfortunately, in the last week, not only did my laptop decide to die, but my camera was sacrificed to the amazing Pacific Ocean. (Yeah, we had a fantastic trip out to La Push on Monday, and yes, I mean the La Push from Twilight.). This means that I am pretty much unable to blog, at least with any quality, for the time being. Honestly, I would rather not blog at all for a while than give you crappy posts with Blackberry pictures, written from my iPad. Hopefully I will be back in a week or two. Please don’t lose faith in me! I will still be tweeting, so be sure to follow me @VegLindz. I will also be posting to Twitter and my personal Facebook account when I start posting again.

Until then I hope you guys all are doing great, and that you will keep up the healthy living. Life is just so much sweeter when you treat yourself right. Also, be sure to check out some of the blogs on my Blogroll. They’re all fantastic and have a lot to teach. 🙂

❤ Lindsay

A Typical Saturday

Hey you!  Was your Saturday great?  I’m sure hope so!

Of course, I was at work all day, but that’s alright.  It was raining out anyway.

When I got to work today I was feeling the need for some fresh fruit, so I searched the cafeteria until I found some fresh pineapple.

So juicy and delicious.  Sometimes you just need some fruit.

Actually, thanks to this pineapple I was almost late for work.  For some reason I thought that I was starting at :45-after instead of :30-after, and my actual starting time didn’t dawn on me until I was finishing up my pineapple.  It’s alright though, I hurried up and changed and was on time. 🙂

Since we went grocery shopping last night I was finally able to have one of my typical salads for dinner.

Contents include: spring mix, shredded carrot, cucumber, grape tomatoes, red bell pepper, pumpkin seeds, and Annie’s Goddess dressing.  Always good.

On my second break, I devoured a 5-Bean Soup, which was one of the 10 for $10 organic soups that we bought at Fred Meyer yesterday.

I can’t actually remember the brand, but it was good.  We bought one of each of the vegan flavors, so I should have quite the assortment of soups in the next couple weeks.  For some reason I really enjoy having soups with my dinner.  Probably because they’re quick and easy to eat, and because they’re often pretty high in protein.  Especially good for days like today when we forget to throw protein in my salad.

I guess the plan tonight is to stop by our friend Heather’s bonfire to say hi, since she’s in town visiting for the weekend.  Then we want to go home and get to bed early so we can get up early and go to church in the morning.  We only have the opportunity to go to church every other week because of my work schedule, and honestly, we haven’t made much of an effort to go on the days that we can.  Keenan and I both want to start putting in the effort to make it on the days that we can.  I always come out feeling so refreshed and happy.  Kind of like yoga, minus the physical workout. 🙂

Have a lovely night!

❤ Lindsay

Peanut Butter Cup Green Smoothie

How’s your weekend going so far?  Mine has been pretty groovy.  🙂

Last night, my wonderful boyfriend took me out for dinner at a local casual Mexican restaurant called Los Cazadores.  I discovered their veggie menu (which was on a different wall than the rest of the menu, and not lit up like the rest of the menu), and ordered the veggie enchiladas without cheese.  It was served with rice and beans on the side, and I was hugely regretting forgetting both my camera and my Blackberry, so I couldn’t show you the awesome deliciousness.

We went home, and I did a workout from Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred.  I’m not nearly as sore today as I was the day after last time I did that workout.  I’m wondering if maybe I didn’t push myself as hard, since I had a huge belly full of food.  I’m usually more of a morning exerciser, and I definitely don’t like working out on a full tummy.  I did feel that I got a good workout, though, and had a good sweat going.  I also don’t feel quite ready to move on to the more advanced levels of the DVD yet, either.

After my workout, I decided to make a green protein smoothie for recovery/dessert.  I remembered the smoothie that I created and tweeted about a few days ago, and decided that now was the time to show you guys on the blog!

Meet the Peanut Butter Cup Green Smoothie.

It’s a salad and dessert at the same time!

Ingredients

1 cup Almond milk

1 scoop Sun Warrior vanilla protein powder

1 scoop Chia seeds

1.5 T Cocoa powder

2 T Peanut butter

1 Banana

2 cups Spinach

Agave syrup to taste

Put all of the ingredients in the blender, and blend until smooth.

If I were to plan ahead for this recipe, I would make sure to have a frozen banana, or some ice, to use for it.  Mine was room temperature, and while it was good, I think it would have been more enjoyable cold.  It was still amazing though.  The spinach was completely overwhelmed by the peanut butter, chocolate and banana, and it tasted just like a peanut butter cup.  Soooo good.

This morning, I woke up frantically to an incredibly loud jet engine noise.  Although I don’t  really believe in conspiracy theories, with all the talk about the end of the world ending today, all I could think was that my town was about to become a crater, and started saying my prayers.  Of course Keenan woke up as well, and after a few moments of “WTF?”, he reminds me that the Armed Forces Day parade was a few blocks down the street from our apartment, and that the noise was most likely just military planes doing a fly-by for the festivities.  Thank God.  Armaggedon evaded for now. 😉

I woke up and was reading my Twitter as “Today we’ve got vegan chocolate cherry coconut muffins...” caught my eye from the yoga studio near our house.  With that, Arlo was leashed up, and Keenan and I took a walk down the hill to the park/the yoga studio.

These were waiting for me when I got there.

As was this.

Grande soy coconut chai.

I couldn’t ask for a better breakfast. 🙂

Then, of course, it was time to get ready for work, and here I am.

Have a fantastic Saturday!!!

Do you guys have any fun dessert smoothie recipes?

❤ Lindsay

New Foods!

Hey there!

I got off work early today!!!  I get to go home and actually enjoy some of this lovely day! 🙂

Is it just me or do I have a lot of pics like this? I need my own personal photographer...

I am just chillin out enjoying the scenery on my way home, and listening to my Taylor Swift station on Pandora.  It’s funny, I barely listen to country in the colder months, but as soon as the sun pops it’s head out, I bust out the country tunes.  It just works.

After work, I had time to grab Starbucks before I caught the bus, so I got myself the iced version of my favorite drink, the grande soy chai.

The beverage itself didn’t manage to last long enough to make it in front of the camera, so we must settle for my cup and ice.  Darn iced drinks, emptying themselves so quickly!

I was able to enjoy a wonderful vegan lunch in the hospital cafeteria before work earlier.  It’s very rare that the line is actually serving some vegan, other than veggie sides, so getting a huge plateful of tofu yakisoba, baby bok choy, and edamame was a huge treat for me!

It was actually my first time trying both edamame AND bok choy!  I know, it’s shocking!  It was all delicious, and I was seriously thrilled to be able to get a nice wholesome meal like this at my place of work.  This happens, like, never.

Anyway, once I’m home I plan to go do some grocery shopping  (Happy Payday to me!), and watch the Heat destroy the Bulls again (I’m hoping).  Should be great!

What’s a food that you’ve never tried, but want to?

Have a great weekend!

❤ Lindsay

Water is Your Friend

Happy Friday!

I am headed into work, on what should have been my day off, because I picked up a few hours this afternoon.  Luckily, I’ll be home by 6:30, so I’ll have a chance to enjoy some of this beautiful, warm day we’re having today.  Today is officially the first day that it’s been warm enough that I didn’t bring a jacket to work with me!

I woke up this morning with a headache, and immediately knew that I was dehydrated.  I haven’t been carrying my trusty water bottle with me as much recently, and I think that it has actually made an impact on my hydration.  Besides that, I have also been drinking quite a bit more soda, energy drinks, and chai/coffee lately.  All of those can cause your body to lose water.  No bueno.

So,  now I’m on the boat, guzzling water out of my Kleen Kanteen, and I figured I’d give you a few facts on hydration for your everyday life!

• Your body is made up of 75% water.  Your brain is 80%.  Your blood is 92%.
• Water helps to regulate your body temperature.
• Water carries oxygen and nutrients to every cell in your body.
• Dehydration can reduce concentration, and cause irritability and headaches.
• Drinking water can help you lose weight.
• Water helps convert food to energy.
• You should drink about half your body weight in lbs, in ozs of water.
• Caffeinated drinks and alcohol will actually pull water out of your body, rather than hydrate you.
• Hangovers are mostly caused by severe dehydration.
• Drink water before bed, and when you wake up, since you still lose water in your sleep.
• Don’t wait until you’re thirsty to drink water, by then you’re already dehydrated.
• Drink more water if you are exercising, or spending time in the heat.
• If you are sweating quite a bit, consider hydrating with coconut water or Gatorade-type drinks, to keep your electrolytes up.  Electrolytes are minerals, like sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium, which are located in your cells.  Some are inside your cells, and some are outside.  If the balance is off, water is sucked out of your cells, and can cause problems like low blood pressure and fainting.
• You should drink extra water when traveling, especially by airplane.
• It is usually recommended to drink small amounts of water throughout the day, rather than a large amount all at once, to give the body adequate time to absorb it.
• Eating fresh fruits and vegetables provides you with some amount of water, which can be counted toward your daily total.  Fluid-like foods, such as soups and smoothies, also count.
• If you don’t like water, add lemon, mint, cucumber, berries, or other fruit to it.  Or drink decaffeinated tea.

Obviously water is pretty darn important.  Drink it for your health and vitality.  🙂

Have a great day, folks!

What are your best tips for keeping hydrated?

❤ Lindsay

Mountain Love

I may have stayed up slightly past my bedtime last night, but I guess God decided I needed a little extra sleep last night, because my phone died during the night (okay, my bad, I forgot to plug it in) and my alarm didn’t go off!

Instead of waking up at 8am to have a nice morning to get ready for work, I woke up at 9:28, woke up Keenan, and started running around frantically.  The ferry I should have taken leaves at 9:45, and I usually leave the house at 9:30.  Obviously that wasn’t going to happen, so we decided to make the drive around, which gave me a few extra minutes to change, brush my teeth and touch up yesterdays makeup that I didn’t wash off before bed last night.

I grabbed an apple out of the fruit bowl and took off.

We ran down to the yoga studio to grab a chai and see what vegan treats they had for the day.

After I took the picture of my “chai”, I took a sip and realized that something was wrong… she gave me a latte!  I was pretty sure that she had at least gotten the soy part of the order right, since she had asked me whether I wanted plain or vanilla soy, but this was definitely not the spicy deliciousness I was hoping for.  Since I was in a hurry, and didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, I decided to just drink the latte and let it be.  No drama.

I also got an energy bar, which was really good.  Lots of nuts, seeds, and dried fruit.

After the breakfast stop, we got on the freeway.

I had my favorite road trip buddy in his usual spot on my lap.

After a while he woke up from his nap to share my apple with me.

Sleepy face!

This dog loves apples!  It’s crazy!  Most of the time I actually just bite off little bits of apples and give them to him.  Almost makes me feel like a mama bird, but slightly less disgusting. (Only slightly.)

The view driving through Tacoma was pretty spectacular.

In Tacoma, we jumped onto I-5 to head back up to Seattle.

Problem with living on a peninsula is that you have to drive all the way down to the closest bridge, which connects us to Tacoma, which is still a half hour drive from Seattle.  Missing the ferry is no small deal.  It takes about half a tank of gas to get to Seattle and back, not to mention the $4 toll at the bridge. Boo. 😦

Driving past Boeing, we got a great view of the other set of mountains, the Olympics.

I must say, I definitely chose a great day to miss the ferry.  It was gorgeous, so getting to enjoy some different scenery was a major treat.

Soon, we caught sight of the city.

I love sky line shots.  And Seattle.

The two large buildings in the foreground are Safeco Field, where the Mariners play, and Qwest Field, where the Seahawks and the Sounders play.  I also went to see Kenny Chesney and the rest of the group touring with him back in like 2006.  It was awesome.  Any other country music lovers out there?

I made it safely to work right on time.  Thank goodness I didn’t wake up any later than I did!

Work Food

In my rush, obviously, I didn’t have a chance to grab any food for my meals at work, so I had to do some sleuthing in the hospital cafeteria.

On my first break, I decided to mow down on these crunchy tacos.

With black beans, brown rice, lettuce and fresh pico de gallo, they were even reasonably healthy!  Win!

My second break, I grabbed some sauteed chard and veggies from the line.

No offense to my wonderful co-workers, but this was awful.  It had been sitting out for too long, and just wasn’t palatable.  I gave up after a few bites, and moved on to the Thai burrito that I bought to go along with it.

The ingredients were great, and so was the taste.  It was quite peanut-y, and every once in a while I would get a bite that was nice and ginger-y. Yum!  It was also quite filling.  And check out the nutrition info!

Notice the 19g protein and 39% iron!  That certainly won me over! 🙂

My final at-work meal was a big bowl of the vegan chili.

This was so spicy that I was almost sweating by the time I finished it.  It was sooo good, and veggie packed.  I heart chili.

I finished up work, and took the bus down to the ferry, as always.  The sunset was breath-taking, so I figured I’d show it off to you guys a bit.

I must mention, that any pictures that I post of any of the mountains in the area are nothing compared to the real-life view.  Sometimes it feels like you can reach out and touch the peaks.  I will say it again, I love living in the northwest.

And another sky line shot, just for good measure. 🙂

I picked up an extra shift tomorrow afternoon, so I’m going home to get my sleep on.

Have a good night and good eats!

❤ Lindsay

Pike IPA

What’s up?  Did you have a good day?  Cause I did. 🙂

Actually, the beginning of my work day wasn’t so awesome.  I got on the bus to go to work, and the bus driver seriously missed the turn to go up the hill to the hospital.  He couldn’t figure out how to turn around so we ended up driving down through Pioneer Square and down 1st Street all the way back to Belltown, on the other side of town, before he finally got back up to 3rd Street and drove back across town to get back to the original bus route.  I was late for work, but luckily I was able to call ahead and let them know what was going on, so I didn’t get in any trouble.  Still, kind of a crazy start to the day!

On my first break I chowed down a kale salad that I made this morning.

It included kale, a few grape tomatoes, red bell peppers, Vegenaise (I would normally use avocado, but we were out), cayenne pepper, lemon juice, and sunflower seeds.  It was actually really good.  Would have been better with avocado though.

On that same break, I discovered that I had a voice mail about a job that I had applied for a couple months ago at a different hospital, wanting to ask me a few questions, and possibly set up an interview.  Unfortunately, by the time I received the message, she was already gone for the evening, but I should be getting a call back on Friday.  I’m pretty stoked.  It’s a full-time position (currently, I’m only working 26 hours a week), and the hospital is quite a bit closer to home than where I’m at now.  I’m definitely keeping my fingers crossed on this one! 🙂

My second break, I finished the rest of the Subway sandwich that I bought earlier in the day.

Again, yummy!

I also discovered that the Heat beat the Bulls, and that my boyfriend had decided to come meet me in Seattle after I got off work!  I got off at work at 9, but the ferry wasn’t until 10:30, so he wanted to hang out.

When I was off, I met him down by Pike Place Market, we grabbed a six pack, and we went to his friend Kristina’s apartment to chill for a moment.

It was our first time trying the Pike IPA, and I must say it was really good.  Nice and smooth.  Even cooler because we were drinking it just a few blocks away from where it was brewed. 🙂

Anyhoo, I’m gonna say goodnight, and enjoy the rest of my ferry ride with my wonderful boyfriend.  You have a fabulous night and I will see you on the flip side.

What’s your favorite micro brew?

Mine would have to be the Ridgetop Red from Silver City Brewery in my hometown of Silverdale, Washington.

❤ Lindsay

Too Busy to Cook?

Hello!

The sun is back today and it actually feels like May, finally!!!  I’m heading to work, but I definitely won’t let that deter me from enjoying this beautiful day while I’m on my way there!

This week has started off well for me.  Monday I mostly just hung out with Keenan and Arlo, and went to go shoot pool with a couple friends in the evening (which, of course, included a basket of fries with ketchup).  We also got No Strings Attached from the Red Box.  Keenan loves Natalie, so he enjoyed it.  It was a bit too much of a RomCom for our taste though.  I definitely prefer my movies to be a bit more comedy and less romance.  You definitely know it’s a girly movie when they start making period jokes. Ew.

We also managed to teach Arlo to play fetch with a ping pong ball.  He is sooo darn proud of himself for being able to actually fit the ball in his mouth.  He can keep me entertained for hours.  I tried to grab some pics, but he won’t stay still long enough for me to get a good angle.

Yesterday was my grandma’s 80th birthday party at my aunt and uncles.  I’m lucky (in a way) that a few members of my extended family are lactose intolerant, so almost all of the food at the party was dairy-free.  The rest of the party had NY steaks, but I brought some Dr. Praegers veggie burgers with me for an entree, that my cousin, Rochelle, enjoyed as well.  I had a veggie burger, a huge serving of my mom’s Asian-style coleslaw, fruit salad, some sauteed onions, and a breadstick.  I actually had my plate full.  Definitely not something I was expecting to be able to do as a vegan at a non-vegan gathering.  🙂  It was a lovely time for all involved, and also gave Keenan a chance to meet some of my family members that I don’t see too often.

We went home and watched The Green Hornet, with Seth Rogan.  Definitely more our type of movie.  I’m pretty sure I’ve seen every (non-cartoon) movie that Seth Rogan is in.  And yes, I looked it up on IMDB to make sure. 😉 It was definitely comedy mixed with a superhero movie, and written by the same guys that did Superbad, so you know you’re gonna be laughing your booty off.

Today, Keenan is staying at home getting paid to pressure wash the parking lot at our apartment complex.  He definitely picked the right day to do it!  I am so jealous that he gets to hang out in the sunshine all day and make money off of it!

This morning, we ran around trying to get the pressure washing equipment from Keenan’s dad, and dropped Arlo off with his mom so she could puppy-sit for the afternoon.

While we were out I indulged in one of my very infrequent (formerly VERY frequent) loves, a sugar-free Red Bull.

I swear, with the small amount of caffeine that I typically consume, a Red Bull makes me feel like the Energizer bunny!  I definitely prefer the feeling that tea gives me, but I still enjoy energy drinks on occasion, despite the fact that I know how bad they are for me.

When we got back home, I didn’t have much of a chance to get a legit work dinner put together. I threw together a quick kale salad, but realized that there wasn’t much else in the house to pack.

I grabbed a Fuji apple on my way out the door to go to the ferry, but after finishing it, decided that I needed something a bit more substantial before work, so I stopped at Subway.

I figure I can eat half now, and half for my dinner at work.  $5 footlongs are awesome.  My standard Subway order is a footlong veggie delight on 9-grain wheat, with spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, banana peppers, avocado, mustard, salt, oil and vinegar.  Fresh veggies, quick and easy.

Yummy!  Being too busy to cook never tasted so good!

What’s your favorite quick and easy healthy food option?

Now, get off your computer, quit reading blogs, and get out and enjoy that sunshine!!! 🙂

❤ Lindsay

Mac N Cheez

Good morning!

It is still dumping rain on us up here today.  So of course I busted out the trusty rain boots for my trip to work.

I love them.  They’re nothing special… I got them at Walmart about 4 or 5 years ago.  But they’ve held up well, and I they make rainy days a little brighter. 🙂

My breakfast today is pretty typical.

Notice the little green specks in my smoothie?  I think my VitaMix is dying.  A VitaMix green smoothie is usually solid colored because everything blends so well, so seeing spinach bits is a little disconcerting for me.  Doesn’t keep it from being delicious though.

I’ve also got some yerba mate with lemon juice.  Such a good wake-up brew.

As I mentioned in last night’s post, Keenan had some homemade vegan mac and cheese waiting for me when I got home.  My entire life, I have always been a huge mac and cheese lover.  Actually, during my last year of college, one of my most frequent study snacks was Easy Mac with some broccoli chopped up, all stuck in the microwave together.  As such a big fan of the regular version, I honestly wasn’t expecting too much, but he really impressed me with this dish.  It also definitely proved that he’s understanding the whole vegan cooking thing.

He even wrote down his recipe for me, but then he complained that someone would probably steal his recipe and go open up a restaurant somewhere.  I think he’s a little full of himself. 😉

Vegan Mac N Cheez

1 package tube-shaped pasta

1 cup Daiya cheddar flavor

1/3 cup nutritional yeast

1/8 cup sweet onion, diced

1/8 cup red bell pepper, diced

3 grape tomatoes, diced

Cook the pasta.  Drain, and return to the pan.  While still hot add the rest of the ingredients and mix until the Daiya is melted and everything is combined well.

This recipe was soooo amazing.  It was creamy and cheesy and everything I could have hoped for.  I ended up eating two big bowls, and I packed the leftovers to take for my dinner at work tonight.  It’s going to be so delicious that I’m already excited just thinking about it.  If you love mac and cheese anywhere near as much as I do, you should really try this recipe.  You won’t be disappointed.

Well, my rain boots and I are about to go brave the streets of Seattle.  I hope you all have a fantastic day!

❤ Lindsay

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Hello Ladies and Germs!

What happened to that gorgeous weather we were having this morning???  Dang it, Seattle!  How can you do this to me?

I planned for clear skies and sunshine!

Not cool!  Needless to say, my feet, pants and jacket are soaked.

I just need to remind myself that if it weren’t for the rain, we wouldn’t have all that gorgeous green that Washington is known for.

Plus lucky for me, little did I know, but I was preparing my body ahead of time with some warm soupy good-ness.

I started out with a cup of Yukon Gold potato soup from the hospital cafeteria.

Apparently this soup is special, because along with a sticker that says “vegan” on the label, it also says “wellness”.  I don’t know what I’m getting well from, but I’ll take it!

I had this along with the last of the Not-Chicken Salad in a pita with spinach.  Figured I wouldn’t bother showing it to you for the third time.

I also had my usual giant salad for lunch, but forgot to take a picture. No big.  Not like it looks that different from the salads that I eat every other day.  It contained spring mix, cucumber, sprouts, grape tomatoes, pumpkin seeds and Annie’s Goddess dressing.

My dinner was another soup.  This one was some Amy’s lentil soup with nutritional yeast.

Told you it was a soupy sort of day.

Okay, so this is totally weird, but after eating this soup, I kept having these little burps that tasted like lentil soup.  It was special.  And kind of gross.  I did get an adorable text from Keenan though, “I miss you. I wish you could have lentil burps here.”  Now that is love. 🙂

Just to prove how slow it was at work tonight, this is how dead the cafeteria at the hospital was.

I see one person.  The emptiness of the cafeteria is basically a direct correlation to the emptiness of the rest of the hospital, so obviously I was bored.  I guess I shouldn’t complain, though, since that means that I get paid to sit and read blogs all day. 😉

Well, kids, a little birdy just told me that there should be the beginnings of a new vegan mac and cheese recipe waiting for me when I get home.  Check in tomorrow to see how it turned out!

Have a lovely Saturday night!

❤ Lindsay