2012

There's no doubt about it, 2012 was a great year!

It was jam packed with friends (old and new), family, weddings, traveling, and lots of cooking. 

It was a whirlwind of a year, but it was also one of the best years yet! 

I can't wait to see what 2013 has in store for us and all of our friends and family.

Happy New Year!!

xo

christmas in oregon

Hi all.

I hope you had a wonderful holiday!

We just got back from our Oregon Christmas and I already miss my fam bam so much!

We had so much fun spending time with everyone, catching up with old friends, and hanging out with my nephews. I can't believe how fast all of them are growing up!

While I'm sad that Christmas is over, I'm ready to get back into our normal routine. :)

xo

power salad

Hi ya skinny bitches.

Today I am celebrating the end of another semester. Finals are over and I can breathe again. 

Since I love an excuse to go out, a hot date with my favorite guy and a few cocktails are on the agenda for tonight. I've earned it. :) 

Anyway, besides being excited about the semester ending, I'm also really excited about how great I feel lately! Since becoming a vegetarian, cutting out most dairy products (still can't seem to give up my froyo), eating mostly whole foods, and working out again, I've never felt better. My energy levels are through the roof, my skin has cleared up, I never have heartburn anymore, I've lost weight (officially a size 4 again!), and I don't have to stare at a dead carcass on my plate! Life is good. 

For those of you who are also aspiring to eat clean, this salad is a great addition to your recipe collection. It's full of flavor, loaded with nutrients, and it's so filling. It works great for lunch or dinner. I will warn you though, this recipe makes a lot of salad. If you're making this for 2, feel free to cut the recipe in half!

Kale, Edamame, and Quinoa Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

serves: 3-4

::Ingredients::

- 2 cups cooked quinoa (cooled)

- 1 1/2 cups edamame beans (cooked and cooled)

- 3 cups finely chopped kale (ribs removed)

- 1 cup sliced grape tomatoes

- 1/2 red onion, diced

- 1 avocado, pitted and either sliced or diced

For Vinaigrette:

- 4 tbsp olive oil

- 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

- 2 garlic cloves, minced

- 2 tsp sugar 

- 2 large basil leaves, chopped

- 1/4 tsp salt 

- Fresh ground pepper, to taste

::Instructions::

- To make dressing: put olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, sugar, basil, and salt in blender (or food processor). Blend (or process) for about 15 seconds, set aside.

- In a medium bowl toss quinoa, kale, and edmame together; add lemon vinaigrette (I like to set aside a little of the dressing for when I serve the salad) and toss so that the salad is fully coated. 

- Place in refrigerator for 20-30 minutes to allow flavors to soak in.

- Before serving, add the rest of the vinaigrette and toss salad again. Add tomatoes, onion, and avocado. 

*Enjoy!

*recipe adapted from ambitiouskitchen

happy decorating!

I would like to start off this post by confessing that all of my Christmas decorations have been up since before Thanksgiving. I had the Christmas itch early, get over it!

I would also like to add that when it comes to decorating our house, I'm a minimalist. I don't even like to have pillows on the couch because it feels like clutter to me. I'm a total weirdo, I know. I'm working on it. 

When I'm decorating for Christmas, I like to stick to the same principles. Keep it simple and keep it clean. I love when our house is all jazzed up for Santa's arrival and I don't want to ruin it with a bunch of Christmas knick-knacks. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When I'm decorating for the holidays I like to have a plan. Come up with a color scheme and instead of purchasing a lot of little items, pick out a few statement pieces that will last you forever. Every year I like to add one or two new pieces to my collection that still work well with my existing pieces. I like to keep things classic when it comes to my colors. Reds, whites, rustic browns, with bits of gold and silver (you can't go wrong with metallics). However, if hot pink trees and lime green garland give you that fuzzy Christmas feeling, knock yourself out! 

As long as your decorations make sense and work well together, you can't go wrong. 

xo

soup of the day

This weekend was a cozy one. We spent lots of time snuggled up on the couch watching Christmas movies and relaxing. We also joined a gym this weekend! Getting motivated to work out at home wasn't happening for us. It feels so great to have a gym to work out in again! 

Since it was such a cozy weekend and the weather in Vegas is finally starting to get cold(er), I decided it was time to bust out a soup recipe. While most of the soups and stews I make are cooked in a crock pot, this one is made on the stove and only takes about 35 minutes! Perfect? Yes.

Minestrone Soup

serves: 8-10

::Ingredients::

-2 tablespoons olive oil
-1 small onion, chopped
-3 cloves garlic, minced
-1 carrot, peeled and diced
-1 celery stalk, diced
-1 zucchini, diced
-1 cup fresh or frozen green beans
-2 (14 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
-4 cups vegetable broth
-2 cups water
-1 (14 ounce) can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
-1 cup whole wheat elbow macaroni
-1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
-1 teaspoon dried basil
-Salt and pepper, to taste
-Parmesan cheese-optional, for garnish

::Instructions::

- Heat olive oil in a large stockpot. Add onion, garlic, carrot, and celery. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until lightly browned. Add in zucchini, green beans, and diced tomatoes. Stir in vegetable broth and water. Add beans, macaroni, oregano, and basil. Simmer until vegetables and macaroni are tender-about 35 minutes.

- Season soup with salt and pepper and serve warm. Garnish with parmesan cheese, if desired.

Have a wonderful rest of your day!

just so you know ..

Hello!

So much for being back to the internet world. I really shouldn't make promises I can't keep, but hey, it's the last two weeks of the semester and my schedule is crazy. Please forgive me.

Anyway, I want to talk about antioxidants and oxidation of cells today. Oxidation is a serious thing and it can/will lead to cancer, heart disease, and aging.

Unfortunately, there isn't too much we can do to avoid oxidation. It is a naturally occurring process that happens as a result of living in an oxygen environment. However, there are ways of decreasing the effects of oxidation and reducing the amount of oxidation that occurs!

So, what's so dangerous about oxidation?

Oxidation leads to the development of free-radicals. Free-radicals are molecules that have been stripped of an electron, which makes them very unstable. When free-radicals are produced, they wreak havoc on the body and cause oxidative damage.

Antioxidants work their magic by donating one of their electrons to a free-radical. This stabilizes the free-radical and reduces the amount of harm it can cause.

Antioxidants work together to regenerate each other as they donate their electrons.

Honestly, the process is pretty badass.

So, what's the point?

If you aren't consuming foods that are high in antioxidants, you can't slow down or decrease the effects of oxidation. If oxidative damage occurs to your DNA or proteins, it results in cancer. If oxidative damage occurs to your LDL or cholesterol, it causes heart disease. Oxidative damage also causes aging by having an effect on your cognitive functions and leads to cataracts. 

Luckily, most of the foods that are high in antioxidants are delicious and shouldn't be difficult to incorporate into your diet! 

A few other factors/habits that cause oxidation of cells and create free-radicals are smoking, air pollution, alcohol, and PUFAs (polyunsaturated fatty acids). So, while this isn't a process we can completely avoid, we can make lifestyle choices that decrease the amount of oxidation that occurs!

I hope you guys will keep all of this in mind the next time you're at the grocery store. 

Make sure you're getting your antioxidants.

Have a great weekend!

xo

[photo found on pinterest]

mashed

Happy Monday, folks!

Sorry I fell short a couple of posts last week, I decided to take a break from the internet and live a little. Now that I've reminded myself of what "real life" is like, it's back to the internet world for me! I'm so much cooler online anyway. :) 

For today's post I thought I would share with you a delicious side dish that's an easy substitution for mashed potatoes. Mashed potatoes are not something we eat a lot of in our house. In fact, the only time we have mashed potatoes is on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Unless it's a sweet potato, I avoid it. Most potatoes don't have a whole lot of nutrients (unless you're eating the skin) and so consuming the carbs and calories they come with isn't worth it to me. 

I'd rather have some brown rice or whole wheat pasta. 

However, even I get a craving for some mashed taters from time to time, which is exactly what happened the other night. However, instead of mashing up potatoes, I decided to mash up some cauliflower - and it was perfect! The texture of the mashed cauliflower is actually very similar to mashed potatoes, and it totally satisfied my craving. It was just an added bonus that I didn't feel bloated, fat, or guilty after eating two healthy servings. :) 

Give it a try people, seriously.

xo

(i apologize for the lack of picture quality - i promise it tastes better than it looks!!)

Mashed Cauliflower

/Ingredients/

- 1 large head of cauliflower

- 2 garlic cloves

- 3 cups  low sodium vegetable broth (chicken broth works too)

- Fresh pepper

/Directions/

- Cut off large stems of the cauliflower and chop up the remaining pieces

- Mash the garlic cloves

- Boil the cauliflower and garlic in broth for 35-40 minutes

- Drain the remaining broth once done

- Place cauliflower in an electric mixer and blend until completed mashed (you can also just use a potato masher and do it the old fashioned way!)

- Top with pepper

- Enjoy!