Happy New Year!

I'll be gone to Mexico for the next few days (December 30th-January 2rd) for New Years with my friends. I'm very excited for the trip and the new year to come. On January 3rd I will be moving into a new beautiful home with my roommates. Moving is such a pain, but I'm looking forward to living in such a beautiful home. And on January 4th I will be starting Winter Quarter at my university. To sum it all up, I will be busy busy busy! When I get back I'll be blogging about my vegan cheesecake baking adventure. Key word, adventure.

Happy New Year and remember to stay in love with your dreams!

Vegan Risotto Love

Hey :) I'm excited about this post because..... I've always adored risotto. I've left my former heavy, outrageously cheesy, chicken-brothy risotto days behind with my other other icky food habits and I'm moving forward with new vegan twists on risotto.

I tried my first vegan risotto recipe last week on a date night. I loved it and he loved it. He's not remotely close to a vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian or even a flexitarian hahah. So this recipe is non-vegan taste bud approved :)

I snapped some photos with my SLR, but this was before I realized my cord was officially MIA. So an iPhone picture my date snapped with his iPhone of his phone will have to do... My plate consisted of the risotto and a different spinach salad, and no piece of french loaf. However I figured since I was cooking vegan risotto, I would bake a french loaf and toss a caesar salad just for him to make up for it. Sweet girl, I know :)

Here's the recipe I used, adapted from the Post Punk Kitchen

one SMALL sweet onion, chopped
two cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 pint of vegetable stock
one bunch of asparagus
1 cup arborio rice

3/4 cup of white wine

dash of onion powder, chicken seasoning, red pepper flakes

salt and pepper to taste

"Cut a three inch tip from each stalk of asparagus and put aside. Cut the rest of each stalk into half-inch sections.
Fry the onion and garlic on a medium heat for five minutes or until beginning to soften, then add the small pieces if asparagus and cook for five minutes.
Add the rice and fry it for one minute, then add the glass of wine and stir it through.
Add a splash of stock, and stir until it begins to absorb into the rice.
Continue adding a little stock at a time, and keep stirring. After about 10 minutes put about half an inch of water on to boil in the small pan. When it comes to the boil, put in the asparagus tips and let them steam.
After about 20 minutes all the stock will be absorbed, the rice will be soft and your arm will be weary from stirring.
Put the rice onto plates and serve with the steamed asparagus spears on top"

And for my twist for some extra flavah :)

Add the extra seasonings while frying the onions and garlic.

Enjoy friends xoxo

Breaking up with coffee, moving on with Tea

Hi!

I spent the past few days at Disneyland with loved ones, it was amazing!

Last weekend I went out with my mom, sister and brother-in-law for delicious Indian food with my mom, sister and brother-in-law... It was delicious. We went to a great place in San Diego (Hillcrest area) called Bombay. It was the second time I've eaten there, both trips were scrumptious experiences! I definitely recommend dining there when in San Diego.

My sister and her husband got me some amazing gifts for my birthday, two fabulous Teavana tea blends in gorgeous canisters to keep 'em fresh, tupelo honey (it will never crystalize in the bottle - how awesome?!), the perfect tea spoonand the best part of the presents.... the Breville VARIABLE-temperature Kettle!!!!!!!! I'm very blessed <3

This Breville Variable-temp kettle is definitely the a top dog of teakettles ;) It's perfect for tea connoisseurs, like myself tehe, or just anyone wanted the best possible cup of tea. Each type of tea has a specific temperature of water that should be used in order to extract the best and fullest flavor. Here's a sample general chart from Teavana.

I confessed my undying love for Teavana a few weeks ago here in case you missed it before.

Recently, I was finally ready to end my unhealthy relationship with my soy caramel macchiatos, and move on to a relationship that nourished my mind, body, and soul :) Something I knew I needed to do for quite some time.

In the health battle of tea vs. coffee, tea definitely takes the prize!

I used to consume coffee and espresso drinks in mass, unhealthy and expensive quantities. I was completely and utterly addicted :( It was a bad habit, expensive and unhealthy! Switching from coffee to tea is an easy step that anyone can take to a healthier lifestyle, and it has huge benefits.

If you are a fan of Grande Soy No Whip Pumpkin Spice Lattes (250 calories, 47g carbs, 42g sugars, 160mg Sodium) and Grande White Chocolate Iced Coffee with A Splash of Soy (120 calories, 1.5g fat, 24g carbs, 24g sugars, 0g fiber) like I was... Making a change to tea will have countless positive impacts for you.

Improved skin, hair, and teeth

Weight-loss, as you are now drinking something calorie-free (unless you add a splash of milk or honey)

Tea has a tonnnnn of antioxidants in every cup, even more than my ex-boyfriend Coffee.

Budget friendly! A grande tea with honey at your favorite coffee joint will run $2-$4 dollars cheaper than flavored lattes and mochas

When making the switch-a-roo, I highly recommend basing it off your schedule. This may sound silly, but if you are used to multiples cups of coffee or espresso drinks a day you will likely encounter some caffeine-withdrawal symptoms. These will leaving you feeling crappy or drained for a couple of days. I was fortunate and had 2 days during a break from classes where I literally could lounge around and sleep. After this initial slump, things will only be looking up and you can feel great about this positive change you have made for yourself. I know I do! Now I am no 100% coffee-less angel. Every once in awhile, I take a visit to the dark side of my past. For instance this weekend at Disneyland, we were there for 13.5 hours the first day and I was exhausted. So there I stood in line for 20+ min on Main street to get myself a latte. The positive is I didn't feel guilty or beat myself up over it. Instead I enjoyed my treat, and told myself I was not going to be sucked back in to this unhealthy daily ritual ever again!

Playing catch up

Hey!

WOW I've been lagging. Between Thanksgiving, my birthday, finals, traveling and all the other usual holiday madness I've fallen behind on my blogging already.

On top of all the chaos, I realized I misplaced my camera's USB cord sometime after I returned from Italy. I've been searching for it and I will be breaking down soon, and buying a new one. Insert picture of beautiful Siena, Italy here...

I've decided to just use crap-o iPhone pictures (yuck) until I have a USB cord in my possession again and stop using crappy photos as an excuse. It's time to catch up.

Since my last post, I experimented twice with Vegan energy granola bars. Experiment 1 was tasty, but a little too high in calories (about 350-400 PER BAR, yikes!). Experiment 2 was a disaster. Hopefully the third time will be a charm, and will result in yummy, lower-calorie (aiming for 180-230) goodness.

And enjoyed yummy green tea cupcakes from the last post with my family tehe

I also enjoyed a healthy vegetarian (definitely not vegan, I allowed myself pumpkin pie and cheese) Thanksgiving dinner. I stuck to the veggies, cheeses, fruits, grains... yummy! The best part of the meal, besides the obvious - being with my loving family, was that I didn't overeat or feel stuffed. Yahoo! That's key to enjoying holidays or just eating out with loved ones. I remember stuffing myself in the past and by the end of the night I would feeling so gross and stuffed... I wish I would have stayed home. Because of that, a lot of the time I would stay home. How horrible is that! I'm so grateful I've learned to eat healthier portions and how to order healthier options so I can go out and live a normal life.

My favorite side were the caramelized green beans. I make this recipe a lot, easy and delish! Saute green beans in pan with olive oil 25 minutes. Add pine nuts and crushed fresh garlic and continue cooking for 5 more minutes (I've even made it with chopped onion as well). Voila!

During finals, I was not sleeping nearly enough. Some nights I was not sleeping at all... I felt unbelievably crappy. It took days to feel remotely better. However, I am a perfectionist, stress freak when it comes to school and I waited a bit too long to start studying. That does not make for a healthy combo. But on the bright side, I did have the healthiest finals week ever for food. In the past I would barely eat, not wanting to take time from studying. This time I made lots of quick snack meals and ate every few hours. They made have been visually boring but they did the job!

Ezekial tortilla, hummus, roasted veggies, and lotsa spinach.

Time to hit the gym. Planning on 45 min on the treadmill :) Then cleaning up and driving to Huntington Beach to visit my best friend and her husband. She said to bring my swimsuit... So I'm assuming we'll be visiting the hot tub. Yippee!

Next post: birthday fun, my family's peacock visitor (haha!) and a AMAZING, DELICIOUS, YUMMY vegan risotto recipe

xoxo

Green Cupcakes?!

Hi girlies!

Tonight I baked some absolutely delish Vegan Green Tea Cupcakes! WOW, these were amazing... I felt like I should pinch myself to make sure I was dreaming ;)

Okay. So I knew I wasn't dreaming but these were definitely scrumptious! I delivered them to three girl friends and my parents after they were all finished up. I must say, they were equally impressed. It's a shame I have yucky iPhone camera pictures, but I was camera-less today. Boo! They had a yummy green color to them, but it's hard to tell.

I snagged the recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World (a totally awesome book!), which you can buy here. Or you can even google the recipe, just search "green tea vegan cupcakes".

The only downside :( to these was the Matcha powder was pricy! For just a small small amount it was a whopping $14.99. Then again I was at Whole Foods (I adore that place!). In the future I'm going to hunt for that stuff online.

Now my diet is not yet completely vegan, but I'm pretty close. I LOVE real cheese and real cheesecake :( I promise I do not eat either all that often these days... Do you have a vegan life-changing success story? What's your diet like, vegetarian, flexitarian, raw foodist, vegan, carnivore, pescatarian? Or are you a healthy omnivore :)

I'm an "almost vegan" for health benefits! It's cool to be free of processed, poisonous, fake yuck food. I'm conscious about what I put in my body for lots of reasons. Major ones reasons being... wanting to feel good, wanting my body to look good, wanting a long and healthy life, wanting glowing skin and most of all that my genetics tell me that these things don't come too easily for my family. Unfortunately.

This morning started out with a yummy breakfast in a yummy Williams - Sonoma bowl (I love W-S). This breakfast is perfect as it kept me feeling nice and full for hours, score!

1/2 cup wheat bran, 1 cup water, 2 tbs raw creamy almond butter, and some dried pitted cherries and apricots thrown on top. YUM

Later in the afternoon, I stopped in at Sprouts Farmers market to get some cupcake supplies (earth balance vegan butter & plain soy yogurt), and got some fresh juicy juice! Spinach, parsley, wheat grass, apples, pineapple. The pineapple really stands out, it's great! The line was much longer than usual, and it turned out 4 of us customers in a row ordered the same yummy 'Sprouts RX" drink... See I'm not lying, it must be good!

I had a Larabar snackie along the way. If you've never tried a Larabar... DO ET! Delish and great for you and your body. Just take a look at their "quality standards" (grabbed this from their site)

What are the quality standards for LÄRABAR ingredients?

All natural
No added sugars or sweeteners

Raw
Non-GMO
Non-irradiated
No sulfites
No preservatives
No fillers
No colorings
Gluten-freeDairy-free
Soy-free
Vegan

Kosher

Sounds good to me!

Wrote a bunch of Happy Holiday for the dance studio I work at to send to the students.

Then along came dinner. We got take out from one of my favorite restaurants, Isabel's Cantina. There's one in Pacific Beach, CA and in the Pearl District in Portland, OR (two of my fav cities). Isabel's is not only outrageously tasty, but HEALTHY too. YAY A RESTAURANT THAT IS ACTUALLY HEALTHY :D Seriously check out the menu!

I got the Brazil Bowl with tofu. It had brown rice, black beans, tofu, polenta, roasted vegetables, mango salsa... basically a whole lot of yumminess.

Through out the day I had a few cups of my current tea obsession. A blend mixed up for me at Teavana. If you've never been to a Teavana, I am sorry but you are missing out. Check out their website, you'll fall in love! If you don't live near one just order online. There are so many health benefits from tea it's silly, don't believe me? Do a quick read here. Honestly this is the best place for tea. Christian Louboutin is to shoes, as Teavana is to tea. I think that analogy might help ;) Mine is a mix of White Ayurvedic Chai Tea and Samurai Chai Mate.

As you can see from my target snowflake pjs and mug, I'm already getting in the mood for the holidays :)

Today was a easy workout day, just 30 min of kick butt yoga. Tomorrow however I plan to run run run and pump some iron tehe

Off to bed, sleep tight xoxo