Evolving?

Oooo, I've been a bad blogger. I've been thoroughly enjoying reading lots of Healthy Living/Food Blogs, but I've lost my motivation for my own. Well, not totally. I think I will dive back in soon. In the meantime, I've been contemplating my journey to Veganism/Vegetarianism. I think I'm in "transition mode" right now. It's not written anywhere that it has to be cold turkey, right?! Each week I seem to find more and more alternatives and eat less and less dairy, eggs, and meat. My one food group that may hold me back is actually fish. I don't have it that often, but I do love me some sushi on occasion and my dad catches weekly fresh flounder that is too tough to pass up! Well, I will probably never label myself anyhow, so I'm ok with my choices for now.

What I do now is make conscience decisions to eat locally and organically. I've substituted most of my beloved dairy products with things like Almond Breeze, tofutti cream cheese and sour cream. I can't seem to make the switch to dairy free cheese until I find a brand I like. As far as meat, I simply substitute more veggies, beans and faux meat products (on occasion).

I'm excited where the journey is taking me! Is anyone else in that "in between spot" with carnivore vs veggie head??!

Here are some links to past posts for vegetarian/vegan salads:

Quinoa and Black Bean Salad

Candied Cashew, Pear and Grape Salad (sub Agave nectar and omit blue cheese crumbles for vegan)

Avocado and Sunflower Seed Salad

Grilled Asparagus and Tomato Salad (omit feta for vegan)

Enjoy!

New-ch Discovery... aka NOOCH!

Hey Salad Lovers! May is National Salad Month! A post with links to 31 Recipes in honor of salad month and an excuse to eat a salad a day for any one month will be coming shortly. I just need time on my side.


I just wanted to pop in quick to tell you about my Nurtional Yeast (aka "Nooch" in the blog world) discovery. I feel great when I eat an 80-90% vegan diet, but I can't seem to let go of my beloved cheese. I adore cheese and even though I've cut back, I can't seem to leave it behind completely. Then I heard about blogs like Ohh May and her recipes that use Humnut Sauce. Readers and May swear by it for it's "cheesey-ness". I was intrigued, went to Amazon.com and ordered me some Nooch. Little did I know that the container I was ordering was HUGE! First up was May's Humnut sauce. Mmmm! I was hooked at first lick! I also ordered a little Nutrional Yeast cookbook and have tried a couple of those recipes too. More to come on that. But first let's have a look and see what's on my camera from recent eats:

Ok, up first is another new find for me Flatout Flatbread. Go check out the awesome blog associated with the company.

On my multi-grain flatout is brown rice, laughing cow light wedge, Morningstar Chik'n Strips, cilantro, yellow peppers and refried vegetarian black beans.

Then I was on to a few ways to start using my NOOCH!





Crispy Tofu Sticks: Recipe to come!

Then came the White Melty Cheeze Sauce! Coming soon....

Stay tuned!

Oh Happy Day!

"Life is a runaway train I can't wait to get on..........I was already gone!" ~Sugarland

Ahhhhhhhhhhh! A beautiful Saturday with just me and my daughter. The boys are camping with the boy scouts. I'm so happy they are having such nice weather.

T and I made Vegan Strawberry Pancakes for breakfast this morning while listening to Sugarland. I'm seeing them in concert in two weeks and I'm gettin' in the groove! T loves the song All I Want To Do (whoo hoo hoo ha hoooooooooo)!

AnyWHO.... let me show you my pancake creation. It was based off of the recipe from Eat Drink and be Vegan by Dreena Burton called Raspberry Cornmeal Pancakes. I had to make quite a few substitutions since I didn't have all the ingredients on hand, but they turned out dreamy!

Mix 1 tbsp ground flax meal with 1 cup of vanilla unsweetened almond milk:


Then mix together 2/3 cup gluten free baking mix (I used Pamela's), 1/2 fine corn meal, and 1 teaspoon baking powder. Then to the wet ingredients add a tablespoon of canola oil and a teaspoon of vanilla or almond extract. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and then fold in sliced strawberries.Fry on a griddle with canola or coconut oil. I used coconut oil. It melts so nicely!
Enjoy with almond butter and a bit of maple syrup! Mmmmmmmmmm!

Optional: Rock out with your Air Guitar to Sugarland!

Where I've Been?!

Oh, just trying to get by as they say... that's where I've been. My memory card is full on my camera so it must be time to upload the photos and see what I've captured that is worthy of a Salad Crazed Blog!

So without further ado...

Salad with Chicken and Lemon-Tahini Dressing (rough recipe of tahini, water, lemon, and some cumin? Trying to remember! I made this a couple of weeks ago! Ooops!)

Mmmmm... so good!

Homemade lettuce wraps.

First a layer of Laughing Cow Light Garlic & Herb wedge on each lettuce leaf:

I heard there are some new Laughing Cow flavors coming out in June or July!! So excited! Guess I am still a "foodie" afterall?!

Then a nice layer of TJ's Cilantro Jalapeno Hummus!

slap on a pickle and some roasted red peppers:

Then eating while using the "Philadelphia Lean"! It's the way a philly cheesesteak should be eaten so you don't slop it all over yourself!

Easter happened too!

Well, that's all peeps! I gotta finish this bowl of Oats (oats, water, almond milk, raisins, cinnamon, flax meal combo topped with butterscotch chips and Justin's Maple almond butter... whoa!! Holy oats!!) and then hop into the shower and head out to Opening Day Baseball festivities! Yeah for a goregeous Jersey Day!

OIACBJ!

Yup, how cool am I?? Oats in a Coconut Butter jar! OIACBJ!

It just felt right.... and so blog worthy to use up that tiny crumble of coconut butter!

Magic Tricks

Sorry to play the disappearing act for anybody who has been stopping by. I've actually been doing really good, but just haven't been feeling like blogging. I still love my blog, and I still love my journey to getting fit. I had just been feeling like I was being pulled in too many directions to keep up as much as I would have liked to.

I've been eating great, working out more and just feeling good! The scale is budging slowly but surely. I had a complete physical and I'm awaiting my blood test results!

More to come...

Siggi's Yogurt Review

Mmmm! Orange Ginger Icelandic style skyr from Siggi's! Ok, I'll admit, it wasn't love at first bite when I peeled open my first Siggi's in the Orange Ginger flavor. With the first bite I thought it to be too tart and not sweet enough. Then I pressed on... it began to grow on me. By the end of my first container I was wishing there was more! Not because I didn't feel satisfied, but because it got better and better with each bite as I acquired a taste for this "new to me" style yogurt.

Ok, I was a bit shocked by the price tag as well, but after reading the label and seeing that it was fairly local, plus the cow's milk is from a fairly local farmer (which do not use growth hormones), it has no fat, no sugar and packed with 16 grams of protein. PLUS the package is very green with a cardboard recyclable sleeve that comes off.

I'm hoping the price will come down and that coupons will be available. $2.29/6 oz container is too rich for my blood!

That's all I got for now.... I'm a shady blogger just rolling with the punches and blogging when it feels good. Until I get my blogger groove back.... Keep Smiling!