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Hello September!

Posted by ljb in Andy, Weekends and tagged with , , ,

Wow. Where did August go? Am I the only one would suddenly feels like I should get out my sweaters and boots even though it is still in the 80s? I sure hope not…

As mentioned in my last post, I went back to the heartland to visit friends and family last week! I can’t tell you how much fun it was to see everyone considering I hadn’t been home since Christmas! We had a crazy weekend which included driving 15 hours, attending two weddings, meeting my brother’s girlfriend for the first time and a joint-family cookout. All these things were a blast and mentally, I needed it. Physically, it took a toll on me.

I didn’t weigh in last week because I was traveling and I like to keep things consistant on my own scale. I stepped on this morning preparing myself for the worst. Result? It wasn’t the worst, but I maintained. Considering how much I ate while traveling, I am going to take it (not like I have much choice anyway). I could have done a lot worse, that is for sure. Today starts a new week and while I am traveling for work today and tomorrow, I owe it to myself to do better.

While I could go on and on about how much fun my trip home was, I decided to let you enjoy this photo essay. Take one look at the pics and you can easily see why going home is such a treat!

Kerbers on a couch

Kerbers on a couch. And we are still missing a few!

Mr and Mrs

Grant and Michelle finally got hitched!

Andy and Lauren

Weddings, weddings and more weddings!

Table 7

Table 7

Sisterly Bonding

A little sisterly bonding time (plus Emily, minus Heather)

Kaitlyn Jenae

Lil Miss Kaitlyn eyeing the pool

Uncle Andy

Andy multitasking between being an uncle and a brother-in-law

I wish I would have taken more pictures, but I guess I was so wrapped up in the moments that I completely forgot! I did take a lot of mental photos though.

Until next time!

Broccoli and Cheese Stuffed Shells

Posted by ljb in Dinner, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian and tagged with , , ,

Week 2 is complete and the scale said I lost 1.4 lbs. Not bad considering all the carbs I felt like I ate. I am down a total of 4.6, about 3.6 away from my first goal.

So what did I make this week? Well, the husband said he would like more meat in his diet. Apparently, my becoming anti-meat seems to be affecting his enjoyment of dinners. So I decided I would compromise. Except I didn’t. Instead, I made Broccoli-and-Cheese Stuffed Shells.

I really liked this recipe because 1) Mr. B loves broccoli so he thought it was great (even sans meat) and 2) you can totally make it the night before and then stick it in the oven for dinner the next night. Easy peasy.

What you will need is:

  • 16 uncooked jumbo shells
  • 1 Tbsp of water
  • 1/2 shredded mozzarella cheese or Daiya cheese
  • 2 Tbps shredded mozzarella or Daiya cheese
  • 2/3 cups pasta sauce
  • 2 cups broccoli florets
  • 16 oz Ricotta cheese or soy ricotta cheese

Preheat the oven to 350. Basically, boil the shells as indicated on the package. Rinse with cold water as soon as then are drained. If you are using frozen broccoli florets, cook them in the microwave according to the package then combine them in a bowl with the ricotta cheese and 1/2 mozzarella/Daiya cheese. Mix well. Next arrange the shells into an ungreased baking pan or dish. Fill the shells with the ricotta mixture. Spoon pasta sauce over the shells and sprinkle the remaining cheese over it. Bake uncovered for about 15 minutes.

The end result is a quick, easy and delicious meal all four around 9 WW points a serving.

broccoli and cheese stuffed shells

Andy went  back for seconds which is always a good sign and had no idea some of it was made with vegan ingredients :) Win.

We are heading back to the HeartLand (aka Illinois) this weekend to enjoy some quality time with our families and attend a few weddings. I haven’t been home since Christmas so this will definitely be good for us.  I am hoping to squeeze in some time to blog since my current life schedule has not allowed me the time I would like to dedicate to this site. And I do miss it. We leave Thursday night and are driving the whole 15-ish hours to the good old Midwest then heading up to Chicago for one wedding on Friday and back down to Central IL on Saturday for another. I honestly wish I could make it back for every wedding we get invited to because I just heart weddings. I hope to have some pictures to share with you once we get back. Until then, peace, love and happiness!

Here Goes Nothin’

Posted by ljb in Inspiration, Vegan, Vegetarian and tagged with , ,

I’ve decided to try something. Last week I signed up for Weight Watchers. Why? Well, I think everyone would like to lose those few extra pounds and I was finding myself eating mostly vegan, but lots of it! Ya know how they say you can have too much of a good thing. That is where I was. That, and the fact that there are lots of unhealthy vegan and vegetarian foods out there. Like Oreos. Shocked to know Oreos are vegan? Well I was too. And once I found out, there was no stopping me from eating them. Fail.

pandas vegan fat

So with one week down, I’ve decided to keep you all updated on how my progress was going. Especially since it will be different being on Weight Watchers when you are trying to eat a mostly plant-based diet. In my last post, we talked about how I have been consuming cheese a few times a week. I am going to try my best to keep that at a minimum, but decided it is ok for me to indulge every once in a while. (Thanks for all the feedback on that BTW!)

So every Monday is my weigh-in day, and after one week, I am down 3.2 lbs. Go me! I’ve got some fun WW recipes coming up soon among other things. Like remember when I promised some fun posts? Well those are heading your way this week as well!

Toodles!

I Have A Confession

Posted by ljb in Juicing, Vegan, Vegetarian and tagged with , , ,

I do. And I am not super happy about it. I have taken pride in the fact that I made the switch from eating basically anything and everything, to trying hard to stick to a plant-based diet. And for the most part, have done really well. Up until recently that is.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been partaking in meals/snacks that contain cheese. Yep. Not every meal or even every day. But about anywhere two to four times a week, I have been indulging in cheese. I can’t tell you why and I can’t tell you how it happened. And what is worse is that I know my body doesn’t like that I am doing this. How do I know this? It tells me by making my skin suddenly break out and by the awful pains I get in my stomach sometimes after my meals. So why do I do it?

Besides the cheese, I have done a pretty good job with keeping it plant-based. I still juice, avoid meat, eggs and milk in its true form, and try to make sure that I am staying away from fried things (which is a struggle, but has been totally doable). So I feel pretty guilty about it. I think that may have been why I have been avoiding this blog for a while. How could I write about my new “healthy” lifestyle when I was secretly devouring cheese behind my screen? The good news is that I have been keeping it to a minimum. Limiting your intake on dairy is better than nothing I suppose. I did take to the ol’ search engine and found some encouraging things.

1. I am not the only person who has done/is doing this.

2. There are people who are strict about eating a plant-based diet, but still enjoy the occasional cheese slice from time to time.

3. By doing looking at the positives, avoiding meat has still done wonders for my body and the environment.

I’d love to get your thoughts on this issue. Is it ok to eat a mostly plant-based diet with the occasional dairy? Is is possible to indulge in cheese once or twice a week and not feel guilty? Have you been consuming plant-based meals and suddenly found yourself pigging out on cheese? Any advice would be greatly appreciated it for sure.

And I promise my next post will be a little more upbeat. Yep – we are talking bike riding! (Oh ya, I got a bike).

But in the meantime, here is an adorable picture of my adorable nieces. Enjoy :)

kelsey and kaitlyn

 

Buddha Bowl

Posted by ljb in CSA, Dinner, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian and tagged with , , , , ,

You need something easy. You need something quick. You need something healthy.

Well then, I have something for you – a Buddha Bowl. Some brown rice, chickpeas, add whatever veggies are in  your fridge along with some garlic, spices, flaxseeds and tamari sauce – BOOM – insta-greatness.

This easy meal really does have it all. You have your whole grains, protein from the chickpeas, fiber and vitamins from the veggies and a bowl full of taste!

I used some veggies that I received in my most recent CSA farm share – cute lil’ baby carrots and broccoli.

carrots

First things first, get the brown rice going. Notice I didn’t say white rice. Yeah, that stuff is just no good for you. Make a smart decision and go with the brown. Lots of protein and fiber! Now brown rice can be a little time consuming to cook, so if you know you will be in a hurry, try making this ahead of time so you can just pull it out of the fridge the next day and heat it up.

All you do is take 1 cup brown rice and combine it with 2 1/2 cups water in a pot. Salt it. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer and cover with a lid. Simmer for about 45-55 minutes. Remove from the heat and let it stand covered for about 5 minutes.

For your veggies: you can use about any veggie that your heart desires. I just kept it simple broccoli and carrots this time. Chop up your veggies, dice 1-2 cloves of garlic and drain and wash your chickpeas.

buddha bowl veggies

Add some olive oil to the pan along with the garlic and saute it for a minute or so, then add the carrots and broccoli. Let those cook for about 2 minutes and then you can throw in the chickpeas. Add salt and pepper to taste. If you want, add a dash of cayenne pepper to spice things up a little :) Cook all the ingredients for a few more minutes. After they are all done cooking, add in about a tablespoon of flaxseeds.

Put the rice in your bowl, add some of the veggies toppings and pour a little tamari sauce over the top. I really like adding avocados to the top! I really brings it to a whole new level! This dish makes great leftovers too so be sure to make enough to bring for lunch the next day!

buddha bowl

If you notice, I said “about” a lot in these directions. That is because this recipe is so versatile and really depends on how you want it! Feel free to experiment with it! Add whatever veggies or spices you like and see what makes your taste buds smile!

Sweet Potato Ravioli and Sweet Lemon-Sage “Butter” Sauce

Posted by ljb in Dinner, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian and tagged with , , , , , ,

Hello my lil’ chickadees!! I am so so incredibly sorry I have left you for so long. I really feel horrible about it. I wasn’t ignoring you, I promise. As mentioned before, I had two different sets of visitors back-to-back from June 28th to July 14th. It left little time for blogging but I am not complaining as I had tons-o-fun. So what better way to usher us back into a beautiful relationship than to start off with a recipe!

Now, I know I did a ravioli post not that long ago, but I wanted to experiment with it. I posted about the Sweet Pea Ravioli from One Happy Table and I took that recipe and modified it slightly by using sweet potatoes. I absolutely love sweet potato anything and everything. The hubs does too for the most part, but he always gets a little concerned when I try to make something out of my know-how which you all know it quite a bit. So this is me, branching out and taking what I learned from cooking with my best bud up here in CT.

Enough talk! Let’s get to the recipe!

For the filling:

  • 1 (1-pound) sweet potato
  • 2 tablespoons vegan Parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon Earth Balance

Pierce the potato multiple times. You can either stick it in the oven at 400 degrees on a foil-lined pan for about 50 minutes or you can place it in the microwave for around 8 or 9 minutes. The time really depends on your appliances so be sure to watch it. Once it is done cooking, let it cool for a few minutes. Then scrape all the insides into a food processor or blender. Add the vegan parm cheese, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and Earth Balance. Pulse until creamy and smooth.

For the dough:

I found this recipe for the perfect ravioli dough thanks to One Happy Table as mentioned before:

  • 2 cups white or wheat flour (I used wheat)
  • 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 pinches salt

Mix salt and flour in a bowl. Then add the olive oil and slowly add the water. I found it works best when you mix with your hands. You may need to add more water than what the recipe calls for. I definitely did. Knead the dough for about 5-ish minutes to make sure it is the right texture. Once it is made, roll it out thin on a floured surface. Now, if you are fancy you may have a ravioli cutter or even a cookie cutter for that matter. To show you how awesome I am, I used a small tupperware because, well, that is all I had. (whatever, it worked great).

For the sauce:

  • 4 tablespoons Earth Balance
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • chopped pine nuts (to taste)

Melt the Earth Balance in a sauce pan. Add in the chopped sage and let it cook for about a minute or so. Turn down the heat to low and add the ground pepper, lemon juice and pine nuts. I added the brown sugar last, but I think it would be fine to add it in whenever as long as you don’t over cook it.

Once you have all the components complete, add the filling to the ravioli doughs. Use your own judgement as to how full you want them as it will depend on the size of your ravioli cut-outs. Cover with another ravioli cut-out and use a fork to seal shut and add some decoration to your ravs.

sweet potato ravioli

Andy even helped me out with sealing the ravs. Clark kept a close eye on him to make sure he didn’t mess up.

Toss them into a pot of salted boiling water and cook for a few minutes. They are done when they float to the top. Fish those little guys out of the water and let them cool for a few minutes. Then cover them with your delish lemon-sage sauce and enjoy!

sweet potato ravioli

You may need to mess with the sauce a few times before you really find a combination that you like. But I promise, it is worth the time and effort you put into this dish! Mr. B actually love them! In fact, he went back for a second helping which I did not expect. Sigh. It is so nice when your hard work pays off.

The best part about ravioli, I think, is that you can fill it with whatever you want really! I am dying to know what your favorite type of ravioli is. Share it in my comments and maybe I’ll try it!

Thanks for sticking with me friends. I promise I will be more attentive from here on out.

Love to you all,

I’m Still Alive!!

Posted by ljb in Around the House and tagged with , , , , ,

Hello hello friends!! Just wanted to let you know I am still alive! And to prove it, here is a picture:

sand turtle

This is how we spent our 4th of July – building a sand turtle named “Neil”.

I promise I haven’t forgotten about you! My life has suddenly become super crazy! I started a new job last week and my sister was in town visiting. The day she left, my in-laws (mother, father, sister and brother) and our two nieces came to visit! So basically, I have been out having fun and haven’t had a ton of time to devot to you :( And for this, I am very sorry. But I promise once things go back to normal, this blog will continue as before!!

Love to you all!

Introducing the most refreshing green juice ever!

Posted by ljb in Uncategorized

Reblogged from grow a little something:

Click to visit the original post

  • Click to visit the original post

I just wanted to send a quick little juice recipe your way. I wasn't going to post about juice for a while but this one is SO delicious I had to do it. It might even be my new favorite. It's perfect for summertime and I highly recommend that you try it at least once!

What you'll need:

  • Handful or two of…

Read more… 274 more words

So I need to apologize for leaving you guys hanging for so long! It has been quite the busy week! Between starting a new job and family visiting, my blog has been a little neglected :( Many many apologies. But! Here is an awesome post by JJ about one of my favorite juices to date! It is an awesome summer drink so try it out and let me know how you like it! Thanks for the awesome juice idea JJ!

Sweet Pea Ravioli from One Happy Table

Posted by ljb in Dinner, Inspiration, Organic, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian and tagged with , , , , , , ,

There is this vegan blog I’m kinda in love with. Just a tad. All the recipes are delish and relatively easy for someone like me to understand. Today, JJ and I attempted to make the Sweet Pea Ravioli recipe from One Happy Table. It was ah-maze-ing. We made a few minor changes such as we used basil and pine nuts since we didn’t have lemon verbena and almonds at the time. It was so easy and the complete meal was done within about 20-30 minutes. It felt like a gourmet meal that we just whipped up at noon on a Thursday afternoon before laying out!

sweet pea ravioli

Our little baby raviolis before going in the pot

sweet pea ravioli

The final product! So delicious!

Careful: You may over-consume like I did since it was so tasty. Over-consuming = food baby (which is not ideal before putting on a swim suit to lay out).

While the recipe is for sweet peas, I think there is a lot of room to experiment with some other veggies such as asparagus or sweet potato. If you are interested in making this (which I highly recommend) head on over to One Happy Table for the recipe and let me know how it goes!

Happy tummies and big thanks to One Happy Table!

An Anniversary Surprise!

Posted by ljb in Andy, Around the House, Dinner, Vegan Options at Restaurants and tagged with , , , ,

The wedding jar had turned the day before our anniversary and I thought “I wonder what he possibly has planned?” Turns out that Mr. B is quite creative under pressure. He knows that I love to dance. I am by no means good at it at all, but every time we are at an event where there is music involved, I have to beg and plead with him to get out there on the dance floor with me and boogie. Basically, the man doesn’t like to dance. He told me we had somewhere we needed to be by 6:30, but we HAD to get drinks before. He obviously needed to calm his nerves about something.

Andy drinking old fashions When he got home, I asked if I was dressed appropriately for our date and that is when he dropped the surprise: We were going to take salsa dancing lessons! Beyond excited. So excited I was doing my best attempt to salsa dance before we even got out the door! This was really special to me because I have told him quite a bit in the past year that I am sick of buying/getting “stuff”. What is really want is to experience things. So instead of buying me something, he bought me an awesome experience that I will remember forever. We stopped by O’Tooles in New Haven for a quick drink then if was off to get our dance on.

We went to Alisa’s House of Salsa on Chapel St. I walked in with a little bounce in my step and Andy walked in looking a tad bit nervous. We stepped into the studio and poor Andy was the only man. Alisa, our instructor, was beyond amazing! So helpful and took it at a pace that even I could understand. We learned the basic steps, then went on to learn turns and dancing with a partner. Mr. B was the man of the hour! All the girls lined up and took their turn learning to salsa dance with him. He was a pro by the end of the night. What a trooper! She told us to download some salsa music once we got home so we could continue to learn the basics on our own. Um, done son. Andy probably had no idea I would get this into salsa when he signed us up.

Can I just say that I think I have finally found something that actually makes me comfortable with my big hips? I mean, I have rather large hips and we were encouraged to swing those babies and find our rhythm. It was quite freeing actually. And don’t you worry because we each bought 6 more classes :) After an amazing and addicting lesson, he then took me to Red Lentil, a vegetarian and vegan restaurant right downtown. I have been asking for him to go with me for months! So this was especially fun. He ordered the Santa Fe Salad and I got their delicious Shepherd’s Pie.

Santa fe salad at red lentil

red lentil shepherd's pie

If you live in this area you really should try it. Veg head or not.

After our meal, it was time to head home so I could give him his surprise. My friend, Lydia, makes these amazing cakes. Super elaborate and beautiful cakes. Andy always says he doesn’t want/need any gifts. But I know he loves to eat so I decided to give him a delicious treat of anniversary cake. Lydia did such an amazing job coming up with the design. It even fooled Andy into thinking it was a real wine bottle when he first saw it! wine bottle cake bennett vineyards So cute right? Andy loved it and is continuing to snack on it today. We also got quite the gift from our amazing neighbors. Now, those of you who know us know why this gift is appropriate, but in case you don’t. I will fill you in. The day we got married, a hawk flew into a transformer which caused a power outage in half our town. Including our church. Yeah, super inconvenient when you have a large amount of people coming to see you get married and it is 96 degrees outside. So we moved everything to a church that did have power only to find out the power at our church came back on just as that happened. The other piece to this story is that for our first anniversary, we went on a dinner cruise in Newport, RI. It was beautiful and so much fun! Until…..the boat caught fire and the power went out. Yes, this is a true story. But the real tragedy is because of the fire and power outage, they didn’t serve us dessert. So with that being said, our marriage creates lots of sparks. And just as a precaution, our neighbors, Kris and MacKenzie bought us a fire extinguisher. fire

I have a feeling it will come in use someday knowing how I cook. So there you have it. It was a wonderful anniversary with many awesome surprises. So meet me back here next year, when the wedding jar has once again turned! Well, I mean, I hope you come back before then.

Love love,