Category Archives: Out and About

A Strawberry Pickin’ We Will Go

Posted by ljb in Organic, Out and About, Smoothies and tagged with , , , , , ,

It is that time of year when the strawberries are ripe and just waiting to be picked! Strawberry season!! Is there anything better then fresh strawberries?

A group of us headed over to Pell Farms in North Haven last night to pick, pick, and pick some more. After raining all day, it finally cleared up and while it was a little messy, it ended up being quite nice out.

Pell Farms strawberries

strawberry pickers

We picked for about 45 minutes or so and the end result was ah, maze, ing. It also brought me back to my farm roots and I think I said a few times how I could totally do this for a living. Then I remembered how hard my dad worked all the time and decided I would make a much better farm housewife instead.

weighbing strawberries

pick your own strawberries

strawberry pickers

I had almost 6.5 lbs of strawberries in my basket. And it was worth every dime.

fresh pick your own strawberries

fresh strawberries

When I got home, the Hubs was pretty excited. I think we ate about a pound of strawberries. I decided to freeze some which will be perfect for smoothies and whenever we have a strawberry craving after the season is over. Who knows, I may even juice them! I just washed and dried them really really well, cut them in half and then stuck them in individual plastic sandwich bags. That way, whenever we want a smoothie, we can just pull out the single serving. Then I put all those little bags into a gallon zip-loc bag just to be safe and avoid any type of freezer burn. The rest are just sitting in my refrigerator and will probably be gone in a matter of days. With that said, I need to go back. Like now. Before the short-lived strawberry season is over…

Be a lean, mean picking machine,

PS. Can I count strawberry picking as cardio?

How Does Your Garden Grow? (and cupcakes too!)

Posted by ljb in Out and About, Vegan and tagged with , , , ,

The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul. ~ Alfred Austin

Growing up, I imagined at one point I would have a quaint little garden of my own, where I could spend hours and hours in the sun growing and nurturing the plants. Just kidding. I didn’t really. I mean, growing up on the farm, we had a garden. It was a small one, but I remember as a kid how nice it was when my mom would go and pick the fresh lettuce or even better, the fresh blackberries which she would mix them into vanilla ice cream. We could sit on the porch out back and watch fireflies come up out of the corn fields. Do any of you siblings remember that?

While my mom is an excellent gardener of plants and children, my dad who is a farmer planted his gardens are a bigger scale. So I guess you can say, gardening should be in my blood. But alas, God decided that it wasn’t time for me to do that just yet. We have a cute little cape cod style house which faces south with a huge tree in the back. Thus, no sunlight for a garden. But as fate would have it, my friend JJ, caught the green thumb and has been doing some gardening of her own which she blogs about! She lives right next to a community garden and staked out her plot early, both last and this year. You see, I now firmly believe the best way to make sure you are putting 100% pure and organic produce into your body, is to grow your own. And she has been doing just that. This is her first round of plants – take a look at what she’s got going on so far!

garden

JJ's Garden

JJs garden

Tasty huh? So far she has planted:

  • rose and green striped zebra heirloom tomatoes
  • sugar snap peas
  • arugula
  • chives
  • boston lettuce
  • black seeded simpson lettuce
  • mesclun mix
Soon she’ll add:
  • eggplants
  • purple heirloom tomatoes
  • striped german tomatoes
  • sweet peppers
  • jalepenos
Fan-freaking-tastic!! Do you see why I choose to become friends with the girl? Homegirl got mad skills! There is literally a grocery store of healthy deliciousness growing just steps from her house. I can’t wait to show you what it looks like soon when everything is growing like crazy. And since she is an amazing cook, baker and creator of all this delish, maybe I can sneak in a few photos of dishes she creates from her garden.
And while I am on the subject of baking, this lady also bakes the. most. amazing. cupcakes EVA! But these aren’t just any cupcakes. Oh no. This are vegan. 100% vegan. And they are to die for. So amazing that you can’t even tell they are dairy-free. How do I know this? Because the Hubs, who claims he can taste when something is organic, had about three of them and didn’t even know they were made with tofu.
She dropped some by last night since I requested some for a work event and they were just too pretty not to include on this blog.
Strawberry Vegan Cupcakes
Strawberry Vegan Cupcakes
These are Vegan Strawberry Cupcakes. I have also tasted her:
  • German Chocolate
  • Margarita
  • Raspberry
  • Chocolate Ganche

And they are all vegan. She won’t be stopping there. There are many more delicious flavors in the works. Holy Vegan Cupcake. So if you ever need cupcakes for a party or just to enjoy with dinner, let me know. I have a contact in the cupcake world.

Happy eating!

Choosing Vegan: Archie Moore’s

Posted by ljb in Out and About, Vegan, Vegan Options at Restaurants, Weekends and tagged with , , , , , ,

Archie Moore’s is straight up delish. Well, it was when I ate meat anyway. Chicken wings to die for and I wasn’t even a huge wing person to being with. Last night was our first night back there since I went to more of a plant-based diet.

I thought: “what does one eat when trying to avoid consuming animal products?” Lucky for me, there were a few options. They had a “Vegetarian” section on the menu which consisted of:

  • Grilled Vegetable Focaccia Stack
  • Garden Burger
  • Garden Burger Vegetable Club
  • California Grilled Cheese Sandwich
All of these are an obviously good choice for vegetarians, but probably only an ok choice for vegans if you order it sans cheese (no California Grilled Cheese for you) and pending the garden burger was vegan. It might actually be worth asking next time I am there, but I am going to guess it isn’t. They also had a pretty good salad section:
  • Fresh Garden Salad
  • Chef Salad
  • Spinach Salad
  • Caesar Salad
  • Trail Mix Salad
  • Grilled Vegetable Salad
Most of these salads came with cheese and a few had meat in them. So when ordered without those ingredients, they would be a safe choice. However, if you opted to get a dressing other than the kind listed with the salad which, for the most part, consisted of either gorgonzola vinaigrette or a creamy dressing, your choices were limited. Their choice of dressing included: vinaigrette, bleu cheese, creamy bacon, thousand island and ranch. Mostly fine for vegetarians, but kind of a disaster for vegans (besides the vinaigrette).

I choose the Grilled Veggie Salad with Pesto Vinaigrette dressing and a side of sweet potato fries (not the healthiest choice, but they are my vice).

My thoughts: Can I get two? I was very impressed with this salad overall. The pesto dressing and grilled veggies made me forget I was just eating a salad. The dressing was delish and I couldn’t even finish it, although I am sure the sweet potato fries had something to do with it.

You might be thinking: “Lauren, you went to a restaurant that is famous for wings. Did you honestly think you would find an extensive list of vegan options?” And I say to you: “Duh, of course not.” My “Choosing Vegan” posts aren’t about slapping restaurants on the wrist if they don’t cater to my diet. It is about helping to find what sort of options or combinations of options a plant-based dieter can have at their favorite establishments.

Obviously, this isn’t a place where a group of vegans would congregate for a great veg meal. But if you are meeting up with friends here for happy hour, just know you do have options! And when planning ahead, you can have a decent plant-based meal while enjoying the company of others.

Enjoy your beautiful Sunday,

What’s Up Jasmine?

Posted by ljb in Organic, Out and About, Recipes, Vegan-Friendly Restaurants, Weekends and tagged with , , , , , , ,

Holy Vegan Cannelloni! My mind was just blown.

I walked down to green well Organic Tea & Coffee (if you haven’t figured it out yet, I am obsessed with this place), and decided to grab a tea before working the front desk at the yoga studio. I opted for the Iced Jasmine Tea and added just a tad of agave to it. I literally walked out of the cafe, took a sip and it was almost like a cartoon where the sun started shining, birds started chirping and music was playing so I felt the need to dance. I didn’t, because New Haven just isn’t ready for that yet.

I know this picture isn’t much to look at, but I had to give you some sort of visual so you could understand the magnitude of my love for this drink. Now, most of you don’t live in CT which makes it difficult to swing by green well, so I am pretty sure you could easily make this at home. Go grab some organic herbal jasmine tea, make it as directed, add ice and give it a teaspoon or two of agave. Presto! Your new “go to” drink. You’re welcome.

My New Yoga Buddy

Posted by ljb in Out and About, Yoga and tagged with , ,

Guess who I got to go to yoga with me, not once, but….TWO whole times. Mr. B himself.

I can’t tell you how happy this makes my heart. Gosh, I just love him and his willingness to appease me. Not only did he go with me, but he said he actually didn’t mind it. See, he loves a challenge (I think he considers marrying me a challenge) and I think this last yoga class was just hard enough that he got a kick out of it and wanted to push him. Homeboy was even “leveling up” and taking the poses farther than a beginner. Impressive. My friend J and her boyfriend, AC, met us there. We went to a mixed level class with one of my favorite teachers, who focused on the guys since she knew it was their first time.  Both the boys were a tad bit nervous. But, with the instructors help, they became yogis in no time. Champs, I tell ya. Previously, we eased them into it by going to restorative yoga. Restorative is basically a practice where you focus on relaxing your mind and body. Almost like meditation. You perform about 3 to 5 poses and hold those poses anywhere from 5 to 20 mins. Not strenuous at all and it was a great way to relax ourselves on a late Sunday evening. I recommend trying it at least once to see how you feel after!

Namaste,

P.S. I really just wanted to put this picture up here to prove to you that I was actually fun. Cause I am.

A Nice Little Weekend For This Lady

Posted by ljb in Around the House, Juicing, Organic, Out and About, Vegan-Friendly Restaurants, Weekends and tagged with , , ,

What? It’s Monday already, huh? Well shoot. Here goes another week….

But, before I plunge into whatever great things might be ahead, let’s chat about the weekend. It was a gorgeous one here in Southern CT. Friday, I had a hot date consisting of Whole Foods and grocery shopping. Side note: a big thanks to John for sending my husband home early and telling him a few times to “go spend time with your wife”. You are the best! Anyway, Mr. B had never been to Whole Foods (gasp) so I told him that he was allowed to sit and eat while I gathered up the groceries. He was like a kid in a candy store. Did he want pizza? How about a sandwich? He could get both. And they have beer! Heaven. He opted for pizza, by the way. I left him mid-bite to go off on my grocery shopping adventure.

I have lots of great recipes coming up this week that I am super pumped to tell you about!

Saturday was “the best, day, evvvvv, eerrr” (that was me singing). I got up bright and early, made my greenish smoothie that I posted about and headed off to yoga. This time, I decided to try slow flow, a practice I had never done before. It was such a different experience from Vinyasa yoga, which is quicker and a little more intense I thought. Some of you may be reading this and thinking “I didn’t understand that last sentence.” Fear not! I have a post in the queue to tell you all about yoga and my experiences with it since I am fairly new to the practice. So look forward to that soon. (Hurray!)

Back to my story, so after an awesome yoga session at Fresh Yoga, I headed off down the street to my new favorite little coffee and tea shop in the area, green well Organic Tea and Coffee. A recent addition to the area, it is so close to my yoga studio that it was fate. Amazing teas, great juices and awesome owners who I found out were not only from the Chicago area, but actually lived in the same town and fairly close to me! What are the odds? Fate right? Duh. Oh, and one of the owners had a Cubs hat on. How could I pass up a “Go Cubbies”!? I plan on doing a dedicated post on green well just so I can fully explain how much I am in love with this place. Anyway, I grabbed an apple, ginger and rhubarb juice. Having never experienced rhubarb in juice form, I was a little anxious to be honest. But as assumed, I fell in love.

I was still in the mood to enjoy the day so I walked down to the Wooster Square Farmers’ Market which is part of CitySeed. CitySeed is an organization whose mission is “to engage the community in growing an equitable, local food system that promotes economic development, community development and sustainable agriculture.” Rock on. Being a farmer’s daughter in all sense of the word (or words I guess?), I fully support farmers’ markets and always love to try to buy local. I have a passion and large respect for those that work the land to feed us. And, I love my dad so I am doing my part in supporting his occupation even though I am 900 miles away from the home land.

The cool thing about CitySeed, besides running markets all over the area, is that they are nice to those of us who rarely carry cash. So, I never have cash on me. It worries my husband sometimes. But if I have it, I spend it. I don’t know what it is. I walked down to the market unexpectedly so I didn’t even think about having some readily available. Luckily for me, they have “coins” you can purchase with a credit card. Since most, if not all, vendors at this market don’t accept credit cards, these coins acted as my cash, that the vendors then turn in to CitySeed for their share of sales. Pretty neat idea if you ask me.

I came home with delish whole wheat sourdough bread, rhubard (because I love it now), some homemade pasta sauces and some little vegan baked goods. Successful trip yeah? Um, yes.

Saturday night we spent at the casino with some amazing friends. We lost a total of $16. All my fault. Don’t gamble, Lauren. Just don’t.

Sunday was an amazing day consisting of a morning yoga class, church, outdoor conversations on our neighbors new patio and some yard work. It also involved an amazing grilled “cheese” sandwich made from the fresh sourdough bread I picked up at the market. It. Was. To. Die. For. I had been craving a grilled cheese of sorts for weeks now and I finally got my fix. Hallelujah. And to top it all off, my friend J convinced me to do some mini-hiking up East Rock, right by my house. Now, I use the term “mini” very loosely, because when you haven’t hiked for over a year, mini-hikes seem like climbing Mt. Everest. But it was accomplished and was followed by a nice downhill walk and some great conversation. Good for the soul, I tell ya.

I live for weekends like these. Weeks filled with love and just being content. No big plans, but lots of simple, little ones that together make up a life worth living.

Enjoy your amazing week!