Brea Getting Fit

Sleep is overrated… and a poll

breefawn — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 03:15:02 +0000

I guess I’m just going to have to learn to live on less than 8 hours. All of you moms out there…how do you fit your workout in around your life? I’m trying to keep up as much of my old routine as possible, but I’ve had to cut back from 1-2 hours to 15-30 minutes…its about all I can handle before I need a nap! I have also found that ants on a log, followed by grapes is the most wonderful snacky food! I used to love it as a kid, and I’ve recently rediscovery this gem. I think I enjoy it because it’s easy in a pinch. What are some of your favorite quick and easy snacks?

Now for the poll: boy or girl? Ish wanted me to see what y’all thought we were having. Here’s the problem, though. I didn’t have morning sickness (except once), I’ve gotten heartburn a handful of times, and I can’t tell if I’m carrying high or low yet. Ideas?

Quesadillas…er, kind of.

breefawn — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 03:19:12 +0000

The more pregnant I get, the hungrier I get. I suppose that isn’t a terrible thing, but it means that my normal large (read: HUGE) salad isn’t cutting it for dinner anymore. I’ve found that I have to move my salad to my lunchtime eats, and have something more substantial for dinner, or risk waking up in the middle of the night and raiding the refrigerator. So, I’ve been experimenting with quick and easy meals, especially since I’m usually ravenous by the time I get home from work. My new favorite is veggie “quesadillas”. They’re less than traditional, but WAY more filling and yummy. Did I mention better for you? You will need to find some Daiya Cheese to make them fabulous. If you can’t find Daiya, try Cosmos. They ship quickly, and are great people. Without further ado…

Quesadillas a’la Brea

4 whole wheat tortillas
2/3 cup Daiya vegan cheese (half cheddar, half italian)
1/4 cup red bell pepper
1/2 c mushrooms
1/2 can green chilies
1/4 cup onions
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
3/4 cup black beans, smashed
guacamole & sour cream for garnish
1 clove garlic, crushed (will be removed later)
Coconut oil (for frying)

To make: heat a pan over medium-high heat, add a small amount of oil, and the mushrooms. Cook them until they start to lose their juice, then add the rest of the veggies, except the chilies. Stir constantly until the onions are *almost* translucent. Add the chilies and seasonings, and remove the garlic. To assemble the quesadillas, spread 1/2 the beans on a tortilla, follow with 1/2 the veggies and 1/2 the cheese. Put the quesadilla into a lightly oiled pan, heated over medium-high heat. Cook until the cheese starts to melt, then flip (I suggest 2 spatulas-I have the MIU Flexible Pancake Spatulas, Red (Set of 2), which ROCK for this AND pancakes!) cook for another 3-5 minutes, just enough to finish melting the cheese and brown the tortilla. Remove from pan, and repeat. Allow your quesadillas to cool for about 5 minutes, then slice into wedges. Serve with your favorite toppings. Can serve 2-4 people, but I like 1 with leftovers.

….also, I promise to post a belly pic just as soon as I can get pictures to load on the site!!

Pregnancy Update

breefawn — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 04:36:35 +0000

Hello to all of you who are still reading my blog! I am sorry that I have not been more diligent in my posts, but life has been absolutely CRAZY! To catch you up, we set up our crib, picked out paint colors, and have been stocking up on good baby deals. (I LOVE Ross and Marshalls for onesies!) I also found a great deal on nursing covers, thanks to a wonderful friend. Have you ever heard of Udder Covers? They’re pretty neat, and although Tater won’t be here until July, this is a deal that I could NOT pass up. If you go the udder covers website and enter the promo code “onefree”, you can get your udder cover for just the price of shipping! I have 2, in the Carson and Jones patterns, and they are really neat! I have to admit that I tried on the Carson, and the covers have this neat neckline that is moldable so that you look at your baby while you are covering up your nursing activities. Beyond that nifty find, I really haven’t had much time beyond trying to workout and eat healthy. I do really enjoy Suzanne Bowen’s Long and Lean Prenatal Workout, which is produced by Ruah, and will be great even after the pregnancy. The workout is very fluid, and I am really enjoying the barre quality (even though it’s probably more pilates-based to be completely fair). I will post a full review soon.

EVERTHING hurts…

breefawn — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 02:04:39 +0000

So, I finished my first 1/2 marathon today…walking (and jogging to start off for about a 1/2 mile and 200 feed to the finish so that I didn’t get trampled!). I have to say that I am sorely out of shape. When I found out that I was pregnant, I had to stop running because my heart rate gets too high for me to be comfortable that nothing will happen to Tater Tot. SO, I’ve been doing LOTS of pilates, barre work and stretching. DEFINITELY not a good training regime for 13.1 miles of walking today. Ish and I (with our AWESOME friend who finished the FULL MARATHON!!) finished our 1/2 in just under 4 hours. My hip flexors hurt, my toosh hurts, my feet and shins hurt. Thankfully, nothing in my abdomen hurts. I’ve been resting, stretching and trying to walk it out as much a possible….call me CRAZY, but this experience has made me FAR more convinced that I want to do this AGAIN. I know, I know. But I’m thinking that a 1/2 would be a great motivation to get back into killer shape after Tater Tot arrives this summer. I am very proud of ALL of us, and I think that I’m going to call it a night.

Daiya ROCKS!

breefawn — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 02:23:34 +0000

I finally found something better than Teese: DAIYA vegan cheese. It is gluten and soy free, and Ish couldn’t tell the difference!! I’ve made pizza and stuffed shells with the Italian blend, and quesadillas, nachos, tacos…you get the idea…with the cheddar. It is FANTASTIC stuff. It melts without outrageously high temperatures AND has the taste and texture of REAL cheese (as best I can remember). It’s heaven. Tater Tot (yes, that’s what we call the baby…lots of cravings for tater tots the first month) LOVES it. I find myself LOOKING for food to melt it on. I was even tempted to melt some on celery just to eat it (hey, it is NOT any more strange than pickles and ice cream). If you haven’t had the chance to try Daiya, it is well worth the higher price tag. You can order your very own bag of heavenly goodness from my favorite vegan shoppe, Cosmo’s HERE. The ONLY thing that I haven’t tried yet is mac and cheese, but if you have a good recipe, I’m game!

WORST invention ever.

breefawn — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 01:38:12 +0000

Okay, so I’m at the point in my pregnancy where nothing really fits. My pants are too tight in the waist, and my maternity pants are still too big (except for the size 6 Liz Lange pants that I LOVE…but who wants to wear the SAME pants every day?). SO, I’ve heard good things about Ingrid & Isabel Women’s Maternity Lace BellaBand. It’s supposed to help you keep your pre-maternity pants up even if you can’t button them and help the maternity pants that are too big fit in the interim before you REALLY get your belly (hence the purchase). Well…here is the problem: it is SUPER uncomfortable. It rides up when it’s not supposed to, rolls down and makes me look like my pants are gonna fall off (which they shouldn’t be doing if the stupid band did its job), and to make it worse, it makes my back hurt like nothing I’ve ever experienced before! I even tried two different sizes. I’m normally an 8, so I purchased a size 1 and 2 due to my hips (I wasn’t sure how it would fit with my hourglass shape, soon to be an apple). Sad to say, I wasted my money. I supposed that if you’re straight up and down it would work alright…but I’m DEFINITELY not a ruler. So…I’m off to buy safetypins and pray that my belly pops soon. I’m almost 13 weeks, and from what I’ve read I have 3-6 weeks to wait for that magical moment.

New Year, BIG changes

breefawn — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 23:51:06 +0000

Hello readers! I really hope that some of you are still out there! I know that I have been seriously slacking in the blogging department, but I needed some time to deal with life, and now that it’s back under control, I feel confident that I can spend a little bit more time on my blog again! Hooray for organizing my life!! I had a wonderful holiday season filled with family, friends and YUMMY veg food, which I will have to post about at a later date, because I have other plans for this post. First of all, I’m pregnant,which means that my training is going to have to change, as I am no longer allowed to run (my heart rate gets too high for the doctor to okay it). I am planning on walking the 1/2 marathon on January 17th, though! 13.1 miles isn’t THAT far, right?? So…rather than keeping up my super-challenging workout routine, I am going to focus on my Pilates Chair (one of the best gadgets I’ve ever had the pleasure to workout with! You can check it out here, if you like: Malibu Pilates Chair with 3 Workout DVDs, Malibu Makeover Manual & Eating Right Guide. ) and my barre workouts. I will admit that I’ve taken a few weeks off, as I’ve been too tired to think, let alone pay attention to a 45-minute workout, but starting TONIGHT I’m back at it. I’m also hoping to have enough energy to blog a few times a week. And don’t worry, there’s still plenty of goodies to give away so that we can all get fit and fab in the New Year! Happy 2010 everyone!

Gotta love pad thai and salted pecans

breefawn — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 00:00:24 +0000

So…Ish is always saying how much he despises Thai food. I happen to L-O-V-E it. So, when I found a pad thai kit at Kroger that was…VEGAN!…I had to try it. AND IT WAS COMPLETELY DELISH! Instead of the 2 eggs that the recipe on the package called for, I added 1/3 of a block of crumbled extra-firm tofu (frozen and thawed for a better texture). I also added green bell peppers, broccolini, cauliflower, mushrooms AND onions. OH! And topped it with scallions and some chopped peanuts, of course. It was absolutely to DIE FOR! AND I think that I may have cause Ish to eat his words…literally! He went back for seconds! I would normally just make a stirfry with soba noodles, but there’s something about pad thai that I just can’t place. I don’t have it very often-and maybe that’s why. It feels like SUCH a huge treat when I DO have it! Now I want some vegan fried rice tomorrow and some vegan lo mein on Tuesday and I’ll be SET!

On another note, I have found a new love of salted pecans. Before today, my only experience with pecans was in pie (and sneaking them out of the pile that was about to go into the food processor…. But I was ambling through the aisles in the grocery and there I found some magical words: dry roasted, salted pecans. I thought that they sounded too good to be true, so I checked the ingredients…and NO ANIMAL PRODUCTS! WOOT! So off I went with my treasure and popped open the container as soon as I got in the car (yup, I’m one of THOSE people…and darn proud of it!)…one word: HEAVEN. I’ve always liked the sweetness in pecans, but paired with the salt and roasting…they are OUT OF THIS WORLD!! You absolutely HAVE to try some.

Ah-mazing omelettes

breefawn — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 21:49:52 +0000

This morning, Ish surprised me by waking up early and asking if I wanted to go on a WALK. I had to think about it for all of 2.5 seconds: OF COURSE! We went for a nice 3 mile stroll and got home…that’s when he asked me what I wanted to breakfast…OMELETTES! SO, I looked up a recipe that I had seen on Fat Free Vegan Kitchen, and we decided to try it out. (you can find the recipe here) We made the filling first by sauteing 4 oz of sliced crimini mushrooms, 1/2 a red onion, frozen chopped spinach, 1 diced green bell pepper and a diced tomato (added last so it wouldn’t break down too much). I also added some mozzarella Teeze, which was also AH-mazing. I must say that the omelettes turned out beautifully. I did season the filling with some Organic Fajita/Taco Seasoning. I finished the omelettes off with some salsa and devoured mine. Ish devoured his. They were SUPER delish. Thank heaven that someone invented silken tofu!!

Life

breefawn — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:45:04 +0000

I realized this morning that it’s been FAR too long since I’ve blogged. So here I am. I have found that life and the holidays are getting in the way, so I’m just dropping by to say that I will be back as soon as my house closes (prayers, please), Thanksgiving is over (HOORAY for Tofurkey and gravy!), AND I’ve had a chance to visit with my parents for the holidays. It has been so very long since I’ve been home that I’m SUPER DUPER excited to see everyone. I am also hoping to get the pictures back on the site soon…I’m not sure why I can’t upload them, but I’ve got SO much that I want to give away and recipes that I want to post! Stay tuned for an end-of-year and new year giveaway. And don’t forget that I still have an amazing Tofu Xpress to give away as soon as my facebook fans reach 100!! Only 7 more fans to go!! I am also curious as to what y’all would like to hear about. Life is a little bit crazy right now, but in a very good way. Thanks for your readership, and I hope to speak with you again REALLY soon!