Brea Getting Fit » Vegan

Fresh and Clean

breefawn — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 02:01:03 +0000

I LOVE a clean house almost as much as I love vegan nachos (okay…I’ll admit, maybe a little bit more). I’m OFFICIALLY 9 months pregnant, and don’t think that the “nesting” phase has kicked in, it’s just escalated. I think that I may be driving Ish NUTS with all of my disinfecting, dusting and requests for him to vacuum (I developed carpal tunnel, so sweeping, mopping, and vacuuming KILLS my wrists right now). BUT, I have a CLEAN house, and it’s FANTASTIC!! I even have a clean sewing room!!! My mom will actually have a place to sleep when she comes to help with the Tater! HOORAY! I have discovered along the way that some of my tried and true cleaning products contain some scary, scary stuff, though…. AND I also found that Clorox gives me a migraine. I can’t believe that I never made the connection before!!

OOH! AND we also got a bbq!! It was Ish’s Father’s Day present (which I realize is incredibly early), and it’s been WONDERFUL. So far my favorites are grilled fajita veggies with guacamole and smashed black beans AND my grilled portabella sammies. YUM! I cannot wait to try out my new Outset F107, Bamboo Skewers w/natural finish (wide/12 this weekend, either!! The plan is to use zucchini, squash, crimini mushrooms, bell peppers, and red onions with some fajita seasoning. I cannot WAIT!! I love summer!

Vegan hair dye??

breefawn — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 02:22:45 +0000

All I can say is that I am IN LOVE!! I stumbled upon ACT Naturals, who makes PERMANENT, plant-based hair dye. Could I BE more excited?! The last time I went to the hairdresser…well…let’s just say my hair is NOT cute, and hasn’t been since I’ve been preggo! BUT, there are no harsh chemicals or additives in this dye (consequently it won’t strip out other color, so be careful), and I am SOOOO tempted to try it! The only problem is that it can only be purchased online…which in my experience is either really good, or really bad (depending upon if you choose a good color….). So, the question is…do I dare? I love the idea of being able to even out my color, but I am apprehensive to make a “permanent” choice without seeing the actual color in person. I suppose it helps that my household is putting a spending freeze into effect on May 1st. ONLY gas and groceries. FUN! LOL I have plenty of fabric, and lots of projects, so I should be able to last the month (crossing my fingers, anyway!!). I think I’ll wait until the baby’s born…I would love to hear from anyone who has used ACT, though!

Cookie cravings and other nonsense

breefawn — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:48:56 +0000

I’ve always had a bit of a sweet tooth (thank you Skittles!), but lately I’ve been craving some good homemade chocolate chip cookies….where to turn. Then I remembered that I have the most AMAZING cookbook on the planet: Vegan with a Vengeance : Over 150 Delicious, Cheap, Animal-Free Recipes That Rock. So I started flipping. Isa’s GOT to have some wonderfully delicious cookie recipe, right?? RIGHT! So, I found her chocolate chip recipe (which you can find HERE). Can I say AH-mazing?! And super easy. Yeah, the dough is a bit crumbly at first, but have patience (and KNEAD!), and you WILL be rewarded. Now if I could just stop eating them…. I am trying so very hard to be a good little preggie girl and eat all that is good and healthy for me, but those sweet cravings just seem to be getting worse. So, I have a plan. It looks like this: Kashi Go LEAN Crunch! with 1 cup of chocolate soymilk for breakfast (trying to kill that need for sweet early on!), grapes and celery with pb for snack, veggies and hummus for lunch, soy yogurt with pear or apple for snack, veggie garlic cream pasta over rice noodles with a HUGE green salad for dinner (SUPER YUMMY! Someday I’ll post the recipe), and fruit (LOTS OF FRUIT) for dessert. Sounds good in theory…but what’s a preggie girl to do when Tater REALLY wants Skittles (okay, okay, I’m a little obsessed, and since they’ve stopped using gelatin…EEK!)?? I will admit that on days like today I give in and have a few, but I make sure that I get my fruits and veggies (and legumes!! YAY for hummus!) in, as that is what fuels my body. Besides, I really dislike the annoying sugar crash that inevitably hits me broadside (and granted it’s an easy target lately) about 30 minutes later. I also find that when I stick closer to raw, REAL foods, I have more energy, which means a cleaner house AND more time to blog!! (I still have readers…right??) So, in the grand scheme of things, eating right and exercise need to stay my #1. Everything else just seems to fall into its own neat little place when I do this!

Baby on the brain

breefawn — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:24:18 +0000

Okay, I know that this blog started out as a fitness blog (and it still is…I am just not able to be as active as I would like), but lately I’ve had baby on the brain. As an update, Tater is a healthy little guy (yup, it’s a BOY!) and we’re quite excited. But now I’m faced with baby madness. Which pacifier, and what diapers (we’re thinking fuzzi bunz)…Oh! And will we actually NEED those teeny-tiny newborn clothes? AND, on top of that, I still need to find time to exercise. I am having better luck exercising (even if it’s only for 10 minutes) at night, but that means that I cannot use my videos. So, starting next week, I’m going to try getting up 40 minutes earlier (EEK!) to get back into my workout routine…so…wish me luck! I’ve also found that I’ve been eating far too many Skittles (yay for vegan junk food)…so I’m resolving to repace them with something healthier and far yummier…fruits and VEGGIES! I really do have the best intentions, but it’s hard wanting to eat ALL the time and being thirsty, oh…and constantly having to take bathroom breaks. I do LOVE being pregnant, but I think that I need to remember that taking care of me is JUST as important. Besides, I sleep WAY better when I eat right and exercise…so why not?

Now the question to you moms…what are some of your MUST HAVE, LOVE IT, CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT IT baby products?

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!!

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!

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!!

Portabella mushroom burgers

breefawn — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:01:46 +0000

There’s really nothing quite like a good grilled portabella mushroom cap smothered in guacamole, salsa and some Veganaise. I can’t think of anything more delicious at the moment. Then, when you add in fresh sweet potato fries and some Better Than Sour Cream ranch dip…well, let me just say that it’s heaven. Seriously. I know that I’ve been away from the blog for a bit, but I had to get my life caught up. I’m not quite at that point, but I missed my fans, my blog…all of it. I also thought that y’all might enjoy hearing about my amazing dinner tonight! I would post a picture for y’all but I’m still having trouble getting them loaded onto the website, so I’ll just post the (super, super easy) recipe.

You need: portabella mushroom cap(s), cleaned and de-gilled; hamburger or kaiser buns; guacamole or avocado slices; pico or salsa; Veganaise; red onion slices; and lettuce.

To make your burgers, heat a grill on high, or get your bbq heated up pretty good. Spread a little bit of vegetable oil (higher smoke point) on your ’shroom and put it on the grill. Grill for 3-5 minutes, until grill marks appear on the cap, then flip and grill for an additional 2-3 minutes. Slather on the toppings and enjoy!!

Vegan MoFo: Vegetable Samosas

breefawn — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 22:17:07 +0000

Okay…beyond the irritation that I still cannot upload photos, I am very excited to report that I found a NEW favorite vegan food: vegetable samosas. I must say that they are absolutely DELICIOUS! I went to the farmer’s market this morning and was SUPER excited to discover that there were 4 (yes, FOUR!) vegan booths!! I picked up vegetable samosas, eggplant goulash, raw pumpkin pie, vegan pesto dip AND some Naan bread. I am SO very excited! I had so many samples that I couldn’t eat more than a banana for breakfast, AND I cannot WAIT to go back to the market next week! Tomorrow I’m having samosas for lunch…I can’t wait! I also picked up some AMAZING salad vegetables that I’m going to chop up for dinner tonight. I’m so VERY excited! Some good veggies, microgreens AND viola! Delish. I can’t wait until NEXT weekend!!