Eats today were quite delicious, and pretty balanced and convenient too! Let’s just breeze through the eats drive-by style.

Oats: (1/4 cup oats, 1/4 cup water, 1/4 cup almond milk, 1/2 banana, coconut butter, blueberries)

Tofu: (1/2 a block light firm tofu chopped, pressed and made crispy in a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt and garlic powder)

Leftovers: (black beans and rice – excuse the awkward specks on the black beans, I added a lot of garlic powder and cumin!)

Hummus and Veg: (1/2 cucumber, 1 carrot, local garlic hummus)

CLIF Bar Mini: (chocolate brownie flavor. can I draw attention to how cute and tiny these things are?!)

Veg Prep for Dinner: (edamame, mushrooms, red bell pepper, carrots, eggplant, baby bok choy, broccoli stalk. I prepped this all before work so when I got home all I had to do was dump it in a pan with seasonings and sauces).

Said Pan Dump:

Said Sauce: (I also added a little olive oil and coconut butter  at the beginning to prevent the vegetables from sticking)

Finished product: (sorry it’s not a more creative photo, I was on the phone while photographing!)

Unpictured eats of the day: some ciabbata bread as well as some banana cherry frozen soft serve that Ross just made that was pure bliss on my throat. Oh man, best pain-killer around!

Do you have any natural allergy remedies?

Kicking My Arse is a post from: Sound Eats

Springtime brings such a renewed freshness to everyone and everything, and somehow it almost seems easier to be more in tune with your body when you feel so in tune to life and your surroundings. Which is why I had tofu. For breakfast.

I know, so weird. But the strange thing is, I was craving tofu before I went to bed last night. When I woke up the only thing I wanted to have for breakfast was tofu. so I had tofu! Kind of weird, but whatever – I guess it could be the vegan equivalent for eggs for breakfast? It sure was tasty, and the higher protein breakfast (well, higher than usual for me) actually gave me more satiety. Perfect fuel for work!

Work was standard today, minus the constant testing of fire alarms all morning. Let’s just say it didn’t help my cabin fever and desire to be outside at all.

Lunch was the perfect spring time sandwich – grilled hummus and vegetables on rosemary bread!

I picked up some local hummus for $1.99 at Ward’s Supermarket here in Gainesville, as well as some of their rosemary bread that I love. Vegetables included spinach, red bell pepper, tomato and avocado. It was quite delicious!

While at Ward’s I also picked up some sweet deals. Eating well and even eating organically does NOT have to be crazy expensive! Heck, at times some things that are organic and on sale are even cheaper than their conventional counterparts! One example is the organic Braeburn apples at Whole Foods that I bought this past weekend for 99 cents a pound. That’s a great deal for any kind of apple, organic or conventional! Today’s goodies at Ward’s were no exception. I found organic baby bok choy for $2.02, organic blueberries for $1.50 and organic pears for 99 cents a pound.

Love it! Find small town, local markets and farmer’s markets in your area, you just may be able to find organic and/ or local produce for decent prices. Every little bit helps.

Today’s workout was another (I think the last) new P90X DVD – Back and Biceps, along with Ab Ripper X. Love Back and Biceps  (or the glamour muscles )! I really have a thing for strength exercise, especially with upper body. Now I just need to keep working on the cardio and love that just as equally.

Dinner was probably one of the most simple, nutritionally well-rounded vegan meals that can be done on a very small budget. Basically, we had amped up beans and rice. The proteins in beans and rice complement each other to make a complete protein. Add some vegetables and fruit to it in the form of spinach, avocado and salsa and you have a delicious meal!

I also just had two squares of Endangered Species Dark Chocolate with Cacao Nibs – it’s the one with the bat on the wrapper. Love this bar, one of my favorite treat bars (and vegan-friendly, naturally)!

I’m off for the night to dream about spring time vacations that won’t happen, but it’s nice to dream anyway. Is the weather spring-like where you are? And what’s your favorite thing about spring?

Spring in My Steps is a post from: Sound Eats

Today’s lunch was rather repetitive of last night’s dinner, except in addition to lettuce, avocado, fat free refried beans, and salsa, I also added some red bell pepper. Love me some Mexican ensaladas, especially when they come with some tortilla chips on the side.

Today’s P90X workout was Plyometrics. It’s been two weeks since the last time we did plyo and ohhhh baby. I felt really energetic and strong at the beginning but towards the end, boy did I feel the burn!

After the workout and while I was waiting for Ross to finish up (we hardly ever actually do P90X together because of our differing work schedules) I munched on some unpictured puffed brown rice cereal (simply puffed brown rice, nothing else not even salt!) with almond milk and a little bit of Gatorade.

By the time we got around to dinner we didn’t feel like anything elaborate so I simply cooked up some tofu in EVOO, kosher salt and garlic powder and made a smoothie.

The smoothie contained frozen cherries, frozen banana, frozen blueberries, unsweetened almond milk, cocoa powder, chocolate brown rice protein powder and spinach. It was quite thick and delicious!

On that note, I believe it’s time to retire for the evening.

Questions of the night: What would be your dream giveaway to see on Sound Eats, or any other blog?

Dreamin’ is a post from: Sound Eats

One piece I topped with Artisana’s coconut butter and cinnamon. I am growing obsessed with this coconut butter, and I may have to buy some when my little sample jar is out! (haha, there’s only a tablespoon in the jar but I am s t r e t c h i n g it out! I’ve already gotten three uses out of it and have more than half left!)

The other piece I topped with MaraNatha almond butter and some Polaner apricot fruit spread.

Just  to keep it clear and in case you missed previous posts, both the MaraNatha and Artisana were products the companies sent me to try.

Breakfast:

Apparently my camera was feeling wonky just like my stomach this morning! Sorry for the blurry pictures, it’s dark outside and our dining room/ living room light just blew.

It’s been a while since we had a good ol’ Confessions of Sound Eats morning, but why not bring it back for a Tuesday morning throwback?

1. There’s a fountain outside the office window at work and when they have it on I can’t drink water, because the sound of the fountain already makes me have to pee all day long. Torture!

2. I am a Christian, but I get really irritated when churches are seemingly judgmental in their messages. At one service I went to over the weekend, the pastor managed to bash musicians (which I am, my degree is in music) because we’re usually too attention-seeking, he bashed blogs, he bashed twitter, and of course there was the cliché bashing of alcohol. Guess I shouldn’t invite him over to a blogging, tweeting, musical wine night? In all seriousness though, it really does break my heart because someone could go to a service like that and get the complete wrong message about the Christian faith. This is why I focus on the spiritual and relational side of faith instead of religion. Religion gets in the way and causes problems. Just my 0.02!

3. I squealed when I realized how soon New Moon is coming out on DVD. (March 20th!)

4. We’re canceling our cable! I’ve been talking about it for ages but Ross just got on board recently. There are so many better ways to spend our time, and things we already do that aren’t tv-related (i.e. blogging and reading blogs and books, games, going for long evening walks, and more). About 90% of the shows we watch are on the basic “freebie” channels anyway, so we’ve basically just been paying about $60 a month for two channels we like (USA and Food Network). FN is usually a background tv station, and USA shows we like we can find on hulu. We’ll save money from cable and we’ll save money from not having the tv on in the background. It’s an easy win-win!

Do you have cable? Why or why not can you see yourself ever living/ not living without it?

Confessions of Sound Eats! is a post from: Sound Eats

Pre-workout I made a small oatmeal ball. I used a scant quarter cup of oatmeal with a quarter cup each almond milk and water. I topped it with cinnamon, a super tiny sprinkle of cacao bliss, some raw pumpkin seeds, some raw sunflower seeds, and two sliced strawberries. The oats got a little thick so I drizzled a little more almond milk around it. Perfect fuel!

After the workout I broke out my juicer (I have a Breville Compact Juicer) and tried my hand at a juice that Caitlin had at Whole Foods on Saturday. I juiced two small oranges, three carrots, one small piece of ginger and one garlic clove. It was surprisingly very tasty and well-rounded in flavors! Who would’ve thought garlic would actually be enjoyable in a juice?! 

I also whipped up my new favorite "stir fry". I cooked up some tofu (let it get crispy in a half teaspoon-teaspoon of olive oil) and some sliced baby bella mushrooms with some garlic powder and kosher salt. Once they were cooked I added a half cup of tomato sauce and then threw it all over some fresh spinach and topped with some basil. Love it!

At work I had about half this Tropical Fruit Tart Larabar, which I think I have finally decided is in my number two favorite Larabar spot. It’s a very close second though, right behind the Coconut Cream Pie Larabar! Mmm!

Ross was awesome and made our dinner salads tonight! Mexican/ taco salads! He combined spinach and a couple different kinds of lettuce for the base and topped it with salsa, avocado, tortilla chips and fat free refried beans. This is definitely one of our favorite salad combos!

I’m thinking a square of dark chocolate is in my future.

What are your favorite salads combinations? I like the above Mexican salad, any salad with fresh fruit, and the Milton Special salad at Infusion Tea in Orlando (it has hummus, tabbouleh, greens, beets, cucumber, tomato, sunflower seeds and the most divine reduced balsamic dressing).

Fresh Monday is a post from: Sound Eats

Week 4 was our first recovery week, and it was definitely welcome.

Our recovery week schedule was as follows:

Day 1: Yoga X

Day 2: Core Synergistics

Day 3: Kenpo X

Day 4: X Stretch

Day 5: Core Synergistics

Day 6: Yoga X

Day 7: Rest of X Stretch

To be completely honest, the first thing that I noticed when I looked at the recovery week’s schedule was that there was no Ab Ripper X. I may or may not have danced a little jig of happiness.

The basic difference between "normal" weeks and recovery weeks is that there is no strength training. I believe this is where the muscle confusion behind P90X comes into play. If you’re doing the Classic version of P90X (as opposed to Doubles or Lean), the recovery week is where you first try your hand at Core Synergistics.

I LOVED Core Synergistics! I loved the variety of exercises in it and I loved that it was fun and challenging, and of course, new. I was also excited that I had the chance to do it twice in the same week, so I could see improvements and challenge myself even further the second go around.

Kenpo X was also a particularly awesome workout for me this past week. I wrote about it briefly here, but basically I discovered that by doing the moves in front of the mirror enabled me to do everything more efficiently, and thus get a greater workout.

Confession time: I did not do Yoga X on day 6. I simply did not have time, as we were traveling to Orlando that day and had a very full day of non-stop fun. But, I’m ok with it. We still had a pretty active weekend, and I think if anything the extra day of rest from structured exercise has enabled me to come to this week (week 5, the start of phase 2) with a renewed source of energy and enthusiasm.

I’m still so excited about P90X! With the way the workouts are always changing up, it really is hard to get burned out on them, even though they are technically just DVD workouts. They’re really so much more though, because they challenge you and make you think so much more than any normal workout DVD I’ve ever done. It’s not just "mimic me" workouts, but you use your brain and take notes, pushing yourself and challenging yourself to improve in the only way YOU can.

Previous P90X posts:

P90X: The Intro

P90X: Week 1

P90X: Week 2

P90X: Week 3

P90X Exposed

P90X: Week 4 is a post from: Sound Eats

As soon as we got to Orlando yesterday I jetted off to the blogger meet up and Whole Foods trip round one! It was a blast! Thanks again for a great time ladies, and congrats to all of you princesses who all did excellently in the Princess Half this morning!

When I got back to Ross’ parents house I had to make a pie for the birthday boy! I tried to make a lemon cake for Ross’ family birthday celebration, but unfortunately it came out rather brick/ rubber ball like. HUGE fail! All’s well that ends well though, because Ross changed his mind and said he’d rather have a fruit pie than a cake.

Since two of his favorite fruits and pears and blueberries, a Blueberry Pear Pie it was!

• 1 pie crust
• 1 package frozen blueberries, thawed
• 2 pears (cored and chopped, peel is optional!)
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup vegan sugar
• 2 Tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• Topping:
• 1/4 cup old fashioned oats
• 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Pre-bake your pie crust for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Meanwhile, combine all of your fruit, lemon juice, vanilla, sugar, flour and cinnamon. Pour into your pre-baked crust and cover the crust rim with foil (you don’t want the edges to burn!). Sprinkle your oat topping all over the fruit and bake for another thirty minutes. Let cool and enjoy!

Check out who accidentally matched! Hilarious when we walked in the door and Jordan (my sister-in-law, we’re the same age and I LOVE her!) goes, "uh hey Linds, where’d you get your dress?"

After the pie was done the whole family headed off to church (Discovery Church) to see Ross’ dad play in the worship band. He did a great job, and we enjoyed being back (Ross and I actually met through one of the services at Discovery Church years ago!).

Once it was done we headed back over to the other side of town for Mellow Mushroom! After a long wait we were so ready to dive in! I ordered the Mega Veggie with no banana peppers and no cheese (and no butter or parmesan on the crust, to make it vegan).

Ross and I were not too thrilled about the wait.

It was worth it though, the pizza was amazing and I inhaled a little over half of mine!

We got home late since we ate late, and crashed hard! When I woke this morning I felt so off, which unfortunately made us late for church round two (Ross’ brother Roman goes to a different church and really wanted us to all go to meet his friends, so we obliged!).

After church (again!) we headed out to Tijuana Flats for lunch. The weather was so gorgeous and we all jumped to eat outside. Here’s Jordan looking beautiful as always in the natural light (candid, this was not posed, I promise!).

We had a blast reading all the bumper stickers:

Gotta love the atmosphere. Love the food too! Mexican is usually pretty easy to veganize, so long as the beans and rice aren’t cooked in animal fat or butter of any kind (and it’s a simple enough question that can easily be answered when you’re there). I went with a small burrito of salsa, rice, lettuce and black beans in a whole wheat tortilla.

Soon after, Ross and I packed up to head home. Not without one more stop at my health food mecca, Whole Foods! I love that place. We picked up some well-priced produce for the week, as well as a couple treats for the road: Black Forest Berry Honest Tea and a Vegan Chocolate Chip cookie!

The quote in the tea was quite fitting for Ross’ birthday:

I adore quotes, especially ones that ring true.

Now we’re happily home again, busily working away. After this whirlwind of a weekend, I have happily accepted some Pinot Noir into my Sunday night. It’s a beautiful thing.

(I also just ate the leftovers from Mellow Mushroom for a late dinner/ snack).

Have a good night, and get ready for an awesome, healthy week ahead!

What’d you do this weekend?

Whirlwind Weekend! is a post from: Sound Eats

Ross and I headed to Orlando yesterday morning to hang out with his family for his birthday weekend. To top what was sure to be an already awesome weekend off, a bunch of my favorite bloggers and cyber-friends were going to be in town for the Disney Princess Half, so a meet up was obviously in order!

Yesterday we all met up at Pizza Fusion, an awesome, vegan and gluten-free friendly, organic and sustainability focused pizza joint. I love their slogan: "Saving the Earth One Pizza at a Time!"

Ryan and Caitlin ordered a Chicken Bruschetta salad (with soy cheese instead of the chicken) and I had a small plate to get some greens in!

For my meal I ordered a personal sized Farmer’s Market pizza on multigrain crust and with soy cheese instead of the cheese trio. I’m pretty sure this is what I get every time I go to Pizza Fusion, it’s so good! And if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

Ryan was sweet enough to bring some awesome, raw macaroons to share! She also brought me a chocolate one as a special thanks, and while it escaped the camera’s eye, I have to say that it was SO good and one of the most insanely rich, deep, dark chocolate flavored goodies ever! Thank you friend! You know me and my chocoholic tendencies well.

It was so fun meeting everyone! I don’t have everyone’s names with their respective blogs, so if you were at the meet up, please be sure to mention it in the comments!

Here’s a picture of Cat and her husband and Katy and I!

(photo from Caitlin!)

Ryan and I! Love this girl, and so grateful we’ve been able to reconnect since high school!

(photo from Ryan!)

Katy and I demonstrating the roomy trunk of Meghann’s Chevy Traverse:

(photo from Ryan!)

After our lunch some of us headed over to Whole Foods. Since there’s no Whole Foods in my immediate vicinity, I obviously jumped at the chance to go.

While there I scored a sample of a delicious Chardonnay. Usually chards aren’t my favorite because they’re a little too oaky for my taste, but this one was quite good! (On sale for $6.99 too, hmm maybe another Whole Foods trip in my future before we head back to Gainesville?)

Two of my favorite people!

Thanks for the fun time ladies! I wish it lasted a lot longer than it had, and that their had been more time to get know each other on a more one on one level! Blogging blind dates are so fun! Whenever y’all come by Gainesville, give me a holler.

Will recap the rest of the weekend later! xoxo!

Blogger Lunch is a post from: Sound Eats

Lunch was deliciously fresh and green. I had a salad with a base of mixed organic greens that I topped with yesterday’s leftover Cannellini Bean, Basil and Tomato Bruschetta.

I also had a perfect pear!

All together:

Dinner tonight was 100% inspired from my sweet friend, one of my favorite vegans and one of the most health-conscious individuals I know: Ryan!

She recently posted a "Vegan Hamburger Helper" meal that she claimed was tasty, perfect comfort food and great for when you’re short on time. That sure fit my bill of requirements for dinner tonight!

Luckily I had one staple for this meal in my pantry: Road’s End Organics Dairy Free Mac & Cheese. Yes, you’re seeing this correctly – a boxed vegan mac and cheese! With whole wheat noodles, none the less!

The other staple for this meal I didn’t have, but was very easily able to pick up at Ward’s yesterday (you should be able to find Sunshine Burgers in most health food stores, and maybe even in your favorite grocery chain).

Can we pause a minute and just look at these ingredients?! I am in LOVE with the short ingredient list!

Cook the macaroni and heat the burger according to directions (I did need to add more plain almond milk than the quarter cup stated – I wanted a little more sauce). In addition to crumbling two Sunshine Burgers into the finished macaroni, I also threw in some torn fresh spinach.

Thanks for the great dinner inspiration, Ryan! It was simple and quick – perfect for tonight.

I am SO excited for this weekend. We’re headed to Orlando to celebrate Ross’ birthday with his family, but I also get to hang out with some awesome friends and fellow bloggers! Saturday’s plans include $5 community yoga with Ryan (and whoever else wants to join!) and a blogger lunch at Pizza Fusion where over 20 of us will be munching and mingling away! Can’t wait!

What are you looking forward to this weekend?

Vegan Hamburger Helper is a post from: Sound Eats

Before I stretched it out this morning I enjoyed a delicious breakfast of choconana oats!

In a pot on the stove I combined 1/4 cup old fashioned oats, 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, 1 Tablespoon chocolate brown rice protein powder, 1 teaspoon cocoa powder, and 1/2 a mashed banana.

When it was done I topped it with the remaining half of the banana, a teaspoon of raw crunchy almond butter and a teaspoon of Artisana Cacao Bliss.

While I really enjoyed the Cacao Bliss and am looking forward to using it in other applications, it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I think I was expecting something with more of a nut butter/ spreadable consistency, but it was kind of flaky. Still good and tasty though, and melted quite deliciously over the warm oats.

Quite a tasty breakfast and with it ringing in at about 320 calories with at least 16 grams protein, plus whole grains, fresh fruit, and healthy fat, it’s quite a nutritional "feel good" breakfast, too.

Know what else makes me feel good? Fruit Not Fat.

Here’s a bit about Tristan and Luke, the founders of the Fruit Not Fat movement from their about page:

We’re two guys, each raising a family in Marin County, California, who believe most foods don’t have to be nearly as calorie laden as they are.

About 4 years ago, we each changed our lives (for the better) after getting frustrated by the bad habits and lack of fulfillment our “careers” offered. The two of us hung up our suits and took over a small, struggling, local food company in Marin County, California that makes food using applesauce instead of oils or syrups.

This blog is our launch pad for the Fruit Not Fat movement. It is our attempt to share ways to eat healthy throughout life and, more importantly, have some fun while doing it. We invite you to participate, share your stories and, above all, please let us know what you think of our posts.

They care about people, they care about health and they are so passionate about Fruit Not Fat!

It all started with Galaxy Granola, which is a really kick butt granola that (as you can imagine) uses Fruit and not Fat in their granola.

The granola has 70% less fat, no artificial ingredients, no oil, no corn syrup, no processed sugars, and is all natural, full of whole grains, and is baked in fruit. Plus the ingredient lists for each granola are short, sweet and full of recognizable ingredients.

I can’t wait to try it (which I will as soon as it arrives!)

Go ahead and check out the Fruit Not Fat website today (today is their launch day) as well as Galaxy Granola. While you’re at it, check them out on twitter (twitter.com/FruitNotFat) and facebook (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Fruit-Not-Fat/298016214472?ref).

What do you think of the Fruit Not Fat movement? And have you tried Galaxy Granola?

Fruit Not Fat is a post from: Sound Eats