Sundays are the golden day of the week

Although yesterday was pancake day, which is how a perfect day starts, Personally, i love Sundays. i think they are the perfect day to just sit on the couch, and just veg out eating junk food and catching up on my soap's( Gilmore girls, Grimm, and i can't forget that Sunday is the best day of the week to catch movies on TV!) yes i am a true couch potato at heart.

So today, my sister and her boyfriend traveled to portland maine, on a trip to take pictures for their photography projects. Having been there a few years ago when i was about 13, she is slightly familiar with the area. One thing i remember from that trip? It was where i ate my first red velvet cupcake ever. So, Portland has a special place in my heart for introducing me to my favorite dessert of all time. i have never found a cupcake to match that of the Two fat cats bakery red velvet cupcake.
well of course my sister has to bring some home for us,

Now, unfortunately back in the day i was not as smart as i am now, and i wasn't interested in my digestion's health, just as long as i could eat a cupcakes from that bakery i was happy even if i developed a severe stomach ache. Now, if it only had a little bit of dairy in it, i would be fine with it, but it doesn't. These cupcakes scream butter cream and all sort of fats and oils my Whey allergy and IBS cannot handle. I had to make do  with what i had. Thus, i created a vegan red velvet Frozen yogurt that's so simple you can make it whenever!

Vegan red velvet frozen yogurt
Serves 1

• 1 frozen banana
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder + 1/2 tsp
• 10 drops of red food coloring
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp almond milk

place all items in a blender until smooth

serve with your favorite toppings!

Now you may have noticed threes a lot more cocoa powder than you would put in a regular recipe for red velvet, rest assured, banana has a very strong taste, that is really hard to mask, so in order to hide the flavor i had to put in excess.

do you remember the first time you had your favorite food?

leave a comment, I'd love to know!

I just remember being absolutely flabbergasted by the sheer delicious taste of that red velvet cupcake. By the end of that weekend, we had bought 18 cupcakes in 2 days!

a delightful day off!

Ah another year has come and brought midterms, and just like that they are over. It's strange we spend 2 weeks reviewing for only 2 days of testing. 

Actually there are 3 days of testing. 2 whole days and 1 half of a day for language exams. luckily for me i quit french this year so instead my friends and i decided to celebrate by going out to breakfast!

we went to an old favorite Kristen's in Braintree square. i have always loved this place. My mom used to take me every now and again if it was a slow day during the summertime. they have an extensive breakfast menu, with the specials written on the chalk board wall. 

We walked in and got a table in the back, it was very quite back there, perfect for the three of us. Our waitress was almost immediately there to welcome us and offer coffee, she was so sweet, and had a southern accent! which is something hard to come by in the north east. 

as we sat and got cozy we looked over the menu, which all looked delicious, 

Leanne decided on getting the strawberry pancakes,which funny story, while they were being made our waitress came back from he kitchen flustered, to tell Leanne that the cook had read the order wrong. He had read the abbreviation for 'whipped cream'  as 'white chocolate" and ended up sprinkling white chocolate chips into the batter, and was worried Leanne would be upset by this. we were dumbfounded, UPSET BY WHITE CHOCOLATE CHIPS AND STRAWBERRIES?! AS IF! she was so stoked.

i myself ordered egg whites, a fruit cup of citrus fruit, and a whole wheat bagel not toasted. i really do love bagels, its as if i am eating a loaf of bread!

Ian ordered eggs Benedict ( i think) it had hollaindaise sauce. that's really all i remember from his order...sorry Ian!

our order was out on the table in 15 minutes flat! i was very impressed by how quick and efficient they were in getting our food out. 

the price was extremely reasonable between the three of us. I love this place, it makes me feel welcome and cozy. i believe its praises are no where near sung enough!

we're back to school tomorrow for a half of a day, so it really feels as though this week never happened!

here are some other pictures from our adventure! such as the remains of the pancake massacre of 2012

isn't she adorable?

when you go out to breakfast, where do you like to go?

I'd love to know!

Not all Salads are Created Equal

so far, so unproductive. I haven't gotten much studying done today, but how can I be expected to study when there are so many things going on? like my room being a mess, legally blond 1 & 2 being on today, one after the other, and so much sleeping to do? these are troubled times to study. So I'm going to put it off until its almost unavoidable. 

I posted a picture of yesterday's lunch: a veggie burger from morning star, in an open face sandwich on barely bread, with a side of red peppers and carrots, with some sliced cucumbers. i was a little antsy to try these, I am not a big morning star fan, their products are good calorie and fat wise, but ingredient wise....eh.  My mom bought them a few weeks ago, but i didn't eat them until yesterday because i was wary of the content of milk in them, having an allergy to whey can really put a hold on things. They were actually very good though, and to my surprise mostly made of vegetables! The first few ingredients were carrots, red peppers, and water chestnuts, along with a few other things. so i plan on eating those again.

today's lunch was a salad. i love salad. They're packed with nutritional value, and they are incredibly versatile. While they can be nutritional, they can also be very bad for you. I'm saying this because I know it's the new year so alot of people are going to be on a salad kick, so this just needs to be said

Not all Salads Are created Equal.

they're not. For example, let's look at restaurant salad's. you can order a salad from a restaurant and think that its good for you, but fact is, it's probably not. At the 99 restaurant, one of their Grilled Cobb salad adds up to about 860 calories! and more than half of those are from fat! many restaurants like to make their salads huge in portion with guilty add ins, like bleu cheese dressing, bacon bits,pounds of cheese, mayonnaise, pasta etc.

so whether you build a salad from home or order from a restaurant, stick to these guidelines:

•  1 protein ( grilled chicken, a hard boiled egg, beans, tofu) to help keep you full
• 1 item containing healthy fat ( nuts, avocados, or low fat dressing)
• 1 carbohydrate (whether it be a sweet potato, whole wheat pita bread, or brown rice,)
• 3 or more vegetables( make sure to see if they have been grilled or fried, both of which would add a lot of unhealthy oils and calories to it)
• top it off with some fruit!( many seasonal salads contain fruit which is full of vitamin, and very good for you)
• always try to make sure that you can get dressing on the side. most restaurants drown their salads in dressing for reasons unknown
• make sure it has dark leafy greens, ice burg lettuce is a no go. ice burg lettuce has the lowest of nutritional value, so you're bound to be hungry later, stick with spinach, kale or romaine.
• stay light on the cheese, you never really need more than the healthy amount of 1 oz.
• go light on croutons, won tons, pita chips on top etc. they add unnecessary calories 
• because it has the word "salad" in the name, does not make it a salad ( i.e. pasta salad)

i feel as though this needed to be said because i go out and see people who are trying to lose weight, eat salad s that are actually very bad for you, but to be kind I've kept my mouth shut and not said anything until now.

Have you ever eaten a ton of something thinking it was good for you, then having it turn out not to be?

Like on Seinfeld when Jerry thinks all the frozen yogurt he is eating, isn't going to cause weight gain?

tell me, I'd love to know!

another long week

Its snowing! about time to, we haven't gotten snow since Halloween! 

i cant believe its almost been a week since i last blogged, I've just had so much to do, i still do. every night this week, i have had to write a paper. I'm not even joking. Tuesday i had to write my art history project report on futurism (which i hate), Wednesday night i had to write my own study guide for English class, and Thursday night i had to finish my document based essay for social studies. i always thought it was so interesting, how a week before midterms the teachers have to pile work onto us, as if studying for our tests wasn't enough! on top of that i am still getting over my cold from a week ago. it is so frustrating, i just feel like a giant lazy lump. 

ah well, i was too tired all week to really do anything, except school work, which explains why i was MIA for a week. i haven't even written a new recipe this week! just made a few smoothies. 

Karlyle, on the other hand has been baking up a storm!

making gingerbread men and mini pumpkin pies galore! she's been a busy girl this week.

in other news this week, i have attempted to give up artificial sweeteners such as equal, my one and only vice. i became addicted to it, putting it on everything, sometimes just eating it plain! it was gross, so for this week and the next i am going to abstain from eating anything with artificial sweeteners in it.  so far so good, but i do miss having sweet things :(

well, anyway back to hitting the books! wish me luck on midterms

Have you ever crammed for a midterm or final?

tell me! i'd love yo know

i'm going back to bed

• 

Well i woke up this morning still sick as a dog so i decided it would be good for my immune system to have a healthy Green smoothie and a bowl of instant oatmeal with blueberries. Green smoothies are so good for you, its kind of like a detox drink if feel sick or if you ate a bunch of junk food, which you don't do very often. the idea is basically like any other smoothie: fruit, ice, milk. There's a catch though, you add in your favorite green plant like spinach, romaine, or kale. it's really simple and delicious!

My Green smoothie

• 1 orange, peeled (or 1 cup of orange juice)
• 1 tsp ground flax seed
• 1 tsp chia seeds (you can change flax seeds or chia seeds for any other nut or seeds, i.e. sunflower seeds, walnuts, almond but you'll have to increase it t 1 tbsp)
• 1 cup of your choice of milk (i used unsweetened almond breeze)
• a few green grapes
• a handful of raspberries
• a sprinkling of blueberries
• 2 handfuls of a leafy green ( i chose spinach
• 1 scoop of protein powder

in a blender first blend the orange, almond milk and spinach, gradually add in the rest of the ingredients, along with ice. now blending this might take a little bit longer because you want it to have a smooth taste, not gritty so i would blend it for about 6 or 7 minutes on your highest setting.

There are so many healthy benefits from this  smoothie, vitamin C from the oranges, super important omega 3's form the flax and chia seeds protein, and natural sugar from the fruits. Lets hope it works its magic on my cold!

I went in to work last night and was trying so hard to get everything done yesterday, but with no such luck. i have been feeling slightly off all week, but i should have known yesterday when i woke up and then went back to bed directly afterwards, and slept through the whole block of How i met your mother.

so, i went into work, and looking back i actually did get a lot done which is good, but as the night went on i started losing it, so i went home without getting everything done.

And with that note, my sister and i just watched really stupid lifetime movies.seriously, i recommend it if you're feeling bad.

What do you like to do when you are feeling under the weather?

mama's vegan sloppy joes

mmm!

these are my absolute favorite thing in the world. usually i cook my own meals, breakfast lunch and dinner. So this is basically the only thing i let my mom make me, and i let her because it's so good.

she got the idea for the recipe in clean eating magazine, but the original magazine called for ground bison....whatever that is, or beef. so this recipe was swapped around for tempeh instead of meat, and agave nectar for honey. also for the sauce, it comes with a delicious marinara sauce, that you can put on other things beside the sloppy Joe's,

Mama's tempeh sloppy Joe's

•  1 tsp olive oil,
• 1 package of fermented soy, aka tempeh
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 medium onion diced
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 3/4 tsp mustard powder
• 1/8 tsp cayenne powder
• 1 sweet red pepper chopped
• 1 medium green zucchini diced
• 1 medium yellow squash diced
• 1 and 1/2 cups of marinara sauce (recipe below)
• 1 tbsp agave nectar

in a large pan in medium heat, cook the tempeh and the cloves and garlic and tsp of oil and cook until browned, and add the Chile powder mustard and cayenne and set aside in a separate bowl.

 in the skillet and saute' the red pepper , squash and zucchini, and add the tempeh, garlic, and and onions and mix together for about 10 to 12 minutes again.

finally add the marinara sauce and 2 tbsps of water and cook until the sauce is hot and bubbling, serve on a bun and you're done!

Marinara sauce

• 5cups of canned, jarred diced or strained plum tomatoes
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 medium onion diced
• 2 medium carrots peeled and diced
• 2 celery ribs diced
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 fresh sprigs of oregano with the stems removed
• 8 basil leaves
• 1/8 tsp Chile flakes (optional)
• 1 tbsp raw agave
• salt and pepper to taste

in a medium sauce pot heat oil over medium high heat add garlic ,onion, carrots, and celery and saute' until onion becomes translucent and vegetables become soft, add the canned tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, basil, and the Chile flakes, and let it sit and cook till it comes to a boil, for 45 minutes.

once done, and well cooked either use and immersion blender, or a food processor, and puree until smooth, and finally add the agave nectar in.

i love this dish, i think its good to make on a Sunday night, so you'll have something to eat for the whole week. it is in fact very reminiscent of sloppy Joe's mainly because it's so hard to keep in sandwhich!

it really reminds me of school lunches when you were a kid and it was sloppy Joe day at lunch, which is basically the only day i ate what they were serving, besides pizza day of course. 

i went through many food phases as a kid though, starting from when i was in grade school, where i went from eating nothing, to only eating peanut butter sandwiches with really processed peanut butter and gooey white bread (ew) 

in middle school i lived off of rice krispy treats, chocolate clodhoppers, and whatever goody they made in the cafe that day, ranging from 2 brownies,  2 cookies, or 2 slices of cake. i would only ever buy a real lunch unless it was sloppy Joe day, or pizza day, from dominoes (i would buy three slices and two brownies....how was i not fat?)

I've really changed a lot since then, but how about you?

was there a lunch you ate during grade school that you would never eat today? what abut weird food habits?

I'd love to hear!

Getting back to the swing of things!

is harder than i thought! i haven't even posted this week, due to getting back to school, and mid terms being in 2 weeks, i needed to start organizing and reviewing for tests. so i am sorry for not posting, but just because i haven't been posting doesn't mean i haven't been cooking!

for example:

Carrot cake Oatmeal

• 1 serving of oats (1/2 a cup)
• 2/4 cup of your choice of milk
• 1/4 cup of water
• 1 tsp  chia seeds
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 dash nutmeg, dash of ginger, dash of allspice, pinch of cloves,
• 1/2 a large carrot grated.
• 1 tbsp walnuts
• 1 tbsp maple syrup or sweetener of choice

mix all of the dry ingredients into a bowl, and separately  mix together the grated carrot bits and microwave for 45 seconds, just to soften them, because you don't want really crunchy bits, that's not very carrot cake like, set the carrots aside, and mix oatmeal with milk and water and microwave to your preferred consistency, when done with that, mix in the carrots, and top with maple syrup, and walnuts.

and mix together again and you're done!

i topped it with a bit of Greek yogurt, which i wasn't sure how it would taste, but i actually was very pleased with the final result, it gave it a little bit of a tangy kick to it.

so last night i came home from school,  and i was literally awake for about an hour before i completely crashed on my couch for a good 5 hours, and then i went to bed and slept for the rest of the night. i cannot believe how tired i was, and we didn't even have a full week of school! 

one of the highlights of the week was definitely when my mom made vegan sloppy Joe's for dinner :)

 a recipe i will post tomorrow! seriously these are so addicting and delicious it's crazy.

well, i have bunch of things i still have to do 

till tomorrow!

So this is the new year,

and i don't feel any different~
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Death cab for cutie anyone?eh eh? i really only let myself listen to this song once a year, within three days of the new year.  But i hope you all had a wonderful and safe new years. I went into Boston's first night, which i had done only once before when i was 8, i think. it was so long ago. But it was really cool, we started the night into the commons, and we headed to Fanueil hall, and then the prudential center,and wound up at the Boston harbor at the end of the night. the train ride home was madness, seeing as how the T was absolutely PACKED to the full capacity, i'm pretty sure i was practically on top of someone. 
i like new years, it gives you a clean slate, everything is new, and you can just start over again.


Another thing i like about new years are all the sales that go on :)


my sister and i woke up at 9 to go into the mall for the victoria's secret sale, and waited around till the mall opened and hit up bath and body works, ( yellow tag sales!) and then target. After that we headed over to Micheal's where i needed to buy art supplies. i though i had a coupon but apparently it was expired, don't you just hate when that happens? it totally just killed my shopping buzz.
 so when i got home i had to make a quick lunch of scrambled eggs, veggie burgers, an apple, carrots, toast and salsa

i needed to practically swallowed this whole,because i needed to ru to meet a friend to do some more shopping at downtown crossing.
it freaks me out to spend money like i did, i NEVER buy things. ever. But today, i felt a little bit better about it because almost everything i got was on sale.
well, i hope everyone is sticking to their resolutions!
until then!