A foodie-licious day

Good evening everyone!

Hope you’ve all had a great day. Mine was filled with great cooking and food treats. Being my day off I got out of bed leisurely and made my way around to getting in some exercise. My muscles were a bit tight from yesterdays workout and I was feeling a little sluggish but I knew something had to happen. I ended up going for a 3+ mile power walk and enjoying the gorgeous New England weather we had today.

Everything was a green and lush, thanks to recent rain and the temperatures finally being below the constant 90’s of the summer.

After the walk it was getting pretty late in the morning, but for me, it’s never too late for breakfast! I had a bowl of oats with banana, two egg whites, cinnamon, and a spoonful of blueberry jam. I love the way the egg whites make the oats really fluffy and creamy<– a word that I do not often get to use to describe my dairy-free eats!

Today, I had one thing on my mind, SOUP! For those of you who follow Lindsay’s blog, then you may have read about her upcoming Cook Vegan Lover Soup E-Book. She had asked for taste-testers for her recipes, and since I am going to have a bit of free time on my hands, I decided to sign up! I don’t want to give away too many details or info but todays soup was a root vegetable chili! I knew it was going to be a bit time-consuming since my culinary skills lean much more towards baking than cooking, so I got myself geared up and ready to go after a quick trip to the grocery store. There is something to so wonderful and therapeutic about a day spent in the kitchen, I love it! After the chili was done, I came across a mango that needed some culinary lovin’, so Mango Lime Salsa was made!

Mango Lime Salsa

1-2 Ripe Mangoes (depending on how many people you are serving)

1 Red Pepper

3-4 plum tomatoes (I used about a cup of grape tomatoes today)

1 jalapeno pepper (seeded if you don’t like it too hot)

1/2 onion (used but scallions but purple is good, too)

1 lime, zested and juiced

1/2 cup dried chile spiced dried pineapple (optional but SO good!)

Directions: Chop and dice everything into a bowl. Zest the lime before cutting and then juice liberally. Season with some salt and pepper and allow to sit for a bit to let the juices marinate.

I cooked some organic brown rice today and steamed up some cubed tofu, both of which I had along with the chili for dinner. Tomorrow’s lunch will feature the rest of the brown rice and tofu, topped with a bit of soy sauce and a layer of the Mango Lime salsa, and some spinach for a bit of green 🙂

So today was an awesome foodie day for another reason:

My CookVeganLover Vegan Carepackage came!!! Thank you sooooo much to Megan for the incredible package, it absolutely made my day!!! It included:

2 Larabars (cinnamon bun and banana bread)

1 Cherry Cashew Pure bar

2 loose-leaf teas, Darjeeling 2nd Flush Muscatel and Rishi Masala Chai

1 bag of Organic Pumpkin Pie Spice (I think that I’m officially inspired to make pumpkin oats tomorrow!!!!)

1 bag of Pure Maple Candy (yummm)

1 Primal Strip’s Meatless Vegan Jerky in Thai Peanut (very intrigued and excited as I’ve just begun exploring meat substitutes)

1 jar Naturally Nutty Almond Butter with Flax Seed and Hemp Seed

That is the big winner, right there! I was literally drooling over this carepackage. I have been dying to try Naturally Nutty after reading about it all over HEAB’s blog, so needless to say, I am very very excited about this jar. Unfortunately, I just cracked into a jar of Trader Joe’s Almond Butter yesterday, so this one will have to wait a few weeks…we’ll see what I can do 🙂

As for Megan’s carepackage, I sent the following:

Megan, like myself, is a student and was looking for portable snacks, as well as chocolates and sweets to satisfy her sweet tooth! I gave her the Marshmallow Treats, Chocolaty Cat’s Cookies, and Trader Joe’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate Callets so that she could get in her sweet-tooth fix on the go. The Pure bars and Go Raw Trek Mix are all very portable and very helpful when you need something healthy to hold you over on busy days. I got Megan the Chai Tea and TJ’s Lavender Hand and Body Lotion for some self-care items; you need some TLC and pampering at the end of those long and hectic days!!

So that is all I have to share from my crazy foodie-licious day. I did also purchase two cookbooks last night to help in my vegetarian transition:

Ventursome Vegetarian Cooking: Bold Flavors for Meat- and Dairy-Free Meals by J. M. Hirsch

and

How It All Vegan by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer

If you’ve read either of those books or have any good suggestions or vegetarian resources, please share them!

Also, what hobbies put a smile on your face? Cooking, excercising, or any others, I’d love to know!

Have a great night everyone!

-Em