vegan crack sweet potatoes

Good morning!

Today I want to share with you a recipe that I am obsessed with.  I liked this recipe before the Whole30 and I like it even better now.  Vegan.  Crack.  Sweet.  Potatoes.  YUM.  Okay, so this recipe is super versatile and you can change up the ratios however you want.  If you like spicy food....make those red pepper flakes rain on your sweet potatoes.  Not so into spicy?  Ease up.  Love garlic?  Pile that shit on!  You catch my drift??  One of the things that I have enjoyed about cooking recently is that I have learned to adapt recipes to either what I have on hand or to my individual preference.  I always say that you should follow the recipe the first time, but after that....start making changes and make it however you like it.

So these sweet potatoes.  I have started to buy a ton of sweet potatoes every week and make about 4 cups of these babies to use throughout the week.  They work as part of a breakfast hash, on salads, as a side...you can eat them at all times of the day.

The other great thing about this recipe?  It's simple.  Simple foods are the best foods and you know exactly what is going into them.  You can (hopefully) pronounce all of the ingredients and they all add great flavor.  No fillers, no preservatives.  Good.  Whole.  Food.

Okay, so anyway.  Without further ado...here's the recipe!

Ingredients
1 sweet potato, diced into 1/2 inch cubes
1 tsp minced garlic (I use the pre-minced stuff in a jar)
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp olive oil
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Preheat oven to  400F.  In a bowl, mix all ingredients. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil and coat with olive oil spray. (I actually like to use a 9" x 13" glass Pyrex baking dish lined with foil, but metal cookie sheets work too.)  Evenly distribute potatoes on baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and stir.  Bake for another 15 minutes, or until fork tender. Voila!  Done.

As you get more and more comfortable with this recipe, you will probably opt to save dishes and prepare it the way I do:  Line baking dish.  Dump in potatoes.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle seasoning in until it "looks right".  Super easy.  Also, notice that this recipe is for 1 potato.  You can always double, triple, or quadruple the recipe, as needed.  I think I have been able to get up to 3 sweet potatoes in a 9" x 13" glass dish.

to your health,

anne

mushroom and brussels sprout hash

Happy Sunday Funday BRUNCH DAY!!!!!

As I mentioned in my #veglife post, one of my strategies for making sure I eat enough veggies is to make sure that I eat them with my breakfast.  Something else I have been really trying to do is to eat seasonally to save money and to diversify my palate.  As I was doing my research, I found that brussels sprouts are seasonal to the winter/January and decided to try to find some recipes that incorporate them.  Eating seasonally is an excellent way to save money, promote local agriculture, and to eat healthy foods!  And this recipe is soooooo simple! 

I actually learned about how to peel brussels sprouts and when I saw that I was supposed to slice them, I’m sure the look on my face was priceless.  Slice brussels sprouts?  What the h?  I had only ever had them roasted or sautéed whole…which is a delicious way to eat them, by the way.  But anyway, yes!  I learned things with this recipe!  And I bought a ton of brussels sprouts as part of my shopping this week, and I am really looking forward to trying them sautéed with scallions on a salad.  I’ll share if it works out! :]

As always, you should tailor this recipe to how you like it, particularly with how long you cook your eggs at the end.  Personally, I like the yolks firm, so I cover it and braise the eggs until they turn firm, but if you like yolks runny, then you can just cover and cook for a shorter time!

Without further ado…..here it is!  My January seasonal breakfast!

Mushroom and Brussels Sprout Hash

2 tsp ghee

2 cups brussels sprouts, peeled & sliced

1 package sliced baby bella mushrooms

½ small yellow onion

1 clove garlic, minced

2 eggs

½ tsp thyme

Salt & pepper to taste

In a skillet, melt ghee over medium heat.  Sauté mushrooms and onions for about 8 minutes, or until the mushrooms start to get juicy.  Add in brussels sprouts and garlic and sauté for about 3 minutes, to soften. Season with thyme, salt, and peper and stir. Make 4 small holes in the layer of mushrooms & brussels sprouts for the eggs.  Crack an egg into each of the 4 holes and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Cook your eggs to your preferred level of doneness and serve!  Voila!

I hope you like this one as much as I did!

xoxo,

anne

how i do #veglife

Hello!

Earlier this week, I shared with you, why I decided to become a vegetarian.  Now, I want to share with you how I do it!

I really think that there is a misconception out there about there being strict rules to being a vegetarian.  There aren't.  What I have enjoyed is being able to research as much (or as little) as I want to and shape my philosophy based on my research and my lifestyle.  Cool, right?

So let's dig right in!

Here is my basic framework for #veglife:

1.  I do not eat any meat.  No chicken, no beef, no pork, no fish.  At first, I thought about including fish, but factory farmed fish is no better than factory farmed beef.  As for "wild caught" varieties, check out my initial #veglife post regarding bycatch.  Oh, and no gelatin-containing items, either.

2.  I do consume eggs.  But try to keep it to a minimum.  This is not ideal, but I still find myself slightly clinging to the notion of needing to get my protein.  And have you ever had veggies and eggs for breakfast?  It's amazing.

3.  I do consume dairy and cheese.  But try to keep it to a minimum.  There is some evidence that cultures that traditionally consume more dairy and cheese actually have a higher incidence of osteoporosis.  Plus, there are a wide variety of plants that contain calcium.  Broccoli, anyone?  Yum!  I also rarely consumer cow's milk.  Haven't you ever thought that it was odd that humans are the only species that consumes the milk from another species into adulthood?  Mother Nature is amazing, so consider this:  cow's milk is naturally created with a specific set of nutrients that are meant to grow baby calves into big ass cows.  Not to grow toddler humans into adult humans.  It's weird.

Spinach pizza = the best version of cheesy goodness

4.  I do consume beer, wine, kombucha....all of that fermented goodness.  I ain't about that vegan life.  (yet)

Now, let me share some of the practices/guidelines that I use to help keep myself in check and to make sure I don't become a bread & cheese vegetarian .  My philosophy is that if one of my reasons for adopting this lifestyle is for my health, then I need to create practices and guidelines to make sure I am keeping in line with that thought.  Here we go:

1.  Eat as many whole, plant foods as possible.  Even when I indulge in pizza, I make sure it is FULL of veggies.  I'll be sharing my veggie pizza recipe a little later on the blog.  I have pasta and I try to make sure it is more than 50% veggies and less than 50% pasta.  There are so many vegetarian substitutions that you can make for the refined crap food in your local super market, that it's crazy!  Spaghetti squash pasta, anyone?  Anyway, I try to keep it simple.  I have some favorites that I use often, but I do like to mix it up and find new ways to use whole foods as possible!

There's a little pasta in there, at the bottom!

2.  Eat veggies for breakfast.  I adopted this practice about 6 months ago when I realized that even as a vegetarian, I was probably not consuming enough veggies.  The struggle is real.  My favorite to whip up, if I have time is veggies & eggs.  My go to veggies include:  zucchini, peppers, potatoes, eggplant (occasionally), carrots, broccoli, and of course, onions & garlic.  I purposely exclude cheese.

Eggs and veggies are my favorite breakfast!

3.  Reduce use of vegetarian/vegan versions.  I would hazard a guess that this is one of the biggest struggles for vegetarians and vegans alike.  Again, my focus is health and getting all of the nutrient dense foods that I can, so it doesn't make sense to buy an abundance of vegetarian or vegan processed foods.  Examples: Veganaise, Vegan butter, vegan cheese, veggie burgers, vegetarian cereals, snacks, etc.  Now, I do have some in moderation when it comes to snacks, but overall, I try to keep them to a minimum.  Here is my reasoning:  Have you ever heard the philosophy that every time you see a "low fat" snack or "reduced sugar" snack that you should instead interpret "chemical shit storm"?  My thought process is similar.  If I'm a vegetarian for my health and I'm eating vegetarian cookies, does that make them healthy?  No.  Don't get me wrong, I have some veggie dogs in the freezer because I felt left out at an event, but to be honest, they weren't very good anyway and I don't think I have had one now in several months.

4.  Avoid health claims/health foods.  I promise I wont repeat the entire previous paragraph, but it all still applies.  This is called marketing.  Think about the claim on Twizzler's candy that it is a "naturally low fat food".  This may be true, but that's only because it is pure sugar.  Now when it comes to eating things like cheese, I would prefer to eat a full fat version, than reduced fat because it is at least closer to its natural state.  To be honest, I avoid almost all reduced fat/sugar products.  So, I try to keep packaged foods to a minimum, but if I do get them, I go for the packaged products that ARE full sugar/full fat.  Example: breakfast cereal.  Due to marketing and government recommendations, many people assume that breakfast cereals are healthy because they are naturally low in fat and ohhh, look! It has been fortified with "xyz" nutrient!  And the manufacturer says it's healthy!  So it must be healthy, right?  Wrong.  If we are being realistic, breakfast cereal is not much more than processed grains and a few vitamins and minerals that they added back in so that they could say it's healthy.  Most of those nutrients won't be absorbed into our bodies as well as if they are consumed from a whole foods.  (Look up bioavailability).  I also want to add that this applies to organic products, too.  Just because the "cane juice" on the label is organic, that does not make it better for you than regular sugar.  Which brings me to my next point:

5.  Reduce added sugars.  This applies in a few ways.  I do not put sugar or cream in my coffee or tea.  I don't usually get a latte at Starbucks (maybe 1/month).  I avoid fruit juices like the plague (sugar water, anyone?).  I'm sure all of my coworkers would interject here that I have a hard time staying away from the candy jar in the HR office.  Sugar is as addicting as cocaine!  And the Butterfinger cups have no added colors or preservatives, so they must be healthy, right?!  RIGHT?!!  Anyway.  My key word here is try.  When I do use sweeteners, I try to stick to organic raw honey or organic maple syrup because there is at least some mineral content.  I tried agave awhile ago, but to be honest, I wasn't a fan anyway.  Also, check out the documentary called "Fed Up".  You can find it on Netflix and it is a very interesting perspective on the obesity epidemic, particularly in young children and the addictive nature of sugar.  Which, of course, the sugar industry doesn't mind.  Also, I'm sure you have heard now that the FDA will require "Added Sugars" to be listed on nutrition labels beginning in July 2018.  Apparently the sugar industry is not too happy about this.  If you reduce the sugar in your diet to naturally occurring sugars in whole foods, you will be amazed by how you feel after a couple of weeks.  For more info on my experiment with the No Added Sugar Challenge, click here for the background, here for day one reflections, and here for week one reflections.

6.  Take my vitamins!  I am currently taking a multivitamin and a vitamin D supplement.  I would love to take a gummy because I have the hardest time swallowing large pills, but most have gelatin in them, so I settled for a children's chewable.  I don't know that I truly believe that vitamins work.  From what I recall from college, if you remove all confounding factors, there is no evidence that they work (read: due to bioavailability and such).  The reason that I continue to take them is as a reminder that those who take them typically engage in healthier habits like exercising, eating well, hydrating, and resting.

7.  Eat when hungry.  Stop when full.  I do not count macros or calories, but trust that if I am eating a whole foods, plant-based diet, then I am doing well and likely consuming more nutrients that most Americans anyway.  I'm a total grazer, and I always have been, so I snack throughout the day.  The only times I have experienced issues with energy levels is when I have found myself reverting to the bread & cheese lifestyle or making other less healthy decisions and I course correct as needed.

I can't wait to share my favorite go-to's!

As always, feel free to ask any questions that you have!

xoxo,

Anne

strawberry banana breakfast muffins + my #4weekchallenge

Hello, friends!

So I suppose I am in need of an update as to where I have been.  I’ve been much busier than I had anticipated with work, working out, travelling around Wisco trying to be a supportive old lady, and giving myself very little time to work on myself or my blog.  Sad panda.  I’ve been in such a terrible funk lately.  I didn’t feel good about myself and was struggling with some other parts of my personal life.  Gross.  Nobody likes that.

During this time though, I realized that I wasn’t taking care of myself.  I wasn’t eating well.  I stopped working out for a bit and everything went downhill.  I felt terrible.  I craved comfort foods (mostly refined carbs…no fruits, veggies, or proteins) and when I ate them, I felt even worse.  I felt bloated from the salty, nasty, crap that I was putting into my body.  And the more I ate that stuff, the less motivated I felt and it just snowballed.

I realized that I NEED TO FOCUS ON ME FOR A WHILE.  So that is exactly what I have been doing lately.  I started my own 4 Week Challenge at the beginning of the week.  I give myself tasks each day ranging from getting a good lift in or painting my toe nails to putting together my new wine bar all by myself, cleaning my entire apartment, and creating a whole new workout plan. 

These next 4 weeks are all about me!  I will be posting updates on what I am doing for the challenges on Instagram (@itsahealthything), so head over there and see what I have been up to!  Also, I have been MUCH more active on Instagram lately.  It’s a great supportive network of people striving to be their best selves, just like I am!  It’s so encouraging to see others making progress and living their dreams.  I love the positive vibes from the Insta-fit fam.  Seriously.  Check meowt!  ;] See what I did there?

Anyway, focus……On the first day of my challenge, I wanted to remind myself how much I love cooking and baking delicious, wholesome, healthy meals and snacks.  Also, I had some nanners that were going bad from the time that I was NOT eating well.  So I decided to give myself a choice:  banana bread or strawberry banana breakfast muffins.  Well, I went for the muffins because I also had strawberries that were probably going to go bad, too.  Like I said, I failed HARD on clean eating.

I posted this recipe a while ago, but I wanted to post it again.  This oldie but goodie is a combo of two recipes that I found on (where else??) Pinterest.  Personally, I love them with a little smear of butter on them.  Something about that saltiness mixes with the sweetness of the muffins just perfectly.  Plus, I love butter.  Haha.  Sometimes I don’t know how I can be in good shape at all with my love for butter and cheese.

Anyway, here they are again!  Enjoy!

Strawberry Banana Breakfast Muffins

2 ½ cups Old Fashioned Oats

1 cup Plain Greek Yogurt

2 eggs

½ cup honey or baking stevia

1 ½ tsp. Baking Powder

½ tsp. Baking Soda

1 or 2 bananas

1-1 ½ cups diced strawberries

1 tsp. Lemon Juice

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line 12 muffin tins with silicone or foil liners or spray with nonstick cooking spray. Place all ingredients, except the strawberries in a blender or food processor and blend until the oats are smooth. Pour mixture into a medium sized bowl and stir in 1 cup of strawberries. Divide the batter among the cupcake liners. Divide remaining ½ cup of strawberries over the top of each muffin. Sprinkle lightly with sugar. Bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

And there you have it!  Twelve delicious, nutritious muffins!

Stay tuned for more updates on my 4 Week Challenge and what I am doing to focus on ME!

Stay fit!

xoxo

simple overnight oats

Hi, kids!

I have discovered something amazing!  And when I discover amazing things, I feel the need to share them…with you!  I found a recipe for overnight oats a while ago and tried it and was not at all impressed with how it turned out.  It was sufficiently tasty, but I found that the milk that I used didn’t absorb all the way and I had to heat the oats in the morning anyway.  Annoying.  Especially since the whole point of overnight oats is to skip all morning prep and just pull that bowl out of the fridge and chow down.

Anyway…focus.  I am sharing this recipe with you NOW because I found out that using unsweetened almond milk works a million kajillion times better than skim milk!  Whhhaaaat?!  I’m not sure why, but it seems to absorb better and although there is still a portion that is not absorbed, it is thicker than skim milk, so it doesn’t bother me as much.  It’s the ultimate lazy girl healthy breakfast!  Right up there with the Lazy Morning Girl’s Breakfast Muffins.  Yeah.  And they are SUPER FILLING…none of that “hungry an hour later” nonsense.

So here’s the scoop.  I’m going to give you the recipe and then you are going to try it and love it.  Got it?

Simple Overnight Oats
½ cup old fashioned oats
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
½-1 cup fresh berries/fruit (I prefer blueberries, strawberries, or raspberries)
½ tablespoon honey

Add oats, almond milk, and fruit to a bowl.  Refrigerate overnight.  In the morning drizzle with honey.  Eat and be merry.  :]

See?  Super simple.  It’s become my go-to breakfast recently.  It’s too easy.

Anyway, in other news…I have the best boyfriend ever who got me these for Valentine’s Day:

Isn’t he just the best?  AND he helped me shop for supps and pick out a couple flavors of protein to try and as a second Valentine’s gift, bought me NO-Xplode preworkout.  I have to admit, I am a little nervous about the preworkout though.  I guess we will see what happens!  So they are on the way and I can tell you more about them when I try them!

Stay fit!

xoxo

peanut butter energy squares

Okay, so these were previously known as "PB Chocolate Energy Bites", but I decided to give them a new name based one little thing:  how I portion them out.  This is a great and somewhat addicting recipe to have on-hand.  I am starting to have a couple of them on my way to the gym to give myself a little energy boost before my workout.

Although they are delicious, beware!  They aren't called "energy" squares for nothing.  What provides energy?  Calories.  Specifically the sugars in the peanut butter and honey.  I finally did the math and an entire batch is close to 2400 calories.  This is why I recommend splitting them into 24 squares for 100 calorie portions.  These are definitely calorie dense, not nutrient dense.  So, while eating a couple as a pick-me-up is fine, don't eat half of a batch of them!  You have been warned!!!!

Without further ado, here is the mouth-watering recipe:

Peanut Butter Energy Squares
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup milled flax seed
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
1/3 cup chocolate chips

In a large bowl, combine the nut butter, honey, and vanilla until smooth.  Add dry ingredients and mix well.  Refrigerate for about 30 minutes.  Remove from fridge.  Press into 8x8 pan.  Cut into 24 squares to make bite-sized pieces.  Store in refrigerator or freezer until you want to eat them.

.

Keep in mind that you can use any nut butter that you prefer.  In addition, you can vary the ratio of flax seed to wheat germ or cut one out completely, as long as you add 1 cup total of a second dry ingredient.  Although I suppose you could just do 2 cups of old fashioned oats if you really wanted to.  Finally, you can substitute dried fruits or nuts for the chocolate chips if you want to add a bit more of a nutritional punch.

They keep pretty well, but as the dry ingredients absorb the wet ingredients, they lose their limited "crispiness".

I hope enjoy these addicting little squares!!

xoxo,

anne

lazy girl's breakfast muffins

Hi, all!  (Katy)

I have exciting news!  I signed up for a gym membership this week!  Yay!  I was so excited that I lifted on Wednesday and discovered that I am not NEARLY as strong as I thought I would be.  Anyway, adjustments will need to be made for that.  I can't wait to start seeing results.  Because I am already pretty thin, I really want to focus on building muscle and feeling strong and fit again.  I felt absolutely invincible at the height of my athletic career because I was in the best shape of my life.  I'm hoping to surpass that feeling, although I have a feeling it will be slightly different with the training variance.  So here is my starting point:

 January 2014, 144lb.

So this is where the whole "healthy thing" comes into play.  I'm not doing this to lose weight.  I'm not doing this to get skinny.  I want to fuel my body better, workout, and take care of myself because I love the way that I feel when I am doing those things.  Also, I want my butt back.  I used to have this perky, bubble booty when I was lifting for track.  To be completely honesty, I think I can hold it responsible for a few misses in high jump, but I don't have to high jump anymore, so that doesn't matter!!  Mwaahahaha!  So I want my butt back.  Also, my tummy & posture.  Ever since I stopped working out regularly, I have noticed that I stand differently and push my hips and belly out.  I want to be able to see my abdominal muscles and I'm hoping that the core strength that I build will help with my awful posture.

Those are my two main goals as far as aesthetics.  Smaller goals include working some definition in to my back/shoulder muscles, legs, and triceps.  :]

I haven't thought about weight goals too much, so for now I will just say that I want my maxes to be higher than what they were when I was competing.

All of that being said, has anybody ever heard of DOMS before?  It's Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness.  It sucks.  I am in the middle of it right now.  It's that awful soreness that you get when you start working out again and it hits on about the 2nd or 3rd day.  Ouuuuch.  Suggestions?

Okay, now to the main point of this post:  breakfast food!  I don't know about you, but I am TERRIBLE about getting up in the morning and eating breakfast.  Since I am trying make better choices, I'm thinking processed granola bars are no longer the way to go.  So I didn't a little research on recipes and, as per usual, tweaked it to my needs.  I give you....

The Lazy Girl's Breakfast Muffins:

They are so full of protein and so filling.  Sadly, they do not incorporate much from the plant world, so adding some mixed fruit to your morning snack would be beneficial.

Ingredients:

1-1.5 cups hash browns (I grated my own potatoes to use)

6 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup grated cheese

desired toppings:  peppers, onions, mushrooms, broccoli, spinach, ham, bacon, turkey....whatever you love!

*keep in mind that you might need to prep some of the toppings before starting this process.  (ex. if you want the mushrooms sauteed first, spinach wilted, etc)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400.  Spray muffin tin with non-stick spray.  If using hash browns, put about 1/8 cup into each muffin tin.  Season with salt & pepper.  Pop into oven for about 30 minutes, or until they start to get browned and crispy.  In the meantime, get out a mixing bowl and start cracking your eggs.  Whisk eggs until smooth.  Add milk and keep whisking.  When hash browns are finished, pull out your muffin tin and distribute the egg mixture evenly among the cups.  Add toppings of choice.  Sprinkle cheese on top.  Bake for about 15 minutes or until eggs are cooked all the way through.

I froze half of mine and have been storing the others in the fridge until I want to eat them.  To reheat, it takes about 30-45 seconds in the microwave.  Easy, right?!

I am the ultimate anti-morning person, so I love this idea.  I made them initially with just a couple of ingredients and I used hash browns, but I think that on the next round, I am going to try to do spinach and mushrooms or broccoli or something and skip the hash browns.

What are your favorite easy, peasy breakfast foods?!  Comment!

Stay fit!

xoxo