This has been a relaxing, casual weekend where I caught up on stuff around the house and worked a little on my goals for 2015. So this will be a bit of a random post. It was especially relaxing for the pups, they kept warm by the fire while Smokey took in her favorite show.
I headed to the gym Saturday where I got my first taste of the January rush! It was tricky just checking in with so many people signing up for gym memberships and almost all of the treadmills were in use. Ugh, I’m trying to be positive about this and embrace the rush of new people passionate about fitness. And that it’s a great opportunity to wear my collection of vegan fitness shirts to the gym!
Also considering hitting the gym more during the week right after work before the huge rush to get in more quick power workouts. We’ll see!
I scored some cheap running compression capris at Old Navy with my sister, these were under $20 each and they have huge side pockets for my phone!
And I made a huge simple spinach salad with apple, carrot, salsa, and hemp seeds. For the dressing I whisked tahini, lemon juice, and tamari in a bowl and yum!
I’ve been focusing on using up what I have in the pantry and freezer which will continue for the next few weeks and produce some interesting creations I’m sure! I threw together this simple dinner Saturday when my mom came over of Gena’s carrot fries and a simple green lentil and spinach dish seasoned with dill, lemon juice, garlic powder, and pepper.
The carrot fries are awesome, especially if you need to use up a lot of carrots. They’re crispy, savory, a little greasy, and delicious dipped in simple ketchup or hubby’s Sriracha ketchup blend.
I’m resolving to make more raw recipes at home and get back to basics like growing more sprouts and making my own almond and hemp milk this year. I was very passionate about that when I first got into raw, but some of those habits fell to the side while taking care of three dogs, training for races, and a crazy work schedule. Today I made my first batch of almond milk in, uh, a long time, and it came out great! I soaked a cup of raw almonds in the fridge for about 8 hours, an blended them with 4 cups of water and 1/4 cup of NuNaturals Cocoa Syrup which is a great chocolate syrup sweetened with stevia and packs a nicely simple ingredient list.
I had to dig out my nut milk bag to strain out the almond pulp which turned out to not be tough at all and it looked and tasted like chocolate almond milk.
I primarily use it in coffee and chia seed pudding and looking forward to trying the Cocoa Mint Syrup next.
Finally I used up a half bag of heirloom lima beans from our pantry for an interesting pressure cooker dinner tonight. I soaked the beans for about 8 hours.
And added them to the pressure cooker with chopped carrots, chopped onion, and this package of Dr. McDougall’s Vegan Split Pea soup with about 2 cups or water, just enough to stir everything together.
The concoction looked interesting, but tasted pretty good! The split pea soup seasonings added a creamy savory and heartiness to the mixture.
And made for a very filling dinner!
I love that tee Christine!
Making your own almond milk is the best, isn’t it? You can decide how thick and creamy you want it to be just by adding more or less water. And, you know exactly what you’re drinking!