Nachos and Essential Oils for the Weekend List

Hello and happy Sunday – I wish everyday could be Sunday sometimes, but I guess having a job and getting stuff done is important. Friday it rained all day and Miko was not interested in leaving his warm blanket to go outside.

Can’t blame him! It was windy and chilly for my long run again today, glad I remembered gloves this time! And looking forward to more spring like weather hopefully for next weekend’s 10-mile race. I had a couple of great speed training runs during the week finally back up to a faster pace and optimistic that the winter slump is ending. But I felt pretty wiped today against strong head winds and slower.

Last Sunday hubby and I jumped in the EV for an impulse trip to Auburn for lunch because it’s been far too long since I’ve been to Nectar Cafe and he’s never been.

The weather was supposed to be rainy, but it wasn’t – just overcast and perfect for a scenic little road trip. Nectar Cafe is a mostly vegan cafe with some vegetarian options that can also be served vegan – like these delicious nachos with either local cheddar cheese or house made cashew cheese. Guess which option I got.

And they were amazing with avocado, vegan chorizo, and roasted jalapenos. I need to make a trip back for more soon!

Hubby got the house made California veggie burger with lentils, kidney beans, and a whole lot of other good stuff.

I was amazed at how packed it was too, the cafe has really grown in popularity since my last visit which is awesome.

We walked about the downtown area for a bit exploring the community garden and I saw my first Chevy Bolt in the wild which was very exciting!

Never thought I’d be excited about a Chevy again, but the Bolt EV is a lot like my current EV, a small, fun-to-drive hatchback, with a much better range and features for future long road trips. It’s much closer to eliminating our need for a gas car and I’m seriously thinking about making it my next car.

We also stopped at Whole Foods on the way home where I was tempted to buy a whole jackfruit, haha, but we ended up buying Gardein’s Porkless Pockets for hubby to try instead which he did this weekend.

That are small-ish tangy BBQ vegan shredded “pork” in a soft bun that cooks in minutes in the microwave. I can’t say they appealed to me, but he gave them a solid thumbs up for the BBQ cravings and could not tell they weren’t meat.

Usually I buy Vega or Garden of Life smoothie packets for hubby’s business trips, but I found these from Kashi at Grocery Outlet this weekend for considerably less.

They’re sort of like meal replacement powders with a variety of plant based protein and vitamins, perfect for traveling with a blender ball.

Friday night we headed to Il Fornaio for a nice evening out where I got this simple and delicious vegan pizza.

It was wonderful with artichoke hearts and grilled eggplant hitting the spot after a long week.

Along with rice, I’ve been going through a lot of tofu this week after buying a huge package of Wildwood High Protein non-GMO tofu and using it in simple dinners like this tamari stir fry with veggies.

Another spicy sriracha stir fry.

And a veggie tomato basil saute.

There has been salad like this chickpea hummus dressing salad topped with nutritional yeast.

And a simple lentils and quinoa dish simmered with garlic, bay leaves, miso paste, apple cider vinegar, and fresh parsley.

Yesterday I had a very light lunch after the gym – veggies and hummus, because I was heading to an afternoon essential oils and desserts party at a vegan friend’s house.

I will admit that I am a total newbie when it comes to the world of essential oils, I pretty much just know how to work our oil diffuser and they smell good – that’s about it. And that’s nothing because there is a huge quality grading system for oils and price differences and massive manuals on how to use certain oils to address ailments like body aches, acne, digestion issues, etc. I brought cash and was looking forward to maybe buying some new oils to try. But that was not how this party worked – a rep from Young Living was there with a whole sample, tester kit and tons of documentation to educate us, but no inventory to buy.

Guests were invited to learn and place orders for products and pick reward plans for regular shipments which seemed like more financial commitment than I was ready for. Because I was a newbie, I was encouraged to buy a $160 starter kit with another diffuser that was “better” than the one I had and it was a better deal than just ordering a few oils. I ended up leaving with the reps information for buy online later because I wanted to research the diffuser and oils I already had. I’m interested in the possible benefits of essential oils, but I wasn’t ready to completely buy into all the fabulous claims especially with the odd rules on purchasing them.

But this week’s like is pretty fabulous.

Going vegan is the secret to happiness, something I can buy into!

How to educate your doctor on a vegan diet.

7 things that happened to nurses after they tried a plant based diet.

Lessons learned from running a first marathon.

A day in the life of Rich Roll.

Running for recovery.

How to start running as a beginner.

Travis Barker discusses his vegan success.