Decompressing for the Weekend List

After such a busy week and last weekend working, it’s been nice to decompress a bit this weekend and actually have time to play Zelda on the Nintendo Switch I got for my birthday. My schedule and shopping routine have been seriously out of whack the last few weeks and eats have been an interesting combo of using up the fresh stuff we have and working through the pantry and freezer. Like this plate of IKEA veggie balls with a salad using tomato, apple, green onions, and sprouts and a sweet sriracha sauce for dipping.

And I’ve been working through my Grocery Outlet stash of Amy’s vegan canned soups and chili for easy dinners.

Not bad for low calorie soup with hearty veggies and barley.

I did pick up a new smoothie ingredient during Amazon’s Prime Day sale awhile back – matchaDNA Organic Powdered Match Green Tea.

I know green tea can have great health benefits and flavor, but I am terrible at drinking tea being more of a coffee person in the morning and avoiding caffeine sources for the rest of the day so I can sleep. I thought this would be a fun way to mix up smoothies and add it to our diet, the flavor works great with vanilla protein powders, seeds, and frozen bananas.

And there was another odd, but tasty salad using chopped jicama and cucumbers I scored from someone’s garden at work with a jalapeno hummus dressing.

Then leftovers of that salad for lunch with my mom with rice, watermelon, and popcorn for a well rounded combo.

Awhile back we bought these Lotus Foods Ramen Rice noodles from Whole Foods and forgot about them, so I decided to use them in a miso veggie soup.

Not beautiful, but fast to prepare in a wok and delicious.

Friday I met my mom and sister for lunch at Pho Vegan Asian Cuisine where I can’t get tired of the eggplant tofu dish.

We are getting more fast, custom pizza restaurants here and many of them offer solid vegan options. Friday we tried Blast 825 Pizza’s vegan options Friday where you start with a hand flattened crust and customize the pizza with what you want before going into the super hot oven for a few minutes – super fast and fun. I tried the vegan cheese with pineapple, onion, artichoke hearts, and black olives which repulses hubby. But I adore black olives and could easily eat an entire can myself.

He got more of a traditional veggie pizza loaded with more mushrooms than I can typically handle.

I’m picky about mushrooms liking some varieties more than others and can’t stand them over cooked. But we still had fun sharing slices and thrilled to have another local, vegan friendly pizza option.

And Saturday we stepped out to Veg Cafe for a classy and light dinner that started with this delicious ginger vodka cocktail.

And I had the colorful Savory Summer Crepe with with turmeric, chili sauce, and mushrooms I actually loved.

And hubby went for the Mixed Pakora plate with a delicious spicy curry sauce.

Now I’m trying to motivate myself for a run this morning, the weather is nicely cooler and breezier that last weekend – maybe more breezy than I like, but oh well. I’m still on the fence about registering for the California International Marathon again this year and do not have much more time to decide. I can’t get excited about going through much of the training alone again, but have not found a running group/training program that works with my schedule. Plus this has been such an off year in running that I’m looking forward to the idea of not spending hours running each weekend and having fun with shorter, fast races instead focusing more on speed and more trail running. We’ll see and to the list for now!

There’s a new vegan series coming to YouTube!

This is sad and controversial news about Daiya with many strict vegans screaming to boycott, but it’s not that simple to me yet.

This runner tried veganism for 13 months.

These reader-submitted kitchen uni-taskers are worth having.

Another pro athlete trying veganism.

This vegan queso sounds devine.

The Freshman 15 fueled this runner.

Your natural running stride is the most effective.

Running is beneficial for older women.

10 vegan beauty brands.

These three changes helped this runner.

And vegan eye candy.