Another weekend flew by too fast, ugh. Not for Leela, she’s been happy to enjoy our cooler fall weather snuggled in blankets.
Rough life. I’ve been enjoying more turmeric smoothies this week with Garden Of Life’s Vanilla Raw Protein and Greens, frozen banana, fresh ginger, carrots, kale and broccoli.
And I had an interesting comfort meal the other night adding marinara sauce and Trader Joe’s Vegan Mozzarella Style Shreds to steamed spaghetti squash.
It was a very tasty and a hearty way to jazz up spaghetti squash making it a fun meal.
There have also been tofu oil free stir fries with veggies.
And more oil free sautes with steamed spaghetti squash, broccoli, and tempeh.
Fall has officially arrived when stores of stocked with winter squash, spaghetti squash is one of my favorites for versatile fun that can be steamed cooked in a microwave.
There was also this veggie stir fry with soy curls.
And hubby and I stepped out for a work lunch date at Pho Vegan Asian Cuisine for this trippy, garlic-loaded mock “beef” dish that was delicious.
Since I had to go to Sacramento Friday night for a race packet pickup, we headed over to The Porch for their always creative rotating vegan options starting with the sweet potato fries.
Then the grilled summer squash salad with tofu “feta” and the perfect amount of tangy dressing that was not greasy.
Hubby got the BBQ tofu dish over butternut puree and greens which he liked, but found it was a bit much tofu and we switched halfway through since I’m a bigger tofu fan.
The vegan dessert option was a fall treat – a warm apple crisp topped with oatmeal and brown sugar.
And dinner last night was a usual pre-race meal for me – curried quinoa ancient grain blend with garlic and tahini with veggies mixed in.
Today was the Urban Cow Half Marathon which I’m wiped from. I jumped out of bed at 5am to guzzle coffee, get ready, and make a smoothie to go before leaving the house to pick up my sister. We arrived with plenty of time to get through the outhouse lines before hitting the start line and it was packed this year.
I was feeling pretty good and optimistic.
And cruised at a great pace until about mile 5 where I started crashing and feeling panic attack symptoms again with pounding heart and felt like I was struggling to breath – so frustrating after a great 10-mile PR race a couple of weeks ago! I finished pretty strong at a decent pace considering I had to take many micro walk breaks when I started to feel a little light headed and legs like jelly. That was a deflating experience after tough training and working so hard the the last 6 months or so to figure out what’s causing this for me lately.
After the race, I met my sisters at Andy Nguyen’s Vegetarian for lunch just as they opened which was perfect because I haven’t been there yet and had some great sisterly chat.
I had a checkup doctor’s appointment before my 40th with blood work and found I was low on iron bordering anemic which could cause major running issues. It’s happened to me twice before each before going vegan in my 20s and I found both of my sisters are dealing with the same challenges and they’re not vegan, so it does not seem to be diet related. But apparently a genetic challenge for us and being a female athlete can make it worse. I am currently taking a vegan iron supplement, but remembering to take it daily has been an issue on rushed work mornings and after some extensive reading, it’s not a good idea at all for me to take it in the morning when I usually drink coffee because caffeine can block it’s absorption. So I’ll be adding a reminder to my calendar to try taking it in the evenings with dinner for this month and see if I notice a difference.
Not fun stuff! And I’m glad that wraps up longer races for the year while I work through this and prepare to come back strong next year.
Anyway, the food at Andy Nguyen’s was great, we started with these delicious steamed tofu rolls to re-fuel.
And I got a great noodle dish with tofu, vegan “beef”, mushrooms, kale, and other great veggies.
My sister for the colorful and filling Pad Thai dish.
And veggie loaded noodle soup for the other.
The food was delicious, each dish seemed to be a vibrant celebration of fresh veggies and more whole ingredients.
It was a full and interesting weekend with many great eats. So to the list!
LifeHacker has an interesting article on being an eco-friendly dog lover promoting plant-based dog food.
20 filling vegan dinner ideas.
Damian Lillard discusses going vegan.
Can you play sports as a vegan?
Know when you’re ready to run faster.
Danielle Brooks talks going vegan.
Listen to Miyoko Shinner’s vegan entrepreneur journey.
LifeHacker recommends pea milk as a solid plant-based milk alternative.
Learn to sprint like a beast with these workouts.
Belgium gets smart with their food pyramid.
Your grilled summer squash looks so good! My daughter loves squash. And I agree on Garden of Life, Love all their products. So tasty. And definitely, I think a lot of people are low on iron and don’t realize it! I think my husband is honesty, just because of his size. I make him take all sorts of B vitamins, but they never help enough!
Thanks, it was excellent. Interesting on iron, I always thought I included enough iron-rich plant foods in my diet, but didn’t realize it can be such a problem for athletic women and it seems to run in my family.
I haven’t had spaghetti squash in a while; your dishes with it sound great! The sweet potato fries look really good, too!
Me either, so great to have it back in stores! And thanks on the dishes! :-)