I am getting excited for the holidays and next week should be fun, if a little stressful, with last minute prep and our office party. I am being daring this year planning to take a raw vegan dessert to the dessert contest. I’m a realist on it’s chances of winning, but it could be a refreshing change from the sickening sweet options, right? It’s been a great weekend that went by a little fast, of course. We ate out a lot this weekend, but I’m not too worried about it with lots of cooking in the days ahead. And we had to try out a new local vegan restaurant.
It’s been cool, overcast, and even rainy today which the pups want nothing to do with preferring the fire place.
When I did cook at home this week, it’s been simple salads, smoothies, and marinara sautes.
I have been logging more running miles embracing the cooler weather and cleaner air with easy outdoor runs and more intense treadmill intervals at the gym.
And an easy work lunch from Pho Vegan Asian Cuisine, of course. The mock lemon “chicken” with brown rice is delicious.
I got stuck late at work on Friday with an unplanned issue, not complaining about the overtime this time of year. But by the time I got home, we decided to keep it easy going to dinner at our favorite local Thai restaurant.
Hubby got very spicy vegan drunken noodles while I opted for the pumpkin curry with brown rice, yum.
We also hit our local Grocery Outlet finding some exciting new vegan deals including Quorn vegan products, Vegan White Castle Sliders, Suja Plant Milk, Daiya products, and a great deal on French green lentils, my favorite!
It’s a good time to be a vegan with so many options now! And we have a new vegan restaurant that opened last weekend, Vegan Plate.
They have a very interesting menu with Asian themed dishes, pizza, burgers, Hawaiian dishes, tacos, etc. A little bit of everything which seems pretty daring and separates them nicely from other vegan restaurants in the area adding more variety. The place is new, clean, and huge and the service was good. We tried a few dishes from the menu including the mushroom “calamari”, their drunken noodles since hubby is obsessed with it, and the buffalo cauliflower tacos for me.
The mushroom calamari was delicious with a crunchy texture and addiction creamy sauce. The tacos were with a kicky flavor and crunchy texture. And the drunken noodles were loaded with a satisfyingly variety of colorful veggies. So thumbs up so far.
Okay, to the list!
- How running transformed an NPR host.
- Effective vegan activism video.
- Vegan pet gift ideas.
- Love this young climate activist.
- How to stay fit and running into your 50s.
- Reasons to go vegan for the New Year.
- Time for Boca to go vegan.
- Vegan-friendly winter jackets.
- How a vegan diet affects your body and brain.
- Apps to help you be eco-frienly. I’ve been having fun with Buycott.
- Vegan foods to cut belly fat.
- Benefits of eating vegan foods.
- Ethically-made vegan gifts.
- We need more vegan female superheroes.
- I am a fan of the Tofurky roast too.
- Top 10 vegan news stories of 2018.
Laura says
Good luck on winning the office vegan dessert contest! I guess you never know! And good for you on your workout schedule. It’s rainy here today…guess I can’t rain, but I’m literally “running” out of good excuses =)
christine says
Haha, thanks! Hopefully it will stand out for being a dense chocolate cake. It can be so tough to get outdoor workouts in the winter, lots of treadmill and elliptical time for me too.
Crissie says
So glad the air quality is back to where you can run outside again! Temps tanked here for a bit and I was actually on the gym treadmill for a bit! Heading to WI for a week and am really worried about how to get runs in (will need it more because of family than anything!)
christine says
Me too! Yes on the treadmill as well, it’s just easier going to the gym after work and not worrying about running in the dark. Good luck, running on vacations can be tough. I’ve spend lots of early mornings in hotel gyms.
Linda from Veganosity says
I can’t wait to hear about what your coworkers think about the dessert. I had a holiday party for my girlfriends last night and they all loved every single vegan recipe. :) I may have even converted one person!
Good luck!
christine says
Thanks, the party is tomorrow and I have tons of cooking and prep to do tonight – ugh. :-P
Mary Ellen says
Excited to hear how the dessert goes over. I’m sure everyone will love it!
That new vegan restaurant looks so good!
christine says
Thanks and me too! Tomorrow is the day and I will be doing lots of cooking and preparing tonight! :-)
Hannah says
I can’t wait to hear how the dessert bake-off goes! No matter what you end up submitting, I already know it will be a strong contender.
I hear you about the stress though. Hang in there, you’ve almost made it to the holidays!