Cha Cha Cha Chia!

Chia Seeds, these little guys are my latest obsession. I first heard about them looking at some healthy lifestyle blogs. People are mixing them in oatmeal, smoothies and even replacing some of the fat in baking recipes. They are supposedly the new flax seeds (only way better.)

I was intrigued. So I got some at my local health food store. I started my mixing them in my oatmeal in the morning. I tried replacing some chia gel in my muffins (pretty good.) And I started adding them to any meal that I can mix them in without it being weird (like my garbonzo bean salad which is my new favorite lunch)

Seriously? My energy level is through the roof. When I get home, I have the energy to chase after my 1 and a half year old son, and do the dishes, laundry and maybe exercise if I can find a window of time where the baby will sleep and J is home work at a reasonable time.

If you are looking for a natural energy enhancer that is safe and is full of omega 3s, protein and fiber give them a try. Seriously they are awesome.

Day 12!

Here we are on day 12 of our adventure and personally, it is way easier then I thought. I am getting over a pretty good cold, so I felt lousy those days. But J feel great. And I am feeling much better.

Let talk food!! We had lots of yumminess last week. I made a yummy stirfry with tofu and veggies, which is great when you need soemthing quick for dinner. LAst night I made an amazing pumpkin ginger bisque, with some tweaking. Since it is pumpkin season here, I bought a pumpkin from our local farmstand and roasted it myself. I did this because, it really is easy and I REALLY love  roasted pumpkin seeds.I didn't have cider so I just added a peeled diced apple int he mix, and I used Vegetable stock insterad of chicken stock of course. The seeds I roasted with a little salt, paprika and garlic powder...and I forgot to share those with J.

Along with that we had my favorite Barefoot Contessa sandwiches. Which I am not a big fan of roasted peppers in a jar, but if I can roast them and marinate them, sign me up. Way worth the effort.

Also, a big hit with my whole family (parents and sister included) were Veggie Num-Nums Eggplant Balls. These too are easy to make, they take a bit of time, but are really really good. I did bake them, or try to, but J believe Balls, meat or otherwise need to be fried. So he fried them in a pan. If you do this I recommend baking them a little bit so they hold together a little better. He also mentioned squeezing out excess moisture before adding the binding ingredients to help them hold better together. He is the master at frying. I...am not. The 4 I tried just fell apart in mush (but they were still so good.)

What else? Oh on Sunday we had a pizza party with family. No one missed the meat free toppings, But I don't think anyone would dare complain while eating J's pizza. He makes his oen dough and cooks it on the grill and it is amazing.

Tonight I am going to attept a Coconut Curry Tofu recipe from allrecipes. I have never made a curry before so hopefully it comes out good!

Who knew

You can still gorge yourself on junkfood while being vegetarian?

So Friday started out great, pumpkin oatmeal for breakfast. Some nice stirfried broccoli and tofu for lunch. And then we went to a fantastic wedding. The cocktail hour was full of vodka, scotch and crudites. So when the dinner came around I was stuffed. Which was good because everyone got chicken! I had no problem skipping it.

Saturday I had brought some raw cashews and apples to the hotel because I knew I would need something in my stomach as soon as I woke up. When we got home I made some nice egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches.

But the thing that got us through the raging hangover was homemade pizza. We made a cheese one, a spinach, kalamata olive and feta one and a vegan sausage and caramelized onion one. mmmmm.

And we may have had popcorn later on.

Sunday I felt good, I had some pumpkin oatmeal (omg obsessed) and went for a run. Then I made ministrone soup for lunch. For dinner I made some stuffed portobella mushrooms and we had the soup with it, and some garlic crostini.

But I also made some killer brownies that wiped out my previous healthiness of the day. Oh well. It was sucessful and a very yummy weekend indeed.

Slow and steady

So the official start date for our experiment is tomorrow. However, I have been trying to cut out meat this week to see what I am getting myself into. Honestly? It hasn't been too hard.

the bummer is I have to give up my most favorite salad dressing, because it has anchovies in it. But if that is the only thing I miss, I think I will be ok.

I think the hardest thing so far, is the lack of convenience foods. I can't run to the deli for chicken breast and take care of all my lunches for the week. I need to make my food and plan it out a little more. This will probably be where the "challenge" comes into play. Especially for mid week lunches when we run out of everything in the house. Not to mention, of course, all the cooking.

I love to bake, but cooking? It is more of a chore. J is the better cook in this family. But I am doing my due dilligence on researching good recipes making sure our diet is balanced and we aren't eating mac and cheese all the time. This might be good for me to learn to like cooking more. Or maybe not!

Coincidence

So through my googleing of various vegetarian websites, I came across the website for World Vegetarian Day, which is sponsored by the North American Vegetarian Society. World Vegetarian Day happens to be October 1, actually October is Vegetarian awareness month. I had no idea.

So how crazy that we decided to begin this challenge on October 1? Anyway I thought that was a fun coincidence. So if you are looking for a fun challenge try it for a day, a week, or even a month! If you pledge to do this online, you will be entered to win some cash prizes. I just pledged for a month- so come this Friday I am meat free, which includes fish. I was tossing around the idea of including fish, but for a chance to win a grand, I think I can abstain!

Why The Eff are you giving up Meat?

J and I were sitting around one fine evening, it may have involved some martinis, and we got to talking about going vegetarian for a month. I believe it was J who brought it up and I quickly agreed. I think a few more cocktails were consumed and the decision that came so quickly was forgotten.

I think J hoped I had forgotten completely. But I actually grew excited about this challenge.

We both have dabbled with it in the past (wow makes it sound like something bad) But it was half hearted and brought on by trying the master cleanse. We gave up everything and then when it was time to reintroduce meat into the diet, I balked and didn't have any for a a couple months, but then I started eating fish and then I got pregnant and I really wanted bacon. So that was the end of that.

This time it is more of a challenge and is completely based on eating more healthy. As much as I want to tote the warm fuzzies of animal loving, this is totally selfish reasons here.

So that is the why. The how is a whole other thing. Wish us luck on this endeavor.