Vegan Creamy Butternut Squash Soup Filed under ( Healthy, Restaurant Review, Soup, Vegan, Vegetables, vegetarian )

TGIF for sure! Work was a little crazy this week and I am READY for the weekend. How about you? One thing that did make my week a little better? I met my friend Mandi for a working breakfast at my favorite place (Charleston’s Cafe!!) on Thursday. We both enjoyed their fantastic parfaits. I got the blueberry & banana (I know, I’m such a creature of habit):

And Mandi got the apple & craisin parfait:

If you’re ever in the Charleston area and need a brunch friend…I’m always available ;)

The second thing that made my week better? A vegan creamy butternut squash soup! I saw Krista make this soup this week and knew I must have it! Luckily, I had a small butternut squash in the fridge just screaming to be used up. I made a few minor, minor adjustments to her recipe, so feel free to prepare it as below or use Krista’s original version:

Vegan (or not) Creamy Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• ¼ cup onion, chopped finely
• 1 clove garlic, chopped finely
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• 1/8 tsp ground red pepper (optional, I like a little heat with my sweets)
• 14 oz cooked butternut squash ( cut in half, remove seeds, bake at 400 until VERY soft~1.5 hours) or you can use a 15-oz can of butternut squash puree

Before:

After:

 

Just the “meat”:

• 1.5 cups vegetable broth
• ½ cup milk, cream or half and half (I used original almond breeze)

  Directions:

• Heat olive oil in a medium size pot. Add onion & garlic and cook until onion is translucent.
• Add spices, butternut squash and broth. Bring to a boil.
• Lower heat to medium low, add milk and let simmer 10-15 minutes.
• Puree with immersion or regular blender.
• Serves 2

 

Fantastic! Thank you Krista! If you don’t read Krista’s blog, you should totally check it out. She is the ultimate super mama!

Weekend plans?? I’m teaching (Step Friday AM, Step & Pump launch Saturday) and Josh’s parents are coming to visit! I cannot wait!!

If you haven’t done so yet, enter my cookie giveaway!!!

Peanut Butter (Flour) Chocolate Chip Cookies Filed under ( Dessert, peanut butter, Restaurant Review, Vegan )

First things first- Happy Birthday Cookie(Josh’s Mom)!!!! Hope you are having a spectacular day.

How was your weekend? Hopefully the weather was just as beautiful where you are as it was here.  My weekend involved tasty eats, time with friends, Josh & Frank, great workouts and lots of house/yard work. A few pictures from the weekend. Veggie Quesadilla from Poe’s:

This morning, Lindsay and I walked the bridge and then had brunch at my favorite place:

 

Lindsay came with treats!! She knows how much Josh loves key lime pie, so she snagged him a pack of this key lime pie gum:  

She also shared some of her Artisana samples with me (thank you thank you!):

 

When I got home, I got to work on a new recipe, peanut butter flour chocolate chip cookies. I used the trader joe’s flour to create these beauties. This was my second attempt and they turned out really well (unlike my first batch ;)).

 

Vegan (or not) Peanut Butter Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Ingredients:

Dry Ingredients:

• 1 cup peanut flour
• ½ cup all purpose flour
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp baking soda

Wet Ingredients:

• ¼ cup sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil or earth balance (1 stick) (or regular butter)
• 2 tablespoons flax mixed with 6 tablespoons water (or 2 eggs)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Chocolate chips (vegan, carob or milk)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Mix wet ingredients in one bowl and dry in another.
• Combine wet & dry ingredients and add chocolate chips
• 
• Drop by rounded tablespoon onto a cookie sheet
• Bake for 10-12 minutes
• Let cookies cool for 1 minute on baking sheet then remove to cooling rack. Makes ~ 2 dozen cookies

 

The rest of my afternoon will be spent doing some work, changing up my group fitness choreography & watching football with Josh & this sleepy guy:

Favorite part of the weekend? I really enjoyed my walk this morning with Lindsay :) Who needs a therapist when you have fabulous friends?

Quick & Easy Vegetarian Bowl Filed under ( Beans, clean eating, group fitness, Healthy, protein, Vegan, Vegetables, vegetarian )

Last nights dinner was a tasty and easy one! I saw Jessie post about her go to Vegan Protein Bowl and it made me crave my own favorite quick & easy vegetarian (or vegan) bowl. I usually make this dish by roasting my vegetables, but I went a slightly different route last night so I could use my new steamer insert that my friend Mandi gave me for my birthday.

 

I chopped up a parsnip and sweet potato…

 

and steamed them up…

 

I mixed the steamed veggies with Bush’s reduced sodium pinto beans…

 

and Success Brown rice. The mixture was topped with salsa. For a little extra yum factor, I usually place shredded cheese on top.

 

Delicious & healthy.

And for workout Wednesday, here is my plan for the week:

• Monday: Ran to warm up, Taught Body Pump
• Tuesday:  Taught Body Attack
• Wednesday:  Ran outside
• Thursday:  Teach 45 minute Step, 45 minute Pump
• Friday: Off
• Saturday:  Teach Body Step
• Sunday:  Walk with Lindsay

What is your favorite healthy meal? Any workout plans for the week?

Happy Birthday to my sister, Kim!!!! (Her birthday was yesterday but I didn’t post!)

Baseball and Cuban Style Pineapple, Rice & Beans Filed under ( Beans, Healthy, Mexican, Restaurant Review, Turkey, Vegan, vegetarian )

You have to love the shortened work week that follows a three day weekend! My week has been off to a great start (and I hope yours has as well!). Monday started with a six miler outside:

Followed by lots of errands and housework. The day ended with dinner at Taco Boy and a Charleston River Dogs baseball game with Lindsay & Patrick. Taco boy is a funky restaurant with two locations, one in Charleston and one in Folly. We hit up the Charleston location. Check out the cool decor inside:

We shared some chips and salsa (their chips were great- not greasy at all!) and I got the taco salad for dinner. My taco salad was missing a few of the ingredients mentioned on the menu and came with one tiny sliver of avocado. I was a little disappointed. On the flip side, the roasted corn in the salad was delicious:

 

After dinner, we headed out to the baseball game. The weather was perfect and the stadium is beautiful:

  Josh & I:

Me, Lindsay & Patrick (hahaha)

The game was ….slow? I have no idea who even won! We left in the 9th and the score was still 0,0.

 

Today was back to the grind! After the usual work, I did a bit of cleaning and taught Body Attack.

For dinner, I made up Cuban Style Pineapple Rice & Beans (with Turkey for Josh):

Ingredients:

• 1/2 or 1 full 15 oz can Cuban style black beans (or you can use regular black beans and add in some additional spices (cumin & chili powder), onion & garlic)

 

• 8 oz can pineapple (either tidbits or chunks), drained or fresh cut pineapple
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 1 jalapeno, chopped
• 1/2 lb turkey (if using)
• 2 cups cooked brown rice (I used Success)
• 1 tablespoon oil (utilize 1/2 tablespoon if cooking beans only)

Directions:

• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add turkey and cook through (until no longer pink)
• Lower heat to medium and add black beans, pineapple, salsa and jalapenos. Heat through (~5 minutes)
• Place cooked mixture on top of brown rice
• Enjoy!

Easy dinner! And can be made for vegetarians and meat eaters alike! You can also play around and add some more veggies (peppers and onions would be fantastic!). Serves 2 or 3.

  

Also, on a side note, look at this adorable apron Lindsay gave me for my birthday (love it- thank you girl!):

 

What is your week looking like? Anything exciting to look forward to?

Vegan (or not) Almond Butter Granola Bars Filed under ( Breakfast, Dessert, peanut butter, Restaurant Review, Vegan )

Sunday morning:

…never lasts long enough :). Hope your weekend has been treating you well. Mine has been so, so nice. Lots of time with my Mom, Josh and Frank….

I wanted to share with you a few pictures from two restaurants I visited this weekend, as well as a pretty tasty almond butter granola bar recipe.

First up, Daniel Island Grille. Saturday morning was my idea of perfection. My Mom came down early to take my Body Step class. I hope to goodness I am able to stay in as great of shape as my Mom is in. As I’ve told you before, she was the one who really got me into Group Fitness and has always been a healthy balance role model. After class, we showered up and headed to Daniel Island Grille.

 

They were offering both lunch & brunch.  I ordered coffee:

 

and…shocking, a parfait. Their parfait was heavy on the yogurt, super light on the granola and had whipped cream on top. It was served in an elegant little glass. Very tasty, but much lighter than my usual Charleston’s Cafe parfait love.

  My Mom got the family circle spinach salad. She said all of the ingredients tasted super fresh:

I also tried a second new restaurant this weekend, Your Pie.

 

Your Pie is owned by the people who own Moe’s and the concept is the same, customizable pizza & calzones. They also offer salads in bread bowls, panini’s and gelato. I first heard about this restaurant from Amelia. Josh and I met some friends there for dinner. I got a 6” kids pie with marinara and veggies (no cheese). It was pretty tasty, but the restaurant is somewhat far from our house….and it wasn’t good enough to make the drive out to again.  Josh also ordered a calzone that was pretty tiny (no picture)

We also tried their gelato. They use lower fat ingredients, so I think the gelato is actually something like 93% fat free. We got the mint chocolate chip and coconut. Both were pretty good.

 

Last up! I made some tasty Vegan (or not) Almond Butter Granola bars this morning. I think they turned out well.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups dry oats
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup sunflower seeds
• ¼ cup pumpkin seeds
• ½ cup chocolate chips
• ¼ cup pure maple syrup (or honey for non vegan version)
• 1/3 cup apple sauce (unsweetened)
• ½ cup almond butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix together dry ingredients (first 6). Add wet ingredients. Mixture should just pull together.

 

Spray baking pan and press mixture into the pan using the back of the spatula/spoonula.

Bake for ~25 minutes. Let the bars cool and then cut into squares.

I may tweak the recipe a bit, but I think this is a great start! How are you spending the rest of your day? My plans are still up in the air ;)

Eggo Pizza Review, Tofu Xpress & Meals Filed under ( BBQ, Beef, Breakfast, product review, soy, Vegan, vegetarian )

This is going to be a bit of a packed post! First off, even though I do not post every day, I do cook daily. I wanted to show  you a few of the dishes that have been coming out of my kitchen as of late:

Turkey Stir Fry for Josh (ground turkey, water chestnuts, baby corn, stir fry sauce, sesame seeds) over couscous:

Lots of fresh fruit bowls (ok…this isn’t cooking- but definitely noteworthy ;)):

Ground beef & jalapeno burgers for Josh. Burgers were topped with American cheese and placed on toasted, homemade focaccia bread. Served with pickles & corn:

 

Last night, I tried making up some homemade tofu for me using the Tofu Xpress I won from the fabulous and (almost) married Janetha (big early congrats to Janetha- hope the wedding and honeymoon are incredible!):

The press was SO easy to use! I placed a block of Nasoya Lite Firm Tofu into the press and placed it into the fridge for a couple hours (Tofu Xpress recommends letting the press sit for at least an hour, but you can press overnight as well):

Next, I dumped out the water:

Covered the tofu with a little oil, garlic powder & Italian seasoning and cooked at 425 for ~25 minutes flipping once:

 

I planned to eat it with a little marinara sauce….

but it was just…..ick. Tonight, I’m going to try again and use it in a stir fry (which is how I’ve had it out at restaurants before). If I’m still not feeling it, I’m going to give it another go using either one of Averie or Broccoli Hut’s recipes. I ended up making a loaded sweet potato instead and served it with a mega bowl of melon & yogurt :).

Josh had been away on a business trip and was more excited than even I was about the Eggo Real Fruit Pizza’s we had received:

He asked if he could sample the first pizza, Strawberry Granola. Since he was super hungry, we followed the microwave vs. oven cooking directions. The outcome (sorry, the pizza broke a bit from shipping):

 

According to Eggo, “Eggo Real Fruit Pizzas are an all-in-one combination of fruit and warm toasted granola on an oven baked cinnamon and maple-flavored crust.” Josh thought the flavor of the pizza was awesome- like a parfait in pizza form. The pizzas come in individual packages and retail at $2.79 (according to this website). We both thought this was a bit steep for a single pizza. Josh said he would purchase the pizzas if there was a 2/$3.50 type deal.

The pizzas are also pretty calorie dense. The Strawberry granola contains 400 calories, 12 g of fat, 6 g of saturated fat, 390 mg of sodium and 18 g of sugar (according to the back of the box).

I will let you know my opinion when I give the Mixed Berry Granola a go!

What are you up to this weekend? I have some teaching to do (Attack Friday, Step & Pump Saturday). I am hoping to go to brunch after teaching on Saturday and Sunday I want to get some sun. Have a great one!