My morning cookie

Who doesn’t like to start the day off right with a bog ol’ cookie?  Breakfast has never tasted so sinful.  I made an Cherry-Oat version of the ever popular breakfast cookie.  I tweaked the recipe a little because I was anticipating a turbo-packed day today… although the weather may have changed that…  Big day at work, spin class at noon (my instructor Matthew kills me and I love it!), and then Yoga Spa after work.  I’ve never gone to Yoga Spa, but it sounds pretty fab… 2 hour yoga class at Equinox done in candlelight with a focus on meditation and relaxation – sign me up!

Cherry-Oat Breakfast Cookie (makes 1 large cookie)

• 1/2 banana
• 1 tsp maca powder
• 1/3 c. rolled oats
• 2 Tbsp almond milk (unsweetened)
• 1 tsp NuNaturals Stevia baking blend
• 1 tsp vanilla whey protein (I used BioChem)
• 9 dried tart cherries
• pinch cinnamon
• pinch cloves

Mash up the banana with the maca, almond milk, Stevia, whey protein and rolled oats.  Spread everything out onto a small plate and dot the tart cherries into the cookie “dough”, sprinkle with spices and set in the fridge overnight.  Easy, no?

I am loving the addition to maca powder to my smoothies and breakfast cookies on my really busy days.  I’m going to have to experiment a bit with it because it might be a good pre-marathon fuel addition.  Hmmm just got an email that the NY office is closed for the day – guess it won’t be so busy after all!

Ginger Miso Stir-fry!

I spent all day hoping for the snow to actually start sticking so that I could go home early, but unfortunately all I got was wet mush – ugh!  I hit up the gym after work to get rid of my frustration at the disappointing wintery mix with some serious pool time.  32 Laps = 1 full mile of swimming.  Yup, I am part mermaid.  

I left the gym feelin’ like a complete Starvin’ Marvin and had a seeerious hankering for some comfort food!  Ok, well in my world comfort food comes from Candle Cafe.  :D Candle Cafe is by far my favorite order-out place in NYC… it’s a fabulous vegetarian restaurant with a focus on organic, seasonal cuisine.  Even the meat eating brother-in-law and fiance love it!  My hands down favorite dish there is the Ginger Miso Stir-fry.  Satisfied a serious craving my friends…

Check it.

So after the most awesome dinner ever I got ta thinking… why can’t I make this myself?  And so begins the Ginger-Miso dressing experiment.  I googled “ginger-miso dressing” today and got a TON of results.  I mashed them all together and made my first attempt at re-creating the sauce of the gods.  No, I haven’t fully tested this out yet so I might have to make a few tweaks to the dressing, so as of now the recipe’s a secret.

Stay tuned for what’s inside this creamy deliciousness… I need to make sure things are perfect before I release it to the public.  Nighty-night chickadees!

Juiced up!

…no not the Jersey Shore definition of juicing up – I meant with real fruits and veggies!  I was all hyped up after first of 5 5-hour cooking classes earlier this week at the I.C.E. (Institute of Culinary Education) in NYC so even though Vinny, my dependable Vita Mix can more than handle big chunks of carrots, I decided to help him out a little and practice my knife skillz at the same time. 

A simple julienne to brunoise… some additional veggies and voila a breakfast fit for a queen!  …or the Jolly Green Giant at least

Green Giant Smoothie (makes 16 oz.)

• 3/4 cups finely diced carrots (about 3 carrots)
• 4 large Romaine lettuce leaves
• 1.5 cups chopped macintosh apples
• 2 tbsp minced fresh ginger
• 1 tsp maca powder
• 2.5 cups water

I also made a few other kinds of juice to have over the next day or two, but I’ll share those recipes later.  This powered me up for a lovely walk through my fav place in the city – Central Park!

Yup, earmuffs+a hat – I get coooold!

Size Healthy!

Hey guys, I just wanted to post on something I think is super important.  Women all over seem to struggle with body image problems and to be honest I’m no different.  This is something I’ve never shared on the blog, but a while back I dealt with disordered eating and a very distorted view of myself.  Thankfully for me I have a wonderful fiance (then bf) who gave me the courage to do something about it, do some work with a nutritionist and get back on the right path.  I’m happy to say that all my hard work paid off and today I’m healthier and happier than I ever have been.

However, that’s not to say I don’t fall into the trap of the occasional “Fat Talk” as Caitlin mentioned on her blog a few days ago.  It’s tough, sometimes thoughts just pop into your head that are negati

ve and hurtful.  Whenever this happens to me I always like to repeat the mantra “I love and accept myself exactly as I am now”.  I got this out of the book “You Can Heal Your Life” by Louise Haye.  This book really helped me in getting rid of all that negativity so I could focus on the beauty in my life and begin to appreciate things more.

It’s really crazy how much negative thoughts can adversely affect your life, so you’d really be doing yourself a favor if you started now to try to end the negative self-talk.  Don’t pay attention to the models in fashion mags, don’t get caught up on the number on a scale, or a dessert you just ate; just learn to love yourself as is.  You can still work towards being healthier, but that doesn’t mean hating yourself until you meet your goal.

Where is all of this coming from?  Angela from Oh She Glows has started a really fantastic contest called “Size Healthy”.  Instead of labeling yourself as a certain pants size, take out those sharpies and change up your tags like I did!  You are more than just a clothing size or a number on a scale – you are perfect whatever shape you are!!Apologies on the bad pic by the way… I had to use my blackberry bc I don’t have my camera with me.

This little Piggy went to the market…

…this little piggy stayed home.  My sister and her husband are away this weekend, so Auntie Catherine got to take care of the little piggy who stayed behind!  

Look at that tiny little Frenchman… his real name’s Napoleon, but his pink little belly led to the nickname piggy.  Anyway, I probably won’t be blogging much this weekend because I won’t be at my apartment watching the little guy.  So until then I’ll just be checking out all of your lovely blogs and playing with this little gentleman.

Lean, Mean & Green

Well, not mean.  This morning I had a delectable smoothie that totally energized my morning after an invigorating Warrior Yoga session at the gym.  I call it my Green Goddess Smoothie.

Green Goddess Smoothie (1 serving)

• 1/2 c. water
• 1 large leaf romaine lettuce
• 1/3 cup frozen papaya chunks
• 3 sections grapefruit
• 3 sections blood orange
• 1/2 section lime
• 1/4 tsp NuNaturals stevia powder
• 1/2 tsp fresh ginger
• 1 tbsp frozen banana slices

I know it looks suspect, but it was actually really yummy!!  Good thing I started out my morning so strong because when I got into work I was hit with a massive crisis that I had to take care of ASAP.  Eeek!  I actually managed to sort everything out and avoid getting stressed – a huge deal for me!!!  Now I remember why I used to be such a huge fan of yoga.

I somehow felt energized enough to hit the gym and knock out a little over a 1/2 mile of swimming (25 laps in a 25 meter pool).  Afterwards though I was dying for some sustenance!!  I had the rest of my butternut squash fries, but won’t bore you with the pics  I also had what may become a new staple dish for me… Vegan Sausage & Peppers!!  The recipe is found here.  The only thing I did differently this time was add 1 Tbsp tomato paste with some water to create a thin sauce.

For those of you that were wondering about homemade seitan, I actually used some Seitan Sausages that I made here.  They’re so good and the fennel seeds adds such a great flavor reminiscent of sweet Italian sausages.  Well I’m off to relax & wait for The Office to start!  Do any of you guys have any good faux meat recipes that you’d care to share??

The Veggie Post

I’m a bit hesitant in writing this post, so I just want to caveat this by saying that I am not as education as I could/should be about the environmental/social/moral, etc. issues connected with choosing to eat meat, dairy, eggs or any animal byproducts.  On and off for the past year or so I have been 99% pescetarian in my eating habits.  I stopped eating dairy a while ago because I’m lactose intolerant, but used to enjoy it on occasion in small amounts despite the fact that my body is not such a huge fan of it.  However, upon educating myself a bit more about the treatment of dairy cows I am more resolved than ever to never touch the stuff again.  There are a few sources that can provide additional information on these practices if anyone is interested. Dairy source 1; Dairy Source 2

Anyway, in the past few months I have successfully cut all meat from my diet as well as reduced the amount of fish I eat.  I am a bit nervous about the claims that soy may be hazardous to your health in large amounts due to it’s estrogenic properties, so I try to incorporate more tempeh (since it’s fermented soy the same rules don’t apply for soy milk or tofu), beans/legumes/nuts and homemade seitan.  However, I emphasis the fact that I prefer to eat homemade seitan as much as possible.  I try to eat as cleanly as possible and don’t want to lose out on good nutrition via overly processed foods simply because I am ingesting non-animal proteins.

That being said, after watching The Cove (I posted my review of the movie here), and learning more about the effects of eating “high on the food chain”, I would really like to try out full-on vegetarianism.  I’m honestly not sure if I can bear giving up fish (sushi is my favorite food in the world), but I am going to give it a try for the duration of lent and see how I fare.

I know that becoming vegetarian will be easy when I’m at my own apartment because I never buy meat or fish to cook myself, but I think it will be most difficult in terms of socialization.  The nature of my job is such that I go out to lunch and dinner a lot, and insurance being a male-dominated industry; we generally end up at steakhouses or restaurants with little to no vegetarian options listed on the menu.  Unfortunately for me I don’t like pasta either L , so I might have to be a little inventive in my ordering.  Anyway, I think that by putting this out into the blogosphere I will be held more accountable for my Lenten resolution.

I will of course still be participating in Vegan Thursdays too! Kudos to you if you actually made it to the end of this epic post!!  Your prize?  Pictures of my dins…

Homemade Miso Soup & Butternut Squash Fries!!

Wait, before you go – I’m really interested in trying to educate myself further about the benefits of vegetarianism/veganism in terms of health, ethics, and environmental concerns. Any info you can provide via comments or email (stevianspice@gmail.com) is welcome! Please feel free to email me here or post is you have any information you think may be beneficial for me to read or watch.  Thanks!

Newborn babies!

Well, newborn Apple Pie Babies that is.  That’s right, I was baby making last night!!  I loove Apple Pie flavored LaraBars, so after a quick visit to the LaraBar website I decided to try my hand at making them myself.  The ingredients listed were “dates, almonds, walnuts, dried apples, raisins and cinnamon”.  After a quick visit to CCV’s blog I decided to tailor her fudge baby recipe to meet my Apple Pie-lovin’ needs.

Check those suckers out!!!  I omitted the walnuts and the results were Ah-Mazing!  Tasty little suckers and great for a pre-workout pep-up.

Apple Pie Babies (makes about 17 balls)

• 1/2 c. dates (well-packed)
• 2 tbsp black raisins
• 1/4 cup almonds
• 35 g. dried apples (about 1/3 c.)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp cloves
• 1/8 tsp ginger

Throw all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until everything is finely minced and forms a sticky dough when pinched together.  ;)

A perfect treat for any Valentine!!

Give it a whirl!

As promised here’s some pics of what I’ve been blending into oblivion with my Vita Mix  It runs the gamut from savory to sweet, and includes a whole array of colors!  What would I do without my buddy Vinny?  Yup, I named my Vita Mix Vinny, something I tend to do quite often with inanimate objects actually.  My laptop is actually named Truman because macs have built-in cameras and it makes me feel like I’m on the Truman Show when I turn it on.  Any-who…First on the menu: Pureed Parsnips! Steamed & peeled parsnips, 1/2 a vanilla bean – scraped out, a few splashes of homemade Brown Rice Milk and some Earth Balance light.  Next up a split bowl of Pumpkin Pudding (soy-free unlike my other Pumpkin Pudding) & Strawberry Pudding!  I used Katie’s recipe for agar pudding shown here in my post on Cocoa Pudding.  Basically I just omitted the cocoa powder and added a bunch of frozen strawberries to one batch and pumpkin puree to another batch and pureed it all before allowing each one to set in the fridge.  Simple!
Vegan Banana-Cocoa Mousse anyone???  Another CCV recipe modified slightly:  1/3 package morinu silken firm tofu, 1/2 tsp agave nectar, about 1-2 tbsp banana slices, 2 tsp cocoa powder (or more to taste) and 1-2 tsp nut milk to thin things out a touch.
…and last, but not least Broccoli Soup!!!  I added some silken tofu to this towards the end of blending for extra creaminess. Thanks for all the yummers food Vinny!  Hmmm maybe he could be my Valentine… I’ll let him and the fiancé duke it out later  Have a good afternoon chickadees!  I’m going to go relax and read for a bit until the boy gets off work.  I had a work trip yesterday at a casino, which was fun, but I’m worn out now!  I’m not so much of a gambler, but dinner was excellent and it was sorta like a paid vacation complete with a king size bed and a mini-fridge full of yummy nuts & fruits.

Rum-aritas!

What else is a Vita Mix good for??  Frozen cocktails of course!!  The fiancé and I set out to make margaritas the other night, yet we were missing one minor ingredient – tequila.  Oops.  No worries, I rummaged about my pantry and decided that light Jamaican rum was just as good a substitute as any… and so was born the Rum-aritas!

Basically I took the normal components to a margarita and added in rum and agave nectar instead of the tequila and Grand Marnier.  I used a fresh orange, lime, lemon and ice for the fruity component – delicious!  Add the rum, fruit and agave nectar to the Vita Mix, whirl around for about 30 seconds and voila!

Rum-arita (makes 1 drink)

• 1 oz. light rum (2 tbsp)
• 1/2-1 tsp agave nectar, depending on how sweet you like things
• 1/2 cup mix of orange, lime and lemon sections (I used mostly oranges)
• 4 ice cubes

Just add the ingredients into the Vita Mix in the order listed and enjoy!!  You could rum lime around the rip and dip the glass in sugar if you like, but I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, so it was perfect as is.  :D

I’m working from home today because there’s a huge blizzard in NYC today.  Yay snow!!!  Someone is enjoying his nap during the blizzardy, blustery day…

Be looking for a future post showing more whirled Vita Mix creations I’ve been enjoying recently… until then, have a great day!  I almost forgot… don’t forget to stop by Katie’s blog to enter the NuNaturals giveaway!  I can’t call myself Stevia ‘n Spice if I didn’t promote the stuff!  NuNaturals is actually my favorite brand of stevia by far – no weird aftertaste and just overall great flavor.  The powder dissolves easily and the drops (esp. the vanilla flavor) are out of this world.