VOO Variations

I’ve been experimenting with my beloved VOO by using different grains!

I had a huge bag of rolled oats that I brought to college from costco and I finally used it up so while I was at the grocery store I decided I wanted to try some less processed oats and grains and see how they matched up to my precious *gollum voice*.

First up: Buckwheat Groats

Still in the Tupperware=not so pretty, Sowwwyy

I cooked these then added the usual almond milk, dark cocoa powder, chia seeds, cacao nibs, and raisins then let them sit in the fridge and marinate.

The groats are very soft but they retain their shape so you get to taste the texture of each of the little kernels. It kind of has an odd taste though that I don’t really know how to describe…you’ll just have to try it for yourself. But for me, it was a little off putting.

layered with the amazing banana soft serve of course

on a positive note, I must say the groats layer very well. I mean look at those perfect layers!

Second Version: Steel Cut Oats

prepared the same as the groats…

I don’t know if I just didn’t cook it long enough but the texture was a lot chewier than I thought it would be. Whenever I see steel cut oats on other blogs I guess they just look creamier so I was expecting a porridge type thing which is not what I made lol

Third Try: Breakfast Sundae

Sorry Katie!

I really did try but I had the worst day ever!!! I broke my roommates magic bullet while I was trying to make your breakfast sundae…coincidence? It was so gross, I guess I’m a little too rough with the thing so it started melting plastic into my precious nanners! 😦 not happy. So anyways…this was what I could come up with. Not very pretty but still yummy and isn’t that all that matters? I even used your voluminous oats trick on my steel cut oats 😉 Much better texture and a lot less chewy. Just do me a favor and pretend that the bananas are whipped for the whipped cream and the peanut butter date blob is the sauce and the cacao nibs are the sprinkles. Gotta love the imagination!

*Note: Cooking the oats gives it more of a creamy/ pasty texture I’ve found. This isn’t necessarily bad but I think I just prefer the chew of the uncooked rolled oats

Verdict= although heavens knows I love experimenting and whipping up new concoctions to find new and awesome treats, for my beloved VOO……it seems uncooked rolled oats are the queen bee. Nothing compares to the original my friends, at least for now.

But believe me, this is not the end of my quest to find new delicious obsessions and if I find something that beats the ultimate VOO, you will be the first ones to know 😉

Have you tried making VOO yet? Better yet, have you tried a different variation on VOO?

*Don’t forget to enter Chocolate-Covered Katie’s giveaway!

Test 1=Over

The test is over!

I really am the worst person to be around when I’m stressed out. Poor Carson has to put up with me all by himself too…sorry babe!

But alas the grades are posted already and I didn’t do too bad! One less thing to worry about but I’m still giving a speech on Monday that I haven’t even written yet and I’m afraid of public speaking…yikes! Wish me luck on that one too lol

Friday’s workout:

warm-up= 10 min. on stairmaster at level 6-7?

shoulders

• Military Press in Front: 2 warm-up sets of 12 reps, 1 working set of 10 reps
• Side raises: 1 warm-up set of 12 reps, 1 working set of 10 reps
• Bent Over Rear Delt Raises: 1 warm-up set of 12 reps, 1 working set of 10 reps
• Front Raises with Dumbbells: 1 warm-up set of 12 reps, 1 working set of 10 reps
• Shrugs: 1 warm-up set of 12 reps, 1 working set of 10 reps

(shoulder workout from here)

I feel like I’m already noticing a difference in my muscle definition! Even though I was a bit hesitant about this whole “giving up” my cardio thing for strength training, I’m actually really loving how much stronger I already feel. I also haven’t given up cardio completely, I’m just doing it less strenuously and I feel like I have found a happy medium 🙂

Nothing new on the weight front either. I’m still struggling to maintain (I may have even dropped a little more) but hopefully by replenishing my food supply that’ll figure itself out lol

What else did I do yesterday?

I made REAL hummus 🙂 and it’s good

Garlic Hummus

1 can of garbanzo beans

4 cloves of garlic

1 tsp cumin

1 1/2 T liquid aminos

1/4 c tahini

2 T olive oil (I didn’t want to add too much oil so to make it thinner I added a little water)

handful of parsley

juice of half a lemon

salt n’ peppa

– then process your little heart out and smear that sucker on anything and everything

then later it was time to finally relax after studying so hard! Off to the club for a girl’s night!!!

And of course I woke up with a hankering for something cold and refreshing….too bad the roommates were asleep so I didn’t want to reek havoc and turn on the blender for banana soft serve. Unfortunately I’m considerate like that.

So instead I settled for a blueberry sludgy.

Not the most glamorous but I’m loving frozen blueberries right now.

In the mug=frozen bluerries, banana, and almond milk

I especially love how the blueberries freeze the almond milk at the bottom and make it into an icy sludge (hence the name)

Well I’m off to lounge around and maybe work on that speech. ta ta!

Giveaway Alert: Galaxy Granola giveaway!

Motivation on my clothes

Motivation on workout clothes, awesome!

Friends help too though 🙂 Once again my friend Bria dragged me off my accounting studying butt and got me to do my cardio for the day.

Today’s workout:

Today was a rest day (thank goodness) so I stuck to 30 minutes walking on the treadmill. Half at 5 incline then I bumped it to 6 for the last 15 min. All was at 4.0 mph.

twas eazy peezy but I had just eaten and I also haven’t been doing much cardio lately so it still felt good.

I finished with some abs then called it a day.

Eats:

Since I messed up my schedule by skipping out on my workout earlier in the day, my eating was totally random today. It always happens to me that when I don’t workout I’m always more hungry. Does this happen to you? I’m blaming being bored for the munching monster in me.

Anyhooo, after class I decided to make a smoothie but since my sun warrior stash is dwindling quickly 😦 I made a random concotion with this

a papaya, blueberry, strawberry smoothie + half a cherry pie lara bar+ and a heaping spoonful of quinoa

I’m trying to use up the cherry pie lara bars because they’re too tart plain so I’ve been trying to find things to eat them with. The smoothie wasn’t bad and the bar actually tasted really good crumbled in it but the quinoa def shouldn’t have been invited to the party. Oh well, you win some you lose some. Besides that it was actually really good and a tastier way to eat those bars.

Dinner was also rando

then I drizzled a ton of brown spicy mustard on top of everything and cleared out my sinuses for the day. Phew that was a lot of peppa!

Have I mentioned how much I hate accounting? Well I do. Wish me luck for my first test tomorrow, it’s back to studying for me!

Giveaway Alert: Sweet Gratitude Raw Desserts Cookbook 🙂 click here

Green Monster Cure

Last night was so fun

But I woke up this morning from a night of drinking and all i wanted was a nice cold refreshing green monster smoothie

into the magic bullet went the usual suspects: blueberries, strawberries, almond milk, almonds, sun warrior, and spinach

=perfect hangover cure 🙂

While I enjoyed my smoothie, Carson got something extra special. Since it is our anniversary tomorrow and we’re having a date night tonight, I decided I would start things off extra special by making him breakfast.

He loves biscuits and gravy so I made the ULTIMATE breakfast: bicuits, gravy, bacon, eggs, iced coffee

baby is now full 🙂 Unfortunately I didn’t get to take a picture though because I have a pet peeve about people letting their food get cold…sorry but needless to say it was epic.

It is also  finally good weather in tally so I plan on laying out as much as possible today

I don’t know about you guys but I am sooo psyched for the fourth! Big plans for tomorrow but you’re just gonna have to wait for the recap! What are you’re plans for the fourth of July?

Giveaway Alert: 18 Rabbit snack bar giveaway!!

Grain Free Day

Today’s post is all about food.

After being so carb crazy lately, I made it a point to stay away from grains today. Trust me, it was needed. I went out last night and woke up to an empty bag of mary’s crackers by the bed…gotta love late night drunk snacking

When I woke up my tummy hurt alittle and I didn’t have much of an appetite. I’ve also been craving salty/savory food like crazy lately so this morning I finished the sweet potato from yesterday by cutting the two chunks that were left into thinner slices and topping them with spicy brown mustard.

This is definitely not a green monster but still yummy.

Since the USA v. Ghana game was on I decided kale chips would be the perfect munching food.

I dressed my kale with some nutritional yeast, apple cider vinegar, liquid aminos, salt, and pepper. Wasn’t the best chips I’ve ever made but still delish. I think the vinegar is what made them taste a little funky.

Even though US didn’t win 😦 my food was still a winner :). I ate my plate with a corona light and lime (I know, I’m bad but it’s summer).

After I got home from club pub (aka publix) I was super excited to try out a new salsa I bought. It’s organic with no added sugar and tastes delish so I decided to make a kelp noodle dish out of it in an attempt to be grain free today.

I did a mix of kelp noodles, spinach, red onion, avocado, sprouts and salsa. Totally satisfying!

btw in case you guys haven’t noticed, I’ve been making a serious effort to eat out the fridge before I go to the grocery store again. I have literally been to publix like everyday that I’ve been here so far…not good! So sorry if my eats get a little redundant.

Lastly dessert was chocolate banana soft serve layered with crushed peanut butter cookie larabar and cacao nibs

Hopefully tomorrow I’ll actually workout!

Giveaway alert!-Newman’s Own Chocolate bar giveaway

Healthy Nesquik

I hope learning a little bit more about my diet ( I made a new page for it) helped make things clearer and even helped you learn something! I urge you to keep researching and learning more about nutrition and what works for you. The only way I was finally able to find the diet that truly works for me was through trial and error.

Now onto some of the days eats:

I ended up laying out instead of working out in the morning so I pushed it back to right before dinner. Before I left I was a little hungry/light headed so I made a quick chia pudding to keep me going

I was in a rush so it didn’t sit long and was still a little runny but it did the trick.

Chocolate Chia Pudding

1 T Chia Seeds

1/4-1/2 c almond milk (or desired consitency)

1 tsp mesquite

1 tsp dark cocoa powder (not raw but sooo good)

a little stevia to sweeten

stir it all together and let sit, the longer the thicker. This tasted like chocolate milk. I’m sure it you omitted the chia seeds it WOULD be chocolate milk. Healthy nesquik!

On a side note: Someone asked what mesquite tasted like. I guess the only way I can describe it is it’s kind of earthy, sweet and nutty smelling (think of a sweet smelling tree). Or what about this picture- a nut and cinnamon and a little bit of sugar got together and had a love baby? lol I don’t know but it is definitely an awesome addition to your spice and powder collection, especially when you’re not technically in the mood for chocolate but still want something sweet.

Now back to the workout. It was horrible. I hate waiting to workout because when I don’t workout in the morning I find I don’t have as much energy during the day and therefore no motivation to go later. But I was VERY bad yesterday and carbo loaded to the max so I knew I needed to go.

As soon as I got on the treadmill I realized my ipod was dead. I also recently finished reading my newest magazine so I had nothing to keep me entertained :(. Not only that but I had to pee throughout my entire run! Besides all of that though I pushed myself pretty hard. I did 15 min. starting at 6 mph. Each min. I increased my speed by .1 mph. At 14 min. I finished hard and increased by .2 to end at 7.5 mph. I know I could have run more or done something else but i had to PEE! So I gave up and did abs. To top it all off at the end of the workout it was raining and thundering outside 😦 not a good workout day at all.

For dinner I was craving sweet potato again, even though it ALWAYS seems to bloat me, and I made a salad to go with it

The dressing was a little reduced fat veganaise and spicy brown mustard watered down. I only ended up eating 3 of the sweet potato slices and got some mary’s crackers instead

have you ever had these?

I finally gave up resisting them after seeing them on EVERY blog and bought the expensive box of crackers. Big mistake. I got the original kind and it tasted verryyyy familiar. I still don’t know what it is, but I’ve eaten something that tastes just like them before. Anyways, the taste is good but nothing special. They also don’t fill me up at all so I have practically eaten the entire box in two days- Not something to be proud of. Basically they are not worth the money in my opinion and also not something I want to be filling myself up on (I prefer to get my carbs from fruits and vegetables)

So basically I have not been too happy on the food front or workout front lately but I am trying to get back to normal and get more veggies back into my life.

Giveaway Alert!- The Pure2raw twins are giving away some goodies, click here. Also, Lauren is giving you a chance to win a $100 gift certificate, enter now!

Diet Rules

You know how sometimes you crave something so much it’s all you can think about?

Well I’ve been dreaming about a veggie sandwich and I finally fulfilled my craving

behold

this had- spinach, tomato, sprouts, avocado, spicy brown mustard, and garlic pepper (no msg)

I made my open faced sangwich with this new bread I’m absolutely obsessed with

I have never tried millet before but it was gluten-free and fruit juice sweetened so I thought I would give it a try. I love discovering new things that I don’t know how I never had in my life. Let me just tell you

Millet bread+ almond butter= soooo good

this bread is kind of cakey and thick so when I toasted it and topped it with the nut butter it was like cake

So I’m sure you guys have probably been wondering what exactly are my diet rules, so let me explain:

• I’m a raw vegan. I say this because it makes up the bulk of my diet and I don’t believe you have to be perfect to hold the label. Although I must say I hate labels but for the purposes of explaining my eating philosophy I will indulge you with labels.
• I’m gluten-free. I don’t believe gluten is good for the body or that grains are necessary in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Not only did our ancestors not eat it, being that it is usually highly processed and enriched, but my digestion has also improved since I have cut it out. I URGE you to read this article on why grains are unhealthy
• I’m soy-free. “Soybeans, as provided by nature, are suitable for human consumption.” To put it simply, with all the gmo controversy out there I would rather stay away from any modified or processed foods and get my nutrients from whole raw foods.
• I also try to limit my nut intake. Although a raw vegan diet is pretty low in calories to begin with, that doesn’t mean you can go crazy in the fat department. Remember everything is better in moderation.
• I don’t eat preservatives or chemicals. I would hope this would be evident from the whole RAW vegan thing but I just thought I would clarify. This is honestly one of the biggest and best things to eliminate from your diet. If you can’t pronounce an ingredient or don’t know what it is, don’t eat it. As simple as that. I promise if you do this one simple thing you will automatically start to feel cleaner and healthier.

I hope this helps to clarify some things, but remember no one is perfect and you should stick to the diet that feels right for you. Coming soon- What are some of my diet staples?

Giveaway alert!!: Vega Smoothie To Go Giveaway

New obsession

Where does the time go??

It’s already Wednesday and I have so much to do! I started the day with body pump which I have been missing lately. I feel like since I’ll be loving soon I should get my body pump fix because my gym in Tally sadly doesn’t offer the class 😦

For breakfast I had Chocolate cherry bomb that looked a lot less pretty than this

but I did add a little dollop of almond butta because I noticed that I haven’t been that hungry lately and so I’ve been having a little trouble getting enough calories. But don’t worry Mr. Almond Butta can fix that 🙂

After a day of shopping I picked these up

Cathy Jean Shoes

ooh la la

And was super hungry so I whipped up a monster salad with sweet potato on the side.

bet you’re wondering what the dressing is huh? Wellllllll…this is actually the second time I’ve used this dressing and I have to say I’m kind of loving/obsessed with it at the moment. So what is it bianka? Answer- Spicy brown mustard.

This is especially weird for me because I have NEVER liked mustard, in fact I loathed it. But this spicy mustard is kind of horseradishy and delicious I don’t know lol I just like it and you should definitely try it if you’re getting bored with your same old, same old.

All I do is put a little mustard and water in a bowl (just to thin it out) and if you want add a little stevia if you can’t handle it straight up

And since it’s Indian Food Wednesday I dressed my wittle sweet potato with some curry, cumin, paprika, salt and peppa. It wasn’t my best yet but still pretty tasty and HUGE. I’m coping with a food baby right now as I type.

BTW Check out Peanut Butter and Jenny’s giveaway!!

Saxsy Surprise

Guess what i got in the mail today!?!?

My giveaway prize finally came!!!! How cute is it that they came in a little carrying case?

From now on I’m shopping in style lol. Thanks again Cathy!

******

Today was shopping day again. I feel like I’m always buying food woops.

My mom’s making dinner for my step dad tonight (it’s always hit or miss with him) and she wanted to make chicken. After browsing the aisles she decided on this

I’m excited to see the results because for me curry=yummm.

I also got some things that I’ve been wanting for a while

chocolate pudding anyone?

and this

Holla! Now I can make REAL homemade hummus. I already put some in that white bean dip that’s almost gone and it finally started to taste more hummusy. I’m alittle afraid though because hummus is like crack to me. I’ve already been dipping raw chips/veggies/anything I can get my hands on into that dip ALL DAY today. Not good. But yes, yes it is 🙂

To stop my crazy munching I decided to prep dinner

I decided on a monster salad to counteract the hummus intake. This bad boy has spinach, cuc, tomato, red pepper, green beans and will get delish dressing a little later after a shopping trip to Lucky for new jeans 🙂

Remeber- eat your greens!!!

Teaser

Howdy!

My morning started with the Booty Firm Up workout. Today’s kicker was definitely the flying scissors- lunges always kill. And i followed it up with my own version of the chocolate cherry bomb which just sounded too delicious since I finally have fresh cherries!

Chocolate Cherry Smoothie

a handful of pitted cherries

a little bit of frozen blueberries

2 handfuls of spinach

1 scoop of vanilla sun warrior

1/2 T cacao powder

1 tsp vanilla

ice

Might be a new fav!!

I STILL havent gotten the pics back from my photo shoot (I know it’s only been like 2 days lol patience is hard though) but she did send some teasers so I guess I’ll tease you guys too.

trying to move a turtle out of the road!

hehe this last one wasn’t a real picture, she just decided to snap one while I was picking up this little guy. I think it’s my fav though.

The beach was AMAZING yesterday. Perfect weather which we have def been missing lately.

Gorgeous!

My parents recently bought a beach house and we are in the process of fixing it up but it is seriously torture knowing that I could be at the beach all day everyday if it weren’t for construction. I can’t wait until it’s finished!

Whenever I go to the beach I always stop by Heath’s Natural Foods and get lunch (and dinner) for the day. I don’t know why, I think it’s the mix of healthy/ already prepared that makes me totally obsessed with their wraps and sandwiches. Yesterday they were out of my favorite Vegan Chicken Salad wrap so I opted for the Avocado wrap and the veggie wrap (which is waiting for me for dinner today yay!)

sorry for the already munched sandwich, I was hungry 🙂

Well I’m off to bake myself in the sun some more! Gotta love summer. What’s your favorite thing to do during summer?

p.s.- Happy Giveaway!! Hurry it’s a quick one with really awesome prizes. Also a giveaway for Mary’s crackers at Physiquespeak!!