Newlywed, Newly Veg!

No, not that kind of dirty!  Geez.

This kind of dirty:

Tonight, we took a stab at creating some vegetarian dirty rice…the result was less “dirty rice” and more “hamburger helper,” but all in all, it was actually a delicious dish.  I would have added some canned tomatoes if we’d had some, but alas, we were out (how is that possible?!? I feel like our pantry gives BIRTH to cans of tomatoes when we aren’t looking!). 

Dirty-esque Rice

Ingredients

1 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 onion, chopped

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup soy “sausage”…we used the Light Life brand that comes in a tube (just like Jimmy Dean!), and used about half the package

salt and pepper, to taste

1/2 cup brown rice

2 cups vegetable broth, divided

Directions

In a saucepan, heat olive oil.  Add onions and garlic and cook for about 10 minutes, until they have started to brown.  Add the sausage and cook for another 5 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add 1/2 cup of vegetable broth and deglaze the pan, scraping up any bits that might have gotten stuck to the bottom.  Add the rest of the broth (at this point, you could also add a can of diced tomatoes).  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 35-45 minutes, until the rice is cooked through and most of the liquid has been absorbed.

Yummy!  Again, it had more liquid than typical dirty rice, and it didn’t have any of the heat…it was almost a cross between dirty rice and risotto. 

We served ours with a nice side salad, and used bright napkins and dinnerware to make up for our not so bright weather:

Yum!

This afternoon, I snacked on a 2% Fage (love it!) as I graded, and I also had one of my last Somersault mini packs that I won wayyyyy back at Christmas on Fitness and Spice.  I’ll be sad to see the end of these Somersaults—they’re really tasty!

While I was down in Shreveport, Ryan was working on a little blog project of his own! He took pictures of some of his eats from when I was away…some people will do ANYTHING to get on the blog!

Actually, I’m always really interested in seeing what he eats when we don’t eat together.  A part of me always wonders if he eats healthy just because I do, and I often wonder what he might eat for dinner if he didn’t have me slaving away in the kitchen every night (kidding…kind of). 

Well, it turns out that all this healthy eating has really rubbed off on him!  Here are some of the highlights from the meals he enjoyed while I was away:

Salmon, salad, and brown rice pilaf:

Veggie tacos with black beans:

Grilled pork with veggies:

Of course, there were A LOT of cookies that went unphotographed!

But still, I was proud of him! He took good care of himself while I was away.  I think he’s happy to have me back though.

Ryan also took some pictures of the CRAZY snow we got while I was away.  Check out our house:

Cool snow swoop:

And crazy icicles:

Wild!

The snow is supposed to continue through tomorrow, so I think we’re going to give our new snowshoes a whirl!! I’m really excited to try them out—I’ve only snowshoed one other time in my life, but I really liked it!

Night, kids! Stay warm, wherever you are!

Hey guys! Thanks for all the comments welcoming me home last night…I’m glad I made it, because it sounds like we’re about to get pounded again! The snow started coming down here around noon, so we’ll see what happens.  We’re supposed to get another 6-8 inches over the next day or so!

Of course, there are some advantages of the snow…like not going to work!  When the snow started coming down, I decided I didn’t want to head up to campus and get stranded up there.  My students were supposed to listen to a This American Life podcast in class today, so I just e-mailed them instructions to do it from home (or their dorm rooms or computer labs).  I’m sure they were really disappointed to hear that class was being cancelled.

This morning, we went to the grocery store, needing to stock up for the week—and it was PACKED! I didn’t think about the fact that people would be getting their shopping in before the snow storm hits!  I’m excited about some of the meals that we have planned for this week—good stuff, my friends!

When we got home from the store, I did a quick two mile run on the t-mill and then did about 20 minutes of weights and abs.  After I decided to cancel class, I e-mailed my students and then got BACK on the treadmill for another two miles, since I suddenly had a lot more time on my side. 

Lunch was late—1:45!  It’s funny—when we got home from the grocery store around 11, I was starving, but I put off having a snack.  Then, I was able to go over two more hours without eating, and when I finally sat down for lunch, I wasn’t even that hungry!  Do you ever have hunger attacks like that, that leave just as quickly as they came on? Strange.

Lunch was delicious!  I bought some EGGS at the store…but they are organic, cage-free, hormone-free.  I’ve been craving hard-boiled eggs lately for some reason, so I decided to give in to my (healthy) craving.  When we got home, I immediately put 6 of the eggs in a pot of water for hard-boiling.  They’ll be great as snacks throughout the week!

And today, one of them served me quite well in my lunch:

Egg Salad:

I keep my egg salad simple: 1 egg, 1 tsp. Nasoya “mayonnaise,” and a dash of garlic salt.  Simple, and delicious!  Served atop Wasa crackers, alongside a juicy orange:

Doesn’t this remind you of that American Express commercial with all the faces:

Funny stuff.

It’s actually good that I have the afternoon open now, because I did NOT get all of my papers graded while I was down in Shreveport (surprise, surprise).  Looks like I’m headed for a fun afternoon of grading on top of more grading. 

See you for dinner (and more snow!) tonight!

Whew!  Let me tell you friends…it’s days like today that make me HATE living so far away from my family.  I’ve had so much travelling trouble in the past few years, to the point where I now dread air travel.  Today, unfortunately, was no exception.

When I got to the Shreveport airport this morning, they couldn’t find my ticket to Dallas.  The woman behind the counter said that I had a “reservation,” but not a “ticket.”  Huh?  Explain to me how that works? 

My heart literally dropped—after Ryan spent ALL day on the phone with the airlines, and after they sent me e-mail confirmations for ALL my flight, I still didn’t have a ticket?!?

The plane was leaving in 30 minutes, so my mom swooped in and did a little TCB—she bought me a new ticket, and I was on my way.  Thank goodness for moms like her!!!

After I got on my way, everything went quite smoothly.  No pictures of lunch, but I packed myself a nice snack pack of a lunch: soy crisps, baby carrots, grapes, and a BIG apple.  Plus a complimentary Diet Sprite!

Around 6:45, I landed in State College, where Ryan was waiting for me with a warm car!  There’s SO much snow here right now!!! And *gulp* more is supposed to be on the way, starting tomorrow!  Geez Louise!  Ryan and I were laughing about it, because we had been talking SO much in December and January about how we hadn’t gotten ANY snow yet…I guess we had another thing coming!

For dinner, we stopped…where else….into Green Bowl!  I know we go there a lot, but it’s fast and casual, which was good because after a long day of travel, I was not looking my best. Plus I was HAUNGRY…my stomach was yelling, “Feed me, Seymour!”

My bowl was EXTRA good tonight…maybe because I was so hungry!

I got a few new things, like baby corn:

This bowl was chock full of veggies.  Yum!

Ryan also got a big bowl, plus some tortillas to turn his “bowl” into a wrap:

We ended the meal, as usual, with fortune cookies.  I actually found mine to be mildly insulting:

Ummmmm…hello, backhanded compliment? Subtle dig, much?  Geez!

But also kind of true. 

We ended the meal with a sweet treat—frozen yogurt for me (fat free, sugar free…so not that bad, right?) and a vegan cookie for Ryan (yep, he CHOSE the vegan cookie, even when there were tons of regular cookies and other sweets available.  Who is this guy?!?)

Tomorrow, I’ll get back to tallying sugar…sorry this challenge has kind of fallen by the wayside! I’ll kick it up a notch, starting tomorrow—I promise!

Now we’re watching The Bachelor!!! I love the “meet the family” episode!  The girls did some Bachelor gossiping a the Super Bowl party last night, and several people have heard that Vienna is the last girl standing—what?!?!?  Craziness, people!

Hope your week is off to a great start!  See you tomorrow kiddos!  I’ll be glad to be getting back to normal!

Woooo hooo!!! GO SAINTS!!!!!!

Hey y’all! What a great weekend to be here in Louisiana—a baby shower, Mardi Gras, and an AWESOME SUPER BOWL!!

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I am not a huge football fan, but I do have Louisiana pride, and I was so happy to see the Saints win!  This win will be so good for the city of New Orleans, and our state in general.

Tonight, I went over to my sister and her husband’s house to watch the game.  Some of their friends came over as well.  It was a good time! Two of their friends, Sarah and Doug, brought their little boy and their 8 week old baby girl—I guess you’re never to young to be a Saints fan!

Dinner was simple: pizza and salad.  I enjoyed three small slices of cheese pizza, along with a big helping of salad. They also had chips and salsa and guacamole out, which I snacked on a little.  Not the healthiest dinner, but I practiced pretty good portion control, and left feeling good…which is an accomplishment with something like pizza!

 My plate, plus one more small slice:

And cake balls!  These were leftover from the shower, and I enjoyed a chocolate one:

This afternoon, keeping in the Mardi Gras spirit, we headed down for the pet parade…but we missed it!  The officially parade was already over when we got there! Apparently it usually starts really late, but because of the Super Bowl, they got it started right on time and ended it a little early. 

But, there were still plenty of parade-goers hanging around the riverfront, so it was still a good time for all!

Maddie made friends with another poodle:

Our group was looking good:

They even had a mini pony there!

So, tomorrow, my flight leaves at 9:00.  Ryan did some finagling and got me re-routed through Philly, so hopefully everything will go as planned.  Keep your fingers and toes crossed for me—I’m going to need all the luck I can get!  I’ve had a great trip home, but I’m ready to be back “home!”  I miss my husband and my dogs!!!!

Goodnight, everyone!  Hopefully I can post at some point tomorrow during the day, but I’ll definitely get a post up tomorrow night!

Hey y’all! Well, as many of you predicted (and as I worried about all yesterday and last night), my flight to DC this morning was cancelled—big surprise, right? Luckily, Ryan worked all morning on the phone with the airline, and finally got me rebooked through Philadelphia tomorrow. What a great husband—anytime we have to call any sort of customer service (for flights, computers, i-pods…whatever), he always makes the call…and waits, on hold FOREVER…and never loses his temper (well, almost never).  I’m lucky to have him! 

Hopefully everything goes okay with my flight tomorrow…I don’t teach until Tuesday, so as long as I can get home by then, I’ll be fine!

The good news is that it is a beautiful day here in Shreveport!  I’m so happy that we’re finally getting some sun! This morning, I woke up feeling (unsurprisingly) not so hot, so I was happy to get a healthy start to the day with this breakfast:

Ezekial toast with almond butter (1 tsp.) and Earth Balance (1 tsp.), plus fresh fruit and a dollop of Green yogurt.  Yum!

After breakfast, my mom and I headed out for a 3 mile walk.  After the three miles, she went back home but I continued for another 4, running.  It felt so great to run outside in the sun! I hate how much of a slave I become to the treadmill in the winter…running outside is just so much more fun!

After my run, I dealt with some more flight hassles (arghghghgh!!!), showered, and dressed, and then my mom and I sat down for some lunch.   Just like breakfast, we kept it simple and healthy:

La Tortilla Factory Wrap with Sabra red pepper hummus (I hadn’t tried this flavor before, but I liked it! It tasted kind of like pimento cheese!), spinach, and grape tomatoes, along with fresh fruit.  I also finished off the rest of my Fage from this morning.  YUM!  This is the first Greek yogurt I’ve had since the Vegan challenge ended, and I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed it!

This afternoon, we’re going to another parade…a PET parade!!! I’m so excited! It’s the crewe of “Barkus and Meoux”—isn’t that cute? My parents always take our dogs, but I’ve never gotten to go because I live so far away! I’m super excited to see all of the dogs in their costumes—it’s a patriotic petriotic theme, but our dogs are only wearing Mardi Gras beads…kind of lame, but it’s better than nothing, right?

I’m not sure what I’m doing tonight for the game.  My mom is going over to another couple’s house to watch with some of her friends, but I’m not sure what my sister and her husband are doing.  A lot of my family is also watching over at my aunt and uncle’s house, so I might go over there.  I didn’t think I was going to get to watch it at all, so this at least is a nice surprise!

See you tonight!

Here are a few more pictures from the parade last night:

Hey guys! Long time no see!

How is it that the blog world travels at the speed of light so that when I don’t post or read blogs for 12 hours, it feels like I’ve been away for days or even MONTHS?!?  It makes me feel like Rip Van Winkle.

Today was a really busy day, and lots of fun, so I’ll just get right to it!  I actually didn’t take pictures of much of my eats today (sorry…BAD blogger!!!), but I have a lot of fun pictures of the festivities, so I’m going to post those.  Because it’s my blog and I can post non-food pics if I want to. 

This morning, my sister had a big baby shower thrown for her by a group of her high school friends.  It was so fun! They had a great spread of food, but I was so busy chatting and then playing secretary during the gift-opening that I didn’t even eat until the shower was almost over.  Even then, I grazed on a cake ball, a few chips with guac, a few crackers and some cheese, and a slice of king cake (my fave!).  There is a bakery here in Shreveport that sells the BEST king cakes during Mardi Gras.  My mom always sends me one via UPS, but they are HUGE, and so I told her not to worry about it this year—with just me and Ryan in the house, that is way more king cake than either of us needs. Do you know the tradition of the Mardi Gras king cake?  I’ll do a post on it soon!

Here are some highlights from the shower:

My two grandmothers checking out Sophie’s new swimwear:

Not sure what we were talking about here (me, my sister, and my mom), but it was obviously very funny:

My mom got to practice her grandma skills with Katherine’s friend’s new baby girl, Eloise:

Around 1:15, the shower wrapped up and my mom and I headed home.  I snacked on a HUGE orange to tide me over for…the Mardi Gras parade!!!

Shreveport does two big Mardi Gras parades each year: the Crewe of Centaur and the Crewe of Gemini.  This weekend was the centaur parade.  I’m so glad I was in town for it—I haven’t been to a Shreveport Mardi Gras parade since high school!  I went down to New Orleans for Mardi Gras in college, and for the past few years we’ve been going to visit Katherine and Kevin in Baton Rouge for their Spanish Town Parade (they moved to Shreveport just this past summer), so I was excited to have a little hometown fun!

Around 3, we headed out to the parkway where the parade route would start.  The mother of my cousin’s wife, Tena, has a big Winnebago motor home, and she had parked it right along the parade route, so my mom, my aunt Lisa, and I met up with a bunch of our family for the parade.  Having the motor home was great because we had access to warmth and a bathroom!  We had fun drinking beer, munching on snacks as we waited for the parade to begin.  It actually didn’t get going until six o’clock! 

It was worth the wait! Mardi Gras parades are such a fun, unique tradition!  Love ‘em!  Here are some shots of the various floats:

Parade strategy: position yourself by a little kid so that lots of beads get thrown your way! 

The Centaur King:

These two girls are my cousins’ kids, Charlotte and Hagen.  Aren’t they cute?  They were really racking up on the beads!

My cousin Anderson caught a football:

And my mom caught a rose (she also wasn’t wearing her wedding ring…coincidence?  I think not…)

Of course, there were lots of Saints references: 

Things like this always make me so happy that I get to call Louisiana home…however far away I may be living at the moment!

I realized that I didn’t get any pictures of me in my beads, so here are a few from last year’s Spanish Town parade (which is fun because it’s in the daytime…and who doesn’t like debauchery and drunken shenanigans at 11 a.m.?):

Whew!!! Mardi Gras madness!

After the parade, my mom and I headed to a Mexican restaurant for MORE “bad” food…eek! Friends, my eating has not been up to par this weekend, so I apologize.  What can I say? I’m human! I’ll get back to my normal eating tomorrow!

But for tonight…

Cheese enchilada, guacamole tostada, rice, and beans:

Oh, and forget about the sugar challenge too.

Say hello to my bff, TCBY:

Actually, I feel kind of nauseous right now.  My body just isn’t used to this kind of eating anymore.  It will be nice to get a clean start tomorrow.

So, tomorrow, I’m supposed to fly from Dallas to DC to State College.  Yeahhhhhhh, the whole DC thing is going to be a madhouse…IF I can even get there!  Ugh.  I have a feeling it might be a lonnnnnnng day.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!  I’ll try to post as soon as I can, but again…there’s no telling when or where that might be!

See you tomorrow, Saints fans!

Before Ryan and I started dating, I was guilty of having the following items for dinner (not all at once, obviously): ice cream, peanut butter on a spoon, goldfish crackers + ranch dressing, a DQ blizzard, chips and salsa, and POPCORN. 

Now, I’m not saying this happened a lot.  I’ve always been a relatively healthy eater, even in college and grad school.  But the temptation to eat a random, not-so-healthy dinner was always greater when I was just eating with me, myself, and I.

Tonight felt kind of like a throwback to those days (don’t worry, Ryan.  I’m not going to refer to them as “the good old days”…even if that’s what they were!). 

Tonight, we went to a 7:15 showing of An Education, which was really, really good!  It was pretty quiet and understated, but one of those movies that you keep thinking about even after it’s over.  Also, it was serious without being depressing, and actually had a very uplifting ending.  Great flick!

We’d decided to go out for a late dinner after the movie, but when we got to the theater, the popcorn was just to tempting! We all got popcorn, and then when the movie let out around 9, none of us was hungry for a “real” dinner.  We debated going for pizza, but even that felt like too much.  Finally, we just headed home, where I made a snack plate of sorts because even though I had probably taken in more than enough calories with the popcorn, I still felt “empty”—which is exactly why popcorn for dinner is a bad idea!

My second dinner was a nice little tasting plate:

Helloooooo, carbs!

Clockwise from the top, we have pink lady apple slices, millet bread with raw AB (love!), and whole wheat bread with parmesan cheese.  Quite the tasty tasting plate…topped with a cowboy cookie!  I also had some Kashi TLC crackers while waiting for my millet bread to toast up…funny how that happens, right?

Tomorrow, we have a busy day—the shower in the morning, plus a Mardi Gras parade tomorrow night! It should be a fun day!  Not sure when I’ll be able to post pics, but it’ll happen eventually.

Enjoy your Saturday!  Night, kids!

Our weather is still gray, rainy and cold.

But we did have a little sunshine for lunch!

Hello, hello! Hope your Friday is going well!

I woke up feeling a little “groggy” this morning—that second glass of wine last night was definitely a bad idea!

But, it was nothing that a good breakfast and workout couldn’t fix!  I had two wheatabix cereal squares (love these!) with berries and soy milk, and around 9:45, my mom and I headed back to the Y for another workout! It was a good one—I alternated fast miles on the treadmill (3 miles total) with heavy-duty weight lifting in between.  I was sweating buckets, which actually felt great!

After our workout, we came home, showered, dressed, and headed back out so that I could get my sister a gift for the baby shower tomorrow.  She reads the blog, so I won’t post pics until tomorrow, but the present I got her is adorable!!! They make the sweetest stuff for little baby girls…it’s almost enough to make me want a baby right now.  Almost.

After our gift-buying, my mom and I headed to an old favorite for lunch: Sunshine Cafe, which y’all have heard me rave about again and again.

Today’s lunch didn’t disappoint!

Black bean tortilla soup:

Avocado sandwich (with white cheddar cheese and sprouts):

And a strawberry Kombucha to drink:

Yum! Perfect lunch.  I topped it off with a 100 calorie Glenny’s brownie, which only added to the perfection.

Now we’re just kind of taking it easy.  My sister and I wanted to get facials today, but they were all booked up!

Tonight, we’re doing to see An Education, which I’m really excited about.  The show is at 7:15, and we’ll be going to dinner afterwards, so expect a late post tonight!

Some of us are already tuckered out, before the weekend has even begun:

What a party animal. 

Enjoy your Friday, folks!

Hello, friends!

Have you had a good Thursday?  Tomorrow is FRIDAY!!! Woo hoo!

This afternoon, we got another lady in our house.  It’s like The Bachelor mansion over here!  My mom is taking care of Bella, my Aunt Lisa’s new shih tzu.  Bella is a rescue dog—she worked as a “breeder” in a puppy mill until her services weren’t needed anymore, and then they dropped her off at the pound to be put down.  Luckily, a shih tzu rescue group found her just in time! My aunt adopted her from the rescue group, and they’ve been inseparable ever since!

Here’s the little lady:

My family always makes fun of me because I am OBSESSED with our dogs.  I love buying them clothing, and have been known to shed a few tears when talking about the fact that Ella is my soul mate (some wine is usually involved in these conversations, but still…).

So you can imagine how excited I was when my aunt dropped Bella off with this:

LOL.  Bella has an entire suitcase packed with anything she might need, including a change of clothes, dog treats, food, and toys.  What a prima donna!

She even travels with her own dining equipment:

Around 7, we headed out for a lovely, fancy meal at one of Shreveport’s premier dining establishments: Bella Fresca.

They don’t have any specific vegetarian entrees on the menu, but the chef was happy to prepare a vegetarian feast for yours truly!

Before we ordered, we were served a basket of delicious, chewy French bread, warm from the oven:

And wine, of course:

I started off with a salad: mixed greens with goat cheese, table grapes, spiced pecans, and walnut vinaigrette. 

For my entree, our waiter told me that he could show me a list of meatless pasta dishes, or that the chef could just “work his magic.”  I chose the latter of course…I told him to just surprise me!  About fifteen minutes later, this arrived at the table:

Mmmm…sesame tempura asparagus with wild rice pilaf, garlic spinach, and habanero cream.  Ummm…yeah.  This was awesome.

Full disclosure: I ended the meal with an Earthereal cookie: cowboy carob chip! Yum!

Sooooo, the sugar challenge didn’t go so well today.  My breakfast was easy enough to track—16 grams total, with the cereal and soy milk.  Lunch was harder, being from a restaurant.  Obviously the veggie burger and salad didn’t have added sugar, but that carrot cake on the other hand…

And then of course the cookie I just enjoyed!

Oh well…sorry guys—I’ll try to get back on track tomorrow, but if I’m being honest, I’d say this is probably how it’s going to be for the next few days! It’s just harder to track this challenge at home! I’m going to try though…just have patience with me!

Hope you’re having a great night! See you tomorrow…Friday!

Back in January, when I’d first started the vegan challenge, I had to abstain from my beloved Earthereal veggie burger due to the cottage cheese in it.  Remember?

Next month, veggie burger, I’m coming for you! I said.

Well, every (tofu) dog has its day!

After our workout, my mom and I showered and headed over to pick up my sister, and then the three of us headed over to Earthereal for a warm, veggie lunch!

Katie and John, the owners of Earthereal, make veggie burgers as a daily special only every other Thursday, so I was thrilled that my trip fell on that lucky day!

Behold the Earthereal Veggie Burger with Cheese:

Mmmmm…served atop a homemade whole wheat bun with pickles, tomatoes, sprouts, and a side salad.  Perfection!  I seriously crave these burgers when I’m away in Pennsylvania.

You can understand why, right?  Just look at it:

My pickles were making an upside down monster face. 

I was not going to get dessert…but then John dropped off a complimentary piece of carrot cake at our table.  How can you resist that?

We split it between the three of us, so it wasn’t, errr, that much sugar.  Right? 

After lunch, we got manicures and pedicures (but my mani wasn’t very good, so I’m about to take it off ) and visited my grandmother, who is back at home after her fall over Christmas. 

The weather here is GROSS!!! I want some Southern sunshine!

As we finished running errands, I snacked on a cookie…a sugar-free carob cookie, that is!  Obviously a piece of fruit would have been a better choice, but as far as cookies go, this one wasn’t a bad option.  I’m trying here…but it’s always harder to eat right when I go home!  There are just so many goodies to be had!

We’re going out to eat tonight at one of my favorite Shreveport restaurants, but I haven’t been there since going veg back in November, so I need to call to make sure that they have some veggie-friendly options.  See you tonight!