Vega Sport

How was everyone's weekend? Hopefully the weather was beautiful for you too, and you went out and did something fun. Yesterday morning, I lay in bed, convincing myself that I didn't have to work out. I don't usually work out on Sundays, but...I missed Friday. So I *should* work out, but it was, after all, a Sunday. A day to relax. The last day of the weekend. You know the feeling, right?

So I used my husband. Its always easier to go out and exercise if he is coming with. Coupled with a promise of breakfast at our favorite place, we took it the next level, and instead of doing cardio in our basement gym, we went for a run around the lake near our place.

Before we went though, we downed some of the newest product from Vega: Vega Sport Performance Optimizer.

I get a decent amount of products to review. Most of them are just fine. Although I've said before that Vega isn't my favorite. The regular stuff is too weird tasting me for me to bother with. The Smoothie Infusion isn't too bad, once its mixed with fruit, fruit juice, and maybe some coconut milk yogurt.

And while I've never been a fan of "performance optimzers" in the past, I really have to say that I love this stuff.

First: The Taste

Well, typical of Vega products, on its own it doesn't taste like ice cream going down. But it doesn't taste terrible either. In fact, I've only taken it three times, and its definitely a taste you get used to easily. I was gifted the berry variety, and its definitely drinkable on its own, but its actually good with half-water, half-apple cider.

Second: The Ingredients

If you know anything about Vega, you know that the ingredients are top notch. The main ingredient is sprouted whole grain brown rice syrup, intended to give you an instant energy boost, and organic palm nectar, for sustained energy (it claims around 30 minutes worth). Coupled with Yerba Mate, Green Tea, Kombucha, Rhodiola Extract, Ginger Extract, etc, this stuff is full of not only energy, but herbs that are meant to stimulate your system to help you naturally perform better.

Third: The Results

So all this doesn't matter if it doesn't work, right? Well, it does. And I don't just say this because they sent it to me, honestly, I wouldn't do that. This stuff, no joke, works. I first tried it last Monday and went for a run on the treadmill after not having ran for over two months because I hurt my knee. It seemed to work, but I wasn't convinced yet. After all, I ran pretty slow, and hey, it could have just been endorphins. I also used it before my first Mysore yoga class on Thursday, just to have something in my system.

But what really has convinced me that this product is awesome was our run yesterday. Remember, this is after not having really ran at all (besides Monday) for over two months). The loop around our lake is 3.65 miles, and I didn't feel the need to stop and walk for any of it. This might not mean anything to you, but I haven't not stopped on a run that long in well over a year. I have never felt that good on a run, my body never got tired, and my mind was completely clear and focused.

I also had a girl yell at me that I was her inspiration as we ran past her and her friend walking. So there you go, I have their new tag line. Vega Sport - Be Inspiring.

It comes in two flavors, and I have yet to try the lemon-lime. I don't really know what that would mix with, maybe orange juice? Suggestions anyone? At only 70 calories a serving, I feel it needs to be mixed with a little something.

So there you have it folks. A product that does what it claims to do. How often does that happen? Of course, Vega is always on the pricey side, but I really think this stuff is worth it. In fact, I will probably continue to purchase it myself once I run out of the container they were so generous to send me.

This actually makes me really excited to start running again. I'm seriously looking forward to doing our Turkey Trot again at the end of the month! Maybe I can get my dad to try it too!

Gifts From Friends

There is a lot of fun stuff that comes with blogging: making new friends, receiving product samples, hosting giveaways, eating lots of food at every vegan restaurant you can find because you must report back to those friends, lest they be stranded in your corner of the world with nothing to eat...

But by far, the best thing about blogging is swapping gifts with said friends. Even better is when you are lucky enough to receive homemade gifts. And this past week I was the lucky recipient of homemade treats from two wonderful bloggers.

First, I won Amy's lovely giveaway of her own homemade jam. I opted for the Vanilla Bing Cherry variety and I was not disappointed. This is extremely delicious, even better than I anticipated. You can clearly taste both the sweet tart cherries and that clean splash of vanilla. Thank you Amy, you are so talented!

Not to mention it came with a completely adorable giraffe card!!

Happily following the cherry trend, I was surprised by another package a few days after Amy's arrived. I got excited when I saw that return address, as it was from none other than Hannah, and from the shape of the box, I was crossing my fingers for some more homemade goodness.

Sure enough, out popped a bag of Coconut Granola with Cherries. Yum.

Yes, Hannah, I do love coconut, and I especially loved how as soon I as opened the bag, the coconut smell hit my nose immediately. This is very delicious, and we are big granola lovers in this house! Thank you so much!

I am so thrilled so have been the recipient of such kindness this month. And with the holidays fast approaching, the season of giving and sharing is already in full swing. If you're in the mood to help someone out, hop on over and visit Katie, to support Operation Chocolate-Covered Kindness. All it takes is a click...literally!

Enjoy the day, everyone!

A Treat For Me!

Admittedly, Halloween is not my favorite holiday. I worked last night and my brother is playing a show tonight that I am going up to my parents' to see, so I have successfully avoided any parties. Don't get me wrong. Normally, I love a good party. I just hate getting dressed up.

Nevertheless, I still came home to find a treat on my doorstep. It wasn't candy. Not a little black cat. Wasn't a little green goblin. It was...

Granted, I sent this to myself. But still, it got here just in time to be a Halloween treat! And a day sooner than expected!! With recipes for everything from healthy(ish) applesauce cookies to homemade vegan Samoas (you know, the best Girl Scout cookie ever), this is most definitely going to be appearing frequently in my kitchen. I love cookies.

Sadly, I didn't have enough time or resources to make anything in there before bed last night (our pantry situation is dismal, we don't even have oatmeal!!). Plus, I will be away this weekend at my parents' and then Boston Veg Fest Sunday. I think the Veg Fest treats will make up for delaying the baking madness that VCIYCJ will ensue. Hm. I don't like the acronym for this one. I think I'm shortening it to VCI - VEGAN COOKIES INVADE!! --- Very Halloween appropriate.

I hope everyone enjoys whatever it is that they enjoy about Halloween, whether it be the treats, or the little kids in costume, and I will see you Monday with a Veg Fest recap! I also want to thank you all for your Blog-iversary support, I love the comments, and it kick started my little blogger spark. Have a great weekend!

The Vegan Strong Blog-iversary!

I sat here today, thinking about how I was feeling a bit of the blogging slump. How I really wanted to just be excited about cooking again for the sake of cooking and not for blogging. I was thinking, its probably just like anything else, where the initial excitement starts to fade and you have to get through a rough patch to reach your stride. Of course, I say this all with a light heart, as it is, after all, just a blog.

But I started thinking about this in terms of the year and how after I hit a year, it'd probably be on the upswing. Literally, this happened less than a minute ago. Then I realized...it HAS been about a year. So I checked and, it has actually been EXACTLY a year! So, happy Blog-iversary to Vegan Strong. Its been quite a year. Some has changed, and some has not.

Bulgar Wheat and Soy, my second post, is still one of my favorite things.

My Vegan Coat is itching to officially come out of the closet this year (I have a new hat to go with it).

I had a Gluten-Free week, which definitely made me more sensitive to those of you with gluten intolerances/allergies/celiac's/etc.

I tried to involve as much of the "strong" in Vegan Strong as possible with posts about protein, protein powder recipes, and workouts, and while I know they aren't the favorite posts, they're important to me.

I've had a few raw days in there, something I wish I was more diligent about doing on a regular basis!

You were all there with me during my student teaching experience, the good and the bad.

I went to Hawaii and Maine, and moved to New Jersey.

And most recently, you've heard about my complete career change, which I am still really happy with.

All in all, its been quite a year, and I can't believe how quickly its gone by. I am really looking forward to this coming year, especially the upcoming holidays! I hope that I've been able to share some of my personality, my sense of humor, and given you an idea of who I am. Its been really great getting to know a lot of my fellow bloggers and developing relationships and doing exchanges and giveaways with them.

So thank all of you for visiting, reading, and commenting. I really love hearing from everyone, and I hope that I give back to you what you all give to me!

Have a great day everyone! And I hope you'll stick with me for another year!!

Its Yum Yum

Vegan Yum Yum, that is. If you don't have Lauren Ulm's new book, you are missing out! Not only do the recipes all sound delicious, the full color photography is beautiful. Don't lie, you love when your cookbooks show awesome pictures of the food. I do.

Admittedly, life has been busy lately. While I have a lot of free time in the morning now, I pretty much come home and go to bed, which = no dinner. Don't worry, I'm eating, just not anything at all fancy.

But the Golden Chickpea and Artichoke Salad from Vegan Yum Yum was so quick and easy to throw together that it was able to make an appearance!

Browning the chickpeas gave them a warm golden color, and the artichokes gave a distinct flavor that was of course delicious. I really thought that the toasted ground nuts made it pretty, distinct, and yummy all at the same time. We actually threw this together with some whole wheat pasta to make a pasta salad.

Now on Sundays, I bake. Forgive me for taking a few days to get this up (I so badly wanted to talk about my Vegan Brunch that it had to wait!), but I made some of Veggie Girl's Peanut Butter Banana Bread.

Sans bananas on top...I had already used 3 of Nick's bananas (he eats about 10 a week).

This is yummy, although I found that mine was very crumbly. It also took way longer to bake than hers did. I don't know if I didn't add enough milk (vague recipes and me don't go together well when it comes to baking), but it was delicious just the same. Especially heated up the next day with some Earth Balance and a glass of soymilk...which coincidentally is what I just had for breakfast!

*Sidenote: Does anyone else have a cat who LOVES Earth Balance? Zoe will try to lick some of it up whenever I have it on something.*

So while the new job doesn't exactly provide a ton of time for cooking, there is still plenty of opportunity to squeeze in some good food. Today I am hoping to try a curry in my slow cooker. How do you balance food, work, and blogging about food? If I wasn't blogging, I wouldn't have an issue, I'd just have Trader Joe's soy nuggets for dinner every night. But no one wants to hear about that. Its good though, this keeps me on my toes and out of vegan convenience food mode, but its hard to make it all fit.

Other than finding that balance, everything is good, and the new job is going very well so far! There are lots of cute puppies that I get to play with every day. I hope everyone is having a great week, Happy Wednesday!

Vegan Brunch: Philly

Most things are fairly easy to replace in a vegan form. Now that Vegan Brunch has taken the world by storm, its even easy to replicate a lot of your favorite breakfast dishes, like the formerly elusive omelet. However, one of our favorite pastimes has always been going out for breakfast. With most diner offerings no longer being options, and our not wanting to pay $8 for a bowl of oatmeal, what is a vegan couple to do?

Well, after a quick search for vegan breakfast venues in Philadelphia, we just ate at home. Kind of a no-brainer. But then, when I was least expecting it, a place serving vegan brunch came onto my radar. Excuse me? I thought I had thoroughly researched this?!? A quick Google search told me that I was horrifyingly wrong, and hence, we had to go. ASAP.

Enter Mi Lah Vegetarian Restaurant, which is vegan, and on Saturdays and Sundays they serve up a fantastic vegan brunch.

We started out with a cup of coffee, with a sweet little plate of seasonal fruit. I love that its apple season, by the way. The decor in this place is perfectly sweet and modern, I really loved it.

It was very hard to make a decision because so many things looked so good. Okay, everything looked so good. The menu on their website it outdated, it used to be a Prix Fixe, but now they have a larger variety of entrees, and also encourage making yourself a meal out of their side dishes. (If you're curious about the price, now that it is not prix fixe, it was actually cheaper for us.)

I settled on the dish I had heard raves about, the omelet. Not really an omelet fan in my pre-vegan days, this was completely perfect.

My three fillings were red pepper, vegan sausage, and cheddar cheese. I was hesitant about the cheese, because as I've said here and again, I hate almost all vegan cheese (yes, even Teese, yes, even Daiya), but this was good. Altogether the omelet was amazing, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and plenty of filling. On the side were some red bliss and sweet potato home fries. All incredibly yummy.

Nick had the Yard Beer battered seitan with Belgian waffles. They ended up being chocolate waffles! He seemed fairly pleased with his, although he said he wanted an omelet next time.

As I mentioned, they have a wide variety of sides, not least of which is French Toast. Nick had to try the French Toast, so we split it, and...it was divine. On good crusty bread, it was wonderfully sweet with just a splash of their organic maple syrup.

All in all, I can't wait to go back. I'm not kidding, I wanted to go back for dinner (we didn't). There are quite a few vegan restaurants in Philly, and many of them are Chinese. New Harmony and Singapore are two we've tried and are both very good. But sometimes you want brunch, and sometimes, you don't want Chinese food! So I'm happy that when this place is done with their delicious vegan brunch, they break out a very local, seasonal, menu. Think: brussels sprout and butternut squash gratin. Granted, they have this at Horizons, but this is less expensive.

The moral of this story is, be sure to go here. Don't even think twice, if you're in the Philly area, or within driving distance, you must go. Oh, and you don't even have to get up that early because, in true brunch fashion, they serve until 3. You will be happy, I promise!

New Week, New Job, New Food!

There are a few things I haven't really mentioned on here. First, I quit my job. Second, I got a new one. I know a lot of you were with me for my student teaching earlier this year, and I was really stressed out. I started a job with a very large school district here, and it just wasn't working for me. I think I cried every day except Fridays and Saturdays. So I quit.

Today I am starting a new job at a vet's office. I am really looking forward to it. I'm also taking some classes online. The best part is that I don't have to do hours of planning at home, so I had plenty of time to get everything ready for this week regarding food. Of course, food is the first thing that pops into my mind when I have any kind of free time.

Sundays now, are spent planning meals, food shopping and cooking. All through the week when I find something I want to make, I put it on the "Dinner Ideas" list, and then add the ingredients to the list. By Sunday, I maybe have one meal to add, and we are ready to go. After hitting Trader Joe's (we are addicted to their granola, aka crack in a box) and Wegmans, I headed back for a nice afternoon of cooking my little heart out.

First up is a batch of seitan, same as I made last week. I had dinner plans, but I really wanted to bake something. I poured through my many cookbooks and ended up on the computer going through Sweet Freedom. I love this cookbook, but I've only made a few things because many of the recipes include things that I should have on hand...but don't. Like agave. I ran out a few months ago and didn't buy it again. There is a lot of agave. Anyway, I settled on a delicious Raisin Tea Bread. Named not because it is to be eaten with tea (which was what I thought), but because there is actually tea as part of the liquid in it. Sweetened lightly with maple syrup and made with whole grain spelt, this baked up beautifully, with a nice crunch to the exterior, but a light and moist interior.

I used Chai Tea, which was intensified by the warm spices added to the bread.

After that, we watched a movie and I have to say that our recent movie rentals have been dismal. One of them we didn't even finish, and the other two...if I had my way, we wouldn't have. Nick said, that's what you get when you get your movies from a vending machine (Redbox), but I really think we just chose poorly.

Dinner was Breakfast. Or the other way around. I wanted to try Bianca's Breakfast Casserole, and I knew I would never actually get around to making it for breakfast. Her recipe calls for the use of any cheesy sauce recipe, and I doubled this recipe, from Fat Free Vegan's Eggplant Parmesan, which was one of the first posts I made on here, actually.

It came out delicious; yummy pieces of soaked bread, chunks of scrambled tofu, and bites of smoky sausage. I used Yves breakfast sausage, and I added garlic and onion to the scramble. Next time I think I will add some greenery to it, maybe mix in some peppers, or spinach.

Of course, it was only natural to follow this up with something else breakfast-y, the Tea Bread! With some vegan cream cheese slathered on, this was the perfect end to my day of food.

How do you go about planning your meals for the week? Do you just play it by ear with what's in the fridge? Go shopping every other day? Plan everything in advance and hope it all works out?

Hope everyone has a fantastic week! I hope to see you back here fairly often since, as my job doesn't start until 11, I will have plenty of blogging time!