Finally feels like SUMMER

It finally feels like summer here in northern California!!

It's been a long time coming. Just a few weeks ago it was cold, cloudy and it even rained!

Now the sun is out shining down and the warm weather is upon us! I couldn't be happier. I can finally tan these pale legs of mine.

With the warmer weather comes the lighter meals and more green smoothies.

Today I made a summer quinoa salad with a balsamic vinaigrette that will last me most of the week!


Summer Quinoa Salad


Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup COOKED quinoa
• 1/2 a red bell pepper; chopped
• 1/2 a orange bell pepper; chopped
• 1/2 cup mini heirloom tomatoes; halved
• 1 cup mushrooms
• 3/4 cup shredded carrots
• ~handful kale; de-stemmed 
• ~1/4 cup balsamic
• 1 tbs. honey
• salt and pepper to taste

(These are rough measurements; please forgive me!)

Directions:
In a large bowl add the chopped up bell peppers, tomatoes, carrots, mushrooms and kale. Next, add the 2/3 cup quinoa and stir to combine. In a small jar or bowl, add the balsamic, honey, salt and pepper to taste. Stir or whisk together to combine. Pour the dressing over the veggies and quinoa and stir well to combine. I like my vinaigrette to have a bite to it; if you don't then add a little more honey to it.

**If you don't have any cooked quinoa on hand, cook 3/4 cup dry quinoa with 1 1/2 cups water. Bring to a boil and then cover and let simmer for about 15-20 mins, or until all the water has been absorbed. Then use about 2/3 cup of the cooked quinoa for the salad.

I also made myself a Banana Mango Green Smoothie for lunch and enjoyed it outside while soaking up some rays and tanning my legs!

Banana Mango Green Smoothie

Ingredients:

• 1/2 a frozen medium banana
• 3 slices frozen mango
• 1/2 c unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1/2 c water
• handful spinach
• 1 tbs. ground flax
• 1 tsp. agave nectar (optional)

Directions:

In a blender, add the water, almond milk, banana and mango. Blend until smooth. Next add the spinach, ground flax and agave nectar; blend again until thoroughly blended. Pour into a cup and enjoy! 

After lunch I uploaded some new music onto my iPhone and did some strength training with hand weights and then abs/core. Then I took off to the gym and did 40 minutes worth of cardio.

Came home and made myself up a small bowl of the Summer Quinoa Salad and laid out in the sun for a while.

The sun and warm weather was calling my name, I had to take advantage of it.

Hope everyone is having a great Monday so far!

XO

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Happy Friday!! The week has finally come to an end!

I always love when the weekend is here. I get to see my friends, relax and chill.

There isn't going to be much content to this post, just three recipe ideas that I wanted to share with you all. The first two is a breakfast and lunch smoothie idea and it's actually what I had today. And the last is a dinner or anytime recipe that I cooked up last night for dinner!

Enjoy!


Oatmeal Breakfast Shake


Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup oats (*If you do a 1/4 cups oats then do a 1/2 cup almond milk)
• 3/4 cup almond milk
• 1/2 tbs. almond butter
• 1 tbs. ground flax
• handful of blueberries
• You may add protein powder to this if you like, optional though.

Directions:
Night before add to the blender cup the oats and the almond milk. Cover and refrigerate over nights. In the morning add almond butter and protein powder (if you add any) and blend together! Add just a little more milk or water if the mixture is too thick. Pour into a bowl and top with the ground flax and blueberries. Chia seeds would work great with this too!

Look at the thick consistency! (After I mixed the blueberries and flax in)

Spinach-Kale Banana-Strawberry Green Monster

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup vanilla almond milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup kale
• 1/2 cup spinach
• 1/4 medium banana
• 3 medium strawberries
• Arbonne Vanilla Protein Powder (Omit protein powder if you want, optional)
• 1 tbs. chia seeds
• cinnamon

Directions:

Blend together first the water, vanilla almond milk, kale and spinach. Once the kale and spinach are blended thoroughly, add the strawberries, banana, protein powder, chia seeds and cinnamon. Blend together until everything is blended completely, pour into a cup and enjoy!

Roasted Chickpeas with Swiss Chard and Quinoa

Ingredients:

1 tbs. Extra virgin Olive oil (or oil of choice)

1/3 cup drained and rinsed chickpeas

1/2 cup cooked quinoa 

1 cup chard (cut up)

Handful grape tomatoes

1/2 cup sugar snap peas

1/4 cup diced onions

Garlic powder

Dried Sage

Salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil. Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Use a 1/3 cup of the chickpeas and add to a bowl. Add to the chickpeas a drizzle of olive oil, the garlic powder, dried sage and salt and pepper to taste. Toss to combine to coat the chickpeas. Pour onto the lined baking sheet and cook in the oven for about 25 mins or until the chickpeas start to turn a golden brown. While chickpeas are cooking, heat a pan with the 1 tbs. of EVOO and cook the onions until they start to turn translucent. Next add in the sugar snap peas and tomatoes, cook for 3-5 mins. Add in the chard and cook until it starts to wilt. Next add in the quinoa just to heat it through. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste. Add the mixture to a bowl and top with the roasted chickpeas.

TGIF, literally! Snapshot, Flipcard and Cleanse day 5

Happy Friday!! So happy that it's finally here. TGIF, literally.

Yesterday marked day 5 of the cleanse and it was also Cinco de Mayo. A day some people use as an excuse to go out and drink till they pass out. Haha. Not this girl!

I did go out for a bit last night and hung out with one of my best friends and another close girlfriend of mine. I've been feeling in a bit of a slump lately and last nigh was exactly what I needed to get out of it. A night filled with great conversation, laughter and smiles. Sometimes, something so simple as seeing your close friends can do the trick, and it absolutely did last night.

I had an early start to my day yesterday, a 5:30 a.m wake up call to be exact, or I should say alarm blaring wake up call. Got up and did a quick cram session before my midterm at 8 a.m. Had a bowl of overnight oats consisting of:

• 1/3 1/4 cup oats (Gluten free of course)
• ~3/4 cup vanilla almond milk
• 1 tbs. ground flax
• 1/2 tbs. almond butter

Quick and easy and it kept me full all the way through school and the gym. After the gym I whipped up a banana protein shake, went outside and caught some sun.

The banana shake had in it:

• 1/2 a medium frozen banana (Gives it more of a shake like texture)
• 2 scoops Arbonne Protein powder
• 1 cup Vanilla almond milk
• 1 tbs. chia seeds
• 2 ice cubes

At some point in the day yesterday I was greeted by Jack ready to roll out!

My "roll" dog

Dinner time rolled around and I enjoyed a quinoa spinach salad with bell peppers, mushrooms, asparagus, sugar snap peas, chick peas and a handful of slivered almonds. Just what I needed.

Today marks the 6th day in my cleanse and I'll report later on tonight on how it went!

Oh! I almost forgot! There are 2 NEW ways to view my blog: Snapshot or Flipcard. Check out the picture on the sidebar (To the right of this post) and click on it to view!

Enjoy your Friday!

Funky Tuesday

Tuesday has not gone that well.

Nothing bad happened, it was just an off day for me. A really BAD off day for me. A grump all day and in a funk of a mood. I can only think of two things that can factor in all of this:

1.  PMS-ing really bad (TMI; sorry, I know.)
2. My allergies have been really bad the past few days that it has caused my face to break out into a rash of little red bumps.  NOT HAPPY.

I think I may need to invest in a new allergy medicine. The one I am taking is CLEARLY not working. Miserable today.

Even though my day wasn't the best today, I stuck with my cleanse diet. You'd think I would have had a few slip ups due to my mood today, but I just wasn't going to let it happen. Nope, no way.

Cleanse day 3 : Woke up this morning and chugged down some water and had a cup of detox tea. About an hour later I whipped up a banana protein shake for breakfast and took my usual supplements.

This one had:

• 1/2 a medium FROZEN banana
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tbs. almond butter
• 1 scoop Arbonne vanilla protein powder
• 1 tbs. ground flax.

Yes, it's in a Starbucks cup. It's insulated and keeps it cold!

I was hoping that this shake would pull me out of my funk. 

No such luck. Damn.

I got myself ready for the day and ran some errands. By the time I got home it was around lunch time, but I wasn't super hungry. I was, however, just hungry enough for half of an apple cut up with some almond butter drizzled on top. Who could resist that?! Prepared it and took it outside to enjoy.

Lunch came and went, and yup, still in a funky mood. Not even being out in the sun on a beautiful day pulled me out of it. Damn allergies.

Later on when my mom got off work, I went with her to Trader Joe's and picked up a few things. Ran into my buddy Will, ::Hi Will:: but didn't really chat. My grumpiness got the best of me, I felt bad and texted him and apologized. Anyways, got some more bell peppers, lemons, crushed garlic, green apples, zucchini and some sugar snap peas. Yummmms.

Fast forwarding to dinner. 

I threw myself together a delicious salad. That did make me feel a little better, but not much. I cut up a leftover leek, some asparagus and carrots and then sautéed them in a pan for a few minutes until they were tender but still had some crunch to them. 

Seasoned with pepper, sage and thyme

 On a plate I put a handful of spinach and topped it with some herbed quinoa, the sautéed veggies, some mushrooms and sugar snap peas. Drizzled a little extra virgin olive oil and balsamic and dug in.   

Topped with a few pistachios 

That's been my day. Still a grump, but I am more tired than anything. I'm going to spend the rest of my evening reading and studying for my psychology midterm.

Hope everyone else had a better day!

XO Jen

Easter Weekend

Easter weekend was a blast!

For the past few years now, my uncle Mike and aunt Meghan throw Easter at their place. And every year it is always so much fun! My Aunt is a fantastic cook, so we always look forward to what ever she cooks. The kids had their easter egg hunt and even the adults had some fun. Haha, see pictures below.

My cousin Deena riding the low rider bike that my uncle built

Craig riding the second one

Even my mother got in on the fun!

Now that the fun Easter day has come to an end, on to Monday! Today so far, I have spent my day job hunting, writing a letter to my college, cleaning house, and prepping some food for the week. And it's only noon! I also cooked up some quinoa while sipping on my Green Monster. Delish!
 
My green monster today consisted of:

• 1/2 cup vanilla almond milk
• 1/2 cup water, handful of spinach
• half a frozen banana
• 2 large strawberries. 

Simple yet delicious.

 I also threw together some tuna that has greek yogurt instead of mayo, shredded cabbage and some salt and pepper to taste. Dumped it in lock-in-lock, put in the fridge to have later this week.

Off to the gym I go in a bit!

Enjoy your Monday!

Detox Cleanse

Starting May 1st, I will be beginning my first detox cleanse. I am so excited! What makes it even more exciting is that I will be doing this with 2 of my best friends and a few other close friends. By doing it together I believe it will help all of us stay motivated and on track.

My protein powder and fiber arrived in the mail today and it just made me even more excited to get this cleanse started!

This detox cleanse consists of a shake a day, plus the fiber which is easy to incorporate into the shake since it's powder. The cleanse is based on the Paleo diet, and I pretty much follow that now as it is. Also, no soy, no dairy or gluten. I won't have to change up my diet much since I already don't do soy, dairy (I'm slightly lactose), but I do incorporate a little gluten in my diet so that might be a little tough. Of course exercise and since I'm a gym bunny anyways that won't be tough at all. Oooh and did I mention cutting back on alcohol or cutting it out completely during the cleanse? Yup. This might be a toughie... I'm a social drinker when I go out and enjoy a couple drinks. Plus I do enjoy my glass of wine here and there too!

I am super excited to start May 1st! It can't come soon enough!

I already tested out Arbonne's vanilla protein powder and it tastes good!

Banana Plum Shake

Ingredients:

Half a banana

3 dried pitted plums

1 scoop Arbonne Vanilla Protein Powder

1 Scoop Arbonne Fiber

~about 1 cup vanilla almond milk

Directions:

In a blender add the vanilla almond milk then the powders. Next add the dried plums and half the banana. Blend up until everything is incorporated and blended all together, pour into a glass and enjoy!

Let's get this week started!

Hello there, Monday!

Didn't get around to posting over the weekend, it was a busy one! Spent the majority of it with friends and family. Friday night was spent celebrating a friend's birthday and a little bar hopping.

Saturday I went wine tasting with my parents, which is always fun! Later on that evening I went and visited my best friend at her work and she surprised me with a cute robot necklace!  And Sunday was my chill day. I relaxed and oh yeah...read for my psychology classes. So, overall a great weekend!



Monday is here and it's time to get this week started!

I started my morning out with a bowl of banana VOO, my supplements and a cup of coffee. You know, the usual. I haven't got tired of it yet! The VOO keeps me full for at least  4-5 hours.

Banana VOO

Ingredients:

1/3 cup oats

3/4 cup Almond milk

1 1/2 tbs. ground flax or chia seeds

1/2 banana cut up

1 tbs. Almond butter

A drizzle of honey

**If you want to know how to put this yummy creation together check out my Easy Vegan Over Night Oats post. I added my bananas in this morning and stirred to combine with the oats and almond butter.

Right now for lunch I am having a Green monster shake consisting of almond milk, half a banana, flax seed,  spinach and Amazing Grass Amazing Chocolate Meal. Then it's off to the gym later on today! 

*Having half now and saving the other half for after my workout!

My workout playlist that gets me pumped and going! (In no particular order, I usually have it on shuffle)

1. Sugar Skulls- Envy on the Coast

2. Given Up- Linkin Park

3. Temper Temper- Envy on the Coast

4. Crawling in the Dark- Hoobastank

5. Let it out- Hoobastank

6. Sunday Morning- No Doubt

7. All Around Me- Flyleaf

8. Spin- Taking Back Sunday

9. Goodbye to You- The Used

10. Past Praying For- VersaEmerge

11. For a Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic- Paramore

12. I'll Let You Live- Taking Back Sunday

13. You're Never There- Hoobastank

14. Santeria- Sublime

15. Faith- Limp Bizkit

16. Out Of Control- Hoobastank

17. AEnema- TOOL

18. Stinkfist- TOOL

Ooh!! I will also be starting a Detox cleanse soon through my best friend Jenna who is setting it all up through Arbonne.com. I can not wait! Once I get started I'll be blogging about my progress and how I am doing with it.

Have a great Monday everyone! <3

XO Jen

Banana Paleo Pancakes

Happy Friday!! The weekend is finally here and I couldn't be happier!

This morning I thought I'd try making something new. Banana Paleo Pancakes. I came across this recipe on Mark's Daily Apple. They looked super yummy and extremely easy to make. All you need are ripe banana's, almond butter and eggs. The recipe makes about 4 medium sized pancakes and they are absolutely delicious! Tastes exactly like banana bread but in pancake form.

I don't have any step by step pictures this time. I left my camera upstairs and didn't feel like running back up to get it. Lazy, I know.

I started by peeling the 2 bananas and breaking them into pieces to make it easier to mash them up. The bananas are easier to mash up if they are pretty ripe. Once they were all mashed up, I added the egg and milk and combined them all together. Next I added the almond butter and mixed. On the stove I added a small amount of butter to a pan and poured the batter into small cakes. Cook like you would with regular pancakes. My batch made 4 pancakes, I ate only two. And those two filled me up! Super yummy!

For lunch I whipped up a berry protein shake since I wasn't super hungry. The berry shake consisted of a handful of blueberries, handful of spinach, 1/2 scoop of Amazing Grass Amazing Chocolate Meal, and about a cup of almond milk. I poured half of it into a glass and saved the other half for after my work out. It made enough for a pre and post-workout shake.


Banana Paleo Pancakes

Ingredients:
2 bananas
1 tbs. almond butter
1 egg

~ 1 tbs. of almond milk (Optional. I used about a tablespoon just to make them a little more moist.)

Instructions:
In a bowl mash the two bananas, add the egg and mix well. Then add the almond butter and combine. Add more almond butter if you want a more pancake like texture. Warm some butter in a pan and pour the batter into small cakes. Brown on both side and serve warm. Enjoy!

I added some blueberries and drizzled a little almond butter on top.

Protein Berry Shake

Ingredients:

Handful of blueberries (~1/2 cup)

Handful of spinach

1/2 scoop Amazing Grass Amazing Chocolate Meal

~1 cup Almond Milk

1-2 ice cubes.

Instructions:

In a blender add the milk and powders first. Then to it add the blueberries and spinach. Blend it all up to the consistency you like. Add in the ice cubes and blend again. Once everything is blended thoroughly pour into a glass and enjoy!

Yummy *Chocolate* Green Monster

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make the "Green Monster" over the weekend, but I was able to this morning. And let me tell you... IT IS SO GOOOD!! Don't let the color of it discourage you from making it. You can't taste the spinach at all. It's delicious and filling. I added a 1/2 scoop of Amazing Grass Amazing Chocolate Meal to it for a little extra protein and it has a light chocolate taste. Yuuummm! It perked me right up this morning! Exactly what I needed. =)














Here's the Green Monster recipe as depicted from Angela's Oh She Glows blog.
**(In bold is what I added to the Green Monster, really not much of a difference.)

Classic Green Monster

Yield: 1 serving/2 cups

Ingredients:
1 cup almond milk, or milk of choice
1 ripe banana, preferably peeled + frozen
2 handfuls organic spinach
1 tbsp chia seeds OR 1 tbsp ground flax
1 tbsp nut butter (I used creamy unsalted almond butter)
1-3 Ice cubes

1/2 scoop of Amazing Grass Amazing Meal Chocolate

Directions: Starting with the liquid, add in 1 cup of milk of your choice. Now add in the chia or flax and nut butter. Next, add in the spinach followed by the banana on top. Blend until smooth. Add in your ice cubes and blend some more. Serves 1- about 2 cups.

*In my Green Monster I used Almond milk, creamy unsalted almond butter, chocolate Amazing Meal, ground flax, spinach, and a banana. (I forgot the ice, oops!)

*Added the powders and the almond butter first.

*Then the spinach, banana and vanilla almond milk. (Milk not shown, oh and I forgot to add the ice cubes, but it still came out fine!)

*Blended all up and it looks like this!

YUMMY!

 I then headed to campus feeling awake and energized! This kept me full till lunchtime around 12:30, which consisted of a small bowl of quinoa with raw almonds and a light drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette. I got my 40 minute elliptical cardio workout in today along with some core and strength training.

It's been an overall great Monday!

Yummy breakfast: Easy Vegan Overnight Oats

Has anyone ever heard of 'Overnight Oats'? I never had until I came across a blog called OhSheGlows.com (http://ohsheglows.com/recipes) This is one of my favorite breakfasts to have in the morning. I absolutely love it, I eat it almost every morning! It fills me up and keeps me going! I've changed it up a little bit when I make it; I don't add the vanilla extract and instead of chia seeds, I use ground flax seed. Chia seeds are perfectly fine, I just prefer the ground flax. I also don't add the banana, instead, in the morning after the overnight oats have sat in the fridge overnight (hence the name), I add blueberries.

Here's the recipe as it appears on the website.

(What's listed in bold type are the things I changed or added)

Easy Vegan Overnight Oats

PM Ingredients:

•1/3 cup regular oats

•3/4 cup almond milk **(I use the sweetened vanilla almond milk as opposed to the unsweetened kind. Reason why I don't use the vanilla exact.)

•2 tablespoons chia seeds

•1 tiny ripe banana, peeled and smashed

•1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions: Mix together the above ingredients in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge overnight.

Here are my AM ingredients: toppings of your choice. (if you want) I usually do:

•One spoonful of almond butter or peanut butter. (Sometimes, depends on if I'm in the mood for it =) )

•A squeeze of honey.

•Blueberries

I also put the overnight oats in the microwave for about a minute to warm it up and to heat the almond butter or peanut butter to make it easier to mix. I add the honey after, along with the blueberries.

You can add what ever ingredients you like to the overnight oats. I usually do the oats, vanilla almond milk and let it sit overnight in the refrigerator. Then in the AM I add the ground flax and almond butter, heat in microwave for a 1 min, mix it up and add the honey and blueberries. =)

Enjoy! <3