Good morning!
I’m glad you enjoyed The Story Of The Green Monster. :) It feels good to have it told.
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Eating dinner with Christmas ambiance is so much more fun, wouldn’t you say?
The view from our dinner table makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. The time spent in our family room has increased ten fold since these decorations went up.
Last night Eric and I finished watching Julie and Julia. Oh my gosh was it ever a great movie!!!! Eric had me in hysterics laughing because he kept imitating Julia/Meryl’s accent. I don’t think I have laughed so hard in ages. I could relate to the movie a lot because of course it was about blogging and cooking! Definitely check out this movie…it was unique like no other!
I’m still on my huge Quinoa kick…I now buy all my grains and protein in bulk to save on packaging and cost. Beans, lentils, quinoa, brown rice, couscous, you name it, it’s in my basement. One bonus of a vegan diet? You end up saving so much money not buying meat. Grains and lentils are so cheap, especially when you buy in bulk. This meal below cost me approx. $1.35 (and that was mostly because my olive oil is pricey).
I am crazy for this Organic Chamomile with Lavender herbal tea. I had NO idea that I loved this tea until I had it last night. Dare I say that it may be my favourite tea aside from sencha?! WOW. To say it is a relaxing tea is an understatement. I felt like I was in a spa while sipping it! I am going to buy more asap. I wonder if they have it in loose leaf?
In case you are wondering, it takes great balance to hold a SLR camera + backlight + fork + food and get the picture to turn out. LOL. Aw, the things I do for you guys. ;)
Black Beans, Corn, and Tomatoes over Quinoa
Ingredients:
- 2 cups cooked black beans
- 1 can diced tomatoes (with salt)
- 1 can corn
- 1 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Italian Seasoning
- Fine grain Sea Salt (to taste)
- Black Pepper
- Cooked Quinoa
Directions: Cook the black beans (or you can use canned too). Add first 7 ingredients into a saucepan and heat over low-medium. While this is heating up, cook quinoa. Serve the bean,corn, and tomato mixture over a bed of quinoa.
This dish was very basic, yet quite satisfying. Very high in protein too! It made a great recovery meal for my poor abs.
Other fun happenings to know about…
1) Glo Bakery:
- I meant to mention yesterday that the pre-ordering of Healthy Holiday Lovers Variety Packs are 10% off until November 20th! Get those orders in early and save! You can join Glo Bakery’s Facebook fan page to learn about all of the updates going on and be the first to know!
2) Whittle My Middle:
- I meant to mention as well that for my waist measurements, I took one at the smallest section of my waist (couple inches above my belly button) and then the widest section of my waist (a few inches below my belly button). This will vary for everyone, so just make sure the area you measure is consistent between measures should you chose to do so.
- Is anyone else finding that the stability ball roll-out (#5) doesn’t work very well? I don’t find it that challenging. I am thinking about subbing the exercise with something else. Maybe I am doing it wrong? Ideas?
- My abs hurt. But in a good way if you know what I mean. Everyone said they hate me on Twitter this morning. :( heh.
- Someone asked where my before picture was for the last Bikini Boot Camp Challenge. It is here. In two months I was able to loose quite a few inches, so hopefully in a month I can do about half that progress. I will likely be revealing this challenge’s B+A at the end.
- Don’t forget you can follow my Whittle My Middle workouts each day on the new Abs page!
Enjoy your Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, I’ve got a challenge for you. My family has Italian Wedding Soup on Thanksgiving (meatballs, eggs, chickenstock, chicken)
Gahh – I need to find that Chamomile Lavender tea. I hope they sell it down in the US too! I must say, I got away from reading your blog in recent months (with good reason — job was life-sucking, found a new exciting one, and I start at the end of the month!) and I am enjoying your blog so much again! I’m getting in on your whittle your middle challenge — I need to whittle the middle I developed in my days of awful office drudgery!! :)
I haven’t yet seen the movie for Julie and Julia… but I read the book and it was great!!
mmmm…. vegan thanksgiving goodies! I miss thanksgiving. This year Britton and I celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving with not one, not two, but THREE vegan pumpkin pies. I wanted to test which “pie pumpkin” was the tastiest variety. We tried a regular pie pumpkin, a cheese pumpkin, and some kind of japanese pumpkin!!! The japanese pumpkin won in the flavor department, but the color (it’s a slightly green color) was off puting. Overall, the cheese pumpkin won!!
Hmmm… Britton’s dad is living in NYC… maybe we can use that as an excuse to have another thanksgiving feast here in Canada??
I only did 3 minutes of core work last night and it was already burning! This will definitely be a challenge :)
Love the Christmas decor.. can’t wait to put ours up!!
I have to tell you that you totally inspired me to start decorating my house already for Christmas!! The day after I read that you were decorating your house, I was in the BX (a military version of Target, but not as cool), and I saw a fake tree. We are going on a cruise this year, and we won’t have time to deal with a real tree. I bought it, and I am so excited to start decorating! Thanks for helping me spread the cheer!!!
wow! That quinoa looks FANTASTIC! Thanks for sharing ;)
I tried the stability ball roll-out yesterday at the gym and I could’nt find any balance and truly, I don’t get the movement AND I have to say, looked a little like a fool ;) So I stopped (loosing my time AND looked like a fool) and did some ball rotation -for the obliques- on the ball with a medicine ball instead.
PS : My abs hurts!! I love this challenge!!!
And, I have to say, I love the fact that I can find motivation among other people that I would have never “known” if it wasn’t the blogs and who are as dedicated in living an healthy and active life! ;) Indeed, sometimes I feel alone in my world! My closest friends are not the sporty kind (outside of the ones that I’ve made at the gym!) ;)
Keep going!! :) (this is meant for all of you, not only Ange!)
Oooh, I am so excited to hear more about your vegan-ized recipe challenge!! I have been trying to make healthy baked goods lately, and they keep coming come out too bland or too dense compared to the non-vegan versions. Can’t wait to see what you come up with!
you should try millet if you haven’t already. I like it better than quinoa!
I’m at work so I can’t watch the video but in one of the workout classes I go to the instructor said the stability ball roll out is way harder if you don’t bend your arms. So I guess try keeping them as straight as you can and see if that makes it harder, I remember my abs were burning when I did them.
Have you started planning your Christmas dinner yet? I know it’s November but i’ve been thinking about mine since September (yes I know I’m weird) :)
Love the Christmas decorations! I agree buying bulk is the only way to go.
I want to know what your ideas are for an entree? I have NO idea what to replace the turkey with. Must be vegan :) Or just a general menu idea. I’m having a tough time visualizing. I would be happy to help plan/cook some if you don’t have a menu already I just need a jumping off point!
I’m ready for Christmas it’s my favorite holiday. I just wish I had some little kids around to share it with. I love kids at Christmas so innocent and the Santa thing.
And wanted to say Jackknifes if you haven’t done them already! They are a biatch for the abs. LOL I was dying at yoga today.
I’m going to add Julia and Julia to our Netflix queue. That tea sounds fantastic… I heart tea!
The quinoa dish looks amazing. I really want to see Julie and Julia.
Julie & Julia was a great movie. Luv your Christmas decorations; I just can’t do it till after T’giving.
I was starting to pull out some christmas decorations this afternoon, seeing all your stuff has gotten me excited. I need to go to the dollarstore and pick up a few things, I love the dollarstores lol
I love stuffing – but unfortunately can’t have gluten and can’t seem to find a good recipe that is both vegan and gluten free for delicious stuffing. I’ve always loved the veggies and sides more than the turkey and gravy so don’t really miss much else.
Hi Angela,
Do you think you could come up with a vegan bread pudding? Last year I made it for dessert for the very first time, it was flavored with cinnamon, molasses and raisins and was really awesome. But all the milk and eggs to make the custard? Not so healthy:) The next flavor I wanted to make I wanted to incorporate chocolate chips somehow ;)
I make that dish a few times a month. I like to take it to lunch for work. Yummy…
Your Christmas decorations is making me feel festive … and I like it! ; )