Vegan Calzone

I made this a while ago and it was so good, we had it two (possibly even three!) nights in a row. It was super easy and absolutely delicious. Also, I highly recommend the dip to go with it! It's just not the same without!  

Veggie Stuffing:  > Onion  > Bell Pepper  > Garlic  > Spinach  > Olives >Fake Cheese (optional)
Topped With:  > Tomatoes  > Rosemary  > Thyme  > Oregano  > Salt 
Crust You Can Use:  > Homemade dough (yet to perfect one) > Puff pastry (probably my favorite) > Crescent roll dough (pretty rich but yummy if that's what you're into) > Pizza dough (not my fav)
Directions:  1. Roll out dough  2. Stuff with yumminess  3. Close dough  4. Top with more yumminess  5. Bake. Either follow directions for dough  Or Bake at 450 for ~10 minutes, until top of dough browns. 
Super Yummy Delicious Dip: 

3/4 cup Cashew (soaked, preferably overnight but if not, an hour will do)

5 Cloves Garlic

3/4 cup Sun Dried Tomatoes (soaked in water for 15-30 minutes, slightly drained)

2 Tomatoes 

1/2 cup (packed) Basil 

1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder 

1/2 tsp Black Pepper 

A little salt

A little olive oil (optional)

Directions:  1. Soak cashews and sun dried tomatoes. Not totally necessary but better if you do.  2. Process all ingredients in food processor until pureed and well blended. 
Inspiration: 1, 2, 3

Film 1

Over the holidays I went on a little film kick. The first thing I did was develop a few rolls of film I found laying around. Most are a few years old, I even found one from my PROM in 2009! Crazy. Here are a few from the first one I developed when Eliza was about two.  This must have been right before we started building the tiny home.  We used to play tennis a lot, I don't know why I was laying down?  The rest of these are from a scavenger hunt we did. I don't remember the topics but they're the motivation behind some of these weird ones. Like the toilet paper one, I think it was "something soft". The toilet paper must have been Brandon's idea.  In Galveston, the beach we live by, they have these art pelicans everywhere. Kinda fun.  And this was our last scavenger hunt one. I wish I could remember the clue but we ran into a Double Dave's Pizza shop, set Eliza down to take this picture and then ran out! 

I love the character film adds to pictures. None of these have any filter on them whatsoever. I haven't touched them editing wise, they just look neat on their own (: 

Eating Raw Till 4: Tips For Staying On Track

I'm not saying I eat perfect. No one where near it actually. Especially when we go out of town, I always seem to lose all of my self control and motivation. But when I'm home, I try my hardest to stay on track and I always love the results. So I thought I'd write out what helps me keep my diet clean and healthy! source.
-Find inspiration, daily. Healthy people, fit people that eat right and exercise regularly. I instagram a lot so I made a point to follow these type of people so that they show up in my feed every day. I follow tons of people that eat raw, work out on the daily, and share their transformations which is a huge inspiration to me. If they can do it, so can I! I also love to search for videos on Youtube to help keep me on track. This also means that you need to keep bad influences at bay. So if you follow people that constantly post pictures of junk food and all the other terrible things they eat and it makes you want to run to the nearest fast food joint for a burger, you'll probably not going to do too well. 

"Do you have a confused body image?

...Surround yourself with live people, media and images of muscular people. Join a running club and notice the shape and form of athletic people who seem healthy to you. Attend yoga classes and notice the form of people who are highly capable and have stamina all through class.

I developed my ideals for the shape I want during yoga class. I find that the women in yoga look like I want to look. Not overly muscular and not really thin. Capable, strong women who do a lot of yoga tend to have heavily muscled thighs, buttocks and shoulders, while having thin waists, toned abdomens, toned slender calves, and defined medium-sized arms. I personally find this form the most attractive and natural on a woman. I notice this form is not small, nor bulky, nor does it contain excess fat.

Cultivating a sense of what healthy people look like will help you straighten out your idea for what you want yourself to look like." 

-Source

-Plan plan plan. And then stick to it. But most importantly, stick to it. This is something I'm not so great at. But when I do stick to my own plan, things go really well. That said, it's nice to be a little flexible. Just not too much so that you completely stray from your plan and forget all about it.  Forgive yourself but don't go too easy. There's a fine line between giving yourself a break and falling into a bad, lazy routine. 
-Give yourself a scheduled day off where you can just do what you need to do. If this means eating out and skipping the work out, than do it. This way you can avoid splurging when you don't need to.   Surround yourself with supportive people and lots of healthy food. Now this one is really hard for me. This lifestyle is particularly out of the "norm" for most of america so it's easy to be overwhelmed by the negative influences around you. No one around me eats extremely terrible, but not particularly great.... or as great as I want to eat. So when eating out is mexican food or pizza or when breakfast is bacon and eggs, it's hard to keep straight and be good. Like really freaking hard. But that's where an off day comes in handy, in case you need a day to splurge. And if it's not an off day, I just do the best I can. 
-Recognize triggers so that you can understand your cravings and downfalls. If the rest of your family is eating out or eating something that's not part of your diet, maybe it's best to leave. Or make yourself something so good that you won't be tempted to eat something unhealthy. And make sure there's enough so that you can fill yourself to the brim! Cause you can do that with this lifestyle and it's great. 
-Find restaurants that you can eat out at and still stick to your plan. Downtown, this is a little easier but up in the boondocks where we live, it's a little bit more difficult. That said, it is possible. I was suckered into eating out at a mexican restaurant recently because it was a Sunday and we couldn't buy stuff for margaritas (Texas is dumb about that) and our only option was going out to get one. We had to have margaritas you see, it had been a long week. I ended up ordering a nice tortilla soup that my waiter said he could make without chicken and some guacamole salad. Vegan and healthy, score! I was extremely satisfied and I didn't feel like a sack of potatoes afterwards like I usually do when eating mexican! One tip though: I've found that it's easier to avoid the entree section, too many things that could go wrong. I like to look in the appetizers, soup/salad section, or at the sides. Also, talk to your waiter! They're usually pretty lenient about making slight changes to the menu for you and they can help you navigate around things that contain animal products or other things you don't want to eat. 
-Always keep your kitchen stocked with fresh fruit to eat! 
-And last, make it fun and it positive. Look forward to nourishing your body, knowing you are making a difference. 

Getting Healthy, Part 1: Diet

One of my big resolutions for this year is to get back on the healthy train. I don't know about you guys but the holidays were a wreck for me and by the end, I was feeling absolutely terrible. Once the New Year came, I kept trying to avoid it until one day I just got so sick and couldn't stand it anymore. I turned to the internet, started doing a ton of researching/getting inspired, and made a plan to change my "diet" and incorporate a feasible workout routine.

source

So there are two parts to being healthy- what you eat, and being active. The first step I decided to take, was changing my diet. I use the word "diet" lightly though, because I really just mean enhancing my current lifestyle to something a bit healthier and not just some crazy fad diet I'll be doing for two weeks. One important thing that I kept coming across while researching healthier lifestyles, was that what you put into your mouth, accounts for 70% of any weight loss. Not that I'm trying to lose weight but I think that goes for being healthy and fit as well. 70% off the fight, is what you eat. 

I didn't want the change to be too drastic, I wasn't about to set any unrealistic expectations because we all know how that goes! So I ultimately decided on going "raw" until 4 o'clock in the afternoon and then eating a healthy, cooked dinner. I eat smoothies for breakfast and eat a pretty healthy dinner anyways (when I cook it, that is) so all I had to do was incorporate a fully raw lunch as well as make sure to actually cook every night and I was good to go! Also, I was going to try and go vegan 6 out of 7 days a week. I used to be fully vegetarian (until the holidays rolled around.....) so not eating meat wasn't going to be a huge deal. However, it's the cheese that really gets me. So I gave myself one day out of the week to kind of give myself a break ;)

In my search for inspiration, I found two amazing ladies that really spoke to me:

This lovely chica is from Houston and has the biggest food coop in the nation! She's pretty inspiring and just a beautiful person.

And this is Freelee the Banana Girl! I don't know why but I am so fascinated by her.... maybe it's those abs... I just can't stop staring, haha! But really, she seems like a very cool person. I enjoy watching her videos and soaking up all of the knowledge she has to share!

Also, I want to mention the 80/10/10 diet. It's what most raw vegans abide by to make sure they are eating what their body needs and getting in enough nutrition. Basically you eat 80% carbohydrates, 10% fat, and 10% protein. This is what I've been trying to stick with for my overall diet. I got an account on Cron-O-Meter for free and use it to track what I eat and make sure I get enough of what my body needs! I'll leave a video below, explaining it better by an actual Doctor (: 

So I've been doing fairly well. I'm not 100% there (especially with the vegan part) but it's a work in progress, right? I'm trying to not be too hard on myself and taking it one day at a time. I've been really paying attention to how my body feels when I eat certain foods and whenever I stray from my new "diet", I definitely pay for it! Superbowl Sunday was one of my "f*** it" days and after bingeing on queso and pizza, I felt awful. So in a way, they're kind of like reminder days. After I eat a bunch of terrible food, my body freaks out, I feel horrible, and then remember why I eat good for the other 6 days!! And when I do stick to eating healthy foods, I just feel amazing.

This diet has made me really connect with my body more and now, I can tell what I need to eat and when I need to eat which is a great feeling. Plus, I get to eat a ton! Which is fantastic because I love to eat! Of course, it takes a little while to get used to, but it's all a part of learning. I have been feeling so much better lately both physically as well as mentally and I'm ready to make this a permanent change so I can feel this amazing every day!

Good Foods We've Been Eating

Woooh, hey there! Sorry for the absence, we kind of got Disney World lice and.... well it took us a week or two to set things straight again. Lice sure does turn your world upside! 
But anyways, enough about bugs! Let's talk about food! Here are a few tasty recipes I've tried out lately:  Garlic Bread Soup Enchilada Spaghetti (minus the chicken, plus some spinach, and my own enchilada sauce oh and some grated monterray jack on top instead of cheddar cheese mixed in! SO YUMMY) S'mores Stuffed Pizza Cookie Hot Jalapeno Corn Dip Classic Cranberry Sauce Vegan Sweet Potato Alfredo

Good Foods We've Been Eating Lately

Man, I haven't done one of these in a while!! Here are some recipes of good food we've been eating lately:    Fettuccine with Roasted Butternut Squash, Brown Butter, and Sage (I love me some butternut squash)   Sweet Potato Casserole    Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps Baked Fried Rice (such a good idea to bake it!)   Roasted Fingerling Potatoes  Crispy Brussel Sprouts with Garlic Aioli (I've had this multiple times since, this sauce is amazing)  Herbed Cream Cheese Grilled Bell Peppers (like a pizza on a bell pepper!)    Apple Sauce. Who knew that making apple sauce was so darn easy? And freakin' delicious?! Seriously, (not that I did before) never buying apple sauce again. Now I have something to do with all the apples we get in our co-op share!! 
And here's one more that I don't have a picture for- Wild Rice Stuffing. The link actually goes to a bunch of organic recipes from my co-op. You have to search for the wild rice stuffing (towards the bottom) but it's a good one! 
Mmmmm mmmm! Hope you guys enjoy your Sunday!! 

Salmon Adventures

For some reason, a few weeks ago we decided to go out and get some salmon! And then we had to figure out what to make with it! So the first night, we decided on spring rolls. Back in high school I had an asian friend that taught us how to make these. And I was kind of obsessed with them for a while.. We had most of the ingredients already, we kind of just used whatever was in our fridge and boy was it yummy!!  First we baked our salmon with some salt and pepper.  And then we gathered the rest of our supplies. We used:  Lettuce  Carrots  Rice Vermicelli  Avocado  Scallions  Rice Paper And then all you do is wet your rice paper, fill it with good stuff, and wrap it! Brandon made this weird sauce stuff..... next time I'll make something else and let you know how that goes!!  Eliza chowin' down. She loved them!!  Brandon suggested that we just left out the noodles though. And maybe the avocado because you couldn't really taste it. We'll definitely be experimenting some more with spring rolls!  The next night we made this Smoked Salmon Pizza. It was pretty yummy.  We didn't use the capers or dill though. And I believe there is some goat cheese on there as well as some green onions. MMmmmm mmmm!  So that was our little salmon adventure. Do you guys like salmon? What is your favorite salmon dish?? 
P.S. I revamped the store and blog layouts a bit. I changed a few things here- the header to match the store, a new pic on the sidebar, and the blog buttons on the bottom of my sidebar! What do you think?!

Girlish Garb: A Day in the Life of Sam

Can I just say that the weather here has been GORGEOUS. Now this is what I've been waiting for.  Man, looking at these pictures makes me realize how light the bottom of my hair is!! I need to get on that henna dying business.  Outfit details:  Headband/Scarf-Thrifted  Shades-Thrifted  Dress-Thrifted  Belt-Thrifted Sandals-Target (please excuse the weird zipper bumps, a zipper in the front may not have been the best idea but I love the dress too much to care) Lookin' fab girl! We bought these scarves today at the thrift store, 50 cents each!  Brandon likes to work out/show off sometimes at the park. But this picture was too cute not to post! I didn't even mean to capture this but it happened. I love this picture.... maybe I'll get it framed? 
Today was a weird but at the same time, normal day. In case you're interested, I thought I'd share it with you. Here is a day in the life of Sam: 
Today is one of the three days during the week in which none of us have school. This means I get to work the second half of the day after Brandon wakes up from his nap (he works from 3 am to 10 am). On this lovely morning, I slept in longer than expected but woke up with a positive attitude (I tried) and ate breakfast with Eliza. I checked some emails and did a little blog reading while Eliza played with her toys and got into trouble about every 5 minutes. It was one of those days. Then I cleaned up our mess from breakfast as well as some general house cleaning. After that, we got dressed for the day. I decided we looked cute and tried to take an instagram of our outfits. The second take was alright so I posted it. Unfortunately, while busy on my phone, Eliza decided to smear whatever she was chewing in her mouth all over the mirror. Yum.... 
After a hissy fit over her not-so-great behavior this day, we went to the thrift store so I could get some things for my store. Usually I do this when I'm going to work but we were headed out to the library anyways and Eliza likes to  play with the toys there ;) So we went to the thrift store and spent a little too much time there. But it wasn't my fault... ok, maybe a little my fault. But this guy stopped me to talk about his art and blah blah blah. Needless to say, the library didn't happen. We drove home and ate some lunch, mostly fruits and veggies and a few leftovers. Then Brandon woke up (or rather Eliza woke him up while throwing a tantrum). After we kicked him out of the bed, Eliza and I snuck in for some one on one cuddle time. Sometimes she can be really sweet. When all of us were finally ready, we all packed into the car and voyaged over to my dad's house (where I work). Upon arrival at my dad's, Eliza, Brandon, and I wander over to the school (behind my dad's house) to take some outfit pictures. I love when then whole fam joins in because it makes taking outfit pictures so much more exciting. Everyone joins in and it's like a mini adventure! After playing around, taking pictures and what not, we wrap that up and wondered right back to my dad's. 
When we got back, I plopped myself down at the kitchen table and opened my computer to check some more emails/read blogs, this is usually how I start my work day, to get motivated and all. After I have checked everything I could possibly check, I drag myself upstairs to get productive!! I unload all my goodies from the thrift store and get to work. This entails putting the ready-to-sell clothes away and then piling up the others in my "to be upcycled" box. I spent the rest of the day upcycling/fixing up clothes to be sold. 
Sooner or later 7 o'clock comes around and Brandon and Eliza come upstairs to get me. We leave my dad's, stop by HEB for food supplies, and then head home where I make a yummy pizza and Brandon bathes Eliza. Brandon turns on the presidential debates and we watch that while I simultaneously clean up the kitchen. Eliza wonders off playing with some dolls and pillows. After the kitchen, I move on to the laundry which is when Eliza joins me and decides to "help" out. This means she plays dress up while I attempt to put things away. I dislike laundry very much. After putting away about 3 loads worth of clothes, I decide I have too  many so I pull out at least 20 items of clothing to upcycle/sell in my store. Ahhh. After I'm satisfied, I get Eliza ready for bed, read her a book, and finally put her to sleep. And now, here I am, on the floor next to Eliza's bed, writing my blog post. 
*****
It's been a good day. It started out a bit rough with Eliza being a little terror but sometimes that just makes me appreciate her sweet moments a hundred times more. She got better as the day progressed and we kind of had a blast doing laundry together. I mean, as much fun as you can have doing laundry. I felt like I got a lot of stuff done at work which is always a good feeling. Brandon did a really great job with these pictures so that's another thing to be happy about! And for the first time in a long time, I'm not overtired and morose right before bed! A good day indeed.