Ringing in the new…well, everything!

Hi guys!
It’s been so long. My apologies.
But, yay for a 2015 post👍

So look, a lot happens every month, every week, every single day that it’s hard to keep up with. Right? I mean, most people I know are out and about, working and hustling almost every day and can’t even remember what they ate last week let alone what they’ll eat next Thursday evening. The point is, we are busy. But, are we too busy? Are we so caught up in the hustle that we are losing sight of our goals and dreams?

I was in a yoga class recently where the teacher said: we are living in the past and hoping for the future and we’ve forgotten about right here and right now. She also went on to talk about her old self and how she wanted so badly for so long to be anything but herself in her younger years. To be the complete opposite of who she was. And in some ways that was for the better, but what she said that stuck with me the most is to not discredit our past selves because without those past selves we wouldn’t ve where we are now.
This class really got me thinking (not to mention physical tension released in the most incredibly spiritual ways) about who I was. Who was Mindy as a kid? Who was Mindy as a teenager? Who was Mindy in her early 20’s. As I started to mull it over I realized I’ve done the same thing in some ways.
The teacher talked about her diaries and how history repeated itself over and over, it just changed names and faces, but we’re the same experiences. Now, I don’t know about you guys, but I’d prefer to improve, to grow, to change. To look back in another 30 years and see how much different the first thirty were from the next. To read my diaries (so to speak) & see me differently, yet the same. To see how the old me helped shape a better and much improved new me.

I’ve kept this shorter, as I just really wanted to drop that little nugget of wisdom in your brain soil so you can water it and watch yourself grow too.

Life is too short to live on repeat!!
Take your past and use it to strengthen your future and enrich others’ lives as well. We are all flawed. We are all struggling. But, what good is the struggle if we don’t improve and just keep regurgitating??
I encourage you to look back over your diary entries (physically read or metaphorically) and see your old self. And be compassionate with yourself for the things you’d do differently now. After all, you wouldn’t know not to do the things you did, if you’d ever done them 😉

Love yourself for who you were, who you
are, & where you’re headed.

A sisters text

It’s so interesting how life can go one direction for so long, and paths won’t have crossed for quite some time.  Then, without warning, a message will pop up on your phone.  You sigh with a twinge of surprise, yet as you swipe open your iPhone you’re struck with wonder to all at once see how badly you needed those words.  Simply stated as passing thought, yet they strike your heart like fire to fodder.  You say you’re exhausted (beyond words), and the response: “I bet! Maybe u get a’s cuz you need something to focus your energy on? i get like that sometimes….I’m sorry that life is so insane now…”

As this is read, your head nods, feeling a different type of disbelief, an understanding of a new notion.  The realization that she’s right.  She has watched for years, and knows her sisters’ patterns!

Then, BAM! One text and the over-complication (of an already constipated debacle) as your greatest ally in times of tumult is beyond evident.

A step back, and you’re right on track.  Just like that, a swipe of an iPhone, all in a sisters text.

Although I can’t recall the last time I had fried chicken, this blog is fantastic!

Ashley Horner

I remember the hot SEX I had on the kitchen table, not the fried chicken I ate there last Tuesday.

 We use our senses for different things; they are the tools that our bodies use. We use our touch to feel, our mouths to taste, our noses to smell, ears to hear, and our eyes to see.  Being in the fitness industry you don’t always get to enjoy the taste some foods, but merely use the energy from the food to sustain life and to reach our goal.  I joined a good friend of mine for lunch a few days ago, as I am closing in on my competition date my choices of foods at restaurants (being 4 days out,) are very slim. Any seasoned fitness model knows when you are days out from a shoot or a show you do not take a chance on restaurant cooked food.  

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John Mayer Said It Best…

“When you’re dreaming with a broken heart. The waking up is the hardest part…”

This has been my life the past week.  It sucks to even fall asleep, and when awakening I feel as though only my dream has shifted.  That, truthfully, I’m in an alternate dreamscape that is relatively horrific, and altogether confusing and heart-wrenching.  There isn’t much else I want to, but crawl back in bed to see if when I wake up, nothing is at it seems

The heart plays us as fools all too often, however, if we allow ourselves, we may see reality vs. emotion.  Independence as strength, rather than codependency in fear suffering from pain. If we can step outside the present, the angst, the newly opened wound, we are able to see the good that can become of this.  That we are not as weak as we once believed, that we are capable of many experiences and adventures we never before sought out.

If, then, you are in my metaphorical boat of heart ache, I encourage you to take a moment to start doing that which you haven’t. The project you never seemed to have time to do, a place you wanted to visit, or a friend you needed to call…. Don’t let your current present emotional agony determine your future’s success!

Peace,

M

Quick and Easy…

That’s how I like most of my food prep to go these days.  After all, who has time to just “kick it” in the kitchen for a couple of hours anymore?  I don’t, that’s why I liked lunch today.  I threw the ingredients together about an hour and a half before I was ready to eat, and went back to writing my paper.  Consequently, I finished the paper, the rough draft, AND was able to have a meal at lunch.  Say WHAT?!?

Okay, here it is, now that I’ve built it up into something monumental…..it’s not that spectacular sounding, but it was frekkin yummo.

I blended recipe of Thai and Malaysian sweet coconut rice… here’s what I came up with.  I was wishing I had saffron because that would have made this even better!

here it is:

2 cups jasmine or brown rice

1 can coconut milk (don’t do low fat, it’s just a dumb choice)-usually these are about 14 oz, since it called for 2 cups all together, I just added 2 oz of my boxed coconut milk in the fridge.

2 cups water

couple star anise

1/2 a lime squeezed

1 teaspoon sugar (I used sucanat)

1 Tablespoon coarsely cut ginger pieces- julienne

1 cinnamon stick- didn’t have a stick, just sprinkled some powder on it

stir and set rice cooker for white or brown.

once I started that, I cubed some extra firm tofu up to set in marinade that I just sort of “whipped up”.

your favorite teriyaki sauce, or just create your own

orange juice

mango good belly (because I had it and am obsessed with mango)

coconut juice (again it was in the fridge…)

braggs amino acids

sweet chili sauce

cayenne pepper

ginger powder

garlic powder

whisk, toss tofu, let sit until rice is done.  throw into frying pan (you will not need oil), “fry” until it’s getting crispy.

you’re good to go. I sliced mango and avocado for the top…  this is lacking in vegetables because I was on a vacation and haven’t had a chance to pick up produce, BUT it was sufficient (and delicious!!) for lunch 🙂

ENJOY!

Favorite Vegan Cuppy Cakes

This has been modified from healthygreenkitchen.com’s red velvet recipe with my own frosting recipe. I’ve played around with it, and I find that when using gluten free flour and vegan ingredients it had to be as follows!

Make. Enjoy!  ❤

Ingredients:
3 organic beets, boil for 40 minutes-cool, peel, and chop
1/2 cup organic applesauce
1/2 cup earth balance (softened) or coconut oil (solid)—both options work!
1 1/2 cups organic cane sugar
2 “eggs”- 2 Tbls ground chia seed with 6 Tbls water
1 tsp. organic vanilla extract
1 Tb. Apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
1 cup plain soy or coconut yogurt
2 Tb. organic cocoa powder or organic raw chocolate powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 cups flour- I use gluten free because that’s just how I roll!
1 tsp. Himalayan or sea salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare your cupcake pans with liners…

Blend into smooth puree chopped cooked beets & applesauce

With your electric mixer, cream up the earth balance (or coconut oil) & sugar. Add chia seed water mixture. Then vanilla and beet mixture. Mix well. Add vinegar & yogurt, & re-blend.

In a separate bowl, mix the cocoa or chocolate powder, baking soda, flour, and salt together. Add to the wet ingredients and mix until well blended.

Pour into liners and bake for approximately 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans on a wire rack for 5 minutes before removing from pans. Then allow to cool completely.

My frosting of choice is sort of a cream cheese/vanilla frosting…

• 1/2 cup of earth balance (1 stick), room temperature
• 8 oz of vegan cream cheese (1 container), room temperature
• 2 – 3 cups of vegan powdered sugar (or sugar you’ve blended into powder J )
• 1 teaspoon of vegan vanilla extract

Blend until smooth & add sugar to taste!

feeling. stress. emotion.

cynical: job. finances. school. relationship. feeling.

numb: trust. faith. hope. stress.

empty: food. meditation. love. emotion.

 

would the outlook change without hurts (feelings)?

would they subside with positive change (good stress)?

would completeness come were the voids (emptiness) to be filled?

 i want to be positive.

i need to build my savings, i want a plan for school, i want security in my relationship.  these all form my cynical perspective. i’m looking to change that to: i am saving, i have a plan, i feel safe.

i need to learn to trust, i need to invest in my faith/spirit, i need to find a reason to truly live, i need to eliminate stress. this transformed to: i am letting trust be built, i am finding my inner peace, i live for love and others, i am making life improvements and these take time.

i need to maintain my healthy diet, i need to be consistent in meditation, i need to feel love, i need to be stabilized.  actions to take: cook/prepare my foods in advance, meditate daily, give love to feel love, relax and let myself re-energize and reboot.

 

No chicken-chicken noodle soup!

Vegan. Gluten free. Hardly any fat, just delicious!
One cup gluten free noodles ( I like tinkyá fun shaped noodles, because frankly I’m a little kid)–I mashed a few recipes together and took the liberty of adding cayenne pepper and chili powder to mine… It’s so tasty! My boyfriend, who is not vegan(yet), LOVES it!!!
3/4 cup celery chopped small (about 1.5 stalks)
3/4 cup chopped carrots
One yellow onion diced
3tablespoons bragg’s amino acids
Approx 1 cup water…(add as needed)
1 cup mushrooms sliced
1/2 of a cube of boxed tofu-approx 1 cup, sliced or cubed
Bouillon: I like rapunzel cubes because it’s entirely vegan AND has the best flavor I’ve found!!
You’ll need two cubes w/32oz water, or 32 oz your choice of broth.
Seasonings: salt, pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, cayenne pepper, lemon pepper

Boil water, stir noodles in w/ a very small
Amount of oil, to keep the noodles from sticking. Boil the noodles for about 6 minutes.
While these are cooking, put chopped onion in frying pan with one tablespoon of oil (olive or coconut, bragg’s, season with quite a lot of garlic powder, pepper and lemon pepper. Go light on salt and really like w chili powder. Do not add cayenne pepper until you are cooking the tofu! cook until sweating/steaming, add carrots & celery and water, set to medium heat and cover for about 5 min.
Drain. Set aside.
Boil your water and bouillon, or broth.
In separate frying pan with one teaspoon oil, sauté mushrooms. Add to vegetables.
In same smaller pan, sauté tofu adding a very small amount of cayenne pepper & more garlic powder.
Add veggies to broth, let simmer for a few minutes, put tofu and noodles in. You’re done!! Now enjoy 😉
This is my favorite recipe as of late, I’ve made it twice in one week!!! It only serves up about 5 bowls of soup, so if you’re feeding more than two or three double up!!

Vegan Experiment: Cashew Cheese

Tonight I’ve decided to create cashew cheese. This isn’t something I’ve done before, but the gal I work with told me it was divine and, well, I love trying new things. I found this recipe and followed it… I’m about to blend it all up, so hopefully it goes well!!!  http://www.see-below.net/2010/01/20/1437/

Completely off topic: My boyfriend is returning after 5 days away, so I’m pretty anxious waiting for his flight to land had to keep myself busy!!!

 

Veganism

My adventures have only just begun in this new world of vegan eating and living. And, might I add, it is FABULOUS! (which happens to be my current expression of choice)

I was raised in the middle of no where, also known as “bfe”. I was accustomed to “venison steaks” that were severely pounded pieces of deer back-strap drenched in egg and milk, doused in flour with seasoning, and then thrown into a sizzling frying pan with western family vegetable oil. While those were cooking the corn would be boiling and the mashed potatoes would have half a stick of butter and milk thrown into them.  Last thought was a salad, if we had any.  When we did it usually was comprised of iceberg lettuce and some sort of kraft dressing or in my father’s case, a heaping tablespoon of generic mayonnaise. That’s just a typical Tuesday night in my growing up years.

Now that your arteries are clogging just from reading it, you can see why at around 9 years old I was trying “diets”.  Not for sake of dieting, although that was certainly the case in jr high and high school, but because something didnt settle well with me.  I wanted something different, and needed it for my tummy’s sake. For years following I would stop eating carbs, I would only eat meat and vegetables, then I only ate vegetables and fruit and carbs, then I stopped having dairy… You probably are quick to see I tried cutting everything “typical” that I knew. I stopped eating meat in college because every time I ate it my stomach would just churn, I had the worst pains, headaches, etc. And, I was sick. Not like sometimes, and not just a cold. I was ILL.  I didnt know better, so I did what I could based on my knowledge at the time, and eventually went back to eating meat.  Everyone around me was concerned I was dieting for weight loss, or that I was just trying fads, and encouraged me to just eat “normal”.  Well, what IS normal?

I ventured to find out.  I ended up finding bodybuilding.com as my go-to reference and began the ever so popular, high protein, low carb, low sugar, high fiber fiet that everyone seems to be following to be in good health.  Except what I didn’t know was the dairy was killing my stomach, 1/2 the marinades I used and the carbs that I was eating had gluten in them. That I needed more fresh vegetables….

Seven and a half years after starting college, and not finishing ;), I have come to where I am now. A vegan.  I have to say a HUGE “thank you” to Robert Cheeke for being such a kind, gentle (persuasive) influence on me over the past two years.  If it weren’t for him, I can honestly say I would have been stuck in the rut of thinking, “vegans are too skinny, they don’t have muscle, and all they eat are vegetables.”. Clearly, anyone who knows about Robert knows about veganbodybuilding.com, which COMPLETELY disproves all of those notions!!!

I went vegan for a few months, slipped back into vegetarian, and now am fully vegan.  The great thing about it is this, I don’t “miss out” on anything. Ever. I cook delicious meals that are free of gluten, dairy, all animal biproducts, and are generally low in fat and the fat they do contain is healthy fats found in foods and oils that are REALLY important!! The other amazing thing? I bake. I love baking. It is one of my all time favorite things to do, outside of hugging and working out. And, yes, vegan desserts are different, but every time I share them with people they A) don’t know it’s vegan, B) are blown away when they find out, because  “it’s SO yummy!”.  So in a nut shell: I am in love with being vegan. I love knowing exactly what’s going in my body.  I love knowing nothing that I buy is taking lives. I love feeling better! I don’t NEED coffee everyday, even with the lack of sleep I had this weekend (due to the full moon) I am chipper, and happy. (for the most part 😉 being vegan hasn’t stopped melanomas from popping up…dang it!!!)

I will share tricks I learn as I go, and post recipes and ideas, and experiences too 😉

I will end with this:  By dedicating my life to this new journey, I feel free, I feel like I can take on more, I feel like this is how we are supposed to feel! I think that we are so caught up in commercialism that we’ve forgotten it’s not all about Wendy’s or Ihop.  That we can make (for less $) the same menu options without sacrificing our intestinal tract, stomach etc to all the chemicals, toxins, and unnecessary loss of life!!!

I encourage you to think about it. Just think, you could be full of energy and life (without taking a life) sans coffee or Red Bull 😉