Spring Roll Dreams

I LOVE the spring rolls at Open Harvest so much, that I have been toying with the idea of making my own for quite sometime.  The only setback for me had been the fact that I could not, for the life of me, find rice spring roll paper anywhere.  I tend to visit a variety of different grocery stores in town, just depending on where I am at and what I need and every time I made a trip to the grocery store I would search for the mystery spring roll paper (I was beginning to think it didn't exist)!  Then on a random trip to the grocery store I frequent the most...I FOUND IT!!!! I was beyond excited.  So I bought a package and my spring roll making adventure began!

Ingredients:

1 package Rice Spring Roll Paper
1 package Raw Cole Slaw
stir fry sauce (amount varies depending on your taste)
warm water

I planned to make the spring rolls on a weeknight, which probably wasn't the best idea because it  meant that I wouldn't have much time to devote to the "rolling" process.  So to avoid spending large amounts of time on prepping vegetables for the rolls, I purchased a package of Cole Slaw from the produce section.  Now, I know traditionally spring rolls are supposed to contain sprouts and other yummy raw veggies, but I just didn't have time for that.  And since this was going to be my first attempt at making these, I figured the whole process would be a disaster anyway so what would it hurt to stray away from tradition and make it my own.  I'll go the "traditional" route second time around.

Rice paper comes in very think, delicate sheets about the size of a an 8" pie.  In order to make them pliable for rolling, you dip them in a warm water for about 10-15 second.  Then VERY carefully transfer the paper to your assembly service.  It took me a couple of times to get this right, but after the 3rd or 4th I was able to lay the paper flat and not have it fold over on itself.

Then I added a small handful of coleslaw mix (raw coleslaw tossed in a stir fry sauce - again, not traditional, but adding a little flavor made it more kid friendly) to the center of the paper.  Next, fold one side of the paper over the slaw mix, then fold in the right and left ends, and finally fold the final side over the entire roll.  Once again (sense a trend here?) I am not sure if this is the traditional way to fold a spring roll, but its how they fold the burritos at Chipotle, so it works for me!

The roll will remain sticky for a little while, so be sure to place them in a single layer to dry.  I did not do this, so learn from my mistake, otherwise you will carefully be pulling your spring rolls apart.

I served the rolls with a couple of different sauces I found at our local grocery store, along with Jasmine Rice and Edamame. The dipping sauces weren't the best, but they worked.  I think next time I will visit one of our local Asian markets for something a bit more authentic.

So I bet your wondering what the verdict was? Well...I LOVED them! Probably because I had been dreaming (yes, litterally the night before I had dreams about making my spring rolls) about making them for quite sometime.  Kiley thougt they were okay, but next time he said he would appreciate the addition of some type of meat.  Ellie wasn't a big fan of the rice paper (texture issue) but she loved the vegetables (perfect).  So I think this one is a keeper...with a couple of minor tweaks of course!

WE go grocery shopping.....

Grocery Shopping.  I know I am lame, but this is my FAVORITE thing to do.  Its a whole process for me.  Almost like an event or holiday that I get to participate in weekly.  That is how excited I get! I actually look forward to it.  Planning our meals for the week...checking the kitchen for what we have in stock...making my list....wondering through the store looking at new things...refilling my empty cupboards...cleaning out the fridge.  I LOVE the whole process.  Kiley on the other hand, does not.  Therefore I typically grocery shop alone, or with the help of my mini me.  But even Ellie gets board and annoyed with the amount of time I tend to linger in each isle!



On this particular day, Kiley and I decided to grocery shop together.  Usually when we shop together, Kiley totally cramps my style.  He is such an impulse shopper.  Grabbing mini powdered donuts, Trix Cereal, fun bendy straws...really anything that catches his eye.  I am a strategic shopper.  I stick to my list, think things through.  I look at ALL nutrition labels.  Kiley looks at ZERO nutrition labels.  Do you see the ridiculous mess of a picture I am trying to paint here??

Mixed Berry Green Monster

So when Kiley said he wanted to go to the store with me, needless to say I mentally rolled my eyes. I KNEW what was in store.  But...I was wrong!  Kiley was a huge help.  We recently watched the documentary "Forks Over Knives" together, and it completely (probably temporarily)  changed his perception on eating.  He was actually reading nutrition labels, picking out produce, giving healthy meal suggestions.  It was SO much fun!  And it was Kiley's idea for me to create this....





                                                                                                                             



For the last 10 weeks, my daily Green Monster has consisted of the following...
     6 oz. soy or almond milk
     2 handfuls spinach
     1 tbsp Agave Nector
     2 tbsp Flax Seed
     1 Frozen Banana
     5 Whole Strawberries
     1 handful of ice


Don't get me wrong I LOVE that combination.  But Kiley suggested I try something new.  (what??? who is this guy???) So I substituted Kale instead of Spinach (my idea) and Kiley suggested fozen mixed berries instead of strawberries.  The next morning I blended it all up and LOVED it!  A Green Monster update was just what I needed! My husband knows me too well! :-)

Doggy Birthday Party

Have I mentioned before that I LOVE my family?  Seriously though, they are amazing.  And when I say family I mean both my sides of the family; both my side and my husbands. The 2 sides are so very different from each other but the core values are the same, and that is what makes me love them so much! At the end of the day, they always put family first. Case in point....my brother in-law Calvin.

Calvin is my husbands youngest sibling (actually, he is 5 days older then me) and the only sibling without any "human" children. Why did I have to point out the "human" part, you ask? Well, because Calvin does have a child.  That child is his Pomeranian, Hobbs.  Hobbs' birthday was coming up so Calvin decided to throw him a birthday party! Naturally, I volunteered to make the doggy birthday cake because...well...I just enjoy doing things like that!

*Note: If you haven't caught on, my brother in-law's name is Calvin...his dog's name is Hobbs...just like the Saturday morning cartoon? I think this is the funniest thing EVER! Anyways...

So Sunday night we headed to the doggy birthday party at Calvin's house....

Lilly is all dressed up & ready to Par-tay!!!! 

After opening presents, I presented Hobbs with his birthday cake! 

He really wasn't all that interested in it.  I don't know if it was all the excitement of his birthday, or all of the little kids chanting his name.  Either way, he didn't eat the cake I made him. :-( 

But, the other dogs sure did! 

Including Lilly.  Who then puked all over our living room couch the next day while we were at work.  No more doggy birthday cake for this boxer!!! 

If you are interested in the recipe, which the other dogs enjoyed AND kept down, here it is.  Courtesy of dog treat recipe exchange.  

1 cup white or whole wheat flour 
1 tsp baking soda 
1/4 cup peanut butter 
1/4 cup vegetable oil 
1 cup shredded carrots 
1 tsp vanilla 
1/3 cup honey 
1 egg

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C)

Mix together flour and baking soda. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour into a ring mold sprayed with a nonstick spray for 40 minutes.

Frost this cake with low fat cottage cheese and decorate with carrot pieces. Store in refrigerator. 

1 month and 3 states later....

I NEED to block out a certain time of the day for blogging.  I LOVE doing it so why is it so hard for me to check it off my 'to do' list?  I think I need to rethink my daily priorities because lately running and blogging have taken a back seat to my daily life which is unfortunate because they are the two things that, honestly...keep me sane! I make check lists daily because I love the satisfaction of crossing things off my list.  Sometimes....(sshhhhhh) I even add things to my list that I have already accomplished for the day, just because I like the feeling of crossing something off! Does anyone else do this...or is it just me?  Apparently my list making isn't efficient nor effective if my favorite things are left "uncrossed" at the end of the day.  I would appreciate any tricks for managing my day better.  I love staying busy and feeling accomplished, so why does so much stuff get left undone?  Maybe my list is too long?  Maybe I need to ask for help (another thing I struggle with)?  So here goes....HELP me figure out how to better prioritize/manage my day!

Now that that is cleared up, let me feel you in on the last...oh....um.....MONTH!!!!

The morning of Saturday, August 27, I ran my first race!!! It was a charity race in a smaller town not far from where I live.  It was a 4 mile run in honor of a little baby that only lived to be 4 days old.  It was so wonderful to see so many people come out and support such a great cause as well as do something good for their own health and well being.  I was a late registrant because I kind of got a wild hair 3 days before the race and decided that August 27 would be the day that I scratch something off my Summer Bucket List and commit to running a race. 

The race started at 9:30.  I left my house about 7:30 to ensure that I had plenty of time to drive to the race location; figure out where the race was; register; stretch etc.  The problem with this is that when I left the house it was still pretty chilly out, and I had failed to check the weather before departing on my journey.  So my black cotton jogging pants and tank top (which were nice and warm for the chilly Saturday morning), were WAY to hot as the sun beat down on my 2 hours later and 2 miles into the race.  Ergo Lesson #1: wear appropriate attire. 

I started the race at a nice pace and found my place in the pack of runners pretty quickly.  But, as the sun beat down on my and inabioity to cool down began to set in and I started to loose motivation.  Normally when I loose motivation while running, I find a good song on my iPod and I am able to work my way through it.  Welp...not this time.  Celine Dion mixed with New Kids on the Block, Mariah Carey and Tom Petty just wasn't cutting it.  Lesson #2:  iPod DESPERATELY needs to be updated.

At about mile 3 I started to get hungry.  I didnt want to overeat that morning in fear that I would get sick.  So I had a homemade "Raw Bar" and my usual breakfast Green Monster.  Both of which were consumed at 6:30 that morning.  Three hours later....I needed to refuel.  I felt my energy level starting to drop and I knew that I had not eaten enough the night before and that I probably should have consumed a more nutrient dense breakfast with more staying power to help me through the race Lesson #3:  Rethink the "fuel!"

10:30 AM I arrived back home.  The whole experience was absoluetly wonderful! Not only was I able to support a good cause, I was able to do something good for myself! I wasn't the first to finish the race, but I wasn't the last either.  And I am okay with that because I did set a personal best.  I have definelty fallen in love with racing and I am anxiously looking forward to my next one in the beginning of October.  I have also signed Ellie and I up for a couple of 1 mile "Fun Runs" per Ellie's request.  I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree! :-)

Fast forward one week and it is Labor Day Weekend.  Kiley, Ellie and I spent the weekend camping at a lake about 45 minutes outside of town. 

Side note: Growing up we never went camping.  Not once.  When we went on family vacations we stayed in nice hotels with air conditioning, hair dryers, hot showers and food cooked in an actual kitchen.  Needless to say I am an unexperienced camper to say the least.  I spend Monday-Friday in high heels, makeup and dress clothes.  But I abandoned all of that for bandanas, sweat pants and tents...and I had an AMAZING time!

I wasn't sure how camping as a Vegan would go.  In my mind camping consisted of hamburgers, hot dogs and smores.  All things I won't eat.  So I did some thinking and a little research and came up with some fantastic "camping friendly" vegan foods:

     -homemade hummas
     -portablla mushrooms for grilling
    -LOTS of fresh veggies and fruit
    -vegan marshmellows
    -homemade vegan grahm crackers
    -baked potatoes
    -grilled corn
    -homemade black bean and corn salsa (VERY versitle)

So I successfully went camping without having to sacrifice my beliefs surrounding what I put in to my body.  For me, that spells S U C C E S S.

I do have one confession to make...I brought my blendor!  I left all of my other modern ammenities at home, but I just couldnt survive without my blendor and my daily green monsters.  That is just asking WAY to much of me! Thank goodness my husband is a good sport, and he just laughed as I fired that baby up everymorning using electricity from a neighbors RV!

We headed out to the campsite Friday night after work.  The goal was to be out of the house by 5PM.  Yeah...that didn't happen! We finally made it to the campground just as the sun was setting (I would like to blame our tardiness on...um...well there is nothing to blame it on other then the lack of preparedness on our part.  Oops!)  and with us we brought some large black clouds, thunder and rain. LOTS and LOTS of rain.  At this point all that was left to do was laugh! So Kiley and I ran around soaking wet trying to set up a 3 room tent in the pouring rain with only the light from two lanterns as our guide.  As luck would have it, we had the tent assembled just as the rain stopped! From the first night I knew it would be a camping trip we would NEVER forget!

                      Confession: this pic was taken when we were leaving...not when we set the tent up!
              

Saturday the weather was hit and miss.  It rained on and off so we spent most of the day sitting around.  I caught up on some reading and Ellie was able to practice riding her bike...without training wheels!

Sunday the weather was gorgeous! I snuck away from camp for about an hour to take a run around the lake.  The beautiful scenary makes me wish we lived out on the country and closer to water so I could run in such beautiful surroundings on a daily basis!

We also took Ellie fishing.  Sitting on a rock and eating sunflower seeds and watching your bobber hopeless float without a bite can be a tad boring.  And no sooner did Ellie say, "This is boring, I am done," she got a bite!

Ellie's attitude changed post fish, "Fishing is fun! But I am still done!"


Monday morning we disassembled the tent, loaded up the car and headed home.  I was ready to wash three  days worth of filth off of me and enjoy the benefits of modern technology.  But overall it was a great weekend with my family full of fantastic memories.  There is no better way to relax then to completely remove yourself from you environment and all of the connections you have to the craziness that is life!

                                                 Notice the MOUNTAIN of stuff behind us!

                                                               Lilly got to relax too!


What is your favorite way to unwind, relax and disconnect?

Time to jump ahead again...this time only 3 days.  I spent the 31st of August in Grand Rapids, MI for work.  It was a quick trip day trip for a presentation so there really wasn't time for pictures or anything interesting.  I just thought I would feel you in on the fact that I was there since this post references my presence in 3 states in 1 month!

Jump ahead one more week to September 8...yes September.  I can't believe we are already halfway through the month.  That means I am almost 3 years shy of 30! EEEKKK.  Anyways....I spent the 8th of September in New Jersey for another work related manner. 

My alarm went off at 2:45 the morning of the 8th because I need to be at the airport by 4:45 am to catch a 5:45 am flight and the airport is an hour a way.  I never sleep well the night before such an early flight because I am always scared that I will sleep in and miss my flight.  So of course I didnt fall asleep until around 11:00pm the night before and woke up in a panic at 2:15am thinking that I had missed my flight.  Stupid dreams.  I layed in bed until 2:45, unable to fall back asleep and finally climbed out of bed at 2:45 to get my day started (sigh....)

Do you have any idea how hard it is to eat vegan in an airport...let alone healthy!  So I packed my laptop bag with almonds and homemade raw bars to hold me over till I reached New Jersey.  I had what was supposed to be a brief layover in Milwaukee.  But due to bad weather in Newark, my layover in Milwaukee lasted an hour long then expected.  So of course I was late arriving to my final destination.  (Grrrr business travel isn't all its cracked up to be!)

My late arrival in New Jersey meant that I was going to be late to my appointment...the whole reason I flew out there in the first place.  Thankfully, my client was VERY understanding, and was able to rearrange her schedule so that we were still able to meet for a couple of hours.  PHEW!!!!

However, my late arrival did mean that I didnt have as much time to explore before catching my flight home.  Which was a HUGE bummer, because the Newark airport is ridiculously close to downtown Manhatten.  A place I have NEVER visited!  And due to my late arrival, I didn't have enough time to take a 30 min. roundtrip train ride into NYC.  So I explored the towns surroudning the airport instead, while the NYC skyline taunted me in the distance!

My GPS along with the help of my Yelp app, took me to a Vegan Bakery in Rutherford, NJ.  I was SO excited to visit Sweet Avenue Bakeshop because Nebraska does not have a bakery devoted soley to vegan dining.

This place is just as cute and quaint on the inside as it is on the oustide.  The street that it is on is full of lots of unique shops in what appears to be a historic district.  Once inside I was overpowered by the amazing smell of baked goods, which brought a huge smile to my face.

At this point I was starving.  I had been up for 12.5 hours and my food intake consisted of a green monster on the way to the airport, 1/2 cup of almonds and 2 raw bars (which I had been trying my best to ration).  I was more then prepared to make up for my lack of food by consuming a large amount of cupcakes for lunch.  But lucky for me the bakery also served a handful of different vegan sandwhiches and wraps.  I debated between the "Chicken" Ceasear Salad Warp and the "Chicken: Salad Sandwich only to choose the "Chicken" salad in the end because I had not had vegan "chicken" salad before and I have been very curious to try it.

After purchasing my sandwich, a bottle of water, 2 dough balls and 4 cupcakes to take back home to Kiley and Ellie I ventured back outside to find a place to eat.  I wasn't familiar with the area I was in and it was starting to sprinkle, so I headed back to my rental car to fill my grumbling tummy!  Here is what I got....

This was probably one of the best sandwiches I have ever had! The bread was very light (which is good, becasue one of my biggest pet peeves is a sandwich with too much bread) so it didn't take away from the flavor.  The "chicken" salad was AMAZING! It had the taste and textrue of real chicken salad.  I definelty need to find a way to replicate this!

For dessert I had two dough balls. The first of which was Carrot Cake...

                                                                        Yum!!!!

                                                          Followed by Chocolate Chip...

Both of them were de-li-cious! Note: see the "Focus" sign in the background? LoL I told you I ate in my rental care! :-)

My vegan lunch more then hit the spot! Next time I am in the Rutherford area, I will definetly make a special trip to stop by again. 

Remember those 4 cupcakes I purchased to take home to Kiley and Ellie?  Well, it was a nice thought, but they didnt exactly survive the ride home in my suitcase.  What was I thinking?? They were competlely demolisehd by the time I got home.  Even thought they didn't look pretty, Ellie and I grabbed a fork and dug in!

I finally arrived back home around midnight Thursday night (21 hours awake and counting).  I changed into my jammies, snuggled up next to Kiley and...couldn't shut my mind off. Sigh...oh the joys of traveling for work!

The next day was a LONG a tiring day at work to say the least.  I had an 8:00 am meeting so by no means did I get to catch up on the sleep I had missed out on the 2 nights before.  Because of this, I decied I deserved a treat! My FAVORATE spot for lunch is a local healthfood co-op/Organic Market.  They have some amazing homemade vegan lunch options that are kind of my weakness.  I spent my hour lunchbreak going out of my way just to indulge in their spring rolls!

But I didn't just stop at the spring rolls....

Call me crazy, but 4 vegan Spring Rolls doesn't exactly fill me up.  So I made myself a small salad using some of this yummy spring mix that happened to be on sale (bonus...and no it wasn't passed the expiration date! ) and topped it with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and a couple of spoonful of this yummy stuff...

The lady at the deli counter told that it was AMAZING and made fresh that morning, so YES, I  HHHAAADDD to have a sample! And a sample of course that resulted in myself purchasing some (The deli lady sure knows how to do her job!).  My lunch was yummy and hit the spot! 

Spring Rolls; Baby Greens topped with Sumi Salad and this little guy right here....

vegan scone courtesy of Open Harvest that I nibbled on on the way home to eat my lunch! 

Well that's officially it for now.  That has been the last month or so summed up, except for the last 2 weeks which I am now behind on.  So get excited for lots of good reads coming up, and hopefully one day soon I will be blogging about life's adventures less then a month after they occur.