Its Chilly... time for CHILI!!!!

HELLO friends!!!

well I have honestly not been up to a whole lot la

tely. Auditions are slim, and my toe is still bothering me.. hence I havent taken any class (dance). I have gone swimming which is just about the only thing that is keepin me going right now. I dont mean to rant, but it is so weird to go from constantly working working working to having nothing going on at all...at least I start my Personal Training course in two weeks!

Well the past few days have been yummy I suppose. On Saturday morning I woke up

 and made myself some yummy yummy oatmeal.. with SUNBUTTER IN IT! I always see my fellow bloggies posting oatmeal with peanutbutter in it and I decided that i was my turn!

I used a half cup of oatmeal, 1 tbs sunbutter, sprinkle of coconut, some vegan chocolate chips and sliced banana......SO YUMMY!!! and it held me over all day! 

i seriously wasnt hungry till much later, and I wanted something sweet ... I decided on a massive bowl of fruit! 

I piled this bad boy high with apple, mango,pear, kiwi, and some dried cranberries... it was absolutely divine and totally hit the spot

Yesterday my mom made an outrageous soup! Im not sure of the recipe... but how amazing does it look (it tasted wonderful... im not a great photographer though) 

We paired the soup with a beautiful salad topped with roasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds. (this white is cauliflower not cheese!)

Well since I haven't been doing much but sitting around (bah) I decided to cook today!!! I have been in the mood for thick soups... something that is warm and will raise my freezing body temp in this cold weather!!! I decided on CHILI!!!

Syn's Thick and Hearty vegan bean Chili

2 cans black beans

2 cans pinto beans

1 tbs olive oil

3 cloves minced garlic

1 large onion (chopped)

1 red bell peppper (chopped)

2 stalks celery chopped

1 sweet potato (chopped)

1 zucchini (chopped)

1-2 cups frozen corn

2 cans diced tomatoes (or crushed)

1/4 cup sucanat

2 tbs cili powder

1 tspn salt to taste (remember:less is always more!!!)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon pepper

2 teaspoon cumin

1 tablespoon coriander

1 squeezed lime

depending on how spicy you want it.. add cayenne pepper (i added way to much and had to add more beans to my chili so be careful!)

1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

(This makes a whole lot of chili my friends,,, if you dont want to store it half the recipe)

Drain beans

In a large pot, saute garlic, onion, celery, bell pepper, sweet potato and zucchini in olive oil for approx 4 minutes. Add the drained beans, diced tomatoes (DONT DRAIN) and corn. Stir all together. Add the rest of the ingredients Accept cilantro.

Bring to a boil and continue to stir from time to time. 

Once the pot is brought to a consistent boil turn off the heat and cover.

Let the chili sit for an hour with a lid covering it. 

Stir in the cilantro and serve :)

its totally yummy but be careful about the cayenne pepper. 

If you make it too spicy try adding a can of refried beans or a can of pinto beans. It will even out the spice. You could also add some agave nectar but the beans should work.

Well those are my exciting eats for the past few days!

On an exciting note, Since the rockettes are owned by Cablevision, I get free cable!!! I never realized that I got this so i didnt send in for it last year, but they called yesterday to say that they are giving me a gold package free.. i have all of these awesome movie channels now!! WOOP WOOP!!

so right now... THE LAND BEFORE TIME IS ON!! remember that movie :) I like duckie the best he he

till next time <3

OUCHY:(

So I think my toe is broken. Or else severely jammed... OUCHHHHH!!!! 

I was running yesterday on the treadmill and i felt it CRACK. It has been bothering me for the past couple of days but today I can barley walk on it. Oh well... i guess that gives me an excuse to sit on my couch and catch up on all of your blogs!!

My mom and I like to go to Whole Foods in the morning right after they have put out all of their fresh produce... So thats exactly what we did today. We got to whole foods at 9am and got all of our shopping done for the week!! Horray!!!!

Well this week I went on my first audition since I've been back home. It was for 42nd street at the Goodspeed theatre in CT. I got kept through the dance audition and then I sang. I think it went pretty well...but you never can tell what the casting people are thinking. Oh well.. I'll keep you all updated on my auditions!

In more exciting news I registered for my personal training course and I start on Feb. 9th!!! IM SO PUMPED!

ON TO THE FOOD!

This week I was craving two things... Pizza and Soup. WHY? I have no idea. I think I wanted the warmth of the soup and the saucy goodness of the pizza.

Tuesday night was an incredible salad with black beans, sprouts, artichokes, avocado, celery, cucumber, pumpkin seeds, and a piece of "Quorn" Chick'n. With a cup of YOU GOT IT... SOUP! Butternut Squash Soup of course :) SOOOO AMAZINGLY YUMMY. (My mom made it from scratch.. not sure of the recipe though)

And here is my Wednesday Night pizza!! Its made on a Brown Rice Wrap and piled with Hunts tomato sauce, broccoli, tomato, onion,artichoke and Rice cheese...AMAZINGGGGGG

Thursday Night was by far the best. My mom made a killer three bean salad from VegNews...heres a picture of the beans before they were added to the other ingredients.. i just 

thought they looked so pretty!

For dinner.. i paired the bean salad with some sauteed Kale, sweet potato

 fries (baked) and some more Butternut squash soup.

Well Friends... nothing too exciting in my life right now....so now its time for me to read and comment on all of your blogs!!!

TILL NEXT TIME :)

A Time for Change

I sit here with tears in my eyes... coming to terms with the fact that we as a nation have just taken a huge step. We have taken a step towards change, equality, and prosperity. We have just witnessed  history.

God Bless America

Oh the weather outside is frightful

But my dear its so delightful!!!!

Usually I cant stand snow...because I am always in Manhattan. Snow in the city kind of sucks. It gets dirty, makes it difficult to walk around and makes the subways cold wet and sometimes late. Being home on LI is amazing. The snow is untouched and covering the trees... just how I like it :)

So lately I have been extremely excited about getting into my kitchen. I feel so at home there and I love opening my fridge to fresh veggies, fruits, grai

ns, and delish vegan goodies!

Thursday night I made my favorite Black Bean Burgers

I topped this amazing burger with Rice cheese, avocado, lots of pickles lettu

ce vegenaise and ketsup  and paired it with some sweet potato fries (bakes of course) sprinkled with season salt, paprika, salt and peper!

YUMMMMM

On Friday, I decided to be adventurous and delve into one of Susan's from (Fat Free Vegan Kitchen) New Recipes. I decided to make Black bean and Pumpkin Casserole.

At first I didn't like it... I used butternut squash and it was still hard in the middle after cooking it for the alloted time. My mom told me that it tasted better the second day after reheating it and making the squash completely soft and the ingredients blending together

Im sure Susan's was better than mine, but hey you cant like everything you make!

On Saturday, Anthony was going to play Basketball at CW Post (college) with the guys and informed me that there was a beautiful pool there available to the public. I LOVE swimming so I went with him and swam while he played. I got an hour of constant swimming in. If you are someone who cant always 

be on the treadmill due to bad knees or hips (ME ME ME ME) Swimming twice a week is a good alternative to your work out routine. Consider it :)

When we got back he made me dinner! He made Ratatouille  for me (and him) and he got some meat and steamed muscles for him (and my dad)

It turned out beautiful and totally yummy.. i never make Ratatouille... I forgot how much I like it. Actually now that I think of it, perhaps I should make it again and then sit down to watch the movie!!!-------->Heres a pic of the boy cooking :)

Well this morning I woke up and wasnt hungry but was in the mood to make some more Syn-less Bars!  I made more Elphie (pistachio) Carob Bliss (chocolate) and then I decided to create two new fantastic flavors!!!

Bananas in Pajamas!

1/4 cup Mejool dates (Chopped)

1/4 cup Raisins (Chopped)

1/3 cup coconut

1/4 cup dried bananas (Chopped)

pinch of cinnamon

(Follow the same directions on the Syn-less link!!)

Jimmy Buffets Paradise Blast

(he he he I like this name)

1/4 cup dried mango (Chopped)

1/3 cup gojii berries (Chopped)

3 mejool dated (you guessed it.. chopped)

1/3 cup dried bananas (chopped)

1/3 cup coconut

(if there is too much dry mixture add some chopped dried cranberries or raisins.. it will add more "glue" for the ingredients to mix together)

these are totally delish.. I cant wait to create more madness!!

(After I made these I was hungry! so I decided to have a naval orange and a part of the pistachio bar)

Ok so thats all fun and well.. now to talk about something that is directly effecting my life and career (other than food!)

The performing arts industry is hurting. 15 shows are scheduled to close on Broadway in the next 6 weeks. That is a massive amount of people out of work and money lost. The arts are so important. They expose people to a different type of entertainment. I love the movies and certain television, but I truly feel like there is nothing like live theatre. It provides so many jobs as well. Not only is the great white way (broadway) hurting, but hundreds of regional theatres are in the pit as well. If you cant get to NYC to see a show, try and support the arts by going to a local theatre. Although they arent in New York, many are still professional caliber. They higher performers with amazing credits (even I worked at a regional theatre this summer!) So if you can, buy a ticket to a show.. you might even find that it inspires you in a way you didnt know was possible.

well I am going to get ready to head into Manhattan to take a dance class with my favorite favorite dance teacher! IM PUMPED!!!

<3

RAWRRRRRRRRRRRR

Ya know when you have one of those weekends? A weekend where you may have slipped and eaten some dairy... a weekend where you may have had oh i dont know 4  glasses of wine...Where you may have been celebrating your return home with your boyfriend and had two mojitos at dinner... yea that would be me.

After this weekend... i felt (as I can only describe) as contaminated. I really try to feed my body with healthy and clensed foods. I never drink, I dont eat dairy (or any animal products for that matter) but sometimes when I am out celebrating a special occasion, I will slip and allow myself to have some dairy or a drink (i know Im not the first "vegan" to do so, but I hate that I do once in a blue moon. After starting my week feeling gross, I decided to have

 a raw cleansing day. 

Whenever I do a raw day, I feel so so so so much better the following day. I feel more energized, less bloated, and I even feel like my 

sense of taste is heightened. 

Ok ill stop blabbing and fill you in on what I ate yesterday :)

For breakfast I woke up ready for some juicy fruit! Mango, sweet apple, banana and shredded coconut

I also squeezed some fresh 

orange juice with an old juicer that 

I stumbled upon

As a mid day snack I had a Syn-less (hehe i love them) Elphie (pistachio/coconut) bar

.

As usual on a raw food day I am pretty consistently hungry... I munched on some celery sticks and carrot before I broke down and made a "crunchy" salad.

It had Pistachios, sunflower seeds, pumpkin

 seeds, pine nuts, tomatoes, celery, pickles, avocado, artichokes, and romaine lettuce...yum yum :)

SO...For Christmas, I got my mom a Champion Juicer... since I was gone when it arrived,

mom was waiting for me to get home to use it. Yesterday seemed like the perfect day to open it up and give it a try.

The first picture is during the juicing process.. the poop looking stuff coming out of the spout is the pulp.. the juice falls in the clear container. It was actually really fun :)

We made cucumber, apple, celery juice.  I wasnt a huge fan of it.. it was to vegetably (yea i made up a word) for me.. i like my juices to be sweet... but i cant wait to make a tropical blend!!

For a snack I had some  sliced banana drizzled with raw honey (i know eating honey isnt "vegan" but I love it and haven't given it up,.. but i rarely eat it so i guess its ok) 

 I also had some organic green tea

For dinner I was inspired by one of my favorite bloggers, Bianca from Vegan Crunk In her recent raw food day, she made spring rolls with cabbage. I LOVE spring rolls. But I didnt have any cabbage on hand, what I did have was rice paper.

I decided to make some home made vegan sushi! It is so easy and so amazingly great

Easy Spring roll sushi

what youll need

Rice paper

flat sheets of dried sea weed

avocado

carrots

cucumber

lettuce

sun dried tomatoes (optional)

soak rice paper (i fill a plate with water and drench the paper that way)

sheer carrots with a peeler

slice cucumber (extremely thin.. julienne if you will (not sure i spelt that right)

slice avocado thin

slice sun dried tomatoes into strips

take the hard end off of the lettuce and fold it in half

take rice paper and place seaweed on top. Lay each ingredient next to each other. and roll tightly. slice large roll into small servings and vuala.... SUSHI my friends SUSHI

I had some salad (my mom made an amazing tahini/kimchi dressing)  and a dehydrated cracker that her personal trainer makes from the recycled pulp form her juicer.

Well.. I will say that I woke up this morning feeling rejuvenated, refreshed, and excited for my puffins cereal :)

oh I almost forgot... last night while I was enjoying my raw vegan day

... mister Anthony came over and brought h

is own food...

ha ha Were so opposite...but hey thats probably why we work so well and probably why i love him so much :)

until tomorrow <3>

A "Syn"-less suprise :)

Sorry about the title... but I couldnt resist :)

So right now it is 12:30 am.. I'm sitting in my bed.. and I cant sleep.

why you ask? Because I am catching up on all of the wonderful blogs that I've missed while I was gone!

I really love blogging and reading everyones blogs.. so the fact that I can now read.. and actually TRY out some of these great recipes has me just about peeing my pants (dont worry... I am properly potty trained and promise not to wet the bed) 

But truly I have been very inspired lately...which leads me to my Syn-less suprise!

Now If you have ever read my blog before (and if anyone new is reading this.. that makes me super excited :) ) You know that I have a very terrible, horrible, no good, very bad allergy to nuts (all accept pistachios and pine nuts) Now.. as every good vegan should, I try and do my research on healthy energy boosting snacks (vegan of course). I am always seeing "Lara Bars" . I always hear how healthy and delish they are.. but this poor vegan cant try them because they are CHOCK FULL OF NUTS!!!

Well... after doing so more research and looking at ingredients I thought to myself.. why the hell cant I make my own danm lara bars!!

After this realization (of course with a cute little light bulb over my head) I rummaged through my pantry and happily found a huge container of mejool dates, pistachios, coconut, dried blue berries, apricots, cranberries, raisins and more HORRAY!!!

So my friends.. I have created three types of Syn-less bars. All containing mejool dates, and only one containing any nuts. I used seeds and carob chips to get that desired crunch. If you are allergic to nuts like I am, but are jealous of all of those foodies out there who eat these amazing bars... consider some Synless bars :)

Elphie bar (In honor of Elphaba-the lead role in Wicked-and a role I hope to some day play :)

1/4 cup chopped mejool dates

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/3 cup raw pistachios (before chopping)

1/4cup coconut

pinch of cinnamon

*Chop mejool dates into 1/4 cup. Add dates and cranberries to a food processor. Process until it makes a gooey paste (mine sort of rolled up into a gooey ball)

*Transfer into a medium sized bowl. 

*Add cinnamon, pistachios and coconut into the bowl and mix them all together with your hands. YES YOUR HANDS! Its gooey and messy but totally fun and it gets the job completely done.

once they are totally mixed together, press the concoction into a flat bar

... cut down the middle and VUALA... PISTACHIO GOODNESS.

sorry about the pictures... i am no photographer.. but I tried ;)

my next bar was,...

SMURF BAR (In honor of one of my favorite cartoons when I was growing up)

1/4 cup mejool dates (chopped)

1/3 cup raisins

1/3 cup dried blue berries

1/3 cup coconut

1/3 cup pumpkin seeds (i know this sounds weird in the mix.. but it adds a nice crunch and its actually very complimentary to the blueberry taste i think)

just follow the same instructions

and last...

(and my personal favorite)

Carob Bliss bar (I couldnt think of anything clever oops)

1/4 cup chopped mejool dates

1/4 cup raisins

1/3 cup coconut

1/3 cup chopped carob chips 

1/3 cup coco powder

1/8 tspn  vanilla

Im just guestimating these measurements. the truth is I like mine super chocolaty...so I added more carob and coco powder. I also threw in some extra coconut. I did a tiny taste test... but its kind of up to you how chocolaty you wanna make it.

I plan on making more.. im thinking something with dried banana, and another with apples... ahh the possibilities are endless.

ok well now thats its 1:15am.. I guess I can say its time for bed.

<3>

Home Sweet Home

Well i want to start this post with thanking everyone for your kind words. I had a really rough "terrible horible no good very bad day" and it helps to know that people really care. 

I ended up being alright (thank god) and IM HOME!!!

I love the comforts of home. My amazing bed, my full stocked pantry and fridge, my gym membership, my closet full of clothes, my favorite grocery 

stores, WHOLE FOODS, my mom, dad boyfriend and beautiful friends, my puppy! We truly take so many things for granted when we are home. Being away made me realize how much I appreciate all that I have and love here at home. 

Well now that I'm home, I have to figure out what my next move is. It is pretty scary being unemployed (I know that I just had an amazing job for almost 5 months, and i worked my butt off, but I still hate not having something RIGHT now) 

Since the economy is so bad right now over 15 Broadway shows are closing... which mean all of those veterans who have amazing resumes are out of work... which means theyre going to go for the things I normally would be going for. This makes my life 

DIFFICULT.

There are lots of tours auditioning, but Im not sure that I want to go back out so soon... i love being home, and I dont know if I can deal with living out of a suit case so soon.

I have been super interested in nutrition, health, and exercise for as long as I can remember. I was talking to my moms personal trainer about it and decided that I am going to take a course in Personal training/ nutrition. The class is super well rounded, incorporates anatomy, the business aspects of training, nutrition, creating a well balanced di

et for a client, disease and precautions while training etc. It will be a great way to make money on my off time, I can make my own hours and still audition.

Im super excited about this because I feel like its a different direction that I can move in, yet I can still persue my dream. So I will keep you all updated with how I like it and if I decide if this is for me.

Well speaking of the gym. I have been there quite a bit. Ive been spinning, running, lifting stretching.. and I LOVE IT. I really missed working out.

Here is one of my post work out meals.

Thing sliced whole wheat toast with 2 tbs of sun butter.. some carob chips, 2 medjool dates and a couple of apricot kernels. 

ALSO my favorite mango, banana, peach smoothie with rice milk and agave nectar.

I LOVE BEING HOME!!!

im going to be making something yummy tonight for dinner.. probably something inspired by one of your fabulous blogs!!!

HORRAY HORRAYYYYYY