What have you done today??

Sorry its been so long since I've posted!!

...its probably because my eats havent been all that exciting...

accept this weekend :)

Anthony and I went to this great market called "John's Market". The

y have tons of fresh produce... at a really great price!!!

We got

3 Artichokes- 1 dollar!

1 Butternut squash- 50 cents!

1 Huge container of Shitaki mushrooms- 2 Dollars!

and that funny little guy in the back is a Yucca root!!- 50 cents!!

We ended up making Broiled Artichokes, and sauteed Mushrooms

 (anthony made himself fish) 

..and I made this great Israili Cous Cous from Vegan Express (of course with my own twist)

A yummy home made meal :)

For lunch today 

Today for lunch I made a sort of sandwich. I melted some rice cheese on a half of a gluten free wrap...it was super crunchy and yummy... and I topped it with avocado spread, sprouts, tomato, artichoke, and lettuce...

I LOVED IT!!!

Ok so now onto my title...

Ask yourself... What have you done today?

Ok clearly Im obsessed with THE BIGGEST LOSER! I swear to god that this show inspires me to work hard during my work outs...

These people are severely over weight. There are women on the show that are 5'4 and weigh over 300 lbs. That is a serious problem. Over time,... and with the help of their trainers the drop an amazing amount of weight. So when I work out... I ask myself... if someone more than twice my size can run three miles... why shouldn't I... and then I do.

Today I really pushed myself at the gym and I was happy. I have been running 3 miles at least 5 days a week... and today I pushed it to 4. I know it doesnt sound like all that much.. but to me it was an accomplishment. I also spent an hour on my arms...and 15 minutes on my abs and gave myself a great 10 minute stretch. 

It is so easy to say.. "oh I'm tired"... "i just commuted from the city for an hour and a half and I want to relax.".."I spent my whole day at work...i deserve to take a nap"..."I have so much work to do"... "I have to.. I have to... I have to.." How many times have you said these exact things to yourself...Next time.. say "I deserve to spend some time on myself... to better the person I am.. and to help myself stay healthy." 

...So... "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TODAY... TO MAKE YOU FEEL PROUD?"

A little bit of this... a Little bit of that...

Well I am going to start this post by saying THAT IM A WINNER!!!

Ok ok... dont get upset... we're all winners!.. but seriously I won something!

Vegan Snorkeler's Lisa was having an Online shoe contest. All you had to do was leave a comment on her blog and you entered to win a 50$ gift certificate to Onlineshoes.com.

Shoes... YES PLEASE... and guess who's name got chosen! WAHOO!

Thank you so much Lisa!!!! ( i cant tell you how pumped I am for this!)

Second order of business... I had a wonderful audition today!!! I felt like I did really well and they seemed genuinely Impressed. I went in to sing for Val in A Chorus Line.... Chorus Line=One of my DREAM SHOWS!!!! "GOD I HOPE I GET IT... I HOPE I GET IT!!!!!!!"

Ok Ok Ill spare your the cheesy Musical Theatre stuff 

:)

As For EATS... Nothing too exciting lately. I whipped this together the other day. Homemade vegan Coleslaw, fresh greens, sprouts and avocado... definitely yummy :)

Here are some leftovers that I had for lunch this week (from Valentines day) Marsala Seitan over Israeli cous cous and broccoli raab. :)

This morning I was craving oatmeal for some reason. I topped it with fresh strawberries, blueberries, dried cranberries, coconut and some vegan chocolate chi

ps (god i love them!!!)

It def lasted me all day... but I think Im more of a fan of my smoothies in the morning... but hey it was cold and a warm bowl of oatmeal always does the trick :)

Here is a new product that I am a HUGE fan of.. Glutino Pretzels.. they are AWESOMEEEE theyre light and  crunchy... just salted enough and gluten free! Def recommend them :)

I like eating them with sunbutter or Mustard.

I dont know about you all.. but sometimes i just crave SAUCE. Not pasta... not ravioli.. but plain old good eatin sauce!!!

Tonight was one of those nights!!! I cooked myself up some spaghetti Squash, steamed some veggies...and topped it with some rice cheese and you guessed it.. a but load of sauce!!!

I couldnt finish it all... common i mean thats a huge portion.. but damn was it yummy

well friends... thats about all.. sorry i dont have anything more exciting to share!!! 

till next time :)

Horray Horrah!

Hi Friends!!!

First thanks for all of the congrats!!! It makes me feel so great :)

Raw food week went well I think.

The verdict??

I crave smoothies in the morning... by lunch time I am pretty hungry, but really am not in the mood for solid food yet. On friday I tried to have a salad... got full after a few bites.. and then whipped myself up another smoothie! My raw food week was cut short by a "We have to go out and celebrate!" From the boyfriend. But its all good I suppose :)

We went to a sushi place where I ordered 4 different veggie sushi rolls :) YUM YUM YUM!

All in all, by the end of my week I feel great. My weight keeps fluctuating.. but it does every day so watever.. Does anyone elses weight fluctuate like crazy???

So the sad news is I had to drop my personal training course. The even worse news was that I still had to finish the anatomy portion of it... so I sat in a class room from 930-330 on valentines day!!!

For lunch I rode over to Chipotle for my favorite salad! Usually I can eat the whole thing.. today?? couldnt even eat half... verdict.. did my raw food affect my eating habbits???

Ok OK...so last night anthony and I went out to one of my favorite restaurants Tuals Kitchen. If you live on LI you have to go there!!!! I had Seitan Marsala over Israeli cous cous and brocclarabe. (I cant spell).... :)---(no picture because It was crowded and I was sort of embarrassed!)

WELL In other news I was given an award from the beautiful Lauren at Ginger is the

 New Pink!!! I'm so honored :)!!! So in Honor of this award I have to post 7 things that I love

HERE GOES

1) I love my parents:

I know this is kind of cliche... but I am lucky to have the most supportive parents out there.

 They are my biggest supporters. They love me unconditionally and push me to be my very best.

2)I Love my boyfriend:

Ok another cliche. He is just so wonderful. I know I talk about him all the time on my blog, but he really is my best friend in the whole wide world. He knows me better than anyone, and is always the first person to say..."suck it up and go for it"

3)I love performing:

Ok ok i know..."vegan on stage" you all could figure

this out. But it really is my true passion. There is truly no feeling like getting on stage and giving your all.  my other favorite part of it is during Rockettes.. when a little girl comes up to me after the show and says "I want to be just like you when I grow up." ....its humbling.

(Thats me in the middle of the pic)

4)I Love my friends:

Duh... doesnt everyone? But me and my friends are more like family. We really do everything together.. we have been friends since freshman year of high school.. which is crazy to think its almost 9 years....! Im really lucky to have them

(These are two of my best friends...Cristy and Kate)

5) I love the beach:

I grew up on the water. I live around the corner from the bay, and we always had a boat when I was growing up. There is nothing quite as calming as sitting on the beach... at say 4:00... when its still warm out, but theres a strong breeze.. and the sun is lower in the sky...it really is my sanctuary

6) I Love my dog:

My dog Cody is the closest thing I have to a br

other. Seriously, my dad treats him like he is human..(heck we all do) hes 10.. but hes got the personality of a puppy and I just love love love him.

i mean common how could you not love that cute face!!!

7)I Love living a healthy life:

Health is such a huge part of my life. I thrive on the endorphins I get from exercising or dancing. I look foward to creating healthy meals... and there really is nothing that makes me feel much better than passing on the knowledge I have gained to others. If I can influence someone else to be vegan then it was a good day!!!

So Now I have to nominate 7 people! sheesh this is tough!

I nominate:

Erin from Vegan and the City

Evey from Vegan Nurse

Natalie from Talieworld

Lauren from Vegan Gal

Kristie from Lighter Portions

Julz from Simple and Devine

Katie from Chocolate Covered Vegan

Honestly I just went through my google reader and was like WOW I really do have connections with most if not all of the people on here...

I think we're all really lucky to have this network of people :)

Happy valentines day!!!!

EMPLOYED!!!!

So this will be a short post... and ill post more about raw food later... blah blah

I GOT A JOB!!!!

I will be performing in the cast of "Funny Girl" at the Westchester Broadway Theatre from the End of March to Mid June.

Im so excited because its only an hour away from home, and its 5 days a week, so I have two days a week to myself which is awesome :)

and.. I GET MY EQUITY CARD!!! for those of you who may be performers this is aweomse. It puts me in the Actors Union.. I have access to more auditions, and will get payed more! Its pretty hard to get your card so im excited and happy happy happy :)

HORRAY FOR BEING AN EMPLOYED ACTOR/DANCER!!!!!!!!

Day 3 and 4!

Hey Bloggies... sorry I didn't get to post yesterday...I had class all night and was wiped by the time I got home. I am absolutely LOVING my personal training course. We are only on Anatomy and Physiology, but I am so incredibly intrigued with the human body!

Ok ok, I wont rant and rave I know you all want to know how the last two days of Raw week went.

DAY 3

Well I woke up yesterday and enjoyed a "Choconana" Smoothie. I really love the chocolaty goodness of this drink and it truly fills me up!

This beauty contains

1 frozen banana

1 cup rice milk (i know its not raw but I have to make do)

1 mejool date

3 tsp raw cacao powder

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

dash of nutmeg

a squirt of agave nectar

and a handful of ice

Blend and ENJOY!

I love this smoothy so much. I cant tell you all enough.. YOU HAVE TO MAKE THIS!!! (if you like chocolaty things!)

After breakfast I sat down for a few hours to study... and then went to the gym!

I wasnt sure how I would feel (still sick) but it actually helped me feel better! After running my third mile I felt as though I had "sweat out" some of my gross sickness :) 

I'm not sure what the weather was like by everyone else, but yesterday was Sunny and beautiful! I was significantly comfortable in My north face and sweat pants!!! When the weather is nice like that, I want nothing more than a slushy strawberry smoothy....or lemonade....so why not put them together??

I decided to make a strawberry lemonade smoothy :)

Strawberry Lemonade smoothy

Frozen strawberries (i didnt measure)

juice of 2 fresh lemons

squirt of agave

tbs of raw honey

This reminded me of a strawberry daquery :) I also paired this with a fresh naval orange...

sheesh it was so refreshing!!

HOW AM I FEELING?

Now... it may seem like I'm only drinking smoothies, but honestly I am just not as hungry!

The first two days I was pretty much constantly hungry, but by day three I honestly felt rejuvenated, and full after each meal. I also am finding that I feel more rested. I woke up at 7am all on my own... I NEVER do that! Maybe this raw food thing isnt so bad?

For dinner I decided to make some spring rolls. I know that rice paper isnt raw...(or I dont think) but I figured it would be ok... as I said I was doing MOSTLY raw.. it is hard because of allergies for me to be completely raw, and I didnt want to go out and go shopping for anything. I had used up all of my big leaves of cabbage so settled with rice paper (ok now that I have explained myself! haha)

When I woke up, I sliced some button mushrooms REALLY thin and marinated them in:

1 tbs nama shoyu (raw soy sauce)

1 stp raw tahini

3 tbsp honey

3 tbsp apple cider viniger

1 clove garlic

dash of orange juice

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp cumin

(this recipe is Day Seven of One week raw)

I let the mushrooms sit ALL day (in the fridge)

I soaked the rice paper, and topped it with Baby spinach leaves, marinated mushrooms, avocado, carrots (i used a peeler) and some cilantro (i ended up cutting off the gross stringy part of it!) here is one of them before i rolled it!

WEIGHT: so As for my weight yesterday morning... it remained the same. I think It didnt change because I didnt do any working out the day before... oh well..

DAY 4

Well This morning I woke up craving the same smoothy!!! (go figure)

So I enjoyed once again my Choconana smoothie once again

After breakfast Mom and I went to both Trader Joes and Whole Foods. I seriously love going to the grocery store. I love finding new fun things to get!

We got mostly produce...but hey you cant beat fresh fruits and veggies :)

After we got back, I had the remainder of the GREEN Smoothy I made on day 2, and headed to the gym.

I came back, showered, and got ready to prepare dinner! (after doing an array of other things of course)

At Candle Cafe, they have my favorite salad ever... the Living Crunchy Sprout Salad with Carrot Ginger Dressing. When we were at Whole Foods I saw the crunchy sprouts at the salad bar, filled an entire brown box with them, and knew what I was having for dinner.

(The jar contains the dressing)

I Threw together some mixed greens, baby Arugula, Mung Bean sprouts, Alfafa Sprouts, avocado, sunflower seeds, crunchy sprout mix (from whole foods) Raisins, and Sunflower Seeds...Crunchy and delightful!!!

Carrot Ginger Dressing

2 1/2 cups chopped carrots

3 tbs fresh ginger

2 tbs agave nevtar

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup water

1 clove garlic

1/4 olive oil

drizzle of sesame oil

dash of cumin and coriander

Blend and VUALA (this dressing is seriously fantastic)

WEIGHT:

As for weight today... I woke up, got on the scale and...

Was TWO lbs lighter. ( I guess my run made a difference?)

I wasnt surprised to see a lower number. I feel lighter...and I feel it in my face (does anyone else get like that too?)

Ok.. Ill stop Blabing... time to head over to the boyfriends for a movie :)

One Week Raw... DAY TWO

I know I already posted this morning, but I was a little behind and I wanted to share my day 2 progress.

Well although I am still sick... I feel a lot better! It is now 10pm... my fever is gone, my head ache is gone, my throat doesnt hurt as bad... I wonder if it is all of the wholesome food that I have been eating?? perhaps.

Well I woke up this morning and the first thing I did was get on the scale. Although I dont feel comfortable sharing my starting weight with you all, I am comfortable to inform you of any weight loss (I am not by any means over weight.. I know this... but hey its still an uncomfortable thing to share!)

I am excited to see that after just one day of raw eating I lost exactly 1 lb! (Mind you this is without working out too... I needed to give my sick body a break from the gym today and yesterday).

Ok so now onto the food.

Breakfast consisted of three dehydrated crackers (made by moms trainer) topped with raw Pistachio butter. Also I enjoyed a side of sliced banana and strawberries!

(I lost the pic in my camera for some reason! BoOOOO)

Lunch was a "green Smoothy"...well kind of

It consisted of banana, strawberry, peaches (all frozen)a scoop of chia seeds, flax seeds, and a scoop of spirulina. I never usually like green smoothies, but I enjoyed this. I hate how spirulina tastes but it was masked by the fruits :) YUMM and had so many great entities to boost my immune system and to kick this cold!!!

I was pretty hungry all day (Surprisingly because yesterday I wasnt at all). Probably because I laid around all day studying and watching tv and letting my belly say FEED ME!!!

of course I listened! I snacked on 3 mejool dates, some celery sticks, an apple, raw pistachios, and a few sips of my left over smoothy ( i made about two serving

s)

By Dinner I WAS READY for a HUGE salad.... when I say huge.. i dont mean big.. i mean GINORMOUS!!

This bad boy was piled high with mixed greens, green cabbage, tomatoes, cucumber, sundried tomatoes, strawberries, olives (which im not sure are raw but its ok i suppose) avocado, mushroom, and some dried cranberries. I topped it with a little balsamic and olive oil and yummmm It filled me up!

 I also made some raw mashed "potatoes".  I used some cauliflower, green onion, garlic, water, pine nuts, salt and pepper to taste. It wasn't terrible... but it made me feel a little nauseous.  I think its because to me, it was supposed to be warm... actually, if it 

was warmed up I bed it would taste great... i think I added too much green onion... oopss!

I ended my eating day with a whole mango. It was a little old, but still good :)

all in all, Im ending today still hungry and not completely satisfied. I think that I am going to have to eat a better breakfast that will last me all day, so that what I eat through out the day will last me.

till tomorrow :)

One Week Raw

So as I said in my last post, I did a sort of winter cleaning.

Well I ate raw for two days and felt amazing.... and then the weekend hit. It was the boy's birthday so we went out to dinner at "Craft" in the city. This is Tom Colicchio's restaurant (the judge from Top Chef). Anthony and I are obsessed with the show, so it was only fitting that we go there! Although they didn't have ANY entree options that were vegan, I decided to get 4 sides of different yummy vegetables. They were delish... but definitely NOT raw. The waiter assured me that none of them were cooked in butter but you never know I guess.

 

 As a dessert, Anthony ordered a sampling of cheeses. They were beautiful... and he begged me to try some... and I did. And honestly, I didnt like it much. I loved cheese way back when, but the taste is way too thick and rich for me to enjoy it. but all in all I did have it.

    

The next day I decided to go back to some raw food. I enjoyed some RAWsome Pancakes (previously posted) which of course held me ALL day. By the time dinner came I was starving, and knew that when we went out that night with all of our friends I would be having a few drinks (I never ever drink, but decided since it was Anthony's birthday I would CELEBRATE with him and our friends). I decided to have something with more substance and enjoy one of the  black bean burgers that I made this week... my moms request. It was definitely Yummy... but once again not raw... so I had given up on my Winter cleaning, but it was ok because I had done it for two days and thats longer than my usual monthly raw day!

WELL that night, I ended up DRINKING.... I had 4 vodka sodas, and was pretty... well.. giggly..:) We had a great time. I sent out a facebook message about two weeks ago telling over 30 people that we were going out to celebrate anthonys birthday... and believe it or not around 30 showed up!!! It was SOSOSO much fun to catch up with friends we havent seen in a long time, and we stayed out until 3:30am!!! I havent done that since college! So i was definitely feeling it the day after.

I GOT SICK! no not hung over sick... a head ache, sore throat, stuffy nose sick!!!

UGH I havent been sick since i went vegan about a year ago, so I am really pissed. I guess this is my bodies way of telling me "Ha ha told ya so". Oh well

Sorry about all of the babble... it is leading up to my main topic FOR THE WEEK!

One of my favorite blogs...Ginger is the New Pink is a high raw vegan and is a part of that e-cook book i talked about in my last post. She has inspired me not only to do a day or two here or there raw, but to try one full week raw!! (or MOSTLY raw) So here is the beginning of my journey... hopefully this Motivates some others to do a week cleanse!!!

DAY ONE: Beginning weight (I get weird about numbers, but I will update you with weight loss)

I started breakfast with a "bananas in pajamas"  SYNless bar.

For lunch I choose a beautiful smoothy with frozen mango, frozen pineapple, frozen banana, and fresh papaya.

It was SOOOOO delish! Surprisingly, it held me until dinner!

For dinner I decided to hit the ECook Book and make the Dolmas Salad

It was FANTASTIC!!!! Super Creamy and filling!

I had to modify the ingredients a bit.. substitute one of the nuts with pumpkin seeds and the other nut with pistachios, but all in all it came out great!!! def try it out!

(Clearly i topped mine with raw cauliflower, broccoli, cucumber, and some olives.. YUM YUM YUM!!!

I also had my first day of class (personal training/nutrition) ...well the anatomy portion of it any way... I LOVE IT!!!

After I got home from class, I snacked on some raisins and dried mango.

so technically this is day two of my week of raw food. I had breakfast already today and am about to make some lunch... I also weighed myself... (did I lose weight... am I the same weight?) You will just have to wait and find out friends!!!

TILL LATER!!!

Winter cleaning???

Well... time to state the obvious... ITS FREEZING! I wish it would just warm up so I could spend some time outside.

Well this week has been fabulous so far!!! 

On Monday I decided to go outside of my comfort zone and take a HIP HOP CLASS!! hahah I love hip hop... but I dont feel as confident as I do in my theatre, jazz or lyrical (etc) classes. It was really fun... we did a sexy little number with lots of attitude... hahaha i actually did pretty well considering i NEVER do this style.

Tuesday I went into the city with my mom...And of course, there was a 

freakin blizzard!!! We got like 6 inches of snow on Long Island. Of course

 it was worse in the city because everything just gets soaked. I was wearing Uggs.. because I always slip when I wear my regular boots, and they got so wet.. my feet were soaking and my blister that I had on my foot was throbbing... ew so gross i know sorry for that.

BUT OTHER THAN THAT I had a great day!!! Mom, me, and my

 two crazy aunts (well my moms best friends) went to Candle Cafe! I wish I had my camera.. i was so mad that I didnt.

I ordered something from the specials menu... it consisted of black beans,

 guaca

mole, quinua, collard greens, and cajun seitan... YUMMMM

Mom got a bowl of their thick and hearty chili with corn bread. Wow it looked amazing.

The only thing i hate about going to these restaurants is that I am so limited to what i can have. I am allergic to so much that its hard to find something different that I can eat. I usually order the same thing but luckily there was something on the specials that I could have.. and it was AWESOME!!! I also hate that I cant have any of their deserts as they

 ALL contain some sort of soy or nut product.. oh well... i can 

always make my own :)

After dinner, mom and I went to see "South Pacific". It was probably the best show I have ever seen... and I've seen lots of shows. It was so so so so beautiful a

nd classic and AHHH!! it was amazing! We sat in the fro

nt row which I usually hate, but I loved it this time! I actually felt like I was part of the show...:)

On Wednesday I went on an audition. It was for Funny Girl at the Westchester Broadway Theatre... I got through all of the cuts... I read... I sang... I danced two combos... i felt really good about it... so Hopefully I hear something back from them. Its so hard in this bus

iness because you can never tell what they are thinking...of course I pick a career full of uncertainty. 

Ok...so now some explanation for my title. Yesterday, followed by my morning run, I was lucky enough to have a body treatment and a facial (both organic). I had my entire body exfoliated, scrubbed, detoxified..they literally wrapped me in this plastic stuff, and covered me with three layers of heavy blankets... one heated and one that keeps heat in..! After both treatments my skin was so so so soft and totally clean. It was awesome!

I decided that since I was having a "Winter Cleaning" of my body, I might as well do a raw food detox! I usually do these one day a month, but i decided to try to do it for a week (minus tonight because its Anthony's birthday and I have reservations at a really nice restaurant)...so here are my eats from yesterday!

Breakfast: I woke up and decided to have a super awesome smoothie

This beauty contained a frozen banana, half a frozen mango, and some fresh papaya...it was so yum and delish!!! it actually held me over through my run, and my facial/body treatment.

By three I was STARVING.. I came home... cleansed and feeling wonderful, and whipped myself up this beauty...

doesnt it look great!!! it tasted even better than it looked. 

Baby field greens, sliced avocado, papaya, mango and celery topped with a little bit of pomegranate balsamic...YUMYUM YUM... it had such a clean and refreshing taste... i loved it so much!

Dinner 

was from One Week Raw... she has a great free e-cook book that you can download... i made the Mango Lettuice wraps... (from day 7). I cant follow the cleanse completely because of all of the nuts used, but I can pick the ones that look good to me and try them out!!

The lettuce wraps were amazing. The marinade was to die for...I soaked the veggies in it for about a half hour and they became soft...it seemed like they were cooked

 I will definitely be making them again!!!

I took a cabbage leaf, or a romaine lettuce leaf, spread a thin letter of avo spread, and topped that with the vegetables....Im such a fan!!!!

This morning I had some Raw pancakes (last post)...and now I'm about to hit the gym!!!

till next time :)

stay warm!!