I'm About That (Sweet & Healthy) Life!

Lovelies! I hope all is well with you in your part of the world.

Thanksgiving just passed us by in the U.S. & I have yet to taste any of the desserts I made! Blasphemy.

Not sure why, because I'm usually all over the sweet potato pie situation. I guess my sweet tooth was not functioning this year.

I still want to share some healthy, delicious (almost unbelievable to some) vegan holiday desserts from some of my fave fellow bloggers. Let's go!

Apple Crumble Pie 

This comes from Nava Atlas' site VegKitchen, which features both vegan and vegetarian recipes. She's written many books on vegan and vegetarian cooking, as well as written tons of articles on healthy cooking which have been featured in VegNews & Vegetarian Times among others. I personally love apple crumbles and crisps because I'm not a fan of the flaky crust situation. If you are, I'll get you next time around =)

http://www.vegkitchen.com/recipes/apple-crumble-pie/

Bread and Butter Pudding

This kinda reminds me of a vegan UK version of the bread pudding I grew up on. Put custard in/on anything and I'm sold =\

Seriously, I became more aware of Jamie Oliver and his passion for healthy eating and healthy food awareness while I was in nutrition school at IIN. He's one of the good guys, it seems! You can find out more about his foundation here:

http://www.jamieoliverfoodfoundation.org.uk

Oh yeah, here's the recipe!

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/bread-recipes/vegan-bread-butter-pudding/

Cheesecake!

This dessert choice is pretty self-explanatory. Although, I have found people either love cheesecake or hate it. Hopefully, you're on my side of the fence and enjoy this recipe.

Minimalist Baker is a husband & wife team based in Portland, Oregon, who developed their site in 2012. Their recipes "require just 10 ingredients or less (sometimes 7), one bowl, or 30 minutes or less to prepare". They feature many gluten free and vegan recipes. What's not to love about that?

http://minimalistbaker.com/vegan-pumpkin-swirl-cheesecake/

My Sweet Potato Pie!

So I might be a bit biased, but here's my favorite vegan sweet potato pie recipe. I pretty much grew up on this stuff for Thanksgiving, and tweaked it a bit after I transitioned from vegetarian to vegan over 3 years ago. No one knows the difference. I guess until now? Haha. I've featured this on my blog somewhere before I'm sure, but here it is again. I'm really bad with measurements, because I pretty much bake these freestyle, but I tried my best to keep track of amounts and such. Play around with the spices until you get it to your taste. Enjoy!

Ingredients for two pies:
2 graham cracker crusts (ready to bake), or your choice of crust
4-5 moderate to large sweet potatoes/yams, baked for about an hour, then peeled when cooled
cinnamon, cloves, vanilla, nutmeg, cardamom  (to taste...I never measure-sorry)
1/4 cup organic white sugar, 

3/4 cup  dark brown sugar

1/2 cup orange juice

grated zest of 1/2 lemon
3/4 cup or so of vanilla almond milk

3-4 tablespoons flour

raisins (optional)

Blend all non-crust ingredients in blender until smooth. Spoon into crusts. Mix in raisins, if desired.

Bake at 350 degrees for an hour or until toothpick comes out clean 

Now I want some dessert. What are your favorite holiday desserts? Share with us!

Remember, the key is not to stress over the holidays. Enjoy your treats, but also keep in mind that the important thing is the time you spend with your loved ones. Continue to stick to your healthy lifestyle and don't use the holidays as an excuse to run wild! Overindulgence and stress will only lead to frustration and derailment of your goals!

Love & Happiness,

Nikki

Nikki Thomas, RN, CPN, CHHC, AADP is a lover of life, health, and truth. I strive to help you find your balance and sanity in this occasionally insane world. I am a registered nurse, a board certified holistic health practitioner, life and health coach. Let's talk about health & wellness, fashion, beauty, and food! 

Find me at www.getthisglow.com

www.facebook.com/getthisglow

Instagram: @veganfashionista

Two Cent Tuesdays! Restaurant Edition

Hello again my lovelies! I trust you are all having a fabulous Tuesday.

I thought I would switch it up a bit this time and give my two cents on some of the vegan/vegetarian restaurants I have visited over the past few months. If you live in the Atlanta area and are vegan/vegetarian, feel free to suggest or comment on some of your favorite eateries. Let's go!

Cafe Sunflower

2140 Peachtree Rd. Atlanta, GA 30309
404-352-8859
Menu

My honey and I went to Cafe Sunflower in Buckhead back in January after some shopping at nearby Lenox Mall. This location is in the Brookwood Square Plaza.There is also another location in Sandy Springs.
Parking is easy and adequate.The decor is cozy and colorful, my favorite touch being the Chinese lantern type light fixtures dangling from the ceiling. Our waitress was really friendly without being overbearing. Their menu includes both vegetarian and vegan dishes with a touch of international variety. I was finally able to order a vegan  artichoke & spinach dip (that was actually very good!), so that's what we had as an appetizer. The fiance ordered a tall glass of herbal iced tea and I had a glass of vegan friendly cabernet sauvignon. Both of our beverages hit the spot, and our waitress was kind enough to tell us where we could purchase a bottle of our wine at a less expensive cost than at the establishment. See? I can be as frugal as the next chick.
Right at about the time our chips and dip ran out (and my buzz started knocking), our entrees arrived. Mine was a truly delicious sesame crispy soy "chicken" stir fry with snow peas, broccoli, and other veggies in a sweet & spicy sauce and brown rice. Lawd! He chose the orzo eggplant lasagna which was comprised of layers of portabella mushroom, eggplant, tofu ricotta and other veggies, laced in their marinara sauce. It also came with a side of salad greens with artichokes & olives in a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. This is bomb...he said (or something similar).
We were adequately satisfied for a surprisingly reasonable cost of just over $40 for a "specialty" lunch that tasted very good. I had to fight off our waitress's dessert Jedi mind tricks. I won. This time. The vegan dessert tray looked mesmerizing.

 Vegan Spinach & Artichoke Dip, $9  Herbal Iced Tea, $3



 Orzo Eggplant Lasagna, $12

 

Sesame "Chicken", $12

 

Bottom line: Recommended

The lunch menu had a great variety, and although you may have to hand over a few more dollars than you're used to for lunch, it's worth it. The food is delicious, the service is great, and they state they support local farms and use organic "whenever possible". Note: menus differ at each location.

Healthful Essence

875 York Ave. Atlanta, GA 30310
404-806-0830
 Menu

If you are Carribean (like me) and have adopted a non-meat eating lifestyle (again...moi), there are times that you can become nostalgic for the foods you grew up loving. Healthful Essence solves this problem without question! The fiance and I were in a throwback mood and decided to hit up this spot and give it a try. It's not easy substituting West Indian dishes, so we were not sure what to expect.
We made our way across I-20 to the West End of Atlanta. We nearly missed the restaurant due to it being a lot smaller than we anticipated. It's located in a strip plaza (kind of) behind a Krispy Kreme. Hmmm...I was skeptical. Ample parking was available on the lot, so I kept my judgement at bay.
When you walk in, there's the  cash register and the counter with the food to your left, a few tables and chairs to the right, a menu on the wall above, and that's about it. Double hmmm.
We were greeted by a very loud and cheerful character, who happened to also be from Guyana like the fiance. He explained our options for ordering "hot" and "cold" items and gave us a sample of anyting we wanted. One taste of the food and any concerns I had were GONE!
One section had raw, or cold dishes and my absolute favorite of those options was the seaweed salad. Let me repeat: THE SEAWEED SALAD IS BEYOND! I have yet to find another in Atlanta that is as good. They also had broccoli and cauliflower salads, cole slaw, kale salad, and other live salads which were all pretty good.
On to the cooked foods. Yessir! They call their vegan/vegetarian versions of meat dishes the "Un" dish. For instance, we sampled the curry UnGoat and the stewed UnSalmon. We ordered 2 cold and 2 hot sides each, along with our choice of "meat" all for $7.50 each. Pretty good, huh?
I copped the seaweed salad, live salad casserole, curried veggies, steamed greens, and curried UnGoat. Whew! My little belly was screaming for me to stop, but instead I gave it some ginger beer to muzzle it.
The fiance had the marinated kale salad, veggie wrap salad, jerk UnChicken, sauteed cabbage, and stewed veggies. His drink of choice was mauby. We sampled off each other's plate for the full experience, of course! We could barely move when done.

Bottom line: Highly Recommended
I love the fact that they have a raw foods selection that tastes amazing, and I can get vegan food reminiscent of my childhood that actually comes close in flavor. They are true to their name, and the price for dinner for 2 was about $25! What? I gladly traded a fancy decor for this amazing food. They also serve smoothies, roti, veggie burgers, patties, and nori rolls. We will definitely be returning customers as long as they are around and the food is this divine.


Why I did this review while on a raw vegan challenge is beyond me. Thank goodness I'm feeling strong. However, I know on day 31 where we will be headed to eat!! Thanks for spending time with me again today, lovelies. Until next time.


Love and Happiness,

Nikki

Bikini Time...Again?

Things are so hectic in my life right now (in a good way!), that I didn't realize until today that we are halfway through May! I mean, I knew the date and all...but in relation to summer? It's almost bathing suit time again!!! Yikes.

Hello my lovelies! I hope you all are well and life is fabulous for you in whatever way you would like it to be.

So after my move back to Atlanta is official by the end of this week, I will be turning up the workout regimen. Last year in Jamaica, I finally let go of my inhibitions and wore a (semi) bikini, and it felt beyond amazing to not be so critical of myself for once. Most of you know I practice yoga, and run as well. They both bring me a mental peace as well as make me feel physically strong. I'll also be doing Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred and her Banish Fat Boost Metabolism workout. That chick is INSANE, but her workouts kick ass. Literally.

My plan will go something like this:

Monday: Run (usually 6-7 miles. I need to break that barrier, though)
Tuesday: 30 Day Shred
Wednesday: Yoga/Run
Thursday: Banish Fat
Friday: Run
Saturday: Run
Sunday: Break

My eating plan will pretty much stay the same as I eat now. Since I don't usually eat breakfast, I'll have to add a post workout meal in such as Kashi cereal, or oatmeal and fruit. Lunch will be a huge salad with greens, lentils, veggies, or a soy smoothie. Dinner? Probably brown rice, stir fried veggies, a homemade veggie burger, or another salad. Since it will be hot as blazes while I'm out there running, I'll make sure I keep adequately hydrated. According to the "experts", you should drink about 1/2 your weight in ounces of water. For me that means about 62 oz/day (I know y'all are doing the math..smh), but I think I'll up it a bit to about 70 oz or so which is only about nine 8 oz glasses daily. Piece of cake!

 

My "bikini" last summer. $32 on sale, BabyPhat




My goal for this summer?


Dot-Print Ruffle Triangle Bikini Top, $15
Low rise bottom, $14 at Victoria's Secret
check out more styles here

Hey, I'm ambitious...but it could happen!

I've had both these DVD's for at least 2 years, so I can't remember how much I paid for them. It was a 3 DVD set. The 3rd one is No More Trouble Zones and it's great for toning. I checked Amazon.com and you can get them as low as $7 each, or $20 for the set.

30 Day Shred is convenient because it's only about 30 minutes or so. You'll need hand weights. There are 3 levels, but even level 1 will give you results I'm sure.

Banish Fat is NO JOKE! The combination of cardio, kickboxing, and pilates/yoga moves are sick. It runs about an hour.


Well, there it is. My plan of action for a beach body. I'm ready!!! Hey, my future hubby's waiting.

Until next time,

Love and Happiness!

Nikki

Sexless In The Suburbs

Call me slow, but I just saw the SATC movie last week on HBO. I know! My life is such a flurry of mind-boggling, fabulous events that I did not have time to see it when it was in the theater. Right. However, being an absolute devotee of the series, it felt like an old friend was visiting when I curled up and watched the movie in my living room.

Except the old friend kinda grew up and left me behind.

You see, Carrie Bradshaw and I had more in common than an obsession with bizarre fashion, overpriced shoes, and being from the Big Apple (thank God she finally threw Jennifer Hudson in there as a nod to all the sistas in NY-shoot, black people, period. I'm just saying!).

Where was I? Oh, yes-my girl Carrie. See, I actually had a real life "Mr. Big" thing going on. This on-again, off-again, but ever-present man in my life was just as frustrating to wrap my brain around as Big was. I could catch him, but I couldn't really ever reel him in. But it was ok; as long as someone as fabulous as SJP was going through something similar as well, I didn't feel like such a loser.

Unfortunately, as the movie unfolded, I noticed something. Carrie and Mr. Big had evolved to the next level. They were becoming a real couple who were not afraid to discuss the elephant in the room. I mean, I know Big rescued her in Paris and brought her back to NY to show how much he really loved her, but I figured that was going to be the extent of it. Surely, the movie was going to bring them back to their familiar reckless dance, right?

Well, well.

As much as I relished the satisfaction of their love conquering all, I couldn't help the irony of the fact that I was watching the movie alone while my "Big" was who-knows-where, probably doing things I didn't want to be thinking about with someone else. You see, we had our 5th and final break up about 2 months ago. So where did that leave me? Alone, in Atlanta (ok 20 miles or so west of Atlanta) on a Saturday night watching my relationship-challenged television "counterpart" get her man! Florida Evans said it best: damn, damn, damn!

But, you know what? Being the "glass half full" type of chick that I am, I vowed later that night to dig myself out of my spinster-like, sexless funk and do what my friend Carrie did: press on and live life, regardless of my relationship status! Yes, yes! That's what I have to do, I decided.

Men don't want a woman who reeks of desperation and a look in her eyes that say 'I'll take you, even though you don't come anywhere close to my standards'. Uh-uh! I'm gonna slide on those Jimmy Choos (ok Nine Wests) and swing my fine self down the road and live my life to the fullest. He'll find me soon enough.

However, just a warning to him (and I pray he looks exactly like Dhani Jones): when he does decide to get in the game--watch out! Cause it's been a while and things could get pretty interesting.