I don’t know about you but when the weather gets hot I just want a nice refreshing drink, specifically a lemon or limeade. Today it was a high of 85F and my craving for lemonade was sky high. Luckily last night I picked up a bunch of lemons in anticipation for the hot weather and made myself a pitcher of lemonade, but not just any lemonade Maple Lemonade!
The inspiration behind this lemonade is a little spot that Neil and I used to go to when we lived in Montpelier called Langdon Street (unfortunately it is closed now) where we would get Maple Lemonade. Since I have never found it out anywhere else I decided that I would just have to make our own.
Maple Lemonade
1 1/3 cups fresh squeezed Lemon Juice, strained
1/2 cup Grade B Maple Syrup
4 cups Water
Ice for serving
Combine the lemon juice and maple syrup in a pitcher and whisk to combine. Add the water and stir again. Fill a class with ice and pour the lemonade over. Enjoy!
Happy Monday! For once I actually completed and shopped for my meals for the week a day early, however had we not been out of food for dinner last night I probably would have been working on my meal plan and shopping today. It feels great though to be able to head straight home from work without stopping at the market, especially on a beautiful day like today!
This week I decided to change things up a bit, instead of working on new recipes I decided to let someone else do the work for me and I am trying out a number of recipes from Raw & Beyondand trying out a new recipe from one of my old favorite cookbooks Therapeutic Chef. I love working on new recipes but this week is busy and we are heading away for the weekend so I decided to keep things easy.
Sunday: Lunch- Field Roast Sausage and Broccoli Pesto Pizza (on homemade crust by my baker husband) and for Dinner we had Fancy Pants Tempeh Salad with lots of veggies, chipotle-balsamic tempeh and potato wedges. Dessert- Dates stuffed with a little almond butter and mini-chocolate chips
Tuesday: Lunch- Leftovers with fruit and Ranch Kale chips from Raw & Beyond. Dinner- Steamed veggies from Raw & Beyond with beans and rice.
Wednesday: Lunch- Leftovers with fruit and kale chips. Dinner- Lentil Dahl Wraps from Therapeutic Chef
Thursday: Lunch- Leftovers with fruit and kale chips or granola bar. Dinner- Fire-Roasted Tomato-Lentil Chile from Raw & Beyondwith brown rice
Friday: Lunch- Leftovers in burrito form with fruit and granola bar. Dinner- OUT! We head to Maine Friday afternoon for the weekend Wahoo!
Saturday: OUT!
Sunday: OUT! …Dinner- TBD
What is on your plan this week?
Catching up? I just posted our Weekend Wrap check it out! Also if you are looking for a new recipe check cout my Cucumber & Tomato Salad recipe over on my coaching blog.
Friday Night: We started our weekend off with a bang aka we didn’t just spend the night sitting around at home doing nothing. Neil worked from home which meant when he was finished working we could go straight to spending time together rather than having to deal with a commute.
Since it was a beautiful evening I changed into a skirt (YAY finally skirt weather again) and we headed downtown to do a little shopping, walking and wondering around. We picked up a few new shirts for Neil and then decided that it was time for dinner. We debated going out but in the end decided to pick up the fixings for veggie burgers to make at home.
So we picked up the goods and headed home to make delicious veggie burgers and caught up on a few shows.
Saturday: We had minor morning plans to pick up a vegan cupcake from Nibble or Nosh at the market, stop into Plato’s closet to sell some of Neil’s old clothes and pick up fixings for our pizza party later that night. What was going to be a quick trip out to do these things turned into shopping for a new bike for Neil when we saw that North Star was having a bike sale and then I was hungry so we stopped into Healthy Living for a snack and picked up the fixings for our pizza party. Then we were off to Plato’s Closet to sell clothes, which ended up being over an hour wait so we decided to do a little more shopping.
We ended up finding ourselves at Buttered Noodles, a kids shop in Williston. We had always debated stopping in but for some reason the name just really but us off and I think we both imagined there would just be a bunch of random junk there, however we were delightfully surprised. We ended up walking into this huge store that is filled with everything from books and toys to clothes, strollers, and cribs. There was even a small maternity clothes section and a cloth diaper section. Most of the items there were all at a discount, almost like a TJMaxx or Marhsalls. I ended up finding some maternity leggings, a few really cute organic baby clothes and a few books. We will definitely be back another time to pick up more items for the baby, such as the cloth diapers!
Finally an hour passes and we are able to see what Plato’s took and after be coming $29 richer we decided to take ourselves to Thai lunch since we both were super hungry at this point.
After lunch I was just about dead. Apparently the Third Trimester has hit me and I am getting run down real fast. We headed home to clean before our guests came aka Neil did most of the cleaning and I took a nap. Then we pizza partied the night away.
Sunday: This day for me was all about relaxing, catching up on a bit of work and then heading out for a long 5k walk. It was beautiful out and it was a perfect day to walk but boy am I starting to slow down. A few weeks ago I could easily go at an 18-19 minute pace and now I’m closer to averaging 22 minutes per mile, hello third trimester I see you are starting 4 days early.
What did you do this weekend? Where you able to get out and enjoy the weather?
How big is the baby: This week, your baby weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) and is about 14 1/2 inches long with her legs extended. She’s sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing her eyes, and perhaps even sucking her fingers. With more brain tissue developing, your baby’s brain is very active now. While her lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if she were to be born now. Chalk up any tiny rhythmic movements you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and they don’t bother her, so just relax and enjoy the tickle. (source)
Baby’s Gender: 50/50 chance it’s a boy. 50/50 chance it’s a girl.
Baby’s Name: We have our boy and we pretty much have our girl.
Weight Gained: 17lbs
Clothes: Me in stripes+pregnant=not a good fashion choice. No new clothes, but we are headed to Maine next weekend and I plan on picking up a few new pieces for the spring/summer. My belly is getting in the way of my non-panel maternity pants so those are getting less comfy to wear not because they are too small but rather because they don’t stay up so well.
How are you feeling: I am feeling pretty good this week. Lots of hip pain after a night of sleeping though.
What do you miss: Still missing running and I’m really missing sleeping anyway I please.
Symptoms: Aches and pains.
Cravings: Beans. Pesto. Bagels.
How are you sleeping: see above.
Baby Items Gifted: Bummis diapers- 2 covers and 4 inserts which will be featured in an upcoming post on cloth diapering and review once baby comes (on our family blog that will be up in running by the end of May). We were also gifted (from our Amazon registry) a book Zen Ties and a Dwell Studios Bib and Burb set from my friend and old co-worker Nicole (Thanks Nicole!).
Workouts: This week I walked and I did my Summer Sanders Video. I skipped yoga this week- first time in 10 weeks I haven’t either gone or done yoga at home and now I know why I go every week!
Last Week–>Week 26: Earth Energy: The focus of this week was to spend some time with Mother Nature and although I didn’t get outside as much as I would have liked I did take time to go for a few walks and enjoy the improving weather.
This Week–> Sacred Pregnancy Week 27: Air Energy
This Week’s focus: Focus on breath meditation to help with stress and emotional ups and downs of pregnancy. Take time to create a positive space and reflect on the thoughts and fears around giving birth and becoming a mother.
– What are the thoughts that have you up at night in regard to becoming a mother and giving birth? Lay them out here in all honesty so that they can be worked through. Even if they are irrational … write them, claim them, and release them
What are/were your biggest fears about becoming a mother or giving birth? How do you work through them?
Breakfast: I have decided to bring back one of my favorite breakfast this week- soygurt with berries and raw oats. Yesterday I had lemon Whole Soy Yogurt with raspberries and oats- so good!
Lunch: Leftovers from Monday night dinner, Peanutty Noodles with Tempeh- a recipe I’ve been working on.
Snacks: Apple and pistachios (not pictured)
Dinner: For dinner last night I worked on another recipe, Sweet Potato Bean Stew, topped with tomato, avocado and sour supreme with a few whole grain crackers.
There is no denying it bread does not last long in this house, especially if it is in bagel form. Both the husband and I are addicted to toast, bagels with tofu cream cheese and sandwiches. To keep our addiction in check we don’t often buy bread but rather eat it out (which isn’t often) or Neil will bake us up a small loaf (much more manageable). One other way that we have been able to keep our addiction in check are wonderful sprouted breads that are from the freezer section; it seems that if the bread isn’t on the counter we won’t eat a loaf in two days (or less).
Our current bread love is French Meadow Bakery which makes bagels, wraps and bread both gluten free and not. We seem to always have something in our freezer nowadays and I love it. My favorite products are the bagels especially the hemp bagels with tofu cream cheese, thinly sliced onions and tomatoes, capers and a little salt and pepper- YUM! Also did I mention that one hemp bagel has 19 grams of protein and 13 grams of dietary fiber! This is a huge plus especially since being pregnant I need to make sure I am getting a good amount of both.
When my sweet tooth hits I turn to the sprouted cinnamon raisin bagels which honestly don’t require any topping but are wonderful with almond butter and banana. These t0o are filled with protein and dietary fiber- Win!
Now I would eat most everything on a bagel but sometimes you just want toast or a sandwich and that’s when I turn to the 16 Grain & Seed Bread. This bread makes a fabulous sandwich or toast, I especially like to use it for open faced sandwiches. Recently I made up a bowl of my favorite sandwich filling, chickpea salad, and topped a few slices of 16 Grain & Seed Bread along with tomato, red onion and a sprinkle of nutritional yeast. I stuck the slices under the broiler for 4-5 minutes and voila I had the best open faced sandwich- double yum!
1/4 Cup vegenaise or your other favorite vegan mayo
Tomato and Onion, thinly sliced
salt and pepper to taste
Nutritional yeast
Place your chickpeas in a bowl and smash them with a potato masher. Add the carrots, celery, onion, kelp flakes and vegenaise and mix to combine. Top slices of bread with the mixture and then layer with onion and tomato. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and nutritional yeast. Place on a sheet pan and broil on high for 4-5 minutes.
Unfortunately Open Faced Sandwiches Aren't Very Photogenic
How far along are you: 27 Weeks
Last Week–>
