25 Goals Update

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Back on my 25th birthday I made a list of 25 things for my 25th year. Now there is only one month left to accomplish these goals and I still have a lot to do. I also noticed that I was pretty ambitious last year in setting goals to travel the world; this won’t happen again for next years 26 in 26.

  1. Run a 5K DID IT! read about it here
  2. Try Bikram Yoga
  3. Do an overnight hike on the Long Trail. Did it! read about it here 
  4. Visit Montreal (again)
  5. Visit Ottawa (again; first time ever with Hubz)
  6. Visit Toronto (again; missing my bff)
  7. Visit Key West because the Hubz
  8. Visit Chicago- a place the Hubz and I have both never been
  9. Attend the Healthy Living Summit (Didn’t happen this year)
  10. Start my Health Counseling Business This is right on track and going well! I have completed my program and I am certified! Check out mywebsite!
  11. Create an e-book of my recipesI have created TWO e-books already this year!
  12. Laugh more. I have been doing a lot of this
  13. Do more yoga.

  14. Work on my writing skills. I am working on this!
  15. Get all the stamps in my VT Brewers Passport Stamped
  16. Go to a driving range and hit some balls
  17. Read 10 new books. I have read 8 books and a bunch of new cookbooks
  18. Update my blog with a new fun look. Done but still a work in progress.
  19. Eat more oatmeal. Done!
  20. Drink more green monsters
  21. Call my girlfriends more. Doing!
  22. Get a massage* DONE
  23. Get a pedicure
  24. Get a facial (see the trend- love the self care)
  25. Final outfit our house so that it is “grownup” and organized. almost done with this! Done!

So besides all of the excessive travel desires I am staying pretty much on track! So excited to see how much I can accomplish before August!

Okay so recap of what I still need to do to complete my goals (travel excluded):

  • Try Bikram Yoga
  • Go to the driving range and hit some balls
  • Read two books (I am finishing one right now so only one more to go)
  • Drink more green smoothies
  • Get a pedicure
  • Get a facial
  • Get all the stamps in my VT Brewers Passport Stamped (probably won’t happen)
My 26 in 26 goals are going to be a little more accomplishable a not be a million trips; what was I thinking?

 

Recipe of The Week: Italian Almond Tart

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I have been attempting to get myself back in the kitchen to cook up some new recipes from my pile of ideas. Finally last night I decided to try out one of my ideas for this wonderful and delicious tart filled with creamy white-bean cashew cheeze and sweet roasted tomatoes.

Italian Almond Tart 

with Cashew-White Bean Cheeze, Sauteed Summer Squash & Oven Roasted Tomatoes

Yields 8 Servings

Ingredients:

  • One large tart crust (recipe below)
  • Cashew-White Bean Cheeze
  • One medium summer squash, thinly sliced & sauteed in olive oil for 4-5 minutes
  • Oven Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Balsamic Vinegar
  • Greens, for garnish
For the Crust
  • 1 1/2 cups almond meal
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp Italian seasoning (dried) or 1 TBSP fresh herbs (basil, oregano, parsley, thyme)
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 TBSP water

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, mix together the almond meal, salt, and Italian seasoning. In a medium bowl, combine the olive oil and water. Create a well in the almond meal mixture and pour in the wet ingredients. Slowly stir the wet ingredients into the almond flour mixture until  combined. Press the dough into a 9-inch tart pan.

Bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool on the counter for about 30 minutes.

For the Cheeze

  • One 15-oz can of cannelini beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1/2 cup raw cashews
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 1/2 tsp granulated garlic
In the bowl of a food processor, combine all of the ingredients; process until smooth.  You may need to add a little water to help the mixture combine; start with 1/2 tablespoon at a time.
For the Tomatoes
  • One pint of cherry or grape tomatoes
  • 1 TBSP olive oil
Preheat oven to 350F
Toss the tomatoes with the olive oil and place on a sheet pan.  Roast in the oven for 20 minutes.

—
For the Tart

While the tomatoes are roasting, fill the cooled tart shell with the cashew-white bean cheeze.  Place in the 350F oven to warm for 10 minutes. Remove the tart from the oven and top with the slices of sauteed summer squash.  Once the tomatoes have finished roasting remove them from the oven; place the oven roasted tomatoes on top of the tart.  Garnish with a handful of greens, a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.
This is delicious warm, cold or room temperature.

Old Port 5k Recap

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We did it! Neil and I ran our first 5k this past weekend in Portland, ME. It was an amazing experience and we both did really well.

The race started off on a hill. I was feeling nervous because I had only done one kill run during my training so I wasn’t sure how I would do. To my delight and both Neil and my surprise I actually crushed that hill. The course went onto a slightly inclined area and eventually to the stairs which you can see here. I shocked myself on the stairs. I didn’t stumble, fall flat on my face or run into anyone; WIN!

Then it was on to the next section of the course which was on a bike path right along the water. This area was described to us as “flat as a pancake”; well it was only “flat as a pancake” if pancakes have lump inclines. I really hit my stride at the last mile and it felt great. When I got to the last .1, right before the finish line, I decided to give it all I had and pass the 2 people in front of me to come in at a 37:36 giving me a 12:05 pace per mile. This was huge for me since my last 3.1 mile training run was 40:30 and the one before that 39:30! There were 17 finishers in the Female 25 to 29 age group and 185 finishers in the race. My overall finish place was 158 and I placed 16th in my age group (I didn’t finish last overall or in my age group- WAHOO).
Neil crossed the finish line at 28:49 and came in 5th out of 8 in his age group and 93rd overall. He rocked it.

After Race Complimentary Beers

After race brunch at Whole Foods (kale salad, home fries, roasted mushrooms, tomatoes, vegan chicken salad, fresh roll, macrobiotic dumplings and a vegan sesame chicken nugget)

Race Weekend Pt. 3: Portland Adventures

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After our night/morning in Portsmouth we headed to Portland to do a little site seeing, eating and getting ourselves prepped for our race. Our first stop was to pick up our bibs and race shirts and then we headed downtown for a beer and a snack at Novare Res Bier Cafe; a great beer bar in Portland.

We chose our beers and decided to get the Mediterranean plate to share; so good on a ridiculously hot day.

After beers and a snack we did a little shopping around downtown and the mall before heading to Whole Foods for dinner. Yes, Whole Foods. We love the Portland Whole Foods and it has an amazing number of vegan options at the hot/cold bars as well as a burrito bar, sushi bar and burger bar (all with vegan options). We could (and have) easily eaten all of our meals at Whole Foods but we only ate three there this weekend.

After dinner we decided to go drive the course and see what we were up against. Well to start the course is on a hill and then to a short incline and then to these stairs.


I was a little nervous that these stairs were going to be a bit of a challenge for the race because they were steep and the gravel around the stairs loose. Oh well!

We made our way back to the top of the stairs and watched the sunset. Stay tuned for the race recap.

Race Weekend Pt 1 & 2: Portsmouth

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Friday after work Neil and I headed to Portsmouth, NH to meet up with my parents for the night. We got to the hotel and jumped on the treadmill for a 2 mile run before getting ready to go out for dinner. For dinner we decided to dine at The Portsmouth Brewery where we all started with a beer; I got the red, it was okay-not great.

While I looked over the menu we snacked on some chips and salsa:

For dinner I had to make a choice out of a few vegan friendly options:


Although both of these sounded good Neil and I both decided to get this:

The wrap was full of veggies and tempeh but I was not too impressed with the flavor, or rather lack there of. It was pretty bland so I added the salsa from my chips, which I didn’t eat since I had chips and salsa already.

Overall the food was okay and the beer was blah not my favorite. I probably wouldn’t return to The Portsmouth Brewery and  I definitely wouldn’t order a beer from there again.

Saturday morning we headed back into Portsmouth for breakfast at The Friendly Toast  a retro dinner with (over priced) breakfast. The restaurant has a fun 60’s/70’s theme and a huge menu but it’s a little expensive for my pocket.

Neil and I had tofu scramble, coffee and water for breakfast.  Overall the food was pretty good, the coffee was great and the water cold.  The Friendly Toast is a fun place but it is a little pricey and can get crazy busy.

After breakfast we did a little window shopping and then headed to the farmers market where I got the best black iced tea ever.

That concludes our visit to Portsmouth! Stay tuned for Portland and Race Re-cap posts!