I am working on a number of new recipes right now (yay!) but until then I wanted to re-share a few of my favorite Fall recipes.
Chickpea Tomato Minestrone: This actually isn’t one of my recipes but rather a recipe that I had pinned and tried. It is super hearty and warming.
Vegan Pumpkin Pie:First off Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to my friends (and husband). This recipe while perfect for the upcoming American Thanksgiving holiday it is really great anytime. Seriously rich and delicious.
Creamy Curry Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese (vegan):I crave this all year long and make it (or variations) at least once or twice per month. I haven’t made it myself this month but I think it’s long over due and with squash in season it’s the perfect time.
French Lentil Dahl:I am a huge lover of lentils and this rich and hearty soup is perfect for the cooling weather. I like to pair it with a nice green salad with French Vinaigrette and a slice or two of baguette.
Chickpea Potato Tagine:This warm and heart tagine is sweet, a little spicy and earthy. So delicious.
What are you favorite cool weather recipes? Have you tried any of the recipes above? Any cool weather recipe requests?
The following post is sponsored by FitFluential LLC on behalf of Grokker.
So it’s no secret that I am really making an effort to get back to regular workouts. One thing that I am finding however is that getting out of the house to workout is a bit of a challenge to coordinate with two kids. That being said I have been trying to find ways to fit in a workout at home, even if that workout is only 20 minutes long. I mean a short workout is better than no workout, am I right?
Well that’s when the new health and wellness site, Grokker, comes into play. I tell you I have been hearing about this site for a few months now because Neil can’t stop talking about it. He asks me weekly if I have tried it out yet and every time my answer is not yet, until now that is.
When the opportunity to work with FitFluential and Grokker came my way I decided that this was the perfect time to finally check out what all the hype was about. To top it off Grokker is also hosting the October Fitfluential 4 Weeks to Wellness Challenge on their site so it provided me with even more incentive to get working out and participate.
The 4 Weeks to Wellness Challenge provides you with weekly workouts and healthy recipes to try. The one thing I appreciate is that they offer alternatives for the day as well because sometimes I just don’t want to yoga and would rather do a HIIT workout. Also to be honest the recipes videos just aren’t my thing so I’d rather sub a quick workout for one of the recipes and focus on my own recipes. Hey, I’m not saying the recipe videos aren’t well done, they just aren’t for me.
So far I have done the:
Yoga for Beginners – Sun Salutations (18 min)
Metabolic Meltdown (23:02)
and
Yoga for Kids: Beach Fun (18:53)
Edith has become so interested in yoga and has to get out her go-ga mat almost everyday. She has a toddler yoga book that goes through a variety of poses that she follows along with so I figured that she would love to do go-ga with mama (or dada). She went nuts for this video and I can see us doing this a few times per week.
While I might be short on time to go out to the gym or to a yoga class I can always find 20 or so minutes in the day to do a workout video even if that means doing yoga for kids with Edith. I currently am using the 14 day free trial of Grokker but I plan to buy a subscription after this time because I really do enjoy using it and find it helpful for me to keep up on my workouts. I have been slipping in a quick workout during naptimes or right after Edith goes down for bed. I need to get my butt up and out of bed in the morning and work on fitting in my workout then but for now this works. I like not having to fumble with a DVD I can just turn my computer on (I need to get this linked up to my ChromeCast which would make it even easier) and choose which workout I want to do. Easy peasy.
For those of you who are still wondering what exactly Grokkeris here is a little more info:
What is Grokker?
Grokker is the community driven content network offering high quality, expert-led
videos in three key wellness areas: yoga, fitness and cooking. Grokker makes it
easy and enjoyable for enthusiasts to discover valuable content and seamlessly
organize and share choice topics, experts and opinions with a larger like- minded
community.
How do they choose content?
Grokker offerings must pass strict editorial, quality, and taste standards, with
category managers actively curating a selection of the best tutorials on each
topic available from other Web sources. All content available on Grokker has
been viewed and vetted, as well as categorized and tagged by its editors.
I haven’t tried them yet but Grokker also offers group classes if you are the type of person who really thrives on a community centered workout this might be something for you:
What are Grokker Group Classes?
Grokker group classes are a new feature for the network, which promotes
community-driven wellness through a portfolio of high-quality, in-house produced
fitness, yoga and cooking videos. Grokker group classes allow fitness
enthusiasts to engage with each other and the trainers themselves via online
chat, bringing the group fitness experience right to the users’ living rooms.
The Group Class Experience
Group classes offer Grokker members a way to benefit from the social and
accountability elements of attending a live class, without any of the downsides of
commuting to a gym or studio. At the appointed time, Grokker members join the
class from the Grokker homepage. Upon entry, they are announced in the chat
window and can join in the pre-class chat with other Members. The video class
begins playing precisely at the stated time and after class is complete, members
may continue their chat discussion with fellow class-goers.
Doing: Watching Gilmore Girls and passing a baby with an upset stomach back and forth. Also listening to Edith over the monitor as she makes all the sounds from the Potty book.
Thinking about: How much clutter this house is right now. We had an Ikea order dropped off yesterday which set into motion getting more things unpacked, furniture put together and other furniture moved around but with two kids and work the whole process takes a lot longer. Things are coming along however and I am really loving our dining room area; now we just need to get ourselves a new dining room set.
Watching: see doing.
Looking forward to: The weekend! We are going to do some fruit harvesting with some other PDX bloggers and I can’t wait! We will be harvesting grapes and maybe apples. Then it’s off to dinner at a friends house and then Sunday I am getting my hair cut for the first time since April (!!).
Reading: I’ve been reading some preschool homeschool/activity books as I prepare for preschool homeschooling this winter.
Loving: I am loving all things pumpkin right now and it’s kind of crazy because I don’t usually go for the whole pumpkin spiced everything craze but this year the I’m all into it. I am also loving Neil for finally getting Alder to calm down and fall asleep – poor boy has an upset stomach I think (insert sad face).
Hi Friends! Hope you had a wonderful weekend! We spent the weekend sippingcoffee, shopping at the farmers market and playing at the pumpkin patch. Now it’s Monday and I’m wondering where the bottomless cup of coffee is while I wait for Ikea to deliver our new mattress (wahoo!). I’m working on improving content over here on RWT and I have a survey for you to take (it takes literally 30 seconds) so if you wouldn’t mind clicking here and taking it I’ll be forever grateful.
*Click the words above to view photos from our weekend via our Instagram accounts.
I have always been interested in skin care products and make up but I really have never taken anytime to learn more and try products. I basically only use a shampoo/body wash combo, conditioner, deodorant (sometimes- hey just being honest) and when my skin is really dried out I might use a lotion but usually I just end up using a sample when I’m out at a store. I also have a little bit of make up but rarely wear it.
I know from the list above it would seem that I don’t really care about taking care of my skin and hair or taking time to put myself together. The thing is I DO want to take better care of hair and skin and look more put together but I honestly haven’t wanted to spend the money to invest in it, especially when I feel like I don’t know where to start. That’s where Mamamio Skincare comes in; they generously sent me a variety of samples of their pregnancy/postpartum skincare products and I’m ready to take on the challenge of using them.
As part of my Body After Baby journey I really want to take back myself. I want to not only feel healthy but I want to look healthy and put together. I know that being a mom doesn’t mean I have to look like a slob and that doing a few simple things for myself every day like washing my face (yeah I’m terrible and only wash my face in the shower which is like 3-4 days per week), put on a little lotion and/or body oil and also put on a little bit of make up (don’t worry I’m not going to crazy I’m talking just a little foundation, blush, mascara and lip gloss) is going to make me feel better. I think it will also make me feel more productive during the day and motivated to keep taking care of myself.
Today was the first day I used any of the Mamamio Skincare products and after washing my face, putting on some of the Tummy Rub Oil and Goodbye Stretch Mark Lotion I am already feeling a little better and I haven’t even gotten dressed yet. I need to remind myself that I do have 5-10 minutes per day to do a few little things like this for myself. If I feel good then I can be more focused and productive during the day and that’s better for me, my children and my husband. So I am here to say that I am challenging myself to 30 days of using these products and I will report back at the end of the month about how I feel. Also just for fun I’ll be doing a little giveaway of a few Mamamio Skincare products over on Naturally Family; you can check out the giveaway items over on the NF Instagram account.
What are your favorite skincare products? What is your beauty routine like? Any tips?
It has been a long time since I participated in a What I Ate Wednesday. This one planned so it’s a random mish mash of my favorite things I have eaten lately. If you’d like to see more daily eats please let me know in the comments! Also recipes are going to be making a comeback soon!
Tuesday Night Dinner: roasted carrots, parsnips, red onion and delicata squash with crispy(ish) kale, maple tahini dressing and pomegranate
It’s been a long time since I did a PDX Sites & Eats feature and well I have a few more pending. This weekend we headed to the annual Northwest VegFest. This was the 10th year of the fest and I imagine it was their best. We went last year and thought it was okay. This year however was a huge improvement.
We stopped in and chatted with lots of vendors and of course tried lots of samples (some yummier than others).
We stopped in to grab a sample of Made in Nature‘s new Fusion snacks and remember how I was talking about wanting to try the Mediterranean one? Well I picked up a sample and it will be one of my snacks today (I will report back).
We tried stopped into try an old favorite, Vital Juice Co (see my post here), and tried a few of their new flavors. We were loving the new Vital Almond with Citrus; it would be a perfect start to the morning. We also had to have a sample of the coconut water because it’s seriously the best coconut water I have ever had. I just saw that they have a kids line and I must locate some for Edith because I think she would go nuts for them.
We had to stop and try a few new things like olive & sea salt, pepperoni and cheese pizza kale chips.
And we tried a new yummy bar from Nii Bars that we are on a mission to locate. Edith tried just about every bar and we had to actually pick her up and remove her from the table are because she was ready to swipe a plate. I loved all the flavors but my favorite was the Almond Chocolate Chip.
We didn’t end up making it to see any of the speakers just due to time and having two little children in tow. We were going to try and take Edith to the kids yoga class but I went to yoga in the morning and then we were just running a little behind and didn’t make it over to VegFest until the class had already started (or maybe even ended). We had a great time visiting all the exhibitors, trying new products and running into friends. Looking forward to going again next year!
Local friends did you make it out to VegFest? Non-local friends have you ever been to a VegFest? Neil and I always wanted to go to VegFest in Toronto but never made it when we were back East. We did however make an (almost) yearly trip to Boston VegFest before Edith was born.
