Rainy Weekend

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We were supposed to have family photos taken Saturday but between Edith having a rough week and the rain they had to be postponed until a later date. Since we had no other plans we decided to take advantage of the free day and got a bunch of things done around the house.

It is embarrassing how disorganized and cluttered our house has become over the last month and it has been way more challenging than I anticipated to keep up with housework since E’s arrival. This month has been particularly crazy with our trip to Rhode Island at the end of August, a few family events, a weekend of solo parenting while Neil was away got work and then last weekend in Montreal, oh and not to mention the lack of naps around this house.

We were able to get quite a bit done Saturday, although our to do list is still a mile long. One thing I did accomplish is a chore/fitness goals/blogging chart for the month of October. There are incentive points to be earned for accomplishing goals and chores. I am hopping this will help us to stay in track and keep us motivated. I have a closet full of clothes that still don’t fit and I am ready to get back into them soon so fitness incentives and better meal planning should help.

Sunday we were up bright and early, actually we almost missed our window to wake up, and headed out to Neil’s 5k.  I had actually signed up for the race as well but unfortunately wasn’t feeling prepared to run so E and I went for a walk in the BOB while we waited for Neil. I also snacked on this new bar from Simple Squares, it was pretty tasty.  It was just what I needed to keep me satisfied before getting breakfast with Neil.

After the race (which Neil did really well in) we headed over to Healthy Living to meet up with friends for a little conversation, a bite to eat and to attend their little harvest festival outside.  We tried a number of samples from local vendors and listened to some music which put E right to sleep.  We decided to take advantage of her sleeping and headed back into Healthy Living to do our grocery shopping and let E nap in the Ergo for a bit.

We are planning on spending the remainder of our rainy weekend napping, catching up on blogs, watching the Yankees game and catching up on some house work. Oh and we are planning to make and devour some pumpkin pancakes with coconut whipped cream for dinner and then heading to bed on the early side and hoping E will to so that she wakes up good and happy to go to baby yoga tomorrow morning.

How did you spend your weekend?

Have you/are you planning to attend any harvest festivals? We didn’t make it to my favorite one this year because of the rain yesterday and Neil’s race today but at least we got to go to a little one.

Have you ever signed up for a race to find yourself unable to/not prepared to run it? what did you do?

Also if you are interested I am giving away these two items I found while cleaning out my closet (email me lindsay@runningwithtongs.com)

Moving Comfort size 36C sports bra- only worn maybe 5 times (got it right before I became pregnant and wasn’t able to wear it while pregnant/now)

Toning for Two tank size large (sorry it’s a blurry photo)

{Recipe} Curry Coconut Roasted Butternut Squash

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Roasted Coconut Butternut Squash


The holidays are fast approaching and I’m always trying to find new ways to serve up my favorite holiday foods. Squash is a staple at our holiday table and this tasty twist will spice up any meal. It’s a wonderful combination of sweet and savory flavors with creamy squash.

Serves 4-6

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 large Butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and diced
  • 2 teaspoons curry powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
  • 2 tablespoons coconut oil, liquid

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 400F.
  2. Toss all ingredients together and pour into an even layer in the roasting pan.
  3. Roast for 20 minutes and then stir.
  4. Return to the oven and roast for 25 more minutes or until squash is tender.

{Recipe} Apple Walnut Cake

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Apple Walnut Cake

Autumn has finally come to Vermont and with that an abundance of fresh, local apples.  This recipe was inspired by the changing of the seasons.  It is a wonderful cake perfect for dessert or brunch.  
Serves 8

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 cups gala apples, peeled and diced
  • 1 cup ground walnuts
  • 3/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 cup Earth Balance, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup evaporated cane sugar
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar
  • 3 flax “eggs” (1 flax egg = 1 tablespoon ground flax + 3 tablespoons water)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. Grease, flour and line the 9 inch round cake pan.
  3. In a small bowl mix together the ground walnuts, flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
  4. In an electric mixer with the paddle attachment cream together the Earth Balance and sugars.
  5. Add the vanilla and flax eggs to the margarine mixture and beat together.
  6. At a low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the margarine mixture; mix until just combined.
  7. Using a spatula fold in the apples.
  8. Pour into the cake pan and spread evenly.
  9. Bake for 45-55 minutes until lightly browned on top and a toothpick comes out clean.
  10. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes.
  11. Slide a butter knife around the side of the pan and then flip the cake on to a wire rack; allow to cool completely.

 

5 Things: Blogs That Make You Say Yummmm

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Sprouted Kitchen | I have been pinning my heart out with tasty recipes from this blog lately. Currently on my yum list are the Almond Date Truffles, Thai Soba Noodle Soup, and Ratatouille Barley Salad.

OH, LADYCAKES | This blog is fairly new to me and I am quickly falling in love.  It has wonderful photography and even tastier sounding recipes.  On the yum list: Raw Nectarine and Cardamom Cream Tart,   Raw Banana Nut Bread, and Apple Cinnamon Galette.

Choosing Raw | I have been a reader of Gena’s blog for years now and I have always been impressed with her recipes.  Lately she has posted a number that are on my to make/yum list including Kale Salad with Carrots, Apples, Raisins, and Creamy Curry Dressing, Omega-3 Rich Roasted Garlic Hemp Kale Chips, and Roasted Peach and Ginger Chia Pudding.

Love and Lemon | This blog is new to me as of this summer and I have tried a few recipes and they have been amazing.  Currently on my yum list are: Taco Salad with Chipotle Lime Dressing, Vegan Nachos with Cashew “Cheese”,  and Grilled Veggies with Romesco Sauce.

Fat Free Vegan Kitchen | This is the blog that got me started cooking vegan for Neil back in 2006.  I actually stopped reading it for awhile, not because I didn’t like it but it just got lost in mix with all the other great blogs out there.  Anyways, over the past few months I have started back up reading it and now I remember why- it’s because of yum recipes like these: Savory Lentil-Mushroom Burgers, Hibsicus-Blueberry Cooler, and Thai Black Pepper and Garlic Tofu.

Q: What blogs make you say yummmm? Please share below!

Return of the Cookbook Club

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RWT Cookbook Club

How it would work

Each month, a new vegan/vegetarian friendly cookbook will be announced via email group and on the blog. Once the book is announced, participants will have one week to get a copy of the cookbook and then one month to read, try new recipes and analyze the cookbook. During the month, participants should feel free to blog/tweet/facebook about their experience with the cookbook.  At the end of the review period, each participant will have one week to right a final review about the cookbook and post it to their blog.  Once all the review posts are up, I will link them from my the new Cookbook Club tab.

When doing your final review of each months cookbook each of us will address the topics in our blog post:

Layout

  • Is the layout clear?
  • Are you able to easily tell the ingredients apart for the instructions and the notes?
  • Are the instructions easy to follow?
  • Are the recipes numbered or is the section labeled?

Aesthetics

  • Does the cookbook feature photos?
  • If yes, is there a photo for every recipe?
  • Do the photos of the recipes look like the actual results?
  • What kind of paper is the book printed on?
  • How is the quality of the photos?

Recipes

  • How many recipes are in the cookbook?
  • What kinds of recipes will you find in this cookbook?
  • Is there a theme to the recipes?
  • Are the recipes complex or simple? would they be good for seasoned cooks and/or beginners?

Ingredients and supplies

  • Are the recipe ingredients easy to find?
  • Are there any items that stand out as being expensive or specialty?
  • Are there particular appliances that will be required such as blenders, juicers, dehydrators, ect?

Information

  • Does this cookbook provide additional useful information?
  • What additional information beyond recipes does this cookbook include? Is it easy to follow?

Other important Information

You need to make the recipes! Yes, to get an accurate representation of the cookbook you need to try out at least 3-5 recipes.  Additionally when you right your review you should make sure to include your experience while cooking the recipe:

  • How did the recipe turn out? How did it taste?
  • Was the recipe easy to follow?
  • Be honest when discussing the recipes you tried- if you didn’t like it then explain why.

Okay now that you know what this is all about are you interested in participating? If you answered yes then please email me with 5-10 vegan/vegetarian cookbook picks to lindsay@runningwithtongs.com. I will then tally up the votes for the cookbooks to decide which cookbooks we will be reviewing; please see tentative schedule below.  I will email participants as well as post the list to RWT with the start date, end date and post by date.
Planning to participate? Just email me anytime during the month with your Name, Blog and Twitter Handle (optional).

  • Book #1- Vegan Brunch

    • Start Date: October 1, 2012
    • End Date: October 31, 2012
    • Post By Date: November 7, 2012
  • Book #2- tbd

    • Start Date: November 1, 2012
    • End Date: November 30, 2012
    • Post By Date: December 7, 2012

RnR Montreal Expo

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On Saturday we spent nearly the entire late morning/early afternoon making our way through the RnR Montreal Expo.  First stop at the Expo was race bib pickup and then on to t-shirt and swag bag pick up.

Once Neil had checked in and picked up all of his goodies it was time to make our way through the expo.

Our first stop was the Brooks Running game area where we had some fun playing a few games. We even played a competitive game skee ball which I won even with Edie sleeping in the Ergo (and no she didn’t even wake up!) I proudly wore my skee ball championship medal although after seeing Neil’s RnR race medal it wasn’t so impressive, but more on that another day.

After playing some games we made our way through the vendors and spent our time lusting over new running gear, trying some samples and of course getting our photo taken.

As much as I would have liked to have purchased everything in site Neil and I both held off since I am in need of new running shoes, which aren’t cheap. We did however pick up a few Bondi Bands which Edith just had to model for you (don’t worry she won’t be running for beer anytime soon).

Overall I thought that the race expo was really well done.  The layout was perfect and we hit very few congested areas.  I also loved the start of the expo where they had some fun games for us to enjoy.  Now I have only been to the VCM expo besides this one so I don’t have much to compare it to but overall I thought it was really well done.

Rock ‘n’ Roll in Montreal

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This past Sunday Neil ran the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon in Montreal, Quebec this past weekend. This was his second half marathon and his first international half marathon. We headed up on Friday after Neil got out of work and checked into our airbnb rental which was in the perfect spot just 1.1 km from the Mont Royal Metro Station and surrounded by our favorite shops and restaurants.

(source for all images)

We arrived later than expected on Friday night and with a sleepy baby and pouring rain we decided to stay in for the night.  We ordered food from our favorite vegan restaurant Aux Vivres which unfortunately took nearly two hours to finally get because the online ordering/delivery service that they have on their website did not place our order because we were not using a local number and rather than contact us or update our order page we didn’t find this out until 15 minutes after the food should have already arrived which was an hour after we had ordered.

Tired, hungry and frustrated we decided to call Aux Vivres directly and Neil ran out to pick up our order this time.  I was a little frustrated and almost just gave up on getting dinner but I was so glad we did because my Dragon Bowl was just as good as I remembered and the big slice of carrot cake Neil and I shared was delicious.

Neil ordered the Macro Bowl (photo from Aux Vivres site)

Unfortunately I don’t have much else to share when it comes to food and sites because the bulk of the weekend was spent at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Montreal Expo and race. We did stop into the Eaton Centre for lunch at the food court and then Saturday night Neil and I picked up a few things to make a pasta dish at the apartment for dinner.

Since this weekend was dedicated to the race we are planning on making another trip up (hopefully) in October so we can spend some time enjoying our favorite eateries and sites.

Stay tuned for RnR recap posts!