Back To School Lunches: Nut Butter & Crackers

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This protein packed lunch is perfect for the busy professional or the picky child. It features a fun and tasty pack of almond butter that you can spread on whole grain crackers or on bites of apple.
In The Box:

  • Almond Butter
  • Whole Grain Crackers
  • Apple
  • Low-Sugar Granola Bar
  • Bite Sized Veggies
  • Grapes

Featuring: Laptop Lunches Bento

Back to School Lunches: Mediterranean White Bean Salad

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Today’s back to school lunch is perfect for kids and adults. It features are super tasty salad that has a olive oil based dressing instead of mayonnaise so no need to worry about refrigeration!


In The Box:

  • Mediterranean White Bean Salad (recipe below)
  • Whole grain pita wedges
  • Bite sized veggies
  • Grapes
  • 15-18 almonds for extra protein (optional)

Mediterranean White Bean Salad

Serves 2

  • 1-15oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1/4 cup kalamata olives, chopped
  • 1/4 cup marinated artichoke hearts, chopped
  • 1/4 cup roasted bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Toss together!

Tip: Prepare in advanced to really let the flavors marinate.

P.S. this is a great pizza topper!

Featuring: Laptop Lunches Bento

Back To School Lunches: Tofurky & Cheeze

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It’s that time of year again and that means it’s time to pack up the lunches and send the kids on their way. I always loved going back to school and I still have to stop myself from going and buying (unnecessary) school supplies at the end of every summer.

In honour of the new school year I have created a series of posts featuring yummy back to school meals. The best part is that not only are these great meals to send your kids to school with they are great for you to bring to work with you!

Up first one of my favorite combinations: Tofurky, “Creamcheese” and Wasa

In the Box:

  • One serving of Tofurky (or your favorite deli slice)
  • 2-3 Wasa crackers (or a serving of your favorite whole grain crackers)
  • 1 tablespoon of non-dairy cream cheese
  • A selection of your favorite bite sized veggies
  • A trail mix featuring nuts, seeds, dried fruit and for fun just a little chocolate.
  • A piece of your favorite fruit.

Featuring: Laptop Lunches Bento

Postpartum Update: 8 Weeks

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Wow how has it already been nearly a month since my last postpartum update? August was as super busy month for us between traveling to Rhode Island for a week, recovering from traveling to Rhode Island and working on getting my health coaching back up and running (I took a break for maternity leave). That being said I think I will continue to do monthly updates with tibits here and there as they come up.

So lets look at how things are going:

How I Am Healing: I would say I am about 98% there! I ended up having my 6 week appointment at 7 weeks due to our getaway to Rhode Island.  I am still having a little bleeding once in awhile so my midwife had me take a pregnancy test to see if I still had any of the pregnancy hormone left  but I didn’t so she said it is probably just due to breastfeeding.  Apparently someone continue to bleed very small amounts, intermittently while breastfeeding and I’m one of them.  Since my midwife is not concerned I’m not to worried about it either. I am feeling good physically over all and I’m cleared to get back to running.

Activity: I have been keeping up on my walking and this week I started back running! I even did a little bit of yoga as well.  I actually signed up for my first postpartum 5k just for fun.  I have no intentions of PRing, heck I’ll be happy to finish but I am really excited to get out and run it.  Neil has signed up as well and plans to run at my pace with me <– that is love.  I am planning to start postpartum yoga soon and in a few weeks Edie and I will start baby yoga (I’ll discuss this more on Naturally Family).  You can follow my workouts on DailyMile.

Weight: I haven’t weighed myself in a few weeks and I don’t plan on weighing myself until my 3 month update.  I am feeling good and I bought myself some new clothes because I know my pre-baby clothes won’t be fitting for awhile and that’s okay.

Breastfeeding: Things are still going well.  We have our ups and downs almost daily but Edie loves to eat and seems to be satisfied.  When I say ups and downs I am referring to the bouts of crying at the boob that happens at least one session per day due to Edie’s gass-iness. It is heart breaking but we are learning together how to make things better this includes not eating black beans, reducing the amount of gluten I eat, giving Edie infant gas drops, burping in-between sides (often more than once per session), holding her up after a feeding and lastly patting her back during feedings. I know that seems like a lengthy list but I/We don’t have to do that every time mostly we do just do one or two things and it helps.

If you haven’t stop over to our family blog, Naturally Family, then head over now and Meet The Family.  What’s been posted lately: Neil the sexy babywearing dad of Ergobaby, our first awkward family photo and Neil’s recap of the first few days of vacation to Rhode Island.
 
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Mezzetta “Make That Sandwich” Contest

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With a few days left in the Mezzetta “Make That Sandwich” contest I finally created my delicious wrap to submit.  I had originally planned something a little different but then we went away on vacation so I had to rethink my original idea. 

I decided to keep things relatively simple so that I could focus in on the ingredients.  I also wanted to make sure I had a balance of flavors and textures from creamy, salt, silky and crunchy.

I also had to use at least two Mezzetta ingredients, I ended up choosing three.

Creamy Mediterranean Veggie Wrap

Place a layer of creamy garlic cheese on the brown rice wrap, leaving a small amount of the edge showing.  At the end closest to you put a line of roasted bell peppers, followed by a line of marinated artichoke hearts, pitted kalamata olives and sprouts. Tightly roll up and slice in half.

Creamy Garlic Cheeze

  • 6oz firm tofu, diced
  • 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon cashew pieces
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
  • 1 large garlic clove, diced
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon Italian Seasoning

Place everything in a food processor and process until smooth

Want to enter the Mezzetta “Make That Sandwich” contest? You’ll have a chance to win $25,000 but you better get to the kitchen now and make your sandwich because the contest ends Labor Day!

Disclaimer: Mezzettaprovided me with their product at no cost. I was under no obligation to review them if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway.

{Recipe} Breakfast Granola Smoothie

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When we were on vacation in Rhode Island we visited Wildflour Bakery and they had a smoothie on their menu that included granola.  Neil and I were both intrigued and if we had made one more visit we probably would have tried it but instead we shared a green smoothie.

When I arrived home I remembered I had a few sample packets of Blissful Eats granola so I decided to make my own version of Wildflour’s breakfast smoothie.

Breakfast Granola Smoothie

Makes 2 servings

  • 1 cup frozen blueberries
  • 2 cups unsweetened almond milk
  • 1 banana
  • 1/4 cup granola (I usedBlissful EatsChocolate PB)
  • 1 instant coffee packet (I used Starbucks Via)
  • 2 tablespoons chocolate protein powder (I used Vega)

Blend until smooth!

Vacationing In The Ocean State: Sleeps & Eats

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Where We Stayed: Warren, Rhode Island.

We rented a three bedroom, two bathroom townhouse in Warren, RI (about 20 minutes from Providence) with my parents. We found the rental on VRBO and were very pleased with our accommodations. The townhouse was located on the top two floors of a a three story historic home and it over looked the water.  It was wonderful because it had two balconies and a deck where we were able to sit out and relax, enjoy a cup of coffee and take advantage of the grill. The townhouse was so beautiful and Neil and I really wanted to just move in, we loved the layout and the location.

We also stayed an extra night at the Hilton Providence which was in a good location (downtown Providence) but we were less than impressed with the accommodations. I am not sure if it was because we had a baby and they worried she would be loud but when we checked in they said they were going to move us to a higher floor and we ended up being in a room across from the ice machine and on a floor with younger (rowdy) adults and lots of little kids. The bed was comfortable but it was so noisy!

Where We Ate:

We actually picked up a bunch of groceries from Whole Foods and Trader Joes and ate the majority of our meals at the house.  The few meals we did eat out included:

  • Kabob and Curry (take out): One of the nights we picked up Indian take out to enjoy at the house.  It was great because the menu had a vegan section and everything was clearly market dairy free and/or gluten free.  We ordered two curries and pakoras and some house pickled veggies.  The pakoras were delicious and I am so glad I ordered two orders of them! The curries were pretty good not the best I’ve had but not the worst either.  The pickled veggies were …um….well they had a really  off putting smell so I didn’t even try them.
  • Wildflour Bakery: Neil and I visited Wildflour last year and instantly fell in love so we had to visit it again.  The first visit (yes it’s so good we went twice) we had a granola scone, a gluten free lemon blueberry scone, a gluten free raspberry cheesecake brownie and a slow drip coffee for him and a (too) spicy coffee for me. My coffee was super spicy because of the cayenne and although I tried to drink it I just couldn’t. On our second visit I had a yummy broccoli cheddar scone and Neil had a granola scone (what can I say it’s really good) and we shared a green smoothie and a slow drip coffee.
  • Julian’s: When we visited Providence last year Julian’s was on the list to try, however since we were just in town for the day we could only go to one restaurant so we didn’t end up making it there.  This trip it  made the list again and not only did we go once we went twice! Our first visit was for dinner with my parents, I ordered the Mediterranean Spice Fried Seitan Skewers with saffron-olive-portobella bulgar, pea tendrils, preserved lemon, & paprika roasted cauliflower purée, Neil had House Made Vegan Teriyaki Sausage with wasabi-salted pommes frites, pickled cabbage, & hot mustard and my parents both ordered grilled chicken one with asparagus the other had a green salad.  We all absolutely loved our meals and would recommend it to both vegans and omnivores. On our second visit we went for Sunday morning breakfast and word to the wise get there early.  They open at 9am, we arrived at 8:55 and there was already a line.  People had been waiting awhile as well and had already put their names on the list.  As we were leaving the line to get in was huge! At least if you do have to wait you can get yourself one of their tasty (sounding) breakfast cocktails to enjoy outside while you wait.  For breakfast Neil and I shared the St. Jamez ‘Benedict’ fried tofu ‘egg’, garlicky spinach, & vegan hollandaise and the special tofu scramble.  Both were good but not as good as dinner.  We wish we had ordered the benedict and the vegan carrot cake pancakes instead of the scramble, oh well there is always next time.

  • Federal Hill Pizza: Federal Hill Pizza was located just a few blocks from our house in Warren so we decided to try it out with my parents for lunch one afternoon.  We shared the bruschetta flatbread, garlic broccoli rabe, the green salad that was topped with grilled veggies and the pasta with garlic, olive oil and grilled veggies.  The star of he show was the green salad with the grilled veggies, it was delicious and we all loved it.  Overall the food was good, my parents had a pizza there one of the nights and they really enjoyed it as well.
  • Crazy Burger: Neil was able to take part of one day off while we were in Rhode Island so we decided to head out of a drive and that’s when we came across Crazy Burger in Narragansett.  Apparently (we learned this after visiting) the restaurant was on Diners, Dive-in’s & Dives, what brought us to Crazy Burger however was the selection of vegan burgers and other vegan offerings. Neil and I really wanted to try everything (vegan) on the menu but decided to go with two burgers one with the slaw and one with fries.  For our burgers we ordered BIRDIE MAE BURGER: Grilled Tempeh, purple sticky rice, sweet potato, roasted sunflower seeds, and rosemary-pumpkin pesto combine to create a wonderful taste & texture; grilled into a tomato tortilla and the WILD & CRAZY MUSHROOM BURGER: Portabella, Porcini & Domestic Mushrooms mixed w/Italian rice & fresh vegetables; served on a vegan bun with a wild mushroom gravy. Both of the burgers were really good but the mushroom burger was extra tasty because of the amazing wild mushroom gravy (which was amazing on the fries as well).  This is definitely a place we hope to visit again, I mean we need to try all of their veggie burgers to really decided which one is best.

Up Next: Coffee Joints and the Happenings in the Ocean State

Where are your favorite places to eat in Rhode Island?