Insane , Obsessed , Sexy Life , Vegan
I will have a double espresso shot latte please, make that two lattes, oh wait; you know what? make 5. I will have 5!
One of my many dream jobs was to own a coffee shop, so for part of my dream to come true I decided to work in a coffee shop. Last year I worked in a coffee shop and bakery in San Antonio, TX called Rise. I was working so much during those days. I had a corporate job planing events during the day and then I was a bad-ass barista really, really, really, early in the morning.
I love working there and I loved the experience I got from it. But I don’t think owning a coffee shop is in my future. I am so glad I had that experience to be able to figure things out and to find out coffee was not for me. And I am very serious when I say this because after working there I stopped drinking coffee.
I was addicted to coffee. I loved coffee. I always had since I was a tiny, bitty, mini little girl. I can remember having big sips from my grandma’s cup. If you know me, you know I was the biggest coffee drinker you could ever meet. Seriously. I just love the aroma, the taste, and everything that comes with a good cup of coffee.
Working at the coffee shop, I had as much coffee as I wanted to. It was good coffee, too. So I started early in the mornings around 5:00am with a nice latte, and then another one, and then another one, and one more. By 10:00 am, that was usually when I was leaving to my other job, I probably had about 6 drinks with double shots of espresso. Of course, I exceeded my limit. Yeah you got it, I was the shaky girl jumping my way around, suffering from an overdose of caffeine. I had so much fake energy from all that coffee it was funny (sometimes).
But, I was definitely not at my healthiest.
And with the excess of coffee something happened to me, something inside of me changed. It’s like my body acquired a low desire for coffee. I just didn’t want it any more. And my mid-twenties crises kicked in, so I was asking all kinds of whys on everything that was part of my life.
Why drinking coffee? Do I really like it? Or, is it because it reminds me of my younger years and bonding times with my grandma and my mother? Was coffee making me happier? Was my life easier because of coffee? Again, did I truly like it?
I am a big believer that in order for us to grow and fall in love with our persona, we really need to detach from the things we like the most or the things we think we “need” the most. I came to believe that my biggest growth has come when I am the most vulnerable and when I don’t have my comfort things around to protect me. To really find the raw gorgeous self that we are, we need to put down some things in our life’s so we can find out if those things are working to our advantage.
So I don’t care for coffee very much any more. I found out that I feel better with out it. I sometimes have sips from my Coco’s cup, but truly tea is my drink of choice.
Tea rocks my world, it soothes my life better.
Any kind, any time, with honey, agave syrup, soy milk, almond milk, all of the versions make me a very happy gal.
There are different studies about how coffee is bad for you, there also studies about how good it is for you. It depends on who is paying for the study. So just listen to your body. And choose what your body is craving, and once in a while be open to a yummy cup of tea.
Every Day for the last two weeks I had the same thing for breakfast and I love it because it’s super yummy and very filling. You are going to love it, too. It’s full of protein and fiber. So, this is what you need:
Two slices of Rudi’s bread—I get the double fiber but the white kind tastes amazing, too. It just doesn’t have much fiber or protein. It depends on what you are you looking for.
2 tablespoons of peanut butter from PB2.
1/2 cup raisins and unsalted sunflowers seeds mix (or whatever you have, fruit, dry fruit, more nuts, honey, etc.)
And about one table spoon of organic powdered cinnamon.
Well my sexy friends, if you have never tried PB2 you will be surprise when you see that this peanut butter is different because it comes as a powder. Don’t be scared about it’s texture. It’s super delicious and very healthy for you because it doesn’t have as much fat as the regular peanut butter. If you are like me and adore peanut butter this is a great alternative because you can eat a ton more without having to make sure you eat the right portion. I mean regular peanut butter has like 200 calories in two tablespoons, and it’s not like a ton of calories, but if you are like me and like to go crazy and live to eat peanut butter then totally go for the PB2. It’s your best option for natural flavor, and calorie content. I buy mine at Grass Roots Natural Market, because it’s the only place they have it in town.
I like to leave my sandwich open and I like it super crunchy, so I toast the bread and then add peanut butter then I throw anything I can find on top of it, sometimes it’s fruit sometimes cashews, you can really add whatever for a POWPOW for your sandwich!
There you have it, a super easy and totally a glamourous breakfast!
Rant , Sexy Life , Vegan
It Totally Does Not Make Sense and Yeah I Think It Sounds Like I Am Complaining But I Am Really Not – I Am Just Ranting Like Usual
Implementing a Vegan or a Vegetarian life style doesn’t make sense. It’s just doesn’t, because it’s not practical or convenient for anybody, I totally get it. The majority of us are born in a meat eaters household and we’ve been eating animal products since then.
Being Vegan it’s a lot of work. It takes a ton of time and research, and it can be totally overwhelming. Truly, I don’t like to spend hours at the grocery store looking at every single product and at every single ingredient of everything I buy checking for eggs or milk. And to be an honest Vegan I have to research every product I buy and make sure that it comes from an honest facility.
I trust nobody. I do my own research. And that is totally inconvenient. I mean in an ideal world I should be able to trust the FDA to do their job.
Also being Vegan is expensive. I mean that is probably because I like to buy organic too, but seriously to this date, to be a completely balanced Vegan I feel I have to spend more money for groceries and for food at restaurants than meat eaters. For example, you can buy a value meal for $3 bucks and with 3 bucks I can’t not even buy organic blueberries. And it’s totally not fair that when you order a salad with no chicken at any restaurant I have to pay for the chicken still.
And what about the looks you get from other people when you tell them you are Vegan? I am serious. I think I can get a better reaction if I tell them I was a coke addict than a Vegan. Yeah, it’s not cool when you go to your office Christmas party and you have to order off the menu and your boss is looking at you like you are smoking some weird shit. People get all snarky.
Seriously I am making my life harder. I mean I am a Mexican, a woman, and a Vegan. Two of those things I didn’t decide for myself. Like seriously, think about it, the difference between meat eaters and vegans is that we Vegans just like to make things more complicated for ourselves.
So if it’s so freaking inconvenient why do I do it?
Well, see, I am a dreamer. Sounds lame right? Well it doesn’t stop here, my lameness proceeds.
I believe in equality, I believe one person can change the universe and I care for you and them. I truly do. I may not know you in person but I care for you. I know you care for me, too. It breaks my heart in little tiny pieces to know that every night 14 million children in America go to bed hungry. Picture that. Isn’t it sad? You may never suffer hunger. I never have, but just thinking about it makes me extremely sad. I want to do something about it. I want to help.
What does helping eliminate hunger have to do with being Vegan? Lets connect the dots people! There’s nothing so pervasively damaging to our environment – and to world hunger – than eating animals. Bottom line it cost more to produce a piece of steak than producing rice and beans. Because it takes more space, food and energy to sustain livestock. So basically the fact that you are having a a burger helps increase hunger in America and in the World.
I can adjust to inconvenience, but I can’t imagine somebody adjusting to hunger.
Fresh , Obsessed , Recipes , Rock My World , Sexy Life , Shocking , Super Hero , Vegan , Wicked
Spinach Lemonade
At the beginning of this week I got to know a really cool chick here in town; she is also a yoga teacher and she does all kinds of fun things. She has a blog called Bottling Health, so she is really into juicing and she inspired me to do something with the spinach I had in my fridge. I got all creative, oh shit, and made spinach lemonade. So the way I made it is the lazy way, but obviously you can make it super healthy and from scratch.
- 1 cup of Lemonade all ready made, basically whatever your find in your store. Make sure you get a good one; you know avoid high-fructose corn syrup and from concentrate. Mine was made with organic cane sugar, and a cup equals 28grams of sugar, that is like 7 tbs. I personally really don’t mind the sugar because I am putting spinach so it evens up.
- A bunch of organic spinach
- Ice
- Blender
Put the spinach, the made lemonade and the ice inside the blender and blend. Seriously it’s the most yummiest drink since they invented your favorite drink. I let one of my little neighbors try it and he loved it. So it’s something cool to do for kids since it’s tasty and healthy. I can’t wait to make popsicles out of it this summer.
Disclaimer: I know the picture shows the ice cubes, but it’s better if you blend them with the rest of the ingredients.
Badass , Brilliant , Fresh , Hot , Rock My World , Sexy Life , Super Hero , Vegan
For The Ultimate Bitch-Totally Inappropriate To Write Bitch* In a Title
A couple weeks ago my blue-eyed man and I were browsing through the book store like we do almost every other day. I seriously think in an imaginary world we probably would actually live at book store. We love books! Anyway, the man found one of the best recipe books I have read in the last couple of years and you know how excited we get when we find recipe books with pictures. So we just had to buy Skinny Bitch, The Ultimate Everyday Cookbook. This book has me giggling and clapping in the kitchen. Kim Barnouin is the co-writer of the very famous book Skinny Bitch and last year she threw down an amazing cook book.
This book is for anybody; for people like me, a complete idiot in the kitch, or for the pros that have some mad skill abilities with the spatula and want to get inspired from another bad ass. So yeah run and get this book right now. You actually don’t have to run because you can just order online, but totally go for the run because I will be so proud of you. Actually I would be proud of you even if you don’t run.
Anyway, when I was reading some of her recipes I could totally sense she wrote the book thinking about all of us diagnosed with huge cooking-mental blockages. Every recipe is explained to the most minute detail and the ingredients are all things we are familiar with. My favorite part from every recipe is the break down of what each portion has; like the calories, fat, sat. fat, etc. I think that is pretty darn cool.
You got to love the first 69 pages of just pure fun information. I love facts. Give me some accurate facts and I would believe you, and then I would love you, because there is nothing sexier than a smart persona.
The first recipe we made was the Orange Scones, and then for breakfast The Man made Crepes with Raspberry Sauce. Both dishes are very easy to make and so delicious, so it’s a win-win. I will be making some more of her delicious food, so keep posted for more recipes or maybe just go get the book so we can try to make her dishes together.
Brilliant , Fresh , Hot , Obsessed , Recipes , Rock My World , Sexy Life , Vegan
The New Los Douglas Obsession
My personal cook and lover made some amazing Crepes with Raspberry Sauce for breakfast on Sunday morning. He got inspired from the Skinny Bitch The Ultimate Everyday Cookbook. The recipe is very similar to Kim’s but he used less sugar and a bit more almond milk to thin the batter. This recipe is great for anytime. Seriously, we have made them even for a snack before bed.
Ingredients:
For the Raspberry Sauce:
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries, obviously you can use whatever you have; strawberries, bananas, etc.
1/4 cup water
1/4 sugar
Blend all the ingredients. I recommend to do the sauce first.
For the Crepes:
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons evaporated can sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Whisk the milk and the vanilla extract until smooth. In a separate large bowl combine all the dry ingredients and then when everything is all well mix add your liquid mix. Heat up the skillet and spray it with one of those non-stick sprays and then coat the bottom of the skillet as evenly as possible with the batter. Cook until the edges are lightly browned and then then turn them gently until you see a color you like, we liked them a bit brown. Fold them and keep cooking the rest of the batter. Then pour the raspberry sauce over the crapes and EAT all of them.
Fantastic things will happen in your mouth, I promise!
The Man and I made this recipe from the Skinny Bitch, The Ultimate Every Day Cookbook during the Valentine’s weekend. It was a super sexy-fun night because we made it together and I love cooking with my man—he gets so excited that it’s contagious. We wanted to go all glam and make them 100% organic, but we couldn’t. Our closest stores did not have a ton of organic produce; we even went to three different stores looking for organic oranges. We tried.
This recipe is super easy and so tasty. You can pretend to be English and make some black tea with it.
Ingredients:
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup evaporated can sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon orange extract
1 tablespoon orange zest, grated
1/2 cup Earth Balance at room temperature
Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl, leaving the butter out. Once everything is all well combined add the butter. Lightly flour a flat surface and knead the dought for a bout a minute. Form the dough into a ball and then shape into a small pizza crust shape, lightly flattening down the dough into the desired thickness. Cut them in squares, triangles, or whatever you wish. Since it was the Valentines’s weekend we made them heart shaped, soooooo ADORABLE! Yeah, I am screaming! Place them all in a baking sheet and using a brush, cover the dough with some orange juice and then sprinkle some sugar on top of it. Bake for 350 degrees for 15 minutes.
And then you got some amazing mates for your favorite tea!
Badass , Brilliant , Fresh , Hot , Mexico , Sexy Life , Super Hero , Vegan
the most important meal of the day
I sometimes feel I am an experiment. Like some other dudes from another universe are experimenting with my life, and yours, too. I don’t think this all the time, just sometimes when I start thinking about why am I here on this planet. My mind goes to trippy thoughts. I sometimes think the planet Earth is like a lab and there are some “scientists” that we obviously can’t see, testing things on us just for fun. Like we do with rabbits and mice.
Every negative incident that I had in my life I think somebody is testing me. Some people call it God, maybe it is him or her. I don’t know yet.
Anyway, there is a lot of information out there about eating breakfast, so I decided to be my own scientist. There are a ton of benefits if you have a healthy breakfast every day. I usually have a small some-some but my biggest meal of the day is dinner. Traditionally it should be lunch because in Mexico the biggest meal is lunch. But I am totally copying the Americans and I am digging those french fries a couple hours before going to bed.
There is a saying eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper. But does it really work? I know I usually have breakfast like a pauper and dinner like a queen, but reading different articles all over the web may have me changed my mind.
Since there is a ton of information about the positives of having a big breakfast I decided to test myself and have the biggest breakfast ever for 3 days. I went super healthy, you know, my mind was thinking fiber, fiber and more fiber. And I was looking for any positives or negatives in my mood and my eating choices throughout the day.
First day: about a cup of brown rice, two cups of blueberries, two cup nuts and 1/2 of a cup of vanilla light soy milk (I wouldn’t usually use so many nuts, instead I would probably do half of a cup).
Second day: a mega sub from Winn-Dixie (like subway-but better) loaded with veggies, I think it was about 8 inches long (I will usually just eat the vegetables with out the bread).
Third day: a peanut butter sandwich with a smoothie made from one scoop of Vega protein powder and two cups of vanilla light Silk soy milk (I unusually will just have the smoothie).
So I had my big breakfast around 8am and for the 3 days I did not need any snacks between breakfast and lunch. I am usually eating lunch by 12 and this time I was eating lunch almost at 2!!!! WOW, I was just not hungry. For lunch I had a normal meal, but for dinner I was fine with just making a smoothie or a pb&j.
I think I like eating a big breakfast better because I didn’t feel as hungry through the day and when I was going to bed I felt light like a feather. Not really but I always wanted to say that.
So if you are not so sure about going big in the morning, just test your self for a couple of days to see if that would work for you. For me it definitely worked. I guess my grandma and my mom where right after all “a big breakfast will keep you smiling through the day” AMEN!!!!
Every time we talk about Veganism we think about vegetables and other thoughts may come to your mind like “those people have pale skin and yellow teeth, they look sick.” I know this because when I first presented the idea of becoming vegetarian to my parents, my mother was like always very accepting when I presented a new idea, but then once she has time to think and analyzes the idea and with out any research she would make random comments, like:
Mother -“You know Aidee, my friend Manue had a friend that was vegetarian and her skin looked yellow and she died three weeks after becoming Vegan.”
Sarcastic me – “Oh really mom?”
Mother – (very secure and affirmative voice with out a clue about my sarcastic ways) “Oh yeah, and your dad’s cousin, the one that was really thin, was vegetarian, too, and her teeth where very yellow, almost brown.”
Purely random. I think my mother doesn’t like the color yellow.
Now my mother has a better understanding of the reasoning of becoming Vegan and she has seen a positive influence on me since I stopped eating meat. Now she is trying to stop eating beef and she is also trying to stop eating dairy. Very impressive. I must say, I am proud of her.
I have found that the word Vegan or Vegetarian can bring negative thoughts to most people. When we think Vegan food, we think vegetables, vegetables equals healthy, healthy equals not fun and tasteless. I get it, but whatever! A vegetarian meal is good and good for our planet.
Do some research and come up with your own conclussions and have a veggie special meal. These days there are a ton of great Vegan and vegetarian products that you can find anywhere. Vegan food is healthier and also very tasty.
Shoot me an email and I can tell you what to make, what to buy and where to go for the best prices. All you need to do is ask. I sound like a cheap commercial now. Fuck, I was just trying to be nice.
My man and I are foodilingos or foodies or whatever you call the people that adore food. We just purely love food. We are those people that clap at a restaurant when our food comes to our table. We would not eat it if it wasn’t blowing our mind. It has to taste amazing. Vegan food does, I promise. So let’s give a crap about the planet and your body and embrace one meal. Come on! You don’t have to make it Vegan, I know that sounds crazy. Just go Vegetarian. I promise it would be fun.
Rant , Sexy Life , Super Hero , Vegan
I Was Going To Write About Popcorn And I End Up Writing About Nutrition
I get confused with the overload of nutritional information that’s available. Just this morning I was reading that popcorn was bad for you. WHAT?? This is terrible news. The NY times is stupid and probably deeply unhappy with themselves and because of that, now they want to make my movie experience shit. They are talking about movie popcorn, so now I am writing a letter to the the corporation in charge of the movie theaters asking them to make my delicious snack healthier. I guess I do have too much time on my hands. I hope they listen to me. I doubt it. For now NO more popcorn in movie theaters for me.
Nutrition in this country is extremely confusing. I am constantly hearing about new studies proclaiming the health benefits of certain food. One day they say that yogurt is good for you, the next day it’s bad. It is the same with coffee, wine, eating meat, dairy, salt and soy products. The information I get as a consumer depends in whoever pays for the study.
Lets add the fact that I come from another country so my confusion goes to the maximum level of confusions. The information can dramatically change from one country to another. And when I try to find the right information, I find myself frustrated.
I constantly want to punch the food industry with my imaginary pink boxing gloves because they clearly don’t care about the health of the American population, and all they care about is feeding their pockets with the greens.
They make our job as consumers pretty hard. There is constant questionnaire about what I eat: what is this made of? Can I eat high-fructose corn syrup? Why not? Why is it bad? Why did the FDA let them put it in a product to be sold to me? Why do they let candy be made with animal fat? Why does chocolate have pig fat? Why is organic more expensive? Why do healthier foods cost more?
We all deserve to eat organic, healthy, fresh food.
“Good nutrition is straightforward and simple, yet in America, public nutrition has been dictated by a corporate agenda to maximize profits. What did we end up with? Confusing dietary advice, a marketplace saturated with low-quality food and a population of sick, overweight people.”
We can do better. We must do better.
And to do so, we need to understand the fundamental relationship between poor nutrition and the lamentable state of the population’s health.“What we eat makes a enormous difference in our health; yet very few doctors, corporations or politicians stand for this truth.”
Prevention is the key to help the health crisis in America. And yeah my friends I sadly like to break the news to you: we are in a health crisis in America. We spend more money on Health Care and we are sicker than other countries and we don’t live as long either. Our grandparents, our parents, ourselves and our children are getting sicker and sicker and we have no other option than claim our right to health. It’s simple and it starts with choosing better food.
Here are some facts:
America spends more than $2.5 trillion a year on health care, so you would think we would be the shining example of health and happiness throughout the world. Yet, chronic diseases are the epidemic of our generation.
In 1980, less than 50% of Americans were overweight; today that number is more than 65% and growing.
80% of preventable disease risk factors are influenced by behaviors like smoking, over-eating, poor diet or lack of exercise.
One-third of all children today will eventually suffer from diabetes.
By 2020, it is estimated that half of all Americans will have a chronic disease.
Wellness and prevention, to me, is one of the true keys to changing the health paradigm in this country.
-First Lady Michelle Obama
*I grabed some of the facts and the quotes from http://www.integrativenutrition.com/
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