whoa, where is the time going? (plus... a green smoothie)

so, i have many unfinished posts on this thing. what is my excuse? i just had a mostly slower pace for a couple months! now as fall gets ready to start, i am de-cluttering and getting things back in gear. but back to excuses.... i'm going to blame my lack of blogging on baby brain! paul and i are expecting "the little" in december! i'm happy to say that so far pregnancy has been glorious and i have escaped first trimester with minor nausea (that was eliminated with eating) and extreme exhaustion that had me basically comatose after work or napping on the couch so that i would have the energy to go brush my teeth before bed!
second trimester has felt a lot more energetic and i'm hoping this keeps up as i'm heading into my final trimester.
i'm getting myself ready for the unwanted advice and touching that seems inevitable but i feel lucky to have only had one comment of concern about my vegan lifestyle (ie "did you hear about the vegan couple whose baby died?") and i feel really great about my diet and exercise right now! i haven't had any strange cravings. i guess the most surprising to me is that i don't want to eat coconut milk ice cream and raw chocolate as much as i usually do! and i haven't had the same urgency to go to starbucks for my unsweetened soy green tea latte as i have in busy work months. veggie brown rice sushi has been my meal of choice when i'm hungry but can't think of anything i want and in general, i'm really enjoying hunting down new vegetables and fruits to try at the farmers market and eating different grains and beans and legumes. ethiopian food has come up as a dinner craving a couple times though i don't feel like that's specific to pregnancy!
i'm taking vegan prenatal vitamins and while i was taking separate folic acid tablets, i (coincidentally?) did not feel like making my morning green smoothie! too much green leafies?
anyways, i'm finished the bottle and i feel like the folic acid in my prenatal and my food is more than sufficient and i've regained my green smoothie tendencies! hurrah! i'm taking daily iron (spatone liquid iron is my fave) and generally that is just with orange juice or a ginger/orange/frozen banana smoothie but sometimes it ends up in a green smoothie.
i made a green smoothie tonight to get some drinks in the freezer for some mid-morning energy boosts in the next couple work days and it was a nice one so i figured i should post it!

ingredients:
-about 1.5 cups filtered water
-one nub of ginger
-the tops of about 4 purple carrots
-a few sprigs of parsley
-about half or more of the tops of a bunch of radishes
-one peach
-one pear
-about 1 cup of orange juice

i got everything from the farmers market except the ginger and orange juice. maybe that's why it was so especially delicious!
anyways! i'm so excited to meet the little! but also really enjoying this time that she's been hanging out inside me. i can feel her moving around now and it's fun to feel her movements especially when me or paul are talking. i haven't had any food aversions so far and figure this means she is going to be super happy and excited to eat fruits and veggies like us! (and green smoothies, of course!)
hope your september is off to a great start and you are still enjoying farmers market goodies! i'm relieved to know ours goes into october as i was worried this was the last month!

lunches to go!

i've always been in awe of those who are able to, financially, transportation-ally (? hehe), health-consciously, and time-consciously, afford to go out for lunch every day. i've rarely considered the option of not bringing food from home. but i also enjoy the lunches i make!

here are a few of my tips for healthy meals on the go:

1. making 2 lunches at a time and almost always making food at night for the next day.
i get inspired by goods i pick up at the farmers market.

2. realizing i don't need to prep all veggies and fruits has been great.  wash them before eating, if i want, and i'm good to go! plus no container or plastic around them means less weight and/or less waste! ps the salad in the container is ani phyo's chinese chickenless salad (raw food essentials) 

3. also realizing that little samples of different veggies and nuts is a super fast and satisfying "snacking" lunch. this one is raw celery, radish, carrots, and almonds. (i didn't end up needing all the fruit i brought for the day: banana, apple, pear)

4. discovering i can drink green smoothies out of glass jars with ease and comfort has been the best! great size, lightweight, re-sealable and non-plastic is crucial for morning smoothies to-go!

5. having an emergency/last minute lunch plan is great for the days that you realize you didn't make a lunch the night before or you have slept in or you forgot to go grocery shopping during waking hours. i love having some dried fruits and nuts on hand for times like these, grabbing a banana (is there a more convenient fruit?)... but these drinkme smoothies have helped me out in more than one occasion! i grab it from the freezer in the morning and leave it in my bag (in a sac to absorb some of the thaw sweat) and i can generally start shaking up the frozen bits with the thawed bits to drink some at lunch and the rest of the afternoon. the kale/orange juice/banana is my favourite. so refreshing and satisfying!

6. making salads - my favourite and most common go-to lunch. it really doesn't matter to me what veggies i have chopped up together because fresh always tastes great! i generally don't use soft lettuces as i tend to make lunch 2 days in advance. i keep kale at the bottom and if it softens up a bit, great! i love using red cabbage and radishes. and if i have avocado in there, i'm SET. a new favourite topping has been leek flower. i also love a sprinkle of green onion and/or fresh basil! super yum! i got away from using dressing last year when my containers started leaking. also, i started to consider that i was consuming too many omega3s rather than with 6s because of too many oils. i love adding traditional raw sauerkraut with my avocado for a tangy creamy loveliness. sometimes i like carrots, sometimes i like pea shoots, cilantro, parsley, cucumber, celery... it depends on what's happening in my fridge!

7.  using a nice lunch bag! this totally helps. i thought i was doing pretty well with my lil' sac i bought from ithinkso in seoul, but then one of my favourite peeps, sarah, surprised me with this lovely bag from urban harmonie on main street. i love that i can button it closed and it has a wrist strap and it's large enough to fit stacks of things and it's wipeable! and the contrasting beautiful prints? i am so proud of how pretty it is. so my lunch is pretty on the inside and the outside! thank you, sarah!

green smoothie party!

tonight was the perfect mellow friday night with my lovely lady friends and green smoothies!

these ones are: 2.5 cups filtered water, half a bunch of kale, some cilantro and parsley, 2 peaches and 1 apple and a couple dates because we were date crazy! DELICIOUS!!!
this is my IDEAL friday night. someday there's gotta be a dance club open that only serves coconut water and wheatgrass shots and green smoothies to fuel the moves! the waldorf is getting there for sure with vanessa's elixir bar downstairs and the coconuts in the tiki bar but still...