Tuesday, August 2, 2011

The Best Bean Salad EVER.

Seriously, make this. You won't regret it. This is my favorite salad in the world and my husband absolutely loves this too. In fact, I regularly make this as a side dish but lately I've been making it just for dinner because it's THAT good.




- 4 cobs corn, kernels cut from cob, or 2 cups (defrosted) frozen
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup red onion, chopped
- 2 jalapeno peppers , seeded & finely chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
- 3 cups cooked black beans, or 2 (15 oz) cans, drained and rinsed
- 2 large fresh tomatoes, diced
- 2 large avocado, peeled and cut in 1/2 inch dice

Dressing:
- Sea salt, to taste (1/2 - 1 teaspoon)
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 6 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 5 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar


1. Preheat oven to 450F.
2. In a medium bowl, combine corn and oil, toss to coat. Spread corn in ungreased oven-proof baking dish. Bake in oven 18-22 minutes or until corn begins to turn light golden brown, stirring every 5-10 minutes. Cool 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile prepare dressing. Combine all ingredients in a small jar with tight fitting lid and shake well until blended -- or simply whisk very well in a small bowl.
3. In a large bowl, combine corn, onion, jalapenos, bell pepper, garlic, beans and tomatoes. Mix well. Add dressing and mix again. Add avocados. Toss gently to combine.
4. Serve immediately or refrigerate up to 24 hours. (If not serving immediately, add avocado just before serving.) May be served over a bed of red leaf lettuce or just as is.


Monday, July 11, 2011

Where has the time gone?

So sorry I've been MIA again. During the time I was gone, my husband came home from Afghanistan and we took an awesome trip to Italy! On a negative note, Sammy has been having some health issues (nothing too serious, just some skin problems around his nose) that we can't seem to diagnos correctly. I had some trouble with the first vet I went to (she prescribed me steroids to give my poor dog without even doing tests to confirm her diagnosis!) so now I am seeing another vet and we are slowly getting there! Instead of typing it all out, I will show the past few weeks with pictures =D



My husband and Me, seeing eachother for the first time since October 2010!



Me inside the Colosseum in Rome, Italy



Us by the Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy



Me on Capri Island, Italy



Me in Pompeii, Italy



Me in Assisi, Italy



Us kissing on a gondola ride in Venice, Italy!



Me in St. Mark's Square Venice, Italy



Me rubbing Juliet's breast in Verona, Italy



Me in Pisa, Italy!



Us in Florence, Italy



Us back in Germany at the Hofbrauhaus in Munich with our friends



Vegan patriotic cupcakes I made for the 4th of July!



Poor Sammy's inflamed nose =(



Pray for a speedy recovery for Sammy!

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Hurraw!

I've been a member at Alicia Silverstone's forum The Kind Life ever since I read her book over a year ago. She posts really helpful blogs and also has some pretty cool sponsors. My favorite sponsor is Hurraw!


After seeing Hurraw's few sponsor posts on the website, I decided to ask for their lip balm for Christmas last year. My awesome mom bought them for me and chose 4 yummy flavors: almond, grapefruit, lemon, and lime. I love them all!

This lipbalm is seriously the best vegan lip balm I have ever tried. I don't think I will ever buy another lip balm again. My favorite thing about it is of course it's all natural, organic, and vegan. But I also love it because it almost looks like lip gloss when wearing it. It makes your lips look nice and shiney =)

Plus, Hurraw recently had a free give away on The Kind Life to a few lucky winners. They were giving away their new day or night balms called Sun balm and Moon balm. I just so happened to be one of those lucky winners! Seriously, I never won anything in my life, I was beyond ecstatic!

I just wanted to share my favorite lip balm out there, so I hope someone wants to give it a try.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Happy Mother's Day 2011!

This Mother's day, I was going to order some more organic flowers like I did last Mother's Day, but I saw the cutest bouquet and had to order it for my mama! I also ordered one for my sister, who is celebrating her first Mother's Day!


Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there!!! I am celebrating today alone with my furbabies, since I am back in Germany as of Friday! I miss you MOM!!

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Friday, April 22, 2011

Happy Earth Day, 2011!

HAPPY EARTH DAY MY FELLOW READERS/BLOGGERS!!!


This wonderful holiday makes me feel chipper, even if it is raining all day. Last year on Earth day, I posted a blog about how I celebrated Earth day that year. I also made a pretty spiffy list about how I am helping to save our earth, and I am proud to say that list still stands this year, plus a little more!



In honor of Earth day this year, I decided to adopt an animal, or two. I received a wonderful email from Defenders of Wildlife talking about how the BP oil spill is still effecting our wildlife. The one year mark of the BP oil spill was last Wednesday, and organizations are still fighting to save sea turtles, dolphins and other wildlife impacted by this tragedy.


Because of this heartbreaking email, I decided to donate my money to help saving sea turtles and elephants. If you can even donate $10, please consider donating to help our wildlife! Every penny can help, it all adds up!

Have a wonderful and GREEN Earth Day everyone!

Friday, April 1, 2011

Make Juice...Green Juice that is!

As I mentioned in my last blog update, I've been making a lot of green juice lately since reading Kris Carr's new book Crazy Sexy Diet. I usually make juice 3 times a week, but Kris suggests everyday! I'm slowly trying to make juicing part of my daily ritual.


All of the veggies I used one day. One large cucumber (peeled because it wasn't organic), one green apple for a little sweetness, a few carrots, a few leaves of kale and collard greens. Usually I will add some broccoli stems but I ran out that day!

A quote from Kris' book: "Juicing helps to slow and even reverse the aging process. It reduces inflammation, cleanses the body, regulates the bowels, and can even help peel off extra pounds."


Chopped and ready for juicing!

The difference between green juices and green smoothies is during the juicing process, you are removing the plant fiber. That's it! So when you make a smoothie, you can add a few veggies, drink up and are pretty much full. With juicing, you can add one large cucumber, a bunch of kale, an apple, one full broccoli stem, 3 carrots, and a handful of sprouts and drink it all in one sitting! You are instantly giving your body all those vitamins, minerals, and enzymes.


Sammy and Meesha are my little veggie dogs. They LOVE when I juice because that means they get to munch on some carrots and kale stems!

Kris mentions cucumbers are a great base for juicing and I totally agree. Cucumbers are already 95% water so you're getting a lot out of one large cucumber. They are loaded with vitamin C and they don't have a strong taste which is perfect if you're not used to juicing. Honestly, the first time I tried green juice I almost gagged. My philosophy was add a bunch of veggies all together and it'll be awesome. SO WRONG! Taste is everything, if you're green juice tastes like shit you're obviously not going to want to drink it. I'd start with 3 veggies then work my way up.


The final product. I like to put the juice in a manly beer mug to give it a kick.

My personal advice is to start with adding 2 green apples instead of one when beginning. I'm so used to processed juices I buy at the grocery store that drinking plain vegetables was very hard for me at first. Adding more apples means more sweetness. Eventually your taste buds will start to get used to drinking natural juices and you wont have to add so much fruit.


Me and my yummy juice!

In conclusion, if you have a juicer, try juicing today! P.S - If you do try to juice, drink it all in one day. It's not from concentrate people, it won't last forever! I usually drink mine all at once but if I make more I save it for later. YAY JUICING!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Hello 2011...

Hello my fellow bloggers. It has been a good few months since I felt like blogging. LAME I KNOW. So much was going on and now that things have somewhat calmed down, I decided it's time to blog a little.

Back in January, I had the awesome opportunity to meet Kris Carr. She is the wonderful author of her newest book Crazy Sexy Diet! I LOVE this book! I haven't finished it just yet, but so far soooo good! She makes reading stuff about nutrition fun and exciting. I love how she words everything, especially when she called our kidneys cute. But anyway, she was on a book tour then and she came to a Borders pretty close to me, so Mom and I went to hear her speak. She was so inspirational, that even my mom went to work the next day telling all her friends about Kris and her book. I highly suggest you read her book.

Me meeting Kris Carr

Because of Kris, Mom and I have recently started incorporating more green juice into our diet. We aren't everyday juicers, but if I had to guess I would say I make green juice 3-4 times a week. As Kris says, adding anything good to your body is beneficial...even in the smallest amounts. I won't lie, the first time we juiced the taste was disgusting. Obviously we were noobs so we didn't really know what we were doing. Plus, if you're not used to it, it's not going to taste heavenly at first. We still had a lot of errors the next few times too, but I'm pretty sure I finally got it down. In my green juice, depending what I have at the time, I use kale, collard greens, spinach, green apples, carrots, cucumbers, broccoli, sprouts, and have even used dandelion and daikon. The trick for me is the green apples. Since I'm not used to drinking just veggies, adding 2 green apples gives it a sweet taste so it's not hard to drink at all. You should try it!

Kris Carr's signature on my book!

So that's my update for now. I'll be back soon, I promise ;)