Hi there! How was your weekend? My long holiday weekend was glorious! Backing it up to Thanksgiving, I spent morning hiking Iron Mountain with my hubby and puppy. We hadn't hiked there since last summer, and it seemed like the perfect half-day trip: 2 1/2 hours of hiking + 40 minutes of driving each way. We thought that the trail wouldn't be all that crowded with the holiday and a lot of people traveling, but to our surprise a lot of people had the same idea as us. The trail was busy with lots of families and happy dogs! The hike was a nice gradual incline workout with gorgeous area views. I had wanted to get in a family outdoor workout prior to our afternoon holiday festivities, and I'm so glad that we went hiking. It's such a great way to start Thanksgiving ... [Read More]
Archives for November 2015
Smoky Almond Hummus
Hi friends! Happy almost Thanksgiving to all of you fellow Americans! I am really looking forward to a nice long weekend full of fun. If you're still trying to figure out what you're making for the holiday, check out my 20 vegetarian Thanksgiving recipe ideas post. And here are links to a few other holiday recipe roundups that I came across: Our Favorite Vegetarian Thanksgiving Recipes Thanksgiving Side Dish Superstars 30 Vegetarian Thanksgiving Recipes for Every Course Besides my favorite fall things and the holiday season kicking off, another reason why I love autumn is that it's glorious football season! I was born into a football family with a dad whose a football coach, and I'm a huge fan of the sport. Lately I've been loving low-key football Sundays when I spend a bulk of the day ... [Read More]
Harley’s 5th Birthday & Tales of Puppyhood
Last weekend marked a special occasion in my house: my forever puppy turned FIVE! Every year I get Harley a huge treat to celebrate the occasion. My hubby and I had a chance to take her to the dog beach on Saturday, where she was her usual happy self greeting every man, woman, child, and puppy with a ton of enthusiasm. I grew up in a household where pets are considered family members, and when I rescued Harley, that couldn't have become the case more quickly. She stole my heart right from the start as the very first dog that A and I are the "pawrents" of together. While she is such an awesome dog to have today, for awhile at the beginning she was quite the little troublemaker pup. I thought that in honor of her birthday, I'd share a few stories of how naughty ... [Read More]
White Broccoli Pizza Pockets
It's Friday! This calls for a celebration in the form of a pizza party.... ....a pizza pocket party that is! Pizza pockets are like a cross between a slice of pizza and a calzone... except calzones are known to be humongous, and pockets have perfect built-in portion control. These guys are also more neat & tidy to bring to work as leftovers than pizza. First, we take a precooked whole wheat pizza dough to rest on the counter coated in some flour. You can be an overachiever and make your own dough, but truth be told, I most often take the easy route and buy dough from the farmers' market or my local grocer. Next, we chop and sauté some garlic, onion and broccoli. Once cooked, we combine the veggies with the mozz and ricotta cheeses, then add in some salt, pepper and lemon ... [Read More]
20 Vegetarian Thanksgiving Recipe Ideas
I can't believe how fast 2015 is speeding by! Can you believe that we're only a few weeks away from December? Before we know it everything will be decked out for the holidays, and I can't wait! I love Christmastime so much. But us Americans can't get all excited about the upcoming December holiday festivities before first celebrating Thanksgiving. I know that some people are completely on top of it when it comes to recipe planning for holidays, while others wait until the last minute. I'm somewhere in between the two, and I usually start seriously planning dishes for a holiday a week or two before it happens. So, today seems like the perfect timing to share some vegetarian Thanksgiving recipe ideas for those of you who fall into the latter categories of holiday meal planners. ... [Read More]
Recovering from a Tough Mountain Biking Adventure
Hi friends! How was your weekend? Mine was full of time outdoors - just how I like it! The weather was in the low 70s and glorious. We also got a teeny bit of welcomed rain yesterday afternoon. My time spent in nature over the weekend included an early Friday evening hike with my pup at Elfin Forest... ...a long Sunday morning walk with my little family on an otherwise pretty lazy rest day... ...and my outdoorsy highlight: a super challenging mountain biking workout with my hubby on Saturday afternoon. We decided to venture southeast to a park we'd never been to before called Goodan Ranch Sycamore Canyon Preserve. We hadn't gone mountain biking in at least a few months, and whew, it was a killer one! The park was set in a pretty rural area, and we even got a taste of ... [Read More]