Three Vegan Toast Recipes

Alright ladies and gents, I am now three days into this new Vegan lifestyle and I am loving it! I have had so much fun experimenting with new foods and new recipes! Today I am going to share three different ways you can spice up a plain piece of toast that you eat at any time throughout the day for a meal or a snack. I hope you are just as excited as I am to try these recipes out for yourself, because my mom and niece can vouch for me when I say these are delicious. 

Strawberry Cream Cheese w/ Balsamic Vinaigrette Toast

What you need:

-Handful of strawberries (sliced)

-1 tbsp Vegan strawberry flavored cream cheese

(the brand I used is "daiya" in strawberry flavor)

-1 slice of Ezekiel bread

-Less than 1/2 tsp of Lite Balsamic Vinaigrette 

(just a drizzle)

Start by toasting your piece of Ezekiel bread (which can be found in your grocers freezer section) / spread around one tablespoon of the strawberry cream cheese onto the bread (I found mine at whole foods) / assemble your sliced strawberries on top / lightly drizzle the lite balsamic vinaigrette on top

This option is seriously so good and can easily be eaten for breakfast or for any time during the day. It takes tops five minutes to make and is completely vegan.

Avocado w/ Sea Salt Toast

What you need:

-1 slice of Ezekiel bread

-1/2 of a small avocado (sliced)

-pinch of sea salt

Start by toasting your piece of bread / arrange your avocado slices on your toast / garnish with your pinch of sea salt

This one was by far the easiest to make and only has two ingredients. The avocado filled with so many good benefits for your body and the sea salt on top adds a perfect pairing to the avocado to give it a good twist. This also can be eaten for breakfast or for a snack during the day, and of course is completely vegan.

Tomato, Basil, Cheese & Balsamic Vinaigrette Toast

What you need:

-1 slice of Ezekiel bread

-1 slice of a large tomato

-1-2 tbsp of shredded Vegan mozzarella cheese

(the brand I used is "Go Veggie" mozzarella shredded cheese")

-pinch of dried basil leaves

-drizzle of lite balsamic vinaigrette

Start by toasting your piece of bread / lay your tomato on the toast / then sprinkle your shredded "cheese" / drizzle your lite balsamic vinaigrette on top / garnish with your pinch of dried basil leaves / place in oven on Broil for around 3-5 minutes depending on your oven / 

(when broiling something you are just making sure the cheese melts, so don't forget to crack the oven door open while it is cooking and make sure to keep an eye on your toast)

Each of these toast recipes are delicious and incorporate ingredients that you most likely will already have in your kitchen. The whole family will love these, and I know kids will have fun assembling their pieces of toast just like my three year old niece did! These are simple and quick to make and they can be eaten all throughout the day for a quick snack.  I hope you all enjoyed my first vegan recipe and there will be a lot more to come so stay tuned!

If you couldn't already tell, we love avocado in our family! 

I AM GOING VEGAN?!

Hello everyone, I have some really exciting news to share with you all! After a lot of research and time thinking it over and over I have decided to try out the Vegan lifestyle. Now I know when someone firsts hears that word they immediately think of hippies and veg heads, but this lifestyle is nothing like that. Yes, you do eat loads of fruit and vegetables but it's so much more than that. 

A little background information on why I decided to try this lifestyle out. I of course grew up eating animal products and dairy products for example, cheeseburgers, ham, turkey, chicken, fish, milk, cheese etc but it wasn't until about a month ago that I ever considered eliminating those foods from my diet. When I started my weight loss journey over a year ago, I eliminated all red meats, such as hamburgers, steak, sausage, pork etc because those in general are the worst types of animal you can eat when trying to diet and lose weight. Sticking with chicken and fish was what I decided to do and I had no issues with this at all. When I started my journey I was already drinking almond milk and wasn't eating loads of cheese but it was defiantly put onto anything I could put it on. These were the ones that I had a little trouble eliminating just because it is more difficult to find certain foods that do not have any dairy products in it, but I have found so many different alternatives which I have already tried (future blog post). 

Oh She Glows Blog

 (Hello...can we all take a moment of silence for these "Easy Carob Almond Freezer Fudge + Frosty Recipe from one of the Vegan blogs that I have fell in love with?! If I can eat these, then sign me up! )

I know that this lifestyle is not for everyone and it takes a lot of research and thought before jumping into changing your entire diet but it was something that I felt ready for. I have recently been trying to get myself out of this funk you could say when it comes to healthy eating and exercising. I have been putting one hundred and ten percent into getting myself back on track though and am more motivated than ever. I thought that this would be a perfect opportunity to get some structure back and discipline back into my diet because before I was just trying to eat healthy and was still allowing myself the opportunity to eat unhealthy if I wanted to. But now, knowing that I cannot eat animal products (which I have no desire to) or dairy products, I am now more motivated to stick to healthy and nutritious options. There are also way too many amazing health benefits not to at least try it out. The list goes on and on that is why I am going to share one website that has all of the information you need, and if you are still looking for more all you have to do is type whatever questions you have into google and there are thousands of blogs there to help!

The Vegan Society
- This is one amazing website that shares extremely helpful and useful information all about why to go Vegan, where to start and all of the amazing benefits. Go check this website out if you are also interested in this lifestyle.

- If you are interested in this lifestyle or want to know more, please go check out this girl named Essena O'Neill's instagram. She is a Vegan as well and shares so many motivating posts along with so many delicious recipes! 
If you are looking on the app type in: "essenaoneill"

Another reason why I decided to go Vegan was because of the main reason why people are Vegan's and that is because of the animals. Don't get me wrong I am not a member of PETA, and I am not a die hard animal lover, but I started really thinking about what went into my cheeseburger and how it came from an innocent animal. I was shocked to read about how many hormones and harmful things go into making these animal products and how I was filling my body with these harmful things. 

I am so excited to only eat fruits and vegetables straight from the earth we live on and how much better I am going to feel not only on the inside but how my physical appearance will change. There are so many recipes and cook books out there with some of your favorite meals that are turned Vegan and how similar they taste. I cannot wait to find and create so many yummy recipes and meals and share them with you all!

(I want to note that I am no expert what so ever and it is going to take me a couple of weeks to completely figure out all of the different types of foods I have to get and completely get into sync with this lifestyle).

Inspiration & Motivation

Our day to day lives can get extremely hectic and chaotic therefore causing our health to sometimes be put on the back burner. I myself am not perfect and can say that yes sometimes I loose motivation, but the most important thing is to never lose sight of your goals.Today I am going to share with you some of the things I do and some things I keep on me on a day to day basis that keeps me motivated to stay on track with my weight loss and healthy lifestyle!


The mornings can be one of the most hectic times of our day, but this time of day is by far the most important when it comes to how the rest of your day goes. 

Waking up with a positive attitude/Drinking a full glass of water first thing when you wake up/Eat a nutritious breakfast

This combination of one of my favorite smoothies to drink in the morning when I don't want something to heavy, or if your like me sometimes I really don't want a hot breakfast. 

Most of us are most likely at work or school during the day so it is extremely important to stay hydrated! Water is your best friend and will help to take your mind off of snacking and eating unhealthy foods. 

There is that time in the morning however where you need to have a snack to hold you over before lunch and these Luna bars are my favorite. They are not too high in calorie or sugar and they are packed full of protein which helps you stay fuller longer. Throw in a fitness/health magazine into my purse and I am good to go! These magazines are the perfect way to stay motivated throughout the day because they are full of before and after stories, healthy recipes, exercise tips and tricks and more! Whenever I am feeling down or unmotivated I always flip through one of these and it helps me to get back on track.

The day is half way over and you should be feeling good after reading your motivational magazine, drinking loads of water right? YAY! Keep going!

When I get home from work the first thing I want to do when I get home is put comfortable clothes on, lay down and watch TV. Now it's okay to do that for a little bit, but don't get too comfortable. This is one of the hardest things for me because I get so physically exhausted that the thought of exercising let alone moving my body sounds awful. But getting up and instead of putting on your pajamas, put on your workout outfit and after your little break get up and get moving! Even though you would think that working out would make you even more tired and lazy, it does the complete opposite. Once you do your hard workout or an at home workout, like this one I do when I don't want to do a hard hitting workout, you feel more energized and will be so proud of yourself! Every time that I do not want to work out and I make myself get up and workout I feel like a million bucks and just think about how that little thirty minutes of exercise will help you tremendously in the end. 

After you workout it's time for more water (obviously) and a nutritious healthy dinner made with only fresh ingredients!

At the end of the day, you are only human. I know you're thinking well "Obviously Dee I know I am human..." but what I mean is that no body is perfect and we all make mistakes but instead of focusing on the mistakes we make, focus on all of the positive things we have accomplished. Make a before and after picture of yourself if you are on your journey and keep it on your phone. Whenever you are feeling discouraged look at that photo and pat yourself on the back! If you are just starting out (by the way, good for you and I am so proud of you and believe in your one hundred percent), find a picture of anything that gives you motivation for why you are changing out lifestyle and set that as your background on your phone. Heck, even take a picture of yourself right now, print it out and tape it onto your refrigerator so every time you go to get something, your remind yourself of your goals! 

Before bed to get some motivation for the next day (or maybe it's just because I am addicted to them..) but I love to get on pinterest and tumblr for inspiration. On my pinterest I look up everything from healthy recipes, fitness and exercises ideas, fashion, beauty home decor etc. Most of my healthy recipes have come from hours of searching on pinterest as well as some amazing exercise tips! Tumblr has thousands of different blogs for anything you want! I am on tumblr more than I would like to admit...but this is where I find inspiration for not just health but for everything. It is almost like an online diary of pictures and quotes that either relate to my life or that inspire certain aspects of my life. Mainly fashion, and other creative artistic pictures! 

Make sure to follow me on Pinterest and Tumblr to see all of the things that motivate and inspire me!

The last thing I promise (sorry this post is so long) is my beloved journal. I would not be the same person without this thing...well technically I am still the same person, but you guys know what I mean. When I started my healthy lifestyle and changing everything in my life I needed a physical outlet to let out all of my emotions. Those ranging from anger, to exciting and meaningful things that happened in my life to all of my ups and downs. When I have ideas and thoughts running through my  head, I grab my journal and write it all down. 




To me if you are thinking about changing certain aspects of your life or if you are thinking about starting a new journey, I would highly suggest getting a journal to track and write down all of your ups and downs so that you can go back and see how far you have come. This is what I did as well as this lovely blog, and I am so glad I did because I can go back and read about how I felt when I wasn't doing as well on my journey and how I motivated myself to get back on track. It is one of the most rewarding things to look back on and probably one of the main things that motivates me! 

I hope this post helped you guys in anyway whether you just wanted to know what motivates me or if you need ideas on how to get yourself back track! I love you guys and thank you again for sticking with me through all of ups and downs (: