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 (:

WHERE HAVE I BEEN?

Hello everyone! Before you yell at me, I just wanted to say I am so sorry for being absent for so long! A couple of ups and downs in my personal life caused me to get stuck in a rut which showed through my blog and I apologize.
 
When it comes to my diet and healthy lifestyle journey, I have definately let myself slip up which I hate to admit because if I am admitting here to you all it means it's real and it means that I have to pull myself together and get back on track! I think it's normal to have rough patches when on your journey to a healthy lifestyle. This is by far the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my short lived life and I think other people who have switched to a healthy lifestyle can agree with me. It takes an extremely strong willed individual to make the decision to change their life for the better and to more importantly keep it up through their day to day lives. Every single day you're going to be thrown curve balls in the form of donuts, soda, fast food, elevators instead of stairs etc. Making the right healthy decisions every single day when all you want to do is sit on the couch with a bowl of ice cream and watch a movie will make you even stronger and will help you in the end. I know I can do it, and I definatly know you all can do it!
 
I am at the point now where I haven't completely gone back to my old ways by any means, but I have been making excuses for myself when it comes to eating certain foods and not working out. There are no excuses when it comes to eating healthy and exercising! I don't want you all to think that I am giving up on my journey to a new dee, or that I am quitting because that is definatly not the case at all! I am just going through a little rough patch which I have gone through once before last year half way through my journey for almost one month and I picked myself back up and got out of it and continued on my journey. I just have to remind myself daily how much I have accomplished because when I am down on myself and all feel like doing is laying on the couch, I have to remember that I have lost almost 100 pounds and I am only 20 years old. I am strong and I can do anything I set my mind to.

I just wanted to make a quick post letting you all know that I am back and ready to get back to work! I have been brainstorming a lot and have so many amazing new ideas and posts to share with you all! I hope you guys haven't given up on me because I am still here!

Love you all!

Girl's Night Out

We all need a night out once in awhile and last night was the perfect opportunity to dress up and throw a pair of heels on! It was my friend, Liz's twenty second birthday so my small group of girlfriends and I all went out for dinner and had a blast. Girl's night out are the greatest right?!

Jeans are probably my favorite clothing item...I wear them almost everyday. I love the support they give me and I love how I can dress them up like I did last night or have them be extremely casual with a t-shirt and flip flops. If I am going to dress up an outfit with jeans I prefer a very dark jean, these I got from Forever 21 (where else dee..). 

I absolutely love this top I got recently from Forever 21. I love all of the colors in it which made it perfect for the summer season. I am not one to wear a lot of patterns or colors for that matter, but I thought why not for summer?! What I also adore about this particular style of top is the off the shoulder detail. I am very self concious about my arms so I love how it has a spaghetti strap and then a cut out on the shoulder and a small sleeve. This covers up exactly where I need it to and I don't feel uncomfortable. 

Candid's are the best am I right?

Every female should own a pair of nude pumps. I rarely and by rarely I mean hardly never wear heels, one because I usually don't have anywhere to wear them and two THEY HURT! I thought I would dress up my outfit though last night and added these adorable patent nude pumps that I got from Target. 

I hope you all enjoyed this post and I will make sure to do some more posts about fashion in the future because that is one aspect of my life I love expierimenting with now more than ever since I have a new body!

Graze Box!

Everyone loves food right? Everyone loves to snack, am I right? Well what's better than going to your mailbox to get your snacks instead of having to go to the store? I recently heard about Graze which is a website where you can choose from multiple different healthy snack foods and have them ship straight to your house. I was even more excited when I found a coupon for my first box for free! How awesome is that? I took full advantage of it and decided why not try it? 

When you go to the website you can choose to 'Get Started Now' and then enter in your information or you can choose to enter in a special promo code which is what I did to get my box for free. After you enter in your information, you then get to browse all of the different snacks and you have an option to click 'Try' on a certain snack which let's the team at Graze know that you would be interested in trying that particular one in your box or in a future box. 

You can choose between two different boxes such as A Nibble Box or a Caloriecounter Box. 

Nibble Box - 

You can choose between 90 different snacks all of which are healthy.

Calorie Counter Box - 

Each snack to choose from are between 50-150 calories if you are counting calories.

Graze is passionate about all of their packaging being 100 % recyclable so you don't feel bad about throwing your box away after. Starting with the box, it is made out of cardboard made from sustainable forests and is extremely thin but sturdy enough to keep your snacks safe throughout the shipping process. 

Each snack pack is made out of plastic but is also recyclable. It also comes with a booklet filled with all the information you  need about each one of your snacks including a detailed description and the nutrition facts for each. This booklet is also made out of sustained forests and is 100 % biodegradable. 

First, Poppy seed Pretzels and Cinnamon Honey Almonds which was my favorite snack out of all four. These are made out of all natural and healthy ingredients and are the perfect combination of salty and sweet because we all know how much I love my sweets!

Poppy seed Pretzels 

(wheat flour, palm oil, malt extract, sugar, salt, yeast & poppy seeds)

Cinnamon & Honey Almonds

(roasted almonds, sugar, honey & cinnamon)

Nutrition Facts for 1 snack pack:

Calories: 130

Total Fat: 8g

Sugars: 6g 

Protein: 4g

The next snack in my box was this Raspberry and Coconut Muffin which I thought sounded odd because it was nothing like a muffin it was more like a trail mix, but it was good none the less. With long thick strips of real coconut and the Amaretti drops were something different but so tasty!

Raspberry and Coconut Muffin

Amaretti drops

(sugar, sweet apricot kernel, bitter apricot kernel, free range egg white, sweet almond)

Raspberry infused cranberries

(cranberries, sugar, natural flavor, citric acid, sunflower oil, elderberry juice concentrate)

Almond slices

(blanched almonds)

Coconut flakes

(coconut flakes)

Nutrition Facts for 1 snack pack:

Calories: 140 

Total Fat: 8g

Sugars: 11g

Protein: 3g

The third snack I got in my box was called Mai Tai. These unfortunately were not my favorite out of the box because I am more of a sweet or salty snack person not much a spicy which these weren't necessarily spicy but the sauce had a kick to it. My dad loved them which was good, but I guess there was going to be one snack out of all that I wouldn't have liked as much. 

 'Mai Tai'

Baked Soy Bites

(rice, sugar, palm oil, modified tapioca starch, soy sauce, salt, caramel, paprika extract, liquorice powder, disodium guanylate, disodium inosinate)

Sweet Chili Sauce

(sugar, water, spirit vinegar, red chili puree, cornflour, white wine vinegar, garlic puree, salt, dried garlic, ginger puree, dried red peppers)

Nutrition Facts for 1 snack pack

Calories: 80 

Total Fat: 1g

Sugars: 11g

Protein: less than 1g

The last and final snack I got in my box were these Fruit and Seed Flapjacks which were basically miniature fruit and nut bars. These were really good and would be a nice breakfast option if you were running late and needed a quick meal. I wouldn't eat all three bars in one sitting because these could be quite filling. You can visibly see the fruit and seeds throughout which proves how natural and healthy these are packed full of healthy ingredients. 

Fruit and Seed Flapjack

(rolled oats, non hydrogenated margarine, golden syrup, demerara sugar, apricots, dates, sunflower seeds, sultanas, raisins, currants, pumpkin seeds)

Nutrition Facts for 1 snack pack

Calories: 230

Total Fat: 11g

Sugars: 19g

Protein: 3g

Overall I am very pleased with my Graze box and I hope that some of you try it out! Graze also caters to everyone and has a tab if you have dietary preferences and sections off the snacks based on each preference. For example, with or without gluten, with nuts or without, with milk or without, spicy foods and ones that requires a microwave. What I also really like about Graze is that you are able to subscribe and get your boxes on a regular basis depending on which box you choose. One being every two weeks and the other once a week. But you are also able to just go and purchase one single box with no subscription if you want to test the box out which is what I did, but I will be purchasing another box again for sure. If you think about how expensive some of the healthy snacks can be at these health food stores or just for the price of each of the ingredients to make one snack equals the price of one box, $6! 

Make sure to check them out at www.graze.com 

Watermelon Rosemary Lemonade

Summer is here and that means one thing..LEMONADE. Being one of my all time favorite drinks, lemonade unfortunately can hold a lot of sugar which is not the healthiest. Why I love this particular lemonade is because it doesn't taste like any other normal lemonade you buy from the store and is made out of so few ingredients. I found this Watermelon Rosemary Lemonade recipe from Tone It Up. As soon as I saw a this recipe I knew I had to try it out and it has quickly become my new go to summer beverage. 

This was such an easy recipe and what I love about it is how there are no unknown ingredients in it with weird chemicals. It makes enjoying this drink that much more knowing what you are putting into your body and you aren't loading up with a bunch of sugar and calories. 

Watermelon is already one of my favorite fruits and lemonade being one of my favorite summer beverages, this combination is perfect. Adding the rosemary was different and I have never really tried rosemary or cooked with it before so I was excited to see how it tasted with the watermelon and lemons, and they went together so smoothly!

Look at what a beauty that watermelon is...ah it just screams summer doesn't it? There is something so satisfying about cutting open a watermelon and seeing the vibrant color. What I found that worked the best when measuring out your watermelon was using a ladle and scooping it out into a bowl. 

I seem to always have lemons in the kitchen because I use them for just about everything. From recipes, to face masks and beauty treatments. They are full of antioxidants and vitamins and I consider them sort of a super fruit! Using fresh lemon juice instead of the pre-packaged lemon juice in the bottle, gives this recipe even more of a tang and freshness. 

After you have all of your ingredients measured out, all you have to do is start to put all of them together into your preferred canister. This recipe will make a couple of servings so make sure to keep the rest of your lemonade in the refrigerator and it should last for a couple days.

All of these ingredients are fresh and can be found either in your kitchen already or at any grocery store. I can just see myself this summer making this lemonade all the time. I hope you guys try it out!

What you need:

- 6 lemons

- 3 cups watermelon

- 3 sprigs rosemary

- 4 cups water

- 3 tbsp agave nectar

- 4 packets stevia

 What to do:

1. Combine 2 cups of boiled water, rosemary and agave nectar and let sit for thirty minutes.

2. During the thirty minutes, blend your watermelon in a blender into a liquid. When the thirty minutes is up take the rosemary water and pour into your canister leaving the rosemary sprigs out. 

3. Take your watermelon and pour into the canister along with the remaining 2 cups of water, the juice of 6 lemons, and your stevia. Mix well, pour into a glass and enjoy!