Pumpkin Soup

Two food blog posts in one day?! What is this insanity?!

It's been a lazy Sunday spent in my kitchen! I had some pumpkin puree left over from my pancakes the other day, and decided to whip up some pumpkin soup. I scaled the recipe way down because I didn't have much pumpkin left (and honestly, I'm only cooking for one) so if you decide to try this out you may want to double the amount of ingredients. Here's what I did:

Ingredients:
-1 cup pumpkin puree (canned)
-2 cups chicken stock or broth
-1/3 cup heavy cream (I opted for almond milk instead to keep it healthier)
-1/4 cup chopped onion
-1/2 tablespoon Flavorgod™ Garlic Lover seasoning
-1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
-3 pieces of turkey bacon, cooked and crumbled
-Black peppercorn to taste

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in medium-sized saucepan, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. I saved some of the turkey bacon bits to sprinkle on top. That's it!

Banana Protein Waffles

Good morning and happy Sunday, fitness friends!

I decided to dust off my trusty waffle iron this morning and put that bad boy to good use. Here's the recipe for my whole wheat banana protein waffles:

Ingredients:
-1 egg (or 2 egg whites, I decided to use the whole egg today for the extra fat.)
-1 large banana
-1/4 cup whole wheat flour (or you can use oat flour, whichever you prefer.)
-1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
-1 scoop Protein Synthesis™ vanilla protein powder
-1 scoop Glutacor™

Directions:
Grease and preheat waffle maker.  Mix all ingredients together in large bowl. When waffle maker is ready, pour in batter, close lid, and wait until light goes off (or however your waffle iron works). I drizzled my waffle with peanut butter and sprinkled some cocoa chia granola on top. So-freaking-good and so-freaking-easy!

Pumpkin Protein Pancakes

Good morning, all!

This morning I got the hankering for some pumpkin pancakes, like, the "can't eat, can't sleep, reach for the stars, over the fence, world series kind of" -- craving. :)

Considering I don't make anything without also adding in my favorite supplements and healthy twists I figured I'd share it with you all! Here's my recipe for pumpkin protein pancakes:

Ingredients:
-1/3 cup pumpkin puree (canned)
-1/2 cup oats
-2 egg whites (or about a 1/2 cup)
-2 tablespoons unsweetened vanilla almond milk
-1 scoop protein powder (I used Protein Synthesis® in vanilla)
-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix all ingredients together in a medium sized bowl.  Grease a non-stick skillet pan over medium-heat. Once heated, pour batter and let sit until tiny bubbles form on top. Flip and let other side cook, and voilà! I topped mine with a little powdered sugar and cocoa powder, but I bet peanut butter would be pretty good too ;). ENJOY!

Nicki's Healthy Pizza

Hello everyone and Happy Sunday! 

If you follow me on other forms of social media, I promised to put my recipe for my healthy homemade pizza up on here.  So, here it is!

Pizza Sauce:
-8 oz. can tomato sauce
-2 teaspoons FlavorGod® Garlic Lovers seasoning
-1/4 teaspoon black pepper
-1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
-1 teaspoon Sriracha® (because I'm crazy and I put this ish in ERRYTHANG)

Pizza Dough:
-4 cups whole wheat flour
-1 teaspoon sugar
-2 teaspoons salt
-1 envelope all natural yeast
-1 1/2 cups hot water
-2 tablespoons olive oil
-1 scoop Glutacor® (available at Nutrishop Dewitt)

Combine all dry ingredients together in large bowl, mix in hot water and olive oil until dough forms a solid ball.  Remove from bowl, knead into a smooth ball on lightly floured surface.  Place in a large, oiled bowl, cover with saran wrap, and keep in warm area to let rise for 1 hour.

After dough has risen, turn out onto lightly floured surface and divide into 2 pieces.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Stretch out dough and place on pizza stone or baking pan. Spoon on sauce and add whatever toppings you like.  I chose to put Italian style shredded cheese (a blend of low-moisture, part-skim mozzarella, provolone, romano, asiago, and parmesan cheese), black olives, mushrooms, broccoli, and andouille turkey sausage.  Pop that bad boy in the oven for 10-15 minutes and enjoy!

Liebster Award

Hello all!

My friend and fellow health food blogger, Alanna (http://www.eatsrealfood.com), has nominated me for a Liebster Award! 

A Liebster Award is an award passed on among bloggers in an effort to get to discover new blogs and get to know one another. I'm so excited and grateful that this torch has been passed to me! This is how it works, I have been asked to answer a few questions about myself, and then I get to do the same to other bloggers! Here goes...

1. If you could eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be? Probably rice, it's just in my Asian genes! (And I pretty much ate it everyday growing up because of my Mom and Grandma). 
2. What/where is your “happy” place? My yoga mat. No matter what has happened during the day, when I step on that mat it all flutters away and I feel at ease and happy. 
3. What is your favorite season and why? I honestly love all seasons, each one has so much different beauty to appreciate! I will say that I have a strong bond with Autumn though, I think the smell of the leaves reminds me of my High School cross-country days, and that is something that always brings a smile to my face. 
4. What is one feature that you love about yourself? My legs! Especially my calves! I used to be so self-conscious about them because I always thought they looked so muscular from all the running and weight-lifting I did, but I have come to appreciate and love everything about myself and can now say I adore them. 
5. If you could bring only one thing on a deserted island, what would it be? Oh this is a toughie, and oddly something I think about often. I think I would bring a blanket, I feel like there's a lot of uses for that!
6. Where is your favorite place you’ve ever traveled? Columbus, OH. Would move there in a heart beat if I could. 
7. What is your favorite song that gets you pumped up? Bombs Away by B.o.B featuring Morgan Freeman. Such a great song to run to (and it feels like Morgan Freeman is narrating my run!)
8. What is one current goal you have for yourself? I've been working on my patience. Driving, waiting in line, dealing with difficult customers at work...I've made some improvements!
9. What is your favorite movie? The Book of Eli or Pulp Fiction, it's a toss up!
10. Who or what inspires you? Where do I begin with this one? I feel like I am constantly inspired by something. But to name a few: my parents, my better half, the sun, the  moon, trees, my best friend, the open roads, Rachel Brathen.....I could go on, and on, and on, and on....

Now I nominate Olga Marie (http://www.olgaswholelife.com) and Jenn (http://runnderlust.com) here are my questions for you:

1. What is your favorite color?

2. If you could be any animal (other than human) what would you be?

3. What do you do to relieve stress?

4. What is one fear you have conquered? 

5. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? 

6. Cats or dogs?

7. What is your favorite quote?

8. What is your favorite book?

9. What is your favorite holiday?

10. What goals are you currently working on?

Have fun, ladies! And as always, namaste! 

Radiantly You

Hello, all! 

Lately I have been focusing a lot more attention on the personal hygiene products I have been using. I started reading the ingredient labels, and it scared me how many (and the types of) ingredients that were present in them. My girlfriend, Jaime, is an Independent Wellness Guide for Radiantly You and she offered to send me some samples of their product (which I will go on to rave about in just a minute) and I did some research on the company! Radiantly You is a line of natural personal health and cleaning products. All ingredients are certified organic, gluten free, GMO free, paraben and sulfate free! To make it better, most of the ingredients are also locally sourced! One of the samples I tried was the Lavendar Sugar Scrub. Not only does it smell absolutely delicious, but it worked wonders! Being a runner and yogi I am constantly roughing up my body, particularly my feet. After using this scrub just once I noticed a huge difference! My feet were SO soft and I didn't feel like there was yucky residue left over. There are only 5 ingredients in the whole scrub: cane sugar, pomace (olive oil), glycerin, and essential Lavendar and Vanilla oil. That's it! The glycerine acts as a moisture barrier, and is an ingredient commonly left out of "store shelf" soap. I also tried out some lip balm (and I have super chapped lips, like ALL the time) and it was absolutely wonderful. I just love that there aren't any weird crazy earth-harming ingredients, everything is all natural, you help to support local businesses, and absolutely NO testing on animals! I mean really, what more could you ask for?! 

So...Jaime and I teamed up we decided to do a free giveaway! You can enter up to 6 times! Here is how you go about entering for it: 

-Go to www.radiantlyyou.com/jay and click "catalog"

-Pick out a product you would want to try then,

-Go on Facebook and "join" Jaime's Radiantly You Group

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/radiantlyyoujay/

-Post what product you want to try on the wall. This post will give you 1 entry!

If you'd like 5 entries listen to the opportunity call THIS WEDNESDAY NIGHT, 

the calls starts at 8:30 (est) and you call in then put the call on mute.  You will be hearing the founder of RY talk about the mission of Radiantly You 

and it's passion for PURITY!

{OPPORTUNITY CALL - Wednesdays @ 8:30pmEST

Call: 530-881-1300

Access code: 916401

How will I know if you listened? Simply e-mail Jaime letting her know that you listened in and you guys can chat a bit about your thoughts 😊

Jaime's Email: radiantlyyoujay@gmail.com

Good luck to all that enter, and as always, namaste! 

The Benefits of Yoga Practice

"Yoga is not a religion.  It is a science, science of well-being, science of youthfulness, science of integrating body, mind, and soul." -Amit Ray

Yoga: an age-old practice with a great deal of misconceptions.  Raise your hand if you think yoga is only for the flexible, or that the sole purpose of practicing yoga is to become flexible...did anyone's hands go up?  I will admit, prior to studying yoga I too had a clouded misconception about the practice.  As a runner, I always thought yoga was just out of the question.  I couldn't do yoga! I wasn't flexible enough! Besides, what do I need to be flexible for anyways?? (I am cringing as I write this because I now realize how silly I sounded.)  There are SO many benefits to yoga practice...I mean SO SO many...way more than just being "bendy", and today I look forward to sharing my story and insights with you and I hope it may break down some preconceived notions...


   I found yoga a while back in my college years, but didn't commit to a daily routine of it until this past year.  I, like most people, began it with the intention of gaining some flexibility.  I had begun to notice how tight my hips were when I would go for a run, sometimes so tight that I had to stop and walk (and if you know me at all I rarely stop to walk...too much pride I suppose, he-he).  So I started incorporating some Sun Salutations at the end of every run, focusing a lot on the lunges (great way to open up tight hips).  After only doing it consistently for a week, I started to see and feel a change.  My hips barely hurt at all when I ran, and I noticed that my lower back felt a lot better too!  I was pleasantly surprised with my results, so I decided to take it one step further.  I found a studio I really liked and started taking formal classes, trying to soak up as much knowledge as I could from the instructors.  I began practicing at the studio and at home, delving deeper into poses and pushing myself further than I thought I ever could have.  My flexibility skyrocketed, I could touch my head to my knees....I had never been able to do that before!

   It was very exciting, but what was more exciting was what else I had gained: inner peace and self-love.  I noticed that I had became more patient, slow to anger, and accepting of others.  No longer did that anger-filled customer at work bother me, I realized their actions toward me are not because of me, but a reflection of the battle they are facing.  I became more compassionate.  I became gentler.  I loved myself and my body; which in turn led to eating healthier and nourishing my body.  When you love your body, you want to only fuel it with the best!  I cut out red meat, milk, and beer.  I increased my intake of fruits, vegetables, and water.  I began getting a minimal of 8 hours of sleep a night.  And you know what, I have never felt more ALIVE!

   It's just my opinion, but I think that is the point of yoga.  It's not about being able to do a handstand, a split, or any other pretzel-like pose...it's about loving and accepting yourself and others.  It's about being the absolute best person you can be.  It's about finding inner happiness and reflecting it out like rays of the sun.  And in time, that split will come, it's just one of the perks :).

Namaste: the divine in me honors the divine in you.