Happy December!

Me with my BFF, Summer, on a lazy late Nov. Sunday morning.

What a beautiful way to begin the holidays- tonight I join many supporters at the Americana Manhasset for ‘Champions for Charity’, a holiday shopping benefit that donates 25% of the profits to the charity listed of your choice.

This evening, my husband and I will be supporting the amazing Friends of Karen, a charitable organization that is forever in my heart. They make it possible for families to be families during the unimaginable circumstance of a child being diagnosed with a terminally ill disease.

This month promises to be a busy one, and try my few little tips and tricks for making it a bit more peaceful.

1. Shop Local! Support your community and those who help fill up Main Street. Shop local.

2. Feed your feathered friends and share quality time with those you love. These adorable bird feeders were a part of most of our childhoods, so relive it at your house one weeknight before or after dinner. Thanks to Alicia Silverstone for reminding me of this awesome little craft in her Kind Life blog today.

3. Do hollow rocks in the morning. Oh, hollow rocks. How I love you. My trainer at Crossfit Revenge last week introduced this amazing technique to us, and said, “Your stomach muscles will react quickly if you engage them everyday.” DONE! I COMMIT! Learn the technique and work up your numbers by 3-5 each day.

4. Hydrate. All day long, drink your H2O. Even in the colder months, our bodies need hydration, and it will help you avoid dry skin! Bring along your eco-friendly water bottle everywhere.

5. Listen. Stories are everywhere and sharing helps, so fine tune your listening skills this season and let others share. It’s wondrous when you actually stop talking and allow yourself a break from ‘leading’. I find myself needing to remind myself every once in a while. Perhaps we all do.

6. Buy an extra gift card. Spend $10 extra on a gift card and give it to a charity serving children and families. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Long Island is serving 111 families and over 200 children this year, and deliver gifts to the families’ doorsteps. Amazing.

7. Make cocoa. Turn off the tv and make cocoa with your children, friends or significant other. This recipe begs to be tried. Add some Sweet and Sara mallows to make it really homey. Then, watch the birds enjoy your new feeders.

Official Holiday Season!

Happy official holiday season!

Stay tuned… The parttimevegan holiday guide is dropping soon, and with it will come amazing vegan giveaways from some amazing cruelty free companies… More information coming soon!!

Quick Cranberry Relish

A quick, easy and three ingredient, one-step cranberry relish for your Thanksgiving table!

One bag fresh cranberries
Two oranges, peeled and separated
1/2 cup sugar

Combine all in a cuisinart or blender until smooth with light liquid and nice speckles of cranberry and orange. Keep in fridge about 30 minutes before serving and then let sit to room temperature. Enjoy!

Tags: cranberry sauce, relish recipe, Thanksgiving

Beautiful Vegan: Thanksgiving Special from Soulstice Spa!

Loving our friends at Soulstice this Thanksgiving, offering a fabulous special on their nail colours! ENJOY!

*Join their newsletter for updates and specials year round!

1. Visit Soulstice to select your shades
2. Email them with your five shades & your shipping address – please put VEGAN in the subject line of your email.
3. They’ll send you a payment link to complete your purchase

*special bonus* – The first five people to purchase this offer will receive a free package of Sunshine Burgers. Organic, gluten-free and available in five flavors. (USA customers only)

Random Act[ivism]: Open Your Heart at a Food Pantry

One of my biggest reasons for veganism is my disgust with the food industry as a whole. The political behind-the-scenes of ‘subsidies’ and ‘financing’, and the ghastly debate of whether  or not Congress will make pizza a ‘vegetable’. I am sickened by the reality that the dollar menu at McDonald’s is the sustenance chosen by many families because of it’s appealing pricing. My heart aches knowing there are humans without dinner tonight.

Almost every  family is looking for a meal that has an appealing price these days, and my hands-down favorite when in a time or budget pinch is the homemade black bean burger. (Yes! See the recipes tab for the details!) For under $5, you can feed a family of four a nutritious, fast and simple meal that meets almost every check point on your list.

This past weekend I had the pleasure of assisting a non-profit at a local food pantry, handing out boxes of pantry items, fresh veggies and some Thanksgiving meals to those facing extreme adversity. Over 80 families in-need waited in line for over an hour for the food and a prayer.

When I had spoken to the manager of the food pantry a few weeks prior, I asked if I may offer a few bags of ingredients for my budget-friendly black bean burgers along with a recipe. Instead, I was given a table inside the doors to showcase budget-friendly and answer questions about vegan meals. With access to the pantry itself, I was asked to pack about 20 bags of black bean burger ingredients and copies of the recipe were handed to every individual who came that day. My conversations with each family was focused on my goal to create fast and budget-friendly meals and how to do it with a can of black beans, an inch or two of diced scallions and a bag of frozen veggies. The conversations were inspiring- one gentleman was a head chef who has been out of work and he offered me a veganized Vidalia onion recipe in exchange for my bare bones black bean burgers. One mother asked me about her own teenager who was interested in becoming vegan and needed more ideas than PB&J.

What transpired in the three hours I spent at the food pantry was inspiring. At one point I was asked, “Will you be here each month with a new recipe?”

Absolutely. What better way to help others than through ideas for fueling our bodies? In these times, we all need a simple, inexpensive recipe that we can go to in a pinch. And it can be a powerhouse recipe if there is room for ‘doctoring’ with favorite spices and other ingredients. Besides a box of food that day, we had all given each other a smile and a piece of each other. From human to human, we simply cannot let another fall by the wayside, nor can we have anyone relying on a dollar menu. Get the word out- share a simple black bean burger recipe with your local food pantry and share the $5 family meal for all of us who need it most. While not the most vegan of sayings,  providing a little recipe and a nutritious budget-friendly idea is one of the simplest ways to ‘teach a man to fish’.

My Love Hate Relationship with a Messy Kitchen

My husband leaves a massive mess across the kitchen counters when he cooks dinner. And he, unlike me, does not mind sitting down to eat with the kitchen mess looming in the distance. Bowls piled in the sink, chopped veggies strewn across multiple cutting boards and pans and pots basking in their post sauté gravy while we eat.

This vegan virgo does not do well with mess. Nor the redundancy of cleaning the kitchen night, after night, after night.

However I had an epiphany this week though, while I donned my dish gloves and scrubbed a pot from last night’s attempt at recreating the Trader Joe’s Masala Burger. My messy kitchen is our messy kitchen. And the reason why it’s messy night, after night, after night is because we are cooking night, after night, after night.

Our meals are made with the children sitting at the table coloring or laughing or running in between our legs screaming during the witching hour of 5-6PM. Our meals are made from our fridge and pantry, chopped, peeled, diced and mixed by our hands. The looming mess is an after thought as we enjoy a wholesome meal together, as a family.

That mess is my new symbol of strength, happiness and fulfillment. I cook a little, my husband cooks a lot. As my husband and I scrub and dry and load the dishwasher together, I can’t be anything but overwhelmed by his dedication to providing his family with fuel for our body and soul. That together we are committed to fueling rather than just feeding our bodies and those of our babies, to creativity in the kitchen and to continuing to learn and grow together. A vegan table, or any table for that matter, is strengthened when fresh, close to the source meals are assembled and enjoyed.

Even for this vegan virgo, a mess can mean so much more- if I have the chance to analyze it. And clean it.

Frankenchipper

You may have wondered, ‘what is this frankenchipper @parttimevegan is talking about?’

I had frankenchipper for lunch today. A slightly modified version, to fit into the 25 minutes I had after warming up to really workout during my lunch hour at Crossfit Revenge. Frankenchipper is crippling in full, and even my modified version (halved the thrusters, box jumps and single jumps) had my hands shaking as I ate my lunch back at my desk afterwards.

The Workout of the Day

but don’t let it scare you off from reading the last paragraph!

500m Row
400m Run
21 Kettlebell Swings (53/35)
21 Pull-ups
50 Thrusters (45/35)
30 Wall Ball (20/10)
3 Rds of Cindy: (5 Pull-ups, 10 Push-ups, 15 Squats)
30 Box Jumps (24″/20″ inch box)
21 Handstand Push-ups
50 Double Unders/200 single jumps
30 Knees-to-elbows
21 Burpees

The most amazing thing about a workout like Frankenchipper is your accomplishment and undeniable endurance displayed during the workout, no matter how long it takes you to finish or the modification. A quote I recently heard and loved is ‘Every Finish line is just another Starting line.’ Completing the above sets you up for your next accomplishment.

Whatever you can do today to enable your body to feel a sense of accomplishment, vibrance and energy counts towards your next breath. It’s a beautiful, sunny last Friday in October. Enjoy a walk after work, on your own or holding hands with your children. Get your bike out of the garage and take a spin. Pour your vegan wine and dance in your kitchen. At the very least, sit up straight, right this very second, smile, breathe in and stretch your arms up high above your head and breathe out. You are alive, you are loved and right this moment is your next starting line.

Tags: #fuelgood, crossfit, crossfit revenge, frankenchipper, parttimevegan, twitter, vegan