Workouts We've Been Doing Lately

Lately Ben and I been really in to working out at home in the mornings. We usually only have time for 30 minutes max, but we've found some really great workouts that we can fit in to our schedule. They're all pretty killer and we have really been enjoying them.

Janae's Killer Quickie
Janae is an awesome vegan mom that I used to take workout classes from at UVU. She is a machine when it comes to working out. I can remember when she was nearly 6 mo pregnant and kicking all of our butts in aerobics. Janae has a vegan food and exercise blog and recently has been posting some great workouts. I don't do it with weights, but find that most of the exercises are just fine without them.

Warmup: Jogging in place (knees up and kick your butt positions), jumping jacks, and ballistic stretching p90x style
Workout: 7-minute Kickboxing or 6-minute total body tone THEN rock your core 10-minute abs
Cool down: Stretching


The Spartacus Workout
The Spartacus Workout is a 1-minute 10-station circuit that you repeat twice, for a total of 20 minutes. I set up a 1 minute timer on my phone and have the website on my laptop so I can click through the exercises. Again I don't do it with weights, but most of the exercises are just as challenging without them.

Warmup: Jogging in place (knees up and kick your butt positions), jumping jacks, and ballistic stretching p90x style
Workout: www.menshealth.com/mhlists/high-intensity-circuit-routine 
Cool down: Stretching OR 10 minute 'Happy Days' yoga

Yoga-a-Day
I totally love the online yoga sequence videos from the Yoga Journal's 21-day Yoga Challenge. Technically you're supposed to do one every day, but I like doing a 15-35 minute practice on the days that I don't do one of the above workouts or on days I really just need a mental break. Below are my favorite practices (again, 15-35 minutes long). A few of them need props like a block or strap, but I've found that if I don't feel like going to get my equipment I can get through them just fine.

My favorites:
Morning Sequence
Yoga for Morning
Hip Openers
Awakening Practice
Yoga for Better Energy
Quieting Practice

Second Hike of the Season -- Trying out the New Gear

Today we decided to try out all our new gear on a short, couple hour hike up Grove Creek Canyon just a few minutes from our house. We packed up our sleeping bags, tents, etc and set out. We wanted to test out the gear, specifically the backpacks and start getting them broken in. We also want to start doing short hikes not the weekends to get ourselves in shape to do some longer hikes (5-7 days) by the middle to end of the summer. We took it pretty easy since it was just a test run and ended up hiking for about 2 hours for a roundtrip of 4 miles.

It was a gorgeous day today and it was so clear we could see right across the lake. So pretty! It was super hot though, almost 80 degrees. It felt amazing but neither of us are used to the heat so we got fatigued faster than expected. I was sweating buckets!

For those of you who don't know, Molly absolutely LOVES the outdoors. As soon as we pull our hiking boots out she starts whimpering and excitedly running around. By the time we put her harness on she is a whimpering jittery mess (it's totally adorable). She makes the cutest sounds when she's excited--like 'mmmmmfff' and 'mmmmm!' She doesn't ever bark so it's mostly just whining and kind of muffled grumbling. She runs straight to the car when we get outside and jumps right on the backseat. She loves having the window rolled down and sniffs the air the whole ride to where ever we are headed. I always tell Ben Molly is the perfect mix of house dog and outside dog because she can really hold her own when we get on the trail. She walks about 10 ft ahead of us and just trots along the whole time. She doesn't mind rocks or shale and is great with other dogs and people on the trail. She's so great! Oh, and she HATES when we stop to rest. If we stop for more than a second she runs ahead on the trail and looks around then runs back and makes disgruntled noises under her breath. As soon as we start moving again she runs ahead on the trail and looks so exited.

Anyway, enough about Molly. Here are pictures of us all outfitted with our gear and looking very sweaty.  We had so much fun today and I'm totally in love with our gear. I can't WAIT to do longer hikes!

Upcoming Trips

Remember how for Ben's birthday we got some backpacking/hiking gear? Well we've gotten even MORE since then and have started planning some sweet adventures! These are the trips that are set in stone so far, but we've got a ton more planned. Just trying to figure out how to squeeze them all in! I also included the two not-so-campy trips we have planned that I'm still super excited for.

Sand Hollow -- next week

The front of this bad boy (Mt. Timpanogos) -- every free weekend
We live right at the base of this mountain and it takes like 10 m to get to a bunch of awesome trail heads.

Livermore, CA -- mid May
We're going to visit Ben's sister who lives just outside of San Francisco. It's so pretty there!

Arches -- end of May

Castle Country area -- mid July

San Diego, CA -- August
We're heading to my hometown of San Diego for a family reunion and some serious beach time.

Pi(e) Day

I know this post is over a month old, but I just wanted to show off the pie Ben and I made for pi(e) day at my work! Everyone loved it and no one could believe it was vegan! They completely devoured it--not a crumb left!

Quinoa Salad with Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Kale, Dried Cranberries, and Red Onion

Just made this quinoa salad with roasted sweet potatoes, dried cranberries, kale, and red onion. A little time-consuming for a weekday meal, but tasty! I substituted a few things: used dinosaur kale instead of regular, and regular quinoa instead of black. Also, a little bit more  salt. And there's no way it serves 6, more like 3. Maybe 6 as a side dish...

Painting Miniatures

Recently Ben and I decided to foray in to the art of painting miniatures. We have been fans of board games for quite some time but had never bought our own or really got into it in-depth. However, in the last six months we decided that it was something we wanted to try out. We bought a couple of board games that came with mini casts and spent a good chunk of money on files, an x-acto knife, glue, primer, sealant, brushes, and, of course, paints (FYI-minis come as metal or plastic casts and are often unassembled). We researched online and watched hilarious YouTube videos (I'm looking at you GirlPainting) until we felt ready to try it out. After seeing some terrible paint jobs on Board Game Geek, I was terrified that I would do a horrible job and that all the money we spent on paints would be wasted. I was also worried that it would be a hobby I wouldn't enjoy and that, again, the money and time would be wasted. Fortunately, neither of those fears came true! I was quite pleased to find that, though miniature painting is challenging, it's quite doable and Ben and I were decent at it starting out. I'm hoping we get better, but I'm not totally embarrassed of our minis so far. My most recent mini is the snake (above) and I'm actually quite proud of it.

Here is the first mini I ever painted:

And here is the first mini Ben ever painted:

Besides being decent at it, we actually enjoy it! It's so much fun to just put on a movie you're seen before or only need half your brain to watch and just paint away. Though, it is much more time consuming than I realized. We've probably had 10 or so painting sessions and only completed the miniatures seen in this post (we have three of each model, so some I only included one picture if we painted them all the same). Between priming, painting (layers on layers), washing, dry brushing, drying, and priming, it really adds up!

Anyway, I thought I would share the pics and give you a glimpse in to our super nerdy life :)

St. Patrick's Day Dinner

Ok, I know this post is totally belated but I really wanted to post pictures from our St. Patrick's Day dinner.

One the menu, we had:
Cauliflower colcannon 
Corned beef-less tips
Corned cabbage and potatoes
Bread that we picked up from Whole Foods

Everything was delicious and everyone was amazed at the beef-less tips! Definitely a successful St. Patrick's Day meal.

Pizzeria 712 in Provo, Utah

In the last couple of months, Ben and I have visited Pizzeria 712 in Provo a few times. Pizzeria 712 is a kind of high-end pizza place with fancy pizzas which mostly have funky-fancy meat and animal product toppings (eggs, fresh cheeses, etc). However, they have one vegan pizza on their menu and are more than happy to make a vegan pizza at your request.

Pizzeria 712 serves pita bread and hummus as a complimentary appetizer which is vegan, and they also have some delicious Brussels's sprouts with slivered almonds that are also vegan. Perfect to split between two people, and so tasty!

The on-menu vegan pizza is the one pictured below. Tomato sauce, pine nuts, fresh basil, and arugula tossed in some kind of oil. It's actually very tasty and though it looks plain is a perfect combination of flavor. I, or course, love the crunchy brick-oven-roasted-before-your-eyes crust.

Ben thinks the on-menu vegan pizza is too plain and always challenges the chefs to come up with something for him. Normally it involves onions, fennel, some kind of fresh herb, and sometimes kalamata olives or other things. One such creation is pictured below.

The one thing I don't like about Pizzeria 712 is how expensive it is. The Brussel's sprouts are about $7 (can't remember exactly) and each person pizza is around $12 (No, you can't split one. At least Ben and I can't). So, for a tasty but not super filling meal you're already up around $30 plus tip. Not going to break the bank, but it's not a weeknight dinner either. It's also not going to fulfill your greasy pizza craving, so it fits in a weird niche of fancy pizza dinner carb craving night for over $30. Ben and I don't really get those cravings often so we don't go there often. But it's nice once in a while, and if you haven't checked it out you definitely need to.

Sushi Salad--Wow!

I just made the sushi salad from Two Peas and Their Pod (seen right). Um, wow. I'm blown away. It's totally delicious! Go make it. Right now. If you love sushi, you'll love this. Even if you DON'T love sushi, you'll love this.

I made a few modifications to the original recipe, so I've included my version of the recipe below.

Salad
1 C Wild rice
2 1/4 C Water
1/4 C Brown rice vinegar
3 Tbs Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Salt
2 Tbs Sesame seeds
3 Tbs Asian stir-fry oil (Toasted sesame oil is even better if you have it! But you could also use canola oil.)
2 Tbs finely chopped fresh Ginger
3 green onions, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
1 large cucumber, chopped
1 C shelled Edamame
2 sheets Nori, cut into little squares
1 Avocado, peeled, pitted, and cubed

Dressing
2 tsp Wasabi powder
1 Tbs Hot water
4 Tbs Cold water
2 Tbs Soy sauce
1 tsp Ginger powder

Cook rice and 2 C water in a rice cooker or in a pot over the stove.

Once the rice is finished, bring the vinegar to a boil with sugar and salt, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat. Transfer the hot rice to a large bowl and stir in the vinegar mixture.

Let rice cool. Once the rice is cool, stir in sesame seeds, oil, ginger, green onions, carrot, cucumber, edamame, nori, and avocado.

In a small bowl, whisk the wasabi powder and hot water together. Add in cold water, soy sauce, and ginger. Mix dressing in to salad and serve.

Swimsuit Season? Not today...

So I almost died when I got the J. Crew swimsuit catalog in the mail a few weeks ago.They have some truly AMAZING suits this year! I was beyond excited. Sometime between October and January last year I was swimsuit shopping for our honeymoon and felt like I would never be able to find a cute one piece that was flattering and stylish. I finally settled on a pretty cute pink bikini (seen below) and wore it for the trip.

 
BUT we have a trip coming up with my family to San Diego and with my being Mormon they are not so keen on two piece swimsuits. So I was in the market again for a one piece swimsuit. I saw the ones from J. Crew and was immediately in love. I ordered a bunch online and returned them all except my favorite, as seen below. Isn't it darling? and it fits like a dream! Be warned, though, I think their cup size runs one size larger than other places.

Anyway, so now I have this super cute bathing suit that I can't WAIT to wear and it's raining and drizzly outside :( Though maybe that's a good thing because I'm pretty sure if it was sunny I would be parading around the yard in my new swimsuit.

Bombay House in Provo, Utah

Ben and I got take-out from Bombay House in Provo recently and I realized I've never posted about their food. Picture here is some tandoori roti and garlic naan, mattar tofu, yellow daal, and aloo gobi. I absolutely LOVE their food and their staff is very knowledgeable about veganism and can tell you if any item on the menu can be made vegan. Bombay House is probably my favorite Indian food restaurant in Utah Valley!

Seasonal Onion Rings at Vertical Diner!

When Ben and I went to Vertical Diner over the weekend they had these FANTASTIC onion rings on their seasonal menu! They were pretty pricey at $6 for the batch seen below, but totally worth it for a special treat. I asked the waitress if they would be adding them to their regular menu and she said that they were popular but no plans have been made yet :/

SO if you're like Ben and I and LOVE onion rings you better hurry your little but over there and get some before they're all gone!

New Backpacking Gear!

So... Ben's birthday was last week and we went birthday shopping over the weekend. Our most notable purchases were new backpacking backpacks for Ben and me! REI was doing their yearly member's discount and so we decided to get some big-ticket items. They are SO BEAUTIFUL and we CAN'T WAIT to try them out! We've been looking at hikes all morning.

Ben's backpack

My backpack

First Hike of the Season

Today Ben, Molly, and I drove up American Fork canyon (10 m from our house) to check out the snow levels and get out for the first time in months. The snow got a bit deep as we got farther up the canyon but was mostly melted (yay!). The road is closed about 14 miles up and the trail to Timpanogas cave is still closed. We stopped off a few times and hiked a few miles. It felt so good to get out in the fresh air and get our hearts pumping! Molly had a blast and zonked on the drive home.

Ben's Birthday Weekend and Easter in photos

Ben's birthday (Friday) started with this. Lots of cuddling in bed and going to work late.

Birthday breakfast consisted of Chocolate french toast with strawberries, Smartlife bacon, OJ,  and So Delicious coconut yogurt

My cutie. That night we went to dinner and then had cake in bed while watching a movie.

The next day (Saturday) we did birthday shopping and then had dinner at Vertical Diner (FANTASTIC onion rings pictured here)

That night we had cake with Ben's family

The next night we had dinner (fajitas) with my family for Ben's birthday and for Easter

Cute table setting by my mom

Ben's third birthday cake

AAAAAAND Easter candies!

Can't wait to watch Game of Thrones tonight and pig out on these lovelies from Lagusta's Luscious.