Curried Rainbow Vegetable Skillet

I'm not a huge fan of spring.  It is generally my least favorite season, at least until it is the middle of August hits and I'm cursing summer for being too damn hot.  In the Pacific Northwest, spring is generally a four month long tease that winter is over.  For us, it has been the rainiest season ever.  Literally, it was the rainiest winter and spring on record this last year.  Welcome to earth Ben, it rains a lot here!

The one reprieve we get in the spring is that some better quality and better priced produce starts showing up in the grocery store.  At my local grocery store I found asparagus for $1.89 per pound.  Chyah!  Last night I felt like having lighter dinner with lots of veggies, so in went my asparagus along with some other bright veggies.

I always have lentils cooked and frozen in the freezer to quickly thaw and add to meals like this, but feel free to leave out this ingredient or to use another cooked bean you like.  I also have a homemade (thanks mom) potato bag that cooks my potatoes in the microwave within minutes.  The cooking time for lentils and potato are therefore not included in my estimate below.

Curried Rainbow Vegetable Skillet
Time: 10 minute prep, 15 minute saute
Servings: 2 main servings or 4 side servings

Ingredients:
    Saute:
        1/2 red onion, diced
        1 small red bell pepper, diced
        1/2 bunch asparagus, bottom edges trimmed and 1/2 " sliced on the bias
    Pre-cooked ingredients to add:
        1 medium sweet potato, cooked, peeled, and cubed
        1 cup cooked brown lentils
    Quick Curry Sauce:
        3/4 cup plant-based milk, ideally unsweetened
        1 Tbsp almond butter, any nut/seed butter could work... maybe not PB, but you do you
        1 Tbsp curry powder, I used a Caribbean Curry spice mix
        salt, to taste

Instructions:
1.)  Prep all ingredients.  In a large skillet over medium-high heat dry saute the red onion, bell pepper, and asparagus, adding only small amounts of water as needed to prevent the vegetables from burning and sticking to the pan.
2.)  In a small bowl mix together the curry sauce ingredients.  Turn heat down to medium-low and add the sweet potato, lentils, and curry sauce.  Continue to cook and toss ingredients until the sauce has thickened and coated the vegetables.
3.)  Serve immediately.  I bet this would be amazing as a cold salad as well, maybe with extra sweet potato.  Bring it to a potluck.  Be the envy of your friends.

Amy's Notes:
Like I said above the recipe, I always have lentils prepped in the freezer, but if you don't and need to make this RIGHT NOW, here is a quick tutorial on how to cook lentils on the stovetop.  If you have an electric pressure cooker: 1 cup dried lentils, 2 cups water, high pressure for 6 minutes, natural pressure release, drain any excess water

  The sweet potatoes I used are the ones with a white/cream colored flesh, not orange like a yam.   I just throw mine into a potato bag and microwave it for 8 minutes.  My mom made me one for Christmas from this pattern I believe.  I know some people have a problem with microwaving their food, but in my mind, I think it is better to be able to get a cooked potato in my mouth relatively quickly than to turn to snacking on other unhealthy items (ahem... chips and crackers are my weakness).  Alternatively, you can bake ahead of time or steam your potato in a pressure cooker.

I found that this was plenty hearty enough for a main meal, but if you'd like you can double the curry sauce and serve over brown rice or your favorite whole grain.  Topping with cilantro would probably be pretty tasty too.  I just didn't have any on hand.


Health and Happiness,

Amy

Pinterest Reference:

Coconut Curry Hummus

I bring hummus to everything.  Dinner at a friend's house, hummus.  BBQ or picnic, hummus.  Pot-luck at work, hummus.  I have my usual hummus that a bring, which is a traditional hummus topped with spices and pine nuts (find it here).  And I also have a few other hummuses (hummi?) in my arsenal:

Spicy Buffalo Wing Hummus
Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
Lentil and Cashew Hummus
Green Split Pea Hummus
Chive Hummus

A friend of mine, who happens to work at Total Wine (essentially Costco for beer, wine, and liqour) invited me over for apps and beer tomorrow evening.  So what am I bringing?  Hummus of course!  For this hummus, I didn't want to take the time to soak and cook chickpeas, so I chose to use yellow split peas, which cook up in under an hour.  I was also out of tahini, so in go the raw cashews!  Add some spices and voila!  Curry hummus!

Coconut Curry Hummus
Time: 40 minutes prep, 5 minutes blending
Servings: party-size servings

Ingredients:
        1 cup dried yellow split peas (about 3 cups cooked)
        3/4 cup lite coconut milk (from the can)
        1/2 cup raw cashews
        1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
        3 Tbsp curry powder
        1 tsp coriander
        1 tsp smoked paprika
        1/2+ tsp cayenne pepper, to taste (optional)
        1/2 tsp ground ginger
        1/4 tsp onion powder
        1/4 tsp garlic powder

Instructions:
1.)  To cook the dried yellow split peas, rinse and sort the peas.  Put the peas in a pot with three cups of water and heat to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for 30-40 minutes, until all of the water has been absorbed or has evaporated.  Stir occasionally over the last 10 minutes to ensure the peas don't stick to the pan and burn.  Allow to cool.
2.)  In a food processor, add all ingredients along with the cooled split peas.  Process until smooth and creamy, adding additional coconut milk and cayenne pepper to reach the desired texture and spiciness.
3.)  Top with sprinkled paprika and serve as a veggie and chip dip.  It can also be used as a sandwich or wrap spread.

Amy's Notes:
After finishing this recipe, I used the hummus to make collard green veggie wraps.  With a little bit of siracha added, it was delicious!
This recipe makes quite a bit, so feel free to halve the recipe if you don't go through hummus so quickly.
If you don't happen to have yellow split peas, any other type of bean will do, but it won't have quite that curry-yellow color in the end.

Veggie Loaded Stir Fry

Do you ever have those days that you know you didn't eat the healthiest of lunches?  I had one of those days yesterday.  At my work, to celebrate the Mountain West Region reaching its profit goals, we had a pizza party.  Luckily, I was the one tasked to order all of the pizzas, so I was able to put in an order for a thin crust, all veggie, and light cheese pizza.  Although this was a better choice than to have a thick, hand-tossed pizza loaded with cheese and meat, it still wasn't as plant-strong as I normally have for lunch.  To make up for the white flour and cheese in my gut last night, I made myself this Veggie-Loaded Stir Fry.

***Remember to Pin any images on this post that you would like to share on Pinterest!  Just hover over an image and the "Pin It" button will appear in the top left corner of the image***

Serves: 2

Time: 20-30 minutes

Ingredients:

• approximately 1.5 to 2 lbs of raw vegetables (I used yellow onion, celery, carrots, green beans, bell pepper, broccoli, then tomatoes and green onion for topping)

• Sauce:  You can use any sauce that you prefer, but I happen to LOVE peanut sauces
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce (more to taste)
• 2 Tbsp white rice vinegar
• 1 Tbsp brown rice syrup (or preferred sweetener)
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes (more to taste)

Instructions:

1. Wash and cut all of your veggies (I like to cut my celery and carrots at a diagonal, then thin slices for my pepper and onion)
2. In a large skillet, heat several tablespoons of water over medium-high heat until a rapid boil.  Add in the veggies and saute, adding more water as needed to keep the veggies from burning.
3. In a smaller bowl to the side, combine the ingredients for your chosen sauce.  Allow the veggies to cook until tender and add the sauce.  Heat until the sauce is bubbling and turn down the temperature to a simmer.  Allow any excess liquid to boil off.
4. Add in your choice of bean if you prefer at this time and heat for a few more minutes (I added some leftover black eyed peas.)
5. Serve by itself, or on top of brown rice, quinoa, whole wheat noodles, etc.

Amy's Notes:
I ate my stir fry by itself, but as I said above, I added in some extra black eyed peas, then topped off with fresh tomatoes and green onions.  This is a great way to still enjoy a warm dish without a grain (that is not another soup!).  For those of you doing the first 6 weeks of ETL, when it is recommended to eat 1 lb of cooked vegetables daily, this recipe will help you get there!


What is your favorite veggie to have in a stir fry?

Peanutty Vegetable Stir Fry

MmmMmmmMMMM!  Do I love stir fries!  Not only are they quick and easy to make, they use relatively inexpensive ingredients, are a breeze to clean up after, and are the perfect leftovers!  Stir-fries can also be quite versatile depending on what veggies, sauces, and spices you have on hand.  Tonight I made a stir fry from some veggies I was needing to use up, some rice I cooked this weekend, and a flavor I was craving, peanut butter!

Ingredients:

• mixed stir fry veggies
• 1 bag frozen veggies, or
• 3 cups fresh veggies, chopped
• 1 cup chopped dark greens (kale, collards, spinach)
• 3-4 cups cooked brown rice
• Amy's Spicy Peanut Sauce
• 1/2 cup creamy natural peanut butter
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• 1/4 tsp minced ginger
• 1/4 tsp wasabi powder (optional)
• stir fry toppings (just some ideas)
• chopped peanuts
• chopped green onion
• cilantro
• basil
• sprouts
• lime juice

Directions:

1. Prepare all stir fry veggies.  In a large non-stick skillet, water saute the vegetables until tender.
2. While the veggies are cooking, in a smaller skillet, whisk together the Spicy Peanut Sauce ingredients over medium heat until it starts to bubble and the sauce thickens.  Add more water if the sauce becomes too thick.
3. Once veggies have finished cooking, add the cooked rice and prepared peanut sauce to it.  Mix well, then add in the chopped dark greens.
4. Cook over medium heat until rice is heated through and the dark greens have lightly wilted.
5. Add more soy sauce and red pepper flakes to taste.
6. Serve hot with any of the suggested toppings.

Amy's notes:

• This is a very versatile stir fry.  Use whatever veggies you have on hand, or for an even faster dinner, use a frozen stir fry mix.  I used fresh red onion, green bell pepper, mushrooms, and broccoli in mine.
• The spicy peanut sauce is one of my favorites and I make it all the time.
• To top my stir fry off, I added chopped green onion and cilantro.  It added the perfect flavor punch to an already yummy dish!

Orange Ginger Dipping Sauce

Happy Hump Day to everyone!  This week seems to be going by fairly quickly for me.  Most of our free time this week has been spent relaxing at home watching Netflix or reading on the couch.  Yesterday evening we met up with some friends at our regular bar that sells pints of Alaskan beer for $1, a poor recent-graduate's dream hehe!

Afterwards, we brought the party over to one of Kevin's favorite restaurants in town, Flamin' Joes, a place that specializes in spicy wings.  We've been there over a dozen times in the last couple of months, but this time Kevin finally decided to take their "Code Red Challenge", also known as the "Widow-Maker" (comforting, I know...).  He successfully ate a dozen of their hottest wings in 4 minutes, with a 4 minute waiting period afterwards of not eating or drinking anything.  While this awesome culinary feat won him a t-shirt and his picture on the wall, I couldn't help thinking how terrible this is for him.

Late last night Kevin woke up with horrible stomach pains: "Like someone punched me in the stomach."  I felt so terrible for him and tried suggesting anything I could think of to help elevate the pain.  I finally settled on getting him a glass of water with a bunch of lemon juice in it.  My thoughts were to hopefully reduce the acidity in his stomach with lemon juice, which is acidic outside of the body, but becomes alkaline within.  It made him feel slightly better, but he still tossed and turned all night.

This whole event got me thinking this morning about what foods really do to us inside of our bodies.  When you think about the whole concept of eating, it is actually quite strange.  We are making the conscious decision to take a foreign object, which was once a functioning organism, and put it into our bodies to utilize the caloric energy and nutrients for ourselves.  When someone gets a tattoo, or their hair cut or dyed, usually a lot of thought goes into the permanence of it, and how it is going to affect you in the long-run.  But with food, most of the time we don't think twice about what we put into our bodies or how it is going to affect us long-term.  Nothing can be more permanent than what physically builds us.  Well, just some food for thought!  Now on to the food....

Ingredients:

• 1 c garbanzo beans
• 1 orange peeled
• 1/2 c peanut butter
• 1 to 4 Tbsp rice vinegar (to taste)
• 2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
• 2 tsp minced ginger (more to taste)
• red pepper flakes, as desired
• 1 tsp sesame oil (optional)
• non-dairy milk to thin
• sesame seeds

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients in a blender, except for the red pepper flakes and almond milk.
2. Blend on high until smooth, adding almond milk to thin if needed to obtain desired consistency. 
3. Lastly, add the red pepper flakes as desired, and give it a quick stir in the blender.
4. Serve chilled and topped with sesame seeds as a dip, or thin with a bit more almond milk and use as a salad dressing.

Amy's Notes:

• Depending on how tangy you like your dips or dressings to be, add as much rice vinegar as you would like.
• 2 tsp minced ginger gave me the small hint of flavor that I was looking for, but others that are more crazy about it can make it more of a stand-out flavor by adding one or two more teaspoons.
• I added about 1/3 cup of almond milk to reach the consistency that is pictured.  I'll be adding a bit more to some of the leftover sauce to create more of a dressing to have on a salad this afternoon.
• This recipe makes a significant amount, so I would suggest maybe trying out a half of the recipe.
• I enjoyed my dipping sauce with some spring rolls I made for lunch yesterday.

Purple Kale Curry

Grr!  I'm mad at myself for not sticking to the blog schedule!  Things come up, and well, you know how it is...  For today, I will be showing you guys what I got on a trip to the local farmer's market with a good girlfriend of mine, and how I used some of the ingredients in a curry I made in bulk to have for my lunches this week.

 At the Farmer's Market I picked up...

• 3 purple bell peppers- $1
• 1 bunch blue kale- $1
• 2 large zucchini- $1
• Ambernut squash- $4
• Basil

 My parent's neighbor asked me to water her plants while she was away for the weekend and asked that I take any tomatoes that were ripe so they didn't go to waste.  From that I got several large tomatoes and dozens of small, sweet orange tomatoes.  They are so flavorful!

I was inspired by the purple bell peppers and blue kale to make something unique for my weekday lunches.  Here is what I came up with:

Purple Kale Curry

Ingredients:

• Curry paste:
• 1 Tbsp curry powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp saffron or tumeric
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tso ground red pepper (cayenne pepper)
• 1 Tbsp brown rice syrup (or honey)
• 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
• Curry:
• 2 medium onions, sliced
• 3 small bell peppers, diced (any color, I used purple)
• 4 cups kale, chopped (I used blue kale)
• 1/2 c fresh basil, chopped
• 1 can Coconut milk
• Red pepper flakes, to taste
• low sodium soy sauce, to taste

Blue Kale (I think it looks more purple)

Purple Bell Peppers

 Directions:

1. Combine curry paste ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
2. In a large frying pan or dutch oven water saute the onions and peppers until tender but crisp.
3. Pour in the can of coconut milk, and measure in one can of water into the saucepan.
4. Bring the saucepan to a simmer, and add in curry paste.  Stir until well mixed in.
5. Maintain at a simmer and add the kale and basil.
6. Turn off heat and stir in kale and basil until the kale has lightly wilted.
7. Add red pepper flakes and soy sauce to get desired taste.
8. Serve over brown rice.

Amy's Notes:

In the picture above I serve the curry on top of brown rice with black eyed peas.  You can of course serve it over any type of grain and with or without any beans you desire.  In this recipe feel free to use any type of bell pepper you have on hand.  Also, use any type of dark green in place of the blue kale, such as collard greens, curly kale, dinosaur kale, or spinach.  Enjoy!

What unique things have you found at your local farmer's market?

Ginger Kale Slaw

We have been having beautiful weather this week in Spokane this week!  There are clouds here and there with a bit of wind, but other than that it's been warm and sunny.  What better to do on a sunny Saturday than to go to a block party.  Our neighbors behind our house are hosting the blog party, so it is just a hop over the fence away.

Since starting the 6-week Eat To Live Challenge this week, I have been trying to have a large salad with some beans, veggies, and a healthy dressing every day for lunch.  Two days ago I decided to try to recreate one of my favorite dressings from a local fast food teriaki restaurant called The Noodle Express.  It is a thicker creamy ginger dressing that is very fragrant and has a wonderful satisfying zing.  I've never asked what goes into this dressing, but I'm sure it's not very nutritarian approved.  My re-creation attempt actually wasn't too bad.  My mom even dug into the salad while walking through the kitchen and thought it was just great.  She suggested that I make the salad for the block party tonight and to make it perfect as I do, so I thought, "Time for another recipe blog post!"  Hope you enjoy...

Ingredients:

• Miso Ginger Dressing: 
• 1/4 cup white miso (low sodium if you can find it)
• 1 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce or tamari
• 1/4 cup filtered water
• 1/4 c tahini (almond butter would work too)
• 2 inches of fresh ginger, peeled (more or less to taste)
• 2 Tbsp agave (honey works too)
• 1/2 lemon, juiced (more to taste)
• Kale Slaw:
• 1 large bunch kale, stems removed, washed, and very well chopped
• 1/4 red cabbage, sliced thinly and chopped well
• 1 can white beans, drained and rinsed (~2 cups homemade)
• 1/2 cucumber, cut in half lengthwise and sliced thinly
• 1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
• sesame seeds (optional)

Directions:

• Dressing:

1. Place all ingredients into a high-powered blender or food processor.
2. Blend until creamy and smooth.
3. Adjust amounts of soy sauce, ginger, and lemon to taste.

Salad spinner I got my mom for Mother's Day.  We use it all the time!



My nifty way to chop kale small without as much mess!

• Slaw:

1. De-stem and wash kale.
2. Place in a large bowl and use kitchen scissors to cut the kale into fairly small pieces.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir.
4. Pour in the entire ginger dressing and stir well.
5. Serve cold with sesame seeds sprinkled on top for presentation.

Amy's Notes:  Make sure to taste the dressing as you adjusting the lemon, soy sauce, and ginger to your taste.  Remember that a little ginger can go a long way if you are not a big fan of it.  I used a salad spinner to wash and dry my kale.  If you don't have one yet and plan to be eating many salads (as you should be!), I would highly recommend getting one.  They are great!  I used scissors to chop my kale into very small pieces, but you can easily do this with a large knife and cutting board instead.  The dressing made for this recipe can obviously go on any type of salad and not just the slaw I made here.  I know I'm going to want to put it on more salads than just this!

What non-nutritarian foods from restaurants do you miss eating?  Have you ever tried to recreate a Plant-Strong version?

Sweet Vegetable Curry (with eggplant)

Hope everyones weekend was good.  I know for me, I feel refreshed and ready to take on a much less daunting week than the last.  I took a quick trip to Spokane to get away for a bit and see some friends.  While I was in town, my mom and I got a chance to whip up a couple of great recipes.  Here is one of them, that uses my remaining eggplant from this recipe:

Sweet Vegetable Curry (with Eggplant)

Ingredients:

1 eggplant

1 onion, halved and sliced

2 bell peppers (any colors), cut into large chunks

1 can light coconut milk

1tsp-1T curry paste or powder, to taste

1 t coriander

1 t saffron or tumeric

1 t minced ginger

1/2 t dried basil, or 2 T minced fresh basil

cayenne pepper, to taste

1 can pineapple chunks, reserve juice

1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

cooked rice of choice

Directions:  Peel and slice the eggplant into 1/2 inch slices.  Using a George Forman grill, grill the eggplant slices until tender and slightly seared.  Remove from grill, and let cool.  Cut into one inch slices.

In a large skillet on high heat, saute the onion and peppers until slightly tender.  Next, add in the can of light coconut milk and all spices including the curry and ginger.  Mix until sauce is well combined, bring to a simmer.  Simmer for five minutes, then add the eggplant, pineapple chunks and juice, and garbanzo beans.  Allow to heat thoroughly, then serve on top of rice.

Amy's Notes:  I did not have much eggplant leftover to use in this recipe, so feel free to use as much or as little eggplant as you wish, or eliminate it completely if you don't have any available.  For sauteing the vegetables, I used a misto to coat the pan, then stirred continually.  I made sure not to overcook the vegetables because they added a nice crunch to the finished recipe.  Use as much or as little curry powder/paste as you like.  We used about a Tablespoon of green curry paste, and ours ended up being very spicy, but still delicious. The rice we served it over was called madagascar pink rice.  It had a great chew to it, and the color was beautiful with the yellow-orange curry. 

I know I enjoy spice, and enjoy that it makes me drink more water, how spicy do you like your food to be?  Also, what is the most interesting grain that you've tried lately?

International Store Finds, and Awesome Panang Curry!

What a great weekend it was!  Saturday was great because we got to see our WSU Men's Basketball team beat California in a game that came down to the final seconds, then we went to a local pub to have some beer and played some games like Apples to Apples and Jenga.  Sunday was spent watching football, then cooking with some exciting purchases I made earlier this weekend from an International Store in downtown Pullman.  I have seen in blogs that I read that these types of stores can have great inexpensive and interesting food finds, and this one definitely did.  Here are my finds:

Coconut Milk

Panang Curry Paste

Spring Roll Paper

I was most excited about the curry paste, which was a bit pricier ($3.50), but for the amount that came in the jar, it did not seem so bad.  I only used a small amount of the paste for this recipe, which will stretch pretty far on its own.  As I was cooking a meal with these ingredients, I just about flipped a b**** when I saw the nutrition labels. The Panang Curry Paste, is mostly spices so it has very little calories, but has an insane amount of sodium, so beware next time you buy curry paste!  Also, the coconut milk is very high in fat.  I don't know what I was expecting, but coconut milk is not a diet food!  I used it this time, with quite a bit of added water to dilute it, but next time I think I will use coconut water with some almond milk (a much healthier option in my opinion).  

Panang Curry Spring Rolls

Ingredients:

brown rice

black rice

1 can coconut milk

1 c water

1/4 c panang curry paste (or equivalent of curry powder)

1 t cumin

1 t dried basil

1 fresh jalapeno (optional)

2 t minced ginger

6 cloves garlic

8 grape tomatoes (~1/2 c)

3 c garbanzo beans, cooked

1 onion, sliced

1 head broccoli, chopped

several mushrooms, quartered

shredded carrots

green onions, sliced

spring roll paper

Directions:  In two saucepans, prepare the brown rice and black rice.  In a large saucepan, heat the coconut milk and water with the curry paste, cumin, and basil over low-medium heat.  Whisk until well combined.  In a food processor, process the jalapeno, ginger, garlic, and tomatoes (***the jalapeno made my curry super spicy, so maybe go for half a jalapeno, or omit it if you don't like hot foods***).  Continue to process until it is a paste and combine it with the curry sauce.   In a large skillet, water saute the onion, broccoli, and mushrooms until the broccoli is tender.  Add the garbonzo beans and sauteed vegetables into the currry saucepan.  Heat the curry to a simmer, and simmer for 5 minutes, covered.  

In a small bowl, combined the desired amounts of brown rice, black rice, and curry and mix to prepare for the spring rolls.  I used these instructions for preparing the rice paper.  Place a good amount of the curry rice and veggies in the center of the wrap, add shredded carrots and green onion as desired.  Wrap like a burrito.  Drizzle the curry liquid sauce over the wraps and sprinkle with more green onions.  Enjoy!

 Amy's notes:  I used brown rice and black rice, but for this recipe you can you either or.  As I said earlier, omit the jalapeno from the recipe if you do not like hot foods, or if your curry paste or powder already has enough spice to it already.  Some alternatives to rice paper might be tortilla wraps, butter lettuce, collard greens, etc. if you can't find or don't want to use rice paper.  Next time I make this recipe I will be using the following replacements:  coconut water and almond milk instead of coconut milk and water, no jalapeno, and steamed collard greens for wraps.

I don't often make exotic foods at home, but I have to say that I really enjoyed making something new.  Cooking for me is all about trial and error, and learning your likes and dislikes.  Every time I make something for the blog I am constantly making notes for myself on what I should do differently next time.  Unfortunately, I am only cooking for one and have a limited food budget, so you guys get to see my first try on most recipes.  I hope everyone enjoys my experiments as much as I do, and I hope to hear from anyone that has tried a variation of any of my recipes.

As a side note, I have started reading The Engine 2 Diet by Rip Esselstyn.  I think I know most of the information that is given in the book, but I'm just looking for another book to help keep me motivated.  I do have a Vegas trip for Spring Break to kick my butt into shape for now; Kevin and I just booked our stay earlier last week!  I keep chanting to myself "you are not allowed to bring extra fat to Vegas" and "think of that sexy short dress you want to wear dancing!"

What do you find yourself chanting to stay motivated to eat well and exercise?