Spiced Cranberry Pear Cider

I have a really, really good cider recipe for you.

On Thanksgiving my brother whipped together a version of pear cider he found in Vegetarian Times and the second I tried it, I knew I needed to share it here on the blog. We sipped this tasty little concoction as we prepped our Thanksgiving meal and everything about it was spot on, from the hint of ginger to the tartness of the cranberries. This drink is the perfect addition to any holiday spread and would without a doubt be a hit with your family and friends. I envision sitting around with loved ones on Christmas morning, sipping this cider and tearing into presents. How great does that sound?!

I recreated this recipe the weekend after Thanksgiving and it was incredibly easy.

Spiced Cranberry Pear Cider
adapted from Vegetarian Times

Ingredients

• 1 pound fresh or frozen cranberries
• 4 slices of fresh ginger, peeled, around 1/4 inch thick each
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 cups of pear juice
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1 large pear, peeled and cut into small cubes

Juice, cranberries, pear, ginger

Directions

1. Combine cranberries, ginger, cinnamon stick, and 3 1/2 cups water. Bring to a simmer for 10 minutes.
2. After 10 minutes, remove ginger and cinnamon stick and set aside. Over a different saucepan, pour the cranberries into a colander and strain. Make sure you press the cranberries to get the maximum amount of juice.
3. Now, return the ginger and cinnamon stick to cranberry juice and add the pear juice, sugar, and vanilla. 
4. Simmer for about 10 minutes then remove ginger and cinnamon stick, add diced pear.
5. Give it a quick stir and serve warm!

Cranberries simmering in water with ginger and cinnamon

Straining and pressing the cranberries

Simmering away...

Addition of the pear

Drink up and enjoy!

I hope you and yours enjoy this as much as we did! Have a wonderful and relaxing Wednesday evening!

Thanksgiving Recap in Photos

Hello, hello!

I can't believe Thanksgiving has already come and gone. It was a fast but very fun few days full of food and family. I hope each of you had a wonderful, relaxing break and are ready for the start of what I'm sure will be a busy week. 

Here is my Thanksgiving day in photos. I'm off to decorate our tree and blast Christmas music through the house! 

Enjoy! 

Brother's Spinach Quiche

Berries, Grapes, & Watermelon

Banana Bread

My Spelt Chia Seed Pumpkin Muffins

Grouper

Grilled, skin on, with olive oil, salt, & pepper

Sister-in-law's Carrot & Sweet Potato Soup 

My contribution: Cinnamon Cider Brussels Sprouts With Pears and Apples

Grilled Red & Yellow Beets with Goat Cheese, Pecans, Green Onions, Diced Orange, & a Drizzle of Vinaigrette Dressing
Courtesy of my sister-in-law's brother and his wife

Mashed Potatoes

Simple Greens

Turkey

Corn Bread Stuffing

Good Ol' Green Bean Casserole

All Together Now

Pumpkin Pie
It's not Thanksgiving without it!

13.1 Miles + Easy BBQ Chicken

Good Evening!

Hope everyone had a fun, relaxing weekend. Mine was full of running...just the way I like it! Sunday I ran the Route 66 Half Marathon. It wasn't my best race but it certainly wasn't my worst. I was hoping to set a PR and when I didn't achieve that goal, I'll admit I was disappointed. I came in at 1:56 and that is certainly something to be proud of. Heck, just running 13.1 miles is something to be proud of. I think when we get so focused on racing and setting PRs, we forget what an amazing accomplishment it is to simply finish. The fact that we get out there and push ourselves is wonderful. No matter how far the distance, be it 1 block or 26.2 miles, we must remember to give ourselves a pat on the back for a job well done.

I was flying the first 10 miles of this race, cruising along at about an 8:20/mile pace. I was certain I was going to nail my PR. This was a hilly course. Rolling hills almost every half mile for the first 9 miles. Up and down, up and down. Those hills were eventually my demise. Around the 10 mile mark, my legs decided they had had enough of the 8:20 pace. They had had enough of the hills. They were really hurting. My legs hadn't felt like that during a half in foreevvvver. They just wouldn't go fast anymore and slowly but surely, my pace dropped to around 9:45/mile. Ugh. When the finish line was in sight and I saw my time, I was angry. Disappointed. I am sure there are some sweet race photos of me crossing that finish line with a truly pissed off look on my face. It's alright though. Not every race can be a PR. I know I will achieve my goal next time and like I said above, I still have a whole lot to be proud of!

Post race I wallowed around all day in my PJS, limped my way through the grocery store to get our weekly haul, then promptly passed out on the couch at about 6:00 pm only to wake up about an hour later, shove some pizza in my face, then go back to sleep. The post long run/race laziness is the best thing ever, I do believe.

I also ate some ice cream. If there is one thing you need to know about me, it's that ice cream is possibly my favorite thing of all time. It is definitely my treat after hard runs. Yesterday amongst the wallowing/eating/sleeping, I tried out Organicville's Dark Chocolate Ice Cream.

I had a coupon to use up and figured yesterday was the perfect day to take advantage of it. 

It was creamy with just the right amount of chocolate flavor. Even better it is made with skim milk, slashing some unnecessary calories and fat. Best of all, it is obviously organic. Delicious and organic. Perfect. 

Moving on to something a bit more savory, I wanted to share with you a chicken dinner I pieced together the other night. This meal is nothing unique or creative and it certainly isn't some culinary masterpiece but dang it, it was good and I want you to know about it. 

Before work the other morning, I randomly threw some chicken breasts and bbq sauce into the crock pot, not knowing exactly what I wanted to do with it. My bbq sauce is easy and way better than any of the bottled stuff with high fructose corn syrup. I simply mix together 1 cup ketchup (make sure it is HFCS free!), 1/3 cup maple syrup or honey (maple syrup will give you a thinner sauce, while honey creates a thicker consistency), 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar, and garlic and onion powder to taste.

Once home from work, I stir fried some green beans in the wok with a bit of Earth Balance, nutritional yeast, and pumpkin seeds. 

I then shredded the chicken and heated up some left over brown rice cous cous. Pilled it all together and called it a meal. 

You've got your whole grains with the cous cous, protein with the chicken, and a kick of vitamins with the green beans and nutritional yeast (which apparently I put on everything?). If you are not a fan of the meat, you could easily sub in some tofu or tempeh or even beans and still get your protein. 

On that note, I'm exhausted. That race is still taking its toll on me. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends. I'll be snapping away and documenting every moment of mine and I look forward to sharing it all with you soon. 

Be Weal Well (I honestly just typed that...must go to sleep).

Ashleigh

Quick Fix Dinner: Spaghetti Squash

Spaghetti squash is my favorite of all the squashes. I think I like it so much because of its resemblance to pasta. We all know I am a FAN. While spaghetti squash doesn't exactly taste like pasta, its texture is pretty darn close.

If you're getting tired of plain old noodles and are looking for something a bit different, go grab yourself a spaghetti squash and get cookin'!

Daylight savings makes me sad. I need natural light. This picture is lame. 

Begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees.

Next is the daunting part. Cutting this beast isn't really very easy but I promise it is worth it. It usually requires a bit of cursing on my part but once it's open, it's all good. I start by getting a sharp knife and cutting off the ends, as seen in the picture below. Please note that this is not my picture and the source is listed. I thought it would be better to find an image from the internet instead of attempting to cut and photograph at the same time. Fingers may have been lost. I would like to keep mine, thank you.

(source)

Once the ends are removed, I then slice the squash in half, lengthwise. 

This picture is lame too. 

The next step is to to scoop out all those seeds and discard. With the seeds removed, place the squash face down into the pan. I like to pour about a half an inch of chicken broth onto the pan before setting the squash down. This provides both moisture and flavor. You can, however, just use water. Whatever floats your boat. Bake for about 45 minutes. 

Once cooked, you want to scrape out the insides using a fork. This is where it starts to resemble spaghetti. Hooray! At this point, you can top it or mix it with whatever suits your fancy! Marinara, pesto, Earth Balance, seasonings, etc. On this particular night, I went with the old standby: hummus! I also added a little pepper and my other standby, nutritional yeast. The hummus makes it a nice, creamy dish. Very delicious indeed. 

Fun Fact: A one cup serving of pasta is about 220 calories while our friend the spaghetti squash, for the same one cup serving, is about 40 calories. Crazy huh? 

This is easy. There aren't 59 different ingredients. It's good for you. It's different. What's not to like? Won't you give it a try?

Be Well,

Ashleigh

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Healthy Mac and "Cheese" + Amazing Grass Goodness

Mac and cheese is by far one of my favorite meals ever.

However, we all know that traditional mac and cheese is loaded with fat and calories. We also know that the boxed stuff is generally a little scary, made of things we can't pronounce. So, what do we do?! We make it real food style. We sub in whole wheat pasta and create our own cheese sauce! Nutritional yeast is the superstar in this recipe as it is considered a complete protein and is loaded with B-complex vitamins. Taking no more than 10 minutes to throw together, this recipe is simple and delicious, and quickly satisfies any mac and cheese cravings you may have.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup whole wheat pasta (I used shells but any variety will do)
• 1/3 cup skim milk
• 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast (found at any health food grocer)
• 1/2 tablespoon Earth Balance 
• 1/2 tablespoon whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon mustard (I used old fashioned deli mustard)
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• onion powder, salt, and pepper to taste
• paprika (optional)

Directions

1. boil water in a medium sized pot, add pasta, and allow to cook for roughly 10 minutes
2. in a separate pot, melt the the Earth Balance over medium heat
3. in a medium sized bowl, thoroughly whisk together the flour and milk
4. add nutritional yeast to milk/flour mixture and stir thoroughly
5. add yeast/milk/flour mixture to pot with Earth Balance and add mustard, garlic, and spices
6. reduce heat to medium/low and stir constantly until sauce thickens
7. drain pasta and place it back into its pot, add cheese sauce, mix 
8. plate and sprinkle with paprika

stirring sauce, waiting for it to thicken

Amazing Grass

About a month ago, the wonderful people over at Amazing Grass sent me a few products* to test out and review for the blog. I've been a fan of Amazing Grass for quite some time now but had not had the chance to check out all they had to offer. So, when the box arrived on my doorstep filled with green goodies, I definitely did a little happy dance! 

 Lots of good stuff, huh? I truly enjoyed each flavor presented in both the powders and and energy bars. While each product was tasty, I truly enjoyed the chocolate flavors the most. I am a chocolate girl through and through and these flavors did not disappoint. The bars are a good size and could easily be split in two and provide a snack on two separate occasions. More bang for your buck! I put the drink powders into smoothies along with some skim milk and some sort of frozen fruit like banana or mango. It produced a thick, flavorful smoothie without being chalky. While you can taste the greens, it is very subtle and in my opinion, enhances the overall flavor of the drink. The Amazing Trio (barely/wheat grass & alfalfa) powder was intense, no doubt. I wouldn't suggest leisurely sipping this bad boy on a relaxing afternoon. I poured mine into some OJ and took it like a champ. The stuff is potent but in a great way. You'll like it because it is good for you and you'll appreciate what it does for your insides :) These products are perfect for when life gets crazy and you don't have time to make the perfectly well rounded meal yet you want to get in your greens.

Thanks Amazing Grass!

Hope y'all have a relaxing Sunday evening.

Be Well,

Ashleigh

*Amazing Grass sent me a box of freebies in exchange for my honest review.