Hydrating Mango Mint Smoothie

Hello heeellooo <3

So, let me introduce you to a little somethin' that I have been making non stop for about 2 weeks now. It's been my breakfast a few times as well, including today.


First off, I got this idea from a good friend of mine. She had gone on a trip to the beautiful Costa Rica and once she returned, I wanted all the details of her adventures. During this little "storytime" she had mentioned to me how once she got off the plane she was offered a nice cool towel and this mango minty concoction. She said it was the strangest but most delicious combo of ingredients. So simple, so healthy...SO tasty!

Now, mangoes are my absolute favorite fruit. (Banana's come second, but I just recently found out I have a mild allergy to them...more on that another time)

I had to try making this. I figured, how hard can it be? It's only 3 ingredients...but what mango-mint ratio do I use?  I finally got the perfect recipe.


Here's what you need:

2 Mangoes
1/4 c. tightly packed mint leaves
1/2 -1 c coconut water ( depending on how thick you want it)


Chop up those mangoes, add in the mint and the coconut water...BLEND and VOILA! You're done ;)

The mint makes this so refreshing and the coconut water makes you feel so hydrated.
I hope you enjoy!

Mango Habanero Ranch Chik'n Tacos!

Hello there :)

    So, I was sitting in one of my Chemistry classes and I was starrrrving. ( Cut me some slack, it was a 4 hour lecture, we're not allowed to have any food once we're in lab and all I had was a Gluten free waffle for breakfast.)   I started thinking of what I will make for myself for late lunch/early dinner.

I thought of this.
[picture will go here]





I love spicy food. Sometimes I think I was meant to be someone other than part of a polish culture. (NO ONE in my family like spicy food, but me, I could down a whole bottle of tabasco sauce in one sitting...actually, my mouth is watering as I am thinking about this.)

When I used to eat meat, my FAVORITE sauce flavor from a place called Buffalo Wild Wings was the Mango Habanero sauce. Perfect fusion of flavors.

Well, I had a mango, I had some habanero peppers, and I always have some "fake chicken" in my fridge.

I love the "Lightlife" Chik'n strips brand. I can't find them in many places other than Whole Foods and my Jewel Osco...but I love them because they absorb flavor, they're vegan, low carb AND gluten free. (YAY!)

So, this is what you need:

• 1 pkg Lightlife Chikn, or any other chicken substitute...or real chicken.
• 1 ripe mango
• 6 habanero peppers
• Corn Torillas
• Vegan Ranch (I LOVE Organicville Non Dairy Ranch)
• Any Toppings you like, I used:
• Cilantro
• Shredded Lettuce
• Diced Tomatoes
• Daiya Pepper Jack havarti

What you need to do:

• Peel the Mango and chop it up along with your Habanero peppers. Now, before you throw everything in the food processor/blender, put in a little of each at a time. For example, I started off throwing in about 1/2 mango and 2 habanero peppers and it just seemed to sweet to me, plus I needed more. So...just keep adding stuff in til it tastes good! :)
• Once everything is well blended and slightly "pasty" (if it's not, add some water, you want this to kinda be like a thick marinade) throw in your fake chicken. Stir it around and let it sit in your fridge for however long you want. The longer the better, but I did this for about 30 min.
• This is a good time to pretty much just set up the rest of your ingredients...chop the tomatos..lettuce..etc. Also, get two skillets ready!
• Once you take out your chikn, put some oil on your skillet and once it's hot...throw on the chikn ....you can leave SOME marinade..but honestly, I only left about 2 tablespoons of it. Enough flavor will be absorbed.
• Start sautéing all of that good stuff, keep your skillet on medium-low. You can even keep it covered...it'll just make the flavors absorb even more. Just be sure to stir every now and then!
• If you don't like regular raw and cold diced onions, then once you are about a minute away from finishing up your sautéing, add onions to your chikn. This way they'll be slightly caramelized. 
• Turn off the heat, and add in some shopped fresh cilantro.
• Heat up some oil on your other skillet, very little. This is just going to be used to warm up your corn tortillas. I like to add a little bit of cayenne pepper to the oil, but again, I just like spicy.
• With tongs, put your corn tortilla into the oil, move it around...remember, you're just warming it up...you could technically even do this in the microwave..but I prefer this. Flip it over...and then move it around again...and throw it on a plate. 
• Once its on the plate you can pretty much take it from there...add as much of the "chikn" as you want, pour a tiny amount of vegan ranch and add your toppings.
• You're all done...get creative with your toppings! If you're not a vegan you have even more options! Add some cheese...sour cream..dairy and dairy-like toppings will dull the super spicy stuff if you don't like it. :)

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

Picture will be up soon,

Enjoy y'all! 

xoxo Ewelina

Twitter: @linciaax

IG: beautyandthebrussel

I'm Baccckkk! & with an Avocado BLT Recipe!

Hey Guys!    Long time no blog. :)

  Are you drooling yet? ;)
I got the BIGGEST craving for a BLT today.. not sure if it's because I've been looking at a lot of #veganfoodporn on Instagram or what...but the cravings have been there.
So, needless to say, on my way home from work I decided to stop at Whole Foods and pick up a few things that I needed.
I'll keep this post short and simple, I know how badly you want to go make this, right? ;p








What you'll need: (This just makes one)
Lightlife's Fakin Bacon strips
Vegan Mayo (I use Earth Balance Olive Oil flavor)
1 Tomato
1/4 Avocado
Ciabatta Bread (Any roll will do, I just love Ciabatta Bread :) )
Few leaves of Romaine Lettuce
Olive Oil


Alright so, heat up a skillet with some drizzled olive oil. Once it's heated, take a few (I took 3, because they're long) Fakin Bacon strips and lay them out onto the pan.  Basically just cook them until they look crispy...like you would with normal bacon.   Take the strips off the pan and cut your ciabatta roll in half, this is optional, but I toasted my two pieces of bread in the "bacon grease".  Take the bottom bread piece and spread some vegan mayo, then avocado and then some lettuce. Lay down some strips, but a light layer of lettuce, a few slices of tomato and then on the top piece spread your avocado and mayo one more time.   Close your sandwich and Voila! you're all done. :)

Also, I decided last minute at the end of my Avocado BLT  to dip some vegan ranch. IT WAS AMAZING. Just sayin'. :)

Hope y'all have a wonderful day! <3

Follow me on instagram! ---> ewelinciaax

Neglect.

Hi Guys,
      I feel terrible. I feel like I gave up way too quick on this blog. It's obvious that with a new blog you won't have any followers...but I felt stupid writing stuff knowing that noone will see. However...I also need to realize that who is going to know about it if I don't put myself out there...?...and I'd rather have a whole bunch of posts so when people do actually come see my blog, they'll have something to look at lol. Ok, that was a total depressing moment.


 Anyways, MOVING ON!

I have to share with you guys what I did this weekend! I live in Chicago, so we had The Color Runon October 13th... it's called the happiest 5k on the planet and they are not wrong at all. It was rainy in the morning so we were scared it was going to be cancelled..but the weather cleared up after we picked up our stuff. So basically, at each Kilometer they would throw this powdered paint at the runners (btw, there were about 15,000 of us)...after the 3rd Kilometer we started walking and just enjoying the paint lol...one of my friends and I would go into the paint bucket ourselves and just throw it at each other. It was such an awesome race....especially at the end. When the race was over, we all got together by the stage...at a certain point we were all to open up our individual packets and throw the paint in the air...all I saw was a huge cloud of dust...AND IT WAS AMAZING!!!

I definitely want to do this race again next year...we had it this June but it sold out so quick. It was brought back by popular demand this October...and it sold out AGAIN.

The Boyfriend.

Otherwise, my life has been crazy with school and work. I stopped doing p90x because I was concentrating more on running. I also was put back on Metformin. I started taking it originally last March, and in May I stopped because I thought it was causing hair loss....well, Lo and Behold...my hair was just falling out because I am just really in need of a hair cut. Yes, really.   Anyways, I'm back on it again because without it it's almost impossible to lose weight...I've been running my Polish butt off and sticking to a strict vegan diet and have only lost 2 lbs. I feel GREAT though, but the fat around my belly is not going away and it's all from this insulin crap.  Blah. Anyways, hopefully my levels will go back to normal after the Metformin being back in my life (just until everything go back down) :)

Alright, big weekend coming up! Will continue to blog :)

<3

Ewelina

Vegan Orange Chicken

                                                         My oh my..ohhhh my.

 I love me some orange chicken. Chinese food is always a make-evelyn-happy food. When I decided to be a vegetarian, I obviously did not have the luxury of pulling up to my favorite chinese restaurant and taking some Orange Chicken,vegetable fried rice and egg roll to-go. I honestly did miss it sometimes...but not anymore! I don't mean to be totally overhyped about this...but I am.  I love it because this recipe is made with Tofu and you can use tamari, so the recipe is gluten free!  It was absolutely amazing, and even my carnivore parents and boyfriend loved it.


Ok, so now for the part I don't like.  I wish I could share the recipe with you...but I can't. :( Basically for copyright reasons since it's from a fairly new book.  This recipe is by Chloe Coscarelli.  If you don't know who Chloe is, she's this super duper cute (and gorgeous) girl which was on Food Network's Cupcake Wars. (She won!!! and she was the first person to ever win a contest on FN with vegan cooking)  She has her own website called Chef Chloe and she even has her own book! (She has a ton of free recipes on her site btw.)

Anyways, I highly recommend that you guys buy her book. I love the recipes and they never seem to fail. It's not too expensive either, especially if you get it on amazon. It's hard to make vegetarian orange chicken actually taste remotely similar to the real thing...and guys, I've seriously tried so many recipes online...and this one truly takes the cake.

amazon.com

So, here's basically what my experience was.

Some of the ingredients, I love that all of her recipes are completely natural.

Heaviest thing near me to press my tofu.

Decided to add some veggies together to have on the side instead of rice.

Time to fry...this is probably the most tedious part...

almost there....

My photography skills are so great. jk,i suck. (phone camera)

I'm gonna say this one more time...it was so good!!! I really wish I could share this recipe with you guys, but I hope that somehow you find it or buy the book.


xoxo Ewelina <3


FYI: I was NOT sent this book by anyone...I bought it myself. I am not being paid to promote Chloe's book.

It's a bit gloomy.... (and update)

BUT I LOVE IT.

I looove love rainy days. When I was little I used to dream of moving to England for three things, the weather, the accents and my love of tea.

Wow, I sound stereotypical.

Anyways, I'm at work right now and just enjoying some of my favorite tea.

Heaven.

Quick disclaimers, no one sent me this tea to "review", I bought it myself a long time ago when I was trying to kick my coffee addiction. Also, it looks super sunny here because I took this picture         yesterday. It really is super gloomy here in Illinois.

So, I LOVE this tea. It's by Allegro in the "afternoon life" variety and I've only really seen it at Whole Foods. It has a tropical flavor mixed with green tea (but without the bitterness). You can mostly taste hibiscus and maybe a tad of mango...when you make this tea, just breathe it in. Happiness in a cup! <3 

So, update about p90x,  I have been doing it! It's been almost a week and I love it...BUT...after the first day I was so sore for a few days that I seriously just half-assed (pardon my french) the rest of the week. I do feel better and I have lost 2 pounds (YAY!) But I feel like I want to start all over now that I have "conditioned" myself. So this kinda will be a "p97x" for me lol.

 

Alright, back to work for me :'(

XoXo Ewelina <3

It's time to get real. p90x.

Hi Y'all,
    So as you may have read in my "about me" or my last blog post, I've REALLY let myself go. Like, big time. I do blame it on stress and the insulin resistance that I had developed...but regardless, it's still MY fault. And noone can fix it but me.  It's G.I. Jane Ewelina time. I've been meaning to get back into shape, i swear..but the day before I'm all "YES, I'm gonna DO IT!"..and then the next day I don't even bother to start.  Well, I've just about had it when this weekend I went to a wedding, thought I looked presentable and then when I saw a picture of myself (the next day) I swear I thought I looked pregnant. (btw, I'll post the pictures, and I was sucking my stomach in at that point)  (WHAT THE EFF DUDE)

So that was strike one.
Then, the next day, I wanted to go out to the store real quick, and I decided to move back home to the suburbs with my parents (lots of bad luck in the city), so I had a lot to unpack. So, like any other person, as you pack/unpack you discover things that you didn't even remember you had before. (It's seriously like Christmas!)  So I found this shirt that I wore a lot about two months ago...I put that on and I could barely fit. It seriously was depressing.
Strike two.

So, yesterday, I was getting ready to go to my morning Human Anatomy and Physiology class and I needed to put on my jeans super quick....as I was putting them on my zipper broke. Again,wtf!!!  I didn't have any other jeans. Note: I have about 10 pairs of jeans, but they're all size 2-5, I refuse to buy new ones since I know Ill get back to my old, comfy, weight. The jeans I broke were a size 9/10.  Anyway, I had to throw on yoga pants.
and that was strike 3.

I swear, the whole time in class I kept thinking (Evelyn, how could you get to this point)...I may seem like I'm being too hard on myself, but fall is around the corner and all of my clothing from last year is much smaller, and again, I refuse to buy new ones.

So, like any other student, I sat on my macbook the whole time and looked up the p90x schedule...I'm starting it today, will blog my experience (Possibly each day) and then with a quick summary of what I eat.

Mind you, I've done p90x before, but only for ab out 3 days, and I stopped because my TV got stolen. (ahh, yes, Chicago)  Could've done it on the laptop...but I have to use the TV.

Anyways my loves, just wanted to let you guys know what Ill be doing....you should join too! We could bitch and moan together about how sore we are....and THEN we can all tell each other how worth it it actually was. :D

I'll post two pictures, a "before" of what I looked like last year..and then a "now" picture..which was taken this weekend at the wedding...and then Ill just continue posting as everything goes.

As far as food for today goes, yeah, not so much, mostly because I dont have time to eat today.
I'm at work until 3, So, I had a soymilk/fruit/fiber smoothie this morning (will post recipe another day, I LOVE it) and then I had a handful of beer chips (love 'em, couldnt help it)  I plan on doing p90x when I get home at 330, eating a good dinner/lunch and heading off to school for a 545-10 class...and at some point there I'll have a snack.

Current Weight: 190.5 Height: 5'7"
Current Diet: Vegetarian, transitioning to Vegan.

Talk to you guys soon!
xoxo Ewelina <3

This was me a little over a year ago.

This was me this weekend, 8/25/12

Same dude, and of course he's wearing the same exact shirt.  Btw, he's my other half...I kinda like him ;)

Wish me luck!