Hi friends!  Happy New Year’s Eve!  :)   My eyes popped open at 4:03 a.m. this morning – oh boy, midnight seems like a L-O-O-O-N-G time from now.  I have a feeling I’ll be celebrating on East Coast time and out like a light at 10:02.  ;)   That is, if MSP is driving us home from the party.  If not, I better borrow some toothpicks from the marinated mushrooms I’m taking so that I can keep my eyelids propped open long enough to drive home.  Then it might me more like 10:32.

Yesterday was a great (if not super busy) day.  I had dates with a couple of “new friends”, Tanya and Alicia.

First Tanya.  She is the instructor on the “Physique 57″ DVD.  Still doing my ‘try lots of new exercises till I can get OUTSIDE for a run’ game.

There is only ONE reason really that I chose to purchase this DVD – this little lady right here:

(Photo Source)

I have a little “fitness crush” on Kelly Ripa.  So if SHE does it, I wanna try it too.   Her transformation through the years has been fun to watch.  She’s said in the past that she goes to classes at Physique 57, so now that it’s available via DVD I wanted to see what it does to my body, being someone who already works out with weights and runs.  I’ll keep you posted for sure!

My second date was with Alicia Silverstone:

It was a short date, only enough time for one chapter.  I’ve been coveting this book since its release.  And I took a good long look through it at Borders the day after Christmas.  It has a beautiful full color format and a lot of great recipes.  And as much as I wanted to take it home that day, I knew it was half the price on Amazon.  The first chapter and the intro are great – I have a feeling I’ll love this book.  I’ll give a better review when I’ve read it and tried some recipes.

I also had dates with Costco, Vitamin Cottage, Safeway and Whole Foods!  (Any guesses on what I had for dinner? Yep, Gigande Beans at the WF Food Bar!)

And last but not least I had a date with my kitchen.  It was a messy date, can ya tell?   :)

When you are in the mood for new recipes that are healthy, raw and vegan, head on over to Choosing Raw.

Gena’s blog always inspires me.  She has a style of writing that I could read all day.   And recipes that I could try all day as well.  This week, I tried her Raw Zucchini Hummus and her Cashew Cheese with Meyer Lemon & Cherries.  Except that my hummus wasn’t completely raw, and my ‘cheese’ didn’t have meyer lemons OR cherries in it.  But you work with what you’ve got, right?

The zucchini hummus is genius.  I love it.  I will love it even more when the tahini that I currently have in stock is GONE (because it’s roasted AND salted) and then I can buy the raw unsalted version.  This brand I have in the fridge has an almost burnt flavor that is too strong in this hummus, but luckily it has mellowed out in the fridge the last few days.

Per Gena’s recipe notes I did NOT add the sesame seeds so in turn I also left out the olive oil. It came out with a perfect hummus consistency.  ;)   Yesterday I smeared it on Wasa crackers with some mashed avocado and leftover black bean burgers halves for lunch at my desk.

I know, I know, again with the blurry iPhone photo! How 'bout that snazzy legal pad placemat too?

And the sweet Cashew Cheese?  Amazing.  It reminds me of neufchatel cheese with the subtle tart and sweet flavor.  I couldn’t find Meyer Lemons (so I used regular lemons) and I didn’t have dried cherries (so I added a small palmful of raisins), but it’s fantastic nonetheless.  It made me want to smear it all over a cranberry bagel.  But that would defeat my ‘clean eating’ somewhat.  So instead I’ll probably put it on some Ezekial toast or a sweet wheat cracker that I happen to have on hand. It would also make a perfect breakfast crepe filling.

Gena's Cashew Cheese with Lemon

Part of the excitement in trying this cashew cheese?  Getting to use one of my new xmas gifts from MSP:

A microplane superfine zester!  It rocks!!  I’ve been using a teeny tiny thing that only takes off one piece of zest at a time, so I was SO excited to find this inside some gift wrap under the tree!!  (Isn’t MSP the best??  I’m certainly a lucky girl!)

***

I’ve been reflecting on what an interesting year 2009 has been.  It started off a bit on the rough side and is ending beautifully.  Isn’t it fun to rewind the year and consider all of the changes that you never would have expected?  If you’d asked me last December 31 if I thought I’d:

  • walk away from my job with the really NICE salary and benefits during an economic recession
  • stop eating chicken, beef, pork and cow’s dairy and finally be someone who eats veggies because she WANTS to
  • eliminate soda, artificial sweeteners and a list of other ‘health thieves’
  • go back to personal training
  • start a fit living blog (and actually STICK WITH IT for more than 2 days!)
  • make new & wonderful friends all over the country from that blog (I love you guys!)
  • be able to go off ALL medications (and it was quite the laundry list)
  • recover from chronic insomnia
  • go on an RV adventure with my mom and grandma
  • and much, much more

I would have said you were talking crazy talk.

But lo and behold, that is what this year has included.  How about you?  What’s the most ‘surprising’ thing that’s happened this year that you would never have expected when you started 2009?

It has been an absolutely ENLIGHTENING year.  And I can’t WAIT to see what 2010 brings!

Have a very HAPPY NEW YEAR celebration tonight!  I’ll see you back here tomorrow!

– Shari B. =)

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