Tracy Anderson Dance Cardio Workout

Haven't been around here much lately. Not because I haven't been cooking, I have, but I've mostly been making very simple dishes, nothing special. Nothing really worth sharing. Quick and easy things I can whip up in 20 minutes or less, in between classes. I've have a number of house guests which has been so amazing, but it also meant I ate out more than I would have wanted. 

If you follow me on Instagram you might have seen some of the dishes I've been making recently. I made a delicious and beautiful (colorful!) Mexican layered salad yesterday for a potluck at a friend's house. I'll share that easy recipe soon but for now I have something else I just had to share with you. 

Tracy Anderson. 

Have you heard of her? She's trainer to a few super-fit celebrities including Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow and my personal favorite, Nicole Richie. My sister has been a fan of hers for years and I used to make fun of her doing her routines, but now I am a total convert. Sis, if you're reading this, you are always years ahead of me with trends. I readily admit it now! 

Anyway, so Tracy Anderson created her own 'method' as she likes to call it for getting in shape. Her whole shtick is that if you want to get in shape, without bulking up, and really streamline your body, you need to work your 'accessory muscles', which are all the little muscles around the bigger ones. I don't exactly know how it works, but Tracy and all of her clients look amazing, so that's enough reason for me. 


Plus, I used to dance and I miss it a lot   recently. I swear half the reason I even enjoy  going out at night is to dance, so to find a workout that lets me do that is really great. 

I've been doing her dance cardio routines for a few days now and you really work up a sweat- but it's fun! It doesn't feel like you're working out at all, but you know you are because the next day you are sore. My workouts pre-Tracy consisted of (boring!) runs a few times a week, so this is definitely something new and exciting. I actually look forward to it. 


You can buy her videos on Amazon or search for her 10-minute cardio dance workouts on YouTube. My best friend also swears by her 'butt and thighs' workout, which I haven't tried yet. 

Anyway, if you're looking for a new fun workout, I highly recommend Tracy Anderson. I'm gonna keep at it for a month, so next time you see me on the dance floor with my awesome moves, you'll know it's all Tracy, ha! 

Vegan Corn Muffins with Jalapeño Bits

Midterms are over which means I can get back in the kitchen and not feel guilty for procrastinating. 

These corn muffins spoke to me the minute I saw them on Kathy's blog. I love a good corn muffin. Especially with some veggie chili, delish and perfect for the crisp fall days we've been having here in New York. 

These took all of 10 minutes to put together and turned out fantastic. I enjoyed one straight out of the oven, and then crumbled another on top of some homemade veggie chili. Perfection. 

I improvised a bit because I didn't have certain ingredients, so here is my slightly adapted version of Kathy's recipe. 

I also cut the recipe in half because no one who lives alone needs 12 corn muffins lying around, tempting her. 

Vegan Spelt Corn Muffins 
Makes 6
1/2 cup spelt flour
1/2 cup corn meal
1/3 cup flax milk, or any non dairy milk
1/4 cup apple sauce

1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup vegan butter, melted
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of baking soda
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1/4 cup chopped pickled jalapeños 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix the dry ingredients. Then add the wet ingredients. Scoop the batter into greased muffin tins. Bake for 25 minutes of until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, and the tops are golden brown. 

These muffins are just sweet enough without being overwhelmingly so; however, if you prefer your corn muffins on the savory side, I'd halve the maple syrup amount. 

Chorizo Tempeh Stuffed Zucchini Boats

My best friend and her close friend were in town this weekend staying with me. I loved having them here with me but we definitely indulged a lot in delicious food (and drinks!) so I'm back on track now, cooking up a bunch of healthy but delicious recipes.

Have you guys heard of The Sexy Vegan? His name is Brian Patton and he's a blogger and cookbook author. If I'm not mistaken, he was not feeling his best and decided to try a vegan diet. He lost a bunch of weight and is a really fantastic vegan chef that films videos of himself cooking his vegan recipes. You can find all his recipes and videos online at TheSexyVegan.com.

I don't particularly like zucchini all that much. I just don't think it has much of a taste and when it's overcooked, it's absolutely awful. But, I had a bunch in the fridge and was looking for something tasty to make for dinner. I tweeted to The Sexy Vegan asking if he had any ideas and he sent me a video of these chorizo tempeh stuffed zucchini boats that I ended up making.

They are so super easy to make and absolutely yummy! I highly recommend you make these as soon as possible. The chorizo tempeh is so flavorful that I imagine it would be great as a vegan taco stuffing or even mixed with some marinara sauce over whole wheat pasta. It's very versatile and I plan on making another batch and keeping it in the fridge for quick dinners (chorizo tempeh, steamed broccoli and quinoa would be great too...)

You can find the video for said recipe here, on his YouTube page, as well as on his blog. The only modification I made to the recipe was in omitting vegan cheese because I didn't have any on hand. I mixed in some nutritional yeast at the end instead.

I served mine with a side salad of red wine vinegar red cabbage salad. It's a Turkish speciality that I adore and I'll have the (easy!) recipe up this week hopefully.

Enjoy!

Easy Heirloom Tomato Salad

Part of the reason I haven't been around with many recipes is because summer just doesn't require overly complicated dishes. With stunning farmers market ingredients, you can put together a delicious meal without a lot of bells and whistles. 

This summer tomato salad is just one such dish. I've been trying to eat as many tomatoes as humanely possible recently, trying to get my fill before fall comes and the tomatoes disappear. This salad I threw together the other day was just perfect. Easy, no fuss, but delicious. 

Since I've been trying to stay away from dairy as much as possible (one week without dairy and my skin clears right up!), I tossed in some cubed firm tofu for some protein. I was skeptical of how the flavors would meld but tofu is a blank slate and thanks to all the other strong flavors (basil, onions, balsamic), the tofu ended up almost mimicking a mild mozzarella. 

East Heirloom Tomato Salad
Serves 1
2-3 heirloom tomatoes, the more colorful, the better, cubed
1/2 cup firm tofu, cubed
1/4 avocado, cubed 
1/4 red onion, sliced thinly
handful of basil, sliced thinly
handful of spinach, sliced thinly

For the dressing:
2 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp red wine vinegar

Whisk the ingredients for the dressing together and set aside. Combine all the ingredients for the salad and serve with the dressing. This salad actually tastes better after sitting for a few minutes because the tofu has a chance to absorb all the flavors, so don't hesitate to make ahead of time. 

The Best BBQ Sauce Ever

Honestly, I haven't meant to stay away for so long, from this here blog of mine. Summer was a total whirlwind and before I knew it, I was back in New York City.

It's only been a few days since I've been back and I already miss Istanbul a lot, but I'm trying to embrace being back in the city and thankfully my mama is coming for a visit soon, which always cheers me up.

I didn't get around to cooking a lot this summer, if at all, because we have this wonderful lady who helps out around the house, who also happens to make delicious Turkish food. Between her food and all my going out, I rarely got around to cooking.

And boy did I miss it! I've been cooking up a storm ever since I've been back in my apartment and it feels great. For me, periods of eating out a lot are always followed by a few weeks of cooking the majority of my meals. I guess this is what we'd call balance.

Last night I wanted to make a yummy dinner for myself, but didn't have too much on hand, and was too lazy to pop down to the market. Yes, that lazy. Luckily I had a log of tempeh, some potatoes and some spinach and I came up with a delicious meal, if I must say so myself. And one of my best friends called just as I was finishing up, so she joined me. She has perfect timing, that one- she can feel when I've cooked or baked something and I love her for it.

I ended up making a homemade barbecue sauce that was to die for. It's Kathy's recipe from this blog, and if you haven't checked it out yet, you must. Her blog is one that I visit daily and she never lets me down with her fantastic creations.

You can find the barbecue sauce recipe here, and even though I didn't have a few things on hand (ketchup, for example), the sauce was still perfection. I plan to make a large batch of it soon to keep in the fridge and slather on everything. If any of you are as obsessed with BBQ sauce as I am, you might want to know that most commercial varieties have high-fructose corn syrup or a lot of sugar in them, so making your own is a wonderful way to avoid this. Plus you can make it as spicy as you like.

I slathered it on some tempeh that I had sautéed and we enjoyed it with some oven-roasted garlic potatoes, recipe courtesy of another favorite, The Barefoot Contessa, and a simple spinach salad.

Trust me when I say you should make a double batch of the BBQ sauce. I might or might not have ended up finishing the remaining sauce with a spoon only! Don't judge.

Chipotle Chop Salad

Salads are one of my favorite meals but they can get a bit boring. But with a bit of creativity (and blog or cookbook browsing), you can create unusual but delicious salads that are filling and don't make you want to reach for a burger after. 


One of the best ways to make a filling salad is by incorporating beans and grains. My favorite grain to include is quinoa. It is protein packed and because its light, it sticks to the lettuce in the salad (instead of collecting at the bottom of the bowl like brown rice). Fun fact: quinoa isn't even actually a grain. It's a seed and a complete protein, thus ideal for vegetarians and vegans. 

Today I was in charge of lunch for me, my sister and my dad so I whipped up this simple but colorful salad that tasted much better than it looks. The recipe is adapted from one of Chef Chloe's recipes from her book, 'Chloe's Kitchen', which has become a staple for me. This salad actually tastes better when it has had time to soak just a bit, because the beans and quinoa soak up the dressing, so its a perfect make-ahead meal. 


Chipotle Chop Salad
Serves 4
Adapted from Chloe's Kitchen
1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced thinly
1/2 cup red cabbage, sliced thinly
1 carrot, shredded
1 cup quinoa, cooked
1 cup beans of your choice, I used navy beans but black would have been tastier
2 tbsp hemp hearts, optional
2 spring onions, thinly sliced 
handful walnuts, chopped 
handful cilantro, chopped
1 tsp chipotle seasoning


for the dressing:
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp agave or honey
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
juice of 1 lemon (lime is better but I only had lemons) 
1 garlic clove, minced


Combine all ingredients and serve! Easy peasy and delicious. 

No One Likes A Judgmental Omni

Editor's note: There is no recipe in this post. Skip it if you don't wanna hear me rant! 


I was actually going to title this post, 'No One Likes a Judgmental Omni or Veggie' but it got too long. 


A few weeks ago I was invited to a dinner with a friend, where a bunch of her friends were present. I hadn't met any of them before, and I had a good time. Except for one thing that happened that I haven't been able to stop thinking about.


Enter the judgmental omnivore. 


As anyone who chooses to live life differently realizes, many people are uncomfortable with outliers. 


Vegans and vegetarians, however, really get a shocking amount of judgment for their dietary choices. 


Let me get back to the dinner. There I was, chatting with everyone, minding my own business, when it came time to order. Everyone ordered pasta or meat, and I ordered fish. Somehow it came out that I don't eat meat. I'm pretty sure I was asked, because I don't readily offer up that information. I have learned my lesson from past experiences. 

Yes, that is Dana Carvey, as 'Church Lady'.

What ensued was pretty awful, but unfortunately not as uncommon as you'd think. A guy at the table, who was sufficiently intoxicated to perhaps give him an extra dose of courage, basically started attacking me and my choice to not eat meat. He said he thought vegetarians were stupid. He said he didn't like people that don't eat meat. He laughed at me, when I tried to politely explain my beliefs. He was incredibly rude, for no other reason, than the fact that I don't eat animals. 


Now, this has happened to me a lot before. And it's just something I can't get my head around no matter how much I think about it. 


There are a number of reasons why I don't eat meat and over the last three years, I have learned that these reasons are quite personal. I don't push my beliefs on anyone. 


What gives you the right to judge me and my lifestyle choices? 


What drives me crazy is that people have this misguided belief that vegans and vegetarians are judgmental and try to push their beliefs on other people and I personally have found vegans and vegetarians to be much more understanding and compassionate than meat-eaters. I don't want to generalize- this is just my experience. But for some reason, either because they feel bad about their own meat consumption, or because they think I think I'm better than them, I have been in many, many situations where people have said terrible things to me just because I choose to not eat dead cows. 


This guy was Turkish, and maybe it's a cultural difference, but I doubt it. Aren't we supposed to be accepting of different peoples beliefs and lifestyle choices? 


I can almost always tell when someone is actually curious to learn my reasons for not eating meat, and when someone is just waiting for their chance to talk so they can try to eviscerate me with their own beliefs. At that moment, it was clear this guy didn't want to learn anything, but rather just wanted to be right. 


No matter, it's not about this particular jerk. I'm writing this mostly to vent but also to hopefully allow someone to reconsider their attitude towards people who have different beliefs than them. 


The next time you meet someone who chooses to practice a belief system you don't agree in, or someone who doesn't eat animals, or whatever it may be, stop and think of what a wonderful opportunity that is to learn something new. Stop and think that maybe everything you've been taught isn't 'right'. Just stop and think! (My sister took a class with this title; maybe they teach this stuff there!) 


No one deserves to be judged so cruelly because of the way they live. 


I've learned to accept the fact that some people are just really close-minded. And after all, karma's a bitch.