Main Dish

2017 Goals and Help Wanted

January 4, 2017 by Zucchini Runner in Life, Main Dish | Comments Off on 2017 Goals and Help Wanted

I need your help! You may have seen my New Year post on Facebook, about starting 2017 with some goals and plans! If not, I’ll save you the trouble of clicking and let you read it here:

HAPPY NEW YEAR  
2017 is here! To some it’s just another day, but in this house it’s a fresh start; a new beginning. We have both set goals for ourselves, WRITTEN them down and formed a plan for how to reach those goals. As I mentioned last week, 2017 is going to be a very different focus for me than 2016 was. I’m so excited and relieved that my focus has shifted. It’s a good feeling putting effort into something I know I can actually control. 2016 was filled with a lot of unknowns and a lot of hoping; not an area I excel in but at least I gave it a good solid effort. I have some clear cut goals for my fitness and nutrition mapped out for the next 3 months. Come the end of March I will set some more! Set your goals high and be sure to create a plan on how to reach those goals! Otherwise they are just good intentions. 

Setting goals or resolutions is one thing, it’s a great starting point… but until you create a PLAN for how you will achieve those goals, they won’t materialize out of thin air. I enjoy following a list, and following a plan — I’m just not very good at forcing myself to SIT DOWN and create said plan. haha

Over the past week I’ve sat down multiple times and chipped away at this. Using multiple planners, calendars and notepads to sort my thoughts and track various things. I created calendar appointments, alerts on my phone and scheduled my workouts 3 months out.

This was my final push to wrap up planning on Monday night; I’m not gonna lie. I got a headache and was feeling very stressed! But once I got it DONE I felt great; accomplished.

I’m sharing all of this, because I want you to succeed in 2017! So many people set goals, but forget to plan. If you have goals and dreams for 2017, you need to do the work to reach them… and this is your friendly reminder!

One of my goals for 2017 is to get this blog back to where it was before I took a break from blogging. <— Scratch that …is to get this blog to a place where it is providing value and serving YOU, my reader.

BUT I NEED YOUR HELP TO DO THAT! YOU ARE PART OF MY PLAN!

If you are a reader of Zucchini Runner, please please please I beg of you (and if you know me, you know that is not my thing, so I’m super serious here) PLEASE take this short survey to help me better serve YOU. Yes, this blog has always been for me to track my fitness and recipes, but in 2017 I want it to be so much more. Sharing my posts, liking my posts, and commenting (here, or on social media) is how I get to know YOU, too.

  •  If you share something, I know you enjoyed it and that you also think others will too.
  • If you comment, I get to know you even better!

I’m not an expert, I’m just a person trying to give back by sharing my journey, knowledge, and the experience I do have. We are all at different points on our personal journey’s and I’d like to learn from you too.

So in the interest of sharing some of me, with you here are some of my goals for 2017:

  • incorporate more strength training and be on a regular run schedule again
  • get healthy for ME, not for the hopes of a pregnancy
  • actively LIVE in the present; using meditation as a tool 1-2 times daily
  • run 1,300 miles (let’s keep in mind I ran roughly 500 miles in 2016; lowest mileage year in a long, long time)
  • send paper birthday cards to my immediate family again (yes, via snail mail!)
  • read 10 books from start to FINISH ( <– this is a TALL order for me. But it also includes audio books, so I should be able to do this! Hellooooo Audible!)
  • as stated above, get my blog to a place where it provides value and serves others
  • many more goals, but this is the short list!

Now, please please go take the survey! Thank you so much. You all ROCK!

Adult Mac and Cheeze

November 9, 2016 by Zucchini Runner in Food, Main Dish, Main Dish | 2 Comments

Yep, you read that title correct! If you are like me, you loooooooved mac n’ cheese as a kid. I couldn’t get enough of that stuff. I also looooooved eating that bright yellow goodness with a hot dog. YEP. I haven’t been plant-based my whole life folks.

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So when we stumbled on a vegan mac n’ cheeze recipe for kids about a year ago, we modified it (a lot) to make it more substantial, and adult-like. We added onion, green peas, broccoli and yes, even vegan sausage. This recipe isn’t as quick as throwing a box of noodles in boiling water and then plopping in butter, milk and a neon cheese packet — but it is SO much better for you and it’s still a filling comfort food. Who doesn’t need a little of that from time to time, right?

Ingredients
1 c. cooked butternut squash
1/2 c. raw macadamia nuts*
2 TBSP. nutritional yeast
1 c. water
squeeze of lemon juice
few dashes of Real salt, maybe some ground black pepper too
6 c. dry macaroni noodles (or other similar noodle on hand)
10 oz. package of frozen, organic broccoli
1 c. frozen, organic peas
1 small to medium brown onion, chopped
1 Field Roast vegan Italian sausage, chopped
9″x12″ baking dish

Preheat oven to 375°F

  1. Peel, cut in half, scrape out the seeds and chop the butternut squash; or if you are lucky you can find it this way in the grocery store. Place the chopped pieces on a baking sheet, with a little water and bake at 375°F for 20 minutes, or until fork tender.
  2. In a blender, add the mac nuts, nutritional yeast, water, lemon juice and salt. Set aside while you wait for the butternut squash to cook.
  3. In a large stock pot, add water and 6 c. of noodles. (Follow package instructions for exact preparation.) We use gluten-free noodles typically; this time around I used garbanzo bean fusilli!
  4. In a steamer basket, place broccoli, peas and chopped onion. Place steamer basket over your pot of water and place lid on and steam until the onions start to become transparent and the greens are BRIGHT green.
  5. Cut up the vegan sausage link and set aside.
  6. By now the butternut squash is probably done, so you can add it to the blender, which contains the other cheeze sauce ingredients. Blend on low for about 10 seconds, then crank it up to high and process until you get a thick and creamy, cheezy sauce. Be sure to taste test it at this point and see if you want to add any more salt or other seasonings. Make it yours!
  7. Once the noodles are done, drain and place in the 9″x12″ baking dish.
  8. Add the steamed veggies, cheeze sauce and noodles as well.
  9. Stir well in the baking dish to combine.
  10. Cover with foil and bake for 10-15 minutes at 350°F. Serve immediately.

This dish will serve 6-8 as a side dish, or you can just do what we do and save it for leftovers for a couple days.

Below is a slideshow with more preparation instructions.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

(*Nutsinbulk.com is a GREAT place to get mac nuts FRESH and avoid the rancid grocery store variety. Fresh mac nuts are life changing. You can also use cashews if you like those too.)

Did you enjoy mac and cheese as a kid, or am I alone in this?

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