This post was meant to go up Saturday, like a good food blogger, but upon arriving to my friend's apartment, I discovered that she does not have internet. Oh well!

Almost my whole life I have lived close to Asheville, and I have always known that there are many delicious restaurants, but never before have I explored them or had as intense of an appreciation for vegetarian vegan-leaning eats.

Friday night my friends and I went to a late night dinner at Rosetta's Kitchen after trying several other places that were no longer serving food. There were really delicious options available - my favorite by far was the vegan chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. The clientele was different to say the least; my friends and I stuck out like sore thumbs. I learned I really do not like eating this late though - I was still stuffed Saturday morning when I woke up!

Saturday, my friends and I went to brunch at Sunny Point Cafe. It was fun!


We all shared a pot of Rooibos tea (my favorite), which we learned that none of us can pronounce properly (I always want to call it ruby-roos).


It was delicious!


It's always so fun being with old friends - there is always so much to talk about!


I made my own omelet with egg whites, spinach, roasted tomatoes, and goat cheese. Salad for extra greens!


One friend ordered the oatmeal pancakes (special for the day) and they were awesome!!


My other friend made her own breakfast sandwich on a croissant with egg, bacon, and cheese. Taters on the side. I did not partake of any so I cannot speak towards the deliciousness but as you can see, she couldn't even wait for me to take a pic!


The biscuits and local jam were fantastic - my favorite part of the meal.


After brunch, we picked up the dog and headed to Chimney Rock for some hiking!


It was beautiful up top! I do not love this picture but I'm also not comfortable with letting strangers use my DSLR...


Indy definitely had fun hiking and meeting other dogs.


After hiking we went home, had a quick snack of wasa and PB and got glamorous for our night on the town.


We went to my favorite ice cream place, Kamm's Custard. I was afraid it would close early and we didn't want to miss out!


I got regular vanilla with Heath bits!


My friend got pistachio flavoring with oreos and sprinkles. Good as well (as always).


We walked through the Grove Arcade to our next spot, the Battery Park Champagne Bar and book store. This was pretty much the coolest place ever - I would go maybe everyday if I lived in Asheville.


We sat for a long time and chatted over two bottles of bubbly.


Ordered a cheese plate as well (vegetarian - I asked) with goat gouda, Cotswold, and brie. Perfection.



We had so much fun there but we were still a little hungry and the menu was limited. We walked across the street to Sante and had another appetizer (bruschetta and olive tapanade) and some red wine to end our evening.


Some other people may have stopped at Taco Bell after this as well, but I was not interested. When we arrived at home we chugged water and took some B-complex and Advil to fight the champagne hangover.

Sunday morning we were lazy and I made oatmeal with peanut butter for breakfast. Some of us liked it and some did not ;) Later, we went to Green Sage cafe, which was so cool - they had my favorite Zhena's teas and I was able to buy some of my flavor - Ambrosia Plum - for my stash.

Drove home late, wishing I could have gone to my favorite, the Laughing Seed for dinner - next time!

So much fun :)

I did not know that some cheeses contain "animals parts" before, but I do now.

Last night when I was checking out at Trader Joe's purchasing my favorite cheese as a comfort after a stressful day, I was informed by the woman checking me out that my favorite Italian Truffle cheese is not vegetarian. She asked me if I still wanted it, and honestly I didn't totally believe her, so I put it in my bag.

I wanted to keep pretending I didn't know it was in there! Funny how that works sometimes.

Anyway, I went home and immediately looked up "rennet" which is the culprit ingredient.

I came to find out that most European specialty cheeses (my favorites!) are made traditionally with animal rennet.

What exactly is animal rennet?

Well, according to what I have read, it is the chopped up stomachs of still-nursing baby animals (cow, lamb, goat depending on the cheese) combined with a solution to concentrate the enzymes. The reason this works is because baby animals have special enzymes in their stomach to digest the milk of their mothers. This solution is used to coagulate milk, separating the curds and whey in the cheese making process.

Not all cheeses are made with animal rennet; most mass-produced cheese are instead coagulated with GMO-Microbial rennet. Great right?

So in actuality, the small, specialty farmers that are most likely using better farming practices are the ones using the animal rennet because it is the traditional and more expensive method.

Something else I noticed when I inspected the other cheese in my refridgerator (Laughing Cow Light wedges) was that rennet was not listed as an ingredient; however, whey is listed. Isn't whey seperated from the milk using some type of rennet though? How am I supposed to know what kind of rennet was used?

This pretty much led me to a "vegetarian crisis" - if I was eating baby animals stomachs, what was stopping me from getting in my car and driving to Chick-fil-a right then?

I talked to my mom about it for a long time because she is a vegetarian and cheese lover like me. We talked and talked and eventually it came down to the fact that we have no control over the ingredients in things we buy. We can try our best to be concious, but in the end, you just don't know.

She said maybe we could grow all our own food, but it would still be tainted because there is estrogen (and who knows what else) in our water supply and rain!

I am still really mulling this over, and I'm not totally sure how I feel about it. Honestly, I feel mostly scared about all the hidden ingredients in all foods!

Did you know there are animal parts in some cheeses?

I am a soup lover, especially in the cold winter months! But my love for soup goes waay beyond that - it is a great lower calorie choice to fill up and it can be really healthy and a complete meal!

I discovered this Red Lentil soup on Oh She Glows, from 101 Cookbooks, and since I read about it, I have made it about 100 times. I have made it for all variety of guests, and everyone has raved about it.

I use almost the exact recipe that Heidi posted and I don't feel comfortable copying it over here {sidenote: I read the other day about recipe copyright infringement, and apparently, most authors hate people modifying their recipes.}


I love any type of recipe I can cook in a Crockpot; it's so nice to come home and have dinner already be ready. So I made this recipe Crockpot and busy person friendly.


I chop my onions and leave out the shallots cause I never buy those things. I learned this great trick for chopping onions somewhere on Food Network, I can't remember. But what you do is cut down half way through the root (leaving it intact) and remove the outer layers. Then you lay the onion flat (easier to chop), and make several cuts perpendicular to the root downward, then you hold it, and carefully cut in sideways. You finish it off cutting downward in the opposite direction so the root will be cut off at the end. Really quick and easy!


I usually begin this recipe at home during lunch, my modification is that I always make in my Crockpot. The hardest and most time consuming part (like 10 minutes) is chopping and browning the onions.


While the onions and spices are browning, I combine all the other ingredients (my favorite kind of rice: Lundberg short grain -so delicious!) in my Crockpot.


I use my favorite vegetable boullion cubes, Rapunzel sea salt w/ herbs. It is so delicious!


I always prefer using cubes (especially when they are healthy) over liquid stock, because it takes up much less packaging, less room in my pantry, less effort carrying it up 3 floors, and usually it is cheaper!


I then add a bunch of water, more than the recipe calls for, like 10 cups.


I add the delicious browned onions,


close the top, set the Crockpot to low, and head back to work!

When I come home much later, I have beautiful, thick soup waiting for me!! The longer you cook it the better, as the lentils and rice really expand and make the soup ultra-thick.


After it is finished, I add a really generous amount of salt. Like A LOT! Otherwise it will be bland, and as Heidi says: add salt until it sings!


I usually makes this big batch for myself and I eat it all week long. I usually find that I have to add more water in each serving to make it not sooo thick, so I add a bit of salt too.


I like to top with some extra red pepper and pine nuts, and serve with a side salad. It's a complete meal too: protein from the lentils, complex cards from the rice, healthy fat from the olive oil and pine nuts (and salad dressing), and veggies from onions and salad!


Perfect lunch and perfect easy soup!

Sometimes, ok a lot of times, I'm stressed, tired, hungry, and in no mood to cook something real. I crave comfort food, and for me that means pasta.

After finding some new healthier types of pasta and learning a new great trick for upping the volume and nutritional value, I now have pasta a few times a week.

I combine a few of my favorite things, and in under 10 minutes dinner is served!

Spelt pasta. I buy this at Earthfare and I prefer it over all other pasta options. Spelt has many nutritional benefits over whole wheat pasta: "It offers a broader spectrum of nutrients compared to many of its more inbred cousins in the Triticum (wheat) family. Spelt features a host of different nutrients. It is an excellent source of vitamin B2, a very good source of magnese, and a good source of niacin, thiamin, and copper." (source: WHFoods Spelt) Not only is it healthier for you, it also has a more similar texture to "regular" pasta, and it is fairly inexpensive.

I begin by boiling some salted water and cooking the pasta according to the directions on the box. I try to make extra for quick meals later!

Broccoli slaw. They sell it at TJs like below, and also at regular grocery stores in the baby carrot/bagged veggies section. I usually get 2 portions out of each bag. I freeze it right when I get it so that it doesn't go bad.


I put half of in a microwave container, cover with plastic wrap, and microwave for 2-3 minutes until the slaw is thawed and warm. If you overcook it, it will turn brown and yucky.


While the pasta is cooking, I go ahead and drain the broc slaw.


Then I pull out my absolute favorite meatless meat product, Trader Joe's balls as discovered from SnackFace. These babies are delicious on their own, dipped in ketchup, or in this pasta dish!

I microwave them for a minute and a half.


I strain the pasta (or get it out of the fridge) and combine it with the broc slaw, balls, favorite pasta sauce, and microwave for another 30 seconds or so to make sure the sauce is warm. I use a pretty small portion of pasta and a lot of broccoli slaw so I'm getting in a lot of veggies and a little complex carbs to balance the meal. The broccoli slaw really bulks up the meal and makes it SO filling!


Mix it up and top with nutritional yeast or parm and pine nuts.


Delicious, quick, nutritionally balanced - yum! You have vegetables from the broccoli slaw and sauce, smart carbs from the pasta and meatless balls, protein from the meatless meatballs and nutritional yeast, and healthy fat from the sauce and pine nuts.

Usually, I serve with a small salad and a glass of wine :)

What is your go-to healthy comfort meal?

I've found that one of the best ways to make sure I workout after work, is to wear my workout clothes to work.

Wait! Yep, I wear my workout clothes to work. Firstly, I work in a casual office so I could actually wear my workout clothes if I wanted, but I do like to dress somewhat professionally so I don't wear just my workout clothes. After-all, you should dress for the job you want right?

I usually wear leggings and a dress in the winter time. I find that this combo looks cute, is very comfortable, and allows me to go from meetings with sales reps to moving boxes if needed.


I took a cue from the Lululemon Wunder Under challenge, and I purchased some workout pants that also double as leggings! As a bonus, they are a little more durable and never see through like other leggings can be.

Most of my dresses are from Forever 21 (I'm on a budget!) so they all require undershirts or you might be at risk for showing too much. Usually I would wear a plain tank, but instead I traded it out for a workout top.


There isn't really any change in comfort or in style with these small wardrobe tweaks, but there is a huge difference in motivation! How can I not workout? I'm already dressed! I always find that getting dressed is the hardest part.

Roni of Roni's Weigh uses this tactic a lot for working out in the morning, she sleeps in her running clothes! I applied the same principle here, and it works great. I simply stash an extra pair of running shoes in the car and I'm always ready to squeeze in a workout.

Giveaways Elsewhere:

• Katie @ Health for the Whole Self is giving away Chobani Greek Yogurt!
• Caitlin @ Healthy Tipping Point is doing a raffle for Glo Bars!
• Jocelyn @ Peace.Love.Nutrition is giving away chia seeds!

My sister and I stopped by Crisp, a lovely salad restuarant here in Charlotte, for a nice lunch.

I created my own salad, with greens, grilled tofu (yum!), cranberries, pear slices, pecans, balsamic vinaigrette, and feta cheese (no goat cheese available).


It was really, really good. The tofu was waay better than I was expecting it to be. I've only ever had salads at Crisp, but they have always been good! Cause I'm having a half day at work (woohoo!) I decided to have a glass of white wine with my meal as well. I picked the cheapest one cause I'm classy like that.


I wanted to take more fun pictures cause the weather was beautiful and it was really gorgeous, but camera decided that the memory card was full even though it wasn't. Oh well!

Happy Friday!