A Hodgepodge of Goodness Buddah Bowl

One of the most interesting things about my plant-based diet is finding the ability to just throw a meal together. When I was a meat eater, all my meals basically centered around whatever protein I ate— chicken, beef, lamb, etc. Now, I can grab a bunch of things and leftovers that I may have in the refrigerator and put together a meal that is just yummy and comforting. This buddha bowl is a variation of one I saw online and it is really good.

There are many aspects of this bowl that I love separately, but together, they are a burst of flavors. The one thing in this bowl that I never had before was the pink pearl couscous, which gets the flavor from shredded beets. It is ridiculously amazing. The bowl also includes falafels. And I am going to be honest— these are from a box mix. I tried them a few years ago and I compare every falafel to this brand. So good! Some sauteed shiitake mushrooms complete this dish. The result is a bowl with earthy and warm flavor that will definitely hit the spot. A green goddess type dressing goes beautiful with this. For the recipe:

Instructions/Ingredients (Makes 2 servings):

For the massaged kale: In a bowl, combined 3 cups of kale with 2-3 tbsp of olive oil, 1 tbsp lemon and a dash of salt. Then with your clean hands, literally, massaged the kale making sure to coat the leaves. What this method does is similar to wilting but without mushing the leave. Kale is perfect for this because it is more sturdy. As you massage the kale, the leaves will get tender and they will reduce in volume.

For the beets couscous: Cook couscous per package instructions. Take 1 cup of the cooked couscous and mix it with 1/2 cup raw shredded red beets and 1 tsp of lemon juice. Mix together until the couscous turn pink. Add salt and pepper to taste.

For the sauteed mushrooms: On a sauteeing pan, combine 1 cups of mushrooms, 2 tbsp olive oil and a dash of Greek seasons. You can you use any seasoning you want, but I find Greek seasoning goes really well with mushrooms. Cook the mushrooms until they are tender, around 8-10 mins.

Arrange portions of all the ingredients in a bowl, and enjoy!

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LIFE... ACTUALLY-- MUSINGS FROM THE COUNTY ROADS

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Hello, friends. Well, life is certainly showing us right now, isn’t it? While I don’t mind the social distancing (actually I’ve trained for this all my life), I miss the feeling of safety. Mentally, COVID-19 is messing with me. I know it is safe to go out and exercise— even our Governor is encouraging us to go out there and get some fresh air— but me, in my Doomsday mentality keeps thinking:

“What is this thing mutates and we are not safe out here?”. I attribute this to all the zombie movies I watch with my husband.

“What if the cold air makes me sick and then I have an at risk-immune system?”

See where this is going? Now, let’s be clear— from the top photo you can see that social distancing while running is pretty easy for me because I live in farm country and there is no need to worry. So, I am sabotaging my own fitness efforts right now. I have been doing a lot of stretching at home and a few elliptical sessions but there has not been any motivation whatsoever. I even had the option to do the Marine Corps Historic Half virtually, but instead I deferred to next year (so impressed they had that option). My heart was just not into it.

Then April arrived and we are finally seem to be coming out of the winter spell (fingers crossed) here in Minnesota. We are having more spring-like temperatures and on Sunday we had a 63F weather that had me reaching for my running shoes, lacing up those bad boys, and heading out for the county roads. It was a perfect day and I felt some of my motivation coming back. a few times during the run, I just walked because… I don’t know— I just felt like walking and taking it all in. And it did me good. My little soul needed to take it all in. Interestingly, I found myself talking to God while I was walking. Not prayers, but having a conversation with him. Anybody else does that? :) After I got home I was catching up on some of my blogs, and found out from Wendy about the Un-Canceled Project. This project is 4-weeks of running challenges, aiming at taking back our lives and finding the positive motivation. You can do as many virtual races as you like each week— from  5K, 10K, Half Marathon, Marathon, and Ultra (31+ miles), and they are free! I need a challenge right now, so I signed up for it!

So, here we go. We are in the middle of another week. I am making an intentional effort to be present and positive. I am not depressed or anything, but I find that if I don’t focus on the good, the days just seem non-existent. Just… blah. Which is a shame because we are alive and, as far as we know, healthy. So there is no excuse to have a blah day. I am going to make it count by whatever means necessary.

How are you making your days count? How do we keep showing up?

Have a blessed day, friends. Hugs!

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Joining these awesome link-ups: Friday Five 2.0 / Tuesday Topics/ Weekly Run Down