Hey loves! Today has been quite relaxing. With the day off from work and zero plans, I welcomed the opportunity to do my own thing. I’ve tackled blog homework part three, practiced piano/singing for a local show tomorrow night, and cleaned that monstrous bedroom of mine. Ew. I think that is the chore I loathe the most.
Workout
Anyways, the day started off on a high note! My muscles were still a little sore from yesterday (watch out, Saturday clients!) so I took it easy and completed 10 miles of light biking while reading the latest issue of VegNews Magazine. Yes, I’m still reading it. I like to take it in chunks and really savor each issue. That way, there is less waiting time for the next issue. Such a brain I have, I know. 
Breakfast
This morning, chocolate was on the menu! Last night, as I was sipping some homemade hot cocoa (1 cup almond milk and 1 Tbsp. of this bad Larry), I thought to myself, “I wonder how this would taste mixed with plain yogurt…” Well, I found out this morning, and these two are a match made in heaven.
I simply stirred 1 Tbsp. of the cocoa into 1/2 cup of the yogurt and BAM! I had chocolate pudding-ish yogurt. Hip hip hooray! I served it up with two slices of Ezekiel bread, each dabbed with some (invisible) Earth Balance, and a little clementine. (We can ignore the fact that I just typed “Hip hip hooray!” mmkay?)
We can’t forget the pumpkin coffee, you know, for good measure. Side note: I’m not sure how or why there is a brownish-reddish spot in the upper left corner of that photo. Creepy. After plugging away at some blog homework, my stomach started to gurgle for some lunch. Perfect timing!
Lunch
Leftovers rule. I baked some garlicky sweet potato fries from last night’s dinner while I prepped a mish-mosh of a salad that turned out to be pretty delicious. For the base of my salad, I used kale, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, and cucumber. I topped my veggies with walnuts, plain hummus, and nutritional yeast. I also made myself a quick dressing by mixing 1 Tbsp. of balsamic vinegar with 1 tsp. of extra virgin olive oil.
All mixed up…
…and all together, now!
After lunch, I trudged upstairs to tackle my room. It is now semi-spotless. All clothes are put away and the bed is made…it now just needs a good vaccuum!
Dinner
It was so chilly outside today and I think that got me craving a hearty soup. The problem here was that I started craving a hearty soup at roughly 5:00 p.m., and good soups take awhile to cook, simmer, and blend. I whimpered for a minute before deciding to make a quick semi-homemade version. In a medium-sized saucepan, I placed a package of frozen Green Giant Digestive Health blend, which featured navy beans, spinach, and yellow carrots.
I then added 2 Tbsp. water, 1 tsp. olive oil, a heaping tablespoon of nutritional yeast, and a large handful of extra spinach to the mix and let it cook for a couple of minutes.
Now, here’s the fun part! To make it heartier, I added marinara sauce to the mix. I kept adding until my eyeballs said stop. After a bunch of stirring and a generous grinding of black pepper, I had a hearty soup-like meal ready for eating!
I was actually surprised at how delicious this was! Protein? Check. Healthy fats? Check. Plethora of veggies? Check. Woo hoo! 
How Fear Can Motivate Us
I love blogging and sharing my life with all of you. My hope is that this teeny tiny corner of the blog world can be a comforting place filled with positivity, fun, and of course, yummy vegan eats! But this blog is also a place of honesty. I firmly believe that a successful blogger is an honest blogger. So, let’s get serious and tackle fear to the ground, shall we?
Fear is an emotion we encounter often but don’t really talk about. It’s an uncomfortable feeling and one people don’t like to discuss because we often think that if we are fearful, we are weak. I don’t believe this because fear makes us human. And conquering that fear makes us strong. I love this quote on fear, from Eleanor Roosevelt:
(Source)
There is one fear I often encounter: Fear that I will “slip up” and relapse back into old habits. Going through an eating disorder was the worst experience of my life but getting my health back was the best experience of my life. One would think staying on the road to health and happiness would be a no brainer, right? It should be, but it isn’t. Despite recovering from my eating disorder, it is still just that – a disorder – and one that I often have to mentally “shut off.” The fear kind of goes in and out. Some days, I’m fearless and I know that my ED will never come back. Other days, I’m fearful that it will.
On the days that I’m fearful, I try to turn the situation around and use fear as motivation to move forward and do the thing that fear doesn’t want me to do: be happy! I love my life and feel very satisfied with my lifestyle. Fear drives me because I’ve worked so hard to get out of that unhappy place where I was very sick and miserable. I’ve come so far and to ruin that would be plain silly! It’s so much better on the other side.
Okay. Time for a happy dance!
Stay lovely,
Heather
Question of the Day: Do you encounter fear? How do you deal with it?
