Giveaway for the Cook

I hope everyones week is going well!  Training is still going well along with my 30-day pledge to be veg challenge.  If you are also Pledging to be Veg, how is the challenge going for you?

Now I have a very excited giveaway announcement to share with everyone!

I am thrilled to announce an awesome giveaway!  I was contacted by Jason, a member of the Promotional Team at www.csnstores.com , about an opportunity to giveaway one of their many products from one of their many online stores.  The CSN stores consist of a website that sells mailboxes, another that sells bar stools, another that sells toys and games, and finally another site that sells cookware.  Since I know many of my viewers are cooks, I decided on a Le Creuset giveaway.

For this giveaway, one lucky Food, Fit & Fun reader will be the proud owner of a Le Creuset 10.5″ x 7″ square baking dish and a Le Creuset 7″ x 5″ baking dish. The winner will have the opportunity to pick the color of their choice!

The Baking Dishes come in your choice of Caribbean (shown above), White, Dijon, Kiwi, Cherry, Black Onyx & Cobalt.

According to cookware.com,

Le Creuset’s Stoneware is truly an All-in-One Dish that you can use for baking, slicing, serving and storage. Stoneware can be used in the oven, broiler or microwave and will not absorb odors or flavors. The durable finish resists chipping, scratching and staining. These beautiful pieces with their bold classic colors and sure grip handles go straight from baking to tabletop, making an impressive presentation.

Features:

• 10.5″ x 7″ Baking Dish and 7″ x 5″ Bonus Dish
• Made of enameled stoneware
• Strength and durability, making it resistant to chipping, cracking and staining
• Enamel glaze on interior and exterior
• Can bake in an oven up to 500° F
• Dishwasher-safe

To enter in this giveaway, you have a few different options.  Each one of these will earn you one entry, so do as many as you want for a better chance to win!

• Explore CSN’s website listed above and name the one item that interests you the most.
• Blog about this giveaway and link back to this post.
• Tweet about this giveaway.

This contest will be open until Wednesday, February 10, 2010 at 12:00 a.m.  I will announce the winner the morning of Thursday, February 11, 2010.

Good Luck!!!

A first.

Last night was the FIRST time my boyfriend, Todd, made dinner for me.  Yes, we have been dating for 6-7 years!  I sat back and did nothing to help…it was actually quite relaxing! 

I feel like I am on a role using Anna’s recipes, first her Barley Vegetable and now her Butternut Squash and Black Bean Vegan-Chiladas.  Both amazing recipes.  Thanks, Anna!

Butternut Squash and Black Bean Vegan-Chiladas

Ingredients

• 1/2 butternut squash, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
• 2 tsp. cumin, divided
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1/2 tsp. garlic salt (omitted this because we did not have)
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/4 tsp. red pepper
• 1 15 oz. can black beans
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1 10 oz. can enchilada sauce
• 4-6 whole wheat flour tortillas
• 1 avocado, cubed
• salsa
• fresh cilantro

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450.

Place butternut squash on a baking sheet.  Spray with olive oil cooking spray and toss with 1 tsp. of cumin, paprika, and garlic salt.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, until squash is tender.  Set aside, and reduce oven heat to 400 degrees.

In a pan, heat olive oil.  Add onion and cook for about 5 minutes, until onion has begun to turn transparent.  Add the second tsp. of cumin and red pepper to the onions and cook for another minute or so.  Add beans, butternut squash, tomato paste, and about 1/4 cup of enchilada sauce. Cook for 2-3 minutes more and remove from heat.

Spread another 1/4 cup of enchilada sauce on the bottom of a baking dish.  Fill the tortillas with about 1/2 cup of the mixture and place, seam-side down, in the baking dish.  There should be enough filling for about 4-6 tortillas, depending on how full you stuff them.

Once the enchiladas are arranged in the baking dish, pour the remainder of the enchilada sauce over them and bake in the oven for another 10-15 minutes.

Remove from oven and top with avocado, cilantro, and salsa.

Some of the mixture on the stovetop

In the Oven.

Well, Todd’s first cooking experience was a success!  We gobbled them right up.  It was delicious!!  I just wish I took picture of Todd cooking…that may be the first and last time I see that!

This weekend consisted of another first.  Today was my first “long run” for training for the Boston Marathon.  This week, the plan called for a timed run as opposed to a distance run.  The plan called for an hour and twenty minutes at an easy pace, picking up the pace for the last 1/4 of the run.   I guess it was actually long for me since I have not ran long in a while!  

• Time: 1:20
• Distance: ~9.7  (+ ~1 mile cooldown)
• Pace: 8:14/mile

I felt great during this run.  Most of my splits were between 8:30 & 8:40.  I was cruising along and felt awesome.  Towards the end, I picked up the pace a bit and  was able to finish the last .7 of the run averaging a 7:30 pace. 

I was a bit hesitant to get out there today too since the weather said it felt like 10 degrees.  I am really  not a fan of cold weather.  But once I got out there, I felt pretty good!

It feels good to be getting back into the groove of things!

I tailed you

Tonight at dinner my Dad showed me a few pictures on his iPhone that resembled the one below.  He said…”Check this out, I tailed ‘em!”

hahaha so if you are still wondering what I am talking about, my Dad who is a doctor makes tails out of medical tape and sticks them on nurses without them knowing…hahaha.  Apparently he has been doing this for years because I asked if they had ever done it to him and he said that they got him a few years ago.   hahahaha I find this hilarious.  I should just keep this picture around whenever I need a good laugh.  I hope it made you laugh too!

So, now let me babble on about Boston Marathon Training!  Although I am still in my first week of training, I feel like everything is going great.  Prior to this, when I trained for marathons, I would simply go out and run the planned distance at whatever pace I could carry.  Now I realize how wrong I was.  I realize now that you can’t be out there everyday pushing as hard or almost as hard as you can.  Additionally, I realize that there should be a place for easy, recovery, tempo, MP (marathon pace) runs, etc.  I feel that some of the reasons in the past when I have been unmotivated to run have been due to the fact that I didn’t run “easy”…I was beatin’ myself up.  This is not good!  Beating yourself up week after week won’t be good come marathon time and you probably won’t perform to the best of your ability.  Sorry for rambling, but I am just so excited to incorporate “easy” days in order to designate specific days to go all out for speed workouts.  Also in the past I would push myself on my long runs to carry the best pace I could keep…for example,  doing 15 mile training runs at 8:00/mile pace.  Now I realize how stupid this is.  This is way too fast for training.  According to the McMillan Running Calculator, my long run pace should be anywhere from 8:40-9:40/mile.  So I am excited to train a little bit differently this time around to see what kind of results I get!

Today was my first day of speedwork in let’s see umm probably last May.  The run itself was pretty short and while I was running of course I was tired but I feel like I could have given it more.  But I am glad I was conservative during this run since it’s only my first week of training, the mileage is still pretty low, & this was the first time I’ve experimented with speed in a while!  My schedule called for a 5 mile tempo run, so this is what it looked like and what I planned on doing:

• Mile 1– 8:33 (warm-up)–I was aiming for 8:40
• Mile 2–7:52 (warm-up)–I was aiming for 8:30 but my watch was messed up which messed me up and made me go way too fast for a warm-up
• Mile 3–7:36 (tempo; aimed for a 7:40)
• Mile 4–7:26 (tempo; aimed for 7:30)
• Mile 5–8:46 (cooldown)

Total: 8:02/mile

I’m glad that I got my feet wet a little bit with speedwork.  I was nervous going into it because I wasn’t really sure how I’d hold up.  Plus it was very, very windy.  Next week should be a bit more interesting, hopefully!  Sorry to ramble on but I’ve got a lot on my mind and I’m trying to learn all at the same time.  If you have any advice or suggestions for me about anything, I’d love to hear!

**If you love Yoga, The Daily Balance is giving away a Full Year Subscription to Yoga Journal!!!

Barley Vegetable Soup

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week.  Today is Day 3 of my Pledge to Be Veg Challenge and Boston Marathon Training.  So far, so good! 

My marathon training plan starts off pretty easy so I have just been enjoying it.  Tomorrow I have a 5 mile tempo run so I am excited about that.  A few weeks ago I got fitted for Orthotics because I do not have good arch support in my feet.  This lack of support was the culprit of the foot pain that I have been experiencing since August.  So I am thrilled to finally have a cure.  I’ve only ran with the orthotics twice, but so far they feel great!   

Tonight I cooked up a veggie-friendly pot of deliciousness!  I absolutely LOVED this soup.  Definitely a recipe to keep and to make again and again.   I based the recipe off of Anna’s Barley Vegetable Soup.  I adapted it slightly, so here is the recipe I used.

Served with my favorite Seeduction Bread.

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 celery stalks, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

1 bag of baby spinach

4 cups vegetable broth

~1 cup water

~6 button mushrooms

unmeasured amounts of  rosemary, thyme, & salt

1/2 cup barley, uncooked

grated parmesan cheese to garnish

Directions:

In tbsp. of olive oil, cook onion and garlic for about five minutes, until soft.  Add celery,  carrots, & mushrooms.  Add thyme, salt, pepper and rosemary.  Cook about 5-10 minutes.  Add barley and stir until it is incorporated in the mixture.  Cook for a few more minutes, and add vegetable broth.   Bring soup to a boil, and then reduce heat to a low simmer.  During this time I added the bagged baby spinach to the pot along with about a cup of water (the water is optional depending upon the consistency you are looking for).   Simmer for 45 minutes to an hour, until barley is fully cooked.  Top with parmesan cheese.

Holly is also having an awesome giveaway…so head over there and enter!!

12 Weeks & Pledge to Be Veg

Well, there are officially 12 weeks until the Boston Marathon.  That also means that I begin training TODAY!  Today also marks the start of the Pledge to Be Veg 30-Day Challenge.  As I said before, for 30 days I will:

…refrain completely from the following food items:

• Meat
• Fish
• Poultry

…I will moderately consume:

• Eggs
• Dairy products  (milk, yogurt, cheese, ice cream, etc.)

Yes, I did make a slight change.  Before I said that I would not consume cow’s milk at all, but now I decided that I would moderately consume it.  I am really looking forward to this challenge to see if the change in my eating style will have a positive effect on me.  I was glad to see that some of my readers will be joining me through this 30-day challenge!  

Last night for dinner, I made homemade pizza.  Pizza is no doubt about it one of my favorite meals.  It had been a while since I had made my own pizza so I was very excited.  For the dough, I use Jenna’s recipe.  She uses part whole-wheat and part white flour.  It’s the best dough that I have tried thus far.  

For the sauce, I make my own sauce.  The recipe that I have posted  on my blog is for pasta sauce.  The only difference is that I will add Oregano for pizza sauce.

My favorite combination is Broccoli, Spinach, Tomato Sauce, Mozzarella, & Parmesan.  So good…and in my mind, healthy!

So here is the process of making the pizza:

• Make the dough.
• Make the Sauce.
• Roll the dough out.
• Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
• Place Pizza dough onto Pizza Stone dusted with corn meal in preheated oven.
• Cook for a few minutes & remove from oven.  
• Place tomato sauce, cheese, and toppings of choice on dough.
• Place back into oven and cook until crispy!  This does not take long at all…less than 10 minutes.

Along with the pizza, I made one of my favorite salads…Baby Spinach, Candied Pecans, Pink Lady Apples &  Feta Cheese tossed in a mixture of Balsamic Vinegar, Olive Oil, and Salt & Pepper.

 The perfect dinner!

I will also give you the recipe for the Candied Pecans.  You can find them pre-packaged in your food store but there are so many added ingredients that you might as well just make them yourself!  They are so simple to make.  

Candied Pecans

• Sugar
• Pecans
• Salt

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Place pecans on a baking sheet and toast for 5-10 minutes making sure not to burn them.  Put about a 1/4 of a cup of sugar in a pan and cook over medium heat stirring frequently.  When the sugar begins to melt dump the pecans into the pan and stir until melted sugar is evenly distributed.  Pour on a plate and allow to cool.

*Note:  Unfortunately, I did not take pictures (except for pecans), so these pictures are from when I made this same meal back in the summer!

Pledge to Be Veg

The idea of going vegetarian has always been an idea that has floated through my head.  I just could never fathom the idea of giving up milk, ice cream, cheese, fish, etc.  However, lately I have been even more tempted to give vegetarianism a shot.

I was searching around on GoVeg.com and came across the Pledge to Be Veg for 30 Days.  I have decided that I am going to challenge myself to enter into the world of a vegetarian for at least 30 days.

In the long run, I just don’t think that I could live without salmon, crabs, ice cream, yogurt, milk, eggs, etc.  Rather, I believe that my life-style will be that of a Flexitarian–defined as an individual who primarily follows a plant-based diet but occasionally eat small amounts of meat, poultry or fish.

The other types of Vegetarians include:

Vegans: eat only plant-based foods. They don’t eat foods from animals, including meat, poultry, fish, milk, eggs and cheese.

Lacto-vegetarians: consume milk and milk products along with plant-based foods. They omit eggs as well as meat, fish and poultry.

Lacto-ovo vegetarians eat eggs, milk and milk products, such as cheese and yogurt, in addition to plant-based foods. They omit red meat, fish and poultry.

For this 30-day Challenge, I think I will fall between a Lacto-vegetarian and a Lacto-ovo Vegetarian.  By that I mean I will refrain completely from the following food items:

• Meat
• Fish
• Poultry
• Cow’s Milk (straight up)

I will moderately consume:

• Eggs
• Dairy products that contain cow’s milk (yogurt, cheese, ice cream, etc.)

I found a good source of advice from Katie about Omnivores who are interested in becoming Vegans/Vegetarians.  So if you are interested in joining me on this 30-Day challenge, Katie has a GREAT blog to get you us started!  She describes becoming a Vegan as “the best decision I have made in my life! I feel so much better, physically and mentally, have so much energy all the time, and am so happy with my life.” I will be curious to see if I notice any changes in my physical and mental self!

Throughout this 30-Day Journey I will post different ideas and recipes to help us along through this experience!  I hope that you are thinking about joining me!  The official start date for my challenge will be Monday, January 25th (the same day Boston training begins!).  However, I have already begun making the transition.  With a start date of January 25th, the challenge will be completed on Tuesday, February 23rd.

Are there any Vegetarians/Vegans out there who have any advice to share?  Did you notice any changes in yourself when  you became Veg?

Boston Marathon Training

Boston Here I Come!

January 25th marks the first day of training for the 2010 Boston Marathon.  I am surprisingly really excited to jump back into Marathon Training.  Boston will be my third marathon…I ran Philadelphia for the past 2 years.  Unfortunately, this year the Philadelphia Marathon did not go as smoothly as I would have liked.  I am almost thankful for that race though.  It was ridiculously challenging and I learned a TON from that race.  However, I do not hope to repeat that performance for Boston.  I’d much rather repeat my performance from my first marathon!  For Boston I have decided to follow Hal Higdon’s 12-week Boston Bound Training Plan. 

Although I am very excited, I do know that training for Boston will be an even bigger challenge than training for my past marathons.  It is very tough to balance life, school, & training among other things…but I enjoy the challenge.  Also, I have never run this much in my life.  I know some of you are crazy and take a rest day once every two months…but that is certainly not me.  I love rest days.  So seeing that this plan has only one rest day a week…this will certainly be a challenge.  I do plan to listen to my body and respond appropriately when necessary.

Take a look at the plan:

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
1	3 mile run easy	3 x hill, 1 down	3 mile run easy	5 mile run Tempo	Rest	6 miles pace	1:20, 3/1
2	4 mile run easy	4 x 800, 400 jog	4 mile run easy	7 mile run Tempo	Rest	7 miles pace	14 mile run easy
3	4 mile run easy	4 x hill, 1 down	4 mile run easy	7 mile run easy	Rest	7 miles easy	1:30, 3/1
4	4 mile run easy	5 x 800, 400 jog	4 mile run easy	5 mile run easy	Rest	7 miles pace	16 mile run easy
5	4 mile run easy	5 x hill, 2 down	4 mile run easy	8 mile run tempo	Rest	5-K race	1:40, 3/1
6	5 mile run easy	6 x 800, 400 jog	5 mile run easy	8 mile run easy	Rest	8 miles pace	18 mile run easy
7	5 mile run easy	6 x hill, 2 down	5 mile run easy	5 mile run Tempo	Rest	10-K race	1:50, 3/1
8	5 mile run easy	7 x 800, 400 jog	5 mile run easy	8 mile run easy	Rest	5 miles easy	20 mile run easy
9	5 mile run easy	7 x hill, 3 down	5 mile run easy	5 mile run easy	Rest	Half Marathon	2:00, 3/1
10	5 mile run easy	8 x 800, 400 jog	5 mile run easy	8 mile run easy	Rest	5 miles pace	20 mile run easy
11	5 mile run easy	8 x hill, 3 down	5 mile run easy	6 mile run Tempo	Rest	4 miles pace	12 mile run easy
12	5 mile run easy	4 x 800, 400 jog	3 mile run easy	4 mile run easy	Rest	Rest	2 mile run easy
13	Boston Marathon

After the Philadelphia Marathon, I ended my post asking if I had it in me to train for Boston.  Now, I know, I do.  Less than a week away until training officially begins!

I have two awesome giveaways to share with you:

**Head on over to The Tasty Life where she is having an amazing giveaway!

**Chocolate Covered Katie is giving away a Vita-mix…head over here to enter!

Turkey Meatloaf

I have never had a regular meatloaf before.  I guess my sisters and I were very picky when we were little so my Mom didn’t even bother to make it for us.  A while ago, I saw a recipe on Dani Spies blog for Mini-Turkey Meatloaves.  This is a healthy twist on the traditional comfort food– meatloaf.  Ever since I saw it, I added it to my list of recipes to try.  The other day I finally got around to trying it out.

Mini Turkey Meatloaves

• 1.25 lb of extra lean ground turkey
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 heaping cup of Cremini mushrooms, minced
• ½ cup chopped parsley
• 1 cup of salsa plus an extra ½ cup for the tops
• 1 cup of rolled oats
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp of dried thyme
• Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375.

In a large bowl combine onions, mushrooms, parsley, one cup of salsa, oats, egg, garlic powder, thyme, and ground turkey.  Give it a hit of salt and pepper and then use your hands to mix everything together until well incorporated.

Lightly coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.  

Using your hands (once again!) to free-form six mini meatloaves and place on the baking sheet.  Top each loaf with about a tablespoon of the remaining salsa.

Bake for 25 minutes or until cooked through.  Enjoy!

Nutrition Stats:

Calories: 208; Total Fat: 3g; Saturated Fat: 0.5g; Cholesterol: 99mg; Sodium: 348mg; Carbohydrate: 18.7g; Dietary Fiber: 3.4; Sugars: 5.2g; Protein: 28.8g
Serves 6.

I thought that this recipe was great!  I loved that the loaves were single-servings.  Although, I have to say the salsa really did put a Southwestern spin on this meatloaf…which is not a bad thing if you like Southwestern flavors.

I served the turkey meatloaf along with Roasted Potatoes & Sautéed String Beans & Garlic.  The Roasted Potatoes are SO good and easy to make!  You have to try them out.  I especially like to dip them in Ketchup…my favorite condiment. 

Roasted Potatoes

• 2 Baking Potatoes
• Olive Oil
• Dried Thyme & Rosemary
• Salt & Pepper

Cube the Potatoes.  Place in microwave safe/oven safe dish.  Mix with Olive Oil, Thyme, Rosemary, Salt & Pepper. 

If you are pressed for time (like I was), these can be cooked quickly right in the microwave and they still come out absolutely delicious!  It only takes a few  minutes too.  Just throw em’ in the microwave for a little and continue to check on them until they are finished.  If you have more time, they can be cooked in the oven…around 375 degrees…keep in mind, this process takes much longer than the microwave method!

Also, I used 2 Potatoes for 2 people and this gave me a ton of potatoes…it was more than enough for 2 servings.

My Mom has also been looking to try a turkey meatloaf recipe.  Since she is probably more familiar with the traditional meatloaf, I think I am going to suggest for her to try out Ina Garten’s (from the Food Network…aka Barefoot Contessa) recipe for Turkey Meatloaf.  I saw another blogger try this recipe out.  On the Food Network website this recipe was rated 5 out of 5 stars from 235 people!  So this has got to be a great recipe!

Do you have a favorite Comfort Food recipe?

Hello Sun!

Thank you again Anna for your guest post on Eatin’ Healthy on the Road. I know I learned a lot of good food ideas when I’m travelling.  I think you are correct when you said that preparation is key!

Recently, I have been thinking about Vitamins.  I have never taken vitamins.  Instead, I got my vitamins from my food.  However, now I wonder how I can be sure that I am getting all of the vitamins that I need?

How about you?  Do you take daily Vitamins?  If so, which ones?

Recently I read an article in Runner’s World on Vitamin D.  I found lots of important information in the article, including:

One study, published in February 2009 in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, concludes that adolescents with higher levels of vitamin D can jump higher, quicker, and with greater power than those with lower vitamin D levels. A review in Molecular Aspects of Medicine in December 2008 shows that vitamin D increases the size of fast-twitch muscles and muscular strength. Some research shows low levels of vitamin D may increase risk for sports injuries, including stress fractures such as Kastor’s, because the nutrient is so vital for bone health.

It is important to know that there are no symptoms of a Vitamin D deficiency.  If you do not spend a lot of time outside in the sun or if you live where the winter sun is not strong (northern U.S., Canada, Europe), you have a higher chance of being deficient in Vitamin D.

Also, remember the importance of Vitamin D for the absorption of Calcium.  This article suggests taking a daily Vitamin D supplement that contains 2,000 IU.  Check out the article for ways to incorporate more Vitamin D through the foods in your diet.  As you will notice, there are not many foods that contain Vitamin D.  Also the foods that do, do not contain a lot of Vitamin D.

So I am sort of on the fence about Vitamins.  I really do not think that I get enough Vitamin D in the winter months here in Pennsylvania…

I think I may start taking Vitamin D…what do you think?

Anyway, enough talk about Vitamins!  Let’s move on to SPOONS!

My sister and I have a strange appreciation for tiny spoons.  We have a small collection of tiny spoons and love to use them for our morning bowl of oatmeal.  The other day I saw Caitlin using a small green spoon with her Oatmeal.  She said that she got it at Crate and Barrel for $1!  So of course I made a trip to Crate and Barrel to purchase the spoon (plus, I love that store!).  Not only did I purchase the green spoon, I also got a white one!

I used my new green spoon to eat my Egg White Oats with Banana, Blueberries, Cherries, Honey, Cinnamon, & Milk!

Oh the exciting things in life.  Don’t be jealous, Christina, I got you two too!  Here is the link to the white one online in case you want one too…I couldn’t find the green one.

Have a good day and make sure to soak up the sun!

Eatin’ Healthy on the Road

Hi everyone!  Anna here, from Newlywed, Newly Veg.  When Mary asked me to do a guest post for Food, Fit and Fun, I jumped at the chance!  I’d love to, I told her.

Then…life got in the way.  Before I knew it, weeks had passed since I had agreed to do the post.  Yikes! Sorry Mary!

One part of “life” that got in the way was holiday travel.  I spent the month of December traveling near and far for the holidays…but mostly far.  My husband and I live in Pennsylvania (like Mary!), but our families live in Seattle and Louisiana, respectively.  We like to spend time with both our families over Christmas, which translates into A LOT of time spent in the car and in airports. 

Because of this, when I finally sat down to write this guest post, I thought, what better topic to cover than eating healthy while traveling? 

I’m going to mainly write about road travel here, because, in my humble opinion, it’s actually pretty easy to eat healthy in the airports these days.  Almost every airport has some sort of deli where you can get a turkey or veggie sandwich.  Even Starbucks has sandwiches, fruit plates, and yogurt parfaits!  Plus, I’ve noticed that most of the gift and news shops have started carrying things like Clif bars, KIND bars, and even Pop chips!  There’s also lots of trail mix to be had– go for the kind without the M&Ms if you’re really trying to be healthy.  With trail mix, the only thing you have to watch out for is portion control.  Share the bag with your flight neighbors—they’ll love you!  (Or they might think you’re a weirdo and secretly toss the trail mix under their seat…whatever.)

For me, as a vegetarian, road travel is a little tougher.  Before I went veg, my go-to healthy stop was Subway.  They do have the veggie sub, but that’s pretty much it.  Some have the elusive “veggie patty,” but that seems a little sketchy to me. 

When we were driving home to Louisiana over the break (twenty hours straight through, in the car with two dogs…I should get some sort of medal for that, right?), we stopped at Subway for lunch and I ate a veggie sub, which was fine.  But then, dinner rolled around.  I didn’t want to eat Subway again, and I couldn’t have, even if I’d wanted to—there were none in sight!  All we kept passing was Burger Kings, McDonalds, Sonics…you get the picture. 

We got hungrier and hungrier, and finally we stopped at Sonic for my hub, and I ate a Clif bar, animal crackers, and a v-8 juice for dinner.  Not the healthiest, right?

What this taught me was that, when traveling on the road, preparation is key.  Especially for long car rides, if you don’t want to get caught in an “unhealthy” situation, the answer is simple: pack healthy eats!

On the way back up, I took control of the situation.  We made almond butter and banana sandwiches for lunch, plus carrot sticks and apples.  For dinner, we had quinoa salad with roasted veggies (great because it can stay at room temperature). 

Some travel-friendly meals you might try are:

• nut butter sandwiches
• fruit (I like apples for the road because they hold up well, but I’ve also been known to split a banana down the center, spread some peanut butter on it, and seal it back up in foil.  YUM!)
• trail mix (again, you know which ones are healthy.  We brought one in the car that was a mix of almonds, pistachios, raisins, dried cherries, and sunflower seeds)
• granola
• energy bars (some of my fave are Clif bars and Lara bars, but there are TONS of options out there)
• pasta salad (sans mayo) with veggies
• pop chips
• peanut butter pretzels
• candied ginger (good for car sickness, too!)
• crackers (I like Mary’s Gone Crackers and Kashi’s TLC honey sesame crackers)
• assorted veggie sticks (carrots, bell peppers, celery, etc.)
• and of course, dark chocolate! You have to have dessert!

So, there you have it.  Hope these tips help you out on your next long road trip.  Have a great day!