It’s SO Good To Be Home!

Hi!! I’m finally back from Korea and let me tell you-IT WAS AMAZING. I had so much fun with my mom’s side of the family and I already miss them so freaking much. It was beautiful. I am SUPER tired because I just landed about 3 hours ago and since they are 14 hours ahead… it’s like I left in the morning and got here at the same time. lol.

The flight was awful-13 hours and I can’t sleep on airplanes. I brought healthy, vegan snacks with me so I didn’t have to eat the airplane food, but it probably wasn’t enough. Right when I got home, despite the lack of sleep, I went out for a long run to stretch my legs. Being cooped up like that just doesn’t cut it with my body and I get an urge to run. Now I’m sweaty, tired, but really refreshed. I need to shower, and head up to bed.

I’m incredibly excited about getting back into the blogging world. I missed it so much-however, being away from so much technology was quite refreshing and allowed me to appreciate the things in real life-like my family. <3

I’m mostly excited about getting back to controlling what goes in my food. I avoided meat and animal products over there and ate a lot of tofu, beans, and vegetables-but I honestly had NO clue what kind of seasonings my family put on the vegetables, and although the soups didn’t taste like animal broth-I don’t know what they used for it. It made me upset at first, but in Korea, it is EXTREMELY rude to turn away food. When I said I ate no meat products, my whole family got mad at me for turning down my grandma’s welcoming meal. She did go the extra mile to provide me with vegetables, legumes, and tofu, but she’s pretty old and probably didn’t know that vegan meant NO animal products AT ALL. Sigh-She is a BEAUTIFUL woman though and I love her SO much.

She sent back a TON of vegetables that she taught me how to make and they are all vegan!

Anywho, I’ll get back on the blogging wagon as soon as I get some rest and recuperation. Like Lunch!

Haha, when I get pictures on a disk, I’ll be sure to put them up. It’s GORGEOUS.

Side Note: No one there is obese! Everyone walks everywhere and eats plentiful seafood and vegetables. It’s amazing. There are no calorie counts on most of the food and all this sugar free/fat free processed mess is nonexistent. It really is amazing how they do everything in moderation. I lost weight there and I wasn’t even trying. I kept up my [BIG] appetite and worked out+walked everywhere and lost weight. I’m telling you-the US is too bent up on trying to do everything FAST. I’ve definitely learned to listen to my body cues better and rely more on taking things at my own pace instead of cramming it all in.

Goodnight you guys… or more like Good Morning

Can’t Make The Cut.

I truly applaud all the bloggers out there who blog every meal… every day. You guys are amazing! How you manage the time to do it-i’ll probably never know. haha.

Anyway, I have a few pictures to share with you with my dinner post of a few of the meals I’ve eaten since Thursday’s lunch. Most of which are pretty boring, but some that are pretty fun to look at. I’ll be sure to post those up with tonight’s dinner.

I’m thinking I’m going to blog the meals I create that look tasty or that are different instead of documenting each and every meal. Most of my meals are pretty standard such as the oatmeal for breakfast or the veggie wrap [hence the blog name ] for lunch. I suppose my dinners will be the showcase meal then for the majority of the posts. Plus, I’m going to KOREA in less than 2 weeks. I’m so excited to have authentic pictures of TRUE Korean cuisine to share with you.

I will keep commenting on blogs though. I love reading blogs and commenting on the interesting and fun posts.

Dan-In regards to your comment about Clifford Crunch, I apologize for my mess up by eating that cereal that contained Vitamin D3. I was not aware of this which just highlights my newborn vegan-ness… Now I know what to look for and will continue to keep on living a vegan lifestyle. I absolutely love it and don’t intend on letting a “slip up” keep me down.

Off to enjoy a nice Decaf Iced Coffe+Soymilk on the porch in the hot+humid TX weather with the mom. Oh how I just adore Texas summers… idk if I mean that or not.

stay cool

Time To Slow Down.

Whew. Sorry I didn’t post yesterday, I was extremely busy trying to wrap up graduation stuff and had a dinner with my dad and his boss to “celebrate” my “coming into the world” haha. I didn’t take any pictures of my dinner because my dad’s boss’ wife made the dinner and we ate at their house-I felt it would be a little awkward if not rude. She knew I was vegan though and made an incredible dish of lentil salad served along with a bountiful harvest of veggies and brown rice. It was DELICIOUS. Thank you!!

I’ll post pictures of my breakfast and lunch though. Yesterday was a snacky day, but I felt like my tummy could use the fuel.

Breakfast was fresh fruit. I wasn’t in the mood for a big bowl of oats, so I had 2 peaches, a huge mango, and some celery.

Later on that morning I had a baby banana and a cup of tea+vanilla soy.

Lunch was a veggie wrap with spinach, mushrooms, avocado, and tomato. It was hearty and delicious. I also had some steamed broccoli and a baby banana on the side as well as the rest of the celery from the AM with a bit of salsa (i didn’t finish the salsa). For a snack later that afternoon I had some air popped popcorn and green tea. yum.

Alrighty, now for Thursday morning-I was running really late for my hair appointment so I grabbed a big bowl of strawberries and ate them on the way to the salon.

I know this was a lame breakfast, but it did hold me over until I could come home for lunch. I had another veggie wrap this time with spinach, mushrooms, and tomato only. I went back for a second wrap soon after this one but forgot to snap a picture. Now I’m full, happy, and need to get a move on with my day-after taking a breather of course.

My mom and I went to the H-Mart in Carrollton yesterday and got a lot of Korean food. Dinner tonight is going to be AMAZING! I can’t wait!

Enjoy your thursday!!

Meh Start… GRAND FINISH

So I was really excited to make my dinner tonight only to taste that it didn’t please my taste buds. I came across this recipe for whole wheat pasta salad. I figured it was a healthy way to combine whole grain carbs & healthy olive oil fat along with a bit of protein. I let it marinate all day long and was totally looking forward to it tonight for dinner. However, when I went for a taste-it wasn’t that good. It wasn’t bad, but I’m really not much of a pasta person. I don’t really gravitate toward Italian food because I don’t really like it. I’m really only a fan of the cheese-less pizzas haha. Anyway, I was pretty upset because I went out and bought the olives, herbs, bell pepper, and spinach to make this thing and it didn’t turn out. Eh, oh well. I ate a small portion so not to waste food and combined it with broccoli, more of my mom’s kimchi and some sticky rice underneath the kimchi. I topped my broccoli with salsa and called it a meal. I’m pretty pooped today because I was constantly on the go either helping out teachers, renewing my license, going for a run, taking the dogs to the vet, and helping my brother study for his finals. I’m just now settling down.

Lunch was a quick one! I was on the go so I ate a quick bowl of cereal. I also had some broccoli and gazpacho with mushrooms on the side. At school, my friend brought a HUGE bowl of watermelon and I definitely helped myself to about 2 cups worth… it was so juicy, cool, and refreshing. This isn’t the picture, I just found one to improvise

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ALRIGHT! NOW FOR THE GREAT NEWS! I came home to change real fast for a run and sitting on my bed is an envelope from my parents. I didn’t know what it was, but I opened up to find…

A PLANE TICKET TO SOUTH KOREA!!! I GET TO VISIT MY MOM’S FAMILY IN KOREA THIS SUMMER FOR 6 WEEKS!!!

This is part of my family’s graduation gift to me. I CAN’T THANK THEM ENOUGH! I WAS SO EXCITED, I’M STILL SMILING FROM EAR TO EAR! I COULDN’T BELIEVE MY EYES!! I get to spend some quality time with my family I never get to see, eat some GREAT Korean food, and enjoy my summer before hard work in college.

I don’t think I’ll even be able to sleep tonight.

:LSKEGJ:OSEIRJLSKDFJS:DKLTJSE

:-D:-D

okay, goodnight :)

Last Day.

Today marks my last official day of high school since tomorrow is a finals day and I am exempt.

When I think on it, I don’t find myself too terribly sad. High School was a fun experience, but geez, the drama was sometimes WAY too much than it needed to be. I hated the busy work that came along with “taking up time” as well. haha, overall though, I enjoyed my life at home and look forward to the next chapter of my life. College is going to be an eye opener and I can’t wait until I discover who I really am. According to my parents I won’t know until I hit that time where I really need to pull myself together to get through a situation. I was thinking that I’ve already had a life finding experience, but I guess I’m too young. Well lets hope my “life changing” experience isn’t a life threatening one!

I of course had my typical breakfast this morning except I switched up the grain. I had 1/2 oatmeal and 1/2 oat bran in this heavenly bowl and I topped it with some banana slices, cinnamon, and of course-more of the DELICIOUS blueberry. I also threw in cranberries while the water was boiling to get that plump chew I had yesterday. This bowl did NOT disappoint. It was filling and comforting.

I woke up this morning pretty hungry so while my oatmeal was cooking I had some of my mom’s breakfast. Keep in mind that she is Korean so she eats rice and some sort of soup for breakfast. I tried this for a while a few months ago, but I missed my oatmeal way too much. haha. Anyway, I had a cup of the yulmoo kimchi that she cooked up in a cabbage broth. I didn’t have any rice though because I was going to have oats in a bit. This did a good job of getting me through the cook time. Of course, I had hot tea this morning but without the soy milk this time.

Tuesday… Time is flying by. I hope you all take it easy and enjoy the nice summer day.

Delightful Disappointment.

So… I was really bummed that I didn’t get to cook my much anticipated dinner tonight but my boss and her husband pretty much told me that they were going to take me out to dinner tonight as a graduation gift+thanks for the hard work I put in for them. It was such a nice gesture that I couldn’t refuse. They decided to go to Olive Garden. I scanned the menu and quickly realized that there wasn’t much on the menu that was vegan so I created my dinner going by what I could. Olive Garden has the usual salad & bread sticks so to veganize the salad, I simply asked for mine with no cheese or croûtons. I drizzled a bit of olive oil+vinegar on my salad and tada-a vegan appetizer.

My main course was pretty easy as well. I asked the waiter if any animal products were in the pizza dough-and he replied no. =D I got a vegetable pizza which included bell pepper, onion, tomato, and mushrooms. I of course got no cheese. I ate 1/2 of this pizza and was pleasantly stuffed.

My boss is so wonderful. She has been really lenient and kind to me for the 10 months I worked for her. I’m going to miss her so much!

On another note, I’m including a picture of my favorite teacher and me. Her name is Mrs. Fagan and she taught Honors Anatomy & Physiology. She is truly an amazing teacher and I love her to death. This was at the academic top 60′s banquet for MISD. She is one of the smartest women I know and I value her friendship and advice.

Dinner tomorrow will definitely be my cooking. Sorry to excite you guys for nothing! I hope your monday went by with no trouble.

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First Attempt.

Since I had a pretty low key morning, I decided to give vegan baking a try. I flipped through many cookbook pages and scoured the internet and came up with a combination of a few recipes to create Vegan Cranberry Oat Bran Muffins. For my first time at vegan baking, I think my muffins came out pretty tasty. My mom and dad enjoyed them and I must say they made quite a tasty morning snack. I would post the recipe, but I’m not sure if it would be plagiarism… I mean, I didn’t copy a recipe but I studied the combinations from various recipes and created this one based on others. I’d rather be safe than sorry though.

and here is one sloppily cut open for my morning snack I’m going to have to get better at cutting the muffins open to reveal a real treat. I promise these were good though!

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Lunch was a bit later than usual due to having that muffin as a snack. I wasn’t particularly hungry, but I knew I needed something before heading into work. I decided on a whole wheat pita stuffed with baby spinach and mushrooms. On the side I had more of the INCREDIBLE blueberries, some baby carrots, and a pickle. I couldn’t forget the salsa to accompany my carrots either. I Washed it all down with the usual water. This lunch was quick, satisfying, and filling. Now I’m ready to finish my last workday.

I did make it to Whole Foods today for ingredients to create my dinner. I’ve been eying this recipe on another blog for quite some time and am really excited to try it out. My brother and I are going on another run tonight. I’m going to push myself to keep up again. I just adore running-it has to be one of my favorite things to do without a doubt. It’s just so relaxing. <3 See you all tonight!

Late Morning.

Oh how I loved rolling out of bed at a decent hour of 7:45 AM instead of my usual 4:45 AM. High School starts so early for me (7:15) that I usually have to hit the gym at 5 to be able to get ready for school in time. I’m incredibly thankful for school being over and my nice, long, relaxing mornings. Now I can go to the gym or take a nice long run in the evening with the rest of my family instead of going at it alone in the early AM.

Today is also my last day at work! =D I’ve worked the entire school year and it has taught me to budget my money, take responsibility, time management, and a work ethic. I plan on taking all of those to Baylor with me in the fall. I finished up my valedictorian speech last night and I hope its really good.

If any of my few readers have a spare moment, I would LOVE for you to review the speech and make any suggestions on how to improve it. Just let me know and I’ll gladly e-mail it to you.

Today is going to run smoothly. I have to check in to my 2nd period class (because of exemptions) and then I’m headed over to WHOLE FOODS to buy some ingredients for dinner. It’s quite tasty-and I definitely can’t wait to show you. It’s going to be a pleasant surprise. Other than that, I have no requirements of me today except work. This is going to be a nice, relaxing Monday.

This morning I lazily made my way into the kitchen to make my breakfast. I made my typical multigrain hot cereal except for this time I added a pinch of dried cranberries along with the blueberries. It was delightfully tart+sweet and the cranberries plumped up in the hot water to give a nice chew. I had my usual hot tea on the side as well with a splash of vanilla soy. I am a creature of habit-but this blog will hopefully encourage me to try a plethora of new recipes.

These blueberries are gorgeous! They are plump, juicy, and very sweet. I just LOVE berry season. My mom gets these big clamshells of them from CostCo for a fraction of the price at other places. Strawberries are delicious too and she buys big clamshells of those as well. How I’m going to miss CostCo when I’m on my college budget. Haha. Alrighty, I’m off to take in the day. I hope everyone has a great Monday!

Classic MultiRacial.

As I mentioned-I am half Korean and half White. This means I eat pretty different food. This dinner is a good example of my two opposite worlds. I had classic dry roasted red potatoes that symbolize the whole potato eating America && from Korea I had homemade kimchi chigae, which is basically cabbage that has been spiced up and left to marinate in salt, onion, garlic, and pepper. It is pretty spicy-but I absolutely love it. Along with those I had broccoli+salsa and whole wheat pasta salad which was a combo of red bell pepper, green onion, and carrots. The “dressing” was a simple combo of lemon juice, S+P, and a sprinkle of raw sugar. I washed it all down with some water.

My dinner was very filling and just plain amazing. It satisfied every ounce of my hunger and left me feeling very good. The food was rich in nutrition and health and was definitely not rich in fat. It had a great balance to it and goes to show that a healthy, filling dinner does not have to include any animal product. =)

My brother and I went for a quick run and it felt amazing to stretch my legs out and sweat. The hike and walk was nice today, but I need a little bit of intensity and this provided me with the perfect amount. I need to practice running with the bro more often because he pushes me to go faster. Haha. Alright, I am off to write my valedictorian speech. Does anyone have any ideas? I hope everyone has a great night! <3

Ready, Set, GO!

Hi! Welcome to my new blog. I was a blog reading enthusiast and finally decided to start my own blog. I really enjoy good food and healthy living so I wanted to start my own food blog. =)

I hope to show people that you can be busy and eat healthy. I also would love to share my daily activities on the blog as I make it through college.

A few words to sum me up… runner, vegan, foodie, future-doctor. =D

Alrighty! Let’s get started!

Breakfast was a bowl of multigrain cereal+blueberries. It was super tasty and very filling. This is probably what I eat nearly every day. With a fruit variation of course. I sipped on some hot tea on the side. This definitely fueled me for the day out with the mom.

Lunch was fresh and wonderful. I made myself a spinach+red bell pepper+pickle+green onion wrap on a whole wheat lavash. On the side I had some carrots+salsa and strawberries. I rehydrated with a nice bottle of water. This lunch was SO good. It was filling and delicious. I needed something quick because I was pretty hungry when I got home from running errands. This totally hit the spot and fueled my body to go to the park with the brother and the dogs. I got in a great hike+walk with the dogs and brother. It sure was hot, but it felt good. My brother and I actually have plans to go on a run later on tonight. When I got home from the park I was pretty hot and wanted a little snack so I made myself a cup of tea+vanilla soymilk and had a nice cool sugar-free popsicle with it. This cooled me down and gave my tummy a nice treat. =)

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Dinner should be pretty tasty tonight. Nothing special, but it should be good. Tomorrow I’m planning on creating an amazing dinner. See you all tonight!