Plan Dec 1-7

Thanksgiving was a hoot- and I can't believe that the end of the semester, and the Christmas holidays are just a few weeks away. We went out to Nebraska for the weekend to visit my folks, brothers and family. My niece, Kateri was born on Monday, and I got to visit her in the hospital on Wednesday, and spend a good bit of time baby-holding over the weekend, which is always lovely. (Here's me, baby Kateri, and niece Niki! Thanks, Grandma for sharing your pictures!)

 

Thanksgiving dinner was a vegan feast that couldn't be beat- seitan, kale, brussels sprouts, potatoes and cranberries. Rachel and Mia were awesome choppers, and Jess made accidentally vegan pies, so life was good.

 

 I also ran each day, and practiced some awesome yoga moves with Mia, my SIL Rachel, and my cool niece Niki!

 

 

Now I guess it's back to real life for a couple of weeks. I have to finish out this semester, keep writing my dissertation, (my mentor sent back my Chapter 3 with all sorts of red pen markings.... sigh),  keep running- I'm a week into the Runner's world winter run streak where I run at least a mile a day every day from Thanksgiving to New Years... I started a little early, so today marked day 7, and I logged over 15 miles last week.

Tomorrow being December 1 means that I will start a new yoga challenge, one that Miss Mia has agreed to try with me.  She doesn't hate yoga as much as she claims she used to. This is a big step from the girl who once said "Mom, making yoga sound like an emergency isn't going to make me like it." We are doing the #DecemburrBasics Instagram yoga challenge. This may be trickier than I suspected because my tablet is BROKEN.  Sigh. Yep, the charging port is busted, but fortunately it is under warranty. It just means I will be tablet-less for a bit, and feel a little disconnected from the world. Mostly it means I can't instagram and can't tweet, and can't facebook in bed. But those of you who do those things know how important that stuff is.

I also am going to give the "Say it Sweat it Get it" week-long challenge a try- it's a week of mantra based exercises that Kris Carr recommended (she's the Crazy Sexy Juice lady). I'll let you know....

Anyway. After a week or so of lots of wine and eating pie on the floor of the kitchen out of the pan with my niece and nephew (someone had to show them how it was done), I'm feeling like some wholesome basic real food this week. My recipes are from the Thug Kitchen cookbook (TK), Happy Herbivore Abroad (HHA), and Happy Herbivore Holidays and Gatherings (HH/H&G). In addition, I have a choir concert this week on Thursday- if you're in La Plata, and want to hear me sing, come check us out at the college. On Sunday, Rob and I will be running the Christmastown 8k in Williamsburg, VA. We were signed up for it last year, but it got iced out. It looks like the weather will be good this year, though.

Monday

Run 2

TK Chickpeas & Dumplings

Tuesday

Run 1

Swim

TK Wedding Soup with White Bean Balls and Kale

Wednesday

Run 3

HHA Migas

Thursday

Run 1

Swim

Vega One Shake

Choir Concert

Friday

Run 4

Gardein Field Roast with Sweet Potato casserole (HH/H&G)

Saturday

Run 1

Out for Dinner with friends

Sunday

Christmastown 8k

Dinner TBD/Leftovers

Vegan travels in the Midwest.

We traveled out to Nebraska for the Thanksgiving holiday. My parents and brother and his family all live in central Nebraska, while my other brother and his wife live nearby in Kansas. Eating vegan in the Midwest can sometimes be a challenge, but it is always worth it to visit my fam!

We left super early Wednesday morning, and had a layover at the St. Louis airport where I grabbed a breakfast of a bagel with peanut butter.

Then on to Omaha where we met my folks and the rest of the family.

Lunch in Omaha was at the Blue Planet Cafe. Their corn chowder was vegan.

 

I got the BBQ Tofu wrap, and Rob got the Jerk Tofu bowl.

 

My Mom got a vegan salad, too!

 

Mia and Niki both got some mac and cheese- not vegan, but vegetarian!

 

 

Niki taught Mia a few things about her phone.

That evening, we made a lovely vegan potato curry at the house.

Thursday, I got everyone out early for a 40 minute fun run, complete with race bibs and medals (a huge hit with my niece!)

 

We had a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat. Seitan, maple tofu, kale, bru

Sales sprouts, corn, mashed potatoes, biscuits, stuffing, cherry pie, and a sweet potato parfait, all vegan.

After Thanksgiving dinner, we went out and practiced shooting! (I know- a weird activity for a vegan pacifist!) My brother set up two challenges, one where we did some target shooting with pistols and a battleship game board, and another where we used the shotgun to shoot moving targets (colored blocks of ice flung with a slingshot!)

 

 

Friday we went into Lincoln for the UNL Huskers game. They lost, but we still had fun.

 

 

 

 

There was NO vegan food in the stadium. My daughter wasn't even able to get a slice of cheese pizza.  Sigh....

After the game, we went to La Paz, a local Mexican eatery (I wanted to take the fam to Mellow Mushroom in Haymarket, but it was packed.) At La Paz, I was able to get some vegan guacamole tacos off of the vegetarian menu. The regular salsa had Worcestershire  in it, but our waiter brought us some vegan verde sauce, which was really good and really spicy!

On Saturday, my niece and nephew wanted to show us their favorite location, the Henry Doorly Zoo.  I really enjoyed spending time with Niki, who likes me, and Ryan, who sometimes tolerates me!

 

 

 

Saturday evening, we flew home. Both of our flights were delayed, so we ended up with a 5+ hour layover in the Chicago Midway airport. I was pleased to find a few vegan options, mostly at a food stand called Pegasus on the Fly. There, I got some tasty hummus, and dipped my carrots I'd brought in.

We amused ourselves, though with a Ms. Pac-Man tournament!

 

And took naps on the concourse. My scarf that my mom brought me from Turkey turned out to also be a nice blanket!

I hope you all had just as nice of a weekend! Thank you for reading!