Meatless Monday recipe!

I apologize this wasn't posted on Monday, the publishing failed but it's here now!

So for my delicious dinner tonight I prepared some low fat vegan tostadas! They were so so yummy and I'm excited to tell you about this lovely meal. 

Ingredients:

For the tostadas:

Corn tortillas (I used food for life brand sprouted organic corn tortillas)

Organic  black beans (if using cannedj  beans, rinse and drain) 

Diced Tomato 

Avocado 

For the sauce:

Sriracha (I use an organic brand)

Organic Spicy brown mustard

Apple cider vinegar

Agave if desired 

I broiled the tostadas at 500 degrees farenheit for 5-7 minutes because I love them crispy. To prepare them just place the tortillas on a baking sheet and put everything on them! Feel free to add anything else you'd like on them.

The sauce is optional but adds lots of flavor and spice. In my opinion it makes the dish just that much better. 

I served them with broiled crispy Brussel sprouts over a bed of spinach. It was a satisfying and delicious dinner. 

Happy meatless Monday everyone!

Much love,

Riley 

Easy, refreshing tomato soup!

I've been posting a lot of recipes lately but I've really been enjoying creating in the kitchen. I recently found this delicious tomato soup recipe and I just had to share. 

Ingredients 

Stewed tomatoes (no salt, the ones I used were frozen) 

Herbs (basil, oregano, onion, garlic, thyme, etc.) 

salt to taste (I used a pinch of Himalayan salt but it's totally optional)

Heat  up the tomatoes simmering, and spices and salt, stir, pour into a bowl and enjoy. 

Much love, 

Riley 

Passions, fulfilling your reason that you are... You.

So this is a topic very near and dear to my heart. I am a musician. I play the violin, piano, trumpet, and I'm a vocalist as well. It's my passion, although it strikes me at odd times sometimes. There are days I don't want to play. I don't want to pick up my violin and make music, or I don't want to play the piano. It happens. But somehow I manage to drag myself to my music and after I finish playing I feel awakened almost. 

I write this post tonight because I had a very special moment involving music tonight. It's a moment that I feel embodies passion at it's finest. I was playing the moonlight sonata on the piano. It's a melancholy song but it is so beautiful. I'm no pro at playing this piece but tonight I was not feeling my best. I felt the need to sit down and play. I played the song all the way through 7 times. It captured all of my emotions perfectly and after I finished I didn't feel sad, or run down, or tired anymore. I felt like I had been woken up. I felt renewed. 

That's what passion is. It is us. It makes us feel like we can fly. I encourage you all to go find your passion. If you already know what it is then go and do it. Do what makes you feel like you can fly. Let your soul soar. Let yourself be happy. ❤️

Much love,

Riley

What I eat....Thursday?

Yes I know it's supposed to be what I eat Wednesdays but I completely forgot to log my food yesterday so I'm just gonna do what I eat Thursday instead. So here we go!

Breakfast: coco-cinnamon green smoothie from my last meatless Monday post. 

Lunch: carrots and organic oil free hummus (lunches are lighter because of school) 

Dinner: sushi! Avocado roll, asparagus roll, cucumber roll with 2 bowls of white rice on the side (carb up!!) 

Night snack: salt free rice cakes with organic jam 

Hope you all had a wonderful day!

Much love,

Riley

Fitness. What do I do to stay in shape?

I get this question a lot. I'll clear one thing up right now, I'm not skinny, but I am active. I've never been one to sit around. I love the feeling of working out and the endorphins I get when I finish. Two of my absolutely favorite ways to workout are cycling (my number one!) and HIIT (I'm working  my way through wayofgray's HIIT 101 ebook right now and I'm loving it!). Cycling has been a passion of mine since I was very young (5-6). I've been surrounded by some incredible cyclists and I am very lucky to be able to say that. One of my best friends is an absolutely amazing cyclist who's far beyond my level of skill and fitness and he's taught me so much and is so inspiring to me in many ways. Cycling is a great way to get your heart pumping and it leaves you feeling great. You can make it as hard or as easy as you like. I've found that as long as you show up and do your very best, the cycling community will respect you. And let's be perfectly honest, riding bikes is fun!! 

On to HIIT, the workouts I've been doing from @wayofgray's ebooks are so awesome. They leave me feeling on top of the world and I've seen some amazing changes not only to my energy levels but my attitude towards home workouts with these workouts. HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training and that's exactly what it is. They're short workouts (<30 minutes) but they're hard. So give them a try! You might find you absolutely love them like I do!

Fitness should never be percieved as a burden, it should be enjoyed. It took me a very long time to get in that mindset but it is 100% true. Love yourselves enough to honor your health. 

Much love, 

Riley