Sunday, February 28, 2010

New Fav Quote!

My Best friend Jerome says to me tonight, and I PROUDLY quote.... "Don't let your dreams keep you up at night, let your dreams be what makes you wake up in the morning" ~Jerome Staab

There isn't much to blog about after that quote... It just says it all!!

Peace - Love,
Green Teen


Monday, February 22, 2010

Almond Butter Carob Chip Cookies!!

So, I had picked up the Clean Eating magazine in hopes of finding a fun new recipe to cook!! So I read magazines from back to front.. So I flip open the back cover and there was a recipe titled Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies!!!! SUPER EXCITED!!


Preheat the oven to 350.

In a bowl add:
1 cup almond butter
3/4 cup sucanat
1 large egg
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
Chocolate Chunks - Dark chocolate, carob chips, or chocolate chips which ever you prefer. I made these cookies with vegan carob chips.


Mix!
Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes....

ENJOY!!!


Peace and Love,
Green Teen

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Love thy self....

A tale for the "unloved".... That is what I have been letting myself feel like for the last 8 years. Unloved... This tale started around the time I graduated from high school. I had put on a little weight so my nice four-pack abs were no longer visible... and this really cool thing called a muffin top began to grow.. I began college in the fall and was soo excited because all I could think about was what one of my high school teachers had said... They talked about college being more than the education, it was about the experience. The growing up, the gaining of responsibility and independence, and FINDING THE ONE!!

I had had a couple cute innocent boyfriends in high school, and I was looking forward to dating, flirting, all the wonderful fun things you see on the movies!

Us girls would get all dolled up in the dorms rooms.. filling the tiny space with the smell of perfume, hairspray, and mushroom pepperoni pizza!! We would get the heels on and hit the town... Guys would come up to me.. but they would say, "Your friend is cute!" "Who's your friend?" This mixed with a slow gain in weight lead to a very low self image... I didn't know how to handle it... How are you supposed to feel when you are never getting hit on, and the only attention from guys you get is to ask you about your friends?? They don't cover this in Cosmo... So I began to feel like I was unworthy... It became a somewhat annoying joke with my roommates but I would often say, "Nobody loves a fat girl". I truely in my heart began to feel that!! I had days where I felt soo cute! I felt so good about myself!! I couldn't wait to go out, because I just KNEW guys were going to think I was as cute as I thought I was... And, nope.. didn't happen... This only made me question more.. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!?!

I would talk about it, and I would hear a lot of you need to love yourself, you need to know how to flirt, you need to talk to guys first, you need to be aware of how you are coming across to guys, just be yourself.. hes out there... BLAH BLAH BLAH is really what I thought of all that!!

Couples... They follow me EVERYWHERE!!! It seems like no matter what, when I am around people.. they are dating someone... I began to think I had the curse of cupid.. Always shooting the arrows... never getting hit... It would get to the point where I would get soo sad that I would get mad at the site of a couple.. It didn't matter how happy I was for them, and how great I thought they were together I couldn't shake the anger/jealousy/sadness...

I just hated how I felt... low.. unwanted.. unloved... I felt like when people were in couples they always had someone who had their back... Someone who would be there for them no matter what!! Someone who thought the sun shined out their ass... Okay, now I know what you are thinking.. it isn't always that great. There are fights, guys just want one thing, blah blah... To me I was weighing my self worth on the attention I was receiving... I will never forget a roommate my senior year talking about this guy she had talked to in class and she was talking about how she felt sorry for him because he hadn't had a girlfriend since he had been in college..That made my stomach drop and it took everything not to let the tears stream in...

Then in my seventh consecutive year the curse was broken! I got a boyfriend!!! It was a semi-long distance relationship so we didn't see each other all the time.. This being my first boyfriend in what seemed like eternity it pretty much felt like the first.... We ended up breaking up after 4 months.. Most of the relationship was good and innocent. There was just one thing that continued to haunt me... He wasn't good about complimenting.. There were no, "you look good todays" No, "You are soo prettys".... For me this only fed into my already low self worth...

I finally began to realize that I need to look inside.. I began losing weight and feeling great... I began getting attention from guys... Was it because I looked different.. or because I was beginning to love myself and I was wearing it on my sleeve.. Idk! But I didn't know what to do with the attention and made a couple decisions I was regard to as poor... Like all things in life we have a choice... I had been choosing to embrace the sadness... I was choosing to give guys the power to make me feel like that!! I also had let my love for myself be decided by someone else... Not only was I choosing to feel "unloved" I was disregarding the love that is all around me everyday!! I am a LUCKY person! I am not smighted by God for not having guys hit on me and want me.. I am gifted to have some of the greatest people on earth as my friends!!!

This tale is one that needs no pity.. This is a tale that I think we all can relate to in some way.. We all have that something we want, but just can't have right now. Which is what makes it taste that much sweeter when we get it!!!

Where am I now? I am dating.......... myself. Getting to know who I really am... And you know what... I think I am starting to fall for me!!!

Peace and Love,
Green Teeney


Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Lenten Journey

For lent I decided to give up Facebook. There are some people out there who don't even have facebook... so YES, I know you can survive without facebook.. and YES, I know it is not a necessity in life! But... I enjoy it!! I love being able to keep up with friends and family on an almost daily basis!! But, like anything there comes a point where we can take things a little far... I had facebook on my phone and would check it numerous times a day.. and when I say numerous.. I mean there have been times where I prlly checked it 6-7 times in a 10 minute span!! At a restaurant... in the car... sitting there talking to friends.. and then I would come home and sit on the computer on facebook for 3 to 4 hours... Soo I guess we can come to the conclusion that I was OBSESSED! ha ha!!

Soo when I began to think about Lent coming up I started to think about the documentary, No Impact Man which I had recently watched. The movie was about a husband and wife and their two year old and they phased out everything that was having a negative impact on the environment. They stopped buying anything except local produce grown within 250 miles and not in packaging.. they walked or rode bikes where ever they needed to go..they phased out electricity.. They took a very radical approach to raise awareness for the environment. There were so many things about the movie I enjoyed, but the biggest thing I got out of it was once they cut out big things like T.V. and electricity they began to lead such a simpler life and grew closer as a family. They got out of the house and went to parks and played family games!

So After watching it I began to think a lot about "simplifying". Since moving to Omaha I haven't had t.v... Well, I have a t.v. but we don't have cable and we don't get local channels because we have no cable box... And I LOVE it!!! I still watch dvd's but I am not imprisoned by a t.v. show every night!! I am looking back and realizing how much I worked my life around t.v.! So when I began thinking about lent, I was thinking about the purpose of giving up something, and the purpose is to Lent is about conversion, turning our lives more completely over to God and his way of life. Conversion means leaving behind an old way of living and acting in order to embrace new life in God. Which to me goes right along with simplifying our lives! Just like No Impact Man gained more quality time with his family. So, along with with more time for family and friends I am hoping to to build a strong relationship with God!!

I understand that cutting out facebook and t.v. doesn't just build your relationship with God, and it doesn't make you spend more time with family and friends.. Because even when you give up one vice in life there is always another waiting for you to pick it up... I found this true when I first became a vegetarian. I was giving up meat for my health... but I often found myself eating processed greasy bad foods! So when you make a choice to abstain from something negative in your life, you need to have the positive things in mind and be ready to embrace them.

So like every little journey in life, I am excited to see where my lenten journey brings me!!!

Peace and Love,
Green Teen!!!

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Pizza - Lavash Style!

My co-worker Rickalicious introduced me to two wonderful things on Friday. M's Pub in the old market, and Lavash!! So, I decided to take my new found love for lavash and see what I could do.... So here it is!!



Veggies!!
I chopped up mushrooms, Roma tomatoes, spinach, and some fresh garlic and roasted it at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.

LAVASH!
I found it in the cracker section of Hy-Vee.

Top the lavash with roasted veggies.
Add cheese. I added Rice cheese vegan style!!

ENJOY!!!

Ab & J Roll-Up

A great quick snack is a Almond butter and Jelly roll-up!! Super easy, Quick, and Delish!! Switch it up and use Agave Nectar instead of jelly!!

Ab&J Roll-Up
Jelly Shout-Out: This jelly was homemade from the Bailey's! They used grapes from their vineyard!! This particular jelly is Marquette Jelly!! DELISH!! Thanks Bailey's!!!