holiday – The Clean Eating Mama

black friday, holiday, shopping, whole foods

Black Friday Shopping at Whole Foods

November 25, 2014November 25, 2014 CleanEatingMama

Every year readers and friends are always asking me what last minute recipes do I recommend for the Holidays and where can they buy quality food. I always turn them to Whole Foods!

Their website has a plethora of amazing recipes that are easy enough to create for the last-minute chef and non-chef! AND they also have amazing sales both before and after Thanksgiving!

Here is their Holiday guide which has amazing coupons, Holiday dining tips and more!
{ Click on the picture to download the complete PDF }

But what is really cool is that they also have AMAZING deals for Black Friday! I usually do not partake in the Black Friday shopping… I would rather be home in my comfy jammies drinking coffee! ❤ But I will say that I would go shopping at Whole Foods to buy some amazing foodie items and Holiday gifts! I was there a few weeks ago and they had the most precious Christmas display up already! A sleigh filled with A TON of stuffed animals and other unique toys for kids of all ages! SO CUTE!!!

Here are the deals in the Seattle Area! Check in with your local Whole Foods to see amazing deals and events!

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Friday, November 28 only, Whole Foods Market will feature the following sales:

20% off all Seafood
20% off beer and hard cider
BOGO take n’ bake pizzas
$35 ea 6-7’ fir Christmas trees – our South Lake Union location will not carry this sale, but will have table-top Christmas trees for $20 each!
50% off GT’s Kombucha

They also have sales running through the weekend! From Friday, November 28 through Sunday, November 30 you can find:

30% off Melissa and Doug toys and plush
50% off Jillson Roberts wrapping paper rolls
30% off Threads for Thought leggings
3 for $3 Good Soap bar soaps

Whole Foods Market stores will be open from 7 AM to 11 PM on November 25 and 26, and open from 7 AM to 4 PM on Thanksgiving Day. Store hours will return to their regular schedule which is 7 AM to 10 PM on Friday, and continue through the weekend.

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So tell me, are you a Black Friday fan?

XxOo Tasha

christmas, family, holiday, smoothies

It’s beginning to feel a lot like…

November 9, 2013 CleanEatingMama

Yes. Yes we did.

So last night consisted of Christmas tree decorating, watching Rudolph and a little veggie pizza…

Jordan was SO excited to put the tree up! Every year we seem to put the tree up earlier and earlier… this has been the earliest. But I am not complaining! I love the soft glow of the tree and the coziness of the house now! Love!

Plus, this means I wont have to stash gifts… I can buy, wrap and place under the tree!

Christmas isn’t a huge production at our house and we never go overboard with gifts… but we really like the spirit and the feel of the Holidays!

This morning I woke up and enjoyed my coffee next to the tree… lovely!

I also lit my new apple cinnamon candle – smells so good!

After I checked my emails and blog roll I made a smoothie for breakfast – this beauty had frozen blueberries, frozen strawberries and frozen banana, 1/3 cup greek yogurt, protein powder, almond milk and water.

We have a nice relaxing day planned out! I will be back with my eats!

XxOo Tasha

holiday, lunch, recipe, recipe swap, sweet potatoes, vegan, vegetarian

Lunch + Holiday Recipe Countdown Day 3 {sweet potatoes}

December 4, 2012 CleanEatingMama

I made this amazing lunch yesterday – toasted vegetable sandwiches are the best!
{Sprouted bread + avocado + red onion + yellow bell pepper + vegan cheese / organic apple + peanut butter}

Sweet Potatoes

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Sweet Potato Casserole

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Pecans, Apples, and Dried Cranberries

Sweet Potato and Spinach Sauté

Crispy Sweet Potato Fries

Roasted Sweet Potato and Apple Mash

brussel sprouts, holiday, recipe, recipe swap

Holiday Recipe Countdown – Day 1

December 2, 2012 CleanEatingMama

I am counting down the month of December with some of my most favorite recipes that can be used during this Holiday season.

Today I am featuring Brussel Sprouts. I love these little tiny cabbages – ( that’s what I used to call them when I was a kid! ). I usually roast mine with a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Lately I have been loving them with dried fruits and nuts. Here are some recipes that I have been eyeing…

Enjoy!

Crispy Brussel Sprouts with a Garlic Aioli

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Apples and Cranberries

Brussels Sprouts with Feta & Pecans

Roasted Brussel Sprout Quinoa Salad

Mustard-Maple Brussels Sprouts with Candied Pepitas and Pomegranate Seeds

Brussels Sprouts w/ Balsamic Glaze

Oregano Brussels Sprouts Recipe

holiday, ice cream, recipe, vegan

Featured Recipe – Peppermint Stick Vegan Ice Cream by I Eat Trees

November 16, 2010 CleanEatingMama

Peppermint Ice Cream.
The best dessert, the best ice cream, the best way to celebrate the Holidays and winter time. Forget the pies, forget the hot cocoa… bring on the cool, creamy, Peppermint Ice Cream.

It’s all around perfect. Keri, from I Eat Trees, had this recipe on her blog and I knew I had to feature it on TCEM.

Now all I need is an ice cream maker… and some candy canes. I cannot wait until I try this vegan version.

Vegan Peppermint Ice Cream

1 14 ounce can regular coconut milk
1 1/4 cups nondairy milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract (optional)
1 cup crushed candy canes or small peppermint stick pieces

In a large bowl, combine coconut milk, nondairy milk, sugar, vanilla extract, and peppermint extract (for a more peppermint-y ice cream, rather than vanilla with peppermint sticks). Refrigerate batter for at least 2 hours. Once batter is chilled, make according to your ice cream maker‘s instructions. Add in peppermint pieces 5 minutes before your machine’s freezing cycle is finished and process. Enjoy!

christmas, holiday

Finally, some Holiday photos

December 30, 2009 CleanEatingMama

Can’t you tell we were having a PARTAY on Christmas Eve?! A pajama party, that is! I was practicing my jazz hands =)

So sine I have not posted anything about my Christmas, I thought I would do so. FINALLY!!!

My mom, her boyfriend and my dad all come over Christmas Eve to celebrate Christmas. My mom and her boyfriend stayed the night – we all had WAY too much fun! lol

J – all dressed up! He is 14 1/2 months now! He is so handsome! =)

The pillar of cards

Appetizers waiting for my parents to show up

We made a fairly classic Christmas dinner: spiral ham, roasted veggies, stuffing per my request (I love my carbs!), butternut squash and latkes!

This was my first time making latkes and they turned out fabulous! Latkes are a Jewish potato pancake made out of classic baked potatoes raw and shredded, eggs, some flour, onion and s&p. I fried them up in some vegetable oil. You can eat them plain, with sugar or applesauce.

Man, I ate a lot of these bad boys! They were freaking yummy!

Finally, dinner was served!

I didn’t eat my roll – stuffing was enough carbs for me!

Then there was this HUGE plate of baked goodies that my mom made!

Then it was “fat pants” time! AKA sweats!

And apparently something was “over there”… ?

All of the presents under the tree! and of course Marc’s foot.

Like I said at the very beginning, we all opened up our pajamas and were strutting them around the entire evening.

(My regular camera ended up going dead and I could not find my charger ANYWHERE! I had to bust of my good ol point and shoot. I was bummed but at least I had a camera.)

And Marc and I got silly with the point and shoot =)

We just sat around, talked and laughed. Marc went to sleep before any of us did, like he does every night. The rest of us stayed up until 11:30 or so.

The Next morning we all woke up, me last of course, and wished each other a very Merry Christmas!

I don’t think J was ready for mama and her camera. 😉

Opening some stocking stuffers with Grandma

Then it was on to the main event!

Santa brought J a rocking horse!

… which he wasn’t too sure about…

I guess he liked to look at it more than he liked to ride it.

We all received so many great gifts! It was such a great morning!

My mom bought me a Lulumon gift card, a French Press, a vegan cookbook, beautiful serving dishes… to name a few! Marc and J bought me a new UW sweatshirt, some books, Nutcracker tickets, Starbucks gift card… and of course a lap top bag with a flyer for a Mac! I haven’t picked it out yet because we have all been soooo busy but I am expecting to very soon! YAY!

J got a bunch of clothes, toys, a big Mickey mouse, books, his rocking horse, shoes and a bunch of other items!

We all received sooo many nice gifts! Thanks again, Mom!

We really worked up an appetite from all that unwrapping, so I made us all a hearty breakfast.

scrambled eggs, half whole eggs and half just whites
left over ham
spinach
onion
shredded cheese
s & p

Fresh, baked scones.

I also heated up left over Latkes for hasbrowns.

Breakfast was a big hit and it was a perfect way to all of us to wind down after the excitement of presents.

Shortly after, my parents packed up and left as they had other obligations that afternoon. We also had a couple of friends come over that afternoon, as well. After all of the indulging – I seriously ate for 24 hours straight – all we wanted to do was nap.

We were both so exhausted to even look at a knife that night for dinner so we googled pizza near us and called the first one to pop up – Papa Johns. I was so surprised that some one had answered! I kept telling Marc that no one would be open, but sure enough!

We split a medium pizza – his side had pepperoni and pineapple and mine had veggie with extra veggie. All of the moisture from the extra veggies seeped down and made the crust super soggy. =( I was so bummed! The crust is what makes the pizza! I was only able to eat the crust – boo. BUT I really could not complain, we were just lucky that we got a pie delivered to us!

Christmas 2009 was a blast! And I am glad I was FINALLY able to share with all of you!

christmas, holiday, jordan

Over the hills and through the woods…

December 28, 2009 CleanEatingMama

…to Grandmothers house I went!

I had a lovely time with my grandparents and my own parents! Felt like back when I was actually a kid! It was sort of a long drive for J – he started to get pretty hungry and fussy about 45 minutes before arriving. But the roads were clear and no problems!

Once I arrived at my Grandparents house I was quickly greeted with hugs and kisses =); and food! I was starving!

I had some celery, broccoli, olives and crackers. I left the meat and cheese for everyone else.

And then I made a nice cup of coffee while taste testing some of the MANY desserts that my Grandma made. And yes, I brought my French Press…for a few reasons: I drink mostly decaf and I cannot stand my grandmothers coffee. Sorry Grandma!

Look! Santa came!

I love looking at all of the detail of her village!

And of course once J say my mom I was chopped liver – he LOVES his Grandma!

Before dinner we were all talking, laughing and playing around.

I was pretty excited for dinner – I love my Grandmothers cooking!

I had a HUGE but delicious WW roll, some mashed potatoes with some gravy, yams with marshmallows (!!! my favorite !!!), veggies and turkey (which I didn’t end up eating) Of course I went back for more yams, too! =)

After everyone was all fat and sassy, we just lounged and then opened up presents. My mom has most of the pictures on her camera but here is one of my Grandpa and I.

And my parents =)

My parents are actually divorced but still really good friends. My dad is always at all of our family events, too.

I received some lotion and dish towels and J received a really cute base bal outfit!

He had a lot of fun playing with all of the new “things”!

After J went to sleep we all stayed up until 12 playing Apples to Apples which was a hoot! After 3 rounds we all decided to head to bed.

Much to our surprise it had snowed over night! Only a light dusting but everything was white. I was planning on heading back home this morning so I wasn’t too excited to see the white stuff – I didn’t even take pictures of it!

I have to travel over mountain passes to get back home. Washington State is divided by the Cascade Mountains and there is no getting around it. I left a little earlier than I was expecting but I did not want to drive in crappy weather conditions.

So I fed J breakfast, bundled up and head for home. The roads had a little snow on them but they were actually pretty good.

I was STARVING once I hit a decent size town so I stopped at Starbucks – I was craving a soy mocha and some food! They were out of the Protein Platter AND all vegetarian sandwiches – BOO! So I settled for a coconut Larabar. Delish!

I was still pretty hungry when I arrived home so I ate a left over Caesar salad in the fridge. The dressing was nasty so I just at the lettuce and shared the croutons with J. Boring but I guess it worked.

I stink, literally. I am off to take a shower before Marc gets home!

I want to leave you with some pictures of J in his new pajamas that I gave him for Christmas! He is my little Spider Man!

PS – I missed you all! =)

holiday, jordan, snack, workout

Nostalgia

December 2, 2009 CleanEatingMama

HI!

I am blogging from my comfy office bed! I haven’t done this in ages!

Just look at my desk =)

I just got home from the gym, showered and feeling great! The chiropractor appointment was WONDERFUL! Call me weird or sick, but I love to hear my back crack! It makes a world of difference for me and my well being. My lower back is still pretty sore but it was out for 5 days!

I was able to run fairly well tonight with no pain. 3.7 miles in 42 minutes but 10 minutes of that was spent walking at a heavy incline for warm up and cool down. I even sprinted for a few minutes to regain some leg strength.

My iPod is lacking, though. I have been listening to old school Limp Bizkit and Alice in Chains and I need to upload some new tracks. Time to look through our endless stack of cd’s and start burning!

It’s funny because I listen to music when I workout that I normally wouldn’t listen to on an everyday basis. Like a lot of “poppy” music makes me want to go yet I would never listen to that when I am driving. But I am a diehard rock fan – the harder the better. But I LOVE acoustic guitar, too!

Hmm…. I guess I love all types of music, really. Rap, not so much and I have no idea what is “hot” right now. Meh….

What get’s you moving?

Unfortunately, I didn’t seem to take any pictures of my food today! Granted, my lunch was left over French onion soup and no matter how I shot it, it just didn’t look appealing. But these carrots and hummus did.

Marc and I went to Sushi for an early dinner and I forgot my camera – but rest assured it was AWESOME as usual! Funny, because EVERYTIME we go to sushi I end up leaving my camera. Strange.

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Look at these comparison pictures!

December 2008 – 2 months old

It looks like he is going to punch Santa! lol

December 2009 – 14 months old

:sniff sniff:

My baby is not a baby any more! Seriously, it goes entirely too fast!

Here is the picture I am going to use for our Holiday cards:

I may use one of the stocking pictures (I took 30!) because I sent out a stocking picture last year and it might be a nice comparison for people.

He still has that wonderful smile that melts my heart!

holiday, house, jordan, thanksgiving

Pictures speak louder than words

November 28, 2009 CleanEatingMama

I know everyone was inundated with overloads of turkey, mash potato and pumpkin pie pictures the past few days… so I wanted to share what we did on Thanksgiving Eve!

We woke up and started baking… and prepping! I made OhSheGlows vegan pumpkin pie for dessert! IT WAS AMAZING!

Spelt crust

Pecan surprise on the bottom

Ready for the oven

Perfectly baked!

I made a mini pie because not that I don’t trust Angela… but I wanted to make sure it was “family friendly”. Success! It was totally awesome tasting! The crust was nutty and you could really tell there was maple syrup in the filling! YUM!

Then I took a break and started to decorate the house! We do it BEFORE Thanksgiving =) We tend not to overload out home with ~~annoying~~ cute Christmas decorations – we come from two different religion backgrounds. Marc is Jewish and I was brought up believing in Santa and the whole Christmas mayhem. We compromised – we have a Hanukah bush (it’s decorated in blue and white/clear/silver}, display our nutcrackers and just have a great time! The one thing Marc loves are presents – both giving and receiving! He is such a kid this time of year!

J, playing with the tree – yes we have a fake tree (I am a hippy, tree hugger!)

We have two lighted mail boxes around the mantel

J loves the tree!

And this was the table all set for a Thanksgiving feast!

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with your family and friends!

holiday, thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

November 27, 2009 CleanEatingMama

I wanted to take a moment out of my day, well evening, to thank all of my fans and readers! You mean more to me than you know! I hope each and everyone of you enjoyed your day today, laughing with and loving the ones that mean the most to you.

TCEM has taken just a small break – really, I had no time to blog these past few days, but I will be back tomorrow! 🙂

Good night!