teacups and cinnamon

Hey everyone! I'm currently sitting in class, a little bored. So I decided to blog ;) I'm such a bad student! haha. 

So i have decided that I'm going to try to post more healthy and nutritious meals. It'll be good for me (since I'll be forced to eat healthy things, ha ha) as well as good for you (that is, if you decide to give these recipes a try!) I've been posting a lot of fatty and sugary foods and it's kind of strange, since I am a nutrition major and all. I should actually try to use my knowledge of nutrition, lol.

I have decided to kick this little healthy-food goal off with some Vegan Quinoa Chili. I saw this recipe on Pinterest, specifically here. It looked very delicious and had many good reviews so I decided to give it a try! And boy was it delicious! It was full of flavors, hearty and very comforting, even though it didn't contain meat. 

So why is this chili healthy? First of all, it's packed with protein without having any animal product. Quinoa is a complete protein, meaning it contains all 8 essential amino acids (aka, the amino acids your body needs). Quinoa and soy are the only plant sources that contain all the amino acids, thus making it complete. Meat is also a complete protein. (So if you're a vegetarian, make sure you're combining different protein sources to get all the amino acids.) Beans are also high in protein. Because there is no meat in this, it's low in fat, especially saturated fat, which is awesome! The quinoa, beans and corn also provide a lot of fiber :) Because of all the spices, this chili is full of flavors, which makes it delicious. You don't even crave the meat or fat. 

Hi guys! A couple days ago Vitali and I decided to make pretzels, and I'm so happy we did because they were so fun to make and sooooooo yummy to eat! I have been making these particular pretzels for over a year now and I'm very satisfied with them. I found them here, (and only changed one thing: the amount of flour used.) I haven't even wanted to try a different recipe out. These pretzels are soft and chewy and wonderful with cheese dip! 

I usually sprinkle salt on them, but I have tried cinnamon and sugar and those were really good too. Careful to not over salt them. Kosher salt is really the best, and just a little pinch. Last time I made these I made the mistake in using sea salt, which is more salty than kosher, so they were very salty. Having them plain is very good too! 

These don't really taste like the Auntie Annie's pretzels at the mall. They are a bit sweeter and much less greasy, lol. If you want them to be more like the mall pretzels, you can brush melted butter on them when you take them out of the oven. But I honestly think they are perfect as is :)

When I roll these out, I usually get medium sized pretzels. I don't have enough patience to roll them out very long and thin, like the ones at Auntie Annie's. You can also roll them out short and they'll be little and fat. They all still taste the same, no matter how thin or how fat you make em. 

Click below to see more mouth-drooling pictures and the recipe