Chicago Marathon Val

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Today, my friends, I wanted to chat about something near and dear to my heart… sugar!!!! It’s funny because I had actually started drafting up a post last week about how I wanted to go on a no-sugar “diet”, and then I just recently found out that Ellen Degeneres announced that she was going on a “sugar cleanse” herself just a few days ago.  You can read more about her decision here, but in summary she is trying to clean up her diet – Ellen is already a vegan – and she wants to make sure that she gets the purest form of energy from wholesome, natural sources rather than the crash and burn from sugar.

I commend her for her decision, and I don’t blame her for wanting more energy since I feel quite certain that she works many more hours in the day than I do, with running her own show and hosting American Idol.  Sure, those are “fun” jobs to you and I but I’m sure they are very exhausting.  Can you believe that she is 51 years old??? Ellen, you should be the post child for veganism!

I have tried numerous times over the course of my life to give up sugar.  It. Has. Never. Worked. EVER.  I can honestly say that I crave sugary foods less since I went vegan last July, but when I am baking and am staring a gooey, chocolaty bowl of brownie batter in the face then all of a sudden the only thing I want in life is to swim in said bowl of brownie batter. At that point, it becomes a compulsion.  It’s very, very hard to resist and not to have a single bite, but honestly that usually is the easier option because once I take a single bite it will end up turning into half of the bowl before I know it.  I know I’m not the only one that’s like this!!

Here are some reasons why sugar consumption can be detrimental to your health:

* Sugar triggers insulin, which promotes the storage of fat

*Sugar increases triglyceride levels, which can cause cardiovascular disease

* Sugar inhibits the absorption of vitamins, such as Vitamin C, which is part of the reason why sugar weakens your immune system

* Sugar can reduce good cholesterol (HDL) and increase bad cholesterol (LDL)

* Sugar increases the likelihood of kidney damage, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, diabetes (did you see last week’s Oprah on this topic?  scary stuff!!!), osteoporosis, toxemia during pregnancy, hormonal imbalance, blood clots

* Sugar causes an increase of free radicals, which is linked to cancer

When you look at it that way, we could all benefit from cutting down on our sugar intake, at least to some extent!  I’ve made a lot of gains in this area since I refuse to eat anything containing HFCS, and I try to eat minimal amounts of white sugar/evaporated cane juice.  So I would like to have another go at this, but I know there will be many challenges along the way….

I can narrow down a few reasons why my attempts to cut back on sugar have failed in the past:

1.  I simply missed it!! When I went vegan I found so many great alternatives for dairy and egg products so that I never miss the “real deal” of cheese, ice cream, etc.  However, it’s so sad to think of a life without sweets, and ideally I would want to give up/cut back on sugar forever, not just temporarily.

2. It’s SO hard to bake without sampling what you are making!! And I love, love, love to bake. I love to create new recipes, I like to try recipes from cookbooks, I like to bake for Mike, for family, for coworkers…. I could bake all day long.  But it’s so very, very difficult to bake without sampling the product… for quality control purposes, of course….

3. In the past, I’ve never known where to “draw the line”, so to speak.   For example, what is “allowed” – is honey ok?  Stevia?  Yacon?  Maple syrup?  Agave nectar?  Fruit?  The point of the cleanse would be to eliminate sugar cravings, and I feel like some of these products, while more nutritionally sound in some ways, in other ways are no better than sugar in terms of the likelihood that they will increase sweet cravings.

3. I still have so many products in my home that are “off limits” and I cannot be wasteful and throw them away.  For example, I try my hardest to buy ketchup without HFCS, but sometimes the best option I can find still contains evaporated cane juice, which isn’t ideal.

Basically, I want some magic sugar fairy guru to tell me exactly what to do, and how much to eat, in order to decrease/eliminate my cravings! Is it ok to have “x” amount of fruit a day, plus 1 serving (1T.) of agave, for example?  Or, can you eat unlimited fruit?  Unfortunately, I have a sneaking suspicion that their is no set answer but rather that the “rules” are different for everyone.

***

I am thinking strongly about doing such a “cleanse”, but I am honestly scared to death.  I don’t want to imagine a life without  maple syrup and bananas and chocolate bars…. but I also don’t want to imagine a life plagued with fatigue, mood swings, and disease, so I would like to think that I could make some sacrifices in this area.  I think I just need some moral support, if I’m going to do this!

Who’s with me?!?!?   Some questions….

* What do you think about a “sugar cleanse”?

* Have you tried to do this before – and have you had success?  If so, share your tips with us!

* Or, do you think this is a silly thing to worry about? I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on this!

Success!!! It feels good to finally be able to post a picture on here.  I’m still having a lot of difficulty putting pix up the “normal”, easy way (apparently my Wordpress blog is out of memory??) so in the meantime I’m using Resizr.com.  Thanks for bearing with me!

How is your weekend going so far? Mike and I just got back from spending some time with my parents and visiting my grandparents, whom we haven’t seen forever and we wanted to visit my grandfather who is getting rehab after a stroke.  Luckily he is doing a lot better!  It was really nice to see everyone, and I also got a few delicious meals out of it too… last night my mom made a really good vegan stuffed cabbage recipe along with potatoes and roasted asparagus…

and then we ate lunch at Panera (nursing homes are not exactly known for their 5-star vegan cuisine!) and I had a Lemon Ginger Gnu bar for dessert.

These bars aren’t super high in calories like many of my favorite bars are (at only 120 calories), yet have 12 grams of fiber to keep you full!  This bar really did tide me over until dinner, which I loved.  Dinner was the best vegetable birhyani I’ve ever had, from an awesome Indiana restaurant in my parents’ neck of the woods that I went to a few months ago. Must make this soon!!

I’m tired from all of the driving today, but I wanted to get a quick post up before I go chill for the rest of the night.  I owe you guys some recipes!! I’ve been holding onto a couple other ones that I need to post about soon, but I wanted to talk about this one since I’m entering it into this week’s BSI…..

Creamy Black Bean and Sun-dried Tomato Soup

Ingredients: 1 chopped onion, 2 chopped carrots, 2 cloves garlic, 2 c. veggie broth, 4 cans black beans, 1 can diced tomatoes, 1/2 c. light coconut milk, 1/2 c. sundried tomatoes, 2 T. lime juice, 2 1/2 tsp. salt, pepper to taste, 4 tsp. cumin, 2 tsp. liquid smoke, 2 tsp. paprika

Topping: cilantro, tomatoes, and avocado

1. Saute onion, carrots, and garlic until tender.

2. Blend the veggies with all other ingredients in blender in batches, or by using an immersion blender.  If you want your soup more chunky, save part of the beans and/or tomatoes to mix in later by hand, unblended, to add more texture.

3. Heat up soup on the stovetop.

4. Top with chopped cilantro, avocado, and tomato and serve!

As you can see here and here, I’ve been pretty much obsessed with coconut milk recently and so I was thrilled when Meghan chose it for the BSI of the week.  I love creamy foods, from alfredo sauces to desserts, and as a vegan I’ve found that coconut milk is an essential ingredient to have around the kitchen – it tastes even BETTER than using cream, butter, or full fat milk in a recipe!

After my favorite yoga class tomorrow morning, Mike and I are headed to his parent’s house for the Super Bowl.  His dad is an awesome cook and I heard a rumor that I have a homemade vegan pizza with my name on it… can’t wait!

What are you making to eat tomorrow (if you are going to watch the game), or if you aren’t cooking, what do you look forward to the most – the game, the food, the drinks, or the commercials?  I’m not gonna lie, I’m going to bring my knitting and will probably pay more attention to that then to the game

And the winner of the Chia Seeds giveaway from Chia Seeds Direct is…..

True Random Number Generator Min:
Max:
Result: 20

Jeremy! When asked about the most romantic meal (that you cooked or that someone else cooked for you), he replied, ” The most romantic meal I’ve ever had cooked for me was cooked by Tina on my first birthday we had together. I asked for chicken pot pie, but she knows how much I love pizza, so she experiented and me me a pizza pot pie. It wasn’t at all what I wanted, and neither of us thought it tasted very good, but it was just amazingly awesome that she tried. “
Congrats Jeremy, please email me (ChicagoMarathonVal@gmail.com) your mailing address and I will have those sent to you soon!

In the meantime, thanks for being patient with me everyone while I get the problem with my picture uploading figured out.  Food blogs are no fun without pictures, this I know, so I hope to be back to normal soon! In the meantime, have a wonderful Friday!

“Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 67108864 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 4096 bytes)”
Any idea what this means??? I was all set to type up a fun post for you guys – I have a delicious spaghetti squash recipe and a polenta recipe to share with you, as well as some pictures from an amazing dinner I had last night at a restaurant that I had been dying to try for a long time.

But alas, for whatever reason I cannot post pictures today! I have no idea if the problem is on the end of my camera or my Wordpress account and sadly, I’m lacking the technological prowess to figure this out. I got a little plug-in happy and downloaded all sorts of Wordpress plugins the other day that I really don’t have a clue about, they just sounded cool…. and it’s likely that I messed something up along the way.  Basically I’m just going to cross my fingers and hope that it fixes itself in a couple of days   Any advice would be welcome!

In the meantime, don’t forget to enter my Chia Seeds giveaway…. I’m loving the comments I’m getting about your most romantic meals, keep ‘em coming! And if you have a second, please help my friend Jenn (of Eating Bender fame) by voting for her in the Crate & Barrel Ultimate Wedding Contest! It just takes a couple clicks of the mouse here!

Since I’m not going to be spending tine blogging this evening, I’m off to go have Mike serenade me.  He’s been teaching himself to play the guitar over the past couple months and he’s getting really good already – right now he’s playing Coldplay’s “The Scientist”! Good night everyone!

This morning in yoga I did the unthinkable – I was able to stay up in crane pose for up to 10 seconds at a time!!! Ok, ok, I know for many of you this is not a big accomplishment (and I know that I need to straighten my arms to be in the full expression of the pose), but I felt very pleased with myself.  I haven’t felt this proud since this time!

It’s amazing to me how far I’ve come with my yoga practice over the past 7 months or so.  Back in college, I signed up for a yoga class since it was a credited class – sweet, or so I thought – only to find that I was so impatient that I absolutely hated it and dreaded going to class. Fast forwad a few years later to the summer of 2009, when I started going to the occasional yoga class since the word on the street was that it would improve my breathing and strengthen my core, which thus would be beneficial to my marathon training.

While I wasn’t going to a fancy yoga studio but instead was simply attending the free yoga classes at my neighborhood gym, I realized that I liked the instructors and style much better than I did back in that college class.   It’s too bad that I wasted so many years of my life thinking that I didn’t like yoga, when really I just didn’t realize that there are about 5000 different types of yoga out there, and I just needed to find the right fit!

I first began falling in love with yoga when I realized how AMAZING it was from a strength training perspective.  I started to see more toning results than I had ever seen before – quicker – and I loved feeling so challenged each week.  While I continued to attend classes for this physical benefit, over time I found that I also really enjoyed the mental clarity that it provides.  I used to hate Sundays, but now I actually look forward to them because I love, love, love my Sunday morning yoga class.  There’s nothing like going to a near-empty, quiet gym for an hourlong workout that – *bonus!* – also offers personal reflection time.

If you practice yoga, did it take you a while to get into it as well?  Or were you hooked right away?

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Oops, almost forgot to remind you to enter my Chia Seeds giveaway! The contest will be open until Thursday and, unlike some giveaways, does not require you to follow 8 different steps that involve commenting + emailing all of your friends and family + doing headstands in order to win one entry.  It’s super easy, so check it out!

Last week my cousin Liane sent me the Epicurious recipe for an African stew, and it looked so good to me since it contained many of my favorite ingredients – namely chickpeas, tomatoes, and coconut milk! I tried my hand at it (plus a few modifications), and then just realized that it was almost exactly like my Morrocan Quinoa and Sweet Potato Stew that I made almost four months ago! I think Epicurious stole my recipe

In an a nutshell, the soup was a crockpot full of:

* 2 sauteed onions

* 1 clove chopped garlic

* more garlic powder, to taste

* 1 c. quinoa

* 1/2 jar pasta sauce

* 2 cans diced tomatoes

* 1 can light coconut milk

* 1.5 cans chickpeas

* about 3 c. broccoli (I had frozen the stalks a while ago and defrosted and chopped them – this is a great way to use up the less-flavorful stalks!)

* 1 butternut squash, cubed

* 2 tsp. curry powder

* 2 tsp. paprika

* salt to taste

I threw everything together in the crockpot before leaving to work, and it was all set to eat when I returned home later that day. ( Technically I added the coconut milk and seasonings at the end, but it would be fine to add them at the beginning, as well!)

Please accept my apologies for this terrible (and not very appetizing) picture…. at the moment my flash wasn’t working and it wasn’t very light outside!

Time to go have a relaxing Sunday – hope you are doing the same!

Who’s excited that the weekend is finally here?!?! I feel like this week went by especially slow… I blame the freezing temps and bleak, gray skies in Chicago! At least February is a short month…

I wanted to thank everyone who participated in Dress Down for Haiti! I got so much great feedback and I want to send a shout out to Heather, May, and Mara – just the 3 of them together raised over $1,500 from their school districts! Wow!! Don’t forget that it’s never too late to participate and to help out Haiti in what I think is one of the easiest ways possible.

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Before I get to the chia seed giveaway, I wanted to brag about the amazing snack I made last night (and that I am seriously making again right now this very instant)….

As I mentioned a couple days ago I’ve had a serious nut butter addiction going on.  Sadly, I recently ran out!  But no worries, I got creative – I should mention that in years past I have known to be so desperate for dessert that I’ve melted down an unsweetened bar of baking chocolate with sugar and milk!! Crazy, I know…

The only possible nut butter contenders I could find in my pantry/freezer (I store my opened nuts in the freezer or fridge) were some pepitas (pumpkin seeds) and pine nuts.  Pine nuts are phenomenal by themselves in dishes, so I passed on those and moved along to the pepitas. I threw them into my FP with some dates, flax meal, cocoa powder, a bit of flax oil, salt, and vanilla. I had planned to make a Laraba-type treat, but the texture was a bit off, so I added in some coconut flour.

Then….. Goldilocks determined that the texture was STILL not quite right.  So, after eating some nibbles plain, I threw a large spoonful into some banana and mango soft serve (plus 1/4 tsp xanthum gum for the fluff factor).  Soooooo good!! You don’t need to blend all of the ingredients first like I did, but I highly recommend adding dates and nuts to your next banana soft serve.  It adds such a lovely addition of depth and flavor!

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I have 1) a spaghetti squash creation and 2) a hearty stew recipe coming up soon, but today I’m short on time so without further ado, let’s hear it for the Chia Seeds Giveaway!!!  Please check back soon

When Don at Chia Seeds Direct contacted me about doing a giveaway for my readers, I jumped at the chance! I LOVE using chia seeds, but they can be a little expense at the health food store which is unfortunate since they have so many health benefits: high in protein and fiber, full of antixoidants, Vitamin C and E, and more…

I know most of you in the blogworld are familiar with this so-called “Superfood” and I would be happy to help you get your hands on a 2 pound bag!

To enter the giveaway, in light of the upcoming Vday holiday, please leave a comment about the most romantic meal you have ever cooked, or had cooked for you!

Also, please feel free to also mention this on your blog and/or to Tweet about it if you like – the contest will run until Thursday, February 4.

Have an amazing weekend, friends!!

Happy Wednesday!  Did any of you watch this morning’s Oprah that featured Alicia Silverstone (author of the recently released The Kind Diet vegan cookbook), Michael Pollan, and excerpts from Food Inc.

I was so excited when I heard this lineup!!  Oprah has such an enormous influence millions of people, and I thought that if she was finally starting to address the issue of where our food comes from and what we are really eating, then that meant that the ideas that I firmly believe in will perhaps become more mainstreamed to the masses.

I enjoyed the clips that Oprah showed from Food Inc., and I appreciate the fact that she strongly encouraged her viewers at home to see the movie.  As I’ve mentioned before, watching Food Inc. precipitated my decision to finally become a vegan. I don’t care what your views are on the topic, I don’t think it’s possible for anyone to watch this movie and to not be at least slightly moved by the disgusting practices that take place in the meat and dairy industries.  So, props to Oprah for bringing this to our attention!

However, aside from the Food Inc. clips I was pretty disappointed with the episode.  Alicia Silverstone, to me, showcased veganism as more of a superficial decision on her part and praised veganism for improving her body, skin, and energy levels. While I certainly don’t think she meant it to come across that way, I really wish she would have touched more on the impact that veganism can have on your health and to the greater society.  When Oprah made jokes asking whether it was ok if she ate meat that was treated “really really well”, Alicia just laughed and brushed off the question.  Yeah yeah, I know it’s hard to stand up to Oprah, but I felt like she tiptoed around the greater issues.  Many times the issue of sustainable agriculture was brought up and not once did either guest bring up the fact that growing more, or mostly PLANTS, and less animals, is truly the only way to truly provide enough food to go around without the use of antibiotics or hormones.

I think that I am being so critical because I AM already a vegan and already find these issues to be of utmost importance -  maybe I am being too hard on Oprah for not taking the issue further.  What did you think of the episode?

So, I owe you guys a post I’ve been talking about for awhile!  After making Butternut Squash and Pea Risotto last week, I was dying to make a similar, but sweetened, dessert version.  It’s basically just like a rice pudding – yum!

Butternut Squash, Pineapple, and & Coconut Milk Dessert Risotto

Ingredients: 1 1/2 c. arborio rice, 6 c. very hot (simmering) water, 1 c. light coconut milk, 1 1/2 c. butternut squash puree, 1 1/2 c. pineapple puree, 3 tsp. cinnamon, 3 tsp. vanilla, and 1/3 c. agave nectar

* Add arborio rice to a hot pan

* Add 1 c. hot water and gradually stir into the rice

* Once the rice starts to fluff up and expand, continue adding a cup of liquid at a time, rotating between hot water and coconut milk

plus the butternut squash and pineapple puree and 1/2 finely chopped apple while continuing to stir

* Toward the end, stir in vanilla, cinnamon, and agave nectar

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Since I haven’t put up a lot of meal posts recently, here are a couple pix of recent snacks… I’ve been absolutely obsessed with nut butters recently to the point that I’m not even sure if I want to buy myself any more because I go through it so quickly!

Angela’s pancakes (made with WW flour instead of spelt) with almond butter and maple syrup:

Almond butter stirred into oatmeal/banana:

And when I ran out of oats I turned to…. quinoa!! Yes, my friends, the world’s most nutrient-packed grain (ok so technically it’s a seed not a grain, but ya know) is an excellent stand-in for oats/banana/almond butter!

When I ran out of ALMOND BUTTER (*tear*),  I chopped up a toasted bagel and mixed it up with tahini and agave nectar.  So good!

All of this posting is making me hungry for some more nut butter… the kitchen is calling my name and I think I might make a stop there before yoga tonight.  Have a great one!

Hello! How was your weekend?  Mine was lovely… a date night of dinner + a wine tasting Friday, a nice, relaxing movie night Saturday (State of Play was so good!!), and Sunday was more relaxation due to a great yoga class and an afternoon spent doing things that I enjoy.

I’m so happy to have had the opportunity to host BSI this week! Unfortunately, I didn’t get a lot of submissions and considered extending it a week, but I thought that that wouldn’t be fair to the people who did get their recipe submissions in on time.

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time and energy to create a new recipe to enter into the BSI Mushroom Challenge!  Here are the submissions:

1. Food Mama (Mushroom and Thyme Tartlets)

2. Karena from Run Beans Run (Mushroom Wanton Raviolis)

3. Leena from Living Leena Loca (Mushroom Chicken Chickpea Burgers)

And the winner is…….Leena!! While I was very impressed with all of the submissions, you won me over with your addition of chickpeas!  I also applaud you for your culinary aspirations….I often wish I had the foresight to go to culinary school when I had the opportunity, and I think you are well on your way towards your dream!

Congrats, Leena! Please email me (ChicagoMarathonVal@gmail.com) with your address and I’ll be sure to send out your prize package soon.

I’m happy to hand over the BSI hosting duties to one of my favorite bloggers, Karena!   I love reading Run Beans Run because I feel like I have a lot in common with Karena, and because I love reading about the interesting recipes she creates.

Have a great rest of your day, everyone!

Hi friends! Have you started to think about what recipe you are submitting to this week’s Blogger Secret Ingredient challenge?  I can’t wait to be the host, and I have to say that I haven’t gotten very many submissions yet so you have an excellent chance of winning a prize package made from of green tea, pasta, the newest issue of Vegetarian Times, and a Whole Foods gift card!

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I was going to post about my new Butternut Squash Dessert Risotto recipe today, but I’m just so excited about the amazing meal that I had last night that I wanted to share that with you first.  Mike and I had gotten a deal from a local radio station offer where we spent $25 in order to get a $50 Carnivale gift card.  What a good decision that was!

Mike and I have been itching to go to Carnivale ever since we came very close to buying a condo right next door.  Nothing super fancy on the outside…

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But on the inside it was quite spectacular!

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Carnivale is known for its fun and colorful ambience as well as its known for its Latino cuisine.  This week, the restaurant was featuring Columbian fare.

We started off by ordering a large guacamole – the waiter was kind enough to inform me that their tortilla chips were not vegan as they contain lard (gross!) and he offered to bring me some sliced jicama, instead.

I LOVED the jicama slices with the guac! They were so refreshing and slightly sweet – so much better than tortilla chips! However, the guac was way too spicy for my liking so again, the kind waiter brought me a small bowl of it without the chiles, without me even requesting it!  Very thoughtful.

When it came time to decide our menu selections, I didn’t have a lot of choices, only one item on the menu was able to be veganized:

They just left out the goat cheese… here’s the beauty:

This was sooooo delicous.  I was a bit hesitant since I have been eating leftover quinoa & veggies for lunch all week, but thankfully this was much different (and better!) than my leftovers.  The quinoa was very rich with the flavors of roated veggies, green olives, and pine nuts, and the mushroom sauce was simply fabulous.  I’m aware that it was probably insanely easy to make – probably just pureed mushrooms with a bit of broth – but I could eat mushrooms all day long, so I just wish that there was more of this delightful sauce.

As Mike is currently undergoing an experimental month of being a vegetarian, he also had a difficult time finding an item on the menu but ended up being very pleased with his choice! We both loved dining at Carnivale and highly recommend it. After Carnivale we headed to a wine tasting and sadly didn’t take any pictures, but we (of course) had a great time!

Now I’m off to do some cleaning and then we are going to hit up a bookstore and then watch a movie later this evening…. have a wonderful day!

Hi there! Happy Wednesday to you all.  I’m so glad so many of you are excited about this week’s Blogger Secret Ingredient - I can’t wait to be the judge later this week! Don’t forget to submit your recipes/photos!

Also, though over a week has passed, the need has not lessened to help out the citizens of Haiti.  Please, please consider spending 10 seconds of your time to Dress Down for Haiti - it couldn’t be easier to participate, and you will be glad you did!

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Over the weekend, I had a compelling desire to make more risotto – I’ve been on such a risotto kick recently! I had some leftover butternut squash and some peas in the freezer that I wanted to use up, which became the base of my recipe. 

Butternut Squash and Pea Risotto

Ingredients: 1 T. EVOO, 1 onion, 1 clove garlic, 1 1/2 c. arborio rice, 6 c. vegetable broth, 1 c. light coconut milk, 1 1/2 c. butternut squash puree (I throw my cooked butternut squash into the FP to blend it), or you could use butternut squash cubes, 1 1/2 c. peas, 1 1/2 tsp. salt, pepper to taste

* Heat 1 T. EVOO in a hot pan

* Add chopped onion and clove garlic

* After onion becomes translucent, add in arborio rice, butternut squash puree, and 1 c. vegetable broth

* Cook on medium-low heat until the arborio rice absorbs the broth and begins to fluff up;  when this happens, add more broth a half cup or a cup at a time

* Continue stirring and gradually adding broth

* Toward the end, stir in the coconut milk, salt and pepper

So good – and this is only part two!! I also got so hopped up on risotto that I later decided to make another, dessert version of butternut squash risotto, which I’ll post about soon.

A couple fun reviews:  I was recently asked to review Brendan Brazier’s new book, Thrive Fitness! I loved reading his first book, Thrive, which was a vegan’s nutritional guide to peak athletic performance.

I just received the new book last night, and I am already half way through – I was that excited to read it!  While I haven’t gotten through it yet, I can recommend this book for anyone who wants to begin a new fitness regimen, to someone who is already an “athlete” and wants to increase their performance in an efficient way.  It covers both diet and exercise in a very knowledgeable, innovative fashion.

Yesterday I was also sent some samples from Mighty Leaf tea – of course I had to try the Chocolate Mint Truffle first!

This was good plain, but would be even better with a drop or two of nondairy milk and maybe a bit of agave or another sweetener.

Time to get ready for the gym…. maybe I can actually master the elusive chattarunga tonight?? We shall see… have a great one everyone!