In case you all are on the hunt for a holiday or New Year’s Eve look, this one from Express is perfect. Best part is, it is all 50% off right now! When we are shopping for something dressy, or even casual, Express has the BEST finds. Everything is so affordable, and comes in petite, too!
This sequin sparkle skirt is something you can wear for any holiday, or night out! We have on size xs on for reference.
And, of course, if you are all dressed up, you need some meal ideas for the holidays. We thought we would share some plant based dishes we are planning on making!
Many of you all know we have been eating mostly plant based for over a year now. The question we get asked most often is, “Where do you get your protein from?” We thought it would be better to write it up in a blog post for you all to read and reference later. By no means are we experts in this area– we just have read a little bit about it and it has been working well for us for now.
Before we get into that, we wanted to highlight this outfit from lululemon. We had been looking for a more supportive bra for a while now, especially for r, and were so happy when we found this Run Times Bra. We are wearing size 32 D for reference, and think it runs larger.
This bra is lightweight, but also really supportive. It has padded straps that you can adjust, and you can also cross them for a racerback tank.
Another cool feature about this bra is that there is perforated paneling, so you get good airflow to keep you cool.
We have on the “dark chrome” color.
Now let’s take a second to talk about these Align pants. We have these in both the crop 21″ and the short 4″, and they are SO good. If you don’t own a pair of these yet, you MUST get just even one pair. This our favorite pair from all of lululemon.
These pants are super lightweight, and high-rise, so they are comfy. They literally feel like butter when you touch them. Even better, they are sweat-wicking!
These pants from lululemon have a “naked sensation”, meaning you forget you’re wearing leggings, almost like a second skin! We have size 4 on in these, but these seem to run larger than the crops on us.
We paired the leggings with this grey cropped tee.We love that this tee is looser, and is flattering with higher waisted leggings, like these. Also, it is great to layer with for fall. We have size 4 on in this one.
For this second, look, we are wearing the same Align pants in the camo color. We love that you can wear these to the gym or pilates, and then out and about with other pieces in your closet.
We paired it with this Sculpt Tank, which has really cute mesh detailing, so it keeps you cool, but also shows that cute, strappy sports bra underneath. We have size 2 on in this one.
Underneath, we are wearing this Free To Be Bra from lululemon in size 6 that is stretchy and comfortable, and cute layered under tanks.
And, now for our protein talk:
You don’t need as much protein as you think
Not going to lie, we used to eat a TON of protein, mostly from animals (chicken, fish, turkey, eggs). There is nothing wrong with eating those at all, but from our research, you don’t need to be eating as much protein as you think you do.
We read that the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for “optimal” protein is 0.8 kg/lean body mass. You can also calculate it by your body weight x 0.36 to get your recommended protein intake in grams.
When we ate a lot of animal protein, we were eating more than 150 g of protein some days, which is crazy, since we didn’t need that much. PS- at that time, we ate a lot of protein and vegetables, so we needed the protein to keep us fuller, if that makes sense?
Plant-based protein gives you the necessary amino acids
According to what we read, all protein comes from the sun and the soil. So, whether you eat protein from plants that get it rom the sun and the soil, or animals that are eating the plants, the amino acids are the same.
How much protein can you get from plants?
So, if you’re curious, here is a graphic of how much protein you can get from different plants:
source: ohmyveggies.com
Some of our favorite foods are quinoa, chia seeds, spirulina, and lentils. You can make salads with a lot of these grains and legumes, and spirulina is great in smoothies!
PS- did you know that 1 cup of spinach has 5 grams of protein?! If you eat as many greens as we do, you can easily get 15-20 grams in with spinach alone. We love our greens!
Some other veggies that are protein-packed:
Alfalfa Sprouts
Watercress
Bok Choy
Asparagus
Broccoli
Mustard Greens
Collard Greens
Brussels Sprouts
Cauliflower
Of course, if you eat animal proteins, including these vegetables is even better!
In case you missed our last episode of An Extra Dose, you can listen to that here!
A little about this episode:
On this episode of An Extra Dose Podcast, Samantha and Alexis are opening up about their current skin issues and sharing their tips and the products they have been using to remedy these issues, specifically changing your diet and detoxing. On that same topic of detoxing, the Belbel sisters give ideas on how to make eating healthier and eating plant based more exciting for everyone. They are also giving some of their go to meals for everyone to try out and tips anyone can benefit from. They finish off with their favorite nail polish colors.
Happy Wellness Wednesday! It has been quite some time since we have shared one of these with you all. If you missed our last post, you can check that out here. This week, we are sharing five plant-based side dishes we are trying this month that we are super pumped about!
Many of you all know that we eat mostly plant-based, and frequently share a lot of our boring salad dishes and steamed vegetables in our instagram stories, but we wanted to try some new, and not-so-boring dishes you all can try out with us! If you do eat meat and seafood, you can totally add these as a side dish to your proteins!
Before we get into the amazing recipes we found, we want to talk about this all white look! With summer here, you can’t beat an all-white outfit. When we think of all white, we think of classic, clean, and chic. There aren’t many ways to mess up an all-white look, in our opinions 😉
For this one, we paired one of our favorite white skinny jeans (which are AMAZING!) with an off shoulder white eyelet top–both from Express. These jeans fit so perfectly, and we love that they come in a “short” length, so they fit our petite legs! They also come in a regular and “tall” length if you’ve been gifted with longer legs.
We love that Express offers denim for all shapes and sizes. We are so petite, and have shorter legs, so we love that we can find jeans that fit us right, without having to get any tailoring done.
We are wearing size 00 short in the jeans, and size xs in the eyelet top. The eyelet top is a great summer piece that you can wear with shorts and darker jeans as well. We love the bell sleeves on it!
**PS– they are giving all of you $25 off orders of $100 or more with code 8144.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add potatoes and boil for 5 minutes. Drain and allow to cool for 2 minutes. Cut larger potatoes in half and leave smaller potatoes intact.
Spread potatoes out on the baking sheet and drizzle with 1 tbsp of olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in the oven for 25 minutes, flipping halfway.
While potatoes are cooking, heat remaining olive oil and butter in a pan over medium heat. Once butter is melted add garlic and shallot to the pan. Once shallot has softened (approx. 2 minutes), add thyme, rosemary and thyme to the pan. Cook for an additional 30 seconds, then transfer the mixture to a bowl. Set aside.
Remove the potatoes from the oven and toss with garlic and herb mixture. Place back in the oven and bake for an additional 5 minutes.
Remove from the oven, sprinkle with lemon zest and serve.
Preheat oven to 415 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Toss cauliflower florets in avocado oil, salt, and pepper.
Roast for 35-30 minutes, until fork tender and slightly browned.
While cauliflower roasts, prepare pesto. Add all ingredients to a blender or food processor. Blend until ingredients are combined, but still a bit chunky.
Toss pesto with cooked cauliflower until well coated.
Rice the cauliflower. Slice the florets from the head of the cauliflower. Fit a food processor with the s-blade. Place half the florets into the bowl of the food processor and pulse until riced, scraping down the sides once halfway through to catch any larger pieces. Scrape out the riced cauliflower and repeat with the remaining florets.
Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Add the oil and heat until it shimmers. Add the onion and sautee until soft and translucent, stirring occasionally, 5-6 minutes.
Add the garlic and jalapeno and sautee until fragrant, 1-2 minutes.
Add the tomato paste, salt, cumin, and paprika and stir into the vegetables.
Add the cauliflower rice and stir continuously until all ingredients are incorporated. Continue sautéing, stirring occasionally, until the cauliflower releases its liquid and is dry and fluffy.
Remove the Mexican cauliflower rice from heat. Stir in the cilantro and lime juice. Serve immediately.
Roast the spaghetti squash according to these instructions, along with the garlic. To roast garlic, cut the top off, of the bulb, drizzle with olive oil, and wrap in foil. Place in the oven with the spaghetti squash for the whole duration of roasting. Roast the walnuts for 5 minutes if desired.
When the spaghetti squash and garlic (and walnuts) have finished roasting, allow them to cool enough to handle. Once cool, use a fork to release the strands of spaghetti squash and place in a large bowl. Peel the garlic cloves, give them a rough chop, and transfer them to the bowl with the spaghetti squash.
Happy Wellness Wednesday! After SO much positive feedback of what Alexis ate in stories last week, we decided to create a plant-based meal plan for you all to follow.
We included breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and some snack options. For the first day (Monday), we included what we typically eat, and then for the other days, we shared some recipes we are planning on making, or some that we love making!
We shared some of what we eat in this post on a regular basis and our supplement routine in this post!
See below the plan for a list of ALL recipes referenced! **Don’t forget to pink this plan for later **
As far as shorts go, #17 is our absolute go-to and we have them in size 4 in several colors. Don’t pass on these! We wear them to workout, and just every day.
This post has been a long time coming! We have been getting asked for so many months if we could share a post on what we have been eating at home and out since going plant-based 6 months ago. We shared a video a couple months ago in this post and are excited to share some raw, unedited photos taken straight from our Instagram accounts! You all are getting the real deal 😉
In case you all didn’t know, we share a ton of what we eat in our stories and story highlights on Instagram!
Here we gooooo!
BREAKFAST:
Take our liquid B12, then we have our lemon water (HUGE mug) when we first wake up to rehydrate after sleeping.
20-30 minutes after that, we have our celery juice. We use this juicer and you can find all info about the celery juice here.
20 minutes after our celery juice, we will have breakfast. This will either be this smoothie OR we will make a shot glass of Spirulina and Barley Grass Powder and mix those powders with water before a big plate of fruit. Usually, we will have at least one banana, one big bowl of wild blueberries with unsweetened almond milk and cinnamon, and a big apple. Other times, we may have some strawberries, papaya, or any other fresh or frozen fruit we have around!
We usually like to stick to fresh fruit or breakfast, but the other day, we made these Apple Pie pancakes that were AMAZING and so easy to make.
LUNCH:
Honestly, we pretty much snack/graze all day, but for lunch, if we are at home, we almost always make some sort of salad, and we are not talking a little, baby salad. We eat out of big serving bowls, and usually fill those up once or twice with salad.
We also will eat an apple or pear or some kind of carb like chickpeas or roasted potatoes if we are still really hungry!
Some examples of what we eat at home are the salads below! We stay pretty low fat, meaning we don’t use a TON of olive oil, but do use a little bit on our salads or in our dressings.
We love using Tahini as a dressing thinned out with some water and/or lemon juice, or using it in a dressing with other ingredients.
We don’t use a ton of vinegars right now, but will occasionally use red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar on our salads. We also love using some salsa or coconut aminos as dressings– such good flavor! For seasonings on our salads or vegetables, we love black pepper, himalayan salt (has minerals in it!), Trader Joe’s Everything But The Bagel Seasoning (so good on anything!), red pepper flakes, garlic powder, and so many more!
EATING OUT:
If we are eating out, we try to opt for a salad somewhere (more on our favorite spots in this post), or we will order some kind of vegetarian dish like steamed or sautéed vegetables, and a plain or sweet baked potato!
DINNER:
For dinner, we are usually over salad, but occasionally, we will opt for some salad with other things! Typically if we are eating at home, we will make sautéed vegetables of some sort with a carb of some sort whether it is this chickpea pasta, this red lentil pasta, or roasted potatoes.
When we cook our vegetables, we don’t use a ton of oil, we just sauté in a pan with some water, and then put a lid on top to let the veggies cook. After that, we will add spices like garlic powder, black pepper, Himalayan salt, cayenne pepper, liquid aminos, and coconut aminos (so good on salads or in sauces!).
SO many of y’all were asking for this recipe, so here y’all go!
RECIPE FOR SOUP:
INGREDIENTS:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
6 carrots, chopped
4 ribs celery, chopped
2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
4 new potatoes, unpeeled and cubed
2 medium zucchini, cubed
1/2 head broccoli, cut into florets
1/2 cup chopped parsley
3 cups canned tomatoes
salt and pepper
1 bay leaf
5 cups vegetable broth
2 1/2 cups water
INSTRUCTIONS:
Heat olive oil in large pot over moderate heat. Add garlic and chopped vegetables and half the parsley and sauté for 3 minutes. Add tomatoes, salt and pepper, bay leaf, broth, water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Cover partially and simmer 30-45 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Remove bay leaf and serve!
These potatoes are our FAVORITE! We use any kind of potato (sweet potato, golden potatoes, etc.). Simply slice potatoes and bake on parchment paper with spices like garlic powder, pepper, salt, and cayenne pepper. Bake at 400 until cooked through!
Also, we LOVE using our air fryer to roast potatoes. So easy and convenient!
We love making zucchini noodles (we use this tool to make them)! Either serve with plain tomato sauce (this Pomi brand is our favorite!), or make a sauce out of potatoes and carrots we found on Instagram!
Another sautéed cabbage and veggie meal!
EATING OUT:
When eating out, similar to lunch, we will order some kind of salad (dressing on the side) or veggie plate!
As far as snacks, we eat TONS of fruit. Literally, we probably eat at least 3-4 large apples a day, haha. We always have to eat something before bed, so we will either bake something fun with almond flour or oat flour, or have some fresh fruit like apples, pears, mango, or berries.
We hope this was helpful to you all! It is not exciting at all, but we feel a million times better and there are so many recipes and ideas on Pinterest and Instagram, if you’re looking for more!
