Have muscles, will travel.

So this week in the world of "what the hell does a vegan eat", we add another challenge! What does a vegan eat on an athletic adventure in another city? This weekend was training to become an instructor for a barbell weightlifting class(Bodypump) in Burlington, On. Training requires you to do 5 classes and then another super challenge-lift 50-150% of the weight you normally do! No big deal right? So on top of just doing it, I had to find a way to keep my body fueled for two days of intense physical activity. This road trip required epic planning! Here is what my food pile looked like before I walked out the door.

Bananas, orange, apple, avocado, 7 lbs of almonds, walnuts with chocolate chips, 5 pb and j sanwiches and
vegan power muffins.

So for your eating pleasure, I'm posting the recipe for Sweet Potato Date muffins which I make for nearly every road trip I've ever been on. They contain only good things and offer outstanding sustained energy, whole food nutrition and packability. They have gone with me to Toronto, Las Vegas, New York and anywhere else my little wandering feet take me. I even contacted the author, Jae Steele, to get permission to use the recipe. Talking to her on messanger made me feel like a VIP! Make these and all will be right in your world (and intestines too). Its from "Ripe from around here" which you should go get right now! Now! One of my favorite cookbooks eva!

Sweet Potato Date Muffins

2.5 cups peeled and cubed sw. potatoes, steemed to perfection
2 cups Spelt flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup oat bran
1 Tbs baking powder
1tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp sea salt
1 cup chopped dates
1 cup applesauce(or 2 apples blitzed in the vitamix if you forget to buy applesauce like I always do)
3/4 cup maple syrup
2/3 cup sunflower oil or coconut oil (I've only ever tried this with coconut oil)
Set your oven to 410 and get busy! Whisk together flour, bran, oats, baking soda and powder, cinnamon and salt. Add the dates and stir to coat. Pour in applesauce, maple syrup and oil (if using coconut oil, melt it first). Mix until just combines and stir in the sweet potatoes. Bake around 28 minutes.

So we hit the road, and started playing "what can I convince a near stranger to do just to get on my blog". The answer was, yoga poses in public! Rebecca chose to show off her mad yoga skillz in the middle of a cobblestone alley in front of our restaurant. Woot! Spirit of adventure=check!

She makes it look easy, but I dare you to try to do it right now!

As soon as we hit town we hauled ass to Kindfood, a gluten free vegan restaurant that's won best cupcake four years in a row. It was closed :( After I shed some tears and licked the door, our search continued for something delicious. Persion eatery won this round!

A beautiful night meant outdoor eating! I usually hate beer, but it said "local, microbrewery and organic" which I tend to be a sucker for.

Company was good, beer was bad. I maintain it only tastes good if it's free.

Dinner didn't meet my standards for beauty, but the service was awesome and it tasted wonderful!

The next day brought hard core training and a quick lunch break that meant speeding across town to get in some vegan eats. Kindfood, finally you're mine! R and I both got the intensely awesome "Gene Baur" green smoothie and $20 worth of cupcakes LOL! Fitness inspiration right there folks.

Kindfood was filled with all of the things that make for a Christina happy place. Vegans, cupcakes, vitamixes, and signs that say things to make me smile.

Check.

This is what $20 worth of cupcakes looks like.

From top left, mint chocolate, dulce de leche, pina colada and cookies and creme.

After our day ended, down time meant wandering around industrial Burlington. It was highway-arific. Hidden among industrial supply buildings and freeways, I found a field of wildflowers. Happiness! So, I "bought" myself some flowers. First because I just finished something really challenging and second because I'm worth it damn it.

Worth it!

Then it was time for  my sub par food court dinner. Just so you know, cute takeaway boxes does not equal culinary magic. Though to be fair, my mom is a Thai food rockstar so my standards are pretty high.

Dinner sucked but dessert was awesome! Four cupcakes. That's right, four.

Here's Rebecca, enjoying her Kindfood brownie after our intense day 2. She'll most likely hate me forever for posting this photo, but I feel it captures the essence of brownie bliss perfectly. She's a doctor, so you can pretty much take that as medical advice to eat brownies as recovery food ha!

That's about it. It was a pretty awesome trip, filled with my favorite things-sweating, new friends, yummy vegan food, cupcakes AND muffins, and accomplishment! Huzzah!