Knead to Cook

Food & fitness obsessed girl.

Empty nesters and a bathroom and bedroom renovation on a budget.

by Filed Under: Life.

Our oldest has remained at her apartment nearby to her university during Covid 19. She is working on campus and staying throughout the summer after her internship had been cancelled due to the stay in place orders. Our youngest graduates in a few weeks and had an opportunity to move into a lovely home nearby. This allowed her to build credit through utilities also experiencing living life on her own aka no one to cook and clean up after her. With just 5 days under her belt, we’ve seen so many incredible changes in her. Cleaning! She’s learning to be responsible for cleaning up after herself which honestly, I never thought would happen 😉 I seriously thought she would be on hoarders in her future. Kid you not! LOL. Apparently moving out has changed her 180 degrees and we couldn’t be prouder!

When she moved out we decided to change her room over to our Peloton & fitness room. By simply moving what we had and rearranging, touching up paint and having the rug cleaned… we’ve turned her room into a dreamy Pelo studio.

The wall color is Sherwin Williams Mindful Gray. Bookcase is old Ikea along with the baskets. Clock is available here.

Various yoga mats are in the corner and I anticipate buying a basket for them once the quarantine is over.

The bathroom. Well it was in rough condition to say the least. It had to be painted, it had been many years, scrubbed, bleached and disinfected (insert eye roll). Not wanting to spend a lot of money right now with the uncertainty of life… my goals:

1. Scrub everything.
2. Repaint both parts of the bathroom.
3. Paint the wood cabinets.
4. Replace the hardware.
5. Clean the faucets and see if they needed to be replaced – they were perfect!
6. Add an etagere for storage.
7. Buy new towels.
8. New accessories.
9. New shower curtain and hooks.

I didn’t take before pics to protect the guilty. Sunday we started and finally finished today, Friday.

Wall color is Storm Cloud by Sherwin Williams.
Trim color and cabinet paint color is pure white.
Etagere is here.
Apothecary jars are here.
Towels are here.
Bath mat is here.
Shower curtain is here.
Towel rack (which we have the matching toilet paper holder as well) is here.
Toilet paper holder is here.
Drawer knobs are here.
Door pulls are here.

Overall the renovations/updates came in around $350-$375 (with almost half of that for the carpeting cleaning and sanitizing).

I’ve been on a mission to lighten & create a minimalist space. We are so happy with way everything has turned out. Adjusting to empty nesting has been weird at times but overall quite lovely. The biggest positive is watching your children thrive on their own. For that we are grateful. If I’ve missed anything you’re interested in, please don’t hesitate to let me know.

~ox

— Knead to Cook

Spring cleaning with OXO & Method.

by Filed Under: Going and Living Vegan, Life., Sponsored, Vegan Leave a Comment

Spring is FINALLY here & we’re enjoying some seasonal temperatures, opening windows and yes, cleaning out the staleness of winter.  I’m always excited to partner with OXO to highlight some of the newest products to help you easily clean and keep your home in order.  Today, I’m focusing on the kitchen with some great tools and some fun seasonal scented cleaning products from Method as well.

Large Sink Mat: Protects dishes from chipping and scratching. Designed to allow air and water to flow freely to discourage mildew build-up. It also saves food that flies off of my cutting board and prevents said items from falling down the drain!  That’s my favorite part to be honest.

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— Knead to Cook

REM-Fit 300 Foam Mattress Review.

by Filed Under: Life., Product Review., Sponsored, Vegan 4 Comments

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Pillars to successful athletic performance are fairly simple, right?  Train hard.  Fuel your body with the best food available.  And get enough sleep to restore and rebuild.  We all know how important sleep is but the fact remains that 40% of Americans get less than the suggestion 8 solid hours per night.  Many getting less than 7 hours.  That isn’t taking into consideration the quality of sleep either.  Do you remember how old your mattress is?  The average life of a mattress is 7-10 years.  Sadly, if you’re like me… that timeframe has slipped through the cracks of a busy life.

I recently had the opportunity to test out the new REM-Fit 300 with the Motivate Collection system, which tracks all of your sleeping data.  Now I will say that this product arrives in a different manner than your typical, old school mattress…
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— Knead to Cook

Bathroom Remodel on a budget.

by Filed Under: Giveaway!!!, Life., Running/Races 9 Comments

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I know this is a food blog, right?  Well not exactly.  It’s what I’m making and eating at the moment.  It’s my journey from carnivore to plant-based athlete.  It’s my running and training journal.  It’s my life.  A little bit about me before I begin.  Over the past 4 years, mainly when I turned 40, I realized that I needed to pull my life back a lot and refocus.  Quality over quantity.  I didn’t need as much anymore.  I began focusing on the important things in life and narrowed my circle of friends exponentially.  This is an ongoing process and evolution.  I think everyone can relate to the journey.  Cutting out the noise and living a bit more in silence to really hear what’s important.

I’ve begun pairing down my possessions as well.  I never thought I would be the person who would ever downsize, embrace a simpler life but I’m seeing it and getting excited.  As my girls get older, and one will be heading off to college, I see us selling our home and getting a condo or brownstone and living without as much.  This concept has been totally reinforced with the latest remodel of our master bathroom.  I thought it would be easy and quick but reality soon set in… 3 weeks later I can say we are done!  I have surmised that training for a 50 mile race and renovating is just too taxing… at least for me 🙂
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— Knead to Cook

Flourless Salted Peanut Butter Cookies. V. GF.

by Filed Under: Breakfast, Brunch, Cookies, Desserts, Easter, Evolution Power Yoga 40 Days, Fitness., Giveaway!!!, Gluten Free, Holiday, Holiday Baking Ideas, Life., Nuts, Party Foods, Valentine's Day, Vegan, Vegan proteins, Wheat Free 37 Comments

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Happy Leap Day – let’s celebrate an extra day with a cookie!  I’m so happy to finally be working back in my kitchen – it’s seriously been over 3 weeks that I’ve been renovating/updating/face-lifting my master bathroom. The last piece of the puzzle gets delivered today – my shower door and fingers are crossed that it fits!  But I digress, I’m locking myself in my kitchen today and making several recipes while I await the delivery call.

I always make muffins as a go-to snack for my family but I’ve been craving salt lately.  Why?  Well I’m a bit of a salty runner and that seriously drives my craving.  I know you typically see salted caramel but I wanted to do a salted pb cookie.  Peanuts… a touch of salt… sounds good to me!  Again, I used a very small amount not to offend my kids by the addition.

These cookies come together really quickly and I will warn you that the dough is quite heavenly if you accidentally sample it 😉  Totally safe to eat as there are no eggs in it or risk of food contamination. Okay onto the recipe and my next recipe is awaiting my attention.
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— Knead to Cook

Friday Favorites.

by Filed Under: Friday Favorites Series, Life., Running/Races, Vegan, Vegan proteins 1 Comment

friday favorites
Friday is here and as we brace for our first snowstorm of the winter 2016 (insert sarcasm).  I’m trying to see the positive in the arrival of this storm – with everyone home and safe, I feel better but sadly my youngest daughter’s church retreat was postponed.   But I’m stocked up on bananas, beets and farmer’s market goodies so I’ll be cooking up a storm.  Plus my resolution for the year is cleaning out/decluttering and painting rooms in my house that I haven’t done already.  My bedroom is the first on the list.
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— Knead to Cook

Friday Favorites Series.

by Filed Under: Friday Favorites Series, Gift ideas, Holiday, Life., Running/Races, Vegan 1 Comment

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I’ve been wanting to go back to sharing some of my current favorites – geez I did this over 2 years ago and let it fall by the waist side. So today, I’m back at it. My blog isn’t just about food or running… or at least I don’t want it to be. I want to share some of my favorite finds with you. Food. Clothing. Whatever! I’m lucky enough to test out about 25+ products a month from various companies and I want to share what my favorites are along the way. Most don’t make it, to be quite honest. I’m pretty picky about what I put in or on my body nowadays. In my pursuit to expand my vegan diet to my lifestyle – a lot has changed for me and continues to do so. So sit back and read along. I hope you find some products to try or test out yourself. Better yet, maybe even a gift to share this holiday season.
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— Knead to Cook

OXO Spring Cleaning.

by Filed Under: Life., Product Review. Leave a Comment

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Spring is here, however the weather isn’t indicating that so much… but it is time to start the spring cleaning process. Cleaning out closets, garages and prepping for a neighborhood garage sale.  Does your neighborhood do this?  It’s a great way to clean out and make some extra money.  I typically use that money for mulch, flowers and plants for my garden.  New outdoor decor and sprucing up.  I hate wasting and throwing things out when others can use them.

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— Knead to Cook

Vegan journey through Texas.

by Filed Under: Fitness., Gluten Free, Life., Travel & eating, Vegan, Vegan proteins, Vegetarian, Wheat Free Leave a Comment

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So happy to be back in Pennsylvania with our fall-like chill in the air and NO humidity.  Windows open.  Bill and I took a holiday to Texas to celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary (albeit a little early thanks to Homecoming).  We decided to visit the San Antonio Riverwalk and Alamo as well as tour Austin.  Of course, it was my goal to find everything vegan along the way and Texas did not let us down!  Now I’ve been vegetarian for almost 2 years now and vegan for 10 months.  I knew going to Texas and eating vegan may pose a challenge in the land of bbq but it so was not!

First off the heat and humidity was almost unbearable.  Worst than the east coast in August!  HOLY humidity!  Running was a bit fun but we did manage to get two runs happily and completely sweaty.  I finished out my week with 25 miles as planned.
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— Knead to Cook