Temptation with Foodstuff

I’ve been busy in the kitchen! Check it out, yo:

 

^ Vegan Coconut-Pineapple-(Blueberry) ww Pancakes from Vegan with a Vengeance. This was so great! It’s been so long since I’ve had pancakes. I made them Friday morning, when I have no school or real reason to be up early, so it started a leisurely day off well! I did not make the “Pineapple Sauce” they suggested, but mixed up canned pineapple (with a bit of juice), blueberries, coconut, a bit of smilk & plain yogurt & agave. Just enough “moisture” for these beaut’s! I will make this again. I burnt one side of one, so I shared part of that with Jas-i-per & Tuck-i-fer! They didn’t complain!

 < I randomly went to Whole Foods (grr, competition for independent stores like mine! But I wanted to check it out & compare) & was greeted by this temptation. I passed by it, backed up, took a deep whiff, snapped a picture, & moved on again. Go Me! Is this 4 weeks, holding strong with no coffee? Even at dinner parties we serve coffee afterward & I have to make it. And free coffee at work. Well, free tea too, so I’m set! Yazoo! I feel real good with my decision & don’t feel deprived of it, though Sunday I was draggin’… I lovez me some teaz!

 < Why didn’t I use this orange bowl & spoon sooner?! It’s purr-fect, along with my Breast Cancer mug. In this bowl is oat bran, a banana, almond butter, cinnamon, walnuts & smilk!

So, I went grocery shopping (not at WF) & here are some things I got that are new to me. The other stuff, I hid already!

 

^ 3-bean salad, Artichoke-Lemon Pepper “Hommus”, Annie’s Tuscany Italian Dressing, og. Tamari Pumpkin Seeds, Dairy-Free Mac’n’Chreese (haha- anyone try this?) & also Garden of Eatin’ “Bible Bread”- traditional pita pockets with a great, short ingredient list: Organically grown whole wheat flour, water, organically grown sesame seeds, yeast and sea salt. I’ll take it! I love the hummus & dressing, too- new flavors for me!

 

^ Breakfast Parfait, in an effort to switch it up from oats. Then I deconstructed it because it became difficult to get more than one ingredient in a bite… with Mr. Bigelow tea. In it was: plain yogurt, blueberries, chopped apple, cinnamon & Sunflower-Pumpkin Seed granola

 I made a wheatberry salad, inspired by these hoots! I don’t know the real recipe, so I just added chopped celery, apple, walnuts, wheat berries (duh!), plain yogurt & the thing that brought out the ingredients= apple cider vinegar, with some salad seasoning herbs on top! YUM!

Another cooking-success?! From 101 Cookbooks. All her recipes & photos are amazing & this dish, the Orange Pan-glazed Tempeh was no exception. I served it with spinach & wheatberries (because I made a TON when I made them!) & a salad with dressing & sliced almonds:

   

Guess who liked it, too?

 

Welp, I hope that those of you with exams & other important things on your “to-do” lists are doing MORE THAN okay!!!

I’m still working on getting a new header & theme & such… I’m workin on it, but if you could send me some help & ideas, I’d love an e-mail at smbvb10@hotmail.com. If you know-someone-who-knows-someone, too, I’d so appreciate it. Should I make a contest? How do people catch on & how can I make that worthy?!

THANKS, Lovely Ones!

FREE, ME!!

I slept in, mondo… when I woke up, I put out the FLAME!!! Okay, I was watching the news on TV this morning when I woke up (okay, afternoon) when I saw it: smell like a burger! For $3.99 you can smell like a flame-broiled Burger King ham-boogie. Nice. They also referenced the SuperBowl commercial from McDonald’s where a man mistakenly puts a wrapper in the dryer and his wife’s clothes smells like beef and he is turned on… see it on YouTube here, with Miss OP:

Okay, onto the good stuff…

I finally finished my semester!!!!

YIPPEEE!!! YOW!!! HURRAY!!! ZIP-ZIP-ZIPPERRR!!! WEEE!!! So, I’ll happily be blogging more until I start mid-January (the 12th or so?). I’ll be working (*grumble*), relaxing, and doing other unforeseen things in my future. Unfortunately, either of my sisters will NOT be home for Christmas. It’s gonna be weird. And sad. Me lovez ‘da sistah’s!

So, yesterday. As soon as I woke up, I went for a brisk walk around to wake up and energize me! It was so nice out and great for my mind. When I got home, I put on a pot of coffee and made some oats for brain-food.

^ I had Target’s Pumpkin Spice coffee (I mix the grounds with generic/cheaper variety with the yummy stuff to make it last longer. I also add cinnamon to the filter!); the oats are: ~1/3 (+) c. Bob’s Red Mill 5-grain hot cereal, chopped apple, ~1 T. Skippy Natural Chunky PB, cinnamon, a splash of soymilk, and brown sugar. MmMmMmmmmm…

So, then Government Exam. Yow!

Then, the gym for some cardio… gotta get the heart pumpin’!

I have to tell you something. My uncle has been looking for a job for a while now. He’s a real estate appraiser, but work is hard to find right now with that… so he’s also been a black-jack dealer! Cool! Anyway, he wants to work at a big casino around here, but until he can be transfered here, he has to work at another location, a few hours away. He also has a cat (Milo!) and a dog (Bella, who is also Jasper’s sister!!!!), so I am staying at his house to watch his “brats” (or “kids”- they’re both! HA!).

It’s been pretty fun. Man, Bella is FULL OF ENERGY, ALL! THE! TIME! And Milo was barely seen, until a couple of weeks ago. Aww, he likes me! Because I feed him, probably. He’s a one-minded animal! Let me introduce you to them- Milo:

Bella: (actually sleeping?!)

It’s a mini-Jasper! 

So, since I told you that, I’m staying at his house. I’ve moved in my stuff, OP’ed his kitchen, I get my own room and Bella snuggles with me at night. BUT, his shower-head is like a drizzle… so I went home after the gym to shower. And, my fab Paris-sister is still home (she can’t get a flight back, uh-oh!), so we went to Publix to get sammiches. I love their hoagie-bread! 

^ Mine was a veggie with spicy mustard, Provolone cheese, S+P, and all the veggies, except black olives. EEK! (green pepper, banana peppers, tomatoes, onions & pickles… I think that’s all!)

Then, work. It wasn’t too bad. I got paid, but since I went to Paris the last weekend I’ve worked, it was a small paycheck. I’ve only been working Thursdays & Saturdays (and some Sundays) during school, so over break, I’ll probably pick up some more hour$!  It was slooowwww though!

Afterward, I decided I needed a fun lil’ zing to celebrate the end of my semester! I was by myself and tired, so I found this baby in my uncle’s fridge and saw a little recipe on the back, so I improvised. My version of cookies & milk, no?!

hmmm, I’m not a big drinker, and this tasted in NO WAY like alcohol, which I loved… but I drank it so quickly, and limited it to just one cup. I heated some soymilk and mixed it that way. Great! While watching Jim Carey’s version of The Grinch, it was a little nice to have no agenda!

So, then I slept in until, late. I woke up at 8:30, but have NOTHING TO DO, so I rolled over and kept sleeping. It was strange for me, since I’ve been a morning person these days, but I stayed up late (for me!) and had a lil’ drinky-drinky! 

Have a great start to your weekend, loves! Any plans?! Holiday shopping done? I’m allllllmost there. Just something else for my mom & Paris-sis. Hopefully I can navigate the crowds, but since I already have gift-ideas for them, it shouldn’t be too bad!

I work Sat. & Sun. then not again until next Sat! ENJOY!

Seeing Red

…er, not that Unwritten Law song, but red, in the form of bananas & cinnamon, which then turned into red-oats! How non-orange of me.

See for yourself!

^ see the difference between the Vietnamese cinnamon (L; bought in the bulk dept. at my work) & “regular” cinnamon (R; bought at my beloved Target)? 

^ You can see the contrast in the bowl, between the 2 types.  Once I mixed it together, it sure was purr-ty! 

The red bananas are smaller than the yellow variety & look almost pinkish-orangeish, like a sunset or something (how romantic!) & have a sort of raspberry-ish taste! YUM! I’m not a banana-mama, but these babies turned me on! The cinnamon is really potent and has more essential oils and healing properties (whatever those of cinnamon are…) than your standard ol’ cinnamon. I love both. When you smell the V.C., I’ll call it, you go “WOW!” I’m a cinnamini. Er, okay.

In other news, I woke up this morning just as my class was about to begin. I noted this fact, turned over, and went back to sleep. I woke up just a bit later, and suddenly I forgot I even had class today! Har-har, oops!

Instead, I went for a walk to open my eyes, had my oats, made some delicious Mango green tea, piddled around the house, swept the floors, went to the gym to strengthen my arms, ate some more, and am now at this CUTE little cafe blogging away and checking on my favorite people. You are all my favorite!

Tomorrow before work, I’m going to another spinning class! I LOVED the one I did on Tuesday, when we didn’t have school (thank you, Vets!). Then work. But I’m only working 2 or 3 days a week, with school, and my paycheck$ aren’t huge, so I should be thankful to be working and have a j-o-b. I am, truly.

Happy weekend, friends and foes!

Mug Shot!

My mom’s a teacher. For elementary kids. So, for every holiday or event, she gets gifts: cards, candy, gift certificates if she’s been a good girl, and mugs. You know, dollar-store trinkets. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m a frugal gal and love a good deal, and it’s cute that these kids are so proud to be giving my sweet mother a gift, for whatever occasion! But my mom is funny about it, too. As she comes home from school carrying bags with what might look like some pretty good stuff, she starts re-unwrapping them for me to see. Her famous line, when she gets those trinkets she has no use for, is, “Just give me the dollar!” and then she puts it aside like she’s going to give it away. Now she’s on summer vacation, but as I was rummaging through the kitchen looking for a mug this morning, I’ve noticed that I have quite an array of options! She keeps those mugs. Every-stinkin-one! I’ve tried to throw some out, but I find them the next day in the dishwasher because she finds and rescues them!

(^ yes, that’s a Jasper hair)

not just mugs… jars, other cups and coffee to-go cups, too

Happy Christmas in August!

Sister 2 is almost as bad. She goes to thrift stores and collects them that way. She has some pretty cool ones, as well as random, funny and huge ones. She feels sophisticated with some, and calls certain ones her “writer’s cup,” like the one with the tan-brown-blue, below. You know, like those old men writers in old movies, or something. She calls the blue one, below, her “camping mug.” Like she ever really goes camping! No. Actually, the one with the harp on it is from Ireland, from my parent’s trip, so I’ll give her that one.  My favorite mug (I don’t know why, but I have favorite utensils, mugs, bowls, etc.) is the one below, with the fish. It’s from a restaurant down here, called Shells, but I don’t know when/why we got it! And I painted the “beachy” one.

This is not even it. There are more in the dishwasher, in my sister’s rooms, and probably in other random places in the house.

My mom goes out with a bunch of her teacher-friends from school. They steal dishes, napkins, plates, cups, etc. and somehow they wind up on our front porch or hidden in her classroom, or something. They think it’s funny because my mom is not the kind of person that would ever do that, so they make fun of her for “stealing!”

Anyway, there you have it… a small collection from my kitchen, to your computer!

Quick, Easy, Successful

Not men, but I mean the GRUB!

I got a tea ball! I consumed too much java yesterday, so I figured I’d switch to tea this morning! After my mis-hap with my teacup (the holes were bigger than the leaves!), I used my tea ball to brew some Mango Green Tea. I am LOVING mango in any form these days and this tea was awesome! Here it is, all brewed in my (self-) painted cup, with the tea ball sitting on the little tea bag holder.

I also made some homemade oats this morning! Usually, I use a package of Quaker Simple Harvest oatmeal, which is great and easy and has some really yummy ingredients, but all I have in the cupboard is the one with honey and in an attempt to have a vegan day, this morning I made my oats with soymilk, a chopped-up apple, cinnamon, walnuts, and brown sugar. How very autumn of me?! I love this combo, though! Maybe I’ll try some muesli sometime with cold oats and mango! Oh, that’d be delish!

Last night after coming home late from work, I had been planning on making a dish from V’con, but instead, I went to my 3 reliable amigos… allow me to show them to you:

So easy and quick and satisfied my taste for some Mexican cuisine! Okay, okay, I’ll admit I did add a few other ingredients (like onion, green pepper, red pepper flakes, nutritional yeast, avocado and, of course, tortilla chips). But still- easy and tasty! This morning I felt the fiber of all that and the beans right before bedtime… eek, but that’s totally healthy, right?! I’ve got a fridge full of leftovers, it seems: beans of all sorts, veggies, tomatoes, rice… hmm, the possibilities!

Day off! Day off! House to myself! I’m going to cook some good stuff, write some letters to friends (yes, I’m that old-fashioned, still!), and perhaps go shopping (I’m looking for some comfy shoes to wear to work, since I stand on my feet all day!), maybe rent a couple movies (any good suggestions out there?), and tool around with the dogs! Have a spectacular “Hump-Day!” (Think Fergie: My Humps!)