Hollerin’ Back ya’ll!

Hi, sugar-boogers! I have missed you. Since you’ve I’ve been gone (Kelly Clarkson?), I have been trying to comment on your blogs of interest- sorry if I’ve been so terribly unfriendly & distant. I want to feel the love again. I feel it for you; can we share it?! I also had my Spring Break & just laid-low. I went to the beach to get my tan on (& keep the blonde-ness up!), hung out with some friends, started running more, did some quality yoga (7 more classes on my magical pass!) & only worked for 2 of the days. I didn’t blog. So, I must have done something!

On this perhaps lucky day of St. Pat’s, I found a dollar– HOLLER!

 

I also got a free sample in the mail- anyone can request one & you can send them to other people’s addresses, too, to “Feel the Good!” Guess which one I tried first?!

 

It was an Emergen-C!!!

*ATTENTION: will the REAL ORANGE POP please stand up?!

 

^ There’s my substitute for the “pop-ness” that made me Orange in the 1st place! Deliciously carbonated & chemical-free!

Other meals? Here’s a sweet potato gnocchi with Vodka cream sauce, green beans & a Boca Italian sausage (I bought everything & cooked/heated it myself. This is not homemade, as much as I wish I were just that good!):

 

snack: totally digging those Annie’s Bunny Grahams! Here they are with vanilla ice cream & strawberries:

meal: whole wheat pita with avocado, hummus, cheese & veggies (tomato, sprouts, lettuce); along with a Sunshine  Garden Herb burger & roasted veggies  (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, onions & tomatoes):

   

Wallaby yogurt (Banana-Vanilla) with cinnamon & sunflower seeds (I love this brand- great flavor, texture & fun flava’s!):

I had an Indian packaged meal, too, from Tasty Bite: Kashmir Spinach. My awesomely-active-&-delicious-food-eating friend from Gliding Calm has eaten & reviewed this meal twice  here and here! …so I’ll let her reviews take the stage, because I agree that the “bulking with veggies” is necessary. I added green peppers, onions & eggplant & ate it with pita bread:

   Tasty Bites! (but not pretty-lookin’)

Another International meal I’ve made came from this cookbook:

 My nutritionist is Israeli & she lent it to me, noting some of her favorite (vegetarian) recipes… I made a Chickpea-Eggplant-Tomato stew & I added wheat berries & ate it with a pita with buttah’:  < There it is!

IF YOU’RE STILL READING, thank you!!! I’m sorry for ginormous posts- this is what I get for being away for so long. I find it daunting when I don’t post for a while because then I have to make up for all that lost time! I tried to keep the comments short, though. Message me if you have questions or sum’thin!

…a few more:

 

^ wrap on a locally-made pita (don’t think it’s whole-wheat, but I do know it’s soft & short ingredient list!) stuffed with veggies & hummus (there may or may not have been more- I don’t remember, but it was tastttyyy!)

In order for me to get excited again about blogging (which I am! But, you know, it’s the whole “here’s-what-I’ve-been-up-to-lately” thing…), I made a different kind of oat breakfast. I’ve read about people putting an egg or egg whites in their oats, but I’ve never done it. I always sort of think it’ll scramble. Today I added one egg white at the end of cooking my oats (half oat- bran & half –meal), plus pumpkin, walnuts, s’milk & golden raisins: 

 < see the little white-flecks? Any advice to make it more “custard-y” without actually baking it?! It was good, but I really didn’t taste much of a difference… oh well, maybe I missed something & will have to re-visit this technique!

ONE MORE THING: If anyone can tell me what this is, you get 10 points!

*HINT: I got it fresh from my local produce market, but you can also get it pre-packaged. It’s more of a “European” thing, I’d say. (It’s not just a plastic bag– what’s on top of that-there bag?!) Have fun!

Oh, & if anyone’s missing a folder, I know where it might be:

I’m working on some interview questions for a select few- thanks for those of you who volunteered! I’ll get-chya thinking soon enough!

He loves you, yeah-yeah-yeah!

Me & The Beatles say, “HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY, LOVES!”

I hope your day is filled with love, in all areas of your life: for yourself (#1!), friends, family, the things you do & everything in your world! What are you doing to celebrate this commercial love-filled holiday?!

I have to work tonight, but until then, I’m going to watch some romantic-comedies & get a pedicure with my dad. He loves them & he’s not afraid to say so! Last night, I saw He’s Just Not That Into You with one of my girlfriends. We’re both single, so it was our date! It make me just want to shout “STOP TALKING!” sometimes because sometimes the characters were so awkward, but it was cute & fun. Afterward, we chatted on the outside benches. Lovely!

When I woke up this morning, I saw, on my computer, a card:

 

from Daddy!!! (thanks, Daddy-o!) plus a sweet little note with it!

 

& a box of chocolate (& cash) from Mommy! (thanks, Mom-sie!)

I’m so lucky to have such a supportive, loving family! Truly, sometimes I feel overwhelmed with inheriting a great fortune, in the form of love, care & happiness! I hope you feel this way, in some part of your life, too!

Thanks to everyone on their feedback, though I was looking for even MORE than a few people. But, none-the-less, it was great to hear from a few special people & I’ve come to realize that, yes, it is MY blog, so I can write whatever, but will you read?

I think I even had a dream about my blog, leading me to some ideas… kind of cool, huh?! Would it be too much of a nuisance to change my name or blog?! Any experience with this?

Some of my favorite tea-makers sent me a sample (which I had inquired about a while back)  

with 3 flava’s: Green tea Pomegranate, Himalayan Apple Spice, & Berry Detox. I’ve tried the Green Tea Pomegranate & it’s tasty, so I’m looking forward to the others. Also, a lil’ coupon, YIPPEE!!! I love me some savings!

…speaking of TEA, I just got some new French Vanilla flavored tea, from Mr. Big(elow)!

 < it’s wonderful! I’ve been drinking it with soymilk & agave, which brings out the flavor & sweetness! mMmMm… even without coffee, I like to have a little fix of something, with some caffeine in the black tea in my mornings!

I saw the nutritionist this week again, too. While I followed the meal plan she gave me, toward the end, I felt even more hungry, even with less exercise I had been doing. So when I saw her, she weighed me (I was UP about 1.5 # in a week & a half, & I am happy with this!) & we worked on another, bigger meal plan. A “prescription,” if you will. It’s incorporating a lot of fat (mmm, hello nuts, seeds, avocado, nut-butters, etc…) & she said it’s her goal to get my *girly-thing* within 2 months!!! While I know this may be a pain (literally?), this excites me, because it’s been gone for farrrr too long! And that is just not right. 

Want to see some food? OKAY:

 < yesterday’s breakfast, with a ray of sunshine from above (mug): oat bran (thanks to Heather, I have noticed that yes, oat bran, as opposed to oatmeal satisfies my hunger a wee bit more! Check out her comparison on the nutritional info. on the 2 oats here). Anyway, oat bran with walnuts, banana, cinnamon, vanilla & s’milk, multi-grain toast with Smart Balance butter & 2 eggs with spinach + S&P & tea with agave & s’milk. WOW, filling, but delicious! 

 < a phone call, from the plain so’gurt to almond butter on the banana phone!

 in the blender it goes…

…+ ice & blueberries 

…to make:  YUM!!! Just what I needed on a warm winter day. Yes, it’s warm, sunny & BEAUTIFUL here in FL… *wish you were here!*

  

^ noodle bowl with: soba noodles, tempeh, veggies, sliced almonds, with red pepper flakes & flaxseed oil drizzled on top for some moisture & nutrient-absorbing fat! (Eaten with chopsticks, of course… Noodles are very difficult to eat with choppies so I had a fork around, too)

 < snack: Clif bar & tea (I LOVE this flavor tea!)

okay, I have a few more food photos, but instead, I’ll leave you with some great men in my life… they’re begging for you to “Be Theirs!” They’re lovers, I swear:

~*XOXO*~

p.s. I love you!

A bit of food + a Request!

Hi, ya’ll! Happy weekend, to you!

Like I predicted last night, I made some dinner, watched TV (TLC– What Not to Wear: Hoochie special!), finished signing up for classes & hit the hay! I’m going to yoga this morning with my sister (or… HOT YOGA, I should say!), then maybe the beach afterward because it looks like it’s going to be a b-e-a-uuuutiful day (oh, I just watched the movie Bruce Almighty last night, too).

Here’s what I made: there was some leftover whole wheat penne pasta in the fridge & I combined that (maybe 1.5 cups?) with veggies (Brussels sprouts, broccoli, carrots, tomato), edamame (for protein), some garlic powder, pepper, red pepper flakes, nutritional yeast (aka “nooch”– for some cheesiness) in the microwave… when it came out, I added some flax oil to let the spices stick (because heating flax oil takes away the benefits of it!).

I always RAVE about my one-pot meals, because they’re soo easy to just put everything together & enjoy different flavors in one dish!

Blurry a bit? I have the same camera that Kath just got rid of (Sony Cyber-Shot)… which means, if you haven’t read her blog recently, that it’s kind of a foggy picture… it does what it needs to do, though: brings you photos & pieces of my life!

REQUEST/QUESTION?!

• Does anyone want to do an exchange/mailing give-away?! I’ll offer some of my favorite bars, snacks, & a random trinket for any type of package… I’m not too picky. Give me a worn pair of socks, books, more for my collections, (*ahem-flavored PB-ahem*) soap, postcard, or whatever you desire & you’ll see it here on the blog!
• Chia Goodness cereal?
• BettyLou’s balls?
• ??? requests ???
• VeggieGirl: I have some gluten-free Bob’s Red Mill all-purpose flour, if you want it! I won’t use it, now that I know I’m not gluten-intolerant

I speak with honest GARLIC breath!

Why, hello, my lovely long-necked friend! I saw this at the store and had to try it! Why? WHY NOT?! Yes, it is diet, but it still tasted like I melted an orange creamsicle in my mouth! I felt like I was in the 50’s at the soda fountain. Oh, a twist on my beloved orange pop! Too bad I don’t have a juke box and I wish I drank it with a straw, but now I think of it…

To back-track, I made some famous Chickpea Cutlets from V’con for lunch today. I also had Emerald Kale Salad from the deli at work, which was excellent. One bite into the cutlets and I said, “OHHH YEAH!” I made a spin off of some mustard sauce, which I could never in a million years replicate, because I just sort of put some of this in, and some of that in… improvisation! From what I remember, it had some mustard powder, Braggs, Wasabi powder, garlic, Agave nectar, some flour to thicken it… I don’t know for sure, but it was garlicky, tasty, and delicious, all together! I was very satisfied, can you tell?! The kale salad was garlicky, too, so afterward, I sort of felt like I had just eaten the entire bulb of garlic! Ha! (Jasper and Tucker did not want to speak to or kiss me afterward!)

Isn’t my mini-whisk the cutest?!

So, I went to the mall after that, because I have a few gift cards and I love a good sale, but nothing caught my bargaining eye, so I left and picked up my liquified-creamsicle and some decaf coffee (Cinnamon Hazelnut, thank you) and went home. I really wasn’t hungry for dinner. 4 hours later, can you believe it?! Usually my body is saying, “FEED ME!” every 3 hours or so, but I wasn’t hungry! I was, however, in the mood to cook. After going through my recipe books and taking stock of what I would fancy in my head, I decided I would eat a good, full, meal. And it would be tasty! I made a spin off of Pasta de la California in V’con (hmm, Pasta de la Madam Orange Pop?!), with some spicy Bar-B-Que tempeh, and a side-salad with Annie’s Woodstock dressing! How have I not known about this beauty-of-a-dressing before?! Loved it! Props to Annie and her employees! Again, I have garlic breath, but I wouldn’t have it any other way!

I have to be honest here. I’ve been dreaming all today when I would sneak in some exercise, other than walking around the mall. I haven’t been feeling as strong lately and it’s been probably a week since I’ve hit the gym. But, I have been walking, biking, running (minimally) and working recently. And, some more honesty for you, I’ve been feeling a bit tired, frail/thin-feeling. This is not a good feeling for me because I am usually full of energy, happy, warrior-like (yes, me, Orange Pop, Warrior Princess!)… so I knew I needed to eat and eat I did! I feel like sometimes I look like a little girl, or worse, a little boy! You know what I mean? So, here I type, full, sleepy and a bit uncomfortable, but I will be kind to myself because I’ve been not-so-kind in the past, if ya know what I mean.

So there’s honesty for ya! I promised myself and my parents I’d take great care of myself while they’re away, and always! That’s a gift everyone should let themselves have!