Before blogging…

I didn’t pack my clonky camera in my gym bag just incase I came across some pretty fall foliage on the walk over.

(looks like somebody is ready for Christmas)

I didn’t whip out my camera to take photos of pumpkins that did not belong to me….or any pumpkins for that matter.

Don’t you just wanna give them each a big bear hug? Maybe that’s just me.

Before blogging…

I didn’t need a PRE-post-workout snack because there was no such thing as a 15 min. delay due to food styling and photography.

pumpkin pie smoothie

I didn’t get excited about seeing 280% DV of Vitamin A in 1/2 cup of pumpkin.

I didn’t then get concerned about vitamin A poisoning. Just kidding…not really.

I didn’t scan fields of grass for the perfect leaf to use as a garnish for my bowl.

FYI: Pineapple and grapefruit are my favorite fruits to pair with Greek yogurt.

Garnished with chocolate covered (and uncovered) pretzels and candy corn

Before blogging…

I didn’t jump out of bed to make chocolate covered candy corn and pretzels because it was finally light outside.

Chocolate Covered Candy Corn and Pretzels

Directions: Microwave dark chocolate for 2 min. to melt.

Steal Halloween pretzels from the stash set aside for the neighborhood kids.

(It’s okay, I plan to supplement the stash with real candy. We are not going to be the LAME house in the neighborhood!!)

Although let’s be honest, Bats and Jacks are pretty cool, too.

Dip candy corn and pretzels in chocolate and let dry on aluminum foil. Place in the fridge to speed up drying time.

Let the sugah coma ensue.

Before blogging…

I didn’t purchase squash just because I thought they were “pretty.”

I didn’t look at the clock at 6 PM and get anxious about trying to “beat” the sunset.

Bring it, Sun!

I bought this Carnival Squash from TJ’s. The sticker said it was a cross between Sweet Dumpling and Green Table Queen Squash.

That means nothing to me.

I cut the squash in half, scooped out the innards, and microwaved the halves for 5-6 minutes. I would have roasted ‘em in the toaster oven for however long but the sun was setting!!

I didn’t give much thought to the stuffing. It just needed to be FAST!

• 1.5 slices of Cinnaraisin Ezekiel Bread, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 small apple, chopped
• 1/4 cup veggie stock
• 1/4 cup egg whites
• Salt and Pepper

Doesn’t the bread look like sausage?

I stuffed both halves of the squash and put them in the toaster oven for ~10 min. at 350* F.

Topped with herbed goat cheese <–crucial!

Spring mix with mini peppers on the side. I’m trying really hard to finish off these Costco tubs!

The squash was reminiscent of spaghetti squash. It was really quite bland. I had to add gobs of ketchup after the photo shoot.

Kabocha and butternut squash are much more tasty, for sure.

The sun won tonight.

Don’t worry, I’ll be back for a rematch!

Before blogging….

I didn’t consider rearranging my sleeping schedule in preparation for my rematch with the sun.

Dessert Part I: Papaya

Dessert Part II: A fabulous mix of sugar and more sugar . It deserves to be shot in the sunlight though!

***

Tell me: If you are a blogger, what’s one thing you do now that you didn’t do prior to blogging? If you are NOT a blogger, just be grateful the sunset doesn’t give you anxiety .

I’ve got BIG shoes to fill at Peter’s Kitchen now. Chef Peter has a long commute to and from work now, which means I’m going to be taking on dinner responsibilities a fews days a week. I’ve already prepared a couple simple meals for the family that I still need to share with you.

First up? Sweet Potato and Apple Veggie STOUP. I impressed my parents with this one…and even myself!

This stoup was improvised from start to finish…from the ingredients to the spices. My main goal in making this stoup (as Rachel Ray calls stew-like soups) was to use up the on-it’s-last-leg produce in the fridge. You know my mantra….no food goes to waste!

Remember the bajillion apples my mom got from her coworker? After almost a month of chomping on apples, we still had ~10 of those left. Some of them were rotten and had to go to the compost bin!

Sad stuff.

Ready to make some stoup?

Roughly peel and chop 4 medium sized apples.

Chop up the rest of the veggies and garlic and cook them in water and chicken stock until tender.

Cuttin’ it close!

This was last week so it was still ‘good.’ Although, in Peter’s Kitchen, expiration dates are taken very loosely!

Add the sweet potato.

I used a can of organic sweet potato puree. You could use pumpkin or butternut squash…fresh or canned.

Blend the veggies with an immersion blender until the soup is a smooth liquid consistency. Alternatively, you could blend it all up in a high-speed blender. An immersion blender just makes it so you don’t have to transfer the veggies back and forth.

You’ll need just 3 spices: salt, pepper, and curry powder. Easy enough, right? Of course, you can use whatever spices you want!

The curry powder works really well with the sweet potato though…just sayin’.

Near the end, throw in some quick-cook pearled barley and rotisserie chicken breast.

To make this stoup vegetarian/vegan, simply omit the chicken and use veggie stock in place of chicken stock.

Sweet Potato and Apple Veggie STOUP

(AKA Save-The-On-It’s-Last-Leg-Produce-From-The-Garbage Stoup)

Ingredients

• 2 medium sweet potatoes or 1-15 oz. can sweet potato/butternut squash/pumpkin puree
• 4 medium apples
• 1/3 cup onions, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 med. carrots, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 3 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
• 1 1/2 cups chicken, cooked (optional)
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 3/4 cups quick cook pearled barley
• 1 tsp curry powder
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

In a large pot, cook the chopped vegetables and garlic in chicken (or veggie) broth and water on medium heat for ~10-15 min. until tender. Using an immersion blender, blend vegetables until smooth. If using a blender, transfer vegetables to a high-speed blender and blend until smooth. Add spices and stir. Add barley and cook covered for ~20 min. or until ready to serve. Stir in chicken prior to serving.

The curry powder brought this stoup to a whole new level. It complemented the sweetness of the apples and sweet potato perfectly. The addition of barley provided a nice chunk and chew element. Not only was it great for texture, it was very filling. Must. Make. Again.

I think my parents were skeptical at first but they Mmmmed all the way through their bowls .

I usually say I’m not a big soup person, but I think that’s starting to change. I have a feeling this is going to be a winter full of soup…or STOUP!

Tell me: What’s your FAVORITE type of soup/stew/stoup?

Mine is Italian Wedding Soup!

It’s nearly 12 midnight and I am just sitting down to blog. Why? I’ve been busy taking care of these two little goobers while their parents are at a wedding! Well, I’ve been exploring the DC area too—so much fun! I started feeling sick yesterday (I must have caught a cold in NYC) so I’ve been doing my best to stay out of the house and take in nutritious foods. Unfortunately, I don’t think getting adequate rest is possible when sharing a bed with these guys.

Last night was the first time I had ever slept in a bed with a non-human animal (make that 2 animals)…not counting the stuffed variety . I think we woke each other up about 10 times throughout the night. Did I mention it’s my first time dog sitting? I’ve definitely learned a lot in the past 24 hours!

Do these pups look familiar?!

After I arrived at Emily and Casey’s house yesterday, I walked the pups and then set out for a leisurely run. I ran 4 miles around Old Town Alexandria to try and sweat out my oncoming sickness. It sometimes helps me to get my blood pumping when I start to feel a little sick. Not to mention, running is always a great way to explore the area.

King Street

The Waterfront

Afterwards, I hit up the nearby Whole Foods for a Siggi’s Pomegranate and Passion Fruit yogurt (I got it for 75 cents with a WFs coupon and sale!). I also picked up a box of Chocolate Almond Biscotti.

I’ve wanted to try this yogurt for what feels like a lifetime. At regular price, it is way too expensive so when I saw they were on sale, I knew it was now or never.

I normally prefer plain yogurt because flavored yogurts are loaded with sugar, but the Siggi’s flavored yogurts aren’t too high in sugar. Plus, they are sweetened with agave nectar.

The yogurt was super thick and creamy.

Irene’s Biscotti was also on sale so i made sure to grab a box. I’ve had the regular and cranberry flavors but I like the Chocolate Almond flavor the most. I ate about 1/3 of the box with my yogurt.

Before I left, I grabbed a Good Morning Muffin from the bakery to eat while shopping around. This muffin was made with carrots, apples, coconut, raisins and walnuts. All my favorites in one big ol’ muffin.

Mmmmmmmmmm….

……mmmmmmmm….

…..mmmmmmmmm.

Must remake!

I’ve been loading up on Emergen-C, Thera Flu, citrus fruit, wheat grass, and a lot of hot tea to try and force this cold away.

I still have ALL of today’s exploring to catch you up on. These dogs wake up at the butt crack of dawn so I got a lot of exploring done today . I’ll probably take it easy tomorrow so be on the look out for a post early afternoon. Unless, this pup starts licking my hand uncontrollably and I can’t type!

Tell me: Do you have pets? Which kind and how many?

No pets for me! I grew up allergic to a lot of furry animals. I desperately wanted bunny rabbits when I was in elementary school, but my parents somehow talked me out of it. I also had 3 hermit crabs but I forgot to feed them and they died. Sad .

1. There will be no Project Food Blog post today because I didn’t advance to the 4th round. Bummer, huh? Thanks for all of your support and votes anyways. I had a lot of fun while it lasted! The challenge was to do a step-by-step photo tutorial of a recipe and I was thinking about making croissants. that would have been pretty crazy. If you haven’t read a croissant recipe let me tell you it takes a lot of time…and butter. Maybe I’ll attempt to make croissants one day. Not today though. Why? See # 9.

2. I got my laptop back and I now have double the memory I had before on my hard drive….all thanks to an unfortunate crash and $138. Turns out I hadn’t backed up my computer since June 30th, so I lost some resumes, cover letters and recipe bookmarks. I’m more bummed out about the recipe bookmarks than the resumes.

3. I’ve been eating a lot of the same foods the last couple of days in attempt to clean out the fridge. I’m only going to be out of the house for 3 days, but something inside me worries that everything will be rotten when I get back.

I need help.

Greek yogurt, oats, and cinnamon apples.

I found this leaf while walking around the neighborhood and it begged me to pick it up and put it on my food. I’m sure it had been stepped on by plenty of bugs and dogs but it’s gorgeous hue made it all okay.

4. This is from the never-ending brussels sprouts stalk. I’ve eaten brussels sprouts for dinner 3 nights in a row and I’m still not finished!

I hope it never stops, either. I heart brussels sprouts. They are pretty close to the top of my list of favorite veggies. Watch out, eggplant, you’ve got some stiff competition.

Brussels sprouts with crumbled goat cheese, veggie burger, corn, peas and ketchup

5. I did a little browsing at Homegoods yesterday. While there were a million dishes I wanted to buy, i walked out with 2 edible items: Crystallized Ginger Chips and 85% Godiva Dark Chocolate.

Take a look at that ginger chef. Adorbs.

I can’t wait to bake with these ginger chips (if I don’t eat ‘em up first!).

6. Honeycomb bites again. Ouch.

7. Bus snax

Ball jar with the same ingredients as #3. Jar for portability.

Romaine lettuce with tomatoes, asparagus, feta cheese and leftover veggie burger

8. I went to sleep at 2:30 AM and got up at 6 AM. That makes 3 1/2 hours of sleep. It’s okay though because…

9. I’m going to NYC!!

I’m riding the Megabus, hence the bus snax. I got a one way bus fare for $9. Not too shabby, eh?

The last time I was in NYC was exactly 4 months ago…and I’m still thinking about that vegan carrot raisin cookie from the Union Square Farmer’s Market.

I have problems.

10. Happy 10-10-10….make a wish. Not sure if you’re supposed to but why not? It’ll be fun.

***

See you in the Big Apple!

Tell me: Any ideas for fun things to do in NYC?!

Three days ago, I broke out Honeycomb the space heater. Today, it was in the mid 70s and I think I may have gotten sunburned! I don’t know what’s going on but I’m really enjoying it! This flip-flopping weather is perfect for a grass-is-always-greener girl like me. When it’s warm, I want it to be cooler. When it’s cool, I want it to be warmer….and the weather is listening to me .

I ran a steamy 6 miles today. It was so so so windy! It seemed liked I was always running against the wind and never with it. At times, I felt like I was running in place with the wind pushing me back. It turned out to be a good run though, despite the crazy wind.

***

Post workout, I had a giant Pumpkin Pie Smoothie sans banana (we were out). I discovered that bananas are a key ingredient! I added more almond milk but it didn’t have the same creaminess to it.

Then it was time for this….

Oatmeal patty topped with pumpkin Greek yogurt, cinnamon apples and pecans.

I made a bowl of oats and pan fried it to form a patty. Of course, not without a mini-explosion in the microwave first.

Guff. This has happened to me more times than I can count. I had the power level at 4 too. Apparently, our new microwave is much more powerful than our old one.

***

New Ginger Snax

Last night, I picked up a bag of Ginger Chews from Trader Joe’s. I’m not really sure why. I’m not a huge straight up ginger fan. I love gingersnaps. I like eating ginger at sushi restaurants. I like gingerbread. But straight up ginger doesn’t do much for me.

I like these though…in a weird sorta way. Although, I can only eat 1/2 a piece at a time or else my mouth starts to burn! These are h-o-t-t.

Ginger-O’s

These are not nearly as gingery as the chews. They are like a Ginger flavored Oreo, but with a better ingredients list. I want to make a pumpkin ‘n’ cream smoothie with these. Like cookies ‘n’ cream with Oreos but using pumpkin and Ginger O’s instead.

Oh. My. Goodness.

***

Dinner involved this crazy looking creature.

Romaine salad with pan-roasted salmon, brussels sprouts, onions, green peppers, and avocado.

Plus a side of potato bread. We used to buy potato bread all the time when I was little. It’s not exactly whole grain bread but you don’t always have to eat whole grain bread. Sometimes you just wanna have white fluffy bread.

Side of leftover beets.

Dessert: more Ginger O’s and Ginger Chews.

***

I’m still waiting (im)patiently for the Geniuses at the Apple Store to call me. I hope my Macbook made it out alive! I apologize if my email responses are delayed. All my flagged emails got lost with the hard drive. If I don’t respond soon, please resend the email!

Alright, time to twiddle my thumbs and wait by my phone.

***

Tell me: Are you a ginger fan? What is your favorite ginger food/snack?

Voting is now open for Project Food Blog. I need YOUR vote to advance to round 4! Click here to vote.

Thank you!!

***

This is how I spent all of Sunday. Rockin’ the hermit lifestyle.

Sweats–check.

Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride Tea–check. (I have one box leftover from last year!)

My Momma’s computer to type up my massive Project Food Blog post–check. (My old Macbook surely would have blown up with all those photos)

Okay, so I was fully prepared to sit in front of the computer all day to write about my dinner party but sweats and hot tea?!

It seems like once October 1st hit, the temperature took a nose dive. I was bundled up in my big baggy sweats all day and still freezing cold. It probably didn’t help that I took a 20 min. ice bath.

I ran 6 miles around the hilly ‘hood yesterday (in 1 hour exactly) and I knew an ice bath would be a good idea. Well, a good idea for my muscles at least.

Brrrrrrr!! There were definitely some interesting words coming out of my mouth for the first 5 min. or so. I followed it up with a steamy hot shower though, which I hope didn’t undo the benefits of taking an ice bath….?

Here’s just a selection of the snax and mini meals I consumed while putting my post together yesterday.

Chocolate Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

Ooh lala! I added Vega Chocolate Shake ‘n’ Go and some cocoa powder to the original Pumpkin Pie Smoothie from last week.

Chocolate and pumpkin go together like ramma lamma lamma ka dinga da dinga dong.

Anybody?

(It’s from the movie Grease!)

***

Pumpkin Greek yogurt with oatmeal, cinnamon apples, and pecans.

Oats and yogurt go together like ramma lamma lamma….

Apples and pecans go together like….

I’ll stop now.

***

Salad with Amy’s Cali Veggie Burger, orzo, brown rice chips and avocado mixed with hummus.

The avocado was OLD so I mashed it up with some hummus to disguise the brown color. Worked like a charm!

I had it again today, this time with corn and tomatoes.

Check out this spring mix fur ball!

Oh and somehow I have 2 hermits left….meaning I went through about 28 in just a few days. I cannot get over how delicious these hermits taste. I need to try and remake these somehow.

…so I can continue being a hermit eating hermit .

I took today off from working out. My legs were tired from my run yesterday. Instead, I walked some errands with my Momma (~1 mile).

Check out the sky!

Crazy beautiful, huh? My mom and I pulled our phones out to take photos of the sky as if the UFO was coming HA!

***

I got a bunch of requests for the recipes from my PFB dinner party. They’ll be posted this week so keep your eyes peeled! Don’t forget to vote for me.

Tell me: _____ and _____ go together like ramma lamma lamma….

1. A New Neighborhood Run

This morning I set out on a run in my new neighborhood. I had no idea where I was going and had no goal distance in mind. I ran 6 miles in just under 62 min. I tried to find a good loop and ended up getting LOST. It worked out that I found my house right as I was nearing the 6 mile mark.

I was totally prepared to knock on someone’s door and ask to use their phone to call my dad though .

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE HERE!!

I felt like Julie Andrews running along the hills of the Swiss Alps in the opening scene of The Sound of Music. Holy smokes! The hills were so steep and rarely was the path just flat. I’d say half the time the slope was equivalent to a 6-9% incline on the treadmill. Whew wee!!

Despite the crazy hills, I’m really starting to feel like I’m back in the running groove again, finally. I think the cooler weather has helped a lot. More importantly, simply knowing I can power through the the most difficult part of the run for me (at around the 1.5 mile mark), gives me a great deal of confidence.

Running is physical but it’s also mental as well.

***

The last uphill portion of my run left me breathless!

Yeah, I have a gum ball machine. I’m cool like that.

2. New Bath Tub and Shower Curtain

I took an ice bath immediately after coming back (in my new bath tub). My tush is gonna be s-o-r-e tomorrow from all those hills.

Like my new shower curtain? I got it at Homegoods (AKA Wonderland).

3. New (to me) Gym

Yesterday, I went over to the club house to use the gym (my first time!). The machines are older than the ones in the condo gym and don’t have personal TVs, but it is pretty nice and just about a mile away from our house.

My workout:

• 60 min. elliptical
• 10 min. upper body strength
• 10 min. stationary bike

4. Pumpkin Butter

Believe it or not, I bought this jar of McCutcheon’s Pumpkin Butter last year but had to wait until I finished my TJ’s jar to open it. I had a sample of it once and found it was much much better than the TJ’s version (sorry Teej). It’s local too–made in Maryland!

It is much more pumpkiny and less syrupy/sugary than TJ’s pumpkin butter. Meaning, I’ve been eating it straight outta the jar .

This morning, I made a homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte using almond milk, pumpkin butter and cinnamon.

5. New Blender

…not really.

This is our ancient older-than-me blender that is still alive and kickin’. I usually use my Magic Bullet since it’s easier to clean, but it’s still sitting in our old house.

Post run, I made a smoothie using wheatgrass, protein powder, strawberries and banana.

6. New Favorite Snax

I also had a slice of brown rice bread topped with pumpkin butter, Justin’s Maple Almond Butter (free sample), and an Adora Calcium disc (free sample). I’ve been eating this snack almost every day.

Not new to me at all!

I received this jar of Justin’s Maple AB yesterday and I’ve already gone through about 1/3 of the jar. It was one of the first almond butters I tried almost 3 years ago (when I found out I wasn’t allergic to almonds). I will say with confidence that it is my favorite almond butter.

No other brand even comes close.

I’ve also been loving Greek yogurt mixed with eggy oats. The combination of hot grains and creamy cold yogurt is just lovely.

For the eggy oats, I mixed some leftover sweet crepe batter with oats and egg whites and then popped it in the microwave for 2 minutes. I topped the whole bowl with banana and cinnamon.

Clearly, I crave carbs and protein post workout!

7. New Apples!

My mom’s co-worker went apple picking and my mom paid her $9 for this huge bushel. Oh my apples.

I have no idea how these will get eaten up if I don’t bake something with them!

Last but not least….

8. My New Photography Spot!

Welcome to my new photography studio…the outside portion at least.

We got this outdoor table from IKEA, which I’m excited to start shooting on. The deck also has these white pillars that are great for shooting something with trees in the background. I’ve got plenty of chairs to stand on for a bird’s eye view shot .

I also have window sills without those awkward grey things now. Wahoo!

This is where the magic will be happening from now on .

Alrighty, it’s time for me to shower and unpack some more (it never ends!!!). I hope to be back tomorrow with a fun recipe, if all works out as planned!

Reminder: You only have until tomorrow to vote for me and my crepes in the Project Food Blog contest! I need your vote so I have a good excuse to throw a delicious dinner party on Saturday .

***

Tell me: What’s something NEW in your life that you’re enjoying?

Another first for me….

A Kale Green Smoothie! I’ve heard kale in smoothies is pretty foul-tasting not for the faint of heart but I had to give it a try for myself.

The Combo:

• 1/4 cup Blueberries
• 1/3 Banana
• 1 cup Kale
• 1 scoop wheatgrass
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1/2 cup plain 1% yogurt
• stevia and ice

The verdict? I actually thought it was pretty good. It tasted similar to a regular ol’ spinach smoothie to me. It may have helped that I used steamed kale instead of raw….?

Did I just call spinach smoothies ‘regular’?

I even added a scoop of wheatgrass powder to give it an extra kick.

My Magic Bullet can never finish the job with green leaves. Good thing I don’t mind the little green specks in my smoothies. Speaking of blenders, my Momma and I saw a Vita-Mix demonstration at Costco on Saturday.

She said she would buy one for me as my wedding present.

Anybody wanna get married? ANYONE?!

We could elope and make kale smoothies together. Romantic, no?

My Magic Blender did, however, make a wonderful homemade apple sauce. I needed apple sauce for a recipe and realized there was none to be found in our house.

To make the applesauce, I simply microwaved a peeled, cored, and chopped apple for 2 minutes. Then I blended it with some cinnamon. I may never buy applesauce in a jar ever again.

See? If you marry me, we could also make all-natural baby food for our offspring…in the Vita-Mix no less!!

***

I needed the applesauce to bake some cookies for the winner of my Blogday Giveaway, Jenny. Not just any cookies though. These are the Pecan Chocolate Chip cookies I made several times last fall + winter (the difference between the photos I took with my point + shoot camera and now with my DSLR is pretty crazy!).

There was taste testing going on left and right.

I also made 4 batches of AllieBars (1 for Jenny, 1 for us). One of my roommates from school’s mom (Hi Claire+Christina!) requested 8 batches….so I’ve got 6 more to go!

***

Head Chef, Peter, was back in the kitchen yesterday while I was busy baking. He whipped up….

A corn, tomato, and green pepper salad with cilantro and onions, tossed with rice wine vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Salmon with green onions

And a tofu, shrimp and leek stew-ish.

After dinner, I walked on the treadmill while watching The Next Food Network Star. I had a late night dessert of ice cream with a handful of toasted pecans and an AllieBar.

So…what do ya say? You + me + Vitamix = to love and to cherish ’til death do us part?

Last night, I watched the season premiere of Top Chef Washington D.C. while ellipticalling. I’ve only ever watched bits and pieces of Top Chef episodes, never from start to finish. Lucky for me, Bravo is replaying all the episodes of this season every Wednesday so I think I’m going to start watching it. I mean, it’s in MY city, after all!!

Any Top Chef fans out there?

For dinner we had a mini crab feast along with some other dishes.

Sauteed romaine

Green beans and chicken

Veg with shrimp

I made a Shrimp and Avocado Salad to go along with everythang. I finally finished off the tub o’ spring mix!

I also had a crabby….

…and a bowl of soup. My dad put apples in the soup this time along with tofu sticks of course.

***

This morning I had a cup o’ Joe with an AllieBar as my preworkout fuel.

Mmmm….it’s been awhile!

I made 4 batches of AllieBars last night. I’m sending some to blog readers Hanna and Christine. Hanna sent me a jar of Naturally Nutty that she didn’t like (gasp!) and Christine sent me a book that she recommended, Eat Cake.

Also, my Momma missed having them for breakfast everyday .

***

Workout: 60 min. elliptical

Post workout, I made a Blueberry Banana Frosty.

• 1/2 cup 1% Organic Milk
• 1 scoop Wheatgrass
• 1/2 cup blueberries
• 1/3 banana
• 1/2 scoop Alive! Shake (rice and pea protein powder)
• stevia
• a boatload of crushed ice
• 1/4 tsp. xanthan gum (No, I didn’t put Garlic Chipotle Salsa in my frosty )

Topped with AllieBar crumble. Ohhh my goodness was this ever so lush-issss! The crumbles hardened in the frosty yet still maintained their chewy texture. Slurpity slurp. Nommity nom.

The trick to making frosties with the Magic Bullet is to blend all the goods first, then add CRUSHED ice and blend again. I’ve found that it’s much easier on the blades.

Oops a daisy.

I’m getting my hairs cut today. It’s been nearly 6 months since I had my last haircut! I remember it because it was the night I drove back to school after winter break….and because I blogged about it, of course.

I can’t believe it’s been 6 months already. My mane has gotten quite straggly, splitty, and has got lotsa frizzle so I kinda have to . I always tell myself to get my haircut more often but I like it loooong (and my hairdresser is $$).

Goodbye hairs!

Afterwards I’m meeting up with a reader, Steph, for dinner! I only know her through her comments and our sporadic emails back and forth but I’m excited. I’m sure we’ll have loads to talk about!

I have a confession to make: I am a slow poke blogger. Probably the slowest poke of ‘em all. I have a tendency to take forever to write up my posts. I read through each post about 10 times before I hit publish. Then after it’s published, I read it through another 1-2 times to make sure everything looks and sounds okay. Well, not today, folks! I just spent 4 hours sitting in class and now I am about to meet with my group to prepare for our final presentation tomorrow.

Let’s get to it…time is ticking!

Breakfast Part I:

I made hot coffee in my French press this morning and then I decided I wanted something icy. So? Iced coffee.

A little watered down but refreshing nonetheless.

Millet bread with cottage cheese, mashed ‘n’ microwaved banana and cinnamon:

Just like banana cheesecake.

Part II:

I dug into an Eat Natural bar from the stash of London Snax that my brother brought back for me. This one was almonds, apricots and a yoghurt coating…

…and nothing dodgy .

I was freezing cold after my iced coffee (go figure) so I drank the rest of the coffee h-o-t-t. Good thing I drink decaf.

After a couple hours of studying, I was getting antsy, so I walked ‘n’ studied for about 40 min. (2.3 miles). I took the day off from working out so it was more to get my blood flowing and un-ants myself.

Although it was beautiful outside, pollen is very dangerous these days. Enter: the treadmill.

Can you believe I broke a sweat!? The temperature in that gym is set pretty low too! I’m a sweat monster.

***

Post workout: A Green Monster for a Sweat Monster

• 1/2 banana
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 1 scoop Green Superfood
• 1/2 cup spinach
• 1/2 cup almond milk

+ 1/2 slice of millet bread w/ cottage cheese and pumpkin butter.

***

I packed dinner because I didn’t have enough time in between my classes and my meeting to go back to the apartment.

Mozzarella, Tomato, and Faux Turkey sandwich.

Fun fact: This bread came straight out of the freezer. I used frozen bread so it would keep the ingredients cold while sitting in class with me for several hours!

When I pulled it out, the bread was defrosted and the ingredients still fresh. Bread=ice pack.

Of course, in my little heart sammie box.

I also packed an apple and 2 dark chocolate digestives cookies.

More on these beauties later. Oh and I had an AllieBar during class. The last one. Tear.

Alrighty peeps, I’m off to my meeting. I’m NOT going back and reading through this again….I’m hitting publish NOW.

…and reading through it once .