Thursday, January 23, 2014

It was a pancake sorta day.

It just was.
The weather is still cold. My standby pancake recipe is thanks to Fanny Farmer:

3/4 cup milk (I use almond milk)
2 Tbs melted butter
1 egg
1 cup brown rice flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp honey

Food is comforting to me, cooking is comforting to me…hence my jeans size but oh well. It has just been one of those weeks. I will explain in a later post.

In the mean time HAPPY Thursday everyone!






Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Reason to ponder…& give thanks...

I just read this.
What a GREAT reminder.

I just drank this:



I just listened to this:
It has been on repeat in our car.
*Thankful heart*






Thursday, January 16, 2014

New to the breakfast lineup:


This my friends is what I had for breakfast & it was divine!

A scoop of old fashioned oats, a scoop of dried cranberries, a sliced banana, almonds, chia seeds, dried coconut & almond milk!
This breakfast actually got me through a large majority of my day. Powerhouse breakfast. :)


Happy Thursday everyone!


Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Cauliflower Steak goodness

I am trying to blog more of my food creations along my "eating clean" journey. The other night I made cauliflower steaks atop grilled salmon burgers and baby kale drizzled with a little black truffle oil.
It was amazing! (& Lilly loved it too!)

It may have to go into the official dinner lineup once Ryan returns home. You see; I get to try all of these questionable creations while he is traveling. If they pass the Lilly test they are entered into the lineup. haha!


If you are interested in giving this easy peasy recipe a whirl here are a few shots to help you along the way. 

Take your cauliflower head; de-stem it & rinse it well under some water.
Preheat the ol' oven to a steamy 425.



Head over to the cutting board and start slicing some sorta thick slices. You should get at least three good ones out of a head. Some parts will crumble; save em for some cauliflower mashers another night. :)
Place them on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil.



I sprinkled mine with a dash of sea salt, garlic powder, pepper & paprika. Feel free to mess around with your seasonings depending on what you are serving with your cauliflower steaks.
Throw these bad boys into the oven for 15-minutes, take out flip and oil & season the other side. Place back in the oven for another 15-minutes just until tender and amazing!



Again, you can serve these so many ways but I placed mine atop raw baby kale & a grilled salmon burger. I am getting hungry...



My mother-in-law turned me onto this amazing stuff and now I use it with everything!
I drizzled this all over this little creation.
ENJOY!!

Hope y'all are having a good week!!



Wednesday, January 8, 2014

A little catch up. December pics.

We had a lovely December and were able to spend it in the Bay Area with some family.
As you can tell I am trying to get back into my groove.

I knew some of you would appreciate some pics. Most of them are not the best quality since they were taken with my phone but you will get the idea. ;)



Lilly getting herself situated in her seat on the plane as her and I set out on our cross country adventure.




My adorable little sister was expecting her first baby upon our arrival so the first week was spent primping! Lilly sure does like to get her pedicure on. PINK toes; of course. 



 Lilly's main squeeze. Would you look at Macie's face?!



Macie getting cozy with my brother. The dog looks thrilled here.



It is true love! Yes, the dog is wearing her Christmas sweater & she loved it.



There was way too much video game playing in my opinion. hehe BUT Lilly loved it.



Here is my adorbs little sister trying to walk this baby out at the zoo. Sure enough that very night She went into labor!


My girl loving the Oakland zoo!















Meet Miss Violet Juliana!! I am one heck of a proud auntie.
Isn't she beautiful?
Love her & miss her tons already!!!!!!!!



The celebratory champs:



Our favorite Christmas present of all...




We did have a quick beach run too...
which in turn brought me much…
;)


Hope y'all had a lovely holiday season & you are hanging in there this January!




Tuesday, January 7, 2014

School is back in session (Thank you Jesus)!

My little girl is beyond excited that school is finally back in session. I on the other hand; given the temperature outside (7 degrees) do NOT want to leave the house golly dang it! One of the reasons we moved to Raleigh was for the mild winters and this is not what I was anticipating.

Also, I shipped all of our jackets from California to save room in our suitcase. Who is the awesome mom that has NO winter coats for my daughter to wear? I had to run to target and get a cheapy, ugly down jacket bc that's all that is left on the racks when all of the spring clothes are coming out already. Yikes!

Anyways…here is a pic of my happy girl:



...no judgeie judgie about the mess you see in the background HA!…I am playing catch up around here. ;)



Sunday, January 5, 2014

Back on the wagon

After 2-months of fun holiday food splurges I am getting back on the clean eating wagon.
The jeans are a little tight and I am feeling quite sluggish.


Breakfast is easy for me. I generally make a piece of sprouted toast with some butter and a tall glass of chilled lemon water. Lunch on the other hand has ALWAYS been a struggle.
Last year I bought the Crazy Sexy Kitchen cookbook and this recipe is one of my favs!

Curried Nada-egg with Watercress Wraps



I serve it on a spinach wrap and top with sprouts. Our Whole Foods have the best sunflower sprouts. Would you look at these ladies? Yummy!

This makes a lot & will get you through the whole week. You can either use a gluten free cracker to scoop some up for a snack or load a wrap full of this stuff and top with a bunch of veggies. All good!

Here is the recipe:
2 packages of extra firm tofu
3/4 c. Veganaise
3 Tbs. green onions
1/4 c grated carrots
1/4 c chopped celery
3 Tbs chopped parsley
3 Tbs chopped cilantro
3 Tbs nutritional yeast
1 Tbs Dijon mustard 
11/2 Tbs curry powder
dash of salt and pepper

1. crumble tofu in a bowl with a fork (make sure you drain the tofu and blot it a bit with a paper bowl to get the majority of the moisture out).
2. Add Veganaise, green onions, carrot, parsley, cilantro, nutritional yeast, Dijon, curry powder, salt & pepper. Mix thoroughly. 
3. Place generous amounts on wrap and top with veggies. I like to add sprouts and spinach or kale to mine.

Enjoy!


The soft whisper of a new year...

With each year we hear endless "New Year resolutions". I hesitate to make one. I will somehow let myself down creating yet another thing to beat myself up over. There are however whispers of things that I should indeed make a conscious effort to work on or change for the new year. This could in fact be the start of a very exciting chapter of my life; who knows! 



I want to be more present.
I want to continue to worry less.
I want to connect; really connect with people.
I want to be less negative.
I want to paint more.
I want to stop questioning if I am "enough" & focus on who I was created to be. (Isn't that where we are most happy anyway?)
I want to do more yoga.
I want to drink more water.
I want to garden more.
I want to be out doors more.
I want to encourage more.
I want to speak love and positivity into peoples lives more.
I want to breath deeply…more.
I want to read more.
I want to be used as a vessel do do more; more good in this world.


I read this post the other day and thought; "What a great challenge. I need to do this." It is at work in my heart and I pray something will come of it. I think it will be a good challenge for the new year. We will see.

Lets calm the static and do something. 


Happy New Year everyone!