Hold on to your seats ladies and gentlemen we’re blasting back a little bit further into the past!
Granola girl is back!
I had this bowl of Udi’s Au Naturel granola with the apple grahams Holly sent me, spiced applesauce, Sunland’s caramel peanut butter, and vanilla yogurt. This granola is really good if you want to keep it simple or basically, it would go well with anything! The Au Naturel flavor is basically a wildflower honey sweetened granola.
Looks like I couldn't help but take a bite of the tortilla before I took the picture!
I just stuffed it with black beans, peach salsa, sour cream, nutritional yeast, and cilantro.
Whoa mama!
I hadn’t had banana soft-serve in forever! Size does matter when it comes to this – the bigger the banana the better (you get more)!! My toppings: coconut milk, Artisana Cacao Bliss, and Bekah’s scented almonds. YUM to the 10th degree!!! I’m talking love in exponential amounts.
Have any of you guys ever taken or heard of Zumba? Well this is a dance class I go to whenever I’m down in Florida. My mother and I love to dance and all of those classes have so much energy and happiness from everyone that you can’t help but have fun. There are even some professional ballroom dancers that attend the class. Everyone in that class just lets loose and gets down. For real!
With some friends from the old dance academy.
And with Wilson, one of our old instructors!
We also did the hora!!!
The dance instructor was touched by the students' card and gift to her.
Santa Claus came!
There was never a boring moment in that class!
After the dance class my best friend came over and Matilda got some presents! But I guess she really liked the necklace I got.
I went to go meet up with a friend for coffee.
Keeping it natural.
I tried Udi’s Muesli that morning – muesli is one of my mom’s favorite breakfasts. This was a really good muesli!!! There were lots of dried fruits – which I find to be lacking in a lot of pre-packaged cereals.
Agave-Lime Grilled Tofu with Asian Slaw and Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Another recipe from ‘The Conscious Cook’. The best mashed sweet potatoes ever!!! You mash it with a cashew cream, butter, and chipotle pepper. Everything in this dish was incredible and complimentary to each other. I love when a meal touches so many different kinds of flavors. This took my taste buds on a delicious ride.
Pistachios
My dad came home form the store with a container of pistachios! I love these nuts, especially with dried cranberries and golden raisins. I really want to make a pistachio butter. Has anyone tried pistachio butter? Do you like it?
- And I FINALLY wore the shorts my mom got me on her trip to Germany.
They gave me two coffees but I had only ordered one! Maybe I should've played the lottery that day.
I've known her since I started middle school!
Later on we went to Target and they had me try on the new Rodarte dresses. I didn’t know Target had such cute things!!!
My friend up at school sent me a little box of treasures!
And the ring lights up!!!
Tempeh Creole
Dinner that night was something special. I made another recipe from ‘The Conscious Cook’. I love the variety of flavors this book has. I usually stick to using the same spices and seasoning when I cook, but this was different from what I usually use. I served it over some brown basmati rice and with a colorful pepper medley on the side.
Breakfast is a calling!
Looks like I had English muffins for breakfast that morning. One slice with butter and the other with pumpkin butter. I also tried the egg nog flavored yogurt with a lot of cinnamon sprinkled on top. Does that count as “sprinkled” still? It looks like it was actually doused! I also had apple slices with caramel peanut butter = delicious.
Yummy snack
I know some of you are always keeping your eyes out for new snack ideas. Well I found one that is not messy and perfect for when you’re on the go! Not to mention it tastes really good. I tried Udi’s granola nuggets! Let me quote them , “Snack-perfect granola chunks made with honey, oats, and lots of nuts.” They contain almonds, cashews, and sunflower seeds. I tried the little nuggets with Wallaby’s Downunder Mango Tangerine flavor.
And now we’re going to blast somewhere else into time.
Personally, I like raw collard greens better than cooked.
I tried cooking them the other day but I wasn’t too keen on the flavor. Anyway, these collard greens made for perfect wraps for the leftover Moroccan stew. There wasn’t much liquid left so I didn’t have to worry about stuff spilling out. I also had some Mestemacher bread with mashed avocado, tomato slices, and horseradish sauce.
Check it out!
Look at what my mom made!
We had to use up a bunch of veggies that we had in the fridge so this was a mish-mosh of things! She even cooked daikon radish! I’m not sure what she put in here exactly but I’ll tell you what I do know – besides that it tasted delicious – cauliflower, yellow squash, daikon radish, mushrooms, yellow onion, turmeric, fenugreek, coconut milk, and other things!
Another nighttime snack
A bowl of fruits with coconut milk is something I’ve been eating daily while in Florida. That night I remembered that I still had some Fig Newmans! I love the chewiness of these fig cookies.
So that was the time traveling adventure! Now that we’re all back up to speed, I have a story to share with you all. This was shared with me over Christmas dinner and I thought it was inspirational. They told me about a writer who was diagnosed with cancer but wasn’t going to give up without a fight. So what did they decide to do? They had heard of “laughing clubs” in India and other countries, so they got their wife to go to the library and find a bunch of comedies. Everyday the two would wake up and watch a funny movie. Eventually he was able to cure his cancer with laughter. So never underestimate the power of bursting out in an uncontainable laughter or even just a giggle will do. What’s a miracle you’ve had in your life?
They set up stations in the kitchen and on the table. We built our own salads and grabbed the mix-ins with our hands! I didn’t take a picture of mine but I made a huge salad with the veggies, chickpeas, avocado, and I mixed in some pastina. Pastina is a pasta that’s so small it looks like cous cous. Moreover, they had marinated artichokes and peppers that were delicious. I also helped myself to some sesame semolina bread with butter. Oh man, I kept popping those cherry tomatoes in my mouth – they were extra tasty. Do you guys like the goblets for the wine? I love using out of the ordinary things, just makes it more special and silly.