First of all, thank you guys so much for your kind words after yesterday's post. You're all too sweet! I hope I didn't sound like too much of a Debbie Downer - in all honesty, days like that, I can't help but to laugh a little! Keeps ya from crying, ya know? But in all reality, nothing seriously catastrophic happened (okay, well, the computer crashing stinks, but it really wasn't my fault, lol) but how often does everything happen all at once like that? haha.
Secondly, I don't think I can ever ask what your favorite ______ is ever again! Why? I'm way too jealous of all the awesome jams you guys can find in your areas! Fig? Creme of Dates with Almond? Ginger? Vanilla chestnut? Seriously - every single suggestion about had my mouth watering! I think I would especially kill for Creme of Dates with Almond ;)
But anyways - on to today!
Lets just say...it was the extreme opposite of yesterday!
In the Base: bulgur, oats, TVP, and wheat bran mix, with cinnamon, nutmeg, goji berries, 1/4 banana, and orange zest.
In the "Icing": greek yogurt, chia seeds, sliced pineapple, and almondmilk.
On the Top: flax, toasted coconut, toasted macadamia nuts, 1/4 banana, orange zest & wedges, pomegranate strawberry jam, Naturally Nutty White Chocolate Coconut PB, and poppyseeds - just because!
Holy Yum! Sometimes there's no such thing as too much of a good thing, I guess!
I realized that this PB will still last a year if I don't refrigerate it. Safe to say - it won't last that long, so I'm leaving it out now! It gets too hard in the fridge. I like it to melt in! And with the new knowledge - I'm not so afraid to open the others *gasp*at the same time. For some reason I thought they went bad way faster.
This peanut butter is seriously amazing. I love that it's not very chocolatey, and the coconut is allowed to take center stage :) Probably because it's white chocolate, not dark. Which, I actually just realized this morning as I was thinking to myself how glad I was that it wasn't overly chocolatey. Uh, duh, Jess....just read the label. lol...
floating oats!
Yes - these were taken outside.
It was cold. But they look so much pretty outside, don't you agree?
Sorry - I got a little photo happy this morning, I'd say.
Before I left for my first classes I threw together some "overnight oats" consisting of plain oikos, almond milk, chia seeds, oats, goji berries, maple sizzurp, and a crumbled mate energy bar. I wasn't sure if I would be able to make it home for lunch like usual because there was a possibility - weather permitting - that I would be shooting someone's senior portrait. It was supposed to start snowing right around noon - when I get out of class - and we were supposed to shoot then, too.
Well, the shoot got rescheduled because she was too sick - and good thing, too! It's finally storming pretty darn good! Started right when I got off the phone with her. So, I [slowly!] made it home - the snow really started sticking to the roads, and fast.
And, with the wintery weather, couldn't decide if I still wanted cold "over morning" oats! So I opted for the best of both worlds:
In the Pita Panini: turkey bacon, spinach, roma tomato slices, red onion, almond mozzarella, and maple-dijon mustard.
On the side: sundried tomato hummus, Schneiders butter bites pretzels, carrot, and Suzie's spelt multi-seed flatbreads.
This. Was. Perfect. I think I'm in love with just about every component. That almond mozzarella is pretty awesome, as ws my first turkey bacon experience!
It was made even better that I could see this every time I looked out the door...
I love the peaceful beauty of snow when it falls like this :) Isn't it gorgeous?
Are you a snow lover or hater?
It's funny - I've never gone snowboarding or skiing a day in my life, and hate being cold. But I love, love, love, watching the snow fall.
Lunch was followed shortly with my dessert, something probably only appetizing-looking to me, but oh well!
Some seriously good oats. Everyone must put dried goji berries in their next batch of overnight oats. They get deliciously moist and...delicious. haha. Same as rehydrating them while your oatmeal boils. So good! I don't really care for them dry...
It was about this time that I decided I would not be driving back for my night class! The roads were much too sloppy already - and even if the commute in wasn't bad, I only knew the one home would be awful. I hate driving at night in snow storms. It's like driving in a tunnel - and really exhausts your eyes! Not to mention the conditions in general.
This is a really nice professor, though - so hopefully he's relatively understanding. I feel bad because I hate looking like I'm copping out!
With this information, I could have ditched my plans for a quick, easy dinner since had I gone to class I'd be getting home quite late. But, I'd grown rather fond of my idea and decided to roll with it. It incorporated two new finds - one from my co-op trip the other day, and one from my Bob's Red Mill order I received today!
I knew the hot dogs would come in handy, and have pretty good nutritionals, and have been dying to try out nutritional yeast since reading Mae's blog.
So, I decided on Turkeys in a Blanket!
Okay, so this dun' look so hot.
It. was. so. good.
There's just something so great about comfort food made quasi-healthy, don't you agree?
What's the "blanket" you ask?
Oh, you know...just the Naan I made up the other day!
Crafty.
Turkey dogs all cozy in a Naan dough with sundried tomatoes and a cheesy ranch sauce?
And burnt broccoli?
Yes, please!
And, verdict on the turkey dogs? Oh my goodness. So quick, so convenient, and so good! They're really moist - I was kind of expecting...I duunno. Dry weirdness? haha. But really. They're quite good!
But that's about it from me!
What's your favorite "comfort food"? Whether you healthify it or not!
Also! Is everyone familiar with Tastespotting? It's a relatively addictive website, and where a lot of my ideas stem from - it's picture and one-liner based, so it's easy to grab an idea and run, rather than follow a recipe. And, if you're a recipe-follower, the recipe is provided via a blog link.
Well anyways! There's a new website similar - but just for desserts! It's called Dessertspotting, and Donalyn is looking for more participants, photos, recipes - be it a healthy recipe or not! Breakfasts, sweets, etc. I know even though I try to healthify many things, I view websites like these on a daily basis because it's not forcing a recipe on you before seeing a photo or one-liner description. You can pretty much take the flavors and idea and adapt it to your nutritional needs and desires! That and - I know tons of you dear readers have beautiful and delicious recipes that are certainly deserving of a feature. So go ahead, get on the boat and start submitting to this wonderful community!
