TGIF! ...seriously

Happy Friday evening, all!! TGIF, yeah?! What a week. To celebrate and start the weekend of right, I made some veggie tacos. YUM! It has been way too long (aka like 4 days?!?!) since I've had avocado!!!!



Yes, it was JUST as good as it looks. I topped half of a TJ's whole wheat tortilla with organic refried beans, organic spinach, organic salsa, avocado, TJ's Mexican Mix cheese (just a little!) , red onion, and Franks Red Hot sauce. MMMMMMMMM!!!!

Paired with an orange, it was a FAB-O meal! See Ani's book in the background???



SPEAKING OF ANI...

I was also inspired by an Ani Phyo recipe to make some Macaroons. They're still in the dehydrator- I'll get them out at 10pm. Here's some 'process' pictures:





Dry little babies, dry!!! I'm so excited to try them. I tried some of the 'batter'... and so did Brenton, and we both think that these are going to be GOOOOOD!!!! Yay Ani Phyo!!

Hope you all have a good Friday evening!! I'll let you know how my macaroons turn out!

Namaste.

OH NO- I'm on TWITTER!

@anniessimplelif

My name was too long for the e at the end!! HAHAHA! Check it out!

Another New Recipe!

Good evening everyone! Tonight I tried ANOTHER new recipe!! On the menu was Stuffed Zucchini, fruit, and a (poorly) modified version of Happy Herbivore's Single Serving Vegan Brownie.

Like last night, I decided to take little bits of different recipes I found to make my own version! Here's my Stuffed Zucchini:



Looks YUM-O, yeah?! Brenton liked the filling better than the whole zucchini, but I LOVED IT, and ate the WHOLE THING!! Here's my recipe (serves 2):

1 lg Zucchini, or 2 small, washed
1/2 can Pinto Beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 c Quinoa
1/2 c Water
1 clove Garlic
1/8 c salsa
1/4 c almonds, chopped
Parmesan Cheese to taste

Preheat oven to 400
Put quinoa and water in a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 12-14 min, until done.
Cut Zucchini in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds (discard pulp)
Once quinoa is done, mix in pinto beans, garlic, salsa, almonds, and a little parmesan cheese
Scoop mixture into hollowed out zucchini. Top with a little more cheese if desired
Bake in oven, covered in aluminum foil for 18-20 min, until tender
Remove foil and cook another 5-8 min, until the topping is crispy.

OK, UBER YUM!!



Now, on to the brownie. I'm sure if I used the correct ingredients listed in Happy Herbivore's recipe, these would have turned out much better....



Unfortunately, I didn't have whole wheat PASTRY flour, just whole wheat flour, and I didn't know there was a difference (ha.. that goes to show you how much I bake...). These little guys were SO dense, they were hard to eat. Ah well... better luck next time. It was my own fault... you live and you learn.

On an upside, I bought coconut oil the other day and am using it on my hair. Look how shiny!!!!



And this is DAY 1!! Oh coconut oil, how I love thee already.

Have a fantastic evening! TGIAF!!

A Try at Pad Thai!

Good evening bloggies! I tried a new recipe tonight- Vegetarian Pad Thai! This recipe I actually came up with, with the help of many many recipes for normal Pad Thai.

The recipe could have served 3... ooops I made too much! Oh well.

Sauce:
1/4 C Water
1/4 C Soy Sauce
2 T Peanut Butter
1 t Agave Nectar
Juice of 1/2 Lemon
2 T Hot Sauce

Noodles:
Couple of handfuls of Rice Sticks
Big handful of Spinach
1/2 Onion, chopped
2 Cloves of Garlic, chopped finely
1/2 C Bean Sprouts
Few Sprigs of Cilantro
Little bit of Oil (I used Canola)
2 Eggs

Whisk together sauce ingredients and set aside
Boil Noodles for 6 min, transfer to cold water
Heat oil in pan, stir fry garlic and onion until it starts to get soft
Add a little cilantro and the handful of spinach, cook until starting to wilt
Add the cooked noodles and 1/2 of the sauce
In a separate pan, whisk the eggs together (like you're making scrambled eggs) and cook through
Add eggs to the rest of the ingredients with the other 1/2 of the sauce
Serve hot

This was a good meal!!! Here's the sauce:



and my plate!!



Do ya THINK I like cilantro?!?! Yep, I bought it from the Farmers Market today.... mmmm!

I paired it with some yummy organic grapes:



Yummy meal! I'm off to run (ugh!) with Brenton. The sun is finally shining again, so we're going to take care of it!

Until next time, try a new veggie dish! You just might like it!

Namaste.

Vegan 'Meat'loaf!!!

Well, I did it! After reading Happy Herbivore's blogs about the 'hippie loaf' and gravy, I decided that tonight I HAD to try it out!!!!

Here's the recipe I got off of Happy Herbivore's blog:

Makes 2 mini loaves or 1 regular loaf

Ingredients:
15oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 large carrot, skinned and shredded
2 celery stalks, washed and shredded
1 cup coarsly chopped brown mushrooms
1 cup cooked quinoa
1 tbsp italian seasoning
3 tbsp brown rice flour (or whole wheat if you prefer)
2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
2 tbsp ketchup

Directions:
1. Preheat oven 350F and grease your pan
2. Mash black beans in a large bowl
3. Combine all ingredients, stirring until even
4. Pour into pan and using a spatula, pat down firmly and tightly
5. Bake 35 minutes for minis, 45-1 hour for regular loaves
6. Serve with your favorite gravy if desired

Gravy Recipe

Makes 2 cup
Ingredients:
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 cups mock beef or vegetable broth
2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
few dashes of black pepper
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
salt to taste

Directions:
1. in a small skillet, whisk nutritional yeast and flour together and toast over med heat, about 4 mins (until it smells toasty)
2. transfer to a med sauce pan
3. whisk in remaining ingredients
4. bring to a boil and allow to thicken to desired consistency

OK so the verdict? For those that are meat-lovers, you may find it weird. For those that are veggies, you'll LOVE it. The spices were so similar to normal 'meat loaf'!! Unfortunately, my pictures make it look kinda gross (HAHAHA) but it wasn't!!! Brenton and I are making 'meat loaf' sandwiches out of the leftovers for tomorrow. I think it'll be really good the 2nd day!

Here is the gravy and the meatloaf in the pan. It was kinda tricky getting the first few pieces out.

Haha I was so excited to try it that I took a few bites before the picture. Sorry!

While I was cleaning up from dinner, I realized "Wow, it's really easy to get this 'meat loaf' out of the pan." And then I remembered how HARD it was to get real meat loaf out unless you soaked it for a day in soapy water. Well, that's symbolic, isn't it. Think about it- if food doesn't wash out of pans or off of plates easily with water, do you really think that it's going to easily go through your system?! Probably not. Interesting, isn't it?

I encourage you to try this recipe, and to try to eat more foods that'll wash off of plates easily!!! Your insides will thank you!

Until next time- Namaste.

5k!!

So Friday was 5k day. I was bound and determined to try to run the whole thing, so I knew I needed my energy!!! I started the day off right with a cup of Oikos, topped with some Cascadian Farms Organic Honey O's and some frozen organic raspberries. And... the beginning of the water overload!!!




Work was 'as usual' if you will, but I brought a special bar for my snack. Sorry Larabar... I wanted to make sure I got my greens!!! And to be honest, I wasn't even THAT hungry for it by 10:30am... which means that breakfast was doing the trick!!!



I really like this bar! It looks absolutely GROSS when you open it (yeah, it's green...) but it tastes really good. Lots of greens and quality ingredients. Any time these guys are on sale at Kroger, I stock up!!!

I didn't actually get to eat my lunch until 1pm, but that was ok. I made sure not to bring too much since the run was t minus 6 hours away. I made some whole wheat pasta and threw in some leftover veggies from the YUMMY veggie sandwich I made the day before. I paired it with half an orange, and a few bites of TJ's Dark Chocolate. mmmmm!!!!








Oh yeah, and that water overload that I mentioned... that continued....



I got home around 4:45, and wanted to make sure I had a little something in be, so by 5:15, I had made up the pre-run meal that I try to always do...



Toasted Ezekiel topped with Almond Butter, 1/2 a banana, and some organic blueberry preserves....


And a GM!!!! To celebrate the 'World Famous Pig Run' that I was about to do, I drank out of the glass I got from it last year. This GM was made out of the other half of the banana, a kiwi, a handful of spinach, 1/4 zucchini, 1 T of Chia Seeds, and a little bit of water. YUM!!!! Energy was flowing!! Oh, and more water.

For luck, I wore my favorite socks (just for my Disers)!!!



Since I was so determined to get a better time, I decided to make a new playlist on my Ipod to run to. I swear that music REALLY helps to keep me going. Here's what I programed:

Hey You- 311
Electric Feel- MGMT (great song... check this one out)
Africa- Toto
Eons- 311
Let Go- Frou Frou (another great song)
You Only Get What You Give- New Radicals
Remind Me- Royksopp
Blame It- Jamie Foxx
My Hero- Foo Fighters

That was 38:24 min of music, and YOU BETTER BELIEVE THAT I FINISHED BEFORE THE LAST SONG WAS DONE!!!!! I finished at 37:22. Last year, my best time was 39:45... in October!!! The course was REALLY hilly... which took a lot out of me. I walked a lot, but I RAN FAST to make up time. The only problem was- I had to REALLY watch my heart rate... it got up to 197 at times!!! It was then when I knew I needed to slow way down. When my heart got back down to 180, I kicked it up to a run again. I really pushed myself, but I DID IT!!

When I got home, I had to have a post-race recovery...



An egg white 'burrito' with a little bit of salsa, mushrooms, spinach in a whole wheat tortilla and 1/2 of a tomato. AND MORE WATER. It was HOT HOT HOT outside, and I was SOAKED. At the turn around, I actually got water, which I never do. It's a good thing I was drinking ALL DAY LONG!! The only bad thing was that my Mickey socks gave me a blister!! Not fun. Oh well, I had to represent!!!

I was very proud that I shaved 3min and 30 sec. off of my last 5k time (from July 4), and am ready to start training for the next one. Have a fantastic evening, all! I'm off to do some Billy Bootcamp Tae Bo.

Until next time, push yourself- you'll never know what you can do if you don't. Namaste.

Almost Friday!!

Good evening everyone! Hope you all had a lovely day!!! My day was actually not too bad! The last couple of days, my insides have been adjusting to the new pescetarian lifestyle, so I figured that I needed to add a little bit more protein today. I started the day with scrambled eggs out of an egg, an egg white, basil, and a little bit of parmesean cheese. Paired with a banana, it was a great breakfast!!



I was actually surprised, though, because it didn't keep me full for longer than an hour and a half!! CRAZY!! I had to have a Larabar almost right when I got to work. That helped, thank goodness!

I didn't get a picture of lunch-- like normal. Sorry!!

Dinner tonight, though, was quite the feast!!



I made a veggie sandwich, baked sweet potato fries, and strawberries with cashew whipped cream.

Here's what I did:

Veggie Sandwich

Ezekiel Bread
Zucchini
Onion
Mushroom
Garlic
Tomato
Spinach
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper

Sauce:
Avocado
Lemon
Salt
Pepper
Salsa

Pre-heat oven to 375, and roast chopped zucchini, onion, garlic, green pepper, and mushrooms on a baking sheet, coated in a little bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast until tender.

To make the sauce, mash the avocado, and add juice of half of a lemon. Stir well, and add salt, pepper, and salsa to taste.

Toast Ezekiel bread, spread with sauce, and layer with as many veggies as possible. Add fresh tomato and spinach, and serve immediately. YUM!!!!


Sweet Potato Fries

Pre-heat oven to 375
Wash and slice sweet potatoes, and coat in olive oil, salt and pepper.
Roast in a pan until crispy


Cashew Whipped Cream

1 1/3 C Raw Cashews, Soaked for at least an hour
3 T Agave Nectar
1/2 C water
1 t Vanilla Extract

Process all of the ingredients together in a food processor until smooth and whipped. Scrape the sides as needed.

What a meal, huh?! Everything is so easy to make, and doesn't take a whole lot of time. YUM!!!

Tomorrow I have a 5k, so I'm off to get our food ready, wash my race clothes, and get my tunes ready to go! I'm going to try (again) to run the whole thing... we'll see!!!

Until next time, make something new!! Raw recipes are GREAT to experiment with!!

Baby it's cold outside!

HOLY MOLY! It's a cold, rainy day in central Ohio!! I can't BELIEVE that right now, I'm in a long sleeved tshirt, a sweatshirt, sweatpants, socks AND slippers!!! Talk about feeling like fall! Is it October?! Since it was so rainy and yucky, I didn't make it to the farmers market today. I went to TJ's instead. I love TJ's- there's always something new to try.

For dinner tonight I made a new dish! This was inspired by Ms. Jenna. Look how pretty!



Lovely, yes? This bowl-o-joy was made out of cooked rice noodles, organic spinach, organic carrots, onion, garlic, shrimpies, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and paprika. MMMM!!!! I'd TOTALLY make this again. It was great. I also had 1/2 an orange. Dinner-o-champions, if I do say so myself.

I'm cutting it short tonight- this cold rainy weather is giving me a headache! Time to get under a blanket and watch some Golden Girls!! Until next time, take care of yourself, and then each other. Namaste.

First pepper!

Tonight I made pizzas for dinner, and tried the FIRST pepper from the container garden. It's SO rewarding eating something that you grew yourself... from a seed! Well, unfortunately, it wasn't QUITE ripe yet. It was almost there- I think I was just a little impatient!!



Cute little bugger isn't he?! I have a few more out on the porch, but I'll hold off on them until they're a little bigger than this guy was. I'm going to the farmers market tomorrow, so I'll probably pick up a couple to tide me over.

Here's my ULTRA nummy pizza!!



Sorry about all of the fuzzy pictures lately!!

This bad boy was LOADED with veggies and good stuff! The 'crust' was a TJ's whole wheat tortilla, the sauce was TJ's marinara pasta sauce (it happened to be open already), and I topped it with a little bit of cheese (so little that you can't really see it), mushrooms, green pepper, red onion, spinach, and that little pepper guy. LOVE IT. This is one of my favorite veggie dinners. I also sprinkle some FAB Franks Red Hot Sauce on the top- my ultra FAV topping. I put it on EVERYTHING.

Tomorrow I have an all-day meeting, and lunch is provided. I have to admit, I'm a little worried about lunch, so I'll be bringing some of my own stuff, just in case. I'm also going to the farmers market after work, so I'll make sure to take pictures of the yumminess that is!!!

Have a happy Tuesday! Here's something to simmer on until next time-

What is your favorite veggie recipe??

Namaste.

ANOTHER Manic Monday. AGAIN?!

I don't know what it is with Monday. The last few Mondays have been INSANE for me!! Today was no exception. Lots of buzzing around, CrAzY phone calls, and needy people. Why are people so needy? What causes that? If people were self-sufficient, the world would be a better place. Ahem... (steps off soap box) Now onto the food!

Since watching Food, Inc., Brenton has wanted to be a veggie. This is FINE with me, but it made me realize today "uh oh... what about Thanksgiving and Christmas?" So, I have been searching for meat 'alternatives' for our 'main course' that other people will also want to eat- OH... holidays are always a challenge. I'll take any opinions/favorite recipes you have! I've found some recipes that I'll post closer to the holidays.

Last night I made up some hummus, and made veggie pitas.



Brenton's is on the big plate, and mine is the little guy. I LOADED it up with tons of veggies- spinach, cucumber, carrots, mushrooms, and onions- and a good glop of freshly made hummus on Trader Joe's Pita Bread. YUM-O!! VERY VERY filling. Brenton couldn't finish his! We also had a handful of organic cherries- ultra YUM-O!!!

This morning, to try to get off to a good start (which worked until the phone started ringing at work HAHA), I made a really good Green Monster.



Woah, hello blurry. Sorry. This concoction was made out of a kale leaf, 1/2 frozen banana, kiwi, 3 strawberries, 1/4 zucchini, 1 T chia seeds, 1/2 scoop protein powder, and a little bit of water. Those little chia seeds- so funny!!! The gel that they create is so weird! Anyway, kept me pretty full until my early morning meeting, when I had a Cashew Cookie Larabar. It's pretty good, but I like some of the other flavors better.

Lunch was nothing exciting- lefover hummus (from the night before) with some cucumber slices, a teeny apple, and an AB and jelly sammie on Ezekiel. This kept me full ALL AFTERNOON. It didn't hurt that I was insanely busy and too worried about other things to be worried about lunch. Sorry, no pictures.... :o( it was frazzle city!!

For dinner tonight I made stuffed potatoes. This is something that I used to eat when I was on Weight Watchers, but I haven't had recently.



Look at that veggie loaded mess!! There really is a potato under there....

This yummy dinner was made out of 1/2 potato, wilted spinach (I just heated it on the stove to wilt it), onion, tomato (from the farmers market- YUMMY!!!), 1/4 avocado, black beans, hot sauce (Franks- only the best), and wee tiny itty bitty sprinkle of cheese. CLEANED my plate!! Munched a few cherries for dessert, and a couple of TJ's semi-sweet chocolate chips. MMMM- just what I needed after a crazy ridiculous day.

On a better note, I've cleaned up all of the dishes, am sitting in my favorite chair, and am going to exercise soon. I haven't decided if I'm going to do Jillian, or if I'm going to run- just depends on if it starts raining soon. OH! Remember the whole 'mold in the Oikos' thing? Stoneyfield sent me some coupons and an apology letter!!




So, I guess it's a good end to a Manic Monday, huh? Hope you all have a good rest of your evening! Until next time, enjoy some vegetarian food! It'll make you feel good!

Namaste.

Food, Inc.

Good evening bloggies. If you haven't seen Food, Inc. ...



You need to. It'll totally change the way you look at food. Brenton said to me tonight "So, I think we need to become vegetarian. I love Tony B, but I just can't even stand the thought of eating another living thing. The movie was right- we've been so blinded by not really knowing where our food comes from. We also need to make sure we eat organic non processed stuff..."

Brenton grew up being a vegetarian for all of his early childhood, until he became a teenager. I think a new leaf is being turned over for him. As you know, we do eat mostly vegetarian... I think it is now complete. I still feel a little off- a little sick from seeing all that was to be seen.

I really recommend that you see it. It very well might change your life, and I hope it does.

Namaste.

Chia, you're alright!!

Hi everyone!!! So I made my GM this morning with Chia seeds- and I have to say that they're nifty little buggers!!!!! They started to turn into jelly halfway through my drink-- weird! Today's concoction was made out of 1 kale leaf (stem removed), 1/4 zucchini, 1/4 yellow squash, 1 orange, 1 piece of frozen banana, 1/2 scoop of protein powder, and 1 T Chia Seeds. NUM NUM NUM!! Try this combo- it gave me this happy-buzzy-like feeling.... kinda like Kombucha does. Goodbye Flax obsession... Chia is here to stay!

So yesterday, I had a conversation with a loved one that just wrinkled my feathers. And by wrinkled, I mean made me mad- and concerned.

Many times, people tell me ''oh, you eat so healthy all the time...'' (like it's a bad thing, ok what?!), "you eat healthy all week- just have this one _________ (whatever it is). it won't hurt you", or "oh, there you go eating healthy again... what is it today?". Man, this drives me CrAzY!!! Yes, I eat healthy. Why is this such a big deal? Why in this country is eating healthy a BAD THING?! Am I pushing my health food on you? NO. You're the one that is making it a big deal. That's ridiculous.

Back to my conversation- I was talking to this loved one about the movie that I am SOOO excited to see on Friday, called Food, Inc. If you haven't heard of it, look at the trailer, to the left of the screen. I was talking about what the movie was about, and giving general information. Well, that spawned a reaction of ''you go overboard, you cross the line with what you eat and don't eat, you don't enjoy food, do you want to live to be 150?, we don't get to eat anything good anymore because of you and your food choices, etc. etc. etc." you get the idea.

First of all, who is creating this 'line' that I'm crossing?? It's surely not me.

Second, I eat what I eat because it's GOOD FOOD. It's REAL FOOD. It's food that MAKES ME FEEL GOOD AND IS GOOD FOR ME. And this is a bad thing... because??

Third- heck yeah I want to live to be 150! That's 125 more times that I can go to Walt Disney World (yeah, I said it).

It's amazing what people don't know about what they eat. And when I try to help them, and give them knowledge about it, BLINDERS are put up (you know, the whole 'cover the ears la la la la I don't hear you' thing). This conversation personifies what the movie is trying to say!!!! What you don't know WILL KILL YOU, people!

The argument was brought up by my loved one that "well, my parents and grandparents never ate organic food or any of that stuff, and they lived to be 85 and 90". Ok, HELLO?! They DID eat organic foods and grass fed beef and all 'that stuff', because that's all that was available...it was the norm. None of this "quick!!! get as much cheap food out so we can make $$$$ fast!!!" crap! Do you realize that kids now have a SHORTER LIFE EXPECTANCY THAN THEIR PARENTS?!

UGH- it makes me sick. Go see Food, Inc. Please. It's about time that people start to REALLY know, what we have known all along.

Namaste.

Chia-- Here Goes!!!

Good evening! I am so excited- I have a new bloggie chair!!! Our family room started as this...



And turned into this!!



Nice, yeah?! The most comfy chair ever.



Ahhhhhh... the perfect place to blog.... in front of Dog. HAHA! This is a GREAT show to work out to by the way! As soon as I'm done blogging I'm going to be busting out some weights! I want to look like Duane Lee- he's HUGE. Ok so maybe not...

Tonight I made my 'famous' ESPN Club inspired roasted veggie sandwich. In today's recipe, I used zucchini, yellow squash, banana pepper, tomato (all from the farmer's market) and onion. Everything but the tomato was coated in a wee bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roasted at 325 for 15ish minutes (until tender). I layered the veggies on some toasted Ezekiel Bread and a mixture of smooshed avocado, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and Franks Red Hot sauce. HEAVEN ON A PLATE.





This paired with an organic apple-- oooohh so good!!!

Since everyone in bloggie land has been talking about Chia seeds (thanks Angela!!), I decided to pick some up and try them!



I had some organic yogurt and blueberries, and topped it with 1 T of Chia seeds. By the end of my yogurt, the seeds had started to turn into the gel... weird! But, they're good for me, so I'll keep at it for a few days and see how I do!

Have a lovely evening! I'm off to exercise and watch Dog! Namaste.

Oh Tuesday- you can go away now.

What a day! Boy oh boy.

So I was all excited about Tuesday... I slept well last night (in my new room...sigh...how I love thee), and was ready to start the day with a yummy bowl of Oikos and cereal. So I grab my Blueberry on the bottom Oikos...



(By the way, how do you like that picture?! I'm finally figuring this whole 'camera' thing out... it's about time!)

And look in the top, about ready to pour it into a bowl, and I see THIS!!



AHH! Yes, folks, that's GREEN MOLD on the top of my Oikos!!!!! AHHHH! AHH!!!! So, you better believe that I contacted them with my concerns. I quickly got an email back that said that they'll send me some free coupons, so that's good. So instead, I had some normal organic yogurt with organic strawberries, organic honey-o's cereal, and some almonds. I didn't take a picture... by this point I was running a little behind.

Work was business as usual. The normal snack of a Larabar, and lunch was a cup of organic vegetable soup, organic celery with AB, a peach and a few grapes. I didn't have enough protein though, because I was STARVING by the time I got home.

For dinner I made some veggi burgers...




kale crisps (check out the recipe!!)...



(a little weird- but good! I'd make them again)

and the BEST STRAWBERRY/BANANA RAW ICE CREAM EVER!!!



All I did was blend together frozen banana chunks and fresh organic strawberries until smooth. THAT'S IT (...thanks Gena!). You would SWEAR that it's strawberry/banana ice cream. Brenton loved it!

Hope you all have a fantastic evening! Until next time- try some YUMMY raw ice cream!! Feel good about what you eat, because what you eat will make you feel good. Namaste.

Greenie Monday!

Hello all! Busy Monday, today was! I started things off right with a GM- and added a new ingredient... KALE! Boy those leaves are huge-o!!! But, tasty and a great addition. I needed to spice things up a little bit!!



It made the color SO green! In this lovely glass there was 1 Kale leaf, 1/2 zucchini, 1 kiwi, 1/2 orange, 1/3 frozen banana, and a little bit of water. I paired it with a piece of Ezekiel bread with AB and organic jelly- kept me going until 10:30ish (which was almost 4 hours later), where I had a Cashew Cookie Larabar. YUM!! Lunch wasn't anything exciting, and I forgot to take a picture of it. I had organic black bean soup with celery and the other half of the orange. Since today was so busy and I didn't feel much like cooking, I stopped at Meijer and got Brenton an Amy's burrito (he liked it a lot!), and surfed online to see what I should make for myself. Then, I saw Gena's post about her raw zucchini soup, and I knew I had to try it!!!

Here's all of the yumminess in the blender- look at all those veggies!!! Haha lovely workstation... I've got my recipe up on my computer, my lemon all over the place... oye. That's how I work!



Anyway, blend blend blend away!! Quite the action shot.



Looks a whole heck of alot like the GM I made this morning... but, it tasted MUCH different. Haha and I even had a square bowl to put it in... just like Gena!



I made a chopped fruit salad of organic strawberries and peaches- YUM-O!! I did break the raw rules a little bit by adding some Tabasco sauce to the top of the soup... ah well.

While cleaning up the kitchen, I noticed that I had some little guys growing on my pepper plants outside! I was so excited that I had to take pictures! My little babies!!







It seems like only yesterday that I had little seeds planted in my kitchen- look how big they've gotten! All started from little bitty seeds. Too fun.

Well, I'm off to get ready for tomorrow and watch Anthony Bourdain. New season starts tonight at 10pm!!! Have a lovely evening. Until next time, try your hand at green-ness... whether it's making Green Monsters, raw green soup, or using your green thumb, GREEN is the trend. Follow it. Love it. Green is good.

Namaste.