Life is yumbo

For a mid-week brunch extravaganza!

That photo doesn’t really relate…

Moving on. By the time I got home yesterday, I felt like I’d experienced a continual beating. Of the highlights, I have a 6 hour make up class on a Friday…

So this morning, I needed a little extra breakfast love.

Breakfast is my very favorite meal, and I’ve had a good week of it, so let’s have a little recap of it, shall we?

Sunday

I went Southern. That’s been happening a lot lately…something about collard greens from the Farmer’s Market brings out my southern self.

The layers:

One: Doughy, Delicious, Fresh Seven Grain Bread

Two: Sautéed collards, organic chicken sausage

Three: A perfectly poached organic egg

So yummy! I’m a little confused by my sausage cravings lately, but I guess it’s the Fall weather.

Annnd on the side was an extra special beverage.

My own take on pumpkin coffee.

While brewing coffee, I steamed about 3 T of almond milk, a T of pumpkin puree, lots of cinnamon, a splash of vanilla, and a squirt of agave on the stove.

Then added about half to my mug. Added coffee and enjoyed!

Such a fun breakfast!

Tuesday

Pumpkin oats are back!

And Almond Butter!

Oh, how I enjoyed these!

Pumpkin has been scarce around here, and I was so excited to find some! Have you all read about the scary pumpkin shortage this year?

My mom stocked up from a local market that still had some…she doesn’t understand me, but she loves me enough to buy 13 cans of pumpkin!

This lovely jar had some almond butter smeared around the sides, and was then filled with pumpkin chocolate chia protein oat bran.

Thursday

Today I was craving another egg-y breakfast. I had a growling tummy from going to bed so early I think. It amazes me that I live in a college town sometimes…I do not keep college hours!

Today’s brunch was a take on Sunday’s.

Sautéed collard, a local red pepper, a piece of sausage, and a sunny side up egg. And more of that doughy, chewy bread.

Hit the spot!

Hope you enjoyed the brunch break.

Happy October and One more Day until Friday.

Happy Sunday! I love weekend mornings. Could someone please make them last longer for me??

Saturday is Farmer’s Market day which is quickly becoming my favorite part of the week. I thought I’d interrupt this regularly scheduled program to show you what I got.

HUGE peppers, Collards, Spring mix, broc, Deeelicious fresh bread, and the best APPLES I have ever had! I love fall!

Oh yeah, and this.

It didn’t make it home. Pumpkin scone that I could not resist. I’ve been dreaming about one all week and that plus a local coffee made for the most indulgently delightful morning I’ve had in a long time.

See the excitement!

I literally popped out of bed and went. With that hair. Again, no shame. It was raining so my hair flattened out…it all works out

I also need to make An Announcement.

1) I love the 100% dark chocolate now. A lot. As always, HEABs was right.

But back to my weekday day!

We left off when I was leaving the law school…yipee, my favorite part of the day!

So after 8 hours there…

I immediately headed to the arboretum to get in a little woods time and get on the rail trail.

It looked like rain, so I didn’t actually take my camera. It’s more fall like these days.

I did about 3ish miles, running on the trail and walking in the woods.

4:30 Fight traffic to get home and have my daily dose of Groundhog Day. You guys have seen that movie, right? I felt like I was in it all last week, because every afternoon on my way home I heard Heart of Gold by Neil Young. That song still seems to be following me around, no matter what station or what time! Weird, right?

5:00 Collapse on the couch for a bit and read your blogs.

5:30 Chop up butternut squash and put in the oven at 400 degrees.

5:40 Shower while dinner cooks.

6:00 Finish dinner prep, by adding broccoli to roast with the squash (no need to dirty extra dishes!)

6:15 Add Amy’s Bistro Burger to the same baking sheet. I know Katie likes these and since I can’t find my beloved Sunshine burgers, I thought I’d give these a try.

6:20 Assemble my hodgepodge dinner. My favorite kinds.

It certainly doesn’t look that appealing, but it was delicious. I layered the broc, squash, and burger over a big bed of spinach. And of course, added avocado.

I had a little watered down Iced Matte on the side for fun.

I learned that Katie has good taste (I already knew that)! This veggie burger was really tasty, and I had also forgotten how delicious roasted broc is!

I did a little clean up and then…

7:00 Time for this

I did take a Skype break though. My parents are obsessed with it, and it is really fun!

And then because it was the first full day of fall, I made sure to have a little time with myself and my yoga mat. I’m trying to do more quiet time to myself in general, but that gave me a good reason for it!

10:00 Retreated to my relaxing room. Obviously I didn’t take these pictures then! But you can’t see anything in the dark.

I originally had my desk in my room, but moved it out to give me more room and balance.

The balcony is the best part of my apartment.

I spent a little time sitting outside and breathing.

10:30 Bedtime.

I don’t work that well at night, so I do better if I just go to bed once things stop making sense and work on it in the morning.

Thanks for reading about my newly boring life. I really appreciate all your comments sooo much. It makes me feel connected to the world!

Sooo, I have been planning to post for what seems like ages, but I just haven’t had a chance! My camera is backed up with photos, but my time just seems to slip away. I’m still reading your lovely blogs, I apologize for my very sporadic commenting though.

I’ve been feeling a lot better since I last posted. I had a wonderful friend come visit, and she just filled my apartment with good vibes!! I’m definitely ready for Friday this week, but I’m doing much better and I think I’m learning to manage this stress inducing environment! Ugh.

I thought it would be fun (maybe) to share my new life with you all, so this post will be A Day in the Life…Part 1.

I hope it’s not too boring!

5:30 AM Wake up. Pee. Stretch. Stumble into the kitchen.

Guzzle Water. Have my morning vinegar. 

I like to add lemon, ginger root, and sometimes a touch of honey if my throat is ache-y.

I finished dishes from the night before while sipping this, and packed a lunch for the day.

Then I started (one of) the best parts  of the day.

Coffee!

I have no shame. I love coffee. It makes my mornings happy.

I ground up a tiny piece of this with my coffee beans.

I also add cinnamon to the grounds…makes for a delicious cup! I found that the 100% is a wee bit too bitter for me. I’m just not as hardcore as HEAB!

6:00 AM Time to do work. Boo.

Read. Highlight. Read.

6:15 AM Coffee time! With a little of this.

I used to drink coffee black, and still do often, but I like adding a little almond milk to make it smoother and add a few nutrients.

6:50 Put oats on the stove. I pretty much use a variation of these. I like lots of liquid!

7:00 Oats go in the freezer to thicken up while I shower and get dressed.

7:30 Breakfast.

Mmm. Love oat bran. This was 1/2 cup oat bran, 1 T chia seeds, 1.5 cups water, 1/2 cup almond milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and 1/2 scoop Jay Robb.

I like keeping it simple these days. Sometimes I add a banana, but mostly I just like it plain. Strangely, I’m anti nut butter these days. I had too much of it during my sick week…

I also take one of these.

Wonderful things!

7:45 Run around frantically pulling things together to take to school because I’ve dawdled all morning.

8:00 Drive to school and frantically go over notes and complain with everyone else.

8:30 Visit the Seventh Circle of Hell… AKA Contracts

10:00 Breathe sigh of relief that Socratic method is over for a while. Also run to the bathroom because of all the liquid I drink before 8 AM.

I ate half of the Larabar, since the lack of fatty oats makes me hungrier. This is one of my favorites, Cashew Cookie.

Study some more.

11:00 Class #2, which is actually quite nice and not scary!

12:00 Rush over to the Women’s Law lecture, listen, and eat my packed lunch.

I ate the above banana and this.

It was much more delicious than it looked. It was just leftover black beans, brown rice, spinach, avocado, tomatoes, red pepper, and a scoop of this salsa.

I just picked it up and it’s really spicy and yummy!

I was told my lunch looked…interesting.

I liked it.

1:00 Learn all about suing people with the funniest Professor ever. And escape public humiliation for one more day!

2:30 Go back to the 7th Circle, AKA Contracts, for voluntary punishment in the form of a Review session.

3:30 Finally done with classes for the day…this is getting long so come back later to see my evening.

I’m sure you’re on the edge of your seat with excitement!

It’s the weekend! Thank goodness!

Law school is going by faster, but it’s been soooo busy. I haven’t had a chance to post at all. I have been enjoying better meals through a little foresight and preparation.

However, it didn’t keep me from getting very sick this week. It put a huge damper on my week and has left me with a mountain of work for the weekend.

But I’m happy to be feeling better and I wanted to share some of my fun (pre-virus) eats.

I usually take some form of this to school for lunch. Wrap with leftovers/veggies, apple, and Larabar. It’s been working really well, since I can snack on things throughout the day.

And I’ve been having green juice galore.

To try to help things when I feel like this.

Unfortunately, things didn’t improve, but my juice was delicious.

And I had it with this yummy, nourishing meal.

This stir fry was SO GOOD! It was Brussels sprouts, red onions, tomatoes, tempeh, and spinach, all flavored with some balsamic vinegar.

I had another yummy stir fry (I’ve been craving them like crazy!)

This one was Kale, tempeh, brussels, brown rice, and a side of butternut. Yum Yum.

I was also reminded that banana soft serve is one of the most amazing things ever!

I don’t know how I got sick eating such good things! I am feeling much better (as in I could look at pictures of food to post this). But I would really appreciate advice on migraine headaches. I’m just starting to get them and would love to hear some ways to prevent/treat them.

Thanks for reading about my sporadic life and eats. I promise a post on macrobiotics soon!

Happy September! I love love Fall, and I’m so happy I can feel it in the air.

In other news, I have been suffering from “vitamin pee.” I started taking B vitamins when I realized that I rarely get B12 in my diet. But I pee it out alllll the time! Is that normal? It’s so weird!

I wanted to update you all that I have not died since I last blogged. Actually, I feel about a million times better! And found enough free time this morning to blog! The first week was awful and daunting, but I think it had more to do with things outside of class. I spent most of the weekend working on feeling happy and healthy again, and I do!

I think I am finally over having a rigid and strict plan for diet and exercise…the rest of my life is rigid enough right now. No need to complicate it.

Over the weekend, I made a big pot of quinoa, beans, and veggies to use in wraps this week. Very portable and doesn’t frighten my classmates. I also stocked up on lots of juicing ingredients to keep me in my green juice habit and made some extra oat bran to heat up in the mornings.

In other news, I found a lovely trail (that is mostly flat…a feat here!) and have been twice since Saturday! I really prefer being outside to clear my head than in a stuffy gym. I’ve been running a bit again, too. It just feels right—it’s a good tension relief!

Yoga remains essential to me being happy and not creaky!

I’m in such a better mood this week! I think my new life will just take a bit of planning and getting used to, but will be a fun adventure.

I also made this lovely dish to remind myself that I can still eat good food.

Arugula salad with balsamic glazed salmon and roasted eggplant and tomatoes.

I also made this raw-ish inspired dish.

That would be zucchini ribbons, spinach, avocado, and those weird tofu noodles that I love, tossed in a raw-ish tomato sauce.

The next day I took completely ruined all possibilities it had for raw-ness by adding regular tomato sauce and cooked spinach. Odd, but delicious! To me anyway.

I’ve actually been eating more cooked food than usual…I’m really paying attention to what makes my tummy happiest and sometimes cooked grains and veggies please it most.

I had a friend stay with me for a few days who is really awesome and spent a few months travelling around Europe and worked in a Macrobiotic restaurant. We had lots of fun chats about food and I’m interested in a lot of the macro principles. I have a lot of thoughts on the matter, so perhaps I’ll dedicate a post to it in the future!

Hi everyone, I missed you!! My break has been really good for me, but I do want to start posting once a week or so again, because I really miss sharing fun things and hearing from you.

Now, as to the title of my post. I need ideas! Since I last left you, I enjoyed a fabulous vacation, moved to a new town, and start law school. I just finished my first week…and to be honest, it was hell.

Everything that could possibly go wrong this week did. Clogged sinks, landlord issues, relationship issue,  female problems, extra clumsiness and forgetfulness…

And of course, the insane amounts of stress that come from starting law school…especially when you are a perfectionist! So basically, I in no way encompass a healthy human being right now.

Except that I’m drinking a big ol’ green juice. It’s so pretty, but I can’t find my camera right now…

But seriously, I’ve had no appetite and little time or opportunity to eat.

So my days of preparing lovely, time intensive meals seem to be out for most of the week. 3 square meals also seem to be out. And even my beloved oat bran hasn’t set well this week. It adds to the feelings of nausea before my 8 am class!

So I need things that are easy to digest, fast to eat,  and super easy to prepare. I’m also trying to avoid dairy as it seems to really hurt my sensitive tummy these days!

I’m sorry for my desperate cry for help, but I’ve never had these issues before and I know I need to learn to take care of myself during this.

And for fun, here are some pictures of that lovely, relaxing vacation that feels like it was forever ago, but was really just a few weeks ago.

Note how quiet our beach is!

So happy here!!

That was during a biking excursion…I call that day the triathlon because my mom and I walked 6 miles, my dad and I biked the island, and I swam! It was so much fun. That vacation reminded me how much I just love being active when it’s outside.

I wish I had the chance to do that everyday! Lately I’ve been lucky to stretch for 10 minutes and get a walk.

Last look.

Dear bloggies,

I intentionally haven’t blogged or read blogs for the past few days and I think it’s the break I need.

I’ve been struggling with eating issues almost identical to Lara’s, and while I am truly happy with the way my body looks right now, I am not happy with the way I treat it.

Things have been going better in the past week and I feel good.

I think blogging has just made me too aware of food.

I love everyone I’ve gotten to ‘know’ through this blog and I’m sure I’ll still be reading some. Perhaps I’ll post again once I feel more okay. But for now, this is a little goodbye. I still welcome emails and will miss you all!

This is so hard to do, but I know it’s for the best.

Love,

Erin

Hi beauties. So sorry for my absence, but truthfully I haven’t eaten anything unusual or particularly pretty. I’ve been too busy having fun to be creative in the kitch. But I do have some plans for that this week, so stay tuned!

I did do something totally new though.

Whitewater Rafting!

So fun! I wish I had pictures to share, but cameras and water don’t mix. I will say if you decide to go, this is a great company. I had lots of fun and it’s not as scary as you think if you have a good guide. I did bang up my knee pretty bad, but nothing crazy.

Gotta show you my battle scars though.

Rafting is huge where I live, but I’ve never been as it’s more of a group activity. I feel like I’m finally really appreciating where I live and all that it has to offer. It’s a beautiful place, but I have to admit that when I was younger, I just wanted to live somewhere normal!

Some of you have commented on how beautiful where I live is, and it’s true, but trust me, I wanted to live next to houses and sidewalks when I was a kid!

Now, I feel blessed to see this in my backyard.

So here’s to appreciating what we have!

Is there anything you didn’t appreciate about where you’re from that you do now?

Sorry for the disappearing act yesterday, I was kind of in a funk. For some reason, I’m the opposite of most people, and kind of miss stormy weather!

I didn’t eat too much of excitement in the past two days but two things stood out that I wanted to share.

First, more seaweed.

I added fresh cuke plus extra vinegar and it was soooo delicious. I ate it with some Mary’s Gone Crackers on the side and they were made to go be paired!

Just look at them together. I ended up crushing them into the salad and their smokey flavor was the perfect accompaniment. I actually wasn’t wild about these crackers until now, but they might be worth buying just for this salad!

Salad #2 was completely different! Actually, it was quite a departure from my usual cravings. You may have noticed that I like taking every vegetable imaginable (and everything laying around for that matter) and putting it in a bowl and calling it a salad. But, I wanted something simple yesterday and I wanted poached eggs.

So, I took a cue from Jenna and made a simple salad with spinach, two poached eggs, fresh green onions, almond bread, and a simple vinaigrette consisting of olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and mustard.

And that’s it!

I really can’t explain how good this was! I love loved every bite and it reminded me how good simple can be (even in a salad)! The green onion truly made it. I know not everyone loves onions, but if you do, please put green onions on your salad. You will be delighted!

Honestly, I’ve loved green onions since I was a kid. I’d eat them straight from the ground as a snack, haha.

I’ve been enjoying the “final picture” of my posts lately, so today will be a picture from my morning walk yesterday. I just walked behind my house yesterday as I didn’t have time to drive anywhere, but it was lovely!

Okay, so I have so many fun things to post about today!!

First up, I must share with you a quote from my father last night. He fell asleep on the couch after taking his PM pills which include a sleep aid. Suffice it to say, that when this happens and you wake him up, it’s always interesting. Last night, he popped up and said “chocolate.” Which was funny…but it got better! He elaborated to say “chocolate pineapple jalapeno sundae!” He dashed off to the kitchen but my mom sent him to bed. I probably would have waited to see if he tried to make it

Second, we have some more fabulous eats inspired by two of my favorite people, Katie and Heather.

First, All The Way Arame Salad.

This was my first experience making anything with seaweed at home, and I really liked the arame. I didn’t have as many veggies as I’d like, but I just picked a big cucumber that I can’t wait to add for lunch!

(Those baby peppers fell off and rather than let them rot, I decided they needed to go in my belly)

After an hour with my favorite yoga guy, it was time for pancakes.

I was inspired by the pancakes Katie and Heather made yesterday. I wanted the chocolate ones and the tropical ones and couldn’t decide what to do with mine! So, I combined them. Some people might not enjoy both tropical and chocolate flavors, but I loved it!

But, I’m sorry to say that my pancakes were hideous! I have always been awful at pancake flippage, and this morning wasn’t a good day. I almost didn’t show you, but they still tasted so good that I had to share!

I made chocolate protein pancakes, with the addition of half a banana and a sprinkle of cacao nibs and omitted the egg, in place of almond milk plus flax.

However, the best part was the toppings. I pureed about a quarter of a mango (my new obsession) for the first layer. The second layer was chocolate ABU, and then another sprinkle of cacao nibs. Mmmm. This was really delicious, despite the pancake flop on the bottom. Puree your mango, guys!

These were filling too, but not too dense. I went this route because my favorite pancakes are sooo sooo dense that you can’t really eat them without going into a coma. I used to make chocolate chip banana pancakes for my roommate in college and she would always say that I was trying to kill her with love.

I actually photographed them way back then, before I even knew of food blogs! I just thought they were so pretty.

Here’s a view of death by pancake love.

And a close up of the ooey gooey things.

I’ll have to look up the recipe. Believe it or not, they were vegan!

Okay, sorry for the pancake detour.

Now, I’ll finally let you in on my secret. Coenzyme Q10! Yep, that’s the vitamin I’ve been taking and I was skeptical about it to begin with, but I’ve definitely noticed some differences. Very good differences. I’ve been lethargic lately, and my coffee had become more necessity than fun. Not so anymore. I’m full of energy all day. Some days I haven’t had coffee, some days I have because I wanted the taste, not because I needed it. Truthfully, I am just as energetic without coffee now.

I read about this vitamin in my favorite magazine. People who took it described an increase in energy and better workouts. The article also stated it was important for people on heart medicine, which is why my Dad decided he wanted to start taking it. I couldn’t find too much conclusive research on the web, but it didn’t seem that it could hurt. So far, I’m impressed and haven’t noted anything negative. You can read some basic info here or a more detailed review here.

But basically, we only get minimal amounts of this enzyme from food, so supplements help increase it. Since this enzyme is found in the energy center of cells, increasing amounts of it, help you be more energetic!

I just wanted to share that with all of you, since some of you might be interested in reading more about it or trying it!