Here She Is

Everyone has been missing Olive’s sweet face on the blog- including me so I snapped a new photo yesterday. I was sitting on the couch intently watching Isaac and a friend play the wii and Olive started being a cuddle-bug. I promise this wasn’t posed, this truly is how she lays.

ps. I’m not trying to highlight my legs- I simply cropped my face out because I was looking hideous yesterday morning.

pps. I wore workout clothes all morning, yet never went to workout until 4:00PM because that’s how I roll. (at least I made it right?)

I was going to go to the gym, however that went out the window when I realized how unbelievably nice the weather was out. I purchased two new songs from itunes to add to the my workout mix (Miley’s Party in the USA and Micheal Franti & Spearhead – Say Hey) and went to a nearby park. The park has a 1 mile gravel trail and I jammed out while power walking for 4 miles. You wouldn’t believe how hard it was to fight the urge to run, especially when people were passing me. I literally can’t wait for my knee to get better. I am hoping and praying that when I have my follow-up appointment at the end of this month the doc will say I can run again!

Isaac and I went to the mall to look at couches (Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn, West Elm). We didn’t find anything we liked within our price range so that wasn’t very exciting. After poking around the mall we met up with Isaac’s parents for Indian at India K’raja (which has apparently been voted best Indian restaurant in Richmond for quite a few years now.) I ordered the Bengan Bhurta – Mashed Eggplant sautéed with Onions, Tomatoes & Peas in a blend of fresh herbs and spices.

While everyone really enjoyed their food, I think that New India in Lakeside is faster, tastier and cheaper. I’ll admit I haven’t tried every Indian restaurant in Richmond (including Malabar, which I’ve been meaning to try) however, I’d definitely vote New India best Indian in Richmond at this point- I hope they win this year!

After dinner I was feeling full and extremely tired. Isaac and I came home and I promptly got in bed and was asleep by 11. Crazy Saturday night!

I woke up this morning to an empty bed as Isaac randomly scored tickets to the Redskin’s game and was well on his way when I finally decided to get up.

A big bowl of the fabulous oatmeal / oat bran combo was calling my name. This bowl had:

1/4 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup oat bran

1/2 banana (sliced)

1 cup of water (as I didn’t have any unsweetened vanilla almond milk)

I cooked the above ingredients, turned off the stove and stirred in 1 tbsp hemp seeds. I put the creaminess into a bowl and topped it with Harvest Song sour cherry preserves and raw almond butter.

I hung around the house all morning, in my workout clothes yet again- are we seeing a trend here? A little after 12 noon I decided to use up the heel of my Ezekiel loaf and create a nice little snack.

Toasted slice with Trader Joe’s Valencia peanut butter roasted with flax seeds and banana slices.

The snack made me want a “real lunch” so I whipped up a swamp delight.

Swamp Delight

1/2 cup- orange juice

1/2 cup- water **

1 cup- curly kale

1 1/2- ripe bananas (frozen)

1/2 cup- frozen pineapple chunks

1/2 scoop- french vanilla whey protein powder

Put everything in a blender and blend on high until all the flecks of kale are gone and your smoothie is bright green. Enjoy!

**This smoothie wasn’t as thick as I normally like my smoothies so next time I will probably use a little less water.

A while later I snacked on some unsalted cashews.

This handful x 3. My lunch and snacks held me over well as I headed out to run some errands. I stopped by Target where I got stuck in the clothes department for quite sometime and ended up buying 3 shirts! Then swung by Ulta for some new eyebrow tools a la my beauty goddess Erin.

And lastly, I made stops at both Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods!! I got stuff to make three recipes from Eat Drink and Be Vegan, a new trail mix, and a recipe to submit for the Food Buzz Nature’s Pride Sponsorship!! I also snagged some fruit for my office AND TJ’s Pumpkin Butter, which is simply a-ma-zing – can’t wait to have it with my oats! I also may or may not have purchased 2 more Kombucha drinks– they were on SALE!!! Yes, I know in my mind that 2 for 6 isn’t really a great deal for 16 oz drinks but I simply couldn’t resist. Anything for health right?

I hit up the gym for a quick Sunday workout sess and then headed home to eat my leftover Indian cuisine. It was still delish, although quite unphotogenic so I skipped the picture.

To get prepped for this weeks meals I made a batch of oven “fried” tofu.

I snagged two pieces of fu to have with dinner. It was yummy per the usual.

I’m off to work on the trail mix recipe and get ready for the week ahead.

Hope everyone had a superb weekend.

- Brittany

Tagged as: almond butter, and Be Vegan, banana, cashews, Drink, Eat, ezekiel bread, Indian Food, Oatmeal, Olive, oven "fried" tofu, swamp delight