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Ellwoods Coffee

Puff Changs and B-day Treats

by Eating Bird Food on February 15, 2010

Thank you for all the birthday wishes- each of your comments made me smile from ear to ear and my day turned out to be quite fabulous.

To start off the morning right we went to our favorite coffee shop for breakfast. And, when I say morning, I mean 11AM. After such a late night on Saturday, it was a sleeping in kind of morning.

It was also a coffee kind of morning. LOVE soy lattes!

I ordered the Vegan Tofu Wrap for my meal.

The grilled wrap includes a tofu scramble with soy sausage and is served with a spicy salsa and fresh fruit. Seriously, the perfect way to start my day. So delicious and filling. I didn’t eat again until dinner!?!

We ate while being serenaded by some stringed instruments, which was awesome.

This is one of the reasons I love Ellwood’s Coffee Shop.

You won’t find these natural sweeteners at bucks.

We came home and got into cleaning mode. Cleaned the kitchen, did some laundry, and vacuumed. Our vacuum makes cleaning so fun, I seriously vacuum every other day now! Then I got to work testing out my b-day presents:

Put my mat into the sweet yoga bag that my friend got me.

Uploaded some music to my new (and much smaller) ipod that Isaac got me. I am super stoked about this gift as I am currently still rocking my ipod from 6 years ago. It still works just fine, but it’s quite large to be strapped to my arm. It probably added 2 lbs to my left arm during strength training.

In with the new nano, out with the old giant.

I plan to try out my new gadget by hitting up the gym for a little cardio and then use my bag by treating myself to a core yoga class this afternoon. Pretty excited about that!

For dinner we went to Puff Changs, what we call P.F. Changs.

We spilt the veggie lettuce wraps.

And I got Budda’s Feast, steamed with a brown rice and a little sauce on the side.

We hardly ever make it to Puff Changs because we have a ton of great restaurants so close to home, but whenever we go I get excited! Particularly for the lettuce wraps as they are so delicious!

My fortune was appropriate, no?

We were quite full right after dinner so we skipped dessert. While driving home I decided I wanted a sweet treat to celebrate my birthday so we checked out a new place in town, The Urban Farmhouse Market and Cafe. I was so excited after seeing on Twitter that this shop had opened. Too bad the staff didn’t greet us at all and there was nothing appealing about the cookies and brownies sitting out uncovered. Perhaps I missed it, but I didn’t see any of the devilishly decadent dessert they advertise on their online menu. We decided to leave and after that treatment, I’m not sure I’ll be going back. So disappointing.

Oh well, I came home and my own cake and ice cream: a VitaBrownie and banana ice cream. I heated the brownie in the microwave while pureeing 1 frozen banana in the food processor until smooth.

Each bite was filled with warm gooey chocolate and cold banana cream. It was so tasty and only about 200 calories- basically the best birthday treat ever.

I ate my treat while Isaac and I watched two episodes of Big Love. Twas the perfect ending to BirthValentine’s Day! I hope you’re v-day was just as sweet.

I’ll be back soon with the winner of the Kaia Food’s giveaway and an exciting kitchen experiment that I can’t wait to share. Happy President’s Day – if you have the day off, enjoy it!!

-Brittany

{ 25 comments }

Buckwheat Granola!

by Eating Bird Food on February 3, 2010

This morning ended up being out of the norm, but really nice. I woke up early for an AM gym visit, did a little cardio and some arms, and called Isaac on the way home . He had a 1 hour delay for work and suggested that we should meet up for a bagel. I said coffee and we ended up compromising by meeting at a place that serves both, Ellwood’s Coffee.

To sip: Clover for him. Soy latte for her.

I was all excited for Ellwood’s coffee because they offer organic and natural sweeteners (agave, stevia, etc.), but turns out the latte so was tasty I didn’t need any added sweetness.

To nosh: Onion bagel smothered with cream cheese for him. Soy Yogurt Parfait for her.

I wasn’t going to eat anything but Isaac insisted so I snagged the granola, fruit, and yogurt parfait from the grab and go section. It was a good thing I did because 1.) It was delicious and 2.) We ended up hanging out on a comfy couch at the shop for a little while and I had minimal time back at home to shower and get ready for work. Twas a great way to switch things up mid-week!

My soy filled breakfast kept me full all morning long, but like always, I was still hungry for lunch when 12 came around. Back at the casa I made a romaine salad with red onion, green bell pepper and 1/4 of an avocado. I used leftover maple balsamic sauce as dressing and had a side of ww pita dipped in leftover tahini sauce from the warm butternut and chickpea salad.

I love having leftover sauces and dressings on hand- they really perk up other meals.

As a snack I sampled some new buckwheat granola I was sent from Kaia Foods – a CA based company that makes raw snacks by sprouting and dehydrating. No baking, frying, or bleaching involved!

Granola without oats- say what?

Yup – this granola is completely different than any other granola I’ve had previously, but it’s also delicious! The subtle sweetness from the raisins, coconut, vanilla and agave is just right. And, the sprouted little buckwheat seeds are super crunchy and fun to munch on. Plus, like other sprouted nuts, seeds, and grains, sprouted buckwheat is packed with nutritional benefits. Lastly, I love the chunkiness as I’m a huge fan of snackable granola!!

So, the Raisin Cinnamon flavor was tasty and I’m now stoked to try out this little Kaia Foods assortment – more buckwheat granola (Cocoa Bliss and Dates & Spices), sprouted sunflower seeds (Sweet Curry, Teriyaki, Cocoa Mole, Garlic & Sea Salt), and fruit leathers (Goji Orange, Vanilla Pear)!

In case you were wondering, because I certainly was, Kaia rhymes with Papaya.

After having the buckwheat granola I’m totally tempted to make my own sprouted buckwheat cereal!! As you all know, I’m nowhere near a raw foodist nor do I think I will ever be. However, I do think incorporating sprouted and raw foods into my diet is a good way to increase my consumption of minimally processed foods that are full of vitamins, minerals, and enzymes.

Happy Mod Fam Day! Did you all celebrate by watching?

-Brittany

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Saturday Night Scrabble

September 27, 2009

We had quite the dreary Saturday here with a ton of rain. Isaac and I decided to hang low for most of the day and after we had enough lounging around the house we decided to drop by Ellwood’s Coffee Shop, a local and eco-friendly spot in our neighborhood. They serve the normal coffee shop [...]