Spooky Oats

Happy Halloween! Its been a perfect fall day today. The leaves are wonderful and there’s a crispness in the air that is amazing. Sigh. Fall is awesome. :)

Last night was pretty awesome, as well. I got to have an amazing dinner (homemade pesto and pasta) with friends and then went out to a costume party at a local bar. It was SO fun to see so many people dressed up. There was also a DJ so there was most definitely some dancing going on. I don’t have many pictures (too busy having fun) but I do have one of me and my waist up as well as one of my skirt. Hopefully you’ll get the idear.

Anywho, this morning I had a huge craving for oatmeal. What better day to pull out the pumpkin?

This mix had 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup soymilk, 1/3 cup pumpkin, chia seeds and a ton of cinnamon and nutmeg. Once all was done, I topped it with peanut butter, pumpkin butter and some raisins. This was so good – and quite spooky, don’t you think??

What are you guys up to today? Any celebrations? I’m so hoping for some trick or treaters, myself.

Have a great night!

Super Saturday

Hey guys! Happy Saturday. What’s been going on? I’ve had a really good day so far. I slept in, enjoyed some blog reading and coffee in bed, and made the perfect Saturday breakfast – pancakes! These were buckwheat banana pancakes made with Bob’s Red Mill buckwheat mix (1/3 cup), a whipped egg white, half a mashed nanner and about 1/3 cup water. I think the key to fluffy buckwheat pancakes is the whipped egg white (thanks Sarena!) and a bit extra water.

I topped my pancakes with raspberry greek yogurt, the other nanner half, cinnamon and a bit of honey.

After breakfast and some cleaning up, I made my way out for an awesome walk. Its a bit chilly here today but sunny and the leaves are absolutely beautiful. It was great.

I was feeling the need for some yoga, too, so I did Yoga Today’s free weekly video. It was awesome. It went pretty slowly and wasn’t that vigorous but I definitely felt the burn by holding the poses and really focusing on form and breathing. I loved it.

While yoga-ing, I was roasting some veggies (and a fruit) – carrot, onion, apple and broccoli. It smelled unbelievable. I just tossed everything in some olive oil, salt and pepper and popped them in the oven at 350 for 50 minutes. The onion got a little too crispy but still tasted delicious. I drizzled the veggies with tahini and sprinkled with red pepper flake and had some toast and hummus on the side.

Now, I’m about to take a shower and get ready for the Halloween party I’m heading to tonight. I had been throwing around a bunch of ideas, but ultimately decided to go as a 50s poodle girl. It should be fun. :)

Are you guys doing anything for Halloween?? What are you dressing up as?

Milking it For What Its Worth

Well hello! Happy Emilyday. What’s the good word? I have been a busy little bee this week. No complaints, though. I’ve been happily trucking through – and the weekend is in sight!

Today has been a particularly good food day, so I thought I would share my eats with you. Breakfast started out right with a couple of mini crust-less broccoli quiches (I made six of them in a muffin tin on Monday evening – recipe to come soon!) and a big hunk of brown bread toasted and spread with some Smart Balance and pumpkin butter. Have you guys tried the brown bread yet? It’s so simple and so good.

Lunch consisted of a big pile of spinach topped with veggie chili leftovers and the remaining quarter of my roasted acorn squash. Of course, there was fresh black pepper and hot sauce involved! I also had a few un-pictured blue corn tortilla chips. You know, me and the whole crunch thing.

And for snack, I just finished munching on a nanner topped with some peanut butter as well as a few raisins and peanuts (just in case it wasn’t p-nutty enough). Some cinnamon was involved, naturally.

In other news, I got my flu shot today and man, my arm is killing me! I’m going to see how I can milk this… no typing?… dishes in the sink for a couple more days?… takeout instead of a homemade dinner?? Ohh…the possibilities.

Have a great night, friends!

Oh My Goodness...Where can I find one?

Guys, did you see this!?

I know this is a ridiculous and brief post, but its a crazy busy week! I promise to be more verbose tomorrow. :)

Have a great Wednesday! Let me know what exciting things are going on in your neck of the woods!

Dinner Victory, Picture Fail

Hi friends. Happy Monday. How goes the fight? I have no complaints about this Monday. Work went extraordinarily fast and I got the perfect amount of sleep to fuel my day.  I’m realizing (yet again) how important sleep is to having good days. Weird how that works, huh? :)

Tonight, I was determined to make a big bowl of my veggie chili to last the week. Well, when I got home, and I saw the lonely acorn squash sitting on my table, that’s when it clicked.

What’s more fun than an edible bowl?

You’re right, there’s pretty much zip, notta, zilch that’s better than an edible bowl. Whether its cantaloupe filled with yogurt, bread filled with creamy soup, or an acorn squash half filled with chili – it doesn’t get much better, I’d say.

So, I roasted the de-gutted and halved squash for about 40 minutes at 350 degrees and got to work at making my handy dandy chili recipe. Before I knew it, it was time to eat. This was so good. The spicy sauce of the chili soaked into the squash and it was perfect.

I also had some blue corn chips for crunchy satisfaction.

 
So, its clear what I’m referring to with the picture fail. Guys, this getting dark ridiculously early thing is tough. I’m sorry for the blurry and poorly lit pictures. Truth be told, I was too hungry to fight the dark! Next time, I will succeed!

How are you dealing with the darkness?? Also, what’s your favorite edible bowl combination?

Bakin’ Brown Bread

Well hi! Remember when I mentioned my mom’s delicious brown bread??  Well, with the necessary ingredients, some idle time at home, and some hungry bellies to feed, I decided I would try my hand at it. Guess what?! You can too. :)

First things first, you need:

A mug of warm green tea.

for the baker’s sipping pleasure, of course!

Your (my) grandmother’s recipe.

And someone who is musical-leeeee…

….more talented than you…(and this officially ends the rhyming segment of this post).

Here’s what else you need:

3 cups of sour milk or buttermilk
2 cups of whole wheat flour
2 cups of white flour 
1 cup of molasses
3/4 cup of sugar
1/2-3/4 cup raisins
2 teas. salt
2 teas. baking soda (or 6 teas. baking powder if that’s all you can find)
2 loaf pans, greased

Here’s how its done:

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Place 3 cups of milk and 3 tbsp of vinegar in a separate bowl. Stir and place somewhere a bit warm – like on top of the heating oven! It will start to curdle in no time.

Then, mix all ingredients in a large bowl.

Add sour milk (it looks gross, so I’ll spare you the curdled picture!) and stir until incorporated.
 

Pour into the greased loaf pans and bake away for an hour or until finished. I neglected to do this, but to keep the bread super moist (hate that word!) fill a pan with some water and place it in the oven as well.

 
Then, let cool and enjoy. I love mine toasted with a bit of smart balance or even topped with some peanut butter for more staying power. Yum.

Let me know if you guys try this! While I recommend sharing, if you’re  so inclined to stow it away where only you know about it (who me?) it freezes superbly (or rather, defrosts superbly).

A Perfect Fall Breakfast

Happy Saturday, friends. I hope that its a great one in your neck of the woods. I have been celebrating with a slow and lazy morning complete with lots of coffee and a beautiful bowl of oats (perhaps made even more beautiful by the fall tablescape my mom has created).

This was made with 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1/2 cup skim milk, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 a banana cooked in the oats, vanilla and cinnamon. Topped with the other half of the banana, crushed almonds, a few raisins and some maple syrup. Delicious.

I have some errands and house things (raking, ugh…definitely taking one for the team, here!) on the agenda today. What do you have going on??

Footnote*

Have chocolate, will travel (did I forget to mention my work chocolate stash?? Thanks Mom!). Hitting the road this afternoon. See you tomorrow!

P.S. Have a great start to the weekend!

*See yesterday's ode to chocolate. :)

For the Love of Chocolate

Guys, first, Happy Emilyday. Second, for the past couple of weeks, I’ve had a situation up in here. I think word has gotten out that I enjoy chocolate. OK, that I enjoy chocolate a lot – especially of the uber dark variety.  Well, thanks to some pretty amazing friends, not one, not two, not three, but four (!), four different delectable varieties of chocolate have been residing in my chocolate cabinet. Yes, the chocolate cabinet.

Here are the goods:

From left to right: Dark chocolate that, no joke, tastes like truffles. It is so rich and was a gift direct from Switzerland. Green and Black’s organic dark chocolate with tart dried cherries. Yum. Whole Foods’ raspberries in dark chocolate – so good and each little chocolate has a heart on top. Awh. A tin of the cutest (and most delicious) little Swiss chocolates. This tin actually contains milk, hazelnut, dark and another kind of chocolate I’m not sure of (not of my vernacular).

While I love both the Green and Black’s and Whole Foods versions, I’ve never tasted chocolate like the chocolate from Switzerland. It is no joke. Still, to make sure that each kind gets their due lovin’ (and so that the Swiss chocolate doesn’t disappear TOO quickly), I’ve been having little plates like this for dessert:

  
Do you guys have a love for chocolate? Have you ever had Swiss chocolate? What’s your favorite kind?

Fall Veggie Chili

On a trip to visit my parents a few weeks ago, I wanted to make something that we all (meat and non-meat eaters) would enjoy. It was rainy and cold in the most appropriate fall way, and I knew that vegetarian chili would most definitely do the trick. As I’ve been trying to cut back on the amount of fake meat products I consume, and to avoid grossing out my mom with them, I didn’t use any in this chili and it came out hearty and delicious regardless.

Here’s what you’ll need for the chili:

1 can drained and rinsed black beans
1 can drained and rinsed red kidney beans
1 can drained and rinsed garbanzo beans
1 can drained corn
1 can zesty diced tomatoes
1 can plain tomato sauce
1 can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (key for smokiness and heat)
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 large onion
Chili powder
Cumin
Cheese of choice for garnish

Here’s what you do:

Dice bell peppers and onion. I like it chunky so I didn’t chop mine too finely. Heat some olive oil in a good sized (large!) pot. Add peppers and onion and sauté until slightly browned. Open chipotle peppers and pull out 2-5 peppers (they’re pretty spicy so use according to your own taste). I dice mine pretty finely. Add chipotle peppers and a spoon (or few) of the adobo sauce. Add the remaining canned ingredients and chili powder and cumin to taste. Stir and let simmer until everything is heated thoroughly through. You can serve as soon as all is warm, but it most definitely is better to let it simmah to get the mojo going.

To add even more fall flare to this meal, I decided to make homemade pumpkin corn bread. I used Quaker Corn Meal and mostly followed the package directions. Here were my measurements:

1 cup flour
1 cup corn meal
¼ cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 egg
¼ cup (heaping) pumpkin

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and mix until incorporated. Pour into greased pan and bake for about 20-25 minutes. The pumpkin really made the corn bread dense and moist. It was a great addition (and I stomached it!!).

My parents really enjoyed this meal. I think the addition of the chipotle peppers and adobo sauce really give the veggie chili a hearty flavor that is sometimes missing. The corn bread was great crumbled or dipped in. Yum.

Do you guys have an easy, family-friendly meal that you just love? Please share! :)

A Journey of Foodie Delights

Happiest of Sunday evenings to you! How was the weekend? I’m so grateful for mine – it was so nice to have my parents here and it was made all the better by the good news we kept receiving about my uncle. He is doing remarkably well and was even up and walking around today. I think it most definitely has to do with all the good thoughts aimed his way. Thanks again, friends.

Well, my love of food was in no means cultivated in a vacuum. My parents, as well as my extended family members, are all about delicious food. Its something that we seek out and savor. This weekend had no shortage of delicious food, and I’m going to share two of the most memorable.

First, yesterday afternoon, we made our way to Davis Square in Somerville to have hot dogs at Spikes for lunch. You may be thinking – Emily? Hot dogs? And I say, but of course. They have veggie dogs and veggie burgers that taste (to me) just like the original. I think what makes them so amazing to me, though, is the fresh homemade hot dog buns and the lists of toppings and endless combinations of goodness.

My mom and I both went for the St. Bernard – a hot dog smeared with stone ground mustard, topped with sauerkraut and Swiss cheese and sent through the toaster. For a side, my mom went with the baked beans (declared tastier than they look!) and I went with the side salad that was really impressive for a hot dog joint.

  Yum.

And, today, before going to Halibut Point to enjoy the ocean view, we stopped at the Clam Box in Ipswich so that my Dad could get his seafood fix.

He was super happy to order his combo plate of fried clams and scallops, french fries and coleslaw and ended up getting a lobster roll as well, because he couldn’t decide between the two. :)

All of it was delicious and definitely filled my Dad’s craving. Despite the long wait – 45 minutes, he was already talking about going again next time. I mean, how could you not?

I hope you guys enjoyed my foodie recap! I had such a good time and am sad at how quickly the weekend went. I already have a list of (foodie) destinations for the next trip, though. :) Thanks for coming out, Mom and Dad.

With that, I’m off to make some tea and relax in my jammies. Have a great night, friends.

It Starts

Happy Saturday! How goes it? We’ve had a great weekend so far and its just starting. Yesterday afternoon we made our way to Salem to walk around and enjoy the Halloween/Fall sights. While it was fun being outside, we decided to take a tour around the Peabody Essex Museum. I’m definitely a huge museum fan. I always walk out swimming with thoughts about our ancestors and human creativity and ingenuity. So cool.

We did a lot of walking and by the time we got back to my apartment I was ready to get started on dinner. I made easy Indian meal using a jarred masala sauce (just like last time, but the store didn’t have my Seeds of Change tikki masala). I sauteed onion and eggplant and then added a can of chick peas, peas, and the simmer sauce. I also made some jasmine rice with raisins and heated up some whole wheat naan from the store.

Everyone loved the meal and we washed it all down with some Ipswich Ale. Yum.

This morning, we were up bright and early with the beautiful sun. I made some coffee and scrambled eggs for my parents while I stuck to a couple pieces of my mom’s delicious brown bread toasted with smart balance and a nanner sliced and topped with sunflower seed butter. So good.

Our plan for today is to go into Boston and walk the Freedom Trail – culminating in a lovely dinner in the North End.

What do you guys have going on? I hope you have a great one. :)

Edited to Add: My uncle’s surgery went well yesterday – his doctor seems very positive about the outcome and we’re all so relieved that it is over. Thanks so much for your well wishes, guys. XOXO

Part of Your Complete Breakfast

Hey guys! Its Friday (woot!). I'm so excited - my parents are going to be here very soon and we're going to have an awesome weekend. I love the excuse to see all of the touristy spots when guests are here.

In order to fuel all of my excitement, I started off with a breakfast of champions. Behold:

Notice this?

It was part of an amazing package sent to my very good friend Homecooked Em. Thanks so much, Em! It made my day and the chocolate hazelnut butter is sooo good. I may have cut open the package to make sure there wasn't any left in there. :)

The complete breakfast was awesome. The chocolate hazelnut butter provided the perfect little treat for Friday. Yum.

Have a great one, guys!

Em

A Quick Hello!

Hey guys! Happy Emilyday! Its been a crazy day – well a crazy week –and I just wanted to check in to say hi! I’m currently eating a delicious but cop-out dinner – an Amy’s corn tamale with rice and some roasted broccoli. Yum.

My parents are coming to visit for the weekend – they get here at noon tomorrow and I couldn’t be more excited. I hope to post some of our delicious meals from the weekend so stay tuned. For now, I’m going to relax and watch some Thursday night tv with a good thought and perhaps some ice cream thrown in.

What are you guys up to this weekend?? Its almost here!

Lots of love,

Em

The Intuitive Eating Challenge

It seems like “intuitive eating” is quite the buzz phrase these days – and I believe, for good reason. For a long time, I would plan and distribute my meals regularly – three per day with pre-planned snacks and just enough food throughout the day so that I could save enough room for a nightly dessert. This way of eating completely ruined any semblance of eating intuitively. If I wasn’t hungry after dinner, I still ate dessert; if I was hungry between breakfast and lunch, well too bad. I’ve gotten much better at this, and as a result, feel like my energy levels are more steady and I’m able to avoid getting cranky from hunger or uncomfortable from unnecessary food. And (!) I’m happier.

However, there still remains a little bit of a challenge. Because I’m on a budget and desire to eat a good balance of wholesome foods as much as possible, I need to bring my food to work each day. This means pre-planning and potentially overlooking what my body is really craving (or not craving). What might sound good to me the night before may not be what I desire for breakfast or lunch the next day.

Perhaps it was from the sweet and delicious bowl of apple crisp and ice cream that I had for dessert last night, but I woke up this morning only moderately hungry and no where near interested in the dense, carby, peanut butter and banana toast that I had packed. Lucky for me, my lunch box resembles more of a (huge) reusable grocery bag than the Little Mermaid versions we packed not long ago and I had also packed some greek yogurt for a snack. I was able to assemble this protein packed breakfast that was just what I wanted.

  plain greek yogurt, peanut butter, pumpkin butter and nanner

Other days, though, I might not have been so lucky to have my enormous feed bag. :) Do you guys face the same issues? What do you do when you’re just not craving what you packed for breakfast or lunch (or dinner)? How do you avoid getting too stuck in a schedule to listen to your true hunger cues?

Also, thank you so much for the good thoughts about my uncle. It means so much to me and my family. <3