Hectic/Crazy/Tasty

I am so sorry for such a long absence. Really I am.

My life's been crazy lately. I don't think I've stopped moving since my birthday! I've had cousins to visit, weddings and benefits to attend... Mom has the pictures from my birthday weekend and I haven't even seen her but once since then. That was on the way to a wedding shower last weekend.

I have been cooking and baking, though. Posts are written out, awaiting pictures AND an internet connection for that matter. Kyle got his drive on on Wednesday and moved in.

Score!

We walked down to the froyo place down the street for dinner last night! I was so distracted I forgot about taking pictures until we were both almost finished.. oops!




My creation of pomegranate/green tea swirl froyo with peanut butter froyo on top and all topped with cookie dough, chocolate chips, walnuts and a dash of blueberries!


Kyle's creation of chocolate/vanilla swirl froyo with what looks like gummy bears, sour gum drops, and maybe granola? ..I didn't actually pay too much attention to what he picked out. I was waaaaaay too excited about the toppings bar... >_>

In other news, Kyle is having AT&T turn on the internet connection in the apartment on Monday! Woot! More posting time!

More to follow next week! After the family reunion on Sunday... I think despite having never trained for one, I really am running a whirlwind life marathon...

Disappearing Act

**update: I found the pictures! They were still on my camera! Whoops! I added them to the post like I originally had planned!**

So I must be losing it. I've searched through all the pictures in my computer and cannot find the picture I know I took of my delicious smoothie covered in Grape Nuts. Oh well - it might scare some people anyway being so green and all! It was downright delicious and I got the idea from Peas and Thank You. I just concocted my own mixture for the smoothie base (while breaking my blender in the process... come to think of it, I even took a picture of that poor blender in the trashcan... where DID my photos disappear to??)



I also added the Grape Nuts. This kept me full for hours! Oh do I love Grape Nuts. Best invention ever, in my opinion!



Speaking of great inventions, I discovered a new favorite soap! It smells so incredibly good that I was even stopped coming out of Starbucks one morning and asked what I was wearing! Oh yeah, it's that yummy! Feast your eyes on:

THE MAGIC SOAP!!



It was even on sale at K3 Natural Foods! Score!

Green Smoothie with Grape Nuts
3/4 - 1 cup frozen spinach, defrosted
1 granny smith apple, chopped
1/4 cup fresh blueberries
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 cup Grape Nuts cereal

In a blender or food processor, combine spinach, apple, blueberries, ginger and milk until smooth. Pour into a bowl and top with Grape Nuts.

Purple Potato Eater

I said Mr Purple Potato Eater, what's your line?
He said eating purple potatoes, and it sure is fine
But that's not the reason that I came to land
I wanna get a job in a rock 'n roll band

Granted I changed the words around to fit my current purple passion, but I loved that song growing up! As many young girls do, I loved anything purple! It's only fitting that I'd love purple potatoes, too!

I discovered the beauties one afternoon while browsing in Kroger. While I'd heard of them, I'd never been able to partake in their purple wonderment. Until now. I snatched up a couple of those bad boys and hauled my expensive tastes up to the register. The kind woman there rang them up as baking potatoes, saving me $3 a pound in the process! Bless her heart! I was filled with happiness!



The happiness only grew as I arrived home, chopped up a potato and roasted it to perfection. Maybe they don't taste outrageously different, but they sure are gorgeous!

Roasted Purple Potato
1 purple potato, washed and chopped into large pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
Pinch of kosher salt
Pinch of black caraway seeds
Pinch of dried sage

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cast iron skillet with aluminum foil. Toss all ingredients together in a bowl. Transfer potato mixture into skillet and bake 30 minutes or until done to your liking. Enjoy!

Peas Check it Out!

One of my new favorite blogs, Peas and Thank You, is having an awesome cookbook giveaway! You really should check out her blog - her stories are hysterical and fun. She makes being vegan seem so awesome! I'm a "sometimes vegetarian" myself, but that craving for meat I get once in a while makes me a horrible candidate for veganism! Mama Pea is in the midst of making a cookbook - I'm so excited about it I even started to check for it at Barnes and Noble yesterday even though I knew it wasn't finished yet!

So check out her website, there's tons of yummy recipes to tide you over until the cookbook emerges!

Caffienated Goodness

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. It's been so hard to get my butt over to Starbucks or Barnes and Noble for the wi-fi for my computer. Poor lonely little laptop sitting on my bookshelf with wonderous photos just waiting to be uploaded and posted!

*sigh*

Well this morning I decided to make my own coffee. I have some of Target's house blend in my pantry and I like to add odd ingredients to it. This morning's concoction was 2 tablespoons of coffee grounds, a pinch of lavender buds and a light sprinkling of cinnamon brewed in 5 cups of ice cold water. I poured it over some honey to sweeten it, ooooooh was it yummy!

So experiment with your coffee! You may be surprised!