West Coast Wanderings - Part I

Hola Bloggies!

So I'm in Whistler for my conference and it's going well. Tomorrow will mark more than the half-way point of my trip.I've had a good time so far - hanging out in Van (couver) with my girls was particularly fun.

Shall we catch up? What follows is a highlight reel of my trip thus far! :o)


I flew out of my Rocky Mountain airport early on Friday evening. It was a beautiful day so I snapped a picture for you bloggies as I walked on the tarmac towards my Air Canada plane.

Our flight was uneventful (just the way I like my flights) and soon I arrived in Vancouver. It was late at this point and I went to bed early so I could get to all the wonderful adventures and yummy eats we had planned for my weekend.

This was the weekend I finally got to try these guys:


Can you believe this was my first introduction to the beauty that are steel cut oats? I wasn't sure what to expect but I knew they had to be good. After all so many bloggers swear by them!


To our oats we added a bit of chopped almonds and some creamed honey. Verdict? WOW! Steel-cut oats are completely worth the investments. They were a world apart from quick cook oats.

I've been toying with the idea of getting back into morning oats and I think I may just have to go steel-cut or go home! :oP

But don't worry bloggies - I also indulged in some other serious breakfast eats. I had a beautiful croissant courtesy of the wonderful Thomas Haas cafe in North Vancouver:


I don't think I've had such wonderful flaky and buttery croissants since the last time I saw Paris. The tiny bit of home made jam was also amazing. Needless to say I thought this treat was well worth the calorie expenditure!

While I was waiting in line to pay for my breakfast I also happened to notice an amazing chocolate sculpture:


All edible and all made of delicate chocolate! Outside of FoodTV I had never seen one of these beauties. Want to see a close-up?


Beyond amazing! And nothing less than what I would expect from a Master Chocolatier! :o)

While in Vancouver I also got to indulge in some yummy ethnic eats. Specifically - Asian food! On one of those occasions we headed to a local Korean restaurant:


One of my favourite things about Korean food is the little dishes of pickled vegetables, kimchi, potatoes, and (usually) bean sprouts that come complimentary with your meal:


While I nibbled on some potatoes I tried to decide on my main meal. Finally I chose a spicy cured tofu seafood soup. Yeah it sounds strange but it's not. It's like an amazing spicy stew chock-full of seafood and vegetables. It came with a bit of rice on the side - which is a good thing because it helped to take the heat (muy picante!) off!!!


Oh yeah the soup came with a single egg cracked inside. You stir it with your chopsticks and soon enough it cooks and mixes in with all the other ingredients. Some may think it gross but I think it makes for an awesome presentation!!!! Oh and it doesn't hurt that the soup was seriously good. So good I'm considering going back for more when I return to Vancouver on Friday.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that on Saturday afternoon I had what is possibly the best cup of coffee I've ever had in my life:


This heart-shaped beauty (cappuccino) came courtesy of Cafe Artigiano. I had my lovely cup of java at the original location adjacent to the Vancouver Art Gallery. Turns out this location is home to the Canadian Barrista Champion for many years running! :o)

I often say I'm deprived of yummy eats in my small Rocky Mountain town. But I think I've more than made up for it this last little while! lol

Stay tuned tomorrow night for the next installment of my West Coast Wanderings!

An Addition

Morning bloggies!

Yesterday when I posted the BSI Almond recipes I somehow managed to miss Ruth's wonderful Morning Glory bread.

Please do check it out! It looks seriously yummers! :o)

See you later tonight for a food entry!!!

Drumroll Please - The BSI Challenge Winner Revealed

Hola bloggies:

I know it's late for this post but technically in Whistler it's still Monday night! :oP

Let me start by saying that I had a good number of really great entries for almonds. It was no easy task deciding on the winner. All the recipes look AMAZING and I'm going to have me an almond cook-a-thon when I get back home.


But for now it's time to reveal the winner of this week's BSI Challenge (almond week) . . . .

This week's winner isn't even a blogger but she is a faithful reader - CONGRATULATIONS RONTINI!!!! :o)

When I saw Rontini's recipe I knew that it would be hard to beat! In fact when Rontini sent me the recipe, she let me know it was her favourite recipe so she just had to share. I'm thrilled she did!!

You can easily make this recipe with very little ingredients or equipment. But there's no doubt in my mind that it would be insanely yummy and very filling. It will probably make for a great power snack!

Rontini's Almond Butter Cookie

preheat oven to 350 degree oven

1 cup almond butter (or half peanut butter and half almond butter)

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

2 teaspoons of baking powder

extra sugar for rolling

white chocolate chips (if you use dark chocolate, it doesn't taste as good)

1. With a mixer, whip nut butter and sugar together till incorporated

2. Whip in egg and baking powder

3. Roll the batter into a (walnut sized) ball

4. Roll ball in sugar

5. Place on cookie sheet and flatten with a fork (Cross Hatch)

6. Bake at 350 degrees for 9 min then add one white chocolate chip on top

7. Bake for 1 more min.

8. Let cool slightly before removing to serve. (use spatula to remove...breaks easily while warm)

Serve with Ani's Vanilla Mylk or Made in Mexico Mylk to up the yummy almond ante.

Enjoy!

You guys will also want to check out some of the other awesome recipes I received for this week's BSI challenge:

Marianne's (From French Fries to Flaxseeds) Mandarin Almond Chicken - almonds in a stirfry . . . YUM! It's like peanuts but allergy friendly for bloggies like me!

Veggiegirl's White Chocolate Almond-Coconut Blondies - you NEED to try these! Veggiegirl is a blondie Queen!!!

Gayle's (Gayle Made) Almond Crusted Chicken Salad with Almond Vinaigrette - wow! This is a serious recipe! I'm going to buy some guava paste for this. The fiance will love it!

Christina's (Dinner at Christina's) Grilled Asian Steak - Can I come over for bbq some time Christina? This would be delicious for sure!

Beth's (Biggest Diabetic Loser) Almond Craisin Coffee Cake with Almond Glaze - Beth made this super recipe with the ingredients she had on hand. Proving that she has some serious baking chops!

Krista's (Krista's Kravings) Blueberry Almond Cornbread - I would have never even thought to combine these ingredients together! A definite winner for cornbread lovers!


Wow! You bloggies are amazing!!!! You never fail to impress me with your creativity and serious baking/cooking chops. And that's why I can't wait to see what you do next!

This week's BSI Challenge will be hosted by the fabulous Leah (Simply Fabulous)!

Stay tuned to see her big ingredient reveal!! I'm sure it will be fantastic and you bloggies will no doubt rise to the BSI Challenge with style! :o)

Bloggie out!

Shout out!

Hola peeps,

Just a quick note to let you know I haven't forgotten about you or the BSI Challenge! :o)

I'm in Van-city right now with my amigas and having a grand old time. This morning we're heading to a dim sum brunch followed by a meeting with Chris+Lynn and then I'll head up to Whistler.

Make sure to get your BSI recipes in bloggies and I'll announce a winner on Monday!!! Also, stay tuned for some yummy food pics and hopefully some scenery pics too!

Run for the Border!

Hello everyone:

First things first bloggies - I just booked my flight for my upcoming vacation!!!! Woohooo!!! Can you guess where I'm going?



The flag in the background is your clue - MEXICO!!!!!!!!!!! (pronounced Meh-hee-koh :oP) From May 30th - June 6th, I will be flying down to enjoy Mexico with the fiance and my mom. I hope to have enough time to squeeze in these type of activities:

The purpose of the trip will be two-fold: to enjoy ourselves on the beautiful Yucatan Peninsula AND to go scout some prospective wedding locations! That's right bloggies - this TorontoGirloutWest is having a destination wedding! :o) Woohoo!! But more on that in future posts . . . .


Let's re-cap yesterday's eats

For breakfast I thought I would try a protein bar. Specifically, I chose a bar I had seen on numerous blogs - I had high hopes for some seriously yummy eats! It even promised brownie like-goodness.

It was NOT yummy at all!!! In fact it tasted like a protein bar - and by that I mean chalky and not at all satisfying. I was highly disappointed and decided to remedy the situation by whipping myself up a Green Monster (without the any Almond Breeze since I'd ingested so much protein already):

The combination of the bar and my Green Monster (Rawr! lol Yeah I know . . . cheap joke :oP) held the hunger at bay until noon. At lunch I headed out to run a couple of errands and stopped by my local Shoppers Drug Mart. Why? Well the Popchips people had assured me Popchips could now be found in Canada but only at this store. Unfortunately I showed up and the sales people had never heard of Popchips (boo!). Instead I loaded up with some baked Kettle Chips that I paired with a home-made wrap:

Lately I'm becoming a huge fan of wraps. They're less carb-heavy than bread slices. And you can stuff them full of so many wonderful things! :o) I heart them! Especially the kind pictured above - they're WW and made with flax. Yummy and healthy - score!

Afternoon snack was a bit of dates and almonds munched on at my desk:

I hadn't eaten straight-up dates in quite a while. I was happy to have them make their way back into my snacking rotation! :o)

Dinner was a huge salad (way bigger than it looks in the picture) with a grilled steak on top. It was cooked to perfection, if I do say so myself! lol The perfect ending to a long day that had already seen me ingest my fair share of carbs.


It was a lovely day full of varied eats - just the way I like it! :o)

Okay bloggies - I have to head to bed now. Tomorrow is a long day full of work, packing, a bit of cleaning, and then a flight to Vancouver. I'll spend the weekend in Van with my girls and then head up to Whistler for a week long work conference. As a result, I don't know if I'll get a chance to write a post tomorrow but this time I'm for sure taking my laptop with me and blogging from the West Coast!

Enjoy your Friday bloggies!!!

A Friendly BSI (Almonds!) Reminder

Helo peeps!

I wanted to make sure I encouraged all of you to get your cooking hats on and submit a recipe for the Almonds BSI Challenge.

I'm looking for a yummy and innovative recipe featuring almonds! These little beauties can be used a myriad of ways: stir-fry, in baked goods, as ground almonds to substitute flour, French style macaroons, or maybe even your own recipe to make flavoured almond butter! YUM! Think of the possibilities! :o)

ALSO - this contest is OPEN TO EVERYONE!!! You don't have to be a blogger! Blog readers are totally welcome. In fact I've already gotten a couple of recipes from some non-bloggers!

So remember - here are the rules:

1. Create a recipe featuring almonds

2. Take pictures of your finished product

3. Email the recipe and pictures to tobethewholepackageATgmailDOTcom

4. All entries must be in to me by midnight PST on April 26th, 2009

5. Contest Open to Non-Bloggers as well! :o)

* Prize pack features some lovely KIND bars!!

source

Happy Earth Day to You!

In honour of Earth Day I decided to start this post with a picture I took from my place in Victoria (Vancouver Island, Canada). This shot will always remind me of how absolutely spectacular our planet is and how much we need to take care of it! :o)

And now for the eats . . . I realize I have not updated you on This Week's Grocery Haul:


Pretty decent looking haul, huh!? :o) I didn't overdo it because I'm heading away on a work trip soon. And I know when I'm not around, the boy will mostly eat out.

You want to hear what's not so cool about this haul? TOTAL: $64 (and change)! Is it just me or doesn't that seem like a lot for that haul? I was very unimpressed. Except for the Almond Breeze, none of my usual goodies were on sale. Boo-urns!

But enough about that - let's move on to yesterday's eats!

In the morning I decided to start my day with something other than my usual Green Monster! Gasp! :oO Breakie was a WW wrap with a smear of Rocky Mountain honey and some almond butter:


I then followed this up with NO morning snack. Man was I crazy hungry by the time lunch came around! In fact I think I even heard my stomach growl!!! It was okay though because for lunch the entire office was heading out to a local restaurant. The occasion? Administrative Professionals Day!

For my entree I thought I would order another Caesar salad. This time I was wiser and asked for my dressing on the side:

Confession time - I was so hungry and gobbled this up so quickly, you'd think it was the last meal of a condemned man! lol :oP

Overall? Not bad but the weekend one was yummier.

Next came my main meal - a sort of Spanish seafood stew:


Frankly I was just so delighted that my little Rocky Mountain town offered something this ethnic. That alone made me a happy girl! :o)

For dinner, it was the fiance's turn to take care of dinner. He was in a rush so instead of cooking he decided we should go out to dinner. Since it was his turn to pick we ended up at a Chinese buffet. Oh bloggies . . . big mistake!

I've eaten in this place before and I always have a hard time finding something to eat. I won't eat any of their meats or seafood because they're inevitably deep-fried or covered in some radioactive sauce. Yesterday was no different so I hit the buffet and sat back down with a plate of mostly non-meat dishes:


Oh amigos it was terrible!!!! It mostly tasted like it had been lathered up with pork fat and I wasn't loving it. I ended up eating only the broccoli and tomatoes. Even that wasn't good.

My stomach didn't love the meal either. In fact more than 24 hours later I still feel ill in my belly! Boo!

When we got back home I decided I was still hungry so I busted out my favourite kind of ZonePerfect Bar. And look who happened to sneak in the picture? lol


Thankfully the fiance provided a happy (and funny :oP) ending to a not so happy dining experience.

And that's all she ate on Tuesday bloggies . . . I'll be back tomorrow with more updates!


Sleep tight! :o)

Lemon Power Bars/Balls - A Recipe

Hola Bloggies!

I do believe I owe you a recipe. I had originally planned on posting this in the AM but I didn't get the chance before I headed to work. But I'm about to make up for it! :o)

The recipe that follows was my entry into last week's Blogger Secret Ingredient challenge (lemon). I decided to create a bit of a Larabar "knockoff" inspired by my favourite Larabar - Key Lime Pie. Yummers!

For the recipe I used lemons but you could use lime instead. I have to say the end result was a very accurate reproduction. Cheap? Yes! Yummy? Yes! Will I make them again? You Bet!

Lemon Power Bars/Balls

The Cast of Characters

1 cup - chopped dates
2/3 cup - cashews
3/4 cup - unsweetened shredded coconut
1 - lemon

1) Take dates (I suggest using medjool dates) and remove their seeds.
Chop them up with a knife until you have a cup full.

2) Grind cashews in a food processor until they resemble coarse
crumbs. Plase dates cashews in a mixing bowl.

3) In the same food processor (no need to wash), process the dates
until they form a paste.

4) Add date paste to the cashew mixture. Also add the coconut.

5) Take your lemon and zest it, adding the zest to the mixing bowl.
Then cut your lemon and squeeze the juice of 1/2 a lemon to the
mixture.

6) Roll up your sleeves and mix all the ingredients by hand until they
come together.


(It's messy but oh so worth it - btw if you find that the mixture is too wet for your taste feel free to add a bit more coconut)

7) At this point you can cut four pieces of saran wrap and shape the
mixture into four large bars. Wrap the bars and refrigerate. The
mixture will harden and the flavours will deepen.

8) Alternatively you can shape the mixture into small donut hole sized balls.


This recipe yields four good sized bars or 12-16 power balls. I'm partial to the little balls themselves - the perfect size for snacking or pre-workout fuel!

If you refrigerate these goodies overnight the flavours will deepen and make it perfectly yummy.

Enjoy bloggies!!! :o)

Weekend Wanderings - Part II

Hello bloggies:

How about we wrap up Part II of my weekend wanderings and move on to a lovely new recipe. :o)

By far, the highlight of my weekend was my Saturday. That's the day the fiance and I got to spend together. Since the weather was beautiful we decided we should head to some natural hot springs. No spa-like resorts this time. Rather, they were beautiful pools by the side of a river.

But first I had to take breakfast! Since we were in a rush I grabbed another one of the Honest Foods squares:

I know I previously pledged my love for the maple flavoured plank . . . I take it back! They're still good but this one was just AMAZING! :o) It was the apple ginger variety but strangely enough I couldn't really taste the ginger. If anything I'd say it tasted like a perfect apple pie - YUM!

Want to see the nutritional info?


On the way to the hot springs I also ate a banana (no picture). It took us a while to pack our lunch, drive up, and then hike to the hot springs. I was mungry by that point so we ate the sandwiches I packed for lunch.


A yummy sandwich with a lovely natural background - kind of close to perfect! :o)

Right after lunch we jumped in the hot springs. Someone (I'm assuming the Parks service) had taken stones to create three separate pools. The three pools were progressively further away from the source. So when you were too hot from the first one you moved to the slightly cooler second one and so on. Then if you were really brave you would jump into the adjacent river!

Voila a bit of the view we enjoyed while sitting in the hot springs:


It was really nice but I think I'm pretty well done for hot springs this year. I like hot springs but I prefer being in them when it's colder outside. Or else I tend to over heat. We'll have to go back to those springs in the fall!

Since we were already up near some of our favourite recreation spots we decided to spend the rest of the day poking about. We first headed to the Kicking Horse Cafe where we each had a drink and the fiance also indulged in a SERIOUS looking cheesecake!


I had my usual London Fog (called a Newfoundland Fog at this Canadian cafe). But I also stole a couple of sips of the fiance's Black Asam tea and Oh My! I loved it - loved it so much I bought a canister of lose leaf tee to bring home with me.

After our snack we headed to one of the local lakes to try our hand at fishing. Okay so I didn't do any fishing (I don't have a license) but I came with for the ride.


While the fiance fished I entertained myself in a variety of different ways. First I played with my ring. I'm rather proud of myself - I finally managed to capture some fire! lol


I also played with this little guy - the only fishy I saw that day . . .


LOL :oP

Eventually I got a case of the nibbles so I ate some of the mangoes I had packed earlier in the date. I put them in Tupperware when they were still frozen - by the afternoon they found themselves in a nice semi-thawed state.

After a while we gave up on fishing and headed to the shores of Lake Windermere to chill for a bit before dinner. It's still early on in the season here but I can totally see how this lake would be just beautiful in the summer!


For dinner we headed to a local hot spot. The restaurant was located near the Hoodoos that we climbed last week. The sign outside said they opened at 5pm and we made it a point to be there for opening hour. It's a good thing we were too because the place was absolutely packed!

I was excited - I'd heard great things about the restaurant and I couldn't wait to see how right (or wrong) those recommendations were. Instead of having a main dish I settled on two appetizers for my meal.

First came a Caesar salad. I never order Caesar salads but this one came with the lettuce slightly grilled so as to wilt it and heighten the slightly bitter flavour. I was curious so I decided I was game. I should probably also mention that I was assured that the salad would come with a VERY light drizzle of dressing. lol

Well . . .

The presentation was lovely and the salad was really good. But the dressing! lol Oh the dressing! I think they ran out of their usual drizzling instrument and resorted instead to a ladle! :oP

Since it was so yummy I didn't really mind - I figured there were worst things then excessive amounts of dressing. I did however make a mental note to ask for about a 1/3 of the usual dressing portion.

My second appetizer was out next - a lovely bowl full of steamed mussels:


Here in the Rockies I don't get to have mussels often so whenever I see them on the menu I make sure to order them! :o) Apparently lovely shellfish make me a happy camper! lol Now if there were only freshly caught oysters nearby . . .

After dinner the fiance and I headed back home. Kind of exhausted but happy with our day. Once we walked back in the front door I was all ready to chill when the fiance suggested we run.

Yes. That's right. The fiance suggested we run!!!!

I can't even begin to tell you how shocked I was! :oO Ever since my Selecttech Dumbbells arrived he has been trying to workout every day. He'll even throw down and do push ups in the living room! And now he's running too!

I happily went outside and ran with him. Anything to keep him motivated! :o)

And that bloggies concludes my weekend highlights . . .

Come back tomorrow for a Lemon Power Bar/Ball Recipe!!!!

Buenas Noches!

Allez Cuisine!!!!!! (a BSI challenge)

Esteemed bloggers . . . you have been summoned here today to engage in battle. A battle for the yummiest and most innovative recipe featuring the Blogger Secret Ingredient.

This battle has had a fabled past featuring some great ingredients, hosted by some great bloggers:

• Week 28: Kristas Kravings - Lemon
• Week 27: From French Fries To Flax Seeds - Coconut Week
• Week 26: Plentiful Plants - Avocado
• Week 25: Training Fuel – Eggs
  
• Week 24: Dinner at Christina’s – Cabbage
  
• Week 23: Hey What’s for Dinner, Mom? – Strawberries
  
• Week 22: One Bite at a Time – Basil
  
• Week 21: Just Sweet Enough - Black Beans
  
• Week 20: What I Ate Yesterday – Kale
  
• Week 19: What’s for Dinner – Orange
  
• Week 18: BranAppetit! – Spinach
  
• Week 17: Tales of Expansion – Dates
  
• Week 16: Biggest Diabetic Loser – Zucchini
  
• Week 15: Sweet & Natural – Peppermint
  
• Week 14: bella eats [and runs] – Ginger
  
• Week 13: Coffee Talk – Walnuts
  
• Week 12: For the Love of Oats – Pumpkin
  
• Week 11: Trying to Heal - Sweet Potatoes
  
• Week 10: The Inner Workings of a College Graduate – Eggplant
  
• Week 9: Itzy’s Kitchen – Pears
  
• Week 8: The Fitnessista – Cranberries
  
• Week 7: Tri to Cook – Lentils
• Week 6: Rhodey Girl Tests – Polenta
  
• Week 5: Eating Bender - Butternut Squash
  
• Week 4: Care to Eat – Apples
  
• Week 3: On a Lobster Placemat – Mushrooms
  
• Week 2: Hangry Pants – Tomatoes
• Week 1: Sportsnutritionliving – Quinoa
  

Now it's my turn to host the BSI challenge. Without further ado, I present to you this week's ingredient . . .

ALMONDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are the rules

1. Create a recipe featuring almonds
2. Take pictures of your finished product
3. Email the recipe and pictures to tobethewholepackageATgmailDOTcom
4. All entries must be in to me by midnight PST on April 26th, 2009

The winner will receive a prize pack featuring Almond-Apricot KIND bars:
There you have it bloggies - spread the word - cook up a storm . . .
ALLEZ CUSINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :oP

Weekend Wanderings - A Recap (Part I)

Hola bloggies!

How was your weekend? Mine was pretty good but on the whole I have to confess it went by much too quickly!

The fiance and I had Saturday off together which was lovely! Especially because this Friday I'm flying out to Vancouver. I'll be there for barely a couple of days before heading up to Whistler for a week of work stuff. It sounds relaxing and all but I actually think it will be quite a lot of work. Still I'm looking forward to seeing my girls, seeing some pretty sights, and indulging in some yummy eats.

But enough about what is to come - how about we re-cap what just happened instead? Let's . . .

Friday started off as most of my days do - with a Green Monster! :o) You'll note I don't include yogurt in my myriad of ingredients anymore. I've been trying to make subtle reductions in my calorie intake here and there.


I figure little changes can make a big difference over a long period of time! :o) Oh and I guess I should mention that the ingredients you see are always for two people and end up making a whole blender-full! It's good amount of Green Monster goodness!

Oh one thing I should mention - now that I don't put yogurt in my shakes I've noticed they don't fill me as much! Boo!! :o( Maybe I just need to get used to a little less in terms of calorie intake. Intuitive eating and all!

Lunch was a special treat on a Friday:


My yummy eats were made up of take-out sushi from the grocery store, a cup full of granny smith apples (paired with a small amount of caramel dip - yummers), and a cup of green tea (not pictured. After eating I took a bit of time to start reading "Jessica Z" my blogger book club selection. Thus far it's a really good book - I can't wait to see how it all plays out!

A little later in the afternoon I got to thinking about some packages I needed to mail out. I figured work was a pretty good place to find some suitable boxes . . . so I went hunting for one! Soon enough I came across the box that Honest Foods had used to ship me my samples. It was nicely padded with paper and a bit of bubble wrap so it seemed perfect. But then I noticed there looked to be something inside the bubble wrap. Imagine my surprise when I discovered more samples!!!!!!!!!!!! :oO

I was positively jumping up and down! I thought I had seen the last of my Honest Foods goodies - boy was I thrilled I was wrong!!!! :oD

I hadn't eaten very much all day so I decided to snack on one of these babies while cooking dinner. I chose the Cran Lemon Zest bar. It reminded me a lot of the pomegranate plank but without the peanuts. Perfect for allergic little-old-me! lol


I'm still super impressed by the lovely quality of the Honest Foods products. The bars are more cookie-like than the planks. Probably better for carrying around in a purse or nibbling on after a gym workout or run!

Dinner saw the return of a favourite from last week - a stir-fry made with tempeh and paired with some turmeric flavoured brown basmati:

This is currently my favourite dish!!! I love it and think it's yummier than meat could ever be. Unfortunately, the fiance doesn't enjoy it nearly as much . . . he really doesn't care for the texture. Something about it requiring way too much chewing.

Maybe if I cut it in smaller pieces? But then again I don't think that will do the trick. I think maybe I'll just have to start cooking tempeh for me and chicken or beef for the fiance. That's alright - more tempeh for me!! lol :oP

Okay bloggies - it's late so I'm going to hit the sack (I have to get up early to prep for a trial). Stay tuned for part two of my weekend recap featuring more wanderings in the Rocky Mountains.

Make sure to read the blog tomorrow morning for a VERY exciting announcement!



Buenas noches bloggies! :o)

Thursday Eats - and Anni Phyo's Raw Donut Holes

Hello everyone!

It's Friday!! Are you excited!??! Because I am! :o)

Yes, this has been a short week but it's also been madness around work. On Wednesday (easily my busiest court day in months) I was unable to enter court at all. I arrived to a court clerk telling me not to go inside because there were reports of a bomb. I thought they were kidding since at that point the roads had yet to be blocked off. Well it turned out it wasn't a joke.

And yesterday . . . well yesterday was a trip. It was a very hard day in court and I was worn out. In fact, the fiance was with me and he was concerned that after a life-time of days like yesterday I may have some sort of breakdown. I don't think it was that bad but I hope not to have many days like that.

As a result, I'm sure you can understand why I'm so happy that it's Friday and the weekend is practically here!!!!!!! :o) Tomorrow, if the weather is good, we plan to go to some natural hot springs and have a picnic while we're there. I have high hopes for an absolutely lovely day and beautiful pictures to share with you!

Now, let's get to yesterday's eats before we cover Anni's Raw Donut Holes . . .

Yesterday morning I indulged in a Green Monster. I took a picture of this one while it was blending. I probably should have thinned it out a little but I was in a rush to get going so I just kind of tossed things in and then pressed blend!


After a busy morning I had a break of only about 30 minutes to grab lunch. I was in a random small town high atop the Rocky Mountains so my options were limited. Usually, when I have a longer lunch break I head to a proper restaurant but with so little time I ended up at the only fast-food restaurant in town.


I ordered their grilled chicken sandwich (dry), with a water instead of a pop, and a side salad with balsamic vinaigrette. I only ate the sandwich and brought the salad home with me. It wasn't the best burger but it did have an impressively big piece of chicken breast and the bread is whole wheat. So overall probably not at all bad as far as fast-food goes.

But don't worry bloggies - I made up for my relatively sad day of eats with a crazy yummy dinner! You see after we drove home, the fiance and I ran around doing some errands. He's decided he'd like to try fishing (as an excuse to sit outside in beautiful surroundings) so we went and bought him some gear, I also picked up the book I ordered for the blogger book club (Jessica Z), bought some goodies for my first blogger exchange ever (with Jenn from Eating Bender), and a present for my dad's birthday.

After all that running around we both realized we were hungry so we decided just to eat out. At first we didn't know where to go but when we decided we definitely hit the mother-load! When the waitress informed us that the special was an extremely (!) reasonably priced lobster and steak, we both decided to go for it!


The lobster was insanely good! In fact I would definitely go back for more. The small piece of sirloin was good too but the lobster definitely stole the show. The salad was also very yummy! I love this restaurant because their salads are so complete! At a lot of places salads are after-thoughts but not here!!!

After dinner we headed home, digested for a while and then headed for a run. Here's a tip - don't go for a run after a steak and lobster dinner!!! My tummy did a serious number on me and I had to come back home after 15 minutes. My shins were also feeling kind of terrible. I don't really know why . . . maybe it has to do with the heels I wear?

Still I wanted to work out so after my very short run I did Rodney Yee's Power Yoga - Flexibility. Now I know - next time run first and indulge later because boy oh boy did that hurt! :oP



Now for something I highly recommend . . .

A while back I bought a couple of RAW "cookbooks." Recently, I decided to try making one of Anni Phyo's desserts. Funny thing is a couple of other bloggers had the same idea too! My recipe of choice? Anni's Raw Donut Holes:


These little guys look just like the real thing (timbits anyone?) and taste even better. In fact I would say they're extremely similar to a Larabar. Same type of ingredients and made in much the same manner.

I had one of these before a run and I have to tell you it made for great fuel! I could actually feel the extra kick in my run. This despite the fact I was running into a very strong head-wind! :o) Goooo raw food!!!

They're super easy to make and don't worry you don't have to buy the cookbook to figure out how. Anni has uploaded a video to YouTube showing you how to make these yummy little balls:



I hope you'll try them and enjoy them! The ingredients are relatively easy to find and most food bloggies have food processors so that's pretty easy. In terms of the almonds, I recommend slivered ones that are soaked for about 10 minutes prior to using in this recipe. It will soften them up and make it easier for the ingredients to come together! :o)



Around the Blogosphere

Erin over at I Walk in this World, is hosting a Blogger Auction and Bake Sale on Tuesday, April 21st!

This auction will benefit the Jimmy Fund - which helps to fund projects aimed at increasing cancer survival rates. On her site, Erin explains how cancer has touched her life . . . there's no way you can read her story and not want to participate!

Unfortunately, this auction is limited to U.S. residents only so I can't participate but I hope you lovelies South of the border will consider helping out!

Happy Friday bloggies! :o)