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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Oatmeal Overload

When a girl has muffins what comes next--oats :) I am not an oatmeal lover, more like an oatmeal liker. However, when oatmeal gets its seksi on with a muffin, then I am an oatmeal lover.

Naked oatmeal . . .


Perhaps naked is the wrong wording. These oats had sliced apple, walnuts, cinnamon, and rice milk in them.

All dolled up . . .


Good texture + Good Flavor = Oatmeal Overload (aka the perfect bowl)!

In failure news, I attempted brown coconut rice in the rice cooker. It didn't cook properly. I even attempted to let it cook longer in hopes of saving it. No such luck. Enter the Aussie :) He was sweet enough to head down to pick up some rice from a local Indian place. Since he was already going there he *had* to pick-up roti too ;)

This was my first time attempting an Indian Dish. I used a few different recipes as guidelines but relied mostly on taste. The base was coconut milk, curry powder, garam masala (key to the success), salt, pepper, and cayenne. For the veggies, I used pumpkin (I told you we were obsessed) and peas. I also did a quick roasted cherry tomato side. Roasted tomatoes are so easy and delicious.


I'm taking my curry belly into bed to cuddle up with my latest book.

-B

Monday, May 30, 2011

Apple-Cinnamon Glory

I needed to have a grab-and-go breakfast option for the Aussie to eat on the way to work. Enter Angela's Vegan Caramel Apple Muffins

I decided to make a few changes--coconut oil (instead of vegetable oil), added wheat germ (for a health kick), added chia seeds (for omegas), added walnuts to the batter (for yum factor). These muffins use brown sugar and some butter, but they rank way better than traditional muffins you'd buy at the store.

I *may* have over-filled the muffin tray, but that just makes for bigger-better muffins, right?


It also *may* have resulted in an ugly-deliciousness :)


But once the beauties were out of the pan they looked lovely.



Tonight was a repeat of the burrito bowl, because I tend to go crazy when I
find something I like (plus we had leftover quinoa salad that needed to be eaten, which we used instead of rice). I paired it with roasted pumpkin, because we're obsessed.


This morning I was sore from a Sunday evening bodypump session with the sister-in-law, so I opted for the snooze instead of the early morning workout. Which meant I had to drag myself there later.

At least I had nice views. I like Fall.


I also scored some awesome deals at the veggie market--2 dollars a bag!



Too bad I had to lug all the loot back from the gym :( I rocked the gym session. I ran 4k and walked 2k (plus the 5k round trip walk to the gym). I'm slowly building up the distance :)

Off to watch No Ordinary Family,

B

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Sugar Coma

We celebrated birthdays last night. But before we could leave I forced the Aussie to take our infamous heads together picture. I think every couple has a go-to picture position for self-snapped ones, and this is ours . . .


A group of seven of us headed down to the casino for a fancy-schmancy dinner.


I feasted on salad and home-made pasta (yum!). Then we were presented with this sparkling beauty . . .


Along with champagne . . .


I also *may* have drank several glasses of the best sparkling house white I've ever had. Over three hours we ate, drank and enjoyed each others company (Thanks to the in-laws for a fabulous night! They're the sweetest).

After we rolled (literally) ourselves out of Number 8, we headed to the in-laws' hotel for more cake and pressies. The brother-in-law and I share a bday, but rather than share a cake, we had three!


Everyone came to our apartment this morning for tea and a sugar coma! This has to be one of the prettiest cakes I've ever had for my bday.


If I never see a piece of cake again, it will be too soon! Now it's time to veg until I meet the sister-in-law for her first bodypump class. She doesn't know how sore she's going to be tomorrrow . . . muahaha. Who am I kidding, I'll be sore too.

-B

Friday, May 27, 2011

Banana Soft Serve

Last night I had a fabulous dessert. We used the last of the cheapish bananas we had tracked down (4.99 kg instead of 12 kg). I quickly put the Aussie to work to "supervise" the mixing.


I was so impressed with how quickly it turned fluffy and delicious. Who would have thought a frozen banana could be so wonderful. I didn't invent the treat, but I certainly do enjoy it.

Look how beautiful it turned out . . .


I was even sweet and shared some with the Aussie ;) Perhaps a bit begrudgingly, but shared none-the-less.

Tonight the Aussie is celebrating his brother's bday, and I'm left alone :( So it was movie/take-out kinda night.


I opted for The Romantics (so terrible!) and dinner from VegOut--chili tofu and curry tofu. Yum to the dinner and yuck to the movie. I really hate picking bad movies, and, sadly, I do it often.

Also I wanted to show a picture that I believe highlights my photography skills (try not to be too jealous)


The amount of blurry pictures I have on my computer is pitiful.

Ugh, now it's time to clean-up the monster-mess that is my kitchen from breakfast and lunch damage.

-B

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Salsa That Will Make You Say OMG

I have never been a fan of store-bought salsa, and often times I find myself less-than-thrilled with the version served at Mexican places. Enter the home-made salsa that will make even an onion-hater a fan. This isn't my recipe, but I got it from my mom who got it from a friend and I don't know where she got it from :) All I do know is that it puts a smile on my face and it's easy. **win-win** It's especially easy if you have a chopper (Hi, Aussie!)


Perfect Salsa

6-8 tomatoes diced
1 green bell pepper diced
3 jalapenos diced
1 med onion diced
1 tsp. pepper
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoon lemon or lime juice
cilantro-diced
garlic diced

I have used this salsa to mix with quinoa for a quick and healthy snack. But the best way is definitely in a home-made veggie bowl (think Chiptotle but cheaper). I started with a wrap, and I would suggest a thinner wrap for a more crispy factor (mine was thin and only 70 calories). I sprayed it with a bit of oil and baked it on the oven until it was crispy.

Then just top with what you want.




No bowl is complete without a scope of guac **drools**


This meal is fast to prepare but still looks lovely on the plate. The Aussie and I kept saying how good it was in-between shoving large mouthfuls of said yumminess into our mouths. It.WILL.be.repeated.

Reading time on this end. The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter & Sweet is definitely a good read so far.

-B

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Burmese Rocks My World

I've only had it twice, but it was love at first bite. Burmese, which is a combination of Thai and Indian flavors, is just plain tasty.


As I said I was craving, yearning, dreaming of the fermented tea leaf salad. After scouring the menu, I realized the Burmese House had no salad. But have no fear, the Aussie saved the meal. He asked if they could make it, and they actually said yes! Woot, woot.

Here's the beauty that is the fermented tea leaf salad (super crunchy!)


I went with the sour veggie curry, which I had never had (nor heard of), but it was lackluster. Perhaps I should have requested hot instead of medium.


The Aussie had the pumpkin curry, and probably should have requested
wuss-spice ;) He was almost in tears. Poor guy. The meals were served with coconut rice (I need, NEED, NEEEEEED to recreate coconut rice with brown rice and my mean-little-rice-cooker). We debated whether the coconut rice had bits of coconut in it or onion. I said coconut (of course) and the Aussie swears it was onion, his arch-nemesis.

The highlight of the meal was definitely the roti. This was much different than roti from an Indian place. It was thicker and chewier. The Aussie would like to add "almost crepe-like." He had crepes for the first time this past weekend (obsessed much . . . hehe).


All in all it was another great meal. Speaking of which, stay turned for a fabulous recipe for salsa so good an onion-hater will love it ;)


Also, I'd love to hear whether you thought it was onion or coconut in the rice :)

Monday, May 23, 2011

Peanut Butter Milkshake

My fabulous sister-in-law took me for an incredible birthday brunch . . . So STUFFED! I can't think of eating again for . . . at least an hour ;) But I did mention a delicious healthy milkshake, and I shall deliver :)


This smoothie is so tasty you'll think you're eating a peanut butter milkshake, I promise.

The ingredients are simple . . .


I used frozen banana and unfrozen, rice milk, sunwarrior vanilla protein powder, peanut butter, some water and some ice. I did throw in some xanthum gum for thickness, but if you don't have it the milkshake will still be glorious ;)

Put them all into this . . .


Blend and enjoy. I enjoyed this sucker for lunch yesterday and boy did it put a smile on my face!

Time to clean a bit (sad but true--I am cleaning on my bday) then out for Burmese with the Aussie. I pray they have fermented tea leaf salad **puhlease, puhlease, puhlease**

-B

Birthday Camping

Since my 25th birthday I have made an effort to go somewhere to celebrate another year. Some trips have been big like a seven-day cruise to Greece, Croatia, and Italy and some have been small. This was a small one. With all that went on this year, small was needed. Since I'm new to Victoria, I figured the best trip would be a camping trip. We decided on Queenscliff, which is about 1.5hrs from Melbourne.


Problem 1--the location. The Aussie picked a campground on right on the cliff. Sounds lovely, right? Well the views left something to be desired.


We *may* have been the only tent campers around. We still had fun exploring.






The weather was surprisingly rain-free, which hasn't been the case in Victoria for awhile (or so it seems). And the company was great :)



Time to clean the kitchen. Tomorrow I'll be sharing an amazing milkshake recipe that's healthy!

-B

Friday, May 20, 2011

9:37

Hmm . . . I realized last night that age may have caught up with me when I looked at the clock . . .


Can you say party animal? Or would that be considered party pooper? Either way the evening out with the Aussie ended up with us home before ten. To be fair we did leave at 6:30ish and we had been up since 5:30am, but still. I remember when nights out didn't start until 11 or 12!

We went to . . .


It's on Chapel Street, so we walked.


I tried a new beer (passionfruit is a favorite of mine), which went down rather nicely . . .


I had a lovely view too . . .


After multiple drinks and good conversations we headed home.


Sadly, along the walk home I lost my earring. One large silver hoop is not a look I want to sport.


When we got home the Aussie attacked his anniversary treat.


I *may* have save him some dough, which resulted in this classic shot :)


We're off to Queenscliff for a camping adventure, and it will be an adventure since we left some of our stuff up at the in-laws.

-B