Productive Weekend

It's been a busy time on this side of the world. I've been getting things organized so I can take classes to get my practising certificate, because I'm dying to practice! I really love the law, and can't wait to use my J.D. :) It will be a bit of a process, but you can't fight city hall, as the saying goes. I'll just be grateful that I have a temporary job in the meantime (which may or may not end Aug 1).

In other news, we FINALLY got a vacuum, which got an intense first-run today by the lovely Aussie . . .


Despite the holding-it-like-gun stance, the Aussie is quite domesticated ;) I also was inspired by Angela to make a high-protein breakfast salad. It's a base of quinoa with fresh fruit (I decided on strawberries), nuts (walnuts for me!), and liquid sweetner (maple syrup). I kicked it up a notch with grated coconut. I tasted a sample and it was delish, so hopefully it will be all soaked up in goey maple syrup and fruit juice by tomorrow.




I also made an easy and healthy dish of broccoli, brown rice and "cheesy sauce" (made with nutritional yeast, seasonings, and veggie broth)



I had the most foodgasmic dessert last week that must be shared (and recreated)--banana soft-serve, raw cookie dough, and a dipping sauce of melted choc chips on the side. So intensely good. It killed my sweet tooth for the week :) Definitely not healthy, but healthier than cows milk icecream ;)


This weekend we went to the Queen Victoria Market. I love that place. We *may* have bitten off more than we can chew (literally) with one of our purchases . . .



You're looking at 10 kilos of clementines! I may OD on vitamin C.

Time to veg before bed. Early morning tomorrow--my fabulous sister-in-law is waking up at the crack of dawn to go to bodypump with me and then preparing us dinner later! I won the sister-in-law lottery :)

-B

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

the Pretty & the Ugly

Hello, hello :)

The rain is never ending this weekend, which has made me lazy. Instead of heading to Body Pump this morning I pulled the covers up higher & snoozed a bit longer. Then I had the joy of getting the car tinted. I, personally, could care less if the car has a "tint" but someone, who shall remain nameless *the Aussie*, cares deeply. I finally caved and we went to get the tint. While the tinting was being done we got to ride around in a bright yellow taxi wannabe vehicle. I should have taken a picture. I have to get back into the picture taking mentality. It was nice to have the courtesy car to entertain us while ours was in the shop, even though we didn't get up to much.

As for the title of this blog . . .

The Pretty


This beauty had frozen watermelon and frozen raspberries (along with H2O and frozen H2O). It's so simple, so pretty, and so tasty! I perfect combo. I devoured this for a snack the other day. Very satisfying.

The Ugly


You may not believe this, but this Uglybeast tasted just like apple juice. This was inhaled for breakfast. The Aussie shoved rainbow chard, romaine, 2 small apples, ice and water into the blender to make this disgusting yet tasty drink. We were both worried this was going to taste horrible, but I was reminded, yet again, that green drinks are full of surprises. Hats off to the small little apples that rocked this drink. Those guys must have been choked full of flavor.

In dinner news, I have a new obsession. Not really new, since everytime I'm in Oz I fall in love with it.


My crush of the month (maybe year) is pumpkin. The batch I made the other night was the best ever.


This dinner included black beans, mushrooms, and peppers over brown rice with 1/4 of a large avocado for a flavor punch (I used a bit with each bite), and a side of earth-shattering roasted pumpkin. It's been extremely cheap over here lately--80 cents a kilo--so I've been a happy camper. However, I still can't afford bananas. They're still above 10 dollars a kilo. So, so sad. Oatmeal cannot be enjoyed without a banana.

Off to veg & blog-read & wait for the sun to appear,

B

Chicken McNoCruelty

Raise your hand if you don't like chicken nuggets. Hmm, I'm guessing there aren't many people with their hands raised, but if you *knew* what your "nugget" looked like before it got to your plate you might raise two hands!

Absolutely disgusting!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/04/mechanically-separated-meat-chicken-mcnugget-photo_n_749893.html

But you don't have to give up on your so-easy-to-make-dinner just yet, because Gardein has you covered. I have tried many Gardein products, and have almost always been happy (to the Gardein buffalo wings I have one thing to say: get some crispiness on your buffalo wing bum and I'll love you too).

The other night the Aussie and I headed to Wholefoods to scoop up some Gardein crispy tenders, but apparently others had the same idea and there was only a blank section in the freezer when we got there. Greedy thieves could have left us one stinkin' package. It ended up being a good thing that they were gone, because it meant we *had* to try the new Chiptotle Lime fingers. These suckers are much bigger than the crispy tenders and oh-so-good.


We did an easy-peasy dinner by pairing the fingers with sweet potato fries, roasted red pepper, mushrooms and squash.

I'd like to be able to say that Gardein kindly sent me coupons for me to try the new product, but it didn't happen. I spent my hard earned, err Aussie's hard earned cash on these fingers and I'll be doing again too ;)

Off to find some wedding shoes,

B