here + there.
February 19th, 2012 § 1 Comment
The past few weeks have been full of adventure + love.
1. My work schedule has been a little erratic lately, so while Drew is at work, I’m spending good, quality time with Jakey. An adorable mix of black lab and boxer, this pup epitomizes what it is to be a dog. Even down to his dummy dumb head snaggle tooth grin.
2. While out shopping for groceries, I was admiring some lovely blue hydrangeas. *sigh* Drew sneakily picked some up for me and they are currently sitting in the kitchen, where they bring a smile to my face every time I see them. I am the luckiest.
3. Chicken shit bingo. Exactly what it sounds like. You get a number. There’s a chicken in a cage, walking around on a piece of plyboard that has a bunch of numbered squares. Chicken shits. Bingo! You win. Unless you are my unlucky roommate and the chicken goes 45degrees northwest of where your square is. Welcome to Texas.
4. Picnic with friends before CSB. Perfect weather. Perfect food. Perfect company.
5. Just cutting up some deliciously fresh veggies for my own personal chef and his fancy wok. He has become quite the stir fry master, and I love being his sous chef. ;)
6. Bowling! Valentine’s Day socks + a black light. If you stay til they close, they might not charge you!
7. I know Valentine’s Day is overly commercialized, and you can (and should!!) express your love every day. But still, there is something special about spending time with someone special on that day. To me, at least. I handmade this little heart as part of the packaging for his handmade present! Crafty, I know. (Look familiar? Inspiration from Pinterest!)
8. We celebrated Valentine’s Day by just being with each other. Strolling around downtown by the river, on a just-chilly enough evening, trying a new restaurant and popping our heads into different bars. This photo was taken at Koriente, an incredible Asian fusion restaurant we discovered. I loved the peonies, paper cranes, and Saint Arnold’s beer. The more time I spend in this city, the more I fall in love.
—are you on instagram? follow along @brolfes—-
happy tuesday.
January 24th, 2012 § 1 Comment
what have you done to honor your fellow beings today?
we all walk through this life together.
reach out, take a hand, and breathe.
(and hopefully, the person whose hand you take won’t be too creeped out.)
—–
daily eats: sweet potato, kale & chili
September 24th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Eating a mostly vegan diet has presented two main challenges for me:
1. eating out on a daily basis is difficult.
2. people’s criticism of a vegan diet (“how do you get your protein??”)
Luckily, these two challenges have turned into beautiful blessings:
1. I’ve been forced into the kitchen and embarked on an unexpected love affair.
2. My bank account LOVES that I’m not eating out as often!
3. As a result of #2, I’m able to afford a much wider range of organic products.
4. I am able to share my choices and thoughts surrounding food. I’ve had many healthy conversation around food, diets and lifestyles lately.
As for my work week, I have two ten minute breaks and one thirty minute break during a normal 8.5 hour shift. Not much time to eat (especially if you are going to a restaurant, waiting for food, returning to our store and then shoving your food down your throat in your remaining five minutes). It was never fun, and now that my vegan options are limited (Chipotle five times a week? No thanks.), my meals and snacks are made at home and accompany me in a bright green Sprouts shopping bag.
Here’s one of my favorite, oh-so-easy combinations:
Sweet potato, kale and chili. It’s life changing. Seven minutes. Minimal dirty dishes. Full of flavor. Packed with nutrients.
1. Wash the potato and pierce with fork several times.
3. Wrap it in a damp paper towel and microwave for about six minutes.
3. Tear some kale leaves off the thick stem and place in bowl.
4. Squeeze half a lemon all over the kale.
5. Massage the kale for about sixty seconds (it always tastes better if you sing to it, too).
6. Wash your hands then open your can of chili (*see note below).
7. Remove sweet potato and cut it open the long way, then the short way.
8. Place the two halves in separate tupperware containers.
9. Place half a portion of kale on each sweet potato; repeat with chili.
10. Cover with garlic Tabasco.
11. Foodgasms.
—
*note: I can’t remember what kind of chili I used but I do know I got it at Sprouts and it’s on the bottom shelf and costs $2.49! Haha #bloggerfail.
I hope you will enjoy this feature of daily eats and easy-to-prepare meals. Most of these, including this recipe, include what I like to call “planned leftovers”. So I prepare once but end up with two meals! And trust me, this one’s so good you’ll want to eat it again the next day!
xx, b
currently…
July 26th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
listening to:
(metric’s “help, i’m alive”)
drinking:
(a large green iced tea from copper star *love!*)
reading:
(trying to figure out how this body of mine works)
laughing out loud to:
(failbook.com…you NEED to do it now)
banana oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
May 5th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
it’s saturday morning. i wake up lazily from the sunlight streaming in through my window. rolling over to grab my phone, i check the time… then my emails… then facebook… then my google reader. all from bed.
this is a rather normal occurrence. luckily, this particular daily stalking perusing of Angela’s blog led to me a super easy recipe for some delicious cookies.
just for funzies, here were some of my fresh-off-of-ten-hours-of-sleep thoughts from reading through it,
-”hey, i have all those ingredients in my kitchen”
-”i DO want a cookie for breakfast!”
-”i need a banana masher.”
-”are there even such things as banana mashers?”
and so i wandered out of bed, wondering about the existence of banana mashers. because the best method i’ve experienced so far is using my hands. if you have a more effective method, PLEASE help a sister out.
okay, i’m done rambling. to the recipe we go!
*because i recently learned that writing someone else’s recipe in your blog is in bad form unless you do MAJOR modifications, i have deleted said recipe, linked back to it several times and just added my minor modifications below. i’m sorry for being an impolite blogger!*
my adjustments & recommendations:
- -i used less chocolate chips than the original recipe (1/4 cup was all i had!)
- -i substituted almonds for walnuts (again, based on availability)
- -i used my chia seeds instead of my roommie’s flax seeds
- -i did a mixture of maple syrup and agave nectar (ran out of maple syrup, haha)
- - next time, i’ll use more cinnamon
honestly, at first i didn’t like them that much. they are definitely a healthy tasting cookie. i was expecting something sweeter! but as soon as i became accustomed to the taste and knew what to expect, i couldn’t get enough! i’ve taken one to work every day since i made them. they are very oatmeal-y in texture, which i like but i know is not everyone’s cup of tea. the outsides were nice and crisp but the insides were moist (i freaking hate that word) and soft.
yes, please!
(foodie) diy: trail mix
May 3rd, 2011 § 2 Comments
(also known as…”a recipe”? hmmm….)
ANYWAYS, i got this fabulous idea for “do-it-yourself-trail-mix” from my roommate. it’s super simple, loads less expensive and quite fun.
- mixed up!
first, i scour my pantry to find anything that might work. this week, i found sunflower seeds and half a bag of dried blueberries (thanks for leaving those behind, Rose!).
next, i go to sprouts, head straight for their bulk bin section and buy whatever they have on “weekly special”, plus anything else that might look good!
i knew the half eaten package of blueberries was not enough fruit for my liking, so i was ecstatic to see dried cranberries on sale. raw almonds were also a steal and i scooped up some plain granola.
- almonds and cranberries
i needed to refresh my chia seed stash, so i grabbed a half pound. and to satisfy the chocolate beast, my final addition was vegan chocolate chips.
- i spy a chocolate chip!
when i got back home, i gathered all my ingredients,
- ready to mingle!
then i added everything to one bag, closed the bag tightly and did a little dance, maybe i held it over my head and did a couple spins, but you do whatever you’re feeling at the moment 
- so much trail mix!
finally, i placed some of the trail mix into tupperware so they are ready to go!
(just so you know, this batch made a whole lot more than just these three guys)
- packed up tight
whatever doesn’t make it into the tupperware is eaten straight from the bag 
but now, i always have a go-to snack in case of laziness, fast-food cravings or hunger pains.
body and budget friendly. i call that a success!
- i was going to go for a virtual high-five but decided the thumbs up was a bit less weird
so how do YOU combat the urge to eat fast food (or crappy food) while out and about, at work, etc? and what are some of your fun money-saving tricks?
tell me, tell me!
xx, b
sunday fun-day smoothie
May 1st, 2011 § 4 Comments
spinach chunks...mmm!
Good moning bloggys! Yes, it’s still morning for me. I’m still in my robe Before I head off to work to close up shop tonight, I wanted to share this yummy breakfast smoothie with you.
Into the blender went:
-1 1/2 cups of unsweetened almond milk
-1 scoop vanilla protein powder
-1 1/2 cups frozen mixed berries
-2 handfuls fresh spinach
-3 ice cubes
I used the blender today instead of the usual Magic Bullet, and I think that was a huge mistake (as you can see from my chunky smoothie). After the blender made several loud whirring noises, I said “eh, good enough!” and decided eat it as smoothie ice cream in a bowl. But I had my first few bites and THEN decided it was definitely straw-worthy! Hallelujah!
see? still in my robe!
Enjoy your Sunday fun-day!
date night: indian feast for two
April 24th, 2011 § 1 Comment
chana masala, bear style
To say that Drew and I love Indian food is a gross understatement. We had some fierce cravings the other night and after some scouring a few of my favorite vegan cooking blogs, we decided on using Angela‘s recipe for Chana Masala. Drew is the master of ”cooking by feel”, so he very loosely followed the recipe, adding massive amounts of ketchup, various spices (as we didn’t have the recommended Madras Masala on hand) and tons of onions. We love onions. And ketchup. And we like our dishes SPICY. So even though Angela warned that this dish is “hot, hot, hot”, we kept adding more and more cayenne, cumin, turmeric, etc. I really wish I would have bought some fresh chilies, but there’s always next time.
This recipe is SUPER simple to make, only about 30 minutes including prep time. I was in charge of the rice making, which is easy-peasy thanks to my roommie’s Miracle Rice Cooker (get one now! it will change your rice cooking life!) That baby cooked our jasmine rice in about 35 minutes. We layered everything into our little bowls, sprinkled some cilantro and (more!) cayenne pepper on top and finally dug in.
already empty
I also cracked open what is quite possibly my new favorite wine. Nuevo Mundo, an organic grape wine from Chile. It’s a Cabernet Sauvignon/Malbec blend and is extra tasty. Bonus: the company also practices many sustainable behaviors in all aspects of their business; in the vineyards, in the product itself, marketing and transport. We demolished that bottle. For my local Phoenicians, pick this up at Luci’s for $20.
his & hers desserts
After our bellies were full, we packed up the leftovers (this recipe makes a lot!), cleaned up the kitchen, talked about being wine farmers in Chile and settled in for the newest episode of Glee. I pulled together these delicious little desserts in no time. SO Delicious Coconut Milk Ice Cream (Vanilla Bean for him, Chocolate for me) layered with strawberries. I also threw some carob chips on top of mine for extra cocoa-y deliciousness.
check out those carob chips!
I went back for seconds Coconut ice cream can be found at most major grocery stores. Luci’s has it (if you’re there buying the wine), and but I got these at Fresh N Easy.
little containers of heaven
And that was a fabulous vegan feast for two in less than an hour! It was totally filling and even though we ate more than we needed, neither one of us felt that nasty, debilitating, overly full and “now I’m going to unbutton my jeans” feeling. I call that a success!
Let me know if you try it out sometime
all my love, b
sprouts & tomato hearts
April 13th, 2011 § 3 Comments
last night when Drew got home from work,
we both decided we needed something to eat.
in an attempt to not go out and spend money
(especially on greasy food from 5 & diner),
we made these simple but DELICIOUS sandwiches:
-2 slices sprouted grain bread, toasted lightly
-hummus
-dijon mustard
-sprouts
-avocado
-slice of Veggie Shreds, in the pepper jack flavor
-roma tomatoes, which Drew cut into the shape of hearts (cheezball alert!)
wholesome, vegan vegetarian, fresh and full of love.
what more could you ask for?
go make this sandwich now!
your body and your mouth will thank you.
UPDATE: Uh, turns out I didn’t read the ingredient list too well because
the Veggie Shreds contain casein, a milk protein. Bleh.
open forum: what have you done to express your love for someone lately?
some funky smelling mushrooms
August 2nd, 2010 § Leave a Comment
on saturday, i worked early morning – the ol’ 430am to 1pm shift.
then helped drew move…which was AWESOME in the rain…
and even better because his new house is two stories, and his room is, of course,
on the second floor.
needless to say, i passed out early saturday night from complete exhaustion.
i woke up early yesterday (well…early for a sunday…)
and started the day off with a kale, banana, strawberry and protein powder smoothie. NOMS.
lonchi was some veggie fajitas, heaping mounds fresh guacamole, with my parents and my grandma
headed over to drew’s house where we promptly jumped on the bonnie:
and headed over to luci’s:
where we made gluttons of ourselves and i worked on preparing myself for an upcoming interview.
spent the rest of the afternoon with drew, just hanging out, riding a lot and ended the evening with this beautiful boy:
don’t tell anyone, but i think the boyf liked it more than i did
then i went home, slept well and woke up early this morning for…
BOOT CAMP!!!!
in this GORGEOUS unbelievable weather we’ve been having.
now i’m munching on some millet with earth balance (yummmmmm!) and an egg white scramble
with feta, spinach, red onions and some funky smelling mushrooms…
don’t know if that was the best decision i’ve ever made.
see ya later bloggys!!!
open forum:
what did you do this weekend??
