looong satuuurdaaaay

House inspections are really long!  Even for small houses!  Ours lasted about 4.5 hours and was so nerve racking.  We were on pins + needles the entire time!

Before the inspection, I filled myself with another huge bowl of Scottish oats.



This one was stuffed with chia seeds + blueberries and topped with pecan butter + carob coconut cream.  I am out of bananas which is a horrible thing!

coconut flour + almond milk + carob

The coconut cream idea originated from The Non-Dairy Queen.  I added carob for a delicious twist.  SO good!



Then it was inspection time.  As of right now the house is packed full with STUFF.  It will feel so much bigger when/if it’s ours and the clutter is removed.  Yes, we have it under contract, but a few things came up in the inspection that we need to address.  Luckily, there are no structural, furnace, water heater, or roof problems.  The main problem is the windows.  They’re really old wood framed, single pane windows, with an exterior aluminum storm frame.  There are broken panes of glass, one wood window missing, windows painted shut, locks not lining up, etc.  What I learned today is that, windows are freaking expensive to replace!

I think we’re also going to ask that the basketball hoop, stays. ;)



Our first and most important project is completely renovating the kitchen.  Why?  See below!  This means we don’t really have money to replace all 14 windows.  That’s a lot of windows in this 1020sqft house!  So, we’re deciding how to proceed from here and hoping the seller realizes no one will buy the house with the windows in that condition, at the current price.  We’re hoping once we show them the full list of what we could ask for them to repair, but only ask for the windows, they miiiight do it.

We shall see!



Currently the w/d live in the kitchen.  Along with the kitchen reno, we need to flip the w/d directly behind where they currently are, in the 3rd bedroom closet.



There is a really nice porch, that is currently being utilized as a closet.



And it’s closed in with corrugated glass.  Yes, corrugated glass.  It’s hideous. :)  We have looked past all of the idiosyncrasies this house has and can see it for it’s potential and amazing + convenient location to down town.

Now the question is, will it be ours!?

If so, I think the name of my blog will have to change to: “The Edible Home Makeover With a Side of Food” Catchy, no? ;)



Later, we met up with Peter + Michelle to grab a few drinks.  We headed to one of 14 [give or take] local breweries, Equinox.  It’s a super cute brewery, with what looked like some amazing selections.  I’m still off wheat, so no beer for me!  I haven’t had a drink in 4 weeks, and I definitely could have used one tonight!



Tomorrow is supposed to be an awesome day in the mountains, so I guess that is where I’m headed.  I’m feeling almost all the way better, but we’ll see what I decide at my 4am wake up call.  If this house stuff goes through we might only have a few more open weekends left to get up to the mountains.  Gotta’ go make breakfast + lunch for the road!

Night!

Ashley

carob + buckwheat + breakfast

I’m so excited to show you this morning’s breakfast.  I’m sort of obsessed with the breakfast bakes.  Have you noticed??  Oatmeal, what?



Why does this one look like a brown rock or something a dog might leave behind?

Because I added carob powder to it!!  Forget what I said about the dog…because this was maybe my favorite breakfast bake yet!

It’s hard to describe the flavor of carob.  Some people like it and some don’t.  I happen to really enjoy it.  It’s similar to chocolate, but has a bit toastier/nuttier flavor.  You can find carob chips at most natural food stores as well.  The best deal on carob powder, in my store, was the Bob’s Red Mill brand.  It was about $3.50 for a 16oz bag.



It had the best texture and consistency out of all the breakfast bakes so far.  The crust was thick and crunchy and the center was slightly gooey but didn’t fall apart.

I would say this recipe is somewhat adaptable, but if you start leaving things out, like chia seeds, you might need to lower the amount of liquid.  Chia seeds are a liquid vacuum!  However, as tested the other day, you can definitely sub 1/3c oats instead of the buckwheat.  I’m not sure how oat bran would work.  You might need to adjust the liquid measurement a bit.

This was topped with peanut butter + coconut butter, which became extremely gooey and melted.  Oh yes.



Carob Buckwheat Bake [serves 1]

• 1/4c ground buckwheat groats [untoasted]


• 1T whole buckwheat groats


• 1/2t cinnamon


• 1T carob powder


• 1t vanilla


• 1 small banana [or 1/2 large]


• 1/4t baking powder


• 1 flax egg [1T ground flax meal + 2.5T warm water, whisked]


• 1T chia seeds


• 2T chopped walnuts


• 5T almond milk

1. Preheat oven to 350*


2. Whisk flax egg together and set aside for ~3-5min.


3. In a small bowl mash banana until egg-like.


4. Mix in almond milk + vanilla with a fork.


5. Mix in buckwheat, buckwheat groats, cinnamon, baking powder, chia seeds, carob powder, and walnuts.


6. Mix in flax egg.


7. Lightly grease a small oven-safe dish, add mixture, smooth, and bake for 30 minutes. [I used a personal size soup crock]

*You can use 1 flax egg or sub 1 egg white or 1 chia seed egg.

*The carob adds a nice subtle sweetness.  If you want to sub unsweetened cocoa powder, add 1-2t, but you might want to add a little some sweetness because cocoa powder if very bland. [~2t maple syrup/honey/sucanat]

*Use 1/3c unsweetened applesauce, if you don’t like banana.



Love the crusty top!



Do you want a bite?  You could definitely make a few of these at a time, let them cool, wrap them up tightly and store in the freezer.  Then defrost one in the fridge the night before + heat it up in the morning.



Nothing better than a waterfall of peanut butter, that’s for sure!



Off to make more cereal for lunch!  I’m addicted!

Ashley

pink, green, crunchy, bananas

Something was a little different today. 

That something was breakfast.

Why exactly is my first photo a HUGE stalk of rainbow chard??  It should be a bowl of oats, no?

Nope.  Breakfast included this lovely stalk of green crunchy deliciousness.  Thanks to Gena, for inspiring me to do something with breakfast, that I never though possible.  Gena is the queen of green, so I wasn’t too surprised when I saw this post of hers.  However, I was surprised when I thought, “hmmm, that could be good!”

But thinking about crunching through leafy greens in the morning, really sounded less than desirable.  Sure, I’ll throw some spinach in a green smoothie, but that is because you cannot taste it.  I even left Gena a comment saying I just wasn’t quite sure if I’d be able to try this one out.

Slathering the greens in nut butter, definitely made the idea more appealing.  I had to give it a shot!  I decided to use 1 small banana + 1 medium sized apple.  I only used about 1/4 of the apple in the wraps, but ate the rest on the side.

First, the rainbow chard was washed.  I figured if I was going to eat greens in the morning, I would at least pick one with a pretty pink stem!  I cut around the stem quartered the leaf.  It was hu-uge.

Then, on each leaf I spread peanut butter, peanut butter carob fudge and coconut + walnuts on two of them.   

I rolled them up and cut each in half.  Cute little breakfast sushi rolls, no?  Are you gagging just thinking about this? 

I plowed through this breakfast without looking back and could have eaten more.  I’m definitely used to having a warm breakfast, but this was quite refreshing.  There was no problem chewing through the greens.  The key is nut butter!!  I didn’t have any raw nut butter on hand, so my rolls were not full on raw.  I can’t wait to try them with raw almond butter + cinnamon.

Yes.  I’m going to make these again and I dare you to try them!  The most shocking thing was that they held me over for 3 hours.  If I’m lucky, oats will hold me over for 4hrs.  I ate a snack and waited another 1.5hrs before lunch.  I consider that a success of a breakfast! 

My bowls of oats are typically around 500+ calories.  I clocked this in somewhere around 400-450 cals.

The crunchiness was awesome!!  Not sure if I liked the apple or banana better.  Both were really good!

Be sure to check out Gena’s post for a step by step tutorial.  Thanks Gena!!

Soup was for lunch again.  I don’t get sick of leftovers too easily.  Especially when they are so delicious.  Not sure why I’m showing you this yet again….haha

I toasted pepitas with smoked paprika, again, and also added a hefty scoop of leftover cooked millet for a little more ooompf.

Salad on the side was topped with the delicious smoked vegan parmesan "cheeze" I made the other week.  Completely addicting!! 

I also thinned out the dressing from last night and dripped it on top.  Another Gena original!

In between lunch + dinner, I made a fabulous vegan chocolate banana bread.  Recipe coming later tomorrow.  It turned out great and I couldn’t/can’t stop eating it.  It has a super crunchy crust, thanks to the spelt flour, and a doughy soft center, thanks to the brown rice syrup and bananas.

You’re going to love this one!

Dinner was lovely.  Another great day of food!

I made the orange pan glazed tempeh from 101 Cookbooks, again.  This is a must, if you’re new to tempeh.  On the side was leftover millet, spruced up with tamari + garlic + ginger.

I found a recipe in the newest addition of Vegetarian Times for flash fried kale stir fry.  Awesome side dish, that was cooked in 5min flat!  I used a full head of dino kale, 1 medium carrot, ginger, garlic, tamari, sucanat and roasted peanuts on top.  I typically don’t use a recipe for cooking greens, but just stick to something simple…kale chips, steamed broccoli, etc.  This was such a nice change, and Husband approved!

Thanks for the great feedback on my January goals.  I’m excited to get started and to talk about them more thoroughly.  It seems you are most curious about my interest in playing the violin and detoxing.  More soon!!

1 more thing before bed…I’m going to be an Aunt this July!!!!!!!!!!!!  A big congrats to my BIL + SIL and little McNugget that’s cooking away.  SO very excited. :)

Happy Friday!

Ashley