dog hog blog

I’m so glad I have most of my appetite AND a small amount of energy to make some easy, delicious food.

Below is Food For Life, millet bread.  Have you ever picked up a loaf of gluten free bread?  It’s small, weighs a ton and will set you back $4-6.  However, it’s comforting and deliciously different from wheat based bread.  The millet bread is dense and almost thick + cakey in a way.  I like the texture and the flavor is mild.

I topped it with unsalted/unsweetened PB, coconut butter, + raisins.

I made a HUGE green monster, that turned purple from 1c of blueberries.  It didn’t even all fit in this glass! 

contents were:

• spinach
• blueberries
• almond milk
• acai juice [no sugar added]
• chia seeds
• banana
• avocado [makes smoothies suuuuper creamy]
• strawberries
• vanilla chai protein powder [amazing grass]

Delicious.

Dakota knows I’m sick.  She pouts even more, if you can imagine that.  It is on rare occasions like this that I let her up on the couch and then immediately regret my decision.

She is SUCH a couch hog!  I was smooshed.

She loves to be buried in blankets and does not try to find her way out…

My afternoon smoothie was slammin’!!!!  I made a variation from the orange banana smoothie I made a few weeks ago, which was a variation from Angela’s creamsicle smoothie.  This was much more creamsicle like!

Orange Coconut Creamsicle

• 3 clementines
• 1/4 avocado
• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1T chia seeds
• ~1c unsweetened almond milk
• ~1T coconut butter [coconut oil will work too]
• 1t vanilla
• 1t maca powder [optional]

1. Pour almond milk into a blender.
2. Add all ingredients.  Peel as much pulp off the clementines as possible.
3. Blend on low, working up to high until smooth.
4. Let sit ~3min to thicken, if desired.  [the ground chia seeds will thicken it]

*Make sure your banana is frozen or this will be too liquidy.  You can also freeze the clementines [after peeling them] and the avocado, if you wish. 

*If you use a whole banana it will overpower the flavor.

*If you use more avocado it will mask the flavor.  I find that coconut milk [from the carton] also masks flavor in smoothies. 

This was suuuuper creamy, with a mellow vanilla flavor, slight hint of coconut + banana, and orangey deliciousness.  If you want a more robust orange flavor, add zest from the peel. 

Back to lounging around and trying to kick this fever out the door!

Ashley

my favorite smoothie

Hi hi hi!!  Wow, today was an exciting day around the blogosphere. 

First, it started off with Caitlin’s amazingness on The Today Show.  Wow, did that girl rock it.  I was 100% impressed.  Just lovely. 

Second, the Healthy Living Summit chatter was non-stop today!  Emails, chats, tweets!  I’m getting so excited :)

Third, I was talking to ThenHeatherSaid about packing for HLS and somehow we got to talking about height.  I had NO CLUE that she is 5’10”!!  Did you know that HealthyAshley is 5’10” as well??  I got a LOT of “height” tweets today and it was fun to learn how tall everyone really is.  How tall would you guess that I am?  A lot of people thought I was 5’7”…nope, I’m just over 5’4”! 

Okay, time for food.

I am entering the Stonyfield Smoothie contest for the Healthy Living Summit.  This is my favorite 5 ingredient smoothie, for a few different reasons.

I started with 1c of Stonyfield Oikos Greek Yogurt [plain] to pack in a good amount of protein to start off my day.  I love how low in sugar Oikos is.  Then I add 2T organic [whole foods] peanut butter.  This adds healthy fats, more protein, and a little fiber.  Adding nuts or nut butter to my breakfast, really helps keep me satiated.

I like fruity smoothies, but they can be really high in sugar.  Even though it’s all naturally occurring sugars, I try to keep my sugar intake low in the morning.  If there was one fruit I had to put in every smoothie, it would be a banana.  They provide a decent amount of fiber and potassium and are more filling than other fruits.

What better way to start your day than with a vegetable.  Spinach is FULL of health benefits and will leave you feeling clean + energized.  Perfect for the morning!  The best part is, you can’t taste it at all. 

Add some ice + let ‘er rip!

Disclosure: This entry is for the Healthy Living Summit Stonyfield Smoothie Contest.  Stonyfield is a sponsor of the Summit, but not this contest.

Peanut Butter Banana Oikos Green Smoothie

• 2 handfuls ice [~1+ cup]
• 1c plain organic Stonyfield Oikos Greek Yogurt
• 2T organic creamy peanut butter
• 1 organic frozen banana
• 2-3c organic spinach

1. Add ingredients in this order.  Yogurt + Peanut Butter + Banana + Ice + Spinach
2. Blend away until creamy + smooth.

*You can also blend the yogurt + spinach together first, until smooth.  Then blend in all other ingredients.

Enjoy in a bowl.

Or in a mug.

Fresh + delicious.  Healthy + filling.  What could be a better way to start your morning?

Smoothie Stats:

• cals – 350
• sugar – 26g
• fiber – 7g
• protein – 33g
• fat - 15g

Green smoothie bloopers!

I should have poured it from the mug –> bowl instead of bow –> mug.  FAIL.

Two extremely generous blog readers, sent me packages of the new Larabars today!!

Andi + Miriam, thank you ladies SO SO much!!  I really appreciate it!

I dug into the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough first.  They were a little melty and at first I loved the chocolate chip gooeyness.  However, overall the flavor was on the bland side + after eating half I had to stop because of how sweet it was!  I have heard a few others say these have been too sweet as well.  I can’t wait to try the rest though.

I made a summery lunch today and had Ann over to share it with.

Are these not the more adorable things ever?

Even their shadows are cute.  hehe

Here is the recipe.  Nothin’ fancy.

Couscous + Roasted Veg

• 1 pint cherry/grape tomatoes
• 1c dry couscous
• 1 green zucchini
• 1 patty pan squash [or yellow squash]
• 4 stalks of kale, washed + de-stemmed
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• olive oil
• s+p

1. Roast zucch + maters at 350* with a little olive oil, s+p. ~25min
2. Add in chopped kale for another ~15min.
3. Bring 1.25c water to boil with 1T olive oil.
4. Add in 1c dry couscous, turn off heat, cover + let sit for 5min.
5. Heat a sautee pan over medium with olive oil.  Add in 2 cloves minced garlic + baby shrooms.  Cook about 5min.
6. Fluff couscous with fork.
7. Combine in a bowl and top!

Toppings:

• goat cheese
• pepitas
• equal parts: olive oil + fresh lemon juice + red wine vinegar

Then Ann and I did a little shopping over on Broadway, but I found NOTHing.  Shopping fail!  However, the ice cream from Sweet Action made up for it!!  They have the most amazing flavors.

Blackberry Lavender!!!  I know that sounds kind of intense but the lavender was subtle.  I can’t even explain how delicious this was.

When I got home, I finally got to video gchat with one of my FAV’s!!! 

Ashley!! <3  We had sooo much fun chatting.  It was exciting to actually talk with her, rather than just email.  I admire her for all that she does with her blog, while maintaining a full time job and training for marathons.  She astonishes me.  Her recipes are stellar, writing is superb, and photography is amazing.  I just love her style.  Wish we lived closer!

I squeezed in a 40min swim today too!

• 100m warm up
• 20 lengths freestyle
• 10 lengths breast stroke
• 10 lengths back stroke
• 18 lengths freestyle
• 100m cool down

Total distance:  1650m

Aaaaaaaand from that + my bike ride, my hunger was through the roof!  I’m also pooped.

Night :)  Happpppy Friday!

Ashley

p.s. Recently, I installed the comment reply notification widget.  Are you all getting emails when I reply to your comments?? 

one of those days

I’m still working at Whole Foods every few weeks and I had to go in Saturday morning from 9am-5pm.  We got to bed at a decent time Friday night but I was still pooped when the alarm went off at 7:45.  I dragged by butt out of bed and nothing seemed too off at that point.

I made a delicious, quick and refreshing breakfast.

I’ve been eating Plain Wallaby Organic [my favorite brand of non-Greek yogurt] instead of Greek yogurt recently.  Here’s why:

• MUCH cheaper $3 for 32oz as opposed to $5 for 16oz
• Fat + Organic – Any of the organic Greek yogurts seem to all be fat free.  I like fat in my yogurt!
• Nutrition is somewhat similar 
• 1c Wallaby Plain – 140 cals : 11g protein : 4g fat : 9g sugar
• 1c Oikos Plain – 130 cals : 23g protein : 0g fat : 9g sugar

So the protein is WAY higher in the Greek, but I get enough protein from other sources.  For now, I’m sticking with the non-Greek!

This was about 1c of yogurt, a bunch of fruit, Love Grown Foods granola, a drizzle of honey, and a toasted Ezekiel sprouted grains English muffin with melty pnut butter smothered on top.

Melty pnut butter on a bagel or English muffin is one of the best things everrrrr.

Touch of sweetness from the fruit + honey.  I found a great deal on organic strawbs + bluebs at WF the other day.

Once I got to work, it turned into one of those days.  My legs were in slow-mo from my bike ride the day before, and I think I left my brain in bed.

First.  This happened.  I was going to get some sauce for the turkey meatloaf and was moving a different container of sauce for an Indian dish.  The lid was not on correctly so I dropped it when I picked it up.  This drawing below is not an exaggeration.  It’s exactly what happened.

ALL OVERRRRRR.

I also dropped a container full of water and these radish flower garnishes all over the prepared foods area. 

THEN, I burnt my hand.  Not too bad, but no burn is fun.  This is not typical for me!  I dropped 2 other things, but can’t even remember what.  I’ve blocked it out of my memory.

I still had yellow saucy goo all over me + my hat.

I redeemed myself when I came home, with this dish.  It’s what I made for our friends’ going away party.  I would have to say, it turned out delicious.  The texture was amazing.

Summery Quinoa Millet Casserole [adapted from 101 Cookbook’s, Heather’s Quinoa]

[Serves ~10]

• 1c white quinoa + 1c black quinoa + 1c millet – rinsed + drained
• 4c water [for the quinoa] + 3c water [for the millet]
• 2T olive oil
• 1/2c pepitas [pumpkin seeds]
• 3c kale – washed, de-stemmed + chopped
• 1pint cherry/grape tomatoes
• 1/2T olive oil
• 1t sucanat [or other sugar]
• 1/4t salt
• 1 avocado
• 1.5c frozen corn
• 1/2 – 3/4c raw vegan pesto
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• black pepper
• 1/2-1t fine grain sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 350*.  Slice cherry tomatoes in 1/2 and put on a baking sheet.
2. Toss with olive oil, sucanat [or other sugar] and salt.
3. Bake for ~45min, tossing once after 25min.
4. Heat a large pot over medium heat with 1T olive oil.
5. Add in rinsed quinoa + millet.  Stir for about 2min to bring out nutty flavor.
6. Add in all water. *see note below
7. Bring to a boil and cook for about 20+ min until all water is absorbed.  [It took longer than normal with such a large quantity.] 
8. Fluff with a fork.
9. In a small pan over med-low heat, toast pepitas, stirring frequently until just browned.  ~5min.
10. In a large sauté pan heat 1T olive oil over med-high heat.
11. Add in garlic + onion, stirring for ~2min.
12. Add in quinoa + frozen corn.  Stir.
13. Add in chopped kale and cook for ~3min, until kale is slightly wilted.
14. Take off heat.  Gently stir in pesto, pepitas, and tomatoes.
15. Salt + pepper to taste.
16. Top with 1 diced avocado.

*You can definitely use all quinoa in this but the millet gave it an creamy + thick texture.  There is no difference in water amount or cook time between black + white quinoa.  I only got the black quinoa for the color.  Millet has a similar cook time to quinoa, so it worked fine cooking them together.  You can sub out any grain you wish in this dish.

**I meant to also toss in 1 can of rinsed garbanzo beans for a little more protein but forget.  I think it would be a great addition.

***Feel free to sub in a store bought pesto or a non-vegan version.  If it’s an oily pesto, you might not need as much.

****Also, I made the quinoa + roasted the tomatoes the day before to save time.  It just took a little longer to heat the quinoa up in the pan.  I also threw it in the oven [on a low heat] to keep it warm when I got to the party.

I absolutely LOVED the texture of this.  Very creamy but a nice crunch from the pepitas.  The flavor of the pesto and the sweetness of the tomatoes was awesome too. 

The roasted tomatoes should look like this when they’re done.  I use parchment paper for easy cleanup.

I was exhausted from work and then racing home to shower + finish making this dish but it was worth it!  The party was so much fun.

The bro-in-law.  Do you see me?

One of our friends has a moped/bike thing.  The boys thought it was a good idea to play with it in the alley.  I was thrilled…

So was Jen.  Jen is our friend that’s moving.  Very sad!!  She and her boyfriend Jay are off to DC.  We’ll definitely miss them!!

Kurtz tried to jump on the bike.  What happened after this photo was not pretty.  He was okay, but the bike took quite the hit.

Ann [Kurtz’s g/f] was also less than pleased.

Jen has a great style and always has the best accessories. 

Ugh.  The husband. 

At least he had a helmet on?

Hovan!!

Do you see the wet spot on the neckline of my dress?  I dropped a bunch of watermelon all over the place.  Yup, fail #789 of the day.

<3

We had an awesome cookout with our friends and the quinoa dish went over really well.  Then we stopped at a bunch of Jen + Jay’s favorite bars.  It was a good night!!  We got home late and I was not feeling blogging at 2am. 

When I woke up, I found vomit on my yoga mat.

I promise it was not from me or the husband. 

Which dog is guilty?  I’m guessing the brown one.

I was slightly dehydrated from last night but this kale green monster kicked whatever small hangover I had to the curb.  It rocked.  

Kickin’ Kale Pnut Butter Banana Green Monster

• 2c washed + de-stemmed kale
• 1c ice
• ~1/2c milk of choice
• 1/2c plain yogurt
• 1-2T pnut butter
• 1 banana
• 6 strawberries
• 1/2t cinnamon
• 1T chia seeds

Blend awaaaay!! 

I got a great tip from a reader for blending Green Monsters.  If you don’t have a blender that pummels through kale or spinach, try this! 

1. Blend/puree kale + milk/liquid and then add in all other ingredients and blend again until smooth.

We’re off to Ft. Collins today to shop around for a house to rent!

Hope you all have a lovely Sunday!! :)

Ashley