green pumpkin

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Short-ish post today.  Chris + I spent another 4hrs in our car, driving around Denver, street by street looking for a place to live.  It hasn’t been the easiest!!  There really aren’t many places available that allow dogs and would actually be good for dogs.  We have a few places that we’ll actually be walking through tomorrow.  Fingers crossed that they’re nice!!

Since I had an open can of pumpkin, I thought another bowl of pumpkin oats was in order for breakfast.

You guys know the routine..nothing new here, except for the fact that I have my very own clear glass mug now!!  Natalie got me one at work the other day and I’m pretty excited :) Ohhh the little things.  I enjoyed oats + coffee from the clear mugs.  I love seeing what I’m eating + drinking the whole way down!

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I sliced a little extra banana on top.

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Pumpkin-ey delicious!!

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I busted my arse at the gym today.  Incline workouts are INtense!

  • 45min incline workout, between 8-11% incline @ 4mph  [ran a little bit too 3% incline @ 5.8mph]
  • ABS!! I love the decline bench for ab work!!
  • little free weight action

When I got back from the gym I had 1 thing on my mind.  GREEN MONSTER – I don’t even know how I thought of it…but all of a sudden I was thinking “I wonder if I can make a pumpkin green monster??”  Well, I would soon find out the answer was most definitely YES.  I really didn’t think it would be good so I wasn’t even measuring. 

This is approximated a tad, but really close and I’m sure it doesn’t have to be the exact same!  Pleeease let me know if you try this!!!

Pumpkiney GREEN Monster

  • 1/2 banana
  • handful ice
  • ~1/2c. vanilla unsweetened almond milk [any milk will do]
  • ~1/3c. pumpkin puree
  • 1 container Stonyfield Pumpkin Yogurt [if you can’t find this use vanilla]
  • 2-3c. spinach
  • 1/2 avocado
  • cinnamon/ginger/clove

First I blended everything except the spinach, avocado, and spices.  Yellowy-Orange

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Pumpkin stuff!

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Add spinach + avocado.

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THEE prettiest color of green.  This was soooo creamy + smooth.  I want another, right now!

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I tasted it and realized I had forgotten to add spices!  I would say about 1/8-1/4t cinnamon, few shakes of ginger + cloves.  Stir, taste, and add more according to your taste.  I have made some good green monsters, but this was just ridiculous.  It also gave me a huge burst of energy and was so cleansing after a hard workout.

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Please give it a shot!! :)

When we got back from apt. searching we were staaaarving!!  Had a snack and then started making dinner.  Nothin too crazy but still delish!

  • cubed butternut squash + roasted @425* until nice and brown
  • pan sautéed brussel sprouts + kale
  • boiled some noodles
  • browned some fresh breadcrumbs + garlic to throw in the pasta and veggies

[Melissa – Pasta + breadcrumbs just got a facelift!! hehe]

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I REalllly liked the tiny cubes of butternut squash.  They got super crispy but creamy on the inside.  I only tossed them with olive oil + sea salt and they were perfect! 

I just ordered our holiday photo cards online.  It took me waaaay too long, haha.  My eyes are totallllly sick of staring at the computer screen.  Night blog peeps!!

~Ashley

Oh yah! 1 more thing…I get to play “mom” for the weekend!  I’m babysitting cutie-pie Jake all weekend while Melissa + Matt are out of town for Matt’s new job.  I’m really excited!!  I’ll still be blogging if I can…baby first :)  I hope it warms up a bit so we can take some walks.  It was about –10* this AM but warmed up to 19*.  I’m sure I’ll get some good photos of the baby adventures this weekend…stay tuned!