"came for the song, stayed for the ballin"

 

bracelet 

wedge heel trainers

cool kitchen

champ balloon

 

My sister Egan sent me this video and I've been replaying it all week. The best was when I skipped through some of the comments and read "came for the song, stayed for the ballin." Couldn't have said it better myself: Let's Go-Matt & Kim

Bettlebung Farm ---aka dream life

 

Gabriela Herman's photographs of Bettlebung Farm had me going crazy yesterday. (via Miss Moss)

I want to eat a rustic dinner in a greenhouse. It's real magic right here. Fresh farm food on a farm table made from farm hands. It's beautiful. 

berry good on english muffins

 

I picked up Thomas 100% Whole Wheat English Muffins on my Saturday grocery trip and figured I would use them with toast for breakfasts or egg+avocado for dinners throughout the week. On Sunday morning I just found myself topping the toasted muffin with Fage greek plain yogurt, a swirl of raw honey, and fresh berries without even thinking too much about it.

Do I even need to say how good it was if I've had it for breakfast every day since?
Go do it.

Recipe: Shrimp Tacos with kale and zucchini

 

When it comes to dinner I can get real stumped sometimes. Especially because I'm cooking for one. I want something healthy and colorful, but I don't want to spend a lot of time on it or make too much. Usually my thought process goes like this: what do I have? what vegetables do I need to use? what kind of protein do I have/want? The answer to this question usually results in an omelet type of dinner. (any vegetables + eggs + little cheese = delicious and no grocery store trip)

Last night--- a successful new dinner that I pulled together after my usual round of questions. no grocery store trip: check / colorful: check / protein, grains, vegetables: check

Recipe: Shrimp Tacos with kale and zucchini
makes 2 tacos

1 cup of pre-cooked/tail-less frozen shrimp (thaw)
1/2 tablespoon of coconut oil
1 zucchini (sliced in half circles)
handful of cherry tomatoes (halved)
handful of kale (pre-cut and washed)
2 Ezekiel sprouted grain tortillas
mexican cheese
sea salt for taste

1. heat up a skillet, use some cooking spray, and toss in zucchini. once those are heated up mostly add kale (new discovery: I found kale pre-cut and washed in a plastic bin at my nearest grocery store. Yay! so easy), finally add cherry tomatoes.

2. heat up another skillet with a tiny bit of coconut oil and add shrimp. they are already cooked so it's just a matter of heating them up here. salt the shrimp

3. heat up Ezekial sprouted grain tortillas with a sprinkle of mexican cheese.

4. layer shrimp and vegetables. fold up tortilla and enjoy

What is your go-to easy dinner?

bedroom and batter

 

1. I still don't have curtains in my bedroom which makes changing at night not ideal. But I do really love waking up to natural light in my room and also discovering shapes of light at sunset on my face.

2. Is mixing up some breakfast batter not the best thing ever? This was from my batch on Saturday which turned out to be difficult to flip and easily burned little guys. Still ate em all though. 

Breakfast, take 2

6/17/12 

On Saturday, to celebrate Maggie's birthday, I made her a pancake breakfast. Although they were delicious they were hard to flip and kinda looked burnt. Not as pretty a presentation that I was hoping for.

So on Sunday we hit replay but used a new recipe. Same story, different ending. We both really loved this recipe and will definitely be using it again. 

The flat little slabs on the plate are extra lean turkey bacon. They look pathetic but they are very good.

Almond Pancakes

recipe adapted from heat oven to 350 blog

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

about 1 1/4 cup raw almonds

2 T succanat

1/2 cup greek yogurt

1/2 cup cottage cheese

1/2 cup almond milk

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla

1 T applesauce

1/8 tsp coconut flavor (recipe called for almond extract, but coconut was a great substitute

Directions:

1. Preheat a non-stick griddle over medium heat. Lightly grease with cooking spray.

2. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together into a mixing bowl.

3. Add almonds and sugar to a food processor. Pulse several times until the mixture is finely ground. )

4. Measure out 1 cup of the almonds/sugar mixture and add it to the flour mixture until just blended. Stir the yogurt, eggs, butter and almond together in a separate bowl; add to the flour mixture, stirring only until just incorporated. The batter will be thick and airy. (You can add a couple tablespoons of milk if it is too thick to spread on the griddle.)

5. Pour about 1/3 cup of the batter onto your preheated cooking surface, leaving space for the pancakes to expand. Cook until dry around the edges and bubbles have formed over the top, 2 to 3 minutes; turn and continue cooking until done in the middle and golden brown, another 1 to 2 minutes

all together now

 

On Sunday morning, in celebration of our move, my roommates and I had breakfast together. I made banana bread from the Power Foods cookbook and a giant omelet guy that had chard, mushrooms, tomatoes, and goat cheese. Eating with people in the morning light--does it get any better?

Birthday Breakie

 

I turned 27 last Thursday and took the day off work.

I was in the middle of packing up my house for a move, so my breakfast options were limited, so I did what I could: waffles + sprinkles.

The only thing missing: a dollop of whipped cream.

 I am never disappointed with these waffles. They are filling and fail proof.

new neighbors

 

Over the weekend I moved into a new place. It's just a few blocks away, but was still as hard as moving seems to be. So many loads. So many things. Why do I own all this stuff? The garbage pile and donations pile grew and grew and our car loads were packed and plenty. 

As we settled into our new digs we had multiple neighbors come over or drop off treats saying how excited they were to have us in the neighborhood. It was really great and I had totally forgot what it was like to have real neighbors since I've lived on busy streets and college apartments for that last many years.

Friday morning at 8am was a knock knock knock and 2 ladies across the street were at our door with a welcoming gift. A fresh garden bouquet and a pack of mushrooms. How COOL is that?!

An hour later I went over to one of the ladies house to borrow a wrench and before I could finish saying "adjustable wrench" I was in her kitchen with freshly washed chard in my hand straight from her garden! She took me out back as she placed some corn and barley in her solar oven!!!! and then she showed me her bees!!! and then she showed me her neighbor's chickens!!!! The thing is my sister and I were just talking about how sad we are that we don't get the fresh garden goods from my parent's garden and how lucky their neighbors are who get to come pick raspberries and blueberries. I feel very good about these new neighbors. I want to learn everything I can from her.

Recipe//Breakfast Muffins

 

I wanted to switch up my pre-workout snack (usually a piece of toast and honey) this week so I made these muffins and put them in the freezer. They are an easy treat to grab (only 15 seconds in the microwave) and give me just enough energy to take me through my morning workout.

They are really good too! Not too heavy or dense or dry like some healthy muffins can be. These are soft with a great texture and with a few semi-sweet chocolate chips it's the perfect amount of sweetness.

Breakfast Muffins

adapted from Abascal Way

makes about 16 muffins 


2 cups almond meal (ground almonds, also called almond flour)
½ tsp. sea salt
2 tsp. baking powder
4 eggs
1 cup large ripe banana, mashed
1 cup cooked fresh squash, pumpkin or sweet potato--or canned or frozen (I used canned sweet potato)
¼ cup olive oil

(additions: I added dried cranberries, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and chopped red walnuts, but let your imagination go wild here)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place muffin papers in muffin tins. 

Combine almond meal, salt, and baking powder in a bowl.

In a separate bowl whisk eggs until creamy.  

Process the banana, squash, and oil in a food processor or blender or beat them by hand.  Stir into the eggs, then stir into the dry ingredients.  Fill muffin tins to the top.  Bake for 20 -25 minutes.  

"dreeeams do come true"

On Sunday Egan and I made Joy the Baker's Kale Coconut and White Bean Tostadas.

Brilliant combination right there. Coconut and Kale! I don't know how she came up with that, but it was a money maker. Egan had purple cabbage all chopped up but we somehow forgot it when we assembled our tostadas. next time. 

I could really have this every night.

and those cherries. I couldn't stop.

After dinner we took a cruise to my birthday party location happening this weekend and found it to be a dreamy little gem 9 minutes from my sister's house. So lush and green. Now add friends and food and we have ourselves a party. Birthday WEEK!

Our dinner jams:

Dreams Do Come True- Gabrielle

Love On Top-Beyonce

Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers and their many covers

Father's Day//Gift Guide

 

Nova Granola is what my dad wants for Father's Day, but it'd be kinda cool to get him other fun stuff too.

 Here's some gifts for the man that deserves a lot of celebrating.

herschel weekend duffle

braun alarm clock

jeni's ice cream

man can candle

forage tie

book

dart board

my dad and me circa 1986 

 mother's day gift guide