Adventuresome

This morning, we headed out for a picnic. After about an hour of twisty mountain driving we reached our destination. I was feeling slightly ill but ready for the fun ahead.

We wandered down the path...
...of poison ivy.
And came to the river...
...where I illegally snatched this rock.
When we got back to the tables it was about 9:00. You know what that means: Kittie ate a snack.
I munched on these while reading Cosmo.
Just for tradition's sake:
We hung out for a while and then right as the grill was ready to use, it started raining. My dad grilled in the rain while we sat in the van watching him because he wanted the charcoal taste on his burgers. We waited in the van for a while but the rain wasn't letting up so we trucked it back home. This delayed lunch 1.5 hours but it turned out alright.

Once home we assembled our planned eats. I had this all packed up:
Leftover tofu sandwich makings and....
....some Food Should Taste Good sweet potato chips.
Wow....is all I have to say. I haven't had chips in quite some time but I think these are the best I've ever had....mind. blown.

My assembled sammie:
I put the two sides together but then it wasn't as pretty. Jicama on the side.

There was one more adventure in my afternoon. It was time for my snack. I had a Kashi bar planned. But what's this? I am sort of dreading the packaged feel of the bar....and....wait, is that a craving. Hold the press. I am identifying a craving? Oh god...this wasn't planned. So you want oats...in the middle of the afternoon? Well....well okay, let's make this happen.
And I did and it was so good.

I had all sorts of mealtime mix ups today and you know what? It's alright.

Reinventing Eating

Today at dinner my dad looked at me and said:
"I've realized that you and your community of food bloggers are reinventing eating."
"How so?"
"When my brain tells me I'm hungry, I wander into the kitchen and start to think of things I have eaten before. A sandwich, nachos, bread and butter, peanut butter crackers, ect. and I think of the ingredients we have. What can I make? But you all think in an entirely different way. You think of the colors, the balance, the newness of a recipe."
"Yes, I do at least."
"When I go to cook something for dinner, I have a book of options in my head. Stews, roasts, meatloaf. These things my mother made so religiously that we ate them weekly and she didn't need a recipe. You never had that. I realized you were raised on frozen dinners, restaurants, and easy mac."
"Yeah, I sort of taught myself to eat."
"You were a blank slate, perfect for this sort of experimental eating."
"Yeah, I guess you're right."

He did most of the talking but it really made me think of the things I do for the blog. I mean, I eat for me but there is so much more I do for presentation. Why? I think I have like...three readers tops? I don't know why but I love it.
I photographed my food long before I knew anything about blogs. I have a picture of a blueberry cheesecake that I made in the seventh grade. I love food, I love cooking, I love health, and I love pictures. Food is such a serious thing in my life. It must be organized, balanced, taste good, and be within certain ranges. I eat at certain times every day.

• Breakfast-6:00 AM
• Post workout: 9:00 AM
• Lunch: 12:00 PM
• Snack: 3:30 PM
• Dinner: 6:00-7:00 PM

I am OCD about when I eat and I hate it. This really has nothing to do with the blog other than the lighting but....it's frustrating how much a 1:00 lunch date can throw me off.

My point? Good Lord, it's lost but I think something along the lines of: I love this blog, I love food, I love you guys (if you're out there), and this community makes me feel like less of an OCD weirdo.

By the way, my breakfast was pretty:
I mixed Crofter's with some water and microwaved it before pouring it over simple oats and topping it with sunflower seed butter.
It was like a PB&J without that horrible PB....hehe.
All gone! (Baby Bear says "hi")
Post workout Kefir bowl surely went down.

And lunch? Lunch was really special today because I have been working on taking longer amounts of time to eat lunch. I usually scarf it down and then feel like I haven't even eaten. I timed myself: 1 hr, 15 minutes to finish this plate:
How? Munching and reading a magazine. I know we aren't supposed to do other things while eating because we need to focus on our food but if I'm not doing anything, that sandwich is gone before you can blink. Rest assured, every bite was taken while completely forgetting the magazine.
I had a snack of the peanut butter chocolate chip cookie Larabar....I took a bite...made a face and decided it tasted very similar to peanut butter cookie. I popped it in the microwave and it made the chocolate stand out more than the peanut.

The best part of my dinner:
Garlic Roasted Brussels Sprouts.

• Preheat oven to 450
• Spray a cast iron skillet with cooking spray and preheat it over a high flame.
• Cut the ends off one pound of sprouts and slice them top to bottom.
• Place them face down on the hot skillet.
• Cook until lightly browned.
• Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Thinly slice two garlic cloves and spread on top.
• Bake in oven for 20 minutes.

Ta-Da!

No, I'm not Asian. I just eat like one.

Edit: Trader Joe's Owner Dies.

Alright...I have a dilemma. I eat breakfast when it is still dark outside. My flash is INTENSE but the dark does no one any good. I want the breakfast shot to be good since it's the first thing you see when you enter my site and I don't want to leave out breakfast because it's my favorite meal of the day.
This morning it was pitch black outside. My breakfast wasn't exciting but it was what I was craving....ugh...alright, since I have something to say about it, I'm showing you. *cringe*
Bleh. Okay, so that's my breakfast. What I have to say about it is that it did NOT hold me over. It's Oatmeal squares, millet puffs, frozen blueberries, and almond milk. I love puffed cereals but the thing about them is: they are pretty much just air so half my breakfast was lost in...inhalation...it was satisfying at the time but I was RAVENOUS at lunch time. My post workout refuel barely helped.
Kefir poured over Greek yogurt and topped with hemp flax granola.
It was really good but I was chewing my arm off two hours before my scheduled lunch date with my other BFFF.
We went to a Korean buffet and it was quite good. I had never had Korean and liked it a lot.
They have tons of spicy pickled vegetables (including kale) not unlike Kimchi that they eat with rice or noodle dishes. Obviously they have Kimchi as well. Freaking delicious.

We shopped for about...oh...five hours. Haha and I picked up some nice things at Forever 21. I needed post shopping refuel. It's like a workout, you know. ;)
Wow, I actually really liked this. It was my first Odwalla bar. It has that protein-y taste that I actually tend to like. And no peanuts!

Then for the 45 minute drive home I poisoned myself.....
Oh but it fizzed so good! Yeah, that's an EXTRA large Diet Pepsi. It doesn't even fit in the cup holder. It was gone before dinner was served...speaking of:
I made stir fry and baked soy sauce/garlic tofu. I had it with the leftover vegetable buns from the other night. I made rice and chicken for the boys to have with the veggies. (not big tofu eaters...correction: not tofu eaters.)
Fact: I despise raw chicken. I should be paid to touch it. But I make a mean teriyaki chicken for someone who can't taste what they're cooking (I've been told).
VitaTop for dessert!

The day of the Nut Butters

I've never really had any luck with steel cut oats. I've always felt like they have tons of promise but can never end up with a product of that promise. A few weeks ago I found the steel cut oat tutorial on .seek. and realized that my steel cut oat can suggested one cup of water to 1/3 cup of oats as opposed to 1/4 cup oats to 1 1/4 cups water....um. wow. Also, the cooking time is 20 minutes on the can.....about 45 minutes according to Amanda. Well then....seems like someone is probably wrong and someone is right....So I followed the tutorial and got this:
Oh yeah, I took another tip from her and mixed apple sauce with almond butter. Loved it.
First steel cut oat success. Also very, very filling.

After some core yoga seriously kicking my ass (I am not without yoga mat wounds) I debated: To dairy or not to dairy.
Oh yeah, I went for it. Full force with a bowl of Greek yogurt AND Kefir plus some maple pecan granola. Clearly the right choice.

I spent the morning drinking tons and tons of water for detox action (I got a little overzealous with the soda the last two days and it made me feel off [note: too much soda for Kittie means soda more than one day in a row. It's like delicious fizzy poison.])

I made something awesome for lunch. Okay, it was really simple but to me it was awesome.
So you know how I hate peanut butter? Perhaps you don't, but now you do. Well, I always ate peanut butter sandwiches with sunflower seeds and honey to mask the flavor of peanut butter. I never discovered other nut butters until this spring. Well, I have some SUNFLOWER SEED butter....why not skip the peanut butter and just add honey? And so I did:
"Hey, you missed a corner." No I didn't. It's for this:
RICEMELLOW! I've never tried a fluffernutter...so I figured it was time to.
It was raining when I made my lunch so I curled up by the window with a magazine...
.....and my delicious sandwich. Best idea ever. (Also best celery ever. It is SOOO good. Weird.)

I spent some time with my mom and a little snackity in the afternoon:
So I figured I'd try everyone's favorite Larabar. Um..it's like cashew cookie but gross. Reminder: You hate everything peanut, Kittie.

But dinner was ohmygosh good.
Okra fries plus leftover yucca fries and sauteed green beans with a little pita pizza.
Marinara, spinach, tomato, mushroom, onion, bell pepper, olive, feta, and string cheese.
Top it off with an apple and some more of the most amazing salted dark chocolate that has ever graced my lips.

Oh, I've been holding out on you. On Sunday when the BGFF and I hung out he wanted to go back to the Asian market to get some insanely spicy Ramen and I....couldn't resist these:

"I love honey. Do you love honey?"
"Let me try first. Delicious good!"
Adorable baby spoons.

Back in the Saddle

So this morning I hit the bike trail again bright (actually not light out) and early but before that I had breakfast waiting for me in the fridge.
I made overnight oats with:
1/3 c quick oats
1/3 c Greek yogurt
1/4 c almond milk
1/2 frozen banana
cinnamon.
This morning I added more almond milk, maple pecan granola, and millet puffs.
Then I went on my ride. It was a good ride but I kept it simple. It was a seven miler. Finished in just about 45 minutes. I had been doing two hours every day and I just got burnt out. Slow and steady Kittie, slow and steady. Well, once I returned I grabbed some post workout refuel before showering off.
What is that? It's Kefir! I had never tried Kefir but jeeze louise, I LOVE this stuff! It's like....so tart and yummy....wow.
It tingles...
So...I had more dairy for lunch and it was delicious but I don't know if it was such a good idea on my part...I've felt sick all day and I think lunch just set it over the edge. :( grr.
Well, I marinated some thinly sliced cucumbers in Greek yogurt, almond milk, and dill.
I stuffed it into a pita with spinach.
I had okra, jicama, and a couple Sunchips with it.
This was amazing. It was tzatziki inspired.
So after sitting on the couch feeling sick for a few hours I was really hungry so I grabbed a DDP and one of the new Larabars. I couldn't drink the soda. The fizz and sweetness was making me more sick but the Larabar was good. It was interesting because it has a softer, gooier texture than most Larabars. Yummy.

Oooh, dinner was fabulous. I made sesame green beans which are my favorite thing to get at a Chinese buffet.
I had leftover yucca fries with it.
And a dumpling (two, actually.)
Yumz.
Dessert is a classic fruit/nut butter/chocolate combo.**

**Edited to add: HOLY MOTHER OF PEARL. That is good chocolate. it's the Lindt dark with sea salt....my world just changed.