Saturday Shopping Extravaganza!

Posted on April 11, 2011 by kissmybroccoli

Hey everybody! How was your day? Mine was ho-hum. All that lovely 80 degree weather we got over the weekend abandoned us today for gray skies and pouring rain. No matter how long I live in Tennessee, I’ll never get over the crazy weather!

This morning, I didn’t have time to have a sit-down breakfast (read, I spent too long reading blogs after my shower and was therefore running late), but I HAD to have some of the leftover Coconut-Mango Yogurt Pancakes from yesterday morning so I threw them in the oven to toast under the broiler while I whipped up a quick smoothie.

Breakfast to go anyone?

Coconut-Mango Green Monster Smoothie: (serves 1)

  • 1/2 cup almond milk
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/4 cup leftover mango pulp
  • 1/2 banana
  • 2 handfuls fresh spinach
  • 1 tablespoon coconut flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon coconut extract
  • 5-6 ice cubes

Whirr, whirr, whirr in the MB it goes! Where it stops nobody knows in my bellay!

Ok, so today it rained…and then it rained…oh, and after that, it rained a little more. Booooring! Howabout we talk “loot” from Saturday’s Shopping Extravaganza?! (Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?)

So I knew it was going to be a good day when it started out with this:

Iced 1/2 caf coffee with a splash of soy milk

Followed shortly after by this:

Veg-tastic burrito bowl from Chipotle

Oh yeah! Ya with me?

After meeting my friends for lunch at Chipotle (hi Cat & Erik!), it was time to get my shop on. And what kind of shopping gets a foodie THIS excited? Grocery shopping of course! Before I show you the loot, I want you to know that this was my first “official” grocery shopping after the Clean Out the Kitchen Challenge (read, there’s a LOT of stuff here!)

Trader Joe’s:

  • Yogi Ginger Tea x 2 (on sale for $2! AND I had a coupon for $1/2)
  • Veggie Masala Burgs (lurve)
  • Canned Alaskan Salmon
  • Organic Refried Beans
  • Unsalted Creamy Almond Butter
  • Peanut Butter Cream Cheese (say wha?!)
  • Cinnamon Cat Cookies
  • Punjab Eggplant Dish
  • Vermont Maple Syrup
  • 21 Seasoning Salute (since I see it ALL the time on Janetha’s blog!)
  • Fully-cooked Brown Rice
  • Organic Galas
  • Organic 3-Grain Tempeh x 2
  • Single-serving Non-fat Greek yogurt x 2 (blueberry and honey)
  • 2% Greek Yogurt
  • Fresh Basil
  • Potato Medley
  • Whole Wheat Tortillas
  • Dried Bloobs
  • Slivered Almonds
  • (Un-pictured) Smooth & Mellow Coffee x 2 (decaf and regular)

Whole Foods:

  • Kombucha x 3
  • Thick-cut Rolled Oats from bulk section
  • Whole Wheat Honey Grahams
  • Chickpea Flour
  • Yogi Chai Tea
  • Carob Powder
  • Sunshine Burgs
  • Unsalted Pretzels
  • Unsweetened Shredded Coconut
  • Coconut & Maple Extracts
  • Organic heirloom tomato
  • Blueberry Muffin Larabar (FINALLY got my hands on one!)

Behold the Pink Ladies!

 

Coconut Chocolate Chip Paleta

A little treat for the road! 😉

 

K&S International Market

  • Discount zucchini (I got this whole pack for 2 bucks!)
  • Kabocha squash x 3 (even though I wanted to just back the car up to the door!)
  • Calavacita squash
  • Cilantro
  • Beets
  • Yucca (so I can make Allie’s yucca fries)
  • Ginger Root
  • White Asian Pear

Notice the first three items are squash? Yeah, that’s no coincidence! 😉

Anybody heard of this one?

Cue sappy love music: “You’re beauuuuuuuuutiful!
“You’re beauuuuuuuutiful, it’s true!”

One of the best pears I’ve ever tasted
Sweet and juicy with the texture of a watermelon!

So…you guys wanna know how much I spent? You ready for this?

…….

$1083.43!

What a steal, right?! Oh wait…I guess I should’ve told you about this little purchase first:

Say hello to Heather’s shiny new washer & dryer!

While I was in Nashville, my dad called me and had me meet him at an appliance store to shop for a new W&D.  They had a super weekend sale running and this set was only $800! How could I pass up a deal like that?! On a front loader? Thank you!

What’s the best deal you’ve gotten lately?

Posted in Breakfast, Shopping | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 39 Comments

Coconut-Mango Yogurt Pancakes

Posted on April 10, 2011 by kissmybroccoli

Hello blog lovers! Hope you have all had a fantastic weekend!

Nothing starts a week out right better than a new pancake recipe in celebration of my favorite blogging tradition, Pancake Sunday, and boy do I have a winning recipe for you today!

While at the store last week, I picked up some mangos that were on sale for 50 cents a piece! What a bargain, right? There was no way I was passing that one up…even though I’d put cutting a mango in the same enjoyment category as going to the dentist!

I’ve Googled a-plenty, but I somehow I always manage to mutilate my mango in the process of cutting it! Anyone else out there with mango-mania? 😉

Anywho, I guess I can’t say “there were no mangos harmed in the making of this breakfast,” but I CAN say that it was well worth getting my hands a little bloody sticky!

Coconut-Mango Yogurt Pancakes: (serves 2)

  • 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg white, whisked a bit for better mixability (if that’s not a word, I’m making it one!)
  • 1/2 cup plain yogurt (I used Greek)
  • 1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh mango
  • 1/8 cup unsweetened dried coconut flakes

1. Combine all of your dry ingredients in a medium-sized bowl.
2. Whisk together egg white, yogurt, extract, and water.
3. Stir in mango and coconut.
4. Add wet mixture to dry mixture and stir until combined.
5. Scoop batter onto a greased skillet over medium heat and cook for about 5-6 minutes       (or until bubbly), then flip and cook for another 2-3 minutes until done.

These tropical little cakes would fare perfectly with any number of toppings: Sarena’s coconut cream, coconut butter, almond butter, or even just a simple drizzle of maple syrup, but since I had extra mango guts pulp strewn across my cutting board to use, I decided to give it a whirl in the trusty MB (magic bullet) for a mango “sauce.”

Wanna bite?

I could NOT believe the taste of these beauties! They were perfectly (and naturally) sweet, smooth and…BUTTERY!…and there’s not even any butter in them! This is definitely a “must-try” recipe! I can’t wait to have the other two for breakfast in the morning!

What did you have for breakfast today?

Are any of you master mango carvers? Any tips?

Posted in Breakfast, Pancake Sunday | Tagged , , , | 33 Comments

Lost!

Posted on April 9, 2011 by kissmybroccoli

Good morning loverlies! Hope you are all having a fantastic weekend! Since I posted early yesterday, I thought I’d do the same today. I’m making a trip to Nash-vegas today to have lunch with a couple of friends and do a WF’s/TJ’s run (yaaaaay!) so I may not have time/feel like posting later tonight.

Yesterday, I decided was going to be a much-needed “me day” so after posting, I thought I’d do a bit of exploring around my new area before my hair and massage appointments. There is a huge park on my side of town that is absolutely covered with biking/hiking trails and I discovered yesterday that I can reach those trails by a path not far from my subdivision!

Here are a few pics taken with my iPhone while on the trails:

Everything was just hunky-dory! The weather was nice (75 degrees with a slight overcast), beautiful scenery, birds a-tweeting and then…I got LOST!

I started out on the trails at 11:00am. I took this pic on my phone when I got to a place where I figured it was time to turn around and head back to the house:

Note that the time is 12:10

Ok, so you figure a leisurely hike, stopping to take pictures and enjoying the scenery in about an hour…should take a little less than that to make it back home, right? WRONG!

I finally made it back at 1:40!! I eventually gave up on trying to figure out the right trail to get on after I passed the same stump THREE times. I ended up hiking up a ginormous hill and coming out in someone’s backyard…and then the person came out on their back deck as I was making the trekking up…AWKKKKKward! :-/

Once, I got to the main road and figured out where I was, it took about 20 minutes to walk home. Then I had to jump in the shower, grab a super quick bite to eat and head back out the door for my appointments! Oh, by the way, the Edamame Millet Burger tastes ahhhhhhhmazing on a whole wheat bagel thin with roasted pine nut hummus! Mmm!

After my massage, where I left feeling perfectly noodle-ly, I stopped by a new-to-me fro-yo place called Berry Bear for a little treat. After my morning in the woods, I figured I deserved all the self-pampering I could afford!

Strawberry, coconut, and taro yogurts with coconut flakes, bloobs, almonds, granola, and a few pieces of mochi.

The rest of the night was spent with Jillian (hey, I needed a shower anyway) and then with my bootay on the couch and my laptop on my lap doing some blog reading! I did absolutely nothing as far as the house goes, but who cares…the house will still be here today and tomorrow…my sanity?…possibly not with the way I was going!

Have you ever gotten lost in the woods? (please tell me I’m not the only one)
I used to have the BEST sense of direction! I would hike all sorts of trails on my grandfather’s property as a kid and never got lost! Guess I’m losing it in my old age! 😉

Posted in Uncategorized | 34 Comments