Random Bits from the Broccoli Stalk

Hey peoples! Hope you are all having a lovely week so far! I loved reading about your bargains from yesterday’s Saturday Shopping Extravaganza post. Looks like I’m not the only one that knows how to snag a deal or two!

For tonight’s postage, I’d like you all to know that the lovely Emilia of Namaste Gurl recently awarded me with the Versatile Blogger award!

Don’t applaud…just throw money! 😉

In order to accept this award, there are a few rules:

  1. Thank the person who awarded you and link back to them in your post.
  2. Tell 7 random facts about yourself.
  3. Pass the award on to 15 new-found bloggers.
  4. Contact each blogger you want to pass the award on to and let them know you’ve done so, and let the giver of your award know whether you accept it or not.

Ok, so after this post and that post, let’s see if I can come up with 7 things I haven’t already clued you guys in on!

1.) I have never, ever played the lottery or gambled a day in my life. I like my money, I work hard for my money (so hard for the money! <-sorry folks, couldn’t help it), and I like to KEEP my money!

2.) I have many OCD tendencies…not the count the stairs I walk up or repeating words three times or anything, but for instance:

  • When I hang up my clothes, I HAVE to have the hanger hook pointing to the left and the clothing facing me
  • In the refrigerator, there is a veggie drawer and a fruit and cheese drawer…they do not cross contaminate
  • And last but sure as heck not least, the alarm MUST always be set to an even quarter (6:00, 6:15, 6:30, 6:45)! Seriously, I cringe at the thought of setting it for something off like 6:03!

3.) When I was in x-ray school, I once spent all day at a clinic site with another student replicating the x-ray in the intro to the show Scrubs . Needless to say that particular site was extremely sloooooooow!

And of course then we had to pose for a cheesy photo! 😉

Any Scrubs fans out there? I love me some Zach Braff!

4.) Speaking of television, I actually haven’t had cable/satellite at my house in over a year. I got tired of shelling out money each month for the handful of shows that I cared to watch. Do I miss it? Not one bit…just don’t take away my internet!

5.) I’m a Twilight fan…so shoot me! For the record, the books are SOOO much better than the movies.

But I won’t lie…I’ve seen all the movies in theaters…with my mom & sis!

6.) Every time my sis and I get together, we wind up taking 624 pictures of ourselves and half of them always turn out like this

And yes, we do have matching scarves from TJ Maxx!

7.) 1, 229…the number of pictures I took on my vacation to St. Augustine, Fl last summer. It’s still in the works, but there’s a very good chance that I’ll get to go there again this year! Woo hoo!

And now I get the privilege of passing this award on to some other amazing bloggers out there, and although I could sit here and list names from here to next week (there are SO many fantastic blogs out there!), I am going to shine the spotlight on 4 wonderful women in particular:

Jess from Healthy Exposures. I am in LOVE with this girl’s writing/photography/recipes! I’ve only been following her blog for a short time, but I am totally addicted! And I absolutely love her sense of humor!

Jenn from Peas & Crayons. Jenn and I have really gotten to be great friends over the last couple of months. I love her playful personality and creativity! And she is a genius at saving some money too!

Heather from Heather Eats Almond Butter and Allie from Live Laugh Eat. These two ladies are responsible for sparking my interest in healthy living blogs and then later becoming a blogger myself. From Heather’s HEABified Sloppy Joes to Allie’s Banana Avocado Bread, I entered my way into one of the greatest communities of people out there. I am so proud to call myself a healthy living blogger and so grateful to have all of you guys as readers!

Hope you enjoyed this little bit of randomness for the day!

Any vacation plans this summer? Do tell!

Posted in Randomness, Survey/Tag, Travel | Tagged , , | 27 Comments

Saturday Shopping Extravaganza!

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

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