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WIAW: Why I Could Never Be Vegan

Posted on February 19, 2014 by kissmybroccoli

Alternative post title: Oh Look at THAT, I Finally Ate Vegetables! 😀

Monday afternoon, I awoke MUCH too early for my liking, but decided to just roll with it, quite literally as I used a bit of gravity to pull myself out of bed, threw on some workout clothes, and carried my tired arse to the gym.

Feeling a bit hungry on my way out, I grabbed what has recently become my favorite preworkout snack. I found these babies at TJ Maxx a couple of months ago and I am in LOVE! But don’t let the first little bite of the day fool you, things are about to get “meatier”! #twss 😉

While at the gym, busting out a killer bi’s and tri’s workout (*brushes fingertips across chest*), I ended up drinking a liter (33oz) of water from my Camelbak bottle. I had actually planned on staying to do a little more cardio after my circuit, but decided food sounded better than the treadmill. Ha!

And what better (or faster) way to get food in your face than with a snack plate! Two honey nut rice cakes topped with cottage cheese, peanut butter, cinnamon, and chocolate-covered popped amaranth, one friggin HUGE carrot cut into strips, and a bowl of unsweetened applesauce.

I cleaned my plate, save for one rice cake which I ended up eating after I finished getting ready for work and enjoyed with a cup of (unpictured) half-caff coffee.

Reason #1: COTTAGE CHEESE!

I consider myself pretty lucky that even with my unpredictable lactose intolerance, I can still enjoy cottage cheese. After having a few episodes of lying in the fetal position after trips out for froyo, I’ve actually given up on dairy-containing frozen treats, but hey, at least I can still make my favorite protein ice cream!

Later that night at work, I pulled out a “triple P” (packed and previously pictured) salad of mixed baby greens, gluten-free chicken nuggets (Costco find), roasted butternut squash and purple potatoes, crumbled goat’s milk blue cheese, and a drizzle of this BBQ sauce.

Reason #2: CHICKEN and Reason #3: ALL THE CHEESE!

I’m not a big meat-eater, but whenever I get a craving for it, it’s almost always chicken. Baked or fried, skin-on or skin-off, tits or thighs, there’s really no way I won’t eat it…well, except for livers…yeah, Mom? You can KEEP those! And I think it goes without saying that I have no control in the face of life-altering cheese buying decisions! 😉

All washed down with one of my favorite Zevias!

A handful of hours later, it was snack time…enter my latest Quest bar love and another liter (33oz) of water…followed by an hour of content tummy/sleepy head-bobbing.

Reason #4: QUEST BARS!

My one true pre-packaged love. I’ve tried a LOT of bars in my day, and while I hate that sometimes they are a bit inconsistent in flavor and/or texture, I still have to say Quest is the best I’ve ever had!

A couple of hours after that I felt snacky again, but knowing I was probably just feeling the lack of sleep and needed energy, I decided to keep it small with half a container of Siggi’s yogurt and saved the rest for the next day.

Reason #5: YOGURT!

Just like cottage cheese, Greek (and other strained) yogurts are my saving grace. Hard to think what this world would be like without fluffy yogurt-filled pancakes or chocolate “icing”…and seriously, what ELSE would I use as a dip for my roasted kabocha?

Once I FINALLY finished my shift and made it home, I scrambled up a super fast meal minutes before Benedryl-dosing and faceplanting. One egg + 2 egg whites + mixed baby greens with a side of ~~lemon, apple, walnut, and raisin~~ ALL THE THINGS bread topped with quark.

Reason #6: FLUFFY (egg-filled) BREAD and Reason #7: ALL THE EGGS!

I’ll admit that most bread and other vegan baked goods I’ve had in the past have been pretty tasty, but, in my opinion, NOTHING compares to the light fluffability of an egg-filled treat! And you guys KNOW this #yolkpimp could never live without her eggs!

While this list certainly isn’t all-inclusive…I mean, we didn’t even get INTO my love of ceviche, pizza, and pancakes…I do think it paints the proper picture to prove my point. BAM, bonus points for unintentional alliteration! 😉 Everyone has reasons behind their dietary preferences and well, these are mine. Just don’t think that after last week’s pancake rant and now this post, that I’m calling all vegans to be burned at the ~~steak~~ stake or anything! 😆

Now head on over to Peas and Crayons and see what tasty dishes (vegan or not) everyone is linking up this week because no matter what your preferences, today is the day we celebrate what we ALL have in common…FOOD!

What’s the best thing you ate yesterday?

Posted in What I Ate Wednesday | Tagged bread, carrots, chocolate, coffee, cottage cheese, eggs, greens, gym, peanut butter, Quest bars, rice cakes, water, yogurt, Zevia | 65 Comments

Farmers Market Finds & Other Grocery Goodies

Posted on February 18, 2014 by kissmybroccoli

It’s no secret that I LOVE a good farmers market.

And well, if you haven’t been to Atlanta to witness the sheer awesomeness that is the Dekalb Farmers Market, then you are surely missing out and…this post is probably going to make you green with envy!

Having been once before, I thought I’d be able to handle myself when Laura and I went this past weekend, but I’ll be damned if I wasn’t sweating ten minutes after walking through the door. I just can’t help but get overwhelmed by the floor to almost ceiling shelves of grains and dried goods, fruits and veggies, meat and fish, bread and wine and cheese and ohmygodIthinkmyheartisgoingtoexplode! 😯

So how about I show you ~~my loot~~ the small amount of items I DID manage to walk out with?

Organic cocoa nibs, Turkish carob powder, organic cornmeal, coconut curry cashews (haven’t tried these yet, but Laura told me they’re amazing!), coffee and chocolate extracts, and chocolate-covered popped amaranth (because I’m tired of drooling over Sarah’s!)

A HUGE bag of cashews (oh yes, there is more butter-making in my future!), dried pineapple, roasted salted soybeans x 2, sunflower seeds x 2, and organic dried banana chips x 2…can you tell I plan on making trail mix? 😉

Honey nut rice cakes…I definitely should have bought more of these, but I couldn’t help but ~~run~~ walk away from the WALL of them after deliberating for 10 minutes over whether I should get the honey nut or the cinnamon toast! Lol

Lemon, apple, walnut & raisin bread that I could smell through the bag so yeah, I HAD to have it and proof that sampling works: once I tried a bite of this multigrain artisan bread, I hunted it down in the bakery section! It’s like a sweet honey wheat…so soft and so delicious!

A few new-to-me varieties of apples (names of which are eluding me at the moment), purple sweet potatoes x 3, purple potatoes x 4, a five-pound bag of carrots, and just ~~a few~~ FOURTEEN persimmons! Ha!

Look Meghan, CHEEEEEEEEEESE!!!

Confession: I know as much about cheese as I know about wine…absolutely NOTHING! So I can’t help but always feel like I’m playing the lottery whenever I buy any…so far though, the goat’s milk blue cheese made me a lucky winner!

Greek yogurt cream cheese (that I actually got at Whole Foods, but snuck into this picture anyway), quark, and SIGGI’S COCONUT YOGURT!!!

I’m not exactly sure how I feel about the quark just yet, but omg, the cream cheese and the Siggis are sweet purrrrrrrr-fection! I’d never seen this flavor of Siggi’s before…and I mean, c’MON, it’s coconut!! This brand has always been one of my favorites because their flavors are never too sweet for my tastes, but this flavor is by far the best!

And well, since the Atlanta Whole Foods just happens to be next to a TJ Maxx…

I may be spontaneous, but I’m totally predictable! 😉

And now I am officially hungry! Lol

What are your favorite items to buy from the farmers market?

Posted in Shopping, Snacks, Travel | Tagged Atlanta, bread, cheese, coffee, dip, farmers' market, persimmons, TJ Maxx, trail mix, Whole Foods, yogurt | 52 Comments

Marvelously Spontaneous!

Posted on February 17, 2014 by kissmybroccoli

I’m not the kind of person who needs a plan.

So this weekend, I embraced my spontaneity! On Friday afternoon, I jumped in the car and drove…

To ATLANTA!

To see this girl!

To stuff myself silly with cheese, crackers, and crudites!

To dine like a queen among amazing company!

To wake up bright and (not so) early, meet up with THIS girl, and quite literally have my ass handed to me by a trainer whose neck is easily the size of my thigh…and of course, loving every minute of it!

To spend the rest of the day not taking pictures, but instead, galavanting all across Atlanta’s sunny (but still frigidly cold) streets, shopping, sampling, and farmers marketing!

To swoon over things like kale and braised pork ravioli with brown butter (HEAVEN!) sauce, grilled calamari with roasted cauliflower and pickled red onions, and seared scallops over sunchoke puree (I want that stuff on my FACE!) with poached fennel in chive butter!

For the record, I HIGHLY recommend La Tavola!

To share a midnight snack (or 2am dessert) of the creamiest peanut butter mousse cake while a certain someone tried convincing me that the Buzzfeed quiz wasn’t wrong when it told me I should live in Georgia.

Unfortunately, time really DOES fly when you’re having fun and eight short hours later, I was BACK in the car, heading north, and belting out some Bon Jovi.

But the spontaneity didn’t stop there! I decided that since this was my THIRD time traveling to/from Atlanta, that it was high time I actually stopped at some of the places that have caught my eye in times past. While I was a bit too tired to conquer the outlet mall in Calhoun, I did visit a couple of wineries!

And after spending 45 minutes at the second one, sipping and talking wine with the other passersby, I left with a bottle of Port, a membership to their wine club, and mayyyyyyybe a bit of a buzz? Oops? 😉

I finally (and safely) made it home around 4pm…just enough time to get a two-hour nap before I ~~had to get ready to go to work~~ put my “lucky” shirt on and camp out in front of my computer waiting for registration for Blend to open!

And while I had already planned to go to Blend this year, I would just like to announce the TOTALLY OUT OF CHARACTER spontaneity that Meghan exercised yesterday by deciding to go after Laura and I sent her a very “encouraging” text message!