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ORANGE Ya Glad It’s Wednesday?

Posted on October 30, 2013 by kissmybroccoli

Hey hey hey, kiddos!

I hope you’re all having an ORANGE-rageous week! Sorry, my penchant for ridiculously corny puns makes me stop and wonder if I could have been a wacky kindergarten teacher in another life…

[original source]

What do you think?
I could totally pull off a volcano dress with globe shoes, right? 😉

But today is not the day to talk about my fashion sense (or lack thereof). Today is the day to talk about FOOD! And since I’m finally correcting one of my recent contradicting confessions, this foodie is here to celebrate in style!

So let’s break out the party hats, tip our glasses to Jenn, our hostess with the MOSTEST, and get things shakin’…and if you’re not already feeling tipsy, you’ll have guessed by my post title where I’m going with this! 😉

With the start of this month, I kicked my seasonal denial to the curb, cracked open my first can of pumpkin, and got started on my ~~summer glow~~ winter tint. And while I am now PROUDLY sporting a pair of orange palms, pumpkin isn’t the ONLY one that is to ~~blame~~ thank for my four-week transformation.

Allow me to introduce you to Fifty Shades* of BETA CAROTENE…

*give or take a few 😉

Greek yogurt (I promise it’s under there) topped with banana, persimmon goo* and Meghan’s cranberry granola mixed with cinnamon roasted chickpeas…oh and hemp seeds because well, I’m infatuated at the moment.

*the jelly-like interior of a SUPER ripe persimmon

Cottage cheese topped with peanut butter, persimmon goo, and more cranberry granola…and a few chia seeds because well, what the hell.

Oh snap, I made a rhyme! 😉

Seedy toast topped with crunchy peanut butter, persimmon goo…and cinnamon because well, DUH I’m a food blogger!

Roasted cinnamon kabocha squash with coconut-flavored Chobani…because well, food is more fun when dips are involved!

Butternut squash stuffed with kale and a DOUBLE YOLK egg…with a side of steamed zucchini and tomatoes because well, sometimes I like to pretend it’s still summer!

Butternut squash tuna melt (yes, I’m a genius) with a side of crispy kale chips…because well, I have finally mastered the art of NOT burning the damn things!

Pumpkin Pie Yogurt topped with a new-to-me sprouted lentil granola (with goji berries and chocolate covered apple pieces…TJ Maxx score!), and puffed millet and hemp seeds…because well, I have decision-making problems.

Pumpkin egg “puff” (pumpkin + egg + microwave) on cinnamon raisin toast with peanut butter…and healthy chocolate sauce because well, everything’s better with chocolate!

Pumpkin Pie Yogurt topped with HOMEMADE trail mix: cinnamon and plain roasted chickpeas, soy nuts, peanuts, peanut butter chips, cinnamon chips, dried cranberries, and dried blueberries…because well, you know, I’m a genius! 😉

Are you sporting your winter tint yet? What’s your favorite orange food?

Anyone else out there a fan of The Magic School Bus?
My favorite was the trip inside the human body…guess I’ve been an anatomy nerd for longer than I thought!

Posted in What I Ate Wednesday | Tagged bread, chocolate, cinnamon, eggs, granola, Greek yogurt, kabocha, kale, peanut butter, persimmons, pumpkin, squash, trail mix | 66 Comments

Marvelously Surprising

Posted on October 28, 2013 by kissmybroccoli

Hey guys!

I hope you all had a great weekend and your weeks are off to a good start! I’ll admit, my weekend wasn’t the best. I didn’t get a lot of sleep and like I mentioned yesterday, I’ve been feeling pretty overwhelmed lately. Baaaaa-HUT thanks to the lovely Katie, I’m ready to make the MOST out of this Monday with a fresh start and a look back to all the marvelous things that DID happen this weekend!

Marvelous things like…

Getting all dolled up for a night out with the besties!

Rockin’ leggings and boots all weekend long!

Seriously guys, I put on jeans Friday morning to go run errands and could not WAIT to get home to get those constricting bastages off! And the best part about these leggings? They’re lined with fleece! The man-friend bought them for me last year, but I didn’t get a chance to wear them until now. Yep, definitely gonna be picking me up about 50 more of these babies! 😀

The man-friend coming to ME!

Recycled pic, but still! The man-friend had something he had to tend to in Clarksville on Saturday afternoon, so afterward, he came over and we spent the rest of the day together. I typically drive to Nashville every weekend to see him so it was nice to change it up a bit!

Incredible soup & salad!

It’s been forever since I’ve been to Panera so when the man-friend said he was in the mood for soup on Saturday, I knew exactly where we needed to go. I ordered the Turkey Harvest Wheat Berry Salad and the Autumn Squash Soup! While the soup was a little sweeter than I would have liked, the salad was great!

Ninja bites!

The man-friend ordered the Spinach Power Salad and the Chicken & Wild Rice Stew and of course I helped myself to a bite of each! That salad is where it’s AT people…crispy onions, mushrooms, and an amazing onion vinaigrette!

Dessert for two!

They were also running a little special so we got a dessert from the bakery for only 99 cents! We chose the chocolate babka and were both really impressed with it…not overly sweet and perfectly doughy…like a cinnamon roll only with chocolate!

Retail therapy!

After finishing up with lunch THE MAN-FRIEND suggested we go to Big Lots and well, since I always try to be a good woman-friend, I willingly obliged! 😉 After a good hour and a half of roaming all the aisles at least 2-3 times, I came out with a few foodie items and THESE awesome geometric prints! And guess what! They rang up for HALF OFF!

*happy dance*

A fuzzy friend!

Luckily it warmed up a bit outside yesterday and I was able to knock something off the to-do list by finally getting the yard mowed! I popped in my headphones and got to work and as I got sucked into the music, I was reminded how much I actually LIKE mowing the grass! Afterwards, I was sweeping off the porch and I happened upon this little guy!
Ain’t he cute?!

Unexpected insight!

While I was working in the yard, this song came on Pandora and after one line literally stopped me in my tracks, I started listening to the rest of the lyrics and I just had to share some of my favorites…

We ain’t picture perfect but we worth the picture still.
…No need to fix what God already put his paint brush on.
You keep falling victim cause you’re insecure
And when I tell you that you’re beautiful you can’t be sure.
So all you see is what you lacking, not what you packing.
…Cause what’s real is something that the eyes can’t see.

I’ll admit, much of my bad weekend was just me being in my head and bringing myself down. I really needed to hear these words to remind me that I’m the same girl who was flashing her ASS-ets all over this blog just a week ago. And speaking of…

The MOST marvelous thing from this weekend was finally getting a chance to read through all of your wonderful comments on last Sunday’s post! It warmed my heart to see you guys loving and appreciating your bodies and really helped to pick me up when I was feeling down. Seriously, THIS is why I blog…I love you guys SO much!

What’s the most marvelous thing from your weekend?

What’s your favorite chocolate dessert?

Posted in MIMM, Shopping | Tagged Big Lots, music, Panera, salad, soup | 47 Comments

Confessions & Contradictions

Posted on October 27, 2013 by kissmybroccoli

High School Reunion

I’m an EXTROVERTED introvert.

I’ve always thought I was pretty outgoing and spunky…therefore considering myself an extrovert, but when I saw this graphic on Meghan’s blog last week, I couldn’t help but identify with BOTH sides.

[source]

While I’ll admit to loving being the center of attention in any way possible – laugh with me, hug me, kiss me, throw money at me – I also have a strong need for my own space, time to do things at my own pace, and don’t interrupt me…or I’ll club you with my mace!

Sorry, I had to! 😉

I’m a total CLUTZ with CAT-LIKE reflexes.

I may walk into door jams, trip over my own feet, and knock things over on a pretty regular basis, but on most occasions (including a specifically impressive one yesterday involving a glass tumbling off the counter), I have a quick hand and can catch things falling in mid-air! All that unfortunately doesn’t help in situations of mere stupidity…like turning one of my FAVORITE new bowls upside down and “thumping” it on the table in order to pry out the Almond Joy Breakfast Cookie inside…womp womp! 🙁

I’m a NEAT FREAK with a CLUTTERED mind.

It’s no secret, I like things clean and organized…a place for everything and everything in it’s place…but only on the outside. As much as I would like to have things neat and tidy in my head, I am a total scatterbrain! I have so many things going on in there at once that I swear if I have a thought and don’t grab a pen and write it down in five seconds or less, it’ll be lost forever! And heaven forbid I sit that piece of paper down because in five minutes I’ll have forgotten where I put it!

I’m a HOARDER who likes to REDUCE.

It can be food or it can be lotions and body sprays from Bath & Body Works…for some reason, I can never keep myself from storing in excess. But with that being said, I also get this great sense of satisfaction when I finish something and get to throw away (or repurpose) the container. Oh and sometimes I just get on random clutter claustrophobia episodes and start getting rid of stuff left and right…kinda like when I sold my kitchen table five months ago and still have an empty kitchen! Oops?

I’m a FOODIE who doesn’t want to talk food.

Sorry to tease you guys, but I just wanted to prove that I DID in fact have a recipe to share for Pancake Sunday, but I don’t know…I just don’t feel like talking about it. Actually, I’ve been sort of unmotivated lately on the food front and honestly, I think it has a lot to do with my to-do list up there…and the fact that I’m not sleeping well again. The recipe is typed but the pictures are nowhere near ready for sharing and well, I have emails from THREE weeks ago I’ve yet to respond to, laundry that needs done, hair that needs cut, continuing education credits that need ~~to be thrown in the trash~~ completing, grass that needs mowing, and the last time I checked, Elvira couldn’t change her own oil!

Wow, complain much?

Sorry…guess I’m just feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment. And tired. Forgive me? I’m fresh out of cookies, but I’ll do my best to get these cakes to you next Sunday! 😀

And last but not least…