Nothing out of the ordinary; Strawberry-Red Pear Green Smoothie

I know.

I've been MIA from blog writing the past couple  few days.

The weekend got busy and yesterday I was playing catch up with school.

Oh! I'm a FoodBuzz Publisher! So the ads to the right of this post are legit. =)

My weekend was an enjoyable one though! I spent it with my friends and went to a couple of our usual spots to hang out and dance.

Well they danced, I wasn't up for it. I watched all the crazy shenanigans go down.

Friday night me and a few of my favorite ladies went to our local watering hole, The Outpost.

Since I'm on my cleanse I'm not drinking, so there was no alcohol for me this weekend!

Saturday night we went to support our friends' party they were hosting at a spot that used to be called Aura. Then new ownership took over and it got renamed Status and now it's called Playhouse.

One of my best friend's and I 

Ehh... not a fan of the new name...Playhouse?? I feel like it should be the name of some daycare center or a kids fun zone. Does anyone remember Discovery Zone?!

Anyways, the cleanse is going great! Starting last Wednesday we went up to have two shakes a day and one meal. I find this soooo much easier. Why?? Because all I have to do is throw things into a blender, whip it up and a few minutes later my meal is ready. Quick and easy! I've been doing a shake in the morning and one for lunch and then a meal I make for dinner.

Lately, I've been eating my usual eats. Over night oats in the morning, except now I blend them up. Super yummy. Lunch is a green monster protein shake and dinner lately has been chicken with veggies and quinoa, or a veggie quinoa bowl. I haven't really experimented with anything new, just haven't had the time!

I did, however, whip up a new green smoothie concoction and it's delish! Below is the recipe.



Strawberry- Red Pear Green Smoothie

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup spinach
• 1/2 cup kale
• 3 medium to large strawberries
• 1/2 red pear, cut up into pieces
• a 1/4 of a banana; frozen (Frozen is optional)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1/2 cup water
• Vanilla protein powder (optional)
• 1 tbs. ground flax or chia seeds
• Cinnamon

Directions:
Add to the blender first the milk, water, spinach and kale. Blend until smooth or at a consistency you like. Next add in the ground flax or chia seeds and protein powder (that is if you are adding any), blend again. Then add in the remaining ingredients; strawberries, pear pieces and cinnamon. Blend again. Once blended thoroughly, pour into a glass and enjoy!

The weather in northern California has been super weird. It's been cold, overcast, cloudy and rainy the past few days. And it's MAY. What the hell?!

Where is the sun and warm weather?! Coooome baaack!

Which means Jack has been spending a lot of time indoors with me. 

No, no, scratch that. 

With MY bed and on MY Giants blanket. 

He has his own blanket. (Yes, I know that sounds weird, a cat that has his own blanket, but he sheds like crazy and he's my "child" haha). See the red blanket above??

Yeah, that's his. See where he is laying??

Yeah, that's mine.

He's in right now as I post this.

But on his blanket this time.

Because the weather looks like this.

Okay, I'm done with the crazy cat lady talk.

I'm off to finish some cleaning of the house and then off to the gym!

Hope everyone has a fantastic day!

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Happy Friday!! The week has finally come to an end!

I always love when the weekend is here. I get to see my friends, relax and chill.

There isn't going to be much content to this post, just three recipe ideas that I wanted to share with you all. The first two is a breakfast and lunch smoothie idea and it's actually what I had today. And the last is a dinner or anytime recipe that I cooked up last night for dinner!

Enjoy!


Oatmeal Breakfast Shake


Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup oats (*If you do a 1/4 cups oats then do a 1/2 cup almond milk)
• 3/4 cup almond milk
• 1/2 tbs. almond butter
• 1 tbs. ground flax
• handful of blueberries
• You may add protein powder to this if you like, optional though.

Directions:
Night before add to the blender cup the oats and the almond milk. Cover and refrigerate over nights. In the morning add almond butter and protein powder (if you add any) and blend together! Add just a little more milk or water if the mixture is too thick. Pour into a bowl and top with the ground flax and blueberries. Chia seeds would work great with this too!

Look at the thick consistency! (After I mixed the blueberries and flax in)

Spinach-Kale Banana-Strawberry Green Monster

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup vanilla almond milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup kale
• 1/2 cup spinach
• 1/4 medium banana
• 3 medium strawberries
• Arbonne Vanilla Protein Powder (Omit protein powder if you want, optional)
• 1 tbs. chia seeds
• cinnamon

Directions:

Blend together first the water, vanilla almond milk, kale and spinach. Once the kale and spinach are blended thoroughly, add the strawberries, banana, protein powder, chia seeds and cinnamon. Blend together until everything is blended completely, pour into a cup and enjoy!

Roasted Chickpeas with Swiss Chard and Quinoa

Ingredients:

1 tbs. Extra virgin Olive oil (or oil of choice)

1/3 cup drained and rinsed chickpeas

1/2 cup cooked quinoa 

1 cup chard (cut up)

Handful grape tomatoes

1/2 cup sugar snap peas

1/4 cup diced onions

Garlic powder

Dried Sage

Salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil. Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Use a 1/3 cup of the chickpeas and add to a bowl. Add to the chickpeas a drizzle of olive oil, the garlic powder, dried sage and salt and pepper to taste. Toss to combine to coat the chickpeas. Pour onto the lined baking sheet and cook in the oven for about 25 mins or until the chickpeas start to turn a golden brown. While chickpeas are cooking, heat a pan with the 1 tbs. of EVOO and cook the onions until they start to turn translucent. Next add in the sugar snap peas and tomatoes, cook for 3-5 mins. Add in the chard and cook until it starts to wilt. Next add in the quinoa just to heat it through. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste. Add the mixture to a bowl and top with the roasted chickpeas.

TGIF, literally! Snapshot, Flipcard and Cleanse day 5

Happy Friday!! So happy that it's finally here. TGIF, literally.

Yesterday marked day 5 of the cleanse and it was also Cinco de Mayo. A day some people use as an excuse to go out and drink till they pass out. Haha. Not this girl!

I did go out for a bit last night and hung out with one of my best friends and another close girlfriend of mine. I've been feeling in a bit of a slump lately and last nigh was exactly what I needed to get out of it. A night filled with great conversation, laughter and smiles. Sometimes, something so simple as seeing your close friends can do the trick, and it absolutely did last night.

I had an early start to my day yesterday, a 5:30 a.m wake up call to be exact, or I should say alarm blaring wake up call. Got up and did a quick cram session before my midterm at 8 a.m. Had a bowl of overnight oats consisting of:

• 1/3 1/4 cup oats (Gluten free of course)
• ~3/4 cup vanilla almond milk
• 1 tbs. ground flax
• 1/2 tbs. almond butter

Quick and easy and it kept me full all the way through school and the gym. After the gym I whipped up a banana protein shake, went outside and caught some sun.

The banana shake had in it:

• 1/2 a medium frozen banana (Gives it more of a shake like texture)
• 2 scoops Arbonne Protein powder
• 1 cup Vanilla almond milk
• 1 tbs. chia seeds
• 2 ice cubes

At some point in the day yesterday I was greeted by Jack ready to roll out!

My "roll" dog

Dinner time rolled around and I enjoyed a quinoa spinach salad with bell peppers, mushrooms, asparagus, sugar snap peas, chick peas and a handful of slivered almonds. Just what I needed.

Today marks the 6th day in my cleanse and I'll report later on tonight on how it went!

Oh! I almost forgot! There are 2 NEW ways to view my blog: Snapshot or Flipcard. Check out the picture on the sidebar (To the right of this post) and click on it to view!

Enjoy your Friday!