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.

Quinoa with Roasted Veggies

Today is the 5th  6th day of the cleanse.

So far, so good!

My morning started off with a huge class of water and Yogi detox tea. Love the taste of this tea, it has a spiciness to it. Not in a hot spicy way. More like a cinnamony kind of a way.

For breakfast I had scrambled eggs with some mushrooms and bell peppers thrown in.

• 2 eggs- 1 whole egg, 1 egg white
• 1/4 cup chopped mushrooms
• 1/4 cup chopped bell pepper
• salt and pepper to taste

Had a VERY lazy morning and it was exactly what I needed. No rushing around, just pure laziness. Lunch rolled around and I decided to have a "Green Monster" protein shake. It had spinach, strawberries, green apple, vanilla protein powder, ground flax and Vanilla Almond milk. Yuuummmmm! 

• 1 cup vanilla almond milk
• 2 scoops Arbonne Vanilla Protein Powder
• Handful of spinach
• 1/2 cut up green apple
• 2 large frozen strawberries
• 1 tbs. ground flax
• A dash of cinnamon at the end

This isn't a regular size blender FYI

For dinner tonight I threw together a roasted veggie quinoa with balsamic. In the oven I roasted chick peas, mushrooms and red grape tomatoes. In a pan I cooked a chopped up red bell pepper and spinach. Tossed the quinoa in the pan to allow it to warm up. I transferred the mixture to a small bowl and added the roasted veggies. Then I drizzled some balsamic on top and tossed to coat.

Quinoa with Roasted Veggies

Ingredient: (Serves 1)

• 3/4-1/2 cup cooked quinoa
• 1 tbs. Extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tbs. crushed garlic
• 1/3 cup chopped red bell pepper (or color of choice)
• 1/3 cup mushrooms
• 1/3 cup grape tomatoes
• 1/3-2/3 cup cup chick peas
• Handful of spinach
• salt, pepper, sage and thyme to taste.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and cover a baking sheet with foil. In a bowl add grape tomatoes, chick peas and mushrooms. Add the crushed garlic, salt, pepper, sage, thyme and olive to the bowl of veggies and mix to combine. Add to the covered baking sheet, pop into the oven and cook for about 25-30 minutes. On the stove, heat a pan with a drizzle of olive oil (or whatever cooking oil you prefer) and add the bell pepper. Cook for a few minutes, add the spinach and cook until it starts to wilt. Add in the quinoa and cook for about 3 minutes to warm the quinoa up. Add this mixture into a bowl or on a plate. Once the roasted veggies are cooked, add to the plate or bowl. Drizzle with some balsamic and toss to combine. Enjoy!

I'm going to enjoy a kick back relaxing Friday night!

Until next time!

Easter Weekend

Easter weekend was a blast!

For the past few years now, my uncle Mike and aunt Meghan throw Easter at their place. And every year it is always so much fun! My Aunt is a fantastic cook, so we always look forward to what ever she cooks. The kids had their easter egg hunt and even the adults had some fun. Haha, see pictures below.

My cousin Deena riding the low rider bike that my uncle built

Craig riding the second one

Even my mother got in on the fun!

Now that the fun Easter day has come to an end, on to Monday! Today so far, I have spent my day job hunting, writing a letter to my college, cleaning house, and prepping some food for the week. And it's only noon! I also cooked up some quinoa while sipping on my Green Monster. Delish!
 
My green monster today consisted of:

• 1/2 cup vanilla almond milk
• 1/2 cup water, handful of spinach
• half a frozen banana
• 2 large strawberries. 

Simple yet delicious.

 I also threw together some tuna that has greek yogurt instead of mayo, shredded cabbage and some salt and pepper to taste. Dumped it in lock-in-lock, put in the fridge to have later this week.

Off to the gym I go in a bit!

Enjoy your Monday!