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  • Tag: Veggies

    • A Day in the Life of My Gut

      Posted at 8:59 AM by Brittany, on January 30, 2014

      I don’t participate in blogger linkups…like…ever. More specifically I don’t participate in the ever so popular linkup “WIAW,” also known as, “What I Ate Wednesday.” I’ve never had a desire to snap photos of things I ate on days other than Wednesday, but then post them on Wednesday and claim to have eaten them on….Wednesday? Meh.

      Coffee always comes first, because in order to put more food in..things must first come out. This photo is of a couple I see every morning I go to Starbucks to blog. They play scrabble with their tea and coffee. Faces blurred for privacy!

      Coffee always comes first, because in order to put more food in..things must first come out. This photo is of a couple I see every morning I go to Starbucks to blog. They play scrabble with their tea and coffee. Cutest thing ever. Faces blurred for privacy!

      Breakfast. LOTS of fruit. With a side of nutbutter.

      Pre-Breakfast – LOTS of fruit. With a side of nut-butter.

      I’ve been asked to participate in this link up to give more vegan options to the world wide web, but instead of linking up (because I’m too cool for school) I will post my own-singular- unattached post cleverly titled, “A Day in the Life of My Gut.” AKA what I typically eat. I like to pretend that all I eat are cupcakes and chocolate, but that’s just not true. Balance.

      In reality my “vegan” meals aren’t anything to be excited about. They are very simple and probably not what most people would opt for when cooking vegan. I am a bit of a minimalist, and simple is always better in my world. I like my food basic and “real.”

      ***Defiantly this post is on a Thursday..not Wednesday.

      Breakfast- Oatmeal with berries and other fun seeds and rabbit like grains.

      Breakfast- Oatmeal with berries and other fun seeds and “rabbit like” grains.

      Most of my meals are very mundane, and I rarely deviate from the simplicity of what I’m posting here, but it works for me. Sometimes when I am feeling wild I will prepare something more elaborate for breakfast like a veg scramble, or pancakes…but that’s rare.

      Quick morning snack option.

      Quick morning snack.

      I have somewhat of a system. I tend to eat my grains and fruit early in the day, and work my way to the veggies in the afternoon and evening. I figure I use the sugar from the fruit more during my energetic days than I do at night when I am sitting at home.

      Lunch is always in a bowl. Spinach, kale, farro, wheat berries, beets, red pepper, and hemp seeds.

      Lunch is always in a bowl. Raw spinach, steamed kale, farro, wheat berries, baked/skinned beets, raw red pepper, and hemp seeds. Cooked in coconut oil and lightly seasoned with some pepper and spices.

      I find that bowl messes are the easiest for me to take anywhere. I always start with a base of some kind of leafy green (or two) and build from there. That part never changes. The protein source changes from quinoa, to beans, to cous cous (much more rare these days) and so on. Then more veggies like beets or brussels are added to the top. Never too many.

      To add flavor to my meals I sometimes saute my veggies in coconut oil, and add mustard or salsa. I am very basic with my seasonings because I happen to like the flavors of plain vegetables. If you don’t swing that way, then finding a sauce you love can make it easier to eat a shitton of vegetables in one sitting. Also crackers or chips help add flavor.

      023

      A handful (or three) of these. Dark chocolate covered berries.

      9/10 times I have something sweet after every meal, this helps me not to overdo it.  A chocolate covered handful here, a cookie there, a finger dipped into PB everywhere.

      This afternoon snack has made a constant appearance in my eats for weeks.

      This afternoon snack has made a constant appearance in my eats lately.

      Snacks are welcomed, but moderated. I try not to mindlessly snack. A work in progress.

      Rice chips, OR rice crackers sometimes with hummus or salsa, and always with a giant carrot.

      Rice chips, OR rice crackers sometimes with hummus or salsa, and always with a giant carrot.

      Dinner is one of my meals that changes frequently. Sometimes it’s soup, sometimes it’s another bowl just like lunch, but with different protein and veggies (most of the time it’s this) and sometimes I use my evenings to make something more elaborate like black bean burgers, or BBQ tofu bowls. If I’m really lazy, it’s popcorn and an orange, but that’s rare.

      Kale, kidney beans, avocado, and asparagus. Asparagus was cooked in coconut oil was my flavor. My neighbor caught me taking this photo. It was awkward.

      Steamed Kale, kidney beans, avocado, a baked/skinned beet, sauteed asparagus, and hemp seeds. Asparagus was cooked in coconut oil for flavor. My neighbor caught me taking this photo. It was awkward.

      One thing that never, EVER changes..is my water intake.

      No less than three of these a day. If I have more that's fine. AT LEAST 100oz must be consumed.

      No less than three of these a day. If I have more that’s fine. AT LEAST 100 oz must be consumed. I carry my jar everywhere…

      So there you have it, this is a typical day of eats for me. Lots of fruit, vegetables, and protein sources. I’ve cut out bread and only eat it once in a blue moon, but I opt for GF. I still feel like a big pile of dog turds if I have too much wheat…it’s bizarre. Obviously this isn’t set in stone, and things change around a bit, but you get the general idea.

      I say typical day because once in a while I get down and dirty with vegan butter heavy cupcakes, and I’ve been known to knock back a few rows of Oreo’s. All in moderation!

      food blog

      All of these meals take no more than 10 minutes to prepare..whoever says you can’t eat healthy on a time crunch is WRONG! The key is food prep for things that take longer to make, like the quinoa. Making a giant bowl and using it throughout the week makes grabbing and going SO SIMPLE. Priorities people.

      ***I have nothing against this link up, in fact I enjoy seeing all the food-porn everyone posts. This is not a hate message to those of you that linkup, PLEASE KEEP DOING IT. It’s just not for me..that is all! Plus, no one wants to see the same thing every week!

      Q: Do you stick to simple, but delicious meals everyday, or do you play iron chef in your kitchen every night? I used to think I was Bobby Flay, but now that I cook for one and am constantly busy this quick stuff works best for me!

      atterned-n

      | 55 Comments Tagged Fruit, Meal Prep, Vegan, Vegetables, Veggies
    • Old Soul

      Posted at 5:13 AM by Brittany, on August 5, 2013

      I’ve been told I have a bit of an old soul. I am not your typical 24 year old, and I have tenancies that have earned me the nickname, “Grandma B.” I really don’t mind this much, and I enjoy living a calm, smooth life. I go to bed no later than 10, I wake up at 6, I drink my coffee black just like grandpa, mornings are my favorite time of the day, I eat Metamucil crackers (these are legit good, I don’t actually “need them” I just like the taste!) and I LOVE gardening. I often share stories of my first garden from last summer.

      This year I slacked on planting anything, but my roommate (hi mom) planted a few things that I am just swooning over as they start to grow!

      20130804-064219

      Neither of us had planted cauliflower before, so when the leaves started to grow we were unsure of when we would see anything else. I noticed this tiny cauliflower head yesterday!

      20130804-064226

      This Swiss chard has already put my wine box chard to shame, and just proves plants need A LOT of room to grow. I still loved my chard last summer even if the leaves were small.

      Classic garden zucchini plant. Will be making lots of brownies with these!

      Classic garden zucchini plant. Will be making lots of brownies with these!

      The mini garden also has some fresh herbs, but this is all for the veggies. I just need an avocado, some carrots, tofu, and cucumber to recreate this amazing rice roll…I’ll use the chard for the leafy green, and perhaps some zucchini as well.

      20130804-064207

      New to me garden additions would be fruit plants!

      20130804-06424220130804-064249

      I am so excited to harvest more blueberries, freeze them, and put them in my cereal.

      20130804-064256

      If you have a garden, don’t invite me over to your house. You will loose me, and then find me talking to your plants as if they were people. Just kidding, please invite me over. Also if anyone spots a good deal on some Depends, I think it’s time I stock up. Just in case.

      Q: Did you plant a garden this year?

      b

      | 79 Comments Tagged Gardening, Veggies, Wine Box Garden
    • The Power of Kale

      Posted at 5:17 AM by Brittany, on July 15, 2013

      Have you ever seen the show, “Monsters inside me” on TV? If you haven’t I will give you my cliff notes version of the plot. Basically it’s a show that reenacts true stories about people getting parasites inside their bodies either from eating something, swimming somewhere, laying somewhere filthy and so on. It’s quite frightening really.

      One episode in particular haunts me to this day. A group of people traveled to Mexico and went out to eat at a local restaurant. They were all infected with a type of parasite that came from rat poop. The real kicker is HOW they got contaminated. SLUGS ate the poop, and crawled their nasty way all over the lettuce in the restaurants garden. The restaurant didn’t see the slug(S) and they were CHOPPED up with the lettuce and fed to the travelers. OH MY LORD.. if you’re a regular to my blog you’ll know slugs are my biggest fear. Keep this story in your short term memory, I’ll come back to it.

      The other day I went for a hot, hilly, sweaty run. Upon my arrival home, my stomach had its mind set on one thing: A GIANT bowl of cold greens. (You know where this is going…)

      20130709-200323

      Now let me just say, I had a garden last year. This garden was very successful, and one of the most successful things I planted was my Swiss chard. I didn’t harvested the chard on my own because I was always fearful of what I would find lurking in the leaves. One day I felt brave and decided to go get some chard..all by myself. MISTAKE! SMACK dab on the middle of the leaf I grabbed was a slug the size of a quarter. Needless to say I flipped shit.

      I never harvested that chard again.

      OK back to the other day. I had just finished mixing my bowl of spinach, chard, kale, and regular lettuce, this bowl was huge. Like bigger than my head huge.

      20130709-200331

      Just as my broccoli was finished steaming I saw it. Right there on one of my kale leaves..was a slug the size of an uncooked grain of rice. Don’t ask me how I saw it, I have unbelievable slugdar (slug radar.) I froze. This bowl was too big to waste, I had to overcome this fear of mine, and eat the damn bowl of greens. I went through EVERY single leaf. Once I confirmed this was safe, I ate the entire bowl. Kale has some serious power.

      Topped with mustard and nooch.

      Topped with mustard and nooch.

      From watching that TV show, to finding slugs in my garden, I was bound to find one in the produce I purchased at the store. I never eat greens without the though crossing my mind, and the worst part is that I may have missed tiny slugs in the past because I didn’t see them. OHhhh the horror. I’m just glad I saw this one before my colon had to jump ship.

      So what’s the point of this story? Kale (and other greens) aren’t only powerful inside your body to keep you healthy, they also are powerful over your mind and can help you overcome the disgust and fear from seeing your biggest phobia slime its way across your lunch. There was no way I was going to let that bowl go to waste.

      20 minutes after my lunch I found this deserted snail shell. I thought it was cool..go figure.

      20 minutes after my lunch I found this deserted snail shell. I thought it was cool..go figure.

      Q: What’s your phobia? If it’s some kind of creature, would you eat food that you saw it crawling on? I think the hot run I went on fried my reasoning skills because I don’t know how I talked myself into eating that bowl…HAHA! 

      b

      | 53 Comments Tagged Hot, Kale, Running, Vegan, Veggies
    • Inspiration

      Posted at 6:26 AM by Brittany, on May 20, 2012

      in·spi·ra·tion- The process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, esp. to do something creative: “flashes of inspiration.”

      Not to be confused with the medical definition of drawing air into the lungs. Although, when I feel inspired I tend to get excited, which causes me to breath heavy. So I supposed they tie together in the end. Sesame Street inspired me to eat a lot of cookies throughout my life, and cookies make me draw LOTS of air into my lungs.

      I’ve been inspired, well more like someone I know has been inspired. After talking about purchasing a Barbie sized grill for a few weeks, I bought one! I think the grill party I had inspired me to take the plunge.

      Widdle baby. Perfect sized grill for a ton of veggies, and a couple bean burgers. This has been dubbed as the “veggie grill.” No animal meats will ooze onto this grill. The meal that broke Char-Broil Charlie in was veg-tastic.

      Grilled broccoli, Brussels, carrots, tomatoes, mushrooms, and onion. The veggie tray is perfect for grilling the vegetables.

      My favorite part about grilling is the lines that indent into whatever burger is made. I have officially been lined. That bean burger above was charred, lined, and attacked by my intestines. A new recipe including vital wheat gluten (protein protein PROTEIN!) was used, and I enjoyed it! I need to share my bean burger recipe soon! I was able to use some more Swiss chard from the garden to top the burger!

      Of course something sugary was needed before I went into shock. If I go more than 2 hours without chocolate I will pass out. I’ll give you a guess as to which banana is mine..the one with 4 pieces of chocolate. I don’t mess around.

      Since purchasing Charlie the Char-Broil (maybe someone else should name this one) I’ve grilled like crazy. Grilled pineapple that was soaked in lemon juice for an hour and then topped with coconut is life changing. Grill that now.

      Q: What’s the best thing you have grilled? That pineapple was seriously life changing. Pizza too. 

      | 27 Comments Tagged Bean Burgers, Grill, New food, Vegan, Veggies
    • DIY: Wine Box Garden

      Posted at 8:10 AM by Brittany, on March 23, 2012

      The mini garden I have been wanting to start has been completed. It was super easy, and a lot of fun. To start things off you will need the following:

      • Wine boxes
      • Soil
      • Plant starters/Seeds
      • Frost/Critter blanket
      • Wooden steaks (if your boxes are flimsy)
      • Something to prop the boxes on once complete
      • Power tools
      • Love and patience

      If you have sturdy wine boxes, you will not need to reinforce the box like I did.

      See that bucket in the background..the clout laundry detergent bucket? That was my front row seat to watching my friend do all the work. As I mentioned, these boxes were collected from Trader Joe’s. I had eight boxes total. Hoarding starts at a young age my friends. This is what the boxes looked like originally.

      Now you see why I have eight, these boxes are gorgeous. Despite the boxes good looks, the sides were not very sturdy. Insert a woodworking friend to fix the problem.

      Those 4 wooden pegs were nailed in to keep the sides from splitting. Now the box is ready to go. Next step-Drill holes in the bottom for drainage.

      I am the mastermind behind these six holes. I can be hired with the promise of cookies as my pay.

      Now the fun part-Time to get dirty! Pour your soil(s) in to the boxes and plant your goods! We used two different “dirts,” one as a base soil, and one with a fertilizer to nourish the plants. From top to bottom: Walla Walla onions, beets, swiss chard, and carrots!

      If you live somewhere that has the potential of getting frost still, like we do in Washington, a frost blanket is suggested. This also acts as an insulation while protecting your goods from creatures, slugs, passing neighbors, and slugs. Did I say slugs? I hate slugs…

      Lastly make sure the boxes can drain.

      We set the box ends onto left over wood for elevation. I ended up moving the wood under the box near the center more to evenly distribute the weight of the soil within the box.

      There you have it, making a wine box garden is THAT easy. You just need to find some sturdy wine boxes and the rest is simple. I do suggest using some form of a label to indicate which vegetables are in which box. You can spend money on something like this:

      Or you can be cheap like me and use parts that came inside the boxes, saw them into pieces and use a sharpie to write on the pieces of wood (see upper right corners of completed boxes.) OR you could make something like the poop stick by using a kitchen knife, and a hot glue gun to attach a label to the knife. Perhaps this will be another DIY post for the future.

      Growing a mini garden, or growing a small potted plant in your house is both fun and rewarding. Watching your plants grow is like watching your child complete grade school..I think. I don’t have children, except for my cats..but they don’t attend school. Either way it’s extremely satisfying doing this yourself!

      Q: Are you planting anything this season? If so..tell me what!

      | 49 Comments Tagged DIY, Gardening, Trader Joes, Veggies, Wine Box Garden
    • Brown Thumb Turned Green

      Posted at 6:39 PM by Brittany, on March 11, 2012

      I have a habit of talking the talk, but failing to walk the walk. I talk about many things I want to do in my life, thinking of them as more of a dream than a reality. I’ve made excuse upon excuse ranging from, “I don’t have time” to “I don’t know where to begin.” One of my goals in life, aside from owning chickens and walking on Pluto, is to have a garden. I have longed for the satisfaction of harvesting my own fruits and veggies for years, but have yet to take the plunge..until now. 

      I salvaged a few wooden wine boxes from TJ’s and I am planning to grow some vegetables in them. With little to no knowledge, I decided to visit a nursery for ideas and inspiration. The nursery had so many fun and exciting things. Every loop and corner had a new ocular adventure.

      Food: Fruits, potatoes, onions, herbs..the food plants were the most exciting. I imagined having a backpack with soil for a portable garden/lunches on the go.

      Flowers: A nursery would be incomplete without trees and flowers. 

       

      Pottery: For those that want variety, decoration, or aren’t lucky enough to have a lot of land to plant in.

      Those are all great, but I’d rather have one of these. 

      Imagine growing a veggie in that. Broccoli, and Brussels, and kale OH MY!

      Randoms: Garden trinkets, scenery, plants.

      This nursery also offers free classes on certain gardening topics. I signed up for veggie gardening 101 (which I went to earlier today!) 

      The nursery adventure both inspired and exhausted me. I needed to refuel my tank, and then refuel my brain. Tank first: Cinnamon rolls from the market. 

      Brain second: An at home experiment with alien growing garlic. 

      Watch out Ciscoe, there’s a new green thumb in the making! 

      Q: Any gardening tips for a first timer!?

      | 29 Comments Tagged Adventure, Gardening, Veggies
    • BRITTANY- Self proclaimed minimalistic nomad striving to maintain a balanced, healthy life with good food, long bike rides, deep connections, exploration, and lots of cucumbers.
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