Oaty oats

I am working (& summer schooling) from home on Fridays now. I have to say, the best part of my morning was making stove top oats. I love having oats for breaky, but am often throwing them in the microwave. So I was really looking forward to good old fashion stove top oats. And they were DELICIOUS!

Oaty Oats
1/4c oats
1/4c oat bran
1/2c water
1/4c unsweetened almond milk
1t vanilla
1-2t flaxseed meal

Topped with:
blueberries
1/4c almond milk
shake of cinnamon
1T peanut butter

Actually, I 'bottomed' my oats with peanut butter. Before placing the oaty oats in the bowl, I dropped the pb in. That way it would be melted, gooey and easily mixable in the oats.

This was soooo good & soooo fillling!

Happy Friday & Father's Day weekend! Which I know does not particularly pertain to anyone reading this, at least not on the receiving side. But still, its a reason to celebrate! The bird & I are taking my dad to the As v Giants game on Sunday (GO Giants!) then going out to dinner with Big Bird (aka, the bird's dad).

What are you doing for Father's Day?

Dirty Dozen

The new Dirty Dozen list just appeared... and is working its way around the 'net. Ew!

I have to say... its pretty awful to think about slopping up pesticides while eating my veggies. Although, at the same time, its no easy buying organic ingredients all the time at the prices they're going for. At least this list tells us which items we should splurge on to buy Organically Grown and where we can save a little.

Without further ado...

Dirty Dozen
1} Apples
2} Celery
3} Strawberries
4} Peaches
5} Spinach
6} Nectarines
7} Grapes
8} Sweet Bell Peppers
9} Blueberries
10} Lettuce
11} Kale
12} Collared Greens

And while these next few didn't make the dirty dozen list, it is recommended they be bought organically as well:

13} Fatty Meats
14} Milk
15} Coffee
16} Wine
17} Chocolate

And finally... Here is a list that you can relax about. These are so clean there is hardly a need to buy organically:

15 Clean
1. Onions
2. Sweet Corn
3. Pineapple
4. Avocado
5. Asparagus
6. Sweet peas
7. Mango
8. Eggplant
9. Cantaloupe
10. Kiwi
11. Cabbage
12. Watermelon
13. Sweet Potatoes
14. Grapefruit
15. Mushrooms

Information found at the daily green

SoCal wrapped up

The trip to San Diego & Orange County was fabulous! I was so sad to see the trip end. But we came back with some incredible memories {like my mom kicking butt at the marathon}, fabulous pictures & wonderful time spent with old friends.

The first night was reserved for my bestie, Jeanine! Oh how I miss that girl! We went to Wine Steals in Hillcrest... so fun!

The next morning we hit up a San Diego crowd fav... if you're from the area, you know what I'm talking about!

Hash House a go go! Delish!

On Saturday, the fam came into town!

My beautiful mother gearing up for the big race.

While the brothers & I enjoyed the beautiful San Diego weather... a huge change from the rainy weather we'd been having up north!

And bright & early, we hit the streets of SD and met her during the marathon. We caught up with her at mile 16 & 18:

And of course the finish line!

YAH mom!

She absolutely rocked it! We were so proud of her!

Lastly, we headed up to Orange County on Monday & Tuesday to meet up with our dear friends in Orange County.

They are fabulous... and let me just say how gorgeous & glowing my friend is! We can't wait to meet their little tike in September!

Mixt review

... Not to be confused with a mixed review. Just wanted to make that clear. Because this place was uh-mazing!!!

On Friday, as I waited for the bird to get off work (before catching our flight), I had a scrumptious lunch. I went to Mixt Greens in SF. I was so stoked I stumbled across this place. Here is their menu. And that is just for their salads, they also have sandies that looked amazing. But this girl was in need of and craving some greens. And that is just what I got.

This is what I saw when I walked in this place.

If I wouldn't have checked out their website before walking over, I would have been a bit discouraged. So glad I knew better.

I did a "design your own" salad.

Behind the 'tossers' is a huge wall of lettuce buckets. And in front of them, a long line of ingredients & mixins. (You can visit their site to see much better pictures.)

Here was my order: 1/2 mixed greens, 1/2 spinach. My mixins included: black beans, edamame, quinoa, chickpeas, walnuts & marinated tofu. Swoon! I was in absolute heaven.  I topped it with fat free balsamic and a side of unsweetened peach green tea.

Amazingly fresh ingredients, so many options, and generous portions!

There are multiple locations in Los Angeles & San Francisco. I highly recommend this place if you are in the area.

And just so we're clear: This blog receives no payment or other compensation for advertising. And I did not receive payment or other compensation for this review.

Snacks & Bars

Today we leave for San Diego, as I mentioned last week. My mom is running a marathon on Sunday! Woo Hoo! We are going to cheer her on and visit some friends while we're down there. I used to live in San Diego & Orange County, so its a good excuse to stay a couple extra days and make the rounds.
For the trip, I made & packed a couple goodies that I wanted to share.

First up is a Blueberry Crumble Bar from How Sweet it is. She seriously has wayyy to make great recipes. So I warn you about visiting her site... its extremely addicting! :) Plus her posts are so humorous & entertaining. All around great blog to peruse.

 Slight crispiness on top

But still so delicious & gooey inside!

The only thing I altered was using 1/2 unsweetened applesauce & 1/2 butter. My excuse to eat more! These are so good. They would be great for breakfast, snack time & even crumbled on top of ice cream or froyo!

I also made Oatmeal Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, courtesy of Carrots 'n' Cake. She also has a fabulous blog full of delicious recipes! She has a great way of combining scrumptious & healthy, which we know is not always an easy task!

Before...

And after. 

These were so oaty & gooey!

Both recipes were so easy to make. They only had a few, basic ingredients, which made them easy recipes to chose for the trip. The Bird was very excited when he came home & saw the snack pack coming together! :)

Happy Friday All! Any fun plans for the upcoming weekend?

Crunchy & Creamy

I made a couple great eats over the past week I wanted to share with you.

This weekend I made a second round of homemade granola. This time I used a recipe I adapted from Kath Eats Real Food: Crunchy Buckwheat Granola.

I didn't change much on this recipe. I loved how simple and amazing it sounded. We did use coconut oil, instead on Canola and 1/2 agave, 1/2 honey. I didn't opt for any of the mix-ins this time. Plain Jane & delicious!

You can see all the lovely almonds, buckwheat & oats. Crunchy goodness!

Next up, homemade Almond butter. A first for me.

Vanillamon Almond butter

2c almonds (I used whole, roasted, unsalted)
2T cinnamon
1t salt
1/2 vanilla bean
1T chia seeds
Combine all ingredients in a food processor. Blend until smooth & creamy.

It was my first time baking with vanilla bean as opposed to vanilla extract. Vanilla beans are expensive! Wowza! But it was worth it, even if I have to live off this granola only for the month! ;)

 I had to stop & scrape the sides a few times, since the almonds were sticking.

YUM! So creamy & vanilla-y!

Do you have any good nut butter recipes to share?

BTW, tomorrow is Friday! :)

Colorful weekend

I had the most amazing Memorial Day weekend! I hope you did too!

The bird & I spent the weekend in San Francisco. Originally it was only supposed to be one night in the city. But on Sunday, we decided to stretch it out and stay another night. We had a blast. Living only about 45 minutes from San Francisco, both of us have been there a lot. But this weekend, we redid all the touristy things and spent some good QT together.

If you are interested in the area... or just where our festivities took place, I will spare no details. :) But seriously, if you are ever in the SF area and want to know some must see & must eat places, let me know. I can offer a few suggestions.

We stayed & shopped around Union Square. We also made our way to the Marina area, Chinatown, Fisherman's Wharf, Ghirardelli Square & the ballpark area. Unfortunately, the Giants were out of town this weekend. {I am a HUGE fan!} So we didn't get to see a game. But we did have a fantastic brunch on Sunday at a place just up the street from AT&T Park, called Ironside.

 This place was fabulous. They had:

a bloody mary bar, for make-your-own bloody marys

vanilla bean steel cut oats

freshly made biscuits with agave butter & honey

deliciously crispy breakfast potatoes

and so much more.

Here are just a few more pictures I took along the way:

 Chinatown

 Chinatown

 Chinatown

 Fisherman's Wharf

Fisherman's Wharf

Pier 39

There were so many fun colors and places to take photos of. We had an absolute blast!

Cheers to a short week... It's already Wednesday!

And thank you for all the sweet comments yesterday! We were glad to go through it and happy it's over. I really appreciate all your kind and encouraging words.