Weekends are for Sunshine

Sometimes, you really don't want to wake up in the morning and on these particular mornings you can look a little like this...

Today was definitely not one of those days for me because today is the day for pools, barbecues, and sunshine, who wouldn't want to roll out of bed for any of those lovely things? I know many people are getting ready for a great big Memorial day bash tomorrow, unfortunately, my family won't be all together tomorrow so we are celebrating today! Also, the Indy 500 is on so woo! A good race is the perfect excuse for yummy food and endless hours spent watching t.v. (we have one outside) in the pool.

Breakfast today had to be 1) delicious (that's a given) and 2) energy packed (lots of errands to do!). I had a friend in my Abnormal Psychology class who used to run cross country for our university's team, totally cool, and she shared with me an awesome breakfast secret. Ready for it? 

Peanut butter! I know it seems hackneyed but trust me there's a twist! Peanut butter (or really any nut butter) is an excellent source of protein that will help rebuild muscle and also keep you feeling full, essential characteristics for a breakfast! That is why my running friend recommended peanut butter as an addition to...cereal! She always complained how just plain cereal can never keep her full, so she got inventive. 

All you have to do is spread a little on the bottom of your cereal bowl...

Add in your favorite cereal (frosted shredded wheat was my choice since I have been craving it all week!)...

Top with your favorite fruit topping (blueberries and banana are my favorite combination, but like the song, yes we have no bananas, we have no bananas today. Yeah, no bananas.)

Pour your choice of milk in and voila! The best cereal ever! 

When your spoon scrapes the bottom of the bowl you get a bit of peanut butter (the best part)!

After running a few errands this morning, my Mom and I came back to the house to kick back and enjoy the weather (and food!). My dogs love laying in the sun and by now I'm sure that you have noticed that I love my dogs, I am not ashamed to admit it. So the girlie puppies basked their plump bellies in the toasty sunshine out by the pool, barking at ducks and who knows what really, they're dogs!

My Dad has a slight obsession with grilling, so much so that we have about four different grills. Anyways, today he made grilled pita which is one of my favorites. He also bought a spicy mediterranean jelly hummus and a roasted pine nut hummus, needless to say I was excited to dig in!

Pita and hummus! I also added some carrots and prunes, my new favorite dessertish food. I don't really believe in fruit as dessert, there is a reason that there is such a myriad of different chocolate companies. But since it was during the day I figured I would treat myself to something sweet and get a nice serving of fruit in too.

Since it is like a bazillion degrees outside, or 90 but close enough, lunch would not be complete without a cold  glass of pink lemonade, yay!

It's feeling hot! Hot! Hot!

Have a great weekend!

P.S. I made healthy apple pie cookies, but they didn't last long enough for me to write about or take pictures of! C'est la vie!

Lessons from a Dog

Get into trouble every once in a while.

Never pass up an opportunity to dress up.

Sunset is the best lighting for head shots.

Snuggling is very important.

Spend lots of time outside.

Christmas trees are fascinating.

You will always look ridiculous in a lei.

Brace the elements.

Going nude never hurt anyone ;)

Will Run for Shopping

I have amazing news! I, Rachie the author of this blog, for the first time in my entire life made (all by myself) hard boiled eggs! Can I get a woo hoo?! It was actually pretty easy too, no fires, no burns, and no disasters taste wise. Yesterday morning I decided that I was going to go da beach, a fabulous decision if I may be so bold. I needed to pack a lunch and had viewed an egg salad recipe on  Healthy Food for Living, why not got for it? So at nine o'clock in the morning, right after a long morning run, I dug out some pots and pans, a couple of eggs, and put my big girl cooking panties on and set off for what could only be classified as an adventure. This recipe was easy peasy, especially for a girl like me with zero ability to cook real food (oatmeal can be done any day, other food groups are always...challenging?). In a matter of minutes, in between slathering on sunscreen, packing up the beach bag, and storing the beach umbrella in the trunk of my car, my egg salad creation was birthed. I was hot stuff, but you all already know that.

Food blogging a la beach chair.

The beach is by far the most amazing part of summer vacation, plus it is only a hop, skip, and a jump away from le chateu. The sand was warm, the ocean was super wavy, and there was hardly a soul there since it was a random Thursday afternoon. It was a great way to relax after dealing with so many icky job related issues, nothing like a good dose of sunshine to chase the blues away. I also got the chance to catch up on some much overdue reading. Currently, I am reading "The Winner of the National Book Award" which is a very strange book. The author bounces the story like a baby on her father's knee, up and down, up and down. Most of the time I have no idea what is going on, but I keep reading in the hopes of that perhaps the following page will hold the secret of the author's point.

Sunshine

Sailboat!

Hello, gorgeous!

This morning, while I was running, I found ten dollars in the road what luck!

I had to keep the fabulous streak up with a special shopping day with my sister. Since most of the high schools in the area are having their graduations, my sister had no school today, yippee! We decided to take a road trip to a great outlet mall not too far from us. It was a lot of fun for the two of us. I hardly get to see my sis because of school and I feel like I am missing out on such a big part of her life. Plus, shopping is just what we do best. We arrived at the mall, part of which was outdoors, and found ourselves right outside a Michael Kors outlet store. So I went inside and splurged on two leather bags. Yeah right! But a girl can dream, right? We ogled at the finely crafted leather bags and practically drooled over the Kate Spade bags that we found (some of them had giraffes on it!). The boutique also had a cute quote on the wall, which I sneakily took a picture of. Some people just don't understand a blogger's responsibility!

I also found an adorable French restaurant called "Paul". I have declared that I will eat there. I don't know when, but it will happen. 

Look at that bread! My sister and I peeked our heads in just to get a feel for the spot, which was just as adorable on the inside as it was on the outside. Seeing as it was still early we weren't hungry yet and by the time we were I swear we were about a mile away. Sad day, but now I have a perfect reason to return!

The rest of the day my sissy and I meandered around the bustling mall, dodging carts, children, and serious shopaholics. Along the way I had to pick up a map, that's how huge this mall was! We both bought adorable scarfs, my sister bought a great pair of jeans, high wasted swimsuit bottoms (because she is the kind of girl that can pull that off and make you wonder just why you weren't born with those genes), cds (because she is a music expert), and cat eye sunglasses (again, she makes them work). We shared a venti coffee from starbucks, no sugar because we are too classy for that. By the time lunch came around we had a million choices, but I was too hungry to look at all of them. It came down between a crepes & baguettes place that was blasting European techno music (very very appealing), and a quieter panini place. A sucker for crispy bread and melted goodness, we both succumbed to a small restaurant called "Green Leafs". I got a hummus and veggie flatbread panini. Which was so tasty! The hummus was so flavorful!

And the sister opted for a caprese pesto panini, which looked so yummy!

Along the way we picked up a little something for our mama and then walked some more. And then more. Then we got lost, it was as if the mall was trying to swallow us up. One of our last places was a tea place. Since we both love tea, we just had to go in! We also got to sample a great fruity tea and chatted with an friendly, over zealous tea lover/employee of the tea place. 

All in all, it has been a great couple of days! 

Catch you on the flip side!

Junk Food Hangover

Bonsoir! You know those days where somehow time passes but you feel like it has only been ten minutes? I totally had one of those days today, suddenly it is five o'clock. Five o'clock! I need more time than just 24 measly hours. I should just stop sleeping, then I can really get some work done! It was also one of those sans milk days. The kind where you pour a perfect bowl of your favorite cereal, add your fruit toppings, turn to the fridge to the grab the milk and find that there is no milk. Not a single drop. I was not about to let that stop me from eating cereal so I hopped in the car to the closest convenient store, chose an icy cold gallon of milk, and then raced home, knowing that the golden bowl of cereal was awaiting me. Plus, I had just gotten done doing pilates, so I definitely had an appetite.

I am still hunting for a summer job, where do these things hide? It can be really overwhelming at times knowing that I have gone quite a while without working. I am so used to my job at school as a tutor that I really take it for granted. It is the perfect job! I know that somehow I will find something to do (hopefully). In the meanwhile, I will keep pounding the pavement, blogging, and spending quality time with my dogs and my family, after all isn't that what summer vacation is supposed to be? A vacation?  Sometimes not so much as a college student, or an adult (what an icky word).

In between sending out job resumes, prying little puppies out from under the couch, and shuttling kids to and from school I was able to work out a little frustration through culinary creativity (cool alliteration!).

These are my "The Breakfast of Champions" bars, created by moi :)

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1.5 cups slivered almonds (or other nut)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup craisins
1/2 ripe banana (chopped)
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup honey
1 egg

Easy peasy directions:

Heat oven to 325 degrees F
Roast almonds (or other nut) on a cookie sheet for 8 minutes, set aside to cool.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F
Stir in dry ingredients (flour, oats, salt, baking powder, spices).
Stir in wet ingredients (vanilla extract, craisins, banana, shredded carrots, milk, honey, and 1 egg).

Line a 9x9 inch baking pan with parchment paper, or grease to your desire, pour in mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes, take caution to check it often!
Cool for 5 minutes and remove from pan to a wire rack, cool completely.
Cut into 6 large bars.

Voila!

A breakfast bar truly worthy of champions! Or a snack bar, or a just because bar, or a I feel guilty for eating 2 bowls of chocolate ice cream drizzled in fudge, caramel, topped with browine/cookies pieces, and with oodles of sprinkles so I'll eat something healthy this morning. C'mon, we've all had those days, it's live a junk food hang over the next morning :)

Have a lovely Wednesday evening!

P.s go for the ice cream sundae, these babies will remedy everything in the morning :)

Simple is Not for Me

Howdy! You may have noticed a few slight changes to Today is the Day, looking spiff now eh? Being technologically challenged (like for real, I don't even know how to work an Ipod), it has taken me a while to figure out this whole blogging deal. I'm learning though! I keep thinking back to when I first started Today is the Day, it was green and blue polka dots! Betcha didn't know that!

This morning I decided to take my workout to the beach. I ran about 3 miles this morning in the wet sand, talk about a workout! It was so relaxing, the waves were roaring, little kiddies were digging in the sand, and middle aged women with leathery alligator skin sunned themselves. I feel so blessed living so close to the beach, it's like living in paradise. After the workout, I came home only to find that Snickers was sick to her stomach. She was sick for quite a while; I felt so bad for my little pup! Finally, two hours later, she perked up and her stomach quieted down. I am a worried mother when it comes to my dogs, they are my babies! What a morning!

Lunch today started out with a simple pita, but I never just stick to simple ;)

5 minute Pita Chip

1 pita
1 dash of seasoned salt
cooking spray

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (one less dish to clean, yay!)

Place pita on cookie sheet, spritz with cooking spray, sprinkle with seasoned salt (or any seasoning)

Voila!

Bake for 5 minutes (makes warm slightly crispy bread, probably can be put in for longer if you desire a crunchier chip).

I added 2 Tbsp of Spinach and Artichoke hummus and 1 cup of blueberries and strawberries.

Delicioso!

Ten un buen dia!

(Have a good day!)

Couldn't leave y'all hanging without a cute puppy picture :)

Less than Desired Weather

I am hoping, praying, yerning, pining, desiring, etc, etc, etc, for rain. We are in a serious drought! I woke up this morning to gloomy clouds, promising rainfall sometime today. I should learn how to do a rain dance, wouldn't that be a sight to see? Me with lipstick smeared across my face, appearing tribal, be-bopping my way around the front lawn with a makeshift rain stick (the kind you make in Kindergarten). Totally should be on my to do list!

I managed to get a run in this morning without get poured on, which was much appreciated. I don't know if the clouds helped block the sun making it cooler, or trapped the heat making it hotter. Six in one, half a dozen in the other really. Being the optimist I'll say that it made it cooler :)

Since the weather is just down right gross, I decided to fire up the bread machine for another bread making adventure. This time I'm trying my hand at whole wheat zucchini bread!

Recipe from Betty Crocker Cookbook for Bread Machines

For a 1.5lb loaf (12 slices, unless you live in my house then 8 slices) you will need:

3/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp warm water (105-110 degrees F)
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup shredded zucchini

1.5 cups whole wheat flour
1.5 cups bread flour
3 Tbsp dry milk
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves

Add last!!
2 tsp active yeast

Combine all ingredients in bread machine pan in the order as listed.

Set bread machine to desired loaf size, crust color, and setting (I used the whole wheat setting).

Let it do its thing!

I love watching the bread machine mix all the ingredients, it is addicting and far superior than television :)

3 hours later...

Voila!! Zucchini bread! 

This bread was so delicious that it definitely deserved its own basket. I wonder how long it will last...

I'm sure that there is a similar recipe that you can use for an oven, if you so desire to make something similar (which you should!)

Regine went outside with me to take some pics of the bread, she is just so adorable! She is 3 months today and has gained 1/2lb in two weeks (she's up to 3.4lbs). So teeny tiny!

We also saw a Mama duckie and her little babies!

Cute babies :)

A Can of Hope

We are farmers. No not really, but my Dad does have a wonderful vegetable garden. It is filled with tomatoes, zucchini, beans, herbs (love fresh herbs in my backyard!), and jalapeños. Our jalapeños, rather, my Dad's jalapeños grow like crazy, we always have a huge amount of jalapeños in our fridge, on our counter, and sometimes in our bellies! I am a weakling when it comes to hot food; mild salsa is risky for me. Anyways, my parents decided to can their own jalapeños, how cool!

The colors are so vibrant!

They did such a fantastic job! 

What I love about this whole canning thing, is the cute jars that we have on stock. I may not be into jalapeños, but I am into overnight oats...

My Mother granted me permission to use on of the small jars for my oats, what a kind soul! I made some deeelicious overnight oats and ate them contentedly yesterday, a great way to start of a Sunday!

Rachie's Overnight Oats

1/3 cup rolled oats

2/3ish cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 banana mashed

Topping: almond nut butter and granola! 

In a bowl, mash banana, add in oats, milk, and extract. Stir lightly. If you are super cool then you can transfer your mixture into a jar of some sort. I even have a saved spaghetti sauce jar for those times I want an extra oomf. Refrigerate overnight, covered :)

I love spending the weekends with my family. This past Sunday my Mom and I went on a super long bike ride throughout our surrounding neighborhoods. It was nice to spend some time with her while we both enjoyed the fresh air and exercise. After the ride I did some pilates, DVD style. That afternoon my Mom, Sister, and I headed off to the mall. You see, the Sister is going to Europe in just a few weeks and she needs some last minute clothes. I can't believe that she is going to Europe! She will be gone for her birthday :( But she will be in Paris, France on her birthday too! I am slightly jealous, aren't little sisters supposed to do things after you? Well she wins in this case. So we searched our favorite stores in a surprisingly bustling mall, in search of suitable European wear.

 My sister has the best style, she is seriously fearless. Adorned with nude pink sheer tops, with peter pan collars, dark skinny jeans, combat boots, and a randomly adorable robot pendant necklace, she looks like she jumped straight out of the pages of teen vogue, or even vogue! Anyways, she is adorable and I can't wait for her to go off to Europe and tell me all about her adventures. I am living vicariously through her, debating whether or not I will ever have a turn to explore. Half of the time I feel guilty for having my parents help me pay for the a maybe study abroad trip. I have what I like to call the George Bailey syndrome. Have you ever seen "It's a Wonderful Life"? Well if you have, Jimmy Stewart plays the role of George Bailey. There is a point in the movie when he sacrifices his going away to college so that his brother can go. Similarly, he forgoes his fabulous honey moon trip (a tour through Europe) to save his father's company and the lives of many. Years later he finds himself stuck in that little life that he swore he would abandon for greater things. Same story on my side, only no one (including me), knows the ending. So is there hope for me?

Logo!

Do you see that beautiful piece of art on the right side of the screen? I had a logo made for the blog! One night, after reading many of my other blogs, I decided that a logo was something that I wanted to look into. The only trouble with this brilliant idea was that I have zilch artistic ability. Stick figures are slightly difficult for me to handle, no joke. So I sent an SOS out to the facebook world, asking friends if they could help me on this endeavor. In the end, my cousin who is a fantastic artist, volunteered to do the job. I was so excited! She helped me with the color scheme and how I envisioned the logo. I could not believe what an amazing job she did only a few days later! Such talent!

I thought that I would introduce her creation and as a means to thank her for all of the work that she did.

Have a great weekend!

Funk

I've been in a real funk lately. Running is blase, cooking is torturous, and yoga is fear instilling. I have no idea why this happened, I'm sure no one else knows or if anyone does they have not shed any light on my situation. Today is the day to finally have a break through! I dragged my butt out of bed at 7am to throw myself out into the world for a short run (we had to go to the Vet's this morning for shots for Miss Regine). It is stifling outside at 7am. I came back to the house completely drenched in sweat, but very pleased with myself. Then the girls (= Mom+Sister) and I ran a myriad of errands, including a stop at the local fruit market. This place has the BEST produce, super fresh and great prices too. My Mom has been shopping there since the store's start. At the beginning the market was run out of a flatbed truck and checkout concerned doing math on the back of a brown paper bag. Now the market has an over hang, aisles, and cash registers.

This little trip to the market fueled my de-funking mood, with all of the fresh fruit and veggies, who wouldn't be happy?

Mmmmm herbs! When my sister and I grilled steaks, we made sure that we used fresh herbs from the herb garden. So tasty!

So colorful!

Turnips? Right? I don't really know, I just liked the colors!

Sister has mad cantaloupe picking skills.

I picked out a daikon. I have no idea what that is.

Cool pasta, they even have some shaped as marigold flowers!

Sister took this one, she's a fabulous photographer.

Green onions!

I did get strange looks while I was taking pictures of all the fruits and veggies, but hey, what can you do? :)