the edible perspective » Gift Ideas

carrot cake + yogurt tastings

Ashley — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 08:39:35 +0000

I thought I would stick with my orange theme but today try out carrot cake oats! First I put 1 whole carrot in my mini food processor. I’ve had the mini for a few years and use it for small quick things like this or grinding nuts. I think they’re only about $30.

Carrot Cake Oats

1 carrot, pureed
1/3c oats
1c vanilla almond milk
1 small banana
1t chia seeds
1/2t cinnamon
2 egg whites
shakes of nutmeg, allspice, ginger
honey drizzle
walnuts

I loved the touch of honey on top, which I normally don’t add. The texture was a tad off from the carrot but not too bad. The flavor was better than my orange monster from yesterday. Not sure I’ll try it again. I felt like I kept having to add more of the spices, and the whole banana instead of half, to make it taste better…maybe it’s just not meant to be! Or maybe 1/2 carrot would be better.

Did you really think I was going to miss out on a scoop of pnut butter?

Thick.

The dogs were being awfully cute today….They love my exercise + yoga mats. I use the thicker mat for whittle my middle for a little more cushion over the hard wood floor

2 peas in a pod…minus the whole broken nail club foot bandage thing…She gets it off tomorrow!

hehehe

Hi Beans!!

I mean…I just feel bad for her…so sad

Notice the blur of her tail. This dog is always vibrating with excitement. Even saying her name will wake her out of a dead sleep and the tail will start thumping. Does she not look HUGE here?? She was weighed at the vet and is 67. She’s almost 14 months so definitely about done growing. We thought she would be bigger but glad she isn’t. She’s quite the beast as it is!

Daaa da da daaaaaaa

I decided to conduct my own Greek Yogurt taste testing. LOL Ohhhh the things I think of when at the grocery store. Complete nerd alert!

Since Oikos only comes in 0% fat, I had to get the nonfat versions of all the others to be consistent. I was pretty excited about this. Have you guys tried all of these? I got all of the brands that were offered in the “plain” variety.

Packaging: Honestly…I really don’t like the packaging of any of these. Fage is a little too simple and the Oikos + Greek Gods are a little to Greek oriented. I mean, it’s yogurt…I don’t feel like I’m in Greece when I’m eating it. I’m undecided about the Voskos. The red is intense and do I really need to see a cup of the yogurt on the package of the yogurt I’m about to eat? Does my opinion really matter? Sorrrrrry….I like design packaging…

Lids: Ugh….snooooooze…come on yogurt companies

The testing!!!! I took notes, hehe. Okay, look at the dollops of yogurt. You can tell a lot just by that!

Voskos: 8oz serving size : 140 cals : 0g fiber : 8g sugar : 24g protein

extremely creamy
slight tang/sour flavor
tasted the most like sour cream

Stonyfield Oikos: 5.3oz serving size : 80 cals : 0g fiber : 6g sugar : 15g protein

thick!!! and creamy
no tang or aftertaste

Greek Gods: 6oz serving size : 60 cals : 7g sugar : 2g fiber [inulin + pectin added] : 6g protein

thin
somewhat bland [even for plain]
tasted the most like regular plain yogurt, not like greek

Fage: 6oz serving size : 90 cals : 7g sugar : 0g fiber : 15g protein

the thickest!! look at that dollop!
honestly, it tasted TERRible..like it was spoiled..the date was good but I hope I just got a bad batch or something because it tasted like FEET to me…

The winnnnerrrrr!!!!

Hands down, the Stonyfield Oikos. If you’re going to go plain + nonfat, out of these 4, pick SF!!!

Other thoughts: Maybe the other yogurts are better in their higher fat varieties. It’s amazing the Oikos is fat free. If Oikos had a 2% milkfat I would probably buy that. All of the other brands have a higher fat version, strange that SF does not. Also, it would be interesting to compare the flavored Greek yogurts. I actually HATE the Oikos Vanilla. I think it tastes terrible for some reason but like the other flavors. I really like some of the Voskos flavors too. Greek Gods was the only brand that added anything other than milk and live active cultures. It added inulin + pectin for fiber and thickening. GG’s yogurt was also somewhat unevenly matched because it only had 6g of protein which was WAY less than all of the others. Strange!

Now, what to do with the winning container!? I really need some pumpkin back in my life!! Here we go with the orange again

Awesome salad:

organic baby greens
asian pear [first time eating…like a cross between an apple + pear!]
almonds/pumpkin seeds
cucumber
bread cubes

Homemade quick dressing applied right to the salad:

olive oil mist from my Misto can!!
4% acidity balsamic
apple cider vinegar
a little s+p

When I don’t have fruit in the salad I also put garlic powder, oregano, and basil on top. Chris loooves this quick + easy dressing too!

Oh yeah and topped with some Bob’s Red Mill Coconut granola + almonds. YUM! Further observation on the coconut granola, by the way. When eaten alone, I realized it really has no coconut flavor at all. I love the crunchiness of it and that it’s not big clusters but the coconut flavor is lacking. Canola oil is on the ingredient list and I wish they would sub that out for coconut oil to kick up the flavor a bit. I still like it for it’s crunch + subtle sweetness though. I think the only “coconut” part is from the flaked coconut which I can’t really taste.

Aaaaand then!!! A package!!

But from who? It was like the 12 days of Christmas in February!

My lovely parents of course They always send something even for the little holidays. I loved the writing inside the box. Nice touch, mom.

Also, valentines day was Chris’s and my first official date. My parents have always liked helping us celebrate that day, too cute So it’s not just for vday but the day that really started our life together! Ummm…7yrs ago!? Oh myyy! I just asked Chris “have we been together SEVEN years!???? ewwwwwwww hahaah” He said “weeeeeeeeeeeeeird”

Trader Joe’s Gummy Tummy Penguins!!?? I’ve never had these before and honestly could not help but rip open the bag right there.

OMGomg I was FA-reaaaking out when opening this!!! First, because literally TWO days ago I was looking thru the crate+barrel catalog and the TWO things that caught my eye were the “Breakfast” Mug + Saucer sets and the adorable ramekins. No joke. Way to go M+D!! My parents know I shouldn’t really be buying any fun things like this right now…either that or they’re getting sick of seeing the same dishware on the blog, lol. Either way, completely awesome! The orange breakfast mug was for Chris but the ramekins and “sweetie pie” plate are all miiiine, muuahahahah. Okay, sorry..I was SO excited. Just like my mom wrote on the box “weeeeeeeeeeeeee”

When I talked to her after opening it she said she thought the breakfast mug would be the perfect vessel for my oats! hehe

The dk. Chocolate pom seeds ROCK if you have a TJ’s nearby. They don’t burst with juice but are more of a chocolate covered dried pomegranate. I had never tried the mint UFO’s until today. One of my all time fav combos is mint + chocolate. These are good but the mint is actually suuuuper intense. Don’t worry, I’ll still eat them..ALL

These were tasty and their bellies are filled with goo…hehehe “real food goo” I’m sure.

I almost forgot about my tea tasting!!! Today was Tea Spots Green Roasted Mint.

Oh my YUM. This was delicious!! I loved the mintiness + earthy combo. Again, no need for sweetener or cream. Yay!

Whit had me drooling with her PB banana samich this morning, so I made a half bananer to munch on with my tea.

I asked Chris what he wanted for dinner. “PIZZA!” I can deal with that answer. I tried out the whole grain dough WF has for $3.99. It is quite the deal as the pizza dough is a full 16” when rolled out fully. I used less than 1/2 for both of us for din tonight.

My veggie pizza: Sauce + red pepper + sundried tomatoes + cremini mushrooms + mozzarella

The way to Chris’s heart: sauce + jalapenos + bacon + mozz I told him to stay out of the kitchen while I was making this. I didn’t want him to see my nerdiness in action. I used a pizza cutter for the shape. It was about 6-7” but looks tiny here!

400* for 15min

Allll miiiiine

The other mini pizza was for Chris too. It was from the scraps that I cut the heart out of.

LOVEly. He was pretty excited when he saw it and thought the heart was quite dorky + cute.

broken.hearted.

More salad. The dressing is addicting I tell ya!

~6” pizza – The dough was awesome. It got really crispy and had crunchy seeds in it too…mmmm

Last chance to tell me if you’re coming to the CO Blogger Meetup at my house in Denver this Saturday. I’ll be emailing everyone with my address tomorrow afternoon, so make sure to let me know by tomorrow AM. I’m getting excited and still trying to figure out what I’m making!!

….

On another note, remember I said I had some possible job news? Well it is very part time, but I’m pretty excited about it! I will be doing some freelance FOOD writing for a company called, The Natural Food List. They are there to help organic/natural food companies market their products and offer coupons to US! Check out the site for more info. There will be a lot going on with the site in the next few weeks including many articles from myself and a group of other writers! The topics will be fun + fresh and also informative. I can’t wait to get started! When I have more info I’ll let you know. Until then, sign up for the coupon list and become a fan on Facebook + Twitter! It’s always so hard to find ORGANIC food coupons online…hopefully this will help! Again, “weeeeeeeeeeeeeee”

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Bed? Yesssssssss

Ashley

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I posted the follow-up to my original Vibram 5 Fingers post last night. Make sure to check it out!!

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ho ho holidaaaays

Ashley — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 06:53:45 +0000

Christmas post!! Better late than never!

I woke up feeling a bit crappy Christmas morning. I think it was due to getting up super early in Cleveland and traveling all morning. Then once I got back to Colorado, I had to run around and finish up some shopping. I am normally not that last minute, but things were chaotic before I left for Ohio! I also may or may not have had a few glasses of wine on xmas eve

I made a huuuge Green Monster on the 24th. I filled up a 16oz pint glass which was immediately consumed. I also filled up another pint glass about halfway. It was the perfect little pick me up Christmas morning.

Then, some coffee.

Then Natalie and I started working on Christmas dinner. We started at about 9:30am. It was super easy and stress free. I decided to cook an 8lb turkey [from Whole Foods] in a crock pot. I searched for recipes and went with this one. We did a few things differently, but not much.

All natural, no antibiotic turkey was $1.99/lb at WF

Seasonings: s+p, parsley, paprika, garlic powder, sage, rosemary – This got rubbed all over the bird, inside + out. Natalie even lifted up the skin to spread right on the meat.

Gross raw turkey photo. It took no time at all to get the bird ready for the crock pot.

Pat + Nat’s tree…loved the LED lights!

Then we started on the crock pot stuffing, which was my FAVorite stuffing ever. It was extremely simple and delicious. I’m not a big fan of the fancy stuffing recipes with nuts + fruit or anything weird. I just like the standard herbed stuffing with celery/onion/carrots and lots of bread!

Kenna turns ONE in a few days!!

Crock pot stuffing!! Read the comments for tips on adding less broth, etc. I cut the recipe in half since there were only 4 of us, but I put in extra seasonings.

Natalie tore the bread into the crock pot dish. It’s was about a 2.5qt crock pot and worked perfectly! I got a HUGE loaf of Rustic Italian bread at WF. It was $4.99 and literally about 10-12” in diameter. So delicious.

Cooking the veggies in butter…this smelled amazing.

Around lunchtime I made Christmas Oats!!!

so so so so so goooooooood

1/4c oat bran + 1/4c rolled oats
1/2c rice milk + 1/2c water
1/2 banana
chia sprinkles
chocolate peanut butter glob
candy cane crumbles
GREEN wheat grass sprinkled on top
snowy coconut flakes

It twas’ delicious

Thennnn we opened presents + I was bad and didn’t take photos, hehehe.

And thennnn Chris + I took the mutts to a nearby fenced in tennis court to burn off some energy. They had a blast!

Round n’ round they go

It took awhile to tire them out. Kenna definitely has more stamina than Dakota. She was running laps around the whole court with the ball, while Dakota tried to cut her off when she would pass the net.

After that, Chris + I went for a walk on the trails behind P+N’s house. These shoes make my feet look big but with running pants on they looked like clown feet. It was chilly outside but so nice and peaceful.

Bundled up!

After we got back, Natalie + I finished up dinner. I figured there was no way possible that this turkey would dry out because it was sitting in juices more than normal and keeping the lid on it except for a few times to baste it. Well, when I first tried the breast meat it was really dry. I was sad! I took the turkey out and started carving despite the dryness. I remembered that my dad always dips each slice of turkey in the juices in the bottom of the pan, so I did that. The meat sucked up the juice like a sponge and it turned out to be one of my favorite turkey’s ever!! The seasonings were perfect!

We made salt baked potatoes per the recipe on 101 Cookbooks. Check out the recipe, it’s pretty crazy. The ingredients are:

3 CUPS of salt
3 egg whites
2lbs of potatoes
6 garlic cloves

You mix the salt + whites together and pack it on top of the potatoes. They were THEE best oven baked potatoes I have ever had. The inside was really creamy and moist. I didn’t miss the mashed taters at all!

The only kind of annoying thing was busting open the top + brushing the salt off of the potatoes. It literally turned into cement! I had to bash it with a huge knife handle, haha. The salt stuck to some of the potatoes more than others, but I realized I probably should have dried them more thoroughly before topping with the salt.

The spoon definitely did not break through the salt. Has anyone ever salt-baked anything?

We also made steamed brussel sprouts, which I had never tried before. SO GOOD. The sprouts were really pretty, which sounds strange, but they looked fresher than normal. They were like little green pillows of veggie goodness.

After they were done steaming, we drained the water, then sautéed them with kale until the kale was done. Mmmm mmm good

Natalie was on gravy duty. It was delish…our ladle is so fancy

It was bad that the stuffing bowl sat by me during dinner.

Turkeeey

Meat just does not photograph very well.

My feet stayed warm in these new slipper socks my mom got me. I can’t even explain how soft and silky they are. Somehow, they are infused with shea butter!? She found them at Bath + Bodyworks.

My plate.

With some wine of course.

Our meal was so super delicious and really simple. Christmas dinner does not need to be stressful, as long as you have a few crock pots in your house

Fun little Christmas dinner with our Colorado family

Then we played RISK. I have never played this before and right away was announcing “I do not like this game.” I ended up winning, hehe.

Do you guys know what LoveSacs are? Pat put Dakota in theirs and she was pretty content.

She is so ridiculous.

Oh yeah. She wore her nails down a lot running on the tennis court and one opened up a bit and was bleeding We had to tape a sock around her paw. She was not a fan and acted like she was immobile. It was kind of hilarious.

I tried making an apple crumble, without a recipe. I’ve never made one before, so I’m not really sure why I thought it was a good idea to make one with no recipe. I sliced apples, sprinkled some cinnamon on top and put them in a casserole dish. Then I mixed oats with a little flour and yogurt, cut in some butter, about 1T sucanat, more cinnamon, and a little milk. I baked it for about 30min at 350*

I would give it about a 6/10. It was nice on one hand because it wasn’t heavy and semi-healthy. I also knew it would be awesome mixed in my morning oats. I would make it again but do a few things differently and maybe consult a recipe

Had some drinks while playing RISK. That box of pinot was surprisingly tasty for an on sale price of $7.99. I would definitely buy it again. It would be great for camping!! The Twisted Pine beer was awesome.

…..

December 26th: The plan today was to move all of our belongings from Pat + Nat’s house to our rental house in Denver. We made 2 trips with both cars and pretty much got everything except the bed and bathroom stuff. We had a lot at their house, including our big TV. It was probably 1/5th of our things.

I wanted to photograph some of the gifts I got yesterday from Chris and P+N.

Chris got me a sweet Prana yoga mat bag!! It has a big pocket, perfect for keys + wallet, and even a pouch on the inside that will hold my water bottle. Love it!

He also got me a cookbook filled with recipes for eating seasonally. There are tons of recipes that sound awesome and I really enjoy trying to eat as much “in season” food as possible. He found a gorgeous plate for me too! Love the shape and colors. I was also thinking that it will be nice for photos because of the shape. Sometimes using ~~squash~~ square and circular plates always leave me with a bare spot in the middle of the plate. With this plate, I think the food will tend to all meet in the middle

purdy plate.

Here is some of what P+N got me. Natalie said the hat is a replacement for the one Kenna ate. She knows how much I love clear mugs and this one is super durable. The headband is from Prana and is reversible…love it!

A cuuute bamboo utensil set + chopsticks with a little carrying case.

Some crazy chocolate that I’m sure is delicious. I love the packaging!

This green tea sounds amazing. Goji berry + cacao from World Market. I can’t wait to try it out!

There were a few lovely smelling soaps and a cute mug that is happpppy….

and sad.

After the photoshoot my oats were done!

Apple Butter Oats:

1/4c oat bran, 1/4c rolled oats
1/4c ricemilk [ran out], 3/4c water
cinnamon
baked apples from last night
pnut butter glob
Natalie’s mom’s homemade apple butter glob
walnuts

Ahhhh new plate + bamboo spoon. It is a perfect oatmeal spoon! I might need to get more of them.

The apple butter was absolutely amazing. I loved the texture and it had awesome flavor. I need to learn how to make that. I’ve never put apples in my oatmeal. Super yum! Not sure why I have never thought to do that because apples + pnut butter are such a delicious combo.

I will probably repeat this exact thing tomorrow. The walnuts were perfect mixed in with this as well.

Big day tomorrow!! I better get a full night of sleep because last night I only got about 6. I can’t wait to get everything moved out of storage. It will be weird not living with Pat + Nat anymore. The three months went fast!! I probably won’t update tomorrow night because I know I will be completely exhausted from moving and cleaning. Check back soon!

Also, don’t forget to check the last post with the molasses cookie recipe + puppy chow recipe! mmmm

Night

~Ashley

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lots of peeps

Ashley — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 11:20:23 +0000

Today was action packed.

Up at 8 and hopped on the treadmill for a 40min incline workout. Kept it mostly around 8-10% at 4mph and would do some intervals down to 5% and then all the way up to 12% a few times. Since I have been doing incline workouts the past 3 weeks or so, I have already seen a difference in how toned my legs are. I still am having some foot pain, in 2 different spots on each foot, so I haven’t been running.

Okay. Then, I started oats/oatbran and kept them on a lower than normal setting so I could get in a quick shower while they were cooking. It worked perfectly.

So YUM.

1/4c oatmeal
1/4c oatbran
3/4c vanilla almond milk
1/2 banana
cinnamon
1/2 container pumpkin yogurt stirred in at end
Yogi cereal
homemade biscotti crumbles
pnut butter glob

Hellllloooooooooo pineapple bowl

My mom thinks it’s hilarious how I’m using ALL of her bowls and dip bowls, hehe.

Another jar…this one was off to Megan and her fam!

I got to spend a little time with Megan and the kids and then had to say goodbye so I could make my massage appt!

baby Dominic

Logan just turned 4!

He is such a ham!

I flew home + then flew to my massage. I went to a woman that I’ve been to before. My whole family actually goes to her. She works out of the Harmony Yoga studio I was talking about earlier this week. I took a few of their classes while I was home. If you are from Cleveland and want to know where to get the BEST massage, let me know and I’ll give you the details! Her rates are really reasonable as well, because she doesn’t work for a huge spa. I have had many spa massages and none even come close to this one!

It is the most relaxed I’ve been all year. At the end she puts warm wet wash clothes on you, then a huge hot blanket, and the room is at 82*. It pretty much put me into a coma. I’m pretty sure I slept there for about 30min. She came in and woke me and I about fell off of the table. It was really strange, I actually thought I was still awake that whole time and was thinking about things, but it must have been a dream! So weird. My aunt said the same thing happened to her when she went!

Okay….after I was starving and have been chugging h2o all day to wash all the toxins out.

Butternut squash pasta + acorn squash + butternut squash – so so so good!!

My mom’s friends came over and one brought her little boy Matthew. He was precious!

I had a little cookie photo shoot. I’ll post more photos when I post the recipe for the molasses cookies.

My friend Cynthia stopped by too! We have known each other since about 8th grade but haven’t seen one another for about 4-5 years! It was so great catching up with her!!

I got my stocking early since I’m leaving early on xmas eve. I get in to Denver around 10:30am, and have grocery shopping to do and a few present errands! Nothing like last minute.

I have about 5hrs of sleep to get….g’niiiite!

Excited to see Chris + the dogs tomorrow!!!!!!

~Ashley

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mid-day partial post

Ashley — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:33:03 +0000

Hi hi hi!!! Here are some more photos from yesterday. I am still nowhere near done editing all of the baptism photos, hehe. I had AJ + Jenna over for breakfast today since they are on break, but those will get posted later tonight. I haven’t even gotten to the Channukah party photos yet either. I’m about to go run errands with my mom! I’ll post again late tonight, like normal

I don’t normally add extra things to my food to make photos turn out better. However, this bowl of oats was way too brown for my liking. It looked like a bowl of…..you get my point

Like I said in the previous post about the molasses oats, they were too sweet. I made my normal banana oats with 1/2 oats + 1/2 oatbran + small banana. I used 1T molasses and no other sweetener. I couldn’t finish them all. A little too intense!

More ornament photos!

Cookie time!

Bakin’ away.

My all natural/organic recipe for molasses cookies will be posted soon! Stay tuned!

Rollin’ away.

Shoes!

Me again…snooze, hehe

Holiday decor at our house.

Loooove mr.moose…my mom got it at crate + barrel last year.

A few more baptism photos.

“la la la la la”

I had a yummy chocolate pizzelle.

Megan had an awesome spread of food! She made deeelicious chicken marsala, for the whole party!!

Gift table.

Logan + Dominic [the cute little baby] and their cousins.

Awesome cakes that Megan and her sis made and decorated! I definitely had a slice of the vanilla

Cake face boy! Lots of concentration opening a gift.

so so so stinkin cute!

Megan + her hubby, Anthony

The Godparents.

I tried to “paper-mache” this one for A.J.

My bro, Josh, got the pineapple.

Jenna got the one with the crazy paper bag ribbons.

I wrapped the photo books to look like the original WF bags.

Allllllllllll done for now!!!

~Ashley

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more later today!!

Ashley — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 07:08:28 +0000

Hello there. Again, it is 2am. I think I am still on Colorado time! I don’t want to sleep the morning away so I had to stop editing photos and just put up a quick preview. Yesterday was packed FULL of action. I have tunzzz of photos to go through, especially from Megan’s kids’ baptism. Okay…less talky talky

Molasses Oatmeal – firs time making it….didn’t realize how sweet molasses is! kind of “ick”

Ornaments I made for Logan + Dominic with the date of their baptism.

Molasses cookie time with dad.

Me! On my way out the dooooooor to the baptism.

My favorite shoes.

Logan!! Love him!

Megan’s cute lil’ family

My reused wrapping paper! These went over really well, hehe. I tried to make them fun! I think the one package looks like a pineapple

Like I said…..much more tomorrow!!!!

Gooooooodnight!

~Ashley

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