A few more photos from the morning…

So…these vegan overnight oats were completely amazing. Angela puts chocolate Amazing Grass in them which made it taste like cookie dough.

The cherry banana soft serve was out of control delicious.

The cacao nibs + cherry on top were perfect! I will definitely be replicating these at home. It was nice to have breakfast that didn’t make me sweat, like my hot oats + coffee :)

After breakfast + chatting we went on a hike at a nearby park. It was a gorgeous day outside and the temperature in the low 70’s and breezy. You can check out Angela’s post for a recap of our hike :) It’s easy to get lost when you’re talking and not really paying attention…we weren’t really lost…but did take one wrong turn where the path got really narrow and I ate about 10 cobwebs…mmmm

We quickly navigated back and ended up doing about 2+ miles. Love hiking!

We came back STARVING. I tore into my FIRST ever Glo Bar tasting!!! A fabulous aroma of coffee came wafting out of the bag. This bar had an awesome chewy texture with a great crunch. I loved the rice crisp texture and all of the oats + seeds. The flavor was perfect and not too sweet.

total.winner.

We may have talked about granola bars A LOT [since I had my business going for awhile last summer]

…and food + life + photography + blogging + etc. We have a million things in common…WHY do we live cross country?

Angela found THEE cutest vegetarian/vegan/gluten free friendly restaurant pretty close to where she lives. It was her first time there and we had high expectations. Their website is great and the decor fabulous. It was in a town called Burlington and the name of the cafe/bakery/store was called Kind Food.

There was a small natural food store inside and they also have a bakery.

The baked goods didn’t look very appealing and there wasn’t much of a selection. Nothing was like “whoa, I have to have that now.”

Angela started with a crazy beet juice. I had a sip. I’m not sold on fresh juices, which I’m still surprised about since I love green monsters/amazing grass/wheat grass/etc.

Chris + I LOVE these!

Photogenic, eh? ;) SO pretty!!!

Looked great from the outside…we were SO excited!!

It was really nice to just sit + relax!

We both ordered the Happy Buddha Bowl. Contents were:

Steamed brown rice, roasted sweet potato, chopped onion, tomato, almonds, sunflower seeds, cilantro, basil, olive oil, sprouts and tamari.

Sounds great, right?

I had them go light on the cilantro, since I’m not a fan. At first glance it looked fabulous.

But then we both realized it was about 1/2c of fresh veggies and 2-3c of rice coated in olive oil. There were 2 small slices of avocado, 4 thin slices of sweet tater, about 5 almonds, 1-2tsp sunflower seeds, about 2T tomato and a little red onion AND it cost $10.75 [in Canadian $]. The flavor was a bit lacking as well and there was a lot of oil on the rice. There should have been 3x the amount of veggies and less than 1/2 the rice.

I don’t mind paying for good quality ingredients, especially when out a restaurant, but this just didn’t add up. Between this meal and the lack luster looking bakery items, my conclusion is: great business idea, poor execution. We really wanted to give rave reviews, but were disappointed. Boo!

Something that wasn’t lacking however…..my goodie basket from Angela. She loaded me up with tea and a green tea bath salt ball.

I can’t wait to try all of these. So far the Glo Balls + Dark Chocolate Roasted Coffee bar exceeded my expectations.

More tea, chocolate, bath samples, orangemint water…YUM

We had a nice afternoon snack:

1 HUGE Doctor Kracker loaded with 1/2 salt kissed cashew butter + 1/2 maple cinnamon almond butter
pile of carrots + hummus

And tea! LOVE this Bodum tea brewing device [kettle? pot? eh?]

Angela decided she wanted to try kale chips for the first time. I’m not quite sure how it’s possible she’s never had them. Kale chips are so super easy to make!

preheat oven to 350
wash kale
tear from stems + throw on a baking sheet
toss with a little olive oil + salt + pepper [or whatever seasonings you want]
bake for ~25min until nice and crispy, tossing a few times during baking

pre-baking

We chilled on a few brews.

I creeped around in their backyard while Eric was busy BBQ’ing our dinner!

Loving the country feel of where they live. Very peaceful. It’s nice to have a large wooded backyard!

CRUNCH.

Grilled veg burgers topped with:

tomato
avocado
salsa
peppers
on DEElicious Ezekiel bread

This simple dinner hit the spot!

Photo-pro in action! I gave Ange a tutorial in Lightroom today. She was SO excited but she’ll probably kill me in a week because it ends up making the posting process take much longer.

Next time Chris needs to come too…he + Eric have a LOT in common…like their crazy blogging wives :)

Meeting Abby the other day and now meeting Angela has been pretty amazing. It’s so fun to make the blog friendships come full circle and meet in person. It’s definitely going to be sad to leave but at least we’ll be seeing each other in August at the Healthy Living Summit!

Off to chillax + then bed! I’m leaving tomorrow afternoon to head back for the rest of my trip in Cleveland. It was a short but awesome visit up in Canada!

Night!

Ashley

There is definitely something wrong with my foot. Doh! And I’m the one to blame. I need to do more thorough running technique research + practice. I’m not going to do the 1/2 marathon in May because I want time to heal and not push myself too much. I would hate to end up with a full blown injury. Luckily the gym I go to has a pool. Looks like I need a new 1 piece!

I decided not to snowboard this AM because it would have been too hard on the foot. I really wanted to go but knew a day on the couch would be better for me.

Because…2 breakfasts are better than 1 :) Again I wanted the best of both worlds, so I had a smaller version of oats + a green monster.

The oats rocked and I tried the applesauce method again. MUCH better without the egg whites.

Sauced UP Oats

1/4c oats
3/4c liquid of choice
1/2 banana
~1/2t cinnamon
1/2T chia seeds
splash of vanilla
~1/4c unsweetened applesauce right at the end of cooking and let it go another 1-2min

fluFFy!!! The sweetness from the applesauce was nice and went really well with the cinnamon. YUM!!!

Sludgy Green Monster [It was thicker than it looks]

handful of ice
1 scoop chocolate amazing grass
1c spinach
1/4t cinnamon
~1/2c unswt. vanilla almond milk
1/2 banana

Then it went for a spin in the Vitamix! SO.GOOD.

I had a mini scoop of AB + PB hiding under some granola and a little unswt. coconut. YUM. Breakfast perfection!

I sat all day + iced. I also went through ALL 200 comments from the giveaway I did looking at all of the tips + websites everyone left me. There are some new blogs added to my reader, a few recipes written down, and a lot of websites that I have tagged. Awesome! Thanks guys!!!

I worked on another header too from Natalie’s bday cupcakes!

Lunch Time

Sauteed veggies in a little olive oil

red pepper, cauliflower, lacinato kale, garbanzo beans

Drizzled in balsamic + apple cider vin towards the end
Sprinkled garlic/salt/parsley on top

Topped with 3/4 of an avocado + goat cheese. Delish.

steamin’

Seriously delicious! I knew this wasn’t enough enough food for my whole lunch but I knew it was going to fill me up short term. So instead of over-stuffing myself, I finished all of this veggie goodness and then waited till my stomach was ready for the rest of lunch. It worked out well!

About 1.5hrs later I had pumpkin yogurt…topped with a little of my Custom Choice [gluten free] cereal that I got as a sample from the company.

I used Voskos Honey Vanilla Bean…hollllllly cow…SO GOOD. I’m a sucker for vanilla bean. It was not overly sweet at all. The perfect amount of flavor. I know Stonyfield makes Greek vanilla, but I actually hate it. I think the flavor is really off! Chobani makes a good vanilla but this is by far thee best!

2hrs later…Apple with melty peanut butter + cocao bliss. I LOVE pnut butter on apples but I didn’t love this combo on apples…MUCH tastier on a banana.

This is Dakota’s “let me up on the couch because Kenna stole my bed” face.

Okay, so here’s our deal with the dogs on couches. We really don’t allow it..but look at Dakota’s face…it’s hard to say no, so sometimes she is allowed up. We are mean parents and only let Dakota do this, hehe. Kenna would abuse the privilege. She is a WORM and would want up all theeee time. Not to mention her shedding and she is HUGE.

More face action.

This is Dakota asking to come up. She never just hops up. She knows the routine. She actually gets up on the couch while we’re gone though, which is hilarious. We spotted her doing it through our window back in Charlotte and she hops right off when she hears our keys in the door. Dogs are funnEE!!

Oh gosh. That face!!! Chris finally gave in :) And look at the WORM. Worm is a new nickname for Kenna and it is SO fitting. She worms her way into everything.

After watching some of the Oscars, we headed to Vine Street [of course] to meet up and say goodbye to Will + Deb. They grabbed a bite to eat, but Chris and I ate at home. I had leftover pasta, from the other night, topped with a Sunshine Veggie Burger. Sunshine makes the BEST veggie burgers with an amazing ingredient list. Have you checked the ingredient list on your veggie/fake meat products? They can be a MILE long with tons of unidentifiable things.

I had a little 8oz beer of Quinn’s Golden Ale, which they brew themselves. The perfect little amount.

[chris’s beer]

Will + Deb are back to Charlotte in the AM. It was great getting to see them!! :)

OFF to get my sleep ON

Hope everyone’s week starts off well!

~Ashley

Some of the website links that I have bookmarked, thanks to all of YOU!!! Lots of GREEN sites and fun stuff to look at..realllly excited about them :)

The Good Guide – Find Safe, Healthy, and Green Products

Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day – so excited about this one!!

Pink of Perfection – A thrifty girl’s guide to the good life -> food + art + crafting + photography + fashion

Mind Body Green – Better, Healthier, Greener Living

Green is Sexy – An adorable website/blog with tips from 3 girls [one being Rachel McAdams] on how to Green your life

Vermicomposters – Worm composting!! I’m excited to look more into this

I hope those don’t waste too much of your time today ;) hehe