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” :)

….

Bed? Yesssssssss

Ashley

….

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