Week In Review: The Eighteenth Edition

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Meghan

Greetings from Belgium. It’s official, I have died and gone to heaven, or at the very least Brussels.

As much as I’d like to go on and on and share a bazillion pictures with you (yes, I have officially been in Belgium one day, and I already have a bazillion pictures), I’ve only slept a handful of hours in the last two days (totally worth it by the way), and I’m on vacation, so I don’t feel much like editing said photos. Can you blame me?

In short, we’re going to get right down to it and review all my goings on in the last seven days, and then if I’m lucky, I’ll get to hear from all of you. Anybody else notice we had our best participation ever last week? I did, and you all rock, even if you’re not on vacation this week.

Let’s get listing:

I logged forty-five hours at my 8 to 5 job.
Extra hours on the job usually means less gym time, and last week was no exception. I did a Mixed Martial Arts and a Spinning class. It’s all good because I plan to get my run on in Belgium. I’m going Forest Gump all over Europe.
I wrote and published three blog posts, all of which could be summed up with the phrase food porn.
Speaking of food porn, I made Ramp Pesto with another one of my farmers market finds. I also proceeded to eat several bites of this same pesto before boarding a plane. Despite a thorough teeth brushing and mouthwash, I literally reeked of garlic. Good times, although maybe not necessarily for the guy sitting next to me. It wasn’t the Hubby on the first leg of our travels.

I saw the movie Crazy, Stupid, Love while on the plane, and I will say Ryan Gosling makes for a visually enjoyable flight. I refuse to call him eye candy because he is not a piece of meat, because we all know I don’t eat meat.
Speaking of planes, I traveled to Belgium which took an entire day (still totally worth it).
I’ve been hanging with my favorite (and only nephew) who just so happens to share my love for bananas.

I had a dinner and dessert date with an old friend (not in terms of years because that would imply I’m old, and we all know how I feel about that). It was fantastic to catch up and spend time with her.
I went to a farmers market in Belgium, and I suspect that’s not too shocking. It’s also the reason for the bazillion pictures. I will absolutely be sharing more of these at a future date. In the meantime, this is a raspberry/strawberry combo with some wild asparagus thrown in for good measure. Afternoon delight, indeed.

I had my very first Belgium waffle. They had all different kinds with crazy toppings, but I went straight up plain, although it’s worth mentioning they have sugar crystals baked right into the batter so calling them plain is the understatement of the century. It was fantastic.

It’s safe to say I’m living the dream, so enough about me…for now. I want to hear from all of you, so get you link up on and get listing.

Have you ever had Belgium waffles from Belgium? What’s your favorite way to exercise on vacation? Do you still exercise?

Confessions From a Jet Plane

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Meghan

♫ I’m leavin’ on a jet plane. Don’t know when I’ll be back again. Oh baby, I hate to go. ♫

I’m in a bad way. I leave for Belgium in roughly twenty-four hours, and I don’t have my shit together. I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Having back to back jam-packed social weekends does not make for good vacation planning. I just started making my many travel lists last night, along with doing mounds of laundry; how is it I have no clean underwear? I’m also trying to cook and/or eat my way through all the veggies, eggs and other perishables in the kitchen. In the past three days, I’ve put down a boatload of asparagus, crazy ridiculous amounts of kale, a litany of eggs, and I have an “everything must go” salad packed for lunch today. Good times, or at the very least good eats.

I figure I’m going to be one hell of a cleaned out beefcake by the time I get to Belgium. So long as the cleaning out doesn’t happen on the plane, I’ll be cool. Or as cool as any self-diagnosed OCD list lover can be when she has no plan, which truthfully means I’m starting to freak out just a little. Oh, who am I kidding? I’m close to basket case status, but my sanity, while tenuous at best, knows in twenty-four hours, I will be relaxing on a plane and completely checked out from work for a solid nine days.

Despite my soon to be international woman of mystery status, I will be hosting the Week In Review link up on Monday because I dig it the most. Plus, we just had our best attendance yet (happy dance ensues), and I don’t want to mess with that mojo. Keep it coming ladies and gents because I love hearing about your productiveness and seeing your egos swell. Matter of fact, I’m a fan of all things swelling, unless of course it’s my own limbs.

After Monday’s Week In Review post, I really have no idea whether I’ll be blogging or not. I didn’t schedule any guest writers or pre-write any posts, so we’ll see how it goes. Maybe I’ll pop in for a quickie (there’s something to be said for the quickie), but before I bid you adieu for an unknown period of time (aside from Monday’s WIR), I thought it’d be fun to share some confessions, so I effectively haunt your dreams while I’m away. I’m thoughtful like that.

I drink my smoothies in the shower. It should be noted, I keep my beverage away from the direct spray, but standing under hot water makes it easier to ingest extremely cold liquids, especially in the winter. Apparently no space is sacred when it comes to me and food.

Yep, this bad boy showered with me, and he liked it.

More water works…while taking a bath last week, I noticed an entire section of hair on my left leg, which I had obviously missed shaving….many, many times. It was like a rampant Sasquatch patch. I’m so embarrassed, but not enough to keep it to myself.
I have fifteen pairs of shoes stashed under my desk at work, five of which are some type of animal print.

I don’t think I’m done with meat. I’m not ready to eat it again either, but after two years without, I’m starting to have real cravings (yes there is a difference between real cravings, and I want all the cookies now). I don’t like to deny or restrict myself, but mentally I’m not ready to move past the ideology and eat my furry friends. Awkward right? I guess time will tell.

They say things have to get worse before they get better, and this is certainly true of my teeth. Prior to getting braces, I had two teeth which were starting to overlap slightly, emphasis on the word slightly. After two months of metal, they are no longer overlapped. In fact, they are no longer in the same vicinity of each other. Basically, if my teeth were a picket fence, I got one board in the neighbor’s yard. Grumble, grumble.
I have an incredibly small bladder and a fear of public restrooms. They two do not play well together.
Today’s post was going to be about my newest pizza, but I couldn’t muster the words and decided to go full on confession instead. Here’s a little pizza preview; I call it The Mexicali Blues, because it will cure the blues, and I like The Grateful Dead, along with some Miley Cyrus, Green Day, Frank Sinatra, Outkast…clearly I’ve got musical issues.

A hectic schedule does not allow much time or energy for mad monkey love and reading through this post it shows. I plan to change that on vacation. Perhaps I’ll even join the mile high club, except that fear of public restrooms is going to get in the way (sorry Hubby; didn’t mean to get your hopes up).
I forgot to announce the winners of my granola giveaway on Wednesday. Oops, my bad. And the granola goes to Fran at Broken Cookies Don’t Count (although they totally do) and Heather at Kiss My Broccoli. I’ll be emailing you ladies for your personal information. I promise I’m not a stalker, and I won’t show up on your doorstep, although if you fail to give up your info, I will keep and devour all the blueberry almond granola I made. Fair is fair. ;)

Bon Voyage Peeps.

What are your plans for the weekend? What was the last vacation you took, and what was your favorite part of it? Ever been to Belgium? Any travel advice for me?

WIAW: The Farmers Market Edition

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Meghan

You know how when puppies get excited, they shake their little tails. And when they get really excited, their entire back quarters start to move in a barely suppressed wiggle.

Yeah, I’m the same way when it comes to fresh local produce.

It doesn’t matter if it’s my weekly CSA share, which doesn’t start until mid-June (I’m counting down the weeks) or a simple farmers market, which has been tiding me over until my CSA starts. Most recently, I’ve been hitting up downtown Cleveland’s farmers market every Friday afternoon, which means I’m foregoing the gym to do it. That’s how you know it’s love. ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

Several Friday’s ago, after literally skipping my way to the farmers market and squealing with delight over all the awe-inspiring goodness (I wasn’t kidding when I compared myself to a puppy), I brought this bevy of bountiful produce home.

Behold; the heavens open, the trumpets sound, and the angels rejoice. Too much? I don’t think so.

I can’t even fully explain how happy this picture makes me, although rest assured there is wiggling going on and even a jazz hand or two thrown in for good measure. Some people drool over the sight of an ice cream sundae (I’m one of them) and others drool over baskets of spinach, bundles of purple kale, cute little carrots, firm green onions, pretty pink radishes and tightly twined herbs. What can I say? I love food in all it’s glory, especially the colorful stuff… and cheese, but that’s a no brainer and also a regular at my farmers market.

I’ve decided to forgo Jenn’s typical What I Ate Wednesday today, although I’m totally still linking up because I’ve seen what other people post. It’s not a full day of eats. Sometimes it’s a whole weekends’ worth of food, a solo recipe, or just the meals you pick and choose. Bunch of rule breakers; the whole lot of you. Well if you can do it, then I can too. So there. Sorry Jenn, I promise to be back on my best behavior (which isn’t saying much) next week.

Also in the mix today is Kristy’s link up for Fresh Food Wednesdays because it doesn’t get much fresher than this. Plus, Kristy’s pretty fly, and she designs blogs for a living, goes to fancy food parties, and gets paid to take fabulous photos, all while drinking wine. She’s winning in my book.

If you need help with starting a blog, your existing blog layout or any other technical aspects of the social media world (damn it’s like looking into a mirror), you should check her out because that’s Kristy’s thing. She. Completes. You; you just don’t know it yet.

I digress. Back to the veritable veggies and lands of green. I already showed you my farmers market haul, but I’d like to go one step further (which shouldn’t be a surprise) and share exactly what I did with it all because anybody can buy a bunch of fresh goodies and let them wither away to nothing in the fridge. (I’ll be honest, two radishes didn’t make it, and it broke a little piece of my heart to compost them). It takes skills, talent, and some good mojo to put your produce where your mouth is. Lucky for you, I’m got all of them, in spades. Get ready for a crapton of pictures; three cheers for visual stimulation…not in a pornographic way. I’m not that kind of girl, well unless you’re talking yolk porn (or mad monkey love) and then all bets are off. Far be it from me to deny the people yolk porn.

And we’re off…

Some of the radishes and the green onions (along with a bunch of other veggies) made their way into this lovely vegetable dip, which I paired with more veggies. Obviously.

I also used that very same veggie dip as a sauce for my Garden Thyme veggie burger. This was my first time trying the Luna brand, and I have to say I was impressed.

I mixed half the bundle of fresh oregano in with some sweet potatoes and parmesan, and then roasted them all together in the oven, until they reached optimal deliciousness.

Part of the kale and the rest of the radishes (the edible ones, that is) made their way into Peas & Crayons very own Garlicky Kale Salad with Smoke Chipolte dressing. If you’re a fan of garlic (who isn’t) and aren’t afraid of a little heat, this is a dressing for you. It was a flavor explosion in my mouth (oh my!).

I drank the rest of my kale, along with some of the spinach in my morning smoothies, although I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Hubby’s use of produce. When I was off gallivanting, he made himself several spinach salads with a plethora of toppings, which are all hiding underneath a mountain of sprouts. My man eats his greens, and it shows.

The last of the green onions made their way into my scrambled eggs. Twice.

The cute little carrots managed to sneak into a cast iron skillet stocked with veggies (red skinned potatoes, sweet potatoes, yellow onions, whole cloves of garlic and even some of the farmers market oregano). Here they are pre-roasting.

And post-roasting, paired with asparagus and topped with yolk porn because everything is better with yolk porn. Plus, I’m pretty sure I mentioned porn earlier; you can’t say I didn’t deliver.

There you have it my friends. My farmers market finds and yolk porn. What more could a girl ask for?

Do you frequent the farmers markets in your area? If so, what lovely little food perks have you brought home, and how did you use them? Tell me all about it so I can wiggle, wiggle, wiggle.

Week In Review: The Seventeenth Edition

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Meghan

Happy Monday. I’m afraid I don’t have much of an intro for you today, and by not much, I really mean none. You see, the Hubby and I went on a quick road trip to Buffalo and back this past weekend to see my family. I haven’t been home since Christmas so we were past due. The downside is I have no small talk for you today. I know you’re thoroughly disappointed, but I suspect you’ll manage to survive without my witty banter on a Monday morning. Although coffee on the other hand is a necessity.

Since this is a Week In Review post, we’re just going to jump right into a list (oh the joys of listing) of what I accomplished in the last week (aside from the road trip).

I worked a normal and sane forty hours on the jobby job.
I did a Boot Camp class, a Spinning class, and I went running twice, once with my brother, my father, and the Hubby in torrential winds, rain and even hail. I think the Tough Mudder gods were testing us, but we prevailed.

I plowed through not one, not two, but three People magazines. I’m majorly backlogged again, and I actually made the decision a month ago not to renew my weekly subscription. Now that I’ve made this decision though, it seems like it will never end. It’s the Terminator; it keeps coming and coming and coming.
I did a lot of cooking and I ate really damn good as a result, including Peas and Crayons very own Alfredo sauce. Now that’s winning, and by the way, I’m taking this phrase back from Charlie Sheen.

I paid the bills because somebody’s got to do it and since I play with numbers for a profession, it might as well be me.
I did motherly things on Mother’s Day. Yes I am childless, but my oldest cat didn’t want me to feel left out, so he projectile vomited all over the dining room rug. That was fun.
Even more fun, I putzed around in the yard for a few hours and tended to my flora. Aren’t peonies just the prettiest?

I wrote and published three blog posts, including a special giveaway edition. The winners will be announced on Wednesday; I know I’m a tease. I like it like that.
And the final and most exciting accomplishment in the past week was doing a Mother’s Day Harlem Shake video with the family because that’s how we roll.

Alright, enough about me, let’s hear from you. Link up and let me know what you got. I know it’s going to be good.

What did you manage to knock off your lists last week? Anything noteworthy? Would your family do a Harlem Shake video with you? And then allow you to post it on the internet for all to see (there’s something not quite right about us).

TGIF

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Meghan

Hey Gang. I don’t have much to say today (shocking, I know) so go forth and play, preferably outside. Bonus points if you do it in the dirt and fresh veggies are involved.

Before I officially release you, don’t forget to participate in the Week In Review link up party going down on Monday, by writing a post dedicated to ALL the things you managed to do in the last seven days. There’s no accomplishment too big or too small; so let’s get listing them one and all. For more info on the Week In Review, click here.

Last, but most certainly not least, I’m hosting a giveaway for some homemade vegan granola. I made a double batch two nights ago, and let me just say, you want in on this action because I am a granola master. I also have no issues with my self-esteem.

Happy Weekending. Yes, I made weekend a verb because I can and my cocky ego rears her head yet again; I’d say it’s going to be a good day.

Do you have any exciting weekend plans? Have you participated in the Week In Review link up party yet (if not, you should totally get on that)?

Clean Eats, Fast Feets

Where Clean Eating and Exercise Collide

Week In Review: The Eighteenth Edition

Confessions From a Jet Plane

WIAW: The Farmers Market Edition

Week In Review: The Seventeenth Edition

TGIF