I hope all of you in the stormy area stay safe, dry, and keep power! Here in Maryland, we are operating on heightened alert until tomorrow morning, but so far it’s just raining a lot, the wind hasn’t yet picked up. Of course, it’s only 8:30am. We’ve got time.
On a day like today, when the sun is nowhere to be found and you have to actually turn lights on in the morning, you could use a delicious hot beverage to power you through the day, no?
I’ve already had this:
I’m loving the combination of beet, cilantro, celery, ginger, lemon, and apple lately. It’s wonderfully cleansing for liver and anything with beet is great for your digestive system. Now’s the time of the season to add in those root veggies!
It’s also the time of the season to fill your diet with some good fat. Do you suffer from dry, itchy skin in the winter? Increasing your fat and water intake can seriously help.
In the spirit of that, I offer you this:
Coffee blended with butter.
Don’t gag.
I think it sounds so dirty because our culture has pretty much been trained to be mortally afraid of the butter. It turns out that it’s all of those butter replacers that cause the damage, not pure, grass-fed, organic butter. So ditch the hydrogenated imposters and go get yourself some delicious butter. A brand that is widely sold is Kerry Gold, and it is made from grass-fed cows milk. This is important, because if the cows are eating corn, soy, and grains with no grass, it’s abnormal for them, and they produce milk that is high in toxic fat. When they eat grass as nature intended, and are allowed to roam, the milk is chock full of good fats and nutrients.
Butter Blended Coffee
As a note, you can also make this using 1 tsp (or more if you like) of coconut oil or coconut butter. I enjoy the coconut butter!1 cup freshly brewed, very hot coffee
1 pat (1 tbsp) unsalted, organic and grass-fed butter (I’ve done it with salted as well, Was good)Pour the coffee into a blender. I have a Magic Bullet sitting on my counter top that I use pretty much exclusively for blending salad dressing and coffee. Pop the butter into the blender. Whiz it up! It will get creamy and will form a foamy head.
Pour into your mug and add sweetener if desired.
Enjoy!
Stay warm and get some fat today! 🙂
We really packed it in this weekend!
On Friday, this guy…
Took his first steps AND learned how to mash food into that mess of hair he has. We’re pretty excited about the walking thing – though he’s pretty underwhelmed. He’s kinda like, big deal! did you know bugs were edible?
So we had our fancy night out…
It was a lot of fun! We went to this event last year, when I was pretty much 9 months pregnant. Everyone remembered me sitting on a chaise lounge eating a plate of dessert that was propped up on my belly. Except for those people who didn’t recognize me because I’m clearly half a person smaller. I have to say that I did enjoy that. 🙂
I went with a smokey eye.
And since I went heavy on the eyes, I just did a nude lip gloss (Nars Orgasm lip gloss, my fave!)
On Saturday, we went to Eli’s buddy’s first birthday party. I took not one picture, because I was too busy enjoying gin and tonics made with a homemade tonic syrup infused with allspice berries. WOW.
Also…
Eli “colored.”
Stinkbugs invaded.
And I drank coffee.
Suffice to say, this weekend Hubs and I hit the “indulge” button quite a few times. I’m really happy to be back to eating normally now. Both of us are. It’s fun to indulge every now and then, but I always wind up asking myself the next morning – was it really worth it? I mean, the Gin and Tonics were totally worth it. Totally. But we all know when you drink alcohol, your ideas surrounding a “good meal” kind of shift.
All in all, a pretty good weekend.
Now, I have a few days to prepare myself for my first solo venture in a LONG time. No hubs. No Eli.
What will I do?
Oh, hello!
This weather is THE BEST. I love it. Love it loveit. Eli and I have been on at least three walks a day.
The best thing about the Fall though, of course, are lattes flavored according to the season. And perhaps with chocolate too. I definitely used to be a Starbucks girl when it comes to Lattes, and I actually blame them for craving Pumpkin Spice lattes once the little nip gets into the air. That’s some excellent marketing.
However, even if I were not doing with dairy or sugar currently, I would not be indulging in a Starbucks latte for two reasons:
- $$$$ ?!
- It’s so easy to make at home and so much better for you.
So, I’m posting this recipe as I made it this morning, which is completely Whole30 compliant. If you don’t have any dietary restrictions, I’ve put notes in there for ya.
Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Latte
Serves 1
Note: You can make this with regular coffee too. No problem. Brew it strong!
- 1 serving espresso
- 1/4 cup coconut milk (you can use any milk you like, but the creamier the better!)
- 1 heaping TSP canned pumpkin
- Dash of Pumpkin Spice (if you don’t have it, mix cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice together in a little bowl, then add a dash of THAT)
- 1 TSP coco powder, unsweetened (optional, if you don’t want a chocolate pumpkin spice latte, just omit)
- Sweetener of choice (or no sweetener at all)
Start with your espresso, or coffee. Put it in a blender. ANY blender. I’m serious.
Add:
Your pumpkin..
Chocolate
Spices
Coconut milk (or whatever milk)
Sweetener if you’re using it
Whir whir
Take a little sip. Is it perfection? If not, add more something, like milk or sweetener or pumpkin or spice. Whir whir again.
In all likelihood, your latte is now cold. You can nuke it or warm it up on the stove top. You can just guess which one I did.
You probably guessed right.
And voila! Delish!
Now, you probably noticed that I threw all the ingredients into the Magic Bullet and called it a latte. If that offends you, I totally understand. 10.5 months ago it would have offended me as well. But I’ve seen some things, man.
Anyway.
I use my Magic Bullet pretty much only for coffee these days. That’s really all it’s good for. If you’re interested in making a more traditional latte, here’s the method I use when I have more than 3 minutes to spare.
Heat up your milk of choice, VERY hot.Â
Make your espresso or coffee.Â
Put your milk and seasonings in your blender. If you’re making the above latte, that would be your pumpkin, spice, chocolate, and sweetener. Blend it up A LOT. It’ll get foamy.Â
Gently pour the mixture into your espresso or coffee. This will be perfect, trust me.Â
I hope you enjoy!
Sorry Starbucks!
🙂
So, it’s Day 2 of the Whole30 Challenge over here. A few things come to mind.
- Hubs and I really enjoy our evening glass (…or two…) of wine. It’s kind of our routine. He’ll come home, take Eli upstairs while he gets comfy, I’ll pour us a couple glasses, and we’ll go for a walk around the pond with kiddo and Sammy. We’ll sip our vino, talk about our days, unwind. Clearly,all of this can still be done sans wine. It’s just interesting to me how a beverage triggers such a pleasant “relax” response.
- The sugar thing is more serious than I realized. I knew that the whole sweetened condensed milk in the coffee thing was just a disaster waiting to happen. I clearly remember telling myself: once this can is done, IT IS DONE. And lo and behold, find myself two days later putting three cans of it in the cart. Now I crave that intensely sweet and creamy coffee taste. Around this time of the morning. I’m experimenting with different teas, because I don’t truly care for the intense flavor of coffee sans sweetener and I’m not sure that I need to condition myself to like it either. Better to get into tea, right? I was fighting the whole no Stevia thing, because if I could have my Stevia, none of this would matter. But I understand the logic behind it, no matter how many times I ask WHY. I need to save myself from the sweet monster!
Otherwise, it’s all fine. Yes, I miss my butter. But that’s not a big deal. I had a delicious breakfast:
Steamed japanese sweet potato topped with a fried egg, sweet peppers, and a little Sunshine Sauce. So good!
I spent much of yesterday prepping food, which means that I spend less time throwing meals together.
Since I’m also sending Hubs to work with lunch, it’s essential to have things I can easily throw into a lunchbox for him. It also makes it more likely that I’ll add veggies to eggs in the morning and have more than one veggie in a salad.
I’m not feeling very “into” the animal protein right now, besides the occasional Chorizo and eggs, so I’ve been upping fullness factor in my meals by adding the sweet potatoes and the delicious Sunshine Sauce, which has both coconut milk and sunflower seed butter. I definitely feel satiated food-wise, so that’s a good thing.
In other news…
Eli celebrated his 10th month (Monday) with two busted lips. It was our first experience with some serious blood and pain, and let me tell you, I’m NOT a fan. Luckily, Apples and Bananas also works for busted lips, and I was able to help his swelling by giving him a bottle with a little icewater that he would suck on for a few minutes.
But yesterday he busted his lip AGAIN! He’s got me so on edge. He’s basically sitting, normally, and then will get excited and start to crawl wherever, but too fast, and just face plant. Hard. It’s difficult to stay on top of that, since you’d imagine sitting would be a somewhat safe activity.
Oy.
We did get some cuddle time though.
My baby boy has not napped on me or fallen asleep on me for so many months now, I can’t even remember. He was an infant the last time he did it. Yesterday, he listened to some Baby Beluga on my lap, then turned to me for an actual snuggle. I just about died. Despite the fact that I use both of his nap times to get ANYTHING done in this place, I let the kitchen, school, dinner, hang tight, because there is just nothing as heart-melting as cuddling with my boo. I wish he would do more often. He napped on me for an hour. Totally worth the crick in my neck 🙂
Anyway, I’m off to do my thing. I hope you all have a great hump day!
I would first like to say, Husband, I do love you. Still. Even after what you did.
How could you do it?
So, my son, Elias, who is probably not the world’s worst sleeper EVER, is nonetheless, a sucky, sucky, sucky sleeper. Sucky. For the first six months of his life, he refused to knock out for more than two hours at a time ever. EVER. And we traveled a lot back then. Sometimes he’d only sleep for forty-five minutes at a time. It was a dark period of our lives. Dark, indeed. I was told to carbo-load his poor baby body with rice cereal and formula and various other awful things, but I held strong and knew that one day, ONE DAY, he would sleep. He’d have to right? I mean, don’t babies get tired after a few months of no sleep?
So, he did. It took a little tough love. Or a lot. But the point is, I got my son to sleep for 4-5 hour stints, and just here recently, he’s been consistently sleeping for 6 hour stints. I had gotten him down to one wakeup, around 2am, and then we’re up for the day at 7-7:30. Yay.
Our trip to CA completely wrecked this, as I knew it would. I didn’t tell my mom to be tough at night and not to feed him, etc., because I felt that would be a lot of stress for her. However, now Eli is expecting a three course meal every time he hollers. And peeps, he’s been hollering.
So anyway, yesterday was Wednesday. Tuesday sucked. Mommy on West Coast time, fell asleep 45 minutes before Eli, on CRAZY TIME, decided to get up for his first feeding. I decided more tough love was a’coming. I can handle this.
Hubs it turns out, cannot.
This morning, despite the fact that he escaped us around 1am to sleep in his mancave, he wimped out and gave that little drama prince a bottle at 5:30am. I couldn’t catch him! By the time I realized what had happened, it was already too late. I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT.
I was angry.
Hubs was too scared to come back upstairs and say goodbye to me. I didn’t even get kisses. Not that I wanted any. But I would have enjoyed one last, WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU?!
So, yes. Eli slept in until 9am, and while some may think that is nice, it actually isn’t because now his nap schedule is ruined. And hence my day.
So, Hubs.
I do still love you.
But.
If you ever do that again.
Ever.
Ever.
I will kill you.
Now, back to my Wi – er, I mean, coffee.
I go in and out of coffee phases.
Most people I know drink coffee to help them wake up in the morning and get some “get up and go.” These days, coffee is a comfort food for me.
I told myself I wouldn’t use sweetened condensed milk in my coffee ANY MORE.
I know it’s bad. You know, with that sugar in it and all.
Sugar is not my friend. Not one bit.
But surely if I don’t eat sugar elsewhere in my life… it can’t be so bad?
It just tastes so good. And makes me feel happy. So yes, I bought another can of sweetened condensed milk this morning. It’s organic.
I’d say you should try it too, but it’s honestly not good for you. And you’ll absolutely get addicted. So.
Anyway, Eli is sleeping and I’ve got a lot to do to prepare for an overnight visitor. I’m making that vegetable korma again – and will measure the ingredients too, so that I can give you another go at it. With more detail.
What do you eat/drink when you need a little comfort?
You just need a nice fat cup of coffee.
I’ve been loving the liquid Stevia for any sweetening needs these days, and the vanilla is delicious in coffee, tea, and with water + lemon.
I’d love to tell you that if I’d just gotten thirty more minutes of sleep I’d be fine, but it might be a lie. I’m dragging big time this morning, and my little partner in crime had absolutely no intention of hitting snooze at 6:30am. So I’m letting him make messes while I sip on this brew and try to come out of my vegetative state.
Notice how it’s blurry? Because he won’t stop moving.  🙂
My other children would happily hit snooze with me.
But it’s not to be.
Don’t worry, I’ll be hitting up the green juice ASAP.
Promise!
Have a good one!
You know you love it!
Happy Sunday, bloggies! I have been a little shy with the camera this weekend, but I do have a few high-lights for you.
That’s right, the high lights are all food! Of course! That pizza was my very first without any cheese. I felt so…In control(?) as I ordered it too, “That’s right, NO cheese. Yes, ALL the veggies you have. Plus the onions and garlic.” Why not? Hubs is not home to cower from my dragon breath. However, next time I would change that pizza up just a little bit: No cheese, broccoli, extra eggplant, mushrooms, and spinach. The garlic was just too much, it was huge and chunky and raw, and the onions were kind of weird tasting. Not delicious. The eggplant and broccoli were amazing though, so I think that’d be my go-to pizza. I honestly did not miss the cheese.
The little pancakes… Hmm, what to say? I was trying to be creative on Saturday morning, and recalled that Heather always posts the most amazing pancake pictures, so I decided to try her recipe for Almond Flour(Extra Fluffy) Pancakes, because it seemed like I remember having almond flour and the ingredient list was very short. However, it turned out that my almond flour was actually almond meal. I also did not have club soda. The almond meal said that it could be used for 50% of the flour in a baking recipe, so I decided to roll with that. I used 1/2 cup almond meal and 1/2 cup ww pastry flour, which was also lurking in my cupboard.
However, I made one really stupid classic mistake: I decided to whip my egg whites in the Vitamix. Why not, right? It can do ANYTHING. Well, no, it actually can’t. Heather said to whip the egg whites until they form stiff peaks — not until they turn… scrambled. Yes, my friends, the Vita heats up when you let it roll, and that heat cooked my eggs. Gross.
The brownies are pretty self-explanatory. I ate them.
So it was back to the old fashioned whisk for me. Sigh.
Anyway, the pancakes were not worthy of me posting my variation, though they were edible. I’d recommend checking out Heather’s actual recipe, and going by that. 🙂
My weekend has been pretty fun! I went out twice, which is darn near historic for me, and had a blast each time. I don’t have a hangover this morning, because I figured out that if you stick with ONE drink, without sugary mixers, the next day is actually pretty OK.
Weather-wise, it’s been lovely, and I’ve gotten the pups to the park a few times, and we’ve sunned ourselves plenty. All in all, quite relaxing of a weekend. Even though I miss the Hubs.
Now, I’ve got to get into my gym clothes, clean up this casa (Hurricane Sarah came home late last night and totally made herself comfortable all over the place), hit the gym (Week two, day 2 Upper body!) and then get some groceries. Because look:
GASP. I’m almost out of my chicory coffee!!!
The horror.
Have a great Sunday, bloggies. See ya tomorrow!
I’ve been drinking a lot of coffee lately — at least for me. I’ve never really been a coffee addict. I remember that I used to pour myself a to-go mug each morning before my junior and senior year of high school commute (45 minutes on New England back roads at 6:30am… Caffeine required), and I’ll typically have a cup of coffee after a nice dinner, as I find it settles out my stomach nicely. But I’ve never gone nutso about coffee, I don’t freak out if I don’t have a cup in the morning and I don’t really feel that actually “peps” me up too much or anything. I normally go weeks without coffee. But lately? I start my morning with a cup of joe! I blame it on Trader Joe’s and their delicious chicory coffee. I feel like ever since I bought that, I can’t NOT make a pot. It’s just so darn tasty.
You see, I find coffee sensual. Not sexy, sensual. I adore the sound of percolation. I love the thick, heady aroma of brewing java. I love the color. I love the way it tastes in my mouth, slightly smokey, a little sweet, rich like chocolate. Mmm. It’s just such a decadent experience. I also love coffee mugs and coffee cups. I love grinders. French Presses. Little wooden coffee scoops. Cute tins to store coffee in. Kitschy milk & sugar holders. It’s such an experience.
One of my best coffee experiences was last Fall during my first trip to New Orleans. I was accompanying Hubs (boyfriend then) on a business trip, so while he was in meetings during the day, I found myself wandering around the French Quarter, and came upon this:
And since I have been an Anne Rice fan since high school, and have fond recollections of a certain vampire named Lestat waxing poetic about this very place, I was immediately took a seat. It was insanely busy, but was the sort of place that was simply made for people watching. You have such a great view of people wandering the French Quarter. Anyway, I had a cup of their cafe au lait, with the hot freshly made beignets topped with incredible amounts of powdered sugar, and I felt transported into another time altogether.
Can you believe I actually remembered to take a picture?
So I’m not entirely sure how I feel about my morning coffee these days though. According to Web MD, which was by far the most normal sounding critique on the pro’s and con’s of caffeine, it’s not really all that bad for you when taken in moderation — assuming you are an averagely healthy person with no serious issues, like high blood pressure or a heart condition. Of course, it is acidic, and if you’re interested in keeping your body as alkaline as possible, coffee probably isn’t the way to do it… But I was more worried about the dehydrating effects, since getting my daily dose of water is hard enough for me. Wed MD also said that while caffeine is a diuretic, the dehydrating effects are less severe than most people think, and are mostly compensated with by the liquid in the beverage consumed. Clearly, you’ll want to drink water anyway.
These days I’m trying to be kinder to myself. Less harsh in my internal critiques about what I put into my body. Less frazzled and frenetic. It’s been nice, actually, to just toast up a bagel and eat it. Or use a whole wheat wrap in the middle of the day. Or put sour cream on something. It’s not like I’m eating ho-ho’s and Twinkies all day long — the things I’m freeing up are just normal every day things, that I had, at some point over the years, put on the Naughty List. So I think it’s safe to say, that if I’m craving a cup of delicious coffee in the morning, I’m gonna get it — I’m just not 100% sure how I feel about it yet 🙂
What about you guys? Thoughts on the brew? And how do you take it?
These days I take mine with some So Delicious coconut milk creamer and some raw agave nectar. Mmm!
Happy Friday! Wonderful Weekend Wishes to you all!
Happy Hump Day!
For all my North-Eastern dwellers: What is UP with the weather? I had gotten completely used to the 70-80 degree deliciousness we’ve been having, and all of this… cold… is freaking me out. I keep going out dressed inappropriately! My feet don’t want to be away from their flip flops!
Well, because I wake up to a house that is 64 degrees these days, it’s been impossible for me to spring for the usual breakfast smoothie; the idea of sipping on anything icy makes me shiver. As a result, I’ve been hittin’ the java fairly frequently this week!
I found this delightful friend at Trader Joe’s (clearly!) and it’s actually quite good! My other experience with chicory coffee is the original, from Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans. Oddly enough, I prefer TJ’s version. It tastes more… Chicory-ish? It’s really strong though. I find that I use a lot less of it to make a pot than with other grains.
My spread:
This is where I’ll be for the rest of the day — you guess it! — studying rocks. Oh joy! And of course, what goes better with morning java than a slice of toast with almond butter and a drizzle of agave? Nothing! Mmm.
I mentioned this a hundred times before, but Hubs and I are moving soon, to an actual house! We currently live in a muy pequeno condo, and most of my stuff is still in storage and costing me rent! We are literally busting out of this place, so we can’t wait to have a place where we can stretch a bit. But that brings me to another issue: I’m messy. Trust me, I’d like to say I’m adorably scatterbrained, or organizationally challenged, but the fact of the matter is, I’m a freakin’ Tasmanian Devil in the house. Especially when Hubs is gone. Hubs, being ex military, is incredibly neat. In fact, when I first moved in here, every single item in the house had a place. In my home, items had “areas”… with loosely defined borders. Suffice it to say, some couples argue over money, some over work; we argue over how messy I am. The thing is, being messy does nothing positive for me. When I’m in a messy environment my productivity deadpans and I become a mess too. It’s a vicious cycle, like binge eating, which I also know a thing or two about. Hubs has loosened up A LOT over the past 4 years, and I have improved as well, but now that we’re looking at moving into a new place, I want to be even better than I am. I want to leave a room looking the same way it was when I entered it. I don’t want to spend hours searching for a left shoe or an earring back. Thus: The Clean Up Song.
It’s very simple, and it’s an exercise I started on Monday when Hubs left for Vegas. Normally when he leaves, the house is pristine and then within hours I’ve sacked it. And since he’s not coming home that night… it remains sacked. And so do I. Not this time baby!
Every hour or so, I pull up my iTunes and pick a song. I play the song and pick up as much as possible until the song ends. Then I’m done. By the time dinner time rolls around, I don’t have a whole lot to do! And I feel so much better! I can’t tell you how nice it was to wake up to a fresh and clean kitchen this morning. Whew!
Do you guys have little tricks or games you play to help you overcome little idiosyncrasies?
I’m hitting the rocks now, can’t WAIT until this final is over!!!
simplysarah2010.wordpress.com 