Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Busted blender :(

A lot of people have been talking about freebie products recently........ speaking of, I forgot to mention this lipgloss from Kath - it was part of her swag from the BlogHer conference this past weekend! Thanks Kath! :) I also forgot to mention how much Mike LOVES all things Newman's Own Organics. They did send me free products to review, yes, but I have been honest about disliking other products before and I would not hesitate to do it again.
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However, Mike and I have been obsessed with EVERY NOO product we have tried. He is a huge proponent of their "oreos" and Ginger-Os!

The EVOO and balsamic is also good stuff. That said............

My mid-afternoon snack was basically a ton of these dates with 100% dark chocolate. Don't worry, this time I didn't eat the whole bagfull, although I easily could have ;)
I now FREEZE my dark chocolate to decrease the odds that I will eat the entire bar in one sitting!
I got bored later on and decided to try my hand at another raw vegan treat. This time, I made "raw vegan brownies". The bottom layer was:
- ground walnuts
- ground almonds
-ground dates
- cocoa powder, blended with other ingredients
The top layer was avocado, agave, cocao stevia drops, vanilla, a splash of salt, and a bit of coconut oil. Oddly (and annoyingly) enough, my blender could not blend this concoction. What?!?! I added water - still nada. I transferred mixture to mini-FP, which was a bit easier - hoping my blender is not busted???? :(

Spread "icing" on the brownie layer and freeze. I've nibbled on these without freezing them, and so far my concensus is "just decent". Definitely good enough to eat, but NOWHERE near as fabulous as the coconut chocolate bars I made last week!!!! Those were P.H.E.N.O.M.E.N.A.L.

For Mike's dinner, I made him some marinated chicken and Mexican rice.
The chicken's marinade:
- 1/2 c. balsamic
- 1/2 c. EVOO
- 1/4 c. lemon juice
- 2 T. dijon mustard
- salt, pepper, and lemon juice to taste
- Marinade for a few hours then bake at 400 for about 45 minutes. Very easy, but he loved it! :)
As I type this, I'm snacking on more coleslaw but I'm about to go make some type of a mashed sweet potato dish, assuming that my blender is working ok.... and looking up trips to EUROPE!!!!!
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Mike is half Greek, half Italian (we both tend to falsely give the Greek side more credit sometimes since they are a larger fam and have had a bigger influence on his upbringing in many ways, but we love the Italian side just as much!)
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However, he is actually the first generation to be born in the U.S., yet we have never been to Greece or Italy! My parents (non-Greeks) actually MET in Greece, and these days I feel like everyone and their mother has been to Europe but us....
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Any advice on planning one's first trip to Europe??? I think if I am lucky we may end up going next summer!! :)

6 comments:

  1. Oh I would love to be going to Europe!! Someday . . . . I'll get there eventually.

    And I adore dates - though I have a hard time not eating too many. They're just soooo good!!

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  2. I've never gone to Europe, so I'm just here stewing with envy!
    Wow that raw brownie sounds so healthy...enough to eat it for lunch, I think! But I guess you'll have to store it in the fridge because of the avocadoes?

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  3. Greece is one of those places I'd LOOOVE to go to...I think you should go so I can live vicariously through you guys ;)

    Jamie and I are all about finding cheap travel options. We booked our trip to Buenos Aires through go-today.com and had a FANTASTIC experience (they're a bit structured, but have great packages to Europe, Asia, Africa, you name it!). If you're looking for just flights, I'd check out bt-store.com. We've used that to price out trips and booked our flight to China through them. You could also browse budgettravel.com for some good deals! Agh! So many options! Shoot me an email at runbeansrun@gmail.com if you want more ideas! A friend of mine went to Italy for her honeymoon (maybe a cruise?) and did a short stop in Dubrovnik, Croatia (another place I'm dying to check out). I can see what info I can pull together for you.

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  4. I've never been to Europe and Greece is one of the countries I'd love to visit!
    You asked how my running is going. It's been great, thanks. After my 10 miler, I've done a couple 4 milers working on my speed. I know it takes time to develop speed so I'm being patient about it. :D
    Anything with chocolate and avocados is delicious for me. Those raw brownies must be yummy as oatmeal toppings!

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  5. If you're visiting in the summer, try to visit some places off the beaten track. Rome and Florence are zoos during the tourist season. The Amalfi Coast (Italy), Santorini Island (Greece), and Dubrovnik/Split (Croatia) are all awesome. And I feel your nervousness about twitter - I just joined and it's like info overload. Twitter, FB, Google reader, emails, blog comments - ahhh! How do people manage?

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  6. That lip gloss was surprisingly cool! I liked the texture a lot. I thought it would be all cheap-o :)

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