Even those of us who don’t go to work on Mondays can use a little something special in the coffee department, I think.

There hasn’t been a whole lot of sleeping going on at our house lately.  I blame the shift in weather.

I can’t sleep when it’s cold.

Meeker can’t sleep when it’s hot.

We keep the heater on (for Adrienne). We keep our windows open and the fan on in our room for Meeker. I wear a snowsuit to bed.

Unfortunately, I think Baby A inherited my disdain for cold-weather sleeping. Therefore, she hasn’t slept well since our little snowstorm last Friday night. Which means none of us have slept well since Friday…including Punky and Bagheera.

So, I’m drinking coffee. Well, I always drink coffee – but this is special.

I brewed it in milk. It tasted like a latte you’d get at Starbucks.

Ingredients:

• 3 T ground coffee
• 1 cinnamon stick (or a teaspoon of ground cinnamon)
• 1 1/2 C milk (I used cow’s milk, but almond, soy, coconut – it would all work)
• Any other flavorings you want (I used some peppermint sugar)

Warm the milk in a saucepan. Put the coffee, cinnamon, and whatever other flavorings you want into the French press. Slowly pour the milk in and press down a couple of inches so the coffee is submerged. Let stand for 6-8 minutes then press down the rest of the way and pour.

You could probably do this in a regular coffee maker, too – I’m just too lazy to clean milk out of a coffee maker. So I French pressed it.

Enjoy your Monday.

When I got home, I wanted overnight oats. But I lacked the foresight for that last night, so I had to go with one hour oats instead. In the blender:

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1 cup coconut milk (the beverage in a box, not canned)
• 1 packet stevia
• 1 T ground flax

Then I let that sit in the blender (unblended!) in the refrigerator while I fed Adrienne, did a load of laundry, and took a shower.

Then I blended. And added:

• 1 T nutritional yeast
• 5-6 roasted almonds
• 5-6 chocolate chips

And blended some more. Then plopped a spoonful of almond butter on top. It promptly sank to the bottom.

I think I might like this combo more than I like overnight oats – they got all puffy and delicious in that one hour. I think that’s all they really needed.

Also, I started reading this book this morning while Baby A was eating.

I pretty much want to cancel any plans I had for today and finish it up. Already hooked.

Breakfast

I used my juicer to juice one sweet potato, two green apples, and three carrots. Then followed it up with coffee.

Adrienne, Punky and I went for a walk after this – and when we got back, it was already lunchtime. I was hot and wanted something cool.

Enter: another beverage. One scoop protein powder, one cup rice milk, one banana, three handfuls of spinach, three handfuls of ice cubes

Then I toasted some bread, and pulled out the enormous bag of roasted/salted almonds that I got on sale yesterday, and made some almond butter.

Just dump the almonds in a food processor and turn on high until it looks like almond butter!

Mmmm, lick. I probably ate two cups of this stuff while transferring it to the jar and cleaning out the food processor. Then I took more and spread it on a toasted hot dog bun that I had scooped out.

almond butter and agave boat

Around mid-afternoon, I was struck with the urge to break out the bread machine and make a loaf. The house smelled heavenly while it cooked for two hours, and the second it was done, I pulled it out (burned my fingers) and slathered a big slice with earth balance margarine.

Is there anything better than freshly baked bread? I think not.

Dinner

I followed this recipe exactly, and the results were fantastic. A good excuse to grill on the first day of summer!

Made my life easier.

The (vegetarian) grill master.

Insanely easy and so dang delicious.

Alongside, to celebrate the first day of summer (and round out my day of beverages)…

Ahhh, summer is here!!

How did you celebrate the first day of summer?

Like go for a long morning walk with your daughter.

The best part of long morning walks is that while you get some much needed exercise, your sweet three-week-old baby gets to take a much needed nap.

The best part of coming home from said walk and cleaning out kitchen cabinets is finding neat things you had forgotten about.

I’m 99% sure I got this from a giveaway from Janetha about six months ago.

And the best part of my day has been drinking this perfect cup of coffee and staring at this sweet little chubby face…

What’s the best part of your day so far?

We went for a nice long walk today, made a dinner menu for the week, made a trip to the grocery store, tended to the garden, and got some laundry done.

A fairly productive day in the life of a newborn and a new mama.

Somethings I didn’t get around to today – taking a shower/doing hair/getting properly dressed/wearing make-up. (Also, notice Punky smelling Adrienne’s dirty diaper – thanks for pointing that out, Punk – I promise I change that diaper at least 10 times a day)

Breakfast

the butt of a watermelon scooped out (eaten) and filled back up with raspberries and blackberries + an apple/cinnamon scone that my parents brought me from Whole Foods yesterday + a nice big cup of black coffee that my dear Meeker brought me this morning

Lunch

salad + a piece of toast with almond butter

In this salad:

• spinach
• cucumbers
• red/yellow mini peppers
• green beans
• flax meal
• crispy oven fries
• balsamic vinaigrette

Scrumptious.

Dinner

A pretty boring dinner, I know.

But when you want a bagel plus peanut butter and raspberries, you just have to go for it.

What’s your lazy dinner standby?

Breakfast

the bagel was toasted and had almond butter and honey

Lunch

Same sandwich as yesterday. I think the reason I’ve been opting for sandwiches lately is because they’re a good one-handed-food.

Sandwich in one hand, baby in the other.

After Adrienne went down for a nap, Meeker and I got our veggie garden in the ground.

The wooden box on the left is for planting potatoes. (Meeker is good at building things)

Then my friend Tona came over with her kiddos for coffee! (Remember Tona? She’s the mom from my class last year who brought me all sorts of food goodies)

I made these easy scones, and sprinkled them with cinnamon just for fun.

Dinner

Hello, summer.

steamed asparagus, corn on the cob, roasted potatoes

Want to know my secret for making quick roasted potatoes? I baked about 6 potatoes in my crock pot this weekend and stored them in the refrigerator. For dinner, I just cut up the already cooked potatoes and threw them in a skillet with a little olive oil, garlic salt, and lemon pepper. It took about five minutes, and was completely delicious.

In the 3^rd grade world…

Yes, I went back to the third grade world today! I had promised my kiddos that I would come introduce them to Adrienne before school was out for the summer (tomorrow). So, we went to the end of the year party today.

We got mobbed by about 50 kids when we walked up, but most lost interest after about 10 minutes of hugging and signing yearbooks. However, these six girls spent the entire party just staring at and talking to Adrienne. Little girls are sweet.

Last week I found these baguette chips for $0.99 at the grocery store.

Now, I don’t each much bread because it tends to upset my stomach, but when I see something like this for 99 cents, I have a hard time passing it up. When I got home, I discovered that they were priced so low because they were stale. So I thought, what can I make from stale bread?

Immediately, French toast popped into my mind, and this morning I woke up with a mission: mini French toast dippers. I soaked the little guys in a mixture of 2 eggs, a splash of almond milk, nunaturals stevia and cinnamon.

Then onto a hot griddle.

An iced coffee on the side, and peanut butter + agave to dip into.

It doesn’t get much better. Now I’m sitting in my underwear on the couch, grading papers and watching Dexter.

I really love church on Saturday night.

First, get a hold of some chia seeds. (I get mine in the bulk bin at Sprouts)

Next, you need to get your liquid/flavoring things together, and put them in some sort of blender.

In mine:

• ½ cup vanilla soy milk
• ½ cup water
• ¼ cup walnuts
• 2 dates

Plus seasonings…

Just adjust it to your taste. I use a lot of cinnamon, a medium amount of ginger, and just a sprinkling of nutmeg.

Then blend the yummy liquidy mixture for a minute (or so)

Transfer to a bowl and add ¼ cup chia seeds

All that’s left to do after his is stir, stir, stir.

I stir mine about every 5 minutes. Don’t feel like you need to be constantly stirring this stuff – it’s pretty hard to mess up.

Getting closer! (for the record, I have a cut under my left thumbnail – it’s not dirt, I promise)

After about 15-20 minutes, it starts to look like pudding. Sometimes I add a bit more liquid if it’s firming up too much. (But like I said, it’s not a science; just keep tinkering with it until you like it). At this point, transfer it to a pretty glass, top with coconut, pour yourself some coffee and enjoy!

This is obviously a little more labor intensive than pouring a bowl of cereal for breakfast, but it is SO delicious. If you’re strapped for time in the morning, this can easily be done the night before and stashed in the fridge. And apparently, chia seeds are good for your bod, but I just like them because they taste so yummy, and they make my tummy full and happy. It’s slowly creeping up to the top of my favorite breakfasts – try it out and let me know what you think!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to the people park.

Sunday Breakfast

Coffee and chia seed pudding – yum diddy.

I had second breakfast after church at Mimi’s Café, but forgot my camera. I had potatoes and an avocado/bacon omelet. It was pretty darn tasty. For snack – per your suggestions – I made a delicious smoothie.

Frozen strawberries, 1 scoop protein powder, ½ cup almond milk, ½ cup water, ¼ cup flaked coconut, ½ frozen banana

Sunday Dinner

Junk Salad – lettuce, broccoli slaw, a few crumbled chips, a few leftover potatoes from breakfast, hummus + bbq sauce dressing

Sunday Dessert – inspired by many of your snack suggestions of apples/nut butter

Dried apples and walnuts

Oh my goodness, you guys. This snack was outstanding. Something about the textures here made me swoon. I was mmmming and ahhhing while I ate this whole bowl. You must try it. Must, must, must.

Then, while I was watching my favorite Sunday TV Show – The Next Food Network Star – a dream of mine came true…

My animals snuggled with me at the exact same time! Punky and Bagheera, friends at last. It only took 1.5 years.

Eeee! Look at Punky’s paw on Bagheer’s back (or butt). I’m so excited.

If you have multiple pets, do they get along?

Part One – coffee

A warm mug is always a surefire way to banish the chills.

Part Two – a peach

Even though the weather seems to have forgotten that it’s summertime, I can remind my taste buds with food. Peaches = summertime. End of story.

Part Three – trail mix

When all else fails, just eat one of your favorite foods. Trail mix is up there in my top 10 – so it did the trick.

All together…

Yup, still summer.

***

Push up progress: I am happy to say that I can do 4 REAL PUSH-UPS. I’m amazed at how fast I’ve gained strength. To build up, I’ve been doing a lot (like 50 a day) incline push-ups on my coffee table. It’s working!

If you joined in on the push-up challenge, how is it going??

If not, what are your favorite summer foods?