The funny thing is, I can never remember our anniversary (is that funny?)

I’m not very good at dates. I think I’ve asked Meeker five times in the last two weeks…

What day is our anniversary again? August 4^th or August 7^th? Wait…is it August 8^th?

He always laughs, reminds me that it’s the 4th, and tells me that it’s his job to forget things like that. Not very wifely of me, huh?

So when I was getting ready for bed last night, it donned on me that our anniversary was tomorrow…ack! Instead of falling into bed after Adrienne went to sleep, I made my way downstairs, turned on Father of the Bride
and decided to bake him a batch of chocolate chip cookies to wake up to. Chocolate chip cookies are really the only dessert he likes (and they must be accompanied by a huge glass of milk – otherwise, forget about it – I might as well bake myself a batch of three dozen cookies if we don’t have milk in the house).

But when I opened the pantry to get the cookie makings out, I realized we only had one cup of all-purpose flour.

What’s a wife to do? I couldn’t forget our anniversary and not make cookies.

So, I scoured the kitchen. And would you believe it, I had four different types of flour hiding in there?

Ingredients

• ½ cup butter, softened
  
• ½ cup shortening
  
• 1 cup white sugar
  
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
  
• 3 eggs
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
  
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
  
• 1 cup brown rice flour
  
• 1 cup spelt flour
  
• ½ cup coconut flour
  
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
  
• Directions
  

  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

  In a large bowl, stir together the butter, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Mix in eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flours, baking soda and salt; stir into the batter just until blended, then mix in the chocolate chips so they are evenly distributed. Drop cookies by heaping teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets spacing 2 inches apart.

  Bake in the preheated oven until the edges begin to brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Allow cookies to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheets before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

  Makes 3 dozen
  

  

Have I mentioned that I love my new life?

Breakfast

toasted banana bread with almond butter and fruit

plus coffee – luckily, my 2^nd hand coffee doesn’t seem to affect Adrienne too much, so I’m gonna keep on drinkin’ it.

Lunch

a little sandwich on a ww English muffin – turkey, cucumber, avocado, and mustard

plus two cowboy cookies that my mama brought us yesterday

Dinner

I was really craving salad for dinner, but we didn’t have any leafy greens, so I combined all the veggies I could find and put them on a plate, and covered it all in balsamic vinaigrette.

asparagus, cucumber, celery, and roasted potatoes

Dessert

a pinova apple

How was your Monday?

Bring it on.

One of my family’s dearest friends came up to meet Adrienne today, and brought me some delicious chocolate chip cookies (thanks Leigh!) – and that kick started things. After a couple of them as an appetizer, I moved on to a bagel lathered in almond butter and honey.

I fed Adrienne (a few times), did some laundry, and went to Target – when I got back, I was starving. It feels so good to be starving again.

My parents came up yesterday, and packed our refrigerator with yummy food – and I’m so glad. I dug into the stash with this meal of asparagus, tomatoes and chicken enchiladas

Hit.The.Spot.

Dessert was frozen chocolate custard and another cookie…

Mmm, lick. Welcome back, appetite.

(Taken this morning)

But it’s so small. But when I think about the size of an onion, and look at my unusually long torso, I’m guessing that little Baby Cakes is probably swimming around in there like it’s the Pacific Ocean. Lots of room to spread out.

But I’m determined to LOOK 4 months pregnant, so on Saturday, I dressed in my tightest sweater, stood with my belly in direct sunlight, put my hands on my back like a preggo, and…

Voila! A bump! A big bump! At least it looks big to me. 99.9% of my clothes still fit, but I went to the doctor today, and I’ve gained about 10 lbs. I can’t say I was thrilled to find that out, but I did lose 6 lbs during the first trimester, so overall, I suppose it’s not quite as much as it seems.

And filling up that big belly today…

Veggie chips on the way to the doctor’s office this morning. My stomach was a little finicky, and the thought of a real breakfast made me feel icky. When I got home, a green apple sound yummy.

For lunch, I went out with Meeker and my mother-in-law and had a bean burrito – no photo, lo siento. It filled me up considerably, and 5.5 hours later, I’m not hungry. There must have been a lot of tasty fat in those refried beans! Bring it on.

While waiting for my hunger to resurface, I’ve been baking. First, Holly’s vegan Pumpkin Molasses Cookies.

And currently in the oven is a loaf of Jenna’s Cranberry Walnut Orange Bread. I ate the rest of the orange after I zested it, too.

I’m planning on toting these baked goods with me to New Mexico – which is where my family is going for Thanksgiving. I can’t wait! Remember that big industrial kitchen last year? I can’t wait to get in there again!

Apples or oranges? Which do you like better? I have to say apples. Hands down.

1. Green Purple Monster

Banana, blueberries, spinach, protein powder, almond milk, peanut butter, chia seeds, 2 clementines, water

2. Leftovers for lunch

Baked tofu and broccoli slaw

3. Snacks that involve peanut butter and coconut

½ cup plain yogurt, 1 spoonful peanut butter, coconut granola

4. Exercise. I started to take Punky for a walk, but it felt so dang good to be alive and outside that I ended up         running sprints on a nearby field in the dark. It felt phenomenal. It was snowy and blowy, which leads me to #5

5. This hat

6. Roasted Veggie Dinner. This one wins as THE favorite. Hands down.

Sweet potatoes, zucchini, red onion, eggplant. Topped with a yogurt/spicy mustard/bbq sauce mix and walnuts and pepitas.

7. Cookies. I haven’t had one yet, but I’m sure it will make the list in about 5 minutes.

I made these cookies last night, but substituted the chocolate chips for chopped up chocolate truffles.

8. Straight from the 3^rd grade world…puzzles!

The teamwork with which my kiddos have been working on this puzzle all week makes my heart smile.

Trail Mix + four yogurt covered pretzels for breakfast

Bellatrix loves all people food…including trail mix.

She ate the chocolate chips I left in the bowl

Plus coffee

Taco salad for lunch

Last week, I saw Angie bake her tortilla at 400* for 20 minutes, so I copied her. Genius.

Then a started in on the baking – first up, a recipe I made inspired by Averie’s raw donut holes!

(Almost) Raw Vegan Flax Cookies

I had to change it based on ingredients we had on hand, so you can find my recipe here.

Since Meeker LOVES his chocolate chip cookies, I whipped up a batch of those too.

I also love winter walks when the sun is shining…

and this stream by our house.

As well as this boy and his dog.

Then I ate some of my favorite foods for dinner.

Baked sweet potato rounds, dipped in peanut butter + mashed cauliflower

I thinly sliced the sweet ‘tater, sprinkled with cinnamon, nutmeg and salt, and then baked 15 minutes on each side at 400* – then dipped in peanut butter. There is nothing better.

For the cauliflower mash, I steamed one head of cauliflower, then dropped it in the blender, added ½ cup of milk, 1 tbs. butter, salt, and blended until smooth. Waaay better than mashed potatoes. I’m serious.

What was one thing you loved today?

Breakfast number two – Muesli and banana

Breakfast number three (or we could call this lunch) – Omelet

• 2 egg whites
• 1 whole egg
• ¼ avocado, sliced
• 1 spoonful of hummus
• Salsa

Alongside a cup of coffee and my new cookbook

Insert: 20 minutes of yoga

Two o’clock snack – crackers, fig spread and cheese

flipping through the cookbook once again…

Dinner number one

An onion, carrots, mushrooms, red potatoes and elk meat into the Romertopf
– cooked @300* for two hours.

I took one bite of the elk meat and discovered that I really don’t like it – it tasted like I was sucking on a penny – coppery and tangy. Bleh.

So, I just ate some carrots and mushrooms instead.

Insert: 30 minutes of yoga.

Dinner number two – Vanilla ice cream and a buckeye

Not the healthiest day I’ve ever had, but I’m okay with it. Once in a while, a girl just has to have a sugar cookie for breakfast and ice cream for dinner…

and after!

Look at all the variety…

I somehow managed to only eat one of these (the chocolate buck eyes you see right in front) before dinner.

Sweet potato with black beans.

I cooked the ‘tater in the microwave for 6 minutes, then cut it up and sautéed it with the black beans, salt, pepper, cinnamon and chili powder. The piece de resistance was drizzling it all with just a little bit of agave nectar.

I’ll let you guess what I had for dessert…

I knew the influx of treats would be kind of insane, so I stuck with a healthy green monster for breakfast.

Plus a spoonful of peanut butter.

The ingredients in this one sound awful, but hang with me.

• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 cup leftover coffee (in the pot from the day before)
• ½ banana,
• 1 date
• 2 handfuls of spinach (frozen and thawed)

Hands down, this was the best smoothie I have ever created. Like I said, I know it sounds nasty – but don’t knock it until you try it.

Like I mentioned earlier, I had to make a stop at the grocery store before school, and I accidentally picked up a latte while I was there.

Look at these cute Christmas cups from Tully’s! Oh, and my cute block-calendar that sits on my desk. Teachers have class – the funny thing about this little saying is that the kids are always telling me, Mrs. Unger, they left out the word “a”…it should say Teachers have a class. It’s the perfect opportunity for teaching homographs….

I wish sooooo badly I could post more pictures from our feast, but I only managed to capture a few without the students’ cute little faces in them.

Here is the spread…

The whole sha-bang! Fruit, turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed ‘taters, veggies, cheese, crackers, rolls and cookie bars and PIE…so much pie.

We made placemats out of construction paper, and made our desks into a banquet table. They looovveed it. You should have seen the chaos.

I ate a few slices of turkey, some fruit, a spoonful or two of stuffing and a cookie bar. I only managed to photograph the really important part of the meal…

…on an orange sticky note.

It had just come out of the oven and it was still warm. Heaven. Look at all that melty chocolate on the bottom layer…I die.

There was a lot of singing, running, jumping, a few smashed fingers, a lot of untied shoes, many, many cups of spilled hot chocolate, some Thanksgiving themed crossword puzzles, and A LOT
of laughs. I had so much fun today, but I am also really thankful that it is the end of the week. 3^rd graders called today “Fruesday” (Friday + Tuesday).

While trying to grade some tests after school, I was really tempted to dig into the leftover pie, but surprised myself and munched on some raw veggies, and managed to pawn the pie off on another teacher who has a pregnant wife at home. I convinced him that his wife was eating for two and he should really take it to her. I win.

Who knows where that
self control came from, but I’m sure it’s short lived.

We are headed to the in-laws tonight (brother in-law is home from school!! Yay Robby!) and we are having us some fried chicken!

Since we are leaving town tomorrow, I won’t be posting until the weekend…I will miss you all and your sweet comments, but I hope you have the happiest of holidays!

Uh…snack food heaven?!

I wanted to do back flips I was so excited with the quantity and quality of this box-o-samples. Thaaaaaaaank you to Sally over at Newman’s Own Organics for graciously sending me all of these products to try. Someone over at that company has their thinking cap on.

Unfortunately, I had just eaten lunch – so I held back for a few hours and then the first thing I ripped into was the Champion Chip Cookies (surprised?). They were actually more delicious than I hoped – and that’s saying a lot. Kind of a subtle sweetness…and a good crispy, but not crumbly, texture. Meeker loved them too, which is great news, because I can now share the responsibility of eating the 3 bags they sent. Then I tried (one bite each) of the dark chocolate bar and the Hermits.

Winners! I mean, dark chocolate speaks for itself, but had no idea what a hermit was until yesterday. It was molasses-like and chewy and wonderful. In fact, I incorporated it into a very tasty yogurt mess this morning.

• ¾ cup plain yogurt
• 2-3 pieces of banana
• 1 crumbled Hermit
• 1 handful of Quaker cinnamon oat squares
• A dump of cinnamon

Yummers. I actually started inventing this mess while lying in bed before I fell asleep last night. You know you’re a food blogger when…

Moving on…

There are often things I have to do as an “adult” that are overwhelming and I have no idea where to begin. I’m very blessed to have the support of a family and a husband who have taken great care to make life easy for me. However, this sometimes puts me at a disadvantage when I’m trying to act like an “adult” – examples of this include: travel plans, setting up electronics, big purchases, paying taxes, car trouble…I could go on forever. In other words: I’m spoiled.

Posting this Lolcats picture makes me a major nerd – I’m so aware)

However, today I was forced had the opportunity to learn how to get license plates for my very first car. When I walked into the DMV, I wanted to cry. That place overwhelms me and I always feel like I’m doing something wrong. But I manned up, and asked for help. Turns out, I brought the wrong paperwork to register my car, so I had to drive back home (still trying to remain calm) and have Meeker help me (how could I ever live alone?) locate the correct documents. When I walked back in the doors, I consciously made a decision to not get overwhelmed, but instead to smile. After a lot of question asking, and writing a major check, I am now the proud owner of 2 license plates to my very own car (2 months after the temporary plates had expired). I feel so grown up. And I did it all mostly by myself.

Afterwards, I felt so accomplished that I cleaned out my car (all those trips with the dog in the backseat really did a number on the “new car smell”), walked that big, dumb, smelly German shepherd, did some laundry and made a fabulous lunch.

• Lots-o-lettuce
• ½ cucumber
• 1 shredded carrot
• ½ can tuna (mixed with spicy mustard)
• Big dollop of hummus
• Balsamic vinegar

Gah. It was an unreal combo. Seriously delicious. But it didn’t quite fill me up so I had some protein pretzels (thanks again NOO) and a perfectly crispy #1.

To be perfectly honest, I’m not a big pretzel fan, but these were just fine. Not anything to scream about – but as far as pretzels go, I liked them. What I did love about them is the 5 grams of protein in each serving. And my diet always lacks protein, so wherever it can be squeezed in, I’ll take it.

Tonight we are going to a restaurant called La Hacienda for my mother-in-law’s birthday celebration. I am head over heels for this place, but the lighting is really dim, so you’ll have to take my word for it that the food looks and tastes excellent.

Adios and vaya con Dios!