Blood Red

As I surveyed my pictures from today I realized a common thread.  A red thread, if you will.

Allow me to demonstrate.

Red bowl.

I even remembered the vegan chocolate banana bread.  And I was so glad I did.

Mmmmm.  A spoonful (of banana bread or peanut butter or both) goes a long long way.

Oh and before consuming this bowl I did a 3-mile run and bolted back to my apartment because I was so hungry.  Believe it or not, this hunger was a welcome sensation as my early morning appetite has suddenly disappeared and eating when I don’t feel hungry actually makes me feel really cranky.

By the way, I lost my mind this morning and mixed some walnuts into my oatmeal.

Yeah, I know I’ve been complaining about hating walnuts and pecans but after loving the nut loaf I though I’d go a step further and add some walnuts to my breakfast.  Plus I’ve realized I need a mix in that I can enjoy in every spoonful.

Coated in oatmeal, chocolate and peanut butter they weren’t too bad!

Can I just say I love not having class until 2 in the afternoon?  It’s true.

I got to read an article called “Unhappy Meals” by Michael Pollan.  I got lost at times but his basic argument (“Eat food.  Not too much.  Mostly plants.”) is something I can totally get behind and I loved the part where he explains what he means by “food.”  You can read the article here.  And then you can do my homework assignment for me here.  Okay, that’s not really a link.

After reading about real food I was inspired to make some.

I’ve been trying to find a way to wash quinoa for months.  Joey suggested trying our produce bags.  Genius!!

And now my life is complete.

With that obstacle conquered I moved on to some blood oranges.

Talk about bright and beautiful!

And I tackled another bright and beautiful food: the beet.  No, it wasn’t the first time cooking beets but it was the first time I cooked it and it came the way I wanted it to.

I’ll share with you the answer to cooking the perfect beet, my friends, because I, myself, was quite excited.

Steaming.

If you already knew how to steam a beet, pretend you didn’t and I’ll pretend I just blew your mind with the answer.

Simply place the beets (with “tails” trimmed and leafs removed) in a casserole dish and cover with water then cover the dish with foil and bake on 350 for an hour.  The skin peeled off sooo easily.  I was giddy with delight.

If only I knew the answer to getting rid of beet stains on my hands.  I’m sure looking like you just murdered someone is the way to make friends in your new classes.

You’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see where those blood oranges and beets went.  I’m cruel, I know.

Work leftovers = nut loaf and brussels.

Brussels cooked in olive oil just aren’t as good as brussels cooked in coconut oil.

Maybe it was the fact that I had to stare at this note on the new plastic olive oil bottle.

That Joey is a comedian, I tell ya.

I also brought some carrots to snack on and wondered why carrots that haven’t been peeled taste so crappy.  Am I alone in thinking so?

It’s 11 PM, my head hurts and I’m exhausted!  One class will do that to a girl 😛

Happy Wednesday!