Lauren Loves Good Food

If you know me at all you know I get upset quite easily.  Having one tiny thing go wrong can ruin my day.  I’m working on it, I assure you.

Yesterday, I tried to pull the baking powder out from behind the olive oil and instead pushed the jar out, where it proceeded to hit the bowl I was mixing healthy banana cranberry oat bars in, then fell on my kitchen floor.  I was left with an oily and glass shard covered floor and banana goo dripping down both my apron and my cabinets.  Yes, I think this could be considered one of those times when my day felt ruined.

Instead of crying, which is what I felt like doing.  I picked up the bigger pieces of glass, wiped up as much oil as I could and made several desperate phone calls for advice on how to clean it up.  Turns out all you need is a degreasing soap like Dawn plus some hot water.  And now I can cross ice skating off my winter goals list.

To avoid feeling flustered for the rest of the day, I took a look through my pictures and realized I’d been having a pretty good day and that it needn’t turn into a bad one just because of some spilt milk oil.

In fact, Sunday was a pretty good day too.  I enjoyed  morning yoga and some dates filled with dough maple cinnamon almond butter.

Then I got a massage, ate lunch, read, took a nap and yoga-ed some more.  We took a free beginner’s yoga.  We heard it was good because it was slow and the teacher breaks the poses down.  I thought that would make it easy but man, it was tough.  I’ve never done so many chaturangas!

I’ve also developed an addiction to Field Roast Grain sausages, as evidenced by lunch the past two days.  Just slice and brown in a pan, then serve with ketchup.

Yesterday’s lunch.

Yes, I still have leftover sweet potato casserole from Christmas… Gross?  Maybe.  Still delicious?  Heck yes.

And Monday’s lunch.

I love butternut squash soup!

1/2 a sausage + greens drizzled in balsamic and honey on the side.

Awesome lunches weren’t the only thing I accomplished.  I also enjoyed sweet potato casserole oats in a jar, went grocery shopping and rocked a 5 mile run outside.

I sent Jenn off with some homemade peanut butter before she left and I was more than happy to keep a couple tablespoons that didn’t fit in the jar for myself.

Topped with apple for some crunch.  Good alternative to granola if you want something less calorie-dense.

I mixed in the tiny bit of sweet potato casserole I had left.  Can you see the orange flecks?  It tasted amazing!

My friend Claire got me this cute winter mug, which I gladly filled with tea.

After my run and a much needed shower I got to work on a very special recipe.

After my mac and cheese flop a couple weeks ago, I decided I needed to redeem myself.  But this time, I made the real deal.  Butter, cheese, flour and all.

When I came across The Pioneer Woman’s macaroni and cheese recipe it was all I could do to keep from drooling all over myself and my keyboard.  Healthy?  Not so much but I decided that some recipes are worth the extra calories/fat/carbs and this looked like one of them.

Nope, I don’t regret my decision.

Happy Tuesday!