On the Road Again
Hello from Utah!
And Arizona
And Nevada
And FINALLY Las Vegas!
We’ll get to all the bright light glory later but for now feast your eyes upon yesterday’s lunch made of random food we needed to finish before we left.
I toasted up the last two pieces of bread, smeared one piece with goat cheese then sliced some tomatoes and the last of the tempeh. These flavors were WOW together.
I’m really picky about tomatoes. Love cherry/plum/grape and I think I could eat an entire can of diced tomatoes with a spoon but for some reason I don’t really like slices of tomato on a sandwich.
Yesterday, however, tomato slices sounded pretty darn good. And they were.
Paired with the rest of the cauliflower (which I have a new obsession with) and a gala apple. What’s your favorite kind of apple? Mine is definitely gala. Perfect alone and even better with some peanut butter!
After refueling with lunch I plowed through my list of things to do.
Which included getting my nails painted. Nice huh? OPI colors are the best and the names are so fun! I chose “Bubble Bath” and love it.
The entire day was busy but I managed to fit in my run and lifting session and it was a much needed break. Yes, running has become so enjoyable that I know consider it to be the relaxing part of my day!
We planned on getting Chipotle for dinner because we knew we’d be busy packing and would want something quick, easy and delicious BUT I didn’t feel like Chipotle!! GASP, I don’t know what was wrong with me. I was really craving pasta and hummus, plus we needed to finish the hummus off anyways.
Enter soba noodles. How’s that for an ingredient list?
I drained the pasta, added in some halved cherry tomatoes + spinach + hummus and mixed till the tomatoes were heated up and the spinach was wilted.
‘Twas everything I had hoped for! I’m a HUGE fan of dinners that can be made quickly without having to get anything at the store so this dinner was an A+ in my book.
After dinner we stopped by my parents to pick up a cooler and drop off a surprise 
My mom’s birthday is right smack dab in the middle of our vaca so I wanted to give her a present before we left.
I thought this was such a cute idea. Grahams in a glass! Simple and homemade works everytime 😀 She’ll be getting more birthday goodies after we get back.
I brought a frothy GM in the car with me when we left this morning at 6:30
We will master the self portrait feature by the time this trip is over he he
I also brought some overnight oats
And Just Bunches to go on top, crunch!
11 1/2 hours later and we were more than ready for a good dinner!
We headed to Sea Blue, a restaurant in our hotel that offered a 4-course dinner for $49/person — we felt like going all out!
Spiced Mai Tai to start and I didn’t even get IDed!
Blurry bread + 3 dipping sauces: feta and tapenade, tomato, hummus. All so so yummy! The bread tasted like pizza crust.
Market Salad — you could choose up to 10 ingredients. My favorites were the candied cashews, beets, grilled zucch and goat cheese
Lobster bisque
My entree was the grilled halibut. It came with asparagus a rice mixed with lentils and chickpeas. Surprisingly, the fish was my least favorite part. I ate about half but scarfed the veggies and rice.
Dessert was a pistachio tart with fresh rasps and whipped cream. I thought it was just okay. I love pistachios but the flavor of the tart didn’t really do it for me 😦 Overall, the dinner was fab and fun and so worth the large bill!
We walked off our dinner on the strip and Joey ended the night with some craps (I even got to throw the dice!) and then we CRASHED! Driving all day is more tiring than I thought.
We’re headed back out in the 100+ weather for some lunch and will be eating at the Wynn Buffet tonight before seeing Jerry Seinfeld at Caesar’s Palace!!!!! I’m a little excited 😛
I’m not sure when I’ll get a chance to post again, so chow for now!
Burger and Fries
Look familiar?
How about now?
No, I cannot and will not go on vacation without a supply of vegan graham crackers to munch on in the car/hotel so a fresh batch was baked just for the occasion.
While the grahams were baking away Joey and I were chowing down on a plate of burgers and fries with a healthy twist!
Hey! That’s not meat! No, it’s better! Portobello burger was a first and it did NOT disappoint.
We used this recipe from Cooking Light per usual. Good thing I read the recipe before leaving for work and had time to throw the shrooms in the marinade. Joey did most all of the burger preparations so I can’t really tell you if the recipe was easy or not but he didn’t seem to have any trouble with it and it didn’t take long.
We topped it with the sauce detailed in the recipe (except we used green bell pepper instead of the suggested red) +fresh Colorado grown tomatoes + spinach. These were phenomenal! We were prepared to be surprised by the taste of the mushrooms but I didn’t expect to be so wowed. Yum, definitely give these a try!
Paired with sweet potato fries a la Kath (recipe found here). I usually cut spf’s into wedges but took Kath’s recommendation and made them chip shape and they were great! 30 minutes on 425, sprinkled with cinnamon and salt. Couldn’t be easier or more delicious 🙂
After dinner I continued baking, then made a trip to The Container Store. It’s a good thing I got there 15 minutes before it closed or we may have spent hours there, ha ha. Then I returned home, prepped some VOOs for Wednesday AND Thursday and put my tired self to bed.
Some days my VOOs are a little liquid-y and sometimes they’re super thick — even though I use the same amounts every time! Today’s happened to be of the liquid-y variety. A graham topped with PB and jelly may also have found its way into the bowl later…
Kombucha on the back of my car. What’s the deal with this stuff? It keeps getting pulled from the shelves but then I found this brand in WF the other day. So confusing!
One more hour of work to get through then it’s off to check more things off the t0 do list
- Get nails painted – for some reason I like to have good looking nails on vacation and my at home painting always ends up chipping in a matter of hours, I blame constant dish washing. I’m willing to pay the $5 to have a pro paint them.
- Pack!!!
- 3.5 mile run + strength – hoping it gets cloudy later like it has the past two days so I can run outside
- Trade cars with my parents – yay for having generous parents who let you take their nice new car on vacation
- Make sack lunches for tomorrow
- Laundry!!! – which should precede packing of course
- Go to bed early – which I’ll probably be too excited to do…
I’m sure I’m forgetting tons of things!
Ta ta for now! I’ll be back tomorrow blogging from the road/Sin City, YIPPEE!
Going Non-stop!
I had a heck of a busy day yesterday! At 1:30 I had to take the little pup to the vet in Boulder. I wasn’t super hungry for lunch yet but I had no idea how long the appointment would take so to avoid mid-afternoon hunger pains I decided to have 2 small lunches before and after my Boulder outing.
Lunch #1:
Doesn’t the bbq make for a lovely backdrop?…
GM = Colorado grown spinach (local, yay!) + 1 banana + 1 cup almond milk. I swear the simplest GMs make for the best!!
I also had some cauliflower florets and hummus — goodbye sweet red pepper hummus, I will be seeing you again soon.
It’s a good thing I opted for a pre-vet snacky lunch because I didn’t make it home till 4! They had to do blood work and yada yada but I did get to run a few errands while waiting for Puppy. I left WF with a jar of PB, 3 packets of Justin’s nut butters and a kombucha — ha ha a girl must be prepared for a 9 hour drive to Las Vegas by stocking up on the good stuff!
Dinner was Angela inspired (this seems to happen a lot…)
Changes:
- didn’t use zucchini
- used 1.5 bell peppers (orange + 1/2 red)
- only used 1 handful of spinach (because I wanted to save some for another GM tomorrow??)
- used red onion
- used plain old flour tortillas
And guess what? It was just magical!
Cookin’ away on the stove
Before baking
BY THE WAY, we used enchilada sauce instead of pasta and it really added a layer of heat that tasted awesome!
We paired it with corn that we grilled then topped with a small spoonful of light sour cream and a sprinkling of chili powder, salt and pepper. I’ve never grilled corn before and I’m not sure if we actually did it right since the kernels kind of shriveled up but they still tasted GREAT and our apartment smelled like popcorn, yummmm!
Just looking at these pictures is making me hungry for more! The enchilada and corn paired together so nicely and I didn’t even miss the cheese! Even Joey, who was a bit skeptical (“enchiladas without cheese?!?!”) gobbled his down and even finished mine. Yes, they were so filling I couldn’t even finish!
My goal for this mornings little 2-miler was to do under 9 minute miles. I finished in 17 minutes so I definitely succeeded.
I made my oats a little differently this morning. For steel-cut I usually boil 1 cup of water (or 1/2 cup water & 1/2 cup almond milk), mix in 1/3 cup oats, cover and cook on low for ~25 minutes. Ashley from the Edible Perspective had a post a few weeks ago on oats that suggested something a little different so I thought I’d give it a go.
- Bring 1 1/4 cup water to a boil
- Whisk in 1/4 cup oats instead of my usual 1/3 cup
- Cook 10-16 minutes or until liquid is almost all absorbed I set the timer for 17 minutes and had to add a good 7 more minutes. I wonder if it has something to do with my electric stove?
- Add 1/4-1/2 cup milk + slices of 1/2 banana + 1/2-1T chia seeds + 1t vanilla + 1/2t cinnamon I used 1/4 cup almond milk and the whole tablespoon of chia seeds
- Whisk to combine
- Cook 5-7 minutes I set the timer for 10 minutes and it was still sliiightly liquid-y but I was bored of waiting and too hungry so I decided they were done he he
The oats tasted divine on their own so the inclusion of banana, chia, vanilla and cinnamon is definitely a keeper but you know I added toppings anyways!
PB, Peach Jam and Cocoa Nibs. Oh oats, I would marry you if I could!
Today has involved more running around like a crazy person who’s about to leave for an 11-day vacation (I will try to blog as often as I can) and listening to the thunder storm going on outside while I’m at work 😦
Do you like the rain? I usually do but right now I’d enjoy a little sunshine and heat 🙂
Happy Tuesday, foodies!
Lauren Loves Good Food 