No Fuss
I fear I haven’t been completely honest with you all about what’s been going on in my kitchen.
Or should I say, what hasn’t been going on in my kitchen.
Although it may look like I’ve been making meals with recipes.
And clearly from these pictures, there has been some recipe following and actual chopping/labor intensive cooking going on, but really this summer has been all about the no fuss meal.
You know the one I’m talking about.
The one that’s on the plate in less than 5 minutes and takes no culinary talent or creativity to come up with.
Yeah, I’m all about those kinds of meals lately.
In fact, I could sum up the foods I’ve been subsisting off of lately quite easily.
Obviously bread is one of them…
Followed closely by sprouts, basil and hummus.
And the occasional egg.
Then there’s pickles and salad. Separate or together.
Strawberries have worked their way in as well.
And anything that can be stuffed inside a tortilla is good enough for me.
Especially if it requires a fork to eat it.
And sometimes there’s granola just for fun.
Consider this post a tribute to the non-gourmet side of food blogging. Because not all my meals require a great deal of effort or more than a few minutes to put together.
And I wouldn’t say I’m missing any essential nutrients either. From fruit to veggies to carbs to sweets, I think I’ve got my bases covered. And the best part was that I didn’t have to plan any of those components out. I ate what I craved. Plain and simple.
Are you a fan of the no fuss meal?
Or have you changed your approach to cooking now that summer is here?
Blogger Meet Up 2.0
I feel like the blog experience really comes full circle when a blog friend becomes a real friend and I was lucky enough to make that happen yesterday when I finally met up with Lindsay of Summit Sandwiches.
This meet up was long overdue considering we both live in Boulder and have been reading each other’s blogs for probably close to a year. Oh and did I mention we both ran the Denver Rock’n’Roll? (Except Lindsay is hardcore and did the full marathon :))
Seriously, what were we waiting for?
Apparently we were waiting for the perfect work out to enjoy together.
Soul Sweat is a dance-type workout class set to music and I certainly set my inner dance demon free. I danced from age 4 up until my senior year of high school and although I’ve definitely had a good number of solo and a few drunken dance parties in the comfort of my own home, this was the first structured(ish) dance class I’ve taken since.
It was fabulous to be in a room full of people letting loose and getting our groove on. And the teacher, Chantal, was fabulous. I’m really glad Lindsay introduced me to the class 🙂
And no food blogger meet up is complete without dinner, right?
We headed to Garbanzo. I later described it to my mom as a Mediterranean version of Chipotle.
I was down, because with a name like that I knew there had to be hummus. And now you know the true way to my heart.
We both went with the plate option and were guided down the line, making choices on salads, proteins and sauces as we went. I think we ended up with similar plates. Great minds think alike?!
On the plate:
- Falafel
- Greens
- Cabbage
- Pickled eggplant
- Vegetable salad
- Tabuleh (that’s how they spelled it at least)
- HUMMUS
- Cilantro tahini
- Lemon vinaigrette
- Red chili (which was too spicy for me because I’m a spice baby)
Whole wheat pita on the side.
Blogger in action 🙂
Overall, my second ever blogger meet up was just great! From the class, to the food, to the company. Lindsay was just as funny, sweet and down to Earth as she seems on her blog and I’m so glad we finally met.
Let’s hope there’s some Boulder blogger hiking in our future!
Have you ever had a blogger meet up? This was my second, read about my first here!
How do you feel about hummus? If you don’t like it, I don’t think we can be friends. Just kidding… kind of.
What have you been up to this weekend? I’ve been working, reading, eating, Farmers’ Marketing and almost winning the last ever night of trivia (it’s being cancelled, eek!).
Happy Sunday!
Adjustments
**Note: This post is long overdue. As in I wrote it weeks ago and am just now posting it, oops. I think I’ve adjusted quite well since writing this post.**
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Life is all about adjusting to the circumstances isn’t it?
If that’s the case I think I give myself a C- for my ability to adjust. I think I’ve mentioned the fact that I don’t like change, but it’s inevitable and sometime you just have to deal.
Here are some things I have to “just deal with” now that I’m not a student and have a job that demands working more than 15 hours a week.
I no longer have much free weekend time.
Initial reactions included:
- I can’t go to the Farmers’ Market anymore
- No more weekend Rockies games
- No time to grocery shop on Sunday
- Weekend fun is over
Solutions:
- I can just hit up the FM on Wednesday nights instead, or make it there before work since I sometimes won’t have to go in till later in the day
- There’s always weekday night games
- Grocery day will just have to be shifted my day off – it’s okay to start the grocery week on a day other than Sunday
- I still have lots of time for fun, it may just not all be during the weekend.
Intuitive eating is out the window, strict eating schedules will now commence.
Okay, maybe not “strict,” but much more planned than usual. This is due to the fact that I now have breaks at work that are specifically designed for snacking/dinner-ing/lunch-ing. I can’t eat at any old time, I have to wait for my break.
This means I need to plan ahead and eat small snacks during my shorter breaks so that by the time my dinner/lunch break rolls around I’m not ravenous and ready to chew my own arm off. Or worse, all light headed and “I can’t remember if you asked for decaf coffee or not, but here’s your drink” feeling.
Solution:
A) Breaking my meals into smaller portions to eat during breaks
and/or
B) Bringing lots of snack bars/homemade trail mixes to munch on — you know, things that are easy to eat in a short period of time and don’t get me the label of “the new girl who’s always eating weird things in the break room”
I think it’s frowned upon in the blog world where everyone seems to have the time to make their own everything to eat pre-made snack bars, but guess what.
It’s okay to let someone else do the work for you sometimes. <— I’ll be coming back to this in just a minute.
Having to close several nights a week.
In other words, no cooking of dinners.
This one is such a bummer, I LOVE cooking dinner and was really looking forward to graduating so that I would be home to do so.
Solution:
- Cook dinner, just earlier in the day. Then I can pack it to take to work.
- Or, I can start cooking lunch. Lunch deserves some special attention too, right?
All of which were packed and brought to work.
Oh and remember when I said “It’s okay to let someone else do the work for you sometimes” This applies to dinner as well.
Turns out Joey’s a pretty messy good cook 🙂
Grilled Farmers’ Market Sandwiches and kale chips.
And so is my mom. But I already knew that.
Nothing says summer like turkey burgers and a salad bar.
And the professionals are pretty good too.
Greek Salad with shrimp at The Village Tavern.
Temptation at work.
Ummm, yeah that whole unlimited free drinks thing could be potentially dangerous, but it’s all about balance.
If I want a drink, I make myself one, but I try to keep in mind that there will be PLENTY of opportunities for treats at work, I don’t have to fit them all into one day.
Which leads me to my last topic.
I need to remember to drink water at work!
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Have I sufficiently bored you with this long post? And on a Friday no less! I apologize. And now I’m off to get my workout on with Lindsay!
How do you deal with change or having to make adjustments to a new schedule?
Lauren Loves Good Food 