Guest Post: Veggie Monster
I’m super excited to give you guys another guest post today, this time from Paije, aka the veggie monster. I’ve got tons of (fun) stuff to do during this long weekend and am so glad I can rely on Paije to provide a post for me. I can always rely on her to have me craving fresh homemade food by the time I’m done reading one of her posts and today is no exception and with summer finally in sight, I think this is a fabulous and relevant post! The stage is all yours, Paije 
Hey guys! I’m guest posting for Lauren today.
For those of you that don’t know me, my name is Paije and I blog over at Veggie Monster. I am soo honoured to get to guest post because Lauren is definitely one of my favorite bloggers!!
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If you couldn’t guess from the name of my blog, I kinda have a thing for veggies 😉 In a big way. I obvs have no problem getting my 8-10+ servings of veggies a day but I DO, however, have a problem eating enough fruit! I only eat 1 or maaaybe 2 servings a day, usually by themselves as a snack or 1/2 a banana in my smoothie or oatmeal. Can you say BORING?? And not very creative either.
When I started researching how to get more fruit into my diet I realized there is soo sooo many different ways to incorporate fruit into my meals 🙂
Here are some of the awesome ways:
1.Homemade Popsicles
I used to loove these homemade popsicles my mom would make us as kids. I can’t believe I’ve forgotten about them! Yogurt with fresh fruit and frozen until set. YUM!!
Soo many different combos: Plain greek yog with strawbs/cherries/peaches/blueberries/blackberries, etc.
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2. Grilled Fruit
Pineapple is my faaavorite fruit and it is amazing grilled!! Grilling fruit releases their natural sugars, softens their skin and tastes amazing! Eat it as a dessert/breakfast topped with yogurt/ice cream + granola or use it as a burger topping! Soo good! Other fruits that taste phenom grilled are peaches, pears, nectarines, etc.
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3. Salsas
There are soo many great fruit salsa recipes out there. Mango, strawberry, peach, kiwi, the list goes on and on!! They are an amazing accompaniment to fish/chicken/veggies and are crazyawesome with chips (big scoops are best!), eggs, nachos or as a salad topper.
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4. Homemade fruit roll-ups
I don’t know about you but I used to looove fruit roll-ups as a child. I don’t eat them now (hello cavities) but the grown up version is a million times better and a million times healthier! Again, soo many different flavor combinations: strawberry, apple, raspberry, cherry, nectarine, etc.You name it, it can be made into a fruit roll-up!
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5. Juices
I bought a juicer 2 years ago when I did a raw food cleanse and have not touched it since! Laame. Juicing is one of the EASIEST ways to crush fruit (and veggies)! One of my fave juices is just plain fresh strawberry juice 🙂
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There are soo many other ways to eat fruit, too! Smoothies, fruit spreads, chutneys, syrups, and slow cooked sauces are incredible also!
Eating seasonally is also really important! Not only is it fresher, tastier and more nutritious, you are also helping support local growers and you’re not paying A TON for fruit that comes from around the globe!
Some fruit in season right now:
apricots, grapefruit, kiwi, lemons, limes, pineapple and strawberries
What do you think? Are you a fruit monster? What’s your favorite way to eat fruit??
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I must put homemade fruit popsicles and fruit roll-ups on my to do list for this summer! When it’s fresh fruit, I’m kind of a purist. There’s nothing better than a fresh juicy peach in the middle of the summer, but grilled pineapple is a close second.
Thank you so much, Paije!
Oddities
Growl, my 4 year old HP laptop is running soooo slow lately. It’s truly obnoxious and frustrating.
At least it’s Friday, right??
I wish I had a good excuse for neglecting you all yesterday but in actuality I was just busy indulging in some relaxation, aka getting a manicure, watching Sex and the City and attending a Rockies game (albeit a disappointing one 
). There were a few job interviews mixed in there too!
Even though I wasn’t posting, I was still contemplating things I could write about. Like all the oddities of my daily routine, quirks if you will, that usually don’t get included on the blog.
For instance, I usually share my morning breakfast creations with you.
Day 2 of eating Bailey’s Irish Cream oats.
But what I don’t usually share is the fact that I always take an extra bite of all the toppings I use before returning them to their proper place.
Handful of granola in the bowl, a pinch in my mouth.
Handful of raisins in the bowl, 4 extra in my mouth.
You get the idea.
I can’t help myself.
You may have noticed by now, but another quirk of mine is that that I’ve never turned down an odd food combo.
Pumpkin, hummus, apple, cheese pizza a la Amanda. This was phenomenal, do yourself a favor and go try it. Now.
I bought these tortillas at WF a couple weeks ago because I needed a wrap “like right now” and this was my first time using them. Again, I’m odd.
Cheese makes my world go ‘round.
If you’ve never tried apple and cheese together, you’re missing out. It might sound weird but I assure you it’s the perfect combo of sweet and savory.
Another quirk, I use this knife for everything.
And I also exaggerate a lot. So please stop picturing me spreading hummus on a tortilla with this knife.
But do picture me cutting an extra bite of cheese off the block because now that you know I have to take an extra bite of everything, you know that cheese is no exception.
Then I proceeded to let the knife sit on the end of my plate the entire time I ate. My roommates probably would have been frightened had they walked in while I was eating.
I have a love/hate tolerate/dislike relationship with coleslaw.
I made some on Tuesday and was unhappy with how it turned out but dove in head first when I tried it again yesterday. I eventually had to put some in a bowl before I ate the entire container.
I’m just going to chalk it up to extreme hunger after going on a run.
I’m notorious for letting things burn/boil over on the stove.
I did it twice yesterday. First, with my oatmeal, second with my quinoa.
Whoops! Oh well, it added a “smokey” flavor to my black bean burgers. Or so I’m telling myself.
What can I say, my favorite episode of Sex and the City was much more important that quinoa.
I guess you could add the fact that there’s apparently no rhyme or reason to my use of bold and italics in my posts to my list of quirks as well.
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What are some of your quirks?
Or more importantly, what is your favorite episode of Sex and the City?
WIAW: Breakfast Edition
Soooo, I’m guess by this point you’ve figured out that I decided to jump on the WIAW bandwagon. Not because I’m a food blogger and felt like it was expected but because I happen to think some of my daily eats are pretty darn delicious and I wanted to share.
But my life had other plans. Like lunch out with a friend I haven’t “come out” about the whole food blogging thing to and less than picture-worthy leftovers for dinner. Lucky for you, however, I had one of the best bowls of oatmeal this morning, so consider this the breakfast edition of WIAW. Maybe one day I’ll get it together and provide a full day summary. Baby steps, my friends. Baby steps.
Did you know I have a rough life?
It’s true. I have no job, no school, no obligations whatsoever, except maybe coffee/happy hour dates with friends. It’s hard being me. Before you start to think I’m bragging, let me assure you that having nothing to do is actually not all that much fun and I actually feel like I’m going through a bit of an identity crisis now that I’m no longer a student but that’s a story for another day.
Point of story: Sometimes I need a little something something to get me through the day.
Before you get the wrong impression, let me assure you that just a splash of Bailey’s Irish Cream went into my hot (read: cooked) oatmeal. Despite how often I’ve been joking to Joey that I’m going to use the Bailey’s leftover from making Irish Carbomb Cupcakes (yes, you read that right) in overnight oats, I prefer to only use alcohol in recipes where the actual alcohol is cooked out if it’s before 5 PM. Thus, hot oatmeal sounded like the perfect way to make this happen.
But before breakfast could be served, peanut butter had to be stirred.
And stir I did. Jenny wasn’t kidding, that really is an arm workout!
Now that’s what I like to call crunchy!
In the oatmeal mix:
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 banana, whipped in
- tablespoon of ground flax, because I’m still convinced it fluffs up my oatmeal
- splash of Bailey’s Irish Cream, stirred in towards the end of cooking
Et voila!
I wanted this bowl to hold me over till my late lunch and it definitely did the trick.
I attribute this to the lovely toppings of:
- granola
- raisins (I almost just wrote dried raisins, doh!)
- crunchy (and might I add melty) peanut butter
- almond butter sauce
Easily one of my top ten bowls of oatmeal.
I’m off to Joey’s softball game!
What did you have for breakfast??
Lauren Loves Good Food 