Do you ever have one of those mornings that sucks before it even begins? Well, that was today for Eric and I. A bunch of small things were just going wrong. No big deal in the grand scheme of things of course, but they still can be quite annoying when they happen!
I started the morning by trying out the new Waffle Iron. Total bust. The waffle was all stuck to the sides and we couldn’t even remove it. I didn’t think I was supposed to spray it since it is non-stick, but now I am thinking I should? Are there any pro waffle makers out there?
I also concocted a vegan recipe, so that might have had something to do with it. I used 100% whole wheat flour, chia seeds, almond milk, baking powder/soda.
We actually forgot to take a picture of the final product because we were frantically scraping the sides to get it out! Eric was also in a rush to get to work. It was a total bust though!
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Then I decided to improve my day by making a green monster. Those are always good, right?
I finally took the plunge and tried the Prickly Pear.
How to prepare: Cut of both ends. Slice or score a slit through the pear as shown above. Take the knife and carefully cut the skin away from the pear.
I read that prickly pears had very hard seeds in them and boy were they right. You could chip your tooth on one of them if you weren’t careful. The taste of the pear was quite nice, although not something that really wowed my taste buds.
They are edible seeds though, so I decided to throw the whole thing in my green monster.
There are 40 calories, 4 grams of fibre (nice!), and 1 gram of protein in a prickly pear.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup Almond breeze
- 4 small organic kale leaves, steamed
- 1 Prickly pear
- 1 scoop Amazing Grass Wheat Grass
- 1 T organic coconut oil
- Ice
I thought my blender would blend the seeds, but boy was I wrong.
I totally broke my blender!!!!!!!!!!
It started leaking out of the bottom. My brand new blender that just got shipped back to me is leaking again.
The green monster itself was a total bust since the seeds were still floating about. I tried straining it, but it didn’t work too well. I had to take a sip- remove seeds from mouth- take a sip- repeat. No fun.
Oye. So now I don’t know what to do regarding my blender! Me and Kitchen Aid Blenders just do not mix.
[Bad pun but I needed something to cheer me up!]
I took some pictures with my new macro lens to cheer me up. :)
Eric really didn’t have a great morning!
Yesterday he was weeding in the yard (in his new birthday shoes) and for whatever reason when he went to put on his shoes today before work, they were ORANGE. We’re not sure if it was pollen on them or just water stains, but they looked ruined. He was pretty upset about it. He ended up putting them in the wash on the gentle cycle.
Then he was going to leave for work and he realized he got all this dirt on his new jeans and he had to change them. He also couldn’t find his papers he needed for work. And he finally left and forgot his cell phone and had to come back! He was not in a good mood I tell you and I could see why. I tried to cheer him up and turn his mood around, but it wasn’t an easy task.
I started to think about something I read last night while in bed.
I am currently reading this Marathon book by Hal Higdon. It has been a decent read so far. I disagree some of the things he says in the book, but I also think a lot of his words are helpful in some chapters.
At the end of the book, he gives a bunch of quotes from people who have run a marathon. It is a bunch of ‘advice’ if you will.
This one really touched me deeply, so I thought I would share it:
I started to cry last night in bed when I read that! Don’t you just feel for Peggy and imagine the hardship she must have went through?
Stories like this really put things in perspective.
When we have a bad morning, or a bad day, or a bad month we need to keep the faith and remind ourselves of the big picture. Many of the daily annoyances that we encounter are just that- annoyances- and nothing more.
Don’t let a bad moment affect how you feel the rest of the day. If you ‘mess up’ and eat a doughnut for breakfast, forget about it and put it behind you. We have the power within us to turn it all around.
Yes, we had a crappy morning, but big whoop. It happens to everyone at some point.
I am going to make the rest of the day as awesome as it should be.
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How do you turn a bad day around?
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Ange Does Food Blogging
I have an announcement as I mentioned in yesterday’s post! Many of you have asked me if I could show you what a typical day of eats looks like for me. As you know I have never really photographed everything I eat, but I think it is time that I tried it out for a few days. I hope to do so for the next several days so you can get a glimpse into what average days of eating look like for me.
With all the festivities going on in the month of August, my eating has been all over the map and I have been grazing and snacking much more than I should. I think this will help me get back to my ‘happy place’- 3 meals and 2 snacks a day and stick to it.
Have a great Tuesday! :)
I literally cried my way through that book! Hal is so inspiring, I really hope to meet him one day.
To turn a bad day around – actually today kinda sucks, I couldn’t fall asleep until 4AM this morning – I grab a huge iced coffee, try to watch a couple funny YouTube videos (Baby Panda sneezing, anyone?) and force myself to think positively. No matter how bad I think things may be, they are always worse for someone else in the world and I am darn lucky.
Ohman, that sucks about your blender!! I would have cried. But I’m pretty emotional when I’m hungry :P
When I’m having a rough day, I take a step back, and try to focus on the things that matter. So, for example, if my blender breaks tomorrow, it may suck at the time. But there are more important things in my day (like going to work, being healthy enough to go to work) that make that one incident not seem like just a big thing.
I’m so sorry you’re having a bad day!!! My blender started leaking out the bottom the other day too; I found I just really had to screw it back together tightly, and it fixed it. Have you tried that??
When I have a rough day, I just try to remember what you said: in the grand scheme of things, it really doesn’t matter. It’s all about the big picture.
So sorry to hear about the bad day!! I have those sometimes too, haha. Thanks so much for sharing that story from the marathon book (I live 2 hours from Madison! haha, that made me smile)…. As I am training for my half marathon, that rings so true to me as well. People ask me why I’m doing it, and how they could never imagine doing it either. A year and a half ago I weighed 270 pounds. Today I am just under 200. I never would have though I could get to this point, or that my body would be able to do all that I have put it through during the last year and a half. I’m running this half marathon just to be able to say that I did it. To prove that anyone can do anything if they put their minds to it and try hard enough. Yeah it may take me 3 hours, but so what? I still am doing it, and that’s a lot more than a lot of people can say.
I hope your night goes better than your day! :)
Not that you don’t know this already, but girlfriend, just get a Vitamix. Here’s the logic, for the 2 Kitchen Aid’s you’ve already gone thru, you could have bought one V. Granted maybe you didnt have to pay for the 2nd one but still….For some people the difference between 2 and 4 hundred dollars is an earthshattering sum and is the difference between even buying something and not. But…for you, I sense it’s probably not. Sorry to get all up in your financial biz-nass :) Anyway though, I debated about mine for oh…5 years. And suffered thru a ridic amount of inferior appliances and in the end spent more than if I just got the V straight off. I’ve had it a little less than a year and it’s changed my life, for the better, and I am creating things I never could have imagined. Helped me go high raw, all vegan, that’s for sure. And get my hubs off dairy and dairy ice cream. Anyway, my .02 for you :)
As for your crappy day, we all have them. Way to go to keep ya chin up and not let the a.m. totally blow the rest of your day!
Wow that new lens is amazing!!
Sorry you are having a bad day!
LOVE the photos with the new lens – very crisp.
So sorry you had a rough day! And the blender! Ack! If you are looking at switching brands, I replaced my old cheapie just a little while ago because it went totally paws up. I ended up buying a Breville (about USD $200 on sale at Williams-Sonoma) and LOVE it. Tough kale stems do not stand a chance and it’s very quiet to boot.
Aha, finally a chance to sing the praises of my blender! We have a Hamilton Beach “wave action” blender and the thing rocks. My MIL picked it up on sale at Cdn Tire for us for about $40 – I’m pretty sure they’re usually $80. http://tinyurl.com/nwa3ym We’ve used this thing pretty much daily since June 1st to make 2 green monsters each morning and this thing absolutely pulverizes the whole flax seeds we add to our drinks. No leakage so far and it even has a dispensing spout if you choose to use it (I don’t – I find it easier to pour). Looks like Cdn Tire has them on for $45 right now – money well spent if you ask me!
Ange your photos are 110% more beautiful with that lens!!!!!!
Get a Blendtec blender! Seriously. I LOVE mine. You use your blender enough that the price should be justified. Think approx. $1/day for a year? (that’s how I justified it ;) ) Last night, I blended whole strawberries, romaine, and sprouts with NO liquid and it had no problem making it all perfectly smooth. I’ve also done whole apples, cucumbers, nuts… I could go on. :) I worked at Starbucks for a few years and we used Blendtecs. I figured if they could go for hours a day there, they should be more than okay for home use.
“Don’t let a bad moment affect how you feel the rest of the day. If you ‘mess up’ and eat a doughnut for breakfast, forget about it and put it behind you. We have the power within us to turn it all around.”
Thanks for reminding me :) The past few weeks have been bad, in terms of eating and work wise. But, I’m going to turn it around from now onwards.
Your photos are beyond gorgeous! I hope they put a big smile on your face!Y