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! :)
Oh no Angela! What a horrible appliance morning! I am not a waffle pro, but I do make them a lot, and yes, you MUST spray with non-stick (I actually rub with a little coconut oil to grease) for ALL waffle irons. Most have a non-stick surface, but it is no match for the almighty waffle.
I think we have all been known to break a blender or two in our times. The price of being smoothie addicts I guess!
I hope your day keeps on looking brighter :)
Ahhh I suspected that! The instructions didnt say to sprsy it so I figured it didn’t need to be. Thanks for the tip, I hope the next one goes much more smoothly! :)
I hope the day gets better! :)
You MUST ALWAYS spray your waffle iron with nonstick spray!!!! I dont care if the packaging says its a nonstick iron – they always stick!!! the spray works so well1! goodluck
I spray my nonstick waffle iron with Pam anyway, otherwise the same thing happens!
Also, in case you didnt get my tweet, you HAVE to read the books First Marathons (there are at least 2 of them). If you want to be totally inspired AND cry your eyes out AND smile ear to ear at the same time, get these!!! I read them from the library when I was training for my first marathon, and I couldn’t get enough of them.
They are written in short chapters so it’s also easy to read just a few pages each day if you don’t have a lot of time. My favorite story was about an elderly couple where the husband (in his 80s) taught himself to run – which took years – so that he could push his wife across the NYC bridge in her wheelchair in the marathon! Amazing!
Oh yes, you must spray the waffle iron!! I’m sure your next batch will be beautiful and I can’t wait to see the awesome pictures you’ll get with your new camera lense. The pictures in this post are absolutely spectacular!
Hope your afternoon is much better :)
We always spray the waffle iron before we make waffles (not after every waffle. Usually every other). I ready Hal’s book before I ran my first marathon, and found the stories very inspiring.
the day can only get better, right?
We always spray ours, too. better safe than sorry!
I have lots of experience working with waffle irons (used to work at an ice cream shop and made waffle cones) and have found a good method. First you need to make sure that you heat up the iron to full heat before adding the batter. You can tell when its ready if the iron sizzles when you spray it with cooking spray (which is still necessary even if the appliance is non stick). Finally, once you have done this and added the batter you need to let the waffle sit for a good while before opening the iron. There really isn’t a precise timing (I usually let mine sit for at least 2-3min sometimes longer) to it because each iron varies. I would play around with yours a few times to see how long it takes to make the perfect waffle! I hope this is helpful and not to verbose :) Good luck!!
Hi Erica,
Thanks for the tips! Ours has a timer that dings when it is pre-heated and dings when the waffle is ready. I am going to try the spray method and see if that helps…I will also play around with cook time!
I know what you mean about starting the day off badly. Our water pump was running continuously so my hubby shut the water off to go down the well to take a look. It is 11:42 am and I have had no water since 7 am. I’m cleaning out cupboards to take my mind off of this lol.
Waffles don’t work out well for me, but I love making jumbo pancakes in my 8 inch frying pans.
I spray my waffle iron in between each waffle…it’s the only thing that keeps it from sticking!
Eric’s shoes might have turned orange from rust in your lawn. It’s some sort of a fungus that can infect the lawn. It may not look orange to the eye, but shoes, lawn mowers, and garden tools will be full of orange dust. We had it really bad 2 summers ago and lost half of the grass in our back yard. There are many univeristy websites that can tell you how to treat & prevent rust. Here is a link to one of them: http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/plantsci/landscap/pp950w.htm#rust
Good luck!
Oh my gosh who knew???? Thanks for the tip!!!!
The same thing happened to me when I tried my new waffle iron! I was all prepared for a nice weekend morning treat and instead spent a good 20 minutes picking the dough out of the little holes and ate cereal. So disappointing. As everyone else has said, spraying it does the trick but I don’t know why it claims to be non-stick.
Don’t feel too bad about the waffle fiasco – I have that same waffle maker and have ruined the first or second waffle of almost every batch I have made by forgetting to spray it! They turn out perfectly when you do though :)
Funny blender breaking story: I was making cranberry relish to stuff squash with a few years ago. cranberries got stuck in the blade, so I turned off the blender and stuck a wooden spoon in there to unstick them. Apparently, the blade was still going and the blender (a glass one, mind you) EXPLODED all over my counter. Pink stuff was EVERYWHERE!!!
Sorry your day stinks… I usually do something that makes me feel good, like lunch at a favorite restaurant or something.
You have no idea how many readers have told me the SAME wooden spoon story! lol
My mother wanted me to drink a smoothie she made that was full of wooden spoon because she didn’t want to waste it. her theory was that if i drank it out of a straw, I’d be able to catch the wood before I swallowed it…(most of it ended up down the drain, but i did have a bit of it with a spoon…)
One of those days again. Sounds like Lemony Snicket: A series of Unfortunate Events. Wish you a better day tomorrow!
So sorry about the crappy morning. However, those pictures look AWESOME!!! I am having major lens envy right now and am most definitely putting that on my wish list.
Hope the day get’s better!
i can honestly say i’ve never used a waffle iron — everrrr.. so sorry it was a total fail :( i’m sure the waffle “scrapings” were divine though :)
you have to spray, i am sure someone else told you that already. heat it up right when you walk in the kitchen…i hope it works out ’cause I was hoping you would say you LOVED this one!!!
How do I turn a bad day around … I go shopping!!! Once in a while, a new shirt can do wonders :-) Or I call friends up and go for dinner!
I hope the rest of your day is better!
What a great way to looks at those little annoyances in life. Thanks so much for sharing that passage!
However, I’m still sorry that your blender broke…AGAIN!
Ang, you should go out and procure yourself a cheapy Magic Bullet.
I’ve been using mine now for 4 years and it still works great for smoothies.
**Note** if you’ve seen the infomercial, it does not chop. It purées everything, but works perfect for smoothies!
Does it work for kale? IE: Does it make it smooth enough?