I feel so scattered right now. Please forgive me for being away so much lately! The longer I’m pulled away from the blog, the harder it is to sit down and write something meaningful. I don’t know why, but nothing feels right lately. There’s so much on my mind and so much to say, but I just draw a blank when I finally sit down to type. I’ve written 3 draft posts recently and scrapped each one of them. Eric, the stater-of-the-obvious, looks at me and says, “Well, why don’t you write about how you’re having a hard time writing then?”
I’ve turned into a 90 year old woman who goes upstairs only to forget why she went up the stairs in the first place. This is mildly concerning at my age. The other day, I found a new jar of almond butter in the freezer. Scary. Shifting from cookbook mode to blogging mode has been more challenging than I anticipated and my best work seems to result from the days when I totally step away to saturate myself in one thing. Multitasking can be a double edged sword – trying to do everything at once often gets me nowhere, but when I only focus on one thing I have guilt about the other things I’m leaving behind. To this Eric says, “Well, don’t feel guilty about it then.”
This right here is the difference between men and women.
All of this self-indulging talk today is for me to say: it’s not you, it’s me. This long-distance thing has been a drag and I’m counting down the days until I can run to you and twirl you around in a big bear hug. Until then, I’m doing my best each day and trying to forget about the word balance because sometimes that just doesn’t exist. Let’s be real. The good news is that I finished shooting all 100 photographs for the book. Twenty-five of those photos were shot in the last 7 days alone. Yes, it was insane and no I don’t ever want to do that again.
Currently, I’m knee deep in the editing process which probably won’t let up until August. Even though it’s been a crazy time, I’m so grateful to be able to do the kind of work that makes me feel excited when I get up in the morning. No one said the worthwhile things in life would be easy. I’m trying to be mindful each day and not worry needlessly about the future. These are the moments I will look back on with fondness…even the days when I spill milk all over my photo.
Plus, there’s always coffee.
Featuring all new, protein-packed salads, hearty toppers, flavour boosters, and dressings you'll want to drink, my new cookbook will transform the way you think about salads. Oh, and be sure to flip to the back for a surprise dessert chapter!
Iced Mocha Green Monster Smoothie
Yield
2 servings or 3 cups
Prep time
Cook time
0 minutes
Total time
This icy drink is a hybrid between an Iced Mocha Coffee and a Green Monster Smoothie. I snuck in a handful of greens, but you can’t taste them one bit.
Ingredients
- 1 cup coffee, room temperature
- 1/4 cup almond milk
- 1 small handful spinach
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 3 large Medjool dates, pitted (or sweetener of choice)
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 10 large ice cubes
Directions
- Blend until smooth. Gulp. Cool down. Enjoy summer!
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)I’ll leave you with one of my photo set-ups (Jared this one is for you!). I was cleaning up yesterday and turned around to catch this angle. I had to laugh at this hot mess. There’s an antique, beat up baking sheet for the background, and old wood slab for the base, and a white board to reflect light coming in from the window. The baking sheet is from a garage sale. The poor lady looked at Eric with great concern and said, “You aren’t going to cook with this are you??” Once she knew it was for photography she was relieved. Oddly, enough the photo turned out quite nicely despite its apparent shortcomings!
Many of you are asking about the date of my cookbook release and I don’t have an official date yet, but it’s slated to be released early in 2014. My publisher is hoping for a January/February release to kick off the New Year. Yay! I’ll be sure to keep you up to date as soon as I know for sure. As always, thank you for your excitement and support. It means the world to me.
If you’d like to sign up for my cookbook newsletter, you can do so here. I haven’t sent anything out yet, but I hope to send some juicy tidbits as the date gets closer.
By the way, happy almost summer! Bring on the fruit and veggies.
I can definitely relate to multitasking being a bad thing sometimes! Occasionally, you just need to focus on one thing until it is done.
I check your blog each and every day, hoping for a post. I will continue to do so, even if your blogging is inconsistent. Your blog posts are always worth the wait.
And I am eagerly awaiting your book! I can’t wait to be able to see the magic you’ve been creating in your kitchen!
I totally empathize! I sat down last night, looked at the Mr and said “I have no idea what to write!” Of course I don’t have an awesome cookbook I’m working on to take my attention away so you get way more of a pass than I do. ;-)
Thanks for showing the photo set up, I love stuff like that. Behind the scenes magic!
No spinach here yet, so we used kale for the coffee smoothie. Not bad. The second time I made it I only used half the ice and put in a bunch of frozen pitted BC cherries. Yum! Thanks for the recipe.
Keep up the great work, Angela! You can do it…seriously! One day at a time and strive to enjoy the journey. Funny how I’ve never met you, yet just feel so proud of you for all your great work and success. CAN’T WAIT to get my hands on this cookbook! :)
We miss you around here, but I totally understand! You have a ton on your plate. I’m so excited for you and your cookbook!
Keep your chin up. And on the plus side – it gives us a chance to look back over some of your old posts that we’ve forgotten about or are new to. Take care of yourself! x
Funny enough this morning I popped into your website this morning thinking maybe I missed one of your awesome posts! Once I realized I didn’t miss anything I figured…she’s probably so swamped with her book(which I bet is going to be amazing!)
Always remember “you” need to be first and foremost and the people who love your site will always be here waiting for something great to come up!
I know exactly what you mean in terms of balance and multi tasking… i just feel like i’m all over the place at the moment, struggling to find a focus and just want to do too much. People tell me to ‘prioritise’ but it’s just so hard to prioritise when everything seems like a priority!! You’ll get there!
That spilled milk photo just looks so sad! Hang in there – you are just balling out of control right now and sometimes it can be exhausting :)
YES to balling out of control!
I was wondering where you have been:) The Photos look great! I can’t wait for the cookbook and balance isn’t always possible, so don’t be to hard on yourself:)
i’ve been feeling the same way lately. sometimes when there is so much going on, it can become very difficult to gather my thoughts and write a cohesive, meaningful post. i scrap a lot of what i write, too. especially lately.
love the behind the scenes pics. i can’t wait for your cookbook!
Those first two photos are gorgeous!!
Why does the promise of coffee make everything better? Something about that warm comforting cup, even in summer!
Glad to see I’m not alone when it comes to scatterbrained-ed-ness while working on major projects with many moving parts. There’s only so much a mind can handle! I find that during those times, we really do have to take a page from the male handbook and just DON’T FEEL GUILTY about the stuff that has to go by the wayside. I know, I know. It is so not natural, but whaddayagonnado? Lose your mind? LOL
Don’t feel bad Angela! Your absence just makes me that much more excited for your book! Those photos are drool worthy and I hope they’re a tease of whats to come! That sandwich looks fantastic….as does the mocha green monster! Need to try that out….I’ve been looking for a new flavor green monster to make!
Dear Angela
I have followed you and the blog for so long that I cannot remember when I first found your homepage. Event though I have never commented before, it has been a real pleasure all the way! So I just wanted to say that I look so very much forward to your cookbook – I live in Denmark but hope to be one of the first ones to get a hold of a copy. You do such a beautiful and inspiring job with your blog and I am very excited to flip through the book.
And I can definitely related to how Eric reacts to your concerns. My boyfriend would say almost exactly the same. ;) And yes, I also think that your readers will always be here to read and comment when you have the time to do a post. I know that I will. :)
Hugs, Mia
Love the candid pics of your photo setup! Your photos are absolutley beautiful and it’s so cool to see how you create the scene! I always enjoy seeing the “behind the scenes” of food photos shoots beacuse it a) reminds me that it takes hard work and talent to create those beautiful settings and b) I shouldn’t feel guilty that my kitchen and food never look nearly as good as your pics, haha!! Can’t wait for your cookbook!
I cannot wait to buy your cookbook! I can’t even imagine all the work that goes into the entire process. It’ll be amazing to see it complete and on shelves everywhere!
Men sure do have an easy way of dealing with problems!
I’ve been a bit scattered lately, too, forgetting words in the middle of talking at work. Not good!
I’m super excited about your upcoming cookbook publication – I can’t wait to buy it!
No worries about being less chatty than usual – I totally hear you (and the other commenters) about feeling pulled in so many directions and not feeling like much of anything is really accomplished. But look at you – all those photos done! whoot! And you even left us with this tasty recipe. another whoot!
Listen to Eric a wise chap you’ve got there Angela! I know it’s tough but you need to give yourself a break, you can’t be superwoman. I think I can speak for a good deal of your blog readers in saying that we’re all eagerly awaiting your cookbook and completely understand that it’s impossible to give the blog the time you’d like right now but will still be here when you get back to more regular blogging :)
Oh Angela, all is forgiven when you give us incredibly delicious recipes, the promise of an amazing cookbook I cannot WAIT to get my hands on… oh, and most importantly, because we just love you! (I do anyway!) Hang in there darling, your hard work (and the little bit of craziness) is going to take you so far! xoxo
I’m not going to lie to you Angela, I had a dream about getting your cookbook for Christmas the other night (surely this is a sign I need to stop thinking about food every minute of everyday). Keep on pushing through but because as you know you’ll look back on this time on think “I did that!”.
Definitely making this smoothie by the way for my boyfriend, he has trouble with the greens but loves coffee so this is a fantastic way to sneak it in! :)
hah that’s too funny about your dream. Well, maybe you can pre-order before Xmas? That would be cool if they start coming in around X-mas!
I do have very vivid dreams, hahaha.
I would love the cookbook for Christmas! Talk about the perfect present… but ultimately I’m happy to wait as long as it takes for it to come out, I know it’ll be fantastic and totally worth it!