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.
Ah, stop worrying about those ninety-year-old woman tendencies. They happen to everyone! I’m glad you’re back in the blog world again. I’ve missed seeing your beautiful recipes! This smoothie sounds awesome, except for the fact that I don’t drink caffeine anymore. Maybe I could sub roasted dandelion root tea. Though not as strong as coffee, it has a rich earthy flavor. I think it would work well here for anyone who doesn’t drink coffee!
You are doing so much right now! Thinking of you and praying for you often during this tough season!
I already intend to buy your book, but if I hadn’t, that burger sure would’ve changed my mind!!!! Please tell me that’s in the book!! And hang in there, it’ll be great, just take things one day at a time!
Happy you’re back! And with a beauty of a recipe. Love the sound of this!
I love you added this recipe, I just made a green coffee smoothie this past weekend and it was delicious, I’ll have to try your version! Really excited for your book, the photography is great as well :)
Hi Angela! Your talk of multi-tasking and trying to balance multiple things reminded me of a quote from Eat, Pray, Love! The quote said “Sometimes to lose balance for love is part of living a balanced life.” So no worries – by feeling unbalanced you are in fact balanced!
Also, I am very jealous of your beautiful Vitamix blender! I have been eyeing one up for quite some time now! How fitting that my blender just recently burned out (it wasn’t a high quality blender) and you post a delicious sounding smoothie! Funny how things work out sometimes lol.
Looking forward to the book!
Carina
Oh wow that burger photo is awesome – I could eat it right off the page. If the book that kind of photo all the way through I can see why it is keeping you busy. Lovely recipe cool and yet nourishing at the same time…
Tyler’s told me things like that before – “well then just don’t do that.” Ahhh, I wish it were that simple!! You are loved even when you’re gone – especially when you throw in some crazy cool recipes like this one ;)
Hang in there girl! No sense feeling guilty, you are only human and your realness is what brings us readers to this blog every time we see a new post. You’re awesome. :)
I would love to buy you (and Eric, because he’s so wise, haha) a drink at Gingermans on Kerr sometime. I’m very much looking forward to your book, too!!
Your life is my life right now. I am doing it all over, again. Two in two years. This MS is due 9/1 and my kitchen every DAY is what you just described and your photo shoot set up, I have a baking tray used just like that as a backdrop. Today I used it for both the backdrop of a martini…and…a coffee cake. I have so many recipes in my head (and strewn all over my kitchen!) for both blog and book. And it’s just…insanity. I can relate to everything you wrote and just remember the BEST feeling in the world is when you turn in the MS. Life starts again :)
I cannot believe you shot 25 things in 7 days. That’s 3-4 a day, every day. The cooking. The FOOD. The surplus and excess. I bet your neighborhood was well, well fed.
Hang in there. You are so close. And that burger shot is STUNNING!
The smoothie sounds fantastic! I’d have trouble keeping myself from guzzling the whole thing at once though… I’m so excited for the cookbook to come out!
I think your cookbook is going tobe great, and I’m excited for it! By the way, I think the recipe on the spilt milk photo, and the photo itself, looks great!
Aw I’m sorry to hear you’re feeling a little all over the place Ange, but I can definitely empathize with you because I’ve certainly felt that way. I can only imagine how stressful this whole book writing process has been, but if the photos in this post are any indication, I know it’s going to be absolutely brilliant. Let me know if there’s anything in the meantime I can do to help. I’ll happily make the drive out to see you! And PS. I can practically hear Eric’s voice saying these things that you’ve written in the post! They’re very ‘Eric’ comments!
Major hugs girl. And I can totally relate about the multitasking but I have yet to give in and focus on one thing. Needs. To. Happen. xoxo
I miss you and your blog posts … and I also miss your Glo Bars like crazzzzzzy … but it will all be worth it in the end! I hope you come back to regular, personal blogging when the book is done :-) All the best!
Eric’s comments crack me up. What a man. They all say the same things, don’t they? LOL! Sounds just like my hubby. I can’t wait for your cookbook to come out, Angela. It’s going to be a masterpiece, I’m sure. :) You are an inspiration.
I’m so excited for your book! I work in a library, and every once in a while I get to run programs on veg*n nutrition for teens. I’ve recommended your blog each time, but it would be awesome if they could check out your cookbook. Will you let us know when you get the title and ISBN so I can put a purchase request in for the library? (Not that I won’t be buying my own copy.)
You must be exhausted! As someone who works assisting food stylists on set, I know that any day where you are shooting more than 6 shots is a VERY busy day! Hopefully you are able to see the light at the end…keep going strong, it will be worth it!
Be easy on yrself! You are in mass creation mode :) – that’s a lot of heart, soul & plain ol big energy to account for. & maybe changing the template of what you offer in your post to help it feel less overwhelming can help- sometimes a picture or a couple of sentences can be perfect, too.
You offerings are beautiful & I, too, look toward to your cookbook.
Congratulations on all your delicious & beautiful amazingness. Xo
(Changing template meaning just for the times when you feel the way you are currently feeling… Everything is perfect already & I can see why you want to always put out what you do!!!) xo