She's here :)!

That's right-- My very own Vitamix is here and happily safe and sound!  It only took one day to ship, as I ordered it over the phone yesterday morning.  I was so happy and surprised to come home from class at 5 pm to see Mrs. Vita on my porch.  I thought the beauty wouldn't arrive for a week or so, as that's what the estimated arrival was.   Oh what a surprise it was :)

I am not sad one tad that Oster the blender broke; she lived a happy life and it was her time to go.  Without the collapse of Oster the blender, I would not have Mrs. Vitamix currently. So, thank you Oster, you did well.

10 Speed, ahhhhh.  

And you better bet your-bottoms I used it already-- and I was very happy with the results :)  I'll get to that later...

Prior to the Vita coming, I concotated some tatsy meals.  Once it did come, oh that was another story.  I love playing with my new toy Vita :)

I've been long out of oat bran for a few days, so I just used some good ol' Quaker rolled oats as I was craving oatmeal.  I cooked it in almond milk and cinnamon then topped with some fresh raspberries (local-Driscoll Farm, represent!), and almond butter.

I picked up a can of Amy's Black Bean Chili while at Whole Foods the other day-- per Katie's recommendation.  I roasted some veggies (with olive oil and sea salt) to accompany the black bean chili. It was yummy; thanks so much Katie for recommending this high-fiber, high-protein product, love it!

When it came to dinner, I got creative.  I was hungry, cold and tired when I got home from class at 5 pm.    And I also caught glimpse of my new Vita; I was thinking of just having "protein ice-cream" for supper, but I neglected that-- Ice cream later, dinner first.  I wanted something warm first, especially some veggie  "meatball" soup.

First, I sauteed minced garlic, onion, carrot and zucchini in olive oil till soft.

Once cooked, I added a tad of some spices I enjoy-- Paprika, chili powder, cayenne (just a dash), garlic powder and salt and pepper.

Then, I added a cup of veggie broth (I just used half a veggie cube which I dissolved in hot water) and brought the mixture to a boil.  Once boiled, I added 5 (pre-baked) meatless meatballs. 

Then, I added a 1/4 cup of whole-wheat couscous-- you can use any whole-grain, though.  I added a cup or so of water since the couscous absorbs liquid.  Add as much water or other liquid for desired thickness.

Simmer the mixture for 5 minutes till couscous is cooked and veggies are soft.

It was indeed very yummy and hearty-- And me being impatient, I dug into the soup and quickly burnt my tounge.  Note to self: Wait 5-10 minutes before consuming anything hot, especially soup or oatmeal :)

Rounded out with a side salad con pistachios and woodstock dressing.

....And what do you think I had for dessert?

Why, protein-ice cream, of course!  Oh man, it was SO delicious.  It made a big serving and I didn't think I could finish all of it, but ends up I did.  What can I say, I love ice cream :) 

No creative-ness for the protein ice-cream tonight, just used Heather's recipe as I didn't want bad results on my first time using it.  I've got a lot in mind though!

I love it so much and am SUPER excited to get creative with new recipes on the Vita.  I have so many in mind, but so little time!

Goodnight lovelies, I must get some rest for swim manana :) xx

Hello, Mrs. Vitamix!!!!!!

You heard right from the title-- I'm getting my very own VITAMIX blender!  I'm SO extremely excited.  I'll tell you the story of how a dream turned into reality, but i'm oh so tired, so bare with me!  I just completed an 8 1/2 hour shift at work-- crazy, huh?  If my grammer and words get odd, again, bare with me :)

My mama was doing dishes the other night and sadly dropped the not-so-poor "Oster Blender" on it's side, causing it to shatter.

That's not the first time this belittled blender has broke-- rather, it's the second time.  I broke the last blender, doing the same thing: dishes.  We quickly got a replacement at Costco as I can't go too long without a blender.  I mean, who do you think I am without my smoothies? :)

After this second mishap with Mr. Oster, we decided to look to Vitamix.  By "we", I mean my dad and I.

(Just getting home from work on Saturday) "What?  Who broke the blender this time? Ohhhh no."

(Mi papa) "There was a ton of dishes left out and mom had a mistake.  Sorry.  What about that amazing blender you wanted, maybe we should give that a shot this time."

"The Vitamix?  Oh my gosh, can we PLEASE?"

"Let's try to find a reasonably priced one" (dad)

And that's just what the conversation consisted of-- short and to the point.  YOW, I cannot wait to dig into some protein ice cream and actually make blended concoctions without having to add tons of liquid.    The price?  SUPER expensive, however, I called the Vitamix site to see if there were any reconditioned ones for cheaper, and there were!  I bought mine for $379, plus sales tax and shipping.  The actual total came to $440.  Not terrible, but definitely a hefty investment-- a good one though.  One that'll last for A LONG time and won't break quickly, like Mr. Oster.

I don't know if I'll be able to be patient for 7-10 days waiting for this amazing, wonderful (and all positive synonyms) gadget, but I simply must.

Enough about the Vitamix--although, I am quite giddy, as you can see.  I made the yummiest thai-autumn soup for lunch today.

I paired the soup with some Gayle's organic pain de campange bread (con almond butter) and a homegrown apple.

Thai Harvest Soup--

Makes 1 large Emilia size serving, or two smaller size servings.

1 garlic clove, minced.

1/4 of an onion, diced.

Oil of choice (I used coconut oil)

1 whole carrot, chopped.

1 1/2 cups chopped kale

1/2 cup chickpeas (or desired amount)

1/2 of a cooked acorn squash (any other cooked winter squash would work fine, too)

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

A few dashes of cinnamon

A few dashes of cayenne pepper (to liking)

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a nonstick pan with oil of choice and add garlic and onion; cook till soft.  Add carrot and cook to tender; then, add kale in bunches.  Add chickpeas, squash flesh and spices, stirring to combine with all ingredients.  Once mixture is soft and well combined, add the veggie broth; bring to a boil, then simmer to 5-10 minutes.  Turn off heat when soup reaches desired consistency (it'll thicken up as it's cooked longer).

The soup was super yummy and hearty, however, I think I would've made it with coconut milk next time.  It was already creamy and rich with the addition of winter squash, but the coconut milk would've given it more of a Thai taste and made it creamier.   I'll definitely be making that again soon, it was easy, very filling and nutritious.

Alright, I'm off to bed, it's been a LONG day.  Goodnight and reminis in the good news with me-- my new and upcoming blog and the addition of a Vitamix to my kitchen! xoxo

It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring....

It may have been raining all day here in Santa Cruz, but not here in blog-land.  I have some exciting news to share.... (drum-roll)


    (View from my porch-- pretty, huh?)


I'm going to start self-hosting my own site-- it'll be done in about 3 weeks!  Thanks to Zesty at Zesty Blog Consulting, I'll have my own new- and improved Namaste Gurl site.  I'm super amped as I've never hosted my own site.  But I'm tired of my plain ol' design and what blogger can offer.  I want what many other foodie bloggers have done with there sites, self-hosted them.  ZBC has helped out many foodie bloggers with their sites such as Heather Eats Almond Butter, Broccoli Hut, Kath Eats, to name a few.

Stay tuned for my new and improved "Namaste Gurl" site-- I hope it turns out amazing, as I'm sure it will considering the work of Mr. ZBC.

It was rainy and cold all day.  Well I guess that means Fall has "officially" arrived here :)  Seasons come very late in Santa Cruz--where I live-- Summer doesn't come till about August, Fall in October, and so on.  Ehhh, at least we don't have snow here :)

                                          There's some Fall coming, can't ya' see?

My lovely vegetable garden welcomes fall as there's NO more summer veggies left :(

Todays eats consisted of fall-type meals-- comforting, spicy and warm.

I woke up hungry and craving pumpkin oats, so that's just what I had, again: 

Pumpkin oats topped with walnuts and cashews; homegrown apple

Mmmmmm...

The apples my tree produces are SOOOOO cute.

I had hoped on going on a bike ride or walk before church, but that didn't happen.  Often when it's rainy and chilly I'm in no mood to do anything but shop or stay inside.  

Lunch consisted of a colorful salad of spinach, goat cheese, fresh raspberries (raspberries in October, I'll take it!), almonds, avocado and cucumber all misted in balsamic vinegar; crackers.

I did math literally all afternoon, non-stop.  I came home pretty famished and roasted an acorn squash that'd been yelling to be cooked :) :

Acorn squash stuffed with garlic-y veggies; chickpeas

I thought this picture was funny because you can actually see the steam rising from the hot squash :)

The squash wasn't very good, to be honest.  Me being impatient and hungry, I kept peeking while it was cooking and finally just pulled it out prior to it being cooked.  Note to self: Don't eat uncooked squash, it's not very yummy.  I felt like I was scooping clay from the ground trying to get the flesh out of the rind!

I'm of to do yet more math homework.  Have a good Monday :)!

"Biking in the moonlight, everybody...."

Good evening, lovelies!

I'm sorry for being so idle the last couple days-- I have been completely busy with work and school.  Weekends are my slashed away times for that when I mainly work.  All I've wanted to do the last couple days was just sit down and blog, but there's been not even a minute for it.  Oh well, there's always 9 pm for that!

Today I worked a VERY long shift, 11-7:30 to be exact.  I didn't feel like swimming or biking before I started work this morning; so I biked to work.  It only takes about 20 minutes to get there-- about 7 miles round-trip.  However, I didn't realize how tired I'd be when I got off of work at 7:30 pm.  I still have a semi-injured foot, too, so it was definitely a stretch being on my feet all day plus riding home.  It's been pretty cold outside all day, in addition, so when I got off work I realized two things: Cold and darkness.  That's what I'd be riding home to--well, oh well, no biggie.

The ride home actually wasn't that bad-- There was hardly anybody on the rode, car wise, and I felt like I had the whole atmosphere to myself.  Though it was cold at first, just like running early on a cold morning, I warmed up as I started biking.  For some reason I had a lot more energy then I did early in the day--almost using copious amount of energy all day gave me a sudden burst.

It felt calming just biking in the dark-- With headlights, no need to worry-- just me and the graceful trees, wind and environment.

Have you ever exercised-- whether it be bike riding, running, walking, etc.-- in the darkness?  What did you think of it?


My meals have been quite boring in the last few days, to be honest.  Much of what they've been have been "on-the go-meals"-- aka, whatever I can whip off in 10 minutes or less.  Here's a few colorful visualizes of some of what I've been munching on.

Mixed greens (butter lettuce and kale) with cucumber, almonds, avocado and a sunshine burger all dressed in honey, olive oil and sea salt.  Super easy and yummy.  

....Check out my "newspaper placemat" :)

A sweet potato with cashini butter, dill-spiked cottage cheese and veggies.

Green eggs and ham?  Nahhh, just plain ol' green oats and banana.  With a dolop of peanut butter, of course.

My cravings have been really odd, too....

Sauteed garlic-y spinach, sunny-side up egg, steel cut oats with coconut milk and almond butter.

Spinach for breakfast?  Why not!  Green oats?  It's a must!  It just shows i'm a TRUE veggie-lover. 

I tell you, that rice cooker makes some perfecto oats--it's not limited to just rice!

Mmmmmm....

Another on- the go- "I gotta be a work in 10 minutes" meal:

Leftover barley (a HUGE amount) stir-fried with red cabbage, kale, garlic, sesame oil, soy sauce and topped with raw cashews; carrot "fries"; hemp- recess peanut butter shake.

Another odd, but superb meal-- I needed a energy-packed meal for a long shift at work.

Hemp-pb shake: Hemp protein, coconut milk, peanut butter, strawberries and spinach.

Let's just say I was VERY full after this filling, but tasty meal feast.

There's nothing like a pumpkin smoothie to wake you up before an 8 1/2 hour shift. 

Pumpkin smoothie: 3/4 C. pureed pumpkin, 2/3 cup almond milk, ice, cinnamon, hemp protein.  Topped with wheat germ, almond butter, cinnamon and blueberries.

I'm off to do some online homework-- Yikes.  Wish me luck for I am T-I-R-E-D.  The lights almost going out in me :)  

By the way, BIG announcement coming next post, so stay tuned!  Later, lovelies :) xx

The Magical Wonders of Mr. Black and Decker

As I've shared in the last couple posts, I finally got a brand new rice cooker!  I've wanted one for quite some time--and no, it's not a modern, over-the top kitchen gadget like the VitaMix or anything, but for me it's done wonders in the last few days.  My mama was ever so kind to buy me one last weekend at Macy's, cause hey, it was on sale-- Why not? :)

If you don't already have a rice cooker-- or whatever name they may modernly call it-- you should get one! They are amazing; they've changed my life in the last couple days.  Well that's a lie, not my life, but more the delicious meals I've had on my plate.  For me, cooking rice or any other grain (I love grains, too) is a very tetius task-- one that sometimes prevents me from cooking grains.  But Mr. Black and Decker, Rice Cooker Plus, has proved me wrong.  All you do is just put in the grain--for every 1/4 c. add 1 cup water-- liquid and any other spices, turn it to cook and wah-lah, it does all the work in no time for you.

This morning--thanks to my new, fab rice cooker-- I enjoyed a good ol' bowl of steel cut oats.  And man, can I just tell you, they were AMAZING!  

Into the mix went:

3/4 C. Steel Cut Oats (I made extra for my mama)

3 1/2 Cups Water

2 large cinnamon sticks

More ground cinnamon

A bit of nutmeg

Then I topped mine with flax, fresh blueberries and of course, almond butter.  

It was glorious, people, just divine.  It tasted like the way grandma used to make it--thick, luscious, cinnamoney with a big touch of love :)

Another rice-cooker creation I had in the last couple days was my thai- curry barley

Made with coconut milk, curry powder, ginger, zucchini and kale.  A meal in a matter of 20 minutes.

I just love my new rice cooker-- I makes life a million times easier for me as I don't always  have very much time to cook lovely, nutritious grains.  Now I do with the magical wonders of Mr. Black and Decker :)

Have a good Thursday, lovelies!  xx

A Corny Meal

Happy Wednesday, lovelies :)

I hope everyone's enjoying their wednesday--whether it be at work, school, vacation, getting stuff done at home, or just relaxing.

I felt well enough to go to swim this morning, as my cold is getting much better.  It was great-- I hadn't fully worked out in about a week so it was nice to move my body.

When I got home from swim, I did some overly- procrastinated homework then made a quick lunch....

I made a scramble with one whole egg, one egg white, mustard, corn, onions and tomato.  Then topped it with avocado, goat cheese and fresh basil.  

.... Accompanied with some fresh OJ-- trying to get in as much Vitamin C as possible to keep fighting this cold virus.

It was super yummy--and better yet, only took a matter of 5-7 minutes to prepare!

I also had some chia-peanut flour pudding, not pictured, for extra protein.  All I did was mix 1/4 cup peanut flour, some water, 3 tablespoons chia seeds, vanilla and wha-lah, it's done! I am SO full now-- quite the hearty meal.

I'm off to do some research/ analytical work for my College Success class now--adios for now :)

Curry-licious Meals....

Hello all,

Hope you are having a great week.  If you're not, like me, look at it this way: We're halfway through the week, with tomorrow being Wednesday :)  For me, however, the weekend isn't much to look forward to, other than work, being that I work ALL weekend.  Yep- Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Well, at least I can look forward to a good paycheck :)

I felt pretty lousy the last couple days--today, however, I feel a bit better.  Just a little more myself, progress not perfection, as they say.  Yesterday I laid on the couch all day--you know, catching up on movies, attempting to read magazines you haven't had time to read.... and so on.  I didn't even feel well enough to study and do my homework, let alone do anything active!  Today, my cold was a tad toned- down and I was able to take a bike- ride and go to class.

I was able to cook yesterday, despite feeling at my worst.  !  By three pm, my creative juices started spilling out and I decided to make a colorful meal for my mom and I, which I'll show later.....

Most of my meals recently have been Thai/ curry laden and not purposely!

For a mid-day snack yesterday, I whipped up some pumpkin-chiaseed pudding using the rest of my canned pumpkin.  I spiced it up and added tons of cinnamon atop and walnuts.  Twas' good.  Thanks Gena for the inspiration!

When I went outside to get the mail--taking a break from lovely, A Walk to Remember, I found a package sitting on my porch.  A box from NuNaturals, that is.  

Thank you SO much NuNaturals-- I'm so excited to further experiment with all these Stevia varieties :)

As per my short story above-- I whipped out my new rice cooker, glass pan, etc and started cooking away.  I stuffed two whole peppers, cut lengthwise and filled them with barley, chickpeas, carrots, curry powder, onions, garlic and golden raisins.  Then I plopped them in the oven at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes. 

MAN were they good.  Even my mom, who's not big on vegan food was quite amazed.  They definitely did the trick!

BAD quality, but you can still *somewhat* visualize how amazing they look.  Colorful, huh?

Props to the newly rice-cooker (Black and Decker brand, to be precise) that my mom bought me--On sale at Macy's, holla!

Lunch today included more spontaneousness....

Using  up some of the leftover barley, made on the Rice Cooker, I put 3/4 C. barley and 1 C. coconut milk back into the rice cooker with some curry powder and ginger then when it was cooked through, I added chickpeas (also leftover), kale and sauteed zucchini and let it warm under to rice cooker.

The results?  AMAZING-- oh my goodness, I can't tell you how yummy that concoction was.  I accompanied the thai- rice with the rest of the sauteed zucchini and an apple with cashew butter.

I do love barley; however, I cook with it very rarely.  It's SUPER nutritious, too, so I don't see why I don't.  Well, it's definitely going to be making it into more of my meals now that I have a rice cooker.

I think I should move to Thailand, knowing i'd fit in there quite well food-wise :)

For dinner, I used the rest of the TJs Butternut squash soup I broke into a couple days ago when sick.  This time I jazzed it up with some more curry powder, ginger, paprika and TVP.  Yes, I don't like to eat soy a lot ask it gives me gas and upsets my stomach, but once in a while yes.  I had some mixed veggies cooked in coconut oil and a piece of Gayle's whole grain bread with coconut butter. Yum.

Alright, I'm off to get some homework done and catch up on emails!  Goodnight, lovlies :) xx