Are you savory or sweet?

Excuse me while I just heat up
 my savory split pea soup**
(for a snack)

When I started this blog I wanted an entire section dedicated to Savory vs. Sweet recipes. I've posted ZERO recipes but promise to do so soon.

ANYWAY! The point of THIS Savory vs. Sweet post iiiiiis - this might actually be more of a rant... buttt WHERE ARE THE SAVORY SNACK BARS AT?

I see all these bars* that look delicious AFTER I've eaten dinner. I don't want a chocolate brownie bar when I'm hungry. I want some salami. But there aren't any convenient bars to satisfy my savory tooth.

Where is the grilled cheese bar? Or the guacamole and chip bar? IT DOESN'T EXIST and it makes me sad everyday around 4pm when all I want is a steak...

Disclaimer: hummus and veggies/pita chips are a great savory snack, as are nuts (sometimes), but I just thought someone should point out the discrimination against savory in the bar industry...

I'm done now.

Love almost always,
ASHLEY

*I'm not a huge fan of bars in general but definitely understand the convenience of them.. plus, there are some pretty good options out there like LARABARS if you care about things like natural ingredients and what not... ((which you should BTW))

**which has the same calories as most bars do (200) but NOT THE SAME CONVENIENCE! #imnotbitter

winner winner sweet potato dinner

Soooooooooooooooo I am doing a really bad job at posting in my Sunday vs. Monday section but I figured I'd share what we had for dinner last night as a small step in the right direction. (Next week Sunday vs. Monday SUPER BOWL edition is happening!)

If you know me - and we share more than an acquaintanceship - you probably know I hate eating the same food twice in the same day. (If you didn't know this fun fact about me, you just learned something new on your Tuesday!) Most people make fun of me for this ... quirk, we'll call it... which is cool, like T.Swift white girl dancing at award shows, it's just what I do.

My sweet spuds steaming

Moving on, yesterday I had leftover chicken fried rice for lunch. When I got home and was rummaging around the kitchen deciding what to cook for dinner - that couldn't, wouldn't, shouldn't included chicken - I found I had everything for ... chicken tacos. What to do? Have tacos with just lettuce, cheese, salsa, and avocado? Maybe but that wouldn't be very substantial... sooo I steamed sweet potatoes!

Nom

I mashed the spuds with a bit of butter
then spread it thinly on corn tortillas, layered it with some taco essentials, turned on Breaking Bad and nom'd on some vegan (minus the cheese!) sweet potato tacos. 

Sunday vs. Monday Round 4: Sweets Edition

SUNDAY:

My last holiday celebration was this past weekend (yes, in January..) and I can't say yesterday wasn't a bit of a splurge...

 Breakfast - around 8:30am:

I took the train up to my parents house (because my car is having some issues) for breakfast with them and my grandparents; but I needed something for the ride up so I had a small tangerine.

THEN, at breakfast (around 10am) I had  eggs over medium, sliced sourdough, 2 sausages, and coffee.

Lunch - around 2pm:

My mom and I went up to San Francisco to see Amaluna. We had to catch the train (again) at 3pm so I ate 4 mini samosa from Whole Foods and some blueberries for lunch.

Once in the city, we stopped at Starbucks. I ordered a short chai tea latte but only had time to drink half of it before the show.

During Amaluna I had 2 handfuls of popcorn (because who could resist?) and 1/4 or a pretzel that was under cooked and underwhelming.

Dinner - around 7:30pm:

I had a side garden salad and split a small New York pizza with my mom.

When I got home around 10pm I ended the night with a red velvet cupcake from Sprinkles because apparently I didn't ingest enough carbs already ;) 

PS. red velvet is my vice.

MONDAY: 

Breakfast - before work: 

I convinced Mike to make me an Americano this morning because he makes them 100x better than I do and I needed something delicious to start off my Monday. (Bad coffee ruins my day, okay?)

Once at work I had a packet of flax seed oatmeal.

Snack - around 11am:

I had 2 small tangerines (have to get that vitamin C during flu season!)

Lunch - around 1:15pm:

I had a ham sandwich with spinach and mustard on garlic rye bread. I also had a cucumber, tomato salad with dill and olive oil.

After lunch I had one Dark Chocolate Honey mint from Trader Joe's.

Second snack - around 3:30pm:

An iced chai latte with one pump of chai (ever notice that Starbucks charges you more for extra pumps but doesn't give you a discount for less? ABSURDITY!) and a handful of almonds

Dinner - around 7pm:

Rice and black beans stuffed bell peppers with shredded cheddar cheese and baby broccoli.

Dessert - after dinner:

3 mini chocolate biscotti from Trader Joe's

Overall, I would say I had a lot of sweets during the combined 2 days. I'm usually more of a savory than sweet kind of girl (opting for a slice of pizza over a slice of cake) but for some reason the cupcakes, chais, and biscotti were necessary. 

stop talking about how much you weigh and start ... flossing?

:) 

Over the holidays I spent time with a good friend and Jennifer Lawrence came up in conversation over wine (and tequila shots). I immediately gushed about the girl crush I have on the Hungry Games star; anticipating my friends response to be equally giddy and obsessive. Instead she threw me. She told me she was kind of over Jennifer and all of her body image chatter.

Wait, what?

This good friend's name is Melissa and we are basically the same person except she lives in Toronto and I'm in California. We have the same birthday, the same middle name. We own the same cookbooks and have the same fundamental ideas about life and love and yoga.  How was she not totally in love with J-Law like I am?

I mean, isn't Jennifer Lawrence all the rage with how real she is? Isn't is refreshing that a mega celebrity isn't stick skinny? She is setting a good example for the young girls (and older ones too) that you don't have to starve yourself to feel worthy. ...Right? I thought so too. And then Melissa shed some light.

She accurately pointed out that one comment about one's weight is enough.

In other words, Jennifer's first comments about being a role model and not starving herself so young girls (and older ones too) think they need to skip dinner to be Katniss-beautiful was great; awesome even. In my opinion, it brought positive, healthy awareness to counteract all the damaging media images bombarding our brains. However;   it seems all she does now is talk about her weight which (in mine and Melissa's opinion - even though it was hers first) is actually diminishing her initial great - awesome - comments about weight.

WHY IS WEIGHT SUCH A WEIGHTED TOPIC?

(Disclaimer: I realize this post might sound hypocritical because I myself have written about weight and body image more than a few times but I am not on the cover of all the magazines in all of the stores. ...Yet.

I promise if I ever reach that magnitude of influential ability, I will take my responsibility seriously. I will not allow so much attention to be focused on poundage.)

By constantly talking about weight when you're such a major player in the media, even if it has a  "positive" spin, it is still constantly talking about weight. You're bringing massive attention to something that should be as mundane as flossing. Everyone knows flossing is good for you (as maintaining a healthy weight is) but no one talks about it in every.single.interview. ...Even if they don't floss everyday and make the rest of us normal folk feel okay about our flossing habits too. So, just stop, Jennifer. Stop answering questions about how much you weigh...

I'm still a huge fan of JL; I just hope next time someones asks about her weight, she doesn't respond. I hope the next time she or any other person of fame admits to eating a slice of pizza it doesn't make headlines.

Floss, anyone?

Love almost always,
Ashley

Tiny spuds teaching life lessons...

Yesterday I went to the gym after work and came home later than normal. Usually I get home before Mike so I cook dinner but yesterday was an exception. Even though I wasn't cooking dinner I had still decided what ingredients we would use for Monday's meal; which included leftover lamb, green beans that needed to be used soon, and the tiniest, cutest organic potatoes I had bought on Sunday at the farmers market.

Mike has been pretty busy at work and was running late to get home and cook dinner. By the way, side note: I am a terrible human when I'm hungry... When he got home, anxious to have dinner ready by the time I got home, and found the baby potatoes that he had no idea what to do with, his stress level automatically went up.

By the time I strolled through the door, a delicious smelling aroma was wafting through the air. I made by way into the kitchen to see what Mike was concocting. He had added all the ingredients in pan, added some onions and garlic and viola! dinner!

The only problem was those baby spuds did not cook. They were still hard and starchy on our plates ready to be eaten for dinner. We couldn't cook them longer because they were already combined with the lamb and the green beans. And, hi, I was starving! So, we ate around the cute, but uncooked, tatters. Then we made a trip to whole foods for slices of pizza.

I am equal parts proud and embarrassed to say this same situation a year ago would have easily burned our entire evening. Side story: Mike made mac n' cheese with almond milk for dinner one time - insisting it would taste the same - and when it didn't, because it definitely doesn't, I threw a giant fit and probably didn't talk to him for some ridiculous amount of time... over MAC N' CHEESE! I mean, really.. who cares?!

Well, I did...

I would (and still do occasionally because I'm almost always perfect but not quite entirely) get really upset over really small things; like small potatoes not being cooked properly... Instead, yesterday, I ate my lamb and green beans and then my slice of pizza. (And also some potato chips..)


Love almost always,
Ashley

Starting over

So, here's the thing about having a birthday in November, what ever personal goals you've set for yourself to become a healthier, better, nicer, whatever-er person during that year of your life is shot when the holidays roll around. (Well, hopefully not the nicer resolution but who knows? Christmas can bring out the Scrooge in some...)

For example; this year - the year leading up to my 25th birthday - I decided to start this blog and become stronger. (Read about it here) Ideally, I wanted to write in this sucker 2-3x a week, magically work out 7 days a week (jk but come on? I should at least be able to swing 3 days..), consistently update my Sunday Vs. Monday section, become the next BIG SHOT BLOGGER (holleeer), and have fancy drop-down menus with organized content.

But guess what? it's Monday and I am not uploading pictures of what I ate yesterday and today... (Read about that here and here and here) And my blog is STILL lacking the drop-down menu feature... Ask me about the last time I consistently worked out and you'll weep at my answer...

You ready for the excuse for why I've majorly been sucking yet?

I'm blaming it on the holidays.

The holidays are still as festive as fun as they were when I was a child but they also come with a side of stress. A lot of spending, too much to drink/eat, and not enough exercise. Then there is the bittersweet packed social calendar; I love a good Ugly Sweater party as much as the next girl but weekend after weekend I find myself devoted to dinners, get togethers, and family gatherings instead of writing, reading and yoga. I have to admit, I don't feel like the well rounded person that I want to be going into 2014. I can't even remember the last book I read........

BUT I'm not going to beat myself up about it because hey, guess what? I wrote a book in 2013 and even though I wanted to be well past my first draft of my second book by this time (definitely not my reality right now) I didn't anticipate a move that is still consuming most of my time. And even though I wanted to keep this baby plush and abundant with posts, I couldn't because I was packing and unpacking and celebrating and unpacking and going to Ikea... So? (ready for the standard cliche yet?) it is what it is.

Tomorrow I will be 24 years and 2 months old and I'm going to go ahead and redraw the start line there. Please join me and almost always read my blog. ...Starting with tomorrows post about the fiasco tonight's dinner was and how there are few problems pizza can't solve.

Love almost always,
Ashley