Fave Five Friday #6

It's time once again for FFF! I can't believe how quickly summer is going by--I start school a week from Monday! I wish I had just a few more weeks at home to enjoy, but I'm going to appreciate the next week or so I have left.

1. Hiking/picnicking with my family


I love spending time in the mountains! (not me in the pic, BTW)

  2. Walking around the famous 16th Street Mall (in Denver)


This place is huge! And super cool :)

3. Last-minute shopping


What a haul haha

4. Trying new hairstyles

I love my hair waver!

5. Visiting Forever 21 for the first time ever (!)



The ring I bought :)

 

What are you enjoying about summer?

Vacation Recap!

Thank you all again SO much for your responses to this post. I never would have guessed six months ago when I first started this blog that anyone would ever read it, let alone comment. You are all amazing, never forget that :)

Today, instead of my usual Fave Five Friday, I'll be sharing a photo recap of my vacation to Estes Park, Colorado! My family and I have been going there every summer for as long as I can remember and it's one of our favorite in-state destinations. Estes Park is a cute little touristy town, but it isn't lame and boring. It's only a few miles from Rocky Mountain National Park (home to the famous Longs Peak) and the town itself has tons of shops, restaurants and outdoor activities.

This was our first time going to EP for the 4th of July and man, was it crowded! It's usually pretty busy on the weekends but this year it was crazy. It was almost impossible to find parking, so we got a lot of walking in ;) But it was cool being there for the 4th, because we actually got to see fireworks. If we'd stayed at home, there wouldn't have been any fireworks nearby because of a fire ban. So it was totally worth all the crowds and stupid out-of-state drivers!




Hummus pizza (vegan)



The pool!

 

Model status (just kidding!)

 

 

Santa likes to drink apparently...



Strawberry froyo in a handmade marshmallow-flavored waffle cone



Lake Estes



My dad--King of the Rock!

Sunshine veggie burger with jalapenos



Chilling by the pool



Fourth of July fireworks

 


Awkward wolf sculpture in a store front



A restaurant that serves cereal?! My kinda place :)



Rainy mountains



Pool time with my sistah



Hugh Jass salad: lettuce, Craisins, strawbs, sliced almonds, raspberry vinaigrette

 


Peace out, USA!



Lawn Lake alluvial fan



Legit license plate purse

What is your favorite thing about vacations?




OMGM!

Thank you so so so much for your sweet responses to my last post! I really appreciate them J

I’ve got a LOT of recent eats to share today so be ready for tons of pictures and some unsponsored reviews of products I’ve tried!

First, I’ve had my first ever GREEN MONSTER! In case you’re not sure what that is, it’s a smoothie that has some sort of greens mixed in, like spinach or kale. I’ve had two three so far this week and I’m hooked (that’s where the title of the post comes in btw, it means Oh My Green Monster). Even though I like veggies, I find that sometimes it’s hard to get enough in one day without chomping on salads or carrot sticks all day long. I’m also more of a fan of fresh veggies (I can’t stand most cooked ones, except sweet potatoes of course) so that makes it hard too. Until I discovered that mixing in fresh baby spinach with a fruit smoothie doesn’t make it taste any different but adds in a serving of veggies! My first two weren't green but tonight I hit the jackpot: 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, 1 chopped up fresh peach and a handful of baby spinach. It was a perfect spring green and delicious!

Mmmmm...green!

Lately, I’ve been noticing millet bread popping up on some food blogs. Some people said it tastes like pound cake so I knew I HAD to try it. I haven’t had pound cake in years (fear food) but I like the taste. I picked up a loaf at Whole Foods last weekend and I was surprised that it was in the freezer section, but I guess it’ll last longer. I had a slice the other day for breakfast topped with crunchy AB and dried raspberries (YUM!) with a spicy veggie sausage patty on the side and a bowl of dark chocolate raspberry overnight oats. I loved the oats, but I wasn’t gaga about the millet bread. The slice was small but dense, but I couldn’t detect any sweetness in the bread, it definitely seemed more savory to me. Not a bad thing, but I was expecting a sweet bread perfect for breakfast. I’ll just have to eat the rest alongside a salad or soup at lunchtime.

I wish it tasted like pound cake...

Call me crazy, but I’d never had a fresh peach or apricot prior to a week ago! My dad picked some up from the store, and I fell in love. Sorry berries, I still love you guys too, but apricots are the bomb dot com!

I made dinner for my family on Monday night. I haven’t done that in a while and I missed doing that. My favorite way to cook during the summer is using the grill, so I picked out a few yummy recipes and I got to grilling. I made grilled mahi mahi (my favorite type of fish) topped with a strawberry pico de gallo with strawberry melon gazpacho on the side (check out my recipe page for the recipes). And I made strawberry lemonade popsicles for dessert. It was my first time making popsicles from scratch and it was super easy and they turned out great. I made sure to get some organic lemonade concentrate from Whole Foods because I don’t do the whole HFCS thing.


Gazpacho before blending



I loved this dinner, so summery!

Other than that, my week has been pretty chill, I’ve just been waiting impatiently patiently for the sun to finally come out and filling out job apps. I hope to be able to spend a lot of time outside this weekend and have a relaxing Memorial Day weekend with my family and a possible shopping trip! Enjoy the rest of your week, everyone!

Sorry about the background!

Q’s: Have you ever made a Green Monster? Best new food you’ve tried recently?

A Lovely Week (and a Lovely Recipe)

Hi guys, how are you? I hope you’re enjoying some nice weather where you are. It’s finally sunny here again and a little warmer, like in the low 70s! I’m just glad it’s not raining, or even worse, snowing. Yes, we actually got a dusting of snow on Sunday morning and it was not cool :/

Anyways, I recently received the Lovely Blog Award by the very lovely Bryana! Thank you so much, girl, for tagging me!

The Rules:

1.) Post this award with the picture and link back to the person who tagged you.
2.) Share 7 random things about yourself.
3.) Award 15 bloggers and let them know you tagged them.

So since I have done a lot of these random facts posts, I decided to do a little twist on the award and instead tell you 7 exciting or interesting things that have happened to me in the past week. Here goes!

1) I got a volunteer job at the library as a summer reading volunteer. I don't know what I'm actually going to be doing (hopefully reading to the kids or something cool like that) but I'm pretty much committed on Saturdays from noon to 2 from the beginning of June until the end of July. Unfortunately, it's unpaid (and my parents are still making me look for a job :/) but at least it's something that can go on my resume and should be kind of fun.

2) I drove for the first time in months on Saturday! I don't have a car when I'm at college, so I haven't driven since December I think! Sad, because I like driving so it was good to get behind the wheel. I drove to Whole Foods, too, which was a bonus :)

3) I got good grades in all my classes. I was a little freaked out that I'd get a C or 2 but luckily, 4 B's and 2 A's. It was a hard semester, so I should be proud of myself!

4) I have an eyelash problem. No, seriously! Occasionally, I get this weird pain in my eyelid where the eyelashes grow from, and I think it's because they grow in the wrong way or something. Usually, I can find the problem eyelash easily and pluck it so the pain goes away but I haven't been so lucky this time...

5) I've only worn shorts once in the past week! I thought by mid May the weather would be so nice, but most of these past 7 days have been cloudy, cool and sometimes rainy. Today I finally got to wear shorts...but my house feels freezing cold (even though the thermostat says 73 degrees) and I should probably be wearing capris. I never understood how 73 degrees outside feels so much warmer than 73 degrees inside!

6) I have made most of my own meals since I got home and I'm loving it! I love being able to use the grill, the stove and the oven to whip up amazing things. And of course, having tons more ingredients on hand so I can get creative.

Brekkie the other day--a cinnamon raisin Ezekiel English muffin with a dark chocolate orange fudgie spread on, chocolate Oikos, fresh pineapple and a spicy veggie sausage

7) Finally, I came up with my very own veggie burger recipe! I like veggie burgers a lot, but I've never had one that I was wowed by...except my own! And because I'm so generous (haha) I'm gonna share it with you guys!

Southwestern Black Bean Quinoa Burgers

(Makes 3 palm-sized burgers, increase everything to make more/bigger ones)

1/2 cup black beans, drained and rinsed

1/4 cup uncooked quinoa (makes 1/2 cup cooked, make sure to rinse!)

2 tsp chili powder

1 1/2 tsp crunchy almond butter (adds some crunch)

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ginger

Cook quinoa until all water is boiled off and quinoa is fluffy. Mix all ingredients in a food processor or high-powered blender until mixture sticks together. Stick in the fridge for 15-30 minutes to chill. Heat saucepan or skillet on the stove over medium heat and spray pan with nonstick cooking spray. Take veggie burger mixture out of the fridge and form into 3 patties. Place burgers in pan and cook until outside is crunchy and browned, about 5-7 minutes per side.

I served mine on an Ezekiel tortilla with spicy pepper mustard (love!), a mix of grapes and golden raspberries (yes, golden raspberries!), carrots and some Bear Naked Fit granola. Such a yummy lunch!

I loved this lunch!

So that's what I've been up to this week! Oh, and yesterday I braided my hair for the first time in a while and I liked how it turned out!

I love my hair, too :)

Q's: What's one thing interesting that you did this week? Have you ever made your own veggie burgers?