Roastin' Up In Here So Cool It Off

TGIF, the weekend's almost here!  Whatcha doin'?  Anyone whooping it up?  My whooping it up days are a bit of a memory but that's ok.  I work my magic these days in the kitch.  But could sure use a Girls Night Out.  That sounds perfect.

Thanks for the positive feedback on my name change.  Averie Harmony just feels so much lighter and freer to me and I am so much happier when I introduce myself to people.  I smile rather than feel embarrassed of my name.

Glad the Herbalicious Salad Dressin' was gettin' some good buzz too.   Sweet Mama Weed had all the ingredients on hand and she made it and liked it.  I feel so happy and flattered when anyone writes to tell me they not only tried a recipe of mine, but they liked it, too!  Success!

So as promised the post before last, in the spirit of fall, I decide to roast up some root veggies.  It's still hot up in herre, a mere 101 F today but I said what the hell, I'll fire up my oven anyway.

For those of you keeping track, no these weren't raw.  There's a time and a place for raw, I'm high raw because it normally just flows really easily for me, and it works without much thought or effort, but I always love to partake in seasonal foods.  And right now, 'tis the season for roasted veggies...If you need more inspiration, check out Katie's butternut squash fries, Heather's kabocha, or Gena's roasted carrots.  I'd love to hear your favorite way to roast up your autumn eats!

Enter 1 long-n-skinny sweet potato. 

Then I peeled it and sliced it into uniform about 1/4th inch slices, and made fry shapes out of 3 peeled carrots.  Put in a roasting pan with foil.  Don't forget to line with parchment or foil unless you like doing dishes with lotsa scrapity scrap of food chunks.

I sprinkled about 1 Tbsp Each of Cinnamon & Ground Ginger, couple twists o' cracky blacky, and then drizzled about 2-3 Tbsp EVOO over the top.

I covered the veggies with another piece of foil across the top and roasted 'em at 400F in the oven for 40 minutes. 

Then I uncovered them, flipped em, added a little....and roasted for another 15 mins uncovered. 

At this point, if you made a glaze of 2 Tbsp Lime Juice, 2 Tbsp Maple Syrup or Agave, 1 Tsp of Cumin, 1/2 Tsp of Chili Powder or Cayenne you'd have awesome Tex-Mex inspired Sweet Potato Wedges.  Let that glaze cook on those taters for the last 10-15 mins and you're so in.  I was feeding these to a husband who isn't thrilled with Tex-Mex but rock it out in your casa.

Voila, really delish.

Here's dinner...spiralized zuke noods with the Herbalicious Goddess Dressing, tomato & cuke chunks snuggled up next to the roasted sweetie potatoes and carrots.

Some other eats that were really simple, really awesome.  A bed of greens, a few B.S., tomato chunks, carrots, cukes, red & yellow pepps, and dressed with OJ, Agave, and Cracked Black.  I love basic, colorful salads with simple sweet dressing.  It's music to my tastebuds.  And my tummy.

Earlier I had also made a Brekkie Cookie.  Standard protocol for me is a small to medium nanner that I mush up on the bottom of my little dish that I can cover in the fridge so I don't have a huge uncovered plate just takin' up space.
To the nanner, I add 1/3 c dry oats, 1 Tbsp Cinnamon, 1 scoop Sunny W BRPP (brown rice protein powder) dash of Stevia, and dash of Agave.  Mix it all up & let 'er hibernate for a day in da fridge.

A day later, enjoy.

After a dinner of roast veggies and zuke noods, it was time for dessert.  Banana Vanilla Softserve to the Rescue!

2 Frozen Nanners, 1/4 c of white sugar, 1/4 c lowfat vanilla almond milk, a blob of stevia that looks like a whitehead on toppa that nanner there, and a heavy handed dash of TJs bourbon vanilla.  I can totally get drunk off the ice cream.  And I love it.

After blending the VitaWhipper for 30 seconds, you end up with food porn on the Vita Tamper Stick.

And then, when you look in the canister, it's like a big mouthgasm.  Ahhh....Now that's good stuff.

Random shopping find earlier in the day...a rug for my back entry from Target in the clearance section for $6.38  Was previously 34.99 and so I felt like I got a steal.  And it's cute too.  Well I think it is.  You can tell me if you don't like it, but for 6 bucks, and we all know how overpriced things like rugs, sheets and towels are, I think it works.

Yoga is Eka Pada Sirsasana.  Please don't try this until you have warmed up & opened up your hips, unless you moonlight as a Cirque du Soleil cast member.

Tip of the Day: Stay in the present.  I find that far too often I am planning, plotting, scheming, wondering, worrying, and preparing for the future and for things that may or may not even happen.  I could really free up alot of mental space if I were to not worry about the future.  Don't cross that bridge til you come to it kinda thing.  Just take each moment as it comes and try to just go with it.  I'm not saying don't plan.  I am the world's biggest planner.  I have to be detail-oriented, planful, and know what I'm doin' and where I'm goin' and what my course of action is to get there.  I'm just sayin', try to live a little more in the moment.  Stop and smell the roses kinda thing.


What do you do to stay in the present and not let your mind run away with you?  Are you more Type A or can you roll with whatevah happens and not stress?



:)
Averie

Stay tuned for a yoga explosion post....