Ah, this has been a relaxing weekend. We just got back from having lunch and spending some time with my 90-something grandma setting up her new flat panel TV. Poor thing, the old tube TV she had has been dying a slow death with a screen so blurry she could hardly make out the characters she was watching. She insisted on preparing lunch for us which was a little nerve racking since she hasn’t exactly been approving of me cutting out meat. But she was supper sweet serving a huge salad, nuts and tomato soup and understood when I skipped the Jello dessert opting for a fresh orange instead. Anyway, the last couple of mornings have looked like this from our backyard.
Foggy, quiet and a little eerie – felt like an X-files episode. Anyway, at the Foodbuzz Blogger Fest, I scored some sweet free cereal coupons that I’m finally using. Before going high raw, I used to eat cereal just about every day, but replaced my breakfasts with monster green smoothies. This weekend I tried a Erewhon Strawberry Crisp cereal with homemade hemp milk.
The cereal reminded me of Special K with strawberries, but not as sweet. The dehydrated strawberries were a little more tart, but I like that it wasn’t too sweet and nice that it’s gluten free. It was a fun breakfast throw back and I think I need to have more fun with breakfast on the weekends. But tomorrow morning is back to my regular smoothies. And because I missed a smoothie in the morning and knew we’d be going out for dinner, I had a green monster for lunch including a lot of chia seed gel.
Okay, the jar looks disgusting, like bug larva. But I assure you it doesn’t taste anything like it… and is much better for you. Since learning about all the benefits of chia seeds, I’ve been trying to glob a couple of tablespoons of chia seed gel into my smoothies daily from a jar of pre-mixed gel. And it’s simple to make, mix 2 cups of water and 2/3 cup of chia seeds in a jar and store in the fridge. I go through a jar about every week.
The smoothie tasted a lot better than it looked.
It was packed with kale, frozen peaches, hemp protein powder, carrot and chia gel with a little stevia and vanilla extract for sweetener. Some days a smoothie lunch is nice, especially if my stomach isn’t happy as it’s been over the last couple of days thanks to off-again and on-again sinus issues.
For dinner, we headed to Ten22 in Old Sacramento for a little dinner before a holiday light show and I had to laugh at the cocktail menu.
Bacon Bloody Mary? Ginger and Figs in a drink? These aren’t cocktails, they’re meals! We opted to go more traditional since I’ve been on a zin kick lately.
Very nice, bright, smooth and lacking in after taste. I also liked that it was served at a slightly chilled temp. For dinner, I had a wonderful winter squash raviolis with walnuts and cranberry. And I promise the picture looked good on my camera when I took it, but not so much when I pulled it off. Sorry about that, mood lighting and digital macro mode just does not play well together sometimes.
But the dish was wonderful, like pumpkin pie stuffed raviolis topped with walnuts and cranberries. Our waiter called it Christmas in a meal and I could see that.
After dinner, we had a little time to shop in Old Sac before the holiday light show, so I had to stop at one of my favorite shops.
Trust me, posting pics of the products I saw wouldn’t be appropriate. :-P At the Christmas shop, I did see these wild LED icicle tree lights that flashed down the bar like dripping icicles. I’m actually considering replacing our bubble lights with something like this for a more eco-friendly tree.
Then on to one of the many toy shops where I wanted to by these for our Christmas tree, but refrained.
When hubby saw this, his blurts, “Is that property sponge worthy?” :-)
Finally it was time for the outdoor light show and it was a lot of festive fun with music and Christmas tales acted out through windows and on roofs of the old buildings while light and sound effects were blasted on them. Sorry, this was the only decent picture I could snag since I also refrained from using a flash.
It was a fun night of holiday festivities and food which we needed after such a hellish week. Now I’m gonna go pout that it’s Sunday night and I’m stuck going back to work tomorrow.
I prefer green smoothies for breakfast too. I used to be a huge cereal and yogurt/granola lover, but tummy does better with smoothies.
But it is nice to “treat” myself to my old favorites.
I have yet to go out and see any Christmas lights, looked like a fun night!
True for me too, especially on week mornings when I have to leave the house so early – cereal is just too heavy.
Oh dear, I can’t even imagine my Grandma cooking for me (she just turned 90). I haven’t even told her about going vegan, she would think I was crazy. :)
Lol, I think mine still thinks I’m a little crazy and I had a can of vegan chili in my purse just in case I needed to add to the meal. :-)