Decompressing with Curry Salad & A Mushroom Burger

Ah, Happy Saturday! And what a wonderful, laid back day it’s been after our nightmare week. I slept in until a lazy 7:30 AM this morning because my dog decided it was time for me to get up. But I had a relaxed, slow morning sipping coffee. Typically on week mornings I always have a protein smoothie for breakfast because it’s easy, does not bloat my half-awake tummy and still keeps me bright-eyed and bushy-tailed when I arrive in the office at 7:30 AM. However, I still miss a hearty oatmeal or cereal breakfast occasionally. So one of my goals for this year is to be more adventurous with breakfast on weekends trying new raw and vegan options. Or even some of the amazing oatmeal creations I’ve seen on other blogs. I started that this morning with a bowl of Uncle Sam’s original cereal, busy day almond milk, a chopped organic pear and Trader Joe’s organic frozen blueberries.

The cereal was very hearty and filling, but not sweet at all. In fact, the flavor was a bit plain by itself. It tasted a lot like you’d expect a dry, high fiber cereal would taste. I don’t think I’d enjoy it without a sweetened nut or seed milk, but it was fine with sweetened almond milk and fruit. It was a good pre-run breakfast, I went for a 5-mile run about an hour after eating this and didn’t notice any stomach problems or energy sags. And it held me during a long hot shower and some house chores after.

About 4 hours later, my stomach was ready for lunch and I threw together one of my odd-combo salads.

A veggie-packed salad dressed with sauerkraut and the curry hemp sauce from Kristen Suzanne’s Hemp Recipe book. Sauerkraut and curry is a combo my hubby still won’t try, but I love it – tangy, little spicy, creamy and very satisfying.

After we headed out for a little shopping spending plenty of time looking at geek toys and camera goodies at Best Buy then headed to the mall to look at sales. Victoria’s Secret was having their epic semi-annual sale where I scored two bras. So Averie, this pic is for you!

Keeping it real too! These two were an awesome price and super comfortable. In fact the silver bra is so comfortable that I was doing the happy dance in the dressing room. But oh my, was VS crowded! As expected for a Saturday sale, hubby is a real trooper for standing in line with me!

So much shopping made us starved for dinner and we stepped over to Paul Martin’s American Bistro for dinner. Sorry, I did not have the DSLR camera with me, just the point-and-shoot, which doesn’t do well in dark, classy, mood lighting. But since getting the DSLR and learning more about photography, I’m getting better about dealing with the limitations of my point-and-shoot … sort of. We’ve been to Paul Martin’s a lot and they have a burger made out of three types of fresh, organic mushrooms that I’m slightly addicted to.

Each time I get it, it’s a slightly different adventure because it’s made with fresh mushrooms. As a side, it came with and wonderfully interesting mint quinoa lightly seasoned with basil.

I’ve gotta try to recreate this, who knew mint could be so tasty in quinoa – yum! Also lightly seasoned green beans sauteed in olive oil.

Mixed with a fantastic bottle of zinfandel, it was a wonderfully relaxing meal after the crazy week we’ve had. And it officially put me in weekend mode to enjoy the rest of the long weekend.