It’s Friiiiiday!  Since I missed my Marvelous Monday post this week (I actually started it, just got sidetracked Sunday night), I thought I’d put everything into a Fantastic Friday post to catch you all up on some happy things in my life right now.  Life is busy, life is good, life is complicated….but there are plenty of FANTASTIC THINGS GOING ON!

Fantastic is….a girls night with my sis last weekend.  Whole Foods salad bar, bridal magazines, and a chick flick.  Best nights ever.

Fantastic is……fun easy reads. I love to read and lately am just into the mindless “chick lit.”  This book was fun and I spent many hours curled up on the couch with it.  Check out my furry friend chilling in the background.

Speaking of that furry guy, he sported a new fantastic cute outfit last weekend!  It was leftover from the doggy fashion show and I’ll probably end up donating it or saving it for the next fashion show, but I just had to try it on him.  I think he looks like he’s in “casual weekend wear.”

Fantastic also is……starting the week with a full fridge of good food.  I paid extra attention to start the week this way and it really does make the week that much better.

Fantastic is…..this pretty  bowl of mandarins that makes me happy just by looking at its bright colors. Oh yeah and they make me happy to eat too.

Fantastic is definitely….these granola/breakfast cookies I made.  I got this intense urge to bake the other day (weird, but I swear, I wanted to bake like none other at that moment) and basically just threw a bunch of things in a bowl (granola, oats, pb, chocolate & pb chips, maple syrup, walnuts, etc) and voila, they came out so yummy! I wish I could share the recipe with you guys, but I didn’t write it down.  I will say though, that it’s so nice to have a treat like this! I put in so many choc & pb chips that I’m not sure they can really count as breakfast, but….we still ate them for breakfast and mostly great for snacks.  YUM.  Must make them again.  They disappeared in 3 days with much help from me.

Fantastic is also…..making beer/soda bread!  I had this TJs beer bread in my cabinet for-evah.

No seriously, forever– check out the expiration date!

I made it anyways and am pretty sure it was still absolutely fine.  It was the easiest recipe.  I just added a can of beer. and poured some melted butter and maple syrup on top.  Jared and I aren’t big on beer so this one can has been in our fridge for a while now (who knows, it might be expired too!) so I was happy to use it up.  The bread came out great!  I ate plenty spread with earth balance.  A slice was my “gluten treat” of the day.  (I do best with a “mostly” gluten free diet, but something like one slice of bread doesn’t affect me. all about balance!).

Also fantastic?  Doing our wedding invitations last weekend!  My mom, sis, and I spent a few hours stuffing and addressing them.  We aren’t mailing them for another week, but it felt great to get them done.

Next on the list for wedding tasks?  I bought Jared’s groom gift this week and made a bunch more appointments (hair/makeup trial, food tasting, dj meeting, etc)….But this weekend, my task is making the guestbook!  We’re going to use shutterfly and make an album with photos, I think.  Fun creative weekend project!

Ok you tell me–

– What’s FANTASTIC in your world lately????
and…
– When was your last girls night?
–What’s the last chick lit book you read?
– If you were me, would you have thrown out that box of beer bread mix or made it anyways?
– Ever get the intense “urge” to bake??

What I Ate Wednesday, Valentine’s Day eats!

Thanks for hosting, Jenn!

These are my eats from yesterday– Valentine’s Day!  Since the day is known for its chocolate intake, getting veggies in took a little more thought than usual.  Cocoa beans grow on a tree, right?  How come chocolate isn’t considered a veggie?!

Breakfast:  Since I had such a chocolate-filled night last night, I thought I should prob get some veggies in early today.  I made a big ol’ green smoothie with the usual- spinach, banana, and blueberries.

Never fails, these always fill me up!

I drank this after I had a few cups of coffee, because in typical me-style, I woke up early to bake a Valentine’s Day cake!  I am a total habitual 6am baker (yes, I bake in my pajamas).  I sipped on coffee while mixing.  It actually worked out well because I could shower while the cake was in the oven.

Chocolate & Coffee....yuummmmm

And to continue the good morning, I woke up to these.  Beautiful, huh?

I'm a lucky girl! Best bf ever

My commute was a breeze this morning.  I think everyone played hookey for the holiday?

LUNCH:  I didn’t have time to make lunch before work, so I went over to Trader Joe’s around noon and picked up one of their pre-made salads.  This one had chicken and beets.   Their salads aren’t very good and never have much lettuce, so I bought an extra bag of organic romaine to add to it.   The salad wasn’t anything great, but it did the trick.

Also bought carrots and eggplant hummus to munch on.  (Have you tried their eggplant hummus?  Really tasty and less calories/fat than reg hummus)

There were a ton of sweets in my office today– Godiva chocolate and cupcakes– but I managed to hold off.  I wanted to save room for the cake.  So, yogurt for a snack instead.

EVENING:  For Valentine’s Day, Jared and I decided to stay in and cook together.  We made spaghetti and meatballs (his family recipe). We snuck some spinach into the sauce to up the veggie count and ate garlic bread on the side.  We had fun cooking together, ate by candle light, and the finished product was delish!

And of course, dessert!  Heart shaped chocolate cake.

It was already evening when I took these, so couldn't get the lighting right or any good pics sadly

Turned out cute though, huh?

Ended the day very full and happy.  I think my veggie count is only up to 4, but that’s not too bad for a chocolate-eating-holiday!

Were you able to get many veggies in on Valentine’s Day?
Do people bring in lots of chocolate and sweets to your work?
Do you ever bake in the early mornings?  Late at night?

Why have I never made nut butter before???  It is so ridiculously easy!  And it tastes so amazingly good!

This past weekend, I finally made nut butter.  It may be the start of a very fun recipe streak.

Here’s my easy How-To:

Maple Cinnamon Walnut Butter

I bought a few cups of walnuts out of the bulk bins at Whole Foods.  I nibbled on a bunch before I actually made the butter, so I would guess that I used 2.5 cups of walnuts for my walnut butter.

Threw it in the food processor.

Began grinding.  After about a minute, it looked all grainy like this:

Keep blending.  After another minute or two, it will get creamier.

Then, I added 2 tbs maple syrup, 1 tbs cinnamon, and 1 tsp sea salt (actually, that’s a lie– I originally forgot the salt and had to add it mid-way through the last mixing segment, but for recipe sake, let’s pretend that I added it when I was supposed to).

I let it pulse for another minute.

And that was it!  My very own  Walnut Butter! 

The maple cinammon flavor is very slight (I wanted it that way), so if you want it sweeter, feel free to add more.

I then tested my recipe with numerous spoonfuls and finally put it on a plate with a green apple.

Charlie was very, very intrigued.  I think the fresh walnut smell was driving him nuts (haha, no pun intended!).

"I'm sitting nicely Mom, can you share some with me, PLEASE."

So, I was a nice doggie-mom and let him lick some off my fingers.  He was in heaven.  Yes, I’ve said before that he eats most things, but I can still tell when he really likes something

"YUMMMMM"

I spooned it all into an old pb jar.  It filled about 2/3 of the jar.  (Please excuse the ugly label, I put a better one on later that day.)

"I am not letting that jar out of my sight," thinks Charlie.

And there you go, homemade nut butter!!  I’m all inspired to try making almond and cashew butters now.

Your turn!  Go ahead, make some!  MUCH cheaper than the store-bought, fresh, omega-3s, deliciousness!

Just a side note– I tried making this in the blender first (was having trouble putting the food processor together).  It didn’t work– the nuts kept getting stuck in the blade and it never made it past the grainy-stage.  So just in case you were wondering, thought it was worth mentioning.

Have you made nut butter before?  Do they even sell walnut butter in the store?