Banana milk

Early to bed, early to rise... Enjoying an early bedtime with a yummy treat. Remember the 'Tree House'? They have an amazing banana milk recipe that I tried to replicate tonight. From taste, I decided to use:

2 cups of milk

1 ripe banana

2 tablespoons of coconut water

2 teaspoons cinnamon

Blended in my Magic Bullet, it was a tasty, comforting drink to sip on before bed. Night!

Lemon-caper asparagus pasta

Asparagus is cheap right now, so I bought a bunch. I have never done anything with asparagus other than steam it but since I had just received an e-mail from Martha Stewart with asparagus recipes, I thought I'd try one out. The Roasted Asparagus with Capers and Lemon caught my eye, but I figured I'd incorporate it into my main course instead of having it as a side.

Following the recipe, I coated a baking sheet with olive oil and spread out the asparagus, rolling coat the stalks. I sprinkled sea salt and capers on top (not in any particular amounts), and roasted them for 16 minutes at 425.

I probably should have done a little less time (the recipe suggests 12-16 minutes so I'll probably shoot for 12  next time), but I was very pleased with my results.

To complete the meal, I put some whole wheat spaghetti atop the asparagus, drizzled it with olive oil, sprinkled lemons and capers on top, and devoured it!

Lemon scrub

All of this nice weather has been fantastic, and I'm definitely not complaining, but my skin was not ready for it! With my shorts and dresses on, I found that my skin was looking dull, bumpy, and over-all wintery. It was time to exfoliate! I love, love, love the Twisted Peppermint scrub for winter, but I wanted a fresh scent for spring, so I decided that I could probably just make one for much cheaper. Here's what I found: a salt scrub from The Beauty Department, only one of my favorite websites.

I doubled their recipe, so I used:

10 tbsp sea salt

2 tbsp olive oil

Juice from 2 lemons

It was as simple as mixing all three ingredients together, but I must warn you to make sure the sea salt is thoroughly coated in oil before adding the lemon juice or else the salt will dissolve. 

I was really looking forward to trying this DIY because I love using my citrus squeezer-tool!

I'm really happy with my fresh-smelling scrub! In the future, I think I'll experiment with lime and orange-scented versions for gifts!

Sunny Day

Hello Colorado sunshine! And some warmth to go with it!

I've been munching on yummy summery treats like fruit slices...

...and lime sherbet with fresh blackberries.

I wore shorts for the first time this year (other than an the gym), and officially have my first tan of the season!

I hope it's sunny where you are, and if not here are some tunes to make you feel like it is...

Michael Franti & Spearhead - The Sound of Sunshine

The Beatles - Here Comes The Sun

Back to journaling

A year ago I was journaling daily. I started to keep up my writing skills while completing a totally science-oriented degree.I loved having the time to myself, expressing my thoughts, writing in a Moleskine with a Le Pen, and writing in cursive. Lately however, I have been slacking, and after talking with my roommate we have decided to pick it back up, Journal Club-style.

So our inaugural night includes blueberry muffins, tea, and our Moleskines and Le Pens :)

Gnocchi galore

I love gnocchi. Love it. It seems a food's texture is just as important to me as it's flavor because gnocchi falls into the category of foods I have a weird obsession with, along with tapioca (in pudding and as bobas), water chesnuts, and mochi. 

Anyways, I had gnocchi for dinner with the boyfriend. We used a sundried tomato pesto (ohmygoshyum), goat cheese, and sauteed onions and spinach (he added Italian sausage as well because he isn't a vegetarian like me).  

(Mine)

(His)

If I haven't already convinced you with my previous post, you really must try gnocchi (it's usually in with the pasta in the grocery store). Really.

Kombucha

I love the transition from cold-weather drinks to warm-weather drinks. One of my new favorite warm-weather drinks is Kombucha, a strange beverage that smells like beer but tastes like a citrus-y ginger ale. It's very hard to explain, but either way it's delicious.

I had it for the first time at WaterCourse Foods and I was thrilled to find it at a grocery store near me.

This time I thought I'd try cranberry-flavored kombucha, which is delicious as well.