photos from the weekend

this past weekend felt really long, which is always a nice change of pace.

we wanted something quick and easy for friday night's dinner and decided on burritos!


they were just hodgepodge of things we needed to get rid of in our fridge.

later on we met up with two new friends! our first stop was swift half, but unfortunately the music was blaring and we could barely hear each other. we then ventured across the street to bar ferdinand.
i was very impressed at bar ferdinand because they even make their PBRs look classy!


saturday morning i woke up fairly early because i was finally going to use one of my birthday gifts! eric's parents got me a facial at a nearby spa and i was very excited to finally put it to use.

i went to terme di aroma in old city and really liked it. the spa was nice and everyone was extremely friendly.

on my walk back i noticed this outside a club.

i don't think you are allowed to bring hair combs/picks inside? maybe people get stabbed with them?

the weather was really nice saturday, but instead of enjoying it eric and i were lazy and watched movies all day.

i mentioned a long time ago that eric bought me some vegan marshmallows, and i finally found some vegan (although not healthy at all) graham crackers, and i have been on a smore making spree!

i have to pace myself with making these.

we went out to dinner with some friends saturday night, but came home fairly early.

before bed, i prepped breakfast for the next day.
side note, there are a lot of foods i really wish i liked and would eat, but i just can't. i'll try them, but hate them. oatmeal is one. i WISH i liked oatmeal, but i can't. but i think i finally found a way to enjoy oatmeal, sort of.
i discovered breakfast cookies recently and eric and i have been obsessed. they are really quick and easy.


you prep everything the night before. my current combination is oatmeal, almond butter, flax seeds, pumpkin, chocolate chips, goji berries and hemp milk. combine everything in a bowl then flatten out on a plate and refrigerate overnight.

in the morning you have this deliciousness.


it's very filling very yummy. i gobbled this up sunday morning then eric and i rode our bikes over to kelly drive.
i am currently doing a training plan to run the broad street run in may, and my run this weekend called for 6 miles. a few weeks ago i decided to see if any 10k races were going on that i could run that weekend. luckily i found one.

the race was the northeast roadrunners winter 10k. i think it might be the longest consecutive race in philly?
it was a pretty small, low key race. no chips, no swag bags, and it went along the walking/running/bike path that everyone else uses on kelly drive.
since it was so low-key eric decided to run it with me at the last minute, unofficially.



we ended up finishing in about 55 minutes. not too bad for our first 10k!


i might have a new running partner?


after the run we came back home and just hung out. i was starting to get sick and really didn't feel like doing anything.
but eventually the baking itch hit and i started going through cookbooks. i had received vegan cookies invade your cookie jar for christmas, but hadn't used the book yet. after flipping through i decided to make the lazy samoas, a take on girl scout cookies! i was really excited and had high expectations, since those used to be my favorite girl scout cookie.



i am happy to say these cookies did not disappoint.



and i am sad to say that i am officially sick. last night i thought i was coming down with the flu, but this morning i feel slightly better and think it just might be a cold.

photos from the weekend

although the weather was nice this weekend i didn't really get out and enjoy it. eric and i were kind of on opposite schedules, and i enjoyed my time alone at home.

i've never really lived with anyone, so i am used to being alone and having my quiet time. moving in with eric completely changed that. we like a lot of the same things so we do a lot of things together.

so i took full advantage of hanging out, reading without disturbance, and watching trashy tv while he was out riding his bike.


eric has a juicer, and i would like to start using it more, but it's so expensive to buy produce just to juice it. grapefruits were on sale last weekend so i picked up a few with the intention of juicing them. oddly enough, grapefruit is something i really miss about texas. it's grown there and you can get it extremely cheap. here is so expensive!


the cats enjoyed all the sunshine this weekend as well. we have two windows in our kitchen, but they only like to lay in the sunlight of one window and take turns lounging.

we ended up going out to dinner at memphis taproom.


eric and i like to order a flight of beers and share them. it's $10 for 3 and let's us try some new beer.


eric and i ordered the same thing for dinner, the veggie burger with smoked coconut. their veggie burger is amazing. it's a quinoa/white bean mixture, and the smoked coconut just puts it over the top.

sunday eric went out riding again, which left me plenty of time to get busy in the kitchen.
i started out by preparing things to put in the dehydrator.


i made some more macaroons. unfortunately we couldn't eat too many because i made these for someone.


i also made carrot falafel from http://www.choosingraw.com . it doesn't really taste like falafel, but it's still good and i plan on doing a greek night this week.


i also made corn fritters! i used about 2 cups of corn, 1 cup of almond flour (ground almonds), some cilantro, salt pepper and cayenne. these turned out great, and a lot better/healthier than traditional corn fritters.


in addition to all the raw food i made some cooked food as well.
we both really enjoyed the energy bars i made last week so i made them again.


the only difference? this time i added goji berries! i really liked the addition of the berries. i had bought some a while back and forgot about them. i was happy i remembered to add them to the energy bars.

and i made my favorite bread ever.

no knead! i used the quick rise version, recipe here.
but instead of bread flour i do half whole wheat and half white whole wheat flour. i also add in about 1/4 cup of nuts/seeds. this load had sunflower, pepitas, sliced almonds and poppyseeds.


i could barely wait to have a slice lathered in pesto.

eric eventually came home bearing gifts!


one of his bike friends had gone to vegan treats and picked us up doughnuts. so awesome!


these were demolished.

no kitta pictures this week, but here's another picture of grissom!

dessert of the week

we finally made it through the ice cream cake. and we are almost finished with the red velvet cupcakes. but i figured it was time for a new dessert.
i went back to an old favorite, carrot oatmeal cookies, from 101 Cookbooks .



these are great cookies to make for vegans because they are already egg-free. and there is no processed sugar. and they have carrots in them!



and they are easy to change/modify. the first time i made them i used almonds instead of walnuts and topped them with coconut. this time i added some sunflower seeds.