you'll want to keep eating reading

I say this because I have a day's worth of glorious eats and TWO recipes for you tonight!

Remember last night how I said I was enjoying the chocolate almond butter while writing? Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure this made me sick. I had a horrible stomachache for the rest of the night, and it just didn't go over so well.

you were delicious.. except my tummy didn't like you

 I'm kind of wary of saying this because I don't want to admit it, but I think chocolate is giving my stomach problems lately. I am thinking back tot he last couple of times when I made my chocolate protein muffins and the same thing happened then as well. Now that I'm aware, I'll have to test out my theory... but will be really upset if chocolate is the culprit. Digestable or not, the snack bowl below totally rocked my world last night.

1/2 organic pink lady, cherries, raisins, cashews, chocolate almond butter, and a tiny sliver of a pb&j larabar

 I just want everything at night... so I make it happen!

I roused myself out of bed this morning at the lovely hour of 6:30. I tried to get out of bed to make the husband breakfast today, but he wouldn't let me. Moreover, I fell back asleep for a good hour. It felt good.

Today was another beautiful vegan overnight oats parfait with cherries and blueberries as the layers. I am really excited because I got another pound of blueberries at the store today for $2.88! I wasn't out yet, but I figured I HAD to take advantage of the deal.

i know you're jealous of my breakfast, but we can still be friends.

Want to get closer?

you're right.. that's not close enough.

How about this close?

oh yes.. much better

 I did a lot of busywork today, including but not limited to:

• throwing away my bridal bouquet - some may call me heartless, but i will just tell them i'll look at the pictures to remember what they looked like.

• measure my windows for roman shades with the help of my interior designer bestie
• finish up the most laundry I've ever done in my life
• run 4.5 miles in 40 minutes (what's up 8:50 pace!!)
• make the most delicious guacamole I've ever consumed.. EVER!

1/2 avocado smashed, 4-5 chopped grape tomatoes, 1/8 cup chopped red onion, salt and pepper to taste

I had that guacamole for lunch atop a romaine salad with mushrooms and salsa. I also ate a pink lady (an apple, not a person) but the picture was too blurry and embarassing to even post it.

I got some new hummus at the store today! I am all out of my regular hummus (::tear::), so I figured this would suffice for the time being. I got roasted garlic and the original variety.

Verdict is it is very good, but I still like my guy better. I HAVE to get to Costco soon!

I gave the husband two choices this evening: spaghetti or chicken. He chose spaghetti with chicken. He and I have the same problem apparently... we just can't choose! So, I set off to make him an easy marinara loaded with great veggies.

Marinara Madness

What you'll need:

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 zucchini, cut in small chunks
• 5 cloves (yes, 5!) garlic, 3 chopped, 2 in chunks
• 2 cans (15 oz) organic diced tomatoes
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• handful fresh basil
• salt, pepper, oregano, granulated garlic

How it's done:

Start by heating a dutch oven to medium high heat. Before you do this, coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil.

While this is heating, chop your veggies to your desired consistencies - I like a chunkier sauce, so my vegetables weren't as small.

Dump the onion, garlic, and zucchini into the dutch oven and cook until tender and translucent.

While your veggies are cooking, chop your fresh basil into small pieces. If you don't have fresh basil, dried basil is also acceptable.

doesn't this just scream "summer"!?

Add in your two cans of diced tomatoes and spices once vegetables are tender.

Let the sauce simmer for 45 min - 1 hour. The longer it simmers, the more the flavors blend together!

To be honest with you, when it comes to spices I couldn't tell you whether I added 1/8 tsp or 2 tbsps. of a particular spice. I spice to taste, so it never comes out the same. I apologize if you are a strict recipe follower, but that's just not how I roll.

This sauce was enough for the husband and I (I use a lot!), so if you are feeding more than 2 people, you may want to double the recipe!

I wasn't feeling spaghetti tonight. I don't know why, but I just didn't want it. The husband is more than happy to indulge in brown rice pasta with me, but I let him enjoy his wheat laden pasta tonight for once. I got to work on a concoction inspired by Angela's Speed it Up Spinach and Chickpeas.

In a pot went the following:

• 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• handful mushrooms
• handful chopped basil
• 3-4 cups fresh baby spinach
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2-1 cup Marinara Madness (above)
• 1 tbsp gluten free flour (to thicken it all up)

I let it all hang out for 15 minutes or so, and was served up this delicious bowl!

I'm not going to lie, I could have eaten it all by myself, but I reminded myself how much I enjoy my evening snack. All of the flavors blended together so well. It was a clean and light mix - I didn't feel weighed down at all when I was done eating. This is definitely a keeper in my books!

Now it is time to go find said snack and catch up with you all! I am ready to relax, how about you?

Question: Do you cook more than one dinner in your household or do you make one meal and let others "deal with it"? For me, I don't mind cooking more than one thing. I would never force anyone to eat something they wouldn't enjoy. I also didn't feel like I spent a lot of time modifying my meal to fit my needs.

Question #2: Who out there is going to Healthy Living Summit this weekend? I am going for the day on Saturday, and I couldn't be more excited! I'm looking forward to meeting some of my bloggers!

vegan crumble coffee cake

Ahhh... the joys of a quiet house on a beautiful Sunday morning - nothing gets better than oats and coffee in the morning.

The husband enjoys sleeping in a while on Sunday mornings, while my body clock tells me to wake up at 6 a.m. every morning. Do I mind? Definitely not. I love some Chelsey time in the morning to eat, read some blogs, and catch up with the world.

This morning I decided to try the coffee we bought while we were in Mexico. The shop we bought it from was amazing - it was a chocolate cafe and had so many delectable things such as coffees, ice creams, cacao nibs, chocolate covered cacao beans... well, you get the picture.

This coffee was very good. I like pretty strong coffee, and I figured out the husband likes mild coffee, so I only made enough for myself this morning. It wasn't too strong, but the flavor was incredible. Mildly bitter with a nutty chocolate aftertaste. That is my kind of coffee!

Next up was how any other morning should start: with vegan overnight oats. These honestly do not ever get old, and I remember how I was afraid to try them at first. You can read about my first experience with them here. This made me want to go back and read through my archives - I love having my little diary. :)

i may or may not be obsessed with the color yellow.
the husband is not - so i find sneaky ways to accent it in our home.

topped with blueberries, strawberries, cinnamon, peanut butter, and coconut

i'm glad i'm going to WF soon - my coconut supply is running very low!

I just can't get over how beautiful food is - I love having this blog so I can appreciate the good fuel which goes into my body.

Okay, I'll get to the recipe now since I have been teasing you with overnight oats when really you just want to see a coffee cake recipe.

Vegan Crumble Coffee Cake inspired by Vegan Yum Yum

"crumb" topping:

• 3/4 cup flour (i used GF)
• 2/4 cup oat flour (i used the proccessor to grind oats)
• 1/4 cup oats (I used GF)
• 8 tbsp. vegan margarine
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. salt

coffee cake:

• 1 1/4 cup flour (I used a combo of GF and oat flour)
• 1/4 cup turbinado (also known as Sugar in the Raw)
• pinch of baking soda (you can also use 1/s tsp. baking powder)
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• 1/3 cup almond milk + 1 tsp lemon juice (mix together and let sit for 10 minutes)
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• extra cinnamon for sprinkling

How it's Done:

1. Create your crumb topping first. Start by melting the margarine on the stovetop or in the microwave. Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a mixing bowl. Mix the melted margarine into the sugar. Slowly stir in the flour.
2. Set aside for 10 minutes while coffee cake is made.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

this wasn't as "crumbly" as I would have liked, but it worked! in the future, i would add more flour.

4. Combine the "dry" ingredients in a separate mixing bowl (flour, sugar, baking soda) and mix well.
5. Add in the "wet" ingredients (vanilla, applesauce, almond milk) and stir until blended. Do NOT overmix.

i love this baking dish - it's from crate and barrel in case you were wondering!

 6. Spray your 8x8 or 9x6 baking dish with cooking spray of your choice.
7. Evenly spread the dough on the bottom of the dish. It may look like it's not enough, but it really rises up. (Just go with it!)
8. Sprinkle cinnamon over the dough for some extra flavor!
9. Spread "crumble" mixture over the top of the dough. I was going to do this in little chunks, but the mixture was too soupy.
10. Bake in oven for 40-45 minutes.

vegan crumble coffee cake

Doesn't this look divine? It is the perfect weekend treat! I originally was going to make it for the husband this morning, but I am bringing it over to his parent's house after church as they are having some family over. I, of course, had to try a piece! Sometimes when I make new recipes I insist upon trying them before anyone else eats it. That way when I tell them it's gluten free and vegan they aren't afraid to try different things!

Enjoy your Sundays everyone! Guess where I'm going today! I'll give you a little hint! Recap to follow tonight.

Question: Have you ever tried a new recipe and did not get the reaction you thought you would? Good or bad, share it all!

BEFORE AND AFTER!!

Thank you all for all your kind words and extra support. I knew I could count on you all to make me feel better! You all are the reason why I love to blog - I love having friends everywhere!

We all make promises we can't keep sometimes. For me, it was promising you all before and after pictures a long long time ago - what was it, Saturday? Well, low and behold, they are here! You don't get to see the office or guest room yet - they're just not done! :)

Before we get to that, I want to share with you all the wonderful creation that is food.

Breakfast consisted of a beautiful overnight oats parfait. You can't really see it, but there is a layer of oats, a layer of peaches, another layer of oats, and a layer of blueberries. I know.. take it all in.

breakfast is best accompanied by a computer reading blogs

overnight oats just wouldn't be complete without cinnamon, cocnut, and peanut butter

can you see the peaches?

 I left pretty early this morning because I had to go get adjusted at the chiropractor. He knows FH very well, and was very excited about our wedding on Friday! When I got to the parent's house, I was famished - it was only 9:30!

So I pulled out all the stops with a classic pre-run fueling session: raisins and almonds.

Just before I was about ready to run, my dad told me a package had come for me and he had put it in the basement. The flowers for my centerpieces had arrived! We ordered them online from Costo, of all places! I had to cut all the stems and put them in a bucket until tomorrow.

has anyone ever seen the netting they put over flowers? i wasn't sure whether to take it off or keep it on until tomorrow. at least they're protected!

 I went for a quick 3 miler after I got that squared away. I actually felt really good running today - a lot quicker than I normally feel. Perhaps it's because I wans't wearing my watch so I had no clue how fast I was actually going?

When I got back to my house, it was lunch time, and I was once again, hungry! I purposefully made extra stuffed tomatoes from the other night for just this reason! I had half of an avocado and some crackers and hummus as well.

i'm not kidding - you need to make this.

after i cut out a sliver

 I won't lie - after I ate that, I got more quinoa out of the fridge and topped it with more hummus. I don't know what's with me today! Whatever, if I'm hungry, I might as well eat, right? All of this was eaten chilled. It was really good after the flavors had a chance to marinate for the past couple of days.

After lunch, I did something I haven't done in a long time.

No, it's not "eating an apple" - good guess though! I sat down on my couch, and watched TV. Actually, I watched the new episode of Teen Mom to be exact. I cannot tell you how long it's been since I've had an afternoon to myself to just relax. After that, I may or may not have fallen asleep, face down, in my bed for a whole 25 minutes. It felt good.

Now, I wanted to post these pictures because I know you've been waiting and I may not have a chance to blog again until tomorrow night. My bestie is on her way up here, and my other bestie is coming when she gets off of work! I'm cooking dinner for everyone - this is totally a flashback to two years ago when we all lived together for 2 years! I'm super pumped, and they're going to like me taking pictures of every minute to document! :)

Living Room before:

sorry, I really don't have a good shot of it :)

 Living Room after:

it's still kind of barren in here - we need rugs, different pillows, window treatments.. the whole works

Kitchen before:

scraping this wallpaper was NOT a party

Kitchen after:

Kitchen before:

Kitchen after:

eventually we're going to put a range microwave in and use the place where the microwave is right now as a decorative space

I looove how the green on the walls totally toned down the color of these cabinets. They look awesome now!

Hallway before:

Hallway after:

Bathroom before:

Bathroom after:

Done and done, my friends! I am off to have a fabulous time with my friends!

a little help from friends

"What would you think if I sang out of tune,

Would you stand up and walk out on me?

Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song,

And I'll try not to sing out of key.

Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends."

I'm not going to lie, I almost did not blog today because I am exhausted, irritated, and just plain stressed. However, I knew you would all give me a little bloggie love if I told you about my day.

First of all, I'm so glad you all liked my stuffed tomatoes from last night! I have one hanging out in my fridge to make an appearnace sometime tomorrow!

I think my problem with today started when I woke up at 5:30 and couldn't fall back asleep. I got out of bed around 6 and decided to take my time with breakfast this morning.

whipped banana oats with oodles of toppings, monkey cup coffee, h20

i realized this breakfast would be perfect for the 4th of july!

cherries (red), coconut (white), and blueberries (blue) - of course topped with cinnamon and peanut butter

I left my house pretty early to go over to my parents where the dining room table is wedding central! Before I went, I got in a strength training session over at the gym. It was only 9:30 when my stomach started rumbling - I guess that's good and it must mean my muscles needed to be repaired! It also may have had something to do with the fact I ate breakfast at 6. I snacked on this bad boy:

delicious, but i'll take my cashew cookie bar over this one any day

I had no idea how intense the place card making would be. It took me probably three hours to do all of the following:

• print out
• tear apart
• put into table groups to make sure no one accidently got left out
• put into A-Z groups
• Alphabetize

My printer really didn't like these - I swear at a couple of points my printer literally SPIT them out at me. They FLEW out of the printer. It was kind of weird, but had me laughing nonetheless.

I also cut our favor cards as well. We are doing a donation instead of a traditional favor, so those will go in place of a menu card. At about noon, I picked up my mom and we went on some errands and to my favorite lunch place: Chipotle!

Chipotle is almost the only "fast food" place I can go to eat. I love the quality of the food, and I also love the morals of the company. Chipotle strives to use the best ingredients - I absolutely love it. You really can't see my burrito bol underneath that pile of lettuce - I always get extra!

Just so you're aware, however, I had black beans, fajita veggies, a plethara of salsas, guac, and lettuce

From here on out, I apologize for the fact that my picture taking was really lacking today. I had a really stressful afternoon. First, mommasita and I went to Costco to get sooo many lemons and clementines for my centerpieces. When I got home, I started to continue on my wedding duties when I got a call from the country club where we're getting married at and having our reception. I went in there yesterday to make our final payment and was sooo happy to finally have that past us. I got a call today from the accountant saying they made a mistake and forgot to charge us sales tax! I looked at the recepts, and sure enough.. they did.

Now, here's the thing: it was their mistake. Their mistake is costing us another $700. Something seems a little wrong with that. It would have been one thing if they were nice about it and didn't sound accusing (yes, she made it seem like I was TRYING to get away with not paying.. seriously?), but the woman was rude, very aggressive, and just not nice. She was not very sympathetic to the fact that that amount of money is a really big deal to a young couple who are paying for a wedding and just renovated a house. I was hysterical, FH was livid, but in the end... we have to pay if we want to get married. It is so frustrating.

After that whole debacle, I went to go pick up my wedding dress from the woman who steamed it. She is a friend of someone I know, and she did a great job putting my bustles on. However, when you walk into her house, you can definitely tell it is a house with smokers. The room she uses as her sewing room is totally smoke free, and the last time I dropped my dress off and picked it up, it was totally fine. Today, however, when I picked it up, it was hanging out in the living room. I took it home, unwrapped it as she instructed me, and my entire bedroom reeked of smoke. MY WEDDING DRESS SMELLS LIKE A BOWLING ALLEY. I am so unbelievably mad it is not even funny. Needless to say, hysterical again, I called mommasita. She assured me it would get better before Friday, but I am so angry about it. I even called the seamstress to tell her about it and she "just can't believe" it happened. Well, DUH lady! If you smoke in the house and leave my dress hanging in a smoke infested room, my dress is definitely going to smell like smoke.

At this point, I had given myself a stomachache from all the stress and was just done with the day. I had to meet FH, his brother, and sister in law for dinner though. His brother is marrying us and wanted to go over the final details of the ceremony. I am glad I went because I had a great time catching up with them. I didn't get a pic of my food, but I want you to picture a chopped salad with tomatoes, cukes, onions, olives, and mushrooms. There was also a homemade vinagrette on the salad. I wish I could have had something else, but we were at a pizza joint so there weren't very many options.

When I got home, FH put together the bed for our guest room and I put in a load of laundry. Guess what we found out!! Our washer is leaking. You've got to be kidding me. Looks like I will be doing laundry at Mommasita and Big Daddy Wayne's before the honeymoon.

I wnated to calm down so at about 9:30, I pulled oat (I meant to write OUT, but hey... Fruedian slip, right?) some blueberry muffin crunch cereal to make me feel better about my life.

Nice job muffin man, nice job. You did your job.

I know a lot of you are commenting about how calm I seem 3 days before my wedding, but I'm really not! I'm a crazy wreck.

In retrospect though, if the only bad thing that happens is my dress is a little smelly and I have to dish out more cash than I expected, so be it.

My bestie comes tomorrow (not the one who was featured on here before... I can have two okay?)!! I'm so pumped!

Question: Can you give me some words of encouragement for the days ahead? I would really appreciate it! I love reading everyone's comments. They keep me going for sure!