Kirkwood Spring Fling!

My husband and I have been trying to eat healthy the past few months (vegan, no processed foods, no sugar) and we have been doing pretty good. 

I still indulge in a chocolate bar every now and again, and get raw sugar in my coffee, but other than that, I am off of sweets.

Don't try to take away my chocolove. It's like heaven gave birth to an angel in your mouth.

My husband asked me to make cookies to bring to his internship and I decided to go all-out and make oatmeal pecan chocolate chip cookies. 

Real butter, real sugar, real flour, real processed. 

I may or may not have eaten six of these giant cookies tonight and now I may or may not feel like $#!%. My heart is racing and pumping hard thanks to the sugar and butter overload and my head feels like it may explode. 

But I will probably eat another one tomorrow. Just one though. 

Maybe two. 

In other news, this past weekend was the Kirkwood Spring Fling and I had a great time at the festival! The weather stayed pleasant most of the day (only a touch of rain) and I loved getting to meet people in my neighborhood. 

This was the first craft show that I have ever done in the Atlanta area and it did not disappoint. The vendors were great, the music was awesome and I was situated right at a corner between the beer and the toilets (festival hot spots).

Thank you so much to everyone who came out and supported the artists/businesses in our community. Your kind words and business are greatly appreciated!

~ With Love, Ashlee ~

High Five For Friday!

Howdy Everyone! Today I am linking up with Lauren from 'My Grey Desk' blog and telling you about the five things I am excited about this Friday.

/one/

Tonight we are going to hang out with friends at a bar/restaurant and watch some basketball. We have been cooped up in the house all week, so we are excited to get out, he is excited to drink and I am excited to pretend to watch basketball.

/two/

My college basketball bracket is doing awesome so far. 

I am only going to talk about it this once, I swear (maybe twice). 

I am not going to pretend to be that 'cool girl' who knows about basketball and March Madness and what not. I don't know about it really and I am not super interested, but I am competitive and this really stimulates the urge I have to beat my husband at all games.

So far, I am kicking his butt. Hard. 

 

Rock Chalk Jayhawk all the way!

/three/

I made this banana bread yesterday and it is super awesome. 

(source)

It is oil free, sugar free and I made it using a mixture of oat and whole wheat flour. It is delicious, really moist and not that sweet (it uses the dates and bananas for sweetness). 

When you split the loaf into eight slices, only 193 calories per slice.

(If you make the recipe, I made the following changes ... 

* Original called for 2 cups whole wheat flour, I did 1.5 cups whole wheat flour, .5 cups oat flour;

* Original called for 1 tsp cinnamon, I did 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice instead;

* Original called for 2 cups mashed bananas, I only had enough bananas on hand for 1.25 cups mashed, so I added organic unsweetened applesauce for the other .75 of a cup;

* I also added 1 tsp vanilla just because I am wild like that)

/four/

We finished Downton Abbey season 2 last night. 

I laughed, I cried, I cheered. 

(source)

/five/

We went running today for the first time since the marathon. We only went two miles, but it was good to get everything moving. I am still surprisingly sore in odd places (i.e. tops of my feet) and felt tired even after two miles. 

So that's all the awesomeness I got for now, but can I just talk about one thing I am super bummed about?? 

Who the hell at ABC decided to cancel Bachelor Pad?? 

(source)

In my superior to the execs at ABC's opinion, it was the best reality/game/dating show ever! It had everything I wanted!

Drama, romance, comedy!

It was the Shakespeare of our time. 

I literally gasped out loud when I read about the cancellation today. I had been looking forward to it all year and now....it's not going to happen. 

I need to make a petition.

~ With Love, Ashlee ~

Cyberspace Corral!!

Working from home has many advantages as well as disadvantages.

Advantages for me ...

1) I haven't had to shower since Sunday

2) I wore yoga pants all day

3) I ate a lot of food and no one judged me

4) I can get puppy kisses whenever I want

Disadvantages for everyone else (aka my husband) ...

1) I haven't showered since Sunday

2) All I wear is yoga pants

3) I eat a lot of food without a care

4) I create songs that I think my puppy would sing to me if he could talk. I then proceed to sing them aloud all day in my puppy's voice.

And yeah, I've made a voice for him. I use it when him and I chit chat during the day.

An example of one of our songs. 

It is to the tune of the bubblegum pop classic, 'I Want Candy.' 

'I know a mom who’s tough but sweet.

She’s so nice, she can’t be beat.

She’s got rawhides that I desire.

Rubs my tummy until I tire.

I love Mommy. I love Mommy.

I love Mommy. I love Mommy.'

Now that I have thoroughly disappointed all of you, let's get to the topic of tonight's blog.

**Cyberspace Corral!!**

Alright, so here are some of the best things I found on the internet this week.

one.

Please watch this video. It had me cracking up.

I love pop music but the resemblance to goats is uncanny. 

When I was in Swaziland, we lived in a hut that was surrounded by hundreds of goats. Goat cries are really creepy and human-like, and sound just like little children crying. 

Or Miley Cyrus.

two. 

I may or may not have eaten this microwave cake-in-a-cup three times in the past 24 hours 

(surprise ... I did!)

Here's the recipe...

I think the real goodness in this cake comes from the buttery, brown sugar topping. 

Buttery. Brown Sugar. Topping.

Done & done. 

three. 

Blowfish shoes is clearing out a lot of stock and is having a huge sale where $10 are taken off every pair of sale and clearance shoes. Plus free shipping on all orders.

I got these guys for $8.99 (and free shipping). 

If you have never worn blowfish shoes before, I really recommend them. Super comfy and pretty darn cute.

These guys are only $29.99! I wanted to grab them, but they didn't have them in my size. 

Curse all you big footed girls who grabbed them before me!

So yeah, that's what I found over the past few days. Hope you enjoy!

~ With Love, Ashlee ~

My Mind on My Donuts, My Donuts on My Mind

If you have ever hung out with me, you have probably watched me consume some form of sugar. 

Last Friday night my husband and I hung out with some friends and I was pretty excited to discover that they had a fried Nutella sandwich on the menu. 

No shame here. 

Hanging out in Colorado with my mom is very fun for me for a few reasons. Besides getting to spend time with a cool lady and buy new clothes, I get to eat my heart out at the 'Donut Hut.' 

Over the past few days, I have consumed way more donuts than what is socially acceptable. Let's just say I haven't quite hit a dozen yet, but will probably after tomorrow morning's breakfast. 

I like to think that I am not discriminating, and love donuts of all colors, textures and fillings. 

I am an equal opportunity donut eater.

1. KristiMcmurry on etsy / 2. Akane on etsy / 3. Artbites on etsy

4. PaperSkyPhotography on etsy / 5. HeyYoYo on etsy / 6. PetitPlat on etsy

7. HelloSmallWorld on etsy / 8. KeepCalmShop on etsy

Treat yourself and enjoy a donut today :)

Cinnamon Raisin Bread?

On a whim a few months ago I bought baking raisins (the kind already plump and moist) and have had baking with them on my to-do list since then. I finally got around to it today as my apartment smelled weird and old and I needed something to spice up the air around here.

I found this recipe on www.100daysofrealfood.com. Now it is not 100% vegan as it does use honey as the sweetener. I am a vegan that uses honey, so if you don't, use agave or vegan cane sugar, or brown rice syrup. I wanted to try this recipe out because it uses coconut oil in it. A lot of it in fact. I bought some a few months ago after reading about some delicious things my sister-in-law was using it for and have been really bummed out by it in my own adventures. I have used it only twice...1) Made a grilled cheese for husband with it. Didn't get good reviews as he doesn't like his coconuts and cheese mixing. 2) For frosting. What a disaster. Due to its consistency, it just kept melting and sliding off the cupcakes. I had to add so much powdered sugar to the frosting to get it firm up that my teeth ached after one bite.

Now...this baby just came out of the oven. And wow....adding a 1/2 cup of oil to it just makes it fabulous! I had to improvise from the original recipe as my bread machine turned off by itself half-way through the process and I had no idea when to add the raisins (btw...I did it after the bread rose for about 45 minutes). This bread is so moist. The bread machine massacured my raisins, so there is really not a single whole raisin in it, but raisin bits throughout it. Honestly, this bread takes like the dark rye bread they serve at Outback Steakhouse (I haven't had it in a few years, but I remember it fondly).

So to sum up...coconut oil in baking bread is awesome. No coconut taste and incredibly moist bread. Baking raisins are a joke, but when your bread machine purees them, it gives your bread a rye taste. And somehow after following a recipe for cinnamon raisin bread I made Outback Steakhouse bread. Sounds like a success to me!

Here's a link to the recipe... http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/05/25/recipe-whole-wheat-cinnamon-raisin-bread-for-bread-machine/