A Taste of Paradise

One day down, 30 more to go. I can do this.

And I know I say this a lot but THANK YOU, each and every one of you, from the bottom of my heart. Each comment left on last night?s post lifted my spirits, made me smile, gave me a laugh, and some even made me cry. You guys are truly amazing. There are no words, really. I love you all!!!!!!!! I don?t know what I would do without you.  I got some great tips on navigating the crutches and things to do with all this time. Knitting, crocheting, maybe so?

I have to say, today went by surprisingly fast. I won?t bore you with the details of what I did all day. But I will say, thank the Lord for blog reading, which kills LOTS of time. And I?m learning the ins and outs of navigating my house with crutches. I?ve learned how to get from one place to another with plates and bowls. I have learned to sit on my bottom and use my arms to slide across the floor, which makes bringing food from the kitchen and carrying things MUCH easier (the floors are going to be nicely dusted ). I will spare you other techniques that I have learned and the mental picture that comes with them? But holy crap, you guys are right, crutches are painful!!! And it?s not easy getting from place to place. But I’m getting better at it, even though I?m moving very slowly. I did sit outside on our deck for a bit this afternoon to soak up some sun as the weather was beautiful!!! I have to say, that helped a lot.

Let?s move on to the food, shall we?

Breakfast was delish.

I had whipped banana oats that I mixed with cottage cheese and topped with raspberries and TJ?s salted creamy almond butter.

Nom nom? so good. Per usual. I think I?m in a raspberry oatmeal rut?

I?d like to try some coffee in my oats ? maybe mocha oats?! Yumm?

And then for lunch, I had an egg sammie.

That would be 1 whole egg on Ezekial Cinnamon Raison English Muffin with Crofter?s North America spread.

I?ve said it before and I will say it again, this combo ROCKS. Go try it. I?m not kidding.

And a bowl of fruit! How colorful is it?

It had watermelon, pineapple, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries.

For an afternoon snack I had an apple that I dipped in cottage cheese and barney butter.

And then I remembered why I do not care for cottage cheese. It tasted great but I felt sick afterwards and I?m blaming the cheese. I?ll stick to cottage cheese IN oats?

And then, not to toot my own horn but? I?m tooting it. Dinner. Was. AMAZING.

I was going to make this quinoa stir-fry out of the Vegan cookbook that I got from the library but it involved lots of standing over the stove and I wasn?t feeling up to it today (trying to rest as much as possible) so I combined certain aspects of the recipe with my own ideas.

Paradise Mahi Mahi With Tropical Quinoa

Quinoa

For the cashews ? Spread out on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Lightly spritz cashews with more cooking spray and season with salt and agave nectar. Roast in 450 degree oven until toasty (you will be able to smell them and they will have a golden color on the bottom). Be careful, as they will burn easily. Let cool and then chop up. You can leave some whole for garnish. Set aside.

For the pineapple chunks ? Place on baking sheet, add a splash of Tamari, place in oven with cashews until the pineapple chunks are slightly caramelized. Set aside.

If using leftover quinoa, moisten with chicken stock/juice/or water. Add in green onion, basil, mint, cashews, salt, and pepper. Add in pineapple chunks with any juice/tamari from the oven. Mix well and serve.

Mahi Mahi

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Season your mahi mahi on one side with salt and pepper and a splash of tamari. Flip over and sprinkle on salt, pepper, garlic powder, and key lime seasoning. Drizzle with Agave Nectar. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until fish flakes easily with fork. Serve over Tropical Quinoa.

This was? EPIC (just had to do it). The roasted cashews? oh my geez. They tasted like salted buttery popcorn. I can?t tell you how many went straight from the pan into my mouth. The butteryness of the cashews with the touch of agave nectar and the salt?holy crap. If anything, try this portion of the recipe. It blows any store-bought nuts out of the water!!!! I swear!!!!!

And the pineapple chunks in the quinoa with the fish and the cashews? I literally mmmmmed my way through this meal. I couldn?t help patting myself on the back for this one

Served alongside some broccoli.

And then for dessert? well, it was epic too.

I had some Publix Thin Mint Frozen Yogurt over a Chocolate Vita-Top.

This should just be illegal. I mean c?mon?

My tummy is happy tonight

So remember the movie I saw Saturday (seems like FOREVER ago)? Well I finally got around to telling you guys about it?

[source]

This movie was really good!!! I was expecting it to be funny and your typical romantic comedy but it was far better than I thought it would be!! It was funny, of course, but not in a stupid trying-to-be-funny way, you know? Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston have great chemistry, in my opinion and worked really well off of each other. This is totally beside the fact that I love Gerard Butler. He is my future husband

And now back to reality , check out some awesome things going on around the bloggie world!

*Apple Crisps Giveaway

*Silk Giveaway

*Fit Body Giveaway

Cook?s Mission:  Head over to Cook?s Mission and vote for my recipe from the other night, if you are so inclined! I would appreciate it VERY much!

Also, I just wanted to say that my thoughts and prayers are with Stef from More To Life Than Lettuce (check out her blog for more details). Get well soon dear!!!

?Run if you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must, just never give up.?  Dean Karnazes