Hello & Happy Tuesday! I’m experimenting with posting blog posts more organically, as opposed to just Wednesdays — hence the unusual Tuesday post!

How was your weekend and start to the week? While my personal life doesn’t change too much with back-to-school, there has been a definite energy shift living in/near a college town with all the students back, as well as the younger students starting up school again. It’s crazy to me how summer is basically over already! I feel like it really flew by this year!

Alec and I usually do some sort of end-of-summer trip, but this year we are just doing a mini staycation (mostly Friday and Saturday, and somewhat on Sunday/Monday). Nothing too extensive in the works — a couple meals out, a bit of hiking, watching Michigan Football, seeing a movie… all fun and good and chill! Alec has some projects he is working on outside of that, and so I’ll probably read a lot, too.

What are your plans for the upcoming long weekend??

I’ve also been going on lots of sunrise walks and runs! This time of year sunrise is lining up with the time I’m heading out.

Let’s get to some recent August eats!

Yesterday morning when I was out and about running errands, I felt like treating myself to an iced latte from Roos Roast. Half-caf iced honey vanilla w/ almond milk. Totally hit the spot. I wish this could be part of my routine every day!

Continuing with lots of simpler meals lately. BUT I still try to make them as tasty as possible!

Going strong w/ roasted veggie butter pasta on repeat. This version was chickpea noodles + roasted veg (broccoli.+ carrots + zucchini) + plenty of salt, pepper, parmesan, and melted butter! I genuinely love this dish and find it supremely satisfying.

Leftover pasta noodles for part of my lunch one day with leftover roasted veggies, random chopped raw veggies, crumbled feta, and some mint dressing for a delish pasta salad!

I am a big fan of these organic chickpea shells that I get at Whole Foods. They also have 12g protein per serving, making them a good protein source for my veggie pasta dishes. They also stay well and make for good leftovers unlike some of the other gluten-free pastas that tend to get all mushy.

Making a quadruple batch of our favorite coconut cacao bars! I do this about 2x a month since we snack on these pretty much every day… Into the food processor goes dates + raw cashews + unsweetened shredded coconut + cacao powder + coconut oil. Such a good all-in-one snack!

In the background is a blood orange rooibos tea (from TJ’s) that I’ve been enjoying iced lately. I usually will brew it as normal and let it sit out before refrigerating it for the next day. I don’t add any extra ice since it is nice and cold by that time and I don’t like to dilute the flavor. But if I didn’t make it a day ahead of time I will brew it as normal then pour it over a bunch of ice!

I am continuing to try out new breakfasts to find ones that work well for me after having to say goodbye to my beloved oats! The past few days has been whole-milk yogurt + nut/seed granola + peanut butter + drizzle of honey + whatever fruit I have on hand (fresh or frozen/thawed overnight in the fridge).

For the nuts/seeds in the granola recipe, I’ve often been using walnuts, cashews, brazil nuts, pistachios, and hemp seeds. I love how I get a variety of micronutrient-packed nuts in this granola recipe! For ease, I also usually just use avocado oil instead of melting coconut oil. The last time I made it, I also added extra cinnamon and a bit of almond extract!

I recently went to my grandparents’ house on the lake for the weekend to spend time with family. For dinner, my mom marinated some delicious Asian-style flank steak that my dad then grilled. We had white rice on the side to soak up all the saucy goodness, as well as fresh vegetables and a salad (above) that I made. Greens w/ shredded carrot, chopped cucumber + red bell pepper, and plenty of fresh garden tomatoes straight from the backyard. I brought this carrot ginger dressing that I made at home. Also some cilantro — on the side — to accommodate those who don’t like cilantro! *Head shaking*

How do you feel about cilantro? I am team cilantro all the way!!!!

I was blessed with some fabulous beets from the garden to take home. One of my other favorite foods!!! My family is also pretty divided when it comes to who likes beets and who doesn’t. Unacceptable!!!!

Alec is not a fan of beets which I guess isn’t entirely problematic since then I can enjoy them all to myself! 🙂

Making a double batch of my favorite chocolate chip cookies for our church lunch. Plenty of almond flour, butter, and brown sugar, yielding amazing texture and flavor! Alexis’ recipes do NOT disappoint.

Other dessert recipes of hers that I love include chocolate zucchini cake and ginger molasses cookies. But, you really should check them all out!

Guacasaca veggie bowls for dinner! In case you’ve missed my previous guacasaca-featuring posts, guacasaca is an awesomely wonderful cilantro-based sauce with a glorious ENTIRE bunch of cilantro! Truly perfect for any and all Mexican flavor vibes. So sorry to all the cilantro-haters out there. Roasted veg was white sweet potato + red bell + yellow bell + broccoli + white onion.

Nightly dark chocolate w/ almond milk on repeat. Usually I will enjoy this while relaxing/reading, talking to Alec, or maybe watching something on TV or YouTube together if it is a weekend and we have a bit more time.

Wanting to continue enjoying prime tomato season, so several recent dinners have been caprese salad (tomatoes + cucumbers + fresh mozzarella + basil + balsamic vinaigrette) w/ balsamic-marinated chicken and GF rolls w/ a drizzle of honey. I love these rolls and they are super easy to make! Although I’m not sure why I only need about half the amount of yogurt that the recipe suggests to get a good texture. So just keep in mind that the yogurt to flour ratio is somewhat loose! I like to leave the garlic powder off and just drizzle w/ honey for a sweeter taste.

Delicious frittata dinner w/ roasted sweet potato + red bell pepper + broccoli + jalapeño + white onion + shredded cheddar + (you guessed it!) a bit of cilantro. I often like to roast all the veggies before adding them to the egg mixture and baking it all in the oven. Served w/ heavily seasoned roasted potatoes and a usual side salad. Eaten at our coffee table while watching TV since that’s what I sometimes like to do when Alec isn’t home. I’m pretty boring when it comes to TV (per most people’s standards!) and just watch the news a lot of the time! Alec and I sometimes will watch shows together and definitely sports, I just don’t have any shows that I really like to watch by myself.

Everyday Enjoyment:

Currently reading // 

One of the books I am currently reading is The Relationship Cure by John Gottman. I LOVE this book!!!! It is a really good summary of “how to relate well to people / have good relationships” and (in my humble opinion) should be *required reading* for all humans. Lol. I actually like it even better than his better-known marriage book (The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work – which I also love and highly recommend).

Recent blog posts //

One of my favorite blogs to read, This Evergreen Home, has been posting some good posts lately that I’ve been enjoying reading. In particular, I’ve liked “Simplify Your Life with These 5 Unconventional Strategies.”

Recent haircut! //

Back in March, I got a haircut that ended up driving me insane because it was too uneven and also impossible to braid (I was braiding my hair every day for either running/walking or yoga). My hair stylist and I talked about my hair-braiding needs and for some reason it just did not go well even though he normally does such a good job! Anyway, I ended up trying a different salon (here is the link if you live in the Ann Arbor area), which I loved and will go to again next time! Much easier than driving to downtown Ann Arbor and the stylist even wanted to curl my hair for no extra charge, which I’ve never had anyone suggest or do before. I hardly ever take photos of myself but thought I’d include the post-haircut photo below just for fun! Note the even cut.  *Sigh of relief!*

What is one of your worst haircut experiences?? I’ve only had a couple that I would consider truly bad! 
What are you currently reading, eating, or listening to? 

Have a lovely Tuesday!