life is good

I'm rather excited for this week. I'm taking a couple days off and I'm assigning a task to each day. Sounds lame but shiz needs to get done and it's how I do. Plus, it's the first week in our new office and it is SO nice and refreshing (so is the weather, it's insane). It's good to shuffle things up. Not only that but I get to attend a concert this week and lately I've just been dying to see live bands play. It's like my life line. I need it to live. There are not enough shows here to satisfy.

I hope you're having the best of days. Keep on keeping on! Life is good :)

<3

busy, busy body

{ -- my pups are famous! posted on reddit and got over 300,000 views on imgur.com! -- }

So, for Christmas a good friend of mine (a guy!) made me these pillows! How cute are they?! He even made the tails on the back. Probably one of the best gifts I've ever gotten from a friend.

It seems as though, adding in more workouts makes my life feel way crazier! I don't know what it is, it's only 30-60 minutes in my 16 or so hour day? With that, a small post for you. Since it has been feeling much busier, I've been looking for lots of inspiration to keep my chin up; be it things to look forward to, taking a deep breath and living in the moment that I am in. I have lots to be thankful for. This year is going to be great.

No longer forward nor behind
I look in hope and fear;
But grateful take the good I find,
The best of now and here.

› John G. Whittier

<3

yummee-ness: tofu & quinoa

{ -- yummee-ness -- }

Part of my 'happy' is making really good, healthy food. I love to cook, I hate to clean up but I still do it anyway...even tho it may happen a day later ;)

To the point, I want to start featuring some recipes that I find; where I get them from, how it went and any tips I can offer to help make them better or healthier. I tend to take recipes and make them my own or I'll make them straight up and not miss a step or ingredient in the process but that's mostly when I'm being lazy and just want to get the job done.

This is probably the simplest dish I have EVER made and it was delicious and made a ton of leftovers...well, for one at least. I have basically been working to make up for my loss over the last year when I was supporting someone else...sooo, I scrape together meals. Don't get me wrong, I went and ate out with friends last weekend, however, when I eat alone or at home I don't get take-out or make elaborate meals. I've more than made up for the loss but I'd like to keep it there AND make more on top of it. Plus, I like the challenge. Most of the time, I'll typically come up with new combinations because I'm pulling different ingredients together to make up something from nothing, really. Most of the ingredients from this recipe were leftover pieces from another meal. I really only bought the box of quinoa and rice and added the left over stuff I had in the fridge.

This could almost be served as a side dish as well. Be creative! You don't have to use what I used, make substitutions wherever you'd like. When it comes to piecing together a meal, I never follow any rules...except for using "yummee" ingredients.

The Tofu & Quinoa Experiment of Yummee-ness

• 1/2 very small red onion, chopped

• 2 sprigs (?) of green onion, chopped

• 1 tbs. garlic, minced (I like garlic.)

• 1/2 cup frozen peas

• 1 box of Near East Quinoa Blend - Roasted Red Pepper & Basil

• 1/2 block very firm tofu, cut into small squares and seared on each side (sub w/whatever kind of protein you like!)

Directions:
Begin searing the tofu on a stovetop with a bit of olive oil...while that's going, pull together and chop all ingredients. Follow up with fixing the quinoa and rice mix (I just followed the directions on the box). When the tofu is flipped and have been searing for a few minutes, add in the red onion, green onion and garlic. I then took the peas and got those ready in the microwave (I'm sure I could have done in the quinoa and rice while it was boiling but...I didn't). Once the tofu is ready, quickly add the squares and the peas to the softly boiling quinoa and rice and let it finish up! That's it! Love it.

Let me know if you make it, what you substituted...what you liked/didn't like about it. I would love to hear.

<3