Happy Easter!

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almond butter, apple pie oats, brussel sprouts, celestial, chooclate delight, easter, eccles cakes, frozen yogurt, giveaway, Law Abiding Citizen, Macaroni and cheese, mellow mushroom, Naturally More. Ezekial, oatmeal, oikos, publix, rice cooker, smoked gouda

Happy Easter to all of you delightful bloggers that celebrate! And to those who don’t… Happy Sunday? How was your day?

Mine was really great! I went to church with my parents. I didn’t get as many stares as I expected but lots of “Oh my gosh, what happened?!” And then “you poor thing…” And then the question of “are you dating someone? no? why ever not?” Well… you tell me where to find me a good man and I’ll be glad to date them. Thanks so much. I mean really… people are absolutely shocked, shocked, that I’m not dating anyone but really… they make it sound like it’s so darn easy to go out there and find a good guy!!! Do you know what I mean, does this happen to anyone else?

I then had an Easter lunch with my extended family. But my extended family is really small, only my great aunt and uncle, great-grandmother, my two second cousins and their parents, and my parents. Because it’s so small, we are super close and I love them to death. They all made a fuss over me and my crutches, which was really sweet. We talked about our up-coming trip to the mountains and Ireland. Also, I have decided I’m getting a tattoo!!!!! My first one. I’m going to do it while we are in the mountains later this month and my cousin, who is around my age, is going to be getting her 3rd one with me. I’m so excited!!!

In short, this was the most excitement I have had in oh… weeks?! And the most that I’ve moved around. And boy am I feeling it! I am pooped!!! It’s sad but true. And i’m also feeling it in my injury as well. Which I’m not sure is normal or not, who’s to say. I have a doctor’s appointment in the morning and I have a lot of questions to ask. I’m not sure that I’m going to be finding out anything new or whatever but I want to know if I’m progressing in the healing as I should be.

Now let’s rewind to yesterday…I had OIAYC (Oats in a Yogurt Container)

The base was 1/3 cup oat bran, 2/3 cup water, 1/3 cup milk, pinch of salt, pinch of cinnamon, and 1/2 banana.

Topped with some of the yogurt left in the bottom of the container, strawberries, and almond butter.

How pretty!

And of course I used my new Celestial mug to have some tea… er, coffee. I love tea but I have to have my coffee. Or I will not be a fun girl to be around…

And then for lunch I had an Ezekial Cinnamon Raisin English Muffin (I only have 1 left!!!)

And 2% Fage Greek Yogurt with thawed strawberries that were frozen fresh last spring (trying to use of the last of my frozen ones since fresh strawberries are not far away!)

Fresh strawberries are expected to be ready to be picked on April 20th around here, which just so happens to be my birthday! I think it’s a sign I should probably eat my weight in strawberries on said day… don’t you think?! I’m glad you agree 🙂 Because I will be doing that anyway. My dad knows that he can’t come home without a galloon of strawberries on that day… (he has connections mind you)

Moving on… I had a HUGE salad for dinner from Mellow Mushroom. Now, I love their pizza but I was feeling a big pile of veggies. And they have the BEST salads around.

It was very simple but incredibly delicious! It had lettuce, mushrooms, carrots, purple cabbage, tomatoes, and grilled chicken with honey mustard dressing. YUM!

With some garlic bread with lots of marinara sauce on the side.

Yes, the paper plate is quite gourmet 😉

And then for dessert, I had some Publix Vanilla Frozen Yogurt with one of these cookies/biscuits? that a dear girl from England sent me.

YUM! These things are the BOMB!!!

The outside is super flaky and buttery and tender and the inside is this fruity filling. The inside kinda reminded me of the inside of Fig Newton’s. I’ll have to share the ingredients with you guys sometime soon because they are awesome.

I ate this bowl of heaven while I watched Law Abiding Citizen with my parents. It was a good movie but very gory and… extreme. If you have seen it, you know what I mean.

 

I started today with an oat creation courtesy of Mae. This girl is amazing!!! Her creation? Rice Cooker Oatmeal

Yep. Amazing is an understatement. (Like my kind of Eastery bow?)

You can check out her blog for the full recipe but basically I combined 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup milk, apple pie spices, 1/2 banana, 1/2 tbsp chia seeds, and 1/2 an apple. It cooked while I showered and dried my hair. According to Mae, it takes 10 minutes but my rice cooker cooked it until done and then automatically switched to the “keep warm” (I’m not sure if all rice cookers do this?)

It was SO easy!!! It was ready and waiting for me when I was ready to eat!!!! When I then topped it when some Naturally More Almond Butter.

The verdict? YUM!!!! It looks different than normal whipped banana oats that I make on the stove and it has a slightly different texture, in a good way, because of the lack of “whipping" that I do on the stovetop. The banana completely dissolved into the oats even without said whipping!! And I got slightly toasty bits that had been on the bottom of the pot that were super nutty and yummy. Suffice it to say, I REALLY loved it!!! The taste was awesome! I would add a little more apple pie spice next time and I forgot the salt but still, this bowl was so incredibly good. I can see myself making this a LOT. I can see that this will be super convenient when I start school again and have less time in the mornings because this was SO MUCH BETTER than microwaved oats!!!

If you have a rice cooker, you NEED to try this!!! I can see many different variations and flavor combinations in my future! Thank you Mae!!!!

 

And then Easter lunch… yummy 🙂 I love big family meals like this. I wasn’t incredibly hungry come lunch time (I miss my appetite 😦 I think that this is the first time in my life that I have had ZERO appetite) but my mom fixed me this plate. I had some of everything there except for the ham.

Starting from the top left and going clockwise: macaroni and cheese made with smoked gouda and some other cheeses that was to DIE for!!!!!!! I kid you not. I usually enjoy mac and cheese but it’s not my favorite but this… this was awesome. The original recipe calls for pancetta but my cousin’s mom who made the dish made a separate small pan without the pancetta for me and my cousin who don’t eat pancetta. Wasn’t that sweet?! Anywho, the smoked gouda gave this the most amazing flavor, ever. It tasted like it had bacon in it but with actually no bacon. Um..yum. I will be getting the recipe for this!!! And then a yeast roll, potato salad, broccoli and rice casserole, mashed potatoes, and a deviled egg. Carb heaven. I ate probably 1/2 of everything except for the mac and cheese (ate it all).

And then came dessert, my favorite. We had Chocolate Delight. YUMM!!!!

Have you ever had it? It is SUPER simple but oh so good. It’s basically a crust that has pecans in it, topped with a cream cheese concoction layer, followed by chocolate pudding and cool whip. Sounds simple (which it is) but it’s awesome.

 

And then for dinner, I was craving something GREEN. So I had roasted brussel sprouts (seasoned with salt, pepper, agave, and balsamic).

 

And an egg with a runny yolk.

I apologize for the picture but it was taken in bad lighting. My mom actually cooked this for me as I was glued to the couch at this point. I couldn’t muster up the energy to go to the kitchen. I love my mom!!

I then had an apple with some Caramel Oikos and cinnamon.

I’m so glad that you enjoyed Freya’s guest post yesterday! I apologize to the Canadians, I wonder how Canada weighs in on the U.S. vs. U.K. Maybe we should see who win a U.S. vs. Canada?! Hmmm 😉 And now I am curled up in bed blogging and listening to some music (Amy– the Meatloaf song just came on and I’m totally actually listening to the lyrics 😉 still don’t completely get it though…) about to do some blog reading and then head to bed early.

It was a different Easter than usual but it was a good one. And really, Easter is more about my faith and my beliefs than anything else. Easter is more about chocolate and bunnies and eggs, there’s a bigger picture and I sometimes forget it. This year, I didn’t. I love my God, my savior, and he is what sustains me, he is what gets me through every day with the hope that good things are to come. That he has plans for me that go beyond this stress fracture. This is only a temporary state. And really, what can the world do to me? Jesus has already overcome anything the world can throw at me 🙂

*Check out this awesome giveaway by Tina!

Good night my bloggie friends 🙂 I love you all!

 

Faithfulness is a characteristic of the faithful. It requires you to stand in faith in spite of the circumstances. So be faithful and stand.

Jess

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