When Temptation Comes Knocking...

...I say, take a hike to my freezer.

Last night my neighbor knocked on my door and had a few treats for me (she doesn't know I gave up chocolate for Lent).  So I thanked her and immediately threw all of this into the back of my freezer.  Along with another "hidden" brownie she had previously given me.  Out of sight, out of mind, right?  Let's hope so.

I decided to put something healthy within sight - fresh fruit!

These are my absolute favorite bowls - how pretty are they??  There are 3 larger ones, too.  A lovely former co-worker of mine gave them to me for Christmas one year - so nice!

I ate my last piece of fresh fruit for lunch today, so I stopped at the store on my way home from class and loaded up on pears, kiwis, apples, and TONS of bananas.  The only way I can resist eating bananas when they're fresh in order to freeze them for smoothies and banana "ice cream" is to have loads of bananas on hand.  I currently have 13 sitting on my counter, haha.  I think that'll be enough :)

Although I was running low on fresh fruit, I had lots of fresh broccoli that I needed to use up, so last night I roasted a whole bunch of it.  I used olive oil, per usual, and added something new-to-me:

My family really likes to add meat to pretty much every dish (salad, vegetables, even dessert - mincemeat pie...), and I personally love green beans cooked with bacon.  I thought that using smoked sea salt on green beans might give the beans a flavor similar to ones cooked with bacon, but without having to use meat.  I haven't tried it on green beans yet, but I did try it on my roasted broccoli last night.

Along with the olive oil, it was a great seasoning for the broccoli.  It definitely gave it a richer taste than plain sea salt.  I'm excited to try it out on green beans soon.

Today started out a little rocky for me - I slept 15 minutes later than I planned, woke up in a weird mood (I later realized that I had been having a fight with my mom in a dream right before I woke up), and I must have still been half asleep while I was making my breakfast because I dropped my (open) oatmeal canister on the floor.  Very smooth.  So that was fun to clean up in my hurry to get to the gym (in time to watch Live! with Kelly, of course).  After my workout (elliptical and stairstepper), I went to grab my stuff from the locker and realized that I had forgotten to put my lock on.  Geeze.  And then when I was walking into school, I almost wiped out right in front of a school bus full of kids.  Oh man.

But my day got better with this beauty:

Iced coffee from Starbucks.  The temperature is warming up again (yay!), which always makes me crave iced coffee.  While I love local coffee shops (Phoenix in Cleveland and Angel Falls in Akron, for my local readers), a Starbucks near school has the BEST policy: if you bring a reusable cup, brewed/ iced coffee is just $1, and espresso (aka "fancy") drinks are $2.  Any size.  Um, how awesome is that?   Good for the environment and for my wallet - win win.  You probably can't tell from the picture, but my reusable glass is pretty big - at least 16 oz., maybe 20 oz.  A huge $1 unsweetened iced coffee (with a splash of skim milk) makes me very happy.

Lunch today:

Whole wheat tortilla topped with hummus, some leftover homemade pesto from my pizza this past weekend, mushrooms, broccoli, and shredded carrots.  Eaten with a plum on the side.  Delish.

Standard sunset pictures.

I'm not sure why, but I really love when the sun streams through my windows and I get to see this on my walls:

It just makes my heart happy.

Well I'm off to rustle up something for dinner (I hear a sweet potato calling my name).  And try not to think about those brownies in my freezer.  Have a great night!

Reader question:  Have you ever had mincemeat pie?  Have you ever even heard of mincemeat pie?  I've actually never tried it, but it's a staple at most Blind-family get-togethers.  My grandma gave me the recipe, but that might be one I just preserve for memory's sake :)


Song of the day:

"June Gloom" by The Like.  This is from their first album, Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking?  They have a more recent album (Release Me), but they've gotten some new members, changed their look (more 60s mod than earthy chic) and changed their sound.  I like their new album, but there's something so pretty and feminine about their early songs.  They were one of the opening bands during the first Phantom Planet concert I went to, so they hold a special place in my music collection.