Is it fall yet, is it, is it?
Desmond wants to know.
(He also knows you’re hiding cookies behind that screen of yours… he can smell them.)
Today is technically the first day of fall, so why am I still blasting AC in the office? We had a nice fall preview a few weeks ago (thanks to the remnants of the hurricanes, no doubt), but lately it’s been as hot as if we were in the middle of July. I’m ready for cooler temps already! Preferably without the accompanying hurricane, mmkay?
If you follow me on Instagram you’ve probably noticed we’ve done a lot of traveling over the last 6 months. First Japan, then Italy, then Colorado to visit family, California to visit the other family, and Columbus, Ohio for a bit of a fun blogger retreat (post coming soon!) Traveling is fun, sure, but it’s also stressful. I’m actually looking forward to a few months without any travel, when I can hunker down and get into a calm, un-stressful routine.
(As usual, there are affiliate/referral links in this post, and if you purchase I’ll receive a small percentage in return. Thanks in advance for supporting me… and my Amazon shopping habit!)
Taylor and I don’t eat terribly unhealthy, necessarily, but our diet is definitely heavy on the carbs and cheese. Lately we’ve been trying to improve our breakfast and lunch routine, and are finding it rather hard to consistently come up with new/quick/interesting lunch ideas that aren’t based on a foundation of carbs. Our go-to grilled cheese/quesadilla lunches of yore are history, but we can only do so many salads before it starts to get old. I would love to hear your favorite lunch ideas!
Snacks too. I’ve realized my body needs to eat something every 3-4 hours. If I wait too long to eat I get shaky, lightheaded, and lightly nauseous (and subsequently slamming a granola bar or something just makes me even more queasy). I’ll usually do protein bars in between breakfast and lunch, but it’s hard not to go for the cookies in the afternoon. Tell me, what are your favorite grab-and-go afternoon snacks?
My fiddle leaf fig (lovingly named Fergus) is finally putting out new growth! I started feeding him some liquid plant food a few months ago, and I think he’s liking the sustenance. He’s always been pretty happy in his sunny corner of the living room, but I’m excited that he’s finally turning over a new leaf!
Since the last Quips post I’ve also acquired a few more plants, bringing my total count up nearly 20. How many houseplants is too many houseplants, would you say?
Currently reading Sourdough by Robin Sloan, and it’s making me want to dive into breadmaking until I’m neck deep in sticky, yeasty goodness. This goes contrary to our whole trying to eat healthier thing, doesn’t it? Or maybe I’ll make it a rule that the only bread we can eat has to be homemade.
My latest cookbook finds include this gorgeous book on regional Mexican cuisine (seriously, one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t NOT buy it). Yes, I most definitely judge books by their covers. Guilty as charged. Case in point: I totally bought this nacho cookbook for its stunning cover (though the inside is beautifully designed as well, and I’m secretly giddy that the Bastion nachos recipe is in it… my favorite nachos, ever!) I’m also seriously loving the Bravetart cookbook (it’s the source of the perfect homemade Oreo recipe I posted last week). My cousin lent me this book which I am surprisingly excited about (since I don’t normally read nonfiction). It’s all about the history of how we cook and eat and the tools we’ve developed solely for that purpose. Intriguing!
I’m very excited to be taking a ceramics class this semester at a local art school that offers community education courses. I know I’m not going to make any masterpieces my first go at it, but I’m hoping to get at least a few new prop dishes out of the 9 week course. My assignment this week, other than acquiring the basic tools digging out my grungiest clothes, is to bring in some ‘textures’ to impress in the clay. I think it’d be cool to play with food textures: think plates embossed with cheerios, spaghetti bowls, and coffee bean mugs. Needless to say I’m already having fun with it. :)
Who here is into Enneagram? At Ali’s encouragement I took the test (twice, just to be sure) and came out as a 9. Basically the indecisive one who will do anything to avoid conflict at all costs. Pretty much me to a T. Taylor’s a 9 too, no surprise there (and maybe why we’re such a chill couple, lol). I look forward to diving into this whole Enneagram thing more deeply, find out more about who I truly am.
And with those deep thoughts… that concludes this edition of Clips & Quips: random thoughts and finds from the depths of my mind.
Have a great weekend!
I was just in the Tulum area over Easter and I am kicking myself I didn’t know about Hartwood! The book looks stunning and my fave restaurants in the entire world are all in Mexico.
Afternoon (or midnight) snacks…tough because once I start it can be hard to stop. Harvest Snaps sugar pea crisps check off a lot of boxes. Not too salty, some protein, some fiber, CRUNCH factor, and they are ‘healthy’. Because the cookie road is a slippery slope to start on :)
I love those pea snacks! Trader Joe’s are quite addictive. :)
Someone needs to invent healthy (satisfying) cookies.
thank you for all of these links and ideas, one snack I’ve found useful are Think Thin bars unless you already know them, they’re protein heavy and even more importantly, have no sugar (some varieties of their do, but most don’t), these are the only protein based bars I’ve found that don’t have sugar, I was surprised to find out how much sugar is in a lot of the other bars!
I’ve tried those, my favorites are the RX bars I think (same thing, no added sugars, just dates). I actually recreated my favorite flavor in a homemade version (since they get pricey when you’re eating one a day!)
I share your struggle with carbs. I just recently went to a dietician to get some tips for healthy breakfasts and lunches. I’m trying to stay away from gluten because I was having some skin and joint problems, and I’m trying to see if that clears them up. It’s tough. I’m doing yogurt based things for breakfast and soups for lunch. I do get to eat corn tortillas, so I can still do a quesadilla when I absolutely have to. For snacks, I do nuts, dried fruit and protein bars. Nothing too exciting there.
I’m so excited to see what you make at the ceramics class! I swear, I’m going to find one of those in my area soon because its been on my bucket list for a long time.
I’ve found that soups are one of my favorite healthy lunch options!! I’ve also been making a batch of quinoa (in my rice cooker) nearly each week recently and can use that as a base for bowls with leftover grilled chicken, or whatever!