PowerHouse Treats, Vibrance & Fatness

First off, I would like to thank everyone who contributed to my birthday being a wonderful day! I really appreciate all of the comments from *you know who you are* this site, as well as thank everyone around here for making March 28 a great day.

Let's get back to the birthday stuff and on to the weekly treats...

I made these last night trying to put as much nutrition into these as possible. These are more like breakfast (which I don't normally eat, ugh), a good morning snack, a light lunch maybe with some (soy) milk. I was going to use a hint of blackstrap molasses (rich in iron) but I forgot. I certainly didn't forget the rest of the 19 ingredients! It's funny, because I'll look at a package in the store and see a ton of ingredients, and quickly pass it up (or comment on how full of crap it is and make a smart-ass remark). But what you see here is 19 awesome ingredients, all whole, mostly organic and mostly raw (I melted down a few items). Everything in these treats is not only super-tasty, but has is own unique nutritional contributions.


"Leslie's PowerHouse Treats"
Ingredients:
organic brown rice cereal puffs (like rice crispies)
rolled oats (not instant kind)
cocoa
raw organic almond butter (I squeezed it but melted it down, not raw anymore)
raw organic peanut butter (same as above)
organic brown rice syrup
organic agave nectar
raw almonds (ok, I'm not going to say *organic* anymore, most items are)
raw walnuts
raw pecans
raw sunflower seeds
organic raisins
coconut, shredded
hemp seeds
flax seeds, whole
sea salt
barley sweetened chocolate chips
cinnamon
vanilla, have to say it... organic.

Everything is mixed together. I melted down (on super-low heat) the almond butter, peanut butter, brown rice syrup, agave nectar, cinnamon, vanilla and cocoa. Then I mixed up the rest of the dry ingredients and poured the hot mix over the dry. Then I stood on a step-stool (for better views, reach and method) and I mixed with all my might. And yes, with my clean bare hands.

What you see down here is one of 4 mini-treats that I've been making lately. I made these in mini glass bowls and I simply placed a pinch-full of hemp seeds at the bottom of the bowl. Then I added the "treats" mix, and pressed down. I cooled them overnight in the fridge, and when I took 'em out, unwrapped them, and turned them over, they looked like this...

Ok, ok, back to my birthday stuff. I had such a great day that it went by so fast and I was sad it was over. I haven't had a super-great day like that in a while (unfortunately). Maybe I'll celebrate my half-birthday this year. I could go on and on thanking each and every person who made my day great, but instead THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR WISHES, THOUGHTS AND GIFTS. Even customers (some of my favorites) at work were super-tippers, although they tip well anyway and are the nicest anyway, and my boss made me a vegan (yes, she's in tune) mixed-berry pie, from strach, that I just tried to eat as much as I could of. It was wonderful.

I received so many flowers and they are beautiful and colorful (and Killian keeps messing with them). I thought I'd share some of the vibrance with you all...

And this is the whole display... From my parents, step-parents and more...
A few more close-ups, this one is weird and interesting. I like both weird and interesting things.
This type is my favorite. I need to look up what types of flowers these are, as I am curious.
Lydia also gave me this plant pot, besides the wonderful homemade pie. Check out the kitty.
Daisies.
Birthday Dinner Verdict:
Thanks to some of my favorite people from work, the suggestion of going to "Green" for my birthday was great. I took the risk of trying a new restaurant on my birthday, but it wasn't really a risk. Here's the thing: Green is an all organic, all vegan restaurant that just so happens to be owned by the same person who owns "That's a Wrap" (see Faux Spring Break post) and I had no doubts about this place. Upon entering the restaurant, I happily thought to myself "thank goodness they took the dollar-store-sporting-goods-crap off the walls, painted from pink to green/orange/brown, and added seating". This was already going to be better. Then we skimmed the menu and I introduced myself and happily explained that it was my birthday and I was super-happy to go out to a restaurant and be able to choose from anything on the menu and not worry about cross-contamination of nasty animal foods (or other nasty crap).

I wanted to eat everything on the menu (minus mushroom stuff and fake cheeseburgers). I decided that we should order a bunch of apps and snacks instead of each a main meal. This was wonderful and we ate the most fried food, although fried-veggies, that I've eaten in a long time. It didn't bother me at all. I got a free cookie for my b-day and (better sit down for this one...) didn't have any ice cream on my birthday!!! I'm in shock too... I was way too full, although I managed to eat the cookie in the car on the way home from dinner. This meal was a 9/10 for both of us, my complaint is that they should drain the eggless egg-rolls before placing them on the plate. Or at least have a basket to shake the oil or a cheesecloth. Something. Everything was fabulous (even the occasional grease) and I plan on attending this restaurant as much as I can.

Yum to that. Here's the link and I figured out how to make the menu bigger. You have to right-click it and save it (to wherever you want to save it to) and then just open it as a photo and you can always make it larger. http://www.greenvegetarian.com If you live around Tempe/Phoenix area, please check this place out. I certainly would like to have them open for a long time. Also, nothing on the menu is over $6 (I don't think) and we had about 5-6 different items to our feast and it was under $20. We were happily-shocked and super-full.

******Killian Time*******

And it's been a while since my fatness, Killian has hunted out the "front" window. We use our back door as the front door so there's no need for him to hunt through this small window when we have big ones... But, he's fat and cute and lazy and this is the stance I call "Mr. Super-Paws". I think it's super-cute when he sticks his paws out like that. I don't even know what he's hunting, there's nothing out there but the occasional pigeon or walked-dog. He freaks out to anything, even the rare occasion that wind blows a leaf down the street...
So much for "perching".
Fin.