Yesterday I discovered Picnik. I spent an hour playing with pretty fonts — and then realized Picnik will be shut down in three weeks.
It felt like giving a child a brand-new toy and then snatching it away. I sort of wish I could throw the tantrum that imaginary kid would. Not cool, Flickr.
Anyway, enjoy the short-lived pretty fonts. Hopefully they’ll distract you from the fact that I completely forgot to photograph lunch. It was fabulous: a salmon burger with spinach, arugula (finally lots of green!), tomatoes, red cabbage, hummus and sriracha, all wrapped in a whole-wheat tortilla the size of my head. Apples and peanut butter on the side.
Backing up to breakfast…sound familiar? I actually wanted hot oatmeal, but I overslept by about 30 minutes because the fifth smoke detector battery in the house decided to die at 3 a.m. I needed something quick that didn’t require standing over the stove. Can I just say how much I love Van’s waffles? They’re affordable and stay crisp — a big plus when building a waffle-stack breakfast (looking at you, Kashi).
Here’s a lunch visual:
+
Yummy.
Now, these were actually delicious. If my earlier sarcasm didn’t come across, let me be clear: I love sarcasm — it’s basically my default tone.
Katie posted lemon poppy seed no-bake cookies yesterday morning and I was immediately intrigued for a few reasons:
- No bake.
- I already had most of the ingredients.
- I can’t go a week without some kind of ball snack.
- While I adore chocolate, lemon poppy seed muffins are a close second — I don’t discriminate when it comes to sweets.
These turned out great. I substituted chia seeds for poppy seeds because I didn’t have poppy seeds, and I replaced unflavored protein powder with 2 tablespoons coconut flour plus 2 tablespoons vanilla protein powder. I also added a few tablespoons of coconut milk to bring the dough to a rollable consistency.
The result still captured that lemon poppy seed muffin flavor and packed a nice protein punch.
(Posting the recipe here since Katie’s site is no longer live)
No Bake Coconut Lemon Chia Balls
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 2 tablespoons vanilla whey protein powder
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons coconut flour
- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
- Juice from 1/4 lemon
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 6 drops liquid stevia
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- 2-3 tablespoons coconut milk
Instructions
- Add the dry ingredients (flours, protein powder, chia seeds, salt) to a bowl and mix to combine.
- Melt the coconut oil and heat the coconut milk, then add lemon juice, zest, and vanilla.
- Pour the coconut mixture into the dry ingredients and stir thoroughly until a dough forms.
- Roll into balls or flatten into cookies, place on a plate or tray, and freeze for about 10 minutes.
- Keep cold and enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated and should be used as an approximation.
Additional Info
Look — natural light in a dinner picture! Editing photos on my phone, emailing them to myself, uploading to Flickr and then downloading them into the blog often takes longer than using my camera, so I’m oddly pleased about the 7 p.m. sunset light.
I ate dinner alone last night and decided to experiment. The photo says it all: a roasted, stuffed portobello with a side of hard apple cider. Not a bad dinner — and a little green to close out the month.