All work

And no play makes Elise a repetitive eater.

Rather than subject you all to the same exact meal (times twenty), I’ll show my hippie bowl once and move on to my work food.

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Quinoa, carrots, spinach, seitan, avocado, nutritional yeast, Bragg’s aminos.

After a few bad days, where I was carelessly eating wheat and agave (FODMAPs no-no) like it was going out of style, I knew I needed to get my GI tract back on track. Feeling bloated (and a bunch of other less-internet friendly terms) is the worst.

So! I did what I know works. FODMAPs free. A few days of hippie bowls and I was feeling much better. Hooray.

And now I can return to my more calculated low FODMAPs lifestyle.

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Unlike lunch, my hospital breakfasts are eaten in the staff lounge. Quickly. Which is why 99% of the time I opt for warm grains, like oatmeal, which can be heated and reheated (and reheated again) when I’m inevitably interrupted with some task. What I’m building up to here is how this pancake breakfast was an anomaly.

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Pancakes at work!! How decadent!!

I brought a banana to slice on top (no syrup), and they were melt in my mouth good.

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Salad du jour: spinach, quinoa, tomatoes, avocado, falafel, sunflower seeds and nutritional yeast.

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Out of all my snacks, I only ate the muffins (home-made vegan & gf) and carrots, so I’ll let you know how the uber Larabar is later.

The reason I didn’t eat my roasted nut roll is because I sorta accidentally bought a different dessert. Oops?

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Frick! Paying $7 for a bar is not acceptable behavior and I have to quit before it gets out of hand. And no your eyes aren’t deceiving you – it’s really only 2.3 ounces of chocolate. It’s smaller than my iPhone.

Dear Righteously Raw, Why are you so good!?! WHYYYY.

And now for some mental exercises:
Insert hippie bowl dinner here.
And more chocolate here.

And then it all started again…

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As you can see, I went back to my traditional breakfast fare.

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Steel cut oats, almond milk, shredded coconut, & bananas.

It looks mangled because I made it in the slow cooker overnight, but since I went to bed early (for me), it was in the pot way longer than the cooking time. Whatever. Crispy edges are fine by me.

I made this batch with almond milk only (no water) which made it super creamy. I also nixed any kind of sweetener. Steel cut oats and coconut. Simply done.

There was enough for at least three servings, but I may take it down in two. I’m special like that. The banana was an afterthought, but worked well with the coconut.

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It’s not an optical illusion, half of those carrots are yellow. They taste the same as normal carrots, but have a slightly more crunchy texture. It may sound odd, but they are more on the crispy side, almost (dare I say it) apple-ish. Geez I miss apples.

Salad du jour: spinach, quinoa, avocado, blackened tempeh.

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I didn’t leave work until well after 8 pm, which may be a record for me. Such a day! Mentally and physically draining. After giving report, finishing my charting, commuting home and showering, it was like 9:30 pm when I finally got dinner. Blah. Another hippie bowl. Not worth showing.

But I will share my dessert.

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I made a mini cake! It was gluten free, vegan and chocolaty. Mmmm…

I meant to save half for another serving, but then I didn’t. So I’ll have to make it again.

Happy weekend everyone. I’m off to San Clemente for some dog-sitting and golf!

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Comments (20)

  1. carole s.

    Hi Elise, I just discovered your website and I have had so much fun reading past entries. You are a natural writer – you write with refreshing honesty, humor, and a real joy for life. It lifts my spirit.
    Because of you I am gradually nudging myself to make healthier choices and try new things. Your energy and enthusiasm are inspirational and motivating. Now here’s my dumb question – your salads look delicious but rarely do you mention adding any dressing to them. Do your dress them or have you acquired a taste for the grains and vegetables plain? Thanks, and keep writing, we’re reading!

  2. lindsay

    i’ll come have hungry hippie bowls anyday!! I love it. Fodmap always makes me feel better. i have a slight fructose malabsoprtion. And the new uber bars, yes! I am loving the nut roll.

    now where’s the wine?
    😉

  3. Nikki

    Just found your blog and love it so far! That tempeh looks sooooo good, but your yellow carrots are kind of freaking me out! 🙂

  4. carrie

    mini chocolate cake recipe? pretty please!?! all that healthy food and I still zeros in on that… 🙂

  5. Katie @ Peace Love & Oats

    that mini cake looks so good, and those pancakes looked delicious too! And I think it’s a crime good chocolate is so expensive… I want to buy it so badly!

  6. Elise (Post author)

    I often don’t use any dressing because I do like the veggies and grains solo but I also love Bragg’s liquid aminos on my salads. If I don’t mention a dressing in a recipe, it’s safe to say it’s because I used none. I almost always note when I use Bragg’s. Outside of that, I have two combos I always use:
    1. extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar
    2. the one in this post: the above plus simple citrus juice/zest, maple syrup and mustard

  7. Elise (Post author)

    agreed!

  8. Elise (Post author)

    they freaked me out too!! haha. they sat in my fridge for a week before i tried them. but curiosity got the best of me.

  9. Elise (Post author)

    maaayyybe

  10. elaine c.

    your hippie bowls and your salads always look delicious!

    dumb Q – do you throw a whole avo in your bowls? if NOT, how do you save the other half? i usually buy the smaller sized ones so i don’t have to worry about wasting the other half. it gets brown and yucky so fast. i’ve tried leaving the pit in and sticking it in an air tight tupperware, but that didn’t work.

  11. Elise (Post author)

    it very rare that kyle or i will start an avocado and not finish it in one day. he and i are both huge avo fans, so we go through them really really fast. but in the event that i dont, i tupperware it and put it in the fridge and just eat it (a little brown) the next day. ive heard squeezing lime/lemon juice on it prevents the browning the same way you can prevent apples from oxidizing, but ive never tried it. truthfully, i dont mind it brown because it still tastes good.

  12. Cait's Plate

    Pancakes at work would completely make my day. And those look SO good!

  13. Kailey

    I love that you packed pancakes for breakfast! genius idea and glad to hear they turned out good too! Love that Uber Bar – the nut combination is to die for.

  14. Minerva

    Cool thumb nail design in the raw chocolate photo!

  15. Elise (Post author)

    🙂 thanks. love me some shatter nail polish.

  16. Lisa

    Delicious eats! I’m so sad apples make my tummy mad too, it was a bad day when I realized that. I can eat them occasionally though, so that will have to do. I love you hippie bowls, I’m not bored of seeing them. I’m wondering how you’ll find the new lara bars, I’ve heard people love them, but not sure if I’d want to buy them. I can make my own bars that probably taste the sameish at home. And you dessert looks amazing!

  17. jessica

    Dear Elise, can I have your metabolism? Also, can we share that hippie bowl. Dayum do I want to eat EVERYTHING on this page!!

  18. elaine c.

    thanks! i thought i had read somewhere online that if avocados go brown that means they’ve gone bad? so that’s why i’ve been worried about eating them when they change color. maybe i’ll try the lime/lemon juice though… 🙂

  19. Amy

    Nothing wrong with a brown avocado, as long as it’s just oxidation! It tastes the same to me. If it’s brown and stringy and smells bad, it’s probably rancid, but a lightly brown avocado is no different than a lightly browned apple. If the appearance really bothers you, you can just lightly scrape away the top brown layer…it should still be nice and green underneath.

    To keep my avocados from getting overly brown, I store the leftover half with the pit, as you said, and then sprinkle the exposed flesh in lime juice. Next, I wrap it tightly in either tinfoil or saran wrap, and really press the foil/plastic wrap down against the flesh…kind of how you press plastic wrap down on the surface of pudding, to prevent a skin from forming. Finally, into the fridge! It definitely makes the avo look fresher longer. 🙂

  20. Elise (Post author)

    ha. i thank my parents every single day for it…heaven help me when it slows 🙂

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