Mud, grass, sauce & sprinkles

How do you like that randomness for a title?

After leaving Ginger at home on Sunday for 9+ hours I felt like I owed her one. So after work I sucked it up and put her in my car for the 2 mile drive to the bike trail. I had done a quick 25 HIIT run on the treadmill earlier and wasn’t feeling much else besides a walk.

Doesn’t she look thrilled? For 2 miles I had one hand on the steering wheel and the other keeping her wet little nose from touching my dash everywhere.

The damage:

 

And I thought I lost a lot of hair! You can bet I wiped that off within 2 minutes of being home. I kind of have OCD tendencies with keeping my car clean. It probably stems back to my childhood and a father that wouldn’t let us eat in the car or get in with dirty feet. I blame you, dad.

Ginger enjoyed the hour walk minus the bikers. She’s a little skittish around them. Not sure what a bike has ever done to her but she apparently found them scary enough to hide between my legs anytime one would pass. Wuss.

We stopped by the creek that runs under the bike path at one point to let her have a drink since it was kind of hot out and she was panting like crazy.

And this is the payback I got.

A bike went by on the bridge above us while she was drinking and rang it’s stupid little bell horn which freaked Ginger out and she jumped out of the creek, flinging mud all over me. So then I had a wet, muddy dog and muddy sneakers going into the car! We both got hosed down when we got home.

Oh, but the fun did not end there! Fast forward about an hour and I’m outside grilling dinner when Ulysses comes home and Ginger runs onto the deck to see him. That’s when he points this out.

Can you see it? ASS GRASS!  And yes, I’m holding her tail up so I can get a better picture. Wouldn’t you? This has happened before so Ulysses knows full well I draw the line here. Ass grass removal is his job. I just take pictures and blog about it. That piece of grass ended up being a good 6 inches long (guess we don’t mow the grass often enough). Perfect dinner time entertainment.

Speaking of dinner, we had roasted vegetables and tofu on the grill with Mmmm Sauce. I’m starting to think I should rename the blog to “Running to Mama Pea’s Kitchen” considering how many recipes I make of hers. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it though, right? I actually saw Caitlin post about it yesterday and finally decided to take matters into my own hands and make it myself instead of drooling over everyone else’s.

There’s a reason it’s called “Mmmm Sauce”. It is tasty! So tasty that I was lamenting the fact I couldn’t get it all out of the blender without risking some digits.

Does it drive anyone else crazy that you can’t get the stuff under the blade out?

I pretty much slathered it on everything. This was the first time I grilled tofu and all I did was season it with olive oil, salt & pepper. I purposely kept it simple because I knew this sauce was going on top of everything anyway. It reminded me of a sauce you’d find in an Indian dish. Loved it. Glad there is at least a cup left in the fridge.

And since it was the first day of summer and all, this was necessary.

And promptly devoured in about 3 minutes.

Happy Summer!

 

Sprinkles or Jimmies? Sprinkles!!!

Would you pull grass out of your dog’s butt? Heck no, that’s what husbands are for!

Loved

By parents who invited us over for dinner because they knew I’d be driving past their house from the airport after a long day of travel and the last thing I wanted to do when I got home was worry about dinner.

Ginger’s tongue behind the bowl of ice cream cracks me up.

And by this guy.

Who surprised me with this when we got home.

Which was really this.

Notice the workout outfit. I had every intention of doing NROLFW last night. That flew out the window when I saw the camera. One more rest day in the grand scheme of things won’t hurt.

Now, If you’ll excuse me I have manuals to read, software to install and lots of pictures to take…

Say yes to the dress

Yesterday started off with a trip to David’s Bridal for my friend Shanna’s upcoming wedding in October!

Dress #1:

Hi, Mom!

Dress #2:

Mom-usually you want to keep the person’s head IN the picture.

Let’s play a game. Which one do YOU think I chose?

Since David’s is right next to the Christmas Tree Shops we had to take a peek. I think the best way to describe it is like a cracked out dollar store. Better stuff, better quality, still insanely cheap. Besides a citronella candle in a terra cotta dish that cracked to pieces the minute I opened it at home, I got some awesome dishes, bowls and placemats for prettier photography.

And then, as if the day could GET any better, Trader Joe’s just happened to be on the way home! TJ’s is about 30 minutes from me so I don’t get there too often and when I do I go into complete hoarder mode.  3 bags of almond pieces? 2 almond butters? 3 jars of marinara sauce? Sure! The best part is, when I get home to put the stuff away, I almost always find more in the pantry. Note to self: you have PLENTY of almond butter, stop buying it. For like a year!<—This drives Ulysses nuts by the way. He’s of the mindset that we should eat ourselves down to nothing and then go grocery shopping. Whereas I might die of an anxiety attack if we run out of anything. Must have backups.

The loot:

 

Now multiple all that by at least 2 (I had put everything away before taking a pic, so then took it all back out again, except I was too lazy to take the duplicates out).

And, guess what else I got at TJ’s? Frozen roasted corn. The minute I saw this in the freezer section I think I said “oh my god, they have it!” out loud. Then I realized my mom was nowhere near me and I must’ve sounded slightly insane to the people nearby. Why was I so excited to see roasted corn? Two words: Tamale Pie. Mama Pea made this look so damn good a few weeks ago. It was destiny.

People, make this. It’s freakin’ delicious.

I almost ended up using ground turkey instead of the tempeh because I had eaten about 1/3 of my tempeh block and was scared it wasn’t going to be enough. But then I thought about how that would be blatantly de-veganizing the dish. I mean turkey just felt… wrong. If Mama Pea ended up reading this, I would’ve felt ashamed. I did add cheddar cheese instead of Daiya to the top though. That, I was ok with.

And any day that ends with this is a good one in my book.

That would be some PB Pandemonium in a waffle cone.

 

Anyone else in a wedding this year? Do you love or hate your dress?