Wow…what a weekend and beginning of the work week! We haven’t stopped!
Thursday: went to Tampa to celebrate New Years Eve with friends!
Friday: drove home to Orlando, then decided to go to Melbourne to watch the Sugar Bowl (Gators won!) with Evan’s family and spent the night.
Saturday: drove back to Orlando again, stopped by our apartment to get Harvey, then took him to the vet to be tested for feline leukemia and FIV. Everything came back normal and he was given a clean bill of health. FINALLY. We aren’t completely out of the woods yet as he has follow-up appointments at the specialists for his dental work, but if we can stop going to the vet once per month, it will make all of us happy!
We came home and did some New Year cleaning. What? Never heard of it? It’s like spring cleaning, but at the end of the holiday season. It was very timely and appropriate. And it took us all day and…
Sunday: Continued cleaning. Thorough cleaning. We didn’t stop until we literally dropped in bed. Worth it though…a clean kitchen with an empty sink makes me happy.
Monday: bank, Target, Whole Foods, yoga with Ashley and cooked an amazing dinner (see below). A full fridge and pantry also makes me happy.
Last night I made gluten-free vegan mac ‘n’ cheese that was featured on Averie’s blog by the Pure2Raw twins. All I have to say is: YOU MUST TRY THIS. I couldn’t get over how cheesy it smelled while I was making it and then how delicious it was while I was eating it. The coconut milk was key for me. I love that flavor (in curry sauces and such). Seriously, amazing. I believe this will be a new go-to dinner for us. It was quick, easy and super comforting. Mmmmm!
I also made a quick batch (quadrupled) of Gena’s Raw Cashew Pizza Cheese which I have now made three times and love it more and more every time.
Last, but not least (in fact, we ate it first) was another recipe courtesy of Miss Choosing Raw: Raw Ranch Dressing. Gena…you really outdid yourself with this one. It was like ranch, but better (we used the optional garlic and onion). So fresh, flavorful and ultimately delicious. We both proclaimed that we are never buying a bottle of salad dressing again after making our own last night. One batch will easily last us the entire week.
Drizzled over a bed of romaine:
Breakfast this morning was a green smoothie (rice milk, OJ, spinach, lemon juice, banana and ice). I got Evan glass straws for Christmas, and they’re the big kind that is made for thick smoothies. They’re awesome!
Warm tea (it was the only way I could reason with myself to drink a cold smoothie in a 57 degree apartment).
Oats in my new green Anthropologie bowl that Evan got me for Christmas (plus three other colors!) Love them (and him, of course!).
And another green smoothie (rice milk, OJ, lemon juice, spinach, chia seeds, cinnamon, agave) on my way to work (was satiating a craving!)
Lunch was inevitable: I took leftover mac ‘n’ cheese from last night to work (Evan had this too and sent me a text to tell me how amazing it was!)
And leftover cashew pizza cheese with some B2N crackers.
You exhausted yet? I am! Back to work I go 
How was your New Year’s? Done any cleaning yourself? Made any new recipes that are worth repeating? Get any fun holiday gifts for the kitchen? The randomness of those questions is definitely a result of the randomness of this post. Haha.
Have a great night!
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I am really glad to hear that you had a great new years… I hope that you are having a great start to this year!! I am also VERY happy to hear that Harvey is doing better… I do NOT like to hear that animals aren’t doing well!!
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Sounds like such a fantastic holiday weekend. I am copying down this recipe for Mac and Cheese as we speak. So happy you posted this!
Hope you are having a great week so far Ryan. Take care hun.
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Love this post and love you. We need to catch up! And you’re not the only one New Year’s cleaning…I need to go through our place top to bottom, but you would not believe how many donations we’ve gotten at the clinic the past couple weeks from people cleaning out their closets!
Lindsey @ Sound Eats´s last blog ..Ways to Keep Warm
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As we are discovering, one of us moving across the country in one week = major New Year’s cleaning. We are not moving things that aren’t necessary!
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Wow! You were busy!!!
Your green monsters look so pretty and appetizing! Yum!
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