Back In Order

It seems like ages that I’ve actually gone through a post in order, as my day ocurred. Of course, by forever I mean a couple of days, but who’s really counting? It’s been forever.

Normally, it’d have been a waffle day today, but my mom had to work so we just decided to carpool, and I’d barn it up while she worked it up. Which meant leaving a bit earlier than usual.

And for the sake of sleeping in an extra couple minutes on what’s left of my weekend – I just went with overnight oats. Carrot cake overnight oats. Oh, yess – it’s been too long, my friends.

The Oats:

• almost 1/2 c. quick oats
• Cranberry-Ginger Ruth’s Chia Goodness
• 1/2 c. almond milk
• 1 medium carrot, grated
• cinnamon
• nutmeg
• ginger
• trail power

The carrot was just sitting there (for some reason) so innocently. It’s like it was begging to be people food instead of the horse food it was bought for, you know?

And I don’t know what fruit goes better with carrot cake than bananas. And figs.

And maple syrup, wheat germ, ginger preserves, and a ton of cashew pieces.

Those aren’t all fruits, but work with me here.

Carrot Cake Oats, let’s not let it be ten years until we see each other again.

You’re kinda nice to have around.

You might even be better in overnight form than stove-top. (ooh la la!)

Pony Talk!!

I really enjoyed my morning at the barn today. I had planned on meeting another girl there to ride together, but she overslept so it was just Mr. Pony and I…and it was nice. I enjoy having people around – but that’s how it was every other time I went this week, so it was difficult to really ride him. Each time we’d kinda take it easy, moreso working on “yes, life goes on when another mare is in the ring,” and I’d do a lot of groundwork, too. Since he hates that stuff, I didn’t want to burn him out with a half hour ride, too. So, this morning we did some ground work and a good ride. He was good, and is beginning to accept the bit more and more. A little more wiggly than usual, though. I haven’t attempted canter yet, but have started lunging him before rides again for the sole purpose of getting a canter with tack before I’m in the saddle. He still thinks it’s time to celebrate in that first stride, so I’ll probably just have to make sure I’m ready for that the first time around 😉

I wanted to give him a bath afterwards, but being the bad mom I am, I only grabbed conditioner, not shampoo – so just did a quick wash with some liniment 🙂 My bad mom moment #2 was when I realized my batteries in my camera were dead after getting him all prettied up and putting his dopey fly mask on 😀

Lunch

I confess, I feel like I’ve been in a food rut lately. I’m still really enjoying my food – just haven’t had anything new lately, you know?! I need ideas for fun snacks and meals and stuff. Like, sandwich ideas!! I will never tire of sandwiches. Or salads. So tell me all about your new finds and obsessions!!

So, all I thought up for lunch today was a simple sammie with local peppered goat cheese and jam. Delicious (anything is delicious on this bread) and simple. But not new.

I have been enjoying my fair share of yogurt messes, however! Typically they involve plain greek yogurt, agave or honey, nuts, granola, and fruit. This particular one was no exception – the last of my brown cow plain greek yog, honey, a peach, galaxy granola, and honey roasted peanuts.

The afternoon involved fixing the barn that the ponies decided to push a board off of (???) and playing with them. We tried introducing Jiggy into their paddock area so that we could keep the four of them together (we’ve had them separated so far) but there was too much commotion. Jiggy tends to be a bully.

We took them for a nice little walk in-hand down the road, though. They seemed to have fun, and Georgie is getting much easier to approach. Knock on wood – she wasn’t so sure about us after we put Jiggy in there with them! :O

Oh! And how could I forget – I also made banana bread! But not just any banana bread. Amanda’s Blissful Banana Bread! And blissful it was. I made a few slight changes based on what I had – but if you’re searching for a good banana bread recipe, this is the one. I ended up having to use white whole wheat flour instead of spelt, 4 bananas, honey instead of maple syrup (and a little bit less than 1/4 c.) and sunflower seed butter rather than coconut. I really wanted to use coconut – but I only had cacao bliss and wasn’t sure how that would fly 😛 I also added in some figs! So. Dang. Blissful.

You know what else I find blissful? Big ol’ salads. Yeah – another salad. Sorry! I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t enjoying them, however. In the bowl tonight:

• romaine
• sundried tomatoes
• red pepper
• chickpeas
• sea salt and olive oil roasted almonds
• feta
• bulgur (prepared with dried basil and garlic salt)

and topped it all with a homemade ranch dressing! I’m always talking about my homemade ranch dressing, so here ya gooo:

Ranch Dressing:

• 2 heaping tablespoons Plain Greek Yogurt
• 1/4 t. garlic salt with parsley
• 1 t. dried chives (or fresh)
• dash black pepper
• 1/8 t. dried dill
• 1/8 t. dried basil
• 1 T. almond milk (optional, to thin)

Combine everything and there you go! Easy peazy. And you’re not stuck with a whole bottle of the stuff if you just need to cure a quick ranch dressing craving. The almond milk can be left out if you’d prefer it for a dip or sandwich spread. Or just like really thick dressings.

Hey, I dunno…maybe you do!