Waffles & Pizza & Vending … oh, my!

Hello, Monday!

Thankfully, today is my day off! I’m currently in route to Kansas City to stock vending machines with Erik.(Mostly I just watch him, sit in the van, and count money, ha).  We decided it’s too awkward for me to go in schools with him to stock (once a teacher kinda frowned upon us and asked us if we were there to eat lunch with our child, ha) so now I only really help at non school locations. But it’s fun to be along for the ride.

Before I forget, I added a Lesley Lifting Life page to Facebook the other day so if you have Facebook, you can go and “like” it at any time you wish … if, indeed, you actually “like” it ; ) It’s right here..  Thanks for the love! : )

I usually link my new blog posts to my personal Facebook account but am contemplating switching it all over to the actual Lesley Lifting Life page … we shall see!

My mornings lately have been starting like this: I’ve seen these Van’s waffles in the grocery store for some time now and I’ve always passed them by.

They were on sale recently so we checked out the nutritional stats, and decided to try them.  I’ve since gone back and purchased more while they’re still on sale : )  I love how easy they are, just put them in the toaster, add nut butter of choice, greek yogurt, fruit of choice, some agave nectar and you’re good to go … mmm. Another food item we’ve been making lately is homemade pizza!  After going to NY a couple weeks ago and eating plenty of pizza there, we just had to carry it on at home.  The dough is easily comprised of only water, yeast, wheat flour, agave nectar, olive oil and sea salt.

Chopped up toppings:

• Mushrooms
• Tomatoes
• Mozzarella
• Meat
• Fresh basil

 
Pre oven: Post oven: This one was half chicken/half thinly sliced beef patties.  Only thing that would have made it better is onions!! I’m a huge onion fan but Erik can’t take much of them.  In fact, we favorite pizza toppings used to be simply cheese, mushroom and onions … oh, yum!

I’ve been writing this post throughout the route and the Originally Organic Vending van has reached its last stop for the day so I’m off. 

Hope the end of summer/beginning of the school year is going well for everyone!!

Yogurtini, back to business

Hope the weekend has been long and enjoyable for you!

Today, thus far, was spent going to church, eating brunch, and cleaning the house.  Now that it’s all clean, I don’t want to go to work tomorrow, I want to stay here!  Can I work at home, please?

Let me randomly start off by saying that this …

… is currently my favorite snack.  We’ve been getting these organic grapes at Hyvee that are absolutely perfect, so crispy, firm, and juicy.  Just recently, we purchased the last bag and I’m hoping they will be replenished soon!

Moving on … this coming Tuesday marks the starting of school in KC which means business will definitely be picking up.  Erik’s also starting school on Tuesday (he’s currently working on his Masters) so he will be one little busy  bee!

Getting the van all stocked and ready to go.

I realized when I was taking pictures inside the van that I never showed a picture of the outside van decal so here it is : )  Erik loves his cargo van way too much, haha.

The official Originally Organic Vending van:

Yesterday while we were in Kansas City getting some products for the business we decided to stop at the new Yogurtini near the Plaza.

Their saying is “Swirl it. Top it. Weigh it. Pay it.”  It’s self serve, which I really liked.  You walk in and can mix and match any flavors you want.

They offer 10-16 frozen yogurt flavors and their website says they always have a no sugar added option as well as a non dairy flavor.  Each flavor has the caloric amount posted for a 4 oz serving … the highest calorie flavor we saw was 140 per serving and the lowest was 70 … not too shabby!

According the the Lesley Lifting Life standards, the no sugar added option, as well as posting the calories gave them definite bonus points!

After selecting your flavor, you can add any toppings from their around 65 item selection.  Along with the typical candy options, there is fresh fruit as well as granola and flax (more bonus points).  After selecting toppings, you weigh your dish and pay. (It’s $.39 per oz).

The decor was very simple and had a modern/retro feel to it.  I loved it.

Erik’s mixture:

And mine.  We both went topping’less and my dish was a mix of Red Velvet and Yogurtini tart.

It was really good and I would definitely recommend Yogurtini!

And now, I’m sitting in my clean house drinking an Izze (that I stole from Erik’s van) while I blog … ahh : )

And tomorrow, it’s back to the grinding board. 

How was your weekend??

Empire State of Mind

And now for the New York trip finale … New York City.

I’ll just start off by saying I love it there and if I could, I’d be writing this blog in a cute little loft right in the heart of Manhattan, ha.  As I said in my last post, I think I could definitely live there.

I’m sure I would like the inside of these : )   It reminds me of the show Selling New York on HGTV … some of those places are so cool! Grand Central Station.  We drove to NYC since we were staying very close in Fort Montgomery,  but it’s still really neat to see again since I’m not exactly there every day, ha!
Erik’s dad wanted to go to the Heidelberg Restaurant and chill there for awhile and Erik and I wanted to explore for awhile so we took him to Heidelberg and went on our merry way. 

The Times Square area seemed like the obvious choice for exploring so we began our almost 50 block, one hour walk journey from the restaurant, ha.  We were truckin’ it, but I enjoyed every minute!

Bryant Park: I love these little parks in the middle of the city, and I love all the people everywhere!  I think I like it so much because there’s so many different types of people there and anyone can be who they want to be and no one else really cares! 

There’s no need to be shy or to be anyone other than yourself … because it’s already so diverse no one will think anything of it!
   
There was tons of people out once it got dark … we got there just in time to take some pictures and head back to Erik’s dad. (But we cheated and took a cab those 50 blocks back). So fun … I’m ready to go back already! ; )

And it just wouldn’t be right if I didn’t end with this:

aaaaaaand this, haha:

P.S.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dad!! : )

Whole Foods Manhattan Style

I spent my first day back to reality in MO sleeping in and running errands with Erik (so it was good reality ; )  Thankfully, I was off work today … I like to have a day to unwind after vacation!

Onward with the NY recap!

On our last full day there, we stopped for lunch at a place called Hudson Water Club.  Of all the places we ate in NY, judging by food, view and overall experience, it was probably one of my favorites.  It was more modern and I’m sure that’s a big part of it. 

Our dining view of the Hudson … it was a beautiful day! While eating, this seagull entertained me.  It was wondering around eating scraps off of the ground.  It’s funny how birds get so used to people being around that it doesn’t even phase them. I ordered the Mediterranean salad with grilled chicken. It included “feta cheese, cucumber, tomato, olive, chickpeas, & lemon tahini dressing.”

It had entirely way too much feta but after removing some, perfection was attained.I love eating outside, especially by water!  Front view: After lunch, it was off to New York City!

Our first stop was Whole Foods.  We ran into it on accident so of course we had to stop! It was HUGE.  I don’t know how big “normal” Whole Foods are but it was much bigger than any Whole Foods in Kansas City, that’s for sure.

Erik and I could have just about literally spent the night there looking around, ha, but we were parked illegally outside so we didn’t stay long.I thought the checkout was funny/neat.  You stood in a row that was color coded (blue, yellow, green or red) and when the next checkout stand was open, the number of that checkout stand was called and the number showed up in whichever color’s row was next. (If that made any sense at all?! My description skills are lacking).

Ha, maybe I’m weird but I found that entertaining!We left with some sushi and coconut water for Manhattan exploring fuel. Exploring post and last NYC recap post to come! : )

But here’s a teaser … I could so live there!