Favors

We’ve got a situation.

(source)

No, not that kind of situation. 😉

This kind of situation.  I’m all out of oats.

I don’t think this has happened before.  But this is not the apocalypse and I don’t need to make one more bowl of oatmeal to save all of mankind, so I think I will survive.  Especially since I had just enough left to make two servings of 30 minute oats for breakfast this morning; one for me and one for Brad.

Here’s mine!

1/3 cup of rolled oats
1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/3 cup fat free Greek yogurt
1 tsp. chia seeds
1/2 sliced banana
4 sliced strawberries 
cacao nibs
shredded coconut
homemade raw almond coconut butter

I mixed the chia seeds with the yogurt, milk, and oats and let the whole mixture set in the fridge for 30 minutes.  I’ve heard that chia seeds “gel” in wet substances so I was curious to see what they would do.  They kind of plumped up a bit, but didn’t really affect the taste or texture of my oats.

Lovely!

I tried this organic French roast coffee for the first time today.  After drinking coffee for six years now, I’ve finally learned that I like French roast best.  This coffee was perfect; dark, rich, very flavorful and I really liked that it was fairly traded too.

Fairly traded or fair trade means that when this coffee was exported, the people who exported the coffee (the farmers and workers) were treated fairly.  They were given appropriate compensation for their goods and treated in a way that encourages sustainable agriculture.  This is important in developing countries, where farmers and farm workers are often treated unfairly (i.e. big companies take advantage of developing countries’ resources, labor, and goods by offering sub-standard payment and overusing their land). (source)

Since I’m working from home today and can leisurely sip my coffee, I treated myself to two cups of coffee this morning.  Not a habit I want to develop, but I sure enjoyed it!

***

You’re probably wondering why this blog post is entitled “Favors”.  Well, it’s because I have a few favors to ask…three, actually.

First, my friend Katie is hosting a bake sale to help fund her volunteer trip to Nicaragua.  I am contributing new and improved raw versions of my chocolate coconut date truffles.  They have been hungry-man-approved by Brad and his friend Thomas who put a not-so-small dent in the batch I made this weekend.  There are tons of delicious baked goods being contributed by some fabulous baking bloggers.  I’ve sampled several of the items on the list and I can vouch for the incredible-ness of this opportunity to purchase them.  Click on over to Katie’s blog to see a bake sale preview of what she will have to offer.  Please consider making a purchase knowing that your money will go to an excellent cause.

My other two favors are completely selfish, but if I’ve learned anything in the past year, it’s that you have to ask for what you want.

Charlotte Magazine runs a contest every year that they call the BOB awards, the Best of the Best.  It would mean so much to me if you voted for Foodie Fresh for best local blog, which you can do by clicking here.

They have one stipulation: that you vote for at least five things.  If you only vote for Foodie Fresh for best blog (or anything else for that matter) and don’t fill out four more votes, your vote won’t count. If you don’t know what else to vote for, can I make a few suggestions?

Yoga/Pilates Studio: Y2 Yoga
Salon: Modern Salon at Metropolitan
Caterer: Byron’s South End
Personal Trainer: Bobby DeMuro (please vote for my friend Bobby! :))

Feel free to fill out whatever you like and if you think Foodie Fresh is worthy, I would be so honored to get your vote.

And on a similar topic…

Womens Health is offering a chance to be on their blog roll.  Wow! What I wouldn’t give for Foodie Fresh to make it to Womens Health “blogs we love”.  I would absolutely love it if you would vote for Foodie Fresh by clicking here.

It never hurts to ask, right?

If you take a few moments to do any of these things, please let me say thank you so much.  I get such encouragement from your comments and even if I never win an award or am never mentioned in a national magazine, knowing that you read my blog and enjoy it, is all the reward I need.

Thanks again. 🙂