Health Happiness & a little bit of Booze: Cuisinart Espresso Maker & WIAF

Cuisinart Espresso Maker...if you want to get technical, it's this one. My new beauty.

I’ve been pondering this purchase for quite some time for a couple of reasons. Espresso makers are not cheap, Starbucks is a huge chain and I rather support small companies, non-organic coffee is becoming problematic (check out the Gutamalan tradedy of this years coffee crop), and sugar is a drug. I spend almost $5 dollars on my daily Starbucks habit. A grande soy cappuccino costs me $4.45, that is insane to me. I get charged 0.60 cents extra for soy milk. Over the course of the year this habit costs me $1624.25. That is a lot of money for a college student. So getting to the point. I decided to invest in an espresso maker for the sake of saving money, but also for my health. Sometimes I question whether or not I like the taste of coffee or the creamy delicious soy milk that accompanies it. I don’t really consider a grande soy cap a “sugary” drink, but with a whopping 15 grams of sugar, it's a sneaky sugar source that could be avoided with home brewing (Starbucks has recently taken off the sugar part of the nutrition facts, nice move). Unsweetened almond milk with a dash of Stevia to the rescue and I’m eliminating a whole lotta sugar. Don’t even get me started with alcohol, but honestly I’m not even going there. So I bought the espresso pictured above….and this morning was my first attempt at my Stevia sweetened almond milk cappuccino/latte. I knew it wouldn't have the manicured taste of a Starbucks, but I really enjoyed it along with the satisfaction of my savings. I would love some other suggestions for my next can of espresso!

The extra gadgets it came with. So far I'm really satisfied, but I'll keep you updated.

This machine has the ability to steam the milk and make it nice and frothy just how I like it.

And of course the day must go on.

I started off my morning with a probiotic and a green juice with LOTS of green.

Juice foam<soy capp foam

This juice was a little too green for me today. I drank about 5 ounces for breakfast and saved the rest for after my workout.

Then I drank my almond milk cappulatte (try and figure that one out).

After my super awesome kickboxing workout I went to my school's dining hall and got some gluten free tofu pad thai and I added some steamed sweet potato and an egg when I got home;)

It was pretty yummy considering it was from the dining hall and I liked that is slightly resembles a heart.

Matt and I went to Shipyard for a drink and their amazing happy hour from 4-7 Monday thru Friday. Shipyard is a brewery from Maine so I love that they opened a location in Winter Park, it makes me feel more at home. ;) Face down in a glass of wine.

So pensive.

I came home and whipped this awesome meal, it was delicious.

This meal was amazing. I was trying to buy a mandolin for slicing vegetables, but I accidentally bought a Julienne mandolin, which slices veggies into shoestring like size. I decided to try and make shoestring fries! I used a sweet potato and a turnip, they didn't crisp up like I wanted, but the flavor was amazing. My meal consisted of a buffalo burger topped with sliced avocado, a broccoli bread stick, salad with my curry dressing, and fresh heirloom tomato. I changed up my buffalo burger recipe by adding salsa and it was so juicy. My boyfriend said it was his favorite version of my burger so far.

So my take on eating meat...I grew up in a plant based household and ate very little animal products. I believe in the healing power of a plant based diet for diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc, but it is not for everyone. I believe animal products in excess are not health supportive, but since introducing more meat and fish into my diet (always grass fed from a local farm or wild caught) I have seen many improvements in my health. After going gluten free two years ago, I felt being gluten-free and vegan was making me very unhappy so I reevaluated my diet. This doesn't mean I'm going to eat meat forever or even next year, it's just what it right for my digestion and health at this moment. I don't use labels because they create stress for me. I'm a whore for quality food (local, organic, seasonal-you get it), let's just leave it at that.

I finished the night off with some ice cream that totally hit the spot.