I'm the worst blogger ever.

Apparently I've decided that I can have a blog and not update it. Not cool. So, in order to update you on what I've been doing with my day I thought I'd share some of my most important tweets from earlier this week. Enjoy.

• Minnesota needs to keep up this warm weather so I can start my container garden!! #gardenparty
• I have 999 Direct Messages. Wondering who will be my 1,000th.
• Breakfast = Leftover @Pizzaluce. Don't judge me.
• Psyched. Headed to go check out Panasonic's new 3D TV's.
• Me: "Attestation? I don't even know what that word means." Kim: "Yeah, it's easier to just not explain it."

I live a glamorous life. In other news, here's a picture of Sheldon sleeping soundly as I work late one night. 

 
 

Lunch Compliments of Archer Farms

Not really compliments of as in Archer Farms bought it for me. More so compliments as in I went to Target on Tuesday, bought Organic Blue Corn with Flax Seed Chips and Fire Roasted Tomato Salsa, and brought both to work today to enjoy for lunch.

If compliments are in order, it's me complimenting Archer Farms for producing the delicious foods available for purchase. Thanks Archer Farms. Thanks Target.

Yes, my lunch is resting on a mac that I sometime use. Don't call me out on it.

Go Green

Dinner last night was truly a green affair, as that was almost the sole color of my entire meal. Purple was accounted for, thanks to the eggplant pieces hidden throughout the pasta and there was minimal red, compliments of the sundried tomatoes. 

Entrée: Spinach Pasta with Sundried Tomato Pesto & Sautéed Eggplant
Side: Asparagus with Earth Balance Buttery Spread

I do realize that my plates & dishes are circa 2006 and my photo skills are, well, lacking, but I still wanted to share a piece of my dinner with you. Well, not actually share the meal, but you know what I mean.

Also, for those of you who are wondering, the steam was not photoshopped in and is actually an accurate representation of how delicious my dinner really was.

Designer Salt

Apparently my handbags are not the only things that have to be designer these days. PepsiCo, although not my favorite brand, has to be commended for their efforts to keep their promise and cut their products’ average sodium by 25% by 2015, in addition to lobbing off saturated fat and sugar.

Obviously the first thing to do when reducing sodium is to make it fancier, and what's fancier than “designer salt?” Since these salt crystals are a specific shape, PepsiCo doesn’t need to use as much to get that salty flavor Americans seem to be so hooked on. The first products that get to sport this new designer ingredient? Lay’s Classic Potato Chips, Lay’s Sour Cream & Onion Chips, Cheetos and Quaker bars.

Oh, and for those of you who are already acknowledging that you ingest some 2x more than the daily recommended amount of sodium? Yeah, according to the Wall Street Journal, new U.S. dietary guidelines might change this year to get the daily recommended amount even lower. So what was once recognized as “too much” will change into “way too much.”

So when can you find this designer salt? It could take up to two years before the product is ready to be launched. Better late than never, I suppose.

Although I’m a bigger fan of eating my potatoes in the chop-into-wedges-and-make-oven-fries form, I have to recognize PepsiCo for working on getting the sodium levels under control for those who occasionally eat Lay’s. Or frequently eat Lay’s. No judgment.

Bliss

Not just bliss from chamomile tea, which I'm enjoying at the moment, but bliss from trading in my Lazy Sunday for Spring Clean-a-thon 2010. A new chair from Ikea, rearranging my room to fit said new chair, cleaning & disinfecting the kitchen, cleaning & disinfecting the bathrooms and vacuuming the entire place to clean up after you-know-who and now, bliss. The bliss that can only accompany a truly productive day and knowing I won't have to do this for another week. Or two.

On Being Healthy

You know the 8x8 rule for drinking water? Eight 8-oz. glasses so you're getting at least 64 ounces every day? Crazy. I mean, I'm all about smaller snacks instead of meals but to stop and have eight individual glasses of water is a little unrealistic for this girl.

Enter Monster Boss.

I got this pitcher--I mean mug--two summers ago with my sister from a gas station apparently called Pump & Pantry down in Nebraska. It's allegedly for refillable soda. To be clear, the Monster Boss is 52 ounces. That's 1.5 liters. Of Soda.

Since I don't feel like drinking my weight in high fructose corn syrup every day, it's become my water jug. It sits next to my computer like so, that way I'm guaranteed to have 52 of my 64 ounces out of the way before I leave the office for the day.

The likelihood of me getting up eight times throughout the day to refill my 8-ounce water cup? Very low. The likelihood that I mindlessly sip on the Monster Boss and realize I downed 80% of my suggested water intake before 4 p.m.? Much better.

Save Three Lives

I know I've been talking about this on Twitter a lot, but please consider giving blood to the American Red Cross this month. From earthquakes across the hemisphere to floods across the state, the Red Cross relies on donations to save lives. Three, to be exact.

Visit the Red Cross or call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE to schedule your appointment. They'll even tell you the closest donation center. March is Red Cross Month. There's no better time to donate an hour of your time to helping others.

It's too Pretty to Eat. Or is it?

Trend Alert: Edible Flowers. Natural Products Expo West helped companies around the world launch their floral-based drinks, especially if those drinks are featuring the gorgeous hibiscus. I was able to taste a lot of herbal infusions, all legal of course, and here’s a list of my favorites.

Herbal Blends – An all natural line from Sunsweet, Herbal Blends utilize herbs and fruit juice for a refreshing drink. My must try? The Replenishing blend with Dragon Fruit and Hibiscus.

Republic of Tea – Separate from their new completely adorable just-for-kids teas, Republic of Tea also launched a line of Hibiscus Superflower Teas. From Blueberry Hibiscus to Pineapple Lychee Hibiscus, Republic of Tea touts this new five-flavor line as rich in Vitamin C.

Herbal Water – Infusing all natural herbs and flowers in water is not new for this 4-year-old company, but Expo West sure underlined Herbal Water's expertise. I love the Lavender Mint and Ginger Lemon Peel varieties.

I also have to give a shout out for Hibisca. Since they weren’t at Expo this year I wasn’t able to actually taste the hibiscus syrup, but I can tell bartenders are utilizing the bold flavors as hibiscus-tinis are popping up everywhere.

What do you think of this new garden-in-a-glass approach? Are hibiscus and other edible florals going to shake up our restaurant menus in 2010 or will it maintain its garnish-only status?

Road Trip

Well, not really. More like plane trip with layover in Denver. I was one of the lucky folks who attended Natural Products Expo West out in California this weekend. That means I was able to taste the latest and greatest from the natural/organic food industry as well as meet some of the most innovative up-and-comers who are well on their way to hitting the big time.

I’m thinking it will take at least a week’s worth of posts to talk about all the amazing things I was able to do while at the show, but I wanted to take the time to dedicate this post to one product in particular. Yep. Just one.

From this one magical product came Tofurky’s NEW line of vegan frozen pizzas as well as Amy’s Organic non-dairy rice macaroni. Also new. Also delicious. If you don’t know about this yet you will. “This” of course being Daiya.

Don’t know what Daiya is? It looks like cheese and tastes better than cheese but vegan. Soy-free, casein-free, lactose-free, gluten-free, egg-free, wheat-free, barley-free, whey-free, corn-free, rice-free, nut-free and DELICIOUS.

Daiya is the reason Tofurkey has pizza. Daiya is the reason Amy’s launched a vegan Mac & Cheese. And the reason I will be emailing Whole Foods to make sure they carry the new 8 oz retail packages ASAP.

I’ll continue to post my other good finds as well as top trends throughout the week, but I knew my first Expo West post had to be about the amazing Daiya. Have you tried it yet?

If you haven’t read my disclaimer yet, now might be a good time to. I don’t work for Daiya, nor did they send me free product. I spent quite a bit of money to attend fancy-pants Expo West, and the only thing Daiya did was provide attendees with cheese pizza and grilled cheese, both staring Daiya.

Yoga Fail

In attempts to “recenter my body” and shake this nasty bug I thought I’d do some relaxing yoga last night. A few leg-strengthening moves paired with some calming child’s pose variations.

Disclaimer: I have been to less than a dozen professionally-taught yoga classes. I frequently pretend that doing yoga DVDs in my living room counts as doing actual yoga. This specific yoga practice was lead by Denise Austin via Yoga Body Burn.

Here are the top 5 reasons my yoga practice was a pretty big fail:

1. My apartment smells like dog. It only takes so many chaturangas for you to want to get your nose as far away from the carpet as possible.

2. I ate right before yoga. Apparently you’re supposed to keep an empty stomach and an open mind.

3. I used to dance—not like in a club but in a studio—and therefore I believe toes should be pointed.  Always. No Denise Austin, I can’t flex my feet.

4. Sheldon invited himself to be apart of the practice. Never mind the amazing Extreme-Strength Puppy Kong in the corner of the room, Sheldon preferred to take the opportunity to lick my face.

5. I spent the entire time thinking about blogging and coming up with five reasons my practice was a yoga fail.

The one way my yoga practice was not a fail? My headache’s gone. Namaste.

I have a case of the Mondays.

Yes, I know today is Tuesday. The case of the Mondays continues. After feeling ill on Sunday and waking up to an amazing headache on Monday, I thought that I should just stay in bed all day, snuggled with Sheldon, and wait it out.

Now, this isn't going to be some great story about how I overcame my mental obstacles and came out on top to have a very productive day at work and basically saved the universe all because I got out of bed. Oh no. Because I didn't.

I finally got out of bed around, oh, 1 in the afternoon before having to make the decision if I was hungry or nauseas. Little bit of both to be quite honest. Then I ventured to Sheldon’s vet appointment around dinnertime—I’m sick not completely worthless—and from there hit up Rainbow. For those of you not from the wonderful state of Minnesota, that’s a grocery store. And I shop there a lot.

I came out with a big bag of the limited grocery items that didn’t make me nauseas, well, more nauseas than I already was. Which, ironically, is a list that is nauseating to a lot of other people.

Ginger Ale – The one and only time I’ll ever drink pop
Artichoke Garlic Hummus
Bread
Bananas
Bagels
Silk Soy Milk
Silk Soy Yogurt
Tofurkey

Yeah. That’s what I bought and somehow thought I’d be able to make a meal out of that. Monday dinner included two glasses of ginger ale, a bagel and soy yogurt. Epic fail? Oh no. Because I was able to keep it down.

Point one for Heidi.

Embracing Leftovers

Since it is still technically winter in Minnesota, I thought I’d share with you my favorite chili recipe. By that I mean the most recent pot of chili I made. Apparently the cookbook industry all got together and decided that no one is ever going to make a single serving of chili but instead serve it to 10+ people. I am not 10+ people, nor do I have any intention of sharing my chili with anyone else. That means when I make chili, I eat chili. Usually for about a week.

And I’m okay with that.

Three Bean Corn Chili

1 can pinto beans
1 can dark kidney beans
1 can light kidney beans
1 can corn
1 can diced tomatoes – with southwest seasoning if you have it
1 cup water

1 tbsp chili seasoning
1 tbsp garlic powder – feel free to half that if you aren’t a garlic-enthusiast
1 tsp cumin

Heat beans, corn, tomatoes and water on the stovetop just until it begins to boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add seasonings. Serve.

It really is that easy.

About Basil Vodka

Hi, I'm Heidi Bobier. Some of you know me from Twitter and yes, I finally did start my own blog. As if you didn't already know, here's some background about who I am and what I do.

I'm a food enthusiast and love cooking. Hold the meat, though--I'm a vegetarian. I love learning about social media, and am fascinated with what others find fascinating. (THAT'S trending on Twitter?!) I also have a puppy named Sheldon who loves me so much he lets me put sweaters on him.

Thanks for visiting, and I hope you enjoy joining me on my blogging adventure.