Yo yo yo muh peeps. Recap in order? Yes I think so 😀
But before I get started, I want to quickly answer a few questions from my last post regarding the zucchini boats, pumpkin pancakes and pumpkin smoothie.
For the zucchini boats, all I did was halve the zucchinis, scoop out the flesh, and fill the insides with my Black bean & corn salsa. Then baked them for about 30 minutes. Easy-peasy! There are lots of stuffed zucchini recipes out there filled with all sorts of goodies (usually involving some type of ground meat).
For my pumpkin pancakes, I basically just combined the following ingredients:
- 1 cup oats
- HEAPING scoops of pumpkin (probably about a cup or so)
- 4-5 egg whites (can’t remember exactly – just ups the protein)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- Bit of salt
- 1 T sugar
- Tons of cinnamon & pumpkin pie spice
- Almond milk to make it the right consistency
I often times add in greek yogurt or cottage cheese as well. Then just plop them like pancakes and wa-lah! They turn out much mushier than normal pancakes – so beware! I know most people blend their oats in a blender when they make oatmeal pancakes, but I like my oats nice & whole 🙂 You can also just add scoops of pumpkin to any pancake recipe – you may just want to add a bit more liquid?
Pumpkin smoothies have been a long time favorite of mine. I combine:
- Milk (soy, almond, cow, your choice)
- Huge spoonfuls of pumpkin (I don’t measure, but it probably comes out to 2/3 cup or so)
- Ice
- Cinnamon &/or pumpkin pie spice
- Sweetener (optional – sometimes I drizzle in some maple syrup)
And blend! Just experiment with measurements – I never measure, just eyeball. It is amazing topped with some whipped cream. Best combo ever.
Anyways….
Monday
Today was long day #1. Work from 7-12:00 and then hurry to the next family 30 minutes away to work 12:30-5:30.
Workout: About 30 minutes of P90X shoulders & arms DVD at work + 20 minutes ab work
Eats: Breakkie was my last Rudi’s spelt english muffin. Good thing I have the whole grain wheat flavor left! Although I loved the unique taste of the spelt flavor.
I prepared my lunch the night before while I made my stuffed zucchini boats. Stuffed bell peppers! Super easy, I just stuffed each half of the bell pepper with some vegetarian chili & topped it off with cheese:
Along with an insane amount of fruit this afternoon (I literally went through a whole pound of strawberries & 6 apricots today + all my other fruits. I think I’m going to have an apricot baby).
Dinner was an incredible combination that got together to have a party in my mouth. Grilled brie cheese, turkey, tomato & BBQ sauce on a whole grain flax wrap.
With more of the best BBQ sauce in the world (from a local restaurant) for dippage.
Incredible. You’ll probably be seeing this again soon 😉
Tuesday
Long work day numero dos. 7:00-5:00 (I’m calling these long days because all summer I’ve only been working 12-5:00ish except for one 10-6 day).
I brought along a baggie of cereal (mixture of Kashi Golean, Good Friends, & Quaker brown sugar squares, blueberries, & cottage cheese to make my breakfast:
I also whipped up 1 egg/1 egg white scrambled to add a bit more protein. Topped with a bit of cheese & ketchup (duh!)
Exciting event outings included the smallest zoo I’ve seen in my life, where this was literally one of the highlights:
Woohoo how exciting! Too bad it’s August, and it didn’t look to be anywhere near finished!
While out, I dug into the baggie of leftover cereal from this morning, and this Kashi cinnamon coffee cake bar, which was really quite tasty! Almost too sweet for me (surprise!), but probably one of my faves:
Sorry no actual picture, but I was driving when I ate it, and I’m not that talented stupid!
Needless to say, I was starving by the time we got home around 3:00 for lunch. Turkey, spinach, tomato, hummus, BBQ sauce & avocado grilled on a whole grain & flax wrap. With 2 apricots & blueberries on the side.
HOLY MOLY YUM!! Wherever I read to combine BBQ sauce & hummus – I thank you!! Sooooo good. I also had a salad with olives, craisins, & Newman’s Own light sesame Asian dressing that I found in the fridge.
And while I was waiting for my wrap to cook, I dug a handful of seasoned almonds out of this baggie o’ snacks:
I was to that point of hunger where you just down everything in one breath and end up way too full!
After work, I went straight to the gym where I did 25 minutes stairs level 12 while reading Nineteen Minutes. I’m getting to the end!! I was going to do more, but decided to hurry home and head out for a sunset hike. It was so nice out and it was still early enough, I thought why stay stuck in the gym? I should hike! So I did the Bishop’s Peak hike again, only this time was the evening version!
Giant mountain shadow.
I went up the super steep side this time, cutting out about 1/2 a mile – and it was a tough tough climb! It totaled out to be 3.8 miles.
I wasn’t too hungry when I got home & it was late so I made a small dinner and popped this in the oven. The last of my black bean & corn salsa, goat cheese “pizza”!
Last time was on a wrap, but this time was on a sandwich thin, and I liked it much better. I ate the last scrapings of my salsa in the bowl with a couple sweet potato chips. I’ll miss you oh so versatile salsa!
Also had my usual mug of hot chocolate (times 2!) at night while vegging in front of the TV. A healthy, rich version – just cocoa, a little sweetener, hot water, & a splash of almond milk! It’s a nightly treat of mine that I never blog about 😉
Wednesday
Today was a 10:00 workday (and not 7:00) so I planned to wake up early and do weights & abs before work, but I woke up last night feeling slightly nauseous and just not that great. So I decided to just sleep instead 🙂 I was feeling better once I woke up though.
I also planned to have waffles today in honor of National Waffle Day, but had some extra time this morning and craved pumpkin oatmeal! (Gotta use up the pumpkin, ya hear?). I was also just finishing up my Naturally More stash, so thought “DUH! Oats in a jar time, it is!
Note: ignore the jar – it really was naturally more that I was just storing in this glass jar.
Cooked up on the stove:
- 1/2 cup oats
- 1 egg
- 1 cup almond milk
- Heaps of pumpkin
- Tons of cinnamon
- Bit of maple syrup
- Topped off with some Feed’s raisin nut granola
I obviously got every last scraping of PB out of there 😉
Besides the peanut butter in the jar, I also added a bit to the middle and top of my oats. I need my PB in every bite! 😀
Lunch at work was what I grabbed out of the freezer. Kashi sweet & sour chicken. I also ad ded in extra broccoli and some extra strips of chicken to beef it up a bit.
With these yummy fruits throughout the day (add in another apricot & some snap peas).
I also planned to do the P90X yoga DVD at work, but I got super lazy distracted by blogs hungry. I finally got off my lazy behind and popped in the DVD. I’m not sure how I feel about yoga. I try to like it. I really want to. But I often find it so boring that I just don’t have patience! Today’s yoga was okay – I could feel my thighs start to burn a bit (during all those warrior poses), but I still only did 30 minutes. A 90 minute DVD – um sorry. Plus it was actually bothering my knee quite a bit with all the poses, supporting myself while bending your knee, etc. What doesn’t bother my knee? Argh.
Dinner was kind of a mixture between my grilled quesadilla the other night and wrap yesterday. Brie cheese, tomato, BBQ sauce & hummus on a 7-grain & flax wrap. This time I had guac AND BBQ sauce on the side for dipping.
Can you tell from my recent meals that I’ve had food to use up before Friday? 😉 My sister brought me down half of a whole wheel of brie cheese last weekend, so that’s the reason for all my “brie” meals! And I recently opened up my bag of wraps. It’s such a hard life being the only one to eat food that you open. *Sigh* 😉
Tomorrow is another 7:00-5:00 work day, then gym, then packing (I leave on Friday straight from work). Hope you’ve all had a wonderful week/humpday!
Pssst…here’s another Chobani giveaway!!
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But still magnificent views, and really cool to be over the fog like that!
And that wasn’t even the worst of it! (Really random – but this picture and going down this hill totally reminded me of the old computer game Oregon Trail. Remember when a picture like this would pop up, and the warning “Steep trail” or something like that would warn you, and you had options such as “lock the wheels” or “use ropes & chains”? haha…told you it was random, but that’s what it felt like!)
Taydor Tott 