New Obsession

I’m obsessed. 

Frozen blueberries.  Topped with peanut sauce (mixture of peanut flour, almond milk, dash of salt, and a bit of cream cheese.  I’ve also mixed in honey apple butter for a bit of sweetness before).

It. Is. SO. Good.  The peanut sauce hardens a bit due to the frozen blueberries.  And as you eat, the blueberries slightly defrost making them a little mushy/easier to eat.  It seriously tastes like peanutty blueberry-ish ice cream.  I’m not joking. 

I’ve had it every night this week.  And maybe twice

Can’t. Get. Over. It.

 

Today I was feeling a bit off (thank you Cinco de Mayo celebrating last night).

I had a waffle at some point this morning.

And then leftover cream of broccoli soup before work this afternoon.

I snacked a bunch of this crack at work:

I’m quite serious when I say crack.  I’m not sure how Trader Joe’s finds it legal to sell this stuff.

And some iced coffee thank bajesus. 

After having a bowl of Blueberry-Peanut-Butter-Delight (what I shall call my new love), my body told me it was craving something fatty and Chinesey (I shall thank my roommate who had me looking at Thai food menus online).

Panda Express to the rescue!  Dude, that lady OVERLOADED my tray with almost twice as much food as normal.  And I ate it all.

String bean chicken.

Mushroom chicken.

And I had a free entrée coupon (check the back of your receipts people!!) so I tried the Mandarin Chicken.

Yuck.  Slimy, greasy, chewy, yucky taste.  I did not like. 

 

Is it bad luck if you (accidentally) rip your fortune in half?

Whoops.

 

Did you do anything to celebrate the 5th of May?

First off – happy birthday to my sister!!  (well it was yesterday)  But besides that I just went to a Mexican restaurant/bar with friends.  It was fun!  But an interesting night…I wish I could have partaken in margarita happy hour!

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Word to the Wise

This post contains important information you should keep in mind on a daily basis.   Things that work well, and that don’t work well.  Very important stuff, you know.

Such as the fact that cupcakes taste wonderful mixed into yogurt messes the next morning.  Just scrape off the huge mound of frosting, eat that (if desired), and mix the crumbled (sweet potato) muffin cupcake into said yogurt.

Another tip?  Don’t splurge on Fage yogurt on sale if you’ve been living off of plain yogurt, and wish to continue to do so.  O. M. G. I want my Greek yogurt back please.

Word to the wise – don’t microwave veggie corn dogs (or regular corn dogs for that matter).  So much better baked in the oven.

Also, hummus doesn’t taste bad with a corn dog.  But ketchup and mustard taste better.

I was just in a hurry.  And hungry.

 

If you ever want a little giggle, I suggest trying this:

However you need a baby to do so.  And I don’t suggest finding a random one off the streets.

A tip we all know and I’m sure have failed upon – don’t over cinnamon your dishes.

 

When given the opportunity to sleep in and have the morning off, make sure you have a good and delicious breakfast.

• 1/4 cup oats
• 1/4 cup wheat bran
• 3/4 cup almond milk + 1/2 cup water
• 2 egg whites
• Cinnamon & pumpkin pie spice
• Pumpkin ~1/2-3/4 cup worth
• Maple syrup

Toppings:

• Pumpkin butter
• Pumpkin cream cheese (all out *sniff sniff*)
• Plain yogurt (which I ate around – I actually wasn’t feeling it)

This made a huge bowl with only 1/4 cup oats!  The wheat bran and pumpkin really bulks it up (tip #….8?  9?).

Be sure to try out multiple pumpkin butters for a legit pumpkin season experience.  This one is good and very pumpkin tasty.  Sweet (not too sweet), but not too “spicy.”  I like it a lot.

 

I’ll admit, one of the things that attracted me to this is the fact that it says only 15 calories per Tbsp.  Which is quite a bit less than other brands.  I’m not going to let calories from keeping me from buying pumpkin butter, but I was impressed that this brand seemed to not use as much sugar.

Until I looked at the carbohydrate and grams of sugar per serving. 

1 g. carbohydrates = 4 calories

10 g. carbohydrates = 40 calories

40 calories > 15 calories.

15 calories?  Pshhhh.  Don’t think so!!  I don’t really care though – 30% Vitamin A per serving? Yeehaww.  Although that might be false as well!

So, I suggest really looking at the label (if you care about that stuff).  But it’s still delicious.  And why on earth would they put serving sizes in ounces and grams?  Who really measures or estimates servings in ounces?  Sorry – but tablespoons work better in my book!

If you see the word maple next to the word scone, then I suggest purchasing.

But I do advise not eating the whole thing.  I snacked on half while researching internships.

If you forget to take a picture of your lunch, the can doesn’t do it justice.  Although I didn’t really like it anyways.

If you really aren’t hungry or feeling well, listen to your body!  Don’t try and force down almonds just because you feel your lunch needs more “substance.”

And next time remember not to purchase said almonds if you’re not prepared to go through half the container in a week.

 

Remember to get the “Turkey with gravy and dressing” next time they offer it again at work (most likely in 3 weeks).  Because it was delicious. 

And next time remember to take a picture before devouring.

 

Peanut flour mixed with water is divine (divine?  really?) for dipping apple slices into.  And if you have no peanut flour then go buy some.  At TJ’s.  And if you don’t live close to a TJ’s, then drive as far as it takes to get it.  That needs to be my Tip#1.  Because it really is the most important.

Tip: add salt and a bit of maple syrup to the mix.  You’ll thank me.

Another tip: next time honeycrisp apples are .99 cents/lb at the grocery store, buy more.  Much much more.

 

Another suggestion?  Stop blogging and blog-reading and get to work on internship researching so you’re not as stressed out.  It might help.

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Cookies & Nuts

Yes.  That’s as creative a title as you’re gonna get.

 

It’s been a while since I baked my favorite cookies.  When a friend’s birthday came up, I had the perfect excuse

However, when it came time to mix in the chips, I realized I had no chocolate chips.  I had debated buying chocolate chips the other day at the store, and I ended up putting them back on the shelf.  I guess I thought I had decided to buy them?  Not sure…

But I did have cinnamon chips!

Seriously – make.  these. cookies.  Life changing!  I definitely had a good 3 cookies worth of dough.  And probably 3 cookies of actual cookies.  And that was just in the afternoon.  So addicting.

I also think they make excellent post-run food.

I mean, made with oats, whole wheat flour, and canola oil – it’s like a super sugary energy bar cookie, right?

Right.

 

I’ve also decided that these make an awesome pre, post, & during (?? I’d stop during a run for these babies) run snack as well.

 

A seriously 100% impulse buy at Costco.  I’m usually so good at avoiding these.

Best cinnamon almonds ever.  No joke.

Dangerous.

Would you like some running talk?  Okay.

My run yesterday was great.  4.5 miles.  And today was another 4.5 miles.  Both were okay – nothing great, but not horrible.  Just normal runs.

And that’s good However, my knees, and left ankle are slightly bothering me.  As is my left inner shin at times.  I did get refitted for new orthotics, and I’m hoping that’s the solution here.  According the orthotics doctor (what are they called?), my ankle is rolling inward and my feet are just overcoming my current orthotics.  And my shoes aren’t super supportive.  So without the support of orthotics, I do think I’m feeling the pain from that.

I hope.

I just am not looking forward to buying another set of expensive orthotics :-/. Boo.

In din-din news….

Dinner was semi-homemade. 

Enter this rice:

These beans:

And this sausage:

Which I was really sad to see has lamb casing.  Boo.  Oh well

Give you this:

Yes….there were veggies and sausage under there.  Very good.  But very salty.

 

I can’t believe I haven’t asked….what are you all being for Halloween this year?!?!  I love love love Halloween and dressing up!  But you’ll have to wait and see what my costume is

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So long. Farewell

Adios 12 hour crazy work day. May I crash now?

Let’s see. Today was:

9:00-1:30 – Nannying job. During which we walked the 1 1/2 miles to the library and 1 1/2 miles back.

Got called into work early. So I raced home, threw on my uniform, grabbed a snack, and sped to work.

2:00-8:45 – crazy crazy hospital day. It was jam packed today and super busy.  Which = me running around like crazy.

Boom. That was me falling on the couch.

But you want to see some food, now do ya’?

I woke up not hungry at all (thank you late night snack literally 15 minutes before I went to bed). So I kept it light with cereal – Kashi Golean, banana slices, & almond milk. Plus a 2-egg white puff on the side for some protein.

❤

Almonds while walking from the library (repeat picture).

Rando sandwich thrown together at work. Basil, hummus, pickles, blue cheese on whole wheat. And mustard.

Super random. But it’s what they had. I wanted to use feta, but the container wasn’t open. And I felt weird opening it.

+ a peach. Juicy. And probaby organic. Not that that matters.  But it was good.

Scarfed down some cocoa almonds in between jobs. Not hungry. But I didn’t want a 7 hour break between lunch and dinner.

I was literally running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off (is that true? Do they really run around after? Ugh. Please don’t tell me), and didn’t get a chance to eat dinner until after the cafeteria closed. Luckily the chef grabbed me some leftover food right before it was washed away. So I took what I could get. And it looks like I’m on the Atkins diet.

Also, luckily the meatloaf was turkey meatloaf. And it was good! I’m usually only a meatloaf fan if it’s made with a specific recipe. This one was tasty.

That fried chicken on the other hand, was nasty.

I need my comfy flip flop slippers. And a mattress. And some carbs after that dinner.

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Sweet Sweet Oatmeal

Happy almost Friday! This week went by very quickly – anyone else? My morning started out a bit more eventful than I would’ve liked when I found out my roommate was taken to the hospital last night due to chest pains. By the time 2 of my other roommates and I got there, she was being released. She has a few different medical problems, and is back home now (thank goodness). They’re still not sure what’s wrong and I guess she has to go see a specialist. I haven’t seen her at all today and I hope she’s gotten lots of rest and feels better.

I eventually got home and decided to take advantage of the fact that I missed my class and had a couple extra hours by whipping up some peanut butter coffee oats.

• 1/2 cup oats + 1 cup almond milk + 2 egg whites
• Scoop of instant coffee powder
• PB2

Topped off with:

• Almond butter
• Plain yogurt “frosting”
• Pomegranate vanilla cashews

I love you sweet sweet oatmeal.

I finally broke into this bag I’ve had around for quite a while. They’re sweet – but not as sweet as candied nuts. Delicious! But deadly since I can eat the whole bag 😉

And 3 mugs of 3/4 decaff, 1/4 caff coffee to fuel the studying. With all the regulars. Yes, SF coffee-mate is one of my vices. I really don’t care how many chemicals are in it, I just love a mug of coffee with a dash of this sweetness 🙂

Midterm came and midterm went….all right I guess. We’ll see.

Gym was next on the list where I tried the treadmill for the first time in 2 months. After a warm-up, I did 2 minute run, 1 minute walk followed by a cool-down. Total was only 1.3 miles, but I really just wanted to test out the knee. Verdict? It felt quite stiff and it still hurts. ROAR.

Then bowling, where I promised I would bowl a strike and dedicate it the roommate. She got 4 dedications 😉

And finally came work where I snacked on:

Carrots & salsa (love this combo).

Grapes

4 juicy strawberries (strawberry season you are near!)

2 clementines + an apple. Got my fruit fix this afternoon, no?

I was obvoiusly snacky! 😉 And I didn’t want to get home starving either.

Dinner was kept light since I really wasn’t hungry (obviously).

Seasoned cauliflower (with garlic salt, pepper, paprika, curry & parmesan cheese). And roasted at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. The parmesan cheese was delicious once toasted.

And soup.

I really liked this soup. It tasted creamy and very similar to cream of chicken. And I liked the addition of white beans instead of noodles.

Tomorrow will definitely be a little off. I’m actually having an endoscopy done in the morning for heart burn related symptoms I’ve been having a problem with for years. And since my insurance is up at the end of the month, I figured I should cram in all my doctor visits while I can! It’s my first ever “procedure” (I’ve never even had a cavity drilled!) and I’ve never gotten the “sleepy medicine” (as they called it). I’m nervous!! Eeeek!

See you afterwards! And please keep my roommate in your thoughts. Thanks 🙂

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What’s in a Label?

Sorry MIA last night. Backing up to Humpday Wednesday…

Yogurt mixed with pumpkin + Kashi Heart to Heart + pumpkin granola + banana for breakkie. And sunbutter of course.

Post gym sesh (where I did 20 minutes of whittle my middle ball style. Exercise ball that is), I noshed on a berry almond Luna bar.

Surprisingly I really liked this flavor! I’m not a fan of Lara bars at all. To me, they’ve always had that yucky chalky bar taste. But this one was delicious and sweet. Almost too sweet – very sticky and candylike.

More snacks in class.

As I was bored in class, I noticed that my almonds had sucralose in the ingredients list.

I was honestly quite surprised. Even though these almonds are in a “100 calorie bag” and obviously marketed for portion control, I wouldn’t think of them as a “diet food” or “low-calorie” food that would normally contain sucralose (aka splenda). It just goes to show that label reading is extremely important. Not just the nutrition facts, but also the ingredients list.

Think reduced fat peanut butter is healthier than full fat? Sure the facts show 4 grams of fat less in reduced fat, but they both still have the same calories, and the ingredients list is miles longer, along with added sugar.

Think “trans-fat free” products are still healthy? Many products still contain partially-hydrogenated oils (hint hint many peanut butters!) – the primary source of trans fat (besides those in naturally occuring foods). A label is only required to put trans fat on the label if the food contains more than .5 g trans fat per serving. But if you eat more than one serving, you could be eating more trans fat than you realize.

Key here – label read people!

I came home starving and chowed down my kitchen. First, a leftover turkey + cranberry sauce sammy on WW sandwich thin.

That looks damn appetizing, I know.

Followed by a banana + sunbutter. Persimmon. And Mary’s Crackers.

And this bowl of strawberries, greek yogurt, cereal & sunbutter.

I could not get full. But all this food at 3:00 killed my appetite for dinner, and I ended up eating just a squash.

Yes – the whole thing. With ketchup of course.

Today (Thursday) started out with something that’s been missing from my life for a while.

Overnight (pumpkin) oats!

Quaker oatmeal squares make the best overnight oat topping. And pumpkin cream cheese.

Lunch was the same as yesterday, but looked better, I swear.

Along with carrots & spinach hommus (x2).

See? Better.

Kinda.

Best sandwich combo. EVER. I also added some garlic onion cream cheese. Great combo. With an apple for “dessert.”

With work canceled, I had all intentions of studying for my quiz tomorrow. However, my roommate and I spent the afternoon in Borders, drinking coffee, reading magazines, and enjoying the ambiance of Christmas music. We also had quite the conversations. I’m sure anyone around us was entertained with random snippits of conversation, including talk about threesomes. Don’t ask.  But it was a wonderful afternoon 🙂 Especially since I didn’t study at all for my quiz 😉 Oh well, I’m so over it.

Our friend offered to make us dinner tonight since we supplied BBQ goodies earlier this year. He made us english muffin pizzas.

How gourmet 😉

This x3:

And that would be turkey pepperoni 🙂

A year or two ago I would’ve stressed out because I knew it would be on “white” english muffins with an unidentified amount of cheese that I couldn’t control. I’m so proud of how far I’ve come that it really doesn’t matter if I eat some simple carbohydrates for dinner one night. Not everything has to be healthy, whole wheat, super nutritional foods.

A reese’s PB cookie may have also made it unpictured 😉

Now I’m sitting here at 11:12 pm wondering if I should at least read over my powerpoint slides once before going to bed, or just completely throw all faith into the wind tomorrow. Word of advice: don’t look to me for studying inspiration 😉

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Winner winner pumpkin dinner

Okay – so pumpkin was kind of post-dinner, but whatever. It works in the title, so just go with it.

Lesson learned yesterday: Don’t skip lunch!

I had such a late and filling breakfast, that I never really had a real lunch. I hit up the gym after my 12-2 class, so a good lunch never really fit in well.

Be prepared for a bunch of beautiful phone snapshots.

Snack in class pre-gym.

+ an apple. Still on the mad hunt for the S’mores flavor!!

+ a chocolate chip cookie that a group member made us because she contributed ZERO work to the group project. Cookies make up for it…right? Actually another member mentioned she’d rather have a latte. haha. I agree 😉

Workout:

Caught up on The Hills (since unable to watch the other night due to cable outage!).

• 30 minutes stairmaster
• 20 minutes treadmill
  • 5 min run/2 min walk intervals X 2
  • Walking for a bit

I was a sweaty beast after this. My shirt was literally heavy with sweat and not an ounce of me was dry. I don’t know if I’m a heavy sweater, or if no one else in the gym works super hard, but why do I seem to be the only one saturated in there? (Sorry for the gross TMI guys).

Post-gym library snackage:

and

(Love these)

But I was starving no matter what. So I ditched that library soon enough, and came home to make an early dinner A-stat.

In the quinoa mix:

• Sauteed asparagus & onion
• Craisins
• BBQ slivered almonds
• Pumpkin seeds
• Chopped tomato
• Dressing mixture of
  • Light rice vinegar
  • Olive oil
  • Annie’s Papaya Poppyseed dressing

(x this amount of quinoa by another plate – I was hungry hungry!)

Delicisioso! The sweet flavors melded so well. And I absolutely love pumpkin seeds mixed in my quinoa dishes now.

While the quinoa was cooking, I snacked on Mary’s crackers with TJ’s queso dip. And immediately after this, I had a pumpkin + yogurt bowl.

(Recycled picture, obviously since one of Holly’s cookies is making an apperance)

And the night wasn’t complete without a bit of this action:

That would be vanilla froyo + chocolate sauce + sunbutter. The sunbutter on top was one of my best ideas ever.

I’m off for last minute studying for my Clinical Nutrition lab midterm (eeek!!). Then not sure if I’m driving home tonight or tomorrow morning. Desicions decisions….

So you all know how much I adore pumpkin, right?  (If you didn’t well then a) you’ve been living under a rock the past few weeks or b) you’re new to my blog and welcome! :-D) Well be sure to check out my guest post over at Megan’s blog! She’s a little under the weather (feel better!!) over there.

And thank you to everyone who entered my candy giveaway !

True Random Number Generator
Min: 1
Max: 92
Result:55

Congrats to Emily of Nutritious is Delicious! Shoot me an email with your address girl, so I can get your treats sent out to ya!

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Holiday Dinner

You all knew this was coming.

LOVE

I only wish I had smaller clear bowls so you could see it in all it’s glory. I may have to invest.

Let’s see how many posts I can start with something pumpkin related shall I?

Breakfast was on the run as I was late for the bus.

~3/4 of this Pinapple Chobani. People weren’t kidding when they said this stuff was amazing. And guys, I’m not kidding either. I don’t kid.

Rudi’s whole wheat english muffin. 1/2 with honey almond cream cheese + pumpkin butter. 1/2 with Sunbutter and banana.

The pumpkin butter side felt left out and wanted some banana lovin’. I let him have 1 piece.

I have to figure out my school eating schedule. I have class 11:00-2:00 with a 10 minute break on each hour. I have 3 options:

1. Eat multiple mini-meals/larger snacks during the day (kind of like today – I had more snacks than normal, and a smaller lunch after classes)

2. Eat a boring quick lunch during my 10 minute break/in class (something super easy to eat quickly and that won’t interrupt lecture, like a PB&J)

3. Starve until 2:30 who are you taking to?

Today I chose the snacky route and ate multiple times.

Half of this Clif bar at 10:30, and the other half at 12:00.

Cocoa almonds at 1:00

And the other half of my turkey avocado sandwich from the other day. Grabbed between class and work – eaten at 3:00

So the bread was soggy and bland. I’m not one to waste food and it still tasted good.

And my new obsession.

With my homemade SF pumpkin pie creamer.

Snackage at work.

And a Thanksgiving Yom Kippur dinner. (No – I’m not Jewish, I just saw that today is Yom Kippur. So Happy Yom Kippur to one and all!)

Roasted zucchini and cauliflower with garlic salt, olive oil, and pepper. Mashed potatoes with FF sour cream & garlic salt. Homemade cranberry sauce.

Sorry for the blur/bad quality – I was too lazy to go upstairs (bad blogger – hand slap!) and get my normal camera. Iphone pics have to do.

That is my plate of bland colored mush and globs of ketchup.

Naw just kidding. Okay, so maybe I do kid (but never about Pineapple Chobani).

I had the dream to use up some of my $0.89 5-lb potoato bag to make mashed potatoes. So I had potatoes!  I had boxed gravy! (Expired in July – whoops!) I had frozen cranberries! I had turkey! Well I desperately searched for protein to add to this dish and finally said screw it. The sour cream in the mashed potatoes adds some protein, right?  And I would get some protein from dessert…

Gossip Girl

+

Pumpkin ice cream + micro’d cinnamon banana + pumpkin butta + whipped cream

=

Happy Tay-Tay’s tum tum 😀

Pumpkin “pie” for dessert?  It really is Thanksgiving!

PS: My recipe page is a work in progress, but I did add the pumpkin pancakes I made yesterday to it. I just followed the recipe on my oatmeal bag, and added it about 1/2 cup pumpkin & cinnamon. Easy peasy!

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Taylor the Sailor!

Yes, I was a sailor for Halloween one year and actually carried around a sign that read “Taylor the Sailor”

I was so clever 😉

Beware: long post guys. Lonnngggg post. But don’t let that scare you off!! Please 🙂

Few things to catch you up with over here. First thing, kayaking!
After waiting around forever for the guys to beauty themselves up get their lazy butts ready, we finally made it up to Morro Bay. It was beautiful weather!! The bay can get extremely foggy, but it was almost crystal clear!

All buckled up and ready to go!

Sara and I rented a double.

So fun!! We even got super close to the seals!

Peeee U they stunk!! Why do seals sit with their noses turned up into the air like that? I was wondering.

We kayaked for about an hour. Tiring, but beautiful, refreshing, and fun!

Afterwards, we walked along the stores by the water for a bit in search of saltwater taffy. And boy did we find some!

60 flavors!!! I grabbed a big cauldron bucket and started piling them in. From pumpkin pie to hot chocolate, they had them covered 😀 Like a kid in a candystore I tell ya.

Now how about a little Foam Party action? Before we left for kayaking, we had a little adventure in our own kitchen. Sara, my roommate, used dish soap instead of dishwasher soap in our dishwasher.

2 cycles, a freshly mopped floor, and about 6 towels later – our dishes are sparkling clean. 😉

Despite being exhausted from kayaking (yes, 1 hour really seemed to tucker us out!), I set my alarm to get up early this morning before work for a run on the track.

Pre-run: 1/2 Ezekiel english muffin with Earth Balance PB & Crofter’s superfruit spread. And cawwfee of course.

Sorry for the half eaten muffin. I wasn’t going to photograph it, but then midway decided to.  Have I ever told you how much I like this PB?  It’s actually too salty for my taste, but other than that I really like it!  I’m not a fan of Smart Balance, but this Earth Balance stuff is quite good!

My run was stellar (did I really just say stellar?). Well as stellar awesome as a run can be running around in circles on a track.

Miles: 3.25-3.5 with a .25 mile walk break in the middle

Time: 29:34

Woohoo! I’m not sure on the exact distance because my Mr. G-man registers 1 lap around the track as .27 miles, when really it’s .25. Now that doesn’t seem like much, but when you added up all the laps, it can cause about 1/4 mile difference.

Football practice was going on next to and in the middle of the track this morning, so I had my entertainment 😉 Can I just say how good it felt to get up early and get ready for a run before work like the old days? Man I miss that!

Post-run snack: Penny’s low fat poppyseed muffin top with a little almond butter.

Oh my goodness golly yummness! This was soooo good. Definitely more dessert status than post-run status, but oh well!

Even though it was Labor day, I still had work. Labour on Labor day, eh? Guess so! I was a hungry, hungry girl today! Snacks through the morning included:

Carrots & this sundried tomato/pea/garlic dip thing they had in the fridge

It looks like guac, but it’s not.

A small berry/lemony moist tart thing (they had a party this past weekend, so had lots of delicious leftovers 🙂 )

And a couple sweet, buttery, candied pecans. These were good.

Finally got to sit down to lunch. Peach chobani (much better than I was expecting! I like it better than the strawberry) with strawberries, 1/2 white nectarine, Zoe’s cinnamon raisin granola & Nature’s Path strawberry yogurt cereal. With a little something new today!

Chia seeds!

Ewww they look like little bugs! LOL. But honestly, I couldn’t taste them at all! And for all the benefits they provide (omega-3 fatty acids, tons of fiber, calcium, protein), I find them wonderful! I can’t wait to make chia-seed pudding!

Plus 2 rice stuffed grape leaves:

(this picture was from last week, but they look the exact same. Literally.)

I dug into this bag a couple times during the afternoon:

And also had an unpicutred Cranbran Vitatop.

Finally – home for dinner! A grilled pupusa (cheese filled corn tortilla) topped with sauteed Mexican seasoned veggies, guacamole, sour cream & corn salsa.

This was mad good. The ooey gooeyness of the cheese. Oh man. But afterwards I was still hungry! So I whipped up a strawberry vanilla almond milk smoothie.

And snagged a couple of these little babies.

They’re cutie-patootie minis!!

I then headed to a friend’s house for a little Scattegories & Baby Mama action. But the whole time I was thinking about how hungry I was!! So right when I got home I devoured:

2 of Tina’s Peanut Butter granola cookie balls. (post to come on these, I promise – this post was already big enough ;-)! )

2 mugs hot chocolate (yes 2). Some dried apple chips dipped in almond butter, and a couple of chocolate someraults. Why was my appetite so out of control today?!

I’m so sorry for the long post guys – but I wanted to get caught up on everything. And I’m sorry for the sporadic commenting! It seems that everytime I sit down to dig into my reader, something comes up.  But no work tomorrow, so hopefully I’ll put a dent into my To-Do list and my google reader!

How was everyone’s holiday weekend?  Any fun vacations, activities, or parties?? Do tell 😀

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It’s a Zoo!

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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