As I was standing in Warrior II this morning and staring out my window, a squirrel ran across the ledge of my balcony (and scared the crap out of me but that’s besides the point). Does anybody else get ridiculously happy about the concept of nature?
On my drive back to Albany from Rockland yesterday afternoon, I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful things are when you really take a moment to look at them. I can’t wait until it gets warmer out and I can do yoga on my balcony. I think I will be in heaven then.
Since I wrote my Motivation and Time Management post on Thursday, my life has basically revolved around this:
and this:
Yes, that Lavender Blueberry Dark Chocolate. I know, I died a little too.
On Saturday morning, I made oatmeal pancakes
But not before blowing the bowl of oats up in the microwave. I laughed for 10 minutes when this happened.
With Real Maple Syrup, Shredded Coconut, and a few Dark Chocolate Chips on top for good measure
Saturday afternoon was spent driving 2 hours south of Albany to my parents’ house in Rockland County. I’m going to spare you the details of my eats because 1) I didn’t eat much and 2) what I did eat was boring.
What I will tell you about, however, is my trip to the city (NY) for my brother’s birthday dinner at Heidelberg on Saturday night.
My brothers! Birthday boy is on the right
As I said in my previous post, it is not easy being a vegetarian at a German restaurant. There was a lentil soup on the specials menu and here’s how that went down:
Me: Is there meat in the lentil soup?
Waitress: No, just bacon (what?!)
Me: Yeah, I’ll have the potato pancakes, thanks!
And the creamed spinach
The pancakes were bigger than my head and delicious! I could only eat one and a half. I passed the spinach around to share with the table. My family got a sausage platter which was unfortunately placed right in front of me. I’m pretty sure that was one of the reasons I couldn’t eat most of my meal (the bread basket also played a role). Even before I stopped eating meat, the things on this platter would have made me sick. Pigs knuckle is absolutely disgusting looking. GAH- I’m grossed out just thinking about it.
Dessert made up for it:
Hot Raspberries over Vanilla Ice Cream--amazing!!
And, of course, it helped that myadorable nephew, Nicholas, was sitting right next to me:
Overall, it was a great night out with my family!
I woke up at 5:30 on Sunday morning without an alarm. I figured since I was up, I might as well get some school work done. While I was reading, I snacked on raspberry Chobani
For breakfast, I stopped by my favorite deli in Rockland County. I used to get breakfast sandwiches from this place all the time when I lived at home. My standard order was a sandwich called a Sobo which is sausage, egg, cheese, and homefries on a roll. I found out yesterday that the sandwich without meat is called an Obo. And guess what? I liked it better without the meat on it!
So good!
After stopping by Dara’s house to chat for a bit, I started my 2 hour drive back to Albany. When I got home, I made a black bean and cheddar pita for lunch:
I had some greens on the side.
I did loads of school work for a while and then got to work on dinner.
I made Baked Cheesy Pasta with Zucchini, Broccoli, Carrots, Onion, and Tomato Basil Sauce.
This is my favorite go-t0 dinner because it’s very easy to make and so delicious when it’s done.
During halftime of the Super Bowl, Jefff and I decided to make Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. I found the recipe on the Cooking Light website
We didn’t have pecans so we doubled the dark chocolate chips. Our packed brown sugar was being impossible so we used granulated light brown sugar. And we were out of vanilla extract, so I used NuNaturals Vanilla Stevia instead (the company sent me some a while back).
The recipe made 2 dozen and they are excellent! Definitely a keeper.
I actually had 2 but I’m trying to trick you into thinking I only had one. Did it work? :-)
Well, I’m off to class. Sorry for the longggg recap!
Question:
1) If you’re vegetarian (or even if you’re not), which type of cuisines do you think are the most vegetarian/vegan friendly. The least?
German food is definitely on my list for the least!
Have a great Monday!
Hey guys! Sorry I’ve been MIA the past couple days.
Since I wrote my Motivation and Time Management post, I’ve been busy, busy, busy getting things done. Pluse I’ve been down to Rockland and back to Albany in less than 24 hours. (It’s a two hour trip plus the hour drive to the city from Rockland and back)
I’ll be back tomorrow morning with a recap post of my night in the NYC for my brother, David’s birthday and other fun stuff!
It’s hard to be a vegetarian at a German restaurant.
Me: Does the lentil soup have meat in it?
Waitress: No, just bacon.
Me: WHATTT?? Potato Pancakes please!
Hope everyone had a great weekend!
Until tomorrow!
I ran a solid 2.4 miles at a 5.5 pace on the treadmill this morning without stopping. That is HUGE for me. (If you missed my post about wanting to become a runner, you can read it here). I credit my ability to be able to run nonstop for so long this morning to five different things:
- I stretched properly before I started
- I warmed up for 10 minutes on the elliptical before heading to the treadmill
- I thought about how awesome I’d feel afterward and also how proud I’d be to post my accomplishment on my blog
- The soundtrack on my ipod was amazing
- I was extremely motivated because I’d spent the entire morning being productive
I know that 2.4 miles at a 5.5 pace isn’t anything spectacular for experienced runners but it was for me and that’s all the matters.
Time Management
As you probably know, exercise is kind of like therapy. When I work out, specifically when I do any sort of cardio, I have time to think about a lot of things that matter to me. One of my goals at the beginning of the year was to procrastinate less. Over the last couple weeks, I’ve been getting up at 6am to be productive and up until today, it hasn’t really been working out for me. The number one reason is because when I wake up, I immediately open my laptop and spend hours doing pointless things online. I’ll check my email, facebook, twitter, my blog, and then repeat, clicking on the same links over and over. It’s stupid and it wastes time I could be using doing something else.
I’ve been thinking about it over the past couple days. I don’t have class on Tuesdays and Thursdays until 4:15pm. I reserve those days for the gym (along with Saturday and Sunday). I usually do the 30-Day Shred or my Yoga DVD on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (Plus I go to a Pilates class on Wednesday nights). I set a goal for myself at the beginning of this week to start working out with my exercise DVDs before the sun comes up so I don’t have to worry about it later in the morning. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, it is simply too cold to go out to the gym early in the morning so I end up going at around 10:00am and reserve the things that need to get done until after I leave the gym. That includes eating breakfast and doing school work. I generally have a snack before going to the gym and then eat breakfast at 11 or 12 when I get home. The thing is, I could be doing a lot of that stuff before I go to the gym. When the weather gets warmer, I’ll be going to the gym earlier but for now I plan to use my mornings to be super productive and to get things done.
I have a lot of school work to do all the time. I am taking 5 writing and reading intensive classes because I major in journalism and minor in English. It’s just what I signed up for when I took on those areas of study. However, I don’t like spending every moment of my day stressing out about work I need to do. I love the feeling of getting things done ahead of time and not having to worry about them. I hate waiting until the last minute to do things which is something I do way too often. So I made a change this morning and I hope that it will stick.
This is what my schedule was like this morning:
6:3o: Out of bed (usually I get up at 6 but I was super tired this morning).
6:30-7: Coffee. Check email, blog related stuff, and facebook. I closed my laptop at exactly 7:00am.
7-8: Ate breakfast while reading the newspaper. (This is another thing I procrastinate with. I need to read the paper everyday for school (and because I want to) and it usually ends up in a pile on my living room floor)
Banana Oats with cinnamon, banana raisin PB, shredded coconut, and dark chocolate chips on top
8-9: Reading for school (I am a super slow reader so required reading takes up a lot of time for me. I also take a lot of notes on what I’m reading so it takes even longer).
8:59-9:00: Freaked out a bit about the amount of oats we have left:
This is not acceptable. Call the police.
9:15-10:30: Gym (I’m lucky that my gym is right in front of my apartment complex. I have a 2 second commute time in my car. About 5 minutes walking)
10:40-11: Shower and post-workout snack:
Whole Wheat Toast with PB and a cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk mixed with 1/2 tbsp of unsweetened cocoa
11-12:20: Blog. Closing my laptop as soon as I’m done!
As you can see, I’m right on schedule. I haven’t planned the rest of my day out in specific time increments but here’s what else I plan to do:
- Lunch
- More reading for school
- Writing for school
- Class from 4-5:30 (want to get there early because I’ve been rushing to get there on time lately)
- Read more of the newspaper and Metroland (Kind of like the Village Voice)
- Dinner
- Relax by reading blogs and watching The Mentalist tonight
- Sleep at 11 when show is over
I feel so much better when I accomplish a lot in one day.
How do you manage your time?
How do you stay motivated to get things done?
Any tips for me?
Here’s a quick recap of last night:
I had a Whole Wheat Wasa Cracker with PB and Blackberry Preserves before heading to my favorite Pilates class!
Guess what I had for dinner when I got home?!
A smiley face dough monster?!?!?!?!
If you guessed a homemade pizza, you’re right! (Used this dough recipe).
With Broccoli, Spinach, Garlic, Onions, basil, and Yellow Pepper on my half
My plate:
Eaten while watching Criminal Minds (love that show!) The other half is my lunch today.
And dessert:
Toasted Arnold Sandwich Thin with PB and Dark Chocolate Chips on top with a glass of Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
What’s your favorite pizza topping?
Have a great day!
I had a very random thought this morning and am wondering if anyone else ever thinks about this:
Why do we close the bathroom door when nobody else is home?
The thought just popped into my head this morning as I was getting ready to go to class. Seriously? Who are we closing the door for? Think about it and let me know.
ANYWAY- PICTURE POST! Haven’t done one in a while so here we go:
Yesterday morning started with:
2 Slices of Whole Wheat Toast topped with Monkey Boy (Banana Raisin PB) and Shredded Coconut
Followed mid-morning by this:
I'm a PB Puffins Junkie- It's under control- don't worry.
Gross looking, delicious tasting leftovers from Saturday night for lunch:
Mmm...Eggplant, Chickpeas, & Tomato Sauce....Mmm
Cookie for dessert:
Agenda from Yesterday:
- Finish Reading Chapters in Feature & Magazine Writing Book
- Read Paper
- Eat breakfast
- Gym (I want to runnnnn)- Didn’t get to go to the gym yesterday :-( Took it as a rest day.
- Go somewhere and observe for a 1/2 hour and then write a story about it (yes,that’s actually my assignment)
- Write secret story (This will be revealed on the blog next week)
- Class from 4-8:30
- Sleep forever!!!!!!
Dinner #1 Before Class:
Arnold WW Sandwich Thin with Melted Mozzarella & Cheddar + Stacy's Pita Chips and Hummus
Snacks between class:
- Celery
- Grapes
Dinner #2 After Class:
1/2 Baked Potato with Melted Cheddar & Broccoli on top
More cookies for dessert!
Level 2- 30 Day Shred Jillian Michaels butt-kicking this morning.
Breakfast:
Broccoli Eggs foreverrr with Frank's Red Hot on top + 1/2 Arnold Thin on the side
Snacks between breakfast and the time I got home from class (9-2pm):
- Cherry Fruit Leather
- Grapes
- Cranberry Heart Thrive Cookie
Mini Refried Bean “Tacos” with salad for lunch
Inspiration to use shot glasses to hold them up came from this awesome lady. Used toasted Arnold Sandwich Thins as “taco shells.” SO GOOD! Try it. If you haven’t picked up on it yet- I’m obsessed with Arnold Sandwich Thins. They are the perfect size and taste great! You can use them for anything!
Had another cookie for dessert. (Also obsessed with cookies)
Pilates tonight! Can’t wait!!
What’s the most creative meal you’ve ever made?
Have a great Wednesday night/Tuesday!
So Vegetarian February has officially begun. I actually haven’t had any kind of meat/fish since January 12th. I’m not going to call myself a vegetarian until February is over because the original challenge was for the entire month of February. Though, I think it’s safe to say that I’m planning to remain a vegetarian long after February is over. Is anybody else doing Vegetarian February? Jeff is doing it with me for support. I’m completely fine with him eating meat. Like I said in my original post, I’m not trying to force my opinions on anyone else. Nor will I just expect restaurants to accommodate me because I’m a vegetarian. This is a choice I’ve made for myself and nobody has to agree or treat me any differently because of it.
Anyway, I have a million things to do today so lets get this show on the road!
Jeff and I made another trip to the co-op on Sunday. I could seriously live there. We spent $35 this time. Here’s what we got:
From Left
- Annie’s Deluxe Mac & Cheese
- Tomato Soup (for Jeff)
- Black Beans
- Refried Beans
- 4 pounds of WW Flour (for $4- love bulk bins!)
- Tea
- Apple Cinnamon Cereal Bars
- 1 grapefruit
- 2 oranges
- Grapes
- So Delicious French Vanilla Coconut Milk Creamer (love this!)
- Annie’s BBQ sauce
- 2 bags of Stacy’s Pita Chips
We are considering becoming members of the co-op. We’d have to work there 3 or 4 hours a week to get a discount but I think it’s worth it.
The only other thing worth mentioning for Sunday is the Refried Bean Quesadillas Jeff made for dinner.
Mine contained Refried Beans (duh), Yellow Pepper, Onion, Tomato, and Shredded Cheddar. It was so good! We had salad on the side.
Yesterday morning began with yoga and banana oatmeal- two of my favorite things.
Oats with made with 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond breeze, 1 banana, 1/2 cup quick oats, cinnamon, flax, unsweetened shredded coconut with more cinnamon and coconut and PB on top. Wonderful!
I knew I was going to be at school for a long time (10-5:00), so I packed lunch.
Doesn’t that almost look like a burger? Kind of? It was yellow pepper, cucumbers, tomato, spinach, and hummus on an Arnold Select WW Sandwich thin. Yum! I also packed grapes, pita chips, and a Stretch Island Raspberry Fruit Leather for snacks.
When I got home at 5:30, I had half of an unpictured Arnold Sandwich Thin slathered with PB. Then Jeff and I got to work on dinner.
We made the recipe on the back of the box for “Mama’s Sloppy Joes.“ After we clear out pantry of boxed mixes, I don’t think we’re going to be buying any for a while. I’m kind of sick of the ingredient list being so long (even on ‘all natural’ mixes) and the sodium content being so high. We’re going to start buying more grains and beans from the bulk bins at the co-op. I could have easily made the recipe above with beans instead of a processed mix. Plus it’s a lot cheaper to stay away from boxed items. We’re still going to buy Annie’s Mac & Cheese because it’s amazing and the ingredient list is simple.
This is what dinner looked like last night:
I ate the salad sans dressing and it tasted wonderful. I like just tasting greens sometimes.
More importantly, dessert looked like this:
We made the other half of the Immaculate Baking Company cookie dough.
I didn’t burn them this time and they were delicious!
On the agenda for today:
- Finish Reading Chapters in Feature & Magazine Writing Book
- Read Paper
- Eat breakfast
- Gym (I want to runnnnn)
- Go somewhere and observe for a 1/2 hour and then write a story about it (yes,that’s actually my assignment)
- Write secret story (This will be revealed on the blog next week)
- Class from 4-8:30 tonight
- Sleep forever!!!!!!
Question:
Do you ever rely on boxed mixes for dinner? Or frozen meals?
I REALLLLY want to try Sunshine Burgers. The ingredient list is amazing!
Have a great Tuesday blogfaces. <3
Wow! Sorry I fell off the face of the earth this weekend. I was super busy eating vegan cupcakes and doing a million things for school.
I pulled my blinds wide open this morning and did yoga with the sunrise.
I love being awake before the sun comes up. I actually woke up at 4:30 this morning but decided to go back to sleep till 6 since I didn’t go to sleep last night until 1:30ish (I have no idea what I was doing up at 4!). After yoga, I did level 2 of the 30 Day Shred but that’s a story for tomorrow’s post.
Since I haven’t posted since Friday, I’m going to leave a lot of Friday’s eats out and focus on the 3 highlights of my day:
A *deepbreath* Broccoli, Spinach, Onion, Garlic, Yellow Pepper, Cheddar, Egg burrito with Frank’s Red Hot poured on top. A perfect post-yoga breakfast. :-)
Another Burrito!?!? Yes, an Amy’s Black Bean Burrito with celery sticks to be exact. This was Friday’s lunch.
Whole Wheat Pancakes for dinner. Sliced Banana, Shredded Unsweetened Coconut, Cinnamon, and TJ’s Maple-Agave Blend on top. Yum!
Recording this video was obviously the highlight of my Saturday:
And this:
But let’s back up a bit. Saturday was a much needed rest day for me. I thought about doing yoga but just decided to eat PB toast instead.
As I was rummaging through my cabinets for something else for breakfast, I found this:
A million years ago, I won this Jay Robb brown rice protein powder from Heather. I completely forgot about it and as soon as I found it, I knew I needed to make a smoothie!
- 1 small Banana
- Handful of frozen Strawberries
- Container of plain Chobani Yogurt
- 1/2 Tbsp of Jay Robb (hehe that sounds funny!)
- Flax Seed
- Shredded Unsweetened Coconut
Confession: This was my first time trying any sort of protein powder.
Verdict: Tasted like a smoothie. I didn’t feel different after I drank it. Probably could have done without the powder. I wouldn’t have noticed if it wasn’t there.
I’ve never really had an opinion on protein powders. I don’t live on them like some people do and I don’t hate them and think they are evil either. It was worth a try. I don’t think I’ll ever buy Jay Robb protein powder but I’ll definitely finish this packet for a better opinion. Do you have an opinion on protein powder? Do you use them? What’s your favorite kind?
For lunch, I decided to roast some veggies.
- Potatoes
- Zucchini
- Onions
- Broccoli
Coated in EVOO, Sea Salt, and Black Pepper and roasted in the oven at 400°F f0r 10 minutes.
I made brown rice with it and the result was amazing. This was just a spontaneous lunch idea and it came out great! The potatoes and onions tasted like home fries. YUM!
Cookie for dessert:
After lunch, Jeff and I headed to our friends, Jess and Seth’s, new apartment to help them move. (We got there too late and didn’t actually help them move anything)
They live about 20 minutes from us now. They used to live 40 minutes away so we’re pretty psyched. They are our favorite friends in Albany. On the way over, I snacked on Popchips and Uncommon Grounds coffee. Since we were too late to help, we just hung around their new apartment for a while and then walked to a local vegan bakery to have dessert before dinner.
I ordered a Tropical Smoothie Cupcake.
The cupcake was out of this world! It was so moist and flavorful. I might just have to go back and order a dozen more!
After dessert, Jess, Seth, Jeff and I walked over to Beirut, a Lebanese and Mediterranean restaurant in Troy, NY. There, Lipton Man was born:
And I took a picture of Jess’ falafel:
And devoured half a plate of Mousakaa.
Eggplant cooked with onion, garlic, and chickpeas in a special tomato sauce. Delicious!
Beirut is family owned and operated. I definitely want to go back. The food was great and the owners were so friendly!
Ugh! See what happens when I disappear for a couple days!? My posts become books. Hope you’re still alive!
What is your favorite food ever?
I can’t even answer my own question.
Have a great Monday!
Sorry this post is so late! I’ve been all over Albany all day and no where near a computer.
On Thursday night, I built a tower of cookies
Jeff and I made a batch of Immaculate Baking Company’s Triple Chocolate Cookies in the beginning of December and really like them. I guess the company liked my review because I received a coupon for a free product in the mail not too long after. We chose the Chocolate Chunk Cookies this time. Immaculate Baking Company’s cookies contain all natural ingredients and no high fructose corn syrup. They are very easy to make; you just break off the square pieces of dough, plop them on a baking sheet, and bake in the oven for 12 minutes. The cookies are reasonably sized and only about 80 calories per cookie. I had two for dessert on Thursday night.
Along with a cup of Tazo Berry Blossom White Tea (love it!). I actually burned the cookies by accident but they were still great! I’ll try not to fail when I make the second batch.
Since dessert is obviously the most important meal of the day, I’m going to continue this post in a backwards fashion (since dessert was first).
Jeff made dinner on Thursday night:
This was our first time trying Annie’s Deluxe Mac & Cheese and I really liked it. It was as cheesy and tasty as mac & cheese should be!
We mixed the Mac & Cheese with peas (like always) and had green beans on the side.
I had a class in the late afternoon and snacked on a Vanilla Chobani before I left.
And because dessert needs to be mentioned again in this post, check out my after-lunch dessert:
Arnold Sandwich Thin with PB and Dark Chocolate Chips
Lunch was a HUMONGOUS SALAD made with the following ingredients:
- Broccoli
- Cucumbers
- Carrots
- Celery
- Tomatoes
- Almonds
- Walnuts
- Oliva’s Spring Mix
I topped it with 2 TBSPs of Lemon Tarragon dressing. Delicious!
Breakfast on Thursday morning was a routine bowl of banana oats:
Topped with Shredded Coconut, PB, and Cinnamon
And earlier that morning I ran at the gym for 20 minutes at a 5.3 pace with a walking break in between. I warmed up on the crossramp for a mile and then ran on the treadmill for two.
And I’m off!! Sorry for the rushed (and late) post. I’m exhausted and Jeff and I are helping our friends, Jess and Seth, move tomorrow!! They’re moving closer to us!!!!!
What’s your favorite movie?
Have a great Saturday!
So, I just washed all of my clothes in warm water by accident. By the time I realized, the cycle was 2 minutes away from being done. Are all of my jeans going to be tiny now?!?!? I hope they didn’t shrink! (Mommyyyy!!!! Help!!)
Anyway, check out my fabulous, new mug from Uncommon Grounds:
Don’t be jealous. I know you want it. I’m a little obsessed with everything and anything Starry Night. I knew I had to have it as soon as I saw it. It’s my new favorite mug.
Yesterday morning started with a Jillian Michaels butt-kicking. I sweated it out (and died a little) to level 2 of the 30 Day Shred. (I almost typed 300 day shred by accident. That would be intense) Then I ran around my apartment like a crazy person trying to get ready for class. Do you talk to yourself and then yell at yourself for taking to yourself? Or is it just me? It’s probably just me.
After throwing broccoli all over my kitchen and spilling hot sauce on the floor, I managed to make one of my favorite breakfasts:
Broccoli Eggs with an Arnold Sandwich Thin
Then it was off to class. Don’t ask me how I got there on time because I have no idea. I probably had eggs all over my face.
Jeff and I had big plans to go to the Co-op after class. I did school work procrastinated in my school’s cafe until Jeff was out of class.
I snacked on Popchips while people-watching and reading the school newspaper.
On our way to the co-op, I snacked a little more on a Kind Bar and a banana.
I LOVE THE CO-OP!
We spent $28 on groceries. After watching Food, Inc., Jeff and I decided that we want to do the majority of our grocery shopping at the Co-op and at Farmer’s Markets. We got so much food for under $30.
- Broccoli
- Bananas
- Tomatoes
- Yellow Pepper
- Zucchini
- Cucumber
- Potatoes
- Baby Carrots
- Spring Mix
- Shredded Unsweetened Cocout
- Flax Seed
- Wasa Crackers
- Organic Cinnamon Apple Sauce
- Hummus
- Soup
AMAZING! If you live around Albany, please go to the Honest Weight Food Co-op! You won’t be sorry and you’ll be supporting a local business.
When we got home, I had a very late lunch.
I had my leftover Morrocan Curried Rice and Lentil Soup from Tuesday night with celery sticks and an Arnold Sandwich Thin (I ate the other half after I took this picture).
Then I was off to a Pilates class at my gym. I haven’t been to Pilates in a couple months because I didn’t have time last semester and then I was away. I was really looking forward to going last night because I love the instructor. I was kind of sad when a substitute instructor walked into the studio. It was a good class anyway. My abs almost exploded.
Jeff and I decided to make burritos for dinner last night.
While Jeff heated the refried beans and the brown rice, I chopped up some green pepper, tomato, and onion and sauteed it in a pan with a little canola oil and garlic powder.
I topped the mixture with some shredded cheddar and popped the whole thing in the oven for 3 or 4 minutes. (Also added chopped, uncooked spinach on top)
We had corn on the side. (Jeff had corn and rice in his burrito AND on the side). It was a great dinner!
For dessert, I ate this:
Half an Arnold Sandwich Thin with PB and Dark Chocolate Chips on top. (Heated in the microwave for 5 second) YUM!
I’m off to an interview! Wish me luck!
Where is your favorite place to grocery shop?
Have a great Thursday!
Please, Please, PLEASE tell me that you have tried over-ripe banana oats at some point in your life.
I’ve been neglecting my bananas lately. But it turns out that they like a little abuse. When they’re completely black and blue on the outside, they make an awesome oatmeal ingredient. So please, ignore your bananas. They will forgive you- I promise. My oats this morning tasted like dessert. I’m not usually a fan of very sweet things but this bowl was bursting with flavor. So much, in fact, that I added regular peanut butter to the top instead of my SPBCo Monkey Boy PB (Banana Raisin PB).
I’ve posted it before but here’s my standard oatmeal recipe again:
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup Oats
- 1/2-1 cup Vanilla Soy Milk (if I use a 1/2 cup, I add a little under 1/2 cup of water)
- 1/2-1 Banana (depending on my mood)
- Pinch of Flax Seed
- 2 or 3 generous shakes of Cinnamon
The key to this recipe is to add all of the ingredients to the pot (except for the milk) at the same time. Top the end product with peanut butter and more cinnamon and enjoy. Sometimes I add dark chocolate chips to the top and they get all melty. Today I didn’t need to because my oatmeal was so sweet on its own.
Before breakfast, I spent some time on the treadmill at the gym. I ran for 30 minutes! Not in a row but it’s definitely a start. (Here is my post about trying to become a runner if you missed it: Not a Runner…Yet ).
My 40 minute, 3 mile workout on the treadmill looked like this:
Minutes 1-5- Walk at 3.8mph
Minutes 5-15- Run at 5.3mph
Minutes 15-18- Walk at 3.8mph
Minutes 18-30- Run at 5.3mph
Minutes 30-32- Walk at 4.2mph
Minutes 32-40- Run at 5.3mph
Like I said in my running post, I am starting out very slow. I did notice a pain in my inner, right ankle around 15 minutes in. It got worse as I went on. It felt fine when I was walking but by the end of the 40 minutes, it was pretty bad. Any advice as to what this might be? I think it’s my shoes. Caitlin from Healthy Tipping Point gave me some pretty good advice and agreed that it’s probably because my sneakers are so old. I need new running shoes.
Anyway, back to food! I packed lunch and snacks today because when I left my apartment at 12:30, I knew I wasn’t going to be home until late tonight.
- Leftover Pasta from Sunday night and 1/2 an Arnold Select Whole Wheat Sandwich Thin
- Stacy’s Whole Wheat Pita Chips and Tribe Hummus
- Celery Sticks
- PB Puffins Didn’t end up eating them
I stopped by the mall to pick something up and then I parked my butt in Uncommon Grounds for two and a half hours to do school work. While there, I ordered a vanilla soy iced coffee in my cool Uncommon Grounds mug. I felt special. When my mug was empty and my brain was full from reading, I headed to class. I had one from 4:15-5:35 and another that was supposed to run from 5:45 to 8:35. The second one got out early and Jeff and I decided to go to Uno Chicago Grill for dinner.
Unos just released a new menu and since Jeff and I are members of their Insider’s Club, we got a BOGO coupon. Since we’re Insiders (that sounds so official, doesn’t it?), we got to sample a couple things on the new menu for free!
Their new Housemade Guacamole Dip (Outstanding!)
Two of their new chicken wraps, plus their Roasted Veggie & Feta Wrap (which is always on their regular menu. I’ve gotten it a few times in the past), and a small piece of their new Wild Mushoom and White Cheddar Flatbread. I dominated the vegetarian options while Jeff at the chicken. Jeff’s not starting Vegetarian February until, well, February! I’m completely fine with that since he’s only doing it to support me anyway. I contemplated ordering the mushroom pizza because it was so good! I generally hate mushrooms but they tasted so good on this pizza. I might even order it the next time we go to Unos.
I ended up ordering the new Moroccan Curried Rice and Lentil Soup instead.
A Vegetarian Blend of Rice, Lentils, Celery, Carrots, Onions, Red Peppers, Leeks, Curry and Vegetable Broth.
I also ordered a side of Roasted Veggies.
The soup was perfect. The grainy texture was great and the flavor was delicious. All of the different flavors really popped out. I ate about half of the soup and all of the veggies and took the rest home.
For dessert, Jeff and I ordered the Mini Bananas Foster.
The only mini thing about this dessert was its price. It was only $1.99! I don’t even want to know what the regular size looks like. My stomach was pretty happy already so Jeff ate the majority of this. I had a couple bites and it was tasty- not amazing.
The best part about our dinner was the check. All of the food pictured above (plus Jeff’s unpictured entree) came out to $21.00. That’s it! How amazing is that? See, it pays to be an Insider sometimes. Unos is definitely our favorite chain restaurant; not only for the food and service but for the great deals as well. Plus they offer healthy (and vegetarian!) options. The only thing I wish they had is sweet potato fries! That would be perfect! If you have an Unos anywhere near you, I definitely recommend checking it out (And no, Unos did not pay me to write this post).
So I stated my day with a bowl of sweet bananas and ended it that way too!
What is your favorite way to use bananas?
Have a great Wednesday!!! <3
So, how many of you went to a sheep farm this weekend? Anybody? Nobody!? I can’t be the only crazy one.
Before I get to that, let me rewind a bit and tell you about the awesome time I had on Saturday night. I skipped taking pictures of eats today since all I had was leftovers.
I ended my last post with breakfast on Saturday morning. I ate pretty lightly for the rest of the day because Jeff and I had plans to go out with our friends, Jess and Seth, for a late dinner on Saturday night. To prevent this post from becoming a book, I am not going to post my eats for during the day on Saturday. They were boring anyway!
Jess and Seth got to our apartment at around 8 and we headed to the Moon & River Cafe for dinner. Unfortunately, the tiny place was packed and there was nowhere to sit so we left to go somewhere else. We’ll go back another day for lunch when it’s not so busy. :-) We ended up at a local brewing company called Brown’s instead.
I knew what I wanted the second I opened the menu.
If you can’t read the description:
Vegetarian Black Bean & Barley Burger
Made with brewery barley, black beans, red and green peppers, onions, garlic, and a special blend of herbs and spices.
My mouth definitely exploded when I bit into it. I know I had a black bean burger on Friday night but that was frozen and this definitely was not. All of the different flavors blended excellently together. I need to recreate this at home! I didn’t eat the fries because the waitress told me that they are cooked in the same oil that the chicken wings are cooked in. I’m not sure how strict of a vegetarian I want to be yet so I passed on them. What do you think?
Of course, I ordered a beer with dinner. C’mon! It’s a brewery!
When we got home, Jess and I cracked open a bottle of wine.
And things got a bit silly. I’m not really sure how we got ourselves up the next morning to go to the sheep farm.
I made a big batch of broccoli eggs for breakfast for everyone.
And then we were off!
Amazing! We’re planing to go back next month to see the lambing!
I seriously don’t think I can ever eat meat again after petting a cow. Looks like it’s going to be veggies only for life!
On the way home, we stopped at Uncommon Grounds in Saratoga Springs for lunch.
Jess and Seth
I ordered veggies and hummus on a toasted rosemary olive bagel. Veggies included: tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, and sprouts.
I love this bagel! They don’t have it at the Albany Uncommon Grounds for some reason. :-( I ate half and took the rest home and brought it with me today for lunch.
When we got home, I did some yoga and then made a veggie (+ fruit) and pita chip plate for a snack.
Yes. More veggies and more hummus. I can’t get enough!
Dinner was delicious!
Before
After
I made baked cheesy pasta with breadcrumbs and broccoli.
I’ll save the recipe for another post (unless specifically requested in a comment or email) since this post is gigantic already. I’m sure I’ll be making it again!
Breakfast this morning was the same as yesterday’s breakfast. Lunch was the same as yesterday’s lunch. And dinner was…wait for it…the same as yesterday’s dinner (shocker!). It was a day of repeats. I got up super early to read for class and didn’t get a chance to workout so I took today as a rest day! (I may still do some yoga to relax)
Hope you enjoyed the loooonngggg recap of my weekend!!
Two Questions:
Favorite type of bagel?
Favorite farm animal?
Have an awesome Tuesday! <3
P.S. Head over to Holly’s Blog to enter her giveaway!!! Love her! And the giveaway is awesome!
Rosey Rebecca
