The Best Place on Earth September 11, 2010

They say that Disney World is the best place on Earth, but I beg to differ. I think many of you would agree with me that Trader Joe’s beats out Disney World. I picked up a couple things there today, including white bean and basil hummus.

OMG this stuff is so good! I tried it with a couple carrots as an appetizer before lunch.

Tabbouli (this had a very strong parsley taste, so if you’re not a fan, steer clear!)

Barbara’s Puffins cereal

Of which I had a small handful as I was making lunch.

Precooked lentils

Refried black beans with jalapenos

Organic baked tofu (I took this picture after using some of it in my lunch – it didn’t come missing 1/3!)

Fat free feta cheese

and light coconut milk.

Now I’m all stocked up! I have a weird food-shopping fetish. I just love grocery shopping!

Rewinding back to this morning:

Breakfast this morning was banana oatmeal protein pancakes. I mixed the following ingredients in a bowl:

• 1/3 cup rolled oats
• 1/3 cup egg whites
• 1/3 cup fat free cottage cheese
• 1 defrosted frozen banana
• crushed walnuts
• baking powder
• cinnamon
• vanilla extract

I cooked them in a well-oiled pan over medium-high heat and ate them topped with pancake syrup.

Sadly, they didn’t turn out so great. I think the problems were that a) the pan was way too hot, which meant that the top and bottom burned a bit and the middle wasn’t cooked thoroughly and b) the banana and/or cottage cheese made it too liquidy. I had made a similar version of these on Thursday, which turned out better. I think that when using a lot of cottage cheese in pancakes, I need to blend it to evenly distribute the taste and texture.

After breakfast, I headed to the gym for some moderately intense ellipticaling. After yesterday’s hilly and fast run, I thought that it’d be a good idea to flesh out my legs, but not to do anything overly strenuous. Afterwards, I went to my first body pump since Sunday. I can’t believe that I’m addicted to strength training. A year ago, I absolutely hated it and did it sporadically because I felt I “should” do it. I love that body pump uses fun music to keep me motivated and just makes me feel so strong! I moved up to 48 pounds on my squat track for the first time! It was a bit heavy, but I definitely made it through all right!

Lunch today was a kitchen sink salad:

• spinach
• tomatoes
• red onion
• cucumber
• orange and green bell pepper
• mushroom
• 2 falafel balls
• TJ’s baked tofu
• feta cheese
• TJ’s tabbouli
• hummus (for dressing)

We ate alfresco. I am sad that our days of eating outdoors are numbered with the colder weather approaching!

It was delish.

My first idea for dessert was an orange…

which turned out to be very bad 😦

Idea #2 was a sliced peach with some cinnamon sprinkled on top.

Winner!

Dave and I have plans with some friends to go mini-golfing and bumper boating! I hope you’re enjoying this beautiful Saturday – we have perfect weather here in Boston!

Bye Bye Fresh Berries September 8, 2010

Waking up at 5:45 isn’t tough when you know that blueberry pancakes are on the menu!

Last night, I blended 1/3 cup rolled oats, 1/3 cup egg whites, 1/3 cup fat free cottage cheese, cinnamon and vanilla extract. This morning, I added some baking powder (for flufiness), chia seeds and frozen blueberries. I already am starting to miss summer fruits!

Topped with pancake syrup and walnuts.

and chocolate cupcake flavored iced coffee (70% regular, 30% decaf- I need to quit this regular coffee habit soon!)

Oh my word. These were sooooooo good that I might make them every day until I die. The sweetness of the berries hides the saltiness of the cottage cheese and they taste like regular pancakes. The texture was spot on, too!

Off to work. Have a great day!

The Big Day! August 31, 2010

It’s finally here! The first day of school. This is my third year as a full-time teacher and I must say that it does get easier each year. I feel pretty calm and collected, aside from those first-day jitters and poor night’s sleep in anticipation of today’s events. It’s ok, I have a nice big iced coffee to sip throughout the morning 🙂

Ready to go!

(Sorry about the bad quality – my “dressing room” is not well lit!)

I wanted a filling breakfast to start my day: banana oatmeal pancakes.
Last night, I combined:

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/3 cup egg whites
• 1 mashed banana
• 1 heaping tbsp. flax seeds
• cinnamon
• vanilla

I added ~1 tsp. baking powder this morning. (Note: you don’t have to mix this up the night before, but I just wanted to cut down on the prep time). Then cooked on a well-greased pan over medium-high heat, covered.

Topped with almond butter on some, syrup, blueberries and crushed walnuts on the other.

Wish me luck!

WE HAVE A BABY PEPPER! August 17, 2010

Good morning. I had a hard time falling asleep last night, probably because of excitement over the blog and a little caffeine I had at 7:00 last night. Blame the new regular coffee I received from Barnie’s Coffee at the end of last week! (Barnie’s is the BEST place to get flavored decaf coffee…otherwise I’m stuck with boring French Vanilla and Hazelnut.) I usually only order decaf, but decided to order a few fun flavors in regular that they don’t have for decaf coffee to have on hand for those days when the kids are extra naughty. I’m usually a decaf drinker (because of my migraines and the energy sap I feel when I get reliant on it) and prefer to get my energy from good ole fashioned 8 hours of sleep. Usually I’m a really good sleeper (just ask Dave!) and can fall asleep within one minute of shutting my eyes and sleep through the night. Oh well, I know that once I get moving, I’ll shake this feeling of tiredness behind my eyes.

I have a long and busy morning ahead of me, so I decided to make one of my favorites, oatmeal pancakes. In the mix:

• 1/3 cup quick-cook oats (important for making oatmeal pancakes!)
• lots of cinnamon
• a heaping tsp of baking powder (gives it the fluffiness)
• chia seeds (for omega 3s)
• half of a defrosted overripe banana (I have a bag full of them in my freezer)
• 1/3 cup egg whites
• vanilla

For toppings, I decided on little Maranatha peanut butter for some and syrup sprinkled with walnuts for the others.

Plus some iced coffee (cupcake + decaf creme brulee)

Here’s a shameless plug for Maranatha nut butters. I used to avoid nuts and nut butters like the plague because I was afraid of anything that had more than a few grams of fat. Recently, I’ve become a big believer in the satiety factor that fat gives the food you eat and in fact, I’ve found that I need a lot less food now that I eat more fat, probably up to 1/3 less food! Maranatha nut butters are awesome because they either have no or very little added sugar and salt, which makes them much harder to overeat. It took me a while to get used to the new taste, but now I’m absolutely in love 🙂

Now that Dave and I live in the ‘burbs, we have a really nice patio and backyard and for two years have been trying our luck with a vegetable and herb garden. I would say I have a green thumb! This year we have

Zucchini

Zucchini flowers (This is where baby zucchinis come from)

Cucumbers

Tomatoes (yellow and red)

Bell Peppers (this is the FIRST one of the summer! We thought it wasn’t ever going to happen!)

Basil, which you saw yesterday

It’s so much fun to literally see the fruits of our hard work. I love being able to make food with things that come right out of our yard. Next year, we’re thinking of expanding!

My busy morning will be a fun one! I’m first going to Healthworks for a spinning class followed by Body Pump. Afterwards, Gia and I are going to Whole Foods for lunch and then to see Eat, Pray Love! I loved the book and can’t wait for the movie. I’ll be back later this afternoon with a recap of lunch.