Layered Up

I didn’t do it on purpose, but layers were a common theme in yesterday’s eats.

When I was cleaning out pantry the other day, I found an upopened box of oatmeal I forgot I’d purchased. I go in spells with oatmeal. I’ll eat it almost every day for breakfast, get burnt out, take a break from it for a while, then rediscover my love for its wholesome goodness. The last few months have been one of those vacations from oatmeal, but finding it made me go “Mmmmmm.”

I didn’t just want a boring bowl of oats with toppings. My solution? Oatmeal parfait!

It’s really just layers of blackberries, vanilla Oikos, and oatmeal with a peanut butter stir-in. Eating it this way made it feel almost more like dessert than breakfast. Food should be fun, right?

There really is coffee in the mug. It was not layered. It was just coffee. And it was delicious.

 

Lunch was a little something I like to call a garbage salad. Basically, I just scour my fridge for leftovers and make a salad out of them. It cuts down on the food waste and the creations tend to be pretty delicious. Plus, it’s fun to be creative! I feel like a mad scientist.

This one turned out to be a hybrid of buffalo chicken salad and taco salad.

~2 handfulls mixed greens
~3 oz. Italian dressing marinated chicken breast (leftover from meal swap), tossed in buffalo wing sauce
~chopped tomato & sliced green onions (leftover from Sunday’s supper salad bar)
~shredded mozzarella cheese
~3 Tbsp. reduced-fat sour cream, mixed with powdered ranch dressing mix

Very, very yum.

Dinner was not made in layers because there was no dinner. Monday nights are fasting nights for my husband and I. This is NOT weight loss related. It’s something we’re doing once a week as part of our Bible study. I’ve started to enjoy the weekly experience and am beginning to truly connect with the meaning behind the practice.

How do you make your food fun?

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A Day Late

I got so wrapped up in blog reading and commenting yesterday that I forgot my own post. Oops! So, here are Tuesday’s eats:

Breakfast didn’t look great, but it tasted good. This was part of what was in my lunch bag when I left it in the fridge. No worries. though. Day old (refrigerated) yogurt with Bear Naked Fit granola and blueberries is a little mushy, but a-ok.

***PRODUCT REVIEW***

Stonyfield Farm Organic Lowfat Yogurt

The lovely Kristin of Stonyfield Farm sent me some extra coupons along with those for the Oikos and I advantage of a few at the grocery last weekend. I thought this plain yogurt was really good. The taste reminded me a little bit of Greek yogurt which I LOVE so that was cool. The texture was really smooth and it mixed well with my add-ins. The combination left me feeling full for several hours which is rare for my tummy. I’m glad the tub is big because I plan on incorporating it in for more breakfasts very soon.

One serving = 1 cup (227g)

Calories: 120
Total Fat: 2g
Saturated Fat: 1.5g
Trans Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 10mg
Sodium: 150mg
Potassium: 530mg
Total Carbohydrate: 15g
Dietary Fiber: 0g
Sugars: 15g
Protein: 10g

Ingredients: CULTURED PASTEURIZED ORGANIC LOW FAT MILK, PECTIN, VITAMIN D3. CONTAINS OUR EXCLUSIVE BLEND OF SIX LIVE ACTIVE CULTURES INCLUDING L. ACIDOPHILUS, BIFIDUS, L. CASEI AND L. RHAMNOSUS.

Tuesday turned into a blah day after my adventure with new yogurt. I don’t remember too many details.

Lunch was ravioli.

Post-”workout at work” snack: a juicy anjou pear. (NOTE: Pampered Chef’s apple slicer works perfectly on pears, too!)

Another afternoon snack: celery sticks and Sabra hummus with hot sauce:

Right before leaving work I had a Blueberry Crisp Clif bar. It’s one of my favorite flavors. I’m allergic to artificial blue coloring (which is in more things than you would think) so I’m glad these are natural. They’re deliciously fruity and crispy, all at the same time.

After seeing what I ate during the day, it’s probably no surprise that I wasn’t too hungry come dinner time. Eggs sounded good so we had sammies. Mine was egg, cheese, a little corned beef (heated in the microwave to kill the listeria bacteria) and mustard all on low-cal wheat bread. WordPress is being funky for me today and it won’t upload the rotated picture. Here it is all sideways like:

Be sure to check back tomorrow. I’m a attending a foodie event tonight and I’m really excited about sharing it with you all!

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Food Frustration

Yesterday was a frustrating day for a few reasons. Luckily, it ended on a great note.

I splurged all of my caffeine allowance for coffee day and ordered a large frozen skim latte with sugar free hazelnut syrup and a scoop of protein powder. I drank it pretty fast and definitely felt the buzz.

Breakfast was where things got frustrating. Well, it actually started on Tuesday and just continued into my Wednesday. For some reason, my coworkers all suddenly feel the need to critique my food and tell me how gross it is. Tuesday, it was tofu. No fewer than 6 people stopped me on my way from the microwave to my desk. The conversations all went something like this:

Coworker: What IS that?
Me: Tofu. Would you like to try a piece?
Coworker: Gross! Yuck! Disgusting! Nasty! Gag! How in the world can you eat that?
Me: Have you ever tried tofu?
Coworker: No! I can’t even imagine. It’s awful.
Me: *walking away*

Very few people in my office have any concept of healthy eating or exercise nor do they care about either. Most of them are female and older than me by at least 20 years or so. Several of them have health issues which could benefit greatly from a more healthy lifestyle.

Save three of four people, my coworkers aren’t the easiest to get along with and they tend to be extremely nosy. I try to be pleasant, respectful and cordial at all times. While I do often notice their unhealthy food choices, it’s none of my business and not for me to judge. I can’t imagine walking up to someone and telling them how disgusting the food they were about to eat looked. I just wish they would show me the same courtesy.

…which brings us to breakfast yesterday morning. I made up a packet of Quaker Simple Harvest Vanilla, Honey, Almond oatmeal. Then, I stirred in a couple handfuls of blueberries and some unsweetened coconut.

One coworker was pouring herself a cup of coffee while I was mixing this up in the work kitchen. She turned her nose up and asked, in a disgusted voice, “What IS that?” I tried not to sound annoyed and replied back simply. “It’s oatmeal.” “Oh,” she said. “That’s not what it LOOKS like.” She then huffed away, mumbling under her breath, and proceeded to tell other people how gross my food was. Of course, they all had to come over, check it out and share their opinions. My boss said it looked like “horse food.”

Vent over. Just needed to get that out there.

Around noon the IT people came down to swap out my hard drive. This left me computerless until about 3:00. While it was down I took a brisk 15 minute walk to soak up the sunshine, filed, wiped my desk down, wrote my to-do list and tidied up my office.

Somewhere in there I ate my lunch of leftover buffalo chicken, a Laughing Cow Light Swiss cheese wedge and lettuce all on a La Tortilla Factory EVOO Tomato & Basil Softwrap.

I also had a snack. Kashi TLC Roasted Vegetable crackers and another Laughing Cow Light Swiss cheese wedge.

Shortly before I left, I had a juicy plum to hold me over until dinner.

Dinner was a rare weeknight meal out. I met a friend at Dakota’s Roadhouse. We were so wrapped up in conversation that I forgot to photograph my house salad with bacon tomato dressing and a baked potato with cheese, bacon & sour cream. We were all geared up for dessert, but they only had 3 choices and nothing looked good.

I got home a little before 9, watched Criminal Minds with my husband and headed to bed. That show always creeps me out and then I have trouble sleeping.

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Weekend Recap

Sorry for the sporadic posting lately. It’s been a hectic past few days and my mind has been going in a million different directions. Unfortunately, none of those directions has involved my camera so it’s been spending more time at home than in my purse.

It’s time to spill the beans on my surprise now that we’ve shared with our parents and my sister-in-law. In case you haven’t figured it out, my husband and I are expecting our first child. We’re absolutely thrilled! My first doctor’s appointment is on Thursday so I should find out my due date then. Right now my best guess is early October.

On to the weekend eats!

For breakfast on Saturday I had a biscuit with spray butter and blueberry jam along with a glass of milk. Afterwards I headed out to the grocery.

The good grocery news: I found some Clif Iced Gingerbread bars! The bad grocery news: My store is no longer carrying plain Fage. Yes, the very same Fage I was so excited to find just weeks ago. I almost cried when the lady told me. It was a sad, sad day.

I was STARVING when I got home so I made some Annie’s Whole Wheat Shells & Cheese.

I also made a mini-parfait of organic vanilla low-fat yogurt, blueberries & Bear Naked Fit granola.

My appetite and my energy headed south for the rest of the day. I did a little laundry, cleaned out the refrigerator and took the recyclables to the bins in town. My husband was craving pizza for dinner so we ordered from the little local place. It smelled really good when he brought it in so I had two small squares. We spent the rest of the evening curled up on the couch watching TV with the dog. I enjoy lazy evenings like that every once in a while.

Sunday I slept in waaaay later than I had intended. Honestly, I probably would have slept longer if my growling stomach hadn’t woken me up. I wanted something quick and filling. The result is something I can see myself eating on a regular basis. It was just an organic banana (cut in half lengthwise) spread with peanut butter and sprinkled with granola. It tasted like dessert!

I took advantage of my morning energy to finish up laundry, scrub the kitchen and clean the floors. While I was doing that, my husband was busy cleaning all of the vehicles. My car looks so shiny and new!

Lunch was four Ling Ling’s vegetable dumplings drizzled with reduced-sodium soy sauce and dipped in Ben’s Sweet & Hot mustard. I bought these the first time because I had a coupon and they looked interesting. Now they’re a regular purchase. They’re frozen, but taste pretty fresh and flavorful after they’re cooked. The bag comes with a sauce packet, but I don’t care for it. The mustard is a local favorite.

I also had the rest of my Annie’s Mac & Cheese.

After lunch I cut up lettuce to make a big salad for the week. Then I headed back out to the front porch to enjoy the sunshine and my February issue of Martha Stewart Living. It’s amazing how quickly the temperature changed! Early last week it was in the low teens. Sunday it was almost 50! It makes me so ready for spring. In fact, when I took my break from reading we wandered around the yard and planned a few landscaping projects.

I had something new for snack, a CocoaVia bar.

*Product Review*
CocoaVia Crispy Chocolate Bar

Yum, yum, yum! This was the perfect cure for a chocolate craving. It’s dark chocolate (which I prefer) and has a really rich taste. My take on the texture was that it’s both chewy & crispy. The nutrition information was very reasonable. I can’t wait to try the other varieties I bought!

Dinner was kind of rushed and frazzled. I was getting everything together for our nachos when my in-laws pulled in for an unexpected visit. I put them on hold so we were both pretty hungry when they left. No picture, but I can assure you they were good.

After dinner I got clothes ready for the work week and made sure everything I needed was in my bag. I don’t typically watch awards shows, but I somehow got sucked into the Grammy’s this year. All of the performances I saw were really good. However, it seemed like their sound was a bit off and I could barely hear the people singing over the musicians. I was disappointed that I fell asleep before Sugarland performed. Love them!

Would you rather watch an awards show for acting or one for music?

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Box o’ Goodies

It was a pretty ‘meh’ day. Nothing bad happened. Nothing exciting either. Well, that is until I got home from work. More about that later. More oats for breakfast today! I topped them with blueberries & unsweetened coconut just like yesterday, but I actually had my camera today. That calls for two pictures! My tea of the morning was Tazo Awake. Typical.

That was followed by a productive morning of work. I’m halfway through a tedious special project. Won’t be sad when this one is finished. No picture of lunch because it’s identical to yesterday. Still eating the Easy Turkey Taco Quinoa Stew. Still not tired of it. It’s made me super excited to try new recipes from GreenLiteBites.

Around 4 I indulged in one of my new obsessions discovered thanks to you bloggies, Fage. I stirred in some peanut butter almond granola and man was it good! No salmonella worries for me. This granola is homemade at the Amish store using peanut butter they also make in-house. It added just the right amount of crunch and sweet to my yogurt. I think the tea is Tazo China Green Tips though I’m not completely sure. I’d probably had about 6 cups throughout the afternoon (all different) in an attempt to combat the freezing office temperature.
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That held me through the rest of the afternoon and my commute. When I got home there was a box waiting for me on the front porch. I love, love, love getting mail and packages are like the granddaddy of all mail. I brought it inside and tore into it like a kid on Christmas morning.

Back in November I won a contest from one of my favorite sites, BellaSugar. My husband and I were flown to San Francisco and put up in the amazingly glorious W hotel for 3 days & 2 nights. As if that weren’t enough, I was treated to a relaxing trip to Bliss spa, lunch in The Rotunda at Neiman Marcus restaurant with the editors of the site and a hair consultation, cut & color at The Red Chair Salon. The highlight of the day for me was a Bare Escentuals makeover done by one of their National Makeup Artists. I started wearing Bare Escentuals about 3 years ago and have been faithful to the brand since then. It’s the only thing I can use that doesn’t make my face erupt into a minefield. They have so many great products and the quality is phenomenal.

As if the whole trip and day of pampering weren’t enough, Bare Escentuals sent me every product that they used during my makeup and a few extras. Remember by lipgloss mishap? I got two new tubes! They’re not the same color as the one I lost, but these are soon-to-be released colors and equally as fabulous. Guess what I’ll be playing with all weekend? Here’s a picture of the goods:

After all that excitement it was off to the gym with my husband and sister-in-law. She and I decided to try Tina’s 45-minute treadmill workout. I was still a bit tender from lower body work on Wednesday and sister-in-law was feeling the P90X workout she’d done earlier in the day so we decided to try the walking version. Well, 4.5 MPH for this girl is a jog so I did some running in there, too. Sister-in-law is 5’8″ so she was able to stay at a walk the whole time. It was great! We were both working hard and very sweaty by the end. I burned 447 calories.

My husband wasn’t hungry when we got home so I just threw together a quick dinner for myself. It consisted of a chopped-up Gardenburger Portabella veggie burger, freshly shredded mozzarella cheese, a few croutons, and a tomato cut into four wedges. All this was served over a bed of romaine and green leaf lettuce tossed with a little Annie’s Goddess dressing.

It was the perfect post-gym late dinner. I was so tired that I could barely keep my eyes open through the last bite so as soon as I was finished eating it was off to bed.

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