farewell to my table...
Andrea
My hubb and I have been fans of 1950's danish modern furniture for awhile now...it kinda comes with the architecture degree. We've been searching for a modern, round, wood, vintage dining table for quite some time and finally found one on eBay...just in time for our birthdays next month. It arrived today and we couldn't wait to put it together after work tonight. Its beautiful, exactly what we wanted, but I'm feeling a little sad right now. Our new addition means that we have dismantled our old dining table...the beloved table that has served as the backdrop for my photos since day one of this blog. I'll get over it, soon I'm sure, because our new table really does look so much better in our space. And the new backdrop is lovely - warm and rich - just different from my old table. Let me know what you think (breakfast, lunch and snack photos were taken on the old table, dinner photos on the new). I hope you like it.
Breakfast: banana, wheatberry, date + almond butter oatmeal
[320 calories]
This yummy bowl contained:
Morning Snack: 3 dried apricots and 3 walnut halves (leftover from my road food snack this weekend). My breakfast only hung with me for about 3 hours, I was really glad that I had these in my bag.
[104 calories]
Lunch: salad! Oh how I missed thee... And a pink lady apple.
[358 calories]
Afternoon Snack: 5 dried apricots and 3 walnut halves. Again, a light lunch today, so I was glad I had these.
[137 calories]
Dinner: two tiny slivers of carmelized onion, blue cheese + bacon pizza ( I didn't eat the crust...just not a fan of the dough!), a spinach salad and a glass of cabernet. It was a salad kind of day! The cabernet isn't very good, I really doubt I'll finish it but I've counted its calories just in case. If I decide to ditch it I've already got a snackie dessert bowl forming in my head... :)
[570 calories]
My salad consisted of:
I'm really kicking myself for not getting out of bed this morning for a run. The weather was lovely, its getting light earlier, but I got to bed so late last night that I just couldn't get up. And now? Rain. And later tonight? Snow. I'm really starting to dislike Virginia in the winter. How we could go from a high of 62* yesterday, high of 59* today, and snow by midnight tonight is beyond me!!! Argh. Oh well, I am planning on going to yoga tomorrow night at my favorite studio with my favorite instructor...nothing beats 90 minutes of yoga. Nothing. And rain and snow can't stop me! :)
I hope you all have a great night!
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This yummy bowl contained:
- 1/2 cup rolled oats, 1 cup water, pinch of salt
- 1 tsp real maple syrup
- 1 small banana, mashed (about 1/4 cup)
- 1 tbsp wheatberries
- 1/2 medjool date, chopped
- 1 tsp almond butter
Morning Snack: 3 dried apricots and 3 walnut halves (leftover from my road food snack this weekend). My breakfast only hung with me for about 3 hours, I was really glad that I had these in my bag.
[104 calories]
Lunch: salad! Oh how I missed thee... And a pink lady apple.
[358 calories]
- 2 cups spinach
- 1/2 cup yellow bell pepper
- 1/2 cup cucumber
- 1/2 cup brussels sprouts
- 1/4 cup wheatberries
- 4 tbsp roasted garlic hummus
Afternoon Snack: 5 dried apricots and 3 walnut halves. Again, a light lunch today, so I was glad I had these.
[137 calories]
Dinner: two tiny slivers of carmelized onion, blue cheese + bacon pizza ( I didn't eat the crust...just not a fan of the dough!), a spinach salad and a glass of cabernet. It was a salad kind of day! The cabernet isn't very good, I really doubt I'll finish it but I've counted its calories just in case. If I decide to ditch it I've already got a snackie dessert bowl forming in my head... :)
[570 calories]
My salad consisted of:
- 1-1/2 cups spinach
- 1/2 yellow bell pepper
- 1/4 carrot
- 1/2 cup cucumber
- 1/4 cup wheatberries
- 1 tbsp light ranch dressing
I'm really kicking myself for not getting out of bed this morning for a run. The weather was lovely, its getting light earlier, but I got to bed so late last night that I just couldn't get up. And now? Rain. And later tonight? Snow. I'm really starting to dislike Virginia in the winter. How we could go from a high of 62* yesterday, high of 59* today, and snow by midnight tonight is beyond me!!! Argh. Oh well, I am planning on going to yoga tomorrow night at my favorite studio with my favorite instructor...nothing beats 90 minutes of yoga. Nothing. And rain and snow can't stop me! :)
I hope you all have a great night!
We usually use a Dr. Oetker pancake mix from Whole Foods and add assorted dried fruits, nuts and chocolate to spice them up. But making pancakes from scratch is really not difficult or time consuming, and I was intrigued by the addition of ricotta cheese to this particular recipe. I substituted a few ingredients to healthify the 'cakes a bit, but then we cooked up some bacon to go with them so I think my efforts were canceled out.
I was concerned that the dates would stick together if I added them to the mix, so I just pressed them into the tops of the pancakes with the bananas after I poured the batter onto my griddle.
The pancakes were very light and fluffy in texture, and the pairing of bananas and dates with real maple syrup was fabulous. I just wish we'd eaten them as they came off of the griddle instead of keeping them warm in the oven while my hubb cooked up the bacon. They flattened out just a bit and probably would have had a better consistency had we consumed them immediately. The batch made 15 pancakes so I'll be freezing leftovers for future mornings. Yum.
I don't think this will be my official BSI entry because I've got some other baking planned for this afternoon. This was more of a warm-up. :)
Banana Date Pancakes [adapted from 
I hope you all have had a great weekend so far! I had a fabulous time at the shower yesterday. My friend Christine is SO cute. She's due in 2 months...I can't believe it! Here's me with the proud momma-to-be...
And the adorable ice cream cake that I of course had a piece of...along with other bad-for-me food. It was a lot of fun though, and luckily I don't go out of town very often!!!
Thanks for all of your great road food suggestions! I was happy to have my snacks on the way down and to supplement my breakfast Saturday morning, but they didn't do a very good job of deterring me from eating a fast food dinner both Friday and Saturday nights. :( Next time I need to pack sandwiches to take with me, or at least more satisfying meal-type items. Or push harder for Subway stops... :)
And now I'm off to bake up my BSI recipe...I'll be back later with the results!
Lunch: baked sweet potato with 1/4 cup wheat berries, 1 cup steamed broccoli, 2 tbsp edamame, 2 tbsp corn, sea salt
[341 calories]
Snacks: [for today and tomorrow's road trips] small pink lady apple, clif bar, quaker true delights bar, walnut halves and dried turkish apricots. These will be spread out over the next couple of days, and probably not all consumed. But I've included calorie counts below so that I can pick and choose to make up my snacks while I'm out of town. What do you pack for road trips?
[apple = 80 calories, clif bar = 250 calories, true delights bar = 140 calories, 1/4 cup walnut halves = 215 calories, 1/2 cup dried apricots = 173 calories]
And I'm off! Have a great weekend!!! :)
This was lighter in calories than a normal breakfast for me, but it stuck with me for about 3-1/2 hours! I was impressed. I need to keep this combo in mind for future mornings. I knew that I had a later than normal lunch planned for today, so I packed a morning snack to keep me going. This was perfect, it helped to bridge the gap so I wasn't ravenous at lunch time.
Morning Snack: 6 walnut halves, 2 tbsp dried cherries
[178 calories]
Lunch: at one of my favorite C'ville spots, 
I had to work late tonight, then had errands to run before heading home. I didn't walk in the door until after 9pm, at which point I was STARVING! My hubb ordered us Chinese once he knew I was en route (he hung some shelves in our laundry room tonight! yay!). I went a little overboard... My standard healthy take-out order is steamed veggies and tofu with steamed rice, sauce on the side. Tonight I substituted the steamed rice for some leftover whole wheat pasta we had in the fridge. At the last second I requested egg drop soup because it sounded so good, and I couldn't resist when my hubb offered me 1/2 his veggie egg roll. And, of course, the fortune cookie. :) The calorie count is an estimate from what I could find on myfooddiary...
Dinner: take-out steamed veggies + tofu on 1 cup whole wheat pasta, 2 tbsp garlic sauce, 1-1/2 cups egg drop soup, 1/2 a veggie egg roll, 1 fortune cookie
[about 600 calories - eek! I let my hunger take over... note to self, pack an emergency bar in purse in case of late nights in the office!]
Sadly, I missed all exercise today. I've been getting to bed so late that I have a hard time yanking myself out of bed in the morning. And with as late as I got home tonight, there was no running. :( Its probably a good thing though because my foot has been bothering me today. Argh!!! So frustrating.
Tomorrow I'm heading to Charlotte for my friend Christine's baby shower!!! I'm super-excited. We're staying overnight so I probably won't be posting again until Sunday. I hope you all have a great Friday and weekend!
This DELICIOUS bowl contained:
Afternoon Snack: 1/2 cup plain Fage 0% and one tangelo.
[132 cal]
Extras: 3 Dove dark chocolate hearts [126 cal - I should try to skip these tomorrow], 10 Annie's Honey Bunnies [54 cal]
Dinner: saffron tomato fennel soup [
This oat bowl contained the usual:
Snack: 1/2 cup plain Fage 0% and 5 strawberries...the yogurt helps pick me up and keep me going through the rest of the afternoon, and makes me think I'm eating dessert. :)
Snackie Treats: I had a serious sweet tooth today! I ran to the CVS across the street for some Dove dark chocolate hearts and ate 3 throughout the day. I also had a date while fixing dinner.
Dinner: tofu veggie stir fry on jasmine rice...a quick, easy vegetarian favorite! We try to add bamboo shoots and water chestnuts, but forgot again tonight as usual. We never remember until we've finished the meal!
This was a collaborative effort between my hubb and I tonight. He took care of the veggies, I took care of the rice, wheatberries and tofu. Our delectable meal contained:
This glaze consisted of (measurements are estimates...):
The tofu turns out just crispy on the outside, firmly silky on the inside. We LOVE it this way, and haven't been able to stray in years.
My hubb sauteed the veggies in a bit of olive oil and soysauce, then added the Trader Joe's soyaki sauce and tofu once the veggies were tender. This sauce is really great. We usually buy Veri Veri Teriyaki sauce from Soy Vay, but I picked this up last time I was at TJ's and it is almost as good, for much less $$$!
My bowl contained 1/2 cup jasmine rice, 1/2 cup wheatberries (boiled tonight to keep for the week) and about 1-1/2 cups of veggies + tofu. Yum!
Dessert: a Quaker True Delights toasted coconut banana macadamia nut granola bar, split with my hubb. YUM!!!!!! These bars are brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. When I opened the package I almost passed out from the unbelievably good scent that met my nose. And the flavor was perfect...not artificial tasting at all. I could eat one for dessert every night, and they are only 140 calories!
Exercise: YOGA!!!! Mmmmmmmm. We've been having an ice storm for most of the day so the sidewalks were far to treacherous for a run this evening. I didn't even want to go back out to the yoga studio and drive on the slick roads. So, instead, I popped my favorite Power Yoga dvd into my computer and stretched out my unused muscles for 55 minutes. It felt SO good, but made me realize how much my week off from exercise has affected my strength, flexibility and endurance! Good news though, my foot felt GREAT! I'm READY for a run, as soon as the weather cooperates! :)
Question, What's your favorite yoga pose? Least favorite? I think my favorites are pigeon and twisted triangle, my least favorite is currently twisted prayer lunge (I think that's what its called...).
G'night!
Last week I decided that maybe it was time to give chard another chance, in the name of trying new things and expanding my veggie-loving horizons. I bought 2 bunches and planned to try preparing them using 
We had a couple of ingredients in the fridge leftover from this weekend, bacon and heavy cream, two items I don't get to cook with very often in my quest to eat healthfully. So, in the name of not wanting to waste more ingredients in my fridge, this recipe was born.
Swiss Chard + Bacon Linguine with Butternut Squash Cream Sauce
makes 4 servings
Ingredients:
This was really delicious. Swiss chard and I are now good friends, and I think we have quite the future ahead of us... What vegetable have you tried in the past but written off because of an unpleasant first experience?
Ahh routine. I LOVED spending so much time with friends this weekend and having an excuse to eat several meals out and drink lots of wine, but my body is thanking me for getting back on track. I was starting to feel a little blah what with all the unhealthy eats, vino and lack of exercise due to a sore foot, so today was definitely a welcome change. Granted, my dinner included a small amount of bacon and cream, but at least it was whole and homemade. :)
I started the morning off inspired by the custard oats I've seen pop up on both 
To make the custard oats I combined 1/2 cup soymilk, 1/2 cup water, 2 egg whites and 1 tsp vanilla in a small pot on the stovetop. I set the heat way too high and walked away from the stove, resulting in a very smelly mess of boiled over milk and eggs. Thank goodness for glass cooktops! Yuck. I didn't want to give up, so I quickly jumped back on Heather's blog to read that I was supposed to keep the heat on medium and whisk the ingredients constantly until they thicken a bit. MUCH better. At this point I added 1/2 cup of rolled oats and kept the heat on medium, stirring occasionally for 8-10 minutes. After the oats had thickened quite a bit more, but were still a little runny, I removed the pot from the heat and covered it to allow for additional thickening while cooling.
I topped my bowl with:
This beauty contained:
Snack: a peanut butter cookie larabar. After witnessing several of my fellow bloggers ignore the salmonella scare and refuse to waste their favorite bars, I decided to do the same. Its my favorite flavor, and I can't find them ANYWHERE (or at least can't remember where I found this one) so I decided to risk it. Probably stupid, huh? It was tasty though! :)
Ok, this post has been really long. I'll quickly tell you that I didn't get a run in tonight because I had to work late, but my foot is feeling much better! There is still slight pain, so its probably best that I gave it another day before pounding the pavement. I do have plans for some yoga tomorrow morning though, and I can't wait!
Oh, and I almost forgot! Look what was waiting for me when I got home tonight...Quaker True Delights bars from Foodbuzz!!!
I've been dying to try these new bars from Quaker since seeing them on 
I really enjoyed this dish. The flavors all went so well together. And most of all, I enjoyed being in the kitchen again! :)
A quick recap of my other eats yesterday...
Breakfast: toasted Ezekiel cinnamon raisin muffin with 2 tbsp natural peanut butter and a sliced banana.
Lunch: 1 cup of Amy's Curried Lentil Soup and another lovely salad.
The soup was really good, but way more calories than I normally look for in a soup. There are 230 cal/1 cup serving, and I typically look for that many calories total in the can.
This salad contained:
Morning Snack: oikos - blueberry flavor, leftover from the snack I never ate on Monday.
Lunch: a big ol' salad.
This delight contained:
Afternoon Snack: a perfect tangelo and a Clif Nectar Cacao, dark chocolate raspberry flavor. I enjoyed the bar before my evening run and the tangelo after.
Exercise: a 3-1/2 mile run with my dear friend Kelly. This was a much more enjoyable run than last night's because (1) I had company to chit chat with and (2) we went at 5pm and still had daylight!!! Yay for longer days!!! :) Thank you all for your supportive comments on last night's post, you have no idea how much it helps to know that I have a whole community of people cheering me on! I really think that I could learn to love running in the right conditions. A little daylight, a slightly warmer temperature and good company make all the difference!!! :)
However, I need a little injury help/advice. I'm starting to feel my tendonitis flare up again. I'm embarrassed to show you what my feet look like in the winter time, but I wanted to show all you runners out there where it hurts and see if you have any advice for me.
Have any of you had pain there before? It hurts the most when I've been sitting for awhile, and get up to walk. Almost like its seized up and can't stretch back out. It started bothering me on Monday, I'm sure taking last week off then going for a long run Saturday and an intense yoga class on Sunday flared it up. I took Monday off running, but went again last night. My foot hurt all day, but I really wanted to get my run in tonight. I know, naughty. I am committed to taking tomorrow and Friday off though, in preparation for my long run on Saturday. So my question is, do I ice it or heat it? I'm going to do my own research tonight on the 'net, but I was hoping some of you might have some personal, tried and true advice for me.
Back to food...
Tonight the hubb and I were called for emergency babysitting duty for friends. The change of plans has thrown our evening and my super healthy tofu and swiss chard dinner off track, as I only had time for a quick carry-out decision. I chose Chipotle because it had been awhile, and I felt that I could make a relatively healthy and quick choice.
Dinner: Chipotle burrito bowl with rice, black beans, grilled chicken, tomato salsa, lettuce and guacamole. I also had a couple of chips. :)
We're still with the kiddos...the 2-year old is fast asleep and my hubb is giving the baby a bottle after he woke up fussing. Too cute. Looks like it will be an all-nighter for us, although I'll probably leave at some point to go back to our house and take care of our pups. In the meantime, I'm watching Lost and knitting a baby sweater for a friend. :)
G'night!
This bowl contained:
The hubb and I joined some friends and co-workers for lunch today to watch inauguration festivities. There was a huge pan of fried chicken, mashed potatoes and baked beans, and it was all oh. so. good. I was a bad healthy foodie at lunchtime. :)
Lunch: two fried chicken drumsticks, some delectable baked beans and mashed potatoes. And, of course, 
Dinner: a large [much needed] salad and some Amy's Veggie Lentil soup. After my frigid run, I just wanted something warm, satisfying and low-effort. :)
And another 1/2 a cookie...
And now I think I'm off to a hot bath with my book. I may finally finish it! Its been wonderful, but my book list is a mile long and I'm ready to move on to the next read. Good night!
Typically I would take a recipe like this and try to healthify it, using natural sweeteners and substitutes for the refined sugar, oil and white flours. But it had been awhile since I'd made a full-fat, high-cal decadent cookie, and this seemed just the recipe to indulge on. And it helped to know that I would be sharing the 18 resulting cookies with 12 friends and co-workers tomorrow during the inauguration ceremony. I followed David Leite's instructions almost completely, but did have to make two substitutions. The first was to use ghirardelli chocolate bars chopped into 1/2" pieces instead of chocolate disks. The second was to replace the cake flour. I scoured the shelves on the baking aisle at Whole Foods and found no such flour. I decided to substitute the whole wheat pastry flour I had at home and hope for the best.
A warning: the dough requires 24 hours of refrigeration before baking. I made the dough last night and of course sampled it, which made me all the more excited to come home from work tonight to bake the cookies. Its kind of nice, the phasing of the recipe. You get all of the mess out of the way the first night and are left with the simple pleasure of balling dough and pulling perfectly golden cookies from the oven the second night.
These cookies are worth the 24-hour wait and the extensive blogger hype. Totally worth it. They are perfectly crisp around their golden edges, soft and chewy in their centers. The sea salt adds an unexpected depth that heightens the flavor of the chocolate while at the same time reducing its richness...a quality that makes it even easier to finish the entire 5" mammoth cookie all at once. In case you missed the link above, here is the 
Here's a recap of my other eats for the day, although who wants to read about them now that I've introduced cookies to the mix?!? Especially when its a day full of repeats...
Breakfast: the standard oat bowl. I know, I know. But I love it and its very filling and that's good enough for me.
Snacks: my Oikos is back!!!!! 1 blueberry Oikos and a tangelo. Sadly, I didn't actually eat the Oikos 'cause I just wasn't hungry enough. The tangelo was excellent though.
Dinner: leftover veggie soup with some bulgur added to it and a hearty oat biscuit. So good, and this is the last of it. :)
Dessert: a cookie. Of course. :)
And I'm off. Have a great Tuesday, everybody! Happy Inauguration!!!
I received this little crêpe pan, along with a crêpe-making lesson, from my stepfather for Christmas many years ago. Surprisingly, it hadn't been used in a few years and I decided that this was the morning to take it out of retirement.
Crêpes are really quite easy to make and can be filled with either savory or sweet combinations. We chose sweet this morning. I'm inspired now to make one of my dinner crêpe recipes soon though... I used 
After my lovely french breakfast I went to my favorite Vinyasa Yoga class at Studio 206. Class was fabulous as usual, and I left feeling all gushy and dreamy. :)
Lunch: the last of the leftover roasted squash + potatoes on bulgur, along with 3 Back to Nature Multigrain Flax flatbread crackers.
The
I used 
This recipe is really great and so fast to whip up. Like I mentioned above, next time I will add a bit of salt. I also think that adding rosemary or chives would be really tasty, and maybe a bit of sharp cheese.
Alrighty, I'm exhausted and have to work tomorrow. :( So sad. I hope you all had a fabulous weekend!
My hubb and I ran 5 (ridiculously hilly) miles today!!! I tell you what, I really paid for not running all week. It was tough!!! But I finished, and that's all that matters! My hubb was so sweet and stayed with me the whole way, slowing down to wait for me on several occasions. There is no way that I would have finished if he hadn't been just ahead of me encouraging me to keep going. For the first 2 miles I was miserable. I had layered myself with Under Armor Cold Gear, a fleece vest, windbreaker, gloves, ear warmers and SmartWool socks, but I was still frozen. My toes and lips were numb and my lungs burned from the 18* (felt like 7*) air. The whole time I was thinking "why am I doing this? i don't like to run! this is crazy!". But after 2 miles I got in the groove and realized I had to keep going because I would just get colder if I stopped to walk. I finally warmed up, my toes gained feeling again, but my lips stayed frozen. When we finally finished I couldn't talk right, it felt like I'd been numbed for a dental procedure or something. Quite funny. :) I don't think I could have chosen a hillier route...what was I thinking? But, it makes me even prouder to have finished because not only did we increase our distance from last week but we added a ton of hills in as well. We rock! :)
My breakfast fuel held me over really well. No tummy growling this week. But when we got back I was ready for lunch.
Lunch: leftover roasted potatoes + squash (recipe below...SO good) on top of leftover bulgur and fresh spinach. Also, a side of 1/2 cup Fage 0% and strawberries, which my hubb helped me finish.
This combo was SO tasty. The spinach wilted a bit when I microwaved the bowl to heat up the squash and 'taters, making it more flavorful and the perfect consistency with the rest of the dish.
So a quick recap of yesterday is in order. I'll try to keep it brief, but definitely hold out for the simple Roasted Squash + Potatoes at the bottom because it is a winner!
Breakfast: same as thursday, a toasted Ezekiel Cinn Raisin Muffin with 1 tbsp natural peanut butter, cranberry ketchup and apple slices. Such a good, filling breakfast. My second favorite, the first being oats. :)
Lunch: leftover stuffed acorn squash filling with roasted garlic hummus and fresh spinach wrapped up in a 8" whole wheat tortilla. A side of extra hummus, 1/2 a red bell pepper and a carrot finished it off.
Snack: My office had our weekly wine and cheese "yay its friday!" celebration, so I had more cheese, crackers, and wine than I probably should have. :)
It was "use up stuff in the fridge before we shop tomorrow" night, and it turned out SO well! We had leftover baked chicken breast, an acorn squash, some red potatoes that were growing eyes, and a lot of fresh produce to use up. I knew I wanted to make something with the squash and potatoes, and dreamed up this simple combo while at work.
Rosemary Roasted Butternut Squash + Potatoes
Ingredients:
I can't tell you enough how good this was! Please, please, please try it! :)
The rest of dinner consisted of a HUGE salad and 1/2 a chicken breast seasoned with Chef Paul's Poultry Magic.
The salad contained:
Its no wonder I passed out shortly after consuming this feast...
The blood orange is one of my favorite winter fruits. I look forward to it every winter similarly to how I look forward to 
Lunch: out with a friend at Bizou! Definitely my favorite C'ville downtown lunch spot. No pictures, but I assure you that I had a fabulous housemade peppery pasta with butternut squash purée and garlicky sautéed spinach. It was soooooo good, and something I will definitely be trying to replicate soon.
Snack: blood orange with 1/2 cup Fage 0%. I may have also had a 
Dinner: stuffed acorn squash and steamed broccoli. This was such a good dinner, and so warming on such a cold night! :)
Stuffed Acorn Squash
Ingredients:
While the lasagna was baking I worked on a new brussels sprouts recipe. Our go-to method for cooking brussels has been to roast them, and I'm getting a little tired of it. We have them weekly, so I wanted to play around with different methods of preparing them. A friend of mine told me about a recipe he and his wife cook often, where you slice the brussels into 1/8" pieces, essentially turning them into a slaw-like consistency. You then sauté them in butter, toss them with linguine and serve. I was intrigued, so we tried it.
Brussels Sprout Spaghetti
Ingredients:
This dish was delicious, although I will definitely reduce the amount of pasta used next time, and will probably substitute angel hair for the spaghetti noodles. The shaved parmesan really makes the dish, and I think it would be divine with bacon or pancetta added in.
The evening was delicious, warm and satisfying. But if I'm going to keep making dishes like this, I have to get over my fear of the cold and get back on the road for some runs! Here's hoping the weather warms soon...
This recipe comes from 
A quick recap of today's eats so far...
Breakfast: Oats! I'm so in love with my normal combo, I just can't get enough! This morning I stepped it up an extra notch by adding dried figs. Yum! The fig seeds added perfect little bits of crunch.
Lunch: Leftovers! I know I promised another wrap, but when I opened the fridge this morning and saw a perfect lunch-sized portion of leftover pot pie and collard greens, I couldn't resist.
Snack: 1/2 cup Fage 0% and 5 lovely strawberries. I have to say, I'm really loving the Fage. Its making me miss my Oikos less and less each day...
Tonight the hubb and I are going over to our friend Amy's house for dinner, which is why I'm posting a bit early. I'm making a quick lasagna recipe that I'm really excited to try and can't wait to share the results with you tomorrow!
Be sure to check out 
Lunch: Veggie Wrap with
This combo was FABULOUS! I will definitely be repeating tomorrow...sorry in advance! I also had a navel orange (the one whose zest graced my bread last night) with 1/2 cup of Fage 0%.
Snacks: C'mon...did you expect any different? How could I resist this 
Last week I saw this recipe for 
The pot pie recipe is deliciously easy and I followed it nearly to a tee. One step that Jen forgot to mention is when to cook the chicken. I chopped it up and tossed it in the saucepan with the veggies to sauté for 5-7 minutes before adding the Cream of Mushroom soup mixture. I also added fresh parsley to the filling. After the filling simmered for about 10 minutes, I added one tablespoon of cornstarch (dissolved in 2 tbsp cold water) to help the mixture to thicken up a bit.
I dropped dollops of cornmeal batter across the top of the filling to make "biscuits", and baked the dish for 20 minutes at 425*.
While the pot pie was baking, I quickly prepared the collard greens by removing the stems and rinsing the leaves. I then sautéed some garlic in olive oil in a big soup pan. Once the garlic was fragrant, I added the damp collards to the pot and covered it. I let the collards steam for 5-7 minutes on medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.
Dinner was EXCELLENT!!! This pot pie recipe is definitely a keeper. I was hoping to be able to try Jen's stuffed acorn squash recipe with the leftover pot pie, but there isn't much left!!! My hubb REALLY liked it. :)
I hope you've all had a great day and evening! I was able to do a little baking tonight for a friend's birthday, which I will share with you tomorrow. Not my own recipe, but 
I'll give you a preview of what I'll be eating for lunch and my snack today. I pack my food in the morning and take all of my photos before work, which is why I always have the same background in my shots. I like the consistency, and it allows me to avoid awkward questions from my boss and co-worker. They just don't need to know about the blog. Not yet anyway.
Lunch: baked sweet potato with 1/2 cup of corn and 1/4 cup of edamame...and a good sprinkle of sea salt.
Snack: 1/2 cup of Fage 0% and 4 beautiful strawberries.
Last week I read
After my run I was famished!!! My tummy was growling at me for the last mile. I knew I had to eat as soon as I got home...
Breakfast: 1 cup of Flax Plus Pumpkin Raisin Crunch with 1/2 banana and 1 cup of soy milk.
The hubb and I had a great day running some errands and meeting friends for lunch. I won't bore you with details, but the day included mattress testing and lunch at a Brazilian Churrascaria, 
And this isn't even close to all of the books we own...
So, my big plans for grocery shopping and baking today were postponed until tomorrow, hopefully. :)
I hope you all are having a fabulous weekend...I'll be back tomorrow!
Lunch: Roasted spaghetti squash, steamed broccoli and leftover lentil salad (the last of it!).
Even though I had a big breakfast this morning, when the clock struck 12:30 my body was ready to eat. This is a big pyrex container, 8" x 6" x 2". That's 1/2 a spaghetti squash, 1 cup of lentil salad and 1 broccoli floret. Apparently I wasn't as hungry as I thought because I only ate about 1/2 the contents. I thought about having the rest as an afternoon snack (or second lunch) but just wasn't feeling it. My tum's been a bit iffy today, perhaps all of the cheese last night and this morning? You'd think I'd learn...but I love my cheese too much.
Afternoon Snack: Cashew Cookie Larabar.
This was my first experience with the cashew cookie flavor. The taste was great, but it was drier than other Larabar flavors I've tried...more crumbly. Has anybody else tried this bar? Was mine a textural dud? The peanut butter cookie flavor I had last week was SO much better, much softer and more cookie-like.
For dinner I was planning on making Tofu Veggie Masala, but the last thing I wanted to do when I got home was cook. When I woke up from my nap, my hubb had ordered the perfect dinner to help my sore throat and queasy tummy...Egg Drop Soup.
Dinner: Egg Drop Soup with some crunchy noodles and an Egg Roll. It wasn't my 
I'm feeling better than I was earlier, but I'm going to head to bed so that I can get a good night's sleep before my 5 MILE RUN tomorrow!!! I can't believe that tomorrow morning I will be at the halfway point in my