BREAKFAST

Spinach, grape tomato and feta omelet

I used 1 egg and 1 egg white for this guy. As you can see, it completely fell apart but man, was it delicious. Salty from the feta, fresh from the pop of the tomatoes. Yum!

With the omelet I also had a little piece of toast, and grabbed this orange to go.

LUNCH

We had pizza at work during a meeting. I picked what I thought was a mushroom/artichoke pizza – that one looked wonderful… until I discovered a ton of pepperoni under the veggies. No picture but let’s just say I was picking at my food like a 5 year old. I had a whole mountain of peperoni on my plate and a million napkins all around me when I was done. So professional. I had 2 slices and stayed away from the super market cookies. I had something way better for me waiting in the fridge…

TREAT

Some of you were close with your guesses in my last post. I made cookies ‘n cream cheesecake bars following this recipe from Food for Living. I literally saw it yesterday morning and then stopped by the grocery store on the way home to pick up the ingredients and baked them that night. I like having healthier baked goods around so that I’m less tempted to stop by a bakery and buy something 10 times worse for me and way more expensive.

I resisted the urge to have a whole photo shoot of these guys. Lauren already did a wonderful job. The cheesecake bar tasted so delicious. The crust was thin and moist, the cheesecake was creamy with a touch of sweetness. I like that these are not overwhelmingly sweet. You can really taste the quality of the ingredients. I love making cheesecake bars – this recipe is a keeper!

WORKOUT

After work I headed to the track for a workout with Boston Performance Coaching. You may remember I’ve done it once before and was terribly hard on myself. It was a tough workout, one I wasn’t particularly excited to go back to (since I’m not even training for a race) but I wanted coach Ali to look at my running form again so I signed up. The Harvard Track was actually being used for some kind of a race so we went to this dinky little side track and did laps there. That made them much shorter and a lot more manageable. Still hard but doable. This time Christina (I think?) was coaching and she said my problem is my arms. I cross them while I run which is inefficient and hurts my back. I tried to relax my shoulders down this time. Something I must work on. She was right. I felt very accomplished after we finished and actually ended up walking back home too, which was a little over 3 miles. It was nice out and Adam was out so I took advantage.

Speaking of running – who wants to see super embarrassing race photos of me? You can find them here. Terrible stuff.

DINNER

Get ready for some more ugly food…

All I could think about was a quesadilla on my walk home. So that’s what I had. Here are the insides:

Corn, peppers, mushrooms

Spicy black bean sauce and grape tomatoes – plus Cabot horseradish cheese all over (I couldn’t find our grader so I used a microplane)

All folded and grilled on the pan – a giant mess! (the little dish is the stuff that felt out that I still wanted to eat )

It burnt instantly on one side and wouldn’t brown up on the other. It was exactly what I wanted, taste wise though. A little spicy and definitely veggie-full. I had some more spicy black bean dip with lime tortilla chips while prepping and after dinner. I think these need to be banned from our house. So good, I can’t handle it.

I ended up watching too much trashy tv before finally going to bed so I’m a bit slow this morning. If you haven’t already, don’t forget to enter my giveaway (here).

Have you had any ugly food lately that was still tasty?

We got an ice cream machine from my parents-in-law this past Christmas. Around the same time we started our kitchen remodel, but that didn’t stop me from making my own frozen yogurt. It was a good first try. Pretty yummy but the recipe definitely required some tweaking. That was my first and last attempt at making a frozen concoction… until today!

I actually finally dug a whole in our freezer big enough to fit the ice cream bowl into a few days ago, but receiving The Oprah Magazine Cookbook from my parents-in-law for my birthday (thank you!) and locking eyes with the sour cream ice cream recipe sealed the deal for me. I had to go buy ice cream ingredients. Stat. [Recipe can also be found here, I used low fat sour cream and a little less than 1 cup of sugar.]

Introducing my new love

Mix all the ice cream ingredients and pour into this genius machine. Let it run for ~30 minutes.

I think someone wanted ice cream even more than I did

Try not to eat it all right away. It really should spend at least 4 hours in the freezer to reach the perfect (hard) consistency.

I lasted 1 hour. So what if it was a little softer.

My first REAL ice cream

Can you see how creamy it is?

OMG – amazing. Incredibly smooth and slightly tangy. Maybe it’s the sour cream that put it over the top for me, since you know, sour cream probably runs through my veins (being a “Russian” and all), but Adam thought it was pretty phenomenal as well. I am doing everything I can to keep myself away from the kitchen (read: freezer). This could be trouble!

If you don’t have an ice cream machine (although you should really start making space or saving for one – whatever reason has stopped you from buying it), no worries. I got a whole lot of other deliciousness to share with you. Let’s begin with…

BREAKFAST

I love leisurely mornings – they allow me to start the day with fresh baked muffins, like these zucchini spelt muffins from eat, drink & be vegan cookbook

The recipe made 4 larger muffins and 8 smaller ones. I also added about 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts to the batter. For those of you who count calories – the larger one is ~255 calories, the smaller one is ~170 cals (just counted it so that I wouldn’t be going overboard on calories without even realizing it). I enjoyed one larger one with some local organic strawberries and coffee.

And then I went a little crazy with picture taking (it’s kind of the theme of today’s post actually – too much time on my hands? )

Hello, strawbs!

So pretty.

And so moist and delicious!!!! Dreena is right – don’t let the healthy sounding name discourage you – these are such a treat for your taste buds. Also Adam approved.

LUNCH

The rest of the morning flew by so I just thew together a random Mediterranean-inspired spread.

Fresh cucumber slices, Foxboro Co fromage blanc, jalapeno stuffed olives, Samira’s baba ganoush, Sofra beet tzatziki, edamame “hummus,” grilled peppers and zucchini and When Pigs Fly olive bread. Phew!

Adam and I shared this platter.

It was a fun lunch with lots of flavors and textures.

And yes, I went crazy taking pictures again.

Earlier this week I received from the company a sample of Lipton Pure Leaf ice tea for my review. I thought these would be perfect to accompany a summery-ish lunch.

The Pure Leaf ice tea is sweetened with stevia and has zero calories. I received 2 flavors: lemon and raspberry. Unfortunately I did not enjoy either one of these. They were extremely sweet and very “fake” tasting. Thumbs down from this blogger. Adam still polished them off but said he prefers diet Snapple. I’ll stick to water.

MID-AFTERNOON SNACKS

Luna Protein chocolate cherry almond bar (I received in the Healthworks swag bag)

It tasted like a candy bar. I liked it. The ingredients list appears to be all natural too. Excellent

A while later – 1/2 fitness bread with light cream cheese, lox and grape tomatoes

+ an orange (unpictured)

DINNER

Although I really wanted ice cream for dinner, I behaved like an adult and made a real dinner – Ellie Krieger’s steak tacos with cucumber-avocado salsa to be exact (recipe can be found here)

Dinner came together in minutes and was extremely flavorful. These tasted pretty authentic to me. No cheese or sour cream needed – just lots of fresh flavors (mmm, lime + avocado).

So much good eats! I wish everyday could be this healthy and delicious.

Have you ever made your own ice cream? What’s your favorite kind? I think we’re going to do a chocolate/m&m combo next (Adam’s childhood favorite) and then junk-free oreo cookie ice cream. I love that I can use all organic high quality ingredients and that the mix-in possibilities are endless.

* Only a few days left to enter the cookware giveaway!*

So remember the bake-off I mentioned a few posts ago? I emailed the organizer yesterday and she clarified the rules to me – this is a brownie contest! Dang, and I thought a had a winning recipe all planned out. Brownies happened to be one of my favorite desserts of all time, so I’m super excited for the tasting portion of the contest, but I’ve never actually baked a brownie I thought was outstanding. My last attempt at rocky road brownies was a good try. I liked the topping (and think it may be a great contestant!) but the brownie was really dry. I asked you for your favorite brownie recipe in that post (and Jen came to the rescue – I plan on testing it soon, Jen!) but I’m asking again. Do you have a favorite brownie recipe? It can be a basic brownie (I’ll add my own topping) or a great brownie “combo.” Thanks again!! I love that I have you all here as my resources.

Yesterday’s eats – it’s was Meatless Monday, fyi.

BREAKFAST

A green smoothie: almond milk, water, frozen banana, frozen strawberries, frozen spinach, ground peanuts (from a failed attempt at making pb) + Amazing Grass Kidz Superfood packet

Oh yes, let’s not forget the Bran Buds I received as a sample from the company. They added a nice crunch to the smoothie, which I ate with a spoon. Adam and I agreed we’d buy this cereal – it was really yummy

LUNCH

My favorite sandwich combo of all time – seriously! I brought it to work with me and couldn’t resist but eat half before my lunchtime workout.

Grilled peppers, zucchini and eggplant, fresh tomato, goat cheese and Stonewall Kitchen sundried tomato pesto on a TJ’s scooped out ciabatta roll

Just thinking about this sandwich again makes me happy. I can never resits this combo!!

WORKOUT

Power yoga at my gym. The girl’s voice wasn’t as soothing as my favorite instructor’s on Thursdays but the practice was good at the end. Once we started flowing I forgot about all this other nonsense like how I wish the girl didn’t sound so “valley.”

DINNER

I really tried being vegan for the day but couldn’t resist the urge to add the goat cheese to my lunchtime sandwich. For dinner the cheese jumped in once again but we couldn’t really taste it at the end, so it’s going to be 100% vegan next time. So what did we have, you ask?

Avocado and pinto black bean enchiladas from Eat, Drink & be Vegan

I made a few tiny modifications to the recipe – if you can get a hold of it and want to recreate my version exactly, here they are. I used only 8 corn tortillas (to save cals – 2/prs is plenty), black beans instead of pinto (Adam is obsessed with black beans!), almond slices instead of cashews (all we had), no onions, 1 jar of TJ’s enchilada sauce, 1/4-1/2 cup of Stonewall kitchen peach mango hot sauce and a sprinkle of TJ’s light Mexican cheese. I think that’s it

I served it with a Russian inspired salad – fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, S&P + nonfat yogurt (Russians would traditionally use sour cream) – it was perfectly cool to balance out the spiciness of the enchiladas!

Let’s peak inside the enchiladas…

They were “meaty”, creamy, spicy, super flavorful. Adam already requested that we make these again. Yay the vegan book is coming in handy!

Dessert (definitely not vegan!) – break-up bars

Yeah, go ahead and double that – so much for portion control.

Other snacks throughout the day included edamame hummus with baby carrots, a packet of somersaults, pickles, toast with hummus. I was definitely snacky!

We are having our outdoor furniture delivered today. Our first farmers market is also opening today. Lots of excitement for one day. What are you looking forward to today?

We began with a few warm-up laps, walking lunges, kick-backs, etc. and then it was time to run timed laps. We were given pace tables to set our goals. Molly and I based ours on 8:27 minute miles at a 10K and our 400m lap goal was 1:37. Then we took off – three 400m laps. Molly stuck with me for the first 2 and then I told her to go ahead and finish strong. I did not have that much energy. My time: 5:58 for 1,200 meters. I definitely did not meet the 1:37×3 goal but there was no way in hell I could. After a few minute rest, we had to do it all over again. My time: 6:00. I was not in a good mental place anymore.

The good/bad news is that the coach noticed I had the wrong form. I wasn’t using my hamstrings or rotating my ankles. Apparently I was just propelling myself forward somehow without using the back of my legs so that’s why my quads and shins were screaming at me. On our next set I took it easy and concentrated on rotating my ankles and really lifting my knees up. It felt better but I didn’t push as hard as we were supposed to go and felt a tiny bit like a slacker. I know it’s better not to injure myself so I felt like it was the right thing to do but still. I didn’t even realize that I was having all these negative thoughts until Molly said: “Elina, you are doing great. You are so hard on yourself!” Whoa, I was being hard on myself!! Next set we did only 800 meters with 4 splits (pickup for 200, then jog, another pickup, then jog) and I finished in 3:55. A tiny bit faster than the first round but of course I had one lap less to do.

At the end I realized that I kind of shut down mid-way, and that’s not the right attitude. I talked to the coach later and she explained to me what I was doing wrong. I will work on rotating my ankles and picking up my knees. She said that I also have no hamstring strength, so I’ll work on that too. I’m actually surprised to hear that because I do lift weights and feel pretty strong, but we’ll see. Maybe a little more hamstring targeted exercises will improve my running form and will make it easier (and safer) for me to run.

The Harvard track in the distance…

Molly and her dog, Sydney… she’s such a cutie!

Molly and I – I hate this picture of myself. I look so chunky.

Instead of taking the train home, I chose to walk back. I needed to clear my head. There were some gorgeous views so I snapped a few photos. So pretty

My instinct when I’m down is to go to sweets. I was determined to NOT eat emotionally. Instead I made a delicious dinner.

DINNER

Tilapia in lemon/caper sauce, roasted asparagus, pickles and laughing cow with hot mustard on 12 grain bread + roasted tomatoes

Such a delicious dinner!

Then I turned my brain off and watched the Biggest Loser. It was emotional and inspirational. Exactly what I needed to lift my spirits! …. and then my amazing husband surprised me with this book:

I was so giddy with excitement!!! By then it was nearly 11pm and I really should have gone to bed but I couldn’t close the book. Every single recipe sounded amazing and since Dreena’s reputation proceeds her, I in fact know that all of them will taste amazing. I seriously would like to try every single one (Julie and Julia style? ). So yeah, the evening turned out just fine after all. I realize now that I was still running 8 minute miles (what was up with that stupid chart they gave us? just setting unrealistic expectations!!) and that the coach’s feedback was invaluable. I’ll be back there next Tuesday and see if she sees an improvement.

Now let’s rewind to…

BREAKFAST

Banana walnut muffin + banana stuffed with Barney Butter + coffee

Hearty and yummy. I’m back on the Barney Butter wagon. Can’t get enough of the stuff!!

LUNCH WORKOUT

The track workout was a last minute decision but I also attended a pilates class during lunch. It was pretty easy although my abs were burning a few times. Love that burn!

LUNCH

Taco soup with 1/2 FFL english muffin

This was a giant lunch. I pushed through it although I had to leave some chicken. I also saved the english muffin for later and enjoyed it with a tablespoon of Barney Butter as a mid-afternoon snack.

TREAT OF THE DAY

Chocolate white choc chip cookie my co-worker’s wife made. Heavenly!

How do you deal with stressful situations? Is it hard for you to be constructive while in the moment? Do you turn to food? I’m really happy I was able to deal with my frustrations in a non-destructive way. Sweets will never improve my running time so I’d rather feed myself right and work on that pace.

But let’s rewind to…

BREAKFAST

I’ve been having a bagel with lox craving for a few days now so today I made it a reality: 2 Kim’s Light ww bagels with whipped cream cheese, wild lox, tomato and dill

The bagels are only 110 calories a pop, so I had 2. This breakfast kept me full for over 5 hours and even then I only ate because it was convenient. That’s some awesome staying power!

LUNCH

B.good southwestern chicken salad – still one of my favorite restaurant salads of all time!

Mesclun, avocado, corn, tomatoes, black beans, toasted corn, and chipotle balsamic dressing – all super fresh and incredibly tasty.

MID-AFTERNOON SNACK

A mini-brownie at the office. Double this pic because I couldn’t help but go back for seconds. Brownies are my favorite dessert!!

DINNER

Well today is Thursday, which brings us another Ellie Krieger recipe. I followed her recipe for confetti chili (named three bean and beef chili online), except I made it in a crock pot since I knew I was going to the gym after work and was going to be home late. I threw all the ingredients in the crock pot this morning (browned up the beef in the skillet before throwing it in there) and turned it on during lunch (you could leave it on low all day long), and voila – dinner ready for you when you are!

The colors were beautiful but the taste was missing something – a little more salt and cumin fixed this right up. I enjoyed a second (1/2) helping after gobbling this up. Thank you, I’ll Eat You, for picking this recipe for us. It was perfect for a busy night like tonight. What’s your favorite crock pot recipe?

A little dessert for the road… I resisted a cookie and made a yummy healthy dessert: 1/2 FFL english muffin with Barney Butter

A few more spoonfuls of BB jumped into my mouth This stuff has crack in it, I tell ya

And that’s today in a nutshell. I just finished watching So You Think You Can Dance and am once again touched and inspired. Love this show!!

How was your day? Was it unusually warm where you are? If so, did you take advantage of it?

Don’t forget to enter my Waterpik giveaway! Oh and I am still missing addresses for 2 winners of the NuNaturals giveaway. Please send me your addresses asap or I will have to redraw. Thanks

I did love waking up without an alarm clock every single day for the past 4 days, and taking my time getting ready for the day. Back at home, I always seem to be in a rush for something, so this has been very much needed. Today’s morning started out in an especially delicious way. I planned this one well I brewed some hotel coffee upon walking up and enjoyed one empanada con comote (sweet potatoes) I picked up at Mi Tierra bakery the day before.

It was like a sweet potato stuffed scone. A perfect way to start the morning if you ask me I also had a few bites of the leche quemada I also got at the bakery. This is a traditional Mexican candy, with a fudge like consistency (slightly softer) and sweet condensed milk taste. It actually brought me right back to childhood because it also tastes exactly like a Russian candy, called “karovka” (little cow). I savored every bite

Then we were off to the Alamo which was literally across the street from our hotel. How convenient

(That’s our hotel behind the trees)

It was interesting to read about the history of how Texas got its independence and walk around the site. We were then ready to learn a bit more about the history of the Riverwalk we’ve been enjoying so much, and hopped on one of the tour boats. What a great way to see the river!!

Then it was time for some FOOD! For our lunch destination we headed to Rosario’s, which has apparently won numerous awards for their Mexican dishes. It was about a mile from downtown, which also showed us a bit of a different side of the city. It appears that no one really lives in downtown and that it exists purely for tourism. Just minutes away from downtown, however, you see larger homes and “real people.” We were surprised to find lots of people in suits at Rosario’s… finally some locals!

Chips + salsa to start…

At first bite, I thought the salsa was so weird, but after a few minutes I couldn’t get enough of the stuff. It was smoky and like nothing I’ve ever had before. We asked the waiter what it was made of, and he explained that they roast jalapenos and tomatoes until they are literally burnt, and then puree them in the food processor. Very interesting… and apparently Rosario’s salsa won the “best salsa in San Antonio” award 3 years in a row. Don’t ask me who the award was from

Adam couldn’t help but order a GIANT margarita!

I had a few sips

I then asked the waiter for recommendations, and we ordered (once again) the 2 award winning dishes, which we decided to split.

Pollo con mole: boneless chicken breast, smothered in mole sauce and sprinkles with toasted sesame seeds, served with refried beans and Mexican rice

This really tasted like chocolate! I can definitely say I’ve never had anything like this in my life. The chicken was perfectly tender and juicy.

Next up… chicken chipotle: grilled chicken breast topped with creamy chipotle sauce and sauteed spinach, served with black eye peas and Mexican rice

Is that a vegetable on my plate?

I didn’t expect this dish to be so creamy. It was delicious, but honestly tasted almost like Italian food to me, not Mexican. Both dishes were very tasty but were SO heavy. I wanted more fresh ingredients that would highlight the Mexican cuisine, not cheesy buttery chicken. *Adam would like me to note that he LOVED both dishes and that if I wanted something more fresh, then I probably could have ordered something else. To my defense, I wanted to taste “award winning dishes” that the waiter recommended. I guess I was starting to really miss my healthier home cooking. I’ve hardly had any vegetables on this trip (and no fruit.. except for an occasional garnish on dessert) so I am slightly going crazy.

I guess this didn’t stop me from having a little chocolata I picked up in Austin (local):

Slightly waxy, I’m not going to lie, but chocolate nonetheless, and we all know I can’t live 1 day without chocolate.

This was basically the end our “planned” activities. San Antonio downtown area turned out to be much smaller than we expected. We walked around as much as we could but everything else seemed to only be accessible by car (and even that didn’t seem exciting enough to justify a rental). We headed back to the hotel; Adam took a nap, I played with my computer. This may sound lame, but again, I feel like this was relaxing in its own way and relaxing is exactly what I needed. We also nixed our plans for a fancy dinner out (too much food and not nearly enough exercise this vacation was getting to both of us) so around 7, we headed to a more low key dinner at Zinc, a wine bar and restaurant off the Riverwalk. Zinc is adorable, with a cute little garden/patio outside. We enjoyed some drinks, slightly healthier food and the gorgeous weather (I’m going to miss that about Texas for sure!!). I started with a mojito…

Very minty, not too sweet, and quite refreshing. Exactly what I was looking for!

For my entree I ordered the vegetarian portobello burger with sauteed spinach, tomato and swiss cheese. It was supposed to be served with sweet potato fries but I asked for a Zinc salad instead. The salad contained sundried tomatoes, apples, grape tomatoes, pecans and goat cheese and was dressed in a balsamic vinaigrette. Aside from being a little overdressed, it was delicious. It tasted more like home, which as you can probably tell I’m starting to miss.

My portobello burger was delicious! I loved the addition of sauteed spinach and really felt like I was eating a real “burger” but of course it was significantly less caloric. I did remove a lot of the cheese (it was just too thick) and at the end realized it was slathered in mayo (I asked for no butter on the bun, but didn’t even think of mayo as an option… yeah, I clearly rarely order burgers) so I guess this wasn’t complete health food, but at least I tried

Another stroll down the Riverwalk and some drinks (I just had water), and this concluded our vacation. I’ll be likely taking tomorrow off from blogging (airplane food is not that exciting, and there are no supermarkets here to prep my own meals to-go) so I guess I’ll “see” you later in the week, reporting about some kitchen adventures. Happy hump day!

The morning started out as per usual. I didn’t know what I was in the mood for, so I went for a sweet and savory combo: 1/2 FFL english muffin with 1 egg and cheese and 1/2 muffin with blueberry preserves + coffee

Nothing special here, really. Just food.

Moving on to my mid-morning snack. I was in the mood for a cookie, but I didn’t want to have it be too indulgent. Penny’s low fat white chocolate cranberry cookie was the perfect compromise!

I got a few samples a while ago and just threw them in the freezer. 30 seconds later I had a cookie + tea snack.

As you can see above, the cookie is a decent size and is around 150 calories. It was cakier than I usually prefer my cookies (I typically like either chewy or crunchy) and a little too sweet (making up for lack of fat?) but it hit the spot as far as satisfying my cookie craving. Like I said, it’s perfect for a day when I want a cookie but don’t want the calories of one.

Now let’s get to food that no joke made my heart race! After a yoga class during lunch, I decided to stop by the farmers market and buy some bread, fresh mozzarella and tomato for a simple lunch. The When Pigs Fly booth had bread samples and I asked for the olive one, and just for kicks – the chocolate one. OMG, I thought I died and went to heaven. It was unusually warm in Boston today so the bread was sitting in the sun and seriously tasted like it just came out of the oven. I couldn’t help but get both loaves. After buying the cheese and tomato, I was nearly sprinting back to my office – I couldn’t wait for my lunch! Look at this olive bread goodness!!

It was soft, it was chewy, it had giant olive pieces – seriously the best bread I have ever tasted in my life! I was putting the sandwich together like a mad woman; my heart was racing… I wanted to dig in! Voila – sandwich perfection: olive bread, tomato and mozzarella

SNACKS

Organic pear (I washed it after taking the pic and took the sticker off, don’t worry )

When Pigs Fly chocolate bread. Guess what I’m having for breakfast tomorrow?

DINNER

It’s Thursday, which means that’s right – an Ellie meal! On tonight’s menu: easy chicken mushroom quesadilla, hosted by Culinary Delights. You know my usual modifications – no onions, less oil, reduced fat cheese. That’s it. The result was delicious! The spices were great and the salsa we had on hand was amazing, which made the dinner extra yummy

To finish this day on a high note, I had a little slice of peach pie I also picked up at the farmers market.

Oh yeah, today was goooood What food makes your heart race?

Don’t forget to enter the V8 soup giveaway here.

Do you like stand-up comedy? When was the last time you’ve been to a show and who did you see? Anyone famous?

BREAKFAST

A delicious blueberry bran muffin from Whole Foods (+ coffee) that Molly brought over on Sunday before our run. Oh did I mention we went for a 5.25 mile run on the rainiest day ever… and we’re not even training for anything?! We’re pretty hardcore, huh? Running with Molly is really socializing for me, while incidentally burning calories, so I don’t think of it as running. With that said, with our warm up and cooldown walks, we covered 6 miles in just a little over an hour. I say that’s pretty good for a day we’d otherwise want to be lazy on! This is the kind of running I plan on keeping up – social running.

Buttery delicious muffin. Definitely a treat!

LUNCH

Random plate of goodies:

Meatloaf stuffed with mushrooms and eggs, prepared by my mom:

Chicken thighs with mushrooms and raisins (also prepared by mom):

1/2 FFL english muffin with hummus (gotta have carbs!)

Freshly roasted red peppers (yup, mom made them):

+ a cabbage salad and grape tomatoes (see above) for some veggies. I usually don’t like meals that are more like random snacks put together, but this ended up being well rounded and satisfying. Thanks, mom, for sending us home with some extra food!

SNACKS

There was A LOT more candy than this. Halloween will be the death of me if I don’t nip this candy eating in the bud. There is candy available all year round – no need to consume ridiculous amounts of it in the month of October, especially since there will be much more worthy treats in the office in November and December, with “real holidays” coming up.

This bar above has artificial stuff in it. I found it in the back of my desk drawer and really enjoyed it but you definitely won’t see me buying more of it in the future. Otherwise, if you’re not artificial ingredients averse, it is delicious – kind of tastes like snickers with the nougat filling and peanut chunks.

DINNER

I had about 5 minutes to make dinner last night. With all the candy consumed I thought about just grabbing a banana to go, but on the way home I brilliantly came up with a quick dinner plan instead. Shrimp, corn, and salsa quesadilla – now that’s a great quick healthy dinner!

Not photogenic but super flavorful! Corn is becoming my favorite random ingredient – remember corn and tuna pizza? Delicious!

During the show, I also had 1/2 of Sencha Tea bar (I decided they were a bit weird and since they’re expensive, you won’t see them on the blog again). There were also some chocolate covered edamame consumed as a dinner dessert. Serious sugar overload. I am committed to treating myself with more respect than that. As Jillian Michaels would say – think through you choices! Next time I’m grabbing candy bar #100, I’ll try to remind myself this!

Speaking of sweet things… check out a sweet giveaway at Tri to Cook.

Breakfast: FFL cinnamon raisin english muffin with Barney Butter and plum + coffee (I ran out of time to eat the peach)

Gorgeous!

Mid-morning snack: banana bread my co-worker brought in. Go ahead and multiply this piece by oh… 3 times. This bread was so moist and kind of perfect. I need to get the recipe asap!

Lunch: baba ghanoush rice + simple salad

For this dish I roasted some eggplant in the morning (s&P + EVOO spray, baked at 400* for 20 minutes, turning once) and then at lunch time mushed 1/2 of it together with some hummus (probably around 3T). The eggplant/hummus mixture went over some leftover brown rice, topped with the rest of the roasted eggplant and a tiny bit of goat cheese leftover from the salad. The eggplant/hummus combo is incredible… nice and creamy. I think it would be amazing spread over some crusty bread (thanks Diana for the inspiration!).

Since I was lacking sufficient amount of veggies on Monday, I decided to make a simple salad for lunch  – organic spring mix, heirloom grape tomatoes, cucumber and goat cheese, drizzled with some balsamic vinegar.

What’s a meal without dessert? I finished lunch with some dark chocolate covered edamame and almonds.

Mid-afternoon snack: raspberry peach muffin

Dinner: corn tortilla casserole. I had some buttermilk sitting in the fridge that I really wanted to put to use. Buttermilk seems to be used in muffins, pancakes and ice cream, but I wanted something savory. After coming across this message board, the recipe right at the bottom jumped at me. Yes, this would be perfect for dinner! I loaded this up with corn, mushrooms, and kalamata olives and it turned out beautifully (except it took about 40 minutes, with the last 5 on broiler… I was getting impatient and the egg wouldn’t firm up!). My husband said he’s going to request this dish in the future!

Dessert was 1 large medjool date + a few pecans later in the night (I got hungry again!).

***

Raoul at Mixmygranola contacted me and asked if I could spread the word about some new exciting products/programs they’ve introduced. I like the company so I agreed to mention it on the blog (note: I am in no way compensated by mixmygranola… I just think the company has a good product and a fun concept).  Mixmygranola now not only has customizable granola, but the company has come up with 3 new trail mixes. Trail mix is my absolute favorite snack food (actually I love it too much… it’s kind of no longer allowed in the house! ); I think those mixes are missing some chocolate … I guess they are healthier this way, heh? And if you eat granola like it’s your job, you may want to sign up for their granola club, which sends you 3 granola mixes/month at 15-35% discount. That’s a whole lot of granola!! I think it would make a really nice gift for a healthy minded and granola-loving someone. If you’re interested in buying some mixmygranola goodies, you can get 10% off your total purchase by entering the code “HEALTHYANDSANE” at checkout.

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I still have a bit of buttermilk left. I’m almost out of muffins again so I guess I could make more. Any other recipe ideas with buttermilk? I don’t want the remainder of the carton go to waste!

I lost a very nice earring that my husband got me for my birthday.

Dinner was part of the CEiMB installment. On the menu for the night: Ellie Krieger’s mexican tortilla pizza. I actually made the black bean dip the night before. Planning ahead worked out well since I was still a little shaken up by this lost earring thing. I omitted the onions from the dip, and added cheese to the “pizza.” I told my husband we had pizza for dinner. There was no way in hell I could omit the cheese on this one. Treaky, Ellie. Don’t omit the cheese next time you present us with a pizza recipe

The husband’s 2 “pizzas”

Mine:

The black bean dip is definitely the star of this! It’s quite yummy. The jalapeno added a nice dimension to the dip, without being overpowering spicy. We have a bunch left, which I’m sure will be gobbled up with some tortilla chips.

REST OF THE DAY’S EATS:

Man this breakfast was delicious! I planned to have some yogurt with the leftover nutty topping for breakfast but waking up to a freezing cold house, I was craving something warm. The solution? Combine the 2!

Breakfast: 2 Nature’s Path wildberry buckwheat waffles with Barney Butter, oikos plain organic greek yogurt, Maine organic blueberries + nutty topping

I love how the Barney Butter is oozing out. Rocking breakfast!

Lunch: leftover almond crusted pork with brown rice and Asian cucumbers

Remember these guys?

These little beasts definitely tasted like cucumber. As you can see they were quite seedy and spiky. The skin was also quite tough and a little bitter. I didn’t have too many of them. A little too intense for me

Dessert: Flour Bakery banana chocolate bread pudding

I was in the hood by Flour Bakery during lunch, and decided to stop by to get a tiny cookie. I almost had a heart attack because I just couldn’t decide what to get. At the end the banana chocolate bread pudding jumped out at me, although now I’m dreaming of just about everything else I saw there. Not good. I savored this guy throughout the day but to be honest I’m now feeling guilty about it. Too many super indulgent treats lately, and at the end I didn’t even make it to the gym! I’m going to try to eat a little cleaner today, and try limiting the crazy indulgent treats to once or no more than twice a week. I haven’t gained any weight yet but I know these can add up.

Pre-workout (that never happened) snack: 100 calorie pack of pistachios

Post dinner snacks: 1/2 FFL cinnamon raisin english muffin with pb

+ roasted almonds:

Have you ever lost a material thing? How did you handle it? The first thing my husband looked at when I told him I lost something was my hand. I guess it could be worse (although my ring is insured…)