Pumpkinny Oats

This morning I was inspired by Kath to make a delicious riff on my usual oatmeal. I had leftover pumpkin so I started out knowing I wanted some pumpkin oats. I cooked my oats with 1/4 c. of hempmilk and 3/4 c. of water. While they were boiling I added 1/2 of a mashed banana and a 1/4 c. of canned pumpkin. I also added a splash of vanilla, a pinch salt, and a few shakes of cinnamon, cloves, and allspice. With Kath as my inspiration I made a maple cream "icing" by mixing yogurt and maple syrup, which I drizzled on top. I also added a few spoonfuls of granola.


I was at work for lunch today so no good pictures. After work I went to Trader Joe's to pick up a few things. I got more trail mix for my oatmeal. I bought some of the first strawberries and tomatoes of the season! My most fun purchase was a bag of ciabatta (sp?) rolls which I plan to eat with soup and sandwiches. I ate a sneaky little bite off the corner of one when I got home and it was delish! Dinner was just a big salad and another glass of wine. Dessert was ice cream, in a cone for a change. The perfect treat!

A Two for One kind of post!

I'm going to post both Tuesday and Wednesday meals because I have been so busy with work lately and I need to catch up.

Tuesday morning I had toast with honey roasted peanut butter and bananas! It was so filling and good, I could not resist taking a bite before I photographed it.



Lunch I had on the run because I had to get my haircut and then go to class. Dinner was cut up fruit: grapes, bananas, kiwi and a huge salad with a big scoop of cottage cheese in the middle and tons of other delicious veggies. I apologize for the blurr, photo, I must not have been paying attention.



Today's breakfast was Banana Oatmeal with trail mix and p.b.!

This photo came out much better!

Lunch today was cut up apples with goat gouda, salad of greens with balsamic dressing, blackberries and grapes, AND a piece of toasted pita bread with pb and j!




Dinner tonight was boring abig bowl of cut up fruit with cottage cheese on top and a big bowl of puffins with almond breeze. I am going home tomorrow so I may not be posting for a little while but I promise to take pictures of all the delicious food I eat and prepare

Delicious Dins!

I used my leftovers to make a salad for dinner tonight. I ate some left over roast chicken and green beans over herb salad mix with radishes, a few sweet pickles and some leftover baby corn! I dressed it with the usual mustard and vinegar combo! I tried to do a close up today so that you could better see the delicious components of this salad!

I'll be in the library tonight studying but I've already planned my snacks! I'm packing a granny smith apple with a tablespoon of honey roasted p.b. and a travel mug of decaf coffee with some hot cocoa mixed in.

Wednesday's Post

I didn't get the chance to blog yesterday because I wasn't really feeling well so I'm going to be doing several posts today!

This morning I woke up super early and it was back to my old Banana Oatmeal. I went to the store last night but unfortunately almost all the bananas were green :( I picked the ripest looking one and used about half of it in my oats this morning. I topped it all off with a sprinkling of granola and some brown sugar, with my usual p.b. on the side.

Lunch today was what I like to a call my Crazy Salad! Which is pretty much whatever I have on hand just thrown together. Today my salad included:

-radishes
-baby corn
-honey roast turkey
-avocado
-sweet pickles
-a little bit of cranberry cinnamon goat cheese
- herb salad blend

Later I got home from work and I had been planning on making Heidi Swanson's Carmelized Tofu but I felt really sick and also really tired. So I just had Stonyfield Farms Strawberry Yogurt, some Puffins cereal, grapes and cut up kiwis.

Still no bananas, which meant no oatmeal this morning :( I decided to go for a little bit of a lighter breakfast because I'm planning on having a big lunch and I had somethings that I am trying to finish up. So this was a cereal morning...I had a 1/2 c. of Honey Bunches of Oats and a 1/2 c. of All Bran Strawberry Medley. Neither of these are cereals that I would really recommend to anyone. Honey Bunches of Oats is good but low on nutrition value. I had high hopes for the All Bran which has ten grams of fiber serving but it tastes really fakely strawberry. This fake taste may be due to the fact that it has High Fructose Corn Syrup!!!!! ugggh I definitely should have checked the label twice on that one! After these cereals are finished or if it goes too long thrown out, I'll definitely be back to my old reliable Kashi cereals. I topped my cereal with a little plain yogurt and some Bionaturae Mixed Berry Jam. I also had a cup of hot cocoa this morning as a little extra treat.

My quesadilla yesterday was so delicious I just had to have another for lunch today! This time I just made it with half a flaxseed pita and some shredded cheese. On the side I had a salad with avocado, red pepper and onions with my mustard-vinegar dressing. I also had a valencia orange which was perfectly ripe!

My class this afternoon always brings snacks and I usually have to pass as they are almost always processed cookies and chips, but today someone brought a big fruit plate and a bag of baby carrots. I had some pineapple, grapes and a ton of carrots. The perfect snack!

Tonight I made dinner for myself and my roomate, A. She and I both love fish so we often enjoy it together. Tonight we had Cajun Wild Salmon from Trader Joe's, it was good but I a little oddly fishy tasting for me. I prefer their Seasoned Turbot Filets. On the side we each had about a cup of Olive Oil and Roasted Garlic Couscous and a side salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, and red pepper. I had mine with my usual dressing. You can tell I really love my salads, I've been averaging two a day!
For dessert I had Trader Joe's natural sandwich cookie. A says she might make some No Pudge brownies tonight so I'll have an extra special treat when I get back from the library.
These past few days have been hectic so expect even more exciting meals from me later. I have big plans to try a twist on Carmelized Tofu and ED&BV's Sweet Potato Lentil Chili everyone has been raving about!

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! My first post with actual food woo hoo!

I could not get out of bed this morning. I spent some quality time hitting snooze and thinking about what I could make for breakfast as an incentive to get up.

Usually I like to have banana oatmeal for breakfast, I use McCann's Quick Cooking Irish Oatmeal cooked with 1/2 c. of unsweetened vanilla almond milk, 1/2 c. of water and a pinch of salt. THen when my oats are almost done I add half of a mashed banana. I eat my oatmeal with a 1/2 T. of natural peanut butter, a la Kath of KathEats, that I leave on the spoon so I get a little peanut butter with each bite. Sometimes I add a teaspoon of raw sugar on top for crunch and sweetness.

But today I was out of bananas so I decided to try something new. To my usual oatmeal I added:

-1/2 T. of cocoa powder
- a good dash of cinnamon
-a pinch of nutmeg
- a tiny pinch of chili powder

Voila, Spicy Mole Cocoatmeal!

The cocoa powder changed the mouth feel of the oats somewhat and they needed a splash more of milk, which you see in the picture. This recipe also needs to be sweetened. I used 1 1/2 t. of raw sugar but I think that this would be great made with my usual mashed banana! I still kept my usual spoonful of peanut butter because I need it to fuel my mornings but I'm sure you could enjoy these oats without it.




With Breakfast I also had my favorite coffee, Trader Joe's Peaberry. The peaberry is supposedly a very rare, prized bean and this coffee is amazing! The canister says Limited Edition and they don't always carry it so go buy some now! I take my coffee with 1 T. of half and half and no sugar. I used to take it with Fat Free half and half and Splenda but I stopped in an effort to cut down on chemicals in my diet.

For lunch today I decide to have a baked sweet potato in honor of St. Patrick's Day. I used one of those plastic wrapped potatoes made especially for the microwave. Not as good as oven baked but an awesome time saver! Using this recipe as inspiration I scooped out the inside of my potato and mashed them with a little lowfat plain yogurt, cinnamon, chili powder and cayenne. Then I drizzled a tiny bit of maple syrup on top. On the side I had a half a broiled grapefruit and some sliced kiwi with a delicious mug of chamomile tea! Right before work I snacked on a few Honey Sesame TLC Crackers.

Dinner tonight was avocado quesadillas made with mashed avocado seasoned with lemon juice, cumin, and garlic powder and reduced fat four cheese blend and splashed with hot sauce. On the side I had Trader Joe's Spicy Peach Salsa and some spiced yogurt. I also had a side salad made with field greens, tomatoes, scallions and the other half of my grapefruit dressed with honey mustard and vinegar.

Tonight I'll probably have a snack while studying and preparing a paper due Wednesday!