Tag Archives: smoothie

Oh, Balls

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Oh.  Hello there.  Are you here to hear me talk about my balls?  Well calm down, I’m getting to that.  I do have some exciting ball news but there was lots of excitement today.

Like my discovery of my new favorite smoothie of all time.

I know it doesn’t look like much but this new combination was freaking amazing.  I put 1 cup of lemonade and 2 Tbsp of chia seeds in my blender and left them to soak.  Five minutes later I added 1 cup of frozen strawberries and then blended like crazy.  Here’s an outside picture so you can really see the color –

Un-be-leave-a-bull!  The chia seeds mostly blended but still left a nice chew and their nuttiness was the perfect foil to the sweet and sour of the strawberry lemonade.

Even better, my smoothie actually held my stomach through my 4 hour class.  I attribute this to the chia seeds.  My 2 Tbsp of chia seeds gave my smoothie an extra 140 calories, 5 grams of protein, 11 grams of fiber, and 7 grams of polyunsaturated fats (mostly omega-3s).  source

That’s not to say I wasn’t ready for lunch though.  We had a “welcome back” department lunch today, complete with food.

I took a slice of mushroom pizza,

a few fresh veggies,

and some amazingly fresh strawberries and watermelon.

I also grabbed a 2nd slice later on.

In other lunch news I finally had an apple month win!

This caramel apple iced coffee from my school’s coffee shop totally hit the spot.  I did only drink half of that monster (I thought I was ordering a small) but I definitely made sure to get every last lick of caramel out of my cup.

Fully fueled, I headed to the gym for a L-O-O-O-N-G spells long workout.  I had a time goal and a length goal and I ended up hitting my time goal long before my length one; ie I took too many walking breaks and was slow!  I did a looong warm up and looong cool down with walk/run intervals in between that ended up being a lot of walking. 

In the end I covered 9 miles in 1 hour and 53 minutes.  As slow as you can move and still call it running but the distance at least is nothing to sneeze at.  P.S. I’m having some issues with the bones in my right foot but my legs feel great; yay!

Alright already, let’s talk about the balls.

S’mores Oat Balls.  Click here for the recipe link.  I swear to God this recipe was inspired by the S’mores Quaker Chew Bars and not my desire to say the word balls repeatedly after eating and rewatching Schweddy Balls.

The recipe was simple but the end result was delicious yet subtle.  Part s’more, part oat, totally acceptable for breakfast!  I resisted any nibbling while I assembled but I did eat two balls as soon as they were formed.

Make them at home, I promise you’ll love my balls.

Since we ate dessert first dinner needed to be a 15 minute affair.

I prepared 2 servings of spirals pasta, stirring frozen spinach and peas into the mix in the last few minutes of boiling.  Then I made Emily’s Nutritional Yeast Sauce and tossed everything together.

Yum, I thought the nutritional yeast was really good; though that could have been my love for peas with pasta talking.  Head over to The Daily Garnish (recipe link) to see all the benefits of nutritional yeast, but suffice to say dinner was healthy.

Adam has a test tomorrow and I have a really hard time sleeping when he’s not in bed (the upcoming surgical rotation should be fun!) so I’m going to stay up with him.  Studying, blog reading, perhaps a shower; who knows what I’ll get done.

P.S. I used the word “balls” 10 times in this post.  Sorry, Nana!

If At First You Don’t Succeed

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I’m 0-for-2 in my efforts to hit the gym before school.  On Monday I had those weird nightmares and I wasn’t well-rested.  Last night I got in bed at 10:30 (it should have been closer to 9:30) and then the dog woke me up at 3am and I couldn’t fall back to sleep.  I turned off the alarm this morning but I was more determined than ever to make this work.  I’m not working out tomorrow and Thursday’s plan is a longer session, but I’m going to give it all I’ve got on Friday morning.  I guess I’m in the second stage of if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.  For now, I’m going to make an effort to go to bed early the next two nights to prepare.

At least staying at home gave me time to make a healthy breakfast.

For two servings, I blended 2 cups of frozen strawberries, 2 scoops of chocolate protein powder, 1 cup of unsweetened So Delicious coconut milk, and 1 cup of green tea.

The addition of the green tea gave our smoothies a totally unique flavor.  I like what the protein powder does for the texture (and the protein content, duh!) but I don’t love how chalky it makes things taste.  Any suggestions?

I drank my smoothie on the walk to campus but halfway through my 4 hour class I was devouring half a tin of Altoids.  I think I’ll need to bring a snack for my extra long classes from now own.

Fueled by Altoids, I headed to the gym after class.  45 minutes on the elliptical at random, level 6.  I put in the time on the elliptical but I didn’t really put in the effort, my brain and body were both ready for lunch!  At least I finished my session with some quick strength and stretching moves.

I’d like to say I ate as soon as I stopped sweating, but sadly the dog crushed my soul by eating his pee pad first.  Between the walk home, discipline, and taking a shower, I didn’t actually sit down to lunch until almost 4pm!

At least it was worth the wait.  The same combo as Sunday night, a serving of bbq kale and beans topped with tons of Parmesan, Sriracha, and a dollop of 0% Plain Fage.

For dessert I tried this can of horchata de leche I found at the grocery store.

The taste nice and cinnamony but I did miss the chew factor of regular horchata.

I’m off to take the monster on a walk and build back up my appetite for our tasty dinner.

When do you usually workout?

How to do use protein powder to make it less chalky?

Lemon Cookie Smoothie

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Good morning!

<– that’s my pucker face.  Two thoughts – 1) Dear God, no wonder Adam never wants to kiss me; 2) Don’t you want to know why I’m making my pucker face at you guys?

This is a pucker post because it’s all about the lemons, baby.

Thanks, Natalie Dee.  I disagree though, lemons are fantabulous.

Lemon chicken, lemonade, lemons in tea, lemon sorbet, lemon cookies… but especially lemon cookie smoothies.

Oh yeah, I went there.  And I’m so glad I did.

Who here knows about Kath Eats’ Dough Boy Smoothies?  Well once upon a time, a reader of hers asked about making a lemon cookie smoothie.  I didn’t know anything with the idea then, but I thought “hmmmn, that could be amazing,” so I bookmarked the page.

It was amazing, dear readers, it was, it was.

This had just enough sweetness and lemon sourness to be amazing instead of gross.  And just enough of a chew to make you think “cookie crumbles!” texturally.

Lemon Cookie Smoothie, serves 1

  • 1 medium frozen banana
  • 1 serving Oat Revolution cinnamon bun oatmeal, cooked  (you could substitute 1/2 cup cooked oats with a bit of cinnamon)
  • 1 6oz container of Non-fat Lemon Chobani Greek Yogurt
  • zest of 1 medium lemon
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened So Delicious Coconut Milk  (any vegan milk substitute would be fine here but I find that cows’ milk gets too frothy in smoothies)

Blenderize.  Sip.  Swoon.

Family and Froyo

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As you can probably guess from the title, we had a good Saturday. Of course Saturday got off to a ruff start when our neighbor’s dog parked from 1-2 am. No not a peep from Webster, he doesn’t bark, seriously. He did get us up at 4:30 for a quick pee walk though; good thing he’s so cute!

When we got up for real around 8 we took Webster on longer, 50 minute (round trip) walk to the lake.

He got a break in the middle while I tackled these –

I can tell you that there are 41 steps there because I counted while I ran up and down them. Actually, I walked down and sprinted up for 15 minutes of cardio, gasp, gasp! Good thing I had such a nice view.

I made some sludge for breakfast.

1 frozen banana, ~ 3/4 cup frozen spinach, 1 scoop chocolate protein powder, and ~ 1 cup So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Milk.

The flavor combo was good but the spinach didn’t blend all the way and I don’t like chewable smoothies! Sort of like chewable vitamins, which I swallowed whole for months before my parents realized I could switch to big girl vitamins.

After a quick shower we got on the road to Ohio for our niece’s sixth birthday party. Adam’s entire family made it for the festivities and I’m so grateful that our friends agreed to puppy-sit for the day so we could go.

Also exciting? They have froyo in their town!!!

I got ~ 1/2 cup of cake batter and dulce de leche swirl, topped with butterfinger, skore, coconut, sprinkles, and hot fudge.

Gah, froyo, we need you in Buffalo!

Sidenote – remember how I said I wish I was more preppy?  This outfit is like what would happen if that ambition threw up all over me.

It’s hard to top self-serve, but we had a wonderful time at the party. We don’t get to see Adam’s family (or mine) as much as we’d like.

I lunched on party food.

Fruit salad with tasty mango,

part of a turkey sandwich with l, t, m, and c (mayo and cheese),

and a small slice of pizza.

After presents and singing, we also had cake.

I split that piece with the husband; cake – Adam, icing – Emily.

A loooooong (not really, but it sure felt like it!) car ride later and we were kissing Webster.  He actually hasn’t pooped since we picked him up yesterday and I’m getting sort of worried.  He has one more day to drop some kids off at the pool before I’m calling the emergency vet.

It was after 9:30 when we got home and I might have had a bit of a mini meltdown about how hungry I was.  The situation was not helped by our exhausted puppy making us feel too guilty to use the microwave.  The situation was helped greatly by Adam’s announcement that his mom slipped him money for dinner.  He’s out picking up a feast while I blog.  Recap to come in the morning.

Does your town have self-serve froyo?

Peachy Keen

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How’s your week been?  Everything peachy keen?  That’s my favorite throwback expression, by the way; “peachy keen” makes me think of yellow ribbons and two straws in a glass Coke bottle.

Things have not been so peachy around here; nothing major, but our internet has been all wonky and frustrating.  Plus I’ve been feeling wonky and frustrated, which is why I’m not bothering to recap the days I’ve missed posting.  I’ve been spending way too much time on the couch and adopting the sleep schedule of a vampire.

[source]

Even though my night was like a date with Angel (if only!!), I forced my eyes open at 8:30 this morning.  If I want to break the cycle I need to get out of bed earlier in the morning.  And if I want to get out of bed earlier in the morning I need to have a good breakfast on the agenda.

Wake-y, wake-y, eggs and bac-y peaches and cream smoothie!

Into the blender went 1 cup of frozen peaches, 1 cup of Stonyfield Fat Free Plain Yogurt, 1 cup of So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Milk, and a packet of vanilla protein powder.

Not exactly peaches and cream, but nothing to sneeze at either.

Pizza Party

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We had a mini pizza party for dinner but the rest of the day was sort of … strange.  I had a teaching nightmare last night and it left me feeling funky.  I basically never have nightmares, like ever, unless they are about teaching.  In fact, other than night-terrors that I had as a really young child, I had never even had a nightmare before I became a teacher.  I don’t get them often now, but when I do I’m always in a rowdy classroom (or fighting with Adam!).

I have no idea where my nightmare came from, maybe anxiety about going back to school or churning thoughts from not being that busy recently.  I’d like to pin it on “No Strings Attached,” but I guess being the worst movie ever (seriously) still doesn’t make it to blame for my bad dreams.

Breakfast was mocha(ish) smoothies.

For two, I blended – 2 packets of instant coffee, 2 scoops of chocolate whey protein powder, 1 frozen banana, 7 ice cubes, and 1.5 cups of skim milk.

Bleck; I’m not sure what was off about these but something sure was!  I drank about half and then passed the rest to Adam, the human trash compactor.

My snack to make up for breakfast was trail mix.

That bag was actually half spicy mix and half sweet mix; I like to mix things up.

Lunch was veggies from the hot bar,

and a buffalo chicken slice from Zettis.

Dinner was actually more pizza, ie (or ige!) Iowa Girl Eats Homemade Pizza Rolls.

Kristen wrote another recipe winner!  For our filling we chopped together spinach, mushrooms, extra sharp cheddar, black olives, and marinara sauce.

Pizza perfection.

Plus a side of roasted green beans.

At least I won’t be having nightmares about dinner.

Do you ever get nightmares about your job (or jobs past)?

Here, Here!

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It’s here, it’s here; I’m so glad to finally be writing this dinner post!  This specific meal has been on our meal plan for the longest time and I have kept pushing it back again and again.

One day we went out for sushi instead of cooking.

The next day we went out for Thai food instead of cooking.

Yesterday I read a book instead of cooking.

Today I was ready to get back in the kitchen.  First I had to get my gym on though.  I didn’t leave the house until near 10am (a solid 19 hours since yesterday’s lame dinner) so I split a Cliff Bar with Adam as I headed out.

Then I hit up the elliptical for a nice workout, with no leg pain!  45 minutes on the elliptical (included warm up and cool down) at level 6 random; with lots of sprint intervals.  Followed bya quick round of strength and stretching.  Sometimes it’s annoying that the gym is a 30+ minute walk away (it’s towards the back of campus), but it is nice that I’m forced to walk it out after every workout.

Once home I got to cooking, fueled by a chocolate protein smoothie.

For two (mine is the slightly larger one) – 1 frozen banana, 6 ice cubes, 1 packet of chocolate protein powder, 1/2 packet hot chocolate mix, and 1 cup of skim milk.

It was tasty and filling, but maybe a little too filling because it sort of gave me a tummy-ache.

On the cooking agenda were: These pumpkin muffins.

I halved the recipe and skipped the sugar on top.

A sauce recipe I’ve been mulling over for weeks, 1000 Island BBQ Sauce.

Recipe included at the bottom of this post.

Plus turkey sloppy joes made with the bbq sauce.

And steamed kale and zucchini sauteed in the bbq sauce.

All of the above made for a tasty dinner.

The sauce was sweet and tangy and perfect for joes and veggies.

1000 Island BBQ Sauce, yields ~ 2 cups

  • 1 can tomato sauce, 8 oz
  • 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp molasses
  • 2 Tbsp dark brown sugar
  • 3 Tbsp ketchup
  • 2/3 cup sweet pickle relish
  • 1/3 cup Miracle Whip or reduced fat mayo

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine all ingredients and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 15 minutes until beginning to thicken.  Store refrigerated.

The Gym of Life

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Today makes the fourth training day in a row I’ve skipped.  <– arrrrgh!  This week has been a combination of genuine leg pain and genuine laziness.  On the bright side, my legs are so sore from my shift last night that I’m counting work as at least a half workout.  The restaurant is split into two levels, with the dining area upstairs and the bar and kitchen downstairs.  This means that I go up and down the stairs 8 million times a shift.  Yay for the gym of life.

This morning I made Adam an Orange Dream Machine knock off (vanilla ice cream, orange juice, and vanilla protein powder) and I drank the extra.

This is going on the ‘to make again’ list.

Adam and I had some errands to run, which culminated in a trip to Wegmans to pick up lunch.  While we were there I grabbed and iced coffee, Wegman’s version of Jamaican Me Crazy with skim milk.

Not as good as the Wilson Farms’ one sadly.

Lunch was great though.

Fruits – berries, pineapple, cinnamon banana.

Steamed broccoli, grilled squash, succotash, and cashew chicken with tons of celery picked out of the container.

Plus a white chocolate toffee cookie.

The perfect end to lunch/dinner.  Hopefully it will hold me over through work, it’s going to be a busy shift!