Tag Archives: smoothie

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.

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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!

Skipped But Not Forgotten

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I was gone last night, but the blog was not forgotten!  Actually, what didn’t happen was dinner 😦  Our plan was to get Wegman’s hot bar then do some grocery shopping, but unfortunately my class ran until the very last minute and by the time we reached Wegman’s the hot bar was bare.  When we finished getting groceries – Adam’s hosting poker night this weekend so this was a quick but essential trip – it was almost 10 and I determined bedtime made more sense than dinner. 

Thank goodness I had it together enough to make breakfast before we left this morning.

Sludge smoothies for all!

For two smoothies I blended –

  • 1+ cup frozen blueberries
  • 2+ cups frozen spinach
  • 2 cups orange juice w. calcium and vitamin d
  • approx. 2 Tbsp honey

Yumtastic!  The way our mornings have been running this year smoothies have seemed impossible, but they really are one of my favorite breakfasts.

Adam dropped me off at campus and once I swallowed my sludge I headed to the gym.  Unfortunately I forgot my water bottle, and I’d look a little funny rehydrating with my sludge, so I ended up buying a G2.

I managed to get in a nice treadmill workout before my Biochem lab; 20minutes of jogging with a short warm up and cool down.

I still had to pause the machine to die a couple of times, but my overall running speed was faster than last time.

Lab went by quickly and easily, I finished off an assignment in the break, and then I headed to a final meeting for the service club I’m a part of.  Easy peasy.  And lunch was good.

A salad base of arugula with 1oz of 50% reduced sharp cheddar and black beans,

topped with 1oz of crunched up tortilla chips and Stubbs bbq sauce.

BBQ sauce on salad is where it’s at!  Seriously kids, try this.

Adam came to pick me up and we headed to Moes to get him lunch – I packed him a salad too but forgot to pack him dressing or a fork, whoops! – where I stole a few of his chips.

Now we’re home for what looks like a fun and easy afternoon 🙂

How often do you skip dinner; once a week, once a month, never?  Why do you skip it?

Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls

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Warning – if you make it to the end of this post, you’ll have to pee.

I knew I wasn’t up for the gym this morning but I also knew I wasn’t up for more than one cold walk, so I had Adam drop me off at school on his way anyway.  I made a pitifully small amount of notecards in that time, but some is better than nothing.

It was at school that I had cup of tea #1 (blackberry sage black tea) –

And cup of tea #2 (apple cider black tea) –

When I got home I made a smoothie for lunch, 1 frozen banana + 1 cup frozen spinach + 1 cup oj.

Sadly it was the worst green monster I’ve ever made, but I drank it all anyways to get in the greens and vitamin C.

Popcorn also sounded good,

and you can’t have popcorn without a diet pop.

I also had an onion bun with Smart Balance Light.

Cup of tea #3 (candy cane lane green tea, with honey) –

And finally, cup of tea #4 (eggnog’n with lots of honey) –

Are you feeling sloshy yet?

I should have a fun dinner to post later, if I haven’t floated away yet!

What do you prefer to drink when you’re sick?  Generally I’m more of a ginger ale than a tea person, but today I was feeling the hot liquids (obviously!).

The Super What?

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I may have been a cheerleader, but I just don’t follow football.  Even the Super Bowl.  There, I said it!  Adam and I are pretty much on the same page about everything.  But he cares about the Super Bowl a little bit, and that’s a whole lot more than I do.

We were on the same page with breakfast this morning though.

I whipped us up a batch of smoothies, 1 part frozen strawberries to 1 part chocolate peppermint stick soy milk.

We needed a sipable breakfast because we were busy moving around giving the house a deep clean.  I don’t want to tell you how long it’s been since I scrubbed the stove (um, never!), but it took me a good 20minutes to get the burners clean.

Once we were no longer living in squalor, we headed to Wegman’s for lunch.

Fruits,

and veggies,

plus a sandwich from home.

I split a pita and filled my half with Tribe Roasted Garlic Hummus, green pepper, and cucumber slices.

It was a nice lunch, and it fueled us through a weekly grocery trip amongst the horde of people who somehow forgot that today was the Super Bowl.  I don’t want to judge, but were those people all afraid that their carts of chips and beer would spoil if they bought them more than an hour before their parties?!?

I’m home alone tonight, Adam cared just enough about the game to head over to a house with cable.  I did send him off with party food though.

Spinach and Artichoke Hummus –

  • 15.5 oz can chick peas, drained
  • 14 oz can quartered artichoke hearts in brine, drained
  • 3/4 cup frozen spinach
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp plus 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 cup salted soy nuts
  • salt and pepper to taste
  1. Heat tsp oil in a skillet over medium-low.  Add garlic and saute until just beginning to brown, 1-2minutes, stirring occasionally.
  2. Add spinach to the pan and cook until completely thawed.  Remove pan from heat and set aside.
  3. Place chick peas in bowl of food processor and pulse until smooth.
  4. Add artichoke hearts to the processor and continue pulsing until smoothie, scraping down the sides as needed.
  5. Working in ~ 1/2 cup batches, add spinach and garlic to processor and pulse until smooth.
  6. Pulse in soy nuts and Tbsp oil, until mixture is well-combined.  Note – the soy nuts will add a chunky texture to the hummus, if you prefer a smoother end product then you will need to start but processing the nuts first.
  7. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

I stayed home doing girly things, like cleaning out the food processor, baking tomorrow’s lunch, then cleaning out the food processor again.  It’s a good thing I took many cooking bites, because after the send round of blade cleaning I decided I was not going to make dinner.

Really, it doesn’t come up that often that I have dinner by my lonesome, so why not revel in the situation and make myself a batch of single serve cookie dough for dinner?

Yeah, yeah, I had this yesterday too.  But this was different, this was peanut butter single-serve cookie dough.

  1. Using a fork, mash together 1 Tbsp Smart Balance Light and 2 Tbsp chunky peanut butter.
  2. Mash in 3 Tbsp flour and 2 Tbsp sugar.
  3. Pour in a splash of Silk Unsweetened Almond Milk and mix well.
  4. Place in the freezer for 30minutes, stirring occasionally.
  5. Top with a serving of chopped up Chocolove bar.
  6. Eat with a spoon, moaning occasionally.

Do you watch the Super Bowl?  Who were you cheering for today?

Seriously, have you tried the single-serve cookie dough thing yet?