This morning’s breakfast was all about the PB&J. (Actually that’s SB, but you know what I’m saying.)
But looks can be deceiving, the proper acronym should be OOIASBJ – Overnight Oats In A Sunbutter Jar!
There was a little less than 1 serving of TJ’s Sun Butter left,
so last night I poured 1/3cup oats and 2/3cup Silk Almond Milk into the jar. This morning I added some plain fat-free yogurt and a dollop of Crofter’s Strawberry Spread.
Have you tried OIAJ? What sort of jars have you utilized?
I wasn’t in the mood for breakfast this morning, but I was all about the pizza pizza!
I roasted up some broccoli, put it on a single-serving crust with marinara, and topped it with 2% sharp cheddar.
Mmmn, broccoli and sharp cheddar made the perfect pizza combo.
A bit later I snacked on some sliced green apple and a few pretzels (way to finish the whole bag before I got any, Adam!).
And for dessert, Activia Desserts.
I buy Activia for the husband because he has some tummy issues and it seems to really help. I usually just stick to Greek yogurt but the Strawberry Cheesecake flavor sounded so divine that I had to try it. Good decision; the cheesecake flavor was spot on, nothing like the “cheesecake” fat free yogurts I’ve tried in the past that just scream artificial sweetener. This was creamy and sweet and pleasantly thick for regular yogurt. All for 140calories, I think I’m a fan. If you’d like to try some yourself go here for a $1 off coupon.
We’ve got a tasty dinner planned, but I’ve got my eye on a mini bag of kettle corn in the meantime.
*Update to Add – I’m going for it, mini bag of kettle corn here I come!
It’s been a busy day and I’ll keep this quick. I have an early morning tomorrow so I’m already up way too late.
I was not feeling the gym this afternoon, I wanted to play with my new phone, I wanted to play with Adam, my leg hurt… But I’m learning that for me one day off exercise turns into twenty, so I hauled my butt to the gym. 30minutes on the elliptical, level 6, random. In the end I loved it; I’m not sure how I managed to skip the gym so much this last year, exercise makes me so happy!
It was our friend Danielle’s birthday today and by the time I was out of the shower the boys were in the kitchen baking burning some cupcakes. I put myself together a snack while they cooked.
Pomegranate and Passionfruit Siggi’s, Stonewall Kitchen Mimosa Jam, and crunchy peanut butter.
I still cannot get over how much the Siggi’s yogurt looks like a big scoop of ice cream, it is so aesthetically pleasing!
We had to pick up beer before we headed to Benji’s house and I brought a soursop nectar to drink along the way.
Sadly it had added sugar and was way too sweet, I tossed it after just a few sips.
I was starving and cranky by early evening but thankfully Benji is practically a gourmet cook and he hooked me up with this plate of awesomeness.
That is sunflower bread from the co-op with strawberry balsamic vinegar,
and homemade gazpacho.
Yum! It was such a fresh and tasty way to satisfy my hunger.
We spent a large portion of our evening at Wine Thief, where I in fact passed on wine in favor of a Labat Blue with Lime.
I also snagged a small slice of communal pizza.
The pizza was good, and upon perusing the variety of the food menu Adam and I declared that we have to go back for dinner soon.
The rest of the evening was spent in a wicked game of Pictionary. Fyi – my team won 😉 I didn’t partake in any more booze, but I did nibble on this Strawberry Soy Joy bar from BlogHer.
Can how many days can you take off from the gym before you lose your motivation?
I usually go to the store alone, but when Camile was visiting last week we did a quick trip that was a family affair. Adam apparently forgot what the plethora of packaged goodies looks like, especially because most of what I bring home each week is produce, and he was excited by something in every aisle.
The frozen food is the last stop in our store, and the last thing Adam thrust at me was a package of Yoplait Blueberry Pomegranate Smoothie starter. It’s possible that I smacked him and yelled that going to the store with him was like babysitting an ADHD riddled child; but that’s really beside the point. When I reminded him that he doesn’t like blueberries or pomegranate he simply crowed “but it’s a new flavor!” Ok, then. We did not leave the store with the smoothie starter; we also left behind a thing of peanut butter cookies, a vegan-style Snickers bar, and Camile’s assurance that Adam was aware of her severe nut allergies.
Lo and behold, one of the first free coupons I received at BlogHer was for the Yoplait Smoothie products. I carefully watch our food budget and I try to keep Adam healthy and happy, but only a monster says no when it’s free. If Adam and I are ever in Nevada and the Pussycat Ranch is having a BOGO special it’s likely I’ll give him a baseball coach butt slap and a ‘go get ’em champ!’ When Adam found the package in our freezer he was excited but confused. Thankfully he has a terrible memory, “Of course, I never say no to the man of the house. No, I would never hit you…in public…with a bag of frozen peas.”
Wife of the year that I am, this morning it was time for smoothies –
*That’s my serving, Adam got a slightly bigger, much manlier, disposable Subway cup.
The instructions say to blend with 1cup of skim milk but I used half skim cow and half plain almond milk. Each bag contains two servings, live and active cultures, and two full servings of fruit. I like blueberries and pomegranates so I thought the flavor was good, just too sweet. Normally I read the nutrition panel and ingredient list before purchasing, but free!
Oh. Milkfat, sugar, fructose, corn starch. I love that Yoplait is encouraging people to eat more fruit, but my smoothies only contain fruit, not filler. And this wasn’t any quicker than assembling one of my normal smoothies. If you are substituting this for a milkshake or have a serious portion control problem then this is the product for you; but otherwise I say skip it.
Now I’m off to find something with more than 120calories to finish off my breakfast.
Have you tried this or any brand of smoothie starters? What is your favorite smoothie combination?
Sooo, about that last giveaway … awkward! Yeah, that was a bust. No one commented before the giveaway closed, but would you mind commenting on that post now to let me know why that giveaway sucked so hard? Any feedback would be appreciated.
Today I had the best kind of morning, I started my day off with a run with the husband! We are trying to work out the schedule and logistics of being able to workout together before class this year. I’m also trying to work on getting on a proper sleep schedule; I got in bed at 10pm last night and even though it took me half the night to fall asleep, when the alarm rang at 6:30 I got out of bed.
Cons of this morning’s run –
Pros of this morning’s run –
While Adam was in the shower I got my stretch on, and after my shower I put on yoga pants again so I can continue to take stretch/strength breaks throughout the day. I start classes in 10days so it’s important that I get myself back into good habits before then.
I also made sure to eat a refueling breakfast. Also a creamy, dreamy, tropical breakfast.
I threw some Plain Fat Free Stonyfield, a large banana, a serving of Goya frozen soursop pulp, and some Naked Coconut Water into the blender and 2minutes later I had perfection.
Soursop is my favorite fruit (it comes in even slightly ahead of coconut!) and I highly encourage you to try it if you ever get the chance.
I got some carbs into the mix as well with a serving of Kashi Strawberry Fields cereal with Silk Almond Milk.
Every food group minus veggies? Check.
I have a pretty packed to do list today, but I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t most looking forward to setting up my new dayplanner –
“See” you for lunch!
What were a pro and con of your morning?
This post comes from back in Buffalo. We made it (mostly) in one piece. More on that later though.
I want to preface this post with recognition of the fact that the husband and I eat very differently than the rest of his family. Our preferences, nutrition goals, and food values are all very different. This means that when we are with his family I have to weigh being rude or being a bother with eating in a way that makes me feel happy and healthy. I try to satisfy myself in a healthy way and also not to offend anyone. I did my best to balance both of those goals this weekend.
When we went to the store Friday night my brother-in-law did warn me that I needed to buy breakfast so I was more than prepared for that. I got to try a couple of new things 😀 – – – Side note; walking through the yogurt aisle in his grocery store practically gave me an aneurism because I was so jealous of the immense Greek yogurt variety. – – – Like Fage 2% with blueberry.
I was so excited for this but I ended up being a bit disappointed. It wasn’t terrible, but the blueberries had a weird bitter taste. The strawberry Fage has such a great balance of sweetness and tang but it just didn’t work here.
I had much more success with Oat Revolution instant oats, cinnamon roll flavor.
The texture was way more complex that regular instant oats, definite upgrade!
Adam and I drove around with his brother helping to pick up things for the party but we also found time to play on the swing set with our niece.
Excuse the closed eyes, swinging as high as I could was glorious but sunny. We swung for an hour which ended up feeling like a bit of a workout. We also worked on handstands and cartwheels. Just throwing it out there – my fitness goal for the next 4months is to be able to do a proper handstand and cartwheel again.
Lunch.
I grabbed two small slices of pizza with ranch and a little serving of pasta salad.
Our niece had an iCarly birthday cake. I requested a tiny corner piece.
It ended up being mostly icing, which was exactly what I wanted!
Saturday evening the grandparents babysat and we went on a movie date with Adam’s brother and his wife. We saw The Expendables which was adequately funny. There are so many movies coming out that I’m excited about. I packed a Toffee Chocolate Power Bar as my movie snack.
When we got home I ate another two small slices of pizza for dinner but they somehow escaped the camera.
This morning I started my day with a Yoplait Plain Greek Yogurt with a grape honey stick.
Everyone was in a hurry to get on the road but we did make time to go to the in-laws’ favorite spot for breakfast. It was a buffet but sadly most of the options were meat based. I ended up putting together a pretty good plate.
Veggies, scrambled eggs, and a biscuit with honey. And a second plate full of fresh fruit.
Why, oh why was 90% of the fruit bar canned in heavy syrup? I would have loved peaches or strawberries.
I had one final coupon to use so we stopped at McDonalds at lunchtime. My coupon was for a premium salad so I got a Southwest Salad with grilled chicken.
I have a lot of issues with some of the offerings at McDonald’s so I wanted not to like this but I just can’t give this salad a bad review. Honestly? It was freaking amazing.
The lettuce was super fresh and the salad was loaded with black beans and roasted corn. The dressing came from Newman’s Own and even if you did slop a lot on there were only 100calories in the pack. The tortilla strips added crunch and the perfect amount of heat. I was pretty much in love! With grilled chicken (and the dressing packet) the salad came out to only 320calories, and it was very filling. Even though I loved it I was so full that I only could finish ¾ of it.
Now we’ve made it safely home and I’m headed off to the grocery store. That was supposed to be a Monday errand but instead I’ll be meeting the glass repair guys to deal with the giant crack that resulted when a rock kicked up by a truck (in the left lane like a jerk!) met our windshield. Here is a question dear readers – do you have glass coverage included in your auto insurance? Repair is going to be a hassle, but at least it’s free. I highly recommend you check out your policy. Fun fact – Adam was actually going to remove glass coverage from our policy on Friday, but while he was on the phone I told him not to. Thank goodness!
Which do you prefer, the icing or the cake? I’m an icing girl! To the chagrin of classroom mothers, when I was a kid I would like the tops off of cupcakes and throw the rest away!
I had an amazing time at BlogHer, but it’s always great to be back to reliable internet home! I hate to rush through a recap of a good time, but it’s after midnight and I did miss my husband!
If Thursday night was a healthy living fail, Friday night was a blogger fail – I forgot my camera! We attended an art gallery at BlogHer and then walked down to Lexington Ave for some fabulous Thai food. I stuffed myself silly 🙂 When Camile e-mails me her photos I’ll post some up later.
Saturday morning there was a long lull between breakfast and the first session so we decided to walk over ‘late’ and just pick up breakfast along the way. I got a bagel with egg and turkey bacon, no cheese,
and a Zico coconut water.
Everything was super tasty but I knew the expo hall had samples waiting so I stuck with half of my bagel.
Later in the morning I sampled a new “dessert” line from Yoplait.
So good, I can’t wait until these come to Buffalo.
Lunch was vastly improved over the first day as well.
A bean salad with yellow raisins,
green beans,
and a small piece of salmon.
For dessert I grabbed a Jello Mousse Cup, also good.
Later in the afternoon I also snagged a blondie,
and a baggie of apple slices.
At 5, Camile and I met up with a group of bloggers for some green juice and a power walk.
[thanks for the group shots, Kath!]
I went with spinach, parsley, carrot.
I’ve been missing green juice like crazy since we moved to Buffalo, so this hit the spot!
We walked around Central Park for an hour or so, then hightailed it back to our hotel so we had time to make it back to converge with the group for dinner.
We went to Eatery, which was wonderful.
I ordered the Adobe Salad, which came with grilled chicken, smoked bacon, jack cheese, blue tortillas, black beans, buttermilk dressing, and honey chipotle dressing.
The honey chipotle was out of this world. I ate about half of my salad in total.
We spent some time at the BlogHer Gala (mostly people watching and marveling at the mommy bloggers boogieing down) and then made the long walk back to our hotel. To say we were delighted to find a Pinkberry mid-trip would be an understatement.
Just yum.
I got a small original (tart) froyo, topped with yogurt chips, coconut, and praline crunch.
OMG.
This morning Yelp turned up a brunch spot right down the road with tons of rave reviews, Penelope. It was set up like a country kitchen and the eclectic touches abounded (the coffee cups didn’t match!).
It was too freaking adorable.
And my brunch was out of control.
FBLT – fakin’ bacon, avocado, lettuce, and tomato with black pepper balsamic mayo, served on sourdough with homemade french fries.
Delicious. The mayo put it over the top. It was monstrous too; I only ate a couple of fries but I still could only down 3/4 of the sandwich.
On the way out we stopped by the killer dessert case,
and 7.5hours in the car later I was splitting a peanut butter blondie with Adam.
During that 7.5hours I also consumed a Rockstar.
Camile had read about JP Bullfeathers on my blog and requested that for dinner. I don’t know what is up with me and chicken fingers lately but I went with the buffalo chicken sub.
With blue cheese for dipping, duh.
I spent the rest of the evening showing the husband my swag. Oh gosh, you guys, the swag! I’ve decided I have a mildly unattractive level of excitement about the freebie coupons. Could be a problem.
Do you have a favorite brunch spot in your neighborhood?
I did not work out today (I told you I can’t take a day off, 1 has turned into 4, eek!) but I did manage to do a ton of creating. I feel like I’ve spent the whole day mixing and stirring, and that’s a fabulous feeling!
First I whipped up a batch of natural spider repellant.
It’s h2o and lemon essential oil combined in an old spray bottle. I went spritz-crazy all over the house. I’ll let you know if it actually does any repelling.
Next I cooked up a batch of Maple Coconut Granola.
I used Kath’s recipe but substituted unsweetened shredded coconut for pecans.
Then I tried my first smoothie in a bowl!
First I put a Siggi’s Vanilla in the bottom of my bowl.
Next came my smoothie.
I mixed 1cup frozen strawberries, a packet of Chocolate Infusion Amazing Meal, and water.
This was my first smoothie using water as the liquid and I still adored the Chocolate Amazing Meal! It wasn’t too grassy or too sweet but it totally helped to fill me up. No weird graininess either.
Finally I topped my SIAB with 1/4 cup of my new granola.
Delectable!
I think smoothies via spoon instead of straw will definitely be the new thing in this house.
I may not have done any exercise, but my blender sure got a workout! Next it had to tackle hummus.
I don’t have exact measurements, but I blended up chick peas, evoo, balsamic vinegar, salt, and water.
I wanted fresh hummus for lunch, but I also wanted … purple?
I ended up creating a pretty plate.
Purple bell peppers,
purple cherry tomatoes,
a dollop of hummus,
and some pita pieces; a take-home from dinner with my parents the other day.
Lunch was good, but nothing could top my afternoon snack. I’ll give you a hint…
I cobbled together a couple recipes and my memories of Oko in Brooklyn to create Honey Greek Frozen Yogurt.
I didn’t have any fresh fruit (the horror) but enjoyed this bowl sans toppings just fine!
Make.This. The texture is a tad bit softer than regular ice cream and the flavor is unlike anything I’ve ever tasted. There is a bit of tang and a bit of sweet, but the olive oil totally comes through at the same time. Click here for the link to my recipe.
Dinner was also a winner, and I’d say that even if it didn’t rhyme.
Chicken with figs and blue cheese (follow the link to the recipe, you can click to enlarge).
Soon I’ve got to head to the airport to pick up my friend Camile! She’s flying in today and then tomorrow we are driving to NYC for BlogHer. So excited! The only sad this is that our friend Kristen was supposed to be meeting us in Buffalo on Sunday but due to some personal issues her trip got canceled. I’m feeling a bit down about the breakdown of our trio visit, so indulge me in a little reminiscing?
Our senior year in college –
My 2007 visit to Miami –
Their 2007 visit to NYC –
My 2008 visit to Miami –
Their 2008 visit to NYC –
Their visit to STT –
My most recent visit to Orlando –
Do you keep in touch with any of your college friends?
Eating Chalk 