Housewife Monday
Posted: February 15, 2010 Filed under: Breakfast, Delish Dinners, Mid-Day Yummies | Tags: cuties, grapes, kale chips, Mix 1, pancakes, quesadilla, yoga 37 Comments »I want to be a housewife. Today was perfection. Since I had the day off of school, I got laundry done, worked out, cleaned, grocery shopped, baked cookies, walked the dog. It was all fantastic.
I started the day by making pancakes for my husband.
I also nibbled on a couple while I was making the batch – but never got around to having a plate for myself.
Then I did an hour of yoga, took Punky for a nice walk, and went to the grocery store.
After yoga, I drank this to help my gumby-like muscles
This was a sample from Mix 1 – and again – I loved it. So far, I’ve really been a fan of these smoothies. Convenient and tasty – and the stats aren’t too shabby. This was mix berry, and it tasted like raspberries – yum, yum.
After grocery shopping, I was really hungry, so I came home to whip up a delightful lunch. First, I assembled a quesadilla.
Cheddar, avocado, black beans
Into a hot pan for about 2 minutes on each side, or until cheese is melty
Then, some Kale Chips!
One head of kale, washed, drizzled with 1 tbs. of evoo and sprinkled with salt – baked at 375* for 12 minutes
I dipped the quesadilla in equal parts salsa and plain yogurt.
Then I made a batch of HEAB’s oaties
Oh Lordy, why did it take me so long to find this recipe!! I could have eaten all the batter myself. I made mine with chunky peanut butter, walnuts, and chocolate chips. I die.
After my fare share of oatie sampling (and laundry folding) – I made myself a fruit snack.
Grapes and two cuties.
For dinner, I’m making tuna melt pita sandwiches.
And since I pretty much solidified my status of “cat lady” yesterday – I thought I would go ahead and unabashedly share this picture of my other cat, Bagheera (Baggy for short, because he’s so fat) sleeping on the couch.
Makes me feel all squishy.
Things I Love
Posted: February 14, 2010 Filed under: Delish Dinners, dessert, Mid-Day Yummies | Tags: cookies, mashed cauliflower, snow, sweet potato, taco salad, trail mix, walks, yogurt covered pretzels 27 Comments »In honor of Valentine’s Day, here are some things I love:
Trail Mix + four yogurt covered pretzels for breakfast
Bellatrix loves all people food…including trail mix.
She ate the chocolate chips I left in the bowl
Plus coffee
Taco salad for lunch
Last week, I saw Angie bake her tortilla at 400* for 20 minutes, so I copied her. Genius.
Then a started in on the baking – first up, a recipe I made inspired by Averie’s raw donut holes!
(Almost) Raw Vegan Flax Cookies
I had to change it based on ingredients we had on hand, so you can find my recipe here.
Since Meeker LOVES his chocolate chip cookies, I whipped up a batch of those too.
I also love winter walks when the sun is shining…
and this stream by our house.
As well as this boy and his dog.
Then I ate some of my favorite foods for dinner.
Baked sweet potato rounds, dipped in peanut butter + mashed cauliflower
I thinly sliced the sweet ‘tater, sprinkled with cinnamon, nutmeg and salt, and then baked 15 minutes on each side at 400* – then dipped in peanut butter. There is nothing better.
For the cauliflower mash, I steamed one head of cauliflower, then dropped it in the blender, added ½ cup of milk, 1 tbs. butter, salt, and blended until smooth. Waaay better than mashed potatoes. I’m serious.
What was one thing you loved today?
The Perfect Excuse
Posted: February 14, 2010 Filed under: Uncategorized 21 Comments »
Happy Valentine’s Day!
If you live in Colorado, you woke up to a blizzard – the perfect excuse to snuggle with your dog, cats and husband by the fire. Also the perfect excuse to stay inside and bake something yummy. (Let’s be honest, I don’t ever need an excuse to bake). If you don’t live in Colorado, I hope your day is equally wonderful and full of snuggles and baking.
Taco and Tea
Posted: February 13, 2010 Filed under: Mid-Day Yummies | Tags: black beans, cheese, chips, ground beef, salsa, taco salad 18 Comments »Happy Saturday! I’m feeling much more vibrant than I was while writing my last post.
For lunch, I made a taco salad
I started with a handful of tortilla chips (on the bottom) and then piled the lettuce high. On top of that went lean ground beef, black bans, salsa, and a little cheddar.
Halfway through, I remembered an avocado we had that was begging to be included in this bowl.
Ah, that’s better.
I’ve also been sipping on this throughout the morning
This is hands down, the best tea I’ve ever had.
Hope you are all enjoying the heck out of your Saturdays! Yay for long weekends!
Sleep, overrated
Posted: February 13, 2010 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: cookie, late night snacks, peanut butter, pretzels 19 Comments »I’ve never been a big sleeper. I love getting to sleep in on the weekends, but it’s not a necessity for me.
With that being said, I woke up at 2am this morning. In my defense, I went to bed at 9pm. I got out of bed like a hungry bear in the wee hours of the morning, looking for a snack.
This cookie had my name on it.
Kind of. It got smashed en route from classroom to kitchen. Still tasted delicious.
A few hours later, I had another yummy treat.
A hand-dipped chocolate pretzel with sprinkles, re-dipped into a pb jar. At 4:20am.
There are a lot more of these kinds of treats in my future. This is only a fraction of the loot I came away with after our Valentine’s Day party.
I started putting my Valentine ‘s Day goodies on the bookshelf in my classroom, but I quickly ran out of room. Meeker was happy to see me walk in the door with a bag full of candy. I don’t really like candy, but I sure am excited about the homemade stuff and the foodie delights from a mom who reads my blog (think along the lines of Justin’s nut butter and cocoa covered almonds).
I’ll probably need a nap later today, and then tonight, Meeker and I are celebrating Chinese New Year at the family restaurant of my student who used to be Chinese…
Gilad
Posted: February 11, 2010 Filed under: Breakfast, Delish Dinners | Tags: almond butter, applesauce, cereal mash, coconut, crockpot, soup, vegan thursday, veggies 28 Comments »Breakfast was another cereal mash – but with a warm change, suggested by the sweets goddess.
How sweet it was.
First, I microwaved one tbs. almond butter, ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce, and 1 tbs. cocoa powder. Then, I poured cereal (Kashi – Honey Sunshine and puffed rice) and then mixed and mashed.
Unfortunately, like Tuesday, I couldn’t bring my camera to school because of our standardized testing. Nothing electronic, especially something with documenting capabilities is allowed inside a secure testing environment. So – the phone and the camera stayed at home. I’ll let you use your imaginations for lunch. I assure you, it was nothing exciting.
But I did have a snack worth mentioning…
This flavor was really sweet. I liked it, but I have a gigantic sweet tooth. It almost tasted like the creamy lime slush from Sonic. I have neglected to mention that these drinks have 22g of sugar. That kind of thing doesn’t really bother me, but I know that a lot of you are cognizant of those types of facts, so I thought I should mention it. I liked this, but it was more like dessert.
I also switched up my workout routine today. Shock! I still woke up early and went for a 30 minute walk with Punky, because I don’t think my body is capable of waking up without some sort of movement. However, after school, a fellow teacher and I did a Gilad workout video in our school gym! This guy is hilarious, and I really feel like I got a good workout. The cardio was a little lacking, but my arms were so tired after 40 minutes.
I was glad to come home to a crockpot of veggies.
In honor of Vegan Thursday…
This morning, into the crockpot went:
- 2 heads broccoli
- 4 carrots + 4 baby carrots
- 1 sweet potato
- 1 can black beans
- ¼ cup salsa
- 1 tbs. cumin
- 1 tbs. coriander
- Sprinkle of cayenne pepper
- Salt/pepper
- ~6 cups water
Cooked on low for 11 hours. Then rice was later cooked and added. Yum, yum, yum.
In the 3rd grade world…
Our Valentine’s Day celebration is tomorrow! I had good intentions of going to the grocery store to buy my class valentines, however, when I went to the copier to run off some worksheets after school…I found an even more exciting valentines’ gift.
I ran off 24 copies of this bad boy, and colored them while sitting on the couch.
Simple Pleasures
Posted: February 10, 2010 Filed under: Breakfast, Delish Dinners, Mid-Day Yummies | Tags: eggs, fruit salad, leftovers, pencils, pizza, salad, salsa 29 Comments »
Breakfast was simple and kept me full for 4.5 hours. Yum-diddy.
I actually wasn’t even too hungry for lunch, so I only had half of what I packed. A salad and trail mix.
Lettuce, celery, carrots, black beans, hummus
I always love trail mix. Always.
Then around 4:30, I got hungry for the rest of my lunch (or should I call it dinner?)
Leftover Pizza de Parma – I actually picked off the prosciutto and just had the crust and arugula. Leftovers don’t really get better than this.
For my second dinner, I had another kind of salad…
Fruit!
½ banana, 2 cuties, 1 apple, handful of grapes, 2 tbs. plain yogurt, flax seeds
I could have done without the ‘naner, but otherwise, this was a delicious dinner.
In the 3rd grade world…
Tomorrow is our second round of standardized testing, and my kiddos are prepared to rock the test with their magic CSAP pencils.
Aside from recess, birthday parties, and candy, nothing makes 8 year olds happier than freshly sharpened pencils adorned with colorful cap-erasers and grippies. It’s the simple pleasures in life.
Girly Night
Posted: February 9, 2010 Filed under: Breakfast, Delish Dinners, Mid-Day Yummies | Tags: almond butter, overnight oats, pizza, salad, trail mix 29 Comments »After yesterday’s oats disaster, I decided to go the overnight route for this morning.
Guys, this tasted like apple pie! It was so good, and too easy.
Last night I combined:
- 1/3 cup rolled oats
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1/3 cup plain yogurt
- 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
-
Cinnamon
This morning I added:
- 1 tbs. almond butter
- 1 handful trail mix
- Sprinkling of flax seeds
Then microwaved it for one minute. I hate cold breakfast. This was tepid and wonderful.
I couldn’t take my camera to school today (I’ll explain later), so I took this shot of my lunch while I was rushing out the door this morning.
A delectable salad using last night’s leftover fajita veggies. At school I added a portabella Gardenbuger. Around 4pm, I had a ww tortilla with crunch pb, cinnamon and cayenne pepper, a la Kate. The perfect snack.
Dinner was something that I have been looking forward to for months! Dinner with friends!
I have known 2/3 of these girls since Jr. High…we always have the best time. The one on the left is a second grade teacher, so we always have plenty of story swapping at dinner. We ate at a restaurant called Cocina Calore, and I got the Pizza de Parma.
prosciutto di parma, arugula, ricotta, shaved parmigiano
The prosciutto was a little overwhelming for my taste, but that didn’t stop me from eating half of it. The other half is safely packed in my lunchbox for tomorrow. Yes, I have a lunchbox.
In the 3rd grade world…
Today was my kiddos’ very first experience with standardized testing. They did so well during the test, but I swear, the second I collected the test booklets, all hell broke loose. Pair that with the second day of indoor recess, plus a Valentine’s Day party to look forward to on Friday…it was a circus.
Also, thank you all for your incredibly sweet comments in regards to teachers. I really enjoy my job, but (despite popular opinion) it isn’t easy, and I so really value all the appreciation and kindness that was sent my way!
Coloring Major
Posted: February 8, 2010 Filed under: Delish Dinners, Mid-Day Yummies | Tags: coloring, fajitas, grilled cheese, Mix 1, salad, salsa 34 Comments »It’s still snowing. Just wanted to let you know. Driving was a little scary, but I made it (white knuckled the whole time).
Because of indoor recess, my lunchtime was cut in half. I ate this quickly…
- 3 ribs of celery, chopped
- 2 carrots, shredded
- 1 cup black beans
- Salsa
- Hummus
- Garlic Salt
With some cottage cheese on the side
I was still pretty hungry after inhaling this, so when my kiddos were at la clase de espanol, I snagged a bagel from the lounge to squelch my hunger.
Cinnamon + raisin + bagel = love
Sometime during the afternoon, I also drank a Mix 1. It was a hungry day.
Y-u-m. I know I said this with the mango flavor, but I LOVED it. I don’t even really love blueberries, but in this drink I did. So far, so good great Mix 1.
For din-din..something that I made up on the spot: Fajita Inspired Grilled Cheese
Start with onions and peppers
And sauté them in evoo, and season with salt and pepper.
Then put them between two slices of bread, throw some cheddar cheese in, and Panini press the heck out of it.
Add a salad, and you’ve got a nice little meal!
The cheese kind of slid out the backside, but I didn’t mind.
In the 3rd grade world…
When I was in college, I used to get highly offended when people asked me my major (English and Education), and they responded with “Oh, so you’re majoring in coloring” – yeah, not so much. I actually got this response more than a couple of times. Kind of stupid.
With that being said, I do love art. I am in the midst of making a FEBRUARY BULLITEN BOARD, and I actually did get to color today, and it made me so smiley.
My kiddos are writing book reviews on paper hearts to add to this banner. I got completely LOST in my work as I laid on the floor coloring to my heart’s content. Before I knew it, it was 6:00pm!
Let’s not even talk about how ridiculously happy these sharpies make me…
Messy Monday
Posted: February 8, 2010 Filed under: Breakfast | Tags: cereal, coffee, oats, snow 27 Comments »First of all, it’s snowing like crazy right now. And I don’t have a delay or a closure or anything. I’m a little terrified of the drive into work – but it’s only about a mile, so I’m sure I will make it.
Second, I started to make oatmeal after my workout, I put extra, extra water in the pan, turned it waaay low, and went upstairs to get ready for work. When I came back down (30 minutes later) – I was faced with a burnt, sticky mess on the stove. Somehow the oats boiled over (despite the big pot and low heat) and made a nasty mess. Boo – no oats this morning.
However, it did give me an excuse to eat my latest obsession – something I have dubbed cereal mash.
- 1 cup Kashi Honey Sunshine
- ¼ cup puffed rice
- ¼ cup applesauce
- Sprinkle of chocolate chips
- Sprinkle of coconut
- 1 tbs. almond butter
Mix it all up and make a mess…
Yummm. The applesauce makes the cereal kind of mushy, but not as soggy as milk does. It is perfection. I’m kind of glad my oats burned this morning.
And some coffee (labeled in case I forget what I’m drinking).
I will leave you with a picture of my sweet pup enjoying the snow when it started yesterday morning…
I love that little face.
Hope your Mondays aren’t too messy!!
