Meeker likes tofu.
Posted: June 20, 2011 Filed under: Breakfast, Delish Dinners, leftover lunches | Tags: almonds, apple, applesauce, flax, panini, tofu, veggie sandwich 27 Comments »(He’s going to kill me for that title)
It’s been raining all day here, so we’ve been pretty house bound (except for trip to the grocery store and a twenty minute reprieve from the rain, during which Adrienne and I went for a brisk walk).
Breakfast
Admittedly, an odd one.
We went to Meeker’s parents’ for dinner last night came home with a tub full of roasted veggies – best.leftovers.ever.
For breakfast, I sandwiched them in some bread, added some feta cheese and panini pressed them.
Lunch
Look familiar? Same veggies with mustard and bbq sauce on top.
Then I had one of my favorite snacks as of late…
Applesauce, oats, ground flax seed, chocolate chips and almonds – you’ve got to try this, it’s incredible. I think I’ve had four bowls like this in the last two days. And probably another one for dessert tonight.
Another snack later on…
Dinner
Ginger, red bell peppers, garlic, shallots
I (sort of) followed this recipe – cut way down on the butter (really 11 tablespoons??) and left out the black pepper because I don’t really like it. Both Meeker and I agreed it was the best tofu dish I’ve made – looks like Meeker likes tofu.
Thoughts on tofu?
Sunny
Posted: May 5, 2011 Filed under: Breakfast, Delish Dinners, Mid-Day Yummies | Tags: almonds, bbq sauce, fruit, kashi, oatmeal, sweet potato 26 Comments »It was finally warm today! So sunny and pleasant, it completely made my day. In fact, when we were just 30 minutes from the end of school – I forced my 3rd graders to go outside for extra recess, just so I could enjoy walking some laps around the soccer field in the sunshine.
My appetite is still wonky.
Biggest meal of the day – kashi honey sunshine, oats, almonds, milk
I packed a lunch, but then discovered there was Mexican food in the teacher’s lounge (happy cinco de mayo!) – and made myself this plate.
However, one bite into this and I gagged. Some ingredient somewhere on this plate tasted like dish soap, and I had to immediately throw it away for fear of throwing up. Then I washed out the soapy taste out with about five servings of fruit.
Delightful.
When I got home, I went for a walk – just to enjoy the last drops of sunshine (and possibly coax little Baby Cakes into the world). The afternoon was so gorgeous that I felt euphoric. Summer is juuussst around the corner.
Dinner was light because I wasn’t hungry in the slightest – but knew I needed to fuel myself with something.
Sweet potato rounds dipped in spicy bbq sauce
In the 3rd grade world…
Remember my ex-Chinese student from last year? She was in my room using one of my classroom computers this afternoon, when she volunteered this little tidbit…
Mrs. Unger – did you know that when I was born, my head was too fat to fit through my mom’s bottom, so they had to slice her up to get me out?
No, I didn’t know that. Aaaand I miss you and your misunderstandings. I’m sure my readers do, too.
Last Monday
Posted: May 2, 2011 Filed under: Breakfast | Tags: almonds, chia seeds, nutritional yeast, oatmeal, smoothie, soy milk, stevia 14 Comments »No baby yet.
I just got back from a brisk walk with Punky (it snowed again last night!) and I’m headed out the door to what I’m confident will be my last Monday at work. I have high hopes that Baby Cakes will make her entrance into this world this week.
In the meantime, I’m enjoying this oatmeal smoothie to the fullest.
Based off of HEAB’s cookie dough smoothie, I combined:
- ¾ cup oats
- 1 cup vanilla soy milk
- 1 T chia seeds
- 1 T nutritional yeast
- 1 packet stevia
- ½ t vanilla
- 7-8 almonds
- 1 t dark cocoa powder
Blended on high for about 1 minute.
Delightful.
Happy Monday to you all!
Snack Time
Posted: January 18, 2011 Filed under: Mid-Day Yummies | Tags: almonds, apple sweater, apples, cinnamon, KIND bar, snacks 27 Comments »
I’m so excited about my snacks for the day – I had to show and tell.
These things are the best. I found them in the bulk bins at Sprouts…cinnamon cream covered almonds.
Hope your Mondays are as exciting as my snacks!
Apple Sweater
Posted: September 7, 2010 Filed under: Breakfast, Delish Dinners, Mid-Day Yummies | Tags: almonds, banana, chia seed pudding, maple almond butter, melon, pad thai, pecans, sweet potato 38 Comments »Skippity doo-dah. I love starting a week that’s going to be short!! Tomorrow is already the middle of the week! I started off this morning rather grumpy (my house was dirty, and that always puts a damper on my enjoyment of mornings), but after some exercise and breakfast (eaten in my clean car), I was feeling perkier.
Chia seed pudding (minus the walnuts in that recipe) with banana slices
At 11:20 I stood outside in the sunshine for recess duty, which lifted my mood considerably. Then my lunch pushed me right over into blissful.
Maple almond butter
Plus a baked sweet potato
Aaand I just realized I forgot to take a picture of the final product – I only had 10 minutes to eat lunch, so I guess I spaced it. Trust me, it was pretty fantastic. And get ready to smile really big…
I saw this apple sweater on Etsy the other day and just HAD to buy it. My pink lady is wearing a sweater. It doesn’t really get better than this.
When I got home, I tried a new melon for snack.
It was okay…a lot like a cantaloupe, but not as flavorful. I probably won’t buy it again.
The almonds/pecans were as good as ever, though.
Dinner was semi-homemade. And yes, I just rinsed out the melon bowl.
Pad Thai
I bought this sauce the other day, and then today combined it with ½ a sweet potato, tofu, broccoli, asparagus, and rice noodles. Oh and a dollop of peanut butter on top. Yum city.
Now I’m about to make tacos for Meeker! It’s taco Tuesday, but I wasn’t feeling it. When you want pad thai, you’ve just gotta have it!
Have you ever bought anything on Etsy before? I just found it a few days ago, and I’ve already spent $35 on miscellaneous items like “apple sweaters”…it could be dangerous.
In the 3rd grade world…
Another good tattle-turtle entry, albeit, a little blurry.
Zach is making his face get really red.
Competent
Posted: August 17, 2010 Filed under: Breakfast, Delish Dinners, Mid-Day Yummies | Tags: almonds, bbq chicken salad, dates, oats, protein ice cream, shape bands, turkey, veggies 31 Comments »Everyone always told me, teaching gets easier after your first year. But it didn’t. I figured I was just doomed for a profession that sucked the life out of me and required 60 hours of work each week. But, it seems I’ve turned a corner! The third year
is a lot easier! A significant change has happened in the last week: despite the chaos in my classroom, I feel calm. Despite the 1000+ urgent demands every day, I feel in control. Despite the 25 different learning styles and personalities that I cater to every day – I feel prepared excited about the challenge. For the first time in two years, I feel competent. Life is good.
So was my run this morning. Running makes me sane. Then there was the breakfast that might as well have been dessert.
¼ cup almonds, 3 dates, 1 tbs. cocoa powder – all into the food processor for a 30 seconds, then sprinkled with raw oats.
Lunch
Green bell pepper, zucchini, carrots, corn, edamame + hummus dressing. A couple of turkey slices on the side.
Plus a kombucha tea to wash it all down.
This flavor was awesome – I love ginger, and this was very gingery. Just want I wanted/expected.
Dinner
This morning I put 1lb. of frozen chicken and ½ bottle of bbq sauce into my crockpot and turned it on low. When I got home – delicious, shreddable, bbq chicken which I put on top of a salad.
Lettuce, corn, cucumber, avocado, bbq chicken, bbq sauce + water + hummus for dressing
Dessert
Protein ice cream – Meeker calls it Price Cream
This enormous (and delicious and dairy free) bowl is only 200 calories: 4.7 g fat, 17g carbs, 26g protein
Into the blender:
- 2 cups ice
- 1 cup soy milk
- 1 tbs. cocoa powder
- 1 scoop sun warrior protein powder
- 1 tsp. xanthan gum (a thickener)
I later added some sprinkles because it needed a pop of color.
And that’s a wrap.
In the 3rd grade world…
Shape Bands – the latest trend in elementary school.
They look like ordinary rubber bracelets – albeit a little squiggly. But when you take them off…
They’re different shapes – like a #1 finger or a diamond ring. They must sell these things for $1 per 1000 bands because every kid in my class has an armful of them. I find them everywhere – on the floor, in my pocket, in my desk, on my desk, on my wrist, turned in with homework…everywhere. Maybe they’re this generation’s slap bracelet?
Extrovert
Posted: August 4, 2010 Filed under: Breakfast, Delish Dinners, Mid-Day Yummies | Tags: agave, almonds, dates, meatballs, pasta, rice, sunbutter, tuna 26 Comments »I totally forgot how much energy I get from being around people all day!! I am just buzzing right now…bzzzz. I am a true extrovert.
My first day of school went well! We didn’t have kids today (they come Monday), but we spent the day getting familiarized with our new igoogle system which I am in complete nerd-love with. We pretty much went paperless this year, and I’m giddy about all the organizational possibilities.
Thanks for all your sweet happy anniversary wishes! I can’t believe it’s been 3 years…crazy stuff. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen Meeker today (except for early morning before I went for a nice long run in the cool, beautiful morning air.) But I did see a lot of friends today, and Meeker and I will get to hang out this weekend – something to look forward to.
Breakfast
This yummy bowl was 1 cup cooked brown rice, 2 chopped medjool dates, a handful of chopped almonds, cinnamon, and agave. It was one of the best cheap breakfasts I’ve ever had. I will undoubtedly eat it for breakfast again tomorrow.
Lunch
Embarrassing, really. I found a can of tuna buried way in the back of the pantry, mixed it with some beans and spicy mustard and called it lunch. I can’t wait for payday….
I also had some (more) dates with sunbutter from Tona!! (Remember Tona, the awesome foodie mom from my class last year who showered me with yummy things?!)
She left about 100 of these packets at the school office for me, and this was delicious squeezed over the dates. Definitely the highlight of my lunch.
For dinner, I had guests! My two childhood best friends (sisters) came over and brought a sweet little baby for me to meet.
Caitlyn, Christine, and her 2 month old adorable nugget (Elise) hung out for about 3 hours, and I made dinner along the way. Seriously, being around people who I love gives me so much oomph! I’m just a smiling ball of energy right now.
Pasta with turkey meatballs, and zucchini/spinach sauce.
(The return of) In the 3rd grade world…
I am up to my eyeballs in things to label – nametags, job assignment sticks, attendance sticks, file folder tabs, it never ends! Yeah for sharpies! I’m kind of obsessed with my mulit-colored 30 pack.
Google It Up
Posted: May 17, 2010 Filed under: Breakfast, Delish Dinners, dessert, Mid-Day Yummies | Tags: almonds, banana, chicken, chocolate, coffee, egg, hummus, milk, salad, salsa, zucchini 25 Comments »I started this morning with a lot of moving. At 5:00am I walked the dog. At 6:00am I did some weight lifting, and at 7:00am I walked to school. The morning was so pleasant that I just didn’t want to stop enjoying it. However, lots of moving leads to lots of hunger.
One egg, salsa, two slices of ww bread
I love my milk frother. This was an old leftover starbucks cup with ¾ coffee and ¼ steamed milk. I packed the sandwich in foil, put a lid on the coffee and hoofed it to school. The breakfast sandwich was enjoyed while checking email at my desk. 6 days, 6 days, 6 days…
At lunchtime I was beyond hungry. My lunch did very little to stop the grumbling.
Leftover chicken and zucchini
Cheese and crackers
a mini packet of M&Ms given to by a student
The day was so nice and warm that I took both of my afternoon classes outside to write poetry in the sunshine. I just strolled around listening to 8 year-old wisdom and soaking up the rays. It was glorious. After school, I headed to my after-school job in the office and had some homemade cheerio trail mix.
Cheerios, chocolate chips, almonds, pepitas
I left just after 6:00pm and walked home in the warm sunshine. I can’t even express how much I love the longer daylight hours of summer. Upon entering the door, I quickly made a taco salad.
Lettuce, shredded carrot, ground turkey, salsa, hummus, crumbled chips
The salad was so voluminous that I had to transfer it to a mixing bowl in order to eat it. Don’t believe me?
Proof.
For dessert, I made an insanely simple, delicious and healthy ice cream.
Just like a frosty. Into my food processor I put: one frozen banana, 1 scoop vanilla protein powder, 1 tablespoon cocoa powder, splash of milk
In the 3rd grade world…
My students have taken to using the phrase “google it up” – and I fear that I’m to blame. I don’t remember ever saying this, but it sounds like something I would glibly say in response to a question. For example…
Mrs. Unger, do you know what the alternative name for Orion’s Nebula is?
No, I don’t Timmy…I’ll have to google that up later.
Like I said, I don’t recall ever using that phrase, but I sometimes feel so comfortable with my students that I slip into the habit of using tremendously casual speech. I wouldn’t put it past myself. Either way, some of my students now think that “google it up” is a perfectly legitimate term for “doing research”
I would correct them, but honestly, I think it’s hilarious.
I love my food processor
Posted: May 15, 2010 Filed under: Breakfast, Delish Dinners, dessert, Mid-Day Yummies | Tags: almonds, banana, chocolate, eggs, flatout wrap, hummus, potatoes, raw desserts, salsa 10 Comments »Ahh, weekends are so nice. I did my share of relaxing/laying around today, and have managed to pepper in some wonderful food. Upon waking, I laid in bed for 45 minutes and read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I’m only about 70 pages in, but I’m already intrigued. When I crawled out of bed, I was craving something creamy.
I whipped up a version of Katie’s raw cheesecake and poured it over some Greek yogurt. It didn’t feel complete without a few chocolate chips, so those were added, too. To make my version of the raw cheesecake:
- ¼ cup almonds
- ½ frozen banana (about 50g)
- 1 tbs. water
- 5 vanilla drops
-
Pinch of salt
- Put the almonds and water in the food processor and blend until smooth
- Add the rest of the ingredients
It’s that easy. It tasted like heaven draped over the creamy yogurt. I let Punky lick the food processor clean and she loved it, too. After breakfast, I just laid around. I was feeling a little under the weather, so I opted to talk on the phone to my best friend and watch TV rather than go for my typical Saturday morning run. Lunchtime was here before I knew it, and I wanted something savory. Seeing as my savory-loving-taste-buds rarely make themselves known, I fully embraced the craving.
Delicious: spinach, roasted potatoes, egg, salsa, and some buried hummus
Meeker got home from work and started in on some laborious yard work – which made me feel lazy, so I went for a walk/run. In total, I probably moved about 6 miles, and I felt so much better afterwards. I came home and fixed my hard-working scuzzband some steak/potatoes/eggs. He was a happy boy.
For dinner, I was still on that savory kick, so I started with a pizza.
flatout wrap with tomato paste and cheese, popped under the broiler for about 4 minutes.
Then, a big huge salad.
Lettuce, carrots, edamame, a few potato chunks (leftover), celery and ranch dressing.
I like salad. I also like chocolate, but we didn’t have anything but cocoa powder in the house, so I created an insanely quick and delicious raw dessert to end the meal.
Into the food processor (don’t worry, I cleaned after Punky’s taste-testing earlier) went:
- ½ frozen banana
- 3 medjool dates
- 1 handful of almonds
- 1 tbs. cocoa powder
It was so creamy and delicious! It made about ½ cup of mush, but it was so rich that I only ate a few bites before storing the rest in the refrigerator. I know it will be a perfect addition to my breakfast in the morning.
I hope you are all having beautiful Saturdays!
Heart Warming
Posted: May 12, 2010 Filed under: Breakfast, Delish Dinners, dessert, Mid-Day Yummies | Tags: almonds, banana, cinnamon, clif, greek yogurt, hummus, milk, panini, sweet potato, tomato 24 Comments »Today was a day. In an effort to stay positive, I’ll not go into too many details. I feel so blessed to have a break coming up! I went to the gym early this morning. I would have run outside, but it was snowing. I can run in the snow October- February, but when it’s snowy in May, I’m no longer up for freezing runs. Post-workout in the way to school I had a banana and my favorite Clif.
I stopped at a gas station for coffee, and enjoyed it with some M&Ms that a student brought me.
Thank you for being such a wonderful teacher! – I am so grateful to have appreciative families.
Lunch was divine.
Sweet potato, Greek yogurt, almonds and chocolate chips.
After school I had a 100 calorie pack of popcorn.
A fellow teacher brought in some yummy tomatoes and I was quick to snag one to incorporate into my dinner. (Thanks Kristin!!)
I sliced up the tomato, and added ham, broccoli slaw, hummus, and mustard and threw it all between two slices of bread.
Then it all went in the panini press. Hallelujah, this was the best dang sandwich I’ve ever made. No joke. All ooey, gooey and full of flavor. For dessert, I steamed some milk, added cinnamon, and made a little trail mix.
Steamed milk with cinnamon + almonds, coconut, chocolate chips
In the 3rd grade world…
I whined about the snow all day. I am always cold. Always, always, always. My kids know this about me, and are quick to point out my ever-present goose bumps, and never fail to let me know that my hands are freezing. One of my sweet girls knew I was upset about the snowy weather, and thoughtfully left this on my desk.
The sun is always with you now. Warm.
