Saturday Schmaturday
Posted: December 5, 2009 Filed under: Mid-Day Yummies | Tags: avocado, bagel, soup, sun butter, sweet potato, zac brown band 13 Comments »First of all, Zac Brown Band put on the best.concert.ever.
Honestly, it was one of the best shows I have ever been to. I might even go as far as to say the greatest. I had a blast with Meeker and his family, and it was 100% worth the drowsiness I experienced on Friday as a result of going out on a school night. If you haven’t heard of ZBB, I suggest that you check them out – they are one talented group of boys. It’s not so much country as southern rock…and they totally rock. In fact, they just got nominated for 3 Grammy awards.
Okay, enough gushing.
3rd grade went on a make-up field trip on Friday. We went to a nature/science museum in Denver – and it was wild and fun.
I woke up exhausted after rocking out on Thursday night – but jazzed for the trip with my kiddos. I was running late, but managed to make a pretty good breakfast and pack a yummy sandwich for lunch.
That’s half a sweet ‘tater (I microwaved it for 6 minutes) and then put spicy mustard on one side, an egg on the other – and sandwiched them together. This was the best combo (albeit very messy) and I will definitely be making it again.
Packed lunch
Scooped bagel with bananas, peanut butter and pumpkin butter.
I threw this in my purse, and accidentally sat on it during the bus ride to the museum – so it was pretty nasty looking when I pulled it out at lunch time – but very delicious.
When I got home about a zillion hours later (at least that’s what it felt like) – I found a pot of soup on the stove. I love being married.
Meeker had thrown leftover rice, black beans and tomatoes into a pot – and added a lot of spice – to create a warming, simple supper. I topped mine with avocado for a cooling effect.
I fell asleep on the couch at 9:30 on a Friday night.
I woke up this morning ecstatic about a Skype date I had with my best friend at 10am , but managed to squeeze in DAY 30 of the 30 Day Shred beforehand! It feels good to have finished. I feel stronger and my balance is better – but I’m looking forward to incorporating a little variety into my routine.
As for the skype date – this was my first time using this technology, and I felt really geeky sitting at Kunjani chatting and laughing with my computer screen, but it was fantastic to be able to talk face-to-face with my bestie.
One large black coffee.
After over an hour of skyping, I was starving, and I came home to eat more soup and ½ a bagel.
Topped with chip crumbles and avocado.
Scooped and toasted with pumpkin butter and sun butter. A dynamic duo.
Now I’m ready to just relax and enjoy this Saturday – hasta luego.
Peas and Cookie Dough
Posted: December 2, 2009 Filed under: Breakfast, dessert, Mid-Day Yummies | Tags: avocado, cookie dough babies, egg whites, peanut butter, peas, pumpkin butter 17 Comments »What a Wednesday!
It started off with very unusual eats, but I just went with my craving.
If you guessed peas, egg whites and avocado, you are correct.
I know it’s weird – you don’t even have to tell me. I was craving vegetables, but I only had about 5 minutes, so I pulled the peas out of the freezer, microwaved for a minute, then topped them with 2 cooked egg whites, salt, pepper and avocado. It was so good – I will definitely be adding this to my breakfast repertoire. It only took me 5 minutes to make, and it held me over until 11ish (4 hours).
For lunch, I scooped a bagel, toasted it, and added a mixture of pumpkin butter and crunchy peanut butter.
It was about 18 degrees today, so we had indoor recess. This makes for a very long day. After making a few copies and toasting my bagel – I had exactly 8 minutes to eat this lunch. The apple was inhaled while teaching my class about the importance of a subject in a sentence.
I also got my weekly Wednesday latte from a certain mom who spoils me. Along with my latte today, she brought me sun butter!
This stuff is so darn good. I dug into this bad boy with my finger when I was still at school at 6:30 this evening. I told you it was quite a Wednesday.
When I got home, I was beyond starving, but I also had a bit of a tummy ache (lesson learned: don’t eat 1.5 oz of sun butter on a very empty stomach) – so I sipped on cinnamon tea (with almond milk) while I cooked dinner for Meeker.
The tea…
The boy’s dinner…
3 heads of broccoli, 1 zucchini, ½ onion, 2 carrots and ground turkey.
I tasted enough while cooking to make the gnawing hunger subside, and then sat and watched The Biggest Loser – which I didn’t get to last night. What a good show. Seriously, I cry at least 5 times each episode – I’m so inspired by the accomplishments and determination of the contestants. I love all of the finalists – I can’t wait until next week.
After TBL, I whipped together a batch of Cookie Dough Babies. This was my first time making these bad boys, and I didn’t have any chocolate chips to add, so it was just dates and cashews.
Heck yeah. Success. I’ve already eaten two.
I made these partially because I wanted something sweet after instead of dinner, and partially because the inventor of these yummy nuggets is having the most fantastic giveaway – and I really want to score some of her loot.
***
You’re probably wondering why I’m up still awake (and semi-functioning!) so late. Okay…in reality, you probably don’t know or care how late I stay up, BUT
I am usually in bed by 9:30, and it is currently 9:32. What gives?
I took the day off tomorrow! Whohoo! (kind of)
I took the day off for 3 reasons:
- I have too much to do and not enough time to do it. If you can believe it, I took tomorrow off so I could catch up on work. I have insane amounts of grading to do, the end of the quarter is coming up soon, and I wanted to get all of the big stuff knocked out before the weekend. I also have an enormous pile of laundry to tackle and a grocery store trip to make. It just didn’t seem reasonable for me to do all this during a long work week – so, I took the day off.
-
Zac Brown Band is going to be in Denver tomorrow night, and I’m going to see them!!!
- At work, only 5 sick days carry over from year-to-year, and I can’t remember the last time I was sick – so I might as well use the days for something I want. Otherwise, they go to waste. Waste not want not.
So, with that – I’m off to get a good night’s sleep. I hope you all have happy Thursdays!
Hodge Podge
Posted: November 22, 2009 Filed under: Mid-Day Yummies | Tags: avocado, dates, peanut butter, roasted veggies, savory oats, sweet potato, vitatop 21 Comments »Can you believe another weekend has come and gone?!
It went quickly, and I didn’t take pictures of all my meals, but here are some highlights…
Saturday morning – savory oats. One egg, ½ sweet potato and ½ avocado – dotted with siracha. I told Meeker this was my tribute to his Irish heritage. The colors of the flag…in the wrong order.
More fruit cereal: 1 pear, 1 kiwi, pomegranate arils and a spoonful of granola – all with almond milk.
A spoonful of crunchy peanut butter and a date. The best combo ever.
A fudgy Vitatop with peanut butter – this was breakfast numero uno today. Plus some frothy café –
To achieve the froth – I put ¼ cup of almond milk (with cinnamon and allspice) into a glass jar, and shook it until my arm was tired (that’s not very long: 20 seconds max) – and then microwaved it for 20 seconds and poured it into the black coffee. It was almost like a latte! I drank it en route to church this morning – where I worked in the nursery playing with babies. They make me feel so maternal and squishy inside.
Afterwards, my in-laws took us to my desayuno segundo at Village Inn…
Multigrain pancakes with strawberries and pecan pieces. I ate about ½ this plate.
Around 3pm, I was craving veggies – so I went all out.
Here is the tray pre-roasting. Carrots, zucchini, asparagus and mushrooms. Drizzled in evoo and sprinkled with salt and garlic powder. The best meal.
I topped my half with 1 piece of chicken and a spicy mustard/balsamic vinegar mix. All pictures of the final product were blurry and ugly – so just use your imaginations on this one. Thank you.
I actually felt more hungry after this meal (my hunger is unbelievable sometimes), so I had a sandwich – of sorts.
Two slices of ww bread, one with PB and chocolate chips, the other with pumpkin butter. A delicious end to a speedy weekend.
Good news: tomorrow is essentially a Thursday because I only have a two-day-week coming up! And one of those days includes an in-classroom Thanksgiving feast – Lord help me! Aaaand then it’s THANKSGIVING! My very favorite holiday of the year! The countdown is on…
What is your favorite holiday?
It doesn’t take much
Posted: November 10, 2009 Filed under: Breakfast, Delish Dinners, leftover lunches | Tags: avocado, egg white, hot sauce, leftovers, yogurt mess 17 Comments »Happy Tuesday! It’s almost over…but the best is yet to come. More on that later.
This morning, my breakfast was nothing short of inspired.
2 toasted slices of Ezekiel bread, 2 egg whites, ½ avocado, salt and hot sauce.
Sandwichified.
This was the best way to start a day. Balanced, creamy, spicy, perfect. I could have easily eaten two – but (luckily) I don’t have time for 2 breakfasts every morning. Can you imagine…?
I got another treat, from the same mom (thanks again Tona!!) to stash in my snack drawer.
I don’t even know what these are, but I tasted both kinds of “puffs” – and they are the perfect snack. And yes, my snack drawer is also my sticker drawer. Looks like I keep markers there, too.
For my lunch, I had dinner leftovers.
Beans, rice, spinach and pumpkin vinaigrette. Yes, I want arroz y frijoles negros.
I was kind of feeling blah after I got home, and didn’t really want to cook – which is rare. Meeker was incredibly supportive and said “don’t worry about dinner” – and was happy to let me eat yogurt while he fended for himself on the food front.
- ½ cup plain yogurt
- Handful of raspberries (they’re there…buried)
- ½ pear
- 4-5 ABC cookies (can’t get enough of these things)
- Blob of crunchy peanut butter
I mixed it all together and loved every bite. It had been too long since my last yogurt mess. Good dinner.
***
I realized today that TV shows make me waaaay too happy. Some things to look forward to this week…
Tonight: The Biggest Loser!
Wednesday: The CMA Awards (I’m a country music fanatic)
Thursday: Meeker’s family bought us tickets to see WICKED downtown…okay this isn’t TV, but it is entertainment.
…it doesn’t take much to get me jazzed. Fill my belly and entertain me, and you’re sure find a smile on this face.
Seasonal and Delicious
Posted: November 4, 2009 Filed under: Breakfast, Delish Dinners, Mid-Day Yummies | Tags: avocado, balsamic vinegar, cheetahs, pumpkin oats, salad, zucchini 16 Comments »I started the day with pumpkin (steel cut) oats. Steel cut take a little longer, but there is something I like better about the texture.
- 1/3 cup steel cut oats
- 1 cup water
- ¼ cup pumpkin
- 1 tbs. brown sugar
- Cinnamon
- 1 crumbled hermit
The oats took about 20 – 30 minutes to cook, and I added the last 4 ingredients about 1 minute from the end. Seasonal and delicious.
Also, I brought some of my NOO samples to school for my fellow teachers. One bag of champion chip cookies (I gave-up the orange variety because I don’t really like chocolate/orange together) and a bag of mint Newman-Os. I asked for feedback, and the Newman-Os were the clear winner between the two.
Lunch was a salad – and snacks were delicious alphabet cookies and a Mix 1.
Lettuce, 1 shredded carrot, ½ cucumbers, green beans and ½ of an avocado. I dressed it with balsamic vinegar and I also added a camera shy Boca burger to the mix.
Eaten at 9:30am and chugged at 4:00pm.
Today seemed like a turning point in the school year for some reason. All day, I felt like my class and I were in the groove. Work was accomplished, the kiddos raised their hands instead of all yelling at me simultaneously, and I only had to tie one shoe the whole day. They’re getting the hang of it!
We have so very little food in our home, so I made the only thing in our produce drawer for dinner.
Before and after…cheetahs and green cheetahs!
This is 1 sweet potato and 1 zucchini with non-stick spray cooked at 450* for 30 minutes. Flipped half-way through.
I dipped them in a mix of ketchup and mustard. Again, seasonal and delicious.
Tomorrow is my last day with kiddos for the week – Friday is an in-service day. It sure makes for a nice, short week! Have a fabulous evening, my lovely readers. I appreciate each and every one of you.
The Napping House
Posted: October 21, 2009 Filed under: Breakfast, Mid-Day Yummies | Tags: apple, avocado, carrot, coffee, pumpkin oats, salad 11 Comments »Anyone out there remember that book? Well, my house is similar today…
Goodness, they are all so cute – I can’t even handle it.
We woke up to snow (sad panda), so I made some warm things for breakfast.
A cup of coffee and pumpkin oats.
In this bowl:
- ½ cup oats
- 1 cup milk
- 1/8 cup pumpkin
- Few drops of vanilla
- Cinnamon
- Butterscotch chips
- Coconut
…absolutely the perfect warm, creamy breakfast for a snow morning.
Then I braved the snow storm, and went to the grocery store and stocked up on some necessities (we were out of almost all the must-haves) and also some things for my raw Wednesday lunch. I had to have a snack before I went to the store to prevent breaking the bank with impulse/hunger purchases.
For raw Wednesday, it was nothing creative this week – just a delicious salad.
Lettuce (buried waaaay in there), ½ avocado, ½ cucumber, ½ apple, 1 carrot, sesame seeds, salt and pepper.
Because this did nothing to warm me up – I am now sipping hot water (yeah, I’m a granny) and reading my newest book…
The fireplace is roaring, everyone/everything in the house is sleeping, and I’m parked on the couch with a good story. I guess this snow isn’t so bad after all…
Top Ten
Posted: October 20, 2009 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: apples, avocado, broccoli, cake, carrots, cinnamon, cookies, milk, naan, yogurt 18 Comments »
I’ve been pretty bored with my own posts/eating lately – so I’m mixing it up. I present to you…my top 10 foods, and how I like to eat them. In order…
#1: A is for Apple
Maybe it’s because I’m a teacher. Maybe it’s just a fantastic coincidence. Either way, I love big, crispy, juicy apples. And I usually get them as gifts from my students – which is the best thing ever. Gala is a chart topper, but Braburn, Red Delicious and Granny Smith are also major contenders. However, the second I detect a hint of mush or a mealy texture – they go to the dog.
#2: Broccoli
Steamed, roasted, pureed, sautéed…I like it all. No matter how you prepare it, I like love it. To accompany this delightful, filling and oh-so-satisfying vegetable, I like balsamic vinegar, hummus and spicy mustard. Once I went through a raw broccoli/ranch dressing kick – but I found out it makes my breath smell like dog poop, so the streak ended.
#3: Plain Yogurt
The basis for my yogurt love is its versatility. Sweet? Sure. Savory? You betcha. Snack? Uh-huh. Breakfast? Almost always. Baking? Absolutely.
This is my favorite brand, too. It’s made very near my home and is always reasonably priced and it always delivers. Plus, with Holly’s new discovery, Greek yogurt can literally be created in my sleep. On a side note – I detest yogurts with fruit already in them – but love to add my own fruit to plain yogurt. Weird, I know.
#4 Milk
Okay, not a food. But I have so much love for this drink, it deserves a spot. Almond, soy, cow, chocolate – makes no difference: I love them all. WHY I love milk (I won’t even begin to talk about its ability to join cereal in making a heavenly combination), but when I have that insatiable hunger, a glass of milk always fills in those hunger-cracks and is satisfying, too. It’s probably the fat, and I love it. Another side note – I didn’t like milk until I was in college.
#5 Cookies
Were you wondering when I was going to get to something sweet? I was. I am a major sweet person. I don’t care for chips, popcorn (unless its kettle), pizza, or pretzels. But, I’ve never met a cookie I didn’t like. The big-fat-chocolate-chip variety is my favorite.
#6 Cinnamon
Again, not really a “food” – but I combine it with SO many foods that it also deserves its own spot. My favorite cinnamon-loving-foods: lentils, sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, pancakes, yogurt (see #3), ice cream, all baked goods (especially scones), coffee, and chili.
#7 Naan
Puffy, fluffy, warm Indian bread. I had this little basket with my lunch today and it reminded me that I really need to learn how to make this stuff on my own. Anybody out there have a good recipe?
#8 Carrots
I’m okay with raw carrots, they make really easy snacks, and are wonderful with hummus. But throw them in a 450* oven for 30 minutes…drooooool. The perfect dipping sauce for these little buggers involves #3 and some spicy mustard. I also really like them glazed.
#9 Avocados
This one is partially for my friend Lana. She loves avocados as much as I do. One of my favorite ways to enjoy these fruits is with a little salt and a spoon. But they make perfect, creamy, smooth, satisfying additions to salads, soups, sandwiches, cottage cheese and so much more…don’t even get me started on guacamole.
#10 CAKE!
Duh. It’s the in the title of my blog. To me, cake represents an indulgence – something I fully believe in. It is my tenth favorite food because I honestly love foods that make me feel fantastic – and cake doesn’t always do that. But it sure tastes good. I love chocolate cake the most, but I don’t discriminate. Coffee, spice, carrot, white, apple…you are all welcome. Yes, I want cake.
So there you have it. What are some of your favorite foods?
Perks
Posted: September 3, 2009 Filed under: Delish Dinners, Mid-Day Yummies | Tags: avocado, cookies, cottage cheese, roasted veggies 13 Comments »Everyone knows that teachers don’t make a ton of money. But there are some major perks to the job. This morning, I received this from a student’s mom who reads my blog:
That, my friends, is a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils.
How thoughtful, right? Jen, thank you so much for both your wonderful help in the classroom today and for your incredibly heartwarming gift! My bouquet sat on my desk all day and I smiled each time I looked at it.
I also got a little sweet teacher treat from another sweet girl in my class:
A blueberry scone! I ate this around 4pm. I derived incredible enjoyment out of each bite. I was praying that no one would walk in my classroom and see me with powdered sugar and crumbs all over my face/desk/lap.
But before the scone was lunchtime, and I came home this afternoon.
Looks simple and plain, right? Wrong.
This was so, so, so good that I am going to post it on my recipe page – despite how simple the ingredients are. I couldn’t stop saying “yummm, mmmm, yum” every time I took a bite. Meeker just stared at me with a “you- are-just- eating-cottage-cheese- settle down-look” on his face. But seriously, so dang. This will most definitely be a “go to” from now on.
Then, during the final minutes of my lunch break I tore into a delicious cookie and some cool, filling, refreshing milk.
With melty chocolate chips (it is so hot in our house that these cookies stay melty unless transferred to the freezer)
Ah, milk and cookies.
Because of my scone/cookie indulgences this afternoon, I decided on lots-o-veggies for din din.
I could subside on roasted veggies. No questions asked. I am absolutely positive about that.
You may be thinking, wow – a lot of veggies…planning on leftovers? Nope – we ate every single veg.
On these trays:
- 2 zucchini
- 2 small heads of broccoli
- 1 green bell pepper
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 small onion
- 2 tomatoes
- 2 carrots
- Drizzle of evoo
- Salt/pepper
- Cumin
I roasted the two trays for 30 minutes at 450* – rotating ½ way through. My goodness, they were phenomenal. I mean that. I can think of nothing that I love more than roasted vegetables. Try them, you will see.
I ate mine with some extra goodies:
½ grilled chicken breast, dollop of plain yogurt, wheatberries underneath.
I am so satisfied with my eating today. If I had the time/energy/funds/motivation – I would have this day of eating over and over again for the rest of my life.
Tomorrow is Friday! (Oh, my observation today was in my opinion, hilariously bad, however my observer said it went “really, really well” – I guess that is all that matters. Maybe she missed the two kids rolling around on the floor that knocked over the projector and bumped my laptop onto the floor, thereby erasing all the instructions that were being projected onto the board. But it was on video, so she will see it eventually. Until then, I am going to maintain that it went “really, really well” – her words).
No Cook Katie
Posted: August 13, 2009 Filed under: Delish Dinners, dessert, leftover lunches | Tags: avocado, carrots, corn, dessert, potatoes, salad 1 Comment »Because I have been unable to eat dinner the last few nights, and my in-laws had us over for dinner tonight, I feel like it has been forever since I have made a meal. I really miss it. It is such an organized, methodical process for me – just what I like to do after a long day.
I did, however, throw together a pretty fab salad for lunch:
romain lettuce, 2 shredded carrots, corn cut off the cob, 1/2 an avocado and 1/2 leftover buffalo burger
I was so rushed this morning that I didn’t pack a lunch, so I rushed (again) home at lunch to make this. It was well worth the panicky feeling that I get when I leave school during the day. I always think something is going to happen, or one of my kids is going to need me after I step out the door. Not so, today.
This kept me full until around 5ish – which is a really long time for my speedy metabolism. At 5:30, I came home, changed clothes, and then headed out the door to go to my in-laws for din din. They always have the best looking food spread when they have us over.
I started with one of these tasty little numbers:
This was so extremely good. It was bruschetta with goat cheese. Something in it was really spicy, but I couldn’t quite figure out what…the garlic that was rubbed on the bread I guess? Whatever it was, it was darn good.
Next, the spread.
I caught my father-in-law (Rob) picking…
and my plate…
(a fire pit in the background)
I had 2 kinds of salad, both wonderful. A little baby piece of pork that was perfect, and then these potatoes….holy cow. So delicious. The texture was amazing. A little crispy/chewy/salty on the outside, and then completely smooth and creamy on the inside. I usually don’t love potatoes, but I couldn’t stop eating these. I went back for seconds of the salad the the ‘taters.
Then I capped off dinner with a winner of a dessert:
Dip ‘n Dots! Generic style…I think these were really called Itzy Bitzies or something like that. This was the cookies and cream variety and I loved every dot. Overall, a very pleasant summer evening full of good food and good family.
…aaaand tomorrow is FRIDAY! Yipeee!
busy night
Posted: August 5, 2009 Filed under: Delish Dinners, leftover lunches | Tags: avocado, BBQ, Benihana, salad, school 1 Comment »I forgot (and was reminded today) how stinkin’ busy the first few weeks of the school year are. Whew. It is 10pm, and I am finally sitting down. I love my job, but it is a lot (a lot) of work.
For lunch, I had a remake (that wasn’t quite as good) of the salad from last night. There was one piece of leftover chicken, lettuce, 1/2 an avocado, a bit of red pepper and a dressing made of:
- 1/2 tbs. ranch dressing
- 1/2 tbs. spicy BBQ sauce
This looks really meager, and not very appetizing, but it was actually really good. It just made for an icky picture. On a side note, I am an enormous fan of preparing leftover lunches in the storage container from the night before. It saves me having to wash another dish.
Then I ate the other half of the avocado with some salt.
So creamy and delicious.
Then I ate some of these fabulously crunchy and satisfying veggie chips.
Meeker bought these for me, and I am so excited to have discovered them. They will be a repeat buy for sure!
For dinner, my fantastic in-laws took the family to Benihana for a fun, filling and delicious meal. I love the way the restaurant “compartmentalizes” the meal. They delay all the the parts of the meal perfectly so that I never feel like I need to eat to quickly, and I can easily recognize when I feel full. Good work, Benihana.
Here is a truly heinous picture of me and Meeker (he looks fine).
I told you it was a long, busy day.
Then I came home, read an article, and made this poster that I have to share with some of my “colleagues” tomorrow.
Elementary school is fun.
