Growing little Baby Cakes is taking a lot of energy, and week particularly drained me. So my parents’ house was the perfect place to relax and be waited on hand and foot. I got there around 7pm last night, and my Daddy had cooked up a spectacular dinner.

Roasted veggies on top of rice with fruit salad on the side

I slept for a good 10 hours, and then dragged myself out of bed to eat more (I feel a little like a hibernating bear). While I was waking-up/sitting on the couch chatting with my mom – my dad brought us a little grapefruit appetizer to start with.

Then he came out with the full breakfast about twenty minutes later…

Blackberry pancakes and scrambled eggies.

I think I might have to make this a regular weekend getaway.

Okay, food.

Breakfast today was a spur of the moment decision.

2 scrambled eggs + spinach with a cinnamon/raisin English muffin on the side

I had a special Monday because my parents both had the day off (Columbus Day) – so they came up to help out in my classroom! It was so fun to have them hang out with me and my kids all day, and there were so good with my students. And my kiddos were so good for them. I loved every minute of it. At lunchtime, we went to Sprouts for soup and sandwiches.

Mustard, sprouts, cucumber, red and green peppers, avocado

Barley soup

I had a monstrous apple later in the afternoon…

This guy was so fat that he was busting out of his sweater

I came home, went for a nice crisp walk, then made dinner in 5 minutes flat.

Tortilla, rice (cooked last night with some water + salsa), daiya, kidney beans (pureed in my blender), lettuce

In the 3^rd grade world…

Well, having my parents in my classroom was pretty much the highlight of my day week, but it was also really fun to see the kid’s reactions to them. They couldn’t believe that I had parents! They kept asking…

Wait, these are YOUR parents?

It was adorably naïve – kind of like when my student’s ask where I sleep in the classroom at night.

I had this banana, peanut butter and cinnamon before heading out the door.

It was only a 5k, so nothing serious. We had SUCH a good time together – we jogged and chatted the whole way. There was nothing competitive about it, and I enjoyed it immensely.

Meeker and a few of his work buddies. He is in the blue on the bottom left. His boss is sitting next to him trying to steal pancakes/sausage from another employee. It was a fun morning.

We hung out at the park for a while, then came home for brunch.

Roasted potatoes and green beans with 2 eggs on top.

Coffee in my Don’t Mess with Texas mug.

I brought this along as I ran errands this afternoon (grocery store and post office…it’s so hard to get that kind of thing done now that I’m back at school!). And despite the coffee, when I got home I crashed. I took a 2 hour nap that was glorious. I woke up starving, and zombied into the kitchen to make a green monster.

¼ cup frozen blueberries, ½ frozen banana, 1 cup frozen spinach, ½ cup vanilla soy milk, 2 cups water, 1 scoop protein powder

So yummy. The trick to using frozen spinach is to blend it FOREVER. I’m talking 3 full minutes in the blender on high speed. Otherwise you end up with slimy chunks of spinach at the bottom of your smoothie, and that’s not fun for anyone. I chugged this before going to church (which was fantastic), and now we are home again, relaxing on the couch. Meeker just made steak, but I’m not really feeling it – I think I’ll hold off on dinner until I’m really hankering for something specific.

Hope you all had fun Saturdays as well – enjoy the rest of your weekend!

I started out this day with ½ a mini watermelon and some blackberries.

Coffee on the side. A beautiful breakfast. About an hour later, Punky and I went for a run. We are so lucky to live in a community where leashes/dogs don’t necessarily have to go hand-in-hand. It’s so much fun to run with the doggie off her leash. She gets better exercise, and I don’t have to hold anything in my hands. Win, win.

All tuckered out.

After working in the garden for a bit, I decided it was time for another breakfast.

It’s been SO long since I’ve had eggs! These were runny and yummy. I had some mushrooms and salsa on the side for a little flavor flave. Now I’m off to the grocery store – happy Monday!

What’s your favorite season and why?
I think I’ve made it pretty clear that I love summer with all my heart.

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
  

1. Put the almonds and water in the food processor and blend until smooth
2. 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!

1 egg + 2 egg whites with edamame, peas, hot sauce

I snacked on a crispy gala mid-morning. (Very Cait inspired!)

At lunch, I had leftovers, as always.

Sweet potato soup, plus some turkey pepperoni, carrots + hummus

Snacktime

Lemon Bumble Bar. I was a little wary of the lemon flavor because I usually steer clear of fruity bars (I had a bad experience…) – but this was GOOD! Very subtle. Not my favorite, but I still liked it. These bars have yet to disappoint.

I did some moving after work just to rev-up my energy. I ran up and down my stairs 40 times and did some push-ups and sit-ups. I was tired and sweaty afterwards…no gym needed! I would rather have gone for a run, but the weather was a little iffy (more on that later…).

Dinner

Black beans and quinoa with corn and cilantro. Topped with tomatoes. Deeelish.

In the 3^rd grade world…

We had a tornado today. Well, we had funnel clouds today and our town issued a “tornado warning”.

Elementary school translation: over 500 kids in the hallway on their knees and elbows, covering their heads while crying and hyperventilating. The mob mentality created complete pandemonium. We had to keep the kids like that for 15 -20 minutes while the storm passed. When the “tornado” had passed and the kids were safely back in the classroom (drying their tears and ogling at the 3 inches of hail on the ground), I played Here Comes the Sun and let the kiddos “free write” about the experience in an attempt to restore some peace and order for the last hour of school.

Speaking of breakfast, I really love having multiple. I get up early, and usually work out in the AM, and I’m always most ravenous in la mañana, so I think it’s an okay thing. Correction, I think it’s a fabulous thing.

Breakfast #1

Coffee and one of the Vegan Energy Bars that I made yesterday. After an hour walk, and some house cleaning, I was ready for Breakfast #2.

Tofu, 2 eggs, roasted red cabbage and peas

Then it was off to church for the rest of the morning. Surprisingly, I was famished when we returned home, and I was craving more of that roasted red cabbage.

Cabbage, avocado, shredded carrot, salsa, olives

I went for another walk after lunch while on the phone with my best friend. Then I meal planned for the week, and ate some dinner so as to avoid going to the grocery store on an empty stomach.

½ sweet potato, ¼ cup refried beans, garlic powder, chili powder

Yum, yum, yum.

Okay, switching gears a bit, I wanted to tell you guys about something cool that my school district is doing.

Mrs. Unger, what’s that black thing on your shoe?

Well, that black thing on my shoe is called a Ped. My school district is having a contest see which school is the healthiest. While I think that is a relatively vague term, I’m all for the concept. All teachers who want to participate are given a ped to wear on his or her shoe that counts all the steps that are taken in a day. Each time we walk by a computer in our school’s office, our data is exported to a website where we can track out movement for the day. The website also encourages us to try new exercises, provides fun food challenges, and graphs trends in our “healthy” behavior. The district encourages us to walk at least 5,000 steps a day, but as a teacher – that’s a cinch. I have usually walked 5,000 by 3 o’clock. Therefore, I have made it my personal goal to walk at least 10,000 steps a day. Sometimes I am way over (my long run days), but generally, 10,000 is a challenge. If I take an extra walk at lunchtime, or after dinner (in combination with my daily workouts) – I usually hit that number. I just wanted to let you guys know because I think it’s a really cool thing that our school district is doing to promote exercise. The kids also think it’s really exciting…they encourage me to walk around the classroom and play hopscotch with them at recess so I can get more steps (their words). Pretty cool, right?

Alrighty, time to prepare for another week…30 days left!!

Egg whites, spinach, salsa

Hot water and banana bread

Lunch(s)

Baby Carrots and hummus

Leftover pasta

Cabbage/broccoli slaw

Snack(s)

Dinner (just one, so far)

Yogurt Mess – plain yogurt, applesauce, walnuts, an Oatie, cinnamon squares, almond butter

I woke up with no patience today – and my students pushed me beyond my limits. Teaching 8 year olds to be kind and compassionate to each other is a tough job – especially when one goes to work feeling neither kind nor compassionate. I’m a good faker – but I came home drained. After a long phone conversation with my Daddy and a prayerful 30 minutes in a hot bath, I flushed 4 lbs. of ice down the toilet in hopes of a snow day tomorrow.

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 3^rd 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.

Breakfast: tortilla with a hardboiled egg, hummus and salsa

Then a bite of a chocolate truffle…mmm dark chocolate with coffee.

Lunch: Amy’s Tomato Bisque with a faux grilled cheese

To make this “grilled” cheese – I took one slice of bread, toasted it, put cheese on one side, folded it in half and stuck it in the microwave for about 30 seconds.

I was still hungry afterwards, so I dug into my emergency sunbutter that is always stashed in my desk.

This filled me up temporarily, but then a couple of hours later – I was hungry again (but out of food), so I resorted to a mid-afternoon a cup of coffee to squelch the hunger pangs.

Dinner: Tuna Melt Nachos

Instead of Stacy’s pita chips, I went with the cheaper Pita Bites

A lot lighter than and not quite as crispy as Stacy’s…I liked ‘um.

“Dessert”: Celery + Carrots + Hummus

***

If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you’ve probably heard me rave about my favorite grocery store – Sprouts. Well, I did my grocery shopping there on Sunday, but managed to get home without a bag of produce. I was crushed when I realized it this morning as I was searching for the tangelos I thought I had bought two days ago. I then realized that a few more things were missing (bananas and onions). I must have just left the bag sitting at check-out.

So, this evening after school, I went to Sprouts to ask if I could maybe
have the groceries that I had already paid for at no extra cost for my forgetfulness. As I hesitantly made my way into the store…the check out lady expertly read the situation (me standing apprehensively with a receipt in hand) – and immediately handed me a bag, and told me to get the groceries…no questions asked! She didn’t even bother checking my receipt. (Although, she could have. I really did pay for them on Sunday)

Sprouts, you and your stellar customer service made my day.