The lettuce is growing out of control.

Which means I can’t stop making salads. Even if I wanted to.

Today’s salad was born because of an impulse purchase I made at the grocery store…

Without a doubt, the best veggie burgers I’ve ever had. They taste like fried eggrolls, and the list of ingredients is short. Also…no beans. Which makes my belly happy. And my family happy. If you get my drift.

I’ve embarrassed myself, back to the salad.

Ingredients:

• Lettuce
  
• 1 cup grapes, sliced in half
  
• Veggie burger, cooked
  
• Feta cheese
  

Dressing

• 2 T red wine vinegar
  
• 2 T olive oil
  
• 1 T Dijon mustard
  
• 1 t lemon pepper seasoning
  
• sweetener (I used ½ packet of stevia, but I think honey would be really tasty. I was just out of honey.)
  

Yup, too much lettuce is a good problem to have.

But that was not the case today.

Every part of this bowl was delicious. Starting with the crunchy, sweet grapes paired with the smoky gouda cheese – holy yum. Then I dipped the Dr. Krackers in the hummus (thanks Beth!) – goodness, it was so delicious. And it filled me up perfectly.

I have a feeling that this lunch will be making a repeat appearance.

What’s your favorite thing to eat for lunch?

Breakfast

The oatmeal: ½ cup oats, ½ cup soy milk, ½ cup water, pinch of salt, 2 tbs. pumpkin, 1 tbs. chia seeds, ½ packet of stevia

The toppings: sprinkle of cinnamon, pumpkin molasses cookie, dollop of whip cream

Lunch

Meeker’s aunt brought us some of her “carcass stew” – which is soup made from leftover thanksgiving turkey and lots of vegetables. I had 2 bowls for lunch. Yum, yum.

Snack

My favorite way to eat a pomegranate is standing over the sink, biting into the seeds, juice dripping all over my face/sink/hands

Dinner

A little football-watching-picnic: grapes, smoked gouda cheese, kale chips

To make the kale chips, I rubbed 1 bunch of kale with olive oil, then sprinkled (generously) with salt and garlic powder, and baked in a 450* oven for about 10 minutes. I have been craving potato chips, and this was a nice green substitute that hit the spot.

Now it’s off to bed to rest up before the week. I hope you all have spectacular Mondays!

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.

Breakfast was so leisurely, it felt indulgent. Good thing I’m still on vacation.

I used my new stovetop espresso maker to create a semi-latte.

And what I mean by semi-latte is that I don’t have a milk frother – so I drank my espresso with hot milk.

I got this adorable mug as a Christmas gift from a friend last night (thanks Lib!) She also gave me some special extra-strength cinnamon! She knows me well…

And that’s Regis and Kelly in the background. I drank my milk/espresso/cinnamon, watched TV and eventually got hungry enough to whip up some oats.

I started with ½ cup of oats in ½ cup water, ½ cup milk – and cooked them on the stovetop until almost finished, then I added a spoonful of brie cheese to bump up the creamy factor.

When they finished, I topped with a dollop of delectable fig spread and more cinnamon…

So dang.

After laying around and reading blogs, I ran some errands, and then came home for a chilly, but glorious run.

That shirt I am wearing was a birthday present I received last night…thanks Andrea! I think I ran about 5 miles, I didn’t time myself and I loved every second of it. I came home feeling hungry and energized.

I refueled with some Chicken Chili and giant grapes.

Mmm, mmm better than Campbell’s

Because of the snow, it’s been a while since I’ve had a good run- and I forgot that it turns me into a major snackface. I’ve just been munching on things all afternoon – all unpictured, lo seinto. Think veggies and hummus, more grapes, dark chocolate and banana/sunbutter. The best kind of day.

Who knows what’s in store for dinner, more snacking I suspect.

I hope you all are staying warm and enjoying this Tuesday as much as I am!

Here are my girls…

(I’m the one in the white/blue stripes on the left)

I have known these girls my whole life – they’re like family. It was so good to see them all. After a fair amount of hugs, laughter, and dinner, we went crazy with frosting and sprinkles.

5 dozen blank slates…

I made basic sugar cookies, and then made frosting using powdered sugar and milk (and food coloring!)

Such colorful creativity.

There was also some fantastic snacking (not all on cookies).

The best friend stopped at Whole Foods on the way up to my house, and got some delicious cheese selections, crackers, grapes and fig spread – and she’s so nice, she left all the uneaten yummies with me! (Something about grapes and cheese being difficult to carry on a plane back to LA). We also ate tons of veggies and hummus…snacky wonderfulness.

And…

Thank you to Kelly for the award! I have a really tough time coming up with new things about me, but here goes…

1. I DVR Rachel Ray’s talk show, and watch it almost every day while I make dinner.
2. I have a completely distorted personal clock….since I was 18, I’ve felt that my time to start a family is running out. The clock is ticking and YES, I know I’m crazy.
3. I have always claimed to hate bananas, but recently…I’ve been loving them – like 2 a day. Grown up taste buds?
4. I don’t really like any form of protein – except nut butter.
5. While I have 3 pets, and love them all – I’m not a big animal person.
6. My dad used to pay me $100 a year to not watch TV when I was in elementary school. That is so much
   money when you are 8 years old – and so totally worth it.
7. I want to move to Arizona. Mostly because it’s warm there.

So there you go, 7 things you might not have known about your local cake lover.

I’m passing this award on to:

KT @ The Sneaker Teacher

Naomi @ One Fit Foodie

Jessica @ How Sweet It Is

Joelle @ The Pancake Girl

Cait @ Cait’s Plate

…there are others, of course, but it’s dangerously late for this 25 year old grandma (like 1:02am) and I can’t think straight.

Happy Tuesday! I wish you were ALL here to help me polish off my gazillion sugar cookies!

I woke up early enough, but then got sidetracked reading blogs, and was subsequently rushing to get ready for church. As a result, breakfast was quick.

Coffee and this smoothie (I’m still living off post-race swag) which I drank half of last night, and half of this morning. Before drinking it, I put it in the blender, dropped in a kiwi and a bit more water, and blended it. The kiwi added good tartness that I so desire when it comes to fruit. So dang.

Then I ate this in the car.

A pita with roasted red pepper hummus. It was a little dry, but got me through the morning to lunch.

My grandma, aunt, uncle, cousin, mom and dad met Meeker and I for lunch at mi restaurante favorito…Sweet Tomatoes. This is an all-you-can-eat salad/soup/dessert bar and it is the ultimate test of my will-power because everything is so darn delicious that I have to practice self-restraint from the second I walk in the door.

I started with a big, fat salad. Full of all the good stuff…

Lettuce, zucchini, carrots, garbanzo beans, beets, cucumbers, corn, broccoli, raisins, sunflower seeds, olives, red cabbage.

Too good. Too, too good.

Then it was on to dessert…it was extremely difficult to pick only these 3 treats. As much as I give lovies to salad, trust me when I tell you I could have skipped the greens and eaten a mountain of desserts for lunch.

A baby cinnamon roll, one spoonful of chocolate mousse and the best crispy, tart, crunchy grapes ever.

That cinnamon roll is really a biscuit, with cinnamon chips and frosting. Again, so dang.

I may have picked at my grandma’s dessert plate, too. Here is a picture of my cute mom and Nonnie…

Oh, they make me smile.

Miraculously, I was hungry a few hours after returning home. A yogurt mess was on the menu.

• Plain yogurt
• ½ pear
• 1 crumbled Hermit
• A few cinnamon Quaker oat squares
• And…….

½ of this guy…cinnamon + peanut butter = pure love.

Now I’m off to do the snow dance…

Yeah, even teachers pray for snow days…and they do it after a week long hiatus from work.

Lunch was phenom. A standard for me. Salad and some grapes.

The salad: lettuce, corn cut off the cob, shredded carrot, Boca burger, balsamic vinegar.

Both the grapes and the salad were awesome. I love this meal.

Then I had a little oatmeal cookie to satisfy.

What’s with the purple pointer finger, you ask?

We made “thumbprint characters” to feature in our stories during writing today. I obviously modeled it and used the purple marker to make a thumbprint. My character’s name was “Allen the Alien” – the kiddos loved it.

I also had another cookie at around 4:00. When I got home around 6:00 I was too hungry, so I had a half slice of bread before heading to the track for speedwork. I did a 20 min warm up jog, 6x400s and a 10 min cool down jog. I felt pretty good – not fantastic, but pretty good.

When I got home, I was excited to find this in the kitchen:

Eggplant salting over the sink to take out the bitterness.

Meeker had done this for me so I could jump into cooking it when I returned. I used Heather’s inspiration to make an easy baked dish using the above eggy plants. (Sidenote, I LOVE cooking after a long day – it seems to just wash all the tiredness and stress away: something about the order and predictability of combining foods)

Then I layered up some sauce, eggplant, cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese (only about ¼ cup) and part-skim ricotta cheesy cheese. Ricotta is my fave kind of cheese. I licked the empty container.

Then added a lot of garlic powder and some Italian seasoning (basil, oregano, parsley).

The finished product:

Looks good, right? Well, I wouldn’t know. I can never eat after I run, (especially when it is hot, like this evening) and I went into making this meal fully knowing that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy it, but leftovers are my favorite thing about dinner anyway. I will have it tomorrow!

Here is Meeker’s serving (round 1):

And then for round 2, he put it in a PITA – how creative?! I would never have thought of that.

He said it was good. I will let you know what I think tomorrow.

As if my eats today weren’t good eats enough, the first season of Everwood has finished downloading and I plan to watch my first eppie (episode) tonight! (It better be good, Cait, I am holding you personally responsible for my enjoyment of this new show Totally kidding.)

• About a cup of plain yogurt
• 1 handful (about 5) grapes – cut in half
• 1 scoop chocolate protein powder
• 2 tbs. Nature’s Path pumpkin flax plus granola

Oh it was soooo good. The perfect combination of textures – creamy, crunchy, juicy…yes! It kept me full all morning, too!

Lunch was un-photographed because there was no time. It was a boring sandwich and some more yummy/ juicy grapes.

I also licked the frosting off of a chocolate birthday cupcake. I threw away the cake.

I missed my husband so I came home while my kids were at PE (I live 3 minutes from my school) and had another yummy treat!

Iced coffee cubes and milk!

I like to freeze my leftover coffee into ice cube trays, and then combine them with some good ole’ milk, a little sugar and a sprinkle of cinnamon. It is so delicious.

This held me over until 7pm! (Or it could have been the sandwich and the frosting )

At the end of the day, a certain kiddo asked me to edit a story he had written. We are working on having very set characters in our story, rather than just rambling on about random things. Before I read it, I asked him “Who are your characters” and he said Salt and Pepper and Ginger.
I though…Okay, probably pets. But when I read it – I realized he had actually written a story about salt, pepper, and ginger – the spices! Hhaha! Who would have thought an eight your old boy would know what ginger is?! Much less write a story about it as a character. Kids = the best.

I came home, took Punky for another long and tiring bike ride and then dug into something so lovely and simple and satisfying:

The carrots and cucumbers are self explanatory, but the blobs are (1) roasted red pepper yummy hummus and (2) a sour cream dip Meeker made.

This is just what I wanted! I enjoyed every bite. Next I HAD to have some more of this granola that EVERY blogger I follow has been raving about. I had about 3/4 cup.

It lives up to all the hype. It is hands down the best granola you can buy. Homemade is obviously the best – but this is fantastic for a store bought thing.

And I rounded out my dinner with some old school heel-of-bread-broiler-toast with butter.

Ain’t nothing wrong with toast.