Also, many of you asked why Meeker would suggest such a thing. When I asked him this morning, his simple answer was – it’s healthy.

So, here’s to healthy. These fruits and veggies…

turned into this glass of deliciousness.

Plus a apple cinnamon scone slathered in almond butter.

Leftover lunch.

Plus a little addition – cottage cheese + curry powder + chili powder + paprika

Then I worked on this vegan recipe all afternoon…

…and emerged with a successful hunk of bread to accompany my simply (vegan) dinner that Meeker said (with surprise in his voice) – was really good.

Boiled red potatoes with sautéed onions, garlic, squash and zucchini.

Seasoned with salt, garlic powered, lemon pepper, and balsamic vinegar.

I have nothing against eating meat (except that I don’t really like it) – but I’ll say this, so far, being a vegetarian home is simply delicious.

Breakfast

I refueled after my workout with a green monster:

• 1 frozen banana
• 1 cup coconut milk (I use the So Delicious brand)
• ½ cup water
• 1 scoop chocolate protein powder
• 2 handfuls of spinach
• 10ish ice cubes

Lunch

The dinner that I made last night, but didn’t eat. Leftovers are nice.

Also, yesterday I told a co-worker that I had never had a mandarin orange before – so she brought me two today!

Looks like a cutie…

…and tasted pretty much like a cutie, but with a bit more tang. I loved it.

I also packed (and ate) a bowl of grape nuts with coconut milk for a snack later in the afternoon. Can’t get enough grape nuts lately.

Dinner

I based dinner on a recipe from my Colorado Classique cookbook – and was pleasantly surprised. I usually don’t like pasta dishes, but this one had enough veggies to make it yummy.

I changed it a little based on supplies we had on hand, but basically it was ww pasta tossed with sautéed chicken, a bag of spinach, cherry tomatoes, pine nuts, and cider vinegar. Yum city.

And now, if you’ll excuse me – I’m off to eat some ice cream. Meeker just found this coupon in the mail and insisted that we go. If I have to…

In the 3^rd grade world…

Yesterday, I noticed a little girl getting frustrated with the boy she sat next to. I think he has a crush on her, and he’s constantly bugging/teasing her. So – I moved the desks. Today, I got this email from the little girl:

dear mrs.unger
thank you for moving me! that means so much to me!
love kennedy
p.s. i have a surprise for you!
I didn’t change anything, it was written in that size font. Hilariously adorable.

(Also, I got a little insight as to what purple jinx is – but the whole concept is still a little confusing. I’ve got to do some more research before I can explain it to you all adequately.)

Then I came home for some re-fueling.

Breakfast

In the form of a green monster. Same old combo: 1 cup coconut milk, ½ banana, 1 scoop protein powder, 12 ice cubes, 3 handfuls of spinach

Plus of piece of toast and raspberry preserves.

Lunch was leftover sweet potatoes and kale.

Dinner

Protein packed spaghetti squash!

I took a page from Mama Pea’s book and made some mac and cheese. But instead of “mac” – I used the squash.

A little soupy, but so delicious.

To make it, I cut the spaghetti squash in half, scooped out the seeds, popped it facedown in a baking dish filled with about 1 inch of water, and baked for 35 minutes at 450*.

Then I blended ½ block silken tofu, dry mustard, salt and pepper. When the squash was done, I scooped it out and mixed the innards with the tofu + some cheese. I microwaved it (to melt the cheese) for 1 minute, and voila!

In the 3^rd grade world…

A little girl in my class was petting my stomach today (it’s an hourly thing ), when she looked up at me and asked:

Mrs. Unger, if you want to have a baby, how do you make it happen?

After a brief pause, I responded:

That’s an excellent question for your mom.

At that point, another little girl in my class blurted out…

Oh yeah…I’ve seen THAT video. It’s really scary.

I don’t know what “video” she was referring to – but I quickly dodged a whole slew of questions by changing the subject to grammar.

Breakfast

ww toast. One with almond butter, one with my latest obsession.

Mmm, lick.

Lunch was leftover burrito bowl.

Dinner

Any guesses?

sweet potato + roasted peppers + kale all drizzled in cashew sauce

I got the idea from the Engine 2 website. They have good stuff. Meeker said that the cashew sauce tasted like gravy, and then he slapped a big fat buffalo steak on top of all these beautiful colors.

In the 3^rd grade world…

My kiddos know I like apples.

They also know how to suck-up.

Breakfast

1 cup coconut milk, 2 handfuls spinach, 1 scoop protein powder, 2 cups ice, ½ cup water, 1 banana

Mmm, lick.

Lunch

Leftover orzo/veggies on top of a bed of spinach

Dinner

I received a sample of Rice Select products to review this weekend, and decided to start with this guy tonight…

I cooked a cup, and then turned it into a veggie burrito bowl.

Brown Texmati Rice, black beans, roasted carrots, zucchini, and kabocha squash, guacamole, and salsa

So dang delicious. Loved the rice. Loved the veggies. Loved having an appetite at dinnertime.

In the 3^rd grade world…

We are gearing up to start the second round of standardized testing (CSAPs) at our school. It will last 3 weeks, and it’s a big push for everyone in the building. We try to get the kiddos jazzed about the tests (a difficult task), so last year the teachers wrote and recorded this song and sang it to the students at an assembly.

The loved it. Hope you do too.

First, I started off this Tuesday with a tough workout. Before I left for the gym at 5:00, I prepped my breakfast.

I threw together ½ cup oats, 1 cup milk, ½ pear, ½ cup frozen blueberries, cinnamon, and vanilla stevia. It all sat for about an hour and a half in the fridge before I ate it up – so delicious.

When I got to school, I had some of Teri’s Tea

hot water, lemon, and freshly grated ginger

Lunch

Leftover risotto with artichoke, edamame, and peas

Plus some chocolate milk on my incredibly cluttered desk.

I love this stuff – I want to buy these little milk boxes by the thousands.

Later in the afternoon…

An apple – times two.

Dinner

It’s Taco Tuesday! (Every week when I’m planning the weekly meals, I ask Meeker what he wants and the only thing he’s ever requested is tacos on Tuesday.) I made a bowl with rice, celery, ground turkey, tortilla chips, salsa and guac.

The ground turkey wasn’t really striking my fancy, so I ate around it, and gave the rest to Punky. And so between the two of us, we licked the platter clean…

In the 3^rd grade world…

I asked one of my students this morning why she didn’t do her homework and she replied:

I didn’t really have time to do my homework last night because I was coloring and I forgot that I had homework.

Here’s to honesty.

(Also, the girl who had #3 yesterday was absent today – I guess she was telling the truth.)

I had planned to just spoon the yummy, sand-like treat into my mouth, but when I passed the fridge on the way to the kitchen table, I thought…almond milk! So I poured it on, and the sand cereal was born. It was everything I wanted it to be and more.

Lunch

leftover stir-fry with some edamame thrown in for extra bulk

When I got home from school, I was famished (like I am every.single.day.) so I noshed on some carrots/celery/hummus while standing in the kitchen. I can’t ever muster up the energy for a photo at that point because my hunger is unbelievable when I walk in the door. I might as well eat dinner right then. But I didn’t…I snacked, mowed the lawn, worked in the garden, did some school work and then finally had some din-din.

Dinner

1 egg + 2 egg whites, broccoli, spinach, salsa (on the bottom), salt, garlic powder

I just sautéed the veggies, then poured the eggs on top. After the mix had set, I threw it in the oven at 425* for about 5 minutes – give or take. Just about the easiest dinner I know. Aside from a bowl of sand cereal…

In the 3^rd grade world…

I loved your “bathroom accident stories” so much from yesterday’s post! I wanted to travel back in time and hug the little yous! Take solace in the fact that you aren’t alone…I also had a peeing accident when I was in first grade. Sitting in my chair. In the front row. It remains the most embarrassing moment of my life.

Today, I just wanted to share some love:

My first drawing of the year.

So this morning, I started off with some water and a snack before we hit the gym.

Usually this is my favorite snack on earth, but I just wasn’t feeling it this morning. I ate the dried apples, and left the walnuts. At the gym, Meeker put me through a fun strength workout which involved me balancing on a lot of exercise and bosu balls. I looked like a bowl of jello for most of the hour as I tried to maintain my balance. I’m just glad it was early morning and there weren’t many people around to stare at me. I left with a tired body – which is the point, I suppose.

I came home and was craving one thing – a smoothie. However, we had not one piece of fruit in the house, so I improvised.

Carrot, blueberry POM, and ginger slushie.

I’ll be the first to admit that this was weird. I blended one carrot, about a ¼ inch of grated ginger, and ¼ cup POM juice, then poured it into my slushie maker. It was alright…not great, but alright. After this I went to the grocery store to remedy the no fruit situation.

Lunch
looked like this:

Last night’s leftovers + cherries

These cherries were so good…I had a few more handfuls throughout the afternoon.

Dinner looked like this:

Grilled green beans and corn + chicken meatballs

I made a soy sauce glaze to put on the meatballs and green beans by pouring soy sauce + mustard into the empty meatball pan and simmering it for a few minutes. It was a little salty for my liking, but it deglazed the pan nicely – which meant less pan-scrubbing after dinner.

Corn was 5 ears/$1 at the grocery store this week, so prepare to see a lot of this…

I just throw it on a hot grill…no oil, no salt, just corn. Mmm, lick.

And with that, I’m off to enjoy some dessert. Happy Tuesday, all.

Before I left, I had a homemade energy bar.

When I came home, I had leftover falafel salad.

Lettuce, corn, carrots, celery, falafel, mustard + red wine vinegar dressing

I was still hungry after this beast, so I mixed up some trail mix. Love.

Walnuts, carob chips, almonds, dried cranberries

Throughout the afternoon I had milk, watermelon, about a gallon of water and some more almonds. Like I said, spinning left me with a monster appetite. When Meeker got home, I made him a broccoli + spinach + mushroom quiche…he devoured the the.whole.thing.

Crust made out of crunched cheerios and almond meal + sautéed onions, spinach, broccoli, and mushrooms

3 eggs + ¼ cup cottage cheese poured over and then baked for 10 minutes at 425* – I can’t attest to its success because I didn’t have any, but like I said, Meeker ate it all – which means it was probably edible. No guarantees, though. That boy will eat whatever I set in front of him.

For my din din, I wanted another salad. It was too hot for anything else…plus you all got me thinking with your taco salad toppings from last night.

Spinach, ground turkey, tortilla chips, avocado, kidney beans, salsa

And I finished off the night with a few bites of this….

This stuff has the best texture…it’s kind of chewy, which sounds weird, but is really heavenly.

Whee! Tomorrow is the best day of the week, and I’m off to watch So You Think You Can Dance. I definitely don’t think I can dance, but I like watching that show and pretending.

1. Green Purple Monster

Banana, blueberries, spinach, protein powder, almond milk, peanut butter, chia seeds, 2 clementines, water

2. Leftovers for lunch

Baked tofu and broccoli slaw

3. Snacks that involve peanut butter and coconut

½ cup plain yogurt, 1 spoonful peanut butter, coconut granola

4. Exercise. I started to take Punky for a walk, but it felt so dang good to be alive and outside that I ended up         running sprints on a nearby field in the dark. It felt phenomenal. It was snowy and blowy, which leads me to #5

5. This hat

6. Roasted Veggie Dinner. This one wins as THE favorite. Hands down.

Sweet potatoes, zucchini, red onion, eggplant. Topped with a yogurt/spicy mustard/bbq sauce mix and walnuts and pepitas.

7. Cookies. I haven’t had one yet, but I’m sure it will make the list in about 5 minutes.

I made these cookies last night, but substituted the chocolate chips for chopped up chocolate truffles.

8. Straight from the 3^rd grade world…puzzles!

The teamwork with which my kiddos have been working on this puzzle all week makes my heart smile.