Workout

Breakfast

1 cup coconut milk, 2 handfuls spinach, 1 scoop protein powder, 12 ice cubes, 1 banana

Lunch – (I got to come home!)

plain 2% Fage yogurt, 1 kiwi, 2 strawberries, chopped almonds, puffed millet

I try not to eat too much dairy because my belly doesn’t love it, but a yogurt mess was just calling out to me. This one was delicious and my belly was just fine. Hooray, hooray!

Dinner – very veggiful

Roasted asparagus, ½ baked portabello mushroom, a big pile of glazed carrots

Dessert

Hot chocolate – made with coconut milk, cocoa powder, cinnamon – and some more frothed milk on top.

Poured into a new mug that my daddy gave me for Valentine’s Day…

Yup, that’s me circa 1990, intensely petting a horse named Popcorn.

Breakfast was the exact same thing as yesterday. I promise, this isn’t a repeat picture.

Plain yogurt, ½ banana, pom arils, museli, peanut butter

Lunch was a Thanksgiving feast, made for the teachers by the parents at my school!

Salad, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and sweet potato pie

Later in the afternoon, a co-worker brought me a decaf latte from Starbucks. (Thank you so much Mandy…you made my afternoon!)

For dinner, I just snacked. I’m actually too tired to eat, so I think I may go to bed soon (at 7pm). But before that…

Happy 6^th birthday to my niece Ellie Ree!

She’s a peach.

And in the 3^rd grade world…

I turned my classroom into a theater today.

We’ve been working hard for the last month to prepare for 3 thanksgiving themed plays. Today, we invited the parents in and performed:

Christopher’s Dream (a play about Christopher Columbus’ journey to America)

The Pilgrim’s First Year

Sacajawea

The whole ordeal was hilarious. My kids were so excited and everything was a mess, but very cute. And (I think) the parents got a kick out of my incompetence as a theater director. There were over 50 people in my classroom, a lot of props, and even more laughing. It was fun/busy afternoon, and tomorrow I’ll do it all over again with another group of kiddos and another set of parents! Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Okay, on to eating today. Breakfast.

Plain yogurt, ½ banana, pomegranate arils, muesli, peanut butter

Leftover Lunch.

spanakopita

Another green apple in a pink sweater

½ cup cottage cheese

And for dinner, I’m about to go out to The Saucy Noodle with some friends – but I’m currently making Meeker a big skillet of sausages with potatoes and hot peppers so he doesn’t starve when he gets home from work. I like being a wifey.

In the baby world…

My mother-in-law dropped off a bag of baby goodies for us today (as well as some stylish maternity outfits for me!)…they are too adorable. I can’t believe that we’re going to have a Baby Cake small enough to fit into these adorable little things in 6 months.

The end of a coconut yogurt container with stuff mixed in.

The stuff: ½ banana, crumbled raw carrot cake, crunchy flax cereal, cashew butter

It was sweet, but not exactly what I wanted. I’m not overly impressed with the coconut yogurt – it’s a little watery for my taste. Live and learn.

Lunch was pretty standard:

Sweet tater with hummus

Veggie bowl with hummus + water for dressing (I just keep the hummus tub in the fridge at work – that’s the reason it’s usually incorporated into every aspect of my meal)

With the classroom backdrop.

Meeker was home before 8:30pm for the first time in weeks! We usually don’t eat dinner together (there’s no way I can eat that late…8:30 might as well be bedtime). So we had fun tonight making pizzas together.

I made his crust using the easiestpizzadoughrecipeintheworld, but had this little guy from the freezer to appease my weakling of a stomach…

Potatoes, zucchini, red onion, tomato sauce, nutritional yeast

The toppings were great, but the crust was okay, not stellar. More like a floppy tortilla. For the second time today, I wasn’t overly impressed.

However dessert was impressively simple. I can’t remember where I saw this (if it was you, speak up!!).

I wrapped a couple of dates in peanut butter and plastic wrap and stashed them in the freezer while I did the dishes (about 10 – 15 minutes). Then got a little cold-peanut-butter-wearing-date-nugget.

Such a good little dessert!

In the 3^rd grade world…

These were given to me by a co-worker who knows I am cold 99.999% of my life (Thanks Julie!). I kick my shoes off and wear these anytime I’m sitting at my desk – usually when my kids are at specials.

But today was freezing, and I was shuffling around my classroom in these stylish slippers (the kids LOVE them), when an adult walked in. It was embarrassing. I’m sure she wasn’t overly impressed with my professional attire.

My breakfast was disgusting – so I’m not even dignifying it with a picture. For some reason, my sleepy tastebuds thought it would be a good idea to put eggs and salsa on top of a pancake. Yeah, what was I thinking? It was gross – as I’m sure anyone of you could have told me it would be. I had to eat a square of dark chocolate afterwards just to erase the taste.

However, I had breakfast redemption when I got to school and remembered a mom had sent in some walnut banana bread yesterday. So glad I saved it for this morning.

Absolutely delicious. Thank you Tona!

Then at lunchtime, I realized that I really hadn’t been thinking this morning. Here is what I packed for lunch:

Carrots (x5) +salsa

ww pita with peanut butter, cinnamon and cayenne pepper

Really? I thought this was going to keep me full for the 11 hours I’m at work??

It didn’t even keep me full until noon. So, when my kids went to music at 1:30, I went to the grocery store and picked up some goodies for my rumbly tummy.

Fantastic trail mix – cashews, almonds walnuts, raisins, pistachios – on sale at Sprouts! Plus, a kombucha – also on sale!

I had only tried this drink before – and I actually really liked it – very vinegar-like and tangy. This plus the trial mix kept me full right through dinnertime.

Dinner was anti-climatic, but yummy nonetheless. I was so stinkin’ tired when I got home, all I could muster up was a yogurt mess.

• Plain yogurt
• 1 scoop chocolate protein powder
• Cinnamon squares
• More sprouts trial mix from earlier
• Walnut butter

The walnut butter was from a very exciting package I got when I came home from work…

I bought the big walnut butter, and got some free samples (more walnut butter, tahini, cashew butter) for free with my purchase! Walnuts are my favorite, so I’m super excited about it. Be prepared to see this lot in the near future.

In the 3^rd grade world…

This made me laugh.

The student was writing a report about Teddy Roosevelt. Not only did the spelling mistake make me chuckle, but this student wrote a whole paper about how Theodore Roosevelt (or Rosabelt) was a famous American solely because he invented teddy bears.

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.

But not just any yogurt, the best yogurt mess I have ever eaten.

• ¾ cup plain yogurt
• 1 banana, sliced
• Protein brownie batter (protein powder, cocoa, water)
• Chunky peanut butter
• Quaker Oatmeal Squares

I can’t even tell you how insanely delicious this was. I ate it for dinner last night and breakfast this morning…if that gives you any idea.

Look at that chocolate river…all ooey-gooey and melty. Simple deliciousness. Please run to your kitchens and go make this. (oh, and I guess now would be a good time to label myself a hypocrite for saying I don’t like bananas on several occasions. I guess I do like bananas. As long as they have chocolate and peanut butter near them. Just call me Elvis. The hypocrite. Wait, I’m confusing myself. No more mixing labels and comparisons)

That is all for now. Have a happy Wednesday!

Here are some breakfast gems that have been filling my belly for the last couple of days.

Blended banana oatmeal

Inspired by this recipe – I mixed:

• ½ cup cooked oats
• 1 banana
• ½ cup puffed rice
• ½ cup vanilla soy milk

Into the blender for a minute or so, then I topped it with cashews and blueberry flax granola and cinnamon. Holy yum.

Yogurt Mess

• 3/4 cup plain yogurt
• 1 banana
• Peanut butter
• Pumpkin butter
• Blueberry flax granola

Mini Pancakes

Again, based off of this recipe (I think Katie is a genius) – I tweaked it (incidentally making it non-vegan because I didn’t have some of the ingredients. Sorry Katie.)

• 3 tbs. rolled oats
• 3 tbs. flour
• Sprinkle of cinnamon
• 1 egg white
• Drizzle of agave
• Pinch of salt
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• ¼ cup vanilla soy milk

Cooked about 2 minutes per side, then dipped in peanut butter and fig spread (side note: I’ve had a few questions about fig spread. I use this kind and its killer –they sell it at Whole Foods.)

Spinach Mess

Chickpeas, spinach, cheese, salsa and an egg.

Hope you all are having fantastic Saturdays!

This morning, breakfast was eaten in the car on the way to church.

Two leftover pancakes, sandwiched with crunchy peanut butter.

Back home, lunch was a fantastic yogurt mess

¾ cup yogurt, 1 banana, ½ cup puffed rice, pumpkin butter, peanut butter

Plus some toasted chickpeas, and a little blondie

A rather brown (but tasty) lunch.

Then, I spent the afternoon writing more thank you notes, doing laundry, grocery shopping/meal planning, walking the (horribly behaved, annoying, hyper) dog, running to school to help a fellow-locked-out-teacher, and straightening up the casa.

In an attempt to be organized, I wrote all meals for the week on my calendar, and I figured I would share them with you – get excited for this week:

Monday: Penne with homemade vodka sauce*

Tuesday: Tuna Melt Nachos

Wednesday: Crockpot Chicken

Thursday: Savory Oatmeal – (I will remember Vegan Thursday this week!)

Friday – Grilled Tzatziki Chicken Burgers*

(*New recipes I am trying in light of my resolution)

Now I’m off to clean more or read…probably the latter. We will most likely scrounge for dinner tonight…a typical Sunday thing for us.

Enjoy the last drops of your weekend!

Do you plan your meals out in advance or just make them up each day?

If so, how do you organize them? If not…props to you. I am much to drained to think of something creative at the end of a long day.

My first day back at school was just fine. I couldn’t sleep last night – and I finally ended up getting out of bed at 4am to clip Punky’s nails because she was pacing and the nails were clicking and it was annoying the heck out of me as I tried to get some rest. So, I was drowsy all day, but otherwise – it was relatively normal.

After a quick workout (Jillian’s 30 day shred) and a shower, breakfast was taken to school, and eaten at an early staff meeting.

In an empty (and clean) salsa jar: plain yogurt, half a banana, a Nature Valley granola bar (crumbled), sun butter, and fig spread. So dang delicious. I wanted it to last forever.

Lunch was steamed veggies and part of a black bean burger.

With a hard boiled (HB) egg on the side for a little extra protein punch.

Plus, I nibbled on a gluten-free chocolate chip scone – given to me by a student.

The perfect sweet ending to a veggiful lunch.

Dinner was my first new recipe of the week – Black Beans and Quinoa

…which I turned into stuffing for a burrito.

I can’t share the exact recipe for the black beans and quinoa because it was out of my new cookbook -

but it involved onions, garlic, quinoa, black beans, corn, and cilantro.

All rolled up with a salad on the side

Ooh boy, I’m glad I decided to do this new recipe thing. This was fantastic – Meeker thought so, too. He described it as very California – and I think he was referring to the fresh, bright taste of the cilantro. Y-u-m-m-y. Best news: there are leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Can I go to bed yet?

Oh, and who is so darn excited for The Biggest Loser
tomorrow?! I am, I am!!