Tag: oatmeal

Transformation

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Thanks to a week of unexpected food donations to the Sarah cause, I have hardly made a dent in the food I prepped last weekend! Today, rather than making a new breakfast before I finished the old, I decided to get creative with the remaining two servings of my carrot cake crockpot oats. They used to look like this:

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I mixed the two cups of oats with 1 beaten egg, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, and two tbsp whole wheat flour and poured it into a canola-ed baking dish:

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The dish went into the oven for 40 minutes at 375 and came out looking like this:

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I slid a knife around the edge to separate the cake from the dish and tried unsuccessfully to wait for it to cool. But I was hungry, so I inverted it onto a plate after about 30 seconds. Because I didn’t let it cool, the bottom got a bit messy, but that’s beside the point:

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I cut myself 1/3 of the cake for breakfast and made a cream cheese frosting for it from 2 tbsp part-skim ricotta, 2 tbsp 0% fage (yay, free food!), 1/2 tsp maple cream, 1/2 tsp vanilla, and a sprinkle of cinnamon:

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Then I went wild and drew a carrot with cake decorating gel:

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Ahh, this was so good that I just went ahead and frosted the rest of the cake while I had everything handy:

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So, needless to say, I’m having a successful morning :-). And the productive streak is only going to continue since Kate’s meeting me at 1:00 for our six mile run (!!!) through Prospect Park and a nearby neighborhood that is surprisingly full of Victorian mansions (yes, in Brooklyn!). I wish I had some sort of camera arm band so I could take pictures as we run through. It’s gorgeous over there! Be back later …

Tic-tac-lunch

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Just a quickie to update you on my lunch plans …

Here’s what I packed:

red lentil peanut soup topped w/yesterday's chicken, sofrito rice/barley enhanced with yesterday's Dominican rice and baked ziti, yogurt with apples/banana/spices, orange, and carrot sticks

red lentil peanut soup topped w/yesterday's chicken, sofrito rice/barley enhanced with yesterday's Dominican rice and baked ziti, yogurt with apples/banana/spices, orange, and carrot sticks

Breakfast

I didn’t get to bed until midnight last night, so I slept right until 7 (I’ll have to make up the missing hour this weekend :-D). So nice to have daylight first thing in the morning! Breakfast today was another cup of my carrot cake crockpot oats with 1/2 cup yogurt, cinnamon, and … the scraps of blondie I saved after baking Tuesday night!

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Mmmmm, you can even see the white chocolate chips:

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Today, another visitor and I are actually starting our own mommy + baby group. Since it takes place at 1:00, some other snackies may work their way in …

The week is looking up

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I was reading Oprah’s magazine this morning on the StairMaster, and a very distressed woman had written in for advice with the following concern: “Monthly facials no longer fit my budget. How important are they?” I started chuckling with gratitude that this worry is one that will never cross my mind (because I always make room in my budget for monthly facials, of course. JOKE). And then, while I was chuckling, the “Love Theme” from Love Actually started playing on my ipod and made me even happier. So it was a good morning. Workout stats for run to gym, legs/back/chest on cybex, 30 mins stairs, 10 mins abs/stretching, run back: 1 hour, 16 minutes; 440 calories; average heart rate 126; highest heart rate 165.

For breakfast, I had a big mug of sugar cookie sleigh ride tea and cup of carrot cake crockpot oats with 1/2 cup yogurt and sprinkle cinnamon:

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Also, I had a question about the type of peanut butter I use. I didn’t eat any with the oats this morning, but I thought I’d answer in a picture anyway. Hopefully it’s not the type with salmonella!

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I couldn’t find a website, but for you NYers, I’ve seen it at both C-Town and Fairway.

Welcome back to the week!

Beach run

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Running on fresh snow to and from the gym this morning was almost like running on beach sand. Or that’s what I tried to tell myself. I went a little later than normal because I have today off, so I had a spoonful of peanut butter before I left to tide me over until breakfast. The gym was so packed!! I miss my little 5am crew. There was a class in the group room, so I couldn’t get an aerobics step and instead did arms balancing on the Bosu — didn’t have the same heart rate effects as a step, obviously, but at least it kept my legs and “core” engaged, blah blah. And, of course, 30 minutes on the stairs with InStyle. Stats from the HRM: 1 hour, 12 mins; 473 calories; 155 average heart rate.

Breakfast was a no-brainer. A full cup of my carrot cake crockpot oats from yesterday, half cup yogurt, drizzle of honey, sprinkles of cinnamon and coconut:

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Now I’m lounging around with a pot of sugar cookie sleigh ride tea (mmm!), and I have plans for a run with Kate at 1:00 since neither of us feels like journeying to midtown for running club on a vacation day!

P.S. After all my snacking while cooking yesterday, I finally got hungry around 9:30 last night and had Banana Fudge VitaTop with peanut butter. Here’s a cross-section:

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P.P.S. Oh She Glows is having another Honest Foods giveaway!! Enter here!

Twelve cups of healthy

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In typical Sunday fashion, I spent allll day today preparing food for the week. Even though I have tomorrow off, I kept to my Sunday routine because I love it. There’s nothing more relaxing than a day of creating and tasting food!

First, I started on this week’s batch of crockpot oats. I decided to make carrot cake oats when I found two items of questionable freshness (belonging to the roommates of course since I have a mind like a steel-trap when it comes to my own food!) in the fridge while I was cleaning it yesterday. Slimy baby carrots:

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And fermented pineapple:

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Since I’d be cooking everything, I figured any unfriendly bacteria/fermentation would burn off. I grated the carrots, crushed the pineapple, shredded an apple, and zested an entire orange:

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I also added 1 Tbsp fresh grated ginger and 1 cup fresh frozen cranberries. The mix-ins:

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Because I’m out of steel-cut oats, I substituted 1/2 cup rye berries and 1/2 cup kamut (other whole grains). Other than that, I followed my crockpot oats procedure exactly, using the 5-hour low-heat method. The recipe made a little over 6 cups. I ate the “over” topped with plain yogurt icing and cinnamon:

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Next project was Red Lentil-Peanut Soup. My roommate Tara made a similar soup last weekend following a Weight Watchers recipe, and it smelled so good that I’ve been craving lentils all week. The peanut butter addition was my idea, and I must say that it was a fabulous one!

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Also during the fridge cleanup yesterday, I found these grape tomatoes in desperate need of assistance:

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I’ve never been one to ignore tomatoes in distress, so I chopped them and added them to the soup, too. And half of the chicken broth I used was my very own homemade stock that I’ve had frozen since I made it from a chicken I bought at the farmers’ market in November.

Just like with the oatmeal, the soup made a little over six cups … and I ate the “over”:

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Soooooo good! I barely had 1/2 cup of this soup, and I was instantly satisfied. Or almost satisfied, since I followed the soup with my last two pieces of peppermint salt water taffy. Then I was satisfied.