Tag: oatmeal

I’m addicted …

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… to spinach oats! How weird is that?

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And the gym actually WAS open this morning! I didn’t except any probs today, though, since they’re actually open 24 hours during the week, starting Monday at 5am. Someone’s alarm must have forgotten to go off yesterday. It happens. Anyhow, today I tried to listen to my old-lady achy joints and did 30 minutes on the elliptical followed by a thorough stretching session (plus the jog there and back). Stats: 1 hour and 1 minute, 338 calories, 122 average heart rate, 171 max.

I prepared today’s oats the same way I had them yesterday, except that I mixed the granola sprinkling with a bit of trail mix:

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And my standard soymilky tea in front of the pretty window photo:

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I’m off to do some serious work! Are you working or pretending to work right now?

By the way, there are like a million amazing giveaways (thanks to An Apple a Day for putting them all in one convenient post for me to steal!) going on right now:

1. Too much fun stuff to mention at Missy Maintains.

2. Almonds up the Wazoo at Melissa’s Journey.

3. Ahhhh, a brand-new Vita-Mix (!!!!!!!!!) at Jumbo Empanadas.

4. Barney Butter at The Hungry Yogini.

5. A variety-filled goodie bag at meloncauliflower.

6. And another Quaker spa prize pack at Run, Eat, Repeat.

Good luck!!

Just call me Popeye

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Breakfast this morning was another new and exciting (to me!) creation:

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I got up at 5 to go to the gym, got all my layers on, jogged there in the 30 degree weather … and found six other people waiting outside the locked and gated entrance! My gym is supposed to open at 5am on Mondays, and it was definitely 5:20 by this point, grrrrr. I gave it a few minutes, but every moment counts at that time of day, so I eventually gave up and jogged my creaky crunchy knees back home. It probably worked out better anyway since it gave me time to do the beginning Yoga for Runners #1 from yogadownload.com — my knees needed the rest!

So back to breakfast, yet another work of art inspired by Heather and her spinach oats!

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If you recall, I brought home a giant packed bag of fresh spinach leaves last week when we had extra in the food pantry at work. Despite diligently incorprating the spinach into salads all weekend, I barely made a dent! So last night, I made 1/2 cup stovetop oats custard-style and also added about four cups of spinach, half of a giant grated carrot, and a chopped apple. When everything was wilted and cooked, I immersion-blended my heart out. With the heat off post-blending, I mixed in another 1/2 cup oats (for texture), 1/2 giant mashed banana, 1/2 giant chunked banana, vanilla, cinnamon, 2 tbsp lemon curd, and 2 tbsp unsweetened coconut. The whole thing made just under 4 cups of oatmeal.

This morning, I heated 3/4 cup of the mix, set it on a bed of lemon yogurt (yogurt + more lemon curd + cinnamon), and topped it with strawberries, vanilla-almond granola, more coconut, and a big ol’ spoonful of homemade almond-cashew butter:

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And you know the soymilky black tea was not far behind:

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Thanks for yet another delicious breakfast idea, Heather!

I’ll be back much much later tonight because I’ve got class after work. Can I just say how much I love these endless Mondays??

Where do you go when you leave work at the end of the day?

Accidental 10

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Let me just preface this by saying, I am not the kind of girl who runs 10 miles by accident. I am more likely to accidentally eat something like this:

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In second grade, it took me a full 3 seconds longer than the rest of the class to run the 50-yard dash, and my fear of running was born. However, something has changed in the past year, and not only do I find myself training for a half marathon, but I also woke up this morning with the urge to run.

I’ll just do 5 miles, I thought to myself. But then I made it over the Brooklyn Bridge and figured I might as well go back over to the other side and run to the next subway stop instead of taking the train back from the city. By the time I got to the next stop, I was hungry and really had to go to the bathroom and decided it would be quicker to run home than to deal with the slow Sunday subway schedule. I thought I’d done 8 or maybe 9 miles … but I gmapped it and found 10.5!! How did this happen?? Craaaaaaaaazy. Anyway, stats: 1 hour and 46 minutes, 876 calories, average heart rate 151, max 173.

Obviously, I spent most of the run dreaming about this:

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A Fitnessista breakfast cookie made with:

  • 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
  • 1/2 large mashed banana
  • 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/4 cup super-thick homemade Greek yogurt
  • 1 tbsp peanut butter

I was feeling feisty after my surprise run, so I made “frosting” with my last PB2 sample packet and 1.5 tbsp yogurt and smothered the cookie with it. I also couldn’t help adding a chopped square of Godiva dark chocolate and one mammoth strawberry‘s worth of slices.

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I’m just about to head out to the blogger brunch, and I will be ready to eat for sure! As even more proof that I’m crazy, I didn’t want to show up empty-handed, so I spent all of Thursday afternoon baking a million batches of teeny Earl Grey Biscotti Bites (but with jasmine tea in place of earl grey):

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In reality, I multiplied the recipe by six and not by a million, but that certainly was enough to keep me busy! Each pack only has four little bites (and the 5 non-blue packages have wheat-free and vegan versions — oat flour instead of whole wheat and all canola instead of canola/butter combo — because I imagine there will be a few vegans in the bunch), but something is better than nothing!

Hope you’re having a great Sunday!

I know you all accidentally grocery shop, but do you accidentally exercise, too?

Brief interruption

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Ahhh, there’s never enough time! I’m working furiously to get a midterm paper taken care of today so that I can enjoy the NYC blogger brunch with a clear conscience tomorrow. I have a feeling I may be up all night …

Onto the food! Breakfast, 10:30 am:

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On the left is an oatmeal combo of sorts. I stovetopped 1/4 cup old-fashioned oats with a small chopped apple, the usual spices, and 1/2 cup water. Then, I mixed the oats with 1/3 cup plain yogurt and a little dollop of lemon curd. On top went more lemon curd, a ring of chopped strawberries, and 2 crumbled basil-spice meringue kisses.

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On the right is a little 1/4 cup pile of mango surrounded by a starfish (so I can pretend I’m on the beach) of soy-lime coco loco tofu (the last of it) spread with 1 tbsp cinnamon-cayenne peanut butter and topped with more toasty coconut pieces.

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At some point late morning, I got up to make more tea and got sidetracked chopping all of my fancy fruit into an enormous fruit salad. Hmmmm, procrastinate much? I made a little snack plate of the pineapple core and the mango pit (with some homemade almond-cashew butter in the background).

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Lunch was a group effort.

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This salad was a mix of work contributions — from Inginia: greens, cranberries, roasted peppers, apple slices, roast chicken, garlic & lemon juice dressing; from Nydia: greens and corn; from the food pantry’s overflow: fresh spinach; from me: strawberries, goat cheese, toasted cashews, s&p.

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Variety:

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I’m still feeling munchy, so I bet lunch part 2 is just around the corner.

A couple things worth mentioning before I re-enter serious productivity mode (does that even exist?):

1. Danielle at A Year of Healthy Eating has presented me with my first-ever blogger award:

ewardDanielle was actually my first non-family/friend commentor on the blog back in January, and I’ve been hooked reading hers ever since because I love her honest and realistic approach to health. Thanks, Danielle!

In the spirit of community, I am going to pass this award onto two other bloggers who brighten my days!  Diana at Soap & Chocolate usually gets me laughing out loud, but my laugh was louder than average today when she amped up one of my oatmeal methods and renamed it  “Apple Aneurysm Baked Oatmeal.” And at the other end of the spectrum, Vani at Fit for Free consistently challenges me to reflect on my food-related behaviors with her thought-provoking and sincere posts. Thanks, ladies!

2. Mo Diva has let loose a torrent of peanut butter madness at Food Snob. Check it out!

OK, back to the midterm paper race against the clock! Who will win?? And do you ever spend hours working on something and then realize you haven’t gotten very far at all?

Half-baked

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Ever since accidentally making lemon-meringue oatmeal yesterday, I’ve been fantasizing about recreating the amazingness today … the crumbling meringue crunch, the tart lemon custard, mmmmmmm. But before I get carried away, I want to give a few more details of the cooking procedure since it was such a success!

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Last night, I combined 1/4 cup dry steel-cut oats in an ovensafe bowl with 2 tbsp unsweetened soymilk, 2 tbsp water, 1 small chopped apple, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Over the top of the mix, I spread about 2 tbsp plain yogurt, solely for moisturizing purposes since cooking yogurt kills off the healthy bacteria. Here’s what it looked like before going into the fridge:

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This morning, I got up for my run and even made it all the way outside, but I just wasn’t feeling it! Rather than force a run and hate it, I just jogged once around the block and came back home to do some Gentle Hatha #2. While I was yoga-ing, my oats were cooking in the oven, covered, for 30 minutes at 375. Here they are right out of the fridge, after mixing and before going into the oven:
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They came out of the oven looking like this:

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In my pretty glass bowl, I layered the hot oats on top of 1/3 cup lemon custard (yogurt + cottage cheese + 1 tsp lemon curd). Just like yesterday, I crumbled two basil-spice meringue kisses over the top and added another dollop of lemon curd. Around the side were two balsamic-strawberry oaties dotted with homemade almond-cashew butter.

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Mmmmm, just as tasty as I remember! I am so enjoying this experience of indulging in a pricey, fancy condiment that I never would have considered buying if not for the Forbidden Foods Challenge. It’s good to remember that I am allowed to treat myself every once in a while — my pennies do not always have to go toward things that are abolsutely necessary.

For an out-the-door snack at 10am, I had another oatie with about a tsp more of almond-cashew butter.

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In class this morning/afternoon, I thoroughly enjoyed my donation-fueled lunch. First up was my chicken fajita sampler.

Two pieces of regular chicken fajita wrap with tomato salsa and black beans:

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One piece of spinach fajita wrap with beans, brown rice, and roasted veggies:

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And one piece of sun-dried tomato fajita wrap with chicken, beef, and roasted veggies:

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The whole family:

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For crunch and spice, I had my snack of the week: 1/3 cup asparagus guacamole with a serving of riceworks.

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And for dessert, a 1-cup blended mix of plain yogurt and the cottage cheese from last night’s fruit salad, decorated with grapes and berries (also from the salad) and topped with vanilla almond granola:

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On the way home from class, I had to switch trains at the Whole Foods stop, so I decided I might as well stop in for some samples :D. I had a handful of almonds with raisins and dates, 5 cheese cubes, 2 crackers with artichoke spread, and a bunch of carrot matchsticks with spicy miso dressing. I also img_6269accidentally bought a bunch of things because they were on sale for unbeatable prices: 2 pounds strawberries ($2/lb), brussels sprouts ($1.99/lb), pineapple ($2.99), unsweetened soymilk ($3.20), 2 mangoes (2 for $1.50), goat cheese ($2.99), plum (free because it was sitting on the counter left from the previous customer!). Total cost: $16.50

I’ve been baking up a storm with a special project this afternoon (and eating lots of batter along the way!), but I imagine I’ll be back with dinner at some point!

Do you ever accidentally grocery shop?