Tag: oatmeal

Don’t fear the curd

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My oats this morning were partly overnighted and partly cooked … and they spontaneously took shape as one of my favorite desserts of all time 😀

Last night, I mixed 1/4 cup steel-cut oats with 2 tbsp soymilk, 2 tbsp water, 2 tbsp yogurt, 1 small chopped apple, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, ginger, and cloves.

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This morning at the gym was arms + steps/elliptical: 1 hour and 14 minutes, 392 calories, average heart rate 119, max 179. When I got home, I transferred the bowl of oats from the fridge to the oven for 30 minutes covered at 375 while I got ready.

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Post-oven, the oats went on a bed of lemon custard (1/3 cup yogurt mixed with 1 tsp lemon curd). I topped them with 2 crumbled basil-spice meringue kisses, 2 balsamic-strawberry oaties with homemade cashew-almond butter tips, and another dollop of my forbidden food:

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YUM! It was warm and fluffy and tasted like lemon meringue pie 😀

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Many of you commented that you’ve never heard of lemon curd but that it sounds gross. Leave it to the British to give something so heavenly a name like curd. However, if you like lemon pudding, lemon cake, lemon meringue pie, or any other lemon-themed dessert, really, I’m pretty sure you’d be a fan of lemon curd.

What are some foods that you love despite their off-putting names?

Giveaways of the Day:

1. YOUBars and YOUShakes at Run to the Finish.

2. Coupons for free yogurt (enter before 3pm EST) at Say Yes to Salad.

Awake

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Before I get to today’s breakfast, remember that time I ate a week’s worth of food in the space of one hour? I know, I know. You’re saying, “Which time does she mean? There are millions!” Let me be more specific. I’m talking about this time. Well, you’re in luck! The full story of the evening, complete with pictures of the most beautiful food in the world pre-demolition, is now available in my guest post at For the Love of Oats. Get a napkin ready because you’ll need it to wipe the drool off of your desk.

Onto today:

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It took me HOURS to fall asleep last night. I don’t know what was going on, but it was well after 1am by the time I dozed off! I knew an extra hour of sleep and yoga would serve me better than 5am cardio, so I got up at 6:15 and did the beginner Power Yoga #3 from yogadownload.com. I had a delicious Fitnessista breakfast cookie (and pb2 experiment #3) waiting for me when I was done:

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This slab of perfectio contained 1/2 cup oats, 1 packet chocolate pb2, 2 tbsp homemade chocolate mousse, 2 tbsp plain yogurt, 4 chopped strawberries, 2 chopped toasted almonds, and one chopped date.

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I decorated the top with a square of Godiva dark chocolate and a dollop of plain yogurt (which I also used to “ice” the edges of the cookie):

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It had solidified well after a night in the fridge, but I popped it in the freezer
for 20 minutes or so before eating because I prefer it half-frozen. I’m pretty sure this was my best breakfast cookie combo yet. The pb flavor really came through (much more than it did yesterday with a similar combo in hot oatmeal form) — in fact, the cookie was reminiscent of peanut butter-chocolate-strawberry cheesecake! It made me thrilled to be awake 😀

I kept things steamy with a mug of soymilky black tea (and the triumphant return of morning sunlight!) on the side:

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I love starting my day with a million pictures of oats 😀 (Speaking of which, don’t forget to check out my guest post at For the Love of Oats!)

What makes YOU thrilled to be awake?

P.S. …

1. Check out Vani’s brilliant, healthy, and fun Forbidden Foods Challenge. This is hands-down the BEST blogger challenge I’ve seen!

2. Thinspired is giving away some exciting British snackaroos!

Nuts for salad + laundry debacle

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My second PB2 experiment took place this morning when I decided on the world’s best oatmeal combo: pb-chocolate-banana.

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In the pot, I cooked 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats with 1/2 cup unsweetened silk, 1/2 cup water, 1/4 whipped banana, 1/4 chunked banana, dash salt, and 1 packet chocolate pb2. The cooked oatmeal went into the bowl on a bed of 1/2 cup yogurt, and I garnished with 2 sliced strawberries, unsweetened coconut, 1.5 chopped pieces of lindt hazelnut chocolate, and unsweetened cocoa powder.

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Yum! But, I couldn’t really taste the pb2 chocolate and peanut flavors that strongly. If I were to make this bowl of oatmeal again, and I probably will, I would mix cocoa powder into the pot to cook with the oatmeal and save the pb2 to pour on top. Mixing it in led to too much flavor dilution!

For lunch, I had the grilled chicken/chicken parm leftovers salad that I brought home from my coworkers on Friday. I actually only used half of the chicken that was on the salad and saved the other half for tomorrow. I bulked up the salad with the grape tomatoes, radishes, chopped endives, and cheese cubes from Friday night and topped it with a drizzle of Annie’s lite gingerly dressing I found in our fridge + freshly ground black pepper.

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Post-picture, I decided I needed more crunch and added two chopped and toasted almonds to the top 😀

My eyes were bigger than my stomach (as my dad would say), and I made a second course that consisted of the rest of the chicken parm toast with homemade almond-cashew butter + the last cup of Friday night’s leftover fruit salad and a sprinkling of vanilla-almond granola.

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I ate the toasts and realized I felt full, so I held off on the fruit salad for another hour or so until I was ready.

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Here’s another picture, just because I’m not looking forward to going back to my paper as soon as this post is done.

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I’m leaving in a little while to meet the comm girls for coffee in honor of Diana’s recent ENGAGEMENT :D, and then it will be back home and to the books!

In unrelated news, I went to do my laundry this morning only to find the big metal gate down and the laundromat dark and empty. I spotted the manager parked a few cars down and went to inquire. Apparently, the metal gate was broken and he couldn’t get in! He told me to leave my clothes with him and come back tonight to get them. I was caught off guard, so between that and the language barrier, I got flustered and agreed. But now I’m thinking: (1) Is he going to wash my stuff for me and then charge me by the pound (which will undoubtedly cost more than I normally pay to do it myself)?; (2) Are all my clothes going to shrink because he doesn’t know what can go in the dryer and what can’t?; and (3) Was I completely off-base, and did he just mean he would hold onto my laundry until later so I didn’t have to drag it all the way back home, and I’ll still need to do it myself tonight?

Yes, I could just go back over there and check, but I’m feeling lazy and the suspense is more fun. What do YOU think will become of my laundry?

Subway sleeper

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Breakfast this morning was my final portion of Almond-Infused Rosemary-Lemonade crockpot oats:

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I’m really so pleased with how these turned out — I think lemon is going to be making more appearances in my oats! The long slow cook in the crockpot seemed to take away all of the sourness, leaving just a sweet, lemonade-y taste of summer — something I definitely needed this morning after my foray to the gym in weather that has returned to the 20s!

With the oats, I had 1/2 cup yogurt, 3 crumbled basil-spice meringue kisses, 1 tsp of my properly creamed homemade almond-cashew butter, unsweetened coconut, and 1 tbsp vanilla-almond granola:

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With water and soymilky black tea on the side!

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At the gym, I did my arms and steps: 1 hour and 15 minutes, 440 calories, average heart rate 126, max 165. During what was supposed to be my mini-vacation from meaningful thought on the Stairmill with Us Weekly, I got worked up about all the drama with Rihanna and Chris Brown. Sure, them getting back together sends a terrible message to all young girls out there about accepting domestic violence, but who is reporting this message??? THE GOSSIP MAGS!! Can they please quit tossing around blame and instead examine why and how they play a role in allowing the values of celebrities to dictate those of the world?

So, thank you, Us Weekly, for giving me that glorious, much-needed 30-minute mental break this morning. … Just kidding.  I had to take my mental break on the subway instead and snuggled into my scarf and coat for a solid 30 minute nap from Bleecker to 116th. Take that, trashy magazines! I will be coming after you when I wake up with no purse and no shoes …

Where and how do you take your mental breaks?

Classy classy

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Good morning! Before I get started on today, I just want to mention that I have entered Saturday’s crazy pre-run breakfast — the pb-pumpkin hummus on a toasted bagel with a sweet ‘n’ spicy black bean-salmon patty open-faced sandwich — into The Great Peanut Butter Exhibition #5 – Sandwich contest!

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If you can’t remember how gorgeous this sandwich was, here’s a visual reminder:

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And just to be specific about it all, the pb-pumpkin-hummus spread contains 1 tbsp of each of those 3 components, along with hefty sprinkles of cayenne and cinnamon, yum!! Now I want one of these sandwiches again …

But, I’ll have to make do with this breakfast cookie (oh darn, hehehe):

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Today’s cookie contains 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats, 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 tbsp peanut butter, 1/2 mashed banana, 2 tbsp unsweetened soymilk, 1 chopped piece of Lindt hazelnut chocolate, and 1 tbsp toasted pumpkin seeds.

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I finally got the proportions of dry-to-wet correct, so no freezer necessary today! It was hard enough from the overnight in the fridge. But I’m also kind of thinking that I might like it better with that extra frozen ice-creamy texture …

Mmmmmm, chunk of hazelnut chocolate hanging onto the edge:

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On the side, I had a pot of tea made from the Yogi Himalayan Apple Spice tea sample I received last night:

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The tea was ok. It just tasted like regular old herbal apple spice tea. I guess the big selling point is supposed to be that it also contains black tea and has caffeine — it’s part of the “revive” series — but again, nothing particularly special about the flavor.

I was planning to go for a run this morning, but I didn’t get to bed until pretty late last night because I was up working! Adjusted plan is to do the run when I get back from class this afternoon — which may actually work out better since it will be sunnier and warmer then. I’ll be back post-run with a report on the day!

(And p.s., I had this little dish with about 1/4 cup of pineapple and 1 tbsp granola before I went to bed last night:

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If I even have the slightest bit of hunger in my belly at bedtime, I can’t fall asleep!)

Can you sleep when your tummy is growling?

** Also, go check out The Fitnessista because she, too, has “comfort” up for grabs today! **