Tag: yogurt

Narrative of Increase

16 Comments

Just kidding — still Tales of Expansion here. (That probably makes no sense unless you read last night’s post, so go read it!). Maybe I should come up with a different synonym title for every post this week …

img_5487

I switched the exercise routine this morning since I’m planning on running club tonight. I did 30 minutes on the elliptical at the gym and then came home for 20 minutes of Yoga for Runners #1. This class was MUCH more manageable than the last time I attempted it! I still got confused in a couple of spots — especially since I couldn’t find the pose guide that came with the download — but I stuck it out until the end. I guess all the Gentle Hatha #1 is paying off … and there I was thinking all I was doing was stretching! Stats for jog to and from gym, elliptical, and yoga: 1 hour and 21 minutes, 341 calories, average heart rate 106, max 155.

Breakfast was another cup of my exciting new Almond-Infused Rosemary-Lemonade crockpot oats with 1/2 cup yogurt, unsweetened coconut, 2 crumbled basil-spice meringue kisses, 1 tsp homemade almond butter, and 1 tbsp vanilla-almond granola:

img_5492

And more chocolate tea (black tea, unsweeteed cocoa powder, cinnamon, cayenne, splash unsweetened silk) on the side:

img_5493

Back to blog title synonyms, Janet from Pretty Green Girl left a comment last night with a few synonyms for her own blog: “Based on a quick scan of thesaurus.com, I’m thinking… Fairly Naive Damsel. Or Foxy Jade Lassie. Or Somewhat Youthful Lady. Ok, that one totally depresses me. ;)” Her comment got me laughing and thinking that this would be a fun activity. So, what’s YOUR blog title synonym?

Also, have you joined the 350 Challenge? Here’s the scoop:

By displaying our badge, your blog will help us offset 122,500 lbs of CO2 — that’s like turning off 38,000 light bulbs for a day! With your support, we’re putting more clean energy on the national energy grid, and together, we can help fight global warming, one blog at a time.

I’ve got my badge — it’s over to the right, below all the Foodbuzz stuff.  It’s quick and free, so go get the badge and fight global warming, too!

And, because we all love free things, go enter this crazy-extensive giveaway at Missy Maintains!

Stories of inflation

15 Comments

Hahaha, wordpress just advertised that I could make this blog “narrativeofincrease.com” for only $15. I guess they’re big into synonyms?

The first hunger pangs hit around 10:30, so I had a cup of freshly cut pineapple:

picture-133

Don’t worry — that’s not mold on the pineapple. Just some bits of skin (?) that I didn’t quite cut off!

And I also had this bite of a raspberrry entenmann’s danish that was left from a meeting:

picture-134

I know it looks enormous in that picture, but it was only about an inch or so long. I also had all of the icing crumbs out of the box once the danish itself had disappeared (thankfully, someone else took care of eliminating the remaining danish before I had a chance to) …

We ended up cancelling the parents’ group today because of torrential rain, thereby putting me a meal short for the day since I usually eat lunch with the group. The same thing that happened last Monday because of the snow! Dear weather: Please stop messing with my lunch plans and food budget. Thanks.

So my planned dinner became my lunch instead. I ate the last of Rooms’ black bean salad from Saturday’s lunch (mixed with avocado and salsa — great idea, Gina!) with five broken tortilla chips from Wednesday’s lunch:

picture-139

Second course was a mix of 1/2 cup of yogurt and 1/2 cup of my leftover pumpkin gingerbread crockpot oats from last week:

picture-142

My 2pm visit wasn’t home when I called to confirm at 1:40, so I went back into the conference room to keep lunching with the ladies. The continued lunching involved three Kavli crispy thins with 1/2 tbsp office pb (I meant to bring guac for these but forgot!):

picture-147

After that, I had mint #3 (of 5 total) for the day in order to keep my mouth busy:

picture-149

I was expecting to go into a counseling session at 3:30, so I had another cup of pineapple (also left from the morning meeting) around 3:15 to carry me through:

picture-152

But my client never came! My tummy was feeling a little empty still (maybe not enough fat/protein in my lunch?), so Jessica poured a box of Honey Bunches of Oats down my throat handed me a box of Honey Bunches of Oats. I had about 1 1/2 cups:

picture-154

picture-155

I left work at 5 to head down for my class — and my group presentation! We presented for the first hour of class (when I normally eat my dinner), so I was pretty hungry when we finished (but yay, we finished!). As I mentioned before, the group lunch cancellation bumped dinner into the lunch slot, so my actual dinner was more of a haphazard affair.

Manchego cheese samples from the market as my appetizer:

img_5477

(Yes, those are cookie crumbs coating the cheese samples . I do all of my sample-grabbing with the same skilled fist …)

My dinner main course was half of a giant raisin-nut muffin (also left from the morning meeting at work) with 1 tbsp office pb (in an attempt to impart some nutritional value) and cookie-crumb samples:

img_5473

The peanut butter is all bubbly because I microwaved the muffin and toppings for 90 seconds in the school cafeteria to get it melty. But since I couldn’t eat it while I was presenting, it lost the warm and gooey immediately-post-microwave effect and gained the hard and crunchy microwaved-an-hour-ago effect. I still enjoyed it, though. It felt like a giant cookie.

Dessert was another one of these guys:

img_5479Like I’ve said before, bars are good in a pinch, but not something I need to incorporate into regular grocery rotation.

I was hungry again 10 minutes later (no surprise there with all the empty carbs and sugar), so I ate the other half of the muffin.

Obviously, I overdid it with the added sugar. I suppose I kind of overdo it most days, but due to the limited food options today, the sugar overage was actually planned. Tomorrow’s food is going to be much heavier on healthy fats and proteins to make up for it (or at least that’s true of the lunch I packed …).

When I got home from class around 9, I quickly got all of tomorrow’s food ready (nibbling at it as I packed) and then had a small treat to coat my belly with health and reassure it that it was well-nourished for the long night (of sleep) ahead. A half cup of plain heated pumpkin topped with a spoonful of chocolate mousse:

img_5481

Ahh, that mousse is SO good. And my belly is now SO happy.

So … thoughts? Does “Narrative of Increase” strike a chord with you? 😛

Sleep tight!

Dark and dreary

14 Comments

Well, it’s back to pitch-black mornings, thanks to daylight savings! I was so excited last week that the sunlight had finally started to peek through at 6:30 am when I was leaving the gym, but those days are over. No sun until 7:15 now! Despite the darkness, I had a great arms and steps workout this morning. Stats: 1 hour and 6 minutes, 459 calories, 136 average heart rate, 168 max.

Breakfast was a cup of my latest oatmeal concoction: Almond-Infused Rosemary-Lemonade crockpot oats!

img_5438

Yum, they tasted just like summer!

With the oats, I had 1/2 cup plain yogurt, 1 tbsp unsweetened coconut, 1 tbsp vanilla-almond granola, and this gorgeous tsp of homemade almond butter:

img_5441

And two crumbled basil-spice meringue kisses:

img_5443

My beverage of the morning was “chocolate tea“:

img_5437

The tea included 1 black tea bag, 1 sugar cookie sleigh ride tea bag, 1 scant tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, a splash of unsweetened soymilk, liberal cinnamon, and a hefty sprinkle of cayenne. Nothing like spicy and bitter chocolate to zap some light into the day!

Did daylight savings time affect your morning?

Scrappy afternoon

19 Comments

Ayyy, I spent all day yesterday doing homework for my group presentation tonight. As I worked, I snacked. Homework and snacks are a match made in heaven. Am I right, or am I right?

I transferred Brigitte’s no-bake-cookies-and-cream birthday cake from its foil tin to covered tupperwares to allow for easier stacking. And then I licked the tin and the foil:

img_5415

And I also had this little end of the 2nd to last log of cake because it “didn’t fit” in the tupperware:

img_5421

I munched on a fresh pineapple core while chopping (and nibbling on) the rest:

img_5418

I made crockpot oats for the week and “sampled” some of the ingredients that you see here while I prepped, because have you ever been able to resist of pile of chopped dates and toasted almonds just sitting in front of you? Didn’t think so.

img_5417

After all of that food-prep snacking, dinner ended up being a pretty light (and late) affair. I had about 1/2 cup of this week’s oatmeal concoction (details to come in my next post) piping hot and straight out of the crockpot, topped with some Heather-inspired chocolate mousse and 1 tbsp vanilla-almond granola:

img_5432

To make the mousse, I combined about 2/3 cup cooked whole wheat couscous (left over from roommate Tara’s lunches last week) with 1/2 an avocado, 1 tsp maple cream, 2 tbsp soymilk, and 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder:

img_5423

And because I couldn’t stop and I’m a volume fiend, I also added 1 tbsp peanut butter, 1/4 cup plain yogurt, 1/4 cup healthy cream cheese icing, and 1/4 cup pumpkin. Post-immersion blending:

img_5426

Hmm, looks suspiciously like chocolate frosting, right? These proportions made about 1 1/4 cups of mousse. I half-froze 1/4 cup, and that’s what I used to top my hot dinner oats. It was like an ice cream brownie sundae … except not on a brownie.

Anyway, the mousse was delicious, and I am now the world’s biggest fan of this avocado trick. Thanks, Heather!

Do you eat while you cook?

Clickity clack clickity clack

9 Comments

That’s the sound of me typing all day long. Can you hear it?

I’ll give you one guess about the identity of my breakfast …

img_5376

Yes, another Fitnessista breakfast cookie! This one was a little bit unconventional, as it involved me repurposing one portion of last week’s pumpkin gingerbread crockpot oats. Last night, I stirred together a cup of the oats, 2 tbsp nonfat powdered milk, 1 chopped square of Lindt hazelnut chocolate, and 1 tbsp peanut butter. It was super wet because the oats were already cooked, so I put it in the freezer overnight and let it thaw for about 20 minutes this morning before I ate it, topped with cocoa powder and healthy cream cheese icing 😀

img_5390

With soymilky black tea and extra icing on the side:

img_5392

More clickity clack clickity clack until I got hungry around 11:30. Lunch was a hodgepodge of fun treats:

img_5395

A bit of Rooms’ black bean salad from linner yesterday mixed with a spoonful of salsa and topped with plain yogurt and pumpkin seeds:

img_5399

And an approximately 2 tbsp mix of “overflow” pumpkin gingerbread crockpot oats and yogurt topped with cardamom:

img_5407

And the best part: two baby raisin walnut toasts, one with homemade cashew butter (left) and one with homemade almond butter (right):
img_5403img_5405

img_5350

That’s right, last night I attempted production of my own nut butters!

I’ve been wanting to do this for a while, especially after drooling over Heather’s recent nutty creations. Unfortunately, I think I need to concede defeat to my Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus and accept that I just don’t have the proper equipment for making nut-only nut butter. You can see the crumbly texture in the pictures above — which I love — but these butters are more the press-on-and-smush-down sort than the spreadable sort.

I know I could have added oil to pull things together, but I really didn’t want anything in there except for the nuts themslves! I finally compromised by adding a tablespoon of peanut butter (with peanuts as the only ingredient) to each batch, and the addition made my butters passably smushable — without the extra pb, they were just dry powders! Anyway, crumbliness aside, my homemade nut butters/powders are still delicious and were an excellent topping for the raisin walnut toasts this afternoon.

I was still hungry around 1, so I made a quick mix of 1/4 cup pumpkin, 2 tbsp healthy cream cheese icing, and 2 tbsp plain yogurt — topped with 1 tbsp vanilla-almond granola and 1 tbsp toasted pumpkin seeds:

img_5414

And now it’s back to the books.

I have two questions for you today:

1. Are you inside or outside?

2. Does the work ever end???