How can you share just one day?

Happy Wednesday to all of you! I have been sitting here for about an hour trying to figure out what to share today for what I ate Wednesday…….

 

I have too much to share, lol! I was having a very difficult time tryi g to narrow it down to one day, so I decided to share a random collection of foods with you guys. After all we have been eating such wonderful foods lately it is hard not to share.

Ham, spinach, and tomato on the best chibatta bread I have ever had!

Lots of roasted garlic hummus.

Lots of melon.

Grilled pork chops with potato salad, green salad, and garlic bread.

I told you LOTS of melon, lol!!

Sweet potato and black bean enchilada casserole, cilantro-lime rice (frozen bag from target), and fresh roasted squash.

Greek salad…….should have had dressing put on side! I forgot to ask and it was swimming…….

Pizza below eaten after salad. This was the hubster's Father's Day meal of choice!

 

Yummy boiled shrimp!! One of my favorite foods……..

With potatoes and fresh French bread. Yes, I have really stepped out of my box with bread lately!!

And……..the best dessert!! Sautéed peaches and blueberries in a little sweet cream butter, topped with one (yes I only had one) small scoop of the new Italian cream cake ice cream from Bluebell. I purchased a small container just to try it, and oh boy am I glad I did…..purchase a small container that is. This stuff is dangerously good!!

Now back to more structured eating, lol!! It is so hard with so much fun summer stuff going on! Remember to pop in at Jenn's to check out more WIAW posts 🙂

 

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Happy National Running Day!!

So how many of you will be running today? I did this morn. Now while it wasn't a typical run for me with my hip issues, I did start the couch to 5k to ease me back into it . I want to make sure that my muscles are feeling better and back n track before pumping it a couple of miles. So far so good!!

Of course as tradition for Wednesday I will share with you what I have been eating lately. I picked up some great avocados at the market Monday so I have really been enjoying those lately, with fresh eggs from my Mama. 🙂

As well as some yummy salads with fresh veggies from my Mama's garden!! Oh how I love summer produce…..

I even made a yummy lasagna last night with some zucchini and squash thrown into the mix. Along with a caprese salad with some yummy tomatoes and basil. Sorry no pic. I did take some, but for some reason they didn't save 😦

So I will have to admit that you only get a glimpse of my eats. I have also been enjoying yogurts, sesame sticks, enjoy life bars, and rice cakes/apples with almond butter. Those photos are gone as well, I think I need to n estimate this issue!!

But this is no reason to not enjoy WIAW!! So head over to Jenn's to check out some posts with pics!!

 

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how to get the family to eat healthy

I am going to do something a little different for this WIAW post.  Instead of sharing with you meals from a day, I am going to share with you various things that I eat very often, and talk about how to feed a family while staying healthy!

I very often get questioned about the way I eat.  Usually people are curious about it, but occasionally I get the “why would you want to eat that way” with an attitude.  Followed by “I like food and will eat the way I want to no matter what!”.

Breakfast has been either oats cooked with egg whites topped with nut butter or cookie dough cereal.  For the boys I make the oatmeal with a little sweetener and really creamy for their tastes.

To those I usually say that’s fine, I will eat the way I want to eat as well no matter, what and I want to eat clean, healthy foods!  This doesn’t mean that I never have anything with sugar, oils, fats, etc.  I still live life to the fullest!

Snacks have been a lot of yogurt bowls or luna bar if I am on the go.  My kiddos love yogurt as much as I do.

After that questions I am always asked about how I feed my family.  If I make them eat the same foods that I eat, if I let my children have snacks, and how the hubster feels about my way of eating?

Dinner over the weekend was taco salad with brown rice & cauliflower – for the boys I wrapped their mix in a tortilla shell.

Yes, I feed my family the same foods that I eat for the most part.  Do I often make something different for them?  Yes and no.  No I do not cook separate meals for us, we all eat the same base foods for our meals, but I do add things like quinoa, millet, hemp seeds, etc. to my meals that are not added to theirs.  If I cook a meal with rice we all eat brown rice.  If I cook pasta we all eat brown rice or wheat pasta.  I usually always have a bread for the hubster/boys because they love bread, I just chose not to eat it. 

Classic plate in my house – can get fruit in their little bellies by pairing it with favorites such as pancakes/sausages.

My entire family loves veggies for the most part.  Now the boys a little pickier with this.  They have certain veggies they like and ones they do not.  This is usually the case with all kiddos.  I just make sure to cook something that I know they will eat so they have dinner, and on occasion when we have something that I know they will not eat due to spice or strong dislike, then I always have some kid friendly quick foods available for them.

Dinner was grilled tilapia, turnip greens, and pasta salad – thanks Farrah for quinoa pasta!  The boys love fish as well.  I give them some pasta mixed with a little butter/coconut oil and a sprinkle of salt & pepper.

Of course the main trick to getting the family to eat healthy is to still cook family favorites with healthier and cleaner ingredients.  I very often take a favorite food and “clean it up” so to speak.  That way the family still gets to eat their foods, and I can stay on the healthy/clean path!  It is a win, win situation 🙂

A classis example of this would be sloppy joes.  My kiddos and the hubster love sloppy joes.  There is just something about that can that brings them running, but I do not want to serve them sloppy joe mix from a can.  While I have often made my own sloppy joe sauce, one way I get them to eat their favorite meal is by putting a spin on it!

Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes

• 1 lb. lean ground meat (we use venison)
• diced onion
• diced green bell pepper
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1/4 cup steak sauce
• provolone cheese
• toasted bread w/ coconut oil

1. place ground meat, diced onions, and diced peppers in a pan brown half way (yep sounds crazy but trust me)
2. add beef broth and steak sauce to pan, simmer until liquid is gone
3. spread coconut oil on bread slices and toast in pan
4. top bread with meat mixture and slice of provolone

Such and easy and tasty dinner that they love!  The meat is flavorful, healthy, and makes for the perfect quick dinner on a busy night.  Throw some Alexia potato puffs in the oven while cooking the meat mixture, and you have a perfect kid friendly meal 🙂

It is small changes like this that make feeding my family healthy meals easy.  I always follow a basic recipe and just substitute the unhealthy ingredients with healthier ones. 

WIAW – the good and the bad

Hello my friends, how are you guys this week?  I am hoping that your week is going great, and that your hearts are lighter this week.

It is another Wednesday, which means another WIAW party!  Of course you guys should pop over to Peas and Crayons to check out all the links.  I love to go through them for meal inspiration 🙂

Oh and let’s not forget to follow Jenn on Instagram – she has the cutest pregnant belly EVER!!

Unfortunately for the people in my area it is another sad and gloomy week.  Of course it is storming today, but I like to think the weather reflects everyone’s mood.  We had a very sad situation in a little town that is right next to the one I live in.  To make a long story short – the high school in the area was on lockdown yesterday due to a shooting.  A young girl’s mother was shot and killed by her (ex?) boyfriend, and as a precautionary measure they put the school on lockdown due to not knowing the boys intentions as far as the young girl was concerned.  Apparently it was a heated situation because the mother placed a restraining order on the shooter several weeks ago.  He has yet to be found and taken into custody, my heart is breaking for this young girl!

I hate turning the new on these days.  It seems all you hear about is murder/death.  I can’t even imagine what it will be like to continue to raise my children in a world that so many have turned so ugly.  It is heartbreaking that you can’t send your kids to school, run in a race, go to work, or even just walk your dog anymore without fear of what could possibly happen.  I am so sorry to dampen the mood on here, but with so much heartbreaking news in the past two weeks one can only pray for peace in life.

I am also having to deal with typical middle school drama this week with my oldest son.  I hated the idea of him going to middle school because I use to work at one.  I hate that kids go from a young innocent person with no prejudices into a place where others are so mean.  I know how mean kids can be these days 😦

   

So I am hoping that things start looking up really soon.  This little mama can surely use some sunny, happy days soon!

Whirlwind

What a week this is turning out to be!  I am only just scratching the surface of things to do to close out the school year, and it is already C-R-A-Z-Y!!  I hate to see what May will be like.

As for work it is filled with meetings, paperwork, therapy sessions, more meetings, more paperwork, more therapy sessions…….that is just the basic stuff.  It doesn’t include all of the meetings and paperwork for evaluations that are being closed out at this time of year!  Then we have to close out files, progress reports, file, pack up rooms for summer cleaning, etc.   I tell you it is a joy ride, you guys should come and help me out!

Luckily I have been eating lot’s of oat bran for breakfast to help power through the busy days!  I usually stick with my basic bowl cooked with mostly water/little milk, and top it with some peanut butter and fruit.  Which lately has been strawberries since they are in season.  Now the other day I had to have a little treat so I made banana whipped oats topped with chocolate dreams and one of Farrah’s super delish protein cookies crumbles on top!  Now that is a power breakfast!!

 

Lunch and dinner I will lump into one category because I usually have leftovers from dinner for my lunch the next day.  If I do not have any leftovers I typically throw a salad together or order out.  Which is almost always subway since I am limited to my options near work.  I have had some awesome dinners/lunches lately.  Now I almost always have a salad on the side of my dinner, but the main dishes have been the stars lately!  I told you guys last week that I was trying to incorporate more vegetarian meals into my diet in an attempt to get more veggeis/nutrients in.  I haven’t eaten all vegetarian meals, but I have had a couple that were awesome!

The other day I was in the mood for enchiladas.  No apparent reason other than I just darn wanted one!  So that is what we had for dinner.  I made two pans (one for the boys, one for me).  My pan was made using Mama Peas roasted sweet potato and black bean enchiladas……holy yum!  They were amazing.  The best part – I only made half of the batch since I would be the only one eating them so I have the other half in the freezer for another day 🙂

Now this little plate is actually a picture of my lunch, but I had the same for dinner.  Sweet potato fries, fruit salad, and the best BBQ tofu ever!!

• 1 15 oz. block of tofu, drained, pressed
• 1/2 t. garlic powder
• 1/2 t. onion powder
• 2 T. Worcestershire sauce
• 2 T. soy sauce
• 2 T. water
• 1 T. ketchup
• 1/4 t. dry mustard
• 1 t. lime juice
• 1 T. liquid smoke
• several drops of stevia

1. In a large bowl, whisk together garlic and onion powders, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, water, ketchup, mustard, lime juice, liquid smoke, and stevia.
2. Add tofu and gently stir to coat.
3. Allow the tofu to marinate in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.
4. Preheat the broiler. Place the slabs of tofu on a baking sheet that was sprayed with cooking spray.
5. Place your baking sheet under the broiler.
6. Broil tofu for 5-6 minutes, then carefully remove the pan from the oven, flip the tofu, and place it back under the broiler for an additional 5-6 minutes.

Now I like to serve this on salads, in a stir fry, or just with a dipping sauce of your choice.  My typical go to dipping sauce would be spicy mayo made by mixing mayo with hot sauce.  I had all intentions of making this with the sriracha sauce that I received from Farrah, only to forget to mix some up before eating 😦  Oh well gives me another reason to make another batch 🙂

  

Now my snacks have really been random lately with no plan, rhyme, or reason.  I usually like to plan my snacks as well as meals in order to avoid over snacking or poor snack choices.  However, with things so busy this week I haven’t taken the time to do this.  I have tried to keep them to a healthy level, but I have to be honest that some easter candy, gummy bears, and graham cracker snacks have made it’s way into my diet.  Not the best but not detrimental either. 

    

I have mostly been snacking on the wonderful cookies that I have from Farrah lately, and I have to admit that I will be sad today because I will have the last one with my morning snack 😦  I am actually surprised they have lasted me this long, lol!

Of course my weekend treat had to make it’s way into my life – frozen yogurt!  I love frozen yogurt, but I still try to save it as a rare treat.  The boys and I haven’t had any for a while so we went to get a much deserved treat on Sunday afternoon.  I had the chocolate cake mixed with coconut……OMG so good!  Topped with blueberries, coconut, a few cookie dough pieces, and some really yummy granola.

Unfortunately I haven’t followed my exercise plan like I had hoped to this week so that will have to be adjusted.  I was short one mile on Monday’s run and didn’t make it to the gym yesterday.  In my defense I had the hubster with me Monday which was fun.  He is not a runner, has only begun working out in the gym (he had a physical job before the new one so he didn’t work out), so we stopped at two miles.  He did great keeping up with me the two miles as it was so I didn’t want to push him to hard since he doesn’t have the endurance built up for long runs yet.  I am sure he will pass me soon if he continues to run with me! 

As for yesterday, I promised a friend that I would help her shop for decor for her baby girl’s 1st b-day party.  We had plans to go over the weekend, but something came up in her schedule so we had to go yesterday after work.  I opted to use this as an unexpected rest day, so I will have to just go with it.  Beside it was just to much fun to pass up shopping for a baby girl!!

So there is what I ate in my whirlwind Wednesday for this week.  I hope you guys are having a great week.  I have only one more day to work, taking off Friday, so I am excited for a long three day weekend.  I would like to thank Jenn for hosting the party, and remember to head over to her site to see what everyone is up too!

Adventures in the kitchen

Happy hump day to you all!!  It is a very rainy, nasty Wednesday here in south Louisiana…..what else is new?

Oh the joys of living in the south!  As many of you know from yesterday’s post.  Thanks to all who responded, I really appreciate the help.  Of course today is my run day, which if the rain stops this afternoon it will be perfect because it has settled the pollen; however, the hubster has informed me it  is suppose to rain all day.  He is not my favorite person right now!

   

So are you wondering what my kitchen adventures are?  Yeah me too!  Haha, the hubster as you know has to stay up at night so he can sleep during the day for nights he is working……yeah does that make sense, his schedule is so confusing.  One night he sleeps at night, the next he sets an alarm for 1-2 a.m., the next her works all night.  His schedule is confusing, it exhausts me to keep up with it!

Now I am confusing!  I go from kitchen adventures, to staying up at night, to a crazy schedule……maybe I am a little ADD today??  So anyway like I said he is up at night.  Doing what?

Watching infomercials!  then he swears that we have to by the latest, greatest thing.  I normally just nod my head and ignore him.  I finally gave in just once.  Hopefully this was not a mistake.  So I ordered this new super wave cooker that is basically suppose to work like a convection oven.  We shall see…..

It surely is neat looking while cooking!  We had the package delivered yesterday so I threw in cinnamon rolls this morn just to use it.  We are going to roast a chicken in the thing this eve so I will have a better review on it tomorrow.  This baby is suppose to cook all sorts of ways…….bake, roast, broil, steam, air fry, etc.  Oh and it is self cleaning…love!!  At least I hope I do!  You see we hate using the oven in spring/summer because the house gets so hot with it on….gotta love the south!  We did have a small oven on the counter, but let’s get real – you can’t really cook a whole lot in those things.  So I am hoping this little baby becomes my new best “kitchen friend”.  Oh and cook times are basically less than regular oven, and meat doesn’t have to be thawed to cook 🙂

But let’s get to the really important stuff ok!  What I’ve been eating!  I have really concentrated on my healthy foods the past few days.  You see I put on about five pounds over the last two weeks.  I know some of it is water retention/bloat, but let’s be honest – alcohol, sweets, and eating out takes a toll very quickly!’

    

I am back to my old reliable oats with nut butter and fruit in the mornings for breakfast.  It is a trusty combination that I always turn to.  So easy and portable if need be.

Snacks have been lot’s of boiled eggs, lol!  Thanks Easter bunny.  I did grab some celery and hummus this weekend so I have been enjoying that as well….oh and my trusty old yogurt.  Which I still have a lot of the flavored ones so I am trying to use those up in order to go back to my plain sweetened with stevia.  I gotta get some sugar out of my diet!

Lunches are always some type of leftovers or salads.  This lunch day was quinoa with steamed veggies (which I forgot to photo….epic fail), always a great fav as well.  It is so easy to throw this together for a quick and healthy lunch! 

Dinner last night was chosen by the boys.  They wanted manwich, which makes me cringe, but I have to give them what they like.  So what is a mom to do when her goal is to incorporate more vegetarian dishes into meals?  Turn to the trusty Mama Pea!  I purchased her new cook book via iBooks so I was all ready to try out something.  I made the boys their manwich with ground meat as asked for, and this little mama had sloppy Josephines!  Which is basically using lentils in the place of the ground meat. 

Let’s not forget the side salad.  Tons of veggies stuffed into this dinner!  Oh and I picked up a bottle of white truffle oil over the holiday at TJ Maxx for five books.  So. YUMMY!!

Now I have to be reasonable with having dessert.  After all we eat at like 5-5:30 so I am totally hungry again before bed.  My sweet tooth is crazy lately because of all the Easter foods I have had, but I want to be more conscious of my foods.  So I opted for sliced strawberries with dark chocolate dreams nut butter.  Less sugar than Easter candy, healthy nutrients, and served as a great dessert!  I love strawberry season 🙂

So now the goal is to stay on track with this eating even through the weekends.  With the exception of some wine Thursday night.  The girl’s always attend our local wine bar’s wine tasting twice a month….it’s our girl thing, so I will still participate in it.  I am trying to stick to more wine when drinking socially than beer since beer tends to really, really bloat me.  That and the fact that good wines are made without added sugar!  The way I see it is if it is okay for me to eat a bowl of grapes, then I should be able to drink a glass of wine, lol!!

Have a great Wednesday, and do not forget to head over to Jenn’s to check out all the other WIAW posts out there!

Random Eats

Hello my wonderful friends, how is your week going?  Mine is hectic as usual.  There are times when I sit and wonder what life would be like if my schedule wasn’t so hectic, I must say the thought is kind of frightening!

But today is what I ate Wednesday, which will show you randomness from a hectic week.  I do believe that each photo was snapped on a different day over the course of the past week.  I had all intentions of documenting a full day of eats, only to get so busy that I would scarf down food without thinking about pics.  This seems to be the norm for me lately.  However, several of the meals/snacks have been repeated on different days so it could be very likely that both were eaten with a day.  Oh well we love randomness  right?

I have the joys of waking up to the hubster cooking breakfast several times a week now with his new work schedule.  You see if it is his night off he is awake when we get up for school/work.  So he cooks our breakfasts for us while we dress, then cleans the kitchen, and once we leave he if off to bed himself.  He is such a great house wife husband.

 

When the hubby is working he comes home in the mornings after we do which leaves us to throw together breakfast on our own.  I have been scarfing down ezekial cinnamon raisin toast with peanut butter like it is my J.O.B.!

  

Or I may opt for a bowl of cereal with fruit if I could eat the bowl while driving!  It is usually so hectic trying to get the kiddos ready that I eat breakfast on the go.  I found the above cereal at my WalMart last week!  I was so super excited……see that ingredient list!  Just brown rice 🙂

Now I have to admit it doesn’t taste or have the texture of the usual brown rice krispie type cereal.  It reminds me of sugar smacks without the sugar.  It is lighter, softer, but oh so fun to eat.  Kohl loves it and guess what?  It cost all of one, yep ONE dollar!  I purchased two bags, lol!

The other day I was really in the mood for a snacky type of lunch.  I didn’t feel like really cooking anything, I didn’t have any leftovers, and let’s face it I just wanted to snack.  So I made a snack plate with crackers/cheese, apple slices, and peanut butter!

Now this first picture was the man’s meal!  He wanted a “steak sandwich” so that is what I gave him.  You simply slice up cube steak, season with whatever seasoning you like (we use cajun naturally), and throw it in a pan of butter to cook.  Not the healthiest but not the worst either.  I use real butter, none of the imitation stuff around here!

 

Of course this portion of the meal was the woman’s part!  I love salads.  In the mix is lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, peppers, and snap peas.  All topped with a local sweet onion dressing from our produce stand…………wow now my mouth is watering!

Snacks have been a little more on the healthier side this past week that usual.  Except for the cookies and brownies (homemade), but in my defense I did eat smaller portions.  I have learned to only cook part of the recipe (place remaining batter in fridge) in order to help with portion control.  If  I only cook enough for the fam then I have no temptation to nibble again later 🙂

But I did make some healthy fudge this past week.  I have to make more tonight, I am already missing it!

• 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
• 1/8 cup honey
• 4 T cocoa powder (I use dark chocolate)
• 1/4 t vanilla

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl, place saran wrap in bottom of a small dish (I have a small square ramekin), and place in the fridge to set.  You have to keep this fudge in the fridge.

It is so good.  The original recipe called for 1/4 cup of honey as well, but I found the 1/8 cup to be perfect. 

And now for my new obsession!  It is strawberry season here in Louisiana, yay!!  I have local berries in my fridge so I am a happy, happy girl.  This mix is so simple.  I placed a chobani coffee with dark chocolate chips in the freezer and topped with sliced strawberries.  The. Best. Dessert. EVER!!  It is a must try, trust me 🙂

Thanks to Jenn for hosting, have a wonderful Wednesday!

WIAW…hodgepodge of stuff

Hello my lovlies, how is your week going?  Mine, not to shabby I must admit.  I went for a little run yesterday (the first in a week or so), and the wind kicked my butt!!

It was definitely blowing because my pace was between 11-12 (usually have a 10 pace),  and I was so out of breath/exhausted that I stopped at mile two.  Of course the whole not running consistently lately is not helping matters.  So I am going back today!

This week has been a hodgepodge of eats, with some yumminess all combined 🙂

Of course the only form of veggies I have had would be salads (which I love), but I am so ready for spring produce!!

Breakfast was overnight oats with chia seeds, yogurt, stevia, almond milk, and blueberries.

Morning snack is my new obsession – sweet potato with strawberry cream cheese laughing cow wedge melted in!  This combination is AH – MA – ZING!!!  Of course the cinnamon cream cheese wedge is yummy as well, and you would think it would be my fav since cinnamon goes with sweet potatoes – not the case.  I love the strawberry 🙂

Lunch was spinach, apple, pecan salad with warm vinaigrette.  Love. This. Salad.  I simply toast the pecans in a pan on the stove, chop some apple for the mix, and throw in a soft boiled egg.  The dressing in a combination of 2 tbs olive oil, 1 tbs apple cider vinegar, 1 tsp dijon mustard, few drops of stevia – then warm it in the microwave before serving.

Afternoon snack was a Simple protein bar that I didn’t photograph 😦

But dinner was a splurge for sure……..

     

The yumminess of fried backstrap, homemade gravy, and mashed potatoes!  This is totally a country girl weakness.  Now while there is not much country about me as far as likes/dislikes when it comes to clothing, fashion, outdoors, etc.  I am a sucker for some country food….oh and I do have my little accent as well, lol! 

The hubster was all about frying some backstrap for dinner last night.  So I went along with it.  With every intention of grilling a few pieces for me to go with my salad (which I did eat but un-pictured).  Yeah that was until I pulled the bacon grease (I know you health food diehards are cringing right now) out of the cupboard.  This was used to make a roux for the gravy.  Now let me tell you something – when you caramelize onion in butter (yep cringe again) for 15 minutes, add some bacon grease to the pan with some flour and beef broth…….THE  BEST GRAVY EVER!  I seriously could drink it.  Oh and you must, I mean MUST, use a cast iron skillet!  It is a key component as well.  So now that I have given you all a heart attack by just reading the words on this post – in my defense it was a small portion!  BUT I LOVED EVERY BITE!

p.s. – I had a biscuit too….gasp….

But onto something that will calm you down, make you smile, and get things exciting around here……this came yesterday!

SIGH…..Sam Edelman wedges and BCBG heels.  I can’t wait for warm weather.  Oh and these are not the only things I have had delivered lately.  I promise a massive shoe haul is coming really soon!!

Now head on over to Jenn’s blog to see what is up with everyone else.  Oh and don’t forget to congratulate her for her little pea in the pod 🙂

Mardi Gras – WIAW

Hello my wonderful friends!  How is your week so far?  Well for me it is fab at this point since this is my first day at work this week 🙂

 

 

I mean a little drizzly rain/shower can’t stop us!  We are true Louisianans 🙂

         

Oh year Mardi Gras was going down, and we went all out for Fat Tuesday!!

No while my morning started with a healthy breakfast of brown rice w/ milk and laughing cow cheese wedge – lunch was totally not of the healthy variety!  We treated the boys to Steak N Shake after the parade.  They love to eat their, and if I am honest so do I!

I mean who doesn’t love to eat in a swanky diner where you can wear paper hats?

And get your very own swanky cardboard car!  This is the kid in me kid heaven I tell ya!

Carolina slaw dog for mom w/ chili and shoe string fries, a nice glass of cold iced tea (unsweetened)….in my defense their franks are all beef and there is a little veggie action going on with the cole slaw, hehe!

Have you ever been to a Steak N Shake?  I tell you those shakes are massive!  I am talking 1950’s share with your sweet heart style 🙂

Luckily I had the will power to stop there because the above photos were just about to get me into trouble!  After lunch we did a little shopping in town.  Oh and we had to get the hubster a new phone line on my plan.  Remember the thing we were celebrating a few weeks ago that I couldn’t really go into detail about?  Well now I can tell all…..

The hubster started a new job this week!!  It is a little bitter sweet.  I mean the new job is a great opportunity with good benefits, retirement, more time off, etc, but we will all miss his old job.  His boss was so wonderful to us!  Now he is working shift work at 12 hour shifts with the whole work 3, off 2, work 2, off 3 schedule – hence the more time off.  The only down fall is that he will be on night shift, but this was necessary in order to get the salary that we are use to him making (they get paid more for nights).  He also has opportunities for growth, raises, quarterly bonuses, etc.  His cell was a company line so we had to add him to my plan….it just gave me an excuse to drag him out shopping.  Where I scored a new 6 quart crock pot w/ locking lid for 25$$$

Then it was home to cook dinner.  I decided to add some veggies into this meal for sure after the lovely lunch we had…

A nice glass of cucumber water, everything is better in a wine glass right?  This reminds me I forgot to make my pitcher of nectarine water to put in fridge this morn 😦

Grilled pork chop (only ate 1/2), brown rice w/ red beans (1/4 cup), spinach salad, and kale chips.  I know it sounds like a ton of food but very small portions!

Then after dinner I enjoyed a nice slice of blueberry cream cheese king cake.  And yes, I stuffed that thing in my mouth so fast that a picture was not happening. 

Sadly this only kicked off my massive sweet tooth which lead me to dip into a tiny scoop of the hubster’s ice cream, and then a palm full of my favorite dark chocolate espresso trail mix 😦

This people is why I try my best to avoid all super sweet desserts.  Had I opted for just the trail mix I would have been fine.  You give me a super sweet dessert, and I want chocolate the rest of the night!  Must come up with something for Valentine’s that is not so tempting 🙂

Happy Wednesday guys.  Don’t forget to head over to Jenn’s blog and check out what everyone is eating lately – it is great inspiration.  Oh and Jenn, please forgive my lack of veggies this week – it was carnival 🙂

WIAW; is it a rumor??

It is still gloomy in my little corner of the world today.  My body is officially in sleep mode.  I am serious!  I really think that I feel so unmotivated to get up and go because I haven’t seen the sun in 9…….yep 9 whole days!!!!!

Rumor has it it will be sunny tomorrow.  Rumor has it that it will be sunny the remainder of the week.  This makes me happy, and I so hope that this is true because I can’t handle Lake Garner any longer.  There is nothing like wearing rubber boots just to get to your car for work!

Then of course there is the rumor of snow???  Yeah like that will happen!  Supposedly we will have a chance of flurries tonight around 11 or so…..well I will be sleeping so who cares.  That and it appears that the precipitation is moving out which makes snow pretty much impossible.  So I am going to go with rumor on this!!

On  brighter note I have some yummy work day eats to share with you guys.  I promise these are true eats……not rumor! 

I decided to put oats back into my life this past week/weekend.  It seemed to be a fitting time to do this since I have been seeing so many pics on instagram of oats.  So here are my lovely OIAJ (oats in a jar) that I enjoyed for breakfast.  Sadly my tummy felt bloated and yucky after I ate this.  I am not sure if I just am not digesting oats well making this a grain that I need to stay away from, or if it is possibly cross contamination of gluten since they are a store brand of oats??  I really want to give this a try in a few weeks with some gluten free oats, but I hate to shell out those kinds of bucks if it is my system not working well with the grain.  So they are off limits for the next few weeks while I clear the system!

 

Yesterday’s lunch was a yummy bowl of leftover chili, cornbread casserole, and cauliflower.  I made this for dinner on Monday night, along with a little treat in celebration.  I already had the chili frozen in the freezer so I whipped together the casserole and steamed the cauliflower to go with it.  I only had a small scoop of the casserole since it is made with Jiffy cornbread, and I knew that this would upset my tummy 😦

• box of cornbread
• 1 egg
• 1 can cream style corn
• 1 can whole kernel corn – drained
• tsp garlic
• tsp paprika
• 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese

preheat oven to 425*, mix all ingredients together in a bowl, pour in a baking pan that has been sprayed with non stick spray, and bake for about 20 minutes or so!

It is one of the hubster’s favorite dishes so I had to make it for him! 

My snacks lately have been really simple.  Usually a handful of pecans & raisins that I have mixed together in a little baggie at work, a clementine, a banana, or a small chobani on occasion.

Then I made this!  I love hummus!  Now beans aren’t so great with my little system, but I tend to be able to handle a little of this ok.  I think it is mainly because it is a scoop of hummus with my veggies as opposed to a bowl of beans for dinner, but I love it so it is worth the tummy troubles!

I swear when I am older I will possibly not be able to eat anything at all!!  At leas that is how it feels when you deal with digestive issues.  Pretty much all of my favorite foods bother my tummy in some way 😦

Dinner last night was a bowl of ground beef and veggie soup, which I do not have a picture of.  No it is not because I forgot, I hated the pics.  They were horrible.  The lighting was bad, the color was totally orange, and it was just one of those situations when you would rather not have a pic than a really bad one.  Just to share with you it was a basic veggie and beef soup recipe, but I used browned ground meat as opposed to chunks of beef.

Now of course I have to share this with you guys as well!  We had reason to celebrate Monday night, and so we opted to have another taste of it last night as well!  I still have to hold off a little on telling the news, but this recipe is to die for if you have a special celebration.  It is the Pioneer Woman’s knock you naked brownies.  Oh boy are they delish!!  If you want the recipe simply visit her site to get it, but I will tell you they are really rich and sweet so don’t try to go with your regular brownie serving size!

And since I had some lovely gluten in my system yesterday, along with some sugar, I had to get things back to normal today.  With the oats issue those are out this week for quick breakfasts, so I went with a green monster.  This way I know my system will get the kick start it needs.  In the mix:

• 3/4 cup almond milk
• 1 tbs flax seed
• 1 tbs peanut butter
• handful of kale
• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1/2 scoop of chocolate protein powder
• ice

It was super yummy.  Now you may be asking why only 1/2 scoop of the powder?  I put a few drops of stevia in the mix, then remembered that I needed to add protein since I didn’t use yogurt.  I didn’t want it to be too sweet so I only put 1/2 scoop in.  Yep, I’m a goober at times!!

What is your favorite mix for green monsters?

Oh and rumor has it that there is a fab link up WIAW party over at Peas and Crayons – Jenn is an awesome host, so head on over there to check it out!!