Summery Oats and more TJ’s goodies

Thank you guys so much for your comments from my last post…I loved reading them, and you guys are so thoughtful :)

When I woke up this morning I knew I wanted to make oats before heading to the gym for Body Pump! 

I had a nice ripe banana, and was craving the warm, gooey, almond butter mix!  I also was DYING to try some with PB and that amazing marshmallow cream I have…s’mores oats anyone?  I’ll have to do a full on bowl of S’more’s oats one day, because today I also had fresh berries for my bowl.

It ended up to be a very summery mixture and to top it off I was craving an ICED cappuccino this morning!

Some of the stars of this breakfast included:

That cereal tastes like a fabulous TJ’s version of Honey Bunches of Oats!  I loved a little crunch in my oat toppings.

The main nut butter was the raw almond butter, but I had a tiny bit of the White Choc. Wonderful to try it out with the marshmallow cream.  SUCH a good combo!!

Into the pot this morning went:

• 1/3 cup each: oats, water, skim milk
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 rip banana

At the end:

• drop of vanilla bean paste
• few shakes of cinnamon
• blueberries
• 1 sliced strawberry

Toppings!

• TJ’s honey crunch ‘n oats cereal
• 2 more strawberries
• more blueberries
• dollop of Almond butter
• tiny bit of White Choc. Wonderful PB
• spoon of vanilla marshmallow cream!

Amazing breakfast.

Enjoyed with an iced latte.  I made a double shot of espresso, poured over ice until chilled.   Added cold skim milk, and foamed up a little milk for the top!  Perfecto.

 

Iced coffee drinks just oooze of SUMMER to me.  Too bad it was barely 30 degrees today…meh.

After some digesting, I went to Body Pump!  Always kicks my muscles into gear:  felt the burn! 

Sooooo, I went grocery shopping yesterday…by my self.  Yeah, I tend to spend a lot longer lingering and looking around when I have no one else with me.  It was nice, and I found some new things to try. 

TJ’s Whole Wheat Tuscan Pane.  WOW, this bread is fabulous.  Soft, chewy, doughy, whole-wheat deliciousness.  I took a bite, and immediately dipped my next bite in some olive oil…SO good.

This was on their New Product shelf:  Almond Butter with Roasted Flaxseed!

It’s like their regular roasted AB, but definitely a deeper roasted flavor, and more crunch to it with the whole flaxseeds.  I really enjoyed it with a…Jazz Apple!

After hearing so much about these apples from Tina as well as Stop & Shop commercials for them!?  I jumped on the Jazzy bandwagon.  They are definitely good, but tastes really similar to a Gala apple to me.  Not that there’s anything wrong, I was just expecting to be blown away :)

As you can see I also added a Babybel Original cheese to my snack.  Not that these are anything new, but I hadn’t had them in forever and forgot how GOOD they are!!  Soft, creamy, tangy!  Lots of flavor.

 

P.S. we finally  had a fire in our fireplace!! 

       Yay :)

Ok time to make dinner.  I’m making Ellie’s Greek Style Stuffed Peppers.          

My Dad Loved Food

I was trying to think about how to write this post tonight.  I wanted to post, but I knew if I did today I’d have a hard time not mentioning this particular day.  Today is 3 years since my dad passed away.  I don’t want this to be a sad post…so lets make it happy :)

Don’t get me wrong, my mom is a fantastic cook and loves food…but I have to give my dad credit for my LOVE of food, maybe even an obsession for amazing tasting food! 

He used to be a power lifter back in the day, and would tell me he used to eat about 10,000 calories a day to try to gain weight!?  Ok I never inherited that problem haha.  Even after he stopped the serious lifting, he was always active…and I can definitely say I got my love of fitness and health 100% from him, as well as my love of goodies :) 

Yeah he was a man who LOVED his dessert.  Homemade pies, cakes, cookies, ICE CREAM, chocolate…you name it!  Even now, when I go into a bakery I find myself looking at some amazingly looking treat and thinking “oooo daddy would of loved that!”.  And I love that I still have those thoughts even now.  Man I wish I had some of my old photos scanned in!!  There’s this great one of him and me at my 4th birthday holding a big pie in front of our faces with a huge grin on his face :)  I gotta show you that one sometime…when I get to a scanner. 

So I have to give my dad a big shout out and Thank you for passing on the passion and love of delicious things, AND teaching me how you can still enjoy delicious treats while maintaining your health :)

As I was writing I just remember I DO have a digital photo…from the wedding!!!  When I walked down the aisle with my mom, I carried a locket around my bouquet with his picture inside :)

And here’s mom and me down the aisle…

Ahhh I need to stop myself from going crazy with the wedding pics….BUT this just gave my the kick in the pants to FINALLY start sharing my big day with you!!!  So expect to see more wedding pics in the near future :)

And now for some tots…yes, the potato kind. 

Brian, 2 min ago:  “did you blog about my tots yet?”  haha boys.  Yeah he slipped a bag of potato tots into the cart last weekend.

This was his dinner tonight:  Tots, and an Amy’s burrito :)

Not gonna lie, I had a few.  I had just returned from a SUPER SWEATY hot power yoga class, and I was huuuuungry. 

My real dinner was a quick salad of: baby spinach, shredded carrots, cucumber, hummus, red wine vinegar and a little olive oil and hot sauce.

 

Unpictured, but I also had a half of a pita with American cheese melted in it.

Dessert anyone?  I made a make-shift s’more:  Ha lf of a graham cracker, few chocolate chips, and some of this amazing substance: 

its basically a tub of like all natural Fluff!!  I found it at Whole Foods and already bought another container.  (oh and just trying to find it online, I just found out it’s a Boston based company…COOL!)

 

Threw that into the micro for 10 seconds. 

 

Mmmmmm  gooey.

 

Tomorrow’s Friday….HOLLER!  Anything fun planned for this weekend.  I am heading down to Rhode Island right after work to visit a friend :) 

 

Chili Pot

Just got back from dance class a little while ago…and my foot didn’t hurt, YAY! I made a little roast beef sandwich on a sandwich thing with cuc’s and tomatoes…sorry went un-pictured.

The pictures are from last night when I made Turkey and Bean chili from Real Simple magazine!!

It was part of their special section on 400 calorie meals (or less!).

This one was less, right around 337 calories!

The recipe makes 4 servings, so I doubled it so we’d have lots of leftovers.

I was also SO excited to christen this baby:

Isn’t she beautiful :)

Using my new pot (well Dutch oven technically), made sautéing peppers, onions, and garlic so much more enjoyable.

All the ingredients.

Since I double the recipe and would need 4 cans of beans, I did half kidney beans and half black beans…cause I love me some black beans!

Simmered. I did end up adding some more chili powder, cumin, a little garlic powder, and a couple teaspoons of cocoa powder…but all in all a great recipe! Tasted even better today at lunch.

Served with just a tiny bit of cheese, low-fat sour cream, and lots of fresh cilantro.

Also baked up some cornbread…I heart cornbread.

This was a delicious and filling chili, and you get a lot for that 337 calorie serving.

P.S. Lately, my chocolate craving has been satisfied by pieces of this little orange ball of love. This was in my Christmas stocking :)

Workout Updates!

Saturday (1/23) Hot Yoga…one of the sweatiest in a long time!

Monday (1/25) Body Combat…again, one of the sweatiest. It think it was the combination of a warmer humid day + lots of new people in class

Tuesday (1/26) Jazz Class – 90min. Love it!

Wednesday (1/27) – off (class after work)

Thursday (1/28) – Hot Yoga – I have 1 more class left on my card that expires the 29th!

Friday (1/29) – Off

Weekend – Not sure yet, would really like to run depending on the weather. If not I’ll be hitting up Body Pump and some cardio at the gym on Sunday.

Oats + Jar

Finally, finally, I was able to try out the infamous Oats In a Jar!  Ever since Brian discovered the amazingness that is Almond Butter, we’ve been going through it a little faster than normal.

Can’t say I’m too upset though, because I new exactly what to do with that almost-empty jar!

I’ve seen it all over blog world and it always looks delicious…and it was!

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/3 cup skim milk
• 1/3 cup water
• salt
• drop of vanilla bean paste
• 1/2 big banana

Toppings:

• blueberries
• unsweetened coconut
• a little Kashi U crushed up
• a bit more Almond Butter from a new jar :)
  
  

I haven’t had oats in what seems like forever now, and it was as delicious as I can remember.  I plan on having more tomorrow for b-fast!

I then made Brian and I some Sunday morning cappuccinos

2 shots

cold milk

FOAM!!

Delicious.

Sunday Dinner at Mom’s

My mom invited us for dinner.  She made one of her favorites…Spanish Steak.  It’s a simple, 1 pot dish, that goes way back…I’m not even sure how far back but I know my grandfather used to eat it growing up!  Don’t be fooled by the name though…I’m pretty sure the only “Spanish” thing about it is the Spanish olives :)  SO good though!!

She used her new pot we got her for Christmas

Mmmm comfort food!

Oven baked potatoes.   I ate half and saved half for lunch tomorrow.

Delicious salad: lettuce, tomato, cucumber, green apple, dried cranberries, and blue cheese.  Balsamic dressing was added.

The more temptation…

This is another “oldie”, Cottage Pudding. Not sure why it’s called that, but its homemade white cake (or yellow…whatever you want).  Then topped with a hot chocolate sauce which is basically made of condensed milk and baking chocolate…cooked and stirred until it thickens.

Oh man this was good.  I had a baby piece, and may have gone and picked a little more.

Bed time!!  I leave you with a little Willow love :)