Bread Pudding Doesn't Cure the Blues

Finally a day off of work!
I woke up late and had Cream of Wheat plus an Italian Roast coffee.
Lunch was on the road, and I didn't have a camera on me. Someone brought home a piece of bread pudding with Jack Daniels butter sauce. It was tasty, but too sweet.
Dinner was late. I've been meaning to roast that acorn squash, but I didn't feel up to it today. I've been feeling blue.
Tonight we had an easy dinner- boyfriend made burritos. Mine had rice, beans, cheese, salsa, and onions.
We split a beer, a Modelo that has been hanging out in the back of the fridge for months.
Tomorrow and the next day I will be traveling for work, so there will be no blog posts. Unfortunately the weather looks bad where I'm going too! Hail and severe thunderstorms - keep your fingers crossed for me.

Surf 'n' Surf Burger

So for breakfast I tried something different - a breakfast cookie inspired by the fitnessista. For my base I used 1/2 cup of rolled oats, 1/8 cup of sweetened almond milk, 1 tablespoon of Jif peanut butter, and a dab of carnation instant breakfast. (She and most people use protein powder, so I felt like I should use something)For my add-ins I used shredded coconut, 2 crumbled walnuts, and a few chocolate chunks.If you've never heard of the breakfast cookie, here's what you do: you mash the uncooked oatmeal, peanut butter, protein powder (or carnation instant breakfast in my case), and almond milk (or any milk) together, then you mix in your desired add ins, like mashed banana, nuts, chocolate of any form, and dried fruit. Then you form the ingredients into a little cookie shape, usually on an appetizer plate, and refrigerate overnight. I knew I would be bringing mine to work so I flattened my cookie into a tupperware. Classy, I know.The next morning it was tasting time! Verdict: Two thumbs up! It was definitely more like eating dough than a baked cookie, but I didn't mind. Also, I used more oatmeal than her recipe, I think the fitnessista uses 1/3 of a cup, but I tend to eat 1/2 of a cup of oats, so I stuck with that.
In the future I will experiment with toppings and maybe get some protein powder, although I don't think I need it. Or do I?
Snack time was a veggie smorgasbord.with boyfriend's hummus+ a fruit stripLunch was leftover shells and cheese with broccoli and shrimp. It was tasty, although the romano was a tad rubbery.Later I had a pear and an unpictured Zbar.
Dinner was a surf and surf burger.
Here are the layers - 1st an Orowheat thin, spread with Laughing Cow creamy swiss, topped with grape tomato halves. Step 2: a salmon burger patty
Step 3: add shrimp!
Step 4: profit! enjoy
On the side I had Food Should Taste Good chips with salsa
I also drank what has become my favorite mocktail - a club soda with a splash of cranberry juice and a squeeze of lime.
Tasty!

Back to the Grind

As per usual, Monday morning was rushed. For breakfast I had a Kashi Dark Chocolate Coconut barand half a grapefruit
I snacked later on half a Blueberry Crisp Clif
I surprised myself by liking this one. I don't usually like fruit flavored granola bars. I prefer muffins or the real thing!
I dragged my butt to the gym today. Was so not feeling it, but once I was there everything was fine. Isn't that always the case?
For lunch I packed an enchilada and a half, plus extra tomatilla sauce. I listened to my senses and only ate a whole enchilada. 2/3 of the below picture. It was so tasty.On the side I ate a carrot and a few grape tomatoes.I missed my hummus, although the carrots and tomatoes didn't really need it. Very good produce.
I was super-snacky today, and I think it was all due to being very tired. I had almonds and puffins. Sorry for the recycled pics, I have no excuse.Dinner was a success. I made a pasta with broccoli and shrimp. It was topped with pecorino romano, and liberally spiced with red pepper flakes and roasted garlic. Yum!
This post has to be a little short because Mr. Beans needs to further his education and write a paper!
'Til next time - check out the fruit basket my mater bought me. Wasn't that sweet? Nice pears too! I can't wait to eat them.

Father Knows Best

Breakfast was an egg in a basket, and coffee. I wanted grapefruit, but I'm saving it for tomorrow. We made our way over to my parents house for Sunday lunch. While preparing the feast we drank wine and ate apples, cheese, and crackers.My dad did the bulk of the cooking today. Here he is putting twice baked potatoes in the oven while we sat around and drank wine.They came out of the oven perfect. They're stuffed with onions, bell pepper, cheese, and bacon.Also on the menu, salad my mother made:
Steaks grilled to perfection on the George Foreman
And we moved on to Chimay for lunch.My plate:

After this, we had coffee and I shared a cookie with my mother. I think I had most of it though.
I drove home very sleepily and collapsed. After I awoke I had a leftover enchilada (expect to see this for lunch tomorrow too). I love that green sauce! I'm drinking a mocktail of cranberry-grape juice and club soda.
"I'll have another cointreau and sody."
Has anyone seen "The Big Picture"? Not a great movie, but a few funny lines.

Saturday Shopping + Enchiladas

It was a late night the night before, so we decided upon breakfast away from home as a treat. We went to Zeeland Street Market, a local neighborhood joint that serves breakfast and lunch. I would describe the menu as eclectic southern home cooking, part comfort and part healthy.
We both got BESTs- bacon, egg, sprout, tomato sandwiches on wheat toast. My sandwich was awesome, except it had mayonnaise on it, and it was the sweet stuff. Next time I'll order no mayo for sure, since I'm not a big fan of Miracle Whip. They're not stingy with the sprouts, unlike some restaurants.
It hit the spot. We ate our sandwiches while driving, which I hate, but we drove to my favorite coffee shop and got drinks, so all was forgiven. I forgot to take a picture of my drink, but here's an old one:
After drinking this I was geared up to do my shopping for the day. I hit up Target, Albertson's, and Fresh Pickins.
Fruit from FP: California Valencia oranges, Bartlett Pears (cheap!!!), unwaxed apples, and limes (for drinkies)
Veggies: broccoli, carrots, grape tomatoes, large onion, avocado (stone fruit really), beets.
and the prize - - - - - an Acorn Squash Fun stuff from Target and Albertson's included: Pomegranate fruit strips, Food Should Taste Good The Works! chips, Kashi bars, nice jam (on sale), cheese, and Clif bars.Then for a late lunch, I ate some leftover stirfry, but added frozen green beans.I'm trying to put a dent in the freezer and cabinet while buying more crap every week!
After the stirfry I ate one of the Kashi bars. I see a lot of the pumpkin pie ones in blogland, but decided to try the dark chocolate coconut. Pretty good!
Also - I scoured all of the stores looking for the Celestial Seasonings Holidays teas to no avail. I guess it's just not cold enough here for Holiday drinks.

Juicin'
We made some juice as a snack, and because both of us are fighting a virus. This juice was supposed to be for breakfast, but we skipped out and ate bacon instead. :)
The ingredients included several Texas navel oranges, 2 carrots, a red delicious and a granny smith apple from the corner store, a grapefruit, and a quickly deteriorating pear.It was gooooood.
For dinner I made a childhood favorite: my mother's famous chicken enchiladas. I have a copy of the sacred recipe preserved.
Ingredients:
Chicken breasts
8 oz sour cream
grated cheese
can of green chilies
condensed cream of chicken soup
flour tortillas

Directions:
Cook chicken, cut in pieces. Mix together on low heat sour cream, cheese, chilies, and soup to make sauce. Soften tortillas in skillet. Spread a little bit of the sauce on the bottom of casserole dish. Place chicken in tortillas, spread sauce inside, roll up, put in pan, cover with remaining sauce. Sprinkle cheese on top. Cover with aluminum foil, cook at 350 for 20 minutes.

Notes:
Oh enchiladas, how I love thee! I use four small chicken breasts, but feel free to use any chicken bits (or whatever) you have. The sour cream this time was light, but I would like to try greek yogurt or cottage cheese. As for the cheese - as easy as possible, a bag of preshredded "mexican blend" cheese. (What am I, Rachel Ray?) The green chilies is up to the cook, and I prefer to use as many as possible (i.e. the BIG can). Cream of whatever soup will work. And lastly, tortillas: I prefer the small fajita/soft taco size as they fit in my pan nicely, but this time I picked up 2 packs of large tortillas just in case we made burritos. I used 9 or 10 tortillas,
I made some alterations this time. I added black beans, wild rice, black olive, and red bell pepper. Also, I usually just mix all of my ingredients together and use as a filling because it's easy.
Tonight I topped it with a green taco sauce (tomatilla based) and a little cheese. Still very rich and delicious.Yum Yum Gimme Some!
Unfortunately Mr. Greens had to work all evening. I've been cleaning, but I think I'm ready to retire with a good book and maybe a treat. Or two!Has anyone had these?
When I was looking at the Kashi bars these little things popped out at me as a must try. They are 80 calories a bar, and quite good if you have self control. I don't know if I do!