Dizzy Dizzy Dinner

Thank goodness Monday is over. The day was pretty good, but I’m still feeling off.

My equilibrium is just totally out of whack again today! I do not like sitting still yet feeling like I’m moving….just not normal. It’s almost like medicine-head but not. Weird, is all I know.

Needless to say, we didn’t run today because I’m all wacky, but I did snack!

I had some Sweet Potato Food Should Taste Good Chips along with some of my homemade hummus.

 

Okay, I think these sweet potato ones are my favorites – or they’re probably tied with the multigrain AND the Olive ones.

Truthfully, I’ve really liked all of the flavors Beth and Food Should Taste Good sent us to sample. I think what I like best is the texture of these chips – they are perfect for dipping. Not too thick, but not so thin that they break in mid-dippage.

These sweet potato ones are really good in hummus, as are the olive ones.

I had this snack as I finished up work  then Nick and I sat around watching the news and trying to decide whether to run or not…since my head was still being weird, we pushed the run back until tomorrow and I got started on dinner.

This is kind of a cross between my One-Pot Wonder dish and Gumbo-laya.

I have no clue what to call this, so I’ll just list the ingredients:

• 3 cups water
• 1.5 cups quick cooking barley
• 1 bag frozen veggie mix: onion, celery, okra, red pepper, corn
• 4-5 cups kale
• 1.5 cups leftover ham, diced
• 1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp Creole seasoning
• 1 tsp parsley

1. Bring water to a boil and add barley.
2. Let it cook about 5-7 minutes (halfway) then add in the frozen veggies.
3. Once barley is almost cooked, stir in ham, kale, and seasonings and let cook until the water is absorbed and the kale is cooked.
4. Serve!

 

What would you call this dish?

 

I have a feeling there will be a snack tonight….decisions, decisions.

Off to finish watching HIMYM and hope this weirdness goes away.

 

Technorati Tags: barley,beans,ham,kale

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Fun Lunch

Well…today is going, that’s for sure. I’ve been busy all morning and this afternoon will probably be non-stop, too. But I’ll get it all done!

The weather today is just perfect: 70s, a little breezy. I have the AC turned off and the windows open, and I love it.  Although, that makes the trains going by a lot louder 🙂

I was pretty excited about lunch today! I had a new product to use that I bought at the store last week.

I’ve seen these brown rice sushi kits before, but never wanted to pay almost $4.50 for it – they were on special last week, so I finally bit the bullet and got one to try.

I’m so glad I did!

Mine were NOT as pretty as the ones on the box, but they sure did taste good! And it was so easy to get these ready.

I rolled up some cucumber, carrot, and avocado in my sushi. I also made the entire box for me (10 pieces).

I wish we had a sushi place here that used brown rice – I loved it in these!

I also had a plate on the side with some broccoli I just steamed in the microwave, the last of the rice I couldn’t fit in the rolls, a little extra avocado and some soy for dipping.

Yum – I’m already sad it’s gone!

Apparently, Roxy loves the smell of soy sauce because she would not leave me alone while I was eating. She kept trying to get on my plate, in my lap, in my face…maybe she likes sushi?

I just grabbed a small bowl of grapes to finish out lunch – these black grapes have been so good lately.

Back to work I go!

 

Do you like sushi?

Happy Birthday to Rose and a late Happy Birthday to Erin  🙂

Technorati Tags: review,sushi,broccoli,avocado

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Monday, Birthday, Pancakes

Happy Monday! It’s the start of the week when college football begins – you know I’m excited  🙂

 

AND today is my sister’s birthday!!!

Happy Birthday Melissa!!! I love you and miss you and hope you have a great day  :) 

I get to see you in just a few weeks!

 

Since it’s Monday, my sister’s birthday, and I’m working from home today, I decided we needed some pancakes.

Okay, I need pancakes during the week more often.

I used a whole wheat pancake mix and made enough for Nick and me today, plus a few extras for this week.

And yes, that is an over easy egg on my pancakes  🙂

If you like runny eggs and you have never tried this combination, you need to! Pancakes + runny egg + real maple syrup = unbeatable.

These short stack plus some strawberries and coffee make for a great way to start my day.

Off to work!

 

Do you like pancakes or waffles better?

Technorati Tags: pancakes,eggs

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Woozy Run

Boo to Sunday almost being over  :(  It’s been such a nice day! BUT I am ready for Iron Chef, so I better hurry up.

I did make cookies today – I tried this Chocolate Chip Muesli Cookie recipe I saw on the side of my Bob’s Red Mill Muesli bag.

The only changes I made were:

• I made a recipe + 1/2 to make sure we had enough cookies to get Nick through the next few days. So I took each ingredient, used what it called for PLUS half the amount. So, not a full double recipe, but I’m not sure what to call that. A recipe and a half? I guess that works.
• I also ended up using 2/3 cup applesauce and 1/3 cup canola oil because I ran out of applesauce.

They turned out really good, but a little more cakey than cookie. The flavor is great, though, and I love the mixture of the muesli ingredients + chocolate chips.

I had this (times 3) as a pre-run snack today  🙂

 

We got everything on the to-do list done!

• Laundry – last load is drying now and I’ll be folding during Iron Chef
• House is vacuumed
• Cookies are made….and half eaten  🙂
• Dinner – eaten and leftovers put away

We also went for a run today and it was awesome! I felt great the entire time, we did about 3.5 miles, and my pace was pretty good!

The only bad thing about today is my equilibrium has been off? It’s so strange when this happens, and I’m not sure why it does it. I just woke up feeling a little off and it’s been throwing me off all day. Like, I’ll just be sitting here but it feels like I’m moving or off balance, you know? So weird.

The good thing is I didn’t feel like that while we were running.

We got back home from running, vacuumed, took quick showers, then headed up to the garden to pick another 4-5 pounds of these:

More green + purple beans!

I already knew I was using some with dinner tonight, but I went ahead and washed all of them so I’ll only have to trim them this week when I’m ready to use them.

And check out the purple ones!

They’re green on the inside! They are so pretty…I kind of wish they would stay purple when they cooked!

I cooked a ham tonight, along with a sort-of green bean casserole-y dish.

For the green beans, I cooked them in beef broth until tender.

While the beans were cooking, I sauteed some mushrooms in a little oil, added 1 Tbsp of flour to the mushrooms until it cooked/absorbed, then added the beans and some of the broth to the mushrooms. Let that cook down and the broth thicken up from the bit of flour, add some salt and pepper and serve!

And since we have a few tomatoes that needed to be eaten, I just sliced up a perfect little golden jubilee to have on the side.

Good Sunday dinner  🙂

Alright, I gotta get folding so I don’t miss any of the cooking action! It’s BATTLE COCONUT tonight! Better tune in – there should be some good dishes!

 

Technorati Tags: ham,green beans,mushrooms,cookie

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Sunday Splits

What is it about Sundays? They start off so calm and smooth, but then they just fly by! I can’t believe it’s already 2 pm.

Nick had to go early to do sound today at church, so we didn’t make our normal Sunday breakfast.

 

It had been a while since I made Banana Split Oatmeal, and I had some bananas that were at perfect ripeness this morning.

I cooked up a batch of chia oats –

• 1/2 cup oats, 1 cup water, pinch salt
• 1/2 Tbsp chia seeds
• cinnamon

I split a banana lengthwise in a bowl and spooned on the oatmeal once it was cooked.

Then I topped it with a few raspberries, a Tbsp of cinnamon raisin pb, and a drizzle of local honey.

I really like having oatmeal like this – it cools down so fast after getting it out of the bowl so I can eat even sooner  🙂

I left for church a bit early, so I also stopped and got me and Nick a drink.

I got Nick an iced blueberry tea, and I decided to try their iced coffee with some skim milk added. I loved it! No sugar, no flavors…nothing but good, perfectly-brewed iced coffee + milk. It was just what I wanted this morning, and so much cheaper than getting a latte or something else.

We came home for lunch and split some of the dinner leftovers from last night.

Pasta leftovers are the best!

I put some eggplant slices in the toaster oven to heat them up and keep them crispy while Nick made some more garlic bread. All that was left was to heat up the green beans/broccoli and leftover pasta!

Easy. And this bread is really good. I’m already sad that it’s almost gone. It’s so seedy!

I’ve got one load of laundry washing and one load drying right now and a full day ahead!

• Finish laundry
• Vacuum upstairs
• Make dinner
• Bake cookies

I guess I better get moving!

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Minty Finish

Dusting? Done.

Bathroom cleaning? Done.

Vacuuming? Half-way done  :)  The downstairs is done, but the upstairs is not.

Laundry? Started.

I’m not a fan of doing all this cleaning and housework stuff on the weekends, but it just never gets done during the week between work, running, cooking, and doing other stuff around the house. Plus, we’re always around the house anyways, so it works out well.

I had a Cashew Cookie larabar while cleaning – good! I liked it.

After cleaning for a bit, I started on dinner.

I made us some Eggplant Parmesan with tomato / meat sauce and some whole wheat pasta. Plus Christie’s Sweet & Spicy Garlic Green Beans, and I also added broccoli to the pan of beans.

The eggplant (local! woo!) I just sliced and salted and let it sit for 5-10 minutes. Then I mixed together some cornmeal, parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning mix, garlic powder and a little salt. I dredged each slice in the cornmeal mixture, put it on a foil-lined baking sheet and baked at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, turning over halfway through.

While the eggplant was in the oven, I cooked the green beans/broccoli on the stove top, cooked up the pasta, and made a quick sauce.

I actually found one random serving of a meat/mushroom pasta sauce in the freezer so I put that in a pan with some of our freshly cooked-down tomatoes, plus some more diced tomatoes. Added a bit more seasoning (salt, pepper, oregano, garlic) and let that simmer until everything was heated through.

If you ever have any leftovers, even if just a little – freeze it! You can always find uses for it later.

This bread I got today is awesome – very seedy on the outside, but soft. Nick made some garlic bread out of it and it was perfect with dinner.

And then…

Nick read my mind.

We just got back from getting some Dairy Queen. I got a small Thin Mint Blizzard, but it was so melty on the top I had to put it in a bowl. And, just like I always do, I ended up with ice cream dripping down my face a few times. That’s part of the fun, right?

Now, I would much rather have had that frozen yogurt we had last weekend, but that’s all the way out in the “big town”. The only thing we have out here is a Dairy Queen, so that’s what we had.

I mean, our town doesn’t even have a stoplight! No way we’d find a froyo place here 🙂

My blizzard was minty and chocolatey and just what I wanted.

The perfect end-of-Saturday treat.

 

What’s your favorite ice cream mix-in or topping?

Technorati Tags: eggplant,pasta,beans,broccoli,bar

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The Quinoa That Keeps On Giving

Happy Saturday  🙂

This morning was nice and kind of relaxing. I took my smoothie to go, ran to WW to weigh in for September, went to Walmart to get/return a few things, and then headed to the farmer’s market + grocery store to get stuff for this coming week.

I got local, grass-fed bacon to try (yum – from a farm only about 15 minutes from us) and some fresh, local eggs today and I am psyched to try them both. Plus more peaches, a cantaloupe, some zucchini, squash and some OKRA!!! I wanted some so bad last week but they only had like 3 pieces left.

By the time I got back, Barefoot Contessa was on and I was ready for lunch.

Nick and I both had some of the quinoa dish and there’s still one serving left! I didn’t think it would last this long, but I”m glad it did – it made lunch easy today.

I heated up some of the quinoa, the last of the green beans from the other night, and cut up one of our tomatoes from the garden.

Plus some grapes.

 

and I got such a fun package today!!!

Rebecca was sweet enough to offer to send me some of these!

I have been looking for these bars EVERYWHERE and could not find them, so she offered to send me a few – I’m so excited to try them! Thanks again Rebecca!!!

Nick’s mowing the lawn, so I think I’m going to clean up around here a little – that will mean a little less to do tomorrow so we can definitely take a Sunday nap  🙂

 

What’s your favorite chocolate bar?

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Sleeping on Sugar

Well, the game didn’t turn out too well for our team, but it was fun!

And the weather was just perfect –

I love that you can watch football here and get awesome views of the mountains at the same time.

As promised, Nick had his chili dog and bought some of these:

Yup. Our high school football concession stand now sells deep fried oreos. And yes, I had a bite  :) 

I also had a bag of skittles about half way through the game.

Nothing like fruit flavored corn syrup on a Friday night  🙂

 

We ended up leaving the game a little early and got home just in time to see the end of What Not to Wear – how convenient! We finished watching that, fell asleep on the couch and finally moved to the bed. I’m not sure what it was, but I slept great last night! Of course, Roxy woke us up at 6:30 meowing and jumping on the bed begging for breakfast.

Nick is staying here to work on his paper and I’m about to head into town for groceries and a few errands. Since I’m about to leave, I just made a smoothie to take with me.

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 banana
• 2-3 cups kale
• 1 Tbsp chocolate shaklee shake mix (like a vitamin shake mix)
• handful ice cubes

And I’m off! as soon as I down a cup of coffee  🙂

 

What’s your favorite part about Saturdays?

Technorati Tags: green smoothie

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And So It Begins…

Wahoo!!!! This is going to be quick because Nick and I are going to our local high school football game tonight  🙂

 

Okay, so it’s not a college game, but I’m ready for some football! And our local team has been really good the past couple of years. Tonight is their first real season game AND it’s a home game (5 minutes away) so we’re heading over for the 7:30 pm kickoff.

This worked out perfectly – the only other plans I had for tonight were laundry (boo) and watching What Not to Wear, which I’m okay missing for football. Can you believe that, Mom?

 

I think all that sugar from the donut threw off my appetite for today – I didn’t even have an afternoon snack!

Lunch was the same thing I had yesterday: bean/cheese wrap dipped in guacamole.

And more of the turkey/bean/corn soup, with more guac.

We ran over to pick up my last pack of contacts at lunch and then work, work, work, until 5 pm.

TGIF, right?  AND we got football tickets today for a game this season and I’m super excited.

 

Dinner tonight was quick + easy since we have plans now.

I heated up some of the green beans + quinoa dish from last night and layered it in a bowl.

Why are things better in layers? This was tasty all mixed together.

Nick’s waiting to have dinner at the game – his choice for tonight? chili dogs. And I may take some change to spring for some candy or something fun at the game. We’ll see.

 

Alright – off to the game! I gotta change into team colors and brush my teeth.

I’ll try to get some good pictures of all the small town fun  🙂

 

What are your plans for this weekend?

Technorati Tags: leftovers,quinoa,beans

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The Donuts Dreams Are Made Of

Normally, I can avoid the donuts that show up every Friday in our office.

But some weeks…I plan out ahead of time which one I’m going to have.

Today was one of those days. Well, actually, last night I was already scheming to enjoy my donut, so I woke up craving it.

Krispy Kreme? No thanks.

Dunkin Donuts? Eh.

Fresh, locally made donuts from Carol Lee’s? Yes, please.

For some reason, I have always loved the cake donuts. Maybe because I don’t feel like I’m just eating sugary air? Who knows, but this chocolate iced-chocolate cake donut is definitely the best I’ve ever had. And I know where it’s made and that it’s fresh every morning. Top that, Entenmann’s.

Oh, and I snagged one for Nick, too. He likes to have them as “lunch dessert” if I can grab a sprinkled one for him.

No chocolate icing today, but they do always have Hokie-colored sprinkles, which makes it a bit more special.

Carol Lee also has 2 amazing flavors in their iced yeast donuts: maple glazed and toasted coconut. Those I do enjoy…but I think I still like the cake donuts best.

Oh yeah – and remember those donuts that I French-toasted? They were Carol Lee’s, too.

I think it’s a good thing I don’t live closer to the shop.

What’s your favorite local food?

Interested in some raw honey? Head over to Mara’s for a sweet giveaway.

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