4th of July Fun!!!

I was super tired when I got home last night, so I didn't get to blog about the wonderful food I had for July 4th. So here is goes...

The morning began with a run. My husband ran ahead of me because I was slow starting. I walked for a little while and then ran. My average speed was 10 min/mile, but this was because of the first mile or two walking about 14 min/mile. I have the ipod nike+. My husband and I love the summer time because we live next to a great park that has a 5 mile loop around a lake. We run and bike here a lot!! It beats going to the stuffy gym.

When I got back it was time for breakfast. The night before I made some muesli.

My muesli this time included:

1/3 cup oats

1/8 cup unsweetened coconut

1/8 cup dried fruit

1 tbsp sliced almonds
1/2 banana sliced
2/3 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

I mixed all the ingredients together the night before and enjoyed them for breakfast with some fresh berries, a miniature luna bar and big glass of water.

We went over my mom's house around 1pm to enjoy family and food. My mom had a nice set up of snacks for us to munch on until she cooked out for dinner around 4pm. I had one plate to sample a few things, and later had a second plate. I guess this was my lunch for the day. I also enjoyed one glass of white wine.

Plate 1 (pita chips, baked tostitos, pretzels, hummus) :

I loved the pita chips, but I find them to be pretty high in calories, one serving is only 7 chips for 140 calories!! I could easily eat twice this many! Plus my mom buys a huge bag from Sam's Club, which is very dangerous if you aren't aware of the serving size.

Plate 2: (same combo as above)

My wine:

It was a new boxed wine that we had never tried, Riesling (one of my favorites).

I was getting hungry and was so happy when my mom fired up the grill:

My mom has kept that top shelf for my veggies only, no meat allowed. The veggie kabobs had mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers and onions. For the meat eaters she made fillet, scallops, and chicken. My younger brother and husband were in heaven.

For another vegetarian side dish she made a recipe she found from the newspaper. It is a middle eastern dish called Balela.

Here is here recipe:

1 15 oz can of garbanzo beans
1/2 15 oz can black beans
2 tomatoes chopped
2/3 cup chopped onion
1/4 tsp garlic
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 tsp salt

Mixed all together and chill for 1 - 2 hours or overnight.

Here is my plate that includes about a full portobello mushroom, 1/4 yellow bell pepper, 1/4 orange bell pepper, 2 small tomatoes, about 1 cup cooked rice, and about a cup of the Balela. Everything was so yummy. Sorry that this photo is a little unclear.

And now for my mom's beautiful and very delicious dessert. She found this recipe from a Kraft add. It includes angel food cake, cool whip, vanilla pudding mix, and a can of crushed pineapple.

And for my piece, I think it was about 1/12 of the cake. I could have had more but was full and really the most fulfillment from good food comes from the first few bites.

After enjoying great food at my mom's house, my husband and I drove about 40 minutes to my mother-in-law's house to enjoy time with his family. She also had so much great food, but I was super full from my mom's house. I eventually had a few bites of watermelon and a grape martini sorry no pictures!

When we got home around 10pm I was hungry since dinner at my mom's was at around 4:30pm. So I ate a chocolate raspberry luna bar (one of my favorite kinds).

Well today (July 5th) we are having a party at our house. So I should have a nice post of all of today's food tonight!