Another Blogger Inspired Breakfast

Before I get to breakfast, check out the cakes from my nephew's birthday party yesterday. The cake had a layer of real strawberries, it was so delicious! It was actually the same cake flavors and baker that my brother and sister-in-law had at their wedding. The baby cake was for the birthday boy to make a mess of himself.

We have 2 boxes of Van's frozen waffles so a few days ago I though that I should try french toast waffles that I saw on Caitlin's blog. This morning I asked Steve to help me make them, because he is the pancake and french toast king in our house. I toasted them lightly while Steve got the egg mixture ready.

With my french toast waffles, I had some sugar free rice pudding and blackberries. I also topped the waffles with some warm maple syrup. I feel full and think that this yummy breakfast will keep me full for hours.

I may try to go on a longer run today. Yesterday I ran 6 miles, when I should have ran 10 miles. I really don't feel like running today, but I am running a 1/2 marathon next Saturday. Before I head outside though, I'm going to apply for some jobs.

I hope you enjoy your Sunday and that the sun is shining where you live!

And if you want a chance to get some free PB, head over to Food Snob's Blog.

Baking makes my day brighter!

Happy Saturday. I'm so happy that I woke up on the right side of the bed this morning, because yesterday I did not. I was planning on going to a networking event in town with a group of women lawyers, but I decided that I was not in the mood to get dressed professional and network with a room full of people that I don't know. Are you good at networking? Do you have any networking tips?


I already emailed a few well respected female lawyers in town to schedule a meeting with them. I'm hoping to discuss the profession with them and how they were able to find success. I also found a company that needs contract attorneys, and the pay is more than unemployment, so I may apply for that. The contract work would be the most dreaded work any attorney can do - document review, which means all day you just sit in a room and read through old documents.


I was upset that I didn't go network and sad that I have no idea what to do with my life (and college and law school degrees), so I decided baking would make me cheer up!!


I decided to try and make up a recipe for Almond Cherry Oatmeal Cookies.



Ingredients:
1/3 cup apple butter (although apple sauce should work too)
1/3 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 tbsp canola oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup rolled or instant oats
Dried cherries
Sliced or slivered almonds



Mix the first 7 ingredients together in a large bowl. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a smaller bowl. Add the flour mixture to the larger bowl with the liquids. Once mixed, fold in the oats, cherries and almonds. I didn't measure the cherries and the almonds, I just poured some in until it looked good.



Next time, I think I'm going to add some white chocolate chips to this recipe.



Sophie makes me want to take a nap, and I just woke up :)

Steve and I are planning a long run today (inside), because next Saturday we are scheduled to run a 1/2 marathon. Then at 11:30 I am going to my nephew's 1st birthday party. I hope your Saturday is a great one!

Blogger Inspired Breakfast

This morning for breakfast I wanted an almond butter sandwich, but I didn't have any banana. I have been intrigued with Meghann's love of fruit on her sandwiches, so I thought I would give it a try.

This was really good, and I loved how by using the strawberries I was enjoying natural sugar unlike when I use strawberry jam which has added sugar. I have a ton of strawberries to use up, so you may see this again this week!

Yesterday it was in the 70s in Pittsburgh, today it is in the 40s! I think I may run inside today. After my run, I need to get to applying for some jobs and do some networking.

Talk to you all later today!

A Foggy Morning

The news said the visibility was 0 this morning! I was worried about husband walking in the dark to the bus stop, but he got to work safe and sound.

Last night I made some banana bread, that I finally tried this morning. I made peanut butter -banana bread with chocolate chips from the Vegetarian Times, that I saw on Danielle's blog. Husband was happy that it had chocolate chips in it. I had this slice at about 7am with some tea.

About a half hour after my slice of bread I had a smoothie. I had made this smoothie at 6:30am, because I was making my husband one, and just stuck it in the fridge until I wanted it. It has frozen berries, greek yogurt, wheat germ, flax meal, skim milk, and protein powder.

I am getting ready to go for a run, so I had a Pure bar for a morning snack. This was the first time I had a Pure bar. I loved the flavor and loved how moist this one was. I didn't like how small it was for 200 calories. It seemed a lot smaller than the larabar to me. VeggieGirl is always raving about Pure bar and now I know why!

Okay some of the fog has gone away, so I'm getting ready for a run. See you for lunch!

JamFrakas a healthy snack bust!

The girls I coach at Girls on the Run hated the JamFrakas bar that I brought for them at their healthy snack. I bought them all a Chocolate Chip Cosmocrisp from Trader Joe's after their run, but half of the girls spit them out!! Only two girls liked them, and one was the girl that is allergic to wheat (that is one of the reasons that I bought the JamFrakas). Then they demanded apples and peanut butter for next time. I told them that I have bought a lot of different snacks, so they will have to wait until those are used to have apples and peanut butter.

On to my afternoon eats...

Around 3pm I had a Luna Bar (sorry about the light ruining the picture). Then I took my puppy on a 2 mile walk.


For dinner I had stir fry vegetables (carrots, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, and chickpeas) mixed with cous cous. I also had an Amy's All American Burger on the side.

After coaching Girls on the Run and going to my hour long Pilates class, I had a small bowl of ice cream. I love this cute little bowl that I bought at Le Gourmet Chef. This ice cream was a little mixture of Edy's Tagalong and Edy's Samoas. We bought both kinds over the weekend because Edy's was on sale.

Head over to Jenn's website to wish her a happy 1 year of blogging and to enter her giveaway.

See you tomorrow!

A first time lunch post

In over 130 posts, I have never posted three times a day, but I'm trying while I'm unemployed. I have a very productive morning so far. I did 3 loads of laundry, drafted a cover letter, and applied to one job. I hope that you are getting a lot done today too.

Around 11am I had a small snack of 1/2 serving of Genisoy Tortilla Chips and a few nuts.

With my snack I had some sparkling water and a few ounces of POM juice.

For lunch I had some leftovers. I had a layer of spaghetti squash with salt and pepper, baked tofu, a tomato, one piece of roasted polenta, and a small piece of vegetarian pepperoni roll that my fabulous husband made yesterday. I put all these items on a small appetizer plate. I love how eating on small plates make me feel like I'm eating so much more.

Because I didn't get to post about the vegetarian pepperoni roll we made for lunch yesterday, here are the photos and a brief recipe for this foodie masterpiece.

We started with whole wheat dough we bought at Trader Joe's.

When my husband was younger he worked at a pizza place, so he knows how to work with pizza dough. here is a picture of him laying out the dough that he rolled in some flour and corn starch.

Once the dough is placed out on the baking stone, Steve filled it with vegetarian pepperoni and some Trader Joe's cheese (which uses non-animal rennet).

Here is the filling all ready before the dough was rolled over. The left side is already filled and rolled.

Once the roll is closed up, brush it with some olive oil. We also sprinkled with some sesame seeds.

Here is the roll fresh out of the oven. We just baked it until it looked brown, maybe about 20 minutes.

See you later tonight after I coach Girls on the Run and go to Pilates.

Check out Run to Finish's giveaway for some YouBars and FoodSnob's giveaway for Holey Donuts which has been extended until March 17.

Being a (desperate) house wife?

Good morning my blog friends. Because I am at home now, focusing on my job search, I have time to try to post my meals three times a day. I am still waking up when my husband wakes up around 6am. I fixed some black tea when I woke up and read the employment section of the paper. Sophie relaxed with me as I read the paper...

Oh the life of a spoiled pup!

Before I get to breakfast, I wanted to mention a new product I tried yesterday. I went on a 9 mile run Sunday morning and took with me a package of Carb Boom Energy Chews that I received in a race packet a few weeks ago. I have never tried these before, but I might have liked them a little more than Luna Moons or Clif Bloks. We have a couple of the Carb Boom gels too, but I haven't tried them. I'm not a fan of the gels, now that I have tried so many chews.

These chews helped get me through the last mile or two. I had a few around mile 7. I should have had some sooner maybe.

On to breakfast. I tried a brand of bagels from Whole Foods that I have never tried. They had 250 calories and 10 grams of protein per bagel. I really liked them, but I have liked ever sprouted wheat product I tried.

On my bagel I had some Trader Joe's Almond Butter and Polaner fruit spread.

I also had a piece of banana on one side of the bagel. These do have a hole, but how I topped them, they look like english muffins!

Off to clean the house, search for jobs, and care for my pup Sophie. So basically I'm going to be a house wife and a desperate job searcher.

Have a wonderful Monday and see you for lunch!