A Few Tasty Meals

I missed a Thursday and Friday post, so I thought I would cover a few meals that I had, which were either new or that I really enjoyed...

First, the discovery of using the George Foreman as a Panini press...

I never had a panini before, because I only eat cheese at home so that I know that it is vegetarian cheese. So I finally tried to make one. We had some left over grilled portabella mushrooms in the fridge, so I used those, some cheese, and some cranberry fig hummus to make a great sandwich. The combo of the hummus and the cheese melted so well together. I can't wait to have this again!!Then this morning I used the George Foreman to make a peanut butter and banana sandwich. I loved how it was so warm inside. I want to try a peanut butter and jelly sandwich next!

Secondly I had an oatmeal combo that I loved! I have seen people doing peanut butter and jelly in their oatmeal, so I tried mine with chocolate dreams peanut butter and some mixed berry jam. Then I topped it with original Puffins. I loved the crunch of the Puffins in the oatmeal! This was a combo I can't wait to have again.

I also added some Greek Yogurt, so this was a great protein filled breakfast that kept me fueled until lunch!

My third find was the Vegetarian Chili from Au Bon Pain. Like I mentioned before, we have one in the lobby of my building, so I pick it up every once and awhile. Another attorneys at my firm eat here DAILY!! I think it is a little crazy to eat at the same place every day, and I only eat out once or twice a week maximum usually, so I never understood eating out every meal. However, this chili was great, and it is even labeled Vegan. It filled me up and tasted great, so I would recommend it.

Well I have a lot to do around the house because my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and brother-in-law are coming for dinner.

Have a great Saturday!!

Kashi Girl??

I want to start out by asking you to read this article and then tell me if you would work like this. I totally would love to be able to type while walking on a treadmill!! I just hate sitting all day.

I got to work a little after 7am this morning, breakfast was oatmeal, a peach, a yogurt and a Kashi soft apple bar. I have been loving peaches in oatmeal.

I had a 10:30 coffee break and got a skinny caramel latte and had some of my chocolate popcorn that I bought yesterday at GNC.



Lunch was a Kashi frozen dinner (some black bean and mango kind) that I put over a salad. This was a great combo. Sorry that I didn't get a picture of the box.

At 5pm I had this:
I worked until 7:20pm then I went to the gym. I did 15 minutes on the stair climber and 11 minutes running on the treadmill. Plus the walk to the gym from my office and then back to the parking garage was a mile or so.

Dinner was at 8:30, I did another cereal mix with the last thing of yogurt left. This yogurt was much too tiny to cover all of my cereal, but it was quick.

It just occured to me that I had 4 different Kashi products today, one at each meal and for a snack. One of the cereals was Kashi Go Lean Crunch. That is a little weird that Kashi consumes so much pantry and freezer room at our house!!

I feel like I want something else, but really I think it is more exhaustion and the fact that maybe I should have ate something more dinner like tonight.

Today was another 12 1/2 hour work day, so I'm beat. I am going to sleep, so I can wake up and be at the office by 7ish. I have a long work day tomorrow and another interview lunch.

Sweet Tooth Day!

For breakfast I ate the last of the Fage (less than 1/2 cup), with oatmeal, a peach, and a crumbled Kashi bar. This is great to keep be full until noon.

Lunch at the Capitol Grille was the same as Friday, two pieces of baked tofu and some sauteed veggies underneath. Today I didn't have a salad, but I did have one roll. I decided to get dessert. I got the Strawberries Capitol Grille, which was fresh Strawberries with some type of liquor and a small scoop of ice cream (less than 1/2 cup). This was great and it didn't seem to heavy, because it was a small serving of ice cream and mostly berries. No picture, because as I said I think I would scare someone interviewing at my firm away if I took a picture of everything I ate!

Around 5pm, I snacked on some Vegetarian Organic Gummy bears I had stashed in my desk. I bought these at GNC last week. No Gelatin in these, so I was so happy to have something gummy for a change. There were two servings in this bag, I had one on Friday and one today. There is 110

For dinner I had a Whole Foods Vegan Oat Scone and some PB and jam. I have Pilates at 8pm and I wanted something that wouldn't stay in my stomach and upset it at Pilates. This was a pretty sweet dinner, maybe too sweet.

Well off to Pilates!

Wacky Weather

Well as usual on weekend, I have been busy and away from my computer. So I'm just getting to write about Friday and Saturday.

FRIDAY

For Breakfast (while driving to work) I had and english muffin with 1 tbsp White Chocolate Peanut Butter from Peanut Butter & Company and a little strawberry jam. I also had ice coffee.

Around 10am I had grapes:

I left work around noon to go work from home and wait for furniture to be delivered. Steve met me and we picked up sushi from our favorite Chinese place China Palace. I had the vegetarian sushi platter that came with miso soup and a salad.

I took a run (about 4.25 miles) at 4pm and it was almost 90 degrees out, so this was a super hard run for me, because I'm not used to running in the middle of the day in the hot, humid weather. The heat of the run took away my hunger.

At 6pm I stopped at my mom's house to pick up Sophie (who spent the day playing with her dogs). Mom offered to make me dinner, but I still wasn't hungry. I did have a small piece of no sugar added berry pie that my mom picked up from the local farmer's market.

I ate dinner around 8pm, and just had some oatmeal with baked apples and a yogurt. Steve had MBA class (his Prof made him make up Labor Day's class Friday night) so I was alone for dinner.

A little later I had some quaker chocolate snacks and a small spoon of peanut butter.

SATURDAY

For breakfast Steve made some great blueberry pancakes (whole wheat) which I topped with a mixture of maple syrup and peanut butter microwaved for 30 seconds.

For lunch I had a piece of leftover impossible pie (see Thursday's post) and some baked chips, pretzels, and tomato.

I also had a 100 Calorie Pack of chocolate prezels. I don't normally get 100 Calorie Packs because 1) no nutritional value, and 2) they do not help me feel full. But I love chocolate covered prezels, so these were a nice addition to my lunch.

I had a snack of prezels, baked chips, and 2 crackers around 4pm:

Around 6pm I ran the entire North Park lake with no walking breaks (4.7 miles) and although yesterday I ran and it was almost 90 degrees, today it was a nice cool 65 degrees.

For dinner I made the Vegan Lasagna from the FatFree Vegan Blog. I used whole wheat lasagna noodles I found at Target. This is the second time I made this, and I love it. Steve loves it too.

Here is my piece.

I also had a piece of toast with Trader Joe's bruchetta mix and a piece of soy cheese, but no picture because my camera died.

Off to get ready to go to the Steelers game and then Wicked the musical.

Fage Friday

I didn't get around to posting about Friday last night, so here it is...

Before I left the house I had an iced coffee with some Hershey's Lite Chocolate Syrup and light chocolate soy milk.

At work I made oatmeal, with 3 ounces of Fage and peaches and raspberries. The peaches and raspberries were so good together.

Around 11am I broke out the colorful grapes that I packed for a snack. All of these were meant for 2 snacks, but I ate them all at once.


At 12:30 I decided to eat my lunch, even though I had planned to go to the gym before lunch. I packed 1 cup of vegetarian chili from last night and some brown rice.


After lunch I needed something sweet, so I went into the chocolate stash hiding in my desk drawer. A few weeks ago I was craving chocolate so I went to Rite Aid and bought this Cookies & Creme Fully Loaded mini chocolate bars. I had never tried them but at the time they looked good. I don't like them much and won't buy them again. I had two mini bars.



At 2:30 pm I decided to take a gym break, and I even wore my Nike + with my ipod to learn how far of a walk my gym is from my office. I was thinking it was 1/2 mile round trip. But it turns out it is 1/3 mile there so it is 2/3 mile round trip. At the gym I was feeling really stressed and worried I would miss a call from a partner while I was on the machine, so I only was able to do 20 minutes on the stair climber and 5 minutes on the elliptical and a small bit of stretching. In total: 25 min at the gym and then 10 min of walking to and from the gym. I figure on a busy day 35 minutes is better than nothing.


Around 4pm I had a Kashi Cherry Dark Chocolate granola bar to hold me over until dinner.



I got home around 6pm and had no idea what to make for dinner. Around 6:30 I ventured into the kitchen and snacked on some Kashi crackers while deciding what to make. We decided to just make the Annie's Mac and Cheese with peas and Boca Crumbles. We use 1/2 cup Fage instead of milk to make the sauce. We shared a sliced tomato on the side.




After dinner I had another iced coffee. We then went to run some errands.



Around 9pm, when we got home, I had a weight watchers ice cream sandwich, a vita-muffin brownie, with cool whip and Hershey's lite chocolate syrup. This dessert total had about 250 calories. I figure I opted not to have a Friday glass or two of wine, so 250 calories was not too bad for dessert.


I hope everyone is having a great weekend so far!!!

Dark Chocolate Banana Brownies

I made iced coffee last night, and before leaving the house this morning I made one with 1/2 cup of light chocolate soy milk and 1 tbsp of light Hershey's chocolate syrup. It was gone when I pulled into the parking garage.

At work I had a breakfast of 1/2 cup of oats, 2 medium farm fresh peaches, and 3 ounces of 0% Fage. This was super filling and I couldn't finish the last couple bites.

I packed a container of grapes to snack on during the day. For all the comments on the colorful grapes, 10 varieties of grapes are on sale at my grocery store for 99 cents a pound, so I really stocked up on the seedless types they had. So there are green, black, and red seedless grapes. I had some of these grapes at 11am.

I went to the gym at noon to get in a weight workout. I did a variety of bicep, triceps, and back exercises. I did a few abs, but not too many. Also the walk to my gym is about 6 or 7 blocks, I should measure actual distance sometime.

I ate lunch after the gym. I ate a individual microwavable serving packet of Annie's Natural Mac & Cheese (I love that they don't use animal enzymes), I added 1 tbsp of 0% Fage, 1/3 cup Morningstar Crumbles, and 1/3 cup of frozen peas. This was such a yummy lunch. I also decided to eat the rest of my grapes.

Around 4pm I started to get hungry in my head. I wasn't hungry in my stomach but I started getting sort of light headed. So I decided to go to Starbucks to get a Mocha Light Frap. I had decided that would keep me full until getting home for dinner.

I got home at 7pm and had a WONDERFUL meal cooked by my husband. This morning Steve threw together his Vegetarian Chili into the Crock Pot and cooked it on low for 8 hours. The house smelled amazing when I walked in. I enjoyed a bowl of chili with a salad and a slice of English Toasting Bread from the bakery at a local farm. This isn't whole wheat, but it is pretty good.

This means lots of leftovers:

After dinner it was time for one of the Dark Chocolate Banana Brownies I made last night. I topped it with light cool whip and some Hershey's light chocolate syrup.

And after the dessert I used our treadmill (we bought one from Dick's Sporting Goods last weekend), I did one of the programs that changes the incline and speed. I only did 25 minutes.

Last night, I saw some very ripe bananas on our counter and I asked my husband what I should make, he requested banana chocolate chip bars that I made the week before we went away, I vetoed that idea. I decided I wanted to find a recipe for banana brownies. He was skeptical. I searched around online and put together and modified based on a couple I saw. Steve loves these and thought they might have been one of my best creations so far. You might find them to be a little closer to chocolate cake than brownies. So here is the recipe for Dark Chocolate Banana Brownies:

Ingredients:
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup boiling water
4 egg whites
1-1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions: Preheat oven at 350. In a small bowl, combine oats and boiling water; let stand for 5 minutes. In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg whites, bananas, sugars, oil and vanilla until blended. Combine the dry ingredients; gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in the oat mixture. When stirring in the oat mixture you might notice it is lumpy. I was lazy and did end up with some oatmeal lumps in the baked brownies, but I thought it was great that way.

Spread into a 13-in. x 9-in. pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean (do not overbake).

Tomorrow is Friday : )

Kashi how I love you:)

This morning I decided on apple oatmeal. I used one apple that I bought at a nearby farm. It is a Rambo apple which is now in season. By fall this farm has 15 different types of apples that they grow in their Orchard. I peeled and cored the apple and sprinkled it with cinnamon. I do this the night before, because I eat breakfast a work. I microwaved it for 3 minutes because I like it really soft in my oats. I then cooked 1/2 cup of oats in the microwave with water. I mixed the cooked oats and cooked apples and topped it with vanilla yogurt and some crunchy things that came with my yogurt.

This was so good. Thinking about it makes me want this for breakfast tomorrow, but I already packed something else.



Around 11am I was so tired at my desk, I blame it on the Olympics! So I went to Starbucks for a Skinny Carmel Latte. This perked me up. I was good to go hungerwise based on the skim milk in the Latte, but I had some grapes because I was planning a late lunch and a 1pm trip to the gym.




At the gym I did 30 minutes on the stair climber. My heart rate monitor said that I burned 300 calories. My heart rate was at 160 bpm almost the whole time, which is intense for me. When I got back at 2pm I was ready for lunch. I was soooo excited because I packed a new Kashi product that I picked up on Monday. It is a frozen pocket bread sandwich, the bread was so good. I had mine in the fridge all day instead of the freezer, so I think mine was softer than if kept in the freezer until microwaving. The flavor of it was great. It states on the box that it is Vegan.

This is just a very small paper plate, so don't think this is a huge pocket, but it is very filling.

I also had a salad on the side. It was romaine lettuce, green beans, and mushrooms, with a little Kraft Light Done Right Balsamic salad dressing.

My lunch filled me up well, until around 6pm and I was suddenly starved. I should have packed an afternoon snack for sure!

For dinner I had a Garden Burger brand patty the Chik’n Grill one. I love this patty so much! I ate it on a whole wheat english muffin with some mustard and tomato. I had the rest of the tomato on the side, with some Kashi crackers and cubed soy cheese. I had more crackers than showed on this plate, because I was eating them as my muffin toasted. I ate too fast to really enjoy this (need to work on this). I am ALWAYS rushing and feel like I don't have time to eat my food slowly and really enjoy it.

After dinner I was still hungry, because I let myself get too hungry and then ate too fast. I had a pack of Quaker Mini Delights and some Silk Light Chocolate Soy Milk (love this).

I should do a side by side taste taste of 8th Continent vs Silk light chocolate soy milk sometime. Which do you prefer?

I baked my husband Dark Chocolate Banana Brownies, I didn't try one yet, but I may post about those tomorrow. It is 11pm and I need to get ready for bed, so until tomorrow....