The work breakfast

I love eggs for breakfast. They are one of the few things that keep me full. I usually try to get in at least one serving of veggies in at breakfast, too. I don’t eat breakfast until I get to work in the mornings. That usually means that I am eating breakfast 1.5 to 3.5 hours after I get up in the morning, depending if I go to the gym before work. I have never been one(for the most part) to want to eat as soon as I get up in the morning. So, this doesn’t work out too badly for me.

Here’s a look at some of my work breakfasts(FYI: I have a microwave-able vegetable steamer at work). More simple than my weekend meals, but still nutritious and filling.

Carrots and hummus, steamed broccoli, banana and hard-boiled egg:

A big bowl of steamed broccoli with warm hard-boiled egg:

Sprouted grain toast with guacamole and hard-boiled egg, walnuts and banana with cinnamon:

Plain Greek yogurt with banana and walnuts and a side of detox salad:

And this week, I have really been into sprouted grain toast with mustard and slices of hard-boiled egg. Usually with a side of sliced banana with cinnamon. Maybe a few almonds. My coworker brought in an extra dozen colored eggs that her kids made:

What are some of your fast breakfasts that can be taken on the go?

Copycat Whole Foods date logs

I’ve mentioned before that I love Whole Food’s date logs. So much that I decided recreating them at home would be a good idea. This idea was encouraged when I saw the WF’s worker restocking the bin of them the other day and learned that they don’t make them in-house! What?!?! I had been believing that I was getting date logs fresh out of the kitchen only feet away from where they were sold. Not true. Not true at all. They come from one of their largest distributors. They come in a plastic lined box and are put into the bin by the nice WF workers.

I’m not getting my date logs minutes after they are made? But, I have to be! They are so fresh. I mean fresh tasting.

After I got over my disbelief, I picked up a 5 pound container of pitted medjool dates at Costco. Feeling like they may be a little dry, I attempted to rehydrate them a bit.

This was probably unnecessary and wouldn’t do it again in the future. I think it made the dates too sticky. After re-hydrating and draining them, I tossed them into the food processor and began the process of pulsing and scraping the sides down. This took a bit of time. I felt like they were still too wet, so I tossed to unsweetened, shredded coconut with them to dry them up a bit. Worked like a charm. I sprinkled a line of coconut onto the wax paper then I scooped about 1/3 of the mixture onto wax paper and formed it into a log. Then I rolled that into the coconut to form a firmer log.

I continued this method with the remainder of the date mixture. Then I placed the 3 logs into the refrigerator for about an hour to firm up. Then I took them out and cut them into 1 1/2 to 2 inch pieces. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

These are almost identical to what you buy at the store. Price-wise, I am not sure how they compare, but I am sure they are at least a small savings. And more convenient to keep in my fridge than having to run to the store when I want one!

Oven baked veggie chips: multiple varieties

A few years ago…okay maybe five years ago I made some homemade vegetable chips. I think I did beet, parsnip, sweet potato and white potato. They were good, a lot of work and just plain easier to buy.

Thinking that my thoughts on the subject may have been misremembered, I decided to make some again. Well, it was again, time-consuming without a lot of reward. Here they are anyway.

This time I made sweet and white potato, beets and zucchini chips. The zucchini chips were my favorite. I ate them all in one sitting. Don’t judge that last sentence until you see photos of the product.

I preheated my oven to 350F. Then I mandolin-ed my little heart out. Slice. Slice. Slice.

Then, I tossed the slices with a little olive oil and salt and pepper. I arranged the slices on to cooling racks placed on baking sheets(to help with air circulation) and baked for about 20 minutes.

The veggies shrank a lot in size and reminded me a lot of shinky dinks from my childhood.

After spending time baking all those chips, I had very little finished product to show. And quite honestly, they didn’t bake very evenly. Half of a chip would be burnt and the other half would be soggy. The ones that turned out the best were the zucchini. This is the amount of chip I got from 2 medium zucchini:

Yes, two zucchini fit in the palm of my hand. This is the size of one zucchini chip:

The size of my finger tip.

So, from now on, I will be buying my chips.

Not what I planned, but good

This weekend did not go how I planned. It started out with a happy hour on Friday, that went on for hours. There was lots of great conversation and laughs, but I stayed out much later than planned.

I spend Saturday running fun errands, like picking up my veil and stopping at JoAnn Fabric’s to pick up a craft project.I had been wanting a chalkboard for the kitchen for a while, but my desire was rekindled when a friend posted a picture of her new chalkboard on Instagram this past week. After looking for one in stores with no success, I picked up some chalkboard paint and an ugly St Patrick’s Day sign that was on clearance to re-purpose.

Brian decided to draw on the new board:

We had a low-key night in on Saturday, watching the documentary Hot Coffee about lawsuits and tort reform. Very interesting. And the popcorn was good, too:

Sunday I made yet another very ugly but tasty and healthy breakfasts. Mostly egg whites, zucchini, mushrooms, red bell pepper and spinach with marinara and provolone. So filling.

Feeling blah about the constantly crappy weather and hopping for a ray of sunshine, I added a pop of color to my nails. Just look at how pale my  hands are! Sunshine, PLEASE!

I also watched an unusual amount of TV, drank a lot of hot tea and a glowing green smoothie.

All things weekend

Happy belated St. Patrick’s Day!

I started out my weekend by doing a new LUSH face mask. It had lots of mint in it and felt amazing.

Then I headed the the gym for a good workout. And thank goodness I did. The rest of the day was filled with some St Patty’s Day celebrating with friends. I did stop at Whole Foods to grab lunch after my work out, though. I grabbed some salad, bison chili and their amazing jalapeno corn bread. I don’t eat much bread, the WF’s corn bread is a carb that I make an exception for.

I had leftovers of both and made them into a cowboy eggs “benedict” for breakfast the next morning.

Then I headed into the kitchen to make food for the week and weeks ahead. I double up on the meat purchases for the week and cooked it all up so I would have plenty to put into the freezer. Burgers for weeks!

I realized after a very busy and social last week that I really have to have healthy meals on hand to make sure that it is easy for me to make good food decisions. I also made a batch of coconut butternut squash soup that is a little disappointing. But it’s healthy and cooked, so I’ll eat it. Slowly, but surely.

I also make two big pans of oven baked chicken fajitas for a work lunch today. They were excellent and so easy. I got the idea here, but combined several different marinade recipes to create my own.

I tried my hand at Whole Food’s coconut date logs. My current post workout obsession. They turned out pretty close to the real deal and I’m set for a while!

Despite everything I got done yesterday, I still felt like I did a lot of lounging around, snuggled up under a blanket on the couch.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Quick sweet and sour cucumbers

I have trouble going to a Thai restaurant and NOT ordering an appetizer of cucumber salad. If they offered it in entrée portion, I would probably order it as my meal. It’s sweet, it’s tangy, it’s crunchy and oh so refreshing.

I’ve made a few attempts at a homemade version before, but they always seems a little off. This is one of the closest I’ve made. It might even taste a little lighter than that in the restaurant.

Ingredients:

• 1 hot-house cucumber, unpeeled, sliced thinly
• 1/2 tablespoon coarse kosher salt
• 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• fresh ground black pepper

Place cucumber slices in colander, sprinkle with salt, toss to coat. Stir occasionally. Let stand 15 minutes.

Mix remaining ingredients in bowl until sugar is dissolved.

Rinse and drain cucumbers well. Pat to dry.

Add to dressing mixture. Combine well. Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes or up to 24 hours(I put mine in a glass jar for safe keeping) and ate them a day later. The flavor was superb.

Italian eggs

I have had eggs made like this at least once a weekend for the past 6 weekends. And for a few quick weeknight dinners. I am absolutely obsessed.

The idea came to be because I needed to use up some cherry tomatoes and spinach. Then I ate them, fell in love and couldn’t stop making them. They have evolved a bit over time, but mostly due to ingredients on hand.

I start by frying one or two eggs in a skillet. Try to keep the eggs on one half of the pan. Sprinkle them generously with salt, pepper and Italian seasonings.  Put a big handful of spinach in the empty half of the pan(and cherry/grape tomatoes, sliced in half, if you have them). Top the spinach with a few spoonfuls of marinara. stir a bit until the spinach wilts. OR, you can scramble the eggs and cook the spinach and tomatoes in with them. So many possibilities.

While you are doing this, toast a piece of bread(I prefer sprouted grain).

Top your toast with spinach/marinara then eggs.

Or vice versa. I have done it both ways and it is equally delicious.

Devour.

Healthified doughnuts

I am not a huge doughnut fan. Or are they donuts? Either way, Brian sure does love them.

In an effort to make quick and delicious breakfasts for him, I discovered this gem of a recipe. I present to you, Banana Chocolate Chip Donuts. Clocking in at slightly 200 hundred calories a piece(with my adaptations), they afford you the luxury of eating a donut without breaking the calorie bank. Or spending the rest of the day at the gym. They are dense, moist, and most tasty when warm out of the oven. Mmm mmm mmm.

I do have a small confession. These are probably nothing more than muffins in the shape of donuts are so much more fun to eat then muffins. And they seem like such a splurge.

I adapted this recipe to make it even more healthified! What did I change?

I used half whole wheat and half all-purpose flour. I cut the amount of chocolate chips in half(big calorie saver and they had plenty of chocolatey goodness). Oh, and we had the donuts without being dipped in cinnamon and sugar. Who needs to add the extra calories? Otherwise, it’s the same process. So, lets look at some pictures.

Donut pans! Where did I get mine? I smartly used a 50% off a single item coupon at Michael’s coupon and got 2 pans for less than $10. They are Wilton brand and worked great.

What a great way to start the day. Coffee and a guilt free donut at the bus stop:

These were super easy to a make and would be easy to make even healthier. Substitute different fruit, add cinnamon, really the possibilities are endless with this recipe. The original recipe said that it makes a dozen donuts. I came out with 14, but mine may have been a little smaller. Oh well, that’s calories saved! They also keep really well. I divided them out in single servings and sent them with Brian throughout the week for breakfast. I imagine they would freeze well, too.
I will definitely be making them again soon.

A mexican fiesta and pickled onions

I’ve pickled things before. Pickled pickles. Also called pickled cucumbers. Pickled carrots. Pickled vegetables for bahn mi. They’ve all been delicious.

Sunday, there was last-minute decision to change menu plans from pork tinga to some amazing honey lime fish tacos.  Last time I made the tacos, I didn’t have the energy to run to the store, so we just made do with what we had and topped them with lettuce and avocado.

Well, this time, I did them up right. A little crunchy and tangy goes great with fish. So we had the option of more toppings this time. Red cabbage, cilantro, jalapeno, avocado, limes, and pickled onions.

The recipes of pickled onions I have made before took time. So a quick google seach returned a Bon Appetit result that I knew wouldn’t steer me wrong. With only a little over an hour of pickling time, these were ready just in time for that tacos. Quick pickled onions, indeed!

Mmm mm mmm. I can’t wait to throw these on sandwiches throughout the week! So tasty!

Apple cinnamon yogurt

Yep. It’s as easy at it sounds. And tastes a little bit like apple pie a la mode.

1 cup of plain or vanilla Greek yogurt

1 apple diced

cinnamon

If you use plain yogurt, you may want to add a drop or two of vanilla, but if you don’t, this is still wonderful. Mix everything together and eat! I put in tons of cinnamon. No really, like a tablespoon just for the health benefits of cinnamon, but would suggest that people start below that amount. This would also be a great post workout snack.