Mmmmm

Right now I am sipping on an iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts and I am thoroughly enjoying it :)

I had a free coupon and I figured today was the perfect day to use it since I am in need of an energy boost. I have been busy these past couple days and I am in need of some caffeine.

Last night I had a delicious yet simple dinner that I had been craving for a while. A spinach omelet made with 1/2c. EggBeaters, ~1 1/2 c. sauteed spinach, and ~1/3 c. ff cheddar cheese.

It definitely hit the breakfast for dinner meal I was in the mood for. For a snack later while I was watching the Bachelorette (which I am totally obsessed with and hate to admit haha) I made a smoothie. This smoothie contained about 1 1/2 c. spinach, 1 c. skim milk, handful of roasted almonds, spoonful of nutella, 1 frozen banana, and a handful of ice.

It served the purpose of being both delicious and cooling me off. It sure has been steamy these past couple of days. And because of the heat I have been trying to create breakfasts that aren't hot. I have finally successfully made overnight oats, which means I can now enjoy them on a daily basis. I first saw overnight oats on OSGs blog. Its so easy to make them and they are ready and waiting for you in the morning. At night I combine ~1/2c. oats, 1/2 c. plain yogurt, a splash of skim milk (to get the desired consistency), a pinch of vanilla extract, and a dash of cinnamon. I combine this mixture and then put it in the fridge overnight so the oats can absorb the goodness. Then in the morning I add in some fruit, nuts, nut butter, or cereal for some more flavor and texture. This morning I added some blueberries, almond slices, and a sprinkle of Wegman's granola (which I may have an addiction with).

Overnight oats are now one of my favorite meals and I highly recommend them!! They are the perfect summer breakfast because they are cool and satisfying. They even seem to be more filling then regular oats that I make. I think this is due to the addition of the yogurt which adds some more protein. Anyways, try them, now! ;)

Also, any other cool breakfast ideas I can try??

Well now the rest of the day is mine to enjoy because I have the afternoon off. So I think I'm going to spend some time scrap-booking, maybe hit up the gym/aerobics, and tonight I think I'm finally going to watch Valentine's Day. I've been wanting to see this movie for soooo long. Hopefully it doesn't disappoint. Has anyone else watched it?

Have a terrific Tuesday :)

Too Hot

Now that it's summer I think the weather decided to step it up a notch. These high 80s-90s are making me sweat, and making me wish I had air conditioning. But I will survive. That's what things like popsicles and smoothies are for. Basically that's all I want to eat because they are cold and delicious :)

However dinner last night was definitely a summer meal. It included a salad with spinach, grape tomatoes, kalamata olives, and some feta.

Accompanied my tomato mozzarella chicken sausage on a sandwich thin, which mustard and ketchup of course.

Later that night I may have made a smoothie just to help cool me off. But it sure did the trick, along with tasting delicious. It included: 2c. spinach, 1 frozen banana, handful of coca roasted almonds, ~1 cup vanilla almond milk, and plenty of ice cubes. Yum.

This morning I was in the mood for chocolate and I needed to use up my strawberries. Therefore Chocolate chip pancakes were in order. I just used the Bisquick Heart Smart mix, added in a few chocolate chips, and topped with strawberries and strawberry syrup.

I love when I have time to cook something different for breakfast in the morning. After breakfast it was time for errands and shoe shopping. I really needed to get a new pair of running shoes. My old ones were starting to hurt my feet. And I was successful as I found a pair in the sale bin at DSW that were comfy and not too ugly. haha. While I know that how the shoe feels is the most important part, I still can't make myself walk around in ugly shoes. Hopefully this pair I got will work just great. I will have to test them out this weekend when I go on my next run. After shopping it was lunch time. I wasn't feeling too creative so I just made a turkey dog on whole wheat with a slice of cheese, corn on the cob, and some white cheddar cheesz-its.

This lunch was followed up with a mango popsicle. I love the Whole Fruit bars. They are one of my favorite summer time treats.

Now the rest of the afternoon is going to consist of some cleaning and organizing and then it will be time to hit the gym for some aerobics.

Happy Day before the Day before the weekend :)

Summer is Officially Here :)

So yesterday was the first day of summer, even though I have been celebrating summer since classes ended at the end of April, it is now official. In honor of the season I decided to make a breakfast that I have been craving for awhile, french toast! I sliced up some of the sourdough loaf I had leftover from dinner the other night. Then I dipped the slices in 1/4 c. egg beaters, ~1/4 c. vanilla almond milk, pinch of vanilla extract, and plenty of cinnamon. Next I cooked them on my griddle for about ~2 min. per side. After I took them off the griddle I put a thin layer of ff cream cheese on each slice and then topped it with freshly cut strawberries. For the finishing touch I drizzled it with strawberry syrup.

Yum. This was some of the best french toast I have ever made and I highly recommend trying it. It puts a little spin on typical french toast but yet it's not anymore time consuming, definitely worth it :)

After breakfast I enjoyed the summer sun by going for a half hour run and doing some errands. For lunch I just enjoyed a leftover greek salad (Dole salad greens, red. fat feta, grape tomatoes, kalamata olives with oil and vinegar dressing)....

...and some linguine and tomato sauce topped with ff parm.

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and then it was off to a baseball game. Definitely a great tradition to start off the summer with! At the game I enjoyed a soft pretzel with mustard that was calling my name. I didn't get home til late because the game ended up being a nail biter at the end. However when I got home I decided that I should eat a little more than a pretzel for dinner so I had some kiwi topped with plain yogurt, some pomegranate infused dried cranberries, with a touch of honey.

Then I had an ear of corn on the cob, because it was in the fridge and it was calling my name so I microwaved it up. After my eats it was time for bed.

Today for breakfast I enjoyed my same strawberry-cream cheese french toast while watching the Bachelorette. I am in love with this season. The two hour episodes past by way too quickly! However, now it's time to try and be a little bit productive. It's kinda gray and cloudy outside so I think its time to get working on some scrapbooks :)

Happy Tuesday!

Back in Action

Sometimes life just takes over, like it did for me since my last post. I have been busy getting my life adjusted to summer mode. While the summer is supposed to be a little more relaxed then the rest of the year, it is this relaxed atmosphere that causes me to stress, just a little. I need order and structure in my life, I need things to occupy my time in order to remain on top of things. When I am faced with free time, I don't know what to do or what tasks to start. Therefore, I let myself slip a little before getting into a summer routine.

Anyways, now that I am back I decided to try a new breakfast today that I have been wanting to test out for awhile now. It is a breakfast cookie that I found on this page. I followed the recipe for the most part with just a few changes. My Oatmeal Breakfast cookie consisted of the following: ~1/3 c. rolled oats, 1/4 c. Eggbeaters, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, 1 tbsp chocolate chips, 1 tbsp dried cherries, 1 tbsp sliced almonds, 1.5 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp flour. I combined all of these ingredients in a small bowl and then put it in the microwave for about 1 min and 30 sec, until it was no longer gooey. Then I let it set for like 30 sec before I flipped it onto my plate.

It was definitely an interesting concoction, and it did taste better than it looks haha. I would like to dry it with some different add-ins and see if there was a way to make it a little moister, maybe less time in the microwave. Anyways it's definitely a quick way to make a cookie when you are craving one.

With my cookie I made a "frappe", which consisted of 1 c. hazelnut coffee, 1/4 c. skim milk, lots of ice cubes, and a tbsp of Nutella. Yum. I love cold coffee drinks in the summer :)

After breakfast it was time for errands, like getting my new driver's license, picking up some things at Target, and stopping by the library. When I got home it was time for lunch. Lunch was quick and easy today. It was a Boca burger on a deli flat topped with a slice of American cheese, ketchup, mustard, and spinach. On the side I had some leftover Busch's baked beans.

Definitely a good summer time meal.

Now it's time to clean up a bit before heading to the gym for some aerobics and some cardio. Hope everyone is enjoying there day before the day before the weekend!