Happy Dance Thursday

Hey loves!

Welp, I survived my first week on the night shift!*
*happy dance for making it through and then another happy dance for having the energy to happy dance in the first place.

And I have a few other things I’m happy dancing over this week:

1. Cottage Cheese

Or more importantly, rediscovering my love for cottage cheese! Not really sure why, but I go through these phases where I totally forget all about it. There I am just loving on my Greek yogurt while poor CC sits in a cold dark (ok, so they’re not so dark…work with me, it’s all for the imagery) freezer in the grocery store. So sad.

Well, over the last couple of weeks, CC and I have been meeting up for breakfast*
*Seriously, what is it with me and dating my food?

With a cinnamon raisin English muffin topped with peanut butter, honey and cinnamon,  topped with blackberries and one of my favorite granolas, topped with raspberries, almonds, and coconut, and finally topped with a berry mix and something NEW!

I finally got around to trying the Uber Larabar from my Blend Retreat swag bag this morning…a little on the sticky side but not bad…I really can’t wait to try the Bananas Foster flavor next!

But back to CC…he and I haven’t only been starting our days together…

Last night, as I rummaged around the kitchen trying to think of what eats to pack for work, I had a stroke of genius:

Say hello to my gorgeous friend!

Let’s break down the layers: red quinoa, CC, chickpeas, diced zucchini and some of this:

Stumbled over this guy when I was shopping for my Foodie Pen Pal last week and I’m already halfway through the jar!

Topped with a little Italian seasoning, this 377 calorie bowl hit the spot and kept me full for hours!

And now you’re probably wondering where the whole calorie count plug came from. Well, allow me to explain:

2. My Fitness Pal 

Remember when I said in this post…a follow up to this post, that I was making some changes to help myself get back on track and feel in control again? Well, after hearing so many of my bloggy buddies using myfitnesspal.com for their Fitmixer Bootcamp, I decided to have a little look-see.

I’ve never had good luck in the past with calorie counting. I can’t help it, but I have a very OCD kind of personality (like I seriously would have have had a breakdown midway through a run when the treadmill or my Garmin stopped working). Once I realize I can know all the numbers, I HAVE to know all the numbers…know what I mean? Well, that flaw has brought on some pretty scary feelings in the past when I’ve tracked my diet. I become obsessed…like down to the last teaspoon of condiment on my *insert food here*…I have to know how many calories, how much fat, how many…*gasp* SUGARS!!!

That being said, I’m happy to say I’ve been using My Fitness Pal for two weeks now to track my diet and exercise and I haven’t once felt any freak out/weirdo moments and I think I know why…

I’m connected with friends who provide me endless motivation (if Lindsay can burn 389 calories doing 84 minutes of cardio, I can get up and do SOMETHING!), and the added bonus of stalker privileges…hey, sometimes I get bored at work at 3am!

And you can seriously count anything as exercise…the other day I saw that there’s an entry for ice fishing! Lol

Entering food is FUN with the easy barcode scanning option…you don’t even have to search the database for a food, just hit a button and scan the barcode with your phone…BAM instantly entered!

And lastly, I get to nurture the OCD a bit with colorful graphs…the 5 year old in me attributes it to getting a sticker after being good all day in school! 😉

I waiver a bit on the carbs and fats but man do I know how to get in my protein!

But I can’t just thank CC for that, because there is a third thing that elicited a happy dance this evening…

3. The return of PANCAKES!

But not just any pancakes…Lean Green POWERCAKES!

After drooling over Kasey’s delicious creations week after week on Instagram, I FINALLY got around to making my very first powercake today and it was sooooooo good!

Definitely take a look at her powercake recipes…I hear from a VERY GOOD source that the pumpkin roll is a must try!

But for now, how about one more look at this beauty?

Topped with thinned Razzle Dazzle PB, raspberries, and a dusting of cocoa powder!

Only 346 calories! 😉

 *happy dance*

 Any recent discoveries or RE discoveries have you dancing this week?

Have you ever used a calorie tracking program?

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26 Responses to Happy Dance Thursday

  1. Fitness Pal has an amaze-balls Ipad app 🙂 I love it!

  2. sabrina says:

    I use the app for My Fitness Pal on my phone and love it. You can even put in housework as cardio and it tells you how many calories were burned!

    • kissmybroccoli says:

      I know! Isn’t it awesome? I scrubbed the tub and vacuumed the floors the other day and was like BAM! Cardio! 😉

  3. I haven’t had cottage cheese in weeks! The last container I had went bad and I took a bite of it, so I’m a bit turned off of it right now. 😛

    A few months ago I entered a few days of meals into Fit Day just to see where I was with calories, but other than that I don’t use any tracking programs. I just don’t have the time!

    • kissmybroccoli says:

      Oh yeah, expired cottage cheese will do that to ya! I don’t blame you for steering clear for a while! Ick!

  4. I’ve been loving on cottage cheese for the last few weeks as well, love that stuff, if you haven’t seen it check out the brand friendship something, they have a “spreadable whipped” cottage cheese and it’s awesome! The protein stats are great. Those green pancakes look so pretty, thanks for the link, I’ve been wanting to try green pancakes on the kids ( and me!)

    • kissmybroccoli says:

      Hmm, spreadable whip, huh? I’ve thrown mine in a blender before (when I used to be a like skeeved out by the texture), but I’ve never seen it sold that way. Awesome! The pancakes were amazing…really, I can’t wait to try another of Kasey’s recipes. I think the kids will LOVE the color too…so fun! Oh, and I fixed the link…found out a couple of hours ago that it wasn’t working right!

  5. I am obsessed with cottage cheese right now. I even posted a cheese mix creation today. I think they put crack in it. 🙂

    You pancakes look delish. You have to try that pumpkin roll! And I have to try those cakes.

    • kissmybroccoli says:

      Ahhhh! I knew we were like foodie soul mates, but oh.my.god I love your face! I’ve mixed coconut flour with Greek yogurt before (which was AMAZING) but why on Earth have I never thought to try it with CC! Happening ASAP…ugh, why did I have to read this minutes after eating already?! Lol

  6. Eric says:

    The powercakes look soooo goood! Do you ever have a hard time eating your stuff because the presentation is so perfect?! 🙂

    • kissmybroccoli says:

      Nope…because I always have a picture to look back on. Now…if I didn’t have my camera, THAT would be a problem! 😉

  7. I am obsessed with cottage cheese! I usually have it at least once a day. Those pancakes, HOLY MOLY. Yum!

  8. Dawn says:

    Aww the link didn’t work.. but they look delicious!!

  9. I have the same deal with going through phases with food. Especially with cottage cheese AND almond butter. I have love/hate relationship with almond butter, dn’t even ask haha. We are curretly on non speaking terms.

    & I use MyFitnessPal too! Let’s be friends: bejbik 🙂

  10. I need some more friends on MFP, the more friends I have, the more motivation! Feel free to add me:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/JenFoodFamilyFitness

    • kissmybroccoli says:

      Heck yeah! Consider yourself added! I’ve been looking for all my bloggy buddies, but it’s so hard to search for people without looking up each person’s email addy!

  11. I really wish I liked cottage cheese but unfortunately I can’t stand it! Although, the last time I had bought it, it was vanilla flavoured… definitely was not a success lol

    • kissmybroccoli says:

      I used to love it when I was younger…my mom and I would eat it with peaches while watching 90210…whew, blast from the past! Then I went through about a 10 year phase where I couldn’t even stand to LOOK at it. Not sure how I did it, but I gave it another try a little over a year ago and fell back in love. I would DIE if I found a vanilla flavored one! YUM!!

  12. I love cottage cheese! However, I can only stand to eat it sweet. Savory is a no-go! And the weird, lumpy texture of salsa+ cottage cheese makes me kind of sick 😡
    A lot of people think I’m weird, though, because I bring cottage cheese “sandwiches” {cottage cheese between toast} for lunch sometimes!

    • kissmybroccoli says:

      I’m with you on the weird texture of salsa + cottage cheese. Love the two separately, but together…ick! Plus it looks like cat vomit…I can’t believe I just went there! Lol

      Love cottage cheese sandwiches…have you tried throwing some peanut butter in there too? So good!

  13. The only thing they’re missing is Hydrobiking which I did today – it was awesome!

  14. kathy says:

    I don’t count calories, nor am I a fitness geek (sorry, no offence) but I usually have CC around. I usually drain the container in a sieve firse, ( I hate watery cc). Have you tried it in half a cantiloupe. Hollow out the seeds in half a cantiloupe, pile in to overflowing the drained cc, spice it up with celery salt, tex mex seasoning or anything else you can think of and get a fancy dessert spoon (with long handle, it’s important….it really tastes better with a fancy spoon) mix in the seasonings before digging in. I usually have to replace the cc and spices half way through.

  15. Pingback: The Pancake Queen Flips Again! | Kiss My Broccoli

  16. OMG you are awesome!! They look amazing!!

  17. Pingback: Thursday Things: Recipes! | Kiss My Broccoli

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