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Happy Dance Thursday

Posted on June 21, 2012 by kissmybroccoli

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?

Posted in Breakfast, Snacks, Thursday Things | Tagged happy, My Fitness Pal, pancakes | 26 Comments

WIAW: Photo Dump

Posted on June 19, 2012 by kissmybroccoli

I’m not gonna waste any time…who came here to party?!

Happy What I Ate Wednesday!

As always a BIG THANK YOU goes out to Jenn of Peas & Crayons for hosting our weekly shenanigans! And if you’d like to get in on the fun posting your delicious eats, click here for all the deets!

So I totally had a whole slew of pictures from the other day all set and ready for the party…all I needed was to transfer them from my camera and do a little editing…and I totally forgot to do that before I left the house today!

Sooooooo, instead, how about some random deliciousness that’s yet to make it off my computer over the last month? 😉

Just in time for summer, I’ve rediscovered my love of hot steamy oats…and what better way to have them than OIAJ (oats in a jar) topped with banana and cinnamon?

But on the days where I opt NOT to sweat all over my breakfast, I’ve been loving on some fried egg sandwiches (with Vegemite of course), cottage cheese with cantaloupe, blueberries, and cinnamon (rockin’ combo by the way), and Greek yogurt topped with granola, fresh fruit, crushed up Nerdy Birdy cookies…eh, pretty much anything goes with me!

I’ve also been doing some major damage on the fresh veggies I’ve been carting home from the farmer’s market each weekend!

Hellllllllllloooooooo salad beast!

Baby spinach, portobellos, roasted red peppers, corn…you name it! But what really makes a salad is the toppings…actually, that might be the REAL reason why I’ve been eating so many lately! 😉

Nutritional yeast, Mrs. Dash, and salsa are nothing new, but what I’ve seriously been loving is the added CRUNCH of crushed up Beanitos or roasted soynuts!

Along with my mountainous salads, I’ve also been having fun DRINKING my veggies!

Yep, I’m not really having a problem with that part of my goals for the month!

I still can’t get over the surprise every time I throw random combos of fruits and veggies in the juicer and out pops something so fresh and delicious!

And well, since the theme this month IS sensible snacking…

Mmmm, snackages!

Gotta give a shoutout to my girl Debbie for introducing me to Snackimals and also Lizzi for sending me these amazing Bounce energy balls…just what I needed at work the other night when the sleepiness came!

What snack do you grab to ward off the sleepies?

What is your favorite salad topper (not dressing)?

Posted in Breakfast, Entree, Juicing, Raw, Snacks, What I Ate Wednesday | Tagged Chobani, coffee, eggs, fruit, Greek yogurt, juice, nut butter, nutritional yeast, oats, salsa, Vegemite, veggies | 41 Comments

This Weekend, Brought to You By My ADD!

Posted on June 18, 2012 by kissmybroccoli

Hey guys!

I hope you all had a good start to the week! I began my night shifts last night and although I had a tough time around 4am this morning, I made it through and actually slept really well earlier today.

So, obviously since I’ve slept all day, I don’t really have anything fun and exciting to tell you…but I DID just spend the last couple of hours editing pics/reliving some fun from this weekend!

Due to BB having to work late on Friday and my having to prepare for the night shift, we only had Saturday and half of Sunday to spend together this weekend, but we did our best to make the most out of it.

We decided to take a trip to Joelton and check out a place that offered boat rentals for some lake cruising, a little fishing, and lot of relaxing!

Before we left, we stopped by Kmart to pick up a cooler and some water…while BB made his way through the sporting goods section checking out cooler capacities, I tried my best to help him…

Unfortunately, I have the attention span of a three year old and ended up quality testing on the reclining camping chairs, oogling over sparkly things, and had a “what the heck?” moment when I found a penny and noticed the back…seriously, how long have pennies looked like this?!

After we finally picked a cooler…and when I say “we”, I obviously mean BB, we both thought it’d be a good idea to grab some lunch before making our way to the lake. I got to choose the place…any idea where we went??

Which Wich of course!

I finally ordered the Monte Cristo sandwich that Carly suggested to me a few weeks ago. I wasn’t sure what toppings would go with ham, turkey, and grape jelly so I just got it plain on toasted whole wheat bread. It was pretty tasty, but I think next time, I might throw on some spinach and avocado or ask for extra meat as it wasn’t the most filling.

BB went with the shrimp po’boy sandwich loaded with veggies and yummy avocado (which I obviously stole some bites from)…no milkshake this time though.

Less than an hour after that, we were in the sun, on the water, and casting our lines!

Warm sunshine, a nice breeze, and nothing to hear but the occasional bull frog croak. It was the perfect day to spend out of the lake…even if we didn’t get a single catch until three and half hours later. There was still plenty to keep my attention, including cute little turtles, a family of geese, and the two dragon flies getting it on inside our boat…bow chicka wow-wow! 😉

But seriously, how cute is this baby goose?!

I named him Steve 😉

While BB diligently casted and re-casted his line, I gave up after about an hour (again with the attention span) and spent the rest of the trip taking pictures, reading, and snacking…what can I say, sitting on your bum in a boat can really strike up an appetite! 😉

And yes, that would be a pepper that I ate like an apple!

We headed back to the dock for a little break after a few hours and while BB exchanged the battery for our boat engine, I walked around and had a little fun with my camera…

I really don’t know what it is about old rusty things and distressed wood, but I’m a bit obsessed…the middle two are my favorites!

Oh, and I also had a little photography induced revelation this weekend…the moment when I decided that I just HAD to climb the rickety old wooden ladder attached to this:

Why you ask did I risk life…ok so maybe not life, but CERTAINLY limb to reach the top of this?

Because THIS was what was on top!

All in the name of ART my friends.

I don’t even know what it is…just that it’s old, rusty, and really cool looking! Lol 😉

Say hi to BB!

After being out on the lake for five hours and catching THREE fish, we decided to go and headed back to the house where I FINALLY cooked something!

It’s been a while since I’ve felt motivated to cook (I mean, surely you guys have noticed the lack of pancakes around here…sad, I know), but out of nowhere, I got this mad craving for pasta and with a crap-ton of farmer’s market veggies in the fridge, I couldn’t NOT whip something up!

Which is exactly what I did…threw handfuls of veggies and mushrooms into a skillet with a little olive oil, added some spices, and VOILA!

Summertime Pasta Penne and a little beer tasting!

I picked up a random assortment of seasonal ales the other day and BB and I made our way through 4 of them…the Shiner Ruby Redbird is my absolute favorite…it barely even tasted like beer, just ginger and grapefruit. YUM!