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WIAW: Something Cheesy, Something Blue

Posted on May 11, 2011 by kissmybroccoli

Hey guys! Thanks so much for the welcome wishes for dear dear Vickie! It’s so good to have her home again!

Are you ready of another edition of What I Ate Wednesday? I know I sure am!

I swear I look more and more forward to Wednesdays each week!

Be sure to check out all the amazing links over at Peas & Crayons!
And tell Jenn I sent cha! 😉

Alright! Let’s do this thang!

Breakfast (6:20am)
Donna’s Chocolate Blueberry Breakfast Cookie
+
A mug of “lifeforce” black with cinnamon…the way nature intended!

Have you checked out Donna’s blog over at Love, Run & Travel? I love her personality and sense of humor…definitely a girl who knows how to laugh at herself! My kind of woman right there! I was perusing her latest posts last night, and when I saw her microwaveable breakfast cookie recipe, I knew EXACTLY what I was having for breakfast this morning.

I subbed in carob chips for the chocolate, used vanilla in place of the Splenda, and went with frozen bloobs since the fresh ones are so dang expensive right now!

It was absolutely perfect! A very slight amount of sweetness from the banana, a little tart from the bloobs, and the carob? Well, I you guys know by now how deep my love for carob is!

Closssssssse Up!

Snack (9:40am)
Strawberry Soy Joy Bar
Sooooo much better than there Banana ~~Butt~~ Bread flavor!

Lunch (12:15pm)
Salad beast with nooch and pine nut hummus and a big JUICY orange!

Green leaf lettuce, carrots, green bell pep, portobello mushrooms, zucchini, cherry
tomatoes, and green onions with some TJ’s 21 Salute sprinkled on top!

I know, I totally surprised you with the salad for lunch, right? 😉

Pre-workout Snack (3:00pm)
My new go-to pre-sweat sesh nibble…the biggest date I can find!

Post-workout (4:30pm)
Chocolate protein shake mixed with water

I did a 5 mile run with a few walk breaks for a time total of 51:24. It was hot…and windy…and I totally forgot sunscreen! I know, my bad…my bad! :-/

When I got back in, I was super shaky and knew I needed some fuel, but couldn’t stomach (haha, get it?) the thought of food. Then I remembered the sample packs of protein powder I received a few months ago from a local Arbonne representative!

I’m always excited to try new things, but I have to say that working in a nutrition/supplement store for four years while in college made me seriously picky when it comes to protein shakes!

So what did I think of the Arbonne Essentials chocolate protein powder?

…thumbs down! 🙁

With the first sip, I thought, “Mmm, not bad, not bad.” Then, I swallowed and the aftertaste came in…and it was SOOO super sweet! I almost chucked it, but I really didn’t want to clean Mr. Bullet and start over, so I just added a tablespoon of peanut flour to it and thankfully that made it tolerable.

As soon as I had my first sip, I flipped over the package to see why on earth it was so sweet tasting…how about sugar being the FIRST frickin’ ingredient?! 9 grams? Seriously?

Oh Arbonne, you can do so much better! 🙁

Now that the sugar coma has worn off, I’m about to head into the kitch and whip up some BFD (breakfast for dinner)!

Dinner (7:15pm)
Kristina’s Popped Quinoa & Cheesy Eggs

I’ve made this for breakfast TWICE this week! It is THAT good…may not be the most photogenic, but so amazingly delicious! And it’s ready to eat in no time!

Crispy crunchy (I can’t believe it’s not ~~butter~~ popcorn) quinoa with ooey gooey cheesy and runny egg yolk…what more could you ask for? Maybe some more fruit salad…sadly, I finished it off yesterday! 🙁

Oh and can I get a heck yeah? Here in just a minute I will have downed THREE of these suckers today! That’s 96 ounces!

I’m bringing ~~sexy~~ camel bak! 😉

What is your favorite protein powder?
My favorite is American Sports Nutrition, but I’ve been out for months and have been too lazy to buy it online. I used to get if from the gym I went to…ugh, I should’ve stocked up!

Posted in Breakfast, Entree, Snacks, What I Ate Wednesday | Tagged blueberries, cheese, coffee, eggs, hummus, nutritional yeast, oats, protein powder, quinoa, salad, veggies, water | 39 Comments

Look Who Came Home!

Posted on May 10, 2011 by kissmybroccoli

Thank you all for your sweet comments on yesterday’s Mother’s Day recap! And I understand that most of you simply wanted to spare my feelings and say that my sis and I tied for Daughter of the Year Award…it’s ok, I know she kicked my butt, but you better believe it’s on in July when my mom’s birthday rolls around! 😉

So I have some super fantabulous incredibly awesome news!

(Is that enough adjectives for ya?)

Look who came back home today!

That’s right! Vickie Vibe is back where she belongs…in my ~~arms~~ garage!

It was a rocky separation period. As many of you may recall, there was much grief in the first few days after Vickie left to go “find herself.” As much as my heart was breaking on the inside, I managed to keep a smile on my face. And then, a new character came into my life.

Andy the Avenger

It was hard at first, getting comfortable with a new ride. His leather seats didn’t cradle me the same as Vickie’s…his lights needed to be turned on manually…I honestly didn’t know if I was ready for that type of commitment. In the end, he seduced me with his satellite radio, smooth ride, and power windows and soon I forgot all about my broken heart. What can I say, I was a very vulnerable woman…and he was there for me.

Then, the adventurous love affair started to fizzle. I started to notice Andy’s faults…like his need for $50.00 worth of gas each week and his uncanny ability to weigh down my driving leg. I started to think back to the good ol’ days when Vickie and I would drive around getting lost on purpose and riding with the windows down jamming to our favorite tunes on warm sunny days. I started to miss what we had.

I decided today, that I would just swallow my pride and call over to her mother’s house (aka “The Body Shop”) and confess that I was indeed the one who did wrong and ask her for her forgiveness.

Her brother answered the phone (he’s a real grease monkey) and much to my surprise, before I could even explain why I was calling, he told me that she was ready…ready to come back home!

I started to get butterflies in my stomach…Would it still feel the same between us? How would she look? Would her side panels look ~~better~~ different? How was I going to break up with Andy?

I gathered all the courage and will I could muster and took Andy to get some gas (always nice to butter ’em up before you let ’em down, right?). I simply explained to him that I didn’t feel we were meant for each other…he needed to be fast and free and I’ve got bills (and tickets) to pay and a new house to look after. He was a little hurt at first, but seemed to understand where I was coming from. And as I walked into “The Body Shop,” I did manage to catch one last glimpse of him sparkling in the afternoon sun and let’s be honest, you have to appreciate a good body when you see one! 😉

I brought Vickie home shortly after and I’m not going to lie, it was a bit awkward at first. She smells like grease and that warm embrace I used to know was a little loose, but I know that in a few days (after a bath and a good seat adjustment), everything will fall back into place and it’ll be like the separation never happened. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that she got a nice little makeover while at her mother’s.

Before

After*

*Note: There is still one detail left to complete (see the tape) to finish her complete makeover…should be done by Friday.

Why do I suddenly have Michael Buble’s song “Home” stuck in my head? Man, wouldn’t THAT make this day complete if he came home WITH Vickie? *Swoon*

Well, I’m off to think of gift ideas for Vickie…which will DEFINITELY include a new air freshener! ‘Night!

Tell me, what made YOUR day today?

Posted in Randomness | Tagged Vicky Vibe | 36 Comments

Kiss My Mama!

Posted on May 9, 2011 by kissmybroccoli

Wow! Sounds like you guys really liked the plate–o–love pancakes yesterday! I assure you they were absolutely delicious! I may or may not have had dreams about them last night! But don’t take my word for it, go make them already!

So, as I told you guys yesterday, I spent Saturday with my family celebrating Mother’s Day. All my mom wanted this year was to spend time together as a family. I’ve mentioned before that it’s quite difficult to align our schedules so we’re ALL in the same place at the same time, but on Saturday, we made it happen AND we had a great time!

As beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside! 🙂

It didn’t take me long to come up with the perfect gift for my mom. Weatherman predicted sunny and seventy and I predicted satisfied taste buds and full tummies! Luckily, we were both right!

My ~~shopping cart~~ buggy full of “plans” 🙂

If there is one thing I know about my family, it is this: they will never turn down my baked potato salad. I got the original recipe years ago from a neighbor and have “tweaked” and “twucked” (oh yeah, new word alert!) until I made it my own. This time, I struck gold!

Baked Potato Salad: (makes one 8×8 casserole dish)

2 pounds red potatoes
1 cup plain yogurt (I used nonfat Greek, but you can also use regular yogurt)
1/2 cup reduced fat mayonnaise
S&P to taste
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I used sharp cheddar)*
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
3 green onions, diced (green and white parts)

1. Wash and dry unpeeled potatoes and cut into 1 inch pieces.
2. Combine potatoes in a large pot of water and boil until fork tender (about 10-12 minutes).
3. Pre-heat oven to 350 °F.
4. Drain potatoes, transfer to a mixing bowl and stir in yogurt, mayonnaise, salt and pepper. As you’re stirring, feel free to “rough up” the taters a bit so you get a mix of mashed and chunky.
5. Stir in bacon, cheese, and green onions, reserving a little of each to sprinkle on top.
6. Once combined, transfer to a casserole dish and top with your reserved bacon, cheese, and green onions.
7. Place dish in 350 °F oven until the cheese gets nice and melty.

Vegetarian note: This recipe would be great with soy yogurt, Nayonaise, Daiya, and some tempeh Fakin’ Bacon!

*I also stirred in about 1 1/2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast, but shh, that’s our little secret…oh HI, MOM! 😉

Pre-oven lovin’

I whipped this up and took it with me to my parent’s to pop in their oven once the rest of dinner was ready. Oh, and wanna see what was for dinner?

Lean ground beef burgers with green leaf lettuce, tomato, avocado, and bread ‘n butter pickles (the best pickles ever created), fresh corn on the cob, and steamed asparagus…all of my mom’s favorites!

As dinner was being prepared, we all nibbled our way through this ginormous bowl of goodness:

Oh yeah, killer fruit salad baby! Chopped fresh by moi!
No overpriced pre-made grocery store fruit salads here!

♥ Pineapple, cantaloupe, honey-dew, grapes, and steebies ♥

Seriously, I wish you guys could’ve seen my mom’s face when I pulled all these goodies out of my car, especially with the asparagus (since we’re the only ones that like it)!

For dessert, there was also chocolate cake, but I opted to ~~dive head first into~~ enjoy more of the fruit salad!