| Page 312

I’m Baaaaaaaaack!

Posted on February 22, 2011 by kissmybroccoli

Halo peeps! I’m back! As in I am back to my broccoli loving, spinach eating, nut butter fantasizing, normal self! Ahhh, feels so good…it’s like when Austin Powers got his mojo back! Yes, we have the same last name…no we’re not related! C’mon, he’s a fictional character, duh!

I was hoping that the first day back with my “mojo” would have something spectacular happen so I could tell you guys all about it, but sadly it was just an ordinary day at the hospi!

So as not to leave you high and dry tonight, I’d like to share with you guys my latest award, given to me by the cookie making queen Nicole of Cookies & Carrots!

The Rules
1. Link the person who awarded you.
2. Post 7 random facts about yourself.
3. Pass the award on to 7 other bloggers.

I know I’ve technically already done a “7 random facts” post, but who cares! Plus, I know how much I love learning more about my favorite blogger friends so hopefully this will entertain you guys too!

1. When I entered college, I had NO IDEA what I wanted to do. I claimed an undecided major until the end of my sophomore year, when I started feeling the pressure to make a decision. I realized at this point that if I didn’t figure it out soon, I was going to have to be in school longer than 4 years…yeah, not cool! So, I flipped through my college’s book of majors/minors and saw x-ray. I thought, “How hard could it be to can take pictures of people’s bones! I could do that!” Long story short, it is much more involved but it was the BEST lazy girl decision I’ve ever made! I love my job!

2. Right after high school and all throughout college, I had a job at GNC (General Nutrition Centers). Working there 1.) helped me pay for college without having to take out more than one student loan and 2.) basically formed my passion for healthy living and eating.

3. I got my first job when I was 15 years old. I worked at a mom & pop sort of diner as a waitress for 2 bucks an hour + tips. I was also in charge of making pizzas and ice cream treats and I always ate for free!

4. I was in no way a healthy eater growing up. I didn’t know the first thing about nutrition and subsisted off pop-tarts, pizza, and my all time favorite adolescent snack: chips and salsa.

5. My snack love was so great that one year for Christmas my mom and dad got me a jumbo size bag of chips and multiple jars of salsa as one of my gifts!

6. I was in the drama club in high school and once played Daphne in a recreation of a Fraiser episode. Oh yeah, I’ve got that fake British accent goin on!

7. I grew up in one of those small towns where the high school homecoming game is a city-wide affair. When they first brought a Taco Bell/KFC to my hometown, the police department had to direct traffic for weeks!

Ok, so there you have it! Some random facts about moi! Hope you liked! And now for the 7 lucky winners:

1. Marie of The Quarter Life Quandry
2. Matt of The Athlete’s Plate
3. Kate of What Kate is Cooking
4. Emilia of Namaste Gurl
5. Lee of In My Tummy…and On My Mind
6. Chelsea of Clean Eating Chelsea
7. Katie of Chocolate Covered Katie

Oh, don’t worry, I would leave you without any foodie pics to drool over…scroll down!

Whole wheat English muffin with TJ’s Valencia PB and cinnamon on one side, 2% cottage cheese and honey on the other side.

Slap ’em together and what have you got? A freaking amazing sandwich that’s what! Special thanks to Caitlin over at The Permanent Life for the idea!

This sammie was enjoyed this morning alongside a HUGE green smoothie in a bowl.

Clean-Out-the-Freezer Smoothie in a Bowl: (serves 1)

1/2 cup almond milk
2 BIG handfuls of fresh spinach
1/2 a frozen banana
1 frozen mandarin orange
1/2 cup frozen raspberries
splash of vanilla
1/8 teaspoon xanthan gum (the KEY to making your smoothie spoonable!)

Combine all ingredients in a blender (or push your little Magic Bullet to its limits like I did) and blend, blend, blend! I also topped mine with a little handful of Kashi Go Lean for a little crunch!

I have to say that until reading through all of your comments from yesterday’s post, I had no idea what in the world I was going to make for dinner! So this is for all my quesadilla lovers out there! Thanks for the inspiration!

Chipotle Bean & Cheese Quesadilla: (serves 2)

2 whole wheat tortillas (I used Trader Joe’s brand)
1/2 cup refried beans
1/4 teaspoon Mrs. Dash Southwestern Chipotle Seasoning
1 chipotle pepper from a can, seeded and diced
1/2 teaspoon adobo sauce from canned peppers
1/4 cup onion, diced
1/4 cup Daiya cheddar
cilantro to taste

1. Saute onions in a small skillet until translucent.
2. Stir diced pepper, adobo sauce, and seasoning into refried beans.
3. Layer tortilla with beans, sauteed onions, cheese, and cilantro.
4. Top with other tortilla and grill (I used my grill pan on the stove-top) until warmed through and tortilla gets signature grill marks.

All layered up and ready for the grill!

Serve with your favorite salsa and/or guacamole!

Hope that was enough to rile up your taste buds! 😉 See ya back here tomorrow for What I Ate Wednesday!

What is one random fact about you? I love learning things about you guys…entertain me!

Posted in Breakfast, Entree, Randomness, Recipe, Survey/Tag, Vegetarian | Tagged avocado, cilantro, cottage cheese, Daiya, hospital, peanut butter, smoothie, spinach | 33 Comments

Night Shift Hangover

Posted on February 21, 2011 by kissmybroccoli

Hello. And I mean no exclamation point with that. Sorry folks, I am hanging on by a thread here. I have been battling my night shift hangover since first thing this morning. After 8 hours of sleep, it took everything in me to get out of bed and get moving and as the (lonnnnnnnng) day progressed, I faded bit by bit.

It’s been a while since I’ve done a night shift and I guess since I wasn’t feeling too bad after my nap yesterday that it made me forget about the second day…it’s like DOMS for your internal clock! Most of my day has been spent downing ginger tea like its my job to ease my sensitive stomach and trying not to fall asleep standing up!

I should have known when it took me nearly 20 minutes this morning to decide on breakfast, though I have to say that the final decision was spot on! I’ve been wanting to try adding peanut flour to my oats like I’ve seen so many other bloggers do and I just happened to have a sad little banana that decided to jump in on the action too!

Creamy Peanutty Oats with Banana & Flax: (serves 1)

1/2 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
3/4 cup water
2 tablespoons peanut flour
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 banana, halved and separated
1 tablespoon chia seeds
1 teaspoon flax seeds

1. Combine oats, milk, peanut flour and extract water in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until mixture starts to bubble.
2. Slice 1/2 a banana into thin slices and whisk into oat mixture and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and stir in chia seeds and allow to set for 10 minutes or so to give the chia seeds time to do their thickening thang!
4. Pour oats into a bowl, add sliced banana and top with flax seeds.

This was one of the creamiest bowls of oats that I’ve made! I loved how the peanut flour came through without overpowering the taste of the sweet banana! Mmm!

Now, before I pass out and end up with “asdf jkl;” stamped on my forehead, let me show you my quick, easy, and perfectly yummy dinner!

1 slice whole wheat naan topped with spinach and artichoke hummus, sautéed spinach, and Daiya cheddar! Light on the “hangover” tummy, easy and quick for the foggy brain!

Alright, I’m off to go find my normalcy in the form of head to pillow! Nite everybody!

What’s your favorite fix-it-fast dinner when you don’t want to think?

Posted in Breakfast, Entree, Vegetarian | Tagged bananas, Daiya, hummus, oats, spinach | 35 Comments

I’m Blue Da Ba Dee Da Ba Die!

Posted on February 20, 2011 by kissmybroccoli

Heehee! Now that annoying song stuck will be stuck in your head for the rest of the night! Can you believe it came on my Pandora station in the middle of a workout the other day? I have the station set to Dynamite by Taio Cruz! Weird, right? I had to change it, but not before the super catchy lyrics engraved themselves into the inside of my head!

Last night I was a little blue. Remember when I said I was on call at the hospital until 7am Monday morning? Welllllllllllllllll, the night shift tech found out she had pink eye so I was called in to work an overnight shift at 8:00pm…with no forewarning…and no nap! I was really surprised that I was able to make it through the shift without collapsing on the floor but fornutately(?) it stayed busy enough that I didn’t really have time to think about my lack of sleep. Haha, take that old pessimistic attitude! Another bright side…time and a half! Chaaaaaaa-ching!

Elise would agree with me 100%, working a night shift does weird things to your body. During a shift, I can go from fine to starving in like 20 minutes! Luckily I was able to grab a few snacks for the night before running out the door: banana, apple, sample pack of Barney butter, a big baggie of puffed wheat, and a butt load of herbal tea! By the end of the shift I had eaten all my snacks and drank about 283 cups of tea. As soon as I got home, I was hungry again!

Enter my go-to “I am brain-dead from being awake for 24 hours” meal:

New-to-me cereal

Ancient Grains Cereal topped with dark chocolate almonds & bloobs

And a splash of almond milk!

Then it was off to bed! I slept from 7:45am-11:15 and not surprisingly woke up with a huge appetite (told ya, weird!).

Obviously my pre-bed breakfast didn’t satisfy my craving, because the first thing on my mind when I woke up was blueberries, but instead of just popping them in my mouth straight out of the package, I whipped up a little something for Pancake Sunday!

Blueberry Almond Flax Pancakes with Coconut Cream: (serves 1)

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 tablespoons almond flour (or finely ground almonds)
3 tablespoons flax meal
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
8-10 drops Stevia (I used the vanilla cream drops)
1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

1. Combine dry ingredients in a medium-sized bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, stir together the wet ingredients.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix just until moistened.
4. Allow batter to rest for about 5 minutes.
5. Pour batter into greased skillet over medium heat (makes 3 medium pancakes).
6. Top batter with blueberries and allow to cook until batter starts to bubble on top.
7. Flip pancakes and continue cooking for 3-4 minutes until done.

Top with Sarena’s famous coconut cream (deeeeelicious) and unsweetened coconut shreds.

And with that, the bloob craving was satisfied!

I’ve been wanting to try Sarena’s coconut cream for a while now. I finally got my hands on some coconut flour last week and knew that would be the first thing I had to make with it! The second thing? Elise’s Vegan Cheesecake!

I spent most of the day lounging on the couch in my pj’s and doing some blog reading. Before finally peeling myself from the cushions and getting in a much needed workout (nothing like a good sweat sesh to make you feel alive again), I made myself a little snack.

I don’t know why, but I’ve never thought to top an English muffin with cottage cheese and honey before seeing it on Lauren’s blog. I also threw on a few raisins and after taking a quick pic, I added a sprinkle of cinnamon for good measure. Mmm-azing!

After working out and shower time, I made myself a little something quick and easy for dinner and then I realized that my go-to comfort food must be breakfast foods because that is all I’ve wanted today!

Egg white omelet stuffed with spinach, Daiya cheddar, homemade pizza sauce, and Christin’s dill pickle dip, topped with more sauce and cheese, and a whole wheat bagel thin with whipped butter and cinnamon/stevia combo.

You were right Christin, the addition of the dip in the omelet was perrrrrrrrrrrfect!

And then, an encore by the bloobs:

1/2 cup frozen tropical fruit mix, 1/2 cup almond milk, 1/2 banana, 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum topped with bloobs and eaten like ice cream since the gum made it SUPER thick! 🙂