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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! 🙂

Hmm, maybe the title of this post should’ve been “I’m Bloob Da Ba Dee Da Ba Die!!” Lol

Well, I’m off to bed…3 1/2 hours of sleep only lasts so long!

Have you ever HAD to stay up for 24 hours or more? How did you fare?

Posted in Breakfast, Entree, Pancake Sunday, Vegetarian | Tagged almonds, blueberries, Daiya, eggs, pancakes, spinach | 35 Comments

Brunch & Linner

Posted on February 19, 2011 by kissmybroccoli

Woo Hoo and welcome to the weekend! Hope everyone is making the most of these days off and if you are working this weekend, I’m sorry! If it makes you feel any better, I’m on call at the hospital until 7am Monday morning!

I was so so so excited for my breakfast this morning! The last time I went to Kroger, they were having a sale on Chobani yogurt, so I picked up a few new-to me flavors and I was really anxious to try the peach flavor I purchased. And what better way to try out a new flavor than to whip up a bowl of overnight oats (not longer just for busy workday mornings)?

So last night I stirred up one container of peach flavored Chobani, 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk, 1/2 cup of rolled oats, and 1 tablespoon of chia seeds (my favorite overnight oats add-in) and let it set in the fridge overnight. When I woke up this morning I set to work on completing my bowl with some help from the following ingredients:

Peaches ‘n Cream Overnight Oats with Gingersnap Cookie Crumble: (serves 1)

1 container peach flavored Chobani yogurt
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 tablespoon chia seeds
1/8 cup water (or more as needed to thin)
1/2 cup frozen peaches, thawed and chopped
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3-4 crushed gingersnap cookies
1 tablespoon Justin’s Maple Almond Butter

1. Combine first four ingredients and place in the fridge, covered, overnight.
2. In the morning, take your bowl out of the fridge and add 1/8 cup of water to the mix if needed to thin out.
3. Stir in peaches, almond extract, and cinnamon.
4. Topped with crushed cookies and a drizzle of your favorite almond butter.
5. Prepare to die and go to gingersnap cookie Heaven!

This was by far the BEST bowl of overnight oats I’ve ever created! The bite from the gingersnap cookies paired so perfectly with the creamy peach flavored oats and added just the right amount of crunch!

By the way, if you’ve never tried Justin’s Maple Almond Butter, you are ra-heely missing out my friend! It is my favorite almond butter flavor!

The funny thing was that I mixed up this bowl with everything but the topping first thing this morning but then realized that after drinking my cup of coffee, I wasn’t even hungry! So I ended up having this bowl for “brunch” about 3 hours later!

The majority of my day was spent cleaning up the house, getting in a workout, and catching up on my blog reading but the highlight of my day was a little visit from my sister and her boyfriend! They’ve been dating for several months now and this was the first time I got to meet him face to face. Don’t they make such a sweet couple?

We hung out and chatted a bit before they headed off to see a movie. After they left, I realized it had been 5 hours since break…um, brunch and I was just starting to get hungry. One of the many reasons I love my dear Greek yogurt!

For linner (lunch+dinner), I threw together a salad with a bit of inspiration from Julie. She recently posted a recipe for Raspberry Glazed Salmon that I’ve been wanting to try, but sadly my salmon was taking a vacation in the Alps (still in the freezer). Luckily he left his cousin Can O. Salmon behind…you know, to look after the alevins. 😉

I love these jams that they sell at TJ Maxx…they come in a variety of flavors and when you finish the jam, you have a beautiful new juice glass!

1/2 cup of canned salmon mixed with 1 tablespoon of the raspberry pomegranate preserves and 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar to make a sweet salmon salad and served on a bed of spinach along with roasted kabocha squash and crumbled goat cheese.

I love love love topping my salads with warm roasted veggies! The combination of the warm soft kabocha with the cool salmon salad and goat cheese made for a fine linner! Oh, and I totally went back for more kabocha! Half a squash is 1 serving right? Right!

Even on the weekends, it is rare for me to eat “off schedule.” I am normally a 3 meal + 2 snacks kind of person, so today was a bit different for me. I do have to say though that these two meals have kept me plenty satisfied. Hmm, looks like I’m learning a few things about intuitive eating!

Do you tend to eat on a schedule or do you “wing it”?
With my job, I have to eat at a set time or I may not get to eat at all. I guess that schedule just tends to carry itself into the weekend as well.

Posted in Breakfast, Entree, Vegetarian | Tagged almond butter, goat cheese, kabocha, overnight oats, salad, spinach | 27 Comments

I Think I Found a BLUE Hair!

Posted on February 18, 2011 by kissmybroccoli

Hey there my favorite whippersnappers! Guess what! It’s finally Fridaaaaaaay!!

Am I the only one that feels like this week has drug on forever? Or maybe just last night when it took me FIVE hours to figure out how to upload a video that only a few of you could even see! Ugh, sorry guys! Good news is, I think I fixed the embed code and it should play properly now! So go check out my accent vlog if you haven’t already! I can’t believe the extent of my technology handicap…it’s almost like I was born in another generation…a MUCH older one!

I could plead a strong case for an early membership to the AARP. I think I’m going to start a petition with the following as my proof:

I can never sleep past 7:30am
I rarely go anywhere without packing a sweater (even in the summer)
I think kids are too loud
I get extremely irritated when the neighborhood kids use my backyard as a pass-thru
My motto with computers is: “Click every button until something works!”
And hey, I already have a cat!

So now I’ll I have to do is dye my hair silver, sign up for my first bingo tourney, and learn how to finish a crossword puzzle and then BAM…it’s time for discounts at Kroger and Cracker Barrel! 😉

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Young and hip or old and senile, breakfast is a must for all! This morning’s bowl was inspired by Liz over at I <3 Vegetables. When I saw her tweet (hey, that makes me hip, right?) yesterday about a quinoa with walnuts and cranberries, it got my wheels turning. I cooked up some quinoa last night before going to bed and then this morning morphed it into a hot breakfast cereal!

Nantucket Breakfast Quinoa:

1/2 cup cooked quinoa
1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla
sweetener to taste (I drizzled a bit of agave in mine)

Combine all ingredients and cook on the stove top over medium heat until quinoa gets more of a creamy soft texture. Top with your favorite granola or trail mix. Lately, I’ve been a bit obsessed with this one:

I love the clean taste of this blend and can I get a “heck yeah” for a trail mix with shelled ‘stachios?

Today was a typical Friday at the good ol’ hospi! Run, run, run and run some more! After minimal sleep last night, I was ready to pass out when I left at 3pm. When I got home, I did something I never do (which I guess catapults me into senior citizen status even more)…I took a nap…and it was glorious!

I have never been much of a nap-taker. I always seem to feel worse after I wake up and would prefer to just go to bed earlier instead, but today I knew I wouldn’t make it without a little shut eye. I was OUT for 2 straight hours and when I woke up my first thought was, “Yay, I don’t feel like doo-doo anymore!” followed by, “Man, I’m starvin’!”
Not quite sure how I can instantly go from thinking poo one minute and food the next, but that’s besides the point!

Now, I could’ve just had taco salad leftovers from Wednesday, but for some reason I had a massive craving for chili (might’ve had something to do with the fact that it was raining Persians and Poodles outside earlier). So, my taco salad bowl pulled a little Clark Kent in a telephone booth move and I had one of the most amazing bowls of chili I’ve ever made…and it only took 15 minutes!

Spicy Chipotle Chili: (serves 3-4)

Leftover Tempeh Taco Salad “meat” (1/2 recipe)
1 15oz. can of beans (I used a tri-bean blend)
1 8oz. can of tomato sauce, no salt added
1 chipotle pepper, chopped
1/2 teaspoon Adobo sauce from canned chipotle peppers
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
sprinkle of my favorite spice blend ever

Combine all ingredients on stove top and cook over medium heat until heated through. Garnish with desired toppings (I used Daiya cheddar, avocado, and cilantro).