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WIAW: Saved By The {Quest} Bar!

Posted on November 20, 2013 by kissmybroccoli

Hey there foodies!

Happy What I Ate Wednesday!

Before we get to partying it up, I wanted to share a few thoughts. I actually wasn’t going to share this day of eats because, after last week, I didn’t want you guys thinking all I eat are bars, BUT since I’m staying true to my word and going UNplanned with the WIAW posts from now on, I thought who cares! You know what, sometimes ~~shit~~ Quest bars happen! Honestly, if it wasn’t for these super filling protein packed bars, my ~~wallet would be a whole lot thicker~~ life would be a lot more stressful. Seriously, how am I’m NOT an affiliate for them!? 😉

Ok, onto some eats already!

There were three days last week where I woke up in the middle of the night with my stomach growling and Friday was one of them. While I think I’ve got my last meal of the day better balanced now to keep me full throughout the night, I was grateful to have a stash of Quest bars in the pantry to save me from having to wake up and make something to eat.

Yep, I shuffled my way to the kitchen with half-closed eyes and then shuffled my way back to bed with a peanut butter supreme hanging out of my mouth…#noshame! 😉

Unfortunately on this particular day, my post Quest bar slumber was no more than an hour or so. At 5am I gave up and started my day with my morning cocktail…

I promise not all of the pics today will be recycled ones from last week! 😉

Then it was off to the gym!

Where I had one of the best LEG workouts I’ve had in a while!

I’d like to think my high school mascot, Cubby, was rooting me on while I did my modified squats, lunges, and leg raises. Gotta whip this knee into SHAPE!

After a good 45 minute (or so…I have no idea since I don’t HAVE to know all the numbers anymore…woot woot!) workout, I was back home and ready for breakfast!

Cottage cheese bottomed with puffed kamut cereal and topped with warm cinnamon apples and “Grail” mix…oh and a shitton more cinnamon added post pic.

Ummm, how am I just now discovering the deliciousness of Saigon cinnamon?!

To balance out my cold breakfast, I had not one, but TWO cups of coffee (one half caff, one DECAF) which helped to power me through some errand running. I ended up having to swing by work for something and once I ~~saw~~ smelled that they had just cranked up our handy-dandy movie theater-style popcorn popper, I couldn’t resist…

I’m actually glad I grabbed it because after a “quick run” to TJ Maxx turned into over an hour of frolicking around and buying ALL THE THINGS, I was famished by the time I got back to my car!

Go in for shampoo and conditioner, come out with shampoo, two conditioners, three pairs of leggings, four packs of ginger chews, and ♫ FIVE GOLDEN RINNNNNNGS! ♫

Oh I’m sorry, too early? 😉

Back at the house, it was all about food, FAST, in the face NOW!

Bagel Thin with Cream Cheese and Spinach Egg Puff

Enter an everything bagel thin with Greek herb and garlic cheese spread (still obsessed) and a micro-spinach egg puff thingy…side of carrot sticks.

Eggs (and/or whites) + spinach + blender + microwave (2 minutes) = PUFF!

And for dessert?

The most perfect-est fruit in all the land! AKA: a persimmon. 😉

Later that night, I made the trek to the man-friend’s place. I say trek because I forgot that a certain suit and tie was in town for a concert…therefore DOUBLING the amount of time it takes to get anywhere in Nashville!

Needless to say, when I FINALLY got to his door, I was ready for some grub! Luckily, Calypso Cafe is right down the road and thoughts of their incredibly delicious greens made me start drooling. Since I’ve only been once before, I decided to order something a little different…

I decided to go with the Island Burger (first burger in MONTHS…I was so excited!) with a side of mustard greens (had to) and some bean and corn salad in lieu of chips.

Well, I guess when they say “island burger” they mean a slab of meat that washed up on the shore and laid out in the sun all day because that was the driest, nastiest burger I’ve ever tasted! What the FRENCH, toast? I could have ordered something else, but I actually found my sides to be pretty filling so I just ~~gave the waiter the stank eye~~ made do. Oh and I of course had to ninja two bites of the man-friend’s nachos…

Hard to tell from the pic, but there’s actually black beans and chicken under all that glorious melty cheese!

Then it was time for me to drool over some~~thing~~ ONE else! 😉

And I guess luscious locks and chiseled abs tend to distract me in more ways than one because once we got back home (at nearly 11pm), all of a sudden I felt like I could gnaw my own arm off! The man-friend, armed for such Hangry Heather moments, quickly tossed me a mandarin…like literally TOSSED ME A MANDARIN!

After it hit me in the head and bounced to the floor (kidding), I picked it up and inhaled it in 2 seconds (give or take). But as cool as that little cutie was, I knew it wasn’t going to hold me over long. It was late. There was no time. Face-plant was inevitable.

I had to call for reinforcements…

And a mixed berry BLISSful night sleep soon followed!

Well except for the weird citrus-induced dreams…but that’s a story for another day!

Now scoot! Off to Peas & Crayons you go! You’ve got links to drool over…and I’ve got a Quest bar stash that needs replenishing! 😉

Does your significant other abuse you with flying fruit?

Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night hungry? What do you do?

Posted in Restaurant Review, Snacks, What I Ate Wednesday | Tagged apples, cheese, cinnamon, coffee, cottage cheese, eggs, hospital, movies, nachos, persimmon, popcorn, Quest bar, shopping, TJ Maxx, trail mix | 55 Comments

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Cornbread

Posted on November 18, 2013 by kissmybroccoli

Hello there, my impatient little hermits!

First off, I hope you were able to keep nice and warm this weekend. We had an unseasonably warm day yesterday (high of 72?!), but I missed most of it since I didn’t get to sleep until 6am (womp womp). I DID wake up just in time to be alerted to a tornado warning though! That’s Tennessee weather for ya! 😕

But you wanna know what else I woke up to? At least a half-dozen tweets from you guys on my Crock Pot Pumpkin Chili! Talk about starting the day off on a good foot…I was on cloud nine ALL ~~morning~~ afternoon! Obviously, I’m not alone in my mission to sport a winter tan so I couldn’t keep you guys waiting ANY longer for this cornbread recipe…

Ahhh, THERE it is!

I seriously came up with this recipe on the spot. I already had the chili going in the crock pot just waiting for the man-friend to get off work and make his way over, but once he arrived, I realized we needed something more and well, what goes better with ~~pumpkin than MORE pumpkin~~ chili than cornbread?!

My first thought was Davida’s recipe, but unfortunately if I didn’t get cornbread in my face in LESS than 30 minutes, Hangry Heather was going to ~~die~~ be very unhappy! Enter frantic Googling and perhaps a little ~~swearing~~ sweating (hmm, a little Freudian slip perhaps? ;)). After running around in circles (figuratively of course), I decided to just wing it…and pray to the pumpkin gods that I didn’t end up with pumpkin flavored cardboard because well, it’s no secret that I’m not a baker!

Lucky for us BOTH, it was a WINNER on the first try!

Oh and before I could even ask him, the man-friend looks over at me and says, “Wow, I really like this cornbread…it’s perfectly sweet.” Then he went to the kitchen and got himself another slice! And in case you require another opinion, my girl Lucie is definitely a fan! 😀

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Cornbread

By: Heather @ Kiss My Broccoli

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20-25 minutes

Keywords: bake side bread dairy-free vegetarian nut-free pumpkin puree cornmeal whole wheat flour fall

Ingredients (9 squares)

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 large egg
2-3 Tablespoons honey
1 Tablespoon blackstrap molasses

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F degrees.
2. Coat an 8×8 baking dish with non-stick spray and set aside.
3. In a medium-sized bowl, combine dry ingredients and stir to break up any lumps.
4. In a separate medium-sized bowl, combine remaining ingredients and whisk well.
5. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
6. Transfer batter to baking dish, place in oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
7. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan before slicing and serving or crumble it over a bowl of Crock Pot Pumpkin Chili!

And while it is FANTASTIC crumbled into a bowl of chili, it’s also great on its own, with a little butter, orrrrrrr warmed and crumbled into a bowl of cottage cheese with warm cinnamon apples…the breakfast I was pretty much OBSESSED with last week!

With peanuts on top of course, because you all know how I feel about
peanuts and pumpkin!

What is your favorite way to enjoy cornbread?

What’s the last thing that you baked?

Posted in Recipe | Tagged cornbread, pumpkin | 57 Comments

Confessions of a Seasonal Hermit

Posted on November 17, 2013 by kissmybroccoli

It’s no secret that I hate the cold.

[original source] [original source]

In the summer, you can find me frolicking around in my summer dresses and flippy floppies, happy as can be, but come November and on into APRIL (I swear we have the longest winters), I climb into my little hermit shell and pretty much lose any desire to go anywhere or do anything.

As the temperatures recently plummeted (yes, I am allowed to be that dramatic when it is eight degrees BELOW ZERO and it’s windy as shi…Chicago! 😉 ), I started to realize some of my cold weather quirks…

When showering, I spend at LEAST 5 minutes stalling under the hot water, just so I don’t have to get out and freeze. Once out, I dry off at a lightning fast speed and then make a beeline to the blow dryer…but not to dry my hair. Nope, I use it to warm my shivering body!

I spend my mornings slowly sipping coffee that I insist on warming in the microwave every 5 minutes because I swear it’s not hot enough. By the afternoon, I make the switch to herbal tea, or sometimes I just hold a mug of hot water to my face.

All while wrapped up in my favorite fuzzy robe AND under the electric blanket that the man-friend bought me last year for Christmas.

And speaking of Christmas, if you guys have never seen A Christmas Story (my all-time favorite holiday movie), then you really need to watch this little video…because EVERY time I leave the house, I feel like Alfie’s kid brother in all those layers.

I can’t put my arms dowwwwwwwwwwwwwn!

That being said, it only makes sense to make the most of those layers…and you know, buy every single pair of fleece-lined leggings I can find at TJ Maxx! 😉

And when I DO have to go out of the house,

I hop in Elvira, crank her heat up to 90°F, put the ~~butt warmers~~ heated seats on full blast, annnnnnnnnnd…

Make sure the evening ends on a steamy note!

Shhh, don’t tell the man-friend!

Seriously though, this movie was even BETTER than the first one! Surprisingly, Tom Hiddleston (who plays Loki) provides a lot of comic relief and Chris Hemsworth? Well, he just does a fantastic job of playing muscly man meat…I mean a NORSE GOD!

And let me just say, it took me longer to edit that first picture than it did to type this entire post…from the comfort of my bed now that I have a new WORKING modem…no thanks to the idiot kid working at Best Buy…but that’s a story for another day! 😉

Do you have any special keep-warm quirks?

Anyone else feel extremely claustrophobic in winter coats?