What I ate – Page 10 – Fervent Foodie

A sandwich BUILT for Hummus

August 26, 2010 4 Comments

It’s Thursday, and I am one happy lady. Thank you to those of you who commented on yesterday’s tell me something happy post. Each one of your comments resulted in a big smile on my face, and I thank you again and again for sharing your happy thoughts with me!

Breakfast #1

Today I planned on eating the last of the scrambled eggs I cooked up on Sunday, but I was in the mood for something a little different. Something with a little kick. And when I’m in such a mood, I turn to my friend Frank. Frank’s Red Hot that is 🙂

Come to think of it, I can’t leave out my good friends George and Mama Lupe either! Frank, George, and Mama Lupe all contributed to my yummy breakfast wrap.

Leftover scrambled eggs + several shakes of Franks atop a Mama Lupe low carb tortilla:

Then I wrapped it up burrito-style and grilled on the George for about 5 minutes, until the eggs were hot and the tortilla was crispy.

I also heated up the broccoli in the microwave… Unfortunately my microwave doesn’t have a human name… Frank, George, Mama Lupe, and Emerson (I guess Emerson could be a last name).

I swear the George Foreman grill is one of the most amazing kitchen gadgets on earth–or at least the most amazing one in my kitchen!

Stats on B#1: 208 Calories, 15 g carbs, 8g fat, 24g protein, 6g fiber

Breakfast #2

Overnight oaty goodness:

It’s getting cold in the mornings now… I have a feeling pretty soon I’ll be saying farewell to cold oats and heading back to the warmth the traditional hot oats. *Sigh*

Stats on B#2: 233 calories, 44g carbs, 5g fat, 6g protein, 7g fiber

Lunch

Ive blabbed my Trader Joe’s sob story on this blog many a time.. Sooooo far to drive (~1 hr away) to the nearest TJ’s… So sad. Luckily, my mom picked me up some Trader Joe’s Hummus on her last trip to TJ’s! WOOOOOOT!

The hummus was not an afterthought for today’s sandwich, not a mere condiment to go on the bun. No. Today’s sandwich was BUILT specifically for Trader Joe’s Cilantro Jalapeno Hummus.

This sandwich consisted of a Pepperidge Farm 7 grain deli flat & a four ounce grilled chicken breast:

That I topped off with sliced tomato, onion, and the STAR of the show: Trader Joe’s Cilantro Jalapeno Hummus

Then I added some fresh spinach and some sprouts. Excessive veggies? Perhaps.

Check out the height on this sucker:

I also had some leftover roasted cauliflower on the side. Cauliflower might looking boring, but trust me. It was fab.

Layers of FLAVOR.

Stats on Lunch: 364 calories, 35g carbs, 5g fat, 46g protein, 11g fiber

QUESTION: What did YOU have for lunch today? I’m always looking for ways to shake up my lunch routine!

What I ate

No recipes, just deliciousness.

August 25, 2010 2 Comments

After work today, I went for a walk with my sister through the park near her house. I have to admit, walking and talking with someone is a whole heck of lot more fun than running by yourself. Just sayin.

After the walk, I headed to the BF’s to make up some dinner. That’s 2 times in one workweek! GASP! Anyway, I had no recipe in mind–I just wanted something TASTY and simple. And I had a crap ton of veggies to use up in my fridge. When all else fails, make fajitas. That’s my life motto actually 😉

First up, I chopped up a green pepper, red onion, a small zucchini, and some white mushrooms and tossed them with a little extra virgin olive oil, garlic salt, cajun seasoning, and black pepper:

Next I made some pico-de-gallo out of some fresh cilantro, tomatoes, red onion, lime juice, garlic salt, and black pepper. Pico-de-gallo. PICOOOOO-de-GALLO… Have you guys seen that Wendy’s commercial?? Makes me laugh every time.

I let the veggies cook for about 15 minutes on the George, then loaded up 1 Mama Lupe low carb tortilla and a big bed of lettuce with the veggies, PIIICCOOOO-de-GALLO 😉 ) , banana pepper rings, some shredded grilled chicken (which I cooked up Sunday night), some Tostitos salsa (leftover from last night’s Mexican Meatloaf), and some Stonyfield Farms Plain Fat-Free yogurt:

Fantastic.

Side note – Have you checked out the ingredients on Tostito’s salsa? It’s all natural, and I didn’t even realize it! Props to Frito Lay!

BTW – I’ve found that Stonyfield Farms Plain Fat-Free yogurt makes an EXCELLENT substitution for sour cream. This makes me very happy indeed 🙂

Recipes, What I ate

Overnight Oats for Dummies

August 24, 2010 40 Comments

Overnight oats are cold, creamy, and absolutely friggin delicious, especially in the summer time. I get more questions on overnight oats than on any other topic/food/recipe on this blog. I attribute this to the exquisite palates of my readers. Given the confusion, I thought I’d do an “overnight oats for dummies” post.. not implying that any of you are dummies, just that a dummy would be able to follow these extremely thorough instructions.

First up, the oats.

You can use any oats that you like. My preference is for quick oats because they turn out with a fabulous creamy consistency, but I’ve also enjoyed rolled oats and muesli. I usually go with 1/2 a cup of oats, but you can use more or less depending on your liking.

KEY TO SUCCESS #1: These oats are uncooked, straight from the container.

Oaty goodness:

Options for Oats: Quick Oats, Rolled Oats, Muesli, Steel Cut Oats, etc.

Second, the liquid.

I favor Almond Breeze Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk.

I tend to use equal parts of liquid to oats (typically 1/2 a cup of each).

KEY TO SUCCESS #2: The more liquid you use, the runnier your oats will be, conversely the less liquid you use the thicker your oats will be. Thank you freshman year physics class.

Options for liquid: regular cow milk (MOO!), yogurt, etc.

Third, sweetener if you so choose.

I like to add a tsp of brown sugar to my oats.

Options for sweetener: a packet of Truvia, Jam or Preserves, Honey, etc.

KEY TO SUCCESS #3: Keep your eye on the prize and don’t get overly excited and accidently spill valuable OO goodness as I did. Don’t worry. I licked it all up 😉

Fourth, overnight mixins.

My standard oats only have 1 overnight mixin: CINNAMON

Just because I’m boring, doesn’t mean you have to be. The options are ENDLESS. Here are some ideas: Nut butter, chia seeds, granola, chocolate chips, protein powder, PB2, yogurt, nuts, raisins, fresh or frozen fruits – think berries, melons, cherries, bananas, etc.

Fifth, quality time with the fridge.

I’ve said it many a time on the blog: overnight oats are like a gift to yourself. You prep this little bundle of joy the night before, and it’s just ready and waiting for you in the morning… Like a sweet little puppy… That you eat.

Moving on…

KEY TO SUCCESS #4: Be a good little girl and don’t eat your oats for a midnight snack.

Sixth, fresh mixins.

The next morning, the oats will be nice and thick and creamy:

I had to crop this photo because just looking at these oats made me drool all over my desk.

You can mix in ANYTHING ya want to these oats! See the list of ideas under the overnight mixins for inspiration. Other ideas include cereal (add this in the AM so it doesn’t get soggy) and cookies (if you have a ramped sweet tooth like me).

My preference is to add some fresh fruit:

Sometimes I go with fresh strawberries:

Let’s be honest, I ALWAYS go with fresh strawberries…

Sometimes I go for the fresh blueberries:

And if I’m feeling spunky, I go for both:

Apparently I feel spunky 97% of the time 🙂

Whatever mixins you choose, give it a good mix:

Then, put you face super close to the bowl and admire the overnight oats in all their glory:

The overnight oats are eaten COLD… so all that’s left to do is eat your little heart out!

I’d like to end this tutorial with a photo montage of some of my favorite OO’s.

Please close your eyes and imagine sappy graduation music playing (for your completion of the tutorial, of course), then proceed.

Overnight Oats—YOU… COMPLETE ME. <3 <3 <3

I hope you feel OO inspired

BTW – I updated my About Me page. Constructive feedback is welcome and appreciated! FerventFoodie@gmail.com.

Recipes, What I ate

Chuggin Along

August 23, 2010 16 Comments

Those of you not in the tax world probably wonder what the heck tax accountants do after the April 15th deadline. Whelp, I wish April 15th were the only deadline during the year, but alas we have several big, BIGGER, and BIGGGGER deadlines through the year. The BIGGGGER deadline I’m referring to is the lovely September 15th, which is fast approaching. Most of the work we do outside of “tax season” relates to businesses who extend their tax returns and/or have a fiscal year end and thus a different due date. I’ll leave it at that. People can only stomach so much tax-talk, especially on a Monday 🙂

On top of the tax deadline, the accounting course I’m teaching at a local university starts next week! When things get busy like this, the first thing that gets sacrificed is exercise. It saddens me to admit that fact, but it’s the honest truth. I know it’s all about making time. My problem is when I’m mentally exhausted, I don’t have the energy to do physical things. I’m still trying to find ways to get myself motivated. The busier I am at work, the greater the need for planning meals and batch-cooking. Thus, yesterday morning I did all my shopping for the week and had a mini cookathon.

Breakfast #1

First up on the Sunday cooking agenda was a 3-serving batch of scrambled eggs and roasted broccoli.

Here’s what went into the scrambled eggs:

3 whole eggs
9 egg whites
splash of water
S&P
Red Pepper Flakes
Frank’s red hot

The broccoli was roasted on a cookie sheet (sprayed down with cooking spray) and then seasoned with garlic salt and pepper. I roasted them in a 415 degree oven for 15 minutes.

Good things come in threes?

I added a dollop of ketchup (mandatory) before eating 1 of these 3 lovelies at my desk at work:

Stats on B#1: 163 Calories, 12g carbs, 5g fat, 19g protein, 2g fiber

Breakfast #2

There is one breakfast in the world that would make me actually look forward to a Monday. Overnight Oats, of course!

I made my usual overnight oats to enjoy at my desk at work this lovely Monday.

Keep an eye out for tomorrow’s post which will greatly elaborate on my overnight oats… Can you smell the excitement?!

Stats on B#2: 233 Calories, 44carbs, 5g fat, 6g protein, 7g fiber

Lunch

I don’t buy much lunch meat, but yesterday I had a real hankerin for a toasted sub so I picked some Roasted Deli Turkey and Ham up at the grocery store. I also picked up some Arnold’s Fill’ems. Have you guys seen these? They are basically sandwich thins in long rectangles (for use with hotdogs, sausage, etc). How cool!

For lunch today, I piled a couple slices of turkey and ham atop an Arnold’s Fill ‘em along with some tomatoes, onions, banana peppers, spinach, and sprouts and a squiggle of Wasabi mustard:

Stats on Lunch: 275 Calories, 33g carbs, 2g fat, 25g protein, 8g fiber

Yesterday, I made a grilled version of this same sandwich—except no sprouts and I used a little Italian dressing and hot sauce instead of mustard:

It’s crazy how simply grilling a sandwich makes it taste infinitely more delicious. I’m seriously considering bringing a mini George Foreman to work.. You know the ones that are just big enough to cook a single burger? I wonder if anyone would mind… or if it’s a fire hazard or something.

Warm, crispy, and DELICIOUS:

Random

Over the past week or so, I’ve tried out a few new goodies and I wanted to comment on them (mostly to link up to the products I’ve tried page).

First up, the Kardea Lemon Ginger bar. I was really excited to try this flavor out:

But, sadly I HATED it! Of the 3 flavors I’ve tried thus far, this is the only one I won’t be purchasing again. It just didn’t jive with me. I have one bar left (Banana Nut) and I sure hope it tastes better than this flavor!

I also FINALLY found a FAGE yogurt with the fruit mixins:

Another sad story! I didn’t like this yogurt at all! I GREATLY prefer Chobani and Dannon Greek yogurt to the FAGE.

So sad.

As you may recall, I haven’t had the greatest luck with Larabars. When I found two mini lara’s in my HLS swag bag, I wasn’t too excited to try either of them out.

But surprise, surprise, I REALLY liked this cashew cookie bar! I think now that my palate knows a larabar isn’t supposed to taste like a Luna bar, I’ve become more accepting of them.

Besides, look how stinkin cute it is:

Annnnd I also tried the cherry pie larabar:

And I liked it! Crazy talk!

Dinner

Dinner went unpictured, but deserves a notable mention because the BF and I hit up Applebees after work. Now this may not sound too exciting to most of you, but to me it was a definite highlight of the week. Ok, I know the week just started, but I feel confident saying it will be a highlight 🙂 We don’t usually see each other during the workweek, and the past weekend was.. lets just say “not the most cheery.” So it was ESPECIALLY lovely to have a nice dinner together. Not to mention the fact that Applebee’s had a special on cabernet tonight (only $3.50 a glass!!). I went with the steak on the under 550 calorie menu, and it was delicious! By the way, I’m also a BIG fan of the Shrimp & Island rice on the under 550 calorie menu as well. Check ‘em out!

QUESTION: When work/life gets super busy, how do you keep up on your exercise and eating healthy?

Recipes, What I ate

Dinner in under 10 Minutes

August 21, 2010 5 Comments

Change of plans! Due to the torrential down pour that’s being dumped on us in northeast Ohio, there was no cooking out today.

Instead, I was left with the task of cooking myself a dinner using only ingredients I had in the house. I opened up the pantry to find a bag of Carba Nada pasta begging to be eaten:

I also happened to have some grilled chicken breast leftover from Tuesday night’s cookathon, and in the deep dark depths of my freezer I was lucky to find a single serving of Classico Fire Roasted Tomato & Garlic pasta sauce. Just another perfect example to validate my love and obsession for freezing foods in individual servings 🙂

Batch cooking your meats saves a TON of time throughout the week, but towards the end of the week the meat (especially chicken) can start to get a little dry. When I make pasta sauce with any sort of meat, I like to steep the meat in the sauce, which makes it nice and juicy and tender.

So, while I was waiting for the pasta water to boil, I put the pasta sauce in small pan and added about 3 ounces of grilled chicken and my typical pasta sauce barrage of spices: S&P, Red Pepper Flakes, Dried Oregano, Dried Basil, Onion Powder, and Garlic Powder. All you really need to do is open up your spice cabinet and toss in a few shakes of whatever sounds good to you 🙂

Once the water was boiling, I dropped a serving of the Carba Nada pasta into the pot. Carba Nada only takes 5 minutes to cook (awesome!) and is only 140 calories (AWESOMER!), 24g carbohydrates, 12g protein, and 6g fiber. And it ACTUALLY tastes good.

While the sauce and pasta were getting their grooves on, I made a small side salad with some lettuce, tomato, onion, and Ken’s Steakhouse Light Balsamic Dressing.

Dinner is served my friends!

Pastalicious

Chow time!

Dinner in under 10 minutes… sure tastes good!

Stats on dinner: 398 calories, 48g carbs, 8g fat, 32g protein, 13g fiber

If you are interested in trying out the Carba Nada pasta, I recommend ordering from Netrition because they have $4.95 flat-rate shipping. (I also order my Mama Lupe low-carb tortillas, PB2, and Joseph’s Bakery products on this site)

QUESTION: What’s your favorite done-in-under-ten-minutes dinner?

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