Friday eats

Sooooooo… it has been FOR-EV-ER since I last posted about workday breakfast-breakfast-lunch.  I guess I just got bored posting about the same things over and over again.  But today, I figured what the heck.  It’s Friday.  Let’s do this.

Breakfast #1

Mary’s oh-so-special eggs!

 photo (10)

I absolutely adore this B#1 every day!  Sausage, eggs, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, spinach, and garlic?  Come on!

photo (11)

Don’t forget the dollop of ketchup of course 🙂

 Stats on 1 Servings of my Special Eggs (sans ketchup):  189 Calories,  9g carbs,  9g fat, 23g protein, 1g fiber

 

 

Breakfast #2

Oatmeal! 

photo (12) photo (13)

I was in the grocery store the other day and ALMOST bought some strawberries so I could make overnight oats… But it’s so stinkin cold outside that I couldn’t bring myself to do it.  Man I miss them 🙁   So for today, it was standard microwaved quick oats with cinnamon and brown sugar… maybe my OO’s will make a return next week!

 Stats on 1 Servings of oats:  165 Calories,  31g carbs,  3g fat, 5g protein, 4g fiber

Lunch

And that brings us to LUNCH.  Mini cheesy meat loaf and a yumlicious side salad with Newman’s Light balsamic dressing:

photo (15)

Maybe it’s a midwest thing….. but I seriously adore meatloaf. 

It’s comforting. 

It’s meaty. 

It brings me unfettered joy. 

photo (14)

Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.

Stats on 1 mini cheesy meatloaf:  350 calories, 19g carbs, 17g fat (red meat, folks), 29g protein, 1g fiber

So what’s on everyone’s agenda this weekend?  Here’s what I’ll be up to:

  • Eyebrow wax this evening (fun Friday night activity, no?)
  • Clean.my.house.  Seriously.  I’m living in filth.
  • Work.
  • Get some of my friends and family tax returns done… oh the joys of being a tax accountant
  • Buy the BF a bday present… I’m thinking outlet mall!
  • Possibly venturing out on a Luna Bar quest.  Must find the new flavors STAT!
  • Super Bowl of course!  Bring on the cheese!

 

Signature

Continue Reading

Ahmygawd Breakfast Sandwich

Yesterday morning, I was the picture of perfection and actually woke up at the time I had intended and did NOT sleep through my alarm for a solid hour.   Let’s hope I can keep this up all week!

I rolled out of bed, and headed straight to the gym for a 30 minute round-and-round on the hamster wheel…  elliptical.  Then, straight from the gym (in all my sweaty glory) to the grocery store to buy all my foods for the week.  Silly me forgot to pack a Luna bar or nourishment of any variety for my grocery conquest.

Bad news bears.

Needless to say, I was FAMISHED by the time I got home, and I was unfortunately facing a dilemma.  Issue #1:  I wanted eggs.  Hot and dippy with ooey gooey smooth-as-butter yolk.  Issue #2:  I was also craving sausage…. as in Mary’s special eggs.  I wanted yolk, but I wanted sausage.  And I’m not talking sausage on the side.  I’m talking sausage all up in my yolk.

It was at this precise moment that I concocted my PERFECT breakfast sandwich.  The best of both of my worlds.

The Ahmygawd Breakfast Sandwich.

First, I sautéed half of a Honeysuckle Hot Turkey Sausage link (casing removed) in a pan:

DSCF5080

Hello sausage!  Ima eat you.

DSCF5081

THEN I cracked an egg right on top of this mound of sausage:

DSCF5083

The egg white dribbled down around the sausage and formed a glue to hold the whole shebang together.  Once the underside was cooked, I flipped her over:

DSCF5084

Whattttttt?????  Insane.

DSCF5085

And once that side was cooked (though not TOO cooked –we’re going for oozy yolk here) I slid the egg/sausage combo onto a toasted whole wheat English muffin:

DSCF5087

World = Rocked.

DSCF5088

Ah.my.gawd.

DSCF5093

Stats on the life changer:  255 calories, 24g carbs, 10g fat, 20g protein, 3g fiber

What you’ll need:

  • 1 link turkey or chicken sausage, casing removed
  • 1 egg
  • 1 English muffin
  • 5 minutes to eat your face off

Continue Reading

Eggcellent.

My kitchen is no stranger to eggs.

DSCF4048 

Shortly after starting this blog, it dawned on me that I really do eat an excessive amount of eggs.  So I started thinking about possible substitutions I could make.  Something healthy, clean, and full of protein.  Something filling and delicious that gave me energy without spiking my temperamental blood sugar.

I searched high and low and ended up right where I started.

Eggcellent. 

DSCF4049 

One of the MANY things I LOVE about eggs is that I can make them in a big batch.  Typically, I cook up a 5 serving egg scramble Sunday night and that serves as my breakfast #1 for the workweek.  Each serving of my scrambled eggs consists of 1 whole egg and 3 egg whites, which I season up with S&P, Red Pepper Flakes, and some Franks Red Hot. 

I was feeling lazy Sunday night, so I ended up pushing back the egg-makin til Monday night this week.  After work I headed to the grocery store to get the goods.  I typically have some roasted broccoli alongside my eggs, but made a last-minute produce aisle decision to use up some of the frozen veggies in the freezer instead.

Low and behold I didn’t have any frozen veggies (dangit).  You know, I actually think this was co-worker karma come back to haunt me.  Recently, I discovered that roasted broccoli heated up in the community microwave makes the ENTIRE floor smell like butt.  Apparently, I was oblivious to this smell for the last 9 months… Whoops!  I guess it’s just pay back for those afternoon snackers who always burn their popcorn in the microwave leaving us with a 3pm funk.  YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE! 😉 

Luckily, I had 1 lonely large potato on hand (leftover from my Zuppa Tosacana).  Eggs and potatoes. Can’t go wrong with that!

DSCF4051 

I tossed the potato into a bowl and seasoned it up with a drizzle of EVOO, some S&P, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper:

DSCF4052 

Then I popped them into a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes to get their roast on.  Once everything was done cooking, i evenly divided the goods up into four containers:

DSCF4058 

Tuesday through Friday B#1:

DSCF4062

Now repeat 52 times and you have B#1 for the whole year… hahahah 🙂

QUESTION OF THE DAY:  What are your go-to workday breakfasts?

 

Continue Reading

N’awlins – part deaux

Day deaux in New Orleans started off as any vacation day should: A HUGE breakfast of course.

We woke up bright and early Err… we headed to breakfast at 11:30…. whatev.  Our destination was the Old Coffee Pot Restaurant in the French Quarter. 

DSCF3738

To our surprise, Guy Fieri had just been to the restaurant last month! How cool! DSCF3739 

The best part of the restaurant (in my opinion) was the AWESOME courtyard, which had a really intricate mural painted on all the walls.

DSCF3741

Gentleman admiring the view:

DSCF3740

The service was incredibly slow :-/ but I just had to keep reminding myself to take it easy.   I’m used to a much faster pace of life than they have down here, that’s for sure.  We were able to get some mimosas pretty quickly, so that helped to turn my frown upside down 🙁 –> 🙂

DSCF3742 

For breakfast we decided on splitting the Creole eggs and potatoes:

DSCF3743 

And some creole pancakes with mashed bananas:

DSCF3744

Jarrod REALLY liked both of the dishes:

 DSCF3745

I wasn’t real excited about them though.  The banana pancakes were super tasty, just too sweet for my breakfast tooth.  And I was really caught off guard by the creole sauce.  I expected something spicy, but it turned out to taste more like spaghetti sauce!  We decided I was thinking of cajun sauce.  Hopefully I can score some cajun food in my belly this weekend 🙂

After breakfast, we walked around the French quarter:

DSCF3736 

 DSCF3750

We spotted Cafe Du Monde, which was one on my MUST-VISIT places… but since we were still full from breakfast, we didn’t stop.

 DSCF3751 DSCF3753

Then we walked along the Mississippi River 

DSCF3761

Until we reached the Aquarium!  Neither of us have ever been to an Aquarium before, so we were pretty pumped to check it out!

I soon realized it’s incredibly difficult to capture good pictures of an fish in an aquarium!

DSCF3765 DSCF3771

Jarrod checking out the fishies:

DSCF3775 DSCF3776 DSCF3785

This one makes me laugh every time I look at it 😀 

DSCF3792

DSCF3789

There were two really AWESOME parts of the aquarium.  First, was getting to touch sting rays:

DSCF3790 

Isn’t that out of this world??

DSCF3791 

In Jarrod’s words, the sting rays were “creepishly smooth.”  I didn’t believe him til i mustered up the courage to touch one as well.  After several missed attempts, I was able to brush my hand across one of the stingray’s backs.  I immediately flung my arm from the water, squealed like a child, and ran over to Jarrod with my hand stuck out it front of me and a look of fright on my face.  Hahaha.. I’m fairly certain I scared all the children waiting in line for their turns.  What can you expect though, those things really are freakishly smooth!

The second BEST part of the aquarium was one of the final rooms on the tour that had a floor to ceiling GIGANTIC aquarium with HUGE fish, sharks, and turtles: DSCF3804

I could have sat in here for HOURS!  So relaxing.

After the aquarium, we did some more site seeing and then stopped at the Crescent City Brewhouse for a drink:

DSCF3811

Even though neither of us are beer drinkers, we both thought the fermentation tanks were pretty cool!

DSCF3810 

Next stop:  Johnny Po-Boys for lunch!

DSCF3813

DSCF3814 

We split the chicken po-boy and the shrimp po-boy:

DSCF3815 

Then headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep!  First stop on the dinner path was Pat O’briens Courtyard:

DSCF3817

This picture really doesn’t do the courtyard any justice (darn night time pictures).  Just trust me that it was AMAZING.

 DSCF3818

DSCF3819

For dinner we split the sampler, which consisted of Jambalaya, Chicken and Sausage Gumbo, and Red beans and rice:

DSCF3821 

This was hands-down our best meal to date in New Orleans.  My favorite was the jambalaya, and Jarrod’s favorite was the gumbo.  Don’t worry, we wolfed down the red beans and rice too 😀

Pat O'Brien's Courtyard Restaurant on Urbanspoon

After dinner, we made a much anticipated return to Cafe Du Monde!

DSCF3822 

I have been waiting to try these Beignets (French doughnuts) for MONTHS.

DSCF3824

That is an extreme amount of powdered sugar! Ready to dive in!

DSCF3826 

These beignets were so hot and friggin delicious. Heaven in my mouth I kid you not.  We may have to make another stop at Cafe Du Monde this weekend 🙂

Cafe Du Monde on Urbanspoon

After hitting up a few local establishments, we headed to the Casino to get our gamble on.  I was feeling lucky, so I popped $5 into a 2 cent slot machine.  About 5 minutes later, I decided to pull my money out:

DSCF3829

Don’t worry, I lost the remaining 40 cents on a penny slot a few minutes later.

Jarrod nearly lost his $10, but luckily he hit the jackpot on his last spin and was able to get his total up to $9.94!

Given that I didn’t pay for any of my drinks, and that I got to keep the 94 cents because Jarrod hates having change in his pockets, I’d say I came out the TRUE winner this evening 🙂 

Continue Reading

N’awlins – part deaux

Day deaux in New Orleans started off as any vacation day should: A HUGE breakfast of course.

We woke up bright and early Err… we headed to breakfast at 11:30…. whatev.  Our destination was the Old Coffee Pot Restaurant in the French Quarter. 

DSCF3738

To our surprise, Guy Fieri had just been to the restaurant last month! How cool! DSCF3739 

The best part of the restaurant (in my opinion) was the AWESOME courtyard, which had a really intricate mural painted on all the walls.

DSCF3741

Gentleman admiring the view:

DSCF3740

The service was incredibly slow :-/ but I just had to keep reminding myself to take it easy.   I’m used to a much faster pace of life than they have down here, that’s for sure.  We were able to get some mimosas pretty quickly, so that helped to turn my frown upside down 🙁 –> 🙂

DSCF3742 

For breakfast we decided on splitting the Creole eggs and potatoes:

DSCF3743 

And some creole pancakes with mashed bananas:

DSCF3744

Jarrod REALLY liked both of the dishes:

 DSCF3745

I wasn’t real excited about them though.  The banana pancakes were super tasty, just too sweet for my breakfast tooth.  And I was really caught off guard by the creole sauce.  I expected something spicy, but it turned out to taste more like spaghetti sauce!  We decided I was thinking of cajun sauce.  Hopefully I can score some cajun food in my belly this weekend 🙂

After breakfast, we walked around the French quarter:

DSCF3736 

 DSCF3750

We spotted Cafe Du Monde, which was one on my MUST-VISIT places… but since we were still full from breakfast, we didn’t stop.

 DSCF3751 DSCF3753

Then we walked along the Mississippi River 

DSCF3761

Until we reached the Aquarium!  Neither of us have ever been to an Aquarium before, so we were pretty pumped to check it out!

I soon realized it’s incredibly difficult to capture good pictures of an fish in an aquarium!

DSCF3765 DSCF3771

Jarrod checking out the fishies:

DSCF3775 DSCF3776 DSCF3785

This one makes me laugh every time I look at it 😀 

DSCF3792

DSCF3789

There were two really AWESOME parts of the aquarium.  First, was getting to touch sting rays:

DSCF3790 

Isn’t that out of this world??

DSCF3791 

In Jarrod’s words, the sting rays were “creepishly smooth.”  I didn’t believe him til i mustered up the courage to touch one as well.  After several missed attempts, I was able to brush my hand across one of the stingray’s backs.  I immediately flung my arm from the water, squealed like a child, and ran over to Jarrod with my hand stuck out it front of me and a look of fright on my face.  Hahaha.. I’m fairly certain I scared all the children waiting in line for their turns.  What can you expect though, those things really are freakishly smooth!

The second BEST part of the aquarium was one of the final rooms on the tour that had a floor to ceiling GIGANTIC aquarium with HUGE fish, sharks, and turtles: DSCF3804

I could have sat in here for HOURS!  So relaxing.

After the aquarium, we did some more site seeing and then stopped at the Crescent City Brewhouse for a drink:

DSCF3811

Even though neither of us are beer drinkers, we both thought the fermentation tanks were pretty cool!

DSCF3810 

Next stop:  Johnny Po-Boys for lunch!

DSCF3813

DSCF3814 

We split the chicken po-boy and the shrimp po-boy:

DSCF3815 

Then headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep!  First stop on the dinner path was Pat O’briens Courtyard:

DSCF3817

This picture really doesn’t do the courtyard any justice (darn night time pictures).  Just trust me that it was AMAZING.

 DSCF3818

DSCF3819

For dinner we split the sampler, which consisted of Jambalaya, Chicken and Sausage Gumbo, and Red beans and rice:

DSCF3821 

This was hands-down our best meal to date in New Orleans.  My favorite was the jambalaya, and Jarrod’s favorite was the gumbo.  Don’t worry, we wolfed down the red beans and rice too 😀

Pat O'Brien's Courtyard Restaurant on Urbanspoon

After dinner, we made a much anticipated return to Cafe Du Monde!

DSCF3822 

I have been waiting to try these Beignets (French doughnuts) for MONTHS.

DSCF3824

That is an extreme amount of powdered sugar! Ready to dive in!

DSCF3826 

These beignets were so hot and friggin delicious. Heaven in my mouth I kid you not.  We may have to make another stop at Cafe Du Monde this weekend 🙂

Cafe Du Monde on Urbanspoon

After hitting up a few local establishments, we headed to the Casino to get our gamble on.  I was feeling lucky, so I popped $5 into a 2 cent slot machine.  About 5 minutes later, I decided to pull my money out:

DSCF3829

Don’t worry, I lost the remaining 40 cents on a penny slot a few minutes later.

Jarrod nearly lost his $10, but luckily he hit the jackpot on his last spin and was able to get his total up to $9.94!

Given that I didn’t pay for any of my drinks, and that I got to keep the 94 cents because Jarrod hates having change in his pockets, I’d say I came out the TRUE winner this evening 🙂 

Continue Reading