Breakfast on the Balcony

If only breakfast could start with this EVERY day:

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Mmmmm veggies! 

I’m heading to Dallas for training this week, so the BF and I decided to cook up a special “last” breakfast… Oh, and by “we” I mean ME, of course.  There’s only one morning person in this relationship.  There’s also only one pants wearer.  I’ll let you guess who that might be 😉

It was a crazy bright and sunny morning, perfect for enjoying a little grub on the balcony.  Check out that beautiful tablescape!

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Clearly getting food in our bellies ASAP was at the top of the priority list.

I was especially excited to make breakfast this morning because I’ve been dying to try out my new Oxo Eggbeaters that came in my Food Blog Forum swag bag!

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YES!  I love gadgets!!!  And how cool are these eggbeaters?  The beater section pops off the handle and is dishwasher safe.  Honestly, I’ve never beaten eggs with egg beaters before–I usually just opt for a fork and whisk with all my might til my arm falls off.  Holy cow did these beaters make life a heck of a lot easier.  It was like the parting of the Red Sea…. the breakfast edition.  I swear I could hear angels singing as I beat those eggs to perfection. 

Using my beaten-to-perfection bowl o’ eggs, I made up a big batch of Mary’s special eggs (a list of the goodies I tossed in is at the bottom of the post).DSCF8125

Each serving went onto a low carb tortilla:

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Topped with some low-fat pepper jack cheese and a bit of Frank’s Red Hot:

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I also cooked up a pumpkin waffle using my Trader Joe’s Pumpkin pancake and waffle mix:

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The waffle was good but not fall out of your chair delicious.  Apparently, if you don’t fall out of your chair the recipe is crap in my book.  I’m going to give the mix another shot in pancake form and see if it’s any tastier.

The wraps were fabulous.  You really can’t go wrong with the “special” combo!  I like to pop mine on the George Foreman grill for a few minutes to melt the cheese.

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I mean, really.  REALLY.

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Mary’s Special Breakfast Burrito Wraps (serves 4)

  • 3 large eggs
  • 9 egg whites
  • 3 turkey or chicken sausages (Harris Teeter Hot Chicken Sausage)
  • 1 diced roma tomato
  • 1/4 chopped red onion
  • 4 white mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 cups fresh spinach, thinly sliced
  • S&P
  • Franks Red Hot
  • 4 Low Carb Tortillas (Tumaro’s)
  • 2 slices reduced fat pepper jack cheese (I like Sargento)

Click here to see how I cook these babies up.

Stats on 1 burrito:  285 calories, 15g carbs, 10g fat, 42g protein, 8g fiber

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Whew Wednesday.

HAPPY HUMP DAY!

AND HAPPY WEIGH-IN WEDNESDAY!

ANNNND HAPPY WHAT-I-ATE-WEDNESDAY!

Today was such a particularly packed Wednesday, I think I’ll rename it Whew Wednesday Smile

The day started off with a handful of Barbara’s Peanut Butter Puffins:

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I affectionately call this the Cereal of the Gods.  It really is THAT good.  I also hear Barbara’s now makes chocolate peanut butter puffins.  Don’t worry.  I’ve added finding the new cereal to the weekend to-do list.

After I popped the puffins, I headed out for my interval run (which consisted of a short 2-interval series of 1 minute walking and 9 minutes running).

Post run, it was time for eggs and bacon … sprouted 7 grain bread.  Mmmmmmm Smile

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These are the eggs I make pretty much every day.  I call them my fake out dippy eggs because it’s actually a 3 egg white scramble topped off with 1 dippy egg.

When you poke the yolk it oozes down over the egg whites and tastes just as darn good as a plate full of dippy eggs. Thumbs up

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After the eggs, I headed to work (insert 2 hours of number crunching here) and around 10am it was time for Breakfast #2!

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Overnight oats, my friends. Overnight.Oats.  Yes, I STILL love and adore them.  Yes, I STILL eat them every day.

(insert two additional hours of number crunching here)

2+2 = Lunch time.

Today’s lunch consisted of some leftover ground turkey taco meat that I threw onto a bed of lettuce along with some tomato, onion, black beans and corn:

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If you are looking for a tasty side dish for Mexican food, try out this recipe for Corn and Black Bean Salad.  I made it over the weekend, and it was super tasty and SUPER simple.

Afternoon snack consisted of an un-pictured apple and some cocoa roast almonds….

After work, I headed to Dandelion Market for happy hour with some coworkers:

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The Dandelion Market is a tapas restaurant that serves up a variety of intriguing small plates.  The atmosphere in the restaurant was rustic, yet chic.  Dimly lit and extremely cozy.

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I’d of felt equally comfortable sipping a cup of coffee in a chair in the corner as I did sipping a glass of cabernet at a table near the window.

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Tonight I had the pleasure of sampling two of the tapas.  First was the pepperoni flatbread.  Isn’t it beautiful?

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Don’t be fooled.  This was not your typical peperoni pizza.  This flatbread had cured peperoni, ricotta salada, a rustic tomato sauce, and BASIL.  It was light and delicious, and honestly I think I could have ate three of them.  The basil was the perfect finishing touch.

I also sampled the grilled steak skewers:

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The steak was cooked PERFECTLY medium rare and was incredibly juicy.  But what REALLY made the dish was the sweet and spicy honey soy marinade that came along side:

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Coming from a lady who puts A-1 Steak Sauce on EVERY steak that goes in her mouth, you KNOW it must have been amazing if I devoured the entire plate without even pausing.

Dandelion Market on Urbanspoon

After dinner, I headed to TCBY for some froyo with the Charlotte Food Bloggers!  Now, truth be told I am an ice cream snob.  I worked at the world’s most fantastic locally owned and operated creamery throughout all of high school and college (biased much?), and during these years I had the opportunity to taste, sample, and create some of the most outrageously delicious ice cream concoctions.

So, frozen yogurt?  Meh.  Doesn’t really do it for me.  Which is odd, given that this town is littered with Fro Yo joints.  What DOES do it for me though is the crazy assortment of toppings all these frozen yogurt places have.

Here’s my combo of the evening:

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PB and Cake batter froyo…. with a little cookie dough, some heath bar, a little brownie, mochis, Peanut Butter drizzly drizz, and some blueberries for good measure.

Let’s focus on what’s really important here:

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Who’s with me?

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Waffles in mah belly

I woke up bright and early this lovely Saturday morning to head to Day #4 of Body Pump.  Apparently, sometime between Thursday and today the Y got new weights, which are LB weights as opposed to kilograms…  Needless to say, I was thrown off by this ABSOLUTELY INSANE change, but I managed through the class Smile

When I got home I wanted something a little special for breakfast.  Something delicious but balanced…

After some foraging in the kitchen, here’s what I came up with:

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That’s

  • 2 Eggo Light Whole Grain Waffles
  • 1/2 cup Trader Joe’s vanilla fat free Greek yogurt
  • 3 sliced up strawberries
  • 1/4 cup of blueberries
  • 2 tbsp Smuckers Sugar Free Syrup

And that, my friends, was a whole heck of a lot of deliciousness.

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This may be my new Saturday staple Smile

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Mmmmmmmm…

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Stats on breakfast:  286 calories, 54g carbs, 3g fat, 14g protein, 5g fiber

What’s on the agenda today?  I’ll be running some errands, hopefully grabbing a tasty lunch, then spending some quality time with the condo *hopefully* making a dent in the pile of boxes I now call home Smile

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Seriously. Make this. Now.

Last weekend, I posted a super simple super quick recipe for the Ahmygawd Breakfast Sandwich.

Today, I made a repeat of that masterpiece with the addition of some Frank’s Red Hot:

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I swear to you, this breakfast sandwich is eyes-roll-into-the-back-of-your-head delicious.

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If you are a yolk lover like me (and a sausage lover for that matter) do yourself a favor and make this for breakfast.  Immediately! 

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

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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!

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

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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! 

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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:

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

It’s comforting. 

It’s meaty. 

It brings me unfettered joy. 

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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!

 

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