So simple, so tasty.

For as much as I like to go out to eat, and boy do I like to go out to eat, I too enjoy having a simple tasty meal at home. Tonight’s dinner was just that.  So simple, so tasty.  Since I talked myself out of running this morning (I guess I learned nothing from yesterday’s post), I wanted a quick and light dinner so that I could spend some quality time with my tenner shoes this evening.

After a quick fridge inventory, I decided a turkey wrap was the feature entre of the evening.  1 whole wheat Flat-out wrap, 4 ounces of Boars Head Turkey Breast, 2 tbsp Trader Joes creamy original hummus (MY FAV!!!!), some tomatoes, onions, and cucumber:

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P.S. cucumbers are my new favorite vehicles for loading up with hummus.  So friggin good… why did I not discover this combo sooner?!

I also had some lazy-gal’s cucumber salad on the side:

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Since I go out to eat quite a bit on the weekends, during the week I shoot to eat as healthy as I can.  The key for me is that “healthy” still has to equal tasty.  If it ain’t tasty, I ain’t eatin!

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It’s a wrap:  324 calories, 30g carbs, 9g fat, 39g protein, 13g fiber

As I sat on my balcony devouring this delicious dinner, I started thinking about how varied my meals are throughout any given week.  Tonight I was feasting on a simple wrap—and Saturday night I feasted on French cuisine.  Is it just me, or is it kind of crazy how much food there is to taste and experience in the world?  It just kind of astounds me!  I have problems.  I know.

Speaking of that French Cuisine, Saturday night after Jamie, Vanessa, and I saw Harry Potter, we took a stroll over to Café Monte to get our grub on.  I wonder how you say “grub” in French…?  Grubeaux?

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We had a bit of time to spare before our reservation, so we used a bit of it to oogle over the dessert case.

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And then their expansive breakfast menu (must come back for breakfast soon).

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Then headed to the bar for some cocktails because that’s what any self respecting lady does on Ladies Night Out.

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Hello orange dress Smile

The restaurant was really cute inside and reminded me of some of the places I visited during the week I spent in Paris in college.

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Speaking of that week, the one main thing I remember about Paris was how rude the people were and how much I hated the food.  The only French word I’d learned was “poulet” (translates to chicken).  So at every restaurant I visited I‘d scan the menu for poulet, then use the point and repeat technique to order my meals.  Poulet.  Poooooolettttttttt (insert rapid menu tapping here).  No wonder the people hated me Winking smile

Luckily, the folks at Café Monte were very hospitable and also very knowledgeable about the menu items.  Plus the menu was in English, so I didn’t have to search too hard to find the chicken dishes SmileDSCF7414

Since I had a Living Social deal for the restaurant (Boo.Ya.), we decided to get crazy and order the cheese fondue for our appetizer:

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Give me a loaf of bread, and I’m a very happy lady.  Give me a loaf of bread AND a tub full of melty cheese and I may kiss you and beg to be your sugar mama.  Do not be alarmed.

For our dinners, I went with the Chicken (poulet!  pouuuletttttttt!) and Wild Mushroom crepes, Vanessa got some crazy looking fish dish (the Trout Amandine), and Jamie got the Lobster and Crab risotto:

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I think we were all pretty happy with our meals.  My crepes were really tasty, and I especially enjoyed the juiciness of the pulled chicken breast against the creamy madeira sauce.  If the dish would of included sundried tomatoes it would have been a show stopper.  That’s probably not very “french” though, huh?

After dinner, we decided it would only be proper to cap our night off with coffee and dessert.  After nixing the desserts each of us weren’t feeling, we were left with the winner.

Carrot cake:

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I’m not sure what carrot cake has to do with French Cuisine, but it was pretty darn delicious.  Especially with the coffee!

Cafe Monte French Bistro & Bakery on Urbanspoon

On a side note, I really enjoyed the Harry Potter movie!  There were some parts that were a bit cheesy and child like–but I had to keep reminding myself that these were SUPPOSED to be kids.  Even though Harry had a 5 o’clock shadow and six pack abs and Ron and Hermione we making out every time they had five seconds to get a quick grope in these were the KIDS I’d been following for the past 10+ years… they’d just grown up a bit.  *Sigh* … haven’t we all?

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Hummus + Spaghetti Squash

Sometimes I have foodie visions.  This is my term for the moment when a random collaboration of ingredients convene in my brain and its seems as though there is nothing I can do to regain control of my thoughts… except of course, try out the random concoction … all the while hoping it doesn’t make me ralph.

My most recent foodie vision consisted of some of this:

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plus

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What’s that, you ask?  Good question!  This lovely dinner concoction consisted of:

  • 2 tbsp Trader Joe’s Original Hummus
  • 2 ounces chopped grilled chicken
  • 1 diced roma tomato
  • 1 baby spaghetti squash
  • Some red pepper flakes

Repulsed?  Don’t go all eggplant on me yet!

First, I baked the spaghetti squash in a 425 degree oven for 25 minutes (since this was just a lil guy).  Then I used a fork to scrape out the squash noodles.

Meanwhile, I sprayed a skillet with some cooking spray and tossed in the hummus to get it heating up:

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Then I added the tomatoes and chicken:

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Once everything was warmed through, I added the spaghetti squash and some red pepper flakes.

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Presto!

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This was really tasty and simultaneously really weird 😯     

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Several times during the meal I got a faint reminder of macaroni and cheese which I found even weirder–but that gave me ANOTHER foodie vision I must try sometime soon…. Cheesy spaghetti squash!  Stay tuned, folks!

Overall, I like this idea and I’m definitely going to play with it some more.  I think wilted spinach would be a really nice addition and maybe a different flavor of hummus…..  we shall see… we shall see.

Stats on the spaghetti squash/hummus concoction:  199 calories, 20g carbs, 6g fat, 14g protein, 5g fiber

CALL TO ACTION!  Now that the weather is changing, I’ve been craving WARM lunches….  I am bored & I need inspiration for yummy/healthy WARM lunches to bring to work…..  Any ideas?

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A sandwich BUILT for Hummus

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:

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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. 

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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).

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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:

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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*

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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:

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

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

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Check out the height on this sucker:

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

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Layers of FLAVOR.

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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!

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5 steps forward, 5 steps back

Over the past 4 months I’ve had on-again off-again knee problems.  🙁

I’ve played soccer since I was in elementary school, and never had any issues.  This past spring, I decided to take up running.  I was AMAZED by how much I enjoyed it!  About a month into my newly found passion, I had a sharp pain in my right knee during my morning run.  I didn’t twist the knee, or land funny, or make any other type of movement to cause the pain.  It just sort of happened.  I attributed the pain to weakness (i.e., “push yourself harder, Mary“) and ran about 1 more mile to my house.  That genius move resulted in me limping around for about a week or so.  I tried several times to pick up where I had left off, with no success.  I even went to see an orthopedic doctor who told me “some knees just aren’t made for running.”

Unacceptable.

Then a couple months ago I developed a plan of attack in the form of my interval training plan.  Basically, the plan was to start off with walking/running intervals and slowly increase the running time over a period of weeks until I was running the entire time.

Things were going super smooth, and I was up to 7 minutes running and 3 minutes walking…. that is until I hurt my knee again on vacation a couple weeks ago.  I think this time it was due to overuse–we did a TON of walking and I was still doing my regular intervals on top of it.

It’s been 2 weeks since vacation, and I’ve tried several times to get my run on.  This was not going well at all — I could only do 1/2 of my regular intervals before feeling the pain start.  At least I have learned my lesson and now stop running at the first sign of knee pain!

So this morning I decided to start the interval all over again… yup… all the way back at 4 minutes walking, 2 minutes running.  Slowly but surely, I am determined to get to running a 5K with no knee issues!

Breakfast #1

Leftovers from yesterday’s eggins–with one new addition:

Heinz reduced sugar ketchup.  After my ketchup post last week, I started thinking about how much ketchup I actually consume in any given week.  As much as I love ketchup, it’s really just a bunch of empty calories.  So I decided to give this reduced sugar version a shot:

The ketchup was pretty good — though it oddly tasted sweeter than regular Heinz ketchup.  I’m going to try and use the reduced sugar ketchup in place of the regular stuff as much as possible.

Stats on B#1:  161 calories, 9g carbs, 5g fat, 21g protein, 2g fiber

Breakfast #2

Overnight oats 🙂

Last night, I put the following into a bowl:

  • 1/2 cup uncooked quick oats
  • 1/2 cup almond breeze unsweetened vanilla almond milk
  • 1 tsp brown sugar
  • sprinkling of cinnamon

I mixed everything up and left them in the fridge overnight.  This morning I added about 6 sliced strawberries (thank you to my mom for hooking me up with these DELICIOUS strawberries) and a 1/3 cup fresh blueberries:

All mixed up:

These overnight oats never get old 🙂

Stats on B#2:  236 calories, 45g carbs, 5g fat, 6g protein, 7g fiber

Lunch

My all-time favorite hummus comes from Nate’s Deli in Cleveland.  A close second would be Trader Joe’s hummus.  Unfortunately, neither of my long distance relationships with Nate nor Trader Joe are able to satisfy my frequent  hummus cravings, so I’ve been on the hunt for a tasty hummus that I can find locally.

I picked this up at the grocery store last night:

I especially liked the simple list of ingredients (chick peas, tahini, fresh spinach, lemon juice, garlic, and salt) and it is only 33 calories for a 2tbsp serving!  The flavor was a little on the bland side, however.

For lunch, I made up a sandwich with a 3.5 ounce grilled chicken breast, 1 tbsp Amir Hummus, 1/2 a roma tomato, sliced red onion, and 1 cup spinach sandwiched between a Pepperidge Farm 7 grain Deli flat:

Notice that I used my tupperware lid as a plate instead of using a paper plate.  “Kelsy” would be proud 😉

Now that’s what I’m talkin bout:

I could eat this every day:

I also had some cucumber salad on the side.  This cucumber was straight from the BF’s mom’s garden!

Stats on lunch:  323 calories, 37g carbs, 3g fat, 40g protein, 10g fiber

 

Question:  Have you ever had an injury that prevented you from doing an activity you really enjoy?

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Tuesday Tastes Good

Today marks Day #3, week #3 of my interval training plan!  I am just flying right along….. Which does make me a little nervous.  I keep waiting for another knee injury to surface… Hopefully with good stretching and elevation while at work I can continue to work my way back up to running the entire time.

I’m really hoping to be able to participate in the Healthy Living Summit group run in August too…  We shall see 🙂

Breakfast #1:  Just-sayin-no to muffin(tops)

I had a breakfast meeting at Panera this morning for the Knowledgeable Network of Women in Akron.  In a previous life, I would have been PUMPED for a muffie and/or bagel from Panera…  Coffee cake?  Bring-it-on.  Nowadays I just stare longingly at these delicious treats through the glass case and drool…. 

BUT there is good news!  Panera carries Stonyfield Farms yogurt!  So, I ordered up some of that with fruit (no granola though) and a TALLLLLL coffee 🙂

Breakfast #2:  Giving low-carb waffles a second go

I made low-carb waffles for the first time last week, and I was really excited to try them again.  There’s lots of things I’d like to play around with, but for the sake of determining what works and what doesn’t I only changed a few minor things this time around.

Last night I cooked up the waffle batter below for 10 minutes on the waffle iron:

This morning, I popped the waffles into the toaster, then topped ’em off with some fresh/frozen strawberries/bananas/blackberries that I heated up in the microwave along with some PB2 (added extra H20 fo’ the drizzle).

YUMMMMMM…..  So tasty, even though the texture is not quite what I want.  Guess I’ll just have to keep on experimenting.  No complaints here!

Stats on waffles with fixins:  206 calories, 31g carbs, 4g fat, 21g protein, 8g fiber

Lunch

Lately, I’m pretty much obsessed with hummus and spinach sandwiches of any variety.  It’s not just me either.  I made a wrap with hummus on it for the BF over the weekend, and he seconded my desire to rub it all over my face and marinate in its deliciousness.  Hahahah… 😉

Today’s wrap consisted of:

Heavenly 🙂

Stats on wrap & sliced yellow pepper:  295 calories, 23g carbs, 10g fat, 24g protein, 8g fiber

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