Saturday is for the Chirpy

Hello friends!

Good news!  I woke up this morning, and I literally had a smile on my face 😀  The sun was shining and the birds were chirping (which some people find annoying but I happen to love)…   Come to think of it, that is odd for me considering I have a phobia of birds… 

After my rough start to the day yesterday, we thought the best cure would be Gionino’s pizza and their amazing hot sauce for dinner last night (we will take any excuse for the G, really):

After dinner, I walked 2.5 miles at about a 4 mile per hour pace.  I’m not 100% sure the walking is helping me to rebuild the strength in my knee, but it doesn’t seem to be hurting so I’m going to keep on keeping on!

For breakfast #1 today I decided to make up some eggs.  I swear my body goes through egg withdrawal if I am sans-eggs for more than a couple days!  I chopped up a small potato into bite size pieces, then microwaved for 4 minutes flipping the little guys over half way through. 

Then I threw them into a hot pan to crisp up on both sides.  Once the potatoes were crispy, I added the following mixture: 4 egg whites, some Frank’s red hot, S&P, red pepper flakes, and  a splash of water.  

Served em up with a dollop of ketchup 🙂

Stats on breakfast #1:  215 calories, 36g carbs, 9g fat, 17g protein, 3g fiber

After the eggs, I completed Day #1, Week #2 of my interval training plan which consisted of 5 intervals of 3 minutes walking and 3 minutes running.  No knee pain!  Boo ya!  I got to the 2.5 mile marker in 27 minutes. 

Breakfast #2 today was some overnight oats 😀

Last night I threw the following into a bowl then popped it into the fridge:

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

This morning, I topped the oats off with some fresh strawberries.  Mmmm mmmm gooooood 🙂

Stats on breakfast #2:  233 calories, 36g carbs, 8g fat, 7g protein, 6g fiber

You know what I really love about overnight oats (besides the delicious creamy coolness)?  It’s like a little surprise for yourself.  You take 1 minute of time for yourself the night before, and the next morning you have this little bundle of joy just waiting for you! 

Speaking of preparing, I haven’t been doing a very good job of planning my meals out for the week in advance.  During tax season, I am amazing at this (not to brag or anything 😉 ) and not only do I shop for the meals on Sunday, but I also cook EVERYTHING for the week on Sunday.  Lately, it feels like I’ve been going to the grocery store several times a week, instead of one large trip over the weekend.  So, this week I’m going to do my best to sit down and plan everything out.  Speaking of planning… I need to plan out what to make for dinner tonight!

Headed to the yard for hours of glorious yard work 🙂

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Confession

So, I have a confession to make.
  
  

Before we get into that matter, let’s recap lunch and dinner:      

As posted earlier, I was ill-fated this morning so I decided some pizza for lunch would help me come around.      

Lean cuisine cheese pizza with leftover gionino’s hot sauce… Pretty darn close to the real thing:      

      

If you haven’t tried hot sauce on your pizza, I am begging you to give it a try!!!  Soooo good!      

On to dinner.  Things just keep getting better!  I don’t mean to brag, but hot damn my dinner was good!  (said with midwest hillbilly accent while simultaneously throwing in an arm jab)      

I had a leftover turkey burger from the weekend I wanted to use up, but I wasn’t feeling the typical ketchup and mustard fixins.  So I decided to make a quesadilla burger — and let me tell you it was glorious!      

Here’s what went into the quesadilla burger:      

quesadilla burg fixin's

 

The sauces I used were 1 tbsp fat free breakstone’s sour cream, 1 tsp (AKA all I could scrape from the container) of Trader Joe’s Jalapeno Cilantro Hummus, and some Frank’s red hot.  I threw it all in between a Mama Lupe’s Low Carb tortilla I had ordered from Netrition.      

I also decided to take a second stab at turnip fries.  This time, I cut them into larger wedges and cooked them at 450 degrees for 35 minutes.      

      

I threw the quesadilla burger on the waffle iron (that’s right, waffle iron) to crisp up the tortilla and heat everything through.  Why dirty the george foreman when the waffle iron was just sittin there begging to be used?      

      

All together on the plate:      

      

Not the most appealing photo, but trust me this quesadilla burger was awe-inspiring.   

The turnip fries still didn’t have the fry texture I was shooting for.  Crunchy? No.  Tasty? Yes.  I actually preferred the smaller skinny fries we made last time over these.  Could be because the larger fries reminded me of the rooty texture of you know what.      

Dinner Stats:  298 calories, 23g carbs, 9g fat, 36g protein, 9g fiber      

On to what you are all really here for:  the confession.      

About a week ago, I discovered what may be the most amazing cereal on planet earth.  I have secretly been enjoying sporadic handfuls of this glorious cereal since then, yet I have not posted anything about my discovery on my blog!      

Well here it is.       

Barbara’s Peanut Butter Puffins.      

      

Lets take a few moments and discuss why this cereal is utterly amazing.      

First the limited list of ingredients (which is pretty darn good for a cereal).       

      

Second, one serving is only 110 calories, 23 carbs, 2g fiber, 6g of sugar, 3g of protein!      

Third, the taste is pure peanut butter amazingness.      

Fourth, the puffins are shockingly large.  For comparison purposes:      

Shredded mini wheat, PB Puffin, Kashi Heart, Kashi Sunshine, Cheerio

 

Go. Buy. Now.

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