Tag Archives: cooking

December 5, 2010 · 4:04 pm

Award Winning Breakfast

I wanted something different for breakfast this morning.  Something warm and cozy.

I reached deep into the kitchen cupboard and what did I find?

“World Champion Oatmeal”!

Well, if that doesn’t do it, I don’t know what will!

The directions instructed me to boil 1.5 cups of water then add 1/2 cup oats (for 2 servings).  After a few near catastrophes involving lots of foamy oat water boiling over onto the stovetop (I am still getting the hang of cooking on electric!), we settled in for 10 minutes of gentle simmering.

As the champion oats worked their magic I broke out the plum and munched on some…crumbs.  It was much better today!  I think the wine and dinner and bourbon whipped cream all contributed to dulling the overall flavor last night.  Today is was tasty and nicely textured.

I also dipped into my kitchen experiment from yesterday afternoon, homemade almond butter!  At the bulk bins yesterday Kath mentioned that she was going to make Ashley’s recipe for Pumpkin Spiced Almond Butter and I thought that sounded like an excellent idea.

Except I didn’t have time to roast the almonds and I am awful at following recipes.

My food processor whirled away for at least 15 minutes as it creamed raw almonds, molasses, maple syrup, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt.

But it just wasn’t happening.

Every two minutes Kath and I would get all excited that the butter stage was finally upon us but no such luck.  The mixture remained cookie-doughlike.  So I added a bitty bit of light olive oil (the only oil I had on hand).  Nope.  A little bit more olive oil.  Still resembles cookie-dough, a greasy cookie dough!

Maybe I needed to push past that point but I was bored and gave up.  It’s kind of tasty…for greasy cookie dough.  I should have trusted Ashley and followed directions!

Back to breakfast.

Steel Cut Oats topped with nutmeg, cinnamon, a few globs of the almond dough, and almond milk.

Loved the texture of the oats but it got a little watery with the almond milk.  Next time I am thinking of going savory, like grits, and topping it with a fried egg.  Maybe next Sunday!

We woke up to a dusting of snow and a blue sky! Unfortunately, the snow is nearly melted and the sky is clouding over. 😦

The plan for today is a workout, some housework, and studying.

My first week of MISSION: Balance (or Work.It.Out, as I have started referring to it) went fantastically!  It was a great week of exercise, just the right amount and variety!  To finish off the week I will do 10 minutes of Pilates, 20 minutes of strength training, and a run (4 miles probably) today.

I am still a little sore from BodyPump on Friday!   My pecs were SO SORE yesterday from all those chest presses and pushups!  I guess I need to do more of these exercises in my regular workouts.  The thighs and glutes were just a little tender but yesterdays walks and yoga helped loosen them up.  Today I am ready to run!

Do you get sore from your regular strength training?  Do you like being sore (as a reminder of the work you did)?

8 Comments

Filed under cooking, food, goals, recipes, running, workouts, yoga

Tagged as , , , , , ,

November 21, 2010 · 2:18 am

Insatiable

So my a.m workout didn’t exactly happen.  The alarm was set for 6:45 but when I checked the clock at 6 after a restless night of (no) sleep I reset it for 7:35.  Sometimes sleep is more important than exercise.  C’est la vie.

The theme of the day seemed to be HUNGER.  My delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs with spinach and salsa in a spouted wheat tortilla held me until exactly 10:20, at which point I instantly became ravenous!   Maybe it was all of the work jacks ;).  I did 5 minutes of jumping jacks broken into sets of 35.

Whatever the cause of my insatiability, I was so ready for lunch when the noon hour finally rolled around.

Last nights leftover pumpkin soup with mung beans and yogurt.  The mung beans added a really nice texture.

To make this soup I seeded and sliced up a pie pumpkin, 3 stalks of celery, and 3 carrots, then put it all into a big stockpot with 2 T coconut butter and 2 cups of water.  The veg boiled away until it was nice and mushy then into the food processor it all went.  I had to process in two batches because this makes a lot of soup.

Into the food processor I added

  • 1 cup low-fat plain yogurt
  • curry powder
  • cayenne powder
  • ginger powder
  • mineral salt
  • fresh ground nutmeg

All seasonings were added to taste (I do a lot of “tasting” as I cook :)).  Friday night we served the soup drizzled with maple syrup and plain yogurt and topped with pumpkin seeds.  I didn’t miss the maple syrup or the seeds today but it is definitely better with some sort of garnish that adds texture (like mung beans, they were so good).  Sunflower seeds would be delicious.  Or toasted walnuts.  Or croutons.  Or black beans.  Or corn.  Hmmm, I think I need to make this soup again!

My wonderful husband said the magic words when I walked in the door this evening from work, tired, dirty, and yes, HUNGRY!  “Why don’t you go do yoga while I make dinner.”  Ahhh, like a love poem.

Just as I was finishing up 30 minutes of power vinyasa the house started to smell ridiculously good.  Dinner was perfect, steamed broccoli, baked butternut squash, roasted potatoes, and baked tofu.  Happy and finally not hungry I was ready for bed (remember, I barely slept last night) but Tate convinced me to go for a walk.

He may or may not have mildly bribed me.

Oh yes.  Chocolate, mango, and tart frozen yogurt.  The tart was awesome, tasted like frozen plain yogurt.  I do wish they had smaller cups though, Tate remarked “it’s easy to get more than you want” and he’s right, it adds up fast.  I somehow managed to finish it all.

Now I am ready to call it a night. I am trying to ignore the fact that it’s Saturday night because it makes me feel a little lame.  There are probably cool things happening all over town.  Oh well.  G’night!

4 Comments

Filed under cooking, food, goals, recipes, yoga

Tagged as , , , , , , ,