Tag: Breakfast

Happy February!

14 Comments

So the January Recipe Challenge was somewhat of a failure.  I ended up making recipes from 4 of the 7 continents!

I missed Australia, Antactica (which doesn’t really have civilization) and North America (which basically should constitute everything I eat everyday).

Overall, this was a very fun challenge!  Even though I didn’t make it through all the continents, I discovered some great recipes and had fun in the process!

I was pondering the idea of a February Challenge; however, I’ve decided against it.  In February, I’m going to concentrate on healthy eating/living and getting back into the swing of school.  That doesn’t mean I won’t try fantastic new recipes and share them with you all!  Do you have a February Challenge?

But on to today…  I started February off with some spice!

Not that kind of spice!

I give you, Mexican Chocolate Oats!

In the mix:

  • 1/2 cup oats
  • Chia seeds
  • 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
  • Cinnamon
  • Dash of Cayenne
  • 1 small banana
  • 1 oz greek yogurt (for added creaminess and protein! stirred in at the end)
  • 1 tbsp natural peanut butter

Pretty delicious!  The cayenne gave it a nice kick to jump start my morning.

According to the World’s Healthiest Foods (anyone else love this site???), Cayenne has many health benefits!

Not only does is make your meals more exciting, but it also fights inflammation, reduces blood cholesterol, boosts immunity, helps prevent stomach ulcers and even helps in weight loss by raising your body temperature which uses more energy! (source)

Eat your Mexican Chocolate Oats! Basically any plain chocolate recipe can be made “Mexican” by adding cinnamon and cayenne.  Try adding some to plain chocolate cupcakes!  Sooo good!

Today is my first discussion section as a TA!  Wish me luck!!

Hope your February is starting out well!  Have a fantastic day!!

What’s your goal for February??

Protein Pancakes My Way

6 Comments

I usually eat the same thing everyday for breakfast: oats with banana and some sort of nut butter.

This morning, I woke up at 6:00am with nothing to do.  I decided to spice up my life.

Not like that…

Rather, I decided to stray from my usual breakfast into something fun and amazing!  So I did the usual blog perusing and remembered Jessica‘s Vegan Strawberry Cream Pancakes that look divine.  Then I remembered I don’t have fresh strawberries and thawing frozen ones would take too long.  So those will be made at another time.

As a kid I hated pancakes because my mom used to make them from Bisquick, which is just disgusting and salty and not delicious.  Then I grew up and tried real pancakes.  I realized how beautiful life could be and how good legit pancakes are.  So pancakes it would be for breakfast!

Then I kept coming across Heather‘s Protein Pancakes on my pancake search.  The dilemma here is that I don’t buy protein powder.  So I moved on to search through old recipes I had made on SparkRecipes and found an old recipe I had added for Cottage Cheese Protein Pancakes, so I figured why not?

I honestly can’t remember where I got this recipe from, maybe somewhere on SparkRecipes?

Now that I’ve taken you through my thought process (haha sorry about that), here’s the recipe I used:

Cottage Cheese Protein Pancakes

1/2 cup 1% cottage cheese
2 egg whites
2 tbsp whole wheat flour
dash of cinnamon

I combined all the ingredients.

Then threw them in the blender.  This is where my Magic Bullet that I left at home would come in handy, since it splattered all over, basically half the ingredients didn’t make it into the pan, but oh well.

I made one mondo beast of a pancake and topped it with some Hungry Jack Lite Syrup (1 tablespoon to be exact). This puppy has about 26g of protein!  Crazy!

I enjoyed this with a tasty Green Monster (kale, spinach, 1 banana, 5 frozen strawberries, ice and water).

The first bite wasn’t that great, but the subsequent bites got better and better.  I think I may have undercooked this a bit or maybe it’s just the nature of the beast.

Did it taste like a pancake?  A little bit, syrup helped.

Was it the texture of a pancake?  No.

Was it tasty?  Sure!

Would you make it again?  Why not!  Easy enough!

My protein packed breakfast was pretty good overall (31g of protein in one meal!  Woah!  That’s half a day’s worth!)

In other news…

This weekend is my last relaxing weekend!  Classes start on Monday 😦 Not excited, but it’ll happen.

Have a great Saturday!

Any exciting weekend plans?

Barney Butter

11 Comments

Do you ever see things on blogs then really want to try them?

I’m a huge fan of nut butters, okay I’m slightly obsessed even though I’ve only tried Peanut Butter, Almond Butter and Soy Nut Butter.  They’re delicious and keep you full for a long time!

Seeing nut butters of all sorts on random blogs got me perusing websites one day to see what products I could buy around here.  I wandered to the Barney Butter website to find they are giving free samples!  Check it out!

Barney Butter is Almond Butter.  Recently I’ve been enjoying consuming Trader Joe’s Raw Almond Butter, which while good is not nearly as good as the roasted almond kind.  But mostly I’ve been avoiding almond butter and sticking to PB.  I’m a firm believer in the idea that if you don’t love it, don’t eat it, especially when it comes to calorie dense foods.

This morning, I decided to put my PB to rest and squeeze my Barney Butter sample onto my oatmeal.

They came in convenient little 90 calorie packages, which would be perfect for travel.  Apparently it also comes in large jars, but I’ve yet to see it in stores.

This stuff is nothing short of fantastic.  Of course, this makes sense as almond butter is delicious, and this one has added sugar (evaporated cane juice), which makes everything even more tasty.  I would choose it over the raw Almond Butter any day.

But don’t take my word for it!  Order your free sample on their website!

In other news, while thrifting with the roommate yesterday she came across a fabulous vintage coat that sadly didn’t fit her but fit me perfect!  These are the perks of being short I guess!

Locally made too!

I found a salad spinner!  Only $2!

And a cheap copy of The Poisonwood Bible which I’ve heard is really good.

Now I’m off to the gym for what I hope will be a great workout!  Have a great day!  Don’t forget to smile!

Stocking up + New Thing!

7 Comments

Yesterday was all about getting settled back into my apartment.  I was so exhausted when I got back on Friday that I fell asleep at 8:00pm.  Needless to say I saw up early on Sunday (6:30am, I slept a ton!).  I lounged around for a bit (aka watched Ugly Betty and Mad Men), cleaned the apartment then finally got around to going to the grocery store.

I love grocery shopping, but I always get a little flustered when the grocery store is crowded.  I like shopping on a weekday better, but oh well!

Anyway, so I loaded up on a ton of stuff.  Somehow it managed to all fit in my handy DSW bag!

Do you use reusable bags? They were very common in Berkeley and to some extent here as well.  In Berkeley, I kind of felt like I was getting a glare if I didn’t have one and the cashiers were all smiles when you had a reusable bag!

I loaded up on tons of healthy things.

I also bought a few new things to try out.  The first is almond milk (almond non-dairy beverage?).  Ordinarily I buy lactaid to use in coffee and cereal.  I’ve realized that since I have to take lactaid I probably shouldn’t be drinking milk… It also kind of scares me that lactaid lasts for so long and doesn’t go bad as regular milk does.  So I decided to try out something new.

This morning I had almond milk in my coffee and I’ll say it was pretty good.  I could definitely get used to it.  It doesn’t have the same amount of protein as milk/lactaid but the amount of milk/lactaid that I drank was so small that I feel like it’s not really significant.

While I was visiting the lovely fella in the Bay Area last week, we went to Whole Foods one day.  In the bulk food section, I came across Chia seeds, which I had been seeing on about 8394002779 million blogs. Yes this kind…

I got a very small amount ($0.35 worth) and have been waiting to try it ever since.

I added some to my oats this morning.  Honestly, it didn’t really change the flavor but made the texture slightly different, a little more gel-like.

I’m going to look around for these in Ithaca.  I liked the texture and the health benefits sound great!

  • 15g (2 tbsp) has about 75 calories.  (I added 5g to my oatmeal)
  • Chia is richer in omega-3 fatty acids than flax (source)
  • Chia is rich in antioxidants and vitamins (source)

Are you a chia fan?

New Leaf Update:

In case you missed it, I’m turning over a new leaf.

Day 1 went well!  Starting on the right foot is always a good sign!  I stocked up so I’m ready to go!  I went to the gym for a short work out since I’m sick I took it easy.    If you’re curious about what I ate all day, check out my sparkpage and click “Shared Food & Fitness Trackers” on the right to see it all!

Anyway, the rest of today will be spent unpacking and cleaning up… probably watching a few episodes of Mad Men too because apparently I’m obsessed!

Happy MLK Day!

Just curious… Anyone doing a day of service?

His and Hers

9 Comments

This morning I used some old bread and made the lovely fella some french toast.

His Breakfast:

I, on the other hand, don’t care much for french toast.  Okay really, I hate it… So instead I had some broccoli and a black bean burger.

Her Breakfast:

Tasty!  I’m in desperate need of fruit and vegetables!  I feel like I’ve been on food overload the past few days!  I do however LOVE the lovely fella’s big white plates!  They make everything looks so good!

Do you eat differently from your significant other?

Have a great day!

Balance Out the Sweet

10 Comments

I woke up this morning to find a package had been delivered for me!

My friend Sara sent me biscotti she made!  It’s absolutely delicious!  Chocolate cherry with nutty goodness!  I had to have a piece with my coffee!  Soo good!  Thanks, mam!

I can never get my biscotti to taste that good.  Must be her Italian-ness that makes it so good!

My banana bread was also ready so I had to try a piece of that too to make sure it was edible.

Not bad. I’ve made better.  (I’m kind of a tough judge when it comes to my own baking/cooking)

To balance out all that sugar, I had a green monster for breakfast (or really kind of second breakfast since I ate so many things this morning haha). I enjoyed this while watching Beyonce Revealed on E!  Thank you E! for feeding by obsession!

I’m going to the Bay Area tonight!  Woo!  I can’t wait!

Peanut, Peanut Butter!

6 Comments

I love peanut butter!

When I moved from Berkeley to Ithaca, I didn’t have enough room in my luggage to take my 6 (literally 6, maybe more actually) jars of peanut butter with me.   Consequently, they’ve been sitting at my mom’s house waiting for me.

This morning, I decided to make the familiar toast with peanut butter and banana.  I reached in the cupboard for one of my jars because sadly my mom buys JIF, which is just really no good in my opinion.  I pulled out one that I hadn’t seen in a while: PB2.

Have you heard of PB2?

PB2 is powdered peanut butter.  Sounds weird, right?   According to the site, “PB2 is made with premium quality peanuts that are slow-roasted to our specifications and pressed to remove the fat.” 2 tablespoons of dried powder (mixed with 1 tbsp of water) provides only 54 calories, which is nothing compared to the nearly 200 that 2 tablespoons of peanut butter would provide.

I forgot I even had it!  So I decided to use it this morning. I mixed it up in a small bowl then spread it on my toast.

Looks like PB right?

Honestly, if you try this, try it on something (i.e. pb and j, pb banana) not by itself.  On its own, I don’t find it to be particularly delicious. The texture isn’t really the same as peanut butter.  Peanut Butter is creamier and thicker (…gets stuck on the roof of your mouth), although I guess adding less water could make PB2 thicker.  Even so, I still don’t think the texture would be the same, as they advertise.
I’m not a dietitian or doctor, but I always thought the fat in peanut butter was good for you.  Cutting out the fat seems like cutting out some of the good stuff.  However, if you’re looking to cut calories I see where this could be a good option. I still prefer natural peanut butter.

Have you tried PB2?  Any thoughts on it or the idea of it?

Note: I bought this product on my own a while ago, it was not given to me to review.

Back to Normal Eating

5 Comments

The past few days have been ridiculously indulgent!  Honestly, I’m sort of tired of eating so many rich foods.  Yesterday I pretty much only ate pumpkin pie, chocolate cake and green bean casserole.

So I’m picking up my normal eating again and ignoring all the left overs.

For breakfast this morning I had some yogurt with raw oats and banana.

Doesn’t look at tasty when it’s all mixed together but I think it’s pretty darn good!

The rest of the day will be spend lounging around in my piggy slippers

Reading All Together Dead (the 7th novel in the Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Mystery series, I get so into this stuff it’s ridiculous! TrueBlood anyone??)

Have a fabulous day!!

How to Eat a Stealthy Guatemalan Breakfast

4 Comments

Wake up ravenous before anyone else.  Quickly but quietly heat up a pot of black beans from the fridge.  Pull out two eggs and cook them as you please.

Then gather it all together.

If over easy, please make sure your yolk is nice and runny.  It’ll come in handy later.  Plus runny yolks are pretty much the most delicious thing on the planet…

Quickly consume all contents of the plate.

Sop up anything on the plate (i.e. left over runny yolk and beans that your fork failed to pick up but you know much go in your belly) with some bread.  Get into it.  Your fingers should be covered in beans and yolk.

After your plates are wiped clean.  Destroy the evidence (aka put away the food and wash dishes).

Then as people wake up asking what you’d like for breakfast casually say “Oh I’m just not hungry this morning…”

Guatemalan Black Beans: Part II

14 Comments

I’m glad you all enjoyed Part I of the Guatemalan Black Bean Saga.  Here’s part II:

But first another picture from Guatemala…

Me in front of Lake Atitlan in Guatemala on a very hazy day!

Once you’re tired of eating whole beans, you can use your left overs and make some refried beans!  Growing up we had refried black beans, eggs and tortillas for breakfast on weekends.  It’s still one of my favorite breakfasts (and I LOVE breakfast food).  Soo good!

Frijoles Volteados:

2 cups Cooked Black Beans (Reserve some of the liquid)
1/2 small onion diced (optional I didn’t use any)
1/2 tbsp olive oil
salt to taste

Step one: add as much beans as you want to make in the blender (I recommended two cups above but I only had about a cup).  Add a little bit of the liquid and blend until smooth, almost like a thick soup.  (You can stop here if you want to enjoy some frijoles licuados, essentially a black bean soup).


Step two: Dice your onion into small pieces.  Heat 1/2 tbsp of olive oil in a pan on medium to high heat. Add onions to heated pan, cook til onions are cooked through.  Skip this step if you choose not to use onions as I did

Step three: add blended beans to the pan.  Stir until thick (this will take about 10 minutes), watch out for splashing beans!  They burn!  (My mom warns me about this every single time I tell her that I make these).

Then as they thicken, it’ll start to separate from the pan, once you shake the pan and they form a solid log shape, turn them onto a plate.  You can slice it with a butter knife to serve… Doesn’t look very cute, but tastes delicious!

Step four: Enjoy with scrambled eggs, tortillas and sour cream or queso fresco!

I wish I had nice thick corn tortilla and plantains.  Unfortunately in upstate NY, they’ve only heard of flour tortillas and plantains don’t exist (I keep meaning to check the Asian market to double check this).

Once you try these, you’ll never want to buy a can of refried beans again!

In Other News… In case you hadn’t noticed… this site is now officially http://www.foodologie.com!  Woo!