Dietitians Can Eat!

I just got home from the Chicago Dietetic Association meeting held at Wildfire.  The presentation was called:  The Infamous Trilogy:  Inflammation, Malnutrition, and Chronic Disease.  It was pretty good!  And the presenter, Patricia Fuhrman was very entertaining and engaging, which can be a very hard thing to do for certain subjects, like the one presented tonight!  Most importantly, the food was SOOO GOOOOD!!!

I'm pretty tired so I'll get straight to the point :)

The service was great, they just kept the food coming!  We started with bread, which I forgot to take a picture.  I just had a little chunk!  

After the bread came the Fresh Mozzarella, Tomato and Basil Pizza.  The dough was great and really made the pizza.  

Then came the Oven Baked Goat Cheese.  I'm a huge goat cheese fan so I was very pleased with this offering.  It came with a toasted garlic pita triangle.  

Next was the Greek Salad!  They also offered a chopped salad that I passed up because of the chicken.  The Greek Salad was pretty awesome though!

The entree followed shortly after.  They brought out a huge plate of chicken, a bowl of mashed potatoes, a bowl of broccoli, and a bowl of vegetable pasta with goat cheese (yes, more goat cheese!) Here's my plate!

Then, of course, dessert was the grand finale.  The Triple Layer Chocolate Cake and Seasonal Berry Crisp with Vanilla Ice Cream looked so good, so I had both!  

This was for sure the best CDA meeting I've been to!  Off to bed!  I have the 25th Annual Pediatric Nutrition Conference tomorrow that I'm very excited about!!

I'm Ready For Spring!

Good morning!  Man, it is so cold.  I do hate to complain on here, but I'm quite sick of this weather and I'm soo ready for spring.  I'm sure all of you are with me!  

Today's breakfast was a delicious bowl of berry oats. 

In the bowl: 

• 1/3 cup oats, vanilla soy milk, and water
• ~1//3- 1/2 cup of frozen berries (365 brand, Berry Medley)
• 1 spoonful of flax
• 1 spoonful of PB (delicious, but wish I had almond butter today!)
• the rest of my french vanilla granola

I kind of feel like its Wednesday or Thursday because tomorrow is my last day in the office this week.  I have a conference on Thursday that I'm really looking forward to and then I have Friday off to move!

I've Died and Gone To Heaven

OMG my sister brought me the most delicious treat!  But before I get to that, lunch first!

LUNCH 

I had my leftover goat cheese and asparagus pasta today and a Stonyfield's low- fat strawberry pomegranate yogurt.  I really liked this flavor.  You will probably see this exact same lunch one more time!

DINNER

OK onto the best meal today.  My sister brought me a chocolate chip cookie by Carol's Cookies.  Not only is this an amazing cookie, but it is huge!  I'm obsessed.  I tried to eat the whole thing, but just couldn't.  I'm talking about a massive cookie!   I, of course, had a glass of milk with my cookie, but I also made some scrambled eggs (1 egg + 2 egg whites).  I have this thing, I just felt like I wanted to balance out all that sugar with some protein.  

A close up of the beauty!

OK back at packing and laundry, bleh.  Can't wait for this to all be over!

Making Headway

I would like to express my love for IKEA. I spent many hours there yesterday and feel like I got some great deals, especially on the big stuff- like  a bed and a love seat!  I'm still looking for some small things like a queen size black fitted sheet (two tries, with no luck!?!)... but pretty much I'm ready to go.  As of yesterday, I also sold the last of my things I'm getting rid of.  I'm finally feeling like I'm about ready to move!

Today's breakfast was banana and PB oats, back to my original portion size :) 

In the bowl: 

• 1/3 cup oats, vanilla soy, and water
• 1 banana
• 1 spoonful of ground flax
• 1 spoonful PB
• less than 1/4 c pumpkin granola (the last of it!)

Spaghetti and Asparagus with Goat Cheese Sauce

Hello there!  I've been very busy with moving business.  I'll be moving this Friday so I'm hoping to get back to normal after the weekend!  Pretty much I've been eating leftovers and lots of repeats because I don't want to do any major grocery shopping.  I want to avoid moving a lot of food! 

Anyways, I made a delicious pasta dish last night so I'll share it!

Ingredients: 

• 1/2 lb spaghetti
• 1 lb asparagus, ends cut off and chopped into bite size pieces
• 4 oz goat cheese
• 1 T olive oil
• 3 T white wine
• 8 oz vegetable (or chicken) broth (I used Better Than Bouillon) 
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• zest of one lemon
• salt and pepper

Directions for Sauce

1. Combine broth, olive oil, and white wine  and simmer until it reduces to about half
2. Add garlic powder, lemon zest, goat cheese and stir till blended.  Salt and pepper to taste
3. It should thicken a little if you keep it at a low simmer for a while (I couldn't tell if this actually happened with mine!)

Directions for Pasta

1. Bring water in a medium large pot to a boil. 
2. Blanch asparagus for 2-3 min then remove from pot (dont' drain whole pot so you can use the water for pasta)and run under cold water to stop cooking. 
3. Cook spaghetti in the boiling water as directed. 
4. Drain pasta. 
5. Combine pasta, asparagus, and sauce!
6. I topped with some parmesan, which was great!

TGIF

Good morning!  I'm so happy it's the weekend.  I got home from work yesterday and was just so out of it.  I forgot to take pictures of my dinner, but it was just leftover from the night before.  I did, however, remember to take pictures of my awesome dessert.  

I had these 2 little bite-size pieces of cheesecake from cheesecake factory that were leftover from a work luncheon.  

I think one was a raspberry white chocolate and the other must have been a turtle one - my mom would've loved that one. 

Breakfast this morning was good ole banana and PB oats.  For some reason I decided to make a little bigger batch, using 1/2 cup of oats, milk, and water instead of my normal 1/3 cup.  I think I will stick with the 1/3 cup. It doesn't look like I'll finish this. 

In the bowl: 

• 1/2 cup oats, skim milk, and water
• 1 banana
• 1 large spoonful of ground flax
• 1 small spoonful of PB
• topped with a sprinkling of pumpkin granola
•  
  

The Lone Egg Sandwich

It is a rare occasion that I don't wake up with a roaring appetite, but today is one of those days.  So I decided to have just a 3 egg white sandwich on Earthgrains with one slice of american cheese.  Usually I need a piece of fruit or something on the side, but not today.  

Pizza With A Kick

I had a really hard time picking out dinner tonight. I went to Whole Foods, wandered around for quite some time, then came back to the pizza I had eyed for a while. I actually wasn't sure what it was at first, but I asked and when the guy said it's kinda spicy, I was sold. The pizza had jalepeno, yummm. I was so hungry and bought two pieces. I still have one piece left for tomorrow though, one was enough! A really great thing about spicy food is that it forces me to eat slower. When I eat slower, I eat less! I actually have time to process what I just ate and feel full. You should try it sometime:)


Look at how huge the piece was! Behold the power of a small plate. I mean, the piece was on the larger side, but the small plate definitely help create the illusion of an enormous plate. Btw, I love Whole Foods pizza!

After dinner I had a 100-calorie pack of oreo cakesters that my sister, Hillary, gave me the other day. I also enjoyed a glass of skim milk, the perfect accompaniment. They were pretty good. I would probably never buy them, but mainly because I can be cheap with my grocery shopping and 100-calorie packs aren't very economical.

Last of the Chocolate PB :(

Good morning!  I used the last of my Dark Chocolate Dreams Peanut Butter by PB & Co in my oatmeal this morning.  And because I vowed to have a very limited grocery budget this month, I know I won't be buying for a little while.  However, it was the star of my oatmeal this morning (as usual!).  

In the bowl: 

• 1/3 skim milk, water, and oats
• 1 banana
• 1 spoonful of chocolate PB
• Topped with a sprinkling of pumpkin granola ( I was tired and thought it was french vanilla at first- still very yummy)

Just Woke Up and Ready for Bed!

Hey there!  Man today flew by!  I did not work out as I had planned, but I feel pretty productive besides that.  I plan on having an awesome workout tomorrow so I'm not terribly concerned with that today.  

Well I'm not sure exactly what happened this morning but somehow or another I either slept through my alarm, never set it, or some other malfunction.  I slept an hour later than I had planned so I had to rush so I wouldn't be late for work.  So cold cereal it was!  

In the bowl: 

• Kashi Cinnamon Harvest Shredded Wheat (I love this stuff)
• Skim milk
• 1 banana
• sprinkle of TJ's PB&A nut mix

I'm not sure what time it was when I took lunch because it was such a blur.  We were very busy at work and short-staffed, so I barely even took one and it was late.  Oh well, it happens.  I didn't snap a picture because it was so fast, but I had leftover pasta with pesto and peas.  

Tonight for dinner, I had a boca burger with american cheese on an Earthgrains thin.  My sides were oven fries (Alexia garlic and parmesan, I think!), some edamame.  I know, double soy, but like I said I'm working with what I have until I move.   I actually only had a few bites then of edamame because I was getting full.  

After dinner, I was super excited to eat my dessert while watching Lost.  My intern, Amy brought me homemade Tiramisu!  Amy- you did an awesome job! It was so fantastic and I freaking loved it! Thanks very much!  

When It's OK To NOT Finish Your Vegetables!

Hi there.  Well in attempting to use up ingredients from my kitchen, I came across a bag of frozen green beans in my freezer.  So I thought I'd use these as a side to my leftover pasta dish from the weekend.  These green beans came in one of those "steam in the bag" packages, so I followed the instructions and they steamed in the microwave.  Bleh!  I felt like they were making a squeaky sound in my mouth as I chewed them. I decided to just stop after a couple bites.   Even the color was kind of grossing me out. Look at the drab green color. 

Luckily, I had my go-to pasta dish (Pasta, Peas, Pesto, and Parmesan), which was delightful as usual.  Guess what, frozen peas were used in this dish and they came out fantastic! I guess when it comes to frozen vegetables, you have to use them in the right way.  At least I now know I don't like the microwave steamed vegetables.

Well I'm just organizing/getting rid of stuff... so far I have two full bags of clothes to donate!  Of course the Olympics will be on, too.  I love the Olympics if I haven't mentioned!  I think hot chocolate is in my future!

I Love President's Day

Hello.  Having the day off has been so wonderful.  I feel quite productive! So the next week there may be a lot of repeat ingredients and the meals may not be quite as balanced as I strive for because I am trying to use up as much of my food as possible before I move! 

Lunch was great! I have that country sourdough bread that I'm trying to use up so I made a grilled cheese with pesto (homemade that I had in the freezer) and 2 pieces of provolone.  I thought I was going to use some roasted red pepper on that but I decided to throw the jar out because it looked a little iffy.  I also had a fantastic organic pink lady apple.  These are my favorite and they were on sale this week at Whole Foods so you'll be seeing these a lot!

Sometimes You Feel Like a Yolk, Sometimes You Don't

Hi there blogville! I'm happy to report that I am just about set on a new place, which means (hopefully!) there will be no more frantic apartment searching in my near future.  Man, talk about stressful!  This also means I'm back blogging!  Once again, I apologize for the one week hiatus! 

BREAKFAST

For those of you who follow me, you probably know of my obsession with egg white sandwiches.  Well today, something inside me wanted a yolk! So I had an open-face, 1 egg + 1 egg yolk sandwich with half a piece of american cheese on a slice of [yesterday's] fresh country sourdough bread.  So so delicious!

I'm hoping to take advantage of having the day off for President's Day to get some cleaning and shopping done for the move.  Later!

Sorry! Be Back Soon!

Hi!  I just feel the need to explain my absence! Long story short, I found out this weekend that I am going to have to move by the end of the month.  So pretty much every second I'm not working, I've been looking for places! By the time I get home, I just go to sleep! I've been snapping pictures all week though so I'll do a recap of my especially great meals as soon as I get a chance!  Once again, I apologize!

Oh How I've Missed You!

Good morning! As I'm sitting here eating my pumpkin oats, I keep thinking to myself "Oh How I've Missed You!"  It's been a while since I've had some pumpkin oats and boy are they delicious!

In the bowl:

• 1/3 cup oats, vanilla soy milk, canned pumpkin
• ~ half of 1/3 cup of water (filled the measuring cup of half way)
• drizzle of agave nectar
• 2 spoonfuls of ground flax seed
• spoonful of PB  stirred in
• ~1/4 cup maple pecan granola

I had a great workout this morning. I had an hour, so I did 15 min of the stair climber, 15 min of the elliptical with arms, and 1/2 hour of lower leg workout (lunges, plie squats, leg press, abductor, adductor).  I have a busy/stressful day ahead of me so I'm glad I started it out with a workout.  

Sweet Satisfaction

Hey there!  After almost a week of feeling quite unsatisfied with my meals, I'm happy to report that I loved all my food today and feel very satisfied at the moment.  

LUNCH

I didn't bring lunch today so I walked over to Dominick's to pick something up.  I decided to go with a slice of the veggie pizza because it just looked so good!  I was picky and made them give me the piece with the most veggies.  I did bring fruit with me today so I paired the pizza with some grapes. 

SNACK

I had one of my homemade granola bars for a snack today.  Actually I had half in the morning around 10:30 and the other half around 4:00. 

DINNER

Tonight's dinner was a "use up what I have" dinner.  I had the end of a bag of multigrain tortilla chips (Food Should Taste Good), red pepper and zucchini from the other night when I made pizza, and I still have this Mexican 4-cheese blend.  So I decided to pick up some canned black beans and an avocado to make some nachos!

This is so easy! I did saute the zucchini for a couple min first because I like that texture better than raw zucchini, but otherwise I just put it all in the microwave for 1 minute. I may do this more often!

DESSERT

My roommate made banana walnut bread this morning, so I had a slice of that with some hot chocolate for dessert.  

I did it!

Good morning!  I feel great this morning!  Know why?  Because I set my alarm for 5 am and actually got up to work out when it went off instead of resetting it for an hour (or more!) later.  And somehow I still have time to be blogging right now!  

Before my workout, I had one slice of Right Wheat bread with some PB and a small glass of milk.  I know some people have issues with drinking milk before they work out but I am definitely not one of those.  As a matter of fact, I think milk is a great mix of carb and protein for a preworkout "snack". 

At the gym, I did 4 miles on the treadmill and some abs.  I really slack on doing ab workouts because it is just not my favorite but I think I need to incorporate this into my week more!  Any suggestions?  

Breakfast was some tasty banana oats. 

In the bowl: 

• 1/3 cup oats, vanilla soy milk, water
• 1 banana
• 2 spoonfuls of ground flax
• 1 spoonful of PB stirred in at the end
• Sprinkle of ~1/4 cup maple granola (yum!) 

Red Pepper and Zucchini Pesto Pizza

Even though this is a day late, I wanted to share this dish since it turned out so tasty.  I love making veggie pizzas.  Here's the step-by-step instructions for last night's pizza.

• Chop up your veggies.  I used about 2/3 of a red pepper and 2/3 of a small zucchini. 

• Sauce it up.  I had a store bought (365 brand) whole wheat crust.  I topped it with the last of my pesto, which I heated up to make it spread further.  This was a great trick! I also added some red pepper flakes to the crust here.

• Toss on your veggies.  I tried to strategically spread them out.  Before I put the veggies on, I did sprinkle a very small amount of cheese on the crust first.  I just find it makes everything stick together a little better. 

• Sprinkle the cheese.  I had a Mexican 4 cheese blend that I wanted to use up so that is what I used.  

• Bake it. This pizza took about 12 minutes to cook, which was so nice that it was quick. Just go by the instructions on the package of the crust you use.  

• Enjoy.  The best part! 
  

Soup and Sandwich

Hello!  After a rather hectic day, I needed a comforting dinner.  I had some soup in the cabinet that I wanted to use so soup and sandwich seemed to be the logical choice tonight.  

GRILLED CHEESE AND TOMATO SOUP

I started with 2 slices of Natural Ovens Right Wheat bread then added some colby jack (from a block) and shredded 4 cheese Mexican blend on.  Whenever possible, I use as many different cheeses as I can to make a grilled cheese. I like to mix the flavors up!  Instead of butter I a little cooking spray.  

The soup I had was Pacific Natural Foods Organic Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato. I'm pretty particular about store-bought soups and I found this one to be pretty tasty.  I topped it with some freshly grated parmesan cheese, as well.  

I'm going to post last night's dinner sometime soon since it was delicious.  Sorry I skipped out on posting because I was so tired after watching 3 hrs of Lost! 

The Start of a Very Important Day

I'm quite sure I have not mentioned this on the blog yet, but I am a HUGE Lost fan! After months and months of waiting, the season opener -of the final season- is tonight!  I have a feeling today is going to be a long one as I wait for the exciting event!

Today's breakfast is a 3 egg white sandwich with colby jack on an Earthgrains thin with an tangelo. This tangelo is especially tangy and I like it!

Have a good day people!  Go Lost!

Homemade Classic Granola Bars

Hello everyone!  Well I completely spaced and didn't take any pictures of my dinner!  I had some whole wheat pasta with spicy marinara.  It was pretty darn good :)  Anyways, instead of dinner, I will blog about my granola bars that I made yesterday.  

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups oats (quick oats)
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons ground flax seed
• 1 cup Nasoya silken style tofu, mixed with 1 tsp vanilla extract (*could also use the Vanilla Nasoya Silken Creations that Whole Foods seemed to be out of!)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Spray an 8 X 12 (or 9 X 11) pan with cooking spray. 
3. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir. 
4. Spread out on pan. 
5. Bake for 40-45 min. 
6. Let cool and enjoy!

Here's a picture of the silken tofu mixed with 1 tsp vanilla: 

Here's the finished creation: 

These turned out really great!  I started out with a recipe that I found on Nasoya's website but I altered it to include all the ingredients I like.  I cut it into 12 granola bars, but that's up to you how big you want them.  I froze some and have some in my cabinet for this week.  It's so easy to make granola bars.  I think I'm going to experiment with this some more in the future! 

Oats in My Oats

Some of you may be thinking, why do you put granola in your oatmeal?  Isn't it just putting more oats in oats?  Well you are right, that's exactly what it is.  However, granola is crunchy and usually adds a little more flavor.  I mostly do it for the texture.  Oatmeal by itself is to soft and mushy for me, I don't really love that texture so much.  So when I add granola to it, it adds a little crunch, which I find to be the perfect addition!  Notice when I make my oatmeal, I only use 1/3 cup of oats because of all the additions I mix in later.  This way it's not too heavy for my liking. 

Here's today's creation: 

In the bowl:

• 1/3 cup oats, vanilla soy milk, water
• 1/2 banana
• 1 spoonful ground flax
• 1 spoonful of PB (Whole Foods Creamy) stirred in at the end
• 1 homemade granola bar crumbled over the top

This is so delicious with the granola bar crumbled over it.  Yesterday I made some granola bars, which I plan to post later.  I have tried doing this before but I couldn't get them to stick together.  I made some tweaks and I'm proud to say this time was a success! I promise to post the recipe later!