nut butter... an ode.

oh peanut wonder, i wonder why i love to eat you out of the jar?

could it be that you have 100 calories, and that you are low fat?

YUMMY.

i eat you on PBJ, or in a wrap...

you are delicious you little wonder, you.

straight from the jar, even when you fall in my lap, 

my life is not complete without your "straight from the jar" mis-hap!

naturally more... what can i say? 

you offer me more than any other PB or J.

flax seed, omega-3's, and FIBER oh my!

why oh why do i even try...

to avoid you.

you are heavenly... and compare to no other PB.

naturally nutty... you are so organic.

i eat you and i feel your taste is quite bland-ic.

i like your chunks, but i don't get tempted...

to eat you straight from the jar.

perhaps i should adopt you as my staple peanut butter...

so i don't feel like i have to store you in a cabinet far far away.

blue diamond, blue diamond...

you make my almonds smooth

you add sugar and good ingredients

but it's a unique flavor too

i like your availability,
i can find you almost anywhere...
you are more affordable than some,
but naturally more
beats you there.

jif, jif, jif

i can buy you in bulk at sams

my hubby eats you from the jar

and then complains about his tummy sticking out far

you are smooth and dreamy

but not as good for me

would it kill you to add some nutrition

fiber, omega, flax, just for fun?

sunday morning potpourri

i haven't had time to write much this week, with school being back in full swing and also being back to school as a grad student, plus my 15k training is getting intense! we ran 2 miles monday, 6 on wednesday, 2 friday, and 9 saturday! this week is even more mileage but we taper the following week in preparation for our race september 19th. i'm excited!

i wanted to update you all on my week and different foods/recipes i tried. i am always sure to snap a picture so that i can share the love of my yummy foods! :) this post will cover some dinner ideas from this week.

coming in right at 399 cals, tilapia with multigrain pilaf and snap green beans.

side salad with balsamic vinegar to start the meal.

on monday, i made some tilapia for dinner. it is way easy.

1. i thawed the tilapia in water for about 20 minutes in the sink (it is individually wrapped... so this is very easy to do).
2. then, i sprayed the pan with pam and put some minced garlic (from the jar) into the pan.
3. i sprinkled some seasoning (mrs. dash) on the fish and put it in the pan over medium to medium high heat. it really only took about 4-6 minute per side.
4. while this was cooking, i steamed the fresh green beans using a metal steamer in a sauce pan, over water.
5. the multigrain rice pilaf was in a microwaveable bag, it was from trader joe's. YUM.
6. then, i sprinkled the beans with some i can't believe it's not butter spray, and some parmesan.

you can read the exact nutrition info on my food diary HERE. just toggle the diary back to monday august 23.

shirataki tofu noodles with chili sauce and turkey burger. 348 cals.

here's what they look like in the store...

a full plate of spaghetti... for under 400 calories! i LOVE these noodles. whenever i make this meal, i just throw together stuff that sounds good. here's how i made wednesday's dinner.

1. cook/brown 4 oz jennie-o 97% lean turkey
2. add some onion
3. add lots of tomatoes! YUM
4. add some green, red, and orange diced pepper
5. add a serving of salt-free tomato paste (hunt's makes a good one)
6. stir in two servings of texas pete's chili sauce
7. rinse shirataki noodles, drain, microwave 90 seconds
8. stir noodles into sauce
9. DEVOUR!

here's a picture of ed's version... it was "beefed up" a little bit. still had similar ingredients, but he got the remainder of the ground turkey and chili sauce, a can of diced tomatoes, a can of giant beans from trader joe's, onion, bell peppers, some red pepper and chili powder. he LOVED it and is still eating the leftovers. pretty much a yummy chili mac packed with protein and fiber. OH and his noodles were from ALDI, whole wheat rigatoni.

breakfast wrap.

after my amazing 9 mile run, i needed a great recovery meal. i threw together this egg wrap and it was DELICIOUS. it packed the much needed protein and it was so amazingly good.

1. flatout multigrain wrap
2. 1 serving egg beaters, one egg - made these in microwave: just spray a coffee mug with pam, and heat for 30 seconds at a time  until done.
3. athenos red pepper hummus, spread onto the wrap
4. yummy chopped tomato
5. chopped red onion
6. sprinkling of cheddar cheese

gargantuan salad.

then for lunch, i had this huge salad. i topped it with some peach tomatoes, red pepper, pea pods, carrots, turkey, atheno's feta cheese, ken's sweet onion dressing,  red tomatoes, and red onion. DELICIOUS.

i made a trip to the farmer's market yesterday (where i got my peach tomatoes) and i did pretty well... red and green bell peppers, yellow and green squash, two beautiful eggplants, farm fresh tomato, peach tomato, okra, farm fresh amish eggs, amish pasture-raised chicken breast, amish peanut butter spread and sugar free rhubarb/strawberry spread. YUM  YUM. all for just $20!!!! can't beat that with a stick.


that's all for this week's edition of sunday morning potpourri! :) i will perhaps post later after i make pizza for dinner... it's a delicious recipe that i think you will like. if not, i will save the picture for a rainy day and share it with you in the future.

yogurt surprise!

YUMMY DELICIOUSNESS

I don't have a lot of time tonight with the first "real" day of school/teaching being tomorrow... but a friend of mine asked me about my yogurt recipe. This is a treat I have nearly everyday and I just LOVE IT so much.

The stevia/cocoa combination is a favorite of mine, and I even use it in my morning oatmeal that I blogged about in my breakfast post from earlier this week. I use a similar mixture when I make "yogurt surprise."

This serves as an ice-cream-ish treat when I crave something sweet, and it also makes a great filling for an amazing fruit wrap. I eat the yogurt mixture plain sometimes and sometimes I top it with berries and even sugar free chocolate syrup.

Here's the basic ingredients/recipe:
1/2 serving cottage cheese
1/2 serving plain yogurt
1/2 serving greek yogurt
(you can adjust ANY of those... and sometimes I only do the cottage cheese and one of the yogurts if that's all I have... just "play with it" hehe)
1 serving cocoa
a dash of stevia (or other sweetener)
dash of cinnamon

Mix all ingredients... for a nice colder, almost frozen treat, put it in the freezer for a bit. Depending on portions, this is a really great high protein, healthy snack that tastes amazing. The calories are usually under 150 when I make it, and that's with fruit.

Topping options:
Raspberries YUM
Strawberries and bananas with SF chocolate syrup and a dash of whipped topping -- just like a banana split!!!!!!!!
Granola

Wrap variation:
Use a tortilla/flatout wrap of your choice, smother the mixture on the wrap and top with blueberries or berry mixture. ENJOY! Sometimes I like to do a smear of peanut butter on the tortilla first... EVEN MORE DELICIOUS!

That's your amazing yet odd combination for the day... I think my  next entry will be about new fruits and veggies I have recently tried. :)

Cheers!

Hello from my phone!

I just learned how to post here from my blackberry. Bonus! This will be way nifty for when I cannot get to a computer. It may lack the fancy formatting but I think I will like blogging on the go!

breakfast.

breakfast really is the most important meal for the day. i truly believe that most people do not eat enough for breakfast (if at all) and they don't realize how incredibly unbalanced their breakfast truly is. regularly commercialized items like cereal and poptarts or bagels are extremely HIGH in simple carbohydrates and LOW in protein, sugar and fiber.

granted, many products including froot loops have added fiber so they can say that they deliver "10%" of your daily value of fiber, etc. BUT this is added fiber and it is in no way as good for your body as the real deal which is found naturally in whole foods.

my breakfast...

this is a picture of my quaker quick oats after i devour them.

my oatmeal starts looking something like this.

most mornings i make a concoction using a few simple ingredients. most of the products on the market are not exactly to my liking nutritionally... they have too much sugar, too much sodium, etc. so i make my own delicious chocolate oatmeal (see recipe below).

Chocolate Oatmeal Recipe:

1/3 cup oatmeal
1 tbs cocoa
1 tbs ground flax
1 tbs wheat germ
dash of stevia
1/2 scoop chocolate protein powder (i use body fortress at walmart)

Directions:
1. combine oats with 1/2-3/4 cup water (i never measure...)
2. microwave 45 seconds, stir, repeat
3. stir in the listed ingredients
4. DEVOUR

it may sound strange, but i have had a few people try this and really like it. a friend of mine said it reminds her of the no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies her mom makes. it is really good and you can leave out some of the ingredients... for example, this can be made with only cocoa and sugar if you don't like stevia, etc. the flax seed and wheat germ have their own nutritional value with omega-3's and added fiber, b vitamins, etc. but they are also optional.

here's a breakdown for my breakfast from my CalorieKing desktop food diary.

here's the calorie breakdown... from my food diary.

You can see it's pretty balanced with 26% protein, 46% carbs, and 26% fat.

most people say they don't have time but my oatmeal literally takes about 3 minutes to throw together and it is INCREDIBLY delicious, and filling. the added protein helps me make it to my next meal/snack. since i eat at 5am everyday, it takes a lot for me to make it to 9am.

sometimes i like to mix it up and i will have something different. the other day i threw together an omelet for me and the hubby with some stuff from the fridge.

tomato, onion, red pepper.

1 egg, 1 serving egg beaters egg whites, 1/4 cup milk

spinach

heat in pan on low-medium heat w/nonstick olive oil spray.

top with cheese of your choice, i like Athenos Feta. YUM.

with my omelet i would normally have a smaller version of my chocolate oatmeal, maybe without the protein since i get protein in the eggs. or, like we did last weekend, i would make a delicious smoothie. perhaps i will make my next entry about smoothies... they are so easy and delicious. another great, fast option for breakfast.

what are your breakfast ideas?

Yogurt.

Yogurt is a staple in my diet. There are SEVERAL brands of yogurt out there and I have learned a LOT. The yogurts pictured above are the ones that are usually in my fridge. Today I was SO excited to find out that Kroger now carries their own brand of greek yogurt. This has seriously just made my day so I decided to make my very first blog about yogurts of all kinds... especially the ones I eat a lot.

If we are talking yogurt in general, Aldi does a pretty good job with their Fit and Active brand. It is comparable to the Light & Fit brand that Dannon (I think) makes. Yoplait is generally high in sugar so I stay away from that. By nature, milk products already have natural sugars so anything added usually makes it way overboard.  These "Light" varieties are usually around 80 cals, low fat, and around 12-16 sugars.

I tend to avoid those now that I found Kroger's Carb Master yogurts. These are the only type I can find of this sort (see label above)... with only 3 grams of sugar and 12g protein, you can't beat it with a stick! The drawback? It is sweetened with artificial sweetener.

Greek yogurt tends to be my favorite because it is higher protein and gives me more nutritional bang for my proverbial "buck." I sometimes mix it with a traditional plain yogurt. I really mix it up and add cocoa sometimes or berries.

As for greek yogurts, I have tried several. My absolute favorite is Fage and it is AMAZING. However, I can hardly find it in my town and when I do it is very expensive. Chobani and Oikos are other good greek yogurts too and I tend to go with Oikos just because it is available at Walmart.

UNTIL TODAY. Behold, Kroger has GREEK YOGURT! The best part? It is sweetened with STEVIA. This is amazing. I am so excited to try it but I can tout it before I try it because historically Kroger is all about quality. I will update and compare their versions to Fage, Chobani, and Oikos. But from now on, I know where I will get my greek yogurts.

Check out the Kroger Brand strawberry greek yogurt label here:

 What are your favorite yogurts? Any good recipes? I will post some of mine here later... for now I am off to the dentist!