9am...dinner's ready!

Thursday Recap:

8:30am:  Coffee with creamer

9:30:  Breakfast

So I thought another smoothie was in my future yesterday morning...until I got a little inspiration from my breakfast buddyJ

So Multigrain Cherrios were had!J hahahhahaaha 

Anddddd...around 10:45am I remembered why I don't have cereal that often.  I LOVE it, but it does NOT fill me up.  At all.  (and you REALLY have no clue how much I love LIFE cereal.)  Soooooo, lunch happened a bit on the early side...

11:15am:  Lunch- Apple with sunflower butter

1:30pm:  Snack #1- Obsession of the week!  "Healthy" cinnamon toast

4:00pm:  Snack #2- 80 calorie cheese stick

And I needed that second snack before I headed off to a NEW (to me!) exercise class at my gym:  BODY JAM!  Think disco lights, awesome music, some old school moves & one CRAZY AWESOME teacher to get the class goin...it was SOOOOOOOO FUN!  Talk about 'workout endorphins!'  I walked out DRENCHED in sweat with a huge smile on my face.  I already can't WAIT to go back next week!  Wohooooooooo!

6:15pm:  Dinner- Slow Cooker Leek & Cauliflower soup

And I came home from the gym with a dinner that had been completed & simmering since 9am!  Can't get better than that, right?

I just added 3 chopped (and scrubbed clean!) leeks & a head of roasted cauliflower to the slow cooker...

(you can either roast the cauliflower the night before if you're short on time in the morning...or just skip that step entirely and just toss in raw, chopped cauliflower.  Same diff.)

Then add in a container of chicken (or vegetable) broth and set on low for...well, as many hours as you need it to sitJ  (but I'd say at least 4) 

An hour or so before dinnertime, I hit the soup with the immersion blender & added a can of drained & rinsed white beans for an extra boost.

I only added a bit of salt, but the leeks made this soup VERY flavorful.  The cauliflower added a 'startchy' consistency and the white beans added nice texture AND protein.  And who could beat the prep time??J

We really liked it, but NOT AS MUCH AS KATIE!  She ate not one, but TWO little bowls!  She couldn't get enoughJ 

Girl really likes her cauliflower soupsJ

Anyway, I'm so excited because I have a little, SORTA "Irish-themed" dinner planned tonight to kick off the holiday weekend.  I'm not Irish at all, so we never really celebrated much when I was younger.  But now that there's a possibility that Katie may be 1 gazillionth Irish, I figured now I have an EXTRA reason to celebrateJ  hahahahaha...I just love holidaysJ  Any and all of them!J

Have a great Friday, everyone!