Happy Plate...

Monday Recap:

8:00am:  Coffee with cocoa & creamer

9:30am:  Breakfast-1/2 scooped out bagel with pumpkin cream cheese & apple

I woke up to another BRISK morning yesterday (weeeeeeeeeeee!) and knew I was craving something warm, crunchy & pumpkin-y...and I knew a scooped out (scoop out the extra 'fluff' in the middle) toasted crispy bagel would hit the spot!  ps- I started with the quarter of a bagel shown above, but was hungry around 11am and decided to finish off the other quarter/half bagelJ

But anyway...back to the FALL part:

I mixed:

• 2 ounces cream cheese
• 1/4 cup pumpkin
• 1 teaspoon confectioners sugar
• pumpkin pie spice
• LOTS of cinnamon

I gave this a quick whirl in my mini processor (or it would be easy to hand mix if I actually had let the cream cheese get to room temp).  Add as much confectioners sugar to your liking.  1 teaspoon didn't make it overly sweet, but once I added a BUNCH of cinnamon, it felt sweet enough to me.  Store leftovers in the fridge!

I also polished off 1/2 an apple that I shared with Katie...(otherwise I would have eaten the whole appleJ) 

12:00pm:  Lunch- Salad 

My favorite super quick mix of arugula, 2% cheese stick, sprinkle of trail mix & a dash of raspberry vinaigrette.

3:00pm:  Snack- Single serving lime & salt popcorn

Here's a snack I don't think to have very often, but when ANOTHER craving for something warm hit...this single serving (190 calorie) bag of popcorn TOTALLY hit the spot! 

Well, it might have been a little LESS than 190 calories since I stereotypically burned part of the cornJ   

Think I'll stick to old school stove top pot from now onJ

5:00pm:  Dinner- Stuffed Pepper Soup

SOOOO EASY!

• Brown 1 pound ground turkey breast...

• Add in 2 diced peppers, 1/2 diced onion & 3 garlic cloves and let them soften for 5 minutes... 

• Add your liquids:
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2 cans diced tomatoes
• 1 can tomato paste 

Salt & pepper to taste and let it simmer for 30 minutes.  How easy is that??

I topped mine with a 1/2 cup of brown rice... 

...you could also stir it all in together, but I loved getting little bites of the soup and the chewy rice together... 

This is one of Scott's all-time favorite soups and has been requesting it for...ummmm...awhile (at least PRE-BLOG.  That's just sadJ)  So he finally got his fill of this simple, yummy & healthy soup...and we may have someone else to follow in his footsteps! 

THAT'S a HAPPY PLATE, for sure! J

I'd suggest trying this recipe out tonight....that is if you DON'T live in NJ and it's not forecast to be 90 degrees, like it is here today.  Sighhhh...hopefully only a few more days of this madnessJ  hahahahhahaa

OH...and in exercise news:  There was NONE to speak of yesterday (how un-Monday of me!)  I actually felt really good and realized last night that, including park walks, I had not missed a workout in 9 days.  So on the 10th day, I restedJ  We all deserve one of thoseJ

ANYWAY...have a good Tuesday!