Guilty conscious...

Happy Valentines Day, ya'll!  Why not start off the day with a little VINTAGE love?? (my FAVS!)

OK, OK...before I get too ahead of myselfJ One little happy 'milestone' thing to share with you guys today:  I've officially lost 10 pounds since January 1st!  Wohooooooo...I was happy.  Now to tackle the next 7 pounds to reach my 'Mini goal #1'J

Wednesday Recap:

8:30am:  Coffee with creamer

9:30am:  Breakfast- Strawberries, Trail Mix & Ricotta

This is pretty Valentines day appropriate, if I do say so myself!  Red berries & CHOCOLATE (mixed up with 2 tablespoons almonds & cashew trail mix, 1/4 cup part skim ricotta and a drizzle of honey).  I really did NOT think this was going to hold me over for too long, but I guess the protein from the nuts prevailed and I made it to the gym full & light! 

10:30-11:30:  Power Yoga

Which apparently wore SOMEONE out...

12:30pm:  Lunch- Cucumber & Feta salad 

And picked this for lunch because I had a cucumber to use up...and the feta.  Oh yes, the feta.  But this was realllllllllllllllly good.  As in:  I may have to stock up on cucumbers.

• 3/4 cucumber
• 1/4 sliced onion
• Handful of toasted walnuts
• Greek seasoning (oregano, garlic, onion powder)
• salt
• Olive oil & a drizzle of apple cider vinegar
• FETA!!!!

Cool, crisp, tangy and CHEESY, this just hit the spot. 

OK, OK...but not SUPER FILLING.  It wasn't long before:

2:30pm:  Snack- Carnation Instant Breakfast with Almond Milk 

Not a bad excuse to have chocolate malt for a snackJ  This officially made me feel full for the rest of the afternoon.

5:30pm:  Dinner-  Meatless Mexican Stuffed Peppers & Grilled Avocado

So after I realized that Ash Wednesday follows Crepe Cake Mardi Gras, my inner Catholic guilt kicked in and my plan for shredded chicken stuffed peppers quickly went by the wayside.  After bouncing around a few ideas for fillings, I decided on a new item I had picked up from Trader Joe's a few weeks ago. 

Red split lentils were very easy to make.  Just simmer 1 cup lentils with 3 cups water for about 15 minutes or until tender.  Lentils = DONE!

Next, I mixed up a healthy bunch of 'filler'...

• 1/2 diced zucchini
• 1 diced onion
• 1 can black beans, drained & rinsed
• 1 cup torn spinach
• 1 cup roasted corn
• 1 diced red pepper

That was what I had on hand, but you can use any veggies to bulk these up.  Next, I added the cooked lentils, a can of enchilada sauce, a good shake of taco seasoning and stuffed into cored peppers.  Top with salsa and either bake in the oven for an hour or in a slow cooker on high for 4 hours (or low for 6 hours)  

When the peppers were just about done, I got started on our SUPER EASY side dish.   All I did was split an avocado in half & drizzled it with olive oil & salt...

...and popped them on the grill for about 5 minutes!

How easy is that?? 

The peppers had ALL of the flavors of enchiladas without any meat AND hardly ANY oil or fat.  (I mean, I DID top them with a diced light cheese stick...but ya need a little something, right??) 

And the avocado (oh, the avocado) was like melty guacamole.  I topped it with a little salsa, but it wasn't even necessary.  It was just melty & creamy loveliness with just a KISS of char.  DELISH! 

I'll be honest, I was excited to make this dinner but wasn't necessarily sure it was going to be GOOD, but I was definitely pleasantly surprised.  It was an all around hit! 

Even Katie enjoyed her little munches (made easy since everything was already chopped up)

 So I'm THISEXCITED to get started on my Valentine's Dinner tonight.  Much like our 'memory' trips to Paris, Vermont & the New York Food and Wine Festival previous V-days, tonight's dinner will also have a 'travel memory' theme.  It was a GREAT dish when we originally had it...and not one I have a solid recipe for, soooooooooo...FINGERS CROSSED.

But there will be cake.  And then everything will be fine.

Enjoy your day, everyone!

Sharing is caring...

Tuesday Recap:

6:45-7:15am:  Dance/jogging/weights mix

9:15:  Breakfast- Yet another multigrain waffle with butter & flaxJ

10:30- Coffee with creamer

If you noticed, I've been 'off' my lemon water this week.  Despite last week's attempt to throw me off course, this week I've had ZERO cravings, so I figured I'd save some lemons until I felt those cravings creeping up on meJ

12:00pm: Lunch- Leftover Spaghetti Squash casserole

I added some black beans to this last portion for some extra protein since I was going to be busy running around in the afternoon.

 And I never mind a recipe that makes dinner for 2 & three days worth of 'lunch leftovers' from one squashJ  Now THERE'S a way to stretch a buckJ

And since Katie was SQUEALING when I brought in my lunch, I ended up sharing some squash with her tooJ 

...to which she paid it forward & let Penny snack on the remaining stragglers on her handsJ 

4:00: Snack- Strawberries   ...which I ALSO had to shareJ

6:00:  Dinner- Pork Stir Fry...

This was one of those 'clean out your fridge' mealsJ  

#1:  Diced pork chops sauteed until crispy & golden...

#2:  Shredded onion, cooked until softened... 

#3:  Leftover bottle of stir fry sauce... 

#4:  Half a head of shredded cabbage... 

#5:  Four shredded carrots, cook until softened & reduced...

#6:  Two cans of sliced water chestnuts, four diced green onions & a handful of toasted black sesame seeds, cooked until heated through.

A quick & great way to use up some leftover vegetables AND very healthy since that's what made up 98% of the dish!  Served with a little brown rice and this made a perfectly nutritious weeknight meal... 

PS- Katie tried only a few bites...but the sound of her little teeth crunching on the water chestnuts was quite amusing, I must sayJ

I digressJ

And from QUICK meal to.....NOT. SO. MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!  Soooo...since I knew we were having company for dessert last night AND that just so happened to coincide with MARDI GRAS, I thought I'd make a big dessert to celebrate.  I was going to ATTEMPT bananas foster, but that required lighting rum on fire and...

...just...

NO.

Soooooo....I went with the next most outlandish (and also Valentines appropriate) thing...

Yes..that may look like a simple cake, but don't let it fool you... 

Some may call it RED VELVET CREPE CAKE...but I call it M*#@$@ F*(#(R cake.  This thing nearly DID. ME. IN!  And despite the fact that I thought I had my crepe skills DOWN, the batter was soooooo delicate that it took an 18 crepe learning curve to finally get it straight.

OH WAIT!  Ya know what???  I DID NOT refrigerate the batter!!  I JUST thought of that RIGHT now!  I wonder if that matters??  If you're going to attempt this one, I'd suggest trying that out just in case!  (And find my other crepe tips HERE)

And I thought you'd be happy to know that this cake did NOT involve BEETSJ  I went the old fashioned route....

Despite the 18 FAILURE crepes, I still had PLENTY!  Add a layer of cream cheese frosting between EVERY crepe and it actually came out to be a decent sized cake.  Albeit, a HEAVY one!  The batter AND frosting are LACED with butter and you could FEEL it once you tried to LIFT the cake.  This one is NOT for the faint of heart...in cooking technique OR watching the waistline.

Hence why we had our pieces...saved 2 more and the rest went RIGHT out the door with our guests.  I did NOT want to have too much of this baby lying around, I don't care HOW hard it was to make!

And, THANK THE LORD, it was good....it was Oh, so very good.  (It better have been or I would have hurled it out on the front lawnJ) hahahahahaha  I told Scott to savor his leftover piece...cause I AIN'T MAKING this one again any time soon!

And can I say this is NOT going to be the last cake talk THIS WEEK???  I'll just leave that as a previewJ

Have a great night, everyone!

Beets abound...

Hey guys...how is everyone?  Sorry for my delayed post.  It seems like I can't get my feet under me on MondaysJ  I feel like I wake up and before I know it, it's dinner time & then off to the gym.  Guess not the WORST way to spend a Monday, huh??  ANYWAY, so I have a double post for you today...

Sunday & Monday Recap:

8:30am:  Breakfast- Naturally "Sorta-Red" Velvet Baked Doughnuts

So I KNEW my next variations of baked doughnuts had to be RED this weekend...but I wanted to make one little adjustment because I just felt weird about giving our littlest chowhound too much fake red food dye.  It just didn't feel right to me at her age.

So, what to do?  Try making red velvet doughnuts with....BEETS!  I roasted a beet for an hour at 450 until it was tender.  Once cooled, I peeled the beet (the skin basically slips off once roasted.  If not, just use a veggie peeler) and then added the chopped beet into a food processor with buttermilk & vinegar.  The acid from those 2 apparently keeps the red REEEEDDDD... (I did this step the night before so it was all ready in the morning)

I added the rest of the ingredients...

And things were looking UP!!! 

Well, until they baked and then they sorta reverted back to the color of cocoa powder...they actually darken as they COOLED...

Buttt....slap a little cream cheese frosting & sweet sprinkles and you get all the flavors of red velvet and a red tint without all the fakey dye...not a bad trade off, right??

Naturally "Sorta Red" Velvet Doughnuts with Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 beet
• 1/3 cup buttermilk + 1 tablespoon
• 3/4 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1 cup cake flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 large egg, slightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted & cooled
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1. Wrap beet in foil & roast at 450 for 60 minutes or until beet is tender.
2. Peel beet & puree with buttermilk and vinegar.
3. Add egg, butter & vanilla extract to beet mixture.
4. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder and baking soda.  Add to beet mixture and stir until just combined.
5. Fill doughnut molds 2/3 full & bake 10 minutes at 350.  Allow doughnuts to cool 5 minutes before removing from pan.  (makes about 9-10 doughnuts)
6. Slather with frosting...recipe below

• 1/4 cup cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4-5 tablespoons heavy cream

1. Combine ingredients (adding heavy cream to reach desired consistency.)
2. Slather on doughnuts
3. E-A-T!!!!!

12:00pm:  Lunch- Leftover slice of pepperoni pizza 

I know I had a few tortilla chips & a Brownie Mix truffle in the afternoon...but no 'solid snacks' that I can think of.  Not the best eating plan, but oh well... it was the weekendJ

5:30pm:  Dinner- Crispy Pesto Gnocchi with Goat Cheese

Because of my 'bad planned' afternoon, I was STARVING by the time dinner hit the table.  Thankfully this dinner took 12 seconds to make and yet I STILL only managed to get a picture of this pot.  Opps...

Well, and THIS little pesto face trying gnocchi for the first timeJ  I want to bite her little arms in this pictureJ

We also caught up on our horror movies and Netflixed Paranormal Activity 4. (which always seems to be released RIGHT around Valentines day...appropriate for usJ)  

After the DISMAL 3rd installation, I was NOT expecting much...but it actually was really good!  Sometimes I find people just forebodingly standing around MUCH more terrifying than the blatant scares.  (although..how many more of these are they going to make before they actually explain what's going on???)

Monday Recap:

9:30am:  Multigrain waffle with butter & flax...

Yes...the RETURN of the waffle.  I know...don't get too excitedJ

11:30am:  Lunch- Hummus with pita chips

3:00pm:  Snack- Strawberries & Dark Chocolate almonds  

I went from FINE to STARVING in .4 seconds and tried to grab the quickest things that I knew would be filling.  Sometimes it's SOOOOOOO easy to grab the junk food when you're looking for something quick...but this healthy snack took all of 3 seconds to wash the berries & measure out the almonds.  When you get that PASTSTARVING thing, try to take a breath and realize what is going to FILL you up the quickest...not just what is the quickest to grab.  The protein from the almonds & volume from the berries had me full in no time.

5:30pm:  Beet RED Salad J

Yes...one LAST beet recipe for the weekJ hahahahahahaha...   This time I peeled & sliced the beets, drizzled em with olive oil & roasted at 350 for 30 minutes.  They came perfectly crisp on the edges and chewy center.  

Also in the mix:

• Spinach
• 1/2 diced avocado
• Handful diced & toasted almonds
• Feta cheese 

This may have been one of my favorite salads EVVVVVVEEEEERRRRR.  The sweet & chewy roasted beets, cool avocado, crunchy walnuts & salty feta = too die for!  And thanks to the olive oil drizzled beets & creamy avocado, this was a no-dressing-needed salad.  Always a bonus.. 

6:30-8:00pm:  Beginners Power Yoga

My absolute proudest moment of the day (week, month...) may have been that I FINALLLLLLLLLLY learned how to balance a headstand in yoga class last night!!! 

It has taken me YEARS to get my body to finally "CLICK" and understand how to do this without actually putting the pressure on my head & crunching my neck.  Finally my arms understood how to strengthen as a base and support my 'stand.  I almost cried right there on my mat...it was one pose I NEVER thought I'd get.  And like my teacher said: "Just cause you have it this week, doesn't mean it's going to be perfect next.  So don't put any negativity in it."  Pretty good advice for LIFE, no?  

I. LOVE. YOGA!  

 8:30pm:  Dessert- No sugar added Rice Pudding

I was so giddy from class, I just HAD to give myself a little treatJ  And I love this No Sugar Added Kozy Shack pudding because it's no sugar added...NOT 'sweetened with chemicals.'  (now if I can only quit that damn coffee creamer!!J)

Alright folks...that was a lot for one day!  Hope you have a great Tuesday.

(and ummm...did anyone else hear the rumors of another possible snow storm in Jersey on the 17th?? Squeeeeeeeeel!)