Apple Pie Oatmeal Bowl

Random tidbit of the day: According to a study in the journal Mental Health and Physical Activity, exercising for at least 2 hours a week makes you 70-85% less likely to be depressed, anxious, or experience burn out. Add that to the laundry list of reasons to workout! That’s just a minimum of about 17 minutes a day, so what’s your excuse?

Speaking of exercise, when I was talking about mountain biking in yesterday’s post, I neglected to mention the fact that I always have some sort of injury after biking. This time it’s a nice ugly bruise on my calf:

Nice right? Totally worth it though!

Moving onto eats, my day was full of getting work done and being busy with the usual shenanigans, and I didn’t devote a lot of time to prepping my meals. But contrary to what some may think, eating healthy doesn’t equate to slaving away in the kitchen for hours on end. While my dinner was a little boring — a veggie burger with tomato and avocado, with edamame on the side — my lunch was a new combo that I loved:

An apple pie oatmeal bowl!

I haven’t eaten oatmeal in awhile, but I brought it back today after smelling the sweet apple scent of it last night when my hubby snacked on a bowl of oats. So when lunchtime hit this afternoon, oatmeal was on my brain.

Here’s what I used:

• 1 packet of Quaker Oats apples & cinnamon oatmeal
• 1/2 chopped apple
• 2 TBSP slivered toasted almonds
• 1 mini box of raisins
• 1/4 c Kashi Go Lean Cinnamon Crunch cereal
• Sprinkled cinnamon

I microwaved the apple in with the oats to make them hot and soft, apple pie style. The other ingredients were added in after the oats cooked. Yum!

I’ll leave you with some food for thought: “The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be.” – Marcel Pagnol

Strawberry Oatmeal Bars

“All I am I owe to my mother.” – George Washington

Happy Mother’s Day to all the great moms out there, especially my mama!

Sometimes I get bummed on holidays, knowing my family is all getting together thousands of miles away, especially when my hubby is even thousands of miles farther away. With 2/3 of this deployment under my belt, I’m starting to feel like I just want him to be home already. Everyone is different, but it seems that with me, there comes a certain time when I just start to think enough is enough! Case in point: A.) I just love love, but when I see couples big on PDA these days, I have the sudden urge to throw things at them. B.) In a daze, I stared outside at my patio last night, imagining I was sitting out there with Adam drinking wine and relaxing together. And C.) I may or may not have cried watching the season finale of The Voice last week (and another TV show or two that people are not supposed to get teary watching)… so yes, it’s safe to say that I’ve reached the point where I just want the deployment to be done with! It’d be easy to curl up in a ball and bask in self pity on days like today, but instead of doing that, I opted to keep myself moving and busy.

Exercise-wise, today was all about the legs for me. First, Harley and I went for a hike this morning, where we saw yet another snake – a bigger, scarier, hissing one this time. I had a moment when I almost turned around because I was slightly terrified (I’m not the only one, people actually did turn around!), but I just faced my fear and ran past it. All turned out okay.

I also biked 20 miles at the gym. I alternated cycling 1 mile sitting at an easier pace with biking standing up 1 mile at a higher resistance level. I’ve done this a few times now, and the intervals make the hour it takes me to complete 20 miles go by pretty fast. By the end, I’m sweating like a beast. Really, it’s gross.

[Mental note: after all my leg work today, must ice calves tonight!!]

Today’s activities also included torturing Harley with a bath, cleaning my apartment, reading by the pool, and coming up with this yumminess:

Strawberry Oatmeal Bars

Makes 12

• 1.5 c whole wheat flour
  
• 2 c dry old fashioned oats
• 12 oz natural applesauce
• 1/2 c light butter, melted
• 2 c fresh strawberries, sliced
• 2 TBSP agave
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1/2 TSP salt
• 2 TSP baking powder

Preheat oven to 375.

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine strawberries and agave. Cook for around 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until strawberries soften and mixture becomes jam-like.

Meanwhile, combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Combine applesauce and melted butter in another bowl, then mix the wet in with the dry.

In a greased 8×11 pan, spread half of the flour mix onto the bottom. Once strawberries are done, pour the entire strawberry/agave combo on top of the flour layer. Spread the rest of the flour mixture on top.

Bake bars until lightly browned, around 30 minutes. Allow to cool before cutting into squares.

I think they’re great for a snack on the go, and I also have a feeling they’d make a delicious dessert when heated up (and possibly eaten with a scoop of fro yo!). 

Nutrition facts: 190 calories, 5 g fat, 4 g protein, 36 g carbs

And lastly, my favorite concoction of the weekend was definitely a watermelon smoothie with a kiwi thrown into the mix:

I’m slightly obsessed, it’s so delish. I highly suggest trying it for yourself! Good night!

Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins

Last night I was in the mood to bake, so bake I did!

I found 2 pumpkin muffin recipes I had scribbled down and tried before, and mixed & matched their ingredient lists to come up with a recipe of my own. So far, I love eating these babies 1.) warmed, along with some berries for breakfast and 2.) toasted, with a touch of butter, cinnamon & brown sugar on top for dessert.

Note: these muffins aren’t overly sweet, so if you’re looking to make them super sweet, just use more sugar and/or honey.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins 

Makes a dozen

• 1 c old fashioned oats (Quaker)
• 1 1/2 c whole wheat all-purpose flour (Gold Medal)
• 1 TSP baking soda
• 1/2 TSP baking powder
• 1 TSP salt
• 1 TSP cinnamon
• 1 TSP pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 c brown sugar (Trader Joe’s organic)
• 1/4 c honey
• 1 flax egg (a regular egg will work too)
• 1 c pure pumpkin (Libby’s)
• 1 c almond milk (Almond Breeze 40 calorie unsweetened)
• 1/2 c melted butter (Land o’ Lakes light butter with canola oil)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, then pour into a muffin tin lined with muffin cups.

Bake @ 325 degrees until tops are browned and a knife will go into the muffins and come out dry (took between 30-40 minutes for me).

Nutrition stats: 170 calories, 5 g fat, 3 g protein, 31 g carbs

Last night while eating one of these muffins, I watched a highly disturbing episode of my new favorite TV show, My Strange Addiction. It was about a guy who is in an intimate relationship with his car. The best video clip I could find to show just what I’m talking about:

I’m telling you, this show will render you speechless!