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

Losers Discuss Why They Can’t

You know you’re a quote junkie when…

You sit down to blog about a recipe, and wind up looking at quotes for a chunk of time instead. Since I’m now in a quote lovin’ kind of mood,  I thought I’d share my favorites from tonight:

I love that last one, as I’m pretty confident that Harley thinks I’m one awesome human being…

…except maybe when I hold her like a baby and try to get her to pose for pretty sunset pictures!

Good night!

Need Reasons to Exercise?

Happy Hump Day!

Here are my favorites things today –

Chart of the day:

(source)

Mantra of the day: “Never give up on yourself.” 

Best moment of the day: Coming home from volunteering at the Humane Society and finding flowers on my doorstep from my marine. I haven’t been able to talk to Adam very much lately because of where his squadron is currently at. The communication has been difficult and that at times can be a bummer, so the flowers made me feel better!

Quote of the day: 

Good night!

Today’s Newfound Love: Avocado Hummus

My favorite quote of the day: 

“For what it’s worth: it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald

This afternoon I couldn’t decide between making guacamole or hummus, so I decided to try combining the two. After whipping it up in my food processor and tasting, I decided my new creation was a genius idea. I totally thought for a second that I invented a new amazing dip..until I took .5 seconds to Google ‘avocado hummus’ and saw tons of results. Whomp. I suppose other [brilliant] people have thought of blending the chickpea and avocado dips together before me (why have I never heard of this before today?!), but here is my version of avocado hummus:

Avocado Hummus

Makes 1 cup/8 2-TBSP servings

Ingredients:

• 1/2 avocado, cut into chunks
• 1 c canned chickpeas
• 1 slice of onion, roughly chopped
• 1 TBSP tahini
• 1/2 TBSP lime juice
• salt & pepper
• water for thinning out mixture (I used 2 TBSP)

Throw first 5 ingredients into a food processor and pulse until combined. Add water, salt, & pepper and pulse a few more times. Make sure you have the desired consistency, then spoon into a bowl. Eat with crackers, veggies, bread, or whatever your heart desires. I had mine with whole wheat pita bread and cucumber slices:

Stats per serving: 65 calories, 3 g fat, 3 g protein, 9 g carbs

Off to veg out and watch a movie, good night!

Brie Cheese, Yes Please

Quote of the day:

Okay, my hike wasn’t exactly a thousand miles this morning, and that’s not quite how I looked when I reached the top, but I was reminded of this mantra as I arrived at the foot of the mountain and looked up at the trek I was about to start.

So with whatever goal you’d like to achieve, remember that starting is the biggest step. And don’t forget to celebrate the little victories along the way, and be proud of the fact that you began a journey at all. To take one step towards whatever your aspiration may be is a step in the right direction. Make your life. 

Dinner

I’m sure you love my rhyming post title, as tonight’s meal obviously involved yummy Brie cheese. This is an awesome sandwich combo, so if you’re looking to change up your normal sandwich consumption, look no further! This would be great on a fancy baguette or fresh bread, but I just used the bread I had on hand.

 

Apple, Fig & Brie Sandwich

• 1 medium apple, sliced
• 2 servings of Brie cheese, cut into slices (2 Trader Joe’s Brie bites)
• 1 TBSP of fig butter (TJ’s)
• 1 TBSP of slivered almonds (Diamond of California)
• 2 slices of whole wheat bread (Nature’s Own)

Spread fig butter on bread, then arrange cheese and apple on top. Put in the toaster for a few minutes until the cheese starts to get bubbly, then add almonds and throw back in toaster until the nuts start to brown.

Nutrition stats: 410 calories, 18 g fat, 18 g protein, 57 g carbs

I’ll leave you with images of Harley trying to lick the last bit of peanut butter out of a jar I emptied making a protein shake this afternoon. She was at it for a good 45 minutes before I took it away from her to put her out of her [heavenly peanut butter] misery. Someone takes after their mother with their love for PB!

Words to Live By

Random interesting fact of the day: In America, February 1st is National Freedom Day. Established in 1948, it symbolizes freedom for all people. On February 1, 1865, President Lincoln signed the amendment to outlaw slavery.

To kick off your month with some wise words, here is the Holstee Manifesto, a collection of mottos to live by. I have this hanging up in my house because I adore it:

Happy February!

Pancakes & Pasta

I randomly came across the above image today and thought I’d share. There’s so much truth to that statement. After all, being healthy and physically, mentally, and spiritually balanced is at the core of finding happiness in your life, right?

As my title suggests, I have 2 recipes to share with you today. I’ll get down to breakfast first.

Yum, I’m a huge pancake lover. As with everything I make, I try to create pancake recipes that are both healthy and delicious. This one hits the spot and makes the perfect portion size for breakfast (ok, I might have eaten it for lunch yesterday!).

Banana Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Pancakes

Serves 1.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup all natural whole wheat flour

1/2 banana, mashed 

1/4 cup Quaker old-fashioned oats, dry

1/2 cup Blue Diamond unsweetened almond milk (or, as always, regular milk can be used)

1 TSP (organic) brown sugar

A dash of salt

1 TBSP chocolate chips (I used Ghiradelli semi-sweet)

Warm a skillet over medium heat. Coat with non-stick spray.

Combine all ingredients except chocolate chips in a medium bowl. Mix well.

Pour batter onto pan, making 3 pancakes. Put chocolate chips on each cake.

Cook on each side until lightly brown. Top with butter, syrup, jelly, or whatever your heart desires. I love them plain or with a tiny bit of light butter.

Nutrition Stats: 330 calories, 10 g fat, 10 g protein, 65 g carbs

Mmmmm, pasta. My dinner last night is what I think of as the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink dish. When I throw this meal together, I use every and any veggie I have in my kitchen that’s about to go bad soon. Yesterday, this included cherry tomatoes, zucchini, red bell pepper and spinach. I use a bit of olive oil to add some flavor and healthy fats to the mix.

Pasta Primavera

Serves 1.

2 oz of multigrain angel hair pasta (I used Barilla Plus)

1/2 zucchini

1/2 red bell pepper

7 cherry tomatoes (random amount, I know!) 

Handful of raw spinach

A few fresh basil leaves

1/2 TBSP olive oil

2 TBSP white cooking wine (I used Holland House)

1/2 oz Romano cheese, optional (I used Il Giardino)

Salt & pepper to taste. I love using mixed up salt in this recipe.

Boil water in a medium pot on high heat, then cook pasta according to directions.

While you’re waiting for the water to boil and pasta to cook, chop up all veggies into bite sized pieces.

Warm cooking wine in a skillet on medium heat. Add all veggies except basil and spinach to the pan, then sauteed until softened, around 5 minutes or so. Stir the veggies, then add the spinach and basil and cook just until spinach is wilted. Remove from heat.

When pasta is done cooking and drained, return it to the pot. Pour veggies onto the pasta. Add olive oil and any seasonings in, then mix it up. Put pasta in a bowl, then grate the cheese on top.

Facts: 390 calories, 12 g fat, 17 g protein, 53 g carbs

Blog Changes

Just a quick note to let you  know that I’m in the process of figuring out how to increase the functionality of my blog. I’m very new to all of this and am trying to figure out just what I’m doing! I want to add a ‘print recipe’ button so anyone can easily print a recipe out without the rest of the post, but for now, I’ve created a ‘print & PDF this’ button. This way, you can delete unwanted text & images, and keep whatever text you want to print out. It’ll have to do for the moment, but there will be bigger and better changes to come very soon!

On a final note… 

There were 2 milestone birthdays in my family this week. Yesterday my grandpa turned 80! And happy birthday to my baby brother Danny!! He turned 21 today and I’m sure he’s out celebrating like the crazy college kid that he is. Love you both!