A River (of Cookie Butter) Runs Through It

Today's breakfast showcased my love of oatmeal. On tap this morning? Pumpkin pie oatmeal. Warm, comforting, healthy and all-out amazing.

First, the mix-ins - not too attractive, right?

Admittedly, not super attractive

1/4 cup pumpkin
1/2 Tbsp cinnamon sugar mix
1 Tbsp Trader Joe's cookie butter (if you don't own this, WHY?!)
Sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice

Mix into a bowl of cooked oatmeal, and voila. Pumpkin pie in a bowl:

Much better

And the best part? When you get partway through, you find a river of molten cookie butter running right through the middle. And that just makes your entire morning a little bit more awesome.

Finally, today was my almost 6-month follow-up with the orthopedic surgeon. Time to figure out why my foot is hurting me again. My prize for today? Another ankle brace to add to my collection. Looks like I sprained my ankle. Again. But it's nothing structural, so as long as it doesn't hurt, I can work out as comfortable. A better result than I was worried I was going to hear, but can I just say, I am sick of this stupid foot. Anyone want to trade?

 

Do you own cookie butter? Why not?!?!

Date Night and Menu Planning

Last night Joe and I went to the Bonefish Grille for a belated Valentine's Day date. (Well, not really belated for us - we always go on the weekend around V-Day because who wants to feel like you have a curfew on a work night?)

White cranberry cosmo - hello lover.

Dinner was amazing. I know a lot of people are anti-chains, but BFG (yes, we're on initial terms) is fresh and awesome. And the martinis and bang bang shrimp alone are worth it.

We both had the imperial wolf fish special. It was stuffed with shrimp and crab, and just fantastic. (And no, I didn't take a picture. I forgot. See picture above.) Then we came home and watched Skyfall on demand. Awesome - one of the best Bond movies I've ever seen and I've seen three. So no, I didn't track calorie one last night. But you have to have times like that - times where you just enjoy being with the person you love and don't think through every bite you put in your mouth. I know, I know, that contradicts one of my 33 while 33 goals, but that's why they're called goals.

This morning was spent menu planning so we can hit up the grocery store this afternoon when we pick up the short man. (If we go without him and he can't go in the playland, we're gonna be in for a rough ride.) This is how this week is shaping up:

Sunday: Rotisserie chicken and macaroni and cheese with peas
Monday: Steak salads
Tuesday: Shrimp fajitas
Wednesday: Penne with vodka sauce and salads
Thursday: BBQ apple chicken bacon quesadillas from Iowa Girl Eats
Friday: White pizza

Do you menu plan and attack the grocery store with a list? Or do you go all Food Network and just let the food speak to you?

Surviving Super Bowl

HA! Did you think by the title that I was going to recap the actual game? Unless you're talking about Beyonce's performance or the commercials, maybe even the blackout, I got nothin'. I may live in Steelers country, but when it comes to sports, I'm a college fan more than the pros. Nevertheless, Super Bowl Sunday is a holiday of sorts, and that means the food and drinks will be flowin'.

So to kick the day off, after some peanut butter banana stuffed French toast (argh, I keep forgetting the pics!), I headed to the gym for a swim. Half an hour and 700 meters later, I came home like this:

Hawtt, right? Complete with bad camera angle!

I then made baked crab rangoon to take to my in laws to watch the big game. These are modified from Iowa Girl Eats' recipe, and they're fantastic. Like can't stop at 7 1 fantastic. But at around 40 calories apiece, go ahead! My thought is, if it keeps me out of the nachos, it's a win! I totally cheaped out and used imitation crab (I'm hooked on these things - have been for years), but the taste is still there and they totally hit the spot.

 

Baked Crab Rangoon

24 wonton wrappers

1 package (4 oz) imitation crab chunks (Crab Delights)

8 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese

2 Tbsp. nonfat plain Greek  yogurt

2 green onions, sliced

1 garlic clove, crushed

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. soy sauce

1/2 tsp. sugar

nonstick cooking spray

Preheat oven to 415 degrees. Spray mini muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Place one wonton wrapper over each muffin cup and press until it forms a little bowl.

Combine remaining ingredients in a large bowl and mix together. Place a tablespoon of filling in each wonton wrapper. Wet the edges with water and press together to form a little pocket, like the picture above. Mist wontons lightly with cooking spray. 

Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. 

How did you handle yesterday? Lights stay on where you were?

Warm Food on a Cold Winter's Day

Annnddd I'm officially over winter. I woke up this morning to a 7 degree day with a wind chill of -15. Usually about February I'm done with winter, and this year is proving to be no exception.

Still battling trouble with my ankle, today was a self-imposed rest day. So I warmed up with calorie- and waistline-friendly fare that still hit the spot on a cold winter's day.

Breakfast
Have I mentioned how much I heart oatmeal? No? Must have been waiting for our third date to reveal that one. Yup, me and Wilfred Brimley can't get enough of the Quaker man. But I like mine with fun mix-ins - a Tbsp of peanut buttter for protein, and a Tbsp of white chocolate chips because they're damn awesome. And still around 350 calories, give or take.

Lunch was Nicholas' choice, so chicken tenders and fries it was. Nothing too exciting there, we all know what a nugget looks like. So no picture. Just close your eyes and imagine it.

Dinner
I know I've mentioned my love for SkinnyTaste. I have yet to find a recipe that we all didn't love. Tonight's was no exception - crockpot chicken cacciatore. 

 

Rather than restating her recipe, since I didn't make any changes, I'll send you there to read it. And take your time to look around - plenty of awesomeness to go around on that site. (Love, a Groupie.) 

Tomorrow I'm hoping to get a swim in before heading to my in-laws to watch the Super Bowl. Don't you love trying to eat healthy on what is essentially a national gorge-fest holiday? What are your strategies for making bypassing the nachos? Or do you just dive in headfirst, and only come up for air on Monday morning?

Foot Fault

Thursdays are usually a workout day for me. But my bad ankle has been giving me trouble over the past week - causing me to stumble going downstairs, giving out on me mid-step, etc. Truthfully, I think I have been pushing it a bit to hard. Since New Year's, I've been working out around 4 times per week - maybe a bit too much 4 months post-surgery when I'm still battling swelling and instability.

Message received. So today, I focused on watching my food intake to stay in my target range, and came home from work and put my feet up.

So I don't have a workout to share, but I do want to share one of my favorite breakfasts with you: peanut butter cup CoCo Wheats. Be prepared - this one is a hard one! :-P

3 Tbsp CoCoWheats
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp PB
1 cup water

Microwave the CoCo Wheats and sugar in the water in 30 second increments until it reaches your desired texture. Stir in peanut butter and enjoy! (Once it cools - this stuff gets HOT!)

And the best part is, this tastes like you're being really bad, and it's not bad at all - less than 300 calories for one bowl. Love!!!

Mmmm, peanut butter cup-y goodness!

Emotional Eating

[Warning: heavy stuff ahead.]

This weekend marks the one year anniversary of the hardest weekend in my life - the sudden death of my nephew, JT. He was only eight years younger than me - like the little brother I never had. And one Saturday morning, the phone rang, and he was gone. No farewell, no chance to say goodbye. Just gone. And it has been a long year, full of emotional eating. And I think that brought on some of the weight I'm battling today. Not all of it, but certainly some. And I often struggle with it - I'm sad, I want to eat something that will make me feel better. But it's just food. It doesn't control how I feel, and it can't heal the pain, no matter what that pain is from.

As my family marks the solemn one-year anniversary, it would be easy to fall back into that pit. But from that perspective, I consider today a success. I started the day with Starbucks' Perfect Oatmeal topped with brown sugar and nuts...

...and a grande nonfat latte. No syrup, no white chocolate mocha topped with whipped cream (my one-time drink of choice). Nope, just a plain latte with a packet of sugar and some cinnamon sprinkled on top. And it felt good. What's more, it tasted amazing.

Lunch was a vegetarian chili from Aladdin's Eatery, with feta and half a pita. Chinese takeout sounded amazing. Pizza? Awesome. But the bad food would only have fed the bad feelings, and I resisted.

 

This weekend will continue to be difficult. But my goal is to stay strong. Maybe I'll throw in a Spin class - I have extra emotion to burn. Better there than at the bakery.

What about you? Do you "eat your feelings?" Or do keel your emotions separate from what you put in your body?

Healthy Decisions - On the Fly

So how's this for a weird injury: Today, I pulled a muscle in my bum. Well, more my hip, but it's all that general bum-ish area. So what started out as a plan for stuffed buffalo chicken breast a la SkinnyTaste turned into me calling my husband and saying, "Can you grab something?" My first thought was something nice and unhealthy - if I'm going to blow my plans, then I'm going to blow them right. But then I remembered something I saw in Self's December issue on my Kindle Fire: The No-Cook Diet.

The Self No-Cook Diet

It's very simple: They offered easy, no-cook recipes for busy nights, along with dinner out and, important tonight, takeout options. So I called up the men and changed my order to a plain Wendy's baked potato and small chili. Total calories spent: 480. And I'm still happy with my choice. Um, score!