Happy Starbucks Friday!

Its been awhile since I’ve celebrated “Starbucks Friday,” so today I picked up a tall Awake Tea Latte with soy milk and 1 pump of pumpkin spice syrup:

Breakfast was pumpkin oats with apple crisp:

Check it Out!

1. My new Wedding page.
2. Recipe for Dessert Lasagna!
3. Recipe for Spicy Corn Chowder
4. The blog makeover giveaway I’m hoping to win 😉
5. I’m getting married 7 months from today!

Dessert Lasagna

This week’s Blogger Secret Ingredient:  dried fruit.

I spent all week brainstorming what I would make.

Even though I had dried fruit in the apartment, I decided that I wanted to use cherries.  I made a special trip out to Trader Joe’s.  (Okay, I’ll admit, I’ll take any excuse to go to Trader Joe’s and/or Whole Foods.)

While cooking up my BSI submission, I debated going as a mummy for Halloween:

Aka, I burned myself and Dan went a little overboard with the gauze.  All the cushioning felt better, though.

It was a very stupid mistake, and I prefer to not go into the details.  Let’s just say I do not recommend testing your “mummy skills” while baking this…

Luckily, this morning my fingers felt good enough to go down to this:

But you aren’t reading this to learn about how I burnt myself, now are you?

I hope you’re reading this post to see this:

Dessert Lasagna

Ingredients

• 3/4 of a package of lasagna noodles, cooked
• 1 T butter
• 1 c. chopped walnuts
• 1 T. brown sugar
• 1 1/2 c. dried cherries
• 2 c. ricotta cheese
• 2 c. granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 3/4 c. powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine the ricotta, granulated sugar, and lemon juice in a medium bowl.  Beat until smooth.
3. Melt the butter.  Combine with the nuts and brown sugar.  Toast in 350 degree oven for 5 minutes.
4. In a 9×9 pan coated with non-stick spray, create 1 layer of lasagna noodles.
5. Smooth over a layer of the ricotta mixture, followed by cherries and nuts.
6. Create another layer of noodles in the direction perpendicular to the last layer.  Again, spread the ricotta mixture, cherries, and nuts over the new layer of noodles.  Repeat until ricotta mixture is used up.
7. Sprinkle top layer with powdered sugar.  Cover with foil, and bake for 45 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes, until noodles are soft and the ricotta mixture is bubbly.

Mmm… sweet dessert lasagna.

Other dried fruits would work too, but I prefer cherries.

Next time, I might add a plain noodle layer to the top, and top it with a sweet wine sauce.  Mostly because I want to try making a sweet wine sauce.  The lasagna is pretty stellar as is, too.

I was originally going to use cream cheese instead of ricotta, but I was worried that it would be too sweet.  The ricotta definitely worked out well.

Enjoy!

And don’t experiment with being a mummy in the process. 😉

A day for soup

Today was rainy.  And cold.  And gross.

You know what that means!  It was also a day for soup!

I’ve only recently discovered a love of soup.  It coincided with my discovery of how easy it is to make soup.  Soup from a can just cannot measure up!

If you’ve looked at my “Recipes” page, you can tell I’ve been experimenting with soup recipes.

Tonight, I made another winner.

And ate it in a Panera bread bowl.  Mmm…

Loosely based off of this recipe from Cooking Light, I present to you:

Spicy Corn Chowder

Ingredients

• 1 T. butter
• 16 oz. frozen corn kernels
• 32 oz. vegetable broth
• 1 c. buttermilk
• 2 T. cornstarch
• 4 oz. neufchatel cheese (cream cheese works, too)
• 5 Hungarian wax peppers, or other hot peppers of your choosing
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Roast whole peppers in oven at 425 degrees for 12 minutes, turning halfway through.  Set aside.
2. When the peppers are cool enough to handle, cut off the tops and remove the seeds.  Chop peppers into bite-sized pieces.
3. In a large pot, melt the butter over medium-high heat.  Add the corn, stock, buttermilk, and cornstarch.
4. Bring to a boil, and boil for 3 minutes.
5. Add the neufchatel cheese, peppers, salt and pepper.  Reduce heat to medium-low.  Stir until the neufchatel has completely melted.
6. Enjoy!

Free Bread!

Sorry about my lack of post last night; it was a busy day and I was sleepy!  So here’s a quick recap.  The more exciting stuff is further down 🙂

Yesterday’s Eats:

I was super-hungry all day, and I’m not quite sure why…

Granola, berries, and peach Chobani

AB & Preserves on a Sandwich Thins (smushed = unpictured)

 

Carrots & Hummus

Chin’s (SWE Meeting)

Plus, more Tomato Basil Bread from Panera than I care to admit, and Pita Chips & Hummus.

Yesterday’s Workouts:

Push-ups, upper body strength training, and some “back to basics” Pilates. I don’t know why I don’t do strength training more; I feel so strong and happy afterwards!

I tried to do a few squats and lunges, but my IT band wasn’t having any of it!

Today’s Eats:

Green Monster

Pear

Pumpkin Oats topped with Apple Crisp.

Free Bread!

The SWE Blood Drive was yesterday.  I’m not eligible to donate for awhile because of my trip to the Dominican Republic in March.

It also doesn’t help that I’ve passed out at little blood tests.

It also doesn’t help that hearing people talk about the blood donation process makes me feel woozy.

All that aside, I can help get rid of our extra post-donation snacks leftovers.

Welcome to my home, Tomato Basil bread and Sourdough bread bowls from Panera.

And congratulations Kristine, for holding a Blood Drive so successful, we actually had to turn people away.

Check back later today for a chowder recipe and my BSI submission!

 

Jazzed-Up Mac & Cheese and Apple Crisp

I had so many ideas for dinner swirling around in my head last night.  In the end, I decided to use up some leftovers before I cooked any new dishes.  With Dan out of town the past few days, our fridge was full of leftovers.  He’s back now, so I’m guessing those will disappear soon. 😉

To start, I roasted the rest of my brussels sprouts. Rather than making them fancy with maple syrup or chai tea, I simply tossed them with some olive oil, salt, and pepper.

I’m definitely picking up more brussels sprouts at the Farmer’s Market this weekend!

There was 2/3 of mac ‘n’ cheese from the other night in the fridge, but eating it plain didn’t sound appealing.  So I jazzed it up!

Jazzed-Up Mac ‘n’ Cheese

Ingredients:

• 1/3 box of mac ‘n’ cheese
• 1/2 oz. goat cheese
• 1 T. asiago or Parmesan cheese
• 1 1/2 T. white wine (I used a Pinot Grigio)
• Lots and lots of oregano

Instructions: Mix and microwave.  It is that simple.  And it tastes pretty gourmet for a dish with a boxed mix as its base!

I have been meaning to clean the apartment for ages, but keep putting it off.  I’ve been so busy that when I finally have some free time, I’d rather spend it relaxing than cleaning.  Last night was finally the night to catch up.  And catch up I did!

Check it out:

• Took all the burners off the stove and clean them.
• Clean the rest of the stove.
• Do the dishes.
• Run the dishwasher.
• Clean the kitchen counter.
• Clean the bathroom.
• Organize my desk.
• Re-organize the kitchen.
• Clean the kitchen table.
• Put away all laundry.

Tonight, I’m cleaning the rest of the living room & vacuuming, and I will have cleaned the entire apartment!  Between Dan and I, he is definitely the cleaner one.  He’s quite proud of my cleaning job this week. 🙂

You may recall that a few weeks ago, I bought almost 20 pounds of apples.  About 10 apples were left, and they were at that point where they were too soft to eat plain, but not mealy.  Naturally, I didn’t want to throw them away, so I made an apple crisp!

Apple Crisp:

Ingredients

• About 4 cups of apples, sliced thinly
• 2 T. maple syrup
• 1 T. cinnamon
• 1/3 c. butter
• 1 c. oats
• 1 c. graham cracker crumbs
• 1/3 c. brown sugar
• 1/4 c. raw sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Spread apple slices in a greased 9″x13″ baking pan.
3. In a bowl, mix the oats, graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, and raw sugar.
4. Mix the butter into the bowl until coarse crumbs form.
5. Pour the oats mixture over the apples.
6. Drizzle with maple syrup, and sprinkle cinnamon on top.
7. Bake at 375 for 40 minutes.

This apple crisp is Amazing!  Using the graham crackers in addition to the oats made such a difference.

I had mine a la mode with a little chocolate frozen yogurt.  I may or may not have gone back for seconds… 😉

Oh, and as far as workouts go, I did 10 pushups last night.

This morning

I’ll make this quick, since this post is getting lengthy!

Breakfast:

Same green monster as yesterday.

1/2 c. Kashi Go Lean Crunch with skim milk.

 

How do YOU “jazz up” your leftovers?

Coming Soon: Two New Recipes :)

I made jazzed up mac and cheese and apple crisp tonight.  Check back in the morning for recipes!

What Do You Think?

Before I get into today’s post, here’s a quick catch up.

Dinner

I had a headache last night, which always makes me nauseated.  So breakfast was quick and simple, though filling.  Kashi GoLean Crunch, vanilla soy milk, raspberries, and almond butter.

No, that’s not more Hallowine!  I know better than to drink alcohol when I already have a headache. 😉  It is warm apple cider from the Farmer’s Market.  I put it in a wine glass because it was more fun that way, and it made me smile.

Eight push-ups. Since today was a rest day, I just did the push-ups and walked to classes, which added up to about 3 miles. (Please note:  I am not including my walks to/from class in my training schedule.  I am only listing what exercise I do beyond that.  So if my Training page looks empty on rest days, rest assured that I am still being active. 🙂 )

Breakfast:

A “Green” Monster. I mixed 2 handfuls of spinach, frozen strawberries, half of a Tera’s Whey protein powder packet, apple cider, and milk.  It made two servings, so my breakfast for tomorrow is already made! I think I was really thrown off by waiting so long to eat breakfast yesterday, so I’ll be avoiding that mistake in the future for sure.

A pear (unpictured). Half of a brownie may have found its way into my mouth as well… no idea how 😉

Lunch:

In honor of the fact that my Acorn Squash & Apple Pizza won last week’s BSI contest, I used the rest of the fruit/veggie toppings with some goat cheese to make my wrap:

And paired it with an Endure Glo-Bar!

What Do You Think?

I need YOUR opinions on two things!!

1.  I’m thinking of making Savvy Eats self-hosted.  Which Web Host should I use, if I want to stick with WordPress?

2.  What do you think of the new theme?  While I loved the previous Savvy Eats theme, I changed it so that you could see my picture, Foodbuzz Badge and Foodbuzz ad without having to scroll down.

Thoughts?

(Almost Vegan) Pumpkin Fudge Brownies

As promised, here is the recipe for those delicious pumpkin brownies I made last night.  They paired wonderfully with a warm glass of Hallowine. 😉

These brownies are rich, so just a small piece will likely satisfy you.  The pumpkin and cinnamon add a creamy, festive flavor.

Without further ado….

(Almost Vegan) Pumpkin Fudge Brownies

Ingredients

• 1/3 c. no-sugar-added applesauce
• 2/3 c. flour
• 1/4 c. honey.  To make it vegan, replace with granulated sugar or brown rice syrup.
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 c. pumpkin puree
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 c. cocoa.  I used 2/3 Dutch process cocoa powder, and 1/3 regular cocoa powder.
• Cinnamon
• Chocolate “chips.”  I used chopped Candy Cane Kisses to give the brownies a festive color.  Use non-dairy chocolate or carob chips for a vegan recipe.

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, mix all wet ingredients together.
3. Add flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder.  Stir until well-blended.
4. Fold in chocolate chips.
5. Spread batter into a greased pan, and sprinkle with cinnamon.
6. Bake 20-25 minutes, until a fork inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Look at that delicious-ness. Who would guess that such a rich and fudgy brownie was so easy to make?

Enjoy!

 

Change of Plans

Change of Plans: Food

Remember that lunch I was going to eat?  Chobani, berries and granola?

I didn’t eat that.

I wasn’t that hungry today, so I just ate my Glo Bar and honeycrisp apple.  I’m saving the Chobani for another day; it is the last one I have!

It is a cold and rainy day in Madison, so I heated up the last of my split pea soup. The hot and thick soup was exactly what I needed.

On the side, I had some carrots and pita chips with hummus.

Unfortunately, the carrots I bought at the Farmer’s Market are really soft, and I couldn’t bring myself to eat more than 1 1/2 of them.

I don’t know what to have for dinner.  This isn’t a problem of not having any ideas.  This is a problem of having too many ideas swirling in my head.  Check back later to see what I chose! 😉

Change of Plans: Work

Remember my posts about stress and priorities?

I thought I could handle everything on that list.  Recently, though, I’ve felt as if something had to go.

Before I tell you what I changed, I must share this:  I do not like being a quitter.  I do not like to give up on something just because it is hard or time-consuming.  This decision was made two days ago, and I still feel icky about it.  But, I know it was the right thing for me to do.

I am no longer an unpaid intern for MixMyGranola.  Such a long list of priorities meant I was spreading myself far too thin.  I don’t have the time that would be required for a successful internship.  After putting 4.5 years into getting my engineering degree, and 4 years into developing my leadership in SWE, I want to end my college career on a strong note, without sacrificing my relationships.  Trying to do both the unpaid internship and the Student Assistant job for the freshman engineering course, in addition to the blog, would not allow me to do this.

I hate that I had to make this decision, but I know in the end that it was the right thing to do.

Link Love

Link Love

Happy Monday!  I hope you had a great weekend, because I know I did.  Here’s a recap:

My first 15K!

Chai Tea Brussels Sprouts

Madison Food & Wine Show

SWE Fall Ball

We unfortunately had to reschedule our cooking party, but it was otherwise a great weekend!

And today, I found out that I won last week’s Blogger Secret Ingredient with my Acorn Squash and Apple Pizza!  I’m excited to enter this week’s contest over at Lindsey’s blog!

Wine and Brownies

Last night ended with a warm glass of Hallowine

And a pumpkin brownie. Times two. 😉

This recipe will be up this afternoon!

Bad Blogger

I was a bad food-blogger this morning; I didn’t give myself enough time to eat/pack breakfast before class!  So, I ate half of a brownie on my way out the door, and picked up a Perfect Oatmeal from Starbucks between classes.  I did remember lunch and a snack, though. 🙂

Oatmeal topped with brown sugar and nuts. For a breakfast on-the-go, this is pretty good; filling and nutritious!

Honeycrisp apple I picked up from the Farmer’s Market as a snack.   I forgot how juicy and sweet these are; I haven’t had one all year!

Here is the lunch I packed that I will be eating in class:

Defrosted raspberries from our berry-picking outing, Peach Chobani, and a tiny bit of granola. For an afternoon snack, another Renew Glo-Bar. Seriously, Angela, how do you make them so perfectly chewy?  I can’t seem to get it right when I make bars myself!

This Week’s Training

Surprisingly, I’m only a tiny bit sore from yesterday’s run.  But, my IT band is giving me problems, and I don’t want to make it worse.  I’m going to hold off on running for the rest of the week, and perhaps I will try biking in a few days.

I really slacked in the weight training department last week, and I completely forgot about my daily push-ups!  My focus this week will be on stretching, upper-body training and Pilates.

How’s your Monday going?