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?

Catch Up

I was up late last night doing homework, so I didn’t get to my dinner post…whoops!

Dinner included:

Split pea soup. It is not photogenic, but it is delicious.  And easy.  So, so easy to make.  Check back later for the recipe.

Food Should Taste Good Everything Chips

Carrots with Hummus.

And lots of some SunChips and Frosted Animal Crackers.  I don’t know what it is about SWE study nights.  Lately, I turn down the overly-processed junk food at almost all of our other SWE meetings.  Until I go to SWE study night.

My plan for the next one?  Pack yummy, healthy, irresistable snacks to munch on, instead of the provided snacks.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

As for yesterday’s workout:

• Pilates

Stomach Series

Roll-Ups

The Hundred

• Strength Training

Overhead tricep extensions

Overhead presses

Bicep curls

Side raises

Squats

Plie squats

Side lunges

Today

A bowl of Kashi GoLean Crunch with Vanilla Soy and

a Warm Peach with Cinnamon made up my quick, on-the-go breakfast.

Lunch today includes some tried and true favorites.  I missed these while I was gone.

A sandwich thins with almond butter, pumpkin butter, and apple slices.

A strawberry Chobani with frozen raspberries and granola.

Check back later for the split pea soup recipe!

Note: Big Fitness Weekend Ahead!

I’m so so excited for this weekend!  Read on to find out why.  But first, a quick recap of my eats so far for today:

Breakfast Quinoa with Almond Butter, Chopped Apple, Cacao Nibs and less than a teaspoon of maple syrup.  I realized partway into class that I didn’t have a picture, and it would be awkward to take one in the middle of such a small lecture. 🙂

Lunch:

Between classes, I did a training ride on my bike since I didn’t get to it last night.  My stats:

10.0 miles, 43:33 minutes.

After that, I was starving!

A kiwi. I didn’t eat the skin this time, but scooped out the flesh with a spoon instead.  I like it so much better this way!

An apple and cheddar quesadilla on a whole wheat tortilla. Yum!

Later, I plan on munching on these veggies and hummus:

Am I Insane?!

You already know that Dan and I are doing the Tyranena Oktoberfest Bike Ride to benefit Tomorrow’s Hope, which “supports organizations that help anyone who is touched by a life-limiting disease. This includes Alzheimers, cancer, diabetes, heart connditions, kidney or liver disease, Niemann-Pick disease and more.” (from Tomorrow’s Hope website).  We will be biking 46 miles on Saturday.

As if that wasn’t enough of a workout for the weekend, I also decided to sign up for a 5K today that is on Sunday morning.  This one benefits the Literacy Network, “a not-for-profit organization committed to providing basic literacy services to adults and families in Dane County so they may achieve their employment, education and family goals.”

Doing two big races in one weekend may seem crazy, but I’m so excited for it! I never thought I’d be able to run a 5K OR bike 46 miles, and now I’m doing both within 24 hours of each other.  I get giddy and happy whenever I think about how far I’ve come since May in my fitness, and I want to prove to myself that I can do this.  So on that note, wish me luck! 🙂

Change of Plans

So, remember how I was planning my next beet dish?  Well, Dan and I were starving when we got home and decided we wanted something quicker than that.  In other words, the beet dish has been pushed to tomorrow.  Check back tomorrow night for my report!

Instead, we had

Almond butter, pumpkin butter, & apple slices on a Sandwich Thins, all toasted together. Seriously, love this combo, and it is even better warm!

Mixed veggies.

Popcorn sweetened with a little brown sugar and cinnamon.

Dessert?  The last of my Scharffen Berger chocolate. So sad. 😦

Giveaway Time!

If you haven’t already, check out these awesome giveaways!

1.  Leslie’s Pirate Booty Giveaway.  (I love this stuff!)

2.  Dori’s Fitness DVD Giveaway.  (These look like fun; I want to try them!)

Eat.Sweat.Blog.

I decided to do the Eat.Sweat.Blog. challenge for the month of October.  Basically, you need to exercise for 20 days in the month of October, and complete 10 of their “feats.”  Feats include going without soda for the month, bringing your lunch to work 10 times, volunteering with your local food bank at least once, eating local food for one day, and more!

So, who wants to join me in this challenge?  Let me know!
And finally, I’m looking for some recommendations/recipes for some plane and hotel-friendly snacks for my upcoming trip to California… so leave me a message with your best recommendation or recipe!

Lazy Breakfast

I’m just not feeling breakfast this morning.  So today’s first meal was random and kind of thrown together:

Egg Beaters with chives and a little Parmesan. This was my first time microwaving Egg Beaters, and I was impressed!

A little apple cider.  As you may recall from my field trip recap, this cider contains only apples, nothing else.  I know it isn’t as good as whole fruit, but its still delicious!

And the rest of my pumpkin bar.  There was a little more than 1/3 left.

Sorry for the lack of posts yesterday!  I’ll do better today, promise.

Off to the airport to pick up Dan!

Early to Bed

I’m pretty sure I’m going to go to bed before 9 tonight.  I am that tired.

As a result, I haven’t been super-efficient today, but I’ve still been getting some work done.  A little more work for my internship tonight, then I think I’ll call it today.

The two parts of my dinner don’t really go together, but I couldn’t decide what I wanted…

A sharp cheddar + apple quesadilla.  Sounds like it would be a weird combination, but it is seriously great!  And if you make it on a Foreman grill, it takes about 2 minutes to make!

Quinoa + beans + veggies. I only slightly modified a recipe that I can’t link to here (from a cookbook, not online), so I unfortunately can’t post how I made it.  BUT, it is red because I tried my very first beet in this dish!

I like beets.  I think.  I don’t think I’d eat them alone or anything, but in a dish like this, its pretty good.  Very…earthy.  That’s the only word I can think of right now to describe it.

All together:

Before bed, I might have some cider from the orchard we visited this week.  I just had to buy some at the Farmer’s Market yesterday after our field trip!

A new record

Four posts in one day!  🙂

Other than my SWE snacks, dinner included:

A little piece of the fabulous garlic Parmesan bread Dan picked up at Trader Joe’s yesterday and

Tempeh, Peppers and Brown Rice in Apple BBQ Sauce. I picked this sauce up at the apple orchard this weekend, and really wanted to use it.  Since I’m not eating meat this month, I decided to try it with some tempeh!

I’ve had tempeh once before, and was not a fan at the time.  It was way to dry and flavorless for me.

Tempeh, however, has redeemed itself.  I marinated it in Apple BBQ sauce while the rice cooked, then baked it at 400 degrees for 25 minutes with 3 bell peppers and some more BBQ sauce.  I mixed in the rice, and got a delicious, satisfying dinner!

Are there any foods you thought you didn’t like, but changed your opinion when you gave it a second chance?

Chocolate and Almond Amazing-ness

Thanks to Kelley, I can at least kind of set now, making volleyball go more smoothly.  Thanks, Kelley!

Lunch today was spread out, because I had four lectures (3 classes + 1 lecture for the class I am a Student Assistant for) back-to-back immediately after volleyball!

Plain Greek yogurt + strawberries + raspberries + granola (not pictured), and

Carrots with Spinach Hummus.

And the smallest PB Cookie I could find when I got home 🙂

Dinner tonight was some tofu baked with sesame oil, rice vinegar, and hoisin sauce; I served it over some rice noodles and spinach with various spices.  It was still missing something, but 1/2 T. peanut butter sure did the trick!

Dessert was AMAZING.  It doesn’t look that great in the picture, but trust me, its delicious!

I microwaved 2 T of almond butter for about a minute on high, then mixed in 1/3 c. Dark Chocolate Chex Mix.  Soooo good, and highly recommended!

I’ve been exhausted all day, so I’m off to bed!  Good night!

Thank You, Pharmacy Gods

I was incredibly sleepy when I dragged my body out of bed this morning.  Not to mention incredibly stiff from the soccer/run yesterday, despite the fact that I iced my knees last night.  So when I did get up, I turned on the kitchen light and went into my still-mostly-dark living room to stretch for 10 minutes.

What. A. Difference.  I felt so much better for the rest of the morning.  I will definitely be doing this again!

I’ve been eating a lot of oats lately, I realized yesterday.  So today, in an effort to mix things up, I made quinoa for breakfast.  That’s right people, quinoa is not just for lunch/dinner anymore!

My Cinnamon-Almond-Berry Breakfast Quinoa contained:

• 1/3 cup water
• 1/3 cup vanilla soy milk
• 1/3 cup quinoa

And was topped with:

• 1 T. almond butter
• A handful of golden raspberries
• Sweetener: 1/2 honey, 1/2 brown sugar
• Cinnamon and nutmeg (which I went a little bit overboard on, so there were a few bites where all you could taste was nutmeg–oops!)

It is super easy to make.  Heat the milk, water, and quinoa until it boils, then turn down the heat, cover, and let it simmer until it reaches the consistency you want.  I let mine simmer for 15 minutes.  Top with your choice of toppings!

Be careful not to let it boil over, or else it makes a hot, sticky mess.  Trust me, I know…

Thank You, Pharmacy Gods

As you’ve probably seen on my “About Julie” page, I have hypothyroidism.  Unfortunately, the FDA is now looking at the natural medication I take for it as an “unapproved drug,” making it extremely difficult to get a prescription filled.  Last month, I had to call five different pharmacies in Minnesota until I found one that had it in stock.  So today, I geared myself up to do the same, now that I’m back in Madison.

The very first pharmacy I called had it in stock, and I can pick it up tomorrow morning!

This makes me sooo happy.  I spent so long trying to get my thyroid under control, and am finally feeling healthy again.  I don’t want to mess with trying different medications if I don’t have to!

And so, thank you, Pharmacy Gods.

This morning’s snack is some Trader Joe’s trail mix (I forget which one exactly, but its good!).

Nuts, unsweetened dried pineapple, cherries, and cranberries.  Yum!

Has anyone else out there tried breakfast quinoa?

My Running Story

I’m pretty sure I had my favorite bowl of pasta today. Ever.

Before I get to that…

Pre-soccer, I snacked on one of the cookies I made yesterday, and 2/3 of an almond butter & honey sandwich (on an Arnold’s Thin).

You know what I learned today?  I’m not very good at soccer.  Very rarely did the ball come to me during our game, but whenever it did, I didn’t do anything particularly useful with it.  Hopefully I’ll get better as we have more games.  It also probably doesn’t help that everyone else played soccer in grade school, whereas I haven’t played since I was four or five… At least I’m trying, right? 🙂

Pre-run, I tried 6 SportsBeans, which were much better than I expected.

I don’t know why I’ve been so dang hungry today, but it got to the point that I had a headache!  I almost cut my run off early because I was feeling  so sick, but I was bound and determined to get my 5K practice run in.  It was super humid today, and I was glad I decided to run on the treadmill so that my new issues of Women’s Health and Runner’s World come inspire me to keep going!

Unfortunately, I was so glad to have made it through the 3.1 miles, I forgot to look at the time I was actually done.  I’m pretty sure my stats were:

Distance: 3.1 miles

Time:  Just under 35 minutes

Average Pace:  11:40

For most of mile 3, I was running pretty easily at a 11:00 pace, but man that was a hard run!  I know a lot of you out there think nothing of running a 3.1 mile run, and consider my pace to be pretty slow, but I am pretty darn proud of it!

In high school when we had to run the mile for gym class, I remember being pretty proud of my 18-ish minute mile run/walk.  Back in January, when I started running, I could barely run 1/2 a mile, let alone a full mile, at a 15:00 pace.

By February, I was up to a full mile. I remember immediately texting my mom, Dan and Kelley to tell them I had run a full mile without stopping; I was really that proud!

By July, I was down to a 12:00 mile.  Now, I can run a sub-11:00 mile if I push myself.

Next Sunday, I am running my first 5K.  It will be my first race, so I’m running it to complete it, and not worrying about my time.

I’m excited that I can run 3.1 miles without stopping, and that it takes me less than 35 minutes!

Pasta Perfection

After soccer and my run, and the fact that I walked to the soccer fields to the gym and back home (total 30-ish minutes), a plate of pasta sounded just about perfect.  I pulled out the asparagus pasta I got at the Farmer’s Market, and set to work making my own sauce.

It was delicious, and possibly my favorite pasta dish I’ve ever had.  You couldn’t really taste the asparagus in the pasta, but the noodles still tasted delicious!  I love fresh pasta; so much better than dried!

I started sauteing 3 carrots with some extra virgin olive oil.  After a few minutes, I added a sliced zucchini, along with generous amounts of basil and oregano, and a touch of sea salt.  In the last few minutes, I added a handful of spinach and about 1/2 cup of tomato sauce.  When everything was warm and the spinach was wilted, I poured it over the pasta.

Delicious.  Pasta perfection in a bowl:

Quick snack and a bit of work for my internship, then I’m off to bed!