Blueberry Oatmeal Smoothie

Odd that today, a day that is a little grayer and cooler than the previous four days, I decided to make an ice cold smoothie for breakfast.  Yesterday morning I woke up with damp hair it was so warm, but did I think to make a frosty beverage?  Nooooo.

Of course it was warm when I went to bed last night and I’d been thinking about a smoothie all day, so it wasn’t going to matter what the weather was like today.

I had smoothie on the brain!

Specifically I was dreaming of a smoothie Bob Harper posted on his Facebook page yesterday.  He uses cooked oatmeal.  I’ve added dry oats to my mixes before but never cooked.  I was intrigued.

I didn’t particularly feel like cooking a hot pot of oats last night though, so I opted for soaking a portion overnight for a similar effect.  A little chia seeds helped things along.  The resulting smoothie is thick and delicious…and more protein packed than my usual combinations.

Blueberries also had to join the party…the plain oatmeal smoothie would do the trick I’m sure, but why wouldn’t a little berry love be acceptable too?

Blueberry Oatmeal Smoothie

yields 1 large meal-size serving

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 tbsp chia seeds
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 banana
• 3/4 scoop vanilla protein powder*
• 1/4 cup UVAB
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
• 3-4 ice cubes

Directions:

1. Prepare the night before: Stir rolled oats, chia seeds and 1/2 cup water together.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.
2. In the morning: Add overnight oatmeal and all remaining ingredients to blender and blend on high 45-60 seconds, until smooth.  Add more water to thin if necessary.

Enjoy!

Nutritional stats according to MyFitnessPal:

287 calories, 6 grams fat, 41 grams carbs, 24 grams protein, 7 grams fiber.

* I use Kaizen Natural Whey Protein Powder (Vanilla Ice Cream flavour).  One scoop is 29.4 grams for 115 calories.

Java Rescue

This morning required a Venti Mocha Misto.  Conference call day.

What do you get when you find a basically empty almond butter jar and a final serving of steel cut oats in your pantry?

OIAJ of course!  With banana, UVAB and chia seeds.  Topped with jam.

Light lunchy.  Who knew hummus and goat cheese go together?

Especially when schmeared upon brown rice crackers sent from Oz. :)

Chibi says hi!!  She’s rocking her doggie hoodie cuz she’s so cool.

We did take an after work walk at the dog park with a new bachelor friend (bet you’d thought I’d given up!).  It was freaking freezing out there today though so the dogs got to cozy up in the cars while we enjoyed hot tea instead.

Ended up being perfect that I had leftover tuna casserole on such a chilly day. 

Dessert during American Idol…crack mango.  I keep thinking I should put these in a recipe, but instead just eat em up!

*cue singing angels here*

Squeeeeeeeeeal!  Look what Tiffaney gifted to me!!  For some unGodly reason she’s had this baby in her cupboard for three years…unused!  The horror. ;)  So she said I might as well put it to good use.

We all know I can handle that!

Just in time.  I have a *gasp* 8am Skype meeting tomorrow morning.  Without a pre-set brew, people might die.

I will kinda miss my morning walks to Starbucks with Chibi though.  My mocha caffeine reward sure was good motivation for a longer walk.  Slacker alert!!

Fun Guy

I wasn’t really hungry for breakfast this morning.  WHAT?!  Ya, I said it.  I didn’t really feel like taking the time to make a smoothie I wasn’t overly interested in, so instead just snacked on yogurt.

When lunchtime rolled around Chibi and I went for a walk down to the park and back.  The blue skies have arrived in Victoria, but holy man is there still a chill in the air!  I decided to make hot breakfast for lunch.

Buh-bye lovely sunflower butter.  You will be missed.

Steel-cut oats cooked with water, vanilla soy milk, 1/2 banana and flax meal…topped with the rest of the banana, sunflower butter, honey drizzle and hulled hemp seeds.

Stoopy rules the skool.

Afternoon snack.  Two of the blandest kiwi ever.  Meh.

Dinner tonight was going to be leftover Moroccan Stew…but when my friend Mike (formerly known as Bachelor #1, now known as sarcastic pizza eating friend fiend) invited me out for Pizzeria Prima Strada how could I say no?

oooooooh yesssssss….Funghi with added pancetta.  Fancy mushrooms and bacon on cream sauce.  Wahoo!

We had a rule going in that we could only eat half of our pizzas…but we failed to make a rule about dessert…so neither of us had any reason to say no.  We split this daily dessert special…chocolately, walnutty, truffley, tarty thing.

Rich and deeeelish.  There might have been some red wine too.  But red wine is healthy so shhhhhhh. :)

We did dinner really early which actually worked out because I then had the rest of the evening to complete some errands I’ve been having trouble making time for.  Chibi and I even took a car ride to the burbs.

Nothing wrong with a random, tasty, productive Thursday!

Snowpocalypse

Apparently when the news folks said we were in for a cold front and some snow I wasn’t really paying attention.  I was pretty much stunned when I wandered into the dining room and looked out the window this morning and was confronted with the biggest dump of snow we’ve seen all Winter.  BAM!

I’m pretty sure we aren’t in Halifax anymore, Toto.

I noted the half a foot of snow drifted onto my car and settled in with my hot coffee for my weekly conference call.

The call ran long and I was ready to gnaw my arm off by the time we finished.  Why didn’t I plan breakfast before the call?!  I never learn.

I needed hearty and hot.  Oatmeal to the rescue!

Peanut Butter & Jelly Oatmeal!  Steel cuts oats cooked with water, UVAB, flax meal and 1/2 a banana.  Topped with natural PB, pomegranate jelly, roasted peanuts, and a sprinkle of salt.  nom.

Once I was pumped full of oatmeally goodness and had tackled another hour of work I put on my dorky toque and puffy coat and hit the streets for a walk in the white stuff.

I hit up Topaz Park near my place…fields of barely touched, deep, fluffy snow!!!  My lined, waterproof Winter boots are actually in the trunk of my car (I know, good place for them right?) so I wore my other boots…which were great because they are taller, but bad because they definitely aren’t waterproof.  I came home when I could feel my socks getting wet…and my thumbs going numb.

A hot lunch was required.  I pretty much replicated the awesome frittata from the other day…I think with more cheeeeese this time though.  Still super awesome!

A kiwi while the frittata baked.

Since I didn’t feel like cleaning off my car to venture out onto the streets with the crazy people (even after three Halifax Winters I would still rather not drive around on the bad roads just waiting for inexperienced snow people to drive into me) I decided to actually stick with my meal plan which actually just happened to have comfort food on it!

Homemade focaccia!! 

Diana made focaccia a few times ages ago and I’ve been meaning to make it ever since, but finally just got around to it.  This recipe was very easy to follow and came together quite well if I do say so myself!

It’s a tiny bit time consuming because it has to proof twice, but once it’s baked you can eat it pretty much right away.  So I did!

Alongside a serving of my Balsamic Chicken & Mushrooms and steamed broccoli with fresh parmesan cheese.

I’m now rocking 3/4 of a loaf of focaccia which could spell DANGER around here, but here’s hoping plastic wrap helps keep it fresh for sharing with friends this weekend.  Oh and I see a panini in it’s future!

Don’t forget Canadian friends… I’m giving away a brand new copy of The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. 

To enter just leave a comment on my post from earlier today. Good luck!

Light Blue

I’m trying to type with wet nails. ha. Should prove interesting.

Simple. Coffee.

Last night I prepped breakfast. Another go at a Jump Start recipe…Make-Ahead Muesli…which is their take on what we food bloggers call Overnight Oats.

Oats, honey, cinnamon, walnuts (I also added flax) topped with water (I added UVAB), covered and refrigerated overnight.

They recommend topping with chopped apple…who would I be to disagree?!

All of the water didn’t soak in but otherwise it was pretty good.  I would make this again but probably with way more UVAB, less liquid overall, and I definitely wouldn’t soak the walnuts…they lost their texture and taste overnight.

It was nice to have a more substantial breakfast again.  Held me over all the way through the gym. 

At the gym today I tackled the toning moves (by memory!  forgot my magazine…) and decided to try out cardio routine #3.  The skipping scared me but I made my way through it without tooooo much trouble.  Again I modified it to a 30 minute session to make sure I don’t reinjure my back.

Back at home I couldn’t wait to grab an icy cold Larabar from the fridge. I read this tip on a blog somewhere and what a good idea!

While I munched the bar I got lunch ready.  Leftover black bean & quinoa mixture from last night mixed with salsa and light cheddar all rolled up in a whole wheat tortilla.

Wrapped in foil to heat through…

And served with the rest of this morning’s apple. 

Because lunch + Lara were so filling I kept dinner quite light.

Simply salmon and bok choy.

The salmon was coated with a mix of olive oil mayo, Dijon and soy sauce…sprinkled with fresh pepper.  The bok choy just baked right along side the fish.

Bok choy was a little overdone but the salmon was perfectly delicious!

After dinner chocolatey treat…

And as soon as my nails dry I’m going digging for a handful of crackers and a cup of hot tea.  There is some reading to be done, some melatonin to take, and a cozy sleep to be had.  Night!