Starbucks and Quiche

While running into Target I dashed to Starbucks because I was feeling low. My body needed my vitamins (which I failed to take today) because it's going nuts from all the bad foods (yummy birthday cake) I forced into it this weekend. I asked the barista if SB make their frappes with soy milk. Her reply was "not yet." What a fantastic sign of things to come. Instead I tried a passion fruit lemonade ice tea. It's time for another Annie moment: Oh my goodness, oh my goodness! Heaven in a cup. Try it, folks!
Our freezer has entered into the zone of the ridiculous. If you think librarians are anal, you haven't met honey when it comes to maintenance of the freezer and pantry. Today I knew it was time for him to clean the freezer because I couldn't find anything which simply means it's time to stop buying groceries and time to cook what we have. I started to chunk the pie crust until I remembered a dish I used to love back in my turkey/chicken eating days. Turkey cheddar quiche. I decided to try it again and I just finished eating true yumminess. The complete dinner was a slice with a side of strawberries. Here's the recipe:
1 cup shredded Italian-style cheese blend
1 cup veggie sausage (Hot & Spicy Morning Star)
4 medium green onions, sliced (1/4 cup)
1.5 cup soy milk
3 eggs or equivalent - i used egg beaters
1 teaspoon chopped fresh basil leaves
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne)

Sprinkle cheese, sausage and onions over crust. In small bowl, beat milk and eggs with fork or wire whisk; stir in basil and red pepper. Pour into pie crust. It's better to make your own but I used a store bought crust.

Bake at 400°F for 30 to 35 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Oh, I figured out a lower calorie Pumpkin Muffie recipe. More on that to come. Right now I need to take the fastest shower in the world so I can watch Desperate Housewives!

Saturday Mornings

I adore my honey but as an only child I find myself relishing the moments alone with my thoughts. Saturday morning is MY time, rather ME time. Every other Saturday I go Buff Natural Nail Bar. As a side note Buff is "green" nail salon where the nail technicians are golden, the coffee/tea/snacks are sublime and the neck wraps are heavenly. If you live in the North Carolina Triad make an appointment today. Back to me. ME mornings involve breakfast at Panera which may last less than an hour but can make the majority the the week's drama disappear. It's me, a book and this delicious breakfast.It's so simple: egg, with a little pepper and Vermont cheddar on Ciabatta bread. Yum, yum, yum, nosh, nosh, nosh. I eat this along with Panera's fresh squeezed OJ. In my opinion, this is perfection. Not just the meal but the entire experience. My Saturday mornings usually include an early morning workout but on this birthday weekend, just me, my book and my Panera breakfast.

I had a hair appointment this Saturday and I knew I'd be hungry after so I picked up a snack. I've been reading Healthy Tipping Point and Caitlin, the author, has a slight obsession with pumpkin. Consequently, she has me wanting to try recipes that call for the big orange ball. I totally understand the pull of pumpkin but I only seem to enjoy it around Thanksgiving and Christmas when people are making pumpkin bread like crazy. Today I noticed that Panera sold a Pumpkin Muffie. Everything at Panera is yummy so I didn't hesistate to try one. Let's just say that I wish I bought three. O-M-G! So delicious, moist and in a word - perfection. Somehow Panera found a way to merge a pumpkin muffin with a cookie. It's a little oily as you can tell from the bag, but if you're out and want a snack - pick it up. By the way, it's 270 calories so if you're a counter please take that into consideration.

Please ignore the car mess. I attacked the muffie as soon as I left the salon.

Monday is the beginning of week 2, yes, I'm still on week 2 of Insanity. My back seems to be okay and my cardiovascular system appears to be back on point. It's time to keep pushing play and this time I hope to hit it nonstop. Wish me luck.

Happy Birthday to meeeee!

I remember when 35 used to seem so old. I'm not old, I'm fabulous! On my 35th birthday I feel great. Physically I haven't felt this good in years. There' s a wonderful man in my life and I have great friends and family. I'll have to make this one brief because I'm at work and my class will enter any moment now but I want to share my morning thus far.

Honey went to work early but I found the most beautiful card, a kooky little animal and a balloon this morning when I went downstairs. Why I didn't photograph the card is beyond me. I LOVE SURPRISES!!!! Please excuse the mess in the background along with the dwindling fruit bowl. Hey, it's Friday. The fruit bowl should be about empty.

I also amped up my breakfast this morning. I was ravenous when I awoke and craved oatmeal. Thanks to MegaNerdRuns I crave it daily. This morning I added bananas.


Oatmeal contained:

• brown sugar
  
• cinnamon graham cracker
  
• strawberries
  
• 1/2 banana
  
• blueberries
  
• a dash of vanilla soy milk

And instead of my over sized mug, I placed it in a pretty bowl. YUM YUM YUM! Here's an interesting piece of trivia, Gabby (from Desperate Housewives) and I have the same dishes.

My students and teacher friends left poster and balloons all over the media center. I'll post those later.

New Energy

Thanks to Megan, author of http://www.meganerdruns.com/, I have discovered heaven in a packet. Megan writes frequently of nibbling on Clif bars. After ready her blog for several weeks I started to ask people about their opinion of the Clif products. Can you hear the crickets? Yup, that's because NO ONE has ever heard of or eaten this. So I find myself at Wal-mart after my return to the gym to try a few. The majority of the boxes have 2-3 Clif bars remaining. THAT'S A GOOD SIGN! The bars are only $.94 so I delved in, head first in my quest to find sustained energy. The first one I tried was the brownie flavor...not bad. Not bad at all. The second is the Oatmeal Raisin Walnut. I felt like Annie, "oh my goodness, oh my goodness!" These things are yummy. Okay, sure, they contain 240 calories but these bars are so dense that it takes a few days to eat one. Again folks, eating junk is not going to get you through anything substantial, especially Insanity.

I will share this: since I've substantially cut down on the junk, the cravings are going away. I no longer feel the pull of Sonic's Egg & Cheese toaster. Now the pull is more about oatmeal with strawberries, blueberries and brown sugar. Why has it taken 35 years to figure this out? I would start my rant on healthy foods but I'll save that for a later post.

You'll find a few photos of my healthy snacks for the week above. Please excuse the Cool Whip bowl. Those bowls are great for food storage. :-) Oh, I no longer indulge in Cool Whip. Certain dairy items and I no longer get along. It's sad but there are so many delicious alternatives out there. Have you tried Soy Delicious ice cream? Both the soy and the coconut options are delicious.

KEEP PUSHING PLAY!

Samples at Sam's

So, I walk into Sam's and there are "eat this" booths all over the store. I should have know better to go in Sam's on a Saturday but I was in the neighborhood and we all know the appeal. My intent was to get a new bag of bribery, uh, candy for my students and pick up some produce. I don't know why the produce at Wal-mart sucks but it's so on point at Sam's - Go figure. Anyhoo, I picked up the most amazing grapes, the sweetest strawberries (which are so big they would make the employees at Church's Chicken go "hmm..."), and 8 bananas which I feel stole for the price. As I'm winding my way through prepared foods I notice a woman giving samples of hummus. O-M-G, I've been meaning to try this particular hummus FOR-EVAH! Folks, when I tell you it's ridiculous, I mean it. This stuff is the truth. The hummus came with Stacy's all natural pita chips - yum! PLEASE GO BUY WHAT YOU SEE IN THE PHOTO. You will not be dissappointed. Personally, I think the serving size is a bit munch because it's all so filling but I feel I can get one heck of a snack/meal for a minimal amount of calories.

By the way, my back is pretty much okay. There's minor pain when I move a certain way but I'm going to jump back on Insanity - week 2 tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Back to the gym

So as you know I've restored my sanity due to a back injury. However, I miss Insanity something serious. I didn't think I would. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being worse) my back pain is a 1 as opposed to the 10 I felt a few days ago. I only feel pain when I move a certain way. As not to rush my way back to a 10 I'm going to stay away from Insanity and no some non-impact elliptical training at the gym tonight. It's gotten to the point that I don't feel right if I don't exercise.

Off to feel the Rush (fitness) - can't you just hear Talib Kweli all in your ear? :-)

Out for the count

There's nothing like a backache to let me know that I'm knocking on 35 y/o next week. This backache has led me to taking it super it easy today. Due to no exercise I've had to monitor my caloric intake big time.

I hope to return tomorrow.