Peanut Buttah And…

I’m going to be quick, since I just fiddled around with the site and have a quick business assignment to finish! So – just do this for me.

Pretty please? You’ll thank me later.

Go ahead and grab some bread and some peanut buttah. Homemade bread. That is accidentally a lot smaller than you intended. Trust me, it really lets you get a thiiick layer of p.b. 😉

Then snag a fresh local apple, and a dried fig. That fig is funky lookin’, non?

Now plug in your panini maker.

Glomp (yes, glomp) a bunch of peanut butter on the bread, and slice your apple and fig. Layer on some apple slices, then some fig slices, and sandwich to-gedder.

And then panini away.

Just don’t do like I did, and walk back upstairs to finish a project.

You’ll burn it…but the sandwich will be just that good that it doesn’t even really matter.

What’s your favorite Peanut Butter & ______ sandwich?

p.s. Chocolate chip cookie dough larabar…

…not as good as I was hoping. Bummer. Too much chocolate chip, not enough cookie dough.

Not What it Seems

Wow.

It seems an overwhelming portion of you have been also chased by a man bearing a chainsaw. I feel not-so-alone now! That doesn’t make me enjoy Halloween any more, however.

It was a chilly one this morning! I didn’t much care for getting out of bed.

…but the promise of overnight oats and hot coffee makes everything better! I’ve had a question or two as to how I make my overnight oats.

• 1/2 a ripe banana (or other fruit that can be mashed, like a peach, strawberries, pear)
• 1/2 c. almond milk
• 1/3 c. quick oats (or 1/4 c. quick oats, and the rest old fashioned)
• 1 t. chia seeds
• cinnamon (a hefty portion!)

The night prior I mash the banana up with the oats, cinnamon, and chia seeds, and then stir in the almond milk. In the morning, I stir in a spoonful of vanilla or plain Chobani – but to make it vegan, just stir in coconut milk yogurt or soy yogurt! Sometimes I’ll add some protein powder the night before, too. Just sort of depends what I’ve got on the cards for the day, I guess!

The rest of my day isn’t as it seems.

What do I mean by that? Well, take, for instance, these figs. I don’t know what I was thinking packing them, as I know I need more of a morning snack than two lone figs.

Luckily, my boss brought in a bunch of apples he’d picked with his kids this weekend, so these figs turned into a baked apple with figs and cinnamon. Chop up that apple, chop up those figs, stir in some cinnamon, and nuke for a minute and you’ve got yourselves a mug (well, in my case) of pure delicious.

Continuing on, pictured is just a plain sandwich with red onion and baby spinach. Yes, I packed more – tempeh and rosemary sauce, to be exact – I just didn’t feel like taking a picture of another container. But, I added to that mix, a few apple slices and panini’d it all up. So yum!

I didn’t mention yesterday that I made another loaf of bread – honey oatmeal wheat, to be exact. Again. It’s a good recipe! But – again, it fell. Dude, what am I doing wrong?! I even follow the recipe now. I can’t wait to bake my next (or very soon!) loaf by hand.

Raw, these carrots tasted…wrong. The solution? Throw on the panini press and smother in yellow mustard. Success. My mustard craving was sort of creeping in there.

This white nectarine was just as delicious as it looks and sounds. I love white flesh peaches and nectarines!

I made these cashew birdseed bars a bit too dry in attempts to cut back on sugar. The first couple days they were still good, but by now they’re just a bit too dry. The solution? Dollop with some pear-almond jam that I keep in the fridge at work!

I’m telling ya – there’s a quick fix for everything!

…and I am 99% sure that things eaten hot and out of bowls are 99% better than things eaten on plates. Too bad they’re always ugly!

However, I quite enjoyed the last of my scalloped tomatoes over the last of my (current) spaghetti squash. It was a match made in heaven!

And now, I’m off. I’ve got senior portraits I’m still going through, as well as orders to put together that came through!

What are your quick fixes for things that turn out not as good as you’d hoped?

On their Way

The worst part about winter is not wanting to wake up.

And I don’t mean that in a sadistic way.

Hot coffee joined my overnight oats this morning. I just couldn't take the chill of iced!

I mean the “it’s so warm under here, and so cold out there,” feeling as you wake up and begin to poke a limb out, only to instantly feel a chill sneak through the miniscule gap you’d created.

That’s sort of how I was this morning.

The base of my overnight oats this morning was simple - 1/3 c. quick oats, 1/2 c. almond milk, trail power, and chia seeds.

It wasn’t terribly cold out – but I was hot all night, so my air was left on low. When my eyes flickered open I couldn’t help but want to burrow under my blanket!

Another sign that fall and winter are on their way? How dark it is getting to be in the morning! Soon my breakfast and dinner pictures won’t be anywhere near as endearing. Instead, they will be ruined by overhead fluorescents and motion blur.

Gotta enjoy the weather and daylight while it’s still here!

I loved being able to make a peanut butter sauce for this bowl! I simply combined peanut butter and organic valley vanilla yogurt. Other toppings involved more yogurt, wheat germ, cashews, 1/2 a banana, and a white peach.

Don’t get me wrong, though – I’m not complaining about the weather we’ve been having! It’s been enjoyable to not find myself melting all day long – but I know what winter has in store…I am not looking forward to frozen toes and fingers and having to wear ten million layers in efforts to keep warm at the barn.

Come onnnnn, heated indoor!

Morning snack: 1/2 a banana and two dates, stuffed with marcona almonds. Afternoon snack: "Bar" of energy. This mix is my favorite yet!

Are you a summer, spring, fall, or winter person?

Lunch: sammie with garlic hummus, snap peas, tomato, and s&p.

This probably seems random – but I’ve done it with broccoli, so why not?! I think green veggies (that aren’t lettuce or spinach) are the new lettuce 😉 Try it! You won’t be sorry.

Vanilla chobani and a white flesh nectarine.

I ran to the co-op during my break, too. I had to stock up on “the squiggly stuff” (AKA quinoa) that my mom loves so much. Which is odd, because she is very cut and dry as to what she likes when it comes to grains and such. I know quinoa is not a grain – but she hates whole wheat stuff, and even brown rice she doesn’t believe in.

Almonds for the yog, and a cookie for dessert!

But, she just loves the chickpea-quinoa pilaf and I heard a request for it 😉

Anybody else have any family members that surprise you in terms of what they like that you make?

More than a week without is more than a week too long when it comes to broccoli and hummus bowls!

I just adore this combo! I could probably be fed it for a week straight and not say a word of protest. This evenings mix was:

• roasted broccoli
• snap peas
• tomato
• garlic hummus
• black beans
• smoked mozzarella

And who would I be without more corn?!

Sure, sure – the corn would have been great in the broccoli bowl – but I just couldn’t pass up my caveman moment 😉

Now – back to work!! I’d like to get the senior portraits I took yesterday up tonight for the girl.

But – Teddie says hi!! He was a ham this morning. Made me laugh.

A Love Story

I enjoyed reading that I am not the only one savagely attacking my corn on the cob. I agree, though – getting all the kernels stuck in your teeth is frustrating! I have to stop after each bite to try to get the pesky stuff out from in between my teeth – I can’t stand the feeling for more than a minute!

It doesn’t keep me away for long, though – I was “cob free” today, but I don’t know how long that will last 😉

I decided I needed to try Banana Bread Waffles again...

…but this time decided to try them with my original waffle recipe, rather than making them buckwheat. I missed my “normal” waffles!

Combine Dry:

• 1/4 c. quick oats
• 3/4 c. puffed grain cereal
• 1 T. each: wheat bran, wheat germ, WW flour
• 3/4 t. cinnamon
• 1/4 t. nutmeg
• 1/8 t. ginger
• baking powder

And Wet:

• 1/2 banana, mashed
• 1 T. milled flaxseed
• 1/4 c. almond milk
• 2 T. vanilla chobani

...and then together.

Next time, I would use a whole banana rather than half. I just happened to have half of one in my fridge from some cereal I had last night and wanted to finish it.

Like the buckwheat ones, these need to stay on the iron a bit longer than it tells you to, and make sure it’s well oiled. I opened the first one when it told me to, and half was on top, and half on bottom. I just closed it again for a few more minutes and it cooked and came off just fine, though.

I almost felt lost not having more banana to top these with - but finally decided a peach, some raisins, pecans, honey, and peanut butter icing would do.

Peanut Butter Icing:

• 1 T. chunky p.b.
• 1 T. vanilla chobani
• 1 T. almond milk
• 3/4 t. chia seeds

Just met the PB a bit first, and then stir all together! Let it sit a bit to thicken, though 🙂

So, so good...

…and perfect fuel! I went right off to the barn. When I got there, I saw evidence of Teddie, but no immediate glance of the little devil.

First sign of mischief: his ears!

Yep…the little beast demolished his fly mask. No idea how he managed to completely rip the ears off of the rest of it, but I’m a little disappointed.

the remainder.

I mean, it was a really nice fly mask! It even had a nose guard which helped his little pink nose stay safe from the sun’s rays.

Oh, well. That wasn’t the only evidence of Teddie and I, though – I cleaned it up, but if I hadn’t – here’s what A would have seen when she did chores!

Teddie hair! Look how far he traveled.

I find this picture hilarious. After our ride, I let him graze a bit and thought it’d be a perfect time to pull his mane some more. He’s started really hating it if I just pull it in the crossties…but if there’s food in his mouth he doesn’t really care what’s going on. I think he thought I was a pesky fly at first, although as I was nearing completion he sort of picked his head up and turned to look at me. I’m pretty sure he was saying “I’m not stupid. I know what you’re doing, and I’d like you to stop. Thank you.” lol.

I love this.

We had another really good ride today. I think he’s back to his little old quirky self. He’s always had a little bit (at least) of an attitude, but I like the ones with a bit of sass 😉 And I used my dressage saddle – what I had wondered if that was what had caused the problem. I decided to try it again now that we’ve had a couple of good rides, and just used it without a sheepskin halfpad. He was better than he was on Thursday, so maybe the half pad caused it to pinch him a bit. I still think it’s moreso attitude than anything, though – but I admit I am sort of a micro-manager when it comes to saddle fit. I want him to be 100% comfortable, so of course think a sheepskin half pad is necessary, even though I know that a saddle that fits well doesn’t need any extra padding. Sort of like a good shoe – it feels better when you’ve got your normal socks on, not thick heavy ones no matter if they’re sheepskin!

Afterwards, I went and cleaned the office and by the time I got home was starved. I’d ran out of the house before I remembered a snack. My “emergency car bar stash” currently consists primarily of Larabars, and I didn’t feel one was worth sacrificing 😉

I've had this acai powder for a while now - but always forget to actually use it.

My mom moved some stuff around in the fridge, though, so this was nearly staring at me. I think I forgot about it for a while because acai has started popping up in tons of weight-loss pills.

Uh, yeah, that’s the last thing I want, thank you.

But it’s not so bad! It’s got tons of antioxidants, fiber, protein, and omegas! This sambazon powder isn’t an exctract and utilizes the whole fruit, too – so all of the health benefits are captured!

I used some today in my smiley smoothie!

In the blender:

• 2 handfuls spinach
• vanilla chobani
• almond milk
• 1 peach
• sambazon acai powder

The spoon test!

Okay, Amanda – I know this looks like it’s cheating and the sunflower butter is helping to support the spoon – but I promise it didn’t sink when it was just smoothie, too! Do I pass the test? 😛 Gum-free power!!

I topped it with a huuuuuge monster date, honey roasted peanuts, wheat germ, and sunflower butter 🙂

But it's not complete without a three-peat! Triple-wheat, garden tomatoes, smoked mozzarella, basil, and balsamic.

I know, I know. You guys are sick of seeing this. Unfortunately for you, I am not tired of eating this. And you will probably be seeing it again. Except…that was already the last of my triple-wheat bread. Luckily for me, I can smell another loaf baking as I type 😀

The afternoon consisted of going to a horse auction with my mom. Yes, the same one we always go to. The tack is always the same, and it’s gotten really boring. But…the people watching aspect is worth it. It’s sort of horrendous. Oh, and I like to look at the horses. No, no – we are not looking for more! hah.

Even though lunch stuffed me to the gills - I had a hankering for some banana bread with peanut butter and honey. I think I always have that hankering, however.

And I grabbed a Luna Cookie to tide me over. And I am very glad I had it, even though it didn’t do much for my hunger.

Basically a Z-Bar. On clearance months ago for 68 cents! It was hiding when I thought I had polished off the last of my many-ingredients bars. NOW I'm done!

That being said – the auction went a bit late and I got right to work in the kitchen when I walked in.

I found this gem on clearance AND had a $1 off coupon months ago - I think I paid less than $1! For some reason, I am just now breaking into it.

Ironically, I am not a spaghetti person. I know that sounds strange since pasta is pasta, right? But I just don’t care for spaghetti or angel hair. Linguini is fine, though, as is any other shape. Maybe it’s just how you have to eat it? I don’t know.

But when I saw that when they said whole grain spaghetti, they really meant whole grain spaghetti, I had to pounce.

But there was no other shape option in this Racconto pasta, so I sucked it up. In fact, this was the last one on the shelf, and it was just sort of thrown randomly in with the other pastas. I don’t even know why it caught my eye, as I was just driving (hah…driving. driving my cart) down the aisles and there it was.

Is this reminding anybody of some romantic movie? Love at first sight or something?

Throw in some mozzarella, fresh garden tomatoes, and basil - and it's even more of a love story!

To wrap up my love story, while I can’t say I’m sold on spaghetti, I do love this Racconto product. For all those whole grains, a normal person would probably think it would have to taste like cardboard, but that is far from the truth. For my meal, I prepared it as instructed and then tossed it with smoked mozzarella, fresh garden tomatoes, roasted broccoli, olive oil, and garlic. I also had a chickpea cutlet on the side, and topped it with fresh basil.

Sounds like a party to me!

Do you have any favorite sort of pasta shape? Do you have irrational food quirks like mine? I mean – I know if this was in ziti form it would be the same thing, but I would have so much more fun eating it 😛

Look Familiar?

Sounds like my frustrations of people thinking “low cal, low fat, low whatever” is healthy is shared amongst us all. It’s really such a shame! I just wish there was a way to undo that mindset, and save everyone tons of struggle and ill-thoughts towards themselves…

…easier said than done. Trust me – I’ve been there, done that. The media just sucks us into thinking fake sugar is better than real, low fat is the only way to go, and everything low calorie will solve your life problems.

Newsflash: it won’t.

Sigh. At least we can hope a new “real food” movement can start, right? And why not start with a real breakfast.

Not shockingly, I started my day the overnight oats way. Mingling overnight:

• 1/3 c. quick oats
• 1/2 c. almond milk
• trail power
• Tera’s Whey Bourbon Vanilla protein powder

In the morning, vanilla chobani was incorporated for a creamy consistency all the way through 🙂

And topped with an old favorite of mine that had taken the backseat once peaches started being on sale for a measly $1/lb (at most!)

• 1 plum
• ~3/4s of a banana
• cashews
• drizzle of honey

Has anyone noticed how I’ve almost been keeping my breakfasts somewhat simple lately?!

Snack: hardboiled egg (with mustard) and chunks of energy.

Has anyone had any Friday the 13th happenings?! I have so far been able to escape it unharmed – but the night is young, so hopefully I haven’t jinxed myself 😉

I guess maybe that’s why I opted to just have repeats when it came to meals today! Either that or, when I packed last night – I just couldn’t get mozzarella off my mind 😉

I had a panini in (unpictured) triple wheat bread with smoked mozzarella, tomato slices, and basil soaked in balsamic.

Vanilla chobani and a white flesh nectarine.

...which was dressed up with some cashews for crunch!

As well as the leftover carrots and hummus from Wednesday 🙂

For afternoon snack, I broke into this Oskri bar sent to me from afar – thanks again, Nikki!

The ingredients were wonderfully simple: just rice syrup, sesame seeds, and date syrup.

(It got a little broken up in transit, I think :P)

While I loved the idea of this bar, I’m not too keen on the execution. I don’t care for hard/brittley type foods that get stuck in my teeth. I think I ate about half before deciding that the itty bitty pieces left would make a lovely addition to a yogurt mess, or melting into some hot oatmeal! I am going to keep my eyes peeled for more Oskri products, though – they look to be a great lineup and I think they can be found in the U.S.!

I also enjoyed an oatmeal raisin cookie that my boss’s wife made. She must have known I was on an oatmeal raisin kick or something – I couldn’t say no. She makes cookies all the time, but I tend to pass (not a huge chocolate chip cookie fan) so it’d been a while since I’d had one. And it was funny – as delicious as it was, (she’s a great baker/cook) I found it so sweet, which is not how I remembered them. Just goes to show how our tastes change.

For instance, I never used to like corn on the cob…

…and yet, I’ve had it every single night this week, if memory serves me correct!

Does anyone else feel rather caveman-like when gnawing on an ear of corn, or do you all cut it off politely? Just curious 🙂

I told you my eats today might look familiar! I can’t deny the fact that leftovers can be such lifesavers, and delicious. I had two leftover polenta bites, as well as a chickpea cutlet with tomato, mozzarella, and basil. And you know by now how I do my corn – butter, salt, and parmesan 🙂

And a sneak peek at some Teddie pictures, I hear you plea for?

Oh, okayyyy….

kisses!

trotting around with our noses in the air much to my dismay 😉

He’d actually been getting much better at becoming very round, supple, and coming from behind – but then we had our little temper tantrum and I haven’t pushed the issue much – he’s going forward and I’ve left it at that, for now!

what a little stud muffin...

all smiles! he had fun in the outdoor.