Happy New Years! For anyone who does happen to read this blog, I hope you had a wonderful time on New Years Eve, I hope you indulged like crazy (what is the holiday season for anyway?) and I hope you're ready for some new yummy food ideas. =)
Some of you may have actually made New Years Resolutions to eat healthier. Well I hear that having a good breakfast is key (though I don't find myself too miserable when I skip it). Still, a nice weekend breakfast with Boyfriend is one of my favorite meals, and this one did not dissapoint. The sunny side up oatmeal is something I've seen on other blogs and also in a back issue of Health Magazine I read while waiting for ANOTHER dentist appointment. So simple: 1/3 cup oats microwaved with 2/3 cup water, seasoned with S+P + Italian Seasoning. Topped with a few chunks of roasted red pepper and topped with a single sunny side up egg (this one looks a little overeasy, but it's just a little overcooked).
Some of you may have actually made New Years Resolutions to eat healthier. Well I hear that having a good breakfast is key (though I don't find myself too miserable when I skip it). Still, a nice weekend breakfast with Boyfriend is one of my favorite meals, and this one did not dissapoint. The sunny side up oatmeal is something I've seen on other blogs and also in a back issue of Health Magazine I read while waiting for ANOTHER dentist appointment. So simple: 1/3 cup oats microwaved with 2/3 cup water, seasoned with S+P + Italian Seasoning. Topped with a few chunks of roasted red pepper and topped with a single sunny side up egg (this one looks a little overeasy, but it's just a little overcooked).
This meal was super easy since Boyfriend was already making himself sunny side up eggs and I just asked him to make 4 instead of 3. I wound up just cutting one of the eggs out of his sunny side up omelet and plopping it on top of my bowl. This was SO GOOD. So savory and warm and gooey and it hit SO many nutritional points: fiber (check), veggies (check), protein (double check), volume (check!). The bowl was approximately 210 calories. If the egg was really nice and sunny-side-up it would have broken and spilled it's yolk, which was the original idea.
Next time, I might spring for a bit of cheese, or maybe some tomato basil instead of the peps.
Next time, I might spring for a bit of cheese, or maybe some tomato basil instead of the peps.
But...not all breakfasts can be leisurely enough to make an egg AND a bowl of oatmeal. Not only that but that bowl requires a sit-down affair. But with these muffins you can get your hit of carbs (check), protein (double check!), fiber (check) and dairy (eehhh...) on the go. This is my second batch this month because they are just.so.handy!
Same ingredients this post from 2 weeks ago:
Ingredients (makes 10 muffins) at 100 calories/muffin
3 eggs (240 cals)
2 servings All Egg Whites (50 cals)
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour, or any flour (260 cals)
2 small chicken sausages, buffalo flavor, chopped (140 cals)
3 servings turkey bacon, chopped (105 cals)
1/2 cup Fage 0% Plain Greek Yogurt (55 cals)
1/2 medium sized sweet onion, chopped
Handful (3 servings?) fire roasted red peppers, chopped
2tsp S+ 1tsp P
1/2 tsp baking powder
Topped with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese
So why go through all this again? The reasons are two-fold. First, please not my pink TJMaxx pan. Pink! Love it.
The second is to show you the ease of the cooking process. Pam up your non-stick pan, throw in the chopped onion, give it a few minutes and add the meat. This can sit for a while, but if you cover it it will cook faster. Place all of that into a bowl, give it 5 minutes to cool and start plopping in the rest. I don't usually both with all that Dry Ingredient, Wet Ingredient stuff because that seems more like One Bowl, Plus Another Bowl to me. Anyway, mix it all together, throw in some roasted red peppers from a jar (or perhaps some roasted tomatoes from a can?) and start loading your Pammed muffin tin (use plastic, it is THE BEST).
Ingredients (makes 10 muffins) at 100 calories/muffin
3 eggs (240 cals)
2 servings All Egg Whites (50 cals)
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour, or any flour (260 cals)
2 small chicken sausages, buffalo flavor, chopped (140 cals)
3 servings turkey bacon, chopped (105 cals)
1/2 cup Fage 0% Plain Greek Yogurt (55 cals)
1/2 medium sized sweet onion, chopped
Handful (3 servings?) fire roasted red peppers, chopped
2tsp S+ 1tsp P
1/2 tsp baking powder
Topped with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese
So why go through all this again? The reasons are two-fold. First, please not my pink TJMaxx pan. Pink! Love it.
The second is to show you the ease of the cooking process. Pam up your non-stick pan, throw in the chopped onion, give it a few minutes and add the meat. This can sit for a while, but if you cover it it will cook faster. Place all of that into a bowl, give it 5 minutes to cool and start plopping in the rest. I don't usually both with all that Dry Ingredient, Wet Ingredient stuff because that seems more like One Bowl, Plus Another Bowl to me. Anyway, mix it all together, throw in some roasted red peppers from a jar (or perhaps some roasted tomatoes from a can?) and start loading your Pammed muffin tin (use plastic, it is THE BEST).
To cook: 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes. Don't worry, they will not rise immediately. They will look like sad little egg pucks for a long time and you will almost give up but out of absolutely nowhere, they'll pop right out and say hello. 5 minutes after THAT, take them out, stick a toothpick in and make sure it comes out clean then sprinkle on a little parm cheese. These were sprinkled with bigger parm pieces so they didn't come out with the pretty spikes but just look a bit gooey.
This batch did not get devoured as quickly but went at a reasonable pace. Since there are only 2 of us, I froze these for future breakfasts. They froze and defrosted wonderfully. 45 seconds in a microwave and a perfectly delicious little 100 calorie protein bomb was all mine. =) Haha, yeah right, I didn't just eat 1 =)
This batch did not get devoured as quickly but went at a reasonable pace. Since there are only 2 of us, I froze these for future breakfasts. They froze and defrosted wonderfully. 45 seconds in a microwave and a perfectly delicious little 100 calorie protein bomb was all mine. =) Haha, yeah right, I didn't just eat 1 =)
Now, on to things that don't involve me experimenting in the kitchen. It was Boyfriend's big 3-0 birthday this past weekend and he was on call. Major bummer! That meant waking up at the pitiful hour of 5am and coming home at 9pm! I dutifully waited until he fell asleep and stayed up to make him blueberry pancakes, which I placed right on his desk in the morning along with a little cup of maple syrup and a little spoonful of butter (well I Can't Believe It's Not Butter). He was pleased. But not as pleased when I brought him lunch from his favorite burger joint and threw him a mini surprise party where I ordered in something from every one of his favorite take out restaurants (featured: potato-gorganzola pizza, pad thai, alaska sushi rolls, enchilladas, buffalo wings and waffle fries). His mother also brought him some of his favorite desserts: tiramisu and carrot cake.
Here's what I was thinking: since dinner is generally homemade that's not much of a treat. But if I ordered in his favorite foods, THAT would be special. BUT, who is having a slice of pizza, a dish of pad thai, an enchillada, a sushi roll and a bunch of wings in addition to 2 slices of cake? So, I cut all the stuff into bite sized pieces (thankfully, the sushi and the wings came that way!) and served it tapas style so that everyone could try a bit of everything! =) Big hit. If you are thinking of throwing someone a party, this is a really great (and not too expensive, really) way to do it. I saved a lot on costs by picking all these things up from the take-out places instead of having them delivered and having to pay tip. Not too shabby. Plus, it certainly made cleanup very easy.
Here's what I was thinking: since dinner is generally homemade that's not much of a treat. But if I ordered in his favorite foods, THAT would be special. BUT, who is having a slice of pizza, a dish of pad thai, an enchillada, a sushi roll and a bunch of wings in addition to 2 slices of cake? So, I cut all the stuff into bite sized pieces (thankfully, the sushi and the wings came that way!) and served it tapas style so that everyone could try a bit of everything! =) Big hit. If you are thinking of throwing someone a party, this is a really great (and not too expensive, really) way to do it. I saved a lot on costs by picking all these things up from the take-out places instead of having them delivered and having to pay tip. Not too shabby. Plus, it certainly made cleanup very easy.
And finally, because it's not all about breakfast, a recap of a fabulous dinner party hosted by our newly-married friends, the rocket scientist and the nurse. We brought over grilled veggies with bean dip and crudite (left) which we enjoyed with a round of wheat and dark beers (Boyfriend and I split two bottles, each getting to taste both kinds). We moved on to the main course of a PERFECTLY cooked/breaded/herbed rack of lamb (shown is my plate of 2 pieces, omitted is the extra piece I took later) and some garlicy potatoes. The highlight of the meal (sorry rocket scientist) was this amazing chocolate caramel lava boozy cake made by the nurse. Not shown is the 1/4 of a piece I stole from Boyfriend's SECOND portion! The dip was unbelievable. Such an amazing dinner.
In exercise news: the gym really cleared out big time for the holidays = good. So I decided to put in a LOT of extra time there and managed to stave off the holiday bulge. Or rather, I gained it, but then worked my butt off to lose it! I will also be starting a new hot yoga studio soon. I've gone to this one before, there are a lot of inversions, of which I am not a fan.
In the meanwhile, I hope everyone is having a great start to their new year and getting all healthy and resolutionized =)
xoxo
Jules
In exercise news: the gym really cleared out big time for the holidays = good. So I decided to put in a LOT of extra time there and managed to stave off the holiday bulge. Or rather, I gained it, but then worked my butt off to lose it! I will also be starting a new hot yoga studio soon. I've gone to this one before, there are a lot of inversions, of which I am not a fan.
In the meanwhile, I hope everyone is having a great start to their new year and getting all healthy and resolutionized =)
xoxo
Jules
RSS Feed
