New foods…..

Tonight was a night of new things in the kitchen. With all the food I cooked, you would think I was cooking for an entire family but nope, just me.

First I made spaghetti squash. I’ve never had it before and have wanted to try it as a substitute for real spaghetti.

I love that my squash had a name on it–Margot hehe (and let’s excuse the chipped nail polish)

 I baked it at 375 degrees for an hour. I was contemplating whether or not to slice it down the middle beforehand. I looked online at the pros and cons and decided to just keep it whole while baking and cut when it was finished.

I scooped out the seeds and then forked out the flesh.

Suffice to say, I will be eating this throughout the wk! I also made a sauce with Morningstar Sausage Style Crumbles, onions, garlic, mushrooms and stewed tomatoes.

Side dish was baby spinach with teardrop tomatoes (which until today, I had never heard of but they were on sale so bring it!)

I put some evoo on the pan and threw in the spinach and let cook for about three minutes. I then threw in the tomatoes and some balsamic vinegar

Dinner is served!

All mixed up…..

 

 Why didn’t I try this before? It was AMAZING! And obviously, way more healthy than spaghetti. I wasn’t the only fan…..

Didn’t stop there! I had a gnocchi recipe sitting in my cabinet for a while. I have only had gnocchi in restaurants and thought it would be fun to make my own. Unfortunately the recipe is on paper but if anyone is interested, please let me know.

Gnocchi in the making……

The final product (I had to try a few to make sure they would be an acceptable meal later this week)

 It was great! I will have to try it a few more times to perfect my technique but thought it turned out well. The biggest pain of it was the mess and waiting for the potatoes to boil.

I also tried the Chobani Champions Honeynaner that I bought earlier today (with some  flax)

Keeper! It was a smaller portion of Chobani so I was a little unfulfilled by it but I imagine it would be great with granola and fruit.

Game plan for the rest of the night?

Love this movie! Every time I watch it, it uplifts my spirits and I am going out tomorrow night to watch the SuperBowl so I need to rest up tonight.

An Oh Em Gee kinda day

So far at least. Today has been wonderful thus far!

The first Oh Em Gee came with breakfast. I made rolled oats on the stove with Silk Soy Milk and smashed banana. When done, I threw in some Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Butter and flax but also decided to try the oats with almond butter since I have read many do that.

OH EM GEE! Why have I not tried this before?? It was a party in my mouth 🙂 I used Trader Joe’s Almond Butter with Flax Seeds (which absolutely looked disgusting when I opened it up with a film of oil on top) and it was great! It is a new product of theirs so I decided to try it and will definitely use it again.

The second OH EM GEE occurred while working out. I am doing the Couch to 5K running program but haven’t been able to run this past week due to rain and snow (I so want a  treadmill!) I went on the Greenway today but no one was there because it was 40 degrees and drizzling out. Perfect weather to me though! The parking lot is usually packed but looked like this:

I ran/walked about 3.5 miles and ran more than I have in the past. I was really proud of myself for pushing myself while old me would have just gave up and walked when it hurt or got tough. I discovered a new trail though that has a steep incline and primarily walked up there but it was nice to see something new. I cannot wait to get my heart rate monitor and be able to see how far I am going for real and how my calories I am burning! OH EM GEE for pushing myself and going further and running longer than I have before!

Post Workout Snack was a Bosc pear

Afterwards, I went to Harris Teeter because they were having an awesome sale this weekend and I wanted to get my savings on. Bring on the third OH EM GEE of the day:

Morningstar Products for $2.99 each!!! I love this brand and they are usually $4.29

I love Morningstar because their products actually taste good, the sodium level is not through the roof and you can use their products in a number of ways (the Crumbles for instance I use in omelets, tacos, spaghetti sauce, etc.)

Cho-Cho-Cho-Cho-CHOBANI! Yes, I say it like 50 Cent when he says G-Unit 🙂 A new product I have never seen–Chobani Champions (flavors are chocolate and honeynana). I don’t know they are trying to appeal to children of the 70’s (which I totally am because I lived 18 days in the 70’s) or kids but it roped me in! I haven’t found anything about it on their website though….hmmm

 I cannot wait to try!

A single serving or three of Edy’s Slow Churned Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream may have fallen into my cart (possibly because they were $.99 each)

Or Blue Bunny Aspen Frozen Yogurt Granola Bar—a new product and again, intrigued! These will have to be a minor indulgence though, they are 150 calories each but 7 grams of Saturated Fat alone, eek!

These good deals worked up my appetite! I decided to make quesadillas for lunch. I used my leftover brown rice, black beans, onion and jalapeño mixture and mixed that with 1/4 cup of Mexican Cheese and spread on half of a burrito size tortilla.

This was the perfect size because it was just enough and didn’t use two tortillas which are 170 calories each.

I had them with Trader Joe’s Reduced Guilt Tortilla Chips and salsa mixed with light peppercorn dressing……

And the final OH EM GEE!

Let’s see what the rest of the day brings 🙂