Making A Comeback

I felt the need to redeem myself for dinner last night after yesterday's epic failure for breakfast.  I was in the mood for protein pancakes but wanted to change it up a little bit.  I chopped an apple, tossed it with a little honey and cinnamon and threw that mixture on the stove to brown a little bit and soften the apples. 

So far so good.  I should have just used that as pancake topping.  Instead I decided to put it in the pancake batter.  Looks harmless enough:

You try flipping that.  It was really just a pile of cooked pancake batter mixed with cinnamon apples.  Still delicious, but not the presentation I was looking for (to present to myself of course). 

After work, I was brainstorming: something veggie...cold...protein...not tofu...a quinoa salad!  It was pretty freaking delish - possibly horn tooting quality. 

While the 3/4 cup of quinoa was cooking, I sauteed some chopped mushrooms, 1/4 yellow onion and some garlic.  Once that was done, I put it in a mixing bowl with 3 diced roma tomatoes, fresh chopped mint (from our plant!), 1/2 diced cucumber, and 1/2 package of TJ's steamed lentils (cold).  I let the quinoa cool a little bit and mixed it into the bowl, along with a little bit of balsamic vinegar.  The idea was to eat it cold (mint...cucumber...refreshing...you get the idea) but it was pretty bangin the way it was at room temp - straight out of the mixing bowl.  I knew I'd get to test the chilled version today for lunch so I went for it.

While all that was going on, I had some kale chips in the oven too.

Even better than last time. I prepped the kale as usual, but this time, I came up with a magical seasoning blend. 

Verdict: my half is gone.  ;-)  I had to save some for Colleen though. 

Have a fantastic Friday!! xo Shaina

I Scored at the Grocery Store!

It’s no secret that I’m a BIG Trader Joe’s fan.  I like Whole Foods too…but I don’t like spending a whole paycheck there, so I tend to save my WF trips for things I need that I can *only* get there.  Yesterday included both and it was a success!  I decided to try a different TJs because the one I normally go to is uber-tiny and just feels really cramped if it’s busy.  My MIL told me about another one on the other side of town and it was amaaaaaazing.  Besides the fact that it was ginormous, they sold me when I saw this:

Normally I can only find goat’s milk yogurt in the single serving size at WF, where its $2.50 a pop.  I saw this big one at TJ’s for $5.29 and did a little happy dance.  Its definitely a different taste, but if you have an obsession with goat cheese like I do – you’ll love it.  Since I’m not a huge fan of cow dairy and I don’t want to eat all soy all the time, I like to rotate my yogurts: greek, soy, goat, etc.  It’s such a good source of protein and an easy snack:

(fruit, yogurt, cinnamon and flax seed)

I like to try new stuff all the time, so I also picked up this new-to-me item for the week:

Verdict:  awesome.

Afterward, I went to WF for the last couple things on my list and saw my favorite flavor of Lara Bars on sale!

Seriously tastes like a PBJ sandwich – no joke.  Swoon.

I haven’t had a major sweet tooth lately, but I decided to get myself a Valentine’s Day chocolate bar and some flowers:

only to come home to a big box of See's chocolates from Patrick!  Overachiever haha.
 
Here’s the muffin recipe I promised you yesterday – they were DELISH!  No sugar, no eggs, no butter – completely amazing.

Blueberry Quinoa Muffins

-1 c cornmeal

-1 cup whole wheat flour (rice flour for GF folks)

-1.5 t baking powder

-1/4 t baking soda

-1/4 t salt

-1 c cooked quinoa

-1/2 c maple syrup (I used half maple syrup, half agave because I ran out of maple)

-1/2 c almond milk

-1/2 c unsweetened applesauce

-1 T lemon juice

-1/4 c canola oil

-1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (canned blueberries will make your muffins grey because the juice runs)

1. Cook quinoa according to directions.

2. Preheat oven to 375⁰ and lightly grease or line muffin pan.

3. In a medium bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  In a separate bowl, whisk together quinoa, syrup, milk, applesauce, lemon juice and oil.

4. Add wet mixture to dry mixture and stir until just combined.  Fold in blueberries. 

5. Spoon batter evenly into muffin cups and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Remove muffins from pan and place on a wire rack to cool.  Yields 12 muffins.

I’m off to a Zumba class, Valentine's lunch date with the Anderson ladies and then a massaaaaage, courtesy of my amazing husband. :-)  xo Shaina