I forgot to mention yesterday, but WOW! You guys eat early! Maybe I should do a New Year’s Resolution to start eating earlier?
Ooh and I had fun reading about your eating styles! Glad to see I’m not the only one who gets skittish when it comes to ordering meat at a restaurant. Unless the restaurant states they source quality meats, I assume it’s factory. Ew.
On to today’s eats…
I had a hard time thinking of something interesting to eat today, but finally came up with a simple yet savvy concoction.
Of course, breakfast wouldn’t be complete without lovely, hot, comforting coffee in a Christmas mug. I love the shape of this mug!
I ended up making french toast with Great Harvest Whole Grain Goodness.
I made a quick apple-maple topping.
Quick Apple Topping Non-Recipe: add 1 small-chopped apple (remove skins if you want, but they have a lot of nutrition), 1/4 cup water, 2 – 4 tbsp maple syrup (depending on how sweet you want), and 1/4 tsp cinnamon. Cook over medium heat to a boil, then simmer till apples are tender and sauce is reduced to your liking. Serve over french toast, pancakes, etc.
Hubby and I had leftover baked ziti and homemade focaccia for lunch.
Mmm…re-baked focaccia. 
I had a simple salad for some veg – organic baby spinach with red quinoa and balsamic vinaigrette. I’ve put grains, like wheat berries, in salad before, but I first saw quinoa in salads at Foodbuzz at the Fresh Express tasting table.
And I had some steamed edamame a little later.
Lookie what I got! The new ZLife, whic is the Zumba magazine.
Speaking of Zumba, I taught a fabulous class tonight. I busted out a new song I choreographed, called Mira. 
Once upon a time, I went with some friends to a cool club in Miami called “Mango’s Mambo Bar.”
There, I saw girls in skimpy outfits dancing to hot Latin tunes, from Merengue to Reggaetton. The girls were hot, but to me…the dances were hotter! I used inspiration from that trip to choreograph my new Zumba dance – Mira by Fulanito (featuring Truko). My class loved it, and I had fun teaching it! Woohoo!
I’m still working on my crochet ripple blanket, but I have a few other things in the works.
Any guesses what this is?
Fitness Therapy
I tweeted this earlier today:
I feel like workouts can be so therapeutic. I like getting different therapeutic value from different styles of exercise. I’ve found comfort and a feeling of refreshment from yoga. I’ve found freedom and endurance in running. I’ve found empowerment and excitement in Zumba. I wonder what other people think about how their workouts make them feel. I had a few people tweet back at me with their versions of therapy, but I’d like to hear from you guys, too…
What’s your fitness therapy? How does it make you feel during or after?
I whipped up a batch of quinoa today in hopes of eating it over the next couple days. I already used it twice today!
First, I made a quinoa-egg-scramble.
Non-Recipe: I basically did a sloppy scramble (click for info) on 2 local, cage-free eggs (1 for me, 1 for hubby) and added some cooked organic, red quinoa (an estimated amount for 2 people) at the end of cooking. I also mixed in salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano and fresh parsley, plus a wee bit of EVOO.
It was really so simple and very tasty! It reminded me of a messier version of my quinoa egg bowl.
The quinoa-egg-scramble went well with some more of that quick cinnamon streusel coffeecake.
Even though I was home, I was really busy with work today. I didn’t get much of a lunch break, so I threw some quick things together – a TJ’s frozen corn dog, frozen organic peas, and a quick hot quinoa salad.
This is why I love quinoa – it’s so versatile! With a tweak of the mixins and seasonings, quinoa can take on a whole new form. For my quinoa salad, I mixed in salt, pepper, fresh parsley, EVOO and lemon juice. Not much different from breakfast, but totally new flavor profile thanks to the lemon!
After lunch, I was back hard at work. Phew! Then, it was time for Mexican out and then to a friend’s place to look at furniture.
I had a couple people tell me on Facebook (click to view) that they are DONE with Christmas shopping already. Whoa! How is your holiday shopping coming?
I wish I could have spent all day today baking and cooking like I did yesterday. The bad news was that I had to work today. The good news was that I have a short work week thanks to Thanksgiving! Hooray!
For breakfast, I made a pared down version of my quinoa breakfast bowl by just dressing some quinoa with olive oil, salt, pepper, and cumin. I fried a local egg up and topped the quinoa with it. You guys have to try fried eggs with quinoa (that is, if you eat eggs, of course). The flavors go really nicely together.
I really wanted to eat some of my chai-granola, which I made yesterday…
….but it will have to wait.
I can’t wait to dig into this stuff. Hubby has already picked up yogurt so I can enjoy my granola later this week. Squeeee!
Did you celebrate Starbucks Monday? I got a gingerbread latte. Nice and spicy!
And lookie what I have…
…Zookies! That’s right. My friend Erica went to Roanoke this past weekend and picked up some more Zookies for me from the Healthy Cake Man that we visited last time. What a doll! She knows I loved these things!
I got to thank Erica when I went to Zumba tonight!! There’s nothing better than kicking off the work week with a fun and energizing workout.
But, since she’s reading, I’ll say it again…thank you Erica!!
(Here’s the photo I sent Erica via email this morning along with something about Zookies being part of a complete breakfast. What? They’re made with zucchini!! 
)
And in case you’re wondering, yes…I ate all the Zookies. I had some with breakfast, some for a snack and some for a pre-workout snack. I may have a wee piece in my purse, but that will probably not last long tomorrow. Mmm.
Post workout, hubby and I split 2 pieces of pizza – cheese and veggie, so we basically each got one slice.
I steamed up some organic cabbage and baby carrots till crisp tender to get my veggie fix. I just drizzled them with a wee bit of real, melted butter, and sprinkled them with salt and pepper.
And even though I took my butterscotch dough balls (have you tried this flavor yet?? omg…they’re so good!) to work today, there were two left by the end of the day – just enough for hubby and I to each have one.
So far, so good. Only 2 more days in my work week and than it’s holiday time!
***
Since I’ve had three people ask for my chocolate chip dough ball fail recipe, I decided to just go ahead and post it. In truth…though they were not what I was going for, they were really, really tasty. Thin, chewy, sweet. They were awesome cookies.
Thin + Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
ingredients:
- 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 stick butter, softened, but not melted
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup semi-sweet morsels
Directions:
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, beat butter and sugar till light and creamy. Mix in egg and vanilla.
- In a large bowl, whisk together both flours, salt, baking soda.
- Mix wet mixture into dry mixture, careful to not overmix.
- Gently stir in semi-sweet morsels, without overmixing.
- Use a sorbet (or smaller than normal ice cream scoop) to evenly measure mounds of cookie dough on a sheet of parchment, spaced about 3-4 inches apart measuring from the edge of the mound, not the center (they spread a lot).
- Bake cookies for 10-14 minutes, depending on how crunchy you want them.
***
PS I’m hoping to post those Alcatraz photos tomorrow! I’ve worked really hard on them, so I can’t wait to share!
***
Have you started your Thanksgiving prep yet? If yes, what are you doing?
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel like I eat the same thing over and over again. I mean, how many times can I eat a fried egg and toast, right? So, it’s nice to have some very-different things to try…like my latest and greatest…
…a quinoa breakfast bowl.
You’ll need cooked quinoa (it only takes about 20 minutes to make, so you could theoretically do it in the morning, but leftovers would work, too).
You’ll need kale. I mean…wouldn’t it be great to eat some veg first thing?
I could have cut it, but I decided to save a knife-clean up and just tear it.
I made a quick tahini sauce using some pantry ingredients.
The sauce was no-cook…just whisk together.
After a quick layering of ingredients, you have a beautiful, Southwest quinoa breakfast bowl to enjoy. Between the quinoa, beans and egg, this should be a very filling and protein-rich breakfast.
I have lots of ideas for some great variations, but feel free to tweak as you like.
Southwest Quinoa Breakfast Bowl
Inspired by the quinoa bowls at Cafe Gratitude
Note: This is more of a non-recipe than a recipe since you can use portions of your preference. Below are guidelines for what I used to make a single serving bowl.
Bowl Ingredients:
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup cooked quinoa, re-warmed if needed
- 3 leaves of tuscan kale, rinsed and torn into strips
- 1/4 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1/4 tsp each cumin, paprika, chili powder
- dash cayenne pepper
- salt, pepper to taste
- Tahini Sauce (see recipe below)
Directions:
- Fry your egg, seasoning each side with salt and pepper to taste (a light sprinkling)
- Meanwhile, steam your kale for 2-3 minutes
- Meanwhile also, mix your quinoa with about 1 tbsp of sauce.
- And you’ll also want to mix your black beans with the cumin, paprika, chili powder, cayenne pepper, along with some salt and pepper and warm through either via the microwave or stovetop.
- Layer cooked kale in the bottom of a bowl. Top with the quinoa mixture. Top with the black bean mixture. Top with a fried egg. Drizzle additional sauce on top.
- Enjoy!
Quick Southwest Tahini Sauce
Sauce Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp tahini
- 1/2 – 1 tbsp water, depending on how thick you like the sauce
- juice of half a lime (or you can sub a splash of red wine vinegar, about 1/2 tsp)
- dash cumin, paprika, chili powder (use more or less depending on how strong you want the flavor)
- dash cayenne pepper (use more or less depending on how spicy you want the flavor)
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- Combine ingredients in a small bowl.
- Whisk together.
Enjoy!
I have a sweet quinoa breakfast bowl in the works, too!
