"People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be."

BREAKFAST

Another oatmeal pancake has made its way into my week, a chocolate pancake at that. Yum. I am slightly obsessed. 

Pancake:  

1/3 cup oats

1/2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa 

1/4-1/3 cup egg whites, the kind from the carton

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Cinnamon to taste

Topping:

1/4 cup vanilla yogurt, which I will use less of next time...it was smothered

4 whole raw pecans

1/2 banana

Last night I stumbled upon Eat Me Delicious where I have discovered a great selection of decadent baked goods I want to whip together, but I will save myself the suffering and wait until a party occurs to stuff my face make these lovely goods as a treat for everyone to enjoy. Peanut butter squares with milk chocolate and oats, marshmallow crunch brownie bars, and oreo crunch brownies. OH MY! The blog is based on vegetarian cooking and baked goods most of which look delicious. Although I am not vegetarian, I do not eat a lot of meat and enjoy exploring recipes that are vegetarian and vegan.

LUNCH

Again, this is "dinner" as my lunch. 

Italian sausage is delicious, probably because it's not exactly good for you. We don't have this very often at my house and I love it when we do. When I was younger I despised Italian sausage, was I crazy? Italian sausage packs a mass amount of flavor alone. It looks kind of gross cooking though? Oh well!

Simple salad with tbsp. balsamic vinagrette dressing. Only 5 calories! 

1/2 baked sweet potato with 2 tbsp. Chi Chi's salsa.

And of course, Italian sausage.

This evening I will be tackling my disaster of a room. Boy have I been a bit lazy these past couple of weeks or what! I blame it on this Pennsylvania weather. The highs for this week are in the low-mid twenties with snow every day. Is it Spring yet? Better yet, is it summer?

VEGAN COOKIES

Alright, so I didn't very much done tonight aside from a good ab exercise and cookie baking. I got the recipe from allrecipes.com and within the hour I was baking them. Instead of eggs and butter I used apple sauce and although it gives the cookies a drier and tougher texture than a normal cookie, it's healthier and still tastes great. Next time I will be using more apple sauce though so they aren't as dry. I had two of these, one fresh out of the oven before my workout and one after. Tomorrow's breakfast? Cookies! A note: My mother actually liked these! Considering they weren't made as a normal cookie I was very surprised by this.

1 cup oats

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

3/4 cup apple sauce (preferably unsweetened)

1/2 cup raisins of choice

1/2 cup walnuts or other nut of choice

Makes: 24 small cookies

Preheat oven to 350. Spray baking sheet with vegetable spray.

Mix ingredients in medium bowl. 

Drop rounded teaspoon fulls onto baking sheet. 

Bake for 10-14 minutes.

Allow cookies to cool slightly before removing from pan.

DINNER

Sammie:

Arnold Thin

Morning Star veggie chick'n patty

Lettuce, onion

Sauce:

1 tbsp. fat-free miracle whip

Unknown amount of hot sauce

Chili powder

Red pepper flakes

Side of carrots and celery

"If there is no struggle, there is no progress. "

BREAKFAST

Oatmeal pancakes! Recipe courtesy of Kath Eats Real Food.

How I made my lovely pancake:

1/4 cup Quaker oats

2 egg white

1/4 tsp. baking soda

Vanilla extract

Cinnamon

I topped it with a medium warm apple, 1/4 cup vanilla yogurt, and walnuts. Delicious! Thanks again Kath for providing a new way to eat my oats.

I also had a cup of this Celestial tea. If you haven't tried this flavor yet I suggest doing so. If nothing else, boil this in a pot instead of lighting a candle. Hah.

LUNCH 

Okay, lunch wasn't anything special at all. I just put together the quickest thing I could think of.

Salad:

Romaine lettuce

1/2 cup re-fried beans (Left over)

Tomato, onion, and jalapeno "salsa"

Sprinkled with sharp cheddar cheese 

Dash of chili powder for spice

I also had half of an unphotographed orange a bit later.

DINNER

This was left over from my parents dinner, minus the fries.I haven't had a real hamburger in months! Oh, it was delicious. (This is also on a small plate, it makes everything look huge. I didn't have room for my fries either.)

Hamburger:

Lean ground sirloin burger

Arnold Thin

Lettuce, onion, tomato, pickles

Mustard

Side of white corn

Fries:

1/2 medium sweet potato

Season salt

Vegetable spray

I microwaved the potato for about 1:30 to make it tender ans sliced into strips.

Heated the oven to 450, although I think 400 may do the trick.

Sprayed my baking sheet with vegetable spray.

Arranged fries on baking sheet and sprinkled with season salt and spray a coat of vegetable spray.

Cooked for around 10 minutes.

I've never had baked sweet potato fries and of course will be eating them more often. Yes I do like my fries more on the burnt side, just like my eggs. 

I am still feeling my work out from yesterday and am worried that if I continue tonight I may strain my muscles too much. Being a beginner with exercise I can't be sure if the soreness is alright to work through or if I may injure my muscles. Research will be at hand. I also need to take my measurements tomorrow morning before I forget so that I can track my progress.  

Did I mention that I got my email from Food Buzz last night about becoming a publisher?! Tomorrow I will be filling out my contract and sending it in. Blogging has been a key element in my life the past couple of months and I am determined and excited about giving inspiration to others as well as keeping my self motivated on this journey.If you haven't checked out Food Buzz click my link under my about me. The website has tons of yummy recipes and great foodies.

Alright, see you tomorrow guys! I'm off to find more great recipes to try.

"The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing."

BREAKFAST

1/3 cup Danon Light and Fit vanilla yogurt

1/8 cup walnuts

1 medium banana 

Cinnamon to taste 

Estimated calories: 227

LUNCH

1/2 medium sweet potato roasted with chili powder

Wrap:

1 "8 whole wheat tortilla 

1 tsp brown mustard

Healthy Choice turkey breast

Ground black pepper to taste  

Lettuce, onions

Estimated calories: 227

DINNER

Taco salad:

Lettuce, onion, brocoli, tomato, a smidge of parmesam cheese 

(This was already made up by my Mom when I came home, so I used it.) 

1 Southwest Morning Star veggie burger

5 jalopeno pepper slices

1 tbsp salsa

2 tsp brown mustard for dressing 

Estimated calories: 163

DESSERT

(Not pictured)

1/2 Skinny cow chocolate and peanut butter ice cream sandwich

1/2 medium banana

Estimated calories: 128

OVER-ALL CALORIC INTAKE: 744

I have a few things I need to get rid of soon so my meals seem a little repetitious. Yesterday I bought the Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches and they tasted a bit better today than yesterday for some reason...the taste isn't what you would expect. I prefer my ice cream smooth and creamy, but this was more "icy" to me and didn't have much of an ice cream flavor. The cookie sandwich part is pretty good, but over-all the flavors aren't very strong. Tonight I pared half of the sandwich with half of a banana and I liked it much better and cut down calories. I don't know how I'm going to get rid of all of the sandwiched these next couple of days. I've tried to cut back on my sweets and desert intake, especially before Christmas, but I've come to the conclusion I can't cut it out of my life. Instead, I am eating sweets and such in moderation. Christmas is just about 8 days away, but all of the heavy goodies come to me on Christmas Eve and I have confidence that I will do much better this time around than Thanksgiving. Pierogi is a big part of Christmas Eve and also my favorite food, I'm really looking forward to them considering this is the only time this year I believe I will have eaten them. Also, I am looking forward to tomorrow. A Christmas Carol is showing at The Benedum Theatre in Pittsburgh and I will be going with my boyfriend and his musical theater class at CalU. I hear we're going to some kind of dinner event after, hopefully I will find something yummy.

"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."

BRUNCH

Roasted sweet potatoes:

1/2 medium sweet potato cut in wedges, seasoned with no-salt season and ground black pepper

Wrap:

1 "8 whole wheat tortilla

1/2 slice yellow american cheese

Healthy Choice turkey breast lunch meat

1 lettuce leaf

1/2 tbsp. light miracle whip

1 tall glass cranberry flavored water  

Estimated calories: 236

Originally I was going to make sweet potato fries, but this was a shorter process so I went for it instead. Before I go into work this evening I'll probably have a little bit of yogurt and the other half of my banana from yesterday.

"LUNCH"

1 medium apple

3/4 cup Danon Light and Fit vanilla yogurt with 1/8 cup walnuts

Estimated calories: 266

DINNER 

 

Sandwich:

2 slices Sara Lee whole wheat bread 

Healthy choice turkey lunch meat

Mustard

Horse radish sauce

1 cup steamed broccoli and carrots with seasoning

1 tall glass water 

Estimated calories: 257

"DESSERT"

2 Hershey's special dark mini bars

1 Danish cookie

Estimated calories: 128

OVER-ALL CALORIC INTAKE: 887

Tomorrow I finally get to go Christmas shopping for myself. I plan to buy clothes and only clothes because I actually need them. Since June or July I've lost around 23 pounds and went down 4 pants sizes. I have a few things I can wear, but not very much so it will be nice to finally get some things. I'm not looking forward to the holiday crowds though! After shopping I will be going to Matt's house (my boyfriend) to help decorate their tree, which is especially nice because I didn't get to decorate mine this year. I think I'm getting into the holiday spirit. Oh and tomorrow I'm thinking of possibly having french toast for breakfast, it's been too long! If the bananas are ripe enough I may add those on top. I really have a craving for sweets and comfort food this time of the year.