Gimme nutrients

Today was busy, but productive at work. Blah! When I finally made it home, I wanted to focus on getting nutrients into my body, asap.

Dinner

Lentil soup and some I-Can't-Believe-It's-Not-Butter-y whole grain bread. Relatively healthy, but lacking in color.


A little later, I decided to attempt being trendy by incorporating canned pumpkin into my go-to 'green monster' spinach smoothie combination. This "pumpkin monster" variation has been gaining popularity all over the foodie blogosphere, and it sounded tasty enough for me to give it a go.


In the mix:
Three large handfuls of spinach
1 cup vanilla soy milk
1 frozen banana, cut into pieces for ease of blending

One combined, I added:
2 tablespoons chia seeds
1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
A few generous shakes of pumpkin pie spice

Whirred together, this made a thick and delicious smoothie, with plenty of great pumpkin pie flavor. And check out that neon green color!


Tomorrow morning, I am hitting up the 6AM class at Milwaukee Bikram Yoga. Cheers!


Question of the Day - Have you tried a 'pumpkin monster' yet? What is your favorite combo of ingredients for 'green monster' smoothies?

Do you know where your blender is tonight?

It just occurred to me that I have no idea where my blender ended up after our recent move :-(

This saddens me greatly. As of late, I've been craving a delicious green monster (spinach smoothie). Argh, guess I will have to try making one in my food processor.

One of Zak's Christmas presents is also M.I.A. due to the move. It was in a Target bag in the basement, and is likely buried under stacked boxes in our storage area. Hope that I find it soon, otherwise he will be without the present.

I digress... tonight's lame-o dinner included some Health Valley split pea soup (vegetarian) and a toasted sandwich with hummus and havarti .

This soup has tons of fiber and protein per serving, and is low in fat but also lacks any flavor whatsoever. Yech. I doctored it up with some Cholula hot sauce (not pictured), salt and pepper.

The hummus and havarti sandwich was wonderful in texture, but uber bland in taste.

I added some spinach for freshness and crunch, and dipped the folded sammie into the soup to get in on the Cholula action.

Tonight was a productive evening in the kitchen. I made a huge batch of homemade hummus, this time adding 1/4 cup of leftover caramelized onions in addition to my standard couple cloves of garlic and 1/3 cup of green olives. I always say that the flavors need to meld overnight before the hummus reaches ass-kicking flavor levels, however I am trying some out right now and have to say... wow. Caramelized onions are a must from now on.

I also baked a bit, I made the Chocolate Peppermint Bark cookies that have been huge in the blogosphere. I subbed in whole wheat pastry flour for over half of the white flour (because I ran out), we'll see how they go over tomorrow and Wednesday.

I've been on a kick for Peppermint Bark, last night I tried out Meghann's recipe and tonight I attempted to cut it into pieces. Let's just say that crushed peppermint discs are sharp! I managed to break it into cute little portions.

Now, I am going to wrap some gifts and enjoy the guilty pleasure that is Golden Girls... for the next hour. Gawd, I love having cable. G'night!

Monday already?

Happy Monday to all... hope that everyone had a great weekend. I am looking forward to this week, I've got lots planned! 

- Monday: Hanging out with Kathie (Zak's mom) and Hannah (Zak's bro's girlfriend)

Not sure what our plans will be, maybe a late dinner?

- Tuesday: Attending the Milwaukee premiere of Public Enemies, the new Johnny Depp movie about John Dillinger (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

- Thursday: No Doubt concert at Summerfest!

- Friday / Saturday / Sunday: Summerfest, hanging out with some of my sister's friends in town from St. Louis, street festival my work is doing with Pabst Blue Ribbon (STOKED!), packing for next week's vacation in Boston, Zak comes home!

This morning, Tina from Carrots 'N' Cake wrote about Monday mini goals, which are small weekly goals that you set for yourself at the beginning of the week, thinking about all that you have planned. 

My Monday mini goal is to plan out my indulgences; this week in Milwaukee we have a huge music festival called Summerfest that runs until Sunday. I am planning to go at least twice and will need to save some calories for the great champagne (classier than beer eh?), sampler platter of appetizers and other yummy treats that are available only this one week per year. This will mean making sure to get my veggies in early each day, a la Green Monster - and eating lighter before heading to the festival grounds. Next week, my mini goal will have to do with my vacation in Boston!

On Saturday, I had a great time at Riverfront Pizzeria with my first experience taking photos of everything, food blogger style! I will be posting the full review and photos early this week. Here's a preview of the eats:

Thanks for reading, have a great day!