Breakfast: I made a batch of my homemade protein bar squares (cross between a protein bar and an oatmeal cookie) in the middle of the night when I woke up and could not make myself go back to sleep. When the sun came up I smeared one with some almond butter and took it on a quick walk around the block.
When I got back I pulled one of my make ahead smoothie bags out of the freezer. This is a huge time saver. Instead of having to pull all the ingredients, tubs of protein, cut up fruit, etc. all you have to do is dump the contents of the snack sized baggie in the blender, add milk and voila.
Be sure to label them or you may forget what's inside or you'll have to play guess the mystery shake. Today's was an Iced Coffee Banana Mocha-chino made with Chike High Protein Iced Coffee.
Lunch: I believe I am officially warming up to quinoa. It took me awhile but I have a few recipes now I really enjoy. I love this latest recipe because I always seem to have 1 leftover cup of quinoa when I make my favorite Quinoa Patties that sometimes goes a-begging. This is the perfect use for it.
These would be great for brunch with a fruit salad or Yogurt Bar. They have a breakfast vibe with eggs, cheese, ham. They would also be perfect to make on Sunday to make mid-week breakfasts easier. They heat up great, a few minutes in the toaster oven and they were just as tasty as the first day. I had them for lunch with a sliced tomato (sprinkle of oregano, salt and pepper)
Shelly's Ham and Cheese Quinoa Breakfast Bites
1 cup Cooked Quinoa (I prefer Red)
5 Eggs, beaten
2-3 Green Onions, diced
1/4 lb (about 4 slices) Low Sodium Ham, diced fine
1/4 cup Shredded Cheese (any you love)
2 Tablespoons Parmesan Cheese
1 Tablespoon Chives
1 teaspoon Oregano
1/4 teaspoon Salt
a few twists of Black Pepper
Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients together. Spoon into lightly greased (Pam non-stick spray works great for this) mini muffin tins.
More Eggface Egg Bites (aka crustless quiches)
Dinner: I was gifted a sample of Progresso's new line of chili. You can find the chili in the soup aisle but it's not in a can, look for a pouch (with a clear bottom so you can spy on all the ingredients.) They have 2 flavors: Smokehouse Pork and Beef Chili with Beans: andouille sausage, beef, tomatoes, onions, green peppers, pinto and red kidney beans with a little spice kick (nothing to hot but hot enough you know you are eating chili) and Southwest Style White Chicken Chili with Beans: white meat chicken, white beans, green peppers, tomatillos and onions. I haven't tried my sample of that one yet. If you are looking for a quick and easy dinner grab one of these chili pouches when you spot them in your supermarket.
How's this for quick... I whizzed up some cauliflower florets in my mini food processor, dumped the cauliflower "rice" into a pan and sauteed it with a little drizzle of olive oil for about 8 minutes. I emptied the Progresso Chili pouch into a saucepan. It takes 5 1/2 minutes to heat. You can microwave it too.
When the cauliflower was done I put it in one of my vintage Pyrex casserole dishes, made a well in the center and spooned the Progresso Chili in the middle. I topped it with a dollop of Greek yogurt and a sprinkle of chopped green onion. About 10 minutes from nothing to nom nom nomming. Take that Rachael Ray. Who needs 30 minutes?! Not me ;)
A few years ago (long time blog readers will remember) I won a makeover in NYC from Progresso. I love their Split Pea with Bacon and Lentil soups, especially in the first few weeks after surgery, I was so sick of sweet things and those two became staples during the pureed and soft food stage. I shared that I loved those soups and a picture of myself in one leg of my pre-op pants and with a lot of votes from you guys I won. It was a blast. I took my Mum. Awesome memory.
Snacks: Too much coffee and a handful of raspberries.
More Days in my Pouch
Other places to find me...
Eggface on Twitter - I tweet A LOT. Articles, tips, resources, deals I hear about. I tweet about events. I take part in several health-related tweet chats a week.
Eggface on Pinterest - Some of my favorite recipes from the blog. Beware Pinterest is a time sucking vortex. You can lose many hours over there looking at the pretty pictures.
Eggface on Facebook - Blog announcements and other random stuff.
P.S. I have something fun coming up on the blog. You might want to be sure to stop by sometime on Sunday.