And I’m back! I wish I could say that my night off of blogging was super relaxing but it was actually jam-packed with subbing a BodyPump class, grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning. We didn’t sit down to eat dinner until 9:30! The good news is that Wednesday is “no AM workout day” so I did manage to get eight beautiful hours of sleep so it was a win.
After I finally drug myself out of bed at 7:40 a.m. and made it to work I had breakfast at my desk. Starting with…
A homemade Awake Tea Soy Latte. This has been my favorite thing to order at Starbucks the past few months but coming in at $4.50 per drink it is certainly NOT budget friendly. Since I’ve been drinking one almost daily since my coffee hiatus (which is pretty pointless because I discovered that Awake tea packs quite a caffeine punch), I decided to take things into my own hands and make my own. I bought a box of 20 teabags and some vanilla soymilk for a whopping $6. This morning I used one teabag and about a quarter cup of vanilla soy + hot water in the mug. Much, much cheaper than a Starbucks run and still very tasty!
Oatmeal with apples, blueberries, cinnamon, soy milk, chia seeds, raisins, pinch salt and topped with almond butter and Crofter’s.
I was really busy at work today so there was no time to go home. I needed to get a few things at Trader Joe’s and there is one close to my office so I took a quick trip and grabbed lunch while I was there.
Salad with romaine, grape tomatoes, gorgonzola, walnuts, purple cabbage and balsamic. I added a kiwi on top. This was really good except for the fact that I much prefer baby greens over romaine.
I picked up a Fage Greek yogurt while I was at TJs for my afternoon snack.
This was my first time trying the Cherry Pomegranate flavor and it was delicious!
I came home after work with plans to take a rest day but Sullie was looking so pitiful and cute wanting to go out and enjoy the sunlight and nice weather. I compromised with an easy run/walk. Ran a little over two miles and walked another. Sullie was a happy girl! (And I realized that I am seriously losing my running fitness.)
Next on the agenda was baking! Tonight has been a whirlwind of baking projects. It felt so good to get the KitchenAid back in action. It has been far too long.
I made two batches of Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars and one batch of Orange Cranberry White Chocolate Biscotti. The reason that I made two batches of the PB Bars is that I forgot two of the eggs in the first batch (I was doubling the recipe). I realized it after they had been in the oven for 5 minutes and it was too late to add them in. That batch actually ended up turning out pretty good just with a gooier center. I predict that my co-workers will love taking care of the “fail” version for me tomorrow. Where was my head!?
This resulted in me completely failing to maintain the “no dessert” portion of my clean eating challenge…oops. Tomorrow is another day. I mean, how can you bake and not taste test? 😉
I had leftovers for dinner. Earlier this week I asked on the Peanut Butter Runner Facebook page for vegetarian dinner ideas. Reader LeeAnn suggested Tamale Pie. She posted the recipe on the Facebook page so check it out!
A cornmeal crust on bottom and top with a mixture of black beans, tomatoes, corn and much more in the center. It was a good dinner and the leftovers were even better tonight.
Off to take the last batch of Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars out of then oven and then off to bed. I hope everyone is having a good week so far. It is flying by for me!
Now that I’m settled in my new place, I can’t wait to start baking again!
And I’m definitely with you on the salad; I love a good spring mix. 🙂
Peanut butter chocolate chip bars?! They sound AMAZING!! Your co-workers are lucky people! 😉
I’m gonna go check out your recipe RIGHT NOW!! 😀
I am one of the LUCKY co-workers who got to try the famous bars today – they were de-licious and I can seriously say VERY popular at the office! I think Jen had to duck and cover after she put them out in the company kitchen! 2 eggs lacking or not, they were awesome. Those who won the batches are so lucky!
Aw, thanks guys! The two egg version of the bars was surprisingly delicious! I’ll have to remember that mistake in the future when I make them.
And I need to bring more treats to work! Co-workers were extremely appreciative of the treats and it was much better than having it all at home tempting me! 🙂
I had to laugh at your forgetting to add 2 eggs; I have been distracted before and have forgotten to add up to 1.5 cups of flour to a recipe. Yummy, CRISPY cookies! I also frequently look for my cell phone while I’m talking on it…I’d like to blame it on “Mommy Brain”, but I did these before pregnancy and mommyhood, too 😉
Are you noticing a big difference with your clean eating challenge?
I have been so scatterbrained lately. I think it’s due to just having so much going on! It’s crazy!
I can’t say that the clean eating has been “life changing” but I wasn’t expecting it to be. I have noticed that I’ve been sleeping better at night without wine and sugar in my system and it’s been nice to break that “I have to have something sweet” mentality after each meal.
I’ll try to go in more detail about it on Sunday or Monday when I wrap it up.
That does seem like such a great and easy dinner!
I had an iced chai latte this morning and while it was the most delicious drink I’ve ever had from starbuck’s, it was nearly $4 and gone in moments. Thanks for the idea, I’m going to make my own now!!!
Do you have a Trader Joe’s nearby? If so, they have awesome Chai mix and I bet it would make an awesome iced latte!
I love the Fage yogurts that have the mix-ins! I think they are better than Chobani yogurts!
What a great idea to make your own Awake Tea Latte! I buy my coffee only about once a week from a coffee shop and then usually order something inexpensive such as an Americano.
I much prefer the texture of Fage over Chobani. It’s my favorite!