Breakfast burrito

After my day of lite eating from 7-11, I was hungry for a hearty breakfast this morning.

Breakfast burrito.

I combined some leftover cooked quinoa with some of my favorite salsa.

And if you are curious about which salsa is my favorite, here it is.

This salsa pretty much tastes like I combined all the ingredients fresh and poured them into this jar. It is very yummy.

Then I scrambled some eggs over low heat. I like my eggs well flavored so I added some paprika, basil, pepper and salt. 

And a generous sprinkling of cheese.

All wrapped up.

And since I was up way too late last night, I had a big mug of very strong tea.

The good news of the morning is that I think I have figured out most of the ins and outs of my new computer so I will be able to 'cut the cord' and venture out of the house today :-)

Honey in a comb

I have had this locally made honey sitting in the cupboard for a while. 

It is still in the wax honeycomb. I love eating honey that is still in the wax. You get all the great sweetness of the honey along with the chewy wax. The wax ends up being like a piece of honey flavored gum that you chew until you squeeze every drop of flavor out of it.

My favorite way to eat it is smeared across a lightly buttered piece of toast.

Toast with honey, chopped apple and pineapple.

This apple was so pretty - It was a shame to cut it up((

But it also looked really delicious so I only hesitated for a moment.

I also had a big mug of tea.

This is the last day I have to clean before the workmen arrive at my door tomorrow morning - Yikes((

I was stuck staying off my feet because all the walking on graduation day aggravated my bum foot (( But it was well worth it :-)

Happy Memorial Day!

Protein and laver

Today I woke up craving protein and minerals. I did not want carbs at all.

For the protein, I scrambled 1 whole egg with 4 egg whites with 1 Tbsp. of nutritional yeast.

Topped with a sprinkle of sweet paprika.

And since I had leftover miso soup in the fridge, I put some on the stove to warm up. 

I usually eat this breakfast with brown rice but since this morning's breakfast was going to be carb free I just added extra egg whites (4 instead of 2) when I scrambled the eggs.

Scrambled eggs, laver, miso soup and strong tea.

The laver (seasoned strips of nori in this case) did the job in satisfying my mineral craving. 


And since I am too lazy to insert a hyper link into the post today - here is a series of photos to show you how I eat this:

After I dip the nori in the miso soup, I lay the softened strip over the eggs.

I use chopsticks to pinch the ends of the nori together, scooping up a bit of the eggs.

Happy Sunday everyone!

5 layer morning.

After lunch yesterday, my sister and I went for a leisurely shopping trip to Whole Foods. 

As per usual I ended up bringing home way too much stuff.


For breakfast this morning I layered together several of the items I picked up at WF's.

5 layer breakfast bowl.

 First, I lined a bowl with seasoned rice.

Then a generous layer of vegan espresso black bean chili. I need to pause a moment on this chili. It was sublime. I had a hard time believing it was vegan. It was dark and rich and while you couldn't quite taste the coffee - it did add a depth of flavor that was very impressive.

On a breakfast note - although the taste of the coffee was very subtle - the aroma of coffee was pronounced - making it perfect breakfast food IMO.

Then a layer of guacamole, a layer of salsa, a dollop of Tofutti sour cream and a sprinkle of scallions (I didn't count the scallions as a layer since they are a garnish).

Heaven in a bowl.

And I had a mug of strong tea and an apple.

I do love the Honeycrisp apples.

Oh, and I did pick up my liquid version of crack:

This is not my favorite brand of tea but it does run a close second. It does brew a lovely, super strong mug of tea.

And one of the interesting things I picked up at the store which I will have to figure out a use for:

I love finding locally made products.


Happy Tuesday everyone!

I blame the wedding

This morning's breakfast had a crispy theme.

Herbed scrambled egg whites, crispy spinach and crispy sweet potatoes.

I chopped up sweet potato and threw that along with a handful of frozen spinach into the steamer for about 6 minutes.

Then the partially cooked potatoes and the steamed spinach went into a saute pan on medium high heat until crispy and brown.


The potatoes turned out very pretty - 

And because y'all deserve a giggle on this Friday morning - 

Yup, I burnt some of them to a crisp.

They were in the pan when Kate Middleton's older sister started walking into the church. OMG~! that dress was gorgeous!


So, that is why the potatoes burned. I blame the royal wedding.


The spinach turned out nice and crispy - 

This morning I managed to cook the eggs perfectly. They turned out light, airy and dare I say it, ethereal.

But check out the color - 

Herbed scrambled egg whites with paprika, basil, parsley tumeric (unfortunately), salt and pepper.

They turned out a Snookie-like orange :-(

How did that happen? 

I was about to add in the spices to the egg whites when the first shots of Kate Middleton's wedding dress came on the TV. When I got back to the stove I reached for the tumeric instead of the paprika.

So, that is why my scrambled eggs are orange. Again, I blame the royal wedding.


Oh, and just so you know - tumeric is not the best spice to add to scrambled egg whites...

I also had a big mug of tea. And I will give you one more laugh before I go.


While I was taking the wide shot of my breakfast - 

This happened -

The next moment I was yelling, "No, no, no!!" Connor immediately backed off - but not before managing to lick two of the potatoes.

Ewwwwwwwwww!


But I can't blame the royal wedding for that one. It was my fault that I put the plate too close to the edge of the table.  But, of course, I had no idea that crispy sweet potatoes would be irresistible to Connor.

Yes, the dogs did get one piece of crispy sweet potato (previously licked by Connor) each.

Woot! It is Friday:-)
 

Bracing myself for the day

I don't dread going to the geek/nerd store. In fact, I really enjoy it and I usually end up wasting tons of time staring longingly at Xbox 360 games and the latest horror movie DVD's.

But, even though I enjoy it, I still always leave the store feeling like I have run the gauntlet or survived some kind of fraternity hazing ritual.

Knowing I would need a hardy breakfast to brace myself for the day, I broke out two items I picked up at the store the other day.

Herbed egg whites:

Scrambled egg whites with paprika, basil, a pinch of salt and black pepper to taste.

I was inattentive with the eggs this morning. I was cutting up my orange when I should have been hovering at the stove waiting for the perfect time to take the eggs off the heat.

Instead of being light and fluffy - it ended up more like a cut up crepe. Oh, well, it still tasted great :-)

I poured some of the kefir into a small bowl and topped with muesli and blueberries.

I used a spoon and ate it like soup - very yummy!

And I had a side of orange slices:

I am really enjoying the low acidity of the Cara Cara oranges.

Gah, I always forget to include the drink. I enjoyed all of the above along with a mug of strong tea.

Happy Thursday everyone!

Chicken salad with coconut and apples

I have been craving a chicken salad sandwich lately.

This morning I was thinking about it and realized all of the recipes I could think of were too high in fat and/or had dairy which does not fit into my current eating plan.

Since I didn't feel like cereal or other traditional breakfast fare I made the chicken salad sandwich for breakfast.

I started by simmering cubed pieces of chicken breast in a bath of lite coconut milk, soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, powdered garlic and some chopped fresh cilantro.


No amounts provided because this is a recipe in progress and this is just the first attempt.


I let the chicken simmer until it was cooked through and then I chopped it into small pieces.

And 1/2 of an apple.

All mixed together.

Then I toasted up a couple of the sandwich thins and piled the chicken mixture on top. 


I was going to eat this like a regular sandwich but I ended up with more filling than expected so it became two open faced sandwiches.

There was still some braising/stewing liquid in the saute pan so I whisked it smooth and spooned it over the filling.

I wish the sauce had turned out a lighter color - more like a traditional chicken salad sauce but it still tasted great.


And I also had a non-traditional breakfast drink - I made hot tea and then later added some lemonade.

I am off to (hopefully) have a very non-traditional day!

Green eggs on toast

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

And no, I am not wearing green.


I did have a green breakfast.

It started with toast with a slathering of basil pesto.

 Then I scrambled one whole egg and one egg white with a handful of spinach.

Topped with a dusting of Parmesan.

Strong tea.

On the docket for today? Laundry, laundry and more laundry.


I am contemplating starting a new workout routine that would include hitting the gym everyday.

I love making new routines - whether I will actually stick to them is a whole other story...

Waste not want not and peanut butter muesli

I solved the mystery of me being thirsty in the morning.

Use common sense and refrain from drinking a huge mug of tea just before bed.

That plus having a snack of some kind of water heavy fruit such as cantaloupe or watermelon.

I had the last bits of a jar of peanut butter left and I didn't want it to go to waste.

I guess most people would call this overnight oats - but mine did not sit overnight in the fridge.

I noticed the jar this morning so I added in some muesli and some milk and ta da! - Morning peanut butter muesli.

Oh, and tea, of course.

And I had a side dish of some very vibrant and crunchy watermelon.

I have a full day of cooking planned. Some for me and some for the dogs :-)

Happy Saturday!