Anyway, truth be told, I also just wasn’t very hungry yesterday. I usually deal with stress by eating a lot. Honestly, one of my biggest eating issues is that I tend to emotionally eat. You guys know this. I’ve talked about it.

In the past couple of days, though, I’ve gone the opposite way. As I’ve dealt with something stressful and difficult (don’t worry, I’ll be fine), I just haven’t had much of an appetite.

That said, I still eat.

No workout yesterday. Still getting over the cold and still waking up in a NyQuil fog.

I started my day off yesterday with breakfast of  those Chobani Apple Cinnamon Overnight Oats that I told you about, complete with a spoonful of peanut butter.

I loved these. Overnight oats with flavored yogurt takes them to a whole new level. This bowl smelled and tasted like apple cake batter. Yum and a half.

And, of course, the peanut butter just took it even further. But, I mean… duh. It’s peanut butter.

I had plans for a frozen Amy’s meal for lunch, but I really started craving fresh vegetables. So, when a co-worker ordered from a place called Poquito Mas, I decided to add on to the order.

I got the Nature’s Grill Burrito: “Fresh grilled eggplant, mushroom, zucchini, red and green bell pepper, red & white onion with Black beans, Jack cheese, Fresh salsa, and a touch of Roasted Red Pepper Sour Cream.”

It was delicious andso filling. I couldn’t even think about the chips it came with and it had me full for the rest of the afternoon/ evening.

Around 6pm, I decided to eat a snack of some baby carrots and a spoonful of hummus.

As I walked out the door, I had a handful of Wheat Thins (unpictured), as I was going out for drinks and didn’t know if I’d have time for dinner.

I suppose I could have ordered food at the restaurant, but I nursed a glass of Pinot Noir and honestly just wasn’t really hungry enough to order anything for dinner.

The wine was nice, though. And helpful.

I feel guilty for not having a dinner to show you (I’m weird), so I’m sharing today’s breakfast again. I like to think that makes up for it, somehow (again, I’m weird).

And this really should. Because… do you know what kind of cereal that is, hanging out with the banana and milk?

PEANUT BUTTER CHEERIOS.

I KNOW.

Changed. My. Life.

I learned about them in Instagram (can’t remember whose… maybe Bobbi‘s? Janetha‘s?) and bought them immediately thereafter. You should, too.

What are you eating today?

P.S. — Don’t forget to enter my Chobani giveaway!

I know, right? And they’re all delicious.

There are three flavors…

0% Blood Orange:

0% Apple Cinnamon:

and 2% Passion Fruit:

(Please excuse the blurry picture. It was on a rainy day that I took these.)

I’ve had the pleasure of tasting these, through multiple breakfasts (but I’ll just share three — one of each!)

I tried the Blood Orange in overnight oats with oats, chia seeds, and flax seed.

You may recall this next breakfast — I tried the Passion Fruit in my Valentine’s Day breakfast, with my Chocolate Granola and strawberries.

And, this morning, I had the Apple Cinnamon in overnight oats(simple — just the yogurt and 1/3 cup oats) with a spoonful of organic, natural peanut butter.

Desk picture!

Smelled like cake batter, tasted like happy.

Want to pop open your own new Chobani flavor?

Of course you do.

So aren’t CHO lucky (ok, I swear, I’m done with that) that Chobani sent me these flavors to try for free (well, I guess I’m the lucky one there) and then offer to you guys as a giveaway?

Of course you are.

Three ways to enter (US residents only, please — sorry, international friends!):

1. Comment here telling me a funny joke. (Make me laugh! I need a few good laughs this week).

2. Tweet about this giveaway, including me @HoneyKaitlin and Chobani @Chobani, linking to this post. Then, comment here linking to your tweet.

3. “Like” me on facebook, then comment here telling me you did.

The giveaway will close at 3pm PST on Thursday, February 23. I’ll announce the winner on my Friday Fun post this Friday, February 24.

Happy entering!

This. Is. Going. To. Change. Your. Life.

I totally mean it. I found this to be one of the most amazing videos I have ever seen in my life.

Seriously.

25 ways to tie a scarf. And in 4.5 minutes! UNREAL!

Enjoy:

My mom and sister are going to LOVE this.

I almost invariably do the very first one — the Modern One-Loop. I guess I’m not very imaginative… but I will be now!

Which way do you usually tie your scarves?

What I really wanted was my new go-to comfort food, Upgraded Mac & Cheese. Alas, I didn’t have any Mac & Cheese. I also didn’t have any noodles. I was SOL, if you know what I mean.

While I won’t pit them against each other (they’re both my babies), I would definitely say this meal is a bit… classier. Thankfully, it’s just as easy!

It’s also just as delicious. Seriously. What a winner of a recipe, and all because I was forced to be creative.

Cheesy Quinoa

makes 3 servings

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry tri-color quinoa
• 2 cups water
• 1 can kidney beans
• 1 1/2 cups frozen chopped spinach
• 1 1/2 tbs low-fat cream cheese
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan & romano
• 1/4 cup almond milk (regular milk would work just fine — I just used what I had)
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp oregano
• salt & pepper to taste
• shredded mozzarella to top with (optional)

Directions:

Over high heat on a stovetop, bring the quinoa and water to a rolling boil. Stir, lower heat to a simmer, cover pot, and let cook for about eight minutes more or until the water is nearly gone. Add spinach and cook for about two minutes more.

Add kidney beans and cook about two minutes more, stirring often.

Add cream cheese, almond milk, parmesan & romano, garlic powder, oregano, salt and and pepper. Stir, mixing everything evenly throughout. Cook about one minute more to let the flavors settle.

Serve topped with (optional) mozzarella.

There are lots of flavors in this dish. There’s also lots of protein! I’m a big fan.

Plus, it’s kind of pretty, isn’t it? There’s something very… Italian about it to me.

Have you ever come up with any favorite dishes out of desperation?

Filed under: Blog Posts, Recipes Tagged: beans, cheese, Dinner, food, Lunch, quinoa, Recipe, spinach, vegetarian ]]> http://kaitlinwithhoney.com/2012/02/16/cheesy-quinoa/feed/ 1 kaitlinwithhoney IMGP4768 IMGP4772 IMGP4729 IMGP4720 IMGP4771 IMGP4769 IMGP4770 http://kaitlinwithhoney.com/2012/02/15/wiaw-valentines-day/ http://kaitlinwithhoney.com/2012/02/15/wiaw-valentines-day/#comments Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:07:44 +0000 kaitlinwithhoney https://kaitlinwithhoney.wordpress.com/?p=12403 Continue reading →]]> I had big plans for yesterday. I had this whole idea that I was going to have an epic WIAW, Valentine’s Edition.

And then I got sick.

So, spoiler alert, it wasn’t epic.

First, I was going to make a triumphant return to the elliptical. Or, I was going to try, anyway. I’ve been given the green light to see how I do.

But, instead, I slept in. No going to the gym when you’re sick.

For breakfast, I managed to stick to the plan: a Valentine’s Day Yogurt Bowl, complete with Chobani‘s new Passionfruit flavor (more on that later!), my homemade Chocolate Granola and strawberries.

Yum!

My morning snacks? Oh, you know. Tissues.

Vitamins.

A few unpictured glasses of orange juice.

Lunch was leftovers of my Cheesy Quinoa, a recipe I’ll be posting tomorrow!

It’s a good one. Look forward to it.

I didn’t remember to take pictures of my snacks, which were ginger ale and crackers to settle my stomach. Zinc makes my tummy hurt. Does that happen to anyone else?

So, I took pictures of some of my Valentine’s Day accessories. I love holidays!

Here’s a shot of my heart-shaped earrings:

Cute, right?

I also wore pink ballet flats.

I also wore a (cute!) bright pink shirt, but the self-portrait I took was soooo not flattering and I decided not to show off my swollen face.

Dinner was the big letdown of the day.

I had big plans to go out to my favorite Thai food restaurant with Mark and Leigh to celebrate Valentine’s Day. I even tried to kid myself into thinking, throughout the day, that I could power through and go.

No such luck.

Soooo… I had Thai food on my own. Sort of.

That’s Amy’s canned Tom Kha Phak soup, heated up on the stove, plus a piece of whole wheat toast, covered in Smart Balance, LOTS of Garlic Gold, and shaved romano cheese.

And then I watched a romantic comedy and passed the heck out.

Not quite the epic Valentine’s Day I was hoping for, but… whatever. It is what it is!

How’d you eat on this lovely Valentine’s Day? Hopefully your day was filled with lots of chocolate and love!

… not that you can eat love.

I hope you all have loved ones with whom to celebrate. If you do, I think you should be starting your day off with chocolate.

You know, to celebrate.

And if you don’t… you should definitely be starting your day with some chocolate.

To… make yourself feel better. Or, hey, to celebrate being single. Whichever.

It’s because I love you guys that I spent part of my weekend creating a recipe for chocolate granola.

Definitely not because I knew I’d need some chocolate on Tuesday morning.

Not telling you which of the above scenarios has me needing chocolate in the morning, though.

Anyway, I thought this might be a nice Valentine’s Day recipe to wake up to. Healthy, but not too healthy. Chocolate-based, but not wildly caloric (the cocoa makes it taste decadent without being coated in melted chocolate). A good balance. A perfect start to the day.

Chocolate Granola

makes about 2 1/2 cups worth… whatever that means to you, serving-wise

Ingredients:

• 2 cups oats
• 1/2 cup agave
• 2 tbs vegetable or canola oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup slivered or sliced almonds (I actually switched to sliced after I took the above picture)
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Set oven to 300 degrees.

Pour all ingredients into a bowl. Mix, preferably with a wooden spoon.

Try really hard not to eat some with a spoon.

Fail. There’s no raw egg in there. Fail happily.

Spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray.

Spread (remaining) granola mixture evenly across the baking sheet.

Bake for 30 minutes, tossing the granola every seven-ish minutes.

Voila! That’s it. I love easy recipes.

Serve however you want.

So far, I’ve tried it with milk…

Almond milk…

(soooo good)

And in a delicious yogurt bowl for Valentine’s morning.

Delicious. Decadent. Still healthy.

And totally holiday-appropriate.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Did you have chocolate in your breakfast today? Share!

Once again, even though this was a Valentine’s Day wine tasting and the holiday + wine should have together suggested a romantic evening might have been in order…

… I spent it with my friend Lauren.

I also spent it with her boyfriend, Gabriel.

Honestly, though, it was lovely.

And plus, I’m not sure I had a romantic evening in me. Look how tired I look!

On second thought, don’t. Ignore how tired I look. Pretend I’m pretty.

We started with the Chianti (the wine Lauren and I are both posing with above), which was definitely my favorite of the night.

It was smooth and strong and tasted much nicer than the very cheap price tag would have implied.

We also tried a bubbly wine, which was super bubbly. I loved that part of it, but the wine was a little too sweet for me — especially after that nice Chianti.

Ignore the lemon. We thought it was funny at the time. I blame the wine.

However, on a citrus note, I do think the above wine would make for nice Mimosas.

The third wine was a chocolate wine, which I thought I would love but actually very, very much disliked. I thought it tasted like someone had poured Hershey’s syrup into wine.

Lauren liked it, though. And, judging from the tweet chat, so did most people! It just wasn’t my cup of tea.

… or, you know, glass of wine.

We also had to fill ourselves with food to balance out all that wine, so we ate the Fresh and Easy Margherita pizza, which I’d picked up when I’d gotten the wine.

The rest of the evening was spent in shenanigans with Lauren and Gabriel’s dog Spot, who thinks he’s a lapdog.

He totally isn’t. That’s why it’s hilarious. Duh.

Did you try any new wines this weekend?

From Melissa:

1. If you could be one bird, what would it be?

A hummingbird! When I was a little girl, I spent some of my early summers at my grandparents’ house in West Virginia. During those summers, I used to love watching the hummingbirds coming to the feeders on the back porch . It’s actually one of my fondest childhood memories.

(source)

Also, I think I actually would be a hummingbird. They’re so busy and buzzing all the time, always off to the next thing… just like me!

2. PB or chocolate on a desert island?  You can’t have both.

As much as I love chocolate, I couldn’t choose it. Firstly, it gives me a stomachache (I know. Terrible.). Secondly, I just can’t make as many arguments for it. Peanut butter serves as a protein source and as a healthy fat. It could serve as a main course in a meal if it had to. So, really, no contest.

3. Mountain or ocean?  You still can’t have both.  haha!

Mountain, hands down. I’m not actually a huge fan of the ocean. I do, however, love lakes… and I’m assuming I get both the lake and the mountain here!

Once I got to be a little older (about 10), I spent my summers at a camp with the most stunning view of the mountains over a lake. It remains the most beautiful place in the world to me.

4. If you could live in a different era, which one would it be?

I love this question! I have so many different answers. I think I’d really love the 60s. I love the clothes and I find the politics/ history really compelling.

Look at that. I managed to come across as both superficial and intelligent in once sentence.

5. What president, dead or not, would you like to have lunch with?

Obama. No time like the present.

(source)

6. What is your favorite book of all time?

It’s a seven-way tie between all of the Harry Potter books. Actually, it isn’t — I definitely have books in the series that I love more than others. However, it’s the series as a whole that I cherish and return to almost yearly. I can’t help it.

(source)

7. You win the lotto, who do you call first?

Ooh, tough one. I’d normally say my mom, but I’m pretty sure Will, one of my best friends, would have gone into it halfway with me… so I guess I’d have to call him!

8. What is your favorite sport to watch on TV?  To watch live?

None. Unless we’re counting the football portrayed on Friday Night Lights.

(source)

9. What was your favorite cartoon to watch growing up?

I didn’t watch cartoons, really! So I’ll tell you what my favorite childhood movie was, which I watched over and over and over: Peter Pan with Mary Martin.

Ah, memories.

(source)

10. How long have you been best friends with your best friend?

I have a few best friends, which makes this a little tough…

Will, my best friend who lives back on the east coast, has been one of my best friends since I was a senior in college, but we were friends starting my freshman year.

Mark, my roommate, has been one of my best friends also since I was a senior in college — and we were best friends just about immediately.

Lauren, one of the best friends I’ve made since moving to California, has been one of my best friends since we worked together at one of my old jobs — so, for about two years now, I think?

And Tara, whom I don’t speak to all that often but will always count as one of my best friends, is also my oldest friend — we’ve been close since second grade but haven’t actually gone to the same school or lived in the same town since 7th grade. And now we even live on two different continents!

11. What is your favorite comic from the Sunday paper?  Come on…I know you still read it!

I don’t. Sorry! What a lame way for me to end.

Good thing there’s another set!

From Kelley:

1. Would you change anything about your high school experience?

Hmm… I’d give myself more confidence. I was awesome. I just didn’t know it yet.

2. What was your first car?

A black Jeep Grand Cherokee. RIP, even though it tried to kill me.

(source)

(That’s not mine, it just looks like the one I had.)

3. Did you have a secret hiding place when you were a kid?

Nope! I’ve always preferred being around other people. Pretty sure my parents hid from me, though…

4. Do you know any other languages? Do you wish you could speak any others?

I’m conversational in French, though it’s been a while. I’d really like to refresh myself and then become fluent. I’d also like to learn Spanish (so important now that I’m living in LA!) and Italian (since I’m half Italian).

5. Name the top five things on your bucket list.

1. Get married
2. Have children
3. Achieve success and happiness in my career
4. Get to a fighting weight and stay there
5. Become a regular runner without injuries

I’m simple, but those are probably the top five goals I have in my life right now.

6. Ever have 15 minutes of fame?

Hmm… nope. Not that I know of. This blog is the closest I think I have to that. Totally fine by me.

7. If you could excel at something you currently don’t, what would it be?

I wish I was a better dancer. I’m totally awkward.

8. Would you ever want to write a book? What would it be about?

To be honest? Not really. I have  a lot of big goals and a writing book just doesn’t make the cut.

9. What’s your greatest fear?

My family dying. What a downer. Also, fires. Like — the scary ones, not the ones in fireplaces or campfires.

10. What was your favorite grade in school and why?

Probably my senior year. I was most myself that year.

11. Twilight or Hunger Games?

You all know the answer to this! HUNGER GAMES!

(source)

I won’t bother with 11 questions of my own, especially since just about all bloggers I know have already been tagged with this.

But I will ask you — choose one question from above and answer below!

I’d even love to tell you that I’ve made a much of recipes of other peoples’ to share with you.

Heck, I’d settle for even telling you that I’ve done anything even resembling cooking lately.

Alas –  I cannot.

I’m so busy lately that all I’ve really eaten for weeks are yogurt bowls, frozen lunches, takeout, egg messes, salads, the occasional stir-fry, and way too many meals out.

It happens. And it’s happened to me. It won’t always be this way.

Happily, the internet is a magical place. So, what I can show you is a list of recipes I’ve drooled over and plan to make as soon as possible.

Sharing is caring, right?

Crispy Breaded Tofu Strips & Sweet Potato Fries

(Oh She Glows)

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cupcakes with Cinnamon Sugared Chip Frosting

(How Sweet It Is)

Apple Cheddar Quick Bread

(Dana Treat)

Clementine Sugar Cookies

(Sugar Crafter)

Crusty Bread

(Yes, I Want Cake)

(Though, I’ll admit, I’m super intimidated.)

Enchilada Lasagna (I’ll lose the chicken, obviously)

(At Home With Gina C)

Coconut Flour Breakfast Bake

(The Wannabe Chef)

Coconut Toasted Brussels

(How Sweet It Is)

Perhaps that one most of all. I mean… OMG, right???

Sharing time! What recipes have you bookmarked lately?

I don’t love it, but it is what it is.

What I do love?

This breakfast:

I’m so Caitlin from Healthy Tipping Point right now.

I am seriously obsessed with these raw oats yogurt bowls right now. Obsessed.

Into the mix went:

• 1 vanilla Activia yogurt
• ~ 1/4 cup raw oats
• 1/2 banana, sliced
• blackberries
• a sprinkle of glazed walnuts (makes the bowl)

I also enjoyed my random, piecemeal lunch, which was a Green Giants veggie & black bean mix (I think it’s called Healthy Weight?) + a toasted English muffin with a slice of cheddar cheese split across the two halves.

Random but totally effective.

My sweet tooth kicked in and I treated it with two clementines for lunch dessert:

Snack came a few hours later and was in the form of bunch of Wheat Thins + a string cheese.

I’m on a major string cheese kick lately.

It was a good thing I had that snack, as I didn’t end up having dinner.  Instead, I had drinks.

I know, healthy of me. I got the above cherry cocktail (which is alongside a drink that wasn’t mine but also begged to be photographed, which was a blueberry & blackberry cocktail).

I also had a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. I also took a few bites of the artichoke and potatoes that some of the others at my table ordered.

But, really, I’m sorry for being a bad HLB and not eating dinner last night. Still, I’d rather tell you the truth.

I’d like to make it up to you. Does showing you a picture of my amahhhhzing (said a la my doppelganger, Penny from “Happy Endings”) lunch today help?

What about two pictures, with the second one all mixed up?

(That’s tuna, by the way, not chicken).

It makes me feel better, anyway.

… so did eating it.

What are you eating today?