Disclaimer: Be prepared for boring boring meals. I started my externship and even though I am happy to report I have survived my first few days, I am not happy to report that since two of my three meals are eaten either in the car or at work, they are not exciting nor photo worthy. And I’ll be honest after 11 hour work days I don’t have much motivation to make dinner presentable.

You were warned.

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I did however want to make sure I participated in this week’s What I Ate Wednesday because as mentioned above, I have no idea if my meals will be worth mentioning anytime soon. Maybe since I won’t be eating breakfast or lunch at home, it will force me to be more creative at dinner time. I can’t make any promises though.

But before that happens, let’s first head over to Jenn’s at Peas and Crayons and say thank you and check out everyone’s tasty eats, and then let’s look at what might be my last artfully put together meals.

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So let me redeem myself and show you my last photo worthy breakfast I made before I started externship.

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 This was my last relaxing morning breakfast I plan on having for awhile. I enjoyed it very very slowly and savored every last bite.

Everyone always says oatmeal is boring. Not around here. I love oatmeal, you can seriously flavor it so many ways, and put endless toppings on it. You just have to be creative. How is that boring?

This delicious looking bowl was

Chai Overnight TVP/prOATs.

In my mix:

1/4 cup rolled oats

1/3 cup TVP

1 scoop Plant Fusion vanilla protein powder (stirred in at end)

1 cup almond milk (I use Silk vanilla)

1/2 tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp cloves

7-9 drops vanilla Stevia

Topped with my typical mish mosh of frozen banana, fresh strawberries, and a local granola for the crunch. I gotta have that crunch.

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Maybe not as pretty, but worth mentioning, I have been snacking on some pretty tasty things lately.

I have a new favorite post work out snack. Gotta re-fuel with those proteins and carbs!

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Pumpkin/cinnamon spiked cottage cheese on top of pumpernickel bread.

I seriously love pumpernickel bread. Total carb girl here. No shame.

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I also tried a new to me yogurt.

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Well I guess technically it’s dairy free, but I love Silk almond milk, so when I saw they have a yogurt out I had to try it.

It was pretty tasty, after a quick stir I would even say you can’t even tell it’s dairy free.

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And something that isn’t new to me?

Celebrating and relaxing in the liquid form.

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Matt and I got this bottle of wine from our favorite local winery I honestly want to say about 2 years ago.

I had braces at the time and didn’t drink red wine due to not wanting to stain my teeth.

We decided it would be our celebratory wine when I got my braces off.

Yea, that never happened.

I figured my first day of externship, first 11 hour day of many to come, finally called for a little red wine celebration.

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So with that being said, I am off to be a grandma and go to bed early.

I hope to have something worth showing you next week, but if not don’t hold it against me!

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Do you guys have any good green/power smoothie recipes to share? I need something that will make them tasty, yet will keep me full for hours. The chia seeds, peanut butter and oatmeal seemed to help, but I’m open to suggestions!

Hello loves!

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I’m going to start off by saying I am totally taking advantage of my few days of time off before I start my externship, and I thought what a better way to use my time is to actually be more active on my blog and participate in more happenings that are going on in the blog land.

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So when I saw Lindsay was hosting a pin it party, I jumped on the opportunity. Usually I see things like this and think “man I wish I had time to do that” and now that I actually do, I’m doing it! And I think it’s an awesome idea and I love getting inspiration from other bloggers. One of the main things I love about blogging, all you are way more creative than me!

But since this post does need to focus on some of the goodies I have created, I dug up a few pretty good ones for you guys.

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Chocolate Covered Strawberry Overnight PrOATs

The perfect way to start your day if you ask me. Chocolate. Strawberries. Protein.

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Squash Protein Muffins

These are a perfect post work out snack. You have your protein and your carbs and I’m not going to lie they are pretty delish.

They’re even better topped with peanut butter.

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Tofu Panini

One of my #strangebutgood creations, but seriously one of my best.

But if you remember my obsession with my soy chocolate panini, it’s not hard to see why I love this sandwich so much.

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This one is kind of a multiple of ideas, but since I seemed to have went through a pumpkin obsession (I still might be in it) and spreads/dips are kind of my thing, here is my recipe for homemade Pumpkin Peanut Butter and the multiple ways I use pumpkin.

If you want other dip recipes, check out my banana bread hummus, chocolate banana avocado spread, and protein squash spread just to name a few.

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And to end on a sweet note, dessert.

Chai Oatmeal Raisin White Chocolate Cookies

Another throw everything and anything I have on hand and hope it turns out good.

It did turn out good.

You can even ask Lindsay, she got some for Foodie Pen Pals.

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I hope you all enjoyed my recipes and feel free to check out some of my others ones.

Happy pinning!

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Hello my loves!

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I think this may be a first for me with my What I Ate Wednesday. I can actually show you a day of eats!

Usually I just do re-caps of what I’ve been eating lately because honestly my days of eats can be somewhat repetitive.

So Jenn, I hope you are proud of me for actually following the rules for once! And make sure you guys check out everyone’s eats over at Peas and Crayons.

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Yesterday was quite a day though.

Before my externship starts we had to attend two days of career prep. Class started earlier than my normal classes, but I really thought I had my mornings planned out time wise.

I made some amazing Overnight Oatmeal Cookie Dough TVP prOATs and of course dressed them up.

I went to sit down to enjoy my breakfast only to realize I totally “forgot” what time I had to leave the house and realized I had to leave ASAP. Actually, I was late. I don’t know where my brain was, but I knew I had to leave the house at 8:30am, and it was 8:40am. I don’t know, my mind was else where I guess. Thinking about my beautiful breakfast instead.

So instead of sitting and enjoying my beautiful breakfast it quickly turned into this.

It was breakfast in the car for me. And even though it may not be as pretty, it was still super tasty.

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Even though the class was only a few hours earlier and honestly, I get up early anyways with Matt, I was dragging the past few days.

Thank goodness I have great pick me up snacks always on hand.

I love The Good Bean bars, but this chocolate berry flavor I think is by far my favorite.

Just what I needed.

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I didn’t actually take a picture of lunch, but I made another batch of my Banana Avocado Spread, so I had that on top of some sprouted bread again.

This stuff is so addicting.

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I have been drooling over some  photos lately of mug cakes in squash that seems to be sweeping the Instagram world.

Since I am  home earlier I figured I better try it now while I have the chance!

This was the very first mug cake I made and after reading about 20+ recipes online, I decided to do what I do best and wing it and make it my own.

Chocolate Protein Mug Cake Stuffed Acorn Squash

Seriously guys if you haven’t heard or seen mug cake stuffed squash, I highly suggest you  make one. For my very first mug cake, this turned out amazing. I of course had to top it with melty peanut butter drizzle. This will be happening again soon.

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I’m not sure what my schedule is going to be once I start extern, I may be crazy busy, I may have more time. We shall see, but for now I’m enjoying the down time!

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Have you seen/made stuffed squash recipes?

Happy Wednesday luff bugs!

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I can’t believe it’s already Wednesday and I am excited and nervous. This is my last week of class.  Can you believe it??

Those of you who have been with me for awhile are probably use to me complaining about how much I have to study, how I am so ready to be done, but now that the time has actually come, I am beyond nervous. I’ve done very well in school, but now it’s time to put my money where my mouth is, and hopefully I can perform just as well. Change is always scary isn’t it?

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But one thing that doesn’t change, is Wednesday’s are spent with the lovely lady Jenn over at Peas and Crayons for What I Ate Wednesday.

Thank goodness for a little stability in my life

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I have fun stuff to share with you today!

I know you’re expecting my typical beautiful oatmeal bowls…

Oh wait. I do have one of those.

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I recently got Capella Flavor Drops and have been adding them to everything.

This bowl of deliciousness was what I like to call a toasted almond s’mores bowl.

It was my normal TVP/oatmeal mix with 2 drops of toasted almond, 2 drops of marshmallow and 2 drops of graham cracker flavor drops. The chocolate came from my Plant Fusion chocolate protein powder. I mean, what’s a s’mores bowl without the chocolate? Not a s’mores bowl that’s what.

Topped with my per usual of 1/2 frozen banana, berries, dried figs, and crack Love Grown granola.

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As good as this bowl was, it’s not the spotlight of today’s post.

The spotlight belongs to these little beauties.

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I am constantly pinning Sarah at Ingredients Of A Fit Chicks recipes. They all always look so amazing.

She recently posted two recipes that I was determined to make. Sweet Potato Protein Muffins and Fudgey Kabotcha Brownies.

I honestly debated over which ones to make first. I finally decided on the Sweet Potato Protein Muffins, because I like having goodies like this ready for my post workout snack. I thought perfect combination of carbs and protein!

Of course, typical me, I can’t follow a recipe. It’s just not in my blood, but I only made a few changes, the biggest one being I didn’t use sweet potato. I ended up using squash, frozen squash at that, but none the less these turned out amazing.

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Squash Protein Muffins

Adapted from this recipe

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup squash

- 1-1/3 scoops (38g) vanilla protein powder

- 1/4 cup coconut flour

- 1/2 cup baking Stevia (or sweetener of choice)

- 4oz unsweetened applesauce

- 1tbsp coconut oil

- 1 tsp cinnamon

- 1/4 tsp ginger, cloves, nutmeg (each)

- 1-1/2 tsp baking powder

- 1tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

- Pre heat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Line 4 muffin tins with liners.
- In a bowl, whisk together your dry ingredients: protein powder, coconut flour, sweetener, spices and baking powder.
- In a second bowl whisk together your wet ingredients: applesauce, coconut oil, vanilla extract and squash.
- Combine your wet and dry ingredients.
- Divide the batter evenly among 4 muffin cups.
- Bake for ~22-24 minutes. (They will seem a bit soft still, but they will continue to set)

And as Sarah suggested, drizzling them with molasses is a wonderful idea.

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With all my changes I was a bit nervous how these were going to turn out. But let me tell you, once I licked the bowl clean tasted the batter I had a pretty good idea that they were going to be tasty, but I still didn’t know how they would bake.

I ended up making them so late in the night, Matt and I didn’t taste test until the next morning.

Considering that kid devoured his, I guess it’s safe to say they turned out pretty well.

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He topped his with Earth Balance Coconut Peanut Butter, and demolished it before I was done doing my little photo shoot with mine. But I guess that means they taste great with peanut butter too. Like anything doesn’t taste good with peanut butter.

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These muffins turned out super moist, which I think is because I used applesauce instead of egg whites (I only did this because I was out of egg whites), but I actually really enjoyed them this way. If you want more of a dense muffin, you might want to follow Sarah’s recipe and maybe add more flour.

I’m thinking with how good these turned out, I should probably try the kabotcha brownies next.

Although I’m sure I won’t follow that recipe exactly either, but hey so far all my random throw ins have worked out.

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Do you follow recipes exactly or do you make changes?

Happy Wednesday my loves!

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I think I say this almost every week, but is anyone else’s weeks just fly by? Having surgeries in class really makes my time fly by even quicker, which is good and bad. My days are exciting, class time is no longer sitting taking notes, but assisting in surgeries, but then at the same time, another week is gone in the blink of an eye.

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But I still find time for the important things in life.

Things like What I Ate Wednesday.

That’s super important right? I think Jenn would say yes.

So make sure you head over and check out all the other eats as well. Because us foodies put a lot of time and effort into our meals.

We’re so silly.

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Loves do I have some tasty-ness for you today!

Shall I dare to share marvelous tasty-ness?

I think I shall.And thanks to the beautiful Katie, I have the opportunity to share all this greatness with you.

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As you know I love to share what I am eating, what products I am using and what companies I am loving.

I mean really, where would we be without companies making fabulous products for us to make our delicious dishes with?

So I always love to give credit when credit is due.

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I have been making some absolutely amazing TVP prOAT bowls lately. I was initially just so glad I got back on the oatmeal wagon after taking a long hiatus from it.

I started with warm bowls.

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Topped with frozen banana (obsessed), blueberries and cereal dust.

Then I brought back my dessert for breakfast bowls with a Chocolate Covered Strawberry bowl.

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Ok seriously. I didn’t think it could get any better. But chocolate covered strawberries prOATs is pretty epic.

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Then I had the wonderful opportunity to do OIAJ.

Oh man did I miss these too.

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(Props to Wild Friends for making this OIAJ extra special. Seriously. Chocolate Sunflower Seed Butter makes anything 3928742834 times better)

Then I finally remembered how much I loved my overnight oats. How could I have forgotten about them?

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1. I seriously forgot how much chia seeds make a bowl grow. Love.

2. A few things made this bowl extra special.

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Navitas acai powder.

There are so many benefits to acai that when I saw there was acai powder, I knew it would be perfect for me. So easy to throw into dishes.

The second special addition.

Love Grown Granola.

I swear they put crack in their granola.

But the show stopper?

Melzy Creations dark chocolate covered figs.

You heard me.

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And not only do they making dark chocolate covered figs, but they make bars that are out.of.this.world.

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Seriously look at that peanut butter goodness.

I have had a fair share of bars in my life, but seriously, these make it very high on my list.

And if peanut butter and dark chocolate wasn’t good enough.

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More dark chocolate fig goodness.

This bar was beyond words. I know it’s just a bar, but it was that good.

I highly highly recommend you find these in a store near you.

You won’t regret it.

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Well loves, I hope I shared enough goodness with you today. I hope you all have a marvelous week.

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How do you prefer your oats? warm? cold? in a jar?

Ok luvs, be prepared for some delicious-ness today.

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Yes, I was not completely boring this week can you believe it?

I almost can’t.

I mean, I think I have like three new dishes to share with you.

Whoa. I know. Who am I.

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Since Jenn focuses on veggies so much, it actually made me realize that I haven’t been eating as many veggies as I use to.

I don’t know why. I mean. I love them. I just have really been lacking creativity in the kitchen lately, so maybe that’s why.

And Kasey’s constant posting’s of her #powerbowls kind of kicked my butt in gear too.

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So let’s get crackin’ shall we?

Before we get to my veggies I have something else to show you first.

Trust me, you’ll thank me.

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Dessert for breakfast?

Fine by me.

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Ingredients:

Serves 1

PrOATs

- 1/3 cup rolled oats

- 1/4 cup TVP

- 1.5 cup milk or other liquid (I used Almond Breeze Unsweetened Vanilla)

- 1/2 scoop Plant Fusion chocolate protein powder

1-2 tbsp maple syrup (or sweetener of choice)

generous dash of cinnamon

(and in my case ginger, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla extract)

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Healthy Chocolate Sauce

- 1-2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa (I used Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate)

- 2-3 tbsp almond milk

5-7 drops NuNaturals Liquid Vanilla Stevia

To make Chocolate Sauce add milk slowly to desired consistency.

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I finally found the Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate… I wasn’t prepared for how life changing it was.

Seriously, way better than regular, I will never go back.

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Now if I only could get a hold of some of this magic carob powder everyone raves about.
I bet that would make an amazing chocolate sauce.

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Now on to the veggies.

Warning: Not as pretty as the oatmeal.

I was craving a #powerbowl and decided to basically throw every veggie I had into it.

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Roasted brussel sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli and parsnips.

Also Trader Joe’s chicken topped with nutritional yeast sauce.

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Nutritional Yeast Sauce

- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast (I use this brand)

- 1/2 tbsp Braggs Liquid Amino Acids

- 1-2 tbsp almond milk

Add milk to desired consistency

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I seriously set a goal for myself to try every vegetable out there. At least once.

Parsnips were always something I saw, but never bought. It is now one of my favorite vegetables to roast.

Another new to me veggie I finally tried?

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Turnips!

I of course roasted it.

I of course burned it.

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Thankfully for me, I like almost anything extra crispy.

I’m weird like that.

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Well loves, that’s about all the newness I can handle.

I hope you’re proud of me because I can’t guarantee when this will happen again.

Ok, I lied. It will probably be soon because I experimented with some new recipes that I really want to share.

Think vegan protein english muffin.

I’m such a tease I know.

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Off I go, but before I do, I am going to head over to check out all of your tasty eats.

It’s where I get inspiration!

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What’s your favorite vegetable?

What’s your favorite way to eat your veggies?

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I ordered most of the above products from iHerb and they have a free shipping with any purchase over $20 going on right now! Also use my coupon code YAL235 to get 10% off your order!

Happy Friday luvs!!

Am I the only one super excited this week is over?

Having surgery twice a week is actually pretty draining. But hey, this is going to be my life, so I better get use to it now right?

And I mean, I’m a pretty good lookin’ anesthetist if I do say so myself.

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But other than Friday being the end of the week, something else exciting happens on Friday’s.

Laura’s #strangebutgood party.

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When it comes to my eats, my combinations never cease to amaze me.

I am the master of throwing random things together, never measuring, never regarding serving sizes, I just make what sounds good to me, what taste good to me and what I’m in the mood for.

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I mean really, check out my latest oatmeal and dessert hummus creations.

Random, not measured. Delicious.

My contribution for this weeks #strangebutgood is no different.

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Looks like an innocent piece of toast right?

Wrong.

Fall may be over, but my pumpkin obsession isn’t.

I’ve also become a bit obsessed baking and cooking with protein powders.

It’s a win-win for me in terms of I can get vanilla or chocolate flavors and added protein at the same time.

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Insert my latest creation.

Pumped Up Pumpkin

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It looks like a simple little pumpkin bowl, which is kind of is, but with a little protein punch.

Here is a guess-timate of what I put into it.

Serves 1

2-3 tbsp pumpkin puree

1 tbsp Plant Fusion chocolate protein powder

5-7 drops NuNaturals Liquid Vanilla  (or sweetener of choice)

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Depending on how chocolatey you want it, you could also throw in a few sprinkles of unsweetened cocoa.

Like I did, feel free to play around with it.

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So good you can eat it off a spoon.

And I might have done just that.

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Do you bake with protein powders?

Do you typically measure out ingredients or just toss in what sounds good? I think we know my answer to this one.