PHO!
Today was such a Monday to start…I hit snooze 4 times and missed my AM workout 
I blame the rainy weather because it makes you wanna stay in bed 
My day definitely improved when I got home with some garden surprises and a little bit of PHO goodness.
Nothing sounded good for breakfast so I went with my usual stand by of what sounds good when nothing sounds good
2 slices Trader Joe’s Fat Free Multi-Grain Bread topped with 1 heaping Tablespoon of Nut Barn Almond Butter (4 pts). I LOVE how the hot toast melts the almond butter.
Plus some “banana chips” for dessert (1 pt).
I decided to break out a new flavor of the Alouette Spreadable Cheeses today. This is part of the 3-pack I bought at Sam’s Club awhile back. I LOVE this cheese because it’s like having flavored Laughing Cow & it has the same stats (2 Tbsp = 2 pts, 1 Tbsp = 1 pt)
I topped 6 Olive Oil & Rosemary Triscuits with 2 Tbsp’s (4 pts)….Crunchy, salty, creamy & just plain delicious!
I liked the Spinach Artichoke Flavor, but, I still think Garden Vegetable is my favorite to date.
I LOVE Triscuits because they keep me full for hours. 4 hours later I had lunch.
I started off with 5 Homemade Chicken Pot stickers (Recipe coming tomorrow).
Mixed Greens & Broccoli Slaw topped with 1 1/2 Tbsp’s Trader Joe’s Low-Fat Spicy Peanut Vinaigrette (the BEST dressing ever!)
Super fast, super good, super cheap in points ~ 4 pts!
I also had a 1 point Cabot Cheese square because I wanted to make sure I saved room for my afternoon snack.
My Co-Work made Smitten Kitchen’s Dark Chocolate Dark with Gingersnap Crust ~ doesn’t it look beautiful?!
I quickly calculated the stats and determined I could have a small sliver (1/20th) of the tart for 5 points. Yup ~ completely worth EVERY BITE ~ totally rich and decadent. I LOVED the combination of butter plus ginger snaps in the crust!
When I got home, I check on our garden to see how it weathered the storm we have had the past two days. I had the COOLEST surprise when I walked out. We already have baby tomatoes!!!!
My basil is growing like crazy.
But, I don’t think the burpless cucumbers are going to make it One out of all of them not making it so far, isn’t bad, right?
Our dinner plans changed last minute when The Husband and I decided to get PHO from The Noodle House! I should say, he decided to go with me…I LOVE PHO and totally crave it! It’s healthy, spicy and LOADED with fun flavors.
We started off with some Fresh Spring Rolls dipped in gobs of crunchy peanut sauce (the best part!) Each roll is only TWO points when you get them steamed versus fried.
PHO is a gigantic bowl of steaming hot broth that cooks your food as they add it….They add rice noodles, onions, cilantro, green onions and your meat of choice ~ I picked chicken and shrimp. Everything is steamed in the broth as it cooks which makes it relatively healthy if you pick lean cuts of meat or Tofu.
You get a side plate of crunch and spice ~ Jalepeno’s, sprouts, cilantro and a lemon or lime.
I dump everything in except the lemon.
Topped with Sriracha Hot Sauce & Hoisin/Plum Sauce (sweet/spicy/salty)! I make up a side plate of sauces that I dip things in as I eat it. It’s not graceful, but, it’s delicious and perfect for a cold, rainy day like today. I managed to eat about 1/2 my bowl (all the meat, veggies and 1/2 the noodles) for 6 points.
If you’ve never had PHO, I highly recommend you try it ~ you might be surprised by how much you like it. Some places make it better than others, but, the cooking philosophy is still the same. It’s lean, healthy, a little high in sodium (Asian food always is), but, absolutely tasty!
Be on the lookout tomorrow for my Healthy Homemade Chicken Pot Sticker Recipe ~ you get 8 of them for FOUR points (242 calories!).
Q: Have you ever tried PHO or made your own? How do you like yours?
I usually order it out, but, I did attempt to make a PHO type soup a little while back with pot stickers
Off to actually pay attention to the movie The Husband picked out
Night all!
The story of the girl who ate her whole world….
Yup….that would be me! Last week I sorta entered a little food funk where I just felt rebellious…I sorta just went with it and ate what I wanted and didn’t care about fruits’/veggies/dairy or any of that. Today, I took that to a bigger extreme and I think I ate pretty much everything in our house…..well, (except a few crumbs) ok, maybe not that bad, but, I FEEL like that now. I think sometimes you need to just have a “day” and for me today was “THAT DAY”. I didn’t track in writing (but I did with my pictures LOL) or count my points :/ I am pretty sure I would’ve ran out of room on my paper journal and the online version would’ve gone to page 2 or 3 .
The good thing is that I feel like I am ready to re-focus and get back to it. OH and I learned to NOT work in the kitchen. So, for what it’s worth….here it goes!
After opening my package last night from Kristin, I knew EXACTLY what I was having for breakfast.
Isn’t this the CUTEST bottle of PURE Maple Syrup straight from Canada you’ve ever seen?
I whipped up a batch of my Protein Pancakes and decided to replace the BLUEBERRIES with shredded coconut after I saw Janetha do it on Pancake Sunday.
In the mix this morning:
1/3 c ff cottage cheese
1/3 c uncooked oatmeal (quick cooking or old fashioned)
1 egg
1 Tbsp freshly ground flax seed
Splash of vanilla & COCONUT extract
Dashes of cinnamon & sea salt
Sprinkle of shredded coconut
Topped with a little whipped butter, sprinkle of coconut and my new PURE Maple Syrup drizzle. AMAZING! I was sad when it was all gone
But, my day quickly brightened when The Husband surprised me by dropping off a Venti Iced Decaf Latte with Caramel Drizzle on top
I had to hang out at home today for this project to begin…..
Never in a million years did I ever think I’d be so happy to see a BIG Central Heat & Air Vent in our hallway. I know when summer comes around and it’s 110+ degrees, we will be sitting COOL!
Just one more day and we will officially have CH&A throughout our entire 1940’s house – I cannot wait….it’s the little, or, um, big things
Mid morning, I couldn’t wait to dig into another one of my Canada Goodies…this amazing looking Trail Mix.
I LOVE that they use maple syrup in it ~ it’s so Canada of them lol.
I’ve never had soybean nuts before today….they are delicious ~ this mix is the right balance of sweet and salty.
My lunch options were sorta limited to the microwave or fridge so I opted for some reheated Oh My Squash Pot stickers topped with Sriracha and sesame seeds.
Easy sides!
Since I seem to want to try EVERYTHING in my Canada pack, I found a way to justify having a couple of these for dessert.
What exactly is “fancy” molasses and how is it different from “normal” molasses? Anyone?? It’s funny to me
Healthy, organic chocolate chip mini cookies ~ totally crunchy, yet, they melt in your mouth.
I spent the afternoon listening to lots of drilling and working away on a project for work. I think we I work in the kitchen, I want to eat EVERYTHING in the kitchen. I found myself munching on some Pirates Booty for my afternoon snack even though I am not so sure I really NEEDED it.
And because I really didn’t NEEDED another snack, I made up a cheesy quesadilla roll up.
I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to use our stove tonight since it’s gas, so we headed out to Round Table Pizza for dinner. I probably could’ve cooked, but, why, when you can have a salad like this.
I went a little crazy on the doughy goodness ~ 2 parmesan twists, 1 slice veggie pizza and 1 slice Hawaiian Pizza.
I was ready to be ROLLED home, but, I still managed to find room for their mini cinnamon twists.
I am totally suffering in a BIG Food Coma, yet, I am settling in to watch The Biggest Loser ~ oh the irony, right?!
Some days I can be so spot on and other days not so much. The good part is I feel pretty awful so I think I reminded myself why I like to eat clean 90% of the time.
Tomorrow is a new day to get 110% back on track!
Night all!
Spring Time Fav’s ~ Gardening & Easter Eggs!
Happy Weekend All! I am glad to hear for the most part you all dig the concept of “Photo Fridays”. It was fun to just put the pictures up and then hear that you all can imagine the commentary.
We kicked off our weekend on Friday by taking a little trip to the SEED BANK! This place is SO COOL.
They have almost 2,000 different types of seeds, including ORGANIC seeds and rare varieties. I LOVE companies that support GMO FREE!!!
The Seed Bank is actually located in an old historical BANK in Petaluma, Ca. I LOVE the play on words…I was almost waiting for them to open up the VAULT for the rarest seeds of all
It’s BEAUTIFUL inside ~ I LOVE the architecture.
There are so many seeds and varieties that it can be a bit overwhelming.
Especially when they have an entire shelf dedicated just to tomatoes. I “almost” wanted to buy those Hill Billy tomatoes for FUN 
…I can see myself shouting ‘”yeehawww!” when a tomato showed up LOL.
This was all herbs ~ you can even buy/grow Stevia – crazy, cool!
It was hard to narrow down my choices, but, I picked things that I thought would be fun. I LOVED the purple artichokes and green beans. All of their seeds can be harvested and replanted next year and their Heirloom seeds have been around for over 50 years. Everyone that works there has such cool knowledge, it totally made me want to be an organic farmer by the time we left.
Fast forward to Saturday morning ~ we headed out to Starbuck’s where I got a grande ff decaf latte with a caramel drizzle on the foam (makes it marshmallow tasting top!)
We ran into Target for a couple of things and I couldn’t resist getting these mini $1 container plants I totally had gardening on the mind.
Then, we were off to Home Depot to pick out our garden. I learned a COOL LESSON ~ go in the mornings because the “Plant Guy” delivers everything then. We were able to pick out what we wanted off his truck – AWESOME!
One last stop at Trader Joe’s for one of my yearly Basil Plant!
I LOVE that Home Depot is supporting being EARTH FRIENDLY with their Green Going, recyclable containers. You simply cut the plastic off, cut a whole in the bottom of the container and plant your plant WITH the container. The container dissolves in your soil – AWESOME!
The Husband helped me map out where to plant what.
We planted our seedlings and none of the seeds from the Seed Bank ~ maybe we will do those later:
* Sugar Snap Peas
* Yellow Bell Peppers
* Red Bell Peppers
* Crook Neck Squash
* Zucchinis
* Burpless Cucumbers
* Japanese Cucumbers
* Mr. Stripey Heirloom Tomato (The Husband picked out these 18 oz tiger striped tomatoes!)
* Lemon Thyme that really smells like lemon and thyme
* Rosemary
* Sweet 100 Cherry Tomatoes (in the big container)
I think I will also plant my window sill herb garden for cilantro, parsley, oregano and chives because I LOVE using fresh herbs.
All watered and ready to GROW. I hope at some point we can add fresh lettuce and chard maybe too.
After feeling accomplished with our FIRST GARDEN EVER, we headed off to The Joy of Eating for lunch. The Husband and I shared this side salad with Italian Dressing.
Then, I had what I think might’ve been the BEST SANDWICH I”VE EVER HAD IN MY LIFE. A sunrise sandwich ~ Bacon, lettuce, tomato, AVOCADO, and melted provolone on their homemade sweet bread.
I ate all of the sandwich and about 1/3 of the fries.
After lunch, our kitchen turned into a bakery as I whipped up a TON of cupcakes. Homemade Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Butter Cream Frosting & sprinkles (recipe coming soon).
Then, I worked on testing out two types of Healthy Tiramisu Cupcakes. I am making a healthy version for my friends birthday next week but I NEED to try them out first to make sure I get it right.
FIRST ~ one without Mascarpone Cheese filling and with a homemade vanilla cupcake. It wasn’t bad, but, I think you need the fluffy whipped filling.
SECOND ~ Definitely prettier! This one has a Mascarpone Whipped Cream Cheese filling with a cream cheese frosting but I used TJ’s Vanilla Bean Cake Mix (lightened up).
THE VERDICT ~ I NEED to still work on it. I think I have come to the conclusion that the homemade vanilla cupcake is the best with the filling and a lighter frosting. So, my quest is to be continued! When I get the right recipe, I will share it….for now, does anyone want some of these cupcakes??? I NEED to get rid of them LOL.
Dinner was FAST and simple ~ Homemade FRESH Tomato & Basil Soup (recipe coming soon, but, it was a spin on the Homemade Tomato Basil Soup I made before).
Grilled Cheese on TJ’s FF Multi-Grain Bread with TJ’s Shredded Pepperjack blend ~ NEW FAV!
After dinner, it was time to Hang out with Dudley’s! Doesn’t he look so intense when he colors Easter Eggs?
Jay (aka The Husband) and his Mini Me ~ Jay The Egg!
He dunked it so he would get a “tan”
Meet Jay The Egg!
Next up, he made Earth! LOL
Then, we both must’ve thought alike.
A sunshine!
Sporting The Brand
Just another reason why you should ALWAYS color eggs, no matter what your age is or if you have kiddos or not SO FUN!
Check out my Guest Post for Lazy Chicken Enchiladas with Red Sauce over at Cook, Bake & Nibble.
I have a super busy day in the kitchen making up more cupcakes, deviled eggs, healthy potato salad then Easter Dinner!
HAPPY EASTER ALL!
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