An Energizing Lunch

Here's what I had for lunch at work today:


Shrimp from the prepared foods section of Whole Foods, cut up carrots and cucumber, and leftover fruit salad from last night's Fourth of July dinner. I also brought a juicy peach and a blueberry flax muffin for snacks before and after.

Oat Bran

This morning I tried oat bran for breakfast for the first time. Mom and I got it on our last Whole Foods shopping trip. What did I think of it? Yum! I like anything smooth and creamy.


It ranks right up there with quinoa flakes...

2nd Breakfast

I already posted this on my other blog, but I'll post it here too. For breakfast yesterday I made a hot, bubbling pot of quinoa flakes and enjoyed that by myself on the couch before anyone else in my house was up. Yes, it's July 1st, but we're still having foggy cold mornings, so hot cereal works. It's cozy, and it reminds me of winter, which reminds me of Christmas!

By about 9:30, it was time for "2nd Breakfast!" (you have to say that phrase with an English accent just like Pippin - or was it Merry?) On Sunday I bought cherries at the farmers market, and I wanted to have them with oatmeal. So I made oatmeal with plain soymilk, ground flaxseed, cinnamon, and topped it with a cherry compote and a drizzle of agave nectar.

On the side of my plate in the pic below are some extra cherries that are kind of hidden by the bowl. I also have more compote in a bowl that's not pictured. I like being able to put it on when I want, so that not every bite is overloaded with fruit. Sometimes I like spoonfuls of plain oats in between bites of oats with fruit. It cleanses the palate!

Mmm, cherry goodness.

Jury Duty Day Breakfast

This bowl of oatmeal held me over well the first morning I had to go in for jury duty last week. Features oats, soymilk, cinnamon, fresh blueberries, banana, walnuts, and a drizzle of maple syrup. The weather was warm enough to eat outside!

Muesli Concoction

This morning I tried something new for breakfast: Muesli! We're finally getting some 80 degree weather here, so I was able to eat in the garden. Absolutely lovely. If I could, I would always eat outside.


My muesli concoction featured oats, soy yogurt, vanilla soymilk, cinnamon, blueberries, and raspberries. I also cut up a banana and threw some of it in as well. It helped with the sweetness.


My opinion? I actually didn't think it was that great. Even though I let the mixture of oats soak in the fridge the night before, I still didn't like the uncooked flavor of them the next morning. It might've helped to squeeze in a bit of honey, but I didn't feel like going back inside the cold house just for that.

It wasn't bad though, and I might try a different combo of ingredients sometime in the future.

What to Eat When You Can't Chew

I didn't realize how long it had been since I downloaded the pics on my camera to my computer! When I did that today, I found pics way back from when I had my wisdom tooth taken out. Yikes. That was a couple weeks ago! If I don't start posting my pics more frequently, I'm never going to catch up here. *Gulp*

I guess I'll start with the oldest. Here's some of what I ate when I couldn't chew:

Sweet potato soup


Plain soy yogurt. I LOVE this stuff - but only the plain flavor. It's DELISH. :-)


Another absolute fave: quinoa flakes with brown sugar sprinkled on top. I could eat this any time of day. Quinoa is a complete protein, so it's good for you! The flakes are similar to instant oatmeal, only better, in my opinion. :-) So smooth, so easy to chew - that's important when you have your wisdom teeth taken out.


Jamba Juice dairy free smoothies: here's Mega Mango, along with a list of times I had to take my medicine. :-(

That's all for this post!

Memorial Day Food

This year we had a barbeque at our house for Memorial Day. Two of my aunts came over to celebrate the day with us. This ended up being the day before I had my wisdom tooth removed, so my mouth was hurting pretty bad, but nevertheless, here are some food pics...

Dad thought it would be fun to have shish kabobs, so we did! Here they are, ready to go on the grill. Aren't they pretty?

Chicken with tomatoes, bell pepper, and mushrooms


Beef with onions and bell pepper


On the barbie


Huge strawberries that one of my aunts brought us.


A cold rice salad that Mom made. The recipe was taken from Cook's Country magazine.


A pan of brownies for dessert.


After we ate we went on a walk around the lake. Then by the time we got back Dad had set up our chocolate fondue fountain. We tested it out with the strawberries. Yum. Sadly I didn't think to get any pics of it. You'll have to use your imagination.