Crock-Pot Banana Bread Breakfast Quinoa

Good morning!

I can't believe I'm already four weeks into my dietetic internship!  I only have one week left of my foodservice/management rotation!  (Woohoo!  It's been interesting, but I already knew before I started this DI that foodservice is not where I want to be in the future, so...more on this later!)

The morning began with a brisk (aka...It's 8 degrees outside I want to go back inside where it's warm) 4 mile run.  I think I was feeling spoiled earlier in the week when the weather was in the 20s and 30s, so I thought hey, no biggie that it's in the single digits.  But alas, I'm sure you get the picture. ;) (So why did I choose to go up north again?)  At least the shower I took felt glorious!

By the way, if you are interested in what I'm doing to train for the half marathon I'm doing in April, take a look at my Weekly Exercise Log!  Since I decided a little late in the game to do this half, I don't have as much time as I'd like to prepare, but nine weeks is still decent!

Now on to food...

So you know how everyone is big into the crock-pot meals? I decided to jump on that bandwagon, breakfast style!

You may remember my Zucchini & Asiago Quinoa post, so you know I love quinoa! But quinoa for breakfast? I had seen things on Pinterest floating around about "sweet" dishes involving quinoa, but I never really got around to trying it. Thinking about how nice it would be to just wake up to breakfast already made, however, especially on a morning where I have to get at 4 AM, finally convinced me to give it a go! So, here is my first (quite delicious!) take on quinoa for breakfast!

Crock-Pot Banana Bread Breakfast Quinoa 

*I used a mini crock-pot, but if you use a full-sized one, you may want to double the recipe.

Ingredients

- 1/2 cup Quinoa
- 1 cup Vanilla almond milk
- 1 cup Water
- Splash of fat free dairy milk, optional
- A few shakes of cinnamon
- 1 ripe banana, mashed

- Sprinkle with walnuts or pecans, if desired!

*Remember to rinse your quinoa really well before use!!

Simply combine all ingredients in the crock-pot and cook on low for 3-4 hours. If you doubled the recipe in a full-sized pot, cook for 5-6 hours.

Yield: Made about 4 servings for me.

Enjoy waking up to this heavenly scent!

 You may also like:

Zucchini and Asiago Quinoa

 

Italian-Infused Tomato Lentil Soup

Hot Chocolate, Please!

It has been snowing all day today!  Why couldn't this have happened on Christmas morning?

In other news, I have officially signed up for another half marathon, complete with hot chocolate to welcome us at the finish line!  Yum!  After my last race (below), I had a blast but wasn't super happy with my time, so I'm excited to try and improve on it!  

 
Foodwise...
Lunch today consisted of a delicious, homemade...

Apple & Black Bean Turkey Burger 

If you love a fiber rich, flavorful burger (without added salt, I might add), then this one is for you!

What I Used:

- ~1.5 lbs. Ground Turkey

- 2 Medium Gala Apples, finely chopped (~2.5 Cups)

- 3/4 Cup Roughly Smashed Black Beans

- 1 Egg

- 1/2 Heaping Tablespoon Garlic Powder

- 1 Teaspoon Parsley Flakes

- 1/2 Teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes

- Black Pepper, to taste

What to Do:

- Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.

- Divide mixture into 3 oz patties. (There isn't much cooking loss, so they're still decently sized.)

- Push into the middle of each patty to make them slightly concave.

- Cook on stove over medium high heat, about 3-4 minutes on each side.  There's no need to grease the pan (at least with my nonstick pan).  Be sure to check the temperature.  Ideally, these burgers should reach an internal temperature of 165 F.

- Enjoy!

Yield: 15 Burgers

They look burned, but I assure you they're not!

 

Question of the Day:  Has anyone ever done an international half marathon?  We met a woman at the last race who travels all over the world to walk in half marathons.  Some places apparently give you wine along the way!  That would be so fun to basically do a walking tour of Italy or France while completing a half marathon!

Enjoy your weekend!

Half Marathon, Here I Come!

Happy Summer!

Someone's not too happy with me...

Sorry for being nonexistent for so long! Thanks to those of you who inquired if I was still going to keep Hugs and Kiwis running! I'm glad that you've stumbled upon my little space of the blog world and are still following! I'll do my best to catch you up on the last few, okay more than a few, months. Let the recap begin!

Have you ever used the website MapMyRun.com? When I discovered it early last year I only used it a couple of times, but now I use it like crazy, because, let's face it, sometimes I can be pretty directionally challenged, and it's easy to use.

I've gotten lost simply walking Charlie when I decided to try a new route (bonus for Charlie since we probably walked an extra mile or two before I called my dad to look up how to get "unlost") and I've even gone the wrong way during a cross country meet in school. Fortunately, I didn't go too far before someone corrected me.

What I like about MapMyRun is that you can log/save each route you do. Now that I've signed up for my first half marathon in September, this will come in handy as I'm buckling down and doing longer runs!

Foodwise...

Here's a snapshot of some of the things I've eaten since my last post!  More details/recipes to come for some!

Veggie Scrambled Egg Whites w/Apples & PB2 Dip

Zucchini Mushroom Omelet w/Apples and PB2 Dip

Berry-Loaded Oatmeal w/PB2 and Toasted Coconut

Cheesy Mushroom Broccoli Omelet

Chicken Pineapple Scrambles w/Honey Glazed Carrots

Green Onion Asiago Omemlet

 

Pineapple Chicken Wrap

Hot Apple Cider (Which I promptly checked off my Autumn 2012 bucket list!)

 My Mom's Homemade Pizza!!

Roasted Veggie/Sweet Potato Wrap

Real Fruit Roll-up

Dark Chocolate Banana "Ice Cream"

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Green Smoothie

Cauliflower/Sweet Potato Mashed Potatoes

Chicken Fajita Salad

 

Well, it's a start, right?  If any of the above looks good to you, check back later for some recipes!  Have a good night!

Italian-Infused Tomato Lentil Soup

Workout

Italian-Infused Tomato Lentil Soup

I feel like lentils are a weird food. Yummy, but weird. They seem like a cross between beans and noodles. That is, they have the texture of beans (kind of) and look like noodles. Plus, for being so little, they're packed full of protein and fiber.  

It had been a while since I'd had lentils, so when I saw them sitting in the cabinet, I decided to break them out again and embrace these healthful and tasty (albeit weird) legumes.

While this dish is heavy with Italian flavors, I threw in some raisins at the last minute.

What I Used:

~ 1/4 Cup brown lentils

~ 1/2 Cup water

~ 1 clove garlic, minced

~ 1/4 teaspoon ground oregano

~ 1/2 teaspoon ground basil

~ A couple handfuls (About 1/8 cup) chickpeas/garbanzo beans (no salt added canned or dried-cooked before use)

~ Red and yellow bell peppers (About 1/2 cup total), chopped into 1-inch chunks

~ About 1/4 cup white onion, small/medium diced

~ 1 Cup tomatoes, large diced or cut into large chunks (I used no-salt-added canned because I didn't have fresh at the time, plus there's a lot of juice). If using fresh, try not to let too much juice escape or cut them over a bowl.

~ 2 Tablespoons raisins

~ Pinch (or 2) of garlic powder

~ 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

~ Black pepper, to taste

~ Asiago cheese

What I Did:

1. Rinse the lentils thoroughly in a strainer and pick out any "rocks"/"debris" (things that look like they don't belong).
2. Add lentils, water, oregano, basil, and minced garlic to a medium saucepan, bring to a boil, then partly cover (crack it at the top) and turn down the heat to a simmer.
3. When most of the water is gone (but not all) add all of the other ingredients, except the asiago cheese. Let simmer, covered, until peppers are cooked to desired softness. I left mine a little crunchy for texture.
4. Place in a bowl and lightly sprinkle with asiago cheese.

* My chickpeas were fully cooked but frozen, so I put them in with everything else, but if yours are not frozen, you may want to add them more towards the end so they don't get overcooked and mushy.

** The onions were an afterthought along with the raisins, so I didn't precook them. For even more flavor, you may want to sauté them, along with the peppers, before adding to the saucepan.

Enjoy!

Question of the day: Am I the only one who thinks lentils are a bit on the weirder side? Do you eat a lot of lentils?

Creamy Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal

In this post:

Quick Fix Strength Circuit Workout
Creamy Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal
Zucchini and Asiago Quinoa

As I came down the stairs several mornings ago, who should I find lounging in the middle of the staircase?

Oh Charlie, how lucky you are that I saw you through my morning stupor!

To kickstart the launch of my fitness page, I decided to get things going with a speedy strength workout, which is basically the workout I originally did in my mushroom asiago omelet post, but with a slight adaptation.

As I did the back extensions, I held every other one for 8 seconds.

Be sure to check my workouts page periodically because I will be adding workouts as I do them. At least, the ones I deem worthy. ;) I hope you enjoy!

Breakfast was a delicious bowl of Creamy Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal.

What I used:

~ 1/2 Cup oatmeal

~ 1 Cup water

~ 1/2 Banana, cut into quartered chunks

~ About 1/8 Cup blueberries

~ 1 Tablespoon Plumaisins (chopped up no sugar added dried plums)

~ Sprinkle of toasted coconut

~ 1 Tablespoon PB2 (Powdered peanut butter)

I cooked the oatmeal for about 3 to 4 minutes on high in the microwave (I didn't have the patience to use the stovetop) then mixed everything else in. Yum yum yum is all I have to say. Creamy goodness on a spoon.

Guess who I should find staring at me the whole time I ate this deliciousness? You guessed it! Sorry, Chairbear, you had food waiting for you several feet to your left, with pumpkin on top to boot!

Lunch

Who remembers the first time you saw or heard the word "quinoa?" (pronounced keen-wa) Was your reaction, "Huh?" 

No? Well, mine was. What was this foreign-sounding "grain?" 

While it is widely considered a grain, it is actually a seed. A yummy, nutritious seed, I might add.

 I don't know what exactly to call this dish, so I'm just going to say Zucchini and Asiago Quinoa. It's very simple, but might in fact be one of the best things I've put on this blog. If you love zucchini and asiago cheese (and garlic ;) ), you won't be disappointed!

What I Used:

~ 1/4 Cup dry quinoa

~ 1/2 Cup water

~ 1/3 Zucchini, cut into thin half-slices

~ About 1/3 Large, white onion, chopped into thick chunks

~ 1 Clove garlic, minced

~ Organic baby spinach

~ 2 Fresh bella mushrooms, somewhat thickly sliced

~ 3/4 oz Asiago cheese

~ Black pepper to taste (I don't like adding salt when I'm using asiago cheese, because that's salty enough for the whole dish, for my taste)

What I Did:

1. Rinse the quinoa thoroughly under cold water in a strainer or cheesecloth. This gets rid of the natural bitterness (that's meant to protect it from getting eaten no less). This bitter coating is called saponin.
2. In a small/medium saucepan, add the quinoa and water and bring to a boil. Then, cover and reduce the heat and let simmer for about 10-15 minutes, or until all the water is gone. 
3. While the quinoa is cooking, drizzle a little olive oil onto a skillet and heat over medium to medium-high heat.
4. Add the onions and sauté for several minutes, until you see it start to brown/caramelize, then add the zucchini and mushrooms, cooking for another 2 or 3 minutes.
5. When the quinoa and veggies are both done, combine them in the saucepan, along with the spinach, fresh garlic, asiago cheese, and pepper.

Done! The heat melts the cheese immediately and you're left with a cheesy, savory yumminess.

Yield: Makes about 1-2 servings.

Question of the evening: Are you a quinoa fanatic like I am? What is one of the best quinoa dishes you've ever eaten?

You might also like:

Chicken and Veggie Stir Fry

w/ Lemon Ginger Sauce

Garlic Hummus