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MaraNatha dark chocolate almond butter

My Sad Oatmeal

by Jenn (j3nn.net) on February 12, 2010

It appears that my oatmeal has 2 broken hearts. :( I used 2 small heart-shaped cookie cutters as a mold for my oatmeal toppings today, but the toppings tumbled and broke my little oatmeal’s heart–TWICE! :cry: lol

Sad looking as it may be, it tasted out of this world YUMMY! :)

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In the pot:

  • 1/2 cup (40g) Quaker 100% rolled oats (150 cal)
  • 1 small banana (100 cal)
  • 1 cup + 2 TBSP water (to make it extra creamy)
  • 2 packets Truvia

Toppings:

  • 15g Trader Joe’s mixed honey roasted nuts (95 cal)
  • 7g coconut (35 cal)
  • 7g Nestle mini chocolate chips (35 cal)
  • 10g dried cranberries (30 cal)
  • 1 TBSP/16g MaraNatha dark chocolate almond butter (90 cal)

1 serving, 535 calories

It was deeeeeeeeeeeeelicious!! Fruity, sweet, tart, crunchy, creamy and chewy all in one bowl of awesomeness. :mrgreen: I think Kath would be proud!

That was eaten about an hour before my workout, so by the time I was done, showered and dressed, I was thinking about what to make for lunch. Leftovers? Meh. Looking at the bright blue sky from our bedroom, I was in the mood for something fresh and spring-like. So I decided on pasta salad with tuna and leftover string beans. If you like volume, this dish is for you!

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  • 2oz whole wheat elbow pasta (210 cal)
  • 4oz Trader Joe’s no salt added Tongol tuna (120 cal)
  • A heaping cup of string beans (40 cal)
  • 5 Lindsay low sodium black olives (25 cal)
  • 1.5 teaspoons grated pecorino romano cheese or parmesan (30 cal)
  • 2 TBSP Bragg healthy vinaigrette (90 cal)
  • 1 TBSP red wine vinegar (5 cal)

1. Boil pasta; drain
2. In a large bowl mix in pasta, tuna, string beans, olives, dressing + vinegar, and 1 tsp of grated cheese
3. Top with remaining .5 tsp cheese

1 large serving, 520 calories -or- 2 servings, 260 calories each

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This Bragg healthy vinaigrette is excellent. Love the flavor, made with entirely wholesome ingredients and only 60mg sodium per serving.

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This was SO good! And filling! I wanted 3 large meals yesterday, so all of my meals were around 500-600 calories. Dustin was eating leftover chili (he LOVES it) and I found myself stealing the Tabasco away from him to shake on my pasta salad. LOL :oops:

I was running out of creative juices by the time dinner came around, so I decided to just eat leftover chili, Mexican style to make it more interesting. I don’t know what you would call these… burritos? Tacos? Enchiladas? *shrugs* I call them: Chili rolls! :lol:

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I reheated a heaping 1/2 cup of last night’s chili, then put some inside 2 small Food for Life Ezekiel 4:9 sprouted grain tortillas (160 cal, 80 cal each) with a few drops of Tabasco; rolled them up, topped them with 1oz shredded 2% Cracker Barrel cheddar cheese (90 cal), then popped them in the microwave for a few seconds. When they came out, I added on 2oz Chobani plain Greek yogurt (35 cal), 1oz Wholly Guacamole (50 cal) and another splash of Tabasco. :mrgreen: YUMMMMMMMMM! These were sooo goooood. I estimate the calories to be around 550.

We’re running late today, we have hair appointments, then we have shopping to do. This is an extremely busy upcoming week. Just when I thought the holidays were over, we have another string of events. Aaaaaaaaaah! Fun though. :D Be back later, we’re going out to lunch and I am starving. I don’t even know where we’re going to eat. I’ll have plenty of time to think about it during our long car rides. *sigh* YAY for satellite radio! :)

Tagged as: Bragg vinaigrette, chili, dried cranberries, guacamole, MaraNatha dark chocolate almond butter, oatmeal, pasta salad, Tabasco, tuna

{ 14 comments }

Friday Rewind

by Jenn (j3nn.net) on February 5, 2010

I’ve spent more time shopping this week than I have working or cooking. :oops: So now my at home to-do list is a mile long, and when everyone else is winding down for the week, I’m pretty much just getting started. :lol: Honestly, days of the week and dates make very little difference to us being there really is no start or finish to our workweek; working for ourselves at home we often lose track of what day it even is. If it weren’t for holidays and bank holidays, and seasons changing we probably wouldn’t even realize what month it is most of the time. LOL

I’ve been shopping for my mom’s birthday and Valentine’s Day all week, so of course I couldn’t resist my favorite grocery stores while we were out. We found this incredible new pizza place in Middletown called Carbonella’s Coal Fire Pizza. Their pizza is absolutely amazing, but this time I had their tuna sandwich on ciabatta, which isn’t made with mayo, I think they use just oil and vinegar. I had half of it for lunch while we were out on Tuesday, then brought the rest home for dinner:

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Delish! If you’re in the OC, check it out. :)

When we came home, I got a delivery from one of my favorite online stores: Healthy Heart Market

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Sodium-free baking soda

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Sodium-free baking powder

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Low sodium Lindsay olives: 25 calories for 5 of them, 40mg sodium — wish I could find these locally, they are awesome! They have the regular ones, but not the low sodium ones. Shop Rite, Hannaford, Mother Earth’s, you need to get on these!! ;)

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Yesterday we went to Kingston, after hitting up Best Buy, BB&B, Macy’s, Pier 1, Barnes & Noble, and a few other stores, we dropped by Mother Earth’s for just a few things. No, seriously, just a few things. We didn’t even get a cart, just the little hand basket! :lol: :

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I’ve seen this MaraNatha dark chocolate almond butter on other blogs, so I just HAD to buy it when I saw it. When we got home, I had a snack with it:

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One medium-ish banana (110 cal) with 1 TBSP MaraNatha dark chocolate almond butter (90 cal) with a few Valentine’s Day sprinkles (15 cal) that I picked up in Target for baking. I also tried the Bigelow white chocolate kisses tea I bought the other day:

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It’s SO good! Pick up a box if you come across it. I added 2 packets of Truvia and 3oz skim milk (35 cal) to it, so with my banana this was the perfect quick bite for just 250 yummy calories.

My MaraNatha dark chocolate almond butter review: It tastes fantastic!! The only downside is that it was $8.50 for one jar, but this will last for months so I think it’s totally worth it. I highly recommend it if you like almond butter and chocolate, it’s a little like chocolate frosting, but healthier.

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I also got a cute little Quorn roast, which I haven’t tried yet. I plan on slicing it for sandwiches or in salad.

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I really like the texture of jerky, but it’s usually really high in sodium. This organic beef jerky is much lower in sodium than other leading brands:

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It will make a tasty low-cal, high protein snack. Yum!

Speaking of snacks, I was excited to find Glutino unsalted gluten-free pretzels and Good Health Natural Foods potato chips cooked with olive oil :o

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Love the list of ingredients in the chips:

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They were reasonably priced @ just $2.89 for a large bag, too. I tried the Glutino gluten-free pretzels and I thought they were really good! They taste pretty much just like regular pretzels; they’d probably taste even more like them with salt on the surface. I love seeing and trying all of the new gluten-free products on the market. If I ever have to go on a gluten-free diet, I’m ready! :mrgreen:

I’ve been wanting to try non-dairy coconut milk “ice cream” for awhile now, so I picked up a pint of Luna & Larry’s Coconut Bliss:

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I tried about a half serving of it last night — WOWWOWOWOW! It’s fabulous! The flavor is rich, the texture is a little less creamy than regular ice cream, but very close to the real deal. Dustin liked it, too. I think he’s lactose intolerant at times because ice cream tends to give him a bellyache, so this is perfect. Plus it’s made with entirely wholesome ingredients that you can pronounce. Love! <3

For dinner I made Field Roast sausage omelets with spinach and leftover roast sweet potato wedges from the other day:

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Omelet

  • 2 large cage free organic eggs (150 cal)
  • 1 teaspoon EVOO (40 cal)
  • ~2 cups fresh baby spinach (14 cal)
  • Quarter of a small red onion (20 cal)
  • A little diced plum tomato (10 cal)
  • 1/2 Field Roast Italian meatless sausage, diced (120 cal)
  • 30g fresh avocado (50 cal)
  • 5 Lindsay low sodium black olives (25 cal)
  • 14g Cabot 50% reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese (35 cal)

1 omelet, 475 calories

I started by adding in the spinach, tomato, onions and sausage in a nonstick frying pan with 1 teaspoon EVOO:

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When the spinach was wilted down, I poured in the eggs, then towards the end I added in the olives, avocado and cheese.

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I don’t know how many calories were in the sweet potatoes, but put me down for around 100. I also finished the bottle of Vitamin Water 10 that I opened the day before. Love that stuff!!!

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The omelet was YUMMY! Aside from the cheddar cheese and avocado, I guess it qualifies as an Italian omelet, but I brought some American flare into it. hehe

Ok, I have 99 things to do and staying here at my computer isn’t one of them. :cry: LOL Be back later!!

Are you watching the Superbowl? If so, what are your plans? We’re undecided on what we’re going to do, it depends on the weather!

Blogosphere news: Attention all bloggers! If you want to disable trackbacks, send me an email and I’ll send you the link to the plug-in that I just installed last night. No more trackback spam, yay! :D

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Tagged as: Bigelow tea, Coconut Bliss, Glutino pretzels, Lindsay olives, MaraNatha dark chocolate almond butter, omelet, Quorn, sodium free baking soda

{ 10 comments }