Cookie Pick-Me-Up

I had my last final this morning, so I am finished with my second year of law school!  Phew.  Two down, one to go.  Let the summer begin!

Exam time can be pretty stressful and draining, to say the least.  But something always manages to perk me up:  cookies!  I made these single-serving peanut butter cookies twice this past week.  I've mentioned before that I don't like to keep sweets or junk food around because I could easily eat everything in one sitting.  Making a single-serving dessert is a great option for me - it limits my portion, and it forces me to decide if I really want a treat because I have to spend a little bit more time making it.

For the peanut butter cookies, I used whole wheat pastry flour, natural peanut butter, baking soda, salt, vanilla extract, 3/4 T brown sugar, 3/4 T white sugar, and unsweetened applesauce.

Mix everything together.  (And don't forget to sample some dough!  Yum.)

Form into 2 cookies on a baking sheet (they look so lonely - I need a mini baking sheet) and bake in the oven.

And that's it!  2 perfectly gooey, warm peanut butter cookies all to yourself.  Yum.  The second time I made them I used agave instead of brown and white sugar, and I also added some chocolate chips and sprinkled some sea salt on top.  Both variations were delicious and satisfied my sweet tooth!

I'm feeling a little under the weather today and I haven't gotten a workout in.  I'd like to take it easy and go for a walk after dinner, but it's storming right now so I'm not sure if that's going to happen.  

As you might remember, I was supposed to be on the way to Florida with my mom, sister, and grandma right now, but due to some family things we had to cancel our trip.  I'm glad to be finished with school for the time being so that I can spend time with my family right now.

I packed up my plants to take to my parents' house with me, haha.

Song of the day:

"Bad Kids" by The Black Lips.  I'd really like to see them live sometime - I have a feeling they'd put on a good show.

Instant Mini Pizzas

Happy Cinco de Mayo and Derby Day!  Are you doing anything fun to celebrate?  I love themes/ any reason to have a party, and wish I were doing something fun today, but unfortunately exams are standing in the way :(  Maybe next year... or the year after that...

But I'm still finding some small ways to get a few treats in.  With the warm weather, I started off both yesterday and today with iced coffee!

On Thursday evening I brewed a pot of strong coffee and let it cool down, then put it in the fridge overnight.  Then when I got back from the gym yesterday morning (cardio day - elliptical and rowing machine), I enjoyed a refreshing glass of coffee poured over ice, with some added almond milk and a few drops of stevia.  Yum!

Random observation - have you ever taken coffee to the gym with you?  A hot drink is seriously the last thing I would want when I'm working up a sweat, but yesterday when I was on the elliptical, a guy got on the elliptical next to me with a Starbucks coffee.  I saw this happen when I lived in DC, too (there was a Starbucks in the same building as my gym).  First of all, I can barely drink out of my water bottle without spilling all over myself when I'm on the elliptical, so trying to sip hot coffee would be a disaster waiting to happen.  Second, hot coffee is just not thirst-quenching, in my opinion.  But if people in DC and Ohio do it, I guess it's a thing....

Moving on - I've been having a lot of huge salads for lunch lately, which are delicious, but yesterday I was in the mood to switch things up a little bit without spending much time on preparation.  With that in mind, I put together some mini "pizzas," using what I had on hand in the fridge.

I lightly toasted some whole wheat sandwich thins, then spread on a mixture of pasta sauce, tomato paste, and fresh basil.

I added some toppings:  spinach, halved grape tomatoes, sliced kalamata olives, and nutritional yeast.

Then I put them under the broiler for about 5 minutes.

And that's it!  Super easy, and a great lunch alternative to the usual sandwich or salad.

I enjoyed my instant pizzas with some strawberries and a juicy peach.  So good!

After lunch I was craving something sweet and chocolatey, and I decided to make this chocolate cake batter smoothie by Angela at Oh She Glows.

It definitely satisfied my craving and was pretty healthy to boot!  It contained almond milk, old-fashioned oats, a frozen banana, cinnamon, vanilla, carob powder (you could also use cocoa powder), peanut butter (the recipe calls for cashew butter but I didn't have any, so I subbed another nut butter), chocolate chips, and ice cubes.  The hardest part was waiting an hour for the oats to soak!  It would be easy to add a scoop of protein powder, Greek yogurt, or cottage cheese to get in some extra protein, too.

Well I submitted my take-home exam earlier today, so I've got one more exam to go before I'm finished with this year.  So close!  Hope you're enjoying some margaritas/ mint juleps, wearing a fancy hat/ sombrero, and breaking a pinata/ watching the Derby.  All at once, preferably.  Have some extra fun for me!

Song of the day:

"Hey" by the Pixies.  One of my all-time favorites.

Gettin' Sloppy

Friday night I took a break from studying and made a real dinner - it had been awhile!  I was excited to try out a new recipe:  Snobby Joe's.

In keeping with my effort to be thrifty, this recipe calls for fairly inexpensive ingredients, many of which I already had on hand.

You'll need dry lentils, water, olive, oil, an onion (the recipe calls for a medium yellow onion, but I used 1/2 a white onion because I already had one), a green bell pepper, garlic cloves, chili powder, oregano, salt, tomato sauce, tomato paste, maple syrup, and prepared yellow mustard (which I omitted).

First, you cook the lentils.

While the lentils were cooking, I prepped some of the other ingredients by dicing the onion and green pepper, and mincing the garlic.

Then it was time to saute the onion, pepper, and garlic in some olive oil.

Once those have softened, you just add the rest of the ingredients.

Let that cook for a few minutes, and you're done!  Pretty simple, and it looks a lot like real Sloppy Joe's.

I was definitely a big fan of this recipe.  While it doesn't taste exactly like traditional Sloppy Joe's, the texture is spot-on.  The lentils are a perfect substitute for ground meat - it was a hearty and comforting meal.

And the best part (in my opinion):

Lots o' leftovers!!  This should get me through finals.

It was nice to take some time away from studying and relax in the kitchen.  I listened to a podcast of This American Life while I made my dinner.  I am really loving podcasts these days.  I've had the NPR app on my phone for awhile, and I absolutely love listening to Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me (this actually makes me laugh out loud to myself), Car Talk (also elicits a few chuckles), and Weekends on All Things Considered.  I usually bribe myself to wash dishes or do other chores with the promise of being able to listen to a podcast <-- nerd alert :)

I enjoyed my Snobby Joe's with a bowl of amazing fruit - strawberries and a perfect peach.

Yesterday morning I went to the gym and did my circuit workout, followed by some speed and incline intervals on the treadmill.  And then it was time for a protein smooooothie.

Into the blender went:  1 cup almond milk, 1 T ground flax seeds, 1 T natural peanut butter, 1 scoop vanilla Sun Warrior protein powder, lots of spinach, 1 frozen banana, and 1/2 cup frozen blueberries.

I might have been thinking about this smoothie while pushing myself through my workout.  I'm all about the self-incentives, can ya tell?

I've got my first final tomorrow - it'll be my first completely closed book, handwritten exam in law school.  Wish me luck!

Song of the day:

"Janglin" by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros.  I got to see them perform at a music festival a couple of years ago, and they were really fun to see.  I imagine this is what the 1970s were like, free love and all.

Personal Oasis

I made my basic oatmeal every morning of last week (oatmeal, water, banana, chia seeds, nut butter) and I was getting a little tired of it.  I've said before how much I like to have breakfast already prepared when I wake up (via breakfast cookies, overnight oats, or slow-cooker oatmeal) and this past Sunday I tried out a different variation:  baked oatmeal.  I followed a recipe from Julie at Peanut Butter Fingers for Banana Pecan Coconut Baked Oatmeal.

It's got an awesome ingredient list:  rolled oats, steel cut oats, baking powder, salt, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla almond milk (I added 1 teaspoon vanilla extract to regular almond milk), 1 egg, applesauce (I used unsweetened), plain yogurt, 2 ripe bananas, pecans, and coconut.  I love that there's no added sugar or sweetener - the sweetness comes entirely from the applesauce and bananas.

Even though I'm not a huge fan of coconut, I really love this baked oatmeal - so yummy.

I couldn't resist trying a bite (or two) Sunday night after it came out of the oven.  It also made my apartment smell amazing!

In the morning I just scoop out some oatmeal and heat it up in the microwave to take the chill off.  I'm currently out of almond milk (tragic!) but I think it would be good heated up with some milk.  Julie also recommends serving it with maple syrup, yogurt, and/or fresh fruit, which all sound delicious to me.

I've been meaning to put together a tentative menu for a Mother's Day brunch, and the baked oatmeal inspired me to finally sit down and pick out some recipes.  I get recipe ideas from so many different sources - blogs, magazines, cookbooks, and a file folder of recipes I've collected over the years - so it can be a little overwhelming to narrow down the options, but a lot of fun.

Well it's pretty much the same ol' same ol' around here.  Got some cardio in at the gym this morning, and had a huge salad beast for lunch (along with an apple and almond butter):

That beauty had spinach, grape tomatoes, a hard-boiled egg, edamame, an artichoke heart, chickpeas, kalamata olives, raw sunflower seeds, hummus, balsamic vinegar, and bulgur.  So good.

This afternoon I stole away to my personal oasis to do some studying.

Okay, actually I just went to the mall to do some errands, and decided to grab a fresh juice (carrots, cucumber, beets) and do some studying there.  I should have thrown some change into that fountain and wished for good grades while I was at it.  I did see a little girl stumble into the fountain, which was a cute distraction.  (She was fine - she just got her feet wet, and luckily her mom had just bought her a new pair of shoes.)

Also, I would like this, please.  Thank you.  (But not that weird spatula.)

Now I'm off to make some dinner.  I'll leave you with these words of wisdom courtesy of my tea.

Song of the day:

"Silver Lining" by Rilo Kiley.  I absolutely love Rilo Kiley and Jenny Lewis (lead singer).