Forgive Me

I have a confession.

I ate shrimp.

If you remmeber, I was going vegetarian for the week.  Shrimp isn’t vegetarian.

I wasn’t planning it. I was going to have pasta. With butter. And cheese. You know, meat-less stuff. But then I opened the fridge and saw pasta sauce. I started thinking about making a full-on pasta meal. Suddenly, there was a plate of leftover shrimp sitting on the counter. Next thing I knew I was happilly stirring leftover bbq shrimp into my pasta. I’m a bad rule follower. I did, however, stir in a ton of spinach to make up for it!! This is a big deal..remember, I don’t like vegetables in my pasta.  I did this for you people. Your welcome.

The Mix:

whole wheat rotini

classic pasta sauce

shrimp……..oops.

baby spinach

lime hot sauce

garlic powder

onion powder

red wine

salt/pepper

parmasean cheese

Later I will be having a couple of these cookies.

Goodnight!!

So Berry Good

Today for breakfast I made a smoothie in a bowl. I was worried it wouldn’t fill me up, but it was delicioussss. This was the best smoothie I’ve had in a long time.

The Mix:

1/2 cup frozen berry mix (strawberry, blackberry, blueberry, raspberry)

1/3 cup raw rolled oats

1/4 cup plain greek yogurt

3/4 cup almond breeze (unsweetened)

sprinkle of flax seeds

1/4 of a frozen banana

small squirt of agave

teaspoon of vanilla extract

Topping:

1/4 cup honey almond granola

1 tbsp peanut butter

I ate this smoothie (weird saying ate instead of drank!) with a side of hot coffee…yum! I never drank coffee everyday until last year. I would order a tall nonfat misto with hazelnut syrup every morning (sometimes multiple times a day) from Starbucks. Eventually I stopped ordering the syrup with it and just sprinkled some cinnamon into my drink. I can’t stand the sweet syrups anymore, it’s funny how our taste buds change! Now, I rarely ever visit coffee shops because my parents roast their own coffee beans so I have my own coffeshop-quality coffee right in my kitchen! Sometimes I add a little milk into my coffee, but about 90% of the time I just drink it black. Skipping my morning trip to Starbucks has definitely saved me some money the past couple of months! I never knew how much I was spending there until I started tracking it…about $35 a week!! That’s $140 a month!! Craziness.

What do you order at coffee shops? 

I’ll be back tonight with some ice cream talk. Luckily the weather is so much nicer than it has been the past couple of days!!

Also, make sure to follow us on Twitter and I just made a Facebook page, so “like” us on Facebook!!

One of Those Days

I have to admit…I wasn’t going to blog tonight. I woke up to a huge migraine that took forever to go away. Once it was gone, another one came. Then I spent the rest of the day with a massive headache.

When I get migraines, my whole day is gone. It starts off with me not able to see in my peripheral vision, then I pretty much can’t see at all. Everything is all spotty and black. After about 30 minutes that part goes away, and I get a giant headache. That pretty much lasts all day until I fall asleep.

Spending all day at work around 50 children with this massive headache wasn’t fun. I couldn’t wait to get home, eat a yummy dinner and relax in bed. I decided to make one of my favorite (and probably most boring) meals, grilled cheese and soup.

I was up late last night working on a delicious new recipe that I can’t wait to tell you about this weekend! I tweeted a sneak peak of the recipe last night because I was so excited!

I know this was a short post but I need to go lay down…this headache is killing me! I’ll be back tomorrow with some ice cream talk!

Morning Confessions

Breakfast:

Whole wheat toast with Naturally Nutty’s Vanilla Almond Butter with a green apple sliced on top and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Yum. I’m having a little bigger lunch and snack later so this itty bitty meal was just to tide me over!

Recycled picture because I forgot to snap a picture. oops!

No one is perfect. We all have little quirks that make us who we are. I felt like I needed to share a few of mine with you so you could get to know me better. I hope I don’t scare you away…I have a really yummy dessert planned for you this weekend. Does that make you want to stay?

1. I don’t always wash my fruits and vegetables. Sometimes I’m in such a rush I just want to stuff my face with those gorgeous strawberries and there’s no time to rinse. However, if my Mom is around me I wash everything. If I don’t, I get to hear the lecture why it’s so important to wash them.  As I write this I am eating delicious green grapes out of a bag. Without washing them. I’m such a rebel…

2. I open and close the oven too much when I bake. I’m addicted to the smell of treats baking. Yes, I know there’s a light inside of the oven I can turn on, but that’s no fun. I’d rather pathetically stand there staring into the oven wondering why it’s not baking as the heat flows out.

3. Some days I would rather eat 5 different kinds of cake than even think about eating a vegetable. Ok, that’s pretty much everyday.

4. I’m now addicted to Twitter. Click here to follow me:@ThatDeepBreath. Pretty please. I’m a monster, I can’t be stopped.

5. If I could eat every meal in the form of a pizza, I would.

I hope you still want to be my friend. I’ll bake you 5 different kinds of cake.

Have a great day, everyone!

Veggie Wraps with Spicy Peanut Sauce

I like messy food. Alot. Which is why I love wraps. Sure, they seem neat and tidy when you take your first bite, and your second, and maybe even your fourth. But when you get towards the end….BAM all the insides fall out. To some, it may cause a little stress. Me, I pick up my fork and stuff as much as I can into my mouth.

These are good. Really good. And you can add anything you want into them. I like recipes with freedom….and that I can’t screw up.

Lettuce Wraps with Spicy Peanut Sauce

For 3 Wraps:

6 pieces lettuce 

1/2 red pepper, cut into thin slices

1/2 yellow pepper, cut into thin slices

1/2 avocado, sliced

1 shredded carrots

1/2 cucumber, cut into thin slices

chopped peanuts

1/4 green apple, cut into thin slices

Slice your veggies & apple. Lay out 3 lettuce pieces. Divide up apple & vegetables into the lettuce leaves, but make sure not to overstuff. Begin to roll, tucking both ends in and roll another lettuce leave with the one that is stuffed. Use toothpicks if you want, I do. Rolling the wraps can take a couple tries..but it’s worth it.

Lay out 3 lettuce pieces.

Divide up apple & vegetables into the lettuce leaves, but make sure not to overstuff.

TaDa!

Spicy Peanut Sauce

2 tbsp pb

1.25 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp rice vinegar

a little less than 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1.25 tsp brown sugar

6 tbsp water

1/2 tbsp lemon juice

.5 tsp granulated garlic

Mix all ingredients together. It’s that easy, and delicious.

A New Morning

First of all, I want to congratulate Yoda of Hanford, California for winning the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest!! I wouldn’t say this dog is “ugly”…but it kinda looks like a rat. Scary.

Source

For breakfast this morning I had a yogurt bowl.

Yes this is a recycled image, I didn’t have time to take pictures

The Mix:

1/2 cup greek yogurt

1/4 tsp agave (mixed into yogurt)

1/4 cup granola

4 strawberries

blueberries

Yesterday I was asked a question on my Q&A page (I still need lots more questions…post them on the page or email me at thatdeepbreath@yahoo.com):

What is your career field? Do you enjoy it? How does one take a “deep breath” when in something/and a life that they are not happy in?

I am currently a full time student. During the summer I work at a summer camp, and during the school year I work at an after school daycare program. I also have a volunteer job as a cheerleading coach to youth. I love it. I love children and honestly can’t imagine having a job where I couldn’t work with them. I am currently studying education to become an elementary school teacher in my future. I can’t wait to finally be done with school & start teaching!

I find that when I get stressed I just need to take a deep breath so I can think clearly. Sometimes problems are a little bigger than just breathing, so I think it’s important to find something that you enjoy & makes you happy. Whether it’s something little like a vase of flowers on your table every day or doing yoga a few times a week. Reading quotes also makes me feel better when I am unhappy. It makes me feel better to know that someone else has gone through something similar and it will get better. One of my favorites:

“Never let go of hope. One day you will see that it all has finally come together. What you have always wished for has finally come to be. You will look back and laugh at what has passed and you will ask yourself… ‘How did I get through all of that?'”

The most important thing to do is find something that calms you. Something that let’s your mind forget about all of your worries & troubles for even just an hour out of your day.

Keep those questions coming! I need to fill up my Q&A page & I love answering questions! Leave them as a comment or send them to me at thatdeepbreath@yahoo.com

I’ll leave you with something that always calms me & is my Deep Breath at times. I’ll be back later with a yummy vegetarian recipe!!

Vegetables are Good

If you remember, this morning I announced this week’s challenge…being completely vegetarian for a week. Since November I have cut back on my meat consumption and the only meat I ate was fish and some chicken. This week I am going without any meat, including fish. I am using this week to document how I’m feeling while living off a plant-based diet and learning new, creative ways to use veggies. While this week obviously isn’t going to give me the whole picture of being vegetarian (parties, holidays, life occurrences) I will be more aware of my diet options. Eventually, maybe giving up fish won’t seem so difficult.

Benefits of Vegetarianism: 

Reduced risk of heart disease

Lower blood pressure

Control of Diabetes

Easier digestion of food

NOTE: I’m not a medical professional or RD. Before you switch or experiment with your diet you should talk with a professional.

For dinner tonight I had leftovers of last night’s pasta (without the shrimp of course). If you haven’t made it yet, you need to now.

Tomorrow I’ll have a great vegetarian recipe for you to kick off the week!

Cake for Breakfast

I have always really disliked Mondays. Mondays meant there’s 5 more days until Saturday, and that’s just not ok. Mondays have always brought sluggishidon’twanttogetoutofmywarmbed mornings. That’s why I had cake for breakfast.

Yes, that’s right. Cake. Am I crazy? Maybe. But if eating cake for breakfast is wrong, I don’t want to be right. I made Averie’s Banana Oat Cake this morning. In my cake I had banana, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, strawberries & peanut butter on top. Yuuuuuuum!

So, because Mondays can be a little lame, I thought I would spice things up a bit & start weekly challenges. Every Monday I will choose a new challenge for myself, and you all are welcome to join in with me! Last week I challenged myself to follow a recipe for 1 meal everyday. This week will be a little require a little bit more creativity…drumroll please….

This week’s challenge: Go vegetarian for the week. 

I was pretty much following a vegetarian diet up until a month ago, but the past month I have been slacking. This week I would like to reintroduce myself to fruits and vegetables and not rely on fish and chicken to get my protein in. There are so many different fruits and vegetables out there, I’m excited to learn new ways to work with my usual vegetables as well as try new ones! Throughout the week I will be going a little more in depth with my food to help those who aren’t following the challenge better understand of a vegetarian diet.

Are you going to follow this challenge? If so, what are some of your concerns about giving up meat for the week? 

 

Also, you can now follow me on twitter! @thatdeepbreath

Winner Winner, Shrimpy Dinner

You have to make this now. After you read this recipe you need to get up, put your hair in a pouf, slip on those slippers & get to work. It’s really easy, I promise.

Angelic Shrimp

For two

4 oz angel hair pasta

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic

2 tbsp butter

1/4 cup white wine

12 shrimp

salt

pepper

parmesan cheese

Boil water & add salt. Add angel hair pasta. Drain pasta. Heat up seperate skillet with olive oil, garlic, 1 tbsp butter and wine. Add shrimp to skillet. Salt & pepper the shrimp. Once the shrimps turn pink & begin to curl up, flip over. When shrimp are done, add pasta to skillet and mix together.  Top with second tbsp butter, more salt & pepper and cheese. Stuff your face with this amazing pasta.

Heat up seperate skillet with olive oil, garlic, 1 tbsp butter and wine.

Add shrimp to skillet. Salt & pepper the shrimp

Once the shrimps turn pink & begin to curl up, flip over.

When shrimp are done, add pasta to skillet and mix together.  Top with second tbsp butter, more salt & pepper and cheese.

I think you know what I ate for dinner tonight.

Summer Days

This morning I woke up to a beautiful summer day!

I started my day with a big cup of black coffee & a whole wheat english muffin with Naturally Nutty’s Butter Toffee Peanut Butter. This is definitely my favorite peanut butter by them. There’s a little bit of crunch from the toffee and it tastes just like your eating a piece of toffee. So good!

Please excuse the napkin I’m eating off of. Nothing’s worse than doing dishes right after you wake up. or ever. 

Today I will be at the lake, but later tonight I have a shrimpy recipe for you!

Today is National Chocolate Pudding Day!! Chocolate pudding is my favorite, but I love to add gummy worms & crushed oreos to make dirt cups! Kids (and adults) love this fun recipe. Chocolate Pudding Day just gives us another reason to whip up a bowl. But really, do we need another reason? Yum!!