Love Of Oats

A blog dedicated to balancing a healthy and fun life… with oats!

Monthly Archives: December 2008

Leftovers

Since I’ve been on a cooking mission, I realized that I have a lot of little leftovers in our fridge.  Normally, that isn’t a problem, but since the only night we will be home for dinner, until Sunday, this week is Thursday due to a bunch of family get-togethers and parties in the next couple of days, I HATE having food go to waste.  I had leftover polenta, leftover tortillas, leftover roasted peppers, leftover salad, leftover ground taco meat, oh and leftover black beans.  See what I’m saying???!!!!

I started googling what to do with polenta first since I thought maybe that could be the base of the recipe and everything could kind of mix in with it.  Using a few recipezaar recipes as well as Kath’s recipe, I came up with a decent recipe that I’d like to call “polenta stuffed with leftovers” – creative, eh?

I started by spraying a casserole dish.  Then I mixed together the following:

  • Roasted Peppers
  • Chopped tomato
  • Cooked black beans
  • Generous sprinkling of:
    • Chili Pepper
    • Red Pepper
    • Garlic Powder
    • Black Pepper
    • Cumin

I poured this into the casserole dish.  On one side of the dish, I poured in the leftover ground taco meat so that I could serve that “side” of the casserole to Bill, since he likes the extra protein & so that it wouldn’t go to waste :)

The next step involved the polenta that I had prepared yesterday.  I simply poured that on top and coated the mixture evenly so it looked like a chicken pot pie of sorts.

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I sprinkled it with about 1/4 a cup of shredded taco seasoned cheese and baked it at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.  After that, I put the oven on a high broil for 5 minutes and let it get crispy!

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This was a really easy & delicious recipe that made great use out of nearly all of our leftovers.  It definitely reminded me of enchiladas a little bit because of the melted cheese, tomatoes, spices, and beans!  Bill said it was really good and was shocked that it involved all leftovers!  I think the only thing I didn’t use was the leftover lettuce and tortillas, but I’m sure I can use them up tomorrow!

Perfect Creation

Although dinner last night kept me full all night long, I was craving something sweet so I had a piece of Godiva chocolate that Bill received as a gift from one of his co-workers that he so generously gave to me : )  He definitely does not have the sweet tooth that I have – can you tell I’m envious ;)

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This morning I got up at around 6:30 and leisurely enjoyed a cup of coffee, watched the morning news, and whipped up a fab oatmeal breakfast.  This bowl contained 1/2 cup oats, water & a sprinkle of cinnamon cooked in the microwave for 2 minutes 30 seconds at 50% power.  When it was done, I topped it with flax, pom seeds, homemade granola, and a few crushed walnuts.  I was craving pb, so I had a spoonful on the side!

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After my breakfast digested, I headed to the gym to get in about 30 minutes of upper body weight lifting…

  • 3 sets of 15 chest presses; 10 lb. dumbbells
  • 3 sets of 15 chest flys; 10 lb. dumbbells
  • 3 sets of 12 overhead press; 10 lb. dumbbells
  • 3 sets of 15 (each side) bicep curls; 12 lb. dumbbells
  • 3 sets of 15 upright rows; 12lb. dumbbells

Then it was off to spin class with one of my favorite weekend teachers who I didn’t realize taught during the week (!)… I burned over 450 calories during this sweat fest – I was completely disgusting after the class!  I stretched for about 15 minutes and then was on my way to Target to pick up some odds and ends.  I also ran and did a few more errands and got home around 12, just in time to make a delicious creation using my Vita-Mix 5200!

On my drive home, I thought about what I wanted to make and I came up with the perfect creation:  chocolate covered strawberry smoothie!  It had a natural sweetness from the strawberries, but gave me a dose of protein that I really needed to recover from a tough workout!

  • 1 cup frozen strawberries
  • 1 cup skim milk
  • 1/2 scoop GNC chocolate whey isolate powder
  • 1 tbsp chunky peanut butter
  • 1 cup ice cubes

Within under 20 seconds, I had a delicious treat waiting for me.  This recipe makes two 16 ounce servings, but I drank it all and now I’m wishing I made more!  I think the best description of how this tasted was neopolitan ice cream.  For some reason, I always remember having neopolitan ice cream when I stayed at my grandparents’ house and when I took the first sip of this smoothie, it brought me right back to those memories!

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Now I’m off to do some laundry and return some phone calls and eventually I’ll get back to my wedding album!  Be back with the other half of my lunch when I get around to eating it :)