Love Of Oats

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

Tag Archives: clif z bar

Easter Bunny Is Coming

Whew, it’s been almost 2 days since I last blogged.  I just got a text from my mom reminding me of this so I figured I should post for ya’ll :)  

Today I started out by heading to spin class in the rain.  I was still full from dinner last night so I didn’t have a pre-workout snack.  Spinning was hard because I got there late and got a crappy bike (one that felt like the resistance was ALL the way on, even when the lever was at the bottom), but I got a great workout I’m happy to say!

Then it was off to the DMV with Bill to change our address on our license ~ oh what a fun time that was!  ‘Nuff said!

When we got home, I made us both smoothies consisting of:

  • PB2
  • Banana
  • Skim Milk
  • Chocolate Whey Isolate protein powder
  • Ice

They were so good :)   I’ve been dying to pull out the Vita-Mix to make this smoothie for the last two weeks and haven’t so Bill was happy when I asked him if he wanted one because he said he was about to ask me to make one for him hehe…

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A little while later, I was running around baking for tomorrow, cleaning up, and working on laundry since it was rainy and I snacked on a Z Bar…

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I had a very late lunch today but it was so worth it :)   We went out to a pizza place last night with my parents and I had ordered a veggie panini and only ate half.  Well, I didn’t care too much for the bread (too white, thick, and flavorless) so I salvaged the veggies, put them on an english muffin, smeared my white bean hummus on it and pressed it using my panini press pan.  Mmmm!  What a transformation :)   I also had an orange…

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Mid-afternoon the sun came out and it turned out to be a nice day.  My parents came over to help us work on our landscaping again.  Last week my dad created a border around our house, dug the grass out (in the border), and poured red stone on it.  Last night we went out and got a TON of bushes, plants, and flowers and they helped us “design” what we wanted it to look like and then planted it all with us.  We already got a few compliments from our neighbors that our front yard looks better than it’s ever looked :)   I love it, it really transforms the whole look of the front of our yard.  Plus, my mom got me some really pretty orange daisies in a hanging plant as an early Easter present and I think the bright burst of color really wakes up the whole house.  I will have to take a pic and post it on the blog ;)

Mid-afternoon I snacked on a Quaker Simple Harvest granola bar (no pic).

Then around 8pm, Bill and I pulled out our gift card envelope and found one for Cheeseburger in Paradise (one of my fave summer restaurants ever) so we went there since the last time I was there was for my bachelorette party!  We started out with an appetizer because we were THAT hungry, but I definitely ate TOO many onion straws and now I’m not feeling so hot!

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For my dinner, I ordered the Pressed burger (I asked for a veggie burger sub) on the whole wheat bun with sweet potato fries.  I only wound up eating half of this because I was stuffed, but I’m looking forward to the other half for lunch tomorrow!

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Then when we got home, it was time to make our Easter eggs!  I look really tired in this picture because I am :)

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You will get to see the completed eggs tomorrow along with the special basket I made for Bill (shhh! it’s a surprise)… that’s my Easter present to you all hehe… hope you have a great night guys and thanks for bearing with me!  Hope the Easter Bunny is good to you all ;)  

Breakfast Makes It Better

Ehh, it was a really rough start today getting back to work after having off yesterday, but my breakfast made it better.  Today’s breakfast was inspired by all of you:  Quinoa in place of oats in my breakfast bowl!  I mixed in ground flax, chopped strawberries, sunflower seeds, cinnamon, and of course a blob of peanut butter again hehe…

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Mid-morning, I snacked on a Clif Z Bar…

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For lunch, I had a nice change: tofu sammie.  This was chili pepper rubbed tofu that I made last night in a skillet with some spinach on two slices of wheat bread.

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On the side I had some cottage cheese & the last of my Girl Scout cookie 100 calorie packs.  I wasn’t a huge fan of these, which is why you are still seeing them now, although I do love that they are cinnamony!

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Mid-afternoon, I had my standard pre-workout snack, a Clif bar!  I started out eating half the bar, but it didn’t satisfy me, so I ate the rest of it :)

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For my workout o’ the day, I had planned on going for a run but it was COLD out, a nice 34 degrees with crisp winds blowing!!!   I started up with the excuses again and then I thought back to Caitlin’s post yesterday about motivation and how if you don’t want to do it, just run a shorter distance.  So I thought ok, I will run to the park and back, which equates to 1.1 miles.  Well, although I was freezing the entire time I wound up doing it three times which equates to 3.3 miles!!!!!!!!!!! I ran pretty steadily, at a snail’s pace (but it works for me!), the first two rounds with walking two times for 1 minute each time… and then for the last lap I was really chilled to the bone, so I wound up running / walking using street signs as my signals whether I should run or walk, yes I know, I come up with games to occupy myself during my run…

After my run, I decided to treat myself to Polly’s Yoga for Runners!  I felt amazing afterwards and it was just what I needed to stretch out and easy my muscles.  If you have not been to Polly’s blog, I urge you to go check it out!  Reading her blog has really helped me to dedicate time back to reading the Bible and appreciating life as well as myself both inside and out :)

Dinner was nice ‘n easy, but it was delayed.  Bill is off for the next couple days (he didn’t get to take off last week when I did) so he was bombarded at work and put in a 12 hour day ~ yikes.  So I made sure that I had one of his favorite dinners waiting for him when he got home… jerk chicken, roasted red potatoes (I had cinnamon sweet potatoes), corn (I’ve been craving corn!  Can’t wait to get my hands on Jersey corn this summer!) and I did make a side salad, but was too full to eat it!

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I’ve gotten comments on how I make my jerk chicken and I must say it’s quite easy :)   When Bill and I went to Jamaica we STOCKED up on jerk sauce (and it’s HFCS-free!) so I just marinate chicken in the jerk sauce all day in the fridge, take it out and bake it.  Simple and so good!

Now I’m getting ready to settle in with Bill and watch the 2nd half of The Biggest Loser while flipping to the Phillies game off and on, sorry I think Biggest Loser takes precedence haha… I love the Phillies but Biggest Loser is just a tad better, especially considering our Phils are losing :/

Tomorrow’s is another Phillies Game Day (World Series Ring Ceremony game too!) that Bill and I are going to… can’t wait!