Category: Breakfast
Berry Spinach Vanilla Protein Shake
| January 10th, 2013 | Breakfast, Food, Live Fit Trainer, Recipe |
I’m finally back into the swing of things! Yes, it took some time, but I am finally starting to get back into my old routines again. Yesterday for breakfast I made one of my protein shakes. This time instead of strawberries, I used frozen mixed berries. It definitely tasted different than usual – not bad, just different. Want to make this too? Here’s what you need.
Berry Spinach Vanilla Protein Shake
[Ingredients]
1 cup frozen mixed berries (mine had blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries)
large handful of spinach
handful of ice cubes
one scoop of vanilla protein powder – same kind used here
1 cup Original Almond Milk
1/4 teaspoon xantham gum
a splash of orange juice
[Instructions]
Place ingredients into blender
Blend
Serve
Nothing that complicated. I have the same core ingredients in all of my shakes, but from time to time I will switch it up and 90% of the time the outcome is tasty. Because this time I didn’t have any bananas on hand, the shake was a bit more icy than I’d like. Don’t worry I stocked up on bananas for the rest of this week!
Jamie Eason’s Live Fit – Day 1
I told you yesterday that I’d be finally starting the Live Fit Trainer again. Half of you probably thought, “No, she’s not. She keeps putting it off. She’ll never actually try it again.” Well, my friends. I did it.
**EDIT: clearly I don’t know what year it is…
After getting home from work, I had two pieces of bread for some needed carbs, and headed to the gym. Goodness, it was crowded! Both treadmills and both bikes were taken, so I started with 15 minute warm-up on the elliptical. My gym has a hybrid of a stair stepper and an elliptical. The machine was definitely more difficult than a normal elliptical. I stayed on it for 15 minutes at resistance #6.
You can see the weight training exercises above. The only thing I didn’t do was the narrow pushup exercise. My arms were absolutely burning after everything else. I definitely have more leg strength than arm strength!
I didn’t take my binder with me, and I’m glad I didn’t. There was way too many people in the gym and I didn’t want to misplace my binder or worry about moving it around the gym with me. Instead, I wrote all the exercises I needed to do in Notes on my iPhone, and filled in the weights as I went along. When I got home, I added everything to the workout sheet.
So far so good. I’m looking forward to keeping up with this routine and seeing how my body changes with the weight training.
Talk to Me
- What’s your favorite ingredients to add to your shakes or smoothies?
- Do you have more leg strength or arm strength?
- Do you use a community gym at your housing complex, a gym at home, or a larger gym like a LA Fitness?
Banana Pancakes
| July 16th, 2012 | Breakfast, Recipe |
“Baby, you hardly even notice when I try to show you this song is meant to keep you from doing
what you’re supposed to. Waking up too early maybe we can sleep in, I’ll make you banana
pancakes. Pretend like it’s the weekend now.”
–Jack Johnson “Banana Pancakes”
Sunday morning, as I mentioned in my Weekend Recap, was spent drinking mimosas and eating banana pancakes. We bought 5lbs of bananas at Produce Junction on Saturday and had to use them! The plate below is Bryan’s. (I could only eat 3. My eyes were bigger than my stomach) Lets just say he liked them so much that there were none left after he was done with them!
Banana Pancakes— makes approx. 10 pancakes
[Ingredients]
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ripe bananas, mashed
[Instructions]
- In bowl 1: mix together flour, white sugar, baking powder and salt.
- In bowl 2: mix together egg, milk, vegetable oil, vanilla and bananas.
- Stir bowl 1 into bowl 2. The batter will be a tad lumpy, because of the bananas.
- Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat.
- Pour the batter into the pan using approx. 1/4 cup for each pancake.
- Once the pancake starts to slightly bubble, flip over.
- Cook for approx. 1-2 minutes on other side.
- Serve hot with syrup. Enjoy!
I can’t wait to make these pancakes again! My favorite part were the lumps of bananas. Next time, I will probably top each pancake with a few strawberry pieces for even more fruity flavor. With or without the strawberries, these pancakes are a win.
What’s your favorite type of pancakes?
Do you do anything special for Sunday brunch?
What’s your favorite thing to have for breakfast?
Vegetarian Options
| December 13th, 2011 | Breakfast, Reviews |
I’ve been a vegetarian since January 2008. How the time flies. Over the past 4 years, I’ve tried my fair share of vegetarian food options. The good, the bad, the ugly, & the just plain disgusting! I did however find the most amazing breakfast sausage substitute. Enter in the BOCA brand. I live for their stuff– I love so many BOCA products. The only item from them I don’t really like is their fake burgers. But we’ll save veggie burgers for another post.
Let’s take a look at Boca Sausage Links.
Perfect any time of the day!
I was a bit reluctant to try these, to be perfectly honest. I used to love the taste of real sausage when I wasn’t a vegetarian, but something about fake sausage just didn’t sit well with me. After trying another brand’s extremely bland and rubbery breakfast sausage, I told myself I’d never eat them again. But, for some reason when I was in Target these babies just hopped into my cart.
The nutritional facts aren’t bad either:
I don’t know what the 2 links per serving thing about though… I know when I eat them, I have at least 4! The main reason why I continue to buy and eat these is because of their jam packed flavor. They are a bit spicy, but nothing too crazy. Just enough to make them taste delicious!
The ingredient list is a bit lengthy; usually longer than I would like, but the taste of these are just too good to pass up. I usually pair these links up with scrambled eggs, but I think it might be pretty tasty on a kaiser roll too! Now that I think about it, I may have to try that out asap!
If you are a vegetarian, have you ever tried fake meat products?
What are some of your favorite and least favorite products?
How Do You Eat Your Eggs?
| November 22nd, 2011 | Breakfast |
Yesterday we picked up some of the Land o Lakes eggs that I received to review through the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program. I honestly wasn’t in the mood for eggs this morning, but once I got out of bed and headed downstairs, thoughts of hot sauce and eggs danced around my head. I am a huge hot sauce fan… particularly Frank’s Hot Sauce. I know Megan shares my love for this hot sauce as well.
Cage free eggs fed vegetarian feed!
The thing that caught my eyes at first was the aesthetics of the container the eggs came in. The extra section to this container secures the eggs from being crushed by angry people in the grocery store. Trust me, we’ve all been there. When you forget to check your eggs at the store and get home to realize some of them are cracked. No one likes that.
They are nice and protected in there!
The way I made my eyes isn’t unique or anything, but I thought I’d share my “secret” recipe. Every time I made eggs I make them the same way. I’m a creature of habit, I guess. I use 3 eggs in total: 1 whole egg + 2 egg whites. Delicious!
Place in a buttered frying pan on medium heat.
I continuously mix the eggs while they are in the pan. I HATE burnt eggs. After cooking for about 5 minutes, I take them out of the pan and plate them alongside a piece of toast, hot sauce, and a steaming cup of coffee. Perfecto!
Yes, that is white bread. We didn't have whole grain. No big deal.
I love these eggs and will be buying many more dozens of these in the near future. They tasted much fresher than normal eggs and I felt a lot better eating them since they were cage free. No one likes cooped up chickens (but I won’t get into ethics and my opinions with you).
How do you eat your eggs?
Have you ever tried Land O Lakes eggs?
Attempts to Brighten My Spirits
| September 14th, 2011 | Breakfast |
Yesterday wasn’t the best of days for me. I don’t know what it was, but everything just seemed to be not working out right. When Bry got home, I wasn’t super happy, but the Anthony’s interview was on Dr. Phil so I was content. Before dinner we ended up going for a short bike ride. When I say short, I mean probably 15 minutes tops- as you can see from my tweets.
I hate bike riding in the street. We didn’t pick a great time to go anyway. People were driving home from work at that time. It was nice to get some fresh air for a while. Being home all day is starting to take a toll on me. I am bored with running around my development, and I refuse to keep doing it if it’s not exciting for me anymore. Now that I am freelancing from home (details to come soon), I’m at home all day. Still awaiting that full-time job with benefits!
What did make my day better was the fact that Bry knew exactly what would make me feel better: FROYO! So we headed over to our local frozen yogurt place. I got a mix of 3 kinds: original tart, sugar free raspberry, and birthday cake. I added blueberries, mango pieces, these strawberry gummy things (forget what they were called), shaved coconut, and strawberry bursts. I’m pretty hardcore with my frozen yogurt.
What’s your favorite thing to have for breakfast?
Favorite Foods at the Moment
| September 13th, 2011 | Breakfast |
Good morning everyone! I am glad you liked my blog post from yesterday, Why Blogging Is Harder Than You Think. I felt it was an important issue to address, given that people still downgrade the value of bloggers. Yesterday I also went to the mall and tried on those shoes from Macy’s again. I decided that I liked them enough to buy them online! That package will be here in a week or so. Getting fun stuff in the mail puts a smile on my face.
In the food department, I recently realized that I tend to grab the same foods everyday. Now that fall is almost here, I figured I’d share some of my favorite foods at the moment.
Web Design, Market Research and More
I also thought that I would mention a really great company that one of my friends owns. He recently received a Master’s of Arts in Professional and Business Communication from the same program I did. Here’s a little bit about his consulting firm.
TJS Business Consulting is a creative, innovative, and memorable consulting company owned by one of my friends from graduate school, Tyler Stike. His company offers various services for small businesses:
- Website design. The TJS Consulting website as well as every website they create is run from a 100% green provider.
- Advertising consulting. Advertisements and logos that are guaranteed to be seen in the best advertising locations. Making advertisements that are successful and guaranteed to be seen with research into best advertising locations.
- Event promotions.
- Customer retention & increasing customer communication.
- Marketing research: In depth research into target markets, competition, past efforts and future trends to tap into.
If you are interested in working with TJS Consulting and/or need a quote you can enter your information into their contact form. All readers of simply Nicole will be given a 10% discount for all services. Just mention in your contact form that you heard about TJS Consulting through simply-Nicole.com
5 Ways to Accept Setbacks
| September 6th, 2011 | Advice, Breakfast |
It’s raining this morning, which ruined my outdoor run. Honestly, I already knew last night that I didn’t want to run outside this morning, partially because I knew it would rain and partially because I am getting bored running around my development. Instead of just sitting around today, I’m going to keep listening to the Selena Gomez & the Scene radio station on Pandora (no shame!) and do some yoga & elliptical work today.
Breakfast was very uneventful. I decided to use up the rest of my pumpkin and make pumpkin oatmeal. It ended up being horrible! Maybe the pumpkin went bad, because it didn’t smell great. Hey! At least it photographed well.
Over the last few days, as many of you know, I was able to go to a couple new yoga classes in my area. Both instructors were knowledgeable and uplifting. The Yin Yoga instructor said some things during class that really made me realize that I DO need to write this Acceptance post. She said that in Yin Yoga, the important thing is accepting your current body state. If you are hurting and aren’t as flexible one day, do not beat yourself up over it. Accepting all aspects of your life can be hard at times, but it’s important to know that it will pass and it’s better to simply strive to push along than to lose sleep over it.
There have been many times in my life when all I wanted to do was crawl into my bed and hide.
How to accept setbacks and keep pushing forward
- You’re not alone. Depending on the situation, there are probably many other people who have gone/are going through the same situation. When I first started blogging, I couldn’t believe how many people were interested in the same things as myself: healthy living. I felt lost being a vegetarian and none of my friends could relate to me. I was pleasantly surprised that there were many other girls (& guys) who lived the vegetarian lifestyle and shared their favorite recipes and restaurants.
- Make a to-do list. I am the queen of to-do lists. I made a to-do list everyday during college, in order to help stay on track with my school work and extracurricular activities. To-do lists can help you keep track of your goals and what exactly you want to accomplish and when. I find it so hard to do new year resolutions, because I tend to forget them the third week in January. Instead, this month I decided to make monthly goals.
- No one likes a Debbie-downer. I’m not trying to be rude or anything, but no one likes being around someone who is negative all the time. I’m also not telling you to hold in your emotions and pretend everything’s okay. Finding a balance is key. Try to think about how you make other people feel as much as possible. Sometimes if you spend time with the right people, their positivity will spread to you as well.
- Spend time doing something you love. You probably don’t LOVE stressing about the horrible situation you are in, so why don’t you get up and do something you do love. This can be anything from reading a book, bike riding, or maybe even blogging! I know that when I get stressed out all I want to do is to get outside. If I sit inside, I start blogging about how horrible I feel. Although this can be therapeutic at times, more than not I feel even worse because I keep thinking about the stress.
- Breathe. I know that this seems mundane, but give it a try. Turn off your computer, TV, and iPod. Just sit and breathe. Try to clear your mind all of the stressful situations in your life. Every time your mind starts to wander, bring it back.
How do you deal with setbacks?
Exploring yoga
| September 3rd, 2011 | Breakfast |
This post is Exploring yoga (part 1). I will recap my experience at Mixed Level yoga. Tomorrow I will recap my second yoga class, Yin Yoga. I figured that since I am taking two different classes at two different studios, it would make the most sense to make two separate posts, in order to cover everything.
First, lets recap yesterday. For breakfast I had a mix of sweet + salty cravings.
5 Things I’ve Learned as a New Runner
| August 30th, 2011 | Breakfast, Running |
This morning started out like any other morning lately. I woke up with Bry at 6:45 and got dressed to run out the door at 7am. The migraine that I had last night was finally gone… or so I thought. As I started running, the migraine came back. I tried being out there for as long as I could handle, but I started to feel nauseous and decided to head back home. Here are the stats for today.
I’ve just started running. I used to run occasionally growing up, and more so when I went to college. I’m by NO means an experienced runner. I need to do a lot of research actually. This morning, however, when I was running around my development I realized a couple of things.
- I need to add more songs on my playlist. After going through my playlist at least once, I actually skip a bunch of songs. I need to add some new tunes to the mix to keep things fresh.
- Waking up a little bit earlier to get my body awake is important. Five minutes into my run I had to go to the bathroom. Instead of running back I decided to just hold it in. No bueno.
- My development has so many hills. Instead of taking the easy way out and running super fast down the hills, I need to try to start jogging up the hills as well.
- I need to work on my breathing. UGH. This is probably the hardest thing when it comes to running for me. Someone once told me to breath in through my nose and out through my mouth. I don’t know if this is correct or not, but I need to do some research.
- Getting up early in the morning to run is a good idea. Once it becomes 10am I don’t want to have anything to do with all the people in the neighborhood. At 7am the place is calm, quiet, and cool out. I know that fall is just around the corner, but waking up early to run allows me to miss the 80 degree heat later on in the afternoon.
What have you all learned from your experiences running?
What recipes do you love involving pumpkin?
