Who doesn't love a little chocolate in the morning

Today is my day off, and that means..sleeping in! I love sleep so I could not wait to sleep in this morning. I am talking sleeping in…like 9:45am sleeping in. And it felt amazing! Because I woke up so late I was pretty hungry so decided to have breakfast before working out. But before I get to all that lets talk about last night.

I had an awesome idea in my head for dinner, but as the day went on I thought more about it, and I needed more time to prep. It has to do with a marinade, and I wanted to make sure my meat had enough time to marinade. So I decided to put the awesome dinner off until tonight that way I have more time to prep for it to make it come out outstanding. Because we have no food in the apt I decided to grab my Thursday ritual…frozen pizza. Now I normally do Freschetta, but that is so bad for you, and recently have been getting into making my own pizza, but that was too much work than I wanted. So I opted for a compromise. Newman’s Own Thin Crust Supreme. That way we get all the toppings we want, but with literally half the fat and calories. (I checked the nutrition facts of all the pizzas in the grocery store). And Chris and I actually like this pizza-it has good flavor.

Before I left work I has three small pieces of Pecorino Toscano Fresco cheese. For some reason I was starving today, and the whole ‘wait till dinner’ thing was not going to cut it. As I was walking around the grocery store I picked up a few other things.

I finally got a PUMPKIN! Pineapples were on sale for $2 a piece. I couldn’t resist that. And of course I had to try a pomegranate. They were doing an entire showcase on them. I also picked up some directions on how to open one. Hopefully I won’t make too much of a mess.

And a perfect pumpkin it is. Chris and I were supposed to go to a pumpkin patch and apple picking last Saturday, but it was monsooning so our plans got cancelled. I figured I didn’t need a pumpkin this year because I have so many other decorations up in the apt, but this one was just calling my name!

Dinner was light and easy. I had 4 small pieces of the pizza, and some Popchips and salsa. This pizza is very low in calories and fat compared to other frozen pizzas. It actually has half the calories and fat than the Freschetta pizza we always get, AND the Digiorno pizza we like. But on the other hand it is not as filling. I probably would have been fine eating nothing else, but I still had a small craving for more. I figured the popchips and salsa was a low calorie add on that would fill me up with less guilt. No hummus this time, just salsa. It’s a fairly low calorie snack considering the Popchips have 16 calories each and salsa has very little as well. It was perfect to fill me up.

Dessert was devine!!!!! I took the homemade pumpkin ice cream out of the freezer to thaw a little and then re-blended in my smartchop (it’s like a wee mini food processor). It was thick, creamy, and delicious! I added a few dark chocolate covered edamame to the mix and Voila.

Incredible. I may have grabbed a small handful of these edamame by them self too. It’s so hard to resist them…they are so good! At least they are dark chocolate and have lots of protein.

And finished the night with a mug of herbal mint tea and some awesome Thursday night TV.

So now we are back to this morning. I woke up around 9:45am and made some coffee. While the coffee was brewing I got in my morning routine. Leg lifts and kneeling push-ups. I was thinking of ways to change this up, but I love the stretching I get from the leg lifts, and the kneeling push-ups are an easy quick way to get some arm strength in. I am not sure what else can be this quick and easy. I’ll have to think about it.

I wanted to show you what goes into making coffee in my house. I find that using fresh ground coffee gives the best flavor and it actually tastes fresher. So I bought a coffee grinder a while ago and have never turned back.

I first take the beans out of my coffee canister and fill up my grinder. Because I don’t like gridning EVERY day I try to make enough for three days. So I feel the bowl about 3/4 full of beans

Then I put on the lid and start grinding. The smell that comes from grinding coffee beans is like no other. And this dark roast Cubano Roast coffee is so aromatic that the smell fills the entire apartment.

Once the beans are ground I scoop out what I need to make 5 C of coffee. I love this grinder because it comes with an air tight lid and I just pop it on and stick the rest of the coffee in the frdige for the next day.

And start brewing. I don’t have a fancy coffee maker, and I have toyed with the idea of getting a french press, but I can’t justify buying another coffee maker when I already have a perfectly good one. What do you think? Do better coffee makers and French presses make better coffee? I want your opinion.

Because I have no food in the apt I had my go to breakfast again…oatmeal. I thought about what I had in the pantry to change it up a bit since

• Sunday I had warm Kashi Go Lean Crunch and Kashi Heart to Heart with Mighty Maple PB and raspberries
• Monday I had pumpkin oats in a Mighty Maple PB jar with dried cranberries
• Tuesday I had pumpkin oats in a jar of Almond Butter with peaches
• Wednesday I had warm All bran and Kashi Go Lean Crunch cereal with PB
• Thursday I had Cinnamon oats with chopped dates and PB

What could I do different with what I have? So I got an idea from Kristin’s blog yesterday about chocolate in my oatmeal. I will try her baked oatmeal soon, but I wanted something fast. Here is what I came up with. Mexican hot chocolate oats with white chocolate peanut butter. Sounds good huh?

I made my oats with 1/2 C unsweetened almond milk, 1/2 water, and 2/3 C oats. I added in 1 Tbs of Trader Joe’s unsweetened cocoa powder (only 20 calories for 1 Tbs), and lots of cinnamon. This reminded me of a coffee drink I always get in San Diego, where my brother lives, at this place called Kono’s. They have the best coffee and breakfast right on the beach, and I always get their Mexican Hot Chocolate coffee latte (I can’t remember the name exactly, but you get the gist.) I digress.

The oats smelled amazing…I wish you could have smelled them. I decided to add 1 Tbs white chocolate peanut butter & co. to them to complete the chocolate theme.

Unfortunately my oats looked and smelled better than they tasted. I had to add one more tbs of peanut butter because they really had no sweetness or flavor. A breakfast like this seems like it would be unhealthy, but it really isn’t. It was oats, unsweetened almond milk, 1 Tbs unsweetened cocoa powder, and 2 tbs all natural peanut butter for protein. It’s like eating healthy dessert for breakfast. There are many benefits to a little cocoa and cinnamon in your diet.

One of my all time favorite combinations is Chocolate and Peanut Butter. Without all the cinnamon I added I guess you could call this Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Oatmeal.

And here is the result of my freshly brewed coffee with Almond milk and Truvia.

I have been much more diligent about showing or writing everything I eat, good and bad, on the blog. I figured this was more honest, and since my blog is about loving food and trying to stay fit while enjoying it, I thought it was only fair to put everything I eat on the blog. I know sometimes it can seem like a lot of food, but that is all part of my healthy living learning and loving process.

My plans for the rest of the day are ‘me time’. I am going to relax, catch up on my Gossip Girl and Biggest Loser, figure out how to actually use my Garmin besides just getting my time and mileage from it, and then get my workout in. Excited and actually a little nervous for my race tomorrow! Have a great Friday!!!

P.s. Don’t forget about that awesome dinner I’m making tonight!

Tagged as: chocolate oats, coffe, coffee grinder, DiGiorno, freschetta, Newman's Own, oatmeal, Peanutbutter & Co., Pineapple, pomegranate, pumpkin, salsa