Breakfast
Surprisingly, for the first time since fall hit, this week's breakfast is completely pumpkin free. But despite the lack of pumpkin, it's still pretty tasty. And it was also a great way to use the NatureBox Vanilla Macaroon Granola that I mentioned being too sweet for me to eat on its own in my review.
Baked Banana Almond Oatmeal
Recipe
Calories: 286 | Fat: 9 g | Cholest: 0 mg | Sodium: 65 mg | Carbs: 46 g | Fiber: 6 g | Sugars: 20 g | Protein: 7 g
1 1/2 cups oats
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 1/2 cups unsweetened almond milk
3 tbsp egg whites
2 very ripe bananas, mashed
2 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp ground ginger
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup NatureBox Vanilla Macaroon Granola (or your favorite sweet granola mix)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix all ingredients through ground ginger together in a large rectangular microwave and oven safe baking dish.
Microwave on high for 5 minutes, stirring halfway.
Mix the sliced almonds and granola together, then sprinkle over the oatmeal mixture.
Bake for 20 minutes or until mixture is firm. Broil for the last few minutes so the toppings get crispy, if desired. Just be sure to watch it carefully, or yours might end up a little burnt like mine :)
Makes 6 servings.
This oatmeal is warm and satisfying, especially topped with your favorite nut butter, and the granola topping gives it a nice sweetness and crunch. Adding nut butter also beefs up the protein content, which is a little lower than normal since I reduced the amount of egg whites for the bf's sake. He loved this version, and it still kept him full until lunch time.
Protein
Again for the sake of the bf, I added some red meat to this week's protein by making a ground meat mixture with lean ground beef and ground turkey.
Even though I didn't use my crock pot, it was still super simple to make. I just sprayed a big non-stick pan with a little bit of olive oil, threw in a few chopped garlic cloves and half an onion, and then cooked about 1 pound of 93% lean ground beef and 1 pound extra lean ground turkey (seasoned with paprika, cayenne pepper, black pepper and salt) until brown. It doesn't look that exciting, but it was amazing for dinner mixed with quinoa, Worcester sauce, Bragg's amino acids, and some Laughing Cow light Swiss cheese and stuffed into a roasted acorn squash. The bf liked the little bit of added fat from the ground beef, and thanks to the equal amount of ground turkey it was still pretty light on the calories.
Sides
In addition to the acorn squash and quinoa, I also baked some sweet potatoes and a spaghetti squash, as well as the seeds from. I managed to overcook the spaghetti squash a little this time, so I may have to try to do something creative with the resulting mush.
Workouts
In the spirit of MOREvember I decided to sign up for Run Eat Repeat's Pile on the Miles challenge, an annual blog event where participants challenge ourselves to run more during the month of November to pile on extra miles instead of pounds.
My goal for the month is 30 miles, which seems like a big pile to me, but is a really wimpy little mound compared to the 100 plus miles some participants are aiming for. However, as the bf helpfully pointed out, this does work out to a mile a day, which is a lot for a reluctant runner like me. Here's the plan for this week, which includes 9 of this month's 30 miles.
Monday: Nike Training Club Jeanette Jenkins Abs Blast, Rec league volleyball
Tuesday: 5K Run
Wednesday: Fitness Blender HIIT Like a Girl
Thursday: 5K Run, Coed rec league volleyball
Friday: Fitness Blender Lean Arms Workout, Rec league volleyball
Saturday: 5K Run
Sunday: Rest
Great idea with the stuffed acorn squash! I'm excited to try out your recipe in the future.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sara! I think the meat/quinoa mixture was even better in the stuffed mushrooms I made. Here's the link to the recipe: http://eathardworkhard.blogspot.com/2013/11/ground-meat-and-quinoa-stuffed.html. Let me know how it goes if you try either of them out :)
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