You are here: Home / Archives for Tea

A "Ritzy" Breakfast

August 8, 2009 by

Afternoon everyone! I’ve had a whirlwind morning so far. Between breakfast, a family photo, visiting, and lunch, I’m wiped out. But, I always find time for blogging!

Prior to our family photo at 9 AM, we had a little breakfast. It was a semi-snazzy affair at the Ritz Carlton with the family. I just love the buffet breakfast at the RC. They offer the right amount of choices, many of which are healthy, like yogurt, fruit, muesli, and egg white omelettes.

8.8 breakfast

Wanting to go the lighter route, I chose to have a little fruit, one piece of bacon, and a few breakfast potatoes. I also had one of my favorites…

8.8 yogurt

Yogurt with fresh fruit and granola. I started with some strawberry yogurt and then layered a little granola with a few raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries. So heavenly! I also had a huge pot of Tea Forte English Breakfast tea all to myself – it was so relaxing!

8.8 teapot

Next on the agenda for today was the family photo. Between my mother and father, brothers and sisters, spouses, and grandchildren, there were 17 people in the photo. It was a little crazy but somehow we managed to be done in about 30 minutes. 

After visiting with the family for a little while, we decided to head to a kid-friendly place for lunch – Red Robin. The sandwich/hamburger chain is great for kids because they have so many things for kids to look at, it’s rather noisy, so it’s ok if the kids are not quiet, and they give away balloons.

8.8 lunch2

As you can see, my lunch was not as healthy as breakfast. I split a plain chicken sandwich with my sister-in-law and had a few fries on the side. My father also bought the whole table a tower of onion rings…8.8 onion rings

I had one and it was very tasty. Sorry the picture was out of focus. I only had time to take one and this is what I got.

Now, we’re resting a little before heading to the birthday/anniversary party tonight. It’s a BBQ and I know it’s going to be a blast. I’ll fill you in the details later.

Enjoy your evening everyone!

Filed Under: Breakfast Tagged With: , , ,

A Good Start, But Then…

August 7, 2009 by

I had a good start to the day with a brisk 4-mile run, followed by a hearty and healthy breakfast. But it was all downhill from there!

After my run, my awesome husband made me a yummy omelette for breakfast:

8.7 breakfast

The omelette was made with 1 egg and 1 egg white, with a little cheddar cheese, mushrooms, broccoli, and pieces of all-natural (nitrate-free) bacon. It was so tasty and such a change from what I usually eat in the morning.

He also made me my favorite morning tea…

8.7 tea

Tazo Awake tea! He’s so thoughtful.

The rest of our day was spent running errands, visiting family, and getting ready for the big day tomorrow. There will actually be three events taking place tomorrow – a huge family portrait at a studio, a lunch with the family, and a birthday party for my nephew/anniversary party for my parents. Whew, that’s a lot to do in one day!

I actually started feeling a little sick in the car, so I munched on an emergency snack:

8.7 crackers

That’s right, goldfish crackers. I seriously do NOT eat these crackers on a regular basis – maybe twice a year. But today, I am so glad they were in the car.

Our errands took us all over the place so we weren’t near our house around lunchtime. So, we headed to Chili’s:

8.7 lunch

I had a bowl of potato soup and it was very tasty. I do prefer Corner Bakery’s baked potato soup over all others, but Chili’s has a nice recipe as well.

After more running around, we dropped into Panera very quickly to pick up an ice tea (for my hubby) and 2 giant cookies -1 double chocolate and a new kind – toffee. 8.7 snack

Here’s what’s left of my cookie after about 2 minutes! I told you it was going downhill…

We headed over to my sister’s house late in the day to discuss plans for tomorrow. She was nice enough to order pizza and salad for us, knowing how tired we were from running around all day.

8.7dinner2

I had one piece of pepperoni pizza, a little antipasto salad, a roll, and a piece of cheesy bread (not pictured). I was pretty full after that, but couldn’t resist a little moose-tracks ice cream, because I very rarely eat that flavor.

8.7 dessert

I honestly only had one small scoop, and that was enough for me.

So, as you can see, today was a complete eating fest for me. Although I try to make healthy choices when I’m out and about, sometimes my hunger and my stomach take over and get the better of me.

I plan to eat lighter tomorrow, without a doubt. Now, I’m off to bed to, hopefully, get a good night’s sleep before the big day!

Night all!

Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: , , , , ,

Stepping out to the Corner B

August 5, 2009 by

Hey all. This is going to be a quick post because I’m exhausted and want to get to bed early.

I had an afternoon full of meetings and phone calls. Being busy sure does make the time go by faster.

My husband and I had planned on having basil chicken stir-fry for dinner but at about 4:30 PM, we decided that neither of us wanted to cook. So instead, we headed to one of my favorite healthy quick-service restaurants, Corner Bakery Cafe.

8.5 dinner

Dinner was a cup of baked potato soup and a 1/2 a Bavarian sandwich, with smoked turkey and Havarti cheese on pretzel bread. It’s funny that even when I go out to eat, I choose a sandwich for my entree! I guess I really am a sandwich kind of a gal.

The soup was awesome! It is probably the best potato soup I’ve eaten at a restaurant yet.

8.5 dinner1

I’m sure it’s really low in calories too (yeah, right!). I try to only eat it once in a while. The sandwich was pretty good as well but I decided not to finish it to have more room for soup.

8.5 dinner2

Now I’m fairly content, but still plan on having a couple homemade chocolate chip cookies tonight before bed.

I forgot to mention that before heading home after work, I stopped at our local Gala Tea store to buy my mom her birthday present. I bought her the cutest light blue tea pot from Amsterdam and a matching cup and saucer. I hope she likes it. And, if she doesn’t, I will gladly take it off of her hands – wink, wink! It’s already wrapped so I’ll post pictures of it next week after she opens it.

Now it’s off to bed for me. Good night all!

Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: , ,

A Sandwich for My Solo Dinner

August 4, 2009 by

Hola Everyone. Hope you had an awesome day. I was off to a slow start this morning, but then I made a steaming cup of Tazo Awake tea, and I was good to go…at least for a little while.

I ended up having a pretty good day. I had a very long meeting on a project I’m heading and it went fantastic. Now I have even more work to do, but I’m so psyched about it.

For lunch, I had a very healthy salad with a bunch of goodies added in…

8.4 spinach salad

….including:

Chopped Chicken and Baby Spinach Salad

  • 3 cups fresh baby spinach
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • 1 oz chopped rotisserie chicken
  • 1 1/2 oz mixed cheese (I used cheddar and feta)

Dressing

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

The salad was fantastic and very refreshing on a hot summer afternoon. Although the salad was pretty filling at the time, I did end up having 2 Dr. Kracker flatbreads later in the afternoon.

I was really hoping to take a walk after lunch but my husband’s car battery died and I had to be on stand by to help him. Luckily, a few nice people stopped to give him a jump. We now have a shiny new battery, but the radio doesn’t work. It needs to be “reset” – it’s a built-in security thing. I ended up taking a walk after dinner instead.

Dinner was on my own tonight (hubby working late) so I didn’t feel like making anything elaborate:

8.4 sandwich

I made a 1/2 peppered turkey and low-fat salami sandwich with cheddar cheese on multi-grain bread from the bakery. Caution, this sandwich looks much bigger in the picture than it really was! I also had a few sour cream and onion chips and a few slices of a granny smith apple on the side.

8.4 dinner

Some people need a huge dinner or at least a hot dinner to be satisfied. I literally grew up on sandwiches – they were a necessity in my house with 5 kids all active in team sports. So now, I actually find sandwiches comforting. You can also create so many different and healthy masterpieces with a sandwich. I love experimenting with them, seeing how I can make a better, tastier, and more healthy sandwich. 

And, another great thing about eating a light sandwich dinner – aside from no clean up – is that you have room for dessert!

8.4 chocolate pb

Just like the sandwich, the ice cream looks bigger in the photo because I served it in a very small “dipping bowl” dish. It was actually equivalent to about 1/2 cup.

I have an early morning tomorrow. I’m waking up at 5:45 Am tomorrow to run because I didn’t run today. Night everyone!

Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: , , , , ,

It's Crunch Time…

August 4, 2009 by

I just couldn’t get to sleep last night. My mind was racing and it was really hot in the house, even with the ceiling fan on and the windows open. I didn’t get to sleep until after 12:30 AM, or at least that’s the last time I looked at the clock. So, it’s been a very slow and rough morning. Even though Tuesday is typically a running day for me, I opted to not run this morning because of my bad night. I do plan on taking a walk on at lunch.

I was feeling so groggy at breakfast that I needed a huge energy boost, with a little sugary sweetness added in. I went the cold cereal route and combined a 1/2 cup of cheerios with some Kashi Go Lean Crunch..

Kashi cereal box

Kashi cereals are all-natural and so, so tasty! And, they are full of fiber. There’s 8 g of fiber in the Go Lean Crunch and you get a bunch of omega-3 and protein thrown in – all the things I need to keep me running strong.

Kashi cereal bowl

And this cereal really does pack a huge C-R-U-N-C-H. Seriously, when I eat this cereal, I can’t hear anything that my husband is saying because the crunch is so loud.

Now I’m off to make some of my newly purchased Tazo Awake Tea! Have a great morning everyone.

Filed Under: Breakfast Tagged With: , ,

Tazo Tea Keeps Me Awake!

August 3, 2009 by

Hey everyone! Can you believe it, after only eating a pear for breakfast, I wasn’t hungry for lunch until 1 PM. I’m so glad I brought my split-pea soup that I had leftover from Saturday. I was hoping the soup would give me extra energy to tackle my afternoon projects.

Pea Soup

Well, the pea soup must have worked because I had a super productive afternoon reviewing video footage and doing other work-related projects. 

I arrived home from work about 6 PM to an awesome dinner prepared by my awesome husband!

8.3.09 dinner

He grilled mesquite-flavored chicken breasts and a huge sweet potato that we shared. It was so yummy that I was sad we didn’t have more – hello appetite!

8.3.09 sweet potato

We also had some fresh cut greens beans and chunks of watermelon (not pictured). After dinner, I had a little piece (1/3 a slice) of the raspberry cream cake from last night.

8.3.09 Raspberry cake

It was just as sweet and delicious as it was last night. During dinner, I found out that my husband bought one of my favorite teas on his quick trip to Super Target….

Tazo Awake Tea

Tazo Awake tea! i just love this stuff! Apparently, hubby was reading my post from the other day and found out that I was out of Awake tea and decided to surprise me with more. How thoughtful…and I thought he didn’t read my blog! Just kidding – I know you do honey.

I can drink tea almost any time during the day, even when it’s hot outside. But I especially love it on a Saturday or Sunday morning. Awake tea just gives me that natural jolt of energy that I sometimes need in the morning. I am sooo looking forward to having a cup tomorrow after my run.

Because I only had a very small piece of cake, I’m thinking of having a cookie or two before bed. Hmm…we’ll see…

Well, time for me to sign off for tonight. Sweet dreams everyone!

Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: , ,

Morning Wake-up Call in a Bowl

July 29, 2009 by

Morning all! I am really glad this is my off day from running because I am sooo tired from staying out late last night. I was up until 12:30 AM, which is so NOT a good idea on a Tuesday when you have to work the next day. 

I tried to give myself a wake-up call this morning with a little energizing breakfast…

Gereal-granola2

I started with a base of about a cup of Cheerios, then added the rest of my RWC Tropical Granola, and a handful of fresh blueberries. There’s nothing like a bit of c-r-u-n-c-h in the morning to get you going.

Cereal-granola3

OK, enough chatter. I’m off to make some tea before I fall asleep!

Have a great morning!

Filed Under: Breakfast Tagged With: , ,

Chocolate-filled Breakfast

July 25, 2009 by

Afternoon everyone! I’ve had a very busy day so far. I’ve already been to yoga, went grocery shopping (yeah Trader Joe’s!), and just finished lunch about  an hour ago.

I started out with an unusually sweet treat for breakfast and was so happy that I did!

Coffee Cake2

Hmm…a chocolate coffee cake, courtesy of my father-in-law, who came over today to help us with some house repairs. I typically do not have coffee cake or high starch foods for breakfast, just because they don’t seem to give me the energy that I need to last until lunch. But I was so wanting this cake this morning! Having a pastry or piece of coffee cake for breakfast isn’t a bad thing, as long as you don’t do it all the time. When I do have a special breakfast treat, I always try to balance out my day with healthier foods.

The cake was from a very popular local bakery – so popular that if you don’t get there by 9:30 AM on a Saturday, you’ll be lucky if even see crumbs from your favorite coffee cake. I enjoyed my chocolate-layered coffee cake with some yummy Harney and Sons English Breakfast loose leaf tea, outside on the porch. The sun was shining and the breeze was blowing. A great way to start the day!

Tea and cup

After a very unsatisfying yoga class (see my additional post about how yoga instructors can affect your practice), I headed to the local grocery store and then to Trader Joe’s. I just love browsing TJ’s and similar natural food stores. It sounds so corny but you can just feel the love whenever you walk into one of those stores.

Greek Yogurt Display

I purchased my usual TJ’s Greek yogurt in vanilla, plain, and blueberry. I also bought something new…

Three-layer hummus

TJ’s three layer hummus dip! My husband and I LOVE hummus. TJ’s hummus is made with all-natural ingredients, like all of their products. And, we’ve always had good luck with TJ’s basic flavor hummus, so I thought I’d give this one a whirl. I personally love trying new flavors. So, this version is perfect for me because it gives me three yummy flavors to try all at once – zesty cilantro, traditional, and red pepper. Can’t wait to dig into these layers!

Hummus Layers

After a couple  hours of grocery shopping, I was ready for lunch. I didn’t want to eat too much, though, because I’m heading over to my sister-in-law’s tonight, along with a couple other girlfriends, to have pizza and chat about a potential couples cruise in 2010.

Sandwich

I opted for a 1/2 sandwich made with low-fat salami and lean ham-off-the-bone, topped with lettuce and dijon mustard on whole-grain bread. I also had a few grape tomatoes on the side. Just enough to satisfy my hunger and give me extra room for this evening’s pizza!

Have to get a few more things done before heading out tonight. Chat with you all later.

Filed Under: Breakfast Tagged With: , , , , ,

Oatmeal: A Healthy and Inexpensive Breakfast

July 24, 2009 by

It’s going to be a hot one today. Even at 6:00 AM, when I started my morning run, it was already hot and humid. Weather like this makes for quite the sticky run.

After losing a ton of water from sweating, I made sure to drink plenty of H2O to replenish. I then made a breakfast that I hadn’t make in quite a while:Oatmeal1

Oatmeal made with old-fashioned whole-grain oats. Today, I made tropical-style oatmeal which had:

Tropical Oatmeal

  • 1/2 cup oats
  • 1/4 cup skim milk
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 2 tsp fresh coconut flakes
  • 2 tsp dried pineapple
  • 2 tbs dried banana chips
  • Handful of walnuts
  • Handful of fresh blueberries

Combine the first three ingredients and microwave on high for 3-4 minutes, watching it carefully so it doesn’t bubble over. Top with remaining ingredients.

Oatmeal2

The oatmeal tasted awesome – even without added sugar – and it was so filling. It was also a nice change from yogurt and cereal. Oatmeal also has a ton of health benefits. It’s an excellent source of fiber – and who couldn’t use for fiber in her diet! – as well as antioxidants that help slow the process of aging by helping protect the skin. Not to mention, it’s very inexpensive and fills you up with just one serving. So many reasons to eat oatmeal – why not try it? Plus, when you add fruit and nuts to it like I did, you get additional fiber, protein, and other important nutrients.

Oatmeal Bowl

I enjoyed my awesome oatmeal outside on our huge front porch. I even had a little Tazo calm tea, which has chamomile, rose petals, and other soothing herbs. Just the thing I needed after a long hard week at work.

Have a great day everyone!

Filed Under: Breakfast Tagged With: , ,

There's Always Time for Breakfast

July 23, 2009 by

Good morning! I was back on schedule today with a 4 mile run. It was kind of hazy and humid outside today although it was really not all that hot. You couldn’t tell though by the way I was sweating – uck!

Have another meeting to prepare for today so I was rushing out the door. But, even in a harried state, I always make  time for breakfast – no matter how small or simple it may be.

Peanut butter-Kracker

Today, I had a quick, yet nutritious breakfast – a Dr. Kracker flatbread with a smear of all natural peanut butter. The ultimate peanut butter and crackers! This may sound like more of a snack but both the peanut butter and Kracker are loaded with protein, not to mention good fat. And after a long, sweaty run, protein and good fat are just the things a girl needs to refuel. 

Tazo Chai Tea

I also added some spice to my breakfast with Tazo Organic Chai tea. It’s not my favorite flavor – a little too exotic for me – but it was very smooth and satisfied my tea urge. I usually prefer Tazo’s Awak tea – it really gets a girl moving in the morning (or anytime really). Although I don’t mind the spicy flavor of Chai on most days, combining the spice with peanut butter and a cheesy cracker was probably not the best combination. Oh well, what can you expect from a girl on the run. 

Overall, my light breakfast gave me about 200 calories to start my day. I just hope it holds me through lunch. If not, I brought another juice Granny Smith apple, just in case.

Have a great morning everyone!

Filed Under: Breakfast Tagged With: , , ,