This Week’s BSI Ingredient IS…

I recently switched work schedules in order to accommodate my life a little better. I have always enjoyed AM workouts and with my desire to practice yoga daily, I wanted to be able to fit those things in before work. So, yesterday, I began and it felt great! I was up at 5 for a 30 minute treadmill session followed by 30 minutes of yoga. I flowed through sun salutations, a number of standing poses, balances and twists before finally settling into pigeon and then shoulder stand. I ended with a short meditation; I really don’t think there is a better way to begin the day than this! It was fabulous!

My new schedule also allows me to eat breakfast at home which I truly missed. Yesterday, I made microwave banana oats with flax seed and a PB spoon.

After breakfast, I headed into work for what would prove to be a challenging day. Monday’s are normally pretty productive because the club is closed and the only people at work are The Pro, T and myself. And even so, it still seemed that if it could go wrong, it was. Lunch ended up being much later than I expected so I snacked on a few grapes to get me through.

Lunch finally came around 1, this week, we chose Red Robin. The menu isn’t very pescatarian friendly is you are looking for healthy, too. I settled on a salmon sandwich on whole grain bun without any of the spicy mayo sauce.

On the side, I had a small salad with oil and vinegar. Overall, it was a good lunch but it wouldn’t be my first choice of eating establishments.

Things sort of settled down in the afternoon just in time for a pre-gym snack; I had greek yogurt with mixed berries.

With my new schedule, it is more convienent for the dear husband and I to meet at the gym after work, so that is just what we did. I had to wait about 10 minutes for him so I walked on the treadmill until he arrived. Once he was there, we headed upstairs to lift weights. We both did the full STRIVE circuit and the resistance machine circuit for a full body workout. By the end, my whole body felt like jelly so I knew I got in a good workout.

Once we were home, I munched on some grapes while I prepared dinner. I didn’t photograph them because they were the leftovers of the grapes I had before lunch. For dinner, I made BBQ tempeh sandwiches with Kath’s BBQ slaw minus the pecans.

On the side, I made skillet sweet potatoes.

 

This dinner was fantastic! I ended up taking the bread off of mine because it was super messy and pretty impossible to eat without a fork. Thank goodness we weren’t on a first date 😉 For dessert, I had a Reese’s heart that we scored on clearance at Target.

After some reading and TV, I realized I had checked my email in a long while so I went upstairs only to discover that I had won last week’s BSI contest! I was so thrilled! My entry for Orange Miso Tofu Stir Fry won the prize but I did feel a twinge of guilt since I just took my favorite parts of a couple of recipes I found online and made my own. That is how some recipes are born, I suppose. Anyway, to top off my win, she also chose me as this weeks host of the BSI contest!

After some thought, I decided that I wanted this week’s ingredient to be kale!  This is for selfish purposes, of course, since kale is my favorite green! It is also versatile, accessible and of course, veg*n friendly. Here is what The World’s Healthiest Foods has to say:

Kale is a leafy green vegetable that belongs to the Brassicafamily, a group of vegetables including cabbage, collards and Brussels sprouts that have gained recent widespread attention due to their health-promoting, sulfur-containing phytonutrients. There are several varieties of kale known commonly as curly kale, ornamental kale and dinosaur kale, all of which differ in taste, texture and appearance. The scientific name for kale is Brassica oleracea.

Curly kale has ruffled leaves and a fibrous stalk and is usually deep green in color. It has a lively pungent flavor with delicious bitter peppery qualities.

Ornamental kale is a more recently cultivated species that is oftentimes referred to as salad savoy. Its leaves may either be green, white or purple and its stalks coalesce to form a loosely knit head. Ornamental kale has a more mellow flavor and tender texture.

Dinosaur kale is the common name for the kale variety known as Lacinato. It features dark blue-green leaves that have an embossed texture. It has a slightly sweeter and more delicate taste than curly kale.

Pretty good stats, I’d say! You can enter two ways:

• Email the photo and recipe to whatiateyesterday [at] gmail.com
• or email me the link to the recipe in your blog.

I will update this page with the links/recipes as I get them. The deadline to enter is midnight, Sunday February 22nd! The prize will be a pair of handmade earrings in your choice of colors using glass beads and/or semi precious stones and sterling silver, you can see a few examples of my work on my Beading Page.

And don’t forget, today is the last day to enter my Country Bob’s Giveaway, comment and link back before midnight tonight for your chance to win some of this fabulous sauce and a secret prize!

The following are entries for BSI: Kale!

• Shannon at Tri to Cook: Kale Skins
• Jenna at Eat, Live Run: BBQ Beans with Kale
• Kath at KathEats: Butternut Squash and Kale Soup
• Mara at What’s For Dinner: Zuppa Toscana Ala Mara
• Brandi at BranAppetit: Green, Eggs and Ham Pizza & Creamy Curried Lentil and Kale Soup
• Sweetie Pie at Just Sweet Enough: Crispy Kale Salad with toasted Walnuts and Pomegranate Drizzle
• Laure at Hey, Mom, What’s For dinner: Sauteed Greens
• Sarah at Tales of Expansion: Kale Crust Pizza & Stuffed Kale Leaves
• Spiceaholic at One Bite at a Time: Panchphoran Potatoes and Kale
• Scrumptious at In My Box: Raw Kale Salad
• Erin at Life is Yumbo: Imposter Pesto Sauce
• Becca at Bites of the Day: Garam Masala Kale
• Hallie at Healthy Twists: Chickpea and Kale Curry
• Biz at Biggest Diabetic Loser: Bean Soup with Winter Vegetables
• Vani at Fit for Free: Kale and Mushroom Pancakes

Friday at last!

Yesterday, I woke up really late again but with a few shortcuts, I was able to get out of the door on time. I am lucky to have the kind of hair cut that I can spend time on or I can wash and go and still look cute! For breakfast, I had a bowl of Post Shredded Wheat N Bran topped with walnuts, banana and plain hemp milk. I used to eat this cereal all of the time when I was on weight watchers, I had forgotten how good it was, I did not miss all of the sugar at all. And of course, I kept the portion very small in order to be hungry in just a couple of hours.

Work was good, I had lots of loose ends to tie up before the weekend so I did my best to stay off of the internet be productive. By 9:30 my tummy was rumbling and ready for a snack. I had some grapes

and a cheese stick with a handful of NUTrition nuts.

I guess my ratio of fats/carbs/protein wasn’t right because I still felt a bit hungry after finishing eat. I’m sure I will find my way soon enough. I was ready to eat again in only two and a half hours but I didn’t want to get too hungry so I ate a california sushi roll topped with a little rooster sauce and the rest of the grapes.

Once again, I still felt a little hungry even after waiting about 20 minutes so I had about a third of this lovely little treat.

An honest foods choco peanut butter bar! Oh my, how I loved it. It was like a cross between a cookie and a granola bar and just a couple of bites was surprisingly filling. After eating it, I stalked Amazon.com to see how much it is in bulk 🙂

One thing that I noticed today is that eating such small meals really makes me feel light. I don’t feel heavy at all after eating and my blood sugar is staying stable all day long. I think once I get the hang of the proper food combining, I will really enjoy this way of eating.

My next mini meal was a fage with the rest of the honest foods bar. I was a little worried that I wouldn’t like the texture combo since the bars are soft but I really did. And this was really filling, now I see why so many bloggers top their yogurt with bars.

After work, I headed home and hit the treadmill for 30 minutes, today, for the first time, it felt boring. Hopefully this weekend I can get outside an break it up a bit. After the treadmill and a shower, I made dinner. I cooked a couple of chicken, apple and gouda sausages that we bought from whole foods along with some sauteed kale.

AND for the first time since it began, I had the blogger secret ingredient, posted by Eating Bender, on hand so I made a delightful side dish. Savory roasted sweet potatoes and butternut squash! Everyone knows that both of these hearty veggies lend themselves to sweet flavors but I think they shine with savory ones as well.

Savory Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Butternut Squash

1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped into small cubes

1 small butternut squash, peeled and chopped into small cubes

3 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp chili powder

dash cumin

Preheat oven to 400*. Combine all of the ingredients onto a large sheet pan and stir to combine, for best results, use your clean hands. Spread the potatoes and squash out so that they are in a single layer on the pan. Roast in the over for about 40 minutes, stirring at least 3 times. Remove from the oven and serve with ketchup. They are delicious hot or cold.

After dinner, we just wanted to relax so we watched some tv. For dessert we had some famous popcorn and went to be shortly after. Yay! The weekend is here!

QOTD: What sort of snack do you find fill you up but don’t leave you stuffed?