Egghead

Like most blondes, I have my fair share of blonde moments. Though I’d like to think I’m a pretty smart gal, I can be an egghead on occasion.

A Blonde Through and Through

Case in point: One time I went on and on telling Ryan a story about a scary dream I had involving bamboos. You know… the monkeys with the pink butts? Riiight… I meant baboons. Eh.

Nothing will top my mom’s blondest moment though.

A couple of  summers ago, my family was hanging out by my parents’ pool. My mom was swimming and my dad made a comment about how the chlorine smell emanating from our pool was quite strong. Sooo, my mom went underwater and sniffed. Seriously. She came back up snorting, choking and laughing hysterically at her blondest moment ever. We will never let her live that one down. 😀

Dinner

Today I’ve felt like quite the egghead, but not because of stupid things I’ve said. I’ve simply had eggs on my brain!

Sizzlin' Egg

Such a strong craving for eggs made my dinner decision an easy one.

Dippy eggs!

Dippy Egg with Salt and Peppa

I had dippy eggs with a toasted sweet wheat Alternative Bagel, a slice of Canadian bacon and a side of roasted zucchini.

Roasted Zucchini

My Dinner

When Ryan was playing soccer in a men’s league and had games on Thursday nights a couple of months ago, I always made breakfast for dinner. With him out of the house  tonight at his motorcycle class, I took full advantage of flyin’ solo and once again followed my breakfast-for-dinner cravings.

I enjoyed every last yolk-soaked bite!

Yolk-y

Craving successfully satisfied.

Do you have blonde moments? Feel free to share your more memorable egghead comments.

Odd Combo

I opened a can of garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas) to use in last night’s dinner and had several servings leftover since I only ate a cup with my salmon and broccoli.

A salad seemed like the easiest way to incorporate the beans into my lunch, so I threw together leftover roasted broccoli, salmon and grape tomatoes and included several handfuls of the beans in the mix.

Salmon + Broc + Chickpeas + Grape Tomatoes

Fishy Veggies

Pink Salmon = Pretty

Simple but tasty!

Lettuce-Free Salad

Side Order

Though this salad was pretty large, I knew I’d feel unsatisfied after lunch if I didn’t include a side of something sweet.

With another cup of garbanzo beans remaining in the can, I decided to toss them in cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice and roast them for 25 minutes last night. Inspired by Angela, I topped the cinnamon-roasted beans with Crazy Richards chunky peanut butter and stirred the beans and pb until every last chickpea was covered in the creamy nuttiness.

Cinnamon Peanut Butter Chick Peas

I then popped the cinnamon and peanut butter-covered chickpeas in the fridge overnight and by lunchtime rolled around today, I had a cold, sweet and nutty treat!

"So Check Me Out"

Odd combo? Sure. Tasty combo? Definitely.

Cinnamon Peanut Butter Chickpeas

Ingredients:

• 1 c. canned chickpeas
• 1 tbsp. peanut butter
• Cinnamon & pumpkin pie spice to taste

Directions:

• Toss chickpeas with cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice until fully coated
• Roast chickpeas on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray for 15 – 25 minutes at 375 degrees
• Remove chickpeas from the oven and place them in a bowl
• Top the chickpeas with the peanut butter and stir until the peanut butter covers all of the cinnamon-roasted chickpeas
• Enjoy hot or refrigerate for a cold treat
• (Note: You may want to add honey or maple syrup to the peanut butter before tossing if you desire a sweeter taste, though I thought it was delicious without any sweeter.)

I’ve successfully included peanut butter in both my breakfast and lunch so far today… Let’s see if dinner can complete the trifecta!

Pumpkin Pie Protein Smoothie

I am so happy that pumpkin found its way back into my life.

During my BodyPump class this morning, I was daydreaming about a pumpkin-filled breakfast. At first I figured I would make pumpkin protein pancakes, but after taking Sadie on a 40 minute walk in the sweltering heat (record high temps in Florida this week!), I wanted something cold.

I decided to play around with the pumpkin a bit in an attempt to make a protein-packed smoothie.

The result? A pumpkin pie protein smoothie!

Blended

Into the blender went:

• 1/3 c. canned pumpkin
• 1 scoop All the Whey cup cake batter protein powder (you can substitute with vanilla protein powder)
• 1 frozen banana
• 5 ice cubes
• 1/2 c. water
• 1.5 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Pour Me Some Mo'

Sprinkled with Spice

Just a Spoonful of Pumpkin Makes the Smoothie Go Doooown

Not to toot my own horn (toot, toot!), but this was pretty fantastic. A little out of season, sure, but still flippin’ phenomenal.

Drink Up Buttercup!

And just because I had a craving for peanut butter (as usual), I also enjoyed a piece of honey wheat bread smeared with Crazy Richards crunchy pb.

Crazy for Peanut Butter

I’m full. 😀

Taking Classes for Fun

As I posted last night, Ryan is in the middle of a three-day class to obtain his motorcycle license. He has no intent to buy a bike (I hope!), but he’s taking the class for fun to learn a new skill and experience something new.

I love learning new things and honestly miss school. I don’t miss studying or boring lectures, but I do miss the engaging classes that would make me think and challenge me.

Continuing education can be expensive, but there are some adult-education classes out there that I would love to take in the future.

Classes I’d like to take include:

• Photography
• Cake-decorating
• Nutrition
• Creating and maintaining a web site
• Healthy cooking
• Exercise science
• Photoshop (for beginners!)

If you could take a class for fun, what class would you like to take?