It’s Just a Little Crush

Sometimes I hate that I never update my iPod and delete songs that have been on there foreverrrr.

Other times I love it and enjoy jammin’ out to random old school tunes that I’ve listened to for years.

Old songs I was lovin’ today include:

• How Will I Know – Whitney Houston
• Crush – Jennifer Paige
• Don’t Turn Around – Ace of Base
• As I Lay Me Down – Sophie B. Hawkins
• Ghetto Supastar – Pras

I remember listening to “Crush” over and over in my bedroom in junior high (okay, high school, too 😉 ) and thinking the words were so true.

“It’s just a little crush,
Not like I faint every time we touch,
It’s just some little thing
Not like everything I do depends on you…”

Didn’t it seem like back in junior high and high school people made the biggest deal about fleeting crushes? I’d have a silly crush on someone one week and then have a crush on someone else the next week… No big deal… Only to other people it was huge news when someone “liked” someone else. Who knew Jennifer Paige was so wise? 😉

Breakfast

Even though I’ve been crushin’ on Ryan for more than six years, I developed a new little crush this morning… on my breakfast.

Put a Little Love in Your Heart

I made my breakfast parfait by layering vanilla Greek yogurt with Flax-Z-Snax butter pecan hot cereal that I made last night and let chill in the fridge until this morning.

On top of the now-cold hot cereal, I added nectarine slices.

Yog + Nectaring + Cold Hot Cereal

Of course half of the nectarine went directly into my mouth before even making it into the parfait.

Side Tracked...

Seriously Delicious

It may seem ridiculous to take the time to make a parfait in a wine glass in the morning, but being able to see such pretty layers of delicious foods makes me smile… And who doesn’t like starting the day with a smile? (I know Annie does. 😉 )

Can you see why I’m crushin’ on this breakfast? 😀

Question of the Morning

Speaking of crushes… Who is your celebrity crush? If you have a significant other, who is their celebrity crush?

My celebrity crush is Ryan Reynolds (apparently the name “Ryan” is a pre-req in my book). Ryan’s celebrity crush is Jessica Biel.

And just in case your morning is off to a negative start, here’s a lil’ somethin’ somethin’ to make you smile:

The Other Ryan I Love

Sunday = Special Breakfast

Sundays are meant for special breakfasts.

This morning I woke up in the mood for something cold, sweet and creamy.

A breakfast parfait seemed like the perfect way to go!

Everybody Loves a Parfait!

I made my parfait by layering Greek yogurt with strawberries and Gerber Graduates cherry puffs.

I topped the parfait with two large spoonfuls of banana soft serve and more strawberries and cherry puffs.

Banana Soft Serve Topping

Sunday Parfait

This pretty lil’ wine glass full of creamy yumminess hit the spot!

Farmers’ Market

After breakfast, Ryan, Sadie and I walked to the Downtown Orlando Farmers’ Market to pick up some fresh fruit and veggies for the week.

Lake Eola, Downtown Orlando

Farmers' Market

Hot 'n' Happy

Even though it was just after 9 a.m., it was still awfully hot outside! We were sweatin’ up a storm.

Luckily we nabbed some goodies for the week:

• One pineapple ($2.50! Steal!)
• Zucchini
• Cucumber
• Cherry tomatoes
• Biggest carrot in the world
• Purple pepper (I’d never seen one before!)
• White pepper (Never seen this either!)
• Red pepper

Our bill was only $10.50 for all that food!

I Love Cheap Pineapples!

Now I’m getting ready to head to church while Ryan heads out for soccer practice.

Wedding tux selection to come!!! 😀

Berry Barley Breakfast Parfait

“You know what else everybody likes? Parfaits. Have you ever met a person, you say, ‘Hey, let’s get some parfaits,’ they say, ‘Hell no, I don’t like no parfait?’ No! Parfaits are delicious!”

What a fantastic scene from Shrek. I love Donkey. 🙂

Donkey

Donkey is right on the money with that quote if you ask me.

Seriously who doesn’t like a parfait?

Layer after layer of deliciousness? I mean, c’mon. They’re fantastic.

This morning my breakfast was a berry barley parfait.

Berry Barley Parfait

I made the parfait by layering vanilla Greek yogurt, cold cooked pearled barley, and thawed frozen strawberries in a wine glass for visual appeal.

View from the Top

I Love Parfaits

This meal was basically my favorite barley breakfast bowl in parfait form.

I followed up my parfait-in-a-wine-glass with toasted walnuts-in-a-shot-glass.

Shot o' Nuts

Quite the filling breakfast!

Workout

This morning Sadie and I set out on yet another five mile run. I was feeling kind of sleepy, and by the time I actually felt awake, the run was over. Can’t beat that!

On our run this morning we saw quite a neat little sight.

For some unknown reason there are a small handful of peacocks that live a mile or so from our apartment. They’ve always been there and seem to enjoy roaming around peoples’ yards in a one-block radius.

Well, today we saw little baby peacocks!

Baby Peacocks

I’ve never seen a baby peacock before and thought they were so cute! They reminded me of a bigger, more awkward looking chick. Adorable!

Question of the Day

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen while working out?

Coconut Cake for Dinner

Ryan knows the way to my heart.

Cheeser's Palace Coconut Cake

That little big beauty is a piece of coconut cake from Cheeser’s Palace, a café located in Clermont, Florida that makes the most unbelievably delicious cakes.

Ryan discovered Cheeser’s cakes through his work when one of his colleagues began bringing in a different cake to celebrate the birthday of each person in their department.  He has raved about the cakes ever since he tried his first slice!

About a month or so ago, he managed to snag a small slice of a lemon cake at work to bring home for me to try. I was overwhelmed by how perfectly moist the cake was and how amazingly sweet and creamy the icing tasted. It was love at first bite.

The next day I went to Cheeser’s website and emailed Ryan a list of all the cakes Cheeser’s makes, with the ones I especially wanted to try highlighted in bright yellow. (Wow. I think I may have a problem.)

Well, today I got to try the coconut cake – my number one choice!

Coconut Tastiness

Ryan brought home a huge slice of coconut cake from work today. (It was his boss’s birthday and she selected the coconut cake. Smart woman!)

I was overjoyed and instantly declared that I would be eating cake for dinner! 😀

I enjoyed every last decadent bite.

Dinner Number Two

Of course I felt like I needed something nutritious in my belly, so I made myself a second dinner, but still kept it sweet since my sweet tooth was apparently raging this evening.

I enjoyed my breakfast parfait on Wednesday morning so much that I decided to recreate it for dinner tonight.

Layered Sweetness

"Everybody Loves a Parfait!"

For those of you who are extra observant and noticed the “52” on the wine glass in the above picture, the glass was a free gift from a cooking demo we attended where chefs from Season’s 52 taught us some tricks of the trade at our local Whole Foods. (You may see a recap from another free cooking demo we attended at Whole Foods here. I wasn’t blogging at the time of the Season’s 52 demo. 🙂 )

I made my dinner parfait by layering vanilla Greek yogurt with frozen strawberries and a frozen banana blended together into creamy, fruity soft serve.

Sweet 'n' Creamy

It was the perfect mini-meal after indulging in a huge piece of amazing cake.

My sweet tooth is satisfied. 😀

Looks Like the 4th of July

Judging by my breakfast, it looks like the 4th of July came a bit early!

Red, White, Blue

“It makes me want a hot dog reeeeal bad!” 😉

(Love that movie.)

Today’s red, white and blue concoction was quite patriotic and tasted great to boot! Definitely a winner in my book.

Patriotic Parfait

My patriotic parfait was inspired by Angela. I created this breakfast treat by layering strawberry banana “soft serve“, Oikos vanilla Greek yogurt and a handful of blueberries several times until my fancy-dancy wine glass was filled to the brim.

Summer Treat

I created the “soft serve” by blending a frozen banana (broken into chunks) with a handful of frozen strawberries and a bit of cold water to get everything to move around a bit.

I would highly recommend doing this in a food processor if you have one. That was my original plan (see photo below), but when I plugged in my Cuisinart food processor, it decided to be moody and didn’t work. 😦 I’ve probably used this food processor less than 10 times, so I was pretty bummed that it already wasn’t working.

The Original Plan...

Fortunately my blender did the trick (I use an old Krups blender that I love), but I had to add a bit of water and it took a bit longer to get the soft serve smooth and creamy than it would have had I used a food processor.

Even without the food processor, this breakfast turned out quite tasty.

Sadie clearly agreed.

"Why Do I Always Get the Scraps?"

Another Sadie Picture for Good Measure

All this red, white and blue talk has me awfully excited for the 4th of July!

My family, Ryan and I have plans to head to the Florida Keys for a long weekend of scuba diving over the 4th. I can’t wait!!!

Question of the Day

• What are your 4th of July plans?
• What is your favorite red food?

My favorite red food is red velvet soft serve. 😀