Packing Breakfasts and Lunches, Earth Fare Win

I know I have been away for a few days.  To be perfectly honest, I just haven’t had much blog-worthy activity.  It’s been pretty ho-hum here at the Confessions house.  So I thought I would just show you a couple of pics, just to show you what I’ve been up to.

Made an excellent batch of Easy Chili on Saturday which led to several lunches and snacks this week…

I like to serve chili over noodles—whole wheat noodles.  But I also like to eat my chili with baked tortilla chips, like a salsa.  Either way… yum. 

So. On to the breakfast and lunch packing.  I have to be at work pretty early.  I also drop off my little girl on the way.  That means that I have to be out the door in the morning pretty early.  That means that I don’t have time to make breakfast and eat at home.  So I pack it and take it with me.  I like to take items like:

• oatmeal
• fruit (see fruit find below!)
• ham and cheese slices
• grits (instant individual packets)

I made an awesome breakfast discovery that I want to share with you: Del Monte Fruit Naturals!

(click for source)

I bought the red grapefruit cups the other day just on a whim and I LOVE them.  It is seriously like biting into the juiciest, freshest grapefruit ever.  These are a lifesaver for breakfast.  I just throw them in my lunch bag and I have a healthy breakfast without all of the mess and cutting that grapefruit sometimes involves.  They also make cups of blueberries (hello cereal topping!), peaches, mixed berries, and mixed fruit!  I plan to try them all.

On to lunch…

I’ve been enjoying Potpourri Platters for lunches lately. 

These are the best kinds of lunches.  A little bit of everything.  Some of the things I like to throw in are (the goodies vary from day to day):

• hummus (topped with tomatoes and/or feta cheese and/or cucumber)
• pita rounds or pita chips
• olives
• turkey slices
• clementine oranges (gotta enjoy them while they are in season!)
• string cheese
• almonds (I make my own mini packs of these.  I buy them in the bulk bins at Earth Fare and then count them out into small portions.  I just grab one of my premeasured portions and throw it in my lunch bag!)

Having ingredients like these on hand really has helped me to get through Eat-In Month.  It has helped me avoid spending extra money on lunches this month, and of course I can eat healthier when I am prepared.

Now, on another note, check out this haul of groceries from Earth Fare that I got for just $15!

I got an awesome coupon via text this morning (Click here to find out how to get coupons texted to you from EF) and I couldn’t wait to use it!  (If you get this coupon, hurry—it expires on Friday!)

I got:

• veggie burgers
• bananas
• cheese puffs (like cheetos but a little healthier)
• pesto
• grapefruit
• 2 Chobani yogurts
• 3 healthy Ramen Noodle packs
• tri-color quinoa (from the bulk bin)
• almonds (bulk bin)
• banana chips (bulk bin)

I love shopping the bulk bins.  It’s fun to pick out something new to try each time.  And I love being able to decide how much I want to buy of a product.

Wow.  What a boring post.  Listing my lunch ingredients?  My grocery list? Oh my goodness.  I better cook something fast so I have a better post next time!

Who doesn't love a free dinner?

After school, I took Sadie to one of our favorite places:

Earth Fare!

Sadie loves going there because she can push the kid-sized carts.  Sometimes this is risky, because she likes to grab random items from the shelves and put them in her cart.  I've found some strange items when we have gotten to the checkout line... However today, she was a good little shopping helper.

I wish I could do all my shopping at Earth Fare, but we just can't afford to do all our shopping there.  However, Earth Fare has THE best deals.  I have mentioned their coupons before on my blog, and they are great!

Today I got all this:

plus a batch of Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies that were in the oven when I snapped this...

for only $11!

If you sign up for Earth Fare's email list, they will give you a coupon for a free dinner!  You get either a whole chicken OR veggie burgers, a bag of baby carrots, and a container of garlic mashed potatoes.

Click here to sign up.

So here's my free dinner.  I decided to try Earth Fare's Spicy Bean Veggie Burgers.  LOVED them.  They definitely have a kick!  I didn't have monterrey jack cheese, so I topped mine with a little mozzarella and salsa.  YUM!

I also was so excited to try one of these CasCal drinks! 

I've been seeing them on the Food Buzz site and on other blogs.  So tasty!  It's fizzy and is not overly sweet.  It is kinda like having champagne!  It was a fun treat after Zumba!

Well, goodnight all... it's Friday-Eve!  Yahoo!

Out of My Hands…

Hi all!  Hope everyone had a great weekend.  Remember last Sunday… I wrote about the “Sunday Blues.”  I’m kind of having those today.  I love my job, but I wish the weekends were one day longer.  Don’t you?

This morning was an early morning.  We got our rears in gear to make it to early church today.  It’s hard to get up and moving that early… but it’s nice to be home at 11:00 from church and have the whole day!  I did have ONE thing to do today, though… more on that in a minute.

This morning, I had 2 fried eggs and wheat toast with  jelly. 

I forgot to take pictures of lunch.  But it was a soup/sandwich combo. 

For dinner tonight… I made a new food: Quinoa!  Lately, everyone seems to be writing about quinoa!  I might have had it once… but I don’t remember it.  So I made some of my own. 

 

LOVE it!  I cooked mine in chicken stock and served it with pan-seared chicken breasts.  Here is a helpful guide if you are wondering how to cook Quinoa.  Delish!  Very filling!  If you have not tried Quinoa, I recommend you try it!  I bought mine in the bulk bins at Earth Fare, so it was not expensive at all.  If you have never used the bulk bins before, my friend Diana wrote a post about how to do this.  Click here to read it. 

We had some steamed green beans with almonds, too.

 

    

 

Tomorrow I think I am going to try making a quinoa breakfast bowl.

So… what did I have to do today?

Well, I am not ready to say yet… but I am waiting on some news.  Tomorrow I should be able to share with you.  It’s not the obvious thing many of you are thinking right now.  I promise.  BUT… it’s something that is out of my hands at this point.  And I promise to share news soon. 

I have been learning over the past year that there are a lot of things that I can’t control.  Sometimes, you just have to wait for a sign from above as to what’s the right thing to do.  Have you ever heard that phrase “Let go and let God?”  I am trying to learn to do that.  It’s hard!

New Food Find: Health(ier) Ramen Noodles

So... let's revisit the college days...

You remember those nights.  You just spent 3 hours dancing at the local college hangout (Scandal's, for you local Rock Hill people) and made it back to your dorm room around 2 or 3 a.m.  And of course... you are starving!  What can you eat?  You go to your pantry  crate under your bed and pull out... a pack of Ramen Noodles!

Come on, admit it... you ate them in college, too, right?  I remember going to the grocery store and I swear you could get like 20 of those packs for like $2.  That's the life of a college student.

Well, I really haven't eaten Ramen Noodles since I left the dorm, but I'll admit... I miss them!  They're just so fn and curly :)  I've avoided them because they're actually fried noodles (a.k.a. seriously fattening).  But on Saturday I made a trip to Earth Fare and made a discovery...

Low Fat Health(ier) Ramen Noodles!

These were actually really tasty.  The only down side is high sodium content. 

GREAT to keep in your desk at work for an emergency lunch.  You can easily add veggies to these noodles, too.  I micro-cooked them and thought they would be great with some edamame mixed in.
So if you're missing your college days... stop by Earth Fare and find these.  They'll take you back...

Oh, how I love Saturdays...

Scrambled eggs this morning for Sadie and me.  It was my day to get up at the crack of dawn.  We were out of the little frozen mini pancakes, which means that disaster is arfound the corner.  Instead, I offered up scrambled eggs. 

I thought I would make them extra special, so I cubed some cream cheese and sliced some green onions onto mine.  Added in some bananas and crunchy turkey bacon.  Nice.

Then I headed to Zumba with Katie at the Y!  Today I led two songs:

"I Like It" by Enrique Inglesias
and
"Sacudelo" by Willy Chirino y Los Tres Gatos

I have no clue what "Sacudelo" means.  Usually I try to listen to the lyrics and try to figure out at least the topic.  But I have no clue on this one.  Maybe I will look into that.

Because I worked out today, I figured Sadie and I could make cookies, so I ran by Earth Fare again and grabbed some "Take and Bake" Chocolate Chip cookies.  I know it's cheating if they are take and bake, but we did shake some sprinkles on there...

Before Baking and Sprinkles

After

I was really looking forward to dinner tonight because we cooked those Chicken Rollers from Earth Fare.  They were delicious!  Ryan and I both agreed that the spinach and feta rollers were the best.  Sometimes feta can be overpowering, but not in this case!  It was the perfect amount!

The Buffalo Chicken Roller

Steamed Broccoli, Spinach and Feta Chicken Roller, Whole Grain Herbed Rice

And a little relaxation in a glass...

We've got a little surprise cooking in the crock pot for tomorrow morning, thanks to Diana and her blog, The Chic Life.  You'll have to wait for those pictures tomorrow!

Gifts In My Inbox

It is 9 p.m. and I am just now getting home.  Awfully late, but it was a fun day.  Zumba, dinner with the girls, FREE food at Earth Fare...

When I got to work, I realized I forgot my knee brace for Zumba... oops.  With all the knee trouble I have had lately, I thought I might be headed for disaster.  But after taking a week off, I thoght maybe it would be ok. 

After work I taught my Zumba class at school.  Then when it was done, I thought, the knee is feeling ok... maybeI will hit Zumba with Katie at the Y.  Definitely worth it!  Hopefully I am not speaking too soon, but I can till walk and my knee seems normal-sized...

Zipped over to Weight Watchers, thinking, I might be heading for disaster.  (Are you seeing a pattern here?)  I have not tracked my food and points all week.  I have tried not to eat like a maniac, but I have definitely been a little slack.  Plus-- I didn't work out all week.  BUT... I stepped on the scale... and LOST .4 pounds!  Now, .4 sounds like nothing, but if you have ever been on a weight-loss journey, then you know that ANY loss counts as a LOSS!

I celebrated by meeting my friends Angie and Mandy at Moe's.  I made healthy choices, except for the chips.  I just can't turn down the chips and salsa.  I have been known to sneak in a bag of Baked! Tostitos, but this time I was unprepared.  My "Close Talker in a Bowl" was fantastic.  Lettuce, grilled chicken, black beans, pico de gallo, black olives, cucumbers, pickled jalapenos, and cilantro.  You don't even need dressing!

Moe's Close Talker in a Bowl

Today I got a nice little surprise in my email inbox: 2 new Earth Fare coupons!  So I had to make one more stop before heading home.  I love going to Earth Fare.  Every time I go I find something new and fun!  Tonight I only spent $10, but I walked out with:

1.  Fresh low fat cheese ravioli
2.  Baked Cheese Curls (like Cheetos but healthier)
3.  Buffalo chicken rollers (chicken breasts flattened and rolled up with lots of goodies inside)
4.  Spinach and feta chicken rollers
5.  Bananas

Healthy Cheetos

Buffalo Chicken Rollers and Spinach Feta Rollers

I would say that's pretty good-- 2-3 dinners for this weekend already prepared?  A crunchy, cheesy snack?  Bananas?  For under $10?  Um, let me think... Yes please!  I will let you know how the rollers taste later this weekend!

I also read that they have new (FREE) cooking classes starting again soon.  I heart you, Earth Fare!

I am going to say to everyone reading (all 5 of you): if you have not gone to the Earth Fare website and signed up for their email list, do it RIGHT NOW.  They send out 2-3 awesome coupons a week and everything is always delicious!

So... tomorrow is Friday...  yippee!!!  Happy Friday, everyone!