Hello all! I hope your week is going very well so far!

Mine has been going pretty fast, which is nice. Well, sort of. The faster it goes, the closer I get to student teaching (in the fall), which makes me so nervous. Not to mention all I have to do beforehand, like applying. It is SUCH a process and costs so much money, what with the application, tests, background checks, and things like that. Of course, I’m so glad they (my school, the state, and the country) are so rigid with who can teach and who can’t…but it is quite a process. 😉

By the way, I’m sorry I haven’t been posting as often as I usually do – what with the beginning of the semester, I’m already very busy!

WIAW

This is my 30th What I Ate Wednesday! Wow.

Thanks to Jenn at Peas and Crayons for hosting!

Breakfasts

In addition to my usual Greek yogurt, I brought back a favorite this past week: Berry Breakfast Quinoa!

As you can see, I kind of swamped the quinoa with the berry juice, so it doesn’t look as pretty as the other times I’ve made it, but it sure does taste good!

Lunches

Both of my noteworthy lunches from this past week were leftovers – of sorts.

For this one, I ate up some stir-fry veggies (which I had sauteed in coconut oil for a previous night’s dinner), brown rice with Craisins, and a very bizarre but soooo tasty combination of BBQ pulled pork and salmon.

It’s really strange, I know, but both of those proteins go so well with BBQ that I decided to give it a go.

Another amaaaaazing lunch I enjoyed was made up of leftover spaghetti squash. I’ve seen plenty of chefs make pancakes out of shredded potatoes or spaghetti, so I thought I’d give it a try.

The result was crispy, cheesy, and so so delicious! Here’s how I did it:

Spaghetti Squash Pancake (E, N, GF)

Ingredients:

– 1/2 large spaghetti squash, cooked and “shredded” (in other words, take all of the spaghetti strands out!)
– 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese, finely shredded
– 1 or 2 tbsp. Parmesan cheese, grated
– 1 flax egg (I used 2 tablespoons each of ground flaxseed and warm water, but depending on how much squash you have, you could adjust these amounts)
– Salt and pepper, to taste
– Non-stick cooking spray

– Marinara sauce, for serving (optional)

Directions:

1. Remove as much water as possible from the spaghetti squash. I did this by pressing it between paper towel, but I’m sure there’s a better way. 🙂
2. In a bowl, combine the squash, cheeses, and flax egg, mixing until it forms a “dough”.
3. Coat a small skillet in the non-stick spray. Heat over medium-high heat.
4. Place the “dough” in the skillet, and spread it around into a pancake shape using a spatula. Allow to cook for about 3 minutes before flipping, or until the pancake is golden brown. Cook for another 3 minutes on the other side, or until golden.
5. Once the pancake is heated through, the cheese is melty, and the crust is golden brown, slide the pancake on to a plate, and top with marinara sauce – or whatever toppings you’d like!
6. Enjoy!

Notes:
– I found that the easiest way to flip this pancake was to take a large plate in my left hand, cover the skillet with it, and then quickly flip the skillet upside down, so the pancake lands on the plate. Then simply slide it back into the skillet to cook that side! If you have one of those giant pancake spatulas, that would be awesome, too.

So anyway – there’s a great way to use leftover spaghetti squash!

Snacks

I didn’t have too many snacks that were fun enough to photograph this past week, except this one:

Why didn’t I get on the sunbutter + chocolate chip bandwagon earlier??? Oh man. If this tastes anything like a Reese’s peanut butter cup, I now finally understand what you all were on about.

Dinners (I apologize in advance for the funky lighting in these pictures – taking them after dark with horrible lighting and then trying to edit them to look good is challenging.)

You basically saw a combination of these dinners as leftovers up above in lunches, but here there are again:

BBQ Pulled Pork (this stuff is sooooo good), mixed veggies, and corn bread muffin(s).

I used the recipe on the back of the Quaker Corn Meal box to make these muffins, but I did have some healthier changes: I used some whole wheat flour in place of some of the all-purpose, and I replaced the canola oil with unsweetened applesauce. YUM.

Salmon, stir-fry veggies, and brown rice with Craisins.

And finally, this deeeelicious Coq au Vin with roasted potatoes. I’ll post the recipe soon!

Desserts

Um. I didn’t take any pictures of desserts. What is wrong with me???

I did whip up another batch of the amazing Sea Salted Dark Chocolate bars that my family so loves. You’re probably getting tired of this picture, but because I forgot to take one of the second batch…I’m recycling photos. 🙂

Workouts Jan 13-19
Sunday: off
Monday: 40 minutes elliptical + strength training
Tuesday: 25 minutes jogging + 20 minutes walking on treadmill
Wednesday: P90X Yoga? A combination of some of the workouts I’ve pinned?
Thursday: rest
Friday: 25 minutes jogging + 25 minutes walking on treadmill
Saturday: Taebo? Circuit training?

In other news, did any of you notice the change to my site? I just changed the WordPress theme, so hopefully it isn’t too distracting. I wanted something different and cleaner, but also easy to navigate and not too radically different. I had a heck of a time choosing which new theme I wanted…it’s silly how worked up I got about it! 🙂

Who watched the Golden Globes? I watched the red carpet arrivals (I LOVE looking at the fashion), the first hour of awards, and the last hour.

I was so so happy that Les Mis and some of it’s cast won. I loved that movie and think it deserved exactly what it got!

Also, I now really really need to see Silver Linings Playbook. I know some of you have already seen it and loved it, but after learning how many nominations it/the cast got, seeing it is on my “to-do” list. Oh, and Argo. I was so surprised that won best picture!

I’m just going to throw this in here for fun: My favorite dress of the evening was actually Kate Hudson’s.

I thought it was just beautiful, but I also really liked Amanda Seyfried’s, Anne Hathaway’s, Lucy Liu’s, Rachel Weisz’s (except for the bottom – what was going on there?), and Nicole Kidman’s.

Anyway, I had to skip the middle hour of the awards because I was too busy watching Downton Abbey.

Oh my gosh, I love that show. Those of you who are from the UK have probably already seen the entire season three, but for us, it’s only the second episode and I was completely captivated. I don’t want to throw in any spoilers, but WOW that was a good episode! And the preview for the next one…I’m just so excited.

The only problem is that I was going through some online articles and accidentally saw one that I think gave away the end to the entire season. I’m not going to share what I saw, but basically, it was a picture, and the caption said “Warning: Do not read further if you have not seen the end of Season 3”, but the picture pretty much said it all. BOO. Add that on to the list of negative aspects of technology…

Well, that’s all I have for today, so here are a couple of questions for you. I’d love to hear (see? read?) your answers! 🙂

What’s the weirdest food combination you’ve ever eaten?

That salmon/pulled pork combo was pretty strange, I must say…

Did you watch the Golden Globes? Are there any movies you’re now dying to see? Any that you think didn’t deserve the awards they won?

On my list are Silver Linings Playbook and Argo, like I said. As far as disappointments, I’ve never seen Homeland, but I was so surprised it won over Downton Abbey and Boardwalk Empire.

Are you watching Downton Abbey Season 3? If not, what is your favorite TV show right now?

I’d say that is the only show I really look forward to right now. Other favorite would be Modern Family and Top Chef. 🙂

Have a wonderful Wednesday!