(Strange title, I know. Look below for an explanation.)

Well, if you didn’t notice already, I seriously love my iPhone. I’m already addicted to Instagram (you all warned me!) and I just love having a good camera on hand at any second.

For example, the other day, my dad gave a simple string to Ella.

She proceeded to have a ton of fun with it, and I lucky had my phone in my pocket to document some of the fun.

I’m telling you, she’s a cat!

It’s funny: we spend lots of money on dog toys and bones to keep her entertained, but so far, the items she’s had the most fun with are water bottles/liter bottles, rolls of tape, and strings. Do you remember how, when you were little, playing with big boxes was so much more fun than playing with a toy? I think that’s kind of going on here, too. 🙂

Well, now that I have my Ella pictures out of the way, on to WIAW!

WIAW

Hosted by Jenn!

Breakfasts

Other than my usual breakfast, I also attempted another green monster smoothie this past week. I started out with an orange, a cup of milk, some flaxseed, and quite a few handfuls of spinach. It was this lovely green color but tasted kind of bad. Haha.

So then I added about 1/2 cup mixed berries, and ended up with this weird purpley color. I topped the smoothie with some Special K Protein cereal, and voila! Delicious.

Lunches

One super delicious and filling lunch I enjoyed last week was this bowl of tofu, rice, Craisins, and peas.

So simple but so good.

Another lunch was even more simple: a grilled apple and cheese sandwich.

There are lots of things that go with cheese, in my opinion (like, everything), but apples are definitely high on my list!

Snacks

As it turns out, I didn’t take too many pictures of snacks over the week. That’s not to say they didn’t happen, though. The one I did snap a picture of was this smoothie from Panera:

It’s a new one to the menu: non-fat superfruit smoothie. It’s made with a mix of fruits, ginseng, and Greek yogurt. Almost all of the ingredients are organic, and it has 20 grams of protein in it, which made it the perfect snack! My new favorite!

Dinners

It was my mom’s birthday yesterday (happy birthday, mom!), so over the weekend, we sort of celebrated. She actually had a terrible flu for quite a few days, and was out of commission for the celebration for the most part.

So, instead of going out to dinner like we had planned, she asked me to make these Mini Chicken Pot Pies. Yum!

She found the recipe on Pinterest, but I think it’s a Pillsbury creation. 🙂

On Sunday, my mom was still super sick and didn’t want to cook the roast she had been planning on. So, instead, I made Irish Beef Stew.

This stuff is SO good. If you haven’t tried it yet, give it a go – it’s perfect timing for St. Patrick’s Day! 😉

Finally, this last picture is of a dinner that I whipped up last night. It was one of those times where I had an idea and decided to throw things into a pot and see if it turned out.

Good news: it did! I’m going to call it Mexican Quinoa Salad. I’ll have the recipe up soon…maybe for Meat Free Monday next week?

Desserts

My mom requested this strawberry pretzel dessert by Paula Deen for her birthday.

Ask and you shall receive. (Well, if it’s your birthday week, at least. 😉 )

Finally, last week, I decided to try out a recipe I had found on Pinterest. They were called healthy cookies (hello!) and only required two ingredients. However, I added some things due to lack of ingredients and personal taste, so here is the revised recipe:

Banana Chip Cookies (egg, nut, dairy?, gluten? free)
makes about 8-10 cookies

Ingredients:
– 1 cup oats
– 1 cup bran flakes (use another cup of oats to make GF)
– 2 bananas
– 1/4 cup butterscotch chips and/or mini chocolate chips (dairy-free, if necessary)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a bowl, mash the bananas.
3. Add the oats and bran flakes and stir until well combined.
4. Fold in the butterscotch/chocolate chips.
5. Place cookies on sheet and bake for about 13 minutes, or until golden brown.

Notes:
– I actually ended up splitting the “dough” into two: one banana, 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup bran flakes, a few tablespoons of butterscotch chips, and then for the other half: one banana, 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup bran flakes, a few tablespoons of chocolate chips.
– Dan and I taste tested both of them. I liked the chocolate chip cookie better because, to me, it tasted a bit like chocolate chip banana bread. Dan preferred the butterscotch chip cookie more because those chips add such a distinct, sweet flavor.

I don’t know that I’d ever make those cookies again (unless I was in a pinch) just because I’m not that big a fan of bananas. I think I’ve mentioned on here before that sometimes the smell/taste/texture of them often makes me gag, but if you love them, I know you’d love this recipe. 🙂

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Workouts March 10-16
Sunday: off
Monday: 40 minutes on elliptical trainer + strength exercises
Tuesday: 25 minute jog + 25 minute walk on treadmill
Wednesday: P90X Ab Ripper + Pinterest exercises
Thursday: rest
Friday: P90X Yoga
Saturday: 25 minute jog + 25 minute walk on treadmill

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That’s about all I have for today. I’m finding that the week after break has been more hectic than the week before. I don’t know how that worked out, but it did. So I really should be off to get some stuff done, although I can tell you, I’d much rather be doing some blogging things. 🙂

Questions for the day:

Lots of you gave me great recommendations for iPhone apps last week – do you have any more??

Do you like bananas?

Any good eats this week?

Have a wonderful Wednesday!!