Tortilla Addict

I love meals that involve tortillas!  Wraps, fajitas, quesadillas, breakfast burritos, you name it.  I used to eat a ham and cheese quesadilla every day as my after-school snack.  I took it to the next step during college, tortillas were my one staple food - I would even eat PB&J on my tortillas.

Fortunately, I've grown past my tortilla addiction.  But sometimes, you just have to revert back to an old favorite, or give it a new twist.

This combination of flavors and textures is definitely worth repeating!  Can you believe I pulled off another vegetarian meal without any complaints?

Mushroom & Asparagus Wrap

In a skillet, sautee mushrooms, onions and garlic.

In another skillet, sautee asparagus, sliced tomatoes, garlic and sprinkle with veggie seasonings.

Prepare your tortillas with a layer of avocado and a handful of shredded cheese.

Next, simply pile on the asparagus and tomatoes, followed by the mushrooms and onions!

Wrap it up, or eat it like a taco, however you prefer!

Don't forget dessert! I had a serving of vanilla yogurt, topped with blueberries, blackberries, crumbled graham crackers, and peanuts!

Did you notice anything missing in my dessert?  That's right - chocolate.  No, I didn't go all day without my chocolate fix - I actually had an Attune bar for a snack earlier and it satisfied my daily craving!

These are probiotic bars.  Most everyone has heard of antibiotics, whose job is to kill bad bacteria.  A probiotic is basically the exact opposite of antibiotics - it is a dose of live microorganisms that are healthy for your digestive and immune systems.  Attune bars have a very reasonable amount of calories, 3-4g of fiber, and are obviously great sources of probiotics and calcium!  There's also only a few grams of sugar!

Of course, don't expect it to taste like a hunk of Dove chocolate (my favorite).  My personal opinion of the Attune bar is that it tastes healthy and chocolatey, too.  If you consider the health benefits, this is a great option to consider when you're craving a snack.

What's your favorite meal that involves a tortilla?

My favorite is probably fajitas!  Or, ya know I could just eat the tortilla all by itself!

Endangered Chocolate

Prepare yourself for lots of pictures - we ate a ton of delicious food this weekend, and I couldn't help but include it all in the photographs!

Let's start with breakfast.

Fresh-squeezed OJ, eggs, turkey bacon and toast with jelly.

My secret to sweet fresh-squeezed OJ is a packet of NuStevia.  It adds more sweetness than sugar!

Continuing on with other breakfasts:  Austin whipped up a couple of breakfast burritos with egg, cheese and turkey bacon in a whole wheat torilla.

I also made a new breakfast creation that came to me in my dreams on Saturday night: Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes.

I ate mine with raspberries and powdered sugar.

And this morning I had them again, with blackberries, syrup and flaxseed.

Moving on to other eats - for lunch on Saturday, I made fried eggplant with a homemade marinara sauce.

For the sauce, I chopped up three tomatoes and let them simmer in a sacepan with garlic and olive oil.  I spiced it up with fresh basil from our garden.

I peeled and sliced the eggplant and dipped it in bread crumbs.

Dozie was being a good kitchen helper, so he received an eggplant peel-hat on his head.

I fried the eggplant in a thin layer of olive oil for a couple minutes on each side.

It turned out perfectly golden brown and delicious.

Austin executed his mastered grilling skills with the chicken.

And I threw together a couple of salads for some green veggies on the side.

All together, this was a fantastic meal.

On Saturday night, we headed downtown for another Astros game.  Since we had a bad experience with raw chicken tenders at the last game we went to, we made sure to eat a snack before the game this time!

I made a Chocolate Cherry Smoothie that consisted of Amazing Grass Chocolate drink powder, a banana, frozen cherries, spinach, milk and ice cubes.

We had fun watching the Astros, even though they're having a rough season.

It was a beautiful evening at Minute Maid Park.

On Sunday, we went to the movies while our lunch marinated in the fridge.  In the mix: steak, onions, himalayan peppers, mushrooms, red potatoes, and a Garlic & Molasses marinade.

The movie of choice was Robin Hood, starring Russell Crowe.  Is it just me or is he seriously Gerald Butler's twin?  It was fun to learn the story behind the legend.  I also enjoyed the scenery of the movie.  Overall, I give this action flick a thumbs-up!  However, at 140 minutes of screen-time, I did feel like it dragged a bit at times.

Ok, you want the truth? I was in a hurry to get home to these kabobs!

Austin grilled some shrimp and scallop kabobs for himself.  I wasn't too jealous, though, because the beef was amazing!

I even had enough leftover for a salad at lunch today.  Bonus!

I'll leave you with a piece of dessert: dark chocolate and raisins.  I've been eating this Endangered Species Chocolate as if the chocolate itself is going extinct!

What do you like to pair with chocolate?

Duh...my mouth!  Haha :) I like to pair chocolate with raisins, nuts, peanut butter, or ice cream!

Indulgence

Lately, I've been attempting to maintain my self-control around snacks.  I failed today.

Or, if you're a glass half-full type of person, I succeeded at increasing my indulgence!  Which technically I deserved to reward myself, since I set a new personal record on my 2-mile run yesterday!

I went a little nuts and ate an entire bar of Orange Dark Chocolate, along with four Fig Newmans.

No, you don't need to have your vision checked: you read that correctly!  I ate all of this for a snack.  A little excessive, perhaps.  Am I feeling slightly dizzy from all the sugar and deliciousness?  Yes, as a matter of fact I am.

Where did these goodies come from?  Sally at Newman's Own Organics hooked me up with the best care package ever!

Newman's Own Organics is the Second Generation of Newman's Own.  The ingredients list on all of these items contain the word "organic".

Be careful, though, because apparently there is such a thing as "organic corn sugar".  Just because it's organic doesn't mean you should eat it by the bucketful.

To demonstrate why I felt the need to make this statement, see below:

As soon as this guy walked in the door, he was ripping open bags and munching down on snacks.

Full-disclosure: He's a vulture.  He eats everything. 

Want to know a little about the soy crisps that he's eating?

• 
  
  Serving Size: 1 oz, Calories per Serving: 110, Calories from fat: 20, Total Fat: 2.5g (saturated fat: 0gm, trans fat: 0g), Cholesterol: 0mg, Sodium: 650mg, Total Carbohydrates: 14g (dietary fiber: 3g, sugars: less than 1g), Protein: 9g

I had an interesting conversation with Sally about these.  They have a very high protein content - at 9g of protein per serving - which caused Austin and I to ask a question regarding the "soy" ingredient in these crisps.  As we suspected, they are made from unfermented soy.  Now, I'm not an expert on soy, but I do know that fermented soy is proven to be healthier than unfermented.  Some research indicates that there are risks associated with unfermented soy, such as skewing estrogen hormone levels in both men and women.  I encourage you to do your own research on this matter, but here's my outlook: eat everything in moderation and you'll be just fine.

Anyway, the crisps taste great!

Moving on to what I have deemed "the best cookie ever":

Newman's-O's are a healthier version of Oreo's.  They are made out of organic ingredients, with a much lower fat content than Oreo's.  Oh, and did I mention that they taste amazing?  The mint-chocolate flavor is my favorite.  I keep accidentally referring to them as Oreo's though.  I guess Newman's-O's just doesn't roll off the tongue quite as easily.

While we were stuffing our faces with treats, Dozer was sitting in the corner looking awfully pathetic.

Okay, who am I kidding?  Jack Russell Terriers do not sit still.  As usual, he was jumping up and down attempting to snag a crumb of whatever we were eating.

Fortunately, Newman's Own Organics has a line of organic dog food that Dozer was lucky enough to sample.

He loved it.  And clearly he's no longer interested in his dry kibble.  "That sh*t's for the birds".

Dozer was completely satisfied with his organic dog food.  But we didn't stop there.  It was his lucky day: he also got to sample a Salmon & Sweet Potato treat!

We took this opportunity to work on his begging skills.  He likes to paw at the air.  He probably thinks this improves his chances of earning the treat.  He would be correct.

Do you teach your pets tricks?

Dozer is quite the talented pup!  He can sit, stay, lay down, stand up, beg, jump, balance food on his nose, kennel-up, and fetch.