Happy (Belated) Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Did you know that yesterday was Dr. Seuss day?  March 2nd marks the birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known to the world as Dr. Seuss.  To be honest, I have a love/hate relationship with Dr. Seuss.  Don’t get me wrong, I think the books are great, but I also think they were written primarily to torture parents.  Have you tried reading “Oh the Places You’ll Go” to your child at the end of a long day?  You sound like a fool as you get tongue-tied reading those crazy sentences out loud.  It is frustrating to feel like I have somehow lost the ability to read.  But, Olivia loves them, so I trudge on, making wonderful memories with my daughter that will last a lifetime.  Thank you, Dr. Seuss.

I intended to do an entire Dr. Seuss food day for Olivia yesterday, but she was in one of those “I don’t want to eat anything you make me” kind of moods, so I didn’t bother with most of my ideas.  And she didn’t get any one fish two fish, red fish blue fish (a.k.a. Goldfish crackers) without eating any “real” food.  Sorry kiddo, but mommy and daddy aren’t going to let you live on milk and crackers alone.  I’m not sure if she wasn’t feeling well or was just being a cranky toddler (she does turn 2 next week so we might just be at “that” stage).  I guess my themed lunch will have to wait for another day.  Sigh. 

The day started with a green eggs and “ham” frittata for breakfast.  It was relatively easy to put together, and was really tasty!  I didn’t get to the store on Saturday because it was snowing AGAIN (#WorstWinterEver) and the roads were pretty slippery.  Thus, I didn’t have any ham in the house.  I did, however, have bacon.  Bacon!  I consider it a win, because frankly, bacon is so much better anyway!  I think Dr. Seuss would approve with the substitution.  If Sam-I-Am had bacon in the frying pan, he would never have had to ask the question “Do you like green eggs and ham?”  But, if that had been the case, there wouldn’t have been much of a book, huh? 

There’s no question.  I do so like green eggs and ham!
Thank you!  Thank you, Sam I am.

Spinach, Bacon and Parmesan Frittata
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
6 slices bacon
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
6 oz. baby spinach, roughly chopped (about 4 c.)
6 eggs
1 oz. grated Parmesan cheese (about 1/4 c.)
1/2 c. milk
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
Pinch cayenne pepper

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a 10-inch nonstick oven safe skillet, cook bacon over medium-low heat until crisp.  Set the bacon aside on paper towels.  Remove all but a 1 tsp. of the bacon grease from the skillet.  Turn heat to medium and add onion.  Sauté until tender and beginning to brown, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic and sauté another minute.  Add the spinach, season with a pinch of salt and sauté until wilted and tender, about 3 minutes.

When bacon has cooled enough to handle, chop it into bite-sized pieces.  In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk and Parmesan.  Add the salt, pepper and cayenne, whisking to combine.  Stir in the chopped bacon.

Add the egg mixture to the pan, and give it all a good stir.  This is your only chance for stirring, so stir well and stir quickly.  Let the mixture cook on the stove top at medium heat until the eggs are set around the edges, about 5 minutes.  Transfer the pan to your preheated oven and cook until set, about 7-9 minutes.

Let frittata cool briefly, then cut it into wedges and serve.

What I Ate Wednesday

I figured I better get this post done while it was actually still Wednesday!  Have you seen any of these “What I Ate Wednesday” posts floating around the blogosphere?  Some people blog about what they ate the Wednesday prior, but most just pick a random day.  You snap photos and blog about what was on your plate for a day.  I had hoped my first post would be a great illustration of how easy it is to achieve weight loss and fitness goals by eating right.  I feel like I have kind of fallen off the nutrition wagon the last few days.  I am on week 7 of doing P90X3.  The first four weeks were great.  My diet was on-point and I was totally motivated.  Lately though, I feel like my diet has been a little out of whack.  I have been trying to stay within 1500 calories per day, with 30% fats, 30% carbohydrates and 40% proteins, but that definitely didn’t happen yesterday.  My calories were in check, but my ratios were not.  I really should have tried to get more protein in yesterday.  But hey, you win some you lose some.  The day was still delicious!  This is what I ate yesterday.
   
I started the day by whipping up some homemade turkey breakfast sausage.  We love the recipe in the Primal Cravings cookbook - as simple as mixing dried sage, mustard powder, salt, pepper, smoked paprika, cayenne and red pepper flakes into the turkey, then forming it into patties.  The result is a smoky, slightly spicy sausage that is the perfect addition to a breakfast sandwich.  Breakfast sandwhiches are pretty much my go-to these days.  They are delicious, portable and a pretty balanced meal to have on the go.  I made mine on an English muffin with 2 eggs and a slice of colby-jack cheese.  I kicked things up a notch this time by adding a little maple butter.  It added a nice bit of sweetness, just like when you have pancakes and a little syrup gets in your eggs (which is the best part).  Basically, you get a McGriddle kind of vibe, but it isn’t full of chemicals and artificial flavoring.

The drive to work was pretty horrid, so once I got to there, I hit the coffee pretty hard to recover.  While I cringe at the idea of using powdered creamer, at least my office serves Colectivo coffee, which makes up for it.

My pre-lunch (a.k.a. morning snack) was a few slices of beef salami, some veggies and piece of string cheese.  My breakfast and coffee usually fill me up until just before noon, but then I need a little something to get be through the next hour or so until I take my lunch break.

For lunch, it was leftover Whole Wheat Orzo Salad with Kale, Chickpeas, Lemon, and Feta that we had for dinner on Meatless Monday.  The recipe was from Kayln’s Kitchen.  It was pretty easy to throw together and made for a quick refreshing dinner on a night that the drive home was less than ideal.  Thank you 7 inches of fresh snow!  We actually prepped the salad Sunday night.  We boiled whole wheat orzo and sautéed red onion with kale.  We mixed that together and added a can of drained and rinsed chickpeas.  Then Monday we mixed up a vinaigrette of lemon zest, lemon juice, white wine vinegar, olive oil, cumin, salt and pepper.  I think I liked it better as a lunch salad than as a dinner.

My afternoon snack was an apple and vanilla Greek yogurt.  So simple, but so tasty.  I have been a little obsessed with Pink Lady apples lately.  I love Honeycrisp, but they are so expensive.  Pink Ladies are more in what I consider to be a “normal” price range for apples.  They are sweet but just a little tart, somewhat floral and nice and crisp.

Dinner was on the hubs last night and he did not disappoint.  He whipped up Shrimp Coconut Curry in a Hurry from the Body Beast nutrition plan.  We had it with some leftover Chinese takeout rice from over the weekend.  See, I told you we were off track.  I can’t even remember the last time we had Chinese takeout before this weekend.  The shrimp curry is made by sautéing shrimp and red bell pepper, then adding a mixture of coconut milk, lime juice, honey, curry, ginger and garlic.  Finally you stir in some fresh cilantro.  It is sweet, spicy, creamy, delicious and pretty easy to throw together.  I love the fact that I have a husband who isn’t afraid to get dinner on the table.  Good thing too, I was HUNGRY when I got home.  I’m a lucky girl.

One last thing I want to share with you while we’re in the “What I Ate” vein.  For Valentine’s Day, I made one of the best dinners I have ever had (pats self on back) and it wasn’t even that difficult to put together.  I started by making mashed potatoes using The Pioneer Woman recipe, then made cremini mushrooms escargot-style using a recipe I found here, and pepper crusted sear-roasted New York strip steaks using this method with a horseradish cream dipping sauce from Weber.  I also had some steamed peas and carrots on the plate.  It was DELICIOUS!  I could probably make a meal of just the mushrooms.  This is the exact meal I will go to over and over again when I am craving a steakhouse quality dinner at a fraction of the price.

 So, what’s on your plate?