Category Archives: Recipes

Butterscotch Overnight Oats

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Good Thursday morning! We’re having a sunshiney morning here in SGF, so I hope you’re having the same wonderful weather wherever you may be!

Morning Run

This morning was supposed to be a sleep-in morning for me since I ran last night and have a Jazzercise class this evening…but that didn’t happen. I woke up at 4:52 with a tiny dog on top of my belly. He was just needing some attention I guess because once Mac had me out of bed around 5:15, he settled back down into his own tiny bed. What a turd.

Since I was up, I decided I’d go on an easy run to get some more miles on my new shoes I received yesterday. I started out slow and steady, but my mind was not into the running mode this morning at all. I was fighting with myself the whole run to keep myself going and not turn around. I took 3 short 30-second walk breaks to keep my body going since my motivation was at an all time low. I NEVER incorporate walking breaks into my runs, so I wasn’t too happy with myself. But I finished my run strong and made it to a little over 5 miles in 45ish minutes. I’m hoping after this busy wedding weekend (where my workouts will be put on the back burner), I’ll be able to have a good, strong run on Sunday sometime.

Breakfast

I got home from my run with a few minutes to spare before I needed to get into the shower. So while I cooled off, I threw some not-so-overnight oats together in hopes that the hour in the fridge would be long enough for the oats to soften up a bit. And I must say, it turned out pretty well!

Butterscotch Overnight Oats

photo(103)Into this mix, I added:

  • 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
  • 1/2 tbsp chia seeds
  • 1 tbsp Sugar-Free Butterscotch Pudding Mix
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Mix the ingredients well, cover, and let sit in the refrigerator overnight for best results! Although my oats softened up nicely after only one hour in the fridge.

photo(104)The star of this recipe is obviously the pudding mix. I love this flavor, but you could use basically any pudding flavor you like! The butterscotch kick really livened up my breakfast. I can’t wait to experiment with other pudding flavors soon!

photo(103)These oats filled up my belly nicely, and I finished off my breakfast with some hot coffee and pineapple Greek yogurt at my desk.

photo(101)On the agenda for the rest of my day is work, Jazzercise, and paint my nails for Katie’s wedding!

photo(100)I’m loving this color! It’s ‘rebel rose’ from Avon. I’ve already got one coat on, so I’ll do the other tonight and be set for the weekend!

Have a great Thursday! And feel free to comment with your favorite overnight oat ‘add-ins’! I’m always looking for something new for my breakfast menu. 🙂

Simple Cucumber & Tomato Quinoa Salad

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I know what you’re thinking….yay, yet another recipe for quinoa. And I admit, I do agree that there are a TON of quinoa salad recipes out there right now. Mine isn’t extra different, but it is supa easy and supa quick. So if you’re in need of something to take to a party/get-together, hopefully this can help you out!

photo(81)I made this for my Kappa Delta Alum meeting that I went to last night, and it was a big hit! The amount I made was A LOT, so feel free to cut the recipe in half, etc. The quinoa grows a lot after it gets done boiling, so expect to have leftovers!

Simple Cucumber & Tomato Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups quinoa, rinsed
  • 4 cups water
  • 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes
  • 1 medium cucumber
  • 1/2 small red onion
  • 1,  4 oz. package crumbled feta cheese
  • 3/4 cup  zesty light Italian dressing
  • 1 tsp Dill weed
  • Salt/pepper to taste

Bring the 4 cups of water to a boil. Stir in the 3 cups of quinoa, bring back to a boil, cover, and reduce heat until the mixture is at a nice low boil. Let the quinoa simmer for 15 minutes. Then take it off the heat, stir, and quickly recover to let it sit for around 5-10 minutes. This is where the quinoa will finish soaking up the water and will continue to grow!

While you let the quinoa cool, chop up your tomatoes, cucumber, and onion into small chunks. Once the quinoa is mostly cool, stir in your chopped veggies. Next stir in the Italian dressing, dill weed, and salt & pepper. Your salad may need more or less dressing, so add the liquid slowly until you know how much dressing is right for your mixture. You want it to be fairly ‘dry’; your quinoa should not be dripping with dressing!

Last, mix in the feta cheese by gently folding it in. You want to be able to still see the chunks, so don’t over-mix! I found this awesome stuff at my grocery store that definitely added an extra kick of flavor.

13308535Tomato basil feta = yum! Plain feta will do the job as well, no worries.

You can serve the salad immediately, but I found it’s the best to cover it and refrigerate an hour or so (or even overnight!) to really let the quinoa start to soak up the yummy flavors. I personally let mine sit overnight and had to add a little more dressing before serving it yesterday. I think the quinoa starts to soak up the dressing, so if you need extra dressing, just keep it handy!

photo(84)Super fresh, easy, and healthy! It was a hit with our BBQ meal last night. And I’ll be enjoying it for a few more days. 🙂

photo(83)Happy cooking!

Pumpkin Pie Overnight Oats

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Yesterday’s breakfast was a great one that completely has me in the holiday spirit now!

photo(83)Let me preface this by saying my posts are about a day delayed right now. Have you ever had one of those weeks where you are so stinkin busy you can barely find time to sleep, let alone get anything extra done? Well this week has been that way for me. I still feel like I’m slightly drowning. But the weekend is near, and I know if I can make it til then, I will finally have time to recup!

Tuesday night, I took about 2 spare minutes to prepare my Wednesday morning breakfast to make the next morning easy peasy.

Pumpkin Pie Overnight Oats

Into the mix, I added:

  • 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
  • 1.5 tbsp chia seeds
  • 1/3 cup pure pumpkin (canned)
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
  • 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • a drizzle of honey
  • a little extra cinnamon
  • Raisins (as topping, optional)

I stirred this all up (minus the raisins) until well blended, and then covered it and let it sit in the fridge overnight. The next morning I added a splash more almond milk to soften the mixture up, along with a couple spoonfuls of raisins to add a little sweetness and texture.

photo(84)I loved every bite! I like mine to be extra spicy, so you may not need to add extra cinnamon, etc. I’ve also seen where people will add in 1 tbsp of pure maple syrup to add a nice sweet kick. But that’s the beauty of overnight oats. You can make them match your taste with just a few minutes of playing around in the kitchen.

I also found that this recipe was almost too much for my stomach to handle, so I may try only 1/3 cup of oats next time. The raisins really plumped up the volume here!

Another perk of this recipe? A full can of pure pumpkin is way more than what this recipe calls for, so you’ll have extra pumpkin leftover to make more batches of this yummy stuff throughout the week or to make other Fall recipes!

Long Run + Breakfast

Yesterday started out with a nice 5 mile run – the farthest I’ve ever gone! It’s been rainy each morning, so when I woke up at 5 AM without the sound of rain hitting my window, I slipped on my running shoes and went at it.

The run was a major stepping stone for me since I’m running my first 10K in October. It kept my spirits high knowing that I will probably be able to power through the 10K without walking/dying. I made it to 5.14 miles in 47 minutes. I’m definitely not a power runner, so this was a great time for me. I’m excited to attempt the extra mile this weekend hopefully!

I had to quickly shower and rush off to work after my run, so by the time I sat down at my desk, my stomach was upset with me. Starving! Thankfully my pumpkiny oats were amazing and left me super stuffed.

photo(85)I also grabbed my coffee, vitamins and fruit to tide me over til lunch time. It was a healthy morning! And my post-run tummy was more than happy to enjoy it all. 🙂

Today has, once again, been a hectic one. I swapped with another instructor and taught the 5:40 AM class in place of my usual 6:45 PM since I have a meeting after work I want to attend. But more on that later.

Have a great Thursday! It’s already noon, which means we are only a day and a half from the weekend. Hooray!