F stands for FOOD

It might also stand for Fail, which is what today turned out to be.  Yesterday was a food fail, today was an exercise fail.  I feel a little guilty about not getting in my strength training, and although there is no good excuse, I have a semi-excuse for working about an 11-hour day.  So, up at 5:30, work 7:20 a.m. til 6:30 p.m., home at 7:15.  I didn't then have time to get to my 7:30 yoga class, especially because I hadn't had dinner yet.  I know, I know, there's no excuse and I feel even more phooey because I have to babysit my little boo bear immediately following work tomorrow, again leaving no time for the gym (even though it would have been my rest day).  Please god, don't let this throw me off completely.

So, instead I will blog about two separate occurrences.  The first is about the dish I made for the Superbowl party, and the second is about some of the food I ate for today.  The only reason I didn't take pictures of everrrything I ate today is because I ate my cottage cheese/almond snack and dinner faster than I even had time to remember that I wanted to blog about food today.

Let's instead talk about a really great and easy recipe ala my I <3 Trader Joes cookbook.  I decided to make Brie and Pear Galette.  I had to look up what galette was and apparently its a general term used in French to designate various types of flat, round, or freeform crust cake. Hmm, well as appealing as that sounds it was actually quite delicious.  You first start off with four main ingredients:

The ingredients are as follows:

1 Trader Joes Gourmet Pie Crust

4 ounces Brie (rind removed, cubed)

1 pear, thinly slice

1/2 cup pecans coarsely chopped

First, you start off by setting the oven to 375.  Then you place the pie crust on a baking sheet, and scatter half the brie over the center.  After scattering the brie, arrange the pear slices on top.

Next, you sprinkle the pecan pieces around the top of the pears, and then add the remaining brie.

Fold the edges of the pie crust over, somewhat mimicking the looks of a picture frame.  For good measure, grind a little bit of black pepper on top.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes and cut into squares when cool.  One pie serves 4 to 6 people.

Let's move on, shall we?  I am now going to let you in on some of the foods that I ate today, because as I mentioned above, I ate things too quickly to photograph. First off, there's breakfast, which consists of multigrain oats (barley, etc.) mixed with hot water, 1 ripe banana chopped, a half handful of almonds, a small sprinkling of pecan pieces, a tiny bit of vanilla almond milk, and half a tablespoon of balade butter (approximately 26 calories for 1/2 tablespoon).  I also added two splenda packets for sweetness.  Please note, it's not as yellow in person, but there isn't much good lighting at 6 a.m. in the middle of winter.

For my morning treat, I have officially switched from coffee to tea.  I just heat up some boiling water, add two splenda packets and call it a day.  Currently, I'm obsessed with Trader Joe's Vanilla and Cinnamon Black Tea.  I always drink it out of my Starbucks tumbler that my dad bought me.  This cup is round two after I put my original tumbler in the microwave and melted it.  I didn't read the fine print that said, "Do not microwave".  Ahh, a classic lauren the "donkey clown" move, as I typically leave my brains on the job.  Anyway, since my Dad is super super obsessed with Starbucks, he ran out that day to buy me a new one! Thanks Dad!

Here is a picture of me, with my tumbler, getting ready for work. You may or may not notice the red sox tank, and the fact that my camera is broken thanks to a little bit of fun during Halloween 2009.

Now, let's talk about lunch.  Oh lunch today consisted of a Trader Joe's high fiber pita and one turkey burger.  I added spinach, fat free sour cream, a scoop of guacamole, as well as a few squirts of FRANKS RED HOT.  My favorite spice.

Look!

I then ate a cottage cheese/almond mix right around 2:15 (lunch was at 11), but ate it too quickly to remember to photograph it.

Finally, the last snack of the day included one snazzy little apple.  I took its picture in front of my palm tree lamp in my office, which happens to be placed in front of my beach scene bulletin board created by one of my students.

Ahh, well today was great in terms of eating well and being super productive at work, mostly because I had to be.  I promise to make up for the lack of strength training that happened this evening.  As a side note, I have also recently purchased Crest white strips, in order to really make my smile pop (plus it needs to super pop as my picture is going to be in the Boston Globe Magazine)!  Happy almost weekend!