Green Monster

I started off the week with a great 5 mile run while watching The Parenthood.  Do you watch that show? If not you should.

Breakfast
After a weekend of not-so-many-veggies, I wanted to start this week off on the right foot. I used *this recipe* as a guide to make a Green Monster Smoothie.  I have heard about putting vegetables into smoothies for a while, but have been pretty skeptical.  But yesterday I was feeling ca-razy!

Into my blender I threw, two large handfuls of kale, two frozen bananas, 1/2 C of blueberries, 1 scoop of chocolate protein powder, 1 TBS of almond butter, 1/2 C plain non-fat Greek yogurt, and 1/2 C of almond milk.

After blending for a few seconds, the result was a very thick, yet tasty, green blob.  Next time I will add more almond milk and a few ice cubes to thin it out.

Green Monster Smoothie (7)

***Disclaimer: if you make this be sure to check your teeth before you go into public.  I was saving a decent sized piece of kale through my first hour of work. Ugh.

Lunch
Yesterday I was super excited to use my new Laptop Lunch Box.  (You can find them *here*.  They make wonderful gifts, in my opinion. Hehe.)  Trying to fill up the containers with different types of good foods is a great inspiration to pack a healthy, satisfying lunch.

Lunch plus snacks: Roast beef sandwich (4) and butternut squash soup (2)

On my way home I stopped by Trader Joes to pick up a few things, and 4 grocery bags later, I had found a new-to-me treat.

Snack (3)

They were the perfect snack for the way home.  You can eat 65 of those suckers for 3 points!

Dinner


To celebrate the Chinese New Year, I made a Sweet and Firey Pork Tenderloin with Mango Salsa (click *here* for the recipe).

Dinner: rice (5), pictured pork x 2 (12)

The pork was great.  The mango salsa was AMAZING.  I think that mangoes, jalapeno, and cilantro will be a staple on my grocery list.

I didn't have a plan for dessert, but when I looked in the cabinet I saw Trader Joe's cookie butter, so I grabbed it, some oatmeal, and butterscotch chips.

Have you tried this cookie butter stuff?  If not, don't do it.  Before Christmas, I may have eaten whole spoonfuls at a time. Since then I had to hypnotize myself not to notice the little jar in the cabinet.   Also, don't make this recipe.  You won't want to eat oatmeal any other way.  First, I made the oatmeal as directed on the package.  When it was still hot, I added a TBS of cookie butter and a TBS of butterscotch chips and stirred.

Cookie Butter Oatmeal (8)

At the end you have what tastes like a giant bowl of oatmeal cookie dough.

I gave Dan a taste and had to physically fight him off from stealing the rest of my bowl.

Thought for the day:

[source]

DP (32) + RP (11) - EP (41) = 2