Morning Coffee Oats and Exciting News all at once!

Inspired by Pasta Queen's prize winning oatmeal recipe in the Quaker Living Proof contest (you know, the weekend where Quaker wisked off a bunch of awesome healthy food bloggers off for a weekend in Chicago and where they were asked to submit an oatmeal recipe for judging?) Maybe you don't know, but it happened and the winner was Pasta Queen with Oatmeal Expresso where she combined the idea of coffee and oatmeal into one = GENIUS! So with that idea in mind, I decided to use that idea and spin it a little "ala Chocolate PB2" because who doesn't like the chocolate & coffee flavour combo? Again, *crickets* :-D

This morning's oats were:

• 1/3c organic oats
• 1/2c unsweetened vanilla almond breeze
• 1/2c water
• 1 tsp Nescafe instant espresso powder
• 1 tbsp powdered Chocolate PB2
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1.5 tbsp ground flax meal
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 tbsp agave nectar
• 8g toasted sliced almonds
• 1 tbsp Chocolate PB2, constituted with water

I gotta tell ya, I was a little "unsure" how this was going to go while I was making it, but I think the key, as always with any oatmeal I've ever loved has been the toppings. That has always been the selling point for me on any oatmeal. I have tried, tried, and tried many a oatmeal in my days without success until I discovered this secret - thanks to many other bloggers out there, especially Kath. With this bowl of oatmeal, I decided I would use the other constituted tablespoon of chococlate PB2 and make it extra runny and drizzle it all around the bowl with the toasted almonds in the middle. This stretched it out a long way and boy did it ever make it a winner! I cannot believe I didn't this of this myself because my favourite protein shake was chocolate protein powder, almond breeze, instant espresso and PB2! Duh! So this bowl of oatmeal in total was 5 POINTS:

Okay, okay and I have to admit, even with the instant espresso powder in the mix, I still had my regular cup of coffee with blend and sugar free cinnamon dolce syrup :-D I always pre-program my coffee maker to have it ready when I get out of the shower to sip on while I'm getting ready and before I get to my breakfast, and I wasn't sure how the oatmeal was going to turn out, so yup, I had a double dose of caffeine this morning for another POINT!

I felt a little pressed for time on the lunch preparation front last night, so I grabbed the leftover collards from last night and a quick combo of the Raspberry Liberte No Fat Probiotic Svelte Yogurt (which I need to be eating because I'm on antibiotics still trying to kick this sinus infection and bronchitis!) and I mixed some chococlate PB2 in it (of course, right?) and topped it with fresh raspberries (the things that are draining my pockets more than xmas it seems :-D) and two of those cute little mini bananas sliced up and mixed in there too. Lunch in total was 4 POINTS:

Yup! Only 4, but still healthy, nutritious and delicious. ( I sort of was just reminded by "set it and forget it" in my head when I said that! :-D)

So far so good. Then the crack blood sugar slippery slope got the better of me and I wasted 6 POINTS on some more sugary treats. Firstly, how could you not when an adorable 16 year old goes out of her way to come by your office to give all of you this cute little package of a xmas treat? Wrapped inside was a cute little homemade marshamallow treat, which really isn't that bad in the POINTS department to be honest, probably only about 1 POINT:

But that was the beginning of me letting my guard down and I ended up having some Turtles (Almondillos). See the empty spaces? Compliments of moi for 5 POINTS:

Then after work I had to fight the madding crowds to drop over to the mall and to Wal-Mart. I got word that the KitchenAid stand mixers were on sale and that there may have been some there in Empire Red :-D That is the last bad boy that I need for my KitchenAid appliance collection and I've been wanting one forever. Turns out, they only had white left and I've worked so hard at getting all Empire Red, that it's kind of become "the thing" that my kitchen is now centered around, so I'll wait until another one comes up. I then went to Wal-Mart for the sole purpose of getting xmas tree lights and I got all distracted and ended up forgetting the lights, but bought all sorts of little things that I needed around the house. I knew that hubby was picking up pizza on his way home from work and for some reason he wanted to get it from somewhere other than Pizza Town which is where they have an actually healthy menu, so rather than let my appetite get out of control, I pulled out my emergency stash of Larabars from the glove compartment and had this Peanut Butter Cookie one for 4 POINTS:

Yup that's right, I've got a stash in my glove compartment and I'm glad that I do because these little things come in handy if you're stuck and on the go etc. They are 4 POINTS yes, but they are highly nutritious and entirely good for you and won't send your blood sugar on a mad raving crack mission :-D

By this time I got home and honestly guys, I was absolutely wiped. This illness truly is kicking my butt and I hadn't the energy to make anything for myself and I decided I'd use my Flex POINTS on the crappy pizza that hubby had brought home. I didn't even enjoy it, honest and truly. As I was eating it, I kept thinking how yucky it was and it did not feel like a treat at all. I'd say the pizza and garlic fingers was about 15 POINTS:



After this, my sinuses were thumping and felt like they had their own heartbeat, so literally, I got into my jammies and was in bed watching TV at the hour of 8:30 on a Friday night. I chatted on the phone a bit and confirmed plans with my buddy Sarah who is coming up tomorrow (now today at the time I'm actually getting this posted - sorry bloggies about that) and she's staying for the night. She's come just in time for my late decoration of our tree, so I imagine we'll have a few glasses of wine-i-poo and listen to xmas carols and just relax tonight. She said she's in some major need of "adult time." She's one of those super moms :-D plus she's taken in an exchange student for the year and looks after kids before and after school. *Props for her, hey!* Anyway, I can't wait to see her and just hang out and catch up. She was our MC at our wedding and I haven't had any time to spend with her since. So, if that wasn't enough exciting news to get me going, I have MORE exciting news!

Back when I started the Biggest Loser Blog Edition challenge, I was approached by a radio station to do an interview on the whole thing and I have to admit I kind of, sort of chickened out a bit because the whole thing kind of took on a life of its own overnight, but since I've agreed to start another round in the new year from all of the emails I've gotten from people wishing they had the chance to join the challenge, but missed the deadline, I couldn't say no. I mean, it IS a lot of work keeping up with it every week, but all of that said, I have indeed kept my mind on track and have been doing really well, so why mess with it! Anyway, the radio station has approached me again to do the interview to be aired early in the new year before the challange begins. I know, right!

This time even though I am still a bit chicken and of course have no experience doing something like that, I'm going to do it anyway because I do sort of regret not doing it the first time. I think that it could have been the "extra kick in the butt" that the challengers could have used with the idea that "people are watching" and not just the challengers (just like the real Biggest Loser in a way)! So while the details are still being worked out, it looks like I'll be doing the interview sometime over the holidays, to be aired in early January. I am nervous though, so I certainly hope I have gotten rid of this cold/cough by then!