Parfait Style Cold Oats

Yesterday morning and this morning started the same creamy, cold, and delicious way… with a recycled almond butter jar full of Fruit Parfait Style Cold Oats. I’m not cool enough to have a bunch of mason jars laying around so instead I recycled a glass almond butter jar, it’s going to be the next big thing you wait and see!

Here is the ingredient line up:

– 1/3 cup rolled oats (gluten free will work)

– 1 cup plain non fat greek yogurt

– 1/2 tsp chia seeds

– 2 tbsp unsweetened vanilla almond milk

– 5-6 frozen strawberries

– 10 mango chunks

– 5-8 drops of stevia (or any other sweetener)

Easy Instructions:

1. Mix oats, yogurt, chia, milk, and stevia in a bowl.

2. Place half mixture in container, layer with frozen strawberries.

3. Place other half of yogurt mixture in container, layer with frozen mangos.

4. Close lid and let sit overnight in the fridge (or for a couple hours.)

5. In the morning top with granola, honey, nut butter, nuts, whatever your heart desires and eat up!

Slightly adapted from one of my favorite bloggers at Iowa Girl Eats Make Ahead Fruit and Yogurt Parfaits. (Iowagirleats.com was the first blog I ever read and it continues to be one of my favorites.)

In the morning the frozen fruit will have thawed creating a natural yummy syrup to sweeten the tangy yogurt with.

I mixed mine all up and topped it with pumpkin flax granola-

If you are interested in the nutrition breakdown this recipe is a super high protein breakfast, low fat, low sodium, and high fiber. It’s pretty much a nutrition powerhouse meal in a jar, plus the jar makes it super portable!

Lunchtime Bell- California Spa Salad

As usual, it was a busy morning at the hospital and by noon I was ready for lunch! I went for a California Spa Salad and was a little bit better at following my healthy salad bar rules this time. I chose grilled chicken, cucumber, beets, green beans, chicory, tomatoes, a few sliced almonds and whole lot of GOAT CHEESE! I was one happy girl!

I have to admit I always feel kind of awkward at these exhibition lines though because I’m the only one standing in line asking for dressing on the side and “just a little bit” of that or this. I try to smile and be extra nice to offset some of the irritation I think I’m provoking, but in reality they probably don’t care one way or another!

A Quick Run

Moving on, yesterday afternoon was a weird day. I had planned to go to Bodypump but was having problems with neck pain again and decided (forced myself) to honor my body and skip strength training. I went for a run around 730pm and to my surprise the heat was not unbearable.

1 Mile- 10:17

2 Mile- 10:04

3 Mile- 9:41–> First time I’ve seen a single digit on my nike running app! Wahoo!

Total 32:19 minutes, 3.18 miles

Questions of the day:

Do you ever feel awkward special ordering or making modifications at restaurants?

Do you ever have trouble honoring your bodies signals to slow down or rest?