Chicken parmesan & vitabrownies

The other day, I saw Biz make some chicken parmesan which is one of my favorite ways to make chicken. Honestly, I don't love chicken so I'm always searching for new ways to jazz it up.



I had to buy myself a mallet for this! I pounded out the chicken but not quite thin enough. I breaded it in half panko/half italian seasoned bread crumbs. The panko is the best!



For easier eating, I sliced the breasts up and served with buffalo mozzarella and whole wheat spaghetti with a veggie marinara on top.



This was delicious! Andy and I only managed to eat one of the pieces of chicken so we had leftovers.



For veggies, we had romaine lettuce salads with parmesan, tomatoes, and buffalo mozzarella. We obviously needed more veggies in the house. We had to stop our CSA delivery for 2 weeks since we'll be out of town on the pick up days.



I was sent these vita brownies a long time ago from the folks at Vitalicious for free so I could sample and review. I must have forgotten about them and was excited when I pulled them out of the fridge.



I topped the plain tart froyo with sliced bananas, chocolate chips and put the warmed vita brownie underneath. It was delicious. Andy and I both really liked the brownies. They were more cake-like than fudgy but still very good. I think I'd prefer them with ice cream or fro-yo than on their own.

I have a few more vitamuffins to try out so I'm looking forward to that!

Disneyland was a ton of fun, I took tons of pictures that I plan on sharing with you soon.

Why am I going to college?

Yesterday was my Dad's birthday. He is definitely a hero of mine so I just had to say Happy Birthday on the blog too!



Happy Birthday Dad! I love that he is wearing a Padre's hat here. My dad is such a loyal Dodger's fan. He was just trying to win Andy's family over during his speech at our wedding.

Which by the way....I miss all the time. I wish we could get married again.

Anyway, you may have noticed that I have not been regularly posting. This is because I have finals. I have a 60 page unit plan (10 days of lesson planning and reflections) due on Wednesday. It's made me a mad woman. I literally spend all day and night thinking about school. I have 2 weeks left! I can do this, I will do this.

Sometimes I wonder why I decided to get my teaching credential. I still want to get my MA too. I have a love/hate relationship with education.



Last night my younger sister Kerry made dinner for Dad. She made us creamy chicken, rice, carrots and green beans. The sauce on the chicken looked like it wouldn't be that tasty but holy crap!!! It was delicious. She told me it was made with half & half. That's why. YUM. Moderation was difficult.



And my other sister Sarah contributed a razzleberry pie. Raspberry & blueberry. I topped mine with tons of vanilla ice cream because I am a glutton for punishment. (Dairy really bothers me if I eat too much!)

Having a big family sucks sometimes. Too many birthday celebrations and eating! The berry pie with ice cream was worth it.

We had to leave right after dinner because I wanted to watch Parenthood get some of my lesson planning done. I really wish someone would have told me that I would be writing 60 pages on lesson planning before I decided to get my teaching credential. My entire weekend will be spent writing, typing, tweeting and complaining.

I keep reminding myself that I will have my life back in 2 weeks. I have the entire summer off!



I plan on lots more pb greek yogurt bowls. (1 tsp vanilla extract, 2 tbsps pb, 1 cup plain greek yogurt.)



Eating tons of fresh veggies.



And telling you how awesome Kashi is. Once I'm done with school that is!

Did you/are you going to school? I can't believe that I'm 26 years old and still in school.

celebrate good times come on!

I am very happy. I don't want to spill the beans quite yet because that would be silly.

But I am pretty stoked about something. (Don't worry it's nothing TOO exciting.)



Chobani sent me and Andy two new flavors of yogurt to try. Andy picked the 2% strawberry-banana and I picked the raspberry. I actually have yet to try the raspberry. I will try it today post-workout!

The strawberry-banana flavor (I snagged a bite from Andy) tasted just like heaven. It was the usual Chobani texture and fluffiness with a perfect blend of strawberries and banana. I liked the flavor more than the plain strawberry!



Dinner was a salad with candied pecans, croutons (from Trader Joe's), broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, raspberry dressing and fat-free feta. I am not going to lie, this salad was great but it needed more crunch to it. What kind of lettuce do you guys like? I usually love romaine but this tasted too wilty to me.



I also made some jambalaya using a rice packet and some cajun-spiced chicken sausages from Trader Joe's. These sausages are low in calories and fat but high in protein and pretty tasty!



Dessert was half a mini bundt cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes. I got the pecan praline flavor with cream cheese frosting. It was delicious and much needed. We had some celebrating to do!

Luckily before the bundt cake Andy and I went running in the park by my parent's house. I always run on the treadmill and I wanted to see if I could handle running on a track. Especially if I am going to try running a 5k in February.

Sometimes I feel like the treadmill is a crutch for me. It controls my pacing so I don't have to worry about suddenly slowing down. It also helps me avoid running in public. Anyway we burned about 400 calories running outside. I didn't push myself too hard because I want to run today also. I feel good.

I weighed myself and I weigh 1 pound less than I did before the holidays. I can't complain about that. I am going to go back to Weight Watchers with a few friends on Tuesday to see how my scale compares. I could really use more motivation, you know?

I need to catch up on all of your blogs. I intend to do that today after running some very EXCITING errands.

Easiest Caprese Salad Ever

I love the way heirloom tomatoes look. There is just something about the discoloration and the odd shape that drives me wild. So when I found these mini heirloom tomatoes at Trader Joe's, I jumped on them.



I immediately had plans to create an easy caprese salad with the beautiful babies.



I'm not a big fan of "moist" mozzarella. It actually grosses me out quite a bit, so I stuck with this marinated mozzarella.



and grabbed some basil.



mmm low moisture mozzarella. reminds me of string cheese.



and so easy. I just cut everything up and added a splash of olive oil and several splashes of balsamic vinegar. It was superb. I love all of those flavors together.



On the side of my salad, I made pastrami sandwiches.



This homemade bread from the Farmer's Market was definitely a show-stopper. I need to buy a bread maker, stat.


ugh so my knee is still killing me. I stand at work all day and it was just not good. I definitely can't run with it like this. I'm taking the day off working out which bums me out but I really don't want to injure myself further. I plan on icing my knee for a while and then running tomorrow as long as I feel better.

What do you do when an injury gets in the way? I feel like a big baby and I kind of want to try just pushing through the pain but I know that's not a good choice!