I am the oatmeal NINJA

Woke up this morning at about 5:40 am. Got dressed and ready for my day.

At about 7:20 am I was STARVING. I raided my mom's fridge and found this.



I don't really like non-frozen yogurt but at the same time I'm not completely repulsed by it.

I also do like the nutritional facts. Check 'em out.



140 calories and FOURTEEN grams of protein. Plus 20% of my calcium!

Unfortunately? I'm still not in love with the taste.

And it didn't fill me up as much as, say, an egg would have. And I think one egg would have less protein than this yogurt so... that's weird.

There was also an americano. 40 calories.

I came home at 8 am to this.





The wreckage from having family over for dinner the night before. It took me a full hour to clean that all up.

Right as I finished the vet called with a WiFi update and I went to go visit him. Such a handsome little man.

Since I was out and about anyways I went to the hospital to pick up a prescription, dropped the rent check in the mail and went to fill out an affidavit at my credit union.

When I got home it was 11 am and I was STARVING.

So I made this.



Spinach + romaine + (possibly illegal amounts of) fresh ground black pepper + light ranch dressing + barley + eggplant + zucchini + onion. I gobbled half and then started feeling full. I packaged the rest up to finish at work. 185 calories.

I realized I still had 2 hours before I needed to be at work.

Hmmmm... what to do... what to do?

Oh, DUH, BAKE!

Hello, pumpkin muffins.

I was inspired by this post. Except I didn't want them to be so... calorie dense. So I searched for a good "base" recipe and went from there. (It is a fact that I have never once in my entire life followed a recipe EXACTLY as it was written. I think that perhaps I am incapable of doing so.)

They are moist, delicious, fairly packed with nutrition, and only 150 calories each.

Here's how you can make them.


There's-No-Oatmeal-In-Here Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins
Yields 12. 150 calories each.

Ingredients

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
scant 1/2 teaspoon ginger
scant 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
heaping 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp skim milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup old fashioned oats


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. (Or if you're like me preheat it to 350 degrees and then adjust the temperature to 380 degrees half way through baking the muffins when you realize you set the oven to the wrong temperature. Actually, no. Don't follow me. Just stick with the plan.)

2. Bust out your blender/food processor/coffee grinder and pour in the cup of oats. Blend into a fine dust. This is not necessary if you aren't trying to trick your husband into eating oatmeal.

3. If you're using oatmeal dust combine it with the flours, baking powder, spices, baking sodas, salt and sugar. Mix it up with a fork.

4. Add in the egg, pumpkin and milk. Beat it up until it's well-combined.

5. Mix in the oil. I do it separately from the previous step because I feel like it's easier and gets combined more thoroughly. If you are daring or have super stirring strength, feel free to mix in all the liquids at once.

6. If you kept your oats whole add them in at this time. Feel free to add in some dried fruit, nuts or whatever else your little heart desires as well. If you're like me and you need to change every recipe you use (including your own) maybe add some more shakes of cinnamon and some vanilla for good measure.

7. Spoon into your muffin pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick or whatever your muffin-poking object of choice is comes out clean.

And that is how it's done.

I devoured one of course.

Later at work I ate some grapes. 80 calories.

When I got off work I knew my husband would want to go see WiFi so I cleverly packaged an after-work snack.

I restrained myself and only ate one. 150 calories.

After the WiFi visit (he cried this time when we left! *tear*) I made dinner.

It was UH-MAY-ZANG.

I must make this again.

Rice noodles, bok choy, garlic, mushrooms, cashews and stir fry sauce I made up. (Hoisin + sesame ginger dressing + brown sugar + sriracha + fish sauce + soy sauce.) 425 calories.

And now, as I sit down to quietly read a book before bed, I am eating two of these guys.

Graham cookies! Chocolate graham cracker half + almond cashew peanut butter + mashmallow. Nuked till it's melty.

Mmmmmm.

Puts me at 1350 for the day.

Today gets a 7/10. Too many sweeties.