Breakfast Lasagna

So in addition to this guy, I have one more idea brewing in my head for french toast, but I don’t have my usual ingredients for it. * it is dessert inspired but I won’t reveal the country yet*

Okay, back to today: I made pumpkin french toast lasagna …. 

Yes , I opened a can of pumpkin and want to use it up. I could freeze it and will do so  if I need to , however, it would be nice not to. Plus, I really enjoy exploring a food- if I hadn’t thought about it I wouldn’t have come up with all these creative delicious uses!

here is how:
I sliced my two pieces of bread into four, dipped in the usual batter of 2 (cage free) egg whites, splash of milk, and pumpkin glob ( about 1/3 cup), cinnamon and sweetener if you prefer.

Let those guys cook in the skillet.

I heated up frozen peaches, frozen pineapple and took out other layers: peanut butter, chobani yogurt, cottage cheese. 

I cooked the remainder of the batter in the pan with slices of an organic banana to caramelize ( hooray!) .
 
I began by layering, starting with french toast slice, pineapple layer, french toast slice, chobani strawberry, french toast slice, peach layer with some cottage cheese, and the top toast slice had peanut butter under each banana.

I loved this dish because I got a little bit of everything, a peach with cottage cheese with a piece of the pumpkin toast. Or some creamy strawberry yogurt with a banana and pinapple. It was a fantastic blend of flavors that couldn’t help but leave me satisfied! healthy as usual!

This would make a fantastic breakfast casserole to take to a brunch! Quite honestly, it is rather budget friendly- eggs and bread and frozen fruit are all pretty inexpensive. The chobani yogurt could easily ( unfortunately) be replaced for a cheaper option of yogurt too.  However, if I were to do that I would bake the final layers ( probably about 350* for 25 minutes or so) so that it sticks together for the masses.

Here is my plan for the day

Body:
Rest ( from running)- I remembered the orthopaedic telling me the last time I saw him  ( in october/nov.?) that I had tendinitis in my right knee ( originally I injured my left knee in august).  He had given me an anti-inflammatory but wanted to take MRI’s which I cannot afford considering when I do not run, my symptoms tend to improve.
The tendinitis treatment, according to runner’s world: rest from running, cross train, take anti-inflammatoy med, ice/heat.

I could not seem to find toe knee related injuries but I can’t bend my second largest toe. I read about hammertoes, it seems like that would be it but my toes are jam-free while in my shoe. Honestly, I check and wiggle and know they aren’t jammed.

The other symptoms I read about led to “osteoarthritis” as possible, however, you can continue running with moderate mileage and hills.

*maybe do a run-less gym session*

Mind:
Lab Orientation today and the professor told us “Quiz probably not be on thursday”.

So I am going to study this morning anyway- and prepare as if it still were today- even though deep down I think its going to be on tuesday.

My resume and cover letter were sent- I have to thank Jeff publicly because he is an amazing ( person) but also an amazing resume reader. He has to read through resumes at work often and he gave me wonderful advice on mine. THANK YOU!

Soul:
t b a…

Maybe workout with Jeff or with his sis at her gym and have dinner with my lovely Andrea

Pumpkin Monte Cristo ( a French Toast Hammy)

 

 

before we get into that… Does anyone else have a dog that snores? I assume it is normal for dogs to snore, much like when we have allergies or a cold or just plain old crappy genes that give us holey nasal passages producing snoring. However, I swear every night Jack Brown Dog gets louder with his snoring. I think I am going to record it on my camera only I don’t know how to post the video on here.

Body:
The good: Run 7 miles. Woohoo!!
The bad: my knee has been sore all day though
the ugly: I also have had pain deep inside my quad, and toe today too

I am actually going to look into this tonight because it has been really annoying and I know they are intertwined somehow because when I put ice on my toe- my knee throbs. And, vice versa when I put heat or ice on my knee- that toe throbs. Weird?! It may be a pronation issue but my shoes seem to fit just fine really ( wiggle room, tread etc).

Mind:
I edited resume and sent it at 3:50 pm this afternoon! keep your fingers crossed for me!

Class: my synopsis went well, class was fascinating as usual. Today we discussed bone formation, calcium and osteoporosis- but only a little bit.

stupid bank causes stupid problems- a separate credit card bill set up on the account that was charged incorrectly charged me an returned fee – well I called and was highly upset at this, and luckily , the gentleman removed my fees. I just have to remember that I have to send a check this month because my account is blocked online- phew such a hassle!!!!!

Soul:
I am so relieved that those fees were removed- ugh!

I have this big feeling of relief in general- I got through my run, while I was talking to my mom about weekend plans I cooked lunch and dinner at the same time.

Jack ran away- again- for the millionth time. Not from me though- I decided to only take him out on the leash even just in the yard. Jeff opened the door and Jack just rushed out and off.

* Good news though, a lady up the street found him this afternoon OR what we think is that he has found a second home- he was dry and did not smell which is usually NOT the case when he runs off. He typically comes back covered in guck that smells like fish and poo. Not today though, thankfully.

I have been trying to keep up on everyone’s blogs- there are just so many amazing blogs to read!

So on to the food…
Breakfast:
I knew I was heading to the gym for a long run and wanted to get a good start for that. So I mad a smoothie with half scoop of protein powder, milk, pineapple, cherries, blueberries. On top in this bowl is wheat germ and cinnamon and a little peanut butter.  I bought bananas on sunday however they are still not ready to eat! harummph!

I poured my smoothie over Kashi Go Lean cereal-

Onto Lunch, the title of this post was for a reason…

I came up with this idea for french toast because we have ham, bread and pumpkin that we should eat before we leave for the weekend again…. So….
Pumpkin Monte Cristo French Toast Hammy  was born.
( get it sammy with h for the ham ? oh I crack myself up sometimes)

You bloggers keep my motivations and expectations high- I appreciate it and I have another surprise french toast for tomorrow morning!

I flattened slices of bread ( just covered the slice with the bag and rolled out with my hand).

 

I smushed a cheese wedge and put two slices of ham on top.

I spread that with pumpkin because I forgot to put the pumpkin in the egg mix ( which would have been better). So then I sliced the sandwich in half rolled and dipped them into the batter and cooked them in my skillet with the rest of the egg whites.

It was delicious but I know it would have been better if I had made pumpkin batter as I intended but as usual, I was trying to have a conversation, cook chicken and make myself lunch at the same time. Next time.  Here it is in all its glory

On the side I had the leftover eggs, organic veggies and sprouts with some salad and hummus and salsa. 

So I threw together dinner at this time too.

I chopped celery, diced a red onion, sliced green grapes in half and added two globs of a new mayo- Smart Balance Mayo ( I will photo it tomorrow). It essentially uses “better” fats but does include egg yolk- In general, it has too many ingredients that I can’t pronounce but I figured I would try it.  I added the same amount plus one more “glob” of Chobani Nonfat Greek Yogurt for a healthier dressing substitute. A little blue cheese crumbles as well. 

I boiled chicken breasts and chopped them up and threw it all together.  I let it in set in the fridge while I was off to class.

Here is my dinner sammy with extra veggies on the side

My dessert is two slices of my Chocolate chip pound cake… too tired to photo.

See yall in the morning !