Quinoa and Cookies

I tried 3 new recipes today!!!

I made Kath's Dough Boy Smoothie for breakfast this morning. Toppings included 1/2 sliced banana, strawberries, coconut, and Justin's Honey PB. It's all my normal oatmeal ingredients just in smoothie form! I am definitely going to start making more smoothie breakfasts now that the weather has gotten warmer.

My mom, brother, and I met my dad for lunch today at The Cheesecake Factory.

I love CF's brown bread!

My brother ordered an appetizer of Stuffed Mushrooms, and they were yummy!

I went with the Factory Chopped Salad, one of the appetizer salads. A blend of romaine, grilled chicken, avocado, corn, tomato, and apple with vinaigrette dressing. I asked for it without bacon and bleu cheese and added beets. It was a nice light summer salad!

The afternoon consisted of errands, such as going to the bank, the dry cleaners, and the Verizon store. I also made a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up a few ingredients for tonight's dinner.

My workout included 45 minutes on the elliptical and 15 on the bike.

I knew I wanted to incorporate quinoa into dinner tonight. I found a recipe for Pineapple Cashew Quinoa Stir Fry here. I added broccoli and mushrooms to the recipe and used edamame instead of green peas. I didn't have some of the ingredients on hand (mint, ginger, mirin, and red chile), so I didn't use them in the recipe. 

I sautéed some shrimp for my brother and dad to add to the recipe, and I kept everything separate. My family thought the quinoa looked weird, so they weren't sure they wanted it mixed in with the stir-fry.

I love all the color in the stir-fry!

I ate a lot of veggies. There's quinoa under there, I promise!

I loved it! I don't think my family loved the quinoa quite as much as me, and my brother complained that there wasn't enough meat at dinner, but at least I gave it a shot!

I made Tina's Banana Oatmeal Chip Cookies for dessert.

I thought they were yummy and tasted like banana bread muffin tops! My brother said "These don't taste like cookies, they taste like oatmeal!" I'm kind of ok with that. And with all of the healthy ingredients, it's a cookie you can feel really good about eating!

Right now I'm watching Glee and eating cookies. Good night!