Fresh Cherry and Cacao Nibs Oats

Good Morning!

It is a fabulous morning and I slept in until 7:00am. I need to enjoy these last few weeks of summer hours, oh so sad, school is starting in a little over 2 weeks. As usual time has just flown by and I want to spend as much q.t. time with the kids, the next two weeks before they fly the coop.

Today, my sister and crew are leaving this morning so the kids are up and adam getting those last few minutes of playtime in. I am going to get some sort of workout in this morning. I think I may either do P90X Kenpo or Plyometric DVD to mix it up a bit.

Emmet is off with a playdate with his buddies, so the girls are going to go school shopping. The sad thing is that Zoe really just wanted to play with Emmet, so I was hoping the shopping would appease her but she would much rather be with her brother (sweet).

We are actually going to buy things we REALLY need, no frivolous spending. We are just looking for a backpack, tennis shoes and a couple clothing items that she needs.

So breakfast was an awesome bowl of Fresh Cherry and Cacao Nibs Oats. Wow, this was absolutely scrumptious and I can't tell you how much I love cherries. They are so good and need to enjoy the fresh one's now that they are in season. The Cacao Nibs are great in oats, the little bitter crunch add a lot of depth to the bowl and I am glad that I have finally found a use for them that I truly enjoy.

Fresh Cherry and Cacao Nibs Oats

1/2 cup rolled oats
1 cup water

Cook over medium heat for 4-5 minutes.

Top with:

1/2 cup of sliced cherries
1 tablespoon ground flax
1 tablespoon wheat germ
1 tablespoon cacao nibs
1 tsp honey

Enjoy!

I also set a few goals for myself this fall. I am going to start taking advantage of the resources here in Austin, and take a few healthy cooking classes at Whole Foods and Central Market. I obviously love food and have looked into going to culinary school a few different times in my life and it is just not in my future. But that does not mean that I can't broaden my home cooking schools to more than great bowl of oats. I am also invited to great blogger events around Austin and unfortunately, have not made it to any... they are generally when I am working but I am hoping they have some on the weekends that I can meet some of the great bloggers around Austin.

Speaking of goals, I am 1.8 lbs away from my personal goal weight and am even afraid that I am jinxing myself by talking about it on my blog. I know I can do it but not sure I have enough oomph in me to really care. We shall see, I am going to try and stay on track today and go easy on the ice cream and see where we are at tomorrow.

We ate leftover last night for dinner and I have to tell you that that Edamame Hummus is the best. I love it. We ate the Chickpea and Spinach Salad along with some Edamame Hummus last night for dinner and I could literally eat both of those everyday. Oh so good. Both of these recipes are worth giving a try.



One other thing that I am excited about is some new hair stain from Davines, that is supposed to help with keeping the gray hair at bay. My sister's hairdresser, talked her in to buying some Davines Alchemic Shampoo and Conditioner and told her that if she uses this every two weeks she can get away without having to color her hair so much. I was so excited about it that I gave her products a try and they seem to really work on those lovely gray side burns that I get. I promptly ordered some of this stuff for myself and I will let you know if it really works. It would also save some money.

Off to workout and get cleaned up for some shopping!