The Sound of Rain

It was raining quite hard when I woke up this morning. Bummer for a Sunday, but I do love lying quietly in bed listening to the sound of rain. I find it so calming and peaceful.

I made a big batch of wheat berries last night. I love to have these little guys hanging out in my fridge! They're great additions to my oats, yogurt, salads or even just on their own. They have a mild nutty flavor and a really chewy texture and go a long way to adding bulk to meals. This is what they look like raw.



The basic cooking instructions are 1 cup of berries to 3 cups of water. Bring the berries and water to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 55-65 minutes. You will know they're done when you see that some of the kernels have "exploded". Drain and let cool before you put them in the fridge. They keep quite well. A batch usually lasts me 1 week and I've never had it spoil on me. Here they are cooked:



So now I can move on to breakfast! I was reading on Carrots N Cake yesterday how Tina combined oats and oat bran for her breakfast. How brilliant! So here's what I did today following her guideline:

-1 cup water
-1/4 cup Quaker Oats
-1/4 cup oat bran
-2 Tbsp of wheat berries
-1/3 cup blueberries
-1 Tsp ground flax seed
-dash of cinnamon
-splash of vanilla hemp milk



This was a great combination for me! I really like Oat bran but I find that it doesn't stick to my ribs like oats do. Combining the 2 worked really well! When I use ground flax in my oats, I use Bob's Red Mill.



I keep my bag in the freezer so it doesn't go rancid on me.

So, I did end up having a snack last night but I stuck to my guns and ate 1 cup of sliced strawberries. Then I popped a piece of minty gum in my mouth to discourage further eating! Aaahhh! One day I'll kick the habit! Anyways, here's my berries....



Later on in the morning I ran on the treadmill for one hour! I really had to drag my butt to get on by promising myself that even walking on it was better than sitting on the couch. I find the times that I don't feel like running are the ones that I end up feeling my best and running longer than normal (when time permits). I am SO proud that I ran as long as I did! My pedometer read 10213 steps! Holy Cow!! After a nice, refreshing shower I felt fantastic!

While I was running I was reflecting on my food choices yesterday and realized that they really weren't that great. I promised myself to make better choices today. So, for lunch a made a quick salad with 2 tomatoes from my parents garden, about a quarter of an English cucumber and half a cup of chickpeas. I topped it off with 2 Tbsp of Bountiful's hearty Italian dressing and salt & pepper. On the side I had a sugar free Dulce du Leche Jello pudding cup and a muffin which I ended up eating a little later on.



I tucked in with a book the rest of the afternoon. The weather just called for it! It was one of those "read a book, drink tea" days. For dinner we went out to the farm to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday. Boy, did we ever have a good feast!



This is what's on my plate starting at the top and moving clockwise...ciabatta bread, salad, steak, veggies, baked potato with onion and sauteed mushrooms. What a good meal!

Dessert was the best cake I've had in a long time! It was called Cappuccino Mocha. It was an ooey, gooey delicious blend of white and chocolate cake infused with caramel. There were some crunchy little bites of heaven sprinkled on top. this picture absolutely does not do this cake justice, but I hope you can get a good idea from it!



After this piece I had another sliver. Who the heck needs ice cream when you have a cake this good?!

My in laws have 3 dogs...2 Pugs and a Boston Terrier. The Pugs are Turbo and Coal and the Terrier is Daisy. She's the baby at 5 months. The Pugs love to eat pears that have fallen from the tree. Here's Coal in pear heaven...





And here he is tired from chasing my son around and full of pear. He kept dozing off and then snapping awake because he didn't want to miss anything! Animals are so funny sometimes!



So the party is now over, the kids are tucked in and it's time for me to go make lunches and get school bags ready for the morning!

Before I sign off I want to extend a huge thanks to Christie for giving me instructions on how to post a link. THANK YOU!!!!

Bye for now!!