Breakfast for Dinner

Do you ever crave breakfast instead of dinner? I do. When I was a teen, we would go out till 4: am and always stop by Denny’s before the night was over. We would either go there because we were trying to sober up before getting home, or we didn’t want the night to end, or we were starving after a long night of partying. I remember I always ordered breakfast no matter what time of the day it was.
Last week my husband was out of town on a business trip, he was arriving on Friday night. I wanted to surprise him with a candle light dinner, but my taste buds were really craving breakfast. I had a feeling that I should ask him if he wanted to eat pancakes for dinner before I make them.

So, I called him…

Me: “Babe, I have a great idea for dinner. I’m going to make you White Chocolate Coconut Pancakes for dinner. Would you like that?

Javier: What! Are you crazy, pancakes for dinner? No, I want to eat real food.

Me: oooook, I’ll make turkey burgers instead.

Javier: I know you’ve wanted to make those pancakes for a while, why don’t you make them for breakfast in the weekend.

Me: Yey, ok I will.
(I posted a picture of the pancakes in yesterday’s post)

I know you might think I’m silly if I told you that I still haven’t adjusted to the hour change. The thing is that I wake up at 4:10am Monday-Friday so I can go to the gym before work. Yesterday I woke up at 4:10am in which it really felt like 3:10am. By 1:00pm I was literally dying at work, I had to use tape so I can keep my eyes open. LOL But once I got home my energy switched turned on and I felt that I had all the energy in the world. The Bigstew came to pick me up and we headed out to the gym to do abs and cardio. I was starving by the time I got home and too lazy to marinate chicken, chop vegetables, etc. So I made myself Breakfast for Dinner…FINALLY!

Turkey & Tomato Scrambled Eggs a la Valeria
with a side of Soy Toast spread with peanut butter

Ingredients:
5 egg whites
1 egg
3 slices of low sodium turkey (chopped)
2 slices of tomatoes (diced)
A dash of black pepper
1 tsp of Olive Oil

Directions:
Preheat a nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil. Add the turkey and the dash of black pepper. Cook for 1 minute and then add all the eggs. Scramble until the eggs are fully cook and then toss in the diced tomatoes.

Thanks for dropping by!
 xoxo,

Babies are following me...

My friend Sandy finally had her baby on Wednesday March 10th; her name is Ella Nicole Cupertino. I took Thursday off from work so I can spend the day with my college roommates, and Ella up in Boca Raton.

Precious

Roomies :)

Auntie Val

I realized that I have to do a bigger effort to preserve my old friend relationships. As I’m getting older I’m realizing that I have disconnected myself from my old true friends. When I was hanging out with Tara, Bath and Sandy on Thursday I got a little upset at myself that I’ve let just time fly by and that I haven’t kept in touch with them. What I love about our friendship is that we have such a great time when we are together and it always seems like yesterday when we hang out.After vising Sandy and Ella at the hospital we went to have lunch and an afternoon drink.

Beth drinking her margaritta

Tara double fisting 2 x 1 drinks

Beth is homeless she lives out of her car...j/k she is a traveling nurse and moves from state to state.

Next stop...Beth is off to Tampa, FL

Last week, I had a rough emotional week at work. I have reached the point that I want more challenges, and growth. I’m not sure about my future and that worries me a little bit. Because I have been very hard on myself lately; it has lead me to binge eat. I know it’s wrong but I couldn’t control it. Enough is enough and I need to get back to clean eating. My sister in law is getting married in April and I need to loose a couple of pounds.

I cooked these pancakes yesterday morning for Javier…they were Delicious!

White Chocolate Coconut Pancakes

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup white chocolate morsels
1/2 cup coconut
1/4 cup toasted coconut

Directions:
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth. Fold in coconut.

Heat a lightly butter griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Drop in white chocolate morsels. Flip when bubbles appear on the top. Brown on both sides and serve hot. Garnish with butter, syrup, and toasted coconut.


Yesterday I went up to Coral Springs to hang out with my great friends Ann, Steve and their beautiful daughter Madeline aka Mady (she is a year old). I hung out at their house all day...literally. I could talk to Ann all day and never run out of subjects to talk about. Steve made awesome burgers from scratch…love them, Ann made amazing mashed potatoes and brownies while I got in the pool with Mady and did magic bubbles, kicks and went under water 2 times. Ann and I used to work together. Ann is an incredible photographer; you have to visit her website and blog. I can’t wait to do another photo shoot with her, Ann shoots daily and she gets better and better each and every time. Here are a couple of shots I took of Mady.

The cutest smile

She loves the camera

The Scavenger

She is addicted to her cell phone just like Auntie Val

She is the most scrumptcious munchkin on the planet

Thanks for dropping by!

 xoxo,

A Night with the “Bigstew”

My guy best friend Alex also known as The Bigstew came to pick me up to go to the gym last night. I was excited because I had turkey burgers marinating in the fridge so we can have a nice dinner when we were done. We worked out LEGS together. It’s always a pleasure to workout with The Bigstew, he is super knowledgeable, hard worker, fun to be around with and last but not least he pushes me to my limits. I got in his face a couple of times last night and pushed him as hard as he pushed me. After a long two hour workout I was pooped and very light headed, but couldn’t wait to get home to cook my turkey burgers. I put my skillet on med/high heat in order to get the pan hot. I forgot to turn down the heat after I put the burgers in. Suddenly, after a few minutes I couldn’t even see Alex’s face because of all the smoke. I thought my house was on fire. But no…it was the burgers. Of course Alex gave me crap about it, but as usual he will eat anything which I think it is awesome. At least he still thought they were yummy. He called up his mom aka Martha and told her what happened, she is a trip and we are very much a like. LOL I hope some day when I have kids, my kids grow up to eat anything and everything.

Turkey Burgers a la Valeria

Ingredients
¾ a green pepper (diced)
¾ a yellow pepper (diced)
1 red onion (Chopped)
2 packages of Jennie O extra lean ground turkey
2 tbs of worchestire sauce
½ cup of Oatmeal (quick oats)
1 egg
3 tbs of yellow Dijon mustard
A dash of balsamic vinegar
Black pepper
Olive Oil

Directions
Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Shape each patty into a 3/4 inch thick. Place a large nonstick skillet coated with Olive Oil over medium high heat until hot. Add patties. Cook 5 minutes on each side or until done. ENJOY!

Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl.

My first round of Turkey Burgers :(

They were still tasty

Round 2 turned out to be a lot better

Wala aka voila

Thanks for dropping by!

 xoxo,

The Weekend

Last week was a great week! My parents had a little company gathering on Thursday. And obviously that includes family and great friends.  My dad does a crazy Parrillada.

On Friday I saw the movie Alice in Wonderland in IMAX 3D I thought it was incredible “off with their heads” LOL.

 My best friend finally gave birth to Antonella on Friday at 2:40 pm. I went to visit her at the hospital with Javier; she is so precious. Karina’s put to use her maternal instincts right away. I think at one point Javo glanced over at me and gave me the “let’s make a baby look”.

Later that day I went to a co-workers baby shower. It’s was nice to have a ladies afternoon.

 

Saturday night was all about Javier and I we just hung out and bonded at home with China. We watched a Netflix movie and ordered a pizza. I love those types of nights. On Sunday we cleaned the house and went to go play paintball for my friend Megan’s Birthday. It was my second time ever playing; I had a lot of fun. We invited our friend Adien to come along with us, he had never played before. It was a great group; her friends were a lot of fun!

Javo and I after paintball

Later that night my brother was having a party for his birthday at my parent’s house. We got there a little late, but hey better late than never. We were still able to say hi to a couple of his friends, but most importantly we were able to hang out with my brother Andres. As the night got colder he made a bon fire where we all sat around and melted marshmallows. I call them “Marshies” They were yummy.

We played a couple of rounds of dominos with my good friends. Jessica, Sharif, Melina, Jennifer and Rinaldo.

Andres Making the Marshies

Yesterday Monday was my brother’s actual birthday and we had a little gathering at my parent’s house, what we like to call “para soplar las velitas” to blow out the candles. Obviously just buying a cake will never fly with my mom. So she went to buy a paella with maduros from her favorite Spanish restaurant. We had a great time just the family and 3 great friends. In which I consider David and Alex both Family.

Crazy: Family & Friends

My FAMILY: I LOVE them!

Alex & David= Family

This morning I made myself a fast and healthy scrambled egg breakfast.

Healthy Scrambled Eggs

Ingredients
¼ of an orange pepper (diced)
2 slices red onions (chopped)
5 egg whites
1 whole egg
1 oz. low sodium turkey
A pinch of Black pepper
2 slices of tomatoes (sliced)
1 tsp. Olive Oil

Directions
Heat the Olive Oil over medium heat and sauté the orange pepper, red onion and turkey. Then add all the eggs with the black pepper. Once the eggs are more than half way cooked add the tomatoes. Finish cooking the eggs and serve. Wala Enjoy!

Thanks for dropping by!

xoxo,

Cooking a la Valeria

Finally I’m getting back to the routine of cooking. My cooking might bore you, but I enjoy it. It’s easy, fast and super healthy. I primarily cook chicken, steak, or ground turkey. I always marinate all my protein with red onions and green or red peppers (basically any pepper). I try to always cook enough for 3 days, so we can take food to work and to not have to cook every night. I create all my meals based on what vegetables I have in the fridge. I don’t follow any recipes I create my own; I never cook on high heat because it ruins your cooking pans. Here is last nights chicken :)

Basic Chicken a la Valeria

Ingredients:

1 ½ lbs of chicken breast (diced)
1/2 Red Pepper (chopped)
1/2 Yellow Pepper (chopped)
1/4 of a red onion chopped
3 tbs yellow Dijon mustard
1 tbs of Light Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Black pepper
Cumin

Directions:

In a large bowl add all the ingredients except the olive oil. Let it marinate for 30 minutes.

(for a richer taste let it marinate over night in the fridge covered with plastic wrap or in a ziplock bag)

Let your large pan heat up over medium heat; once it’s reached a hot temperature add the olive oil. Add the marinated chicken and cover with a lid. Mix every 3-4 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked and it's nice and tender.

Tip: You can serve my chicken with a ½cup of brown rice, or couscous, or even make a nice mixed salad. You can make a wrap; I sometimes mix my chicken with egg whites in the morning.

Enjoy!

Thanks for dropping by!

 xoxo,