Whew! What a day! Happy Monday, yall! š
This morning I woke up and had a yogurt, banana and almond butter + preserves on an ezekiel english muffin. Perfect way to get my day started (plus a huge thermos of strong coffee!)
I was so excited for my sammie today and it did not fail to disappoint! I packed turkey bacon and hummus on a whole wheat bagel—-GREAT combo! 2 slices turkey bacon (I just cooked extra last night) and 2 tbsp hummus. Really, really good.
I also packed a string cheese, almonds and a pear.
I had the string cheese and a couple almonds mid-morning and the pear with my bagel. My breakfast really took me through the morning! I find that I’m not as hungry mid-morning these days…a light snack is working better for me right now. I think its being around all these sweets! A bite of cookie there, a lick of icing there….hehe š
Here’s a picture of staff meal prepared by Adam today. He made pulled pork burritos and I just HAD to take a picture for Ryan because he looooooves these! Everyday staff meal is put up at 10:30 for the servers before lunch service begins. It always looks and smells great but I would rather pack my lunch and eat around noon than eating a huge meal at 10:30 in the morning and still have 4 1/2 more hours of work left. Eating at noon breaks up my day perfectly.
When I got home from work I had a snack of a serving of Udi’s granola with some silk light vanilla. I just can’t get enough of this granola! It’s the perfect amount of sweetness and crunch!
I was going to swim some laps this afternoon after work…. but I forgot my goggles and it started to storm so instead I just did the elliptical for about 25 minutes to cross-train. My friend’s parents have a mini gym in their home with a precor machine, treadmill and some weights and a cable machine. It’s perfect when you really don’t want to go all the way to the gym!
For dinner I was really craving a meal from the freezer:
I LOVE how spicy this is! I added a baked sweet potato to “beef it up” and had a salad with goat cheese and cherry tomatoes on the side along with a glass of pinot noir.
Today I had a GREAT day at work! I’m loving each day more…actually I like it a lot more than I was expecting since I consider myself more of a writer than a chef. Well, I guess I can be both! š I love being super busy and having the hours fly by.
Right when I got in this morning I set out to bake off some more cranberry bread. I didn’t take a picture because if you follow my blog, you know by now what it looks like! After doing that, I baked some spicy cheddar wafers:
And some mini blueberry muffins for tomorrow’s breakfast:
And then…..I set out on a whoopie mission! Adam is super cool with me testing new recipes and trying out whatever I want. So, I baked some pumpkin whoopie pies and they turned out fabulous.
I’m still working on perfecting the recipe (I’m making more on Thursday) so I don’t want to share it yet but when I will soon! The pumpkin cookies were huge, soft and cake-like and the frosting was a rich buttercream. Everyone LOVED these and I have a feelin’ I’ll be cranking them out in the upcoming days and weeks! Note that they are not healthy in the slightest bit but they sure are good!
Other activities today included making more apple pie filling (I used 20 apples for this—it made a gigantic amount!):
And I prepared pumpernickel dough as well as Adam’s special 0live foccacia dough, both to bake off in the morning (we have a lunch for 120 tomorrow). I’m super excited for the olive foccacia because it contains 12 potatoes as well as toooons of chopped kalamata olives! Adam said that grated, steamed potatoes make the foccacia especially fluffy and soft. I can’t wait to bake it off and give it a try—it better be worth grating all those potatoes!
Well, that’s all folk :). I just sat down to watch the news with my dessert in hand:
A pumpkin cookie sans whoopie frosting from earlier today. SO good and soft! Like a piece of spicy pumpkin cake. Yum!
Have a wonderful night—I’ll see you tomorrow! š
ps–Adam liked the vegan chocolate peanut butter cookie but we both decided it needed some slight modifications—-a better quality cocoa power and maybe melted chocolate at well so the cookie won’t be as dry.
BethT
October 6, 2008 at 11:00 pmMmmmmm, pulled pork. Here’s an idea for the club: pulled pork omelet! I had one recently in a restaurant and with some mexican cheese and roasted corn salsa, it was HEAVEN on a plate š
Becca A
October 6, 2008 at 11:09 pmYour whoopie pies look fantastic! I’m looking forward to the recipe!
Alicia
October 6, 2008 at 11:19 pmI love it when you’re doing pastry since we get to see so many wonderful looking baked goods. Blueberry muffins are my favourite and I simply adore the muffin tops. š
Glad that your whoopie pies turned out great! Have a great day ahead:)
Kath
October 6, 2008 at 11:33 pmI’m so impressed Jenna!! You’re really a real chef š I would like to lick that whoppie pie icing STAT.
Amy C.
October 6, 2008 at 11:35 pmJenna, the food looks amazing! I can’t wait to see the whoopie pie recipe. I’m just sad I don’t live in Florida so that you can make it for me! haha
VeggieGirl
October 6, 2008 at 11:39 pmThose enchiladas are so beautifully plated!!
That channa masala dinner looks fabulous – I love that the package declares it as both vegan AND gluten-free!! Score!! š How many servings are in the meal???
WHOOPIE PIES!!!!!!! Holy yum.
jenna
October 6, 2008 at 11:46 pmVeggieGirl,
I think there are two? I’m not sure exactly, I’ve always just eaten the whole meal?
Amy
October 6, 2008 at 11:50 pmWowww everything looks delicious! The mini blueberry muffins are adorable. And the pumpkin whoopie pies…well, lets just say they look heavenly!!! You must have so much fun at work. I love seeing your baking adventures š
Erin
October 7, 2008 at 12:46 amSANS frosting?! How?! That frosting looked incredible.
Love your work pictures.
Shelby
October 7, 2008 at 1:17 amI’m soo looking forward to the Whoopie Pies recipe!! They look so tasty!
Megan
October 7, 2008 at 1:19 amI am drooling over all those baked goods, but the Pumpkin Whoopies are my favorite. Wish I had one right now! Awesome job!
Runjen
October 7, 2008 at 1:25 amThose whoopie pies look absolutely delicious. Congrats on your job! I love hearing the deets.
lauren
October 7, 2008 at 1:25 amI love that channa masala meal from tandoori chef – I need to get more – yum! And those pumpkin whoopies look amazing.
Meghann
October 7, 2008 at 1:43 amCan I just say those pumpkin woopies look amazing! Sounds like you are having a blast playing the role os pastry chef. Kudos to you! š
Sarah
October 7, 2008 at 2:18 amoh my gosh, those pumpkin whoopies look so good!
what brand of hummus do you buy? I got really spoiled with fresh, delicious hummus when I was living in Israel last summer and have yet to find a brand that really ‘wows’ me. I’ve been buying the Tribe kind but there’s something about the texture that I just don’t like (it’s almost gritty or something). Any suggestions?
new runner
October 7, 2008 at 2:40 amhi, Iām hoping you can help me with my question.
Iām really trying hard to lose weight and watching my calorie intake. Iām eating healthy whole foods.. not junk. Iām trying to stay at 1300 calories for non workout days and 1500 for workout days.
.. now when I work out should I eat 1500 calories and thats it. or say I burned 400 calories at the gym I can eat 1900 calories?
anyones intake on this?
caitlin (seebriderun)
October 7, 2008 at 3:18 amyour food looks fantastic! i love reading your work updates. š again, super jealous of your career.
emily
October 7, 2008 at 3:25 amI agree with you on the hummus and turkey bacon combo, however, there’s a place back home (http://www.barefootbuddha.vi/) that makes a bagel sammie of frittata, turkey, turkey bacon, aioli, and cream cheese that’s kind of the most amazing thing ever.
BTW, anyone who can’t wait for Jenna’s, Rachel Ray’s magazine published a pumpkin whoopie pie recipe last year that was a big hit on my Turkey Day.
bobbi
October 7, 2008 at 4:11 amHavent ever tried a Woopie, but if I ever had one those pumpkin ones would be my first:)
monica
October 7, 2008 at 4:41 amWhat an awesome food day. I love that ezekial bread – wish we could get it in London. I had chana masala yesterday too… one of my favorite foods ever.
Great blog, btw – I linked to you in my latest blog post and added you to my blogroll.
RD2be
October 7, 2008 at 4:58 amNew Runner,
If you’re trying to lose weight and want to use 1300 as your baseline calorie intake, just add the appropriate calories to 1300 on exercise days. If you burn 400, eat 1300 +400 = 1700. Depending on your start weight that should help you shed pounds. If not, you can always adjust it later.
http://www.rd2be.wordpress.com
Christie
October 7, 2008 at 11:30 amThos whoopie pies look heavenly.. I am glad you are enjoying yoru time there and learning alot!
Christie I.
October 7, 2008 at 11:57 amThe staff lunch at my work is served at 10:30 as well. Since the golf staff gets here at 6, they ready by then. Now that I am trying to eat smaller more frequent meals, 10:30 just doesn’t work for me either.
Heather
October 7, 2008 at 12:42 pmCan’t wait to see the whoopie pie recipe- especially the filling!
It’s so fun to see what you’re making every day… that’s interesting about adding potatoes to focaccia. Thanks for the tip!
hk
October 7, 2008 at 1:35 pmholy yum!! everything looks amazing!! true work of a chef, sounds/looks awesome!
I love the idea of mixing the chana masala frozen meal with a sweet potato, that’s perfect š
AshleyH
October 7, 2008 at 2:05 pmhi question for everyone
I am living on my own for the first time and spending about $60-$70 on groceries every week at WF for just little old me. Is this normal? I was wondering if any of you have any suggestions on how to lower this. I dont think my bank account can handle
much more of this :0. (I am mostly vegan if it makes a difference.)
leslie
October 7, 2008 at 2:16 pmHey guys! This is random, but if anyone else is as obsessed w/the clif z bar in spooky s’mores flavor as I am… I propose we all write letters to the company begging them to make it a regular part of the line (perhaps taking “spooky” out of the name)! I know this has nothing to do with your post, Jenna, but I know a lot of the readers, as well as you, enjoy z bars! YUM! š and I can’t bear to see my favorite flavor go..
ryan
October 7, 2008 at 2:38 pmAAHHHHHHHHHHHH, I want those Pork Burritos, I can’t believe you didn’t eat one!!!!!!!!!!! And Beth T, that pork omelet idea sounds really good, hint hint Jenna! I am eating a pork burrito for lunch today for sure!
Please bring home a pumpkin whoopie thing too!
Chef Erin (Pumpkin)
October 7, 2008 at 3:03 pmGaah! Those pumpkin cookies look soooo good! I want one!!!
runjess
October 7, 2008 at 3:09 pmI LOVE Tandoor Chef! You should try their palak paneer.
lucy
October 7, 2008 at 4:20 pmleslie,
um, yes, me too. i am totally obsessed and have been buying cases at whole foods. i will definitely write a letter. i love them.
HangryPants
October 7, 2008 at 4:23 pmAll of your baked goods look delcious. I want a pumplin woopie pie! Hope you ahd fun swimming. Enjoy your Tuesday.
Kelly
October 7, 2008 at 4:36 pmThat’s awesome that you get to experiment. That would be my favorite part.
justjen
October 7, 2008 at 6:00 pmYour excitement about your job and your blog are an inspiration, I love reading about it! I need to find something that I love as much as you are loving what you do!
Foodie (Fab and Delicious Food)
October 7, 2008 at 6:58 pmAll the treats look awesome!
michelle
October 7, 2008 at 6:58 pmJenna, those pumpkin whoopies look amazing!!!
Melissa P.
October 7, 2008 at 7:24 pmOkay, you just completely changed my “if I were trapped on a deserted island with only one food” item. That pumpkin whoopie pie is/ looks like a slice of heaven…
jenna
October 7, 2008 at 10:05 pmSarah,
I have a recent obsession with Sabra’s Roasted Garlic Hummus. I could eat it with a spoon. I do actually! It’s out of this world and veryyy creamy!!
a certain pumpkin baked good ā Eat, Live, Run
November 28, 2010 at 8:12 am[…] it’s not really all that gourmet. But, it’s loved by kids and adults alike, and when I first made them in October of 2008, the whole kitchen staff at the yacht club I worked at loved them so much that […]
a certain pumpkin baked good ā Eat, Live, Run
November 28, 2010 at 8:12 am[…] it’s not really all that gourmet. But, it’s loved by kids and adults alike, and when I first made them in October of 2008, the whole kitchen staff at the yacht club I worked at loved them so much that […]