favorite snack: homemade bread with almond butter and pumpkin butter
lists
black skinny jeans – best Gap purchase ever
lunchtime fun with the husband
big brown Olive eyes
see above
pumpkin spice latte of course
love
What things are making you smile on this lovely Friday?
Happy Weekend.
Hello!
What an exciting day with elections and all! I feel terrible to say this, but I almost forgot to vote.
Well, maybe I didn’t almost forget to vote. I just almost didn’t vote. But then I started to feel really guilty and like a terrible citizen who isn’t taking advantage of her right to have a voice. So, the husband and I hightailed it to our voting center and basically shut the place down. Next election I definitely want to do more research and have a better idea of who I want to vote for in each area…and why.
Another exciting thing about today was making and inhaling the single best snack known to man.
Homemade bread. Almond butter. Pumpkin butter.
Heaven on a plate.
Moving on.
After a full afternoon of working on the biz, I was all geared up for a fun dinner. I’ve had a recipe waiting in the wings for several days now and finally decided to make it tonight. It’s a multi-step process, and I got through step #2 before I had to abandon ship kitchen and head to the polls!
By the time we finished reading and over-analyzing 99 hundred state questions, we were both starving and made the last minute decision to ditch my marinating meal and grab a pizza instead. Isn’t that terrible? haha! I’m a fan of spontaneity.
And pizza 
The mystery mixture should be good and ready by tomorrow night, and I shall reveal it to you then! It’s a spin off an Eat Drink and Be Vegan recipe, so it’s sure to be a winner.
Okay, I must cut this short and get to bed asap. I’ve been getting less than 6 hours a night lately, and it’s not making for a nice Candice. Sleep is important!
But first, I shall announce the winner of the CSN $40 gift-card giveaway! Thank you all so much for entering! I loved hearing all of your favorite foods – so fun!
And the winner is…
Kathi!
Her comment: “One food? I would have to say oatmeal I love it both hot and cold.”
Congrats Kathi! Please email me your information, and we’ll get your gift-card to you! Happy shopping!
*The winner was chosen using random.org
Thanks again to CSN for sponsoring the giveaway!
G’night friends:)
What is your favorite healthy (or not:) snack? Let’s generate some ideas!
Today was another successful day of Operation: Get Clear Skin. Successful being used very loosely of course – meaning I pulled out all the stops by sticking to the list I posted yesterday…but my face is technically still not clear at all. I honestly do think I can see a glimmer of improvement, though, so my hopes are high. Thank you for all the supportive comments and advice. You guys rock!
Actually, the drama with my face brought back a memory of Thailand for me today. It was Valentine’s Day of 2008, and Jonathan had planned a one night getaway for us at a hotel in Chiang Mai. It was really only about 15 minutes away from our apartment, but had air conditioning, a bath tub and was gecko free as far as we could tell:)
this little guy welcomed us to our kitchen the day we moved in – little did we know his entire extended family + all his friends lived in our house as well.
flowers the husband bought me from the market
hotels like this are fairly inexpensive for Americans
I seriously stayed in this tub for hours on end. It was like I was back in America.
The next morning he took me out to breakfast…
and then it was time for the big surprise.
He had booked me a massage and facial (also really cheap in Thailand – I could get a manicure for about three dollars)!
I remember laying on my back, feeling like I had died and gone to heaven as a sweet Thai woman massaged things into my face.
You see where this is going.
The next morning I woke up and throughout the day this rash began to show up on my face. It was like my entire face was completely overtaken by blemishes…seriously beyond anything I’ve ever experienced in my 27 years. I wanted to hide under a rock and never come out. And I kept asking myself “what could have possibly made you think it was a good idea to let someone rub not only their hands, but also various other unknown concoctions all over your face?!”
Needless to say I haven’t had a facial since.
And that’s where memory lane ends.
Back to today. I started off again with a delicious breakfast juice before doing an hour session of yoga in preparation for my class tonight.
The goods. Parsley, escarole (leafy green I picked up at Whole Foods last week!), 1 plum, 1 organic carrot, 1 beet and 1 apple
aren’t beets so pretty?
a spry little sprig of parsley
and the finished product
After yoga and some light house keeping, I was ready for a snack.
apple and almond butter
I haven’t had an apple and almond/peanut butter together in a long time…but I think it is time to bring it back! holla.
I also sipped on a Pom spritzer (a few ounces of Pom juice mixed with seltzer water) on the side. This little drink was so refreshing to me today.
A little while later lunch was a green monster just like yesterday’s, except with almond milk – yay for a stocked fridge!
After meeting with a new student whom I will be tutoring now as well as student I’ve been tutoring for awhile, I came home craving exactly what you see above: homemade salsa (recipe coming soon!), baby carrots, sugar snap peas, spelt pretzels and spicy garlic hummus. This snack plate was so filling and it took me forever to eat it, which is a plus in my book:)
Dinner was a little more carb heavy. I somehow failed to get a picture, but the husband and I made Mexican Fiesta Pasta. It was hot, mexicany, spicy and it really hit the spot!
I must be off to bed now…I’m planning to make it up in the morning in time for a run, but I’m a little worried seeing as how tired I am right now and how late it is. Must. Get. Sleep.
G’night!
Hello!
This morning…I juiced.
But before that I went on a 3.5 mile run. It was a decent run – not the best I’ve ever had, but certainly not bad. I love those moments when I hit a high in the middle of my run, whether caused by my current tune, something to do with the scenery or just a good strong and steady stride, it’s just so sweet. We didn’t make great time – I think we finished in about 38 minutes, but I’ve just been less worried about time lately. I would honestly rather just enjoy running than be super worried about how fast I’m going.
Anyway, so I came home and showered and then got to juicing. I know I mentioned a few weeks ago that I had switched cleansers to Burt’s Bees because I wanted to start using all natural skin care. I’ll be doing a full review on it later as I want to give it a little more time before I form a final opinion. One thing I don’t think I mentioned before is that I felt like it was a good time for me to make the switch because I was having some serious breakouts on my face. I haven’t had a problem with breakouts since high school, and I’m not really sure what’s going on. But I figured since my face was already broken out, it would be a good time to change my skin care system, since switching can often trigger a breakout. Might as well get it all over with at once.
Not sure that was the best idea. I’ve been using Burt’s Bees for about 2 weeks now, and my face has progressively gotten worse. I honestly don’t think that BB is specifically the problem. I think there was already a problem, and so far BB just hasn’t miraculously cleared up my skin. It has gotten so bad, though, that I finally called the other day and set up an appointment with the dermatologist. I’m seriously feeling desperate!
Anyway, I woke up this morning and was washing my face when it occurred to me that I should really try every natural remedy I can think of before I end up with a prescription cream of some sort that is full of chemicals and most likely expensive on top of that. After just a little bit of researching I came up with a few ideas that I’m going to begin implementing.
I just felt so compelled today to do whatever I can to take care of this problem.
Breakfast. leafy greens + 1 beet + 1 carrot + 3 celery stalks + 1 apple + small piece of garlic = one amazing juice
After my juice, I did an hour yoga session. I’m learning to turn my planning for classes into awesome classes for myself. I pulled out all the stops, even using my lavender scented cloth:) A couple of hours later I had a snack plate.
Newman’s Own spelt pretzels
natural almond butter
homemade salsa
carrots and celery sticks
And for lunch I opted for a green smoothie. This contained 2 handfuls of spinach, 1 container of soy yogurt (we’re out of almond milk), 2 heaping tablespoons Vega Shake and Go Smoothie, half a banana, 1 tbsp chia seeds and ice.
For an afternoon snack I veered from raw and ate up a cinnamon raisin Ezekiel english muffin with 1 tbsp almond butter.
Plus I drank lots and lots of water all day long! Many trips to the bathroom ensued.
For dinner Jon and I grabbed salads from Chipotle on our way to buy groceries. Mine included lettuce, black beans, grilled veggies, 3 kinds of salsa and guacamole of course!
Overall I already feel much better today. Even though I can’t tell a difference on my face yet, it feels good to know that I’m going everything I can. I would love to be able to cancel that dermatologist appointment in a week.
Well, now that I’ve laid out all my problems for the world to see, I must be headed to bed;)
Question: have you ever had problems with your skin, whether acne or something else? Any ideas for natural treatments?
After such a fun and spontaneous day yesterday it was admittedly a bit hard to get back into a routine today. As my husband can attest – I live for spontaneity. I love waking up and not know what the day will hold and then making it into something wonderful.
We spent the first half of Labor Day getting some work done. One of the harder aspects of owning your own business – you must work even on holidays! I was so glad we got work out of the way, though, because then we had the rest of the day to relax and play.
On a whim, we decided to head to Tulsa. There are several draws to visiting this second closest city to us:
1. my brother-in-law and sister-in-law live there.
2. Whole Foods lives there.
3. There’s a mall.
What can I say? I’m easily pleased.
Before heading out of town, we grabbed some lunch to take on the road.
For him – Chickfila. He doesn’t get quite as excited as I do about taking pictures with his food.
For her – Panera.
Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich (minus the feta)
And an apple balancing on my knee:)
Our first stop in Tulsa as at the Apple Store at the mall to look at iPads. The husband is considering purchasing one for the business, but got cold feet and decided to think on it some more.
We also stumbled upon this place while perusing the mall.
I had never tried Teavana tea before, and I was pleasantly surprised! They had several different flavors out for sampling and they were all delicious. I resisted bringing any home with me, but I would definitely like to try some of their teas in the future. Tea has been on my mind more and more with colder weather fast approaching, so Teavana – maybe we will meet again:)
Upon leaving the mall, we headed straight for my BIL and SIL’s house. We didn’t stay there long as they had dinner cooking and we needed to get back home, but considering we hadn’t seen them since Christmas (pathetic!) it was so nice to catch up in person for awhile.
Unfortunately I didn’t get a picture yesterday, but just for fun here’s one from when they (MIL and FIL came too!) came to visit us when we lived in Thailand. Fun times.
Anyway, before heading back home, we grabbed some dinner at PeiWei
And then headed to Whole Foods, where the best thing ever happened.
I was reunited with my love.
no cameras allowed in Whole Foods so we had to sneak this shot with the iPhone
Almond Butter and I have been separated for a good few months due mostly to the much lower cost of peanut butter:( But last night Whole Foods had their machine working where you can grind your own, and it was only $4.99/lb. So much cheaper than buying it in a jar here!
I was a true foodie through and through last night as I giddily walked through the store with my prized possession tucked safely under my arm and a smile from ear to ear. Only those of you who share my love for almond butter can understand how happy I was. The rest of you can just think how weird I am. I’m okay with that:)
It was a smooth ride all the way back home…just me and the husband. And possibly some dark chocolate.
Hope you all had a great day and are all geared up for the short week!
Love, Candice
Do you live for spontaneity like myself? Or do you prefer the structure of a routine and planning?
Eek! I can’t believe I’m just now getting around to posting.
I have been pulling some seriously late nights this past week, and it needs to stop! It’s causing me to be so exhausted during the day. I just love staying up late, though!
Lunch today was simple.
Two slices of Ezekiel bread, Morningstar black bean burger, hummus, a healthy dose of sunflower sprouts, and rotel tomatoes. Yum!
And the biggest watermelon spread ever! I promise I didn’t eat all that…at least not for lunch;)
I’m pretty sure I’m going to morph into a watermelon before it’s all said and done. That or a sunflower sprout:)
I had totally forgotten that yoga was tonight until I started craving it this afternoon. Then it hit me! So, after tutoring I went straight to class, and did some lovely sun salutations, half series and child’s poses. love. love. love.
Since I knew I’d be getting home sort of late from yoga, I spent some time this afternoon chopping up veggies and making a stir-fry sauce. So, when I got home all I had to do was dump it all in the wok and cook some bulgur!
I included cabbage, bell pepper, pattypan squash, carrots, onions, zucchini and sunflower sprouts. Obviously I added a sprinkle of chia seeds to top it all off!
The most important thing about stir-frying veggies is timing. I always put my carrots in and let them cook for a bit first (same story with broccoli if you’re using it); then I add bell peppers. Soon after the peppers I add in everything else except for the sunflower sprouts, which I toss in at the very end.
I would give you the recipe for the sauce I made, but it needs some revamping. It involved low sodium tamari sauce, garlic, olive oil, maple syrup, seasoned rice vinegar and ground red pepper; it was a bit bland unfortunately, so I’ll spare you the details. The incredible veggies were the star of this show!
Dessert was a brown rice cake with a thin layer of Maranatha Chocolate Almond Butter spread. This stuff is just like eating icing. It is so good!
With a cup of decaf iced coffee on the side.
Well, I hate to cut this short, but I gots to gets to bed!
Tomorrow is a special day here, but I’m going to wait ’till tomorrow to tell you why! Any guesses?!
Morning!
Yesterday ended up being a whirlwind of a day. I made a last minute decision to hop on the road and go visit my family for a couple of hours. My baby cousin, whom I see very rarely, was in town so everyone was gathering at my grandma’s to hang out.
I was able to get a few things accomplished before I left as well as hit up a new class at the gym – turbokick. It was my first time to try this one, and I really liked it. If any of you have ever tried turbo jam by Chalene Johnson – it’s the live class version of that. I’ve done turbo jam about a million times, so turbokick wasn’t entirely new to me, but they’ve added in a lot of new moves since I bought my DVDs. I think I’ll probably go back…it gave me a really good workout to say the least!
Anyway, here are some pics from the day
Breakfast before Turbokick – Greek yogurt, 1/3 cup raw oats, the last of the frozen cherries and chias
Midmorning snack – brown rice cake with the last of my almond butter:( I think I need to run to the store
Lunch – spinach lavash wrap (love these!), Morningstar black bean burger (not vegan btw) Sabra garlic hummus, broccoli slaw and spinach
Afternoon snack at my grandma’s – watermelon!! Seedless watermelon!
I also had an unpictured apple pie Larabar on my drive back home
Dinner last night was also unpictured because I figured you guys don’t need to see enchiladas yet again on CSM. I promise we didn’t actually make them again last night…we had leftovers; however, not promising we wouldn’t have made them had there not been leftovers;) What can I say?
Well, I’m off to piyo class! I’ll be laying low, working at the house today until I meet Mohammad for tutoring.
Don’t forget to stop by and enter the chia seed giveaway! If you haven’t tried them before, I promise you’ll love ‘em…what’s not to love?
Have you tried chia seeds before? Tell me what you’re favorite way is to eat them!
If you haven’t had them before, what would you do with them if you win?
Hey!
Today has been a better day. I chatted with my sister for a couple of hours this afternoon, and she pepped me up a little bit.
Somebody please explain to me why I need to be told to quit analyzing everything and MOVE ON! I am trying to cut myself a little slack because this has been a really serious and hard decision. But now that the decision has been made, there really is no reason to dwell on it. It is just a work in progress methinks:)
I’m realizing how much of an emotional person I really am through this process. I no sooner sat down in my principal’s office yesterday than I got all choked up. I couldn’t even get a word out! While I was a little bit mortified, I also really wanted to express to her how much of an attachment I have to the school. Mission accomplished. I mean, if she doesn’t know that I care at this point, then I don’t have two webbed toes. did I just say that out loud?
Annnyway. Before I left to meet up with Mohammad earlier (the student I’m tutoring), I somehow forgot to grab a snack. I didn’t sweat it too much though, figuring I would be distracted enough during our meeting. However, after receiving a phone call 5 minutes after I arrived at the coffee shop saying he was going to be an hour late, I knew I wasn’t going to make it. So, I rushed home and grabbed this
Van’s Lite Waffle covered in almond butter
I really love these waffles. The flavor of them is just too good, and the ingredients are great. Plus – they only have 70 calories per serving (1 waffle)! Win, win, win!
I tried to be at least a little productive before heading back to the coffee shop, but there just wasn’t enough time to get much done.
Thank you Mohammad for virtually taking up 2.5 hours of my afternoon. At least he’s funny, though. Today he asked me if he could come live with Jon and I…at which point I about fell out of my chair.
I had an exchange student, K, from Germany last year, and at one point during the year she was having trouble with her host family. The exchange student coordinator emailed me one day and asked if K could come live with Jon and I. Really? Shouldn’t you have some experience raising kids before you take on a full-blown teenager?!
I politely declined.
I digress.
By the time I got home tonight, it had gotten rather late, and I was trying to think of something for dinner. I wasn’t feeling very inspired, so I defaulted to Mexican. Easy. Cheap. Tasty.
First this…
black beans, pinto beans, corn, rotel, cumin and sea salt – all mixed up!
Dun! dun! dun! We were out of bit sized pasta, so we went with spaghetti! Whole wheat of course.
hot and steamy
Toss! toss! toss!
Delicious. Maybe not the most glamorous or creative meal, but it always hits the spot.
Unfortunatly I realized I am out of my favorite spice ever…so I had to forgo the ground red pepper. boo:(
Oh, my gosh…I totally forgot! I got a call for an interview today! I mentioned in my post yesterday that I might have an opportunity to teach ESL classes part-time. Well, today I got a call and I’ll be meeting with them tomorrow. I’m excited about this opportunity because it will enable me to have more time for the things I want to do and will give us a little extra moolah in the meantime. Plus, I love working with international students. So, I’m hoping it goes well.
Keep your fingers crossed for me!
What is your default/go-to meal for when you aren’t feeling inspired?
Do you love mexican food as much as I do? If not what’s your favorite ethnic food?
I’m bloggin’ from the road today as Jon and I head to my hometown to spend some time with my mom. We slept in this morning, and I woke up with a smile on my face! I love love love waking up to sunlight coming in through the window, and it happens far too seldom.
Our Mini Cooper is getting serviced right now, and it just so happens that the dealership was fresh out of “service car” minis, so…..they gave us a BMW for the weekend. We don’t mind a bit. I could get used to this;)
As soon as we got up and got around we headed to the lake to get in a quick three miles. It was super windy, but the temperature was perfect! We followed it up with the first two circuits of Jillian’s level two shred workout. We totally stuck with our two workouts every day this week – Jillian in the morning and 3 miles in the evening. We did take a rest day on Friday.
Before our run I ate half an Ezekiel English muffin with a bit of almond butter. Considering our entire workout didn’t end until almost noon, it was not enough fuel! By the end of Jillian, I was famished!
it almost missed the camera…oops!
I quickly threw some tempeh in a pan with a couple squirts of Bragg’s. After heating it through, I added it to a whole wheat pita along with some Sabra pine nut hummus, spinach, onions and pickles. Also, some grapes on the side.
After lunch we spent some time cleaning up the house and then I settled in to do some blog surfing grading. Unfortunately, I didn’t get near as much done as I needed to before we had to get packed up and head out!
Oh, I also snacked on some soy yogurt with frozen cherries, sliced almonds and granola…and we grabbed a soy latte on our way out of town.
I just want to say thanks for all the sweet comments and encouragement from you guys regarding my personal trainer certification. It made me feel so affirmed about my decision. You all are the best! I can’t wait to share with you as I go through the process. It’s so exciting to me to master something new. I’m also realizing that I am a much better student now that I’ve been a teacher. Totally didn’t’ expect that, but I feel like I just understand the learning process better now. Good thing ‘cause I’ll need all the help I can get!
I hope everyone has a great weekend!
What a day! I have got some super fun news.
We’re going to Paris!
Jon and I have been working on planning our summer vacation for awhile. Remember this post? Well, Jon has been spending a lot of time researching flights and hotels, trying to get us a good deal. We really haven’t been picky about where to go…we just knew we wanted to go overseas because we haven’t been outside the U.S. since Tokyo almost 2 years ago!
Anyway, we were looking more into South America because the flights are much more affordable than Europe. On a whim the other night, Jon typed in the information to find out how much a flight to Barcelona would cost, and in another instant a round trip flight from Dallas to Barcelona to Paris and back to Dallas popped up. Whoohoo! I’m so excited. I’ve never been to Europe, but have always wanted to go. We leave just a few days after I get out of school. It’s already almost time to start packing, ha!
Now I just have to survive four more weeks of madness and we’ll be on our way!
I’ve been bursting at the seams all day, but now on to breakfast.
I had an Ezekiel English muffin with almond butter and 1/2 a sliced banana. One of my favorite breakies. Gotta love the fine paper dishware as well. Great for on-the-go!
Lunch today was Pita Pit, and unfortunately I didn’t get a picture. It was delicious as always, though!
Later I had a snack of Whole Soy vanilla yogurt and raw oatmeal. And some carrots for later on.
Raw oatmeal is SO good in yogurt! I used to eat it in Greek yogurt a long time ago, and I hadn’t had it in awhile. The other day I ran out of granola, and decided to throw in some oats instead, and I fell in love all over again! You MUST try it.
I had a meeting after school today that lasted until 5, which means I didn’t get home until 6. As soon as I walked in the door, Jon had some casual clothes laid out for me and said “get dressed, we’re goin’ out!” What a guy!
Needless to say, it’s been a busy evening, and I’m about to peace out and get some sleep. This is really Thursday night for me because I took off work Friday. The plan is to stay home and grade essays all day, and then head south to hit up the Train concert! We’re staying in a hotel Friday night, stopping in the city to see the inlaws on Saturday and then heading home! Blogging may be a bit “hit and miss” this weekend, but I’ll def. be around.
Hope you’re all having a great night!
Happy Thursday:) I honestly can’t believe we’re only a night’s sleep away from Friday. I am SO glad. I’m just counting down the days until school is out – only 6 weeks and 1 day to go.
I received my Women’s Health magazine in the mail today, and it has some great stuff. Women’s Health and Oxygen are my favorite magazines – I feel they are the most down-to-earth and real of all the fitness magazines. This issue has Jillian Michaels on the cover and a great interview with her inside. It’s funny how when you need a certain kind of affirmation about something, it just keeps popping up everywhere. In her interview, Jillian gives some great tips on how to achieve success, so I thought I’d share them with you!
I think I’m going to type these up and post them where I can see them on a daily basis. Keeping things like this in front of me helps me stay motivated and inspired!
Today was honestly pretty stressful. Work was more stressful than usual (I won’t even go into that), and I got a call from my mom this morning, letting me know my grandpa had an accident. He had climbed up on the roof of our lake cabin to clear off some limbs, and when he went to climb back down, one leg of the ladder sunk into the ground, causing him to fall from the roof level. Unfortunately, he cracked three ribs. Fortunately, he didn’t have any other injuries. I am so thankful to still have my two grandparents, and all the time I think about the possibility of something happening to them. I don’t know how I would handle it. Even this got me all worked up, and I just wanted to go visit him, not be at work! I got to talk to him on the phone for awhile after work, though, and he seemed to be in pretty high spirits, considering.
For lunch, the parents at our school put together a luncheon for the teachers. I knew right away (from past experience) that there would be nothing there for me, so I packed this
Overnight oats! 1/3 cup oats, 1/3 cup plain soy yogurt, 1/3 cup almond milk, 1 tbsp chia seeds, sprinkle of cinnamon, 1/2 chopped banana. Let sit overnight. Add toppings! Almond butter to be specific. Delish! My coworkers give me the strangest looks sometimes;)
Here’s the rest of the day’s eats
Yes, that would be cheeseless pizza again. Yes, I just had it last Saturday. What can I say? I was having a serious hankering for it, and I was exhausted from the day. What’s a girl to do?
I also am proud to say I worked out today, even though it was all I could do to keep my eyes open during the commute home. I threw on my gym clothes and headed to the gym. I cranked out a quick 2.5 miles on the treadmill, and followed it up with some ab work using the Bosu ball. Yay!
Well, that’s it for today, folks! Hope you all have a great Friday! G’night.
Hey! How is the end of your weekend treating ya? I love Sundays, but I’m not too crazy about Sunday nights because I start feeling not too excited about the week ahead. Do you ever feel bummed out on Sunday nights at the thought of starting the work week? Or do you feel excited about the coming days?
Honestly, I don’t have a whole lot of exciting things for you tonight…sorry! We have just had kind of a lax day. I did snap a quick shadowy shot of breakfast
This bowl included 1/3 cup oats, 3/4 cup almond milk, 1 tbsp almond butter, a couple of spoonfuls of soy yogurt and homemade granola. I’ll never tire of this combination – the toppings are where it’s at! This granola is a homemade recipe that I created. I’m on a misison to create the best clean granola I’ve ever had, and while this one wasn’t quite it, it was pretty close. It was definitely tasty enough to sprinkle on for breakfast! As soon as I hit it, I’ll let you guys know, but until then…onward and upward!!
The rest of the day was spent napping, grading essays, going to visit some friends, working on some projects and watching Amazing Race. Tonight they were in Singapore, which was so fun because Jon and I were just there about a year ago. We saw some of the same places we had been – fun! Here are some pics from our time there
They ate ice cream sandwiches exactly like this on the show tonight
China town
The contestants took an overnight train from Malaysia just like we did, and I swear we saw this same sign on TV when they got off the train. It was definitely the same station. Ah, memories:)
Have you been on any international vacations? What has been your favorite place to visit? Jon and I are planning an international vacation for this summer, and we are trying to decide where we want to go. We’ve been to Israel, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore and Japan. Any suggestions on great destinations? I’d love to hear about your favorite trip!!
Apologies for the lack of food pics tonight. Hope you all have a great start to the week tomorrow!!
Jon and I are going shopping for a new camera next week!! I am so stoked. I have been taking all my blog pics with my iPhone, and it’s become so uninspiring. I’m sure you feel the same way;) We have wanted a new one for awhile, and since Jon’s side business has really taken off we’ve finally come to a point where we can get one. Now the problem is just deciding which one to get. Neither of us knows much about them, so we’re going to have to learn a lot…not only to buy it but to figure out how to use it!
Does anybody have an recommendations? I’ve heard a lot of good things about the Canon Rebel, but aside from that I don’t have much to go on. I’d love any suggestions you guys might have!
These past few days have been CRAZY. On Saturday, my mom, step dad and sister came up to visit for the afternoon/evening. I love hanging out with family. My mom and I cooked dinner together while my stepdad and Jon went to Lowe’s to get a deadbolt for our front door. Awhile later my sister got here, and we spent the rest of the night eating and just hanging out. It is not often that my mom, sister and I all get to spend time together, and it was definitely the highlight of my week. I wish we could do it more often.
Sunday also involved family, but was not nearly as pleasant. My grandma recently found out she has pancreatic cancer, and her health is declining quite rapidly. She doesn’t have much longer, so we drove to my hometown on Sunday, picked up my sister and went to visit her. While I’m so glad we went, it was really hard to see her in the state that she’s in. Needless to say these last couple of days have been a bit dismal feeling.
I do have some random pics of some eats from the last couple of days. I promise that once we get our new camera (and figure out how to use it;) food pics will be much more exciting. I can’t wait!
Regardless…
One of my favorites as of recent – stir fried carrots, zucchini, spinahc and brussels with soba noodles, doused in nutritional yeast obvs.
This is the kombucha that I brought home from Whole Foods when we went there on Valentine’s Day. I saved it ever since then and finally broke it out after our 5 miler on Saturday. It was totally worth the wait!! Now I just need to figure out how to get another one…
This has become my current favorite way to eat oats – cooked in water and topped with soy yogurt on one side and almond butter on the other. Sprinkled with a bit of Bob’s Red Mill cinnamon apple granola. This is addicting. I am so addicted to the combination of yogurt and granola. I may have to add that to my challenge list. haha! yeah right.
And last but not least, dinner tonight. I kept it simple because Jon wasn’t home to eat with me, and I just didn’t feel like spending much time on dinner.
Avocado and hummus sandwiched between ezekiel bread. Exactly what I was craving. It totally hit the spot. I love simple meals like this. Obvs. this meal was lacking a bit in the veggie department, but I’m never low on veggies so I didn’t worry about it too much!
I hope everyone is having a great start to the week. Only four more days and I’ll be on Spring Break when I get to spend every waking moment with the Mr. It seems like a dream right now.
G’night!!
…minus Valentine’s Day. I’m saving it for the next post. I think it deserves it’s very own:)
Saturday Jon and I got up and got to work cleaning the house. It always takes forever to deep clean the entire house, but it’s so worth it because we both feel so great when it’s done!! After that I packed up all of my school stuff, and we went up to his office to work. Jon is in his busiest season at work, and my job in general is busy season because I’m a 1st year teacher. So, we knew we wouldn’t be able to enjoy the rest of the weekend unless we knocked out some of our work.
Here are some food highlights from the weekend:
Lunch on Friday (because I took off to stay home and work) was a Joseph’s Protein pita filled with avocado, spinach, zucchini, squash, pickles and nutritional yeast. I had it with a side of hummus for dipping and a sliced pear with sprinkled cinnamon! So fresh and so delicious, yet so simple!
Friday afternoon I headed to the coffee shop to have a change of scenery while I graded. I took along an AB banana roll up – a Joseph’s pita (should there be a limit on these things?) smeared with almond butter and sliced banana, all rolled up! Transportable and tasty!
This was today’s snack on the way home from work. It was the most beautiful apple I’ve ever eaten. I picked this baby up from a certain store that Jon took me to on Valentine’s Day. That’s just a little teaser for tomorrow’s V-day post. I also had a certain kind of nut butter smeared on it that I’ve been wanting to try for ages. It may also have come from this certain store.
Apologies for the picture quality…this bowl was so much better than it looks. I often borrow a camera that takes beautiful pictures from Jon’s work, but lately I haven’t had it so the iPhone has had to suffice. boo.
And finally, tonight’s dinner. I was having a serious craving for a giant bowl of veggies, and that’s exactly what I got. A little too big perhaps:) I tossed together cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, squash, onions, carrots, mushrooms and spinach. I sprayed it a few times with Braggs, and dumped in a small handful of raw cashews. I also added a few pieces of Tempeh that I picked up the other day as well (more to come on that). This was the second time I’ve ever had Tempeh, and the first time I made it I did not care for it at all! I’m so glad I gave it a second chance, though. It was really good in this stir fry with just a bit of Braggs sprayed on. I’ll definitely be highlighting it again in the future once I decide on another way to cook it.
Well, that’s it for the highlights. Unfortunately, I have got to go do some serious grading. Blah. I’ll be back tomorrow, though, with a fun post on what we did and where we went for Valentine’s Day! Hope everyone is having a great President’s Day!
Happy Saturday blog friends! How is the weekend going so far? Mine is going way too fast. Today, Jon and I went to OKC so I could go to a baby shower for my friend. He dropped me off and went to hang out at Barnes and Noble, and I got to hang out with my girlfriends from college! It was so nice to see them…it had been way too long.
Since I didn’t get a post up yesterday, I want to catch up by highlighting a couple of meals from the last 2 days.
First up is this:
I finally got my Jay Robb! I’ve been wanting to try this protein powder for so long, and it finally came in the mail. The morning after I got it, I decided to try it in my green monster. That was one of the main reasons why I wanted to order it. So, into the blender went:
1 cup soymilk
2 big handfuls of spinach
1/2 a banana
chia seeds
2 tbsp Jay Robb
Okay, I have to admit that I didn’t love Jay Robb. I know, I know. It sounds crazy, but I really didn’t like it much.
Pros
24 grams of protein
short ingredient list- whole grain sprouted brown rice protein, natural flavor, stevia
eco-friendly packaging
Cons
a bit chalky
expensive if you have to order it online
flavor seems off
I just did not like the way this protein powder tasted. I very rarely sweeten things these days, so I think that may have something to do with it. If you are a person who really likes stevia or uses it a lot, you may like the taste of Jay Robb much better. I’m not much of a fan, though. I was a very sad girl, missing my usual green monster all the way to work.
Now, let’s move on from to the more positive side of things. I vowed to never use this protein powder in my morning smoothie again, BUT that doesn’t mean I’m unwilling to use it in other things. And with that I present to you my crazy good breakfast from this morning…
Check out the thickness!
Pumpkin Protein Waffles
1 cup oats
1/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 tbsp pure maple syrup
1 cup soy milk
1 tsp baking powder
1 heaping tablespoon of Jay Robb
adapted from original recipe from onefitfoodie.com
I threw all the ingredients into the blender and switched it on for about a minute. Then, I poured it into the waffle maker and let it cook for the normal amount of time (until the light went off). The batter was so thick I had to scrape it out of the blender with a spatula. I wondered how the thickness would affect the final product, but it just made it thick and hearty! The pumpkin flavor was subtle and it mixed so well with the almond butter and banana. Also, I didn’t miss syrup at all! The texture of the banana was enough to counter any dryness. Basically, this was just a warm, thick, soft plate of heaven! I topped mine with almond butter and sliced banana, but there are endless possibilities! It was so, so good! And it held me over for a good four hours or so. You’ve got to try this recipe. It will definitely be a good way to still use the Jay Robb because I couldn’t even taste it in the waffles, but it added some much needed protein.
And I’ll leave you with a picture of dinner tonight from Pei Wei. Pei Wei is one of my favorite restaurants to eat out at. It’s pretty clean if you choose the right thing, and it’s so delicious! I ordered the Spicy Korean with vegetables and tofu and brown rice.
I ate about half of this and brought the rest home for leftovers. The only negative about this meal is the high sodium content, but it’s certainly worth it on occasion!! Otherwise, the nutrition stats are pretty good.
I hope everyone has a wonderful night! Until tomorrow…
Hi lovely blogging friends! Today has been quite a lazy day for me, but I did get to spend some fun time reading blogs that I don’t always get to read because of lack of time. We had a big ice storm here today, and it’s supposed to last until tomorrow. I’m off work tomorrow as well so I’m looking forward to a four day weekend! Of course I’ll have to put in some hours working on planning, but that is SO much better than having to commute and be at school all day. Yea! There is something about being “snowed in” that I like – at least for a period of time. Especially if it’s with my favorite person. We aren’t absolutely sure that he’ll be off tomorrow, but we’re thinking he probably will. Fingers crossed!
Anyway, so being home today was especially nice on the food front because I didn’t have to eat transportable things. Yea! Unfortunately Jon took the camera to his office today, so my pictures from early in the day were taken with my iPhone.
I was up, showered, made up and about to walk out the door this morning before we found out that school was closed. And, Jon had already made my green monster. Usually if I’m home for breakfast I like to eat something “chewable,” if you will. Don’t get me wrong, I love my gm’s. But, since I have them every weekeday, I just like to mix it up if I’m home. Since he had already it, though, I went ahead and had it for breakfast as soon as we got back from the gym. It was nice to go to the gym in the morning. I’m really a morning workout person, but our gym opens at the same time that I have to leave for work, so I usually have to go in the afternoon. It was a really refreshing way to start the day!
By a couple of hours after my monster, I was already ready for a snack! I think my body isn’t used to burning so much fuel first thing in the morning, and it wanted food ALL day, which was fine by me:) My snack was a brown rice cake with a smear of AB and half a sliced banana. This is one of my absolute favorite snack…I love the crunchiness of the rice cake combined with the irresistible mix of nut butter and banana. Oh yeah. With a side of Mandarin Orange Spice tea made in the Keurig.
A few hours later Jon got home and we threw together some lunch. I had this tasty pita filled with all kinds of goodness:)
After lunch, I seriously laid down and took a two hour nap. I usually have a hard time taking naps because I just can’t relax, but we just got a new comforter and between that and the sound of the rain and ice outside, I was lulled to sleep quite easily. It felt so good to just rest.
As soon as I woke up, my body was telling me it was time to eat…again! So, I had some O’soy vanilla yogurt with a sprinkle of Kashi U walnut and black currant cereal. I love the combination of yogurt and cereal…you just can’t beat it. This Kashi U is awesome tasting, and the ingredients aren’t too bad either. There are few cereals that I really feel good about eating, and this is definitely one of them. It even comes packaged in a recycled box;)
The following is from the Kashi website:
The tasty combination of toasted Seven Whole Grain flakes, tangy black currants, crunchy walnuts, and acai oat clusters is packed full of nutrition:
And now for din din. I decided to try something new that I’d seen other people do before – a portabello mushroom burger. So, I threw a giant portabello mushroom cap in some evoo and grilled it with some garlic powder, red pepper and balsamic vinegar. I also tossed in some brussels and steamed some green beans in the microwave for a side.
I also added:
If you haven’t tried this before, you must! The balsamic and seasonings soaked into the mushroom and made it so juicy and flavorful! Interesting fact about me: until about a couple of months ago, you couldn’t pay me to touch any kind of mushroom. Then, suddenly I just started craving them. Random, I know. I’ve been eating them on everything, though!
A couple of hours later, I topped off dinner with a small piece of Averie’s vegan peanut buttter chocolate chip protein bars that I made a few nights ago. These bars are seriously to die for. They are the best vegan dessert I’ve ever made by far! I just have trouble stopping at just one;)
So, that’s a wrap on my day. I think we may watch this week’s precursor for Lost season 6 that we DVR’d the other night. We cannot wait until next Tuesday! Any other Lost lovers out there?
Have a fantastic night everyone!
Hi! I had the best dinner tonight! I was actually going to talk about my green monster from this morning first, but I’m so happy about how dinner turned out that I just can’t wait.
After work today, I headed straight to the gym to do some lifting. When I got back, I was already starving, but Jon had to head back to work for about 30 minutes for a meeting, and I wanted to wait on him to eat. So, I threw a great combo of cucumber, carrot, apple and lemon into the juicer – it turned out pretty good. I’ve only used my juicer a handful of times since I got it at Christmas (review to come!), and I still haven’t figured out my favorite combination yet. Any fun suggestions?
Anyway, so I sipped on my juice and started chopping up some veggies while I waited. I seriously was craving a huge plate of vegetables….but, I’ve been really focusing on getting more protein into each meal, so I decided to try something new by incorporating protein and healthy fat into my “sauce.” I tossed cauliflower, carrots, asparagus, onions and mushrooms in my big skillet and began sautéing them in just a bit of EVOO. Using Thai peanut sauce as my inspiration, I put in a tablespoon of almond butter and a splash of tamari and mixed and heated it through. I did have to add just a touch more EVOO as well to eliminate dryness. When it was all done, and hubby was home of course, I laid the vegetable mixture on a bed of quinoa (more protein!) and tadaa! It was time to eat!
Let me tell you, this meal was so good. It had a bit of an Asian flavor with just the right amount of AB and tamari…and a sprinkle of seeds of course! I could seriously have this meal every night…but I won’t. Gotta keep things interesting!
Before I go, let me tell you really quickly the best thing that happened this morning. I’ve been drinking green monster, thanks to Angela, for about a year now. My sweet hubby gets up to make it for me before I leave at 6am. Ever since school started back up, there has just been something…off…about the texture. I couldn’t figure it out. I had switched from soy to almond milk in an effort to limit my soy consumption a bit, so I thought that may be the problem, but we switched back and saw no improvement! So, I suggested that this morning he should try adding a little more milk and leaving out the flaxseed…and it worked! You have no idea what a happy girl I am to have my beloved monster back to normal…it’s my livelihood at 6am! Yea!!
That’s it for now. I am so looking forward to the weekend already, and it’s only Tuesday! Have a great night☺
my latest tweets.
