breadS

This morning I woke up on time, meaning I actually showered, YAY! I mixed it up for breakfast with a bowl of microwave low-sugar apple cinnamon oatmeal with 1/2 banana. I love how the ripe bananas get so sweet and fluffy!

After breakfast I did some work and discovered Google Reader. Yup, just jumping on that bandwagon!!  For lunch, I made a Perfect 10 bagel with 1 tbsp. Better ‘N Peanut Butter and 1 tbsp. Chocolate Dreams, with some frozen veggies on the side. I like the Better ‘N PB but when you are eating it at the same time as Chocolate Dreams, you just can’t compare!!!

I saved this yummy bite for last 🙂

After lunch I left the office for some errands and fresh air. The rest of the afternoon was taken up by a meeting with my favorite client! After they left, I ate the rest of my lunch, a salad topped with a lil Catalina Free.

I also taste tested a few Honey Wheat pretzels. My coworkers are HOOKED on these things!!

When I got home, my roommate surprised me with a big bag of leftover bread from her restaurant. YAY!! I immediately toasted a slice of 9 Grain Health and topped it with cherry jelly. AH-mazing!!

Then we walked to Target, which was a nice way to get my legs moving.  We got home around 9 and then I centered dinner around more bread, of course! I cooked up 1/2 portobello and some eggplant, pepper & carrot slices which I used to top one slice of bread and half a pretzel roll. The pretzel roll was topped with caraway seeds, which I haven’t tasted in so long. I forgot how much I love this flavor! Think I got enough carbs in this meal?!

For dessert, I am having my Skinny Cow with a side of Housewives. Dang Jersey girls!!! Danielle is not helping my state look good Sketchball!!

Three Things for Tuesday

1. Added lots of veggies to my lunch
2. Saved part of lunch for an afternoon snack
3. Didn’t eat candy at our meeting (Swedish Fish & Sour Patch Kids everywhere!)

Almost hump day! I have a lot to get done tomorrow. Is anyone else having a busy week?? Hope it’s a good one 🙂

 

Runaround

Yesterday was such a busy day at work! We had meeting after meeting after meeting. Hmm yup, three meetings!! I managed to eat some low-sugar apple cinnamon instant oatmeal with a banana nuked in there after meeting #1. Fluffiness!! I am OUT of frozen fruit and fresh fruit and probably won’t get to the store until Thursday night. HORRORS!!! No yo-mess until then 😦

You all pretty excited to check out my lunch, huh?? Well I ate this puppy after running to the store for one more thing for my mom and about 5 minutes before another meeting. This is the other half of the chicken from Tuesday. Look at how paper thin it is!!! I also had a bunch of raw broccoli on the side, this serving times 5 maybe? I love raw veggies but right then my stomach was thinking HMMM…

I skipped the veggie pasta because there wasn’t enough time! Instead, I snacked on some trail mix a little later. There were a couple almonds in this fuzzy handful that got picked out before I snapped a pic 🙂

I also had a blueberry z-bar. I think this might have been the first time I tried this flavor and I loved it! So much more than honey graham or chocolate brownie.

After trying to finish up a few things once the clients peaced out, I headed over to Steph’s house for Twilight time!!  She has been wanting me to see this movie FOREVER and our opposite schedules have been making that impossible.  Anyway, she got me reading the books a few weeks back and that’s when I knew I had to make this movie date happen!  I needed to see all that deadly luurve firsthand 🙂

I settled down with a small glass of red.

Steph made some lovely whole wheat crust pizzas.  We did one with tomato sauce, very light cheese and spinach & another with pesto, cheese and sliced tomatoes. I had a piece of each!

We also had side salads of broccoli slaw and shredded cabbage topped with balsamic vin. Aren’t these black & white bowls cute??

The movie was good! We couldn’t stop talking about how the clothes were seriously wack. Can’t vampires wear better threads?!? Also, makeup job was not so hot.  But I loved the awkwardness between Bella & Edward, high school hotness!! Steph whipped up a batch of chocolate chip cookies for post-movie consumption.  I had two of these little delights. Love hot dessert!

Then Steph, her boyfriend Josh and I took a run down memory lane and discussed psycho exes. Josh & I were battling stories, but I like to think that I clearly won.  It was so good seeing my girlie!  Photo OPP!!!

So I got home a little after 11 and found out that you CAN do the shred that late at night! I did half but then got sidetracked by some roommate bonding, which is always #1!! I ended up continuing the cookie streak by eating THREE of these cookies. They are so good and will be marching out of our place tomorrow so I don’t eat them all!

Today I woke up right with my alarm and instead of hitting snooze, I finished the last half of the shred. Woop woop! At the office, I made a v. pathetic yogurt mess. It’s all one color! I just had bananas and figs for this one.

Luckily lunch was much more colorful! I tried to hold off on eating but was tummy-growling hungry and dug in right before noon.  I ate my leftover chicken fajitas with some 100-cal pack guac and two tortillas.  I snagged one tortilla from the restaurant (prob uber unhealthy) and one from my pack of La Tortilla Factory (very healthy!!!).  Everyone in my office couldn’t stop saying how delicious my food smelled and I had to agree!

After eating, I strolled over to the Farmer’s Market and picked up an eggplant, string beans, green onions, radishes, 3 packs of strawberries, carrots, and cherries for $12. Love the Farmer’s Market! I dug into some of the strawberries and cherries.  My breakfast is gonna be bangin tomorrow with this fruit!!

A little later, I had my favorite Cherry Pie Larabar for some pre-workout fuel.

Yes! I finally made it to the gym for 30 minutes on the elliptical AND did the shred when I got home. YAY! Tonight for dinner, I made an awesome stir fry using some of the stuff I got from the Farmer’s Market, plus tofu and shirataki noodles. BOMB! Julia came home planning to make a stir fry too so I got to steal some of her delicious sweet chili sauce, which worked perfectly drizzled on top!

It’s HOT in LA right now. People deal with heat by eating an ice pop.

Cats deal with heat by chillaxin in the bathroom sink!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Oops, almost forgot. My computer is going sooooooo slowly right now! Okay…

Three Things for Wednesday

1. Skipped the pasta at lunch
2. Poured a smaller glass of wine
3. Ate two slices of pizza instead of the three I could have easily finished!

Three Things for Thursday

1. Only packed one of the restaurant tortillas to eat with lunch
2. Ate half the guacamole on my plate
3. Saved half of my stir fry for another meal

 

Burger Heaven

Clearly I didn’t get to the store last night for yogurt or kashi, because breakfast today was a packet of apple cinnamon low sugar oatmeal with a banana cut up and mixed in while cooking. The banana was decently ripe, so this bowl was especially fluffy and sweet!

For lunch, I had a side salad and the Chicken Pasta Pomodoro Kashi frozen meal.  I really wasn’t in love with this, but I do like the pasta a lot and the 19 grams of protein keep me full forever!

My dinner tonight was awesome! I made black/kidney bean veggie burgers again and they totally ROCKED!!!  This time, I used black & kidney beans, mushrooms, red pepper slices, onion, basil, red pepper flakes, bread crumbs, egg white, and BBQ sauce.  I shaped 4 burgers so I still have some for lunch tomorrow!  I put the burgers on top of some lettuce and topped them with TJ tomato & basil hummus.  This combo is BOMB!! If you have never had hummus on your veggie burgers, do it now!  I also sliced and baked a sweet potato for the side.

After dinner, I swung by India’s house to watch her show — it’s super funny!!  She also made my muffins for the office brunch tomorrow so I wouldn’t have to do it when I got home 🙂

For dessert, I had the other half of my froyo. Just as good the next day!

I’d love to stay and chat for a bit, but I am so sleepy right now!!! Leaving you with my three things 🙂

Three Things for Thursday

1. Got a Kashi frozen meal instead of the Amy’s I wanted to try because there was a lot less calories and much more protein in the Kashi
2. Passed on the chocolate almond toffee one of our clients brought into work today
3. Skipped the chocolate chip muffins at India’s house

 

Krod Mandoon & The Flaming Sword of Fire

Today the second BB packet made its way into my oatmeal! I had to try Barney Butter with oats, right?? I made this bowl with a pack of low-sugar apple cinnamon instant oatmeal, half a banana and the AB half stirred in, half on the side for dipping. Delish!

At lunch, I went on a shopping mission to find a bday present for my sister. No luck! By the time I finished I was RAVENOUS so I went with the one thing I was craving — a burrito! Not just any burrito, but the Nature’s Grill from Poquito Mas.  This one has grilled eggplant, mushroom, zucchini, red & green bell pepper, red & white onion, and black beans.  Seriously, how good does this burrito look?!

I also had some freshly baked chips with pico de galo.

Luckily there were a few more chips in the bag to munch on, since I decided to stay late at work so I wouldn’t have anything hanging over my head this weekend.  The burrito and extra chippies held me over until I got home around 7:30. I skipped the gym in favor of the office, so I did Shred Level 1 right after walking in the door! I’m so glad I found this workout. Day 2 was definitely harder on my muscles.

Afterward, I whipped up a new Shirataki creation.  Tonight I tried the angel hair pasta style for the first time. I topped it with some cooked grape tomatoes and rosemary. AH-MAZING!! I need an endless supply of this stuff.

I also had some frozen peas to munch while watching The Office.

Now I am just watching some more TV before bed…maybe by 11 tonight?! Crazy 🙂

 

Thailicious

I have been SO hungry lately! I woke up Friday morning and ate the last cup of PB Puffins while getting dressed. It took me 2 1/2 days to eat this whole box. I think it’s supposed to last 2 weeks?? Awkward…

For breakfast, I made a yummy PB sammie (more on that later!), but when I got into the office there was a nice spread of bagels so I decided to have those instead. Here is 1/2 chocolate chip bagel & 1/2 plain bagel w/reduced fat cream cheese with a nice mug of coffee. YUM!

I was planning to try out a new sushi place for lunch. Their online menu listed a really good looking bento box lunch special BUT since I still had my breakfast sitting in the fridge at work, I decided to put the $10+ I would have spent on lunch toward something else — SHOES!!!! I saw some very cute sandals at Gap the other day for $15, so I skipped getting lunch out and snagged these instead. LOVE!

Here’s a pic of my lunch (err breakfast turned lunch), unfolded. I used 1 La Tortilla Factory Tortilla, 1 tbsp crunchy AB, a teensy bit of cherry jelly (the jar is all gone, sad!), and half a very ripe banana. I smashed up the banana and spread it all together. Not sure what to expect from this but YAY! It was a success. I popped it into the micro for 30 seconds and it was warm and delicious.

I also continued the breakfast theme with some instant oatmeal that I keep at the office. I used the Target Market Pantry brand apple cinnamon reduced sugar w/water. Nothing fancy, but still good.

Late afternoon, I treated myself to the awesomeness that is the cherry pie Larabar.

I also had some baby bunny carrots. Lots of fuel before the gym!

After work, I squeezed in 60 minutes on the elliptical. I love when I can get in a nice sweaty workout on Friday and still have time to shower and get all ready again before going out!

Steph, Shar & I went to dinner at TOI, the home of “rockin’ thai” food. Yes, there is a rock & roll decor!! I started with a glass of white.

We ordered three entrees and split everything. The food was SO GOOD! We got Pad Thai w/shrimp; of course, everyone always gets pad thai, right?? This dish was a sure thing and the noodles were especially delicious.

We also ordered the eggplant, pumpkin & tofu dish. The pumpkin was perfectly cooked and tasted amazing!!

For our last dish, we got the vegetarian curry, which is the restaurant’s specialty.  It was unexpectedly coconut-y tasting and ended up being the BEST thing we got!!

To soak up all the curry and veggies, we got special brown rice, which was awesome, and standard white.

The three of us finished almost everything!! I would have licked my plate if we weren’t in a restaurant LOL. And there were fortune cookies to finish us off!

It was great catching up with Steph & Shar! We got back from dinner around 11Pm and returned to an apt filled with people.  So I turned right back around and went out! Kate’s older sister was in town, so we took her dancing. I had one vodka cranberry at the bar. Actually, not even one because I wasn’t in the mood for a crazy night haha. We left around last call and then a few people hung around at our place for a bit after. I had a little bowl with 1/4 cup kashi and 1/2 cup oaty o’s around 3 AM because I was hungry again!

What a fun end to a long week!! I have a huge to-do list for the weekend; hopefully I can get a lot DONE. FIngers crossed 🙂

 

It’s Not Easy Being Green

Wow! I am all greened out!! Body Reset Day 3 started with a bowl of overnight oats. I made these with 1/2 cup rolled oats, 1 cup unsweetened almond milk, cinnamon & salt. I don’t know what I did wrong but I was NOT a fan. I basically had to force down this whole bowl!

I had some more coconut milk mid-morning. Today I tried a new brand — O.N.E., which stands for One Natural Experience. Another rockstar! I love this stuff. I wonder if they sell it anywhere in bulk?

Lunch was a salad identical to the one I had Sunday — 1/2 head butter lettuce, a little less than 1/2 avocado and a bunch of red onion, plus my homemade dressing.

After lunch I crunched on a handful of sunflower/pumpkin seeds.

Late afternoon I sipped this very green concoction I had juiced the night before. The drink contained basil, cucumber, lime, and a granny smith apple. I drank a little more than half…

…because dinner was even MORE greenery! Before eating, I did a nice half hour of yoga from On Demand Exercise TV.  Love that I can do that right in my living room!  I was sort of tired and not looking forward to anything intense, and this session was luckily a lot of nice spinal twists and downward dogs. Just what I needed!

We were planning on miso soup but decided to whip up a batch of pea soup instead. This one contained garlic, red onion, peas, a handful of lima beans, arugula, and basil. Again, SO easy to make! I think I liked the broccoli one best, but these two were pretty close in yummy taste.

We also made another juice, this one containing kale, celery, lemon, pear, and ginger. Here is a pic of the juice and the veggies all squeezed out!

The final product! How cute is Julia adding the lemon wedge 🙂

All together now!

I tried so hard to finish the juice but we really went overboard on the ginger and it was a little too spicy for me. I am overwhelmed just thinking of all this GREEN! Luckily we have SALMON planned for dinner tomorrow, YAY! I need a new color 🙂

Day 3 DOWN for the count!! 4 more to go 🙂 I kind of can’t wait til Sunday when this is over. I am just so stubborn and determined to finish it out. I’m almost halfway there, right?!

 

Tamalelove

I finished the last of my strawberries last night, so I had oatmeal with half banana for breakfast instead.  This is what I ate all winter, but now that I’ve switched over to yogurt, the oatmeal just can’t compare! Plus coffee.

For lunch I went the bagel/hummus route again. This combo is just so good! I had an apple and yogurt on the side.

After lunch, I went over to the Farmers Market with two of the girls on my account team.  There is a small FM across the street from my office on Thursdays.  It’s so funny — everyone there is in suits!! It’s basically a FM just for all the offices in the area. I got all these brussel sprouts and green beans for $2!

Seriously, look at the size of some of these guys!!

We also got roses from the flower guy.  I stuck mine in a water bottle.  Here it is next to my pretty Asian art calendar. Aren’t yellow roses so pretty??

Around 3 I dug into this z-bar.  I’ve never tried any of these before!! I definitely liked the chocolate flavor.  It was a good lower-calorie option. Still, it doesn’t compare to some of the other bars. Maybe I should try some other flavors?

After work, I went to the gym for 60 minutes on the elliptical.  The workout went pretty quickly with my Thursday trifecta — Shape, Marie Claire, and the iPOD 🙂 I really need to start adding more weight training to my workouts.  I was good with it for awhile when I was going to a cardio/weights class, but lately every single time I go to the machines section, a personal trainer tries to get me to sign up for sessions.  Last time, I even made an appointment with one because I couldn’t say no and then my roommate called and cancelled it for me!! Maybe I should invest in some free weights for home?  Then I would just have to make myself use them…

After the gym, I went to Trader Joe’s to pick up ingredients for my dindin, inspired by another Farmers Market favorite…ready for it…

FRESH, HOMEMADE TAMALES!! I picked up a sweet corn tamale and decided to plan dinner around it. There is a stand that makes all kinds of tamales, fresh that morning.  I always get the sweet corn one. It looks and tastes like sweet corn, but I have no idea what else they make it with.  It’s addicting, really!! Anyone ever made these before?? I would love to know if they are the worse possible things to eat or not all that bad LOL. Here’s a view of the corn husk all peeled back:

So impromtu tortillas were born! Luckily my roommate let me dig into her supply of these awesome La Tortilla Factory tortillas.  Two are only 100 calories!!

At the store, I picked up green & red peppers, pineapple salsa, and cilantro chicken sausages. I cooked up all of this, plus some onions and half of the tamale. It was SO GOOD! I had two tortillas plus some leftovers on the plate that I easily finished.

AHH so good. Can’t believe I held off biting into this long enough to snap a picture LOL

I also picked up the Honey Moon Viognier when I was at Trader Joe’s. This is one of my all-time favorite wines. It’s seriously so good. I had to have a little glass!

Right now I am watching Grey’s & Private Practice and dreaming up dessert 🙂 Something with berries and chocolate maybe??

Update! Dessert alert:)

So I mixed some berries and pineapple and a half cup of kashi with a few spoonfuls of TJ nonfat yogurt. My first stab at non-Dannon/Yoplait type. I think I still need a little while to get used to it LOL.  I added some cocoa powder to chocolate it up a bit 🙂

Night! It’s almost Friday, YAYZERS!!